#EXCEPT Touya

[whileyoureinschoolidothisallday]

okay the thing I wanted to talk about for Touya:

So over on the discord server we’ve been watching s5 of mha cause some of my friends hadn’t seen it yet, and I REALLY wanna watch s6 with them, and last night we finally finished.

I noticed something.

I and probably a ton of other people have talked about how Touya probably related to the High End Nomu he sent after Endeavor and very much sent that one on purpose. HOWEVER, I don’t see a lot of analysis about the Line Guy he also sent his way.

Here’s what I think: I think the Nomu battle was foreshadowing his battle vs Shouto, which was focused on who was the strongest and who could last out between the two of them, and I think the Line Guy is foreshadowing his “battle” with Endeavor.

I put battle in quotations because, like with the Line Guy, I don’t think it’s gonna be much of a fight.

The Line Guy is almost a 1-1 projection of Touya. One of the first thing he says to Endeavor is that he’s so happy he remembers him. The first thing he does when he gets out of prison is search for Endeavor, even before he eats. He’s obsessed with Endeavor. He’s obsessed with dying. He doesn’t want anyone else to kill him but Endeavor. He will hurt other people to get Endeavor to hurt him. He uses one of his sons to get to him.

For most of that battle, Endeavor is frozen on the ground. And per the last chapter:

he’s pretty much in the same position.

How that battle ends isn’t because of Endeavor, it’s because of the kids. They beat the Line Guy because Endeavor is just too frozen up to act. While I don’t think he’s gonna freeze up this time, I do think he’s going to refuse to fight Touya. And like the Line Guy, it’s gonna make him furious. He needs Endeavor to kill him. It won’t fit his narrative otherwise. Often when kids are in situations like Touya was, they start to believe that any attention is better than no attention, even negative painful punishments. In Touya’s mind, killing Endeavor, and therefore getting Endeavor to kill him in the process, is the ultimate acknowledgement.

But Endeavor’s not that violent guy anymore.

I personally have not seen enough from Endeavor yet to like him like some of y’all do, but it would be untrue to say that he is the same man that we started the series with. We’ve been with that man for many arcs now...but Touya hasn’t. The only father he knows is violent, ruthless, cold. He will hurt his family for the betterment of his Hero status without a second thought. He admired those traits in his father because his kid brain understood that as the source of his power. Just like the Line Guy.

And I think it’s gonna end in the same way, with Touya feeling rejected by a man who no longer exists. What’ll “save him” isn’t Endeavor, it isn’t him doing a round-a-bout himself. It’ll be the weight of his grief breaking him. He will never get what he wants now and that’ll be too much to bare. He’ll crack. That battle genius we’ve been seeing, him being always two steps ahead, all of that will start to slip away as his mental health reaches his breaking point, until he makes the one mistake that leaves him broken and sobbing in Shouto’s ice.

Cause that’s what happens with the Line Guy

[bobateaqwq]

ten likes and ill color this

[moodyvoid]

Any time the League of Villains go through a drive thru they make Dabi hold all the bags to keep the food warm until they get back to the hideout.

[haine-kleine]

I think enough time has passed that we can finally talk about how utterly useless and disappointing the final act of Dabi's arc ended up being.

The most disappointing thing of all is how fucking cool almost every setup was. Enji finally seeing the full extent of the damage he did to his son, his mind almost gone and his body about to blow up, and deciding to sacrifice his own life. Dabi developing an ice quirk, like his mother's. Rei coming there using her powerful ice quirk to save both Touya and Enji's lives, because she felt responsible for her part in driving Touya to this point. Fuyumi and Natsuo following Rei because they couldn't sit idly, while their family members are risking their lives. Shouto going above and beyond his limit to save Touya's life and then praising Touya's natural talent the way no one ever did.

This picture. The eerily happy what could have been, what both Touya and Enji wanted, a happy family where they both are accepted and loved, where Touya is healthy and doesn't hurt himself. Except he is missing an arm now, a new self-inflicted injury transferred from the real world, where the family is as far from happy as they could be. Enji is also missing an arm, the mutual self-sacrifice which was payment to getting Enji to finally fully see Touya and accept him, accept his own role as the parent responsible for this child of his.

This was the exact moment. That first frame is such a masterpiece it's much more thought provoking than the entirety of what followed. Look at your son's disfigured face. See the monster that you created. The fire that you have ignited. It's hotter than your own Hellfire and it won't ever stop burning, as long as either of you is alive. There's no end to this hurt. It's been hurting him since he was a child, and now it has spread to you. You did this to yourself.

And one thing I can tell for sure is that these chapters are going to go hard as hell in the anime. These surrealistic frames, followed by blockbuster-worthy action sequences. But what comes after that? And then nothing. It's like Horikoshi made these chapters specifically to work well for the anime adaptation. Because there is no resolution or even conclusion to any of the things that happened here.

Enji and Dabi losing their arms had so little meaning Horikoshi himself forgot about it and gave Enji the missing arm back in chapter 425. We never get to see the state of Touya's body after the war, so him losing his arm also loses his meaning, as he is covered in a full-body metal restraining jacket. Did they provide him with a prosthetic? If not, are they going to? Is he even going to notice the missing arm, or did it truly not matter? Or perhaps he somehow grew his arm back, the same way he grew his melted eyeballs back? Who even knows.

What about the family? Rei clearly cared a whole lot, enough to risk her own life to attempt to save Touya from certain death because she knew there's no point to rely on Endeavor , but now that the heat of the moment is over, how does she feel about what happened? Does she insist on getting to visit Touya more often? Does she reflect on her own experience of spending ten years in isolation and try to give Touya his freedom? Did Shouto share the story of Touya coming back home after his death with her and his siblings? How does she feel about it? How do they feel about their dearly missed brother willingly choosing to abandon them?

On that topic, how do Fuyumi and Natsuo feel about Touya at all? We do get to hear about Fuyumi's desire to talk more with Touya, but what does she want to talk to him about? Does she want to share her own life with him, to tell him about her old job and the kids she was teaching? About the many family dinners she had been organizing for their family despite it falling apart? Or does she want to ask him about his life? Is she at all curious what he had been up to? Does she want to know how he ended up a villain, why did he keep burning himself despite almost dying from it as a mere child? Would Touya himself want to talk to Fuyumi, or does he still think his sister will never understand him? If so, will she try to push through and repair their sibling bond, try to show him that mending their family is possible and she wants to see him a part of the healed Todoroki family, eating dinner with the rest of them?

Natsuo... I don't even know where to start. Todoroki Natsuo when he first appeared in the manga and Todoroki Natsuo from Dabi's dance onwards are two wildly different characters and the development that made him change so much is skipped entirely in the story.

The entire point of Natsuo's character conflict was being unable to let go of the past, when the rest of the family was demanding he puts the past behind them and looks towards the future. Why exactly was he so fixated on the past? Two reasons. One, his father's neglect of him and abuse of his brothers. He is indignant about what Enji put Shouto through, still angry about Shouto being isolated from his siblings despite the younger freely interacting with him and Fuyumi for quite some time since before the manga plot had started. He outright says that his father had killed Touya. And that's the second reason, his close bond with Touya. While the rest of the family, even their mother, have been able to grieve and let go of Touya, Natsuo has been haunted by him ever since the day of his death.

Their relationship was a toxic one, that is true, Touya was traumadumping his extremely unhealthy feelings on a little kid who was too little to process or sympathize with what the was going through. But from the way Natsuo talks about Touya after his death it's obvious that Natsuo cared a lot about him, still cares. He is indignant about the unfairness of what happened to Touya precisely because he knows the most out of all family members about what his experience was like. It's pretty clear that the reason he stubbornly refuses to forgive and accept Endeavor the way his mother and siblings did, despite genuinely believing himself to be a bad person for it, is not just because Enji was neglecting him as a kid but because since he was a kid he was exposed to the horror of what Touya's life was like. He was watching a person begging to be helped hurt himself everyday and he didn't know how to help him or stop him. Hell, it's pretty straightforwardly implied that his career choice was impacted by his inability to help Touya, who was covered in burns at all times, and Rei with Shouto.

So with all of that in mind, Natsuo's resolution feels fairly... bizarre. As far as his reunion with the dead brother he was bitterly mourning for 11 years, the one who showed up back from the dead expressing the exact same sentiment Natsuo has been trying to express to his family, 'The past never dies', goes, it's this:

This wouldn't even be so bad if there was some followup to this. Natsuo was highstrung with nerves, he was terrified at the thought of both of his parents and his brother dying for real this time (except it's Fuyumi who gets this line). Natsuo apologizing to Touya for saying this, after the climax of the battle is behind them. Anything. Because this framing with no followup at all makes it seem like Natsuo's feelings about his oldest brother is just being annoyed at him for constantly causing trouble to others, because he was venting to him so much when they were kids. If his were any other character, this claim would hold some weight, after all the dynamic was genuinely toxic, but all Natsuo did for the entirety of the Hellish Todoroki family subplot was causing others trouble by his inability to cope with his feelings. You know, the same thing Touya is doing right now, was doing as long as he was in the Todoroki household. Hypocritical much?..

Then we get to look at the final pages of the Todoroki family's conclusion, and it's all about Natsuo once again disrupting the fragile family harmony and peace by announcing he never wants to see Endeavor again. Also he is getting married. For someone who was so held back by the past for 200+ chapters, this sure is a big leap of faith into the future. What caused this development? Touya reappearing back into his life? Did Natsuo make his brother the symbol of that past that was holding him back and decide to abandon him, never see neither him nor Endeavor again?

Maybe so, maybe not. Does he hold hard feelings against Touya, because the real living Todoroki Touya is too different for him to accept as the brother whose ghost had been haunting him for a decade? Is it being a villain that he can't forgive? Or is he simply unable to cope with everything right now and puts off the conversation with his brother because that would be too hard right now? Isn't that the same thing Rei and Enji were doing for Touya's entire childhood?

That's the thing with this ending, you can ask a million questions and make up endless interpretations but you won't get any answers or reasonable conclusions to any of these character's stories, save for Endeavor.

And what is his ending? It's this.

He has moved on! Doesn't matter what happened to his original family, because he's got himself a new one. He is moving towards the future, surrounded by love, support and acceptance. It's the same thing as this picture!

Minus the inconvenient and explanation-demanding children subplots. That would require too much space and effort and the story needed to be finished asap. So? Why resolve the Todoroki family mess when you can give Enji a whole new family of his own? What happened to the other, original children? Who even knows. Who cares? Definitely not Enji, he has new ones.

What about Touya? Well, he was already accepted by his father once, that's enough for him. About his family? As far as we know, they left him all alone, crying, dying. About his missing arm? About his ice quirk? About his relationship with his siblings? With the League of Villains? The living villains, Spinner, Mister Compress, his cousin Geten, Skeptic? Who even cares. Definitely not this story.

[sapphic-agent]

Me when I'm in a getting screwed over by Horikoshi contest and my opponent is any of these characters:

Or, you know, anyone else who isn't Bakugou

[delawaredetroit]

So after Sir Nighteye's verdict that he couldn't approve of Izuku as the One for All successor, Izuku takes that as an insult to everything that he is. In other words, Izuku at this point in the manga recognized himself as a person through the roles of All Might's disciple and as the One for All successor.

There's a reason the Overhaul Arc is Izuku's most Touya kinnie arc. Young Touya believed the reason for his existence was to be his father's successor who would fulfill Endeavor's dream of defeating All Might. Touya viewed himself as a person through that lens. Then he slowly lost it after this role was given to someone else.

Izuku seemed rather emotionally unstable in the Overhaul Arc for a similar reason. Someone was trying to take away the role that he believed defined him as a person.

It's more speculative on my part, but if All Might had shown more interest in Mirio other than the dismissive attitude he had in canon, Izuku might have had some mini young Touya adjacent meltdowns...

[codenamesazanka]

being a hopeless spinaraki, but also not just spinaraki, because this applies to all of the League and Villains in general—

Is it possible to dig deeper into Shigaraki's "If Spinner is still alive" and its meaning/implications and like. cry over it?

If Spinner is still alive = We went into fight knowing we might not make it out alive. (Heroes get total victory. The Villains don't count as part of that.)

If Spinner is still alive = AFO gave him those extra quirks and I, while possessed, wasn't able to stop it. Maybe I wouldn't have stopped it, because Spinner chose it. It might have been the quirks which killed him.

If Spinner is still alive = But it's also entirely possible Heroes could've killed him. Spinner is just a weakling with a useless quirk and some swords, but still, maybe he's dead because Heroes killed him. Heroes killed Twice. Heroes have repeatedly tried to kill me; cannot save me from this death. Toga went into battle thinking it was life or death. Heroes kill, and we Villains all know this.

If Spinner is still alive = I wanted him to see my horizon, because he was looking forward to it. I wanted to be a Hero for the League. Now, I can't do that anymore. Because of that, tell him this, for me.

If Spinner is still alive = Maybe he lived. Out of everyone in the league, Spinner lives because he's weak, he's ignorable. He was only following me. He didn't have a death wish, his power is something Heroes could manage. He wouldn't be considered too dangerous to live.

If Spinner is still alive = Because I know that he might not be. Because I don't trust Heroes have to saved any of us, whether from AFO machinations, or from ourselves, or from the ravages of battle.

'If' implies uncertainty. There's significant meaning in that - that Shigaraki knows Heroes there's a good chance cannot/would not/did not want to save them. And the fact that it's Spinner who gets an 'if' - Spinner, weakest one in the League. How hard is it to stop Spinner? Even with the extra quirks. Maybe especially with the extra quirks - he'd be disoriented, unintelligible, clearly not doing well. He was assigned the task of invading a hospital and retrieving Kurogiri with 15,000 rioters, the relatively least dangerous task out of all other Villains. That's basically zero trust in Heroes to have stopped Spinner in a way that didn't kill him, to have helped him from his melting brain.

Like, Shigaraki has seen the aftermath of his own 'saving'. Deku might have had some intention to save him, but not enough to actually succeed preventing his death. If that was ever the goal. Maybe all that mattered was just ghost of The Crying Child.

If any of the League lives, it's luck. It's mercy.

One might argue, it's because rhe League was so dangerous, and they made the choices that got themselves killed.

But meta-wise, we had that whole Ending arc about Heroes Don't Kill or whatever; we kept getting hit over the head with 'Heroes Save People'; the narrative dangled in front of us 'Heroes Will Save The League'. During the war, background Heroes made gestures of pulling captured Villains away from fire, of capturing them alive.

Then again, Twice was killed and that's probably the escape clause - if the League became dangerous enough, saving them can stop being the goal, despite the narrative supposedly having made it its goal.

Heroes fought the Villains and Shigaraki knew was there was no guarantee Heroes would save them or keep them alive. Despite being Heroes. Because they're Villains, they're unforgivable, they got too broken, they don't get that promise of being saved. Never had - not from abusive homes, not from societal apathy, not from the cruelty of conformity, not from their 'one bad day'; never will.

It reminds me of when Toga sought out Ochako. Twice was killed, and Toga desperately wanted to know, if she ever needed it, if it came down to it, Heroes would save her. Heroes would treat her like a person who deserves being saved, because she's a human being and should be afforded at least that. The League already knew Heroes would not save them. But Toga kept hope. She wanted to believe that Heroes wouldn't put her down like a mad dog. She was disappointed. She gave up hope. Ochako rekindled that hope, but just Ochako. And then the narrative seemed to have refused Toga getting saved anyways.

(Unless, of course, being saved is only about the heart being saved. Then yeah, I guess they can just die.)

[nohoney]

k, i need to ride mechanic touya ๐·°(৹˃̵﹏˂̵৹)°·๐

ugh just our hot tatted, hands dirty from car oil mechanic touya (*/ω＼) imagine that he’s your third mechanic that you’ve gone to see about car problems and you’re practically done with all the bullshit you’ve been fed from other car shop dudes. you’re so riled up about all the issues you’ve had with your stupid car that at first you don’t notice how hot he is. but touya notices how adorable you are despite you being snippy as he asks the standard questions of ‘what’s wrong with it’ and what you’ve been informed by prior mechanics.

now mechanic touya is not a miracle worker; he’s just a guy that knows the ins and outs of car maintenance. so he gives it to you straight that your car is indeed a piece of shit but it’s a piece of shit that he can at least make drivable. the diagnosis he gives you is not as bad as you were told before so you visibly relax as touya goes over the costs and he gives you a date to pick up your car which is his closing time of his shop in just a few days.

when you look over the invoice, you note how he cut most of the costs. “you sure you did this right?”

mechanic touya says that it’s not a big deal, just don’t go to any guy except him from now on. maybe it’s the gratefulness that you won’t have to sell any organs just to cover the costs but you notice how fucking fine he is and bashfulness kicks in. “i’m really grateful… thank you. but i really should pay you in full for all you’ve done.”

so mechanic touya tells you, “well baby, if you really wanna show me how grateful you are. come help me test the new shocks on my car.”

and then you’re bouncing on touya’s lap in the backseat of his red convertible bmw 325i. the top is put down so that you don’t hit your head and he’s telling you what a cute little thing you are and how lucky you are that he was your third consultation. your head is dizzy with all the filthy words he gifts to you and you chase your high. mechanic touya makes himself comfortable and leans back to enjoy the show, his car bouncing slightly with your movement. it’s when he calls you a good girl that has you whining and then you’re hanging onto him, begging into his ear to call you a good girl again.

[phina-aqua]

second half of my sustained investigation based of the theme of "song" which mean i just drew sekai fanart. lol

[fan-dweeb]

Keigo: Does Heroing count as exercising regularly?

Touya: Wtf are you talking about

Keigo: It says here that exercising regularly is the first step to physical self-care

Touya: What.

Touya: Wait is that a self-help page? On wikihow???

Keigo: Uhhhh “New year; new me”?

Touya: Yeah well, maybe start with Not Being Awake at 4 in the fUCking morning

[gece-misin-nesin]

From my family line...

Dabi | Todoroki Touya

BNHA/Family Line - Conan Gray

[tsubasaclones]

kimihiro li

[writermask-0807]

todoroki touya (dabi) x reader “[3:07 a.m.]”

warnings: swearing, angst with no happy ending (i think?? m not sure 🫠) this is like a. vent, ig, haha. also probably shitty cus it's stupid and unedited and like. three in the morning.

[3:07 a.m.]

when dabi finally slips into your room, reeking of burnt flesh and ash and ruin, you’re already fast asleep,

(the shape of you heart-wrenchingly small under the thick covers, as if you were trying to protect yourself from- his heart clenches. from him.)

but that’s just as well, or so dabi thinks. the hour is ungodly, and he comes home late - later than late, actually, late enough that it’s early. late enough that you probably thought he wasn’t coming home at all, and who could blame you?

dabi is a man that commits arson and felonies on tuesday evenings and grins at the rising smoke and flames. he’s a man that burns to the touch, if he lets you in close enough - an icarus with melting wax wings, forever falling under the sun because some shitty feathers and a twisted ambition isn’t enough to keep him from burning.

but the thing with you is that you don’t mind the smoke or the ash - even if it means you’ll burn from tending to fire.

because you’re selfless and kind like that - you’ve always been, you with your soft healing hands gentle upon his skin (as if you think he’s actually a thing worthy of such redeeming softness, like he’s actually, really good) and your tender, open smiles and your stupid endless patience that never seems to run out even when he doesn’t come home for days, and when he finally does come, it’s to end up shitfaced and bleeding all over your couch, stealing the change on your counter or running hot when you beg him to stay, and -

dabi doesn’t deserve you, not when he hurts you as much as he loves you. but love has made him selfish - if not a little cruel.

but tonight, he promises, is the last.

the moonlight makes soft of your peaceful, sleeping face, and you’re so achingly beautiful like this, no furrow to your brow or wobbling curve of your mouth.

mindlessly, one of his hands drifts up to trace over the plump of your cheek, the bridge of your nose and then your jaw, stroking softly.

his breath trembles.

there are shadows under your eyes, dried tears on your cheeks. all because of him. what else does he need to see to know that this is what he does to you? that this is why he needs to leave?

for a world-muffling second, there is only the slow rise and fall of your chest, the soft lull of your breathing. the cadence of your heartbeat slow and sleepy as it beats against his own chest, thump thump thumping with your every breath.

and dabi lets his hand fall away, makes to stand up. he loves you, but you’re better off without him. this is for your own good, this is for his own good–

your eyes blink open in the darkness, tired and dark and mournful as you peer up at him through the shadows, your pinkie slowly, unflinchingly curling around his.

“stay,” you murmur, and he can hear the hoarse exhaustion in your voice.

“stay. please.” you whisper again, and dabi doesn’t have the heart to say no.

he slips back under the covers, lets you grip his hand tightly like you’re afraid he’ll disappear again, because it’s not entirely false. kisses your forehead, your cheeks, your fluttering eyelids. your trembling mouth.

“i love you, dabi.” you murmur, eyes fluttering shut again.

“love you too.” he tells you, guiltily waiting for when you’ll fall asleep again.

FIN-

[ce0cu]

Dabi doodle from same au as Mothshig

Helix piercings double as a prosthetic

[haine-kleine]

My roman empire is the difference in how Horikoshi draws Dabi and 'Dabi'

Smirking so wide his cheeks staples are popping out exposing the muscles underneath the grafts, staring straight into 'camera', carefully controlling the way he looks and is perceived. It's not a natural way of being, it's performative. Exposing and highlighting his grotesque scars. Chin raised high, looking down at the characters he interacts with and at the audience. His gestures wide and self-assured, throwing his arms out. He forcibly attracts attention, even the negative kind, especially the negative kind. A smug and self-confident asshole.

And then he is off his Dabi hours and suddenly no longer filling the room with his presence. Gone is the oppressive evil charisma that had even the pro heroes scared of him. Now the hidden, nameless, hinted-at since his first appearance real identity is left exposed. His head turned down, avoiding eye contact, slouching. His wrists hanging limply. Arms crossed - hugging himself, a tell-tale gesture of discomfort. Curling into himself, making himself smaller. He looks younger, rolling his eyes and pouting.

Touya has run out of his social battery and doesn't want to be engaged with. He is vulnerable, the way Dabi can't afford himself to be. It's just so fascinating how his way of masking is putting on an artificially created Dabi persona.

[asiandra-dash]

🥞🌟 / 🎈☕ stuff I drew in class because I really don't care lmao