#I just remembered I was part of the mha fandom

[kstarlitchaotics]

This is why I stopped with the interaction of BnHA fandom. Every single character that one has with another thinks it's romantic love but what if it's not 😱. People can have all sorts of different love that doesn't involve it being romantic and while you can ship who you want- but. to. think. every. single. scene. must. be. a. romantic. movement. to. have. your. ship. being. canon? You clearly don't get into the Shonen series that much do you before BnHA have you? It's just a little nuisance from time to time.

[envy-of-the-apple]

Dark!Naga!SatoSugu x reader

Top of the Food Chain

I've always wanted to continue my naga!mha fic but considering i dont write for deku+co anymore, i decided to move my au a couple fandoms over:D 1.8k wc

Part two , Part three

(Warnings: animal deaths, blood, obsession, dark content, slight gun threat but not rlly, polyamory, gender ambigious!reader) 

Despite being here for nearly a week, you still don't think Satoru understood how delicate you are. 

He's overbearing, in that sense. Constantly poking and prodding and squeezing until your lungs give and you're forced to squeak. You can't blame him for not understanding. He's an animal, after all. Inhuman. Despite his skin and hair, the scales coating his tail give away just how different he is. He was probably born fighting, kicking, and screeching his way through the foliage, hunting, chewing, and biting. 

He's not like you when all you knew when you were younger was coddling and softness. You can see it in his scars, and bruises, and marks. 

Luckily, for you, Suguru had an inkling that you weren't made for sharp claws. 

It's not a fight, you can tell when they're fighting, it's more like a warning? A minor disagreement. Suguru hisses at the other naga, scrunching up his face, showing his teeth. Satoru is quick to respond, but a little more playful. Fortunately for you, the black-haired male seems to win the argument. Satoru's coils loosen around you. Air stops fighting its way to get into your lungs. 

You finally go lax in his hold. Satoru seems to enjoy that, dipping his head to bury his face into the base of his neck. The first few times he did that, you were afraid he was trying to bite off your jugular. Now, you think it's just another way he can soak up your body heat. 

Maybe you've been here for longer than a week. At this point, you couldn't really tell. Hope that you'd be found was starting to slowly fizzle away. The explosion had been massive. The ship had sunk in a matter of minutes. With a disaster that huge, you doubt anyone would still be looking for survivors. Especially on an uncharted island, where myth had turned into reality. 

 Satoru had been the one you'd woken up to. Washed ashore, barely conscious. You were half-certain he was planning on eating you with the way he held your leg, watching your muscles bend and turn. In his defense, he must have thought you were dead. Your shrill scream quickly convinced him otherwise. 

It was barely a fight. More or less, a pathetic kidnapping as he grabbed your body, slinging it over his shoulder. You've never remembered screaming and crying so loudly before, convinced you were about to be eaten. Suguru probably heard you before he saw you. 

Satoru's mate was a little less impressed with you. Back then, they didn't bother learning your tongue, speaking in hisses and snarls, unaware of your misery. Suguru's frown was glued on his face, but the naga never let you run away, always keeping a hand or a tail on you at all times. It was a rough first day; you didn't know they weren't interested in eating you until they tried to feed you. 

Things were much different back then Nowadays, they are a lot more considerate of yourself and your soft body. You think you've come to an understanding with these strange creatures. 

Suguru was the nicest out of the two. In that, you mean the least rough. Compared to his counterpart, he's a bit smaller, but that's not saying there's any real difference. If it comes down to it, you are more than certain he'd be able to kill you off as quickly as his mate. You thought he hated you, at first. Now, you think he has a hard time showing blatant affection. His touches typically come in the dead of night, when you're barely conscious. A clawed finger gently raking over your soft skin. Large hands sculpting your face. 

Satoru's eyes were the first thing you noticed about him. Glittering like blue sapphires. You had a feeling they weren't just for show. Time and time again he's proven that he can see better than Suguru could. He smiles a lot more, but you're starting to wonder if that expression translates across species. He can speak your tongue slightly better than Suguru could. It most likely has to do with his insistence on staying with you. The more time you spend with him, the more you have to say 'No' 'Don't touch there' 'Stop'. 

In the rare times you manage to escape their hold, you like watching them interact with each other. They often sunbathe for hours, lazing around hot rocks to soak in the heat. They like touching each other. Sometimes it's aggressive, like when Satoru chomps on Suguru's neck and you're suddenly much more aware of how careful he is with you. Other times it's: soft, unintentional, meaningless. Languid cuddling when you are finally able to braid Suguru's hair. 

At this point, you've surmised they won't eat you. At least, not for the moment. You don't exactly know what they think of you. Do they have the concept of pets in their worldview? Maybe that's the closest thing you can place yourself as, at least in their eyes. They must think you're helpless. To them, you have no claws, no fangs, no venom. They probably don't know you come from a species that's hunted others to extinction and currently burning down the planet. You must be the first time they've ever seen your kind, stripped away from your weapons, when you're the least dangerous. 

"You should be more scared of me, you know," you once whispered to Suguru in the dead of night.

He was dozing off, blearily keeping his eyes open to stare at your moving lips. There was a grunt behind you, and Satoru tightened his arms across your waist. Greedy for affection, even in his sleep.

"Humans are terrifying," you said, reaching out to touch, "top of the food chain."

Suguru had smiled at that. You found yourself smiling back.

"You're lucky I didn't have a gun on me. You probably don't even know what that is." It's dark humor to press two fingers into his forehead. Your way of coping maybe.

Or perhaps your actions prove that humans will always desire to be violent, no matter how perilous their fight may be.

"Bang." He leans into your touch, unafraid. Oblivious to the threat that you are.

You're guessing Satoru only let you go because of the food Suguru brought.

You're able to feel the ground again as he glides over to Suguru having just come back from a successful hunt. The carcass of the largest deer you've ever seen is slung across his back. The smell of blood already makes you nauseous. 

You think Suguru had been the most panicked when you refused to eat, clicking and cooing while he tried to force-feed you the bloody leg of a bear. Back then, your communication was even worse than it was now. You were smeared in crimson by the time he relented. Practically dripping in it. 

Now, Suguru knows you have different tastes than them. You're not a big fan of raw. The fish and the handful of berries are more than enough to sate you as you gather the items he's given in your hands. 

"Thank you," you say. You reach out, touching his face with warm fingers. He purrs into your touch. You smile. It's the least gratitude you can give him. After all, he's not asking for much. If they hadn't found you, you would have been dead long ago, or at least, significantly less weaker. It's the least you can do. 

For a moment, you delude yourself into thinking they were your pets. It'd certainly be easy too. They have little to no regard for personal boundaries, much like dogs. They're more animalistic than they are human. 

It's funny to think of these monsters as lovable pets.

"Thank you," Suguru repeats. You giggle. It's not like they actually understand you. It's simple mimicry. Like talking to a parrot. 

"Thank you!" Satoru chirps, never one to be left out. He pushes his mate out of the way, eager for your pets as well. Suguru hisses, but doesn't argue. You've learned they like to be scratched right there on the bottoms of their chins. 

Suguru's less obvious, but Satoru has no desire to pretend. He melts into you, practically slumping his weight into your weak hold. It's a little adorable actually. You give a little laugh. He seems even more pleased at that. 

They're fun to be around, but this can't last. You belong with other humans, far far away from this island. So far, you hadn't seen any boats in the horizon, but you hope one would come by soon. A plane would be even better. Close enough to give you hope. Maybe if you built a big enough fire, it'd reach someone eye. 

Hopefully, in just a few weeks, these creatures will be a very cherished memory. 

You frown when Satoru reaches over to grasp at your food, the meat specifically. You glare, moving away from his hold. He titters in clear disappointment. You hate seeing him sad but you already have so few food sources. It's best to conserve whatever you get. 

"No," you pointedly tell him, "It's mine. Mine." 

His frown deepens, and he opens his jaws to let his fangs pop out. 

"Mine," you repeat. 

He leans back, huffing. You laugh because you know his expression is more out of frustration than any actual anger. Again, animals. You pet his head in apology, before turning away. You'd have to start a tiny fire to start cooking. Raw fish is edible, but it's hardly desirable. 

A hand grabs yours, clawed, the grip is tight around your frail skin. When you look back, Satoru is staring at you. Eyes wide. Eager. 

"Mine," he says, but it's more like he's testing the word. Tasting it on his lips. 

You scoff, unamused. "That's my arm. Not yours." 

Satoru smiles. Sharp teeth. You suddenly remember he's a carnivore. 

He's slow when he draws you in, practically dragging you into his arms. You're used to his spontaneous hugs, tight and suffocating. You can't fight him off, so you typically wait until Suguru has enough of his behavior and drags him off you. 

"Mine," Satoru repeats. Alarm bells ring in your head but it's easy to brush them off. It's mimicry. They can't understand. It's like talking to a parrot. 

You feel the weight of the other naga at your back. His arms wrap around your waist, pushing you against Satoru's chest. You stiffen when Suguru's fangs lightly graze up your neck. Never quite punctures, but is terrifyingly close.

"Mine," Suguru says into your skin. 

You laugh again, but it comes out less hesitant. More airy. Amid their hold, a sudden thought comes to you.

If you weren't at the top of the food chain anymore, then who was?

[bibibbon]

I'm really curious if people in the bnha subreddit know the meaning of character development when they say Bakugou changes and has better character development. Whenever I hear this sentence I'm like where tf is the change & development. He is the same guy he was from chapter 1. The only difference I've seen is he shouts less but that's it.

His apology to izuku was shit, his whole talk right after the apology about izuku's chosen path and ideals and how he was asking izuku to rely on him and shitty 1A was pure BS. The 2nd war proved how pathetic Bakugou and 1A were against AFO and my boi Shiggyband it also proved that Izuku was right to go vigilante and his reasons for doing it alone were right.

Also leading 1A's confrontation against Izuku, he never once took accountability for Izuku's mental state. Instead he blamed it on the one person who supported and was actually a positive influence to Izuku. He never opened up to anyone about how he abused and suicide baited Izuku.

He was being a prick to Fuyumi in the endeavour agency arc. Treated his team as lackeys and underlings in the JT arc. Bitched about how he wasn't included in the OFA meeting and disrespected the previous OFA holders. It was irritating that All might didn't tell him to get out for disrespecting Nana. Anyone other than Bakugou would've been a better sparring partner for Izuku during his blackwhip training.

Took izuku out and used him as his punching bag while gaslighting him for not revealing about OFA. Also why and how was he an inspiration to 1A when he didn't do shit for them. It should have only been Izuku.

Goes after the villains and gets himself captured even though he knew he was a prime target for LOV.

And why was he targeted by LOV? Thanks to his overall behaviour and track record from the sports festival fights with Uraraka and Shoto.

Even after knowing shoto's trauma, he still was being a POS to him.

They said he respected Uraraka in the sports festival but before the fight he told her to give up, looked down on her and never saw her as a threat. He was unnecessarily dragging the fight instead of ending it and used excess force in his explosion when it wasn't necessary considering it was just a sport and not a life or death battle. He later says "time to get serious" which means he never took her seriously which debunks Aizawa's claims and validates the audience's criticism of him. Even after the fight he still went and asked izuku if izuku had given a plan to her. This means he never thought Uraraka was capable of devising a strategy. So where was the respect in all this.

The subreddit always said he started to develop after the USJ arc but all the above arcs happened after USJ and none of them showed that he developed.

Hori literally bends the narrative to favour his pet and the bnha subreddit says "hurray character development", "he changed".

People actually claim that bakugo somehow started changing after the usj arc?!?! Really!!!

I personally don't think bakugo's character has had that big of a change at best I can say that he shouts a bit less but other than that there isn't much. The only reason that people think bakugo has changed is because the narrative tries to frame it that way and whenever bakugo does something that's outright wrong like punching Izuku it's painted as "oh that's just bakugo" or it's made into a gag that we are supposed to dismiss or laugh at.

In my opinion it's not just MHA subbredit that believes in bakugo's "amazing" redemption and arc but it's a good chunk of the MHA fandom in general. Heck I remember coming across a post that showed how bakugo changed and @sapphic-agent debunked the post (Iam glad she did and she done it really well)

If bakugo were to properly be developed than a good chunk of his arc should be to develop out of his rivalry or his need for one.

[storiesandthingsofthatnature]

Cradle Snatcher Pt. 2

Pt. 1 Summary: Leon takes the lead this time around and you find out that he can be quite relentless when it comes to fulfilling both of your desires. Word Count: 2.0K

Pairing: RE2! Leon Kennedy x Fem!Reader (afab) Warnings: Age difference (5 year age gap) breeding kink, biting, praise kink, unprotected sex, p in v, multiple orgasms, over-sensitivity play (is that a thing?) dom/sub dynames, cream pies, pet names, lemme know if I missed anything! Disclaimer: MDNI!!!! 18+ only! A/N: Finally! Part 2 is here! I apologize for the shortness but I hope that I wrapped up everything alright. So this time around Leon is more dominant in his role because classic dom Leon! If you like my writing be sure to think about popping up in my inbox for some requests :3c I do other fandoms such as JJK and MHA and will probably make a more detailed post on it soon! Thank you and enjoy! :D

Your position was switched now; Leon was on top with you being pinned against the cushions of the couch. At the mention of him taking the lead, his eagerness was renewed with vigor. He kissed you slowly this time, his body weight nearly completely engulfing you. “Leon, I’m not gonna run away.” You laugh and Leon huffed,”Just want to feel you against me. I’m not hurting you, though, am I?” He looked a little worried but you shook your head with a smile. “Perhaps a little bit of suffocation. Women’s breasts don’t really leave room for close encounters.” You say and Leon’s eyes found their way to your chest. “Um..” You roll your eyes. “I’m kidding. You’re taking the lead, remember? Don’t be shy, take what you want~” You invite. 

With your full permission, Leon began to roll your shirt up. You help him get you out of it, you being left in nothing but your bra. You reach behind you and unhook it yourself. “Lemme save you the trouble.” You tease and he chuckled,”I could have figured it out.” He declared and you gave a breath of a laugh. “I’m sure, after 5 minutes.” You stick out your tongue playfully. Discarding the bra to the side, you look at Leon and frown. “Why am I the only one naked?” You ask aloud and Leon realized that he was still wearing his shirt. Slipping it off in one motion, the ripple of his abs were more than enough to get you even more wet. You could feel your slick and Leon’s cum slipping from you and you couldn’t help but feel that it was a bit of a waste. 

He placed a hand atop your right breast, Leon softly squeezing. You give a sigh of pleasure, rolling your head to the side as your eyes flutter closed. Suddenly, you felt Leon slip into you once more. You bite your bottom lip at the sensation of being penetrated once more, the delectable electricity zapping throughout your body. Leon sucked in a breath, the feeling of your contracting walls like heaven to him. However, he did not move his hips. You wondered what he was up to, but when he started to play around with your breasts you realized that you were cockwarming him.

You wrap your arms around his neck, leaning upwards to give kisses of your own along his jawline and pulse point. He pinched, rubbed and squeezed your chest for a while, his pawing bringing a slow build to your orgasm. However, it wasn’t enough. “Leon, please move. Need more.” You coax and he groaned. “I would, sweetheart. But I’m taking the lead, remember?” He said and you whined. “Shhh, it’s okay. I’ll give you what you want.” He hushed as he reached down with his dominant hand. He rubbed circles into your over sensitive bundle of nerves, his other hand still cupped against your right breast. 

You let out a breathy moan, your walls clenching around Leon’s cock just right. He let out a hiss of pleasure and he began to rub the head of his dick against your cervix. The pressure was a little uncomfortable but it was something that was both erotic and somehow pleasurable as well. “Fuck, I’m gonna cum again already. Want me to give you another load, sweetheart?” He asked with piercing eyes and you let out a whimper. “Please, Leon. Wan’ it.” You were able to say, biting your fingers from the numbing pleasure that was Leon.  “Wanna get knocked up and have a baby with you.” You begin to mumble and finally Leon moves his hips. 

A high pitched groan left you as you felt your walls begin to spasm slightly. You hadn’t realized it but the tenderness and added foreplay had affected you mentally more than you had thought. This pleasure was far different from any other encounter you had and you felt like you were becoming addicted. “Leee~” You whimpered as another orgasm was ripped from you, your back arching almost painfully as your nipples rubbed against Leon’s own chest. His thrusts became erratic and sloppy, pleased that you had cum this time before him. Hungry for his own release now, his breathing hitched when he finally found it. He rammed into you harshly, thick strings painting your inner walls with intent. 

You felt your tense, heated body relaxing into the cushions below and you had the impression that you were done. But then you felt yourself being flipped onto your stomach, Leon pulling your ass up so that he had easier access to your entrance. You kept yourself balanced by your elbows, completely taken aback by the sudden change. “Wha-” “You wanna be a mommy right? I gotta make sure that it catches.” Leon said in a husky voice, leaning over you so that he could whisper it hotly into your ear before giving the shell of it a nip. 

You bite your bottom lip in anticipation, the dirty talk becoming far more real than you had anticipated. Was it the sex or the fact that you truly wanted it? What would- 

Leon roughly entered you once more, an eep being ripped out of you from the sudden intrusion. Your walls clench to the point that you can feel it in your abused clit. Leon’s thrusts started at a rough pace, the sound of slapping skin filling the air amongst you two. “My, my, lieutenant, what will your subordinates think? Finding out that you let a rookie knock you up like this. What would the chief say?” Leon wondered aloud, these questions awaking a feeling that shouldn’t have been so delectable as it was. 

“Mmmmm, noooo. I-” Leon chuckled in between haughty groans,”No? Then, what were you really asking not too long ago, hm?” He bit and kissed your shoulders, leaving marks along your flushed skin.  “Sorry, princess, but I think we’re in way too deep now to start feeling any regret.” Your fingers dig into the fabric at his words, a small moan leaving you. His hands found themselves next to yours, his body caging you in as he let you have it. “But that’s okay, right? You’ll let me take care of you, yeah?” He groaned. “God, you’ll look so pretty round with my kid; glowing and looking so radiant fuck-” He was starting to ramble now, too pussy drunk to really think about the consequences. “I would do the right thing, too. Marry you and give you everything you’d ever need. Ever since I saw you for the first time, that's all I’ve wanted to do.” His confession was heartwarming and it made you weak at the knees. You slumped forward onto your forearms, raising your hips even higher for him. With this he was able to reach even deeper and the extra pressure from his cockhead to your cervix was nearly unbearable. 

Finally, though, he came deep within you once more, his rutting hips gently stuttering from the intense orgasm that washed over him. He was feeling too over sensitive but he just needed one more. “Think you can go another round, lieutenant?” At his question you whimper. “Too sensitive. I don’t - ah!” He flipped you over once more and you couldn’t help but wonder where he was getting all of this stamina. He then pressed your legs against your chest, folding you into a mating press. “Just one more, okay? Promise.” He whispered against your lips, hungrily stealing kisses from you. At this angle you were able to steal a glance at where you two were connected and you never felt so dirty. White cream overflowed from your hole and glazed the inside of your thighs. Your slick was all over Leon’s lower abdomen and everytime he pulled out a layer of milky substance is what covered his member. You could only imagine how ruined you look inside. 

You could only lay there and grip at whatever was closest to you to try and ground yourself but you felt so light-headed. “Leon. It caught. Mmmmm, too much.” You had never felt this level of pleasure, your poor fucked out mind unsure of what to do with it. Your flight response was high but with the position you were in and how Leon pinned you down you were going nowhere anytime soon. You needed a break, time to adjust but Leon was being mean and rough with you. “Such a good girl for me, taking me so fucking well.” It didn’t seem that he was listening to you, a single mission on his mind. 

You threw your head back in defeat, eyes closing tightly as you tried to be good and take what you were being given. Your legs shook like hell around his head, your moans past the point of lewd. “Poor thing, not sure what to do with yourself, hm?” He asked with a smirk, his thrusts transitioning to gyrating as he accidentally came across that one spot that had you crying. “NOT THERE! I CAN’T!” Hot tears fell past your cheeks, Leon suddenly focusing on that spot. “I would be nicer if it weren’t for the fact that you sound so god damn gorgeous right now. Come on, princess, won’t you be good for me?” He was incessant with his thrusts and you went cross eyed. 

A sudden, heavy orgasm fell over you and you felt yourself squirt on Leon’s cock. You had never done such a thing in your life and you felt a wave of emotions flow over you from impressed to painfully turned on. “Mmmmm, we’re making such a mess, lieutenant. Not too sure how we’re gonna get rid of the evidence.” He licked along your glistening skin on your neck, ending his trail with a hard bite. You, on the other hand, were barely cognitive. A line of saliva left your mouth as you stared off into nothing. It felt like your soul left your body and you were experiencing some sort of outer body scenario. 

But he just kept GOING and you couldn’t help but sob. You went to say some sort of strung together words but what came out was just noises of pleasure and over sensitivity. “Poor thing.” Leon said in a condescending tone that made you whimper and he gently brushed his fingers against your blushing cheeks. “I’m almost there, just a little while longer.” You had no choice but to nod, Leon leaning forward to press butterfly kisses against your face. “Good girl. I’ll take care of you, I promise.” He whispered and his thrusts picked up brutally. 

Soon enough, you felt another handful of gooey cum joining the rest, it overflowing from you even more. But, true to his word he stopped and let you catch your breath. “C-can I stay in you?” He was suddenly back to his more timid side and you couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yes, please do.” You approve and he couldn’t help but smile gently. He maneuvered the both of you into a more comfortable position; you being spooned by Leon. He held you impossibly close, mouthing open mouthed kisses along your shoulder to your jawline. “Is it safe to say that this wasn’t a one time thing?” He asked, his voice a little on the hopeful side as you laughed. “Leon, I don’t agree to have a kid with someone unless I want them to permanently be by my side. I’m all in.” You say in an even tone and Leon gives a bright smile. 

“Good. So am I.” He said, and you gave Leon a loving kiss. “Good. Cause like I was trying to tell you, it definitely caught.” You were still reeling from the numbing pleasure that Leon had relentlessly given you, a sure thought that your hips were going to be very sore in the morning. He hugged you gently. “You really think so? I hope so. I’m being serious when I say you’d make an amazing mother.” He said, a warm feeling blooming within your chest from the words. “And you’d make a good father. But, you do have your faults.” You tease and he chuckled. “Yeah? How so?” And for the rest of the night you both laughed amongst yourselves, enjoying the moment of just you two. Until finally you both succumbed to sleep. 

[darkcircles4lyfe]

This doesn't have anything to do with anything, but i had a talk with a friend a few days ago, about shonen biasis and the way this shapes our expectations, and mha came up so i remembered how so many people apply those biasis HEAVILY into the manga, to the point that they sound like they're looking for a different story.

And one of those things that it seemed to be MOST talked about is exactly bkdk's relationship.

I have seen many times people from the fandom (sometimes really angrily) point out how in most cases Katsuki seems to basically take up not one, but four roles in Izuku's life and this includes putting him in situations that people associate with the MC's love interest, and it is weird that, despite Izuku "having a girl" for people to make assumptions about, he seems to completely repulse any female character that could be the counter part to Izuku's.

And this made us wonder if Katsuki's placement in those roles and lack of interest was made specifically because the author precisely did not want the actions that both do for each other as romantic but a whole another thing entirely, as a subversion for the these classic tropes, as he did by making the conflict between Ochako and Himiko not a "rivals fighting for the affection of a boy" but something that is connected to the plot of these characters instead.

Oh you bet! I am always down to talk about this, because I think about it a lotttt.

This reminds me, recently I remembered a funny habit I used to have with books I read. Like, back in middle school. I used to start by flipping directly to the last page and reading the final sentence. Usually this did not spoil anything whatsoever, but sure enough, by the time I read through the whole book, that sentence would take on new meaning.

So I started musing about what it would be like if only I could do this with bnha, if everything was already out. It made me feel so nostalgic…

Will the last panel be something grand, or something small? Hopeful or sad? Distant? Intimate? A parting message to the reader? Will it look like almost nothing of consequence to the unknowing eye—yet burst with hard-hitting subtext?

Of course I wonder about all the twists and reveals that might be still ahead of us, but it’s kinda soothing to think about how the whole thing could be put to rest. Because then I realize I’m not worried.

For once, this is not because the story is following so many tropes so predictably that I know exactly, in so many words, how it will end. It’s more like the story is a close friend who I’ve gotten to know well enough that everything they do is so “them” it makes me smirk. I'm often marveling at how Horikoshi has managed to pull all this off. How is it that (at least here in the west) people who aren't really paying attention call it basic and cookie-cutter. Even a Japanese animator called it "classic," and this interview shows such obvious dissonance between Hori and the interviewer, just... wow. But it's so clear that bnha has broken just about every rule in the book at this point, so much so that I struggle to condense it into words. I'm like--*gestures broadly at everything*--why haven't more people picked up on it??

Yet we still get bombarded with people saying "it's a shonen, c'mon, we all know how this will end." Um. No you don't. I KNOW there has to be a bunch of people who are secretly frustrated by Kacchan taking up all the roles and getting all the moments. It's not even in a mysogynistic way, because Kacchan is the most anti-dudebro character imaginable. Bkdk's relationship isn't intended for them and they know it... and you know what, I'm starting to ramble. You've heard all this before. The thing I should really be focusing on in your ask is the part where you mentioned how you and your friend were speculating about bkdk ending up as "a whole other thing entirely" rather than simply romantic.

Well, fuck it, I've been biting my tongue, but now might as well be the time I talk about this. I got into a bit of a disagreement with someone over it once and then I shut up. Because it's very difficult to approach the subject without being lumped in with those people who see bkdk as "brotherly" (ew) or otherwise try to push some "crisis of male friendship" agenda, or at the very least without being accused of enabling people to make excuses against bkdk being canon ad infinitum. So let me be clear that I do NOT want bkdk to have an ambiguous or open ending. I want their complexity and importance to be acknowledged. I want them to use their words. I think we may have created a bit of a false dichotomy there.

I am aromantic, and to suggest romantic relationships are inherently the most important and intimate goes against every fiber of my being. I also reject the idea that cut-and-dry gay representation is more desirable just because it is more easily understood by the masses than aspec representation or representation of relationships "beyond" both romantic and platonic. We recognize how ridiculous it is for people to expect Izu*cha at this point, right? Well, the reason they're so confident anyway isn't just because of heteronormativity. It's also because of amatonormativity, the assumption that romantic attraction trumps all: no matter how much focus bkdk get, Izuku blushed at Ochako, so that automatically makes them more "important." THAT is the notion that I want to challenge most. More than anything, I want bkdk's relationship to be fully acknowledged because they have so much more going for them than just attraction.

You and your friend make an excellent point, that it would be very much in line with Horikoshi's taste and the patterns of his writing so far if he chose to subvert the shonen romance trope not just by giving it to two boys, but also by disregarding its premise entirely. It's unlikely he'd try to stuff them into such a copy-paste ending right at the end.

So maybe they won't get the blushy confession, the obligatory kiss, the wedding, the 2.5 kids and a white picket fence. That's fine, we shouldn't pretend those tired tropes are suddenly revolutionary just because they're gay. But don't be disappointed! Without them, we have more room for things that are actually personally meaningful to bkdk to stand out and receive the nuance they deserve: talking through their feelings openly, building each other up like no one else can, understanding each other like no one else can, smiling at each other, embracing, holding hands, rushing to the other in the hospital, being glued at the hip (or even closer), healing mutual trauma, putting each other first in all things. Maybe we'll also get confirmation on Ochako's side as she moves on from her crush on Izuku. You know what other shonen manga took this exact angle as a way of subverting tropes and presenting genuine complexity? Blue Flag! There are so many ways to do bkdk justice.

Even a kiss isn't out of the question, if the right opportunity comes along. A perfect example of what I'm talking about is Good Omens (major season 2 spoilers) because the kiss between Crowley and Aziraphale was not at all about canonizing them. It was an expression of pain and desperation that just made sense at that particular moment. Neil Gaiman was adamant that if it took that kiss to understand the context of their relationship, you really weren't paying attention. I respect the hell out of that.

Recently I was even daydreaming about bkdk getting something similar to the sort of uh, shall we say tasteful nudity, that togachako got, because of how Izuku appears in the vestige realm.

Ya know like not in an nsfw way but in like a "this is so deeply intimate and soft that I feel like I'm intruding" kind of way... yeah. Because it represents vulnerability and openness and acceptance of someone as they are. And I don't care if people call that bait. It's not. It's beautiful. It’s honest.

[sapphic-agent]

I go on Twitter and I feel insane.

You can tell which MHA have never read a superhero comic book in their life or have no media literacy. Ah, yes. Midoriya, who's CLEAR inspirations for his character, is fucking BATMAN. BATMAN, who is really compassionate and one of his flaws is caring too much, Batman who still considers Harvey Dent/Two-Face to be his best friend, and who out of all people had compassion for the fucking JOKER, in The Killing Joke, one of the best Batman comics out there and MHA fans are like "Whooo! Go Midoriya on killing Tenko!" I need MHA hero stans to watch Batman: The Animated Series and read The Killing Joke and an essay that's 51 pages long as to why they are wrong. As Midoriya says, killing Shigaraki doesn't fucking solve ANYTHING. If you just kill him, then there's just gonna be another Shigaraki who was groomed into the symbol of fear. That doesn't mean he shouldn't get consequences, good Lord, but y'all are missing the point. But apparently so does Horikoshi.

Always avoid Twitter and Reddit, no matter the fandom. At least here you can a) filter out the content you don't want to see and b) expect some people to have media literacy since it's, y'know, a blog site. But I'm so glad you brought up Bruce, especially his DCAU iteration.

Any fans of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited have seen the episode Epilogue. And in it, there's actually a flashback of how the interactions between Izuku and Shigaraki should have hit.

Ace was a girl born with meta powers taken by an early incarnation of Cadmus. She could drive anyone to insanity just by looking at them. They kept her prisoner and used a collar to make her docile and weak. She was part of the Royal Flush Gang and in her second appearance, her powers were going to give her an aneurysm and kill her, which her powers could have responded to, killing everybody.

Amanda Waller sent Bruce in to use a collar that would kill her before it happened. Bruce went in, but never intended to use it on her (which she knew because of her powers). Instead of taking the easy option of killing a little girl who had been used and abused all her life, Bruce sat with her and kept her company until her death.

(I'm crying just remembering this scene btw)

That's how you write meaningful hero and villain interactions. The DCAU is especially good at doing this, from Batman: The Animated Series to Justice League Unlimited (GO WATCH IT PEOPLE).

Explicitly making it legal for heroes to kill villains was such an awful choice on Horikoshi's part. The heroes in MHA are already glorified celebrities with no sense of justice or honor. And they can't make arrests.

If they can't make arrests and it's legal for them to kill, it just pushes them towards violence and brutality instead of apprehension. The MHA system is so fucked in so many different ways and it was never addressed. MHA should have been a dystopian story, but that would have required a competent writer

[ladyazurith]

Cater Diamond Analysis

Honestly, my first impressions of Cater were…not good. When I very first started playing Twist, I picked Idia as my starting character because I love Hades (not the Disney version but the classical Greek mythology version, though the Disney version is great he’s a terrible representation of Hades but I think everyone knows that) After playing the game Azul quickly became my favorite (That’s why my first Broken Mirrors story was about him) and just Octavinelle in general. 

When I first picked up Twist I kind of sped through books 1 and 2. At the time I was still knee deep in the MHA fandom and was playing the game because a friend recommended it (they’d followed the JP release) And didn’t really absorb much. Books 3 and 4’s release is when I really started to pay attention. My Ao3 page definitely reflects this given stories started appearing in April of 22. 

The first thing I really remembered about Cater was Beans Day and I was overall just annoyed with him because I wanted to spend more time with Jade. And Cater it seemed was the reason he kept leaving. 

Another thing is I have Cater’s Birthday SSR from the first year (it was the very first Birthday Card we got in the EN version) I do not remember pulling for it, let alone actually getting his card but it’s there so…*shrugs* 

It wasn’t until I saw a music video on YouTube set to Kill the Lights, that I even took a second glance at Cater as a character. The video made me compare him to Twice from MHA (I was again still attached to the fandom at the time) and I loved Twice, so I started digging more. Twice has an incredibly tragic backstory and it made me curious about Cater’s. 

After that I dug through all the information I could about Cater, both in EN and JP releases, I watched translations of all his available vignettes or others he was in, and events he was a part of. I’ve always loved picking characters apart and I found that Cater was far more complex than I first gave him credit for. There are a few key cards/events that I believe are essential for understanding who Cater is.

First is of course is Heartslabyul’s chapter of the game. I know a lot of people will point to this and say it’s why they don’t trust him or take him seriously, but context is key. Yes, he does “manipulate” the group into doing some of his chores.  But in the wider context of the story, Cater is often left doing a lot of extra work around the dorm. Picking up the slack, because of his clones and making up for the mistakes of others. (Trey’s CR Card is a good window into this, along with Trey’s Star Sending Card) And honestly, this is about the worst thing he does throughout the entire game. 

What is also shown is that Cater is very forgiving. He’s never actually upset with Riddle for the way he behaves. It’s not that he condones his actions, but he knows why Riddle behaves the way he does and tries his best to be understanding while also helping the 1st years navigate the situation and in a way protect them. (He even asks Trey if he’s okay with what’s going on when Ace and Deuce get kicked out) Even at the end when Ace gets on Riddle for his apology Cater chastises him. In the end, Cater is very conflict averse, he doesn’t really want to fight with people, and would rather everyone just get along (this is part of why he Kalim and Lilia all get along so well in the LMC) I think some people see his reaction in the manga, and take his reason for not wanting to step in wrong. Personally, I don’t think it had completely clicked with him that this wasn’t an altercation that could be ended peacefully. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. 

There are a lot of hints that Cater is fairly depressed under his happy come-what-may attitude. His Labcoat personal story is less than subtle about it, (Vil and Lilia straight-up talk about what the Mandrake Cater tried to hide meant), And even his CR card shows that he’s not really a fan of all the socializing he does, and finds it exhausting. He also isn't afraid of death, at least as his clones, in the Heartslabyul Manga he takes a spear to the chest to save Deuce, and in Chapter 2 he creates replicas of the Diasomnia Spelldive team and allows himself to be trampled. The level he's nonchalant about it is a bit disturbing, especially because he can remember what happens as his clones (he makes a comment about not being able to use them to study because the information can get jumbled up) and they have been stated to *be* him. (this is part of why I HC that Cater's clones can confuse Rook's UM because he can't tell a clone from the real Cater)

Another really important one is Cater’s Halloween SSR (and really the first two Halloween events), His SSR is one of the few times we get to see his thoughts so clearly. He’s excellent at hiding his true thoughts and feelings. The conversation he has with Lilia and Kalim about not being really close to anyone, and preferring to keep people at arm's length is heartbreaking because it comes from a place of moving around, being forgotten, and being hurt. Everything Cater does is an effort to get people to remember him, from his guitar to his magicam account. 

At the end of his SSR is a very touching moment between Diasomnia as Lilia comforts Malleus, Cater’s left to the side feeling completely bitter about all of it. Angry Lilia thought he could ever understand him when he had connections like Malleus, Silver, and Sebek in his life. Connections Cater doesn’t feel he can ever make. The follow up to this is when he’s still standing there and gets the call from Trey who yells at him because he’s not in Heartslabyul to help solve a problem there, and gets called a liar when he explains what he was doing. (People sometimes ask me why I don’t like Trey and this scene right here is part of that reason.) 

As for the rest of the first Halloween, the only time we really see him relaxed is in Lilia’s card. Every other time he’s working, solving problems, or helping other people. Even at the very end when everyone else was relaxing at the after party, he was off comforting the Ghosts who felt guilty about causing all the problems with their picture in the beginning, helping them feel better and bringing the subject up to others.  

In the second Halloween event, he was one of the possessed missing students. I don’t think everyone realizes this but all the ghosts made the ones they’d possessed act in the exact opposite of their true nature. (Vil who he was stuck with is a great example, he was crying acting like someone who had no self-esteem, but the things he was saying were in complete contrast to his behavior, which in reality Vil acts like a very self assured person on the surface but deep down he’s a doubt ridden insecure mess. Kalim is another he was angry and violent) 

Cater was forced to be cruel and malicious, which lines up with being the opposite of who he really is from the little bits we’ve seen. He often tends to go out of his way to help people. When they needed help in the final act of Endless Halloween when the other students appeared he was the first one to step up to help take care of it. In Silver’s card, he took the time to console him and give him advice but even his advice to live in the moment and don’t care about what happens in the future tells us a lot about him.

Even Beans Day and the fact he stuck with Yuu (something that first annoyed me) is an example of this. A lot of people saw “us” as a liability and ditched the MC in the very competitive game, but Cater didn’t he stayed, and in the end, they almost won. 

Other notes along the way are he never really talks positively about his family. He’s always complaining about how overbearing his sisters are. How they treated him like a doll. Bought presents for him that were meant for them, not him, etc. And I know what he says about his dislike of sugar and how it came from one incident as a child BUT that’s not very likely. I have a feeling it was more than *one* incident and a repeated dismissal of his own autonomy in his family BUT that is just a theory. Personally, I think he downplayed the event like he seems to do a lot of these things. It’s very clear he generally conceals how he truly feels about an incident. 

He even comments about how he doesn’t want to go home over winter break because he knows his sisters will just put him to work. In his second year birthday jacket card he talks about how his sisters take him shopping and force him to carry everything. Every time his family comes up it's never in a positive context. 

In his Silks card, it’s shown he has a problem buying things for himself. Jamil pokes him about it, while he’s buying souvenirs for other people, and in the end, makes Jamil pick something for him. We get hints that Jamil can see past the facade he puts up and that makes Cater nervous BUT we also know Jamil absolutely trusts Cater. He left Kalim in Cater’s care in Silk City, and even though Kalim doesn’t generally eat anything but Jamil’s cooking (not even his own) Kalim is the one that judges Cater’s culinary crucible meal. And the way Jamil conducts himself in Cater’s birthday interview. 

Cater also tends to treat people as people. He’s never really been intimidated by Malleus, not the same way other people are (outside Yuu/MC), and will talk to him freely. When realistically he has more reason than most to be afraid of Malleus. It takes a bit of stringing of different card stories and events together, but Malleus has knocked Cater unconscious with his magic before. Because in Malleus’s first Birthday card, he talks about the incident, where Lilia invited him to the LMC, to play music, but he accidentally knocked the members unconscious. We know that Kalim arrived late in his 2nd year and that during Cater and Lilia’s first year, they were very quickly the only members of the LMC until Kalim joined. Meaning when the incident took place the only available victim was Cater. 

I also know Cater talks about not having a lot of money/not coming from a wealthy family, BUT I know this isn’t true. While it's not likely his family is as rich as I’ve made them in my stories, they are NOT poor. First off they move AT least every two years, and that is NOT cheap to do. We know his dad works for a bank, but there aren’t many positions at a Bank on any level that would require the person to move so much. Bankers are some of the wealthiest people period (not the tellers or general employees but those wouldn’t require moving)  Looking into it, his dad is most likely an investment banker which make $$$. This is also backed up by the fact that he does chase trends that take an incredible amount of money, and he’s talked about doing things like going “Glamping” which costs upwards of 1-1.5k/night  Then again maybe his perception is warped by Kalim lol. 

As far as his relationships go. I do think his perception is a bit skewed from past experiences. Riddle seems to care an awful lot about him/considers him a friend. I think this is very much a case of Riddle taking Cater at face value, not having the social awareness to realize Cater is faking most of what he’s doing. While Cater is still stuck on the idea that Riddle is just another shallow friendship for him. 

I also think Kalim thinks more of their friendship than Cater does. I also always wonder how Vil can insist the only thing Cater wants out of him is fame when *Kalim’s standing right there* While Kalim isn’t famous in the same sense Vil is, he’s INCREDIBLY wealthy and it wouldn’t take much for him to leverage that for his own fame, but we don’t really see him doing that, yes he does make posts with Kalim but it all seems to be in line with his friendship with him and things they do with the club, and the time Kalim invited him to Silk City. There is no hint Cater takes advantage of him at all (which I think plays into why Jamil trusts him)

Speaking of Vil, the reason I ship Cater and Vil is very detailed and delves into the nuance of their interactions and relationship otherwise. I know it’s easy to point at Vil’s “What it means to be a Brand” R card Vin, where Cater talks about how attractive he is and talks about dating him. (I’m still mad they took that out of the English version) as a reason, and while it is part of it Vil doesn’t tell him he won't date him, he tells Cater he can’t afford them. (Which to me sounds like a shallow comment?!?! When he calls Cater Shallow, gets a bit on my nerves but that's another rant) 

But what really sells me that Cater’s feelings for Vil are real and not part of his fake facade is his Birthday Jacket interview. He picks Vil as his choice of sibling and then goes on to talk about why he looks up to and respects Vil. It’s not about his physical features, but other traits he likes and appreciates. He seems to understand Vil. And this is my take on it but I think part of why he likes Vil (either romantically or otherwise) is he sees a kindred spirit, someone who puts on a mask to face an uncaring world that expects impossible standards, and the need to always be ‘on’ and performing. Remember it's clear that Cater doesn’t enjoy what he does social media-wise and the like, but it's something he feels like he has to do.

Trey is otherwise not someone he’s super close to. To me, their relationship comes across more like coworkers at a stressful job, than actual friends. Cater himself has said more than once that he’s not close to *anyone* and Trey in the star sending even talks about how even after all the time they’ve spent together Cater still doesn’t seem to trust him with his true self. Trey tends to be very dismissive of Cater’s complaints and Cater in general. And straight up TO HIS FACE told him he’d always be closer to Riddle. (As someone who didn’t have childhood friends themselves, and even now struggles with friends that line right there hurt a lot. That the idea that if you didn’t make a friend when you were a child then you could never be close to someone more than they are to someone else hurt and made me angry. And did not help my opinion of Trey AT ALL  Length of time is not the only qualifier to a strong friendship) But yet tends to also be dismissive of Riddle in some cases?!?! And is willing to manipulate him so there's that. 

I did an entire write up of Lilia and Cater’s relationship, but a summary is that I find it one of the most unique and complex in the game. Often times Lilia tends to treat the other students like he’s a mentor figure. Not just Diasomnia, but all of them in general when he interacts. Cater however isn’t treated that way and seems to view him more as an equal, and has been shown to listen to and take advice from him when he’s otherwise shown to be very stubborn and determined. And it's possible he intended to stay in contact with Cater when he attempted to leave in ch 7. Cater tells him that he can hit him up on Magicam at any time which means Lilia hasn’t deactivated his account (Cater would likely know that) and Lilia doesn’t tell him he can’t like he had with other attempts to stay in contact, but he doesn’t say he will either so it's more up in the air. 

Idia…also seems to listen to him!?! Honestly Idia and Cater’s relationship also probably deserves their own post. I don’t ship them, mostly because I think they’d end up in a self destructive spiral. BUT I do think they could be friends, like really good friends if they could both get past some of their issues. They have a lot in common, especially when it comes to being lonely and detached certain everyone will just forget about them someday. 

Over all Cater is an extremely complex person, and really about the only character who we don’t know a lot about. Most of what we have on him is how other characters view him, (which is why I think there is a lot of misconception and distrust of his character for people because they buy into what they see on the surface and move on)  and a few scraps here and there into who he actually is under the surface which completely contradicts the persona he presents. 

I have a lot of headcanons for him, and while I noted a few here in this, I tried to keep this to most extrapolation from what we see directly in canon. I love Cater, and I hope this helps some people have a better understanding of who he is. 

[seaskate]

"Not all men are created equal"

That is one of the first things were hear Izuku say. Its bitter and realistic for his place in society, it's the sort of voice that inspires the villian deku fics that were really popular a few years ago. We lost this cold view of the world when he got a quirk, as if the canon him forgot his roots as he was no longer the 'quirkless loser'. The only time we see anything like it is in small flashes when he's feeling low.

And I'm glad that he became more confident and brighter, but one of the things that I like about the more angsty mha fics (hero, villain, vigilante, doesn't matter) is that fic deku doesnt forget, he remembers what it feels like to be treated even worse than those with villian quirks, or mutant type quirks, and that's his reason for change. So that no one else ever has to feel so powerless.

A symbol of hope rather than a symbol of peace.

Because peace is all well and good whole it last, but it wont last. Peace is a temporary thing and is usually broken by whatever problems the tentative peace itself created.

Izuku knowing this in fics, remembering it, acknowledging it even after being gifted a quirk, gives it a more realistic sort of feel. The same sort of 'oh' that readers get when they look at the villains in mha who are trying to destory the society the chewed them up and spit them out and everyone else watched. Izuku was there, he has more in common with the villains in that regard than sonenof his classmates, but outside of the Bakugo redemption arc that's kinda a forgotten thing.

Idk, it just feels as if he could have been a more complex character in that regard in the beginning. But a part if what makes the vigilante deku arc so appealing that people have returned to the fandom for it, is that he becomes a bit more pessimistic and realistic about the world around him once more, it just took a war to get him back to the start.

[hella1975]

hellaaa plz share your favorite dabihawks fics for all of us who want some recs into their crazy minds!!

sorry i didnt answer this straight away i was reading a 230k words fic that i wanted to finish before i added it here 😭 does anyone know what's wrong with me. therapists hate me

dabihawks rec list!!

burn it all down by dorothycanfly - an au where dabi comes back to the todoroki estate to kill shouto when he's 19 and shouto is 11, but decides instead to take his little brother with him as part of his Grand Evil Masterplan that doesn't quite go as he wanted. this is the fic i always rec first in this fandom as it's the first dabi fic i really read that felt like it Understood Him and really made me go bananas about him. it's dark and twisted and true to what i think his actual mindset would be without demonising him, and also has shouto and him being very close and the way the author writes their dynamic is everything to me like it's so true to a real sibling relationship and id die for them. it gets very smutty in the middle but if that's not your thing the plot also kicks right back up again at 100mph immediately after, and there's also a sequel still being updated that's very promising.

big reputations by phanatics - singer fake dating au!!! i absolutely love dabi's characterisation in this and the celebrity angle is handled soooo well. the miscommunication and slow burn is incredible and that's coming from a bitch who finds both tropes frustrating unless they're done to my very niche standards. im pretty sure i read this fic in one day. im not making graduation i fear.

gunshots and molotovs by ironicallystupid - this is a 14k oneshot where dabi treats hawks' gunshot wound in a distinctly dabi way and then they get drunk. this one really got to me and i think it's bc it's one fic where they feel so true to character while still, for once, both acting their age. a big appeal of dabihawks for me is that they are both ultimately just two guys in their early twenties and seeing them embody that youth and silliness was surprisingly poignant

the 'will you accept this rose?' series by satelliteblue- the famous bachelorette au! if you don't know what i mean by famous, it's bc this fic has a habit of getting people who don't even read mha fic obsessed with it. like it's genuinely addicting. i remember first finding it and being like 'bacherlorette au dabihawks? be so fr' and look where im at now, 355k words later. it's genuinely just such a fun read AND i love the drama of it AND it has the todofam angle AND an actual plot snuck into it effortlessly. one of my fav fics of all time truly and it's still updating!

perspective by theeclecticeccentric - this is the fic i just finished and when i tell you ive powered through all 230k words of it in the past 4ish days. i love the league dynamic in this with the whole found family angle. i'll say it was something i clicked on less bc this kind of au (childhood friends dabihawks brainwashed to forget each other) is what i would normally go for and more bc i have BATTERED the dabihawks tag for all it's worth so i just tried it on a whim, but im so happy i clicked this bc it wound up being so fun! i also love any fic that forces the heroes and villains to ally against the hpsc and this fic does that. instant hit with me.

[justheretoposttrash]

day 5 of meandering about endeavor (and briefly hawks)--(taking a more meta-look at the fandom with this one):

i find it fascinating and honestly sorta cool that the fandom is so divided on endeavor in a way that lines up well with how people are divided on his character within the text itself.

the responses are certainly not black-and-white or binary, but it's easiest for me to give the examples of hawks and natsuo as sorta opposite ends of the spectrum. many endeavor fans are similar to hawks--enjoying his cooler moments while also greatly appreciating how much he puts himself through in his efforts to change for the better (as an aside, i do find it hilarious how many endeavor fans enjoy seeing that man beat the shit out of and actively suffering. kinky lol). endeavor haters, on the other hand, generally want nothing to do with his character (while some even say that they want him to die, when it comes to fictional people in a story, that's basically the equivalent of "keep this guy far away from me"). the need for unequivocal and complete separation from his character is similar to what natsuo wants and sticks with in the story (although he does have his moments of sensitivity regarding his father, in spite of this).

i think that the reasoning behind irl fans and the characters also often align. for hawks, it's incredibly inspiring and gratifying to see that someone is willing to put in the work to change, even if doing so will be difficult and often unrewarding. the worse the actions are, the more painful the upward climb becomes, but also the more crazy it is that the person in question is willing to make that climb in the first place. i've noticed a lot of endhawks fans in particular really finding a lot of personal healing through exploring these ideas, whether they want to change for the better themselves, or they wish those in their life who'd hurt them would be willing to grow as people the way endeavor's character does. sure, there are some people who gloss over the terrible things that he's done, but many seem to enjoy actively engaging with what he's done and working through what it means for them.

for natsuo, it's not just about it being "too little, too late", though that's definitely a big part--but also that he as a person cannot have a relationship with his father while keeping himself safe and healthy. a lot of real-life relationships end up this way, especially between parent and child once the child reaches adulthood, and it's a very healthy boundary to set. for irl people engaging with fiction that triggers similar emotions, this looks more like ignoring, not engaging with, or wishing for the removal of the character activating them---and if that "boundary"-esque wall can't be drawn, if they repeatedly are unable to avoid the character's presence, this often wells up as anger and turns into venting, which is only natural if you're being bombarded with a stimulus that you feel unable to control. (sure, blocking and filtering tags is available, but algorithms can be incredibly confounding/unavoidable, not everyone remembers to tag their stuff perfectly every time, and in this case, the maligned character plays an incredibly crucial and central role in the canon material itself--so if you want to consume, y'know, mha, you have to grapple with a text that at best isn't always for you, or at worst occasionally betrays you.)

i don't mean to overstate my case--a lotta ppl like stuff or hate stuff without questioning it--but i think in the case of this one particular character, a lot of nuance tends to emerge, and there's a lot of potential there for analysis/learning. I also think that some conflict and friction becomes inevitable between disagreeing fans regarding endeavor's character. naturally, your average person getting crushed in the gears of day-to-day life is going to feel hurt when they're accused of not engaging with the thing that brings them much-needed comfort in the "correct" way, especially if they have indeed been putting a lot of work into thoughtfully engaging with it behind-the-scenes. it's also difficult to give people you disagree with the benefit of the doubt, bc honestly there are plenty of wild takes or arguments made in bad faith out there--and very few ppl want to wade through a bunch of cortisol-spiking statements just to find one that is reasonable enough but that still might be disagreeable to them.

it's likewise interesting to see the reactions of people either calling hawks a murderer and hating on his character, or claiming he did nothing wrong and that twice shouldn't have fought/deserved to die (and while i can understand wanting to defend silly bbygirl birdman, man oh man would hawks not be happy with the latter take if he were a Real Boy). i don't believe either group comprises the majority of mha fans by a longshot, but there's still enough that i've noticed these little trends in one pocket of the internet or amother. i got nothin prescriptive here, i just find it all interesting to talk about.

lastly, i wanna say that, while telling stories from the POV of an abuser and trying to give them sympathy at the same time is so often a gross and very Bad Move, crazily enough i think mha is one of the best executions of this that i've seen. aside from the nuanced way endeavor gets treated by other characters (some supportive, some rightfully angry, some rightfully hateful), what stands out to me is that, by having us see through his pov, the story actually shows what anyone could realistically expect as a best-case-scenario of an abuser starting to atone. we don't have to question if he's sorry, don't have to question if he understands what he did as wrong, don't have to question that he's doing actionable things to make progress, etc., because we spend so much time with his thoughts. and it's not perfectly linear and it does come way too late, but it is kind of wild to see this kind of best-case evolution unfold bit by bit. of course, the flipside to this is that real life doesn't work this way and you can never have absolute certainty that an abuser genuinely understands/won't go on to abuse again. still, being able to see a direct model for what accountability and working towards atonement looks like is refreshing, when by comparison so many other character arcs in other stories 1) end in redemption through death, 2) have the character barely do any internal work/stay an absolute asshole, or 3) resolve a past "sin" that actually wasn't that bad to begin with. when all three tropes are avoided, when someone did something unforgivable but is veritably changing for the better but is still alive, what the heck happens next? what the hell do you do? what does anyone do? some options are explored in mha in a pretty neat way--natsuo never wants to see enji, and enji agrees. touya wants to see enji every day (at least implicitly so) and enji makes that his vow. so many flawed parents irl are unable to respect their childrens' wishes when it comes to letting them completely go so they can live their lives, or when it comes to staying ever-present and showing them genuine care, and yet enji becomes a parent capable of doing both opposite-seeming things at once, finally willing to do and become what his children ask of him. the todoroki saga is certainly not perfect---i for one have *thoughts* about how the very end of rei's arc has been handled---but i think it's unique for how it benefits from providing so much of endeavor's pov, whereas other stories from an abuser's pov might have slapped on shitty apologia or only provided an "explanation" for why that character is so nasty without going too much further than that. while this choice may force some fans to have a level of closeness with a character whose presence begets feelings of hurt and hopelessness, it also makes sense why this choice has captivated other fans and provided, oddly enough, a sense of inspiration and hope.

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia is Officially Ending and I'm Fucking Coping 😭

So, it was officially announced early today, June 24th, 2024, by Shueshia and mangaka, Kohei Horikoshi, that My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia will officially end in 5 chapters on Chapter 430. The last chapter will be released at the beginning of August after 10 years of publication in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine if all goes well.

I woke up to this news. I'm sitting here on my laptop typing this as a way of coping tbh. On the outside, I'm numb and stunned. On the inside, I'M SCREAMING, CRYING, THROWING UP, MOURNING LIKE I LOST A LOVED ONE WTF 😭

*sigh* But, this was going to happen eventually. It was only a matter of when. When Horikoshi said that we would have more epilogue to cover, I thought "Maybe he'll give us 10 more chapters!" Turns out it is 6-7 chapters instead... In Horikoshi's defense, 6-7 chapters are much longer than what most mangaka have given us for epilogues to their stories. I'd rather have him give us 5 more chapters of an epilogue than rush it in 1-2. Plus, if possible, we could potentially get 19-20 pages per chapter which might be just enough to wrap everything up. And since final chapters of manga tend to be longer than usual, we could get extra pages in the last chapter to finish everyone's arcs and the story properly.

Still, it's so wild to see a series I have loved for years and have such a strong attachment to end as I am following it. I have been a part of many fandoms before and have stuck around them for years (Pokémon, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Breaking Bad, and many more), but it's not often that I've been there there to see a series come to it's conclusion. Sometimes that can turn out well (Breaking Bad) and other times I've seen it end badly (Supernatural; only read about it and it was not great. I bounced after season 13? and I am so sorry to the fandom). My Hero Academia is one of the very few series I will see through to the end.

I'm really coping here, honestly. I've been a fan of My Hero Academia since 2018. I first heard about the series randomly through the internet, but I didn't fully introduce myself to it until I listened to a cover of The Day on YouTube (I forget the artist, I'm so sorry). I thought the song was so cool and that led to me listening to more covers of MHA OPs (Peace Sign is still GOATed btw). This eventually led me to the manga and the anime where I became truly immersed in the series. I started reading the manga around the Joint Training Arc (I think) which was definitely an interesting time to read the manga because the chapters where so short due to Horikoshi dealing with health and I think moving conflicts at the time. It was still an enjoyable arc and enough to keep me interested in reading from the beginning. I want to say I started the anime around season 3?, but I started at the beginning and worked my way up from there. "Shoto Todoroki: Origin" was the episode that finally solidified my love for the series and is still my favorite episode of the series.

To say that MHA has an important place in my heart is an understatement. (⚠️Warning: very quick mention of suicide) I was very sad and depressed in the latter half of 2018. My life didn't feel like it was going anywhere and I was close to giving up entirely. (⚠️ ). Finding and loving MHA during that time honestly might have saved my life. As strange as it sounds, it was one of the few things that brought me genuine happiness at the time. I had something to look forward to every week and it was thrilling. I still remember debating whether Deku or Shoto was my favorite character. Shoto took the top spot in my heart, but Deku is a very close second 🩵💚.

Seeing MHA end is heartbreaking, honestly. I'm watching something I truly love come to an end. We'll still have the anime, movies, and spin-off series to keep us busy for the next few years, but the manga that started it all is coming to a close. It feels so, so surreal. God, is this how the Haikyuu fandom felt when it’s manga ended? My hope is that this fandom can be kept alive long after the series is over. The MHA fandom DEFINITELY has it's flaws, but it also has a lot of good in it too. I have seen incredible art and fanfics come from this fandom. I have laughed and hyped up some of the best moments of MHA with people who love it too. I know that the fandom is collectively mourning its end and I know we'll all cry bittersweet tears when it ends. If anything, I am glad to see Kohei Horikoshi end his momentous story on his own terms. I hope it ends up being one of the best manga endings in recent Shonen Jump like how Haikyuu's was. I think Horikoshi can do it. Regardless of how it ends, My Hero Academia will be one of my favorite pieces of fiction. I am really glad to be here to celebrate it.

[gentrychild]

5+ headcannons on an a Raadsc au where before getting isekaied Izuku was exposed to the theory that Izuku midoriya (the character) was all mights secret love child (and maybe that was part of the reason Bakugou wasn't given all for one) and somehow fully believed it. I don't remember if he only consumed fandom knowledge or read a variation of MHA, but in this au maybe he probably only knew fandom stuff.

1 - Izuku says that he has clear proof from canon that All Might is Midoriya Izuku's secret lovechild but his narration makes it clear that he is reaching for straws because he wants to be All Might's secret lovechild and you know what? He has just been isekaied as a doomed side character. He deserves this.

2 - After being rescued from the Sludge Villain, a slightly oxygen-deprived-Izuku informs All Might that he is his secret lovechild and that he needs his help to survive. All Might nods, understanding that this poor boy hit his head really hard, but sticks around long enough to actually see that the boy is in danger. It's like the entire world is out to get him.

3 - The Symbol of Peace himself has trouble keeping this one boy alive. He is so desperate that he doesn't even blink when he carries Young Midoriya home and sees his mom escorting him to a vault. He doesn't have children but if they are in so much danger, he understands the appeal of vaults!

4 - AFO comes back not even sooner in this AU because Inko informed him that he has been away from home so long that their son adopted All Might as his new father.

5 - Izuku is still convinced that All Might is his dad and thinks he is facing a Clark Kent and Superboy situation (he isn't aware that Connor is a clone because once again, he is fuzzy on the canon details of something) so he doesn't call him dad or anything but he is still convinced that he is his dad. Tells as much to Shouto. Meanwhile, All Might is googling if one can adopt a child who still has both parents.

[heylittlethoughts]

14Days of MHA - Day 1 - Family

@Pikahula posted about fourteen days of My Hero Academia. As much as they have given us, it felt wrong to not participate. MHA and this fandom has given me so much. I’ve written fanfic in private for some time and this felt like a good time to post some of it for the first time. Hope you enjoy my take on the Family prompt.

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Content warning/context: Festival Day included a family event. Reader, gender neutral, Class 1-A, family/childhood trauma (emotional, narcissist abuse, CPTSD). Found family fluff, Katsuki x Reader fluff. Word count: 1.8k

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Class 1-A made their way to the courtyard for their turns to meet up with their family members. You followed along quietly lost in a world of thoughts.

You understood why the school decided to add the family event. It was jarring for some students to be away from family. A part of you was worried that yours would show up today though, just to berate you yet again for picking a life they didn’t agree with. They signed off on the dorms more as way to get you out of their life than in acceptance of your choice to be a hero. Whatever their motive, you were excited to have a layer of protection from your family trying to antagonize you daily.

Mina interrupted your thoughts with a bubbly bump into your shoulder “Hey, are you excited?!”

���Oh, yeah for sure” you forced a cheerful smile.

“Raccoon eyes, what are you doing bumping into people?” Katsuki barked at her.

“I’m just excited.” she spun around in a circle while walking. “I haven’t seen them since…” You tuned out the conversation as you caught Katsuki’s gaze giving him an appreciative smile.

When families came up in conversation you brushed it off, kept things vague, or found some excuse to leave the conversation. It’s not like you remembered much of your childhood to have anything to tell. Therapist said that was the CPTSD trying to protect you, the build up of painful little moment after little moment over the years.

The only person who knew anything was Katsuki. Because of course he was observant of that too. One night studying at his house, he noticed you getting sad watching him interact with his parents, pressing it until you explained your situation. You don’t know if he fully understood being low or no contact with family. Even so, he helped take the attention off you when it came up in group conversations after that.

You found a bench on the edge of the courtyard and leaned back on your hands as you sat down. Seeing everyone smile and hug their families made you smile. Everyone was so happy, some of them crying with joy, others laughing, some bubbly excitement at catching up with family in person.

It all was almost enough to make you get up and join. Some of the groups were mingling together, it’s not like anyone would turn you away. As you started to shift to stand, you stopped yourself. This event isn’t for you. Let them all have their time with their families. Don’t be a burden, you thought.

That familiar wave of sadness, loneliness, anxiety, whatever it was, it washed over you. You threw your head back to look up at the sky. Blinking to the adjustment of light, or to blink away the tears that pricked at your eyes.

A woman’s voice forced your head to whip back forward. “Hi there.” It was Mitsuki.

“Hello.” You said as you sat up straight on the bench. You hadn’t notice how sprawled out your arms where. “Sorry, did you want to sit down?” you offered nervously. Had she seen me tearing up?

“Thank you, could use the break from all that commotion.” She laughed lightly as her hand motioned back towards Katsuki barking at Kaminari, while Masaru was apologizing to Kaminari’s family.

You couldn’t help the snicker that escaped and the genuine smile that crossed your face. For whatever reason Katsuki did that to you. Him just existing was like a bright star in the dark sky always leading you back to where you should be.

Mitsuki caught you watching her son. “That boy of ours is such a handful” she had the tone of years of exhaustion from raising him. It was the layer of love and admiration mixed in, that caught you off guard.

That was the difference, you thought. Your family would say you were exhausting but meant it to hurt, that they would have preferred not to have you, that you were a burden. Mitsuki loved her son through it all, his attitude, his explosive energy, she loved him. What does it feels like to have a family that actually loves you, you let your mind wonder before cutting the thought off and steadying your mind back to the conversation.

“He’s not all that bad.” you smiled “It’s just how he communicates.” You couldn’t help the flutter of butterflies in your stomach as you looked at Katsuki, now laughing with the group. He had the most amazing smile.

Before either of you could say anything else, you saw Katsuki notice you and his face change. Something of surprise, annoyance maybe, or was he flustered it was you talking to his mother. “Hey Hag, what are you doing bothering people?” He yelled.

“Katsuki!” Mitsuki stood with authority. “Could you behave yourself for once?” she yelled back at him. She turned back to you, “I’m so sorry for him.” she said with a sweet apologetic smile.

“None needed” you smiled as you laughed. You’d seen them interact before and knew he was nothing but bark towards her. You found it cute how they yelled and argued with each other, knowing it wasn’t from any place of anger or actual resentment, it was endearing.

As they continued to bicker from across the courtyard, your smile and laughter faded. You couldn’t stop the waves of emotions crashing into you. Your face slipped into your thoughts. I was so behaved, and yet they never treated me with such love. Why? What did I do wrong? Why wasn’t I good enough? Why couldn’t they just love me?

Even from his distance across the courtyard, Katsuki noticed your face drop. “YN, you good?” he called over, calmer, concerned. Their fighting put on pause as Mitsuki turned to look at you as well with that same concern across her face.

Tears were pooled at the rim of your eyes. “Huh?” you said as you blinked and they streamed down your cheeks, tuning you into why they were you looking at you with such concern. No, no, don’t be a burden.

You shook your head and brushed your eyes with the back of your hands. “I’m fine.” you called out, you didn’t even believe yourself. “I don’t know what happened” you steadied yourself a bit more. “Must have been a bug or something in my eye. I’ll be right back” you were already standing and a step towards the direction of the bathrooms before all the words were out.

“Dear.” Mitsuki said almost a whisper. She took the stride towards you and wrapped you in a tight hug.

What was happening? The mix of intrusive thoughts and the warmth of a genuine hug were pulling you at opposite ends. “I’m ok-ay” your voice breaking from the now full crying that was happening.

She gently shushed you as she pulled you in tighter. “It’s okay if this is hard.” How does she- Did Katsuki tell her?

“You’ve done so much for my son, please let me be here for you.” she pulled you back to arms length to look in your eyes. Her voice sterned, she made sure you were listening before saying “Family doesn’t have to blood. It’s who you want it to be. You are not robbed of new love because of any lack of it in the past.”

Your chin trembled as you held back sodding, tears escaping down your cheeks. She pulled you back into a hug. Maybe so you don’t embarrass her, crying out in the open like this. your sinical thought intruding. You forced it away. Maybe because this is how real parents comfort their kids. You thought to yourself in a softer voice. You wrapped your arms around her and pulled yourself into the embrace.

She continued “We will be here for you, anytime you need it.”

You let yourself sob, muffled into her.

She continued “You are important to my son, so you are important to me. More than that, you are amazing on your own. You don’t deserve to feel so alone, my dear.” You could feel her head shift looking back to everyone in the courtyard. “You have so many people here who are your family. I know any of them will let you lean on them when you need it. Okay?”

You nodded against her as your breath steadied. You weren’t sure if you fully believed her. You knew everyone here was your friend, but you never wanted to burden someone else with your mess of trauma. Would they still truly want to be there for you if they knew how much of a mess you actually were?

Your thoughts were interrupted at the sound of Katsuki barking from somewhere next to you. “What are you doing hag? Trying to suffocate them?”

You felt yourself move before you realized where you were going. Mitsuki had turned and softly pushed you into Katsuki’s arms. He hesitantly held you not sure what was happening.

“Katsuki, Stop yelling.” Mitsuki said as she hit the top of his hand passing by him back to Masaru in the courtyard. You saw her turn and smile sweetly towards you. Almost a giving permission or maybe giving the mom order of let it happen, let us love you.

Katsuki’s energy shifted, concerned, feeling the tension in your body and the jagged breaths from your crying. You were still sniffling as you regained composure. “Family shit get to you?” he said in a soft grumble as he hugged you with more intention.

“Yeah” you said softly curling into his chest. He was warm and smelled sweet. Something about him always calmed your nerves. Taking a deep breath, “I’m such a mess. I was trying so hard to not let it ruin anyone’s day.”

“Fuck that!” he barked above you. Taken aback, you looked up towards him. That cocky smile across his face. “You’re amazing. The only way you’re ruining anyone’s day is by sulking over here by yourself.” he said with confidence and a hint of pink crossing his face.

A soft smile settled on your face as you leaned into him. “Thank you” you mumbled sweetly into him. You could just barely see the pink turn a shade darker.

“Come on already.” he said turning away from you while grabbing you hand. “Let’s go back to the idiots.” This version of him was one of your favorites. He was softer, gentle even. He made you feel safe and important.

As you walked back to the groups of friends and their families, their bright faces washing away any anxiety you might have had joining in on their fun. You smiled and laughed and thought, maybe it was true. That it’s okay to be loved. It’s okay to make a new family.

That even though it was chance that you all were in the same class, that this was your family and you are forever grateful for them all.

[stillness-in-green]

What do you think about Horikoshi ending the manga without a canon couple? Do you ship or used to ship MHA characters? Did you see romantic potential? Do you think Horikoshi might confirm a couple later?

No canon couple?  Au contraire, my dear anon!  The manga ended with the most important canonization of all!

(Everybody give a huge hand to The Only Hets Who Matter, Gentle and La Brava; they deserve it.)

As to the ships people actually care about or were expecting some word on (e.g. the stuff with the students), my reaction there is overwhelmingly “lol gj hori”.  I’m glad he ended it with no canon student couple to speak of!  While I do sympathize with the position of certain people on Twitter who contend that Ochaco’s arc about repression really needed her to actually confess to Deku, I hated what her crush on Deku did to her arc anyway, so I don’t have it in me to be too annoyed.  Anyway, I don’t think it’s possible to do the Iron Might 2.0 part of the epilogue if Deku and Ochaco[1] have been dating the entire time, so I’m perfectly happy to run with the headcanon that she did confess at one point and it didn’t work out for whatever reason, so by the time the last chapter rolls around, they’ve just been friends for years.

1: Or Bakugou, for that matter, but with all due respect to the BakuDekus who haven’t been seeing Shonen Jump battle manga come and go for twenty years with nary a confirmed gay MC amongst them, that was never in the cards.

I remember posting once ages ago about a Japanese fan’s hope that Horikoshi, who the fan perceived as being at least somewhat progressive about women, could manage to end the series without a bunch of timeskip romances showing up at the last minute.  While I have some deep reservations about Hori’s progressive cred at this point in time, and am not tremendously impressed with his writing of women, either, credit where credit is due: he did end the series without any timeskip romances.

As to there being any confirmation of couples in the material we have remaining, I imagine the last train station[2] for that is going to be the final volume release in December, as, on top of the usual volume extras, Horikoshi should be considerably more free to include expansions that his schedule and exhaustion kept him from in the weekly publication.  I could even see a bonus chapter of some sort, maybe something post-epilogue so we can see the power suit in action or something silly and fourth wall-breaking to celebrate the series conclusion.  There’s also going to be one last fanbook released in January, which I have been assuming will be a data book like Ultra Archive.

2: Or harbor, I suppose, since we’re talking about ships.

Now, do I think any of that stuff will confirm ships?  Eh, that’s not really in my analytical wheelhouse.  The farthest I’d venture to guess is that I would a) not be surprised to get some clarification on Deku and Ochaco, and b) definitely peg the volume release to have material like that over squirreling it away in the fanbook.

For myself, my shipping habits are somewhat erratic—it’s not really where my primary engagement in media lies, and certainly not for this series!  But that’s not to say I don’t have ships, or that I’m not happy to talk about them, so if you’re curious about that, do feel free to hit the jump.  I’ll order them by general sphere first, then by how passionate I am about them compared to ones I just think are kinda cute or funny for whatever reason.

DISCLAIMER: While I have not explicitly stated as much here before, I am a 40-year-old asexual proshipper, proshipper here meaning I'm in favor of curating your own fandom space and not harassing people about their fictional ships under any circumstances.  When I say I ship something, that does not mean I’m idealizing the relationship, want it to be canon, think it would be cool in real life, or am mentally putting myself in the place of one the characters.  It’s solely because there’s something in the dynamic I think is fun or interesting, and “interesting” can very much include the same kind of interest one might have in watching a building get demolished. 

That is to say, there are a handful of Too Problematic For Tumblr ships in here—one age gap but otherwise wholesome, one age gap and tacitly abusive, and one that really hits the Tumblr Trifecta by being age gap, abusive and incestuous. I've put all three at the very bottom in their own section in descending order of Most BadWrong, but if you’re one of those people deep into The Discourse about how ships need to be Morally Correct otherwise the shippers are terrible people who should kys, this is not the post for you.  The block button’s there if you need it—and be advised that it’s there if I need it, too, and I’m not afraid to use it. (I grew up in dark fantasy shoujo fandoms; I am not litigating my ships with anybody.)

~~~Stillness’s Dubious and Delightful BNHA Ship Opinions~~~

Villain-o-rama-rama:

Spinarakiya, ShigaRD, Spinaraki: Alas for my short-lived OT3!  I was really, really pumped for this in the stretch between MVA and the early stages of the first war, what with there being such interesting possible angles between all three parties, only for Re-Destro to get arrested and never seen in person again, Spinner to get snatched up by Gigantomachia and never look back, and Shigaraki to get lost to the possession plot for, at least as far as scenes with his allies were concerned, basically the rest of the series.

Not exactly great material for my shipping heart, though I’ll refrain from the rant comparing how long the PLF members were living in close contact with each other compared to the League of Villains and why that should have meant they developed stronger relationships than what we got.

But canon being what it is, I do still ship the hell out of these three in a canon divergence situation, or any number of potential AUs.  I love the connective tissue there, with Re-Destro + Shigaraki having some startlingly strong background parallels and lasting injuries courtesy of each other, Shigaraki + Spinner having the gaming and the emptiness themes, and Spinner + Re-Destro having their Big Gay Feelings About Shigaraki as well as an appreciation for patterned fabrics some shared early frustrations about Shigaraki’s seeming lack of plans or direction.

It's a good dynamic, and I think they could all do a lot for each other, though certainly not in ways that are good for the continued survival of Hero Society.  But fuck Hero Society anyway.

As to the component parts, I don’t ship Re-Destro and Spinner without Shigaraki being at least an invisible part of the dynamic (though I would read the fic where he wasn’t with considerable interest!), but I’m also very much on board with ShigRD and Spinaraki individually.  My constant refrain about Shigaraki and RD is that they have a lot of common ground but very little common language, and I’m fascinated by how much of that they could recognize in each other and how much of it they could then recognize back in themselves, versus how much you’d get one of those cases of, “This guy is a freak and I’m so normal.”

It's so, so, so important to me that Re-Destro is the first ally Shigaraki won entirely on his own merits.  He's got no borrowed reputation from Stain, no monsters on loan from Sensei, and no help from people on Sensei’s payroll, yet still, as a result of his efforts (both in his own fights and in making the League his own, even if it didn’t start that way) he wins himself an army and a follower who never saw a light that wasn’t his.

I weep for the Shigaraki/Re-Destro relationship we could have had if Horikoshi didn’t decide that Shigaraki in the endgame was to be nothing but a pawn, and therefore couldn’t be allowed to keep any of his markers of independence and growth.

As to Spinaraki, man, what is there even to say?  The relationship so clear and obvious that it had even the mhatwt bros out there saying, “Spinaraki but at what cost?” in the last chapter!  I will admit that I liked them better when their romance had that apocalyptic tinge than when it suddenly started getting painted as primarily about them being Gamer Bros, but at least that melancholic “beauty at the end of the world” shading came back when Shigaraki talked about destroying Mount Fuji for Spinner (be still my heart!).    

They will meet and be close in every world and I will hear nothing else.

RiKoku: I don’t think I truly understood the appeal of ex-lover ships until these two.  They snuck up on me in a big way, pretty much entirely a result of my realization when I was halfway through the (first and only, sadly) MLA Week event that Trumpet was pretty free-roaming and independent from Re-Destro all the way through Deika only to be glued to his side from there on out.  Together with the Spinner parallels (the subordinates who fought each other and then came together to the crater to see their worlds remade) and my jokes about wanting to see the MLA heads during their stressed-out, over-achiever college years, all the pieces fell into place for a Rikiya and Koku who had dated for a few years and then broken up when Rikiya realized that his authority as Re-Destro—and Koku’s strong subordination to that authority—meant that he could not responsibly stay in the relationship.  (This also presents several good explanations for why a man in Rikiya’s situation isn’t married with at least one child already.)

Anyway, to me, they never really fell out of love with each other; Re-Destro just couldn’t justify overlooking the power dynamic problems once he realized how extreme they were.  (This does make for a fun alternate angle on RD’s personal life post-Deika, wherein Trumpet watches RD pass the mantle of leadership to Shigaraki Tomura and then more or less immediately pounces on him because now he doesn’t have the power dynamic excuse anymore.  Look up the great Whatever Is Spared by @leftofrevolution on AO3 for more on this.)

Overhonest: I just like Nemoto much more than I like Chrono, and thus my Overhaul ship of choice follows suit.  I like the idea that their feelings are wildly unbalanced but not totally one-sided—Overhaul has more baggage than a freshly loaded airport carousel, but he does like the Shie Hassaikai, as proven by them being mentioned in the Likes section of his character page. Nemoto in particular is someone whose presence we know Overhaul finds reassuring and we know it because he told Nemoto so directly when Nemoto asked, which means it can’t be anything other than the plain truth.  He relies on Nemoto enough to make demands of him, he expects (and gets!) effectiveness, and he even bothers to take the time to justify out loud why it would be okay for him to merge himself with Nemoto physically (because Nemoto would say yes if asked, right? of course he would) rather than just doing it with no thought to Nemoto’s feelings about it because why should he care about that.

And Nemoto, for his part, is of course an obsessive weirdo who’s totally smitten with the first person he’s ever found who legitimately wants him around, so smitten that he’ll happily overlook the fact that Overhaul primarily wants him around because he’s useful.

Moving away from what’s on-the-page canon, I enjoy (and write) the take that Overhaul is sex-repulsed, not because he’s fully asexual, but as an extension of his mysophobia.  This makes his sex life extremely fraught, but not non-existent.  When I dabble with writing them (and they’re by far the ship I’ve written the most explicit material for in this fandom), I write him as basically a sex-repulsed demi (not that he would know or use that terminology!) who is attracted to Nemoto but has been largely left aggravated and sexually frustrated by their periodic experiments in non-traditional ways of getting him off.  (Nemoto, for his part, is more than willing to keep trying!  No kink is too weird for this guy if it means finding something Overhaul would actually like.)

(To get real here for a second, if Spinarakiya is meaningful to me as a person who’s comfortably poly, Overhonest is meaningful to me as an asexual person who's only ever had allosexual partners.)

AFOUji: Truly the Evil Husbands of all time.  I wish the shift from Final Boss Shigaraki to Final Boss AFO hadn’t left Ujiko with a few truly inexplicable characterization beats,[3] because I truly do love these two as just the worst pair of mutually enabling monsters making the world worse and more dangerous for everyone while being 100% supportive of each other’s passions the entire time.  Here’s to 70 years of Dark Lord/Mad Scientist domestic bliss.

3: For the record, I consider these to be his, “I've only been living for the boy's sake,” line in Chapter 269 and his clear reticence and dissastisfaction with Shigaraki getting the surgery in Chapter 240.

DabiSkep: Skeptic is the only man Dabi has ever thanked for his contributions.  Dabi goes out of his way to kidnap him.  I’m 90% convinced that they’d been working on the video together prior to the Villa raid.  The combination of Skeptic’s deep and abiding neuroticism with Dabi’s swings between lazy malice and manic pushiness is extremely funny.  What can I say; it’s just about the only Dabi ship that really clicks for me.  I enjoy leftof’s take that Skeptic had a goth phase he never completely exited and so Dabi appeals to his inner Hot Topic teen, which he is 100% aware of and 150% embarrassed by.

   

School Environs:

Mirio/Tamaki: Tamaki literally regains consciousness at the exact moment Mirio loses his quirk.  Other than cases where there’s some actual explanation for that—a magical connection, psychic powers, etc.—I have never seen that kind of beat happen outside of a shoujo manga.  The bit where one romantic lead just mysteriously has a Bad Feeling in the same instant that something Bad happens to their love interest is so shoujo-coded.  Jesus Christ, Tamaki is so moe.  And Mirio so clearly thinks the world of him, too, as evinced by what an over-the-top sobriquet he dubbed Tamaki with.  They’re great, end of story.

Monoma/Shinsou: I’ll admit I liked this somewhat better when I thought there was any chance at all Shinsou might end up in Class B—I kind of loathe that he wound up in Class A for the self-evidently terrible reason that it’s The Main Character Class, when it seems so obviously a conflict of interest for Aizawa to be teaching him.  But eh, it’s okay; it just means Monoma will have to nobly learn to look past it after a lot of time spent being completely obnoxious about it.

My annoyance with Shinsou’s class placement aside, Monoma is one of my favorite students, and I like that he immediately latches onto Shinsou as a kindred spirit.  And, like, if that were 100% one-directional, I would probably shrug it off, but Shinsou, despite trying to play at being aloof, does actually get invested enough that he gets pretty bothered by the idea of Monoma needing help, even in something as inconsequential as a class exercise.  It’s just a much, much more interesting dynamic than Shinsou has with Deku or especially Kaminari.

Also, as someone with a bit of a Thing for mind fuckery, the way Copy and Brainwash can play off each other is Good.

MomoJirou: The fanart is cute and I like Momo better than Kaminari.  And the culture clash thing is fun.

Shouto/Inasa: The fanart is cute and I like Inasa better than Deku or Bakugou.

   

Professional Sphere:

Hawksdeavor:The age gap adds flavor.  The fact that Endeavor is still married but deeply unhappily so makes it even spicier.  The difference in what they represent (or could potentially represent) to each other is the best part, with Hawks, for Endeavor, being someone who represents a totally clean page, while Endeavor, for Hawks, represents a lifelong adoration.  Finding each other’s reality in all of that would be an interesting relationship arc and could be extremely fulfilling and strengthening for both of them.

The spoiler is (or at least should have been, if I’d been writing the series) their divided feelings on Dabi.  Honestly, I really wanted to see them clash over the matter of Touya and how to deal with him, with Endeavor wanting to save him but not knowing how and Hawks just wanting him gone but not knowing how to get away with it.  A certain pair of facts is glaring to me: first, that Hawks was a chief architect of the second war’s battle plans, whereas we never saw Endeavor involved with them at all, and second, that, when the big day came, Endeavor was slated to fight All For One with Hawks at his side despite at least some guilty protests from Enji that he really ought to be facing Dabi.

It smacks strongly of Hawks making some profoundly selfish decisions under the guise of clear-headed strategy and I really wanted it to blow up in his face when Dabi found his way to their battlefield anyway.  Pushing Endeavor into a place where he had to choose between them and ultimately chose his son (say, by protecting him from an attack coming from Hawks) would have been validating for Touya, done a lot to lever Endeavor’s arc out of the reactiveness and passivity that drag it down so badly in the canon, and also handed Hawks a real consequence for how dismissively he treats the lives of Villains and how much he’s tried to avoid reckoning with both Endeavor’s abuse and Enji’s own attempts to do said reckoning!

In summary, Hawks and Endeavor could be very good for each other, and the incredible amount of baggage they’d have work through first would be key to either making that good ending feel earned or lead to them dramatically and deliciously imploding.  Either one works for me, and either one, even without the romantic angle, would have been more interesting than the pablum we got.

NightMight: Speaking of could-have-been-good relationships that dramatically imploded!  I love Sir Nighteye as the most visible cost of All Might’s lifestyle, the one he lost because he couldn’t step away from the path his ideals had set out, and how that ideal inevitably took him full circle so that he found himself standing, for Deku, in the same place Nighteye once stood for him.  And of course by then it was too late and Deku wouldn’t listen to him anymore than he himself listened to Nighteye back then.

But Nighteye didn’t give up on caring about him, even if he had no avenue left to express it but throwing himself into finding a successor All Might would accept, which led to Nighteye's own (wonderful) relationship with Mirio.

Just great, difficult, adult stuff about irreconcilable differences that never stopped them from caring about each other even as those differences forced them to their parting of ways.

Mount Lady/Kamui Woods: They’re cute and I like the idea that they both have trouble, for opposite reasons, with cameramen.  I like that he calls her just Lady when he thinks she’s in trouble.  And not to put too fine a point on it, but I like that they’re kinda the most explicit Pro Hero couple and yet she’s the more prominent and important character with the more visible arc, which is a nice contrast to most of the other hetero relationships in this benighted manga.

   

Other/Cross-faction:

Togachaco: The yuri ship that could.  My god, the canon divergence I want to give these two.  You know why I want Deku and Ochaco to not be together in the end?  Because I want Ochaco to realize that she did everything in her power to save her Villain while Deku—after all that talk on the cliff!—just killed his, and triggered Toga just before he left to do it, meaning Ochaco had a harder time with Toga than she might have otherwise.

But, I’m not here to talk about No. 2 Green; let’s talk instead about the canon divergence where Toga survives (shove that absurd death-via-blood-transfusion right into the incinerator) and then Ochaco has to come face to face with a system that does not want to let her be anywhere near as kind as she wants to be.  The canon divergence where Ochaco realizes that her forgiveness is immaterial to justice, where she watches the system she fought to defend gear up to try Toga as an adult because Japan needs a scapegoat for the destruction of the war and all of the people who are actually most responsible are already dead or dying.  Where Ochaco realizes that she has to do something drastic if she doesn’t want to live the rest of her life haunted by the knowledge that her compassion got a 17-year-old victim of emotional and psychiatric abuse executed by the state.  The one where she decides to take a fucking stand, and it forces the rest of her class to confront that need as well.

“The cutest girl in the whole world,” my god.

Kotarou and Nao: I’m not as big on it by the time we’re seeing them in the Tenko flashback, though I certainly wasn’t pulling for some mean-spirited, allegedly feel-good “Nao slaps Kotarou and the whole family walks out of him” thing like you see in fanfic sometimes.  No, what I really like with Kotarou and Nao is thinking about them when they’re both still young, in the stretch of years where they really think they'll be happy together.  That her being with him can make all his problems go away, that him being able to bury his past and be better than all the people who hurt him (and there were so many people who hurt him) will be enough, that love is the answer to everything. Sure, the cracks are there, but they’re thin, and they can be hidden beneath all the days when things are good, when the two of them hold each other and feel safe and loved and sure.

The cracks are still there, and love isn’t enough when love becomes a band-aid and a blind eye.  But the love is still there too, and it’s so fierce and so desperate, and it still won’t save them.

Sorry, everyone; they make me emotional.  They are beautiful in the way of sparks dancing above flames, or early flowers blooming right before a vicious cold snap.  Ah, me.

StainMight: GOD, All Might really needed to grapple more with Stain’s side of his legacy.  Like, StainMight is really a victim of the way the story looked like it was setting up to criticize All Might’s methodology as well-intended but not sustainable long-term, but then, like every other aspect of the series that was about systemic critique, that criticism just evaporated and Stain became an All Might cheerleader with nothing to say about the system All Might supported for thirty years.  Maddening!  But for real, All Might should have been badly hurt in that car attack and then rescued by Stain, both to give Deku some stress about how All Might could be in danger after they parted on bad terms, and also to really make All Might have to sit with this opinionated zealot all-too-prepared to talk about how no one else is really living up to his example.

And there should be UST the whole time.

Yoichi and Kudou: I am almost entirely negative towards the OFA Collective these days, especially Kudou’s role in the endgame, but I still have some fondness for what he and Yoichi could have been.  My god, the first One For All transfer really should have been because they kissed.  More beautiful, more tragic, more profound, and preserves the Yoichi that had some actual fucking agency in the life he lived instead of just constantly being AFO’s or Kudou’s trophy princess there to talk about how respectively terrible and awesome they are.

TogaTsuyu: I just think it would be interesting if Tsuyu were actually allowed to be more present in the Toga plotline, rather than only arriving as a spoiler to avert major shifts every time.  Toga says she likes Tsuyu, too, after all, and Tsuyu is so different from both Ochaco and Deku, so much more thoughtful and considered.  I dunno, I just wonder how things might have gone if, for example, it had been Tsuyu that Toga managed to draw away in the Jakku fight.  Given that side story with her snakey friend Habuko, evidence suggests that Tsuyu is a good deal more observant and intuitive than Ochaco, and I wonder if she might have been able to suss out what Toga was actually asking there better than Ochaco did, and how that might have changed things.

   

.

.

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THE TUMBLR PROBLEMATIC ZONE:

Gentle Criminal and La Brava: I was willing to follow the canon’s initial vagary about these two, but I also like them quite a bit together, so if canon wants to put them in wedding rings at the end of the series, that’s fine by me!  Yes, I’m aware that there’s a pretty significant age gap there, which would have been at its most apparent when she first sought him out, but I don’t for one single instant believe that he’d be anything less than a total gentleman to her.  Indeed, it’d be entirely plausible to mount an argument based on his behavior that they were not at all romantically involved circa the Culture Festival arc,[4] and only become so after Gentle’s imprisonment and subsequent release.  But in general, what I’m more concerned with is the dynamic—I regard a power differential in a relationship as a reason for both parties to be cautious and mindful of that differential, but not as an immediate game-ender.

4: Most obvious is that when she says, “I love you,” he only says things like, “Thank you,” in return.

In that sense, Gentle and La Brava are great—they click together perfectly and obviously make each other tremendously happy after a lifetime of rejection.  La Brava, in Gentle’s theatrical attention-seeking, finds someone who accepts her overflowing way of showing love; Gentle, in living up to La Brava’s feelings, finds a reason for his skewed heroism beyond satisfying his pride.  To whatever extent their life together was heading anywhere bad (and there’s no evidence of this at all save that Heroes were always likely to catch up to them eventually, making La Brava’svery extreme response to Gentle’s defeat likewise inevitable), Deku’s intervention got them off of that path and back onto one that let them be accepted by the world, which they seem to have capitalized on marvelously.

They’re the only Villains I can think of whose turn to Team Hero in the endgame works for me without any significant quibbles.  Good for them!  I hope they are so, so happy together, because they deserve it.

AFO and Kotarou: MEANWHILE, IN MY OTHER KOTAROU SHIP.  I love AFO knowing Everything about what he’s doing here while Kotarou knows absolutely Nothing about what AFO is doing here.  I love an AFO who is self-amused in being friendly and reassuring and distractingly attractive to Kotarou, an AFO who knows that his toying with Kotarou would make Shimura Nana sick with terror and rage, and even if she isn’t alive to be so anymore, the fantasy of it is satisfying enough, especially since Kotarou is himself a very handsome young man, one whose hurt and resentment AFO finds beguiling to sometimes prod at, as if unable to leave a bruise alone except the bruise isn’t on his own skin.

I have an AU I’m never likely to write where Kotarou winds up successfully knocking out Tenko on the night of the accident before going on the run with him, only for them to get picked up by AFO a few weeks later, and let me tell you guys, that’s where all my guilty pleasure AFO/Kotarou really lives.

That said, I liked this one much better before we got the opening for it in canon, and not just because AFO’s disguise persona was doofy-looking instead of devastatingly handsome.  It was always one of those ships that tickled my inner hedonistic wickedness fancier but that I never wanted to be canon because my affection for the ship's vibe was not more important to me than the integrity of Shigaraki’s arc, and Shigaraki’s arc was far better served by his early childhood being as free from AFO as possible.  Alas, the reveal is very AFOtarou but at what cost.

Dabideavor: Sorry not sorry everyone, but all the people screaming about how this is SICK FILTH seem to have missed the point that it is indeed, absolutely and completely, sick filth and that’s part of the appeal.  Personally, I like it for two main reasons.

Firstly, I want Endeavor to have as hard a time as possible, and times don't get harder than this. I enjoy it when he's frozen and helpless in the face of the son whose life he destroyed because I have a long history of enjoying stoic male characters being made vulnerable through suffering.

Secondly, and more importantly, I like it because I like the version of Dabi you see in it, particularly compared to the Fanon Dabi who made so much League of Villains fan content un-fucking-readable for years.

I'm going to try to keep the hot fandom tea to a minimum here, limited to the upcoming footnote, but I hated Fanon Dabi.[5] He was an incoherent mash of a character designed to be a vehicle for the unabashed revenge fantasy of bloody murder against Bad Dads while also presenting no danger whatsoever of splash damage, a Woobie Big Brother who was completely harmless except to the father whose organs he was planning to paint the walls with. Every excuse that could be made, would be made, for Dabi's more questionable or even outright nasty moments, even if it meant minimizing or outright erasing the harm we saw Dabi do, right there on the page in literal manga monochrome.

5: There's a particular type of flanderization that goes into Fanon Dabi, the same kind of flanderization I saw attached to Steven Universe's Lapis Lazuli, and which informed the absolute umbrage certain people took with Rebecca Sugar for describing Spinel, the SU movie's villain, as toxic. There is a portion of fandom that loves abuse victims who get angry and lash out, but which will go absolutely ballistic at the slightest suggestion that abuse victims are themselves also capable of harm, that lashing out has the potential to hurt innocent people. In a perfectly executed DARVO, it becomes "victim blaming" to confront an abuse victim about the very real abuse they're inflicting on others. I only specified fictional characters here, but it's a dynamic you see in real life, too. Some people hunger for nothing so much as an acceptable target and abuse victims are not exempt from that statement.

The Dabi I thought was fun was the high-energy maniac who doesn't give a shit about anyone else getting caught in the crossfire of his revenge. Both that version of Dabi and the Endeavor who's paralyzed with guilt and despair are facilitated by Dabi’s father-obsession having a taboo sexual dimension to it that Dabi is all too ready to shove in the face of absolutely everyone who would think worse of Endeavor for it.  That means Endeavor himself, of course, but also all the good little civilians who Endeavor keeps telling to watch him.  Watch this, says Dabi, as he makes lewd hand gestures on force-streamed national television.

It's not about Dabi healing as an abuse victim, and it’s not about Dabi having a fulfilling arc—covering that stuff was canon's job!  It's about the fact that I, for reasons both personal and related to fandom spite, am personally entertained by Dabi being pedal-to-the-metal deranged about doing whatever it takes to seize Daddy’s attention and never let him look away again, which also means acting to ensure that no one is capable of or willing to save Endeavor from that fate. Like, if you want someone who would spend ten years plotting the most agonizing possible way to torment his abuser, then it’s sophistry to suddenly declare some agonizing torments off-limits.  Dabideavor is just committing to the bit.

[sugoi-and-spice]

My actual prediction for [REDACTED's] fate at the end of MHA, and just my big ol' meta on the whole situation.

Sadly, I don't think Shigaraki is coming back to life. I really fucking hope he does, but I can't believe it for two weeks and then watch it not happen, I will break . Yeah Horikoshi loves his fake out deaths... But idk, Shigaraki 's body is pretty damn gone. And he tends to pull his punches less when it comes to villains (Twice anyone?!)

I truthfully think the best chance we have of seeing him again is through One for All.

Shigaraki 100% transferred OFA back to Deku with that last bloody fist bump. That moment was a huge part of Horikoshi’s original ending with Bakugo, and I wouldn’t be surprised (or mad) if he decided to try to work it into this new version of his ending.

I think we probably will see Shigaraki again and get some more of that context and closure that we’re looking for, but it will be as a vestige within OFA. That’s my prediction, that’s the best direction that I can imagine this ending going in my little lizard writer brain. And I don’t think I’ll be mad about that. (But idk man, talk to me again in like 2 weeks lol).

I’ve always had a hard time believing that Shigaraki was going to make it out of this series alive. Of course, I’ve always wanted Horikoshi to find a clever way for him to do so without totally betraying his character -- I never believed that Shigaraki should fully join the side of the heroes. It’s just so antithetical to his mission and the message of MHA, nor could he ever just… live a normal life with every crime he committed, and him spending his life in prison would be just as miserable as him dying like this imo, no fucking freedom there. Sure, the simp in me wanted an ending where he got a redemption and life, but I certainly wasn’t optimistic. It would be a HARD fucking thing to do. I certainly don’t know how I would do it if I was in Horikoshi’s shoes, as a fellow professional writer (not just of romance either. I write and edit YA action fiction in my normie job, fun fact). I had hoped Horikoshi would figure it out, and a part of me is obviously hoping that Kurogiri managed to pull some hijinks and somehow warp him away, then he and his friends go on to live like little rats the way they have for the majority of the series, forever, buuuut-

I did always have a feeling he was probably going to go the Vader route.

Honestly, him dying beating the shit out of All for One is a pretty great exit for his character, feels more true than him sacrificing himself for the heroes’ side or humanity’s sake. It is the quickness with which this all occurred, the off-screen rescuing he had by Nana Shimura, and the lack of bodily autonomy in his death that I think is pissing people off. (It’s certainly what’s pissing me off). If we had even just gotten a moment of him having full control of his body again, looking up to the sky and seeing his friends waiting for him as he decayed away – or you know, just a death that lasted longer then two damn pages – I think the reactions wouldn’t be so visceral.

That being said. Horikoshi is a master chef, particularly when it comes to stories of recovering from trauma and getting closure, as well as tying up loose threads imo (remember when everyone though that he FORGOT the traitor plotline? Boy was that an embarrassing time for the fandom lmao),  and this man has been cooking for a while now. MHA has been the best it has ever been in this Final Saga and I don’t think he’s done with this dish just yet, nor do I think he’s done with Shigaraki. Physically? Probably. But everything that Shigaraki represents and stands for in this series, no I don’t think this is the end of that. Just because we didn’t see those moments we wanted in this last chapter, doesn’t mean we won’t see them in the next.

So as shell-shocked as I am right now to see my ultimate comfort character (who I have a tattoo of by the way lol) fade away into dust, I’m gonna trust the process and Horikoshi for now.

It ain’t over til it’s over, as it were.

Peace.

(And all that being said, I probably will still write a fix it fanfic where he lives instead, regardless of how this is handled lmao)

[mamashenanigans]

Alrighty guys. It’s time once again for me to discuss AFO and his “feelings”.

First and foremost: it’s quite disappointing how many fans discount anything to do with AFO. There’s some unbridled anger that seems to be derived from a love for another character(often Tomura/Tenko) which is a shame because these people are missing out on some amazing context clues, possibly on purpose, because they don’t want to acknowledge the possibility that AFO isn’t a one dimensional villain.

At the beginning of MHA, the same could be said of All Might. He seemed to just be a one dimensional hero until we started to get his backstory. That’s when he became relatable and no longer just All Might, but Yagi Toshinori. AFO is supposed to be his antithesis, so it would actually be strange if AFO didn’t have something that made him relatable as well. For All Might, it was a student teacher bond and the experience of him having lived a life as a Quirkless individual(like Deku).

AFO is evil, but how does one become evil? Is an individual born that way or does circumstance cause them to embrace something that is considered evil by everyone else. Prime AFO(the now regenerated original AFO) has spoken briefly about why he does things and it seems to point in that sort of direction.

In the flashbacks to AFO and Yoichi, AFO makes excuses for his actions as bringing “order”, an obsession reiterated by TomurAFO. When speaking to his brother, AFO never states he is evil. He even makes it clear that what his followers have done wasn’t by his own hands, so there is no blood on them. Obviously, we know that isn’t really true, but the man is trying really hard to make his brother, and perhaps himself, believe it is true. What’s interesting is that AFO has embraced the title of “evil” in the present time. What changed between the past and now? Hmm….

With the excellent flashback Hori gave us in the last issue, we are presented with a sad AFO. So much so, that the tears don’t stop even while he kills the 2nd user. Just through art, there’s a fury there. One so deep, that AFO is eerily calm. The most dangerous he could be. Why is he crying? It’s fairly obvious: the only thing that could invoke such an emotion in the “Demon King” would be the death of his brother. Though long ago now in terms of the MHA manga, the one time we get a hint of humanity from AFO is when he states that he loves Yoichi. A being like him loving anything is already quite a feat and, of course, there’s been both outer and inner dialogue concerning his brother ever since. AFO considers OFA itself as “little brother” and his obsession with taking it back means a lot in the story.

This is because, for a villain that wants to rule the world, the only power that could counter him is OFA. However…he’s obviously allowed every prior OFA user to transfer the power, even though he killed them all(except the 4th if I remember correctly). We can theorize that he may not have known very early on with 2nd and 3rd and even 4th that what is left of Yoichi resides within the power, but he attempted to take the power from Banjo and En. It is those interactions that seems to have propelled him to the ultimate plan of molding a body with hate so strong he can overpower OFA’s will. AFO allowed the users to give the power away before killing them as doing so otherwise would “kill” what was left of Yoichi. It would be incredibly easy to just kill these users WITH OFA still a part of them as that would take away the ultimate threat to his desires. But we know there’s another, deeper desire: AFO wants Yoichi.

Now, let us again reference Darth Vader, the character that is obviously, in some ways, an inspiration for AFO.

Darth Vader was considered the ultimate, badass villain ever…before the end of Empire Strikes Back. Fanzine fanfics, fandom talk, and etc, in the early days of Star Wars shows this. However, Empire Strikes Back does something many regular viewers miss: the mannerisms of Vader, as much of his emotion is derived from body language, shows the viewer that there is much more behind the mask. After revealing Luke’s parentage, his son is able to escape, even with all of Vader’s plans in place. With the Falcon escaping, Vader attempts to reach his son through the force and his words hold a weight that fans at the time may have been confused by. There’s a want there. He is desperate. He’s begging. After the Falcon hits light speed and escapes, Vader’s mannerisms in front of the window of the Executor speaks more volume than words: he can’t believe it. He lost the only thing he has left of a wife he loved so much he gave up his humanity. He turns away then back. Then we have Admiral Piett, expecting to be force choked out of existence, but Vader’s sadness causes him to not even care. It is this introduction of emotion from an otherwise terrifying villain that started to cause the fandom to rethink this character. Mind you, there was nothing else besides this other than the novelizations.

Little things like mannerisms can mean a lot in the long run for villains. With AFO, we are shown his tears, the crying purposefully highlighted by Hori reversing the usual shadowing of AFO’s eyes to shadowing the lower half of his face instead. Hori wants you to concentrate on AFO’s eyes. He wants you to internalize AFO’s tears. They matter.

Now, harking back to my statement about what “makes someone evil”: Vader fell to the Dark Side because he wanted to save someone he loves. This love transformed into obsession and possession as he continued down the black hole of the Dark Side. Anakin was already about Order, but it became an obsession as Order would mean that he had CONTROL over everything around him, something a once slave boy would need in order to mentally survive. The Jedi Order gave him that, for a time, before he became jaded as the love he felt for his wife was considered abhorrent.

So, was AFO’s idea of Order and desire to rule just a whim? Or did he experience an insane upheaval of humanity when Quirks manifested? There was no Order and it probably affected the brothers as they tried to survive in a world turned upside down. Although there is obviously selfishness behind it(same as with Anakin), AFO still tries to rationalize his reasoning as being a means to create Order in the world. However, his brother knows him intimately, as a family member, and can parse through his brother’s words. For someone that probably made Order an excuse for all his actions, this would be quite annoying for AFO.

But why does he readily call himself evil now? Because “good”, because “heroes”, were why Yoichi died. The idealism of them already turned Yoichi against him with what he considers foolish, but it was also vigilantes, heroes in their day, that took Yoichi away from him and filled his head with more idealism. It probably caused Yoichi’s death. With tears presented as such, we can easily accept that Yoichi’s death was not purposeful, but probably a, what AFO considers, symptom of this heroic idealism. So what is one to do when they believe this is why their loved one died? Especially if they can’t accept the fact that their own decisions caused the death in the first place? Blame the heroes. And what is the opposite of the hero? The villain. AFO takes on the mantle of evil, not because he just wants to be evil, but because it’s the opposite of the ideals that caused his brother’s death.

I’m hopeful, especially with this flashback, that we’ll get more of the brothers’ backstory and also a better understanding of why AFO became the Symbol of Evil he is now. I feel that revealing it and examining it would fit more with the messages of MHA than the usual Shonen fair we’re used to.

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.

EDIT: In case people missed my post about it…I often do theory dumping when I’ve had a “bit” to drink. So, yeah, you are partly reading the drunken thoughts of a nerdy person.