#I mean I think he’s blunt and rude cuz he’s an asshole too. both can be true

[fredbydawn]

Just now noticing the way Strahm fidgets with the pen while watching the tape of Hoffman and Jill, and I love it cuz

A. it’s very cool foreshadowing, especially considering he’s holding it right by his neck

B. tehe he stimming, which again, the amount of men his age in agencies like the FBI or CIA who have undiagnosed autism is more than you would think

C. something something Freudian, Hoffman got him up playing with his penis

[codenamesazanka]

In the mood to complain about Dabi cuz why not :P

Dabi is: an asshole who’s super rude to Spinner, and Horikoshi establishes this in a rather interesting - and more importantly, unsympathetic - way.

IIRC, there are two times in the manga where Spinner is called a ‘lizard’. 

The first time by Dabi, during the Overhaul Highway Incident. 

I think at the time, this whole scene was meant to be lighthearted and causally establishing several things about the characters - Dabi reveals he gets carsick of all things and he’s sorta careless and awkward; Spinner is a gamer nerd who can’t actually drive; and more importantly, Spinner dislikes being called ‘Lizard’. 

Still, it seemed to be just a blunt nickname, what do you expect from the rude, rough Dabi? Besides, he right, isn’t he? Spinner looks like a lizard.

The second time, however, it’s in a complete reverse in tone and meaning, by the hate-group Creature Rejection Clan when the League tries to rob them. 

It’s a panel dedicated solely to showing the CRC members singling out Spinner to call him a ‘lizard’, and ‘disgusting’. It’s obviously meant to be dehumanizing. To them, Spinner isn’t a human with a quirk that gives him a reptile-like appearance - instead he’s entirely an animal. 

This is at the very beginning of Chapter, 220, the official first chapter of the My Villain Academia arc. It’s a very significant opening scene - more so since it’s Spinner’s POV, making this confrontation personal to him (and somewhat to us, reading his narration). Spinner’s a mutant-type, there are words society uses to label him that he dislikes, and the shit that the CRC does, targets him.

Suddenly, Spinner being called ‘lizard’ isn’t treated like a lighthearted jab anymore. Now we know the ramifications of describing Spinner like so, and we see it’s a sore spot for him, and kinda very insulting. This is only emphasized when he reveals his backstory about living in a town that discriminated him all his life:

Specifically calling him “lizard” as well. 

And again! When Trumpet tries to belittle him. 

With this in mind, looking back, there’s really no choice but to see Dabi’s name-calling in Chapter 160 as an insult and pure callousness. It’s pretty prominent too, and whether intentional or not, this bit of worldbuilding about discrimination and injustice, even, draws a parallel to Dabi’s attitude. At best he doesn’t care about Spinner, about a fellow League member; at worse he looks down on him. 

...Now, that’s a bit unfair of me, I know. (I’m absolutely not conflating Dabi with the CRC - I know he’s likely not an anti-mutant supremacist, and he does hate Geten’s quirk supremacy argument too - still, prejudice is prejudice, even at varying levels of intensity and hate.) Maybe Dabi didn’t know it was that big of a deal for Spinner; and he never does call Spinner that again. Maybe Dabi is clueless and bad at social skills - which isn’t really an excuse, but fine, he’s just dense. It was a while ago, too - maybe Dabi and Spinner have different interactions now. 

Yet nothing in the manga backs that up. In fact, in the same chapter, when Dabi appears, his only line to Spinner is yet another jab:

Spinner spills out his heart to the League, to Shigaraki - and while the other League members also don’t seem to react much to his backstory, they stay quiet - Dabi is the only one to take it further. 

(We wouldn’t find out until much later that here at this point in time, Spinner and Dabi were both still Stain followers - Spinner outspoken about it, while Dabi keeps it quiet. But that gives another interpretation to this scene, one in which Dabi fully dismisses Spinner as a ‘fake’, as just a cosplayer and not a fellow ally who will make Stain’s will a reality.) 

There’s really no respect from Dabi here, or any camaraderie that can be seen. There’s no scene later that ‘makes up’ for that Dabi said to Spinner. Aside from a brief scene where Spinner asks if Dabi wants sushi, the interactions between the two are largely negative, specifically from Dabi’s side, and pretty firmed rooted in “jerk with no heart of gold, he’s just a jerk” category. 

---

*Note: When the League fights the CRC, sure, they’re just fighting another criminal group like they did with Overhaul and the Shie Hassaikai and not really fighting the injustice of mutant-discrimination, gotta admit that; but while the League isn’t here to stop them so much as to kill them and steal their valuables, they’ve still become the side we’re to cheer on, fighting against the more personal, more ‘real’ evil group of bigots that they, as demonstrated by the massacre, dislikes. 

*Note #2: Fine, the League are villains, most of them aren’t the type to apologize for anything; expecting an on-screen apology is pretty much impossible. But there still are scenes where the League do make up small things for each other, scenes showing teamwork has been re-established - like Spinner dedicating himself to Shigaraki after yelling in his face; this little scene where Shigaraki converses with Spinner:

Which isn’t much! Very low bar. But it’s significant for Shigaraki who’s usually portrayed as aloof and arguably inscrutable, talking to his friend ally, asking questions, asking for Spinner’s opinion; it serves as a small bonding moment between the two, here as a duo up against the overwhelming numbers of the MLA. 

There’s little to no such scenes with Dabi, towards any of his alleged teammates.