#afo: i just wanted him to be more realistic about the world and fear it's dangers

[pocketramblr]

if afo didn't want yoichi to leave he should've found a way to make him develop severe agoraphobia that way he wouldn't ever leave wherever they live at and afo can have him all to himself.

Hold on let me google something real quick

Fear of places and situations that might cause panic, helplessness, or embarrassment.

extreme or irrational fear of entering open or crowded places, of leaving one's own home, or of being in places from which escape is difficult

I think AfO might have tried and succeeded in this, except it just pushed Yoichi away more due to him avoiding feeling helpless or embarrassed from his comments and how difficult it is to escape AfO's presence, attention, and vaulting habits. AfO's plan backfires once again due to his being unaware of his actual characteristics or the concept of actions having consequences lol

[aizawasdumbwhore]

Some Realistic Shigaraki Headcannons (in my opinion)

And debunking some "realistic" ones I've already seen (with evidence on why I feel this way). This is just my opinion and something fun I wanted to do with an analysis, you're more than welcome to disagree or have other points!! But if you like romantic Shigaraki headcannons and character analysis, read on!!! These headcannons are also gender neutral.

Some of these I found on Tik Tok that I disagreed with or only slightly disagreed with. This analysis will also heavily be supported by the way he treats the league members. Manga spoilers as well!!

"Tomura Shigaraki would love PDA and he'd cherish you and need someone gentle to hold him." I do disagree with this. I would not say Shigaraki hates physical touch but he would not be showing off PDA in public or even the league. I feel like he's more of a private guy when it comes to that. He may even say it would hurt his representation of "The Symbol of Fear" when he's coddling his partner. Which yeah, I would agree too. However, he would definitely come off as a jealous and possessive type if someone got the wrong idea you weren't together. He'd definitely be a complicated partner

"Tomura Shigaraki is the type of guy to purposely make his partner cry because it gives him a power trip." When Twice could not duplicate the Yakuza Bullets, Shigaraki did not lash out on him. I do feel like people characterize him incorrectly because he's a villain but we have a well established view of the relationship with Shigaraki vs the other members of the league. I don't see him doing things to make you cry for funsies. Another point to make is how he got mad on Twice's behalf. He even complimented Twice for overcoming his trauma.

"Tomura shigaraki is the type of guy to remind his partner daily he could take their life at any moment just to keep them in a constant state of paranoia." There's a few points I have to make with this one. Except during the beginning of Shigaraki's growth, he has always been moderately respectful to the other league members. Sure in the beginning he was a buttface to Dabi, Toga, and Stain, but we're talking about post-growth Shigaraki but pre-AFO Shigaraki. I don't see him having any reason to lash out and threaten his comrades, much less his lover for no good reason. He has a dream to destroy and welcomes his friends to destroy with him and create a world in which they could live freely. This has been stated in multiple occasions but most specifically this panel with Toga.

Another point I'd like to make is when he was talking about destroying everything and everyone, in his vision he did not see another league member at all. Well, who cares? It's just a bunch of pictures. For one, Horikoshi has a really good habit of tending to detail and portraying a story through visual arts. Secondly, we see Stain and Overhaul in this vision but not the rest of the league.

"Tomura shigaraki is the type of guy to constantly blame society for his shortcomings because he can never accept he's wrong." This I can agree with to an extent. Early Shigaraki would definitely have been a man-child incapable of actually being wrong. It's either society or you who caused whatever argument. Shigaraki later on... I think it would really depend on the context. He was able to recognize how immature he was in the past and improved. That's what makes the Meta Liberation Army Arc so revolutionary to Shigaraki's growth as a character. He's finally able to admit he's wrong and do better to destroy. However, in a relationship, I do agree.

"Tomura Shigaraki is the type of guy to off all his partners friends not because he's jealous but because it's more 'convenient'." This is a direct copy and paste, I'm not sure if it's the grammar but I don't really understand. Would I consider Shigaraki jealous? Yes, 100%. Would he kill just to destroy. Also yes. But as mentioned before, Shigaraki does care about the other members. Here he doesn't directly say "I miss Kurogiri" but like Toga says, he doesn't deny it. I think he's just incapable of being that truly vulnerable verbally. So if it affects you, he would not do that. But if he got jealous with someone flirting with you, I could see him killing them for that reason but never admitting why.

"Tomura shigaraki the type of guy to ignore his partner when their upset." I disagree with this not to an extent but in a different way. Because I don't believe it's that he's intentionally ignoring you with the objective of being a buttface but simply bc he cannot comprehend it. He does not know how to console someone who is upset, therefore ignoring you.

"Tomura shigaraki the type of guy to constantly put the leagues needs over his partners because his thirst for destruction matters more." This one is just a lot to unpack. If this was the case, why would he tell Toga his comrades are an exception when it comes to what they want. I think indirectly he'd be meeting your needs but this is also assuming you are a league member yourself and not just labeled as "Shigaraki's Significant Other". He definitely wouldn't meet your needs in a traditional boyfriend way so don't expect that. Don't expect cute words of affirmations, gift giving, and all the love language nonsense. He loves in his own love language and if you're with Shigaraki, that is just a hurdle you'll have to accept.

"Will never understand how he's in the wrong and will never apologize no matter how hurt you are." Yeah, I agree. Shigaraki does not know how to apologize. His pride and ego is wayy too big for that. Would he feel guilty inside? Yeah, probably, but he'd never admit that. It'll always be a cycle of not talking to each other in anger to forgetting it happened and moving on. Is this toxic? Yeah, a little, but let's be real. You're dating THE leader of the LOV.

"He's always hot and cold, one day he will praise you constantly and the next deem you useless" Early manga Shigaraki would definitely do this. Not because he actually thinks you're useless but because he's probably frustrated that something didn't go his way as seen with Kurogiri. We know he's very fond of Kurogiri but he does act like a buttface to him sometimes. Later on in the manga, after Shigaraki got some chill I think he would have gotten over this and learned to appreciate the efforts and shortcomings.

"Brutally honest and does not feel bad at all, this means pointing out insecurities of yours aswell." Yeah. I don't really have much to follow up with this on other than Shigaraki just says what's on his mind, no matter the intent. Targeting your insecurities specifically, idk about all that considering how he was with Twice's trauma and guilt about Big Sis Magne's death.

"He was raised AFO guys let's be honest he's probably so manipulative it's not even attractive". I really don't agree with exactly how it's worded but I can't disagree. I don't think he's manipulative the same way AFO is. We've never seen him achieve the same level of manipulation that AFO has but we have seen Shigaraki manipulate things to get his way. Would that include trivial relationship things? No, I'd say not. This is a tricky one and very opinionated. So I think it's up for debate or observation.

"If AFO noticed Tomura had a relationship beyond just using someone he'd definitely force him 2 break it off and Tomura would not object." Based off how we see Shigaraki and Spinner get along, I'd disagree heavily. Shigaraki wasn't some obedient kid the whole time. We saw him get a lil sassy with AFO and Garaki. I think Shigaraki would object but I also don't see AFO interfering. Shigaraki made a lot of mistakes during his uphill climb to becoming The Symbol of Fear. Many mistakes that AFO probably saw as useless but let Shigaraki make them so he could grow on his own. Also meddling into a romantic relationship by forcing Shigaraki to cut you off would probably dampen the trust and relationship. That's not to say AFO wouldn't meddle, but he'd want you to probably strengthen the hate and need for destruction. He may even use you as a pawn in the future. Shigaraki would have to say something at some point. Being with how much he gets along with Spinner, as we see here they're talking about games, Shigaraki would want people to be friends with after being lonely for so long. That's why he always played solo. He never had anyone.

"No he would not cuddle you and tell you how pretty you are, a relationship with him would be parasitical" I agree. If Shigaraki isn't the PDA type of guy, I don't see him being overly clingy and touchy in general. Shigaraki using you though, no. We have multiple examples of Shigaraki showing he cares about the league. Therefore, caring about you.

"He would use you and even if he did love you it wouldn't be in a romantic way. Similar to how AFO loves Yoichi you'd simply be more of a possession rather than an equal." I don't even know how many times I have to say that Shigaraki respects the other leagues as equals. I can only use 10 pictures this entire post and I've used them all up. However, we all remember when Shigaraki beat ReDestro and he gave all the members of the league a division in power so they all got the same respect and leadership as him. Sure Shigaraki was THE leader of it all but didn't put his friends below him.

Okay, that's my analysis. You can disagree respectfully, add points, debate points, whatever you'd like as I'm interested in seeing more. Shigaraki is my favorite character and I feel very close to him because I can relate. But one thing that makes me sad is when his character is misjudged and people make him out to be an abuser. People whose favorite character is Shigaraki are not terrorists or abusers. I'm not saying a relationship with Shigaraki would be perfect either. It wouldn't be ideal and would definitely be toxic.

If you've read this far, thank you!

[justatalkingface]

What are your thoughts on Shigaraki as a character and his arc?

You have the best MHA takes. What did you think of how Shigaraki was going before the bait and switch? You spoke a bit about Tomura in a previous ask, but I wanted to get your full thoughts.

Whiplash.

In short? He's simultaneously some of the best, most engaging, most realistic character development I've ever seen, so good it took me from zero to a hundred on his character, and someone whose potential got dropped into the ground and smashed like an egg.

I didn't like him at first. Or at second. Or honestly, for years: he slowly grew in the series, like Izuku, but he still remained the same whiny man-child as he was in the first place, and I couldn't stand that. He was, for the longest time, my least favorite villain, the worst part of the League, yet, somehow, the point they all orbited around anyways, and his two or three seconds of menace never made up for how annoying he felt at times.

It felt... piecemeal, boring. Like, there was obviously a conclusion building up there, somewhere, a point where he'd be more, but it felt so far away at times. He'd learn one obvious ass lesson in common sense, then run straight into another situation with an obvious problem he somehow missed 'til it smacked him in the face.

More than that, though, he felt weak. Weakness in a villain, as Gigantomachia helpfully frames it, is a sin; why am I afraid if you aren't threatening? Why are you dangerous if you feel so harmless? Threat, one way or another, is at the core of a good villain: it helps define their character, and through them, it makes you care about the setting, the characters, about what happens next. Oh no, will our hero die? What will that monster do to the Best Friend?

Without threat, without menace , without fear, a villain will always seem less.

And sure, technically he was dangerous, but not villainous. He wasn't evil, he was an oversized baby someone handed a death ray and throwing tantrums with it. The thing is, for most of the time Shigaraki Tomura wasn't dangerous because who he was, he was dangerous because he won the murder lottery, nothing more. But at the same time, he didn't have to be anything more than a child, because AFO was covering his ass, taking that role for him, even with maybe two minutes of screen time... until Kaminio. And without AFO to hold his hand, he was toddling off into the wider world like the child he really was, and he felt so damn impotent as he was railroaded to Gigantomachia, still not knowing what to do, still with the actual adults holding all the cards.

And it's just... this is Izuku's foil? This is the new evil to replace AFO, the new Symbol of Fear? Izuku has ascended in leaps and bounds, and this idiot is still figuring out step one!

Then he steps away from the invincible giant, and we get the MVA arc.

And the character development; he becomes a different person, but at the same time, unlike so many 'wimpy character gets hard' arc, he's still Shigaraki at the end.

It something you see a lot in fanfic and such, a character being trapped into an endless combat hell like he was. The one that emerges from that, though, is always a new person, their interests and perspectives gone and replaced by the new, edgier ones, often explicitly rejecting their old life and talking about how different they are now. New Shigaraki, even with his dumb-ass cape and the artificial way his Quirk felt leveled up, was still Shigaraki.

It's the brilliance of that change I can't praise enough, where Shigaraki's character growth suddenly makes sense. It's not typical, one step coming before the other, like Izuku. The way he so haphazardly gained each little piece was like that because he was meant to use all of them at once, as foundations to a new stage. It's the difference between stacking blocks on top of each other, and getting a neat little tower, or standing up a handful of normal blocks to act as legs to hold up one giant block. Which leg came first didn't matter since it could only happen once he had all the pieces.

And that conclusion he eventually comes to? Magnificent. Oh, it's objectively terrible, obviously, and the logic is ass, but the thing is is that it's his logic. It is absolutely something I can see him saying, see him thinking, that he would end up with with his cripplingly small amount of insight into the world and how things work, with his long established habits of hatred and holding grudges and wanting to break everything that bothers him.

His goal, no matter how you cut it, is simply monstrous in a way that surpasses even his mentor. At best, he wants to destroy all of society. At worst, at his most literal (and Shigaraki doesn't really do deception) he wants to simply and purely destroy everything he possibly can. You know, except his friends. And whatever they like.

It's a child's view of evil, of change, like painting a picture where anything they don't want can just be... painted over, without any real consequence. It's malformed and incomplete, but all the more terrifying for that, because it's the malice of a child.

It's that juxtaposition, between the ignorant innocent that a child represents, and the darkness of their desire to kill, that makes evil children so disturbing, and Tomura's aims so malicious.

And then.. we get the War Arc, and I think anyone reading this knows what I think about that. And it's here, in the War Arc, where Hori turns to this beautiful horror he's just made, and starts frantically tearing it apart, and has continued to do so at every possible moment. You can almost hear him screaming, 'Wait, wait! I don't want this!'

There was so much... symbolism in Shirgarki's full hearted acceptance of villainy, how he Decayed his family, again, willingly. It was wonderful, a perfect sign about how he have finally moved past who he was as a child, and no longer needed to cling (or be clung to) by their memories. And the way he Decayed All For One during the War Arc (one of the few good moments), boldly declaring he'd surpass him? Chilling.

Too bad Hori decided to promptly throw all that out by having AFO take over. And then, after Shigaraki had explicitly killed off his past, moved beyond who he was as a child... Izuku sees Tenko inside him.

Later, when we get to the final arc, we see Tenko mindlessly make the family he explicitly rejected as security blankets.

All of that growth, all that development... thrown out, so that Deku, that empty shell of a character, can look at him and go, 'I need to save him!' Nevermind all the people had killed, nevermind everything he had destroyed, nevermind what he thinks of the man who haunted him ever since this story started, The Protagonist saw A Child and he needs to save him.

In theory, AFO taking over Shigaraki could have been great. After all that development, though, all that work to make him finally able to stand on his own as a threat? It feels like Hori frantically trying to regress him to an acceptable level of innocence, so that AFO can carry all the burden of guilt for him (and Dabi. And god knows who else by the time this is over....) so whatever redemption they end up with doesn't fall flat (it's totally going to fall flat). However he escapes that, he's no longer going to be who he was, he'll just be reduced to the regretful villain, who is better now, honest! ...That is, if the actual child isn't what he ends up as, and there's a non-zero chance of that.

Meanwhile, let's talk power ups. Shigaraki getting stronger was understandable. Him getting All For One was thematic. The fact that an incomplete version walks out of the tank, and tanks all heroes attacks without dying is just... way too much. And then he gets stronger, or rather Hori turned to the 'Power Up' button and spent every moment SFO was on screen slamming it.

Worst yet, his power ups and Izuku's power ups are this self perpetuating cycle that won't end until the story is over: Izuku is too strong so Shigaraki gets stronger, when means Izuku is too weak so he gets stronger, which means that Shigaraki needs to get stronger again.... they've already far eclipsed everyone else and I'm fully prepared for more upgrades to come as we reach the finale and throw away all logic for bigger, more epic explosions.

It makes so much of his fights seem empty, because you know he'll win. The big fight with everyone not named The Protagonist, all the tricks they brought out to face him, was pointless noise, because every other minute he seemed to take a new form for no reason, faced no challenge, no threat, from all the people attacking him and yet was still unable to do anything. The fact that he's reached a point where Erasure needs to be constantly in effect is just... Madara Syndrome all over again.

'Haha, I've made my villain so cool! He can do all these awesome looking things, and he's invincible, and... wait! Shit. He's invincible! Shit shit... what am I going to do... Oh, I know! I'll have the moon eat him station Erasure constantly in sight of him and yet have him never be willing or able to stop it even though he's basiclly a demigod!'

If you have to nerf your villain every time he appears to have your heroes survive him, you have a problem. Hori gave him all these toys, only to have them taken away so suddenly, before he could even use them, it makes you wonder why he even got them in the first place other than for hype.

Also, while I'm at it... let's talk about one of those toys: Decay. Or rather, 'Original Decay' or whatever. This getting powered up make sense, but the way it happened just feels like retroactive justification of Shigaraki as a villain. Plot wise, I get that it was great symbolism, and helped tie his backstory together, but the fact he was repressing it, and suddenly 'got it back' just sat badly with me. It feels like it'd make a lot more sense, in a 'realistic' sense for it to have just Awakened (which is definitely a thing that should have been talked about more before they started happening everywhere) to explain the sudden power up rather than him just nerfing himself this entire time and only suddenly realizing it. This is me just nitpicking, really, but it irks me.

So yeah, Shigaraki was great potential that become no potential in about two minutes flat, and I dread whatever end he gets at the close of the story, because it will never match up to what it could have been.

[ignitification]

Hi so I like your BNHA metas and your take on the villains’ redemptions. The only thing I disagree with is you thinking Shigaraki will die.

Okay so yes I am hoping hard that he doesn’t die, but that’s not the only reason I say this. I wholeheartedly believe that Shigaraki will survive his redemption.

The number one reason is: this is a story about how Deku becomes the greatest hero who ever lived. We already know Deku is going to be the greatest hero ever-the question is how? Well, if Shigaraki dies, Deku has not accomplished anything that past heroes haven’t. Deku can’t the greatest hero who ever lived if he can’t save his very obvious parallel/counterpart. Just like Shoto is going to save Touya, and Ochaco probably will save Toga, Deku has to save Shigaraki. If he doesn’t, then he isn’t the greatest hero who ever lived, he’s a great hero—but he’s no different than All Might, who failed to save Shigaraki the first time. I believe this story is going to show us how Deku and his classmates (mostly Shoto Bakugo and Ochaco) are going to raise the standard for heroes, show us what true heroes are, and show how Deku and Shigaraki are going to put an end to the long battle between AFO and OFA—together. The set up for Shigaraki to play a huge part on defeating AFO is very obviously there, and we already know that OFA was created to defeat AFO-so there’s those two major set ups.

The number two reason: time and time again throughout the story the students have shown that you aren’t saved if you’re dead. Ending wanted to die, but during their fight Bakugo stated that that wasn’t going to happen. So what does this tell us? BNHA’s definition of saving includes being physically saved. And Nana’s definition in All Might’s flashback during his fight with AFO shows that hers and his definition of saving is saving the heart and body. Also, Shigaraki being Nana’s grandson is a huge part in his survival. Nana’s son already died prematurely, why should her grandson? It just seems like cheap writing.

Number three: BNHA is happy and hopeful and optimistic, and the heroes have hardly failed at anything throughout the story. Deku saying he wants to save Shigaraki, that was such a HUGE moment in the story. It would be dumb and wasteful for Horikoshi to just throw that obviously important moment away by killing Shigaraki off.

ANYWAY I like your metas and your blog, but I really hope you might have more faith in Shigaraki’s survival! I didn’t even dive into all my reasons for believing wholeheartedly he’ll survive, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

HI! Thank you so much for taking your time to read and like everything I posted, makes me extremely happy!

However, onto the content of the post, while I do agree to some degree with what you said - I am also very skeptical of it. You set very good reasons for Shigaraki's survival, that is for sure! But it might be just my perspective, and sixth sense, that screams at me hard that exactly because of the reasons you pointed out, Shigaraki is likely to die.

I’ll explain myself a bit better illustrating what I mean.

First things first, we have the whole narrative around Shigaraki. Or rather, Shimura Tenko. He is an extremely sad child who likes playing hero in secret. His father does not want to acknowledge his son’s ambition and his mother does nothing that might help him in the long run. However, this refusal to being accepted, as a child, as a future potential hero and a little kid who wants nothing more than his parents finally noticing that he is there, gnaws at him so hard that he starts scratching all over. And it fuels up his internal scratch, and by the time that peace breaks out, he killed his entire family and finally does not hate being himself anymore. Only that, this feeling lasts about an instant, and then Tenko is back again being an unhappy child with a scratch, painful memories and a quirk which he does not know at what degree can be harmful. Then, we are catapulted in his 20s, where Shigaraki looks pale, sick, consumed and frail at best, and decayed at the worst. He loses Kurogiri. He fails in his plans again and again. His body has exhausted itself beyond recognition, and he is being tested on by a mad scientist, while the person he thought was the closest thing to his father figure is actually using him. 

Shigaraki, at its core, is a lost character, trialing and making error after error to understand what goddamn he wants and what is feeling day after day. What does he wake up for? 

I hate saying this because Shigaraki is genuinely the first character I liked in BNHA, but he looks tired. He looks like he needs some rest. He looks like he needs a hug from his grandmother and her saying to him that he is not alone, and that it is okay for him to let go. 

I know this sound like sad words, which not even be true, but Shigaraki has been thrown to hell and back in these years and months and whatever he wants now is gone. He has nothing left but AfO’s will and the pure feeling of wanting to see everything decay. I believe that everything hurts him. Shigaraki has no tough skin, he is a bared soul to the world who has wronged him in so many ways, and once he gets his revenge nothing will be left anymore. Not in him, not for him. Because when he said he won’t forgive anyone, he meant it. 

My fear, however, stems mostly from the fact that AfO has gained control of Shigaraki’s consciousness. Not in all moments, but likely a lot of the time - which confirms my theory that Shigaraki is exhausted (going through the motions of whatever the doctor put him in) but still he is not ready yet to be the weapon AfO intended him to be. Which is why, as well, when AfO’s objective to gain Shigaraki’s body has been only partially succeeded, my alarms started blaring off. If, by chance, AfO does get Tomura under his total control, Shigaraki is as good as dead. It would be amazing, however, if the set up of him rebelling against AfO and making allies with Izuku into defeating him would come through. Point is: how is that going to happen?

Which brings me to a further point I want to address: I want to have hope in Deku and Shigaraki himself, but as I said, I really do not see it happening. It would be utterly unrealistic and would bring a lot of misunderstanding even if the story is set up for exactly that. I think that Deku, nonetheless, will try to save him, like he always does. Izuku is precious and yes, he would sacrifice himself every damn time again if that would bring everyone to safety.

Another thing which I wanted to address (I am trying to keep it short) is how you made parallels between Shouto-Touya, Deku-Shigaraki and Ochako-Toga. I am genuinely kind of unhappy on the writing of the women of BNHA. Maybe it is just me, but I do find most of them to be bland and with no appeal (which is no surprise, as the only interesting female character so far has been Rei for me). Ochako in particular, is very much the epitome of ‘Wanted to do loads - Accomplishment still in progress’ which relegates her to a very grey zone in my opinion, to the point that she seems instrumental to only express her gratitude and love for Deku by trying to get better, in which she mimics Toga (funnily enough). On the contrary, I dislike Toga. I really do not like her character, but I appreciate her behaviour toward the other League members and Twice in particular. Which is why, I am hoping that the two get a development soon (is Uraraka the traitor after all?). So as far as it regards them both, I hope this dichotomy between the two of them gets further explained and explored and that in the end we can really see Ochako evolving and Toga accepting herself as she is, instead of running toward fruitless horizons. 

Last things last, I do not agree with the fact that if Deku fails to save Shigaraki he will not become the Greatest Hero. Why? Simply because Deku’s accomplishments so far already put him in another league to everyone else, and I genuinely do not think that only because he fails to save him, he will lose his spot. However, I do agree that this is maybe the strongest argument toward Shigaraki not dying (surprisingly), because after all, this is still a shounen and the redemption theme is very strong so it might be that Shigaraki’s death might not be in character with all that has been planned so far. 

I am sorry if this post is a bit sad and/or confused. I just want everyone to survive and be happy, I just know that it’s not realistically possible. But thanks for not agreeing with me on this. I hope we can both hope for better days this way.

[hamliet]

MHA Characters Enneagram Types

Hilariously I think I’m actually going to be able to do this one per type, as I’ve never done before–because each of the characters I wanted to do fits a different type almost perfectly.

If you want a basic summary of what the Enneagram personality test is:

The Enneagram classifies people based on their motivations and their fears into nine basic “types,” and each type also comes with a “wing” to an adjacent type (in other words, someone who is Type 1 can have a 2 wing or a 9 wing, etc.) Each type also has “arrows” meant to depict that as they grow, they grow in the direction of another type, and as they grow more stressed, they disintegrate towards yet another type. There are also “levels” of health within each type (Basic descriptions are taken from the Enneagram Institute.)

Type 1: The Reformer

Iida Tenya

Basic Fear: Of being corrupt/evil, defective

Basic Desire: To be good, to have integrity, to be balanced

Key Motivations: Want to be right, to strive higher and improve everything, to be consistent with their ideals, to justify themselves, to be beyond criticism so as not to be condemned by anyone.

Iida is the Most One to Ever One. I’d sway he’s a 1 with a 9 wing, “The Idealist.” To repeat myself a bit, a wing is how, according to the circular chart of Enneagram, personalities overlap. Someone who is a One will have traits of a Two and a Nine, but tend to have more traits from one than the other.

Type 2: The Helper

Uraraka Ochaco

Basic Fear: Of being unwanted, unworthy of being loved

Basic Desire: To feel loved

Key Motivations: Want to be loved, to express their feelings for others, to be needed and appreciated, to get others to respond to them, to vindicate their claims about themselves.

I think a lot of Ochaco can be summed up in this. She desperately wants to be loved and to love (Deku), and she becomes a hero for the goal of helping her loved ones (her parents, who need money). I also think Ochaco is a 2w3, “The Hostess.”

Type 3: The Achiever

Bakugou Katsuki

Basic Fear: Of being worthless

Basic Desire: To feel valuable and worthwhile

Key Motivations: Want to be affirmed, to distinguish themselves from others, to have attention, to be admired, and to impress others.

This is Bakugou lol. I’d also say he’s a 3 with a 4 wing, “The Professional” (boy that is ironic). But I see him more focusing on a 4′s goals of individualization than a 2′s need to help.

Type 4: The Individual

Todoroki Shouto

Basic Fear: That they have no identity or personal significance

Basic Desire: To find themselves and their significance (to create an identity)

Key Motivations: Want to express themselves and their individuality, to create and surround themselves with beauty, to maintain certain moods and feelings, to withdraw to protect their self-image, to take care of emotional needs before attending to anything else, to attract a “rescuer.”

Shoutoooo. His basic fear is being defined by his father, which he doesn’t want, and his struggles are with accepting his fire and ice sides equally–in other words, understanding himself. I’d put him as having a 3 wing, “The Aristocrat.”

Type 5: The Investigator

Dabi (probably Todoroki Touya)

Basic Fear: Being useless, helpless, or incapable

Basic Desire: To be capable and competent

Key Motivations: Want to possess knowledge, to understand the environment, to have everything figured out as a way of defending the self from threats from the environment.

This is Dabi, and as Touya this fits even better. However, even without that confirmation, we’ve seen Dabi judging others on how useful they’ll be (burning the petty villains, for example). I’d say he’s a 5w4, “The Iconoclast.”

Type 6: The Loyalist

Yaoyorozu Momo

Basic Fear: Of being without support and guidance

Basic Desire: To have security and support

Key Motivations: Want to have security, to feel supported by others, to have certitude and reassurance, to test the attitudes of others toward them, to fight against anxiety and insecurity.

Momo’s arc is entirely about her fighting her own insecurity and learning to trust herself, as we see in the final exams arc with Todoroki. I’d say she’s a 6w5, “The Defender,” but I can see a compelling argument for her being a 7-wing as well.

Type 7: The Enthusiast

Toga Himiko

Basic Fear: Of being deprived and in pain

Basic Desire: To be satisfied and content—to have their needs fulfilled

Key Motivations: Want to maintain their freedom and happiness, to avoid missing out on worthwhile experiences, to keep themselves excited and occupied, to avoid and discharge pain.

Is this really a surprise? Girl’s a 7 all the way. I’d say specifically she’s a 7w8, which is hilariously called “The Realist,” but don’t take that too literally. You’ll see why I’d say she has a 8-wing when you see below…

Type 8: The Challenger

Shigaraki Tomura

Basic Fear: Of being harmed or controlled by others

Basic Desire: To protect themselves (to be in control of their own lifeand destiny)

Key Motivations: Want to be self-reliant, to prove their strength and resist weakness, to be important in their world, to dominate the environment, and to stay in control of their situation.

Hi Shigaraki. This does make things rather sad, doesn’t it, especially given how recent chapters are proving that Shigaraki has no control whatsoever. It also fits with out he thinks his loss of control led to his family’s deaths… but in reality it’s looking like AFO groomed him from the very beginning. If I had to choose a wing, I’d choose a 9 wing, “The Bear.”

Type 9: The Peacemaker

Midoriya Izuku/Deku

Basic Fear: Of loss and separation

Basic Desire: To have inner stability “peace of mind”

Key Motivations: Want to create harmony in their environment, to avoid conflicts and tension, to preserve things as they are, to resist whatever would upset or disturb them.

Not really surprising. I’d say Deku’s a 9w1, “The Dreamer,” but he has a lot of 8 tendencies as well (just like, managed well).

[makeste]

1)Makeste, been reading over your latest all for one/one for all theory post, and while I think it’s intriguing, I was a bit confused over how you seemed to think that (SPOILERS POTENTIALLY) if One for All really is a more benevolent take on All For One’s Quirk- literally the same power, but used in a different way more befitting of a hero, then that meant Deku couldn’t still be All For one’s potential offspring anymore. For me, your theory actually seemed to inform this perspective, and now I

(note: once again I’ve taken all of the asks and merged them all together for greater readability, so here’s the rest.)

...and now I think it’s even more likely that deku could be a secret son and heir to All For One.

(...actually, I’m putting the rest of the ask and my response under the cut -- this got way longer than I intended lol.)

One thing that’s common amongst those ‘gifted’ with multiple quirks is that to even be capable of holding more than 1 power set, you need to have your body modified to be able to withstand the strain of more than one quirk- and thus differing bio-energies and mutations needed to properly utilise them clashing with each other within your body- if your body’s not capable of handling the pressure, it’s hinted that the damage could potentially result in a similar situation to someone eating more than 1 devil fruit in One Piece I.e you’re geography(in that you are now literally part of the landscape in the immediate area, floors and walls included, which must be hell for Ujiko to mop up afterwards) however, there are three exceptions to this- Giganto, All For One and Midoria, all of whom can wield multiple quirks, apparently in harmony with each other without suffering the negative side effects that the rest of the populace must go through to be even capable of doubling their own powers, never mind that it’s mostly involuntary and unwilling on most of the participants.

All For One goes without saying, since his body is hinted to be naturally capable of housing a ridiculous amount of Quirks, perhaps as a side effect of lacking his own ‘true’ power, but Giganto is another story- he’s the only other one we’ve seen to be capable of holding multiple powers naturally, but it’s hinted this is only because his quirk or his body structure lets him absorb/endure whatever damages normally result for wielding multiple quirks at once, and he’s still somewhat affected by the strain of it anyway. His mind is capable of rational thought, making his own decisions depending on the situation, and holding memories of his past life, all things none of the Nomu can preform- however, in exchange, it’s clear that what mind he does have isn’t very bright, as he’s easily manipulated by ujiko using just a recording of All For One’s voice, acts in a animalistic fashion, ignores social conventions like wearing clothes, and seems to have lost his humanity in exchange for overwhelming strength, ensuring he can never be a part of normal society, even though he doesn’t actually look that weird compared to some other mutations we’ve seen walking about in broad daylight.

In contrast, Midoria, despite only being capable of wielding 20% of One for All, is already starting to utilise and adapt the various powers within the quirk without any mental or physical drawbacks, beyond the teething problems of suddenly developing a new power that has different requirements to his current move set, and his fear at going though changes no-one else has, whereas All Might, even after mastering the physical aspect to its ultimate limit, never even had a hint that he could do more than just punch creatively. Part of this may be the whole spiritual thing, part of it may be that the quirk’s ‘physical’ development wasn’t exactly ready for use in that manner, but frankly, I think it means Izuku’s body is somehow, despite being naturally quirkless, suited for using multiple quirks, allowing him to wield different interlocking powers without losing any of his sanity or humanity, unlike Giganto, but exactly like somebody else.

I think I once wrote up a little mini- statement about how Izuku was more fitting as a Good Counterpart of All For one than All Might, who was simply too opposite of the symbol of evil to have any point in common beyond the role as an opposing symbol of peace. Having the exact same power as his father, and in fact being able to wield that power to the fullest extent beyond what even his mentor or the previous generations of heroes could, precisely because of his inherited genes being from someone naturally predisposed to absorb and utilise multiple quirks at once without suffering any side effects only deepens that connection between the two.

In fact, if Izuku is his son, then it means that he technically inherited his uncle’s- the ‘first’ wielder- recessive genes, being skipped over entirely by the genetic lottery just like his long-dead, yet still resurrected uncle was compared to their shared family member’s power, which wouldn’t be the only thing Izuku has in common with the siblings. Izuku’s analytical mind allows him to understand a lot about the conditions and limitations behind any quirks he witnesses in action, allowing him to formulate counter strategies like we saw in Miro’s spar, or even utilise those very same quirks to his advantage later. All For One Demonstrates a similar analytical appreciation towards quirks, though his come with the intent of understanding the power and the reasoning behind whether or not it would be beneficial for him to steal it for himself, his subordinates or turn his person of interest into a nomu. They both seem to have a mind and body capable of wielding greater strength than those around them through multiple abilities, and it seems that as Midoria gains greater control over his varied abilities, he somehow gets mentally closer to All For One, though only AFO seems to be aware of this, perhaps due to his greater expertise with their ‘shared’ quirk. Actually, if Izuku is indeed his son, and your theory is correct, then that means Izuku went through the world’s most convoluted method of inheriting his parent’s quirk, going through 10 generations and a childhood of alienation to get to the same starting point as his peers.

But yeah, to sum up, the fact that Izuku is so ‘normal’ now, despite gaining a power that we’ve seems physically and mentally ruin anybody else who had it, save one other, makes me think that Izuku may still be connected to All For One on a far deeper level than anybody else realises. Which of course means that Izuku gets the angst of being the son of his greatest nemeses, harbouring the soul, mind and powers of his greatest nemeses, and potentially being alienated from every hero in the world of the extent of this connection gets out, and everybody starts seeing him as All For One 2.0, or a means of the Symbol of Evil resurrecting himself inside a fresh, healthy young body to build his empire again. Angst for days, Boy!

okay, so let me start by saying that I’m not quite sure where this idea (which I’ve seen before) comes from that it takes a specific type of body to handle multiple quirks? from what I recall, the only evidence we’ve seen of that that is All Might’s explanation in chapter 59 about some people being unable to “bear the load” of receiving quirks from All for One. but I thought that was more about them having quirks forced on them than anything else. I got the impression that it was a very invasive and violent thing to do to a person -- basically an assault on their minds -- and that that was what messed them up for the most part. though I could be wrong about that.

one thing I want to note is that you mentioned Gigantomachia as an example of someone who can withstand multiple quirks, but I believe that was a mistranslation on JBox’s and Mangastream’s parts. Viz’s translation, which makes more sense to me, is that Gigantomachia is so strong that he was able to serve as All for One’s bodyguard even without having multiple quirks.

so yeah. I think the clashing translations caused a lot of confusion in this regard, but my current understanding is that Machia is so feared because he has ridiculously OP strength, speed, stamina, durability, etc. even without being modified like the Noumu. he’s just that fucking strong on his own, which is what makes him so impressive.

that being said, how to explain this... my interpretation is that the All for One quirk basically is the ability to withstand multiple quirks (in addition to the whole “granting” and “stealing” thing). like, that’s part of the power. it grants you the ability to handle unlimited quirks. I don’t think DNA or genetics or anything are a requirement for it. while Horikoshi does put a surprising amount of thought into having “realistic” limitations and provisos for his quirks, they’re all still basically magic to some degree. Hawks has feathers that he can telepathically control with his mind. Tokoyami has a sentient shadow that he can partially control and he can use it to fly and it can rip shit apart. Todoroki can produce ice out of literally nothing. Kuroiro can physically interact with the color black. quirks are fucking bonkers and I think we have to bear that in mind to some extent. so while All for One does no doubt have its own specific rules and caveats, I would think it’s still something that still falls under the somewhat phoned-in logical reasoning of “you have this quirk, so your body is now magically capable of handling all other types of quirks regardless of the physical nature of said quirks” with all other logic basically being handwaved accordingly.

I mean, Monoma is also capable of handling multiple quirks, holding at least four at once with no side effects whatsoever, and there doesn’t seem to be anything particular special about his own body. kid’s a goddamn twink. and yet he can “withstand” the strain perfectly fine and even has near-perfect control of his newly acquired quirks pretty much immediately upon borrowing them. he can jump from Kirishima’s hardening to Bakugou’s explosion hands in a split second and turn them off and on at will with no physical repercussions. there’s no scientific explanation for it other than it just being How His Quirk Works. I’d imagine it’s much the same for Deku. the fact that he has multiple quirks now isn’t necessarily an indicator that he must be genetically related to AFO, but what is does indicate is that he most definitely has the same quirk as him, or something very near to it.

none of this means that he can’t still be AFO’s son, mind! but the reason I don’t think it’s likely is because in my view it would come off as a bit clunky. like, from a writing perspective, it’s kind of overkill to have not one, but two overly convoluted explanations for something when just one would suffice. “Deku is AFO’s secret son” and “Deku has the same power as AFO” are both major plot twists each requiring a certain suspension of disbelief in the sense of “so you’re telling me that this kid just happens to be...” like, that’s a lot of coincidence to swallow. and past a certain point, it kind of shifts this from being a story about an ordinary kid who had a turn of fortune one day that turned out to be the start of something epic, into a story about The Son Of The Most Powerful Man In The World, Who Was Always Destined To Defeat Him And Just Never Knew It. which is also a perfectly fine story to tell! but the two ideas do kind of clash with each other, so if your goal is to tell the latter one, it doesn’t really make sense to try and insert elements from the former as well.

lol I don’t know if any of this is making sense. but basically what I’m trying to say is that I think it’s better writing to just pick one or the other. either he has this power because he’s AFO’s son, or he has it because it was passed down to him through OFA. there’s no need for both, and it makes an already complicated story even more complicated. that’s where Game of Thrones started shooting itself in the foot in its later seasons. destiny and twists of fate and such are awesome, but you have to be careful not to go overboard with it or it starts to feel forced. Deku can either be Harry Potter or he can be Luke Skywalker, but both is kind of pushing it. to borrow your phrasing, it would indeed be “the world’s most convoluted method of inheriting his parent’s quirk.” and this is just my own personal preference, perhaps, but I think the story flows better and feels cleaner if it’s just one or the other.

anyway so those are my thoughts thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. sorry for shooting down your very thought-provoking ask!! or at least it feels like I did, sob. but I do enjoy this kind of plot discussion a lot, and it’s also a particularly good way of passing the time while we wait TWO! WHOLE! WEEKS!!! for the next chapter sob so there’s that too, lol.