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Not sure when you're done, but for when you'rein your asks: talk about your stockpile-adaptation tradeoff theory
Ok So, this turned out very long and very rambly but i finished my homework after midnight and i won’t be stopped from posting this. Let’s call it a mix of “Stockpiled- adaptation tradeoff theory”, “Pocket’s thoughts on how the quirk singularity isn’t a thing”, “overhaul doesn’t understand evolution”, and a bit of “rubbing into AfO’s face about him not being as grand as he thinks he is”
First, let’s talk about Copy vs AfO
So, the thing about Copy is that it lets Neito reproduce the plus alpha factor in it’s entirety- all the mutations needed to activate it, and at least some what a way to instinctively turn it on and off. He copies Eri’s quirk, he gets her horn. He copies Eri’s quirk, and he’s able to know for sure that he’s activated it, but nothing still happens. That’s because for all he is now perfectly adapted to using her quirk, he doesn’t have her stockpile, or even a copy of her stockpile.
Now, AfO. He takes a quirk, but unlike Neito, his comes with whatever was stockpiled. We know this, because he was able to retain the tags that Ragdoll had on students inside of Search while he stole it, and when it was passed to Tomura. He also appears to be able to use mutation quirks, but we haven’t actually seen him take one for himself- he switches a mutation for a quirkless man, and it’s very possible that every ‘body altering quirk’ he uses at Kamino is in fact a transformation quirk, not a mutation. Let’s call this Subset A of the theory, that AfO might be able to give others mutations, but not use them himself. Whether or not that’s true, or if he just activated then deactivated the mutation, there’s the fact that after using air blast against All Might at Kamino, he shook out his hand to jog back feeling and get over the pain of the quirk’s recoil. A pain that, with one’s natural resistance to their own quirk, he shouldn’t have to really worry about- not to mention all the other ones he has to deal with.
But, for some reason, while AfO can yank everything in a stockpile quirk, he can’t yank the adaptability with it. If someone has a body suited to a fire quirk, and a fire quirk, then AfO can take the quirk, but will not have the resistance for it. This means he’ll have to seek out another quirk- he’ll have to seek out fire resistance specifically tied to a person’s plus alpha factor, rather than anything in any other part of the body.
There’s a couple of reason why, but first, lets acknowledge the slightly horrifying fact that following the rules we see with Search and from Monoma’s example, this means that if AfO stole Fatgum’s quirk, he would also be stealing every fat cell in his body linked to it- which might be all of them. which would be very very bad for one’s health. Anyway, nightmare aside, it also means stockpiled things are stored in the quirk factor. This is likely why Eraserhead is able to erase a stockpiled quirk like any other kind, but probably couldn’t temporarily stop someone from having heat resistance as a byproduct.
So, the why. Let’s talk about evolution. and lets ignore everything Chisaki said about apes because he’s a stupid man who knows nothing.
As a species, you might be inclined to say that humans are more evolved than apes. or more evolved than moss. You would be not really correct. Humans are evolved differently, but we’ve all been growing from the first living cells the same amount of time, just to suit different roles and niches. a moss is just as good at being moss as a human is at being a human. But, you could make the argument that your generation of human is more evolved than your ancestors’ generations of humans- you have, after all, been going longer. But really, in a few generations? That’s not a lot of time, really.
Even with the quirk singularity theory, there’s a lot of holes in the Doctor’s argument. Sure, Eri and a lot of the other kids are ridiculously powerful. But Kouta really isn’t. And AfO has an insane power despite being likely a first generation quirk holder. So really, its probably a lot less ‘people are being born with stronger powers’ and more ‘people with stronger powers are being allowed to live longer.’ Are the kids stronger? Or are they just in a society where they can get better training at a younger age? Survivorship bias, i tell ya, it makes for strange things. Remember, Inko’s weak telekinetic quirk is fourth gen, supposedly only one generation off from where it would be too strong to handle. That... doesn’t seem to add up. even if she had a child who had telekinetic twice as powerful as her, in omnidirection, there’s nothing really in that that sounds like it would be injurious to the holder. Thirteen can create black holes that probably killed people when first manifesting, and is old enough to be a generation above Eri. Speaking of human stations being mistaken for inherit genetics, quirk marriages where people are worse off because they meddled in a science they knew nothing about to try and do new eugenics- the todoroki children are basically unnatural and poor examples of ‘quirk singularity��
Quirks generally get more evolved in each generation, yes, unless you get no quirk or an identical set to a parent. But ‘more evolved’ doesn’t mean stronger, it can mean more complex. Case in point, back to AfO and Copy.
Why doesn’t AfO’s quirk allow him to steal resistance? Likely because the resistance for a quirk is stored in a different gene than in the plus alpha factor itself- hence Touya can get an ice resistance gene, and a fire producing quirk gene- and his quirk isn’t built to interact with that. Past that, it’s because AfO doesn’t need to interact with that- he can just go steal another quirk that covers the problem. Storing all that extra non-quirk gene would probably wreak havoc on his body- warp it like a nomu, so his quirk is evolved efficiently.
Copy, on the other hand, is certainly more complicated than “Move Quirk Factor Around”. It means mimicking a quirk, growing all necessary parts to it, and instinctively activate and deactivate. He doesn’t have immediate skill, but he does have immediate use. It also comes with whatever mutations and resistances a person has- a horn, an engine, a protection for headache relief or electrical resistance.
So, what? Why is it important
Well, let’s compare
Situation A: Monoma copies Dabi’s quirk. Monoma gains both Dabi’s flames and his ice resistance for a temporary amount of time.
Sitation B: AfO steals Dabi’s quirk. He gains the blue fire, but his natural, normal reation to both ice and heat are unchanged. Dabi is quirkless, but still has the same amount of cold resistance as before
Situation C: Monoma copies Suneater’s quirk. Monoma is able to manifest anything in his stomach, but nothing from Suneaters.
Situation D: AfO steals Suneater’s quirk. He also gets everything in Suneater’s stockpile, so whatever was in his stomach that the quirk had ‘active’- which might be everything inside, or only what he was currently using. Suneater is now quirkless, again, but also hungrier and stop being mean to my son.
So, again, why? Basically, humanity hasn’t had enough time for quirks to really streamline yet, and every quirk has its limits for a reason. AfO likely cant touch other resistances or vestigial mutations, and might not be able to even wield fully mutation quirks. Monoma, from a more evolved but not necessarily stronger generation can, because he has no other way to get the copied quirks active, and his evolutionary line solved that sometime before him.
Also, the idea of a quirk singularity is not widely accepted in universe for a good reason. There are other factors, and frankly a lot of what the doctor was talking about was how AfO finds it harder or riskier to use quirks after the fourth generation. This isn’t necessarily because they’re stronger or deadlier, it’s just because they are more complicated and rely more on other parts of one’s dna that he can’t steal.
Because he’s got the ability to take stockpile, but not adaptability, and for some reason that seems rather fitting for him- not able to adapt quite enough to ever really kill All Might, even when duplicating quirks to boost the number in his stockpile, is he?
#recent manga spoilers beware#anon#pocket talks to people#also this kinda opens up whether or not an eraser bullet should erase a stockpile#as it must be stored in the plus alpha factor#but#tamaki didn't mention getting hungried and we don't really see anyone else getting shot#and also i don't trust overhaul on knowing exactly how the bullets work anyway#but the other hospital people said it destroyed the quirk factor. so#if shot with an eraser bullet dabi may or may not lose his ice resistance#it depends on what else is rewond#but he probably wouldn't. probably. at least a temporary bullet#bc those dont do any other damage to other parts of your cells#that said#a permanent one could be different#anyway. they're all horrifying possibilities#but also im just gonna drag AfO here#and ujiko#and overhaul#and endeavor#we taking shots at all of them#where's the thor gif about meddling where you don't understand#thats me
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