#and it amuses me

[justatalkingface]

You seem to have a really good grasp of Bakugo's character, and his character flaws in the story. Although it's more of a theory than a criticism, I was wondering if I could run something by you, a thought I had that would make Bakugo's character make a little more sense.

What if all of the inconsistency in bakugo is intentional? Like what if the truth of Bakugo's goals and arc, and his decisions was all to get one thing? One For All

Because Bakugo knows OFA can be given, he partially knew because izuku told him, then (for some reason!) All might told him everything else confirming that. Though the second bnha movie is only kind of canonical, I always found it weird how bakugo didn't remember anything about getting OFA, and judging by the dialogue had no intention of even attempting to give it back to izuku.

Bakugo seems to learn these valuable lessons and then goes back to doing the exact same thing, like you said in your post, which makes it not feel genuine. So like, what if it isn't genuine? And he was only acting like he needed to so he could get things the way he wanted them to be?

Bakugo isn't stupid, he's actually very perspective, not overly intelligent but it seems like he's always been pretty good at strategy. So at least to me it doesn't seem like it'd be that big of a stretch to think that bakugo would be smart enough to tell people what they want to hear when it matters, with the kid at the gang orca test, then to all might and midoriya.

And while it might seem his 'sacrifice' for izuku might debunk this theory, it's also true that bakugo has always been willing to sacrifice his body to win, like he himself said in the fight with izuku against all might. What if that sacrifice wasn't for izuku in the first place, but One For All?

I can't account for how all the other characters constantly cover for/praise him but the hero's side has never been good at not doing that, when it's someone that the heroes need, endeavor is proof of that. Maybe that's intentional too?

I'd really like to know what you think about this theory, if you think it's just too crazy or if it might have some merit. Thanks!

...You know, I kind of hate that I can't dismiss this instantly. Like, part of me started nodding before I even finished reading.

Let's separate 'What Hori Is Showing Us' Bakugou from 'what the hell a realistic person could be like' Bakugou for the purposes of this, because barring some truly unexpected, mind screwing levels of a turns table move, I honestly doubt that Hori is going to make the fan favorite, *gasp*, look bad, but that actually... makes a lot of sense?

...If we ignore how literally everyone else falls over themselves to praise him, like you said.

So, on the face of it, the obvious problem is that Bakugou's sin is Pride as much as Wraith, and he's canonly so damn stubborn he's willing to accept an obvious loss just so he doesn't look bad... ignoring that losing because you're too proud makes you look bad, but whatever, Bakugou logic. So not only would he be too proud to 'demean' himself to even get the Quirk, he's also too proud to even want that outside assistance of someone else's Quirk, because, Ra Ra, Bakugou is the best, he'll do everything himself, what the fuck ever.

The thing is, with that very incident, and with others, Bakugou did learn things, he did get it forced through his thick skull that he's not the top dog (granted, he now thinks he's second, and deep down part of him might even admit he's third or fourth, depending on the status of AFO and/or Shigaraki, but, again, Bakugou Logic(TM)). Moreover, it's been pounded into his head that Deku, the helpless, worthless nerd who could never be his equal, never even hope to reach the bottom of his shoes, has gone zero to hero just with the power of this Quirk, and through that alone he's close to equalling him, if not surpassing him, something he'd only admit in the darkest corner of his heart (again, we're ignoring: all the work Izuku has done on and off screen to improve himself, his actual fucking name, and that later on Izuku's power levels just... go fucking nuts, because this is from Bakugou's limited, prejudiced perspective, and this would have to happened before the power ups started, back when Izuku with a Quirk for less than a year was just rivaling Bakugou, who had his most his life).

Beyond that, there's also the fact that he's been an enormous All Might fanboy right until he started talking to him about OFA (and presumably learning he's a Mere Mortal, not worth Bakugou's precious time/respect, and also I'm still convinced Hori hates All Might's guts and so loves to make him seem pathetic at every possible opportunity), and as one fic put it, getting All Might's Quirk, even more than its absurd raw power, is in fact the ultimate piece of All Might merch. Even if it wasn't something he could tell the public (and we all know he'd tell the public at some point), the sheer status of having One For All, All Might's Quirk, has to be heady for someone in MHA's society, where All Might is the closest thing to a living god.

So, even in the face of his overwhelming pride, this, for the power and/or the prestige of it, is something I could see him lower himself to act humbled for, for a time. And that's the only major objection, from a character perspective, I could see to this kind of theory.

In the actual execution of it there are, of course, problems, as you've pointed out, but let's put that aside for the moment to think about how it'd go:

Bakugou, at this point in time, would have been getting more and more uneasy that a stupid 'Deku' is actually being real competition, and fast growing one at that. He also probably noticed that All Might was spending extra time with Izuku, which would piss him off... and then Kamino happened.

In the midst of all that emotional turmoil he realizes that Izuku was chosen over him, and, through that, the implication that that Quirk can be given. And it bugs him, that someone this unworthy can have something so great, so beyond him, when there are others more deserving.

And maybe that's not the exact time he comes up with this plan, but the seed of it is born from his discontent and that knowledge, and at some point between then and the exam, the first major time since then he has a big heroic moment, or even as he takes the make up, he comes up with an idea, as audacious as it is 'brilliant': what if he makes Izuku give him the Quirk?

Because Bakugou is smart (high Int, anyways, even if Wis is clearly his dump stat), and he's got to be aware that Izuku is only a few steps above suicidal, between his non-existent self worth and how he treats his body. As is, one day he'll get himself killed, or crippled to a point where heroic work is no longer feasible. And if that happens?

One For All would have to go to someone else, or else it would die with him, and Izuku would never let that happen, never let that heroic legacy die with him, let down his beloved mentor, as long as there was another option. And who better than his childhood friend?

Of course, even if he's truly refusing to admit fault, he's aware that All Might chose Izuku over him (indirectly, since All Might barely knew he existed before UA, and there's no reason for him to be considered as a candidate, but Bakugou Logic(TM)), for some reason. He also knows that driving Izuku away means he's less likely to be there when Izuku inevitably falls in battle, and that probably he's going to have be around Izuku more, and that he'll probably be a better candidate, when that time comes, if he behaves like Izuku, the kid who got All Might's Quirk.... for some reason.

Because, yeah, even if, intellectually, he gets that Izuku has traits All Might sees as desirable, as heroic, if he actually got it, understood it on a deeper, more emotional level that this is what it means to be a hero, he'd change his behavior in real ways, not performative ones. This theory revolves around, among other things, Bakugou understanding heroism at a similar level to AFO, who can predict it, generally, understands that 'this is what a hero would do in that situation', but doesn't understand why they would do that, and instead thinks they're all morons who refuse to work for their own best interests.

It says a lot that I don't think it's a big reach that Bakugou's moral understanding of heroism isn't that far from AFO's.

And so he starts to act.... and that's the point where the plan falls apart.

Because Bakugou maybe be smart (or 'smart'), but for all his many, many flaws, he's generally brutally honest about what he's feeling, and so I don't think he'd be good at deception. Sure, he gets the dramatic moments where he's like, 'Yeah, I'm being so heroic saving Deku!' or something, but he can't contain his constant, festering disdain for everyone around him, Izuku especially.

And that leads to the flaws of this theory: first, like you're aware of, that people should notice this, how he's acting, his utterly transparent contempt, even though they never, ever do, and thus ruin everything for him. The second is I honestly don't think he's patient enough to not blow it, to not just angrily shout, 'Damn it, Deku, give me All Might's Quirk already!' at some point when he inevitably loses his shit over someone breathing in his general vicinity or something.

So, do I think this is going to be canon? Never. Like I said, this would make Bakugou look absolutely awful, and we all know Hori will never allow that.

At the same time, though, I think this theory (which I'm calling 'One For Bakugou' in my mind, because it sounds entirely selfish and thus fits this perfectly) is the best, and only, explanation I've ever heard (beyond being tsundere), to explain how he acts in the later half of the story.

[heretherebedork]

Y'all need to understand that I recently explained the basic plot of The Warp Effect to my father who is a longtime romcom fan but otherwise only watches The West Wing and M*A*S*H and his reaction to the plot was 'I love it... as in I don't love it at all but I love that someone came up it and that people decided to make it'.

[lurking-latinist]

📸

[tooquirkytolose]

He made her an offer she couldn't refuse

[violent138]

If I was Bruce it would drive me absolutely crazy that I couldn't complain to Alfred about my kids:

Bruce: "Alfred, you won't believe what Dick did. He's in space again! He didn't even give me a heads up or--"

Alfred, drinking tea: "The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree--"

"Alfred--"

"I suppose it'll be twelve long years before we see him, no messages, not even a postcard."

Or

"Alfred, I think Jason's sick. Tell Leslie to tell him to take a night off."

"A night off you say, Master Bruce?"

"Don't start."

Or

"Alfred, why the hell is there a tank in the backyard?"

"I tried telling them not to Master Bruce, but you yourself bragged about the ability to survive Houdini's act."

There is no scenario the kids can wind up in where Alfred is even halfway sympathetic to Bruce.

[faultyconscience]

emma is so funny bc like. she likes rum. and she's so annoyed about it like 99% of the time. she's just. 'gdi, yes, i like him. wish he hadn't fucking seen me naked. but i still like him'

[chimaeraonwards]

John Cusack, the voice actor for Dimitri in Anatasia (1997), shared his statement on Palestine 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸

P.S. He has been a Palestinian supporter for years

[gibbearish]

just saw on the hbomb subreddit that james somerton briefly reactivated his twitter and changed the name to agayraconteur, then 8 hrs later deleted it again because people were noticing, so. everyone who went all in on "he'll keep popping up again and again in new forms" cash your bets in now LMAO

edit: hey yall this post is very out of date but has been getting spikes of notes since the second apology video so i'm gonna be marking it unrebloggable

[deityofhearts]

one of my favourite tropes is when a character is doing a bad job at something so another character goes “let me help you/let me do it for you” and then does just as badly if not worse

[kayawolfhorse]

Discuss

[eff-plays]

When Astarion gives Tav That Look.

You know??

YOU KNOW?!!??!?

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu AU where Luo Binghe's the chosen village sacrifice to the evil deity who lives up the mountain.

Normally the village sends maidens, but they've more or less run out of expendable girls of the right age and, ahem, "virtues". So of course Luo Binghe's early life bad luck kicks in. In the wake of his mother's death there's no one to really care about what happens to him, he's fairly pretty, and the village leaders decide that if they dress him up like a girl the teenaged homeless kid should pass well enough. And hey, y'know, he's probably got a hard life ahead for him anyway -- dying in a brothel of some venereal disease or on the streets of exposure or starvation. At least as a sacrifice, everyone else gets to benefit from his loss! And the kid will get added to a shrine and be remembered as a hero! If anything, he should be happy about this!

Binghe is not happy about this.

But he's also a skinny underfed nobody who is easily overpowered, dressed up like a bride, and tied to a post. So. Not much he can do but wait for the evil deity to come and do whatever horrible thing he's gonna do to him.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan is pretty sure he's been isekai'd into the over-powered hero of some kind of supernatural adventure story? He's not totally sure because he doesn't recognize the setting, but the signs are there. He's got a shrine-like base of operations (though it seems to have become corrupted/ruined, probably he has to restore it somehow), he has a very resilient and handsome new body with spiritual energy of some kind flowing through him, and a very clearly magical sword. Plus lots of neat starter powers! Though it feels like he has other abilities that have been blocked somehow? Probably he has to level up in order to access them.

When he treks out of his "base" and finds what seems to be a distressed maiden, he takes it for his beginner hero mission. The girl claims that she's been doomed to be sacrificed to an evil god. That sounds a little above Shen Yuan's pay grade for dealing with, so he unties her and decides that they had better just get out of the whole region altogether. He already packed up anything useful from his base, anticipating he might get caught up in an adventure once he left, so they follow the river away from the settlement until they reach another one.

While they travel, Luo Binghe tells Shen Yuan about the cursed deity, Shen Qingqiu, who was cast out of the heavens for slaughtering one of his brethren and has apparently being do-who-knows what to maidens from the local village in exchange for his "protection" ever since. Sounds like a real asshole! And also mid-level boss type bad guy at least. Shen Yuan hopes he doesn't have to fight him, but he probably will.

Thank goodness he found Binghe, though! Clearly the helpful little sister type! He's definitely going to require her assistance if he's going to figure out how to navigate this world and level up his skills enough to take on a god.

[reddeadvoid]

The idea for this came to me in a dream. I hope it makes sense lol

[since-times-long-forgotten]

why does he LOOK LIKE THAT

strange little bug who I refuse to believe is a cat is @pangur-and-grim’s Belphegor

close-ups and inspiration image under the cut

I didn’t capture the Weirdness of the stretch well enough, why does he DO THAT. how??? very stretch much long

[violent138]

League members discussing meeting Robin at work:

"Compared to Bats, Robin was a total sweetheart. Ball of sunshine."

"Man, must've been a good day then, the kid I met was a real anklebiter. He pulled out a sword and everything."

"Anklebiter is harsh, the sweet boy I met barely said a word, he just kept asking about Themyscira and the lasso."

"He? I met a blonde girl."

"No, no, black haired boy with blue eyes. We're talking about Robin."

"Yeah same here, blue eyed and tanned."

"Pretty sure he had green eyes. And talked fancy. And kind of scolded me for time travelling."

"The child I met was paler than the moon."

"I'm telling you I met a girl, and she was Robin."

"Well... either we're all wrong or we're all right."

So they arrive at the conclusion that Bats has a shape-shifter for a kid.

[weevmo]

Dog Instincts are Ruff man -