#but that actually works for all of these quirks except the kitty tsum one

[makeste]

ITP: speculating on the rest of Deku’s SIXQUIRKS

(cont.) ...working on the basis that each power is an activator type that doesn’t mutate the body or cause you to grow 3 extra libs to use- based on the glimpses we’ve seen of the past wielders they all had normal body types- and that each power will work in tandem with the others to give deku more options without conflicting with each other’s usage.

similarly to how todoroki’s quirk combines the temperature manipulation needed to generate fire and ice and uses that to offset the drawbacks of each power usage on the other, I think these powers will all interlink somehow into one large powerset that lets deku rapidly switch between fighting styles based on the situation and whether he has to focus on fighting or rescuing- for example, we’ve seen how Deku fights with just the strength boost- using it to increase his speed and recently, fire wind blasts, but when he uses that in tandem with Black whip, he can suddenly create black webbing that lets him hold and restrain his opponents, letting manoeuvre around the battle field with more mid-air control than he did before, and potentially letting him throw them into buildings if he boosts the strength of the tendrils- we saw 20% was enough to throw him around like a ragdoll and tear up the surroundings even with him trying to actively supress it. With that in mind I think some of the powers he may have would be

(1) black whip webbing- no-brainer, since we already saw this- but if he controls it more, he may be able to leave constructs of the restraining tentacles behind that stay active even when not connected to him or in his presence, giving him instant ability to restrain and leave his foe immobilised like spidey does for the cops

(2) combat tentacles- again we saw this, so obvious, but if he still has the tentacles connected to him, he can boost their strength and let him lift and throw opponents or objects even if he’s not physically touching them, plus it may also give me more metaphorical ‘hands’ to punch/restrain his opponents with- this may also be handy for rescue operations letting him lift and safely maneuverer civilians out of the danger zone, or create temporary load-bearing tendrils to lift rubble away from those in need

(3) wall crawl- based on the way black whip plastered itself to the surroundings, if Deku layers it over his hands or body parts, it may allow him to stick to whatever surface or ceiling he applies it to, letting him manoeuvre around the environment like spidey, though it’d probably take more mental control to keep active or to turn off and on to move around, similar to miro’s quirk

(4) defensive capabilities- black whip seemed to cover the whole of Deku’s arm when it was being used, which means it could probably cover more if he pushed it further- I actually have the idea of some kind of black venom/bunny mashup when I imagine the end result of completely covering himself, but regardless, the fact that Black whip can hold and touch stuff means it has physical mass, albeit temporary, so if deku completely covers himself, then he may be able to cushion or soften blows against his body- on those lines, I’m also curious as to how Shigaraki’s decay would work against that- we’ve seen that he can’t affect semi-solid stuff he can’t touch 100% like sand, but we’ve never seen how it does up against energy constructs like a force field or similar- something that’s both solid and lacking a substantial body.

Even if Shigaraki can only count up to 7 right now, I think in future chapters this potential defensive capability could be key to letting Deku fight head-to-head with him- I dunno what makes me so sure of this but I keep thinking their showdowns will somehow include a physical aspect outwith their quirks- we know shigaraki can take some hard knocks, but he needs to be capable of confronting and threating deku’s overwhelming power to demonstrate his own strength as the successor to All For one, much like that last battle nearly had All Might losing in a head-on fight- to me, evil needs to able to match good on it’s own terms to prove it’s a true threat, or there’s always the possibility of the heroes quickly and anti-climatically turning the fight around in an instant if they get the upper hand- the ‘unstoppable force’ of evil needs to prove it can match the power of the ‘immovable object’ of good to bring a sense of danger to the battle.

As for the other’s I’m not so sure, but I do have a few options-

(5) defensive ability- I already kinda covered this with black whip, but this is more of a full-body defensive power like Kirishima’s- I’m thinking Deku hardens his body’s density to the point where attacks shatter and stop against him- though a potential issue with that is that he needs to focus and get in the right state of mind, and initially can’t move whilst using it, also he’s become another copycat of kirishima’s power (sorry dude)- whilst black whip would provide some defence, deku still takes too many hard knocks, and it seems like the high-end nomu’s are being built on a similar power level to OG Nomu, capable of physically wreaking anybody not on all Might’s power level if they get their hands on them. Since All Might, and now Midoira, have a bit of a Superman theme going on, i’m thinking this defensive quirk may let deku imitate the Man of Steel invulnerability for a few seconds to let him keep fighting when realistically the threat’s already liquefied his insides, or he needs to stand in the way of an incoming attack against civilians that he can’t block or deflect, though the drawbacks and stress of maintaining such a power may mitigate it’s usefulness to avoid making him too OP right now

(6) enhanced senses- again, basing this off the superman idea, but deku may gain access to something that enhances all 5 of his sense to superhuman levels, letting him keep track of more of his environment, see different spectrums, and utilises his analysis and predicative fighting style to a greater effect than before, though all 5 of his sense may backfire, if he’s scratched and feels like he’s lost an arm, or get hit with a flashbomb and incapacitated etc

(7) laser eyes- yeah I’m bringing up a lot of superman stuff, I don’t have a large imagination for the potentials beyond what I’ve got right now, but given the energy theme that seems to be common between full cowl and Black whip( it manifested in almost lighting-like black tendrils when he first used it) deku could potentially end up using this power by focusing power in his eyeballs like he does when using All For one on his body parts initially, and getting it to explode outwards as high-energy beams, which can be focused as needed, though using this would temporary blind him due to the intensive light being refracted through his corneas

(8) slow healing- I’m kinda ripping this off from the Dresden Files, but in there it’s explained that Wizards live to a ripe age because their bodies channel magic and are capable of creating absolutely perfect copies of their cells when they get cuts or broken bones letting them heal without scars or damaged limbs, as opposed to inferior copies like our bodies do, resulting in lasting damages piling up over our lifetime- given the damage Deku’s put himself through so far, he’s already in danger of permanently losing his ability to be a hero, so this could potentially mitigate the drawbacks of his reckless fighting style so far, at least in the long run - it’s explained that the healing cant regenerate missing body parts, and can’t be sped up past the speed of normal healing- it’s just keeps healing away at wounds slowly until they’re completely gone, which could take years- the main character gets his hand flame-broiled to the point it’s recommended he amputate, yet several books later he still has the hand and full dexterity, though he’s still got some nasty scarring that’s yet to fade away.

That’s all I’ve got for now, if you can think of any others, or get suggestions for any others, feel free to list them- I’m curious as to what alternative powers you think Deku could use.

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sounds like fun! I’m gonna pass on the possible-combinations thing because I’m not particularly good at that kind of thing, but I like your suggestions, particularly the wall-crawling one. we all know how much Horikoshi loves his Spider-Man.

but the SIXQUIRKS!! speculation sounds like a great way to put off reading the rest of Vigilantes chapter one (lol I’m sorry guys. I’m making my way through it, slowly; it’s just really long, and I’m having trouble staying focused. but I have started it and I also read the preview chapter already, so I’ll have that post ready in a day or two at least), and I’m sure my answers will all be 100% wrong too, so I look forward to seeing just how wrong they are lol.

a couple of notes on my reasoning process:

I agree with you that all of the quirks will likely be emitter or transformation quirks rather than mutant quirks, since it doesn’t seem likely that Horikoshi will make any dramatic alternations to Deku’s basic appearance. after all, one of his most distinguishing characteristics is (ironically) the fact that he’s ordinary as fuck to look at. since a key aspect of mutant quirks is that they’re impossible to turn on and off, and thus any change would wind up being permanent, I think we can safely rule this out.

I still have no idea what’s going on with the Bakusilhouette, or whether this implies that one of these quirks could potentially be Explosion. but I’m hoping not (because get your own quirks, Deku!!), so I’m gonna leave that off of the list.

there is going to be at least one quirk that lacks any constructive use whatsoever and is basically just comic relief. please Horikoshi. I need this.

lastly, Horikoshi is going to have to be very careful to keep Deku from becoming overpowered. he can keep things in check for the most part just by making the powers difficult to control, but even so he’s going to have to be smart about it. we can have one or two more badass powers, maybe, but if all five are as awesome as Blackwhip, Horikoshi is going to end up writing himself into a corner real fast. the last thing you want is for your protagonist to be able to solve every single problem with barely the slightest effort. so for this reason I’ve done my best to keep the rest of the SIXQUIRKS as balanced as I can manage.

now on to it!

  1. flying quirk

listen guys. if this doesn’t happen Deku will be fucking heartbroken. he wants to be up in the air so bad. he wants to get away. he wants to flyyyyyy away. yeahhhhh yeahhhhh yeahhhh.

but he really does though. so Horikoshi should just give up and give him an actual quirk for it already so he can stop mooching off of all of his friends’ flying abilities and slingshotting himself off of temporarily elastic steel beams.

 2. spidey-sense

disclaimer: this is not my original idea. @interstellar-elf sent me an ask like months ago suggesting this and I think it’s perfect tbh.

I think this one is all but guaranteed. it’s relevant to heroing but not too OP; it pays homage to Horikoshi’s favorite hero of all time (because he hasn’t paid him enough homage already lol); and the power itself has always been a great way of adding dramatic tension to a scene. it’s both useful and highly cinematic -- it’s basically carte blanche to throw in as many close calls and near-death escapes into a scene as you can manage. really, is there anything more shounen than coming within a hair’s breadth of dying horribly but somehow surviving to tell the tale? that’s what spidey-sense really is at the end of the day.

 3. psychic shield/immunity

first of all before I continue, this seems like a great time to post another long-unanswered ask from @interstellar-elf!

the problem with psychic powers is that they do tend to be overpowered as hell, though, and given that Deku already has a ton of awesome quirks, that makes me wary of giving him any kind of psychic abilities on top of that.

but! I think there is a workaround for this, which is to give him powers that only work as a defense against other people’s psychic attacks! you know, kind of like Occlumency in Harry Potter, where you can stop someone from reading your mind. or like the power to shake off someone else’s mind control -- oh, wait.

(and then later on...)

hmmmmmm.

I’m not saying Deku already has this power, mind you. but I’m also not not saying that. it would fit, basically.

 4. the ability to create extremely specific and totally useless objects at will

okay so remember how I said I’m placing my bets on at least one “joke” quirk that’s basically useless aside from being used for comedic purposes? so I racked my brain for a bit and this is what I came up with. I just think it would make for a really great visual gag if Deku all of a sudden started making a bunch of stuffed kitty tsums out of nowhere and had no control over it and everyone was like, “DEKU WHAT THE FUCK” and he was like “I’M SORRY I DON’T KNOW EITHER I CAN’T STOP IT” and there are just kitty tsums everywhere, just strewn all over the damn place, and for a while every time he panics over something it’s like BOOM! KITTY TSUM. and Bakugou is like “DEKU YOU ASS, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU GOT MULTIPLE FUCKING QUIRKS, WHICH IS FUCKING UNHEARD OF, AND YOU WENT AND WASTED ONE OF THEM ON THIS BULLSHIT” and Deku’s like “I LITERALLY HAVE NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER IT’S NOT LIKE I PICKED THEM OUT OF A CATALOG” and Bakugou’s like “AT LEAST PICK SOMETHING ORIGINAL ASSHOLE, PONYTAIL GIRL ALREADY HAS THE OBJECT-MAKING QUIRK FOR FUCK’S SAKE” and Deku is like “ARE YOU BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL” and Bakugou is like “HAH?” and so on and so forth.

bonus points if the quirk actually ends up saving their lives later on in some really stupid way.

 5. super-op time-stopping quirk that can only be used under Extremely Rare and Specific Circumstances

okay so for the fifth and final quirk, I wanted something that actually is outrageously, insanely powerful and a huge upgrade. but as a check to keep it from getting too out of control, I think it should be something that can only be used if the circumstances are exactly right. like he can only do it during a full moon, or once every six months, or only if he knows the exact year, month, date, and time the target was born, or something ridiculous like that. maybe not quite that specific, lol. but you get the idea.

basically I’m looking for something he can only use once or twice in the entire series, but when he does it’s a game-changer. and time-fuckery seems like the best bet as far as game-changing goes. we have not had any time-fuckery quirks yet precisely because they’re so absurdly powerful, but at the same time, you can’t just write a manga about superheroes and not have someone with a fucking time quirk at some point. it’s gotta happen. you’ve gotta do it. so you might as well do it with the main character then. you’ve all seen that one scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past? technically that’s a super-speed quirk, but hey, same difference. but yeah, to avoid plot holes Deku can only do it during a planetary alignment for thirty seconds at midnight or some shit.

 so that’s all five! tbh the only one I have even the remotest bit of confidence in is the spidey sense one, because it just ticks a number of boxes that are too good for Horikoshi to pass up. but for the rest I really have no idea; I hope and expect to be completely taken by surprise. 

but I will forever have an AU headcanon now where Deku develops a Kitty Tsum quirk and is just. sitting in a big ol pile of these things like Captain Fucking Kirk while everyone is like “SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK DEKU” sob.