#herodom

[cedarwrought]

wreck is so dog coded to me . even after nice left him he chases after his remnants- a passerby looks similar to the shock of white hair he'd see haloed around his pillow in early mornings, the eyes of a waiter the same lake blue (which he later found out were contacts- the waiter took his staring as admiration, but he has to hold himself back from tearing out their eyes after hearing they were bought from treeman corp).

hell, he even finds himself nuzzling the old button up nice left at his apartment. the scent's long faded- it's been years, after all- but he swears the powdery scent of nice's body wash lingers in the fabric, precious memories interwoven with threads of dreams and cotton.

[proffbon]

I think you should know the person I'd reblogged that from had also tagged it Heroes of Myth. Idk anything about that but your people are out there

YOOOOOOOO NO WAY

That's 1 person, only 1 more to go!

If anyone is interested, Heroes of Myth is a choose-your-own-adventure game about a bunch of guys who bullshit their way into herodom but their bullshit starts manifesting into reality.

[pretttydemonboy]

Chapter Plans

Promised I'd post some vague plans for this series of fics I'm working on and then immediately forgot to do that. So, without further ado, here's my bare bones outline for the "Shouto Doms a Bunch of Heroes" AU!

Shinsou Hitoshi (completed)

Kaminari Denki (in progress)

Sero Hanta

Kirishima Eijirou

Ojiro Mashirao

Sato Rikido

Fumikage Tokoyami

Shoji Mezou

Bakugou Katsuki

Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku

I have vague plans for how each work is going to play out, more specifically what kinks are going to be explored in each one, but there are some where it's definitely a bit more "?????" so we'll see how it goes.

Also I may not necessarily post these in order, because after I finish Denki's part I may jump to whoever interests me the most at that point.

I will also be working on that lore post at some point just to give people some context to work with. I may post other fics that don't necessarily revolve around kink and whatnot but I wanna focus on this stuff first.

If there's anything you wanna know specifically, feel free to shoot me an ask!

[wordsofwhimsy]

𝑊𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑌𝑜𝑢...

Pairing: Main!Mark Grayson x GN!Reader

Warnings: None

Tags: Friends-to-???, angst

Word Count: 1.676

Synopsis: Being a hero was hard. And being their best friend? Well, that’s hard too.

a/n: i legit did not mean to make this into a full on one-shot. it was just supposed to be a mindless rambling i kept coming back to between listening to calls at work but it just kept goinggg ugh so if it sucks & seems discombobulated that’s why!! sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

They say that good things come to those who wait.

Waiting, as it turns out, can be painful. Agonizing. Hollowing. A process so slow you don’t even realize it’s happening until one day you’re sat on the shower floor, water gone cold as it drops across your goose-bump covered skin.

Your mind was blank, too tired to even echo what was weighing inside your chest.

Mark had been gone for over a month. No calls. No texts. Not even updates from the news on the latest whereabouts or sightings of Earth’s greatest defender. You visited Debbie every day—he’d asked you to. Said that she just needed some company, and that the house was too quiet now that his dad was gone. You, of course, said yes. You would’ve gone to see her even if he didn’t ask. She was like a second mom to you, after all.

She’d made you a cake for your 12th birthday. Took you to pick out new shoes for the start of freshmen year. Drove you home from school more times than you could count. Before puberty hit, sleepovers were a regular occurrence for you at the Grayson household. You and Mark used to even share a bed—both so excited to dawn your favorite hero pajamas. Even in your teens, you still would occasionally stay the night. Still in Mark’s bed—though now he slept on the couch.

Debbie insisted it be that way. Saying it was only the gentlemanly thing to do. He hated it every time, and you felt guilty, every time. But there was never any room for argument. Just a resigned acceptance of fate as you buried yourself deep in the clean bedspread, blanket pulled to cover your mouth as your wide eyes watched him retreat to the living room with slumped shoulders. Utterly defeated by people much shorter than him.

You’d known about his dad being a super for a long time.

Ever the inquisitive and observant child, you found yourself just staring with round unblinking eyes as his mom one day loaded the very familiar red and white suit into the laundry.

“Isn’t that Omni-Man’s suit?” You asked pointblank. Debbie jumped, cursing quietly under her breath as she whipped around to face you.

“[Y/N]! What—I thought you were outside playing with Mark!” She stuttered on an exhale. You blinked owlishly, eyes never leaving the costume she was now trying to hold behind her back.

“I was. But then I got thirsty.” You took a sip from your juice box, as if being reminded of your own dehydration.

“I’m just doing laundry sweetheart, this was just something Mr. Grayson wore for Halloween,” she tried to explain away with a sweet but tired smile. A dribble of juice ran down your chin that you didn’t bother to wipe.

“But it’s March.”

Debbie’s brow twitched. The corner of her lip did too.

“Mrs. Grayson, I think your husband might be a superhero.”

After that, the family could only keep up the charade around you for so long. Soon enough it would all come completely falling out of the bag. Not in full detail, of course, but enough for you to understand the importance of keeping the information to yourself. And you did so dutifully. You loved the Grayson’s and would never do anything to hurt or betray them.

You and Mark started daydreaming together about what it would be like when he finally crested that hill to herodom. How you made him promise that he’d take you flying right away. A back-and-forth speculation of just how strong he’d actually be.

“I bet you’ll be able to karate chop through a brick!”

“I bet 10 bricks!”

“I bet a million!!”

When high school rolled around, Mark still very much just the average student, you were there to comfort him. Even give him a hard time like was it really so bad to be ordinary like you? He’d give you that guilty grin, shaking his head like you’d just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

You were so far from ordinary. He just didn’t know how to say it.

The night he got his powers was otherwise uneventful.

You were sitting in the dining room of the Burger Mart, throwing down fries as you read and reread the same paragraph from your study packet for the US History exam. You were waiting for Mark, like you always did, to end his shift so you could walk home together. He didn’t have his license—insisting that he wouldn’t need to drive as soon as his Viltrumite genes kicked in.

You had no such pride. Just no money, and consequently, no car.

He’d mentioned once about how he bet he could convince his mom and dad to buy you one, but the conversation died there. That was something where your pride did indeed play a factor. The last thing you needed was for him and his family to see you as a charity case.

Besides, you enjoyed your walks together. Just the two of you and the endless dark above.

Only, this night, Mark didn’t meet you out in the dining room at closing, and instead you were being ushered out by the manager. On the sidewalk you turned back to the restaurant, brows pinched together in confusion. You pulled out your phone, ready to call him—had he seriously left without you?

Just as the device was being brought to your ear you felt yourself being ransacked hard from the left, your mouth falling open in a terrified scream.

“Oh my god [y/n] it happened!!”

Your heart was still racing despite having recognized his voice immediately. Now even the familiarity of his smell was registering to you as you struggled to turn your face out of his chest and catch a breath. “Shut the fuck up—NO WAY!!” You gasped, any fear or anger from the surprise attack immediately melting away.

Then he was hoisting you up and full-on RUNNING to the back of the Burger Mart, and if you were being honest, that casual display of strength was answer enough.

But not for Mark.

He steadied you back on your feet when you reached behind the dumpsters, giving you the chance to see his face for the first time. His eyes were wide and shining, grinning even wider than when he learned they were planning to make a Séance Dog movie.

“Okay—watch this,” he said with dramatic flair, taking a step back and reaching for a tin can that didn’t quite make it into the trash. You grimaced a bit at the grossness, but didn’t push it.

He turned, and with a casual toss of his arm flung the can into what you could only presume was low orbit. Your jaw fell slack and before you knew it you were bouncing on your feet, clapping your hands and giggling like crazy. “HOLY SHIT IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING!” You squealed, eyes flying back to him with the light of the sun.

Mark’s breath caught in his throat at the sight.

Without thinking you scampered behind him with wild excitement and awkwardly climbed up his back.

“Wait, what are you doing?” He laughed; despite the way his arms instinctively hooked beneath your knees to keep you secure.

“What the hell do you think!” You practically cried, locking your arms tight around his neck. “I told you I’M gonna be the first person you take flying!!” You kicked your feet into his thighs and pointed one finger vaguely in front of you. “C’moooon, let’s go!!”

He winced a bit at the light kick but laughed anyways, his fingers digging just a bit deeper into your skin. “Jeez, kinda killing my buzz here,” he said with a smile. “I haven’t even tried doing that yet. I literally just flung a trash bag past the horizon and then—well, yeah, I went to find you.”

Something fluttered in your stomach at his words. You chalked it up to nerves.

“Ugh, okay okay I get it: you need a crash course in flying before you take up passengers.” You sighed and untied your arms from his neck, leaning back and letting your hands slide down his back.

Was it always this… muscled?

A small chill ran down his neck at your touch. He shook his head, as if that would clear away the feeling you just gave him that he didn’t quite understand.

“I think my mom would actually kill me if she found out I took you up flying this soon.” He bent a knee to carefully set you back down, his fingers slipping just barely higher up your thigh as your feet made contact with the ground.

You both pretended like the feeling in your heart was nothing.

The beginning seemed so fun. So impossible. Like a dream both of you couldn’t wait to experience every day.

But the weight of the world came crashing too soon. The truth of Nolan’s purpose here. The hurt. The healing. The emptiness that followed.

And then there was you. Trying to be his stability through it all. His one constant. Forever there, dependable, a guarantee that he could bet on day and night. You never realized the way it ate away at you. Knowing now that despite his hero namesake he wasn’t truly invincible at all.

That you’d nearly lost him that night.

That every time he flew off into the sky, into space, into another dimension—there was a chance he’d never come back.

What you were left with was all your swallowed feelings. All your stunted thoughts. A constant ache in your heart and sickness in your stomach. A love you didn’t know how to express, and a fear that you never would.

He was the world’s hero now. The one they all needed more than ever. The one that had to let go of the idea of college, and a normal life.

The one who still gave up his bed for you.

Your best friend.

Your Mark.

[flagellant]

my latest tabletop characters in chronological order:

-17 year old orphaned anarchist guild leader who ends up apotheosing as the god of their homeland and ends up taking the throne to rebuild it after an apocalyptic disaster

-farmboy becomes a soldier in a war against a double-apocalypse, fucks up some invading fairies hard and gets captured as a war trophy, spends the next 400 years in fairyland before the moon says she likes his vibe and breaks him out by turning him into a furry and giving him ultimate cosmic power, which he mostly uses to act as the ethics babysitter for a godlich whose special interest is civil engineering.

-fairy princess eldritch wildlife biologist whose mom is basically titania. it was a very complicated relationship for like 14 levels and it took literal reality-altering magic rituals to start fixing their relationship. she hates the anarchist aforementioned bc hes 17.

-perfect prettygirl daughter of social climbing mother is predestined to inherit the ultimate cosmic powers of becoming part of heaven's secret police. theres two factions of the secret police and she hates both of them.

-rich frat jock gains insight into the hidden occult world and immediately uses it to start a homoerotic frat/dinner club dedicated to shapeshifting and blood sacrifice. snip snip snip

-prometheus got turned into a fairy. a girl who makes things explode with her mind and her friends turned him into a different kind of fairy. then he became her dad. he also accidentally used his fairy mind control powers to cause a global anarcho-communist insurrection due to going viral on international news. 1 billion people were actively mind controlled by it. he was not allowed on tv again but he did get a twitter

-genetically engineered soldier wolfboy has his furry polycule fireclade KIA by a gay sexy pirate and then gets saved by a ghost space whale. he then does war crimes and everyone is soooo mean to him but hes soooo sad about it. and then he performs lobotomy on himself and implants his negative emotions into a shackled AI god which loves him and hunted down his best friend and soul mate to be her service animal.

-a wizard in a mech keeps trying to infiltrate the gay space gnostics and they keep telling him no. then he gets corrupted by the logic plague because he saw the name of god and has ultrasurgery performed on him with the help of a team of hyperqualified shackled AI gods and a mad doctor who has been trying to create anti-god supersoldiers and he was the first success. and the gnostics immediately wanted his cock onboard their snake ship. he never experienced consequences for any of his actions:)

-girl from a noble family of divine heroes is very very late to inheriting divine herodom and has soooo many opinions about this. she spent the last 6 months hunting down a weird fairy with some new friends and spent the first 5 of them pretending to be stupid jock so they wouldnt bother her. she has been trying to eat the fairy this entire time but it hasnt been working yet.

-a werewolf who is big and brown and hypermasculine gets turned into a werewolf and freaks out bc apparently everything supernatural is real and he was weird for not believing in any of it. he totally doesn't have any body image issues due to being a big hypermasculine brown man with anger/resentment issues and he is totally fine with how everyone assumes he's just a stupid violent meathead despite being a trained EMT actively going back to med school for his doctorate. he literally went to a supernatural therapist to vent about lycanthropy and got scared when she did actual therapy on him. he's so in his head about how everyone interprets him as Big Scary Brown Man that he doesnt realize he's drowning in transgender dogs who are actively barking for his attention. he would put on a collar and not realize its a sex thing. a spooky nightingale told him it saw him from across the ghost forest and liked his vibes because he was a murderer

[lakesbian]

okay so first thing i like about interlude 3. in the part of the arc prior to it, we see taylor being severely mistreated by an adult PRT member--which pushes her to rob the bank with Great Gusto, wherein she contributes to beating up a lot of largely faceless wards. the sole exception to the lack of characterization the kid cops heroes receive in the pre-interlude chapters is glory girl, who spends a decent portion of the bank robbery trying to lord herodom's perceived wealth and prestige over the undersiders:

“I helped Aegis out of a jam on my way in, so he’s keeping your little friends busy. You should also know that the Protectorate is on their way from a wine and dine with Brockton Bay’s finest at the Augustus Country Club. Can’t speak for them, but I know I’d be royally pissed if some little snots dragged me away from a chance to have the club’s chocolate mousse.”

& tattletale simultaneously reaffirms & puts down this image she wants to present by mockingly calling her "prom queen" &c. and then in interlude 3, when we finally see the personalities behind the masks for the wards, miss militia comes in and says it outright:

“She was kind enough to volunteer to come here and patch you guys up,” Miss Militia told the young heroes, “Can’t send you home with horrible injuries and hundreds of bug bites, can we? That would give away the show.”

the prestige, the purported invincibility and success of being a young hero--it's all a show covering for the fact that they're fundamentally overworked, systematically manipulated child soldiers, being regularly thrown into life-threatening situations & used as weapons to beat down on other systematically abused children (like the undersiders). which goes So well with how a critical turning point in the prior chapter is victoria presenting herself as invincible, only to be deeply wounded by tattletale correctly observing that she isn't.

and letting people see past the facade is something the PRT/herodom at large considers to be worth a chewing out--piggot is mad that glory girl was called because she caused property damage, and property damage is bad for PR. she's less concerned with aegis standing there with a punctured lung than she is the bad PR of kid win not filling out paperwork properly before using a new weapon. and yes, obviously, aegis can't die from a punctured lung or having his retina detached or his ribs snapped--but the image of a teenage boy standing there half torn to shreds while the director reams them all for not being the perfect child soldiers is viscerally grim. miss militia doesn't say "we can't send you home with horrible injuries because that would suck and be unhealthy for you," she says "we can't send you home with horrible injuries because that would give away the show." bleak!

[dewygrassy]

My Hero Academia - What is a hero?

Chapter 430 marks the completion of My Hero Academia – the 10 years running series by a remarkable storyteller, Horikoshi Kōhei. The fraction of those who are satisfied with the ending and those who found faults with it is substantially growing apart.

I had posted my personal thoughts on my X’s account but I am going to publish my impression here again.

"Can I become a hero like you, All Might?"

The premise of MHA is comprised of the notion of what defines the true hero. Does possessing an amazing quirk is the only golden ticket to herodom? The answer is no.

A hero is someone who moves his body into action before he could think to reach out with a helping hand.

As a quirkless, Midoriya Izuku knew he hardly cut out to be the great hero but somehow, he managed to accomplish it. While he doesn’t own One for All any longer, the ember of heroism still lingers within his heart and Izuku makes it clear that he wants to inspire and encourage others to reach their dreams.

In the last couple of pages in Chapter 430, All Might mentioned that the technology is advancing further up par with the evolvement of the quirks.

Izuku with a supersuit doesn’t make him heroically lesser than before, he’s still a hero through and through even without a quirk.

Brodi Ashton quoted that “Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the power they are graced with." And Midoriya Izuku's actions spurred the very meaningful message that ANYONE can be a hero - quirkless or not.

In my humble opinion, that is the reasonable way to wrap up the story.

[ichorofthelastlament]

The vae have plagued the land of Kasht for as long as man could remember. They once dominated the world before being chased away into the darkest recesses of the night but never truly gone, always hunting for the next human to become their meal. After eons of lurking the shadows the vae have become bold again, feeding more frequently and spreading their domain.

But that's where you come in. You, the chosen heir of light itself, the one who holds the power of the sun in their veins. The one prophesied to lead a group of heroes like yourself to save not only your people, but all of humanity.

A bronze age inspired fantasy setting, don't expect a one-one real world counterpart/historical accuracy.

Customize your heir: appearance, gender, pronouns, name, personality

Build relationships with your fellow companions on your way to save humanity

Choose how you feel about being thrust into herodom

Combat the Vae, beings who that take inspiration from vampires and fae. Or don't.

Decide how you ultimately traverse saving the world. Will you follow the prophecy or find another path?

More to be determined

MC [That's you]

You grew up in the desert kingdom of Akma under Mother Azira's House. Like many others who'd lost their parents you were trained to be a skilled member of society, you had many options but none so illustrious as being a god's chosen heir. Yet life is full of surprises.

The Bosom Buddy (she/her, trans woman)

You've known Periphae, or Peri as most call her, for much of your life. She is your best friend and closest companion. Working under the Fragrant Lotus, a well renowned brothel under Matriarch Azira's control, she has never been much of a fighter. She's a playful gossip who does a horrid job at hiding her anxiety, its hard to accept that she's chosen to venture out with you of her own will.

The Shield (she/he/they, genderfluid)

Eurus is a warrior from the eastern region of Saeyah who's been trained to fight along side the heir of light all their life. They've anticipated the day where they could fight alongside you, as is their destiny according to the prophecy. They have a carefree 'go with the flow' attitude about most things. Your safety and this quest for the world are not one of those.

The Chosen One The Guide (they/them, nonbinary)

Amani was a priestess that once held the title of the heir of light, they were thought to be the one to inherit the mark of the sun until the Day of Blessings came and it went to you. Now their years of training are being used to help you save all of humanity. A fact that makes them quiet bitter towards you, but Eurus says Amani is haughty and harsh with everyone.

The Mountain (she/her, cis woman)

Valeska is a warrior from the gloom infested lands of the Dhaga, a place full of various nomadic clans. She is quiet quiet skilled with stone magic, a trait they treat with complete disregard and prefers to rely on raw physical strength. You aren't sure if she's cocky or apathetic, but the claims her muscle power is far more useful that her prodigal magical talent. All the same she offers you a helping hand on your quest despite not caring much for the cause.

The Crowned Rose (he/him, transman)

Nymphie is one of the Seven Vae Lords, the one most beloved by the Vae Queen no less. He dutifully enacts his mistress' will though despite his loyalty he does not appear personally invested in her grand plans. Whatever they may be, he has no intention of telling you them. At best he appears amused by you and your compatriots attempts to fight back against the vae, you are no threat in his eyes so he takes joy in partaking in a game of cat and mouse with you all. But no amount of playful gestures can hide the danger they pose to your group.

The Rose's Thorn (he/him, )

Mars is also a Vae Lord in his own right, though rather than pledging loyalties to the Queen he bows to Nymphie and Nymphie alone. He serves as Nymphie's right hand without complaint despite being their polar opposite. For whatever reason he has orders to keep an eye on your group, you don't know if his presence is constant as he is only seen if he wishes to be. Luckily he rarely interferes with your plans, content to observe. He is quiet and blunt with his words, and though he does not appear to have ill intent it is hard to ignore the occasional hungry looks he send your way.

[DEMO]

[justheretoposttrash]

day 4 of being incredibly normal about hawks and endeavor (but mostly talking about manga spoilers in general):

mha is a story incredibly interested in exploring generational support, generational abuse, and what people pass on to each other (alongside hand motifs and showing the childhoods of different characters). you pretty much can't get through any arc without running facefirst into a plethora of examples, but ofa and afo are fun (and perhaps appropriate) places to start!

horikoshi features doomed siblings almost as much as he features terrible fathers, and these two are no exceptions. alongside those versatile hand motifs, afo literally uses his hands to take from others, while anything he has to "give" goes to those younger than him, and it's pretty much always a direct vehicle for trauma. it works well that he's lived for such a long time, literally sustaining his own life thanks to hoarding more and more power and resources for himself, while also giving him that age hegemony over all other characters we meet. he thusly kinda becomes the mustache-twirly Evil Dad² in a metaphorical sense, ruining the futures of others as he attempts to write his own narrative exactly how he wants it (storytelling is also a big theme in mha, go figure. when i consider that one definition of trauma--as something that disrupts the narrative one has of themself--and how AFO hands out trauma also as a way of commanding power and controlling the narrative, it really all comes together).

Yoichi is, of course, opposite in so many ways, centered around giving instead of taking. the inception of ofa began as a (very, uh, heterosexual i'm sure) act of granting freedom and sacrifice.

the ofa wielders don't just give their powers to the stockpiling quirk; they also give their lives, through combat or through cutting their lifespans or both. opposite to afo's Big Mean Father² lifespan, the lifespans of the ofa wielders are very short. they sacrifice their own futures to make the futures of others brighter. and of course, through the act of passing on the quirk, ofa necessitates an act of giving from one user to the next. it's a hand-off of counsel, support, and duty that helps shape each receiver into the best kind of hero they can be. afo passes down trauma, and ofa passes down tools for one's betterment. pretty standard parallels to how a bad caretaker/good caretaker can, even through a single act, shape an entire existence younger than them. relatable! trauma nation rise up!! 💪💪💪

with these themes in mind, then, it's a no-brainer as to why mha features so many godawful fathers (also i'd bet a hundred bucks horikoshi has daddy issues. a thousand. a trillion, honestly. gimme money). though relationships that fall outside the clear-cut power-dynamic of a parent to their child still carry these themes well. peer-to-peer,

sibling-to-sibling, etc., the list of other examples goes on and on!

endeavor's character certainly straddles a lot of these ideas, perpetuating a lot of column A (bad) and a bit of column B (good). he receives trauma from his father in the form of spiraling thoughts about failure and mortality (and maybe those two things are totally equivalent, right?) ((they're not)). his response to that trauma then goes far in the other direction, an obsession with herodom and invulnerability (especially avoiding or punishing emotional vulnerability) that passes the trauma right down to his family. in all his desperation to avoid the tragedy of his father's death, he ends up causing the tragedy to repeat itself, this time with touya's (apparent) death. it's even a direct result of the quirk he gave to touya. every intangible and tangible thing touya inherited from his father would only go on to hurt him, and the worst thing that could possibly have happened does indeed happen. instead of coming to terms with the fact that he gave touya the wrong things---trauma and a fire to burn himself with---he gives more of the same to shoto. surely the same tragedy won't repeat a third time. surely what he passes down to his youngest will make him come out of everything gloriously successful and *alive* (and those two things are totally, definitely equivalent) ((and again, they're not)).

what blows my mind is just how close the todoroki family was to witnessing yet another repeat of the tragedy--that they might have watched endeavor die while failing to save someone, just as endeavor had watched his own father do the same---and that they nearly had to bury touya a second time.

similarly, when it comes to the past transferring to the future, childhoods are the foundations upon which peoples's futures are built. characters are not only shown in a state of emotional vulnerability when in Baby Form, but are also responding to and trying to find answers to each others's traumas and core drives.

in a sense, they don't just inherit their worldviews from the prior generations, but from themselves. when we see endeavor confront his younger self, he isn't only killing off who he used to be, but also all the conclusions he had drawn from his own childhood--a rejection of what his trauma response got wrong. most people have to learn to stop being cruel to their inner child, whereas his inner child is the cruelest voice within.

anyway, for all the Bad Shit endeavor has passed on to the next generation, the future and hope he provides for hawks is something else. despite all white-knuckled efforts, he doesn't end up saving his family, nor himself, and certainly not touya, but he saves hawks, and that one instance contributes to the entire idea of ofa and the question of what different people can give to each other.

as invested as hawks is in the future, he initially keeps himself pretty distant when it comes to those younger than him. there isn't much explicitly given as to why, but it's pretty natural to assume that he really doesn't have the tools to pass on anything healthy--not after what he's been given by others. the one good thing he knows how to give is the one good thing he's received, which is the act of saving itself. being a pro is the only language he has for the longest time, and once his back's to the wall and he has to give tokoyami whatever he can, we see how readily he assumes that what he has to offer just isn't good enough.

(not only did his parents pass trauma onto him, but in valuing or devaluing his wings and thereby making his worth always conditional, they also affected what he could then pass on to others ((or at least, how he conceived of what he could give)).)

in my view, hawks gives tokoyami flight and endeavor support, and from tokoyami he receives the idea that he's someone worth looking up to and fighting beside despite his shortcomings, while from endeavor he not only got saved as a child but also receives a proof-of-concept of the ability to radically change, to wind up in a morally/emotionally better place than where one started. (he not only contrasts himself against shoto for the kid's ability to forgive/work with his parents, but notably contrasts himself against endeavor due to the latter's willingness to engage with his past, which he views as a vulnerability but also as something admirable.)

given keigo's middling age in the main cast of characters and the interesting space he occupies, it's fitting that he would ultimately act as a sort of channel between the generations of heroes as of the finale, retaining some of the value from what came previously while also helping guide what comes in the future.

[72stars]

RH: Prometheus Clark head/face rough design and a doodle of him with Jason (disclaimer: not ship art). Uncle C always there to lend comfort and to help your older brother try to gently drag you out of lethal anti-herodom, what a guy

[tempestaurora]

exerpt from a post-my hero fic i gave up after writing two scenes:

“…Even now, those voices encourage me. If sparing a thought for someone else is the first step towards herodom, then on that day, everyone was a great hero.”

Bakugou placed down the last page of the manuscript, scowl creasing his features into familiar lines.

“That’s your ending?” he asked, eyes narrowed in on Izuku, sitting opposite him at his kitchen table. The mid-morning sun showed dust motes lazily floating in the air, Izuku’s dark hair glowing the faintest green. “Bit weak, don’t you think?”

“Wha—” Izuku’s eyes bugged out. “Weak? Do you really think so?”

Bakugou shrugged, leaning back in his chair. In the kitchen, he could hear Kirishima running the tap for the dishes (too long, always running the tap instead of filling up the bowl, hating the feeling of sticking his hands in the dirty water), and Kaminari and Sero arguing in the living room over a game of Mario Kart. Bakugou breathed in the sounds, growing ever more familiar the longer he lived with them, their rookie pay checks barely covering the rent.

“What are you even tying up?”

“Huh? I mean – me, Kacchan, I’ve tied up my story with One For All—”

“Yeah, but what else?” Bakugou knocked his knuckles against the stack of papers. He’d been reading Izuku’s book for the last week – a memoir as All Might’s heir, a long-awaited story since All Might was still hemming and hawing over writing his own tell-all book about his life. “What about you and Round Face?”

“What?”

“Or, hell – what about you and me? What about the fact that the story is unfinished?”

“Well, it’s a memoir, Kacchan. We do just keep living after it’s written.”

Bakugou waved a hand. “You spent so long talking about your useless crush on Cheeks, on our rivalry or friendship or whatever-the-fuck you want to call it—”

“—I prefer friendship—”

“—even on my desire to be number one. And you just… end it. You don’t even tell the reader what you’re doing now.”

Izuku’s face twisted. “Well that’s because I don’t know what I’m doing now. I know I’ve got the apprenticeship at the HPSC, but I don’t know if that’s what I want to be doing forever, and I don’t know if I should be finishing the story with, like, a resolution of being a badly paid assistant after having been briefly the strongest hero on the planet—”

“—Debatable—”

“And there’s nothing to say about Uraraka because nothing’s happened there—”

“—Which is your own fault—”

“—and I don’t know what I would say about any of this, us, and whatever mess we make of ourselves.” Izuku sighed, slumping back in the chair. It creaked, rocking onto the shorter leg. “Do you think the book is that bad?”

Bakugou was tempted by that age-old desire to knock Izuku down about fourteen pegs. He’d worked hard over the last few years, since Shigaraki and All For One and the League of Fucking Villains, to develop new habits and not fall back into old ones. It’s why he called him Izuku rather than Deku, why he allowed him into his apartment with only minimal complaining rather than exploding him the minute he knocked on the door. It’s why, when Izuku texted him and said he’d written a book and he wanted Bakugou to be the first one to read it, he didn’t laugh him out of the fucking country.

Bakugou took a deep breath, shoved away any disparaging comments, and said, “No, it’s not bad. It’s just not finished. You’re telling a story, yeah? That means you gotta tie up the endings.”

“And if the endings haven’t happened yet?”

“Then you gotta change the story.” Bakugou shrugged. “A memoir isn’t a normal story. It’s a narrative connected by a theme. You don’t need to talk about every person you’ve ever met, the reader doesn’t need to know about every little thing that happened – you gotta make sure the stories you’re telling are ones you can finish, and ones that matter.”

Izuku twisted his mouth into something like a smile, and Bakugou looked away. Izuku always had those big eyes, filled with way more emotions than Bakugou’s daily quota allowed.

Before Izuku had the chance to say anything else, Bakugou shoved over the manuscript and said, “Take out the dorm room competition, too. That was fucking stupid.”

[cedarwrought]

nice: futility in the pursuit of perfection

(spoilers for EP 1 under the cut)

note: i'll refer to the original nice in this analysis, not lin ling. (we'll talk about him later LOL)

this is purely based off of the official trailers, pv, character concept, and episode one, so my thoughts are subject to change as more episodes are released <3

in nice’s character concept, he’s is shown to be nothing short of a perfectionist. everything has to be perfect: stationary, plates, silverware (or goldware, i suppose) have to be in their rightful positions. all of his belongings are gold, white or fall in a shade of brown, black. even his pillowcase is set in a neat geometric pattern. his hero costume’s color scheme- gold, white, and blue- screams sophistication and poise.

nothing can be out of place- so why choose to die the way he did? it's messy, undignified- and most importantly, public.

what type of fan wants to see their shining hero's brains splattered out on the street? in his hero suit, no less.

nice wanted to permanently tarnish his image of being “perfection incarnate.” he decided to damn himself even further by pointing finger guns at lin before falling- a bittersweet farewell.

despite his endless pursuit of perfection- and having seemingly obtained it (with the title of no.10 hero, his face plastered across every other billboard in the city, and a beautiful girlfriend fitting of his clean, polished image)- i think nice hated himself.

his floor in hero tower is devoid of any personality or sentimentality. the only decor is a piano off to the side, two treadmills (the other presumably meant for moon)- and most importantly, a statue of himself- of nice- in the middle of it all.

offering a palm out to whomever stands before it, the statue almost seems welcoming, friendly. almost. it looks like it belongs in a city hall or museum, not someone's personal residence.

so why keep a statue of himself in his personal living space?

you could theorize he's narcissistic. i mean, people would kill for the prestige tied to the name "nice." (we even get a glimpse of this jealousy in his character promo- hello mysterious stranger.) maybe it inspires him as he steps into another day of being “nice.”

but to me, it’s a reminder fueled by self-loathing.

nice has nothing- is nothing- without being perfect, adored, and envied. he's a former ballet dancer- an art form known for its severe dedication to the craft. we don’t even know his real name. If he can’t be the perfect hero, what is he? And when that image is threatened, what will he do to maintain it?

according to the official trailer 3, nice says he will “use whatever dirty tactics it takes to prevail.” the “villain” we see in his PV calls him out on his alleged hypocrisy, implying that he was involved- or at least knows of some of nice’s misdeeds in the pursuit of perfection.

hell, even his own hero name calls him out. To be nice is to be agreeable, pleasing. niceness is a surface level trait: a veneer meant to cover imperfection and rot. he's not supposed to be kind, much less good.

“Nice” has to be perfect, and whoever held the mantle before lin was unable to afford the cost.

EDIT: the video i had originally referenced for the the quote "use whatever dirty tactics it takes to prevail" had a mistranslation, as @/spidey-deadpool and @/rainibao kindly pointed out in the tags. in the original Chinese video, nice says "No matter what dirty tricks you play, I’ll overcome them perfectly." this lines in better with the self-loathing aspect I had mentioned, and im curious to see how it plays out!

referencing ballet again- it's an art form that ultimately breaks down your body. professional ballet dancers typically retire in their 30's or 40's due to the physical demand, and it seems that the same can be said for herodom- with the cost being your mental health and well-being. faith and trust from the public seem to enhance a person's physical capabilities and prowess, but the standards to maintain that image become increasingly rigid the more renowned a hero is, given how deeply heroism is entrenched in capitalism. im very curious as to see how debilitating injuries are handled in TBHX, but for now, we see the aftermath of how it led to a young hero taking his own life.

[pretttydemonboy]

So this MHA fic I'm working on where Shouto is Quirkless and instead basically works as a professional dom is coming along somewhat well and I really can't wait to start posting it. The fic itself is really just Shouto domming various guys from 1-A but like, post war post epilogue all that shit.

I created a whole AU for it but a lot of that backstory and lore type stuff doesn't...super affect the actual fic that I'm writing. But it does inform some of the relationships within the fic. So I'm contemplating putting together just a general headcanon/lore post on here to refer people to if they want to know more. BUT I DUNNO.

[lilith-vodkaaunt-of-demons]

Danby Phamtom

ALRIGHT GHOSTS AND GHOULS

I finally finished Danny Phantom, and I think, as a wee lass I completely missed season three, because I genuinely did not know/remember that Danny got ice powers? Like, kind of out of nowhere. And if I'm being super honest...

They did a shit job telegraphing that. Like seriously? S3E2, Danny stumbles upon The Map to Infinity, and at the VERY END of the episode, FrostBoi says "He has more in common with us than he realizes." And I'm thinking "Oh yea, he's like, Prophesized Ghost Jesus or something, of course he has more in common with the ghosts." And then nothing for 4 whole episodes! Not a hint or inkling of anything, then

BAM!

Start of S3E6, Danny's got the shakes. Okay, that's interesting, maybe Danny has a Ghost Cold, or Ecto-Fluenza or something. It's not uncommon for these types of shows to do "Sickness has adverse effects on super powers" episodes, but no, it's ice for some reason. Still not really sure why Ice. Like, ice doesn't seem like a particularly ghostly power to me, outside of "Ghost cause a Chill" mythos. Lots of ice puns.

ANYWAY, season 3 seemed pretty okay to me. There's a little ick in some of the episodes. S3E1 was weird. It seems out of character for Plasmius to stoop to Danny's level, being a 40yo, and while Danny did the same to him, I'm still not really comfortable with the choice to have the Middle Age Bad Guy basically show the entire school Danny naked.

I can kind of see why a lot of people dislike Season 3, it often feels like it regresses characters to previous, less developed states for the sake of a plot when they could have just used a different interpersonal conflict that would have worked just as well...

However, I DO like some of the development shown in this season, like Johnny 13 and Danny having a kind of Frenemies relationship where they kick the snot out of each other but all in good fun. I actually wish we could see more of this, where Danny actually manages to befriend ghosts that were previously enemies. Like, can you imagine an episode where Danny senses a ghost, goes and finds out it's someone like, The Lunch Lady, and he's like "Doris, c'mon, we talked about this, you can't keep coming in here and bothering the Living lunch ladies just because you don't like what's on the menu. Let's go get some coffee and then we can go back to the Ghost Zone." That would be amazing and hilarious, plus, could you imagine the Lunch Lady haranguing Danny because "You're only skin and bones, Boy, you need to eat more. You'll never get big and strong if you don't eat enough!" The jokes write themselves!

Alright, to address the elephant in the room; Phantom Planet.

I want to say one thing. Yes, it's not very good, but I do kind of see where Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are coming from, I just think the writing about WHY they feel the way they do is bad. See, if you look at the Subtext of what the writers are TRYING to communicate, it's about the core of why people like Super Heroes. Yes, being special is cool, but it's about more than that. At the core of Super Herodom is a desire to be able to help people when they're in need in a world where more and more you're too busy keeping your own head above water to be able to help others.

This desire to help, mixed with the inability to do so creates frustration, and that frustration is exponentially increased when you see someone who CAN help either not help, or give up the ability to help.

There are entire shows I've stopped watching because the Main Protagonist is CONSTANTLY complaining about their super cool powers, and I absolutely hate that. I would do a lot of things to get super powers, and to see someone get them, and either complain about them, or even do what they can to get rid of them rubs me the wrong way because that is my dream. To be able to help people like that. I think THAT'S what they were going for with Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. They just did it poorly, like everything else in Phantom Planet.

[felikatze]

the more i think abt the sonic movies the more i dont like them as sonic movies. i have my gripes with stctp but i wholeheartedly agree w the sentiment posited that it's not A Sonic Movie, it is "a movie that happens to star Sonic"

and my big problem w him. is that. he's not very Sonic?

Like yes of course Sonic characterizations vary across media and time but. At the core of EVERY Sonic is Confidence. He was made to be A Cool Dude With An Attitude. And the specifics of that have shifted with time as the concept of "cool" shifts per generation, so it's not that egregious for movie Sonic to reference memes or popular media or whatever, it's that movie Sonic is insecure.

He lacks the fundamental confidence and independance of any other Sonic. Whether it ranges from general herodom or dips into callous disregard for others, Sonic always exists on that axis.

But movie Sonic is shy. He's insecure. He needs people to be there and love him.

And like, yeah sure! That's understandable with his given backstory! But it's still not Sonic. It's just a different character.

[ladystoneboobs]

y’know, whatever the true parentage of aegon vi aka young griff, in a way he is more like rhaegar than jon snow is. by which i mean their attempts to force themselves into archetypal roles, rhaegar as the prophesied hero against supernatural dark forces and yg as the hidden-prince-in-exile come to save the country and restore peace and harmony by taking the throne.

rhaegar’s very existence is owed to a prophecy, when the ghost of high heart said the ptwp would come of aerys/rhaella’s line they were forced to get married by their father. his destiny was decided and agreed before he was born, as just a hypothetical male prince. bc ofc this promised prince must be a son born with a cock, right? no one ever looked for or expected a princess for this. and when he was born during the mysterious tragedy at summerhall, what could be more of a sign that the prophecy was fulfilled? no need to keep waiting for any more kids, anyone further down the line, this baby had such a dramatic entrance he has got to be the specialest boy of all. rhaegar likely knew all of this from a very young age. grandpa jaehaerys ii believed enough to force his kids to marry, so he wouldn’t want this important planning to go to waste by taking it to his grave, now, would he? was rhaegar reading all the time bc his favorite genre was old prophecy scrolls or was he always doing homework to become the hero he knew he already was? does it really matter when either way he never really had much choice in his role in life? one day he finally goes to train with the master-at-arms only bc he realized from his reading that he “must” be a warrior. he became as great at that as he was at anything else, according to ser barry, but he never enjoyed knighthood. 

to me that’s all a far cry from jon, who grew up idolizing daeron the young dragon and dreaming of glory and conquest. jon, who spent most of his waking hours training in the yard even when injured at the end of asos, just bc he didn’t know what else to do and it helped him blow off steam. jon, who had a nostalgic “hunger” in him when hearing the sound of swords in the yard as lc. the same guy who as of acok still couldn’t get why sam would consider old books and crumbling scolls to be treasure. jon, who has nothing but doubts once he does rise to power and herodom as lord commander and can’t conquer them. and most importantly, jon, the hero who chanced into his role as shield guarding the realms of men only bc ned won the fight at the toj after rhaegar died and took him to be raised in the north. if/when jon does return to life and take his place as a heroic head of the dragon, that role can only be his own choice, not one he was raised for his entire life, just as his membership in the night’s watch was ultimately his own choice based on his northern childhood. (jon’s conception may have also been prophecy-related, but beyond that, his path and rhaegar’s sharply diverged.)

know who was shaped for a royal destiny “since before he could walk”, though? that’s right, aegon in essos aka young griff. his destiny was already chosen for him by the schemes of illyrio/varys just as rhaegar’s was by grampy jae ii and other dragon prophecy nerds before him. he studied his scrolls and trained with the royal master-at-arms just as aegon studied in the routines of his entourages and was trained by knights of the golden company.

and, at some point, we know rhaegar realized he wasn’t the ptwp and decided it was his first son, aegon, instead. mostly bc a comet was seen the night of aegon’s conception. i remember seeing a post years ago saying rhaegar must have spotted the comet that night, run naked straight to elia, and declared they had to get babymaking asap bc the comet was a sign too significant to be ignored. a joke post, prob, but i feel like there’s prob a lot of truth to the idea of rhaegar desparetely forcing the signs to add up, concieving a child on that night after he’d already seen the comet rather than just happening to have sex with elia on the same night there just happened to be a comet sighting. i believe this bc why would it all just be lucky coincidence if aegon vi was not the ptwp? lbr now, whether he indeed got his head smashed in by the mountain or was switched out and sent to essos, rhaegar’s elder son was/is not the promised hero. (just like rhaegar himself could not be the pwtp, after all.) a previously-thought-dead-for-16-years newbie with shaky parentage credentials introduced this late in the game is not going to steal both jon’s and dany’s thunder like that, c’mon. so a comet appearing just for his conception feels about as likely as red rahloo actually killing 3 kings just for the sake of frickin’ stannis. it’s even possible that rhaegar later decided aegon might not be the ptwp either and put more stock in dragon head #3 bc of the whole ice and fire union aspect with lyanna. we just don’t have enough info about that part of the story to know for sure. but there’s no suggestion he was unhappy with elia beforehand or that either of them thought she could not bear more children until the maesters actually said so after aegon’s birth. and even if he was “right” about lyanna’s child being the most important one (ew), he was still counting on both aegon and rhaenys to be the other two heads of the dragon, and presumably planned to raise all 3 of them for their destiny together in kl as he had been. in which case his plans utterly failed, because that is just not at all what happened with any of those kids.

in that sense, death is what jon and his bio dad most have in common as they both walked fairly boldly and blindly into their doom. but the circumstances are still a bit different as jon was murdered in a mutiny rather than killed in battle, not to mention his likely resurrection as an actual hero of prophecy. despite being around 10 years older than either jon or aegon is presently, i’d say rhaegar was even more naively overconfident in his plans than jon was in his final moments. to go that quickly and without any known hesitation through each change of plans from simply being ptwp himself to becoming a warrior as well as a weirdo nerd to fathering 3 heads of the dragon to truly fulfill prophecy to organizing a political coup at harrenhal to honoring lyanna instead to eloping with her after aegon’s birth to make her wife #2 and mother of dragon head #3 to riding off to one definitve battle against cousin robert after hiding in his lovenest with lyanna for months, idk, that does not read to me as someone suffering the same questions and doubts jon did in the nw. rhaegar told jaime “when this battle’s done” not “if i return in victory” in their farewell. he had no back-up plans in case of his defeat, leaving elia with aerys and lyanna in the toj, no plans for how to protect either wife or any of his all-important prophesied progeny in the event of his loss, just as he had no immediate plans to deal with aerys yet. (compare that to idealistic young king robb stark, thought to be recklessly honorable and accused of thinking himself invincible in his youth, yet he still managed to make plans for his succession should he die childless in battle, and planned to put his wife and mother in strongholds held by trustworthy (sane) allies who could defend their positions for some time in his absence.) all that only makes sense to me if he always thought he’d still have time for all that later, never truly envisioning the possibility of house targ being overthrown so soon when all his hero kids were still babies. 

after all, whether he was the ptwp himself or only meant to raise the 3 promised dragon heads as heroes, surely their destiny was already written years before and he couldn’t go out in such a mundane way, right? i’d say aegon/yg shows the same kind of overconfidence in going along with all the gc’s changes in planning, from whatever varys/illyrio originally wanted with viserys iii alive to finding dany and marrying her after the birth of her dragons to leaving for an invasion of westeros first to conquer the stormlands himself before wedding dany as equals. he never imagined she could refuse him until tyrion told him so, and imo is still not grasping that his female relation could prove more important than him in westeros with her 3 dragons. rhaegar may have known he was doomed since his tragic birth among so much death and later knew he wasn’t the pwtp, but he likely still expected a higher doom, one as dramatic and magical as his birth at summerhall. he couldn’t imagine his chest being caved in by lyanna’s dumbass ex, his boorish cousin robert, just as aegon/yg can’t know what doom could be in store for him in westeros either.