#i like endeavor from a meta perspective but hes a horrible person and deserves to hate himself as much as he does.

[itsclydebitches]

Just read your Bakugo Rant, it makes me wonder what an actual Sociopath like the Salaryman/Tanya Von Deguerchaff of Military Records of a Young Girl/Saga of Tanya the Evil would fair if they replaced Bakugo. ...damnit now I want to write that and an SI replacement for Bakugo. maybe two where one (an oc) is a literal sadist. but this is just my tired brain trying to think. AHHHH. any ideas on how to 'fix' Mineta?

I don’t know a thing about Tanya the Evil but go forth and write things! I’m dealing with my own inability to write right now by encouraging others to do it instead :D

Ah, Mineta. If I were writing him (under the expectation that I had to start with his canon personality) I’d essentially use him as a lure. “Oh look, this is a manga with your expected pervert character. Feel free to just sit back and enjoy his misogynistic humor...” 

“YEAH RIGHT this kid is going to slam into UA and realize very quickly that, unlike whatever high school he want to, those sorts of comments/actions don’t fly here. They’re not funny. It’s his primary form of development intersecting with the belief that he’s ‘useless’ in battle. Mineta is a support hero - his quirk works best to trap or immobilize while a physically stronger hero takes out the villain - and Aizawa is not only punishing him for the shit he pulls, but is pointing out that he’s shooting himself in the foot by disrespecting his peers. This proves to be true early on when classmates like Jiro, Tsuyu, and Yaoyorozu have difficulty working with him, putting them all in potential danger. Mineta winds up in extra classes with Bakugo to learn about hero conduct - it’s not just about the battles but how you conduct yourself as a person (insert parallel to All Might’s smile here vs. Endeavor’s treatment of the public). Which becomes even more important once UA is attacked and 1-A gets chucked into the limelight. Suddenly Mineta doesn’t have the luxury of becoming a respectful person on his own time. UA is under a lot of scrutiny and Nezu is making it clear that he won’t let their reputation take any more of a dive. For any reason. Mineta starts working to change his behavior, starts actually realizing why it was a problem to begin with, gets the chance to grow closer to his classmates, and by extension learns even more about how to work with them as a hero. As he grows and gets older he realizes that becoming a hero for the popularity isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but how he goes about trying to achieve that popularity potentially is. Right now, he and Bakugo are excellent examples of the villains’ issues with the system - Really? You’re heroes despite hurting others for entirely selfish reasons? - but up through what I’ve read (I am, admittedly, behind) the story hasn’t acknowledged that as something to try and fix. From the story’s - and the fandom’s - perspective, once you get into UA you’re automatically a hero and any actions that push back against that assumption are very heavily excused: “They’re just kids. They’re just hormonal. They’ve been through difficult things lately...” All true. All also not an excuse not to change their behavior. Mineta is a character with lots of potential for growth... we just need to get that growth. In a legitimate way. Not, as I point out in the Bakugo meta, these guys being marginally less horrible and the characters/fans acting like we should throw a parade for them now. There’s a difference between encouraging better behavior - always necessary! - and acting like because they’re slightly less horrible than they were means they deserve to be on the same level as their peers who don’t physically/verbally assault others on the regular. I think both characters should have been threatened with expulsion early on to help hit home how much they need to get their act together. And, depending on how things went with that change, actually expelled. UA is supposed to be an elite hero school and these two don’t fit that bill. 

Also, once Mineta has made progress he and Aoyama have a hilarious heart-to-heart about how to be cool (“cool”) without being a dick.