#i miss this all might

[justatalkingface]

The 'Great' MHA Read Along, Part One (Chapters 1-4)

So, at the request of @lacunammmm, I'm going to be... well, rereading MHA. All of it, god help me. Because the chapter division is stupid and based off giving weekly (and often cheap) cliffhangers rather than smooth storytelling, I'm just going to reread arcs instead of individual chapters (the arcs I'm going to be using are the ones off the wiki, for the record), kinda summarize it, and write out my opinions as they happen in a stream of conscious kind of way.... which is going to be a mess, fair warning. If you've read my take on the War Arc as a whole, that is the vibe I'm going to be going for. Thankfully, the first couple of arcs are only a couple of chapters long, so I get to get some easy stuff as a warm up before it gets longer and more complicated. Anyways, I'll be doing this on and off, and if this gets any attention I'll probably move it up my priority list a bit.

Anyways, first impressions as I read: where the hell was this guy with dragon fire head the entire time? Right at the start of chapter one it has examples of Quirks and there's this guy freaking out, and it's like a fire version of all those dragon covenants from Darks Souls, which is fucking awesome. Seriously, talk about an underused idea.

*clears throat*

But. Anyways. There's some crazy nostalgia seeing normal kid!Izuku; I know he's technically the same character, but he's changed so much from then to now, it's almost like he's literally a different person. It's not just that he's more confident and stuff*, like, all his mannerisms are gone, too. I mean, hell, the only thing that really connects Izuku from then to the current version is him going Kaachan, of all things. There's this kind of disconnect because I can't think of Post War Izuku, or even to some extent before that, really acting like Izuku.

More than that, though, he feels... fleshed out, in the way later Izuku doesn't; this Izuku, for all his flaws, and often (but not just) because of them, feels a lot more like a person that late game SUPER-DEKU Izuku does. Man, I miss this version.

*Actually, now that I think about it, he doesn't actually seem to have grown in confidence, after a certain point. Maybe by BvI2, his confidence, as a person, seemed to have stalled a lot. He's more confident later on, true, but that's more in a, 'I have assessed I can take you' kind of way to various villains, where before he was more nervous and determined; he's more confident in his power, sure, and his power level means he can apply that confidence almost all the time, but beyond that? The Dark Deku bit is something I could see this Izuku doing, if with less confidence, and for him to go on for so long without really getting to value himself at all speaks of some serious lacking growth.

Ah, beginning Bakugou. I did not miss you. And geeze, Bakugou cares way too much about Izuku; that ego is as big as a blimp and as fragile as spun glass. God, I forgot how damn sinister he was early on; that smile while he's burning Izuku (which I note doesn't even to have marred his uniform) gives me 'child pulling fly wings' energy. I really could see early Bakugou going way too far on Izuku and seriously hurting him in that, 'I didn't mean to' kind of a way, only maybe regretting it afterwards, and that is a bad vibe to have. In a less serious note, how does the teacher teach anything with him in class? From the way his friends talked afterwords, the lack of reaction the teacher had to his fits, everything he did except the suicide baiting was standard. Yelling, standing on the desk, exploding shit? None of that registered.

I know he's supposed to get away with everything because the staff likes his potential, but how much of the class does the teacher have to yell over him and his explosions? Or does he patiently wait for him to shut up before the lesson can continue, because clearly Bakugou's not getting punished for any of that.

...Sweet flying fuck, it has just got to hit me how much that must have hurt, the slime villain thing. Drowning is supposed to be a horrible way to die, and I doubt drowning in slime is any better, and to add insult to injury? He calls Izuku 'his hero', fuck. All things considered, that's probably the first time Izuku's been told that since his mom played games with him a a kid, since I doubt it's as common a phrase in MHA as it is now...

...

Now that I think about it, I refuse to believe that some sort of All Might related slang doesn't exist in MHA somewhere, and is this super common thing that people say all the time. It makes too much sense to me, considering the semi-literal worship the man has, and makes me want to laugh too much for it not to be real.

Speaking of All Might, popping out of the sewer, while carrying his groceries, as you do: in retrospect, that's like Superman crossed with your favorite idol popping out of the sewer, dressed in a normal outfit, holding groceries. It is both hilarious and without the reader's context brings up so many questions.

God, I miss this All Might. He's posing as he jump/flies away, long past the time Izuku should be able to see him, delightfully extra about it, and he's just so casual about this interaction, as he checks on Izuku, secures the villain, and even gives him an autograph on sheer autopilot.

I... I think this might be peak!All Might? Like, I know we get more of his story later on (but not by much, and generally just to introduce another character), but as a character I feel like his entire personality just started to flatten out after this initial arc, and by the time the next arc hits he's already getting flanderized into the useless character we end up with. Give it a second, let's get to a bit later in the story and I'll expand on that.

That said, the fact Izuku managed to stay on his leg and not get flattened by the jump or something is amazing.

Ah, instant karma on Bakugou. But, as has been noted, not punishment; he's not being punished for being an asshole, something bad just randomly happened to him, in a way that makes readers subconsciously want to think he's been punished for being an asshole, without having to make up for it in anyways, in a kind of half assed version of the dying for redemption trope.

Alright, real talk time: All Might and turning down Izuku. A lot of people hate on All Might for this, and I mean, a lot. They call him hypocritical and cruel, and like, did you pay attention? The man is being consistent; he didn't become a hero (student) until he got a Quirk. More than that, he tried to let him off gently, told him about how else he could help, and he really was just being honest. He may have been wrong, but he was honestly wrong. The fact Izuku took it so bad was because All Might was his last hope, but you can't blame All Might for Izuku's entire life when this is literally the first time they met.

*side eyes Bakugou*

Anyways, and now we come to it: the big moment. Well, a big moment, anyways; a lot of big moments in these chapters.... but yeah, Izuku saving Bakugou. It's... I feel like hindsight is tainting me here, in all honesty. Because that face Bakugou makes, as all those heroes stand around*, it does get you in the gut, it really does, especially when it drives cowardly Izuku to charge forward to save him. Asshole or not, he is just a kid, and he doesn't deserve that...

But. I can't help but look at that and think, 'This is Hori skipping on characterization'. That is, rather than making him better (though, to be fair, these early parts are the part of his biggest growth), or kinder to fix his character, Hori is hitting us with a poor Bakugou moment to smash some sympathy into us to try and undo all the shit that made us hate him not five seconds ago, while still leaving him as is. I don't know, maybe I'm too cynical, but I can't shake the thought.

But yeah, this is like, the defining moment for who Izuku is as a person, and it still is great at making him feel heroic in this really realistic, yet still impressive and admirable way. I really do love these early chapters. As much as I hate to say it, though, if All Might wasn't there all that would have happened was he would have gotten killed, like, two seconds after that so the heroes kinda had a point yelling at him.

Trying to recruit the recently traumatized victim, though? That is pure shit. Less, 'do you want to work for me', and more, 'Do you have lung damage', please; you're apparently professionals so I'd love it if you acted like it.

*Yeah, I feel like Aizawa would have expected all his students to try and rescue someone trapped by the slime guy, Quirk match up or not; there's certainly enough bad match ups they have in literally every school sponsored fight we've seen that it feels off that someone just said, 'I have a disadvantage' and gave up. I can't tell if this is an excellent demonstration of how half assed the heroes are getting, that UA is just better, or all heroes got flanderized as the series progressed into just charging in all the time anyways and this kind of characterization got forgotten. Some of everything, maybe.

Also. You, Fire Hose Man. Backdraft. Look, you stupid fucker, I get you're putting fires out (the second Bakugou is not responsible is the second his Quirk starts being treated seriously, interestingly; can't light a shirt on fire but once the slime gets to him the city starts burning? After this I don't think he'll ever start a fire again, no matter how hard he's going on someone or how flammable various things are) but you know what might be more helpful? Stopping more fires from happening, and saving a literal child! Two-for-one!

The villain is made of slime. You have access to high pressure water.

Do I need to draw you a map?!

*sigh*

...Sweet fuck in any other context than him being hammier than ham, All Might would be terrifying. How much of that persona is All Might going, 'Don't be afraid, I'm here to rescue you', and how much is, 'Don't be afraid of me, I'm so extra! Clearly I can't single handedly cause natural disasters when I'm not carefully monitoring my strength; there's no way you're going to explode if I touch you!'

God Bakugou, your ego, dial it back. Izuku, why are you complimenting how he refuses to get over himself?

Actually, right before All Might shows up, Izuku basiclly moves on from what... All Might said, which is interesting. He clearly still wants to be a hero, but that moment in itself just seemed really grown up to me. I respect that.

And... ah. I think this is my favorite moment.

'You can be a hero'.

God that's so damn powerful, the way you can see Izuku's composure fail, second by second. And... look at the way All Might is standing, look at how confident he is standing there, even when he's Skele-Might. This is the All Might I like, this is the man who helped get me into this story in the first place; even at his weakest, even after burning past his limit, he's still got the aura of a top hero to him, before promptly being shown as a Real Human, and it's so different from how cringing he seems to get later on, and so different from all these other mentors and heroes. All Might is both larger than life and starkly human in these chapters and that contrast is glorious.

And then the training, and I just hate we can't get this for rest of the series; All Might has that retired coach kind of a feel to him, of a guy who has done everything and knows how it works, and is just surprised and delighted by how Izuku is not only keeping up with, but surpassing his expectations.

The training we see is short, but when Izuku ends up screaming his victory, god it feels like he earned that win, and it's viscerally satisfying to see him improve like that.

'Now eat this', lol.

...What the fuck is UA's budget. They have a fucking town, like, an actual town, to train in. More than one? People could live there. And it's nice to see Iida be a character again, and the little arc he goes through here is interesting; he's well meaning, but abrasive, and in Izuku's mind almost bullying him, but you can still see how he means well; he maybe be a bit of a jerk at this moment, but he's not an asshole, which makes him (for what, one chapter?) a far more satisfying rival character than Bakugou ever was. If the story was spun different, you could really see a competing sort of rivalry between them forming where they both ultimately respect each other even as they try to one up each other, the thing everyone seems to think Izuku has with Bakugou for no real reason.

On another retrospective note, I have mixed feelings about how OFA is working here; when I first read this, I got into it, Izuku's struggles really brought me in. And then he kept struggling. And kept struggling. And the way All Might is suddenly unable to see this obvious problem coming, when he was so competent until Izuku got to UA, for literal months, leaves a bad taste. Looking back, it feels like Izuku is getting nerfed so he can suffer and panic all the time, and All Might is getting dumber so he can be a joke, and that.... ugh.

Uraraka coming in clutch on that rescue, though.

And Bakugou, yet again I'm harsher in hindsight, or maybe just less connected to Izuku's view on him, who would of course expect Bakugou to be the best, but the way it's focusing on his 'sheer battle instinct' and that he ends up in first place just feels like Hori hyping him up just because he can.

And to wrap it up... I'm assuming the 'Your Hero Academia' makes more sense in Japanese, because that phrase just feels...awkward, reading that in English. Was it different in the official stuff, or did it just stay as that weird almost title drop...? I can't quite sympathize as much with Izuku here, because of course he was going to get in, but it's nice seeing him win anyways.

In all honesty, this ended up meatier than I expected for just four chapters; in the future, if/when I keep this up, and the arcs get bigger, I might need to break it into multiple chunks to stop them from getting too big. Or, maybe this intro is meatier into such a short span because it's the intro. Guess we'll have to see.

[stil-lindigo]

lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)

if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.

--

no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.

I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.

I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.

If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.

[clarisse-doodles]

inspired by this post, in which Damian does not know what Vine is

[egophiliac]

bring your son to work day

[excali8ur]

So there's this AU,

[shepscapades]

Finally: The Official DBHC Etho Reference Sheet!

I had to clarify that the “current” look is for Season 9, because I’m not sure how or if he’ll change for s10 yet! The “current” version is essentially his updated “default” look! Thought I might mention also that “Back Around” on the loose timeline lineup at the bottom is a reference to a song on his playlist in which he takes some time away from everyone after re-deviating to re-remember and find himself <3

Side note: Etho wears his mask under his chin mostly just around bdubs, but he starts wearing it down more often around doc, tango, or others who are used to seeing the damage. More than anything else, he’s sure to keep it for protection purposes when he’s outside working, exploring, or anything else that isn’t just hanging and chatting with friends :]

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

Hey hey hey may 31th anon! How's 2024 going? ☆ヾ(*´▽｀)ﾉ This year I have for you a leaked Sherlock season 5 image. Thinking of you!! And everyone!!

[fantasykiri5]

for day 24 of @hermitadaymay it’s ZombieCleo!!

[kenobihater]

after literal years i finally got around to downloading a pdf of the wipers times, an unsancitioned satitical british trench magazine circulated among the troops in france from 1916-1918 after the fortuitous discovery of a printing press. i have approximately five million other things i need to read so idk when i'll be able to devote much time to it, and i gotta pick up a proper copy bc it's missing at least salient no 4 vol 2. that said? i'm genuinely laughing at what i've skimmed so far

[pumpkster]

i was watching a reaction video and some guy thought that all might wasnt really there (on his ??strong?? version) and that he was talking behind a cardboard of himself and i thought it was a funny visual

[kitmarlowe]

"We want certainty, security, to believe that people are evil or heroic. But that's not how people are. You want to know the secrets of existence? Start with the mysteries of the heart. I can show you everything if you stop being afraid of what you don't understand. If you trust me."

JODIE WHITTAKER AS THE THIRTEENTH DOCTOR (2017-2022)

[summonedbunny]

If there's one person who deserves a good night's rest, it's him ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

[purrvaire]

this show has it all btw

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

a funny lil flower that suits a funny lil guy

[musette22]

The evolution of Sebastian Stan in all black (2010-2023)

[nocreativityfornames]

Everything we know about Michael so far, lore wise.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR ALL SEASONS

➤ He's an high-ranking angel from the Celestial Realm, more specifically a Seraph. (nb: 18-2 and nb card: Luke - "I can do it too!")

➤ His love for sweets is the reason Luke took interest in baking. (swd: 5-12 and 23-5)

➤ He and Lucifer were equals in the Celestial Realm and no other angel shared the same status as them. Simeon referred to them back then as "the two great leaders of the Celestial Realm's legion of angels." (swd: 23-7) But currently Michael carries that position alone. (swd: 23-5)

➤ He was supposed to meet MC when they visited the Celestial Realm with Solomon but couldn't because a secret spring suddenly started drying and Michael had to go there to investigate the situation. (swd: 23-7)

➤ He used to be Mammon's mentor and tried his best to train the white-haired brother while in charge of him but wasn't able to figure out how to handle him and eventually went to Lucifer asking for help. And since Lucifer was somehow able to get Mammon to listen to him, he ended up taking over Michael's role and became his mentor instead. (swd: 27-19)

➤ He was originally the one in possession of the Ring of Wisdom but gave the ring to Solomon at a time when the human was feeling "lost" and Michael wanted to help him. (swd: 29-5)

➤ During MC's 2° stay in the Devildom when Diavolo was keeping secret from everyone that their powers had become a threat to the three realms, Michael sent the prince a message through Simeon, warning him that if whatever he was keeping a secret affected the Celestial Realm, angels wouldn't hesitate to intervene. (swd: 31-16 Hard Mode)

➤ He's the one who found the Ring of Light, counterpart to the Ring of Wisdom that Lucifer had lost during the Great Celestial War (swd: 37-9), and quickly noticed it was missing when Simeon stole it to give it to MC ( since it was the only other way to control their powers ), shooting the other angel a text stating that they needed to have a "good, long talk" and that he wanted to see him as soon as possible. (swd chat: M, "untitled")

➤ When MC was given the Ring of Light and fell unconscious because of it, Michael appeared to speak with them. And during their talk, the seraph told MC that he had pictured them to be truly wicked person due to being so well-liked by the brothers, but that he had been proven wrong after meeting them. (swd: 38-17)

➤ In that same conversation, Michael confessed to being jealous of MC. He told them: "I must admit that I'm jealous of you, MC. I wish I could have been more like you. Because I loved Lucifer and his brothers, and I lost them. Perhaps things could have been different..." (swd: 38-17)

➤ When asked, Satan explained to MC that Michael was the opposite of Lucifer appearance-wise but that they felt like twins at the same time. And when Mammon brought up Michael's adoration for Lucifer, Satan chimed in saying that in his opinion the reason Michael liked Lucifer so much was because he was the embodiment of everything he wanted to be but couldn't. (swd: 43-19)

➤ He would be the one having meetings with Diavolo when the prince took over the kingdom if he hadn't thrown the responsibility onto Lucifer in the last minute, making Michael in a way the stepping stone that led Lucifer to question his faith and start having doubts about God and the Celestial Realm in general. (swd: 44-15)

➤ When MC ended up in the past Celestial Realm through a dream Solomon sent them to accidentally by feeding them his food, Michael was the one to bring them back home. The angel told MC that they and the brothers would likely forget what happened in the dream but that it would still have an effect on all of them and he would keep an eye on them to make sure that said effect didn't have negative consequences in the future. (swd: 44-18)

➤ Luke told MC that he often found Michael in the hall where the brothers' portraits used to hang staring at the empty space, lost in thought. According to the small angel, Michael to this day still deeply misses the brothers and has regrets about the war. (swd: 49-15)

➤ He was the one to cast out the brothers from the Celestial Realm and send them to the Devildom. (swd: 50-7)

➤ According to Mammon, Michael and Simeon must've pulled some strings behind the scenes to get Luke to participate in the exchange program and be able to visit the Human World with Simeon because, with his low ranking, he'd never be the one chosen for those sorts of things and the Avatar of Greed is convinced that they're doing this because they want Luke to experience life outside the Celestial Realm, see that there's more out there than heaven, and stop thinking that angels are perfect beings who can do no wrong. (swd: 50-10)

➤ He's knowledgeable on constellations and likes them so much he had Raphael rebuilt a whole room so Human World constellations could be seen even from the Celestial Realm. (swd: 52-7) He also taught Mammon about them when he was still in his care, and later on taught Luke as well. (swd: 50-12)

➤ It was actually he who went into the Devildom and told the brothers that they had been forgiven by God and had to choose between staying in the demonic kingdom ( and making an enemy out of heaven ) or coming back to the Celestial Realm and leaving Satan behind. And in a conversation with Raphael, Michael said the reason for his disguise was that he was worried about what could happen if he showed up as himself. But Raphael quickly rebutted that by saying that the true reason Michael didn't go as himself was because he wouldn't know how to act around the brothers. (nb: 20-14 Hard Mode)

➤ Still disguised as Raphael before going back to the Celestial Realm, Michael told Luke that he wasn't surprised that the brothers didn't accept his offer to go back to heaven and actually knew that would be the outcome of it. He was also surprised not too long after when Luke, not knowing it wasn't Raphael who he was talking to, pointed out that Michael seemed sad and lonely whenever he was staring at the wall where the brothers' portraits used to be. Michael's exact response to the younger angel's words was: "...I didn't realize that's what people thought.” (nb: 20-A)

➤ When asked by Raphael if he planned to attend RAD in the future, Michael avoided giving an direct answer and left. (nb: 20-14 Hard Mode)