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shut the internet down, there's never going to be a better statement than this ever again

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way overthinking this but like. This sounds like they've made bets before. Spinner's lost the bets. Bets that has Spinner going 'No!!! No betting!!!' and Shigaraki going 'heh'.

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building sand castles with the lov.

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apparently it's yaoi day today too

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gay spinner pride flag

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This is the closest we will ever get to seeing a shirtless Spinner

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SHE'S SO CUTE ✨💞✨💕

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[Seaside Escape] Himiko Toga!

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Villain's Vacation event memories

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it finally happened

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Agreed with almost everything except the term 'character assassination'. I feel like that's a different concept - that Hawks was supposed to be a character that would later be a champion for the downtrodden, but then he got shot down to be Endeavor's cheerleader. For me, it's been clear from my first reading that Hawks was a bootlicker. A conflicted bootlicker, but still a bootlicker.

Hawk's willing to sacrifice one for the many, especially if that one is an enemy of the state. His behavior at the billboards celebration was to hype Endeavor up because Hawks knew society needed a symbol after All Might was gone, even as people were wary of Endeavor for good reason. The Commission's order for him to infiltrate the League and turned a blind eye to any crimes they commit rankled him, but he still followed it, just making himself be the sacrificial one to work harder to save all the civilians in danger, as a Hero. The stability of Hero society is his first concern; those that aren't part of 'Hero Society' - the villains - don't count. I was never surprised that he killed Twice, and only half-surprised, half-expecting it that he stuck with Endeavor after the abuse reveal. For him, Endeavor did more good than bad (as a Hero with a high case solve rate); and then would go on to do more good than bad (as opposed to the League's destructive goals, and by Endeavor's apparent desire to not longer be a dick.)

I *thought* there would be a point in which the HPSC crimes got so bad that he would finally turn against them; and yes, when Endeavor's abuse came out, I *wondered* if he would revise his opinion of his hero. That the manga, during MVA, is trying to approach a conclusion of 'one for the many' is wrong. But Hawks' actions fits what we know of him from first appearance (following unethical orders while only being mildly internally critical of them); and then how he conceptualized himself and his backstory. He looked down on his parents (as he should because they were *abusive*; but he also looked down on them for being at-the-societal-margins *criminal trash* too); he believed in rising above his conditions through merit and following the law; and Endeavor was a hero who took away his shitty dad (who was a murderer and thief and fugitive). In Hawks' mind, child abuse is more forgivable than being a Villain. A society where Heroes can have more 'free time' isn't one where things are changed so that Heroes aren't needed; but rather taking down Villains quickly and brutally enough that Heroes then can go on break early.

A character type like his, with his background should not be used to prop up Endeavor or the HPSC, and should've been refuted; but Hawks' particular characterization as written by Horikoshi screamed to me from the start that Hawks is a utilitarianism guy. His trajectory and endpoint was disappointing because of the missed opportunity for development and messaging; but that's a stupid writer decision rather than characterization deviation.

I do recognize this is semantics though. And also my reading is my reading. Sorry.

I guess Horikoshi thought Hawks hating Enji made no sense or something. Because he portrayed him as such a fan boy of Endavour, and maybe he thought if Hawks came to hate him, it would be anti-thesis of Endavour developing himself for the better and make his redemption arc kinda pointless?

We know that the members of Touya family, especially Natsu, had negative reactions toward Enji even after his redemption but they suffered in that same household, so it makes sense for them to resent Enji.

Meanwhile Hawks was kinda sympathetic to Shouta but besides that, he wasnt personally affected by that situation, so it was easier for him to ignore and focus on Enji's current/present situation as an individual.

Ok, I take issue with a lot of the points you made here.

,"it would be anti-thesis of Endavour developing himself for the better and make his redemption arc kinda pointless?"

First, let's not talk about "redemption" in the case of Endeavor. He himself acknowledges that what he's done to his family is beyond forgiveness, and he can only strive for atonement. Second, atonement is not done for present/future reward but to try to make amends for past sins. So Endeavor shouldn't be rewarded by anything to atone - his ledger is already very red. He needs good deeds to balance those. That's the point.

2. "Hawks was kinda sympathetic to Shouta but besides that, he wasnt personally affected by that situation, so it was easier for him to ignore and focus on Enji's current/present situation as an individual."

This doesn't make sense because Hawks is a hero. A hero doesn't need to be personally affected by a situation - they should be able to distinguish injustice and fight it. That's kind of the point of a hero. Hawks (and every single other pro-hero) shrugging off Endeavor's exposed crimes with a "this doesn't impact me" makes them all look bad, people without any moral integrity, who will protect one of their own no matter what horrible things he's done to innocent victims (sort of how cops will protect often the truly despicable among their ranks).

The fact that Hawks himself is a victim of child abuse makes it even weirder. He should be able to personally empathise with the Todosiblings.

Sometimes I see in fandom those fans who were themselves victims of DV / child abuse looking at Endeavor and thinking "I wish my dad tried to change" and that's valid. But Hawks is not even put into this kind of mental position, but rather into comparing himself to Shouto, and blaming himself for leaving his own abusive parents behind.

The point is, in Endeavor's "atonement arc", the burden is left disproportionately to the victims. Endeavor becomes a better hero (but he was already good at his job, so it's kind of pointless in the context of atonement), but he's not able to do much for his family beyond buying them a house that doesn't even get used much.

He never manages to put his family first, to step up for them in any real way. Rather, it's the family who is constantly put in a position to prop up Endeavor:

Shouto saves his life (both in the PLF war and in the final war), steps in to fight when Endeavor can't or won't (Ending and Dabi both times), catches strays for Endeavor's past behaviour (Inasa)

The family props him up emotionally in the hospital after the PLF war because the situation forces them to

If they want to try to save Touya, they have to save Endeavor with him

They are made to share the responsibility for Touya's spiral, to the point of getting "karmic scars", including Fuyumi who was a child.

And what does Endeavor do for them? How does he step up?

He doesn't. All the narrative focuses on is to support the perpetrators and give him rewards for trying to be better, while not providing support to the victims, not providing justice to the victims, not taking a strong stance on right and wrong, and certainly not rewarding them.

It's kind of a sad irony how Hawks, who himself was a child abuse victim gets character assassinated to prop up Endeavor.

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Movie night

I have no idea what they're watching or what they're talking about, all I know is this is a kinda non villain AU where they're happy together. They met in juvie when they were stupid depressed teens abandoned by everyone and now are boyfriends roommates in a crappy apartment. Tomura still got decay because Afo is an asshole that wanted to take revenge on Nana's heritage, but instead of taking him in he just let him go suffer society's stigma against bad Quirks. The hands are tattoos. The guys are more or less good citizens now. Most of the time. May do some gigs for Giran when they are short on money. Gamers gotta buy games. And also pay bills and all that, but nerds can survive with cup ramen and not showering that much.

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Haven’t finished anything in a while… I should probably start just sketching more often ngl

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Hi! Very much enjoying your analysis, especially with Vigilantes :) Do you have any thoughts about my favorite character Sir Nighteye?

(This is me reacting to that introductory Bubble Girl scene and then to everything else.)

Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying the Vigilantes rereads!

Sir Nighteye!!!  I love him!!!

Well, it must be said that my ardor has cooled somewhat in the wake of BNHA’s wretched ending, and especially the parts of the ending involving All Might being totes right and correct about everything, which does sadly drag down a lot of my feelings about everything connected to him.  Even in my days of Maximum Nighteye Love, I liked him in the knowledge that he believed a lot of things about All Might that I didn’t believe myself.  And that Bubble Girl scene is an exemplar of the kind of scene you have to train yourself to read past if you want to like a lot of the characters in this comic or indeed the comic itself.[1]

1: I’m speaking here less of awful things Horikoshi doesn’t want to grapple with the severity of lest it undercut the emotional arcs he wants to write and more of his gross sense of humor surrounding the objectification of women: the unspoken but nonetheless quite canon fact of Hagakure running around with no clothes on for the bulk of the series, the constant jokes about Mount Lady’s ass, the unseriousness with which Mineta’s actions are treated, and so on.

But that’s the sum total of my objections to the man, who I otherwise adore.

I love his design, the lanky businessman look and how it contrasts with All Might, his gimmicky throwing stamps, and the fact that he’s absolutely fucking shredded under the business suit.  I love his strict personality that masks how deeply his care runs for the people he’s close to.  I love his expressions, his body language, how his quirk activation makes his eyes change, the whole nine yards.

I also love how fraught his relationships are and the picture they paint of what his life is like.  His fractured bond with All Might is compelling, which is great from the perspective of a tragedy-appreciating reader like myself, but still so terribly sad.  His interaction with fellow Heroes suggests that he’s not super popular with his peers because they don’t really get what it’s like to live with the quirk he has.  His sidekicks respect him, but don’t seem terribly close to him on a personal level.

All in all, then, a fairly lonely portrait!  Except that then there’s Mirio - certainly Nighteye’s mentorship with Mirio began with him using the kid just to prove a point, but it so clearly developed, thanks to the strength of Mirio’s character, into something mutually rewarding and full of affection and respect.  Just like he is for Tamaki, Mirio is the sun in Nighteye’s life, and Mirio’s boundless admiration for Sir informs his heroism in ways that I in turn regard with far, far more admiration than I do the way All Might’s heroism informs Deku’s.

Mirio, remember, is capable of actually conversing with the people he fights!  He asks questions about his opponents’ motivations, about why they’re doing what they’re doing, and gives every impression of listening sincerely to the answers he gets, even if he doesn’t always understand them – we see him do it with Shigaraki, with Nemoto about Overhaul, and to a lesser extent even with Overhaul himself.  I sure as hell don’t think he learned that at U.A. and given that it’s something I think Heroes should be doing across the board, and that we see Nighteye himself engaging Overhaul in a similar conversation, albeit one more about Overhaul's actions than his motivations, I have nothing but respect for the kind of heroism we can assume Nighteye’s been teaching.

That said, I don’t think his author or his series respect him all that much, unfortunately.  To get more serious for a bit, Sasaki Mirai is exactly the kind of character whose way of doing things is distrusted by the hot-headed ethos shounen comics so often favor.  I’ve talked about this some before, both in passing and in a big way over in the essay about BNHA and Ur-Fascism, but Nighteye and Monoma are the characters who get treated the worst by BNHA as a result of its ideas about the absolute virtue of Unthinking Heroism.  Monoma just gets smacked down by the narrative for being too calculating, without his staking out a whole ideological stance on it, but Nighteye is a lot more explicit.

“You’re not so special as to be able to save who you want, when you want. (…) This world is not so accommodating that you can act the Hero because you feel like it.”  At the time I first read the Shie Hassaikai arc, back in my first read through BNHA, I was thoroughly enjoying BNHA’s gradual dissection of All Might’s Pillar ideology and how Deku was having to navigate said ideology.  These days, of course, I know that plotline goes less than nowhere, and I’m actively scornful of Midoriya Izuku.  On both counts, then, I love having someone around to tell Deku that his way of thinking is arrogant and that he’s a lot less capable than he thinks he is.

Deku never really comes around to Nighteye’s way of thinking – his meticulousness, his foresight, his thoughtful and thorough planning – and indeed, Nighteye dies recanting his belief that fate can’t be changed just because you want it to be.  In real life, though, I think someone with Nighteye’s methodology would be far more admirable, more likely to be successful in their endeavors, and able to save more people in the long run than someone who jumps in without thinking like Deku.

Deku and the manga containing him are driven by emotional reasoning that reserves heroism and its attempts to save people purely for those whom Deku can personally empathize with.  I believe quite strongly that personal empathy has no business being a defining factor in how government employees, law enforcement, et. al. treat criminals.  Personal empathy will lie to you.  Disgust should not be the basis for morality and it damn sure shouldn’t be the basis for the law.

Now, I’m not saying there should be no empathy involved in these things, or that every interaction should be driven by some utilitarian mindset focused on results.  Nighteye has a rational mindset focused on the best possible results, and this mindset is, crucially, anchored by a firm, clear morality based on the belief that saving people is a good and proper thing to do!  That moral center is incredibly important to make sure he doesn’t lose sight of the individual in pursuit of the big picture!  But Nighteye manages to balance both big picture planning and a mindfulness for individuals without – at least so far as I can recall – displaying the judgmentalness that is so overwhelmingly common in the other Heroes of the series.  And even if the manga doesn’t admire him for that, I sure do.

Also too, in the long run, even if the story had Nighteye recant and purported to vindicate its main character’s morality, I don’t think the story actually succeeded at proving Nighteye wrong?  You don’t have to look any farther than the results of the Shie Hassaikai raid compared to the second war.  The attack Nighteye planned ended with the albino abuse victim rescued, all of the yakuza arrested alive and in one piece, and with the only hero-side death being Sir Nighteye himself.  The attack Deku noticeably abstained from planning for at all ended with the albino abuse victim as well as several villains and heroic allies (in that Stain and Gigantomachia were fighting alongside Heroes in the end) dead.

(I'm aware that I'm being willfully obtuse with that summary.  Deku is the person who ultimately saved Eri and defeated Overhaul, after all, and he did so after Nighteye believed the whole plan had hit a Fate Dead End!  The second war, meanwhile, was planned out, just not by Deku himself.  All the same, it was Nighteye’s plan that put Deku in the raid to begin with, and his plan was, ultimately successful!  Nighteye passed away in a hospital bed perfectly at peace with the results.  Deku, by contrast, followed every order he was given and every personal impulse he felt, making no plans of his own, and it ended with him lying in a hospital bed haunted by his own failures and having to swallow All Might’s transparent sophistry if he was to feel any peace at all.  I maintain that the difference in the end results is crystal clear.)

Honestly, Nighteye is a better character than the story deserved, in the end.  I wish we could have had a version of BNHA that acknowledged the critical importance of his methodology while also taking it farther than he himself would have because he was limited by his belief in All Might as a Pillar, which I do think was unsustainable and needed to be replaced by a stronger, more wide-reaching foundation.  The story we have purported to give us the stronger foundation, but it only did so because it thinks Heroes deserve better than the immense strain of being pillars, not because it thinks pillars are ineffectual, and certainly not because it thinks Nighteye’s methodical and stoic approach balancing the need to save with the ability to save is the correct one.  A better story would have incorporated what Nighteye was right about, building on it even as it laid out why it was important for society to surpass All Might, not just replace him.

The fact that we don't have that story isn't Nighteye's fault, though, and so it doesn't detract from my feelings about the guy overmuch. As ever, I'm a lot more forgiving of flaws in BNHA's characters than I am flaws in BNHA's narrative, and if Nighteye and BNHA have some overlap in the flawed ways they view All Might's heroism, well, I'm a lot more willing to forgive the former than I am the latter.

(If only because I like All Might a lot better being shipped with Nighteye than I do him having a thematically ruinous mech battle with AFO.)

Thanks for the ask!