#Izuku isn't born yet

[frickingnerd]

(almost) breaking up with izuku

pairing: izuku midoriya x gn!reader

tags: missunderstandings, reader think izuku's cheating (but he isn't!), established relationship, angst with a happy ending

your relationship with izuku was almost perfect. he was honestly the best boyfriend you could've asked for

he brought you flowers and chocolate to your date nights, he always carried your bags and opened doors for you, he gave you cute nicknames and was just the kindest guy you've ever met

and yet, you were thinking about breaking up with him

he was always going somewhere at odd hours and whenever you asked him about it, he was lying to you about it

you didn't think he was the type to cheat on you, but you couldn't help but doubt him. there was someone he was seeing, you just didn't know who…

so one evening, you sat down with him in his dorm room and had a talk with him

you told izuku how much you love him, but that couldn't be with him anymore

you knew he wasn't being honest with you and that doubting him was breaking your heart

izuku kept quiet through all of it

you were wondering what was going on in his head. did he really have nothing to say to this? was there really someone else…?

you were about to get up and leave, when he finally said something!

"i inherited one for all–!"

you had no idea what he was talking about. what was one for all? and what did that have to do with him meeting someone else behind your back?

you sat down again and izuku told you about everything. that he was born quirkless and had inherited all might's quirk. that he was still learning to control his quirk and that that's where he was running off to

he wasn't cheating on you, he was just meeting all might in secret so he could learn more about his quirk!

suddenly, you felt like an idiot for doubting your boyfriend

you end up apologizing over and over again for breaking up with izuku, while he keeps apologizing for having lied to you all this time

you nervously ask him if he can forgive you and get back together with you and izuku happily agrees to forget about you breaking up with him

[haptronym]

Hap's Adventures in Dadmight

aka “this experience was really strange so I’m going to write 6,000 words about it”.

Fandoms are bizarre. I know this, but I still keep doing the shocked Pikachu face whenever I join a new one. 

This time around, I really thought there would be no surprises. And yet, the fandom ended up having a really weird, really uncomfortable dynamic that confused the hell out of me for a long time. I met several others who said “Yeah, it freaks me out too,” but they couldn’t explain exactly why, and nobody really wanted to talk about it. So now that I’m mostly done with the My Hero Academia fandom, I’ll just go ahead and vaporize my bridges with a whole-ass case study about what on earth seemed to be going on here.

Warning: very long, very self-absorbed, as usual. Contains discussions of relationships, underage shippers, and how to influence whether something “feels” platonic vs. not.

Disclaimer 1: This doesn't apply to everything tagged "Dadmight." Just a select subset. But this subset appeared pretty consistently.

Disclaimer 2: I'm posting brief, fair-use-commentary examples of the content that made me question my sanity because it has to be seen to be believed, but I'm not including names or links because I don’t want to easily funnel negativity to them. If an author really wants me to, I’m happy to link directly to their story.

Disclaimer 3: I’m not trying to “spread awareness” or do a callout. I just like to write for fun and this time the fun was puzzling out why I, personally, had the experience I did. Many people feel differently and that's great. If all fluff has always felt 100% wonderful and charming to you, then this post isn't relevant to you. But if a supposedly "cute" story has ever made you squirm with discomfort, this might help explain why.

-

A few years ago, I took a terribly wrong turn in life and ended up in the My Hero Academia fandom. My kidnappers were these two:

In short: the little kid on the left, Izuku Midoriya, is exactly as dorky as he looks. He was born powerless in a world of comic-book superheroes and has a tendency to burst into tears under any possible circumstance. The series kicks off when the guy on the right, #1 hero and national celebrity All Might, sees potential in him despite all this. In a fit of inspiration, All Might decides to give Izuku the same chance he was given as a young boy. Despite being a notorious lone wolf, he (secretly) names Izuku as his successor and takes it upon himself to covertly train this weepy, noodle-limbed wimp into a hero, the hero, the next Symbol of Peace who will wield the world’s strongest superpower and safeguard the future of society. Surely they’ll pull it off just fine, right?

(Don’t ask how All Might switches from a bodybuilder to the skeleton pictured  above. The show doesn’t know either.)

I loved these two. I wanted eight seasons of beach training montage. The mentor/student shenanigans were hilarious and the found family potential was off the charts. They’re two awkward bumbling fools with several truckfuls of emotional baggage, brought together by purehearted heroic zeal. Wonderful.

However, I quickly discovered that the show shoveled approximately ten thousand new characters into every new episode and definitely wasn't going to slow down long enough to give me the All Might & Izuku content I craved. So I wandered off to see what kind of fanfiction was on tap.

...I wandered off, while bracing myself. I’ve been a weeb long enough to know that any characters who pass on power through “DNA” are never going to escape a fandom unscathed, regardless of pesky things like “Age Of Consent” and “Have You Watched A Single Minute Of This Show, He Would Never Fucking Do That”.

Their canon relationship is impressively alarming all on its own:

Izuku is 14-15. Underage character? Check. 

All Might is 55+. Enormous age gap? Check.

All Might is both Izuku’s secret mentor and his high school teacher. Teacher-student dynamics? Check.

Izuku is a nobody. All Might is a global celebrity. Staggering power imbalance? Check. 

Izuku’s superpower, which lets him go to the school of his dreams, accomplish his lifelong goals, and be the protagonist of this show, was given to him by All Might at great personal cost. Enormous sense of debt and obligation because of a huge sacrifice? Check.

Izuku is an outright fanboy. His room is full of posters and figurines of All Might in spandex. Other characters frequently comment on how obsessed he is. There is a whole plotline about him being so starstruck by All Might that he can’t think for himself. Literal hero worship? Check.

As the cherry on top, they spend most of the story pretending they don’t know each other and sneak around under the noses of every other character, including Izuku's mother. Secret hidden relationship with a minor that no other adult can learn the true extent of? Check. 

What a pair. Japanese fandom constantly cracks jokes about how Izuku is probably that kind of fanboy. Even official media is well aware of how sketchy it all looks:

With all this in play, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the stuff in their platonic-relationship fanfiction tag vastly outnumbered the stuff in their shipping one. Phew. Finally, a pair of characters who got something besides endless gross hornyposting. 

As I browsed, I kept seeing a certain tag: "Dadmight." This, unsurprisingly, was used by stories that decided to make All Might into Izuku’s biological father. But it was also used by... pretty much all non-shipping media that focused on their relationship. How interesting! I was used to ship pairings having nicknames, but not platonic ones. 

I could imagine why the name caught on. All Might was practically the definition of "goofy wholesome dad energy,” and his mentor/student relationship with Izuku was easy to see in a parental light. Plus, Izuku’s actual dad is never to be seen during the story. Clearly he deserves a replacement.

So I delved in. Man, this was going to be great! A huge amount of good clean platonic content, with an easy-to-find tag too. Reading about cute dadly shenanigans was going to be such a fun-

How he would love to fall asleep to the sound of his soft voice and the touch of his rough hands, telling him he was proud of him, caressing his hair. He was so mortified over having this need, for all kinds of reasons, but it became clear a long time ago that fighting it wouldn’t work, so he let himself dream.

Uh... well... Izuku didn’t grow up with a dad, so... maybe he needed a father figure... to... caress his hair with his rough hands...

More hums of contentment make their way from him, his body swaying with every push and pull from Toshinori’s long fingers. He uses them to massage Midoriya’s head, taking every moment to not just clean his hair, but to make him feel good; Toshinori can’t bear for this to be purely utilitarian.

Uhhh... okay... All Might was a rather isolated guy. I bet he appreciated being able to share time with his student... bathing time...

What if the boy would rather this stay simply as it has been, professional as mentor and mentee? What if Toshinori has read all of this wrong and the boy has no feelings above Toshinori being his teacher, and all Toshinori has done is fall harder and harder for him every day?

What was this? What exactly did people think kids got up to with their dads!?

Well, maybe I just found a few of the strange ones, I told myself. Fanfiction always has its odd outliers. But after more searching, I realized: no. There was wildly uncomfortable stuff all over. It wasn’t all Dadmight stories. But it was a lot. The most popular authors of the “Dadmight” tag wrote it and the rest of the Dadmight authors gave them big thumbs-ups. It was at least as popular as the “All Might is Izuku’s real dad” stuff and sat at the top of the kudos and comments sorting.

Were people just being polite? Or was I overreacting? I know how annoying it is when people deliberately take things in bad faith and demonize perfectly innocent human affectio—

He kept the contact to a minimum, not wanting to take advantage, not wanting to cross a single, unspoken boundary… but how could he possibly completely refrain, with both how proud and how worried Izuku made him?

There was a voice, in the back of his head, that didn’t agree. That voice – either logic or wishful thinking – told him that while Izuku didn’t initiate physical affection, he surely did lean into it, and seemed to crave receiving it as much as Toshinori craved giving it.

Oh god oh god oh god what is happening STOP—

This was horrible. I just wanted to enjoy cute fluff. I’d never had this reaction to platonic fanfic before. I’m a big found family fan and my worst issue with fluff is usually just that it tends to be kind of samey. I normally love reading about chaste affection and closeness between characters who care about each other. So why did these stories read like Lolita AUs to me? Did shippers in this fandom like to hide their softcore stuff in the platonic tags?

I was soon able to find out. I had been writing my own All Might & Izuku story, and got invited to a “Dadmight-centric” Discord server. Almost all the popular Dadmight authors were there, including the ones who wrote the particular stories that made my skin crawl. There were several channels where people brainstormed, critiqued, and discussed the motivations behind their writing. 

Cool! I’d be able to meet new people, make some friends, and get a better understanding of what the Dadmight dynamic really was. So I introduced myself, I chatted, I lurked. Everyone was really nice.

I found zero cheeky shippers. The writers claimed to be horrified by the idea of shipping the two of them. They would never disrespect the purity and innocence of this beautiful platonic relationship, they said, as they churned out stories about Izuku “coming undone” under the caress of All Might’s rough hands. Right...

I could’ve understood if this was coming from naive 14-year-olds. But some of these people were in their 30’s, with kids of their own. If anyone understood family dynamics, it should’ve been them.

But after I spent more time around the server, I began to notice something else... something which explained a ton of the strangeness. 

Baby Fever

To understand what was happening, you first have to understand that Izuku’s baby face inflicts instant brain damage on sight. I mean, look at him:

aaa his cute widdle cheeks oh my god—

This kid sets off maternal instincts like landmines, and in the Dadmight server, I found that the Izuku infantilization train had gone completely off the rails. Writers constantly cooed over the adorable antics of 2, 3, 5-year olds and constantly talked about how much they wanted to make Izuku act them out. And surely, if All Might could indulge in the parental joy of caring for an innocent young babe, then his emotional scars would be healed and he could find fulfillment outside of that pesky “saving the world” business.

Now, the bio-dadmight folks had it easy: they just wrote about Izuku in his toddler years playing with daddy All Might. The cuddling and tickles made sense and were very cute. But other writers faced a challenge: they wanted to keep him 14-15 so that canon events could occur... but they didn’t want to be left out of the fun. 

So... they decided to rationalize and egg each other on. I mean, how much does age really matter? Being a child at heart is always cute and wholesome, right?

Suddenly, a whole lot of very uncomfortable things began to make sense:

So Much Physical Contact

He loved the physical touch. It was embarrassing and he would never admit it out loud, but there wasn’t much in this world he loved more than receiving physical affection from his idol. Every single time it happened he would save the memory to replay it over and over again whenever he felt sad, or almost every night before he went to bed. He was glad no one in the dorms had a mind-reading quirk. And All Might always gave it more freely when he visited his apartment, so of course he went there.

Izuku is often written to have a near-pathological craving for hair stroking and cuddles. Which is cute when directed at, say, classmates or mom, but gets real weird real fast when directed at the adult man he canonically idolizes to a freakish degree. Ever work with teenage boys? Most of them would rather die than be physically affectionate with adults, even parents... unless, you know, they’re that kind of fanboy.

Even freakier is that the grown adult would then reply, “Hell yeah! I see nothing wrong with getting physical with this kid who worships me! I crave it so much! I can't resist!” Ever work at a school? They have rulebooks and seminars specifically about how teachers should never touch or be alone with kids.

Then again, Midnight exists at this school. Maybe U.A.’s infamous lack of safety standards extends to this too.

Either way, though: cute and wholesome for a parent to do with their three-year-old. Very creepy when a high-school teacher makes excuses about why he really needs to cuddle and stroke his fifteen-year-old student in secret.

Narcolepsy Xtreme Edition

His student was never this affectionate or vulnerable when he was conscious, so he enjoyed the moment, even if it was a short one, as he moved to his room upstairs.

If you’ve read fanfiction for more than seven seconds, you’ve probably seen the “cram the character with booze/painkillers until they blurt out Vulnerable Things” plot device. It’s a beloved classic. But Izuku writers are robbed of the alcohol angle since he’s underage, and morphine is pretty niche. So authors who want to use this trick often just make Izuku tired after a long day, conclude that being sleepy is close enough to being five drinks in, and have him murmur “thanks, DAD... OOPS DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD???” to awkwardly segue into Familial Confessions.

But quite a few stories took the “sleepy” angle to a new, very odd place. Instead of groggily dispensing convenient confessions, Izuku would just... keel over while doing homework and be utterly dead to the world. And instead of having All Might briefly rouse him to shoo him to bed, or worry about his student suddenly becoming catatonic, the writers would make him eerily fixated on the opportunity to physically carry Izuku to his bedroom (which would somehow not wake him up!!!) and tuck him in while waxing poetic about how vulnerable and helpless he looked. 

Before joining the Dadmight server, I was mildly alarmed whenever I saw this, wondering why so many authors were obsessed with roofying the teenager and making the adult fondle him. But after joining, I realized: they were just trying to act out the cutesy aww-the-two-year-old-fell-sound-asleep-while-playing, it’s-so-cute scenes that all those darned lucky bio-dadmight people got to indulge in so easily.

Bed Sharing

It wasn’t long before Izuku’s breathing slowed, and soon he was asleep, snoring peacefully. Toshinori, after a few minutes of debating with himself, said screw it and got into the bed with the boy.

Cue me SCREAMING internally in confusion and fear. But no, it was just that the cutesy-kid-trope obsession stretched all the way to “Well, I used to snuggle with my parents at night after I had a nightmare! It was super wholesome!” Which led to scores of stories featuring a celebrity crawling into bed with his student.

All in all, joining this server was a huge relief. I was so glad to see that these hair-raising scenarios were just the result of the authors forgetting to mention “Oh, by the way, the characters are acting weird because we made them all agree to participate in preschooler roleplay.”

Just picture this while reading and it all makes sense.

Fanfic is uniquely susceptible to this sort of “forgot to mention this strange dynamic that I take for granted” issue. After all, 99% of fanfic doesn’t bother to waste time asking “would this make any sense to someone who had never watched the show?” It’s not worth it to focus on such a broad audience. As a result, fanfic normalizes skipping huge swaths of context that would normally be mandatory in a story. Fanfic authors don’t have to practice asking themselves “did I explain this properly?” anywhere near as often as original fiction ones.

This would be bad enough on its own, but then, we go cloister ourselves away into little sub-fandom echo chambers, and spend months crafting obscure in-joke fractals, and get so absorbed in our tiny myopic corners of the community that we also fail to ask, “would this make any sense to someone who hasn’t spent the last 5 months marinating in this specific Discord channel?” 

Sometimes we know exactly how niche our stuff is and just don’t care. But too often, we just legitimately suck at guessing how our work might come off to other groups. We don’t have to practice theory of mind as much as original fiction authors do. Our fandom buddies see nothing amiss with our writing (since they know all the server insider lore!) and everyone outside our tiny clique politely ignores our word salad... so we never get proper feedback on how incomprehensible our work can be even to other members of the same fandom.

In this case, this resulted in a whole pack of writers seemingly getting lost in the fluff sauce and completely forgetting to address the fact that the stuff men do with their own five-year-olds generally becomes really weird and creepy when done with someone else’s 15-year-old, whether or not the 15-year-old seems to want it. Izuku was a cute widdle innocent baby in their heads, so they assumed he was a cute widdle innocent baby in everyone else's.

Once I realized where they were coming from, it wasn't so hard to adjust my mental framework and enjoy these stories on their own terms. That said... infantilization still couldn't explain stuff like “What if Toshinori has read all of this wrong and the boy has no feelings above Toshinori being his teacher, and all Toshinori has done is fall harder and harder for him every day?”

To explain why that paragraph makes me want to crawl out of my skin, we first need to answer: what makes a piece of writing feel “questionable?”

“Vibes,” A Primer

Love comes in many forms. The big four are platonic, familial, romantic, and sexual. Sexual is easy: you’re horny for the person. Platonic love is specifically non-sexual, and familial love is a subset of platonic love. Romance usually implies horny, though there’s definitely a difference between outright sexual behavior and the behavior we file under the “romance” label.

There’s also a difference between romantic and platonic behavior. And this is where a lot of “questionable” vibes appear: when you’d expect an interaction between two people to be platonic, but for some reason, it has uncomfortable romantic/sexual overtones instead.

But what causes those overtones? A dad can give his kid a kiss on the head, and it comes off platonic. A suitor can give their crush a kiss on the head, and it comes off romantic. In fact, most romantic gestures have nearly identical platonic counterparts. Kissing, hugging, hand-holding, cuddling, vulnerable confessions. So what gives? What makes something “come off” one way or the other?

The actual answer is: a ton of stuff, most of it subjective. Everyone draws their lines in different places, based on culture and personal experience and how gutterbrained you’re feeling on any given day. A lot of it has to do with context (that thing that us fanfic authors are notoriously bad at judging).

Online wars are fought every day about whether some glance or gesture or phrase means they're "totally into each other fr"

But if you want to draw broad strokes, one way to roughly separate platonic vs romantic love is by gauging the level of passion involved. “Passion” is “a strong and barely controllable emotion that compels action.” That last part is key. 

Stereotypical romantic love is incredibly passionate. It’s all about desire to act, desire to change, desire to progress the relationship to something more. It features overwhelming anxious preoccupation about the other person’s thoughts and opinions, feeling irresistibly drawn to them, feeling intense longing. It’s about confessing and hoping the other person also feels the same. It often involves attempting to label the relationship, make it “official”, and show it off. It’s about trying desperately to secure assurance that this love will last forever and ever. You have to do something, and every moment spent not doing something is torture.

Contrast this to typical depictions of platonic and familial love. Familial love is calm, encompassing, soothing. It’s secure. You don’t have to worry, because no matter what rough patches you go through, they’ll always be your family and will always have unconditional love for you. Yes, you’ll fly into action if your loved one is threatened, but at rest, platonic love is generally not “exciting” and there’s generally little sense of urgency.

Romance is usually an insecure, anxious thing that’s trying to get to that secure, grounded familial stage. That’s why people say they progress from being “in love” to just “loving” one another. Romance draws people together and kickstarts the bonding process. And as the steady, mature bond of a long-term relationship forms, the obsessive mania of romantic infatuation fades away. 

So the difference between platonic and romantic behavior is not so much about the actual actions. It’s more about the mentality. Is the person anxiously trying to secure their partner’s affection while treating the relationship as a really big deal that will make or break their lives? Then their affectionate actions may come off more romantic. Are they seemingly at home in their partner’s presence and not trying to deepen or change the relationship? Then their affection will probably come off more familial or platonic.

There are, of course, a ton of things that go into it besides this, and caveats out the ass. For example, people trying to establish a new friendship are often anxious too. But when it comes to determining the “vibes” of a kiss or a cuddle, this can be a useful litmus test. Failing this test is often what makes something feel Questionable. The characters seem too invested... maybe because it's not truly innocent.

Now, let’s take a look at our Dadmight characters.

The biggest challenge of writing familial closeness between Izuku and All Might is simple: they are not family. They have no long shared history to justify any sort of intimacy. Instead they have a teacher/student relationship that places them both into rigid, frigid roles. 

Usually, familial-style bonding just takes time. You wait a few seasons, the characters slowly get closer and learn to trust one another, and eventually they’re hugging. But these two clowns spent the whole show being the ultimate found-family blue-balls experience. They were just never very emotionally open or touchy-feely. Every time they had the chance for Vulnerable Conversation And Cuddles, they passed it up in favor of a pep talk and a fist bump. It took a near-death experience to extract one (1) brief hug and some tears. But in normal everyday life? Arm’s length.

Literally. For example: after five seasons of bonding and character development, they are separated and Izuku is embroiled in a deadly conflict that almost destroys the world. When they finally reunite after the harrowing ordeal, alone under the starlight, they greet each other with a loving, heartfelt… handshake. This, predictably, spawned furious fix-it fic.

Overall, there is a huge gulf that authors need to cross in order to get these two from “polite handshake” to “tender cuddling and kisses.” They could write 50,000 words of setup to slowly accomplish this, but most authors did not want to wear their fingertips to the bone just to inch these two into an embrace. They wanted to jump the gap within a oneshot, leaping from canon frigidity into an unbreakable lifelong familial love that was also super touchy-feely and extremely vocal.

Now, remember what I was just saying? How romance is generally about trying to establish new family bonds? How it’s all about trying to change the relationship into something more?

Knowing all this, what do you think might happen if an author tried to speedrun two characters to the Family Finish Line as fast as they could? What do you think their shortcuts might end up looking like, completely by accident? Especially if their “sane and appropriate human interactions” gauge was warped by an echo chamber of fluff tropes and baby fever?

You might get:

Was it even possible that his feelings could be reciprocated? Toshinori didn’t want to think about it. It would just pain him more. Young Midoriya only saw him as an idol, a mentor who would help him train his body for One for All. Midoriya did not see him in the way he wanted him to.

Or:

He wanted desperately, desperately to have the courage to cross that threshold, to ask him what he longed for, to ask him for that relationship that he dared not voice.

Or even:

Toshinori feels his heart rate pick up and his gnarled stomach twist with nerves. Is he really going to do this? Is he going to tell this boy what he truly thinks and risk everything they’ve built up together over the past year-plus? His palms are sweating and he wipes them on his suit pants, rubbing the pads of his fingers together.

I'll stop now. The point is that these quotes could all have been word-for-word ripped from a romance novel. These are some industrial-grade Questionable Vibes. And reading them in context really doesn't help that much, for me at least. It's almost comical when they throw in "...I crave the touch of your rough hands as a son! A SON!"

If you know the building blocks of romance, it makes perfect sense why stories like this could come off this way. Platonic love is great, but it’s also stable, calm, and slow. It simply doesn’t have the sheer explosive force needed to catapult two stilted dorks into a brand-new dynamic within 2,000 words. Most stories can only achieve that kind of mileage via near-death experiences... or by inflicting the characters with neurotic infatuation.

Not only that, but their canon relationship is uniquely poised to set off romance-adjacent warning bells. Because they are not actually family, it makes sense for them to yearn for a deeper relationship in a way that a normal family wouldn’t. It makes sense for them to be anxious and insecure about their relationship, because it’s a very strange, hard-to-define thing that has to be kept secret from those around them. And it makes sense for them to consider their relationship a huge deal, because in canon, it’s fundamental to the most important aspects of both their lives.

I actually think it’s kind of inevitable that their character dynamic will sometimes stray into places that feel romantic. But that doesn’t mean the writer is a secret shipper... because I don’t think that passion always has to imply sexual desire, especially in fiction.

I’ve spent some time around the asexuality community, and my biggest takeaway was that sexual desire is very different from the desire to make deep, lifelong connections. Most asexual people still yearned to find that special someone, their anchor, a partner who unconditionally loved them and would stay by their side forever. Family. They would fall for people... they just didn’t want to fall into their pants. But it was almost impossible to keep these partners unless they were asexual too. Every one eventually pushed to “take things further,” or they left to find another person who would. 

So I can understand the yearning for a world where sex is kicked to the curb, where two strangers can find each other and share intense, whirlwind, “you’re my #1” love... without any lewd overtones. This little pocket of stories seemed like a manifestation of that yearning. 

Nowadays, more and more stories are taking previously romance-exclusive intimacy and yanking off the sexual baggage. For example, looking on the Dadmight tag will reveal “platonic soulmates” and “platonic hanahaki” stories. Yes, platonic hanahaki. No, not parody. There’s a clear unironic market for this content. People really want to be able to indulge in passionate, “till death do us part” emotional bonding in a safe, nonsexual way.

All Might and Izuku sit in a unique place. Not related, but powerfully linked by something thicker than blood. And their relationship is easy to paint as “safe”. It makes perfect sense that these two would attract creators who want to explore this hard-to-define chaste side of passionate love.

In real life, passionate obsessive-style attraction between adults and kids is a huge red flag. We can never really know whether those feelings are innocent or healthy. 99% of the time, they’re not. But in fiction, the author gets to choose what people really feel and whether things turn out well. They can explore the most unbelievable scenario of all: not a world where everyone is a mermaid, but a world where it’s actually wholesome and healing for a high school teacher and his student to confess their deep, undying love for one another, where a famous celebrity can secretly invite his obsessed underage fan over, stroke his hair, tell him how special their relationship is, and sleep with him in bed, without it ending up on Law and Order: SVU. 

On Critique

“Hap,” you might be thinking, “surely these stories can’t be as bad as you say. If they were, someone would have pointed it out to these poor souls. You should have pointed it out to these poor souls. You were in their writing server for chrissakes, and now you’re gossiping about them like a heartless goblin.”

First: yes, I'm a goblin. Second: I did bring this topic up to several Dadmight authors one-on-one. After getting a bunch of head-in-sand excuses in response, I decided to just quietly munch popcorn and watch the fandom’s antics unfold like a slow-motion train wreck.

Third: people did try to point this stuff out.

It was fascinating to watch the Dadmight server whenever someone posted a comment expressing concern. Some comments were trolls trying to get a reaction, of course. But others were very gentle: “hey, isn't it kind of weird to have them hop into bed together? It comes off kind of shippy...” I learned that the reason I had never seen comments like these in the past was because they were usually quickly deleted by the fic authors.

After deleting a comment, the author would often flee to the server for reassurance. The other users would agree that the commenter was definitely in the wrong, since they could see absolutely nothing questionable about the writer’s story. Someone would inevitably chime in saying that, oh, one time they got a comment calling things questionable like that, and it turned out to be from a shipper who shipped bad things. So, you know, anyone who sees shipping in things is probably just a bad person.

Phew. Crisis averted. If you can successfully paint the critic as a bad person, then there’s no need to descend into existentialist dread as you’re forced to critically reexamine the foundational concepts of your writing and your grasp on relationship dynamics.

(Credit where credit is due: one of the rules of this particular server was not to bash or insult people who like things you don't like. In most groups this is followed with an unspoken "...unless you can clutch your pearls over it", but to my surprise, when stuff like the above started kicking off, the moderators did step in to remind people to keep it civil. So, good job, mods. More maturity than I usually see in online spaces.)

But still, if anyone actually bothers to read this long screed, I already know what certain responses are going to look like. They’ll smugly assert that people who see questionable things are just sex-obsessed weirdos, projecting their icky lewd thoughts onto every innocent interaction they come across. A morally pure person wouldn’t make such gross assumptions.

I’m familiar with this kind of response because I’ve spent a lot of time around another group that responds the exact same way to these kinds of concerns. That group is known as fundamentalist Christians, and their attitude fosters three things:

People are afraid to speak out when they feel uncomfortable, because they don't want to be accused of being dirty-minded. 

People fail to learn the ground rules of normal romance/sexuality and so fail to recognize red flags.

The community is absolutely infested with creeps who take advantage of points 1 and 2 to run rampant.

Sadly, these three things also seem to be true in the Dadmight community. Being a platonic pairing, it naturally attracts people uninterested in and inexperienced with romantic/sexual relationships. And then the vitriolic, derisive responses to people’s concerns teaches them that it’s wrong to bring up those topics around the community at all.

And so, point 3 blooms. I eventually confirmed that my initial suspicions were correct: shippers did camp in the Dadmight tag, and they got away with posting some impressively brazen softcore underage content in public, presumably because even the people who were suspicious knew that going “hey now” would trigger a circular firing squad. 

The Dadmight community wasn’t clueless about this problem. They were incredibly paranoid as a whole. They knew there were bad actors lurking in their tag, but since they had disabled all their own safety alarms and expanded the definition of “platonic” to a ridiculous extreme, they had no way of being able to determine what was shipping and what was not until characters started actively whipping their dicks out. I saw constant fretting over whether it was okay to click the “like” button on an affectionate-looking piece of fanart without knowing for sure the intentions of the creator. But asking intentions was pointless anyway, since shippers just lied to them and then laughed as the platonic group eagerly ate up their evil, dirty-minded content.

I get why these “wait, that feels shippy...” comments feel like attacks. It’s fucking awful when your intentions are pure but someone interprets them in such a horrifying, disgusting way. It feels disrespectful when you clearly label something “platonic” but people still doubt. 

But remember: Going from “mentor” to “dad” with these two generally means breaking down normal boundaries, to escalate the emotional and physical intimacy between an authority figure and a starstruck, needy, vulnerable kid, because they have such a special and unique bond that no one else understands. So special, in fact, that it needs to be kept secret from the public.

In real life, this scenario is known as Groomer Tactics 101. 

Seriously, stop and read that link. It’s short and non-explicit. This is why I called their canon relationship “impressively alarming”—the bullet points of stages 1-3 describe Izuku and All Might nearly word-for-word. This does not mean I’m claiming All Might is a groomer, or that Izuku and All Might’s relationship is bad. Just that, due to their circumstances, they happen to have all the building blocks of relationships that go horribly wrong. All that separates their scenario from tumbling into Bad is the goals of the adult. So when a fanfic then comes along and makes the adult suddenly really interested in excessive touching? And the only reason he gives is “I’m weirdly drawn to this kid and touching them feels really good”? Of course people will get nervous!

Noticing this does not mean someone is “obsessed with shipping”. It means they’re a normal human being with eyes. Accusing someone of being problematic for making the most obvious possible observations about adult/child interactions is like accusing someone of being an arsonist because they embarrassed you by pointing out that your homemade backyard fireworks setup is halfassed and dangerous.

This does not mean it’s wrong to write wish-fulfillment where escalating to bed cuddles actually turns out great and awesome. But it does mean that, if an author writes it ignorantly or carelessly, they risk coming off like they’re glorifying and normalizing Groomer Tactics 101. It’s the same as when careless Twilight fans glorify and normalize stuff that, in real life, is abusive controlling boyfriend behavior.

Yes, it sucks when people come and yuck the yum. I’m sure the Twilight fans also get sick of people who complain and demonize them instead of letting them write their vampire boyfriend fantasies in peace. But the concern usually comes from a well-meaning place. 

Proudly announcing “I ignore the most basic child/adult red flags because they ruin my fun” is not the flex that some people think it is. I highly recommend people reconsider before they try to paint anti-child-groomers as the bad guys.

The Recipe

So, let’s summarize how to reproduce the Dadmight phenomenon. It starts with a canon relationship that has the most enticing found-family building blocks the world has ever seen: a downtrodden kid who really needs a dad + a lonely heroic mentor. However, their canon relationship also sits on top of a powder keg, coincidentally featuring all the “setup” stages of the sexual grooming model: 

a lonely, low-self-esteem kid

singled out by an esteemed, charismatic adult who is a pillar of the community

sharing a “special” relationship

constantly going off alone and keeping secrets 

A platonic fan community forms that is blissfully unaware of the above dynamics. They head off to fluff echo chambers, as platonic fans do. But due to the crybaby tendencies of the teenage character, they start projecting really aged-down toddler-play scenarios onto him. Eventually, as echo-chambered fans do, they decide that contextualization is for chumps. This results in fics that take the powder keg and add:

The adult craving to touch and hold the teenager

The teenager craving touch from the adult and mewling like a kitten when his hair is stroked (I’m not fucking joking)

Completely age-inappropriate stuff like stroking, kisses, and sharing a bed with a teenage student

Izuku and All Might also happen to suffer from loneliness and isolation, even more so in their fanon incarnations. This really resonates with most fans, who want to soothe and heal them. They also want to get to the healing cuddles within a few chapters instead of wasting time on super-slow buildup. So they make the two of them really strongly fixate on and angst about the agony of their loneliness, and how the other person’s love is the only cure that will fix them. In doing so, they insert:

Anxious passionate obsession

Love confessions

Coming-out scenes

Craving for exclusive relationship labels

Desire for exclusivity

Lastly, because platonic groups are either uninterested in or too young for spicy content, they tend to have very little experience with romantic/sexual literature and the tropes and catchphrases they lay claim to. So fic writers will innocently sprinkle in poignant-sounding things they’ve picked up here and there, such as:

Blushing and heart racing when looking at the person

The phrase “falling for each other”

The man “caressing” his partner with “rough hands”

“He came undone”

And because their communities condemn people who “read into things”, nobody points out any of this shit, and it all slides out into the public Internet unquestioned.

And so, we get the most impressively uncomfortable platonic content I’ve ever seen. It’s no wonder I had never encountered something like this before. It required a lot of unusual circumstances intersecting in just the right (wrong) way.

In the end, I think the biggest aspect was just that I'd never become a fan of characters that had such a potentially-problematic canon relationship. Usually adult and kid characters have very different dynamics, so if fics treat their social interactions with all the tact of a bull in a china shop, it just comes off as lazy instead of creepy. I'd be interested to know if other platonic adult&child fandoms suffer from this issue.

In any case, although it was fascinating to watch, I sure hope I never run into it again.

[epickiya722]

Can, I ask, why do you think Yuuji is one of the character that is so underated in JJK? He is the mc, but many people (in fandom) treat him like a side character? At first, I don't think so, but I love many shounen, and somehow Yuuji is one of the mc that is underated in their own story....

Sorry if I'm wrong, just I love Yuuji and want him to get the spotlight he deserve....

I wouldn't say you're wrong, Anon! In fact, I would say he is an underrated character. Yes, fairly popular, but when it comes to how the fandom treats him compared to characters like Gojo, Yuji is Underrated.

I feel exactly how you feel about Yuji. To me, he is the best JJK character. Oh, yeah, I'm being bias, whatever, but it's how I feel.

My guess as to why the fandom treats him like a side character because Yuji isn't like how most older gen MCs are written, let alone the others of the cast.

Let's be real, when the mid-late 2010s rolled around, how fandoms started to treat the new age MCs is opposite of their treatment of other MCs. It's because they're a different formula and honestly, I feel like folks who bash on Yuji and others like Tanjiro and Izuku, just don't want to try something different.

They're used to the MCs who speedruns their training and powerups and suffer little to no drawbacks, "trauma, what trauma" and want to be the best because they got an ego and pride they don't want hurt.

Today's MCs? Pain, not afraid to show a range of emotions, training? Oh, they get the hang of it but still a lot to learn and watch out! They have the scars to prove that they almost lost an arm!

Now focusing on Yuji, as I said he's not like other JJK characters.

He's not overpowered, but he's not weak either. He's a bit of a goof and he's says he's an idiot, but he actually isn't all dumb he makes himself out to be. He's not flashy, but he has amazing moments where he gets to show off.

He has a goal to get strong, not being he wants to be the top or anything. He just wants to help people.

He has a sad backstory, but it's only until later we realize how messed up it is and even still we don't have his reaction to realizing those messed up bits. Yuji was raised by his grandfather and he states he is a loner. But unlike how we see with most characters, Yuji is relatively fine with that. He brushes off knowing about his parents, unlike most MCs who would literally beg for answers. He's a loner, but he's not a loser. Note how people around him in his hometown treats him. They gave him a nickname to reflect his impressive physical prowess that amazes them and yet, he doesn't care for the popularity.

Yuji has this balance to him where he's both spontaneous but also pretty chill. A lot of the cast outshines Yuji because they are more showy than Yuji, even calm characters.

Unlike Gojo and even Yuta, Yuji is literally what you call the audience surrogate. Through him, we learn about the Jujutsu world while experiencing (growth).

From the start of their stories (referring to JJK 0 and Gojo's Past Arc), both Gojo and Yuta are established as powerful sorcerers from the start. Yuta may have had inexperienced but he was still recognized as a powerful kid. Both are born lucky with having such powers. The most Yuta and Gojo really develop and change is their personalities and attitudes towards certain ideas. That's it. They don't even have to do anything and immediately their auras show who they are.

In contrast to Yuji, how is he recognized?

As just Sukuna's vessel. Most of the time, he is literally called that. When he's recognized by his strength and abilities it's when he actively has to fight. Then it's like "oh, so he does have capabilities". Yuji actually has to show he can be just as capable as the others because when people first look at him it's "Sukuna's vessel" or back in Sendai it's "Tiger of West Middle".

It's not "Yuji".

Hell, he'll even be compared to Maki. It's not "Maki's like Yuji". No, it's "Yuji is like Maki". Megumi is the first character to do this. Maki is unique enough that if someone, in this case Yuji, displays a similarity to her, she is the template.

However, for Yuji, while he's unique it's almost like it's not enough to be acknowledged until he has to show them. Like, he has to prove something when he actually doesn't care to do that. Yuji doesn't care to get stronger than the next person, especially at this point. If anything, he seems to be the only one from the very start recognize that none of this is a test of strength when people are dying. Note how he acts during a fight. Every major to majorly minor character has displayed some sort of enjoyment out of a fight or fights to show they're not weak.

Not a single time has Yuji ever even smiled. Look back at all the fights and you will see that he hasn't done such a thing. He fights not because it's a game. He fights because he has to and only that.

And it's not like it gets better for him because he later identifies himself as "a cog". It's like Yuji never really had his own identity.

He's the odd one out.

It's how I think some of the fandom sees him. Without an identity, without recognizable traits. Hell, go on any post that praises Yuji and Yuji alone and there's gonna be a hater to bring up another character.

To some, I feel like Yuji only exists to them to hate on. Only a tool to bring in their praising of other characters to put him down as if that's all he's worthy of. It's a damn shame, too, that people actually feel the need to bring down a character to build their faves. Oh, feel like your fave can't stand on their own and show their greatness?

[bibibbon]

eveyone calling dabi touya after the reveal is making me wanna claw my eyes out because HOW IS EVERYONE MISSING THE POINT SO FUCKING BADLY

THE POINT IS THAT HE ISN’T TOUYA AND HE NEVER WILL BE AGAIN BECAUSE TOUYA IS DEAD

dabi was created from the ashes of touya and that’s literally the whole point

he can never BE touya again because of the things he’s done and the small issue that touya is legally dead

AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK HE WANTS TO BE TOUYA AGAIN??????

he wants NOTHING to do with the todoroki’s and tries to actively distance himself from his family

ik he is so fucking pissed in the afterlife because everyone is calling him touya when he’s not touya he’s DABI

same with shigaraki. this one is definitely an unpopular opinion but people calling him tenko just feels so wrong to me

i just hate it when people think that just bc it’s technically their real names is means is *their name*

like sure my legal name is my legal name but *my name* is caleb

anyway i just wanna scream sometimes

You bring a very interesting point!!

This is something I haven't really realised, but now that you mentioned it and now that I am looking back at various different posts, I can tell how different people sometimes use dabi and touya interchangeably and yeah actually it makes sense why you're mad about it.

A core part of Dabi's character is that he is no longer Touya. Touya died the minute he went back to his old home, and everyone forgot about him, and nothing changed. The greif and emotions that young touya held to try and appease to his father burned away turning touya into ashes and that's how dabi was born.

Yes, the phoenix imagery with Dabi is strong. The death of touya, where touya turns into ashes and dabi is born from those ashes, is something so slept on by the fandom!!

People using dabi and touya interchangeably is like someone using jink and powder interchangeably. The plot for both mha and arcane has made it clear that those characters are two different people.

Jink isn't powder, and powder isn't jink. They might be the same person genetically speaking, but they aren't the same when it comes to character and personality.

The same thing goes for dabi and shigaraki. However, the plot of Mha does make it an integral part of Dabi's character it literally focuses and says it directly on chapter 350!!

Dabi, like you said, will never be touya, and touya will never be dabi. I have noticed that even when it comes to me writing my analysis, I have never really used dabi and touya interchangeably. When it comes to me talking about touya, I talk about touya, and when I talk about dabi, I talk about dabi (this doesn't make sense, but I have no way of fully explaining it tbh)

Shigaraki is a bit more complicated and a bit of a grey area. Yes, he also has the same thing as both dabi and jink, yet it's not made or focused to be an integral part of his character. I personally blame the writing for that instead.

With shigarakis character, it's kind of the opposite of jink and dabi. What I mean is that the narrative kind of goes out of its way to make it clear that shigaraki will always be tenko even if he tries to reject that. This can be seen with izuku seeing tenko or during shigaraki's fight with afo and mirio he mentions HIS backstory with HIS friends.

As much as shigaraki may try to reject it, he is tenko, and in the end, he acknowledges that. He dies as both tenko and as the leader of the leauge of villains.

[haleigh-sloth]

I keep thinking about how much I want to see Tomura cry. I say this a lot, and I mean it.

Because one thing I love about BNHA is how much is emphasizes that it's okay to feel your feelings.

The main character cries...a lot. Readers hate him for it, I love him for it. Izuku cries a lot, but everybody outside of him tries to avoid it at all costs. But they let it slip sometimes:

And it's funny (probably intentionally done this way) that the first two people to be brought to tears after Izuku's intervening, they're the two to remind Izuku that crying is okay:

We had a whole arc where Izuku refused be himself and let his tears flow, and the same two people, once again, remind him it's okay to cry it out:

Now, those are people meeting Izuku eye to eye, being there for him.

Let's look at someone who has a different dynamic with him, someone who won't let it out and cry no matter what, or really until they can't hold it back anymore:

I've already said a few times that I think Dk vs Kc 2 is a very clear preamble for Izuku vs Tomura, and I think that so much because of how important it is in BNHA to cry.

Bakugo and Tomura have similarly constructed relationships to Izuku in regards to how they feel about him (disliking him because of how they feel about themselves).

Now lets look at our three villains:

Toga, who can and does cry:

Touya, who tries to cry because he feels those feelings that bring on his tears, but it's obscured with blood:

And then Tomura...who we haven't seen shed a single tear within the time frame of the manga:

Toga and Touya....more or less really know what they want. There are deep rooted feelings of self-hatred in both of them that they can't quite escape without help, but they know those feelings are there. Tomura on the other hand, has all of those same feelings, and isn't even really aware that those feelings are there. He's only good for destruction because that's what he was born to do, so why feel guilty or hate himself?

He's really far removed from his own truth, so he isn't letting himself feel what he really wants to be and should be feeling.

And we know what that is:

Bringing it back to Bakugo having a break down in front of Izuku. All I'm saying is that...if Bakugo was able to achieve some sort of relief, some sort of cathartic release by spilling his guts and letting the tears flow, and if Bakugo and Tomura are similar in this aspect in that they needed/currently need a person to spill it all out to, and if Tomura has yet to let the tears flow because he hasn't faced his own reality yet, then I think that's going to be a key part in Tomura really finally waking up.

We'll know when Tomura finally sees his reality for what it is when we see those tears flowing, because up until now the manga puts emphasis people crying to express their feelings. We'll know Tomura is really aware and making progress when the vision Izuku saw in the vestige finally shows itself out in the real world. Tomura is crying inside, and the reason he can't express that he wants to be saved yet is because he isn't crying on the outside yet.

Don't mind me, I'm just praying for my favorite character to have the break down of a life time.

[sugolara]

𝙇𝙤𝙩𝙪𝙨 𝙁𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧

ft. yandere! Izuku Midoriya x fem! reader

series m.list || next

Rebirth

• • •

For as long as she could remember, guilt was all she could feel. It roamed in her head like a plague that threatened to spread further and further, soon to take over her body and be in complete control. Why is it that she felt so guilty?

When she hadn't done anything wrong.

"F/n?" The sound of her name brought her back to reality. She stared at the familiar pair of heterochromia eyes as they worriedly looked at her. That's right, she had forgotten she was in class.

"Are you okay?" Shoto asked as he eyed his childhood friend. He continued to stare at her as she stared blankly at him.

She blinked, then let out a small smile, embarrassingly scratching her cheek, "Sorry, I didn't get enough sleep last night. I was replaying the movie I had watched in my mind and I guess you caught me spacing out."

Her friend shook his head, "I texted you last night to sleep. I'm assuming you disregarded my message, right?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was really into the movie." She said as she let out another chuckle. Ahead, she watched as Denki messed around with Katsuki. She sat near her friends as they waited for their classmates to enter and for their homeroom teacher to begin class.

The bi-colored hair male looked at the side of her face. Her eyebags had seemed to get larger. Just yesterday they seemed fine, but it almost looked like she had been crying which concerned the male. Especially since he knew her history, “Have you been taking your medications?”

She glanced at him again, rolling her eyes in the process with a smile, “Yes, dad. One last night and one this morning. My next one is tonight, like always.”

His worriedness washed away as he smiled, a tiny smile that he only held for her, “I’m just making sure. You always forget to take it.”

“Well, I took it this time, alright?” She said, looking away from him, “I’ll make sure to message you again tonight.” 

Next to her, Tenya let out a disappointed sigh as he readjusted his glasses. He shook his head as he watched the boys roughly mess around, "Almost two years and they still don't know how to behave. How absurd."

Shoto, who after finishing his conversation with F/n, scrolled through his phone, "I think they were just born like that."

Ochaco giggled as Katsuki grabbed a fistful of Denki's hair and shook him, "I don't know, it's kind of entertaining."

"And also reckless." Tenya motioned his hands up and down, "They're almost adults and yet they behave like children."

"Again," Shoto placed his phone down, "I think they were born like that. Or maybe dropped as a kid."

While Ochaco giggled at Shoto's comment, F/n smiled at him, "Look at you trying to be funny. New year, new you, huh?"

"It's also very rude." Tenya added.

Shoto smiled, ignoring the navy-haired male, "Was I being funny?"

"Guess new you still don't understand humor." Ochaco said as she let out a content sigh.

Three months into their second year of school and yet everyone is the same. That didn't bother the h/c haired girl. Though, she did wish some people like Katsuki would change their attitude. However, she does wonder if this year will be different.

She hoped for it to be a good difference.

"Oh, right." Ochaco perked up, "Have you guys heard?"

The three friends raised their brows, "Heard what?"

She smiled, "Apparently, we have a new boy coming to our class!"

"A new student?" Tenya thought for a second, "How come I wasn't informed? I'm the Class Rep."

"It was probably last minute." Shoto pointed out, "Momo would have said something if she knew as well."

F/n agreed, "Yeah, but why are we having a new student? Isn't our class full?"

"Oh, that's right, you haven't heard." Tenya lifted his arm, "Minoru Mineta got expelled last week for his inappropriate actions towards Momo. That's why he hasn't been around. It was time for him to leave anyway."

"Yep! And in return we get a hot, attractive guy to replace him!" Mina, with a big grin, interrupted them as she, Kyoka and Momo entered class.

"How do you even know if he's attractive? You haven't even met him." Kyoka pointed out as she headed for her seat, annoyed at Mina.

"Because I can just feel it!" Mina shouted and laughed as she followed after the purple-haired friend, "Plus, I think I just saw him in the hallway."

Momo shook her head and greeted everyone good morning. Ochaco moved away from her seat and talked to Mina as she squealed about the new kid being hands off. The boys only groaned in annoyance.

"Nobody cares about some damn extra!" Katsuki shouted at her, ensuing an argument.

Tenya continued to shake his head and attempted to deescalate the situation, but unfortunately the argument was turned on him. In their seats, F/n smiled as Shoto eyed his friend, "Aren't you curious who this new kid might be?"

F/n shrugged, "Not really. It's just a new kid. If anything he'll turn out like Denki or Katsuki."

"I would've thought you would be at least a little curious, especially if it's a boy." Shoto added as he looked away from her.

"Aw!" She poked his cheeks, "Are you jealous that I might replace you?"

He huffed lightly with tinted cheeks, "No."

She let go of his face and chuckled, "Don't worry, Shoto. I won't go anywhere. Nothing can ever separate us anyways!"

Right on time, the school bell rang and the classroom door opened and in stepped Mr. Aizawa with a meek kid following behind, "Everyone sit down, I have an announcement to make. This is your new classmate. Please make him feel welcome and what not. Introduce yourself."

"I-I'm Izuku M-Midoriya! Please take care of me!" He bowed down, feeling embarrassed with the sudden attention.

"Oh. He's kind of plain looking." Mina's face fell in disappointment.

Ochaco blushed a little, "He's kind of cute."

"What the hell!?" Katsuki yelled, frightening Izuku, "What are you doing here, Deku!?"

"Oh, good, you know someone." Mr. Aizawa boringly pointed behind F/n, "There's your seat."

Izuku nodded and quickly rushed towards his seat, avoiding Katsuki's death stare. However, as his eyes moved forward, they pinned themselves on F/n. It was only a quick second, but Izuku's breath hitched as she looked at him.

While the lesson continued and played as background, Izuku eyed her back. It had seemed like things were getting harder for him. He was just glad that he had found her once again.

Is it the same as always?

Why can't it be different this time?

As always, there is a lot of work to do.

But for now, Izuku had to think of a way to approach her. Maybe this time, things can go smoothly if cards are played right.

[justatalkingface]

So in light of the absolute fuckery that's been Chapter 407, I want to talk about All For One, because I don't think I've ever really talked about him.

I don't mind that he's evil for evil's sake, I don't mind that his ultimate goal is to take OFA so that he can take over the world and make everyone reliant on him or whatever. I don't mind that he nearly took over Japan back in the day. But like everything else Horikoshi touches, AFO had potential that was ultimately squandered away.

I hate how he was literally pure evil IN FUCKING UTERO, I hate how he was barely even utilized (outside of Kamino Ward, which that was fucking awesome) before he tries wrestling control of Shigaraki to be the main villain again. I hate how even though he allegedly has hundreds upon hundreds of Quirks, he spams the same 3-4 ones, and I hate how for supposedly smart and devious he is, we never see him utilizing UA's bad PR or his traitor to his advantage.

It's kind of weird to say this, but I both miss AFO, and feel sorry for him. I know he's been in the story a lot, but... it feels like AFO, the real one, fucking died at Kaminio, and his idiot corpse has just been running around since with Hori's hand up his ass.

Before Kamino, AFO was evil, yes, and and we didn't know about him, but he felt like a real person; an asshole, but he was something you could imagine a super-powered mob boss could end up being.

Since then, though? He's just been becoming more and more... shallow. It's like Hori was hinting at these dark, mysterious depths of ancient man, and then he pulled the curtain and showed us a fucking puddle. And now? All the mystery, all the backstory?

'BeCaUSe i'M EEEEEEEVVVILLLL'. Unironically, it seems to be his only motivation anymore. He does bad things because he's evil; he doesn't actually want to take over the world, that's just something he's doing because taking over the world is evil. Money? Power? Ultimately worthless, nothing more than tools for the purposes... of EVIL!

So... here's the question: why is he evil?

Because he was evil when he was an adult. Why was he evil as an adult? Because he was evil as a kid, apparently, instead of anything more interesting like him slowly being radicalized by Quirk Discrimination. Why was he evil as a kid? Because he was born evil, instead of anything more interesting like a terrible family, or because a police officer hurt him and traumatized him for life. Why was he evil when he was born?

??????

Because he was born of evil genetics, maybe; I wouldn't put it past Hori to make him unironically Quirk Satan or something. The thing is, that's not how human beings work; even an actual sociopath isn't going to be born this gibberingly, one-dimensionally evil. Worse yet, it's fucking boring to have a human being this basic; at this point why aren't they fighting a robot, or monster or something? It'd have the same level of motivation, and it'd feel more interesting than this.

Even ignoring how stupid he's become post-Kamino (which is a related but different point, best summed up by post-Kamino AFO is basiclly running around with his pants on his head, constantly getting one upped by the heroes, the kids, and basiclly random strangers by now), AFO was at his most interesting, not only when he was competent, but when he felt like a person; there's a reason DFO is so popular, and it's not just because it drags Izuku into it, but because it humanizes AFO, gives him real, human motivations to make us interested in his character.

The worst part of it? There's been so many chances to make him more than this caricature of a human being; by making him care for Shigaraki (or for Dr. Plot Device, or even Kurogiri, his loyal minion, before he was Eraserhead's seemingly somewhat retconned 'human interest' (which was barely a thing), or even just for Gigantomachia, who is basiclly a giant, super-violent dog, who he could have cared about like he was just a giant dog), or for him caring for his brother.

I mean, shit. In all honesty, I could make the 'biting baby' thing work, even. Ideally, it'd need some set up beforehand, but you know how Himiko is (the only one we've ever seen) with desires from her Quirk? Do something similar to how Yhwach in Bleach was on AFO, with that kind of logic, with him needing something, at this fundamental level, to be functional, that he's almost addicted to stealing Quirks, that AFO as a Quirk only works as a Quirk because somewhere in his magic DNA he's... unstable. That the very versatility that allows him to hold every Quirk is starving for the stability of a normal Quirk, so that even as a infant, he's instinctively trying feed himself something a normal human would never need.

There's this whole, interesting dynamic this would introduce, a real nature/nurture-y kind of thing, that would put a whole new spin on his character; he's this seemingly pointlessly evil person because his needs, combined with the only real role model he had for someone in his situation, the demon kings he's seen in manga, and a society that rejected him, both as someone with a Quirk by the normal humans, and as someone who could take away their Quirks by the Quirked, turning him into this because that's all he's ever known.

And here's the thing? This idea? Hori could still try to do that. He could try to turns table us with this sudden development, and try to make a real boy out of AFO. But I don't think he's going to; I really don't think he'll do that. Worse, even if he does try that, he'll just double down on AFO being 'born evil' instead of anything with any real depth to it. Do you know why I think that?

Because in all honesty, AFO isn't a real character anymore; he hasn't been for awhile now. All he is is a plot device, the duck tape Hori's been putting on everywhere to try and hold the story together against all the plot holes and logic failures that have been built up from years of bad, biased and rushed writing. More and more, he's become the reason for everything, the cause of every problem Hori can't be bothered to think through, every villain he didn't want to actually have to explain.

The Readers/The Characters: Why did X happen? What caused that? How does Y feel abou- Hori: AFO did it. I ain't gotta explain shit.

And that's the real reason he's so stupid, BTW, the reason he never uses any other Quirk, or applies any creativity in combat (or anywhere else), and why he keeps losing... it's for the plot. Because the thing is? AFO is fucking overpowered.

Let me tell you something I've never seen anyone else acknowledge: All Might never should have won. He overpowered AFO, sure, but we saw from their fight that he barely did that; didn't crush the puny caster AFO once he got past the lasers, his one super Quirk barely out-performed AFO's stacked Quirks in direct combat. Which, yeah, sure I can see that....

But. Why did AFO fight fair, just power against power, blow vs blow? Why didn't he, like, release poison gas as they fought? All Might is strong, but he still has flesh, blood, lungs; he's still very vulnerable to all kinds of softer Quirks. Where was the touch activated Quirk, like that kid from the License Exam, would have turned All Might into a meatball, or taffy, or whatever? Where was the voice activated Quirk that would have stunned All Might for a critical moment?

Hell. Why didn't AFO cheat? Why did he fight All Might, like an honorable person, when he realised the man was possibly a threat to him, instead of just... assassinating him, like a crime lord (or demon king)? Go to his home (or Might Tower, or wherever), drug his food, put something in his water, hell, just launch a surprise attack from point blank range? We know he tried for Eraserhead's Quirk once, before... apparently just giving up and never trying again; why didn't he try again, get it, and use that?

And beyond even all those problem, I don't see a reason for OFA to have survived long enough to get to All Might in the first place!

I mean, seriously: we know that every user fought AFO, viciously, to point where it caused their early deaths (except the one that basiclly started to Snap himself out of existence). We know OFA was only slowly building up in power, and the early versions especially didn't do much at all, and the Quirks all of them had where never top of the line because they were literally just a random person nearby when the Holder before them died.

So. Riddle me this: why, when a bunch of honestly mid-tier people tried, again and again, to kill AFO, who was overwhelmingly stronger than them, who had access to more tools, powers and money than they did; why, when all these factors were stacked against them, did they survive to the point where they could even pass OFA on? How did they survive blows strong enough to destroy buildings, laser blasts, all these powerful Quirks and techniques that AFO uses casually that most heroes would have been instantly killed by, if not flat out destroyed.

I mean... fuck, there's a decent chance AFO knew they had OFA in them, which he wanted (for whatever reason; sentimentality clearly isn't a emotion he's allowed to have, and early OFA wouldn't have been worth the effort for him to go through all of this to try and acquire it), which means instead of just killing them, he would have captured them, taken them back to his base, and then tortured them until they gave him OFA, just so they would finally be allowed to die and not hurt anymore? While I'm at this, why didn't he just kill any pedestrians around after he killed whatever OFA Holder he was fighting; it's not like morals are going to stop him, are they?

Fundamentally, MHA is built off the premise that AFO, terrifying criminal genius with countless Quirks, strong enough that he makes people by him hallucinate out of terror, is so pants shittingly stupid that he spent almost a hundred years basiclly punching himself in the face rather than just winning fights that were ludicrously stacked in his favor again and again and again; I mean, hell, he could still be an utter moron, and as long as he just got lucky once, just once, the giant, unending sequence of coincidences and logic breaking victories that allowed All Might to get his Quirk never would have happened.

None of this, of course, is even mentioning everything happening in the Final Arc, like AFO's obvious weakness to allow him to be finally beat forever appearing out of nowhere, in him having Remnants (even though AFO took eight users to to power it up enough to get to the point that AFO was apparently always at, and us having no reason to think this was a thing before now, much less all the absolute nightmare fuel questions that raises about the Nomu, and all the Quirks that AFO's doctor had stored away), and Eri's Quirk actively accelerating to heal him, thus limiting his life span (or the fact it's even working like that in the first place), even though it's a time Quirk, not a healing Quirk, and it doesn't fucking care about how wounded he is.

So, why did it happen? Why is it still happening?

Because he's a plot device. Because he exists, not as an active character with his own agenda, but as an adjustable target for the heroes to fight against, again and again and again, and if he won, the story would be over. Fundamentally, Hori made AFO too strong, too smart, too well connected, too perfect to every truly lose in this setting, and instead of trying to fix that, in any real way, impose some kind of realistic limitations or drawbacks in his wildly over-powered Quirk, or just kill him off so he wasn't a factor anymore, he just... made the man stupid.

[20001541]

there was a time where I got into an argument with someone who believed the purpose of chapter 407 was to show that AFO was born evil and though the circumstances in his childhood were tragic he still was a lost cause from the very beginning. they believed that he was shown to us as an example of someone who is too far gone to be saved. and why did they think that? they told me it's because the story has not taken any measures to reach out to him as with the other villains.

and it is interesting isn't it? afo has one of the most horrifying and tragic backstory in the manga and yet we do not see anyone making an effort to try to understand him. he is only seen as a threat to be eliminated.

and while I wouldn't mind this sort of attitude if it were in any other series, bnha has shown us multiple times of heroes reaching out to those who got left behind by society and took their wrath out on everyone as a result. so the fact that afo who was screwed over by life from the very moment he was born does not seem to get this same grace extended to him sticks out to me. it is one thing to dismiss him as being too evil, but if you're going to show me in explicit detail about all the tragic events that were out of his control that happened to him as a child then I would expect there for more to be done with that.

now you could make the argument that afo could've been saved as a child but now it is too late to change his mind. I would've agreed with that if it were not for the fact that we are shown his own humanity throughout the story. we know he feels some guilt when faced with the vestiges of the peoples whose quirks he stole in his sleep and he's able to feel fear as he had nightmares about his first fight with all might. his own main goal is to have the worlds eyes upon him because he wants to be noticed after a lifetime of being ignored. however, the biggest display of his humanity is shown to us through his feelings towards yoichi.

some of the most genuine displays of emotions we see from him are because of yoichi. yoichi is someone who had been with him from the womb and he is someone he cares about more than anyone else.

he has spent the last century chasing ofa not because of its power but because it has one of the last pieces left of his brother after he died. we're even shown how he kept yoichi's severed hand, it's a raw display of sentimentality and regret over what he did to his brother.

and while he claims yoichi isn't the final goal, only the midterm goal, one shouldn't underestimate yoichi's importance to him as we see him chase after him even when it would've been more beneficial to just let him go. he had two chances to end the ofa line for good before it became too powerful as we see with banjo and en, and yet he didn't take it because he couldn't bear to let go of yoichi. and let no one forget his line "yoichi without you, it's all for naught" from chapter 410.

so why am I saying all of this?

honestly, I'm hoping for a different ending for afo that's not him being defeated and humiliated once more.

I'm not trying to justify anything he has done nor am I an afo apologist, but if other villains could get the chance to have a hand reached out towards them then why can't afo? why else would you show me how terrible his childhood is and the displays of humanity within him unless you're trying to show us he isn't a complete lost cause?

we saw how izuku was willing to listen to muscular as to why he was doing all this, but muscular didn't care to speak so they fought instead. there was no backstory nor any attempt to show muscular as something other than a bloodthirsty killer.

why not have the same treatment with afo if your main point is to show he is a lost cause? yes afo doesn't deserve any grace or kindness towards himself, but isn't being a hero reaching out to other even when they don't deserve it? certainly none of the other villains being reached out towards didn't deserve it after all they've done. so maybe just maybe I am hoping for a kinder ending for vestige afo. an ending that will put to rest all the "he was born evil and is a lost cause" arguments and shows us the who he really is underneath the mask he has worn for all these years.

my biggest hope here is that yoichi's vestige isn't gone permanently, but it still exists. how will he come back and how did he survive the whole being smashed against tomura? I have no idea. as I said its just a hope. but if there is anyone who could reach out to afo as of now and have the moment be impactful it would be yoichi.

there's a lot of bad blood between them and yoichi did give up on afo when they were alive, but considering how depressed afo is now that he thinks yoichi is gone forever and that he doesn't see the point of ruling a world without the one person he wanted by his side the most and how yoichi took no joy in seeing him being beaten earlier there's a chance a final reunion between them could happen.

afo built too much of his image being the evil villain that he doesn't know what else to do, which is why he's still trying to conquer the world even though he feels its meaningless now without yoichi. I think this all leaves afo in a very vulnerable position emotionally right now.

yes the heroes will defeat and his vestige will fade away forever, but I'm hoping for yoichi to be there with him at the very end and they decide to put everything behind them and fade away forever together. maybe we will also get to learn his true name through yoichi and see his humanity fully out on display. no more struggling between them, but just them being brothers once more right before the end.

[mettywiththenotes]

Talking about an au

This is one that has been on my mind since 419 and tbh I thought for sure it could happen

Remember when Tomura shed his skin during the Floating UA battle? Well I wondered if a similar thing would happen again in Mount Fuji

Picture it. In the void, AFO eats Tomura. He's dying as he's told everything about AFO's involvement in his life. AFO takes over his body, hand formed over mouth and all. It looks pretty bad. All the stuff happens with Izuku getting his arms back, the heroes coming to his aid etc. Izuku punches AFO (end of 422, beginning of 423). Here's where it diverges from canon:

Izuku punches AFO and he starts crumbling slowly, from his gut (where the impact was) to the rest of him. Except before it even reaches his chest, his face starts to crack open. Visually we can see this crack isn't the same as the crumbling of his body. It's one we've seen before, across his face in the middle of a battle. A parallel back to this

Except within the crack is Tomura's face. Tomura inside Tomura's body. Tomuraception

What happened? Well, the power of Izuku's will to stop AFO (the punch) allowed the vestiges that got thrown into the body to reawaken and bring Tomura's soul back. At the same time, minutes before, Tomura, slowly dying in the void, began to think. About everything AFO told him, how he was doomed before he was even born. How much that angered him, the rage coursing through his soul. He already had a strong will before, but now he really can't accept what has happened and he can't accept AFO getting away with it. Even if AFO's fate is to die, he'd rather be the one on the other end of it, alive and watching him. Better yet, being the hand that ultimately brings about his end

As a visual representation, it's like Tomura reaches out, desperate to climb out of the abyss he is slowly dying in, and he is met with several hands reaching back, taking his hand and pulling him out and back to the world. The vestiges, who have been reawakened by Izuku

Before, Tomura has not been able to die or stay dead. So why should this not be the same? With the power of rage, spite, his hero and some ghostly relatives, he lives on. He twists his own fate by accepting the hands that reach out and climbing out of the hole AFO threw him in

AFO's Tomura face cracks open. Tomura forces AFO's vessel apart from the head, almost like a butterfly climbing out of its cocoon, almost like he is actively prying his own cage open and escaping for good

AFO had been crumbling and was ripped open, but in a desperate attempt to stay together and stay alive (also fueled by anger at being pushed to the edge like this + Tomura somehow coming back from the dead), he uses his quirks (mostly drills) to keep his body intact for now (this is already shown in 423)

Also, I guess it depends on what you would like to believe, but the way I see it, Tomura could come back either with just his decay OR with the vestiges choosing another vessel for what little power they can give left and so backing Tomura up with the last of OFA. Aka 10th user Tomura. It's not as powerful as it was with Izuku but it still adds a lot, just enough to pack a real punch. Personally I think if we're already throwing away "what is realistic" then I might as well go big or go home and go with 10th user Tomura my beloved

It's from this point that he and Izuku begin to work together to kill the old body. As you can imagine, it's probably not an immediate bonding of friendship or whatever, but it's more or less teamwork formed with the general statement of "we still have things to work out, hero, but I don't care about that right now. I hate him more than anyone else on this damn mountain and I can't stand the thought of letting anyone else kill him but me" etc but then progresses as they fight

[chimaeraonwards]

freedom, choice, and dreams - a perspective of a newbie one piece fan from opla

I am scared of saying what my dreams are. It feels stupid hanging on to something I don't know if I'll ever see come true. These dreams are the ones I hold to my chest, afraid that someone would find it.

Would they treat me with pity? Would they laugh? Would they tell me to give up?

It gets harder to believe in dreams as you grow older. My escape that was books and fandom became reminders that I simply wasn't the chosen one who gets to do something and be someone. I'm the side character that gets killed off in episode 2 in a flashback in someone else's story.

I wasn't destined to be the one who can make change on the world since before I was born like Harry Potter. I'm not the one who gets chosen by a master in the field I love to be his successor like Midoriya Izuku. My parents are not secretly some kind of god like Percy Jackson. There is no wardrobe, no lion, no witch to take me away where I can finally be somebody.

I'm just me, a nobody, stuck in a house haunted by my ghosts, with my dreams out of reach. The stories that used to be my escapism start to feel like painful reminders.

And then I watched the One Piece Live Action. For the first time in a long time, I saw adults who were not the chosen ones, on the wrong side of power, stuck in everyday monotony.

They were surviving, but they weren't alive.

If you look in the mirror, would it sound more familiar?

The One Piece Live Action showed me characters who have beautiful dreams and yet, don't believe that they could ever reach them? By all means, how would they? Nami was stuck in a situation she had limited control over her freedom, Usopp was literally all alone and no one believed him, Sanji was held back by obligation and realism, and Zoro was lost wasn't strong enough. Heck even Koby was stuck on a ship being mistreated with literally no way to escape.

And then Luffy came around.

Luffy, the goofy embodiment of freedom, joy, silliness, and has the emotional intelligence the size of the entire ocean.

He showed them that there was a choice. You had the choice to believe that you can reach your dreams. He showed them that no dream was too crazy, too big, too small, too unimportant. You deserve to make it a reality.

Immediately I was hooked. Diving into the manga, I think that what Luffy does is gives the space to people to let their heart want their dream.

And then he fights for them.

Think about what's stopping you from reaching your dream. Is it money? Support? Access to power? Strength? Knowledge?

Fighting for your dream isn't as pretty as faith, trust, and pixie dust. It's brutal. It's heartache. It's sacrifice. But most of all, it's never giving up, even when you're broken.

The Straw Hats show that having the freedom to chase your dreams isn't a lonely journey. You need to lend a hand to people on the way there, and they will do the same for you.

On the other side of this idealist dream chasing optimism, One Piece beautifully shows the harsh reality, that some dreams won't be reached in your lifetime. But like Gol D. Roger, Red Leg Zeff, Otohime, maybe, just maybe, you can help someone else reach that same goal you had. We will all die someday, but our dreams can live forever. And isn't that a beautiful thing?

The Straw Hat Pirates unapologetically declare their dreams out loud, not afraid of what anyone else has to say about them.

Maybe I should take some advice from them.

👟 I'm going to find a way and be able to continue my education.

[super-paper]

A bit of a vent, if that's okay; I think one of the most frustrating things regarding this chapter has been the overall behavior from the fandom, and this sort of mandatory love for anything from the manga. I get it, when we love something we can't bear other people talking bad about it (I'm the same way with some things), but it's annoying how a lot of us haven't been allowed to criticize or show any anger/disappointment about the chapter. It's upsetting, especially as an Izuku stan, to see other accounts (famous accounts too) claim that if we're disappointed with Izuku then we hate his character. That we're too stupid and cynical to think Izuku did anything wrong at all and wasn't allowed to defend himself. That we can't read if we think Izuku and Bakugo killed Kurogiri, or that Izuku wasn't able to save Shigaraki because after all he did free him from his abuser and made him recognize that he was in fact a crying child. And to each their own I suppose; but putting interpretations of arcs and narratives aside, this overall superiority of "there's nothing wrong with this chapter, you just don't get it so shut up" and the undermining of how a lot of fans feel is seriously infuriating. (Maybe this is how people felt when I'd argue that Armored Might wasn't character assassination lol). I'm just tired of getting called every name in the book for having my own criticisms, and getting accused of hating Izuku, or seeing Shigaraki stans undermined as if they weren't aloud to feel sad about it. Because it's exactly why people loved those characters and arcs so much that they feel such a strong reaction to 423. I'm upset with the weird ooc behavior and lack of introspection from Izuku because I love his character so much. And I'm upset with this chapter because I love this manga and wanna see a well written conclusion for the characters and story.

Nah, I definitely feel the same. So many fans have been taking the words of upset Tenko and Izuku fans out of context (or even outright twisting their words around) and using it as an excuse to be bullies. I'm sorry if folks have been harassing you.

At any rate, I think you have every right to criticize the chapter. Like, I'm very much a silver-lining-look-on-the-bright-side type of guy-- and even I'm having trouble finding anything to like about it lmao 😭. Basically, I liked AFO's conclusion... on the surface, at least. But then my mind goes right back to thinking about Tenko and how AFO's conclusion/treatment is yet another thing that ultimately contributed to his death, and I get mad all over again lmao. Like, an ending where Tenko gets turned into a "cautionary tale" that "everyone learns from" is pretty much the last thing I wanted for his character. It's basically ~*~building a better society~*~ on top of his corpse. And what exactly is his life/death cautioning against exactly? Grooming?? Stranger danger??? Being kidnapped by literally the worst guy alive when you're five years old and getting brainwashed into believing you were born evil???? LARPing????? Like.... it just feels like all of Tenko's suffering was ultimately just used as a stepping stone in order to finally rid the world of AFO-- and like, rationally, I know this isn't the case and I'm oversimplifying things, but like.. the way the rain stops and the sun starts shining as Tenko evaporates... uuuuoohhhgh---

*cough* Anyway! I'm also a staunch Iron Might defender, but like. In that particular case it was very obvious to me why Iron Might was necessary + a fitting end to Toshinori's arc. In Izuku's case, I simply cannot see how chapters 420-423 ultimately do right by his character. Since chapter 1, Izuku becoming "a great hero"/"more heroic than anyone else" was always tied to his drive to save when no one else is able (or willing) to. So these chapters being framed as the "climax/finale' of his character arc-- these chapters where he doesn't stop to think about saving Tenko at all and just focuses on wiping AFO out-- betray the very core of his character while also betraying the very premise of the series. Like. This is bad. This is bad bad and I sincerely, honestly want to believe Hori has something up his sleeve that'll somehow fix things. 😭But even if it is a fake out, and even if Hori reveals Izuku had some sort of plan all along... I don't think it'll undo the damage to the readers' trust atp, sadly.

(Like...! So many of Izuku's defining moments involve him standing up to abusers on behalf of their victims. The moments that define him as a hero have him encouraging those victims to fight back and reclaim agency over their bodies/powers-- but even though Tenko ultimately did fight back, it feels disingenuous to give Izuku any sort of actual credit in this situation bc, again, Izuku wasn't thinking of Tenko at all while he was beating Tenko's body AFO into dust lmao. Like I've been saying, so much of 423 is just indefensibly bad writing and Izuku and Tenko's characters deserved better than this).

[sapphic-agent]

In relation to your (awesome) write up of Izuku, I want to address the victim blaming (I'm not sure if that's the right word, but I honestly can't think of anything else) that both the narrative and parts of the fandom tend to place on him.

Bakugou bullies Izuku due to his Quirklessness? Well, obviously Izuku didn't properly communicate his feelings with him, so he gets the blame for that!

Aizawa refuses to give Izuku the time of day outside of criticisms and putdowns? Well, obviously Izuku's refusing to properly get a handle on OFA, so the Problem Child nickname is warranted!

Sir Nighteye takes Izuku as an intern with the sole purpose of breaking down his confidence to the point that he gives up OFA? Well, he was being selfish in offering Mirio OFA (an actual take I saw) and Mirio was way better anyway!

Recovery Girl witholds medical treatment from Izuku? Well, it's his own fault for not having control over OFA!

I would certainly call it victim blaming, especially in regards to Bakugou.

The characters, plot, and fans have a tendency to try to make it as though Izuku is an active participant in his and Bakugou's rivalry. Except he isn't. He has stated multiple times that he doesn't want to compete with Bakugou. He doesn't provoke Bakugou, he barely talks to him prior to D vs K part 2. But for some reason, Bakugou's aggression towards him is a problem that he has to take blame for.

Every single time, it's been Bakugou who's instigated a confrontation between them. And yet for some reason, Izuku is the one who has to take responsibility. He's the one who has to figure out how to get Bakugou to cooperate. Everyone, Aizawa especially, makes it out like Izuku is part of the problem when he never did anything wrong.

The Problem Child nickname came about right before the Shie Hassakai Raid because Aizawa claimed he couldn't trust Izuku after Kamino. But you know what a major problem with this is? Kirishima is right in the room with them. Kirishima was also part of that rescue plan, in fact it was his idea. So why is Izuku being the only one scolded for it? Why is he the Problem Child?

Idk what Aizawa has against Izuku, but no matter what the kid does he's wrong in his eyes.

I think people really miss the point of Mirio's character. Yes, he would have made a fine holder. But Mirio is someone who's worked hard to master the quirk he was born with. He took pride in what he was given and I would say he even loved his quirk. He would have never taken OFA even if All Might did choose him because he doesn't want anyone else's power, he's content with the one he put years of work into.

That's literally what Sir Nighteye realizes as he dies. That Mirio deserves to be looked at as more than a potential successor to All Might. That he's his own hero.

But that doesn't make Izuku selfish. This is such a bizarre take because I would say this makes him selfless. He was willing to give up his dream so that Mirio could still live out his because Mirio was a true hero. He was doing what he thought was the right thing.

Recovery Girl is the only one I can kind of defend here. She was trying to push Izuku into being more careful with and mindful of his body. That being said, she went about it in the entirely wrong way. As not only a pro hero but a school nurse, it's her job to help anyone she can recover. It's not her right to pick and choose. And Izuku was put into situations where it was entirely unavoidable. It was either break his arms or him and Kota both die. He didn't have a lot of choices.

I think a lot of this comes from the idea that Izuku is a Gary Stu (false) so Horikoshi constantly gives him flack from other characters

[moth-n-glitchsmp]

Howdy! Are you monochrome_sunsets on ao3?

One of my pals saw your bookmark tags and are FASCINATED! I’m really curious, what’s the code to your tag system?

HEHAHHEHSGHA THIS IS THE THIRD TIME I'VE BEEN ASKED ABOUT THIS FJNFMFM

yes hi!!! i'm moth, aka monochrome_sunsets on ao3, one of the owners of this blog! i really like to organize things, and i ALSO really like things that match, and thus my rice tagging system was born.

white rice - classic fics, or otherwise just fics that are super well written that i really enjoy and reread a lot. fics marked as recommended with the white rice tag are what i consider the Best Of The Best! chosen because white rice is a classic go-to that i will always enjoy.

cinnamon rice - fics that made me laugh! chosen because laughter makes me think of fried dough & the fair, fried dough has cinnamon on it, bam! cinnamon rice

coconut rice - fluffy fics! fics that made me feel all gooey inside! coconut is fluffy :)) (also i absolutely LOVE coconut almond rice, it's so good)

almond rice - angst!!!! additionally, heavy on the almonds is a tag for heavy angst, and light on the almonds is for light angst. chosen because almonds are bitter sometimes

tear covered rice - fics that made me cry; happy tears AND sad tears are included in this, so keep an eye on the other tags here

family rice dish - found family, bio family, friendships... basically, fics that focus on non-romantic relationships!

magic rice - superhero aus, alien aus, vampire aus, werewolf aus, fae aus, bnha quirk accidents, midoriya izuku has a quirk aus.... basically, anything vaguely magical.

dragons! - i really like dragons. i like them so much i wanted a whole separate tag JUST so i could find my bookmarked fics with dragons in them.

spicy rice curry - smut. i... don't have a lot of these i think?

rice porridge - sickfics & caretaking fics. chosen because rice porridge is a good thing to eat when you're not feeling well.

rice pudding - crossovers! chosen because rice and pudding is quite the food crossover

multicourse meal - series!

mystery rice - mystery fics! i most likely bookmarked them before they were made mystery fics, then couldn't remember for the life of me what they used to be. i am clinging to them in the desperate hope that they will one day be un-mysteried.

cooking... - uncompleted fics, or fics that are currently completed but i haven't finished reading yet.

no longer cooking - discontinued fics i couldn't bear to unbookmark and part with :(

brown rice - fics that don't fit any of the above tags. chosen because brown rice isn't my first choice, but it is still rice and i will still eat it with a smile on my face.

[pocketramblr]

AU idea for five ask game: Izuku has a quirk which let's him summon those he is genetically related to

This was before a fairly weak quirk, until he is gifted OFA, which works via the transfer of DNA.

So not only is Izuku now able to summon All Might, but the other past users of OFA (though he has to continuously use OFA's energy to give them a physical form)

Gonna combine those too

1- so young Izuku's quirk first manifests at school, when Katsuki blasts at him for talking too much, and Izuku wants his mom. Inko, who was walking home with groceries for dinner, is very surprised to suddenly find herself in the school- and not very happy with what else she finds there.

Izuku's pretty thrilled though, and excited for his quirk. He finds out pretty quickly that it only works with relatives, and has a distance limit- he can't pull his mom from more than five kilometers away, his grandma from more than two, and his dad from one. (The closer he is emotionally to somehow, the physically farther he can pull from, but it maxes out at five km)

2- the first time Izuku realizes OfA did something to his quirk is at USJ, when he jumps off the boat with OfA charging though his body and flicks his finger, silently wishing that All Might was here.

Toshinori is very surprised to suddenly find himself on the side of the lake in USJ, but he ducks behind a rock quickly enough and realizes what's happening in seconds, beefing up even past his time limit

2b- they also realize Izuku's distance has been raised when he actually summons Inko to the hospital in Hosu after the Stain fight.... Man he needs to stop giving people heart attacks like that.

3- he can't summon any dead OfA holder for a while though- not until OfA gets past the point of singularity, and even then, not for a while... It isn't until he's facing down AfO himself and gets stuck with Forced Quirk Activation. AfO was trying to overwhelm his body with full bone breaking force+ all other quirks at once, but instead Izuku shouts wordlessly and suddenly, someone else is between them. Exhausted and hurting, Izuku thinks for a few delirious seconds that he isn't sure if it's Dabi or Kirishima or Bakugo between them, but then the figure shouts for AfO to stay away from Yoichi and lunges at the frozen-in-shock villain.

Life support systems are full of very tiny parts that need to move in the right time together, so messing with that can be dangerous. Second turns, frowns in confusion when he sees Izuku, but still grabs him and runs. As they flee, Second's memories since the moment he first received OfA and his vestige was born begin to fill in- what happened to Yoichi, and himself later, all the way up till now.

Behind them, AfO throws off the malfunctioning helmet and uses his backup rewind plan to not die yet

4- Izuku runs, and realizes something. If every past user can be summoned, if they count as relatives now, AfO should too - so he propels himself as high up as he can float, and summons AfO. It becomes a game of chase, Izuku dropping and lifting and summoning AfO to throw off his momentum and dodge attacks, stalling for time as AfO becomes younger and weaker.

5- finally, when he feels it's time and the others agree, he summons all the other OfA holders too, to attack AfO together from an sides. It's the single most exhausting thing he's ever done, and when AfO finally drops still, Izuku manages to summon living Toshinori and Inko to him, say he's sorry, very tired, and collapse in their arms. He sleeps for a week.

[haleigh-sloth]

379 Leaks React

Okay, gonna start this with honesty and say that I legit was concerned for a bit, reading parts of the leaks. Namely this:

Mostly because as the leaks were dropping (and we hadn't gotten to the end of the chapter yet) it felt like a very sudden burst of agency, independence, will power, you name it--from Tomura. But after the whole chapter came out and I saw the art in there, well, I see it differently and in the end, still things are going in a way I'd hoped for and what works for Tomura's character.

I'll start this by saying that....yeah no, Tomura isn't free. Don't get your hopes up. We've got his personality back and I'm grateful for that, but this man is far from free, and I'll explain.

Tomura: I've been here the whole time, waiting for the moment to take back control, I don't need you or OFA, I have things I want that have nothing to do with you!

That's great! He's kept himself from completely disappearing, HE did that, he kept himself afloat and fought for control. He has some semblance of agency and control. He has his independence back!

Or does he.

Also Tomura: Everything I hate started in that house, that house that I destroyed because I wanted to, because I hated it and everyone in it, and because I was meant to destroy so why would I have done anything differently. Everything I've always wanted has always been to destroy, my "origin" is destruction because I killed my family and destroyed my house because that's what I was born to do!

I really don't need to go into detail about how this isn't true. He didn't want to kill his family or destroy his house. He didn't want any of those things.

But what has happened in Tomura's mind is that he has had 0 ways to cope with his grief--so his coping strategy to protect himself from the psychological damage was to recontextualize it entirely.

Tomura: Grief? Nah, I wanted that to happen. So I'm not sad about it.

That's totally a valid coping mechanism that will have long term benefits. I love that for him.

I bring up his obvious unreliable narrating because it's all coming full circle and back into play here.

"Tomura Shigaraki and Tenko Shimura wish for the same thing." Well, at least the 'tenko and tomura are different people crowd can finally shut the fuck up, god bless

Tomura asserting that they're the same--while unexpected, for me at least--is good development. He's acknowledging that his past self is part of who he is, he's trying very hard to reject everything AFO wanted him to be. It's progress because he's trying.

But man, he is not doing a very good job of that.

Exactly what was Tenko's origin again?

I am fairly certain his origin is not based on an innate lust for death and destruction. I’d bet the farm in it.

Tenko didn't want to destroy everything. But Tomura continues to assert this belief onto himself from the recontextualized grief in order to protect himself from said grief.

What results is his self-hatred that's still there. The guilt that surrounds his family's deaths.

This self-hatred is literally exactly why he is so convinced that he has always wanted to destroy everything, that's all he's ever wanted and that's all he was born to do.

Tomura is not free from AFO because his self-hatred is still so deeply ingrained in him.

This is fake out, just like MVA was, just like the PLF war was.

Every time Tomura tries to assert his independence outside of AFO, it fails, and he comes crashing down, hard. He comes crashing down hard because he continues to insist that all he wants, all he has ever wanted, is death and destruction. The more he clings onto this narrative, the more he will continue to lose.

Tomura is not free from AFO because he has not faced his own reality yet.

Now that I've explained that, let's talk about this:

Tomura basically confirming that he caught onto the little hint that Izuku wanted to do more than just punch and kick.

When he said it's a useless effort, he knew what he was referring to. "Don't try saving me, I won't be satisfied until everything is destroyed".

So, the salvation Tomura's been secretly crying out for this entire time, from Midoriya no less, is right in front of him. And--to nobody's surprise--he's rejecting it.

Again, all he can do is destroy, all this saving talk is nonsense, there's absolutely no point.

This is pure proof of how lost in the AFO sauce Tomura is.

He's in the most unstable, unreliable, contradictory, and most of all vulnerable state of his life. He asserts his desire for destruction, being completely unaware that someone has already seen through it all and knows what's going on inside:

Tough luck Tomura. You’re transparent.

This is what I mean by him not facing his own reality yet. He's in there still crying, that hasn't changed. He is in prime saving position. Let's go Izuku, chop chop.

Onto the art:

All of Tomura's speech is written in black text bubbles. I've only seen this one other time:

Based on the evidence above, I think it's safe to say that:

Black text bubbles = whatever is being said in them is probably bullshit

Tomura asserting his independence this chapter is bound to result in the same failures it did in MVA and the PLF war.

Breaking out of the possession JUST to say "I'm BACK! But I still want exactly what you groomed and primed me to want!" is not the comeback he thinks it is, and it is not a subtle downfall.

He will fall harder, again, because he refuses to let himself be picked up (yet).

Other things:

There are two AFOs. Please don't forget, because OG AFO is the real issue here.

That is all.

Translations used from Pikahlua’s translation.

[prettyboykatsuki]

the thing with deku and tanjiro is they’re parellel but also so different to me. like tanjiro is genuinely such a good wholehearted person. not to say deku isn’t but tanjiro does a lot of kindness without thinking and he seems more dense than deku. i see deku as someone who is doing good kind of for himself in way if that makes sense??? it makes him feel good to do good instead of just doing good just to do it. i also account that tanjiro is an older sibling so that also makes him different in more ways than one than izuku. love them both very very much tho 🥹 sunshine boys 💚

i agree!! like you said tanjiro is a wholeheartedly good person and deku isn't, at least not in the way tanjiro is. these are central parts of there identity. it has a lot to do with their setting and environment.

it does make sense to me tho!! i don't think izuku necessarily does things for himself but what you're saying makes sense to me in that izuku isn't doing good because it is good. i definitely think he's more 'selfish' than tanjiro because tanjiro is the embodiment of selflessness.

a lot of people find izuku polarizing for the reason that his sense of martyrdom also interacts with his sense of inferiority. izuku is a minority in the world of bnha. he carries a lot of shame and a lot of responsibility to catch up to those he thinks were born superior to him. that part of him remains even now, and he hasn't emotionally developed in a way that allows him to understand other perspectives.

tanjiro's different kind of person. he is the embodiment of selflessness and a big part of his journey is only possible while taking on the idea of coalition, of together-ness and wielding the will and love of the dead to drive him forward. the biggest aspects of their character journey that make them so different yet so alike is this.

in izuku's arc, we're only just now getting to the point he's able to unravel his sense of sacrifice. in the most recent season is the first time we get to see class 1-a band together to support him.

for tanjiros journey, he's easily able to accept the help of others. he was raised in a family environment, he spends the story by nezukos side. he accepts that receiving help is necessary.

for izukus journey he's unable to accept help from others because he was quirkless. because he had no siblings or rolemodels until he was chosen by all-might and because he is deeply isolated even form his classmates. he is a very solitary character from the beginning of the story.

the stories also are in the first place fighting different things. kny is defeating a great evil and izuku ultimately is fighting the consequences of system. in that way i don't find them to be comparable and i think it makes sense of izuku to be perceived as not selfless. selflessness is a quality that requires utter acceptance of self and izuku has yet to reach that point.

they also live differently in the sense izuku is primarily looking to understand the world around him to live and tanjiro is living in the world around him to understand it if that makes sense.

some aspects of them are definitely similar, primarily the self-sacrificial nature and wanting to see good in everyone. the general gentle and care-taking nature etc. they connect to other peoples emotions and prioritize them more than they do themselves but they are very different to me all the same.

sorry this was an essay djksdfdk people just compare them so often and having read like i get why but they r So Different to me