#dabi character analysis

[autumnmobile12]

Based on the way Touya and Fuyumi behaved in their very early years, I've always gotten the impression the Todoroki family started out with something of a healthy dynamic.

The reason they were born was pretty twisted and Endeavor's ambitions may have made the foundation rotten, but I think they were 'fine' until the genetic disparity with Touya's Quirk was detected. What's sad about that is if Touya didn't have that issue, he and Fuyumi would probably have been the only two siblings. Endeavor wanted Touya for a successor. Rei wanted Fuyumi so that Touya would have a sibling and they could support each other.

Natsuo and Shouto were born because Endeavor's ambitions meant more to him than his family.

And tragically, Touya and Fuyumi are the only two kids in that family who can remember this happy life. It's why Fuyumi was so desperate to get it back, and in his own warped way, Touya also tried to reclaim it.

Here's the thing that gets me, though:

It is very common and normal for a toddler to prefer one parent over the other. Usually, it's the parent they're the most family with: The one that stays home with and takes care of them.

Remember, to a toddler, everything is new and potentially scary, and that can often include a parent that is not always present: The parent that's working.

In the Todoroki house, Endeavor had his career as a hero, so we have the indication that Rei was the parent who stayed home. In that situation, the probability of Rei being the 'familiar parent' was more likely, so for Touya to prefer his father over his mother shows just how close he was to Endeavor. That probably happened because 1.) we can see Endeavor started training him at a very young age, and 2.) Fuyumi was the new baby and probably needed more attention from their mother, so Touya may have gravitated away from Rei on his own and went to his father instead.

Touya didn't see his father's ambitions for him. He didn't see that he was a successor as opposed to a son. What he, a child, saw and understood was that his father loved him and wanted to spend time with him. After the genetic disparity was detected and that pride and affection disappeared, he didn't know how to cope.

In contrast, Natsuo and Shouto never even saw the family happy. Natsuo was three-four years old when this happened. Fuyumi looks devastated that things aren't her version of normal. Natsuo just looks confused because, again, everything is new to toddlers. This was the normal he grew up with. Touya attacking Shouto might be one of his first memories, so he never stood a chance and that is why he left home the moment he had the opportunity.

It also explains his lack of understanding for Fuyumi's hope for a normal family. Fuyumi's mindset runs as, "We had that once. It's possible to have it again." Which in its own way, expecting things can just return to the way they were is a little disrespectful to her brother that died, and I think Touya's reappearance did shatter her illusion since she never brings up 'being a real family' after Dabi's Dance.

The point is, since Natsuo never saw what Fuyumi and Touya saw, he can't see what she wants to return to, so her decision to forgive their father is one he can't comprehend.

And if Natsuo can't remember the happy family, then there's no way Shouto does because this is what their home looked like by the time he was old enough to start forming concrete memories.

We're looking at two different sets of children, the older pair and the younger pair, who started out with very different childhoods.

[valenteal]

I know that the mha fandom kinda had to make up shit for Hawks because his backstory came out slowly but I really wish it hadn’t taken over. As far as I am aware the HPSC doesn’t torture him or have super strict control of his life anymore. Obviously they groomed him and trained him properly pretty brutally but I don’t think they’re unnecessarily cruel. They wouldn’t want to risk him turning against them and with how young they got him the don’t need to.

Hawks is Lady Nagant’s replacement, meaning all the people she would’ve been sent to assassinate he took care of. Corrupt heroes who needed to be silenced, political enemies, criminals with ideas to dangerous like the league and the mla, he was sent to kill them. Hawks is an assassin and a spy with a background reminiscent of Black Widow. That’s traumatizing enough and I wish I could find more fics that address that rather than him being overworked and pushed to be perfect to the point of mutilation.

Cause like— Hawks isn’t a perfect golden boy? Where did people get that idea? That would be like All Might or Best Jeanist. Hawks is super socially awkward and covers it up with bravado and ends up coming off as rude. In terms of social experience he’s at the same place as Shouto if he never went to UA. He has no idea what he’s doing, he’s just winging it and everyone ignores it because he flashes a pretty smile. He’s like completely tactless.

I don’t think the commission even intended for him to be so high ranking, he’s just too damn good at his job and too pretty for his own good. He was supposed to be an assassin and an infiltrator and being so high profile is not conducive to that.

Anyway those are my thoughts on Hawks, I love him and I love Dabihawks but god do I wish there weren’t so few fics that actually use their canon characterization, or as close as you can get with a Dabihawks fic since canonically they hate each other. But their like so perfect from a narrative standpoint, they could be each other’s perfect foil with all the parallels and similarities in their backstories!

[taeggukxiie]

I don't really like endhawks and it's not so much because of the age gape or the fan/idol relationship (la brava and gentle have some age gape and bakudeku are the pure description of fanatization/idolization trope and I like both of those ships), but more because endeavor literally embodies what Hawks hate the most.

Hear me out on this one, they have cute interactions but for me the fact that Hawks stayed by endeavor's side even knowing what he did to his children is kinda out of character. I mean the whole thing why keigo wanted to be a hero was to help people and make them smile because he went through abusive behavior all his life. Endeavor do save people but doesn't make them smile, not directly anyway. Hawks wanted to help the new generation, but endeavor traumatized the generation he gave birth to. Hawks wanted to be free, but endeavor stole freedom from his children (at least until he becomes number 1 and shoto comes to UA).

I understand hawks forgiving and accepting endeavor even after what he did, because hawks is so optimistic that he wants to believe eveyone can change for the better, but I don't understand him staying by endeavor's side. I mean, how traumatic would it be to discover that your idol who saved you and gave you a dream to follow did the exact same things as the person who traumatized your childhood? I see some narrative problems here. Or maybe it's just that hawks is too optimistic for his own good.

The thing is, I think Hawks so desperately needed a symbol to give him hope that he didn't even try to look more profoundly into endeavor's mistakes. Like he tried so hard to convince himself. Here we can see that hawks says he could keep up with training and abuse by the commission because someone supported him, probably implying endeavor. But it wasn't even true, hawks just chose to idealize enji because he saved him, but enji didn't know hawks before metting him as a hero, so he couldn't actually support him in his dream. I know it's only metaphoric, but it does mean that Keigo just needed something, someone to hold onto because of all the suffering he went through. And he chose endeavor, who was the only person indirectly "caring" for him.

Now maybe it's because I adore Hawks and I hate endeavor (the man and his actions, not the way he's written), but I can't imagine them in a romantic relationship. How could Hawks give his trust and love to the exact same profile as his father? How could they live together without hawks remembering the abuse? I think that even enji himself wouldn't trust his own reactions and feelings, hunted by the past. "The past never dies", and it's true for everyone in this story.

Look how similar they are. Honestly I don't really understand horikoshi on this one because if he wanted to give enji a loyal sidekick, then why give Hawks an abusive father?

Or if horikoshi wanted to give us grumpy x playful duo, then do it with dabihawks? They had so much potential to be our favorite bickering duo, and their drama would've been so good if they both knew each other before touya's death, became close during hawks undercover mission and then went through a heartbreaking breakup during touya's reveal.

(look at them they could've been soo good as a grumpy x playful duo aah)

Instead, we got Hawks indirectly supporting the same abuse he went through and the destruction of dabihawks' potential with the biggest absence of interactions ever after the first war.

(Also I want to add that I respect everyone's opinion and I don't hate endhawks shippers at all! It's just my point of view on the ship, everyone is free to ship whoever they want if that stays legal 🙏)

Maybe I'm going too far into the analysis (someone stop me please I'm talking too much-), but I really think that endhawks couldn't work, for hawks as much as for enji. Now the interesting thing to ask would be : would dabihawks actually work in a romantic relationship? I guess we'll never know.

[buttercupshands]

Chapter 419 Analysis or "How to make allies not pawns" a helpful guide from League of Villains (part 2)

This is now a second part of Tomura character analysis.

With chapter 419 being probably our last time seeing Tomura for a while, since we need to learn what happened with Aizawa now is time to remember that not only bad things exist it Tomura's life.

Warning of spoilers to the whole manga to the point of chapter 419! All of the warnings from My Villain Academy side of manga are applicable

So like... mentions of death, killing other people, manipulation, emotional abuse and many more!

This is Part 2 - See here for Part 1 of this depressing mess

With AFO being so sure that he knows better and actually controlled every single part of Tenko's life creating a Symbol of Fear without any redeeming qualities or even hope for saving after he destroys him. There's one thing that AFO still doesn't understand about Tomura and never did - and that's his allies, or the League of Villains that he created.

Even Kurogiri, being a Nomu who's views do not stray from what AFO thought was important didn't exactly understand what did Tomura think about his allies quick to assume that he thought of them as pawns all the was back in the Training Camp arc. With Tomura making game examples to explain the situation, he still didn't think of LoV as just pawns on a desk, like AFO does.

At the time of USJ arc there weren't many people Tomura called this, which could make you wonder how much it was just AFO's plan rather than Tomura's with him never worrying about those other villains yet getting so worked up over losing Nomu not only because he was strong enough to defend him from All-Might, but treating his defeat as something that must be avenged.

And that was long before Stain even entered the picture, the first of three people who greatly affected Tomura's view of his own motives alongside AFO's manipulation of literally everything else.

Tomura was terrified of fighting All-Might seconds before this and yet as this goes on it's becoming more noticeable - Tomura doesn't care for his own fear or worries as long as he's fighting for someone else's good. Not so different from how Izuku is ready to disregard himself for the sake of others, resulting in many injuries and being so close to dying so many times.

It never was a secret that Tomura is highly dependent on others to keep himself from losing confidence, or even will to fight, getting either too anxious to continue without anyone's reassurance.

And while AFO's "help" was mostly given only with some kind of lesson as we saw in "Tomura Shigaraki: Origin", with AFO literally sitting there, saying how Tenko is weak for not killing but showing some restrain instead suffering himself, never actually helping or comforting him. Only offering what he deemed nessesary for his own plan of making Tenko kill those thugs not caring that he's feeling sick from those hands.

But in USJ it's not AFO who's there with Tomura, it's Kurogiri, who was shown to still have some care that Shirakumo had that even Aizawa and Mic couldn't argue that it's similar to how Shirakumo couldn't just leave a kitten in the rain. No matter the responsibility that it would bring with taking a little one in.

A helpless little kitten that didn't get the help it needs from anyone else. Sounds way too familiar.

This never was a direct order from AFO other than he needs to "tend and protect" for Tomura, which can mean anything from just looking out when Tomura's sick, or protect him from any tread like someone trying to kill him.

Not helping him getting over his anxiety to fight or helping him and guiding him to do better as a leader of the League calming him if it got out of control. Which is somewhat opposite to the way AFO deals with Decay and Tomura's temper - letting him destroy anything even the hands that he gave him, just offering new ones when he succeedes and never really caring for his pawns, he can always get new ones.

And surely not asking if Tomura's well the first thing while talking to Heroes.

Which then leads us back to how Tomura never viewed anyone that he chose as pawns calling them his allies, with the word '仲間' which can even be translated as friends in needed context, but usually used as comrade or ally when Tomura says it. And the same thing is usually translated as "friend" when used by Twice.

In any case Tomura never once doubted his allies since he saw them as reliable, even if his first meeting with Toga and Dabi went so wrong that Kurogiri had to stop them from killing each other.

Up to the point of Training Camp AFO describes as him teaching Tomura to be independent which was at that point too far from the truth than he thought. If Tomura begging for AFO to leave with them is any indicator he actually was even less independent after All-Might almost caught them, making him doubt his own worth as a leader. Even if AFO's defeat finally let him think and wonder about himself and his past.

AFO believed that Tomura just knowing how to recruit people would suddenly make him great at using those new "pawns" which was proven wrong by Overhaul no so long after that. Showing how Tomura believed the same thing AFO did as well, fully trusting his judgement of anything including himself, all the while parroting what AFO says without fully understanding what it means.

Only after losing both Magne and Mr. Compress arm does Tomura slowly start making progress in becoming someone more than AFO tells him to do. Even if as we see in part 1 it used Decay as the ground to make it stable since he believed it was his quirk. And yet.

Even if Tomura didn't simply instruct his allies how to choose who to recruit, he never blamed them for it. On the opposite, when Twice was hard on himself after bringing Overhaul to them Tomura just looked at them for the first time without a hand on his face, or even on himself at all, showing how he trusts them as much as he would trust himself and believes that they can do it.

Taking off hands of his family would mean not relying on the conflicting feelings that they bring into the picture, something AFO would very much dissaprove, since he was now like an equal to everyone in LoV instead of being above them. He

And with this instead of making them blindly trust his decisions and following him from fear or adoration like people had been following AFO or Overhaul, he instead was an equal to them both in failure and victory that wasn't even all that guaranteed yet.

Each one of them had their own somewhat selfish goal that just seemed like they were just using each other without any worry being each other's pawns. Or maybe that's just how AFO would see them.

Yet it doesn't explain why did Toga care for Twice's trauma response of not having his mask on, since he already did his part and all that they both needed to do was done. But LoV was never about following orders or giving them, expecting for the pawns to follow without question. It was about a leader of the group that would stand up for his allies while allowing them full freedom, except when they needed to also accept that something is needed to be done for their own sake.

Like following Overhaul for a while all for cutting off his hands leaving him with nothing. Did that sound like something reasonable to do? No! They literally lost their chance at having sushi instead of just living at some abadoned building all the while occasionally searching for money or food, stealing and killing just to survive all while Tomura was just... waiting.

Nothing was really stable at the start of what we call My Villain Academia and yet no one from the LoV left while their state was... bad at the very least. No matter how AFO was teaching Tomura he was still left mostly waiting for something to happen rather than doing something to change the situation himself.

Sure, Tomura now was a famous leader of League of Villains that suddenly needed to be stopped rather that underestimated like before. But that was in the future, now LoV was laying low on funds and slowly Tomura showing his face became the norm, with him usually never wearing hands around LoV.

And with Tomura becoming more and more comfortable around LoV, the LoV itself was becoming more like a place that had one core value that accepted anything else added without anyone wondering about the past of others, like Compress said. Just some selfish people, who still followed their own needs first.

And yet somehow Toga, who joined just because she loved Stain and disliked how life was too hard found her place in the LoV alongside Twice who just needed to be trusted and trust in return. If Tomura only followed what AFO deemed to be the best way to lead no one would actually feel like they're accepted in the LoV as much as they were.

Goal or no goal Tomura succeeded even without having the whole world at the palm of his hands by just never pressing anyone to actually follow him - if they wanted to they could've just left here and there, but since they chose to follow he did what he thought was the obvious best - let his allies do what they wanted.

Which was okay for someone like Toga or Dabi who were either already comfortable by just being allowed to be themselves or being free to plan their own things for their own goals.

But not exactly that for Spinner. Who was instead literally searching for someone to show him what to do, not so different from Tomura, who still only followed whatever 'his Sensei' deemed worthy for him to look into, like letting Kurogiri go find unknown "power" that AFO left along with contact with Doctor.

And while Spinner was not fine with still being hollow even while following Tomura pretending that it's the same thing as following Stain... all it took for him to look differently at how exactly was Tomura thinking was the last real "barrier" that there was - Tomura basically spilling his whole backstory and motivations mostly for LoV to listen to, since Doctor was just testing Tomura's will all according to AFO's plan.

And after that it didn't took too long for Spinner to now follow Tomura, even if it was still not the time to really see the 'warped horizon that was waiting for them'. And yet in times where Tomura still showed some doubt over his decisions - that one old trait of his showing up like it was always at the back of his head not so different from USJ, only thing changing that Tomura got better and better at not letting his emotions control him so easily.

Since the price of that would literally be lifes of his allies.

And neither that or using their emotions to his own benefit was ever in his plans, contrast to AFO manipulating Tomura to do just that. Letting his emotions consume him completely just for his own goal and for his own sake. But as a person who was so familiar with this Tomura still was adamant at NOT allowing something like this to happen to his friends allies.

Effectively creating a bond between all six of them, including Toya that in the end kept them together until the very final arc, with Spinner keeping what Tomura would've thought and with him waking up and calling Machia to get LoV first and foremost Spinner did understand their's leader wishes, as well as Twice's who literally died for his friends.

With all that happening in the War arc the moment AFO returned with both being in control of Tomura's body and just abadoned anything that Tomura would care for like leaving Mr. Compress and Machia behind just to punish him for not getting OFA or not even caring to show any actual respect for Tomura's wishes. Instead showing how little he actually cared for anything but his own good.

But while AFO made so many pawns that he could change like gloves at any given moment, threating them and manipulating them with his power and quirks, Tomura only had 6 allies who stayed after AFO was caught and who were willing to die just to live the life they wanted.

And AFO couldn't give them that.

Even if Decay isn't Tenko's quirk and even if he has so much guilt for killing without it being a little bit justified by it...

LoV still followed him as a person who allowed them to live as they please and so what they want, not some all-powerfull overlord but an ally and a leader who had his flaws and fallings.

[roshambo05]

Spoilers for MHA Season 6

Okay I just. I need to talk about this for a sec.

So as someone who dyes their hair frequently, that shit does not come out in a single wash. That shit stays in. And depending on the color, even after most of it is out, it stains. So I am gonna call BULLSHIT on this motherfucker.

That is NOT HOW HAIR DYE WORKS AND YOU KNOW IT, MY GOOD SIR. A single water bottle isn't gonna do shit. Which means this dramatic bitch went and bleached his hair, dyed it white again, and put in tEMPORARY WATER-SOLUBLE BLACK DYE just for the purpose of this reveal. This motherfucker.

AND. And. Let's not forget that the PLF didn't know the heroes would be attacking. So this MOTHERFUCKING DRAMATIC ASS PIECE OF SHIT has had a daily routine of putting in temporary black dye and shoving a water bottle in his pocket every morning presumably since he got that DNA test for the SOUL PURPOSE of being a dramatic little FUCK and having this big reveal once he found the right moment.

Dabi. Touya. Mr. McNugget. YOU FUCKING DRAMA QUEEN.

"Ugh I'm thirsty."

"Dabi you've had a water bottle in your pocket this whole time."

"Um, excuse you, but that is for the ✨performance✨."

[todorokistheories]

Endeavor Is One Of My Favorite Characters

I don't agree with his redemption from a viewer standpoint but heres the thing no one seems to realize.

It's really realistic.

tw: discussion of abuse, toxic masculinity, it's the todorokis what do you expect

I can't count how many middle aged men I've seen realize that what they were told about being a man their entire life was false. They never learned to mature, sit with their feelings, and all they were left with was this anger they never learned how to control.

Now let me make this clear. I am IN NO WAY defending his actions.

Think of those older men you know who are still misogynistic, prideful, greedy. They all think they're better than everyone else because if they don't, they have nothing.

Fathers, uncles, grandfathers, even brothers who were just too proud to sit with the fact that all they've done is hurt have a breaking point. Sometimes that point comes when they're on their deathbed.

Or, like Bakugou he was taught by the ppl around him that he was what everyone wanted to be.

Difference is... he grew up. Endeavor didn't.

He had the great success of his 20s, a loving wife who was bought specially for him, the public's awe, and his first ever prodigy who was going to be even more special than him. He was in the best position he'd ever be in his whole life.

That's why All Might's success messed with him so much.

He was at the highest point of his life and career and he STILL wasn't good enough to become number one.

For a man who only has his pride, that's a huge ego crusher. Unlike bakugou he never sat with this. He became obsessed, deciding that if he couldn't be the best then he'd train his kids so that they were. That way he was still worth something. Because all of his worth was tied to his success.

It didn't matter what stood in his way, because he had two choices: succeed, or admit to himself that he was a failure.

For men who bought into toxic masculinity, yeah that wasn't an option.

And then his worst failure happened. Touya burned.

He died and suddenly those voices that told Enji that he was a failure grew loud enough for him to lash out at everyone who might even hint that they agree. Unfortunately, Rei was in the forefront of that. Every comment about their children turned into a criticism that his ego couldn't handle. It was a personal attack.

And then his second failure happened. Shouto burned.

Suddenly, the shame was too much to handle. So, he sent away the person who would constantly remind him of his inadequacies: Rei. Sent her away to never see the light of day again because he couldn't face it.

He locked everything away and threw away the key, shutting down Shouto verbally and physically just so that he didn't have to think about what he's done. Because he's special, remember? He's better than everyone. He is worth something because he's special.

Then Touya, who he shoved all of this generational trauma onto, turned out to be alive. Not only is he alive, he's the antithesis of what Enji fought his whole life to be.

Suddenly, he couldn't hide anymore. The whole world knew he was a fraud. He's forced to face the jealousy, the embarrassment, the shame, and the feeling of worthlessness that he ruined his life to run away from in the first place.

His career, gone. Image, gone. Youth, gone. His life is over and all he is left with is the shards of a family he broke years ago.

So he embraces it. He accepts the blame for the first time in his life.

And it changes for the better. He can't undo it. He can't fix what he hurt. And he can't truly repair anything. But he can try and that's worth something even if he's not.

This is a scenario that happens daily. This is something that happens in real life. And no one is expected to forgive these people for the harm they've caused. But understanding it is the first step to not repeating it. So yeah, I fucking hate Endeavor but goddamn he's well written.

Horikoshi wrote something very accurate to the experiences thousands of people have and I appreciate that. It's needed in media. There's many things he's done with the Todoroki family that I do not agree with, but the premise of Endeavor's redemption is one that rings true.

[masochist-marmot]

Just finished watching MHA season 7

I am not okay. I am in shambles. A shallow husk of a human being. I have exhausted all my emotions and have nothing left to give. I'm sitting right there in the middle of charred earth and ash with tears frozen on my face. I might need a hero to sacrifice themselves to stitch my destroyed heart back together.

The level of character writing in this series is amazing. I stand by my (probably controversial) take that there are some issues with pacing and setup/payoff, though I haven't read the manga so I can't tell how much of that is an issue with the adaptation. But what the show does excel at is portraying a large cast of characters with deep and diverse motivations, and it somehow manages to build on them in a deliberate, believable manner. (Let me piss off another fandom real quick: JJK could never.)

I was spoiled on the Dabi reveal before I started watching the show. In fact, that spoiler got me interested in watching it in the first place. I picked up on the tiny hints that were sprinkled in from very early on and was interested to see how they pull the reveal off. I was a little disappointed with how one-note Dabi was for the entire time up until that point, and the reveal itself was far less effective without the intended shock value. I almost wrote it off as missed potential. However, the seeds that were sown were not in Dabi himself, but the Todoroki family dynamic. Once we get to the flashbacks and eventually the grand emotional showdown, we have already gone through a character arc with Shouto, Endeavor and the rest of the family, and we have seen how All For One grooms vulnerable youth to his cause. In the present, Dabi is only fueled by hatred and revenge. In the past, we see a sad little boy who is raised to believe that his value comes from the strength of his quirk, and who is then told he can't use it (thus stripping him of his value). He's practically abandoned as a failed project, and Endeavor's misguided attempts at discouraging him by distancing himself instead of showing him he's got value beyond his strength and usefulness drives poor Touya even further along his doomed path. And this is incredibly fertile soil for All For One's grooming. It's heartbreaking. The reason Dabi is so one-note is that there's nothing else left in him. He's too far gone to be saved. We can bring the entire Todoroki family together to finally see his cries for help and acknowledgment, but it's simply too late. Sometimes it's just not possible to bring the "black sheep" of the family back from the edge of self-destruction. God, it's too real, and devastating, and narratively satisfying.

And then we have our misguided pansexual queen Himiko Toga. I was pretty neutral on Toga for most of the series, because the yandere archetype never really appeals to me. Turns out there's a lot more to her than that. For her entire childhood, she was ostracised and derided for being different and gross. I see an interesting mix of autism-coding/queercoding in how her innate ways to approach love and affection are seen as wrong and abnormal, and how she fails to conform to social norms because nobody's explaining them to her. I do like how neither allegory is one-to-one, and how it's internally consistent with how the world and Toga as a character work. Her childhood environment stunts her emotional development and leaves her with a black-and-white thinking, where you are either good or evil, cute or gross, completely accepted or completely rejected... a hero or a villain (boy, the society desperately needs reconstruction). It leaves her desperate for deep connections, and the deepest connection she can get is from becoming the target of her affection with her quirk. It's a selfish kind of affection that literally weakens the other party. At the same time, she's sabotaging her relationships by intentionally showing her ugly side and looking for signs of rejection to enforce her expectation of not being accepted for who she is. As someone who's struggled with (and, through therapy, learned to manage) traits of borderline personality disorder, I can relate to her chaotic approach to interpersonal relationships and powerful but volatile emotions. When both Deku and Uraraka very reasonably condemn her actions as a villain, she takes that as a total and complete rejection of her as a person. This is an especially heavy blow to her after the loss of Twice has brought her entire worldview into question. Then, when Uraraka reflects on this more and tries to reach out to her again, she's in full defence mode. She can't risk being rejected again, so she lashes out to keep Uraraka at an arm's length. Yet despite all the maliciousness, despite being stabbed, Uraraka fights to get through to Toga and show her that she sees the beauty in her and is willing to accept her in spite of her flaws. And then, after being properly seen and accepted by someone she loves, she's able to commit a purely selfless act of affection by giving away her own blood to keep Uraraka alive. Blood is her love language, and for once she's able to give instead of taking. It's hauntingly beautiful, and it's heartbreaking, and it closes her character arc wonderfully. (Mind you, I think their relationship would have been toxic and codependent, but I don't care. I'll be a Togachako truther from this moment until the day I die.)

This season alone had a lot of effective (and also some less effective) character moments that I won't touch on because this post is already too long and rambling. I especially have a lot more thoughts about best boi Kacchan, but I'll leave that for another day.

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Toga & Dabi Relationship;

Lets take a moment for Toga and Dabi’s relationship. Unlike the fanon idea, canon Toga-Dabi wasnt as good as now and they actually disliked each others a lot and this is why i find it interesting the later interaction they have.

At the start when they met Shigaraki, despite the fact that both of them had interest in Stain, it was completely opposite reasons. Toga for her own type, Dabi for his ideals. Toga who always honest to herself and Dabi who who always deny his feelings. You would think they are complete opposite but actually, they are similar in core. Because in the end, both of them was driven by personal feelings. Toga for idea of love and Dabi for revenge.

Shigaraki, Dabi, Toga. They had that ‘i will kill you’ moment when they met but at least, their relationship with Shigaraki changed, not much later. Every decision Shigaraki made, the fact that he made league, that he gave a speech about messed up society, and later actually become a leader, accept them, treat them with care and respect, even later to save them etc etc. With every move he made, Shigaraki eventually won their heart one by one or all together. He gained Dabi’s respect and Toga’s care.

But that wasnt the case between Toga and Dabi, really. Just because they are in same group doesnt mean that they are super close, after all. He constantly look down her and call her crazy. To him, she is just crazy and thats it. And Toga, of course, dislikes anyone who doesnt accept her.

Toga vs Dabi Smash Bonus;

-Before the match-

Toga: Dabi, you are not cute.

Dabi: Yeah, I agree.

-Toga wins-

Toga: I wanna go home. You’re annoying.

-Before the match-  

Dabi: You’ve got a few screws loose, y’know.

Toga: Uh-huh, and that’s fine!

-Dabi wins-

Dabi: See? We don’t need you.

Source.

Of course,  even their dynamic change since legaue is home for them. Toga tease him and worry about his wounds while Dabi seems to be a little softer to her than before. (He is smilling, unlike before). Like sibling dynamic.

I always thought that Toga and Dabi are the ‘selfish’ ones in the group when it comes to working together or doing things for the sake of group because they both always focus on doing their own things more than doing thigns for group. Compare this to other members;

Shigaraki is literally leader and despite the fact that he doesnt have to, he does his best to making their wishes come true. Twice is too who always live for the sake of group. Even Mr compress, he also has his own goal too but still, he become the caretaker of the bunch of children in a sense. Spinner isnt really much a caretaker of group but still, he follows his leader and after Twice’s death, he is the one who try to put the group together. I think, compared to them, Toga and Dabi didnt realize that how lucky they are to have their this weird family, until they loose it. After Shigaraki is gone (and Mr Compress too), and especially after Twice’s death.

I think thats when Toga and Dabi’s relationship truly changed because Dabi changed his perspective of her. The way she reacts to Twice’s death like that shows that she cared, that she is not just selfish crazy girl.

And later, Dabi most likely saw Toga’s home. How she was forgotten, abandonded, just like him. Maybe first time he ever really related to her and he reach out to her, comforting him by burning her house, giving Twice’s blood and telling her to smile. Thats also the first time he calls her with her name, i think. Look at Toga’s warm smile, how happy she is.

And we later see in official picture that Toga imitates Dabi’s frankeinstein move and Dabi softly smile. Note; Toga only imitate people she loves.

And later, they work together, to not let heroes forget about sad man’s parade. Of course MVP is Spinner and he did a lot but i love their character developments too. We also see Dabi’s first time saying ‘we’, not just ‘him’ because its not just about him anymore. Its about them and what society did to them.

Personally, i never thought their interaction and characters would improve this much, i am so proud of them. I might’ve made similar meta about their relationship before but anyway, i wanted to talk about them again because i feel like they grow up a lot since then.

[eternalera]

gonna be honest... this one has been spinning in my head for a while! so imma do an analysis of touya/dabi (I might switch between the two but its whatever) and just how much his arc makes sense for him and plays into his character. also his trauma and how it affected him. SO! with that being said this will kinda be ramblely and not very coherent but fuck it we ball.

also i have NOT read the manga so uh.... yeah-

(p.s this is REALLY LONG-)

so basically I'm gonna be going over about why it makes sense that touya is a villain and why he chose this path specifically over the one that most people would do, especially after his incident which would be go back to your family and talk it out or whatever. (which he didnt do because hes a totally EDGELORD- excuse me-).

One thing that's been essential about touya's character, from the very beginning (talking childhood) is that he always wanted his father's attention. From a young age touya was raised as practically an only child because lets be honest with him inheriting fire and with endeavors whole 'i want an ice quirk so i dont overheat stuff' he likely payed a lot more attention to touya rather than fuyumi.

touya took in this affection from a young age and seeing how apparently endeavor only got worse as the years went by the view that touya had of his father was likely in somewhat of a good light, glad to be receiving attention from someone in his life that he clearly looked up to at the time. although this did have side effects like his disrespect for his mother (which he also probably gained from being around his father so often).

remember that touya most likely gained a lot of attention from his father, that and his standards from a young age with no one to tell him 'hey this is wrong that hes doing this' as he didn't really care for his mother and her opinion because of guess who? his father. (this is where shoto and him differ as shoto clearly looked up to his mother, who was probably a lot more in his life than she was in touya's).

so the moment when its revealed that 'hey your quirk hurts you, dont use it' is the moment where everything shatters, not just for endeavor but for touya. imagine being told your whole life that you were gonna do something to make someone you looked up to so proud only to find out that you couldn't because of your bodies limits, something thats out of your control.

not only this, but touya likely would've been fine if endeavor had still shown some interest in him. but that wasn't the case. he moved on. touya already had these expectations built in his head that he's going to surpass All Might like his father wanted, so why isn't his father paying attention to him anymore? he probably figured out 'its because my quirk hurts me' so his response was 'its fine i'll push through the hurt and make him proud and show him that i can still do what he wants. so he'll have to pay attention to me again'

touya was so obviously raised on endeavors attention so when its ripped away all that remains in his is 'oh ive done something wrong, how can i fix it?' so once again he keeps training his quirk and hurting himself. not to mention that once again its clear how he looked up to his father

not to mention that he knew what endeavor wanted. he wanted an ice and fire quirk, so when endeavor kept having more and more children it was probably only worsening his dread and anxiety. 'what if this one had the quirk?' 'would dad still love me?' 'would he still look at me?'

he sees this as his father trying to get rid of him, as his father not having enough time for him in a way, which given how much attention he was raised on by his father, is absolutely devastating. SO- lets get to the main course shall we?

TOUYA'S BREAK DOWN!! PART ONE-

at this moment i cant remember the exactly what happened but its where basically endeavors like 'STOP WITH YOUR QUIRK DAMMIT' and touya cant understand that. because if he stops then endeavor will stop looking at him. to touya he has to disobey endeavor, thats the only way all of his attention doesnt go to shoto who clearly has the right quirk his father wants with his split hair because quirks or whatever-

(also fuyumi's face is hilarious in the second picture but moving on-)

in this scene he out right says 'look at me endeavor'. the kid who has been so basically pumped full of attention and praise has had enough of his father trying to constantly trying to seemingly get rid of him and throw him to the side. he wants his father's attention more than anything now, whether its endeavor yelling at him or praising him he just wants to be noticed by someone he's looked up to all of his life.

so he attacks shoto, no quite honestly i don't think that he was trying to kill shoto in this scene, as much as he was trying to scare endeavor/harm him. but thats just a personal opinion. so back to everything else i guess-

NOW- BREAK DOWN PART TWO!!!

in this he very excitedly tells endeavor to come to sekoto peak. endeavor wonders why and checks under the boys shirt only to find burns. and tried to tell him off but touya doesn't listen. he instead says that its really cool and that he might be able to get to shoto's level not only that but its also evident that what his father told him from a young age is still present in his mind as below he claims that he doesn't think that he'd lose to All Might, meaning even after when Endeavor's long thrown touya's training away forgetting about the boy ever being able to surpass All Might touya did not. most likely thinking about how this is his chance to impress his father.

now with these next few lines it reveals a few things, touya doesnt think that endeavors happy with him. he thinks that hes not glad that his own son exists and reasonable it makes him sad as he starts tearing up. but keep in mind, he looks up to endeavor at this point and if the person he looks up to isn't happy with his existence at this point than what the hell is he doing. now this is totally different from before as he just wanted attention, good or bad as he yknow... tried to hurt/kill his younger brother- this is him actively wanting attention. and likely... this is the most healthy he's been mentally for a while.

he went from. this person who i look up to expects something from me, to uh oh i upset them what am i doing wrong? to why arent they paying attention anymore? if theyre not then im gonna harm someone to make them look at me for once. But now his mindset is more 'okay well maybe im not trying hard enough, if i try harder than he'll like me more'

once again... probably his healthiest mindset, that and we see the excitement on his face about this new move or power or whatever. he's genuinely excited over this and the fact that his father just blows it off is gonna take a toll on him. as what did he do wrong again? well we know he did nothing but he doesn't know that. after all the person he looked up to must have a reason right?

he starts crying and with that everything burns. he can't control it and he ends up hurting himself in the process. covering his body in burns as he turns into basically what we see today.

but why didn't he go back? it would make sense right? well probably because of a few reasons.

how could he go back? what would they say? endeavor would be mad at him and plus he wanted to prove himself to his father on that peak. yet it seemed he only did the opposite

why didn't endeavor come? thats all he wanted, all he ever wanted so why didnt he? he no longer holds endeavor up to his high standard anymore, he's angry at him. and rightfully so

would they want him back? maybe natsuo would be there for him but what about the others? would they care for him?

of course the last one might be pushing it but you get the point. the second one probably affected him the most though and is why he became dabi, training his quirk so that he may surpass his father as a petty victory, trying to say 'i was right all along i can surpass you and all might and shoto'. its his last attempt at making his father look his way and he wants to do it right.

he wanted it to be something that his father couldnt just shove off hence the video and him taping it. one last time he wanted his father to look at him and be reminded of everything that had happened with him. and it worked, the todoroki's do go over what happened with touya and saw went went wrong, that being that they neglected him after building him up so high only to say that he was useless after all (its all endeavors doing but... whatever-).

so yeah those are basically my thoughts on it- might be slightly inaccurate but yknow what... this is getting long and i dont wanna type anymore :D

[darkonekrisrewrite]

theres so much nuance in Dabi's character that people don't notice

There is.

A lot of nuance that appears in layers and guarded (but still obvious in intent) actions.

A lot of people are able to look and see past the surface level (reading) of Dabi 👍 but unfortunately a lot of other people take everything at face value and can't really analyze or understand the deeper meaning of characters like him.

Like an example being:

If a character says they don't like or care about "x" even though what they wind up doing heavily implies that they do like and care for "x", some people will still say that the character doesn't like or care about "x".

Because it was what the character stated, so it must be true.

Not really understanding that just because something was stated by the character, your supposed to look at the character as a whole to really see what they meant and why they said it.

[zippidi-dooda]

Now that I have met that type of kid in real life, I understand the main characters that always get everyone's attention/adoration (doesn't even have to be romantically) like Midoriya.

Midoriya's that kid everyone thinks is adorable, maybe not by looks at first (they call him "the plain looking one") but his character.

He's awkward but good at what he does (they notice his improvements and attention to detail during training/when in action)

He's naturally nice so he won't often be taken seriously if he tries acting another way and gets everyone's attention if he seems upset.

He doesn't brag and sees the good in others, supports them, tries to draw it out, all while being unaware he does it.

It's not just a "main character needs a harem" type of detail.

His character is a very rare and well fleshed out one, others would be just naturally attracted to it.

I would hope everyone gets to meet a Midoriya in their life

[dahvampire]

I'll start this thing with the premise that I've only seen BNHA's anime, so I'm at the end of the events of season 6 and I don't know anything else from the manga. So, that's also a spoiler alert for anyone who isn't at my same point.

God I really, really despise Enji Todoroki.

Endeavor is a great hero, don't get me wrong: always on point, efficient with criminals, saves people and yada yada yada. Public interactions aren't his forte but anyone has his weaknesses, so it's fine.

But boy, boy if he's shitty. A shitty father, a shitty husband, a shitty person in general.

How can you beat your six year old son to the point of making him sick just because you're salty you're not at the same level of someone else? How can you try to erase your first son's suicide attempt that he did because you first indoctrinated him about being the n°1 hero since he was four and then discarded him at eleven because he couldn't keep up with your expectations? Enji told Touya his life was defined only by being a hero, and then he snutched the dream he put in his son's head from him when he was still a child. No wonders Touya didn't exactly take it well, his father just said he's actually worthless because of something Touya can't even control - the affinity that his body has for cold temperature.

And okay, maybe Enji wanted to keep him safe avoiding him to train, but the adult approached the situation wrongly from the start, since Touya's birth, for fuck's sake.

When Touya became useless, Enji focused his fixation on Shouto, feeding sibling rivalry to Touya and making him easily jealous of him because his younger brother became their father's focus of attention - and love, in his mind - .

Let's put the kids beside for a second.

Enji married Rei for her quirk, that's common knowledge, he even admitted it. After he finished using her for his convenience and after probably treating her just like he treated Shouto and Touya, he pushed her 'til the breaking point and then accused her of being unstable while the only reason for her unstableness has always been his presence in her life. We had a snippet of Rei before she married Enji, and she was a perfectly fine woman. Maybe reserved, but fine.

Then, Enji happened. She lost her rights on her body, the man married her just to breed a valuable heir after all. She lost her rights as a mother, because I think Enji hasn't ever allowed her to interfere with Touya and Shouto's education and lives in general, just think about how Touya treated her when she found out he was still training in secret. She lost her connections with the world, too, I guess, because I don't think she would be free to go and come at her will, considering how Enji thinks about his family members as his properties.

Then, she slowly started to lose her mind to the point of disfiguring her own child because his eye reminded her too much of the man she was forced to live with even though she clearly dreaded him, and she lost it. She crumbled under the pressure of what Enji did to her and to her children - that I guess she never actively tried to protect, maybe to save herself from the man's wrath, maybe because scared of aggravating things - and Enji took her out of the picture without even try to comprehend why she did what she did.

I'm not saying that she isn't guilty about the whole situation, I'm saying I can see her redemption arc. I can understand it. Now she's free of the shackles that held her down the whole time she was with Enji, and she wants to try and do something to make amends. I can see it, I can understand it.

What I cannot understand is the thing they're trying to do with Enji's redemption arc.

Like, are you kidding me?

He's an abuser, a manipulative man who hides himself behind a façade of ideals and stoicism, a person who looked his own kid in the eye at the age of eleven and told him he was not enough for his father and should get lost with his other two siblings, casted aside since birth because they too didn't meet his expectations.

Fuyumi is still hanging by the threads of hope that someday they will be an happy and functional family, but those threads started strangling her a long time ago, and I think she didn't even realized it yet.

And Touya.

God, Touya. He attempted suicide by the age of fourteen, being it consciously or not. Maybe he actually did it on purpose, maybe his emotions took the upper hand on him, but his mind couldn't accept the fact that his father's love was so conditional. Touya tried his best to satisfy the man, and Enji never acknowledged him beside to berate him for training without his permission. And Touya still tried, tried, tried to be seen by the man that put himself at the center of his child's universe since Touya was young enough to comprehend what heroes were.

No wonders Touya broke that night on Sekoto Peak, no wonder he died.

No wonder Dabi was born.

He's the incarnation of Touya's resentment after all, of the hate he feels towards Enji, towards the society that idolatries the hero without looking at the man, without understand that the monsters people fear aren't always the criminals and the villains on the streets, but hide themselves in plain sight, under a spotlight.

Touya was fourteen, he had all his life in front of him, and he still chose to trust the man he called father to care for him even without the incentive of his quirk, and his trust, his prayers fell on deaf ears.

I don't know yet what happened after Sekoto Peak, I guess what remained of Touya was find by someone - maybe Shigaraki's doctor himself -, put back together and brought back from the dead. And Touya didn't know what to do with the time that someone else borrowed him, so he set himself on the path of revenge to find some sort of justice for himself.

I'm not saying that Dabi's modus operandi is right. He's a murderer and his ways are almost always extreme, and his mind clearly isn't in the right place, but I can still understand him, his motives.

An hypothetical reception arc.

Before everything else he's a victim, after all, just like Rei.

Dabi wants to avenge what's remaining of Touya, of his inner child, and the only way he finds fitting is to take Enji's life to compensate the life Enji took from him.

Enji, on the other hand, doesn't deserve it.

He has seen that his ways were wrong only when everything came crushing down on him, and he cried on his hospital bed about being a terrible person after all the years he spent without questioning even one single time his actions.

How many times he made Touya cry? And Shouto? And Rei, Natsuo, Fuyumi? And his own fans, for God's sake? How many people he deluded without realising it, without even thinking it was an actual chance of him doing wrong?

Nope. Sorry, nope, I'm not fine with that. I don't think he deserves the pardon of all the victims of his actions, or surely he doesn't deserve to be forgiven so fast.

I don't approve the death of characters only because I don't like them, I know that's not how it works and it's simply stupid wanting someone dead just because, but fuck if i want him dead. Like, actually dead. Maybe it's because what he represents hit a little too close to home, maybe it's because I can't see a possible way to actually redeem him without stomping again on everyone he hurt, maybe I just can't stand him, I don't know.

I don't even know if I actually want Dabi to be still alive, at this point. I really like him, his character, his dramatics, but he's a dead man walking, literally. Maybe death would put an end to his suffering, maybe confronting Enji would be so cathartic to actually help him to recover the parts of his mind that he lost in the flames, in the walls of the house he grew up in, among the discouragements and the conditioned love he almost drown into.

The only thing I know is that I really hope Dabi lives long enough to see Enji's ashes scattering to the ground, being them the ashes of Endeavor's legacy or the ashes of his own body, cremated by Dabi himself.

[valenteal]

I love how complex the dynamics of the Todoroki family are, like mha messed up a lot of things but the Todorokis are so well thought out. They exist independently from one another in a way that most fiction fails to capture. Each of the kids had very different relationships and experiences with their parents and it’s affected them all differently.

People love to say Shouto and Touya are similar but I think they are extremely different because of one detail: Touya knew what a happy family felt like. Before his quirk hurt him his parents adored him and were seemingly happy with each other. He was his father’s greatest achievement and Enji built him up, told him his whole life that he was going to be the best, trained him, praised him. He knew happiness, even if it coincided with physical abuse and unreasonable expectations to put on a child. Overnight he went from being abused but not neglected to neglected but not abused. He continued trying to train himself because for him pain and injury was already a part of his life, he didn’t see a reason for a few burns to stop him because he had probably been told that they shouldn’t by Enji before the truth of his quirk came to light. Touya’s feelings towards Enji are very different from Shouto’s because of this.

Shouto doesn’t seek revenge against his father the same way Touya does, not because Touya suffered more at his hands or because Shouto’s an inherently kind person, but because he never loved Enji. He was an abusive piece of shit for Shouto’s whole life. Touya hates Endeavor because he used to love him. He lives for revenge, his life and goals revolve around bringing down his father, proving himself and hurting the man who hurt him. Shouto would be happy to never even think of Endeavor again. Doesn’t want to see him, doesn’t want anyone to think of his father when the see him, doesn’t want anything at all to do with him. He’s indifferent to Enji’s existence as long as it isn’t immediately impacting him.

Touya and Shouto suffered similar abuse from their father but that key difference of ever feeling loved is what makes them so different. In the end Enji’s love and affection is the reason Touya went crazy, losing something is much harder than never having it in the first place. If Enji hadn’t just stopped spending time with Touya it would’ve been different. If he’d made the effort to really get Touya to understand and not expect overnight results… well it would’ve been a very different story.

[grimalkinmessor]

I think Hawks has a skewed idea of what abuse is and how it generally should affect those in power. As someone who was abused himself, not only by his own parents but further by the Hero Commission, you'd think he would know that what Endeavor did to his family is bad. And I see a lot of people like "He just looks up to Endeavor, he knows Endeavor is trying to change"—

But I don't think Hawks does know that.

Endeavor hasn't specifically said anything like that to him, and Dabi and Shoto also sure as hell aren't singing his praises, so I have to wonder if Hawks just... doesn't register what Endeavor has done as abuse. As something bad. Hawks knows that other people are angry about it, that other people see it as something bad—but I don't think he views it that way himself.

This comes back to the fact that Hawks himself is abused. Granted, he doesn't act like it. The differences eclipse the similarities between Hawks and someone like Dabi, because from what we've seen, Hawks seems to harbor absolutely NO bitterness towards his family or the HPSC at all. Which is fucking weird.

The Hero Commission bought a child from his family, trained him vigorously from a young age, and monitor what he says and does closely. Hawks even says in S5E3, "That's mean, making it sound like a choice when we all know it's not". They took Hawks' desire to be a hero and turned it into a chore. And though Hawks has expressed a desire to slow down and take things at his own pace, he also doesn't seem willing to go as far as one would think for it.

He doesn't see the Commission as something to revamp or take down, and whether this is because Hawks is content to use them for his own goal or because he's just painfully optimistic like Midoriya is remains to be seen.

For some reason, Hawks is not being written as a victim OR a mindless soldier, even though Horokoshi has canonically dropped hints that the Commission turned Hawks into a child soldier. He didn't even go to school and yet he doesn't have any will to go against the Commission. He doesn't think for himself. He recognizes the people around him and their need for help, but doesn't seem to realize he needs help.

I wonder if that will be a plot point in the coming arc. I wonder if it will come up when he and Dabi are pitted against one another again on the same battlefield as Endeavor.

[k0ff1n]

The arsonist's analysis (Touya or however you want to call him)

It's just a really bad written character analysis.

Also I've noticed that there are some errors and sorry but pls I don't have time to correct them all.

Ok so over the least few days I kind of went back and started (re-started?) consuming content related to my hero academia, and I didn't really know what to expect since it had probably been something like 5 years  that I didn't interact with anything that revolved around it. 

Like the not so changed person that I am I decided to see how the anime and manga were doing, and not because I really like the story and all that, like sure many characters are great and all nothing to say about them, but the real reason was the same as many years ago, to see how that fucker (I mean Touya) was and if at that point he was still alive. 

All this brings me to one question: why is it that so many people have such different versions of the character in their head? I'm not saying that they are wrong or anything, everyone views things differently and all that, but at the same time it kind of makes me wonder why is it that the mental image of the character that I've found is basically like this:

So yeah it seems strange to me, especially when in the manga there are like so many parts in which we can see how he acts, and I know that some of them would vary based on the situation and the people around him  ecc ecc, but the general way in which the character acts is still one. Now I know that I'm probably gonna offend someone, I'm pretty sure of that, but pls tell me how do you see that guy and think: omg poor him he feels so insicure. 

1: The (100%) insicure and shy version (wet cat edition) 

I've seen many people, most of them on ao3 actually, that see the guy as insicure, as someone that feels like his body isn't made to be seen and that if he ever had a partner the sarcastic version of him would basically come out as some kind of defence mechanism. I mean the last part? Mmmmmh I kinda get what they mean but all the rest? Pls no. Like I can see what you are trying to say but it probably wouldn't be like that. 

It would make sense if he was insecure, it would but it doesn't completely and we can see that in the way he acted as a child when he went from scared and yes, insecure, to the "I prefer to say something mean that cuts deep so I won't have to talk to you again". The entire (even if short) dialogue between him and his mother when he went out to train by himself explains that: he surely still wants his father to see him, we have that for all of the duration of the manga, but at the same time what once was only sadness became anger, making him focus on something else and not only about how bad he had to feel because of " being a failure in the eyes of his father".

"But he still felt as if he wasn't enough"

I know that that's what you are thinking and luckily I also know that but plss give me a minute to try and explain all that but with a simple image because I'm bad at words, especially since english isn't even my first language. 

So yeah let's say that 50% of the insicure part of him is still there, I won't say stupid shit and make up that he feels nice now, we know he doesn't, so let's skip to the shy part. I'm gonna cover this quickly: we clearly see that he has never been shy since he was little, he seemed like he felt better alone but that doesn't mean he's shy. His father asked him to make friends but not because he was shy and didn't have them, it was only to not have him in his way. He basically said that because of how the other kids were he didn't want to be friends with them, so yeah he's probably more of an introvert but with more energy that it seemed (as he became older I mean). I have to say that it would also make sense if when he was little he was the type of kid that stayed by himself, mostly because he didn't feel like the other kids would be interested in him but only in the connection he had with his father. All this would make sense if we picture him as the kind of kid that would say those type of phrases that are difficult to answer to, just like the past example of the discussion he had with his mother.

Another point that I'd like to focus on is when people (not many but I've seen that as I've previously said) say that he would also be insecure not about himself in general but mostly about his body. And now I really am trying to think where I'm the way the character acts would you think that. He's wearing loose shirts that make a good part of him visible since his first appearances and when fighting in the last part he's basically shirtless. When he broadcasts the thing where he explains how he's Touya he 𝘪𝘴 shirtless, and I know that it was probably to make people see how far his father made his life a living hell, but if he really hated his body that much I don't think he would even be able to show himself to so many people. The only option left is that at this point he doesn't really care that much about how he looks, yes maybe he doesn't always like it, but it's not that everyone always likes ones look, we all know that there are days where you can't even watch your reflection in the mirror and others where you actually think that maybe you aren't so bad (if you don't I'm actually sorry but I get you lol). 

Here are some examples:

2: The mean guy that only cares about your usefulness (and body) 

This is the version that I've seen for the longest time, the one that makes people think something like "damn he's mean to me so he's hot and since he actually is attractive (and not because he's mean but shhh) then that means that it's fine if he acts in shitty ways".

Like pls no pt.2. Yeah he uses sarcasm, yeah if the situation calls for it he might say bad things but that doesn't mean that on a regular basis he would insult you and all that. I've seen many people that seem to consider him as the guy that like hits on you to have an easy fuck and then if you somehow have his number and idk text him he would barely answer. Like if we are talking on a "you met at a bar you don't know each other at all and the bathroom stall looked too inviting to not be in there together" then yes, he would probably act like that, but in the case that you do know each other and you already text him and ya know, you both care at least a little bit, then tell me why would he do that. 

Like I know he is probably shit at expressing emotions, I'm not denying that. But if he cared about you and you explained that something, anything, was making you feel bad then he would probably (we always have to consider the situation first but pls take this as the most general one) try to make you feel better, even if only a little. Would he succeed? No, I'm not one to lie to myself. Would he opt for arson in case the problem could be solved with that? Yes, yes he would. 

So all in all I don't see why he would act like that, considering the fact that he wasn't raised (manners wise) in a bad way and a part of that would still be in his head. The only time we see him say something "mean" is literally when he's dying and all the other things are basically sarcasm, said in a kind of offensive way, maybe, but not something that would cut too deep. 

3: The actual boyfriend material (no clickbait) 

So the other works that I've found were probably the best version of him. He wasn't perfect, but he also wasn't so fucking mean for no reason, he didn't 100% love himself but he also didn't cry himself to sleep because of that and all in all he actually seemed to care about the (presumably) only person he opened himself to. Unfortunately I've only found this version of him in works that seem to be kind of an au, not one that is much different from the canon one, but the whole story still isn't the same (maybe I'm wrong and sorry if I don't remember every piece perfectly). In case you haven't read them one of the best works are probably these:

-Casual (this is the first part but pls read all three)

-Peaches (you're the cream of the crop)

Like in these he actually loves you, he still is the bitch that we all love and he still isn't perfect, which is nice since he never was. Yes he feels strange to know that someone cares about him but it's not his whole personality. 

4: The final version (burnt nugget edition) 

After all this I'd say that if we consider all his backstory the realest version of him (as in partner, boyfriend, however you want to call that) would be one where there's trust between you two, even if it took 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 and he still isn't too sure about it because as I said, he still is 25% at least insicure about his general self, but that doesn't mean that he makes the relationship fail. Also he strucks me as the type to like steal those useless books on how to improve yourself and all that shit to at least try to be enough for you. He would be a lovesick fool, yes, but one that uses sarcasm in every phrase and would call you stupid names just to see how long it would take for you to try and punch him. He would still do illegal things, habits like stealing don't just go away after your life depended on it, but he would improve. By improve I mean that he would also steal stuff you said you liked. 

Now these are probably more like headcanons and I know that but he seems like the type of guy to genuinely care about you and your opinions. If you say that a certain nail polish would look good on him be sure that you'll find it on the bathroom counter the next morning while he's there waiting for you to put it on him. Also imagine how good it would be if you went on dates together and he had a way to get gatchas for free without breaking the machine so you have free stuff without getting caught. Now idk but I think that he would have a nice alcohol tolerance too, probably because is body is damaged and if you ever ask about his opinion on a certain piercing and if it would look on you he would always say that you'd look hot with everything (he would also be already searching for a needle to pierce you but ssshhh). All in all 85% boyfriend material, the last 15% is when he wakes up feeling like shit and remembers the past but doesn't want to talk about it, opting for shutting himself away for the entire day. 

Also coming back to the looks point: his body is ruined, yes. Does he hate it? Nah. Look we know if he was irl he would probably be already dead so in fiction, in a universe where he still somehow survived in a body that was supposed to break down after a month max he probably doesn't hate it that much because it was the only thing that kept him and his hatred alive. Also idk about y'all but if my body was burnt and they told me that I would basically never feel that much pain I would too cover myself with staples and piercings  because like, we all know that those little pieces of metal don't do shit at keeping his body together and he probably decided to put those there as decorations. So the last and really meaningful phrase with which I want you to leave this post is: if you had a chance like him to customize  yourself and look like that, wouldn't you want to like have sex with yourself of something because I'm sure as hell that if he could he would.

[suugiart]

No, I'm not going to sleep on this. This won't leave my fricking mind alone even after we went over this in its entirety in the server.

Creepy ass bitch ass mf dumbass weirdo stalker brother lover ew-eth get in the vault you mf

At least I have the confirmation that he is indeed doing all of this just to get Yoichi back into his clutch and I've been writing him accurately.

But still.

Go touch some grass and dirt and trees and mud and stone and worms and air and

Just get out of your head, my guy, it's been like 200 years 💀 You really didn't need to go after every single user and then adopt a kid who looks vaguely like your brother, and then just... Obsess over anyone with white hair.

Idk about you guys, but I'm seeing a bit of a parallel between how AFO talks to Yoichi and Touya. Trying to get them to join him, calling them pitiful, as if trying to make them feel weak and rely on him.

It just feels different from how he talks to his subordinates; debtors. He talks to Yoichi and Touya like they need him. It's the other way around with his debtors.

Of course, these people willingly accepted the quirk exchange.

Sorry to turn this into a mini-analysis, but I have these three people (AFO, Yoichi, Touya) on my mind 24/7. I constantly think about their relationships and the parallels.