#hpsc meta

[arceus-insanity]

A Moral Scapegoat for who?

All For One is a shit character, he is presented as a massive threat, but we never see him get a win, similar to the dissonance between the All Might we see and the context in universe.

And in the end, he becomes a moral scapegoat... for the heroes.

What is a moral scapegoat?

A moral scapegoat is (usually) a character used to excuse the actions of other characters or a system. Character A may have done XYZ but Character B was the one manipulating them and/ or is so much worse, so we can excuse A's actions. Or helping defeat B acts as pence for their past actions. Etc. And to a degree it makes sense, getting people to believe a character has changed and should now be considered good both by the characters and the audience is hard. So having some bigger bad to blame takes the pressure off the desired character(s).

While the term is typically only brought up negatively, like the use of Mary&Gary Sues, there are good ones. Commander Zhao in Avatar of the Last Airbender is an early moral scapegoat, used to say yeah Prince Zuko may suck, but there are a lot worse out there. My Little Pony Friendship is Magic has a moral scapegoat, right in the pilot, Nightmare Moon for Princess Luna, sure Nightmare came from Luna but it is presented as a curse, something that was cured, fixed. The Hobbit uses Dragon Sickness as a way to both corrupt and excuse King Thorin's actions when they have retaken the mountain; he is not in his right mind, and shouldn't be considered solely responsible for his actions

In certain ways, Pink Diamond (due to the audience learning her arc in reverse, when it has such an effect on the plot of Steven Universe) is a scapegoat for the remaining Diamonds, even though it makes a lot less sense for her to be the scapegoat when considering the actual sequence of events in universe. And while most people don't think Pink/Rose's actions excuse the Diamonds (especially White), she does work with Spinel. Another rocky moral scapegoat is Horad Prime from She-ra & The Princesses of Power, he is the big bad of the show and is meant to be a scapegoat primarily for Horadak who was the previous big bad, and mildly a scapegoat for Catra. The big problems with his sacrificial slaughter is that there isn't enough time to really settle in that this is the true big bad, and both Horadak and Catra's issues were both way more on screen and show up well before we ever hear of Hoard Prime, with them operating separately.

And All For One is a worst example of all of them (that I mentioned)

For starters the more we saw of him the less ultimate intimidating evil he portrayed, nor did we get a satisfying he was actually pretty pathetic. Really trying to have your cake and eat it too. Looking back he's very cartoonishly evil, but lacks the presence, he's boring. I've seen many good portrayals of him in the fandom, but canon is just boring. His background of miscellaneous evil deeds, don't really go into how they were evil, just that Yoichi (& AFO) clearly believes them to be, both come across as very childish to me, seeing the world as black & white.

He lacks the moral complexity of complex villains (like Magneto), meant to be an ambitiously evil man, whose evil for the sack of being evil. But he lacks the presence found in Classic evil Disney characters like Jafar, Clayton, and Ursala. In a way he's like King Magnifico (from Wish, the only recent hated animated Disney movie, that I agree deserves to be shat on), trying to have both but failing to capture either

In the present, he has little involvement on screen, and once he's out of the picture, Shigaraki (& the League) really bloom as villains and characters. The story could have had a slow realization (for Shigaraki, the League and the audience) that he was holding the League back, and that meant either he was nowhere near as competent as he was portrayed, or he wasn't actually helping Shigaraki, setting up for the body suit plan

But my biggest issue is who he's the sacrificial goat for.

And who is he the scapegoat for? The fucking Heroes and their shit-ass society, including the H PSC crap.

The ending reveal that he was behind everything that happened to Tenko, from him being born, his name, the kids he chose to play with, the issues with his quirk, and only having him; fails. It doesn't work! Mainly because of what that scene ignored the walk, and the complicity of the family. It ignored that the family were directly ignoring that Tenko was being abused, trying to placate him after the fact. It ignores that Kotaro Shimura chose to follow his friends advice, over his wife too. It ignores that even though AFO would have killed anyone who tried to help Tenko, no one tried. It also doesn't make sense either, normal kids are shit actors, not to mention Tenko was the one to reach out to them, not the other way around. And with the sheer amount of heroes, and cops, and regular citizens, how was it literally no one tried to help him, it's not AFO.

What else does it ignore, oh yeah, Tenko isn't truly unique in having a tragic backstory. Sure he was planning on taking advantage of the Endeavor's awful legacy plan, but we never see that AFO has done anything before kidnapping Touya. It's implied that he helped stroked Heteromorphic discrimination for his own gain, but that doesn't change that Spinner had pesticides thrown in his face, by 'innocent' civilians, that Shoji was mutilated as a child, for saving a child, by 'innocent' civilians, that the Ordinary Lady was attacked and denied shelter in the middle of an active warzone, by 'innocent' civilians. Himiko's abuse was enabled and furthered by quirk counselling, we don't even get a he was secretly to blame all along for this one. The commission has assassins, ignore. The homeless have to resort to villainy to survive, ignore. Once someone is considered out they are abused by this society until they have to lash out, ignore. The big bad was taken down, so nothing has to be done about these systemic issues, cause the heroes say so

There's a pattern, he was only able to do this, because the society he was in was already doing it.

And AFO being a moral scapegoat could of worked.

IF the Hero Public Safety Commission was similarly a scapegoat.

To begin, AFO should have been the scapegoat for the League, and the villains as a whole. The heroes would instead have the HPSC as their scapegoat.

Hawks should not have been made president of the totally different PSC, not only is he a known murderer, he doesn't regret it, he has never criticized the Commission's (or any other hero's) actions. If he's not going to see the issues, and hypocrisy right in front of him, he shouldn't have any role at all in it, and a very small one if he does recognize them. Giving this to Hawks screams nothing is actually going to be fixed, any changes are going to be for the worse.

Going into the final Deku vs Shigaraki battle, as well as the dreamscape crap, I had hope in this series. I thought that Deku would finally be forced to have the long over reality check of the Villains are right, what are you going to do about it. So instead of hyper-focusing on one tiny moment that with any and I do mean any additional context would show that it's not just this tiny shit moment. Rather than murdering Tomura for not abandoning the League (the same reason Hawks murdered Twice), have Deku convince Tomura that they can make a better society. That Deku's peaceful(ish) method is what's better for the League we have seen he loves.

From there they could have come up with a deal where either (these are simplified) everyone is held accountable for their past actions (as in the villains, Endeavor, Hawks, the Commission, everyone responsible for the sky coffin, etc). Or the clock is restarted, and everyone is hence forth held to the same standard. The villains are around to make sure the actual issues to their problems are dealt with, hint; Himiko's problem wasn't lack of access to quirk counselling. Happy satisfying ending for everyone

[fan-dweeb]

(large spoiler) Ever think that quirkless Keigo is just gonna keep going with his model career?? Like he's not a pro hero anymore, so he just keeps the modeling gig?? I wanna know your thoughts on this lmao

Hii!! Small disclaimer, I’m actually not caught up with the anime, let alone the manga, at all, so most of what I say is based on snippets I get from fanfics and meta lmao

Hmmm this is really interesting. Short answer: I think with the way that Keigo has finally been set free (symbolically with losing his quirk, and literally from the HPSC (I think)), he’ll probably stop everything else related to Hawk’s job as well.

Slightly longer answer:

From Horikoshi’s perspective, Keigo has already served his original purpose as a character so it wouldn’t really make a difference either way canonically. If he does intend to have those ‘5 years from now’ snapshot, I feel like Keigo will be overseas travelling or something rather than modelling though, if just to be consistent with his theme of being set free. If not as a personal choice, ‘do it for the plot’ lmao. I do mean this quite literally though, because now he’s got so much potential for the ‘self-discovery slice-of-life’.

,,,, but I personally think this is a bit of a cop out choice for Keigo’s future.

I’m not gonna be the analyst who says ‘he never had a chance to make his own choices’ because technically he did. This doesn’t mean he made a good one, but if you step away from popularised fanon, he did agree to going with the HPSC because he wants to be a Hero and not because of his mum. This isn’t so much that I haven’t ‘read between the lines’, but that he never once looked at his mum or made reference to what would happen to his mum if he followed the HPSC. Unless ‘reading between the lines’ include fabricating entire dialogues under an assumption that Hawks was suppressing his memories, I think it’s safer to assume he just couldn’t care less loll. But that’s the thing; his whole life revolved around Heroes, whether as Keigo or as Hawks. Now that it’s been brutally and suddenly ripped out of his hands and NOT in the form of death like he was probably expecting? He has to find something else to do, whether it be modelling or travelling or being a librarian or whatever,,,,, that is, if we make an assumption that he can’t keep being a Hero.

Look, we know he wants to help people. Some might even say he’s kind (that might’ve been drilled out of it by HPSC’s cold blooded training, but hey, maybe it’s just buried really, really deep inside). If we look at this not from a story writing perspective but purely from the character Keigo’s perspective (a bit counter intuitive, I know but bear with me), I honestly think at some point in the far future he might try to pursue a career in Heroism/ the police dpt / the fire dpt (hAH irony)/ some kind of physically-inclined job that traditionally seeks to help people. I think most people tend to stick to things that feel familiar with them even if it’s an unconscious decision.

So how does this link to whether he continues modelling? (because I’ve totally been building up to a point and not just going off on a tangent lmfao)

I think a lot of the fandom sees modelling as Evil, whether this be because of the horror stories of modelling in real life, because of an understanding of mutant quirk discrimination, wing kinks, and thinking Hawks definitely didn’t like being seen in that light, or because of some mixture of other reasons. And I think that’s true in the sense that it probably wasn’t what Keigo had in mind when he first signed up to being a Hero.

With that said, I’ve seen a particularly well written fanfic (I forgot which tbh) where Hawks is explaining the importance of modelling in promoting a sense of safety in civilians, especially for Heroes with anthromorphic quirks, outside of just gaining popularity. Which I think is a really fresh and extremely valid argument. As such, modelling could be a very nice supplement to him regaining popularity or at least, regain familiarity with both the general public but also his roots of inspiring confidence and safety if he decides to pursue any of the jobs I’ve mentioned above.

There is a counter argument, especially for Keigo being a Hero, that the quirkist ideas are so ingrained him (subconsciously or otherwise by the HPSC) that being a Hero again, or just doing any job at all without a quirk probably never crossed his mind. And if he wanted to keep up with helping people, there are a multitude of other jobs he could do. (Which modelling still doesn’t quite fit but ehh maybe as encouragement to/ empowerment of quirkless people?). But, I think this is a rather naive and simplistic analysis of Hawk’s and Keigo’s character of a person too deep into fanon.

If there’s one thing Hawks fans can agree on, please let it be that he’s really freaking complex.

He’s seen the worst and the best of society. He’d just about experienced every facet of society possible as a person in the bnha universe besides being an Average Joe. And now, he’s about to head into the small undiscovered area of quirklessness. (We as readers get a bit of this from Izuku’s POV, but for Keigo this is about as novel as it gets). Speaking as a writer, whether modelling is part of that experience remains entirely on what you want to explore with Keigo as a character.

Lmk what you guys think as well!! (in comments/ tags/ dm/ asks, all are ok :D )

(note: apologies for the barely organised word vomit and non-answer at the end, this was typed impulsively from my phone lmao)

[cooners]

Sigh, I wonder, why there’s so many people that very superficially parallel some characters with Hawks? And most times, on those parallel they add things that don’t exist or even actively disputed by canon on Hawks’s characteristic?

 They are both also extremely fanatically loyal to that organization and do everything possible to ensure that organizations survival, in part because they feel they have to repay being taken in.

“Extremely fanatically loyal” Hawks to HPSC :

^^ actively spying on them and has no remorse for that.

^^disregard their blatant order and harming his chance on the mission.

“Do everything possible to ensure that organizations survival” Hawks to HPSC :

^^ expressed his relief upon HPSC’s downfall, calling them as chains that shackle them down. The minute they were ineffective, he dipped out for good and never spent a single moment thinking about them. Compared to Chisaki who still think about the Boss even in jail, Hawks laughably has no loyalty bone toward HPSC at all.

- Hawks doesn’t actively abuse children so he has that over overhaul, but he does drag them onto battlefields that are basically an active warzone where the villains are fighting to kill. Which means that much like Overhaul, he tends to treat children the way he was treated: Ie, weaponizing them.

Ha, if only Hawks has slightest bit desire to weaponize children, Tokoyami will not be ghosted as badly as he was. Let alone dragging them to battlefield, Hawks is one of the heroes who really, REALLY didn’t want to accept the kids’ help, kicking and screaming (metaphorically). Hawks expressed blatant doubt and reluctance about the kids’ role in the battle.

That’s because Hawks prefers to take it all by himself, and promised to solve all problems as fast as possibly, albeit that goal is overly ambitious and impossible.

Only when Tokoyami came to his life and he saw how the kids are stronger and more resilient than he thought he changed his mind and start thinking the kids as participant in the whole heroism things.

Then he was utterly sold after Uraraka’s speech, saw how Class 1-A connected with each other and use that connection to connect with civilian and reassure them, something that Hawks can’t do because of his background and his underlying perception of connection as burden (based on his thought about Tomie). 

But still, he didn’t want the kids to be deployed on massive danger that his less feathered ass himself dipped into, that is AFO.

Like hell, Tokoyami had to yell at him to let the kid participate at all.

And as he finally accepted the kids’ help, he thought himself as pathetic for that. It’s obvious that he didn’t like it at all and would not be willing if the circumstances didn’t force him.

Still, he always put himself on the first line of danger to protect the young ones, does his all for the sake of the kids.

Willingly becomes meat-shield and pushes his body to defend the kids, as broken and battered as he has.

And this guy still belittled himself for not being able to do more.

Like hell, comparing Chisaki who badly used Eri and his underlings as disposable pawns, with Hawks who practically saw the kids as someone who should just sit on a peaceful serenity throne that he built with all he has and beyond, is just... wrong.

So, what we get here is Chisaki hates quirks, and he likely hates his own quirk possibly because of how he was treated in childhood because of it. He was definitely exploited by the same man who took him in due to that quirk, considering the fact he’s a yakuza enforcer and has probably been committing violent crime since childhood. Once again, a Hawks trait, to be born with a prodigious quirk and yet find that quirk incredibly filthy.

Too many assumption on Chisaki to push similarity with Hawks, while we all know that he is a germaphobe who sees everyone and their quirks as dirty, thus uses gloves for everything except for using his quirk. No hesitation or disgust at all for him to remove his gloves before using his quirk. Nor any indication that he saw himself and quirk as dirty, rather he showed symptom that he saw only himself as the clean one. As for Hawks, he badly saw himself as dirty, apparently resigned by that, but desperately hoped that he and his dirtiness meant something, have any purpose even just a little bit. 

That’s very different and outright 180° contradictory with Chisaki’s trait so I am not sure why that was included as similarity between them, as far as making a completely new assumption about Chisaki. Like, if Horikoshi wanna show that he saw his own quirk as dirty, in this panel Chisaki will be shown looking at his own hands, not whatever is the content of the book (probably about other people’s recorded quirk, because as a child Chisaki has no reason to have people make a book about his quirk). 

Btw still about that panel, if Chisaki was supposed to be as isolated as Hawks, Shigaraki, and Shoto, there should not be multiple box of toys besides him, or even just a lock in the door. If you wanna portray isolated kids with no access to fun things like other kids, you can portray a kid doing something not kid-like with only imposing adults and no other kids on sight,

Or a kid restrained from doing kid-like activities by adults.

As for Chisaki, we’ve only shown his kid self reading a book in a room with many toys in sight and unlocked door, while Chisaki touch or even see none of that. So Chisaki’s upbringing is never implied to be similar with Hawks and other isolated kids in MHA. 

Villainous trait, villainous trait, you say but Hawks does the same thing basically maneuvering everyone on the battlefield in the first and second wars the way Chisaki does, he just does it for an entirely different goal. He’s even willing to personally betray and mutilate someone who trusted him in order to achieve that goal.

Ah, now I see the problem. You equate how Hawks treated Twice with how Hawks treated everyone. To be fair, almost all Hawks’ interaction with other people (Tokoyami, Endeavor, Best Jeanist, Deku) started with him using them on one way or another. But, heck, Hawks never treats people like Chisaki treated Eri and his underlings. As superficial as his initial purpose, Hawks is shown eventually cared and invented on those he came close and their well-being. Even Twice, on some degree. Problem is, Twice and Hawks’ relationship has massive bridge and wall, that is they’re on opposite side of the conflict, which is the reason that relationship existed at all and also the reason that relationship ended. As sweet as Hawks/Twice friendship portrayed (which is shown for like one and half chapter compared to massive panels of Hawks’ inner monologue about preventing massive destruction that PLF about to unleashed so it’s clear as a day which one Hawks will prioritize), that friendship was doomed from the start because it was based on lie that is Hawks’ role as a spy to betray and manipulate opposite side. Yes, that’s what being a spy is. Like, I am not gonna talk about good vs bad morality with that act because people obviously have different opinion about that (I’ve seen enough), but it’s an unambiguous fact that all spies have betrayal and manipulation on their forte. Granted, there is the passive kind of spy who pretend to be janitor or underling on lowest level so they have no relationship with opposite side, no betrayal and/or manipulation shenanigans, and just report what they see, but that was the role that the widely knowns No.2 Hawks can never get. 

In short, the similarity between Hawks and Chisaki is the bird theme, I’ll give you that. 

You've written about Overhaul in the past. Any tips on writing him accurately?

Overhaul's actually one of the most complex villains in the story that's not a part of the league of villains, however since he's pretty unlikable and has mostly negative and unsavory character traits he's not discussed as often. However when it comes to writing him, there's a lot of rich material to mine here.

So my starting point whenever trying to write a character and make them as in-character as possible, is to figure out what the author intended for them in story. What role are they supposed to play? What function do they serve? In my opinion, Chisaki was an attempt by Horikoshi to twist a lot of traditional "good guy" traits into a villainous character that the audience would despise.

One of my biggest ways of doing this is to compare them to other characters, especially haracters who aren't given as much screentime because there are lots of cogs in a story and often the purpose of one character is to highlight a personality trait in another character because they share it.

Now I'm going to explain Chisaki's characterization by comparing them to another character, but here's the curveball here: I'm not going to use Shigaraki. Because I can explain it real quick with Shigaraki, the purpose of Chisaki is to show how Shigaraki's leadership differs from Chisaki because Shigaraki sees his allies as more than just pawns to be utilized. However, to come to understand why Chisaki wholeheartedly believes that everyone exists to be used thoroughly to further his own ends, we're going to look at a different character.

Hawks and Chisaki are both bird-themed. They are both orphans who were taken in by an organization at a young age, Chisaki by the Yakuza and Hawks by the hero commission. They are both also extremely fanatically loyal to that organization and do everything possible to ensure that organizations survival, in part because they feel they have to repay being taken in.

They are both characters who were introduced to the league of villains, trusted by Twice, only to turn around and kill a member of the league. For Hawks it was literally Twice himself he killed. They were also initially presented as cooperating with the league, but when they reveal their true colors it shows how they view people in stark contrast to how the league views and treats it's own members. Which like, Hawks does not come out looking pretty in the comparison.

Hawks doesn't actively abuse children so he has that over overhaul, but he does drag them onto battlefields that are basically an active warzone where the villains are fighting to kill. Which means that much like Overhaul, he tends to treat children the way he was treated: Ie, weaponizing them.

If you are familiar with Hawks mindset, "I am a pawn, so therefore everyone else is a pawn that I can maneuver around to obtain my objective" then it's easy to extrapolate the same onto Chisaki. Hawks talks about dirtying his hands, Chisaki is literally a germaphobe who has panic attacks if he gets blood on his hands (I'm exaggerating only slightly).

Chisaki is introduced with a deep psychological need to stay clean and avoid everything he considers filth, dirty, or diseased a rampant paranoia of his which spreads to his hatred of quirks. We never get the reason why Chisaki hates quirks, besides the fact that the advent of heroes threatened his home in the Yakuza, but if we're going to extrapolate here it's probably due to the grotesque nature of his own quirk. He literally targets Eri because their quirks are similiar and he finds hers to be incredibly disgusting, and justifies his abuse of her with that logic.

My pet theory is that he was either abandoned by his parents because of hsi quirk, or that he was taken in by AFO at some point and deliberately targeted by his quirk like Toya was (people have pointed out that the wallpaper here and the children playing int he background resemble the house that Toya was taken to).

So, what we get here is Chisaki hates quirks, and he likely hates his own quirk possibly because of how he was treated in childhood because of it. He was definitely exploited by the same man who took him in due to that quirk, considering the fact he's a yakuza enforcer and has probably been committing violent crime since childhood. Once again, a Hawks trait, to be born with a prodigious quirk and yet find that quirk incredibly filthy.

Hawks and Chisaki are a study in how characters can be painted to have "good guy" and "bad guy" traits, when really they're only being painted that way because of circumstances or surroudnings. Hawks in a lot of ways acts the same as Chisaki, he just happens to be manipulating people for the heroes, not to restore the Yakuza. Chisaki values no one, everyone including his childhood friend, the people he takes in off the streets, are pawns to be utilized by the best of their aiblity. He even tries to teach Shigaraki to play Shogi (Shigaraki not knowing how to play probably signifying how much he views people differently).

So, Chisaki's willing to utilize everyone around him in service of a goal, the worth they have is to how he can use them to benefit his larger goal in mind and he's got no qualms about it.

Villainous trait, villainous trait, you say but Hawks does the same thing basically maneuvering everyone on the battlefield in the first and second wars the way Chisaki does, he just does it for an entirely different goal. He's even willing to personally betray and mutilate someone who trusted him in order to achieve that goal. Chisaki's point of no return is him completely massacring Nemoto in order to fuse with him when the tables started to turn against him in his fight against the hero. Hawks stabs Twice in the back in order to prevent him from using his quirk to stop the raid. In both cases it's a personal betrayal of someone who was good to them and trusted them.

You could say Hawks did it for the greater good, but for CHisaki who only knows his Yakzua way of life he's doing it for the survival of the only life he knows. Which is why I say they're so similiar, Hawks isn't really protecting innocent people, he's protecting his role in the hero commission. He takes what he was raised to do to the extreme.

Which is another central character trait they share, Chisaki's biggest defect is that he never, ever gives up on anything ever. A traditionally heroic trait especially in the shonen manga where the character never gives up ever, but his determination is twisted into something hideous because he has no qualms about making sacrifices to get what he wants.

Since childhood Chisaki has done absolutely everything to protect the family's dignity, to the point where it was disturbing. He never changes his mind, never backs down, even when the man he's trying to repay goes against him, but it comes from the same source as Hawks.

He believes he owes the person who took him in, and does everything he does in service of that debt.

So the last part is Chisaki's germophobia himself. Now Chisaki is a man completely divorced from his own sense of guilt who doesn't really hesitate before making heinous actions, but I wouldn't say he feels nothing,the man's clearly not mentally well. If anything I'd say his own germophobia is a metaphor for the guilt and self-loathing he feels and chooses to ignore.

He usually has breakdowns shortly after using his quirk as well. He'll absolutely brutalize people and then have a breakdown about the blood that they've gotten on him. Which suggests he you know, probably does not enjoy bloodshed in any real way. You could even compare it to Shigaraki's statement that he always feels like there's a constant sickness no matter what he destroys, which is likely his repressed guilt that AFO played off as some kind of urge to destroy, or the way Shigarki carries his hands of his family on him so he'll never forget his own self-disgust at murdering them.

Chisaki is living completely divorced from his own sense of guilt, until he's not. Once you remove him from his position of power, when he's away from the mission and forced to sit in his prison cell in tartarus he's reduced to a shambling mess that just constantly apologizes over and over to his boss and begs for the chance to see him again.

Which means that Chisaki represses all of his emotions to perform a task, and when he si not performing a task or functioning in a role he falls to pieces, because he doesn't have any sort of life except for serving in the yakuza. He's even referred to as a "gangster without a heart" because he literally has nothing else and no identity.

Chisaki's gotta be a gangster and he'll even throw a coup and put his boss in a coma for fear of losing that place in the world, because what else is there for him?

He even hates being called by his real name, much like Hawks, so his central issue is really a lack of identity because he was raised in a fishbowl with no other place to belong in the real world. Except we saw Chisaki when he was taken out of his fishbowl, and all he did was flop around like a magikarp.

As for general guidelines on his voice:

The germaphobia is a constant thing with him. Don't put your shoes in my table. Don't breathe in my direction. Hey stop bleeding on me your blood is filthy.

He talks down to people in general. He's extremely condescending with Shigaraki right off the bat, and states to his face that the only worth that Shigaraki and the League will ever have is pawns to be used as a part of his plan.

He flips between being detached, and extreme anger. Basically he's able to act cold and detached when things are going his way, and when people resist his plans or manipulations he then switches to browbeating, bullying or just otherwise lashing out in anger. If the square peg won't fit in the round hole, then just hit it harder until it does. He's cold and calculating until his calculations fail then he just brute forces it.

He's generally pretty good at negging people, he's got Eri convinced that her quirk is disgusting and she's the source of the misfortune around her. He's also got a bunch of street rats incredibly loyal to him by convincing them they can literally do no better in life than being used as a part of his plan.

He also has a softer and more polite side that only comes out in front of the boss. This is his childish side too. When he's fighting Deku and has basically lost, he flashes back to his boss patting him on the head and thanking him for protecting the family's honor. He literally just craves validation from the closest thing he has to a father figure. He'll go to any lengths to get it.

In general Chisaki should be disturbingly inhuman too, not just in his actions, but in his rationale and how far he can go and how little he considers other people in the equation. Even his own childhood friend and fellow yakuza finds him to be offputting. His boss asks him point blank, "What are humans to you?"

Basically, he's creepy, weird, anti-social, uses everyone around him, and is also completely divorced from his own feelings and sense of guilt which lets him run roughshod over other people's feelings.

So, y'know. Hawks.

Except Hawks puts on a charming and likable personality, whereas Chisaki's personality is having no personality.

[codenamesazanka]

AFO+Shigaraki Tomura/Shimura Tenko Role Reversal AU

*

Terrorist Shimura Tenko, age 26, has been sentenced to death for his heinous crimes. Morning before he goes though, he's carted over to Central Hospital.

Little AFO, age 12, is brought before Shimura to give him five quirks - this will surely overload Shimura’s brain, but since he's about to be executed anyways, it doesn't really matter.

But right before the procedure starts, Central Hospital is attacked. It's the League of Villains, here to rescue their boss. As he marbles Shimura, Mr. Compress also ends up marbling AFO and taking him along.

Hours later, in a secret hideout, the League congrats themselves on a successful rescue mission, but wonders what to do about this weird kid they've kidnapped. They’ll have to act quick - Heroes and HPSC will come for them soon. The HPSC have to come for the kidnapped kid, because, the moment the League realized who the kid is, they know AFO as the central piece of HPSC's new direction for society.

*

Four years ago, the government made a paradigm changing announcement - they've gained the ability to take away quirks and will start doing so as part of criminal justice.

This is a great thing, as it solves the century-old question about what to do with Villains. Really Bad Villains will have their quirks taken away, and put into regular security prison. Mild Villains can exchange their quirks for a shorter sentence. Dangerous quirks can now be eliminated. Human rights will be improved. Society will be safer.

—At least, it will be, once the chaos the announcement created settles down. Because the remnants of the Meta Liberation Army straight up revolted, along with other groups and other people.

The League of Villains did not start with this upheaval - they were already active two years before the announcement, led by Shimura Tenko, as just particularly notorious Villains doing whatever they wanted, whether it was heists or killing heroes or feuding with other villain groups - but they have become embroiled into the fight through a loose alliance with the MLA, and due to the HPSC holding members of the League up as the reason why the new law was enacted in the first place.

The HPSC have kept very, very top secret the exact method they’re using to take away quirks. No one knows for sure whether it was a drug or surgery or implant. There was a rumor that it was a quirk that was doing this, but it was just a rumor—until now.

Though, the League didn’t expect that it would be a kid. So what will they do with him now?

*

For all nearly all twelve years of his life, AFO (and his younger twin brother) has been in care of the HPSC. This is the first time he's ever been kidnapped, is in real danger, but he knows exactly what to do:

Nothing.

In all honesty, AFO would rather destroy this 'League of Villains' - just a bunch of insignificant insects running around causes messes and ruining everything (like his day!) - and just go home using his own power. He doesn’t like being away from Yoichi; he still has schoolwork to finish; the new chapter of Captain Hero: New Ultra is out Monday; he’s got his life to get back to.

But AFO has been relentlessly counseled and drilled by the HPSC for this exact scenario: He is NOT allowed to use his quirk. No matter what happens, he is only to wait for rescue.

Not that using his quirks might help much. AFO has never been taught to fight, and besides his own ‘Give-and-Take’ quirk, he’s got only five other low-tier quirks he had only taken this morning that he’s never used. The HPSC won’t risk letting him keep the quirks, see, so the system they’ve come up with is this: the quirks taken from criminals are transferred immediately to a Villain scheduled for execution. (Given the explosion in criminal activity and revolt over the past four years, death row has just the right and regular numbers to supply.) They’ve even got a machine just for him, just for tracking his quirk(s), invented by the famous American scientists David Shield and Toshinori Yagi, so they know exactly what he takes in and lets out.

When AFO has just his own original quirk, it’s as good as no quirk.

The HPSC has to do this, because AFO is a born villain. They know it; he knows it, everyone who’s ever met him knows it. It’s just hard to describe otherwise a child who came into this world stealing everything within reach: his mother’s life, his twin brother’s health, and every person’s quirk he ever had come into physical contact with even as an infant - the homeless woman who rescued the twins from a decaying corpse, the police who later found them while investigating a dead body that was registered in the system with a quirk but autopsy had revealed zero quirk factors left, the doctors that examined the twin babies.

AFO has heard this story many times. He’s got a too-strong quirk that’s made him clinically diagnosed kleptomaniac with a Cluster B personality disorder. Quirk counseling, behavioral counseling, regular counseling, art therapy... He’s been handled extremely delicately and thoroughly his entire life.

And that’s…fine. That’s how the world works. That’s the price of power. It’s better than being dead in the grave with the mom he killed, or out there in the chaos, if the HSPC had never found them. AFO’s on the side that’s calling the shots and set to dictate the final reality of a post-Advent world - he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. One day, he’ll grow up and he’ll become part of the HPSC and he’ll get his rightful piece of the cake - really, they’ve let him have some of it already, when he first started taking quirks away for them five years ago (first year was trial year, before they went public).

His itch to use his quirk is scratched regularly. He got to keep Yoichi, who had once almost been adopted away. Being on his best behavior means he gets most of what he asks for. The worst AFO can say is that he’s bored - which is expected, his brain is wired differently after all.

All he has to do is stay calm, play nice with the League, and wait for Heroes to arrive. Someone will come save him soon enough.

Everything is in order.

*

But of course, this encounter with Shimura and the League will be the catalyst that will destroy that very order.

(In one universe, AFO tells Tenko he'll teach him how to take his rage and give it purpose.

In this universe, Shimura tells little AFO he'll teach him how to find his rage.)

[setokaibapetty]

Fic Friday 5 + 1 Roundup: Fake Relationships (ft. Dabihawks)

I was in the mood for some fake dating fics and lo and behold does the Dabi/Hawks 'ship call for lying even when Hawks isn't a spy that Dabi is debating the value of.

When the wolf is at your door (invite him to dinner) (AO3) - "When Fuyumi accidentally crashes a tense negotiation between Touya (aka: Pro Hero Dabi) and a handsome stranger (aka: Villain Hawks), she gets a mightily wrong impression about just what is going on between the two."

How to Fake-Date a Pro Hero: A Guide by Dabi and Hawks (AO3) - "Dabi's younger brother has got a new boyfriend and it pisses his father off to no end. Always ready for an opportunity to drive his father mental, Dabi decides to get a boyfriend too – someone whom Endeavour can't openly hate, but will hate him nonetheless. Hawks is under pressure to go undercover and finds shady part-time hero Dabi, who is rumoured to be working with villains. Seeing a chance to get the bigwigs off his back and cause a media stir, Hawks strikes a deal."

you're the song stuck in my head (and i don't ever want it to stop playing) (AO3) - "So I’m Takami Keigo, also known as Hawks, and—be my boyfriend.” ... "Not like for real,” Hawks hastens to add. “It’s just that—there’s a guy who won’t take no for an answer from me, and I need you to be my shield.”

it's just fanservice (not really) (AO3) - "Or Touya and Hawks go viral from an airport photo, and decide to promote their band and idol careers respectively by doing some fake fanservice with each other. But how fake is it really?"

big reputations (AO3) - "Hawks needs to come out, Dabi needs to promote his debut album, and they make an awful mess of this fake relationship thing."

Bonus: Blood Sport (AO3) - "Hawks works alone. It's what he's best at and what he prefers — other people have only ever slowed him down.

But after the media seizes on the success of an operation carried out by himself and the Cremation Hero 'Dabi', the HPSC decides to capitalise on the hype around the pair. What better way than sending their pet Pro to team up with the Number Two Hero's eldest son in order to root out the mysterious organisation known as the 'Meta-Liberation Army'?

Hawks agrees, admittedly intrigued by the prospect of learning more about the Todorokis. But nothing could have prepared him for the dark secrets lurking at the heart of that family, and the shadows it's cast over them all."

[deusvervewrites]

Ask Game: The MLA doesn’t go ballistic over the League trending, so they start their attempt at taking over Japan only during Izuku’s second year after the League has been defeated and AfO died an embarrassing death. As for the HPSC, they survive the MLA insurrection and install a fascist regime by Izuku’s third year.

I mean, this is basically my proposed MHA rewrite I did a while back; it's somewhere in my Meta tag

[thr0wnawayy]

I believe MHA suffers a reversal of what I call the "Mutant Fallacy".

In the world of Marvel, Mutants are (often) used as an allegory for an oppressed and discriminated group.

The problem comes in when you consider how dangerous Mutants are. Unlike actual groups, Mutants are by their very biology incredibly dangerous to your average person.

In one example: a teen boy's X-gene suddenly awakens and he becomes a literal anti-life bomb, killing everything within miles of himself. All beyond his control. Wolverine has to kill him to ensure things don't get out.

Mutans are so numerous and have the potential for so much destruction that it becomes understandable that people would want mutant powers to be regulated, because it would be insane to not do so.

MHA suffers the polar opposite of this issue. The quirkless are portrayed as weak and helpless because they lack a quirk, despite blatant evidence proving the contrary.

As you pointed out with your examples, quirks ≠ skill. A quirk is a crutch with in-universe and to Hori. Yet time and time again we see Hori's storytelling contradict itself.

One more example tp your point I would like to mention is the MLA:

Ironically, The MLA is as powerful as it is through the efforts of the Generals. Not because of their quirks but because of their careers.

The MLA has such a massive network that if they so chose to, Japan would be overrun.

Curious controls the media

Skeptic controls information

Trumpet controls political power

Genten controls Deika

Redestro controls both the MLA and carries the Support Gear industry on his back through Denerat. If he chose to close shop tomorrow then almost every hero is left suck on their own backsides.

They do have powerful quirks, but that's isn't what makes them powerful. It's who they are as people and personalities that makes them so dominant.

The MLA ideology itself is based on quirks, but that not why it's so popular. It's popular because of it's social aspect, the promise that quirks will be normalized, just another aspect of one's self.

Destro's whole crusade was to prevent the very society we see in MHA, one so driven by quirks that those on top can get away with anything because they are "strong".

To say someone without powers cannot become powerful is bullshit.

Strenght isn't power, not by itself.

Money, information and strength. These combined, are power.

You don't need powers to have power.

I think, the craziest thing to me, about how people genuinely believe you can't be a Quirkless Pro-Hero in MHA/BNHA, is that having a Quirk doesn't mean you're invulnerable?

Eraserhead's Quirk only allows him to stop other people's powers, but the fighting? Thats him. The giant jump he does over the stairs? The way he throws people around with his capture weapon?

Endeavor makes hot flames, how did that help when Hood the Nomu bit through his arm? We see that his skin cuts like everyone else's, he gets his scar right before that. Hawks stabbing him in the back to make him go faster? Embedded enough to give him speed but not enough to pierce right through him? He goes toe to toe with the Nomu in the Stain Arc, that's all normal strength!

Stain's Paralysis doesn't make him faster, how was he dodging Iida's speed? How were his reflexes so good he moved past AfO Izuku's strikes?

Mandalay's telepathy, how did that help her agility? Sir Nighteye's Foresight, did it make him strong enough to throw those weights? Did Mirio's Permeation make him stronger even when he lost it and was still beating Overhaul's face in? Rock Lock's stop-motion? Ragdoll's Search?

How did Thirteen's Quirk help when almost murdered? Shouldn't she, as someone with a very strong ability just be faster? Bakugo's Explosion did jack when his heart exploded, right? Why wasn't his body just sturdier? Or do they have normal bodies, like a Quirkless person would have?

[barid-bel-medar]

For Sticks and Stones, I am very curious to know the in-universe reasoning for the HPSC to choose Mt. Lady to teach at UA and for Mt. Lady to agree. I would think that the HPSC would choose a more experienced and reputable (and in their pocket) hero for the job, and that Mt. Lady would want to do fieldwork so soon after her debut to gain money and ranking. I would love to know their thought processes for these decisions.

She's got absolutely no connections to UA.

She's not a UA graduate, she doesn't closely work with UA graduates. If anything she's got a bit of a rivalry with a UA graduate (who happens to be one of Aizawa's best friends).

She's also easy to control because she needs two things; a steady income stream (like say, a teacher's paycheck) and the HPSC can offer to cover her insurance costs (which is canonically one of the reasons she's constantly in the red). Heroes pretty much work on commission and sponsorship, so a steady income stream is definitely helpful.

There's also no real sign teaching at UA really effects someones ability to do fieldwork. All of the teachers pretty clearly are still doing active fieldwork. Hell, Present Mic is juggling three jobs (active hero, English teacher, and radio host; man must not be sleeping at all and we've seen he's got bloodshot eyes under those sunglasses of his). So she'd still be able to create a reputation, and you can even spin her taking to the UA job as her 'being trusted to guide future heroes after what UA has done to them'.

Since she's not really in the HPSC's pockets, and thus potentially aware of HPSC secrets, she's also not a security risk to them, the way say, Hawks would be. If Nedzu for example goes poking around he's going to find jack all because at the end of the day all the Commission is really doing with her is covering insurance costs and earning good will from her that way. The Commission also doesn't exactly need an on-site hero agent to poke around UA. The mess with Aizawa has already given them leave to do that since it's such a spectacular fuck up.

And from a meta standpoint I just wanted her to be the homeroom teacher to do something unique.

[transhawks]

A Thin Veneer: BNHA 374

As dedicated readers of BNHA and meta for BNHA meta would know, the way characters drawn and depicted, the way certain scenes are framed, all of that is crucial to points Horikoshi makes about his characters, the plot, and the themes he wants to convey. Something to note is expression and how people are drawn. On the subject of Hawks, we know from in-text reactions to him that he is seen as conventionally attractive, and typically has a cheeky or happy-nature in his expressions. It's alone or in tense movements that we see something else.

What we do have is faces that break the Uncanny valley, like the famous image pre-"attacking" Best Jeanist, or getting confirmation about the raid where he very much show-cased his heteromorphic side, or the frightening image of him from Jin's pov as he was shrouded in shadows and looked very much like a predator.

What's consistent in these images is 1. Hawks was in control at of himself when he makes those faces 2. They usually don't *take* away from him in terms of find him "palatable" even if he's frightening. And there's a point to this.

Hawks isn't unflappable; there are plenty of moments where he loses his facade and cool, and we can argue those faces were truer to his inner nature than the bubbly cheeky personality he puts on a lot of the time.

But facially, it's interesting that he was so solemn as a child, and when alone and comfortable with himself, he seems to be mostly blank-faced and not very expressive. Perhaps that is the "default" Keigo.

Why all of this talk of faces and how Hawks is drawn? Because with 374, something has changed, and it means something very heavy is coming up with Hawks in the future.

First off, let's read about a certain trope

If a character is deranged or has just lost it for a moment, one eye is drawn as being very different than the other. Commonly, the Mad Eye (or its iris/pupil) is much larger than the other. Can also double as an unspoken Oh, Crap! moment. For extra effect, may be paired with Twitchy Eye.

Consistently, Dabi has been shown to be drawn with this trope time and time again. It's featured in promo art, in his battles, and this example up top. Dabi is clearly mentally unstable, openly and not unlike his friend Twice. The "Mad Eye" trope is meant to be a visual indicator of mentally instability. There's nary been a time where we've seen Hawks drawn like this. Even when he was drawn smirking before "killing" Best Jeanist, the eyes were the same.

It's interesting that his expression and eyes were relatively stable through out the process leading up to killing Bubaigawara Jin. But in the same panel where he kills him (right in the image above), half his face is obscured. Still, there's still an element of control here. I, and many other meta writers, have written about how control is a specific element in Hawks's character. His skill is in his technique, where he lacks in pure power, his skill in using his quirk in extremely adaptable and creative ways shows that he has an intense amount of control over it. And essentially his quirk is in that - controlling feathers do the various things they're capable of (sensors, listening devices, controlling their movements, flexibility, hardness, etc).

When being in control is so crucial to Hawks's quirk functioning, and being out of control so crucial to his narrative (the frequent caged bird references), it's interesting that most of the time Keigo is control of himself, even if he isn't in control of his circumstances. It's what made the HPSC make him a spy and what makes him, in my opinion, an interesting character.

By interesting, I don't mean "good" or "bad", moral or immoral or amoral, etc. I mean interesting in that he's complex and there's still mystery to him. It's very hard to understand Hawks because Keigo's story and personality are layered and presented to us in a way that it's difficult to get a full picture.

So what do we see in this chapter?

Keigo losing control.

He's been remarkably poised this war arc. He started by immediately trying to assassinate AFO without hesitation: While he's had emotional moments, one of the most striking things is that in earlier chapters against AFO, he's been repeating something that shows where his mindset is:

This whole fight Hawks has been telling Endeavor to keep a cool head, to not be provoked, to regain control of himself. He also keeps trying to play the circumstances - delaying so heavy-hitters like Enji can get a shot in, making sure everything it together.

Something else to notice is Hawks is wounded over the left side of his wave, and there's blood drying over his eye. However, there are numerous pictures of him in this state where his eyes are open at the same time or half-closed and there's no indication that he can open more than other.

As you can see here, this is Hawks with the blood over his eye in various expressions. Even when stressed, his expression never gives us indications of the "going mad" trope as the most recent chapter does. Thus, whatever is going on cannot be explained as due to his wound - it hasn't been shown before.

Why make so much of a single panel?

Because it's important.

We have Hawks, known for being very in control of himself and who tries to be in control of situations around him, and we have heavy build up by Hawks being the one to remind Endeavor to not lose it.

And yet....

This is not like anything we've seen from him so far. The mere sight of Twice alive again, the knowledge that what he did was for naught, heck, All For One is provoking him just on that basis:

"Time to learn how it might have turned out if you hadn't made his death your top priority back then."

Hawks's extrajudicial assassination of Twice became a viral moment, and don't forget it was drawn that way in the same time Japan had started undergoing protests for police brutality in 2020 due to viral videos of local beatings going viral amongst Japanese social media and twitter. Hawks has had to face immense scrutiny and criticism over his choice to kill Twice for the past few months, and his reaction to it has been to publicly apologize that he couldn't find another way to deal with him and to privately tell Best Jeanist that he admired the person he killed and wishes to be like him.

There's been no real show of regret, no reflection. And suddenly, with the appearance of Twice once more, we see a crack in this veneer:

Hawks's first words at the sight of the man he killed is to scream that the clones have to be killed immediately. Hawks's first expression at sight of Twice is one not of collected focus, nor even his usual anger or frustration.

He's drawn as if he's fucking crazy.

Horikoshi doesn't do panels like this for nothing. The way the panel beautifully lines up with one of Dabi's back covers, and the fact it's the first time Hawks has been drawn with the "mad eyes" trope is significant. It's showing us that Hawks, for the first time that we know of, is losing control of himself. And for a character whose narrative has been about controlling what people think and know about himself (and letting others do that for him), that's elemental to breaking down all we know of him.

This panel promises to show us another side of Hawks, a side he cannot hide away, or charm and joke his way out of. Naked, raw, and with no ulterior motives to control the situation, this face promises that we might finally hear what Hawks thinks of his actions and the reaction to them.

[super-paper]

Question, since afo is dead (for good?) are also the quirks he stolen dead/unusable? Ex. Search, Bloodcurdle and wings? And also do you have ANY idea where the hell is hawks character arc going😭 your analysis and meta posts are amazing btw!

Yeah, OG AFO's quirks vanish/"die" alongside him in chapter 410:

Not sure about vestige!AFO's quirks yet, it'll likely depend on whether or not Tenko is actually [REDACTED] or if some sort of quirk transfer occurred between him and Izuku (I sincerely hope this isn't the route Horikoshi goes for obvious reasons lmao).

I've been praying for Keigo's character to be involved in the resolution to Himiko's plot for nearly a year now, bc I really can't see how his arc can end satisfactorily otherwise-- but if Tenko is really [REDACTED], then tbh, I really don't know what to expect from the story anymore. 😭 If the theory that Tenko is gonna be the one to save the LOV by unlocking reconstruction is true, then I would still like Keigo to help with villain rehabilitative efforts during the epilogue (More than anything, I still want him to help Himiko even if he just helps with her rehabilitation-- I just feel like it would be fitting to have him atone for killing Jin by helping Jin's best friend start over). I would also like to see him help restructure the HPSC into something genuinely beneficial to society, most likely with Nagant's help.

Like, these specific panels + Keigo reflecting on "seeing everyone united as one" have gotta mean SOMETHING, right? ...Right???? (😭)

[rayshippouuchiha]

I just had a dark BNHA fic idea that I will probably not do anything with. So I want to share with you and anyone who might want to adopt this plunny.

So Inko's Quirk is Small Object Attraction. It would be so easy to kill people with this. By either "natural causes" or "accidents".

She can pull on the blood vessels or arteries. She can pull on nerves, the brain stem, and she might be able to target portions of organs or the brain. She would be able to kill or cause severe medical problems easily.

I like to think that Inko learned how to control how her pulled objects come near her, so she should be able to pull things in a spiral. So she can unscrew things, like important support structures, car parts, parts of pulley systems. Maybe even trash that just so happens to make someone fall off a building or into traffic.

I can see this happening primarily in 2 time frames. Pre-Canon as an anti-hero or Post-Quirk Diagnosis when Inko is out of fucks to give. Maybe both.

Anti-hero Inko killing off or crippling assholes that get around the law, like... I was going to give a couple of examples, but Endeavor kept coming to mind. Child abuse, spousal abuse, probably marital rape, excessive injuries to villains and bystanders, excessive property damage. Whether it's because she sees that whoever is too scared or unable to leave, she can make it so the abuser can't physically do anything. Regardless of whether they are heroes, villains or everyday assholes who never get caught. I like to think she has a few political cases, too. Like if someone kept trying to implement horrible and disgusting laws or remove protections. Maybe she starts off small and makes it so they can't attend rallies or votes. If they work around it, I think she'd lose her tolerance for them and they may get their life privileges revoked.

And one of these brings her, or her deeds, to AfO's attention. If you like DfO, this could be what makes him think She's the One.

P.S. this actually came from a fic who's name I can't remember. Basically, Izu and AM are on the run from HPSC who thinks Izu is controlling AM. They have a mental connection that's kinda 1 brain 2 bodies with ghosts and classmates stuck in Izu's head for a while. Inko is visiting that Quirk Dr that said Izu was Quirkless since he's an acquaintance of her husband's for something important when this happens. The doc then learns that AfO's wife is terrifying and obeys her orders when Inko learns what's happening with Izu. Shigaraki is duly impressed.

If it's Post-Diagnosis, then maybe she starts off just giving the assholes bullying her baby bad luck then escalating for the adults who don't learn better.

Just thought of a BNHA KHR idea, too. Inko's Quirk can be agreed that gravity is involved, yes? I see tons of Sky Flame Izuku, but what about Earth Flames?

Earth Flames = Gravity Control. Enma and Tsuna looked so badass using Earth Flames. (It still makes me scream that Tsuna was able to use Enma's ring. Either for shipping purposes or for meta implications.) (Btw, Earth Flames and the Shimon Famiglia are from the manga.) Because if he got his "Quirk" when the Sludge villain attacked him, it could feasibly come in then. Since Flames require someone to defy death to accomplish a goal, this could work. Maybe Inko is aware of Flames and she and Izu can bond. Maybe she isn't but can still pass on her tricks when it comes to pulling things.

Anyways, Izu increasing gravity when Bakugo tries to attack him. Decreasing his own weight to move faster. Doing Moon jumps to get to places. Making things weigh less to free trapped people. Crushing things into diamonds. Making BLACK HOLES (This is Canon in KHR).

Izu and Ochako bonding over their powers. Izu and 13 bonding.

I'm running out of ideas at this point. Anyways, I've never seen Earth Flames Izuku before!

Oh all of this is fantastic and I swear I know that fic you're talking about

[shadowofroses]

Dreadnaught Love

My Hero Academia

Pairing: AFAB Reader x Bakugou Katsuki

Story idea: Reader daughter of Re-Destro is flung into Bakugou during the Hero Provisional Exams, and the Reader's decision to pass off a 'Victim' to him causes them both points.

Idea:

You crossed your arms as you made your way into the Hero Provisional Exams. The examination area filled quickly. Different schools entering in. you were dressed in your Hero Uniform that you designed and your friends mother put together.  

You educated yourself, homeschooled as you will. You didn’t want your parents knowing you wanted to be a Hero. They thought you were training to better yourself, and for your father and grandfather. For the Meta Liberation Front. 

Luckily enough you had your grandfathers quirk. Pyrotechnics. You could generate and launch different types of bombs and manipulate them to your hearts content. You just had to eat a lot of calories to make up for the generation. 

Perfect for a Villain. 

But you didn’t want to be a villain. You didn’t want to be a vigilante. You just wanted to be a Hero. Break away from your family…business…

The Initial Phase you made it through easily. Luckily with no balls hitting your targets. Making it within the Final hundred students and the Help Us Company. 

Seeing everyone splitting up into groups, you ran out to the outer edges. Granted less of a chance to find injured people, however still could happen. There was plenty of people in the epicenter of the damage. 

There were a few people you saved that could walk, and you directed them to the main area where survivors would be going. One person you went to carry, however that was when Gang Orca showed up with his sidekicks.  One aimed at you, blowing both you and a ‘Victim’ away. The person you were carrying let out a scream as you moved to cradle them into taking most of the impact. 

“BAKUGOU LOOK OUT!” You heard someone call out. 

“THE HELL…OOF~”

You felt an arm circle your waist and an explosion sounding, you were afraid you accidentally dropped a grenade.  But behind you?

“Hah?!” Both you and the blond looked at eachother in confusion. 

“She’s kinda cute!~” 

You and the Bakugou in questioned both blushed. And you quickly pulled away, “Thanks for the catch, here take them to safety, I need to kick that guy’s balls in! Sorry if I dropped a Grenade!” You took off again from the same direction you came from. “I’ll keep them from getting to you guys!”

“HAH?!” Bakugou gripped hold of the person and jumped to the side looking for a bomb.

Kirishima watched as an explosion happened in a distance.  “Ah, she has a quirk similar to yours Bakubro. Must have thought she dropped a grenade when you let loose a blast to soften the blow of catching them.”

Bakugou had a glint in his eyes after that, he tossed Kirishima the person who yelped, “Take the extra to safety I’m gonna go kill them!”

“POINTS TAKEN FROM YOTSUBASHI AND BAKUGOU!”

“COME ON! WHAT FOR?” Bakugou exclaimed loudly in frustration, he wanted to join in on the action of the incoming ‘enemies’. 

“Yotsubashi hands me off to Bakugou who is reckless, throwing a victim to another person with talks of killing people! Points taken from both!”

In the end, you had to take remedial courses. Which you weren’t excited for period. 

However, you did draw attention to yourself due to the fact that you were homeschooled. UA managed to reach you first. What seemed to be a couple of teachers and the Principal.  

Aizawa, All Might, and Principal Nezu. The three of them wanted to discuss moving you to UA, when the head of the Hero Public Safety Commission stopped them before they could speak. “Yotsubashi (Name)? Daughter of Rikiya?” you froze at that, and Aizawa’s eyes narrowed in interest.  “We would like to have a talk with you…”

“Now…Hold on, we were wanting to talk to Miss Yotsubashi ourselves…” Principal Nezu announced with a smile. “We would like to invite you to UA.”

“She can’t because she’ll be with Us the HPSC.” The woman said sternly. 

All Might stepped forward, “Now wait a second, shouldn’t this be up to the student and their parents!” Not noticing how you stiffened up even more. 

The womans eyes narrowed. “Don’t worry I know her parents, it’s what is in her best interest.” 

Aizawa placed his hand on your shoulder “What does she want?”

UA students started to run up to their teachers. You gulped, “Whatever…that doesn’t let my parents know… I’m here…” All might and Aizawa looked at you flabbergasted. 

“HEY! ITS THE CUTIE!” 

“Yeah! Yotsubashi right?! Your quirk is like-”

“GAH YOU IDIOT YOU CAUSED ME TO LOSE POINTS!” Bakugou growled out and grabbed the front of your uniform and pulling your face to his before the both of you blushed hard. 

“PFT IF YOU JUST TOOK HIM TO SAFETY WE WOULD HAVE BOTH GOTTEN POINTS WHO IS THE IDIOT?!”  You quipped back, looking anywhere but his eyes. Your eyes widened as you saw sparks ignite from his hands, and you formed a Grenade in your hand by instinct. 

“ENOUGH!” Aizawa exclaimed activating his quirk and his capture cloth caught the both of you. 

“If you want less attention, you’ll be smart to join the HPSC. UA won’t keep you from the Public view. Hawks will be keeping her under his wing.”

Finally released. You turned to bow slightly to the two heroes and Principal Nezu. “Thank you very much for your kind offer, but I’m afraid I’ll have to go with the HPSC.” You responded, then turning to Bakugou, “I’m sorry you have to take remedial classes because of me and my decision. Good luck next time.” you grabbed his hand swiftly and shook it, causing him to look at you dumbly before turned to walk away. 

Bakugou blinked, “The hell just happened?!”  

[ikibli]

A Dystopia is Utopia from Another Angle(BNHA HPSC POV)

The Meta Liberation Army, cause of so much death and suffering, is a thing because people wanted to use the superpowers they were born with without thinking of the consequences.

Flying if you have wings is all fine and dandy. But who's going to make every possible villainous use of a Quirk an enforceable crime that doesn't unfairly discriminate against people with certain Quirks? Who's going to clean up all of the accidentally destroyed buildings, and who's going to fix them, or pay for the repairs?

That's not even counting the purely legal or economic problems.

If someone can create gold from nothing and sells the gold, soon gold will be worth a lot less. And the American dollar is technically based on the gold standard...

If someone can clone themselves infinitely, do the clones count as employees or just the original? If the clones count, where do their paychecks or vacation days go? If only the original counts, then their boss doesn't need any other employees since they can just pay their one cloner employee a bonus to learn any new skills, thus thoroughly depressing the job market since nobody wants an employee that isn't a cloner and his company makes millions in profit from only needing to pay one employee. This is also assuming the cloner has a boss that isn't him.

If someone is about to be late to school and starts running at 80 miles per hour, do they count as a pedestrian, car, or cyclist? This seemingly pedantic question is important because of things like right of way, safety laws and who's liable for what in the event they collide with something or get run over. The insurance clauses for colliding with a car and colliding with a pedestrian are very different, as you well know.

The only reasonable solution to all of these problems is to just put a blanket ban on using your Quirk, for any reason, then hand out licenses, under the control of a responsible authority.

Then there's heroes. We all love heroes, don't we?

They help you when you need it, and they expect nothing in return except the smile on your face. Every schoolchild wants to be a hero- why would you dream of anything else unless it's to be an "everyday hero" like a doctor? Why wouldn't you want your name chanted in awe? Why wouldn't you want to use your powers to put a little good into the world?

Stop laughing, you were like that too when you were eight. I have the transcripts on my phone.

Heroes are famous celebrities. Heroes are emergency responders. Heroes are the police. Heroes are the military. Heroes are judge, jury and executioner for villains. Heroes are the righteous defenders of justice, here to stop the villain and save the day. No cost is too great for them (or others, but we don't talk about that) to pay in the service of others, but even if you die you can die satisfied you contributed to the greater good.

Oh, it's not like that? Your license is a chain, a burden? You wish you had said no in the beginning? You wish you could be assured you would make it to forty? You wish you could be with the one you love without duty getting in the way?

Well, that license is also the only thing keeping you from drowning in the tide of real life. We fed you. We housed you. We trained you to be the best hero you can be. And we can take that away at any second if you disobey.

Do you even think of what you would have been if we hadn't saved you? You would have remained a filthy, uneducated child living in a slum. You would never have made it to forty either way- you would have turned into a wretched villain and been killed by a hero if not by your own filth, if we hadn't saved you. Just like your father.

Yes, your father. He was a thief who ruined what he couldn't steal, and inevitably ruined that too. He died at age thirty-five, killed while robbing his fifty-eighth convenience store.

Don't worry, we erased every mention of your parents' existence from all but the most classified of our own records.

What do you mean, I'm a monster?! We did it for your own good! How would the people react to finding out a hero like you was related to a lowlife like him? Think about it.

Why am I telling you this? I thought you'd never ask.

I'm explaining this to you, so that you understand why we have to do this.

We're the Public Safety Commission, not the Public Happiness Commission. We can forgive a few mistakes here and there, provided you understand what you did wrong.

What we can't forgive is for you to keep making mistakes, mistakes that get people killed.

So, you're going to tell us every little secret you've ever kept from us. And if we find out you've turned on us...we'll have to terminate your employment. Permanently.

What do you mean you'd never tell me? Of course you will!

You're confused? Don't worry, I'll tell you.

You see, unlike my quaint little cousin in the police, I don't just detect the truth. I force the truth. Agent Orange, start the recording.

Now, Hawks. Are you loyal to the Hero Public Safety Commission?

No? I thought so. Why?

Oh, you have a boyfriend. How cute. How much do you know about any Commission secret projects?

Nothing? Good, we might be able to let you live then. What are the main and secondary weaknesses of each League of Villains member?

Congratulations. I see you've found a way around my Quirk. With video game slang, of all things.

Too bad I'm smarter than you.

What are the best three ways to kill each League of Villains member?

You're still trying to get around it? I thought you knew better than this.

What are the best three ways to kill each League of Villains member in real life?

Seriously?! I really hate people that make me get this specific.

What are the best three ways to kill each League of Villains member in real life without access to alien technology, orbital missiles, orbital space stations, intercontinental missiles, nuclear weaponry or a Quirk that allows you to manifest objects from video games?

I'm beginning to think it would be better to just tell the media what you've been doing and let them eat you alive.

What are the best three ways to kill each League of Villains member in real life with any combination of any number of the following things-any of the Quirks of any licensed hero, conventional firearms, conventional melee weaponry, poison, fire, explosives, any support gear that is possible to construct without the use of a Quirk-What was that?

The League of Villains coming to rescue you?

Ah, I see I've been outplayed. You truly didn't need to resist, all you needed to do was stall.

I see you've made your decision. Goodbye, Hawks. Let us never meet again.

[thyandrawrites]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

What a lovely writing meme, thanks for sending it my way! And thanks to @bittermoonswrites and @draphrawrites for thinking of me as well! I'm answering you all at once 💙

First I have to mention my one longfic, Butterfly Effect. If you're new here, it's an exploration of Dabi, Hawks, and the Todofam. It began as a dabihawks project but then sort of muted into my own idea of how all of these plotlines could've intersected and given the characters closure and healing. As my first and only longfic it has a lot of imperfections, but I hold it very dear to my heart. I even printed a copy for myself and I reread bits of it from time to time

Then for sure Stitches deserves a mention. As you may know from my meta, conflicting relationships rife with miscommunication and ugly feelings are one of my fav things to write about, and here I did just that. Set in a canon divergent timeline, Dabi is taken captive by the heroes instead of Compress and does his time in Tartarus. There, the monotony of his captivity is interrupted by a visit from his mother, and they finally have a chat after 10 and some years

Cold feet is another big favourite of mine. This one didn't get as much attention as some of my other dbhwks works, and I wonder if it's because I write an unpopular, canon-adjacent Dabi that the fandom doesn't much vibe with. But that's exactly what I love about this story! :') Personally, I think this is one of the best Dabis I've ever written. I tried to explore the duality of his need to be noticed and valued for who he is vs his fear of being vulnerable, all filtered through Hawks' similar self-repression & devil may care mask. If you want to make me happy, give this a read. It might not be your cup of tea in the end but it would bring a smile to my face to know you gave it a chance :')

A thousand paper cranes is one of my most self indulgent works, and for that I must mention it. It's an AU where Touya and Keigo were trainees in the same HPSC hero program, until something went horribly wrong. basically it's a childhood friends to villain boyfriends journey with a twist :') I published this way ahead of its time. It would've done numbers if posted today. Smh.

My last fave is a still unpublished work, but if you're curious about it shoot me an ask and I'll share a snip. Since basically all recs on this list are character study pieces, you guessed it, so is this one. This time it's Todosiblings-centric. Pov Touya, post canon, deals with Touya's healing post war and explores his dynamic with all his siblings in an attempt to get them to finally talk about their problems. Actually, someone should kick my ass and tell me to finish it. I exhausted all my meta energy with ch 2 but the Fuyumi chapter needs to be wrapped up so I can post this 😭 smh the writer is such an ass for leaving me hanging like this (I'm the writer)

Thanks again for sending me this question! 💙💙

[stillness-in-green]

Hori really baited me with this chapter for one panel we get to see the thoughts of Hoseface making me think “omg are we going to get some characterization for my favorite advisor” only to then have him be shafted like a page or two later

+

Scarecrow continues to be, against all odds, the best-treated of the PLF lieutenants, and isn’t that a bar that’s about as high off the ground as a water main?  But in truth, I’ve been Preemptively Tired of Hori’s lazy characterization of Hose Face ever since the latter’s gratuitous, ham-fisted reference to killing Midnight.  It never read to me like he was aiming that at the U.A. kids themselves as a dig or an attack on their morale; he’s pretty clearly talking to the group he’s leading, and with that being his audience, why highlight some random teacher at U.A. instead of, say, Crust, one of the Top 10 heroes, or the HPSC’s President Pearls?  No reason in-universe that I can see,* and even from the meta perspective, it’s not a reveal that has the slightest impact on the plot.

But that aside, yes, “float gas” is a damn fool quirk to give a guy in Hose Face’s position, both in his organization and the narrative, and it’s even worse to give him a quirk like that and then characterize him the way Hori does.  Being able to maintain the high ground is nice and all, but without a better way to cinch fights, you’re really just running out the clock, as it were.  Fuck’s sake, Piercings Guy has got a better quirk than that, and if Hori really wants to sell the MLA as championing quirk supremacy to the exclusion of all else, what’s the justification for Hose Face outranking him?

I do wonder if this is some remnant of what was once intended to be a bigger plot thread.  I mean, seriously, Hose Face being the one who killed Midnight has no impact at all on this scene.  None!  What's the point of mentioning it at all? Maybe, in a version of this endgame that had more set-up and more room to breathe, Mina knowing that she's confronting Midnight's killer might have been an important factor in her actions in the scene. Maybe we could also have found out what Hose Face specifically has against teachers and/or U.A. that Midnight is the kill he uses to underline his rhetorical points.

As things stand, though, the only thing the blood on his hands does is guarantee that the average reader is not going to be asking inconvenient questions like why no one is bothering to try and “save” this particular villain, despite that nice line from Tsukauchi about remembering that all villains are human and finding their origins less than ten chapters prior. God forbid Team Hero be ideologically consistent towards villains that haven't cried for them first, though.

Bah.  I’m afraid I have virtually nothing but salt on this topic, @plf-advisor-stan.  But thanks for the asks!  All my sympathy for your favorite advisor getting shortchanged; I wonder if we’ll ever get back around to Pinstripe Shark/Brand?  We can watch Horikoshi try to convince us that he’s a total quirk supremacist, too, despite the fact that his quirk is apparently so staunchly non-combat in nature that he brings a katana to quirk fights.

---

*At best, Midnight being a teacher makes her more a “purveyor of falsehoods,” than a non-teacher hero, but I would think Prez Pearls still has Midnight beaten on that front.  Anyway, he refers to everyone they’re fighting on-site as being such purveyors, so there’s no reason to assume he highlights Midnight on that specific basis.

[the-wild-card-hand]

//Fuck it cause I wanna use my Gundam muses more I'm making MHA AU for a majority of them.

Kira Yamato aka 'The Fox': A smart kid who was in an earlier class at UA before getting poached by the Hero Public Safety Commission after they learn his Quirk was artificially manufactured before he was born. They wanted him for clever spy work before he ultimately went off the grid and began some Vigilante work of his own

Sting, Stella and Auel: Second Gen Quirk Soldiers raised by the Meta Liberation Army. They're tasked up with spy work and subterfuge, on occasion they help to stoke up the fires to make people sympathetic to the cause. They were later folded into the PLF when the MLA was absorbed into the League of Villains.

Orga, Shani and Clotho: First Gen Quirk Soldiers raised by the MLA. If Sting, Stella and Auel were the spies and scalpels, these three were the hammer you send in to make a point. Ruthless in fight, but driven by fear of punishment if they fail. They come off as dysfunctional, but the reality is they practically are all they got in terms of 'family'

Shinn Asuka: A relatively normal quirkless student that met a tragic fate when his family was killed in a Villain attack, an act he witnessed. Despite the Hero Society and the abundance of Heroes with Quirks, no one was there. He managed to escape by the help of a cop and over time his feelings started to mound: anger, sadness, confusion. A villain attack like that in his neighborhood and no Heroes patrolling that zone? His anger started to manifest on both Heroes and Villains before he looked for ways to find his own power. First he volunteered for the Self Defense Forces at fourteen, then at age sixteen he volunteered for a Super Soldier Program: 'Project Jackal', funded in secret by the HPSC.