#possibly repetitive rambling about Machia and the MLA here

[stillness-in-green]

I know it was never gonna happen but I think it would have been cool if instead of Kirishima and Shinsou it should have been Hoseface on Gigantomachia telling AFO that that “we serve the true liberator” before tossing a mountain at him

You are so right, @plf-advisor-stan.  You have blown my mind with how right you are. Everyone look at this incredible plot we could have had. My god, that would have been so incredibly good.

I wanted—so, so wanted—for Gigantomachia to have an actual character arc about choosing between Old Master and New Master.  He loves AFO so dearly, of course, far more than he does Shigaraki, but AFO transparently doesn’t care about his minions once he’s had his use of them,[1] whereas Shigaraki’s care for his team is repeatedly shown in scenes like him remembering Mr. Compress’s desire for sushi or reflecting out loud that he wants his comrades to get what they want.

There’s obviously a difference in the levels of Shigaraki’s regard for the League and for the rest of his followers, but all the same, I can’t imagine a Shigaraki who’d gotten to spend any significant time with Machia as a follower being willing to leave him in the dust the way AFO does in Jakku—indeed, calling the lonely Machia back to him is one of the first things Shigaraki does after getting out of the tube.  Shigaraki wouldn’t have left Machia alone in the mountains for 15+ years if Machia didn’t want to go, either.

Machia, as he was originally written, was not a mindless Noumu.  He spent the entirety of MVA vehemently not blindly submitting to Shigaraki because it’s what AFO wanted him to do, but rather testing Shigaraki’s worthiness, telling Shigaraki the kind of master he, Gigantomachia, would bow to, and insisting that Shigaraki rise to that level.  Shigaraki did, and Machia accepted him—it’s such a letdown that all of that effort on both their parts has, thus far, come to nothing.  Machia chose Shigaraki as his master once.  He deserves the chance to do so again.

And, of course, the same goes for the erstwhile MLA.  All that bleeding Shigaraki did, all the work the League put in while he was in the tube, and we just get nothing at all about what the PLF think about being repurposed to serve AFO.  Good lord, the higher-ups were so open about their disdain for the League when they thought they were just villains with no larger goal for societal reform, but how does their vision of liberation work at all with AFO at the helm?  As recently as Chapter 363, Skeptic—who’s nominally still giving the PLF remnants their marching orders!—spoke rather dismissively of AFO, instead citing Re-Destro’s desires, Shigaraki Tomura’s interests, and the intent to bring about anarchy that would contain neither heroes nor villains.

AFO is, consciously and intentionally, the ultimate villain.  And even if we’re meant to believe the MLA is all about the quirk supremacy,[2] it’s not like AFO’s even doing a convincing job of being An Strongest, given that All Might has defeated him twice!

The MLA never chose AFO as a leader; they followed Re-Destro in choosing Shigaraki.  It’s maddening that the story seems to want me to view that loyalty as so interchangeable.

Anyway, yes, your scenario is good and you should feel good; A++ thanks for sharing it with me, and it’s my pleasure to share it with my followers.

---

[1] AFO, you cad, rescue your danged husband from prison!!!

[2] They weren’t all about quirk supremacy, of course, which is what makes their lack of on-panel reflection even more exhausting.  I’ll spare the full rant on that until I eventually get around to that What Does the MLA Believe post, however.