#sprinkle of unhinged for the other dorms

[neonscandal]

Hi....if you don't mind, can I ask something from BNHA? What do you think are Midoriya and Bakugou’s greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic? Sorry if you've answered these questions before.....Thanks....

No need to apologize, if anything, thank you for asking me anything! I tried to keep my response spoiler free and, since I had trouble clarifying what I value as strengths vs weaknesses when I wrote in prose, I broke it out below with the Why's highlighted for simplicity. Still a pretty long read so buckle up, buttercup!

I will probably never have a reason to use this gif otherwise but feel this AU is hilarious and important.

PERSONALITY

I recently thought about the headspace of these characters here and here.

Midoriya Strengths

I feel like this goes hand in hand with the crybaby hero trope but he has an incredibly strong sense of justice where he's compelled to do what's right even at the expense of doing something that would be otherwise frowned upon. This trend toward Chaotic Good keeps things interesting.

A forgiving heart with an enduring spirit that allows him to seek understanding with those who oppose him because he tries to see them as people in need of saving as well, where possible. Same could be said for Tanjiro Kamado or Usagi Tsukino I feel like, so, just MC vibes. But the limits of this are certainly tested.

He's unapologetically a little weirdo who's finally seeing his dreams take shape after years of being miserable and he does absolutely nothing to keep his cool about it. Kid is unabashedly a nerd with his incessant muttering and social awkwardness and Class 1A is just like, "well he's our fanboy". He's secretly being coached by his idol who is a teacher at his school and his dorm looks like a shrine to said teacher. Like... bro, get it together. I highkey feel like Midoriya is basically y/n if y/n finally got their Censored Wizarding School letter.

Midoriya Weaknesses

He's overwhelmingly naive when it comes to hero society despite being a fanboy of it. It takes time and a lot of heartache for him to get to a point where he can think critically about those he admires or the systemic failures within hero society. Simply, he's just a kid. Can't really blame him for not knowing any better but I think it really emphasizes how far off his dream of being a hero really was.

He's hardwired for martyrdom. Given enough time, anyone can rationalize breaking bones to master OFA when Recovery Girl is like right there, sure (still unhinged behavior but go off). But, considering the great mind he has for strategy, his default setting being a willingness to sacrifice himself and his body is dissonant. I think it's compounded by a desperation to measure up to All Might and he eventually grows from overt displays of this over time. Bakugo being captured at the training camp and his dissatisfaction with being incapable of doing anything about it was the impetus, but, sometimes, I wonder if the martyrdom stems from lack of other options or just having spent so long being ground down by his quirklessness that it's just second nature for him to think he has to suffer. Lowkey, Bakugo is wired the same way. This weakness just kind of makes me sad from all the things I think this complex stems from.

Bakugo Strengths

He is a perfectionist with a one track mind. Bakugo knows what he wants and works towards it relentlessly. This nerd is incredibly disciplined (hello senior citizen bedtime) with an aptitude for combat that doesn't stem from being a hero family legacy. Which means, any conditioning that made him good stock for UA came from his individual contribution as someone who is driven to be #1. Not to mention, he doesn’t have All Might personally coaching him so any growth yielded from constructive criticism while at UA is a product of Aizawa’s lessons, a sprinkle of Best Jeanist and Bakugo figuring things out himself. Case in point, learning from All Might that his “Win to Save” mentality needed to be tempered with a “Save to Win” mentality to be successful. He cultivates his own personal growth which allows him to be more communicative and slightly less hot-headed to enact a winning battle strategy in the exercise against Class 1B. Not to mention, Midoriya is getting a lot of real life experience that Bakugo isn’t but he manages to keep pace with Deku and still embody a determination to not accept any casualties (RE: Midoriya taking down Stain, taking down Muscular at the training camp, fighting and surviving Overhaul, taking down Gentle Criminal and everything that follows the initial Paranormal Liberation Front takedown).

As best he can, he cares about the people around him. You cannot accept Shoto Todoroki's shortcomings when he first got to UA and condemn Bakugo for his when they are arguably both products of hostile upbringings. That being said, in his own way and through the limited perspective of an unreliable narrator, he respects Ochako Uraraka as his equal where other boys of Class 1A are shown to not view girls as formidable adversaries (during the sports fest and the face off with Class 1B), Aizawa and Denki praise him for his strength of character, he makes it a point to pull aside that kindergartener who was teetering down the same path he followed during the extra provisional lessons, he goes out of his way to protect Class 1A during the Cultural Festival, and he is notably less of a jerk to Todoroki considering his home life. Since it's Bakugo, that care and concern just looks a bit different. Where Todoroki's character growth is staked in how he cultivates relationships with Class 1A (which isn't from a point of outright antagonism) and working to forgive his family, Bakugo's growth is tied more intimately to Midoriya whose first person perspective is a bit limited or biased.

He's hilarious to me. Like, sir, is there anything you respect? He's even a brash asshole to All Might, his idol. Where Midoriya has tunnel vision when it comes to All Might, I think Bakugo is able to reconcile the fact that All Might is still fallible while remaining in awe of him. It's why he keeps his secret after all although even he admits it’s not for All Might. Plus, as far as deuteragonists go, he's perfectly incendiary and goads Midoriya (and subsequently their classmates) to level up which Aizawa notes is what makes Class 1A something special.

Bakugo Weaknesses

Hand in hand with that last strength, for all of Bakugo's barking, he has issues with self worth and insecurity. While the viewer really only witnesses this when he's lashing out, it becomes clear this is something he deals with internally as it's a big factor in why he and Midoriya are at odds. Though Midoriya struggles with the same issues, Bakugo’s manifests violently and make him a ticking time bomb until his emotions finally explode.

He is immature and emotionally constipated. He is hard pressed and shitting diamonds before he'll ever admit his remorse for how he treated Midoriya, how he may not be good enough, or any other uncomfortable feeling that isn’t strictly confident superiority. His inability to communicate emotions and frustration to do so is what makes him unlikeable to people who don't bother to understand the nuance of his character and how that relates to Midoriya.

DYNAMIC

I tend to process things a lot better when read vs. watched so reading the manga and appreciating the exposition into their relationship while still being deprived of most of it has been fun to pick apart because we’re given Midoriya’s perspective and forced to interpret beyond what he’s able to do at the time. It's easy to forget the story tends to be from a first person perspective so we're left with some legwork to read between the lines using other characters (my favorite being Aizawa) who offers additional insight into the unbiased reality of their characters and, at times, their relation to one another.

They make each other better. As stated previously, Aizawa has observed that their rivalry not only draws out the best in them but it also forces those around them to be better as well.

By design, they are two halves of the same whole. All Might recognizes that, with Midoriya’s “Save to Win” and Bakugo’s “Win to Save” mentalities, their imitation of him is incomplete. You can’t have one without the other in order to be successful and he even proposes that they would make an unstoppable team.

They understand one another. Midoriya provides insight into Bakugo during the Sports Festival to Uraraka which Aizawa explains better. Bakugo (implied spoiler?) tells two mentors that he knows Deku best and is able to pinpoint what antics he's gotten himself into, too. While shown to be largely non-communicative, they have a penetrating understanding of one another that Horikoshi hasn't really explained. From our perspective, they were childhood friends and then they simply weren't around the time that Deku didn't get his quirk (so around 4 or 5). So how do they continue to understand one another so implicitly? I'm anticipating a big reveal into more of their childhood in coming chapters. If you're caught up in the manga, you see we've already gotten a taste (if you're not, mind the spoiler warnings in the links above).

They respect one another. I know this seems unfounded considering how shitty Bakugo is shown to be to Midoriya BUT, when Bakugo encourages Kirishima that there's strength in being unrelenting during Kiri's moment of insecurity.. I very much think that he's thinking of Midoriya. Meanwhile, unique from the reasons above, Midoriya is undeterred from engaging with Bakugo despite his mistreatment because he's determined to be recognized by him and stand shoulder to shoulder with him. This is actually found to be something that they both obsess over. They want to be one another's equals.

They imitate one another. Deku incessantly imitates Bakugo. From his fight style which Iida and others have remarked to his trash talking when he wants to be victorious as he observed himself. Bakugo mutters/strategizes like Deku and I also feel like when I read the manga I recall thinking about how we focus on Deku imitating Bakugo but his AP Shot put me in the mind of Deku's Full Cowling. I'll have to dig through the notes I took while reading and continue my MHA Manga With Me posts but they are frequently shown to make similar faces and are constantly looking to one another for inspiration. Horikoshi has, throughout the story, linked them in this way. While not readily apparent (I'm chalking it up due to Midoriya's POV blind spot), we also see this between Kirishima and Mina (search "Kirishima v Mina" to get to the good stuff), Mirio and Tamaki, Ochako and Midoriya (but a sprinkle of confusion with Toga). @dekacchannn talks about this here.

To one another, they are worth saving. They both have a tendency of being a little self-sacrificing. Quirkless Midoriya throws himself at the Sludge Monster for Kacchan's sake, he goes back and grabs Bakugo's unconscious body during their exam, he runs on pure adrenaline at the training camp to go after Bakugo despite shattered bones and.. the list continues. For all of Bakugo's strength, most people assume he can take care of himself. Worse, many people assume he's simply irredeemable, with a temperament that teeters on villainy as discussed when he was kidnapped by the League of Villains. But Midoriya will always have an outstretched hand ready for Kacchan. Being mindful of spoilers, Bakugo will break and crack if it means he will Win to Save. He proves this when Deku is threatened because, despite his newfound power and exponential growth, despite being The Chosen One... at the end of the day, he needs someone to take him into account because he's simply "screwed up in the head" to do it himself and Bakugo knows this better than anyone.

Thank you for your patience in reading this rant and your curiosity in asking! I hope someone kisses you on both cheeks today because you made my day =)

Your question didn't seem ship specific so I didn't answer with that in mind. If I interpreted your question incorrectly, feel free to let me know though you can probably infer from the above.