#to him adapting to himself and his own path with ofa

[ilovereadingandstuff]

Bro, and to think Deku's costume went from change to change to end up bring bkdk colors, haha.

You know Bakugo, GEMG Dynamight, was made to be Deku's partner from the ground up because even his costume's highlight colors are orange and green only.

[strixop]

warning// bhna spoilers

so, quirks. specifically, erasure.

we know that quirks generally are just like another lego brick or another, very odd limb, a connection to an individual, from nothing but biology. so when we can see toga explain that she knew that her quirk was about drinking blood by her instincts, when someone may clench their fists out of frustration, aizawa, or eraserhead would activate his quirk, assuming he wouldn’t be restraining himself.

though this is mostly speculation from a person who gets most their information from binging the entire show within a 48 hour timespan, and catching up to date on the manga till 3am before being out sick with a fever for a week, and a distorted mishmash of smart sounding tumblr posts and fanfiction, i claim no actual smarts on this mans quirk or the technicalities, though i came up with this funky little theory at 2 am, and it was funny enough to write down.

from my web of “proof” the idea that the reason said teacher’s hair floats is due to a small field of electricity being produced, therefore the effects of static electricity would take place from its smaller scaled force, his body. this isn’t an enhancement, it isn’t a cool party trick people in the area can use-it’s a quirk, and specifically aizawa’s, this will only apply to him.

we know that when in very high stress situations- more specifically life to death ones- quirks go through a cheap dollar store version of a pokémon evolution, no cool packaging but suprisingly practical in all the ways except for the intended one. to each it’s own, but what does this very, very plain out human thing- how does emotions effect quirks?

while we could point at examples like twice- a mental block “subconsciously” making him avoid much serious damage from not knowing if he was real or not was the limit for him. but the separation of emotional impact and intentional impact. twice knows and is aware of this condition. in the training camp arc, he avoids contact with enemies. he stays to only a few clones. but he knows why. when he talks a about himself- he speaks about how he doesn’t know, and so he holds back out of fear. while he doesn’t actively say it like this, he still tells the same tale.

twice is faced with a conscious block, not an emotional one.

midoriya on the other hand, is a similar, yet very different situation. specifically speaking on his early ofa arcs, when figuring out how the whole percentages things work with Bad Metaphors From All Might ™, he unconsciously holds back on punches or attacks with humans. being the analyst he is, he’s aware of why it’s happening, but he can’t take that knowledge and apply it.

see, the finicky thing about emotions is that they cannot be described using facts, you could say that it’s simply some funky brain chemicals, that neglects the millions of words written of them, the countless tears or the foundations made of hope. our brains can become uniform, crush under society, and be organized by meaning lists of responsibilities that are as square and routine as iida’s choppy hand motion. but it’s also capable of adaptive ability, it’s capable of saving someone from more then physical means, it’s capable of evoking emotion past a words reaches, so of course it plays a part in how far our minds and bodies can go.

izuku midoriya is a hero to a fault. his psychology is flawed, spending at least 7 hours a day, not including transportation, coincidences, and speculation of family friends, with a very, very destructive person, acting as a personal punching bag or the notes app equivalent for insults for almost 10 years straight. and although bakugou has reached redemption, being in a society as such an esoteric minority- with the older biological normality being seen as a “condition” leads down a path of even more trauma we don’t ever get much insight into other than the few minutes at the beginning.

but although we’re pulling at breadcrumbs with the true origin, we can see it’s effect. he’s not afraid of pain, and he’s happy with suicidal nature as long as it means that others are safe. he lacks almost any self worth, and most of what he does gain is of the fact that he holds bonds that he’s made, and not him realizing what matters is how those bonds were made.

but we know he is internally a hero, he wants to help. he wants to save people. and deep down, sometimes he wants to win. and so when he punches shigaraki, and doesn’t break his arm, we can see a true emotional block. it’s not a conscious choice, he’s okay with hurting himself to benefit another, but internally, his mind was to based around not hurting others to truly put in what could’ve been a detrimental hit.

twice chooses to limit, midoriya doesn’t, his emotions do.

so yes, emotions do impact how quirks work, even if i used some rather,, extreme examples. as to why there even are the barriers between the barriers that are neither emotional nor conscious, i’ll get into another day.

so to my point- if emotions impact a quirk, then if said emotions would work to alter a quirk, it could also, in theory, be used to enhance it. we can already see this in these life to death scenarios, but for the “lesser important then fatality scenarios” like twice and midorya, we can, i’m theory, take the non-mortality-importance and the quirk-enhancement and merge them.

using this logic, by feeling enough of whatever emotion necessary, this could enhance the power or other details of a quirk.

with all of the information that is present, with all of my sleep deprived and on-spot-mixed-with-previous-theories-and-facts-that-i’m-only-62%-sure-are-correct proof, with all the evidence shown, all cards played-

in theory, aizawa could get pissed enough to the point of levitation.

[tsu9live]

Before I start, this is in no offence to anyone else’s opinion. You are all valid and probably make more sense than me. This is a bit of a rant and then a short character study.

Warning: This got too long.

I tend to come online for manga updates and ended up reading through opinion posts because I am a curious cat. Most of the time I come across really well-thought out posts, really valid points. But then MHA is also a soap opera/family drama where the main character is not supposed to have any progress in his story unless its to bolster or move along the other favs . But then they shouldn’t be bolstering his story either because why is a story about Deku’s journey all about Deku?

But then there are people who are happy Deku is finally edgy and they want him to wipe the floor with his classmates who love him and are willing to fight him if only to get through to him. So there are both extremes and honestly there is validity in all these thoughts because despite the writer’s intentions, a reader brings the story to life.

I personally hate making my own predictions because most of the time I feel it ruins the experience of reading a work for me. I go in with different expectations and when the story goes a different way I don’t enjoy it as much but I feel its more my fault.

So I do understand and respect the difference of opinion because there is no fandom without discourse.

In my opinion though, this Deku solo arc was a long time coming and I think Horikoshi has handled it really weird. I’m still trying to understand what he wants us to think about.

A story about heroes and putting your life on the line for someone else is controversial, but, I thought it was a given. Recklessness had been part of Deku’s character but an overly-cautious character would do nothing. Deku’s lack of self-preservation wasn’t unnatural for a hero, he rushed in to save Bakugo from the slime-villain when Pros stood by putting himself at risk but it spurred AM to act. Katsuki experienced it as well during the war arc, when his body moved to save Deku.

Going to Kamino to save Bakugo was suicidal, reckless and potentially flawed but story-wise it made sense. How is hero-work anything than risky? Kirishima and Todoroki initiated it.

Disclaimer: Deku, Bakugo, Uraraka, Momo, Toga and Shigaraki are characters that are very dear to me because they have had me extremely invested since the beginning of the story. This is my personal opinion, flaws, rant... basically me working through my feelings about this manga I had been obsessed with recently.

1) There is an opinion where Bakugo had a right to be upset/angry/bully Deku because he wanted to be a hero but did nothing for it. Firstly, I don’t understand the need to justify his behaviour when he himself has expressed regret on it. People want others to move on from the “go jump off the roof comment” but won’t stop talking about how everything about Bully Bakugo was justified. Deku was weaker, but he had the same dreams, dreams that were the basis of their friendship earlier on. Regardless of how Deku wanted to achieve them, Bakugo had no right to keep trying to stop him from doing so. No, 5, 10, 14 year old Bakugo did not do so because he had the brilliant foresight that Deku would be self-sacrificial and it was for his sake, he was an angry kid and Deku was a timid, wannabe that confused him, intimidated him even. Taking out his anger was a way of working through those feelings. He was in Deku’s words “a punching bag”. In a world where the powerful reign, Bakugo couldn’t understand how a quirk less, weak little boy could think he could stand shoulder to shoulder with someone as gifted as Bakugo. Yeah, society is very much to blame. The change and maturity Bakugo goes through where he is humbled by a cast of amazing hero students who are just as gifted yet with inspiring personalities and then traumatic consequences of being kidnapped, watching his hero use the last of his powers to hold back a great evil, having that fight with Deku where he bared himself open, failing the licensing exam, training with todoroki, the internship... the war has changed him in a way that has brought out his full potential as a hero and a person. There is a lot to admire about him yet I see so many people fixate on headcanons that glorify his every action/word instead of praising the amazing person he has become/how well written his growth has been.

2) “Deku wanted to be a hero and he did nothing for it”. “He could have been a quirkless hero like Batman.” Listen, the story is about AFO vs OFA first and foremost. Hori has done a good job of worldbuilding and adding a cast of interesting characters that its easy to forget what the main plot point of the story is. But it really is about a weak/timid boy who was born with a sort of handicap who dared to dream to be someone strong enough to have others rely on him instead. A lot of the times people want to become something they feel they needed, someone who gave people hope just by existing. Its natural for someone who is ‘considered useless’ to want to be the most useful person ever. His mother didn’t believe he could do it, Bakugo told him repeatedly he shouldn’t even try, everyone else made fun of him, and his hero gave him a wake-up call, no... you can’t be a hero without a quirk. Deku studied heroes and quirks all his life, hoping he’d find something that could work for his advantage. Not every hero relies on physical strength, their bodies are adapted to the nature of their quirks. Deku’s analysis, quick-thinking and impulsive nature is what helped him progress even after getting the quirk because he didn’t gain control until really late. People act like he was handed power, seem to forget he has just learned to use it without consequences. His studies of quirks also made him the best candidate to get new quirks, quirks that he has learned to utilise as tools quickly and efficiently. He was doing what he thought was going to help him become a hero without guidance, without backing and constant discouragements. Its admirable and relatable. If you don’t relate to him that’s fine, your life was different.

Batman was loaded. Deku is not an inventor. The Editors shot that idea down because it would not have survived in a genre where power fantasies are the main hooks. Aizawa, sure he’s training Shinso because he sees his potential now but he would have either expelled Deku/moved him to General studies on that first day for scoring the least in that test. He changed his mind not because of Deku’s quirk but because of Deku’s ingenuity.

When Deku did find his guidance, he tried to do years of work/training in a short period of time. He acknowledges how far behind he is, that the rest are leagues above him and all he wants is to be able to stand side by side with those incredible people and he would go to all lengths to do so. DEKU has never said he wants to be the number one hero. He always says he wants to be one so reliable he saves people with a smile and later on, he wants to be a hero that can save without having other people worry about him. Bakugo works hard, he’s not just exceptional he works hard for it, all of 1A do but saying Deku does nothing when he is constantly shown, studying, training his body, understanding his shortcomings and working on it is just petty. You don’t like him because of his saviour complex, newsflash, that is a hero thing. Hero course is about that, Deku’s is just highlighted because of how often he gets hurt. How can you be a Todoroki stan and hate Deku (although to be fair its your right, I’m just making a point), the kid saw Shouto and decided that it was more important for Shouto to stop hurting and gave him a hell of a fight. I still remember Shouto’s smile, it gave me goose bumps.

Deku’s lack of self-preservation is a part of his programming so much that he hasn’t noticed it yet. Deku broke his bones, but he didn’t realise the permanent damage. When Deku got injured with Muscular, he was never intending to fight him alone. He wanted backup, his phone was broken and he wanted to get Kouta out and tried but Muscular gave him no opening. He was driven into a corner and fought his way out. Like Aizawa said, “He got that injured because he has no intention of dying.” Before rushing to find Bakugo, he informed his superior first, knowing she can spread the message.

The fight with Stain, he messaged his location to all his classmates, didn’t intend to fight Stain alone, just defend Iida long enough for help to come along. Fight with overhaul, he just wanted to get Eri away and when he understood Eri’s power, he gave her the opportunity to fight back against her oppressor by teaming up with him, keeping her secure with the cape made out of Lemillion’s hair. During the whole fight he was present-minded enough to take the fight away from civilians and managed to prevent damage and casualties. During Natsuo’s rescue he played support.

During the war arc, he realised with despair that Shigaraki was coming in all his destructive glory for him and tried to stop him before but he didn’t object to Bakugo joining him. In the movie Heroes Rising (the initially planned ending) he willingly gave OFA to Bakugo, because he trusts him with his life, and was willing to be quirkless again if that’s what it took to keep the kids safe, and himself and Bakugo alive. Its mostly been good decisions on his part.

Its the war arc that’s been his downfall. Watching his childhood friend/rival almost die, his best friend, his mentors almost die while he could barely hold Shigaraki back set off a fight or flight response in him. The seriousness of how Shigaraki came for him and left such death and destruction in his wake because he was not strong enough and AFO is a monster and the sight of Shigaraki and the reality of his situation pushed him down the current path. His solo arc started well because constantly training in the field has helped him master his quirk, and he had the backup of the vestiges who trained and guided him in learning to use it as a toolset instead of a one-punch solution. Then coming face to face with the flaws of hero society and the power, manipulative nature and destructive intentions of AFO has prepared him emotionally. He is not acting like AM, he hasn’t in a while. He is acting like NANA and i don’t blame him because she’s in his head. No adult stopped him from doing this, instead using him as bait to lure out the league.

When they started realising he’s spiralling out of control, that’s when they realised they messed up.

He’s running on adrenaline/fumes alone and I think he’s actually terrified.

“AFO is OFA’s responsibility” “Tell the world I am here” “You’re not as strong as me yet,” “You are not a worthy successor”

Deku isn’t self-centered and but I agree with the screw loose comment (its years of “you are useless, not good enough, not worthy and I bet a dozen or so concussions, bloodloss, dehydration lol). I know Bakugo means well and that’s how he talks. At the moment, he’s probably the only one whose sole goal is Deku’s survival. Deku’s like a wild animal, terrified, lost and as always backed into a corner. AFO has him where he wants him and I am curious to see how class 1 A are going to get through to him. I don’t want them to fight, all those fanarts of Bakugo reaching his hand out to Deku and then maybe punching him in the face would have been a lot better then the mocking (the slow clap was a little triggering for me) but again maybe it just bothers me and Deku needs it. I’ll just have to wait and see. Deku and his class together would be an unstopabble force and I am waiting for that to finally happen.

P.S. Class 1 A looks so mature, everyone going crazy about Bakugo and his tie and I’m here like, look at baby Kirishima and his roots <3

I’m sorry if I gave anyone a headache lol.

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, Vigilantes 3, Replies Part 1

1) We got koichi’s awakening, his origin point, now let’s see what else we’ll see, on Chapter 3: Nice guy reborn.

Oh this one promises a lot…”- Perhaps the better title would have been “Nice Guy: Rebranded”. Koichi could certainly benefit from some PR boosts the official heroes get in getting others to remember his name and correct title. Stuff like this makes me wants to see more of how All Might got his own Start in heroics, cause I bet when he was Running Around America training, Nobody thought his Hero name was ‘Am Right’ or similar.

2) “Is that fucking Monkey D. Luffy?

With a mustache?”- Be fair, look at Garp’s magnificent example, and tell me Luffy wouldn’t fit a dapper Handlebar. Heck Rodger pulled the look off very well, why can’t the future Pirate king also do it?

3) “And then reality comes around for a vibe check. Yeah, it seems he really wasn’t able to become a hero, as we know, but the way they are framing this makes it clear that it was because he couldn’t get into a hero school, since we know he has the guts to be a hero.”-Arguably, the main difference between Izuku and Koichi was that All might came in and used the ‘irrationality’ of the unbelievable power and concept behind OFA to show Izuku at Dreams can come true, and fantasy can become reality, even if you have to put a lot of effort in to reach it, whereas Koichi never had that happen to him for a long time, and the closest he got was Knuckleduster coming in and telling him to ignore reality and what everybody tells him and just do what his heart desires. 

The greatest Obstacle standing in the way of Koichi’s dream to be a hero was Koichi’s own hesitation and self-doubt, whereas Izuku also had the whole quirk handicap issue to deal with, so clearly to reach the heights Izuku wants to, he’d need a boost to start on his own path, whereas Koichi just needed more positive reinforcement. Of course, the secondary issue of Koichi running into trouble with the law that inevitably follows becoming an illegal hero is a different sort of Handicap that he and Knuckleduster need to deal with going forward.

4) “Oh, Koichi walking away from the light into darkness. The world said no to him being a hero by the law, so he’d become a hero outside of the law. That was a nice visual theme, I liked it.”- 

“The Opposition and Oppression to my dreams were like Clouds blotting out the sun. So, I decided to fight in the shade”- Koichi, Probably

5) “And here we have our team again. The positions they occupy in the page also fit their role, Koichi is up front, as the protagonist, in position to get into action. Behind him is Knuckleduster, as the mentor that guides and helps him, and even though hes bigger than Koichi, they are at the same level, showing that Koichi will sill grow to surpass him.

And above them is Pop☆Step, as the true leader of the group, the only one with a brain.”- It also visually conveys their plans of attack, with Pop up above as a spotter and surveyor of the streets, spotting trouble through her elevation and internet connections alerting her to disturbances around them, Koichi as the front-liner using his more nimble frame and higher speed to reach the scene before things get out of hand and distract the rampaging villain by shifting their attention to himself, where he can dodge and distract them long enough for the slower-but-sturdier Knuckleduster to catch up and take them down like the line-backer from hell appearing out of the darkness.

6) “FUCKING SCOTTSUKE SUMMESTAR AND JAMETARO HOWSTAR, I SWEAR TO GOD…”-Those are far better names than what I had for them, since I just called them ‘the greatest walking copyright violations since Hirohiko Araki literally weaponised all the Product Placement, ever, in part 6’. Seriously, good luck faithfully adapting that part, David Productions, you beautiful mad bastards, you’re going to need all the help you can get

7) “Wait, this doesn’t seems like its happening at night. Are they fighting against villains in the middle of day as well?”-well, yeah. The type of villain they’re specifically dealing with is called ‘instant’ villains, not ‘nocturnal’ villains or anything like that. They can appear anywhere, anytime, just by taking a single shot of trigger. In fact, random rampages and villain sightings are more likely to spontaneously occur throughout town during the day time than at night, where people can shoot up in the darkness away from others and not cause a commotion due to their sudden mutations or out-of-control quirks.  Sure, this means that the vigilantes get plenty of false alerts dealing with minor scuffles between hoodlums and others with minor disrespect towards the law and who willingly use their quirks to gain the advantage in back-alley fighting away from main streets where they’re more likely to be instantly apprehended, but that arguably aids the dealers more, since it’s harder to identify which fights occurring that day were kick-started through somebody taking trigger unless you’re looking hard enough. 

People like Koichi and Knuckleduster don’t have the luxury of resources and the ability to spend time analysing and tracking down which fights involved Trigger in the aftermath, especially since scuffles like these are apparently a daily occurrence in a superhuman society, and they need to keep one step ahead of the cops themselves least they be arrested for illegal hero work, so they go to be the first responders to every fight that occurs nearby, just in case one of them has a lead they can use to track down the next supplier. Nobody said that volunteer hero work would be easy.

8) “Also, Koichi, that seems a lot faster than a bike. I know that last time you also went up the wall pretty fast, but you’re full of adrenaline, so, what gives? Did you manage to train while we were focusing on the crimes against humanity back there?”-Unlike All Might, Knuckle knows better than to throw Koichi into risky situations without proper guidance on how to hold his own or avoid getting hurt, playing to his strengths whislt Koichi gets fighting experience and confidence in how to handle his quirk in combat, even if he’s not yet up to throwing Punches like his maser. 

What he can do, instead, is learn how to better work with what moves and tricks he can pull off already, alongside better gear to avoid getting hurt- which is harder for him than it is for Izuku, since he doesn’t have access to Recovery Girl, so his fighting style is mainly geared around avoiding getting hurt, or allowing others to hurt those around them, in contrast to Izuku, who completely forgets about his own well-being in similar situations. In that respect, Koichi’s already a more technical fighter than Izuku, using skill and speed to control the fighting to an extent, even if he still needs to rely on Old Man Knuckle for the finishing blow. It’s kinda like Airbending Vs Earthbending.

9) “That or they are just baffled by the kid flying towards them at high speeds.”-Literally so, since Koichi again forgot that he’s not mastered the art of landing when he performs his dramatic leaps in the heat of the moment.  Maybe he wanted to make a cool superhero landing to show off his new look, but forgot that he’s not at the level of quirk control to successful pull it off yet- needs to work on his knees more to soften the landing.

10) “Goddammit Koichi, I know its part of the Knuckleduster school of Vigilantism to aim towards the pile of trash, but at least wait a bit more for it; the idea is to use it as a last resort, you need to balance its use as a dramatic entrance as to not make it get boring”-Well, it was the trash or slamming in the steel shutter face-first, so from Koichi’s perspective it was an emergency. Until Knuckleduster installs airbags on his suit to cushion the collision he’s like a car without the brakes past a certain speed point, and without nature’s abundant bounty of trash littered about the streets, Koichi runs the risk of leaving a mark on every wall in the neighbourhood whilst he gets the hang of going over his ‘speed limit’

11) “Now Koichi jut fucks off from there without saying anything, and they’ll be too confused to get back to fighting. Another day, another job well done in the world of Vigilantes.”-

Koichi: I see this as an absolute win!

12) “Oooohhhh… Alright, I get it. I thought that Koichi was unable to go faster normally, unless he was pushed to the limit, but no, he can go faster, but its too dangerous for him. Not because the power takes a toll on him, but because Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in the universe, and sudden stops tend to hurt a little.”- Physics is a Bitch. On the other hand, Koichi now has another parallel to Izuku, bearing a scar on his right arm caused through recklessly using the power of his quirk beyond his ability to control it or withstand the consequences of his power being used unrestrained beyond his limits. The Difference is that Izuku’s ability to withstand pain and suffering for the sake of his dream instead taught him how to continue functioning even whilst experiencing massive amounts of debilitating pain, whereas Koichi’s survival instincts well and truly took the lesson to heart, making him afraid to experiment with his quirk even on his own time, leaving him technically stuck at the beginner level of using it and unaware of its full functionality

13) “Improvised gear, sure, but still pretty damn useful. Definitely not the sort of stuff Koichi would think about, or even be able to afford.”-Now Koichi gets his own version of the ‘Bunny Suit: Mrk 2’- albeit a low-level one without any handy gadgets built into it, but something that works well within his current utility and skillset- heck, I think Koichi actually likes how it looks much cooler on him as much as he likes the ability to shrug off punches and kicks now- at least assuming they’re not quirk powered at any rate.

14) “THAT’S THE REASON OF THAT ASK ABOUT KOICHI BEING A WALL CRAWLER

NOT BECAUSE OF THE SPIDER MAN THEME, BUT BECAUSE THAT WAS A JOKE WITH HIS HERO NAME”- Yep- in fact, I just realised that if he wears those shades on his head, combined with the face-mask he actually does greatly resemble spidey’s classic mask.  Plus, it also fits with the fact that his powers require him to crawl around lower than others, and fits with How Izuku turned the derogatory nickname of ‘Deku” into his hero name, since now Koichi’s turning the fact he used to be somebody looked down upon literally and metaphorically for his acts of off-brand heroism into a cool title to motivate him in his more pro-active vigilante activities.

15) “THEY RECOGNIZED HIM AS NICE-GUY, AND THEY LIKE THAT HE WENT AROUND DOING SMALL STUFF TO HELP THE COMMUNITY”-The problem about turning your image ‘darker and edgier’ at least at first, is that you’ll always have to deal with the fact that you’ve spent a lot of time and effort getting know around town for ‘kiddy heroics’ and not a lot of people are going to take you seriously at your word that you’re now a silent avenger of the night. Doesn’t help that Koichi’s completely lacking his master’s serious tone to back up his statements. Koichi’s gonna have to engaged in a lot more high-risk activities like tackling runaway trigger villains before people start taking him seriously- which as we see at the end, brings it’s own set of problems as well

16) “Oh my fucking god Koichi is being such a cheeky little shit that its making those two livid. Now they’ll put their differences aside and beat the shit out of HIM instead.”-Koichi’s apparently gotten used to being beaten up a lot back when he was still Nice Guy, given how he initially handled the Dumbass 3, so he’s over the moon about how he can now take the hits that would have laid him out before, even if he still can’t throw a punch to save his life.

17) ““HOW’S THAT ARMOR HELPING YOU RIGHT NOW YOU LITTLE SHIT?” -Scottsuke Summestar, probably.”-I wonder if that Visor is another piece of Support Equipment like Aoyama’s belt? Certainly seems a little more high-tech than what we saw in Izuku’s middle school classmates. Good thing for Koichi he can apparently control the intensity of the beam, since he goes from powerful enough to block Jamestaro’s Bokens, to weak enough to be a laser pointer, otherwise Koichi would be blind and beaten. Should have worn the cool Sunglasses instead of dangling them on his forehead.

18) “Those guys are beating the shit out of him, and the only thing that matters to him is that they are calling him by the wrong name, oh my fucking god Koichi, your priorities certainly are in the right place.”-

Koichi: I…OW! I still…OOF! Still see this as…ACK!... absolute w-win…

19) “Those two back there are so fucking confused, they were jut looking to trowing hands as friends normally do, then a fucking squad of weirdos jump in and things just spiral out of control.”-You’d think they’d be used to heroes or authority figures randomly appearing and breaking up the fights, but even for them, Koichi and the Vigilante crew are a brand of weird outside of what they’re normally expecting.

20) “Also, shut up Koichi, the deserve a ass beating after they hurt your pride. And your body. But mostly your pride.”-

Koichi: Ha! Joke’s on you master, I Have no pride for them to beat!

Knuckleduster:… Just for that, I’m going to make an exception for this and use my Goddamn Boots on these punks

21) “I love how Knuckleduster just froze in confusion the moment that Koichi suggested that he stopped punching random people to feel better. He can’t process that maybe there are better ways to spend his time, other hobbies that could be more constructive.’-Knuckledstr.EXE has crashed due to encountering Win.RAR error:nopnch. Please shut down the system and load reboot disk Violence.RAM

@thelreads

[hatefilledpoptarts]

When heroes are human & what comes with growth

Trying to get some of my feelings down on this chapter so I want to take a moment to look a little deeper in the imagery used for this panel in particular.

Its really such a chilling panel in its use of shadows and white space, wherein Toshinori is leaving Izuku as the shadows he leaves behind gradually creep up on him, not quite touching him yet but slowly drawing in on him.

These shadows he creates have taken someone else though.

Clear parallels are being made throughout this arc about Nighteye and Izuku, most prominently felt when Toshinori uses the word fan: 

admiring the same qualities about All Might

wrapped up in his ideals, wanting to be like him

breaking the barrier of admirer, aspiring to be worthy of his respect & confidence

having deep affection & concern for his well-being

and are shocked with the reality of who he is

Not in the way you find out someone you admire is just terrible but just that the person who you admire is flawed in a real way.

This is what I took most from this: All Might, the great and shining hero who left everyone in awe, is very much a flawed human who has hurt those closest to him with his choices and he understands he has but he can’t turn back because that would mean doing something worse, leaving people in fear and what his master gave him was put in the wrong hands.

All Might can’t let go because that’d mean he was wrong, the decision to make sure everyone feels safe and they have this security was not deserved. He can’t back off and let these ideals lose their meaning because that’d mean Toshinori the quirkless kid, who was given a chance by his hero, was a poor choice.

He lives for the all while ignoring the one: himself and those who are close and care for him in a personal way. its the flip side of what is good and righteous, so selfless and in keeping with their ideals they won’t take a step back for themselves. Thats what Izuku is touching on right now, the ideals that seemed so dazzling he missed what it implicates. 

Toshinori has pushed through personal pain and concern for his wellbeing for responsibilities and duties he feels for a whole. He has to keep the peace, he has to provide society with security, its whats held him together for so many years but he’s just a frail man and its scary and sad for Izuku to see this and not fully understand. He thought he knew All Might by now, he thought no matter what All Might had everything together. 

He even thought he knew All Might’s weaknesses except it runs deeper than physical problems.

Toshinori disregards what he has accomplished and done for thoughts of what he can still do, what it is he has to keep doing. These are the shadows he casts over Nighteye, choosing societies security over his own.

Its the truth you come to realize about people, they aren’t perfect, they make mistakes and sometimes what they do will not always agree with you in the end. Its what you get when you get older, the person in your life you accepted would always be right has cracks and those cracks can be scary because it means uncertainty and it means theres not going to be a clean cut answer to all problems, the grey areas start to show. 

All Might wanted to continue being there for the public, putting up a facade, while Sir just wanted him to lead a fulfilling life without understanding Toshinori had given all that up for his career. He could no longer be an average man because everything he’s put himself through has been for the purpose of being that all encompassing hero.

Toshinori knew this was coming. This was the time Izuku was growing past his more childish attitude and was asserting himself, acting every bit the developing teen he is. He’s coming into his own and that means facing something difficult he may not take well. (Sidenote: Toshinori has never given Izuku his real name before, getting that information from Gran Torino, always referring to himself as All Might as though maintaining that image for both their benefits)

Toshinori asks Izuku himself if he’s ready, giving him the chance to go back and be the kid who doesn’t need to know about his demons, he wants to keep him as innocent for as long as he can. This is something he’s put someone in a similar situation through and he regrets it, he doesn’t want to put that pain, disappointment and the weight of who he is on another kid who looks up to him. He didn’t want to let someone else down with who Toshinori is, trying to spare him the shadows he never meant to cast over Nighteye.

But he can’t keep Izuku where he can manage his growth himself, Izuku is impatient and young. The stakes keep going up and more people surrounding him are getting caught in it. He wants results and he wants to be able to accomplish things instead of having more failures, leaving more people in pain thanks to his inexperience.

Izuku has grown so much from the shy, hesitant person he was before who’d give into discouragement and be content with what he has. Izuku is no longer that kid who used to burst with admiration, he’s growing up and part of that is removing the lens you wear when you look at adults/parental figures you admire. Whatever made them perfect in your eyes isn’t the same anymore, seeing them for who they are and knowing there’s something about them that doesn’t fit with what you thought before. 

You have to take the good and the bad with the progress made.

Izuku, for his part, is growing past relying on All Might’s words to carry him, he’s growing into his own and building the confidence and drive to make shit happen. That means holding his own when he’s told he’s not good enough when he would have felt uncertain before.

 And not shying away from conflict when there’s something insidious going on. All Might not telling him this information himself put Izuku’s absolute faith into doubt, he’s learning All Might may not have everything together.

Izuku’s made strides but it means opening up for something less certain. He isn’t disheartened anymore but that doesn’t mean he’ll be told what he does is right, its the first step to learning just how harsh this work really is and his naive beliefs could lead to a worse outcome.

Reality is harsh and his dream is very open to harsher consequence. He has to overcome his naiveté, to adapt and think on his own, what is right and wrong for him and what has to be done. He’s learned he has to come into his own without relying on the image of All Might. But now he has to wonder: ‘whats under that image?’ Its scary to think All Might doesn’t know what he’s doing, your hero might not have a complete handle on life and what he does to himself is self-destructive.

Sir is still stuck on this himself. The shadows that have engulfed Sir Nighteye, the pain Toshinori puts himself through with his lack of self-preservation, are slowly touching on izuku. He starting to know thats who All Might really is, Toshinori the person who has put his image and ideals above himself.

Toshinori says he’s sorry but its not just for the heavy information he’s shared or choosing Midoriya based on chance, its for everything he really is and everything he couldn’t live as. He’s sorry for not ‘truly’ being the man Izuku had looked up to. Toshinori is sorry for the weaknesses he possess and the people who've had to carry the burdens he’s put on them. For being the man who, even after losing half his organs, still pushes himself despite knowing he’ll never last and could die in a horrible way in a foreseeable future. He still knows he could die sadly but pushes through that, not wanting to face himself.

He’s sorry for putting Nighteye through his selfishness and letting Izuku know of it; he’s sorry for not ‘successfully’ embodying the ideals he set out for himself.

Its desolate and nerve-racking and it tears away at him, even if he understands whats best. He’ll never be content and rest on his laurels even after being the first OfA successor to land a considerable blow to AfO. He’ll still keep fighting a never ending battle and may never get the peace he deserves, all because he’ll be anxious if he’s not the one to carry it. Never quite accepting his limits.

He can’t turn back, he has to keep going for himself, its his egotism. Its all he can do is to say he’s sorry and keep going forward because he knows what he’s doing will never reach an end. Thats been his flaw, he can’t stop himself from living this life because its the only one he’s accustomed to.

Everything he’s done was in service to be relied on, it makes him feel lost when he’s the one protected. He has to throw himself into the next labor just to have a goal to shoot for in the greater good (getting Shigaraki out of being a villain). If not, it means facing all he’s denied himself to be that symbol.

All Might may have accomplished more than any hero has before and done everything he could for the world but Toshinori will never be content.

It’s important to have these characters highlighted during this flashback. They’ve gone through what All Might has, they’ve witnessed what he has been through and they’ve had to shoulder through the sometimes troubling choices he’s pushed on himself. 

During the sports fest, All Might couldn’t reprimand Izuku because Izuku was berating his own inadequacy for the situation, he sees far too much of himself in Izuku. Izuku had to learn he couldn’t keep breaking his own body to make sure help was given, he had to learn this himself through failure and troubling those around him, knowing he’s not the only one being affected by his reckless actions.

Chiyo had done her best to nip that behaviour in the bud before it got to All Might levels of troubling, she doesn’t want to continue down the same path they’ve gone down before.

All Might may have been the symbol of peace in society but he’s still Toshinori the man who is frail and can only do so much before he’s worn himself thin but he keeps going regardless of protests. And they are the ones who’ve decided to watch over him since they can’t control what he does, guide and advice but still lack what can set him at ease, giving him the peace he needs. 

They were there then and they’ll continue being there for him the best they can.

And thats the drawback of losing your mentor, they’ll always be the perfect hero in your eyes while never learning their shortcomings.

Toshinori will always aspire and never meet his ideals because he’ll believe Nana could have, she’s peerless in his eyes. He’ll never quite meet her faults in the same way Izuku and Sir have and perhaps he’ll never realize this about himself.

In the end, Izuku is left unsettled by all of this coming from his hero.

The shadows All Might leaves behind have enveloped Sir Nighteye and are slowly finding their way to Izuku.

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 234, Replies Part 1

1) “OH FUCK, NOW HE’S GRABBING THE OTHER HAND AS WELL”-

Re-Destro: “This little Piggy went to market. This little Piggy stayed home. This little Piggy had… Oh dear, it seems we’ve run out of fingers now. Shall we continue with your toes next?”

2) “Oh yeah sure, we’re going back to that debate about how power are tied to the personalities, or maybe how they influence the personalities. Toga, La Brava, Shigaraki, perhaps even AfO, all of them are only a product of their quirks, definitely nothing to do with how society treated them, oh no”- Whilst there does seem to be a correlation between the power and the personality types of the villains and heroes, we’ve also seen how said powers can define or funnel their wielders towards a particular life path or mind-set about how their own Quirk can best to used in their lives going forward. Toga turned out the way she did because her natural urges brought about by her quirk weren’t met, and La brava’s desire to find somebody accepting of her to emotionally support herself did seem to be an extension of her quirks ability, but that’s about where the comparison ends. 

Tomura likely got given his power rather than be born with it, and we’ve seen how AFO used the same ‘powers=personality’ argument to manipulate him into accepting the role of a villain and a killer, and as for AFO himself, his personality was likely warped by jealously towards other quirks, rather than his own quirks nature affecting him, since OFA kinda works along a similar path, yet it hasn’t compelled any of its wielders to pass the powers on, save by necessity to prevent AFO stealing to quirk or ending the line of succession early before it was strong enough to fight back against him. In general, whilst you can tell something about a person by the type of power they have, it isn’t a catch-all be-all scenario where they are definitely influenced by their powers towards certain paths in life- we’ve even seen heroes with villainous powers putting serious effort into using those powers for good- and it’s always the person themselves who has the final say in how they choose to live their lives going forward, for good or for ill

3) “Oh god, somehow Society™ became the villain again”-In a way, especially now we’ve seen Tomura’s backstory in full, society was always the overarching villain/issue of the story- from their POV, both combatants can quite rightly think themselves the heroes of their own stories, fighting back against the oppressive cage of society for the benefit of those whom are on their side against the system- but their methods of fighting back and lack of care for the human cost in lives leaves them firmly on the villainous side. Ultimately, it’s going to be up to heroes like Deku to fix the system and the problems inherent to it, but crucially, he doesn’t even yet realise there are such fundamental issues with hero society yet. Izuku’s never been forced into a situation when the need for a hero to adhere to the laws of society ran counter to the inherent call for natural heroes to save as many lives as they have the power and skill to do so- in fact it’s been adapted, for the most part, as a regular aspect of society, and something that is seen to be rewarded. 

At the same time, like Stain pointed out, the system of rewarding heroism inspired ‘false’ heroics solely to gain the benefits of being seen to be heroic, and these so-called heroes likely couldn’t be counted on to perform the same in a life-or-death situation where they wouldn’t get rewarded for their efforts. The various failing of society has convinced most of the league, and especially Tomura, that there is no such thing as a genuine hero anymore, just people who use the title to uphold the society that rewards them and oppresses those like the league who can’t fit in like the majority. Had Izuku never encountered the league, he’d likely have become a fine hero without question, but he’d still be unknowingly supporting this system of oppression without realising it. The league’s methods of societal reform aren’t correct, but their message does have the ring of truth to it, if Izuku is able to look past the madness and nihilism of the ones spreading it and threatening innocent lives in the process. 

The league are agents of change, change that is desperately needed to reform society into something that’s better than it was before, but they’re not the ones that can do it. It’s up to the next generation of heroes to learn from the mistakes of the past and try to make their new generation better than the last one, but first they’ll have to contend with the angry victims of that same oppression looking to enact their long-desired vengeance on society come whatever cost it may take on them.

4) “Shigaraki wants to build a new world, but he’ll only achieve it by destroying everything in the old one, but you wouldn’t see that as working towards building something.”-At the same time, you can’t build something if you don’t have the available space to start setting the foundations down to support the whole thing going forward, and if you need more space it’s sometimes best to demolish the nearby obstacles around you to ‘make’ more space to build upon. Destruction is as much a part of creating something depending on your intentions, but it often falls under necessary evil, with care taken not to destroy more than you need to. Shigaraki’s just so nihilistic and warped by AFO that he thinks he needs to destroy everything to have enough stable foundations for others to build upon without the rot inherent in the old buildings seeping to the new ones and ultimately dragging them down as well.

5) “Oh what, I thought that was the Father’s hand?”- Nope, it was the hand that gripped his left wrist on his overall costume, and it’s slightly disturbing that he can tell the differences between them to never get which hand goes where mixed up despite their uniform appearances. Tomura obviously had a lot of his self-identity and mental stability wrapped up in those hands, but it’s a little creepy how intimately he must have known them to keep track of every single one

6) “LOOK AT THIS SHIT, HE BASICALLY ADMITS THAT IF HE DIDN’T FORCED SHIGARAKI TO CARRY THE DISEMBODIED HANDS OF HIS FAMILY HE WOULD BE ABLE TO HEAL AND FIND PEACE”- so, jumping ahead a bit, that grey blur in his chest representing Young Tenko’s trauma over his loss of his family and the desire to murder that he discovered whilst doing it looks an awful lot like the in-between screens showing US Young Tenko’s ‘quirk’ developing and growing as his resentment and anger build up, Doesn’t it? AFO describes that ‘wound’ on Tenko’s heart as his source of strength, something he can rely on to control and use his Quirk without it going haywire, so I think it may actually be a bit of both. I’ll get more into detail when we reach the origin again, but basically, I think there’s a connection between the emotional scars and negative feelings Tenko has and his ability to use and direct his quirk like he does.

7) “NO I DON’T CARE HE’S MIDORIYA’S FATHER, THERE ARE FACES THAT DEMAND TO BE PUNCHED”-Thankfully, All Might agrees with you L, and had provided us some of the more satisfying face-punches put to ink in achieving that goal- plus, the more we learn about AFO and how low he’s plumbing the depths of depravity just to screw over Toshinori and his master’s legacy, the most satisfying they become in hindsight. Hopefully, the flashback where we actually see him lose his head will be even more satisfying and visceral.

8) “Terrible choice of words, I must say. Let’s go back to how Shigaraki is losing his mind right now due to the pain, both physical as well as emotional.”-Interestingly, Tomura actually doesn’t seem to be losing his mind form the physical agony he’s feeling from losing about 70% of his hand, but rather the mental and emotional trauma that comes attached to the corpse hands he was using as a ‘living’ emotional crutch to support himself whist he developed and regained himself after losing basically everything to his rampaging quirk. It makes sense that Tomura would learn to handle Physical pain, given his own self-destructive tendencies and willingness to self-harm as a subconscious penance over his ‘bad’ deed of killing his own family like that, and Giganto’s training has only further refined his ability to take the hits and keep coming back for more. However, Shigaraki’s biggest issue and failing as a villain has been his mental weakness, pointed out by several characters over the course of the story thus far, so it makes sense that mental and emotional pain affects him several times worse than physically mangling his body should do. 

Him managing to overcome his own personal crucible and having grown and developed mentally and emotionally enough to handle the trauma and mental pain that comes with it therefore further refines him as a villain and, unfortunately, puts him several steps ahead of izuku, who still struggles with emotional outbursts and self-confidence issues, whereas Tomura’s just found a whole untapped Vein of self-confidence he can utilise however he wishes- enough to even willingly destroy his last remaining emotional link to his family without regret. As a side-note, Tomura’s ability to ignore pain either as a result of his trauma and AFO’s manipulations teaching him to accept pain as his constant companion- to the point that he calms down by inflicting pain upon himself- or from Giganto pushing him so far past his limits that he’s not fully capable of feeling sensations correctly right now- makes a neat parallel to Izuku and his own tendency to keep fighting even with his own broken bones being powderised by his attacks.

@thelreads