Touya Is A Drama Queen (/pos), You Can’t Just Fit Him In A Tiny Case

drew this helpful diagram for mha fans who don't understand what a character arc is

midoriya-sensei!

drew this for pride month and forgot to post it here, oopsie

thoughts on dabi's identity reveal

i love dabi's identity reveal, it's the most dramatic thing he could have done and i love him for that.

but

i wish it had a bigger impact. of course this is obviously bc horikoshi decided the end of the todoroki storyline needed to focus on endeavor. but let's ignore that and pretend it's just because this reveal happened in the middle of a national crisis.

so what if touya had decided to do his identity reveal on a random day?

think about it. the sun is shining, the birds are singing, everything is fine. and then, out of nowhere, every single billboard and tv channel broadcast dabi's video (same as canon, without the "hawks killed twice" thing, perhaps replaced by dabi revealing he's been in contact with hawks or something). it only takes mere minutes for everyone to be aware of what's going on, and now all eyes are on touya.

1-A is in the dorms when this happens, it feels like a repeat of the endeavor vs high end fight. shouto is a mess, no one understand what's happening, even aizawa is confused as fuck.

meanwhile, endeavor is in his agency. he's watching the whole video from his computer, completely flabbergasted. even if he wants to claim dabi is a liar doing this for attention, but he knows deep down he'd be lying to himself.

hawks is watching everything too. he feels like his entire life has been a lie. the hero who saved him for his abuser ends up being an abuser too. (can you tell i hate how hawks always remains a endeavor fanboy in canon?)

during this shit show happens, dabi wanders around, burn a ything with endeavor's face in it, and watches how civilians are reacting. he's focusing on that while deciding if he'll go to endeavor's agency right after the end of his little broadcast, or if he'll let the information sink in.

it took 24 years but he finally got what he wanted. all eyes were on him. no one would ever be able to throw him aside and ignore him. he stills wants to keep on his suicide mission - it's either him or endeavor - but at least he got to enjoy having the attention for a while.

so yeah, touya is a dramatic little shit who wanted the attention that he deserved.

[i might turn this into a fic if i ever get the time]

our view his view

OMG YES!

i’ve been thinking about this too

honestly, edgeshot should’ve died

would have bakugou blamed himself? yeah probably. but the sacrifice would have been more impactful.

the aftermath doesn’t match with how the arc felt. in a way, i expected more. remember the theories saying kirishima would die? if i’m not mistaken, the ones who got hurt the most are bakugou (he died but got brought back to life), izuku (but eri helped him), and ochaco (but she got helped quickly enough to not get any damage)

i also thought all might wouldn’t make it ngl. it’s been implied since the beginning that his injuries were severe and that he would end up dying if he kept being reckless. but i guess the power of friendship saved him idk

on one hand you have gege (the author of jjk) being criticized bc he get rid of too many characters, and on the other hand you have horikoshi who keep too many

and to focus back on the league, shigaraki says he “destroyed till the very end” but the only things which have been explicitly destroyed are 1) the cities and civilians who have been killed but there’s not much focus on them tbh and 2) the league. the only ones alive at the end are compress and spinner, and they’re most likely both in jail (perhaps dabi is still alive but it’s just a theory (a game theory) so i’m not counting him)

The Problem with the League of Villains

this is just me ranting after reading many people say that the lov deserved a better ending (i agree with them don't worry). most of that stuff has already been said but i'm bored and need something to write

so why is everyone disappointed?

by definition, an antagonist is someone that goes against the main character(s) and a villain is someone who does immoral and/or illegal things (wow, shocking)

so by definition, the league of villains is aptly named. shigaraki and dabi are mass murderers, toga is a killer too, and even if the others are 'less dangerous' they're all guilty of terorism and kidnapping a teenager.

not nice, right? then why would anyone would want them to have a good ending?

long story short: horikoshi made the league too sympathetic and relatable

when horikoshi has decided to make them funny, he's decided to make them likeable. that's not enough though. you can find a fictional villain funny and not root for them (for some reason the examples that comes to my mind are the disney villains. captain hook is hilarious but no one wants him to win)

the cause of everyone's disappointment is the relatable part. everyone in the league has gone through stuff viewers can relate. touya, shigaraki and toga have been abused; twice has mental health issues (and stuggling to get a job is relatable too lmao); spinner has been discriminated against... you get the idea

and even without knowing their backstory, most of the league's fights can be considered noble: they want to change society and make the world a better place. to take a more precise example, the league kidnapped bakugou because they thought he had gone through similar struggle as them

(this is mr compress talking in chapter 85) as far as i've seen, most of the fandom either think bakugou being chained and muzzled at the end of the sport festival was just comic relief or agree that it was fucked up

so yeah, you can't put a group of people rejected by society, who just want a better world and expect people to not like them

and that's why their ending is disappointing (the rest contains heavy spoilers of the last few chapters of mha)

they're all either in jail or six feet underground. we rationally could understand it, they're all criminals/villains so of course they wouldn't get a happy ending and face consequences for their actions. the only one who could have gotten away with it is shigaraki because of all the grooming/brainwashing he's gone through and maybe toga because she's a child

but if you relate to a character, you want them to get a happy ending. of course fans would want dabi to be at peace, but instead he's forced to spend his last moments being stared at by his abuser). of course fans would want shigaraki to be free from afo (but instead his only freedom was death). of course fans would want toga to be understood and cared for (but she never had that opportunity)

that's not very 'save to win' out of you horikoshi

maybe it's just a shortcut made by the fandom, but the league are seen more as victims of abuse than actual criminals. i mean, what's more important in dabi's story? the fact that he burned himself alive after overworking himself to get his abusive father's attention, or the fact that he's burned people alive? probably both, but there's more focus on the first element.

and obviously we would want abuse victims to get a happy ending

basically, their ending isn't coherent with what we've seen of them, and that's why people are disappointed

btw, the same logic applies to stain. some fans agree with stain's reasoning bc he's fighting against corruption. of course, his logic is stupid and he's delusional but he's introduced not long after we've discovered shouto's past. you can't say "one of the most popular heroes is abusing + all he wants is to get n°1 to satisfy his own ego" and then follow with "see that guy fighting against corruption? he's bad, don't do that"

the clever way to make sure no one would agree with stain would have been to make the heroes fight against injustice with good methods. i live for the fanfics in which izuku takes down the hpsc

okay i'm done ranting thanks for reading

I'm an Enji todoroki hater. Idc

THAT BITCH SHOULD'VE STILL DIED

rei recognizing her son immediately at first glance when he came on that tv but endeavour failing to do so in their fight pre-war knowing that he’d probably seen pictures of him on the news beforehand and still not seeing touya through dabi will forever break my heart

NO LIKE LITERALLY THOUGH!!! it’s genuinely so heartbreaking!!! but i also think a mother can just recognize their spawn like,, that’s her eldest sitting on that couch. her eldest baby, scarred and sutured to shit. her eldest baby, admitting to murdering 30+ innocent people. her eldest baby, presumed dead until this very moment.

speaking of rei and touya, i fucking love the way she goes to reach for him in chapter 426 when he starts coughing!! like !!!!!!!!!!! oh my heart just shattered when i saw it, especially since i rly do believe that touya is 90% his mother.

I think the reason why I’m so upset wit the end of MHA is that, while it had been building up to the hero students saving their villain, the ending was instead just “if you’re too damaged and traumatised you’re beyond saving and just need to be put out of your misery”. Friend, I’m holding your shoulders and shaking you so please believe me: no one is ever beyond saving. I say this as an abuse survivor who has experienced things that would make most people shit their pants full. Please understand that post-traumatic growth exists. Post-traumatic joy exists. Post-traumatic love exists. Friend, you are not too damaged and you will go on to live a wonderful life.

Still babygirl to me.