Atlasofoverthinking - ✩Atlas✩

my biggest pet peeve concerning dabi’s design is the staples and especially the fact that we’ll probably never know when and how he got them

his scars deteriorating over the years could make sense tbh, depending on what we imagine dabi has done until he joined the league, but the staples?

they’re a way to say “hey his body is falling apart” and that (has op said) doesn’t really make sense with the information given during dabi’s introduction.

and even if you justify it by saying that, quirk usage or not, his body deteriorated, how did he get them?

if ujiko had been the one stapling touya’s body, it would’ve made more sense + more gruesome. imagine the scene when touya sees himself after he wakes up but his face is also stapled together?

anyways, i still love all the justifications/headcanons in fanfics to explain the staples

dunno if I should call this a headcanon or a theory and I know Horikoshi just went with what looked cool but the more I think about Dabi's initial design when he came to the League in the context of what we learned about him and what we saw happen to him during the second war, the less sense it makes that his body was already in that state.

according to the anime, he was learning by watching Endeavor's videos online. before Sekoto, he wasn't learning from any source at all and went about his training intuitively, but after Sekoto I strongly doubt he would be actively practicing his quirk, for a multitude of reasons. his body was still healing from the skin transplantation, the trauma associated with accidentally burning himself to death, plainly not having a place to train a fire quirk, which tend to be flashy and to use your quirk in public, having a provisional license is required, otherwise he risks getting arrested. he did a very good job staying out of the public's eye for the 7 years since he escaped AFO, who was also implied to be unaware of Touya surviving for so long.

so as far as we know, all he did for those 7 years is lay low and be very online. which makes his remark to Spinner hilarious ngl, at least Spinner sprung up to action as soon as he saw something that had inspired him, while Dabi had spent 7 whole years sitting on his very personal trauma and not going to therapy.

when Giran brings him to Shigaraki, he doesn't share any information about Dabi save for him being very invested in Stain's ideology. no criminal records, maybe, but not even a word of his absurdly strong quirk? no mentions of arson at all? they did discuss Toga making it to the news, so Dabi being left out like that was a bit weird in the context of the conversation, like him seeking out Stain's contacts was enough reason to let him join the League. he won't be useful to you, Shigaraki, but he's got the spirit. please take him in, he has nowhere else to go?

if you really look at the way Dabi uses his quirk until MVA, it's noticeable how he seems to have no idea what he is doing. there's no technique, no finesse to his moves, just throwing out huge blasts of fire with his hands and hoping for the threat to leave him alone.

when Shigaraki attacked him (fully provoked) his reaction was too slow to summon any flames at all, and if it weren't for Kurogiri, that would have been it for Dabi.

When he is fighting Geten and starts going beyond his limit, he scares himself with the increased fire output. because, yup, overusing his quirk by accident was the source of his trauma.

the databook puts his technique as the weakest of his stats. his power is huge and eventually allowed him to become the strongest fire quirk user in the BNHA universe, but his technique was extremely lacking.

all of the above just doesn't paint the picture of someone who has been consistently mastering his quirk for 7 years. rather, it gives the picture of someone who had just started using his quirk for the first time in years, having background training from his childhood.

it's not even that Dabi isn't hardworking as hell or doesn't have the potential to be trained, because he's a complete opposite. continuously going beyond his limit, despite his own body getting in his way, mastering Enji and Shouto's complicated techniques they have worked for weeks/months/years on in a matter of minutes after just observing it. surely, he has been watching Enji and learning the way his father uses his quirk for years, but putting theory to practice? i doubt he even had the chance, before joining LOV.

he had to wait, because starting to actively use his quirk sets the clock into motion, counting down the time he has left. he is like a candle, destroying himself with his fire, until nothing is left at all. he had to make sure his plan of revenge will have a chance to succeed before fully committing to the 'Dabi' route, a slow and agonizing process of cremating himself by continuously using his quirk. because when he really starts using his quirk for long stretches of time? this is what happens to him.

to conclude this post, I know why the final design was chosen (because it's cool as fuck) but after analyzing the crucial points of Touya's story and his relationship with his quirk, I really think him joining the League with post-coma design would have made more sense. once he had started really using his quirk, his body would slowly degrade to the state Dabi's was in, because his fire literally melts his skin. but his body already having 40% surface third degree burns, when he didn't even use his quirk the entire time, perfectly holding up up until the first war arc and then quickly starting to burn down? idk, seems a bit inconsistent?..

anyway, i love the concept of Dabi's skin slowly and inevitably burning down after he had joined the League. him losing more and more skin until there's barely anything left, when he reveals himself to his father and is bitter at the lack of recognition, because burning himself to the point of being unrecognizable was one of the many sacrifices he had made to be finally seen by Endeavor.

also, more of this. because this was bittersweet as hell

family workout 🥱

gradient map / alternative colors

horikoshi said 'hands are hard to draw :(' at the beginning of bnha and then went 'but what if hands... but as a metaphor for trauma? what if hands as a metaphor for abuse? what if hands as a metaphor for manipulation and supression? what if hands as a metaphor for alienation? what if hands, but as a metaphor for loneliness? what if hands as a metaphor for grief? what if hands as a metaphor for love? what if hands as a metaphor for the desire to be understood? for longing? what if hands as a metaphor for human connection? what if hands as a metaphor for hope? what if hands as a met-' and honestly it was so poggers of him.

Merch drop

EraserMic Family 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦

Ahhhh I wanted to draw him again so i did because I love him so much! I tried to go for horikoshi's style but it's not the best! But I hope you enjoy it!

Bakugou makes the claim that he's a bigger All Might fan than Deku is, and this really pisses Deku off. He starts listing every single piece of merch he has, and sure, a lot of it Katsuki has as well, but he stopped collecting merch years ago while Izuku is still going strong! But the entire time Katsuki just sits there with an infuriating smirk, nodding along, the entire time claiming he's still the bigger fan.

Finally Izuku just throws up his hands and demands to know what makes him the bigger fan.

"I have a one of a kind piece of All Might merch no one else in the world has, worth a shit ton more than your crappy collection."

And Izuku's brain just starts trying to figure out what piece Katsuki could have, how much it's worth, where he got it -

Katsuki leans forward and gives him a long, hard kiss, shutting down his brain like always.

"I've got his heir."

A few seconds of stunned silence while his brain tries to reboot before

"KACCHAN!"

Todobros. The hoodies were a present from Natsuo.

Y’know, a lot of people think that Aizawa wouldn’t want Midoriya to become a teacher so he can “have some peace”, but honestly, after everything that happened in the war, I think he’d enjoy having someone from 1A around. He cares so much for those kids. Now he can only watch them be heroes through a TV screen. At least having one nearby to check on, maybe share lunch with, grade papers, and talk about the new generations of heroes together.

And think about it. They both had a highly sought after quirk that they both lost in the war. Aizawa’s really the only person at UA who knows exactly what that’s like.

Midoriya would also help with anything involving Eri. Need someone to make food for after band practice? Got it. Need someone to take you to competition? Absolutely. The two are unstoppable together.

And honestly, I think Aizawa sees Shirakumo in Midoriya. He sees a dream that was taken too quickly. He asks Midoriya if he’s lonely, because he knows how painful it is to be separated from his friends. He may still put up a gruff exterior, but I think he really wants Midoriya to do his best, take pride in his work now.

I headcanon he put in the recommendation for Midoriya to come teach. Just like Nemuri did for him.