AKA the AU where Toshinori Yagi is All Might’s secret alcoholic brother and Izuku takes an inordinate liking to him, much to his dismay
Since @haptronym’s comics have garnered some well-deserved love and attention, I figured someone might enjoy knowing a little more about this deranged AU. So up there you can find a link to a google doc containing what we came up with so far.
WARNING: this doc is literally a jumbled mess of poorly copypasted, not-spellchecked, not-in-chronological-order random ideas and conversations I’ve been dumping in Haptronym’s DMs over the course of months, while they patiently nodded along the madness without ever finding it in themselves to stop me. It’s entirely unedited and probably barely intellegible. Don’t expect fic-quality stuff or meaningful storytelling. Expect crack, poor grammar and childish word vomit. If you want decent presentation and order and method, stick to Haptronym’s comics.
I think I'll just liberally imagine that this hand did indeed belong to last chapter Toshinori, who was casually strolling among the UA cherry trees and reminiscing about the past as he was waiting to ambush Izuku
...only to suddenly spot a giant floating END kanji close by and going "...what the FUCK IS THAT"
The pervasive takes along the lines of "CLEARLY the only reason why Torino is still alive is so the narration can PROVE HIM WRONG about his cruel murderous opinions and just about everything he ever did in his life" have aged like the finest of wines
Toshinori can't hear it through the heavy rain and the thick curtain of his despair, but Hercules' radio is most definitely playing Despacito in the background
Rereading the Black Hero Arc with the knowledge that 1) the suit was there all along and 2) Hercules is capable of speech and of somewhat indipendent planning and action is going to gift me the most hilarious bits of fridge logic, I can tell. Have just a couple of examples
The 'over my dead body' moment, but framed from the goons' eyes so that you can see that, while Toshinori is busy shouting like a maniac in righteous anger, what they're actually terrified of is Hercules slowly producing a ballistic-looking missile from the roof and aiming it at them
Toshinori, with his back still to the car, unaware of anything while the goons are running away: "Mph! At least I still have some intimidation in me."
Hercules, retracting the unused missile: "Impressively done, sir. Shall I try to track down Midoriya's position while you suit up?"
T: "Yes, if you- suit up? Why?"
H: "You will reach him faster by flying in a straight line over the buildings rather than driving in a zigzag across ruined streets."
T: "...But that would ruin the surprise of the suit. I'd rather drive there."
H: "But it would be more helpful if you reached his position already in full battle gear, immediately ready to assist him against the assassin-"
T: "Eeeeh, I'm sure he'll be fine. Come on, unstick yourself from that wall, we're driving."
or also
Toshinori, kneeling in the mud in front of the spilled bento, dramatically wailing at the sky, smashing his fist on the ground: "Curses! Curse my own weakness! He's left me behind! And I have no way of reaching him, now that he needs me the most! Oh, cruel fate! If only, IF ONLY, I had some way of possibly catching up to him! If only I had THE MEANS of possibly matching his speed, even partially, if only I had Ida's engines, or artificial thrusters, or ANY KIND OF TOOL that allowed me to close the gap between us even briefly, so that I could shout at him the things I need him to hear! Alas, I am stuck here, earthbound, powerless and useless-"
Hercules in the background, to itself, the suitcase very visible on the passenger's seat from the open door: "...Should I remind him, or...?"
No matter how this fight will end, I will always privately cherish the image of the final confrontation between the Symbol of Peace and the Symbol of Fear ending, in some alternate universe, with bloodied, barely standing, armor-in-pieces, utterly deranged Toshinori beating the shit ouf of 4-year-old All For One with a lead pipe screaming to the high heavens "THIS IS HOW QUIRKLESS TRASH WINS A FIGHT, YOU PIECE OF FUCK"
Part 3 of comparing canon to fanon! This one’s long. Previous posts are about Quirklessness and Toshinori’s appearance. The appearance one is slightly relevant here.
This one is… absolutely fascinating to me. This assertion is “unspoken canon” among a lot of All Might fans. It was for me, too, for a long while. There’s plenty of reason for him to have pretty severe mental health problems, considering everything he’s been through. I mean, just look at him.
But… things didn’t quite add up for me. So this post examines what got me into this idea, then what made me decide that it, ultimately, didn’t really fit him the way I once thought it did.
For anyone really interested in how a mass murderer could possibly be redeemed or welcomed by “normal” society, especially a teenager like Himiko Toga, I am begging you to please read the seinen series Vinland Saga. Or watch the first 2 seasons of the anime, which are out in sub and dub. It’s a more mature story set in the Viking era during the reign of a young King Canute (or Cnut) the Great. It’s not just a gore fest — it’s about a kid who becomes a child solider and as a young adult has to find his way to atonement, friendship, and peace. (And my summary isn’t even beginning to do the series justice with its parallel treatment/foiling of Canute’s rise to power!)
For those who say nobody could love or want to reach a murderer, please read at least one interview with Sue Klebold, the mother of one of the Columbine shooters. It’s a harrowing perspective and a difficult read, and it will challenge your preconceptions about the topic. https://www.npr.org/2016/02/16/466618817/sue-klebold-mother-of-columbine-shooter-carries-him-everywhere-i-go-always
I am going to respectfully disagree. Himiko Toga has much more in common with Thorkell than she does with Thorfinn. In fact, she has the most in common with Garm, who was shown to derive happiness from massacring people as a child (for the sake of anime-only watchers - the character will probably appear in season 3). I cannot speak of Thorkell's childhood, but the man appears to be an adrenaline junkie. If he cannot engage in an armed conflict, he beats up bears. In his mind, war is the best thing ever.
Meanwhile Thorfinn never took joy in fighting. He became a mass murderer because he was raised by mass murderers after they had killed his father. When he engaged in violent acts, it was either out of necessity or out of anger - the motivation always came from the outside, not the inside (perhaps with the exception of beating fellow kids up back on Iceland).
Finally, Toga believes she should be able to do as she pleases without facing discrimination for it. In her case, doing as she pleases means sucking people's blood. Sucking people's blood makes her feel good. She does not care they are hurt in the process. While it may be true those tendencies developed because of her quirk - which she did not chose - it does not release her from liability for giving in to them. A person like this should be medicated - forcefully if need be.
To sum it up - Toga, Thorkell and Garm are insane while Thorfinn is a victim of his circumstances.
Just for the record - I do not hate any of these characters. They all serve their purpose in their respective stories, which is the most important thing.
I appreciate the thoughtful post! However, I don’t really agree with the analysis of Toga vs Thorkell. Thorkell is a warrior who isn’t particularly idealistic. He flip-flops on who he’ll fight for, and is motivated by fighting for sport (as you pointed out, he fights bears). He has a classic form of “bloodlust” and is a violent warrior, standing out even among a violent Viking society. Toga, on the other hand, kills because she needs blood. Blood is her language, and she correlates it with love (a positive thing for her). She doesn’t HAVE to kill, it’s just that nobody has ever volunteered their blood before, so she’s never had a steady supply. In her mind, more blood = more beautiful = the more she feels happy, safe, and loved. And in a fair and equitable society, she SHOULD be able to have that feeling without discrimination. Her quirk isn’t her fault. That’s what she’s unrepentant about. There has to be a way for her to live how she wants, meaning obtaining blood within the confines of hero society. If Toga could get that same blood without killing, I think she’d do it because she wants to fit in. Toga wants mundane teenage conversations. She doesn’t want her friends to die, or to be in the middle of a war. She doesn’t have the same “bloodlust” like Thorkell, even though she is an unrepentant serial killer.
I have not read Vinland Saga, so I’m casually skipping that whole comparison, but there are a few things in this last reply of yours that I really cannot get behind and that seem to blissfully ignore the sheer selfishness of Toga’s behavior here, and chalking up way too much to society.
I was enjoying this latest chapter just fine right up until the point where Ochaco started talking about Toga’s smile, and there it kind of hopelessly lost me. I see the point that I think Horikoshi is trying to make - it makes 100% sense that Ochaco should try to reach out to Toga in every way possible, it’s in line with the concept of ‘hero’ that’s been building for the whole story: someone who tries to help everyone, always, with their entire self, even when there’s no hope of success in sight, it’s an emotional and moral imperative that trumps everything else, including logic and self-preservation. No perplexities with the direction this fight is taking. My problem is mostly with the execution of this concept here, as in with the... particular way that Ochaco chose to approach this conversation with Toga.
To explain what I mean, follow my comparison. Let’s pretend that Toga’s problem isn’t about craving blood, let’s pretend that it’s about craving sex, specifically homosexual sex. I think the comparison stands pretty well: sexual cravings have both a physical and psychological component (like Toga’s crave for blood), sex is largely spurred by and associated with positive feelings and love, its repression causes deep-rooted grief and psychological problems both in the short and in the long run, and homosexual urges in particular are often forbidden and labelled as disgusting and unnatural 'just because', simply as an emotional visceral response to diversity and for no logical reason. All this applies to Toga's blood-based quirk pretty well - not to mention that Toga often speaks and is drawn in rather suggestive ways, which I think reinforces the comparison in its own way. Anyway, after over a decade of repression, Toga finally decides to stand for the rightfulness of her urges, and she does so by forcefully and violently taking what she craves from other people: in other words, in my metaphorical setting, Toga becomes a homosexual rapist.
Now you can probably glimpse where my confusion about the recent chapter comes from. Of all the possible approaches Ochaco could have taken to reach out to Toga, it seems... odd, to me, that her approach was "ACTUALLY I DON'T PITY YOU. I KIND OF ENVY YOU FOR HOW FREELY AND BOLDLY YOU LIVE YOUR SEXUALITY". Said to a rapist. It's. Bizarre. When you compliment someone for their guts and honesty and willingness to stick to their guns... you aren't usually doing it when this someone is using their guts to deliberately harm other people. You also, probably, would not offer to let the poor repressed rapist have sex with you for the rest of your life so they can satisfy their cravings. Especially because lots of rapists have much deeper psychological issues than 'I want more sex', it takes more than 'feeling really horny and unloved' for a person to decide to rape others. A certain blinding disregard for other people's dignity and autonomy, for example.
Anyway, you said that "In a fair and equitable society, she SHOULD be able to have that feeling without discrimination."
No. Nononono, absolutely not. I cannot disagree more. We're talking about blood here, man. Nobody, in a fair and equitable society, is entitled to get blood unless someone willingly gives it. If you have a poor sod next to you that's literally bleeding to death, and another sod right next to the first who's perfectly fine, not even in that context, to save a life, would you have the right to take the second person's blood against their will. Medically speaking, under no circumstance it is morally acceptable to force someone to harm themselves, not even for the sake of another, and drawing blood does count as 'harm', so much that in my country it isn't even legal to sell blood. Hospitals can't buy it. it's either donated for free, or not at all, it is forbidden by law. If you claim that Toga is entitled to have blood simply because she wants it and makes her feel loved, you may as well claim that incels are totally entitled to complain about women who don't give them sex, to call back to my earlier comparison. You cannot simply blame society for not catering to an individual's wishes when said wishes can't help but damage another, unless willingly granted. The freedom to seek love/satiate cravings goes hand in hand with the freedom to refuse to give them. Toga does not in the slightest take into account the other party's right not to cater to her tastes, and so don't you, for some reason.
The only thing Toga was ever owed was for her needs to be examined objectively and rationally. They were not, but it seems immensely biased to build this whole narrative around her as a 'poor child only looking for love'. If she could get blood without killing she would, you say. Eh. I'm not so sure. With repression come vengefulness, anger, violence. There are ways to get blood without killing people, you know. I used to work in a private analysis lab. No particular security whatsoever, lots of blood vials left on the counters for any random thief to nab. There are hospitals, blood banks. All presumably much easier to bust than Tartarus.
This last bit is pointless speculation though, and Toga didn't rob hospitals either because Horikoshi didn't think of that, or because she genuinely enjoys the violence, I don’t have enough elements to prefer one of these two explanations. My point is: Toga isn't owed blood. She's owed some decent medical and psychological evaluations, for sure, to understand exactly why she craves blood (is it a physical need? Psychological? Both? Can animal blood be enough, if emotional connection is given via other means? There are so many unknowns at play), and if this crave is proved to be intrinsic to her, then, if someone volunteers to donate it, she should have it. But never let it be said that the whims of one should cost another even a gram of their flesh.
If Midnight overheard this, she’d lament the fact that the kitten happened to be male, because you can only get few rare chances in life to hear the Symbol of Peace utter the words “stroking my pussy”, and she just missed one.
Today on "Ideas that ran away from me beyond repair thanks to Haptronym's well-meaning curiosity and inputs", something that definitely never needed to exist and yet it somehow does: a Toshinori and Izuku-centric Evangelion AU.
This one comes with a few caveats: this thing completely lacks the complexity and the fascinating worldbuilding of the source setting, borrowing only a few technical setpieces here and there, and ends up being more of a generic Monster Of the Week kind of deal. Izuku and Toshinori's characterizations are also somewhat heavily revised to better fit the bleakness of Evangelion's mood. Last but not least, one notable element of the story is the unrequited crush Izuku eventually develops for his much older, much revered fellow pilot, so thread carefully if the topic bothers you.
WARNING: this doc is basically a largely unedited, non-spellchecked, non-in-chronological-order chat log. It is probably barely intellegible. Don’t expect fic-quality stuff or meaningful storytelling. Despite all this, hopefully this can still entertain for a few hours those 3 or 4 people on the entire planet who might find such a niche concept remotely interesting.
When I say that I have no visualization skills whatsoever and I therefore deeply appreciate any and all inputs you have on the matter, this is not what I mean
Today on "Ideas that ran away from me beyond repair thanks to Haptronym's well-meaning curiosity and inputs", something that definitely never needed to exist and yet it somehow does: a Toshinori and Izuku-centric Evangelion AU.
This one comes with a few caveats: this thing completely lacks the complexity and the fascinating worldbuilding of the source setting, borrowing only a few technical setpieces here and there, and ends up being more of a generic Monster Of the Week kind of deal. Izuku and Toshinori's characterizations are also somewhat heavily revised to better fit the bleakness of Evangelion's mood. Last but not least, one notable element of the story is the unrequited crush Izuku eventually develops for his much older, much revered fellow pilot, so tread carefully if the topic bothers you.
WARNING: this doc is basically a largely unedited, non-spellchecked, non-in-chronological-order chat log. It is probably barely intellegible. Don’t expect fic-quality stuff or meaningful storytelling. Despite all this, hopefully this can still entertain for a few hours those 3 or 4 people on the entire planet who might find such a niche concept remotely interesting.
I will always love that Midoriya just one early morning decided to climb up a huge pile of junk and scream to the top of his lungs JUST AS All Might came, as if one cue, to witness this and All Might's reaction was just "Oh my... GOODNESS!!" 🤣
That right there, is an iconic moment, I don't care what anyone says.
A normal, sane adult seeing a lone, partially undressed teenager howling at the high heavens from atop a mound of refuse on the morning of the very important school test said teenager has been stressing over for months, would have likely thought “...Oh. Oh dear. He’s having an emotional breakdown, isn’t he? I gotta help - get him down there, bring him home, speak to his mother-”
But All Might, Symbol of Peace, universal role model and inspiration of the masses, oozing common sense as much as a glacier oozes lava, goes “...Oh. Oh, THAT. THAT IS BADASS” and proceeds to force-feed him his bone-breaking hair within the next three minutes
Props to Elecplant, who apparently was already a pro during All Might’s last year of college and is still in gainful hero employment some forty years later. Looks like he stuck with the exact same hero costume design for all this time too. Truly a man of habit.
Now you can put your fears about your future career to rest, Izuku. Even if you fail the UA admission test and can’t become a hero, Mr. Yagi can put a good word for you and introduce you to his organization as his kobun :)
