Caught by Blueflame(⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

26 leaps around the Sun (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

[thena0315]

[autumnmobile12]

You want some information that makes this situation worse? I can tell you how to make it worse.

One of the Japanese traditions for a new baby's birth is to hold an oshichiya, which is a celebratory family dinner in which the newborn's name is shared with the rest of the family, usually both sets of grandparents. It’s not as common to uphold this tradition these days, but it’s not unheard of and I think the Todoroki family would possibly hold it as traditionalists.

But how does this make Touya’s situation worse?

The oshichiya is traditionally held on the seventh night after the baby is born.

Seven days after Shouto's birthday is Touya's birthday.

So three options, fanfic writers:

He was forced to share the day with Shouto.

His eighth birthday was celebrated on a different day.

With the stress that came with the new baby, Rei and Endeavor forgot. (Option 2 still stands here.)

I know what I’m going with in Ambush Sim.

[x-neurotoxin-x]

Dabi and Nerve Damage

This (rather lengthy) post has been a long time coming as I've found the whole debate on whether or not Dabi could feel pain because of his nerve damage interesting from a medical standpoint. I was made even more curious when it was revealed in his backstory he has damage to somatic nervous system, and then even moreso when he begins talking about not being able to feel parts of his body anymore (his arm, in particular, which was showing the most damage at the time and ends up being the arm he loses during the final battle). Furthermore, i was even more interested in his potential nerve damage when I had a injury to a nerve in my arm myself recent and had to look into it a lot deeper for myself, and strangely enough I've been thinking about Dabi since then.

I thought it would be fun to type up some of this just for meta purposes as well as fanfic reference, since a lot of fanfics seem to brush over Dabi's nervous system issues or just boil it down to "he can't feel things" when actually it's much more complex and interesting than that.

Let's start with the nerve damage; Touya likely had severe nerve damage from burning at the peak, which likely caused long term or permanent damage to his nerve endings as well as the issues with his somatic nervous system mentioned at the facility. Burns, especially of that severity, will cause nerve damage, but third degree and forth degree burns especially often cause permanent damage and can destroy the nerve endings. Nerves and nerve endings can regenerate and regrow sometimes depending on the severity of the damage, how quickly the injury was treated, and the rest and recovery process. Giving Afo's facility the benefit of the doubt and assuming he was properly treated medically for his burns after being (literally kidnapped) taken there, it was possible Touya's nerves may have been able to grow back or regenerate. However, since he immediately started training with his quirk and burning himself again as soon as he woke up, to the degree he's covered in third degree burns and scarring by the time he joins the League, it's safe to assume he didnt/was unable to take proper care of his wounds and likely destroyed all the nerve endings at least in those parts of his body.

Now, what's that like? To put it simply; really, really horrible. Like, i don't think y'all realize how bad of a condition this would be to live with. Nerve damage causes an array of physical issues and challenges; including numbness, muscle weakness (especially in the limbs, which can cause issues with walking, coordination, reflexes, and lifting things. Technically speaking, he'd be qn active fall risk and suffer from a lot of chronic pain and muscle deterioration), frequent shooting or burning pain, inability to feel touch on affected areas. Also wanna point out, he'd be able to feel pain. Technically, he'd have neuropathic pain from the damaged nerves sending pain signals to the brain until they die off. That likely means the parts of his body he claimed he couldn't feel any longer had already been so damaged the nerves died off and stopped sending signals to his brain.

Now let's go into the somatic nervous system; according to what All For One said to Touya when he woke up from the coma, his somatic nervous system had been damaged in the fire. Now, your somatic nervous system controls your muscles and sends information to your brain so you can basically control the movement of your body. It also processes your senses and sends that info to your brain as well.

So, what's that mean? It's a very important part of the body and the nervous system as a whole, without it functioning correctly it can cause uncontrollable tremors, cramping, and twitching, muscle weakness, as well as muscle shrinking/deterioration (sorry guys, more evidence Touya could never be buff and muscular and lift up your blorbo. He's destined to be a twink or squishy forever <33), loss of bodily control, loss of touch sensations, difficulties with balance and fine motor skills, neuropathic pain, and even paralysis. Very much like nerve damage, since nerve damage usually effects the somatic nervous system.

So the TL;DR is basically; if we're looking at stuff from a realistic standpoint (and not accounting for random quirk/futuristic medical crap stuff) Dabi had damage to somatic nervous system as well as severe damage or possibly destroyed his nerve endings due to his burns, likely from the time he was a teenager. This probably worsened over time, and by the time he was an adult the damage would be unlikely to reverse itself, he wouldn't be able to regenerate/regrow his damaged nerves by then either because of the repeated physical trauma. He would most certainly be considered physically disabled on this standpoint alone. He would have a lot of issues walking and moving around in general and with his coordination and fine motor skills. He would likely also have chronic pain (mostly neuropathic pain), muscle wasting and weakness, and tremors/spasms/twitches due to nervous system damage.

Poor guy.

[fierce-eagle]

Dabi Does Feel and Does Care About the League

Lately, I’ve been reading posts from people who argue that Dabi never felt anything for the League. While it might seem that way at first glance, I don’t think it should be viewed so superficially, because he’s a deeply wounded and very well-written character.

I’ll start by explaining that I know very well all the moments from which people deduce that Dabi “didn’t feel anything” toward them. Let’s begin with a comment I read, where someone said that Dabi didn’t want to help with Gigantomachia. I don’t quite understand that, because when they first meet Gigantomachia, Dabi does participate. It’s just that the one talking to Hawks prefers to make sure they can trust him. In fact, Dabi tells Hawks, “You still can’t see the leader.” In other words, it was a first test. Later, Dabi goes on to help them against the Liberation Front. He didn’t have a personal reason to do it, but he did it anyway—and for Twice, that mission was important; his friend was there. Dabi went.

Later on, during a fight when Compress asks for his help, Dabi at first refuses, but immediately after says, “I mean, ask them.” And when Twice mentions that Compress took too long, Dabi defends him. Compared to what he supposedly does “wrong” toward the League, things like that hardly ever get discussed.

Now, about the phrase “I never cared about the League”—it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he says that, since he completely represses what he feels. The fact that he says it himself emphasizes that even more: he’s trying to convince himself that he doesn’t care. In reality, his plans were affected by Twice’s death, so even from a purely utilitarian point of view, it must have hurt (if one doesn’t want to call it affection). Still, he smiles—the same smile he uses when he’s sad. He tells Toga that they were born to laugh, that you either laugh or cry, and that way no one will know your weakness. It’s the same expression he shows Hawks, and Hawks even wonders: “Is that the face of someone who just lost a friend?”

In the same way, when we see him crying on the couch, we could ask ourselves: “Is that the face of someone who’s suffering?” And clearly, yes. If Dabi weren’t crying at that moment, most people would say, “See? He doesn’t care about anything anymore; he doesn’t feel.” But when he fights Shoto and says, “Your brother doesn’t feel anything anymore,” it makes no sense, because we know perfectly well that he does feel and that he cries alone. Taking Dabi’s words literally would be contradictory, since he’s constantly trying to convince himself that he doesn’t feel.

Here’s a key point: emotional repression is not the same as not feeling. In fact, several psychological studies show that people who repress or suppress their emotions do feel them—they just inhibit or ignore them. For example, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Gross & Levenson, 1997) explains that emotional suppression doesn’t reduce the internal experience of negative emotions, only their outward expression. More recent research shows that emotional repression is linked to greater physiological reactivity to stress—meaning the body still reacts to emotional pain even if the person tries to ignore it. Even sources like Verywell Mind note that repressing emotions can increase anxiety and cause physical symptoms, confirming that repression doesn’t mean not feeling—it means feeling and not being able to express it.

I don’t want to make this post too long, but Dabi is very impulsive and often represses his emotions. We shouldn’t forget that the difference between someone who represses and someone who truly doesn’t feel is that the first one does feel but hides it or lies to themselves, while the second one literally feels nothing. The fact that Tōya is able to empathize with Toga and tell her that they’re alike is also proof of that. Maybe he didn’t have the time or the emotional environment to fully develop, but to argue that “he doesn’t feel anything for the League” is to see him in a very shallow way.

In my opinion, knowing that Dabi only represses his emotions, it’s much more likely that he did care. And it even seems like the League knew this—that’s why they remember him as part of the family. Yes, he had his own goals, but he never stopped standing by their side. Did he want to earn their trust and use them? That’s one way to see it. But from my point of view, it’s much more likely that Tōya, being someone rejected by his family and used to repressing his emotions, only had those small ways of showing affection. I don’t think he was simply using people as if he didn’t cry every night and were some kind of psychopath.

[dolche-tejada]

You know, I think this ending would have been slightly less of a fucking disappointment if the heroes hadn't been so unfairly favored by Horikoshi compared to the villains. I mean, seriously

Deku destroys every bone in his body multiple times throughout the story and is warned that if he continues, he'll permanently lose the use of his limbs ? Everything's fine, his body's just got used to being reduced to a bloody pulp somehow so there's no consequences for him. In fact even when he literally loses his arms to Shigaraki, he gets them back two minutes later thanks to Eri because guess what ? Her horn still works even when cut off from her body. How convenient.

Gran Torino gets his ribcage obliterated by Shigaraki ? Don't worry guys, he'll survive that despite his old age and injuries, and this to have no particular role in the plot afterwards.

Bakugo dies heroically trying to buy time before Deku arrives ? Lmao, did you really believe it ?? No of course not, Edgeshot just uses his last-minute Deus Ex Machina to save his life at the cost of his own and- Oops nope he's fine too, my bad !

Hawks murders a criminal fleeing for his life in cold-blood ? The best Hori has to offer is him completely free and in charge of the HSPC.

And no, losing his quirk isn't a real consequence for him because not only it literally played a major part in saving the world with Vestige!Hawks raising an insurrection among AFO's quirks, but also because his quirk has always been the element through which people exploited him.

Endeavor abused his family for years and completely destroyed his eldest son ? No jail time and no media backlash for that, the only blame he received was due to the heroes' failure to stop the League during the Raid Arc.

And don't even get me started on this bs about facing hell or whatever for what he's done : He's literally free and wealthy ; he has Rei, Fuyumi, Shoto, his sidekicks and Hawks on his side ; and all the difficulties he's apparently going to suffer are off-screened.

Deku had to sacrifice OFA and his future hero career to save the world ? Guess what, Bakugo invested all his time and money to make him an Iron-Man suit and now he can still be a hero with everyone else.

There are plenty more examples of this but I think you get the idea. Now let's take a look at the villains' ending :

Toya is now a piece of charcoal kept artificially alive for the few years he has left, unable to move a finger, and whose few minutes a day during which he can stay awake will be spent talking to his father who abused him as a child.

Toga, a literal teenager, killed herself to save Ochako and because she knew it's still better than rotting at Tartarus her whole life.

And not only did she die but she did by bleding to death. Let me repeat for those who have trouble grasping what I've just said : In a manga where the heroes can survive having their heart blown to bits, being impaled Kakyoin-style or smashed against buildings like a fly on a windshield, one of the main antagonists died of a fucking hemorrhage…

As for Shigaraki, after learning that his very birth and all the tragedies of his life have been orchestrated by AFO, after all this development and narrative promises about him being saved in the end... Deku just kills him.

Because despite all his speeches about saving him, it seems like the best our MC could do was beating him both physically and mentally until he crumbles to dust…

Compress on his side is apparently locked up for life and kept alive by machines too.

A begging Kurogiri tried in a desperate attempt to save Shigaraki, only to be unceremoniously blown up by Bakugo and dying off-screen without anyone giving a shit, including Aizawa and Mic.

And Spinner will now spend the rest of his life struggling with the extra quirks inside him that affect his body and mind, while having to cope with the thought that his boyfriend best friend and companions have either died alone or are locked away for life in horrifying circumstances.

Clearly not the same as with the heroes...

Now don't get me wrong, even if they suffered just as much from the consequences of their actions or the plot as the League, this ending would still be a disaster in terms of writing but AT LEAST it wouldn't reek that much of hypocrisy.

[itsmattibad]

his few todoroki braincells are working overtime

[gradelstuff]

Dabi's character pages in the Ultra Age fanbook

[feitanporter]

"His body was heading toward death and he was just holding it together with the flames of his resentment."

[spare-tomu-pics]

Illustration by Akiyama Yoco (x)

[acalmmalam]

Want tod sleep but must post shit first.

[lura-valentine]

The blue wall of fire behind which the last phoenix is allowed to live.

Day 6 - In another world (Any AU)

[jun-hoshino17]

I hope they are happy in the afterlife❤

[serpentwires]

Wanted to just draw his body and burns 😭🙏

[lanamaru]

Inner light

[eldr1tch-cr0w]

number one rule! never believe ur thoughts after 10 pm . unless its about The Character then believe all of your thoughts wholeheartedly

[touyaforever]

Love and protection for Touya's genuine smile

Love and protection for Touya's goofy smile

This character sheet its so rare that I just have crops of it fom my Tk gallery. I remenber that was from s7 and released with the bluray, but i can´t find any trace of it on the internet anymore. Anyway, It´s pure gold (T ^ T), TOO PRECIOUS

[oophellia4]

Touya's goofy and genuine smiles are both so precious to me 😭🩵 . I just love seeing him smile , this baby boy should always be happy 😭🩵

[serpentwires]

Wanted to just draw his body and burns 😭🙏