The existence of characters like Aizawa, Mandalay, and ESPECIALLY Knuckleduster makes me hate the ending of MHA even more, where it acts like Izuku couldn't continue being a hero with a Quirk and needed a suit.
Yes, Aizawa's Quirk disables other people's Quirks, but it has various downsides like him having to look at the enemy and it giving him dry eyes (and, in the end, he loses an eye). And his acrobatic abilities and telekinetically using his Binding Cloth have nothing to do with his Quirk, yet he's shown being able to fight various villains all the same. Heck, his mini-me Shinsou picked up on this fighting style in several months, when before, he didn't know how to fight and relied heavily on his Quirk.
Mandalay's Quirk is just one-way telepathy (she can give messages but can't receive any), yet she's a very capable fighter, being able to fight on par with Spinner during the Forest Camp Training Arc.
Knuckleduster, formerly O'Clock, had his Quirk stolen by All For One (somewhat similar to how Mirio lost his Quirk to the Quirk-Destroying bullet, and that guy was able to hold his own against Overhaul for 5 minutes) and still continued to fight (albeit as a vigilante). Dude's so strong that he was able to beat someone whose Quirk was powered up by Trigger (his Quirk, Bruiser, allows him to power up one of his limbs, making his attack stronger. With Trigger, his whole body is powered up, somewhat similar to Muscular). And he's skilled enough to fight on par with Aizawa.
He's also durable enough to tank Kendo's blows, who's strong enough to break Eijiro using his Quirk beyond its limit (Unbreakable).
All things considered, this just means that Izuku COULD have continued being a hero and a teacher (being a teacher isn't bad). Plus, it makes no sense that he got little to no acknowledgement from the public, to the point where people didn't know he even existed.
Not only that he could've continued being a hero without OFA, but that he didn't need a quirk in the first place!
I think people forget that Aizawa's quirk doesn't work on mutation quirks - meaning he's frequently at a disadvantage, especially if he doesn't know (because not all mutation quirks are obvious). This dude is effectively quirkless, he relies on his physical capabilities and support gear to win even WITH his quirk active. It's honestly a "weak" quirk when you think about it.
Mandalay, like Aizawa, is effectively quirkless too. Because her quirk is honestly situational at best and lowkey pointless at worse. It isn't like she can use it to gather information from enemies, she's best as a "support" in mission control based on her quirk and yet she's FRONTLINE, she's trained to fight and it annoys me so much because, again, effectively quirkless in a fight!
Knuckleduster annoys me, but another example of why Izuku didn't actually need the suit. Dude loses his quirk and proves he didn't need it to be a vigilante. Dude is a tank even if he feels the beatings afterwards, the fact he survives that crap from training alone? Legit quirkless and developed muscle and melee skills.
But the one that pisses me off the most is Gunhead because he legit just has guns for wrists - give Izuku a fucking gun! Gunhead, and Snipe too, annoy me so much, it's aiming a gun! And yes, Snipe's quirk turnings projectiles into homing rounds - MHA has technology that could easily achieve that.
Like, Izuku doesn't need mech suit, just let him train and get a capture gear and voila!
