Analysis: Overhaul & Dabi as Scrapped AFO Vessels
Both Kai Chisaki (Overhaul) and Toya Todoroki (Dabi) were genuine candidates in All For One’s long-running Vessel Project — the search for a perfect, stable body that could hold AFO’s Quirk and consciousness without collapsing into a brain-dead state. They were both raised (or recovered) in the same network of secret orphanages run by Kyudai Garaki specifically to cultivate potential vessels. Yet both were ultimately scrapped for very different reasons, and their failures directly shaped the path to Tomura Shigaraki as the “final” vessel.
Overhaul (Kai Chisaki) — The Idealist Who Escaped
Why AFO chose him
Raised in one of Garaki’s orphanages explicitly intended to produce vessels.
Possessed the Overhaul Quirk — an extremely rare ability to disassemble and reassemble matter at the atomic level. This was so valuable that AFO immediately stole a copy of it and gave the incomplete “Destruction-only” version to young Tenko Shimura (creating Decay).
Young Kai was intelligent, ambitious, and already obsessed with “curing” the world of Quirks. This kind of strong, singular drive was exactly the kind of personality AFO liked to exploit and then overwrite.
Why he was scrapped
Kai developed his own grand ideology (Quirks are a disease; the Yakuza must rise again).
When the Shie Hassaikai boss (his adoptive father figure) rejected his plan to use Eri, Kai put the boss in a coma and went rogue.
He built an independent criminal empire and refused to serve anyone — including AFO.
AFO briefly considered him again during the Shie Hassaikai arc (the meeting with Tomura), but Kai’s arrogance and independence made him unusable as a mindless host. Instead, AFO treated him as a useful stepping stone: stole more of his research, let Tomura humiliate him, and ultimately discarded him.
Result Overhaul became a “scrapped vessel” because he had too much of his own will and ambition. AFO does not want a partner — he wants a blank, compatible shell. Kai was never going to be that.
Dabi (Toya Todoroki) — The Death-Seeker Who Refused
Why AFO chose him
After Toya’s “death” at Sekoto Peak, AFO personally rescued the charred boy and had Garaki rebuild him with Nomu-level surgery.
Toya was placed in the same “Orphanage of Love” network used to groom vessels.
He was considered an excellent backup candidate: powerful fire Quirk (stronger than Endeavor’s), massive trauma/hatred, and a body that had already survived extreme damage. Garaki explicitly calls him a “perfect candidate as a backup vessel” in case Shigaraki failed.
Why he was scrapped
Toya woke up from his three-year coma still mentally 13 years old and obsessed with one thing: making Endeavor acknowledge him (and then destroying him).
When AFO and Garaki offered to train him and upgrade his body, Toya refused. He burned down the orphanage (possibly killing other children) and escaped to pursue his own revenge.
Garaki’s final verdict: “The demon lord himself had to abandon that frenzied flame of death.” Toya’s self-destructive hatred and Death Seeker mindset made him completely unsuitable. AFO needs a body that will last and obey; Toya wanted to burn himself (and everyone else) to ash as the ultimate “fuck you” to his father.
Result Dabi became the most dramatic scrapped vessel. AFO literally saved his life and rebuilt him, yet Toya spat in their faces and ran. His survival for seven more years on pure spite impressed Garaki, but it also proved he could never be controlled.
In short: Overhaul was scrapped because he had too much of his own dream. Dabi was scrapped because he had too much of his own death wish.
Both were perfect on paper. Both proved that AFO’s greatest obstacle was never the body — it was the unbreakable human will inside it. And that is exactly why Tomura became the last and most successful attempt: AFO spent years systematically destroying Tomura’s will so that only AFO’s would remain.