Magpie's Nest

More Substantial Thoughts

Give a dog a bad name

Over time I have gotten used to Caped Baldy (or Bald Cape if you read Viz's version), but it really is a bit rude. It's the sort of name that gets people to ask, is that all there is to you? No wonder Machine God Mirror thought little of Saitama.

The other members of the Hero Name Victim Association have pretty awful names too. Saitama's is at least plain, but names like 'The Great Degenerate' (Viz: Super Lecher) and 'Dr Grumpy Pervert' (Viz: Dr Secret Perv) are positively libellous.

Saitama isn't wrong to have had his doubts about their methods, but that it's a worthwhile association for him is without question. A hero often introduces themselves by name: rude or dismissive ones invite ridicule rather than the respect they need to work.

We see that Saitama has finally warmed up to the Hero Name Victims Association. I will robustly defend this development. Saitama has plain lived more in the manga than he has in the webcomic, and he doesn't want to lead a second troublesome group (remember the nintendoes? Um, I mean tenninto? They're still stalking around -- you can sometimes catch a glimpse of one).

Coincidence? I think not

So, this is the end of a day that started with Webigaza and other Neo Heroes showing off what they could do against a varied horde of monsters, often including one demon-level monster, and ended with the simultaneous attack of five dragon-level monsters that put the Hero Association's disaster-averting capabilities under real strain.

Last review, I talked about how the Neo Heroes were better at packaging themselves and looking like a well-oiled machine successfully chewing through monster after monster without a hitch. It's understandable that the HA execs were salty then.

But it's worse now: even though the successful elimination of three of the four dragon-level monsters menacing cities by S-Class heroes shows they still have incredibly powerful heroes, the way those heroes were deployed, the collateral damage most of them left in their wakes, and the lack of coherent media messaging from the HA makes it look like they don't have what it takes to keep people safe. Having their HQ attacked won't have helped on that front, either.

The timing of the monster attacks could all be a coincidence, just like celebrities all happening to be in Los Angeles at Oscar time would be an incredible coincidence. Someone has gathered a lot of monsters and has strategically released them today.

Yeah, it's just like monsters got called to a party. You'd know all about that, ex-Monster Association cadres, no?

If there's any doubt on the readers' parts, McCoy's reactions to the day's happenings will have dispersed that doubt. Other than Blue's unscheduled run at Eel Dragon (back to that in a bit), he's been calmly coordinating the Neo Heroes' activities from his office in the HA. Is he personally releasing monsters? Very unlikely. But it's clear he knows about them and is helping to craft the narrative those behind Neo Heroes wants to push. Ah, and there is the small matter of Fubuki discovering that McCoy has been secretly selling monsters to a shady organisation for an obscene profit, remember that?

With the multi-dragon attack, McCoy has had no problem directing his fellow execs to call in the Neo Heroes, framing it in a way that's so reasonable that if you didn't suspect him, you'd not wonder about it. Once upon a time, I'd have said that such open audacity was unbelievable, but nowadays, I've realised that many of the worst grifters get away with things as long as they do precisely because they're so audacious.

It hasn't turned out as he imagined it would, but had Saitama not been there, Machine God Mirror would have been magically defeated by either Raiden or Webigaza, but not before some mass casualties at HA HQ makes the public lose all confidence in the HA. If they can't be safe in the Tower of Justice's shelters, where can they be safe?

Credit where it's due

Despite everything, several characters distinguished themselves. First, I love Sicchi's decisive action in shedding the blockers among the executives by routing them to distant shelters so that he got to set up emergency offices with only the effective officers.

I love the blatantly unapologetic expression on his face as he apologises for the inconvenience. You rock, Sicchi!

The various heroes who responded to Mirror deserve a lot of credit for their courage. Chain Toad and Butterfly DX literally flew in to contribute what they could and gave Suiko advice on how to proceed when one discovers a monster.

And of course, let's talk about Suiko. I think that putting her in Class A was the right call -- she's really not strong enough yet to be a Class S hero, especially given how crazy things are now. However, she's shown herself here to be strong, tough, and resourceful. As the recruiter said, she's very likely to grow greatly in strength as she gains more battle experience.

Stay safe, learn, grow, and truly show your brother up, Suiko!

Credit where it's not due

That's got to be Saitama's long-term curse: even when he does his thing in full view of many, he doesn't get the credit he's due. While the heroes who witnessed what he did have no doubt that he's the real thing, his credit has been diluted by being attributed to the Hero Name Victims Association rather than he alone.

Metal Knight has also gotten some of Saitama's glory, as well as unearned credit for the hard work of Black Sperm and Pochi. He's been happy to be redeemed in the eyes of the HA, but he's sure to find out where this mystery cannon fire came from. He'll probably find them, too. What he will make of discovering Saitama's pets and the fact that they're Saitama's pets will have to be seen later.

Even though most of the executives won't know who Saitama is, Sicchi and Jinzuren (he's the guy immediately behind Sicchi here) will recognise that silhouette. As we've seen, they have their reasons not to spill the beans, Jinzuren because he's playing some long-term corporate power game, and Sicchi because he knows that Blast regards Saitama as a secret weapon against God.

Not related to Saitama's exploits, wasn't it suspicious that the monster Eel Dragon just died, right as Blue ran out of power? It couldn't get a bead on him, and it died without having a scratch on it. And despite Blue no longer having a suit to protect him, McCoy had no trouble sending a jet drone for him to face yet another dragon-level monster. Even the most over-optimistic HA dispatchers wouldn't send a hero in like that.

If Blue weren't so new to hero work, idealistic, and determined to show up his father, he'd suspect something was wrong. Ah well, that's for him to find out later, heh heh.

One final thing...