•I Trust in Hori|Stanning Hawks is a Lifestyle•

Guess who finished a thing, shading stuff was fun

It was first emphasized in the arc where they kidnap Bakugo where it was focused on Dabi at the time talking to Shouto and being ominous and how we have been told from day one that quirks can be inherited from your parents. (when four year old deku and his mom as asking about why he still didn't have a quirk and being asked what quirks deku's parents had)

It just didn't make sense for the manga to go deep into the Dabi is a todoroki aspect until all of the themes of the story textually supported and enhanced the meaning behind the reason Horikoshi would make a random villain related to one of the main cast.

It was just something what was slowly built-up in the manga that just made sense contextually.

First time doing a PMV/AMV kind of stuff...

DYNAMIGHT!

You know what, fucking say what you want - I like that shit. Katsuki is a high tier fanboy, that’s one of the things I absolutely love about his character, and he desperately wants All Might to look at him the same way that he looks at Deku, and honestly bro? The dude is a stick of dynamite and I am here for it.

If Kirishima can make his hero name Red Riot after Crimson Riot and not get ridiculed, then I think Dynamight is a great hero name to pay homage to everything All Might means to Katsuki. All Might is the whole reason he even wanted to become a hero!

Well done Horikoshi, I know you’re probably receiving all the backlash right now but, I am in love with your Dynamight boy 💥

Every new manga spoiler that comes out y'all just grRRRE AARF ARRF it up. N although I do too, I think some(if not MOST) need to just sit back and b r e a t h e

No what Endevour did in the past ain't right

Yes it's okay to try and redeem yourself once you've learned your lesson

No atonement does not erase the wrongs of the past

Yes atonement is good and a step towards betterment

Yes it's OKAY

No abuse is NOT an excuse, it's a only catalyst

Yes Dabi's actions are valid n understandable

NO Dabi's actions AREN'T OKAY

Yes yes yes Shoto needs a hug

No Best Jeanist doesn't support abuse

Yes Best Jeanist was right, although he could've worded it better, his point was right

No using 1 case of domestic abuse to summarize the entire hero society is not all too reliable (although this 1 case reeeeaaaaaalllyyyyyyyy does make people question what other heroes are like)

No Mirio coming in outta nowhere doesn't make the whole arc bad

No Deku is NOT an abuser apologist

Yes it's okay to support people's atonement

No that doesn't mean supporting the previous wrongs done

Yes Deku is trying to be a good friend to his atm very very very traumatised bestie and a good hero

Yes Shoto needs an actual comforting hug..

No DynaMight isn't exactly the name we were hoping for

Yes DynaMight is a lil cringy

Yes Ground Zero was a nice fanon name

Yes Ground Zero is fanon

Yes DynaMight is canon

Yes it's okay to be upset Ground Zero didn't make it

Yes Ground Zero might've sounded a lil cooler

Yes DynaMight is a pun

Yes DynaMight is a homage to All Might

Yes it's okay to poke fun at his name for a bit bcuz it was unexpected (yet honestly how could you not expect it)

NO IT'S NOT OKAY TO SHIT ON HORIKOSHI JUST BECAUSE OF A NAME

nO IT'S DEFINITELY NOT OKAY TO DOWNGRADE THE QUALITY OF BNHA'S STORY AS A WHOLE JUST CUZ OF O N E NAME

Yes it's okay to be frustrated

Yes it's okay to not like it

No it's not an excuse to be a whiny baby about it an harass the creators

No DynaMight is not a bad name

Y e s DynaMight probably holds more positive sentiments compared to Ground Zero

Yes this war arc is just total chaos

Yes it's okay to get lost in all that's happening

No it doesn't mean you can't keep a clear head and unclouded/unbiased judgement

Remember,

I think that little of you guys forget that Bakugo is just a closeted fan. I think his Hero Name reveals that passion, not just he's a angry, pompous person.

A name can show everything in a person, so I vote that The Bombing hero: 'Dynamight' stays.

Guess who finished a thing, shading stuff was fun

well all right then, I’m just going to run through some of these very quickly. and standard disclaimer, these are just my own opinions, blah blah blah, everyone is welcome to disagree on any or all points.

“Best Jeanist is an abuse apologist” - nah fam he’s just mad that Dabi is deliberately using his admittedly-fucked-up family history in order to attack not just Endeavor, but all of hero society.

“okay but hero society is bad and needs to be taken down anyway” -- well okay, but whether you think that’s true or not, the fact remains that Jeanist isn’t condoning Endeavor’s abuse here, he’s simply pointing out the hole in Dabi’s argument. that, and also, two wrongs don’t make a right. and the destabilization of society as a whole, coming right on the heels of a devastating attack in which the heroes were decimated and god knows how many civilians died as well, is not a great situation any way you slice it, and is going to lead to more harm in the immediate aftermath; Jeanist is not wrong about that.

“the other heroes watching the confrontation aren’t being sympathetic enough to Dabi’s tale of woe” -- the tale of woe in which he bragged about plotting to kill Shouto and Natsuo?? also, he set their friend on fire. he tried to set all of them on fire. people generally don’t like people who try to set them on fire, just as a rule.

“Shouto shouldn’t be taking Endeavor’s side” – Touya. tried. to set him and his friends on fire. plus, again, there’s that whole “plotting to kill me and my sibling” thing. but mostly it’s the “trying to murder everyone in the immediate vicinity” thing which is really forcing him to step in here and take action, guys.

“boooo, Mirio” -- what are you all talking about Mirio is great.

“what if Mirio is really Toga” -- or, hear me out, what if Mirio is really Mirio. I mean okay look, I’m not trying to bash on anyone’s theories. but from what I’ve seen, this particular notion mostly seems to revolve around people just really not wanting it to be Mirio. which is kind of rude to poor Mirio. plus, couldn’t we say this about any character pretty much any given week. what if Jeanist is secretly Toga. what if Burnin’ is Toga. I guess if nothing else, this theory is ripe for Among Us jokes.

“Eri getting control of her quirk makes her too overpowered” -- okay but it’s still not a magic “fix everything” switch, on account of she has to recharge it in between uses, which takes months. so that’s going to keep it in check imo.

“Eri is being used like a pawn/puppet by the heroes” -- Eri wants to use her power to help people. she spent her whole young life believing she was cursed, and it’s only recently that people have helped her to understand that that’s not true and that her power can be a gift. she is a sweet and loving child who wants to help others, especially the people who have sacrificed in order to help her, like Mirio. Eri restoring Mirio’s quirk is a development which gives her more agency, not less, because it means she’s finally learning to control her abilities. and she’s not being manipulated or taken advantage of in any way you guys, it’s clearly her choice.

“Horikoshi did Hadou dirty” -- actually agree here lol. but to be fair, she’s not the only one who got injured in this battle; everyone there has pretty much gotten their shit wrecked by this point, except for Iida. and I’m sure she’ll be fine, Horikoshi’s not going to kill or permanently injure her in any way. but I would have liked to see at least one female character still participating in the battle here and that’s pretty much out now, so boo to that.

“it’s bad writing, Jan” -- while you are by no means obligated to like any of these developments, disagreeing with something that happens in the manga does not automatically make it bad writing. also fwiw, I’m kind of boggled by the fact that not one month ago there was discourse about the Touya reveal being bad writing specifically because it was too predictable and everyone saw it coming. and now the fact that the Mirio twist came as a surprise to everyone somehow means that it’s bad writing as well. I’m just saying, lol; Horikoshi just can’t win here apparently.

So I’ve been seeing two main responses to Dabi’s character as portrayed in BNHA 292, both of which I feel touch on a very surface understanding of his character and role in the story despite seeming like opposite takes.  

Take #1: 

Dabi is an unfeeling monster created to show the redeemability of Shigaraki and Enji in contrast with his true eeeevil villainy! He will never be redeemed! 

Take #2: 

Dabi is a sweet softy who did nothing wrong! He will never be redeemed because of this chapter which is so out-of-character! 

Note how they both have the same endpoint. I’m not actually gonna address the redemption question much because I can’t fathom what this panel foreshadows if not Touya’s salvation (alive): 

I’m not looking to debate this either; I’m just putting it here because I know it’ll come up if I don’t.

Instead, I wanna address Dabi’s character. He’s my favorite, and I’ve been asked a few different times whether I enjoy him as a villain or as an uwu poor baby, and my answer is always both. 

Dabi is a villain. This chapter’s rampage is, in my opinion, not remotely out of character for him. But neither is it the summation of his character, and he surely is not meant to make Enji look good by comparison. 

So, who is Dabi? 

Dabi is kind of a flaming jerk, and that’s why I like him. He’s an abuse victim who gets to be angry and crass and sharp. He pushes people away because he doesn’t want to open up to them and get burned (heh). He’s just like Shouto in that, except with a dose of murder. 

Believe it or not, this is a very realistic response to abuse, and very common too. It’s good to see that representation. If the writing was indeed just “he’s bad get rid of him,” well, that would of course be a terrible representation. But seeing a mean victim get redeemed? Now that’s some good sh*t I’m here for. 

If you want a sweethearted, misunderstood soft victim, there is one in MHA, and that’s Shigaraki. Dabi is not these things, but that does not mean he’s not a victim or that he’s somehow an unfeeling monster.

You see, Shigaraki is a heart character. Dabi’s the mind. (Heart and mind characters are a literary pattern that is utilized in literature across the globe; it’s not an eastern/western cultural thing. It has its roots in alchemy.) The problem is that you can’t have a heart without a mind nor a mind without a heart. If you lack one, you’re missing half the picture, and you won’t accomplish anything. 

Horikoshi, probably