Solar's Build Thread - The In-Between-Updates Update!

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
User avatar
Davies
Posts: 5080
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:37 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB

Re: Solar's Build Thread - Boku no Hero Academia Update

Post by Davies »

I suspect we're never going to get an official name for this one, because her official name would get everyone involved sued by Disney money. :lol:
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
MarvelLion
Posts: 128
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 11:42 pm

Re: Solar's Build Thread - Boku no Hero Academia Update

Post by MarvelLion »

She could have been called Flying Girrel!

Yeah, go ahead and throw tomatoes at me…
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Hero Students

Post by SolarOracle »

Image

Hero Students

Group: Various hero schools.
Base of Operations: Japan.

Power Level 4 (Power PL up to 8 in some cases) - 34 Character Points

Abilities
Strength 0, Agility 1, Fighting 4, Awareness 0
Stamina 1, Dexterity 1, Intellect 0, Presence 0

Advantages
Defensive Roll, Close Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Skills
Athletics 4
(+4 total).
Deception 2 (+2 total).
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+7 total).
Expertise (Student) 4 (+4 total).
Perception 2 (+2 total).
Persuasion 2 (+2 total).

Offense
Initiative +1
Unarmed
+7, close damage 0.

Defense
Dodge 4, Fortitude 3, Parry 5, Toughness 1/2*, Will 2
*2 with defensive roll.

Complications

Hero-In-Training: Hero students still don't have their hero license, and most are still to get their provisional license. This means that they are generally not allowed to use their quirks, unless under supervision by their teachers, and are not allowed to act as heroes, perform rescues or fight against villains, unless their well-being and life are directly on the line.

14 Abilities, 0 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 34 Character Points


About: A base build representing generic and nameless hero students from throughout Japan. Most of them are people whose powers still need honing and are much weaker in a fight than your average hero or sidekick, even the non-combat focused ones, tho they still have plenty of potential to develop. This build is mostly meant to represent the hero students wee see in the background of the Provisional Hero License Exam arc, and builds for the quirks we see there are included later in this post, but this could be used for any generic hero student in the setting, honestly, especially first and second year ones who still have a lot to figure out. For students of more elite schools, like Shiketsu or U.A. High, I'd consider pumping up the PL by one or two, mainly in the defenses, and giving some more powerful quirk effects, generally, tho not necessarily in the case of students who aren't combat-oriented.

Cataloguing all these guys was a minor pain, and due to how much I kept delaying this post, I may have fucked up a bit in the order of appearance of these, but I think I managed to catalogue most quirks that have a clear effect being shown. The ones I didn't bother statting out are the ones we don't know the user for sure (there's a bunch that attack Midoriya from offscreen we don't see the user in a certain scene), and ones that have an unclear effect, which there are a few of. Lots of fun background characters on this one, by the way, tho most didn't make the cut for this post, unfortunately.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Water Manipulation

Powers
Quirk - Water Manipulation
Create (Water) 4 (Extras: Innate, Movable) (Flaws: Permanent). (13) -- [15]
  • AE: Ranged damage 3. (6)
  • AE: Surf on Water: Speed 3 (30 Km/H or 16 MpH), linked to Movement 1 (Water-Walking 1). (5)
14 Abilities, 15 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 49 Character Points

About: A quirk that shows up a few times, these guys seem to have a range of abilities involving controlling, blasting and creating water.

Image
Image

Flight

Powers
Quirk - Flight
Flight 3 (30 Km/H or 16 MpH). [6]

14 Abilities, 6 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 40 Character Points

About: Another one that appears more than once, we see a couple of guys with the classic superhero power of wingless flight. Maybe these guys' quirk is similar to Captain Celebrity's and gives them some kind of tactile telekinesis that improves their strength, or maybe it's a completely different quirk that just lets them fly. I leaned on the side of safety and went with the latter.

Image
Image

Bird Wings

Powers
Quirk - Bird Wings
Flight 4 (60 Km/H or 30 MpH) (Flaws: Winged). [4]

14 Abilities, 4 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 38 Character Points

About: Another flight power we see twice (even more if you count the opening theme, LOL), these characters have another classic power, this one of having bird wings that allow them to fly. Again, this could be a broad thing that gives them something similar to Hawks, who is able to manipulate individually each of the feathers on his wings, or maybe it's just bird wings. I went with the latter.

Image
Image

Bug Wings

Powers
Quirk - Bug Wings
Flight 4 (60 Km/H or 30 MpH) (Flaws: Winged). [4]

14 Abilities, 4 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 38 Character Points

About: The final flight power we see a few times, these two characters have sets of insect-like wings that let them fly around and stuff. This is literally just a reskin of my Bird Wings build.

Image

Rocket Fists

Abilities
Strength 2, Agility 1, Fighting 4, Awareness 0
Stamina 1, Dexterity 1, Intellect 0, Presence 0

Powers
Quirk - Rocket Fists
Shoot Fists: Ranged Damage 5. (10) -- [11]
  • AE: Feature 2: Ranged on Grabs.
18 Abilities, 11 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 49 Character Points

About: A guy we see fighting off against Midoriya and Uraraka (well, actually Toga disguised as Uraraka), this guy seems to be able to detach his fists from his arms at great speeds, able to do rocket punches and grab others from afar, I presume.

Gave this guy +2 Strength so he can grab better. Also, apparently I forgot to turn off subtitles when I got his screenshot. Oops.

Image

Lava

Powers
Quirk - Lava
Lava Blast: Ranged Damage 8 (Extras: Secondary Effect). (24) -- [25]
  • AE: Lava Wave: Area (30 ft. Line) Damage 8 (Extras: Secondary Effect). (24)
14 Abilities, 25 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 59 Character Points

About: We see this guy fighting off against the slime dude, and he seems to have some kind of flame quirk, tho considering how liquid-y it looks (and how it's a more interesting power), I decided to build it as a lava power. This makes him a pretty dangerous opponent, with a high damage quirk he can use as an area attack, but also a very deadly power he probably needs to be very careful when using. Somehow the first time I've used Secondary Effect as an extra by the way.

Image

Slime

Powers
Quirk - Slime
Slime Blast: Ranged Damage 5, linked to Ranged Weaken Toughness 7. (24) -- [25]
  • AE: Slime Wave: Area (60 ft. Cone) Damage 5, linked to Area (60 ft. Cone) Weaken Toughness 7. (24)
14 Abilities, 25 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 59 Character Points

About: The dude we see fighting off against the lava guy, this student seems to have some kind of slime or jelly quirk, which I took the liberty of assuming has corrosive properties. I made him be more of less at the same scale as the lava guy so they fighting each other is more justified, and gave him a different area to his effect, considering that the amount of slime he creates seems to be much bigger and "splashier" than the lava.

Image

Cord Arms

Powers
Quirk - Cord Arms
Elongation 4 (Flaws: Limited to Arms). [2]

14 Abilities, 2 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 36 Character Points

About: We see this chick at the second phase of the exam, as she is talking about using her quirk to help with the rescue, as her powers seem to allow her to disconnect her hands from her body at high speeds and retrieve it through the cord attached to them, like those old robot toys. Think Elongation was the cleanest way to do this one, to it maybe allows her too much control over her arm's trajectory and stuff. Also, made it fairly high rank, assuming she can shoot it great distances, since she seems competent enough to make it to the end stages of the exam.

Image

Floating Eyes

Powers
Quirk - Floating Eyes
Remote Sensing (Visuals) 4 (500 ft.) (Extras: Simultaneous) (Flaws: Noticeable, Quirk - User’s eye has to physically move to the place they want to observe). [6]

Skills
Perception 6 (+6 total).

14 Abilities, 6 Powers, 6 Advantages, 9 Skills, 7 Defenses = 42 Character Points

About: Another guy at the second phase of the exam, this one seems to be rescue-focused and uses his quirk to that effect, which allows him to create floating eyeballs he is able to move around, allowing him to better see into cramped spaces and get a diagnosis on the situation. This as remote sensing with a weird Quirk feels awkward, but it's probably the better way to do it.

Image

Super Strength

Powers
Quirk - Super Strength
Enhanced Strength 5. [10]
Protection 5. [5]

14 Abilities, 15 Powers, 6 Advantages, 7 Skills, 7 Defenses = 49 Character Points

About: Another guy from the second phase, this one uses his quirk, which is some kind of strength enhancement, to move around heavy debris to help with the rescue. I just did a standard Enhanced Strength and Toughness thing for this guy, nothing fancy.

Image

Web Arms

About: Lastly, we see this guy at the second phase of the exam as well, using his quirk to create barricades and help organizer the rescue effort. I couldn't build this guy, man, this would probably be some weird Feature thing, or maybe a very awkward and limited Elongation or Create thing. Maybe an Affliction AE if he can use his web arms to trap other people. Power looks cool tho, perfect combination of grotesque, creative and cool.
Last edited by SolarOracle on Fri Apr 21, 2023 1:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: Solar's Build Thread - Boku no Hero Academia Update

Post by Ares »

Woo! More random hero builds! These one-shot guys and background characters always have some of the weirdest abilities.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Some Quick Non-Builds For Minor Characters... Again

Post by SolarOracle »

You read the title, you know what's up, you know the drill. Let's do this again! This time, we are talking about a pair of characters who are really powerful and important in the context of the universe, but who aren't shown enough to be able to be built, yet I wanted to talk a little bit about them anyways.

Image
Image

Commander Agpar

About: Commander Timothy Agpar is a high-ranked military commander in America who seems to have had a close relationship to both Star and Stripe and the president. During the Star and Stripe arc, he is shown being in direct communication with her, disappointed that she disobeyed her orders to stay in the U.S., but seeming to already be expecting that she'd do that. He is the one to authorize her use of the Tiamat missile in her fight against Shigaraki and send the weapon over. After her death, as the president of the United States is refusing to do anything about the crisis in Japan, Agpar becomes agitated, calling him a coward for letting an evil tyrant rise to power just because of his fear of retaliation, saying that Star was so willing to die for her idol because children learn from observing the adults in their lives, implying that the president's inaction is setting a bad example to the next generation and dooming the future of the country.

He seems like an interesting character, I'm glad we got to see more of him after Star died. He is also probably one of the more obvious Star Wars references in the series, which is saying something considering just how many there are, LOL.

Image

The President of the United States of America

About: In a world full of super powered people with unimaginable strength, this man is perhaps the most powerful, possessing the scariest kind of power: POLITICAL POWER!

Jokes aside, we don't really get to know much about the president, who is only shown as a silhouette in a dark room in his brief appearance. He is shown to be concerned about the well being of his country and its people, refusing to help Japan with the fight against Shigaraki in fear of retaliation, scared of the fact that he probably already sees the US as his enemy due to the actions of Star and Stripe, her group and the Tiamat missile Commander Agpar sent over, and stating that the nation needs to remain inactive in the bigger conflict to minimize the casualties within the country. He and the commander seem to be somewhat close, as the president called him "Tim" and talked to him in a relatively casual way, considering the circumstances. I kind of wonder if we'll hear more about the situation in America, considering their debate wasn't really shown to completion, so I'm half expecting a force of American heroes, like Elecplant or whoever, to appear as support by the end of this final arc.

All in all, this character is REALLY hated, which is funny, considering how little we know of him and how brief his appearance is. Like, I remember comment threads filled with people shittalking him over and over again, LOL. This is due to his actions, which, despite him having a justification for in the context of the story, are seen as cowardly and immoral considering the situation. Here's hoping he can redeem himself in the eyes of the fanbase at some point, LOL.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Some Other Named U.A. Students

Post by SolarOracle »

Some more non-builds for a couple of named characters I wanted to address but who we don't know enough to stat out. This time, we're talking about some U.A. students, most of whom only got to appear once or twice.

Image

Agoyamato Tsutsutaka

About: A general course student at U.A., Agoyamato is a minor character during the Gentle Criminal arc, where he is shown hanging out with his classmate Togeike. The two are used to illustrate how class 1-A has a pretty bad reputation within the school, as the other courses think they are obsessed with having the spotlight and that the way they keep getting involved in big fights with villains will eventually have a very negative impact on the rest of U.A.

He and his friend are shown glaring at class 1-A and being annoyed by their plan to do a music performance, thinking it is just another way for them to show off and that it will probably not even sound that good. They go to the concert expecting it to suck, but end up having a really good time at the show, as they apologize to the main cast before the end of the arc, saying that the music was very moving. I like this guys funny design, gotta say.

Image

Togeike Chikuchi

About: Agoyamoto's friend and student at U.A.'s general education course, Togeike seems to not really be that developed as a character, much like her friend. The two always appear together during the Gentle Criminal arc, as they scoff and show their dislike of class 1-A and use that animosity as motivation to make fun of their concert, only for it to turn out that the music show they put on ended up really good and the two end up being touched by it, apologizing for being such dicks to the main cast to show that the rift between the main cast and the rest of the school is slowly being mended.

Image
Image

Haya Yuyu

About: A third year student at U.A.'s hero course, Haya is an outgoing and generally chill girl who is incredibly devoted to her best friend, Hado. Her unnamed quirk seems to allow her to generate electricity somehow, tho the exact workings of it haven't really been explained.

Haya describes herself as a fan of all things cute, and says that the cutest thing of all is Hado herself, and so she wants to help her out in whatever way she can. She seems to be into fashion, as she has helped her friend in the school culture festival's beauty pageant all three years they have attended school, and was extremely glad to see her friend finally win on their third year.

She has last appeared in the Final War arc, where she is shown alongside other students with electricity quirks generating energy for U.A.'s trap that is separating the villains and containing Shigaraki. She tells Kaminari and Manga to focus on their task, as the two are somewhat goofing around and joking with each other while doing their job.

Haya has a pretty big fanbase for such a minor character, mostly because of how cool her design is and how cute her friendship with Hado is. Like, a lot of people online seem to ship the two, LOL.

Image
Image

Kenranzaki Bibimi

About: Hado's beauty pageant rival, winning first place on both her first and second years, Kenranzaki is a third year support course student who seems to be pretty capable at creating support items and engineering complex machines. She seems to be obsessed with beauty and her own image to a comical degree, which ended up being pretty off-putting on her beauty pageant routine at her final year, where she rolled on stage on a huge parade by piloting a gold tank modelled after her face, costing her the win and finally allowing Hado to take first place.

She kind of disappears from the story after the Gentle Criminal arc, which is a shame, considering how eccentric and funny a character she is. Wouldn't mind she cameoing in this final arc or helping develop support gear for the main cast whenever they come to the support department for upgrades and stuff, could have been pretty funny. I always thought her design looked like something out of One Piece for whatever reason. I guess the exaggerated expression and the eyelashes.

Image
Image

Fuwa Mawata

About: A second year hero course student at U.A., Fuwa seems to be a pretty relaxed and friendly person who has had a brief appearance in the series during the Paranormal Liberation Front arc. She is shown along her classmates as they reminisced about how Aizawa had once expelled their whole class after saying they weren't taking their hero studies seriously, only to force them all to re-enroll afterwards, so they would try to do better as heroes in the future, a controversial scare tactic, as some of the class hold resent over the fact that they have a permanent mark on their record due to it. Fuwa, however, is shown saying that she appreciates what Aizawa did, as it helped them grow as people and come closer as a classroom, stating how much she admires him, a clear parallel to how devoted he is as a teacher and the struggles that would cause him to face during the fight against Shigaraki, Re-Destro and their group.

It's unclear what kind of quirk Fuwa has, but it can be assumed that it is connected to cotton, clouds, snow or some other fluffy thing, mostly due to her name and design. Horikoshi once said he planned to present class 2-A as characters in the series at some point, but honestly, kind of glad he didn't get to doing that, as I think expanding the cast so drastically by this point in the series would be a bit too chaotic and confusing, LOL. Still, shame we don't get to see what their deal is too well.

Image

Furasu Maina

About: The last named student to be introduced, Furasu is a first year support course student who appears for FOUR panels in the Final War arc, where she is shown arguing with the business course students who aren't helping with maintaining U.A.'s fortress and are instead filming and narrating about what is happening, calling them a nuisance and saying that what they are doing is useless, but they rebuke, saying that their filming is the only way history will have a way to remember how in the world's darkest hour, the heroes of Japan managed to prevail and win despite having everything stacked against them.

We know pretty much nothing about this girl. It can be assumed her quirk has something to do with magnetism, but that's about it. She appears so briefly we can't even discern much about her personality, aside from being annoyed at the business course guys. Pretty cute design tho.
Last edited by SolarOracle on Fri Apr 21, 2023 1:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
squirrelly-sama
Posts: 611
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:07 am

Re: Some Quick Non-Builds For Minor Characters... Again

Post by squirrelly-sama »

SolarOracle wrote: Sun Dec 25, 2022 2:13 pm The President of the United States of America

About: In a world full of super powered people with unimaginable strength, this man is perhaps the most powerful, possessing the scariest kind of power: POLITICAL POWER!

Jokes aside, we don't really get to know much about the president, who is only shown as a silhouette in a dark room in his brief appearance. He is shown to be concerned about the well being of his country and its people, refusing to help Japan with the fight against Shigaraki in fear of retaliation, scared of the fact that he probably already sees the US as his enemy due to the actions of Star and Stripe, her group and the Tiamat missile Commander Agpar sent over, and stating that the nation needs to remain inactive in the bigger conflict to minimize the casualties within the country. He and the commander seem to be somewhat close, as the president called him "Tim" and talked to him in a relatively casual way, considering the circumstances. I kind of wonder if we'll hear more about the situation in America, considering their debate wasn't really shown to completion, so I'm half expecting a force of American heroes, like Elecplant or whoever, to appear as support by the end of this final arc.

All in all, this character is REALLY hated, which is funny, considering how little we know of him and how brief his appearance is. Like, I remember comment threads filled with people shittalking him over and over again, LOL. This is due to his actions, which, despite him having a justification for in the context of the story, are seen as cowardly and immoral considering the situation. Here's hoping he can redeem himself in the eyes of the fanbase at some point, LOL.
It's pretty interesting that the president is handled in this way in MHA. In pretty much every other japanese media, when the nation is facing some massive threat that can threaten the rest of the world if it succeeds, you have America forcing it's way in and trying to solve the problem with force (if not be the source of the problem or trying to take advantage of it) and pissing off japan because they will just make the problem worse or are just ignoring the Japanese wanting to solve this on their own. Ghost in the Shell, Godzilla, etc etc.

This comes down to America and Japan's unique and intertwined history. There is a lot of resentment for America's military in Japan, but it's also something the country has come to see as a normal part of their culture since it's been there for over 50 years now. There's resentment for the bombings of course, but that's old hat, what's more topical is that America occupies Japan and regularly exerts control over it. Japan can't have a standing military for war after WW2, though it skirts around this with the JSDF which is for self defense purposes and is still limited. America has many military bases all through out Japan and most popularly known about in Okinawa. There's a rather popular nationalistic view in japan that America has far too much power over japan and influence in it's government and that Japan needs to get out of it and become more independent to flourish like they did before the economic collapse of 91 when they were an economic superpower.

Essentially, in pretty much any other manga, America would have sent Stars and Stripe without consulting Japan to take out Shigaraki, she'd have died and made him stronger, and it'd be a lesson on how short sighted the American's are who think pure force can win and imposing their will on japan for their own interests making the crisis worse.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Drills Villain

Post by SolarOracle »

Image

Drills Villain

Identity: Unknown.
Gender: Male.
Age: Unknown.
Height: Unknown.
Weight: Unknown.
Eyes: Black.
Hair: Brown.
Skin: Fair.
Quirk Type: Unknown. Presumably transformation.
Group: Unknown, presumably none.
Base of Operations: Japan.

Power Level 6 - 68 Character Points

Abilities
Strength 1, Agility 1, Fighting 5, Awareness 0
Stamina 2, Dexterity 2, Intellect 0, Presence 0

Powers
Quirk - Drills

Shoot Drills: Ranged Damage 5 (Extras: Penetrating 4, Multiattack, Split). (20) -- [21]
  • AE: Drill Strike: Strength-based Damage 5 (Extras: Penetrating 4, Split). (10)
Advantages
Close Attack, Improved Critical (Drills), Ranged Attack 3

Skills
Acrobatics 4
(+5 total).
Athletics 2 (+3 total).
Deception 3 (+3 total).
Expertise (Criminal) 3 (+3 total).
Persuasion 2 (+2 total).
Intimidation 2 (+2 total).
Stealth 2 (+3 total).

Offense
Initiative +1
Unarmed
+6, close damage 1.
Drills +6, close damage 6, critical 19-20.
Shoot Drills +5, ranged damage 5, critical 19-20.

Defense
Dodge 6, Fortitude 4, Parry 7, Toughness 2, Will 2

Complications

Motivation: Greed: The drills villain was shown stealing money from a bank.

22 Abilities, 21 Powers, 5 Advantages, 9 Skills, 11 Defenses = 68 Character Points


About: An unnamed villain who appears at the end of the HLA OVA, the drills villain has an unnamed quirk, which I'm simply calling Drills, that allows him to transform his hands into large drills, which he can use to fight presumably by striking others with them, or by rapidly shooting them at high speeds.

He appeared at the end of the OVA, having just pulled a robbery at a bank and getting away in a truck, only to be intercepted by Gang Orca and Shishido, who attacked his truck and forced him into a fight. Recognizing both as capable melee fighters, the drills villain tried to defeat them from afar by shooting them with a barrage of drills, but the heroes managed to easily deflect his attacks, closing the gap and taking him down in a single strike so he could be captured by the cops.

This guy mostly serves to showcase how Shishido and Gang Orca are willing to put their rivalry aside when doing hero work, and how they make a pretty impressive team of powerhouses, stopping the baseball game both were extremely passionate about to fight this guy as news of his robbery hit, only to get back to the game immediately after, with their rivalry and rage for each other fully alight again, which was a pretty funny moment.

I did this build assuming this guy is better at melee combat than ranged by a small bit, since his quirk seems to be more useful for that, with a +5 ranged bonus and a +6 melee bonus. His ranged attacks are only PL 5, easily destroyed by Shishido and easily pushed away by Gang Orca's hypersonic waves. He is also PL 5 defensively, easily taken down by the heroes. I also gave him a decent Acrobatics skill, as he does some impressive aerial maneuvering while fighting.

Outfits: The drills villain is seen wearing large red boots, a pair of jeans, a red belt with a gold buckle, a sleeveless t-shirt and his iconic red helmet, stylized with drills on the sides.
Last edited by SolarOracle on Tue Dec 27, 2022 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Re: Some Quick Non-Builds For Minor Characters... Again

Post by SolarOracle »

squirrelly-sama wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 6:44 pm It's pretty interesting that the president is handled in this way in MHA. In pretty much every other japanese media, when the nation is facing some massive threat that can threaten the rest of the world if it succeeds, you have America forcing it's way in and trying to solve the problem with force (if not be the source of the problem or trying to take advantage of it) and pissing off japan because they will just make the problem worse or are just ignoring the Japanese wanting to solve this on their own. Ghost in the Shell, Godzilla, etc etc.

This comes down to America and Japan's unique and intertwined history. There is a lot of resentment for America's military in Japan, but it's also something the country has come to see as a normal part of their culture since it's been there for over 50 years now. There's resentment for the bombings of course, but that's old hat, what's more topical is that America occupies Japan and regularly exerts control over it. Japan can't have a standing military for war after WW2, though it skirts around this with the JSDF which is for self defense purposes and is still limited. America has many military bases all through out Japan and most popularly known about in Okinawa. There's a rather popular nationalistic view in japan that America has far too much power over japan and influence in it's government and that Japan needs to get out of it and become more independent to flourish like they did before the economic collapse of 91 when they were an economic superpower.

Essentially, in pretty much any other manga, America would have sent Stars and Stripe without consulting Japan to take out Shigaraki, she'd have died and made him stronger, and it'd be a lesson on how short sighted the American's are who think pure force can win and imposing their will on japan for their own interests making the crisis worse.
It's always pretty interesting to see the differences in the way American and Japanese media handle stuff like foreign intervention, or even simpler stuff, like antagonists, monsters and villains in general (I often catch myself thinking about how the director of Persona 5 was deeply surprised by the popularity the game had amassed in the west due to how different he sees Japanese storytelling being compared to American stories, and how in Japanese narratives villains tend to come from the outside, while in American stories, villains tend to be individuals alienated by society).

When it comes to Hero Academia, I feel like it has handled political nuance and the topic of foreign policy and interventionism pretty well throughout the story. Like I said, despite the fanbase reacting really negatively to the president's decision, it still comes off as reasonable in the context of the story, as he is able to offer a justification for it that makes sense.
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: Some Quick Non-Builds For Minor Characters... Again

Post by Ares »

squirrelly-sama wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 6:44 pm It's pretty interesting that the president is handled in this way in MHA. In pretty much every other japanese media, when the nation is facing some massive threat that can threaten the rest of the world if it succeeds, you have America forcing it's way in and trying to solve the problem with force (if not be the source of the problem or trying to take advantage of it) and pissing off japan because they will just make the problem worse or are just ignoring the Japanese wanting to solve this on their own. Ghost in the Shell, Godzilla, etc etc.

This comes down to America and Japan's unique and intertwined history. There is a lot of resentment for America's military in Japan, but it's also something the country has come to see as a normal part of their culture since it's been there for over 50 years now. There's resentment for the bombings of course, but that's old hat, what's more topical is that America occupies Japan and regularly exerts control over it. Japan can't have a standing military for war after WW2, though it skirts around this with the JSDF which is for self defense purposes and is still limited. America has many military bases all through out Japan and most popularly known about in Okinawa. There's a rather popular nationalistic view in japan that America has far too much power over japan and influence in it's government and that Japan needs to get out of it and become more independent to flourish like they did before the economic collapse of 91 when they were an economic superpower.

Essentially, in pretty much any other manga, America would have sent Stars and Stripe without consulting Japan to take out Shigaraki, she'd have died and made him stronger, and it'd be a lesson on how short sighted the American's are who think pure force can win and imposing their will on japan for their own interests making the crisis worse.
SolarOracle wrote: Tue Dec 27, 2022 3:22 pmIt's always pretty interesting to see the differences in the way American and Japanese media handle stuff like foreign intervention, or even simpler stuff, like antagonists, monsters and villains in general (I often catch myself thinking about how the director of Persona 5 was deeply surprised by the popularity the game had amassed in the west due to how different he sees Japanese storytelling being compared to American stories, and how in Japanese narratives villains tend to come from the outside, while in American stories, villains tend to be individuals alienated by society).

When it comes to Hero Academia, I feel like it has handled political nuance and the topic of foreign policy and interventionism pretty well throughout the story. Like I said, despite the fanbase reacting really negatively to the president's decision, it still comes off as reasonable in the context of the story, as he is able to offer a justification for it that makes sense.
America is frequently "damned if you do, damned if you don't" in scenarios like this. If they come in to save the day, they're often depicted as bull-headed, aggressive, short-sighted and arrogant, and their actions often make things worse. If they hold back from getting involved, then they're being cowardly, isolationist and callous, and are possibly the ones secretly behind the problems to begin with. Here at least it's handled with some nuance that America wants to get involved, but after losing their most powerful hero they're hesitant to do so and want to see what Japan does first.

As for Japan's feelings of resentment, on the one hand I do understand their desire for a military of its own, and the feeling of resentment at another nation exerting power over them. On the other hand . . . well, they can hardly complain about the bombings considering they started things, and given their actions in China I doubt America would have fared as well under Japanese occupation as Japan has under America's oversight.

It's kind of interesting how differently Germany and Japan have culturally reacted to WWII. German seems to have really internalized cultural guilt over WWII to the point that anything vaguely Nazi related is squashed immediately. Meanwhile Japan often seems to have the attitude of being resentful of the consequences of having lost while ignoring the various things their nation did during that time period. Part of me would be interested in seeing less American influence on Japan and Japan getting to have their own military again, but I also wonder how Japan would respond to that and what it would mean for the rest of the world.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Mr. Smiley

Post by SolarOracle »

Image

Mr. Smiley

Identity: Hohemi Shinjiro, Public Identity.
Gender: Male.
Age: 28.
Height: Unknown.
Weight: Unknown.
Eyes: Blue.
Hair: Blonde with green tips.
Skin: Light.
Quirk Type: Emitter.
Group: None.
Base of Operations: Japan.

Power Level 8 - 140 Character Points

Abilities
Strength 0, Agility 2, Fighting 5, Awareness 1
Stamina 3, Dexterity 2, Intellect 0, Presence 2

Powers
Quirk - Smile

Area (Visual Perception) Affliction 8 (Impaired, Hindered and Vulnerable/Disabled, Immobile and Defenseless) (Extras: Affects Objects, Extra Condition 2) (Flaws: Limited Degree). [40]

Support Item - Hologram Projectors: (Flaws: Easily Removable). [35]
Ranged Area (Visual Perception) Affliction 8 (Impaired, Hindered and Vulnerable/Disabled, Immobile and Defenseless) (Extras: Affects Objects, Extra Condition 2) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Diminished Ranged). (57)

Support Item - Spring Boots: (Flaws: Removable). [1]
Leaping 1 (15 ft.). (1)

Advantages
Evasion, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 3, Skill Mastery (Art)

Skills
Athletics 4
(+4 total).
Deception 4 (+6 total).
Expertise (Art) 5 (+5 total).
Perception 3 (+4 total).
Persuasion 4 (+6 total).
Sleight of Hand 2 (+4 total).

Offense
Initiative +6
Unarmed
+5, close damage 0.
Smile, close affliction (Impaired, Hindered and Vulnerable/Disabled, Immobile and Defenseless), Fortitude DC 18.
Hologram Projectors, ranged affliction (Impaired, Hindered and Vulnerable/Disabled, Immobile and Defenseless), Fortitude DC 18.

Defense
Dodge 8, Fortitude 6, Parry 7, Toughness 3, Will 5

Complications

Motivation: Spread His Art: Hohemi failed to make it as an artist and was rejected by the art world, as his pieces were criticized by being nothing more than childish pop art. This started him on his path of villainy, as he took to the streets to graffiti his art on every wall he could every day and every night, and no hero or law enforcer would stop him. This passion makes him extremely irritable to people destroying or vandalizing his works.

Involuntary Activation: Hohemi’s quirk activates whenever he smiles, whether he wants it to or not.

Maximum Distance: Smiley’s quirk can only affect people while his face’s features are discernible. This means not only that his quirk is only effective on people he is facing, but also that one can avoid the effects of his quirk by fighting from a safe distance, tho he can somewhat counter that with his holographic projectors. The exact distance at which his facial features become obscured enough for his quirk not to take effect is determined by the DM.

Affects Machinery: Mr. Smiley’s quirk is able to affect constructs through the Affects Objects extra, making them malfunction. However, it is unclear if mindless creatures and constructs that aren’t robots are immune to his quirk as well or not, and such is up to the DM’s discretion. Additionally, constructs save against his quirk with their Will or their creator’s Technology Skill (in the case of Robots, that is), whichever is higher, giving them a chance to resist the effect.

32 Abilities, 76 Powers, 7 Advantages, 11 Skills, 14 Defenses = 140 Character Points


About: Mr. Smiley is a passionate artist who was responsible for a spree of vandalisms throughout the city Endeavor and his team had to deal with, which turned out to be a complicated event due to how tricky navigating his powers was. His quirk, Smile, makes it so anyone who sees Hohemi smiling erupts into uncontrollable laughter for two hours, a dangerous quirk that could debilitate law enforcement who would try to stop him. What made his quirk incredibly dangerous tho is the fact that it could work through video or images of him as well, which he took advantage of by having throwable hologram projectors that would show images of his face. Additionally, it was even able to affect machinery, overloading the sensors of robots that were sent to stop him.

Hohemi decided to spread his graffiti all over the city due to being rejected as an artist by the art community, who saw his art as infantile and meaningless. Hurt by this repeated rejection, no matter how much effort he put into his work, Mr. Smiley decided that people would see his art one way of the other, giving birth to his villain persona, as he would spend day and night wandering the city and adorning its walls with his works. As law enforcement came to stop him, he would use his quirk, paralyzing them as they fell on the floor laughing uncontrollably, allowing him to continue his work at a leisurely pace.

Eventually, the police had no choice but to require the help of Japan's number one hero Endeavor and his agency to put a stop to Smiley's crime spree, as he, Kido, Onima, Burnin, Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki were put on the case, only for all of them to be rendered useless against Mr. Smiley's quirk, which nullified each of them one by one as they attempted to capture him. Eventually, the group had U.A.'s support item department create a special robot to capture the villain, only for that to fail as well, as Smiley's quirk was able to affect even machine, deeply annoying the heroes, as they now had no idea how to stop the artist.

Endeavor and Bakugo started training so Bakugo would be able to fly around blindfolded so he could capture Mr. Smiley without risking being entranced, while Midoriya decided to do some research of Hohemi, learning about his history and motivations. Touched by his story, as Midoriya was familiar with the pain of having impossible dreams, he created a fansite to the villain where he hosted pictures of his work, trying to find a way to give encouragement to his opponent so he would stop his crime spree.

Eventually, Mr. Smiley started his next piece on the walls of a shopping mall, as Endeavor's group went in action to stop him. Bakugo put his training into use, as Endeavor directed him toward the villain, as the student masterfully maneuvered in the air while blindfolded, easily overwhelming the villain and getting him right at his aim. But just as Bakugo was about to fire, Midoriya intervened, tripping Bakugo up and allowing for his blindfold to be removed by Mr. Smiley, who wasted no time in activating his quirk to pacify his foe. Confused, he asked Midoriya why he stopped his friend, as the hero student told him he knew about his history and sympathized with him, showing him the fansite he created and encouraging him not to give up, and that, eventually, his art would find an audience, touching the villain.

Just then, a group of robbers invaded the mall, stealing high value items while keeping the heroes suppressed with their firearms, forcing Todoroki to quickly create a wall of ice to protect Smiley and Midoriya as the criminals spread gunfire chaotically, damaging the walls and the graffiti Mr. Smiley had just finished. Seeing what was happening to his art, Hohemi became enraged, leaping out of cover to subdue the villains, using his quirk to pacify them without harm to their hostages, showing how effective he could be as a hero.

He then surrendered himself to law enforcement, thanking Midoriya and saying he would once again try to become an artist legitimately after he had done his time. As interviewers approached, asking Hohemi who he was and how he took down the criminals, Mr. Smiley introduced himself, smiling to the cameras and spreading a huge wave of laughter throughout Japan, as the incident of the artist villain finally came to a close.

I liked this OVA, it kind of reminded me of one-off silver age stories and stuff, where a goofy gimmicky villain debut, spread havoc, overwhelm the hero with his abilities and force the hero to come up with a way to stop him, which is a kind of story there wasn't really a lot in Hero Academia, so I was really into it. Wouldn't mind more OVAs with a similar formula in the future. I like Hohemi as a character as well, and especially how Midoriya dealt with the situation.

For this build, I'm invoking Jab's "new villain stink" rule, as there is no way this guy is above your average jobber despite how much trouble he was for the heroes in the episode. Like, I feel like if we see Mr. Smiley again, I doubt he will be nearly as effective. With that in mind, I made his quirk PL 8 with PL6 defenses, appropriate for a jobber. He ended up with a fairly high will, as he showed some immense courage at the end of the episode. I also added a complication speculating on how his quirk is able to affect machinery and how that could work in-game. I couldn't really figure out a way to make his quirk work through videos and images, as that would lead to a MASSIVE wall of text for his powers, so I just ignored that aspect of it for the build. It's more of a plot complication anyways.

Outfits: Mr. Smiley's outfit is pretty flamboyant, being composed of a large red cowboy hat with a purple strap holding a pair of paintbrushes, a black mask that covers his upper face, a pink long-sleeved frilled shirt with a large v-neck, a pair of stylized burgundy pants with a grey cutaway in the midsection and a pair of black and white social shoes.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Re: Solar's Build Thread - Boku no Hero Academia Update

Post by SolarOracle »

Also, I included the one other quirk user we see in the Mr. Smiley OVA as a part of this post. That guy doesn't really deserve his own build, but I still felt like I should keep note of this for completionism's sake.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Solar's Build Thread - Boku no Hero Academia Update

Post by Jabroniville »

Agoyamato Tsutsutaka Looks like a caricature of wrestling legend Antonio Inoki, famous for his chin.

Image
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Kunieda

Post by SolarOracle »

Image

Kunieda

About: A mysterious villain introduced in the final arc of the story, Kunieda seems to be a cruel, pragmatic and cold man, loyal to All For One and his cause. His quirk seems to allow him to control plants and fungus in some way, as he is shown surrounded by overgrown plant life.

He has a VERY brief appearance in the story, being left near Fat Gum and Aoyama after the Japanese hero team manages to warp the villains around using Kurogiri's quirk, copied by Monoma. Irritated by Aoyama's betrayal, Kunieda activates his quirk while staring the hero student down, telling him there will be hell to pay for this, as no one gets to go against All For One like that, but Aoyama says he is not afraid and that he is determined to do the right thing from now on, still mad at himself for betraying his friends and wanting to find a way to make up for it somehow, setting up a fight we may or may not see in the future.

Like, it's kind of unclear if we will see more of Kunieda or not, since he could easily just have been inserted there to give Aoyama a moment where he could show his growth as a character, but considering he's been named and his quirk has been teased the way it has, I could see him appearing in a future fight in this arc. Eh, who knows.
SolarOracle
Posts: 549
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Captain Hero and The Demon Lord

Post by SolarOracle »

Image
Image

The Captain Hero Comics

About: Yup! That's how far we're reaching for characters to complete this thread! Talking about a fictional series within a fictional series!

"Captain Hero" is a series of comics about the titular superhero and his continuing fight against the evil Demon Lord and his army. As the comics continue to develop, the Demon Lord overtakes the world and subjects humanity, as all hope seems to be lost. But regardless, the good Captain continues to push back against the forces of evil, even as his victory seems impossible and his pains feels greater and greater, eventually somehow managing to face off against the Demon Lord for a final time, defeating him once and for all and freeing humanity!

These comics serve a few purposes within the story, the first of which was as an explanation of the relationship between All For One and his younger brother Yoichi, who were both fans of the comic as children. All For One was inspired by the Demon Lord, as his quirk developed and he decided to use it to subjugate humanity and rule it from the shadows, saying he deliberately decided not to read the ending of the books since he was going to rewrite them himself, and that he didn't want the hero to win, while Yoichi saw this as shortsighted of him, and that he failed to understand that, in the end, good and heroism will prevail, no matter what.

The second less obviously textual purpose of these comics within the story is as a parallel to the events of the final bit of the series, as a new age of darkness arises with All For One overtaking Japan and trying to dominate the world, only for the heroes of the world to continue to oppose him despite this, presumably prevailing in the end, even as all hope seems lost, showing the villain that his brother was right and he failed to learn the true message of the story.

This comic is supposed to be kind of a parody of superhero stories and of Hero Academia itself to some degree, since it has very generic names for the characters in the series and has the classic superhero story structure. I also dig how it ends up being a mixture of your classic Japanese fantasy story, since the big bad of the story is the Demon Lord, a very Dragon Quest thing, despite it being a western superhero comic, kind of paralleling the Hero Academia series in the way it mixes up classic manga and Japanese storytelling clichés and elements with superhero stories, a detail about this seemingly throwaway element of the story that I really love. I kind of whish we knew more about Captain Hero himself, as well as his nemesis, since I REALLY wish I could stat them out, LOL.
Post Reply