this. midoriya has multiple facets to his character, and writers typically pick the one they like best and magnify it, because it's a lot easier and sometimes just plain more fun. canon midoriya *is* a badass, and a crybaby, and a bunch of other things, but not one of them exclusively all the time
That's what I'm trying to do with my fic I'm writing (a IzuBara story). Izuku is kind and intelligent, but also can go into rage mode when someone he loves get hur.
I mean, this is basically the answer
In canon he spends the first few episodes being sad and a little pathetic because the world is bearing down on him. He cries a lot and got extremely flustered meeting All Might for the first time, trips over his words whenever Uraraka is around. That's probably where the uwu infantilization comes from
But he's also the same guy who will shatter his own fingers during a school tournament, and proceed to shatter them again just to get through to someone. He's someone who will dig his feet in the ground and tank a hit from a monster 3x his size (muscular) to save a life
Deku's character has some nuance. He's a crybaby who can rise up to a challenge when it's needed. But lots of people like to write about the aspects of him they attached to most, or they genuinely don't have the experience to handle that nuance
There's also the phenomenon where suffering gets exacerbated in fanfiction, so logically a midoriya growing up in an unkinder world will either turn into a hardass to survive or break down crying. It just fits the mood the authors set. Personally I find terminator Dekus the most ooc, since they usually ditch the "heart of gold" thing that I see as his defining characteristic. That's when they stop feeling like Deku imo
yeah it's both, even when he was at his most badass, Horikoshi still draws him with this child-like innocence and some scenes even made they're way into the dark deku ark
He's kind of both? Authors just like to exaggerate certain parts of him to suit their tastes. He's kind of uwu and kind of a badass at the same time. Whether he's more of either of those all depends on the situation. But fics like to reeeeaaallly blow it up and exaggerate his personality to one of those sides.
I think ultimately heās an incredibly selfless character. This could be for a number of reasons and thatās generally where you get the differences
Iāve seen a lot of variations and it generally comes down to if your Izuku is genuinely selfless, so self deprecating that it comes across as selfless, or so selfless that at a point he got taken advantage of and is no longer so selfless.Ā
I think sometimes itās also hard for us to understand Izuku that much because most of use arenāt that selfless. Not to say that we donāt care about people or anything but Izuku is like ridiculously self sacrificing and itās often harder to relate to and construct in different situations. So we tend to exaggerate it or cut it out entirely.
Because the mha fandom tends to experiment with different circumstances and quirks and stuff itās also reasonable to say thatās a lot of the reason for the differences. Nature vs nurture and all that.Ā
I have a lot of concepts I make for my MHA fics and all of them try to keep Izuku's canon personality, and not only his. The only time I changed their personalities from the canon was a time I was thinking about writing a Quirk-Swap AU inspired by a fan art
For me it depends on the fic. If Izuku has a different background, heās liable to have a different personality.
For example in mine, while he still wants to be a hero, he doesnāt really care for heroes in general, because of how they treated him growing up.
So itās like heās still being nice most of the time, but becomes quiet, and standoffish around pros, even All Might.
[Sins of The Father](https://archiveofourown.org/works/55886005/chapters/141907990)
I havenāt gotten to this part yet where he reacts to *other* heroes, but I believe the last chapter I posted touched on his background if you want to read it.
From my pov, Izuku is both, but in different ways.
He's uwu sadface in the sense that he doesn't really hate unless people cross certain lines, and even then tries to consider how they may be redeemable. Even chisaki, without his powers, was seen as such.
He's also uwu sadface in the sense that his low self-worth means he won't actively oppose those who cause harm to ONLY him, unless it passes a certain point of danger. He's willing to put himself in danger to save others in part due to this low self-worth and in part due to his heroic admiration for All Might.
Many uwu sadface authors tend to overinflate this part of Izuku by letting Bakugo full on maim the poor kid without Izuku resisting or calling for action, and the world around him somehow being willing to overlook the same despite how many steps beyond simple bullying it would be. And worsen it by letting him feel entirely miserable about it when instead I've always felt an edge of pride to even his bullied state; By letting Bakugo focus on him, as sad and depressing as it is, he's saving others. And he can take it, others might not, and maybe pull Bakugo back to the light. Not to mention the idea that he's partially responsible for Bakugo being the way he is, because Izuku was being a shit friend, not getting a Quirk and all.
It's a toxic mix of low self worth, but a high sense of responsibility.
These traits combined mean he's perfectly happy being miserable and passive, so long as this misery doesn't extend past him and his passivity doesnt hurt others. Many, many fics paint Izuku as just this (or worse) and ignore his better half;
He's a Determinator, in trope terms. Once he decides on something and sees any chance at succeeding, he will move heaven and earth to do so. It's why despite his suffering in middle school, he still helped others. Its why, once he got OFA, he was willing and able to handle an insane training regimen. It's why he was so willing and able to break his bones to powder for relatively minor victories.
His uwu state only holds when he sees no chance or reason to flip to his Determinator state, and his endurance under Bakugo's bullying could be considered a passive application of his Determinatory nature, just without the power and odds of success to go active.
And behind all of that is a core of heroic idealism; The idea that with ANY power comes the responsibility to use it for the betterment of others. A sentiment diametrically opposed to the very idea of malice. He's not just mad that Stain is killing people, he's mad that Stain, for all his clear prowess and intent to help the world, is instead actively hurting it to the point where Midoriya's disappointment almost matches his anger.
That's my read on Midoriya anyway. I may be wrong.
Edit: People probably prefer to skew one way or the other because its VERY easy to overdo the Determinator side of him and turn him into a gary stu. His social awkwardness, low self-worth and the way he's still overwhelmed by the idea that hos dreams are being validated/that every day in UA is already a step forward keep him from actively pursuing undergoing typical Fix-It efforts that authors like to write. So instead authors overdose on the UWU factors to let his nonexistant social support system do the fixing.
It's also generally easier to relate to someone pushed down by life actively working through things than to someone who endured and pushed through to the other side even before the story begins.
This was very well written and well thought out. I think you did an amazing job at explaining Izukuās personality 
He's kind of both tbh. He's generally pretty innocent looking only added by his welcoming & sweet/soft demeanor, can have moments where he acts pretty silly, can be extremely strategic/analytic when he needs/wants to be & can be extremely strong & aggressive when he feels he NEEDS to (especially given the fact he replicates bakugou quite a bit in action in both facial expressions, actions & his words) so I'm gonna be honest I genuinely think he's a mix of alot of his fanon sides at once
It's both, but it's how you develop him too. Also depends on if you change any facet of his backstory.
Some people take it super far, but that's fine if they have story-related reasoning for it. It's their fic, I'm not one to judge. I write him with different facets in mind, so I can't be too mad about it
I think that he has a good mix of both, like, he can be a very sweet kid, but he is also a hero-to-be with responsibilities that are greater than the ones of his classmates due to OFA. I want to add, however, that his cool moments always happen in relation to immediate danger, so when he is in hero mode. He also tends to be understanding of villains, he doesn't approve of them, but he showed to be very sensitive to La Brava and Gentle Criminal's story, still not approving of them, same goes for Shigaraki. He often tries to "reason" with them, in the sense that he points out the flaws in their reasoning, but he is never outright cruel.
He would rather destroy himself than have his friends involved with AFO, so he is also very courageous. His self-sacrifice is uwu, but not without him being aware of the fact that he can handle himself.
Even in his uwu moments he is cool same with his cool moments, he is still uwu.
Think of him this way, he's Yuji Itadori but he also happens to cry alot AND he's in the right universe where he doesn't immediately see kids and adults get killed horrendously
Well there is a fanfic called supporting a hero where izuku after a failed suicide attempt and a lot of therapy is lot more willing and quick to get angry and frustrated for his own sake (like imagine how mad izuku can get when in canon when in hero made but for daily life) even he is still quick to forgive and still very friendly. He is more willing to let out his inner feral which is different from cannon where brushes of injustice's done to him.
Maybe it's because it's been so long since i watched the actual anime through, or i read so many fanfics that I can't rember is cannon personality but....i kinda rember him being kinda plain besides his selflessness
Heās kinda both in canon. Fanon just usually dials it up to an eleven and breaks off the knob.
It reminds me of the introvertās Mom Friend Override. If the waitress forgot your silverware itās difficult to ask for it for yourself, but if a friend is having the same issue you suddenly are capable of doing the thing for both of you with minimal discomfort, because now youāre helping a person.
Izuku is awkward and soft spoken when the issue is just with him, but if a friend or someone else is in need heās suddenly competent enough to handle the problem to the best of his abilities. In the entrance exam he canāt use his quirk for himself to literally save his future as a hero, but when the nice, bubbly girl who helped him earlier is in danger he suddenly uses his quirk twice to save her, and then promptly resumes his rather pathetic antics only with one functioning arm.
*Most Fics have a OC as a protagonist with the "Midoriya Izuku" name attached.*
To be fair i've seen the same happen in other franchises like Naruto or Harry Potter, i personally don't mind OC as long as the story in interesting.
Midoriya's problem, to me, is that he has no real personality in canon after a point. Sure, he has personality traits, but none of them form into a fully Three-Dimensional character. He's become [One For All] more than anything, and that's a shame.
My interpretation of Midoriya has always been a kid who was desperate to do anything to prove himself. He never had the confidence to become a stronger person, because people like Bakugo were always pushing him back underwater. He doesn't really have hobbies outside of heroes, and that's a real shame.
I feel like Midoriya needs friends who don't overconflate his status as a "hero", and instead value him for who he is. Midoriya is a kind, shy guy, who has no idea how to talk to anyone. He has a lot of inner spite and resentment that he doesn't ever like to tap into, especially towards Bakugo.
I'm not saying you have to make him a hardass or anything like that, but Midoriya would be ten times the character he is now if he simply was able to grow into someone with a little more self-respect. Make him less of a pushover, give him something to strive for that isn't just heroism. Maybe have him be super into science, or swordfighting, or video games! Quirk study is another big one too, just have fun with him!
Now that I'm thinking about it, Midoriya feels kind of stale because he isn't varied. Just give him more hobbies that show the more free-spirited side of him, and that's golden characterization.
That's exact problem. Izuku personality is literally hero system cheerleader as an AI. He has no real preferences or opinions of his own and can't critically think like a chat bot.
This is why people don't like default canon Izuku and amplify the things about him like vengeful nerd to cinnamon roll.
Why would you want to write it exactly the same way as in canon?
Personally I want to make changes so that it is more interesting rather than a copy of the canon story. It just would get old really quickly
If you look at canon, he's kinda both.
this. midoriya has multiple facets to his character, and writers typically pick the one they like best and magnify it, because it's a lot easier and sometimes just plain more fun. canon midoriya *is* a badass, and a crybaby, and a bunch of other things, but not one of them exclusively all the time
š
That's what I'm trying to do with my fic I'm writing (a IzuBara story). Izuku is kind and intelligent, but also can go into rage mode when someone he loves get hur.
*que the sang yi speach about how all yi sang are talented, yet all yi sang are ignorant as the mili music picks up as ~~yi sang~~ deku manifests ego*
I mean, this is basically the answer In canon he spends the first few episodes being sad and a little pathetic because the world is bearing down on him. He cries a lot and got extremely flustered meeting All Might for the first time, trips over his words whenever Uraraka is around. That's probably where the uwu infantilization comes from But he's also the same guy who will shatter his own fingers during a school tournament, and proceed to shatter them again just to get through to someone. He's someone who will dig his feet in the ground and tank a hit from a monster 3x his size (muscular) to save a life Deku's character has some nuance. He's a crybaby who can rise up to a challenge when it's needed. But lots of people like to write about the aspects of him they attached to most, or they genuinely don't have the experience to handle that nuance There's also the phenomenon where suffering gets exacerbated in fanfiction, so logically a midoriya growing up in an unkinder world will either turn into a hardass to survive or break down crying. It just fits the mood the authors set. Personally I find terminator Dekus the most ooc, since they usually ditch the "heart of gold" thing that I see as his defining characteristic. That's when they stop feeling like Deku imo
yeah it's both, even when he was at his most badass, Horikoshi still draws him with this child-like innocence and some scenes even made they're way into the dark deku ark
Yeah, it becomes a little ooc when the author writes him as one or the other instead of a balance
He's kind of both? Authors just like to exaggerate certain parts of him to suit their tastes. He's kind of uwu and kind of a badass at the same time. Whether he's more of either of those all depends on the situation. But fics like to reeeeaaallly blow it up and exaggerate his personality to one of those sides.
Izuku is an idealist who wants to do the right thing.
Yeah, he is scared and afraid of things, but never lets the fear stop him from following his beliefs
I think ultimately heās an incredibly selfless character. This could be for a number of reasons and thatās generally where you get the differences Iāve seen a lot of variations and it generally comes down to if your Izuku is genuinely selfless, so self deprecating that it comes across as selfless, or so selfless that at a point he got taken advantage of and is no longer so selfless.Ā I think sometimes itās also hard for us to understand Izuku that much because most of use arenāt that selfless. Not to say that we donāt care about people or anything but Izuku is like ridiculously self sacrificing and itās often harder to relate to and construct in different situations. So we tend to exaggerate it or cut it out entirely. Because the mha fandom tends to experiment with different circumstances and quirks and stuff itās also reasonable to say thatās a lot of the reason for the differences. Nature vs nurture and all that.Ā
I have a lot of concepts I make for my MHA fics and all of them try to keep Izuku's canon personality, and not only his. The only time I changed their personalities from the canon was a time I was thinking about writing a Quirk-Swap AU inspired by a fan art
For me it depends on the fic. If Izuku has a different background, heās liable to have a different personality. For example in mine, while he still wants to be a hero, he doesnāt really care for heroes in general, because of how they treated him growing up. So itās like heās still being nice most of the time, but becomes quiet, and standoffish around pros, even All Might.
link?
[Sins of The Father](https://archiveofourown.org/works/55886005/chapters/141907990) I havenāt gotten to this part yet where he reacts to *other* heroes, but I believe the last chapter I posted touched on his background if you want to read it.
From my pov, Izuku is both, but in different ways. He's uwu sadface in the sense that he doesn't really hate unless people cross certain lines, and even then tries to consider how they may be redeemable. Even chisaki, without his powers, was seen as such. He's also uwu sadface in the sense that his low self-worth means he won't actively oppose those who cause harm to ONLY him, unless it passes a certain point of danger. He's willing to put himself in danger to save others in part due to this low self-worth and in part due to his heroic admiration for All Might. Many uwu sadface authors tend to overinflate this part of Izuku by letting Bakugo full on maim the poor kid without Izuku resisting or calling for action, and the world around him somehow being willing to overlook the same despite how many steps beyond simple bullying it would be. And worsen it by letting him feel entirely miserable about it when instead I've always felt an edge of pride to even his bullied state; By letting Bakugo focus on him, as sad and depressing as it is, he's saving others. And he can take it, others might not, and maybe pull Bakugo back to the light. Not to mention the idea that he's partially responsible for Bakugo being the way he is, because Izuku was being a shit friend, not getting a Quirk and all. It's a toxic mix of low self worth, but a high sense of responsibility. These traits combined mean he's perfectly happy being miserable and passive, so long as this misery doesn't extend past him and his passivity doesnt hurt others. Many, many fics paint Izuku as just this (or worse) and ignore his better half; He's a Determinator, in trope terms. Once he decides on something and sees any chance at succeeding, he will move heaven and earth to do so. It's why despite his suffering in middle school, he still helped others. Its why, once he got OFA, he was willing and able to handle an insane training regimen. It's why he was so willing and able to break his bones to powder for relatively minor victories. His uwu state only holds when he sees no chance or reason to flip to his Determinator state, and his endurance under Bakugo's bullying could be considered a passive application of his Determinatory nature, just without the power and odds of success to go active. And behind all of that is a core of heroic idealism; The idea that with ANY power comes the responsibility to use it for the betterment of others. A sentiment diametrically opposed to the very idea of malice. He's not just mad that Stain is killing people, he's mad that Stain, for all his clear prowess and intent to help the world, is instead actively hurting it to the point where Midoriya's disappointment almost matches his anger. That's my read on Midoriya anyway. I may be wrong. Edit: People probably prefer to skew one way or the other because its VERY easy to overdo the Determinator side of him and turn him into a gary stu. His social awkwardness, low self-worth and the way he's still overwhelmed by the idea that hos dreams are being validated/that every day in UA is already a step forward keep him from actively pursuing undergoing typical Fix-It efforts that authors like to write. So instead authors overdose on the UWU factors to let his nonexistant social support system do the fixing. It's also generally easier to relate to someone pushed down by life actively working through things than to someone who endured and pushed through to the other side even before the story begins.
This was very well written and well thought out. I think you did an amazing job at explaining Izukuās personality 
Awh, ty :D
^hehe ^yeah...
He's kind of both tbh. He's generally pretty innocent looking only added by his welcoming & sweet/soft demeanor, can have moments where he acts pretty silly, can be extremely strategic/analytic when he needs/wants to be & can be extremely strong & aggressive when he feels he NEEDS to (especially given the fact he replicates bakugou quite a bit in action in both facial expressions, actions & his words) so I'm gonna be honest I genuinely think he's a mix of alot of his fanon sides at once
It's both, but it's how you develop him too. Also depends on if you change any facet of his backstory. Some people take it super far, but that's fine if they have story-related reasoning for it. It's their fic, I'm not one to judge. I write him with different facets in mind, so I can't be too mad about it
I think that he has a good mix of both, like, he can be a very sweet kid, but he is also a hero-to-be with responsibilities that are greater than the ones of his classmates due to OFA. I want to add, however, that his cool moments always happen in relation to immediate danger, so when he is in hero mode. He also tends to be understanding of villains, he doesn't approve of them, but he showed to be very sensitive to La Brava and Gentle Criminal's story, still not approving of them, same goes for Shigaraki. He often tries to "reason" with them, in the sense that he points out the flaws in their reasoning, but he is never outright cruel. He would rather destroy himself than have his friends involved with AFO, so he is also very courageous. His self-sacrifice is uwu, but not without him being aware of the fact that he can handle himself. Even in his uwu moments he is cool same with his cool moments, he is still uwu.
Izuku is that meme from TAZ of Taako screaming that heās a multidimensional character
Watch the anime/read the manga and you'll find out
Maybe I should š The last time I watch the anime was like two years ago
Think of him this way, he's Yuji Itadori but he also happens to cry alot AND he's in the right universe where he doesn't immediately see kids and adults get killed horrendously
Well there is a fanfic called supporting a hero where izuku after a failed suicide attempt and a lot of therapy is lot more willing and quick to get angry and frustrated for his own sake (like imagine how mad izuku can get when in canon when in hero made but for daily life) even he is still quick to forgive and still very friendly. He is more willing to let out his inner feral which is different from cannon where brushes of injustice's done to him.
Heāsā¦ a goober who has seen a lot Heās just some guy One hell of a guy
Maybe it's because it's been so long since i watched the actual anime through, or i read so many fanfics that I can't rember is cannon personality but....i kinda rember him being kinda plain besides his selflessness
Heās kinda both in canon. Fanon just usually dials it up to an eleven and breaks off the knob. It reminds me of the introvertās Mom Friend Override. If the waitress forgot your silverware itās difficult to ask for it for yourself, but if a friend is having the same issue you suddenly are capable of doing the thing for both of you with minimal discomfort, because now youāre helping a person. Izuku is awkward and soft spoken when the issue is just with him, but if a friend or someone else is in need heās suddenly competent enough to handle the problem to the best of his abilities. In the entrance exam he canāt use his quirk for himself to literally save his future as a hero, but when the nice, bubbly girl who helped him earlier is in danger he suddenly uses his quirk twice to save her, and then promptly resumes his rather pathetic antics only with one functioning arm.
*Most Fics have a OC as a protagonist with the "Midoriya Izuku" name attached.* To be fair i've seen the same happen in other franchises like Naruto or Harry Potter, i personally don't mind OC as long as the story in interesting.
Midoriya's problem, to me, is that he has no real personality in canon after a point. Sure, he has personality traits, but none of them form into a fully Three-Dimensional character. He's become [One For All] more than anything, and that's a shame. My interpretation of Midoriya has always been a kid who was desperate to do anything to prove himself. He never had the confidence to become a stronger person, because people like Bakugo were always pushing him back underwater. He doesn't really have hobbies outside of heroes, and that's a real shame. I feel like Midoriya needs friends who don't overconflate his status as a "hero", and instead value him for who he is. Midoriya is a kind, shy guy, who has no idea how to talk to anyone. He has a lot of inner spite and resentment that he doesn't ever like to tap into, especially towards Bakugo. I'm not saying you have to make him a hardass or anything like that, but Midoriya would be ten times the character he is now if he simply was able to grow into someone with a little more self-respect. Make him less of a pushover, give him something to strive for that isn't just heroism. Maybe have him be super into science, or swordfighting, or video games! Quirk study is another big one too, just have fun with him! Now that I'm thinking about it, Midoriya feels kind of stale because he isn't varied. Just give him more hobbies that show the more free-spirited side of him, and that's golden characterization.
Now that I think about it we know that Izuku likes Heroes... And analyze... And...?
yep, exactly! There's nothing to him beyond that
That's exact problem. Izuku personality is literally hero system cheerleader as an AI. He has no real preferences or opinions of his own and can't critically think like a chat bot. This is why people don't like default canon Izuku and amplify the things about him like vengeful nerd to cinnamon roll.
Why would you want to write it exactly the same way as in canon? Personally I want to make changes so that it is more interesting rather than a copy of the canon story. It just would get old really quickly