Hey everyone, I'm really, really sorry I'm doing this again—releasing a "chapter" just to talk to you guys instead of posting an actual chapter. But hey, I already told you I'm on vacation, so if you thought this was going to be a real chapter… that's on you.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about the fanfiction I mentioned earlier in my mutant power gave me viltrumite powers: Marvel announcement chapter the one where the MHA cast watches the Multiverse. You know, other anime, movies, Marvel, DC, comics, maybe even manga. For those of you who are familiar with reaction fanfiction, some of you might already know the one trope I absolutely hate: character swaps that make no sense.
Like, for example—let's say the MHA cast is watching One Piece. Then the author does something stupid like making Luffy a variant of Midoriya. Seriously? Luffy and Midoriya?! They are nothing alike. Luffy's confident, loud, follows his dreams no matter what, hates being called a hero and honestly? He's kind of an idiot. Meanwhile, Midoriya is timid, anxious, constantly crying over stuff—sometimes things that don't even matter—and obsessed with being a hero. And don't give me that "he's super smart" argument. No, he isn't. I've seen fanfics where he's somehow predicting someone's powers in absurd detail from one vague clue, while actual smart characters didn't figure it out. He couldn't even figure out Stain's quirk by watching him use it in person—he needed help from a random pro and two classmates.
Okay, sorry, I'm ranting. Back on topic.
The author just made them variance The only reason why because they both are the MC nothing else
This trope bugged me for a long time… until today, ironically. I read a reaction fic where the MHA cast watched the MCU, and it did have character swaps. At first, I rolled my eyes, but I kept reading—and weirdly, some of it intrigued me. Maybe because the MCU doesn't have a single clear main character, so the swaps felt less forced. The author tried matching characters based on traits, like Bakugo being Iron Man—and honestly, that one was perfect for me. They're both arrogant, hot-headed, self-destructive, and haunted by past mistakes.
Unfortunately, a lot of the other swaps were just plain wrong—mostly because the author was trying to push a Midoriya harem agenda. Like, seriously? Captain America's love interests were conveniently all Midoriya's harem girls. Ochako as Black Widow? Come on. In my opinion, All Might should've been Captain America, and Midoriya should've been Aldrich Killian. Yeah, I know that doesn't fit the goody-two-shoes image of Midoriya, but it would've been so much more interesting. Especially if Bakugo is Iron Man—it could've added a whole new layer of drama. Might've even made one of the weakest Phase 2 movies actually good.
So, what's my point in all this?
I want to try a little of that—but differently.
I'm going to include some character swaps. Not with everyone, and not in a way that forces them into the same mold. Like, using One Piece again—let's say I find a strong parallel between Zoro and a certain MHA character. I could call them variants of each other—but I'd still emphasize that they're completely different people. Their environment, their growth, their decisions—all of that makes them who they are. They might have similar traits that made me decide to make them variance of each other, but still they're not the same person.
So even if they share some character traits, they also have other traits that make them completely different. After all, they're unique characters from entirely different series. That alone helps fix the problem
Even if I found MHA characters who matched every Straw Hat perfectly, I wouldn't swap all of them. I'd only do it for one or two that I liked and genuinely made sense and added something meaningful. And if I found some great matches with random characters from One Piece—because let's be real, that series has a million of them—I'd consider those too. But I don't want to flood the whole thing with variants. Just a few, where it works.
This idea is still just an option for now. I just wanted to share my thoughts and hear what you guys think.
Should I do this character swap idea—or should I keep it simple and have them react to everything normally, without any swaps?
Let me know.
Yes
or
no
By the way, if you want to know what fanfiction I was talking about with bakugo being Iron man you could comment and I will tell you