Anime & Manga BnHA Quirks

[SP3CT3R]

I didn't pick up BnHA right away after finding out about it because of how lame and convoluted the characters' powers sounded, especially compared to those you see in other superhero media. Uraraka's quirk is outclassed by telekinesis in every way, Iida is just a super speedster with extra steps, and Tsuyu? Frog powers, really?
But I eventually started watching past the first episode and got hooked. It was probably because I had nothing to bingewatch at the time, but I sort of got obsessed with the quirks. Yeah, they're still not on par with standard superpowers, but seeing the characters use them in weird ways was interesting, for lack of a better word. And they're better for making characters stick out because they're unique. Jiro having headphone jacks drives home the music hero theme much better than regular sonokinesis does.

Sorry for going English test essay on everyone, but I want to know: Does anyone else ever think about this? Because I lurk in CS threads for BnHA roleplays a lot, and I've noticed that in the ones that don't have rules in place on the matter, people tend to go for classic superpowers most of the time. I don't think that's a bad thing, (And it wouldn't be my place to complain if I did) but I'd like to hear if other people over-analyze quirks the way I do and that I'm not just weird.

Also: I've come up with a lot of quirk ideas as a byproduct of my unhealthy obsession. I plan on dumping them all in this thread, so feel free to use any you like for characters, whether they're for BnHA or not.

 

[All For One]

Quirks are probably my favorite aspect of the entire show and seeing them in action was the whole reason I've started watching it in the first place.

However, I don't really like fan created quirks all that much. They just seem to miss the point of what makes quirks so fun, imo.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Quirk Dump #1 (All of them are plant-themed don't @ me)

Spoiler: Aloe Vera

Quirk Type: Transformation

The user of this quirk is capable of growing leaves on their body, resembling the succulent plant Aloe Vera. These leaves are durable with sharp edges, making them useful as blades for combat. In addition, these leaves can be broken open to reveal a gelatinous substance that relieves pain and can heal minor skin injuries such as sunburns or scratches. However, like the actual plant, these leaves are mildly toxic and can cause the user gastric distress if overused.

Spoiler: Flower Power

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can manipulate the shape, size, and other physical properties of the flower petals on any plant they touch, as well as fire them like projectiles. While versatile, each petal can only be used once; using this quirk a second time will cause them to wither. This means that the user has limited resources based on the number of flowering plants in the vicinity or brought with them.

Spoiler: Moss

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can produce a substance from their pores that causes moss to grow and spread at a variable rate, usually quicker in damp and non-sterile environments. The moss can have a variety of properties based on the user's wishes, such as being slick and stringy like algae, or soft and clumpy. The user can even control the color of the moss, making it useful for camouflage. However, overuse can clog the user's pores, resulting in skin problems and a risk for infection.

Spoiler: Pinecone

Quirk Type: Mutant

This quirk causes the user's skin to be covered in overlapping scales, similar to those of a pinecone. The scales provide armor against damage, and can be opened up to fire seeds like shotgun shells.

Spoiler: Pitcher Plant

Quirk Type: Mutant

This quirk causes the user to have a pitcher plant for a head. The user can produce a liquid inside the pitcher that has a sweet scent and is mildly corrosive to nonliving matter, and the pitcher can expand to fit a person roughly the user's own size.

Spoiler: Take Root

Quirk Type: Transformation

The user can grow roots from the bottoms of their feet while in contact with a surface. While they're stuck in place when the quirk is active, the roots they create are strong enough to break concrete and sensitive enough to detect vibrations caused by footsteps.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Quirk Dump #2

Spoiler: Fissure

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can gradually widen any split or crack they recently made in an object by placing both hands on it. The cracks widen outwards in two directions, depending on how they were made, and can be slowed down and eventually stopped by materials dissimilar to whatever the initial split was made. Also, the quirk only activates if the user was the one who applied the force; they could widen a cut made from a knife, but not a hole made by a drill.

Spoiler: Flail Snail

Quirk Type: Mutant

This quirk gives the user the qualities of a flail snail. They have four appendages coming out of their head with spiky growths at the tips. These "flails" can stretch, and grow back in a few days if cut. The user also has a shell they can retreat into, and can produce a sticky, fire-retardant mucus. However, the user is still a snail; they're not very fast and prone to dehydration.

Spoiler: Irradiate

Quirk Type: Transformation

The user of this quirk is capable of gigantification by consuming radioactive materials, which neutralizes them and has diminishing returns. While gigantified, their extra body mass is slowly given off as light, causing them to shrink. They can also concentrate this effect to fire lasers, which causes them to shrink faster.

Spoiler: Mary Sue

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk has heightened observational learning, spatial awareness, and eye-hand coordination, enabling them to pick up and master skills with ease. This quirk puts a strain on the user's eyes that causes them to have imperfect vision that gets progressively worse while using it, but wearing corrective lenses shuts their quirk off and prevents access to the skills they acquired with it.

Spoiler: Rocket Fist

Quirk Type: Mutant

This quirk causes the user to be able to fire off their hands and control them remotely via jets on their wrists, or simply increase the force of their punches. The fists run on a fuel produced by the user's body naturally, but they can and may need to ingest other forms of fuel to power their quirk if it runs out.

Spoiler: Skin-Changer

Quirk Type: Transformation

The user of this quirk can transform into a hybrid creature of any animal that they have a significant amount of material from on their person. The material merges with their body during the transformation and "peels" off once it's finished, converting it into actual hide, alleviating ethical issues. Whatever it is the user transforms with has to have direct skin contact on a certain percentage of their body, so they can only have a few different forms available at any given time.

 

[Tinytiger28]

Quirks were always what I loved about bnha. They’re kind of what made me want to watch it, because they weren’t just standard boring super powers like super strength, or super speed, they had a lot more limits, forcing the characters to become more creative with their powers. They also help alleviate the “can’t control powers” cliche, because they don’t need to put as many limits on their powers to stop the, from being OP. I also always liked the idea of a unuverse where everyone has superpowers, just because I was always curious to see what people might have, how creative they could get, and people having useless powers that they figure out how to engineer to be helpful.

 

[Marzopup]

I think my favorite thing about quirks in BNHA is that even the more ' classic' ones still have a twist put on them. For instance, Iida's quirk is just super speed--but I've never seen it represented as having literal engines in your legs! Tooru's power is invisibility, but she can't turn it off--etc. Even One for All is just super strength, but the way Izukub manipulates the way the power flows through his body for things like cowling and shoot style make it a fresh new take on super strength, which I didn't think was possible.

 

[Lontra]

I like that the quirks aren't all that stereotypical to what you would think one would see in a Hero School, but it also raises a bunch of questions based on how the Hero Entrance Exam worked?
Like how did Hagakure manage to get into 1-A if the test seemed geared more towards those with physically strong/manipulation quirks? I guess it is interestinging to imagine how someone like that managed to take down these giant robots but still...hm. How?

 

[SP3CT3R]

Quirk Dump #3

Spoiler: Kiss Kinesis

Quik Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can place a mark on any object that they kiss, and levitate objects with these marks. The marks can last anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, based on the size of the object, and can be rubbed off. The user can't alter the shape of the object being levitated, and has to maintain awareness of the object's location and movement.

Spoiler: Nine Tails

Quirk Type: Mutant

The user of this quirk has nine tails sprouting from their lower back, each resembling those of different species of fox. Each of these tails can turn into real foxes, which are loyal to the user but have their own personalities and may or may not be inclined to listen to their owner. The foxes don't need to eat, but recover their energy by splitting it with the quirk user in their passive state. The foxes can fuse together to enhance their attributes at the cost of tiring faster, and any pain they feel is shared by their owner.

Spoiler: Slap Band

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can produce a material similar to that found in slap bracelets from their mouth, similarly to a tape dispenser. The material, when a certain amount of force is applied to one side, will coil up into a circular or spiral shape. The material is more durable than actual slap bracelets, and can't be unwound without the user touching it, a strength-enhancing quirk, or waiting for the durability to decay. Over-production can give the quirk's user a dry mouth, and potential toothaches from biting off the ends.

Spoiler: Tentacle

Quirk Type: Transformation



The user of this quirk can sprout a tentacle from anywhere on their body that they have an injury on. The properties of the tentacle depend on the wound, but in general, the more severe it is, the stronger the tentacle produced will be. The tentacles will disappear eventually, but the user can summon another at the price of halting the healing process and potentially making it worse.

 

[Idea]

In my opinion, one of the things that makes quirks so great as a superpower type is the context around them. As such, I'll detail my thoughts about quirks here in two parts, one adressing the quirks themselves and the other adressing said context.

First, in terms of the quirks themselves, one thing that is amazing about them, is that Horikoshi really takes the time to think about the consequences and side-effects of the quirks. More often than not, when it comes to superpowers the process by which they do things, and the potential consequences of doing them is just overlooked, making abilities maybe awesome, but even if they are, still rather plain and uninteresting. Quirks on the other hand are each thei own individual world to explore because the way in which they operate is taken as actually existing in the world. Mirio's quirk is an excellent example of this, taking the full concept of what the quirk does and running with it to the last possible consequence, thus making the power 10 times more awesome.

Beyond that, there are also strictly biological. Even if your quirk makes a machine gun grow out of arm, that machine gun is still effectively a biological part of your body. This creates natural limitations for quirks in terms of what a person's body can handle, as well as giving ore weight to training one's quirk and body.

Lastly, there is an evident degree of creativity in the quirks themselves, and even in the fandom this seems to inspire more creative powers due to there being more of a "making use of the details" mentality, rather than the more blunt approach of normal powers that seems to take powers at face value or just stack new ones when it needs to.


Now, the context. Perhaps the greatest thing about quirks is how they affected the society and individuals attached to those quirks. They don't define the individual, but they do complement them, and they have an impact that is generally rather visible. Characters have many ways of thinking about their powers, using and interacting with them, many different experiences, attitudes and so on....

And then you have the whole construction of the my hero academia society, and the incredible thought and detail that the mangaka put into fleshing it out.

 

[velvetcoke]

yeah totally agree. i love the whole idea of these unique, fleshed-out 'powers' that generally get missed with most fanmade characters.

the fact that the characters all have limits also make it interesting. unlike superman, who is just... he can run really fast! he is super strong! shoots lazers out of his eyes! super strength! super vision! flies! but his weakness is... green rocks???

 

[SP3CT3R]

Sorry for not posting in a while, do people even read these lmao but I made up a bunch of halloween-flavored quirks because what the hell.

Quirk Dump #4

Spoiler: Jack o' Lantern

Quirk Type: Mutant

The user of this quirk has a jack o' lantern for a head, which can be removed wirhout harm. The lantern contains a powerful flame that the user can breathe out, along with other substances such as pumpkin seeds and fibers. The head isn't much more durable than a regular pumpkin, and can explode if the user gets too angry. The head will usually grow back in a period of one hour, during which the user is blind and mostly deaf.

Spoiler: Mad Science

Quirk Type: Mutant

The user of this quirk has an extra organ system running through their body visible externally as pipes and tubes jutting out of their skin. The user of this quirk can direct substances they ingest to this system to synthesize various chemicals through unknown processes, store said chemicals, and secrete them through the user's fingers. The results of this quirk are highly unpredictable, and the effects of the chemicals synthesized can vary based upon factors such as materials used, time between meals, and hydration level. The chemicals created are usually harmless, but become progressively volatile when the conditions harm the user, such as ingesting poison, which can result in feedback loops of further harm.

Spoiler: Polymorph

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can fire projectiles from their hands that can turn anyone they hit into a vertebrate animal of the user's choosing, provided they've encountered the animal before. Victims of this effect are unable to use their quirks or talk, but retain all autonomy and will revert back upon taking too much physical damage, after a certain amount of time, or if the quirk user activates it on another target. The projectiles behave similarly to light, passing through transparent surfaces and bouncing off of reflective ones, but are slow enough to be dodged. The user is immune to the effects of the projectiles, but getting hit by them or firing too many will cause them to temporarily take on animalistic behaviors.

Spoiler: Red Oni, Blue Oni

Quirk Type: Transformation

The user of this quirk is capable of splitting themselves into two copies. One of the two copies has enhanced strength but less brainpower, and vice versa for the other. The copies created by this quirk lose their positive attribute over time or when separated from the other, and share each others' pain.

Spoiler: Sever

Quirk Type: Transformation

The user of this quirk can shapeshift their hands into small knives. These knives are very fragile, and damage sustained to them will mangle the user's fingers. However, the knives cut through human flesh like warm butter, creating portals that prevent targets from actually recieving lacerations. If the user manages to cut off an extremity, they can control that part and use the quirk of the limb's owner, provided the effect stems from that limb and isn't body-wide.

Spoiler: Trick or Treat

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can produce an airborne virus that will infect nearby high-sugar food items and animate them. Animated sweets have a taste for flesh and will attack any humans in the vicinity, with the user's control limited to directing them towards a target. The sweets aren't very strong, however, and have about the bite strength of a clothespin.

 

[Waraeru]

i haven't watched bnha despite meaning to, but i kinda stumbled across this thread on accident and was really intrigued. all of these quirks just seem really interesting and fun and honestly it's probably convinced me to finally watch the show, so thank you!!

 

[PlusUltra]

One of my favourite examples of how the show handles powers has to be a character that finally got introduced in the Anime, Mirio. On the surface his power isnt unique due to there being quite a few phasing characters in comics, but when it goes into the downsides of how it actually works, the power makes the character so much cooler because you understand the amount of skill needed to actually use that how he does.

 

[All For One]

One of my favourite examples of how the show handles powers has to be a character that finally got introduced in the Anime, Mirio. On the surface his power isnt unique due to there being quite a few phasing characters in comics, but when it goes into the downsides of how it actually works, the power makes the character so much cooler because you understand the amount of skill needed to actually use that how he does.

Honestly, I think Mirio's quirk is one of the worst in the show entirely because of its drawbacks. I mean, it falls apart the second you start thinking about. Like, he claims air phase through him while he's intangible but he's able to chat with Deku while phased through a wall.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Honestly, I think Mirio's quirk is one of the worst in the show entirely because of its drawbacks. I mean, it falls apart the second you start thinking about. Like, he claims air phase through him while he's intangible but he's able to chat with Deku while phased through a wall.

I just figured that he can breathe as long as his face isn't phased.

 

[All For One]

I just figured that he can breathe as long as his face isn't phased.

But his neck is. So the air shouldn't be able to get to the lungs regardless of if his face is intangible or not.

 

[SP3CT3R]

But his neck is. So the air shouldn't be able to get to the lungs regardless of if his face is intangible or not.

I think that inhaled air counts as part of him when he phases. If it didn't, his lunch would probably fall out of his digestive system too.

 

[All For One]

I think that inhaled air counts as part of him when he phases. If it didn't, his lunch would probably fall out of his digestive system too.

Maybe but that was never really established.

Also, I do want to stress that I fully understand that no quirk makes any kind of sense when you look at it scientifically. But Mirio's quirk specifically bugs me because the weaknesses don't really add anything to it and only serves to make it more nonsensical.

 

[AnimeGenork]

I honestly saw Quirks as a different sort of superpower. Like in Bleach, how every Zanpakuto has a real specific power (Soi Fon's can kill in two strikes, Izuru Kida's makes the opponent's sword heavier), I thought Quirks were a really cool new way of exploring powers beyond the standard. Especially since Bakugou's power isn't just fire--it's science-y fire. Way cool, in my opinion.

Not gonna lie, I loved when they introduced Tsuyu and said she basically just does whatever a frog does. Straight-forward is my kinda jam.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Quirk Dump #5 (I hope you guys like hands)

Spoiler: Delivery

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can make an object fly to another person they know by placing both hands on it and speaking the recipient's name or a name commonly associated with them. When activated, the object will grow small wings to fly to the recipient, and while they don't seem to be powering the flight, the object will drop if the wings are damaged heavily, and will disappear on their own if they reach the recipient or after a certain amount of time based on the object's weight. Only works on people the quirk user has seen in person.

Spoiler: Hand Puppet

Quirk Type: Transformation

The user of this quirk can turn one or both of their hands into the head and potentially upper body of any animal the user has encountered before. The animal's proportions are scaled up or down so that they're not much bigger than the user's arms. The hand animals are linked to the user's nervous system, but have a mind of their own and can act independently of the user, being able to control the user's entire arm if the user gives them too much freedom.

Spoiler: Redirect

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can absorb kinetic energy from any object or projectile they touch with the palms of their hands to negate its momentum, and then transfer the energy back to return the object as a projectile, albeit with low accuracy. The user can also store the energy, but doing so for more than a few seconds will hurt their forearms, and the only way to get rid of it is to channel it into another object. The user of this quirk can also absorb other types of energy through palm contact and return it in the same form, but they have a much lower tolerance to non-kinetic energy and will sustain major injuries by doing so without intensive training.

Spoiler: Sticky Hand

Quirk Type: Mutant

The user of this quirk has a sticky gel coating the palms of their hands, which can be shot out while maintaining its shape and remaining attached to the user's wrist. The user can control this gel to a certain degree, allowing them to move the sticky hand like a normal hand, but they can't control the cord it's attached to. The sticky hand grows back after a while if cut.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Bringing this back. Quirk Dump #6

Spoiler: Centaur

Quirk Type: Transformation

The user of this quirk can transform their lower body into the form of a horse from the neck down, granting them increased speed and leg strength, but inhibiting their maneuverability in tight spaces or vertical surfaces. The quirk user can switch between the two forms whenever they desire and spend an indefinite amount of time in either, but transforming multiple times in rapid succession can cause leg pains

Spoiler: Rainbow

Quirk Type: Mutant

The user of this quirk has a horn growing from their forehead, which emits a special radiation that can suspend water molecules in the air to create prismatic barriers. The barriers created can only be maintained so long as they're exposed to the radiation, so they disappear quickly once the quirk user no longer has line-of-sight to them. In addition, due to being created from water in the atmosphere, the barriers lose effectiveness in arid weather.

Spoiler: Shed Skin

Quirk Type: Transformation

The user of this quirk, in response to an external injury, will rapidly shed their skin and take on a new form with adaptations to make them more resistant to whatever caused them to shed in the first place, and lose any previous adaptations. The adaptations may vary slightly with each activation, even when the quirk is triggered by the same injury in both instances. Each consecutive use in the short-term decreases the quality of the adaptations unless the user consumes their shed skin to regain the lost nutrients, and they will revert to their base form in an hour if they incur no further harm before then.

Spoiler: Will-o-wisp

Quirk Type: Emitter

The user of this quirk can produce floating balls of light from their mouth via combustion of digested material. These lights are sapient and act independently from the quirk user, but are loyal to their creator and will follow any instructions given. The wisps can pick up objects of about five pounds or less, speak semi-intelligibly, and explode violently to harm foes. The amount of time they last for and some other factors may vary based on what the quirk user has eaten recently.