Me: There’s No Way Kaminari’s Just A Side Character! Horikoshi Draws Him So Beautifully!

Katara: are you talking to yourself?

Sokka: yes. It’s the only way I can have an intelligent conversation in this house

By this point I think I may just be becomming an Epileptic!Kaminari blog, but since the DVD/BluRay just came out I thought I'd cross-post from my Fandom Twitter about why I am so passionate about this headcanon.

There have been plenty of electricity based Superheroes in the past: Static, Black Lightning, Surge, and Thor to name but a few. What marks Denki apart though is the intense NEGATIVE side effects his power has.

There's a trap writers often fall into when creating disabled heroes, where the hero's disability actually grants them some immense power e.g.: Daredevil's superior hearing and reflexes. Denki's quirk does not make his life easier, but much like kids on meds, he's learnt to control it. Mostly.

When Denki releases a sudden and much too intense amount of electricity his brain short circuits, causing him to lose some level of brain function. His dopey expression and dropped gaze could be read as a variety of seizure types. I go with Absence, coz I'm a narcissist.

Not only this, but Denki's "Derp Mode" contains many of the symptoms of a Postictal State ("the altered state of consciousness after an epileptic seizure"). These include, but are not limited to: drowsiness, confusion and headaches. Again, sound familiar? Now, if I believed this was a DELIBERATE attempt at representation I'd be frustrated and a little insulted. There are problematic elements within his "Derp Mode", but when you're epileptic you take what you can get. Which is… overall? Not a lot.

Seriously, take a second to try and think of, say, three explicitly stated epileptic characters in mainstream media... Pretty tough, huh? Even Google can't really help you. Our representation is mostly limited to murder victims.

"How did he die?"

"Well, the super computer didn't like that he tried to turn it off, so it flashed lights at him until he had a seizure and died!"

This is an actual plot line from Elementary. Yeah. It sucks. Back to anime!

Denki's struggle for control is what makes him relatable. He has episodes during regular classes that detract from his learning. His friends make fun of his "derp mode", the period where he's the most vulnerable. These aren't NICE things, but they are all too relatable. He could be criticised for taking too many risks, and trying to use too much of his power at once without thinking it through. This is what we experts call "being a teenager".

From my personal experience, your teen years are when you start to really discover what your triggers are. You try to push yourself, find where your limit is and maybe even try to rebel against it. Perhaps with enough practice you can break those limits and be cured! (Spoiler: You can't be.)

Pushing limits could mean: not taking your medication, staying up late, watching films with flashing lights etc. So when I see Denki being too gun-ho about using his quirk- that's what I see: a teenager testing his limits and making mistakes.

But I also see him LEARNING from those mistakes. He pushes his voltage limit up slowly, testing it in a safe environment with support staff around. He has aids to help refine his technique and prevent overload. His level of self-control from Two Heroes to Heroes Rising is remarkable!

So that brings us back round to the film, and why I cried in the cinema, admittedly on my 4th watch. (I had a pass. I made the most of it.) The answer is: Kaminari knowingly and painfully pushing his limit to save the island. Specifically I am talking about the scene where the power has gone out across the island, and it is Kaminari's job to charge the emergency batteries Momo created to bring power back to mainframe units.

We see him and Momo struggling to produce these generators. They require more energy than they possess, but without them they're doomed. When Jiro suggests they take a break Denki replies "If I don't charge these [batteries] now I won't get to"

This hit home. I have been in that situation. I've had to pull an all nighter. I've had to wake up too early, too often. I've been so stressed that I can feel the tell tale signs of a seizure on the horizon… but I had to push through it. Once that feeling of an oncoming seizure begins there is no taking a break. There is no five minute gap, I have to complete my tasks, be it handing in coursework or stacking shelves, right then coz I'm gonna be flat on my bed in 10 minutes regardless.

That's what I saw in Denki, and in Momo. The familiar pain of knowing the worse is coming, knowing there's nothing you can do, but the pressure of the immediate task means you can't stop. All because, for you, pushing your limits has deadly consequences. For the first time we saw Denki's "Derp Mode" played as a consequence with little to no comedic element. This wasn't "Silly Denki thinking he can do it all! No he can't!" or "Look at his derpy face, how funny it is so make him suffer!"

Denki's loss of awareness was a sign that he had been acting as a hero. He'd given his all for his friends and the islanders. In his next scene we saw him attending a meeting in a Postictal State. He has nothing more to give, but he was still included in the group.

I've never really seen that before. I've never been given a chance to explore those feelings through media. It made me process my life and my choices. Through Denki's extraordinary situation, I was able to look at my ordinary life more clearly.

Denki was me. Denki was me age 10 missing things in class and thinking I was an idiot. He was me age 14, losing friends because they thought I was ignoring them. He was me age 19 at Uni, hiding under a desk during hand-in because my brain couldn't cope anymore. He was me age 24 realising I had to quit my retail job because I couldn't keep up with the long hours; my seizure count going from 1 a month to 3 a day. He's me age 26 crying as I write this.

Representation matters. Seeing yourself represented let's you understand parts of your life you never got to before. It helps you feel seen, like your struggles matter to other people. Denki isn't perfect, but he’s all we have. And I love him.

I’m doing my school’s inktober thing, but imma draw each prompt w/ teenage mutant ninja turtle stuff!!

Day 1: Chimera

Ice cream kitty is soooo fun to draw lol

They’re having the water is/is not wet debate

what was sokka’s relationship with his mother like? did she, like ursa with zuko, encourage him to feel safe transgressing gender norms? did she patiently coax him into talking out his problems, letting him know that it is safe and healthy to express himself? did she marvel at his drawings just as much as she did at his handcrafted fishhooks and harpoons? did she tell him stories from her childhood in the north pole, sparking sokka’s interest in other lands even before he knew she was talking about another land? did she read to him? 

when he started to become a leader among the kids his age, did she take care to watch his mood to make sure he wasn’t burning out from the responsibility? when he devoted himself to protecting katara, did she make sure he knew that he was equally important? did she say it with enough conviction that he believed it in spite of the evidence to the contrary? 

when she bandaged his scrapes, did she stop him from brimming with pride over the injury? did she make certain he understood that violence and defending others weren’t what made him strong? 

when he lost her, did sokka try to keep her lessons in mind even as the mounting need for a strong military defense began to take over their village? what was it like the day sokka resolved in his mind that it wasn’t appropriate for a warrior to draw or read or feel?

Aizawa 🤝 Kaminari

getting written out of scenes bc their quirk is too useful

YOOOO THEY REALESED NEW PICS OF THE S2 AAAAAAAAAA

Brain that looks pretty gay to me ngl 👀

THEY TINYYYYYYY 😭😭💕💕💖💕💙💕

AND I THINK WE'RE GETTING A WAKKO SOLO LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOO

something that’s easy to overlook about the timeline of “sokka’s master” is that sokka only trains with piandao over the course of two days. and the second day is devoted entirely to crafting his space sword. piandao tells sokka that he is “worthier than any man [he’s] ever trained” after just one day of knowing him. and the gaang are beside themselves missing sokka after less than a day of him being gone. this episode demonstrates sokka’s value, both on his own merit and as a member of the group, but the fact that he accomplished so much and was so deeply missed after only ~18 hours is especially telling.

Aizawa: I’m leaving for three days. Yaoyorozu is in charge. I’ve left notes for each of you with instructions

Kaminari: Mine just says ‘Kaminari, no.’

Aizawa: And you can apply that to every possible situation