Chapter Text
It starts with Toga’s sneak-uploaded response video to a certain theorist channel publishing a theory on Dabi’s true identity as Touya Todoroki. The video is about thirty seconds long, shaky and handheld, and consists of Dabi screaming obscenities and ranting against both his father and brother, blue sparks raining from his fists, as Shigaraki cackles hysterically offscreen.
Despite being flagged and removed multiple times, it garners a total of upwards of five million views in the first twenty-four hours.
Now, of course, that could have been the end of it, with the League of Villains subsiding back into the shadows of their notoriety, existing only as a threatening phantom in the public consciousness. It could have been. But Himiko Toga is a person who loves two things very much: her friends… and attention.
So, perhaps unsurprisingly, that isn’t the end of it at all. It’s just the beginning.
The first channel pops up around ten days after the Dabi/Touya debacle. It has a blank icon, and is just called Himi and her Friends :). The first video, uploaded shortly after the channel creation, is as follows.
---
The video opens on a slightly shaky shot of what looks like a rundown, nondescript basement. In the distance, voices can be heard yelling indistinctly, as well as the undertones of what sounds like a television in the background.
The camera flips around briefly to show Toga, who puts a shhh finger to her lips, before flipping back around and approaching a nearby doorway. As it draws nearer, the voices (it becomes evident that there are three, all overlapping) become both louder and clearer, allowing the viewers to catch snippets.
“-no, listen, you are so full of shit-”
“-just won’t admit that you’re wrong-”
“-fucking fight you-”
“-can you both just shut up-”
The camera reaches the door, a scene coming into view: Shigaraki and Spinner glaring each other down, shouting at each other. Dabi is standing between them, a hand twisted up in each of their collars, physically holding them apart. He looks somewhere between furious and exasperated, smoke rising from the seams in his wrists. It is evident that none of them know they are being filmed.
“Fallout Four is not better than New Vegas!” Spinner shouts. “You’re- wrong! You’re just wrong!”
“New Vegas doesn’t even have a plot, you’re just wandering around the desert!” Shigaraki yells back. “Fallout Four has story!”
“New Vegas lets you choose your own adventure and actually affect the wasteland! What’s the point of ‘story’ if it’s just Finding Nemo but sadder!”
“Oh, what, do plot twists make you cry, you little baby?”
“Cry with boredom, maybe! I saw it coming a mile away!”
The camera pans briefly over to the television- a paused game of Fallout 4 is on the screen- before moving back to the fight.
“You’re so full of shit,” Shigaraki snaps. “At least my game isn’t buggy as shit-”
“They were on a deadline!” Spinner cuts him off. “And the game is even more impressive for the limits they had to work with!”
Dabi groans. “Are you two done yet?”
“No!” the two bickering parties yell at approximately the same time, before glaring at each other even more fiercely.
Dabi rolls his eyes, hard, and in doing so catches sight of the camera- he focuses on it, eyes widening before narrowing abruptly. “Toga, you better not be-”
“What’s she- oh, shit,” Spinner says, twisting around to catch sight of what Dabi is looking at. Dabi releases both of the shirts he’d been holding, clenching his fists, and then the picture disappears into a blur of darkness as the filmographer makes a hasty escape, her giggles audible in the background.
---
Fallout 4 vs. Fallout New Vegas: League of Villains Debate
19,787 views
Comments • 133
Ammi
Is this. Is this the actual league of villains? Is this what they do in their free time. Oh my god?
Northern King
i just lost all of my respect for the hand dude wtf #newvegasforlife
Crazy8s
Dabi- er, are we calling him Touya now?- looks so tired???? How is this actual murderer such a mood.
Akio Yamato
isn’t the girl filming the same as the one from the touya video? i have no idea who she is but she’s my new icon. keep it coming sis!
Chrissylights
these people are wanted criminals
the heroes must be even more incompetent than i thought
---
Chris Amaya @MissyChrissy
okay im about to blow yalls minds- remember that wild viral video from a couple weeks ago that confirmed the dabi = touya theory
Chris Amaya @MissyChrissy
apparently it wasn’t actually a oneoff like we all thought CAUSE THERES MORE: youtu.be/P2is80vEhebd45
Jess️☺️ @Art_of_Jessica
@MissyChrissy i watched this but when i went back to send it to friends it had been taken down DD:
ひこくん @hikororu
@MissyChrissy ‘this video is no longer available’ ;-;
Reason @lovelifeheroes
@MissyChrissy @Art_of_Jessica @hikororu the videos (the new ones and the touya one) have gotten reuploaded to a channel called ‘fuck the youtube police’ lmao
Reason @lovelifeheroes
@MissyChrissy @Art_of_Jessica @hikororu also looks like they’re now getting mirrored on a third party site ill link below where u can sub and they won’t get taken down cause there’s no tos
ひこくん @hikororu
@lovelifeheroes god bless you
---
The camera switches on pointed at a table. The shot is at a diagonal angle, as though whoever is taking it is trying not to look like they’re filming. On the table is a half-built pyramid constructed of shotglasses and playing cards. Spinner and Mr. Compress are hovering over it, the latter unmasked except for his balaclava, as Compress neatly lays a layer of playing cards over the mouths of the top layer of glasses.
“Okay, for real though,” Spinner is saying. “Why do you carry those around everywhere?”
Compress smiles cryptically. “You never know when they might come in handy.”
“Sure, but are there really that many situations where they’re handy?” Spinner persists. “This is like the third deck. When would you need three decks of cards?”
“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Compress says, unruffled, as he places a new shot glass in the center of the next layer of the pyramid.
“This is boring,” Dabi’s voice calls, and the camera jerks over to where he’s seated a few feet away, watching with a supremely bored expression, head propped up on one hand. “Fill the glasses, cowards.”
Compress raises his eyebrows (probably- it’s difficult to tell behind the mask). “Is that a challenge?”
“So what if it is?” Dabi saids, grinning.
Compress is silent for a moment before turning towards the direction of the camera. “Toga, be a darling and go grab me the whiskey.”
---
Ten Foot Tall Shotglass Tower TOPPLES
54,081 views
Bert Bally
god this just gets funnier the longer it goes on
水の中
On one hand I feel bad about all the wasted work Compress put in but on the other hand there’s no way he didn’t set that up to fall exactly the way it did
Wen Were
7:02 when Dabi started sparking and everyone started screaming because of all the flammable alcohol everywhere… fdgfhdgsfhj
May Juugo
WHY DO THESE VIDEOS KEEP GETTING TAKEN DOWN I JUST WANT TO WATCH WANTED CRIMINALS BE IDIOTS
---
“Toga.”
Toga considers her options. Shigaraki is using the Leader Voice (it was a work in progress, but had reached about a fifty percent success rate). That means whatever it is is probably serious, and furthermore, she will not be able to dodge out of this conversation.
“Ye-essssss?” she says slowly, hands tangling together behind her back.
She’s pretty sure she has an idea of what it was about, but that won’t stop her playing dumb for as long as was humanly possible.
Shigaraki stares her down. She stares back, yellow eyes big and innocent.
“You need to stop posting those videos.”
Toga’s face crumples into an expression of anguish. “But they’re so fun! And they’re not hurting anyone!”
“They’re hurting our image,” Shigaraki says emphatically. “They’re making us into a laughingstock.”
“Actually,” Compress speaks up suddenly (Toga wonders briefly when he entered the room before deciding not to question it), “I disagree. I don’t know if you’ve been reading the comments-”
“Of course I’ve been reading the comments, what do you take me for,” Shigaraki mutters.
“-but people like the videos,” Compress continues, unfazed by the interruption. “More importantly, though, they like us. The videos make us more relatable. More likable. Which means people are more likely to listen to our message.”
Shigaraki makes a considering face. “So you mean-”
“Before, we launched Noumu attacks downtown to get attention. To get an audience,” Compress presses. “But with the videos, we can accomplish the same thing much more successfully and, if I may say, at a much lower cost. It’s just basic showmanship.”
“But people are laughing at us,” Shigaraki protests.
“Because they like us!” Toga chimes in again. “They think we’re fun! And funny! That’s a good thing!”
Shigaraki inhales, and sits in silence for a long moment. Toga opens her mouth to continue, but Compress shoots her a warning look (or at least, she thinks he does) before she can.
“Fine,” Shigaraki finally says. “But from now on you’ll run all the videos past me before you post them to make sure they don’t give anything away. You’re also going to give the whole League the login, so anyone can post videos. If we’re doing this we might as well make it official. I’m going to make one explaining our manifesto.”
Toga blinks. “We have a manifesto?”
---
League of Villains: Mission Statement
201,081 views
Comments • 591
下さい
this video is like 10% about the actual lov and 90% railing against stain
Annagramma
Between this and Hero Theory, it kinda looks like the heroes vs villains fight is going digital. Does this mean we can stop rebuilding downtown every other week??
Yuu Masaki
OKAY IM JUST GONNA SAY IT
HAND DUDES FACE ISNT HALF BAD WITHOUT THE DISEMBODIED LIMBS
Jo Journey
Asgdgd i love how you can tell the rest of the league are like. just BARELY offscreen
---
“Just tell me,” Tsukauchi says, briefly pinching the bridge of his nose, “is there anything in the video that we can actually use?”
“...no,” Officer Yamato says reluctantly. “It was filmed in an empty warehouse, and it seems to have been checked for any locational giveaways beforehand. It could have been anywhere in the city. It might not even be in this prefecture.”
“I see,” Tsukauchi mutters wearily.
“Dr. Matamoto is having a field day, though,” Yamato offers after a moment, nodding over at their department’s resident criminal psychologist, who is scribbling in a notebook with the latest video paused on her computer screen.
“I’m sure she is.” Tsukauchi shakes his head. “It doesn’t make sense. They’re more than a month now into a lull with no major criminal activity connected to them, ever since the last noumu incident. And it’s not like they’re releasing hostage videos or anything of the sort. They’re practically a comedy channel. Even this ‘manifesto’ has giggling audible in the background.”
“Well,” Yamato says slowly, “it’s… it’s better than them doing crime? Right?”
Tsukauchi throws his hands up. “I mean, I guess!”
---
“Is it filming? Toga, is it filming? There’s no little red light.”
“It’s filming! It’s filming! Wait. No, it’s not. Wait.”
“I knew it.”
“Okay, now I’m sure it’s filming. Anyways, whenever you’re ready!”
The video is slightly grainy from lack of light, the only source of illumination a bare light bulb somewhere off screen, and focuses on Spinner, who is sitting on a ratty couch with a low table covered in cloth. He grins at the camera.
“Hello, YouTube! I’m Spinner, of the League of Villains. And today I’m gonna- uh, Toga, drumroll, please?”
There’s the sound of someone somewhat clumsily drumming on a concrete wall before Spinner jerks the cloth off of the table with a flourish. Revealed is a spread of various sharp and shiny things, mostly knives with the occasional sword or shuriken.
“Today, I’m gonna review some of my knife collection, for any fellow enthusiasts out there!”
---
Reviewing My Knives (Part 1)
67,232 views
Lion King
is he in cosplay?
Yoroshika
Man I just realized when the league finally gets taken down we’ll lose this stream of absolute comedy gold… any chance we can lobby the heroes to let them have cameras in jail?
Ena Matsu
Bruh a genuine traditional wakizashi?? I know he’s a villain and all but where did you get it?? tell me your secrets
Greenday
Literally everything about these videos is made 1000x funnier by the fact that they’re so clearly filmed in like, sewers and warehouses and abandoned buildings
---
The view count continues to climb, as does the number of videos. Spinner reviews weapons and extols Stain’s ideology. Toga films everything from prank videos to stolen makeup reviews (she favors bright red) to slightly ominous videos taken in public places, zooming in on random faces and giggling. Twice vlogs, and is terrible at it.
Compress tends to upload cryptic videos, full of strange imagery, either silent or with garbled, distorted audio. Shigaraki is like, ninety percent sure he’s running an ARG. At least it seems to be keeping him busy.
The only one who hasn’t apparently taken to it is Dabi- Touya, who’s still sulking about getting outed in Toga’s very first video. He’s also angry they’ve all but stopped using his dumb alias in the videos, but it’s his own fault for lying to them, in Shigaraki’s humble opinion.
---
League Youtube Tracker @LOVTracker
New video! From Mr. Compress. Maybe another chapter of that ARG people have been investigating? Streams will be linked in replies.
Genkidesu @taleofgenki
@LOVTracker YES FINALLY
[pepesilviaboard.jpg]
Miss Terry @ladylibrary010
But when is Twice’s next vlog!! I want an update on those cute dogs he found!! Did they find a good home??
Claire Bear @claire-de-lune
has anybody else noticed the league hasnt done any actual villain things lately
have they
have they switched careers?
Druidic @woodeneyes
hey. hey @YouTube just give it up and let the criminals be memes please
---
“Can’t believe you encouraged them like that,” Dabi grumbles as they wind through the maze of alleyways and backstreets back towards their current lair. “This is your fault, you know.”
(He has a few green plastic shopping bags looped over one arm, clashing completely with his stupid edgy coat. A few miles away, the employees of a chain grocery store are going to be very surprised when they arrive at work in the morning and find the sliding glass doors have been reduced to dust.)
“What- how is it my fault?” Shigaraki objects, voice pitching up with indignant fury.
“You could’ve stopped Toga way before this got so out of hand, is all I’m saying,” Dabi says.
“You think I can stop her when she has her mind set on something?” Shigaraki asks with a roll of his eyes. “Besides. She wasn’t completely wrong. We have a fanbase now.”
“And what, that’s a good thing? People watching us all the time?”
“Oh, what, is Mr. Fights the Number One Hero on Live TV scared of a little publicity?”
“First of all, I’m not scared of shit. I’m just saying, the Internet’s fucked us over before.”
“Uh, no,” Shigaraki says, shifting the jug of orange juice to his other arm so he can point at Dabi. “The Internet fucked you over, Touya, and that was because of your own brother more than, like, anything else.”
“Don’t remind me,” Dabi groans, head falling back so he can glare up at the smoggy sky. “People keep commenting telling me to call my mom.”
“Then call her, dipshit,” Shigaraki says, kicking a pebble a few feet down the alley. “Or stop whining about it.”
“I’m not whining.”
“Sure,” Shigaraki says, and rolls his eyes again, even harder. The effort is sadly wasted, though, since Dabi isn’t even looking at him, the asshole. “Hey, speaking of him and his, uh, sparkplug friend. If we keep doing this, you know, we’ll probably beat them for followers eventually.”
“Not if our channel gets getting deleted every fucking week,” Dabi says, but he’s obviously interested. Hah. Shigaraki absolutely has his number.
“That doesn’t mean we’re not getting a following,” Shigaraki says. “That only means more and more people are paying attention to us. What you have to understand, Touya, is that all publicity is good publicity.”
---
Hero Theory Episode 37: Is Shigaraki Tomura Related to Shimura Nana?
967,771 views
Comments • 2,072
Addie Bowie
Oh my god?? Oh my god. Oh my GOD????
Matsu Minami
jesus, all might looks so serious and sad. i’ve never seen him look like that. someone give this skeleton man a hug stat
MissAmerica
hero theory saw they were right about dabi and decided to push their luck even further
0w0
Alright, Toga, it’s your time to shine again. Give us the reaction vid. Please. Please.
---
“Todoroki,” Kaminari says, deadly serious. “Todoroki, wake up, this is important.”
Todoroki yawns and squints, first at Kaminari, then at the clock on his bedside, then back at Kaminari, who is for some reason in his room. “...It’s four in the morning.”
“But this is important,” Kaminari insists.
Todoroki reluctantly props himself up on an elbow and listens.
“We need to stop making theory videos.”
Todoroki, still half asleep, blinks slowly. “...Why?”
“We have too much power.”
“What are you-” Todoroki starts, and gets no further before Kaminari shoves a phone beneath his nose and starts the latest video from the League’s latest throwaway channel playing.
---
The video opens on Dabi’s scarred and ruined face grinning into a phone camera, notable because he hasn’t posted any videos of his own until now. He mouths ‘karma’ with a wide grin, then flips the camera around.
Shigaraki can be seen sitting on the bare concrete floor, staring blankly into the middle distance. There’s a half-melted phone lying beside him, and the floor and walls all around him bear the tell-tale signs of someone with a five-point disintegration quirk having an emotional meltdown. The hands are nowhere to be seen.
“Hey!” Dabi calls from behind the phone. “How’s it going over there, Tenko?”
Without hesitation, Shigaraki snatches up the half-disintegrated phone and hurls it directly at him. The camera abruptly jolts downwards as Dabi ducks, still cackling to himself.
“Shut the fuck up, Touya!”
“Absolutely fucking not!” Dabi shouts back gleefully. “This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve had to put up with this bullshit for months. Now it’s your turn.”
“Okay, I gotta ask,” a voice says from offscreen, and the camera pans around to focus on Twice. Toga is beside him, perched on the arm of the sofa. “Does anybody else here have secret hero parentage we should probably know about? I only ask cause, like, we’re already two for two, so like-”
“I have some hero blood in me, does that count?” Toga offers.
Twice appears to consider it. “I don’t think so, dude.”
“Both of you shut up!” Shigaraki screams, and the room quiets.
“Right,” Toga stage-whispers to the camera. “We’re supposed to be quiet while Shiggy has his existential crisis.”
“It’s not,” Shigaraki grinds out, “a crisis. I’m just. Thinking.”
“You’ve been thinking for a long time,” Spinner’s voice says from somewhere out of frame. “It’s been like three hours now. You sure you’re-”
“I’m fine!” Shigaraki screeches, sounding the furthest thing from fine.
Dabi says, with obvious glee, “This is the best thing Shouto has ever done for me.”
---
shigaraki in crisis lmao
292,083 views
Comments • 723
Mieru
please tell me the hero theory kids have seen this
Christmas Lights
I can’t believe *this* is the first video Dabi ever posted- wait, no, I absolutely believe it.
JA Stein
is he okay???????
Cortizone
I cannot BELIEVE
---
Adelaide Bowie @bowieb1
@AllMightOfficial have you seen this????? https://bit.ly/2G453snmC
All Might @AllMightOfficial
@bowieb1 Yes! Kaminari showed me. I hope the boy feels better soon. I imagine he’s having a difficult time right now.
(Deleted Account) @█████████
@AllMightOfficial GO FUCK YOURSELF, OLD MAN, I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP
---
The first episode in awhile opens with a camera focused on Twice’s face- or at least, his mask.
“C’monnnnnn, Twice. Please?” Toga’s voice says from behind the camera.
“Nah, Toga. Sure, of course! Fuck off,” Twice answers, all in one breath. Toga, from behind the camera, is unfazed.
“Pleeeeeease? Our loyal fans are getting worried about us!”
“Then go complain to Shigaraki! Not that he’ll listen, of course, there’s absolutely no point in you doing that.”
“But it’s not like he banned us from uploading videos! Just from doing murders and stuff! Different thing!”
Twice appears to consider this for awhile, before conceding. “Alright, fine. For the fans, okay?” he says, then turns fully to look into the camera and peels the lower half of his mask up, exposing his mouth.
“Check this out,” he says, then sticks out his tongue and, with a quick twitch, splits it into two tongues with his quirk.
---
Twice Does Tongue Tricks!!
78,433 views
Comments • 90
Yoroshika
okay so you can make out spinner and compress and i thiiiiink dabi (harder to tell cause he wears all black) in the background when the camera starts jerking around but??? no shigaraki?? where is he??
Emandem
👀
MLPB
Are we all just gonna ignore the fact that apparently the league’s got a no-murder rule now? That’s kind of big news, isn’t it?
Akio Yamato
i know they’re villains and all but you gotta admit… this friendship is PRECIOUS
---
/u/redeyes123 posted to self.herotheory
Theory: Are we looking at a turning point for the League of Villains?
Okay, hear me out. I think the League of Villains is turning vigilante.
First of all, a quick recap for those of you who haven’t been paying attention to the League’s YouTube uploads (and if you haven’t been, I don’t blame you, they have a new channel practically every other week and their videos get taken down even more often- @LOVTracker on Twitter and @AchivingLOV on Tumblr both do great work keeping track of them if you want to catch up):
- Following the Endeavor v Noumu fight from a few months ago, where Dabi (Todoroki Touya, a story in itself worthy of a post) there’s a period of radio silence from the league, with no high profile attacks. During this time members of the league, starting with Himiko Toga, start uploading youtube videos, mostly little comedic candid moments. They get popular very rapidly and the rest of the League quickly joins in.
- About three and a half months into the league’s rise to youtube fame, our very own boys at hero theory upload a video (guest starring ALL MIGHT HIMSELF) about Tomura Shigaraki potentially being the grandson of Nana Shimura/Adamant (the focus of hero theory ep 20). Kaminari says in the video that this was partially prompted by the league getting their own channel and the popularity of their other villain-based videos.
- Around seven hours after this video goes up, the league (specifically Dabi) uploads a video that appears to confirm the theory, and furthermore that the revelation apparently had a hardcore emotional impact on Shigaraki/Shimura(?).
- About a week later video uploads from the league resume, but with the notable exclusion of Shigaraki. The first video posted after the break (which you can find here) also features Toga saying Shigaraki has banned them ‘from doing murders and stuff.’
- A few days later a burgeoning drug trafficking ring based in Musutafu is basically annihilated with signs from both Shigaraki and Dabi’s quirks connected to the scene.
- What I’m saying is LOV = League of Vigilantes, basically.
---
League Youtube Tracker @LOVTracker
We’ve got a new video!!! Starring Shigaraki (are we calling him Shimura now?) this time, it looks like! Streams will be linked in replies, as always.
ひこくん @hikororu
@LOVTracker you’re a lifesaver?? An actual lifesaver??
Inimini @mineymoe
@LOVTracker Shigaraki’s back!!!!
Anna Cisco @theciscokid
@LOVTracker EVERYONE WATCH THIS RIGHT NOW THIS IS NOT A DRILL
Anna Cisco @theciscokid
@LOVTracker IT’S A LETS PLAY
Orenji @anarancia
@LOVTracker @theciscokid it’s a WHAT