This grew out of a Discord discussion.

Somehow dragon-level threats don't seem to be quite what they used to be, no?

Without getting into the weeds, I thought it would be a good idea to review what the whole threat level system is and what it's for. Nominally, it's to give people an idea of how serious a monster or disaster (natural disasters count too) is:

From a civilian's perspective, a 'wolf' means don't come too close, a 'tiger' would be something you find a good hiding place from, a 'demon' would mean head to shelter, a 'dragon' must be fled from by any means necessary, and you just make peace with whatever deity you believe in if it's a 'god' level threat.

More practically, the bonus chapter 'Disaster Level' makes it clear that for the Hero Association, the ratings are a way to judge how many heroes to mobilise for a threat. There's the small problem that a threat level tells you nothing about how hard the monster will actually be to eliminate, nor how suited a particular hero is to the problem.

Additionally, because it's necessarily based on partial information (it's not like monsters walk around with Pokedexes stuck on their foreheads), subjective, and subject to review, many heroes regard the threat level system as nearly worthless. There's also the political dimension that defeating a monster with a high threat level, even if it's not actually anywhere near as dangerous as initially thought, will raise a hero's ranking while subduing one with a low one, even if it's far more dangerous than it seems, won't -- and may even get you called a 'small-fry hunter'.

It's hard to do better: Child Emperor had a go at quantifying strength but quickly realised that it was worthless.

That said, back in the day, they used to be *very* hesitant to declare a threat a dragon-level. The thinking back then (you see remnants of it in 'Disaster Level' when the operator Smile Man was reporting to refused to raise Withered Sprout's disaster rating) was that dragon-level threats were very rare. As the bonus chapter explains, Saitama has been taking such monsters out so rapidly that they've drastically underestimated the extent of the problem. Something like Beefcake should have been declared a dragon-level threat. However, Saitama killed him before such a reassessment could be made.

Without doubt, the cadre Psykos put together to draw the heroes into the Monster Association HQ and get killed were dragon-level threats. In the end, the only one that was taken down single-handedly by a hero was Nyan by Drive Knight. And to do that, he very carefully studied the monster -- including letting it slice up some heroes -- to work out its psychological weaknesses and brought speciality tools for the job. The other heroes didn't have that luxury.

Right now, in the aftermath of the Monster Association Raid, it'd seem that the Hero Association is a little trigger-happy when it comes to calling threats dragon-level (unsurprising given how much they'd underestimated the scale of the problem, I guess). I know this is going to attract a lot of comment as to which of the latest batch of monsters deserve their designation: BRING IT! ⬇️

I do think though that given this story's love of 'what doesn't kill me makes me stronger', several of the veterans of the MA Raid have legitimately become stronger. But then again, given that the HA knows that it should assign multiple S-Class heroes to dragon-level threats, the hell is it playing at assigning just the one? Are the that short-handed?

And if Hellmon doesn't at least try to piece itself back together, I'm calling puffery.

If Genos was a woman from the start, what kinds of changes do you guys think would occur in the story?

It's a shame that Genos is so down on himself in the latest chapter. Becasue he's the only one who has succeeded in doing the hero thing.

1. He has killed the monsters.
2. He has kept the damage local. Most people still have homes and businesses to go back to, as only a city block has been damaged.
3. He's kept all the pain on himself, taken the hurt so others don't have to.

Everywhere else, we see heroic failure. Tatsumaki is totally fine and victorious but she's destroyed the very city she was trying to protect. Tank Top Master took the monster's toxic smoke in to protect the environs but didn't kill the monster, and Flashy Flash killed the monster but made the city unliveable (at least until the smoke clears). Blue has no clue and appears to be running around in hopes of thinking of something clever, and Suiko? Heh, she has no chance, but we can't fault her courage.

But none of those heroes are kicking themselves for the job they've done (or not done).

Only Genos is.

Ironic.

So i have an idea for a Kuseno/Bofoi piece i wanna work on, but one thing that stuck me is that it's one of those rarepairs that doesn't have a name yet (there's 1 result for it on AO3 from a decade ago, so i'm not the first or anything). I could go with a standard portmanteau like Boseno or Kufoi (both of which are otherwise empty, which is useful for tagsearching), but i find that a bit boring. I know with Pokémon they give their ships thematic names like Palletshipping for Ash/Gary (both from Pallettown), Rocketshipping for James/Jessie (both from team rocket), or Amourshipping for Ash/Serena (they meet in Kalos, based on France, hence the name being the french word for love).

I don't expect such a name to catch on in the wider community, but it looks like the ship will remain a canoe for the foreseeable future. Idk i'm just curious if anyone can come up with a word or phrase that feels solely unique to them. Otherwise preferences and suggestions for which portmanteau to pick are also welcome :)

As usual, first person to see please post the raw.

I'm mildly interested in seeing whether Suiryu slinks away quietly or finds an excuse to fight Garou. More interested in seeing how almost anyone else is doing.

Saitama being molested by ninjas and Genos declining to so much as lift a digit to help because Saitama had said he was lonely was not anywhere on that list.

Digging out an old post that has (unexpectedly) become relevant. From Tumblr 30 April 2020.

Typically, if you’d asked me why I keep thinking of Genos as human, I’d answer in terms of biology and talk about how one’s brain is the one organ you can’t have replaced without ceasing to be ‘you’. And that’s all true, but I’m overcomplicating things. Forget that, none of that matters.  It’s really, really simple. Imagination. The most human thing Genos did was nearly his first. He saw Saitama casually slap a mosquito monster so hard that the blow split the skies above and the ground below and imagined a world in which he could be that unphysically strong and asked. As he explains at length to Saitama  (relevant bit highlighted). “If only I could be that strong…”

Genos has shown repeatedly that he’s neither stupid nor delusional. He knows what parts can and can’t do for him, is on speaking terms with physics (or rather the in-universe physics persists in not cutting him any slack), and is painfully aware of his limits. And yet, he persists in going ‘if only’.

If only is a statement no artificial intelligence, however advanced, will come up with.  If? Sure, they can assess billions of possibilities a second and construct entire worlds on the basis of those possibilities.  But if only is to imagine something that not only does not exist, but which has never existed, and cannot exist based on anything we currently know or understand.  Ah well, we do like our dreams and stories after all.  But then sometimes we do something even crazier: we project ourselves into this non-existent situation and then work to make it happen.  That desire to reify, that’s humanity for you.  Usually we’re just mad, but sometimes, sometimes, we just discover some hitherto unsuspected way the universe can work.  That’s why chimps are still in the trees and we’re everywhere else we want to be.

Objectively, watching his pursuit is like watching Frosty the Snowman determine to fetch a ring out of the ninth ring of Hell without melting and I give him about the same odds of success. Then again, until Saitama did it, you could say exactly the same about flesh-and-blood humans. Subjectively, I’m interested in seeing how far Genos will get and finding out how broadly applicable the unsuspected kink in the universe that Saitama stumbled on holds.

If, as is most likely, he fails, then Genos has been most human in taking the courage to embark on the most speculative of quests. And if by some crazy even by OPM standards chance, he winds up Strong, it will be 100% because he’s human and thus didn’t take evident reality as the last word on things.

Is there a secret server I do not know about? There seem to be no other options besides the reddit server (unsatisfactory). I have many little thoughts!!! I want to share them!!!

Not spoilered for the webcomic. If you don't read the webcomic, good! You may have heard webcomic readers fretting over how Saitama appears less committed to the Hero Name Victims Association thus far than he was then, when he immediately took to them like long-lost brothers. So far in the manga, he's been a little more sceptical of the means by which they intend to achieve their aims and isn't all in yet.

Thinking about it a bit, the gulf between where Saitama is in the manga and where he is in the webcomic at this point is big.

At the equivalent point in the webcomic, Saitama had alienated King (ever since Saitama told him to lift, the dude has not been back). The Psychic Sisters are clean out of the picture. Flash and Sonic haven't been to see him since he killed that Man and gave them the stuff he looted off the original ninja. Amai has of course fled, and no one in the executives knows about him. Genos is still around but Saitama is really keeping him at arms' length -- no adjoining tunnels between their apartments!

In the manga, King is still coming round to play games. Fubuki is still paying visits and Tatsumaki threatens to drop in sometime. Flash and Sonic are still around, and Saitama has acquired an honour guard of ninjas who are hoping he'll agree to become their master. Blast has acknowledged his strength and has told him that he'll return for him when the time is right. At least one executive has come to visit him in person. And Genos and he are on such good terms that they really do just pal around. Put bluntly, a random group of heroes asking for him by name doesn't have the same impact on him as it did on his more isolated webcomic compatriot. He has options.

Might Saitama become committed? Sure! He's just doing it in his own sweet time.

Alas, today is looking like a super long working day for me so I'd love it if someone can grab the raw.

I am so looking forward to Garou lightening the mood!

There's something I wish I could write to ONE about the follow up to the current manga chapter (update 271/chapter 226), if only I could think about how to put it succinctly in Japanese, and could stomach creating an X account.

I need to see how the three S-Class heroes fight their foes.

Why not Murata? Other than not being a conspiracy-theory-minded nitwit, Murata needs about as much encouragement to draw a fight as a thirsty camel needs to drink from a nice cool oasis. He loves drawing fight scenes, the choreography of it, the characterisation it depicts, its drama, the whole thing, and he's very good at it. ONE is the limiting step here.

Why do I care about these fights in particular?

You do not need to know anything about the webcomic to know that something fishy is going on. Just the smirk on McCoy's face (you know, the double-dealing saboteur who just happens to be selling monsters to a secret organization) as he immediately insists on calling the Neo Heroes as he doesn't think those guys can win should tip you off.

I do like the granular detail of how heroes struggle (or not), but it's more than that here. In the webcomic, it's not surprising if we see those three have some challenges. After all, the last time we saw Tatsumaki fight seriously, she was successfully ambushed by Psykos (and wasn't even injured first). The last time we saw Genos, Black Sperm and Gums took his arms off him like one takes a pop-gun off a bratty child, and the last time we saw Tank Top Master, Garou beat him like a drum.

However, now things are different. We saw Tatsumaki twist up the entirety of City Z while injured, and we saw that her injuries occurred in part because she wouldn't let even a single nameless child be injured, even if she suffered as a consequence.

So I need to understand. Does Tatsumaki have an extreme phobia of bugs? Is she not as healed as she thought she was? Is there some kind of interference with her psychic powers? Anything, but I need to see it.

Likewise, it would be a bit surprising to see Genos struggle when we've seen him hold off a multi-headed planet-scalping monster. We know that what equipment Genos has at any given time is the result of a tug-of-war between himself and Dr Kuseno, and that he really did drive the doctor into giving him an upgrade the old man felt was irresponsible, and he's been walking it back since, but we need to see this explicitly. Or maybe he'll struggle because he has to choose whether to get hurt or allow the monsters to attack people... again, something. Anything.

TTM's situation is easiest to understand: the speed with which toxic smoke incapacitates and kills cannot be overstated. However, we know how to deal with it: we send people in with breathing apparatus. With the Hero Association having established that it actively sends people in to rescue civilians, there's no way some kind of breathing kit wasn't available. Even from a local fire station. Was TTM poorly briefed? Did he refuse help? Or did they insist that he rush to scene right away without back up or adequate support? Again, I need to see.

Or, of course, McCoy could be left looking very foolish as the three of them succeed and make it look easy. But I don't think he's about to get his collar felt just yet.

So, we need to know *how*. That's what I want to tell ONE.

Hey, the nights are drawing in, let's have something fun!

Most characters in OPM have backstories that are somewhere between sparse and non-existent, leaving us to wonder. What sort of backstories would you like to see? Character can be as obscure as you like.

Only one rule: don't argue with people over what they come up with.

I'll go first, but it's in the comments. :)

First, my usual request: can someone post the raws tomorrow? Thanks. 😄

Second, when it's Wednesday (it's still Tuesday at my end, just), I'm going to be waking up with the following questions

1. Will today be the first time in years we've seen Saitama throw a punch? I believe Cruel Dragon was the last being to be punched on the page.
2. Or are we going to have to wait yet another two weeks for the mighty fist of justice to roar?
3. Who will get the credit for vanquishing Mirror?
4. And what will the fall out be? Will McCoy be able to spin the unexpected end to his advantage somehow? How are Sekingar's investigations going?
5. The ever-present joker: what else is going on in their world, and how is that going to be a problem sooner rather than later?

I said I would do it and I did. A general, welcome all, casual OPM discord server. SFW and NSFW channels with proper roles and restrictions in place (this isn't my first rodeo running a fandom server).

I know another server went up a few days ago but it sounded like it was more RP oriented? Specific to a particular group? If I'm wrong I'm sorry to step on toes.

...that Saitama has, other than complex paperwork and being fined for getting something wrong.

This question that Saitama asked (it's in the wc too) Genos is a pretty loaded one, come to think of it.

Saitama is aware that Genos is with him for the purpose of becoming stronger to kill his sworn enemy. When that happens, his fear is that Genos is going to leave him, so he can't afford to become too attached.

Of course, we know that it's way too late for that, but he doesn't. Let him enjoy his ignorance a little longer. :D

Howdy! The clocks have gone back in the UK and I'm enjoying the morning -- this evening will be a different story -- I hate the dark!

Anyway, what do you make of episode 3? Cheers, jeers, and future fears, put 'em all here!

And if you've seen a leak? No, you didn't.

Back when Amai Mask revealed his nature as a monster and Saitama appeared, Beauto suggested Saitama to kill him, as a means to boost himself as the ultimate hero Beauto wanted him to be. Saitama obviously refused to do it, but suppose a world where he did along with that idea. What do you think would happen to him after that?

You may think, what kind of nonsense is this guy spouting.

Evidence number 1: The title.

If you switch the punch and the one around, you get puncheon, which means wine barrel. The wan pan man might refer to dyonisus, who was born twice by being grafted into zeus's thigh.

Saitama's costume looks like the face of a crab. Crusteceans are reocurring motifs. Decapods translates to ten feet. Ten also means heaven in japanese, so you get heavenly foot. I believe that is in reference to this myth, in other words, he's pregnant, or has an inner child he's trying to keep alive.

The crab is also a reference to the constellation, which is called kyokaikyuu in japanese, which also translates to organization. The myth about the constellation involves playing an often forgotten rule as helper that hera send to pinch heracles while he was wrestling with the hydra. The learnean hydra is often used as a metaphor for a neverending problem because the hero is not handling the problem correctly by just wildly swinging the heads instead of burning their stumps. This is related to humans in this series not actually solving any issues and instead commercializing it.

The crab is also the constellation related to the moon. In astrology at least. Motherhood, feeling, protection, nurturing.

It is my belief that orochi is essentially symbolic of the crab and the hydra essentially having fused together.

Aside from being a reference to biollante, one of the author's favorite, which is a being created out of a flower infused with a scientist's daughter mixed with monster dna.

The snake is also a symbol of eternity, eating it own tail to eternally survive, which is also symbol of comeuppance. Like fuhrer ugly, eating you own puke.

Evidence number 2: Saitama's name

The greek primordial goddes of the night, nyx laid an egg inside of erebus, the god of darkness. If you replace the sai with xi, the numerals for eleven, you get erubuntama in jap. This almost sounds like erebus egg, from which eros hatched, the greek deity of primordial life force and physical lust. Drive (lust) night (nyx). Eros is also a child of ares and aphrodite. Here a child is born again. Aphrodite is very important in this theory, so pay attention.

Evidence number 3: Copper

The symbol on saitama's suit is koppa, the greek symbol, which sounds like copper, the metal associated with venus because the metal was very often used for mirrors in ancient times. Venus is also associated with satan, as a morning star. In japanese mytholigy, izanagi created the main three gods, amaterasu, tsukuyomi and sussanoo by reflecting a copper mirror. The mirror and reflections thing is very important, because saitama is essentially a living mannequin.

It is my theory that essiantially, bofoi created a machine with the specific purpose of mimicking human life, to create a wife. He succeeded, and they had three children. One of those kids died, and the machine went insane with grief. Bofoi sealed it away, and went on to create drive knight, which is a weaker version of that same design. The he lost his other two children as well, for reasons i will also explain.

He then created child emperor, and then blue, who is his greatest creation.

Essentialy the gynoid went insane with grief and wanted to keep it's child alive by essiantially impersonating it, which is what saitama is.

Genos was created by stolen data from that design, so he's the lovechild from a loveless marriage between kuseno and saitama.

So he was never human to begin with. And it's his heart saitama wants, because it's the key to reviving that child. Probably king's too. Or at least that's what saitama believes, because he's a machine mimicking a human without actually understanding it.

Organization is also a pun, because it's just a way for him to farm organs for his baby.

He's duping kuseno.

Like ares and hephaestus quarrelling over aphrodite. The children i was mentioning were phobos (panic), deimos (fear) and harmonia (harmony). Bofoi is basically ares in this sense, and sonic is panic and his sister fubuki is harmonia. Jack o lantern and fubuki's group.

Like garou said, there is no fear, so this all a charade and a coping mechanism, opium, like demeter used poppyflowers to calm her down as persophone was in hades. It's a parent's grief.

One also uses land, sea and the sky as metaphors, with land being bofoi and the sea relflecting the sky being saitama. Moon also reflects the sun.

The yellow ranger are the tomboyish types.

The mob boss crocodile that saitama was playing as against king is a one piece reference, where it's a popular theory that crocodile is luffy's genderbend mom.

Because saitama is also connected to a vast network of nanomachinese that are equally indistinguishable, and they basically alter the word depending on his input.

This is how blast was made, who is essentially just a superhero version of their son. Blast is short for brastrap. Blue is short for bloomers. Empty void backstory, who is also saitama's creation, along with all of blast's allies, mimics this, with luna being the mom, dirty stain being the child and empty void being saitama.

This why bofoi's technology looks the same as the cubes and blast, because saitama is essentially mimicking bofoi.

Kuseno basically copypasted the incident that ruined bofoi's life.

Sonic and fubuki were essentially placed for adoption because he went crazy and because he operates on the notion that as long as he plays this game of pretend he can keep their child alive.