Web Video / UA:LA

Go beyond!

The famous Tokyo based superhero academy "UA" has opened up a branch in Los Angeles, California. We follow a student who's decided to step up and do the right thing... but at what cost?

UA:LA is a non-profit fan-made live-action web series in the world of My Hero Academia. The two parts of the mini-series were released in the summer of 2019. The pilot episode was released in the fall of 2019. All the episodes are made by RivenX3i

1. UA:LA Part 1 -- My Hero Academia (Mini-Mini-Series)
2. UA:LA Part 2 -- My Hero Academia (Mini-Mini-Series)
3. UA:LA Pilot Episode 0 -- My Hero Academia Spin Off

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UA:LA provides examples of:

• Anti-Villain: Stacks does dirty jobs for cash, including unwittingly gathering intel for Veil's villain group, and doesn't show much remorse for having done them. But he only does it because the jobs pay well enough for him to get treatment for his Delicate and Sickly daughter. He also at least briefly entertains the idea to join the adult Hero Course to get income for his daughter's medical needs in a more legal fashion when Backtrack suggests it.
• Ax-Crazy: Heiki. While Snapback is willing to kill on Veil's orders, Heiki is the one who clearly enjoys it. He's also the only one of the two to become murderously enraged by his victims putting up a good fight.
• Bait-and-Switch: During his fight with Stacks, Backtrack teleports to his backpack multiple times. When he chucks it into the air, Stacks looks up at it in preparation for the teleport, only for Backtrack to instead use it as a feint and attack straight-on.
• BFS: Heiki at different points wields a claymore and an odachi.
• Bilingual Dialogue: Despite Heiki speaking entirely in Japanese, none of the other characters in the scene (except Stacks) have any trouble in understanding what he's saying, or vice versa.
• Blood from the Mouth: All four fighters cough up blood at some point from a particularly powerful hit, such as Backtrack's Harlem Slam against Heiki or Stack's Charged Attack on Snapback.
• Boxing Battler: While he does throw a few kicks, Stacks is primarily a boxer.
• Calling Your Attacks: Backtrack does this with his finishing move against Heiki, "Harlem Slam".
• Enemy Mine: After Backtrack stops Stacks from stealing a wallet, they join together to fight off Heiki and Snapback after Veil tries to have Stacks killed.
• Fastball Special: Snapback and Heiki pull off a Combination Attack in this vein, where Snapback and his super-fast joints throws a somersaulting Heiki at his target, weapon-first.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: The three villains of the pilot have this dynamic. Snapback is the Fighter, having a rather straightforward fighting style assisted by a relatively simple joint-localized Super-Speed Quirk. Heiki is the Thief, whose Morph Weapon Quirk allows him to be an extremely tricky fighter due to you not knowing what weapon he'll use and how he will use it. This leaves Veil as the Mage, with him being The Smart Guy and having the least physical Quirk out of the three.
• Fire-Forged Friends: While it would be difficult to call Backtrack and Stacks friends at the end of the pilot, they at least part on somewhat good terms, with Backtrack stating that Stacks giving back the wallet he stole is them "being even" on favors. Backtrack understands Stacks' motivation for his crimes and suggests the Hero Course to him, while Stacks forgives Backtrack for nearly getting him killed, since Backtrack subsequently saved his life from Veil's gang after the theft gone wrong. He also promises to at least consider Backtrack's suggestion.
• Gathering Steam: Stacks' Quirk, 'Multiplier,' works like this. He gets stronger with each consecutive hit he lands, with his power resetting after the fifth hit. He can also withhold the damage boost from his first four hits to add their multipliers to the fifth, supercharging his final blow. It also doesn't matter how hard the first four 'attacks' are as he charges up by lightly tapping Backtrack four times.
• The Glasses Come Off: Backtrack does this right before his fights with Stacks, and then the following fight with Veil and his boys.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: All Might, who only appears as merchandise. When Heiki mocks Backtrack for being a fan of a hero who is an ocean away and will never be there to help, Backtrack retorts that even if he isn't physically there, heroes like All Might inspire others to do good.
• Hold the Line: Stacks manages to fend off both Heiki and Snapback to allow Backtrack time to recover.
• Hope Spot: Backtrack and Stacks manage to deal punishing blows to Heiki and Snapback respectively, only for the two of them to get up, ready to keep fighting. Subverted when Veil calls them off, declaring they already have what they wanted.
• Hour of Power: Implied with Veil's power. He checks his pocket watch more than once and orders his team to leave even when they can still fight.
• I'll Kill You!: After Backtrack's Goomba Stomp, Heiki furiously declares he's going to kill both him and Stacks.
• Improbable Weapon User: Backtrack's backpack, which he uses as a bludgeon, a shield, and a throwing weapon. He also uses it as a teleportation beacon for his Quirk, which is why he chucks it around everywhere.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Backtrack's mother died in a Flash Back from this.
• Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress:
  • Snapback quickly figures out that Backtrack teleports to his backpack ( actually the keychain attached to it) and tackles him right as he comes out of his teleport.
  • Then Stacks pulls out a similar move against Snapback, predicting his speed burst and letting him run right into his kicking leg.
  • Implied to be the key behind Backtrack's 'Harlem Slam' attack. He swings his backpack as hard as he can at a target and then teleports before impact so that he hits feet-first, effectively applying the backpack's inertia to his full body weight to deliver a powerful Goomba Stomp.
• MacGuffin: The wallet that the villains had Stacks steal. It's implied that the MacGuffin isn't the wallet itself, but some (currently) unknown important information or object in it, since Veil takes or reads something from it and tosses the wallet and its contents away once he gets what he wants.
• Made of Iron: Everyone except Veil gets hit hard enough to cough up blood at some point, yet all manage to get up and keep fighting anyway.
• Megaton Punch:
  • Snapback delivers one to Backtrack - while also pickpocketing him of the wallet they were after.
  • Then Snapback is taken out by one courtesy of Stacks, using his Multiplier Quirk to charge up his punch and Backtrack's Teleportation to get the drop on him.
• Magic Feather: Subtly implied to be the All Might keychain that serves as the beacon for Backtrack's Quirk 'Pinpoint'. In theory, his Quirk should be able to work on any form of trinket or at least any he is familiar with. So far it's implied that he can only teleport to the keychain (or an item it's attached to), but overcoming such a limitation may be a future part of his journey as a hero.
• Morph Weapon: One of the bad guys, Heiki, has a Quirk called Cache that allows him to turn any weapon into any other weapon, excluding guns. This implies that his Quirk can't form weapons with too many complex moving parts.
• Multi-Melee Master: By necessity of his Quirk, Heiki is skilled at using multiple weapons such as katanas, staves, claymores, sai, and nunchucks.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Veil commands the other two villains, but doesn't directly participate in the fight. Instead, he uses his "Conceal" Quirk to hide the fight from outsiders.
• Only Known By His Nickname: All five of the introduced characters are only known by their hero/villain name.
• Perception Filter: Veil's Quirk is called Conceal and generates a space that hides everyone within from anyone outside detection, meaning that there's no way for his victims to call for help no matter how close help might actually be.
• Percussive Pickpocket: A rather violent example. Snapback steals the wallet off Backtrack while delivering a Megaton Punch.
• Posthumous Character: Backtrack's mother, who died sometime before the story starts.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Zigzagged. Veil calls off his henchman, stating they already have what they wanted. On the other hand, he also declares his intention to "take everything" from Backtrack for interfering with his plans.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: After Heiki disparages his liking of All Might, Backtrack gets his Heroic Second Wind and says the following before simultaneously beating down Heiki and reaffirming his belief in All Might - in Heiki's native Japanese.
  Backtrack: You don't seem to understand, so I'll try this in your language.

• Rewatch Bonus: Once you know what Stacks's Quirk is, you can rewatch his earlier fights with Backtrack and Snapback, count the number of hits he lands and the impacts they deliver, and see that they all match up with his five-hit Multiplier Quirk.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After the fight's over, Backtrack awkwardly admits he doesn't actually have his provisional license yet, and thus would get in trouble for interfering in a villain's scheme with his Quirk.
• Spin-Off: Of the "Shared Continuity" type, which is what you get when the spinoff is on a different continent. The connecting elements are that the main character is going to the Hero Course of UA's LA branch, the All Might keychain, and the fact that the characters' powers are called Quirks (with it mentioned that Backtrack can't call the cops on Stacks because he doesn't have his hero license, and thus would be arrested too).
• Super-Speed: Snapback's Quirk, Burst-Joint, allows him to extend his contracted joints at high speeds, propelling himself in quick bursts of speed around the battlefield and adding power to his punches.
• Teleportation: Backtrack's Quirk, Pinpoint, allows him to teleport to his All Might keychain or anything it is attached to, like his backpack. He can take other people with him when he does this. As such, his fighting technique is him chucking his backpack all over the place and teleporting to it to maneuver around his opponents.
• Token White: Snapback is the only Caucasian of the six total characters shown.
• Tragic Keepsake: Backtrack's All Might keychain is one of the last things he has from his mother.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Backtrack and Stacks beat their opponents, injuring them enough that Veil decides to cut their losses since he got what he wanted from the stolen wallet, and his ability allows the villains to vanish from sight. But not before promising that he isn't done with Backtrack.
• We Will Meet Again: Before his and his gang's Villain: Exit, Stage Left, Veil delivers an absolutely chilling promise to Backtrack.
  Veil: "What's your name?" *Beat* "Whatever it is, get to school. Study hard, graduate. Reach your goal of becoming a pro hero. Because that's when I'm gonna take it all from you."
• Wham Shot: The flashback and the simultaneous fight scene teleport reveals that Backtrack's teleportation beacon isn't his backpack, but the All Might keychain attached to it - which Heiki conveniently threw behind him and Snapback and thus allowed Backtrack and Stacks to get the drop on them.
• You Have Failed Me: Since Stacks was stopped from successfully stealing a specific wallet unnoticed by Backtrack, Veil orders Heiki and Snapback to kill him.

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