Be the hero I never had in my teenage years.
Be the hero for someone who needed one and never got it.
ROB'd as I might be, I was going to take this opportunity with both hands and live my second chance at life.
—>Ian Giles Wendells
He had always wanted to go to Japan. And after months of working and saving up money, he was finally able to go. But when he arrived in Tokyo, in the space of a single step, the world suddenly shifts. And then, he starts to notice things. His passport's picture all wrong. His appearance is radically younger. And when he reaches customs, he finds out his name is now Ian Giles Wendells, and he speaks fluent Japanese.
But it's only when he gets to the arrivals lobby that things finally start to make sense, because waiting for him is the Bakugou family. Ian's in Japan, alright; but he's in My Hero Academia Japan, and he's a foreign exchange student staying at their house the year before Katsuki applies to UA. But Ian's not completely hosed, because he also has a Quirk now: Rift Walk, the ability to access the Rift Plane like Limbo from Warframe. Determined to make a new start in his strange circumstances, Ian also applies to UA, where he finds a world both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
One Foot In the Void is a My Hero Academia fanfic written by The Master Artificer, the same author of Pioneers of Paradise. The story is about a man from America who travels to Japan and ends up traveling to My Hero Academia's Japan instead. The story can be found on SpaceBattles here.
One Foot In the Void contains examples of:
- Alternate History: When Ian accidentally drops the name Captain America in a conversation about heroes in Issue 5, both Izuku and Kaminari know who he is and talk about Cap's fights with HYDRA, meaning that Captain America: The First Avenger had taken place in this universe at least.
- Alternate Timeline: When Rell brings up his name in conversation, a large pall falls over the class. This means All For One appears to be a bit more well-known in this version of events, whereas in canon most people don't even know he exists, save for All Might. This is because the author incorrectly assumed that All For One was akin to a boogeyman figure in canon when he wasn't, although it does make sense in theory.
- Canon Immigrant: Rell from Warframe appears in the story with a Quirk similar to Ian's, in that he has access to Harrow's abilities instead of Limbo. To Ian's dismay, The Man in the Wall is also here, and so far only Ian and Rell can see him.
- Culture Clash: In Issue 4, Aizawa gets angry quickly when Ian constantly tries to get a word in with Izuku to help him out of his rut and threatens him with expulsion. When Eijirou objects, Aizawa explains that that would probably be less of an issue in America where teaching standards are a bit more lax. This is largely because students treat teachers in Japan as actual teachers while teachers in America are expected by students to be more relatable.
- Adapted Out: Ian and Rell take the place of Mineta and Koji in Class 1-A, but he's also surprised to find that Itsuka and Monoma from 1-B are now in the place of Ojiro and Shoji as well.
- Expy: It's clear Hachiko Niryu is a Yang Xiao Long expy, but with an automail leg instead of an arm.
- Inciting Incident: Bakugou's mother actually reveals she applied to the foreign exchange program and took in Ian in the hopes that having Ian around would expand Bakugou's worldview and get him to tone down a bit. The results so far do not look promising.
- In Spite of a Nail: Izuku still inherits One For All, despite Ian's worry that his presence in this universe might make him become All Might's successor instead.
- Mundane Solution: Ian discovers that he can trigger a larger Rift Surge explosion with fragile objects, and during the entrance exams uses eggs to Rift Surge robots and send them into the Rift Plane.
- Shout-Out:
- Ian rescuing Momo from the falling window pane in the first chapter is reminiscent of the pilot episode of The Good Doctor.
- Ian refers to Stasis, one of the four main abilities of Limbo, as ZA WARUDO. He actually yells "ZA WARUDO!" when using his Stasis power during the Entrance Exams.
- During the Hero vs. Villain exercise, Bakugou jumps over the hole Izuku had created with a SMASH to launch himself at Izuku, and Kaminari yells, "Don't do it, Bakugou! He has the high ground!"
- Ian talks about pulling a No Game No Life and negating Coloumb's Law as a potential extension of his abilities to mess around with the physics of the Rift Plane.
- Rell's last name in the MHA-verse is Palladino, which is the name of the Red Veil agent that the player works alongside in Warframe as part of the Chains of Harrow mission where Rell is a key character.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Ian, given the nature of his Warframe-like Quirk and the existence of Rell, is pretty convinced The Man in the Wall is responsible for everything bad that happens to him, like how he broke his ankle trying to save Jirou from the falling Zero-Pointer, and sometimes refers to him in narration as "that cheeky fucker." The fact that Ian actually saw him at his birthday party in Issue 4 means that he is likely here to mess around with him and Rell as he does the Tenno.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Bakugou, natch, but Ian swears aplenty in narration. He does swear a little bit during Issue 3, when someone tries to take Rell's Donda and accuses him of potentially being a villain during the fallout.
- That Came Out Wrong: Mei, when Power Loader suggests in conversation that Ian should join the Support Course instead:Mei: Yes! Come to the Support Department! Let's make wonderful babies together!Power Loader: "Hatsume. Phrasing."
- Theme Naming: Like Amazing Fantasy, the chapters are referred to as "issues."
- Training Montage: Issue 2 is mostly this. Ian spends the chapter improving his physicality through boxing classes and assessing (and expanding) the limits of his Quirk in preparation for UA.
