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TRANSCRIPT
RED RIOT: Hey, I’m Red Riot, and this is the WIRED Autocomplete Interview!
Autocomplete suggests the most common searches on the internet
RED RIOT: I can do pretty good impressions of all of my friends. Guess who this one is.
[RED RIOT’s face contorts into an impressively violent expression]
DIE!!!
So WIRED asked Red Riot some of the internet’s burning questions
…
What is Red Riot’s real name?
RED RIOT: My name is Kirishima Eijirou, written with the kanji for “cut” and “sharp”. I think it’s a great representation of who I am!
[RED RIOT raises a hardened fist in the air with vigor]
What is Red Riot’s hero ranking?
RED RIOT: [smiles] It’s a huge honor to say that I’m the Number 12 ranked hero right now. I still can’t believe it, but I am always trying to do my best for everyone! Thank you very much!
[RED RIOT bows his head]
What is Red Riot’s quirk?
RED RIOT: My quirk is called Hardening. I can harden and sharpen any part of my body to be rock-like in feeling and durability.
[RED RIOT lets the skin across his left hand ripple]
[RED RIOT raises his right hand in comparison]
My quirk is very strength and resilience-based, so I focus a lot of my training on being able to take a hit! Defense is just as important as offense. I want to be an unbreakable shield to those who need it.
PRODUCER: You’ve survived a few buildings collapsing on you. I think all that work is paying off.
RED RIOT: It’s always a building collapsing. Hey, I have a message. To the villains.
[RED RIOT leans forward in his chair and gestures for the camera to zoom in]
Can we try something else next time? Maybe no major infrastructural damage? Fewer skyscrapers? My back is really starting to hurt.
How old is Red Riot?
RED RIOT: I am 25 years old—which sounds young, but like I said, my body feels it a lot more after a fight these days.
[RED RIOT laughs]
I’ve recently started to get into yoga. I stretch a lot already, but I think it’s important for all adults, hero or not, to work on their mobility. And I’m planning on being a hero for a long time, so I have to take care of myself.
What is Red Riot’s birthday?
RED RIOT: October 16th! And that makes me a Libra. I’m not sure what it means, exactly, but Pro Hero Alien Queen has never let me forget it. She says it’s important information.
How tall is Red Riot?
RED RIOT: I am 198 cm tall! Or 6’6” for the Americans.
[RED RIOT laughs]
Taller than the average Japanese man, for sure. I had a huge growth spurt around my third year of high school. I think it was quirk-related. But I had to buy new clothes, new shoes—it was a mess. Every shirt I owned was cropped for a month.
Where did Red Riot go to school?
RED RIOT: I went to Yuuei, or UA High School. I was a student in the hero course and had the honor of being taught by some of the greatest heroes of our time. Now, my classmates and I get to honor their legacy.
PRODUCER: We all know that UA has carved a place in history, given your school’s involvement in the fight against the villain All For One and his forces. How did that shift your perspective on hero work so early on in your training?
RED RIOT: Oh, man.
[RED RIOT sighs]
Loaded question. We’d all been watching Midoriya—Deku—shoulder this burden on his own, and we wanted to be there for him in the same way. I always thought that if I became the strongest person I knew, I’d be the best hero. But it’s not always like that.
[RED RIOT smiles softly]
I think being a hero is about reaching out to each other. Staying by the side of those you care about and not leaving anyone behind. Everyone is worth saving. Everyone is worth trying for.
[RED RIOT flexes his hand]
My friends taught me that.
PRODUCER: There has been some public scrutiny on the pro heroes of that time for the student involvement on the front lines. Can you share your thoughts on that?
RED RIOT: We were just kids, you know. I look back and I think about how young we all were, but I don’t think anyone could have stopped us from wanting to help in the way that we did. The League was targeting us all, so we had to step up, whether we wanted to or not.
PRODUCER: And step up, you did. You must have experienced unthinkable things alongside your mentors.
RED RIOT: Our teachers did the best they could. They kept us safe. They laid down their lives to protect us all.
[RED RIOT goes quiet]
PRODUCER: As we know, Kayama Nemuri was one of those heroes. May she rest in peace.
RED RIOT: Is one of those heroes.
[RED RIOT nods]
Yeah. She still is.
Where did Red Riot do his hero work-study?
RED RIOT: Fat Gum Agency! I know I’m biased, but I truly think I had the best work-study experience in the world. I owe so much of who I am as a hero to Fat and Suneater.
[RED RIOT smiles sheepishly]
I’ll be saying that about everyone you ask me about, but it’s true! I’m always learning and growing from the people around me, even now. I went on my first real mission during my work-study, and I reached limits I never thought I’d ever be able to surpass. Fatgum taught me that any enemy can break your body, but they’ve only won once they’ve broken your spirit. The strength of your resolve is where your power truly lies.
[RED RIOT pauses]
Wow, that sounded so cool. Can we clip that?
Is Red Riot single?
RED RIOT: I am a solo hero, yes. But I love a team-up mission!
PRODUCER: Clever way to answer. I’m sure we’ll be hearing about it in the comments.
RED RIOT: Ha! I’ll have you know I’m the brains and brawn on my team.
[RED RIOT snorts]
Please don’t fact-check that with anyone from my agency. Kind of a necessity if I want to survive.
Is Red Riot joining a hero team?
RED RIOT: Hahaha! I’m getting ahead of the board. Or maybe all of you are getting predictable.
[RED RIOT wags his pointer finger at the camera]
Like I said! I love a team-up mission, and I love working with other heroes. But being a solo hero has taught me so much, and I still feel like I have a lot to learn. I’m always testing the limits of what I can achieve, and it’s been awesome to see my capacity for that grow.
PRODUCER: Being solo is a lot more than just the hero work, is that it?
RED RIOT: It’s more that the hero work is a lot more than just throwing punches. It’s paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork about things you would never think about needing paperwork for. Paperwork and context—knowledge about the place you live in and the people around you. You have no choice but to engage. I think that’s a valuable thing.
[RED RIOT shrugs]
So that being said, never say never, but the only team I’m keeping with right now is the support staff at my agency. They keep me grounded. I can’t thank them enough for having my back all this time.
Are Red Riot and Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight together?
RED RIOT: We’re together all the time!
[RED RIOT smiles and makes a thumbs up]
PRODUCER: I’m not sure you can get away with that twice.
RED RIOT: [smiles harder] We’re together all the time!
Red Riot teeth
RED RIOT: Oh, these?
[RED RIOT bares his teeth and lightly clacks them together]
All natural, baby! They make me who I am! My moms think that someone in my family tree must have had a shark quirk that got passed along phenotypically. Genetics are crazy like that—some traits just show up whenever they want to.
PRODUCER: Have you noticed any other shark-related qualities over the years?
RED RIOT: Nope! Just my teeth. And even though they’re not quirk-related, they harden up right along with the rest of me.
[RED RIOT freezes]
Ha! Ha—
[RED RIOT covers his face with his hands]
[RED RIOT mumbles something about wanting to die]
Can we move on now? Please?
Red Riot favorite food
RED RIOT: I love meat! Huge meat lover over here—oh, god, I am not making this better.
PRODUCER: Let’s try that again.
RED RIOT: Okay! Okay. I do love meat. It’s one of my favorite foods to eat, especially when I’m going out. At home, though, I’ve been really getting into spicing things up. Once you start putting hot sauce on everything, it’s hard to go back. It also makes all the meal prep a little less boring.
Are Red Riot and Crimson Riot related?
RED RIOT: Oh, man, I wish. He’s been my hero ever since I learned what pro heroes were. My hero name is an homage to him and his manly spirit!
[RED RIOT pounds his fists together and grins]
But that's about it. There are no secret love children here.
PRODUCER: Has he reached out to you now that you’re established on the scene?
RED RIOT: Yeah! It was awesome. I got an invite to have lunch with him not long after opening my agency. It was one of the best days of my life. A real “I made it” moment. I have the letter framed in my office.
PRODUCER: What was it like to meet your hero? Did he have any advice for you?
RED RIOT: Oh, I lost my mind. I spent a whole day trying to figure out what to wear, what to say, how to act—and in the end, it didn’t matter. I was a little kid meeting my hero for the first time, and I told him that.
[RED RIOT exhales in disbelief]
And he said that he was too. That he was proud to share a mantle with a man like me. I cried.
PRODUCER: “Never meet your heroes” has no place here.
RED RIOT: No, not at all. I actually—
[RED RIOT reaches into his back pocket]
Ha! We’re on set, and my wallet is in the green room. I have a picture of us from that day in there. I know it’s a little corny, but it reminds me that I’m living up to his name. He’s the first reason I thought I could be who I am today.
PRODUCER: We can absolutely edit that in. I’m sure everyone wants to see it.
RED RIOT: Oh! But to answer the original question, I have two lovely mothers, and I need to give them the credit they deserve. My personal heroes. They’re the best people I know. I try to make them proud every day.
PRODUCER: I have no doubt that you do.
RED RIOT: I’m definitely going to get a phone call after this interview goes live about having a picture with them in my wallet, too. For the record, they’re my phone background. Love you, Ma! Love you, Mom!
Does Red Riot like men?
RED RIOT: I get this one a lot because of my manly branding, and I don’t mind at all. All I’ll say is that manliness is not a gender-specific quality. It’s about spirit! And character! And drive! Always striving to be the best version of yourself, and allowing yourself to get back up when you fall short. I’d like anyone like that.
PRODUCER: So, yes?
RED RIOT: [winks]
Red Riot hero friends
RED RIOT: Oh, man, I think everyone knows who my friends are. I work with them all the time. Bakusquad!
PRODUCER: Bakusquad? Like…Bakugou Katsuki? Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight himself?
RED RIOT: [laughs] He’s going to kill me for this. The Bakusquad started back in high school after a few of us took one look at his sparkling personality and decided to never leave him alone again. He became our unwilling, unofficial leader. We’ve had a lot of fun over the years.
PRODUCER: Give us a few highlights. Please.
RED RIOT: Let’s see. You probably want something juicy and unheroic. Oh! We were the first cohort of students to live at Heights Alliance on campus, but we never really got to enjoy it that year. Second year, though—another story. There was this one time—
[RED RIOT breaks out into a huge smile]
I used to have a pair of underwear. You know, the kind you get in a multipack? What mattered was that they were comfy, so I wore them all the time. The waistband was like, white, and the bottom part was bright red. Normal, yeah? But after wearing them for so long, the color faded to a light pink. And I guess something stained them in the wash, because the waistband started to turn green? Listen, I was like sixteen, I didn’t care.
[RED RIOT leans forward in his seat, clearly amping up]
Anyway, whenever I walked around in those, everyone kept going “watermelon undies, watermelon undies” because of the colors, but I didn’t care! They were my comfort undies! But apparently! Apparently, the underwear had some haters, because my friends coordinated to destroy them.
PRODUCER: I truly cannot imagine where this is going.
RED RIOT: So one day, we’re coming back from class late, and Aizawa-sensei had just chewed us out for something, and I was just—so out of it. And then all of a sudden, Hanta shows up holding my watermelon underwear—which I don’t even know how he got them—and then Denki shows up with a pair of scissors. I need you to understand—we all walked back together, so at that moment, I had no idea how they got all of this stuff together so fast. And then Katsuki materializes behind me and holds me there and says, “Watch this.”
[RED RIOT throws his hands in the air]
[RED RIOT’s volume increases significantly]
And then they just—shredded them right in front of me! Just absolutely destroyed them with the scissors, and they’re cackling and celebrating and throwing the scraps to the ground—and I’m just so lost and confused, and all I could think about is how I was planning on wearing those the next day, and how I needed to do laundry—
[RED RIOT loses himself to a fit of laughter]
PRODUCER: We can hold.
RED RIOT: Ha, sorry.
[RED RIOT inhales deeply to catch his breath]
So, that happened. And then the first thing I bought with my first pro paycheck was underwear. A pair from the Cellophane x Versace collab. Black and white and yellow. And you know damn well I put them on and strutted those around for them.
[RED RIOT sighs, grinning]
But man, I’d had that first pair of underwear since before I started at UA, and then everyone banded together to execute them. It was kinda hilarious. Looking back, they were honestly pretty ugly.
PRODUCER: I…don’t know what to say.
RED RIOT: [smirks] Yeah, well. Those are my friends. Your top twenty heroes. God, I hope they never live this down.
Red Riot and Phantom Thief rumors
RED RIOT: What rumors? I mean, we get along a lot better than we did in high school. We’re friends. I see him around.
PRODUCER: I think this may be referring to [unintelligible]
RED RIOT: What?
[RED RIOT leans off camera]
PRODUCER: [unintelligible]
RED RIOT: You think—me and—ha! Hahaha!
[RED RIOT starts laughing again]
[RED RIOT folds over]
PRODUCER: Should we move on to the next question?
RED RIOT: [laughter continues]
[RED RIOT waves off PRODUCER with the question board]
[RED RIOT is red-faced and crying]
Red Riot manly Katseye gnarly parody song
RED RIOT: Dude, I love that song. I don’t know who came up with the remix, but I owe you my life. It’s my alarm to wake up in the morning. It’s my ringtone for at least two people. I’m almost always bumping it during late nights at the agency. And—there’s a really awful video that you will never see of me trying to do the TikTok dance. My friends said I looked like a Fortnite emote, and I don’t think that was a compliment.
PRODUCER: Is there anything that you’d like to say to Katseye?
RED RIOT: Ladies, it’s an honor. Please never stop making music.
Red Riot GQ China heat stroke photoshoot hd downloads no watermark
RED RIOT: [blushes] That’s been looked up enough to get on the board? Wow—thank you.
[RED RIOT clears throat]
Yeah, I didn’t expect that shoot to be as popular as it was, but all the credit goes to the editorial team, designers, and makeup artists! I don’t usually model outside of brand deals, so I felt very out of my depth, but the creative team knew exactly what they needed to bring their vision to life, and we worked together to make it happen. They were great! I’m not one to sunburn, but I don’t think I’ll look that good if I ever do!
PRODUCER: Those photos have become somewhat of an art trend online. Have you seen any of those?
RED RIOT: Yes! They’re all really cool—everyone is so skilled! I’ve saved a few that feature my favorite characters because how could I not? It’s me! As them! I love it!
Red Riot shirtless car wash Uravity charity 20XX
RED RIOT: That’s my Brochako! Uravity is the coolest, and her work with quirk counseling is one of the most important causes of our time. I’m always happy to support her community work.
PRODUCER: Uravity is known to be well-involved in quirk advocacy spheres, and from all the pro heroes seen at this car wash event, she seems to have started a trend. This was the largest hero charity event of the last decade.
RED RIOT: I don’t know that I’d call it a trend, but she’s definitely encouraged a lot of heroes to not be afraid of using their platform. And there’s no shame in educating yourself, no matter when it happens. Quirk discrimination is something that’s been affecting our society for as long as quirks have existed. It’s an undeniable reason why All For One’s side came together with such force during the war. That isolation and fear only caused pain.
[RED RIOT shakes his head]
Uravity—she lost someone she cared about because of it, and she decided to dedicate her career to protecting the next generation. We were only fifteen when she set her sights on it, so I’m really proud of her and what she’s built over the years. All while being a full-time pro, too. She just really goes above and beyond, and I support it in any way I can. Actually, while I’m here—
[RED RIOT shifts to address the camera more seriously]
That event was in support of Himiko’s Home, a non-profit organization that supports unhoused youth through quirk counseling services and shelter. If you want to donate, volunteer, or just learn more about the cause, you should give their website a visit.
PRODUCER: We’ll provide a link below.
RED RIOT: Thank you!
Red Riot fanfiction
RED RIOT: We’ve definitely had a few nights where we all get together and read some. Denki—Chargebolt—will put it up on his TV, and we do our own voices, and it’s a good time.
PRODUCER: Do you have any favorites?
RED RIOT: Ha!
[RED RIOT scratches the back of his head sheepishly]
I don’t know about favorites, but everyone is so creative! I’ve learned a lot.
PRODUCER: Like what?
RED RIOT: Apparently, I'm very dog-like. Wolf-like?
[RED RIOT cringes]
Have you ever heard of the omegaverse?
PRODUCER: [shakes head]
RED RIOT: [hesitates] Yeah, I’m, uh—I’m not going to get into all of that right now.
Red Riot lobotomy
RED RIOT: What.
PRODUCER: It’s a very popular internet meme.
RED RIOT: What.
Red Riot manly calendar
RED RIOT: Yes! I’m so excited to announce my first Manly Calendar for charity. This interview is part of an exclusive promotion series for the release. I wanted to share a part of myself with you as a way to give back and to thank you for all of the support over the years! So, thank you, everyone. Now that you’ve gotten to know me a little better, I hope I can continue being a hero you look up to.
[RED RIOT stands up and bows]
…
RED RIOT: I think some of my answers were worse than the questions, but I’m glad people want to know so much about me. Thanks for having me, WIRED. Stay manly!
END