Spitfire Book 1: Reflection In Scales

the thing about "likes do nothing" is that they actually do: they let me know that someone enjoyed, related to, or sympathized with the things I made

This was so good

I think about Azula shooters often and their common refrain of "if Azula hadn't had a mental breakdown, she would've won" and I'm here to tell you that no, she wouldn't have.

There is no universe in which Azula was winning that fight with Zuko (or Katara, for that matter).

Azula spent so much of Book 2 being built up as this deadly terrifying force against whom the heroes are badly outmatched that it can be difficult to catch exactly how quickly Zuko is advancing.

Back up a bit to Book One. For the fearsome exiled crown prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko's not that impressive a firebender. He's not bad by any stretch, and he's able to lay the untrained Sokka and Katara flat pretty easily. Then he gets in the ring with Aang, who is an airbending master, and the difference between a regular bender and a master becomes apparent when Aang literally puts his ass to bed:

People have attributed this to the fact that no one's fought an airbender in 100 years, but I think it's also worth noting that Aang (a 12 year old from a pacifist nation) has probably never fought anyone before. Like, ever. And yet the second Aang thinks "okay, I'll attack back", the fight's over.

Zuko's got the same genetic predisposition for firebending talent that Azula does, yet it never seems to manifest because of his mental blocks. At the beginning of the series, he's already so beat down that all he really has is conviction, pride, and anger, so even with training from Iroh (the firebending master, thank you very much), he struggles. Yet throughout Book 2, when he has no time to train because he's on the run, he actually seems to advance faster. The fact that his bending is literally tied to his character arc (as his morals become tangled and he has to fight off aforementioned mental blocks) is pretty brilliant. Like, by the time of the Crossroads of Destiny, Zuko getting his ass handed to him by Aang is a pretty consistent feature of the show--he just can't match wits with him.

Hell, at the beginning of the series, he and Iroh (again: the actual firebending master) launch a combined power surface-to-air attack...which Aang casually swats away into a nearby ice wall. Come the Crossroads of Destiny, however, and Zuko by himself launches this bigass fireball that blows through Aang's defenses.

Zuko advances so quickly that it's scary. That prodigious talent is in him even if it doesn't come through as cleanly as with Azula. Who, by the way, was busy about to get flattened by Katara some few dozen feet away, until Zuko took over and then effectively stalemated her himself.

All of this in retrospect makes it abundantly clear why Zuko's firebending seemed to skyrocket so much when he learned true firebending from the Sun Warriors: it was really the only thing left. He's hard a hard road learning how to fight waterbenders, earthbenders, and airbenders, and even if unconsciously, he's applying the philosophy Iroh taught him about augmenting his bending style with aspects of other styles (see also, the waterbending-like fire whips he uses in the above gif). Once he actually understands fire and how it works, he's got it mastered. Hence why any gap between him and Azula effectively disappears as soon as their next fight--before her friends have betrayed her and her stability goes out the window. There's no real sense of urgency to their fight at the Boiling Rock prison. True, Sokka's presence with the sword helps, but Zuko doesn't look remotely worried and he counters Azula's every attack perfectly.

All her life, Azula only ever learned fire. She was taught by the best people the fire nation can employ, so she knows all the cool tricks, but she's still poisoned by the corrupted firebending practiced in the modern ATLA timeline. Unlike Zuko, who managed to get the basics if nothing else from Iroh (fire comes from the breath, and can be used to survive as much as to kill), Azula has always used fire as a weapon and a means to hurt others. She has no true knowledge of the craft, meaning she's got the same weaknesses as Zhao, she's just better disciplined to the point she can make up for it.

Zuko's victory was a given considering Azula's complete loss of control by the time of Sozin's comet, but even had she been in a perfect mental state, she'd have lost, because in many ways Zuko is simply the better firebender.

And that's the truth of it.

Republic Commando: True Colors

Areas bombed in Gaza by the Israeli occupation government

Oct 2023

Jan 2024

July 2024

There is no safe zone in Gaza

Israel’s military dropped 75,000 tonnes of explosives by April 2024. Since the invasion of Rafah in May, Palestinians have said the bombings have gotten considerably worse, most recently the strike against Al Tabin school where over 100 were killed during morning prayers

Al Jazeera

Israeli strike on Gaza school kills more than 100 people

Authorities in Gaza said Israeli bombs hit the school-turned-shelter as people were praying and triggered a fire.

I GOT 10 MINUTES LEFT OF BEING A TEENAGER I GOTTA DO SOMETHING REBELLIOUS UH

A Turtle By Any Other Name

Because I had a little too much time on my hands: a tally of the names everyone's favourite sewer family uses for each other throughout the first season of TMNT 2003!

Includes all direct addresses, names given to a third party, and names dropped during the the pre-episode narrations.

As you'd expect, a few expected trends jump out immediately - the impact of Leo's close relationship with his sensei, the A-team / B-team pairings, Master Splinter's determination to stick to the full names he chose thank you very much. But there were some interesting little quirks too!

• Leo narrowly wins the prize of being the top turtle on everyone's lips, scoring a total of 96 mentions over 26 episodes. Michelangelo is right on his tail with 94, though - and he does it without any Raph nicknames or a dedicated coma episode. That's talent.

• Leo returns the favour at least, hollering after everyone a whole 135 times. Raph comes in second with a respectable 99.

• Leo names Master Splinter 49 times to Raph's 17 - but fascinatingly, it's Raph who claims the only two references any of them make to Splinter being their father. Overall, the kids keep it respectful - "Master Splinter" or "Sensei" are the preferred addresses by far. Notably, while the older brothers might occasionally drop the Master, youngest Mikey does not.

• Who's playing favourites? Well, possibly Donnie - 52% of the time he's naming a brother, it's Michelangelo. Mikey, on the other hand, is pretty egalitarian, with only a few points of difference separating his bros (though Don's his favourite too).

• When the brothers full-name each other it doesn't necessarily mean they're mad, but they do tend to be making a point of some kind. It's fitting, then, that Leo follows in Splinter's footsteps by being one of the main culprits, and often reserves it for serious moments. Mikey, in contrast, is almost always making a jab ("poor choice, Raphael!" "Leonardo, you got some 'splaining to do..."). The middle children don't really go there at all - Raph drops a Donatello once in a narration, and otherwise makes a sweet gesture in reintroducing the new and improved "Leonardo" to the family following his recovery from Shredder's beatdown. And I have embarrassingly forgotten the context for Don's single Michelangelo... but I'd wager it was chiding.

• Donnie is the standout in having two diminutives that are used often and interchangeably by all his brothers, with only Leo showing a real preference (Don > Donnie). There wasn't any noticeable tone-mapping either; everyone just kind of switches it around whenever.

• There are a couple of Mikes in there too! Again, I don't think it lined up with any particular mood or scenario, besides dropping earlier in the season rather than later.

• Raphie is a rare and precious nickname reserved exclusively for little brothers (and sometimes Casey). As it should be.

• I expected Raph to be more of a nicknamer overall given his colourful speech patterns, but when you filter out all the off-hand 'bonehead' and 'oddball' insults, there's not actually that much going on. A single Fearless for Leo, a couple Brainiacs for Don...it'd be interesting to see if that changes at all as the show goes on. And in retrospect, maybe I should have counted his 'bro's.

• The single 'bud' Leo throws Don's way tickles me. He never does it again, and never does it to anyone else either! Early instalment weirdness?

Part 5!

Well. It's been exactly one year since I started this comic. Which is pretty impressive for my tiny attention span. This is the biggest of my stories and I'm so damn proud (and surprised) that I was able to finish it haha

Quick q&a because I know a lot of you would ask something like this:

Why didn't I add "x" to the comic? - Because I didn't want to.

Why did I add "x" to the comic? - Because I wanted to.

This story was improv from start to finish and that means I added and took away many things. I don't regret any of them haha

Thank you all for being with me. This fandom is wonderful and I'm happy to be a part of it :)

When is this happening? ‘,:l

Part 1 Masterpost

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Taawon