Do Not Obey In Advance

Things that amuse me... or bemuse me.

[xenogears]

Shout out to the (many) times I got called an elitist gatekeeper for saying that the only real way to fully understand a work of fiction is to experience it firsthand and that summaries and reviews are not a replacement for that

[the-lincyclopedia]

Me, reading the first 80% of the post: What do you mean, "experience it firsthand"? How am I supposed to join the Hunger Games or go on the Odyssey?

Me, reading the final clause of the post: Oh, you literally meant that people have to read the book/listen to the audiobook in order to fully understand it. And people got mad. Oh dear.

[marisatomay]

To quote what a friend of mine said after she watched Jerry Maguire (1996) for the first time, having thought she knew what it was about because of its cultural ubiquity: “you miss a lot of a movie when you don’t watch it”

[floppergostic]

Me watching Fight Club for the first time, assuming it was a "Remember the Titans"-esque movie.

[smol-blue-bird]

sometimes when I'm bored, I go through the list of recent bad faith Wikipedia edits that have since been reverted. a lot of them are politically contentious/offensive topics that attract crazies and trolls in general, but sometimes there are completely innocent inoffensive articles that people attack for no reason. some guy yesterday vandalized the article on the chemical element francium

[thirdchoiceurl]

Francium IS a stupid element. It has a half life of 22 minutes and barely exists at all, only naturally occurring as a product of the extremely rare alpha decay series ²³⁵U ➝ ²³¹Th ➝ ²³¹Pa (𝜷 decay) ➝ ²²⁷Ac ➝ ²²³Fr (1.38% chance). There’s less than a gram of it on earth at any given moment. It has no uses to anybody and it isn’t even the most reactive group 1A element due to relativistic effects fucking up its electron binding energies. Stupid substance.

If you somehow asked a genie to get you a gram of Francium in a sealed vial so you could do an experiment with it, the genie would just give it to you because the enormous amount of radioactivity it produces would instantly vaporize the sample and cook you alive. Absolute dogshit isotope and its synthetic siblings are just the same but worse

[bimyheel]

found the guy

[lawsofchaos1]

As a chemist, I agree that Francium is a stupid and useless element. Even the Royal Society of Chemistry agrees.

[sensiblereblogifposts]

Reblog if you think Francium is a stupid element

[kits-extreme-autism]

Fuck France, and fuck its stupid element

[hotleafbeverage-deactivated2024]

I think this does a bit of a disservice to Marguerite Perey!

The awesome (albeit French) physicist who discovered Francium. She was a student of Marie Curie and did a lot to advance the study of radioactive materials. She is one of the most sadly (in my opinion) overlooked women in scientific history.

[thirdchoiceurl]

Seeing my addition to this post going around again and this comment has prompted me to clarify something:

Marguerite Perey is one of the greatest radiochemists to ever live, and Francium is such a bullshit element that only an absolute master could identify and analyze it.

The short-lived intermediate actinide chain isotopes are mostly bullshit elements for a lot of the same reasons Francium is. Five of them (Radium, Radon, Astatine, Actinium, and Protactinium) are so scarce in nature and so ferociously radioactive that all of their names literally mean “unstable or radioactive element” because at the time of their discovery that was the only thing known about them. Isolating and identifying these bullshit elements demanded a total technical mastery of the cutting edge chemical and radiological analysis techniques in their time, as well as performing a tremendous amount of brutal physical labor. Preparing these extreme trace elements for study required processing thousands of pounds of raw uranium and thorium ores, often exposing the researchers and their assistants to high doses of radiation, just to obtain the extremely radioactive milligram-scale quantities of the intermediate isotopes they wished to study.

To even have the skills to identify Francium, Perey had to first spend years mastering the separation of transactinide decay products from raw mixed ore at the Radium Institute with her mentor and another true master in the field, Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Her work in Curie’s lab focused on the isolation and analysis of another previously discovered bullshit decay product, the obviously-named Actinium. Actinium occurs in high-grade natural uranium ores at a rate of 0.2 mg Ac/1000 kg ore, a concentration of 0.0000002%wt, so isolating enough of it to study required the painstaking and precise process of dissolving and refining thousands of tons of increasingly radioactive metals in powerful and dangerous solvents.

Upon isolation of a sample of Actinium (specifically Actinium mixed into a Lanthanum carrier) , Perey and the Curies would frantically study the element as its already intense radioactivity multiplied while even shorter-lived isotopes of Thorium, Radium, Radon, Polonium, and others grew in to the sample, obscuring its characteristics and endangering the researchers.

The decay of Actinium should have only initially produced beta radiation from its decay into Thorium-227, which in turn undergoes alpha decay into Radium-223. The days-long lifetime of Thorium-227 means that after a fairly short period of time, the Actinium sample will develop a significant amount of alpha radiation on its own. But Perey was skilled enough and fast enough to isolate and measure her samples before this process could happen, and what she found was an unexplained early spike in alpha radiation from some other very scarce very active alpha source, something that must have been decaying directly from the Actinium in minuscule quantities.

After analyzing several samples to make sure these results were reliable, Perey was confident she had discovered the elusive element 87, and asked Jean Perrin (her supervisor at the lab) to submit her findings for publication. At the time, she was a lab assistant and unable to publish papers, and did not get a degree until 1946, seven years later. She named the new element Francium, after her home country and the nation that sponsored her research.

While Perey was investigating the properties of Actinium, her mentor Marie Curie developed serious anemia and had to withdraw from lab work. She died of aplastic anemia in 1934, after years of continuous exposure to extreme radiation that destroyed her bone marrow and left her body unable to produce new blood cells. Perey discovered Francium five years later.

The dangers of working with highly radioactive elements were not well understood in the early era of radiochemistry, but the experiences of the early radiochemists left a huge impact on those that followed, and Perey championed studies of the effects of radiation and devised new protection methods for researchers throughout her long career. Though she was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize, she never won it, and her contributions and talent have been largely forgotten outside of the nuclear chemistry community.

The level of skill and care required to discover an element that is so immensely bullshit as Francium is staggering, and the numbers involved are unimaginable. The labs Perey and the Curies worked in were left unused for decades until their destruction in 1981, due to the intense radioactivity from sub-microgram quantities of these highly active elements contaminating the room. It’s likely that Perey never observed more than a nanogram of Francium during her lifetime studying it, and no quantity large enough to observe its bulk quantities has ever been assembled.

I will talk shit about the element because it’s a nightmare atom, but I will not tolerate any kind of slander of Marguerite Perey, one of the best to ever do it.

[radicallymaxton]

Marle!!

Been meaning to post more of my Chrono Trigger fanart.

I hope to make more soon :))

[evilnicegirl]

maybe there never were any twin towers. like did u ever see them?

[nypaingers]

So I know all you kids are joking around but no, you’re not allowed to make jokes about this. No.

[evilnicegirl]

[trash-panda-gorl]

Can’t just leave this in the tags, @the-starboy-symbiont

[ludicrouscheeseburger]

All of the above, plus:

For years after 9/11 we were constantly told “NEVER FORGET” and the idea was basically “keep feeling sad and afraid and especially ANGRY forever; don’t let time dull your emotional response like it’s naturally supposed to; continue to justify the injustices by feeling this way all the time.” And the 3000 deaths were constantly pointed to as this huge deal that justified any lengths to go to.

And then Covid hit. And there were several points during the height of the pandemic (because fun fact, according to the actual definitions of a pandemic, *it’s not technically over yet!* ) where we were having a 9/11’s worth of deaths every week or so. And suddenly 3000 deaths were not a big deal at all. Instead of being enough reason to go to war far away and strip us at home of many rights too, they weren’t even enough justification to make people wear a damn piece of fabric over their face.

3000 people died once and now the government can legally wiretap anyone without a warrant, and hold people at Gitmo under suspicion of terrorism (no need for due process)… 3000 people dying every week but we should all still be going out to brunch and concerts and who cares about the disabled and immunocompromised?

Something in me broke. Make all the 9/11 jokes you want.

[the-beard-of-edward-teach]

Hawaiʻi is currently in the midst of a natural disaster if you didnt know

Apparently there isn’t much news coverage of this outside of the islands

Towns are flooded, homes destroyed and collapsed, roads collapsed, lives at risk, gas leaks from the flood damage

Haleiwa and Waialua are currently evacuated because the 120 year old dam is at risk of bursting

Mind you that damn is owned by Dole. Theyve known about it needing to be fixed for years and years and years. Despite having more than enough money they refuse

The state has been trying to buy it out from them for years so they can fix it, but the sale hasn’t gone through

Keep in mind that the Dole family were the ones who illegally imprisoned Queen Liliuʻokalani and illegally overthrew the monarchy.

If I see another goddamn person say how sad this is for the tourists whose “trips were ruined” and compare a messed up vacation to people losing their homes, belongings, and livelihoods, I’m going to lose my mind

I am so lucky that my family or friend’s are safe and the few whose houses flooded didnt have it too bad, but so so so many were not as fortunate

If you haven’t heard anything about this until now, I suggest looking into it

The sirens didn’t go off until the flood had been going on for hours. Our state government is spending so much money on a fucking monorail we don’t need rather than fixing the infrastructure.

It’s been the locals and Kanaka doing the most to help get people to safety from the start

I don’t really know how to end this

I just need to know people are aware

I need to know people are seeing whats happening

[elodieunderglass]

Thousands evacuated as Hawaii faces worst flooding in 20 years

"Don't take this storm lightly," Hawaii Governor Josh Green warned on Saturday, as more rain is expected on Oahu and Maui.

[todaysbat]

Above current as of March 22, 2026 (the date when op posted)

This is all related to a massive rainstorm Hawai'i is experiencing that is the worst in 20 years (so I'm not sure it matters all that much about the monorail thing but I don't know enough about the matter and not impacted by it all to have a real opinion about it so not providing any fact checking on that, before anyone asks)

Further reading:

Hawaii urges residents to ‘leave now’ amid worst flooding in over 20 years

People in hard-hit areas of Oahu and Maui told to evacuate with still more rain expected over the weekend

^posted march 21, 2026

Hawaii's heaviest rainstorm in 20 years threatens dam as flash flood warnings continue

Floodwaters lifted homes and cars, causing an estimated $1 billion in damage, and 5,500 people were under evacuation orders as a 120-year-ol

^posted march 21, 2026, with updates on March 22, 2026

Lāʻie residents face devastating flooding from Kona storm

“All we have is faith we’ll be okay… because of this great community we live in.”

^local news station, posted march 21, 2026. As of posting on March 23, 2026 9:45 am edt, they were still showing active flood watches thru monday afternoon Hawaiian time

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[nonbinaryjudean]

@floppergostic i am replying to your comment in a separate post because i have a lot to say.

first, i do not genuinely believe you are coming at this from a place of wanting to engage in good-faith conversation.

second, misusing words like "delusional" is shitty. you shouldn't do that.

third, i do not think you are going to listen to any of what i have to say. i am still going to respond.

"Vast harm *is* coming to Jewish diasporas because of Israel's actions though. It's not *the* cause of antisemitism, but it is absolutely *a* cause for the rise in antisemitism happening right now."

no. it isn't. if israel doing something bad makes you commit a hate crime against a jew you already wanted to commit a hate crime against a jew.

contrary to some people's beliefs, jews are not all an evil almighty plotting hivemind. israel is not using the space laser to beam antisemitism into peoples minds.

"When you equate opposing genocide with being antisemitic, as Israel's officials have done again and again, it causes regular people to think "I guess I'm antisemitic then"."

so you base your understanding of bigotry towards jewish people on the israeli government? thats literally a you problem, not a jew problem. fix your shit. "regular people" are capable of thinking their own thoughts. regular people are capable of understanding that antisemitism is bad.

why does responsibility fall on the victims of hate instead of the people who choose to hate?

"It's obviously not the only cause of antisemitism (people will find reasons to hate Jews if they want to), but it is delusional to think that it isn't a contributing factor."

i think this is the part of your comment that bothers me the most. "people will find reasons to hate jews if they want to".

you need to step back for a moment. you need to take a seat. you need to fucking listen to what im about to say to you right now.

antisemitism is not just a "choice" that people make. it is baked into the foundations of western society. it is institutional, systemic, mutating. antisemitism functions differently from other forms of hatred because it isnt just hatred - antisemitism includes conspiracies, assumptions, lies, and erasure. antisemites don't hate jews "just because".

antisemitism is very often based on the PERCEPTION the person has of jews rather than ACTUAL jews. people hate jews because they think we killed jesus (we didnt). people hate jews because they think we are corrupting the white race (we arent). people hate jews because they think we are pretending to be victims of antisemitism (we are).

another example? the exact comment you left me. you are basing your idea of what antisemitism looks like, what jewish people are experiencing right now, and what jewish people believe on a perception YOU MADE UP in YOUR OWN MIND. you saw a jew talking about antisemitism. you interpreted it based on your perception of jews talking about antisemitism, specifically that we "support genocide". (the word genocide having literally been invented to refer to what happened to US within the last century.)

you are perpetuating the cycle. you are REFUSING to dismantle your own bigotry, to investigate it, to learn about it, to consider that antisemitism is the fault of antisemites, not jews that you dislike.

if you understand what it means when someone speaks about institutionalized racism or misogyny, you need to understand it when it comes to antisemitism too.

this is victim blaming garbage. in the past week there have been attacks on synagogues every. fucking. day. how in the FUCK is that israels fault?????

if you need an excuse to be an antisemite, YOU ARE ALREADY A FUCKING ANTISEMITE. ANTISEMITISM IS CAUSED BY PEOPLE BEING ANTISEMITES. antisemites need to take accountability for their own actions. instead, you force jews to turn out our pockets and explain this shit to you.

antisemites are responsible for their own actions. you know how you sound? "well what was she wearing? she was drunk, i could tell she was asking for it".

introspect or go fuck yourself

[floppergostic]

You put a lot of words in my mouth that I neither said, implied, nor meant. "People will find reasons to hate Jews if they want to" does not mean that Jews did anything to deserve the hate, it literally means the opposite--that people find reasons, excuses, logical arguments that serve them when they want to justify hating Jewish people. Because, as you said, they are already antisemitic.

One of the reasons violent bigots can freely act on their bigotry is the apathy of others. When a country, claiming to be acting on behalf of all Jews, kills people en masse, then accuses any critics of their massacres as being bigoted and antisemitic, it has an effect on the bystander, the other, who is less likely to stand or say anything against violence against Jews, even though they wouldn't perpetrate it themselves. And because they aren't doing anything to stop violent bigots, incidences of violent bigotry, violent antisemitism increase. This is not only my opinion, but the opinion of many scholars as well, including Jews.

At no point did I say, imply, or mean that Jews or even you in particular support genocide. What I did say is that Israel claims to represent Jews, and that Israel is committing a genocide. And if people believe what Israel says, they will think that all Jews support is Israel and support Israel's genocide of Gaza. I don't believe Israel represents all Jews, or even that Israel has Jews' best interests at heart, but a lot of people do. And that is going to affect their views of Jewish people. I don't think that's a radical statement to make.

[breelandwalker]

2026 Midterm Elections Are Coming!

Go to Ballotpedia for information on upcoming elections, including the midterms, state and local elections, who the candidates are, where they stand, and when and where to vote. You can also check your registration status, make sure you’re registered to vote, and explore options for mail-in ballots if you need them.

Here's how things are shaping up ahead of the 2026 midterms:

In the 119th Congress, the current party alignments as of August 4, 2025, are as follows: (Congress.gov)

House of Representatives: 219 Republicans (plus 3 Delegates) 212 Democrats (plus 2 Delegates and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico) 4 vacant seats

Senate: 53 Republicans 45 Democrats 2 Independents (both caucus with the Democrats)

Elections to the U.S. Congress will take place on November 3, 2026. All 435 districts in the U.S. House of Representatives and 33 seats in the U.S. Senate are up for election. Five of the Senate's six non-voting members are also up for election.

Looking ahead to the 2026 general elections, Democrats need to gain a net of four seats to win a majority in the Senate. Meanwhile, Republicans can lose no more than two seats to retain a majority in the chamber. (Ballotpedia)

In the November 2025 elections, voters flipped the governorships of several states blue, as well as electing dozens of Democratic delegates and mayors in key local elections, dislodging many GOP incumbents. There was a record turnout of young voters and younger candidates for political office.

If we can do this again in 2026, we stand a SIGNIFICANT chance of not only mitigating the damage done by the current administration, but perhaps even steering things back toward recovery. It will still take a long time. A lot can happen by next November, nothing is immediate or guaranteed, and NO ONE running for office is perfect. But it's clear to see that letting things continue to slide toward the right is not an acceptable path forward if we want to retain our rights and secure a better future for those who will come after us.

So make sure you educate yourself on your state and local elections, check on your polling place and voter registration, help out with a campaign, or try running for something yourself if you're so inclined. Vote whenever and wherever you can, because every election MATTERS.

Ballotpedia | Run For Something

In a battle of inches, never let your opponent think they’re a ruler.

Make your voice heard!

[breelandwalker]

ADDENDUM:

Look into your state and local judges as well via the state court system or sites like JudgeWatch and the Federal Judicial Center. Find out what their stances are, what their court records look like, where their money comes from, and whether they might be using their position to enable crooked business practices, ignore or abuse the law in their rulings, or support for-profit prisons.

Proper justice requires fair judgement. Just as we expect our representatives to act in the best interest of their constituents, we should expect our judges to rule fairly and with an eye to humanity and common decency.

[breelandwalker]

ADDITIONAL ADDENDUM:

Check Ballotpedia for additional state ballot measures up for decision before November! There are quite a few budgeting, revisional, constitutional, and redistricting measures going around as early as this spring, so don't miss the opportunity to make your voice heard!

Also, look for local municipal elections, special elections, and primaries. Everything from district congressional reps to the sheriff to the school board are voted on by the local community, along with and every one of them MATTERS.

Ballotpedia - Local Election Coverage By State

And in between votes, don't forget to call, email, and write to your representatives. Remember - they work for US!

(I do recommend signing up for the Ballotpedia email list - it's super helpful for staying informed with upcoming elections and ballot measures, as well as information on how to register and where to vote.)

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

I genuinely like salad I am just also fully convinced that the vast majority of people and restaurants are doing salad wrong. Listen to me. Hold my hand. You have been taken in by Big Lettuce. A salad can be primarily other things. Crunchy leaves are the foundation of the salad but you cannot build a whole building out of them. The other stuff in the salad is not just "toppings" it is the rest of the salad.

[floppergostic]

Greek salads are 100% the thing that changed the game for me. 50+% other vegetables, rather than 90% lettuce. I never would have ordered just a salad before trying Greek salad, and, to be fair, when I'm at certain restaurants I still don't, because their salads are 90% lettuce. But Greek salads completely opened my eyes to why some people actually... *like*... salads. And now I'm one of them.

[catasters]

[vivacias]

What's a book written by a woman that changed your life or that you consider a classic? Any genre, any language.

[official-lucifers-child]

[gay-for-frog]

Rapists, and killers, too? Really? (Those on death-row?) The drug/prostitution problems are just a portion of USA criminals.

[official-lucifers-child]

yes, all criminals. the moment you say “except X criminal” is the moment that people will try to convict their opponents as having committed X crime.

it’s the same thing as what’s going on right now with people equating drag to some sort of child exploitation. “but the children!!” they wail, and people listen because oh, if drag is harming children, then drag MUST be BAD, so we HAVE TO BAN DRAG.

do you understand what i’m saying? you can’t take away the rights of any category of criminal, because suddenly that category will be overflowing with people who totally 100% definitely committed that horrible crime.

[captain-acab]

Just to look at this from one step further back, let's accept the premise. Let's imagine that there is a type of crime that is 1) horrible evil irredeemable universally-agreed-upon bad, and 2) could somehow be prosecuted with 100% accuracy and 0% bias. Yes, even then, those criminals deserve a right to vote.

Do you they're going to like vote themselves out of jail? Vote to make murder legal? What exactly are you afraid of.

Realistically they'll just... vote just like anyone else. They'll help elect city councilmembers they think will better their hometowns, and presidents they think will best serve the country. They might even vote in their own interests! To reform prisons, fund rehabilitation programs, and outlaw predatory practices by telecoms. Are you saying you don't want any of those things?

And even if there were one of those super-duper-unambiguously-evil totally misanthropic death-row convicts, who's scheduled to be execute the very next day and just wants to sow chaos and watch the outside world burn however they can... what's the worst they could do, vote republican?

Taking people's rights away isn't bad because it might happen to someone you like, it's because taking people's rights away is bad.

[heartspocky]

do people think that convicted serial killers are going to vote to legalize serial killing

[datasoong47]

I've occasionally seen it stated that singular they should take singular agreement - that is, "they is" rather than "they are", and on very rare occasions I have seen it used that way. I often wonder if that will eventually come to be standard (themself has already become acceptable for some speakers of English)

So, poll! Do you ever use singular agreement with singular they? If it matters for you, specifically referring to the nonbinary use - that is, they referring to a specific person (as opposed to referring to words like "someone")

In your speech, does singular they take singular agreement?

Yes, always

Yes, frequently

Yes, sometimes

Yes, but infrequently

Very rarely

Never

Not applicable because my dialect doesn't distinguish singular and plural verbs

Voting ended onMar 9

[cristalplanetheart]

[girlsgunswildlife4x4]

Low Crawl..

[hansilw]

Eligible voters of the United States!

The NPR voter registration guide has been updated to help get you ready for the 2026 primary elections.

You can find deadlines and the links you need to register and check your registration status at npr.org/vote

How to register to vote and check your registration status

For the 2026 primary elections, NPR has collected deadlines and information on how to register to vote — online, in person or by mail — in e

[thememedaddy]

[surgepricing]

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.

[2blondiegirl]

[grandfather-paradoxx]

I don’t go here but I’ve got a question. The avatar is the only one who can bend multiple elements, right? From reading above, it kinda seems like Zuko became something like an avatar himself? Not by definition of bending different elements themselves but by learning and adapting the techniques and philosophy of other elements until they all came naturally to his fire. Am I reading too much into this?

[catboybiologist]

This is genuinely one of the points of the show. In season 2, Iroh basically explicitly tells Zuko that. Every character starts integrating techniques from all nations into their bending and fighting, but Zuko's is def the most on the nose.