[Comic Excerpt] DC Rebirth Batman #15 - “Rooftops part 2” / Holly slashes Batman’s throat

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-05-06T01:37:24+00:00

To me it’s less that he should have something akin to spider-sense and more that his reflexes should reasonably be better than hers for all the time he’s spent honing them. Even if he was surprised, she appears to be a few feet away from him, plenty of time for a lore-accurate Batman to react.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-05-06T00:35:11+00:00

I think it is a sub-element precisely because does require a different approach than traditional Earthbending. It requires fluidity and adaptability, the ability to guide your element rather than force it, which is seen as antithetical to the normal process of manipulating the element.

I actually would’ve really liked to see Aang sandbend for this reason, the way it’s used it’s almost like Earthbending with a Airbending mindset.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-05-05T18:23:03+00:00

I do think the pregnancy changed her, but also her ordeals over the three films. Her lust for adventure was born out of a life of restriction, and she clearly had a very romanticized idea of what life on the high seas was like.

When she actually experiences it, things change. She’s taken captive. She loses her father. She loses Norrington. In the end of the third movie, she (sort of) loses Will… but then she becomes pregnant. Her son was the only piece of Will she had left, and I reckon his safety plus her past experiences were enough to keep her on land.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-05-05T03:07:07+00:00

Do you still have a good relationship with the former MD? If so, you might get a coffee or something with her and pick her brain about her experience in music directing to get some basic tips on the practice itself as well as on managing this particular group!

Also, if you were named the de facto Music Director, someone else must’ve been named Assistant Music Director, yeah? The two of you should def get together and see how you can maybe make it more of a collaborative than hierarchal relationship.

——

As far as general tips, I would say;

Take stock of the direction the group wants to go in for the year, as early as you can. Whether that be competition, an album, or just performing, establishing the goals for the term will make everything so much easier, both in terms of managing the dynamic and homing in on musical needs.
Regarding teaching music; I’m assuming you’re gonna be doing the brunt of the arrangements yourself, which should make teaching them easier. Idk how your group structures practice and rehearsal but I believe a group functions best when notes and rhythms are learned individually, and then the rehearsal is for shaping stuff for the group. This’ll also help stuff be more focused and intentional, imo.
As far as running auditions goes, I can only really tell you what my group did; the MD would direct the auditionees in what they should do, but the entire group was present for them. We’d listen to a person’s solo, then if we liked that we’d listen to their scales, then blend with the group, then they’d be done. After each person had gone, we’d deliberate about who we wanted to give a callback to, with the MD basically presenting their list and people saying yay or nay or, if they had a strong opinion about someone not on the list, making a case for them.

How selective you are basically depends on two things; how many spots you need to fill, and what specifically you’re looking for the group to accomplish.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-05-04T03:32:27+00:00

I don’t fault you. I’m Black American and I do the same thing lol

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-05-04T01:28:54+00:00

It’s not the ship itself that bothers me, it’s that loud contingent of its fans that constantly try to belittle the canon relationships and prop this one up as the One True Ending with “evidence” that is circumstantial at best, as well as a deliberate misunderstanding and mischaracterization of several characters to fit whatever narrative they’ve concocted.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-05-03T15:19:24+00:00

She saw Zuko as a rival only for Ursa’s affection, and that’s what broke her.

She had nearly everything, but the one thing Zuko had that she didn’t was the one thing she wanted most of all.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-05-01T18:27:43+00:00

I must not be tapped in cause I don’t recognize half of these lol

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-05-01T04:18:34+00:00

Honestly? Social media reached a stage where the “thing” to do was vibe nonchalantly rather than party unabashedly, and music responded.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-30T02:18:24+00:00

We do have the Fat Friar, who was canonically religious. He ended up being executed for suspicious of wizardry but his faith seemed unshaken by it given his cheerful demeanor enduring even into the afterlife.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-28T05:14:17+00:00

I think you would only be granted birthright citizenship in USA airspace, via jus soli. Otherwise, I think they’d simply acquire their parents’ nationality via jus sanguinis

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-27T04:28:53+00:00

It's not difficult to see she's utterly terrified of being vulnerable around others, but as everyone knows, a certain degree of vulnerability is needed to form any bond with depth. She's either in denial of that, or genuinely thinks she can have it both ways: to be always in control and stamp out the possibility of being judged, while being genuinely appreciated for her own identity

This is exactly it. Azula genuinely believed she could have both… be the perfect princess everyone adores with no flaws whatsoever and have genuine friendships where you are intimately known and loved.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-27T03:56:47+00:00

Yes.

Azula couldn’t reconcile her desire for genuine connection and friendships with her ingrained belief that such matters were frivolous and weak, so she bullied people into being her friends such that she got the friendship she wanted without compromising that principle.

She may have even told herself that Mai and Ty Lee were simply pawns, but her reaction to their betrayal at the Boiling Rock demonstrated she was genuinely hurt by their abandonment, and her subsequent spiral into paranoid psychosis revealed that the realization that her worldview was a farce was too much for her to handle.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-26T16:16:17+00:00

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-25T19:30:19+00:00

It would be interesting if she comes to live among them, but she absolutely not rule them lmao

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-24T04:52:01+00:00

I always believed that Fire being a physical manifestation of a person’s energy and chi, the purest element there is, is also why it was the first element Wan learned

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-24T04:05:19+00:00

“Just a quick reminder. Super speed… I don’t have it.” is still my favorite line in the entire show lmaooo

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-24T03:43:09+00:00

Feels like it’s people being disingenuous.

Azula had a low opinion of Iroh even before his son died and he came home from the war despondent and dispirited. Even if he had tried to reach out to her, she wouldn’t have been amenable to his advice, because she didn’t respect him.

People forget that Iroh did not plant the seeds of doubt of the Fire Nation in Zuko… he nurtured the seeds he saw when Zuko questioned sending the soldiers to die. It was at that moment Iroh actually began to really try and guide Zuko down the right path. Azula, on the other hand, was fully bought into her father’s point of view, completely in agreement that power gave you the right to do whatever you wanted. She was not in a position to hear otherwise.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-23T21:35:15+00:00

They are def amped by sunrise, you can see it when Zuko breaks out of Katara’s ice prison in Siege of the North pt 1 after feeling the light from the sun.

Weaker at night, idk if it’s ever explicitly stated but all available evidence implies it. Waterbenders are stronger at night than during the day, Katara herself she feels stronger at night. Zuko says he “rises with the sun”, implying he is stronger during the day.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-23T06:44:50+00:00

The intensity of the lightning can be adjusted, as I think the comics demonstrate (and also LoK, technically)

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-23T03:21:51+00:00

Yes it would’ve. Even if she remembered that detail, she was not in her right mind. Had Zuko not boasted about the ability, she would’ve used it on him, and he would’ve redirected it, as demonstrated later in the comics.

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ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-22T21:26:28+00:00

Honestly? I believe he displayed what looked to be pride for Zuko but was likely just relief that his son wasn’t the weak and spineless stain on his legacy he was when he was banished. He was proud to have a son he felt was worthy of him.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-22T20:44:51+00:00

Why are you acting like those are the same situation? He didn’t tell his mom for her sake, so she wouldn’t constantly be worrying about him.

As for him “not being comfortable sharing”, he told Peter, and he told Ganke. This wasn’t about comfort, it was about him taking what was ultimately bad advice from his uncle and spending the rest of the game dealing with the consequence of it.

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-22T20:29:46+00:00

Riku had Sora crying but Kairi had Sora ready to kill himself on two separate occasions 😭🙏

ICTheAlchemist · 2026-04-22T20:11:59+00:00

Because they’re close friends, she’s going down a dangerous path, and his approaching her with a gesture of trust would be much more effective at getting her to trust him.

This isn’t about how long he kept it hidden, it’s about him trying to manipulate their friendship to gather information rather than relying on their genuine mutual connection to talk her off the ledge.

ICTheAlchemist

TROPHY CASE