Another tile chipped off my Ablative Armor theory

I hate it when I might have found a site-breaking problem error mistake accident…

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog questioning the logic of the Ablative Suit’s kiln. Why bring along the raw materials for new tiles when you could just bring the extra tiles themselves? It would cut down on any machinery the kiln needed, leaving space for even more tiles! But like anyone who’s spent way too much time and energy on a site dedicated to a single obscure Iron Man armor, I Marvel No-Prized myself out of the problem with four pretty darn good reasons. Site saved!

Then today, something hit me, and it’s actually related to my explanation for why the tiles had to be cooked up on-site:

“Tony is all about style, so you don’t want to get caught with the wrong colors. If more red tiles get destroyed so that you run out, you don’t want to have to replace them with yellows. That would make the suit just look silly!”

Then I remembered something I said over on my gallery page of important Ablative Armor comic panels when I was just starting the site. Here’s a screencap:

Screen+Shot+2020-11-15+at+3.54.47+PM.jpg

I started noticing other panels that had tiles drawn on the armor. I’ve already explained why the tiles fade so that sometimes you see them and sometimes you don’t. To put it simply, it’s easier on the artist, and an Axol who’s showing every tile would look incredibly busy (busy as a beehive, in fact). But maybe it wasn’t the colorist’s decision. What if…?

Oh No

That’s right. After all this time, after looking at these images more times than anyone else on the planet, I just had a horrific thought. What if…?

Please No

What if the yellow parts of the costume don’t have any tiles on them?!

What Have I Done?!

Well, I’ve commissioned hundreds of dollars of original art that has yellow tiles. I’ve written every page assuming that the tiles cover pretty much all of the Model 23 armor. I’ve written blogs questioning if the tiles get small enough to cover the thumbs or not…and never questioned whether or not the yellow parts are regular armor and not covered in tiles at all.

Well I’m Gonna Have To Dig Myself Out of This One

Or lie myself out. I mean, I’m the expert on this armor. Just because it doesn’t show that the yellow parts of the armor have tiles doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily true. I didn’t create the armor or design it, but I’ve become its champion. I’ll just go on as if it always had yellow tiles, even if…deep in my heart…I’ll always have to question it.

(Self-)Psyche, I Don’t!

Stupid brain, I hate you! The yellow parts have always been tiles. I spent all that time looking for panels that have yellow tiles, but I should have started on the very first page Axol’s introduced. I thought a tile of my Ablative Armor theory was chipped away…but it was replaced!

During the creation of this site, I’ve looked at this page over, and over, and over again as I decipher this armor. But I didn’t remember…