Why an entire site about Iron Man’s Ablative Armor?
If you’re out researching Iron Man armors, whether they’re from the comics or MCU, you can easily understand why someone would make a page about a bunch of armors. And you might even understand if someone created an entire site dedicated to a specific armor, such as the classic red and gold which lasted 115 issues from 1976 to 1985. After all, it’s classic.
So when an armor appears in two issues of Iron Man and is never really seen again, you might find yourself asking, “why would anyone ever devote an entire site to Model 23, the Ablative Armor?”
I’ve been asking myself that same question.
Obsession
Pictured: obsession
If I could figure out why someone discovers something and clings onto it for no particular reason, I’d be a very famous psychiatrist. Sometimes our brains just glom onto something and won’t let go, and that seems to be what happened to my brain and Axol.
For me, the Ablative is almost an earworm, in that it’s like a song that just keeps popping back into my head. So I’ve decided to treat it as such. One common way to get rid of earworms is to listen to the song until the end; completing it gives the brain resolution. So I’m collecting everything I know about this armor and putting it on the web so that maybe my brain can have some rest and I’m not constantly thinking “I really should get around to making that website.”
Compartmentalization
A few hundred years ago, a modestly intelligent person with enough time on their hands could learn just about everything known regarding the world. Math, science, physics, literature…most of it was so rudimentary that it’s what you’ll find in basic high school classes today. In other words, the relatively small amount of knowledge meant that a person’s interest could be very broad..
Conversely, today people spend their entire careers studying a certain subspecies of ant, because someone else was already focusing on a different subspecies of ant. I call that the compartmentalization of study.
It’s the same with Iron Man armors. From 1963 to 1985 there were only seven armors, and only four of them were used for any length of time. In those 22 years you could be fairly certainly that you knew everything there was to know about those armors.
Today there have been over 60 Iron Man armors in the comics. 19 more from alternate realities. 51 in the MCU, and who knows how many War Machines. Pretty much impossible to know them all.
But…I can know one armor really well. I can be the authority, and I can even have the audacity to name it Axol and hope it catches on. With this much info, I can lay claim to Model 23
Knowledge
I’m thirsty for knowledge, and I’ve learned quite a bit while building this site. I’ve learned more about ablative armor in the real world. I’ve added the word autotomy to my vocabulary (and can now be insufferable at a dinner party because I know what autotomy means). I found out that there is a mouse that can grow its skin back (including sweat glands, fur, and cartilage) without scar tissue. I also learned a bit about the creation of the armor, thanks to a quick email I had with writer Robin Laws. Knowing more makes me happy.
I mean, not as smart as this guy, but…
Creativity
I haven’t built a website in a very long time, so it’s been fun to stretch my creative muscles design- and writing-wise. I stretched by brain a little to come up with retcons regarding the shape of the armor and did some writing I otherwise wouldn’t have done. The pandemic hasn’t been fun, but this site has been a good way to keep my creative juices flowing.
Of course, this site is also about stimulating other people’s creativity. If your interest has been piqued and you want to share your art of customs of Axol, click here to let me know!
