The Boys’ Firecracker gives a lesson on speaking about your work

“I sell purpose. These people got nothing. Maybe they lost a job or a house or a kid to Oxy. Politicians don’t give a shit, mainstream media tells them to be ashamed of their skin colour, so, well, I bring ’em together, tell them a story, give them a purpose.” Firecracker, selling her market to Sister Sage. 

When it comes to superpowers on The Boys, there’s a brilliant and interesting array of powerups. At the extremely exciting end of things, you’ve got Kimiko’s super healing abilities (she got blown into bits and pieces and still regenerated), Soldier Boy’s nuke-capable titty flashing, and even Mindstorm’s psychic powers. On the more boring end of things, there’s Homelander with his super strength, laser eyes and flight (be original, please 😒), A-Train’s on-again-off-again super speed and The Not-So-Deep’s gills.

Exciting or seen-before, all these supes have one thing: talent, grit and they’re bananas! Most of the powers in The Boys are.

Very few, like Love Sausage’s prehensile dong, are anything of actual note. One such bland powered person is Misty Tucker Gray or Firecracker whose ability—other than being the only redhead since Famke Janssen’s portrayal of Jean Gray to be also called Gray and crazy—is a run-down bend-down select version of X-Men’s Jubilee. 

Firecracker makes sparks fly ✨, literally, and not in the way that makes your stomach lurch, but a kind of spark that quickly dies when you plug your faulty laptop charger into a socket. 

Firecracker’s powers are so unimpressive that Sister Sage—whose ability is being who Elon Musk thinks he is, the smartest person in the world—describes it as “lacklustre”. 

To us at TechCabal, Firecracker lacks a certain spark.✨

But that didn’t stop Ms. Gray from joining the most elite Superhero team on the planet—that we know of at least. By the third episode of season four, Firecracker is made an official member of The 7 which, arguably, gives her the same spotlight Homelander, Maeve and the rest of the seven deadly sinners have had.

Now, you could argue that The 7 was down bad after losing Translucent, Noir, and Maeve (allegedly 🤫) and would take anyone at that stage, but here’s the truth which Sister Sage herself highlights: Firecracker got the role because she’s exactly what the team needed. 

Before The 7, Firecracker was exactly who you’d think a superhero named Firecracker would be: a right-wing extremist wielding a podcast with a few hundred listeners, peddling all the phobias that presently run conversations on X (formerly Twitter). Two weeks after joining The 7, Ms Curry gains millions of followers across social media, is hosting the evening show—the most watched slot, by the way—of the Vought News Network, and has the world’s most powerful man, Homelander, attached to her nipple. Literally.

So how did Firecracker get her milkshake to bring all the boys to her yard? How did she go from a nobody to a sorta important somebody? Well, she talked. And talked. And talked some more till someone important heard her.

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The lesson here from Firecracker is simple: you have to talk about your work, what you do and how you succeed or most likely fail at it. 

Most people are afraid of speaking about their work because they don’t want to be judged by their work. 

Newsflash, you already are being judged by not speaking up because it could be indicative that you’re not proud of your work. 

There’s not a lot Firecracker can offer The 7 in terms of raw power or strength, but her character plays a very important role in turning the people against their opposition. She might not be super strong, super fast, or super smart, but she is super loud about her successes and even manages to turn her failures around. When Homelander, for example, finds out that Starlight escaped under Firecracker’s watch, the villainess is able to talk her way out of it. 

We’ve had over 50 guests on Entering Tech over the past 18 or so months and one running advice they’ve had for young people is to be visible: talk about your work. 

In Edition 47, 21-year-old designer Abdulhakeem Olasupo says young people must “share their work online and showcase their skills.” And the same is echoed in earlier and later editions of Entering Tech. This isn’t just about bragging rights. Talking about your work and building publicly is crucial for several reasons. 

• First, it allows you to build a portfolio of your accomplishments. Whether you’re designing apps, writing code, or creating art, documenting your process and outcomes demonstrates your abilities to potential employers, collaborators, and clients. It also provides a platform for receiving feedback and improving your skills. There are apps like Wix or even Canva that can help you build sites quickly and easily.


• Secondly, it helps you build a network. By sharing your work, you connect with peers and mentors who can offer support, guidance, and opportunities. In today’s interconnected world, visibility can lead to unexpected collaborations and career advancements.

Talking about your work doesn’t have to be time-consuming or elaborate. You can start with short posts on social media, sharing updates on your projects, challenges you’ve overcome, or lessons you’ve learned. Platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram are great for this. You can also write brief blog posts or create simple videos that highlight your process and results. I, for example, made it a goal this year to make one LinkedIn post per month talking about my lessons building TechCabal’s newsletter—don’t check my LinkedIn, I’m a bad striker. 

In essence, being vocal about your work, like Firecracker, can turn the tide in your favour. It’s about leveraging visibility to gain support, feedback, and recognition, ultimately propelling your career forward.

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This past week, one of my favourite people on X, growth prefect Olumide Gboukzi, made a tweet: 

“Many of you guys are two years into your career and you’re focusing on “personal branding” and telling tall tales and positioning yourselves as this and that when dem still dey drag you for office for results. Instead of keeping your head down and putting in the work. Why?!!!!”

While a lot of people misunderstood this tweet as Olumide speaking out against personal branding, the lesson here is to speak truthfully and clearly. Don’t embellish your worth like Firecracker is sure to do in the season finale of The Boys. 

This final lesson is also linked to the Yoruba saying, omo buruku l’ojo tie, which roughly translates to “Even a bad child can be useful in some way.” It’s the more eloquent version of “A broken clock is still correct twice a day.” 

This article might highlight Firecracker as this beacon for public speaking but it doesn’t, in any way, diminish her shiny faults. She may not be petulant or impulsive like Homelander, but she is a sophist who thrives on using strawman theories to justify her actions. She’s an outed paedophile, and quite frankly, one of the characters who’s sure to have a gory end in the series finale—along with A-Train 😓. 

There’s only one thing to emulate from Firecracker—okay two, if you count pulling off a bright red lipstick—and it’s that speaking about your work and your growth can get the right people listening and propel your career forward.

P.S: Did you like this edition of Entering Tech? Would you like more like this or less? Share your thoughts by responding to this newsletter or sending an email to timi@bigcabal.com.