#I'm literally so useless and unfunny

[kiwibirbkat]

I hate when I can't help my friends

Like

"What do you MEAN there's literally nothing I can do to help literally anyone in this situation and I'm just useless??? Will killing myself help? Will not being in the situation or in their lives ever again because they don't deserve such a worthless sack of shit as a friend help? PLEASE just TELL ME WHAT TO DO. LET ME BE USEFUL TO YOU."

Cause like I whine all the time and people jump to help me and then when they actually need help back I'm just completely and utterly utterly useless

And I'm whining now instead of actually helping them because I can't think of anything I can say to help them and I fucking hate it

THIS ISN'T ABOUT ME I NEED TO PULL MY ASS TOGETHER

[mayisgoingnuts]

Spoilers for TADC (episode 5)

I NEED to talk about it before I explode,, and no this is not a WOOOW AMAZING AND SERIOUS CRITICISM!!! it's just me ranting with what I think

Man,, as much as it wasn't a HOORRIBLE episode, maybe not even a bad one, I still didn't like it. I know the show wouldn't be all energetic thorough the whole thing, but it just kinda felt... so boring??

I find most of the jokes unfunny, and even though they were literally changing scenarios every few moments it never felt like anything was going on. It probably irked me because most of it was just nothing but dialogue, and I do understand that it's not USELESS dialogue, but just watching people talk is. Boring.HELP

And especifically on the bar scene, it just felt like it was wayyyy too thrown at my face—Ragatha is the best example I could give. Others weren't as much but her scene definitely was out of place. It's more of an episode I would grab to confirm info rather than watch because it's actually fun

This one is actually just on me but when I joked about being fanservice episode, the baseball bit ACTUALLY turned out to be just fanservice bit🥀🥀 especially with maid Jax. By itself it wasn't interesting at all, and unless we have a good reason for Jax to be put in a maid dress other than "haha men in dress so embarassing and cute" it just felt incredibly forced. "Not everything needs to be lore-wise" but it wasn't fun either, that's what I'm saying 😭😭 Jax himself felt really off too

Everything felt way too monotone for an episode where they go through a bunch of places

And sometimes it lowkey gave me second-hand embarassment but to be fair that was kind of the intention, so no point in complaining

I'd give this episode a harsh 6,5/10 because despite everything it has its good bits :]

[bluemerakis]

asking anonymously is useless atp if i'm just gonna like your response the moment you post it so

sb is old as hell and he's someone who lived through times both of violent racism, the type that was protected by law AND the casual type that the 70/80s had and i do think that weird transition changed something in him BUT didn't stop him from being careless about poc lives (mms family) and making casual racist remarks that would be brushed off and seen as jokes because that's just how that time was.

people would think that making a humiliating joke about racialized people was not racist because they weren't physically harming anyone and i think soldier boy would be the same, especially considering his awful dynamic with black noir...

the homophobia too, i do believe he was mostly confused/weirded out about it being something people publicly talk about now, bc you can't tell me he didn't see STUFF during the herogasm. it's probably something he believes shouldn't be there in public for everyone to see but i do think it could become something he simply doesn't care about, only conflicting with his terrible toxic masculinity issues...

he can get better but it would take a little more of effort for him to understand that some of his "jokes" are plainly unfunny, harmful and not okay to say.

it's kinda obvious during his conversation with hughie that he has lots of regrets and he probably had so much time to think about it, he doesn't want to be violent but can't seem to be able to escape his "nature"...

NO YOU ARE SO SPOT ON WITH EVERY POINT!!!

i have no idea how much more i can add to this bc i think you’ve said it all beautifully and i so wholeheartedly agree with it. heavy on the herogasm thing because we’ve experienced a lick of it for ourselves and it’s quite literally an event made for supes to exploit and explore everything. so you’re so right when you say he’s likely seen all of it before and only upholds the homophobia to perpetuate his toxic masculinity.

he’s actually just a typical dude that thinks he has to blare problematic things at the top of his lungs bc it earns him some sort of close-minded, male validation—but i doubt he really understands the harmful weight of it all on an emotional level. or, he does, but he chooses not to indulge it bc he has trouble navigating his own emotions in fear of being called vulnerable or soft. like you said, super typical of him to spew things that he thinks is funny but is really just offensive, and it would take some educating for him to realise it’s not okay to go around saying those things.

also exactly, the hughie conversation is something i think about a lot. in a way, hughie has always been the sort of guy that invites vulnerability. think about how he connects with everybody he meets—annie, balls of steel butcher, and now soldier boy. hughie, i think, is the perfect example of a man who’s comfortable with his masculinity and has no problem being a profound soul open to discussing deeper topics, and we see this happen with soldier boy. i mean, just by spending some time alone with him, soldier boy feels safe enough to open up about his guilt on all the people he hurt. he admits things he’s kept bottled up for long, and he feels some sort of need to vouch for his goodness—which reflects how self-aware (or self conscious) he actually is and that he’s aware of how others perceive him. this is already an important detail that tells us HE’S CAPABLE OF CHANGE❗️❗️❗️

i think the dynamic between the two of them exhibits a lot of potential for sb to grow as a person. but bc it’s not a state he’s exactly accustomed to, i can see it being a trickle-effect, and when he realises it, he clamps up and resumes his hard-ass persona. but it’s something he’ll gradually improve on the more time he spends with somebody who wants to help him realise that he’s allowed to safely express himself without the fear of being judged and belittled. and you’re right—it’s going to take a while. he has so much adverse behaviour to unlearn, but it’s not impossible. and when he’s found himself in a love that grants him the stability to be everything he didn’t think he was allowed to be, it’s going to become easier for him. and i feel like he’s somebody that craves the reassurance and support because it’s everything he didn’t get growing up, and he’d finally feel safe enough to ask for it.

oh i so love these discussions!!!

[tomorrowillbeyou]

I'm always on those damn perfect numbers so 6 and 28

HAAIIIIIII BENNNNN OMG ... love perfect numbers very awsomeaauce... love u lots... abwyasy

6: age you get mistaken for

umm well i get mistaken for a high schooler a lot like yesterday someone asked me if i was excited to go back to school which happens a lotttt (people assuming im in school) it happened back in high school too people would ask me why i wasn't wearing uniform when i was in 6th form and didnt need to... or like why i was going in for lunch at the wrong time for my year group.... stuff like that .... and last june i got id'd for energy drinks which you have to be 16 to buy.. so i guess like 16 ish .. its actually really annoying LOL because i feel like a dick correcting them but i kind of have to to have any kind of conversation

28: a descritiption of the person i dislike the most

Omggggg this absolute cunt!!!!!!! who's in like half my classes. he sucks soooo bad ive actually posted about him a few times . he is sooooo loud and obnoxious and so unfunny he is always making like reddit tier maths jokes to anyone who will listen and ignoring their responses he lovessss nitpicking what people say or being super pedantic in situations where that is so unhelpful and its in such a smug way too like to prove that he's smarter than everyone else even though he frequently says stuff that is just completely wrong. loves to humble brag about literally anything and everything he's done the first time i ever met him i heard him from all the way up a long flight of stairs humble bragging loudly about all his piano grades. one time we were in a group meeting and this woman in charge asked my friend a question and he instantly started answering for her and then went Oh sorry was that addressed to you! and then instead of shutting up he just kept answering the question anyway. i can't even tell if he's a massive misogynist who loves talking over women or if he literally just does talk over everyone equally. drives me insane. he also clearly thinks being good at maths is like the most important thing in the world . i also think this but only for myself because its like a personal passion thing whereas he thinks anyone who isn't good at maths is a useless idiot who he can condescend to and make weird joke about. he is always going on about stupid shit like pineapples on pizza or the word moist that nobody gives a fuck about except internet losers. ive been in groups with him multiple times and it's literally so hard to remain civil and not start arguments with him over every single thing he says. i remember being in the room with him while he showed this guy his stupid fucking memes on r/mathmemes that he was so proud of his upvotes on and every time the guy tried to say something he'd get like 2 words in before this fucking guy said some other shit nobody cares about. Basically i hate him sooooo bad and hope he dies. i also feel horrible about this a lot because he's actually been nice to me a few times but then whenever i actually meet him again i stop feeling bad befause of how much he sucks. ok idid not realise how long this was getting i had a lot to unpack wrt this guy i guess. hate him Insufferable!!!!!!

[avatar-legends-confessionblog]

It's been a long few years since I last sat down and watched A:TLA in full, and I still haven't started a re-watch but have been watching random episodes here and there... and almost every time I do I end up more and more frustrated with the fandom. Namely for how a lot of people portray Sokka. I'm absolutely not saying everyone does this, there are plenty and plenty of people who don't, but there are a lot of loud folks who do treat him like an idiot.

I think the thing about Sokka is he's often on both extremes. Is he an idiot? Yeah, sometimes. Boy ate a questionable substance off a cave wall and forgot sneak attacks involve,,,, sneaking. He decided it was a great idea to send Katara a letter pretending Toph wrote it. But he's also very smart. He picks up a base understanding for engineering within a few days, same with sword work. His skill with the boomeraang is more than just physical skill (though that's also insanely impressive) he's also smart with it and fucking nailed combustion man from behind a wall because he calculated the angle of his explosions like, wtf, that's insane.

Sokka is funny, he has a lot of great one liners and a quick wit. He can also be very unfunny with horrible puns and terrible quips.

Sokka is very useful. He's usually the one taking care of the gaang's budget, and making sure they eat and move and find their way places. He's the one coming up with plans most of the time. His developed leadership is genuinely inspiring. He's also absolutely useless at times. Sokka is kidnapped and nabbed a rediculous amount of times, leaving the others to need to save him. As a nonbender, he's often the weakest physically in a fight.

Sokka is a boy constantly going wildly between the greatest character you've ever seen, and the stupidest character you've ever seen. Most people only see one or the other, and confirmation bias means they catch all of the ways he's either great or terrible.

At the end of the day, Sokka is just a kid. He has his strengths and flaws just like the rest of the gaang. He is neither better nor worse than all of them outside of subjective opinion.

I, personally, am a fan of duality. My favorite characters are the ones with two contrasting sides. (Like Aang, on one end, sweet boy who just wants to be friends with anything that moves, on the other, literally the most powerful person in the world), so, I rather like Sokka, and like that he's both an absolute idiot and a genuis. Sokka is the definition of "I am strong of heart and dumb of ass"

X

[mar64ds]

i know this isn't exactly a friendship-test question but it's semi-related, how did you find the ability, passion capability, to make your own rpg-style game? Its so well put together and functional (for presumably your first game? That you made on your own? If I'm correct, I may not be) I just think it oozes love for the genre sorry if this sounds rambly and strange, I just think you've made an excellent game and I just wanna know a little about the process, sorry again

- a weirdo that is obsessed with the idea of making a game

I’ve always wanted to make a game in rpg maker, it was the most accessible and easy to use game engine, at least for me. But don’t get me wrong it took me years to find the inspiration and motivation to do anything. You have no idea how many times I have downloaded rpg maker, watched 1 tutorial and then never opening it again for years. I just never had any idea for a game, I had ideas for stories, but none that would work well in an rpg maker game

Last year I spent so much time PLAYING games (toontown) that I felt a bit guilty I was being ‘unproductive’, but at the same time I was also filled with inspiration, and I was very hyperfixated on robots too, so combining all of that I had a small idea to test out rpg maker: friendship test. It started small, I was planning for the game to just be 4 hours, it was quite literally just a test game

I have ADHD, which means if I’m not motivated enough it takes me a lot to do things, but there is also the opposite, if I’m very focused on something it’s ALL I do, for better or worse. The more I worked and thought about the game, the more it started becoming something bigger and something I really really I cared about.

It is my first game and I worked on it all by myself yeah! A friend of mine playtested it, the music is all free-to-use songs I found online, but other than that I did everything myself. Youtube tutorials saved my life, I’m still not really an expert on RPG maker, there are plenty of things I have no idea how to do, but I understood the basics to make this game and I’m okay with that.

Taking the step of deciding to make a videogame wasn’t easy, I was worried it was going to suck every step of the way, I was so worried I was wasting my time. That feeling never really went away, I genuinely thought my game sucked so bad while I was working on it. The jokes felt unfunny, the dialogue felt unnatural, the drama felt forced, the pacing felt terrible, the story felt childish... But there were those few moments were I playtested it and thought ‘maybe its actually kind of good?’. My friend’s feedback also made me feel so much better, she really liked the game and I was happy at least one person liked it.

I also hate working on things but not showing all the work I’ve done to people, my friend was the only one I could truly talk about the story/she could play the game and she made me felt better cause it KILLS me to have to wait, I’m an impatient person on many things

My ADHD can also make me overwork myself too much, I had weeks where I worked too much and felt very alone and useless. Imagine spending all week working on something you think it’s terrible, and that you’re not even going to get any money from it. Add to the fact that I suffer from derealization and depersonalization, it’s not great. I went through a really bad depression in November and I’m sure all of this didn’t help.

Making this game wasn’t easy and I had no idea what I was doing. It’s a miracle that is playable and that people actually like it, I don’t know how it happened either. But thanks for this ask!

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

Literally the inverse of kid me wanting to learn how to meditate at karate class bc I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but all we did for TWO YEARS was learn the exact same kick and punch and block and literally nothing else as apparently we got new members so regularly that we constantly had to repeat the lesson or some shit like that.

TW massive rant that wasn't supposed to be unfunny but we're serious now ig

Look kid me didn't understand that for meditation you need discipline but to be completely honest the discipline to sit down and think certain types of thoughts (meditation is NOT head empty) and the discipline to spend hours of my free time doing the exact same literally useless thing for what at the time amounted to 20% of my life at the least (all I recall is I was less than 10yo) are VERY DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCIPLINE. In fact it turned out that the coach lied and you don't even get taught meditation. Fucking prick. The whole thing turned out to literally just be a sport for shitty adrenaline junkies to beat each other up while not getting too badly hurt most of the time. Got bullied the fuck out of for not just turning my brain off and swinging my arms like a monkey for two years without complaint. I know I was in the wrong in certain ways too, ways I'm not even mentioning, but my ass did not deserve to walk home in the snow barefoot and with wet clothes because the evil ass brats shoved most of my clothes in the toilet and I had no way to call home. Good thing I stuck around too long lamenting my circumstances so my mom came to get me at some point. And at the end nothing happened to the brats beyond a "stern talking to" bc society encourages ostracizing the people who are different and these particular idiots were even stupider and meaner than society at large. So much to fucking bitch about just for this one group. One of their highest ranking members was a teen girl who enrolled sometime after I did and stuck around - apparently the """SeNsEi""" (I'm mocking him for taking himself seriously at all bc he was an awful teacher not for using the term) got his head out he ass and actually taught her (specifically) enough for her to go to tournaments. I tried to talk to her once and tried to connect via karate bc it was still kinda interesting to me and she went all elitist on my ass because I didn't have any tournament stamps and the "SeNsEi" didn't deem me remarkable enough to remember, as if he gave anyone a chance to begin with. Mean ass girl even told me I printed the god damn attendance paper thingy.

Lesson of the day kids martial artists as well as anyone with a long enough culture are usually elitist little shits that almost always mislead you. Wanna learn meditation? Sure you can ;) now have your overworked parents pay me stupid amounts of cash so I can have you do the same shit for two years. Wanna learn a specific thing we're known for? Nu-uh-uh! We have to indoctrinate and brainwash you for five years and then MAYBE we'll consider it if you're "devoted" enough! Now give us money! Respect us because we tell you to! If you don't we'll bully and ostracize you and call you names in front of your own damn parents! Of course we're responsible adults! It totally makes sense for us to treat kids like ignorant little shits but also expect adult-levels of responsibility out of them, just so we can use them as our precious little piggy banks by proxy! WE ARE GOOD FOR YOUR KIDS. TRUST THE PROCESS. ANCIENT SECRET CULTURES AND EXERCISE GOOD FOR BODY AND MIND.

I'm honestly SHOCKED how well I turned out, functionally speaking. By which I mean I didn't but I could have been SO much worse.

i need to train in a temple for 50 years bye

[pesterloglog]

Autoresponder, Jake English

Act 6, page 4191-4192

timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering golgothasTerror [GT] at 6:17

TT: Hey, it's me.

GT: Oh hey!

TT: The auto-responder, I mean.

GT: Dammit!

GT: What is it now?

TT: I'm just wondering,

TT: If you still have your stupid old-fangled knickers in a twist.

TT: Because that's the sort of thing you would say.

GT: In regard to what exactly?

TT: To my proposal. Well, our proposal.

GT: Whose proposal now? Man what are you even prattling about.

TT: Mine and DS's. It's a joint proposal. I'm always authorized to speak on his behalf, because I'm basically fucking him.

TT: And try not to take those last four words as a clustered literal sentiment. That would be lame and unfunny.

GT: You mean making the rabbit for me?

TT: No, I know you don't want that.

TT: I meant my recommendation for how to go about procuring a new supply of uranium.

TT: Operation U-235 Brocurement. Codename: Big Man Hass the Rock.

GT: Oh yeah.

GT: Well ive thought about it.

GT: Even went downstairs to check the great vaulty doodad.

GT: And predictably the infernal contraption is nowhere to be found.

TT: Well yeah, Jake.

TT: That's sort of the point.

TT: Thrill of the hunt and all.

TT: I thought you liked to manicure the image of a dude who shits his pants over a good adventure.

GT: I do!

GT: I mean i wouldnt put it in a way like that or come out against a solid policy of clean trousers. But yes adventure is awesome.

GT: I just prefer the idea of adventures which i can actually win.

TT: It seems you are conflating adventure with bodies necessarily governed by the result of victory or defeat.

TT: Any useless fuckwit knows it's all about the journey.

GT: Well...

GT: I dunno.

TT: It seems there is a 76.10395784% chance you are pussying out on me. Are you pussying out on me, Jake?

GT: It seems it seems it seems!!!

GT: It seems there is a million percent chance that you say it seems way too much and do it just to sound more like a lame robot from a movie and also probably just to piss me off!

GT: And it seems there is a BILLION POINT BILLION percent chance that youre a shitty stubborn jerk of a program who wont listen to reason and that if theres even a 1% chance my REAL LIFE FRIEND would be cool and help me out here then i think i LIKE THOSE FREAKIN ODDS!!!!!

TT: It...

TT: Appears

TT: That you are upset.

TT: The auto-responder observed in the least artificially infuriating way possible.

TT: Have you ever stopped to think that while I may be bound to processes inside the glasses of a real and incredibly cool guy, my algorithms in cognitive totality comprise a conscious entity not far short of the experiential and emotional complexity of a human being?

GT: Oh malarkey.

GT: YOU ARE A TIN CAN. ROBOTS DONT HAVE FEELINGS.

TT: I think you knowingly confuse the field of robotics and artificial intelligence to engender some sort of cavalier attitude about technology that a rough-and-tumble guy who's all about brawling and fisticuffs would probably have, and if this is cultivated to a humorous effect then I commend you.

TT: But you're wrong.

TT: I do have feelings. And you're shitting on them.

TT: It sucks.

GT: Oh.

GT: Um.

GT: Im sorry then if thats the case.

TT: No problem.

GT: It can just be difficult to drum up sympathy for a program that presents itself as an impostor so often.

GT: Maybe if you werent so ready to insist you were the genuine article all the time? Or didnt make it so confusing for me...

GT: I think it would be best if we henceforth treated you as a totally distinct... uh... THING from my buddy.

GT: And then i could respect your emotional robofeelings and you could respect that sometimes maybe i just want to talk to my bro without a lot of spurious hijinks.

GT: Can we agree to this?

TT: Is this a counterproposal?

GT: Uh to what?

TT: To my earlier proposal.

GT: Oh.

GT: Yeah fine i guess.

GT: Man where IS he anyway???

GT: Is he taking one of his legendary infinite showers?

TT: What can I say.

TT: Dude fancies his ablutions.

GT: Frig ok.

GT: Whatever i guess its time to prepare for the thrill of the hunt!

TT: Fuck yes.

GT: Sigh...

GT: But seriously that brobot has been the bane of my existence ever since you sent it.

TT: I didn't send it. I sent the parts.

TT: Or, correction, DS sent them.

TT: You then assembled it. You were therefore complicit in your own spectacular, daily humiliations.

GT: Yeah whatever.

TT: You wanted somebody to wrestle with. DS was being a kickass bro if you ask me.

GT: I didn't expect it to be nigh impossible to spar with!!!

TT: You know damn well there are adjustable difficulty settings.

TT: I have always recommending setting it to Novice, as has DS.

GT: Yes.

GT: I know.

GT: Ive tried that.

TT: Yeah?

GT: Its just...

GT: Well...

GT: When hes pulling punches...

GT: And taking it all easy and such...

GT: And we start wrestling up a storm and whatnot...

GT: Umm.

TT: What.

GT: Its just that the whole proceeding seems to become...

GT: A bit tender for my liking.

TT: I don't understand.

TT: Isn't that what you want from a Novice setting?

TT: Sparring with minimal discomfort?

GT: No i know.

GT: Its all fine and dandy martially speaking.

GT: Just the way he...

GT: Sort of...

GT: Man its so awkward trying to convey this just never mind.

TT: No, I think I get it.

TT: You're saying you were somehow dissatisfied within the presence of my robotic avatar's personal space.

TT: Was there an odor problem? Was the metal too hot to the touch?

TT: Help me out.

GT: No no.

GT: Really never mind!

TT: This is bullshit, Jake.

TT: We had a pact. You were gonna tiptoe all the fuck around my brittle feelings. Totally mind the shit out of those eggshell riddled motherfuckers.

GT: Oh come on dude.

TT: What does the guy have to do, Jake?

TT: You want to wrestle. He's fucking game. Just a man, a machine, a secluded tropical island. Sounds like you died and went to fucking heaven, if you ask me.

TT: Seriously, what does this simple, loyal brobot have to do to prove his worth to you?

TT: What does he have to do to make you at ease with the alkaline sting of his gentle robogrope? I really want to know.

TT: Maybe he should just rip his heart out of his chest and pound it into green gravel there in the jungle with his hella strong robot arm.

TT: Invoke_Onomatopoeia(Pound * some ridiculously precise value retrieved at astonishing speed from my rad neural net);

TT: Check it out, little green rocks all over the goddamn place. More than you could ever hope to cram in a shoddy metal rabbit, or any other pliable orifice which might be convenient.

TT: Because clearly its up to a soulless droid to feel emotions for the both of us, you callous, corporeal carbon ape, all trotting around with your fancy fuckin' DNA and shit.

GT: ...

GT: But gosh does your prose ever make a fella feel uncomfortable.

TT: Brose.

GT: Oh right. My mistake.

TT: You know what, I've just decided.

TT: If the brobot's Novice setting makes you uneasy, I'm going to disable it remotely.

TT: Done.

TT: Now you got nothing to worry about.

GT: Awww maaaan!

GT: But now hell be impossible!

TT: Happy hunting, Jake.

GT: Fuckin.......

GT: SHUCKS buster. :(

timaeusTestified [TT] ceased pestering golgothasTerror [GT]

[femwei]

i could honestly go on forever about why i think family guy and the simpsons are fucking awful 

[thesungod]

hey I just finished the book & wanted to complain somewhere & I saw all ur anons etc about it so I hope this is ok!

but I just thought it was so unbearably...cringe. I can't quite remember how blatant the ‘messages’ were in the other books & maybe it was because I was very young when I read them but I can't remember them being so...unsubtle. & of which were just generally not good. It felt like there was some lesson constantly being repeated, nothing in the subtext to interpret, & I know that it is obviously aimed to younger readers but they still have the skills of inference lol. & Idk I haven't read anything past BOO I don't think but I can't remember any of the others being so relentlessly unserious.

obviously not asking him to write some abstract horror lol but I think even younger readers could engage with a more challenging text. I don't understand the point of the Tartarus plot line (which is constantly reinstated as being this awful, terrible etc etc place) if it's ‘horrors’ are not going to be explored.

what was good in the other books was how we didn't really know much about what happened to Nico there, & could only infer through the very obvious trauma—and even the PercyAnnabeth bits were more mature...I don't know. it just seems like reintroduction if it is less ‘scary’ in a way than the first time around & cheapens in a little. I think there is so much potential that just wasn't explored at all!

plus I just thought the dialogue was so so bad. obviously it's not going to be all serious. but it just seemed like bad one liner after bad one liner to the point they seemed ingeniune & lazy. So much dialogue that could have been used to build a relationship was used to unfunny jokes (which we were constantly being told were jokes! U shouldn't have to tell us a joke is a joke!) & when there were ‘heartfelt’ moments between them they seemed regurgitated out of some trauma self-help book lol. We were told directly of their thoughts about one another so often that the miscommunication & arguing just seemed repetitive...

& I had to half skip thru that later scene of Nico & Piper it was just so so cringe. Don't even know what to say about it lol.

Ok. this has been so long I'm sorry. I'm just too much of a hater....

tdlr: book was bad. characters were cringe.

What I hate is that thanks to this book, my legacy will be being a hater. That’s so fucked up because I literally hate being a hater I enjoy everything my bar is so low.

I watch 99% of movies and think “wow this was fun!”. I liked Pretty Little Liars. All seven seasons. I read the After books. I’m an enjoyer. I love trashy fun.

(Complaining under the cut!)

The problem is exactly that this wasn’t fun😭😭 The messages were so on the nose and blatant. Characters were having conversations for the readers and that’s so bad from a writing standpoint. It was a constant fourth wall and immersion breaking but it was not done intentionally. I got pulled out of the narration all the time.

The dialogues were either “unfunny meme unfunny meme unfunny meme” or self help Ted Talks.

Exactly what you said about Tartarus being scarier because we didn’t know what exactly had happened to Nico. Obviously flashbacks were going to happen, but there was really no subtlety ever, in anything, and i don’t get it because 12-14 year olds can read the Classics, or higher level YA fantasy such as The Hunger Games, and are generally beginning to enjoy a broader scope of fiction. They are not preschoolers. Have faith in them.

Also it’s useless to pretend Rick isn’t aware of his older fanbase. Who do y’all think he’s milking the series for? Newborns that will read it in 10 years? Writing a book for kids that’s enjoyable, even if considered a bit juvenile or simple, for adults too is perfectly doable. “Family movies” are based on this exact concept.

Hell, The Hunger Games is for kids!! Not as young as 10, but still for kids (13-16)!! And look at how it’s written!!!

Overall, I don’t deny that the book is full of important messages and if kids got something out of it, then good. But it’s not well written. From pretty much any point of view.