generallymemyselfandi - Tumblr blog

[generallymemyselfandi]

the existence of a keyboard smash implies the existence of a keyboard pass

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i need feminism because when jesus does a magic trick it’s a goddamn miracle but when a woman does a magic trick she gets burned at the stake

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A tragedy in three acts. AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER | 1.03 Omashu

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'I wish we could have fallen in love without having to save the world'

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if you’re ever having an argument with someone who’s saying that book percy jackson is not a conventionally attractive person, i have the only quote you need.

(i am talking strictly about older book percy, like 17+ percy, but most quotes below describe him at at age 16 and some under)

if nothing is enough to prove to them that percy is attractive…

if annabeth’s huge crush on him from day 1, her saying “he’s good looking” in the demigod files, her constantly saying he’s adorable and has beautiful eyes, isn’t enough for them…

if percy being one of very few heroes sent to calypso’s island, amongst only the greatest heroes, because he’s someone who calypso “can’t help falling in love with”, and when he’s surprised she falls in love with him, calypso says “if you could see your face… of course you.” if that isn’t enough for them…

if nico falling fast and hard for him at a young age, i mean percy was literally his gay awakening, and older nico even calling him “cute” to his face after he’s over his crush, isn’t enough for them…

if piper calling him “cute in a scruffy way” isn’t enough for them…

if rachel badly wanting to date him after not even knowing him long isn’t enough for them…

if reyna, with her standards, immediately making a move on him isn’t enough for them…

if leo referring to percy as a “handsome” guy in HoH, not to mention how intimidated by and jealous of percy he is, isn’t enough for them…

if hazel saying she thought he was a “god in disguise” when she first met him, saying he has an “aura of power” and the “good looks of a roman god,” isn’t enough for them…

if little meg immediately getting a crush on him isn’t enough for them…

if kinzie, one of the amazons, cornering him and then telling him “if you ever need a new girlfriend… well, i think you’d look great in an iron collar and an orange jumpsuit,” (a line i personally found to be… a very adult thing for rick to write lol) isn’t enough for them…

anyway, if somehow they can’t take a hint, and none of that is enough for them

then this is all you need

what is apollo the god of? many things. the sun, light, poetry, music, etc. he’s associated with things of beauty. he’s attracted to true beauty. he admits it many time in his series. apollo is arrogant and full of himself, especially at the beginning of his series. hes extremely judgmental of people’s physical appearances. he will flat out call someone ugly just because they’re not conventionally beautiful. he calls any acne ugly. a little bit of tummy flab is horrendous. his standard of beauty is impossibly high. but guess who he calls attractive? i think you know what’s coming

ladies and gents, i give you a quote form the trials of apollo, book one, the hidden oracle

if APOLLO, with the absolute harshest and most brutal judgement of people’s attractiveness, says that percy is a man of handsome features - not “okay” or “somewhat attractive” but HANDSOME - there is no denying that he is a conventionally attractive character. book percy jackson is, canonically, a very good looking guy.

feel free to comment any quotes about him that i forgot to include :)

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Book!Percy: Look, I didn't want to be a halfblood.

TVShow!Percy: Luke, I didn't want to be a halfblood.

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i love tumblr because sometimes i get an urge to rb posts about something nobody likes and everyone just politely ignores me. everyone's like oh he's fallen into madness again, he'll be fine later i guess

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My canonical Riordanverse belief is that I think Zeus is jealous that Percy is Poseidon's son and not his. Let me break it down for you– Percy is named after Zeus's son Perseues and has nearly accomplished every feat a Greek hero would have done much like his other son, Hercules. Because of his quests and his feats–Percy is widely considered one of the most powerful demigod in existence–something i genuinely think Zeus resents because its Poseidon's legacy receiving the glory.

Zeus targets Percy from the beginning something he doesn't do to Nico, Hazel or even Luke. He makes Percy's life harder on purpose at every turn (burning his kite down when Percy was only 8) and even in the show, treats Percy like garbage (dismissing his concerns of fucking Kronos).

Maybe its because unlike his two children–who were raised by a woman who didn't want Zeus's kids and one of whom doesn't even like her father and his domain- Percy loves the sea and everything to do with it. Much of his dislikes and likes are ocean related (saltwater taffy, blue food, Montauk beach). Percy loving his father's domain allows Percy to have a control over his powers that by the time he is nearly 18, Percy can control any liquid not just water.

Morever Percy is comfortable as the son of Poseidon and has immense respect for his father and Poseidon actually tries to be a good dad unlike Lord "i ruined a woman's life by making her have two children who she was not capable of raising and letting a crazy Hera loose on her".

Maybe just maybe, Zeus fears the consequences of Poseidon having the most powerful demigod on his side who would take his father's side if Poseidon ever declared war on Zeus's throne.

<< Thanks for reading my disseration! >>

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the pjo series is flawed, of course BUT you know what i love so much about it? we love percy, we know percy, we know how percy thinks, what goes through his mind while he fights or walks or eats. We know everything about him... but everything is known for us by his pov. we know he is a menace, we know he is powerful and strong and loyal and thoughtful but... do we really? do we really know how much he really is a menace and powerful and yada yada? the tv show let us see with our own eyes how good he really is, what kind of hero he grows to be, how his friends and family percieve his loyalty. we get to see the faces of his companions while he fights that, maybe, are the same we are making too in those exact moments. i want to see the almost god hazel thinks he is, i want to see the slow change of heart that makes zoe think that he is different from other heroes, i want to see him gaining more and more respect from thalia... i want to see the others reaction to him being percy jackson and i will be in the front row when that happens.

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pissed off percy is a determined percy. because the second he saw his mom encased in gold and being held captive in the underworld. it was go time. he gained the upper hand on hades in under ten minutes. whooped ares's ass in under three. returned zeus's bolt and told him off like twenty minutes later. and then told kronos to stop being a coward and come find him. no one's fucking do it like our boy.

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Percy “I am impertinent” Jackson really looked Zeus dead in the eye and said “Your family is a mess”

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Okay, I have a lot of thoughts about the Percy Jackson show and the discourse I have been seeing about it. This is going to be long and possibly all over the place but I just want to share. If you disagree, that’s fine. Just don’t hate because you have a different opinion. Deal?

I want to start this by saying I am a new fan. I did not read the PJO books when I was a kid. I watched the first two episodes when they came out in Dec purely out of curiosity and was just immediately in love with the world. So in true ADHD hyperfixation fashion, I devoured Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus books and I am currently on Book 1 of Trials of Apollo. And maybe it's because I am a newer fan but a lot of the gripes I see about PJOTV just don’t make sense to me and I feel like they really are just rooted in nostalgia. Watching the show and all the interviews of the cast and crew, it is clear to me they wrote this season with the intention and hope that they would get to make all 5 seasons, and possibly even further. I can see how all the changes make sense when looking at the narrative as a whole. They are really setting up this world and this story in a way that I think lends more to the future of this narrative better than The Lighting Thief book does.

I also want to say I have yet to find a book to screen adaptation that is beat for beat accurate. So much of what works in novels, especially novels told in first person, just does not translate to third person screen adaptations. Ultimately, literature and film/TV are art forms and what works for one may not work for another and the creators are allowed to make changes, especially when it is for the overall good of the product.

To start, the exposition dumping didn’t really bother me that much although I agree it is there and noticeable. Now, I watched the first two episodes before reading the books but after reading the books, I think the exposition is just as noticeable in the books as it is in the show. Percy walks into this world without knowing or believing in any of it. In the book, he learns about this world through the people around him explaining it in dialogue. It is just condensed a little more in the show which makes it feel a little heavier. Nonetheless, fantasy tends to have a lot of exposition because there are a lot of things you as a reader/ viewer need to know at the start of the story. It is part of the nature of the genre, especially when it is intended for a younger audience. Exposition that seems clunky to an older viewer is probably not going to feel the same way to a younger audience member (which is the target audience).

The biggest complaint I see, and disagree with, is that the kids are “too smart which ruins the suspense.” Annabeth has been at camp since she was 7 and it is clear, both in the books and the show, she is determined to prove that she is strong and capable and intelligent. She has been training to go out on a quest since she was 7 years old. Annabeth would have been studying these monsters and these myths so of course she can figure out the traps. They aren’t that hard to figure out, even for someone who isn’t super knowledgeable about Greek mythology.

Grover’s job is a protector of demigods. It makes sense he knows these myths like the back of his hand. I imagine that after Thalia, Grover would have studied and worked so hard to prove he was ready for another chance. Grover in the books also fell a little flat in The Lighting Thief to me because it seemed like most of his personality was just to be scared and funny until later books. I love what they did with Grover in the show because he feels like an actual character with his own goals, intelligence, trauma and authority.

Now onto Percy… I have so many thoughts about Show Percy so bear with me.

While I was reading the books, I was confused as to why Sally didn’t teach Percy about Greek mythology. Book Sally seemed to just hope Percy being attacked by monsters and going to camp isn’t going to happen or just assumes that when it does happen, Percy will figure it out. Sally always knew what would happen to her son, at least to some extent, so why wouldn’t she do everything in her power to prepare her son for this life she knows is inevitable? I loved the addition of her teaching Percy about Greek Mythology and Ancient Greek because it makes so much sense because I never saw her as a just “sit back and wait” kind of character. Percy is her son, her baby, her miracle. She is terrified for him (which we see in EP 7 in the flashbacks) and, to me, it makes sense she would do everything in her mortal power to prepare him in a way that doesn’t scare him or reveal to him who he actually is. (It is also such a beautiful call back to Rick telling his son these stories as a kid, like I just think that is beautiful).

While on the subject of Ancient Greek, I saw someone complain how Percy doesn’t inherently know Ancient Greek in the Olympus scene in EP 8. “Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other. They had a quick, intense discussion in Ancient Greek. I only caught one word. Father.” - The Lightning Thief, page 343. This moment was literally pulled straight from the book! Percy talks about Annabeth tutoring him in Ancient Greek in the book (The Lighting Thief, page 107) and I loved how the show changed it to be his mom that taught him because of the previous reasons I gave above.

In general, Percy is an unreliable narrator. We see that in The Last Olympian when Rachel painted him defeating Antaeus. Percy is shocked at how he looks. We also see this in Heroes of Olympus where he is constantly talked about as this powerful and sometimes scary person whereas Percy never describes himself as anything other than kind of mediocre. Percy is constantly underestimating his intelligence and power in his POV because at his core he is still an insecure kid who was bullied and uses humor as a defense mechanism. But no matter what he thinks, he is smart and powerful and capable and I love that we get to see that in the show because it isn’t in first person.

In the books I was constantly frustrated that they weren’t seeing the traps. Aunty Em’s is so clearly out of place and weird and creepy but the Book Trio just ignores it? Also the Medusa story change was beautiful and needed and added so much depth to what was a very simple scene in the books. The Crusty’s scene was jarring at first, but in hindsight it didn't bother me either because Hermes told them about the entrance. Why wouldn’t he tell them about the trap too? The way Hermes is portrayed, I get the sense that he really wants Percy to succeed, in the books and show, and that he is holding onto hope that somehow, someway, he can still save his son. Why would he send them somewhere just to lead them into a trap that does not benefit Hermes in any way? (And us not seeing that conversation happen is showing and not telling BTW)

Also, the overall claim that Percy, Annabeth and Grover know everything is just… wrong. (@pareiwheeler made a post about this that really made me realize this so go read their post too: https://www.tumblr.com/pareiwheeler/740600563986808832/theres-know-mystery-or-suspense-they-know) They know the small things but the big things? They didn’t think Luke was the thief, they didn't know it was Kronos, they didn’t know they would lose the fourth pearl, they didn’t know the casino would mess with time, they didn’t know the shoes were a trap, etc etc. They walk into these situations thinking they are prepared, thinking they know everything they need to but they DON’T And that is where the suspense lies, in the overarching storyline that is the driving force of the plot. Not in these moment to moment scenes that are not the main conflict.

Now onto the smaller changes that, in my opinion, benefit the overall narrative of this story.

Missing the solstice deadline: Not only is Percy choosing to continue the quest despite missing the deadline such a great character moment for him but this ups the stakes so much!! Zeus and Poseidon are currently at war for the last two episodes of the show and even if they don’t talk about it much, that knowledge is still there in the characters' heads and in the viewers’. Every moment they take in the Underworld, you are watching with the knowledge that war is raging above. And it's a great way to show the kind of hero Percy is and what he will become. Percy doesn’t care he “failed” because he didn’t come all this way just to run back to camp with his tail tucked between his legs because that is not Percy. Percy sneaks out of camp twice to go on quests he was not invited on because he will not let someone’s rules get in his way while he is protecting people he cares about. Percy doesn’t want war to happen so with even the slightest chance he can stop Zeus and Poseidon, he takes it! Also the addition of Poseidon stepping in and saving Percy from Zeus was beautiful.

I also loved that Poseidon gave them 4 pearls instead of 3 because such a small detail shows how Poseidon cares about Percy and Sally. And, plot wise, it didn’t change anything. Percy still left the Underworld without his mom. But starting with 4 pearls gives them hope that they actually can complete the quest AND save Sally. Percy leaving the Underworld without Sally is so much more impactful in the show than the books because of this tiny detail change.

The fact that the pearls take them to the east coast rather than the west coast works well too. I loved that they returned to the cabin because of how important that cabin is not only to Percy and Sally but also to Poseidon.

Hermes being added to the Lotus Casino and bringing in Luke’s background earlier on was beautiful and Lin Manuel Miranda’s performance was one of the standouts for me. It is such a beautiful moment and you can see the anguish in Hermes at his feeling powerless and I think it sets up Percy learning about Luke’s family in The Last Olympian in a great way. This is one of those moments where you can tell the writers and showrunners are playing the long game with this series.

Last but not least, the change in the betrayal scene. I love it. I do. Not only in the changes in the way it happens but how they characterized Luke. Luke clearly does not want to hurt Percy, he wants Percy to help him and to come with Luke because he cares about him. The prophecy states “You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend” and Luke in the book didn’t really seem to care about Percy or view him as a friend at the end of it. But Show Luke? He cares about Percy and he is heartbroken that Percy doesn’t side with him. Also the addition of Annabeth hearing Luke’s betrayal first hand was brilliant, in my opinion. Not only were Walker, Charlie and Leah ACTING but it was so much more impactful that Annabeth sees Luke turn and chooses Percy in that moment. And I don’t think it will change much of Annabeth’s actions in the future because you can see how hurt she is and how desperately she still wants him to come back and be good.

Anyway, I think the show is brilliantly done. That isn’t to say it doesn’t have its faults but nothing is perfect and if you were expecting this show to be 100% perfect then I think you just set your expectations too high because that is not realistic.

If you made it to the end of this, I love you. The Percy Jackson brain rot is real and if we don’t get an S2 announcement soon I’m going to riot

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PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS Episode 8: The Prophecy Comes True

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okay so… I’m crying!

like. my tv is pauses right now because I’m crying and digesting that entire scene between zeus, poseidon, and percy because that was KILLER. like genuinely in terms of acting and writing that was such an astounding four minutes of television.

first off, rest in peace to lance reddick and a round of applause for his CHILLING performance. he plays zeus with such a perfect level of intentionality that even to see zeus be thrown off for a second is just barely noticeable. the temper, the control he exhibits in jumping between very different levels of emotion, it’s so insane. truly insane walker was keeping on par with an actor like that. and of course, then, with tont stephens himself. and poseidon’s entrance? LET’S TALK ABOUT IT.

to see poseidon, a proud species of god, jump in and immediately surrender to zeus ALL FOR PERCY is just… picture that. picture the father you’ve never met, who you’ve been wondering about your entire life. picture fearing he’s the worst man you’ve ever met, picture resenting him for adhering to a system you can see clearly as loveless and problematic but still having this weird complicated love for him because you just want to know where you come from. and the first thing you ever hear him say is, softly and to protect you, “I surrender.”

to put away pride like that, to let love win… the gods fail at that consistently, but he doesn’t in that moment. and so many details of this scene are absolutely perfect and that isn’t even an exaggeration. poseidon mentioning how percy’s inherited his rebellious streak from him because the sea doesn’t like to be contained. sally having taught percy ancient greek, and poseidon being not at all surprised— and, in that, the subtle recognition that sally did raise him and teach him everything. and then: the first question you ever get to ask your father? “do you dream about mom.” ARE YOU JOKING??? and poseidon need only smile, because the answer is obviously yes even though we don’t hear him say it.

I’m floored. honestly.

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#HIS SMILE!!! #you can literally see how much that meant to him 🥹

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The one time Annabeth didn’t help him, and the one she did.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1×08

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#the adventures of peter johnson continue