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See, this is a huge problem with Riordan, evident in the series and now in the new cash-grab books: it feels like a bunch of apologies.

“Oh I’m sorry my treatment of disabilities has been problematic”

“Oh I’m sorry my originals books didn’t have a diverse enough cast”

“Oh I’m sorry I featured domestic abuse in my story, that’s my bad”

“Oh I’m sorry that when I wrote POCs it was hamfisted and clumsy and cliche”

“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t foreshadow Percabeth, sacrosanct pairing, earlier”

“Oh I’m sorry my humor is dated for the early 2000’s, we can do away with that”

“Oh I’m sorry Poseidon wasn’t a better father straight away, I’ll get right on that”

“Oh I’m sorry I made Sally Jackson a murderer, what was I thinking?”

“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t do more for my young queer readers, let me add more queerbaiting and contextualize more in post, that worked great for JK, everyone still likes her, right?”

“I’m sorry, I’m such a goof, but you can forgive Uncle Rick and buy more product, right?”

It’s performative and shallow and shows not a desire to grow as a writer or as a person, but to have been seen as better than he was and better than he is now without putting in the actual effort. All he succeeded in doing was put a division between older fans who grew up and made the franchise popular with their contributions to the fandom, and a new generation who are going to have a disingenuous and insincere hodgepodge of reference material and increasingly frivolous drivel to call ‘canon’.

And his response and the response of his stans are to call these criticisms racist or fanboyish gate-keeping or best of all say “well it’s not meant for you, maybe it never was”. My attention and my efforts and my money was good enough back when I didn’t have my own money to spend.

Also, out of all demigods never noticing Chiron had a significant limp, Percy should have noticed with his hard-wired special interest in horses, being Poseidon's son.

are we… retconning chiron’s wheelchair disguise to not be problematic!???

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The New Thalia Grace Actress

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I’m going to go for a twofer, a villainous team-up between brain and brawn, the unlikely pairing of Clock King and Lock-Up.

You get free rein and a blank check to write the next Batman movie but you can’t use any villains who have appeared in any previous live-action Batman movies. That means you can’t use Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Dr. Freeze, Scarecrow, or Bane.

Which Batman villain stars in your movie

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I’m just glad anyone else remembered “Banshee”! And yes, that’s a massively appropriate comparison.

On one hand, I’m glad that Harry Lawtey is canonically the right age for Harvey Dent in Joker 2. I keep forgetting where it was established that Harvey became the youngest DA in Gotham history at age 27 (Secret Origins Special?), but it’s good to finally have another Harvey who isn’t a middle aged man.

On the other hand, I’m reminded of the show Banshee, where the mayor was a young guy so babyfaced that I kept referring to him as “Mayor Timmy.”

In both cases, it’s like, this guy is gonna stand up to crime in this hellhole? Is that before or after his mom picks him up from soccer practice?

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Harvey Dent could do it in 2 weeks. His obsession would make it a necessity.

Harvey Dent, remembering the times Batman and Deathstroke canonically gave him crash courses in martial arts that resulted in him being a formidable hand-to-hand combatant:

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The only way I could see this being salvageable is if the 'double-crossing' Two-Face in this version is a violent vigilante type of 'supervillain' since Harvey as 'corrupt politician' leaves no room for the duality of Harvey's character.

This way, Two-Face is a manifestation of all the past good that Harvey forced deep down as he grew more and more cynical and duplicitous and forgot what a difference he wanted to make. Just taken to violent extremes brought out by violent ends. In fact, it'd almost be his heroic origin story if not for the fact his methods would prove to be utterly deranged.

It could even lead to some great payoff with Harvey coming to terms with the young man who once was idealistic before the city got it's hooks in him and life turned him as corrupt as what he was meant to fight, possibly with a talk from Batman preventing him from going over the edge in a penultimate episode or the like.

Or they could prove disappointing. We'll have to see.

God. Fucking. Damn it. It’s Beware the Batman all over again. Except this time, people will actuality SEE this lousy take on Harvey.

I really didn’t have any faith in a Timm-produced “Batman, the way I always wanted to make it” HBO show with JJ Abrams producing was going to be my cup of tea. But this? Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Thanks to @maxwell-grant for giving me the heads-up here, so I can steel myself for what will likely be the most prestigious take yet on Harvey as a jerkass politician.

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We need more spotlight on the villains of Gotham who don’t wear the masks.

Antagonists like Rupert Thorne, Roland Daggett, Randall Winters, Ferris Boyle, even Max Shreck. These villains who bring crime into the boardroom, white-collar malfeasance that challenges Bruce Wayne as Bruce Wayne, not merely foes for Batman to pummel. And fair reminder, 2/3rds of these esteemed ‘gentlemen’ are directly responsible for the origins of more colorful rogues in one setting or another.

Plus, it makes the future outlier standout all the more… Derek Powers, aka “Blight”, easily some of the most creative writing in “Batman Beyond” came with blending the standard corruption with supervillainy with that piece of work!

why is harvey dent so rarely portrayed as a genuinely good man with good ideas who actually wants the best for gotham as a politician. why is he the main fall guy in comics when they need a Bad Politician. there’s so many characters you can use for that. why make harvey dent a racist or a fascist or a gentrifier. he’s SUPPOSED to be gothams apollo. idk. i feel like it’s lazy to use harvey for the role of an evil politician

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liked for the art, reblogged for the facts being spit.

Uncle Rick needs to write a series where they’re all working together

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Mind.

Change a single letter and change the word game

I want to play a game with you all.

You have to make a new word by changing only one letter of the last word.

Dirt

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Just gonna say, “Gotham” didn’t mess up because they put weirdos in costumes, they messed up because it was meant to be a prequel to before Batman.

And they just filled it with so many weirdos that it got to the point where 1.) everyone knew each other and the mystery was bled out, 2.) the city was always weird means there’s no normalcy to return to, no ‘ordinary people’ to fight for, and then 3.) no one is gonna give a single damn about Batman when he does show up because there were like two or three Batman-expy characters running around when Bruce was a preteen.

Batman works when there’s the grounded to offset the weird. Nolan’s Gotham, too ordinary? Just Chicago. Burton’s Gotham? Art deco, too far removed, and got more so with Schumacher. Reeves’ Gotham? Just the right blend of grime and grim with Gothic influence.

An old friend of mine posted about the new trailer for The Penguin, expressing both excitement and hope that it will be kept gritty and grounded in reality. Specifically, he hoped that “they won't mess it up” the way stuff like Gotham did “with a lot of weird costumed criminals.”

Sometimes I am forcibly reminded that lots of people have very different interests than I do when it comes to Batman media.

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Never ever thought that I’d say this, but toning down abusive Gabe did her character an unexpected disservice?

Why was she with him? Why was she with this loser? And he was just a manchild, a loser, unemployed and selfish and inconsiderate. But not abusive? And his smell wasn’t a factor to keep Percy safe from monsters.

Don’t get my wrong, I don’t think it was really the best sort of strategy in-canon-universe anyway, staying with an abusive partner for the sake of the child is kinda a rough message to pass along, Riordan probably thought similarly in hindsight. But there wasn’t a reason to stay with the (considerably less vile) scumbag in the show.

He didn’t help protect Percy, however unwittingly. He didn’t even have a job so he wasn’t helping pay that New York rent. So… why did Sally put up with him at all? Oh, and she was putting up with him, because show Sally wasn’t afraid to stand up to him or whatever.

It almost was like they had a ‘fun in college’ relationship (noncanonical since Sally didn’t finish college because of a sick uncle who needed her help) that she outgrew but never found the time to break off. Like they both had met when immature and stupid but this version of Gabe stayed immature and stupid.

This version of Sally had no conceivable reason to stay with Gabe other than being lonely, and she definitely could’ve done better, nothing was mentioned of it being to protect or provide for Percy. And while opportunistic and pathetic and invasive, this version of Gabe didn’t deserve to die? I’m not really a fan of death being treated like a punchline when the recipient is just kinda an asshole? But the show punished him like he was still abusive like reading other people’s mail is on the same level of domestic violence.

So, however inadvertently, this ‘more badass’ Sally ends up a weaker, indecisive, inconsistent and desperate Sally, and this toned-down Gabe went from a deserving target of righteous wrath to another pitiful, hapless victim of circumstance and the Olympians’ pettiness. Is that really what the show meant to go for?

"Why do you not like show Sally? Do you not want her to be a complex, nuanced character with flaws?"

I'm sorry, was "she's the sweetest mom ever, a calm and down to Earth person, a little meek from years of abuse... oh, and she also killed her husband, and she enjoyed it immensely" not nuanced enough for you? Is murder not a character flaw?

I'm sorry, but Sally being this sweet angel, with a real darkness in her heart is the most amazing thing I can think of. It's relatable, really. I think most quiet types can relate, on the outside we seem like nothing moves us, but there is so much anger and sadness and fury we have to bottle up sometimes, especially in abusive environments.

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"Why do you not like show Sally? Do you not want her to be a complex, nuanced character with flaws?"

I'm sorry, was "she's the sweetest mom ever, a calm and down to Earth person, a little meek from years of abuse... oh, and she also killed her husband, and she enjoyed it immensely" not nuanced enough for you? Is murder not a character flaw?

I'm sorry, but Sally being this sweet angel, with a real darkness in her heart is the most amazing thing I can think of. It's relatable, really. I think most quiet types can relate, on the outside we seem like nothing moves us, but there is so much anger and sadness and fury we have to bottle up sometimes, especially in abusive environments.

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remember, Bianca got out and almost immediately chose to leave Nico.

and then she died because she tried to take a figurine for him to try to apologize for it.

the figurine was of their absentee father.

when she died Bianca went to the Underworld, didn’t speak to Nico despite his ability to talk to ghosts, but talked to Percy (who Nico blamed for her death) to tell him to tell Nico he needed to let things go

and then Bianca drank Lethe water and was reborn randomly and now neither her little brother or even her immortal father will ever be able to speak to her again

I’m sorry, I know she’s a child and everything but every part of this story is ridiculously tragic and (except the part with Zeus killing their mother trying to get to them) almost every part of it is due to Bianca’s decisions.

thinking about how they said grover was affected the most out of everyone bc he was alone and how nico and bianca stayed for 70 years inside that hotel and didn't forget each other bc they were always within reach and how that little detail makes their story even more devastating bc they got through it together and the moment they got out they get separated and then bianca never comes back

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Hello, I'd like to remove this post, it's uncomfortably about me

I NEED TO READ I NEED TO WRITE I NEED TO CREATE I NEED TO DRAW I NEED TO CLEAN I NEED TO WORK OUT I NEED TO LEARN *watches YouTube for 6 hours*

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Something that is confusing me is how many people are defending the changes Rick made and defending Rick himself in regards to the show.

He lied to us.

He got the entire fandom to hype up the show, got the show made on the basis of getting a book accurate adaption. This was supposed to be something accurate to the books, including the book characters, the book scenes, the book stakes- we were supposed to get to see our favorite moments in the books on screen.

And then he went and rewrote the book.

This adaption isn't the book we read. The characters aren't the characters we read. Grover's personality was wholesale replaced. This is something entirely new-

And whether you like it for itself is a different matter entirely, but the point is that... this isn't The Lightning Thief that we read years ago.

He lied to us.

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Alright, for @about-faces I'm going to consider not just what Zuko's potential meeting with Harvey could be like, but also what Two-Face's place in the Avatar setting might be like. Something that's bugged me about Two-Face, if you strip away the gimmicks, is that he's a burn-victim with a law degree who is treated as a genuine threat to a city of trigger-happy corrupt cops, murderous mobsters who have more money than small countries, genuine supervillains (some have actual superpowers), and the Batman. How would he fare in a setting with a bunch of superpowered people on the daily basis? The answer was clear: Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, would jumpstart the 'Equalist' movement before Amon, before Korra was so much as a twinkle in the Avatar cycle. Unlike Amon, he wouldn't be hiding behind the message, he wouldn't have fake scar or secret blood-bending powers, or a way to take away other people's bending. But he does have tried and true propaganda tactics that led him to be Gotham's youngest DA, and transition into a successful crime boss. And that shouldn't be underestimated. Harvey Dent in the Animated series (which is practically gospel for how good it could be) ran circles around Batman and gangster Rupert Thorne for months as he dismantled the latter's criminal syndicate with tactical aplomb. In the Arkham games, his gang is frightfully loyal to him in a way Batman's other rogues don't command from their henchpeople. And he's a formidable fighter on his own, an accomplished brawler and marksman able to hold his own against trained law enforcement and hardened criminals. His Equalists would be a small and frightfully effective force of saboteurs and vandals that would undermine all the bender-top-heavy societies in the Avatar world and make him a conflicting foe for Zuko especially. On the one hand, Zuko comes to despise what his father has done to the world, as well as acknowledges his own inexcusable abuse (further mirroring Harvey's own history with an abusive dad). Zuko might sympathize and even admire Harvey's determination and effectiveness in resisting pro-bending establishment (most notably the Fire Nation invaders). But he also would be aghast at Two-Face's cruelty as response to cruelty, and he would be personally targeted by these Equalists because of his birthright.

ok but if bruce wayne somehow came upon zuko fresh out of banishment he would lose his mind.

black hair? check. bad parent(s)? check. trauma? double check.

bruce: how’d you get your scar?

zuko: my dad got mad at me for saying that killing people is wrong so he lit my face on fire and banished me.

bruce, vibrating with excitement, already pulling adoption papers from his utilility: that’s terrible. how do you feel about capes.

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ok but if bruce wayne somehow came upon zuko fresh out of banishment he would lose his mind.

black hair? check. bad parent(s)? check. trauma? double check.

bruce: how’d you get your scar?

zuko: my dad got mad at me for saying that killing people is wrong so he lit my face on fire and banished me.

bruce, vibrating with excitement, already pulling adoption papers from his utilility: that’s terrible. how do you feel about capes.