#calypso too

[artisthoi]

leo valdez just collects siblings like nobody’s business tbh.hes not even actually related to half of them

[sluttytangerine]

ouuuaghhh fighting the urge to make kraven stickers I need merch NOW

[notsolonedesert]

"Your tunes do not bring me joy, Calypso"

[doctorsiren]

This would only work on Calypso’s island

[pandemoniuslurkr]

DEMO 4 SPOILERS UNDER CUT!!!!!!!! DONT LOOK UNLESS YOU'VE BEATEN THE ENTIRE DEMO !!!!!!!

or if you. dont care about spoilers that too

So how we feeling. Peak dropped

i had to edit the ancients' design a bit because i was Pissed Off. party in order from left to right, pandemonius (me), alchemist ( @1sleepdeprived ), trublu ( @trubluace ), aquvo ( no tumblr acc ), and calypso

YES before you kill me i got her outfit wrong i was TIRED

alt version w/o text

i think this is buns but i! have looked at this too long! it might be peak! i dont know!

[caleohateclub]

"This life is amazing..."

[gotstabbedbyapen]

Alright everyone, place your bet!

[dootznbootz]

"The text is all up to interpretation."

The Text:

[aroaceleovaldez]

I was reading a post about CoTG and I realized: Rick has seemingly started to write every character pairing with the exact same dynamic, and he's not good at writing that dynamic and it doesn't make sense for 90% of the characters he writes it for.

It's that very specific dynamic of one half of the pair who is almost aggressive to the other party - "teasing" them constantly/insulting them, affectionately punching/judo flipping/maiming/etc, seemingly almost always exasperated with the other - and said other party usually just accepts this treatment or blanketly views it fondly, and may generally be framed as more incompetent than their partner and a little bit of a doormat (particularly relating to being insulted/teased/etc by their partner).

We start seeing this dynamic in HoO with Percy and Annabeth, as a sort of semi-inconsistent twist on their rivals-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic from the first series. Then the dynamic pattern develops further with Leo and Calypso. Then Magnus and Alex. Then Nico and Will, particularly in TSATS. And now in CoTG, it's Percy and Annabeth again but even more in this direction.

I know people have talked about Nico and Will's relationship over the series rapidly being shoehorned into Percabeth Two™, and it's extremely apparent in TSATS that Rick's doing it on purpose (including directly quoting Percabeth scenes but minorly tweaking them to be Solangelo). But recognizing it as an overarching trend in Rick's later books honestly reminds me a lot of how Rick started trying to apply the "Percy Formula" so-to-speak to nearly every protagonist in HoO (and then try to replicate similar character archetypes with Magnus and Apollo's narrations - moreso Magnus in being jaded and sarcastic, very much trying to be first series Percy. He only sounds unique because Rick failed at making him Percy 2. Apollo is more akin to later-series Percy characterization of being goofy and incompetent. Apollo [and Zeus] even got retconned to give Apollo a more similar backstory to Percy's). Rick seems to have decided that he thinks the audience wants this specific dynamic but 10 times over, except he's not good at writing it the first time because it's a bastardization of the time he did a different thing okay.

And Rick also seems aware of that too! Because he retconned Calypso and Leo at the end of TOA, probably because he realized how absolutely awful it was reading when they were written with that dynamic of Calypso just functionally hating Leo and constantly being aggressive towards him! The only time Rick's actually made the dynamic even semi-successful was with Magnus and Alex, because it actually fits within their characters, their dynamics with each other, and their environment. Alex beheading Magnus on the regular works out fine because there are no repercussions to that in Valhalla, Magnus will be fine, so it does genuinely come off as humorous. And Alex has been effectively established to be abrasive at times but have her genuine feelings shine through regularly, and that meshes well with Magnus' jaded-and-aloof-but-quietly-very-empathetic character. And Magnus has been established to, yes, not be great at combat, particularly compared to Alex. They are the only time that flavor of dynamic in that form was effective and cohesive.

Percabeth is no longer rivals-to-friends-to-lovers badasses on equal levels with shaky pasts who finally found some form of permanence with one another. Now it's super smart doting and affectionately aggressive girlfriend and her silly goofy 50%-of-the-time incompetent boyfriend who she judo flips/pushes off cliffs/etc - but affectionately~! Solangelo is trying to riff off of the early series "Poseidon & Athena are enemies" dynamic that Percabeth had but with Apollo & Hades being "opposites" but learning to accept each other, except it ends up with Will just coming off as a huge asshole and Nico being retconned to a complete doormat about it - when prior to that those characterizations would be completely contrary to their established characters (even just from TOA!). Calypso in HoO gets retconned from her PJO characterization to being snooty and aggressive, and Leo's false persona gets merged into his just normal personality except he just also becomes a doormat but more goofy than Nico with occasional haha-dark/depression-humor! Which Nico also got. Which was also a bastardized Percy trait that got redistributed.

It's exhausting. Rick write more than one relationship dynamic you can do it I promise

[m00nbuggies]

some designs I guess

[loudn0isesart]

Happy New Year everybody!!!!!

[equalseleventhirds]

frankly the best modern adaptation of odysseus i have encountered is from camlann podcast. bcos that guy is not odysseus, king of ithaca—he's a sailor, and he just wants to stop being Odysseus™ and just be that guy again, safe with his crew. he doesn't want to be in a big heroic story. he doesn't want to have epic battles and be the big cool guy. he doesn't even want to bring his wits to battle the cyclops, bcos he knows SOMEONE he cares about will die for this story. he tries to leave, over and over. he wants to flee, and only stops bcos they'll all die if he doesn't. he doesn't even want the kingdom and wife and son the story has in store for him, the reward of love and glory and a kind of immortality, bcos it's not HIS real happiness.

and he is more than content for ariadne to 'steal the glory'. he loves that shit. respects her for it. loves that it doesn't have to be him, and that they're sort of even subverting the story that would see him triumphant, alone.

and that's extremely odysseus of him honestly lmao

[o3o-lapd-o3o]

i like to imagine that as soon as the words "someone arrived today, they said they're taking you away" left calypso's mouth, odysseus "sat at the beach every day for 7 years crying for his wife & son" of ithaca immediately jumped up wiped his tears away

then swiftly (without a glance at calypso), walked over to a bush/foliage near the beach and grabbed all the stuff he had been accumulating for 7 years during his prison stay, ready for the day he can leave this place.

[lavndvrr]

Leo is so shippable like Rick could have put him with anyone but he chose to put Leo with Calypso FREAKING CALYPSO!!!!!

[flashthescalesian-art]

Okay but an EPIC: The Musical AU where Odysseus brings Astyanax along instead of killing him, and Polites immediately decides to be the fun uncle for this baby. B U T during the whole Cyclops thing, instead of dying, Polites just gets really injured, so Odysseus carries him back to the ship and tries to tend his injuries. (Astyanax is safely with a few other members of the crew, don’t worry). Polites is still hurt too badly to survive for long, so Odysseus begs the gods for help, and Hermes shows up with something (a potion/elixir/whatever you wanna call it) that’ll heal Polites.

It doesn’t immediately make Polites better (I’m a sucker for hurt/comfort, don’t come at me), but he survives and heals, and he and Astyanax are both fine until the events of Thunder Bringer. Except instead of dying with the crew, they both wash up on Calypso’s island with Ody. Calypso finds them after finding Odysseus, but before he wakes up, she turns them into something (idk what, probably plants or something, this idea is just a concept rn).

So events go as they do in canon, but when Calypso has to let Odysseus leave, she’s also forced to free Polites and Astyanax too, so they get turned back to normal and get to leave with Odysseus, who is honestly just BAFFLED by the fact that his best friend and adopted son are still alive, but he’s also so freaking happy to have them back after seven years of torment. (Astyanax is probably like ten now even tho he spent seven years as a plant or something, but idk maybe he’s still a toddler. Haven’t decided)

They get home to Ithaca, Odysseus, Polites, and Telemachus kill the suitors, Ody reunites with Penelope and introduces her to Astyanax who she adopts immediately, and Telemachus and Astyanax get to hang out with their parents and Uncle Polites. Also Ody gets to sleep because that man needs it

[iwannascreameurekaa]

As much as I dislike caleo, calypso herself is not an inherently bad character (only talking about pjo, if we're talking about the accurate calypso from Greek myths then I'm tying up my hair and putting my hands up she's awful there)

but the thing is that TOA caleo ruined any development that she could have had

You had a boy who never felt loved and a girl who always fell in love with people that couldn't stay and threw them together? It's a good ship in concept

but then you get to the plot holes and stuff

like calypso being 6000+ years old and Leo being 16

and calypso being insanely rude and demeaning to Leo throughout TOA

it's just not a good ship and I'm sorry because it could've been cute it really could've but it's not

i really really hope that rick realizes that caleo isn't a good or healthy relationship bc it would be better for both calypso and Leo to break up

imagine calypso, someone who has been cursed to never find true love (JUST LIKE REYNA!) finally getting in the mindset that she doesn't need a guy to be happy that she can live her own life without relying on romance

imagine calypso joining the hunters of artemis. would that not be the most perfect thing for her character?

and Leo, who has never found someone who stays with him and loves him for who he is, going on a mission (similar to Orpheus and Eurydice) and bringing Jason back to life and them living together

it's my silly valgrace obsessed brain but seriously??? THIS WOULD BE SO GOOD

And the fanfic writers that I know have written "sequels" like this and did it so perfectly prove that this COULD be done

please Rick I am begging you make my tragic gays happen PLEASEEE