#not being with apollo is weird

[sunwyrms]

May we have more Loopdile please?

(typically i dont do requests, but i suppose i can humor you since you were so polite~)

They do this every morning. Nobody has any idea why. Bonnie is sick of it.

[id in alt]

[ellilyre]

I wish the fandom would acknowledged more that Reyna is heavily implied/confirmed to be aromantic (if no aroace)

[barnabyboppins]

Hopefully lukewarm take (i haven’t checked)

I recently finished reading the Heroes Of Olympus series (having read pjo immediately prior) and I think it’s pretty shitty that the worth of all of our good guy characters are, to a notable degree, measured by their ability to find and engage in romantic relationships and are then greatly defined by those relationships. (Disclaimer; I don’t think I’m in a justified position to discuss lots of the racial criticisms for HoO but I do agree with a lot of em and that aspect does factor into this topic)

7+ important recurring characters is quite a lot of people to balance, even in a five book series and all of the non-pjo characters suffered immensely for it. But one character arc I anticipated over and over again that never ended up happening was any one character finding fulfillment from the non-romantic relationships around them by de-prioritizing the idea of a perfect someone in favour of accepting the support of their friends/comrades/campers/family/etc. (Second disclaimer: I don’t expect a novel saga from 2010 to have characters declaring their orientations (or lack thereof) aloud but the idea of a character learning to define themself by or through something outside of romance isn’t a new one)

I think Percy and Annabeth are very cute and work well as a couple (are they the only white couple?) and I don’t really see any chemistry between Piper and Jason (I feel like they’re on very different paths from each other and Piper stagnates greatly in favour of supporting jasons development) but I think literally every other Good Guy character had the potential to not need romance in their arcs. Frank could have been raised to praetor by consensus and recognized by his peers and grandma, actively validating his growth rather than him achieving great feats and no one noticing or really caring except for Hazel. Hazel could’ve been shown learning about the modern day with Frank and Nico during downtime and reconciling her identity and trauma with the diversity of today while discovering a new freedom in acceptance (from the Seven) of who she is from back then and who she may yet want to be (and also not dated a 16 y/o at 13).

Leo, Reyna and Nico were the main ones I was thinking would forgo the need for a partner at least as a necessity for their growth/healing as all three have severe familial trauma, are distanced from other demigods socially somehow, and all were explicitly ousted from conventional romance in-writing.

Initially with Leo I had hoped he would confront his struggle being the “seventh wheel” by expressing how he was feeling overlooked as a friend (and as the ONLY shipwright) in favour of everyone’s romantic interests, which would lead into further emotional vulnerability in the party but, that never happened save for a few stoically non-communicative gestures of support to Frank and otherwise weird hang-ups on Hazel before he fucked off to Calypso, letting his friends think him dead for weeks. Leo lacked connection and felt inferior and less important than the rest of the Seven and the narrative validated that by only fulfilling him through an a Rapunzel-like hot babe trapped on an island who is physically dependent on his emotional dependence on her. That’s not a recipe for healthy relationship! I related to Leo initially as an aromantic person with 9 siblings, half of whom are already coupled so it was very disappointing when I realized by the third book that RR just didn’t take what was to me the most obvious arc for a character who is vitally important to a team but least noticed. Also the Hazel-Frank-Leo pseudo-love shape didn’t need to happen, at least in the way it did, and I think the Leo-Hazel-Sammy weird love thing was stupid.

I think Nico and Will are a very cute couple and I’m looking forward to reading their book when I come around to it but I felt unsatisfied that the thing that got Nico to stay at camp after 5 books was a guy who had little significant presence until the last book and not like, any of the other deeply important connections he made during his journeys? Nico’s been talking about never returning to either camp for a while and none of the Seven or Reyna (I think) thought to check in with him? I get that Will is supposed to be like the first person to insistently want Nico around but if Will really is the first then that’s kinda fucked up given the whole like, eight books worth of people he’s met. It’s a bit fucked up that after years of Nico’s presence, seemingly the first connection to anchor him down is an unspoken suggestion of a romance

Reyna’s character journey confuses me because I don’t if I missed or forgot it but I don’t remember her having a conclusion to her internal struggles. Aphrodite telling her she’s doomed to singledom gets brought up again and again and it’s mostly just to make you feel bad for her. She doesn’t tell anyone else. She doesn’t seek fulfillment in the platonic or familial connections she has. They visit her house, trauma dump about her abuse AND fakeout her sisters + the hunters + the amazons deaths just to have Reyna be even more hurt. Reyna and Nico come to understand each other while they’re travelling but by the conclusion of the series she’s just gone back to her isolating and stressful role as the praetor, but now with more work to do! Aphrodite’s words are never explained and their veracity is never tested and all it serves is to give Reyna more misery porn.

I guess what I’m saying is I think the story would have been better if The Seven & Co had a little more connection with each other and not just with their respective partners and if we could have seen some internal growth come from that.

[mostlyihyperfixate]

Nearly done with this game, and I am suddenly filled with conviction that if Franziska were here, none of this would have happened

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

looking very closely at the website neighborhood and here's some little things i noticed (plus some overthinking & flower symbolism):

~ the only butterflies on the "map" are the ones outside of Frank's house, and the single one outside of Eddie's.

~~ i think the flowers outside of Eddie's are either hyacinths or lavender. given that the flowers are different colors, they're probably hyacinths. which is a Fascinating choice to me, because hyacinths can symbolize regret, devotion (especially beyond death), love, forgiveness, and jealousy - depending on the flower color. Eddie has light blue, dark blue, and purple. The butterfly is landing on the purple one (sorrow, mourning, forgiveness, regret, devoted love).

~~ its also Fascinating because the myth behinds hyacinths is about the greek god Apollo and his (male) human lover, Hyacinthus. they were playing discus (metal frisbee). Apollo threw the discus too hard, and it bounced back and hit Hyacinthus, killing him. devastated, Apollo grew the hyacinth flower from Hyacinthus' spilled blood. SO THE FACT THAT EDDIE, GAY PUPPET EDDIE, HAS HYACINTH FLOWERS OUTSIDE THE POST OFFICE IS UM. INCH RESTING!

~~ (also also in the myth, Apollo wanted to rescind his immortality to join Hyacinthus in his death. and in an alternate version of the myth, Hyacinthus was technically murdered, because Zephyrus was jealous that Apollo preferred a mortal over him & purposefully blew the discus off course to strike Hyacinthus. things to think about. yes, in this whole myth metaphor im viewing Eddie as Hyacinthus and Frank as Apollo. do with this what you will)

~ All of the trees in the neighborhood are in the same general style, except for the tree outside of Sally's home, which is a pine tree. i wonder why!

~ the only buildings with second floors are Barnaby's, Frank's, Sally's, and Poppy's homes. rip the "wally falls down the stairs" memes

~ there's a teeny tiny Home in the post office display window

~ Julie's house has quite a lot of heart symbolism. like, a weird amount. an amount to the point where i now have an entire theory around what her role and arc might be. i Will talk about it with minimal prompting.

~ one of the swingset balloons has a happy face balloon with its eyes closed, which stands out to me (and fuels my julie theory)

~ the only neighbors who don't have flowers outside of their buildings are Sally, Julie (disregarding decoration), and Howdy.

~ Poppy has daffodils, which symbolize rebirth, new beginnings, resilience, and hope. however, they have a negative side of selfishness.

~ Barnaby has red, yellow, and blue tulips. red means undying love, admiration, and truth. yellow means "there's sunshine in your smile", joy, happiness, friendship - But it can also mean unrequited love or jealousy. Blue means individuality, trust, and good luck

~~ note that there's a dead/trampled white tulip. white tulips symbolize sorrow, "my condolences", apology, honor, purity, faith.

~ Frank has sunflowers, daisies, and some others, but those i think are more generic, unspecific flowers for added decoration. i couldn't find a "red flower on vine" that fits the general look of the ones on his house. now, sunflowers symbolize adoration, loyalty, longevity, happiness (also, might i add that these flowers are from another greek myth about apollo, this one where Apollo turns a jealous nymph into a sunflower for snitching on his mortal lover, which got her (the lover) killed. inch resting indeed.)

~~ also blue daisies, which i am assuming are the blue flowers outside his house, symbolize freedom, trust, loyalty, confidence, and honesty. lots of positivity surrounding Frank's house!

~ Wally has daisies. these symbolize innocence, purity, new beginnings, hope, and affection. it can also symbolize the ability to keep a secret. a fun fact i found interesting is the word daisy comes from an old english word meaning "day's eye."

~~ do i believe these flower choices were purposeful? maybe. probably. it does seem strange that there are specific, distinct flowers drawn in equally specific parts of the "map", while a couple of generic "cartoon" style flowers are sprinkled throughout

~ three green apples are growing on the tree next to Howdy's Place

~ it stands out to me that the bodega window above the fruit stands is completely blacked out. no window shine or nothing

~ Sally's "yard" is weirdly barren. everyone else's buildings (excluding Home) has several things decorating the surrounding area. all she has is a spotlight and a tree.

~ Barnaby's house having paint all over it (and a paintbrush & can next to it) is just cute to me. it makes me think that he wanted to paint like his lil' buddy Wally and just went ham with it. or it was a team effort between them<3

~ it took me a while to notice the tiny "Eddie's" painted above Post Office. it gives the vibe (to me) of him tacking on the "Eddie's" to make the office feel more like his. maybe he saw the sign "Howdy's Place" and decided to paint his name on his building to make himself feel more established and at home

~ there's something on / part of Frank's roof. i don't know what it is. if anyone has an idea please tell me its driving me insane. at first i thought it was a chimney but theres two? making an additional symmetrical structure? idk!!

~ there are only three buildings with straight up rainbows. Eddie's post office (hanging from the roof and in the window), Sally's house (the entire front), and Frank's house (butterfly on the door wreath. i almost didn't catch it, it's a sneaky one!)

[bassguitarinablackt-shirt]

i actually went hard with my old pjo ocs those guys rocked

[worlds-oldest-teenager]

It was such a missed opportunity to not have Apollo and Jason bond over being wolf boys in The Burning Maze.

[ossydrawsthingz335]

important talk (sorta/sorta not idk)

would u guys be angry if i moved/payed more attention to different social media like twitter/deviantart/etc?

now, dont panic, im not doing anything like that yet, i wanna use this website for as long as i can cause ive met so many cool ppl here (<3), but this website is like slowly destroying itself, especially with the drama of the ceo who harassed a trans person and the ai stuff.

i dont wanna be on a website where im stressed 24/7 cause of different drama and stuff like that or where i see something political for most of the time cause alot of tumblr is politics whether u know it or not. (im not talking about palestine btw)

especially because i get really stressed talking about/looking at politics or drama and stuff like that, and i just want to draw object show stuff and see it without getting a panic attack.

if i DO move and quit tumblr (heavy emphasis on if i do), my discord is always in my intro post, so if u wanna talk to me IF i quit tumbr, go to my intro post, but for now im staying.

[encrucijada]

if we framed piedad becoming an oracle less as a fun epilogue tidbit she agreed to (for various personal reasons) and instead frame it as apollo "stealing" her because of their gift of prophecy... listen, adam would have only needed 3 beers and an afternoon to take over olympus

[galactikburzt]

so i didnt finish that big drawing but hey now at least i have a new image of apollo again

[pennamepersona]

it's so funny that apollo has like, some kind of magical powers, bc he is otherwise the most Just A Guy character in this whole series

[live-laugh-ukotoa]

methinks for the minceraft movie it should've just been minecraft story mode part 2 electric boogaloo

[godlesslostsoul]

An update on what my brain needs:

physical copies of Heroes of Olympus so I can reread without worrying about going to library (probably also Trials of Apollo)

still need physical copies of The Hunger Games series

to learn how to crochet (I wanna learn and make a poncho)

read my freakin’ physical TBR (AND TO STOP ADDING TO IT)

spring semester to start just start my screenwriting class

coffee date with besties (because I miss them😭)

I also still need the instructions for making dopamine naturally please

more PJO tv show (once a week is not enough)

still need confirmation that Carol was adopted by the Khan family

[mostlyihyperfixate]

Oh, what's this? Simon, your sister is hot.

*spends three minutes with her*

nvm she called Athena a dull creature all hot points lost

EDIT: Waaaaaait. I'm recalling that at the beginning of this, Athena recognized Simon's last name. Then they have shared exactly zero indications that they know each other. Did she know Aura previously?

....

it doesn't matter. she was still mean to that poor robot.

[characteroulette]

Instead of working on making actual surfaces I need, drew my RGB Puzzlers.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Never thought I'd get weepy over a software presentation keynote and yet, here we are

So for those of you who don't know, I use ProCreate. It's the only art program I've touched in at least five years, and aside from brief stints in my sketchbook, I've done everything in it. The animations I've done last year and this year were all done in ProCreate, which is strictly a drawing and photo editing software and animation was kind of built in as an afterthought. As such, the animation capabilities of ProCreate are kind of... nonexistent. Clunky at best, and I had no way to add sound. And because of how ProCreate's animation worked, I couldn't do long or particularly complex animation. Which is fine, like, I'm still learning how to animate in the first place. But we really are limited by the capabilities of our tools, and as much as I love ProCreate for static art, it left a ton to be desired in the animation department.

But the team that made ProCreate just announced they've made animation software. Not "are making," have made. And it's robust. It covers everything a full animation studio would do with multiple different softwares, all in one app. I can't even begin to say how excited I am for this. And it's only $20, where equally powerful—or hell, even less powerful—desktop animation software would easily cost $500 or more.

I'm so excited! I'll finally be able to follow along in a ton of the animation lessons I own! I couldn't do that before, because of ProCreate's limitations. Mostly the lack of animation timeline and I couldn't add sound—you know, the two most vital aspects of animation. But now I'll be able to! I just have to be patient until the end of November and fork over $20. And then? Then I'll be unstoppable.

I'm gonna conquer the fucking world, y'all.