#pjo has so far taken me like

[moss-sprouted]

just got struck by the memory that not only did i read the main percy jackson series during the summer when i was 11 (sea of monsters in one day) then i also proceeded to reread them in 7th grade but lie to my friends that it was my first time reading them for some reason

[aliveaudiencegang]

I wasn’t sure what I saw in his face. There was no clear sign of love or approval. Nothing to encourage me. It was like looking at the ocean: some days, you could tell what mood it was in. Most days, though, it was unreadable, mysterious. - (The Lightning Thief)

There was a different light in his eyes, a fiery kind of pride. “You did well Perseus. Do not misunderstand me. Whatever else you do, know that you are mine. You are a true son of the Sea God.

[The Lightning Thief]

I wasn’t sure how he would feel about seeing me again, but the corner of his eyes crinkled with smile lines. He nodded as if to say It’s okay.

[The Titan’s Curse]

I turned and found Poseidon smiling at me […] “Hello Percy, you’ve done well.”

[The Titan’s Curse]

“[…] And you Percy, are my favourite son.” He smiled, and at that moment, just being in the kitchen with him was the best birthday present I ever got.

[The Battle of the Labyrinth]

He held out his arms and gave me a hug. I realised, a little embarrassed, that I never actually hugged my dad before. […] When he pulled away, he smiled kindly at me.

[The Last Olympian]

Poseidon ‘showing no clear signs of love or approval’ towards Percy throughout the series

[dovedrangeas]

hmmm i just saw some Bad Fandom Content

[aroaceleovaldez]

random question but i came across a post of yours where you talked about how mark oshiro sort of erased an aspect of nico's ADHD by making a joke about how he only liked mythomagic cards because he's gay and there are hot guys on the cards, and then TSATS also seemed to really downplay the themes of neurodivergence in the series. and it made me wonder if you have any thoughts on how the show has portrayed the demigods' ADHD and dyslexia so far? i've seen some people say that the show also downplayed it a lot, and i'm inclined to agree... which feels really weird considering that rick's own son's neurodivergence was specifically a major inspiration for him writing the series. but if i recall correctly a lot of scenes showcasing that in the first book were taken out of the show.

Oh absolutely, a lot of scenes and general discussion about adhd/dyslexia were removed in the show (and some of the disability-coding in general - i appreciate the change they made with making Chiron disabled based on his mythos rather than just using a wheelchair as a disguise, but i wish they had kept Grover's crutches in a similar manner honestly) - I've made a couple of posts discussing it: here, here, and this reblog is relevant to my opinions about the matter. There's probably some other stuff in my pjo tv crit tag.

I think the main sentiment i have regarding it - which i've seen a couple of other people mention as well - is how much the show ignores or outright removes and downplays Percy's personal struggles with his disabilities to instead emphasize Sally's experiences instead, particularly in manners of her taking out her stress on Percy - which alongside being completely antithetical to Sally's role in the books, is pretty ableist and why I continually compare show!Sally to Autism Speaks Parents. Autism Speaks tends to make an emphasis on the struggles of the parents of autistic children rather than treating autistic individuals like a person experiencing their own struggles. One of the major points of Sally's character (and later Paul) in the books is that she's an incredibly accommodating parent and works hard to make sure Percy is supported when he's struggling with his disabilities, because he's not been able to find that accommodation elsewhere. That's part of why Sally is such a great mom in particular, and is intentionally supposed to directly contrast Annabeth's home life struggles with her parents having difficulty navigating how to provide that same level of accommodation to help support her (and how Annabeth finds that accommodation at CHB instead, because that's the metaphor that CHB is supposed to represent - an appropriately accommodating system they can rely on, and then exploring how that's still a flawed system and looking at how disabled kids/demigods fall through the cracks and how to change the system to better support them).

The show also almost completely ignores Percy's ADHD/dyslexia experiences in general after the first episode. I was honestly really happy with, in the first episode, how clearly Percy's poor experiences in the American education system, particularly relating to his neurodivergence, have informed his reaction to situations such as people trying to tell him he's a demigod in coded language. It was essentially the perfect update to something i've discussed in the past here, about how the original "all demigods have adhd/dyslexia because it's secretly SUPERPOWERS" thing was presented as the basis for the series and why that teaching/parenting style fell out of favor. We see Percy in e1 acknowledge how dismissive of his struggles it is to constantly just be told he's "special" - and we even get explicit acknowledgement of how that description is used aggressively and for ostracization (from Nancy), which is extremely true to the experiences of kids who grew up with that teaching/parenting structure. But then we get to episode 2 and... all the acknowledgement of ADHD/dyslexia/etc is gone. We get at most a one-off acknowledgement from Luke that demigods are all neurodivergent and that's it. Pretty much nothing else for the entire rest of the season, save for flashback scenes that only emphasize Sally's experiences, not acknowledge Percy's. No further acknowledgement of Percy's dyslexia, or Annabeth's, or anything about their ADHD, or even Percy's completely removed PTSD (which we know for sure because of both writer commentary [see: that second post i linked about the LA Times article] and Percy's total lack of reaction to Mr. D). Nothing.

It was extremely disheartening to say the least, having such a strong start and it evaporating completely, and I fully agree with you.

[catofadifferentcolor]

Greek God Thoughts: The Heart of the West (4/?)

One of the things that has always honestly, genuinely troubled me about the Percy Jackson series is the idea of the Heart of the West.

It's not the idea itself - Western Civilization which views itself as the direct inheritor of Ancient Greek and Roman culture is something which very much exists and which has been a very powerful motivator of empires for millennia. The Russian Empire, for instance, called itself The Third Rome, to say nothing of the innumerable lives lost trying to replicate the actions of Alexander the Great.

No, my problem is the fact that it moves.

Or, rather, that the timing and placement of these moves as hinted at in canon makes no sense. There's no earthly way anyone would have called the United States the Heart of the West during the 1860s, yet the Roman/Greek distrust is supposed to be a driving force behind the war and the the impetus for the two groups to be separated. And how would all of this worked when they were shunting around between countries in Europe anyway? Would the actual Mount Olympus serve as a backdoor to Olympus itself?

So this is my attempt to make sense of the movement of The Heart of the West as far as PJO is concerned.

Ancient Greece

Obviously the first Heart of the West is Ancient Greece, given we're talking about Greek Gods and Ancient Greek culture. This would have begun with the Gods and continued at least until the conquest of Greece by Phillip of Macedon in 338 BCE - Mount Olympus formed the border between Thessaly and Macedon in antiquity after all - and probably continued well into the Roman Republic. Olympus remains at Mount Olympus so long that the idea it might ever move should seem absurd - and, when all things are taken into account, have been the home of the Gods for as long as all the other put together.

Ancient Rome

But how do we account for Ancient Rome? It came onto the scene in 753 BCE, before even the Pentecontaetia, and adopted much of the Greek Gods and culture as their own.

I argue that the Gods remained primarily Greek until the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BCE. After that, they are predominately thought of and act as their Roman forms, with the main entrance to Olympus moving to somewhere on the Capitoline Hill. There's still a "bridge" or "backdoor" to the original Mount Olympus, but it's like an old rope bridge over a deep ravine - sure, you can use it, but most won't risk it. The change from Greek to Roman should seem near complete to outside observers, and might have been if not for later events.

Constantinople

The Heart of the West remains in Rome until 330 CE, when Constantine moves the capitol of the Empire to Constantinople. This begins as a very Greek city which is quickly and drastically Romanized, but over time returns to its largely Greek roots. (That is, for all the western Roman empire became Latinized, the eastern, Byzantine part largely remained Hellenized.) A lot of the palace coups the empire is famous for can be framed as the Gods' Greek and Roman aspects at war.

It was not a good time for demigods, with both CJ and CHB existing in a near-constant state of civil war.

All of this continues until the Fourth Crusade, when Latin Christians besiege, sack, and eventually conquer the city in 1204. Just as the people, books, treasures, and relics carried westward were said to fuel the future Renaissance, the crusaders also carried back the Heart of the West. But where to?

Holy Roman Empire & France

I argue that after the Fourth Crusades, the Heart of the West went first to the Holy Roman Empire - which did after all claim continuity with Rome - and France - which was culturally dominate even when it was not politically or militarily. Perhaps it started in one and moved to the other, or bounced between locations depending on the generation, or had two sets of main entrances to Olympus for most of this period.

The exact details here are where I'm most fuzzy. All I can tell you is that the Heart of the West would have left France with the death of Louis XIV in 1715. Or perhaps it was a lingering death, ending no later than the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Regardless of the details, it is certainly gone by the time the French Revolution gets underway.

British Empire

Given how its inhabitants viewed themselves as the natural, direct inheritors of all the best parts of western culture, it makes sense that Olympus would move to London during the height of the British Empire. It's vast merchant marine and impressive navy far outstripped anything else of the time, which reads as very Greek to me in a way that Napoleon, for all he was trying to echo parts of the Roman Empire, never quite managed. (It is a headcanon of mine that Horatio Nelson was the last great son of Poseidon before Percy. Hell, perhaps Napoleon was a son of Zeus and the Napoleonic Wars were just another Big Three kids fight as far as PJO is concerned.)

But for all canon's talk of Washington being a son of Athena and the American Civil War being a clash between Greek and Roman camps, the Heart of the West remains in the British Empire until the Second World War. There are a variety of reasons for this, not the least because I envision the concept of Heart of the West as an intersection of cultural hegemony, military strength, and economic vitality that, while not quite aligning with the modern idea of superpowers, certainly has some overlap.

For all the American Frontier Wars succeeded in asserting US military and cultural dominance on a regional basis, compared to the cultural, linguistic, legal, and historical legacy of the British Empire at the same time, it is impossible to argue the fledgling United States had the same. (It was, in fact, one of those cultural, linguistic, legal, and historical legacies.) It would take until the Spanish-American War for the United States to start approaching the same level of influence... and the Second World War itself for the British Empire to start declining enough for the Heart of the West to take up residence elsewhere.

United States

And so there we have it - the Heart of the West could not take up residence in the United State any earlier than 1944. (If one wants to be particularly pedantic, unless the entrance to Olympus moves within an area after it gets settled, it couldn't arrive in NYC any earlier than 1931, when the Empire State Building was finished.) I imagine this was a quick wartime move for the Olympians and their children, happening virtually overnight compared to some of the other power shifts, and that this is reflected in the camps. Particularly CHB.

After all, if the Second World War was supposed to have been caused by children of the Big Three, there would have had to be multiple adult children of the oldest gods for this to happen. If those children spent any time at CHB at all, the Greek camp would have had to have had more than just a few small cabins for only the children of the Olympian gods - it's just a matter of logistics. You'd need bigger cabins - and presumably ones with multiple rooms so that the adults aren't bunking in the same room as the little kids.

The CHB we see in PJO is therefore the result of this quick wartime move - the handful of kids too young to be involved in the war throw something together quick that will get them by until the war's over and things go back to normal. But because of the Oath things never go back to normal: most of the adult demigods died in the war, and there aren't any new children of Zeus or Poseidon. Demigods start dying younger because the adult siblings that would have trained them just aren't there, and the ones that remain never know camp was any different. CJ, not having been as involved in the war, is set up along its usual lines on the opposite coast.

But what about the Civil War?

The Civil War - and, indeed, all the other places mentioned as the Heart of the West without it making sense to have been such - can be put down to the fact that the Greek Gods do not stay in Greece. The whole idea of the Heart of the West is one wherein Western culture spreads outwards from a culturally dominate center.

The Civil War? One could argue that Ceres would have been drawn to the plantations in the American South, as they'd bear some resemblance to the plantation farms of the Roman Empire. Hephaestus might have been drawn to the industrialization happening in New England and Athena, ever the flashpoint, would certainly have had a hand in a fledgling democracy. Shake and you get a destructive war that draws in allied demigods without the Heart of the West ever twitching in London.

The Heart of the West is mentioned as having been in Spain or Portugal? Perhaps some gods took more interest in these parts of the world than wherever Olympus happened to be at the time - Poseidon probably had a huge hand in the Age of Exploration, and wars anywhere in the world might have drawn Ares' or Mars' attention - but their presence was never enough to cause a wholesale shift. Perhaps these places could have become the Heart of the West but never succeeded in displacing wherever held it at the time; their influence was felt to greater and lesser degrees by the campers as a whole, but Olympus never moved.

TL;DR?

As much as I love PJO and should not expect a children's fantasy series to have a self-consistent backstory which makes sense when viewed in light of certain historical realities... I do. I've tried to logically make sense of The Heart of the West and the various locations which Olympus might conceivably be thought to dwell in light of actual history, but am far from an expert in the subject.

That being said, I stand by the Heart of the West having been:

Greece / Mount Olympus (??? - 197 BCE)

Roman Empire / Rome (197 BCE - 330 CE)

Eastern Roman Empire / Constantinople (330 CE - 1204)

Holy Roman Empire / Vienna (1204 - ???)

France / Paris (??? - 1715/1759)

British Empire / London (1715/1759 - 1944)

United States / New York City (1944 - ???)

GGT: 0,1,2,3

[helpallthenamesaretakensblog]

EPISODE 6 (just realised no one is asking me to do this too bad) spoilers for series up ahead

ITS NOT A MUSICAL EPISODE 😭

Disney was too broke to show us the animals in the zoo truck WHYY

why am i so happy for the second seaweed brain, man the things being a pjo fan does to you

The way you could see luke’s smile drop when they say that they found the lightning thief (:) —> :/)

The way luke didn’t even let them finish he was like “CLARISSE YES CLARISSE SHE MUST BE THE ROBBER”

No one’s talking about “Chiron should arrest her” Not the mental image of chiron holding a gun saying “ANY WORD CAN AND WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU IN COURT” while clarisse is pushed into a police car lollll

Old married couple im falling out of my chair plsssss if luke did something right in his life it was this

i love annabeth’s face like she knew this was coming the older brother-sister dynamic is POPPING

Disney really needed a way to show that grover liked animals and had convos with them without actually showing them lol

cue the “omg animals are so elegant” speech which served nothing at all

WHATS THE POINT OF ZEBRA TO VEGAS IF THERE AIN’T NO ZEBRA MR HOUSE OF MOUSE????

Idk but i kind of miss the trio action so far this show has only been percabeth + grover instead of percy + annabeth + grover you can tell they’re focusing more on fan service and developing percabeth than developing the more important dynamics which are the three of them having fun

oh HELLO RANDOM CAMEL WHO ISNT EVEN A ZEBRA BUT WHATEVER

“You are two seconds ahead of meeee” the simp eyes the simp eyes

The lotus casino from the outside is so COOL

LEVITATING BY DUA LIPA (some of yall still stuck in poker face era so im leaving it at that)

WISE GIRL I REPEAT WE GOT WISE GIRL (i was honestly expecting it to sound super corny on screen but walker pulled it off like he always does)

look im so mad about the fact that there’s no montage of them being silly little kids and having fun at arcade games. It hits so hard since percy has never afforded to visit fun places, annabeth has never left camp so is absolutely thriving with her architect games, grover is hunting down humans which was so funny and cool and they decided to make it more serious and plot centred

”ill take percy this way” WHY CAN’T GROVER TAKE PERCY THAT WAY HUH ANNABETH? 🤨 (girl just say you want to spend time with him)(and disney say you just wanna write more percabeth scenes)

I love the ‘if you dont know, i dont know either 😄’ mentality that percy has, he knows annabeth wants to be in charge now so he’s just feeding into the hubris

The augustus plot was so weird ngl but it was a great way to introduce the pan stuff

“Biaannncaaaaa biancaaaaaa” NICCOOOOOOO

He sounds so little and innocent and cute 🥺 im so sad now

GROVERRRRRR REMEMBERRRRRR

i gotta say, i guess that i was taken away by the people making fun of lin manuel miranda, but his acting was really really good

We got some may castellan exposition early

Percy thinking that the only thing he could do to sally was hurting her 🥹

i really hope they talk about that later on, you know we love some angst around here (especially with the dreams of the headmaster which was from the books!!! I was thinking that they’d cut it! But they didnt!! But it speaks volumes about percy that he has nightmares of headmasters)

I WANT ANNABETH FLASHBACK ANGST

annabeth pickpocketing the god of thieves will forever be her girlbossiest moment

”Im multitalented” percy: 😍💙🥰🥹 🤩(walker’s acting be that amazing is it not obvious by now that percy likes annabeth)

“Who’s grover ☺️?” “Wait, i know grover 😅!” Walker is cementing himself in the percy throne every single episode

”wow grover got really old😃”

“you lose sight of what’s important when you’re alone” “we weren’t alone 🥰” poor grover

The eons long wait to see how percy was hugging while falling the way down is finally over

The way that you can see percy’s empathy shining through his eyes as grover talked about pan>>>> (honestly tho, hug!)

the way they focused on percy’s reaction, i know this is going to be something he brings up as a reason for him to sacrifice himself for hades

Percy and annabeth looking at grover like “ ok mr. 24 DRIVE US”

Percy trying to drive a car will forever be cinema and comedy peak

The road rage this child has its so funny BEEP BEEP

annabeth: 😁 percy: 🥹 *cutely crashes car and almost kills her* PERCY IS TRULY GIVING A LOSER BOY WHO HAS NEVER HAD A GIRL LOOK AT HIM AND THATS SO PERCY OF HIM

the heartbreak in percy’s eyes alexa play the moment i knew by taylor swift

Four pearls?? *cue that one meme where that girl is calculating*

the way my smile faded when i saw annabeth hanging over the cliff TOO SOON RICK TOO SOON

[dancingdorito]

ok pjo tumblr let me know if i'm wrong.

in the books, waterland is in denver, colorado. the trio get back on the amtrak and get to denver after the arch incident from st. louis, missouri.

as someone who was born in america and has traveled all over, i am confused. it takes DAYS to drive to a different state in the midwest. I've done it. multiple times.

So if the kids presumably walk out of st. louis, then waterland should be right outside st. louis.

they didn't WALK to denver. it would have taken 13 straight days, or 313 hours to do that. and we don't know if they hitchhiked.

but also, at the end of the episode outside the diner, the surrounding buildings almost look like denver. but no mountains. so its not likely that that was in denver.

ares says "in a few hours, this thing is gonna be at the Lotus Casino in Vegas" in reference to the truck he opens for the trio.

the issue is:

this is how far st. louis is to las vegas

THAT IS NOT "A FEW HOURS".

even if they somehow DID make it to denver by a mode of transportation that we arent aware of:

that's still almost 12 hours. which makes more sense to what ares said, but also there is no way that the trio is in denver. especially when they haven't shown how far they walked.

SO,

I am confused at how this is realistic (not that it HAS to be). but i'm positive i am not the only one with this question.

Is the animal truck also some form of transportation by hermes, so that it moves faster? like how ares said hermes' personal driver would take them to LA? (which is only about a 4 hour drive) OR is this something they didn't think about??

If i'm missing something, feel free to comment. I an just confused and I don't know if i'm missing something, but i've watched the episode twice already and I want answers.

thank you

[redlazuly]

so i've just joined the pjo series discourse on sm (i've read all the books) so maybe people might have already said this but i feel like the monster fights are kinda underwhelming ?? the fights themselves but the atmosphere around them too. i'm just going to say it point by point to be clearer :

Mrs. Dodds: she's the first monster and threat of the show. i was waiting for something scary and surprising, that would have terrified percy or something. but instead the "reveal" was slow, and there wasn't even a fight, he just kind of opened the sword (even tho we don't even see him doing it) and she just. dies like that ?? it was really easy and i get that they can't just kill percy in the first ep but there wasn't even a bit of struggle or anything. tbh this first fight really dissapointed me. there was mystery that creates an intrigue but she just wasn't scary or a menace imo (EDIT : I HAVE NOW REREAD THE SCENE AND IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT THIS IS EXACTLY HOW THE FIGHT PLAYS OUT IN THE BOOK (extract down below) so forget everything i said in this part, i'm sorry. )

2. The minotaur : i liked this one much more than the first one, the car chase was thrilling and the atmosphere of the scene was really cool. i've only got one little thing to say about it, but i think it's just a me thing and i'm nitpicking (idk how to make gifs so i hope you can picture it in your head) :

when sally takes percy's jacket to lure the minotaur away from the boys and uses it as a red cape like in a corrida, i think it kinds of take the attention away from the fear of the monster in itself by being comedic. AGAIN i know i'm nitpicking here but why not say it.

(also i regret that the last scene was so far away from the camera and from the camp border. i know it's bc it's percy's pov but i loved percy's desperation in the movie (I KNOW IT'S BAD) when he's failing to save his mother and finally sees her (and her emotions) when she is gets taken away from him.)

3. Medusa : i LOVED what they tried to do with medusa and how they tried to make us sympathise with her. however, the fight was REALLY dissapointing to me. it kind of happened from nowhere. it's implied that it's annabeth plan but it really happened way too fast and did not give enought time for the viewer to appreciate the threat that medusa can be. it felt way to easy for them to beat MEDUSA. the fight lasted 5 seconds max and it felt shy in a way, like as if they didn't not want to fuck it up.

+ special mention : 4. Clarisse: I'M NOT SAYING SHE'S A MONSTER, I'M JUST PUTTING HER HERE BC TECHNICALLY SHE WAS A THREAT TO PERCY. i like dior's acting, idk anything about her outside of the show but i'm going to be honest : not knowing the cast at all, at first i immediately thought she was drew 😭. she IS a really pretty girl but for me she doesn't emanate clarisse's ares' daughter vibe. when her spear broke she was so GOOD, but appart from that she's just really chill i think ? like she's not menacing, she just kind of a mean girl bully (which clarisse is ig but she's not a menace enough imo) and tbh i think she's just not as "rough" as i think she could have been.

tldr : i think the fights were not scary enough and did not set a good tone for the series. they were also too easy and fast for them to be enjoyable.

of course i still enjoy this show a lot so i will be watching the next episodes and the rest of it so maybe there will be improvements. please yell what you guys think !!

it's the first time i ever talk so much on tumblr, so i hope it was readable. if there was any mistakes please tell me, english is not my first language.

[livixbobbiex]

More on ADHD and acceptance in Percy Jackson

TLDR: Percy Jackson was a formative ADHD representation experience for me, even though I didn't know at the time, and I hope it can be that for others too. Mostly a slightly tmi personal tale, but this has a point I promise.

I was a teenager during that specific sweet spot where internet culture had taken off, but Tiktok wasn't a thing yet. Social media was less algorithm based. This meant that my exposure to ADHD as a concept was somewhat less than what you see nowadays.

Percy Jackson was pretty much the first (and only) exposure I had to ADHD. And because I was around 13 when I first picked it up, I hadn't figured myself out yet, so I didn't have that instant relational experience. What I did relate to, though, was the emotional weight. Percy's narrative voice sucked me in, because even if I didn't understand 'ADHD' fully, I fundamentally got the otherness. The weird sense of just being different from other people. I used to daydream about being whisked away too, that I would get some explanation for why I was Other. So when I read the PJO books, it was a case of deeply understanding that narrative, but not fully knowing why.

I was able to fully pin down that I was probably an ADHDer by 16 or so (more after things like internet quizzes and specific research). And I was only able to actively start the diagnosis process when I was 18.

So when I read the Percy Jackson (and Heroes of Olympus by this point) books again with that context, it was a different experience. It didn't teach me that I was ADHD (I will say, the books don't really focus on that and consistently tie behaviours back to it explicitly). But they don't portray ADHD as a negative thing and that's very important. There is legitimate room for criticism of the 'ADHD superpower narrative' in the early books especially, don't get me wrong, but for my young self this was legitimately so helpful.

What it meant was that for me, my first true experience with ADHD was a sensation of okayness and acceptance. As Percy was told, there's nothing wrong with him, he was just built different, brain tuned to be better at different things. Yeah, the 'mortal' world is difficult to cope with, but that doesn't mean that Percy was somehow wrong or broken. Just... different. Which I suppose is the reason Rick started telling those stories in the first place, too.

That message is what stuck with me super hard, when I could directly apply it to myself. It's a fundamental part of why I have never been afraid of my diagnosis, and why I'm comfortable being super open about it both online and in my day to day life. I genuinely do not think I would be in nearly as good a position in life as I am today, had I not read those books.

So yeah. I'm stoked that the series is back in huge relevance. I absolutely love the way that ADHD has been portrayed so far in the show. In general I think access to information about ADHD nowadays is a net positive, though I do share concerns that there's a tendency to over medicalise/hyperfixate on the condition part of it. So, it does make me happy to get the kind of representation that's far more in the 'you're not broken by being different' lane, because that's something we could frankly all use more of.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Hi 👋

First off, I'm sorry about the weirdo that was harassing you on the percy jackson post! They were rude and clearly unwilling to have a proper conversation, and honestly you were definitely in the right in that interaction. (Srsly wtf were up with the noose pictures!??)

However, I had actually heard something similar to that they were (in a very roundabout and mean way) talking about, so I checked up on it. So as far as I can see: the problem is that Riordan has taken a neutral stance on the ongoing genocide in Palestine, claiming to support peace for both sides. This has led many people to want to boycott the new series.

Also, zionism (according to Britannica): "Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine" Basically those in support of Israel.

Tbh I'm not entirely educated on this topic, so this is as far as I know, I just thought you might be interested!

(Feel free not to answer this ask, just msg me if I've crossed any boundaries or if I'm wrong!)

Dw you're all good!!!Yeah fr,she was being such a freak💀And surprise surprise,she adressed neither my post @'ing her nor my reply both pointing out she was literally harrasing a black teen for being my friend and defending me even they're actively pro-palestine like that really made it obvious they were just looking for an excuse to be a dick and don't actually care about helping people and she deserves awful things for it seeing as the excuse she was using was fucking Israel and Palestine when she's neither jewish nor arab.And as for Rick,him being a willingly ignorant bigot with his head up his ass is nothing new but it's 100% valid to draw the line and drop Pjo on this one and that's why i'm firmly against using Disney+ for it and think it should be pirated instead.That's all i'm gonna say on this since i'm also not arab or jewish either and it should be the same for all other non-arab people and gentiles because it is isn't our place to speak on things like this and i know if i looked for the opinions of people who're actually effected by this they'd have different ones because minorities aren't a hivemind and it's very weird to act like they are(Also ty for giving me actual context instead of making shit up about me like that one asshole!!)

[olympialogy]

PJO SHOW - SPOILERS!

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR EPISODES 1-2 SEASON 1 OF PJO SHOW ON DISNEY+!! ALSO BOOK SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 1-5!

So we all know that Luke has kind of taken over Annabeth's role so far & is gonna make the betrayal hit harder (I love all of your asks about it, @11queensupreme11). But when a tall, hispanic kid (that looks suspiciously like a guy from my school) came on screen when Percy was talking with Luke, I yelled, "Chris Rodriguez?!" My family looked at me like I was crazy, but y'all...it's CHRIS. and when Percy goes "i have friends and I think they really like me?" to his mom, because he's never had friends (except for Grover.)... I STARTED CRYING (and got yelled at lol). The betrayal is gonna hit x2000 because Chris, who I think Percy also counts as a friend, joins Kronos (until he leaves in books 3-4). So we're going to be crying our eyes out, right?

Plus I love how they're showing Annabeth so far- it they're going down the 'romance' route, then it's going to be a real Enemies-to-Lovers.

[the-technorats]

percy series ep 3 thoughts

so you can't rate shows on letterbox'd so i'm going to log my pjo thoughts here: (spoilers for ep3) (watched 27 dec 2023)

oracle scene was funny. for all the show onlys, it seems as though grover is the one kind of being built up as the character who's going to betray percy (at least in the beginning of this ep), which is an interesting choice.

on the action sequences (part 1): i do think the action sequences are pretty lackluster. when i rewatched the percy jackson lightning thief movie, the action and violence and reactions seemed very proportionate - like, the appearance of a horrifying monster actually had impact, whereas i feel like in the show, the pacing and choreography make it seem pretty banal.

the fight with the fury on the bus was uninteresting and didn't seem like much of a fight at all. annabeth's supposed to be quick and athletic and a really skilled knife fighter (skilled enough that she can even use a knife as her primary weapon instead of a sword) but there so far hasn't really been any proof of that. i'm willing to be a lot more generous though because the actors are very young and the target audience is clearly much younger than i am as well, and it's obvious that for those reasons they're trying to avoid violence/body horror/gore. however, the fight scene with clarisse in ep 2 was incredibly well-shot and choreographed, and it had action and movements that felt real and impactful, so i don't know why they don't try to achieve the same things with the other fight/action sequences.

on medusa: i was so interested by the way they were going to decide to portray medusa's story, especially because of sally's comment in ep 1 to percy about perseus being a hero because 'he killed monsters' like medusa: "who said she was a monster?"

i loved em's line: "the gift the gods gave me is that I cannot be bullied anymore," which initially insinuated to me that this adaptation of medusa is the one who was sexually assaulted by poseidon in athena's temple, so athena made it so no man could pull that with her ever again, but then they went with the "athena decided I embarrassed her and needed to be punished" story which i kind of feel like isn't totally consistent with the "gift" narrative? i mean they can be mutually exclusive in that what may have been originally a punishment from a god can be taken as a gift since she has to live with and make the best of it, but when medusa called herself "a survivor" and talked about "bullies" (a term that makes sense in the context given that it's a kid's/middle grade show) i will admit i was hoping it would go a different direction. alternately though if she were a SA survivor i don't know if killing her would have been the right move in the end lmao and ik they had to kill her for the plot.

i do think there was a more overarching message of the importance of understanding the unheard/unrepresented sides of stories as well as the lesson for annabeth that the gods aren't infallible and morally just but are petty and vindictive and cruel and humanlike. so i think the story was dealt with pretty well, all things considered.

on medusa and the action sequences (part 2): again, i think medusa's death scene was pretty anticlimactic. (this is not because i see them as adaptations of equal quality or even on the same playing field at all, but again,) to compare it to the pjo:tlt movie - the movie's medusa fight scene had a lot more impact; the tension and fear and stakes felt a lot more heightened and real while still being quite comedic/entertaining.

cool idea, in the show, using the hat to turn medusa invisible, but again, i wasn't ever actually convinced that the characters felt scared, under pressure, winded/tired after fighting, or even emotionally scarred by the intensity of the moment/having to decapitate someone. while all of the other scenes portray high emotions very impactfully and earnestly (i.e. sadness, wistfulness, loneliness, hurt/comfort), i have yet to be convinced that any of the demigods have been even a little bit frightened of any of the monsters, from the first fury attack at the met, and this unfortunately makes the stakes seem much lower.

while i understand the focus of the show is on character building (mainly through the dialogue), i don't see why the fight/action scenes can't be just as visually compelling and impactful. the emotional tension between the characters and the depiction of each character's internal conflicts, while powerful, can only do so much if the plot itself isn't supporting those developments, and I feel like the addition of the action sequences in the books serves to elevate the storyline to match the emotional stakes. they can tell the story as much as they want thru voice-over and dialogue, but the characters' physical actions represent just as much about the characters and their choices and motivations as their direct interactions with each other. i think maybe some of this stems from not wanting the story to be misinterpreted or to in any way resemble the movies, but you have to trust your audience. you can't just say everything explicitly, and if you do have to, then i don't think a tv show is the right medium in which to tell the story, which is typically my main issue with book-to-movie/tv adaptations.

anyway, while this seems like a lot of criticism, it's really only that one overarching problem that stands out to me. i obviously love the source material and (anyway would argue that i have to love it in order to want to think about it this much) the show itself, and the actors, and this has absolutely EVERYTHING to do with the fact that it's extremely extremely obvious how thought-out, how deliberate every single minute detail is. if there's one thing at all that matters to me, it's creators who care about their work, and this is a perfect example of ones who do.

on tv show percabeth: BRO "I CHOSE HER 'CAUSE I COULDN'T IMAGINE WE'D EVER BE FRIENDS" ???? FUCKING INSANE THING TO PUT IN THE SCRIPT LIKE?? they were NEVER this explicitly antagonistic toward each other in the books holy FUCK i mean. this drastically changes the trajectory and future impact of the slow-burn. the books were strangers to friends to lovers - maybe strangers to annoyances to friends to lovers if we're being generous, but the show is really going for that enemies to lovers arc huh. the fan edits are gonna go so fucking crazy once we start getting toward the final 2 books. and for them to only have one itty-bitty kiss midway thru botl with no emotional catharsis or resolution until the tail end of tlo? we're all gonna be absolutely frothing at the mouth for it when it finally finally finally comes around.

excited for next week!! i've been dying for the st. louis arch scene.

[yonemurishiroku]

I definitely remember plot holes and continuity errors in the earlier books... but I can't recall there being nearly as many as there are in TSATS. Also (and I'll admit I haven't reread PJO and HOO in a while) I don't remember the main storylines in any other book being built almost ENTIRELY on plot holes and continuity errors. Those are the main differences for me.

Firstly, it seems to me that you’ve taken my post as a defense for TSATS’ errors - and I’m sorry if you did not - but actually, by saying ‘TSATS isn’t special’, I meant that it isn’t flawless, and people need to accept it instead of putting it on a nonexistent pedestal. Basically: defending the legit criticism it’s receiving, which is roughly the same idea as you.

With that being said, let see how I can dissect this.

- I’m aware TSATS has many inconsistencies. Though, I don’t consider it ‘built almost entirely’ on plot holes etc… Idk, I guess it’s still… acceptable to me? Except that part when Nico didn’t mention Hazel in Tartarus wth? True, the re-imagining of Tartarus is toned down quite… considerably, which is still on the table for debate. So that’s basically 50/50.

Nonetheless: Assuming TSATS makes a ton more inconsistencies compared to the rest of the series, I think I can make offer some plausible reason for the fact.

So far, I can think of three reasons:

TSATS is (currently) the last book of the series

TSATS is about a returning journey.

TSATS isn’t written by only Rick, but another author as well.

The first point is quite simple. TSATS is the last book of a widely expanded and well-built series. Logically, everything that preceded the book is considered canon materials and basically something you cannot change (plot twist is another thing we don’t talk about that here).

That is 15 main books, not mentioning the side stories. You have to admit that it’s a huge amount of information to keep track of. Everytime I write a fanfic, it’s hellish to go back and search for one specific paragraph or a certain description. Rick is just a human.

By the same logic, the younger the books get, there’re more things Rick needs to cross-check to make sure everything follows the right trail and doesn’t just lose some screws in the middle of the road.

The old books are less likely to have this issue - they still do! - but it might be less common, having less material to be caged in. Whereas, being the latest book - with 15 books preceding, TSATS is the most likely to have continuity error(s).

Half of TSATS is about the old.

Again. Re-imaging some old material meaning you have to have a good grasp of said provided materials to re-introduce it again without risking either ruining everything you’ve built or failing with adding the new elements.

- Generally, taking PJO as the starting point, the first 5 books revolves mainly around Camp Half-blood. The sequel - HOO - focuses on Camp Half-blood, Camp Jupiter, and their journeys in different lands, half of which is spent in another continent.

Obviously, HOO explores a new territory - in which Rick was free to make up as he goes. Because it was new ! There’s nothing Rick needed to stick to when there was nothing to begin with.

- The 2nd sequel - TOA - ok I haven’t read this 🥲😂 but I’m assuming with the emergence of Apollo, a god-turned-mortal. The narrator would be immensely different - again: new land, free will.

- TSATS is about Nico - an veteran character, so to speak - going back to Tartarus - a place we have seen, have watched, through the eyes of two protagonists, no less. Both we have seen very close. And the problem with exposure is that:

1/ There’re many things to stick to - as explained

2/ It’s hard to merge new things - because the same as 1/, people tend to go by what they alr knew in a familiar land. And it’s exactly what happened to Nico’s new character development in TSATS, which is still in debating.

Co-authoring. I suppose I don’t have to speak too much about this. The only one who has the best grasp of a fictional universe is its creator(s). Mark Oshiro isn’t the one who created Riordanverse. Of course there would be something they miss during the process of literally re-creating it.

These are what I managed so far.

With this being said, I want to make it clear that I am not defending the inconsistencies in TSATS. I’m merely explaining to figure out the reasons behind it.

IMO, as the author of a published book collection, Rick - more than everyone - is responsible for delivering his content the best way - which also includes the consistence and coherency and… everything else. As the creator, he (and maybe his team of editors in the editing and proofreading process, only if this is included in their job description) must keep track of the content he offered to the general audiences.

Who else’s gonna do it if not him? The readers surely won’t. They don’t pay money for this.

In the case of co-writting, good communication should be the key in guaranteeing the right undisturbed flow of work. Ofc, it’s only theoretical. I obviously don’t know how they work tgt so take this as a grant of salt lmao.

That’s pretty much it. Hope this helps anon.

[morningsound15]

Hey just dropping in to say I'm rereading winged cupid painted again and it really means a lot to me. I'm also a writer so I know it always feels a lil weird to have people focusing on super old work (my ancient ass PJO and X-Men fics from high school 8+ years ago somehow still get more engagement than anything else lol) but I appreciate the care put in doing research about blindness, and the little things like frustration with people moving stuff around or being touched randomly. This is stuff people complain about all the time in blind circles I run in, like just yesterday on this discord server I'm in. The writing is gorgeous and I love the way you write the characters. I was never into the 100 really but am always starving for decently written disabled characters that don't fall into the magical/medical fix, "O Woe I A Blind Character Written By A Sighted Author Am Doomed To A Life Of Misery How Am I To Exist With This Cursed Affliction", or just generally painfully stereotypical with face touching and the like. As I said, never super into the 100 for its own right and consequently the characters have taken on a life of their own in my head, they feel like your characters, really. Anyway, I'm rambling but this story is very close to my heart and while I know it's likely a bit too old to be something that'll continue, I'd even love to commission something from you if that's ever feasible. Even if not, your work means a lot to me and I'm probably going to go and comment chapter by chapter as I reread.

thank you so much for this ask! I'm sorry I didn't see it when you first sent it, I've been on the app and you know how weird the app can be with notifications.

I really appreciate you sending this! That story is something that I wrote a really long time ago, it was one of the first long multi-chapter fics I ever attempted, and though I can't necessarily speak to how well it holds up as a piece of writing (my writing style has changed so much since I wrote it that reading it is like reading something by a different author), I am really so very glad people still find something meaningful in it. Realistically I don't think I'll ever finish it, I'm just too far removed from the mindset I was in when I started to write it, and I'm too distant from the characters to satisfyingly wrap up their stories. But knowing that you found it after all these years and enjoyed it really means a lot to me.

Readers who find old stories, even old unfinished ones, and take the time to message and/or comment about them are the backbone of fandom, really truly! Thank you for the kind words.

[threeeyesslitthroat]

i think the hardest thing about watching the new PJO show is that I'm realizing that this isn't really the adaptation that I expected.

Frankly, the show is fine. Literally. The only thing that is saving this show's ass at this point is that they casted the characters really well. I really hate the fact that I'm saying this but the show is mid. And yes the show isn't done yet but it is mid.

Honestly I realized it too late but the PJO series would have worked best as a film series, not a television series. The first movie by Fox? (Am never, ever, acknowledging the second one) Pretty much its only actual crime was trying to squeeze the lightning thief into two hours. And so far it's a better adaptation of the energy and pace that the lightning thief novel actually has. (That movie failed in characterization by a lot but I'm going for energy and pace here)

Really, the pjo tv show is really throwing off my groove rn because in universe the world's very ass is at stake here and it's cutting its pace into bite sized chunks it is killing the energy.

I've always believed that the pjo series should have been a film series and the the tv show is proving me right. Personally they should have taken notes from Michael Bay and made four hour movies like his transformers.

No seriously, they should have taken a lot of notes from Michael Bay and his transformers movies. Say what you will but that guy was like really efficient in providing information to the audience (to the point of being blunt but the principle is there to learn from) and his fight scenes and maintaining a high stakes energy through most of the series. You could really just take those factors and combine with the heart and character of PJO and you have a kick ass series that could have the emotional resonance of Lord of The Rings and the hype of Endgame/Infinity War and blow the profits of the Harry Potter Series out of the water. I'm talking major ass smer blockbusters that become pop culture icons in their own right.

Seriously, PJO always had the potential for what I just described and they really aren't realizing it whatsoever.

Seriously I do have my reasons to dislike RR but I will say that the pace of the books is very nice. Really nice. They have a slightly slower pace, since the quests take place over a minimum of two weeks or less, in contrast to the Bay transformers films that take place over four to six days max. But RR was also really good at maintaing a pretty high energy story. Sure he slowed it down enough to have emotional moments but still, high energy throughout. That's why the final chapters of The Last Olympian literally feel like a massive weight is off the readers shoulders. At long last the end goal of the world not ending has been met. We no longer have to worry about next book of death risking adventures.

Like I know its been a while since I've tead pjo but those novels are imprinted in my brain and I know that those novels were very high paced. A pcae that isn't suitable for television because to cut that pace into episodes is to neuter the shit out of the original experience.

Honestly Heroes of Olympus is what deserves a tv show. Heroes of Olympus takes place over the span of months, probably eighteen or so, a good portion of the story is literally just traveling over the United states to over the sea to Europe and Tartarus to back to the United states. Listen I know Heroes of Olympus has bigger problems but honestly each and every one of those novels would make a less than solid film. They would create cool scenes, and have good acting and design, but seriously, imagine trying to put Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus as well as the adventures of the remaining seven in the same three hour movie. It would barely work. TV show is better for Heroes of Olympus than PJO, especially if it has a fraction of Game of thrones budget. Imagine 50-82 minute length episodes, for Heroes of Olympus, specifically.

And honestly Magnus Chase (if it ever gets green lit by the time I'm 39) should definitely be a film trilogy, preferably R-rated, considering its pace and energy.

*the Kane Chronicles are harder to pin down because at the very least Moon Knight proves that Egyptian myth cam be entertaining tv but the Kane Chronicles frankly, weren't RR's strongest in the first place. Especially because Egyptian mythology operates on a different style to GrecoRoman and this it's world building is a touch more complex and not in the intriguing way.

*also Im ignoring the Trials of Apollo because I didn't read them and I don't want to.

[tsarinatorment]

10. For Nico 🤔

10. I recognize canon has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it (+ what should have happened)

Well, anyone who gets me started on Nico's abilities in the discord will probably see this coming a mile off but: Nico got nerfed and I am still mad about it.

Nico is a son of Hades. He is a child of the big three. He is Percy's peer. So why oh why are some of his powers taken from him entirely, and his most commonly used one gets a huge backlash added on?

Now, when it comes to the big three kids, Percy in canon is clearly more powerful than the rest, and ordinarily I would hammer down the nail that's sticking up too high (and honestly I do take offence at Percy being able to overpower a primordial's own domain, I admit), but in this case... Big Three Kids are supposed to be overpowered to heck. That's the whole thing about them in PJO, why they took the oath to have no kids etc. They're supposed to be powerhouses in a completely different league to the rest of the demigods, but honestly Jason and Hazel barely register at all, Bianca never got the chance, Thalia likewise suddenly stopped being all major and Big Three ish once she joined the Hunt, and Nico got nerfed in two stages.

Stage one: come HOO his geokinesis is just gone. Rick literally went "Hazel is gonna have the earth powers so Nico can't have them any more" and while this got brought back a tad in HOH where Nico mentioned something about his earth sensing abilities being pathetic compared to Hazel's. Bear in mind that it was his geokinesis, not shadow travel, or summoning the dead, or controlling skeletons, or anything else, that revealed his parentage to Kronos in BOTL. It was not a small, throwaway power that could be quietly faded into obscurity, that was a pretty major thing he could do that he suddenly lost.

Stage two: after transporting the Athena Parthenon, his shadow travel turns him into mush constantly. Yes, okay, giving him some backlash from that because it was utterly ridiculous to pull off is fair (and the fact that when he was younger, in TLO, it tired him is also valid), but the fact that he seems to pass out from using it no matter how short a distance in TOA... no. Don't like that. Personally, I'd have made it that after the initial recovery, his limit for shadow travel went up, not down...

So, what I'd have done instead: Keep Nico's geokinesis. Yes, keep it much weaker than what Hazel can do, and make it cost him far more energy to do (and make Hazel's way more impressive than it is right now because it could be), but don't just suddenly strip that ability from him. Also up his shadow travel limit by TOA. Let him take more people, go further, before needing to rest (but by all means keep a fretting Will in the background because there's still, eventually, a limit and clearly that limit is dangerous when hit. He's still a demigod, not a god).

...I'll be honest, just in general the Big Three Kids need a reassessment of their power levels, in most cases needing some upping on what they can do. They're supposed to be overpowered characters, dammit!

Give me a character and a number and I'll tell you...