#this post was brought to you by a former percy jackson fan

[haec-est-fides]

Octavian in The Tyrant’s Tomb

Or rather, the lack thereof. You all know I’m salty about this, so here’s the official rant. 

First, let’s look at where he was mentioned. Exactly twice. 

“The legion had no high priest, no pontifex maximus. Their former augur, my descendant Octavian, had died in the battle against Gaia. (Which I had a hard time feeling sad about, but that’s another story.)” 

This one really hit me because it’s primarily just another instance of Apollo’s unnecessary sass. In The Hidden Oracle, he seemed to at least recognize his own fault in the matter for a split second: “A voice whispered in the back of my mind. This time I thought it might be my conscience: Who was the stupid boy? It wasn’t Octavian.” What happened to that? I get it, Rick knows that most fans hate Octavian. Ha ha. What’s important is that Apollo also thinks this way about Gaius Caligula and Nero, who are also his descendants. For all his character development, and for all the similarities between himself and these people he despises, Apollo can’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that yeah, they all got this from him. It’s one of the last bastions of Apollo’s ego and hypocrisy, and I don’t think it’s ever going to be addressed. 

It’s half-heartedly joked that there are no “adults in the room” in New Rome anymore. Reyna notices a difference in the dynamic of the Senate. Apollo is expected to do all the ceremonial duties regarding Jason’s funeral. Beyond this, the book never once directly admits that Octavian’s absence has otherwise impacted New Rome. Or how his family reacted to his death. Sure the chaotic state of the community may play a role in this, but more on it later.

Apollo has mentioned in ToA that, of all his godly memories, he specifically remembers his talks with Octavian. I for one am very interested in this “other story” that Rick refuses to explore. 

““Praetors often partner up. In power. But also romantically, I mean. I thought Jason. Then for a hot minute, Percy Jackson. Gods help me, I even considered Octavian.” [Reyna] shuddered.”

This mention is purely throwaway; it’s meant to show how truly desperate Reyna was feeling. For the record, I respect Reyna’s subplot, for all I care about it at all. I think it’s hilarious how clearly repulsed she sounds at herself for even considering dating Octavian. Let’s be clear: this isn’t her admitting she ever liked him, or - gods forbid - had a crush. This is Reyna commenting on how oppressive the expectations of society are on single women. What’s funnier to me is that Octavian would have 100% turned her down, and her self esteem would have been toast. Good for her for sticking to her heart and not letting the world tell her what to do. 

Moving on, what’s more important is how Octavian wasn’t mentioned. I've said before that Riordan’s decision to flat out ignore Octavian has led to some minor but annoying continuity issues.

On a purely practical note, Octavian was a prominent, active member of a religion, a government, and a military. New Rome doesn’t have an augur. As Jason’s funeral shows, Apollo had to take up the associated religious duties. But how did New Rome handle honoring those who died in the war with Gaia? Or those who were more recently lost, in the fighting with Tarquin? How has the operation of the legion and senate shifted? Who replaced him as centurion of the first? What is it like to not be able to seek the gods’ approval via augury? Who approves new recruits, checks their credentials and assigns them to cohorts, and eventually gives them their tattoos? Who awards mural crowns and other military distinctions? New Rome has been without an augur before, as it’s a rare gift, but these questions still need to be answered for the community to operate. 

Back to Octavian’s family! His family is said to have been the oldest, richest, and most influential family in New Rome. Octavian is at least a 3rd generation camper, his family going back a hundred years or more. This is stressed in HoO because it’s used to show just how “entitled” and stuck up he is, but now? It’s not mentioned at all. No mourning, no help in Rome’s time of crisis, nothing. Unless by Octavian’s “family” Riordan was solely referring to the Triumvirate and Octavian was a member of an Imperial Household the whole time, this is ridiculous. I need to write a whole post about this, because Octavian’s life is fascinating when you consider what implications this has. 

As Gaius and Commodus are attacking New Rome with their fleet of yachts, New Rome’s navy gets brought up. I know Apollo isn’t the best narrator on this point, but all that’s mentioned is the sad boat Percy used for the Alaska quest. That small fleet of very nice speedboats that Octavian funded for the attack on Camp Half-Blood? Nope. Is this just Apollo being out of the loop? What happened to New Rome’s fleet?

With New Rome in chaos, this last point is really more of a nit pick, but can we please remember that Octavian led a very willing camp to war? Even before the Argo II disaster, even before Octavian spoke out at the Senate, the lares and legionnaires in the streets showed anti-Greek sentiment. The 5th cohort was “Greeks and geeks.” When Octavian proposed war, he had the legion on his side. As soon as Reyna left to go help with the Athena Parthenos, the centurions were ready to disobey her and follow Octavian. Even in the final battle of HoO, only the 4th and 5th cohorts really start to turn against him. All of this backs a very important, but largely ignored, point: you can lead a horse to the Senate, but you can’t make it vote. We see none of that tension in New Rome now. I get that most of the legion is dead, and that’s a huge part of it, but no one spoke out at all. We don’t see anyone with the opinion that Octavian did save Rome and defeat Gaia. We don’t see him get any funerary honors (which makes the book’s message concerning death all the more hypocritical). When Gaius confronts Frank - “Praetor Zhang, you are duty-bound to recognize Roman authority, and we are it! Together, we can rebuild this camp and raise your legion to glory!” - he’s right. But we don’t see a single legionnaire hesitate. 

I get that New Rome isn’t Riordan’s favorite, and that to develop the Romans would require a whole series of its own, but the sheer shallowness of New Rome just felt lazy. Even mentioning Octavian’s legacy would have done so much to show us more about Camp Jupiter. How is he remembered? A hero? A tyrant? A martyr? A fraud?

[kierantc-blog]

DC Rebirth In Review - The Young And The Violent

Here is the 4th part of my DC Rebirth In Review series, where i take a look back at the good and the bad of DC’s Rebirth initiative in the wake of the news that they are dropping the Rebirth banners in December. To read my previous posts just click these links:

Part 1 - The Superman Family

Part 2 - The Batman Family

Part 3 - The Justice League

In this part, i will be talking about The Young And The Violent. Basically a snappy way of categorising series such as Teen Titans and Suicide Squad. So let’s get to it!

Titans - Coming off of the back of Titans Hunt and DC Universe Rebirth #1, Wally West the original Kid Flash and The Flash in his own right returns to the fold and finds his old friends Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Donna Troy (Wonder Girl), Garth (Tempest), Roy Harper (Arsenal) and Lilith Clay (Omen) to find out the mystery of Rebirth, who stole the missing time from the universe and who was responsible for Wally’s disappearance? Written by Aquaman’s Dan Abnett and art by former Flash penciller Brett Booth, Titans is one of the stronger titles in DC that honestly makes you wonder why they didn’t make it a bi-monthly title. Readers that love Wally West will be thrilled as much as the fans of the original Teen Titans as it feels like the group have been together much longer than we know they have been currently. While Booth offers consistent artwork, his frantic and detailed style of pencils might be a headache for some people but it doesn’t distract from a well made series. - 9/10

Teen Titans - Just like Supergirl, the Teen Titans comic book takes some lessons in synergy from the popular Justice League vs. Teen Titans animated movie that came out last year and sees Damian Wayne’s Robin team up with Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven, as well as adding new recruits in Wally West II AKA the new Kid Flash and later on Jackson Hyde, who will later become Aqualad. The comic is written by Green Arrow’s Ben Percy but unlike the fan-service laden G.A Rebirth he chooses to make his own way with the new Teen Titans by exploiting Damian’s inability to do things like a normal person. It works well too, he forces the recruits together and they end up bonding under the idea that while he can make them better heroes, he’s also a bit of a dweeb and is the target of their ire. The artwork by Jonboy Meyers and later Khoi Pham is well detailed and looks like something straight out of an animation feature. Whether you were a fan of the animated movie or love a more classic Titans comic, this will be the book you want to check out. The only thing that holds it back is the annoyance of crossovers, with 2 so far and another to come in December, and considering the series only has 13 issues to date, it stunts the story telling opportunities for the writer. - 7.5/10

Blue Beetle - On the surface the premise of this book is solid, Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes, both Blue Beetle in their own right, working together for the first time. It doesn’t really work that well though as it feels like Giffen and Kolins want to tell stories about Justice League 3001 and Doctor Fate instead, which is fine but that’s not what i’m paying for. I would personally avoid buying this book, it has very little promise but might interest you if you like Ted. - 2/10

Deathstroke - If you aren’t reading this book already, you really should be. Christopher Priest is a comic book veteran and after 10 years away from the big 2 he came back to work on Deathstroke because the character wasn’t black and as an African-American he didn’t want to be pigeon-holed as a “black writer”. The narrative of Deathstroke is complex but full of intrigue and substance too, Priest clearly understands the nuances of such a complicated man and uses them well but the plot itself is devious and cunning, almost like you are reading a cross between a George RR Martin book and a great spy novel. The quality of Priest’s work on this series has earned him a promotion of sorts to being the new regular writer on Justice League, and if that isn’t an indicator of his talent then i don’t know what is. - 10/10

Harley Quinn - With Rebirth being a tale of bringing back what people love about their favourite characters, it was difficult for DC to really do anything to Harley Quinn because the series is one of their best sellers and Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti have worked on it since the beginning, so changing the status quo didn’t seem necessary. The only problem with that in my opinion is that the series has stagnated and become rather stale. The supporting cast of Harley’s world is brought in closer than ever in order to battle the Mayor of New York City but it feels rather predictable as a story. A new creative team is taking over soon, with Frank Tieri (formerly of Invincible Iron Man and Wolverine) writing and Inaki Miranda (recently of Batgirl) doing art duties, so maybe a change will come sooner rather than later. The series needs it. - 5/10

Suicide Squad - Since the movie last Summer, this book has sold rather well for DC but it’s not exactly a deserving one. The problem isn’t Rob Williams the writer but the way DC has managed the series. When the creative team was first announced it was with the big news that DC co-publisher and legendary artist Jim Lee doing the artwork, but with his other duties at the company and with the twice monthly schedule he was unable to commit to the series fully. Instead of the average 20 pages per issue, Suicide Squad was left with only 12 from Jim Lee and the other 8 being from backup artists doing a backup story from Rob Williams. With this and the average crossover with the Justice League in January, this series has spluttered out of the gate. The more recent issues post Jim Lee have been better but with more crossovers to come it feels like Rob Williams can’t catch a break and tell the stories he wants. Publisher politics aside, the series takes notes from the movie by copying the Squad roster and returning Amanda Waller into the thicc woman she was before, and while the book is certainly more light and funny than the movie, the synergy for the best part works quite well. - 4/10

The Hellblazer - After the excellent Constantine DC You series by Doyle, Tynion and Rossmo, The Hellblazer fails to keep the magic going with extremely flat story telling and questionable artwork. The book has so far taken 12 issues to tell the story about ancient magical beings called Djinn returning but not once do you feel that there is any relative danger to Constantine or that anything serious could happen. Also the story itself feels detached from what is going on in DC right now, others have mysteries and larger picture things going on and others have guest stars and cameos galore, but apart from one appearance by Shazam and another couple by Swamp Thing, you would be hard pressed to believe this takes place in the same universe as the other on-goings. Tim Seeley has stepped in for a guest arc on the series and has improved the quality, but the issues by Simon Oliver and Moritat should be avoided at all costs. - 2/10

Conclusions

A few missteps aside, the remainder of Rebirth’s catalogue has been good for DC and even those missteps are getting course corrections in new creative teams. I do believe that more work needs doing however, a Young Justice series with Tim Drake, Conner Kent and Cassie Sandsmark needs to happen and more magical based books such as Zatanna or Shazam need to happen too.

With the return of the Young Justice animated series as well as the upcoming Teen Titans TV series, we might get more of a focus on the teenage heroes of DC soon, and with the new Shazam movie going into production we shouldn’t be too surprised if the original Captain Marvel returns to the fold.

Thanks for reading!

Next Up: Crossovers, Events and Mini-Series.

[kindcstguardian]

Name. Hatsune Mikuo. Date of birth. ( Age: 20 / Star sign: ). Sexual orientation. Bisexual. Languages. Japanese, Korean &&. English. Blood type. AB - Height. 175cm Weight. kg. Occupation. Idol.

PLAYLIST

Oh no! / Marina and the diamonds Applause / Lady Gaga Mic drop / BTS Little game / Benny

「 V ❥ Idol ; Mikuo ／ ᴵᶠ ᴵ ᶜᵃⁿ ˡⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ʷᵒʳˡᵈ ᵘᵖ ᶠᵒʳ ʲᵘˢᵗ ᵒⁿᵉ ᵈᵃʸ 」

Default verse / Human / 21 years old

The idol currently works with the company named ᴠᴏᴄᴀʟᴏɪᴅ industries.

His stage persona is the ’cute type’: the one who has it easy to cry or be flustered due a compliment. Which couldn’t be further away from the truth —everyone that has met him know his true face, that all is just an act because otherwise that pretty face of his would go to waste with his rotten personality.: Mikuo is a cocky, sarcastic and cruel with words. One could label him as a spoiled brat for short.

He’s known to reveal his true colors to non-fans, though.

「 V ❥ Android ; Mikuo ／ ʷⁱˡˡ ᵗᵒᵐᵒʳʳᵒʷ ᵃʳʳⁱᵛᵉ ᶠᵒʳ ᵃ ᵈʳᵉᵃᵐˡᵉˢˢ ᵒⁿᵉ 」

Rather than being a mere program that can be used to sing a variety of themes and songs, languages included. He is an android idol that blends perfectly in the human world, in fact, not many know he is actually not human — the company went as far as to design organs that act like human’s.

「 V ❥ Synthesizer ; Mikuo ／ ⁱᵗ'ˢ ᵃˡˡ ᵗᵒᵒ ʳᵉᵃˡ ᵗᵒ ᵇᵉ ᶠᵃᵏᵉ 」

Synthesizer / AI.

Interactions remain inside an electronic device ( say phone, desktop, laptop…). He’s capable of singing in japanese, english and spanish with the right master—but careful, if you are the master and make him sing in a way he dislikes: he will ᴅɪᴛᴄʜ you by uninstalling himself.

( V02 — ᵍᵒⁿⁿᵃ ʰⁱᵗ ᵗʰᵒˢᵉ ᵇᵒᵒᵏˢ )

Highschool verse / Human / 17 years old.

Part of the music club, Mikuo had been offered the position of president or vice-president on many ocassions but have rejected each offer whenever it was brought up, living happily with just taking part of it.

Still, his talent had been recognized by an idol entertainment industry thus he has been taking dancing and singing lessons. He’s already in the approval list, all he need is to finish highschool—and keep his act of cute prince or else with his genuine bitter and rotten personality he will lose potential fans.

( V03 — ⁱ ʷᵃⁿᵗ ᵗᵒ ᵏⁱˢˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ⁿᵉᶜᵏ )

Monster prom verse / Incubbus / 22 years old.

To be added.

( V04 — ᵒᶠ ᵇˡᵘᵉ ʰᵘᵉˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ˢᵒᶠᵗ ʰᵉᵃʳᵗᵉᵈ ᵗᵘⁿᵉˢ )

DDLC verse / Human / 18 years old.

President of the music club, Mikuo has an extremely bright future when it comes to it given he also provides covers in MeTube.

But despite this, he is not quite sure whether he will dedicate his life to that as people have been telling him. Maybe a music teacher? He’s good at point out what others need to improve and can play a variety of instruments.

「 V ♡ Mysme ／ ᵃ ᵈⁱᶠᶠᵉʳᵉⁿᵗ ʳᵉˢᵘˡᵗ 」

Mystic Messenger / Human / 21 years old.

Mikuo despised his mother and his step-father, unless he was forced to visit Korea, he went as long as to pretend he had no mother or her side of the family was alive, even.

But upon hearing news that she was sick, his ever so caring father made him take a break from work. Nevertheless, a sudden hiatus from one of the most famous idols was in all news, all over the place—rumours were invented from left to right but were dismissed quickly by lawyers of his.

Once his plane landed in Korea, a sudden message arrived to his phone with a strange text wanting him to follow that direction and whether this was a scam, a kidnapping attempt or something dangerous that no logical person would do—he went for it. Sunglasses covering his face, beanie hiding his natural turquoise hair and using a black-mask, Mikuo found himself there within half an hour.

Now as part of the RFA with connections like the ones he has, the party is bound to be successful. All he regretted was that he introduced himself in the chat as someone happy-go-lucky, oblivious and cheerful because his personality was another subject.

( V06 — )

Fantasy or Eldarya / Muse / 106 years old.

To be added.

「 V ♡ MCL ; Mikuo ／ 」

Amour Sucre / Human / 18 years old.

To be added.

( V08 — ʷᵉ ᵃˡˡ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ᵃ ᶠʳᵉᵃᵏ ˢⁱᵈᵉ ʷᵉ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ˢʰᵒʷ )

Mutant verse / ? / 21 years old.

Mostly for Avenger, X-men, Heroes and etc. interactions.

Mikuo can, through kissing someone, transform into the other person while gaining their most recent memories if it was a short and chaste kiss. He can imitate perfectly the other party and he’s capable of turning into them in any given chance from that point in the future.

As any other mutant, he has a faster healing hability than normal humans among speed and resistence.

( V09 — )

Undertale Post-Pacifist / History teacher / 26 years old.

To be added.

( V10 — )

Lovesick verse / University student / 21 years old.

To be added.

( V11 — )

Lovesick verse 1980’s verse / Student / 18 years old.

To be added.

「 V • Xiaolin ; Mikuo ／ ᶠˡᵒʷ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ʷᵃᵗᵉʳ ˢʷⁱᶠᵗ ᵃˢ ᵗʰᵉ ʷⁱⁿᵈ 」

Xiaolin Showdown / Former Dragon of Water / 22 years old.

To be added.

「 V • PJ ; Mikuo ／ ᵗᵉᵃᶜʰ ᵐᵉ ᵃ ˡᵘˡˡᵃᵇʸ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ʰᵉᵃˡˢ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵒᵘˡ 」

Percy Jackson &&. the olympus or Demigod verse  / 21 years old.

His mother still proved to be a horrible and disgusting woman, whereas other children had been protected through hiding their real identities from them—his mother straight up told him he was son of Apollo which caused his life to be turned upside down: being attacked or stalked by monsters that never genuinely caused harm or provoked situations he could not handle.

As soon as Mikuo was of age, he moved away with his step-father whom he considered his actual father and loved more than his biological mother. Currently living with him in the outside of the city, the mint-haired works as a music teacher not to disappoint his Greek father and not to waste his talent. Furthermore, he is also studying to become a nurse and is part of the infirmary stuff at the school he works in.

Working in a school, he realized, also helped him spot demigod kids and inform authorities from the half-blood camp about their existance and protect them while they reach them.

「 Ludere deorum ; Mikuo ／ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵍᵒⁿⁿᵃ ʷʳⁱᵗᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃ ˡᵒᵛᵉ ˢᵒⁿᵍ 」

Kamigami no asobi / Muse / Physically looks 21 years old.

Due being a cocky muse whom only blessed those he thought of worthy rather than those who had the talent but lack of inspiration, Mikuo was also sent to school under Zeus’ orders among many other minor deities and creatures with impact in the human life.

「 V • BNHA ; Mikuo ／ ᵏⁱˢˢ ⁱᵗ ᵗᵒ ᵐᵃᵏᵉ ⁱᵗ ᵇᵉᵗᵗᵉʳ 」

Class 1-B / 16 years old

Quirk: Mikuo through kissing someone can absorb both their pain and heal them through a certain degree due still learning how to control his quirk. The only downside is that his lips alone touching someone does not work effectively—only through saliva contact proves to work faster.

Originally, he did not want to be a hero. If anything, he wanted to be an antihero—but somehow he was persuaded  ( by his father )  not to follow that path thus resulting in taking the exam and joining Class 1-B. Albeit he understand the pointless rivalry with Class 1-A, he does not partake in it.

— TAGS.

「 Mikuo Hatsune ／ 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 」

「 Mikuo Hatsune ／ MUSINGS 」

「 Mikuo Hatsune ／ VISAGE 」

「 Mikuo Hatsune ／ MANNERISMS 」

「 Mikuo Hatsune ／ ROMANCE 」

「 Mikuo Hatsune ／ MUSIC 」

「 Mikuo Hatsune ／ CRACK 」

✘ ·  ♡（  ）

✘ · Gumi ♡（‘ᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ᵃˡˡ ᵒᶠ ᵐᵉ ˡᵒᵛᵉˢ ᵃˡˡ ᵒᶠ ʸᵒᵘ· ᴬˡˡ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵖᵉʳᶠᵉᶜᵗ ⁱᵐᵖᵉʳᶠᵉᶜᵗⁱᵒⁿˢ ）

• Mikuo & Gumiya • / ( ᵀʰᵉʳᵉ'ˢ ᵃ ᵗʳⁱˡˡⁱᵒⁿ ᵃˡⁱᵉⁿˢ ᶜᵒᵒˡᵉʳ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ʸᵒᵘ )

• Mikuo & Akaito • / ( ˢᵗⁱᶜᵏ ‘ⁿ ˢᵗᵒⁿᵉˢ ᵐⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵇʳᵉᵃᵏ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵇᵒⁿᵉˢ ᵇᵘᵗ ᵃ ˡᵉᵉᵏ ʷⁱˡˡ ᵐᵘʳᵈᵉʳ ʸᵒᵘ )