#also thalia is being so mean WITH NO VALID REASON

[t-lostinworlds]

okay, why is everyone being a bitch to percy in titan's curse. it's low-key pissing me off

[valewritessss]

I saw someone on TikTok say that Percabeth is one sided and all I could say is that it looks like someone didn’t read Mark of Athena. Then I did some research and I found out they’re a Pereyna shipper(I had no idea that existed).

Personally, I don't get it, Reyna literally just tried to make a move on Percy but he rejected her and neither of them thought about it again so I don’t really see it. Either way, that's not the issue because I don't really care what people ship as long as it's not weird or creepy (I'm looking at any Artemis x Percy, Luke x Percy, Annabeth x Luke, or Percy x Nico shippers).

But back to the Percabeth is one sided thing, I’m a little bit confused. Because, did they miss the Annabeth pining silently but obviously for Percy for YEARS, Annabeth being jealous of Rachel partly because she liked Percy, Annabeth telling Athena that Percy is everything to her, Annabeth driving herself crazy those months Percy was gone and searching for him without giving up. So “Percabeth is one sided” where???

Then upon further research I found that of course, turns out they are an Annabeth hater(they don’t admit it but it’s obvious for apparent reasons). Some of their reasons: Annabeth's nickname for Percy, “seaweed brain” is degrading and implies he is stupid, Annabeth is mean to Rachel, and Annabeth is scared of Percy which made him feel like he deserves to die.

1. Annabeths nickname for Percy started out as teasing but became endearing for the both of them, just like the nickname “wise girl”. Percy even gets mad at Thalia for using this nickname because he considers it something solely Annabeth can use. In no way has Percy ever said or even mentioned that he feels put down because of the nickname. Also, Percy never hesitates to call anyone, even gods, out on their shit, so if it was really bothering him, he would most likely say something.

2. Honestly, the whole deal with Rachel was never that deep. Like, it did have a deeper meaning for Annabeth than many could comprehend but the whole catty part was never that big. A few snide remarks, sure, but it's not like she was bullying Rachel. If anyone thinks otherwise, that's okay, but in my opinion it was meant to be funny and it came off as such, and even Rachel and Annabeth themselves moved on and became fiends. Moving forward, considering the context of Annabeth's jealousy, it makes total sense for her to feel resentment towards Rachel. I'm not saying it's justified, but if a boy she'd been crushing on for years and is destined to die soon spends his last summer with another girl who is closer to normal than Annabeth could ever be, in what world would she not be mad? In fact, some of it was just teenage pettiness. And that's fine, she wasn't hurting anyone. Being a teenager with a crush is hard, and it's harder when you're a demigod with a huge prophecy hanging over you and your best friends heads. So is her anger justified? Maybe. But is she valid? Absolutely.

3. This is the most ridiculous reason yet. First of all, has Percy ever told Annabeth he feels like he deserves to die? I don't think so. Especially not before he almost let himself die with Jason there. I don't know if that person was just expecting Annabeth to guess, or what. Secondly, they were in Tartarus, and Percy did something scary. So of course, Annabeth is going to be scared. If Percy feels like Annabeth being scared makes him want to die, that's not really Annabeth's fault. And to expect Annabeth to make him feel better about something she is still recovering from herself doesn't make much sense, does it. At this point it just felt like they were going to hate Annabeth regardless, and these weren't actual issues they had with her they just saw a reason to hate her and went for it.

Hey, ship whatever you want and hate whoever you want, but don't come with false interpretations(that I know was easy to comprehend) as evidence for why you are right, please.

[ganeshpnf]

To the anon that sent me an ask about asking my thoughts about the tv show, Im so sorry but something happened and I think it got deleted 😭 But dw I would still answer it here-

So this would be a critism post and I want to make it clear that everyone is free to reblog and comment their thoughts freely, while being kind. Critism is valid and its not rude, but any bad comments or hateful remarks to any actor, especially child actors, would be deleted. I dont like blocking so dont make me please!

Okay to start, I would be so honest and say I did not find the show successful and I did not like it. I would explain all the reasons, but did it make me feel nostalgia a bit? Yes it did. Did it make me cry at the end? Yes :) I would add pros at the end. But first:

Cgi was really bad, I mean that claiming scene would be a laughing stock in a few years. Chimera? Nope- Medusa's hair also looked better in that movie in 2010. Also they avoided showing Grover's legs so much, also didn't even show us riptide's change...They got 15M per episode and if these are the results, then it is a problem. Background of Percy and Ares's fight- so so greenscreen. I wish Disney can take things seriously.

Lighting was so dark, especially for the lighting thief. Which was such a humor filled book and it was way too colorful. Why make it all so dark and lifeless?

Also humor? Way too low for pjo. "But we are not reading Percy's mind!" Yet, there were so many jokes in the books that could have been add, but they didn't. Yes there are some good jokes (pinecone fate) but to the standart, I expected to laugh way more. Its pjo!

Changes? Well to be honest I am a person who keeps book and show separate, I dont think they are the same at all. So I dont complain about the changes at much. But most of the changes were pointless to me and so many things left unsaid. I wish they didn't make Gabe way too soft. Children's show, yes. But then again, what would you do for later seasons if they cant even show Crusty's dead. Sally's real reason to marry Gabe never get explained, why? 4 pearls, why? Missing deadline? Totally pointless. Not mentioning Riptide's name? Chiron might have say it. Love tunnel? Now its a long one. Rick explained they couldn't do spiders and its hilarious, you gotta do sea monsters man- And instead of a chance to see an actual comedy: live on Olympus and Annabeth losing her shit. We get to see such a early scene of Percabeth drama. Why changing one of the funniest scene in the books to drama? You needed more edits for view or smt? Hephaestus falling over to the speech of friendship was nothing but cringe to me. Moving on, Thalia's acting to Annabeth. Why she is not nice to her and Annabeth had to earn her love. The point was Thalia to remember Jason and taking Annabeth under her wings immediatly bcs of it. Medusa's scene- Instead of us laughing to trio's silly behaviours and falling to her trap like little kids would, we get to hear a monster-hero talk. Yay another speech! Ovid's side of the story also bothered me. Greek mythology, why adding Ovid? Just us to sympatize with Medusa. Lotus Casino scene- We could have watch them have fun and going crazy but noo- they had do add more drama with Hermes. Did not see the point of his appearing either. Why is he there? I wanted to see them being children...And wanted to see the magic of the place!

Now if I move to characters, Percy's I know it all side is just annoying and adds no suspense to the viewers. What's the point if he knows everything already? "But his mom taught him!" But guys, remember, the whole point of pjo was: us to learn with Percy! We were learning the Greek myths with Percy, who is new to the world. They go somewhere and Percy immediatly: "You are Crusty, my mom told stories about you!" 😑 What a relief then! You tell us. Percy's sudden bravery at the end? Dude, he has 5 books for that.

Annabeth turning to a stoic child soldier? Suddenly goody-two shoes? Where are her emotions? Her fears? Her flaws? Her fricking love of architecture? She doesnt need to know everything to be smart girl. She had ADHD, she is 12! Ofc she was supposed to fall in traps. We should have watch her blushing as Luke talks, getting all wet by Percy in the toilet, she was supposed to our little girl. She is not just a badass queen yet, please. Give her personality back. Why she only smiled once at the end of the series? And not having a childhood, not even watched a movie? You guys cant be serious- She grew up in chb! She picked up strawberries, she played games and she watched movies when she was little, remember? She was not in legion... She is one of the most emotional characters, should we remind this to Rick and writers? She cries, she has feeling! Dam she was crying when they left Cerberus! She was a trouble-maker, she stole clothes, remember? Her portrayal was awful...

And about the Gods- Just..."He is trying to make them look awful at the beginning" Then why the hell it was only Athena? Almost turning her to second Zeus- Are you kidding me? You make her suddenly a child killer, when in the books she was nothing like that. Why making her worse, when other gods(Poseidon, Hermes, Hephaestus,Dionysus,Ares,Hades) seem way more human and nicer? You cant tell me he tries to make them worse when they are portrayed like that! No sir- Hephaestus is nice enough to release Percy after a friendship speech. Poseidon is suddenly a perfect dad, he is not sorry that Percy is born. Ares is just a dumb twitter bully, where in the books he was threating them to no end. And fricking Hades?! I am sorry but Hades like that- He should have been scary. But no, he is just a lonely cool guy. I thought he softened after Nico. Cant wait for the development now...

Other than that, one of my most important things: vibe. Sorry...Like I said, it was way too boring for pjo. Even that horrible movies had more vibe! Gimme the vibe!

Pacing? Has a problem and I hope they fix it. Episodes being too short? Also another issue.

Now for the chb, I was hoping to see more activity. Why the camp is not full of noisy kids running around, playing hide and seek like in the books, training wild around the areas, camfire and silly songs? Where are our children screaming and being ADHD demigods? Instead they play chess in the cabin- Please, give more life to chb.

Finally, for the things I liked:

Riptide song!!! That song is my favourite thing in the whole show- Like its soo good.

Seeing Sally's struggle to raise Percy. Also a plus for me. Because I was curious. Also adding Poseidon to the scene was okay. I loved that parts.

Young Percy did awesome and he was such a good actor :)

Percy's dreams were good, I loved seeing them. Congrats! Andd, child accurate cast. It was important. But I wish they hurry so then we wont have it anymore 😭

That was it! Like I said, I find it a bad show, as a fan of 12 years. I waited this for so many years. I was dreaming this. But sorry, bad show is a bad show. At least it did give me some nostalgia and it did make me cry at the end :) I hope they improve because it would suck if they get a cancel before season 5. The bad thing is, I feel they knew we pjo fandom wanted a show for years. And they knew we would eat the crumbs. Its just not fair, you know. They would like it anyway, type. They are not taking it as seriously as they should. With that budget, look at other shows with that budget. I know, its still a kids' show. But I dont think its an excuse for them to upset the fans who waited this long...

Thanks for the ask anon! And like I said, feel free to add your thoughts :)

[my-pjo-stuff]

Hi, so I saw your post asking about whether or not one could identify with the female characters written by Rick Riordan, and I wanted to share my thoughts, but for personal reasons I would rather do so anonymously. I hope you don´t mind. (I will say that I don´t currently identify as female, but I was raised under the expectations of someone who does/is and am continuously pressured into said gender role. I do partly identify as genderfluid but that is very complex and not important here. I hope even if I don’t currently identify as female, you will still read and consider this opinion as valid.)

I personally can very much identify with the female characters Rick writes. Both when I was younger and now. Having started re-reading the HoO series recently I very much for example feel a connection to how Piper is and grows as a character. I can also very much relate to the more prominent female characters in PJO (Annabeth, Rachel, Thalia) in one way or another and am quite fond of them. I do have to say that I also relate and connect with the male characters as well. I don´t personally think the female characters were written in a way that makes them any less relatable than the male characters. Issues with underlying sexist societal expectations that might be visible in RR writing are very much not exclusive to the female characters he writes (it can be found in the way he writes his male characters as well) or exclusive to RRs writing. These issues are found in a huge number of different books, by a multitude of writers and are problems that are hard to avoid if you haven´t done deep unpacking of gender roles and societal expectations, which sadly most perisex, cis people and some trans and intersex people just haven´t done.

I wanted to say something specifically to this part of your post here:

“Like the inherent feeling of living in a world stacked against you? Being forced to pick up the slack of others and do huge amounts of normal aswell as emotional labor? Not being listened to? Feeling abandoned by those around you???? Those are all feelings and issues that women tend to relate to. And Luke honestly does that great IMO. Yet I can't help but notice that this sort of reliability is completely missing from everyone else.”

I just wanted to let you know that this experience is very much not an exclusive experience to women and more maybe comparable to a general experience of marginalised people. I hope I am not bothering you with mentioning that. And I do not mean any negativity by it. Just a little info to keep in mind. (If that was unnecessary as you were already aware of it, I apologise for bringing it up)

To end this in my personal opinion Rick has definitely improved in regard to this in his newer writing and considering these issues are more of a broader societal issue than an individual issue I don´t see it as problematic as someone else might. I will also say that whether or not someone can relate to a character isn´t and very much should not be an indicator of how well the character is written in regard to their gender. The great thing about gender is that there is no “one correct way” for it. This also means that not being able to relate to female/male character even though you are the gender, does not mean it´s badly written in regard to that.

Just in case it is not clear. I do not intend to argue. I just wanted to share my thoughts anonymously.

I mean I'm certainly not really bothered by it, though I do think this is a case of agree to disagree. I mean relatability is always subjective at the end of the day, and I was really just wondering if others felt the same more than wanting to make any statement. I think that Rick's work genuinely doesn't hold up much after PJO and maybe a few smaller side stories. I do think your opinion is valid, though I think you interpreted a few things into my post that weren't there, and I'd like to clarify that.

“Like the inherent feeling of living in a world stacked against you? Being forced to pick up the slack of others and do huge amounts of normal aswell as emotional labor? Not being listened to? Feeling abandoned by those around you???? Those are all feelings and issues that women tend to relate to. And Luke honestly does that great IMO. Yet I can't help but notice that this sort of reliability is completely missing from everyone else.” "I just wanted to let you know that this experience is very much not an exclusive experience to women and more maybe comparable to a general experience of marginalised people. I hope I am not bothering you with mentioning that. And I do not mean any negativity by it. Just a little info to keep in mind"

I do not mean this bad...but I don't really get why you mentioned that? I'm not disagreeing or anything! I do genuinely agree, but I genuinely don't really know why that was brought up? I didn't really say that is was JUST women who relate to that, just that they tend to relate to it. Which was said based on my own experiences and those shared by other girls. The post is about female reliability, and me saying why I personally relate to Luke. I'm not really sure what other minorities also having to deal with that has to do with anything I said.... This is by no means an attack on you! You are completely valid in your opinion, identity and in your statement. But I'd love if you could clarify the correlation between those two topics 😅

I will also say that whether or not someone can relate to a character isn´t and very much should not be an indicator of how well the character is written in regard to their gender. The great thing about gender is that there is no “one correct way” for it. This also means that not being able to relate to female/male character even though you are the gender, does not mean it´s badly written in regard to that.

Again idk I never really wanted to imply that??? Like if it came off as me saying relatability of the characters decides whether the writing is good or not is not what I meant. I was merely expressing my own subjective opinion and asking if others felt the same. Overall I think that this doesn't have that much to do with the OG post???? And like I said I do disagree with a good chunk of it, as I do think that the female characters have much more sexism in their writing as the men. And that it doesn't really matter how society is built, as other authors like Rick who grew up and live in the same society consistently do much better. All I can offer you is for you to keep your opinion, me to keep mine and us to respect each other. I should warn you that you might not like my blog, as our opinions do seem to vary wildly. Thank you for sharing your opinion though! It's always interesting to see other POVs and counterpoints ^^ I'm happy you felt safe enough to do that with me.

[cruelfeline]

I think Susurrus might have been more willing to engage in some mutually assured destruction during his fight with the First Tanta, but with each successive loss (and man, are they punishing losses— all of them containing notions of death or purgatory, eg being inert, unconscious, cut off from the world, forgotten, incapable of communication, utter helplessness), I think he may have become more and more risk averse. He really doesn't want to die, and I think it's as much due to experience as any of the usual reasons— I thought it was interesting how he recoiled so hard from Frey's willingness to die in ITWT, but Frey walked into Thalia's grave pretty easily tbh (Frey has experienced mortal peril and a whole host of not great things, don't get me wrong, but I think it's fair to say that Susurrus wears the crown in this regard, especially since Frey has the benefit of life experience and support systems that Sus likely never did). We also know that Susurrus' duty isn't necessarily what he wants, and a lot of what he does admit to wanting, even if he's being facetious or silly at the time, involves him having a future beyond destroying Athia, as well as some level of freedom.

So, all of that could be added onto all of the other stuff, especially his bond with Frey and seeming reluctance to actually kill her (even ignoring their two confrontations in game, he could literally stab her any hour of the day if he really wanted) to explain parts of why he seems to be kind of awful at finishing the job.

Maybe all of that's a reach though, and he simply views him winning the war against Athia as the true victory condition for his mission, rather than just destroying it by any means necessary. Either is fun and interesting to think about though, haha. Hope you're having a better day :)

Ah, this is all so thought-provoking! And valid. The more one thinks about it, the more it seems that Susurrus is far less sure of what he wants and what he's doing than he'd like to believe. And that he himself may not even be consciously aware of this, though this may change as time goes on, and he spends more of it with Frey.

I'm having... well, a day of some sort, thank you c:

[wisebeth]

Honestly I'd been seeing a lot of backlash, complaints and disappointment since Leah got casted as Annabeth and I really want to address y'all that a lot of you're being downright racist in the name of “book accuracy” and frankly it's disgusting. And I'm very disappointed in this fandom's immaturity.

“But it's not accurate to the books–” Book accuracy doesn't mean they've to look 100% similar, it's more about plot, personality and their chemistry with other actors. And as much as harsh it sounds, the need of proper representation and diversity is more important than having accuracy by being white with blonde hair. And if Rick Riordan, the literal author and creater of Annabeth Chase thinks it's not important, then maybe it's not.

“But beating dumb blonde stereotype–” A stereotype which never existed, it was a form of misogyny as only blonde women were assumed to be dumb not men. And it was never an oppression against blondes. It also stopped existing after 2010, there's no reason to show blondes facing struggles for being blonde in freaking 2022. Also women of colour are not taken seriously or assumed to be lesser than white people everyday, Annabeth, one of the smartest character of the series being woc will still be technically doing the same thing, but it's more impactful as this is a bigger and more serious issue than ‘dumb blonde stereotype’.

“But if it was the other way around–” Yes it will not be the same thing because you know what? White people don't have a history of facing oppression, racism, hate and bigotry. White people also are not underrepresented in media. Majority of characters in mainstream media are white, poc don't get the same amount of representation. And a lot of times the representation is filled with stereotypes and racist undertones. And even the original PJO series don't have diversity. And Annabeth's race is completely irrelevant to her character (take the example of Hazel, a lot of her trauma and experience were formed by the racism she faced, it's important to her arc, Annabeth's is not) so it shouldn't change a damn thing about her.

“But Annabeth's insecurities–” She was never insecure about her hair colour, ffs she has a personality outside of her race and hair colour. There was ONE line about it in HOO but it was completely irrelevant as it was never addressed or mentioned again. Nowhere in the series did she express hate for being blonde, she was always considered to be the smart and mature one of the trio, she was never not taken seriously or assumed to be stupid over her hair. It's a false narrative you guys come up with to justify your behaviour. Annabeth's biggest insecurities were abandonment issues and not being able to prove herself, not blonde hair. And that one paragraph means nothing as Rick himself admitted he's inconsistent in writing some things (Nico turning pale from olive skinned, Thalia's eyes, Reyna's backstory etc) so safe to say it was never a big deal.

“But it's our personal opinions–” You're allowed to form an opinion, you're allowed to be not happy w the casting. No but many of you're using it as a sheild to excuse your obvious racist undertones. Leah is a child and she deserves to be protected and celebrated, and all of you literal adults repeatedly crying and complaining about a CHILD in the internet is doing nothing but spreading negativity. If you can't be happy for a girl getting her dream role then do all of us a favour and shut the fuck up instead of spoiling it for her with all your negativity.

“But expressing disappointment isn't racism–” No being unhappy with the casting is valid but being THIS much concerned over her race when it was never relevant to her character is worrying. And denying the micro aggresion and racist undertones with it is even more concerning. She's getting harrassed and bullied by literal adults to the point Rick and Becky have to write tweets and articles to address the issue. It's racism. Walker is blond w blue eyes, Rick has no intention of dying his hair, people complained but there was never this much outrage and controversy as Leah's casting did, something tells me it's not about book accuracy but more about race.

For a fandom of one of the most popular diverse series, I'd expect y'all to be more mature about it. Grow tf up. You guys are honestly embarassing. Especially all the adult fans who are being mean to a child because they won't see one white blonde girl.

Leah IS Annabeth, deal with it. And she will do an amazing job in bringing Annabeth to life.

You guys can keep crying lol or maybe grow up but that's expecting too much I guess.

[petruchio]

hot take: the hoo characters were good. this fandom just doesn't know how to interact with characters that aren't percy or annabeth. like obviously hoo isn't gonna seem as good when the previous book series were all from one point of view and you got to watch the character develop. 'oh but the hoo characters are too good for their experience' piper and leo maybe. but the rest???? i think yall need to step away from percy jackson and look at other characters. also stan the kane chronicles <3

hmm i'm not sure. i mean i haven't read hoo in ages and i have some thoughts about how it could have gone and i think the characters were set up in interesting ways but didn't follow through with the development they seemed to promise. but i think people respond negatively to the characters for more legitimate reasons than just "they're not percy and annabeth."

i mean you kind of said it yourself, that the characters don't really develop over the course of the series which imo is... not good writing and not good character building? like you said "the previous book series is from one pov and you got to watch the characters develop" well yeah but i don't think that's a function of it being from one point of view, i think that's a function of it being better written and more concerned with character development as it relates to the broader plot and themes. people respond well to characters like grover or thalia because the reader actually gets to see them change and evolve as a consequence of their actions and the plot of the novels.

like, you watch grover transform from a nervous, insecure but still unflinchingly loyal friend into someone who really takes charge of his situation and ends up finding the one thing he has been searching for. and when that doesn't bring him the external validation he so desires, he instead finds strength and manages to find fulfillment and confidence in himself without needing to be validated or praised by an external council of older figures by the end of the series. not only is that a great arc to read, it's a great example to set for young children who might seek that same kind of validation. it's a great way of showing the idea that "sometimes the people you want to validate you and your ideas just aren't going to do that, and that doesn't mean that your actions hold any less legitimate value or importance in the world." contrast that with any of the hoo characters, i don't think any of their arcs are that compelling. and grover isn't percy or annabeth, but a reader would still respond better to him because he's just a better-written character with a better arc.

i haven't read the kane chronicles so i can't comment on that but i think there's more to the hoo characters not being well written than just the way the fandom interacts with them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[takaraphoenix]

k here's the thing- I sorta temporarily dropped out of the pjo/hoo fandom shortly before toa came out, and all the shock about Jason when I actually read toa sent me crying back to your fics ;-; rn im doing the same thing and I was wondering, since you quote, 'love that bitch to pieces', may we know a couple reasons why? 👉👈

That’s just so fucking valid like deadass if I hadn’t skipped on ToA already, I woulda thrown something against a wall if I had gotten to that point--

Reasons why I love Jason Grace?

big dork

human Golden Retriever; friendly, protective, certainly good for cuddles, loyal to a fault

seriously, super loyal to his friends

son of Jupiter but completely unlike his dad!!

precious and vulnerable; just... a lost boy who’s never really had a family? His interactions with Thalia are just so... He’s this strong Roman but he’s really just a kid who needs a hug and some love

literally raised by wolves. C’mon, the dog metaphor is right there

HAS A GIRL BEST FRIEND. I know, I know, I ship Jason/Reyna romantically too, but the fact that they are partners and friends in a non-romantic sense in canon means a lot to me because deadass the straights just Can Not make A Boy and A Girl just be friends

JASON GRACE AND LEO VALDEZ. I love their friendship, because on paper they’re kind of an odd match, the strictly raised Roman and the firebug who’s up to no good, but they are so good

Jason and Nico?? The way Jason handled Nico’s forced coming out, the way he tried becoming a friend to this feral lil gay gremlin, like deadass HoO!Nico was ready to bite heads off and Jason is like “this one is friend shaped” - HUGE Lilo & Stitch vibes

honestly compatibility with Percy also factors into my love for Jason; those two summoning the storm with each other was *chef’s kiss* - Jason is so much like Percy while also being his counterpart and I think that is such an interesting balance that Riordan did pretty well on (jot that down, I don’t praised RR a lot xD)

ngl, I also shallowly am just weak for blondes too *side-eyes Spike, Jace, Buffy, Kara and Aurora*

THE GLASSES. Such. A. Fucking. Dumbass. Just, not even realizing he needs them until he has them? A mood. Relatable. But also dumbass energy

DISASTER BI ENERGY. Jason is just like *looks at Reyna* *looks at Percy* why is everyone so hot? *distressed bi noises*

deserves a family. Which is why most my current works just not kill off Beryl and give Jason an actual family who loves him

[fallentri]

Okay... Finally finished our TOA and I've got feeeeeeeelings. I love it but also... I'm disappointed about some things. I feel like this series would have done better with another book to expand on ideas.

I still really wish that we could have explored more of the good things Apollo did as a god. Like... I love that Apollo feels shame about the bad things he did. Like seriously that's great! I just dislike everyone always going at him about stuff. I dunno. Personal preference I guess.

I just think it would have been cooler going into the psychology of gods. Because they're different than humans. They're literally on another level. They don't necessarily have the same morals as us. Or need to hold themselves to that stuff. Should they? Maybe. But would they without being pushed into it? I... I don't think so. But honestly I think that's way more complicated than what was shown there.

How about things I loved.

Reyna not getting or needing a love interest. Heck yes!!! That's what I wanted. I did want Reyna and Apollo to bond together though. Since they both have trauma in their pasts... But I was never into the ship personally. If anyone is that is totally completely valid! Or if they ship Reyna with Thalia or... Anyone else. Your ships are valid! I just never really wanted her with anyone personally. Regardless of gender.

On that note. Proud aro-ace Artimus/Diana is my fave. That's all I've got to say.

Plus I love that Apollo is into everyone and Artimus isn't. Opposites and all that poetic stuff that I'm rubbish at.

Meg and Apollo? Cute siblings! I love them so much. I demand a short story where they and Artimus hang out. That would be amazing. I'd write it but honestly I've lost faith in my writing skills. (Brain big dumb)

Oh. Also Apollo not getting with anyone too. I mean I enjoyed reading him crush on a ton of people. But like Reyna I think he needs to get through some things before he tries dating again. And I want him to bond more with his kids.

Also is there a god of therapy? Cuz guys I think we need a god of therapy. And... I don't know if Asclepius counts? Like I dunno man. I think he also needs therapy. His grandpa killed him with a lightning bolt.

Idea. Zeus make a god of therapy. Maybe someone who's not related to you guys. Someone who's not biased.... Dang now I have an idea for an oc. Hmmmm...

Anyway... Wow rambling sorry but I'm not done. Just trying to get thoughts out.

Hera actually like being on Apollo's side was interesting. I mean it was because of reasons but now I'd like to see her try and bond with Apollo and maybe apologize about how she treated him. And maybe realize "hey... Maybe blaming the kids for my husband's adultery isnt fair." I think that could be interesting.

Uh... Some more things that disappointed me off the top of my head.

Leto doesn't reunite with Apollo... Guys that breaks my heart. I really wanted her to be crying and holding her baby boy. And not want to let go. And then adopt Meg. (Sorry Demeter)

The gods being.. callous to Apollo like it makes sense but also... Hermes? C'mon.

I did love Dionysus though. And the fact that he's apparently Apollo's annoying little brother who followed him around. Anyone with younger siblings can probably understand this.

What else..

Oh. Just that this is apparently the end...it didn't feel like the end. I mean some things were wrapped up but... I'm not ready. I'm just not ready. And I want a series where Apollo tries to help as best he can. Where he is sympathetic and trying to do what's right. I want to explore more with Zeus and his reasonings for this... And honestly I want to see the council actually become a council.

I want the gods to be forced to take a look at themselves like Apollo did. Again. Therapy god. Please and thank you.

Just... Blegh. I dunno. I'm sad guys. I've been following this series since the fifth grade. I grew up with Percy and everyone... And I'm glad that he's found happiness but... I'm not ready to say goodbye to this world. There's just so much more to explore.... Agh. Well I've rambled enough. Hopefully this makes sense. I've been up since 1 am and I'm dealing with medical stuff. (Not corona thank goodness) but I finished TOA and just... Kinda needed to rant. Anyway bye guys.

[inventors-fair]

Mirror-Breaker Commentary

This was a really tough challenge, but you guys brought your A-game. I was really impressed. There was a good mix of ways to fit the challenge, too! Some people had symmetrical effects so you could benefit off your opponent doing things, some people had you steal other people’s things, some people had main-deck cards for the deck that just happen to work when your opponent does the thing, too, and some people just outright said “your opponent can’t do the thing.” All of them were valid, and I was happy to see a nice spread. It also lead to some really wild designs.

The main thing I wanted to focus on this week was one I’ve been preaching for a while: think about the opponent. This was a challenge where you have to design a card for both you and your opponent at the same time. It’s hard to remember that, for every game you play, there’s at least one other player there that your cards are affecting. But enough talk, to the commentary!

@bread-into-toast​

At first I was going to say “wow, that feels overly narrow,” but then I realized that, while it does serve the intended specific purpose of denying Winota her triggers, it also shuts down tribal decks! All tribal decks but one of them, humans. Which is actually a very common tribal deck. But hey, it can’t be good against everything! The body also worries me a bit. I think a ⅓ flyer for three mana is way too expensive to see constructed play unless it does a lot of work, but even in the mirror I don’t know if this is worth the cost. I do like how it curves into Winota and how it has evasion so you can get in hits with a non-human more easily, but I think Winota would rather have a token maker or a couple of cheap bodies. I think at two mana this would have been just about perfect. I like what it does for the most part, even if it is really narrow, it just really needs to earn its spot in the deck.

@dabudder​ - Selective Shields

In the war of tribe vs. tribe, this is what you need. A simple little way to make sure your guys are better than theirs. I also like the cycling, it makes it a little better to main deck, but I still think it’s going to stay in the sideboard, and the cycling is just if the situation to use it never comes up. It’s appreciated, though! Even in a non-blowout situation, sometimes this is just saving one creature from one other creature, or letting one creature not be blocked by another creature. And in those situations, I think this is fine, too! God’s willing is sometimes enough. Spare from Evil even saw a very small amount of play every so often. I also don’t know if the utility of this card pays off more than just playing Brave the Elements, which also protects from targetted removal or damage based wraths. The phrasing of the ability needs to be fixed, though, I think. The reminder text isn’t quite accurate. I think it needs to be phrased “choose a creature type, then choose a creature type,” as dumb as that sounds. I think this card is cool and I like it, but I think there are a lot of better ways to get very similar effects.

@deg99 - Graverobber Cultists

What cheeky little skeletons. They’re stealing my bodies! This is one of the direct hosers, but I think that’s fine. Graveyards decks are one of those things you need to call out specifically in order to interact with. I like the body on this, a 2/2 for two with flash is fine for two mana in either color, but the fact that you need both colors (and that it’s a rare) give you enough wiggle room to power it up just that little amount. Compared to hullbreacher or opposition agent, I like it. It just shuts down the one specific thing you and/or your opponents are doing, but really only once. You brought up that you were a little worried about exhume, but considering the formats that would have that are commander and legacy, I think you’re fine. If you’re not in the mirror, you get some random vanilla creature or a useless combo piece, and if you’re in the mirror this card is good anyway. I don’t really have much to complain about with this card. I think some players would get sick of it like they have with hullbreacher and opposition agent, but considering how rare reanimation is vs. tutoring and card draw, which are also more likely to interact with getting your land drops. Also, art and flavor text are on point, reminds me a lot of what we’ve seen of Modern Horizons two.

@fractured-infinity​ - Psychic Incursion

This one takes a bit to unpack. The cost reduction is actually less relevant in the mirror, as opposed to most entries this week that do the opposite. The way this would work in a normal game is you pay two to wheel some specific card from your hand if you really don’t like them or if you’re comboing off with persistent petitioners or something. But in the mirror (which is when you’re far more likely to play this), you get to get rid of your opponent’s win condition so long as it’s the same as yours and you have it in hand. It’s going to be very scary to be your opponent when you show them you have the win in hand and they don’t have one in their deck. I like the effect, but the costing is really weird. Four mana is already what you’re paying for cards like Lobotomy and Memoricide, so having the downside of having to have the card in hand feels really steep. We’ve even had three mana versions like Dispossess and Lost Legacy. The fact that this can let you “cycle” a card in your hand is also not super useful, since you still have to cast this card, meaning you’re down a card to swap out the rest. I think you could remove the blue or maybe the black from this and still have it work. I like the idea of it, it’s just a little too hard to take advantage of as-is.

@gay-for-ocypete​ - Looking-Glass Lurker

I’m interested at your top-down approach to this, at least so far as I could tell. It’s cool that you took the idea of facing yourself to it’s logical confusion. I think this card has some issues, though. At the base, a five mana clone-anything is all good, though a little pricey for only cloning your own stuff, but this one comes with an effect. Good job remembering to put the ability in the copy text and not on the card itself! But I’m not sure if the game can handle it as-is. Choosing what you’re copying is done at a very weird point in the rules, and I’m not sure the game can “notice” when you’re cloning something. I think you could have just said “whenever a creature with the same name as a creature you control enters the battlefield under an opponent’s control…” It technically would have operated differently, but close enough I think, and it would have definitely worked within the rules. I also think the play pattern on this card is a little strange. Let’s say your opponent plays a clone. If they target your best permanent, then you get to flicker this guy and get an extra copy of your best permanent. In that situation, though, you already have your best permanent in play, and you’re just getting an extra one. Feels kind of win-more. If your opponent is ahead, then they’ll just copy one of their own things, and in that case your stuck with what you’ve already cloned. This requires a very specific situation to be relevant, even in the mirror. With that in mind, I think you could have made this 4 mana. It’s better than Mirror Image which is three mana, but the fact that it can’t clone your opponent’s stuff means it’s worse than Clever Impersonator. I think four mana would be perfectly fair. I like the way you fought cloning with cloning, and using the flicker to do it was really smart, but it’s a little too narrow to be worth the cost of playing it.

@ghoulcaclulator64​ - Relief Agent

The taxpayer. We have much in common. I like the concept of this card. A simple way to get around random tax effects. I also think in the mirror that’s super important because you need to get down your tax pieces as early as possible, and their taxes will slow that down. I have two complaints about the card. First is the body. The three toughness is nice, even if it still dies to bolt, but the low power and lack of abilities really weakens this I feel. You could argue it’s small enough to get under ensnaring bridge, but then it would really want some form of evasion. There’s a reason “hate bear” is the common terminology: two power really helps it make an impact on the board beyond just being a killable enchantment. The second issue this ties into is the power level of this card. This is a very narrow effect with not a ton of use, and while it is very strong at that effect, it still needs to carry it’s weight somehow. Unlike with some other hate bears like Leonin Arbiter, you can’t take advantage of this one in any way, like by playing a tabernacle or Fade Away or other cards that force all players to pay a tax. I understand why, since saying you don’t have to pay additional costs for yourself would be kind of broken, but the fact that there’s no way to get extra use out of this is a little disappointing. One other thing I’ll bring up is the concern of templating. I know what you were trying to do, but I’m not sure if the game can handle it. I don’t know if the game “knows” where the taxes are coming from when you pay extra. My assumption is that this works for both Thalia and Mana Tithe, though I’m not sure if there’s a clean way to phrase that. Your templating here is a little backwards, and as written would make it so I don’t have to pay extra costs when paying for costs for things my opponent’s control. I wish I could offer advice on how to fix that, but the best I’ve been able to come up with thinking of similar cards is just an ability that gives you infinite mana that you can’t spend on anything you control. But like I said at the start, I love the concept. I like the idea of a card that pays taxes for you. It’s narrow but effective.

@gollumni​ - Coercive Commander

Oh hey, crafty cutpurse but it’s permanent! And in white, which seems weird, but I’ll let it slide because it’s kind of like a cross between Anointed Procession and Containment Priest, but I still think it’s a close one. I actually remember reading the M-files article where they talk about how crafty cutpurse was a permanent effect but they were worried it would lead to just a bunch of unfun games, and that it was too broad and not focused at specific cards or situations. Your answer to that was making it a once-per turn trigger, and I think that does a lot for you here. Most dedicated token decks have a mix of little token makers (Legion Warboss, bitterblossom) that you can wait to trigger and break the buffer so you can play bigger effects like Secure the Wastes or Saproling Migration. I think you could afford to make this a little tougher to kill in order to make sure the effect goes off at least once instead of getting killed in response, and perhaps to make it a bit more of a body on it’s own instead of just hoping you steal something big enough to make it worth playing a four mana creature with almost no power in a creature centric deck. Four mana is also a tough spot in token decks, since it’s where anointed procession, parallel lives, second harvest, and some other nice token enablers sit at. It’ll hard to hold up four mana in hopes of getting a big hit off your opponent. But I think you did a nice job of making a more fun and useful crafty cutpurse.

@helloijustreadyourpost​ - Feign Ignorance

Mill, eh? Surprised we didn’t see more mill cards this week. I like how this works. It’s a two mana mill effect, so you will get a benefit off of it no matter what, and two mana mill 6 isn’t too shabby. You can also use it as a very strange sort of tutor, milling some cards but then eventually putting some back. It can also put any type of card back on top, which would be color pie break if this card was just blue or black, but since it’s both, blue can get back spells and artifacts and black can get back creatures, enchantments, and planeswalkers. Lands is the only weird spot, but I think that’s fine. The thing I’m most impressed by is the exact way that the activated ability functions. While the “can’t be milled” clause is clearly there just so you keep your cards no matter what, it also can be used as a sort of counterspell. If you’re targeted with a mill effect, you can activate the ability in response to protect yourself. You can even do it immediately after your draw step and have a whole turn, but at the cost of leaving those cards sit for a whole turn cycle. The other way this is more powerful in the mirror is just that you’ll end up with more to choose from, which is nice, and you can put cards on top if they’re on empty and can’t get those last four no matter what. All that said and done, though, I don’t think this card quite makes the cut. It’s cool and clever, but it just doesn’t do enough. Putting cards on top is just too slow for a lot of mill decks that need a lot of velocity. The way you lose playing mill is if you just can’t do enough milling quick enough before you die. If you play this and spend a bunch of mana to protect yourself, you’ll buy yourself some time, yes, but that mana could be better spent milling! This is a backup plan, basically, whereas I wish it could have been a little more aggressive. I think if the activation was cheaper, or there were a way to recur it, or if it was a little more aggressive in some way it would be more playable. The design is stellar, I just think it’s too slow.

@hiygamer​ - Recounter of Fables

I’ll admit, when I was first thinking of decks to list as examples of archetypes, Adventures jumped to mind, and I like where you went with it. It’s a card that specifically hates on adventures, but also has one! It’s also makes me happy that the adventure side is so weak in any other situation, because that’s how adventures should be: pretty weak. That said, the creature side is pretty much completely playable on its own. In fact, it might be too playable. It’s a three mana gravedigger in the right deck! Granted, Innkeeper is three mana less than beast whisperer and lucky clover is 5 mana less than swarm intelligence, so maybe the discount you get for having all of your creatures be adventures is that high? I also have some color concerns. Blue can return instants and sorceries, but they can’t return creatures. Adventures are both, but they are definitely more creatures than spells (since you can cast the creature without the spell but if you cast the spell you still get the creature). The adventure half is also hard to judge, since it’s almost closer to discard than anything else, but blue occasionally gets “can’t cast cards” effects. It’s really hard to judge the strength of a card based around one of the strongest themes in the most broken set we’ve seen in a while, but if I just look at what we saw in Eldraine, I think this is on par with what Wizards did. I think it’s a bit of a bend in blue, maybe a break, but I can see the argument at least. Perhaps this card should have been white? White gets to stop players from casting specific spells, and white gets limited creature regrowths. As is, this card is fine, a little pushed but only as much as any other playable adventure card.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes​ - Fighting Medic

I have a soft spot for first strike shenanigans, it always makes for really cool mechanics. The downside to them is that they can really get blown out against removal heavy decks, or control in general. But in the mirror, all of the sudden it has relevance! This card is meant to be an amazing blocker. It blocks and kills any two-toughness creature while saving you from taking an extra two damage. I do wonder if it’s worth the effort, though. If this card just had lifelink, I think it would be better in almost any situation. The best use for damage prevention is if they also have lifelink or some other damage-dependent ability, which aren’t as common as you’d think. I think what really would have made this feel great and useful is if it could prevent damage to any target. That would make this feel more fitting in a creature-centric deck, and it would give it a little more utility on attacks. Right now, it seems hard to get an attack in after a certain point, and if you do you aren’t going to trigger its ability easily (or use it, for that matter). As is, this feels a little too complex for what little it does, and I think just lifegain would feel more appropriate.

@misterstingyjack​ - Wild Challenger

This man really want to fight. Sadly, I don’t know if he’d survive. I think this is meant for big stompy decks, but I don’t know how much they want him. You would need to build this guy big enough to survive the fight, have him survive long enough to attack, hope your opponent has something he can target, and then he might just die after being blocked anyway. You said it works well with combat tricks, but it would require you casting them before players block, which is the worst time to do it, but also if your opponent has a trick it’s such a blowout. This card is either going to do a lot of damage or nothing. Load this guy up with counters and your opponent is screwed. Either you kill their big guy or they only have little guys anyway. I think this guy is enough og a build around you could have pushed him more. Maybe drop his cost by one or give him an ability like haste or trample. I really love the concept, though, I think it’s just not as useful as it looks.

@ozthearistocrat​ - Flame to Fists

Huh. The best way to beat your deck is to… stop being your deck. You thought I was a burn deck but now I am a goblin deck. Like a little version of Hostility. I think this is an odd mirror breaker because if you both have burn, then you’ll both be making the same change to a creature deck. But the difference is that you’ll see it coming. You can go down on life but save your burn, then drop this and a couple burn spells. Meanwhile they can’t deal that last point of damage to you because you’ve made a ton of blockers and they can’t just burn you out. It’s also great if you have this plus are siding in some other removal like a suffocating fumes or a pump spell like atarka’s command. You can of course also do fun stuff like Marrow Shards when you attack to double your force. Still, I think this is going too far into making a deck into another deck. You’re going to be using this less to combat burn and more to go wide with goblins or go infinite with impact tremors. I think this is a pretty cool card, but not really a good fit for this week’s contest.

@naban-dean-of-irritation​ - Through the Gates

This is a tough one to judge. While I understand that the point of this card is to fight against suicide black / aristocrats decks, but it’s just way, way better in control decks. This card says “whenever you kill a creature, gain control of it.” Decks built around multiple creatures dying in a single turn are actually better against this card, since this triggers only once. I’m also not a fan of “one or more creatures die” because there’s some weirdness there. If you deal 1 damage to each creature, then kill an Elvish Archdruid with a doomblade, will the llanowar elves dying count as a separate trigger or the same? Doomblade killed the Archdruid, but damage already there killed the llanowar elves, but they both died by the next time a player has priority. So if you would prefer the llanowar elf, can you get it? I think in order to get this sort of effect, perhaps you could get the enchantment to remove itself somehow. Like, by saying “Whenever a nontoken creature dies, you may exile ~. If you do, return that creature to the battlefield under your control, then return ~ to the battlefield at the beginning of the next upkeep.” It would mess with the card a bit, letting people flicker it for Constellation value, but I think it would make some of the templating easier. Currently though my biggest problem is still just how generically good this is. One free Grim Return every turn is incredibly powerful in a lot of decks, regardless of the matchup.

@nicolbolas96​ - Beast-Tamer Acolyte

Wow, this card is doing a lot! That first ability is super strong, especially on such a high-toughness creature. Ghostly Prison is strong enough that it hasn’t seen print in standard for a while, so making a strong version on a creature that can be hit by Collected Company is a risky move. Luckily, that last ability isn’t going to be doing much often enough to really affect the power level. But that’s not to say it does nothing! As far as this contest goes, this feels really solid. Casting cards from the graveyard is mostly a black or blue (with artifacts) thing, but it exists in white as well, and I can tell this is very specifically thinking of Lurrus. Sadly, you can’t play it if Lurrus is your commander, but if you’re playing something closer to a CoCo build this guy feels perfect. It’s strong, maybe too strong, but the design is really cool and nicely specific.

@partly-cloudy-partly-fuckoff - Revel Inciter

Sucks to be them. If you’re attacking with a bunch of creatures, only being able to attack half as often sucks. It’ll also make it a lot harder to block, which is good for an aggressive creature deck! If I were playing against this, I’d groan, but it isn’t an instant win. What keeps me from really liking this card is that it just isn’t on color. This is a blue or a white effect, even if it affected just white or blue creatures (though especially if it only hit red creatures). I think blue would be a little weird, but blue aggro is a thing. But if this were a white card with no other changes, I think it’d be awesome. Red white aggro is super common, and this would shut down the opponent’s force pretty dang hard. Fix the color and this card is great. As is, it’s just too off-color of an effect.

@pocketvikings​ - Swordstealer

Well, that’s to the point. Your opponent has a sword, but now you do! I like how straightforward this is. I also like how it can see maindeck play as a way to attach your Colossus Hammer or whatnot easily, and the flash even has a lot of use there to get around sorcery-speed removal. The rarity seems really odd to me, since even though the effect is clearly very simple, the interactions and situational nature of it does increase the complexity of it. There’s the classic problem of players keeping this card in hand until they see an equipment in play when they really should just be playing it as a body. The fact that this “attaches” but doesn’t actually gain control of the equipment is also going to cause some issues. This has been the case since equipment have existed, but the fact that the card is literally called “sword stealer” but does not in fact gain control of the equipment is going to mislead some people. I don’t think it would have been that bad if it did literally steal it, preferably just until it was unequipped or until this guy died, just so that players wouldn’t get the wrong idea about how this worked. As a whole, though, I still think this card is pretty well made, and the concept of it is right on the money. A good mix of maindeck playability and incredible power in the mirror.

@real-aspen-hours​ - Sanguine Ignition

I really like this card! Four damage for two mana is one of those things that’s both ridiculously powerful but pretty reasonable. We’ve seen it only once or twice before, ever. 2 damage for two mana, however, pretty bad, but not completely unplayable, as we’ve seen with stomp. I really like this card because it’s really powerful in the mirror, but in the exact way the mirror plays out. You can use this to hit pumped up prowess creatures as well as faces, but have to plan around it just the smallest amount. It isn't’ fancy, it just gives you a great rate on burn. There’s only two things holding it back. First, you can trigger it yourself a little too easily. Simply playing City of Brass gives you access to this. I think that’s a little too easy. A simple “by spells or abilities or opponents control” would have fixed that. The other problem is that it’s both hard to maindeck this card but hard to put it in your sideboard. If you’re building your burn deck, putting extra burn in the sideboard doesn’t really feel good. But at the same time, if you put this in your main deck, you’ll have just a weak two mana shock about half the time, which is not what you want even in standard decks. You could argue that these two problems cancel each other out, and that you can main deck it more easily if you’re playing pain lands and the mirror match just makes it easier, but in that case I think the painland issue wins out and the card’s just too good. However, if you put this in a very specific standard environment with a few ways too deal damage to yourself but not a ton, this card could hit just the right sweetspot of playability. And like I said at the start, I really like this card, and think it’s doing a lot of stuff right.

@snugz​ - Notus, Trustbreaker

Ah, planeswalkers, They never seem to get along. This is actually a clever way to hate on planeswalkers without calling them out directly (one of the reasons proliferate worked well in WAR was for that reason). I like the first ability, as I’m a big fan of modifying things based on how you did a semi-automated action. I do think it’s a little weird that it still hits you, seeing as how you’re the one building around proliferate, but I guess that’s the tradeoff for a powerful plus ability. The minus 3 is fine but I don’t think it is templated correctly. If a card has different types of counters, it’s unclear how they’re dealt with and by who. I’d say something like “Remove X counters from target permanent or player, where X is half the number of counters on that permanent or player. You gain X life.” Functionally I like it, though. It’s a high cost ability considering how situational it is, but with how powerful the other abilities are I think it’s fine. The ult I think works fine, though I’m not sure if you could do things like put flying counters on players or poison counters on creatures, but I’ll assume the comprehensive rules will update to regulate that. Also, based on how Reverse the sands is phrased and the rulings on it, I’m not sure if you can just suck up every counter. But if I assume the best possible scenario (put any counter anywhere), I like it. Also implementing it digitally would be an absolute pain, but I don’t count that against you. So yeah, in total, the card has some weird quirks that I don’t think make it a bad card but do make its place in a deck feel kind of weird. It definitely feels appropriate this week though.

@starch255 - Grand Minimus

Hoo boy, a one mana 2/2 haste. Those have historically been very powerful! What’s the downside? 2 damage basically very time you cast a spell? Okay, that’s close. Balancing aggressive cards like this is very, very difficult. Burn players already play a lot of ways to hurt themself for now reason, like playing fetchlands in mono-red. This doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch. The alternative, goblin guide, draws your opponent cards, which seems like much more of a downside than this! However, you’re right to put this in the contest this week, since if you play this against a burn deck you’re basically getting a half-price eidolon of the great revel, and if your deck is a certain way you may be able to get around it! My biggest issue with this card beyond the raw power of this in the main deck is how good it is on the play. Burn mirrors are already basically decided by who goes first, and this just makes that issue so, so much worse. If you play this and just go swinging every turn and let your opponent shock themselves over and over means you’re just going to win. That’s going to lead to some sad games. But, I think you were going in the right direction. I just wish this could be used more as a comeback card than a push the advantage card.

@stormtide-leviathan​ - Dementia Drinker

I like where you’re going with this. Discard tribal is a strong archetype, and making a card that benefits off of either player discarding is great! Maybe too great. For comparison, cards from Amonkhet that cost two mana would have effects like granting +1/+1 until end of turn or a little ability. This grants permanent counters. Playing this into burning inquiry (already a card being played in discard-focused decks) gives you a 7/7 flyer. Yikes! Even though this card is clearly aimed at 8 rack decks, and I do love it’s synergy with Raven’s Crime specifically, I think it may be a bit too much of a powerhouse in any format. But I love the design! Like I said, cards that make both players discard already see a little play in discard decks, so it’s an especially good place to make a mirror-breaker. The escape cost is also really clever, since your opponent is going to want to make you discard this for sure as soon as possible, but you can get it back as soon as they (or you) get enough cards in your graveyard to take advantage of it. So very good job with the card, I think it might just be a little too oppressive to see print.

@teaxch​ - Magnetic Grips

The equipment that lets you firmly grasp it. If you’ve got an equipment heavy deck, this card could do a lot of work. Free equips are very valuable, whether the memey colossus hammer or the backup plan with a batterskull or just a little extra value with a sword. The fact that this can target opponents' stuff almost feels like an afterthought, but once put in the context of this challenge is anything but! Slowly but reliably stealing equipment from other players is hilarious and terrifying. It’s not an instant win (which is nice), but does feel a little insurmountable, which I think is good for a card like this. My two gripes are that I think it could be a little cheaper considering how little you get out of it sometimes. You need this, a creature, and another equipment, and a reason to not just pay to equip. Though I could see keeping the price, and it just needs something else going for it, maybe a little more P/T or an ability, like haste. I also wish that it would let you steal the equipment until they become unequipped. There’s so many weird interactions, like sword triggers benefitting the players they just hit, except sometimes not? Feast and Famine for example would make your opponent discard a card but they’d still untap their lands. If this just stole the equipment temporarily it would be a lot clearer. I still love this card and this effect, and I think it’s a really cool and clever way of making a card that you would play in your main deck as a combo piece that’s weaker than others in general but amazing in the mirror.

@thedirstside - Betrayer of the Brood

For the Eldrazi mirror, or the tron mirror perhaps more likely. A very expensive and very restrictive counterspell/removal spell, but hey, worst case it’s a 6 mana 5/5 that blows up a land. At 6 mana I think land destruction is fine, especially when you have to build around it, and it’s just weak enough at that that you would really only want to use this in the mirror. That’s what I was looking for! I also like how, despite there already being a ton of hate for Tron in modern, this is a completely different way to do it, and one that’s strong in the mirror (you wouldn’t exactly want to play Dampening Sphere in your tron deck). One awkward part is that, while it can target a spell on the stack, a lot of the bigger colorless spells have triggered abilities when they’re cast, and it would have been really cool if this could have caught those as well. The last thing I’ll say is that it’s very vanilla for an Eldrazi. Once it’s in play, it’s just a 5/5. The triggered ability is also hard to abuse in the decks that would play this, there isn’t a lot of recursion or bounce in those decks. I think this card is pretty well made, but it’s a little too focused on just doing one thing pretty well for a deck that really wants to constantly throwing haymakers.

@vasnirada​ - Salt Dunes

This is a very narrow card, but as a land I think that’s for the best. A simple land that lets you combo off when your opponent plays a land if you’ve got a landfall-heavy deck. Good against valakut or field of the dead. But I think you’re really underestimating how good this is. You fixed the fact that it goes infinite with itself, but I still think it does too much. For comparison, Ancient Freenwarden, doubles your landfall triggers and costs six mana, though it does have an extra three mana effect. Getting the three mana effect left over with just a land drop is really strong. This card is less of a mirror-breaker and more of just an auto-include in any landfall deck. I like the fact that it takes what your opponent is doing and lets you do it as well, but I think it was a bit too powerful. Perhaps if it specified lands put into play that weren’t played? Like, triggering only off of lands that enter from the library. I think that would cut the power enough to not be broken in a way that keeps its intent as a mirror-breaker.

@wolkemesser​ - Gluttony

Well, gluttony seems like the logical conclusion to a food deck. At its base, this is a 4 mana 5/5 with a strong ward ability, that’s pretty strong! But the heavy casting cost helps. The triggered ability is what you’re here for, though. It’s got a lot going on. If anybody does it, this guy gets bigger and harder to block, which is good, but you don’t really want to do it yourself because you’ll get hit for some pretty big damage. I’m mixed on that. I kind of like that it lets you just go “y’know what, I’m just not gonna sac my food any more, I’m just going to kill you,” sort of a transformative sideboard. But it would be hard to do that considering how much sacrifice is in the usual sac deck, but hey, you can still sac to grow this guy!... and get hit for a ton. It’s really risky to play this card in the mirror. If they play a Liliana, Dreadhorde General they could end up hitting you for 8 and killing two of your creatures, and possibly taking no damage in the exchange. I think this card could have been just as good and powerful and fun without the damage effect. It just sort of muddies the utility of this card, and it’s already doing me so much. Don’t take me wrong, though, this is a great entry, and you really got the idea of this contest.

~

Phew! That’s everybody. Good luck next week!

-Mod Mr. ShinyObject

[dilfbatman]

Hello there! I'm the anon with the Percy being Patrochilles' love child ask. Can I ask for some headcanons of modern!patrochilles adopting Percy?

OMG HELLO MODERN!PATROCHILLES PERCY LOVE CHILD ANON who simply put that thought into my brain and is also legendary....... lemme whip something up for you :’) so in this au i’ll do it as modern!patrochilles legit adopt percy as their lovechild bc this is an au and i can do what i want LMFAO (it feels so weird not having sally in here but i will add her somehow regardless bc she’s the QUEEN) hope you enjoy friend!!!

—

- patroclus & achilles see percy and see his wide bright sea-green eyes looking up at them and they mirror achilles’ spearmint green eyes and reminds achilles of patroclus’ skops nickname, and percy’s hair is dark like patroclus’ and is tan like him too and he has a giggle that is like a melody and both of them think. okay he is ours and then they get told that his name is “perseus” aka the only demigod that lived a long & safe life and they have a sense of relief and think. wow he really is ours

- on the ride home percy is a little quiet but he has a sense of happiness and can’t really put it into words, and patroclus holds percy’s tiny little hand and tells him that they’re all gonna be a family and tells him how lucky he & achilles feel that they have a beautiful joy in their life and perseus smiles and achilles is driving and trying not to cry bc he can see how beautiful a son perseus is going to be and how beautiful a dad patroclus already is

- now. patroclus would be the kind, soft, warm, empathetic, semi-strict parent who always gives the best advice, wants there to be a two way street of trust, honesty, and respect and he is such a soft dad and achilles would be the fun, wild card, dorky dad who protects his child with a fervor and relates to perseus & is very loving just like patroclus and is Iike the best friend dad, and the entire time they’re both so loving to percy & sometimes patroclus is rolling his eyes playfully and is like “i’m raising TWO kids” after perseus & achilles have blue paint on themselves after making an art project for patroclus that he looks at & admires and tears up at while putting it on the wall :’)

- percy calls them lily & pat sometimes and they call him perse, perseus, and cici <3

- they all like to celebrate the holidays and they give each other valentine’s day cards and patrochilles put a stuffed animal, his favorite candy, and some lil extra presents on percy’s bed after he comes from school. on halloween they dress percy up like a lil guppy and pat has his pumpkin costume and achilles w his greek god costume & they all go trick or treating and both percy & achilles ask for candy while pat is just chastising achilles and telling him “you better share w perseus” hehe and on christmas it’s filled w love, laughter, cheer, & tons of presents on all sides :’) percy gives them homemade drawings and the sweetest cards and patrochilles give him a photo framed of all three of them + their golden retriever puppy chiron, a polaroid, and a certificate saying that they adopted a baby seal in perseus’ name <3

- they keep every little card that they give each other and they have scrapbooks and albums and they want to carry these memories forever :’) and omg when it’s percy’s bday it is simply WILD! fast forward a couple years later it’s so much fun and they eat cake and have a great summer picnic outside w all of percy’s friends and yes everyone is checking achilles & patroclus out bc they’re valid and they all have such a grand ol’ time :’) annabeth, jason, frank, hazel, and will talk to patroclus a lot and piper, leo, nico, reyna, and thalia talk to achilles a lot and they all intermingle and percy is just so happy that everyone is getting along and they all tell him that his dads are the coolest and so kind and funny and he feels a rush of pride

- also patrochilles are DILFs. no i will not elaborate and i will not allow someone to disagree with me. they’re DILFs and it’s time to accept it and honor it (achilles a proud DILF, patroclus rolling his eyes while blushing when he gets called that)

- fast forward to many years later and perseus has went through his awkward pre-teen years in which he talked to patroclus all about it bc he could relate and achilles was there to provide moral support bc even if he didn’t go through it he wants his son to know that everything he felt was valid and completely normal! now that percy has grown into his own he still knows that he can talk to them about his feelings but he also has a feeling of confidence in him

- i also think that every demigod has adhd so achilles can relate to perseus on that and patroclus helps perseus w his dyslexia and will stay up into the late hours of the night helping him with homework while achilles cuts up some fruit & figs for them to eat and he gives them both kisses and moral support and many needed breaks & snacks

- also fun fact a book percy has to read is by the infamous sally jackson who is literally patroclus’ favorite writer of ALL time and he’s so hype and he has written sally multiple times and is in correspondence with her and one time he was like “you should come by” and sally says “ofc!” and she ends up doing just that, she comes by their apartment and pat is Shook and mixing up his words and all that can come out is “i Love book” and achilles has to translate everything he says and perseus tells her how much he admires her writing and how the hell did she come up w the idea of gods & demigods and how did she have prose so beautiful while speaking of them? and sally just winks and percy smiles and feels like he understands :’) towards the end sally leaves and made sure to sign all of pat’s books and gives them a bust of poseidon who is her favorite god & he nearly passes out and she gives perseus a trident necklace that he will wear forever bc he knows it means something to her and for some reason, it means something to him too

- and LISTEN! perseus has grown into his own and is absolutely beautiful! he has bright green eyes and a lil eyebrow slit that he accidentally got while playing in the park in which patrochilles were so afraid but kept it together after patroclus patched him up, he is tan & tall w jet black hair with a deep & melodic voice, and he has the empathy, kindness, leadership, strength, wisdom, and badassery that was innate/instilled in him by his wonderful parents. patroclus the entire time is like damn those demigod genes!!!! making my baby boy look like a model just like his father smh what about me!!!! and achilles is like babe you’re gorgeous and perseus is like yeah dad you’re great

- and achilles and patroclus do a double take bc the entire time leading up to this percy never really called them dad he just called them nicknames or petnames and all of sudden the dam breaks and everyone is crying and hugging and achilles and patroclus both give percy the biggest kiss on either side of his cheek and percy’s face is being Squished but he doesn’t mind bc he can feel their love :’)

- and lemme tell y’all something achilles had a feeling his baby boy was a demigod after seeing all those monsters and creatures and patroclus could always see through the mist and growing up they wanted him to have a normal life, but achilles wanted percy to be able to protect himself so he taught percy how to fight & patroclus taught him stuff that he learned from medical school and how to patch himself/others up & percy is very well versed in all aspects and is very grateful for this

- percy is a troublemaker and sarcastic little shit who loves to curse and he really gets that from achilles & he is also sensitive, warm, empathetic and in touch with his emotions and he gets that from patroclus and he is the true lovechild of both of those dorks

- basically listen i could talk about them for hours and i can make so many of these but i know how long imma end up making this so lemme just say this: i love modern!patrochilles they’d be the best dads and i love perseus and they’re just a big happy family bc they DESERVE it <3 and maybe YOU know something that they don’t about sally ;) i didn’t know how i’d go about writing this but i hope you liked it! lemme know! <3 and so sorry this is all over the place hehe i know it’s scattered and long but i hope you like it! :’)

[spectraspecs-writes]

Korriban - Chapter 92 (Carth, Jolee)

Link to the masterpost. Chapter 91. Chapter 93.

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma @strangepostmiracle thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag.

-------

Archaeologists and scouts are a similar breed. While I would follow a set of tracks to my own doom, archaeologists are certainly prone to going too deep into a tomb or a ruin and not being able to get out. We’re both drawn to nesting sites in our own way - mine to animal, them to humanoid. We get along with others of our same profession, despite our client, but we keep our secrets just the same. And we both think of the other as far too obsessive over our chosen passion. There are archaeologists in the Valley, but the tombs are closed. Not sealed - you can still get in - but they aren’t open for archaeologists to go in and dust to their hearts’ content. Which strikes me as odd. Like I said to Thalia, I can’t resist a cave. Or a forest. Or a valley. Or a prairie. Really, any place I might conceivably find life, I can’t resist. And I’ve never met an archaeologist who could resist a tomb.

I want to know more. But first I need to meet with Lashowe before she gets herself killed.

She’s standing near the edge of the Valley, in front of one of the tombs. When she sees me she rolls her eyes. “Finally!” she groans, “If you were any later in showing up, we would have had to abandon this.” Chill out, it’s been twenty minutes. Thirty, tops. “I've been calling to the tuk'ata mother in their language. She should respond fairly… ahhh, here she comes now.” The tuk’ata matriarch is flanked by two smaller tuk’ata. She’s scarred, and her horns have been damaged. “Get ready,” Lashowe says, “This will not be easy… she’s a tough beast.”

I stop her. “Let me give this a shot first,” I say, and she steps back. Carth holds his blaster ready, in case the matriarch jumps at me. Animals have a different body language than people, but most animals have learned to recognize ours. Humans tend to approach aggressively, full-on body, no weak spots presented, arms raised as a threat. It’s different for every animal, of course, but most of them don’t like eye contact and prefer it when your head is low. I approach her slowly, my feet sideways with each step, my head and eyes lowered, and my torso open to her. She’s still a predator, and still a danger to me, but the other three are ready if she attacks. I can handle this otherwise. She’s confused - her head tilts at me. But her posture is still defensive. My hands are low but open, and when I get close enough I kneel into the dust. I don’t reach out to touch her. That would be a threat. I reach out with the Force. An animal wouldn’t understand a holocron. Only that she has something we want. We do not want her pups. We do not want her food. We do not want her land. We simply seek a human trinket from her den, and then we will leave her in peace.

And then Lashowe cuts her head off. The matriarch was surprised. She didn’t suffer. Carth reacts quickly and shoots the other two. Okay. Calm over. Lashowe, what the hell?! “I said let me handle it!” I shout at her.

“And I told you that the holocron was in her gullet - she ate it!” Lashowe shouts back, “I thought you were going to get close enough to kill her, not reason with her! What sort of Sith are you?”

Well, I’m not one. “The kind who doesn’t want to add ‘animal cruelty’ to her conscience!”

“You saw her, she didn’t suffer!” Lashowe cuts the matriarch open at the stomach and pulls out a small crystal. “And here is the holocron,” she says, examining it, “Such a small thing to be so valuable and require so much effort to obtain. I'll just run along, now, and give this to Master Uthar. I'll be sure to tell him of your contribution, naturally.”

No. She won’t. “Wait,” I say, “We’ll go to Master Uthar together.”

“Forget it,” she says sharply, “I’m not waiting up for you. That wasn’t our plan, anyway.”

Carth’s hand rests on his blaster, Jolee’s on his lightsaber. “The plan was we both get credit,” I remind her.

“Back off, I’m warning you!” She reaches for her own lightsaber now. “I’m not giving this up!”

“No more arguing,” I say firmly, “We take it back together.”

“Over my dead body!” she shouts, and she comes at me with her lightsaber. Mine comes out just as quickly. She’s scrappy, but not much of a fighter. She relies on agility rather than strength, but I have both. I don’t even need Carth or Jolee to help me. I take her down, no problem, and take the holocron. I take a moment, to honor the tuk’ata matriarch, and then I stand and shake a little bit. Trying to get off the dust of this world. That sort of brutality is a little hard to believe, even from a Sith. I know I shouldn’t be surprised. Lashowe barely showed any consideration for people, much less animals. But once - you know? Just once I’d like to meet a Sith who isn’t an asshole. You can be evil without being an asshole. You can wreak havoc on a galactic scale without kicking puppies for fun. Hell, Sith scouts weren’t like that. Maybe they didn’t all view an ecosystem as a living breathing thing rather than a resource, but they weren’t assholes. They weren’t evil, either, so I guess they don’t count. I can’t fault them for having a conservation view over my preservation view, I guess, it’s a valid enough position even if I don’t agree with it.

I take a breath. “We should probably take this back to Uthar while I’m thinking about it,” I say, “Then, I could go for some lunch, you guys?” They both agree so we head back.

-----

Master Uthar hasn’t moved from earlier - he’s still meditating in the central chamber, but he acknowledges me when I approach. “Greetings, young one,” he says, “I sense you have something to show me, yes? Something to earn you prestige.”

“Yes,” I say, “I have found a Jedi holocron.” I hand him the crystal.

He chuckles. “I had heard that such an artifact existed,” he says, examining the crystal, “Tell me, young one, did you acquire this device by yourself?”

“No,” I say.

“So I see.” He doesn’t seem to hold it against me. Like he knew anyway. “And Lashowe… does she yet live?”

“No,” I say, “She’s dead.”

He laughs gladly. Which is weird - I thought he liked her. That was the impression I got yesterday. “Well done!” he says, “You gained an artifact through trickery and eliminated an opponent at the same time. That is deserving of great prestige!” Ah, that’s what he was glad of - I was displaying Sithy behavior. “I also heard you ventured into the shyrack caves - tell me, what did you find there?”

“I dealt with the renegade students,” I say.

“Ahh,” he says, “The ones I ordered executed for their mutiny? It’s done then?”

Well, ultimately, yes, they aren’t a problem anymore. “It’s done,” I repeat, “They are… gone.” Not a lie, really.

“Indeed?” he says, his infection raised with just a hint of doubt, “We checked the caves and found only a couple bodies.”

“There was a large beast in the caves - perhaps it ate them?” I offer, trying to blame the terentatek. Not like anyone else will find it. If the caves are that dangerous, I doubt a lot of people go that way.

He shrugs. “Ah, it is just as good, I suppose,” he says, “The lesson is learned, I believe. Go now - you have done well, but you have not impressed me enough to declare you the victor.” And he returns to his meditation

We go for lunch in the cantina - there is a cafeteria of sorts in the Sith Academy, but frankly, I don’t want to deal with the sort of childish antics I’m sure happen there. I just want to eat in relative peace. Or at least Carth and I eat there. Jolee goes back to the ship for some reason. I don’t get why - he was complaining about the synthesizer on the Hawk so why he would choose to get lunch there is beyond me. But, whatever, he’s an adult, I won’t stop him. I figure I’ll just buzz him on the comm when we’re ready to go back.

Carth finishes first - he just got some sort of sandwich - but I’m going slower with my bowl of soup. Idly scrolling through what I skimmed off Master Uthar’s datapad. And Carth is watching me. He’s trying to be subtle about it but failing miserably. And I’ll admit it’s sort of nice? But also kind of creepy, so rather than just sit and live with it, I bring it up. “You’re staring - you need something?”

“Hmm? Oh, no,” he says quickly. Awkward bunny man. “Sorry.”

“You know, come to think of it, you’ve been watching me a lot lately,” I say. He’s been ready for a surprise fight a lot. “Why is that?”

His cheeks go red. “Oh, I…” he says softly… “thought you hadn’t noticed.”

I scoff playfully. “If you were any more obvious about it, your eyes would fall out of your head.”

His redness gets even worse and he smiles sheepishly. “Err... I'm not that bad, am I?”

“Not bad for a monkey-lizard, no, not bad at all.”

He smiles and laughs. “Damn it, woman, if you keep hounding me I'm going to put you over my knee and teach you a lesson!” he jokes.

Whoa! That’s the most overt thing he’s ever said to me! “I’d like to see you try!” I laugh.

He shakes his head. “You just wait, you’ll get yours.”

“I’m sure I will!”

“At any rate,” he says more seriously - not like serious, serious, but he’s not joking anymore, we’re just two close friends chatting over lunch. I mean, hopefully more than friends, but as it stands, anyway - “I wasn’t ogling you. I've just been admiring you.” Don’t melt, Rena, you’ll spill your soup all over your lap and kill the mood. “I've been watching you in action. Your- your skills. You have a natural talent that is incredible. Not that, ah, all I do is watch you or anything. I don't mean anything by it.”

I raise my eyebrow. “Any other observations?”

“Well,” he says slowly, considering his words, “maybe a few. I hope you don’t mind if I keep those to myself.”

“You don’t have to be so embarrassed, Carth,” I say, “although it is adorable. I don’t mind if you watch me.”

He relaxes, relieved, and lets out a short laugh. “Why didn't you tell me that sooner? You would have saved me a lot of trouble!”

“Give up the chance to give you trouble? As if!”

He laughs again. When he calms down a bit, he continues. “I will say one thing, though,” he says, “We've come a long way with your help. Whether it's the Force or fate or just dumb luck… I'm glad you're here.” Don’t melt, no melting. “We probably would have never made it this far without you.” He scratches the back of his head. That’s his apology scratch, I know that well. “I, uh… I should have said this long before, instead of doubting you. I, uh, hope you can forgive me.”

I smile softly at him. “You already apologized once, Carth.”

“And you accepted it, but that doesn't mean I'm forgiven,” he says just as softly, and I love his soft voice, “I'd like to be.”

“Why do you need my forgiveness, anyway?” I ask, casually going back to my soup.

“Because you're an impressive and beautiful woman,” he says, “In some ways… good ways… you remind me of my wife and I'd like to make things right between us.”

Beautiful? I mean… he’s called me that before, but always more like a flirty nickname, never as… never like that, I mean… whoo, really hard not to melt right now… Is my face red? “You… you think I’m beautiful?”

He smiles. “I'll, uh, take that as a yes,” he says. He’s also trying to play it cool. “I’m glad that’s settled.” He’s probably wishing he hadn’t finished his sandwich so quickly so he’d have some way to avoid meeting my gaze.

He starts to say something but before he can get a word out I reach over the table and kiss him. He’s startled at first but then he leans into it. I could get used to this.

Suddenly Jolee clears his throat. Where the hell did he come from? He’s smiling, but God, this is kind of embarrassing, which is weird because I’ve been talking to him about this, it’s not like this is a surprise for him. But Carth and I break away from each other and try to casually regain our composure. Even though clearly neither of us was done with the other. “Don’t stop on my account,” Jolee says, which makes it even worse. “I’d ask if you were ready to get back to the Valley, but it looks like you’re still eating.”

“Yeah,” I say awkwardly, “Soup.”

He sits down next to Carth, who thankfully takes over the conversation. “What were you doing at the Hawk?”

“Nothing important,” he says with a shrug, “I wanted to put on a different pair of boots. You’d be surprised how much the wrong pair of boots can hinder your connection to the Force.”

“Seriously?” Carth says in disbelief, “Boots can limit your abilities.”

“Not like that,” I say, “It’s not like you can’t fight if you’re wearing the wrong shoes. But some boots are better for dirt and some boots are better for rocks. If you’re uncomfortable, then it’s just harder to hear the Force. Right?” Jolee nods. Carth still looks skeptical. “I swear to God.”

“You spent a month in the Enclave on Dantooine learning about boots?”

“Not just boots - it’s… a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force, and if your feet hurt, then there goes some of your focus. Not just feet, either - any sort of pain or discomfort. But there’s a reason we wear robes instead of armor. It’s not just a fashion choice.”

Carth blinks a bit. “Okay,” he says finally, throwing his hands up in defeat, “Any other strange Jedi things I should know about? Special socks?”

“Ah, I can’t tell you about the special socks,” I say teasingly, “Jedi secret.”

“Jolee, she’s not serious, is she?”

Jolee starts to open his mouth, but I interrupt. “He’s not a Jedi, he can’t tell you about the socks.” Jolee smiles at me. Carth looks between me and Jolee, eventually figures out I’m bluffing, and just gives up. I go back to my soup. But now I’m curious. “Why did you leave the Order, Jolee?”

Jolee gives a small chuckle. “Who said I left the Jedi?”

“You did,” I say, “You said you weren’t a Jedi anymore.”

“Well, technically, I was never a Jedi, I was only a Padawan,” he corrects, “Not that that makes a difference to most. But as for the order, itself… no, I never left it. It left me.”

“Hang on,” Carth says, “You’re not a Jedi?”

If I had asked that question, he would bluster at me a bit, but not Carth. “I follow the Jedi Way and use the Force. That makes me a Jedi last time I checked. But the Order, itself, the Jedi Council and so forth… no, I'm not a part of that and haven't been for a long time. And good riddance, I say!”

“You say the Order left you,” I say.

Jolee groans a bit. “You know what I hate?” he says. Then he tosses his head a bit. “Well… you know, lots of things, really. But I'm old and easily annoyed. But that's beside the point. What I really hate are how most people view the Jedi. Everyone thinks the Jedi are perfect, that they can do no wrong. They think the Jedi Council is completely incapable of injustice.”

“I don’t think that,” Carth says with a shrug.

“Hmm,” Jolee hums, “No doubt you've been on the receiving end of Jedi justice at least once, eh?” Has he? I guess the Mandalorian Wars. “And I'm not even talking about how some of us fall to the Dark Side,” he says to both of us, “No, that's plenty indication of our fallibility, but it's something else entirely. No, I'm talking about how, more often than not, your average robe-wearing Jedi can try to do the right thing and still be completely wrong.”

I shrug. “Nobody can be right about everything.”

“That's true,” he says, “but it's not what I meant. I guess I'm not being clear, am I?” He scoffs. “Come to think of it, I don't have to be clear. Someone my age is entitled to ramble, dammit!” (Carth chuckles a little - he isn’t as used to Jolee’s manner of speaking as I am.) “But for your sake I'll try to explain. I'll tell you a little tale about a Jedi Master I once knew. Hortath, I think. Or was it Hartoth? I could never get it straight.” He shakes his head. “Master Hortath was a kindly old Jedi who meant well, but the most near-sighted thing in the Core, I swear. He would walk into walls, knock over tables, mistake apprentices for rancor beasts, that sort of thing. And he was too proud to submit to proper treatment. Some used to counsel him and urged ‘Use the Force, Master Hortath. Allow the Force to see for you.’” Now there’s a solution. “But he refused to believe that his eyes were failing. He simply squinted more and more as the years went on, the other Jedi resignedly passing it off as the amusing quirk of a compassionate old man.”

“Ah, like blustering on with stories from the past,” I tease.

“I’m not finished yet! Now shush!” Jolee mock-scolds, “So one day a young Padawan meets Master Hortath in the courtyard and, not knowing of his blindness, asks him for directions to the Council. Quite sure of himself, Hortath gave the lad directions… which happened to lead outside and away from the Enclave. The Padawan is confused, naturally. He asks if Master Hortath is sure, and of course Master Hortath says that he is. The Padawan suggests that perhaps he should ask someone else… but the proud Hortath now feels insulted. He tells the Padawan to take the route he prescribed and no other. Rather dejectedly, the Padawan did as he was told... and so ended up leaving the Jedi Order forever.” Carth grimaces a bit. “It was decided that the boy's fate was to leave the Order anyway… though whether that was out of respect for Hortath or because the boy went on to something else, well, we'll never know.”

Carth and I are both silent for a moment, then Carth asks, “So… you knew this Master Hortath? Or the Padawan?”

Jolee shakes his head. “No, no. Both of them were before my time. Well before the Sith wars, even.”

“I don’t think I understand…” I say, and Carth indicates the same.

Jolee sighs. “The tale is about blindness and I thought the point was clear,” he says, “At any rate, you think about it. You're the one who asked why the Jedi left me, remember? Finish your soup - my feet are itching for a traipse through a tomb.”

“But you didn’t really answer the question,” Carth objects.

“He never answers the question,” I say, and Jolee harrumphs, “Amusing quirk of an old man.” I have some soup to finish.

[staggeringsmite]

LOVE those wandering isles npcs, so 58 for wyn, 62 for miles, 44 for piper, & 29 for yodean

wyn:

58. What’s a habit that needs to be broken? wyn 100% paints his nails only to absentmindedly scratch the paint to imperfection while focused on something else within 24 hours and like yeah it’s a bad habit bc it fucks his nails up but also the chipped black paint nails aesthetic? 12/10 and absolutely his vibe

miles:

62. Who does your character think is the most put together in the party? this was actually very difficult for me bc my first instinct was thalia bc she’s the captain, but i think if miles has learned a few things about fake it til’ you make it over the last couple months it’s that you can put up a front really easy (not that he’s wise enough to see through it, i just think he’s learned enough to know not to trust the facade) by that logic i think the next person would be theresa for the revivify ritual + general trust and seeming position of authority but again he questions the validity based on what he knows now about Seeming Okay but Actually Not Being Okay. xarus, the twins, and damien are automatically a no (for lightning powered kill + mega rage intimidation during the boat fight, young + rambunctious and too impulsive for their own good, and being damien respectively). so it’s absolutely lian. lian has it together. lian gave him cool celestial powers he found out about three days ago, came back from the dead with wings and a thirst for vengeance, but like, was pretty nice to him and likes giving out hugs + being chill when she’s not doing that vow of enmity thing, so yeah. to miles lian is the most put together.

piper:

44. How do they hold onto people? mementos, things, i know it wasn’t brought up much after the initial sad of it all but they still wear that ring on their pinky bc it was in lian’s stuff and by that association belonged to lian and by that association was important enough to hold onto which means they’re going to carry it with them and wear it in her honor bc that’s the natural thing to do (also why,, the fang was important in this way). mother abel refitted her armor to give to them before they went on this journey, and theresa has been knitting for them forever, so yeah, in no shallow way possible they’re all about those physical representations of people.

yodean:

29. What does your character have too much of? i really feel like yodean and theresa’s utility + craft brains collectively amount to a wide array of organized junk drawers, just full of buttons and candles and old things that one of them picked up and said “oh this could definitely be useful for x obscure craft or other extremely specific project” and like. i think yodean definitely does very quick mental summersaults at justifying keeping broken tools to repurpose, just on reflex comes up with some way she could potentially want to use it in the future and whether she does or not winds up with a ton of extra or old tool parts sitting around her workshop. i also feel like they don’t use a ton of parchment very while they’re settled, but there’s an abundance bc yodean always buys more or binds empty journals that will just never reasonably be filled (it’s like,, that little extra thing from the grocery store that no one ever needs but one partner always buys more of anyway bc they feel like it). this was long but i feel those are the vibes.

[blackaquokat]

I SAW THE LIGHTNING THIEF MUSICAL ON SUNDAY

Okay, so first off, the stuff that stood out to me, and then after the highlights, THE STORY OF A LIFETIME INVOLVING A CAST MEMBER THAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE SHOW EVEN STARTED 

This is going to be very long, strap in.

***Spoilers Under the Cut***

--Chris McCarrell, indeed, slides out to the edge of the stage and sits like, “Paint me like one of your French Girls, audience” for a full moment before singing.

--For a cast of SEVEN people, all of their voices fill that stage SO WELL.

--I’d only ever heard the soundtrack, but in the show (this time, anyway) Percy says he stopped Nancy Bobofit from “setting the first graders on fire” instead of preventing wedgies and it was just as if not more hilarious because his delivery was just totally stiff terror in the face of Mrs. Dodds.

--HE ACTED SO DEVASTATED WHEN HE THOUGHT MR BRUNNER THOUGHT HE WAS TROUBLE AFTER HE GOT EXPELLED, LIKE, HE LOOKED LIKE HE WAS ABOUT TO CRY, HIS VOICE SHOOK, MY BOOOOOII

--When Smelly Gabe appears, Percy not only covers his face with his shirt but also SPRAYS ACTUAL AIR FRESHENER behind the bastard’s back, I was on the FLOOR

--Chris mimics the body language of an awkward twelve year old so well. Fiddling with his jacket, looking down, awkward motions with his hands, he nailed it.

--SALLY IS STILL THE BEST MOM EVER AND THE MUSICAL CAPTURES HER STRENGTH AND LOVE AND AGENCY SO WELL, SHE TOTALLY GETS GABE TO BACK OFF OF PERCY AND IT’S GLORIOUS

--”Percy was attacked by a fury!” “What? Grover, YOU’RE THE FURRY!”

--Just before his mom is “crushed” by the Minotaur, Percy said, “Mom?” shakily and I was freaking SHOOK, MY FEELINGS

--During the first Dream Sequence, Poseidon comes down with the GOOFIEST grin and hands off the seashell. There’s this long, hilarious silence before he says. “It’s a seashell.” The audience couldn’t stop laughing up until Percy said, several beats later, “Like I said. Weird.”

--MR. D SHARPENING A PENCIL IN KATIE GARDNER’S FACE AFTER HER RANT ABOUT TREE RIGHTS

--During the entirety of Another Terrible Day, Percy is just standing in the back, slack-jawed, in a “What the Hell have I walked into” look

--Chiron does this hilarious dancy step with his feet to mimic the clip-clopping of horse steps and every time it got a laugh. 

--In the books, Luke is described as the Hot Boy of the Camp, that half the demigods are in love with him, and honestly, it’s one of the reasons I think James Hayden Rodriguez is perfect because you take one look at him and you’re like, “Yeah, I can see everyone falling in love with this guy in no time flat,” because aside from being REALLY attractive (like, damn boi, you’ve got amazing arms and face and just a LOT going for you) he’s so damn sweet and you want to trust and I DON’T THINK I EVER WANTED CANON TO CHANGE SO BADLY FOR HIM UNTIL THE MUSICAL CAME OUT

--Okay, so seeing Luke portrayed in this show made me care SO MUCH MORE about him than I did reading the books, which is a very strange feeling for me, ngl. His adorable interactions with Percy and Annabeth made me SO EMOTIONAL I MEAN

--Like, when Annabeth acts all suspicious about Percy, Luke is there to validate her skills and tease her and she teases him right back, like, you can definitely see she “likes” him and it could be interpreted that he feels something for her too, and he had such chemistry with Percy too, was endlessly supportive up until, you know, the end (I...may or may not be on board with this Tragic OT3, FRICK)

--OH ON THAT NOTE, when Grover finds Percy after the Minotaur, he’s all, “I’m sorry, Percy, I’m the worst Satyr Guardian ever” and Percy just HUGS HIM, “GROVER, I’m SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE” LIKE MY TWO BOIS I MISSED THEM

--”Grover, are you ever going to wear pants again?” followed by a gleeful “NOPE!!”

--Clarisse’s first two entrances involved this loud fighting yell before her song started

--Percy’s first time with his sword in Camp and he freaking made lightsaber noises when he swung, I read about it but I was NOT PREPARED, it was the cutest damn thing

--I was equally unprepared when Annabeth walked up behind him and when he turned and saw her and yelled out, “MY DREAM GIRL!!” Long beat of silence while the audience laughs their asses off, and he follows it up with, “I mean...you were the girl...in my dream...earlier...”

--When Percy says, “I love girls,” when Annabeth calls him out on assuming her dad was where she got her Godly heritage, Luke gives him the BIGGEST side-eye, it was adorable and Percy did his best to recover, but alas, he is but an awkward noodle.

--”Luke, Hermes kids are fast--” “Actually, that’s a stereotype--” I MEAN

--Percy sitting on the toilet and rolling it across the stage with his feet after the fight sequence, my God, what a visual.

--CHAPTER TITLE DROP, LUKE CALLS PERCY THE SUPREME LORD OF THE BATHROOM

--The Campfire Song was just amazing, everyone’s familiar body language with each other, Luke and Annabeth, Luke and Percy, Grover’s adorable little dance during his bit, everyone comforting him when he starts crying, everyone agreeing that “Chiron wins” in the shitty dad department, everyone’s sympathetic horror with every bad story they all tell,

--after Silena’s bit about how her mom “steals her mascara and all of her dates” she says to Katie, “She’s why I cry,” my sister and I can’t stop talking about how much we related to that moment (not about our mom, but more about our other relatives)

--When Percy is claimed, you can see the horror on everyone’s faces, but he doesn’t, and he’s like, “I’m...the son of the Sea God. That is so COOOOOL!!!” Then he realizes he just squealed like an anime girl and tries to recover by posing and saying to Luke next to him, “Hey,” in a very Miles Morales-from-Spiderverse kind of voice. 

--The dread on Luke’s face whenever he interacts with Percy from here on out, by the way, hurts me so much. You can tell every time he talks with Percy that he really doesn’t want to manipulate him, doesn’t want to do this, but he does, and even before the reveal, you can see how unsure and guilty he feels, even if Percy is totally clueless, like even when Percy agrees to go to the Underworld you see he’s THIS CLOSE to maybe trying to talk Percy out of it again and when Grover hops in to join the quest, there’s another layer of Luke going, “Oh no, not Grover too, shit, no!” and I SWEAR, JAMES HAYDEN RODRIGUEZ, IF THIS TURNS INTO A SHOW, YOU’RE THE ONLY LUKE I WANT

-- Mr. D: “WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT SOME TIN FOIL PROP THAT YOU’D FIND IN A BROADWAY MUSICAL”

--Percy yells for Mr. D to eat his pants in Latin. It’s amazing.

--Chiron: ”You must talk to” *everyone looks at the ceiling* “Our mummy.” Percy: “...when you say ‘mummy,’ you mean old-person slang for Mom, right?”

--Percy, in the most ‘I am so done’ voice ever: ”You’re expelling me? Again?!”

--This is turning into an appreciation post for Rodriguez, but for real, after Good Kid (which gave me ALL THE FEELS just like when I first heard it on the soundtrack), Luke goes to him with this nervous but genuine grin and laugh, like, “Hey, so when you’re the son of the Sea God, and you want to be left alone, maybe don’t go to the lake? It’s the first place anyone will look.” And they have this real sweet moment where Percy confides in Luke, and Luke validates his anger with the gods and says, “I’m not saying you owe them anything BUT” and if you’ve read the books or already listened to the show, you KNOW how this turns out but you see how SINCERE Luke is about Percy’s pain and his own pain and how much he obviously is already regretting that he has to manipulate Percy into going to the Underworld and DAMN IT CANON

-- Clarisse: ”Don’t get eaten by monsters!” Chiron: *claps hand over Clarisse’s mouth* “Have a great quest!”

--The immediate Squad Energy that Percy, Annabeth, and Grover embody right before the act break, what LEGENDS

--Act II opens up in the middle of Mrs. Dodds attacking the bus. Percy: “I LIKED YOU BETTER AS A MATH TEACHTER!!”

--Mrs. Dodds: ”PREPARE FOR ETERNAL SUFFERING!!” Percy: “I’M SUFFERING NOW!!”

--Cheerful Stoner Stranger from the bus just before the bus explodes into confetti: “Not my weirdest experience on a Greyhound!”

--I knew the show was low-budget going in, but I at least thought the squirrel would be a puppet not a freaking figurine that Sarah Beth Pfeifer sat next to in plain sight to voice, I was dying

--On that note, Annabeth visibly holds back laughter at Percy’s “that’s kinda nuts” joke, these idiot CUTIES

--Grover is the only one who catches onto Medusa, who is played by Chiron’s actor in DRAG, but not even in a funny way, it’s played straight (not that Medusa wasn’t hilarious, but that fact that it was a drag role wasn’t mocked at all)

--Annabeth starting to explain why Medusa hates her and muffling her words by drinking her bottle while Percy and Grover are NOT impressed

--Annabeth teaching Percy how to hold a sword better because this adorable dumbass just twirled the damn thing into his shoulder because he forgot it was sharp

--MY GRAND PLAN, MY GOD and intersecting it with Annabeth saying, “When boys screw up, Percy, they get a second chance” Like, this show pulled no punches, and then afterwards when he’s sending Medusa’s head to Olympus and signs Annabeth’s name next to his and she’s like, “WAIT NO STOP” and the “Impertinent” interaction that not only is in the books but also comes back at the end of the show HELL YEAH

--DRIVE. WAS AMAZING. It was my mom’s favorite on the soundtrack and it still is (although now Bring on the Monsters competes as her favorite)

--YOU CAN HEAR LUKE AGAIN WITH HIS HESITATION ABOUT SACRIFICING PERCY DURING THE STRANGEST DREAM REPRISE

--Grover: “Percy, you almost woke everyone up. Well, not Annabeth.” Annabeth, in her sleep: “Mom...you remembered my birthday...”  WILL THESE DEADBEAT GODS VISIT THEIR KIDS, I SWEAR---

--OKAY SO TREE ON THE HILL, LEMME TELL YOU

--On the second level, you see Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia re-enacting the scene while Grover narrates at the bottom and not only does Jorrel Javier look SERIOUSLY emotional and on the verge of tears for the whole thing, but at the top when Thalia is re-enacting her death, LUKE GOES TO REACH FOR THALIA TO SAVE HER AND ANNABETH PULLS HIM BACK AND THEN THEY JUST HUG EACH OTHER SO TIGHTLY BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO WATCH THALIA DIE AND THEN THEY STAND BEHIND THALIA AND REACH OUT THEIR ARMS TO SYMBOLIZE HER TURNING INTO THE TREE AND YA’LL I SHIT YOU NOT I ALMOST BURST INTO REALLY LOUD SOBBING I WAS NOT OKAY

--They did the Bathtub Story from the book. Every second that passed I was more in love with the show.

--Charon: ”Ya’ll wanna hear my song?” *choruses of refusals* “SORRY I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THIS SWEET ASS RIFF!!”

--DOA is just as much of a bop in person as it is on the soundtrack.

--OKAY SO, Percy is almost yanked into Tartarus with his winged shoes and the mood is like, SUPER SERIOUS, as they all realize he almost fell into the pit and when Annabeth says, “I think that’s Tartarus,” Percy says, in this confused but still scared and serious soft voice, “You mean like the fish sauce?” and just. Annabeth and Grover both. Annabeth looks at him like, “THIS is the idiot I’m going to fall in love with over the next four books,” while Grover just Facepalms so much he shoves his glasses up his forehead and shakes his head, another RELATABLE MOMENT that my sister and I won’t shut up about

--Hades. I just...there’s nothing else I can say, but Ryan Knowles, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Jorrel Javier, Jalynn Steele, and James Hayden Rodriguez deserve about fifty Tonys for all the roles they do in this show, for real

--SON OF POSEIDON, WHAT A HYPE SONG, AND ALL THE TOILET PAPER DURING THE LAST NOTE IT WAS GLORIOUS IT COVERED HALF THE FLOOR AUDIENCE

--My Poseidon and Sally feels have returned with a vengeance. That Miles Morales moment with Percy that I mentioned earlier? Poseidon does the same thing when he sees Sally, and the two of them are just Vibing it up while Percy is between them like, “THIS IS SO WEIRD”

--As Poseidon leaves, he turns away from Sally and makes this fist bump gesture like, “Hell yeah, best time of my life was this woman right here”

--Percy, after Poseidon exits: “So that’s my dad?” Sally, in a very horny tone: “THAT’S your dad.” Like, GET IT, Sally

--Sally: “Oh, what is this package, Percy?” Percy, with a shit-eating grin: “Oh, it’s a...DIY Statue Kit” *Sally goes to open it* “WAIT NO DON’T IT’S MEDUSA’S HEAD!!” and the Grossed Out Look on her face as she exits the stage. Priceless.

--Luke is Very Obviously avoiding Percy when they return to camp. More on this later because My. Feels.

--Annabeth: “Hey Clarisse! We met your dad! He’s not as tough as you are!” Clarisse: “Hey, get back here! You saw my dad!” *slightly vulnerable voice* “Did he ask about me?”  YOU DUMBASS GODS, TALK TO YOUR DAMN KIDS WILL YOU???

--Annabeth and Percy grinning like idiots over Sally’s Medusified statue of Gabe, what cuties, I love that their romance wasn’t forced in the show, it was handled so gracefully because they are Twelve and in the Very Early Stages of their Undying Love for each other (and Luke, I promise you guys, all three of these idiots are in love with each other and it hurts me so much)

--OKAY SO PERCY RUNS UP TO LUKE CLEARLY EXPECTING TO BE COMFORTED AND TO SLIP INTO THEIR SWEET AND SUPPORTIVE DYNAMIC BUT THEN PLOT AND PAIN AND LAST DAY OF SUMMER HIT ME THE HARDEST ON THE SOUNDTRACK BESIDES TREE ON THE HILL AND IT DIDN’T DISAPPOINT

--And the hardest part? The way Rodriguez plays Luke, you really CAN’T be angry with him. I mean, there’s no justifying his actions because it’s freaking KRONOS, but given that we’ve been given the time to see what a great guy he was, how much he cared about the campers, how many he must have seen never come back from quests the Gods gave them, who feel abandoned by their parents, Luke’s own quest, how he watched Thalia die with little to no intervention from the Gods, how he must hate to see Annabeth killing herself to prove her worth to the Gods for a quest that could get her killed, and then Percy coming in after losing his mom and sympathizing with his justifiable bitterness towards the Gods, the show doesn’t shy away from the fact that the Gods are effed up and you just can’t blame Luke at ALL for how he feels about the Gods, but it makes everything hurt all the more.

--The Most Millenial/Gen Z ending ever, “We didn’t ask for this, we shouldn’t be the ones fighting this war, but if we don’t, we all die, so fine, we don’t want to do this, but no one else will, so here we are, ready to fight” and then Bring on the Monsters which is one of the best closing numbers to a show ever, I swear.

--All in all, the critics can suck it, this show has more heart and love and hilarity and depth than half the stuff on Broadway and the fact that it’s going to have such a short run is a Crime.

--I sincerely hope they can do another one, if at all possible. I would go watch it too if it’s made by the same creative team and the same actors (maybe even more actors).

OKAY NOW FOR MY STORY!!!!!!

So I had paid leave to use up, hence our trip to NYC last weekend, and we stayed in a hotel really close to the theatre. My sister and I, having been fans of the books for half our lives, were wearing Camp Half-Blood t-shirts. Anyway, we were so excited that we got there an hour and ten minutes early, and they weren’t letting anyone in for another half hour, so we decided to take a few pictures and go get a snack.

While we’re taking pictures, suddenly behind us my sister and I hear “TAKE ANOTHER ONE!!” so I turn around thinking What the hell and then have the biggest Brain Glitch of my life because it’s CHRIS FREAKING MCCARRELL WITH A COFFEE/SMOOTHIE THING AND A MUFFIN STANDING BEHIND US AS IF HE WAS JUST LA-DEE-DA-ING ALONG TO THE THEATRE AND DECIDED HE WANTED TO GIVE AN INNOCENT FAN A HEART ATTACK, because he could have just gone in and we wouldn’t have even noticed but NOPE HE CAME RIGHT UP TO US, AND I’M STILL IN SHOCK, NGL.

My gut reaction was to hug him and then I apologized because I hadn’t asked his permission and didn’t want to be That Person who didn’t respect boundaries (I am a very tactile, hugging kind of person and have to remind myself that not everyone is the same way, especially with performers) and he said I was fine and not to worry. My sister and I got a few pictures together with him and he asked if we were seeing the show that night, and we were, and he looked so pumped, and I got to tell him that I read Percy Jackson before Harry Potter and that it was my favorite book series and when he asked if I had listened to the soundtrack, My mom said yes, multiple times, but fondly, and he looked so excited that we were so excited to go that night.

So yeah. That happened.

And then after the show, we managed to catch Kristen Stokes on her way out, but we waited until she got to talk with and sign playbills for kids (there were so many kids in the theatre, it was adorable, even if the ones behind us kept crinkling their snack wrappers consistently during THE WHOLE SHOW which got annoying, ngl). My sister and I took a few with her and I got to tell her, also, that this was my favorite book series growing up and that she played Annabeth, a big role model for me, absolutely perfectly and she looked so touched. 

(Also, she was much shorter than me. I forget that even if I’m one of the shorter members of my family, I’m still pretty tall by usual standards.)

Anyway, WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE, PJO FANS, AM I RIGHT????

...I wanna see the show again, but idk what the chances of that happening are. If you haven’t seen it and have the ability to, I must encourage you to GO. PLEASE. GO SEE IT.

[shes-a-communist]

I’m just gonna say it, blaming Apollo for Jason’s death is ridiculous, and I’m really tired of the PJO fandom blaming Apollo for something that really isn’t his fault. It just really makes no sense to me. And literally all the reasons that I have heard people use to blame Apollo for Jason’s death makes practically no sense at all. Buckle yourself up for an annoying rant, cuz boy to I have thoughts on this.

Honestly, I think the biggest reason people blame Apollo for Jason dying is because of the prophecy Jason heard, and since Jason told Apollo about the prophecy and Apollo still let him go into that maze, that would make Jason’s death Apollo’s fault right? Well no, not really. For starters, Apollo is the god of prophecy, he knows better than anyone that prophecies are almost always misleading, and are rarely so direct. Apollo seemed to think that there would be some sort of catch, some way to avoid it. Which might sound naive, but I would say that most of us didn’t believe that the prophecy was serious either, so can we really blame Apollo for not believing it? So many of the prophecies in Rick’s series have implied death, and yet that rarely happens, so can we really be mad at Apollo for not expecting Jason to actually die?And second, in no way shape or form did Apollo force Jason and Piper to go on that quest. They went completely on their own free will. And yes, it was Apollo’s quest, but that doesn’t make Jason’s death his fault. To me, the PJO fandom blaming Apollo for Jason’s death is as ridiculous as Nico blaming Percy for what happened to Bianca. It makes no fucking sense. There was a prophecy that fortold Bianca’s and Zoe’s death, but does that mean that everyone who survived the ordeal is to blame? Is the fandom sitting around blaming Percy, Grover and Thalia for what happened to Zoe and Bianca? Of course not! Because it’s not fair to blame the survivors of the quest for the character death, rather than the people who killed them.

And also, Apollo did literally everything he could to save Jason. Apollo fucking stabbed himself to try and save Jason, and people really have the audacity to say that Jason’s death was Apollo’s fault? Piper, Meg, Apollo and Jason went through so much terrible shit at the hand of Caligua, and just because Jason was the one who died and suffered the most, doesn’t mean that the burden of Jason’s death is on them.

I guess another reason people like to blame Apollo is because he was formerly a god and he “dOeSnT cArE aBoUt DeMiGoDs” as if he didn’t fucking stab hinself to try and save some of them. And yeah, when he was a god he didn’t care too much about the demigods, but that was before he became a mortal, and we clearly see him risk himself time and time again to save demigods, so don’t try and tell me that he doesn’t care.

Did I mention that Apollo stabbed himself? Because that happened.

And I can understand Piper blaming Apollo (and even she eventually forgives him) because what she went through was extremely traumatic, and she blamed Apollo because she was in pain from watching her best friend die, and she thought that Apollo didn’t care, not realising that he does in fact care a lot. So I can understand her lashing out at Apollo, and to some extent I could forgive other characters being mad at Apollo for the same reasons, but they didn’t watch it happen like Piper did, so them having the same reaction would feel less justified in my opinion though.

A lot of people also seems to go by the logic that if Apollo hadn’t broken the oath on the Styx, then Jason would still be alive. Even if you do want to use that as an excuse to blame Apollo, Jason still heard the prophecy of his death before Apollo made that oath, so it really isn’t fair to blame him. (At least I think so, I may have the timeline completely messed up, so forgive me if I’m wrong). Yes, the oath is technically a contributing factor, but I think it would have still happened even if Apollo didn’t make that oath. And even if you want to say that Apollo breaking the oath is the reason Jason died, it’s still not fair to blame him because, 1) Apollo did not know that Jason would die from him making that oath and 2) Apollo made a mistake in a very emotional state, of course making the oath was stupid of him, but try to see it from his perspective. I would be pretty upset too if one day I was the best archer in the world one day, with only one other person of comparable talent, and the next I could barely hit one bullseye.

And aside from Apollo, Piper is the next most blamed by the fandom for Jason dying, which genuinely pisses me off. Yes, Jason chose to go rescue the Sibyl, despite the prophecy, to save Piper. But guess what? She also went there knowing that there was a possibility that she would die too. It just so happened that it was Jason was the one who died, not her. Like let’s not overlook the fact that Piper went in there, knowing that it could have been her. She was willing to risk her life for Jason, he was her best friend. And for gods sake Piper didn’t exactly have it easy, she had to watch her best friend die. And Caligua fucking beat her so hard she would have a scar (on he fucking lip no less... just like Jason). Like can we please give her a break? And I get that a lot of the people who blame Piper for Jason’s death are really just mad that she broke up with him and decide that it’s a valid reason to blame her for every bad thing that happens to Jason, but come on guys it just not fair to blame her.

Just because Meg, Piper and Apollo survived the ordeal, does not mean that the burden of Jason’s death is on them. If you’re going to blame anyone for Jason’s death, blame Caligua, not the people who did absolutely everything in their power to stop his death from happening.

[bold-moves]

Better Than You Think, 001: The Dark Knight Rises.

I want to start writing out why I like some of the movies that most people hate. The narratively derivative, corny, critically panned action movies that people write off. Those are my faves. So here goes.

Not as groundbreaking as Batman Begins or as critically acclaimed as The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises stands as the odd one out of Nolan’s trilogy. It has some tonal similarities and the action is equally fantastical but for whatever reason, it’s not everyone’s favorite. 

It’s definitely mine though and I’m going to explain why for a bit.

I’m going to contextualize this and say, that I don’t like Batman. As a boy, I did for sure, but as I’ve grown up, I strongly believe that this guy is totally lame. Sure, singularity of purpose is admiral and I’ll give anyone that, but this dude is totally lame by my standards. He alienates his relationships, he’s totally detached from the world he’s in and his money insulates him from even his own cause. The idea that I will use my wealth and resources to strike fear into criminals is kind of an asshole way to go about it. Spider-man uses his powers to rise to the occasion of his responsibilities and Batman uses his resources to hold criminals responsible for what has happened to Gotham and had he spent his time intimidating corrupt judges and politicians instead of projecting his anger and loss on criminals, maybe the people who really have influence in the city would be galvanized and inspired to their jobs. But like the wealthy, resourceful, and privileged, they protect their own and Batman is absolving the elite with his “powers.” He’s a bit like Che Guevara to me. You have someone who comes from a wealthy background, sees the world and how fucked up it is, decides to do something about it, romanticizes his campaign, and when he’s actually in a position to make permanent change, he denies it and indulges is addictions to conflict and virtue signaling. 

He also looks cool on a T-Shirt.

Enter Bane. Bane is the hero of this movie for me. He is literally from the bottom. The movie deviates from the comics which depicts Bane as a person of color from a fictional country in Latin America, whose father was a failed revolutionary that escaped the country and due to the archaic laws of the country, is forced to serve the sentence of his father. He grew up surrounded by criminals and in this basin of crime and misery, built his mind and body to rival Batman. In this prison he hears about the tales of “The Great Bat of Gotham,” the personification of his own fear of the bats infesting the prison and decides to, unlike Bruce Wayne who uses his own fear of bats to strike dread into his enemies, kill the great Bat and subdue finally his fears.

He is not inspired to project his fears and insecurities on criminals. He does not pervert his responsibilities. He targets the thing that he fears and with singularity of purpose, sets out to conquer them by any means necessary, and always with the means he’s inherited from his isolation and resolve, not his wealthy parents.

Now back to the film. Bane, is equally romantic as Bruce, but practical. This is a person of great will and with will we can cut through our human failings and rise to our great potential. He is always aware of the true nature of things and will not let money, the constructs of society or those who believe they are in power adulterate his vision. There is no second personality. No playboy. No concessions. “No one cared who I was until I put on the mask.” Unlike all of us, scrambling to be known and validated, he has given up his face and uniquely personal ambitions to become, not a superficial symbol, but an agent of change. The bringer of true justice and the vicious wind that will blow away corruption. His response to evil and crime is not a crusade to strike fear into the evil and criminal. He wishes to protect true innocence. In the movie he fights off prisoners to protect young Thalia.  He wishes to defend those who truly cannot defend themselves. In the comics, His father is a coward. His mother, violated and murdered. His youth and innocence, burgled by a system that claims to bring justice but enlarges itself on the plunder of its own hypocrisy and inefficiencies. Bane purifies himself and purges his humanity to defend a principle of true justice.

This inspires me to no end.  Until I saw this movie, I didn't want to get big until I saw this movie. As soon as the movie was over, I went to Walmart and bought a pull-up bar. To be so intimidating. To be so replete with resolve. To use simple and devastating speech. To place the hand on the shoulders of some tiny, self entitled money bags and ask him,”do you feel in charge?” At the time, I was working at a Japanese company, taking shit all day, struggling within the customary submissive constructs of working for a Japanese boss. I had been training in martial arts for over a decade by that time, I was bilingual, I was fucking dangerous and instead I was taking orders all day from people I could crush with my bare hands. Seeing Bane was so inspiring for me at that time. I have this need to keep driving, and fighting. To not let peace defeat me. This was something I learned from this film. 

One of the other lines that really stung me was when Catwoman was urging Batman to escape the city with her, pleading, “you don’t owe these people anymore, you’ve given them everything.” To me at that time, I thought of all the placating, and self adjusting I had done to fit in. All of the time I’ve tried to make society value me. All of the time I've pleaded for love and just a chance to be happy. I was tired of working for that. I didn't owe these people anymore. When Batman responds saying “Not everything. Not yet,” I thought of a version of myself that has gone all out. A version of myself that has engaged that final gear of existing. Intense. Achieving. Severe. And this severity is something that I wanted to be associated with and I hadn’t given to the world, not yet. Over time it became less about the people and more about doing it for myself. In my recent viewing of the movie, another line has stood out to me. A concept that I think more accurately describes my current mood. While Bruce Wayne is in the prison, doing push ups, trying to regain his strength so that he can escape, a fellow prisoner asks him, “why build yourself?” and Bruce responds, “I’m not meant to die in here.” I don’t think this line was supposed to have that much of an effect but it  really spoke to me this time.

I’m so driven to self overcome. I joined the army to breakdown the habits that a comfortable civilian life had infected me with and to add another element of lethality to my arsenal.  I can’t stop thinking about how to improve and fortify and often people do ask me why I’m so intense. I often ask myself this as well. The idea of “not dying in here,” is the answer. “Here,” being an unrealized self. “Here,” being the prison of  conditioned impulse and self sabotage. “Here,” being the pressures to be something I am not. “Here,” is being content, agreeable,and submissive. “Here,” is the prison of weakness and the suppression of heroic ideals.  I build myself so that I can escape all debilitating humanity. 

So this movie, although not as revered as the other two Batman movies, is a banger and filled with the  “hard-style”, self-overcoming concepts that give me the chills. I always come back to this film when I need inspiration and a kick in the ass. I invite you to take a deeper look at what's going on. Take a chance on a line of dialogue and think about it a bit and if you find yourself on the bandwagon of disliking or liking something because everyone else does, ask yourself,

“Do you feel in charge?”