#because i think you've already talked a lot about percy in so much detail better than i ever could

[stargazinglesbian]

More than anything i feel like Percabeth is just too......boring.The development is very predictable at best and toxic at worst and ngl i feel book!Annabeth wouldn't be the best partner for a transfem,much less an afrolatina trans femme who is also punk like Percy.She's not a bad person but she has.SO many issues to unpack but Rick refuses to adress them and i need them away from eachother asap.Wdyt?

ugh well, my opinion on percabeth is. complicated i guess. like, i can understand why people like it? because it does have a lot of fandom appeal (which imo is mostly because of the boring parts..), but i also agree with you in the sense that it just doesn't work in so many ways.

people really find the idea of characters 'going through hell and back' together but i hate the way that kind of stuff just starts to define relationships, like are you guys even in love or are you just hardcore trauma bonded. a lot of percabeth 'moments' (in tma especially) are just made up of annabeth talking about different times theyve saved each others lives, but we never even really learn that much about *why* they like each other. annabeth thinks percy is funny and percy thinks annabeth is smart? i gues??? but beyond that its jsut ???? do they share any common interests?? from the way they talk sometimes it doesnt even really seem like theyre interested in each others hobbies!! (if your eyes 'glaze over' while you listen to you partner talk thats a bad sign actually) their relationship seems to only really revolve around camp and/or quests and it annoys me because theyre supposedly really close but we never actually see any evidence of that.

you're spot on about annabeths issues. i think away from source material she has so much potential to be an interesting character. she has so much stuff happen to her (she ran away from home!!! at SEVEN!!! and was straight up homeless and alone until she ran into luke and thalia + she got groomed) i could write like ten thousand words about her, but fandom interpretations, her relationship with percy and the fact that so many actual aspects of her character are never addressed in text is just so frustrating. she shouldn't be in a relationship during the timeline of the books, and i think this would be true of a lot of people but ESPECIALLY for annabeth. she and percy get together right after the titan war, and neither of them spend any time healing or processing any of their trauma from it! they are so young and yet they launch themselves straight into a relationship and its meant to be seen as sweet and romantic because 'who knows how much time they might have left'. unpopular opinion but if you're trying to hit as many relationship milestones as possible as fast as possible because of the imminent threat of death i think you maybe have some issues to resolve and that relationship might not actually be healthy!

i think in the end their relationship would, realistically, be so much more unhealthy than its depicted. people ship percabeth because the text convinces them it works but then you look at it and its like Oh wait Ok No.......

i also have a lot of thoughts about the pressure surrounding them (its been a while since i read the og books but if i remember correctly there were a lot of people making jokes about them getting together. that might be wrong though!) as some idealised couple, annabeths self conscious and equally headstrong nature (again i need to reread the books a bit but the tunnel of love scene comes to mind as well as her constantly overthinking) as well as her internal and external biases but im just gonna leave it here for now

[pastelwitchling]

Percy Jackson and the Olympians two-episode premiere thoughts:

Oh boy, I never thought I'd be talking about this. Mostly because Percy Jackson, like Harry Potter, has always been so sacred to me. I'm very much that Emma quote, if you will; If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. Percy Jackson is the first series I ever read and completed, as it was the first I ever had any access to where I was.

Needless to say then, I couldn't fully process the fact that we were getting the show until about a week before its release. It just seemed so implausible. The only Percy I've ever known is the movie version (and I do love the movies, as they introduced me to Percy Jackson in the first place and I think they're a lot of fun) and the book version. Even now, I don't think I've completely processed that we have something new, but I do think I'm ready to talk about it. So without further ado, here are my thoughts on the two-episode premiere:

(Note: I don't see how one could possibly spoil this series as it's been out for forever and I honestly think you've had your chance to read it and find out what happens, but I will keep my thoughts on the show's details hidden below as it did have a few changes that I understand you wouldn't want spoiled.)

I cannot possibly fathom anyone more perfect for Percy Jackson than Walker Scobell. The first thing I noticed about this version is that it's a little more... serious, I guess, than the book? The book has a lighter atmosphere, while this one kind of has more of the Lord of the Rings' dramatic and emotional score. Not a bad thing at all! Just something I noticed. However, I will say that Walker gives the show that breath of fresh air and lightheartedness that Percy Jackson is. Does that make sense? Most of the comedy came from him, most of the heart came from him, and already, I can see him (if we hopefully get a fifth season for the fifth book) being a leader that others look to for comfort and reassurance. I have a mountain of one-liners from him in mind that were just so Percy Jackson, I'm just so thankful that we got who I firmly believe is Percy Jackson, through and through.

I also really, really love the updates to Sally Jackson in this version. I mean, I always loved Sally, don't get me wrong, but if we were told that this Sally could make it without her son to protect her, I believe it. In the book, Sally says that she needs to learn to take care of herself, but in this one, I can see her doing that already. She's a bit tougher, speaks a little louder, but I love it. It shows where Percy would've gotten his courage from, and I don't see this Sally ever meekly asking Gabe for anything. Speaking of which...

The changes to Gabe are pretty funny and honestly? Kind of welcome. The Gabe from the movie and the Gabe in the book are implied to have hit Sally before, and are pretty abusive. Again, nothing wrong with that because he gets his comeuppance, but it feels refreshing to have this kind of change where he's just loud and unlikeable, but he's not terribly vile or anything. It makes a difference, and I like it better. I can't see Sally turning him to stone with Medusa's head though, he's not quite so bad as to deserve that (unless we find out later that he has been hitting Sally, which I doubt it, he doesn't seem the type here and she doesn't seem the type to take it), so I do wonder what changes will come of it.

An Olivia Rodrigo song? Really? Don't get me wrong, I love Olivia's songs, and the book features Hilary Duff's So Yesterday, so it's not exactly new to include pop songs, but they said they were going to give the show a timeless feel. Olivia Rodrigo feels pretty... dated. And out of left field, to be honest, since I think it was the first song they gave us with lyrics. And not so very befitting, to be honest. When I think Percy Jackson, I think... I don't know, Imagine Dragons? Arrows to Athens? Even 30 Seconds to Mars? Or maybe that's because those were the songs that were out and popular at the time of the books' release, so those are the tribute videos I saw all the time and the songs I associate with the books. I don't know.

One nitpick, just one: did anyone notice when Percy came at Nancy and she ended up in the fountain? Did anyone else also think that Percy can move and control water, not people, and yet Nancy went flying into the fountain like Percy had moved her instead? I'm just going to imagine that the water grabbed her ankles and pulled her in, even though we didn't get to see it. (Yes, I'm going to be that person for a split second 😂)

I don't know how this'll go over with other people, but... I think, so far, I like Show Annabeth more than Book Annabeth. BEFORE YOU START TO RANT AT ME, HEAR ME OUT. I hated Book Annabeth when I first read the books. I thought she was rude and mean, I didn't like how she constantly hit Percy and called him stupid, but it was supposed to be cute somehow? And I couldn't stand her loyalty to Luke. I ultimately understand why, but the way she kept getting mad at Percy, who hadn't known him as long, for stating the horrible things he'd done and what he was planning? GIRL. He's just stating the FACTS here! I thought she was selfish and horrible, to be honest. I've read those books a hundred times, and not until my most recent reread, a year or so ago, did I start to tolerate her better. This Annabeth? It's too early to form an opinion, and we didn't get much of her, but from what we did get? I don't know, she just seems... kinder? All Book Annabeth cared about was getting her way, but Show Annabeth seems to actually feel sorry for what she has to put Percy through. On that note...

This is going to sound weird, but so far, SO FAR, I can actually see Percy and Annabeth as a couple in the future. Why? Because Show Annabeth is quieter. She's more calculating, she's more observant. Book Annabeth was the same way, but I guess because the book isn't from her perspective, she's constantly talking about her observations and what she notices and thinks, and she just comes off as loud as Percy. Which made it all the more annoying when she mocked him for every word he said. (Side rant: ESPECIALLY BECAUSE HE NEVER REALLY SAID ANYTHING THAT STUPID, BUT SHE ALWAYS TALKED TO HIM LIKE EVERY LETTER TO COME OUT OF HIS MOUTH WAS THE DUMBEST THING SHE'D EVER HEARD! HERMIONE SNAPPED AT PEOPLE FOR STUPID THINGS TOO, BUT SHE STILL GAVE HER FRIENDS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT AND ENCOURAGED THEM TO STUDY BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED THEY COULD DO BETTER THAN THEY WERE DOING, NOT LIKE SHE THOUGHT THEY WERE HOPELESS AND HAD TO PUT UP WITH THEM, UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE!) My point is that this Annabeth is a little bit opposite to Percy. She's quiet and observant, constantly strategizing, while Percy is louder and jumps right into things. I love that juxtaposition, and... honestly? Full disclosure... I don't like Book Percy and Annabeth as a couple. I don't think she deserves him, I don't really see what he sees in her, I hate the way she's constantly hitting him and mocking him and getting angry at him because she's not brave enough to just tell him how she feels. Meanwhile here? I actually think they'd be pretty cute together. I get why he would be flustered around her, I get what he'd see in her.

I love that detail of Grover getting Percy kicked out for his own protection. I understood why in the book Percy had been unwilling to see Grover after he'd left (he was fairly freaking him out), but betraying him? It just made so much more sense why Percy wouldn't want to be near him afterwards, and I really love that detail. Speaking of which, I really love Grover. In the book, it did sometimes (just for a bit) feel like Grover looked at Percy as a job. He had to keep him safe, he had to accompany him on his quest, he had to make a good impression on the Cloven Elders. Here? Yes, he has a job, but he also genuinely loves his friend. He also genuinely cares, and wants to help Percy just because it's Percy. I also LOVE that detail about the Mytho Magic cards being training. Brilliant little easter egg there. I just... I genuinely feel like we lucked out SO much with this cast, and this trio especially. They were the ones to worry about, and I don't think we could've gotten better.

Again, the tiniest nitpick, I do wish we'd gotten that, "Kneel to Percy Jackson, Son of the Sea God!" thing. It would've looked so cool, but I feel like it was... just the teeniest bit rushed. It's okay, it still looked cool, and I still love that we get some differences between the book and show, but I also just think it would've looked super epic.

I cried, I laughed, I didn't know what to expect, to be honest. Like I said, Percy Jackson means more to me than I can possibly put into words. But I felt everything with this that I felt in the book, and we haven't even started the quest! Everything from Percy's conversation with his mom at camp through the fire, to when he says, "I'm Sally Jackson's son!" to his training, to the fight in Capture the Flag. Everything was brilliant, I have no words. With those three in the lead, I truly think we're in safe hands.