#franchise systems

[rogozaurus]

No thoughts, just hoffstrahm ⚰️⚰️⚰️

[remnant-emblemeer]

Sylvain Jose Gautier you will never beat the depression allegations if you keep saying shit like this

[7empesticide]

saw au where everything is the same except hoffman isnt an apprentice hes just really fucking weird so strahm is stalking this regular ass guy

[crazy-moon]

recently binged the final destination films (again). I think I have a pattern with my favorite ships...

[aroaceleovaldez]

The himbo, malewife, goofball -fication of percy jackson is such a crime by both the fans and riordan. It has made Mr not like percabeth as a couple because in all posts and in later books annabeth is such a girlboss, while Percy's dumb and can't fight his way out of a paperbag without her. All the posts are about how annabeth will be an architect and percy would love to be a trophy husband.

Even the humor in the books went from Percy's sharp wit and snark to 'my pancakes can't drown because I'm a son of poseidon.'

And now this recommendation letter bullshit.

Honestly now I'd wish percy just separated from annabeth (but they remain best friends.) He stays home with his family, becomes a camp counselor, helps young demigods, holds God's accountable and eventually becomes a social activist. (I also dislike him doing something marine biology related. It's clear he hates academics but he always wants to help people. Him helping demigods and mortals is such a wholesome profession for him.)

I fully agree with the first half of this, though I slightly disagree with part of the latter.

The later-series and fanon mischaracterization of Percy is at least a solid 50% ableism minimum, full stop. He's being warped into a very stereotyped ADHD character and the exact reason why he's being characterized as "dumb" is because of ableism. Percy is a very intelligent character! That's exactly why he's so in sync with Annabeth and they're such a strong duo! It's just generally Annabeth is more book/academically smart.

I disagree with where you say he hates academics - because that's one of the common misconceptions about his character. Percy doesn't hate learning or academic subjects! He's not even bad at them! We know explicitly that when he is in an accommodating environment he is interested in learning and gets significantly better grades! Percy only dislikes school because it is generally an environment that systematically he struggles with. It's literally just he has a learning disability (two, actually)! That's it! When his learning disability is accommodated for he does well! It's almost like that's what accommodations are all about! We know this from the first series! It's discussed pretty in-depth! Percy isn't a dumb character and he doesn't hate learning, he's just been let down by school systems so much that he's inherently distrustful of them. If they actually accommodate him though then he does just fine!

And that's exactly what CHB was all about and why New Rome University was supposed to be such a big thing for him! CHB is a learning environment geared for demigods. NRU is a demigod college. Both inherently imply an environment meant to cater to and accommodate students with ADHD and dyslexia! They are both systematically structured to be able to accommodate him! Heck, CHB and CJ even both address in the wider themes of the series a metaphor about how ADHD and dyslexia are commonly seen as childhood disabilities, and how it can be more difficult to find accommodations into adulthood because of that attitude but those disabilities don't just go away - that's why CHB is a summer camp but they talk about how demigods outside of CHB don't often fare well. The metaphor there is those who are not getting help or accommodations are struggling. Because that's how that works! This is a fully intentional metaphor from the first series! CHB is never framed as being perfect for demigods, because one of the entire central conflicts of the series is Percy and Luke going back and forth about this flawed system meant to help and support them but still letting people fall through the cracks. The "claim your kids by 13" thing is a metaphor about how acknowledging a child's disabilities (and possibly getting a diagnosis) earlier/as early as possible means they will have more time to learn and build up resources and support for themselves to be able to use later in life. One of CHB's major flaws is that it can accommodate demigods to a certain point, but it can only do so much before those demigods have to leave (the metaphor being accommodating school systems when those disabled students do not have any other forms of accommodations in their lives.)

And that's why Camp Jupiter was framed as being so revolutionary for Percy because it had an environment acknowledging that this is not just a childhood disability, adults with ADHD/dyslexia exist too and still need and deserve accommodations, AND is a place where those accommodations are available. That's why Camp Jupiter and NRU are treated as such special and important things to Percy, because it's essentially Percy being shown this type of thing can and does exist and it is available to him. It is an option he never thought was possible. Percy never thought he'd be able to go to college because he would not be able to go through school without accommodations, but NRU proves otherwise.

The part that's absolutely stupid is Rick then proceeded to retcon NRU so that apparently it's not a full college and Percy still has to take classes at normal mortal college which DEFEATS THE ENTIRE PURPOSE OF NRU EXISTING. Rick has fully retconned that demigods struggle past the ages of 16-18 when they're on their own (see above elaborated metaphors) and in doing so we have fully killed all symbolism in literally all of that. It's so stupid. And by having the plot of the CoTG trilogy entirely be that Percy is not actually allowed access to NRU in the first place because he is a son of Poseidon and has to do extra to even be accepted is stupid!

All that to say, I agree the marine biology feels like a huge cop-out and a disservice to his character by reducing him to just a son of Poseidon. The literal only reason why it's the default option people take for him is because oh, fish thing, fish guy. But I feel like everyone ignores the really obvious answer for what Percy would want to do which is - writing. Both his parents are writers/authors and he clearly admires that about them. Percy likes telling stories! He canonically is already a published author in-universe! That's what the books ARE in-universe! The first series fully exists in their universe and Percy is the author! This is explicit canonical information! Percy canonically has help physically writing it down (accommodations) but he is still the credited author! Percy is a writer! Already! Canonically! Why are we making him a marine biologist he already has a profession that ties into his character significantly more. Like you said, Percy likes helping people. That's what the books in-universe are supposed to be for! It's point blank at the beginning of the series! Book one! The thing everybody quotes all the time! The books exist because it is Percy trying to give advice to other demigods who don't know what's going on yet! It's Percy's writing down his experiences to help new demigods understand and contextualize their experiences so they can understand themselves better and figure out what's going on - WHICH IN ITSELF IS ALSO A METAPHOR ABOUT ADHD/DYSLEXIA! Because the core of the series has and always will be built around ADHD/dyslexia! Percy as a protagonist EXPLICITLY was created so that ADHD/dyslexic kids could see themselves as a hero!

Sorry that all was a very tangential rant but my point being: Absolutely. Percy in newer stuff in the franchise and in fanon is horrifically mischaracterized in ways that are functionally either fully ableist (shoutout TSATS for just outright claiming Percy is intentionally lazy and skips school out of disinterest, which is like the number one ableist attitude towards kids with learning disabilities) or a complete erasure of Percy's disabilities. Also I think he should be a writing major not a marine biologist.

[my-world-my-stories]

The pink princess has a mighty throne to sit on...

[pownicmania5000]

Jumping on platforms since 1985

Happy 39th anniversary to Mario, a franchise where I genuinely wouldn't be where I am today without it

[suiiciidal]

[gothpossums]

me? drawing something lighthearted? must be the end of times

anyways I'm back to my adamscott agenda

[mango-peach-strawberry]

I am very normal about him

[rogozaurus]

Heed my warning, Agent Perez. Your next move is critical.

[shortbreadly]

something something about americans and psychos and hoffmans and saws

[7empesticide]

[a-dotrivenitupontop]

found family doesn’t have to mean ‘we can’t fuck each other’ or ‘were a group of friends with a mum friend’ sometimes it means john was missing a son so he used everyone but especially amanda to fill that gap and amanda was missing a father so she used john to fill that gap and hoffman was missing a sister so he used amanda to fill that gap and lawrence was missing a lover so he used hoffman to fill that hole and logan just liked talking to billy

[hyakunana]

Encounter V — Reverse Boost

+

[obsessedgames505]

So I’m probably not going to do this because it’d take a lot of work that will definitely delay the next update by like a lot, and it is really late so it’s probably just casual midnight thoughts but

What if I took another shot at redesigning these two?

Again, I’m most likely not going to do this. There’s already so much work done and I can’t afford to do it all over again.

This is more of a question of “hey what if I didn’t directly take the color palettes and vibes of Shadow Milk Cookie and Pure Vanilla Cookie and slap them onto my characters?” What if I tried to design them without any of that influence?

Because even though I like these designs, I was also going through a very blatant cookie run phase when I remade them. So maybe I should draw a what if scenario where I didn’t use such blatant choice of reference?

However, that’s not the only reason I’m considering this. If my games ever get to the point where they’re popular enough for people to want me to make merchandise of them, I don’t want the lawyers of Devsisters knocking on my door sending me a zillion copyright infringements or 2 million cease and desists for using only one reference when making my characters. If I was rich enough to fend off lawyers like that I wouldn’t be making games tbh. Sure, they probably wouldn’t notice a random lil indie dev making a very specific niche of dating sim. But do I want to take that chance in the future? No not really.

So while this is purely a what if scenario right now, since even trying to do this would require several weeks, I am considering it for my own artistic integrity and own legal safety. I want to start making things that are purely my own and not just my version of the hyperfixation I have that week, and I don’t want to get into any possible legal problems with my designs. I’m just trying to have fun but I want to be safe while doing so.

If any of my followers could give me their direct input via the comments or the ask box, I would seriously appreciate it. I’ve been conflicted about this since the new game’s release.