#i love when quests affect the world!!!! this is so ;;;; ahhhh

[shikan0in-heizou]

aaaahhhhh!!!!!!!

[artsybookworms]

A pointless thread in which I rate the PJO books:

10/10: A classic. One of the things I love about these books is Percy’s narration. He’s so endearing and witty and I immediately wanted to root for him. Also, this was a very good introduction to new characters. Even the minor ones feel like real people who you can love and cheer on. The plot is fun and well-paced while being surprisingly heart-warming.

9/10: Tyson appears!! I honestly love the internal conflict in this book. I wrote a whole post about this, but in a nutshell, the main characters (who in YA typically have “forgivable flaws” like being too nice or some bs like that) struggle with real issues like prejudices against another character. These flaws aren’t pretty, and in fact, make Percy and Annabeth kind of unlikeable. But they learn through their time with Tyson that he’s not so different than they are, and they form a love and friendship for one another. This is such an important lesson to be teaching young kids who are entering schools where they’ll be faced with a variety of people and cultures. The plot itself is enjoyable and I love young, awkward Percabeth, although I still prefer TLT.

9/10: First of all, I love that Percy gives no shits about the prophecy or the gods. His best friend is in trouble and gods be damned he’s going to help her. (Budding Percabeth ahhhh). The plot is exciting and I love the introduction of Rachel! One of my favorite characters tbh. This is probably controversial, but I never really got attached to Bianca, so her death wasn’t that sad to me. I was honestly just worried about Nico’s well-being and how it would affect his relationship with Percy. Overall, it’s a solid book, and the character development is *chef’s kiss*. Also, this is literally so minor but Percy and Thalia’s fight where he lifts all the water out of the lake and is about to like,, launch it at her?? That scene ruined me as a kid plss it was so hot

9/10: Alright I know some people don’t like that Rick pit two girls against each other in this book, but I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Like,, they’re 14 year olds? I think it’s normal to have petty fights about a boy they like, especially when they’re forced to spend hours of time together on a quest. It’s not like Percy isn’t jealous either—remember how he reacts when he thinks Annabeth’s joining the Hunters or notices that she has a crush on Luke? Also, Annabeth is written as a well-rounded character; I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s sexist to have a scene where she’s jealous of another girl. Jealousy is a normal flaw to have, and people are more than their flaws. If you want to pick out flaws in the Riordanverse books, there are plenty to choose from. This ain’t it💀 Idk maybe I need to reread it, but Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel are some of my favorite characters, and I liked that we got to see them interact with one another. Anyways, I also loved the introduction of Calypso! That whole scene was so soft and honestly heartbreaking. But of course, I have to talk about the Percabeth kiss. What a scene😭 Something I really appreciate about PJO is that the romance is a slow burn. It’s obvious they’re going to get together, but not in the boring way. Their relationship feels natural, well-paced, and so satisfying when they finally act on their feelings for each other. Ugh. I’m so lonely.

10/10: The River Styx scene?? Annabeth’s literally his tether to the real world,, I’m sobbing. Honestly, this whole book is chock full of quality Percabeth moments. There are so many good scenes in TLO tho; I really feel like it was a good conclusion to the series. Beckendorf’s death? Absolutely tragic. Silena’s death? Heartbreaking. Clarisse killing the drakon and dragging its corpse around after? I’m gonna go feral. Percy turning down immortality?? Demanding that the gods take care of their children instead?? This is why he doesn’t suffer from main character syndrome!! We stan!! My standards are unachievably high!!

All in all, PJO is such a good book series. The characters feel real, the conflicts are well-developed, and the payoff is satisfying. It has such a tight plot—there are very few parts that feel pointless or like filler. It has its flaws, but Rick seems genuine about learning and improving his representation and supporting authors who are better qualified to tell their stories. PJO will always be something near and dear to my heart.

[dourpeep]

just realized I haven’t talked to you in a while </3 how are you ?

aaaand , what are your thoughts abt the inazuma quests ( if you’ve done them ) and do you think it will affect how we continue to other nations ? considering that word of our ( or traveler’s ) actions spread quickly , I wonder if anything that will transpire in inazuma will make the archons of the other nations reluctant to help us. im curious about what you think ^^

- kreide 🪶

IT'S ALRIGHT KREIDEEEE

I ended up also diving deep into my personal musings about what mightttt happen but aidhfoaieh yes anyway-

I've been doing alright, a little down but nothing toooo bad nodnod

And oh my g o d I'm in love with all the new things that they have introduced! The puzzles, longer world quests that have deeper story?? Ahhhh I can't even begin--

There's just so much depth that they've added in, same thing w/ the weekly reputation quests. The rep quests include having to fight stuff now instead of things more like errands which is lovely--it feels more well-rounded, ig?

As for exploration, it's incredible what they've done since! You can really tell that they've done a lot of work and considering w/ how Dragonspine was received by the players and reallyyy implemented those new ideas and made great use of space. Not to mention the new domains (limited and not)? They're absolutely brilliant and the design + atmosphere is fantastic.

I also really appreciated that the things such as the balethunder aren't permanent...though I also have to say that I love the environmental danger like sheer cold in Dragonspine!!

As for our actions as a traveler and how it'd effect the views of the other archons, this is something I've been really mulling over lately. We know very little about the upcoming region's archons save for a few little tidbits. We know that Sumero's Archon is the youngest (therefore, I assume will be inexperienced in juxtaposition with what ideal they represent, Wisdom), we also know that Fontaine's Archon has high guard and distrusts/is wary of the other Archons but also is incredibly wary of Celestia (once more leads into the idea...what exactly is it that Celestia holds over the Seven? What is Venti and Zhongli and the others scared of?)

That being said...I kinda feel like most, if not all, the Archons will actually err on the side of the Traveler. There will no doubt be complications (such as the Traveler being a threat to Baal's ideal of eternity), but I feel overall it'll mostly end up with the traveler winning them over.

The thing I'm rather interested in, though, is what we'll see in Natlan. We know that the Pyro Archon's associated ideal is war. I'm curious about Murats stance on the whole thing. After all, pursuing what we, the traveler, is pursing is an outright declaration of war against Celestia. Im thinking there may actually be a detachment of the idea and what Murata will want. Namely, that the Pyro Archon will actually not wish to be involved at all due to the destructive nature of war (ironically, fire is destructive and they are the God of War).

Continuing, there clearly is a trend of the Archons and their ideals clashing.

Venti not using his status (technically a bind of his freedom) so that his people may live their lives as they decide, Zhongli essentially terminating his own contract as the God of Contracts to retire, Baal and her eternity clashing directly with the idea of Electro (instantaneous, intense, short-lived).

ALSO ALSO ALSO GOING BACK TO HOW IT RELATES TO INAZUMA

I kinda feel like, at least with how the stuff is going so far that it'll have a positive effect on our future endeavors.

((spoilers for Inazuma story/world quests))

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So far, all of the things we have been doing in Inazuma relate to also directly purifying the land and areas of great importance. Despite our currently bad standing with the Electro Archon, Baal, I feel like there's certainly more to what's going on that what it seems.

After all, it's also hinted that Yae is one of the Kitsune spirits (I'm assuming the sky?? Though I've yet to think more on this, but I have some lingering thoughts on both the earth and sky kitsune)...but I digress. We'll probably return to this another time when I have my thoughts more concrete.

Anyway, continuing.

I think that we will eventually aid in the purification of Inazuma's land (ending with Tsurumi). I realized that, in a sense, that the descriptions of Baal somewhat remind me of the effects of what happened to the vision holders who had their visions taken.

Namely the cold unfeeling nature she exhibits. Of course this easily can be her personality. BUT I feel like she's definitely changed.

Speaking of...Yae Miko implies that Baal at one point was focused on the future. The bit that she mentions with "focus on the way ahead". Immediately after, she follows that with the doubt, anxiety, and the declension into incredible paranoia that the master swordsman is experiencing only to comment that a certain friend of hers suffers the same.

We know that Baal and Yae Miko are considered good friends, so we can safely assume she is who Yae is speaking of.

Thus the idea that Baal is no longer the way that she used to be and is taking all of these very drastic measures in a sort of overly-defensive precaution in fear of what may happen (or perhaps even has happened).

That being said...back to the previous point about Inazuma and purification.

I've been wondering if the miasma with the Sacred Sakura, the tainting of the Thunder Sakura, Mikage Furnace, and whatever is going on with Tsurumi have to do with her as well as her decisions to close down Inazuma + the Vision Hunt Decree. Whether it is fear sprouted that has made her realize that there is no true eternity or if the positioning of the land effected her directly...we don't know for sure.

But taking into consideration what I've typed out, I have a feeling that we're going to help with also 'purifying' or at least helping soothe whatever is going on with Baal herself. Something along these lines.

[greatfay]

The fosters 😏

Ohhhhhh my godddddddd I’m gonna diiiiiie. Ok let the memories resurface, this may take a minute.

my all-time ultimate fave character:

Stef. I just really liked her arcs, how straight forward she is, etc. Classic ISTJ tbh... cautious, reserved, protective, methodical, quietly affectionate. Like at the end of the day, I think she’s my fave. The kids go through so much ups and downs and Dumbass Moments that none of them can be my fave, and Lena is a close second but the writers only gave her one strong arc, and that’s when she tried to have a baby and that was so painful.

For several seasons I used to say my fave was Mike because he was Prime Dad Material. Like in the very first episode, he comes off as this douchey, entitled, deadbeat asshole who oversteps boundaries, right? Classic switcheroo. You find out this man is a saint, this man oozes emotional sensitivity and communication and affection, this man is also a dilf with eyelashes longer than should be legal. When he fostered AJ (I’m crying right now). Getting Ana through rehab??? Fighting his own alcohol addiction and not breaking once. Like the only time he ever let me down was his reaction to Dani MOLESTING Brandon, but he realized like whoa wait a minute... Brandon’s been taken advantage of and if Brandon were a girl he would see it different... Like all of Mike’s mistakes were temporary mistakes, he recovered quick and tried to do the right thing. If only his son was as quick on the uptake ��

a character I didn’t used to like but now do:

Brandon. It took five seasons for me to like Brandon. You know how many seasons this show had? Five. And it’s because he’s pulled through the ringer of Suffering™ and it’s almost ALL his fault so that by the end when he’s doing the right thing again and again for the first time ever... and meets that super sweet girl... and then she DIES 

a character I used to like but now don’t:

Jude. He was such an intuitive, intense child, with wisdom earned from awful trauma, and watching him slowly assert himself was a wonder to watch. I do think the writers got lost with him, because his second love interest was a bore, his pothead thing was awful to watch, and when he became a twitch streamer with Taylor—WHAAACK. By the time of Good Trouble (which takes place years after The Fosters, so Jude is a sophomore/junior in college) Jude is drinking a LOT, partying a LOT, and fucking!!! a LOT!! Makes me concerned. Idk, it just felt like he lost his intuition halfway through the show and kept doing dumb stuff.

a character I’m indifferent about:

Every ex of the family lmao, idr them and I was not too fired up about any of them except maybe Emma. Like all of Jesus’ and Brandon’s exes I can’t remember.

a character who deserved better:

I’m just gonna make a list

AJ. Literally just him and Mike are just the cutest because of how earnestly the actor plays AJ, you know I love found family tropes and stuff.

 Mat. Such a sweetheart, the most accommodating and supportive boyfriend. So talented. Gorgeous hair. Mariana didn’t deserve him.

Cole. This boy fought SO HARD to be recognized for his gender, organized an LGBTQA prom for all his classmates who were rejected from their school’s prom, had to get hormones off the black market, and was so intuitive and loyal... honestly I loved Cole.

Aaron. SUCH a confusing end. Out of all the love interests, he and Callie popped with the most chemistry. The shared quest, the rides on the motorcycle, pictures at the beach, his great college advice. Their fight at her prom was so left-field and upsetting, and we know it’s because they wanted Callie to be single when the series ended so she could be free to date in Good Trouble. If I’m not mistaken, theirs is the first trans/cis relationship portrayed on network television... ever? And I mean a relationship, not a hook up.

Wyatt. Another sweetheart, what happened between him and Callie wasn’t really about him, it was about her and it was definitely about legal issues, and she was right to set her boundaries, but ouch that hurt. Gorgeous hair.

Notice how most of this list either dated Callie or crushed on her lmao except for Mat. Also

Rita. The woman lives and breathes childcare and youth advocacy. Let her win.

DAPHNE KEENE. She had her daughter with her in the series finale but I haven’t heard mention of her yet in Good Trouble, she’d better have custody and a job salary over 70k for what this show put her through.

EMMA. This poor girl was practically torn in two between the twins, from Jesus’ messy/horny ass to Mariana’s bossy controlling ass. She should be president.

a ship I’ve never been able to get into:

Most of Jesus’ relationships. He’s a fuck up so all of them are basically waiting for a train wreck. His most healthy one was with Emma, who was too good for him, and the one with most chemistry was with Lexi, but she was messy af too so that wasn’t going to work.

a ship I’ve never been able to get over:

Jude/Connor. It sailed and sunk in two minutes. So apparently, Jude/Connor have the youngest LGBT kiss shown on television. This show really made history, huh. They were adorable, they literally struggled to be a couple (since Connor’s dad is homophobic) and then after being a couple for like 2 episodes, Connor’s dad walking in on them kissing and basically blowing up was so traumatizing for the kid that he moved in with his mom in LA to get away from him. They try to do the long distance thing but they're middle schoolers... and it’s their first relationship each... and both of them are just now figuring out that they’re gay. it doesn’t work out. Would love for Connor to come back in Good Trouble and try to woo Jude or something (cuz Jude...???? he’s just FUCKING... ALL the time. Like one second he’s the adorable 12-year-old you just want to shield from the world, and then it’s like TIME SKIP, he’s a college frat boy now and he fucks “straight” boys every weekend).

a cute, low-key ship:

Lol this show didn’t do low-key ships, everything was loud.

an unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it:

Stef/Lena; because they’re the main couple on the show and yet we as the audience forget that they’re even an option as an OTP. These two are marriage goals. They fight, they argue, they have conflicting viewpoints, but they always sit down and talk at the end of the day, and they pull it together because of their love for the kids and each other. I live for them, I seriously wanted them to adopt me. I’d cook for the family so they would be an ounce less stressed. They’re such great moms and they try SO hard to be there for the kids, who each come with truckloads of baggage and problems all befitting network TV teen drama protagonists.

a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened:

BRALLIE. They’re SIBLINGSSSS AHHHH. “But they’re foster siblings” I DON’T CARE. This is not a damn Victorian novel, it’s gross. Maybe in season 1 it wasn’t as bad since Callie had zero intentions of staying with the Adams-Fosters family and was used to being bounced around in foster care, but after bonding with them all and truly believing they wanted her, season 2 onward Brallie disgusts me.

Mariana/Nick. Let’s talk about his actor for a second. Louis Hunter played a teenager in The Secret Circle back in 2011 (don’t @ me but I loved that show) and guess what, friends, he was TOO FUCKING OLD to play a teenager THEN. That opinion stands 7 years later. An absolute creep who traumatized Mariana, the girl had to go to THERAPY. She went to THERAPY because of him.

Lena/Monte. UGHHHHHHHHh this made me so mad. Monte was being so gross and inappropriate, like not only is Lena her employee/subordinate... but Lena is a WOMAN. She’s grown as hell and confident in her identity and has a whole ass wife (a WIFE) and a family to take care of, and here comes Monte with her weird ass flirtations and stuff. She could NEVER. Lena is a goddess and Monte but an ant crawling on the sidewalk outside her temple.

my favourite storyline/moment:

When Stef confronted her internalized homophobia and misogyny during his breast cancer scare and she cut her hair to symbolize her ownership of her femininity. That was POWERFUL. Stef actually had so many great emotional arcs throughout the show; losing her father (who never really “got” her “lesbianism”), her mother’s breast cancer scare, HER breast cancer scare, her fight to become a detective, maybe it’s Teri Polo but Stef is such a stand-up, rigid character with such a strong moral center that watching her trudge through emotional trauma every gd episode was riveting.

Jude’s selective mutism. I remember this out of nowhere, but Jude went mute?? And he had to see a therapist, who deduced his problem and attributed it to an anxiety disorder and advised the family not to stress him out or pressure him to talk, and he went like this for a couple episodes. Like this boy went through so much trauma that it took like one thing, one little thing, to make him shut down. And Callie like patiently waiting for him to speak, and then her seeing her rapist and the only person she wanted to talk to about it was her little brother and he still wouldn’t talk, he just sits there playing video games, and she sends him a message on Xbox Live saying ‘Please talk to me’ and he ignores it then she sends another message “I saw Liam today” and he just looks at her as tears are falling down her face and places his hand on her arm in support. I. CRIED. Even after that moment, like in the next episode he’s still mute and Callie reminds him again that he’s been so strong compared to her that he’s “due for a breakdown” and not to feel any pressure to talk before he’s ready, and they fucking plant flowers together for Lena (I’m covering my mouth with one hand to keep from crying, I’m getting old feels. Remember when we used to say ‘feels’?). Ok I’m done.

Ok the storyline where Brandon is caught cheating for people on the SATs and won’t be able to go to Juilliard was POWERFUL. I loved that Brandon and Lena had a lot of bonding moments, and Lena was honest with Brandon in a way no one else was, she was like these are the consequences of your actions. You had decisions to make and you made the bad decisions every time, and now you’re here. Remember when you selling fake IDs for that dealer ended with your hand getting smashed so you can’t play classical music any more? Did you learn from that? Clearly not. POWERFUL. Lena scalped me on that day.

a storyline that never should have been written:

Most of Brandon’s storylines lmao. Him selling the fake IDs, him taking SATs for other students, him dating that 21+ woman with a kid and deciding he has to drop out of school and get a full time job to take care of her??? I love how Stef had to pull him aside and tell him “You’re Captain Save-A-Ho! And I know this because you got your Save-A-Ho gene from me!!” Brandon was MESSY. Despite being the typically “boring” of the kids in that he didn’t party or drink, he had interest in typical teen stuff, he was also impulsive in the worst way with his relationships and would get tunnel vision. Remember when Stef and Lena had to pull a restraining on Brandon for Callie??? My godddddd, a MESS. We’re not going to talk about how he finally fell in love with the right girl and she fucking dies.

BRALLIE. That bit where Callie didn’t think she was getting adopted so she FUCKS BRANDON, I’M NOT OVER IT. AHHHH.

Jude becoming a pothead. It was really dumb. I’d have been happier if the focus was on his anxiety and how it helped him.

Everything Monte related.

The time Jude downloaded Grindr and met up with a guy in his motel room?? And the guy was a grown man?? And of course he freaks out because Jude is a kid and tells him to gtfo??? That made me SOOOOO uncomfortable, which is why I hated it. BUT, I liked how the moms handled it, because obviously he’s a boy who’s curious and he’s surrounded by other kids—especially his four siblings with their tumultuous whirlwind of relationships—who are constantly making out with this person and hooking up with that person, and because he’s gay... and has this limited dating pool... and his first love moved to another fucking city to escape his homophobic dad... how does he get to explore his sexuality? who does he get to kiss at a party? This was so relatable, so many lgbtqa youth deal with this everyday, this sort of social pressure and FOMO as the cis straight kids around us are hitting all these romantic and sexual milestones while we’re sitting on an island. And obviously Stef and Lena sympathize, but then empathize how incredibly dangerous it was because Jude could’ve gotten hurt, there are guys out there who could do terrible things to him and he has to think these things through, not to mention the guy in question could’ve been just a normal dude trying to get it on and that he was put in danger—and this was the same season that explores how Jesus and Mariana’s birth father ended up on the sex offenders’ registry. It was handled well but remembering this storyline gives me anxiety.

The Jack storyline. I forgot this kid’s name and what happened to him so I had to peruse the wiki and I fell down a rabbit hole. Basically, this is a kid who was in a privatized group home, during a season in which Callie does volunteer work with a woman, Justina Marks, who is trying to pass a bill to reform child social services—only to discover that she wants to privatized the foster system to make money off of them, which of course makes Callie like do a BUNCH of risky stupid shit to take her down. So Jack gets temporarily moved into the Adams-Fosters home, proving to be a very quirky, quiet, sensitive boy, he kisses Jude after Jude’s breakup with Connor? Then reveals he’s not actually gay, he just wanted Jude to be happy? And it’s really fucking sad because he has this bleeding heart and this need to make everyone around him happy because he sees himself as this burden. Then he gets placed into a new foster home, despite Stef and Lena wanting to keep him around... and he gets put in the same foster home with the same man who abused Jude in the show’s pilot—and like the inciting incident for the show itself (Callie destroying his car to distract him from beating her brother > her going to juvie > her getting beat up in juvie > Lena seeing this poor bruised up girl and thinking “she’s my daughter now”). So Jack ends up being fostered by the horrible, abusive man who should never have been allowed to be within feet of a child again, and Stef just so happens to be one of the officers nearby when a domestic disturbance is called in, and when she arrives at the house with her partner she’s like “bruh I know this house” and when she goes into the kitchen she steps on something: a pair of glasses. Whose glasses???

JACK’S. And she quietly lays a sheet over his dead body. His foster father, who’d already been arrested once for beating Jude, shot him in a drunken rage. And CALLIE LATER FINDS OUT JuSTINA MARKS SET IT UP TO USE AS HER FACE CASE IN SUPPORT OF HER BILL.

my first thoughts on the show:

Literally the first time I heard the theme song when I randomly decided to watch it on Netflix in like 2014 (2015? I can’t remember, I don’t think season 3 was out at that point so it might’ve been 2014) I was like oh this is going to be the crying show.

my thoughts now:

I was right. I would not rewatch this show lmao, but I’m fond of it. I did randomly decide to start watching Good Trouble and surprisingly I like it and I missed the characters. I can look back and appreciate how this show handled a lot of tender topics as tastefully as they could, and examine them from a lot of different angles.

Ask me about a tv show/movie/franchise/book!