#idk something about how character design is a very precise art and even small details should tie in

[lord-squiggletits]

I'm not inclined to believe in the gray morality idea honestly bc if JRO really meant to imply that Pharma was always suspicious/a bad person so him breaking at Delphi is just an extension of his bad moral character (ew), he really didn't go out of his way to actually write Pharma as being a bad or even mean person at all in all the opportunities he had?

In all the flashbacks of Pharma we have (including one written in a Roche issue), all we see him doing are:

Delivering emergency care to Chromedome and telling him to "hang in there" while looking him in the eye and looking emotionally invested (not like afraid but Pharma certainly doesn't look detached or cold)

Asking Ratchet whether he should go to Delphi or not. Purely conversational + Pharma doesn't display any signs of arrogance or meanness and is just going "so Prowl wants to deploy me to Messatine but idk, what do you think." So mundane of a scene that you can't even read into his sense of morality at all

A panel or two in the Functionist Universe where Pharma and Ratchet are side by side

(Roche LSOTW) Pharma running in alongide Ratchet to help the cadets who got transform-drilled to death. During which Pharma is again behaving in a very mundane way and even commenting "poor chap" at one of the corpses they find. So again, morally neutral or at least sympathetic/concerned if you read into it.

The issue to me (and not dismissing you, this is something I've thought about a lot re: "was Pharma intentionally written to have such depth") is that if JRO really wanted to make Pharma an evil/suspicious guy, he had multiple flashback opportunities to do so and yet chose to present Pharma more or less as a guy just doing his job every single time. This is especially noteworthy since Pharma is a minor character with few appearances, so any establishing character moments need to be explicitly clear in defining Pharma's past/personality in a limited amount of time. Except we don't see a guy being evil, we just see Pharma was for all intents and purposes just a normal doctor.

Even in the present day when people talk about him in a derogatory way, it's almost always with some mention of "for most of his life he was a good doctor" "he was doing [x medical research] before he started killing patients" so even the people who hate Pharma most overtly are confirming that Pharma was morally innocuous and even a really good/smart/talented doctor. You'd think if Pharma was actually a bad person the whole time people would be saying "I always knew there was something off about him" and not "He was a good doctor for most of his life."

yk I was wondering why Pharma's Autobot insignia is grey. it expecially picked my attention since grey insignia means mourning as we know from Lost Light comics. So I searched for flashbacks with Pharma to check if it was always grey and LOOK

here, in the retrospection (issue #40) his insignia is red. So I started thinking hm. maybe it's bc of Delphi. not bc of the plague he started (as his insignia is grey in First Aid story before the plague too) but bc of the patients he killed for the T-cogs. that would be a suspicious thing to do probably for him but also explainable, he was an ambicious and talented doctor who was losing way more patients than before, others could understand it like that, while for him it was a way to channel his guilt. BUT. then i checked Chromedome flashbacks in issue #17 and...

yup. chronogically this flashback must be from earlier than the retrospection from issue #40. so it kinda ruined my theory. now I just think it's a part of the design, ment probably to forshadow his, em... dubious morality (expecially if we treat autobot insignia as symbol of morality. symbol of morality greying is... well, pretty easy to read), has nothing to do with mourning and in issue #40 somebody just maybe made a mistake with coloring, bc person responsible for colors changed. but its a fun thing to make headcanons about. if someone had a theory/headcanon or actually know what is that grey insignia about i'd be glad to know!

[sides-of-demigods]

Character Profiles

ROMAN PRINCE (16)

Son of Apollo, god of...let's just say the arts, archery, and medicine.

Apollo? God of music? Theatre? The arts? And just all around extraness?

Yeah he's the son of Apollo.

Roman is skilled with anything involving missile projectiles, from archery to basketball, and is a natural musician and actor.

He can actually charm people with his singing voice and, if he is focused enough and has the energy, can almost cast spells with songs. For instance, when he used it in the forest incident to lead him and Virgil out of the woods.

For weaponry, Roman is the only one with a magic weapon. Most often it's a double bladed sword, but it can be separated into two swords, used as a spear, or melded into one single sword.

Also, for some reason no one can explain, it's actually made of Imperial Gold instead of Celestial Bronze, but there's red detailing in the hilt and designs on the blades.

Of course he also has a bow, he's the son of Apollo, but his sword is his signature weapon.

His smile is like sunshine and he has ALL OF THE FRECKLES

He has Auburn hair and is the second shortest of the main four, much to his annoyance, though he's still tall at 5’10 (177 cm)

His eyes are green and he's the pretty boy of camp, giving all of the Aphrodite kids a run for their money.

Roman has been going to Camp Half-Blood for 10 years, ever since he was six.

Roman knew since he was brought to Camp Half-Blood for the first time for the summer by his mom when he was six, because he was immediately claimed by Apollo.

His mom told him early on that he was a demigod but it wasn't until the golden sun with it's arrows for rays that he knew exactly who he was.

But knowing he was a demigod he became obsessed with the magic and fantasy of Greek mythology, and as a kid who had already heard so many fairy tales, he had...strong opinions on the gods.

And their children.

And that included his brother.

He's getting better, especially since the forest incident, which resulted in him befriending and pining after Virgil.

Him and Patton fangirl over Disney and dashing heroes and stuff such as that.

Him and Logan it's all sass battles and such and they act like they hate each other but literally the entire camp knows that's die for each other in a heartbeat. You boys aren't fooling anybody.

LOGAN BRADFORD (17)

Son of Athena, goddess of wisdom

He's??? So smart??? Like there's Athena Cabin smart, and then there's Logan smart. The dude is on a whole nother level.

When it comes to weapons Logan uses twin landsknecht daggers, as they are weapons that require you to be precise and calculating. They aren't really anything special, with navy blue hilts and Celestial Bronze blades, but that's perfect for him.

Logan has black hair and blue eyes, and is the second tallest of the main four, at just over six feet. (182 cm)

Logan was the second most recent to arrive to Camp, arriving at 12 and having been at Camp for four years.

Logan took, surprise surprise, a much more logical standpoint on things than Roman.

He was from a long line of legacies. No one, even his father, knew he was a true son of Athena not just her legacy

So you can imagine his surprise when he got to camp and was properly claimed.

He adapted to this new development rather quickly and got on with his life, electing to, with the support of his family, to stay at camp year round and visit his family once in a while, usually for holidays and such.

It was actually so that his friend and totally not crush Patton wouldn't be lonely most of the year.

As a legacy, Logan dove into Greek Mythology similar to Roman, but rather than focus on the story elements Logan memorized as many stories, weapons, and monsters as he could.

He's like a walking Mythapedia.

The counselor of Aphrodite, Valerie Torres-Rosario, once set him up with Patton as a sort of joke (but everyone at camp low-key shipped them) and Logan was so astonished.

How can anyone be so happy? And pretty? Wait pretty? Wait, shit, 404 error, Logan.exe has shut down.

Nowadays…

Well can you say POWER COUPLE?

Battle couple, leader couple, just all around the most badass couple at camp that literally everyone loves.

Random fact: Logan has a southern drawl that he often dials down, worried it'll cause people to not take him seriously. But sometimes he let's it out with Patton, and yes it makes the poor boy melt.

PATTON HAILEY (16)

Son of Hebe, goddess of youth

Patton is kind of the definition of “looks like a cinnamon roll, and is a cinnamon roll” but when it comes to his abilities he's probably the most powerful of the bunch.

He can manipulate age, sucking the youth out of people and monsters with only a touch. He can almost always control it, but he usually wears gloves anyway. No one actually knew the extent of this until Capture the Flag one day.

Logan ran afoul of an orthrus (a two headed dog the size of a pony) and Patton without even thinking ripped off his gloves, holding on until the monster aged into dust.

He tends to not his powers much after that, so he instead studied with the Apollo cabin to be a healer and learned to use a slingshot and crossbow.

Also while not having a magic weapon persay, Patton does have a magic pouch with Celestial Bronze spheres for his slingshot that can hold way more than it seems. It's not bottomless but it can hold way more than you'd think.

Patton, poor baby, is the shortest of the group at 5’8”. (172 cm)

Patton and his brother were the second to arrive, Patton being 10 when he arrived at Camp, therefore being at Camp 6 years.

Patton also stays year round with his younger brother Dennis but that's because of a less happy reason.

See Hebe is a beautiful woman who Mr. Hailey fell in love with, but only for her beauty and they only had a one night stand. So he was not happy when a baby showed up at his door.

He got even worse when it happened again (although with a different goddess).

One day Patton took Dee and just left. Thankfully they were quickly found by a satyrs, Talyn, who escorted them to camp.

They stayed in the Hermes cabin for quite a while, Dee even longer than Patton, before being claimed.

Patton fit in quite quickly with his cabin mates. The children of Hebe are “highly sociable, take pride in community service and happiness of others, enjoy parties and feasts, tend to maintain a youthful appearance throughout their lives, are known to be fast healers, and are very good at planning social activities and parties.

That sure sounds like Patton to me.

Obviously is the dad of the entire camp.

Him and Logan, though Logan won't admit it, totally are mom and dad of CHB.

Random fact: Patton is next in line for counselor of the Hebe cabin.

VIRGIL CAMDEN (16)

Son of Phobos, god of fear

He can instill fear in people, as well as make them see their worst fears. He can look at someone and know what their afraid at that moment and their worst fears. He can also sort of sense fear of all kinds, from nervousness to anxiety to terror.

Virgil has a sword made of stygian iron, with a hilt of onyx inlaid with amethysts.

Also, he's the only one who had the sense to have a freaking shield. He doesn't always use it, but it's usually at least on his back if he's going into combat. He also has a small hand crossbow, but he doesn't always bring that with him.

Virge has brown hair, dyed purple, and actually tends to not wear much eye shadow, since the sweat from training can make it run.

He also straightens his hair but has Hobbit hair that only the other three have seen because he's kinda self-conscious about it, and each time was an accident. (Aww that might the a cute fic idea. “3 times Virgil accidentally showed his curly hair and one time it was on purpose”. Might write that if y'all want, idk.)

Moving on from his hair, he's got brown eyes, and while he doesn't wear a lot of eyeshadow (think the much less intense eyeshadow from his first few appearances) he still tends to wear white foundation and such. Idk anything about makeup.

Virgil is actually the tallest at 6’3” (190 cm) but is often so slouched he seems to be as tall as Logan if not shorter.

Virgil arrived at camp at 13, the last to arrive, and he has been at Camp 3 years.

Virgil and his parents didn't even know he was a demigod, not until a satyr named Joan showed up at his doorstep on his 13th birthday.

So he shows up to camp for the summers although when everything at home becomes too much he is known to stay at camp for a week or two.

His family situation is okay, but it's pretty tense and that just overwhelms him sometimes.

Him and Roman didn't get along at first, Roman convinced he was the son of an “evil” god. Then the forest incident happened and Virgil released maybe Roman wasn't the stuck up brat he seemed to be. They became friends and now Virgil is slowly falling in love. Curse those damn freckles.

Him and Logan get along pretty well and tend to hang out when everyone at camp is being a little too much. When they just need some practicality.

Patton is his best friend ever, they're totally bffs.

They're like the most wholesome friendship ever and honestly, even before Roman became Virgil's friend, people were starting to question if Virgil was really that bad, because if he was how could he befriend someone as precious as Patton?

Random fact: He somehow always manages to wear black and purple? He somehow even managed to get a hold of a black Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, something no one can explain considering they we're all supposedly bright orange.

DENNIS HAILEY (14)

Son of Apate, goddess of fraud, deceit, trickery, and lies.

Children of Apate aren't known as being powerful in a flashy way. They can't raise the dead, or summon hurricanes, or call lightning from the sky. Their powers are incredibly subtle.

Obviously they can lie their way out of almost any situation, they can blend into crowds easily, they can sense weakness, motivation, and lies. They can twist people's words around.

But just as some children have Aphrodite have charmspeak and some children of Hephaestus can control fire, certain children of Apate have another ability I'm calling Mimicry.

They can take on the form of another person to a level somewhere between an illusion and shapeshifting (meaning they can get stuff wrong), and mimic some speech patterns, quirks, and mannerisms. But not memories.

Dennis uses a rapier. The handle is black, but the area around the handle is gold (if you look up a rapier you'll know what I mean). The blade itself is the usual celestial bronze. That's his signature weapon but he's also good with various knives and daggers, including throwing knives.

He has black hair like Logan, but his eyes are grey, and he has a nasty scar on the side of his face from when him and Patton were fighting a monster before Talyn found them.

He's even shorter than Patton, but he's also not done growing yet, so cut him some slack.

Okay now the good stuff. You already read the gist of his back story with Patton, but once Patton got claimed their stories kind of separated.

See after Patton got claimed Dennis was still stuck in the Hermes cabin for a while. But while Patton was getting to know his other siblings, Dee was kinda left behind.

He took care of the rest of the distance when he was claimed by Apate.

It's a mostly one sided hate, because despite what Dennis has done, Patton just can't bring himself to hate his brother. And, no matter what he tells people Dennis really just misses his big brother but feels betrayed and can't risk that.

So instead he befriended a son of Eris, a boy also scorned by his brother (more on him soon). Although honestly, it's more like Dennis is the one keeping the older boy even semi under control.

Other than that, Dennis is still the manipulative, lying, GOOD INTENTIONED snek we all know and love.

He still causes chaos, but he's kind of true Neutral.

He's like this because that's how he came to believe was necessary for survival.

He was a child of the god of lies.

They wanted a snake?

He'd give them a snake.

But Patton won't give up on Dee. So maybe, just maybe, Dennis won't give up on himself either

Random fact: The one night (after Dennis was out of the infirmary for his injury) while the Hailey boys were still in the Hermes cabin, Patton and Dennis managed to sneak into the kitchen and Patton made chocolate chip cookies. Much to his annoyance, even to this day Dennis's ambrosia and nectar tend to taste like those cookies.

REMUS DUX (16)

Son of Eris, goddess of strife and discord

Remus is stronger in chaotic times, can create a golden apple that can cause people to fight over it, and cause fights between weaker-willed people.

His most powerful ability is a Strife Storm which causes things within it to break, change, or warp.

Remus uses a mace. Plot twist, right? He uses a sword more often than his signature weapon though.

The Mace is black with green designs on the handle. The head is celestial bronze, but Remus painted it black.

By the way, the following actually happened:

Thomas: What do you have?

Remus running wildly: A MACE!

Thomas: NO!

Roman: Oh my gods, why does he have a mace.

Remus has Auburn hair like Roman, but has black eyes and dyed lime green streaks into it.

He and Roman are the exact same height, and this annoys the shit out of both of them.

So now the family stuff. It seems complicated but it's really not, I swear.

So remember Roman's mom? So she met Apollo and had Roman.

But on the exact same day as Roman, Remus appeared on the doorstep of Mr. Dux. He knew it was his child, based on the note from Eris. So yes, the two have the exact same birthday.

But THEN, like not even a year later, Ms. Prince and Mr. Dux met and soon, they got married.

Roman and Remus got along like real brothers, and were the best of friends. Until, they were six years old.

You may remember that six years old was the first summer the boys arrived at Camp Half-Blood.

Roman was claimed practically as soon as they crossed the border. Remus was claimed in a few weeks, but during those weeks something...something happened to him.

He began to...change.

He began to become more chaotic, cruel, just plain old mean.

Roman was trying so hard to excuse this. Maybe his brother just missed their parents? Maybe if he spent more time with Remus than his cabin mates?

But then Remus was claimed, and Roman finally snapped, turning his back on his brother for good.

This was the last straw for Remus too.

The two finally decided, subconsciously and unanimously, that despite their parents love for both of them, despite their marriage, despite their childhood, they were no longer brothers.

Both boys cried that night.

But now Remus channels his energy into destruction, pranks, and honestly horrible things.

Dennis is quite honestly the only thing keeping him from actually killing someone.

That orthux that attacked Logan? That was Remus.

The forest incident? Remus.

Random fact: Remus loves bananas, and of his favorite things to do is eat a banana and leave it on the floor of the dining pavilion right before the dinner rush and watch an unsuspecting demigod slip and fall.

THOMAS SANDERS (20)

Son of Iris, goddess of the rainbow

Okay I know what you're thinking, but I SWEAR this isn't a gay joke. Honestly it started that way but I did actual research and I decided to actually keep it.

Okay so children of Iris have good communication skills, are often nice and good at making friends, are creative, have good color coordination, and are good with animals. Sounding familiar yet? YUP IT SOUNDS LIKE THOMAS FUCKING SANDERS.

Sorry I'm just so excited this worked out so perfectly.

Anyway onto the next part: powers.

Thomathy over here has the power to generate and manipulate light and color, he can change the color of things with just a touch (people suspect he's behind Virgil's black Camp t-shirts), he can see the whole spectrum of light (thankfully he can turn this on and off), and because he's special, he can summon rainbow wings that he can use to fly.

Thomas uses a bow and arrow. There isn't much special about them. It's a recurve bow that's a magenta color, the feathers on his arrows are all different colors, the arrowheads are celestial bronze but there are celestial bronze bits on the ends of his bow just in case a monster decides to get up close and personal.

He has a short sword as well, but he prefers to use the bow.

Thomas looks the same as our Thomas: brown hair, brown eyes, 5’10” (177 cm), etc.

Thomas honestly has a pretty good family life, and actually has been known to bring campers home with him for a week or so if needed? His family is welcome at camp, people call Mama Sanders “mom” even more often than they do Logan, it's pretty amazing.

As for demigod stuff, well Thomas was on watch for a while.

He was special for a child of Iris already (the wings ain't normal), but his best friend and his protector (Joan obviously) could tell he had potential to be a leader and a role model for all the kids at camp.

So at twelve, Thomas arrived at Camp Half Blood for his first day at camp.

He wasn't the best when it came to the physical attributes. He could fight, otherwise he'd be dead by now, but he wasn't exactly gifted at it.

Yet somehow he was counselor of the Iris cabin by the time he was 15?

He is just great at making friends. Even the Ares cabin likes him! He can actually talk them down!

No one understands it!

Literally the only one he can't control is Remus.

Soon, Dionysus was able to somehow cut a deal that got him out of camp director. That title went to Chiron and Thomas, at age 18, became the activities counselor, taking over Chiron's now vacant spot.

Literally the entire camp cheered when this happened.

There wasn't a single unhappy camper in sight.

Random Fact: Thomas's eyes actually change color sometimes, like a holographic image. They're usually brown, but campers swear they've seen them multiple other colors, even colors that shouldn't be possible like red and purple.

Tag List: @coconut-cluster @stop-it-anxiety @wizzo-the-motherfucking-wizard @planetkookie @winterrs-child @thgjclw @dragonsaphirareads @jessadamsdraws @landofsaltandshade @just--potato @that-one-sunfish-with-a-wig-on @withspaces @demoncrownqueen