#it’s actually one of the reasons I started reading the odyssey again

[adrift-in-thyme]

Gosh yeah, I’ve barely been obsessing over the odyssey but I too am sick on how some people characterize Odysseus. I don’t think I could consume any Odyssey media that isn’t Epic the musical cuz I feel like because Odysseus is a super masculine dude, they’ll give him toxic masculinity traits and make him a cheater. Which is entirely false! He’s a kind and caring man who loves his wife and son more than anything! Sure he’s a little violent but only because he HAS to be. He HAS to do things in order to survive and to protect those he cares about!

even if it’s their own interpretation, I feel like characterizing Odysseus as a cheater in any way shape or form is EXTREMELY disrespectful to male SA survivors. That’s a more off topic thought tho (won’t talk about that anymore I just wanna throw it out there)

EXACTLY

I completely agree!!! It’s this weird thing that’s always driven me nuts where masculinity is equated with toxic masculinity just as often as femininity is equated with weakness. As if a manly dude can’t be a family man who’s both soft-hearted and fiercely protective. Which like WHAT?? It’s yet another infuriating stereotype. And it plays into the whole disrespect to male SA victims thing. Him being a victim doesn’t make him any less of a man per se. It freaking makes him HUMAN.

I don’t get the whole thing with the maids and suitors either. People do realize that they betrayed Penelope and plotted to kill Telemachus right?? They do realize that by completely victimizing the maids they take away the agency they did possess, however little? I’m not saying it’s cut and dry or that’s it’s ok to slaughter a bunch of people (though don’t western heroes do that ALL THE TIME and don’t get slack for it??) or that the maids had this wonderful situation where full consent was given. But come on. You’re gonna villainize the dude whose home they invaded and ransacked and whose family they endangered?

And I feel like with Ody especially he gets characterized by his mistakes (real and contrived). People see him as the guy who got all his men killed by telling the cyclops his name (an understandable mistake because the worst of us comes out under duress. Of course he displayed pride and hubris! He was exhausted and sorrowful and infuriated!). They see him as the guy who “cheated” on Penelope with Circe and Calypso. And they forget the source material. Homer was over there making a character to rival the vast majority of those we have today, a sensitive, traumatized, flawed man who endured SO MUCH to return to his beloved family. A man who, unlike all of his fellow warriors, identified himself as the Father of Telemachus because Penelope and Telemachus are his LIFE. He wrote this awesome character, even gave him a character arc in the Odyssey, and he gets reduced to a cocky cheater.

[risestarkiss]

Being Baby Blue

Rise Ramblings #313

Leonardo Hamato is…an interesting individual.

As a middle child, he doesn’t have to shoulder the responsibilities of the oldest, nor is he fawned upon or babied over like the youngest. Therefore, he ends up having more of a lackadaisical approach to life.

In his free time, instead of training like Raph, Leo can normally be found reading comic books.

And for good reason! Someone has to be up on the latest issues of Jupiter Jim and his space odysseys.

But, other than being a Jupiter Jim superfan, who is Leonardo Hamato?

If you ask Leo, he's...*takes out a list*: “Primetime,” “First,” “The Best,” “Number One,” “The Champion,” or some other iteration of all of the above.

...Huh. Anyways...

Of course, the first thing Leo would tell you is that he's the team's "Face Man."

As the "Face Man," he’s the one that turns up the charm when they need to schmooze their way out of, or into, something.

He's the face of the group! It's a very important title, right?

Well, in this scene with Hueso, we learn what Leo really feels about his place on the team.

"There's no team with just a face man." "I'm nothing without them."

Hmm. If he thinks that he is nothing without his brothers, then what's the deal with all of this "Number One" and "Champion" talk?

I believe that Leo is exhibiting a form of Reaction Formation.

Reaction Formation is a primitive defense mechanism that involves transforming one's unacceptable feelings or emotions into the opposite.

"Solicitude may be a reaction-formation against cruelty...romantic notions of chastity and purity may mask crude sexual desires, altruism may hide selfishness, and piety may conceal sinfulness."

Leo has been creating these grandiose titles and this larger-than-life persona for himself as a means to cope with his feelings of insecurity, his anxieties, and combat his self-deprecation.

Gee, forming a larger-than-life persona to counteract their suppressed feelings also reminds me of someone else we know…

But, I digress...

Behind the fabrications, his insecurities, who he pretends to be, and who he wants to be, the real Leo is still on display, starting as early as the first episode.

He's attentive, he understands the team's strengths and weaknesses, he assesses situations, he comes up with great plans on the fly, and he is a voice of reason.

These are all the characteristics of a great leader.

However, something happens when he’s actually appointed as such.

There he goes again. He's cocky, arrogant, and act's as if he's unphased even by the prospect of loosing his brothers. If this is Reaction Formation, then what is he trying to mask with these behaviors?

Previously, he was masking his insecurities, his anxieties, and his self-deprecation, but with the faces he pulls when he thinks no one can see them, I want to say the newest emotion is fear.

He is terrified of being the leader and floundering under his new responsibilities. He's scared of the consequences of his actions, and what those consequences may mean for his brothers. However, instead of voicing his insecurities, or communicating with his team, he doubles down and falls back into old habits.

The "Face Man" persona is turned up to an 11, and things get worse and worse until...

His greatest fears have been realized.

He has failed as a leader. He has failed his brothers. He has failed to stop the invasion, and they are all going to die because of his failures.

Now he's faced with the harsh reality of his own mistakes, thus he finally faces himself.

"It's scary to be responsible for the lives you protect, your team...your family. But we do it anyway because that's what it means to be a hero."

He may be speaking to Raph, but he's talking about himself.

His words are his true feelings, the same feelings that have been holding him back this entire time. By opening up, he's able to surrender to himself and let it all go.

And it's the breakthrough we all have been waiting for.

What Leo doesn't know is that through letting go, he's able to become the true face of the group he is destined to be.

He's the face of hope.

Update: This post now also exists in video form. 😌💙

○○○○

Previous | Being Big Red

Next | Being Purple ○ Part One • Being Purple ○ Part Two • Orange, Baby!

Finale | Being Hamato Yoshi

[leaawrites]

Read to me

Percy Jackson x fem!reader

Summary: in a world full of monsters, Percy just wants to protect his girlfriend.

Warnings: mentions of rainstorms, mentions of threats, self doubt, angst, fluff

Wordcount: 0.8k

Masterlist

The night started off with soft rain falling from the sky on the top of the beach house. Montauk. It started quiet and not threatening. Being the Son of Poseidon it shouldn’t make him lay away at night in fear of the storm outside, right? He shouldn’t fear it. But since the dreams got heavier and he finally had something - someone to lose, it felt all a bit more threatening. His life was now not only weighting him down - threatening him - but also her. The girl in his arms that was unaware of everything that happened during summer.

He felt bad for not spending the holiday with her, but she also couldn’t accompany him. Being left to wonder what he was doing there. She knew Grover already and she listened to Percy talk about his friends there - like Annabeth, a girl he mentioned one time too much in her opinion (but she would never actually say that to him) or Tyson. She knew about the lake that was there and capture the flag, but everything else was a mystery to her.

“Why are you still awake?” Y/n asked, waking up in the middle of the night from her boyfriend shaking in fear of a lightning and thunder.

It wasn’t the first time they have slept in the same bed, often doing sleepovers on the weekends. And it definitely wasn’t the first time she woke up because of him. But when she asked for the reason it was always the same.

“Just a bad dream,” Percy muttered, rubbing her arm gently to assure her that it was all fine.

“Percy,” she said, pushing him further than before. Mostly she would just let it go, nod and give him a kiss before snuggling back into his side and fall asleep again. Assuring him that he was safe was her. But he feared that she wasn’t safe with him.

“What are you dreaming about?”

The questioned lingered on her mind for longer already but she finally spoke the words. She needed answers. Not just lame excuses as to why he had scratches down his skin or why he always carried a pen with him when he never even used it.

She needed answers and he knew that, but could he give them to her so easily without putting her in danger? He couldn’t, so what would he give her? What could he give her?

“You,” he answered. Y/n looked at him confused, leaning on her arms to look at him properly. Her fingers moving through his hair. “It’s always you and it never ends good. I don’t want whatever happens in my mind happen in reality too.”

“It won’t,” she assured him, laying her head in the crook of his neck, planting small kisses on his skin.

“What if it will?” He couldn’t keep the possibility of it all away from his mind. He couldn’t block out the pictures he saw when closing his eyes.

“They’re just dreams, Percy,” she said again.

“Maybe they’re not,” he argued back.

“Dreams can’t hurt you.” She took his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. “I’m here. I’m fine. And as long as I’m with you I will be.”

Silence filled the room. She was right, partially. As long as she was with him nothing would happen to her. He was able to protect her, fight whatever would threaten her.

“Can you read to me?”

Y/n looked at him surprised but nodded nonetheless. Climbing out from under the covers to grab the book, which she would be reading to him whenever he asked, from her bag. The Odyssey. She was confused and taken back when he asked her the first time, taking the book from her shelve and telling her about his interest for Greek Mythology. That was the first night he stayed over at hers. Listening to her read the words written on the pages for him to better understand them.

Saving herself from the cold again by laying back down next to him, Percy rested his head on her chest like he always did. Her hand found it’s way into his hair and gently playing with a few strands. Percy would ask some questions about who was who again sometimes, making her giggle in embarrassment when she didn’t know herself and then they would try and recite which characters they still knew had which part in the story.

The thunder still followed the bright streak of light closely behind but it got less and when she felt him finally relax against her fully and she turned off the light all which was left was soft rain. Kissing the top of his head, she closed her own eyes, falling back into a deep slumber surrounded with her own dreams of him.

[kingeparr]

abt percy jackson's middle name - a long post

let's talk about percy's middle name, its implication and what is my headcanon for it!!

first a warning!! i know very little abt actual greek mithology. i've tried to read my copy of odyssey and illiad a total of 10 times and i CANNOT for my life understand that shit. having said that, my mythos knowledge is based on hours on wikipedia sources pages, greek miths articles and more. anyways, this will have spoilers of the Percy Jackson Universe by Rick Riordan.

having been warned, I should start with one point:

percy doesn't have a middle name in canon. From what we've known it's never mentioned a middle name at all, wich is not very uncommon in the PJO universe, as most character do not have one (from the top of my head the only ones that canonically have one are Rachel and Reyna (Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano))

BUT in most fandom fanfics that feature his middle name, he is called Perseus Achilles Jackson. Again, it is not canon, but it is so common that most people think it is true. Unfortunately, it doesn't make sense.

It's canon that Sally was the one that named Percy, and she chose Perseus, a son of Zeus, as her choice because he was one of the only Greek heroes that in most versions of the myths get to live a long and relatively happy life after their adventures. From what I've known most times Perseus dies of old age or ascends as a constellation along with his mother and his wife, Andromeda.

Now, what are the implications that we know of?

this will be mostly speculation and head canons, so beware!!

i don't think Rick Riordan ever stated, but it is possible to draw parallels between Percy and Annabeth with Perseus and Andromeda, essentially in their first quest, even more in the series. The same is possible to associate with other characters with names derived from Greek myths.

and, until now, all of Percy's quest he has come back alive, even if the world was ending or if he has gone trough Tartarus, he has come back alive.

As it stands in canon, it's often said that names have power !! saying gods, monsters or others names will call their attention, or give them power. it could be associated that those names with History, or a Legacy HAVE more power and purpose behind them. Ex: Castor and Pollux, Jason, could even say Leo etc.

that is great, and reforces that its possible Sally did something right about the naming.

now, next part is a FULL BLOWN HEAD CANON!!

to me, his full name is Perseus Ulysses Jackson. let me tell you why.

Ulysses = Odysseus

Ulysses comes from Odysseus, yes, the Greek hero hated by Poseidon from the Odyssey. Why would Sally do that? Same reason of why Perseus.

Odysseus, despite all his Odyssey, came back home. In the Odyssey, is said he will live the rest of his life peacefully, and apparently he lived mor 10 years as Ithaca's King. There is another myth where he is killed by his son with Circe, but ignore that for this post.

I think it would make sense for the way they both lived that even if Poseidon hated him, that Sally would have her son named after a hero and a general that even after everything he went trough he still made home, still had people who believed in him, even if Sally herself were not there to see him, like Odysseus' mother, at least he would be alive.

Someone that is selfish in a way if that means he lives. In the same way Sally calls herself selfish for trying to have Percy with her for more time during the years before TLT. For that she endured Gabe.

Not that she knew that of course, but the fates could be at work. I'm always fan of a good foreshadowing.

Now Speaking of foreshadowing, next topic

2. Ulysses - Roman name

Ulysses is the roman version of Odysseus, still has the same meaning and the roman version of the myth is not that different. Why roman, then?

First, because my Odyssey copy was with the Roman names and I was very pissed at that when I was 12 and tried reading it for the first time and discovered that the FUCKING ODYSSEY MAN WAS NOT CALLED ODYSSEUS IN MY VERSION, to my frustration.

ANYWAY, second point: Percy has a connection to the Roman since the first book.

In his classes with Chiron, Percy fights in Roman armor, swords and has Latin classes, and while that is all good and cool, i always found it strange of Chiron to teach Latin, and not Greek. Of course, it could be a ruse of Chiron to distance Percy even more from his greek side, while still helping him learn about the world. it could be nothing.

but to me is not nothing.

Percy has a weird facility with Latin at 12 that Jason did not have with Greek at 16. And while it could be argued that they did not have their memories, Percy was a 12 yo boy that CURSED IN LATIN in a time of distress. I bet they did not have classes about "How to curse in Latin" and i doubt Percy searched for that somewhere.

Percy is very connected with the Roman side of the demigod world, he feels drawn to New Rome, goes to the Roman Uni and he gets so wrapped in it he becomes PREATOR in like a week!! while Jason spent months on the Greek side.

Percy has a lot of participation in Both sides of the demigods being a kinda important figure in both camps.

now, a subtopic.

Percy Jackson: Son of Neptune

Percy is presented as a son of Neptune from the get go in camp Jupiter, wich he doesn't protest at any time (from what i remember), the thing is Poseidon IS different from Neptune specially their roots.

Poseidon is primarily the god of the sea. Neptune is the god of rivers, springs, and waters.

Technically, Percy should not have control of any type of water or rivers, his father is the god of SEA, saltwater. Even then, he can control even the rivers in the Underworld. He has such control of "water" that he can control ALL LIQUIDS! That is not Poseidon's domain, the control of Waters is Neptune's.

knowing this i like to believe the following.

Percy is the son of both Poseidon and Neptune. Don't ask me the logistics, i wouldn't know, and i don't care. HOWEVER when you add things up, it makes sense, in my head, at least.

In conclusion, Sally associates her son's fate with two heroes that go trough MANY hardships but get back home, are strong and live kind of happy lives after that. One of them is mainly Greek, being his first name, what he is primarily called. The other is Roman, it is there, but it's not mentioned, but it still is his name, and it gives him power.

Specially, when you think that the roman counterparts all have a child, except Neptune. Pluto has Hazel, Hades had Bianca and Nico. Jupiter had Jason, Zeus has Thalia. Poseidon has Percy, Neptune has no one? seems unequal and unbalanced in a way the gods wouldn't allow.

Not only that but why would Neptune "claim" or let be claimed a son that wasn't his when Rome hasn't been grateful or careful with him? His last child was scorned (i don't remember the name but it's said that they were basically blamed for earthquakes or something in the 1900)

as the series goes and percy draws MUCH MORE POWER from rivers and other liquids than from the ocean, and the time it took for percy to be born he could be powerful from both sides. he is the first demigod of Poseidon in 70+ years, but he is the first demigod rrom Neptune in 100+ !!!

it makes sense that even if he is called a greek, as his name evokes, he is connected and powerful on his Roman side. It is not a coincidence that people thought he was a god when he first arrived in Camp Jupiter.

It's a tribute for both his Roman and Greek sides, to invoke the names and fates of two powerful kings that are burdened with responsibility, and that learned and lived after their quests.

i could talk about this for hours, specially if Epic's Odysseus by Jorge Rivera-Herrans is taken in account (wich I am doing) but I will not elaborate

anyway, Percy's middle name is Ulysses and I'm right, idc.

[lizzyscribbles]

In honor of the Vengeance Saga's release tonight, I'm taking a break from my regularly scheduled MHA content to have a little ramble about something Epic related that I've had brewing for a while.

I want to talk about Eurylochus (who, for some reason, my brain desperately wants to call Eurydice, which is an ENTIRELY different greek myth inspired musical that I love but it REFUSES to remember that, but that's besides the point), specifically the hatred he seemed to get after the Thunder Saga.

Now, let me just say, I have not read the Odyssey, I don't plan to and I don't particularly want to. I am solely coming at this from the perspective of someone who has just listened to Epic and kept up with Jay. So, if you have read the myths, this is probably not the post for you. :)

I understand where the hatred of him comes from, I honestly do. At first glance it is kind of hard to understand why he had the right to be upset with Odysseus after everything he did, but I think just taking it at surface value is doing the story a huge disservice.

Let's start allllllll the way back in the Ocean Saga with the wind bag incident. Now, I'm absolutely not saying that Eurylochus should bear no fault for this, he DID disobey Odysseus's direct order and could some of that have to do with the fact that he wanted treasure?? Maybe? But I'm not convinced that was entirely it. That's mentioned at the beginning of the song, and then never really brought up again. (Yes, I am aware that the in the myth it is because of treasure, but again, I'm going off just Epic).

Jay tells us that every character in Epic has an instrument, those in the fandom know this, and we also know that Eurylochus's instrument is actually the crew. So, when he sings, he's usually singing for the combined opinions of the rest of the crew. In "Keep Your Friends Close", we hear Odysseus start to really deteriorate for the first time. You can hear the crew start to get a little weirded out by it, because until this point Odysseus has been pretty steadfast and strong and suddenly he's turned into this paranoid, tired mess. He doesn't talk to anyone after the beginning, he just sings to himself while the crew sings backup. The crew has never seen Odysseus like this before, as far as we can tell, and I think it worries them, especially since this whole bag situation seems to have started it. What I'm trying to get across here is that Odysseus is acting really suspicious in the crew's eyes. We know this because the crew actively tells us this in the line "Everything's changed since Polites." There has been a massive, unsettling change in Odysseus and I think it's deeply concerning them. I think they brought those concerns to Eurylochus, who I think was also being actively shut out, and Eurylochus got worried that there was something much worse than a storm in that bag. If you come from that perspective, it makes sense he waited until Ithaca was so close to try to open it, because with home so close, if there was something horrible then they were close to salvation. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and I guarantee Eurylochus tortured himself for that mistake for the rest of his, unfortunately short, life.

Again, I'm NOT saying that this was the right decision, but I am saying that I can kinda see why he did it.

Let's move onto the Circe Saga. I hear a lot about how it wasn't fair that Eurylochus was so mad about the Scylla incident when he wanted to leave the men who became pigs behind on Circe's island. However, think about it this way, Eurylochus didn't actively send those men into Circe's palace, nor did he choose to turn them into pigs to save himself. When they turned, he had no idea whether they COULD be brought back, he probably already considered them dead. He was not the one who condemned them, and I don't think he wanted to leave them behind, but he didn't know if they could be saved and trying to do so may have lost the rest of their feeble crew. Remember, they've just lost nearly their entire fleet, I wouldn't be surprised if Eurylochus was scared he'd lose even more if they tried to save the men that may have already been condemned.

Was this the right decision? No, I don't think so, but I understand why he thought it was.

That's why I think trying to compare the Scylla incident with the Circe one is like looking at apples and oranges, they're really not the same thing.

Next, the cow incident. The infamous "my father will hear about this". I don't have much to say here. It was stupid, yes. However, have y'all ever been so starved you'd do anything to get something to eat? I become a bitch if I wait a few too many hours between meals, going for days, your perception is going to be MASSIVELY screwed. Still, after all, not too surprised that Eurylochus didn't listen to Odysseus. Again, stupid ass move, Eurylochus, but I get it.

Finally, Mutiny, the song that brought this all about. I think a lot of people took this song as Eurylochus being a bit of a hypocrite, that Odysseus isn't allowed to do the things he, himself, did. I don't think that's the case here. I think Eurylochus is confused, because this is COMPLETELY out of character for Odysseus. This entire musical has been Odysseus trying to avoid death in any way he can. He's tried to protect his crew even when it puts himself in danger (see the Circe Saga) and then, seemingly out of nowhere, he sacrifices six men to Scylla without so much as a discussion with his crew. This is very, VERY unlike him at this point, and it scared Eurylochus. It scared all of them.

I don't think he's doing this because he's mad that Odysseus gets to do shit he didn't get to do. No, I think he's terrified because this is a complete 180 and now they're all at risk. He's confused as to why Odysseus is suddenly okay with everything he's told Eurylochus NOT to do up until this point. He's saying, "you told me not to do this, why are you now doing this? The whole time you fought for the crew and now you just killed them no warning, what the hell?? What's happened to you?? This isn't you??" He's not saying that he didn't do anything, he's saying this whole time you've protected us and now you're not, wtf? In simple terms, "you told me not to do something and then you did it"

The prophet said as much, "It's no longer you." This was no longer the Odysseus they knew, and when he willingly sacrificed his crew, they realized that they were no longer people in his eyes, they were tools to get back to his wife and child.

I'm saying this to bash Odysseus AT ALL. In fact, the scariest part of Thunder Bringer is that I fully understand why Odysseus did what he did, and in his shoes, I'm not sure I'd have done anything different. I think Odysseus is an excellent character and I LOVE HIM, we see that these decisions haunt him constantly throughout the rest of the Sagas, but we have to remember we get to hear a lot more about the situation than the crew did. We're inside Odysseus's head, they were not.

Again, was Eurylochus completely in the right? Absolutely not. But he also wasn't completely in the wrong. He was working with the information he had available to him, it just happened to be missing important pieces.

Eurylochus was trying to protect the crew and himself from a man he didn't recognize anymore, and I can't blame him for that.

...Plus, I think we can all agree that the real bitch here is Zeus who made Odysseus choose between himself and his crew and then immediately punted him to Calypso's island FULLY KNOWING that the only reason Odysseus made that decision was because he wanted to see his wife and son.

Screw you, Zeus.

[nonokoko13]

Ok so today I found out Nanbaka ended some time ago so I spoiled myself and man, the ending was so rushed and angst for no reason and overall disappointing??? The author threw very important lore info and a plot twist that felt all out of the blue near the ending... I love angst but when it is well written, and this was not. Their friendship was real, even if prior to the series start wasn't I know what I read was real friendship and this ending ruins for me one of the main themes of this show.

I don't post a lot about this series because I started it before I even had Tumblr but Nanbaka was everything to me back then. Even after I was forced to move on because the english translation stopped and finding all chapters fan translated was very difficult I'd find myself thinking about these characters sometimes and I almost dare to say that it was a comfort series. Not being able to keep reading it without going through a Odyssey was already upsetting but the ending? What in the actual fuck is that. Is not even the fact it was a sad ending what bothers me the most, it's that it was sad and felt bad written or without proper building 🙁

This literally summaries my opinion regarding what happened to the main group:

Now I feel bad? Bad like when you receive bad news irl? Like I've received a punch in the stomach or a betrayal from a dear old friend

If spy x family or yuu & grim (including all of their friends in twst) separate in the end I'm losing all hope of being happy and relaxing with this trope without fearing the chance of getting backstabbed again forever

God please let them stick together or I'm going to make you the same thing you have done with me

[sardonic-sprite]

SPRITE OH MY GOODNESS

NOW THAT YOU’RE BACK

Thoughts on The Underworld Saga?

ALL I HEAR ARE SCREAMS

They're mine. I'm the one screaming. Loudly.

It's so good it's so fucking. Ahhhhhhhh.

I accidentally like half memorized it already lmao, as well as Circe Saga, which I already had to catch up on and I ADORE them both, I will have literal blow-by-blow rants coming for every song in this show BUT IN SUMMARY FOR UNDERWORLD SAGA

"The Underworld"

So cool to have them GO to the underworld bc I asked my dad (who read the odyssey a long time ago) about the prophet and in the poem odysseus just summons Tireas's spirit so.

It starts quiet then eventually you actually hear the wails of the souls and it's v chilling and a great detail to add

The entire chorus is so good, it's survivors guilt in like 3 sentences, Jay, how?

I keep thinking of the infant from that night, I keep thinking of the infant from that night

POLITES!

And then it goes dead silent and then this soft wail of "waaaiiittttinnnnng!" And odysseus's reaction, oh lord, the way this of everything seems to hit home. The soft, quiet "Why, Mom?"

KEY CHANGE! DRAMA! And then unlike ending down the two previous times, where it gets softer, they end shouting DOWN JN THE UNDERWORLD! And it's almost like the underworld owns their screams too now

"No Longer You"

Tireas's voice is perfect I just. It's got this breathy edge making it ghostly ad then it's so low and soft it's kind of like

Ugh the whole song seems like a cross between a lullaby and a waltz and both are minor key and creepy as FUCK and I love it and wish I had the vocabulary to express this concept better

What?

A man who gets to make it home alive, but it's no longer you. As the audience we know what this means. Odysseus survives and makes it back but he is so vastly changed that he is "no longer" the man who left for war. But in the pernicious way of prophecies, this is left unclarified and I don't even know if Tireas does this on purpose. Maybe he genuinely sees it all fuzzy (unlikely to me given other details he gives) maybe he thinks Odysseus is clever enough to understand (you'd think he'd change his literal tune when Odysseus keeps reacting the way he does) and maybe... maybe Tireas just doesn't fuckin give a shit. Here's your prophecy bitch let's see you battle it til you come back down here to never leave again

The rage in Odysseus's voice when he screams WHO!? This might be me wanting to make him like unrealistically good with his wife, but it almost seems like rage on behalf of Penelope? Like he's angry someone perhaps tricked or forced her into wedlock? Idk it feels like if he was reacting to the idea that she was cheating, he'd scream "what" again

And tireas literally repeats himself he's so fucking unhelpfjl and tbh of course odysseus is gonna go off the rails. I can't honestly blame him 😂

"Monster"

I'm the only one who's line is haven't crossed. Um. Boyo I'm pretty sure you did a long jump over your line with the infant thing. Other than that tho it's such an interesting line esp bc it's true like. So many people have given odysseus advice and told him limits they want to set, and he's pushed through all of it. That literally has made him the primary danger to his crew in a lot of ways

OK the whole section where hengoes through the examples of the cyclops, circe the witch, poseidon the god, and finally turns to himself and the horse, basically SPITTING out the words- I love it all, I love the rhythm, the rhymes, the reasoning he goes through... so good

OK it gets quite andnthennthat soft, low "Oh, ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves" and it starts to build, he's shouting out what he's lost and what he needs to keep, and his plan, and finally screams "THEN ILL BECOME THE MONSTER"

Ugh building om that last it's so fucking interesting bc this is both corruption and sacrifice, this change that odysseus is kindnof allowing within himself. He's built up all this time thar he wants to stop losing his men, so it can be read as him being a good leader, willing to put his personal need (integrity) aside to keep them safer.

But on the other hand, who is he talking to/about the entire end? Penelope and telemachus. He's got to see them. He wants/needs to, and he's frankly doing this for them, and like it all sounded reasonable until he says he'll fucking drop a baby off a a wall "in an instant" and you go WHOA.

He's no longer himself. All itntakes is one fucking song, odysseus declares he's not just crossing his own line, the last line, he's obliterating that line completely. There is no more line for this man, anywhere. He's going to do anything he fucking has to

But not for his men. For Penelope and telemachus

It's so much devotion and corruption and love and desperation and holy hell it is so good and it flows through so naturally that you hardly notice what's really going on unti you watch thr lyrics change

So yeah I think the underworld saga is near 🙃

[littlesparklight]

Why do Patrochilles fans always seem to forget about the Trojan women and children do they not matter?

To be fair, there are probably several reasons, and, I'd guess, no matter which other reasons there might be, being uncomfortable with the violence and the cruelty is probably a big reason.

Which is neither strange nor wrong!

But - well. This is about war. War in a society where slavery is a thing and where, specifically, the captives taken are enslaved. If (general) you like an Achaean character in the Trojan war narrative, then your blorbo absolutely has traumatized an unknown number of women personally by killing members of their natal and/or potentially marital family, long before Troy falls. And are, at the very least, using them as slave labour.

And a smaller number of said captive women are serving as personal status objects, including serving in their captor's beds. (And, you clearly don't need to be one of these ~special~ slaves for this to happen either, if circumstances change, as Diomede (the woman Achilles sleeps with/next to the night of the embassy) shows.)

(The discomfort is, presumably, also part of why some people are working overtime in trying to soften and cutiefy the Odysseus-Astyanax situation with ~he saves him~ AUs or just general angst and regret in the moment and milking it afterwards. I had to see "father son duo" in connection with fucking Odysseus and Astyanax a couple days ago, and, ugh. Like, sorry, but even when Odysseus isn't the killer he seems to always come up with/champion the idea! Make your peace with it instead of having Odysseus cry as if he fucking CARES about this one child that he's advocating for murdering. (I would not really think it odd if Odysseus potentially has PTSD from this, but man, the way I've seen it used just makes me pissed off, sorry not sorry. Astyanax is basically just a prop.)

Anyway, ok.

I have no idea if TSoA is actually the most usual way for shippers to get into Patrochilles any more, but it still seems like that? And TSoA works very, very hard to soften and smooth out all and any uncomfortable bits. The Troilus incident doesn't exist, and the Achilles and Patroklos are basically running a ~women's shelter~ and not doing anything questionable with the women with their power or whatever.

If this is where you come into Patrochilles specifically and the Trojan war in general, no wonder you'd like to keep ignoring all the unpleasant bits. Which like. Fine. If they would keep to TSoA, but usually they don't.

The Hades game, too, did its work of presenting a more palatable Achilles. It is post-war, so basically nothing comes up, and the Achilles we get is unexplainedly regret- and shameful over his earlier behaviour and actions. I say unexplainedly not because I couldn't necessarily see this change, but it's not actually shown to us. We're just shown a personality that isn't actually very/at all connected to what those of us who knows the Iliad and the Odyssey have seen.

Even the Odyssey doesn't show us an Achilles who regrets anything of what he did (and he's proud of his son's achievements, even if Odysseus doesn't enumerate them in detail). What Achilles in the Odyssey regrets is being dead, specifically, and he seems rather depressed over being so.

So, again, if you come in to Patrochilles and the Hades game, it's once again easy to just... ignore stuff you don't want to touch on (even more so, since it's (long) post-war, which is undoubtedly a plus, genuinely).

The thing is, though - when you start dipping into the actual Trojan war, even just by reading, say, Achilles' wiki page, especially Troilus is right there. And making jokes (I have seen several) about "what would Achilles need Lesbian women for, Agamemnon, you idiot!!", is just... unpleasant. What are enslaved women used for, huh? Sexuality jokes have no place in this instance, just because someone might be uncomfortable and/or clinging to "Achilles is totally and only gay and doesn't fuck women".

But, tl; dr; no I don't think that, in general, most Patrochilles shippers think the Trojan (and every other woman who was enslaved during these ten years) women and the children matter. They're here for the ship.

And there is not really anything wrong with that, but the way the war (and the women, children etc) are usually dealt with (or not) in the course of that is extremely lacking because it's basically all whitewashed. (And Hektor gets used as some sort of handy ship-obstacle in any way they like to. Leave Hektor alone, damn it.)

[mochilorddrakeinferno]

(another spm thing haha I should actually play the game at some point also I read your entire dimentio doc and I LOVED IT) why do you think Luigi is the ideal host for the Chaos Heart?

Oh, glad you liked it, thank you! As for your question, it's a good one, but... I don't know if I really have a great answer on it. Let's start with some important information about the Chaos Heart. Its name in the original Japanese is the "Love Power of Chaos". This is significant because it tells us a lot more about the type of thing it is. Throughout Super Paper Mario, it is repeatedly emphasized that the power of pure love is capable of... well, just about anything. Reviving the dead, restoring the *beyond* dead, bringing worlds back from non-existence, even defying fate itself.

But that power isn't a purely positive one. Love at its core is passion, it's caring about someone, it's a bond between hearts. But that care isn't always mutual, benevolent, or healthy. Obsession is a kind of love, unhinged devotion a kind of care. But it's a different kind of love, something corrupt. Chaotic love. Where pure love is a thing of light and restoration and possibility, chaotic love is a negative power, associated with destruction, darkness, inevitability, and madness. So when Peach and Bowser completed the worst marriage ever, that is why the Chaos Heart was born.

(Side-note: The fact that he would later try to marry her again in Super Mario Odyssey does suggest it's a one-time occurrence that wouldn't happen if they got married a second time, which in turn probably means the specific circumstances of the wedding in SPM and/or the Dark Prognosticus's prophecy played a part in things, but to what extent is unclear.)

Now, the other thing about the Chaos Heart is it's weirdly parasitic in behavior. We know from Count Bleck's tattle that it grants certain powers (presumably related to dark magic) to its bearer, as well as placing a protective barrier around them. But unlike the Purity Heart, it needs a host to continue existing, disappearing if they die and fleeing a mortally injured host. It makes sense that the Chaos Heart would get along with Count Bleck. He's a man haunted by overwhelming grief, swimming in the exact sort of chaotic love from which the Chaos Heart was made. Dimentio's ego could suggest a self-absorbed form of chaotic love is at play with him as well. But then where exactly does Luigi come into this?

Some theorize that he's a perfect host for the Chaos Heart because he wasn't actually Luigi at the time, he was Mr. L. This doesn't really work, as Dimentio only refers to him as "man in green" in the Japanese version of that scene, with Mr. L's name just being invoked in the English localization for some reason. There might be some merit to the idea that he wasn't truly Luigi at the time, but by that metric, he also wasn't... anyone. In Japanese, Dimentio specifically says the Dark Prognosticus predicted Luigi's *body* was the "perfect vessel" for the Chaos Heart. This, along with the fact that Luigi spends his entire time as part of Super Dimentio with his mind overwritten, weirdly kind of implies that his mind and so his personal connection to chaotic love might be irrelevant to what makes him a good host for the Chaos Heart.

However, since that matter is rather unclear, it's worth looking into another popular theory that does touch on the actual mind of Luigi and what chaotic love he may feel. Namely... the universe is not always kind to our plucky plumber in green. He's far less popular than his brother, often the butt of circumstance's jokes, and often disrespected by those around him. Some believe that this has created a repressed jealousy within Luigi for his brother, such that even though he loves his brother deeply, there is a wellspring of chaotic potential beneath it. And... this is a good idea to explore in fan works, there's a lot to dive into, fascinating interpretations you can make of Luigi's character through that lens, but from a canonical perspective, it's just not very supported.

For one thing, you never see it explored in the game. Super Paper Mario features one of the most confident showings of Luigi we've ever seen. Luigi never expresses dissatisfaction in his relationship with his brother, and he isn't even really mocked or negatively compared to Mario, at least not in any way that's given much thematic weight. Heck, even as Mr. L, who's lost all his memories and been hypnotized into a whole new purpose and identity, he still develops a brotherly connection through Brobot. And looking to other games, we continue to see their brotherly bond as not only positive, but aspirational.

Starlow comments on how much they trust each other. On Star Hill, wish is to be a great plumber like Mario. In Dream's Deep, we see his thoughts and feelings toward his brother laid bare, and they're all supportive and positive. Mario and Luigi's relationship may not be perfect, no relationship can be, but from all indication those two are about as close as you're gonna get. The closest we ever really get to a hint of a negative side to Luigi's perception of Mario is in Luigi's diary in PM64, where he says it's unfair that Mario went on an exciting journey alone. In other words... he's upset that he didn't get to go along and spent time adventuring with his bro. Hardly a statement of resentment. So the resentment theory analytically seems to fall flat as well.

This leaves only two real options of which I'm aware, and they're kind of the least narratively satisfying ones. One is that it's just a mystery and we don't know why, and the other is that it's true because it's what the Dark Prognosticus predicted. He's the perfect host because destiny says so. There is quite some evidence that the Dark Prognosticus itself is the reason many of its prophecies occur, and indeed that it may be what forces them to, but for a case such as how suited a person is to being the vessel of a very specific kind of dark power... well, like I said, it's not especially satisfying as a conclusion. So this is kind of a roundabout way of saying I'm not sure there is a definitive answer here.

[i-spilled-my-soup]

could you explain your asklepios au ? genuinely curious and invested in the solangelo -> asklepios pipeline

alright this will be long. tl;dr it's a greek mythology au about mortality and righteousness and hubris and has like. no romance at all. if this is written i plan for no making out; hugs and kisses probably but romance lies only in interpretation. tw/cw for death, corpses

will centered and will pov where he takes the place of asklepios/asclepius/ophiucus(constellation was asklepios to the romans) in a sort of greek myth universe, like a camp half blood in 300 bce ish? in the relative time of the popular tales like homer's iliad and odyssey, virgil's aeneid. setting where songs and hymns are well known (let me imagine a place where everyone gets the obscure balls jokes i so adore). and important detail about worldbuilding, there are no powers. only gods can control the elements, and its only in threats/blessings that in modern times could be written off as delusions but in characters' minds is concrete evidence. nico is just some guy.

will keeps his canon mom and siblings and medical prowess, his frustration with death is amplified to an unhealthy amount. nico is still just some guy at this point

assuming this is a finite to be written work, the story starts after will and nico have gotten acquainted. nico does his thing, begins as a weird unfriendly guy but after being acquainted becomes a good friend. they bond over losing their siblings and feeling responsible for their deaths, less of a "you did nothing wrong" and more of a "yeah that sucks balls" kind of empathy. then will learns that nico is a child of hades(the guy) and (after an orphic hymn infertility joke) has to fight the urge to use nico to bring people from hades(the place)/keep them from ever going there

in typical nico fashion he disappears like fully. will is reasonably concerned and tries to look for him whenever he isn't practicing and teaching medicine in case of impending war with a neighboring state? this part is funny and i want to say war is the conflict because battle is the usual conflict in the myth and history i've read and also in riordan's series itself. turns out the guy is dead. yippee! (probably some scene where will sees nico but its actually just the ghost or nico visits in a dream or will actually just finds the body preserved in snow. the last one's a little too intense)

so will takes it upon himself to help give nico proper burial rites as a last favor. he gives nico a drug/ritual to aid in the burial process and accidentally brings him back to life. they both recognize that they have, unintentionally or otherwise, defied the will of the gods reigning and primordial. will is reluctant to let nico just straight up die again (for selfish reasons) and argues that nico could regain the favor of the gods if he did good stuff in his new life (supposedly selfless reasons). nico is skeptical but dude's love language is acts of service at the cost of his own health and comfort so he agrees

no one else had known he was actually dead and they pretend that he was always alive. nico gets himself mentally ready to die at any moment (cause psychopomp hermes could pull up at any moment) but will can't let go of how he actually resurrected someone. and the power before him is tempting him to fall into hubris

augh something something something. probably a battle and will saves more people and he is slowly going mad with power against his own conscience, defying the gods for his own goals of helping people

uh. eventually nico dies again. the feds(god) got him. will goes out into a storm to look for him, and to forage more of the drug that brought him back to life, and gets killed in the storm, supposedly by zeus(asklepios moment)

since will succumbed to hubris and consciously defied the gods he gets a punishment, and that's immortality. with his mortal person taken away he can no longer practice medicine. he cannot save anyone anymore, he has become the lost sibling and friend he had sought to rescue. he loses the solace(haha) of joining his family and friends in the underworld, instead he is separated from them for eternity. he will outlive everyone he knows, and will not be able to see them after they die

so here i imagine a dual bad ending. nico gets a bad lot cause he will lose his life at the peak of potential, at the exact point where he could find peace and help so many more people than before. will gets the same, where he can no longer achieve his aspirations in life, discontent with a self-serving existence, but now separated from everyone he holds dear, trapped in the realm of those he defied

potential happy closure ending? will escapes to the underworld and works under hades and sees nico once and even though he's torn away from the shades as per his punishment he is happy that in the forever he exists there he could see his friends again, that they could both be assured of another's existence and history and regain the selves they became in each other's company

fear of death prevails. but they won over it because so long as they could know each others' names it proves they had once lived? mutual immortality sculpted in the eternity of death?

[lttllovely]

NEWSPAPER CRUSH | Zeke Thompson x Reader

Summary: You are the head writer and editor of Summerton High School’s newspaper. Bored with writing the same fluff stories about the school’s glorious football team, you find the sudden appearance of the Minutemen to be a welcome breath of fresh air, writing-wise and life-wise. You find yourself becoming more drawn into investigating just who the guys behind the snowsuits are. And maybe a little too invested in the life of one of your main suspects, Zeke Thompson.

Movie: Minutemen (2008)

Pairing: Zeke Thompson x Reader

Genre: Fluff/Romance

English class was one of your favorite classes, just behind journalism. Of course, this didn’t come as a shock to anyone since you were the head of Summerton High’s very own newspaper. Not like there was much competition for the position, but for what it was worth, you thought of yourself as a pretty damn good writer. Of course, you loved English class because of all the expected reasons. You loved expanding your knowledge of the literary greats, experimenting with your creative writing, and getting into discussions about whatever novel you were currently reading. But those weren’t the only reasons that you loved the class. 

As of recent, another reason you loved English was that you were seated next to Zeke Thompson himself. Or as you liked to call him, much to his chagrin, the tall snowsuit guy. Of course, this happened since Mrs. Zaninovich was one of the few teachers that enforced assigned seating. At the beginning of the year, neither you nor Zeke cared too much about the seating arrangement. Zeke mostly brooded about having to sit near the front and was pretty quiet. Meanwhile, you gladly volunteered to speak in class discussions about novels such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Homer’s The Odyssey.  

This dynamic changed once the infamous Snowsuit Guys had shown up. Now, you used your time in class to get any information that you could out of him about his being a part of the group. At some point during your investigation, Zeke became one of your main suspects. Despite him either not responding to your questions or outright rejecting your claims, you persisted. Yet, even with your original intentions, the two of you had strangely become friends. Well, in your own way.

You would question him about the snowsuit guys and chastise him over his responses, and if you were lucky, you’d get an actual smile out of him. And if you were being honest, his smile was pretty cute. Now, you were approaching him just after his welding class had finished. It was pretty convenient for you to stop by since lunch was about to start, and his class was right by the cafeteria. You waited expectantly by the door, watching as he packed up his equipment for the day.

Upon seeing you, he perked up, even straightening his back rather than staying in his regular slouch. You were touched by it, but only smiled in response. He joked, “Oh, so you’re waiting for me now?”

You snorted, rolling your eyes. “Oh my god, don’t say it like that,” You protested. This didn’t stop Zeke from forming a small smirk on his face. “Y’know, for such a quiet, mysterious loner-type, you sure are cocky,” You commented. At the comment, Zeke’s smirk disappeared. He replaced it with his usual blank, broody expression, but you could still see a hint of a smirk peeking through.

You laughed. “I saw that. God, you are not good at keeping up that act.” You pointed out.

Zeke tilted his head at you. “Who said it was an act?” He asked.

“Me, Zeke, Me,” You emphasized. “Look, you’re just as bad at keeping up that broody, loner persona as you are at pretending that you aren’t one of Summerton High’s proud knights in shining snowsuits.” You quipped.

He shook his head. “Once again, not one of them.” He declared.

Quirking an eyebrow at him, you continued. “Sure, sure.” You mumbled off-handedly. “By the way, I came by to see which of these photos you think is better for the newspaper. Y’know, to see which of these you think makes you more appealing to the ladies?” Shuffled through the papers in your satchel, you pulled out two versions of the newspaper, each having a different cover of the Minutemen on the front page. You handed both to Zeke.

He laughed, his gaze going between the two newspapers. “Wow, how will I ever choose? Now, should I go with the one with the guys in snowsuits or the one with the guys in snowsuits?” He asked, sarcasm oozing from him.

Your eyes narrowed at him. “Hey!” You shouted, grabbing a newspaper out of his hand and swatting at him with it. He let out a yelp and looked around to check that no one else had heard it. It took all the willpower in you to not burst out laughing, but you still let out a few chuckles. “Look, if you end up with a photo in the newspaper that makes you guys look even uglier than you already are, then that is your fault. Not mine.”

Zeke handed you back the newspaper, shaking his head. “Oh, I doubt that you think I’m ugly.” He remarked.

Your walking slowed to a crawl. You returned his comment with a pointed stare, clutching your newspapers a little tighter than necessary. “What does that mean?” You questioned.

The two of you had polar opposite attitudes. While you were rigid and stuck in place, he carried a casual, almost arrogant swagger with him as he entered the cafeteria. “I don’t know. I’m just saying that maybe you made up thinking that I’m one of the snowsuit guys so you could have an excuse to talk to me.” He said, shrugging as he ventured further and further from you.

You gaped. “Oh, you know that’s not what this is about!” You shouted, but you could practically feel the smirk on his face as he headed toward his usual seat with Charlie and Virgil. It almost made you feel sick with embarrassment, especially since there was a hint of truth in it. Your cheeks were flushed red as you headed toward your own table with Jeanette.

Of course, nothing got past Jeanette. You could already tell that you couldn’t escape talking about the ungodly exchange with her when you saw her looking back and forth between you and Zeke. And to add insult to injury, she had definitely caught Zeke’s attention thanks to how unsubtle she was. Great. “Am I going crazy or was Zeke Thompson just flirting with you?” She asked, practically already jumping out of her seat at the exchange.

“What? He wasn’t. We were just talking about the newspaper.” You explained, but Jeanette knew better. Her keen eye for detecting lies and her love for romance couldn’t be deterred by the most effective of liars and aromantics, and you were a terrible liar.

“Oh, come on! You’re blushing hard! You’re totally into him!” She squeaked, squealing from excitement. While you loved Jeanette and her bright, bubbly personality, she made it very, very easy for anyone and everyone to hear what she was saying.

You quickly covered her mouth, gritting out a bitter “Shut up!” as you surveyed the room to check that no one had heard her. Jeanette quickly stopped, but you could tell that her brain was still whirring with ideas about how to set you two up.

Thankfully for you, almost no one had paid attention to Jeanette’s little outburst. Well, except for the one person that mattered the most. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Zeke staring at you two. You immediately hid behind your hand. But it didn’t exactly help. Zeke chuckled, then began laughing when you decided to flip him off instead. 

God, you were not going to survive this year. You could only hope that by the end of it, you didn’t feel as embarrassed as you did now. And that Zeke would stop messing with you. But you knew that neither would probably come true.

[wordsmithic]

What would you say is the worst retelling of Greek myths,

At this point there are THOUSANDS, so you can understand why I cannot answer this by taking every book into account. I can tell you about some retellings I saw that will stick with me forever - and not for good reasons. Let's begin...

The winner of this shitshow: "The good side of wrong" by Jenika Snow.

A ddlg erotica posing as a HxP retelling. And before you say anything, it's not about the kink, okay? It's about many things, including Persephone being barely legal and Hades being predatory and abusive, and her actual blood-related uncle in a modern setting. I only stomach some pages desperate friends sent me because of the violence and even blood related to sexual acts. Out of many nsfw and violent excerpts, let's go with the "mild" one. (Uncle Hades harasses his niece Persephone at school)

Daddy: Bunny, when I call you, answer. I went into the contacts, clicked his name, and promptly changed it. I’m at school. Leave me alone. I was just about to toss the phone aside when it chimed with another incoming text. Asshole: Did I ever tell you how pretty you are when you sass back? I shouldn’t have liked that praise. Asshole: Are those little fuckers at your school leaving you alone, or do you need Daddy to come and break their kneecaps for looking at you? DO I NEED TO GO ON? I don't think so

Wanna write erotica? Fine! Do you absolutely HAVE TO have the supposed "Greek gods" as the characters who spank each other and tie each other from walls? If that writer was me I would never look even an ancient statue of Persephone or Demeter in the eyes EVER AGAIN!

I want you to look AN ACTUAL ANCIENT VENERATED STATUE OF PERSEPHONE (this one was to be placed near a grave I believe), I WANT YOU TO LOOK AT GODDESS PERSEPHONE, AND TELL HER "I am writing ddlg about you hehee". You are sooo out of touch, people! No, look at her! Look at her and think of ddlg, I fucking dare you

I've also seen some Anglo USian authors on Twitter crying about "people not respecting the greek gods" and when you go on their profile they write this type of erotica with the Greek gods....

Second "honorable" mention: Lies We Sing to the Sea, by Sarah Underwood

As the author hasn't read the Odyssey and yet her book is a published for profit retelling based on the Epic, I am not going to read her book but still provide my opinion on it. Magical how that works, eh?

Let me start by saying I despise the author for saying that the most important Epic of my culture is "but it's so long, and written in a 'prose-y' way that's kind of impenetrable." Oh, but also she did us the favor to mention that "parts of it are very beautiful". Oh thank you dear, white anglo author, for recognizing some value in that overcomplicated primitive culture of ours!

In Greek school we studied whole poetically translated rhapsodies of the Odyssey in GYMNASIUM, what the hell… And she said she owns "various translations" but I think that's an outright lie because, ma'am, how haven't you read the Odyssey but you own it multiple times??

The writing may be okay-ish, from what I've heard. I put it in the "worst" category because if you like Greek myths in your books, this won't have any Greek myth in it. The author herself ignores the nature of Greek myth, how the themes are woven there, why the characters do what they do, how the gods and humans behave there, and so many other cultural conventions.

If your joy is reading books that fool everyone with how they market themselves as "Greek mythology retellings" just because they have characters with Greek names (and a Hebrew name for a Greek character who isn't Hebrew, because what is basic research? 😂) then, fine, maybe this book is for you. Go, live your girlbossing life, babygirl.

And last (nightmare) but not least: Circe by Madeline Miller

Because you can still fuck up Greek myth despite managing to avoid it the first time. Maybe this case is worse than Lies we sing to the Sea because this author has degrees (not too relevant to Greek antiquity) and can hide behind them when people call her out. And more people are going to believe she knows what she is doing.

I have a #Circe tag for this horrible retelling, about the girlbossification of Circe which ended up disrespecting the myth, the characters - especially Circe - and making a distorted version of how the author thought justice looks like in the context of that myth. Seriously, did Circe HAD to be raped and abused all her life?? She was pretty badass in her own right on the myth. (Westerners don't idolize every evil and violent woman / female creature from the Greek myths challenge).

As I've said before, writers like Miller love forcing violence on foreign eastern women as an escapist fantasy of righteousness.

The book can bore you to death or offer you ample cringe with pieces of dialogue and character behavior that reminded me so much of USian teenagers I wanted to claw my eyes out.

“And how were our father’s (edit: Helios) golden heifers?” “Beautiful.” Perses laughed. “She doesn’t know! Have you ever heard of anyone so stupid?” “Never,” my sister said. I shouldn’t have asked, but I was still drifting in my thoughts, seeing those severed bodies sprawled on marble floors. “What don’t I know?” My sister’s perfect mink face. “That he fucks them, of course. That’s how he makes new ones. He turns into a bull and sires their calves, then cooks the ones that get old. That’s why everyone thinks they are immortal.” “He does not.” They howled, pointing at my reddened cheeks. The sound drew my mother. She loved my siblings’ japes. “We’re telling Circe about the cows,” my brother told her. “She didn’t know.” My mother’s laughter, silver as a fountain down its rocks. “Stupid Circe.”

Ours is the Land of Comedy (derogatory) so we Greeks know one thing or two about embarrassing stuff.

Also Helios didn't fuck his cows. His cattle just didn't die because it was blessed. Correct me if I missed something here but it seems that Circe took a SACRED cattle and shoved zoophilia into the whole situation because "I must show ancient Greek males bad".

Speaking of Greek men... she describes Prometheus like this:

His skin was beautiful, the color of polished walnut. It smelled of green moss drenched with rain.

Yeaaah No... It goes without saying that no Greek, today or in antiquity, describe other Greeks in their circle (or outside, as far as I know) like this. The world you are looking for is μελαχρινός, Miller. You want to write realism, I am giving it to you.

This description is not exactly neither natural or realistic. It looks like exoticization. Tree/dirt/crop colors are not in our language to describe colors in humans unless it's for "ebony" hair, so this description along with the "pressed olives" skin color from TSOA makes me think Miller sees skin tones not pale as hers as something "other". I might be wrong here but it feels... icky. It's like she thought, "let me describe these marvelous otherwordly skin tones of these exotic people in breathtaking prose!" Meanwhile the dude is just a bit tanned, and two tones darker than Miller herself.

Ok, that's it, I can't do this anymore.

[the---hermit]

end of the year book tag 2023

I did this tag last year more or less at this time. This book tag was created by Ariel Bissett over on youtube, and I recently heard her talking about it again in her podcast, which is how I got the inspiration of doing it again this year. As I think I have also mentioned last year when doing this, I tend to be a mood reader so planning my next reads never really works, but it's fun to sit down and reflect a bit on what is coming next into my reading life before the year is over.

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

As I am writing this I have three main books I am in the middle of: Hell Followed With us by Andrew Joseph White, Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson and Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker. I have technically also started reading Walden by Thoreau a while back, but I don't have a plan to finish it quickly, it's more one of those books I read a little bit every once in a while when I feel like it, because I want to grasp as much as I can and while I am also taking classes and studying for exams I always struggle a bit with enjoying non-fic on my own.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

I am once again doing this tag in the middle of autumn, so idk how much it counts, but I don't think I have a proper autumnal book on my tbr/wishlist. I am still waiting to get the sixth volume of Something Is Killing The Children, which is an horror graphic novel so that might count as a spooky season book. But I don't really wait spooky season to read horror books.

Is there a new release you're still waiting for?

As I mentioned the sixth volume of Something Is Killing The Children has very recently came out here in Italy and I am desperately waiting to find a copy of it. I am also waiting to get Bookstores And Bonedust by Travis Baldree which is coming out at the beginning of November. There are a couple of other 2023 releases I still haven't got my hands on but I don't know yet if I'll get them before the year ends (mainly He Who Drowned The World by Shelly Parker Chan, and The Land Of Lost Things by John Connolly). I am also waiting for the release of the final book in the locked tomb series but I don't think a release date has been set yet? (and regarding that I have yet to decide what I want to do because I would like to get physical copies of the English editions, but it will be a future me problem to solve).

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

One of my goals for 2023 is the read all the books I have bought this year, or at least as many as I can. I must say I have been very good with this goal, but I do have a couple of books that have been sitting on my shelf for a while. I don't know if I'll get into the right mood to read them before the year ends but I will add a couple of those to this list. The first one is Nel Buio Della Casa by Fiore Manni and Michele Monteleone. It's an horror novel of the hauted house genre which is one of my favourites but for some reason I haven't picked it up yet. Next is a book I cannot wait to pick up The Ballad Of The Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde, I love this author and after reading De Profundis earlier this year I have been really intrigued by this poem. Finally I bought a prose edition of The Odyssey and I might end up picking it up before the year ends.

Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year?

Not really? I expect to love a lot of the books I'd like to read before the end of the year but there's a couple of books I read this year that I doubt can be topped (Gideon The Ninth being at the top of that list alongside The Priory Of The Orange Tree).

Have you already started making reading plans for next year?

I actually have, weirdly enough. I was thinking about goals for next year and I think I will definitely keep the goal of trying to read all/ most of the books I buy during the year. I certainly need to find a way to read more of the books that have been on my shelves for years, so I will have to think of a more structured plan to reach that goal. I am also considering to create a goal to finally complete my Neil Gaiman collection since this year I have read all of the books by him I own. That could be a fun goal I think. Lastly I'd like to try and get as many books as I can second hand. It's not really super easy for me to do, because where I live there are no second hand book stores, and generally what I look for is quite difficult to find in regular shops, but there's a few exceptions, like classics for example are easier to thrift. Again these are more brain dump thoughts than an actual plan, but it's more than what I had last year at this time.

(no pressure) tags: @just-a-cup-of-anxietea, @fluencylevelfrench, @dreamofghosts, @upside-down-uni, @la-galaxie-langblr

[sweepseven]

Cirque du Soleil: Echo review

Another glorious visit to Montreal, this time marked by my ideal lineup of events: Odesza one night and Cirque the next. This was also my first time seeing a Cirque show in its infancy, and though the act quality was incredible and the show was packed with rare acts any GC audience is lucky to see, I regret to report that Echo has a very long way to go before it can be considered anything close to an effective show.

Evidence of its troubled development abounds. There is no unifying theme - despite what marketing materials would have you believe - and the show's utter lack of direction is made worse by deliberately muted costuming. Recognizing any but the main characters is not just impossible but an actively, maybe even deliberately pointless effort. The three main characters (though only two of them could really be called "main") are given so little room to grow and breathe that they could be eliminated altogether with no impact on the show whatsoever.

In its current state, Echo bears the combined flaws of Kurios and Volta. Like Kurios, it is a collection of unrelated acts taking place simply because they look cool. But Kurios' greatest strength is the clarity of its setting and aesthetic: it makes sense that there is no larger story there because it exists purely to have fun in a fun world, and it succeeds wildly in its effort. Kurios knows exactly what it is. Echo does not. And like Volta, it is trying and failing to tell a human story. But where Volta was strengthened by exceptionally emotional acts and memorable characters, Echo chooses to obscure emotion at every turn by dressing dozens of artists identically and covering their faces for the majority of the show.

So not only does Echo lack identity, it lacks any emotional depth. Fatal combo. BUT there are still plenty of interesting details to share, such as how this is the most racially diverse Cirque show I've ever seen (possibly to an uncomfortable degree...read on), the remarkable quality of the acts, clowns brought to you by Jeff Bezos, and a few ideas for what this show might become if it develops the way I hope it can. I want a Kooza glow up for it, not an Amaluna tornado of confusion. I fear we'll get the latter, but again, it's only two months old.

Act by act beneath the cut, juxtaposed with the official descriptions of each because the reality is so detached from the stated vision of the show.

Animation: Two identically dressed clowns get the crowd clapping. That's it, that's what ya get. Closer to the start of the show, the Cartographer walks onto the stage and looks around as though taking stock of his surroundings. At this early point I'm thinking he might be some sort of architect or guide-like character - his costume suggests something like schematics, and he moves like a very thoughtful, mature, deliberate character. I would soon be proven very wrong. Apart from this - clapping clowns and a wandering Cartographer - there is no other lead-up to the show.

Opening: Future plays fetch with her dog, Ewai, with what appears to be a doll version of the Cartographer (??? zero reason given for this). While playing they stumble upon the cube à la 2001: A Space Odyssey and it comes to life at Future's touch, rippling and reverberating thanks to some frankly stunning projections. Throughout the show the projections would prove themselves to be remarkable, however somewhat hampered by the uneven surface of the cube itself. Overall the opening is reminiscent of Kooza's, though abbreviated and utterly lacking in characterization apart from "this girl is friends with her man-dog."

Cube suspension: Official description: Animals hang in a vertical position on the CUBE, performing an acro-dance routine where we see them meeting each other as animals who share this world, discovering life, and living in harmony.

Actual experience: projections take the lead while animal-masked artists swing on cables in a performance anyone in the audience could achieve themselves given the right tools. Think Ka's Battle scene, but slower and with way worse choreography. The projections and music make it feel pretty epic and cool, but linger too long on what's actually happening and this act reveals itself to be a rather weak opening, and probably the weakest act in the whole show.

Bungee aerial straps: Official description: As the CARTOGRAPHER flies into the story, light projections track his every movement, leaving behind marks that influence the world. The animals move away from him, not knowing his intentions, but his energy and presence demand the respect of the stage.

Actual experience: a pretty standard aerial straps act until the end, when they lean more into the bungee element and it becomes cooler. It made me miss Alegria's flying man, and then Luzia's straps. It was just blank in terms of setting or emotion. The Cartographer himself carries what looks like a giant protractor or some other tool with him, so as soon as he arrives you're like wow, he's probably going to map out Future's journey to come or something! No. He leaves after this act and does not come back until the finale. He has ALL the markers of a strong guide character, and if not that, at least a recurring theme or motif. Despite having one of three unique character designs in the entire show, Echo does nothing with him. Utter waste of what could have been a cool character bearing important narrative weight.

Icarian games: Official description: Two dizzying performers come to the stage in an act of flipping and rotation that spins the story forward. Their motion acts as a machine to help DOUBLE TROUBLE extract boxes from The CUBE, moving faster and faster to speed up the process of extraction.

Actual experience: who knows or cares what the clowns are up to because these two are on absolute fire. This act blows Varekai and certainly Ka straight out of the water. The crowd was wild for it and the artists' enthusiasm and fun was infectious. ZERO notes on their performance - it was vibrant, electric perfection. I would have put this act second to amp up the energy before proceeding with the rest of the first half. The official description betrays a classic failure of this show: why is the cube a machine now? Ten seconds ago it was a geometric map, and before that it was Animal Planet. What are we "extracting"? Are we commenting on industrialization now? There are two little set pieces that lend themselves to some sort of reference to an assembly line, but they're out of place and ultimately pointless.

Double hair suspension: Official description: When some troubling questions arise, the lights reveal two FIREFLIES, beautiful artists who soar through the air suspended by their hair. Their grace and power inspire FUTURE and the DOG, giving them hope that the world can be rebuilt.

Actual experience: Wait, is the world in trouble?? Suddenly it needs to be rebuilt?? Future and Ewai seemed to be doing a-okay this entire time, and at no point was any degree of peril implied. Whatever, this act is heavenly. And I mean that literally because these artists invoked galaxies more than fireflies, in my opinion. I'd never seen a duo like this before and the audience was floored. Really really incredible. My favorite part - and the most magical part of the entire show imo - was that drone fireflies flutter out over the crowd before this act begins! It was SO enchanting!! It was a touch of the innovation and modernity I expected of Echo, and utilized to exactly the right extent. Also one conked out and fell into the audience lol.

Banquine/Korean cradle: Official description: The COLOR PAPER PEOPLE come together in a thrilling mix of banquine and human cradle acts. With the help of the CUBE and the encouragement of FUTURE, they learn to collaborate and realize the importance of having fun in a dizzying array of stunts.

Actual experience: I don't think these people needed any help or encouragement having fun, because they were up there with Icarian games for most incandescently happy artists onstage. Energy: infectious. Skill level: pinnacle. Crowd: losing it.

However. And this is weird. But I felt some kind of way about the particular brand of smiling in this act. I mentioned before that this was the most racially diverse show I've ever seen from Cirque, which I love. This was an all-Black banquine team, which I also love. But thus far the show had been very emotionally hollow, and though this was a fun, high energy act, something about the utter lack of emotional depth made their smiles look exceptionally fake, sometimes to the point of desperate. And every artist wasn't smiling: most of them were, but then you'd catch one or two that were utterly stony-faced. It makes the audience too aware of what has to be a directorial choice, one that some artists deliberately chose to ignore. The music for this act is kind of early to mid 20th century-ish, as is the choreography for the dance breaks, so in a very strange and particular way I could not get the idea of minstrelsy out of my head. I don't know. It's very very difficult to explain without seeing it in person, but my friend and I both felt an instinctual little prickle of "uhh" at some of this act's choices. I wondered how many of those choices actually belonged to the performers themselves. I would love to hear other people's opinions on this, because I know describing it here feels like a stretch.

Transition to intermission: CUE MEAT MAN. That massive ugly red puppet bursts from the cube and towers over the stage in a display that seems like it wants to be inspiring, and failing that, maybe even frightening. Instead it is neither, because the only reaction one can possibly have to seeing this is "what the fuck." The puppet itself is stunningly operated, though he is weirdly disproportionate. Why is he here? Why was he in the cube? Is it bad that he was in the cube? Has he destroyed the cube to get out? What are his intentions? Why is he business formal? These are questions whose answers will forever be unknowable to mankind. Future (remember her? she's in this show! ha!!) seems okay with him though, and hops onto his hand and up to his shoulder. And it's pretty! She does it delicately! Are we about to say something?? But by this point any attempt at theme is lonnng gone, and I became resigned to a fully meaningless show. If we knew even one single, solitary thing about Future as a character we might have an idea why any of this is happening or matters. But we don't. We had a whole 45 minutes and we didn't get there. Boom, end of first half.

Transition from intermission: Really really cool cello solo. More on the band later. I just want to remember that this part existed because it was fucking great.

Slackwire: Official description: Smoke billows from the floor, flames break out within the CUBE, and a tense double slackline act ensues, as two animals stand on a line between life and death. They will give everything they can to survive as long as they both have each other.

Actual experience: are we in survival mode? Is it Meat Man's fault???? I don't know and I don't care to find out because this was my favorite act of the night. Finally we are using the cube as something other than a projection screen, finally we have an act with any sense of gravity or depth. Animals parade behind the cube as it takes center stage, some of them carrying other seemingly dead animals on their shoulders. The artists' masks look like skulls as they slowly discard them. They walk in constant balance with one another, almost intersection, almost disrupting one another, but they never do. There's tension and stakes and, had Echo accomplished anything in its first half, potentially some meaning. This act should be the framework for rebuilding this show from the ground up. I was so impressed. No flames tonight - not sure if they were just out or if they've been cut, but I didn't feel like the act was missing anything in their absence.

Flying poles: Official description: This flying poles act features a first-of-its-kind pole apparatus named Chrysalid that is semi-attached to the stage floor. This groundbreaking performance requires exceptional strength, and signals the rebuilding of The CUBE.

Actual experience: first of its kind? Groundbreaking? Bitch this was in Volta, it was just shaped a little different. And it accomplished the same task too: showing unity between apparently disparate groups. Insects fly at the top while propelled by animals and business people in red Meat Man bowler hats. Evolution, supporting one another, coming together for a common goal, okay, we get it. I still don't know why this matters because we are an hour in and no meaning has been conveyed. More weird forced smiling that at this point I cannot keep from distracting me.

Diabolo (in for juggling): Official description: In an act of love and gratitude, the DOG breaks into a fascinating diabolo manipulation act that catches the eye of an unseen character. The FOSSORIAL appears above ground, approaching the DOG with caution and curiosity, and pushing him to be more and more creative with his flicks and tricks.

Actual experience: is juggling actually in this show? I feel like I only ever see diabolo. Either way this was pretty true to its description and it's a fun act with an incredible showcase of skill. The diabolos light up! And we get to see Ewai's face!! For a whole five minutes! And then the mask comes down again and he's gone. Whoops, close call, we almost connected with him for a second there. Wouldn't want that to happen.

Contortion/dislocation: Official description: The FOSSORIAL puts his flexibility and adaptability on full display in a contortionist act that will leave audiences stunned when the artist dislocates his limbs to maintain his loving embrace with FUTURE and Ewai The Dog.

Actual experience: apparently the Fossorial is supposed to live under the stage and always be reacting to the actions above it because "what happens on earth impacts his home below." Like, okay, fine, he does poke his head out a couple of times throughout to mess with Ewai, but much like every other character in the entire show he never seems impacted by that or anything else. I didn't spot much loving embrace either. What I DID see was a really cool act that should have made the audience deeply uncomfortable and instead takes you on such a whiplash journey you don't have much time to feel anything but amazed. This artist is remarkable in every way. Right up to the line without crossing into body horror territory. Very very cool and unique - a real standout.

Washington trapeze: Official description: When FUTURE looks up to see the final missing box flying in the air, she realizes it’s up to her to place the missing piece back into the CUBE. The Washington trapeze descends towards her in a poetic moment, as the animals return to stage to orchestrate her flight.

Actual experience: literally did not know we were rebuilding the cube until she put the final piece back in. Didn't even know it needed rebuilding. Kinda thought it just changed and adapted to fit whatever needed to happen onstage. Also very unclear on why the animals are at all invested in Future's flight, but regardless the choreography is very beautiful and it's just a treat to see this act at all. Future's artist is a fantastic aerialist and though there wasn't much swinging back and forth like we see in O, the diversity of the tricks is much wider and she uses the apparatus in ways I'd never seen before. Very strong act.

Teeterboards: Official description: In a high-flying performance, the paper animals celebrate connection and coexistence through an exhilarating triple teeterboard act. As the playful birds take flight from their teeterboards, they inject a palpable energy into the air, overjoyed by the feeling of togetherness.

Actual experience: cool that there's three, but otherwise there isn't really anything unique about this teeterboard act. A pretty bland finale act. I think the artists were having a bit of a rough night - there were some timing issues and redos, but that's circus baby, that never bothers me.

Finale: The cube takes center stage again and the animals parade around it, and slowly it revolves to reveal a kind of tableau of all the artists and animals together inside of it like a frame, which is a very cool visual. Music swells, we're all happy, and then it's over. Unfortunately this is the only Montreal Cirque performance I've seen where the cast didn't get a standing ovation from the entire audience.

Clowns: weird. Like they were fine, they got some laughs, but they neither reflected on the show nor seemed to meaningfully exist inside or outside of it. Like everyone else in the show, they were identical to one another. Both of their acts had to do with stacking boxes - which like, we get it, cube, boxes, okay, fine - but what got me was the very deliberate line of white packing tape across every box they used. In a show ostensibly about humanity's future, all I could think was Amazon Amazon Amazon. Had the show conveyed any sort of meaning, this might have been an interesting contrast to an environmentalist message. Maybe an actual commentary! Instead it just felt tacky and wasteful. Like we just watched all these animals we're supposed to care about, and now we're hefting around a dozen delivery boxes filled with nothing. I don't think this is wholly the artists' fault. Had they been given more substance to work with, they might have had a really interesting impact on the show.

Band: Beautifully featured! Gorgeously, androgynously costumed! Four vocalists! Four!! And some of the least memorable music I have ever heard from Cirque ever. Not a single song stood out, not a single one lingered in my head after it ended. They were so ancillary to the story, which might have been fine but they kept coming out onstage as though strictly to remind us that they existed in the first place. A shameful waste of immense talent.

Odds, ends, and final thoughts:

It may seem unfair to hold every act against its official description since so many successful Cirque shows and acts differ hugely from their marketing materials. But I do so here to highlight how Echo tries desperately cling to a message and theme, then abandons it at every turn. I don't even know if I would say the bones of a good show are there because I'm not convinced they are. Every element feels like it was salvaged from Under the Same Sky's scrap heap and retrofitted with just enough time to make Echo's premiere date. You couldn't make a show this disjointed. It's actually impossible. You would have to ignore every reasonable edit. But that's exactly what happened: they didn't make a new show. They just recycled an old one.

Great example: Ewai's name. "Ewai" is the first word in the only song we ever heard from UTSS, interestingly titled "Future." It's also the apparent first word of Echo's opening song, which has the same general melody as "Future" and is now called "Echo." So what, they just took a word from an existing and decided to name the dog after it? The alternative - that Ewai's name is the actual first sung word in the entire show - doesn't make sense, because Ewai has no connection to any sort of theme or journey. The only conclusion that makes sense is that he's just there, like every other detail, cherrypicked.

For real, what is the cube. It is utterly baffling to me. Is it good? Is it bad? Neutral? Did it break? Does it just transform? If it did break, are we meant to conclude that Meat Man is responsible and is a bad actor intent on destroying nature with his overtly capitalistic ways? If yes, why does Future seem to like him? If we see Future slide in the last piece, when did the cube's rebuild begin? Why have we centered a show apparently about unity and growth around such a static, angular structure? We should call the cube what it is: an UTSS holdover cum excuse not to build an actual set.

The costumes fail in exactly the way I feared during the show's development. There is no connecting with the artists because we almost never see them. Those that we see are dressed identically. Those that stand out are not given personalities or impact on the story.

Recommendations for fixes: redefine the Cartographer as a guide or architect. Position Future as a more powerful character, an instrument or inspiration for change rather than yet another stranger in a strange land. Ditch the fucking meat man, my god. Give artists unique costumes. Show artists' faces. Give us a moment to breathe and understand and enjoy.

I'm sorry for the negative review. Despite my tone it really doesn't give me much pleasure. I love Cirque and want their shows to succeed, but Echo is the kind of perfect storm I go nuts on: a wellspring of missed opportunity and untapped potential. I want to take the creation team by the shoulders and shake them until I understand how they thought this was a finished show, how they could claim to be proud of it. I'm honestly not convinced they are.

I was considering going down to DC to catch this again if I liked it, but I think I'm gonna hold off until it turns a year old or so. We saw radical transformations for Kooza, Volta, and Amaluna, all to varying degrees of success. I'd like to see elements of all those shows' developmental journeys in Echo one day, and I hope the artistic team takes the time to make the investment.

[ragnar0c]

Just Cleared EO3 :"]

Here's my guild card!

(Below is just me reflecting about my experiences with the game. It's going to be long. I AM GOING TO BE SO LOUD ABOUT IT!!)

EO4 was the first game I 100%ed well sort of. I still haven't found all the treasure. So this is technically my first, and it took a really long time!

I got the game when I was a kid in 2014. Took me till I was an adult to actually grow a brain.

I remember my first play thru, I was 11. I actually didn't read a whole lot of the story stuff... and had a bunch of trouble. But I had gotten into the series and thought 3 had the best portraits and labyrinth designs so I pulled through.

I remember sneaking to play this whenever I could, replaying it to get all the endings and redo certain fights.

I started drawing the year before I got the game, and started drawing the characters as well.... I had a chokehold on me for... a while. (Still) here's some old art circa ~2014

It was always nice to come back to the game thru the years and get each of the endings again bc each play thru I noticed something new in the story or found an easier way to kill a boss. Or a new gameplay style.

I still get my ass beat on the daily, but it reminds me to get up and change what I am doing to get results...

The story isn't a magnum opus, I legitimately want to destroy both sides for my own reasons. (They are so dumb!!) I guess... it's my favorite just bc they lay down so many concepts for you to play with?

Depending on how old I was, I would have different members in my guild. But it was always named Ragnarok. I actually revamped Ragnarok entirely about twice. The only constants being the name, Hana, and Alope (kinda I never used her in the first version.)

(Now that I think about it, my farmer party has a few keepers too.)

Since Hana was such a trooper and in every single party I had over the last 9 years, I found it natural to give her the Armoroad shield.

AND the npcs, even the faceless ones were so fun to see.

My favorites tho, the ones who arguably ruined my chances of being normal were definitely Kujura (main culprit), Edie, the Guildmaster... and maybe the Harbormaster. (He's recent tho.) The faceless ones... I wont list them here.

I didn't know the Harbormaster started the end credits, I kinda instinctively go there to save bc I like Inver and he gave me a whole speech...

I used to hate him, but eh, he's grown onto me.

This game means so much to me, and I'm so glad I finally cleared it :]]]

if not playing it would have made me more normal I do NOT CARE!! Thank you Etrian odyssey 3 for ruining my life, it was the best possible way for that to happen.

[scruffyplayssonic]

Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 64-65: TwoMulti-part finale (part 4: Knuckles in King of the Hill)

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon! So after all that ranting about Endgame I needed to take a little break, even though I’m very close to the end of this series. But I wanted to come back fresh before I started ranting some more about Ken Penders’ writing. 😛 So let’s take a look at the first of the two stories that ran across the final three issues of Knuckles the Echidna, issues #30 - 32.

King of the Hill features Kraven Hunter the Hunter and Monk the Monkey Gorilla. …okay, I know that Sonic character names are typically very self-descriptive, but for some reason these two feel more on the nose than usual. This story is one that I’ve covered before, but it’s been awhile so let’s give this a full look rather than just skimming through it.

The story opened with Hunter the Hunter assembling a rifle and shooting down a bird, and Monkey the Monk lassoing the Floating Island from the surface of Mobius as it flew overhead, so that he could climb up it.

Damn, that’s actually a pretty impressive feat. I don’t know that even Link in Breath of the Wild could have pulled that climb off. Meanwhile Knuckles had no idea that these two troublemakers had shown up on his turf, because he was too busy reading 2001: A Space Odyssey.

But his quiet reading time was interrupted by his best friend in the whole wide world, Catweazle the Cockatoo, a bird whose very existence usually seemed to annoy Knuckles and who also famously pooped on Vector the Crocodile that one time. Catwheazle was upset because his… friend? Girlfriend? Roommate? Work colleague? Drinking buddy? I dunno, Catweazle never bothered to say who Snowpidgeon was, so let’s go with drinking buddy. Catwheazle’s drinking buddy Snowpidgeon had been murdered by some psychopath with a weapon, and quite reasonably, he was hoping that the island’s guardian would step in and do something about it. Knuckles went to investigate but was knocked out of the air when Monkey the Monk threw a rock at him, and he found himself lying at the feet of none other than his childhood bully.

Knuckles at this point had a flashback to Monk beating him up and stealing his yo-yo, whereas Monk’s flashback involved something much more traumatic.

Jesus Christ! Again, this is something I’ve ranted about before, but I still think it’s pretty appalling. Look, you will never ever hear me defend bullying - people who do it are horrible and usually don’t have any regard for how they could be ruining their victims’ lives. But this seems like an EXTREME overreaction on the Brotherhood’s part. “What’s that? Our chosen one has a bully? Well then:”

So for the crime of stealing a yo-yo, the Brotherhood decided that Monk must be executed. They could have taken him somewhere else on the planet, given him a stern warning and told him to never return to the Floating Island, and honestly, even that would have been a harsher punishment than what is really warranted for Monk’s crimes. But no, these supposed good guys abducted a teenage (possibly preteen?) boy during the dead of night, tied his arms, and tossed him over the edge of the island into the ocean below. Make no mistake, the League of Extraordinarily Racist Grandpas wanted this child to die.

So naturally, Monkey the Monk was now just a liiiiiittle bit upset with Knuckles, not knowing that Knuckles had not been in any way involved with the attempt on his life and in fact didn’t even know why Monk had one day just disappeared from the island without a trace. They got into a fight but were soon interrupted by Hunter the Hunter, who knocked Monk out by… pointing a tv remote at him? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

At this point you may be wondering why Knuckles’ dodgy ancestors hadn’t shown up and tried to execute Grape Ape all over again. And by now perhaps they would have, but somehow Hunter knew all about this secret society and had managed to disable all of their cutting edge surveillance equipment.

This suggests that either Hunter was incredibly aware and clever, or the Brotherhood was incredibly incompetent. Or I don’t know, maybe Moritori Rex, the Dark Legionnaire who infiltrated the Brotherhood, published all the Brotherhood’s security protocols on the Mobius equivalent of Wikileaks or something. Anyway, after the Grandpas couldn’t find the source of the problem within Haven itself, Archimedes showed up and he and Locke decided to go try and find out what was interfering with their systems.

Meanwhile Hunter the Hunter had had his robotic drone Aryu One-Two (...why?!) carry Monkey the Monk to his ship, and Knuckles went along with them because… Hunter asked politely, I guess? Knuckles wasn’t exactly being held at gunpoint or anything at this point, so I don’t know why he was bothering to cooperate. Maybe he was hoping to find a chance to escape with Monk, although he would later claim that he didn’t care what happened to him. 

Hunter proudly showed off his ship to Knuckles, and… well…

I’m with Knuckles on this one. For God’s sakes, Mobians are people in this universe. Having Sonic the Hedgehog’s decapitated head staring blankly at us from the page is a bit disturbing. So this is the point where the threatening actually came, with Hunter the Hunter wanting to Hunt Knuckles for sport, and threatening to shoot a photo of Julie-Su should Knuckles not cooperate. And Knuckles must have really liked that photo, because he agreed.

I would like to once again point out that Ken Penders, who both wrote and pencilled this story, copied this pose of Hunter from Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond movie, The Man with The Golden Gun. In fact, if you google Scaramanga, that’s the first image that will come up in the search.

Man, Penders was just trying to get all the old sci-fi and action movie references into this story, wasn’t he? I’m surprised he didn’t have Hunter say, “A duel between titans! My golden gun against your… knuckles.”

Locke and Archimedes eventually found the source of their sabotaged surveillance systems and started to track the one who was responsible. But while they were fumbling around outside, Monk the Monkey had regained consciousness.

Hunter forced him and Knuckles to put on electric collars and gave them orders to run for their lives. Monk tried to head off on his own, but found out the hard way what would happen if they got too far apart from each other.

Knuckles led Monk down into Hydro City (definitely not Hydossity), where he hoped that they’d be able to escape, or at least use the unfamiliar terrain against Hunter.

And it did initially look like they’d been able to give him the slip, but when their footsteps seemed to disappear for no reason, Hunter was able to figure out there was a hidden trapdoor they’d used.

Meanwhile Locke and Archimedes had found Hunter the Hunter’s ship and invited themselves aboard, accidentally activating a self-destruct failsafe. Locke wanted to try and deactivate it so that they could investigate further, but Archimedes convinced him that they were better off retreating before the entire ship exploded.

Again with the overkill in this story. Hunter had said previously that this ship was his home, and he’d just casually blown it all up. His trophies, his mandroid, his means of transportation, all of it. I’m no home security expert, but I’d think the point of having a home security system would be to protect the home from intruders, not to blow it up should they come a-knocking. Earlier in the story Hunter had threatened Monk and Knuckles with a series of laser guns in his ceiling - why not have them programmed to pop out and shoot intruders? Messy maybe, but it’s better than coming back to a smoking crater where your flying house used to be. Also, don’t give your enemies time to escape. If you’re determined to blow up your house anyway, then you might as well do it straight away before your intruders can respond. Just saying.

Back down in the sewers of Hydro City, Hunter the Hunter had managed to catch up to his prey. Knuckles and Monkey the Monk had tried to set a trap, but Hunter had managed to spot them above him and fired at Knuckles.

It’s not entirely sure what happened here - I think what happened is that Knuckles was hit by the shot but wasn’t hurt and just lost his balance, because he is Echidna Jesus. Either that or Knuckles just fell out of the way and Kraven was unable to accept that he’d missed. With Knuckles falling away from Monk and their collars zapping them again, the livid gorilla attacked Hunter.

Unfortunately for Monk this left him wide open, and Hunter was able to fatally shoot him. Knuckles went ballistic at this and his dormant chaos powers kicked in to do…

...that. Is that supposed to be blood coming out of Hunter’s hands? Because I’m pretty sure blood’s not supposed to be that colour. I’m not quite sure what’s going on there, unless it was an attempt to be edgy while also being timid enough to not anger the Comics Code Authority. Whatever, the battle was won, and Locke and Archimedes finally showed up too late to be of any help whatsoever.

Prisoner the Hunter was stripped to his underpants and locked up in an underwater bubble with no obvious toilet facilities, and thus the final Knuckles story in his own comic book series came to an end.

As you can probably tell, I’m really not a fan of this story. Hunter the Hunter is a very obvious Original the Character Do Not Steal TM, and Monk the Monkey gets tiresome very quickly while he and Knuckles are on the run. His hatred for Knuckles is so severe that he just cannot help himself from bickering and endangering them, even while they were being hunted.

And again, while the League of Extraordinarily Racist Grandpas has always been a bit dodgy and had questionable motives, their attempted execution of a literal child, just because he’d been bullying their Chosen One, was really quite disturbing. There weren’t even any repercussions for this either! As far as we know, Knuckles never even found out about what his father and other assorted grandfathers had done to Monk. It’s possible that they talked about Monk’s unexpected reappearance at some point offscreen, but do you think Locke would admit to his son what he’d done? I very much doubt it. I expect Locke’s reaction would be more along the lines of, “Oh, he came back after all this time? After being missing for years? Wow, that’s crazy! I wonder why he left way back when?” Because Locke is a terrible person.

While that story is done with, I’m not finished with the Knuckles series yet. Those three issues also had a B story focusing on Espio, so next time I’ll be looking at Hiding in Plain Sight, The Best of Friends, and The Worst of Enemies.