JollofHibiscus @jollofhibiscus - Tumblr Blog

Look how strained their relationship is guys. Look how awkward Lloyd is around his mom. Look how much he doesn’t want to be around her.

The picture of a strained relationship right here folks.

bugwolfsstuff

I like the concept of Zeus going mad with desire to protect his family

Like yeah everything he does is to make sure Theyre safe. Yes that includes trying to kill your kids, Hades, look he killed his own and Poseidon's kids too. The cruel thing would have been to make you do it yourselves, you're welcome :D

No, no one else can have the throne, not out of any belief that he deserves it but because no one else can keep Them safe, thats why Apollo and Poseidon got punished.

Logically its the whole fam he's like this with but i prefer it being just his siblings cus he was kinda born and raised to save them in my stuff. He kinda hero worshipped them growing up. That upbringing manifested something.

Ngl you dont really need to change much in canon to do this idea😭 My usual Zeus is sacrificial lamb who grew horns and grew rabid with the fear of being sacrified again. This Zeus would be a flock guardian dog who doesnt understand it doesnt need to do that anymore and is biting at everything that moves.

fuckthisshit-ugh

please read this even if you're not indian. especially if you're not indian.

you've seen the jokes. india is "dirty", indians are "everywhere", why don't they fix their own country. ok. let me tell you why, and what's happening right now while nobody's watching.

first, the history you skipped: britain ruled india for two centuries and drained it. economist utsa patnaik's research estimates around $45 trillion in today's money was taken. the india that got independence in 1947 was one of the poorest countries on earth. every "why is india like this" question starts there. you don't get to profit off a robbery and then mock the crime scene.

now, what's happening RIGHT NOW:

in may the question paper for NEET leaked. that's the national medical entrance exam. over 2.2 million students took it. cancelled. years of studying, families' savings poured into coaching, gone overnight because someone sold the paper. students died by suicide after. these were kids who wanted to be doctors.

and out of that came a protest movement. a gen z group called the cockroach janta party, started by a 30 year old named abhijeet dipke, got 22 million instagram followers within DAYS. they've been doing a sit-in at jantar mantar in delhi demanding education minister dharmendra pradhan resign.

and then there's sonam wangchuk. if you've watched 3 idiots, he's the real engineer the character was based on. built solar schools in ladakh. invented ice stupas so himalayan villages have water. spent his whole life on education. he's 59 and he's been on hunger strike for 17+ days now. reporters went to see him this week and he was too weak to talk. and the troll armies are calling him "anti national" and "foreign funded". a man starving himself for other people's children. that's the thing here, anyone who asks a question is suddenly a traitor.

it's not one incident, it's everywhere you look:

• infrastructure worth thousands of crores failing within months of the ribbon cutting. tunnels collapsing in regions where heavy rain is a guarantee, not a surprise.

• youth unemployment near 10% for ages 15 to 29, 13.6% in cities. in a country of 1.42 billion where more than half the population is young.

• only about the top 3% of indians earn above 10 lakh a year. meanwhile billionaire wealth keeps ballooning and the headlines celebrate it.

• manipur burned for over two years. an ethnic conflict, tens of thousands displaced, and the prime minister barely said the word manipur while it happened.

• journalists raided. critics' houses bulldozed. activists sitting in jail for years without trial under laws like UAPA. our press freedom ranking has cratered.

• even the petrol is a fight now, ethanol blending pushed through while drivers complain about their engines and get no straight answers.

and through all of it, the PM, who came to power on religious polarisation (americans, sound familiar?), travels abroad for photo ops and has not held one single open press conference in over a decade. not one.

what i'm asking:

if you're not indian: share this. our media mostly won't cover any of it because the big outlets are owned by the same billionaires the government serves. the only reason wangchuk's fast is getting any coverage is people refusing to look away.

if you ARE indian: speak up even if you're comfortable. especially if you're comfortable. join the protests. add to this, correct me, translate it. staying quiet is a choice when nothing in this post touches your life.

india is not "dirty". india was robbed, and it's being robbed again, from the inside this time. but it's also the country where a 59 year old will starve for strangers' kids and 22 million young people will rally behind a party literally named after cockroaches, because cockroaches survive everything.

we can still save her. but only loudly.

reblog. share. don't scroll past.

standwithdaanes

The movement, which began as a satirical protest, has evolved into a nationwide challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

Supporters of India's youth-led Cockroach movement said Tuesday they will continue their protest in New Delhi, refusing to leave their sit-in site a day after police used tear gas and batons to disperse thousands of them as they tried to march toward Parliament. Hundreds of protesters camped at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site, under heavy police presence, saying they would stay until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns over alleged failures in India's examination system. "We are going to continue our protest," said Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, which emerged just two months ago. The movement, drawing students, professionals and families, marks a rare public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's government in its third term, reviving criticism over its handling of dissent and its use of force to respond to protests. [...] Sona Bisht, a 20-year-old student who was part of the protest, said the confrontation strengthened her resolve. "If the government thinks that doing this with Gen Z, they can stop us, then that won't happen. We are here talking about education, talking about securing our future. And till the time our demands are not met, we will not move from here," she said.

"Definitions developed thus far about youth, like the Gen Z narrative, have largely been linked to roles attributed by the dominant system. The rulers have invented a whole range of terms — rebellious, irresponsible, apolitical, extremist, consumerist — not to understand youth, but to neutralize it. They know as well as we do that whoever wins over the youth wins over society. [...] Thus the question is not whether youth is powerful, but in whose interest this power is directed. Today’s uprisings — such as those in Nepal, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, and beyond — demonstrate that youth continues to emerge as a decisive actor. Young women like Deniz Ciya have proven this with their lives. These uprisings are not expressions of generational temperament. These „Gen Z uprisings“ are expressions of a social force confronting structural crisis inherent in the current system. [...] Recent youth uprisings — whether in the form of environmental justice protests, labor movements, or uprisings against authoritarian governments — are proof that youth worldwide are not only responding to a set of circumstances; they are consciously and collectively rejecting the narratives that seek to define them. Thus, it is crucial to analyze what transpired, and draw lessons from these uprisings, particularly in the context of building a global youth democratic confederalism. For the power of youth movements is interconnected, despite being geographically distant." — "Beyond "Gen Z": Defending Revolutionary Youth Spirit" by Lêgerîn

"The youth in general, and especially the young women, are the spark of every revolution.We can’t look at the history and found a revolution without the youth. We are a fundamental factor. We should be aware of this reality, we should take conscience of our historical role. By doing this we will provide ourselves with a plan that will allow us the unity of action and objectives. The Youth should not be condemned to be a slave of the capitalist system. [...] If we reject the labels and mentalities imposed by the system, taking consciousness as Internationalist Youth in a global level and organizing ourselves, is there someone who can stop us?" — "The youth is the spark of every revolution" by Lêgerîn.

captain-space-kin

So does lego like not have any sort of protections agaisnt leaks like. At all? This is the most un-fucking-serious production for a show I have ever seen

jollofhibiscus

Update: The entire of Season 4 part 2 just leaked like 2 hrs ago. Yikes.

Ninjago fans Ninjago Dragons Rising season 4 part 2 just leaked!!!!!!!

I WISH I WAS JOKING BUT I JUST OPENED REDDIT AND IT'S THE FIRST POST I SAW

Link to post

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago spoilers #ninjago dragons rising season 4 #ninjago dragons rising season 4 spoilers

bheska

These are NOT the same characters 😭

helenofsparta2

Just to add to this:

These are really NOT the same characters 😭

poetaster-crow

The thing I don't like about Dragons Rising is that they've stripped most of the characters of their deeper depth.

The new gen ninja seem much more one dimensional. Arin is looking for his parents, and feels guilty for not finding them yet, Sora deals with self-esteem issues stemming from her parents which holds her back, and wyldfyre grew up with dragons making her stubborn and believing she is perfect and doesn't need to grow.

These are great flaws about the characters, but they seem to be their only flaws, or at least their defining features.

In the older shows, each Ninja had a defining flaw that held them back, but they also had visible growth that didn't always come from a battle, and of course, other characteristics.

In Dragons rising, they find one thing and stick with it and they've done it with the older Gen too and it's infuriating.

They even watered down Kai to make Wyldfyre the hot head. And yes, yes, I know he got older, grew up, changed, Blah blah blah. But even Kai says it in the show. He's a hot head, but the show doesn't SHOW IT. It goes purely off the past and neglects the characters with some sort of off scene growth.

Imma make a part two about this because this isn't even close to the amount of stuff I have to say, good and bad.

thestoryteller-thedreamer

Yes! I’ve felt this too and I’m so grateful someone else put it into words.

I think part of this comes from the fact that DR has SO MANY CHARACTERS. Like, the sheer volume of important people is kind of ridiculous at this point. I like the new people, but I can barely keep track of who is on the team now and who isn’t, and what all of their powers and personalities are. The writers have kind of forced themselves into a corner- they can keep all their characters, but they can’t keep all of their characterization.

Each person gets boiled down to one thing, something along the lines of: Zane is the robot, Nya is responsible, Kai is protective, Cole is a family man, Jay makes jokes, Lloyd has anxiety, P.I.X.A.L. is smart, etc. And because there are so many new people, they don’t have room to be fully fleshed out either, which is sad because they are interesting characters. I just want to know more about them before I can fall in love them like I did with the original ninja.

idkwhattoputhere4010

Oh yessss this too! It was manageable when Sora and Arin, even Wyldfyre, were the only new Ninja and the rest were side/support characters. Now we have two groups of Ninja, one of which needs to retire, and the other a chance to be regular kids for once. It seems the Ninjago writers don't know how to write that many characters while being able to flesh all of them out adequately --- I mean, in all honesty, it's hard to write a story surrounding an ensemble of 12 characters without making some sacrifices to character development and plot.

I think this problem also comes about because Ninjago writers keep creating more characters and putting them into the main scene, instead of using old characters. We still haven't seen Skylor, Nelson, Antonia, Queen Vania, Benthomaar, or most of the Elemental Masters from the Tournament of Elements (among many others). Instead, Ninjago writers created MORE Elements --- some of which don't even make sense, at least to me (like what do you mean Surface Tension is an Element, and the way they show the power is making bubbles????) --- and made Elemental Masters for ALL of them. Also, if Arin was friends with Frak before, why didn't he mention him until his first appearance in season 2? Annndddd I love Euphrasia, but now she's going on missions with them as if she's a part of the Ninja team? I thought she was simply going to be an ally to the Ninja, like in the way Skylor is, not an official member 😭😭 And with her character getting some implied romance with Arin, the writers need to develop her so that she doesn't turn into just "Arin's girlfriend".

This happens with the lore as well. Source Dragons are a completely new concept and since the writers haven't mentioned any Oni equivalent, it doesn't quite fit into the story. The prophecy of the Green Ninja is much harder to comprehend with the new lore introduced in season 4. We're not getting any hints into who Ras' master is, and I have a feeling the writers don't know who it is either. And there's still plenty of unanswered questions from the OG Ninjago show that have carried into the new show. Wouldn't it be easier if the writers just clarified and strengthened the lore from the original show?

Ninjago writers really are putting themselves into a corner with this. Not that the new characters --- and the new lore, for that matter --- are bad, or that they should stop making new characters. If the writers really wanted Dragons Rising to be a continuation of Ninjago for newer audiences, they should have thought about how to execute it long and hard enough that we are given a high quality show.

jollofhibiscus

I agree! I wish they fleshed out loose plot threads and reintroduce old characters instead of just making up new characters all the time

cumulonimble

nobody could never make me hate their relationship. i love that cole and nya love each other so fiercely (especially after their almost-romance that didn't work out).

the fact that ninjago has never been afraid to showcase the love between the members of the team makes me so happy, especially between nya and the other boys. i feel like a lot of the time in popular media, they're hesitant to show affection between a girl and boy that arent in a romantic relationship, especially not people who almost dated, like cole and nya.

i love that he took her hand and held it, leaned into her touch because he cares for her. not quite like a sister, not like a friend, not like a lover. but like nya :)

phoenixystix

What gets me about the Piper and Percy one-sided beef is that it’s a bad look for Piper’s character—not because she isn’t allowed to dislike Percy, because actually I think this dynamic could have been cool—but because she is wrong about him in exactly the same way he’s been misunderstood and underestimated for his entire life. Even more egregious that this is coming from Piper, of all characters, who is literally supernaturally gifted with the ability to read people.

It is already a questionable narrative choice because it made Piper look bad to a lot of readers—Percy is absolutely beloved, so it alienates Piper from a good chunk of the fanbase. But I think it could have worked had she been accurate in her assessment of Percy’s character, or at least it could have been interesting and defensible narratively (yes, there were always going to be readers who just hated her for not liking Percy and there’s no way around that. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t serve the narrative well). Percy is a very likable character, and although he is truly my favorite character (in anything, ever), we must admit that he is partly so likable because he’s the narrative’s favorite (at least, you know, before his author started openly resenting him lol). And it could have been interesting to see him from a different perspective that exposes more of his flaws, or perhaps views them as genuine flaws rather than endearing traits.

But the reason Piper knocks Percy is actually just because she thinks he looks less impressive than Jason, and that he looks like a troublemaker.

I’ll address the “unimpressive” part first. Yes, it’s annoying if you love Percy, but it’s also bad writing, because it hits with a “we’ve heard this song before.” Because we have! Percy’s story was a zero-to-hero tale. UNLIKE Jason, unlike Thalia, unlike even Luke, Percy is not a character looked to as a de-facto leader. When he first gets to camp, he has bursts of impressive potential, but he is inconsistent. Nobody knows what to make of him, and “the only thing [he] really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn’t the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.” The campers are explicitly said to be “watching” him and sizing him up. They are expecting more from him, and “the way they stared at [him] made [him] uncomfortable. [He] felt like they were expecting [him] to do a flip or something.” Clarisse targets him because she wants to prove her superiority and dispel the myth that he is “‘Big Three’ material.” He is practically laughed out the door of Cabin Eleven on his first introduction. After getting claimed, he’s ostracized and seen as an inconvenience who brought strife to the rest of the camp. He earns respect through the quest, but we have to rinse and repeat this next summer because of his association with Tyson. And then we rinse and repeat this AGAIN in book 3 because Thalia is older, cooler, a better fighter, has known Grover and Annabeth longer than Percy, and her dad is Zeus. Thalia gets chosen for the quest—Percy gets overlooked, again, and has to sneak onto it, again.

And then we have to consider what he’s like outside of camp—bullied in school, abandoned by the school system and never had a teacher before Chiron believe in him and actually strived to rise to Chiron’s expectations because he was so starved for encouragement, plays basketball in the corner at school dances, never had a single real friend before Grover, insecure about his financial situation, growing up with an overworked single mom and an abusive stepdad who verbally degrades him and makes his life miserable at every turn. Percy is a kid who doesn’t have friends to invite to his birthday party—canonically.

The shift into revered hero really only happens in Book 4, and I think the subtext of it strongly implies that puberty hit him hard that year because all of a sudden he has three different love interests (and one not-so-secret admirer in Nico), and he is blatantly unaccustomed to it because that’s never how it has been for him before. In book 2 he is saying no girl at his school would be caught dead calling his name, [heavily implied that] he is the mocked because Annabeth is out of his league, and then Circe makes him stand in front of a magical body-dysmorphia mirror and dwell on all the things he doesn’t like about himself (imagine ritualistically humiliating a 13-y/o kid in this way as an adult woman. Federal prison. Death penalty!) and in Book 3 he is lamenting that Annabeth is taller than him, and saying he feels uncomfortable talking to Bianca because he gets nervous talking to girls (patently untrue, there are many girls he does not get nervous talking to—but realistic for him to narrate because although he is close with Annabeth, he is more aware of her romantically now and therefore less comfortable with her, and I would argue he mentions it in this scene because he thinks Bianca is attractive and she’s close to his age whereas girls like Thalia, Clarisse, Zoe etc are not ever viewed that way by him). So it truly makes sense when in Book 4, he is absolutely dumbfounded by Calypso’s confession and completely at a loss for how to interact with Annabeth now that she’s made her feelings clear.

In his “hero” career, the shift also happens in Book 4—he has grown as a fighter and is even complimented on this by Luke, he achieves some of his most impressive stunts in this book and shows off his skills in the battle arena, and he’s used by Chiron as a reinforcement to send to the toughest parts of the battle. And the summer after that, because he’s one of the best fighters, he is used all the time on combat missions, like the one with Beckendorf at the start of Book 5. And I really don’t think I have to explain what happened in Book 5, lol.

So. No, Percy wasn’t just granted the revered-hero status because he looks the part—he earned it, with blood, sweat, and tears (literally). And Piper’s commentary on him is that after hearing all about his exploits, he doesn’t look the part. As if we don’t have like four-and-a-half books that already told us that, made all the more familiar by the fact that Percy is his own harshest critic. The other narrators in HOO is see a side of Percy he doesn’t often see in himself—the side we only get glimpses of, such as Rachel’s painting of him killing Anteus or Percy admitting (reluctantly) that he’s slicing through an entire army and laughing at the exhilaration of it. They also sometimes notice a sadness or an anger or an intimidation factor that Percy is often not aware of in himself. Piper, on the contrary, sees only the most surface-level thing, even though she is supposedly so good at reading people that she can interpret Annabeth and Chiron’s silent conversations after only knowing them for a day. So it reads like she’s just being a hater—and I do actually think that’s the correct interpretation of this moment, considering she’s explicitly comparing him to her boyfriend. And honestly, if Piper was just being a hater, then fine—I can accept that her attachment to her own boyfriend overrides her gifts, and that’s all very human and tells you something about Piper’s character.

But what REALLY frustrates me is the “troublemaker” assessment. Again, this is a girl who is good at reading people. A girl who has been bullied in school, and befriended Leo, who has also been bullied in school and abandoned by the institutional school system, sent to a place for kids that nobody wants to deal with. A girl who has ALSO been overlooked by authority figures and gotten into a lot of trouble for misunderstandings. And she is judging Percy and saying she would “[steer] clear [of him]” because she has enough trouble in her life. What annoys me is not so much that she’d avoid him, but that SHE IS WRONG in exactly the way that most of Percy’s authority figures have been wrong about him for his entire life! He is branded as a troublemaker, when he is actually a good kid that falls victim to unfair circumstances. How many times has he been in the wrong place at the wrong time, when he was actually trying to save innocent lives? This is a kid who had a nationwide manhunt started for him at the age of 12 by his abusive stepdad because he seemed like a juvenile delinquent, and guess what, he wasn’t! So it’s super corny to me to hear Piper say this—again, we know from BOOK ONE that Percy’s features have a “brooding look that had always gotten me branded a rebel.” And Piper—again, the character supposedly supernaturally gifted at reading people—falls for it and informs the reader that she would avoid him for that.

Knowing the context (as the average PJO reader ought to), Piper’s opinion comes across as judgmental and shallow. And to be honest, I think that may have been the source for at least some of the outrage—that this just feels wrong and we didn’t appreciate the tone of it, even if maybe people didn’t know why it bothered them so much. Because the reader knows that Piper is wrong. It provokes that same kind of feeling of frustration at the injustice that Percy has to continually endure throughout most of PJO for things that are outside of his control. And I have to say, Piper being a rich kid who intentionally acts out for attention and notably does NOT have the learning disabilities that Percy and MOST demigods do, being the one to mislabel Percy in this way, adds… a layer to this whole interaction that strikes me as icky. I do patently believe this was not the intention of Piper’s assessment, because she does explain that she would avoid him because she had “enough trouble in her life”---as in, she’s not thinking she’s better than Percy, she’s thinking she’s too much like him. But that kind of falls flat considering that she’s wrongfully judging him based on his appearance and that her reasoning doesn’t make sense considering her friendship with Leo. And then she doubles down on the assessment by saying that “she could definitely see why Percy needed Annabeth in his life. If anybody could keep a guy like that under control, it was Annabeth.” This quote reads as so blatantly derogatory to me that it totally overrides any attempt at making it seem like Piper is not being judgmental and condescending here.

This is made more explicit in their exchange with Bacchus, because, in an effort to hype up Piper’s diplomatic skills, Rick has her act shocked at how brazenly Percy speaks towards Bacchus. Sure, it makes sense for her to be taken aback—most people are by how Percy speaks to the gods. But the tone in this passage is that Piper is babysitting Percy (emphasis mine): “Piper had been watching with horrified fascination, the way she might watch a car wreck in progress. Now she realized Percy was not making things better, and Annabeth wasn’t around to rein him in. Piper figured her friend would never forgive her if she brought Percy back transformed into a sea mammal.”

But Piper is completely ignorant to the context behind this exchange. Percy has known Mr. D for five years. He has earned his reluctant respect, has had multiple one-on-one conversations with him, has been called the correct name by Dionysus, has been personally requested to keep his son safe in the war. Dionysus voted yes to make Percy immortal last summer. Meanwhile, Piper has never met Bacchus OR Dionysus. Out of the three people in this scene, she is the MOST ignorant, and yet we’re supposed to accept that she’s the authority. And what is even worse, is that Piper doesn’t realize what Percy already knows: Bacchus literally is too lazy to turn Percy into a dolphin and he’s not making a real threat. Percy knows that because he has tested the boundaries before (and when it became clear that Mr. D was no longer joking, it scared him enough to stop talking). So it’s just not convincing that Percy is in real danger in this exchange or that he needed Piper’s help. What’s more: Bacchus never had any intention of helping them, and Piper is just too slow to realize this, and she will subsequently admit that he was totally unhelpful! And the hilariously ironic cherry on top: later in the book, Percy is the one who successfully recruits Bacchus! It makes her come across as extremely arrogant to think that she would be more equipped at negotiating with a god than Percy, who has much, MUCH more experience doing this than Piper does.

Now, I think that this is a writing problem. Because fine, maybe we could use this moment to confront Piper’s arrogance and the fact that she completely underestimated Percy—but that doesn’t happen. But better yet, we could have used this moment to actually further both of their characterizations, with Piper realizing why Percy has earned so much respect (including from someone like Annabeth, who Piper CLEARLY immensely respects), and perhaps touching on her ever-present feelings of insecurity about not being good enough at diplomacy and feeling totally useless. It doesn’t make sense for Piper to think she’s better than Percy! It simply does not make sense for a character who is chronically self-doubting in their skills! And the reason it doesn’t make sense is because it’s just the author trying to convince us that Piper is just as necessary to the plot as Percy is. It’s even more annoying when Piper’s “diplomacy skills” are just flattering Bacchus’ ego and manipulating him to get what she wants, which is not remotely unique to Piper’s character. Percy and Annabeth do this literally all the time, and will continue to do it in the rest of the HOO series.

And it’s all just so frustrating and honestly kind of sad. Because there was potential for a whole lot of interesting tension between Percy and Piper. Percy resents spoiled rich kids who act out for attention and he’s so used to encountering them that he would peg Piper as one right off the bat. Consider this quote from the beginning of TLT: “The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.” PIPER IS LITERALLY ONE OF THESE KIDS! You’re telling me that the kid who immediately understood that the Hermes cabin was full of neglected kids waiting for calls that would never come, who reminded him of the kids he went to school with—wouldn’t notice that quality in Piper right away? Because he would. But I actually think Percy has grown a lot and confronted some of these feelings of inadequacy around socioeconomic status, primarily through his friendship with Rachel, and he is able to see through the resentment and insecurity to recognize that the parental neglect Rachel suffers is a real problem, despite her being wildly privileged. And this journey started in TLT, where Percy realizes that he’s a far cry from having a “family of nobodies”—actually he, too, has one of the MOST famous and MOST powerful beings in the entire world for a dad, and that his dad doesn’t care about him (if you recall—he had chosen to think his father was dead, because that was less painful to believe, despite the fact that Sally intentionally never said that). And he empathized with the neglect that demigods receive from their incredibly powerful parents: “I thought about some of the kids I’d seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I’d known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn’t have the time to deal with them. But gods should behave better.” And perhaps more on the nose: “I started to understand Luke’s bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn’t they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn’t my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?” (I still think Percy accepts the bare minimum from Poseidon because it is simply less painful for him that way so I definitely don’t think he’s healed, but enough to have compassion for other abandoned kids, certainly).

Percy could have really seen Piper in a way that Piper is used to seeing other people. I truly do think Percy as written in PJO would immediately see Piper’s choices in chopping off her hair and intentionally styling herself in weird clothing for what it really is: insecurity masking as confidence, acting out against her parents, and struggling to find her identity separate from her parents. (Percy is really, REALLY good at picking up on these things in PJO. And he ought to be, because he developed it as a survival skill growing up with Gabe and getting bullied.)

Piper’s writing has serious problems with it, many of which have been discussed in great length and that I don’t think I need to explain here. The only thing I’ll bring up, because I think it’s uniquely related to the Piper/Percy dynamic: it is not sufficiently addressed that Piper is accused of stealing things for fun/attention when she doesn’t actually steal things, and how her race might play a role in that narrative. It is not as simple as Piper being stereotyped by the narrative as a kleptomaniac—because Piper really isn’t and she really didn’t steal the BMW, the dealer gave it to her. But the narrative doesn’t really care about exonerating her. And to make matters much worse, there is not much meaningful reflection about her charmspeak being used for coercion, and how, although she didn’t understand what she was doing, she still got the car by manipulating the dealer with magic. And I bring this up simply to demonstrate that had we gotten to the bottom of Piper’s relationship with her parents and her issues with her own identity, then at least this problem could have been reconciled in a much more nuanced way. And I think that her relationship with Percy is fairly low-hanging fruit for how this could have been explored better, because Piper actually quite similar to Percy in that they’re both ‘kids troubled by unfair circumstances and not because they want to cause trouble,” even though on the surface her antics make her seem like she’s more like Matt Sloan (the bully from SOM who stole his daddy’s care and took it for a joyride).

Anyway. TL;DR: Rick did Piper dirty by writing that she thinks Percy is unimpressive and a troublemaker who needs to be reined in from shooting off at the mouth. And it actually botches her characterization, because she’s supposed to be good at reading people, and she gets a lot wrong about Percy. Because she’s wrong, it makes her seem judgmental and condescending, and given that Percy is one of the most accomplished demigods of literally all time and Piper is just learning the ropes, she comes across as very arrogant in a way that is not consistent with the rest of her characterization.

jollofhibiscus

This is an interesting analysis

justafewberries

after noticing an unfortunate trend of an increasing reliance on potty humor in the past PJO universe releases, i've gone over every PJO book I can find and documented the instances of potty humor. I wanted to know what the numbers said, so here they are:

I coded each instance of potty humor jokes (PHJs) under eight categories:

Fart

Poop

Butt

Burp

Pee

Underwear

Toilet

Bathroom

I searched each work for those words, then determined if the instance fell into one or more of the following criteria:

Instance used as a punchline

Instance used as a humorous location or object

Instance framed as an unexpected reaction (e.g., random farting, nervous burping)

If the use of the term did not apply to any of these categories, I did not code for it. For example, a hero may use the "butt of the sword" in combat. In this instance, I omitted the use of the term from the overall tallied count, as it was not a joke, it was a natural descriptor.

For each book, I totaled the number of PHJs to create a graph.

The data from 2005-2009 suggest a moderate usage of PHJs in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series. Many of these jokes are underwear (such as in the case of the Minotaur's choice of dress) or bathroom related (upon meeting Clarisse).

The data from 2010-2014 are fairly moderate as well. Blood of Olympus features the most PHJs at seven, with Leo ending up in his underwear twice, Frank's bathroom habits mentioned humorously once, and a few other coded instances of potty humor. Mark of Athena and The Demigod Diaries, an off-shoot book, only feature one PHJ each.

2016-2020 shows a significant increase compares to the two prior ranges. Each Trials of Apollo book features at least five PHJs. The Dark Prophecy features a whopping 18 PJHs, The Tower of Nero has 14, And The Burning Maze has 10. This range also includes two "other" classified books, one of which, Camp Jupiter Classified published in 2020, features 13 PHJs.

2023-2025 consists of the senior series and the Nico and Will series. The newest book, Court of the Dead, contains 32 PHJs, the second most of all time. The worst offender is Wrath of the Triple Goddess, which features 36 PHJ's, twice as many as the highest number in ToA.

I then took the overall total averages of PHJ's per book in a series to determine if there is a trend based on a series alone. I omitted books I coded as "other" as they range so broadly in date and often did not fit directly within a series, it would not provide any productive result. The averages are as follows:

PJO: 2.8 HoO: 3.4 ToA: 10.8 Sen. Series: 17 Nico & Will: 19

This study is limited, as potty humor does not solely consist of using the actual term. For instance, Percy wets himself in WotTG, but it does not explicitly say the word "pee" in the action. Thus, it was not counted in this study, meaning there are more instances that I was unable to feature.

While potty humor can draw in very young readers, it lacks the seriousness that some of the topics Riordan and Oshiro attempt to cover in Court of the Dead. It becomes dissonant to read jokes about a monster with nervous flatulence issues when the writers attempt to use the novel to cover heavier issues. The trend of an increased use of potty humor makes the books feel more superficial than those written before them.

The PJO series used potty humor sparingly. It wasn’t oversaturated, but it offered some well-timed comedic relief. The Senior Series and Nico & Will series, however, seem to rely a bit too much on juvenile humor to lighten the heavier topics Riordan used to handle with more nuance in the original five books.

When every punchline revolves around bathroom humor, it starts to feel like the book belongs in the bathroom, too. The "comic relief" Riordan and Oshiro are aiming for ends up feeling less like relief and more like… constipation.

jurakan

Thought this screenshot might be relevant.

jollofhibiscus

^^ this reads like a parody account dam.

Also thanks OP, for making this chart. Now I can prove that I'm not crazy and that Rick's books have been getting more childish.

There's a reason why I haven't really bothered reading past HoO.(Haven't finished ToA)

starsandskies999

Felt like doing some pixel art. So I took a crack at depicting the Angel, from @star-pup01's fic A Future Without Them, in the UTDR style.

I am very much a beginner with pixel art. but I think it turned out pretty good. Albeit with a slightly janky battle sprite lmao.

Almost all of the Angels faces are negative emotions because 0 good things happen to them.

jollofhibiscus

Awesome

helenofsparta2

All of the Seven were in support of saving Nico in Mark of Athena

I have absolutely no idea where the misconception came from that no one on board of the Argo II, except for Hazel, wanted to save, or cared for Nico, but it's starting to really annoy me. So, here’s a little summary of every member of the seven’s and Coach Hedge’s thoughts, feelings and actions when it came to Nico, backed up by exempts from the book

(Safe for Hazel, because… it’s Hazel. Thankfully, there’s no misconception surrounding her, regarding this subject.)

Coach Hedge:

He Immediately agreed to rescue him when the topic came up

“The giants are trying to lure us,” Annabeth said. “They’re assuming we’ll try to rescue him.” “Well, they’re right!” Hazel looked around the table, her confidence apparently crumbling. “Won’t we?” “Yes!” Coach Hedge yelled with a mouthful of napkins. “It’ll involve fighting, right?” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

Frank:

He Immediately agreed to rescue him when the topic came up

“Hazel, of course we’ll help him,” Frank said. “But how long do we have before… uh, I mean, how long can Nico hold out?” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

He got angry when Leo and Jason suggested that Nico might not be trustworthy

Jason sat forward, his expression grim. “You’re wondering if we can trust the guy. So am I.” Hazel shot to her feet. “I don’t believe this. He’s my brother. He brought me back from the Underworld, and you don’t want to help him?” Frank put his hand on her shoulder. “Nobody’s saying that.” He glared at Leo. “Nobody had better be saying that.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

Annabeth:

She reacted with anger and sadness when the topic of Nico’s predicament came up

She shook her head sadly when he described Nico’s imprisonment in the bronze jar. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 13)

“One seed a day,” Hazel said miserably. “That’s if he puts himself in a death trance.” “A death trance?” Annabeth scowled. “That doesn’t sound fun.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

Hazel also seemed preoccupied. Maybe she was taking in their surroundings, or maybe she was worrying about her brother. In less than four days, unless they found him and freed him, Nico would be dead. Annabeth felt that deadline weighing on her, too. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 18)

She was in support of rescuing him:

“Fine,” Annabeth muttered. “Hazel, now that we’re in Rome, do you think you can pinpoint Nico’s location?” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 31)

Percy:

He immediately agreed to rescue him in Son of Neptune:

Not the part about Sammy – that was still too painful to say out loud – but she told them about Gaia’s offer of a fake life, and the goddess’s claim that she’d captured her brother, Nico. Hazel didn’t want to keep that to herself. She was afraid the despair would overwhelm her. Percy rubbed his shoulders. His lips were blue. ‘You – you saved me, Hazel. We’ll figure out what happened to Nico, I promise.’ (Son of Neptune, Chapter 41)

I think my dad is turning a blind eye. I think – I think he wants me to find Nico.’ ‘We’ll find your brother,’ Percy promised. ‘As soon as the ship gets here, we’ll sail for Rome.’ (Son of Neptune, Chapter 52)

He never once considered the possibility of not saving Nico in Mark of Athena

“He disappeared.” Hazel moistened her lips. “I’m afraid…I’m not sure, but I think something’s happened to him.” “We’ll look for him,” Percy promised. “We have to find the Doors of Death anyway.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 3)

Huddled next to it was a dejected looking boy in tattered jeans, a black shirt, and an old aviator jacket. On his right hand, a silver skull ring glittered. “Nico,” Percy called. But the son of Hades couldn’t hear him. The container was completely sealed. The air was turning poisonous. Nico’s eyes were closed, his breathing shallow. He appeared to be meditating. His face was pale, and thinner than Percy remembered (…) “Nico,” Percy said, “where is this place? We’ll save you.…” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 13)

“Nico is the bait,” she murmured. “Gaea’s forces must have captured him somehow. But we don’t know exactly where they’re holding him.” “Somewhere in Rome,” Percy said. “Somewhere underground. They made it sound like Nico still had a few days to live, but I don’t see how he could hold out so long with no oxygen.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 13)

But most of the time, Nico sided with the good guys. He certainly didn’t deserve slow suffocation in a bronze jar, and Percy couldn’t stand seeing Hazel in pain. “We’ll rescue him,” he promised her. “We have to. The prophecy says he holds the key to endless death.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

About a hundred yards away, he spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar big enough to hold a person. “Look.” He pointed it out to his friends. Piper frowned. “That’s too easy.” “Of course,” Percy said. “But we have no choice,” Jason said. “We’ve got to save Nico.” “Yeah.” Percy started across the room, picking his way around conveyor belts and moving platforms. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

He informed Hazel and the rest of the seven of Nico’s predicament the very morning after he found out

But how can Nico survive that long? We should talk to Hazel.” “Now?” She hesitated. “No. It can wait until morning. I don’t want to hit her with this news in the middle of the night.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 13)

He told them about his dream—the twin giants planning a reception for them in an underground parking lot with rocket launchers; Nico di Angelo trapped in a bronze jar, slowly dying from asphyxiation with pomegranate seeds at his feet. Hazel choked back a sob. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

He insisted on saving Nico immediately, once he met up with Jason and Piper in Rome

Percy pointed at Piper’s dagger. “Tiberinus said you could find Nico’s location…you know, with that.” Piper bit her lip. The last thing she wanted to do was check Katoptris for more terrifying images. “I’ve tried,” she said. “The dagger doesn’t always show what I want to see. In fact, it hardly ever does.” “Please,” Percy said. “Try again.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

Piper dropped the blade. “What’s wrong?” Jason asked. “It was showing us something.” Piper felt like the boat was back on the ocean, rocking under her feet. “We can’t go there.” Percy frowned. “Piper, Nico is dying. We’ve got to find him. Not to mention, Rome is about to get destroyed.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

“We should wait for the others,” she said. “Hazel, Frank, and Leo should be back soon.” “We can’t wait,” Percy insisted. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

He felt anxious when thinking about Nico and the possibility of him dying

The vision zoomed in again. Inside the jar, Nico di Angelo was curled in a ball, no longer moving, all the pomegranate seeds eaten. “We’re too late,” Jason said. “No,” Percy said. “No, I can’t believe that. Maybe he’s gone into a deeper trance to buy time. We have to hurry.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

Otis trudged over to the dais, stopping occasionally to do a plié. He knocked over the jar, the lid popped off, and Nico di Angelo spilled out. The sight of his deathly pale face and too-skinny frame made Percy’s heart stop. Percy couldn’t tell whether he was alive or dead. He wanted to rush over and check, but Ephialtes stood in his way. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

At Otis’s feet, Nico shuddered. Percy felt like a hellhound hamster wheel somewhere in his chest had started moving again. At least Nico was alive. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

He called Nico a friend

Jason and Piper closed ranks on either side of Percy (…)“We’re here,” Percy said, which sounded kind of obvious once he had said it. “Let our friend go.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

“Okay.” Percy decided not to comment on the Hawaiian shirt. “Now, about our friend…” “Oh, him,” Ephialtes sneered. “We were going to let him finish dying in public, but he has no entertainment value. He’s spent days curled up sleeping. What sort of spectacle is that? Otis, tip over the jar.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

He was careful to make sure Nico would not get injured while he, Jason and Piper fought the giants:

Percy was ready to slice this giant in half and get out of there, but Otis was standing over Nico. If a battle started, Nico was in no condition to defend himself. Percy needed to buy him some recovery time. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

Percy glanced over at Nico, who was just starting to move. Percy wanted him to be at least conscious enough to crawl out of the way when the fighting started. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

Piper:

She immediately agreed to rescue him (There’s a pattern here)

“And he has five seeds left,” Percy said. “That’s five days, including today. The giants must have planned it that way, so we’d have to arrive by July first. Assuming Nico is hidden somewhere in Rome—” “That’s not much time,” Piper summed up. She put her hand on Hazel’s shoulder. “We’ll find him. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

“We’ll rescue him,” he promised her. “We have to. The prophecy says he holds the key to endless death.” “That’s right,” Piper said encouragingly. “Hazel, your brother went searching for the Doors of Death in the Underworld, right? He must’ve found them.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

She felt anxious when she thought about Nico’s predicament

Piper tried to imagine what Nico di Angelo was feeling, stuck in a jar with only two pomegranate seeds left to sustain him, and no idea whether he would be rescued. It made Piper anxious to reach Rome, even though she had a horrible feeling she was sailing toward her own sort of prison—a dark room filled with water. “Nico must have information about the Doors of Death,” Piper said. “We’ll save him, Hazel. We can make it in time. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 25)

Piper slipped it back into its sheath, trying to keep her hands from shaking. She hoped that Percy was right, and Nico was still alive. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

She protected Nico, once he had escaped from the bronze jar:

Nico stirred. Otis looked down at him. His snaky feet flicked their tongues at Nico’s head. “Plus!” Piper said quickly. “Plus, we could do some dance moves as we’re escaping. Perhaps a ballet number!” Otis forgot all about Nico. He lumbered over and wagged his finger at Ephialtes. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

He caught a brief glimpse of Piper leaping across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits, making her way toward Nico, who was dazed and weaponless and being stalked by a pair of leopards. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 46)

At the dais, Piper stood guard over Nico as the leopards advanced. She aimed her cornucopia and shot a pot roast over the cats’ heads. It must have smelled pretty good, because the leopards raced after it. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 46)

Across the room, sandbags rained down around Piper and Nico. Piper tried to pull Nico to safety, but one of the bags caught her shoulder and knocked her down. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 46)

Jason & Leo

I’m going to sum Jason and Leo up together, because their perspective is very similar on this subject.

Now, obviously, both of them had some doubts at the beginning:

Uh…” Leo shifted in his chair. “One thing. The giants are expecting us to do this, right? So we’re walking into a trap?” Hazel looked at Leo like he’d made a rude gesture. “We have no choice!” “Don’t get me wrong, Hazel. It’s just that your brother, Nico… he knew about both camps, right?” “Well, yes,” Hazel said “He’s been going back and forth,” Leo said, “and he didn’t tell either side.” Jason sat forward, his expression grim. “You’re wondering if we can trust the guy. So am I.” Hazel shot to her feet. “I don’t believe this. He’s my brother. He brought me back from the Underworld, and you don’t want to help him?” Frank put his hand on her shoulder. “Nobody’s saying that.” He glared at Leo. “Nobody had better be saying that.” Leo blinked. “Look, guys. All I mean is—” “Hazel,” Jason said. “Leo is raising a fair point. I remember Nico from Camp Jupiter. Now I find out he also visited Camp Half-Blood. That does strike me as… well, a little shady. Do we really know where his loyalties lie? We just have to be careful.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

If I am being honest, this is actually a completely valid point. The way that both of them phrased it was pretty harsh, especially considering the fact that Hazel was sitting right next to them, but the point in of itself, is not preposterous.

Leo had never even met Nico, and Jason had only seen him a couple of times in Camp Jupiter, before this quest. Finding out that a demigod, neither of them really knew, had known about both camps long before any other half-blood did, and is now being used as part of a trap is suspicious (even if none of that is Nico’s fault).

But ignoring that, this hesitance to saving Nico, only lasted for like one or two chapters. After this conversation, both Leo and Jason were completely in support of saving Nico throughout the entire rest of Mark of Athena:

Instead, we could send out a decoy to trick the eagles. We take the ship on a detour, go the long way to Charleston, and get there tomorrow morning—” Hazel started to protest, but Leo raised his hand. “I know, I know. Nico’s in trouble and we have to hurry.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 17)

Hazel glanced at the evening sun, which was almost to the horizon. “We need to go fast. We’ve burned another day, and Nico only has three more left.” “We can do it,” Leo promised. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 21)

“She’s right,” Hazel said. “After today, Nico has less than two days. The fish-centaurs said we have to rescue him. He’s essential to the quest somehow.” She looked around defensively, as if waiting for someone to argue. No one did. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 25)

Jason suddenly looked as though his brownie with peach preserves didn’t taste so good. “Which will put us in Rome on the last possible day for Nico. Twenty-four hours to find him—at most.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 25)

“Good idea,” Percy said. “How about we plan to meet back here at… what?” “Three this afternoon?” Jason suggested. “That’s probably the latest we could rendezvous and still hope to fight the giants and save Nico. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 31)

Leo was even prepared to open Nemesis’ fortune cookie to find out where Nico was being kept:

The fortune cookie in his tool belt started to feel heavier. Last night, as they flew from Atlanta, Leo had lain in his cabin and thought about how angry he’d made Hazel. He had thought about ways he could make it right. Soon you will face a problem you cannot solve, Nemesis had said, though I could help you…for a price. Leo had taken the fortune cookie out of his tool belt and turned it in his fingers, wondering what price he would have to pay if he broke it open. Maybe now was the moment. “I’d be willing,” he told Hazel. “I could use the fortune cookie to find your brother.” Hazel looked stunned. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 21)

jollofhibiscus

Proof that all of the Seven wanted to save Nico Di Angelo

lustrousopalla

I have no funny or smart or anything caption to put on this I’m just an emotional wreck right not

jollofhibiscus

Pretty

potoobrigham

Undertale AU where Asriel inexplicably is restored, but time’s caught up with him, leaving him an easily irritable young adult.

Don’t take this seriously.

jollofhibiscus

I just discovered this AU and now I'm in love

rosabell14

on Percy and Nico in HoO

I wish the pjo fandom just accepted that Rick Riordan is a bad writer sometimes or at the very least inconsistent. Maybe then they'd recognize that a lot of characterization problems are retcons and bad writing instead of taking it as fact. It's why half the fandom is convinced that Percy hates Nico/does not care about him or that Nico's relationship with Percy only brought him pain. Why Jason, Hazel, Reyna and Will are considered Nico's support system but Percy isn't.

Nico and Percy's relationship does not exist in a vacuum and you need to understand the doylist problems in heroes of Olympus.

Then HoO comes along and people STILL think that Nico/hades kids are creepy? It would have been fine if it was just CJ since they didn't have the development CHB had but no apparently camp half-blood went back to treating Nico the same after like 2 weeks. And Rick cannot for the life of him decide if this ostracization is in Nico's head or not. Frank is fine with Nico in SoN and then in their next meeting he's terrified. And then the rest of the 7... I don't even have a problem with the scene with Hazel where they talk about him being untrustworthy(that's fandom exaggeration they did not want to leave him behind Y'all they just said that he might be untrustworthy and then like 3 lines later it's dismissesed hell the conversation literally begins with PERCY telling Hazel they're saving Nico. Also let's be honest with ourselves Nico IS shady sometimes and any true Nico fan would love him for it) but their general attitude is like "ooooh so creepy." and Nico doesn't even do anything to cause that he just exists and idk is a little bit sneaky? As in he can move quietly? Leo makes a joke at his expense and him and piper are surprised that Jason defends him implying he wouldn't have done so before? Percy and Annabeth find him unsettling (even though they were FINE with him in PJO I'll DIE on that Hill. Even his SISTER is like "oooh Nico is not easy to be around thank you Frank for talking to him he needs practice talking to people." bruh who IS this guy 😭 pjo Nico wasn't like that! He could hold a conversation with people he could work in a group setting even though he preferred to do things alone. He doesn't hiss at social interactions 😬 Rick uses Iapetus/Bob from sword of Hades but apparently forgets that this was the same story where Nico went on a quest with Thalia and Percy and he was FINE. In fact Hazel's very presence relies on Rick retconning the lesson Nico learned in tBotl because he apparently only found Hazel while looking for Bianca. Which is really unnecessary I mean he could have just found her in the underworld while investigating the whole Thanatos problem.

best-fictional-lizard

Skales [Ninjago] vs. Dunsparce [Pokemon]

Best Fictional Snake Tournament: ***FINALS***

Skales [Ninjago]

Dunsparce [Pokemon]

Voting ended onJun 30

Propaganda (if any) under the cut!

Make sure to reblog, so we know for sure who the best fictional snake is!

jollofhibiscus

Ninjago fans! Vote Skales! He's the BEST!

master-jarrus

Some things we know about Misako, from comics and the show

Her mom is apparently alive, at least during the time of Rise of the snakes

She's part of the explorer club

She loves garmadon but regrets her choice because of what it brought upon Lloyd

She is genuinely in love with both brothers and regret and opportunity makes those feelings bubble back up and some times she acts on them (also she thought Garmadon was going to die)

She regrets her choice of leaving Lloyd at darklys

Lloyd forgave her

Her choice to leave Lloyd at darklys was in hopes it could prevent the final battle so he and garmadon didn't have to fight to the death

(It's also likely this choice was the only reason Lloyd became the green ninja because otherwise he likely would've stayed in the whispering woods as its guardian once he came of age. Which might sound like a good thing but 1 no one would have been able to defeat the overlord 2 as far as we know Misako had no idea this could be a possible conclusion)

It's really not much. Everything else about her is just fandom headcanon

jollofhibiscus

Keeping this as ammunition against Misako haters

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