#solangelo critical

[justamuon]

Honestly solangelo fans shouldn't be allowed to have any negative opinions about the other Nico ships what so fucking ever. Solangelo is legitimately the worst Nico ship, after all.

[solangelo-critical]

[nico-posting]

[ohhhhhhhhhhbrotherrrrrr]

Will Solace is the proof that if you put a white man/boy in any story, he will have fans, regardless of the bland cardboard the author had given as his 'personality'.

[patronsa1ntofnothing]

Announcement: I don’t actually hate solangelo. I do think there are ways in which they could be a good couple, but the way they were written is genuinely terrible.

To start with their first main interaction in BoO. Now I know many people dislike Will due to him being quite controlling over Nico concerning his powers in BoO, but I don’t actually have a huge problem with that. Nico was quite literally fading, Will was probably stressed out of his mind, and they are both incredibly stubborn TEENAGERS. I don’t think we should hold that moment against Will. What I DID dislike about their meetings in BoO was Will claiming Nico was never ostracised when he very much was. Nico quite literally lists examples of his mistreatment earlier in the book. Also how would Will know what Nico was truly treated like? It’s not like he was tracking Nico around camp and analysing his interactions whenever he stopped by. Now I could very much accept this moment if it was displayed as Will acting emotionally and saying anything out of desperation to convince Nico to stay at CHB… but it isn’t. Instead, it is framed as if Will is 100% right and very much believes Nico was at fault when leaving CHB, which is just bullshit. I think Will realising that Nico WAS ostracised and outcasted by other demigods and acknowledging his ignorance in that situation could have been a good storyline— but instead the idea that Nico himself was the sole cause of his isolation is repeatedly reinforced in other novels, which just feels icky.

Next is that I really don’t think Nico should have been thrown into a relationship so instantly— especially with a character we pretty much don’t know. We all know Rick Riordan has to give all of his characters a love interest even if it’s at the expense of flattening their character and throwing away all their platonic relationships, and Nico was yet another victim of this. Nico needed time, my boy has been alone for like 4 years, he can barely deal with himself alone, he needed to find himself before going into anything romantic. I think in this way Solangelo mirrored Caleo, which I talked about in this post here. This aside, if RR wanted Nico in a relationship so desperately, the character it was should have been somewhat developed. Will is Nico’s boyfriend before he is Will. And even when he is Will, all of his arcs and nuances seem to revolve around Nico. Nico is an incredibly layered and arguably one of if not the most complex character in the series, I can’t help but feel that Will is just an accessory to show Nico’s development as a character. Will and Nico’s constant therapy talk about Nico’s ‘growth’ in the more recent novels just reinforces my opinion as well.

My largest problem with Solangelo is that they are written horribly stereotypically with very homophobic undertones, most of this reflecting onto Will. The most obvious one is the disgustingly biphobic way in which Will is written, the ‘wandering eyes bisexual’ trope, the constant commentary on other women’s attractiveness in front of his boyfriend, the fact one of these women were said boyfriends STEPMOTHER… Yeah I feel I don’t have to elaborate, it’s a flaming hot mess. Another thing was the ENTIRETY of the weird-picnic-coming-out-scene, like yes put the boy which was forcefully outed into a position where he has to come out in front of everyone while also putting another queer boy on the spot to come out spontaneously! Hello?!? What the fuck?!?!? Then theres also the stereotypical tropes in their actual relationship. One thing I loved about ToN was that it established the point that Will doesn’t and can’t fix all of Nico’s problems (I actually didn’t hate Solangelo in ToN), then Tsats just completely reverses this. It rambles on about how it was completely Will that showed Nico how to see the light and heal, like this is basically explicitly stated. It also says that Nico believed he didn’t have a heart before Will which I could go on a rant about how wrong that is— Nico is one of the most emotionally driven characters and you want me to believe he was heartless before Will? Fuck off. I felt like every second line was just about how Will gives Nico light blahblahblah. It makes their dynamic seem cheap, overused, and one dimensional, and while they didn’t have an overly deep relationship in ToA, it still didn’t feel like the stereotypical ‘light healing dark’ slop which we saw in Tsats.

I can overlook bad writing and pretend it never happened to save a character which has had good writing/characterisation, which is what I do with Nico, but Will is a character who we have basically only ever seen have bad writing. Based on the small amount of traits we saw him with before he became more centred, I do think he had potential as a character, but it was wasted on piss poor development and somehow worse characterisation. There are also nuances in his character where I see potential and do really really like, eg. The guilt of not being able to save everyone, feeling like he is a ‘useless’ apollo kid… But every single damn time it’s either forgotten about or somehow made to centre Nico. His fans take these glimmers of potential and grow them in fanon and make him seem like a somewhat complex character, but then you look at canon and it’s just stereotypes and bullshit that ruins any good interpretation you may have of him.

I do see why the ship appeals to some people, especially in [well written not stereotypical] interpretations of their dynamic, but for me the writing in canon is just too bad for me to look past. It’s sad because it is a ship I want to enjoy, it’s insanely popular and gets a lot of attention from the fandom, but I just can’t ignore the terrible and sometimes offensive writing. Will Solace I’m sorry you were completely fucked over as a character. Anyway thank you for listening to my ted talk.

One last side note: I find it odd how many Solangelo fans acknowledge how OOC and terrible senior year adventures are to both the OG trio and Percabeth but then refuse to believe the same things happened to not only Solangelo but Nico individually in NdAA. Like hello they’re in the same boat.

[sideyeing-riordan]

Since there's a popular pjo artist who loves to pretend that Solangelo antis are biphobic by cherry-picking the posts, gonna flip the board and say it's solangelo fans who're incredibly ableist AND borderline homophobic too.

They romanticise the whole person with physical and mental health problems x healer trope, and love portraying Nico as constantly dependent on Will for everything.

Plus, they unnecessarily make Nico an effeminate teink in very stereotypical ways even but never do so for his straight counterparts (keep in mind Nico is no less masculine than his straight counterparts). It's just weird all around.

These problems are much pervasive too rather than the cherry-picked "biphobia" allegations.

[hadeslittlesouleater]

Reading through passages of solangelo in TSATS, CoTD, and ToA, and Will is increasingly beginning to feel less bisexual and more bi-curious. He just does not seem all that into Nico at all and has an atrocious habit of hitting on other women right in front of him. Maybe he has looked at other guys, but he outright mentions his attraction to women in front of Nico. Will, to me, feels like the kind of guy who dates a guy to try it out, but ultimately ends up leaving him for a woman because he “wants biological kids.” He’s straight up dating Nico for the vibes, or maybe it’s because he’s insecure (as the books have stated themselves) and likes having someone around who obviously looks up to him.

[artemisiamasterofnone]

Confession/mild rant

I ship caleo but hate solangelo.

Now, dont get me wrong, I love nico and will could've been a good character. The problem is, HE WASNT. When introduced in toa, the ship seemed sweet enough. It had the classic opposites attract, golden retriever-black cat dynamic and seemed healthy enough. Nico got a boyfriend and was finally healing.

And then tsats came in.

Suddenly, everyone is ooc. Dionysus is way more chill now, nico is just. Ugh. Why is he so reliant on his bf? He feels like the type to want to be independant, after all he's been through. And will comes in like a blithering idiot, invalidating nico's feelings and experiences. Some other stuff happens, and will shows himself to be really pushy towards nico. The story goes on. Will constantly stops nico from being himself, treating him like something to be fixed, to be cured. He disrespects nicos boundaries by flirting with other people - mostly women - and its just brushed of as his "bisexual chaos". There was more in the book that i dont quite recall since I haven't read the books in a while, but still. Tcotd was worse. Why DID MR D LET SOMEONE BOOP HIM. I won't get into detail of how much tcotd sucked but it did. Will was worse here. Two books now with him as a semi-protagonist, and yet beckendorf seems more developed than him.

And now, caleo

I have nothing to say here, I ship it. When leo left ogygia, i cried. When he returned to ogygia, I cried (i also cried when percy left ogygia so maybe its a calypso thing here. I feel bad for her). At least this ship made me feel something. Solangelo invokes naught but disgust from the pits of my soul.