Percy Was Not Smart-Procrustes Was Dumbed Down

'Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage' sounds like Percy if he realised that the gods were never going to change and he starts thinking that maybe he should have joined Luke and the Titans.

What if instead of Hades, Poseidon sent monsters after Thalia?

Yes, you heard me right. You know that PJO kind of sanitises Poseidon a lot? Yeah, Percy's his son, but we could still get a few moments where Poseidon is the bad guy. I mean, this was a huge missed opportunity for telling us how bad the gods were as parents. Well………..imagine that Poseidon was annoyed that Zeus broke the oath, so he sent monsters after Thalia to show Zeus that this was not a good idea. It fits him perfectly and then Percy and Thalia could have even more angst (which is resolved at the end). And Poseidon can get ahold of monsters-don't tell me he can't.

All right, ok, LISTEN. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm pretty sure that some people do. It's ok to hate Percy Jackson because it depicts the Greek Gods in a terrible way. Rick Riordan has the creative license to write them however he wants, but it's still fine to be annoyed at how they're portrayed.

It's ok to hate the fact that PJO wasn't in Greece and that the explanation for why it was in America was terrible.

It's ok to hate the fact that Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena and a whole lot of other gods were portrayed in a negative light.

It's ok to be furious because Ares is a bad parent in PJO.

It's ok to tear your hair out over the way Artemis and her hunt were written.

It's ok to be angry that Athena had children with mortals when she was a virgin goddess in the myths.

It's ok to be angry that Hades cheated on Persephone in PJO (even if you like Nico and Bianca and Hazel. It's fine to do both).

It's ok to be angry that Persephone and Demeter don't have a good relationship and that Demeter is largely painted to be an overbearing, helicopter mother.

It's ok to resent the fact that Artemis, the former's hunt and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and another virgin goddess, were portrayed as literal CHILDREN despite there being no reason for Rick to do that.

It's ok to be annoyed with the fact that Poseidon was sanitized when he could've been such a morally gray character.

It's fine to cry about the fact that Aphrodite was largely reduced to a stereotypical, modern cartoonish version of RomANtiC lOvE when she was the goddess of LOVE, not just ROMANCE, SEX AND BEAUTY.

It's ok to like Trials of Apollo but want to smash things because Apollo was depicted as an incompetent dumbass. It's ok to seethe at the fact that Zeus was portrayed as an abusive father to Apollo when in the myths, he was quite loving.

It's ok to do this because PJO is one of the if not THE MOST major media that depicts Greek Mythology. It's basically a Greek Mythology fanfiction MODERN AU. And yes, it's helped thousands of children and adults and made them feel better, and it's almost as popular as Harry Potter for a reason. But it's still fine for Greek people, Hellenistic Pagans and even people who aren't Greek or Hellenistic to be angry with how Rick Riordan is continuously bastardising the Greek Gods and making them look more and more of a joke.

A lot of people who got into Greek Mythology used PERCY JACKSON as their first reference, and while Percy Jackson is a great start for venturing into Greek Mythology- PLEASE, PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT PJO GODS ARE NOT AS ACCURATE AS THE ORIGINAL.

POSEIDON IS NOT THAT GOOD.

HADES IS NOT SO VILLANOUS.

ATHENA IS NOT SO COLD AND UNCARING. SHE'S A MAIN PATRON OF HEROES AND RARELY ABANDONS THEM EVEN AFTER THEY'VE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES

DIONYSUS IS NOTHING LIKE HIS PJO COUNTERPART.

ARES IS A GOOD FATHER.

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE HAD A BEAUTIFUL, LOVING RELATIONSHIP.

HERA IS NOT SO HORRIBLE. SHE HAD HER GOOD MOMENTS

ZEUS WAS NOT THAT BAD IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND HE WAS ALSO A CARING FATHER. HE SENT BLOOD RAIN DOWN TO MOURN HIS SON SARPEDON WHO WAS FATED TO DIE.

I know this sounds like I hate PJO, but I really do like the series. It's fine to like PJO and its characters while also disliking how the gods were portrayed. It's ok.

Ok, I am once again wondering why Rick didn't just put PIPER in DREW'S PLACE.

Piper could have been the head counsellor of cabin 10-exhausted, burnt out, and she and Silena could have been the ones to have charmspeak, which would give them an extra special bond as the only ones who had it.

And when Piper gets really emotionally intense after the Titan War II, she just uses charmspeak on her cabin members. Of course, she feels guilty afterwards, but they still start to be scared of her.

And this way, we can learn more about what happens at camp, because maybe she could be a year rounder so as not to harm Tristan, but she could still have her trauma from her younger days.

Just another example of wasted potential in PJO, which is surprisingly easy to come by.

Vivienne and Madoc angst part two

She had called him daddy on the day of the coronation. She had called him father when shooting bolts at him. Sometimes she acknowledged him, sometimes she acted like he was a stranger. In a way, however, they WERE strangers. Madoc realized with a start that he didn't know what her favorite color or foods were. He didn't know what clothes she liked to wear, he didn't know what she did for a living, he didn't know what music she liked to listen to. Well, she had never stayed for long. She was always off to some place, even when he tried to get her to stay. It wasn't HIS fault. 'Oh, yeah, look at this park! It's my favorite-Lincoln Park. My dad used to take me here all the time.' she said. Madoc raised his eyebrows. What? Her father? He'd never- Justin. Justin. My father. Justin.

It suddenly crashed into him. That even though he was Vivienne's biological father, the man who had raised her was Justin Duarte, and then he'd died, and there was no other man, because his one biological daughter had always avoided him, avoided acknowledging their bond. 'I loved playing catch with him. And when I was tired, he would take me for ice cream. Vanilla ice cream-my favorite. While Mom took care of Jude and Taryn.' Madoc bit his lip. He was very uncomfortable now. The car was very cramped. He wanted to get out and run away. (Run away? How odd. He never ran away from things. Emotional troubles-he pushed them down, not ran away.) Vivienne swerved to avoid accidentally running a dog down and cursed. (Push down, run away. Run down, push away). He had never apologized to them for killing their parents. His apologies came in the form of raising them as his own, insisting they live like the Gentry Faeries. Teaching them swordplay and strategies. Giving them ball gowns and faerie food. 'I don't really like killing. It's a you thing.' she said. 'Of course, you wouldn't know anything else, would you? You can only kill, pathetic monster.' 'Vivienne.' he said. 'I've had enough. Stop this.' She snorted. 'Of course. Run away from emotionally charged conversations. Always the Madoc I knew.' When she had yelled at him, about Justin and Eva, he had always yelled back and told her to shut up. Walked away. Distracted himself. He never cried. (Though he'd blinked quite rapidly when standing near Eva's cooling body. Very rapidly, more than usual.) 'I never-' he said, then stopped. He couldn't speak. Why couldn't he speak? (That was a lie. He couldn't lie.) 'You never WHAT?' Vivienne yelled. The car was going to fast for his liking now. 'Never WHAT, Madoc? Never wanted to talk about them? Yeah, you never DID acknowledge what you did to us.' 'I have you everything, but you never took it.' 'No you didn't. You took what you wanted from my mother and then took even more from the three of us. Took everything from the three of us.' 'Vivienne, please-' 'NO.' she screamed. The car slammed to a halt and Madoc lurched forward. 'Get out.' He blinked. 'What?' 'Get. OUT!' she screamed, blinking back tears. 'I don't know why I took you on. I never win. Just get out and find your way back. I don't care.' He sighed and got out, staring at the car zooming away morosely. And then he realized where he was. The house. The house where it all happened. He grit his teeth. VIVIENNE! Then it hit him-Eva would've done something like that. A silly, lighthearted prank-well, not really, but she would have done it in a lighter manner. He remembered Eva and her reddish brown hair streaming behind her as she squinted her eyes and threw her head back when laughing. She had been a perfect mix of Jude and Taryn-Jude's daring and cunning and Taryn's soft femininity. He knew that he was so dedicated to the twins because they reminded her of him-more specifically Jude, who could have been an adopted Vivienne. His own Vivienne, however, had his eyes and ears, but she also had Eva's brown hair and a lighter shade of her skin. And now Madoc really saw some Eva in Vivienne-her snark, her boldness, her carefree nature. And he wondered how he hadn't seen it before.

We know that Vivienne, Jude and Taryn left when they were 10 years old-about the same time that Madoc courted and married Oriana.

Do you think that they left home because of this very reason? It's canon that they were worried about it, because Madoc might send them away, so it's a real possibility.

I wonder how he reacted when they ran away and then came back.

How Rick could have portrayed Calypso

It would have been way better if Rick had portrayed Calypso as a mother figure instead of a teenager. I know that Percy Jackson is a kid's series, which is why he took out the rape, but choosing to portray Calypso as a teenager after reading about her being a fully-grown woman and raping Odysseus definitely feeds into the horrible mindset that men can't get raped by women because the latter are too cutesy and weak to do something that terrible.

She could remind Percy of Sally, ironically, because she wants him to stay (but won't force him to) and she's so angry with the gods because this boy is so YOUNG, only 14. And Percy loves her a bit like he loves Sally, and he resolves to make the gods free her if he can.

And when Leo crashes up on his island, barely older than Percy, Calypso doesn't really know if the war's been won or not, so she asks him, and he tells all, but instead of blaming Percy, she blames the gods again. And she reminds Leo of Esperanza and he comes back for her, and maybe she could join the Waystation and be friends with Jo and Emmie or something-just that terribly written and rushed romance plot.

HOW RICK PORTRAYED NYX AND GAIA

The way Rick portrays Nyx is eyebrow-raising at best, head-bashing-against-wall at worst.

Let me tell you about Nyx. She's a Primordial-not even a Titan, a Primordial.

First Generation, so powerful that she scared off Zeus himself. And she resides in Tartarus, where even the most powerful of gods fear to tread. All the monsters never mentioned her name, only called her 'Night', ALL OF THEM were scared of, even the worst ones.........

And when Percy and Annabeth finally encounter her...........she's portrayed as this foolish, crabby, whiny, woman who can easily be fooled by two demigods.

Rick is notorious for building up something exciting and then leaving it to crumble, but this one might just take the cake.

If Real Nyx sided with PJO Gaia, then Percy and Annabeth would never have survived. She's a Protegenoi-a Primordial. More powerful than the Titans, and Kronos himself took a whole book to defeat. And then she calls all her children, and then they're portrayed as dumb too. The minor gods, Nyx'x children, each more powerful than probably most of CHB put together..........

You understand what I'm getting at?

HOO is full of horrible characterisation, logic and retcons and this is just another feather in its pillow stuffing.

(I made that up on the spot ok-)

And Gaea-well, she could have been the grayest character ever.

She had so many good reasons to rise up and take back what's hers. Humans were destroying the planet. They were suffocating her and Pan was already dead-

and instead, all we got was a rash, screeching, morally very dark gray woman who was apparently 'too proud and took on a physical form too soon'.

It took only a few pages to defeat her. The fight was so anticlimatic, don't even get me started. Piper, only a demigod, being able to defeat an awakening primordial?

Aphrodite should've used charmspeak. She would have been powerful enough to send Gaea back to sleep. Along with Drew and Piper-that would have been a nice bonding moment, provided that those two don't fall asleep first.

How Nyx and Gaea are portrayed is really eye-twitching head-banging stuff.

(This is shorter than the others-feel free to add your thoughts in the comments and reblogs.)

Percy doesn't deserve godhood-not because he's too weak for it, but because it's too horrible a thing to wish upon him.

He's already gone through so much-why would anyone give him another catastrophe to deal with?

WHO HERE THINKS THAT WE SHOULD'VE GOTTEN MORE ANNABETH AND POSEIDON MOMENTS?

You know how Athena disapproves of and threatened Percy? Well………….DO THAT WITH POSEIDON AND ANNABETH! Let them meet. Let Annabeth squirm. Let Poseidon smile, but let it not quite reach his suddenly cold green eyes.

Let him size her up, and let her be found wanting. LET HIM SILENTLY THREATEN HER NOT TO HIT PERCY AGAIN!

Let him disapprove of Annabeth's nickname for him! Let Percy defend it, defend Annabeth from Poseidon!

Let Poseidon tell Percy that if things don't work out (in a way that he implies that he hopes it doesn't work out) that he can hook up with a sea nymph or naiad or something! This was SUCH a missed opportunity to show that Poseidon loves Percy and thinks that he can do better than a plain daughter of Athena! (Or at least Poseidon thinks so).

Can someone write this, please? I would, but I already have something else going on.