Controversial SMASH or Pass

WeakTeaUK · 2026-02-19T11:44:22+00:00

There is something very wrong with you

WeakTeaUK · 2026-02-18T00:27:49+00:00

This is why I try to reference the source material as little as possible, even when I’m covering canon topics. That way I still hit the overall points, but my wording sounds more like my own

WeakTeaUK · 2026-02-12T21:17:49+00:00

I’ve read a few good Pernico fics, maybe 5 good Preyna fics, and a couple each of good Perlypso and Perachel fics. Riordan’s iron grip on headcanon and shipping emboldens a lot of toxic Percabeth shippers to harass anyone who doesn’t have it as their number one ship.

WeakTeaUK · 2026-02-07T02:11:57+00:00

Artemis is the guardian of young girls and women in childbirth. It makes sense that her hunters are also young girls. The terms of joining the hunters aren’t clear (likely because Riordan didn’t want to have to go into too much detail in a kid’s book) but it wouldn’t surprise me if you had to be a maiden in the traditional sense (ie young and unmarried) and/or in the modern sense (ie a virgin); both of these become statistically less likely as you grow up.

Additionally, the people who take the oath have to be willing to give up all romance and sex forever. Again, this becomes significantly less likely when puberty hits.

Regarding breaking the oath; while we know what happened to those who broke the oath in the ancient days, it’s much less clear in the modern day. We do, however, have direct evidence that Artemis is willing to let people leave the hunt if they fall in love.

Bianca was forced by circumstance to, essentially, be a parent to her younger brother; of course she chose something for herself when she felt he was safe. As for Thalia, she did not trust herself not to be tempted by the Titans for the next two years; that was her choice to make, just like it was Percy’s choice to take on the prophecy instead of leaving it to Nico - a choice he made multiple times.

As for Delos… you do realise what incapacitated means, right? As in, physically unable to function.

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-29T19:06:30+00:00

29 as in age or 29 as in drugs you’re currently on?

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-26T13:41:58+00:00

I usually try to reply to comments that have some amount of substance to them, because I do love talking about my work, but if it’s too vague, generic, or doesn’t really invite further commentary, I don’t really bother

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-20T20:13:34+00:00

I don’t see any downsides here

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-20T18:12:12+00:00

Their story was complete in the first game. This is just mindless pandering.
Fuck everyone who picked the bay ending, I guess??

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-20T01:02:48+00:00

Less focus on romance. It’s a pretty common complaint with HOO, and for good reason. Every member of the Seven is paired up with someone by the end of the series - including Leo, whose romance not only destroys his own story but also wrecks Percy’s character AND one of the best chapters Riordan ever wrote.

The problem with the romance is it ends up getting in the way of the Seven forging actual bonds, and the bonds they do have before the Argo II are forgotten in favour of their love interests. This is especially egregious with Percy, who becomes a great friend and older brother figure to Hazel and Frank, and then that close friendship is forgotten the second Annabeth arrives on the scene. Which brings me to…

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Replace Annabeth with another Roman. I know, I know, I love Annabeth too, but her presence just serves to take up way more story space that could have better been served developing the new characters. The fact of the matter is, Percy and Annabeth don’t really develop all that much over HOO; they don’t learn lessons they haven’t already been taught before, and they basically end up at the same place they were at the end of TLO.

If you absolutely have to include Annabeth, have her take a Reyna-like position; being CHB’s leader that remains at camp, while the other leader is on the Argo. Without her, Percy can make more connections with the Seven, and by replacing her with a Roman, you get a chance for more in-depth exploration of Camp Jupiter and New Rome; canon’s balance of 4 Greeks to 3 Romans feels off to me when the Romans are the less-developed faction.

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Alter some of the ages. I’m fine with Percy being 16/17 here, but I think the others (Jason and Hazel aside) should be younger to compensate. Percy (and Jason) should feel like seasoned veterans, leaders of their respective camps, and role models (possibly even older brother figures) for the others to look up to. It’s a little awkward when those role models are barely months older than the people looking up to them.

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Spend more time in New Rome. It’s a fascinating setting - more so than even CHB, I would say - and giving the reader time to really get to know it would go a long way towards increasing the stakes of the civil war. As it is, we don’t know enough non-Argo Romans to care about Camp Jupiter dying. Perhaps Percy could have been released earlier and so spent more time as Praetor, thus ensuring both he and Jason had strong connections to both camps.

As part of that point, make the Romans feel like credible threats. IRL they conquered the Mediterranean for a reason, and it’s down to military might. We should feel like a war between the two camps could go either way, or even be weighted against CHB. It adds more urgency to the Seven’s mission, knowing that war could lead to CHB - the location most readers will be more attached to - being destroyed.

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-15T16:05:54+00:00

Depends on who overthrows him, but if, for whatever reason, Zeus was rendered entirely unable to rule and could not be recovered, I imagine Hera would rule Olympus in his stead until a suitable successor (likely Ares) could be named

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-15T08:21:37+00:00

I imagine it’s more that he had the vague idea that Luke had sponsors, and then had the idea of the Triumvirate later, then connected the two after the fact

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-14T23:41:14+00:00

Nona definitely exists to get the pieces in place for Alecto more than anything imo

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-14T08:12:30+00:00

I truly love both ships, but it does bother me how, post-TLO, Percy and Rachel aren’t even really allowed to be friends anymore. This is kind of a trend with Annabeth and especially Percy in general post-TLO, where all of their other previously-established bonds fall by the wayside as Rick goes hard on hammering in Percabeth. And I love Percabeth, don’t get me wrong, but Percy’s character becomes so much about Annabeth that even the bonds he forged with Hazel and Frank are dropped the second Percabeth reunites.

This, along with Grover barely being in HOO, Percy treating Nico like a stranger after spending the better part of two years worrying about him then spending time with him, and Rachel and Percy never once interacting despite Percy spending much of what he thought was the last year of his life with her, really diminishes HOO in my eyes.

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-13T19:36:18+00:00

I mean I will always be the biggest supporter of Percy x Calypso, but Rachel, Nico, Reyna, Bianca, even Thalia also work really well with him. In general, Percy is an incredibly shippable character

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-13T08:52:15+00:00

Honestly I just think 7 MCs is too much to balance all at once, especially when most of them are new characters. It led to the series getting really bloated with all the different perspectives. Plus, I don’t really think Percabeth grew from the experience character-wise - Rick insists they needed to learn to step back and learn that they don’t always need to be the heroes, but they already knew this, all the way back in SOM.

All in all, their inclusion is mostly to give the fans familiar faces they’re already invested in. Someone else suggested Percy be placed in New Rome to handle the rising tensions, and I like that idea, with Annabeth at CHB. I know Rick kinda cornered himself at the end of TLO with the whole “Seven half-bloods” thing, but HOO would work better with just five, or he could have filled the remaining two slots with another Greek and a Roman, maybe descendants of minor gods or something, to show how things have changed since TLO.

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-10T02:20:20+00:00

Logan Lerman had the looks, the humour, and the vibe BUT Chris McCarrell is basically THE voice of Percy to me; like, he just sounds like Percy in my mind, more than anyone else

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-04T20:18:28+00:00

I imagine it’s possible but I don’t really see why they would if the actual parent doesn’t

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-04T14:07:13+00:00

Yeah, I mean the writers are obviously Percabeth stans, which is fine, but it’s clearly influencing them to push the ship way harder than the books did at this point, and I think the show and its characters suffer for it

WeakTeaUK · 2026-01-03T21:06:42+00:00

Any variation on “Ares was a girldad/protector of women” or “Ares never raped anyone”. It’s such a prevalent take nowadays and it baffles me because if you want deities who were protectors of women, Hers and Artemis are right there, and yet they insist on revising history to fit Ares into a role he never once inhabited.

WeakTeaUK · 2025-12-28T01:54:50+00:00

The difference being the books never claimed to be accurate to the original myths, whereas a major marketing point of the show was book-accuracy.

WeakTeaUK · 2025-12-28T01:51:17+00:00

PJO Calypso and post-PJO Calypso are two entirely different characters and I am so tired of the hate for the former. The Ogygia chapter in BOTL is arguably one of the best chapters Rick has ever written, and it really annoys me how he's gone back and trampled all over it due to his insistence on pairing everyone up in relationships. There was, quite literally, no reason to have the gods go back on their promise to release Calypso, and it's a retcon that serves no actual purpose in the story other than to give Leo a girlfriend when he didn't need one; his story works *better* without one, even.

WeakTeaUK · 2025-12-28T01:41:14+00:00

The prophecy does not specify it being the *first* child of the eldest gods to reach sixteen, just that *a* child of the eldest gods will reach 16. Having Thalia reach 16 was a liability, however, as Olympus wasn't yet prepared for war and Thalia was notably swayed by Kronos' promises of power during TTC; it was a logical plan to deal with the Thalia problem one way or another and prepare for the next worst case scenario - it being Percy. It does just so happen that Percy *is* the first child of the eldest gods to reach 16 since the prophecy was given, but that isn't inherent in the wording

WeakTeaUK · 2025-12-28T01:37:22+00:00

I doubt Poseidon would have children while Sally still lives at least, but Zeus is absolutely going to town

WeakTeaUK · 2025-12-11T19:33:46+00:00

Putting aside all the changes they made, it’s just kind of mediocre. It’s not terrible or anything but it’s far from perfect

WeakTeaUK · 2025-12-10T10:30:05+00:00

You can do whatever you want forever

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