maverickk

Here’s HSTHETE, the 24 hour comic I drew this year!  Thanks to everybody who followed along on twitter this weekend as I posted these pages <3

Well, I would like to show you something from SoM

First, we have Percy and Clarisse fighting Polyphemus, and barely scratching him. And then:

Mind you, Polyphemus is described as being at least fifteen feet tall.

Percy's anger in this scene seems to unlock something in him, allowing him to do things he wouldn't normally be able to. Or maybe he already could do that, but didn't know he could, or didn't know how to?

Is Percy stronger than he thinks he is? Did his anger make him stronger, or did it simply allow him to forget that he was "hopelessly outmatched", and attack without limiting himself?

There are a few moments during the saga where you get to see Percy doing things that require a greater amount of strength than what you would think he possesses (all while not being in contact with water)

From tBotL:

From HoH:

What I find interesting about these scenes is that, in the fight with Polyphemus, despite knowing how impossible what he just did is, Percy either refuses to think about how the hell did he just defeat this giant cyclops all by himself, or he refuses to tell us what he thinks about it.

Then, in the fight with Antaeus, Percy seems to be trying to play it off, reasoning that his mother always said he had "a gift for getting stuff tangled up" — which doesn't explain at all how he had the strength to do any of it — and also implying that this was an extraordinary situation, since he was "desperate to save [his] friends", so, obviously, that's not something he could do in a normal context, right? Right.

Then, in the scene he kills Arachne and Annabeth asks him how he moved so fast, you can't really tell if he is deflecting the question on purpose. And at last, the most interesting thing about the jump scene isn't even the jump itself, but rather the fact that Percy knew that somehow he would be able to pull it off. It seems to me like at this point, Percy is finally able to admit to himself that he is capable of doing more than what is expected. In his narration we so often see him saying that the idea of doing something is "impossible", right before he does that exact same thing.

From TLO:

(I also like this scene bc Percy is still deluding himself into thinking he's not as powerful as he is but Michael knows he can do it)

From HoH:

When Percy allows himself to try, he always seems to be able to do impossible things. And I don't think he is comfortable with this idea, going so far as only letting himself attempt to control poison bc a) he was dying and b) well, surely that's only possible bc he's in Tartarus right? That's certainly not a power he has access to on a daily basis...

They have finally released all of it! Even the Mad Gear and Missile Kid EP!!

Go to their channel and check their danger days playlist as it’s all there! If ya can’t find it, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow bc of timezones! Stay safe, Killjoys!!!

Also I forgot to add, but bulletproof heart is here too!!

He is not cheerful.

If the first thing you're having Percy do when he meets a new person is start grinning and joking around, you have fundamentally misunderstood him. He is quiet, surly, has the look of a troublemaker, and if he's smiling at you, it's because a) he likes you and thinks of you as a friend or b) he is acting, probably to trick you into fucking up so he can fuck you up.

Nearly all of his commentary should be internal. He's a funny guy (in his thoughts) but he doesn't say much.

He's also fundamentally a very kind person, but he's going to express that through actions before words.

If anything, strangers looking at him should be thinking that he looks like his father: the same brooding look on his face, scowling - and then be surprised when he does something nice. He's got a serious case of resting bitch face.

And while I have your attention, here's my second least favorite Percy Jackson mischaracterization: he does not go around mouthing off to gods for no reason! Holy shit why does everyone have him doing that?!?

Yes he's stubborn and impertinent - but he's not stupid. His first approach every time when talking to a god is to think "ok Percy, how best to not make them mad at me and turn me into a horrible little insect?" The cases where he doesn't do that are outliers, even if they're memorable:

Meeting Dionysus for the first time: a) he's just found out he's a demigod and is grappling with the idea gods are even real; b) Mr. D is giving off serious alcoholic vibes that set off his childhood trauma from Gabe. And when Mr. D threatens him, he shuts up! He's more casual around Mr. D considering he's the god Percy is around the most, and even then Percy's go-to strategy with the guy is to avoid him whenever he can, and if he can't, to stay silent unless there's something really egregious that he disagrees with (example A being Tantalus.)

Meeting Ares on the lightning thief quest: Ares fucking whammied him with his rage aura, and even then Percy was doing his best to be polite while turning him down - because they were on a time sensitive quest!

Fighting Ares in LA: Ares straight up was part of the plot to frame Percy for the theft and drag him into Tartarus with the bolt. He was also preventing Percy from getting the helm and returning the bolt to Zeus - if Percy didn't fight him he was gonna die anyway, frankly from a number of options: Kronos rising, the gods going to war (and probably sniping each other's demigod children), Zeus!!!!, Ares himself to cover up his involvement, Hades!!!!, Poseidon for failing him, for all Percy knew (he'd never met the guy, and all he knew of the gods at that point was that they thought of demigods as tools in their arsenal, not children.) They were past the point of polite reconciliation by then, so Percy challenging him to a duel and luring him into the sea was his best option.

Hades: he is remarkably polite to Hades, even when he tries to imprison him in the underworld for the crime of nearly being sixteen, and Percy has to fight him to escape.

Hermes: he is also very polite to Hermes! Especially since a lot of their conversations involve Percy trying to delicately deliver harsh truths (about Luke) to the guy.

Artemis: pretty sure the only impertinent thing he does around Artemis is try to stand up for Bianca's right to choose her future, since he thinks she's being pressured into joining the hunt. And even that is just to advise her that she should find out what camp is like before swearing an eternal oath. And then when Bianca makes her decision, he shuts up and doesn't try to interfere with her life choices. He's very polite to Artemis! And also respects her a lot.

Apollo: lmao frankly Apollo is the one taking liberties in his relationship with Percy, considering they hardly even talk before Apollo shows up as a mortal during ToA (and by then Apollo has a massive hero crush on Percy, even he never says that explicitly). And even then, the pushiest Percy gets with him while Apollo is an immortal god capable of crushing him like a bug is when Apollo shows up to help with the quest to free Artemis, and that's pretty much just to ask for more information - which, I mean, is for the purposes of helping Apollo's beloved sister. Apollo would've helped more if he could've.

Poseidon: Percy is very respectful of his father, and even when Poseidon says he's his favorite son, Percy is wary of upsetting him. He's tells Poseidon his honest opinion as politely as he can, and pretty much always keeps in mind that it might get him smited - he just takes the risk because he honestly believes what he's saying is important. In any conversation they have, he lets Poseidon lead.

Zeus: Percy is afraid of Zeus, for good reason. I think he closest he comes to mouthing off is when he blurts out his impassioned argument in favor of letting Bessie live - which Zeus ultimately lets happen. Heck, I think the only person to tell Zeus he's wrong (other than Poseidon) is Jason?!? Put some respect on Jason's name. (Even if that did ultimately get him killed, imo.)