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@solangelo-critical
Intro (lol)
Are you tired of of the Solangelo trash? Do you not understand why people are suddenly worshipping a yellow solar-powered streetlight by the name of Will Solace? If yes, this is just the place for you! Here go my criticisms and memes of Solangelo, Will Solace, and occasional Nico thoughts. Rants (and more) along such lines are welcome in my inbox. Enjoy <3
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I genuinely hate how Solangelo fans just can't stop misconstruing the criticisms of Solangelo in the worst ways possible.
It's legit like: "I don't like how Will can be so pushy and disrespectful towards Nico".
And they'll hear: "Oh, so you hate him for not letting Nico die?" "Oh you're calling him controlling for giving Nico chocolate?"
Like, no you dumass - I hate how they have this weird doctor x patient dynamic which is played for giggles but is deeply problematic once you realise Nico is a character who has long-standing problems associated with physical and mental health.
It really does feel like the whole "it's not that deep" discourse and the death of media literacy.
I know a lot of us hate what happened to Nico's character since House of Hades, and I think it actually boils down to one thing: the displacement of Nico's fundamental themes and arc.
Nico's character was built on platonic and familial love, on the desire for connection and acceptance. In the original series it was about Bianca, his past and indentity; for some time it holds up in Heroes of Olympus - in the Son Of Neptune, he tries his level best to associate with people at Camp Jupiter - comforting Gwendolyn when she returns to life, discussing war strategy for the games, being a spectator of the games from the watch tower and earnest in his duties as an ambassador despite Camp Jupiter's dislike for his heritage - he tried to connect and belong in spite of his personal turmoil and the Roman demigods' aversion.
Why do you think he was one of the first demigods in a long time to stop and talk to Hestia, the goddess of family? Or the fact that he sought connection in the dead when the living rejected him, even goind far enough to give his sister Hazel another chance at life (problems regarding this aspect notwithstanding)?
His story was about seeking acceptance and belonging, dealing with grief and abandonment*, platonic and familial bonds, identity in a world which wasn't his - not in time, not in culture. It was about all of this and so much more.
In fact, his relationship and feelings towards Percy were platonic - which is exactly what it made it so beautiful; they loved and "hated" each other the way siblings do!
Now enter Riordan and House of Hades: bluntly put, the whole "Erm ackshually 🤓☝️, Nico has a crush on Percy since years, he isn't pushing people because of his isolation and personal issues - you see, he actually has this huge complex over his romantic orientation as a gay guy which is going to be resolved largely off-screen after he gets to hold hands with a side character" retcon was a major disservice to everything about Nico and his character, but ok.
All that being said, you're probably thinking "OP, you mean Nico shouldn't have been queer?" - no! Nico could've been queer in ways which perfectly fit everything previously established about him without coming off as a botched retcon - he has quite a few motifs gender queer allegories (enby Nico? Yes.), and could've worked great as a gay oriented aroace character in Trials of Apollo.
On that note, characters like Piper, Leo, Jason and even Percy would've been way better fits for diverse orientations. Piper could've been sapphic/lesbian, Leo could've been gay, Jason and Percy could've been Bi.
but Riordan barely ever puts thought into his diversity so
Anyways, yeah. I just think the way it went down was, well - sad.
Honestly, This ^
Perhaps one of the most damning aspects about Solangelo is the narrative backed (and fandom amplified) idea that they're meant to last forever. PJOblr AND Riordan act like they're this soulmate match made by Aphrodite herself, which is ridiculous considering that originally (i.e., in BoO and ToA) they barely had interactions outside banter and their relationship was extremely shallow.
The worst part is that technically, if executed well, it isn't bad per se. This kind of "cheesy, corny" puppy love relationship is common amongst teenagers and typically short-lived (Personally though, I HATED how this required Nico's character assassination to work).
It certainly could help someone like Nico, who's had difficult experiences with socialization on account of factors like trauma, isolation, self-loathing etc. It's his first relationship afterall, the best time to understand basic dynamics, boundaries and interactions. What kind of humour, bonding activities and affectionate expression he prefers with his boyfriend; you know, the baseline.
It would genuinely make a lot more sense if he eventually realised they aren't actually meant to be together forever, break-up amicably with Will and move on to focus on himself and seek a true partner at his own pace (if he wishes to).
The asexual Nico di Angelo front is strong, and that's amazing. On that note, dare I suggest: (gay oriented) AroAce Nico? Or even gay angled aroace Nico, for that matter.
Because for a child in the 1930s, yes having a crush on boys was wrong and bad, but not having a crush on anyone? Impossible - mainstream visibility for aroaces and the a-spec is a relatively recent phenomenon.
It genuinely makes sense for him to conflate a squish (romantic crush in Aro parlance) or an alterous crush with a romantic one - because no one told him otherwise. Or an aesthetic crush for a sexual one - for that matter.
It makes so much sense for Nico to pine for platonic friendships and connection all his life in canon because it's everything to him and all that really matters, deep down.
Something something about Nico thinking about Jason, his friend of a few weeks at best before he thought about the "love of his life" Percy.
- Blood of olympus
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One of my favourite reasons to believe that Nico and Apollo would date when the former is in his mid-to-late 20s something is the fact that mortal resilience is a trait Apollo comes to appreciate tremendously during his time as a human and Nico embodies fortitude - his character is built on showing up even in the face of excruciating personal difficulties and turmoil even though I hate how Riordan handled it. I believe Apollo absolutely would fall in love, respect and understand the person Nico is - flawed but good-hearted, courageous and intelligent.
Anyways, deified Nico who is the personification of fortitude/tenacity and his lover Apollo.
Me waiting for solangelo fans to realize that Nico was originally straight and never had a crush on Percy but instead on Annabeth, and when Rick realized he could make a profit off queer characters he essentially created a male version of Annabeth to stick Nico with and said “actually they were meant for each other all along!”
He didn’t have to make Nico have a crush on Percy either. Nico could’ve still had a crush on Annabeth and later realized he was gay. It implies that anytime a young person idolizes someone of the same sex, then they must be gay! Nico could’ve very well developed a crush on Percy later on rather than having a crush from the beginning. After all, he was a kid and kids don’t really understand those feelings yet.
YeahI agree so much with this. And I have sooo many thoughts about this. Like, Nico could've been Bi? And why did he have to develop a crush on Percy, and not any other guy? That was so amatonormative.
Literally this, I could tell from the very beginning after a couple of rereads, that he idolized Annabeth in a way that could come off as a crush. Then all of a sudden it was revealed to be Percy, which didn't really make sense because they are very different. Just for him to date someone who is almost exactly like Annabeth but a little bit goofier in order to make it seem like the Percy crush maybe had to do.
What I saw is that he could have been bi and in my eyes I don't think he's only bi. I think he's pansexual. I think he likes everybody but from the beginning I could tell that he was meant to be probably more based on his mother and sisters' trauma rather than the later-on arc of him accepting the fact that he liked guys. What, in my opinion, happened is that Rick Riordan ran out of arc to give him because he had already dealt with his sister's death. He had already dealt slightly with his mother's death and there was no more content to give him. He resorted to the most realistic option, which is to capitalize on his more vulnerable audience and give him a really really strange queer arc.
I feel like him being queer turned into a joke at one point. He wasn't taken very seriously and a lot of his personality was narrowed down to only being a queer emo guy rather than someone who is not only queer but is dealing with family issues, dealing with a father that doesn't really see him for who he is, and going through many friendships with people who are like him and even losing someone who he cares about who was one of his best friends, like Jason.
Reblogging this again because real honestly.
Well, if I had to write a (gay oriented) aroace character struggling with comp allo/amatonormativity, I'd write him pretty much the way Riordan wrote Nico di Angelo.
Me waiting for solangelo fans to realize that Nico was originally straight and never had a crush on Percy but instead on Annabeth, and when Rick realized he could make a profit off queer characters he essentially created a male version of Annabeth to stick Nico with and said “actually they were meant for each other all along!”
He didn’t have to make Nico have a crush on Percy either. Nico could’ve still had a crush on Annabeth and later realized he was gay. It implies that anytime a young person idolizes someone of the same sex, then they must be gay! Nico could’ve very well developed a crush on Percy later on rather than having a crush from the beginning. After all, he was a kid and kids don’t really understand those feelings yet.
YeahI agree so much with this. And I have sooo many thoughts about this. Like, Nico could've been Bi? And why did he have to develop a crush on Percy, and not any other guy? That was so amatonormative.
Ok, so in Greek mythology when Cupid's arrows struck someone, they would often feel physical desire/love for whomsoever their eyes fell upon after being struck right?
Now during the Cupid Scene:
Like, it didn't work. Jason was well within his field of vision, but Nico didn't develop anything for him. I understand this was unintentional on Riordan's part, but this opens room for several metaphors. Like you COULD use this to view Nico as a gay demi-aro and demi-ace - he doesn't develop any attraction towards men unless he has a bond with them. Jason was pretty much a stranger to him at this point in time, so it didn't work.
You know, fun ideas. Or if you wanted something slightly divergent you could see him as a gay demi-aro who's completely asexual.
Or you could see him as a gay asexual/ gay demiace. Now this was all unintentional on Rock's behalf, but yeah you can use it for your a-spec Nico di Angelo headcanon.
Yes. We're selling the aspec Nico headcanon.
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mayhaps not strictly anti-soloangelo rant but about w*ll. i haven't in fandom for ages but dear Lord above do he annoy me sfm. his entire personality waters down to sunshine uwu gay, which is like big understatement to how unhinged apollo's kids could be. not all of them are sunshine and rainbows, but because will was sadly the only alive, the image persists, and even apollo gets twinkiefied... back to the rant though, i wish will had more "darker" traits to himself, instead of the cardboard we got in the canon. like show him bringing on plagues, and so on. he isn't fully human, he might as well have fucked up moral code. and about his sexuality. i wish he was something more than just gay twink but oh well, in my eyes pjo is poorly written interesting concept as a whole, with a few reedeming qualities
Fair enough, though maybe I wouldn't throw around the word twink like that - it's for specific contexts 😅
Not a solangelo rant but I saw someone on twitter say that Leo was arguably a worser written character then Will and I just keep think about it
Oh, Will Solace fans have such lovely opinions 🙃
i think solangelo at the end of boo was cute and it would have been a cool thing to have nico be insinuated to have a crush on will and just spin it as, Nico is slowly overcoming his internalized homophobia and feels more comfortable with the fact that he's attracted to dudes. but then leave the relationship at that and let Nico leave chb for somewhere that's a lot less toxic to him
I don't even really like nico (or will lmao) that much but I genuinely hate solangelo so bad because in canon it butchered both characters' potential and the fanon is insufferable and fucking EVERYWHERE. tell me why solangelo is more popular than other nico ships or just more interesting ships in general. WHY
and maybe I don't really have a lot of room to talk because I'm a byler so I'm also insufferable and everywhere but idgaf the implications of will "fixing" nico and his depression and trauma are toxic and ableist as hell and I don't like it
Well, I disagree about Solangelo being "cute" at the end of BoO - it was either bland or outright problematic, but to each their own.
Maybe your question was rhetorical, but I'll use it to touch upon the fact that other fanon ships like Nicobaster, Jasico, Valdangelo, Percico, Nipollo etc don't enjoy as much popularity despite their potential simply because Solangelo edges them out in the canonacity department.
I agree with everything else.
Let's not forget the racism.☝️One of the people who reblogged that post you screenshoted was like "And people will say Leo's flaws are a result of stereotypical writing. Men being sexist isn't a stereotype, silly." Like maybe think. For two seconds. About why Leo's writing is stereotypical for him specifically. It's called racism. Do I have to say it slowly? And while we're on that note, Will was immediately popular after BOO just by virtue of being white and queer. Solangelo was massively popular before we knew anything about that guy. It was carried by the color scheme, his whiteness, and the preference for m/m in fandoms. (Let's not even go into the homophobic mischaracterization and shrinking of Nico's character in fanon for the sake of fetishizing and self-inserting on him.) Then AND NOW the attention and content for Will greatly outsizes how much is given to literal main characters! Especially Hazel and Frank! Heck, the entire Kane Chronicles series is less popular than him. People are more obsessed with a hypothetical backstory that they invented for Will. And his pushinesss and ableism ARE different than Leo's behavior actually, because Will is a healer. Leo's unwanted flirting isn't good, but Will actually physically overrides Nico's free will.
Anon, standing ovation from me. You're spot on. Indeed, Leo's writing is based on the flirty latin man stereotype, which is very different from why Will was written the way he was. As a woman of color myself, it's weird how much this fandom overlooks.
You are absolutely right on all counts - and I'd like to highlight your points about how his backstory is largely hypothetical, and the homophobic fetishisation of Nico. Nothing more to add. Thanks for your insight.
And you know what’s worse? I liked the idea of Will Solace as a character (not a romantic interest, necessarily).
One of the few(?) children of Apollo that survived the war with Kronos, a healer that couldn’t heal enough people.
But instead we got a trope so overdone it hurts to see, and, honestly, a bad relationship.
Well, here's the thing: In my opinion, Will isn't even a character outside of Nico. We just don't know how the war affected him, what was his actual role (beyond healing Annabeth that is), how close he was to his siblings etc. Most of it is derived from fanon or the few very vague, passing references in canon.
He was legit just a plot device before being stamped as "Nico's love interest".
I respect your sentiment that he could've been interesting. It's just that there are way more interesting side characters with a lot more substance.
As for the second part, I agree and don't have anything to add.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Me when I go to the solangelo critical tag and it's full of people cribbing about how tsats ruined the ship:
Be so fr, y'all there was nothing to ruin. I hate how hypocritical it all is. Like, that ship was always trash?! Don't get me wrong, tsats was also a pain to read but let's not act like Solangelo had anything in it which could be ruined. They were so stereotypical and superficial.
Gather round everybody, we have a specimen:
Context was this post.
Most of the cast is teenagers under high pressure. Will is no different.
So what? He assisted birth (like an obstetrician) and in trials of Apollo he performed an arm surgery, he may be called a "medic", but don't kid yourself.
You don't have to be a doctor to have basic regard. Most people with sensitivity would know how to behave.
Lol, no. Just because other characters did something doesn't mean it's you can't criticize actions of other characters.
Also, this person is defending ableism of all things. Gross.
Episode no.?? Of Will Solace fans being stupid.
I'm never shocked by their nonsense.
