Anti Rick Riordan - Blog Posts

honestly the fact that everyone says annabeth was the leader of the argo ii is proof that rick fucked up frank's entire arc

There's also rarely, if ever any, exploration of Percy's interests as opposed to Annabeth's own. Same with goals for the future. Percy doesn't want any quests, and Annabeth wants the demigod life, so they are already at odds, and it's never addressed.

Percy's interests are almost never taken in account or even brought to the conversation while Annabeth's are always a priority. In Chalice of the Gods, Percy doesn't want to go to NRU at all but Annabeth's going so he has to. You can clearly tell throughout that Percy doesn't want to go and especially not after finding out he is getting a baby sister.

The fact that he has to change what he wants because of what Annabeth wants is a sign of how terrible the situation is, especially when considering something as important as future plans. And often than not, Annabeth's narcissism shows in the process.

As for Rick, at this point, criticizing him is like preaching to the choir. He has already butchered enough as is. And we all already know it's his fault to some extent always.

You know, one thing that makes me unhappy about Percabeth in WOTTG is that Percy feels like he has to be the perfect boyfriend for Annabeth and feels pressured around her.

Because you shouldn't feel like you have to please your partner all the time. You should be able to relax and be yourself with them. If they're really your partner, they'll accept you, flaws and all. If you're with strangers at a party, uncomfortable, and they walk in, you should be able to light up and relax with them.

The way Percabeth is written, Percy would freak out and stress out even MORE about Annabeth being there because he'd want to impress her too much.

But I'm not blaming Annabeth for this-because I don't know if she knows what Percy's thinking.

Has Percy ever told her that he feels like he has to be the perfect boyfriend for her and always please her? Because if he has, and if she hasn't shot down that ridiculous notion, then it's bad writing on Rick's part-

But if Percy HASN'T told her that, then how can we blame her?

In the end, I blame Rick Riordan and his terrible writing.

But can someone please tell me if Percy ever told Annabeth about wanting to be the perfect boyfriend for her? Has he ever told her about ANY of his insecurities?

For all the people in my last post about Percy Jackson saying “oh wick wiordan a white man is twying!!!!!!😫😫😫😫😭😭😭🥺🥺🥺🥺

As a Muslim girl, I feel obligated to let people know what I think about Rick Riordan’s post about Samirah. Don’t add on unless you’re a Muslim or Iraqi, because if you aren’t you don’t get to decide how Muslims should be represented.

Like many of my characters, Samirah was inspired by former students of mine. Over the course of my middle school teaching career, I worked with dozens of Muslim students and their families, representing the expanse of the Muslim world and both Shia and Sunni traditions. One of my most poignant memories about the September 11, 2001, attack of the World Trade Center was when a Muslima student burst into tears when she heard the news – not just because it was horrific, but also because she knew what it meant for her, her family, her faith. She had unwillingly become an ambassador to everyone she knew who, would have questions about how this attack happened and why the perpetrators called themselves “Muslim.” Her life had just become exponentially more difficult because of factors completely beyond her control. It was not right. It was not fair. And I wasn’t sure how to comfort or support her.

You’re saying that you based Samirah off middle school students. Students who are scrutinized by others because of their religion and desperate to fit in. When I was in seventh grade, I did my best to act like everyone else and not be alienated. Middle school students are not a reliable source. Also, why would you bring up 9/11 in the first paragraph? You literally said that you associate that traumatic event with Muslims.

During the following years, I tried to be especially attuned to the needs of my Muslim students. I dealt with 9/11 the same way I deal with most things: by reading and learning more. When I taught world religions in social studies, I would talk to my Muslim students about Islam to make sure I was representing their experience correctly. They taught me quite a bit, which eventually contributed to my depiction of Samirah al-Abbas. As always, though, where I have made mistakes in my understanding, those mistakes are wholly on me.

One again, these are middle school students. They aren’t the most reliable source, especially since I’m pretty sure at that age most of them don’t know as much about Islam as adults. I used to go to my mom a lot with questions about Islam.

What did I read for research? I have read five different English interpretations of the Qur’an. (I understand the message is inseparable from the original Arabic, so it cannot be considered ‘translated’). I have read the entirety of the Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim hadith collections. I’ve read three biographies of Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) and well over a dozen books about the history of Islam and modern Islam. I took a six-week course in Arabic. (I was not very good at it, but I found it fascinating). I fasted the month of Ramadan in solidarity with my students. I even memorized some of the surahs in Arabic because I found the poetry beautiful. (They’re a little rusty now, I’ll admit, but I can still recite al-Fātihah from memory.) I also read some anti-Islamic screeds written in the aftermath of 9/11 so I would understand what those commenters were saying about the religion, and indirectly, about my students. I get mad when people attack my students.

The fact that you can recite Surah Al-Fatihah doesn’t change the fact that you are still an outsider. You’re a white man, and you can’t claim to understand the Quran and Islam without consulting other Muslims or scholars.

When preparing to write Samirah’s background, I drew on all of this, but also read many stories on Iraqi traditions and customs in particular and the experiences of immigrant families who came to the U.S. I figured out how Samirah’s history would intertwine with the Norse world through the medieval writer Ahmad ibn Fadhlan, her distant ancestor and one of the first outsiders to describe the Vikings in writing.  I knew Samirah would be a ferocious brave fighter who always stood for what was right. She would be an excellent student who had dreams of being an aviator. She would have a complicated personal situation to wrestle with, in that she’s a practicing Muslim who finds out Valhalla is a real place. Odin and Thor and Loki are still around. How do you reconcile that with your faith? Not only that, but her mom had a romance with Loki, who is her dad. Yikes.

You - a white man - don’t have the right to try and convey a Muslim’s struggle without even getting a Muslim to read over it and give you feedback. You have no way of knowing if it’s accurate or not.

(Side note: in your Piper article, you admitted you didn’t use sensitivity readers when writing her. You even tried to justify is by saying you hadn’t even heard of the term in 2009, but the Magnus Chase books were started in 2015. Couldn’t you have used sensitivity readers then?)

Thankfully, the feedback from Muslim readers over the years to Samirah al-Abbas has been overwhelmingly positive. I have gotten so many letters and messages online from young fans, talking about how much it meant to them to see a hijabi character portrayed in a positive light in a ‘mainstream’ novel.

You’ve gotten positive feedback because we’re desperate for representation. I was 11 when I first read about Sam and I was so happy to finally see a Muslim character! And now when I reread it, I can’t believe how badly you represented us.

Some readers had questions, sure! The big mistake I will totally own, and which I have apologized for many times, was my statement that during the fasting hours of Ramadan, bathing (i.e. total immersion in water) was to be avoided. This was advice I had read on a Shia website when I myself was preparing to fast Ramadan. It is advice I followed for the entire month. Whoops! The intent behind that advice, as I understood it, was that if you totally immersed yourself during daylight hours, you might inadvertently get some water between your lips and invalidate your fast. But, as I have since learned, that was simply one teacher’s personal opinion, not a widespread practice. We have corrected this detail (which involved the deletion of one line) in future editions, but as I mentioned in my last post, you will still find it in copies since the vast majority of books are from the first printing.

Okay so I’m not a Shia Muslim so I don’t think I have enough knowledge on this subject but I would recommend reading this

Another question was about Samirah’s wearing of the hijab. To some readers, she seemed cavalier about when she would take it off and how she would wear it. It’s not my place to be prescriptive about proper hijab-wearing. As any Muslim knows, the custom and practice varies greatly from one country to another, and from one individual to another. I can, however, describe what I have seen in the U.S., and Samirah’s wearing of the hijab reflects the practice of some of my own students, so it seemed to be within the realm of reason for a third-generation Iraqi-American Muslima. Samirah would wear hijab most of the time — in public, at school, at mosque. She would probably but not always wear it in Valhalla, as she views this as her home, and the fallen warriors as her own kin. This is described in the Magnus Chase books. I also admit I just loved the idea of a Muslima whose hijab is a magic item that can camouflage her in times of need.

Once again, your students are in middle school. Stop justifying what you wrote by saying you based Sam off students who are still in middle school.

Another thing - There’s no reasoning behind who Sam shows her hair to. One day she’ll cover it up around others and the next she’ll show her hair to the same people. Yes, people do this, my cousin, for example, but you need to explain it. You can’t just stick it in there and not expand on her reasoning.

By saying that she wears her hijab most of the time, you’re portraying Sam as a hijabi, but then you say that she doesn’t wear it in Valhalla because she views it as her home, and the fallen warriors (aka her best friends, some acquaintances/co-workers, and a bunch of strangers) as her kin just because they’re fallen warriors. That’s not how it works. If you’re a hijabi, you wear your hijab around everyone except for a certain group of people. Is it really so necessary to show what her hair looks like to the audience? Why can’t you just leave her hair alone?

Also, @kazbrekkerrs​ made a good point about how the purpose of the hijab is to hide her hair, which you take away from her, but then you conveniently use it to hide her from the eyes of other’s for plot…okay. Sure. No irony there at all.

As for her betrothal to Amir Fadhlan, only recently have I gotten any questions about this. My understanding from my readings, and from what I have been told by Muslims I know, is that arranged marriages are still quite common in many Muslim countries (not just Muslim countries, of course) and that these matches are sometimes negotiated by the families when the bride-to-be and groom-to-be are quite young. Prior to writing Magnus Chase, one of the complaints I often heard or read from Muslims is how Westerners tend to judge this custom and look down on it because it does not accord with Western ideas. Of course, arranged marriages carry the potential for abuse, especially if there is an age differential or the woman is not consulted. Child marriages are a huge problem. The arrangement of betrothals years in advance of the marriage, however, is an ancient custom in many cultures, and those people I know who were married in this way have shared with me how glad they were to have done it and how they believe the practice is unfairly villainized.

Okay, first of all - Sam was betrothed when she was 12, which as completely wrong religiously. It doesn’t matter what country you come from, that’s not how it works. A marriage in Islam can not happen unless both people consent, and 12 is not a good age for that. Even if you didn’t want to be married you’d say yes because you don’t want to displease anyone and because you probably think the adults know more about this than you.

My idea with Samirah was to flip the stereotype of the terrible abusive arranged match on its head, and show how it was possible that two people who actually love each other dearly might find happiness through this traditional custom when they have families that listen to their concerns and honor their wishes, and want them to be happy. Amir and Samirah are very distant cousins, yes. This, too, is hardly unusual in many cultures. They will not actually marry until they are both adults. But they have been betrothed since childhood, and respect and love each other. If that were not the case, my sense is that Samirah would only have to say something to her grandparents, and the match would be cancelled. Again, most of the comments I have received from Muslim readers have been to thank me for presenting traditional customs in a positive rather than a negative light, not judging them by Western standards. In no way do I condone child marriage, and that (to my mind) is not anywhere implied in the Magnus Chase books.

Stop. Stop. As a white man you have no right to try and “flip” the stereotype. You have no idea what that situation is like and more than that, you just contributed to the stereotype that all Muslims have arranged marriages.

And also - “they’ll only be married when they turn 18″. Nobody gets married that young anymore. It’s literally unheard of by now, except in places where they literally marry off toddlers. People usually get betrothed when they’re in their twenties.

“They’ve been betrothed since childhood” - exactly. They were both too young to really consent, and the fact that a white man - who, no matter how much research he’s done, remains an outsider to my religion - is trying to tell me that that’s okay is terrible.

Finally, recently someone on Twitter decided to screenshot a passage out-of-context from Ship of the Deadwhere Magnus hears Samirah use the phrase “Allahu Akbar,” and the only context he has ever heard it in before was in news reports when some Western reporter would be talking about a terrorist attack. Here is the passage in full:

Samirah: “My dad may have power over me because he’s my dad. But he’s not the biggest power. Allahu akbar.”

I knew that term, but I’d never heard Sam use it before. I’ll admit it gave me an instinctive jolt in the gut. The news media loved to talk about how terrorists would say that right before they did something horrible and blew people up. I wasn’t going to mention that to Sam. I imagined she was painfully aware.

She couldn’t walk the streets of Boston in her hijab most days without somebody screaming at her to go home, and (if she was in a bad mood) she’d scream back, “I’m from Dorchester!”

“Yeah,” I said. “That means God is great, right?”

Sam shook her head. “That’s a slightly inaccurate translation. It means God is greater.”

“Than what?”

“Everything. The whole point of saying it is to remind yourself that God is greater than whatever you are facing—your fears, your problems, your thirst, your hunger, your anger.

337-338

To me, this is Samirah educating Magnus, and through him the readers, about what this phrase actually means and the religious significance it carries. I think the expression is beautiful and profound. However, like a lot of Americans, Magnus has grown up only hearing about it in a negative context from the news. For him to think: “I had never heard that phrase, and it carried absolutely no negative connotations!” would be silly and unrealistic. This is a teachable moment between two characters, two friends who respect each other despite how different they are. Magnus learns something beautiful and true about Samirah’s religion, and hopefully so do the readers. If that strikes you as Islamophobic in its full context, or if Samirah seems like a hurtful stereotype … all I can say is I strongly disagree.

I actually don’t have a problem with this. The reasoning behind it, in my opinion, is fine, and I liked this moment in the books a lot (then again, I might be wrong, so feel free to correct me, but only if you’re also a Muslim). That last line, though…you shouldn’t have written that. You don’t get to decide if something is Islamophobic or not, Rick.

Anyways, this is messy and and probably doesn’t make sense but I’m tired and can’t be bothered to add more or elaborate on any of these points. Obviously, I don’t speak for every single Muslim, but these are my opinions. Once again, feel free to add on or correct me, but only if you’re a Muslim as well.

Imagine thinking you’re not being tone deaf and then proceed to be tone deaf like wow asshole tell me mooooore! I would loooooove to heeeaaar

Also I’ve seen you use your autism as an excuse you pathetic little bitch like seriously? “Our experiences aren’t universal” my ass I feel like you’re just arguing so your dickrider ass can defend your favorite neurotypical when their are other books that are eons better than Percy Jackson

Now take your Zionist ass and stick your dildo replica of R*ordans dick up your pussy with no lube kay or you can choose this instead:

So…..

Your choice bitch

I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.

Oh bitch you’re only mad cause me and my friend are right

You wanna sip your Starbucks and read your appropriation fanfic and still call yourself a good person when in reality you’re nothing but a Zionist dickrider who’ll do anything to make sure you’re right when all you’re doing is just making yourself a pathetic little girl who can’t do anything but cry her white woman tears all cause you get criticism so I’ll say this in the form of a gif on what I wish happens to you soon in horror movie gifs

I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.

And I’m fascinated at how you can still play the victim when all you’ve done to me and my friend @scionofthehellpriest who has ADHD is continue to cry you’re white woman tears at the fact that when people try to tell you that’s harmful and show you actual proof you go “nuh uh now let me suck my daddy unwle cowonizer apowogist dick”

And you did say the opposite right fucking here:

“It's fantasy, fiction, after all.”

Meaning you’re playing dumb to the fact that when called out you do nothing but bitch and change your shit multiple times to make me look like the bad guy when I tell you how this can affect people with these disabilities can feel hurt or made fun of but you know you do and piss on other ND people because you’re nothing but a pick me for neurotypicals. And I gave you fucking examples that obviously ignored but hey you know what if you wanna turn a blind eye to it just now you’re helping the worst things ever go down and be an accomplice to it. Since a Zionist apologist like you will never understand why marginalized groups hate people like you

And you ignoring my points of how fiction can affect reality ok what about propaganda movies? Tv shows? Books? That shit affects reality as we’ve seen MULTIPLE FUCKING TIMES and I should’ve known you we’re probably British or some type of European given the fact you’re a colonizer apologist so why don’t you read a history book as it has better shit in there than your favorite appropriated ableist mythology fanfiction written by a Zionist.

Yeah and guess what? Those interpretations can be fucking harmful not only to people who that series misrepresents multiple times over and over again but also shit like your little fanfiction has done more good than harm to people like me so fuck off and no I won’t let it go til I go Ghostface on R*ordans ass so he’ll never write another book so you can choke on my clit while I do that

Also real life ADHD symptoms were never brought up as I showed you when I first replied to you so you’re definitely downplaying our experiences which makes sense as people like YOU make shit harder for your own community as you’re nothing but a pick me for a neurotypical Zionist

Yeah and it’s people like R*CK R*ORDAN a rich straight cis neurotypical white man who literally has the world catered to him and his books are just a reflection of how out of touch he really is with marginalized groups like me someone who’s autistic, bisexual and a she/they

And no I’m allowed to be as fucking angry as I want at R*ordan while you lick the shit off his shoes cause he told you too and of course responding me doesn’t seem like “a healthy way to cope” does it

And you saying you have critical thinking skills while you ignore the marginalized people he’s hurt cause you’re nothing but a pick me for neurotypicals who if they tell you to eat the shit from their shoes you’ll do it no questions asked as you continue to support an author who’s supporting genocide at this moment and ignore the evidence and my experiences cause it’s too much of an inconvenience to YOU

And also as a little fuck you

I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.

Ok @full-timel-lurker since you claim you don’t know why let me tell you my experiences as an autistic person and maybe you’ll find why I hate this series

Never had my needs accommodated by my shitty ex sperm donor cause in his words “I could handle it”

Was literally emotionally abused by my church(Satanist now) as I showed my autistic traits all the time and the Sunday school teachers hated it

I have to go to bed hungry cause I ran out of my safe food

Literally baby talked due to propaganda about autistic people being childlike

So ask me again how I’m so “up in my arms about” it you fucking bitch.

Also we’re talking about R*ordan write? The same Riordan who Americanized Greek Gods and wrote them as villains despite Hellestic paganism still being around and called those same pagans who he wrote their gods about weirdos? The same R*ordan who wrote Islam characters in the most intentionally Islamophobic way possible to make that makes the religion look bad? The same R*ordan who wrote girls and women in the Madonna/Whore complex and masculinize GOC? The same R*ordan who write POC as stereotypes that if I was told to spot the difference between his writing of POC and the way POC were portrayed in early 20th century cartoons I couldn’t tell what difference there were? The same R*ordan who wrote Hitler, goddamn ADOLF HITLER as Hades SON and WWll as a “family matter between the Greek gods so everything that did happen was all fake” promoting Holocaust denial and the denial of the Nakbas terrorism? The same R*ordan who’s first gay character coming out is that he’s forcefully outed and that genderfluidity is genetic? The same R*ordan who supports ITSNOTREAL’s GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS? That fucking R*ordan?

And If he was trying to make a hero for his son than why didn’t he not publish the story at all hmm? Answer me that

Also you find other peoples mental disorders being written as superpowers where neurotypicals will read and will not understand when they come across a person with the exact same disorders and actually show the symptoms, which you can fucking Google btw, that actually make their life harder as good? The so called “powers” where the actual symptoms are mentioned for a short amount of time and never mentioned again as good? If that’s the case you’re a fucking joke then and should really take a long hard look at what the fuck you think is good media then

And you believe fiction can’t affect reality? Ok answer me this then:

What about proshipping and how the normalization of it for the time being influenced the normalization of pedophilia?

What about Nazi Germany when so much shit was being said about Jewish, Romani, disabled and Queer people that many people started to believe it and the holocaust happened?

What about after 9/11 the US spread Islamophobic lies and weaponized Arabs against the American people that literal people overseas FUCKING DIED due to anti-Arab US propaganda?

What about the AIDS crisis back in the 80s when Ronald Reagan was purposefully making false claims against people affected by AIDS cause he wanted queer people dead?

Wanna answer that?

Also you say this:

“I just don’t understand why you’re so determined to hate on it. It feels like you’re demonised people with adhd and dyslexia saying they couldn’t be heroes? Which feels really insulting.”

Ok first of all let me fix that terrible ass sentence for you sweetie:

“It feels like you’re DEMONIZING people with ADHD and Dyslexia saying they CANT be heroes.(period not question mark period ok?)

First of all I gave you literal evidence and my friend @scionofthehellpriest literally gave you examples on R*ordans ableist writing and why it’s dangerous so maybe you should know who you’re talking too before even saying a fucking word

So as an autistic person I say,

I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.

“Or stories glorify or emphasis certain things?”

So you agree R*ordan glorifies ableism that makes the eugenics propaganda in Of Mice & Men look progressive and you decided to ignore my points as an autistic person since your ND but also an ableist piece of shit @full-timel-lurker

In all honesty? Go fuck yourself with a metal spiked dildo up your ass with no lube

And another note

I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.

Oh ok since you obviously wanna suck on R*ordans dick some more let’s look at all the shitty things he wrote about ND ppl and real disorders shall we? @full-timel-lurker

1. Wrote ADHD & Dyslexia as superpowers

ADHD in R*ordans fanfiction:

Actual ADHD:

His writing of Dyslexia:

Actual Dyslexia:

So not only you really wanna talk about “OmG tHe ReP iS sOoOoO gOoOoOoOd!!!!!!!” when this is the rep? You really wanna die on that hill?

2. Sigmatized medication

In the series the teachers (monsters in disguise) force the demigods into taking medication so their “battle reflexes”(this shit sounds like something straight out of fucking Scientology I swear to fucking god) don’t kick in.

How is that harmful you ask?

Many people I know who have ADHD have to have medication cause not only are the symptoms, the actual symptoms you can fucking Google for FREE, is literally hell for them and not only is taking medication already sigmatized by neurotypicals but this kind of beliefs are based in eugenics. Let me repeat that. EUGENICS.

But why should I care you ask?

Well let’s replace ADHD with worse disorders like schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, depression, anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder. Now imagine if a series was written about how life saving medication is used by the villains to stop the heroes from using their so called superpowers?

So why is ADHD any different hmm?

Please tell me

3. Tyson and the normalization of the hostility and discrimination of people with Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy

Sometime in the series we find out Poseidon fathered a child with a cyclops named Tyson

Now Tyson obviously shows symptoms of disorders like Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. And you know how Annabeth (this bitch better count her fucking days I swear to god) treats him?

Like absolute shit

Not only does she insult him regularly but also puts him down multiple fucking times and what does Percy do about it? Fucking nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing.

And only when Tyson saves her and her friends (cause god knows I wouldn’t do jack shit for those assholes) not only is Annabeth instantly redeemed and gets nothing to be reprimanded. FUCKING NOTHING. And not only does this normalize the behavior of ableism towards people with disorders like Tysons but also imagine other ND kids reading this and thinking “Oh yeah I totes can treat disabled people who are far off worse than me just like hee hee 😝” when no Annabeth should’ve gotten her ass reprimanded in some way

Which is why when people say the Percy Jackson series is good rep for ND ppl I have to point to thsi Reddit post by an actual person with ADHD 👇

Also this isn’t related but not only is R*ordans ass working with Disney who you may not know is currently donating money to Itsnotreal to ethnically cleansed Palestine (aka a literal GENOCIDE) but is also a Zionist himself with his recent blog post:

So really think about where your so called “rEpReSeNtAtIoN” comes from

Any @full-timel-lurker

I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.

I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.