History YMMV / PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Mildly but the film was shot in 2009 and released in 2010--as a result has a few very timely references. Grover complains about Charon burning money "during a recession", Percy uses an [=iPod=]'s reflection to see Medusa, the Lotus Casino features Music/LadyGaga's "Poker Face" and Music/{{Kesha}}'s "Tick Tock" prominently, and Luke is seen playing ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: Modern Warfare 2'' (released in 2009). There's also a distinctive lack of smartphones among the teens, and Annabeth requires a laptop to video call Luke over Skype. Granted, the books were written in the mid-to-late 2000s, but they averted establishing a lot of technologies and kept the cultural references of modern stuff to a minimum; Creator/RickRiordan has said he imagines the books to be set whenever they're read.

** Despite being little more than a WackyWaysideTribe, Aunty Em, real name Medusa, is one of the most well-remembered characters among fans due to both her [[AffablyEvil nicer portrayal]] compared to myths, and her essentially acting as an HonestJohnsDealership owner. Although the film adaptation reverted her back to pure villainy, fans still got a kick out of [[EvilIsSexy her looks]], courtesy of Creator/UmaThurman.

** Chiron's cover as Mr. Brunner is a teacher in a wheelchair. In the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, the Heroic Spirit Chiron is summoned into a [[LightNovel/FateApocrypha certain Holy Grail War]] by Fiore, a mage in a wheelchair.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Mildly but the film was shot in 2009 and released in 2010--as a result has a few very timely references. Grover complains about Charon burning money "during a recession", Percy uses an [=iPod=]'s reflection to see Medusa, the Lotus Casino features Music/LadyGaga's "Poker Face" and Music/{{Kesha}}'s "Tick Tock" prominently, and Luke is seen playing ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: Modern Warfare 2'' (released in 2009). There's also a distinctive lack of smartphones among the teens, and Annabeth requires a laptop to video call Luke over Skype. Granted, the books were set in the mid-to-late 2000s when they were written, but they averted establishing a lot of technologies and kept the cultural references of modern stuff to a minimum, so they're a bit more timeless in comparison.

*** For that matter, the fact that he named a hippocampus that he developed a particular attachment to "[[SelfDemonstrating/RainbowDash Rainbow]]".

* AcceptableTargets: [[CorruptChurch Televangelists]]. In ''The Lightning Thief'', Percy encounters one in the Underworld who was caught using donated money to buy luxury items like golden toilet seats and an indoor golf course, and died when he drove his "Lamborghini for the Lord" off a cliff during a police chase.

** Rachel. A likeable, funny character and a standout BadassNormal in a cast of empowered mortals? Or an unnecessary character [[DieForOurShip who is a threat to]] [[OneTruePairing Percabeth]], despite [[StrangledByTheRedString having no chemistry with Percy]]? The latter died down after [[spoiler:she became the new Oracle, essentially ensuring that she won't date anyone, at least sexually]], but there are still debates on whether or not she fits into the series.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Even people who ''like'' Rachel tend to agree that the ShipTease between her and Percy is forced and unnecessary. Some even asked why Riordan bothered to put it in, since [[spoiler:everyone knew that [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Percy and Annabeth will end up together]]]]. That being said, it's all but stated outright that it was due to Aphrodite's meddling, making it a ''justified'' case.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Even people who ''like'' Rachel tend to agree that the ShipTease between her and Percy is forced and unnecessary. Some even asked why Riordan bothered to put it in, since [[spoiler:everyone knew that [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Percy and Annabeth will end up together]]]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Was Percy genuinely trying to [[spoiler:warn Gabe to not open the fridge that stored Medusa's head or was Percy counting on reverse psychology as a way to kill his abusive step-father without dirtying his hands]]

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Mildly but the film was shot in 2009 and released in 2010--as a result has a few very timely references. Grover complains about Charon burning money "during a recession", Percy uses an [=iPod=]'s reflection to see Medusa, the Lotus Casino features Music/LadyGaga's "Poker Face" and Music/{{Kesha}}'s "Tick Tock" prominently, and Luke is seen playing ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: Modern Warfare 2'' (released in 2009). There's also a distinctive lack of smartphones among the teens, and Annabeth requires a laptop to video call Luke over Skype. Granted, the books were set in the mid-to-late 2000s when they were written, but they averted establishing a lot of technologies, so they're a bit more timeless in comparison.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Mildly but the film was shot in 2009 and released in 2010--as a result has a few very timely references. Grover complains about Charon burning money "during a recession", Percy uses an [=iPod=]'s reflection to see Medusa, the Lotus Casino features Music/LadyGaga's "Poker Face" and Music/{{Kesha}}'s "Tick Tock" prominently, and Luke is seen playing ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: Modern Warfare 2'' (released in 2009). There's also a distinctive lack of smartphones among the teens, and Annabeth requires a laptop to video call Luke over Skype.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Some were a little disturbed that Sally resorted to [[spoiler:murdering Gabe by petrifying him]] instead of just divorcing him, by Percy's suggestion no-less. In the movie, Gabe is instead [[spoiler:petrified by his own stupidity because he ignored a sign warning him not to open the fridge, which was storing Medusa's head]]. Even Rick Riordan, who notoriously loathed the movies, thought the change was funny.
** While making Tyson look more like a normal kid undermines the drama surrounding him being a "monster" significantly, it also makes Percy look less like an idiot for [[FailedASpotCheck not realizing that something was off about him]].
** The second film attempts to address the complaints about all of Annabeth's adaptation changes; now she has blonde hair, and Clarisse also features as a character.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** Procrustes/Crusty appearing in the first book. He is yet another MonsterOfTheWeek, appearing right after ''another'' monster, but all he does is hold Annabeth and Grover hostage, without really gaining anything from it besides a few extra drachma to bribe Charon with. Even this measly gain could’ve easily been simplified since Ares had already paid them. Really, his ''entire chapter'' could be skipped and one wouldn't miss anything. No wonder he's been AdaptedOut relatively consistently so far.
** While Percy's encounter with Circe ''does'' get mentioned later, even in much later books, Annabeth [[spoiler:freeing Blackbeard]] is completely forgotten about in ''Sea Of Monsters'', even though [[spoiler:he's ''Blackbeard'' and ''they stole his ship'']], yet the next chapter continues on like nothing happened.
** The incident with the Sphinx in the Labyrinth was either this, or an AuthorFilibuster. [[EpilepticTrees Of course, it's entirely possible that it was included because Riordan got frustrated and needed to vent some steam with his opinion on standardized testing.]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow: ''The Last Olympian'' does away with concerns over the KissingCousins nature of the demigods dating each other by clarifying godly DNA does not work in the same way human DNA does, so even though most of the gods are related to each other, it’s not really that {{Squick}}y for their children to date one another so long as they don’t share a godly parent.

* CommonKnowledge: For whatever reason, many fans, even long-time readers believe that Sally turned Gabe ''and'' his friends into stone by dropping Medusa's head on the poker table. She didn't. She only turned Gabe into stone and then sold his corpse as a live-like sculpture, with his friends not even being mentioned. While dropping the head on the poker table is convenient to get rid of both her husband ''and'' any potential witnesses, using GuiltByAssociation in this context would've made her look too cruel.

** Siena. She's treated as a hero for [[spoiler: leading the Ares camp to war]], but she was also [[spoiler: indirectly responsible for Beckendorf's death, and goodness knows how many other demigod deaths are on her hands thanks to being a spy for Luke]]. Was she actually a hero who tried to atone for her mistakes? If so, was she successful?

** Goes UpToEleven with Creator/TesshoGenda as Zeus: he is the Japanese dub voice of ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]]'', who wants to ''kill'' his father '''Zeus'''.

!!The Disney+ series provides examples of:

* WTHCastingAgency: As a result of Rick Riordan’s open casting and preference of [[AbilityOverAppearance talent over appearance]], very few of the actors selected resemble their book counterparts, drawing ire from those who expected the characters to resemble their book counterparts to a T.
** Annabeth and Grover’s actors received backlash for mostly racial reasons. Rick wrote in his belong that anyone can be Annabeth. In the case of Grover, with his skin color not being specified in the books, a smaller amount of backlash was given.
** Public indignation over Walker Scobell not going the extra step to resemble Percy (he kept his hair blonde instead of making it black) also rose to fever pitch, with some drawing comparisons of his looks and his initials to Will Solace.

** Remember, these books were written in UsefulNotes/The2000s. It's entirely likely that some kid searching up "blue waffle" on the internet got [[ShockSite a certain kind of webpage]] instead of Percy's favorite food.

* WTHCastingAgency: As a result of Rick Riordan’s open casting and preference of [AbilityOverAppearance talent over appearance]], very few of the actors selected resemble their book counterparts, drawing ire from those who expected the characters to resemble their book counterparts to a T.
** Annabeth and Grover’s actors received backlash for mostly racial reasons.

* UnfortunateImplications: Grover's characterization in the film was such a nonstop barrage of black stereotypes that it lead [[http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/03/08/percy-jackson-minstrel-show/ one person to liken it to a minstrel show.]]

* WhatAnIdiot: Several examples in the first book:
** The mystery of who Percy's dad was could've been resolved immediately if someone had noticed Percy's control of water (at the fountain on the school field trip and in the bathroom when Clarisse was going to dunk his head). But somehow, no one put two and two together. What were their guesses before Poseidon claimed him?
*** '''Grover''' (best friend who saw the fountain, presumably heard about the toilet incident, and sensed how strong Percy's aura is): Nemesis
*** '''Annabeth''' (demigoddess of battle and wisdom, who was there to witness the toilet water incident and was drenched herself): Zeus (who rules the skies)
** Chiron knew about the theft of Zeus' Master Bolt for months, but waited until there were only ''TEN DAYS LEFT'' to do something about it.
** [[TooDumbToLive Grover packed only tin cans (his food) for the quest, leaving himself completely defenseless against enemies trying to kill him. He had to resort to using his tin cans as projectiles at one point, meaning that if he didn't have Percy or Annabeth to help him, he would have either been killed or starved to death.]]
** Later in ''Sea Of Monsters'', Percy didn't realize that Tyson isn't human until Annabeth literally spills it out to him. While the Mist covers his lack of a second eye, [[FailedASpotCheck it doesn't cover]] [[GentleGiant his massive size]] or resistance to fire.
** Many monster encounters would be easily avoided if Percy used a little bit of [[StrangerDanger common sense]]. At least with "Aunty Em", he lampshades how much of an idiot he was, but he has no real excuse for blindly trusting "C.C.", a woman who owns a spa island that [[DoesNotLikeMen only hosts women]] and [[WasOnceAMan "animals"]] and promises him to make him "the best version of himself", even though [[TooGoodToBeTrue she only met him]] ''that day''. Predictably, Percy is [[BalefulPolymorph transformed into a (guinea) pig]] and Annabeth has to stand up against [[CaptainObviousReveal Circe]] and save him.

** Percy & Annabeth singing ''Ride/ItsASmallWorld'' in ''Sea Of Monsters'' became this after Creator/{{Disney}} bought [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios Fox]].