diff --git a/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/chat.component.html b/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/chat.component.html
index 2ba6612..450c45f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/chat.component.html
+++ b/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/chat.component.html
@@ -10,10 +10,11 @@
     <section class="darkmodeSection">
       @for (message of messages(); track message.timestamp) {
         <p>
-          @if (!message.notBlocked) {
-            [<span style="color: red">BLOCKED</span>]
+          @if (message.notBlocked) {
+            [{{ message.server }}]
+          } @else {
+            <span style="color: red">[{{ message.server }}] </span>
           }
-          [{{ message.server }}]
           <mini-message [node]="message.messageJson"></mini-message>
         </p>
       }
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/mini-message/normalize.util.ts b/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/mini-message/normalize.util.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b653b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/mini-message/normalize.util.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import {MiniMessageClickEvent, MiniMessageComponent, MiniMessageHoverEvent} from './mini-message.types';
+
+/**
+ * What actually arrives over the wire can be looser than the strict MiniMessageComponent
+ * type: some serializers emit bare strings inside `extra` instead of {text: "..."}, and
+ * some use snake_case event keys (hover_event/click_event) with different subfield names
+ * (e.g. click_event.command instead of clickEvent.value). This function tolerates both
+ * and always returns a clean, strictly-typed tree.
+ *
+ * Call this once, right after JSON.parse, before the data enters your app's state:
+ *
+ *   messageJson: normalizeComponent(JSON.parse(m.messageJson))
+ */
+export function normalizeComponent(input: unknown): MiniMessageComponent {
+  if (typeof input === 'string') {
+    return {text: input};
+  }
+  if (input === null || typeof input !== 'object') {
+    return {text: ''};
+  }
+
+  const raw = input as Record<string, any>;
+  const node: MiniMessageComponent = {...(raw as MiniMessageComponent)};
+
+  node.clickEvent = normalizeClickEvent(raw['clickEvent'] ?? raw['click_event']);
+  node.hoverEvent = normalizeHoverEvent(raw['hoverEvent'] ?? raw['hover_event']);
+  delete node['click_event' as keyof MiniMessageComponent];
+  delete node['hover_event' as keyof MiniMessageComponent];
+
+  if (Array.isArray(raw['extra'])) {
+    node.extra = raw['extra'].map((child: unknown) => normalizeComponent(child));
+  }
+
+  // auditShape(node);
+
+  return node;
+}
+
+function normalizeClickEvent(raw: Record<string, any> | undefined): MiniMessageClickEvent | undefined {
+  if (!raw) return undefined;
+  const value = raw['value'] ?? raw['command'] ?? raw['url'] ?? raw['page'] ?? '';
+  return {action: raw['action'], value: String(value)};
+}
+
+function normalizeHoverEvent(raw: Record<string, any> | undefined): MiniMessageHoverEvent | undefined {
+  if (!raw) return undefined;
+  const source = raw['value'] ?? raw['contents'];
+  return {
+    action: raw['action'],
+    value: typeof source === 'string' ? source : source ? normalizeComponent(source) : undefined,
+  };
+}
+
+export function auditShape(node: unknown, path = 'root'): void {
+  if (typeof node === 'string') {
+    console.warn(`Bare string in tree at ${path}:`, node);
+    return;
+  }
+  const n = node as Record<string, unknown>;
+  if (n['hover_event'] || n['click_event']) {
+    console.warn(`snake_case event key at ${path}`, n);
+  }
+  (n['extra'] as unknown[] | undefined)?.forEach((c, i) => auditShape(c, `${path}.extra[${i}]`));
+}
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/service/chat.service.ts b/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/service/chat.service.ts
index c3fa31e..534813d 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/service/chat.service.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/app/pages/altitude/chat/service/chat.service.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import {EventSourcePolyfill} from 'event-source-polyfill';
 import {ChatMessage} from '@pages/altitude/chat/objects/chat-message.object';
 import {MiniMessageComponent} from '@pages/altitude/chat/mini-message/mini-message.types';
 import {RawChatMessage} from '@pages/altitude/chat/objects/raw-chat-message.object';
+import {normalizeComponent} from '@pages/altitude/chat/mini-message/normalize.util';
 
 export interface ChatEvent {
   type: string;
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ export class ChatService implements OnDestroy {
       const raw = JSON.parse(event.data) as RawChatMessage[];
       const messages: ChatMessage[] = raw.map((m) => ({
         ...m,
-        messageJson: JSON.parse(m.messageJson) as MiniMessageComponent,
+        messageJson: normalizeComponent(JSON.parse(m.messageJson)),
       }));
       this._messages.update((old) => [...old, ...messages]);
     });