#lore olympus critical

[genericpuff]

hold the fuck up-

ENHANCE

RACHEL

RACHEL

ARE YOU WRITING YOUR EPISODES AT THE START OF THE WEEK THEY'RE DUE

WHAT IN THE WORLD-

there was already a lot of evidence to suggest that her buffer is only 1-2 weeks ahead of time

there was already a lot of evidence to suggest that she was writing by the seat of her pants

there was already a lot of evidence to suggest that LO isn't ending because she planned it to end here, but because she's either given up completely OR because Webtoons has cut her loose (see: "I thought it would take longer to get here", among other things she's said and done to suggest this tinfoil hat theory)

BUT IF THIS DOESN'T DAMN WELL CONFIRM IT, MADAME-

#lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical #Youtube

[madnessandentropy]

Imo, LO's writing wasn't that great from the very beginning. Minthe was made out to be this terrible, abusive, slutty bitchy woman with no chance of being redeemed. Why? So that it made the main character cheating on her and the other one knowing she was wrecking their relationship further A okay.

This is childish writing. It's writing I hate anywhere. "Well it's okay for the character A to do this because character B deserves it!" And the audience cheers and encourages it because Character B is a meanie and should be hated and never get a W.

Same goes for Leuce. She's a clout chaser, she's trying to go after Hades and be a home wrecker, she's an attention seeking bitch. Therefore, if Persephone breaks into her home and threatens her, it's okay! She's an annoying bitch tying to "steal" Hades anyways. Persephone is such a girlboss, even though this means she has no faith in Hades and feels threatened by Leuce.

It just frustrates me so much.

#thoughts #lo critical #lore olympus critical #anti lo #anti lore olympus

[lo-shouldve-been-an-email]

I hate how Kronos is always so smiley,like,imagine if he wasn’t even looking at hades,showing how much he disregards him and was instead looking at Persephone.

This is more of a general pet peeve but i feel like the “smiling when doing evil things” doesn’t work unless you’re villain is very obviously having fun while doing everything,but for that you need an unapologetic evil villain like Eris.

But nooo,that would take RS going all in on Kronos being an unapologetic bastard.

Imagine if Kronos actually used his trauma as an excuse to perpetuate the cycle instead of ending it,being called out but rebutting it with his trauma as a shield for all criticism.a villain who held no regard for the children he took care of while acting like he’s justified because he had daddy issues.a cold villain who instead of getting better because of how ouranos treated him only used it as an excuse to continue the cycle of abuse.

…oh wait that’s just hades-

#anti lore olympus #lo critical #lore olympus critical #anti lo #lo criticism #lore olympus #lore olympus hades #Lore Olympus Kronos

[persiesposts]

Something I love about Lore Rekindled..

So by now everyone knows about the lovely @genericpuff and their LO rewrite (if you don't you have to check it out!!!) and I've been re-reading it alongside LO just for the sake of comparative analysis and I noticed something within the first few eps that was so amazing.

Persephone noticed and approached Hades first in Rekindled.

It seems like such a small change at first but looking at it in comparison to the original it's a HUGE shift and immediately sets the tone for who Persephone is as a character in Rekindled vs LO.

In LO based on first impressions of Persephone we see a young woman who is hopelessly out of place and severely in the "damsel mindset." The first time Hades ever sees her is when she's in distress after being knocked over. We see her through his POV and don't see the situation through her eyes at all.

In Rekindled the focus is on Persephone and her POV, she sees Hades at the bar and through her we see this immediate connection (though not instantly a positive one, i.e. "he's terrifying"). It leaves the audience immediately interested by what she means by "terrifying". Despite that initial impression she chooses to still approach him which shows remarkable agency and boldness on her part in comparison to her OG counterpart.

She also approaches with a decent amount of social awkwardness, she's more forward than most who were raised on Olympus, handily securing her "small fish in a big pond" characterization without making her seem like a ditz. It makes her showing up in his car later (another change there that I could write a whole other post on) less weird and creepy since they've at least had a conversation before that moment.

TLDR: I love Lore Rekindled and the shifts that were made to make these characters feel more realistic and less flat.

#anti lore olympus #lore rekindled #anti lo persephone #lo critical #lore olympus critical

[mirrors-war]

Hera with a bit more… Oomph.

#lore olympus #lore olympus critical #redesign

[mythsandheather]

When the super problematic creator + their equally nasty project that’s stuffed with toxic messages, weird kinks and bad writing that you’ve been aware of for years finally starts getting open criticism on mass and you can finally voice your own frustrations and experiences without the fear of rampant harpy stans trying to hunt you for sport

#lo critical #lore olympus critical #lo criticism #anti lore olympus #anti lo #hazbin hotel critical #anti hazbin hotel #anti helluva boss #anti vivziepop #it has been so long #y’all don’t even know 😭

[vixxelle]

Lore Olympus is like if you put Greek Mythology in a pan, mixed it with your average Melanie Martinez songs, 13 Reasons Why, Euphoria, Twilight, and Riverdale; then burn it in the Wattpad Baker 1000, and try to cover up the absolute burnt monstrosity with one of those artificial pink frosting that tastes like battery acid and piss.

#raye rambles #lore olympus criticism #lore olympus #lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical #lo criticism #anti lo #man I fucking hate this webtoon

[duxwriter]

And when she awakens from her wrath, to the world she screams, soaked in red

Inspired by the latest episodes of Lore Rekindled

#artwork #lore olympus edit #lore olympus critical #lo persephone #anti lore olympus #lore olympus persephone

[porcelain-rob0t]

LO persephone redesign bc i love making fun of this comic so like what if she was a silly nature-loving hippie girl

i just feel like the clothing she wears isnt consistent with a nature goddess, especially as a free-spirited college girl (also can she wear literally anything other than white or is the good girl in white x bad boy in black thing too important)

#digital art #art #my art #persephone #lo critical #lore olympus critical #lore olympus redesign

[maddness-time-bby]

Media literacy isn't dead you just don't like that it's being used on a show you like

#lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin critical #anti hazbin hotel

[genericpuff]

Hey so I saw the newest free episode and wtf is this.

A copy / paste of this:

I've been seeing people say that Hera's FG design is good but ... I'm sorry, maybe I'm just jaded, but I just don't see it? There's no glow, no visual oomf, it's just giant naked titty lady but now covered in black body paint and some ambiguous constellations. For a goddess who's typically affiliated with peacocks, her FG design is very... bland. And if Rachel really wanted to make her affiliated with starlight and show it as such, she could have pushed it a lot further so she doesn't just look like a caution sign covered in dandruff :/

Fuck it, here's an edit to get across what I mean-

(been a while since I've done a glow edit, damn lmao)

It's a bit busy on the eyes the way I did it but I hope it gets across what I mean that a little more could have been done with it to give it that starry look beyond just slapping white dots on a black/dark body. These are supposed to be all-powerful gods, make them look the part, dangit.

#lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical #ask me anything #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything

[madnessandentropy]

It still shocks me that something claiming to be so feminist and groundbreaking like LO started out with a really old man seeing a 19-year-old girl in a skimpy dress and immediately thirsting over her... and this is the main couple that's meant to be so very healthy and better than all those other toxic romances?

#thoughts #lore olympus critical #lo critical #lo criticism #anti lo #anti lore olympus

[moony-2001]

The real-world impact of Lore Olympus

i.e. do your research Rachel

Trigger warning: racism, fetishization, appropriation, mentions of SA

Long post ahead

A while ago, someone told me that Lore Olympus was just a silly little comic written out of boredom. That it was made to be "funny". They told me that "[I] can't hope [for] an extremely [well-written] story when it was just made with the intention to make something goofy" and that if Rachel actually wanted to make something serious like I had, she would write a book and not a comic.

At the time of this exchange, it was past 1 a.m. and I was exhausted. I did not want to argue with this person and it simply wasn't worth my time or energy in the moment.

But looking back at that (mostly one-sided) interaction, I can't help but think that there is so much wrong with that point of view. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion about Lore Olympus, whether good or bad. But Lore Olympus isn't just some silly little nothing comic about nothing important. It is a comic that actively appropriates and erases Greek Culture. It is a comic that has no respect for the actual stories that have been passed down over thousands of years whether by word of mouth or written text. It is a comic that perpetuates a false narrative and harmful stereotypes about characters or certain groups of people. So, no, it's not just a silly little comic.

Incorrect information

Here’s an example of what I mean:

When I was doing research for my post about the 10 year time skip, I looked up Leuce to reconfirm the little information I knew about her. Wanna guess the first thing that popped up about her?

A Lore Olympus Wiki article.

Okay. How about Minthe? Hundreds of pictures of her from Lore Olympus and a LO Wiki article as one of the top 3 results. Both character are horribly represented in LO and unfortunately there isn’t really any documented stories or records that can refute how LO paints them. Because of this, other characters in Greek Mythology like Leuce and Minthe, whose stories have little to no documentation, stand to suffer the most harm from deliberate misrepresentation on Rachel’s part.

Of course well-known and better documented figures in Greek mythology face slander as well. What about Thetis or Leto? How about Apollo? All of their portrayals in LO are HORRIBLE. I have seen people online absolutely drag them to filth not because they're upset about how the character is portrayed compared to their mythological counterpart, but because they have no knowledge of how they are actually portrayed outside of LO. They just assume that's how the characters are. Similarly, people who have either very little or no prior knowledge of Greek Mythology and Culture would look at the comic and go "Yep, sounds legit. It must be true." and go about thinking that what is portrayed in LO is accurate to what was transcribed thousands of years ago.

Creative interpretations and racism/fetishization within LO

Don’t get me wrong. Creative interpretations and artistic liberties can be great. When they’re done tastefully. I personally think if done correctly, a Greek myth spun in a modern way has the potential be very good. But that's not what we were given.

Characters like Minthe, Leuce, and Thetis (all nymphs btw) are portrayed as trashy tramps who put out and are used as a foil sabotage Persephone and/or her relationship with Hades. Compare that to Greek Mythology where in the Iliad, Thetis is very well-respected by the gods, particularly Hera. Unfortunately, other similar characters like satrys (and basically any character that isn’t a god) are usually portrayed as a low-class POC that can be easily exploited, manipulated, or used as a temporary villain/lover/pawn to “get back” at Persephone, our white-coded protagonist who can do no wrong.

Additionally, there is a clear race/class bias against characters like nymphs in LO. We see many cases scattered throughout the comic of gods like Hera or Aphrodite referring to nymphs as "trash" or "low class" or the idea that nymphs do not belong with gods being heavily implied if not outright said. I cannot tell you how often I've seen Minthe be called some variant of "cheap" by the readers of LO. Even Persephone (who created the flower nymphs) treats them with such disrespect. She frequently calls them some variant of "stupid" or "simple" like saying how they're not the sharpest crayons in the box even though she's the one WHO MADE THEM. However, it's so odd not really to note that nymphs like Echo, Amphitrite, or Psyche (who was previously disguised as a nymph) are not discriminated against. This is because they are liked or trusted by the gods they are around and ergo are often portrayed as the "good ones", which is a disgusting mindset to have.

We also see the fetishization of nymphs in the comic that is disturbingly similar to the fetishization of women who are Black, Asian, or Latina. It is a known fact that Hades has a flower nymph fetish. Not only is this implied in the comic, but Rachel stated it outright in an old Patreon post. Nymphs are also generally treated as sex-symbols, disposable, and as a lesser-than. Zeus frequently displays this behavior by abandoning nymphs he knocked up in the mortal realm.

For example, when Persephone finds out Apollo is dating Daphne, she isn't upset he's dating her friend. She's upset he's dating a flower nymph, beings that are generally considered to be "rare", "dumb", and objects of sexual desire. Ew.

Even on the Lore Olympus website (loreolympians.com) nymphs are regarded as "beautiful", "desirable", and "very exotic". And when they're not described in a sexual manner they're say it with me now regarded as "low class" or "workers" for some kind of god/goddess.

Final thoughts

So not only is the characterization of characters like Minthe or Thetis harmful to Greek culture and the stories that are so ingrained in their society, but it is also perpetuating harmful stereotypes about people of color and women who are confident in their sexuality.

Of course, the characters within Greek Mythology had their own issues. Zeus was a serial rapist, many of the goddesses deemed to be "feminist" by today's standards were actually horribly misogynistic looking at you Athena. But 1. that's just how things were back then (but that does not make it right) and 2. all of the good, the bad, and the ugly is still there in Greek Mythology. They're not denying how fucked up it is, but they're also not changing their history to better fit their own narrative or the narrative of the modern world. It exists, it happened, but now it is studied and called out by historians.

Rachel, on the other hand, is doing exactly that. She is actively changing the Greek's cultural history to better fit her fic's narrative. She is constantly sweeping things under the rug or going "No this is how it ACTUALLY happened". Lore Olympus is marketed as a "feminist retelling" yet somehow, it takes allllll the ugly parts from Greek Mythology (rape, incest, problematic age gaps, dubious consent, etc.), mixes it with a majority of the issues we have in the modern world (white feminism, rape-apologists/rape culture, grooming, fetishization of certain minority groups, etc.) and then amplifies the concoction to 20. Lore Olympus cannot be a "progressive, feminist, retelling" and also have characters that are morally apprehensive/come straight from the ancient myths. It does not work. In fact, IMO it makes all the problems from both eras worse.

News flash: actual cultures that are still thriving today are not your toys. They are not "made up". They matter. Do better.

#anti lore olympus #lore olympus #anti lo persephone #anti lo #lore olympus criticism #lore olympus critical #lo critic #lo critical #unpopular lo #unpopular lore olympus #appropriation #greek mythology #if anyone who is actually Greek wants to comment on this or share their thoughts please feel free #I'm not Greek but I have a deep love for mythology/Greek culture so this is just my take on things

[clown-cult]

Being a Greek myth lover nowadays is way harder than one would think, y’all…

#I’m tired #stop it #greek myth #greek mythology #greek gods #hellenism #hellenistic #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #tbh this is critical of a lot #I mean a lot #but LO is certainly Exhibit A

[the-weekly-nark]

Minthe will forever be the original!

The last pic is by @anoldplace, who noticed that Persephone dresses like Minthe. Their post inspired me to look for more parallels and wow there’s a lot.

#lore olympus #lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lore olympus criticism #lore olympus hades #lore olympus persephone #lore olympus minthe #minthe lore olympus #lo minthe #lo persephone #lo hades #lo critical #lo criticism #webtoon #rachel smythe #unpopular lore olympus

[cherrytea556]

Lore Rekindled; The Lore Olympus that should have been

To be honest, I checked out the rekindled version before the original one and now having reading the original as well, it's extremely odd. Y'know goodbye volcanic high where the original was a mess but a group of 4chaners made a parody game which turned out to be of better quality than the original? This is like that but replace 4chan with tumblr users, mainly @genericpuff whose series is pinned in their tumblr blog where you can check all of the episodes, especially updated ones. In this post, I will be praising this series of how it fixes the problems of the original

The Pacing

One thing I notice about lore olympus and lore rekindled is the pacing. Not just the flow of the story but where it chooses to focus on. Now in lore olympus, the pacing is kinda a mess and its mainly to do with what it focuses on. An example is the magazine plotpoint; in the original, its basically kinda there in between doses to focus on other stuff like persephone and hades together, persephone's sa (i'll get to that later), eros story, zeus and hera etc...The flow generally isnt that bad per say (except for persephone's sa cuz that was way too quick) but for a story meant to be a romance between hades and persephone, you'd think it idk, it would focus on persephone and hades specifically, not eros which is another example of; its flashbacks. Eros specifically has such a dragged out flashback in episode 12 which we didnt need or at least with that much exposition when it should've naturally expand in the story and that's what rekindled does. The magazine plotline has turned into the first conflict of persephone and hades as we see how it affects their lives and relationships. This works for its pacing better because it doesn't give you too much stuff to jumble with, making the narrative more concise and easier to understand where the story is going. And with the flashbacks, rekindled cuts out the fat in the flashbacks from the original to a perfect balance where it gives exposition of the characters while also leaving mystery for the audience to be intrigued, my favourite one would have to be this (though it more of a nightmare than a flashback specifically speaking);

It's of persephone in a greenhouse her mother placed her in with this red eye thing following her from outside the greenhouse. I have no idea of this lurker if its her metaphorical rage or a danger in her life but either way, i am intrigued by its presentation.

The Characters

When reading lore rekindled and lore olympus, the characters are definetly an odd experience. For lore olympus, the characters arent exactly uh....great per say. I think the main reason for this is how their ultilised, with characters like eros, hera, hectate etc being there to mostly be a matchmaker for hades and persephone even if it was initially seen as wrong like with hera and hectate, be antagonistic as a way to have conflict between hades and persephone like minthe, demeter and recently leuce even if ones had reasons too like minthe with hades emotionally cheating on her and demeter because lets be honest, she had a point. Then there's hades and persephone, whoo boy where to start with them.

Hades starts off as a creep eyeing at persephone during a party, specifically at her body and still lusts persephone even being aware that shes 19 and he's 2000 years old. Also is a shitty boss, father AND contributes to slavery with it while being adressed in some way, doesnt change him which isnt good for a character that's meant to be the main protagonists love interest.

Persephone though, I can get the self insert vibes. From favouritism towards the story, being who most of the men in the story are attracted too, portrayed as a 'cinnamon roll' (they actually said that early on in the story, im not kidding) who cant do no wrong. She acts like a teenager rather than a young adult which makes the scenes where shes sexualised just more uncomfortable (and they already unnecessarily were) along with adding that uncomfortability to the romance

But with rekindled, they expanded on the characters much more than they originally were. Persephone for instance has turned from a 'sexy baby' legal teenager to an actual young relatable adult with agency and allows her to screw up (e.g, getting drunk on her own rather than eros drunking her). Her adult attitude makes the romance between her and hades not only more palpable, but also strays away from the infantilisation/uncomfortable sexualisation of her character which is nice to see. Hades also is written well in the series from how it acknowledges his faults while still making him likable. And thats the same for every character really, their personalities are much more fleshed out and nuanced which makes their characters feel real to life, gaining effectiveness for more emotional scenes with them. An interesting thing too is that they even expanded the magazine guy's character from making fake news for profit into feeling guilt over what they done, standing up for persephone which is a pretty nice change.

No Sa Plotline

Not like you cant have sa in your story ever but if you never planned it from the beginning and only did when people tell you that the scene you drew from your comic was sa then....maybe just not do it. Lore olympus does exactly that where while an attempt was made, it goes on to retcon it into making apollo (the guy who sa'd persephone) into a lesser evil like that would made a difference instead of just cutting it out from the very beginning. Lore rekindled thankfully just made apollo into his pilot version, a shitty bf but more likeable and expanded upon (which should have been his portrayal from day 1). His shittiness doesnt come up in the story, more like self absorbness/egotisticalness although with its recent chapter of the magazine guy offering persephone lunch, it might reveal some cracks or at least further down the story it will be revealed to us which futhers how effective rekindled character writing is in how its expansion of characters would give us the feels. That or portray him as not a good match for persephone, either way much better than the original.

Artstyle

Lore olympus has a pretty good artstyle (at least in s1/the early episodes, s3 is just kinda goofy) but lore rekindled has got a good artstyle which is on top, more consistent too. Here's some examples;

Comedy

It's objectively funnier than lore olympus, no question asked

All in all, if you want to read lore olympus, i recommend you to read the lore rekindled one instead as it's better in every way. Give it a read.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore rekindled #generic puff #genericpuff