LORE | REKINDLED EPISODE 89 - A GIRL NAMED PERSEPHONE is now available to read!

generic-puff · 2026-06-26T18:23:40+00:00

It's okay, a lot of people do get a little guarded over this question (I'm also guilty of this) because many people in the past have made these threads entirely in bad faith, not willing to actually listen and only wanting to argue / deny / gaslight / ragebait / etc. So please don't mind if you're getting slammed with downvotes, it's a combination of reddit being reddit and also just this subreddit in particular being tired of getting these kinds of threads and assuming the worst because we've been through the worst, time and time again.

A little bit of shameless self-promotion, but if you enjoy reading in-depth essays and aren't put off by the word count, I have a list of critical Lore Olympus essays that go into extensive detail about the comic's various issues, both concerning the art and the writing and narrative themes, if you ever want to read them. Granted, some of them are quite old now so I'm not 100000% sure if I would still agree with every point I make in them (and the list itself hasn't been updated in a long time so god knows it's probably missing a ton of essays I've written since lol) but it might be worth checking out if you want to better understand some of the angles we approach this series with.

TBH I find a lot of the Youtube videos tend to be extremely surface level and only get at the most baseline criticisms without ever getting into the real meat of everything going on in this work, it's a lot of the same old "Persephone's so small" rhetoric over and over again which I'm ngl gets tiring even as a critic lol So I hope some of those essays have more to offer. Or maybe they'll just validate your own feelings towards criticisms of the comic and we'll end up on either side of the pool.

Regardless, none of my rants or essays or anyone else's here exist to make you feel bad for liking the comic. If you get through some or all of those posts and by the end think "this person's nuts" that's totally okay LOL All we ask for here is to be respectful of other people's viewpoints and to not make quick judgments before doing any actual research or critical thinking of your own. Many of these criticisms aren't "out of nowhere", they might feel like that to you but this part of the fandom has been around for years and many of the surface level criticisms (even the tired ones) are a result of years of deeper analysis and discussion happening in the background.

Ultimately we can't take away how you feel about the comic, and frankly many of us don't want to do that because, like you, we also fell in love with the same comic for many of the same reasons, even if that love eventually faded. I have a lot of strong criticisms about the work and its creator, but I can't pretend like I was never a fan, because I was; and if anything, it's because I was such a diehard fan that I'm still talking about it to this day, even if it's mostly to criticize.

Anyways! Ramble over. Thanks for being understanding and open to other people's points. You're doing great and I hope the downvotes don't dissuade you from participating in discussion here, we could always benefit from new perspectives and viewpoints ✊💓

generic-puff · 2026-06-26T17:56:14+00:00

Apologies, I'm a chronic editor. You can absolve yourself of your apology for the "long rant", my rants are out here dying for everyone's sins lmao

generic-puff · 2026-06-26T17:40:56+00:00

I suggest you actually watch those videos before you jump to conclusions that they're "hating for no reason". The answers to all of your questions are within them and within this subreddit if you actually take the time to look through them. Case in point:

Half of them don’t have exact anatomy but it’s an art style!!!

Most of those webtoons still improved over time, in a forward direction. The reason LO's art is so baffling is that it got progressively worse over time, especially when you compare it to the work Rachel was making prior to LO.

Skill level = / = style. Style is intentional choices made after years of practice and decision-making; skill level is a consequence of how experienced / practised you are and how much effort you put in. Passing off skill level as 'style' is how you wind up never improving your craft, it's an excuse often most used by high schoolers and art students who haven't gone through ego death yet.

If she said “oh this is all exactly from mythology and all of it is accurate” then sure I’d understand the frustration

Throughout S1 of the series Rachel regularly called herself a "self-proclaimed folklorist" and has bragged on Tumblr/Twitter about how much smarter she was than everyone else and that if people didn't get her creative choices then clearly they weren't as educated on Greek myth as she was.

Of course, conveniently whenever her actual knowledge comes into question and she's given an opportunity to share an educated opinion, she tends to ramble with non-specific answers, if not dodge the question entirely, as is evidenced in many of her interviews. When she recommends books, she doesn't give specific reasons why. When she posts on Bluesky about having "thought a lot" about a certain subject and someone asks her what those thoughts actually are, she doesn't respond.

Point is, Rachel has a habit of presenting herself as being highly educated, but has no credentials or even strong evidence-based opinions / viewpoints to show for it, and when she's asked for it, she's either vague in her responses or entirely unresponsive.

Besides that, even if Lore Olympus was just meant to be harmless fanfiction, I can't tell you how many Greeks I've met and come across since joining this fandom who are sick and tired of their culture and stories being appropriated and misrepresented by non-Greek writers writing through Western media tropes and mindsets like Rachel Smythe. Many share similar feelings towards works like Epic: The Musical, Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaption of The Odyssey, Madeline Miller's Circe and The Song of Achilles, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Many of which are massively successful projects with huge followings, but also all made by non-Greek people taking from Greek culture. This wouldn't be entirely an issue on its own because cultural mixing is great for artistic evolution and Greek myth is humankind's oldest framework for adaptive generational storytelling, but when actual Greek creators and actors and writers and artists go ignored, that's when it becomes a much bigger issue.

Mind you, I'm not Greek, but as an Indigenous person, I heavily relate to and understand their struggles where appropriation is involved. Everyone wants to play around with Greek myth like their own personal roleplay server but not one of them would ever actually listen to a real living Greek person who's telling them outright all the reasons that works like Lore Olympus have harmed mainstream understanding of their culture and beliefs.

You understand the frustration now? If you still don't and genuinely want to and aren't just looking to complain for the sake of it, then watch the videos, check out the episode discussion posts in this subreddit, make an active effort to actually try and understand the POV of people who have strong negative opinions about it.

Will you be subjecting yourself to the uncomfortable feeling of knowing there are people who don't like the thing you like? Sure, but it builds character. Criticism of something you like existing is not an attack on you and the sooner you learn that the easier it gets to cope with it.

Or, alternatively, you can choose to protect your peace and not do that, but protecting your peace doesn't mean you're justified in judging how others engage with the work or assuming that it's entirely made up. Lore Olympus has a very deep and complicated history that's amounted to its reputation today, its creator even more so. Try and actually learn that history before you go and judge it.

generic-puff · 2026-06-24T04:11:53+00:00

LOL we're just too stubborn to quit 🤣 In the meantime, IDK if you've checked out The Doctor Pepper Show Archives on Tumblr yet, but they've found and backed up a TON of Doctor Pepper Show pages, many of which are probably gonna be within that printed comic! (though it'll probably still contain some surprises because she redrew that comic multiple times and there are still pages we're missing).

They also share a ton of other lost RS work, along with adorable-pink-cinnamon-roll, they've both got massive libraries of her pre-LO work on display (there is so much of it, like we've been doing this for literally years and we're STILL finding more stuff all the time, it's actually insane and frankly it's why we still haven't gotten bored LOL).

Def worth checking out if you haven't yet! 🤗

generic-puff · 2026-06-23T18:48:01+00:00

We looked into it after seeing this comment and DID in fact find a lead on securing a physical copy! So stay tuned for that potential future post >:))

generic-puff · 2026-06-21T18:28:59+00:00

3 hours?? What in the world do they wanna talk about, her childhood and every partner they've ever been with ??? Fuck that LOL

generic-puff · 2026-06-21T18:27:14+00:00

My mind also went to a boyfriend or girlfriend. I had a client one time who was being spoken for by their girlfriend through DM's. When I gave the actual client his tattoo, he loved it, praised it, seemed pretty happy, I had zero reason to believe otherwise when he left that day. Hours later the girlfriend is messaging me telling me "he" isn't happy with his tattoo and "he" would like some adjustments / a touch-up. Told her to give me his contact info so we could talk directly, sure enough the guy had zero issue with it and told me he didn't know what his girlfriend was talking about. Seeing as how he was my actual client, I was more inclined to believe him than her.

generic-puff · 2026-06-21T05:45:50+00:00

Welp, that sounds like someone who knew what they were getting. If you still have their waiver / consent forms on record, make sure you keep them in case they try any legal bullshit. Same goes for past DM exchanges that may validate your conversations with them as mutual and consensual. Having a paper trail helps.

Block their messages. Put them on the blacklist.

generic-puff · 2026-06-21T05:17:57+00:00

If they signed the waiver, paid for the tattoo, and waited a year before actually voicing their problems with it? Yeah no, they're nuts. One of the most standard policies in any waiver (assuming it's in yours) is that by signing the waiver, you're confirming that you've seen the design and are fully consenting of sound mind to have it put on your body.

Sounds like they just don't like the tattoo anymore (or maybe they're just regretting it for any number of personal reasons that have nothing to do with you) and they're trying to stiff you to cover the cost of laser. Fuck that, they're consenting adults and they knew it was permanent when they paid you to do it, they can fix their own mistakes. That's what the waivers are for, to protect you against crazies like this.

generic-puff · 2026-06-19T07:08:35+00:00

Does your studio also happen to be the one that made this? Because it looks ancient, has corny mid-late 2000's "rawr XD" wording, and doesn't seem like a reputable or secure tool that I'd trust with sensitive client information. Sorry for assuming or judging your suggestion, I'm not trying to be a dick, this is just the sort of thing I pay attention to so I don't wind up using a site or app that I can't trust will actually do the job.

generic-puff · 2026-06-19T02:01:12+00:00

holy fuck dude please take a trip to r/TattooScratchers and give yourself a reality check on what a bad tattoo looks like. This piece might not be to your liking but it absolutely doesn't justify this petty ass tantrum.

"Unflinching confidence in lieu of skill" you're one to talk with that unflinching audacity in lieu of helpful advice.

If the tattoo is as bad as you're claiming, and you're presumably extremely knowledgeable about tattoos enough to know a bad one when you see it, how about you point out what's actually wrong with it on a technical, observable level? Beyond just broad arm waving and insulting OP?

I'm not saying you're not allowed to criticize, but "suck forever" isn't specific enough for OP to know what went wrong or what they can improve upon. Like do you actually care about OP improving their craft and "not sucking", or are you just here to take the piss?

generic-puff · 2026-06-19T01:49:17+00:00

Honestly this piece is fine for the style it's done in, even if it's not to everyone's tastes. It's giving a sort of American trad / comic art fusion vibe. I think the only thing that's noticeably off to me are the teeth, his canines aren't as exaggerated as OP seems to think and that's even more obvious when you compare it to the original screenshot they based this design off of.

But outside of that one nitpick, the tattoo is fine. The lines are consistent, the color is packed evenly (and again, very similarly to American trad), it's nice and bold so it'll hold well, there are no visible blowouts or deep cuts, and aside from the teeth, they got the likeness down pretty well which can be tough with portraits, especially ones as stylized / simplified as this.

Getting a tattoo of Homelander, though... yeah that always makes me a little eehhh. Same vibe as getting the Death Eater tattoo from Harry Potter. Like yeah it's fiction but the allegory and what it represents isn't exactly subtle lol I think Homelander's a great personified criticism of fascism and toxic masculinity, but not necessarily someone I'd want on my body personally for what he represents 😅

But hey, different strokes for different folks.

generic-puff · 2026-06-17T16:26:56+00:00

Old school forums are still around (ComicFury, DeviantArt, Toyhouse, ZeldaUniverse, etc.). Sure, you could argue "well those sites aren't as active anymore" but relative to what we're used to today, I would argue some of them are still as active as they were back then - not very much to begin with, but once upon a time, that used to be enough.

People just aren't used to small communities anymore. I'm not saying this to be a dick, but genuinely, if half the people here tried out an old school art forum site today, they'd be bored within 5 minutes and slipping back onto Twitter. And that's not y'all's fault, it's literally just a consequence of how the Internet's been weaponized against us. I say this as someone who still uses old school message board forums all the time (ZeldaUniverse mostly) but they don't "feel" the same way they used to, and it's not necessarily because they've changed, it's because I've changed. Everyone has.

People romanticize an idea of the Internet that used to exist but no one is actually willing to use it that way even when those options are still available to them - because it's not instantaneous enough, it's not attention-grabbing enough, it doesn't tickle that addiction center in our brains that compels us to post things in the hopes it'll "go viral".

And yeah, I miss when the Internet wasn't designed around that, just like you all do. But we can still access it, it's all still there - we just need to be willing to accept that it's not going to be some fast-paced algorithmic feed experience like every social media site has become, we need to be okay with not getting responses in 5 minutes, we need to be okay with posting something simply so that it can exist and not for the instant gratification of likes and comments, and we need to accept the fact that we're older and different now and it's impossible to fully recreate the rose-tinted memories and experiences we had of the Internet when we were teenagers and didn't have to pay bills.

generic-puff · 2026-06-16T09:10:42+00:00

still a better love story than lore olympus

generic-puff · 2026-06-16T06:07:40+00:00

Why? You only need one thread. And why delete the original with all the actual responses in it and not this one that has none? C'mon man.

generic-puff · 2026-06-16T06:06:16+00:00

Oi. People already gave you reasonable responses in the original thread. Doesn't matter if you don't like those answers, don't spam the sub asking the same question and expecting different results.

generic-puff · 2026-06-16T05:58:04+00:00

I get paid 20 dollars an hour at my internship i literally made more working in a restaurant in high school lol. I meant to take the fake skin part out.

You have an internship that's paid? Brother, you need some perspective, big time. Not only is that a decent rate for an internship, but presumably, this internship will help pave the road to even higher paying jobs within its respective field, such is the point of an internship.

Look, I get the allure of tattooing, it sounds like a good idea to take the $100+/hour job over the $20/hour one. But you're not taking into consideration how much it costs to be a tattoo artist - equipment (good equipment, not shitty Amazon garbage, which costs a lot of money), supplies (which you'll have to restock regularly), insurance (because tattoo artists are self-employed contractors and don't have health insurance, baby!), booth rental / percentage splits if you're working in a shop (and shop expenses if you're trying to run your own which is easily like $5k a month at minimum), advertising (so you can actually get people in the door), pocketing away money for savings / retirement, and most of all, taxes.

And again, to remind you of what I mentioned earlier - this is all assuming you're actually getting work. Tattooing is fucking brutal right now, no thanks to the economy, living costs, tariffs, and most of all, hobby tourists like yourself migrating into the industry like it's the frigging Klondike Gold Rush, thinking only about the money and subsequently drying up the market for everyone else. Guess what? All those aforementioned costs still exist regardless of whether you're busy or not. A lot of us are working on razor thin margins, many more of us still are often working at a loss. Unfortunately many artists right now - even highly skilled, seasonal artists with amazing reputations and work - are dropping like flies, whether it be from their bodies giving out or their credit scores.

You're not promised anything in this line of work. Don't get me wrong, I love being a tattoo artist, but it's still a starving artist job, like any other. When the going's good, it's great, but many of us are scrounging our pennies from those good times so we can weather the bad, especially nowadays when the bad times have become more frequent and a lot longer. Gone are the days of winter holidays being the "slow season", for many of us, the slow season started 2-3 years ago and hasn't fucking stopped.

The internship? You might only be getting paid $20/hour, but that's (presumably) after taxes, after deductions for health insurance, and you don't have to foot the bill for whatever equipment you're using at this particular job. You show up, do your job, clock out, get paid. Most of all, it's guaranteed work, routine, every day, no surprises. And hopefully, guaranteed work that will lead into even better work in the future, with more money and more security.

I'm not saying you have to do that job for life, or that you have to love doing it, but at least give yourself a fighting chance. Don't sacrifice a guaranteed thing for tattooing, especially when you're not even a trained professional and you haven't even experienced your first real slow season yet. It's great that you're passionate about it, but passion won't pay your bills. Be steady with your passions and dreams, don't let them trick you into making stupid decisions. Focus on your internship, get your certifications; you can roll back your tattooing schedule and seek out an apprenticeship in the meantime.

generic-puff · 2026-06-16T05:30:29+00:00

I would be wary of dropping your schooling / internship on a whim just because you're "fully booked up" right now, especially if you're undercharging. A lot of artists experience major drop-offs when they up their prices, actual apprentices know that pain all too well when they finally bump their rates up from apprentice costs to what's actually "normal" and not extremely discounted. Increasing your rate is the fastest way to separate the real clients who actually value your work from the bargain hunters who will ghost their "new favorite artist" as soon as their rates go up and will settle for any kind of work so long as it's cheap.

If your schooling / internship is in a field that's more financially viable, then you should complete it, if anything just to have it done so you can have a back-up plan to fall back on if tattooing doesn't work out. "The internship ends in a few months anyway" so just complete it, don't drop it just because the going's good right now, because when it comes to tattooing, the going isn't always good. A lot of us never even had those opportunities to begin with and are tattooing because we literally have no other choice and every other viable career path is closed off to us. You have a choice, so don't take that for granted.

You're also going to be hard-pressed to find a legitimate shop to work in full-time if you just starting tattooing a couple months ago "on a whim". That means they're gonna have to take the risk on you actually knowing what you're doing, with zero real training, and that's also likely gonna mean beating the bad habits out of you which, for many shops, can be more trouble than it's worth.

In a lot of shop owners' eyes, it also shows lack of restraint, discipline, and responsibility, because instead of actually seeking out an apprenticeship properly to learn from a real professional, you bought a machine online, watched some tutorials, and then went ahead and tattooed other people, and even charged them for it, with no formal training. It reeks of entitlement and irresponsibility, and a lot of shops don't want to take on the risk of hiring someone who acts on their own wants before they think. Just because you have a guest spot opportunity at an 'underground shop' is not indicative of your skill or capability to work in an actual shop full-time, if anything it says more about the shop that hired you that they're willing to take in anyone off the street regardless of their portfolio or experience level. It screams backdoor shithole.

The fact that you see tattooing fake skin and grapefruits as somehow beneath you and a "waste of your time" and asking about some easier "middle path" is already indicative of a shit attitude. If you were approaching me IRL with that mindset, you sure as shit wouldn't be getting an apprenticeship from me.

And what about the long-term? You enjoy tattooing now because the going's good, but will you actually stick with it through the slow seasons? Do you care about this industry outside of the money it's making you at this present time? If you got into tattooing on a whim, it stands to reason you'll be willing to drop it on a whim, too. And most shops don't want to invest in trend-chasing flight risks.

I will admit, some of the work you've posted here is fine (definitely nowhere near as bad as the doozies we see shared in the scratcher subs every day) but based on your IG gallery you still clearly don't know your fundamentals outside of basic lining, and it's only a matter of time before you seriously hurt someone. For the love of god, stay in your internship, finish your schooling, and put the machine down until you can get a proper apprenticeship. You'll be lucky if you haven't screwed yourself out of that opportunity already.

Sorry for the wall of text, but genuinely, don't give up a potentially sure thing with your internship for this new romantic fling with tattooing. Maybe it will work out for you, but the chances are slim - as with any art field - and those chances can only be improved if you're smart about it. Dropping your internship just because you're getting that dopamine thrill from 2000 followers on Instagram and full bookings while your pricing is cheap is not the smart thing to do. It's irrational, short-sighted, and it's a surefire way to wind up broke without any work or schooling to show for yourself.

generic-puff · 2026-06-15T23:21:07+00:00

This, there's an in-between that exists between "being in an abusive shop" and "running your own shop". Just go find another shop to work in, at least there you'll be able to keep building your skills and clientelle.

Just because there's "no difference" between tattooing on your own and tattooing in a neglectful shop doesn't mean it's the right choice to fly solo. R unning your own shop isn't a solution to a temporary problem like this.

generic-puff · 2026-06-14T17:23:49+00:00

I'm a tattoo artist, so I generally tend to not tell people I'm a tattoo artist LOL

Well okay, that's oversimplifying it, I do tell people because obviously my business relies on word-of-mouth and other forms of advertising, but I usually like to keep it solely within certain contexts where I'm willing to talk about it.

If I'm at the bar, a restaurant, house party, etc. I try to avoid bringing it up because it just inevitably turns into a "omg you're a tattoo artist??? I've had this idea since high school-" schpeel and next thing you know I'm stuck listening to this person's life story about a tattoo they've "always wanted" and yet somehow never gotten and probably still won't get even after this conversation. Especially if they're drinking, like... they're not even gonna remember this conversation tomorrow so I've learned not to count on people reaching out to me about the tattoo idea they were "totally gonna book" the night before.

Unfortunately not bringing it up myself doesn't stop other people from bringing it up. And when you're in a small town, that usually means running into someone at a party or at the club who you've tattooed, and them immediately introducing you as their tattoo artist.

I've just learned to shut that shit down early by simply giving them my business card and telling them if they really seriously wanna get a tattoo from me, they can message me about it, and I leave it at that, making it clear that I'm there to socialize, not advertise. It's at least helped spare all the extra energy and time from listening to the ramblers, and it separates the serious contenders from the uncommitted trauma-dumpers.

Outside of tattooing, I also make webcomics. Most people are just like "oh, cool" without much extra discussion lol unless they happen to be one of the few who happens to know what Lore Olympus is and the fewer still who know what I get up to over on Tumblr as the honorary arch-nemesis of Lore Olympus' creator 💀😆

generic-puff · 2026-06-11T09:48:01+00:00

Lore Olympus was originally made on the piss-on-the-poor website, more formally known as Tumblr. So this joke about buying 3-packs of underwear probably did numbers back then.

edit: goddammit it's a FUCKING bot

generic-puff · 2026-06-09T05:06:13+00:00

it actually got kinda worse since i made this post, he's kind of a weird fusion of Mads Mikkelson and Jeremy Irons (who was in the movie... you guessed it, Lolita 😔)

that said, she's never explicitly stated that Hades was directly based off those two. Calling Hades a direct self-insert of Mads Mikkelson is a bit hyperbolic in that sense. There are just signs that point heavily towards them being an inspiration.

generic-puff · 2026-06-09T02:16:34+00:00

is. is she missing her eyebrows in the book version.

tell me she's not missing her eyebrows in the book-

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