#zeus HATER 4 life

[demigodlyquotes]

When Jason died, Zeus lost a solider.

Hera lost a SON.

[frogwiththephatahh]

Ranking All Act 1 Songs in Epic: The Musical

Disclaimer: I like all the songs! I just like some more than others. The ones with low rankings are not at all bad! Furthermore this is a personal opinion so please don't be mad at me if we disagree about placing! (also rb with your own rankings I want to compare it'll be fun)

20. There Are other Ways- I just never really got into this one. It didn't stand out to me like the other songs in its saga did. I do love how it shows us just how dedicated Ody is to Penelope, though. It's sort of a light foreshadowing of just what he'll give up for her.

19. Storm- Love singing along with the crew, but it doesn't appeal to me as much as others.

18. Full Speed Ahead- A great introduction to the main crew members, showing their priorities and personalities. But there are better crew songs.

17. Polyphemus- I was holding my breath during this entire song. Great! And that final line at the end makes my heart sink every time. But not as striking as others in Cyclops.

16. Warrior Of The Mind- First heard this song on tiktok, like most people. It's great, but at this point it's overplayed.

15. My Goodbye- A step up from WotM for me. Not much to say about it though.

14. Remember Them- Heartfelt and shows just how clever Odysseus is. Well, up until he doxxed himself.

13. Puppeteer- The beginning cord is so moving. Otherwise it's a great introduction to Circe.

12. Luck Runs Out- The emotion in Armando's performances never ceases to amaze me. Every one of Eurylochus' songs have so much raw emotion poured into them.

11. The Horse And The Infant- An excellent introduction to our starting point. The duet between Zeus and Odysseus at the end is an ear worm.

10. Open Arms- A proper introduction to Polites, and one that made me shudder when The Cave was mentioned. It's such an uplifting song that sets a more hopeful tone, only for it to be ripped away in the next saga.

9. Survive- Impossible not to sing along with. And Polites' rasping "captain...?" as he dies? And Polyphemus twisting Odysseus' words at the end? Literally life changing. People died.

8. Wouldn't You Like- Ngl this one is only this high because Hermes is one of my fav greek gods (and one of my patrons) Also it's so catchy.

7. Done For- So good I started boarding an animation (I haven't animated in ten years)

6. The Underworld- Absolutely the best crew song! I tear up at Anticlea's part every time. Devastating.

5. Keep Your Friends Close- So catchy! I like to drum along to the beat. I wish Aeolus was in more than one song though...her voice is lovely.

4. Ruthlessness- First song I heard from the Ocean saga and what got me into Epic full swing. The animatics people make for this one are insanely good. And as an avid hater of Poseidon, this song made me adore him.

3. Just A Man- It's the song almost everyone knows this musical from because of tiktok. And there's a reason! It's a good ass song. Especially the ending.

2. Monster- Actually shudders! Omg this one is so good. And it's a huge turning point for the entire show. Which makes sense since it's the final song in the first act. The last part ESPECIALLY is an ear worm.

No Longer You- A WALTZ? WITH TIRESIAS? Actually brilliant. I always imagine souls in the underworld dancing around Tiresias and Odysseus to form a wall of blue fire trapping them together. Cannot help but sing along to it. So catchy, so good, so moving.

[allamalad]

BOOK 4, BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH LLAMALAD REVIEW

Ok first HELLO?!?!?!? I HAVENT DONE SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN FOREVER?!?! Now thanks to my new aztec mythology storyline I've decided to dive back into the pjo series and finish book four. I finally have the time to do so, AND NOW I GET EVEN MORE STUFF TO READ I GOT 5 MORE BOOKS AFTER THIS ONE, THEN THE SUN AND THE STAR, THEN THAT OTHER ONE!! (I forgor the name) NOT TO MENTION THE NEW SERIES COMING UP!!! so excited rn!! Alrighty let's get onto the review. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS BTW

EVENTS MAY BE OUT OF ORDER DUE TO ADHD RAMBLING

OK SO THE BEGINNING SEEMED PRETTY NORMAL. always like seeing capture the flag, very fun!! Im a certified hater of the saytrs that were dissing grover, they can go like, fall in a hole or something.

Possible jail break with a coward dude with 100 hands?!?!?! Also woman with like a bunch of dragon and other animal heads that's also pretty cool. Comparing these designs to aztec monsters is very silly lol

Skipping to when they finally get into the laberynth, HERA IS VERY SUSPICIOUS I DON'T LIKE HER, but like then again maybe she's just on edge cuz Zeus cheated on her like half a million times. So what do I know.

Sphinx scene was very silly, sphinx is bbg, she is one of my favorite monsters cuz she reminded me of nepeta from homestuck.

Percy getting blown up by a volcano filled with silly little feral creatures is also pretty standard, then getting saved by some garden person. Her name was calypso, very nice name!! Her character was also refreshing.

Fight with that other one son of poseidon was also very cool, but i was too busy feeling bad about Annabeth and her interaction with Luke. Buuuut- ANNABETH STOP CRYING OVER HIM IK HES LIKE A SIBLING TO YOU BUT GET OVER IT HES EVIL NOW!!!!

Stupid little creature eyepatch demi god literally running as soon as they free him, mf is NOT greatful. Smh. IDC IF YOURE THE CHILD OF THE REVENGE GOD OR WHATEVER GET OVER IT YOU EDGELORD!!! speaking of edgelords, NICO STOP TALKING TO DRUG DEALER GHOSTS WHO HOLD YOUR DEAD SISTER OVER YOUR HEAD STOP!!

Speaking of nico when he got held hostage by that other guy previously and percy had to talk to those freaky flesh eating horses, those monsters were pretty neat. Like carnivorous horses seem like an awesome creature design. 10/10 would fight for my life.

OK GOING BACK TO THE SUBJECT when nico finally got betrayed by that ghost king guy it literally went like this

King of ghosts: MWAHAHAHA YOU STUPID CHILD I GOT WHAT I WANT U AINT GETTING UR SISTER BACK, DEATH TO THE CREATOR OF THE LABYRINTH HERE I CO-

Nico: skill issue

King of ghosts: WHAT?? WHAT DOES THAT MEA-

Nico: S K I L L I S S U E

*Obliterates with ground powers*

Also, my biggest comment and my FAVORITE REVEAL IS LUKE??? HELLO??? HIM COMING OUT OF THE TOMB POSESSED BY CRONOS ALMOST KILLING PERCY WITH TIME POWERS IS LITERALLY SO COOL?? it sent LITERAL chills down my spine, like, percy having time warped around him because he is the titan of time basically, and almost KILLED percy if it weren't for that hair brush. DUDE. LIKE, DUDE. THE NARRATIVE IMPACT IS IMMACULATE, ESPECIALLY ANNABETHS REACTION IS SO..

THEN THE LITERAL SOB FEST THAT IS PAN'S DEATH?? HELLO BRO LITERALLY JUST WANTED TO FADE AWAY BUT WAS ANCHORED BY THE FALSE HOPE OF THE SAYTRS. WUUGH WUH WRKG

Ok NEXT I must say the pet hell hound is literally adorable I love her sm TOO BAD HER OWNER KILLED HIMSELF jk nico killed him kinda BUT STILL. that battle at the end was REALLT COOL. Nico using his epic powers, tyson being tyson, and horse man shooting arrows epically?!?!?! and THE ANGST. I literally almost cried again when one of the only two dionysus children DIED. like BRO WHY THEM??? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GIVE THEM A NAME, THAT MADE IT WORSE, AND THE FACT THAT DIONYSUS ACTUALLY CARED AND PROBABLY GRIEVED FOR HIS SON.

Ok I think I covered the main parts, finally after this and after the death ceremonies, Annabeth being annoying, and nico being emo again and leaving, percy went home for his birthday. And everything seemed normal, tyson literally being the best character as normal, Mr blowfish man wanting to marry Percy's mom. AND THEN NOT ONLY POSEIDON PULL UP, BUT ALSO NICO?? LIKE YALL WERENT INVITED BUT OK. also sand dollars are cool I guess.

OK IM DONE NOW BYEEEEEE. BOOK IS 100/10 EXPECT POSSIBLE PJO FAN CONTENT SOON, BUT ALSO MAINLY MY AZTEC MYTHOLOGY STORYLINE!! FAIR WELL, ONTO BOOK 5 NOW

[antiloreolympus]

16 Anti LO Asks

1. Listen, i know it may hurt to get criticism, but both Rachel and her fans need to realize that’s just part of life, but more so it shows a really bad side to them in how defensive and irrational they get when it comes to critique.

If they’re genuinely proud of their work and stand by it, then they should allow it to be interpreted and dissected on its own merits, not her going on instsgram or twitter to complain people “don’t get her work” and all criticism is unwarranted (which some is, but the vast majority isn’t). Once you put something out into the world, it’s not wholly yours anymore, and I don’t think Rachel gets that. I’m not saying she has to love every critique she gets, but the reactions to get defensive and hostile over it shows a lot more about them than they seem to realize. Critique can be a good learning experience to change what you can in your current project and not carry those mistakes in your next work, not double down you have “haters” and say you’re work is perfect as is. Creating that bubble around yourself is bound to burst at some point, and it won’t be fun when reality pops it. 

2. was christmas shopping today (yay capitalism) and i saw an LO stan on the amazon reviews saying LO is a worldwide hit because its "number one in romance graphic novels" and i really dont have the heart to tell them being number one in those very specifics categories isnt actually very good. to get even on the amazon bestsellers list you need to sell thousands of copies an hour, to get on those very specific lists you need to sell like ... five copies. i doubt LO fans know that though.

3. I wish LO focused on other characters not just because of its title but because I feel like it’s what hurting the story.

Yes Persphone and Hades are the main characters, but too much time is dedicated to them where the built up meant nothing to a lot of fans. And it’s because it’s too centric around them. For plots I feel like characters follow a plot but LO the plot is all the characters but because no other character is developed it’s all HxP

I think we would benifit Hermes and Aphrodite talking without HXP around or more Hestia and Poseidon and the other traitors interacting. Because the story tells us that Hera Hestia and Demeter are close but Demeter keeps them at arms length because of Zeus mostly, but what is their releationship actually like. Does Hestia know that Persephone is a feeling goddess and trying to protect Persephone and Demeter or she doesn’t know because “she’s a snitch”. Why don’t hades and Demeter get along? Is it cause he’s a drunk? What about before that? When he was that shy nervous guy? What’s Poseidon’s relationship with the ladies? Poseidon and his wife?

What about the three furies? I loved their art when they attacked the photographer and they had a set up to being interesting characters but RS kinda buried them in blindly supporting Persephone so now they don’t need to be a character just a side line space filler.

Like I feel like something what I wrote was what RS had in mind but she keeps going back to HXP because she has these plot points that she likes about them more but if she spent more time developing her characters instead of the week by week moon I bet it would improve. Idk if there will be a way to make me like HxP but I don’t think it’s out there door to like LO

4. RS has done nothing to show us that Persephone has grown up at all during this. She looks the same and acts the same. Other than her outbursts that she tried so hard to hide from her life in the mortal realm I honestly feel like her character has learned nothing. She’s still naive, she still looks like a sexualized teen but not even just that RS tries to make her look like a “wife” with kids with hades or the Jackie Kennedy look but I think all it does is write “baby bride” on her. It makes hades look bad Persephone look bad. If flash backs or anything had consistency I think it’d be better but they don’t. 

5. (for anti lo ask) prev anon mentioned short haired perse and rs looking the same and yeah, if u go to rs interview with webtoon (on the air), the thumbnail with the pink lighting on rs next to short haired perse just made me go 😟😟

6. i agree w/ that one anon it seems maybe RS might try and "redeem" demeter (why she needs "redeeming" is beyond me but w/e) but i just dont buy she will do it well given her track record (demeter will likely just have to bow down to hades as her "redemption") but also i just know the fans wont accept it. theyve hated demeter for far too long and always side with hxp no matter what that now finally giving demeter even a little nuance just wont work. theyll still see her as evil in the end.

7. i think the thing too with lO underperforming in sales is because for the most part people want more general mythology, not single relationships or hymns unless its very specific under what context theyre in. like TSOA is still under the Iliad, Circe is still under the Odyssey, PJO is more general myth, Hadestown is under Orpheus and Eurydice, etc. Like the concept of LO would be fine as an anthology series, not trying to be about one relationship and forcing every other myth into it.

8. LMAO im glad im not the only one who finds it lowkey insulting rachel just throws in food she found off a greek food google search and thinks thats all she needs to do to make it "greek". like honey, no, it's still a deeply american-praising work set in NYC with american characters with neon colored skin from a bad 1980s comedy/drama who just happen to have greek names. ive never seen something claiming to be greek so far removed from greece, and percy jackson literally takes place IN america.

9. if artemis ends up a late game ~shock twist~ villain i might actually lose it, especially if it comes along with redeeming a r//pist.

10. considering rachel thinks baklava and loukoumi are greek origin foods (over turkey and syria) she probably also thinks fortune cookies and eggrolls are originally from china too instead of the chinese immigrants in california, or that german chocolate cake is actually from germany over some guy from texas with the last name german.

11. i legit do not understand why there is such a heavy 80s and 60s nostalgia in lo when its like?? rachel your demographic is almost entirely born after 2000 why would any of them care about 60s fashion or references from the 80s?? also isnt it supposed to be modern anyway? why is the timeline and aesthetics so jumbled? what purpose is there to that exactly?

12. "Olympus Guardian" has an episode surrounding Hades and Persephone and although there are still creative liberties with how the myth is retold to keep it palatable for the target audience, all of the gods (especially Demeter and to a lesser extent, Zeus) are portrayed in a much more respectful, likable and nuanced manner than what LO is trying to tell and it's just one episode and yet it's written much more better! Also, a webcomic I would highly recommend in regards to HxP would be "Mythos Redone" by @theatomicboom. It's a very new and refreshing take on the couple.

13. idk why yall are shocked rachel once again did no research and slapped in completely wrong food/items/aesthetics in this comic. a whole big "moment" in s1 was persephone beating hades at chess. you know, a game that doesnt exist until 500 AD at the earliest in INDIA, which is a shocker, i know, NOT ancient greece! wow!!

14. I saw some people in the comments of the newest episode give an analysis saying that the loukoumi was supposed to be a metaphor for Persephone’s body and that by spewing all that she was trying to indirectly ask if he would be “disappointed” that she was “not what he was expecting (i.e. a virgin)”. Meanwhile I’m just sitting here thinking that the dialogue was just unrealistic as hell. What’s your take on it?

From OP: I’m not sure since I also saw someone else interpret this as having to do with people’s perspectives of her (Persephone) in general. I think it can be interpreted in different ways but I mostly just saw it as a way to distract Hades by moving onto a different subject tbh. Especially since people do it all the time without any meaning behind it.

15. if demeter is abusive then hades is a million times worse than abusive. he oversteps any boundaries persephone tries to set up, he objectifies her, he forces her to admit things to him she isnt comfortable with, he controls where she lives, her money, and now basically controls her freedom, belittles her choices, and he screams at her at even the tiniest bit of pushback. how is demeter being a well meaning if not flawed mother "abusive" but hes "romantic"? make it make sense, please.

16. i just dont want rachel even looking at another mythology story, i dont want her depiction of herakles, i dont want to see how she'd mess up orpheus and eurydice, i dont care about her thoughts on helen, circe, and clytemnestra, i dont want her trying to depict the trojan war and the odyssey, i just dont want it. what little she's touched in LO is so wrong and downright insulting that i want her to go buzz off with some OC fairies she makes up than touch another cultures' stories ever again.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

anti LO anon opinions

(1) I just don't get why LO made a point to say Persephone actually hates death & violence so she can't be the blame for slaughtering a village who killed her friends + bullied her, but then has her happily murdering Minthe? At least in myth, Minthe insulting Persephone explained her fate, but in LO Persephone does it after Minthe is actually in the right and after we saw how Hades mistreated her/ruined her life. Anyone w/o the rose-tinted glasses on shouldn't be rooting for a murderous teenager.

(2) There are so many introduced then dropped plots in LO but does anyone remember when Ares literally hit Hera in the face so hard it made her BLEED and it was a cliffhanger of "oh no! how will she react? What will happen to Ares and Zeus for this?" and they just? skipped it? I understand the idea of Webtoons is each episode should be designed to make people want to come back next week, but so much is introduced that proceeds to not even matter in the end.

(3) The r*pe plot in LO becomes more of a waste the longer this story goes on. Minthe, an actually threat to HxP, should not be taken care before the guy who literally sexually assaulted the lead character, who wasn't even involved with them in myth. More so, with the introduction of Leto + deleting all of the blackmail + Persephone getting over the assault w/ no baggage, it literally was only put in for shock value and to make Hades, her canon r*pist, look better. Why even include it?!

(4) Minthe haters here are literally saying that people who relate to her should die I--- (they also shame people for sympathizing with her and those who acknowledge her complex character)

(5) People on the reddit and tumblr celebrate that persephone turned minthe into a plant in latest episode, so that meams it really happend. Im actually suprised that this plot doesnt happend amd get resolved in minllion years loke every other bigger plot.

(6) i highkey wanna know what nasty shit she would do with apollo and hyacinthus. here are my theories: 1. hyacinthus was 'secretly a girl disguised as a boy the whole time' and apollo is still a rapist, 2. apollo hasnt been born yet and is gonna fall in love with a rapist and people are gonna shit on him if he ever appears, 3. hyacinthus is gonna be his little put-upon Uke BabbuTM, and the healthiest relationship in hellenismos is gonna be butchered by rachel smythe.

(7) if smythe is so obsessed with modern interpretations of ancient things. eros's romance arrows (since eros/romantic love was considered a form of madness) are basically a dater*pe drug. apollo probably didn't agree to be shot. in the OG myth, sure he shot the arrow that made daphne hate apollo, but ... he also shot the arrow that made apollo obsessed with daphne. by her metric, apollo should also be a victim here.

(8) I like how LO fans say you can't critique the early art of LO because "Rachel hadn't found her style yet" as if she wasn't in her early 30's after art schooling AND years of working as an artist? It's not our fault it's easy to see she was not working off any character model and couldn't stay consistent in her style, and it's only caught up to her with the art team not being consistent either to where people notice a decline in quality.

[antiloreolympus]

7 Anti LO Asks

1. tbh the fact rachel purposely didnt let persephone have any romantic relationships before hades gives the impression that had persephone had any other experience, she'd see right through him and not want him because she had better. not having any other point of reference isnt good. its setting up that hades can get away with whatever he wants because she doesnt know anything else. thats really not a healthy dynamic to have even while dating, much less eternal marriage.

2. You know what’s weird? How Hades is a 2000+ year old being and still has not gone through his trauma. We know that he was eaten by Kronos when he was around 8 and stayed there for like 13 years if i’m correct (in the LO version), so we can assume that when he got out he was in his early to mid twenties. And then he fought in the war which we don’t know how long it was in LO bc there’s no info on that at all but let’s assume that that lasted 100 years.. he’s still pretty young there. So how is it that he’s only now getting help for his traumas? Which we don’t even see actually, it’s just a sentence said by him when he adopts the little dog. We don’t even know how old he actually is bc it’s always assumed it’s 2000+ but 2000+ years old could mean 2030 years old or 2999 years old or even 3000 and more and he has just lost track of time. All of these years and he still has not processed or made any progress?? At all?! Unless therapists are a new thing in the Underworld but we have Chiron who says that she was a physician in the old world but got tired of it so she decided to study the human mind. And that must have been quite some time ago. So why exactly is Hades a 2000+ broken man who needs to be fixed by a 19 year old going through her own trauma? 

3. The underworld being an infertile world doesn’t make sense at all. If we compare the underworld with the underground it’s a fact that where there’s decay if is more fertile. Not to mention that in the myths the underworld is in fact considered a fertile land. We know that the underworld is full of souls, and souls are considered what give life to a body or place, so the underworld being a desert still doesn’t make sense at all. 

4.If I may also add, just because LO is a “retelling” doesn’t mean it doesn’t harm Greece or Greek people. They still exist, funnily enough, they didn’t all die once Alexander the Great stop conquering. They’re a country full of strong, passionate people who have gone and are still going through massive problems and hardships. They are also a country who are still, at best, ignored, or at worst, mocked for the suffering they must endure by nations that are far from economic instability and from actual war zones like Greece is. Despite all that, their mythos are seen with great reverence to this day, and they don’t “gatekeep” it, you can ask any Greek in here and they’ll tell you they enjoy stuff like the Disney version or PJO just fine, but you have to stop and wonder why LO is a Greek myth product that is almost universally despised to Greeks who know it exists.

It’s pretty obvious why, RS not only butchers the myths completely to where they don’t even resemble what they once were, but her constantly silencing and badmouthing actual Greeks who want to help her make it more accurate is not a great look. She’s acting as if she, a white woman from an island made of literal England reject descendants, somehow not only knows more about Greek myth than actual Greeks, but that she OWNS the mythology and she can do whatever she wants with it, and only those who agree to her biases know what they’re talking about while everyone else is wrong, so obviously Greeks don’t know Greek mythology! Even media products in the same, non-Greek realm as her get her ire. Case in point, we know she’s hostile to PJO, she badmouths the Disney movie all the time, she complained about Blood of Zeus (emphasize on ZEUS) didn’t revolve around HxP, and despite them being heavily promoted by her own employers, she never speaks of Punderworld or HxP ficlets, even when her fans harass them and in Ficlets case purposely got them kicked off Canvas for “copying” LO, meanwhile she will happily promote OSP because they confirm her biases and kissed her butt in their HxP video. What does this tell us? Because it doesn’t seem very nice.

Of course she’s allowed as a creator to play with the mythology as she wants, but even then there are still limits to adhere to, and she never does it because obviously her half-baked concept of the “mythology” is way better than the 3000+ years of texts and interpretations out there. Sure she has people flinging themselves at her to offer her help for free, especially Greeks and academics, but what would they know over her, the self proclaimed master of mythology itself? Obviously she created it all in 2016 when she decided to draw a sexy pink girl and that’s it. Greece and everyone else was just using a fake version this whole time! 

It seems from her POV, Greece ands its citizens are, in her own words “haters” who apparently know less about Greece and its own mythology than her, a white woman who uses a fanfic-writing white supremacist as a main source. The ego on this woman is astonishing.

5. May I also add to the age discourse, something like Edward and Bella can get away with it because Edward stopped aging physically, mentally, and emotionally at 17, and even in story there is a logic to them still going to HighSchool after all this time. He may be 117 age wise, but he’s at the same exact level as Bella in every other regard. That doesn’t excuse his creepy actions, of course, but there is in canon logic to it to justify it and make sense.

I’d say LO could use this too, but tbh it wouldn’t work. Either it’d involve making a CEO king as immature and childish as a 19 year old (not great) or it’d have a 19 year old suddenly be way wiser beyond her years which wouldn’t make much narrative sense, but also has some really creepy implications to it. Anyway RS dug herself into a stupid hole and doesn’t know how to get out of it. 

6. im in the same boat 😭 i was watching one of those LO critique videos you posted and they were showing panels from early on and i just thought "they photoshopped this, right? theres no way it looked this bad. they're just goofing around with this" and nope, that's exactly how they looked the video didnt change a thing. the bright colors really were distracting your eyes from seeing how bad it looked.

7. Correct me if i’m wrong but in one of the first few episodes wasn’t Hades annoyed with Persephone? Especially at the panel where she wanted to drive his car? Like nothing has really changed in her behaviour with him apart from her being more flirty, but the only change is that Hades started viewing her more sexually. Always thinking about her breasts and butt, and nothing else. Half the time he was thinking about her, he wouldn’t even think of her face. So how exactly is their relationship a romantic and lovely one?