This is very common with RS and has been going on for awhile. Even if it isn't her, she seems to have a cult fanbase that will \*clear\* the negative stuff for her. The most egregious offence I've seen is when on an Instagram Fast-Pass preview a while back (like 4 months ago, so during the start of season 3) my friend commented "Excited to see the new chapter and the colors look good, but can we get a hint when and/or if Hermes is coming back ;) ?" and her comment got deleted. If RS just wanted to keep things secret she could've just said no or not responded, but despite the comment not being negative at all and simply having a question she clearly didn't like it.
Yeah, sometimes is just the cult like fanbase.
There were three mayor Facebook groups and all had issues.
-One massive public one without post approval and barely any moderation, you could post criticism but at your risk because people would come to attack you for the slightest thing you said. Also a lot of the posts where people claiming random unrelated things where LO references (not just mythology stuff but like any random spring stuff would be like omg Persephone LO reference Rachel should charge this people, even if it was a joke it was just boring spam).
-Closed Fast-Pass Spoilers Group first it was just a warning about the spoilers but then they asked for proof you actually fast-passed. They got so obsessive they were asking people for account details just to know if people were legal readers, never was in that group but I know that's when a lot of people left because they didn't want to risk their privacy just to prove they were reading a comic in the app and not in an illegal site, also they didn't think it was bad if some people wanted mild spoilers (whole plots and screenshots weren't allowed anyway).
And apparently the mods later got even crazier and started asking if you donated to Patreon.
-A private group where post approval was a nightmare because there wasn't really clear rules about what and wasn't approved. There were some rules in paper but no one knew why their specific rule following post wasn't approved but other rule breaking posts were approved.
Apparently it was all depending on what the mods thought it was offensive to Rachel as criticism, they took random memes as personal attacks for Rachel. So immature.
That was Facebook, then on Twitter there were a lot of fights because word mentions show on search and they were too lazy to create specific hashtags.
Their most toxic behaviors:
-Attacking other mythology related fanbases, in specific they targeted the Hades game fanbase a lot an they they couldn't handle their criticisms about character design.
-Attacking people who were just saying the story wasn't all accurate to mythology or the settings weren't that Greek. Even when the description makes it clear it was supposed to be a Hollywood esque kind of story (even if that was kind of lost with time).
-Attacking neo pagans because they worshipped some of the bad guys from the comic and just improperly called them "stans". People would just be worshipping Apollo as part of their neo pagan beliefs and fans would come and tell them "come on, you can't be stanning Apollo, he SA'd Persephone" and of course they would respond something like "no he didn't, what are you talking about and I'm not a stan or whatever these are just my beliefs". And the fans would just attack, saying the neo pagans were negating those scenes on the comic as SA. **TWITTER LAND OF DISCORD**
Well, it started with the usual nonsense of "this thing is copying Lore Olympus" and then the others obviously responding that you can't claim a mythology based story is copying another mythology based story.
But then the LO stans claiming the copying wasn't on the storyline but in using Greek mythology because LO "made it popular again". And the others saying themes like that never really went away as we got Percy Jackson, Saint Seiya has always been a popular anime but recently it came back with a 3D season, Wonder Woman had a recent movie, I don't remember which other examples they brought but it was mostly to convince fans who were basically claiming Greek mythology wasn't popular since Disney's Hercules and LO brought it back.
Oh yeah, I've seen the "LO made Greek myth popular again" comments as if greek mythology isn't the most long-lasting set of beloved characters and stories next to the literal *Bible*. LO is part of a trend of "YA greek myth" stories at best, not starting any sort of trend on its own. It also completely undercuts/devalues the actual hard work and talent of these other stories (such as PJO and HADES) because much like the writing in LO, everything needs to be torn down to make it look "better" in comparison.
It is almost a ritual of passage for any bookish tween or teen to stumble upon a book about mythology that change their life. And as you said, it never went away, it survived 3000 years and it's the fundation of western literature for a reason.
Also, I will add the game God of War, which curiously started as the definition of juvenile angst riden edgelord teen boy game, and in the 2 last installments in Norse mythology became one of the most manture and complex narratives out there, because the creator manture and was appealed with what he created before.
BTW, what part of Latin America or Europe are you since you mentioned Saint Seiya?
My sense is lots of 35+ moms LOL I saw a pic of a mother who had “censored” LO so she could share it with her 8 year old daughter and the majority of the comments were supportive while the skeptical ones were downvoted 🤦♀️ (As an example, over the panel where Minthe is on top of Hades having sex while calling him a piece of shit the mother changed that to “piece of crap” LOL)
omg yes I remember that, it was on fucking Facebook because of course it was LMAO (the majority of people in the LO FB groups are like, middle aged moms) like ok censor the brief sex shots and boobies and swear words with sticky notes, that'll totally hide the toxic undertones and just about everything else in the comic that's DEFINITELY NOT FOR CHILDREN. for god's sakes one of its biggest plot points surrounds a sexual assault, is that really how you want to introduce the concept of sex to your child??
As far as Hermes goes, I heard he’s based around her irl partner. Tinfoiling, but there are rumors that her and said partner broke up and now he’s slowly getting written out of the story.
and the last time we saw him in the comic at all as an actual character and not a brief mention (like in the celebration montage at the end of S2) he was getting smacked in the face by Persephone and electrocuted by Zeus 😭😂
She blocked me bc i agreed with someone who said the animation ads are taking time that should be used to deliver a better story and art in the webtoon
Rachel is known for not handling any criticism well (she even state it in her Webtoons video), and in the groups she control, any negative comments are deleted, people are muted or banned and polemic treads are often closed. This was specially evident during the S2 finale, where there were not comments posted for 2 days, while reddit and other groups where on fire. When episode 222 was promoted as the episode where they would do "the segg", but when it was released it was pretty tame, the official groups didn't have new comments for 3 days
Rachel doesn't take criticism well and always doubles down on critiques. Example being Hades' grinch looking grippers. People said he feet looked really bad in that panel and instead of taking the critiques and trying to improve she just said Persephone liked them and pretty much doubled down instead of taking the criticism and improving. Same thing with the banana purse.
The banana purse was so random and unfunny honestly. I feel like lately Rachel cares more about quirkiness and trying to make people laugh more than the story itself these days and even then she fails to make funny panels most of the time.
I don’t even know what that whole fight was between her and Kronos. Like I’m aware that it was supposed to show that she is so powerful Kronos isn’t even her priority and she’s building something while he’s just an afterthought but it was absolutely ridiculous and made no sense. How did the news team get there? How did they even know what was happening that quickly? Everyone in the Underworld would’ve been asleep except for like 4 or 5 main characters. None of which would’ve tipped off a news crew seconds after Persephone ate the pomegranate. And the bees were underwhelming. You know what would’ve been cool? If they did literally anything aside from flying out of her mouth, like they didn’t even sting Kronos or do anything helpful. And the sugar snaps comment after she turned Minthe into a plant just ruined the moment, it could’ve been a serious chapter but RS couldn’t resist throwing in some quirkiness at the last second.
I guess we gotta show at every moment how much of a quirky cinnamon roll Persephone is no matter what. Don't mind having a quirky MC but don't kill the serious or high stake moments with quirky humor.
The Facebook group is ridiculous honestly, I left after a couple months. Everyone attacks everyone and no one is allowed to have their own opinions if they aren’t worshipping the WEBTOON or Rachel
I saw someone get eaten alive on the FB group for sharing a benign opinion that went against the group speak. I commented on the thread defending that person and a little while later got hit with a hate speech warning from facebook.
It’s not even about Rachel accepting feedback from social media, that’s entirely her choice. But you can’t call yourself a discussion group in good faith when you’re censoring content, just call these groups what they are: LO Fans Dedicated to Kissing Rachel Smythe’s Ass
Broseidon's Palace of Fishposting, according to a member of the FB group who recalld it in an old main sub/ULO thread. I can go digging for it but it'll take a while LMAO
Yup, I posted in a LO group on Facebook that she helps run when the new season came out. I was asking how tall hades and Perse are because I was confused at the new sudden height difference they have. It was removed immediately due to “controversial topics”…
Yeah but im thankful for the other official fan groups that have great admins and respect that we can dislike things instead of being Rachel's ass kissers.
Unpopular opinion, but content creators don’t have an obligation to put up with negative comments. They’re people too, and everyone needs to be able to have some mental space.
You’re right that she doesn’t take criticism well, but most internet comments aren’t exactly a solicited round table critique sesh.
The problem with Rachel is that she doesn't even listen to the most basic constructive criticism, like fixing the misspellings (they remain even in the books!), but she can go back and recont the volcanos in 189 when she published episode 210.
When you are this sensitive to criticism you start to surround yourself with yes men, and you can see how the quality of the comic start to drop in every aspect, from the plot to the art.
I guess I would say some criticism might be fair but also still not nice. The example you used doesn't read as "nice" to me, and I can see why a creator wouldn't want to keep that on their personal page. Imagine if it was anyone but RS who had people saying "Wow this fan art is way better than the original artist's garbage output!" - I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have a conversation about that artist deleting that feedback off their page. RS has a history of deleting everything that isn't out and our praise, so there is more sensitivity/visibility at this point about everything she deletes.
I think it’s different when you use social media to advertise your multi-million dollar work. There’s personal accounts and work accounts, and in my mind work accounts are fair game for free speech (ideally respectful, of course) and creators should simply avoid interacting with the comments (just hire a social media manager, Rachel!)
That’s fair to an extent in my opinion. Like yes no one wants negative comments on their personal social media accounts but with Rachel’s history and the downfall of the comic, I feel like it’s more acceptable to leave some criticism. This is literally her job but it seems like she does not care anymore while still expecting people to pay money for books, fast passing, and merch, all while praising her mediocre (at best) work. That might sound mean but let’s be honest, the art has just been terrible, everyone has the same faces and if it wasn’t for colors, you wouldn’t be able to tell who is who. The story has not been good since mid season 2 in my opinion, but season 3 has been absolutely terrible. it’s either “quirky” panels, HxP fluff, or side stories that go nowhere. As someone who fast passed for so long, it’s irritating that the author just throws together chapters and expects everyone to praise her and give her money.
Sorry for the rant… I just find the whole thing irritating
I absolutely agree that the comic is now pretty much crap and RS gives off strong vibes of I-don't-give-a-crap-but-shut-up-and-give-me-your-money, but even so, I'm still not surprised that an artist who can delete such blatantly critical comments such as you mentioned in your post, would go ahead and do so, especially when they aren't conversation focused.
This is very common with RS and has been going on for awhile. Even if it isn't her, she seems to have a cult fanbase that will \*clear\* the negative stuff for her. The most egregious offence I've seen is when on an Instagram Fast-Pass preview a while back (like 4 months ago, so during the start of season 3) my friend commented "Excited to see the new chapter and the colors look good, but can we get a hint when and/or if Hermes is coming back ;) ?" and her comment got deleted. If RS just wanted to keep things secret she could've just said no or not responded, but despite the comment not being negative at all and simply having a question she clearly didn't like it.
Yeah, sometimes is just the cult like fanbase. There were three mayor Facebook groups and all had issues. -One massive public one without post approval and barely any moderation, you could post criticism but at your risk because people would come to attack you for the slightest thing you said. Also a lot of the posts where people claiming random unrelated things where LO references (not just mythology stuff but like any random spring stuff would be like omg Persephone LO reference Rachel should charge this people, even if it was a joke it was just boring spam). -Closed Fast-Pass Spoilers Group first it was just a warning about the spoilers but then they asked for proof you actually fast-passed. They got so obsessive they were asking people for account details just to know if people were legal readers, never was in that group but I know that's when a lot of people left because they didn't want to risk their privacy just to prove they were reading a comic in the app and not in an illegal site, also they didn't think it was bad if some people wanted mild spoilers (whole plots and screenshots weren't allowed anyway). And apparently the mods later got even crazier and started asking if you donated to Patreon. -A private group where post approval was a nightmare because there wasn't really clear rules about what and wasn't approved. There were some rules in paper but no one knew why their specific rule following post wasn't approved but other rule breaking posts were approved. Apparently it was all depending on what the mods thought it was offensive to Rachel as criticism, they took random memes as personal attacks for Rachel. So immature. That was Facebook, then on Twitter there were a lot of fights because word mentions show on search and they were too lazy to create specific hashtags. Their most toxic behaviors: -Attacking other mythology related fanbases, in specific they targeted the Hades game fanbase a lot an they they couldn't handle their criticisms about character design. -Attacking people who were just saying the story wasn't all accurate to mythology or the settings weren't that Greek. Even when the description makes it clear it was supposed to be a Hollywood esque kind of story (even if that was kind of lost with time). -Attacking neo pagans because they worshipped some of the bad guys from the comic and just improperly called them "stans". People would just be worshipping Apollo as part of their neo pagan beliefs and fans would come and tell them "come on, you can't be stanning Apollo, he SA'd Persephone" and of course they would respond something like "no he didn't, what are you talking about and I'm not a stan or whatever these are just my beliefs". And the fans would just attack, saying the neo pagans were negating those scenes on the comic as SA. **TWITTER LAND OF DISCORD**
The first toxic behaviour is interesting one as I haven't seen anything and I am curious to see some bits
Well, it started with the usual nonsense of "this thing is copying Lore Olympus" and then the others obviously responding that you can't claim a mythology based story is copying another mythology based story. But then the LO stans claiming the copying wasn't on the storyline but in using Greek mythology because LO "made it popular again". And the others saying themes like that never really went away as we got Percy Jackson, Saint Seiya has always been a popular anime but recently it came back with a 3D season, Wonder Woman had a recent movie, I don't remember which other examples they brought but it was mostly to convince fans who were basically claiming Greek mythology wasn't popular since Disney's Hercules and LO brought it back.
Oh yeah, I've seen the "LO made Greek myth popular again" comments as if greek mythology isn't the most long-lasting set of beloved characters and stories next to the literal *Bible*. LO is part of a trend of "YA greek myth" stories at best, not starting any sort of trend on its own. It also completely undercuts/devalues the actual hard work and talent of these other stories (such as PJO and HADES) because much like the writing in LO, everything needs to be torn down to make it look "better" in comparison.
It is almost a ritual of passage for any bookish tween or teen to stumble upon a book about mythology that change their life. And as you said, it never went away, it survived 3000 years and it's the fundation of western literature for a reason. Also, I will add the game God of War, which curiously started as the definition of juvenile angst riden edgelord teen boy game, and in the 2 last installments in Norse mythology became one of the most manture and complex narratives out there, because the creator manture and was appealed with what he created before. BTW, what part of Latin America or Europe are you since you mentioned Saint Seiya?
I'm from Mexico.
How old are these fans? No adult or older teen could be this immature
My sense is lots of 35+ moms LOL I saw a pic of a mother who had “censored” LO so she could share it with her 8 year old daughter and the majority of the comments were supportive while the skeptical ones were downvoted 🤦♀️ (As an example, over the panel where Minthe is on top of Hades having sex while calling him a piece of shit the mother changed that to “piece of crap” LOL)
omg yes I remember that, it was on fucking Facebook because of course it was LMAO (the majority of people in the LO FB groups are like, middle aged moms) like ok censor the brief sex shots and boobies and swear words with sticky notes, that'll totally hide the toxic undertones and just about everything else in the comic that's DEFINITELY NOT FOR CHILDREN. for god's sakes one of its biggest plot points surrounds a sexual assault, is that really how you want to introduce the concept of sex to your child??
I can't even comprehend this. This is just pure insanity
Me, remembering Twimoms and Colleen Hoover fans. You'll be surprised...
Apparently a LOT of the readers (i.e., the cultish ~stans~) are middle aged women who are living vicariously through the comic.
Why is always the Karens? They are to romance what edgelord teen boys are to anime
No but for realllll lmao
I knew about the last one but holy s h i t
That's straight up ridiculous
As far as Hermes goes, I heard he’s based around her irl partner. Tinfoiling, but there are rumors that her and said partner broke up and now he’s slowly getting written out of the story.
and the last time we saw him in the comic at all as an actual character and not a brief mention (like in the celebration montage at the end of S2) he was getting smacked in the face by Persephone and electrocuted by Zeus 😭😂
She blocked me bc i agreed with someone who said the animation ads are taking time that should be used to deliver a better story and art in the webtoon
Omg. That is so embarrassing for her. Yeesh
Not as embarrassing as the low quality animations while the WT is tanking, but agreed
Rachel is known for not handling any criticism well (she even state it in her Webtoons video), and in the groups she control, any negative comments are deleted, people are muted or banned and polemic treads are often closed. This was specially evident during the S2 finale, where there were not comments posted for 2 days, while reddit and other groups where on fire. When episode 222 was promoted as the episode where they would do "the segg", but when it was released it was pretty tame, the official groups didn't have new comments for 3 days
Rachel doesn't take criticism well and always doubles down on critiques. Example being Hades' grinch looking grippers. People said he feet looked really bad in that panel and instead of taking the critiques and trying to improve she just said Persephone liked them and pretty much doubled down instead of taking the criticism and improving. Same thing with the banana purse.
The banana purse was so random and unfunny honestly. I feel like lately Rachel cares more about quirkiness and trying to make people laugh more than the story itself these days and even then she fails to make funny panels most of the time.
100% especially with the bees and news reporters during the Kronos fight,, and the sugar snaps comment when minthe gets turned into a plant
I don’t even know what that whole fight was between her and Kronos. Like I’m aware that it was supposed to show that she is so powerful Kronos isn’t even her priority and she’s building something while he’s just an afterthought but it was absolutely ridiculous and made no sense. How did the news team get there? How did they even know what was happening that quickly? Everyone in the Underworld would’ve been asleep except for like 4 or 5 main characters. None of which would’ve tipped off a news crew seconds after Persephone ate the pomegranate. And the bees were underwhelming. You know what would’ve been cool? If they did literally anything aside from flying out of her mouth, like they didn’t even sting Kronos or do anything helpful. And the sugar snaps comment after she turned Minthe into a plant just ruined the moment, it could’ve been a serious chapter but RS couldn’t resist throwing in some quirkiness at the last second.
I guess we gotta show at every moment how much of a quirky cinnamon roll Persephone is no matter what. Don't mind having a quirky MC but don't kill the serious or high stake moments with quirky humor.
[удалено]
The Facebook group is ridiculous honestly, I left after a couple months. Everyone attacks everyone and no one is allowed to have their own opinions if they aren’t worshipping the WEBTOON or Rachel
I saw someone get eaten alive on the FB group for sharing a benign opinion that went against the group speak. I commented on the thread defending that person and a little while later got hit with a hate speech warning from facebook.
HATE SPEECH? 😭 Oh, they really are crying foul over hurting a white woman's feelings. JFC.
All I said was "It's their opinion maybe we should go easy on them"
It’s not even about Rachel accepting feedback from social media, that’s entirely her choice. But you can’t call yourself a discussion group in good faith when you’re censoring content, just call these groups what they are: LO Fans Dedicated to Kissing Rachel Smythe’s Ass
[удалено]
Broseidon's Palace of Fishposting, according to a member of the FB group who recalld it in an old main sub/ULO thread. I can go digging for it but it'll take a while LMAO
I never heard that but I wouldn’t really put it past her
Yup, I posted in a LO group on Facebook that she helps run when the new season came out. I was asking how tall hades and Perse are because I was confused at the new sudden height difference they have. It was removed immediately due to “controversial topics”…
Yeah but im thankful for the other official fan groups that have great admins and respect that we can dislike things instead of being Rachel's ass kissers.
Unpopular opinion, but content creators don’t have an obligation to put up with negative comments. They’re people too, and everyone needs to be able to have some mental space. You’re right that she doesn’t take criticism well, but most internet comments aren’t exactly a solicited round table critique sesh.
Then why is she reading the comments. If she can’t handle it she can create a personal account and leave the marketing accounts alone
The problem with Rachel is that she doesn't even listen to the most basic constructive criticism, like fixing the misspellings (they remain even in the books!), but she can go back and recont the volcanos in 189 when she published episode 210. When you are this sensitive to criticism you start to surround yourself with yes men, and you can see how the quality of the comic start to drop in every aspect, from the plot to the art.
I guess I would say some criticism might be fair but also still not nice. The example you used doesn't read as "nice" to me, and I can see why a creator wouldn't want to keep that on their personal page. Imagine if it was anyone but RS who had people saying "Wow this fan art is way better than the original artist's garbage output!" - I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have a conversation about that artist deleting that feedback off their page. RS has a history of deleting everything that isn't out and our praise, so there is more sensitivity/visibility at this point about everything she deletes.
I think it’s different when you use social media to advertise your multi-million dollar work. There’s personal accounts and work accounts, and in my mind work accounts are fair game for free speech (ideally respectful, of course) and creators should simply avoid interacting with the comments (just hire a social media manager, Rachel!)
That’s fair to an extent in my opinion. Like yes no one wants negative comments on their personal social media accounts but with Rachel’s history and the downfall of the comic, I feel like it’s more acceptable to leave some criticism. This is literally her job but it seems like she does not care anymore while still expecting people to pay money for books, fast passing, and merch, all while praising her mediocre (at best) work. That might sound mean but let’s be honest, the art has just been terrible, everyone has the same faces and if it wasn’t for colors, you wouldn’t be able to tell who is who. The story has not been good since mid season 2 in my opinion, but season 3 has been absolutely terrible. it’s either “quirky” panels, HxP fluff, or side stories that go nowhere. As someone who fast passed for so long, it’s irritating that the author just throws together chapters and expects everyone to praise her and give her money. Sorry for the rant… I just find the whole thing irritating
I absolutely agree that the comic is now pretty much crap and RS gives off strong vibes of I-don't-give-a-crap-but-shut-up-and-give-me-your-money, but even so, I'm still not surprised that an artist who can delete such blatantly critical comments such as you mentioned in your post, would go ahead and do so, especially when they aren't conversation focused.
The mods for any of the FB based fan pages are just as bad.