#but i outgrew it

[patchedlove]

My baby :3

[genericpuff]

say sike right now, she's actually going back to The Doctor Pepper Show-

Like, this is just "What if The Doctor Pepper Show and LO had a baby?" Because at this point it's very clear Rachel only knows how to write from inside her own head, which is full of unresolved salt towards her childhood and medical fetish shit. The imagery in the first panel is very LO, and the imagery in the second is literally The Doctor Foxglove Show-

Evidently she's been reskinning the same shit for years-

Listen, I've been, for the most part, keeping my lips sealed on a lot of Rachel's old projects and what I've dug up on her previous works, for a few reasons:

1.) We were all cringe on the Internet at some point in time and a lot of these older works, such as Freak Scene Surgery and The Doctor Pepper Show, would have been from when she was in her late teens / early 20's. I'm not here to judge Rachel's personal preferences or whatever kind of fetishes she's into. It's totally normal, expected even, for a lot of creators to have older works they're trying to bury or disconnect themselves from because it's simply not them anymore.

2.) Ultimately I've been focused on discussion around Lore Olympus and Rachel as she currently operates as a creator, so I don't want to go digging up her old skeletons as any sort of "gotcha" towards LO today. Ultimately a lot of these works don't have anything to really 'do' with LO as it exists today.

That said, the reason I'm bringing it up now is because these new series... are bridging that gap that I've been avoiding for ages now. The gap that's filled with skeletons of Rachel's past that she's trying to both disconnect herself from but now fall back on with LO come and gone. It almost goes to show that her being a one-note pony goes back since far before LO - these are literally the only ideas she's able to come up with at this point, and it's painfully obvious in how both these new "graphic novel pitches" are pretty much the exact same and could apply to the same character, and that character may as well just be Persephone, i.e. Rachel, all over again.

Like, I'm calling it now, Patients in the Dark is just gonna be more "moms are bad" rhetoric, and Eleanor's Deathbed is gonna be Hades and Persephone, but replace Hades with some death god and Persephone with a training mortician, which is basically also still just Foxglove training to be a doctor, and Icy Shaw bragging about fondling corpses.

If anything, now that Webtoons is no longer carrying her around on their shoulders, this is gonna be Rachel's moment of "put up or shut up". She can either actually put in an active effort to write something that's decent, or she can flounder under the weight of her own tired mediocrity that's been knocking at her door for years now. As much as she's using her labels that were bought for her to sell these books which aren't even in real development yet-

-Webtoons isn't gonna be there to buy her Eisners forever. This is entirely on her and the imprint that Webtoons shoved her into. Her process is still the same, she's learned nothing from the experience of making LO, she's just got the money and awards now and is trying to run with it, but all she has are the same tired pitch lines that she's been using for decades now and just so happened to work with LO because LO had both Webtoons and the appeal of it being a Greek myth "retelling" to carry it into fame.

I'm gonna go into a bit of a tangent here, but it's been weighing on my mind since I found out this news and have been discussing it with pals within the ULO circle. Rachel once said in an interview that she wanted to use her platform to raise awareness of issues regarding sexual assault, mental health, and "the patriarchy":

"Who do you know that hasn’t been sexually assaulted? The number is depressingly low, right? Why is that? There is no short answer or an easy fix. I have a platform. I can tell a story that will hopefully educate and help others feel acknowledged and vindicated." - Rachel Smythe, Interview with Gossamer Rainbow

"...obviously I'm very feminist, and that sort of stuff really matters to me, um, the best way to approach this question is… I began, the pilot was written in sort of mid-2017, and I think what I wanted, what I wanted to achieve, and I don't even know… probably in 5 years time I don't know how I'm going to feel about this but I'm taking the risk, I really wanted to write a story where, uh…this female character goes through these things and I think what I wanted to do, what I wanted to achieve, was like a really common, I can't speak for like, men, but I can definitely speak for like, you know, if you're sitting in a group of your female friends and you're like "Hey! Who's been sexually assaulted?" … The response is going to be really depressing… Most female people that you know have probably experienced sexual assault to, on one level or another, and I'm like, for me I'm like "Why is that? Why?" And is it because there is a lack of information, lack of education, like what is it? And I'm lucky enough to have a platform and I'm like, if I could just provide some information in story format, would that help? Is this what I can contribute? So I feel like, especially, when writing sexual assault in media often it's… it's a way for the main male character to be, like, uplifted to hero-ness by, usually like, violence is the way to fix the problem, and that's not the approach that I want to take… um, I think [sighs], oh god, sorry I've lost my train of thought, [sighs], yeah, I think a lot of the time in movies when they, like, show rapists or something it's generally someone who's jumped out from behind the tree at a lady in a park and it's not really how it is like 90% of the time [laughs], so I just wanted to make something realistic where people could at it and be, like, "hey, nagging someone into sex isn't cool" or like removing all of their opportunities to say no isn't cool, or for someone to look at it, and just like feel validation, this is me trying, trying my best to make a difference with the platform that I have, and yeah, this is my roundabout answer for it" - Rachel Smythe, Interview with The Comic Source

And yet not once has Rachel actually used her platform for good outside of herself. She just asks the question, "Sexual assault?" and then writes off the answer "yes, it's bad!" and it especially shows in LO where the resolution to the one plotline she kept around to draw in readers was "assaulters are sent to the timeout corner!" Sure, it works for the readers who are simply seeking validation that their experiences aren't unique to themselves, but is it actually doing any real work to talk about the systems in place that leads to people like Apollo being created? Is it doing anything to address purity culture as it exists and the double standards that exist for women who are navigating sexual relationships? Is it doing anything to take the discussion outside of the narrative and put it into action through support of women's shelters, charities, mental health support for men, etc.? Not really. Like many of Rachel's ideas throughout LO, she simply goes, "Men, amirite?" and the answer is "yeah men suck!" and nothing more. The answer to the entire SA plotline is "rape is bad, don't do it" when anyone who could even relate to that conclusion in the first place already knows that.

Ultimately the activism she claims she's trying to do doesn't actually service the issue at hand - it just services herself and her own insecurities, her own unresolved trauma, her own need for validation through Eisners and merch sales. She asks the question, "Who hasn't been assaulted?" so that when she responds to the women who come forward and relate to Persephone, it's with the intent of getting them to read LO and buy her merchandise. She winds up making herself the center of other people's experiences, even ones that she cannot relate to. At BEST her attempts to "use her platform" as a means of starting discussion around ongoing societal issues like the patriarchy and sexual assault towards women is about as effective as Bell #LetsTalk, it's purely performative, self-profiting, and offers nothing of real tangibility.

If she just wants to write her own self-empowering personal works, that would be fine. Plenty of creators do it. Art is, at its core, self-expression. But it's extremely telling that she's built a platform off her self-expression, and twisted it into what she believes to be "activism" and "feminism", so that she can continue to profit off it in her future works such as this, which, again, are just reskins of her previous projects which were largely centered around the fetishizing of abuse towards women.

I don't want to claim that this is what it is, but... how much of the "feminism" in LO is done purely through the lens of victimizing women? Why is there more effort put into torturing female characters like Hera, and Demeter, and Minthe, and even Persephone to a certain degree, than there is into actually addressing the larger issue that she's claiming she wants to shed light on and resolving her questions with actionable answers?

That is the only question I will leave you all with. I am absolutely 100% not planning on touching these works with a ten foot pole, even if they should come to fruition. With the recent realization that she was into artists like Trevor Brown, alongside the fact that we've known for a long time she's into Lolita and there are very clear parallels to draw between it and LO, I think it's safe to say at this point that Rachel's work is not something I want to continue to support even when it's "hate reading". Again, I'm not going to outright accuse her of anything, but I feel like the writing is clearly on the wall here and I'm taking that writing as my warning to steer clear.

I didn't want to discuss the elephant in the room - her older works as they exist in the distant past of the early 2000's - but she's now riding the elephant.

[heavysambino]

INTOX STUFFING!!

I decided to go all out for my return, I smoked some 🍃 and I destroyed an XL Pizza <333

[darcyolsson]

"they're literally me" is a great way to connect to a fictional character but "they were literally me when i read/watched this for the first time but it's been a few years and i've outgrown them now" is maybe an even more precious connection to have to a character or piece of media. it's sad to lose the ability to connect to a certain character so completely but at the same time i've found it's very precious to have a place to put some of that strange fondness and sadness you feel for your younger self

[bug-s0da]

HEY i gotta show yg my super old aa art from like 2021. i never posted a lot of it since i wasn't very happy with a lot of it at the time (although some of it is probably still on my insta which i stopped using LMAO). MEGA CRINGE DUMP INCOMING!!!!!

HOLY SHIT 2021 ME GAVE FRAN AN UNDERCUT?? so. i've always been this way it seems

i don't like most of these! i think i made nick and edgeworth look too twinky! i think my shape language was just a tad stiffer back then; i especially struggled with these two due to the broader/boxier geometry of their suited figures. god not to mention i remember completely chickening out of drawing gumshoe back then. shame!

so anyways. one thing has always been the same and it is that i REALLY like drawing maya, even though the way i draw her has changed slightly. admittedly she's very well within my comfort zone LMAO. still love this doodle in particular tho......... dont eat and run girl u WILL choke

also bonus singing polly. dk why i made this this might be one of the only apollos ive ever drawn. sorry ill do better 🫡

[housecow]

gaining weight just to make these freaking pants fit

[florsial]

no thoughts just Sirius who would hold onto Regulus' old jade bracelet, piecing it together and noting how small they once were.

[wantitmore]

LH100 got me dusting off my Lewis folder. Saw these two gifs I made when I was wondering last year what if he never left McLaren. Lewis, in interviews, said this (Singapore '12) was the same race/night he and Niki Lauda talked which led him to move to Mercedes. So I guess the answer to that what if is something we'll never know, because one thing about Lewis is he will change. He will bet on himself. That puts all other doubts in their rightful place. Happy belated LH100.

[the-grey-hunt]

imagining a human!sissel (inspired by this art) and was immediately overcome with the need to draw jowd holdin! that! boy!

he's just tuckered out from all that playing bc you KNOW lynne and kamila are having a blast in this situation

[wickerfemme]

"there's no way these are going to fit; I'm not nearly that wide" I say, holding up new underwear that fits me perfectly.

[catgirlforeskin]

I don’t want to be rude, I’m glad you girls have fun with this sort of thing, but this sort of striped thigh-high kittygirl porn blog blahaj owner type girl feels like it might as well be a different gender from me, it feels about as alien as like, cis women in straight relationships do, y’know?

[year2000electronics]

oh my god i found this old shirt in storage. i used to WEAR THIS??

[loving-elvis]

My favorite 50s!Elvis photos, part 129 of ∞; Itty Bitty Baby Boy

[batfambrainrotbeloved]

I know how far I go from Moana definitely fits someone from the Batfam, yet I cannot figure out who it is

Do you know? I’m trying to edit my playlist to stop having so many repeating dongs

OOHH Oh my god I had never thought of that one- In my opinion?

This is absolutely Dick longing for the freedom breaking free from Batman- he was the first

No matter how many times he tries to stick to what he believes, he's forever driven by that longing of finding on his own mission outside of what he's been taught his whole life.

It could absolutely fit several other members- But I think because it holds such a cathartic/longing version of freedom it fits Dick the best.

[enixamyram]

You know one of the weirdest things about the Toxic side of fandoms I've seen? It's the way they try to treat all shows like they're supposed to be setting examples for the audience.

Take Hazbin Hotel for example. I have seen so many people pulling up a single bad trait that Chaggie or Huskerdust may or may not have and use that as the sole reason why they shouldn't be together at all. Which is so dumb but also bizarre because real life couples have their own good and bad qualities and having one possibly negative aspect about your relationship is more often not a reason you should immediately break up.

But sometimes fans and trolls act like these characters need to be in Disney-style-picture-perfect romance otherwise they're unhealthy and shouldn't be together. Like they seem to be under this really strange idea that all entertainment should be educational for the audience and if they're not setting a good example then it's bad TV.

It's so weird.

[unexplained-events]

Thoughts on the Chucky series?

I honestly forget how big of a horror icon Chucky is. Child's Play def scared me when I was a kid and I think the movies are fun but they never make my lists.