Mycenaean News: Local Bard made a generation care about Olympus' biggest crybaby

An hour long video just for God Games! You spoil me~
You caught to many things that alot of others were missing!
Wonderful work as always!

Fun fact: I'm pretty sure that in Neal's universe is canon that Zeus loved Athena so much that when she was born he actually kept her existence a mystery from everyone else in Olympus (expect Hera obviously) until she was fully grown, basically he loved her so much he kept her hidden from the world as a baby and child and that's why everyone believes she was born fully grown which is honestly so adorable 😭

22:46 fun fact: in neal's famtheon comic, there's a chapter where ares finds a puppy in a battle field full of dead soldiers, and because she was the only one left alive there he thought the puppy had killed all the soldiers😂 and so he adopts her as his war dog, because he thinks she's a "mighty warrior"❤ and her name is Bark because he asked her her name, and when she barked at him he was all like "Bark, like the skin of an oak tree? that is great strong name!"😂 I FUCKING LOVE THIS ADORABLE HIMBO!❤

I hope every Neal title card is just mads in worse distress

If you think these gods are hot, then you should see Neal’s Dionysus “Rush” animatic.

10:54 Neal is aware of the original myth, in which Athena was born an adult.  However in her webtoon she shares her headcanon that girl-daddy Zeus was so protective of her as a baby that no one ever saw her until she was an adult, hence the belief that she was born an adult.

Neal's Zeus is someone you can believe has many children by different mothers

For the hug at the end, this is just me but I always read it as he lost his temper and she is the only one (his favorite) that could push this is defenses and get through to him in his anger. She just caught some strays on the way which he realizes and regrets right after the storm of his anger clears

To me, Apollo's section always felt a bit rote.
"Ugh, Zeus voluntold me to oppose you, so here...uh, what did Ody do again? Oh, right, sirens- sure, that'll work."

i like the end shot of zeus cradling athena in his arms, as i see as a call back to the first part of neal’s ‘god games’ of zeus holding baby athena in the beginning as she’s walking through his temple.

BHAHAHA here's the usual "OH NO THEY'RE HOT" anguish on a grey background with red text!
Very very curious to what you'll think of the video, I will say I'm hugely biased so Neal's animatic is the first one I think of when it comes to God Games.
Can't wait for tomorrow!

btw if you liked the dynamics between the olympians in Neal's animatic then you can read her webtoon where you can see more of their family interactions

It's a sibling thing. You fight like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day, you still love each other. (Even if you don't always like each other.)

the brief crashout about ares being "poor baby boy" was hilarious XD you're getting feels because neal very much prefers to play in a space where the pantheon ARE essentially a big family in a more direct way than the actual mythos may indicate, where there's fondness and familial bonds and siblings may fight but they'll also have each others' backs most of the time etc. It's a pretty fun space, even if it's not technically 'canon compliant' with the original mythos.

Genuinely convinced Neal's 600 strike gonna take mads out entirely

What I do love about the final frame is that it is an exact mirror of the statue of Zeus holding baby Athena at the beginning.

Some small things that might have been missed- yes, all the statues are of Zeus.  Which means the only statue that features ANYONE else is hom holding baby Athena.  She is the only one that broke past his ego to display.  But it's also showcasing that he is proud of his love for her.  

Apparently all of the cloud people are women... except one.  According to Neal, Ganymede is represented here.

It makes perfect sense for Aphrodite and Ares to be stronger together.  Aphrodite might be the goddess of love, but that doesn't make her all light and happiness.  Troy is a good example of love gone wrong.  There is a dark side to it.  And it is so closely related to the emotional side of violence.  Just as a theme, I like the two combined.

Every "hit" Athena makes on Zeus is actually shown to have some actual consequences.   When he looks beat up in the end, the damage is to the left side of his face and his wrist.  Loved that attention to detail.

Also, the different reactions of the gods in that final fight are all so emotive and good.  They are overshadowed by Ares shouting "Athena", but each one has a different reaction.  Hera turns away because she cant't bear to watch Athena get hurt.   Aphrodite looks scared for the first time.  Hephaestus looks grim.  Just... the family theme that Neal added makes her designs some of my favorites, because they add such an emotional impact.

29:23 In one of the colored arts Neal did for the Gods, Hephaestus looks to be made of stone and magma which is why he has cracks in his body and his hair has the lava look

"that frame is like Baroque or Rococo" you might say it's..... Romantic

0:48 Neal said in an interview that she gave both Zeus and Poseidon the same hand gesture in different animations to show that they are family and share similar traits