What animatics should we check out next? 👇

One thing I never see people say is that it's so cool Neal made Athena actually look like Zeus. Like there's no doubt she's his daughter.

Athena and Zeus are literally:
"My father is the worst man alive, and I am his favourite daughter"

That hug meant a lot and some didn't get it at that moment that Athena stoped talking to the king of gods and begged her dad.

One of my favorite little details, that is so quickly overlooked, is that in the fight with Aris, after he insults Telemachus, Athina SPECIFICALLY targets Aphrodite with her strikes! That forces Ares into the difensive to protect her, and also throws him of balance, giving Athena the perfect oportunity to overpower him!
It plays well into her howl thing of fighting with smarts, tactics and tricks, instead of brude strenght.

Love that it ends with a hug, and that flicker of regret as Zeus remembers this is his favorite daughter. Ares and Aphrodite are KILLER in this, they get done so dirty all the time. Living for Ares being allowed a personality and Aphrodite getting to be the bad bitch she is. There's a reason the saying is, "All is fair in LOVE and war."

I always here Heras "try harder" and "you can do better than that" as a motherly way of saying Keep trying I know you're smart enough to convince me

Aphrodite completing one of Ares' two swords (bc yeah he has two if you missed it) really helps highlight one of the main reasons Ares would have been worshipped/liked and also, symbolically, why he's in a relationship with her at all in the mythos. Why does anyone go to war? Why do people willingly put their lives and safety on the line in such an extreme way? In many cases, it's to protect one's nation, home, family, etc. People go to war for love. Aphrodite completing Ares' weapon is a perfect metaphor for their entire relationship and it's one of my favorite details in the entirety of this INCREDIBLY dense animatic.

One of my other favorite details is Aphrodite using a dagger as her weapon (as well as her reflection/clone selves). A short blade. One you have to get in close to use. One you can hide from those around you. One that, when positioned just right, can turn an embrace into a stab to the heart. Even in Epic, the only other dagger we've seen was used by Circe, mid-seduction, for the exact same purpose. Get close enough to someone and you can do some pretty significant damage. Idk entirely why that's specifically her weapon but thematically it makes sense that the goddess of love would use it.

The thing that makes this animatic one of the best besides the animation, is the fact that here they actually all seem like a family even Zeus. I love all the God Games animatic I’ve seen, but they’ve not been able to capture the family aspect of the Gods of Olympus. Here you can see all the little things that make them a family. Apollo’s nonchalance and knowing expression that his sister Athena would make it through him no problem, Hephaestus giving Athena a shield, Ares accepting Athena’s hand after she beat him with a smile as well as his constant worry and yelling of “Athena” when she fights back against Zeus, Aphrodite’s complete shock and hands over her mouth after Athena gets struck by Zeus, Hera’s satisfied look after Athena’s final good reason to her as well as her breaking down during the Athena and Zeus battle. Even just having them walking with her with smiles on their faces to Zeus after she wins the game, and finally Zeus’ complete realization while he cradled Athena in his arms when she gave out. And these are just some of them, every little thing just makes them look like an actual family who care about each other, and that’s what makes this undoubtedly the Best God Games Animatic.

Athena: Somehow, my family is the most dysfunctional yet loving sack of eccentric assholes in the world.

Neal Illustrator is one of the BEST in the game ❤‍🔥

In every other animatic, the ending was a goddess begging to her king

In this, the ending was a daughter begging to her father

Casper: “smash.”

Mason: “Casper no.”

at 15:05, you can actually see Hephaestus's full body, and he does actually have a mobility aid! (his prosthetic leg) :D

Things i'm just noticing
1. Tree in Apollo's area is his past lover who turned into a tree Daphne
2. Statue at the beginnings are Zeus posing and the one with the baby is of him holding a newborn Athena, this seems to be where she gets her pin and helmet headband thing
3. Zeus throws a planet fireball at Athena, representing his connection to Roman Jupiter
4. In the background of the Zeus/athena fight is the planet Saturn, which connects to Zeus's father Kronos, god of time, which is  a reoccurring theme with Athena
5. Wolf on Ares's shoulder is likely the she-wolf who raised his sons Romulus and Remus, who go on to rule the Roman empire. Also coincidentally the shoulder Aphrodite sits on
6. After Ares's taunts Athena for caring for Odysseus and Thelemachus, who starts attacking Aphrodite, and because he is protecting her that athena can beat him, showing how love is both a strength and weakness

Srry for the long post 😁

18:10 - It's a mirror of the statue in the beginning where a baby Athena is in statue Zeus' arms. <3 I love that so much.

Neal illustrator's interpretation of God Games feels like it would fit well in the same universe as Hades the game and I love it!!

in God games they're not all Cloud women if you look closely some of them are men 4:44

3:57 Technically Athena was born as an adult clad in armor from her dad’s split head, but I don’t care too much about accuracy if it means we get adorable baby Athena! 😅

Mortius reaction to Aphrodite was cool while Casper's was smash