Experience Tumblr like never before
TELEMACHUS MY BOY!!!
Honestly most of the stuff I have to say about him deals with the next two songs instead of this one…
Okay, but the more I listen to Antonius the more his voice is just ✨✨✨? Like Calypso’s voice being gorgeous was on SIGHT (on… hear? Heard? Audio?), but Antonius keeps getting better the more I listen to him. Don’t get me wrong he’s a bad dude, but his voice acting? Beautiful
I love the setup in this song, you don’t even notice because it’s so catchy
ARGUS CRUSHED MY HEART IN THE ANIMATIC (like I knew he would) poor dog boi… if Jorge doesn’t have Odysseus say hello to him in a song I will be heartbroken.
This song… the appearance of Athena in this song brought my prospective ranking of it from likely low to battling it out with Love in Paradise for top spot (I’m STILL not sure which one I like more).
When Athena first appeared in the livestream I (mentally) SCREAMED- MY FAV IS BACK SHE’S BACK AND I LOVE HER (very platonically)
I love the little interlude with her and Telemachus- speaking of which-
I’ve seen some people mention how Telemachus seems much younger than 20/21. Something about the portrayal of Telemachus as this naïve inexperienced child? I’m not sure. But I have my own thoughts to share on this, because as someone who’s close to that young adult age, I think it’s actually pretty accurate for Telemachus’s character. He’s lived in the palace all his life, he’s longing to adventure in the world beyond, but he doesn’t know how to fight… I mean, I don’t specifically relate to Telemachus but I can see aspects of this in my own life. I’ve taken my first baby steps into the big adult world, and it’s intimidating and scary, and I don’t know how anything works, but I’m trying anyways. Point being, I don’t understand how people think that Telemachus has to be younger just because he doesn’t have certain life experiences or knowledge yet. I think it’s a very good portrayal of a young adult being unsure of his coming into the world but excited for it anyways.
Anyways back to ATHENA MY GIRL
I love that we get an in-musical explanation of Quick Thought!! I think it’s really important for a musical to be self-contained with its important lore/information and Jorge does such a great job with that.
Athena’s entire speech about the suitors and bullies and inspiring Telemachus and reframing his “Little Wolf” title CHUCKED THIS SONG SO HIGH IN MY BOOK I need to find a character of mine to associate this part to
The little “ooohhhh, maybe I pushed him a bit to hard” is hilarious
Interesting thing we’re doing with transitions into the next songs with this saga. I do agree with some of the people who said it sounds kind of off in this song; I think it might’ve flowed better if it introduced the next one, but honestly, I’m entirely willing to ignore that because this song is *so* good
I have one glaring complaint about this song…. WHY ISNT IT LONGER?!?! I NEED MORE OF THIS
I can honestly see this becoming a comfort song for me, it holds such great messages to remember
“Cause I got in a fight, and I didn’t die!” The bar is on the FLOOR with Telemachus
The voice actors are rocking their respective high notes! Jorge pushed them and they owned it!!
Speaking of those good encouraging messages- I absolutely adore Telemachus’s chorus. Every time I listen to it, my brain auto-fills the lyrics ahead, and I hear, “maybe it’s all gonna be okay,” but then Telemachus actually sings the verse and it’s “maybe it’s all gonna turn out great!” And that’s just… such a good thing to think about. Yeah, it’s gonna be okay in the end, but what if it was better than okay? What if it turned out to be absolutely amazing?? That’s… such a positive way to view things and I need it more in my life. Of course it could get toxic but for me, it’s a great reminder of how good things can become
I read a post that mentioned how the happiest song in the Thunder Saga is called Suffering, and the saddest song in the Wisdom Saga is called Love in Paradise, and I hate how accurate that is T^T
THE TIME DIVE MONTAGE WAS SO GOOOD- such a fun mini mash-up of the rest of the songs! I wish I had more to say about it because I want to keep gushing over it but I’m just gonna end up repeating myself saying it’s so good
The little replay of the “Captain?” “I have to see her” ;-;
WANGUI’S VOCALS— I CAN’T— THEY’RE SO GORGEOUS *unintelligible squealing*
“She’s my wife”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Anyways-“
Her voice is so pretty help I don’t approve of her actions but her VOICE HER VOICE
Can I also just say the animatic/visuals for this section were also gorgeous, such a great compliment to the audio
The way it goes from all sweet and bouncy to “oh ****” and right back to sweet was so good
“Last I checked goddesses can’t die!!” *cue the Wisdom Saga stream crash of 2024*
The cliff scene… oh my goodness it’s so *good* it’s all so *good* Jorge how are you so good at writing
He pays such close attention to characters and motifs and lines too- you can hear how Calypso triggers Odysseus’s flashback.
NOT TO MENTION- when Odysseus yells his line “All I hear are SCREAMS”, it’s in response to Calypso’s line “I’ll stay inside your heart”- which is Odysseus’s mom’s lyric from the underworld!! I literally just noticed the connection between the line and his reaction and I haven’t seen anyone else mention it before so-
And Athena’s little “he needs my help”- aaaaaa we all feel the pain
Oh *boy howdy* this one is a doozy
The intro is great, I adore Zeus’s voice- this cast is just FULL of talented voice actors man
“… Hera!…. Or me” …. A-wha-huh? I’m sorry didn’t you used to be “and”???
I was intrigued what Apollo’s grievance would be based on the whole “who’s cows” debacle- the sirens kinda threw me off guard xD
His voice is ✨✨✨ though, I love listening to him
JORGE’S DAD HEPHAESTUS!!!!! Aghhh his voice was so good for the part! And I loved the commentary on trust too
Aphrodite’s and Ares’s parts are still amazing even after all this time- I LOVE the details of Ares’s musical motif! He has the same melody as Athena, but played on this raw-sounding violin/cello? And he *also* has quick thought- but it still all feels different from Athena’s too! Because they’re both gods of war but with different domains and attributes AAAA so good!
And Athena’s lyrics in response- I love the re-do and the little extra quirks in it, like the extra growl on “ARES!!!” And the little riff(?) on “his son’s my FRIIIIEND”
Hera’s part was amazing. 100/10. Her voice was a lot… smoother than I was expecting honestly. It took a bit of getting used to but now I love it. And I am HERE for the dance battle
“Never once has he cheated on his wife”
“Release him.”
10/10 ✨✨✨
I was… really excited for an Athena/Zeus debate in this song when listening to all the snippets. I couldn’t wait to see how Athena would try and persuade Zeus, what arguments he would use specifically, how it would all go down… instead I got uh-
“I played your game and won! Release him.”
Oh so, no Zeus round? Ohh this is why it got changed to “or” isn’t it-
“You DARE to defy me?”
Huh-
“To make me feel shame?”
What’s happeni-
“No one beats me, NO ONE WINS MY GAME!!”
Oh boy howdy-
“THUNDER BRING HER THROUGH THE WRINGER, SHOW HER I’M THE JUDGEMENT CALL, THE ONE WHO MAKES HER KINGDOM FAAAAALL—“
I’M SORRY THIS WENT FROM 10 TO 100 SO FAST WHAT IS HAPPENING?!—
Athena in the flashback scene- holding baby Telemachus- the music- my HEART
And the end instrumental is so triumphant aaaaaa
“Let him gooooo! Please-“ JORGE WHEN I GET YOU JORGE—
Uh, so
My thoughts on God Games right after it came out were
Mixed
At first I was so absolutely frazzled from the livestream I could barely put thoughts together outside of incoherent screaming
But then I read a few tumblr posts about how some others were disappointed in how God Games ended and Zeus’s character- and I found myself agreeing :/
I do have a propensity for latching onto different opinions because I think they’re the “expected” one for me to have- and I totally think a bit of that was going on here- so I took some time off of tumblr/limiting my scrolling (which needed to be stopped anyways-) to really sort out how I felt on this
And I think I feel a bit stilted by God Games from its ending. The ending was… underwhelming? Which sounds INSANE considering the end of the stream but it’s underwhelming less because of actual shock factor and more because of what specifically happens versus my expectations.
Zeus just kind of… blasts Athena in the face??? Without provocation?? Athena DID win his game, she passed the terms he set out, she did all of that… and he shocks her anyways. It just. Doesn’t really sit right with me.
But I love Epic, and want to enjoy every song I come across, and I REALLY didn’t want this view of the ending of God Games to taint the rest of the song or the rest of the musical. So in my next big post, I’m going to do a mini “rewrite”/reworking of God Games that I’ve been toying around with in my mind for a little while now!!
I’ll explain more about why and what and the details in that post but for now, just know that it’s been a helpful exercise in enjoying God Games as it is too, and I’ll get to posting that the next time school isn’t absolutely crushing me with long homework assignments
Anyways, those are my kinda-in-depth thoughts about the Wisdom Saga!! I’ve been so excited to write this out and I’m happy to be posting it finally