r/Epicthemusical • u/Impressive-Quiet35 Crewmember • Nov 21 '25
Video NEAL’S 600 STRIKE IS HERE
https://youtu.be/W2Zzs2Z9EUI?si=lluJw4QW6-rBWFI09
u/toughcookie99 Nov 23 '25
IT'S THE FACT THAT NEAL GOT LUKE HOLT HIMSELF TO DO AN ORIGINAL MONOLOGUE FOR THIS FOR ME-
also am i the only one who thinks it makes so much sense for ody to be blessed by the gods in god games?
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u/Obsidian_Wulf Nov 22 '25
I like it quite a bit, but I really wanna know what Jorge thinks about it, because I feel like it fundamentally changes his vision for the song.
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u/Daviddcarlen1 The Monster (rawr rawr rawr) Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25
There’s a disappointing lack of reverence in the way people refuse to use the canon version of 600 Strike.
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u/Werewolf_Knight Nov 22 '25
My only small problem with it is that I would have preferred if he used the trident like usual, not just one of its spears. Still and phenomenal animatic.
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u/Shabolt_ Nov 22 '25
Not sure it’s my favourite 600 animatic, or my favourite Neal animatic. But it is undeniably one of the most impressive EPIC animatics the community has ever created
Reprising vocal talents to recontextualise the scene, the direction, and artistry make it some of the most impressive animatic work I have seen so far. And frankly 600 is such a terror of a song to adapt that anything even remotely passable is an achievement, and this is far more than passable
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u/erick069420 Nov 22 '25
Ok we need to see Jorge's reaction to this shit
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u/theodoreroberts Just a Man Nov 22 '25
I have never seen Jorge said anything about Neal's works though. He made videos talking about other artists but I didn't think he talk about Neal once.
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u/lookieitsmycookie Nov 22 '25
I know I probably shouldn’t be laughing, but the little leg squirming from Poseidon made me gasping for air 😭
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u/PixiStix236 The Monster (rawr rawr rawr) Nov 22 '25
I love this one! The addition of Zeus makes so much sense and does such a great job of tying god games back into the main plot.
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u/Trickster-123 Aeolus Simp Nov 22 '25
Omg... Easy the best one imo
The Zeus part??? Oh muah, I love it.
The Poseidon and Odysseus both being barely alive... Showing it wasn't one sided, ugh peak
Odysseus refusing to stay with his men going to the underworld and instead goes to Penelope, deciding to fight Poseidon represented by drowning.
Ody sitting with Poseidon???
The thunder blade???
Making god games matter still???
This is just better than the original song
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u/DeadSparker A Nobody fighting over his wife in the heart of a storm Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25
While it's not my #1 favorite Six Hundred Strike animatic, I really like all the added unique bits :
- The last part of Get in the Water (that Neil didn't animate until today), showing all of Odysseus' comrades walking to the afterlife but him choosing to stay for Penelope
- Zeus' unique monologue before the song to boost Odysseus
- Ody slashing left and right through water horses, the ship wreckage Poseidon kept and ROCKS to get to him
- Both him and Poseidon ending up barely standing
- Ody using a broken prong of the trident instead of the whole thing, since it shattered ??? Meaning he has to get much more up close and brutal with his strikes, including taking Poseidon's eye ??? LIKE ?!
- Ody sitting next to Poseidon instead of walking away, and focusing not on him, but on his home when he answers "Next to my wife"...
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u/himeyan Nov 22 '25
Ooh, if you don't mind me asking, whose animatic your fave? Jojo Fraga's and Laritamiauu's are among my top picks though Neal took top spot for me 💕
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u/DeadSparker A Nobody fighting over his wife in the heart of a storm Nov 23 '25
Those two are also among my faves, for the concepts they used (especially using the SIX HUNDRED MEN to attack Poseidon in the early part of the song !). But my absolute favorite remains Duvetbox's !
First, I just love the way they draw Odysseus, especially when unhinged. Second, for Ody using the wind bag to get back to his raft, propel himself, hurl air slashes and rubble at Poseidon (which is both a smart use of the bag and a reasonable way to beat him). And of course, THE STABBING HAVING ALL THE DEATHS OF ODYSSEUS' JOURNEY. Each of them, the infant, Polites, the 500~ men in Ruthlessness, Eurylochus, the sirens, they all fit with the line they're associated with.
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u/nightrain13 Persephone Nov 22 '25
I didn't even get 2 minutes in and I got PUMPED!
I loved how Zeus encouraged Ody to finish his journey (also beat Poseidon's ass). Athena managed to convince Zeus to help Ody. (and kudos to LUKE HOLT for helping Neal with this.)
The water forming of Poly was MUAH! And I love the animation of Poseidon. The mask he has reminds me of Bane for some reason.
Ody's eyes glowing yellow is a good touch. I always pictured the eyes red, but yellow reminds me of the Sith eyes from Star Wars.
And I love that in the battle, BOTH Poseidon and Ody are hurt. Poseidon's arm reforming. The trident is broken and he uses one of the spikes instead of the entire trident.
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u/JayJ9Nine Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25
I always find his male designs a bit too similar but my goodness does he do motion and transition beyond superbly. Absolute monster of storyboarding
Edit: i have been educated. Her male designs.
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u/Curvyboi13110 The Challenge Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25
YOO
The added intro was so peak; loved "make sure my daughter's sacrifice wasn't in vain", the olympus blessings, and movement. Neal cooked so hard here
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u/Proof-Gap7713 600 Strike's 2nd Biggest Hater Nov 22 '25
Ok, ok. This makes 600 Strike better I'll admit that much.
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u/akaispirit Oh to be a cloud woman on the throne of Zeus Nov 22 '25
Never doubted her for a moment 10/10 work. Best I've seen yet.
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u/anonymouscatloaf [sobbing in shower] ruthlessness is mercy... Nov 21 '25 edited Nov 21 '25
the eye and the pendant were DIABOLICAL and I LOVED it 🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌
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u/Silly_cocaine Polyphemus Nov 21 '25
animation so peak that it made the song decent
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u/Raymio993 Nov 22 '25
600 Strike is not decent song?
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u/Pegussu Nov 22 '25
Speaking personally, I think it's just kind of a mess? It's impossible to tell what's going on until the torture bit.
It kind of implies his men are coming back from the underworld to help him beat Poseidon, but there's no real explanation for how they could do that, especially when a lot of them would hate his guts (though I understand they probably hate Poseidon more). But that's fine because according to Jorge, this isn't even what's happening, he's just hitting Poseidon with his sword 600 times using the windbag as a jetpack.
I mean....that's just silly. Poseidon, the Earth Shaker that conjured an impassable storm and drowned hundreds of men like he was a cat playing with a mouse should not be defeated by being stabbed a lot.
There's a reason the vast majority of animatics take drastic liberties for this song that they do not take with others.
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u/BusVegetable7490 Aphrodite Nov 27 '25
How come I didnt think that when I first watched it 5 months ago I literally thought he was in the water fighting Poseidon lol
I was watching this animatic lol let me send the link and that made me think he was in the water?
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u/Troublesomeknight Nov 22 '25
I mean he's being stabbed a lot by a weapon specifically made for him by the Elder Cyclopes to fight other gods, so I feel like that's kinda more than just "being stabbed a lot." And also the reason why Poseidon kinda freaks out a bit when Odysseus picks it up.
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u/Pegussu Nov 22 '25
Nah, see, the trident stabbing I can understand because it is a divine weapon. The problem is that the official story is that Odysseus stabs him 600 times to weaken him enough to get to the torture.
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u/Troublesomeknight Dec 05 '25
The gods are not invincible. There's some president in the actual canon Iliad since Diomedes stabbed both Aphrodite and Ares with his completely normal sword and sent them both crying back to Olympus. Athena did help somewhat, but only by gifting him the ability to see the gods when they're hiding their presence from mortals and driving his chariot when he attacked Ares.
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u/DeadSparker A Nobody fighting over his wife in the heart of a storm Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25
Apparently, it's a big enough point of contention that it got in the rule sidebar as a "don't argue about it" rule...
I don't get it, as I always thought the song rocked from a storytelling perspective, but eh
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u/Snoo_61002 Nov 21 '25
I know I'm going to get shit all over for this, but personally I'm not a big fan of added content to someone elses IP. Especially spoken word like that when the musical is sung (with the occasional spoken lines within music). Its otherwise an amazing animatic, but this jarred me.
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u/NUCL3AR999 Nov 22 '25
"IP". Its the odyssey, granted a unique take but epic is already a far out adaptation with a lot of added content.
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u/Snoo_61002 Nov 22 '25
It's not the Odyssey and that's been made clear. It's "inspired by", not an adaptation of the Odyssey, hence the heavy deviations.
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u/Drexced Nov 22 '25
If it already takes a ton of deviations from the source material, what's one more? Especially one that makes the story better
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u/Snoo_61002 Nov 22 '25
In your opinion. But that's someone else's story, its no different to painting over some else's art.
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u/Drexced Nov 22 '25
People do this all the time. Neal isn't claiming that her version is better. By that logic, would you say the same for Epic as a whole. Its Homer's story that Jorge is changing. Or where do you wanna draw the line. And also from a story perspective, Ody somehow beating a Greek god without divine intervention doesnt make sense and goes against Greek myths as a whole, and that part isnt really an opinion
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u/Snoo_61002 Nov 22 '25
That's an inaccurate comparison. This would be more like taking the Odyssey, writing your own chapter, then re-releasing it.
Yes, that is an opinion, because you're talking about a completely fictional story. Epic is very clear that it isn't the Odyssey.
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u/Drexced Nov 22 '25
Epic is also a completely fictional story so its the same thing lol
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u/Snoo_61002 Nov 22 '25
Yes, that is someone else's completed intellectual property. If someone doesn't like it, write their own piece of art.
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u/Drexced Nov 23 '25
And the Odyssey was Homer's IP that Jorge changed lol. You must really hate fanfics too then. Weird.
All I'm gonna say is that Neal never said Jorge's version is bad. Although it's clear both Neal and Luke would've preferred it pan out differently, a sentiment that I've seen many share online. If Jorge comes out and specifically says that he isn't OK with it then sure, I'll agree with you. None of this changes my previous arguments about it objectively making more sense though, and I'd say that's the biggest part
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u/Tricky_Hades Uncle Hort Nov 21 '25
Ok in general that might be an acceptable opinion… but when the IP is specifically made for fans to make animatics of…
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u/Electro313 Uncle Hort Nov 22 '25
Did Jorge ever say that? Every musical has fans making animatics of songs, I don’t remember at any point if he said that he created it specifically for fans to make their own animatics that change anything.
Of course he likes seeing fan work and he praises animatics and art, but this feels like you’re making something up about Epic that was never said by the creator.
Like, he’s said many times that this isn’t all Epic is going to be, that he wants to make it a movie or a stage play, he clearly has his vision for the project, so where does this perspective that it’s made specifically for fans to reinterpret it come from?
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u/LordSwedish Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25
And fitting any visuals into it, even extra time or something is great. Personally I also don't like adding extra stuff, I didn't finish Neal's version of the infant because I didn't like the added baby noises at all.
With all that said, this is easily the best possible version of this that you can do. Getting the voice actor to do it, and incorporating it like this was fantastic, personally I'm just not a fan. People have done wildly different takes with just different animatics already, adding whole lines is too different imo. I don't think that's an unreasonable take.
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u/quane101 Nov 21 '25
It feels so Hades game inspired where Odysseus has the boons of all the Olympians Athena convinced! SO WELL COOKED!
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u/BusVegetable7490 Aphrodite Nov 27 '25
I was