Comic Book Series "HELIOS : FEMINA"

[Dismal_bismuth]

Side note I thought this got posted this earlier but apparently not. Brilliant.

uni's pretty much hit me over the head and drowned me with work but I read the latest chapters and wow. The one thing I can say is that the music actually quite fit the chapter - I mean granted I only listened to the latest chapter's music in full and turned off the music for every other chapter (lol) but it wasn't bad. Her music choice comes off as pretentious though tbh. Content wise, the chapters are just as disappointing as I thought they'd be. Rhea saved her mother through one of the worst cases of Deus Ex Machina, which you know, fine. Give the high value hostage no security and literally give Rhea minor complications when saving them *makes sense*

And then in this chapter, Terra suddenly knows how to use that stupid book and of course that spell works out even though she's never tried it before. Also Rhea seemed more worried about Terra falling then she was about her mother's safety. I get that tensions run high and that in situations like this that could be the straw that breaks the camel's back, but with the way that it was written, Michelle made Rhea's character seem too righteous and all "ahh must save everyone because I'm so good".

Bebo's character gets even more and more insufferable as the story goes on. With the way the story was being promoted, Michelle made it seem as though he was a guardian who would train Rhea and help her realise her potential as that mystical all powerful alien songstress~~~~~ (ugh). Instead you've got an annoying fucking space vegetable (totes funny amiright?) who would rather goof around than help Rhea - you know, something he promised the Enchantress he would do.

This whole chapter just bothers me in all honesty. I mean like Trolol showed, there's Mish trying to be all relatable by using the terms fuckboy and calling Ash an 'Ash-hole' (in another forum someone said that it sounds like a Drag Queen name hahaha). In all honesty just shows that she's trying to hard, because if it actually flowed well with the story, then we wouldn't be talking about it right now. So now you've got Alien Sailor Moon Rhea and now she's obviously going to kick Ash (yeah I know I hate myself too) and bada-bing bada-boom Story done. Is this really all she could achieve after a 'creative sabbatical'?

[atropos]

I have no idea what the hell happened in this chapter. the music was nice tho

also lol:

[snuffy777]

Ugh. Way to rip off the ingenious movie, Inception.

"shore of our subconscious" / "surface of your subconscious" / waking up on the beach, worn out, etc. and the whole time thing.

God, this comic is just awful. So awful that I can't even take/critique it seriously. I honestly do not understand how some people are actually fawning over it. ???

From the unoriginality, to the weird/lazy art (whoever inked the mom's face, in particular the shadows...just NO), to the cheesy "I'm allergic to assholes" (or whatever the fuck it was) lines, to Michelle's total lack of professionalism (has she ever ONCE uploaded a chapter on time?) = it's just, BAD. Not to mention the deus ex machina and the terrible pacing.. You know your writing/story-telling abilities are inadequate when your comic is coming to its END and your readers are saying how the story is starting to get good.

[Noko]

so I guess everyone's just calling Rhea 'Rey' now.

*coughstarwarscough*

[Noko]

double post but seriously, can this just be a reaction image?
Because this is the derpiest fucking face..

[Aug1988]

What training was she talking about? If she's trying to distract us with all the colors from how horrible the story is, it's working.

[Aug1988]

What training was she talking about? If she's trying to distract us with all the colors from how horrible the story is, it's working.

[Trololol]

That last chapter was terrible. How can Ash be telling the truth when in the beginning of the story he WANTED TO RAPE HER but then didn't mean to burn down her home? What crockery is this, even?? How can you even make such a person amiable?

There is so much bullshit in this chapter, from the Inception rip off as mentioned by snuffy777, to the Sailor Moon vibe. Bebo making potato puns (IT'S NOT WORKING, STOP TRYING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN) The magic that's supposedly AWESOME. The flow of the story is frantic because it's tryig s hard to cram so much into every chapter before it reaches the end. How come you didn't plan the story from start to finish? Why waste many chapters on like red eyed hunters at the black market? And a shit load of other filler chapters back then.

MESS. ABSOLUTE MESS.

[Dismal_bismuth]

lol that chapter was weird. I get that one's moral compass doesn't just stay in good or bad, but Ash being all "soz bro it wasn't me!" really came out of left field. I also don't like how Rhea suddenly became 'Rey' - no one was calling her Rey before, and it's not like these are people that she's so close to that they already have nicknames for each other.

The art is getting worse, which I didn't think was possible. The colour palette is so boring since it's mostly purple and the anatomy of her characters makes me cringe BAD. The eyes are always too far apart and always looks soulless for some reason. I mean if you need an example just look at the screenshot Noko posted and tell me that isn't a thousand yard stare lol.

Last thing I'll say about this chapter is that this whole training sequence doesn't make sense. Why show this after the confrontation was over and not while she transformed? If she ended the previous chapter with Rhea's sailor moon transformation and then started this chapter with the training sequence, then the story would have flowed a lot better. Because then we'd be able to see the struggle that her character went through and what it took for her to get to point where she can wield and use her powers proficiently. I mean it's cliche, sure, but her training will essentially build up to nothing since she doesn't need to fight Ash at the moment.

[Dismal_bismuth]

sorry to double post but I just looked at the fanart and most of it was better than hers haha!!

[Gurugossiper80]

I don't get the story, period. Am I the only one that's lost? I feel her story telling is all over the place.

[atropos]

I'm just so annoyed that NONE OF THIS MATTERS. there's no reason to add any of this in the story, especially AFTER the fight. she doesn't understand how to pace things. I think it's supposed to be deep and emotional between Rhea and the potato but there's been no setup of their relationship so it falls flat. I don't give a shit about Bebo and his feelings for the lady in the beginning
the crystals at the very start of the page were nice. wonder who drew those

[Trololol]

It tries so hard to be spiritual and zen, it ends up being so convoluted. Like she expects us to understand it despite it being ridiculously contrived.

The stupid lotus makes an appearance again.

There are so many things that have yet to be resolved. Will they bring balance to the corrupt world she grew up in? Will Ash be dethroned? Will his bitch of an assistant be brought to justice? How do you make Ash amiable again after attempting to RAPE someone?

Will Bebo be less annoying? When will Bebo be useful and not just a comic relief that doesn't piss around?

Rhea is really the most insipid character I've ever come across. It's only natural for everyone to self doubt, but the way she does it comes off as whiny. It's not cute, it's irritating.

And how will this story conclude, bringing all of these loose ends to endings that don't sound like shit? In less than 10 chapters? This will be a train wreck for the ages.

[Aug1988]

So I'm guessing while her transformation she went into a realm to learn about whatever.
What an awful set up if that's the case.
It's like having Aang defeat the fire lord first and then we get to see how he went into the spirt world to learn what he needs to know.
Why is bebo all of suddenly crying? Everyone in this comic is a roller coaster of emotions.
Rhea is not smart at all. As the main lead, give her a fucken brain.

[atropos]

if next week is supposed to be the last episode, she's definitely gearing for a season two because there's no way this bullshit can get resolved in one chapter. why the hell are the female characters suddenly men? is she just using this as an excuse to draw more hot guys for her readers to drool over?

and what the fuck was going on with the art styles? suddenly there's this weird realistic shading and this panel looks completely out of place:


then there was this odd texture overlay that's never been used before:


everything is just so incohesive and after 25 chapters, she still doesn't seem to know what she wants her comic to look like. I will say that I really enjoyed the music though. it went really well with the pacing of the page

[Trololol]

Rhea went from being really feminine to super masculine after she fell. Without any explanation, she pulls a Ranma 1/2 and becomes a dude. AND THE ART WORK IS OBVIOUSLY DIFFERENT. Like atropos said, there's a weird texture over the bottom half of the comic that we've never seen before.

[+Sumii+]

Remember how someone was saying on here about what the hell does the title Helios:Femina has to do with the story? I think that might be the reason why Michelle suddenly decided to turn Rhea into a guy.

At this rate, if there is no season 2 then this comic will most likely end with a lot of plot holes.
Honestly, I don't see Webtoon agreeing to a second season because they did not invite Michelle to represent them at any of the recent Comic Cons.

[Dismal_bismuth]

When I saw how this latest chapter progressed I pretty much accepted that she was building this up towards a second season. Either that or webtoons allowed her to release Helios:Femina with more chapters. Regardless of how you look at it, the entire thing is a mess. Remember this is a woman who kept pushing back the release of this comic, consistently uploaded late without explanation and also took month long breaks under the guise of them being a 'creative sabbatical'. It's insulting that she's received this opportunity and the way she's acted throughout it all makes it even more so, especially to hard working, talented artists who would kill for a big break like this.

Objectively speaking, the story isn't even good. I've read people's opinions about it on other forums besides this one and the general consensus is that the story is too pretentious and lacks good character and plot development. The most positive things I've read about the comic are from the webtoons comic section and they mostly concern the art (excuse me, what?) and the fact that they find the characters hot, which is piss weak. I've been following this comic since day one and I still don't know what the story is or how she wants me to feel about the characters. She wants Rhea (sorry, Rey ) to comes across as this self-sacrificing, all-righteous light warrior but she can't even decide which aspects of her character to focus on!! And then literally every single character is so underdeveloped to the point that we actually don't know much about them. Ask people to describe your characters Michelle, and you'll notice how quickly people fall short of a things to say.

I mean as fun as it was to watch this train wreck, I want it to end - absolutely. None of this open to interpretation, ambiguous ending bullcrap that acts as social commentary or whatever the f*ck. Too bad she's shot herself in the foot by leaving too many unfinished plot points; at this point I wonder if she'll just abandon them and just focus on one, which is honestly what she should have done in the first place.

[Trololol]

Is the next chapter late again?

[snuffy777]

Oh, FFS. Princess Sah, or whatever her name was (also, who the fuck even is she, again?? ) looks an awful lot like Ash. Is this now turning into a past life/reincarnation/soul contracts/everything is connected thing a la Cloud Atlas? x 1000

And just STOP with the "beyond the veil" "vibrations" "patterns" new age jargon. It's embarrassing.

ETA: Just realized that SAH = ASH. This bitch. I think she really is stealing from that book/movie just like she stole the subconscious and time concepts from Inception! I cringe at how obvious she is, too. But I guess you can't expect any better from someone who has zero creativity or originality. :/