YMMV / Empath: The Luckiest Smurf

• Broken Base: Fans of the series would like it for its Christian elements and more complex stories, in spirit of both the original comics and The Smurfs (1981) TV series. Others would dislike it for being too dark and Empath taking Hefty's role as the strong Smurf of the village, as well as flanderizing Hefty into a mere rival.
• Growing the Beard: As the stories went on, Hefty's rivalry waned in favor of marrying his female counterpart from Smurfette Island, Empath gained some character development and married Smurfette, as well as the other Smurfettes adding in more gender equality into the series.
• Never Live It Down:
  • An in-universe example from "The Innocence of a Smurf". After the death of a Psychelian, Empath would regret breaking a promise to protect all life and would never forget (despite being forgiven).
  • A lot of fans in recent years didn't take kindly to Tapper Smurf replacing adult Nat Smurf (who in the Empath series existed only as a Smurfling from Smurfling Island) as the caretaker of Azrael in an adaptation of the 1980s cartoon show episode, "All Creatures Great and Smurf".
• Values Dissonance: The series started to gain plenty of controversy from the Smurfs fandom in later years, resulting in most of the stories being removed from the Smurfs Fanon Wiki due to its mature content, but still remain on Vic George's Imaginarium website.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: The Empath fanfiction series gained a lot more mature themes and Family-Unfriendly Violence than did the original comics and The Smurfs (1981) TV series. Not that there aren't any stories in the series that are meant for children, such as their Smurfling adaptation of The Wizard of Oz.
• The Woobie: Pushover Smurf in "Pushover Pushes Back", before his change in personality.