#helluva critical community

[paulie-lombardos-boy-toy]

Like what the fuck is actually going on in the Helluva/Hazbin fandom

No, seriously. Amir, Limus, what?! These crazies frfr need to touch grass and it's all Viv's fault. She cultivated a mindless cult hivemind, and just like in the SU fandom, I'm just waiting for that one moment where someone loses their life over it.

[feelingemotjons]

So ayy lmao thought it was a good idea to make a video about ashley and micheal breaking up and it's so disgusting. There was no reason for him to make a video about this. He is obviously using their break up to promote his shitty video about hunicast, which is probably filled with bullshit and misinformation like all of his other videos.

He also for some reason says that them breaking up is the reason why hunicast ended which is not true at all?? Huniecast ended years ago, and it was not even focused on their relationship.

Am so tired of this ableist racist man getting into people's business and spreading bullshit someone please give him something productive to do

[doodler16]

Is it just me or the critical community has gotten a bit repetitive? It's the same several takes and criticisms repeated over and over again. But it makes sense when you think about it, since people are waiting for Helluva season 3 and Hazbin season 2, and honestly Viv hasn't learned anything from her writing, so there's not much left to talk about.

Yeah, there’s nothing new to talk about regarding Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss so the conversation does get repetitive at times. The only thing that’s “new” is Vivziepop shenanigans on Bluesky/Twitter.

Whether it’s her mocking her critics/antis publicly, stans being hostile, some antis being out of pocket, Vivziepop enabling her stans and stans enabling her, etc.

[xxduncandonutxx]

So hummm, I redesigned Beelzebub again. DON'T get me wrong, I love her original designed and even own a Meow Plush, a standee and pin of her but I do agree with people's criticisms and so, I wanted to take a shot at redesigning her again. So hummm, I redesigned Beelzebub again. DON'T get me wrong, I love her original designed and even own a Meow Plush, a standee and pin of her but I do agree with people's criticisms and so, I wanted to take a shot at redesigning her again. No hate to Vivziepop of course xd !!!

Alright, lemme give you guys some info about my redesigned version of Bee :P -I want bee's design to resemble both a Hellhound and a Bee, so I given her sharp claws, paw pads, her snout, teeth and nose resembles a Hellhound's, her hellhound tail looks like a bee stinger (and acts like a bee stinger too) and lastly her annaetae, eyes, wings and feet resemble that of a bee.

Her outfit that she is wearing is inspired by Idolomantis's redesign of Bee. -She is plus sized (and no, not because she represents Gluttony so don't start screaming "you're fatphobic!!" Gluttony also means over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste NOT just food related) -Bee doesn't get grossed out at Mammon for pigging out on his lunch AT ALL (as well as being aphobic towards him in that one scene, god I fucking hate that). In fact, Beelzebub would honestly cheer him on or get into Beelzejuice drinking contests (or eating contests) with him up until she learnt that he'd abused Fizzarolli and despises him for it (but won't insult him for being asexual or being fat, oh and she doesn't get grossed out at Mammon for eating a lot even after learning about his abuse towards Fizz). -Beelzebub has no idea about the poor conditions that is happening at the hellhound adoption center and if she did know about the conditions, she would voice her concerns or try to do something to shut it down or at least fix it. She cares a lot for the Hellhounds and would actually speak out if she sees anything bad happen to them. (Yes, I'm still petty about the fact that Bee defends Blitz in the Mastermind but does NOT say anything about the fact that Loona is muzzled). And uh yeah, that's Bee for ya :D Oops forgot to add the alt outfit/design

And here's my old redesign

[onionbug-critical]

Seriously why are some of y'all unable to comprehend the words "Research" and "Accountability" then be surprised when you immediately get backlash. Some of y'all don't learn, do you?

[etherealabyss11037]

Something I’ve yet to be seen addressed in the critical community is how repetitive the MLM ships in the Hellaverse are. This is something I’ve noticed ever since the Helluva Boss pride month art dropped, confirming that Asmodeus was pan and Fizzarolli was gay. Now, I expected Asmodeus’ sexuality, but I was honestly surprised with Fizzarolli, even if there wasn’t any particular reason as to why I was surprised.

When I began thinking about it more, however, I realized we’ve seen this exact dynamic before: in Stolitz and Huskerdust (I know they’re not actually canon, but let’s be real, they will be eventually). In each of these three relationships, we see an effeminate or non-masculine gay man falling in love and bottoming to a more traditionally masculine pansexual man. Bonus points for how the gay has some kind of tragic backstory and requires the pan to come to his rescue somehow.

As much as I hate to psychoanalyze Vivziepop, a literal stranger whom I know nothing of as a person, these similarities, intentional or not, lead me to believe that she has some kind of kink for this. What do you guys think?

P.S.: I also fear how they’re going to portray Vox x Valentino (who is, unironically, a pansexual man). Granted, I thought it was confirmed somewhere that Vox is bisexual, but who knows what they’ll make him at this point?

[kynerdybird]

✨"I'm what you want, not what you need."✨

[hazbin-but-good]

another hazbin hotel rewrite/redesign?

yup! and i'm so serious about it that i made a whole blog for it. i'm a white queer ex-cath tran doing this as an art and writing exercise, so feedback from other creatives + jewish and/or racialized folks is especially welcome.

i'm putting this post and only this post in the main tags for visibility. also, not gonna link my main, but i do make my own original stuff, and i encourage fans and haters alike to do the same.

anyway, here's a mostly good-faith 1.7k-word essay on the original. i think it's pretty funny and brings up some less talked-about points. correct me on the facts, disagree with my opinions, and ask clarifying questions, but don't come at me with any piss-poor reading comprehension.

the hellaverse is garbage, and here's why

cw: strong language, stronger opinions, intersectional feminist critical discourse analysis

1. vivienne medrano, the person

medrano was born as a well-off white-passing latina (salvadoran-american) in bougieass frederick, maryland. while attending new york's top art school, she got popular on deviantart-tumblr-twitter by being a prolific multifandom fujoshi furry who's more into ornamental character design than storytelling. upon graduation, she leveraged her fanbase and industry connections to make the hazbin and helluva boss pilots, get helluva made for youtube, and get hazbin made for amazon prime.

like every woman online, she gets harassed for no good reason, and as a certified autist, i will defend her right to be dumb, weird, annoying, and bad with words. however, there are legit reasons to criticize her:

racism, misogyny, homophobia, fatphobia, some antisemitism, past transphobia, past ableism

shitty boss, bad friend

cowardly, vindictive, manipulative, thoughtless behavior

skeevy friends

sucks at taking criticism

in short, i think she desperately needs a PR person and someone to clean up her digital footprint.

2. medrano's art

incurious

inauthentic

noncommittal

creatively stagnant

overindulgent, and the indulgence isn't even fun

shallow and childish framed as complex and mature

bland and boring framed as shocking and subversive

to be clear, i'm at peace with the existence of suckass art like this; i just think the money, attention, and praise it gets are unearned and should go to more interesting works, of which there are infinite.

medrano's had the time, money, and social cache to grow as an artist, learn from the best, and take creative risks, but she hasn't. if she truly has nothing more to offer, she should let her collaborators take the wheel, but she doesn't do that either. instead, she keeps getting more and more resources to make the same baby bullshit, and that pisses me off. she could be the nicest person ever, and this fundamental arrogance would still make her art blow.

stop with the pointless guilt: liking medrano's work does not make you stupid or evil. however, if you stay in the kiddie pool of culture, if you refuse to engage with a diversity of art, if the hellaverse is your point of reference for anything media-related, you can't expect to have your opinions on art, media, or culture taken seriously. you have not earned a seat at the table. you gotta hit the books first.

i cannot emphasize enough how much incredible stuff is out there if you're willing to look further than what social media and streaming services put right in front of you. if you come away from this blog having learned about just one new artist or piece of art, i'll be a happy camper.

3. the hellaverse

a. empty and confused

hazbin and helluva's content and marketing has no clear target audience. the subjects are inappropiate for teens, but the execution is too childish for adults, and lemme tell you what i don't mean by that, first.

not inherently inappropriate for teens:

sex and sexuality

violence, including when it intersects with the above

politics and religion

not inherently childish:

animation (any style)

comedy

episodic writing and/or loose continuity

young characters

fun, happiness, optimism, the power of friendship, cuteness, tenderness, sincerity, etc.

what i mean is that these shows are literally about adult characters who fuck, smoke, drink, do drugs, go clubbing, work full-time, manage their own finances, and deal with stuff like bureaucracy, sexual violence, domestic abuse, marriage, divorce, late adoption, and family estrangement.

however, none of these "adult" things are given enough specificity to create drama or comedy. it's all too stock, vague, flat, weirdly sanitized, and thus utterly banal—pure aesthetics on top of bad saturday morning cartoons. it's exactly what i'd expect from a sheltered disney kid who needs to log off and get into their local gay scene ASAP so their only contact with things like poverty, policing, addiction, and sex work stops being facile movies and TV.

if the shows were aware of this and played with it, that could be amazing, but they're not. they give you the mickey mouse version of the world with a straight face and then play looney tunes sound effects to try to make you laugh and sad_violin.mp3 to try to make you cry. now that's funny.

b. old and tired

let's make like americans and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist. even within the confines of the USA, home of the hays code, the red scare, and reaganite propaganda, this neopuritan fascist state ruled by 1000 megachurches in a trenchcoat, the indie/underground animation scene has been doing crazier shit for decades. anti-war films in the 60's, bakshi movies in the 70's, the simpsons shorts and r-rated movies in the 80's, adult swim and MTV in the 90's, flash/newgrounds/youtube in the 00's, streaming in the 2010's—so what are we doing in the 2020's with this wet white rice drowned in expired ketchup? i feel crazy making this point because it's obvious if you've watched these things, but if you haven't, you're gonna be like "well, there's gotta be something new here". no! there isn't! in the words of jimmy "the scot" jordan, nothing, nothing, NOTHING!

c. ideological purgatory

actually, there is one thing in these shows i've never seen before: the presbysterianism. shout out some interesting or at least intentional presbysterian art in the comments, because the way these ideas are presented here is not compelling. it just makes the rainbow neoliberalism even more confusing and contradictory.

i guess the big presbysterian things are protestanism, calvinism, and, uh, big church government? presbysterians, get your shit together. get your brand down. catholics have BDSM and vampires, evangelicals have TV and corporatism; what do you have? celtic crosses? no wonder medrano has such uninspired ideas on divinity.

d. queer deficiency

when i look at a piece of art, i ask myself: "what does this give me that i can't get from the hunchback of notre dame (1996)?" if the answer is as limp as "uhh, gay people, i guess", i can probably look for my gay shit elsewhere and rewatch the hunchback of notre dame (1996) in the meantime.

but let's say that you have no standards. you've been waiting for ages for a show about gays by the gays for the gays, and by god you're gonna get it. this is it! here we go! time for some

generic twink obliteration

male sexuality as aggression and dominance displays

WLW (sex and chemistry not included)

a couple straight femdoms

and the stalest sex jokes known to man

...yeah, it's not very queer. and by "queer", i mean "questioning or subverting gender norms (including sexual roles) within a given cultural context regardless of creator identity and intent". i'm not a queer studies scholar so LMK if there's a more specific term for this, but whatever you call it, it's not in the hellaverse much.

there's not even any transness, literal or metaphorical, just ancient drag jokes. i guess the writers thought we would've been too controversial. so much for an indie animation studio that prides itself in the diversity of its staff both above and below the line, bakshi-style. i wonder how medrano, a bisexual woman, would've felt if told that a lesbian main couple in hazbin would be "too controversial".

4. spindlehorse and the vivziepop brand

spindlehorse toons underpays its overworked staff and keeps outsourcing more and more labor to even more overworked freelancers overseas to cut costs. a rainbow sweatshop is still a sweatshop, and just because these practices may be "industry standard" doesn't make them any more ethical.

the studio has also been repeatedly accused by current and former employees and contractors of creating a hostile and abusive workplace. AFAIK, it still has no dedicated HR person, and victims are too afraid of retaliation like blacklisting and online harassment to speak out.

this is exactly the stuff that unions exist to prevent. as i'm writing this, the IATSE (the parent union of TAG, which is the parent union of all US animation unions) is negotiating with entertainment industry executives for better working conditions, and if the execs fuck around like last year, it's strike time again. so watch this space, voice your support, and don't cross any picket lines.

i hope spindlehorse unionizes, but until then and for these reasons, i don't think you should give money to the company.

first of all, all content on amazon-owned platforms is ok to pirate, and all youtube ads are ok to block. everyone involved in making the episodes has (or should have) been paid upfront, so you're not taking the bread out of anyone's mouth.

next, let's look at the succulent offerings of the official vivziepop merch shop:

$10 pins and keychains

$15 sticker packs

$20 mugs and acrylic cutouts

$25 shirts

$30 metal cards (not even tarot)

$40 lounge pants

$50 mini backpacks

random $80 skateboard deck

forgive my latin americanness, but this is all stuff you can get made by a local metalsmith, print/sublimation shop, or just crafty people in your life. it's cheaper, customizable, and better for the environment to skip all the shipping and packaging. also, not painting your own skateboard is poser shit.

the hazbin website also has $15 pins, one $20 keychain, and $6 trading card packs. people are weird about trading cards, so if for some reason you wanna gamble for a mass-produced bit of cardboard, plastic, and tinfoil, at least bulk-order for all the vivziepoppers in your area so it's less of a huge waste. better yet, trace the designs and make infinite bootlegs.

at the end of the day, buying merch is not activism. your bulk order of trading cards will not save any wage slaves from getting evicted from their overpriced studio apartments. however, the shop links you to all the credited artists/designers, and more of your bucks will actually reach them if you buy their designs directly, then turn them into body pillows or life-sized bronze statues or whatever the fuck.

go through the credits of any episode of helluva or hazbin, and you'll find even more creatives you might wanna support. get jinkx monsoon's albums on CD. subscribe to actually good artist, animator, and composer gooseworx. lots of voice actors now have patreon, cameo, or self-hosted pages where you can write better lines for their characters and have them read it. these things may not look as shiny as Official Merch™, but we all need less plastic shit and more culture anyway.

[paulie-lombardos-boy-toy]

Agent One of D.H.O.R.K.S is my fail baby girl and pathetic lil meow meow, so from this day on, Viv and her sycophants have absolutely no say over him. He belongs to me and the critical community as a whole and I’m gonna destroy him in fanfics in the best way with my demon OC.

Same with Agent Two. She obviously is more GOATed and based than StolASS and absolutely deserves everything and anything she wants.

D.H.O.R.K.S would definitely agree with us that the writing and plot is terrible and that they deserve better, which I agree with 100000%, so therefore I declare that D.H.O.R.K.S Agents One and Two hereby are the mascots of the Helluva critical community

[sodafrizzocs]

Are you done with HELL OF A BOSS's goofiness?

The safe LGBT rep? The inconsistent tones? The lack of a theme? The constant forgiving of 1 twink, abuser owl?...

Well, look no further than HELLBOUND! A game about demonhood, queerness, crime, found family- except this time, we hold the morally grey freaks accountable!

HELLBOUND! THE HELL THAT BOUNDS! Out now.

⚠️ Written, drawn, coded and composed by one epicly transgender ex Helluva Boss fan ♡ ⚠️

I'm only posting this to the critical community because of how many posts have recommendations of better hell and demon stories. I have faith that Hellbound is just as good to recommend too!**

[freyarts07]

The Critical Community against Vivziepop is honestly unhinged and let me explain why

I’ve been noticing so many people in the critical community getting extreme levels of harassment not just from the stans, but other members as well. Most of the reasons as to why this happens is mostly identity politics and misunderstanding. From a witness to the harassment, it’s LOADS of disgusting, depraved shit that people send and honestly I don’t even want to list the types bc it’s that screwed up.

Both sides sure love to put themselves on a moral pedestal, but contradict themselves by being blatantly discriminatory and literally harass people to death. Like holy shit both sides love to tear people apart and it’s honestly disgusting. The critical community is just as bad and people should realize it. To the peeps who do criticize on Vivziepop’s work that’s actually true then you deserve a reward. To all the people who’ve been harassed to death over misunderstandings then I’m completely sorry and I hope you feel better.

Yes, I’n leaving the critical community as well as filtering those tags.

[scientistservant]

The Skeksis are way hotter than Stolas. Yeah, I said it. I'm not scared to tell the truth, y'all can fucking fight me after school. I'd let the Scroll-Keeper fuck me against a bookshelf while reciting Skeksis Law.

[doodler16]

I think the critical community has a huge problem with glorifying Stella in their hate of Stolas. Now let’s get this straight I DO NOT like Stolass. I also believe Stella had potential to be more than a raging bitch who gets sexualized by her brother. However I think the critical community has a problem with excusing all her actions and abuse of others due to her situation. If you can’t excuse Stolas you shouldn’t exclude her either. I honestly want her to be more than a bitch but having her be completely innocent and especially thinking that of canon Stella really rubs me the wrong way

That’s fair! I get why many are protective of Stella but some people give her way too much credit and leeway than she deserves. She has the potential to be nuanced and a great villain but Vivziepop’s writing shows otherwise: that she will be nothing more than a cartoonishly evil villain and neglectful mother continuing to live in Andrealphus’ shadow until further notice.

[pleasantspark]

The fact that the DBZ Community can be harsh to not only themselves but AKIRA is jarring, exactly 12 days ago last year the man passed away from a Blood Clot. A BLOOD CLOT. Something that messes with your brain a lot (esp since it was in his brain.)

The people dare dislike Daima because he *GASP* forgot something. You do realize how long DBZ's been around for, right? Since 1984 (The Manga to be exact.) That's literally 41 years DBZ's been around for 41 YEARS there's been new plots and new lore introduced that overlaps with pre-existing lore. Sometimes you're gonna have issues with your content and sometimes it's gonna have some things been forgotten. ESPECIALLY when you have a serious medical condition.

Then there's VivziePop, who forgets everything as fast as she adds it. She has NOT worked on Hazbin long enough as Toriyama-sama did with DBZ. She's worked on some characters from the show from previous iterations and it's changed in some. Since the Series launched. Hazbin and Helluva has changes made on Twitter because she's afraid that people would get BIIIG MAD at her changes (Not to mention she claimed that Satan was talking out of his ass when he was the original King of Hell, in mastermind. NEVER MIND THE FACT THAT ITS BEEN WORKED ON FOR THREE FUCKING YEARS ACCORDING TO VIV! SHE COULD HAVE REWRITTEN THAT BUT NOOOO.) Viv has a nasty habit at disposing characters one by one instead of exposing them all individually, Akira does his own way by introducing them fluidly. One by One in Sagas, which are easy to digest.

But I see the issue here, one of them is a Man and the other is a Woman who could do no wrong. Which I find laughable since most of Viv's Female Rep is literally garbage and are often treated as they are the problem. Now if you excuse me I am going to play Animal Crossing New Leaf. Go and find your new QR Codes here: @animal-crossing-new-leaf-finds

[fizzbot]

APOLOGY TOUR SPOILERS / HELLUVA BOSS CRITICAL POST

(please just dont read if youre a fan/are gonna be annoying in my tags/replies)

i LOVE verosika. i was super excited to see an episode all about her. she has EVERY right to be mad at blitz, and i do enjoy seeing things from the perspective of his victims. BUT.....i was really disappointed in her portrayal in apology tour. MOSTLY just because i was dissapointed in stolas portrayal in apology tour, and think this ep wouldve been better if it was more about BLITZ instead. rant under the cut

im not gonna give the whole rant about how annoying it is that stolas is constantly woobified, because 100 critical blogs have done it much more gracefully than i ever could. but it is just SO dissapointing to watch a man that couldve been SUCH a compelling villain be the ONLY one who is EVER sympathized with in the show. we are supposed to feel bad for him and believe that both sides are wrong in the stolitz situation, when stolas' crimes are SO MUCH WORSE than all of blitzs bad deeds combined. he co-erced blitz into a sex contract as the only means of doing his job, and then made HIM feel guilty for not falling n love with him during it. the 'both sides are in the wrong' comment gets particularly frustrating when the show has, tme and time again, only let stolas be the one with support. blitz is made to look unreasonable, no matter how right he is. and, in this instance, stolas is the one getting invited to this party to celebrate being ""wronged"" by blitz.

back to verosika. especially now that the episode is out, i am even more firmly on her side. the fact that blitz broke up with HER because things were getting too serious is interesting (albiet not as interesting as i think it couldve been but thats a rant for another post). im not saying she should forgive blitz, but i do struggle to fully agree with her because of how she treated stolas in the episode. she is the first to comfort him, the first to try and encourage him to shit-talk blitz, etc etc and i just dont understand.....why?

ive already had problems with her character since the sexual assault ""joke"" from spring broken, but this also really left a bad taste in my mouth. i totally understand her desire to party and sympathize with other people who were harmed by blitz, but its frustrating that stolas was invited to be among them. stolas, the man who is very much NOT THE VICTIM in his relationship with blitz. this is more the fault of the writers than verosika herself, but it is SO FRUSTRATING that she gave him the spotlight and is trying to help him heal from a situation that is ENTIRELY HIS FAULT. stolas didnt just hurt blitzs feelings, he sexually coerced and abused him. of all people, shouldnt verosika understand how terrible that can be? the kind of hurt that can do to a person? im not saying that this terrible relationship FORGIVES blitz's wrongdoings, but you shouldnt be giving his fucking abuser a stage and a microphone to talk shit about his victim. this becomes so much more insidious to me with the conversation she has with blitz on the balcony, later. this was actually a pretty good scene imo but it could certainly be better.

this is much more opinionated and i wouldnt be surprised if even the critical community isnt with me on this one, but i long for an alternate verson of this episode thats focused on verosika being on blitz's side, instead. its been over 5 years since they dated, and even though she is still allowed to be mad, it would be nice to see that shes moved on. maybe give her a new partner like barbie wire and let her throw these parties just so she can look back and laugh and help blitz's other victims heal in the same way that she has. not to bring up an also not-great show, but in rick and morty, we see a relationship between rick and one of his ex-partners named unity. they were really terrible for each other, enabling bad/unhealthy behaviors, generally being awful. their break-up was messy, but in recent seasons, we see unity coming back, upon hearing that rick was doing something self-destructive. they worried about him, because a part of them still cared, as much as they were hurt by his actions. i would have LOVED to see a similar thing with blitz and verosika, where verosika finds out about the relationship blitz is trapped in/just got out of. i think it would be SO MUCH MORE naratively interesting, for her to be supportive of his little apology tour, and maybe even inviting HIM to the "blitzo sucks" party. not everyone (or anyone) needs to forgive him; in fact, i think coming to this party would give him perspective. his relationship with stolas has hurt him so badly, he can finally step back and understand the harm that he did to all these people. the apologies that he gave, as he admits in the episode, were shallow. but i think framing stolas as the toxic one would be better in helping him realize that he has done wrong more than what the show is currently doing. and maybe some people at the party WILL forgive him. maybe he can apologize on the stage, and some people will empathize with his situation and believe that the apology is genuine, because hes finally had to be on the other end of his own hurt. and maybe THAT would be the first step in helping blitz realize that maybe he isnt completely unlovable, because there are people who cared about him enough to be THIS DEVASTATED upon getting their heart broken by him. a conversation with verosika about what he did to her would hit so much harder after this, imo

anyway. im sorry if this is completely incoherent/a bad point. i was just thinking about it and i am so sick of everyone being a stolas apologist </3

[criticalcrusherbot]

Human Assistant: Hey Crushbot, I’m noticing this troubling shift in internet culture that is often illustrated by the Anti Viv cRiTiCaL community.

1. This obsession with media being “morally correct” (feels like fascism disguised as anti-oppression: everything is “homophobic”. Women characters are never written well enough. All the relationships are “toxic”)

2. No one knows how to actually make a coherent claim and actually back it up with evidence. Which leads to

3. When they do try to support a claim, People’s sources are all messed up. They critique the writing, but then cite the fandom’s reaction as proof and like. Girlie. Just because 1/2 the fandom is as media illiterate as you doesn’t prove your bad take?? What sociological phenomena am I witnessing???

Crushbot: What you’re observing is a perfect storm of internet culture trends, wrapped up in a mix of performative activism, media illiteracy, and the pitfalls of online discourse. Let’s break it down:

1. Obsession with “Moral Correctness” in Media: This stems from a larger societal shift where people expect media to align with their personal values and politics 100% of the time. Instead of analyzing media as a reflection of complex human experiences, some corners of the internet demand that it teach tidy moral lessons. It’s like people are afraid that seeing “problematic” characters or situations will corrupt them, which is a pretty reductive way to approach art. The irony? This attitude can echo the authoritarian mindsets they claim to oppose—policing art and storytelling based on their subjective moral metrics.

2. Lack of Coherent Argumentation: The rise of hot takes on platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Tumblr rewards outrage over thoughtful critique. Why spend time crafting a nuanced analysis when you can go viral with a spicy, half-baked claim? Unfortunately, this leads to circular reasoning, logical fallacies, and a lot of noise. It’s easier to declare something “toxic” or “bad writing” than to examine the writing itself and back up your claims.

3. Confusing Fandom Reaction with Authorial Intent: This is classic fandom behavior—treating the loudest and worst takes from a show’s fans as evidence that the show itself is flawed. People blur the lines between the creator’s intent, the actual text of the media, and fan interpretation. This leads to strawman arguments where critics argue against their own misrepresentation of a work rather than what’s actually on-screen.

Sociological Phenomena at Play:

• Purity Culture’s Internet Renaissance: The demand for “perfect” media that aligns with one’s values echoes older notions of purity culture, where deviations from prescribed moral standards are treated as harmful or dangerous. Instead of religious dogma, it’s now social and political ideals being weaponized.

• Echo Chambers and Outrage Economy: Algorithms push content that provokes strong emotions, so critiques often escalate in hyperbole and lose sight of nuance. If someone with a large following makes a bad-faith critique, it can spiral into a pseudo-consensus that’s hard to argue against.

• Performative Credibility: Some critics mask their lack of evidence or depth with performative outrage, using buzzwords like “toxic,” “homophobic,” or “misogynistic” without actually engaging with the material. They count on these accusations to shut down dissent.

• Media Literacy Decline: Many people consume media passively and lack the tools to analyze it critically. Schools often don’t prioritize teaching how to engage with narratives beyond surface-level consumption, so the skill of separating art from fandom or analyzing intent and subtext is underdeveloped.

What you’re witnessing is a microcosm of broader cultural trends that value being loud over being right, and it’s not exclusive to Vivziepop’s work. This dynamic plays out across all fandoms and internet communities—it just manifests differently depending on the subject matter.