#musing hazbin

[musingsofaleaf]

Corner Store

Musing: A reader who owns and runs a dingy little corner store near the Hazbin Hotel. It's dimly lit (because electricity costs money!) and the shelves are in 3-4 different styles frankenstein-ed from dumpsters. There's a little area for fresh food, mostly bread, bananas, and salad mix. Canned or boxed foods and snack foods line the shelves. There's an array of drinks in the wall fridge. A large freezer has dumplings, nuggets, 'finger' food, and other buried treasures, and there's a bucket at one end of the freezer for ice-pops and other ice cream treats. There's a shelf with tools, ammunition, and off-brand children's toys. This store is for some reason the only store (insert person) can find (niche comfort food/drink) ! The floors are technically clean but the floor is so old it forever looks dirty. Nothing in the store screams 'high class' but there is definitely a fancy wine in stock , and a few inconsistent items like a new in-the-box printer, fancy books, and plush towels. There's a box with new clothes, and another with mid-tier make-up products. The clerk counter is scuffed, it's weathered many hold-ups and robberies. The cash register looks to be from the 30's. There's a cot stuffed behind the counter along with a bunch of other clutter in boxes.

Reader is just serving the community, they've seen some shit and aren't interested in drawing too much attention. They make enough to pay bills, and fix shit up as it falls apart (or is blown apart). There's a lot of downtime between customers so the reader has a habit of trying to learn something new with their time. Most people walking in catch them reading a book but not many even spare a thought for the title and content of the book.

[physical-manifestation-of-spite]

I’d really like to rant more about how our society establishes hierarchical tiers of love and devalues platonic love and how this impacts ace people but I have no idea where to start because it’s such a complex topic, especially in fandom spaces, and how the “it’s platonic” angle was used in history to devalue and dismiss other queer interpretations, especially gay and lesbian relationships. So of course people in queer spaces get cautious when a platonic interpretation is brought up, because it reminds them of decades of bigots insisting they’re wrong, sinful, etc for interpreting them as romantic, and platonic is the only “right��� interpretation. Not only that, we are still in a tumultuous climate with LGBTQ+ rights constantly on and off the ballot, and people still fear coming out of the closet not only due to the legal discrimination but the harassment they may face. Thus, it is imperative that we destigmatize queer relationships, that we encourage them to make queer people feel safe and supported.

I believe that we are absolutely capable of achieving that while also creating a space for acespec people that doesn’t devalue friendship. “Their relationship is ‘more than’ friendship,” is upsetting as an ace person to hear because friendship, to me, is the ultimate and absolute tier of love, support, and joy. There is no higher connection. And just because I don’t experience romantic love doesn’t mean that it doesn’t matter, but I want to elevate friendship to that same tier of importance our society sets for romance. I ask that we reevaluate our viewpoint of friendship and not push it aside as if romance and friendship can’t be as important to each other.

Basically, this is a long winded way of asking people to not say, “There is no platonic explanation for that.”

[nnmdraws]

Another pack of sketches that are in some way related to the @mistystarshine 's fic "Three Years Time"

[ghosts-of-the-apocalypse]

FUCK YES!! sorry but I absolutely called it! Lucifer is a silly guy!

Excessive ramble/theory tid bits ahead!~

How can you look at him and think he won't be a silly little guy? People saying he'd be a big intimidating scary king of hell? No way dude just look at him.

And like the way he looks so upset in Ep1 when he lost his ability to create. That's not the face of a guy seeking revenge and filled with anger, that dude is just plain ol' depressed. The way he slowly just walks off screen...

Lilith on the other hand? She is the definition of girlboss.

She's out here inspiring all the demons. Look at that power. She's in control. She's in charge.

While Lucifer's in his depressive state she's out here trying to lead all of hell. She's vengeful, (ik reds are quite a common colour in Hazbin Hotel) but the way it emanates in a glow behind her combined with her pose. It's just shows so much power and malice. You cannot convince me otherwise that she hasn't been pulling the strings since day 1.

I'd even go as far as to say she was the one who had the idea to tell Lucifer to give Eve the apple. Just look at her stance as she stands back to see Lucifer going over to Eve, overlooking the plan. She knows what's up.

(Also just a note but Eve looks so sad here. Girlie is trapped with Adam like she's in her own personal type of Hell. Btw I'd like to throw a theory out there that Eve and Lilith are sisters)

Ngl I do think Lucifer and Lilith split because of this whole power dynamic. Like Lucifer just couldn't keep up with Lilith's ideas or didn't believe in them. Like, Lucifer tells Charlie in Ep5 that Hell and it's people are terrible. This contradicts Lilith's whole thing of wanting to round up all the demons and potentially lead a fight. She THRIVES in Hell. For Lucifer, it's just constant punishment.

I feel like Charlie despite looking up to Lilith, is experiencing quite a bit of miscommunication. They both want to save the demons but in different ways. Charlie's way being through redemption but Lilith's maybe being through a war against Heaven.

Now it's just figuring out where the hell (pun not intended but enjoy) she's been for the past 7 years. (Honestly, I think she's just been off plotting with Eve.)

Another side note, but like the way Alastor just stares at this portrait in the pilot for such a weird prolonged amount of time is not helping my Lilith and Alastor theories calm down. Bro is the radio demon and is broadcasting everything back to Lilith.

He 100% sold his soul to Lilith, tried breaking free, but couldn't.

[vale-n-tina-and-the-internet]

Angel is tactile. His many hands like to poke, hug, grab, pat. His long limbs entangle themselves in other people's personal space like pale branches. It used to drive him mad, it really did, when it came with jagged edges of aggressive, unwanted sexuality - made to attack, provoke, discomfort.

It's different now that they are friends.

Husk had thought that the constant touching would go away along with the relentless come-ons, but if anything it seemed to increase by the day: it was now rare not to have a long-fingered hand on his shoulder, a bony knee encroaching on his stool, or as of late the whole seven-feet fluffiness slumped gainst his side while bitching about another shit day at the studio. Husk would have put an end to it pretty quickly, nerves unused to familiarity and distrustful of it, If he hadn't seen Angel do the very same with Cherri. He thinks he understands at least the vague shape of Angel's want for touch that is free of… ties, obligations. Consequences. And Husk finds that he cannot deny him this, his own mild discomfort fading in the face of the reward. Especially when Angel is tipsy, happy, laughing in that loud and unfiltered way that shouldn't be as endearing as it is, talking about a million things at once. Never mind that the dancing fingers on his fur leave him with a strange buzzing under his skin. It's just him being a grumpy-ass old man that hasn't known any contact for decades, Husk can deal with that no problem. This kid deserves it, and Husk will gladly give it.

[voxiiferous]

"So the Radio Guy's back. I don't think you noticed, I didn't at first. I was too busy being a much more interesting and important person. But fuck it, news is slow today I guess. I'm totally not worried about this guy and neither should you be. I totally wrecked his shit."

the sidescrolling text of Vox's News Broadcast in Hazbin Hotel episode 2.

[allastoredeer]

I wanna draw more Alastor ships, so

Ya’ll drop your Alastor’s rarepairs below ⬇️

[alteregozowie]

Happy Sinday! 📻💚

[aestheticbyais]

🎶 Looks like you could use some help from The Big Boss of Hell himself! 🎶

Lucifer Morningstar character aesthetic/moodboard.

[potionorchard]

Okay, maybe this is just cos Valentino is my favorite character (equally tied with the Vees in general, of course), but I honestly wonder about how he would die.

Mostly, it seems like he would die because the fandom demands it. He's terrible and abusive, and so, theoretically, he must die. But I dunno... something about all that doesn't fit well with me.

Okay, so let's talk about Valentino getting killed off. There's no way for him to be changed and redeemed and he's too horrid to be able to live, so he dies. Gets crushed and stamped out and we just move on to some arc where Angel has to reconcile that his abuser is dead (which is all cool) and what that means for him.

But the thing is, for some reason, I don't know if I see things happening that way given the way they've portrayed Valentino's relationship with the other Vees, especially Vox. There are actual brief shots where Valentino does seem to have an actual genuine affection for Vox without the same toxic abuse slipping in. The two are placed on this equal footing where they can both taunt each other, grab each other's cheeks and shake one another when they're angry and upset. Val merely flicks Vox's hand off when Vox grabs and roughly shakes him as opposed to a backhand that Angel gets for telling him to go fuck himself.

Then there's the question of both Val and Vox's antennas being broken in some way, how they seems to have a past together in this partnership. Valentino, as a character, seems to have more to do with other characters than simply being only Angel's abuser is all I'm saying from this. He is deeply connected with the big villain of S2 which is said to be Vox and the Vees as a whole.

So here's what I'm thinking.

I don't think Val can simply be killed off as "He's an abuser and therefore deserves it, and that's it."

For one thing, what about the porn industry Valentino controls? I don't think the awfulness of the sex abuse ends with simply Valentino, even if Angel were to be the righteous one to take over. Sure, it might be better, but there's still so many systemic issues there. That's just Hell in general.

Secondly, can Charlie and Angel kill him? Charlie stopped her father from killing Adam even after all he's done. Ever after Adam slaughtered so many of her people, she still stopped Lucifer and told him it was enough. Niffty just didn't get the memo. Could Angel face his abuser and kill him? I don't know. Their relationship is complicated and fucked up.

Thirdly, what about the whole thing of redemption? The thing about Hazbin Hotel is that part of it seeks to understand what redemption means. Who deserves it? Can anyone have it? Even the worst? The root of all evil? And the thing is, no, Val doesn't deserve redemption or the chance to change... But that's the thing... It's not about that. People can change if there is a chance offered. And of course, once that chance is offered and denied, it's fair game to kill Valentino off. But I still think it should be there.

Because that's what Hazbin Hotel is about. Redemption and what it means rather than who deserves. It's about changing a system for good.

And lastly, I'm not against Val dying. I just want it to be with purpose. If anything, if he dies (which he most likely will), I want it to not be entirely due to Angel, but Vox (and Velvette, though we haven't had as much interaction, he still clearly means something to her) too since those are the two character whose arcs he's most tied to.

I just think it's important to consider when we talk like "Yeah, lmao, Val is so gonna get killed off next season". Well... what if he doesn't? What is Val's purpose in the series?

[v-whitenoise]

People were saying how Vox never smiles in merch. And yeah, the man doesn't like to be inconvenienced. He smiles for the camera to keep up his image, and when things go his way.

But can I also just point out that he also smiles at Valentino? It makes my heart happy at that.

I love staticmoth.

Just as much as I love radiostatic

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

WHAT is going on with Vaggie please i need to pry open her skull

girl stood out from the Exorcist with her single-stripe wings, they get torn off, she gets kicked out-

her hair was short like Lute's back then

probably another thing all Exorcists are supposed to be in lock step about- bloodlust, murder, looking almost identical in uniform (vaggie thought no one would know her out of uniform) (Wrong)

Charlie finds her. Charlie, who has long hair, and 3 years later Vaggie's grown her hair out too

and it's a sign of her new life with Charlie. as Carmilla kicks her butt Vaggie complains she's "not used to fighting with long hair-"

she hasn't had to fight in a long time

she's been CHOOSING not to, new life, new hair style, new her-

EXCECEPT not. Her long hair? Has the Exorcist double stripes that her old wings never did

her new clothes? oh yes she's got a skirt now, she's in red to match Charlie, she's dressed to manage a hotel not slaughter people- but the thigh highs and long gloves of the Exorcist uniform are still there too

it's there even when she gears up to FIGHT them

and when her wings come back- When her NEW wings grow in???- they still have just that ONE stripe. THEY didn't change. The hair thing, it isn't her aging into double stipes in three years- it's either natural and something the short hair hid, or deliberate and new, and which one would be more unsettling?

which one would be more fucked up- finding out you finally fit in when you can't anymore, or still trying to fit in when you absolutely don't want to?

it's like she grew out her hair to get away from her past, but also, it's a reminder of it? wings gone. long, twice-banded hair flowing down her back instead, filling in the space where her wings used to be

why the red X over her lost eye? a mirror of an Exorcist's mask-

(some have the right eye crossed out, some the left, one of their few small variations)

why not just a normal patch? Why not a hairstyle that'd cover it completely?? Why underline the reminder and MAKE it impossible to ignore- is she proud of it? The eye she lost for not doing something she knew was wrong? Why is she keeping so much of the Exorcist look- habit? nostalgia? homesickness? guilt????

Or is she retaking them for herself? Vaggie what are you thinking while you do all this- you HATE angels and heaven and the Exorcists and everything you were- Did you think it all meant something different, before realizing the truth? Something you could follow and be proud of?

are you trying to make all those things mean everything you once thought they did

or is being an exorcist still such a big part of you that you, shit liar that you are, can't cut it out of your life as easily as Lute did with your eye?

.... but your wings. They came back different.

they look even less like a proper Exorcists wings than before

(maybe because heaven didn't give them to you this time. you found them down here, in hell, with Charlie)

you AREN'T an exorcist! you don't kill sinners, you fight for them, you're trying to help save them, you're trying to redeem yourself right along side them, why why why WHY

why do you keep looking so much like the people you hate?-

oh. right. you hate yourself don't you. only... it's not ALL of yourself

i don't think your wings would have come back, if you hated the part of you that loves Charlie (it's the only thing you're clinging to, in fact. the hope that you won't fail her. that you can help her) (you hate yourself each time you fail- but you still try again) (you've never failed when it comes to that) (you've never given up on somehow being who she needs you to be)

do you REALIZE there's more to you now than the parts you hate?

hmm. i wonder

[spiritseeeker]

This singular frame was all it took to undo my very extreme hatred of Adam, Vivienne Medrano how dare you make me feel sympathy for this man-

Like, Adam before this scene? A blatant misogynist and a hypocrite who unabashedly revels in sinners' suffering. A guy who has no regard for anyone else, and who pisses pretty much every viewer off with patronizing jabs like "sorry sweetie" and "try to chillax, babe." Ugh, disgusting.

As the first man, it seems like he got an easy pass into Heaven. Maybe the angels were just saving face, given that their core pair of humans both took the fruit of knowledge of good and evil willingly, ordaining Adam on the technicality that "Eve did it first." But I think we can all agree that it was not on the merit of Adam's virtue.

And then Charlie draws blood during their fight in Episode 8, and, for the first time, Adam genuinely realizes he can be hurt. Like, for the first time in the duration of the show, in his entire fucking existence, someone shows him that he is not, in fact, an all-powerful symbol of power and superiority. He's just a guy with privilege who is just as vulnerable, just as flawed, just as human as the rest of them.

But once the mask is shattered, revealing the rather unexceptional man underneath, does Adam back down? Of course not—he doubles down. There's nothing worse than a narcissist who is virtually incapable of seeing the error of their ways, even when they're clearly backed into a corner. Bruised and bloody, he bellows that he's THE man; everybody should worship him.

For me, that pretty much hit the nail in the coffin. There was no redeeming a character like Adam (ironic, since he's one of the few characters in the show not in need of redemption).

So isn't it fitting, then, that his death didn't happen in some grand display requiring all of Lucifer or Charlie's might? Isn't it fitting that Adam falls to Niffty—not Lucifer, not an overlord, but a common sinner, who sees him as nothing more than a foot soldier that needs to be eliminated, a pest as easily squashed as a roach? For someone as self-aggrandizing as Adam, this has to be one of the most humiliating ways to die. The perfect end for an insufferable antagonist.

But nooo, Vivziepop didn't end it there.

Because INSTEAD, we hear Lute's heart-wrenching screams as she realizes that Adam has just been defeated; we see the look on her tear-streaked face when it registers just how badly he's been injured. The fear in her eyes at the prospect of living in a world without the angel she idolizes, the man she serves.

She's not concerned that she's just lost her arm, or that Vaggie is standing right there. In that moment, the only person in Hell is Adam, and all she wants is for him to stay with her.

Adam could have easily dismissed her feelings entirely. He could have spent his last breath hurling one last insult at Lucifer, getting the satisfaction of having the last word before his death. He could have thrown himself a pity party and cursed his fate.

Instead, this greedy, selfish, murderous fiend has the audacity to see Lute in his field of vision and flash her one last, tender smile.

We don't know for sure what Adam was thinking in this shot, but personally, I think it was something along the lines of I lost. Proud of you, Lute. I'll miss you. Goodbye.

Whatever his final thoughts are, we can surmise from his expression alone that he's accepted his fate, and that he's grateful his last seconds alive are locking eyes with someone who's important to him. Someone he cares about.

And THAT—that was enough to crack through that thick shell of hatred I'd developed for Adam and shatter it like the mask he wore for seven and a half episodes of the show. THAT 8-second moment was enough to make me reconsider my stance on Adam as an irredeemable villain.

(CURSE YOU, VIVIENNE!!!)

Does this scene cancel out all the heinous things Adam does throughout Season 1? All the lives he destroys, all the pain he causes to thousands upon thousands of souls? Absolutely not. But it does change my perception of Adam from "obnoxious egomaniac with no self-awareness" to "obnoxious egomaniac with no self-awareness that is a product of the flawed system he perpetuates."

And, I gotta wonder, what would Adam have been like if Heaven had been different?

[astermagne]

Some warm up sketches for those who also don’t want to wait

[fuccubi]

finding a woman bleeding, in an an alley, propped up against a dumpster, half dead and mutilated, and then blushing and twirling her hair over it, is actually so girlfailure of charlie "wow this severely wounded dumpster lady is so pretty" charlie??? take a cold shower girl