#vox ghostwrote this post

[sensitivewires]

I think the Hazbin Hotel fandom is a really great example of the fruits of fandom blossoming truly because it has been directly and indirectly cultivated *perfectly*.

What I mean by that is that, even since my fuzzy memories way back of watching the snippets of the pilot before it fully came out way young, and the streams, just listening to all the little jokes and facts thrown in and watching the animatics that people would make for the quotes from those streams. Then we also can take into account the fact that (I think) Viv pulled/changed/used most of? All of? The characters in other things beforehand; I remember seeing a comic of Angel Dust being interrogated by an angel, I think, which is what made me start paying attention in the first place. Which is cool to remember, actually. Either that or Viv’s Die Young animation is what drew me in, I also really loved her Meghan Trainor animatic/animation. And the animation about the town with different numbers of eyes!

The point of all of those background faded memory details was to explain my thoughts on how many different ways people were drawn in even before the pilot, or Hazbin Hotel, or Helluva Boss, were a thing. A part of (or multiple parts of?) the fandom could have at one time probably been considered the Vivziepop fandom and to this day still could be called that in some cases.

I also remember that during streams, a lot of fanart would be shown! And animations/animatics made by fans about the streams and the characters/upcoming show/pilot in general would be shown also, if I remember correctly. This encouraged artists to join the fandom, anyone who enjoyed consuming a lot of animatic content on YouTube (which was extremely popular at the time), and the LGBT+ community because as we all know a majority of the characters in Hazbin Hotel are LGBT+.

That even could connect into the art community again, since a large percentage of LGBT+ people are artistic and a huge and main, primary part of fandom and art cultures in most spaces. This show hit the EXACT demographic it needed to in order to become extremely and invariably popular both at the time and in the future.

We can also think about the fact that merch was being dropped I believe long before the pilot even was finished or posted, correct me if I’m wrong, and in batch drops with sale prices which are all fantastic incredible marketing moves. *Vox brain fritzing out here sry love analyzing shit.*

So, you’ve got art being made at a constant rate because of regular streams and buzz and interest and fixations generating. Take into account systems, take into account shippers (shipping is HUGE in the Hazbin Hotel fandom now but it has always been huge and a driving force behind the content’s incredible amounts of widespread popularity) and the fact that shipping is not only not discouraged but has been actively encouraged by people that have worked on the show from day 1 and from Viv herself. Then take into account the fact that art spawns fanfiction, and as soon as something ends up going viral for shipping art, it’s going to start sucking up not only a shipping fanbase like a thirsty sponge but also a general fanbase interested in what’s drawing the shippers to the form of media and if it’s good, like other scavengers being drawn in by crows yk

And then that generates cosplay because cosplayers live in every aforementioned community above and people are typically multitalented, especially with an artistic brain. A brain more prone to art is more prone to write and someone who is LGBT+ or interested in fandom is more likely to be interested in the cosplay community, which presents a unique opportunity to be and feel like anyone and anything that you want (I could even connect the fandoms for musicals to the this because cosplay connects to the theatre kids/theatre communities in general, which are intertwined in fandom, shipping, animatic/animation, art, LGBT+, okay y’all get it moving on now)

Basically what I’m trying to say is there was already too much content for anyone interested in anything about Hazbin to get through it all by the time the pilot came out, which is PERFECT circumstantial fandom food.

And then you actually do get to the pilot releasing, which was highly anticipated and if I remember right it was also delayed at least once. But the fancontent cushioned and continues to cushion any hiatus, and that’s what happened while we waited for the show to come out. Content KEPT GENERATING because the internet is fucking gigantic and fandom culture is like a grapevine that can’t stop spreading. The Hazbin fandom was basically like if someone planted mint but on the internet. The art style and colors are also very bright, unique for what mainstream animation has really been before, but it also is more adult than the things we have been getting such as the newer and groundbreaking tbh She-Ra leading up to making it possible to put this show out there, which makes it possible for adults to get into creating raw personal content for something mainstream that contains LGBT+ characters. There’s swearing, there’s musical numbers (musical fandoms again, ayy), there’s canonically LGBT+ characters and relationships and themes, there’s good grounds for subtext and in-betweens which comic artists and fanfic authors especially *love* as do shippers. And the best thing a fandom can have for growth is shippers.

Vox brain fuckin rocking up and down from his heels to his toes with excitement abt all this shit. Okay okay and so

Then the show went through the fuckery about if it was being properly advertised, if it was delayed again, I don’t even know I stopped paying attention to that tbh I was just waiting, and then it finally *comes out*, and it’s releasing, and the fandom goes buck wild.

If there wasn’t already mountains of content before, hoooooooly shit now.

This fandom does tropes like none I’ve ever seen, I just have to note. My personal favorite is Vox’s one-sided psychosexual obsession with Alastor lmaoreal

My point is—

These circumstances were optimal to drag people from *everywhere*, even some kicking and screaming that had quit fandom and/or shipping culture altogether for *years*. We have folks from every reach of fandom culture writing fanfiction and making animations/animatics, comics, art, comic dubs, cosplays, songs, everything we usually do yk for this one thing.

What spawned this post was the fact that I was reading a fanfiction on ao3 that was written so well that it read like a novel and the author’s vocabulary was reminding me of the amazing shit I used to read back in like 2015 in the destiel fandom, lo and behold the author’s note said they hadn’t written anything since 2011 and the last thing on their ao3 was from Fullmetal Alchemist. Like?? That’s so cool? Do y’all see what we have here and have y’all been seeing this, it’s fascinating and dynamic and very unique. The energy I see in the Hazbin fandom sometimes reminds me of the energy of the micro-fandoms that crop up yearly around the classic books and movies they make you analyze in school (The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite fandoms that is fed partially by this phenomenon).

I lost my point so I’d say this is about done, but fuck yeah! Hope anyone who actually finished this enjoyed my literal rambling about the popularity and cultivation of fandom of Hazbin Hotel bc I read a radiostatic fic on ao3 that was almost a religious experience.