#I hate the lack of depth

[lediz-watches]

Hazbin Hotel: Season One

Because I basically implied I was gonna do it.

I have watched the first season. If you've found my fics you know I had a lot of fun with it. So now let's talk about it for what it is... so far. Because Alastor's semifinal scene... -gestures vaguely in mild frustration-

That annoyed me more than the end of Squid Game season one, now I think about it. But let's come back to it after we talk about the show as a whole.

Because I did really love it!

So the basic story, as per the pilot, is that the Princess of Hell is sick of Heaven killing her people every year, and so dreams up a rehabilitation centre, with the idea that sinners can redeem themselves and get into Heaven. But unfortunately, Heaven has their own agenda, and has actually decided to completely wipe out every sinner instead. The first season covers six months as the princess desperately tries to prove her hotel works before the next time Heaven's exterminators arrive. Spoiler that isn't a spoiler because the trailers said so: she does not.

And the fact that's not a spoiler is ultimately the flaw of the show. In eight episodes, they couldn't afford for that to be a spoiler - it was just an inevitable fact.

The long and the short of it is that the story of Hazbin Hotel's season one should have been at least eighteen episodes. I'm not saying that as a hater - I understand that this show was a risky, expensive sell, and eight episodes would've been tough to convince anyone to produce. They did great with what they got.

The animation on this show is genuinely amazing for its style. They skip the details in weird sections, but there's movement when it matters, there's character work, there's gorgeous little DETAILS. The soundtrack is great. There's only a few songs I didn't love, and the actual voice work is amazing. This was a well produced show.

But it was too short for what it was doing.

We needed an episode for each individual character, instead of sharing each one between two. I actually didn't mind Alastor not being in half the episodes, because of his whole deal, but when he was, we should have learned more about the overlords and gotten more foreshadowing. But we just didn't have TIME. So we got these snapshots of amazing characters and I just honestly couldn't bring myself to care about them.

Like Sir Pentious. I actually loved his story, and especially his final episode, but I'm pretty sure we spent like ten minutes with him IN TOTAL, so like... who the hell cares?

And I said in my post about the pilot that the show was going to hinge on Charlie for me, and... it didn't. It really didn't. Because she's... not developed enough. I simply didn't understand her motivation - or perhaps the word is 'believe' her motivation. She's this all-loving princess... from Hell. She loves her people... and wants to kick them all out of her kingdom? Not once in this series did I genuinely see an example of Charlie LIKING Hell. She LOVES Heaven when she goes, and she SAYS she loves her people, but... frikking show it, woman.

And the annoying thing about that is that because we didn't have enough time to develop her character, I don't know if that was intentional. Because there are a couple of instances that make me think it WAS. There's a subtle sort of cruelty in Charlie that could have been very, very interesting if I could trust that it was intentional. She rakes Angel Dust over the coals without noticing, she lovingly goes along with Alastor tearing strips off her Dad's already fragile emotional state, her way of saying that Heaven is going along with her is to gleefully point out "they're at each other's throats!", she's got nastiness in her, and... yet no one mentions it. So maybe it's not supposed to be cruelty, maybe it's just the writers are kind of nasty, and maybe I'm just looking for something outside her physical form that marks her as the princess of Hell.

Instead, I was sold on Hazbin Hotel by Vaggie, of all characters. Who in the pilot, was just THERE, as far as I was concerned. But her story of redemption and being saved by her ability to love, and having to confront who she was versus who she wants to be? That was lovely. I bought that. I would have liked more time with her to see how she used that love, but it was beautiful for what it was. I enjoyed Vaggie's character.

Husk and Angel were a nice little love story, but as I said in the other post, I wasn't there for it. I respect their episode, it was technically amazing, and I am in awe of everyone involved in the creation of the Poison sequence, while Loser, Baby has joined multiple of my spotify playlists, but... yeah, that's all I have to say about them. Enjoy, fandom, I know you love them. But I don't care. Their contracts are way more interesting to me than their characters, I'm sorry.

Niffty, the little darling. I love her. I love what she did. But she's comic relief and that's it. I have no further feelings about her. I am actually okay with that, as long as that's all the show wants me to feel about her.

But then... Alastor.

Oh, Alastor. You fucked up sacrifice to Heaven, Hell, and Fandom.

I mean, obviously I love him. Amir Talai is amazing, Alastor's design choices are fascinating, and the titbits of legitimate character we get from him, verbal or not (THOSE STITCHES) are sweet ambrosia, but... But.

I wouldn't mind if Alastor wasn't actually important. If he was just there to provide world building - if his whole deal was just sitting in the radio tower to introduce and close off each episode like the Greek Chorus, occasionally descending to connect the characters with people outside the Hotel, I would be very happy.

I would also be happy if he was actually a main character, working either for or against Charlie. I loved his scenes with Vaggie, and Charlie, and his duet with Lucifer was amazing, BUT.

He's NOT. EITHER. OF THESE THINGS.

As of episode eight, I'm not even convinced Alastor is actually a character! At this point I wonder if Alastor isn't actually a mask that Eve, of all people, is WEARING, and the man we think we've been getting to know sold himself to her to protect someone he cared about and hasn't been sentient since the day he died. GOD I hope that's just a crackpot theory borne of frustration because I AM FRUSTRATED with the hints and bits and pieces. And THAT is how I left the series as a whole. Frustrated.

Because just as the show IS amazing despite its pacing, Alastor IS a great character. I love Chaotic Neutral chaos goblins that save the universe because they're one of the idiots that live there. But by episode eight, I wanted some kind of closure. By the end of that episode, I wanted to be sure of whether I was rooting for Alastor to knock Hell out from under Lucifer's depressed feet, or for Charlie to save him from himself.

And like I said, right now, I'm no longer even sure he's REAL. And if all this just turns out to be Charlie's legitimately good intentions against Eve's revenge scheme... That's... egh.

That's less interesting to me. That's not a story of choice and redemption, that's just yet another love conquers all story and guys, I grew up on Sailor Moon too, but... can we try a new one?

Give me Charlie being confronted with her own motivations, and learning how to actually LEAD. Not just... repeat Vaggie's story of fighting for the people she loves on a grander scale.

(Oh god... I just realised how much that would cheapen Vaggie's story. Oh god, please don't do that!)

There's a theory that I saw that I'm a little in love with, about Alastor actually having been sold to Heaven AND Hell by his mother and father respectively, and that his arc is legitimately about him trying desperately to free himself from both. And THAT is an interesting story, and an interesting way for Charlie to grow, as she has to learn to realise that sometimes you get put in crappy situations and you can dig, and fight, and struggle, and all it does is drag you down deeper. Recovering from THAT is rehabilitation.

And that's the story I want at this point.

And I just don't think we're gonna get it in another eight episodes. Not when the Huskerdust nation must be appeased and Lilith's whole story needs to play out, and...

But. Whatever. I did love this series, and I will be watching it again, and if they release the soundtrack on CD I will be buying it, and if the show gets a DVD release I'll be buying that too.

But yeah. It was not long enough to be deep enough, and I end it frustrated.

...I'm gonna go listen to the soundtrack again.

[strawglicks]

huge fan of the idea that flint cant handle what he dishes out.

they are too shy to be confrontational so as a result they let ppl walk all over them which i imagine results in pent up anger that they release thru talking shit behind ppls back .

and i get this impression from this exchange right here:

flint talking poorly of the satellites, followed by "oh no i shouldnt have said that" implies he KNOWS he shouldnt be saying it and will get confronted for it, further implying hes done it before. cosmo's rant also implies this is a common occurrence that, tbh, he is rightfully angry for. and most of the things he points out abt flint in said rant arent wrong at all.

flint can talk big all they want, but never to someone's face bc they cant handle the confrontation that comes with it. it's cowardly, there's no self-respect to be had there. its just flints attempt to feel confident/better abt themselves. and i really hope to see more of this aspect of his character, ESPECIALLY in canon since, apparently, this 1.3 blogpost isnt explicitly canon (which saddens me every time i think about it.)

btw i feel the need to add on that i dont think flint's wrong or lying abt the satellites. What I'm condemning them for is the fact they're talking shit but then cant handle the consequences. If ur gonna talk behind peoples backs and stir the pot, you should be able to say the same shit to their face as well. Cosmo certainly doesnt appreciate how flint views his boys, but i feel like even HE would have a little more respect if flint just had enough courage to say it to his face.

But they dont, because they look up to Cosmo and dont want to be on his bad side, making it even more difficult for Flint to be confrontational . he has no desire to start problems with cosmo HIMSELF, just the satellites. (ppl forget this and treat it like flint has issues with cosmo, but thats not true . flint admires cosmo, likely due to his confidence and leadership skills since its smth flint craves having for himself, and erasing that aspect is a HUGE injustice to a really fun and interesting dynamic !)

i feel like the detail that flint likes drama ALSO plays a part in all this. enjoys drama, probably watches it from afar, but the moment it involves him, hes a total coward lmao

[mintpopz]

its honestly really disappointing to me at least that Adam is just gonna end up as a Mammon reskin. Like, I dunno I saw his design and I had some interesting thoughts about the first Man, yknow? I found it interesting that they have him demon like features, suggesting that maybe underneath his holier-than-thou appearance and attitude, he really isn't that different from the sinners he kills. But he hides that part away, acting formal and polite and as much of a good little Christian boy under the eyes of God. When God isn't looking though? He would show his true colours instantly....

But no. They just made the angel say fuck.

[uncanny-tranny]

My disability-adjacent hot take is that subtitles alone aren't really enough. I have trouble differentiating where sound comes from, for instance, so it's wildly helpful to have clarification on where sound is supposed to be coming from (right versus left, ect).

On a related note, if your subtitles are not clear, accurate, or translated in the case of foreign language, your subtitles aren't good. I don't want to read a paraphrased, censored version of what people are saying. I want to know exactly what they're saying because omitting even one word can dramatically change the tone, implication, and the entire meaning of what is said.

[gay-artificer]

I've seen people be like downpour ruined how people see five pebbles and im gonna be honest if you were here for any number of years pre-downpour the fandom was always god-awful with the nuance in his character. thats not a downpour thing thats a fandom thing

[paging-possum]

3.5 hours of sleep does crazy things to ones brain and by that I mean. Murderbot gender thoughts

[unheavenly]

꒰ა ໒꒱

[no1ryomafan]

Thinking more about umbraclaw and while there’s stuff to critique from the gameplay side I think probably the biggest flaw of it is like everything to do with the writing, and I don’t mean just plot.

It’s one of those things where it’s like- The basic narrative of the story is got across well regardless of what ending you get-yes I did look it there being multiple endings lol-and it’s the first entry of a series so the story not being the best can be forgiven but it’s a shame NOTHING is super fleshed out. Not just the soul plane but the characters don’t get much at all, they kinda just exist as set pieces to move the narrative forward. Kuon, the mc oddly never talks that the characters always acknowledge it so she’s basically a blank slate and I’m unsure if it’s because we’re meant to project onto her/interpret her whoever we please or if it’s just to reflect she’s not like the others and she’s a normal animal.

We also don’t get to know enough about her owner that it’s actually hard to care about her other then “well she seems nice ig” since you can’t say you want to care about Kuon because she’s blank unless you really put yourself in her shoes or your own pet into her place ig. And don’t even get me on how LOCKE is so weirdly interrogated into the plot and clearly has more to him yet is left off being so vague, like we get teased he’s like you but never are directly shown or hinted at that. He’s just there as a rival but he’s not at ALL fleshed out enough or placed right into the plot even if he’s spared at the end which doesn’t amount to anything, he’s just there yet again to be a set piece that’s just a bit different from the others. (And also how he hints at a deeper theme of losing control of yourself in terms make you forget who you are but it’s not explored ENOUGH even if he’s there to reinforce it it only comes up in one ending)

Like this story doesn’t make me super angry to hate the game as I’m still gonna do another ending and overall playing it is a really interesting experience I won’t get from anything else, but maaan if we get a sequel I hope the plot is reworked significantly cause it sucks how it’s “not a bad story but also a story with no substance”.

Its something that’s satisfying only because it’s a what you see is what you get thing but doesn’t have anything deeper to really pick at.

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

You are seriously my favorite blog right now. You opinions and meta for ikevamp are so spot on. You somehow are able to flush the characters more than the canon. I just wanted to say I appreciate all the time you put into your writings and I love everything you have written so far!!!!

In Comte and Leo we trust 🫡

Aww, thank you so much! 💛💛💛

Honestly I have no control over the brainworms, I feel like Ikevamp is so saturated with implications that extrapolating becomes so much natural fun for me. I started writing and analyzing (with no supervision to stop me, big mistake) and I'm still so fascinated with it. I can't believe it's been almost what...four years? Five years? Since I started playing the Japanese version where this all began. I'm frankly flattered a lot of people agree/like my takes, it makes sharing my work really rewarding in ways I never expected~

I don't always have time for more than Comte thirsting and silly quotes these days, but you're more than welcome to enjoy what I've curated here! I imagine I won't stop shitposting until the app is discontinued, and even then I'm not confident I'll shut up 🤣🤣🤣 Comte's the best baby girl I've ever known lmfao

o7 PUREBLOOD STAN OR BUST HELL YEAH!

[windupaidoneus]

ok ive finished the dlc so now i can properly say my least favourite thing about dragon age awakening is that the women feel like an afterthought & don't fit in the group at all. & i want to care about them & their banter so much. but i really don't because the game is giving me fucking nothing

[poptartmochi]

your honor. how am i supposed to process 40 boxes of books...

[sapphic-storm69]

POV: you’re staring at the person who made the saddest, most depressing movie you’ve ever seen, into a meme

[jvzebel-x]

🦋

[arcadeghozt]

trying soo hard to shut up abt the way barry’s character was handled in the post-coma seasons but the more i think abt it the more pissed off i get what in gods name were they thinkingggg

[myrfing]

you ever give someones video essay you sort of disagree with a shot and then You still disagree with them. Thats crazy

[mapsofnonexistentplacesremade]

aquarium is arguably the worst fucking haken album and it kind of sucks but its the kind of thing where if anyone else says it sucks theyre wrong