#hazbin hotel characters in weird positions

[corn-producer69420]

Vox x Fem Reader (pre sex series part 1)

377 words (in this series it will be 500 words or less)

“h…h#$hEy bAbY@$#” Vox called out in a distorted whine as he sees you enter the room. “Another little tantrum is it…was it val?” your sweet voice carried across the room to the tv headed man slumped across his bed covered in your blankets and your hoodie? “Oh so it's bad?” you said softly walking into the dark room illuminated with the blue hue of his face “y@#eah” he said in an attempt as his voice glitched, tears streaming down his screen “i…J#st really N#$d you” he whimpered as you climbed onto the bed and stroked the side of his monitor as he laid his head on your lap, warm air blowing softly against your soft spot making you moan slightly. He seemed shocked as his tears slowly stopped, he looked up at you “W…Wwh@t w@s that?” he asked softly the corners of his mouth slowly lifting into a smile “N..nothing i'm sorry i just wanted to make you feel better..” she paused as vox sat up, twisting around and climbing on top of her “Oh@# y@u wiLl” he glitched hunching over you as he smiled “I Just w@nna he@r your soft sweet moans” he said softly as he stroked your clit making your body tremble with pleasure as you held back your moans “I just wanted you to tell me about your day~” you insisted as vox’s unsteady hands grasped your clothed cunt making you squirm “Ok de@l then….” he said taking a breath steadying his voice “I will tell you about my day…if you let me do whatever i want to you” he said softly, his hands already making their way up to the buckle on your pants “O…ok” you stuttered as he ripped off your pants, throwing them to the side as he smiled, his hands rubbing circles against your clit before he grabbed your underwear, tossing them to the ground as he leant back down, his face hovering over your pussy as your breath hitched. First valentino was being annoying~” he cooed, rubbing more circles around your clit “Then that radio fucker had to piss me @ff” he glitched slightly before taking another breath “this can make me feel…better”

See tge rest of the series on my blog

[mrslankyman]

Oh Darling

Alastor x (fem) Reader

word count: 2K

Fluff / more of a friendship

based on pilot alastor / slightly out of character

Working on part 2

✩⋆｡‧₊˚⭑˚₊‧｡⋆✩

Wasn’t everyday just so grand in Hell?

No.

It wasn’t.

Working at the Hazbin Hotel sure wasn’t making your days any grander. Being a room attendant and a good friend to Charlie was starting to get to you.

At least Nifty was there to help. Even though she mainly tried to kill the bugs she at least helped clean the place up. You had become accustomed to her weird and somewhat insane antics. It was Hell after all. You couldn’t really judge.

Husk was as fun as ever. Giving snarky comments but he at least listened when the night wound down and you needed a drink.

Angel Dust would joke around and tell you how awful you looked after scrubbing one of the rooms.

Vaggie didn’t say much since she knew you were friends with Charlie. She rather enjoyed your company stating you were one of the most sane sinners in the hotel.

Alastor on the other hand. Didn’t say much about you nor did he really say much about anyone. He would greet you just as anyone else. Something about him felt weirdly off.

You didn’t question it too much and just went on with your work.

“Hello Darling pleasure to be seeing you this morning!” That radio like voice echoed into the hotels kitchen. You were busy making breakfast.

Someone had to do it and it sure wasn’t gonna be Nifty. No one wants roaches in their pancakes.

“Good morning Alastor.” You answered not looking at him as you flipped the pancake. “Making up a lovely breakfast I do suppose? My mother used to make the most splendid ones in her time.” He remarked as his shadow loomed over you from behind.

“I’m sure she did. I’m not so positive mine will beat your mothers but it will beat your hunger.” Your joke was met with that signature smile as you turned around.

“Ahaha Im sure it will.” He laughed as he stepped aside to give you room. “I came to see if you were able to dust my radio tower? It has accumulated quite a bit of dust.” His question wasn’t really a question. You’d have to do it. It was your job. Though it was nice that he wasn’t demanding.

“Yes I can. I’ll just have to finish up breakfast.” You stated as you went back to cooking.

“Lovely. Oh and {Y/N}.” He cooed making you turn to look at him. His eyes turned dark and black, red static glitched around him. The room turned dark. “Don’t mess with my things.” He warned his clock eyes appearing and his smile widening.

You nodded quickly and looked around. You had seen him do this before but never to you directly. “Yes sir. I won’t.” You answered quickly and sighed with relief as he went back to normal.

“Good.” He clapped his hands together and turned away. “I’ll be back once breakfast is done.” He waved and hummed as he walked out of the kitchen.

You went back to cooking. Just forgetting about what just happened. It was best to just act like it was normal.

——

With breakfast done. You headed off to do your job. Or well request in better words. You grabbed your dusting supplied and went up to Alastors radio tower.

Doing as asked you just dusted. Not moving much of his stuff just the things that needed to be moved to dust. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too mad about that.

Surely he understood if you had to move stuff to be able an do your job. If not I guess you would have to run to Charlie and hide.

While dusting two figures on his desk caught your attention.

A small deer next to a bigger one. Which resembled a doe. Apart if you just assumed he kept up with the deer aesthetic he had going.

Shrugging you dusted them and headed out of the room. Closing the door and headed down stairs to put your supplies up.

——

Nifty was off cleaning somewhere. Husk and Angel Dust were chatting at the bar. Charlie had gone off with Vaggie for the night and who knows where Alastor was.

Deciding that cooking dinner sounded like a good idea you found your self in the kitchen again. Perhaps Charlie should’ve made you the chef instead. Though you just picked up both the jobs. Cleaning was easy and cooking was fun.

Humming you skimmed through a cook book. Unsure of what to cook for the night. That was until a shadow appeared behind you and Alastor appeared.

“Hello Dear!” His enthusiastic voice echoed through the kitchen causing you to turn around and look at him. “I saw you finished dusting. Thank you.” He leaned again the counter. Checking out his claws with a smile. “Need help cooking?” He questioned before looking over at you.

“Just having trouble picking what to cook for tonight.” You answered with a shrug. Making him stand up straight and clap his hands together.

“Why I know just the thing!” He snatched the cook book from you and threw it behind him. A loud thud echoed as it hit the ground.

“Hey-“ he put a finger over your mouth and laughed.

“My mother once showed me a lovely recipe for jambalaya! Who needs a flimsy old cook book when you have memory darling.” He chuckled and nudged you aside as he grabbed all the things he needed.

“I can show you it. If you wish.” He titled his head. Offering to let you in on one of his favorite things.

Something you didn’t suspect but found it rather kind of him.

“Sure. I’d love to learn it.” You agreed and stood beside him as he instructed you on things and gave insight on how to make the ‘best jambalaya you’ll ever eat.’

As he stated.

—

“My mother loved cooking this. Said it was her favorite dish, yes it was.” He smiled wide. A rather genuine smile. Not like the one he always wore. He looked down at the finished dish. A sigh of content escaping his lips.

“I’m sure she was a lovely woman.” You commented grabbing a plate from the cabinet.

He didn’t answer, just hummed. The silence was rather loud. He just stood there for a moment. Lost in memory.

“She was..she really was.” Though his voice sounded rather sad he still held the smile. The never erasing smile.

His reply was late but you put some of the finished jambalaya on a plate. His tone shifting to one of excitement.

“I’m sure you’ll find it splendid.” He turned to you and titled his head. Waiting for you to take a bite.

You moved the spoon up to your mouth and took a bite. Your eyes widened and a smile spread across your face.

It tasted lovely, better than you expected.

His smile stretched further as he watched your reaction.

“Oh I knew you’d love it! It’s very splendid don’t you think? Yes yes, a rather grand recipe the best recipe!” He wrapped his arms around your shoulder. Stretching his arm out in-front of you both and curling his fingers into the palm of his hand.

“I’m sure you agree this is better than some flimsy thing from that old cook book. I can show you many other recipes my mother showed me.” He leaned into your face a smile stuck on his face.

He had never been this touchy so he must be excited.

You nodded in agreement. The idea of having someone to cook with wasn’t a bad one.

“I’d like that.” You laughed and he joined in. Laughing with you for once not feeling like he had to be towering over someone to be seen.

——

So cooking together became a daily occurrence. Wether it be breakfast lunch or dinner. It didn’t matter.

He found cooking with you pleasing. You were one of the only demons he could stand in the hotels.

He slowly began to tell you more about his life. How he and his mother were close. Though it seemed he dodged the questions of his father. Never wanting to talk of him.

Which was understandable from what you could possibly piece together it seemed his dad wasn’t the best.

You decided not to push its.

“So my dear, have you considered being redeemed?” His question made you think. You were both outside looking up at the sky. Dinner was done. And everyone had went to their rooms. You on the other hand weren’t tired and Alastor didn’t have any plans for tomorrow so staying up with you didn’t bother him.

“I suppose it would be nice. Though I’m not sure I would fit in up there.” You shrugged leaning against the railing of his balcony.

He hummed and looked down. “You’re a rather charming demon belle. I don’t see why you wouldn’t fit in.” He chuckled to himself. He didn’t believe in that wacky nonsense of being redeemed.

How could a sinner go to heaven? They had chosen their path in their life time.

He learned that you had killed your husband at the time. Caught him cheating and decided to take his life as well as the other woman. You made your choice in that moment.

Dooming yourself to a life of sin. Just as he had when he committed all his murders.

Though a part of him feared the idea of redemption now. He knew he sure as hell wouldn’t be redeemed. He didn’t feel bad for his crimes. Nor did he care.

But apart of him knew you regretted your actions. You were a soul who would deserve to be redeemed if there was a way.

That scared him.

Knowing he wasn’t in control. Knowing that you could slip out of his hands.

He wasn’t being selfish with his want of keeping you. He just liked having someone around who enjoyed his company. Someone who wasn’t scared of him or only chatted with him cause they didn’t wanna be killed.

Though that is rather selfish isn’t it? Not wanting someone to succeed and be a better version of themself because you want them to stay as they are.

“I’m sure you’d fit in just swell so don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.” He flashed a smile your way. Teeth not showing this time. It seemed almost fake. You shrugged.

“I guess. I would miss everyone here though.. mainly you.” Your words hit him like a brick. He hasn’t suspected you to really truly care about him. Sure you said you two were friends but.. this meant a lot.

“Oh come now. You wouldn’t miss me once you see all the.. heavenly things up there.” He chucked. His voice sounded off and his radio effect faltered.

“Are you okay Alastor? It’s not like I’m gonna be redeemed and even if I was I would miss you. So don’t say I wouldn’t.” You were slightly annoyed at him now. Of course you’d miss him. No amount of heavenly items or ideals would ever top him and his terrible old timey jokes.

“Don’t lie. We’re in Hell why lie? You’re already here! It’s not like it’s gonna send you further down!” He seethed his claws digging into the railing.

“Alastor calm down. Why are you so upset?” You stepped closer to the demon. His ears bent back and his pupils went small. His smile crinkled and his teeth bared.

“You! You have me so confused!” He ran his hand through his hair. Closing his eyes.

“I’ve never felt like this before.. it’s all so frustrating. I’m supposed to make you scared! Don’t you fear me?” He dropped his hand and laughed. A hysteric laugh.

“Alastor..I don’t fear you.. I see you for you.. you’re an amazing friend.” You laid your hand on his shoulder. Calming him down slightly.

“I’m just here to watch these souls suffer and try to climb up only to fall into the fiery pits of failure.. but the pleasure in watching others fail isn’t fun when it comes to you.” He turned his head to look at you.

Your eyes met and for once the smile that was on his face didn’t match what was showing in his eyes.

“A part of me just wants to be with you forever. Just blissfully cooking or chatting like we are now. I’ve never had that.. I have friends but not like this.” He sighed and leaned back against the wall letting himself slide down.

You sat down beside him. Looking at the sky.

“Are those deer figures on your desk you and your mother?” You asked softly.

“Yeah..” he answered.

“They’re lovely.” You held his hand. Smiling as he squeezed yours.

“I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. You can relax. I’m gonna be here with you. So stop being all sad. It doesn’t suite you.” You leaned against his shoulder. Receiving a sigh from him.

“Did I ever tell you about my first radio show appearance?” He asked after a few moments of silence.

“No I don’t believe you did.” You smiled and listened as he began the story.

[fiendishfables]

hello!! i saw ur blog and i was super excited to see another aroaceee is it alright if you do platonic adam x reader headcanons? he can be reader's friend, sibling, or preferably reader's father figure as long as its platonic, anything u'd like is fine! sorry if my request is kinda weird lol, i just haven't seen a lot of platonic hazbin hotel stuff (especially stuff with adam in it)

a/n: Always good to meet other aroace individuals, indeed. I personally love Adam, he is absolutely my favorite character. I’ve been dying to write for him more and thinking of him as a dad is just my favorite scenario-

warnings: cursing, Adam being Adam, brief mentions of sex, subtle hints at Lute x Adam (if you squint)

words: 944

additional notes: this was one of my first asks I ever got; I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT. Enjoy~!

Adam as a Father Figure

Headcanons

First of all, he never expected to actually have a kid of his own, but now here he was

By the time you turned 6, you knew about every single curse word in existence, along with a (disturbingly) decent amount of female anatomy

Lute gets promoted to babysitter

When Adam is off performing with his band or needed in the council/other Heavenly resides, Lute is responsible for keeping track of his child

Even if she lost you (which she has, multiple times) he won't be that worried

You were a kid and as far as Adam knew, kids needed food

Hence how he knew you would find your way back to him eventually

Okay scratch that, maybe he does get a little worried...a lot

Starts to doubt his ability as a parent

Once he even got Sera to send out a search party for you because you had been gone longer than usual

It worried him sick whenever you went exploring, but he was almost a bit prideful that his offspring had managed to inherit his sneaking around capabilities already at such a young age

Lute has had to console her boss many times in response to your random disappearances under her watchfulness

He has legit been facedown on the couch with his head in her lap whilst he bawls his eyes out, blabbering to her about his worries pertaining to you, and then somehow that stems to his hopes and dreams in life (he doesn't wanna talk about it)

Only for you to walk in with food from some random location about 10 minutes later

You'd be on the floor as soon as you enter the domicile because Adam would have jumped on you and then proceeded to hug the very life out of you (all while stealing your bag of food in the process and running off with it)

Calls you a bitch, dumbass, and 'a little shit' for worrying him

Though he would never openly admit he had been worried

He doesn't care if you have a social life, he wants you home safe before 9pm, sharp

── ･ ｡☆*☽*☆ﾟ.──

Teaches you how to play guitar

He claims its because he wants to pass on one of his awesome talents to his only child, but he also really wants you to join him and his band on stage one day or another

You are in the starter stages of learning and are able to accurately get chords down and learn to read sheet music

A tear just may have come to his eye

The first song you two ever perform together is "Hell is Forever"

He did see someone try to give you a rose after your performance and nearly knocked them out

Trust him, he's a sex and relationship positive guy (for the most part) but he also can't help but feel like he wants to protect you at all costs

If you dare to call him over-protective, he will very gladly give you the silent treatment for a good 5 minutes

After that time mark, he will be groveling at your feet and whining about how sorry he is (rare that he actually says 'sorry')

His biggest fear is his own child having it out for him and not wanting anything to do with him

A clingy parent, no doubt

Wants to train you in the ways of becoming an Exorcist Angel

Poor guy is a bit insecure about everything and needs extra reassurance, though he would never ever outwardly ask for it

That's a sign of weakness in his eyes

Not for his child though

You come to him with even the smallest hint of watery eyes and he is already going full dad-mode

Determined to find the fucker who made you upset

Promises to give em' a good ol' kick in the balls (or vag)

Adam won't discriminate, he's just there to beat the ass of whoever hurt his precious baby

He will get in a fist fight with Sera in order to make you happy

Just expect to be the one he then blames when he gets demoted

── ･ ｡☆*☽*☆ﾟ.──

Adam totally took lots of naps before he had a child, so this just makes for the two of you ending up crashing on the couch together and creating a melodic tune out of your in-sync snoring patterns

Anything the two of you can do together without constantly arguing is a miracle, so this is to be cherished

He has definitely given you some very creative nicknames (as he calls himself 'Dickmaster')

Lute has taken many pictures

She wants to make a photo album and give it to Adam one day just to piss him off

But as she knows how much he really cares for you, she does not want to risk him growing apart from you due to something stupid she did for a few momentary laughs

Let's you two have your moments without interrupting

The two of you always fight over food and who gets to pick where you go for the evening, if going anywhere at all

Lute claims that you are making Adam all the more emotional, but no one seems to be complaining

Especially not the High Council

Its nice to have him shut his mouth for once and remotely think about his actions and who they could potentially effect

Adam has something to lose now, and everyone in both Heaven and Hell alike knew it

No demon spawn would ever get to set even a foot near you

You were the first life he felt truly responsible for

He refuses to fuck it up and lose someone else he cares about

He would protect you until the ends of time, whether you liked it or not

[ashintheairlikesnow]

One of the weird things about media like Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss is that you discover how many people out there genuinely believe that evil or bad people are physically incapable of having friends or loved ones, because if they are evil in any way they... can't have positive feelings about anyone, apparently.

We want evil to be one-dimensional so badly.

It's exhausting.

Literally the show or creator in question: This character is evil and entirely self-centered. Also, multiple other characters refer to them as their friend and there is no sign the character does not return that affection and loyalty to at least some level

People on the internet: NO. BAD MAN NO HAVE FRIENDS BECAUSE BAD. BAD CAN ONLY FEEL BAD THINGS.

[bloop-bl00p]

Rewriting the Hollow Knight of Hazbin Hotel

So, am I the only one who finds it weird that Carmilla isn’t getting jumped by the higher class?

The girl has an arsenal of weapons that can kill Goetia’s members AND neutralize their powers. And she sells it at affordable prices? Stricker can buy those weapons for God’s sake! That’s how he kills Blue Bloods, shouldn't that ring a bell in the Royal Class?

It’s surprising that an uprising hasn't happened yet, some imps managed to build successful businesses (Bliztø, Crimson, Stricker, Barbie I guess?) imagine the disaster if one day they have enough of being treated as lesser and just happen to have enough money to arm a large population of imps.

I intended her to be Velvette's mother, but I changed my plan and turned her into my OC. One thing I don't like about Viv’s Hell is how small it looks. You're telling me that everyone either comes from somewhere in America or Europe, Nifty is the only Asian character, and Cherry Bomb is the only Australian but that’s not enough for me.

Add to that the fact that her POC characters are grey. Or that she simply doesn't add any features/accents that could help the audience guess which origin are her characters.

I know Velvette has an accent but that’s the only character who has one. They should have done more research to make everyone have a dialect at least as unique as Zestial.

Anyways, Carmilla is from South Africa. Don’t get mad at me, Viv’s Hell feels extremely small and I needed multiple POVs to diversify the backstory.

I want my Version of Hell to be a clash of multiple origins, musically speaking you can give the aggressive Spanish guitars to Vaga. Carmilla is associated with Kwela and Soul.

Nomsa Mbatha was born in 1959 and grew to be an impoverished black woman in South Africa during the apartheid, she eventually married gang members to survive.

The Gang was primarily focused on smuggling and economic activities and she participated as a new member when she got married. She partacked in smuggling weapons, drugs, and other contraband into prisons and served as well as an informant gathering intelligence from the outside world and relaying information to gang members in prison or on the streets. Nomsa also provided alibis. All of that is in exchange for protection and money to have a somewhat normal life.

She had her two daughters at 35, the two were twins. Nomsa interchanged between mother and Gang members and, unfortunately, had to bring the girls to do some of the dirty work.

The two girls died with their mother at 20 during a police raid. Nomsa was struck with guilt as she thought she was the reason Odette and Clara went to Hell with her.

In Hell, she renamed herself Induna and used her knowledge to start selling weapons, normal ones at first. Until she started commercializing Blessed Steels.

She didn’t get away with it, she was targeted by many Goetia members scared to lose their position of power since it’s the only thing that can kill them. It’s only through negotiation that she comes up with an arrangement with them with the help of Zestial who’s well-known and respected.

You need to be legally approved (A card to hold one in public) and only royal members have access to it Induna is the exception. The utilization is up to them once purchased.

The weapons are actually mostly harmless to The 72 Lesser Keys of Solomon. It’s the rest of the Goetia, their children who can be killed. The Seven Deadly Sins or The Other Fallen Angels are also safe.

Her employees usually seek the lost Angelic Weapons just right after extermination, they operate during the cleaning of roads and are trained to recognize blessed steel as they can't be noticed with metal detectors. They wear uniforms and it’s usually during these weapons harvesting that people follow them to steal from the company. It’s rare since her workers know how to fight but it happens and a small black market occurred from it, that’s where Stricker got his personal dagger. He also steals from the rich.

Details:

→ Nomsa speaks Zulu and Induna means leader of a group of warriors.

Nomsa means The Mother of Compassion and Mbatha can mean Protector. She’s a mother and the protector of her children.

→ The Twins work for their mother and she insists that they work indoors. One works to design the weapons, and the other tests them. Induna regularly trains them on how to fight and defend themselves.

→ Vaga worked for a few years with Induna and sees herself in her. She keeps her daughter safe the same way she tries to keep her brother out of danger.

My take on human Vaggie → here ←

Appearance:

Watch me fight my biggest enemies, front-facing, and side-profile. I feel like I messed up the head shape in the side profile.

Vivziepop when she learned it’s easy to moisturize and draw POC characters with actual features.

Anyway, I don’t really know what I want to do with her sinner's forms. I think I’m gonna make her a bear because Mommy Bear. I’ll keep the big paws as a way to say she has the weight of the people she killed on her hands. You could say…

“But she never killed anyone.”

Yes, but she still sold weapons that killed people later, willingly participating in a sin will get you to Hell.

That’s all for the rewrite.

[firehologram]

It's weird but I feel like hazbin hotel would had worked better as an episodic tv show instead of being story line focused.

What I mean is we have our main cast and in each episode a new sinner shows up and tries to get redeemed for different reasons (someone else said this but I can't find it I'm so sorry) like butt hurt Christians that were heinous people, people that did a minor sin and now are trapped forever in hell or even someone doomed from the start because of their circumstances and were obligated to do what they had to do.

It can be either episodic with progression, so the main cast have minor changes throughout the show and at the end they end up becoming better people by helping others. Also some sinners share the same problems with certain characters (Charlie's insecurities, Vaggie's feelings about not being enough, Angel's self-destructive tendencies, etc.). Of course there's freedom in wheter they succeed or fail to redeem the random sinners, but if they do get better Charlie just promises them that when she talks with the angels everything would be fixed. The end of the season could be the revelation that nobody is actually going to heaven.

Or episodic with a bit of serial storyline, there is a main plotline (the next extermination) and redeeming random sinners is actually the b plot, the a plot being where big things happen, such as Charlie meeting Adam, introduction of the Vs, Alastor's reunion with the overlords... the difference is that the hotel serves a purpose and both plots have some kind of moral at the end.

I know Vivziepop had a big world and wanted to get everything out quickly, but I would have preferred to get to know 6 characters and bond with them over the 8 episodes she was given over having 16 that are constantly fighting over screentime for a rushed storyline.

[Gif ID: A gif from episode 3 of Hazbin Hotel by jay-wasstuff. The characters Sir Pentious, Husk and AngelDust are shown with annoyed expressions while Charlie and Niffty have a more positive one, they all are looking directly at the viewer and the gif repeats by showing Charlie going up behind the rest of the cast giving the viewer a thumbs up. /.End ID]

[hazbinsillynight]

This might sound strange, but a prompt I can't stop thinking about is comparing hand sizes between characters. It's intimate, but not too sexual. But which Hazbin Hotel characters would this prompt actually work for?

It's not strange at all! It was a very cute idea and I had fun writing it! I was not sure who to take for that because at first I was going for Husk and Angel, then it was Valentino and Vox. Like you can see I brought Alastor in the game ^^'

So here it is! It's a bit short but I hope you'll like it ^^

A special thanks to the friend who helped me to correct my mistake with grammar.

Listening to the fire crackling, Vox was simply enjoying the calm and cozy moment he and Alastor were sharing. They just came back from a little walk and Alastor, like the powerful Overlord he was, had been challenged for his position. They had already spent a few months together since Alastor found him in the street and Vox was still wondering how the red demon could be so used to it. 

It’s a part of the fame, he told him once. Yeah, well, Vox was glad he hadn’t had guys like this on his ass while he was still human. He would have fallen way sooner. It was still weird for him to see the infernal realm. He had never been a believer and he got quite a shock when he first woke up with a TV for a head that famous day.

His appearance was weird. It felt weird. Not just the TV head but every part of him. He may have looked human but his insides were made of flesh. His veins were just small wires, while his organs were mainly electronical. He brought energy and electricity to Hell when he woke up and he could feel this reminder in him every single day. The only thing that felt human on him was his skin and even that was covered with a few blue lights. 

“You’ve been quiet for a moment, my friend.” A static voice said from the kitchen before Alastor passed his head over the door to check on Vox. “Is something weighing on that silly head of yours?” He asked, chuckling a bit, amused by his own pun.

 “No no…I’m just thinking.” Vox said vaguely as he was looking at his hands and how big they seemed with the sharp claws on them. Seriously, the claws were two-thirds of his fingers. Even in the animal world, there wasn’t anything like this! It literally made no sense. 

“You’re thinking about it too much,” Alastor said as if he was reading in his mind. He couldn’t, right? Vox was never sure about anything linked to Alastor’s magic with how powerful he was.

 “Probably yeah…It’s just still so strange for me.” 

Alastor hummed as he got closer to Vox, sitting next to him near the fireplace. He took one of Vox’s hands carefully and put his own against it. He smiled as he felt the electricity that was running inside Vox’s veins. It was roaming right under his skin. 

The blue claws were tapping the top of his fingers, touching his own claws. The red and the blue were dancing together. Vox looked at them, frowning a bit. Alastor had claws too but his hands looked normal. Just a bit more pointy and bicolored. He loved Alastor’s hands, not as much as his smile, but still. They were beautiful. The black and the red had always fit him well. 

“Well, this looks perfect to me.” The red demon said with a charming smile as his fingers intertwined with Vox’s.

 “Perfect?” Vox repeated, clearly not seeing what could be perfect with his hands, since he’d fallen. Perhaps Alastor found them nice because of how sharp they were. A divine tool for any predator. He, however, couldn’t see the charm. 

Alastor smiled softly, a bit amused, and then drew Vox’s hands up to his face. He started kissing them dearly like they were something precious he cared so much about. His own fingers were rubbing them as he looked up at Vox who was blushing. 

“Yes. Perfect.” He said again without any hesitation. 

Vox was perfect in his own way. He was unique and just for that he was so dear to Alastor’s heart. His special and unique friend. It was time he printed that in this silly picture box of his.

[gartenofbanny]

I think this video from Crowne Prince who is a professional animator, pointing and explaining the animation mistakes in High Guardian Spice will help you understand why Helluva Boss has so many inconsistencies with characters markings and scaling.

Yes, the artists are responsible for their mistakes but it usually because of actions out of their control. Either they're not being paid enough to care, production is being rushed so the artists can't properly take their time and re-review clips, there is a lack of communication between the different animation departments and so on. Also the Viv not having proper characters reference sheets and line ups for the animators claims.

I personally think these claims are true because the art style changes throughout Helluva Boss and the Hazbin Hotel's pilot are very obvious, it's giving Steven Universe.

Not too long ago, I took a look at a few of the reference sheets that Viv made and..

Is Robo-Fizz supposed to pose from every angle? I'm not an artist or anything but shouldn't reference sheets have the character in like one neutral position so that the animators would know every part of what they're animating? Not to mention the jester hat positions are angled weirdly.

But yeah I do agree with that video and all of those points pretty much line up with what the former SH Employees said about SH Toons. Low pay, complicated deadlines, and the management sucks there so I wouldn't be surprised if the animators just straight up don't care anymore.

At least Steven Universe was mainly consistent. I believe there were like different animation styles for certain episodes. Some of them looked good while others looked weird, but one of the main problems was how inconsistent the height in Steven Universe was but then again some of them were also pretty hilarious like this one

However I do agree with the video and you and I believe Vivziepop is really the one to blame for all of these errors because there are indie shows that take their time with the cartoon they're making which results in very low to sometimes no animation errors. Like Metal Family

[chrysalis-the-butterfly]

Can you do Alastor please 🥺

Yep!

Send me a character and I’ll list:

Favourite thing about them: The radio filter on his voice! I'm a sucker for characters with artificial voice filters like that. And his disdain for "frivolous television technology" is amusing.

I recently rewatched the first episode of Hazbin Hotel with my dad, and he liked Alastor's radio filter too. (Yes, my dad watched some of Hazbin Hotel. And he decided it was "a bit too out there" for him.)

Least favourite thing about them: His design, I think. Yes, the creepy smile that never leaves his face is a nice touch, but that bob? It does nothing for me.

Favourite line: It's a close tie between, "Do you like blood, violence, and depravity of a sexual nature? Of course you do! That's why you're in Hell!" and, "Well, my dear, I haven't been active in Hell for some time, and everyone remembers me from my radio show! The proper medium to express oneself! But you insisted on this ... noisy picture box advertisement. So I had a little fun with it."

brOTP: I like his friendships with Mimzy and Rosie. The fact that he and Mimzy knew each other when they were alive is really interesting. And I can see how he and Rosie would bond over their shared fondness for cannibalism.

Plus, I just think it's funny that Alastor has been building this platonic girl gang around him. He's asexual, but also a chick magnet.

OTP: I don't really have one for Alastor. He's definitely ace, and he might be aro too, and I have yet to see a character that's made me go, "Ooh, I'd love to see what would happen if they were in a romantic relationship with Alastor."

But if I had to pick an OTP ... maybe RadioRose? Two cannibalistic Overlords causing chaos together? That would be pretty neat.

Actually, what about RadioStatic? The fact that the normally cool and collected Vox can be made to completely malfunction because of Alastor has piqued my interest. Maybe they were dating years ago, and then something went wrong. Or maybe they had a business partnership, and Vox wanted it to become something more, and Alastor just wasn't feeling it. Yes, Vox has Valentino now, but maybe there's a part of him that still pines for Alastor - which would be ironic, considering that Alastor has little to no interest in him.

nOTP: Charlastor. I prefer them having a "twisted mentor and innocent mentee" relationship, rather than a romantic one. Given that Alastor has positioned himself as a father figure to Charlie (albeit just to annoy Lucifer), it would be weird to think of them dating.

Random headcanon: Alastor has zero artistic ability. He once tried to paint portraits of the Hazbin Hotel staff and residents as part of an art therapy exercise, but they all look cursed. Or like cats. Or like cursed cats.

Unpopular opinion: Sorry, Alastor stans, I can't get on the hype train with this guy. Not yet, anyway.

I like characters that have a mixture of the known and the mysterious - that is, you know enough about them from the canon material that there are traits you can identify and latch onto, but there are also some things left up to interpretation for you to muse over.

Right now, Alastor's just a bit too mysterious for me. Is he going to be an ally? Is he going to be an enemy? I can't decide whether I like him because I don't know enough about him.

By contrast, I already know lots about Angel Dust, and I like what I've seen so far. And there are still things I don't know about him, such as how he met Valentino, that I can speculate on, which I find fun. That's why Angel is my blorbo and Alastor isn't.

Song I associate with them: "Love ka?" (a.k.a. "Rabuka") by Hiiragi Kirai and Ado. Particularly this Yokune Ruko cover. I see it as a RadioStatic song, because the lyrics are about sharks (Vox likes sharks, doesn't he?) and about bugs (which would fit with Vox glitching out).

The ending lyrics translate as, "These putrid 'love you,' 'love you,' 'love yous' have already fallen to the ground and died out. If you don't like what you found within your reach, maybe you should stop looking." That sounds like something Alastor would say to Vox.

Favourite picture of them:

[flower-boi16]

My Thoughts on Hazbin's First Episode

So Viv just posted the first episode of HH a day before the actual show was supposed to release for SOME REASON and I decided to watch it. Here are my thoughts;

The characters are...ok? Charlie and Vaggie are fine, Nipsy is kinda cute and funny, Alastor is also fine, and Angel Dust sucks.

Speaking of Angel - so far his one character trait is that he's extremely horny. And most of his jokes are NOT funny.

The episode got a handful of laughs out of me but was mostly kind of unfunny.

The camera work gets VERY weird at times. The episode constantly cuts to different perspectives and it becomes kind of a headache to look at. It is especially bad at the beginning of the Happy Day in Hell song - where they constantly cut to different perspectives all the time throughout the beginning of the song. It gets better after that but the camera work is still very wonky at times.

The animation is fine - not amazing but it is at least pleasant to look at.

Its REALLY clear now that they are going to make Hevean evil, which is kind of a good or bad thing depending on who you ask. Personally, I thought it would have been more interesting if Hevean wasn't evil like I previously said.

There's kind of a contradiction here; in the opening exposition dump, Charlie says that the reason why Hevean does the exterminations to ensure that Hevean never rises up against them; but then later in the episode when she is pitching her idea to Adam, they go back to the overpopulation in hell problem as the reason why the exterminations are happening - and Charlie says that the hotel is meant to solve the overpopulation problem - when she knows that the real reason why Hevean does the exterminations is that Hevean doesn't want Hell getting more powerful - its weird that the episode just creates a new reason for why the exterminations happen but then goes back to the old one.

Don't care for Adam as a character so far, I don't hate him but I also don't find him that entertaining of an antagonist so far. Also didn't care for his song primarily due to the lyrics.

The episode doesn't really introduce anything - like there's an opening exposition dump but it doesn't introduce you to any of the characters, it just kind of expects you to watch the pilot first even though the pilot isn't canon.

In terms of positives - I liked Happy Day in Hell as a song.

Like I said, most of the characters so far are fine aside from Angel Dust. They aren't amazing but they're fine.

The subplot of Vaggie trying to create a better commercial for the hotel was cute.

So overall the episode was...ok? I didn't really love it and it showed clear signs of issues that would probably plague the show in the future, but overall I didn't hate it. There was some enjoyment I got out of it but still not great or even that good. Probably a 5-6/10 though I'm kinda leaning more towards a 6/10. It's just average to me.

[justanotherhh]

@girlbossradiodemon: Queerness as an insight into humanity. I am curious what that means.

heya, hope it's ok to move your question to a new post, because it gave me an opportunity to ramble about something I've been thinking about -- so we'll call this post:

hazbin hotel, aroace alastor, and complicating redemption

cannot remember how i phrased it in the original post, but the main crux of the idea about queerness as humanising is "when does horror and villainy use queerness as a shorthand for Other/deviant and when are those thing subverted"

in terms of alastor specifically, aspec identity (especially the kind that is on the repulsed side of things) is often used -- without people knowing they're even describing real experiences and identities -- as a way of describing a lack of feeling, a lack of empathy, a lack of connection with other human beings, as a way of signposting "this is going to be a Bad Guy, look at this person who can't engage in the Universal Human Experience Of Love (sometimes with the prerequisite desire for sex, and sometimes it's the just-wanting-sex-but-not-love that's the Evil Code)"

note here, of course, that a lack of empathy also shouldn't be a shorthand for evil! the word "psychopath" generally needs to be put on a high shelf for anyone writing anything unless they can prove they know what in the world they're talking about!!

with alastor, when reading with the aroace hat on, we get an insight into how he does relate to other people. rather than going "he's so evil he can't love," it's opening up questions about what sort of connections he does form with people, and how those are complex, and possibly there's a lot of backstory there -- that's part of the whole story we're seeing with pretty much all the main characters: "misfits who have struggled to form connections because of their specific brands of Weirdness (and also they're in hell)"

now something im interested in with him being aspec, is how the show also to an extent deconstructs the ideas that being alloromantic and allosexual are necessarily indicators of goodness, and could go a lot further in future, if it wanted to -- this works better because almost all the characters in this show are queer (and tbh, until niffty is confirmed to be allorom, i am hc'ing her as aro), and so there's much less risk of falling into the trap of "deviant sexualities vs normal sexualities" that even some shows with queer characters fall for, because they still set up monogamous, allosexual relationships as More Correct vs Other Kinds Of Queerness That Is Bad

in the hellaverse, being kinky isn't semiotics for evil, being poly isn't semiotics for evil, being arocoded isn't semiotics for evil, etcetc.

being aspec is a difficult pill for a lot of people to swallow, including other queers, especially aromanticism, and so it's neat to consider the potential of portraying depictions of love and sex that are healthy (charlie and vaggie, pentious and cherri bomb, etc) next to depictions of love and sex that are unhealthy/toxic/abusive (valentino's and vox's ways of interacting with these things) next to depictions of not-love and not-sex that are complex and (i hope) indicators of how to get to know a character better, rather than villainising or simplifying a character. that maybe initially a character like charlie (amongst others) might not get it, but that's something she needs to sort out, not alastor

it's another way the show could go a step deeper into deconstructing how we take in ideas about "goodness" in narrative and in life based on simple clichés, for example the idea that "love redeems you" -- well, what if you don't love? and what if you do love, but that's not an indicator of goodness at all? is "love" in fact an all-encompassing positive force in the first place? why do we place it on this pedestal?

in many ways the potential of alastor through being aroace, reminds me a little of how we see angel in season 1. he's introduced a Certain way -- as shallow, as someone who doesn't put the work in, as someone who "doesn't care," -- and these narratives are enforced diagetically and non-diagetically by showing that he's an addict and a sex worker. a lot of the scenes related to drugs and sex work and kinky sex are funny (crack is expensive), and/or are met with disgust by the main characters (the sex dungeon), are considered things he needs to overcome in order to be worthy of redemption (the roleplay with sir pentious)...

and then those things are pulled apart, and both narrative and characters go: "what's wrong with being a sex-worker? what's wrong with being an addict? hell, what's wrong with liking sex???" and through that "why does he need to prove himself to be redeemed?" and i predict, eventually, already heading in that direction "why even need to be redeemed when the problem is the black-and-white morality of pure goodness/badness to begin with?????"

and i think alastor being aroace could play a cool part in that. it's not love that makes alastor human, and it's certainly not sex. it's how he interacts with not fitting into those normative boxes, and how other characters, hopefully, eventually, will learn to see things from his perspective (at least, in this case)

the whole the idea of "queerness as an insight into humanity" is something both hazbin and helluva do really well, because of their portraying queerness as a given, as the thing that it simply is how these characters interact with the world -- whether good or bad or somewhere in between, the characters' queerness invites us to ask questions about them, and i think some characters offer that opportunity even more starkly than others...

i mean alastor of course. keeper of the aroace Themes.

so yeah. aroace as humanising. love doesn't mean goodness. what even does redemption mean?

[fictionkinfessions]

@ 744442324213530624/new-kin-agony-when-people-take-the-gs-off-words

Hey! Lets not pretend that people kinning from "problematic media" automatically means they support it or its creators! Thats actually really fucking mean! Especially when your wording goes as far as to imply they are invalid as kins!!! Let people have critical thinking skills. And How many times does it have to be said that people do not choose their kins (or fictives, which are also applicable here even though you did not mention them) before people stop acting like this! Its ridiculous! It's annoying!

Your "positivity" toward Eridan is meaningless when Homestuck is ALSO deemed problematic media by many people (and agreed, certainly didnt age well in many aspects) while you condem anyone who touches a different one.

You can choose not to interact with people who kin from things like Hazbin, but I refuse to let you put my fellow kinfolk down because you think Eridan holds exclusive authority over "not using g", or that Eridan's source ISNT full of issues as well.

~An Eridan kin, who also happens to kin Husk. What a funny coincidence. (/s)

p.s. its also just weird to act like not using g in "ing" words is exclusive to only these two characters. My Quirk isnt being basterdized. Many people who dont even kin dont type a g all the fucking time what the fuck.

Anonymous asked:

Hi Im the Eridan that just sent in an ask response and I realized I should include a very clear obvious example of Homestuck also having flaws. Mpc Please add this onto the other ask.

I AM CANOTICALLY A FACIST. ANON. ANON DO YOU NOT HEAR YOURSELF.

I know fandom widley ignores that because really what the fuck was that, but LETS NOT PRETEND THAT ERIDAN IS A PURE CHARACTER COMPARED TO SOME POOR GUY WITH ALCOHOL AND GAMBLING ADDICTIONS.

NEITHER OF THESE SOURCES ARE PERFECT. BOTH ARE FLAWED. ONE IS JUST HATED MORE RIGHT NOW THAN THE OTHER.

Anonymous asked:

maybe... DON'T bully people for who they kin? we don't kin for fun, dude. most people can't control it. i hate hazbin hotel, too, but that isn't an excuse to say this shit. ESPECIALLY sending it into a blog where a bunch of hazbin kinfolk have been kinfessing, so you're clearly aware at least one husk kin is going to see it.

#sid🪞

party note if anyone wants to continue this converastion plase like reply or reblog this post. no further ask responses will be posted for it. thank you.

[that-ari-blogger]

Style vs Substance (Respectless)

The fact that Respectless isn’t the least popular song in the series is a marvel of creative skill. The song shouldn’t work.

Velvette is a plot device, and not a particularly subtle one. She gives information to the characters and the audience and sets up the stakes of the story, then drops off the map. This is exposition in its most blunt form and the song isn’t trying to hide that.

Still, the song is an absolute banger, and lauded as one of the series’ best. So, what’s up with that?

Raw charisma, that’s what.

Let me explain.

CONTENT WARNING (Foul Language and Cartoon Gore)

SPOILERS AHEAD (Hazbin Hotel)

I’m going to start with a criticism of the series before I move on to the positives. In my opinion, Hazbin Hotel has a pacing issue.

I’m not the first person to point this out, but it's worth dwelling upon the flaws in even our favourite stories. No work of fiction is perfect and understanding why that is helps us engage not just with the work itself, but with others who enjoy those stories less than ourselves.

I love this series despite its pacing issues, but for some people, that’s a dealbreaker, and that’s ok. You don’t have to like or dislike anything, and anybody telling you otherwise is objectively wrong about how liking things works.

So, pacing. Hazbin Hotel struggles with this, and fair is far, it isn’t all the writer’s fault. The majority of the blame can be placed on the Amazon executives who decided that an eight-episode series retains the most attention and produced the most money for the lowest budget, and therefore that was how long the series was going to be.

Now, I hate to argue with people who don’t know what they’re talking about, but in my opinion, that statistic is bollocks. By which I mean whichever exec "discovered" it was an eejit who didn’t understand how art works.

Yes, eight episodes is a golden spot for average retention rate. Yes, theoretically, the return on investment is on average better with an eight-episode series. But that is working on averages, and you can’t mathematically predict art because there are so many factors, most of which are the skill and execution, but a decent amount is luck.

It’s putting the profit above the product, and it’s what corporations do, but that doesn’t make it a good thing.

Velvette keeps "scaring" people. But if you watch, she's really just getting in their personal space. It's shock factor and instilling discomfort. Velvette has confused surprise for intimidation but, like a lot of what she does, its hollow.

That being said, in my opinion, Vivsiepop’s pacing is weird. This is entirely preferential, but to me, a lot of the individual shots in Hazbin Hotel are cut just too quickly. They don’t have time to breathe and let you take in the information. It feels like the director of photography was in a hurry to get as much information across as possible without much care for the flow of the scene.

This is, I want to stress, entirely a subjective evaluation. This specific element of shot length is not a flaw, it is one of the stylistic choices that make up the show’s aesthetic and it carries over to Helluva Boss. It is an intentional part of the series. I just personally don’t like it much, as it makes it difficult to digest the story without feeling overwhelmed. I have a friend for whom the janky shot timing is the best part of the series, and once again, that’s ok.

Episode three has the opposite problem, and its not actually the episodes’ fault. I would argue that this is a symptom of the shorter season, but there are other cases. The issue, is that barely anything introduced in episode three goes anywhere in later episodes.

The connection between Carmilla Carbine and Vaggie is underutilised, and I don’t think Velvette has any lines outside of the episode. The Vees themselves don't really get much to do in the story and even the brick joke being set up through the egg bois doesn’t have enough time to feel impactful.

What this means is that I have to analyse Respectless from a different perspective. I can’t speak to what Velvette sets up in terms of plot, but I can speak to her character, and that is interesting.

Mostly because of how she breaks down one of the fundamental rules of writing, that being the taboo against exposition. If you know this blog, you know where I’m going with this.

The rules of writing are overblown. They are guidelines to easier storytelling, and the exposition rule helps keep audiences engaged. But it's important to understand why. The exposition rule exists because walls of monotone text are boring, usually. The exposition isn’t the problem, it’s just that there is an easy trap to fall into, and it's easier as a writer to avoid that.

However, if you make that wall of text interesting, then you have the audience’s attention. Maybe we bring in a conflict with another character to frame the text. Maybe the information is being revealed in order to get at one of the characters emotionally. Or maybe the information takes the form of a song.

Notice the scale of this shot compared to the last one in the song. Here, Velvette is smaller than Carmilla. She's an underdog being challenged by a more formidable foe.

“You’d better show some respect! Check your behaviour. No-one speaks to Zestial that way.”

There’s some worldbuilding going on in this song, and it takes the form of the following question: Who is in the right here? Who is in the right in this argument?

I’m not asking who is worse, or who is the antagonist. I’m asking you to point to either Carmilla or Velvette and tell me they are correct in all of their judgements.

I would argue that one is the lesser of two evils, but this is hell. These people are far from saints, and the song goes out of its way to point this out.

In the first line, we get the accusation that Velvette is insolent, i.e. lacking in respect. It sets up the dynamic, but it also begs the question… what is Velvette respecting here?

Like, do these people have authority over her? Are they just nebulously more powerful? Or, more likely, do they expect deference because of their status?

Which brings me to Velvette, who is a brilliant analogy for social media. She speaks very quickly, latches onto the thing that will get her the most attention, and occasionally says something rather insightful. But if there’s one thing she’s awful at, its nuance.

In this case, she recognises the fact that the respect is hollow, and her response is that people should turn that adulation onto her because… because she’s going to be nebulously more powerful/higher in status.

This is repeated later on:

“Why are you avoiding war? That’s what the guns you sell are for.”

The accusation of Carmilla’s hypocrisy is potent and not wrong. Carmilla does fund devastation and profiteer off death, then get all squeamish when it puts her or the people she cares about in danger. That’s hypocrisy.

But Velvette’s takeaway from this is that Carmilla should just lean into the devastation and actively seek war instead of the, in my opinion, much more sensible option of “if you don’t like people with weapons rocking up on your doorstep, stop giving people weapons”, or “if you don’t like war when it comes to you, stop encouraging it in the first place.”

The song really only serves one purpose, set up the fact that Carmilla killed an angel, and people don’t think that can happen. Yes, it sets up Carmilla’s character, but that is done so much better by the next song that this pales in comparison.

Around that, the song acts as a divergence from the main story, showing the political chaos that colours Hells’ upper ring, and sets up what might be a conflict in season two. It's too early to speak on that, it's set dressing for the moment, but I think the way the song works around the argument is interesting.

Take the drums for example.

“Did you expect us to sit down and take your insolent brazen display.”

The song begins with Carmilla and notably without any percussion. Instead, the guitar hammers out chords with some complex movements between to get out the force and anger behind her words.

It’s notable that when Carmilla starts singing, Velvette looks genuinely taken aback, before getting her expressions back in order and her confidence up.

“You’ve got it twisted. I’m not the one who needs a new attitude. Maybe you missed it, But I’m that hashtag bitch and I will do”

Then Velvette takes control from Carmilla, and the drums get associated with her wild, expressionistic perspective. Its now a repeated pattern so show off how unphased Velvette claims to be, but it's also irregular, hinting that maybe it’s a façade.

I used the word “hashtag” there instead of just putting up the symbol for a reason. Everything Velvette does is irregular. She’s shaking up every convention and thinking that makes her smart.

And yes, the adding of syllables to the line draws you forwards, so that’s a success. But not every power grab is going to succeed. Risk taking for the sake of risk taking isn't the same as intelligence. Sometimes you will look a bit silly.

We get a truly killer shot of Velvette backlit by her own scheming to show just how much she has her fingerprints on everything the Vees do.

“Sorry group attending. Since when are overlords too scared to fight?”

Then she has her confidence back in full, and she goes on the offensive. Up until now, she’s been declaring how cool and badass she is and how everyone should look at her because she’s going to be the queen of everything and bla bla bla. She’s been psyching herself up.

It's self-centred, and the drums are what tells you that. Velvette is overconfident, so the percussion is now so off balance that it's almost a drumroll. It’s a build-up of that wildness, empowering her and gaining momentum. Added to which is the sound of a phone camera, which mingles with the rest of the beat in an odd way and throws it even further off kilter.

"You lost your relevance" "We can't act without more intelligence"

Then we get to Zestiel, who casually matches her in tone with none of the intensity. Carmilla is offended at the thought of her structure being uprooted, Zestiel is utterly unimpressed and only gets mildly upset when Velvet impacts his personal space.

He also doesn't rise to the challenge at all. He remains intent on the point at hand and does not give a toss about any insults thrown his way. He's not going to get distracted by trolling.

For all of Velvette’s posturing, she has next to no impact on the target of her aggression. That’s how you stop a troll, you don’t give them anything to feed off. Hence his expression at Carmilla’s attempt at recapturing the moment. It’s not, “that hurt me” or “defend me please”, its “don’t take the bait.”

I don’t want to only praise Zestiel here, he is not without flaw. He’s got the Yoda issue of being content that his status quo is untouchable. He is happy in the knowledge that his status makes him invulnerable, and that’s not true. Nobody is safe from change, not even the most insulated from it.

“You and the Vees are inane and uninformed. Smug wannabees Who don’t heed when you’ve been warned.

Back to the drums, and this section is reclaiming those for Carmilla. She is meeting Velvette in the middle, giving ground to her in the process and leaning into her power.

You know in arguments in comments sections when one person puts their point IN FULL CAPITAL LETTERS and baits everyone else to do the same? That’s this. The drums are the caps lock.

But here, they are actually quite nice. Carmilla is trying to use Velvette’s tactics in her own style. You will notice that while Velvette has a very technopunky aesthetic to her music, Carmilla leans much further into a style whose name I do not know but for now I will call "operatic" (If you are aware of what the name is for the style of music that intricate guitar leans into, please tell me).

However, now those drums form a steady beat to back up Carmilla’s rising force. She’s seen Velvette do something, and now she’s doing it better. Up to and including the gathering speed descent.

Notice the angle of the shot though. It’s Dutch. The horizon is diagonal, which means the characters within are unbalanced. Carmilla has just fallen for Velvette’s trap and overextended herself. Making her weak for the final reveal.

“Oops did I strike a nerve?”

The drums transition seamlessly back to Velvette, as she bears those accusations as a batch of honour. She’s the type of person who thinks being blocked is a victory, so this isn’t anything to her.

We get a few very tight shots of Carmilla realising she’s been played, and everyone learns the truth about the angel and who killed it, and we get Zestial’s expression.

This isn’t a face of anger, or betrayal. It doesn't say "how could you", it says "wtf just happened?"

It’s the face of someone who has just been surprised for the first time in decades. This is the face of someone who has just had his shit rocked. This is the face of someone concerned about those he cares about and understanding far too late how easily a bulletproof exterior just got circumvented. This is the man who very suddenly feels unsafe and who is now going to take every action he can to regain control.

This is the man who just looked at the chess board for the first time in years and realised exactly how close to losing he truly is.

Obviously, I’m reading more into this than there probably is, but that expression is vague as all hell because he’s an animated character with too many eyes and a weird mouth shape. So, I’m reading into his character and extrapolating. That's what interpretation is, if you're understanding of that expression is different, more power to you.

“Thanks to my being respectless, one thing I’m starting to suspect is, you know why this angel’s headless. Do you have a disclosure?”

Velvette’s rhyming scheme twists as the song climbs to a resolution. Where it featured an ABAB pattern in the verse, pairing the first and third lines, and the second and fourth, the chorus was usually a singular rhyming couplet.

Now we have a series of the same sound played over and over again, while the drummer keeps getting more manic and crazier until…

Remember that scale thing? Here it's less pronounced. Velvette still looks up at Carmilla, but they take up the same amount of space in the shot. It's a stalemate.

“This meeting’s over!”

Carmilla has shut the troll up. She has turned off the computer, essentially. The argument is finished, she declared it a draw and there’s nothing Velvette can do about it.

Except is it a draw?

That built up tension has to go somewhere. You can’t just turn of the radio; the song still plays in your mind.

It would seem that Velvette’s brief appearance in the plot of the series has had a more significant impact than we give her credit for.

Final Thoughts

I think that, for the pacing of the musical, this song would have been better served by a scene of Carmilla killing the angel and one of her kids going “they can die?”

But that would sacrifice an absolute bop of a song, and I’m not going to wish for that in any situation. Also, Velvette’s actress, Lilli Cooper, is credited as an understudy/standby for Elphaba in Wicked, and that trumps all criticism for me. Wicked is the pinnacle of art, and nothing associated with it can ever be bad.

One thing though, why is Velvette’s design so boring? She could have had butterfly imagery, bearing in mind I live in Australia and the butterflies here will ambush you on a highway late at night and demand your money. She could have leaned into the social media imagery and been just about anything. But no, she’s a girl in a cool jacket and trousers.

Next week, I’ll be looking at More Than Anything, and the characterisation of the two protector characters in this series. So, stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[velvet-vox]

The dark side of Steampunk: Nox (Part 1)

There is this video made by the Youtuber schnee about Hazbin Hotel, and how its grimsical art style serves the purpose of forming the setting and dictating every writing decision through the usage of its thematic connotations.

It's a pretty interesting video to watch if you are a fan of that series, but I'm not here to talk about that.

No, I'm here to talk about a specific part of that video.

There's a certain timestamp in the video where schnee all of a sudden starts to talk about a movie named "Aeronauts", and how it perfectly nails the Steampunk aesthetic through its understanding of the themes of Steampunk and the historic/social connotations of his it's existence. Here:

For the purposes of his argument, schnee explains to us what Steampunk is all about and compares it to grim dark. While this was fascinating and all, after I've learned the meaning behind the Steampunk aesthetic I couldn't help to think about Noximilliem Coxen the Watchmaker from Wakfu, and how the show writers and character designers twisted the positive vibes of the style to create a more impactful and terrifying antagonist that swims confidently in his own aesthetic.

Today, I'm going to break down how Nox's story uses and twists the meaning of Steampunk to help him stand out.

There's going to be multiple parts to this analysis, so expect me to add their link in the future, but for now, I'm going to focus my attention entirely on the OVA episode and I'll tackle the main series at a later date.

The OVA:

Noximilien is a brilliant inventor specialized in the creation of clocks. His over excitement at the prospect of being the one to find the next big thing is very reminiscent of the classic Victorian scientist present in many stories, usually on the protagonist's side: at the start of his character arc, Milien is the embodiment of the optimism native of the XIX century from which Steampunk stories often take place.

Characterised by the industrial boom, Steampunk (Nox) seeks out to revolutionise the rigid lifestyle of the Victorian era through the wonders of machinery and science. This right here seems like the classic setup for any story of the genre, surely it can't vary more than this?

Unfortunately for our Watchmaker, this is the part where another genre of storytelling is introduced into the mix: the Eldritch horror.

Stories of Eldritch Horror are often characterised by the fear of the unknown: humans going insane trying to understand things that were never intended to be understood, some light ho######ia and ra###m sprinkled here and there, but you can't blame Lovecraft for being a bigot when he was so much worse than that.

Nox finds a mysterious object coming from outer space, it acts weird and suspicious, and he can't understand it, so he takes it back home where he can study it. (I don't know what the bubbles emitted from the cube and the following psychosis are meant to entail, but I think it's up to interpretation).

Immediately, Milien sees the cube as an exciting new discovery, already picking apart its effects on his clock and quickly brushing aside how it affected Igôle. It's honestly not that uncommon in stories of this genre, the inventor tends to be pretty self centered and not particularly emotionally intelligent, it's a flaw that tends to go undeveloped, but it's usually never a problem for these people (Unless they are the villain 🌚).

But here, it's where unfortunately the rift between his family and his desires starts to form: at the beginning of the episode, Galanthe was nothing but supportive of her husband's passion for his inventions and the future, but here, when she asks her husband to let go of his current hyper fixation, she, quite literally, puts a stop to the Industrial dream, one of the cores of this genre; basically rejecting Nox himself, whose the personification of Steampunk.

Naturally, Milien is at fault here, he shouldn't be taking her response too dramatically, but this is going to be the base to his later turn towards the obsession.

While we're here, I might as well mention the beggar and the puppet show.

They're not all that important to Noximilien's character arc (aside from the money problem giving him a ticking clock to all of his actions🌚🌚), but they do provide important pieces of character building and themes for our analysis, so I'm going to briefly touch on them.

The beggar and the puppet show serve to better establish and build up our Steampunk narrative before it can later be destroyed by the Eliacube.

The beggar, is our representation of society. More specifically, Victorian society. He's naturally unimpressed by Milien's creativity and ingenuity, and only seeks to get his part of the bargain. He's strict, rigid, and he's clearly intended to be the obstacle in this situation.

The conflict between the beggar and Milien parallels the conflict between the Victorian society and the positivity of modern science; said tension is the bread and butter of Steampunk and the reason why this aesthetic gained so much popularity in the first place.

The puppet show, created by our inventor, is, again, another establishing piece for our setting, it's the original direction Nox's character was supposed to take, becoming someone who uses their brilliance and generosity to better the world and brighten their family's lives.

If only Milien stayed in bed that night instead of going to temper with the Eliacube, who knows what could have happened.

Maybe, he wouldn't have found the Cube to be all that shiny when he woke up the next morning......

Next part>>>>

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[theferalsquirrel]

Okay, but comfort/emotional support characters can be so weird. Because my comfort/emotional support characters are usually ones who are super sweet and/or positive.

And then I have that one who's just totally unhinged and not okay. Basically, a guy who clearly hasn't had a good day in his life.

Like, I have Gwen from Cursed Princess Club.

Charlie from Hazbin Hotel.

Prussia from Hetalia.

Luz from The Owl House.

And then we have Silas from the Da Vinci Code.

I kinda wonder what this says about me...

(I really hope my love for this character doesn't go away when I finally read the book).

[t3chkn1ght-blog]

How am I not LGBT+?

I'm a cishet male, and yet:

I'm on tumblr

I'm a Computer Science student.

I watch JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, etc.

I'm subscribed to Overly Sarcastic Productions, Jaiden Animations, and PM Seymour.

I play DnD, Stardew Valley, and Baldur's Gate III.

I love me a good musical number.

I've enjoyed Monster Prom and its sequels.

I love Thomas Sanders, One Topic at a Time, The Click, etc.

I think LGBT+ memes are funny (as in, the ones made by actual LGBT+ folk, not conservatives making memes at their expense).

While I don't actively seek out media with LGBT+ characters, when they do show up, I tend to enjoy them.

Actively hate culture war/"woke cult"/redpill bullshit

I'm sex positive, even though I've never had it.

I Think that a lot of gendered stuff (Gendered Bathrooms, "Blue is for boys, pink is for girls") is just stupid.

I grew up on Gravity Falls

I didn't mind playing with "girls toys" growing up (Dollhouses, Princesses, etc.)

I've spent some time on Deviantart

I've read Percy Jackson (don't remember a lot of it, but I did).

Don't mind wearing feminine clothing for a bit (ex: that time I went as a Karen for Halloween)

Have a strong desire to punch homophobes/transphobes in the face.

I mean, if you were to look at all this stuff, you would probably think I'm LGBT+ in some way, but NOPE! I'm a dude. I'm cool with being a dude. I'm not androgynous enough to be nonbinary. I have lewd thoughts about girls and not boys. I'm not gay, I'm not ace, I'm not bi, not pan, not nb, nothing.

Like that one John Mulaney bit, I feel like I was supposed to be LGBT+, and yet I'm not. How did this even happen?

Just a weird thing about me that, when I thought about it, only got weirder.