#helluva boss observations

[impossiblesublimelight]

I’m convinced we’ve been getting lore hints about imp horns, but I’m not sure what exactly they’re leading up to…

Imps DON’T touch each other’s horns, not even during combat (at least, not that we’ve seen “on camera”). The only exception I’ve found is Crimson, and that’s likely only after he’s already offed them.

The only instances I’ve seen where someone DOES touch an imp’s horns is indirectly. And both times they were presented in a negative context.

Now, this isn’t me trying to bash Stolas bringing this up (Season 1 Stolas is a completely different personality to Season 2 Stolas, after all), but Stolas putting out his cigarette on Blitzø’s horn was a pretty demeaning action. As further evidenced by Stolas immediately following up by baby talking at Blitzø while simultaneously pinching his cheek. Blitzø obviously doesn’t enjoy the treatment, but he doesn’t exactly say anything either, even with him pushing Stolas away. So it’s hard to say if some unspoken boundary was crossed with the indirect contact with his horn, or if he was aggravated at the perceived condescension.

Then, there’s that entire scene with Rolando forcing Blitzø to relive the worst moments of his life. From start to finish, Blitzø is distressed and highly uncomfortable. Making it really interesting that in the midst of this “show”, Rolando adds chains to Blitzø’s horns. Making it even harder for Blitzø to look away and adding even more to his distress. Again, hard to say if Blitzø’s distress is due to his horns being chained or to the whole situation in general.

Though circumstantial at best, it can’t just be a coincidence that both times an imp’s horns were touched on camera were by non-imp beings, and both instances happened to Blitzø in particular.

Then there’s the whole medical aspect to take into consideration with Fizz. After the accident, Fizz’s horns were destroyed along with most of the rest of his body. But unlike the prosthetics for his arms and legs, Fizz doesn’t do anything for his horns. No horn prosthetics or plaster or anything! They don’t even file down the jagged edges to help prevent further damage or to keep them from catching on things from day-to-day life.

There’s more to imp horns than we know. Fizz’s unwillingness (inability?) to do anything more than hide his horns has to hint at something. That scene dedicated specifically to showing Fizz’s horns immediately after the fireworks exploded definitely was implying something. That dying red light on Fizz’s horns has some horrifying implications. Especially with the cracked edges being blackened (dead?) in the midseason special.

Lastly, there’s Sallie May. I won’t speculate too much here because we haven’t exactly seen what her story is, and I don’t want to make assumptions about her or her perceptions of self. Especially when she hasn’t gotten to show up as much yet.

The short of it is, she doesn’t paint her horns. But she does paint her hair. Or at least puts splotches of white paint in her hair to give the perception that her horns are painted. And that’s the extent of it.

So to reiterate, imps don’t seem to touch their own or each others’ horns. Except for in negative contexts or purposes. Horns can’t be changed medically or cosmetically. And they possibly have more feeling in them than we originally thought…

I just KNOW this has to be leading into something in the future. I just don’t know WHAT!

I need to know more

[Edited: I was wrong about Sallie May’s hair color being an indicator of her purposefully not coloring her horns. But I’m keeping the bit in to help people understand my thought process]

[orionhelluvaranting]

Stolass has been banished, lost all of his powers and suffered from a nervous breakdown but still...

That's how he kicks Andre's ass right after arriving at the palace. And he lifts a huge ice statue up like it's nothing. And, uh... Elsa's evil rip-off just lies down, squeaks and sucks it up submissively despite he has appropriated ALL of Stolass' powers!!! Bitch, WTF?!

Also a little bit earlier in the same episode:

Vivzie, could you please be consistent at least throughout a SINGLE fucking episode of your own show?! You literally have so little to no interest in something outside of the glorified toxic yaoi you doesn't even try to hide it anymore!

[akirathedramaqueen]

Just a quick observation. Maybe a parallel?

Millie had to support a cross-dressed-up man refuting the reality twice.

Both times she tried so hard to help and play along with . . . perfect investigations or . . . chasing ghosts. Both things phantom, non-existent, not necessary really.

Both times she had her own needs to meet and they've got ignored. Whether it was recognition of her strengths or bills to pay.

And both times she snapped.

Both times it ended well . . . even though this is the place where things are a tad different.

Conclusion? I have no idea. Millie being an embodiment of an eldest daughter syndrome?

[drama-glob]

We've got a family photo with Stella, Stolas and Octavia.

A photo of Stolas and Stella with Stolas looking a bit uncomfortable to me.

A silhouette of Stolas and Octavia.

Octavia's baby picture (and not looking to dissimilar to Stolas's baby picture ;) ).

Another family photo with Octavia being a teenager now.

Stolas with young Octavia while she's in a pink dress. (Just adorable ^_^<3<3<3)

Stolas holding baby Octavia.

Silhouette of Octavia

Another angle of Octavia's baby picture.

Octavia's birthday when she was a little girl.

Same family picture with young Octavia.

Silhouette of young Octavia.

A closer shot of Stolas with young Octavia. Seriously, so adorable! ^_^<3<3<3

Same silhouette of Octavia and Stolas.

Same photo of Stolas holding baby Octavia.

Young Octavia holding onto Stolas while in the garden.

Silhouette of Stolas and Stella. (I think)

Same silhouette of Octavia.

Same photo of Stella and Stolas.

Same photo of Stolas holding baby Octavia.

Different angle of Young Octavia's birthday.

Same silhouette of teenage Octavia.

Can't tell. It's too small. :/

Same silhouette of young Octavia.

Same family portrait with young Octavia.

Same silhouette of Stolas and Stella.

Silhouette of teenage Octavia and Stolas.

Different shot of Octavia riding on Stolas's back. (Ugh my heart ;_; <3)

Family photo of them at Loo-Loo Land.

Octavia's drawing of her and Stolas.

Upside down photo of Octavia and Stolas. (Definitely no significance there ;) )

Stolas playing with young Octavia.

Different angle of previous photo.

Different angle of Octavia's drawing.

Right-side up picture of Stolas and Octavia together.

Stolas in his goth attire that we've seen before.

Family portrait of all of them.

Stolas enchanting Octavia with his magic that we've seen before.

[bowieified]

This shot from the trailer is honestly the only thing holding me together at the moment.

[turkey-sandwich]

Idk how people could have really thought that Satan ruled hell before Luci, because... Uhm. Hello?

This shot during the song? Did you guys not see this?

Ozzie and Bee's faces clearly say, "Are you for real right now?"

Like, idk chat, I think it's obvious that Satan was pulling shit out his ass and these two know that he's lying.

Something, something, watch and wait and observe, something, something.

[that1notetaker]

These two should and will meet in my dreams.

[hideawayfairy]

I find it funny that Stolas is put off with eating eggs whereas Ozzie not only eats them but has zero qualms about cooking them himself.

[sadhornydemons]

[mintaikkcorpse]

I absolutely love how anytime Stolitz content comes out, he's always so quick to make a video about it

[sleepymrshmllow]

some people focus too much on the fact that stolas cheated on stella and don't pay any attention as to why he did it.. and it turns into people just blindly defending stolas' abuser and it's weird.

stella was written to be a horrible person from the get-go. in episode 1 of s2 paimon shows stolas a picture of stella choking out a puppy(?). she isn't horrible to stolas because she's unhappy in her arranged marriage- she was always a bad person. (at least, this is what is being conveyed to us at this point. it's possible they give her more depth in the future, who knows) in the same episode we see her constantly insulting and verbally abusing stolas- to his face, to their friends, and in front of their daughter.

also somehow people genuinely believe stolas is a neglectful husband.. I am convinced they didn't watch the episode all the way through to listen to stolas and stella's confrontation at the end of it- stolas expresses to stella how hard he's been trying for years to make their marriage work. to make their family happy and comfortable. he even asks stella why after everything does she stick around at home with him and stella answers, quite plainly, that she just enjoys tormenting him. she relishes in his misery (even before the cheating happened).

also she doesn't give a shit that she was cheated on lol she only cares because it was an imp and that it could tarnish her reputation. her status/money is literally the only thing she cares about and that is constantly being told to us.

[thatguywhodoesstuff]

Hmm…

[orionhelluvaranting]

Brutal honesty vs Soft hypocrisy

Why they could never make me hate Stella:

Why they could never make me like Stolass:

In fact, I never had a problem with the characters who are assholes while the narrative treats them like the ones, without attempts to justify or whitewash. Bad guys exist for a reason, they play an important part in the plot.

But I can't stand the characters who are assholes while they're totally woobified, portrayed as misunderstood heroes / perfect victims, and their misdeeds are constantly downplayed / ignored by narrative.

This is the situation I have with Stella and Stolass.

On the one hand, Stella is a rough ridiculous caricature of what an abuser supposed to be. From such she, essentially, got only the name and a few basic traits (breaking stuff, yelling, etc.) so you could project on her whatever you want. I'd assume she acts more like a bully than an abuser. But what exactly prevents her from being believable representation of such a serious, complex topic?

Honesty!

Stella never* pretends to be good, neither lies about her intentions nor tries to increase attachment in her victim. She proudly hangs all her red flags out and screams at the top of her lungs, 🚩 "Hey, I'm abuser!" 🚩 And... probably, people like this do exist (people are different). Although they're minority for one simple reason: honesty wouldn't let them fool anyone and escape punishment. (Add to this Stella's lack of magical skills, power, brains, and then you'll see her writing is complete nonsense.) Oh, and don't you dare spread the "It's Hell" excuse on me! I've made a whole list of reasons why this point doesn't have any sense.

On the other hand, Stolass is much more subtle. He speaks civilly, stays calm (most of the time), tries to make a good impression. Stolass tells you how flattered he is that you invited him to the party; he treats himself to a drink and sings on a stage with you. So you'd think everything's fine… But as soon as you turn away, the owl will hide in a corner and bitch with himself about how petty your social event is. And despite this we're supposed to SIDE with Stolass because allegedly he isn't as petty as anybody at the anti-Blitzø party since he came there purely out of ✨politeness✨! Yeah, it's sooo polite to show up and act like a hypocritical jerk! Apparently the dumbass never heard about the polite refusal option.

Conclusion: Choosing between obvious asshole and woobified asshole I'd prefer the first one. At least in that case nobody's trying to force me into sympathy for a hypocrite.

*The ONLY truly manipulative moment from Stella's side was the fake hug in "Mastermind", and even that was pulled out of nowhere and then thrown into nowhere immediately. I guess that was made so people would compare Stella with Mother Gothel while they have nothing in common (sadly).

[akirathedramaqueen]

Guys, I'm sure those are old news, but . . . I'm trying my hardest to avoid writing something more of weight (hewwo CBT post isn't doing well) so here we are.

I've been talking to @warblogs17282 about Asmodeus and noticed a . . . parallel? Sorts of?

Two royals, forced to keep quiet and put up the facade. A, uh . . . head of a respectable royal family and a lustful King, not tethered by such thing as, ew, love.

Two royals, who had had enough of that,

and finally broke the silence.

Two bullies, taken aback by the sudden retaliation.

Two bullies, promising to make their return and force two royals regret their urges to make a power move greatly.

And, this isn't happening yet (well, save for Stella trying to kill Stolas), but I feel like we're about to see them fulfilling their threats. At the same time. With one blow, likely.

Since the Asmodean crystal and the grimoire, which is pointed to be illegal to be lent out to anyone, are something which connect Stolas and Asmodeus. Something which Stella (with Andrealphus being the puppeteer) and Mammon can and will use against both of them.

[drama-glob]

Although Fizz having a panic attack and saying he feels worthless if he doesn't have his fame/the contract with Mammon is absolutely heartbreaking, the amount of time Fizz brushes off or rejects Ozzie touching him makes the scene all the sadder to me. ;_; With each one, you can see Ozzie looking more and more concerned and with physical touch being a big part of their relationship and comforting one another (since as far as we've learned, Fizz's prosthetics can't feel and that's why they do so many forehead touches and nuzzles), to see Fizz push Ozzie away when he's trying to find out what's wrong, offer comfort and show he's there for Fizz, it breaks my heart too. ;_; ;_; ;_; I know Fizz didn't want to admit there was a problem or the real reason why he needed to win the competition and that pressing someone in distress doesn't always help, especially if it's something they're not ready to talk about, but Fizz was clearing doing more harm than good to himself here by keeping it bottled up along with the constant pressure and worry to be perfect. ;_; ;_; ;_;

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the main reason why Ozzie takes it slow before he tries the final time to offer comfort to Fizz, so as to first give Fizz the verbal reassurance that he is an amazing performer and that Ozzie truly does loves him in order for him to hopefully accept it. <3<3<3<3

[theophagie]

I keep thinking about Blitz holding out his blunt (?) for Stolas to take in s1ep5 without being asked to... it's such a small, quiet detail but it's sooo good. "So you've Transactionally Fucked your way into Familiarity territory"