admitting ur a larrie and saying it brought you to your current ship is such a brave personal choice. this comment should be an official diagnosis in the dsm-5.
here i'll make a supernatural comparison for you all. imagine in s15 castiel got a new love interest and it's a guy who we had seen maybe once or twice a few seasons ago that cas didn't even interact with until this most recent season. cas and this guy ARE really cute! but then a bunch of people on the internet who have never watched supernatural once in their lives start saying "yes!!!! i hope they end up together and not dean and castiel." and start saying things about wanting dean to be kept straight. and completely ignore how making dean/castiel a couple would make a MASSIVE impact and would be life changing television. does that scenario make your eye twitch? well that's what it's like being a 9-1-1 fan right now seeing people comment on the buck/tommy/eddie love triangle.
I think I can finally put my figner on what I find wrong about Hazbin Hotel, and why I think it is neoliberal dribble that fails at its socual commentary.
I am definitly going to write about redemption arcs more (a post about a different show is coming), but it should not come as a surprise that I am not a fan of them-they are a rather cheap narrative tool that breeds uncreative, stale, mediocre storylines. However, when the central theme of a work of fiction is redemption in the context of heaven and its righteousness, that could be written in an interesting way, especially if the very concept od redemption is deconstructed. And, for some time, the show seemed to be upping the game in terms of the sriousness of its narratiive as it went on, yet failed to deliver on this.
There is a serious issue I have with the author's idea of what redemption means in the context of heaven's hegemony and how it reflects our world. There is a critique of this inequitable system in which "hell is forever", and so is heaven- once fallen there arel no second chances, no turning back, and those graced can never do enough wrong to be punished for their misdeeds. And this critique is utterly toothless in my opinion, not in and of itself, but because the author tries to couple it with the possibility of getting redeemed. If redemption did not exist in the world of Hazbin Hotel, then the story's theme about Heaven and hell would make sense- there is a brutal system that punishes some for their misdeeds but does not punish mass murder and terror. A hypocrotical and arbitrary system in which the powerful make sure that those who are in power stay in power through that false morality. They quite literally live in a gated community oblivious to the fact that they live in such bliss because there is an army in their midst that goes to commit purges onto the underclass, the sinful. But if you make redemption an actual thing, something a sinner can achieve, then all the fault is shifted onto the sinner. The problem is no longer the segregation, the mass murdering of the underclass, and the fact that eternal torment extists in the first pllace. No, the problem is that more people don't get their ticket to the Pearly Gates, the problem is that there is not enough social mobility, not the unjust system itself. Does this not remind you of the American dream? That if one just works hard enough they may be getting their seat at the table?
No one seems to be attacking Charlie's dream on this front-eternal torment itself is unjust, and not just the annual exterminations- they are a cullmination of this problem. Charlie's dream is one that ultimately does not challenge the status quo-it is one that affirms heaven and works within its confines. Who gets to say who gets to get redeemed, especially an entity that allows genoocidal maniacs into their ranks?
And I don't think the show lacks merit entirely, but this tendency in Western fiction to use ideas of revolutionaies and then water them down soo it is more palatable to a neolib audience is tiring and should be criticised more often.
team green, though I'm not in support of every green character (namely Otto though my opinion of him is complicated. I also have opinions on Aegon and his characterization that makes it even more complicated)
[I have only read bits and pieces of the book, so my opinion is based almost solely on the show. keep this in mind]
I'm team green for 3 big reasons. they're more complex, thought not perfect by any means, more morally "right", and are simply more my vibe when it comes to characters. now this is very simplified and not at all nuanced, so stick with me for a minute.
Firstly, they're more complex. the greens have very deep, detailed, and nuanced lives and stories that lead to them being very complex characters that can't be put into a box. Alicent was a child bride who had lost her mother young became a mother young and suffered at the hands of power and men all her life. her children were affected by this and the world they were forced to grow up in throughout their lives. even individually her kids are drastically different; aegon the child who was forced into a life he did not want and suffered due to his father neglect and mother pain. Helaena who was never understood and grew up treated like an oddity. Aemond who was never seen to his full potential, always ignored or looked over, angry throughout his life. each of them has strengths and weaknesses, flaws and benefits, they're imperfect but never completely horrid. they're also never simplified (not entirely, even when the plot and writers seek to simplify them) to the point that they put on a moral pedestal or made straight evil (i'd even argue that the attempts of the writer to oversimplify them as evil and in the wrong makes them 10x more fascinating). I find TB characters tended to miss the mark on that, always put in the moral light, not even allowed a moment to reflect on their actions, lives, or positions in any nuanced or meaningful way, so they always just feel dull. they're also out on a moral highground that they can never be budged from, which makes them harder to like and honestly, really boring. they get away with everything instead of being emotionally and morally nuanced.
secondly, they're more morally "right". I will never say that any of the greens are perfect, they are far from it (with the exception of Helaena and her kids, who have done literally nothing to anyone, but I digress). what I will say, 9/10 times there is some level of reasoning that has some level of reasoning. Alicent always tries to do whats best for everyone, all throughout the series she tried to do best by the court, the king, her children, the realm, and Rhaenyra. did she always succeed? no, but she always tried and her mistakes were almost always honest. I will say she held resentment towards Rhaenya, but honestly, I can't blame her. Rhaenyra's lies and behavior hurt Alicent over and over again so for her to be angry is expected.when it came to succession, Alicent backed Rhaenyra until it was made clear she and Daemon would be a threat to her children's lives and even than she held mercy for Rhaenyra. Aegon's drinking can be blamed on the abuse and neglect he suffered at Viserys, Otto, and Alicent's (though the abuse and neglect from his mother is insanely different and nuanced. she perpetuated her pain onto him because she couldn't heal herself. so I hesitate to call it abuse, cause its so much more complicated than that) hands. though nothing will justify his rape of Dyana, I personally think it was a bad add in on the writers part, and leave it at that. Aemonds rage after years of being ignored doesn't entirely justify what he did to luke, but he had reason for his cruelty after years of Luke (and jace tbh) being cruel just because they could. TB characters tend to do terrible things in response to either A. nothing B. their own terrible things. Daemon kills who he wants when he feels like it, even for stating facts. Rhaneyra will lie and hurt those around her to protect her bastard children. both of them conspire to protect themselves and allow themselves to be wed, really just cause. while there are times they have their reasons, its a lot less of the time, and typically the backing to their actions, is they were trying to unbury themselves from within their own graves. (to preface, I don't care about rhaenyra sleeping around, it doesn't bother me, but its the fact that she will hurt everyone around her to protect her lies, allowing a child to be maimed and people to be murdered)
thirdly, they're my vibe. I like morally complex character, who are, to be frank, pathetic. I like characters with complex trauma's and issues, who aren't perfect people but its not entirely their fault. I would much rather watch a whole show about alicent, a child bride who tries so hard to be a good wife, queen, and mother while not prepared for any such role. Aegon who is a boy with severe mommy and daddy issues, a drinking problem, a flawed past, and constantly wet eyes. Helaena an ignored girl who has suffered for no better reason then her family. and Aemond, a boy who was tormented, bullied, maimed, and made stronger by it at the cost of his compassion and emotional stability - over a nepo baby who was coddled by her father, her murderous husband with a knack for unneeded violence, and her similarly coddled children (the show boiled them down to this, in my opinion). one is simply more up my alley than the other. I want character that need to be dissected, who have suffered, who hurt me to look at.
also, team black created almost all of their own problems. seeing as the main source of contention had to do with Rhaenyra's kids being bastards, which was Rhaenyra's problem, which she caused, and kept digging and digging that grave (faking Laenors death just so she could marry daemon, turning the blame on aemond when luke maimed him furthering the divide amongst the house, trying to wed Helaena to Jace putting her in danger, trying to take the driftmark throne and killing Vaemond for a claim her sons did not have, etc,) till viserys's death, earns her a lot less pity from me. at the end of the day, her being a woman was only a needle in a haystack worth of problems she caused herself that hurt her claim. if she had just strived to create to connection with ancient and her kids, and didn't make herself look like a threat to everyone who lessened her claim (which alicents kids would be the first people to be taken out) alicent would have backed like she had all season and there would have been no war, maybe conflict, but no war.
theres also the effect of the fans on my opinion. I have faced more cruelty, terrible media analysis, and outright ableism/misogny/(blood and sexual based) purist ideology/etc. from the TB fans then I have ever witness by TG fans. TB fans have ruined almost all of the TB characters for me in more ways than I can count, so I will say I am very biased.
thats why I'm team green. as a whole they are simply more appealing, their stories are more interesting, demand more attention to detail and emotional understanding, and from my point of view were the "right" side to be on in the war (the war was wrong on both sides, but my chips lie in the favour of the greens).
while i really liked rhaenyra in 1.10, she was also very inconsistent with the way she’s been written in prior episodes (4-9 mostly), and i don’t know what we’re supposed to take away from her characterization this season.
the last time rhaenyra showed any resistance to violence was all the way back in episode 2, when she flew to dragonstone to peacefully resolve a conflict with daemon that could have turned messy. merely paralleling that moment in the finale, however, does not erase the fact that since the first dragonstone encounter, she has walked off when a suitor propositioning her hand was killed, plotted with daemon to kill an innocent man to facilitate laenor’s escape (and resolved that the people should fear her as their scheme unfolded), and watched vaemond beheaded and expressed no feelings on the matter beyond mild shock. now, i’m not saying she has to jump into battle, but in the book she was outraged that the throne that rightfully belonged to her had been usurped, and offered very blunt terms to the greens -- to cede the throne immediately or die. i would have liked to see some of this resolve in the finale.
rhaenyra has also been neither cognizant nor considerate of the fact that, as a targaryen, the customs of the realm over which she hopes to rule are different than hers. apart from the fact that she passed off her bastards as trueborn, she also complained that the valyrian tapestries in the red keep had been replaced with banners of the faith of the seven, and she stated that the wants of the smallfolk were of no consequence to her as early as episode 4. none of these things are criminal, but they do provide us deeper insight about her mindset. (oh, also: she slept with criston, who was essentially a servant to her, despite his repeated refusal and his esteem for the position of kingsguard, which she knew involved an oath of celibacy.) in this episode though, she gave luke a speech about how targaryens were still accountable to the realm and had to follow their traditions and values accordingly. while this is undoubtedly a nice sentiment, it also defies the core of rhaenyra’s character, given that her lack of awareness on this issue is what results in her eventual downfall.
she also spoke of duty to the realm and earning the throne this episode, which are ideas she has never even alluded to prior to this point. i never got the sense that rhaenyra had much of an understanding of what the responsibility of rule truly means. we’re shown how she fled to dragonstone the moment circumstances at court grew difficult for her and we never see her engage in any sort of preparation for her future duties as monarch. she was outraged about the hightowers ruling in viserys’s stead and giving him milk of the poppy to ameliorate his pain, though she was not present for any of the six years he was left incapacitated by his health while they were. i really can’t fathom how we are expected to believe that this is a character who has understood duty all along.
rhaenyra is impulsive, indifferent to violence, ignorant or uncaring of the wants of the people, and generally uninterested in preparing for her ascension to queen. this doesn’t make her irredeemable by any means, but it is the picture of rhaenyra that’s been painted for us all season. the writers seem to want to have their cake and eat it too; yes, rhaenyra has these flaws which make her an interesting character to watch, but when the crisis they’ve been building to this entire season finally arrives, these flaws are nowhere in sight. rhaenyra can’t be allowed to be anything other than wise, mature, desperate for peace, and as luke puts it, “perfect,” at this critical juncture, even though the character they have established says otherwise.
this mirrors very closely what happened to alicent. up to and including episode 7, we were shown that she had impressed upon her kids that aegon would one day be king, and we were exposed to all of the very understandable reasons that she was aiming for this. she didn’t trust rhaenyra, she knew rhaenyra being a woman posed a threat to her children’s lives (which was only compounded by rhaenyra putting bastards next in line and then marrying daemon), she knew rhaenyra’s faction had no issue executing anyone who obstructed their goals, and it was proven to her that the wellbeing of her family was not important (not to viserys, not to rhaenyra, not to anyone) when aemond lost his eye. perhaps rhaenyra never would have harmed her children, but what matters is that alicent wanted the security of power. this may not a morally unimpeachable position, but i think it’s a very sympathetic one to anyone watching without fan goggles on. but actually, scratch all of that -- what alicent really wanted was to fulfill viserys’s half-baked dying wishes. otherwise, she never would have plotted to seize the throne for aegon! her real flaw is toiling in the service of men, don’t you see? (never mind that viserys named rhaenyra his heir before that, so whether she supported aegon or rhaenyra, she’d still be deferring to her husband.) anyway, what was all that other stuff even for, then?
i understand that rhaenyra and alicent will embrace their darker vices as the war progresses (starting with lucerys’s death and likely blood and cheese, respectively). but *alicent voice* where is coherence? where is consistency? the writers seem to be peddling the idea that these women are blameless, and their future misdeeds are a result of men and the patriarchy, but i disagree. i don’t think either of them are blameless. while the misogyny of this setting and time period plays an undeniable role in this story, it’s also stupid to ignore that alicent and rhaenyra are more powerful than nearly all men because of their positions as queen and heir, and thus had their own agency. they, too, were selfish and reckless and ambitious, qualities which we see amplified in their later, more terrible actions, and i think that would have been a far more compelling story to follow.
i think what would make the huntlow ship a lot more palatable for me is if they arent portrayed with such an imbalance of physical power. i know fandom flanderizes any popular ship/characters to a single dynamic/trait but i will still grump about it.
the dynamic between hunter and willow is most often willow being the physically stronger and more powerful of the two and hunter being her simp, usually either being fearful of her power (in a funny way bc “hes a guy”) or otherwise portrayed as weak and kind of pathetic.
(and socially he is kind of pathetic i guess, although we as a fandom are sleeping on hunters pathological need to be seen as cool and intimidating in favor of framing him as a helpless lost puppy.)
(i’ve grumped about the implications of hunter, an abuse victim, joking about his romantic partner being able to beat him up, and how his support of willow, especially in fanworks, seems to be an extension of his blind trust in authority figures. but im sure there are good fanworks that address this and portrays their dynamic as more healthy.)
my beef is that the portrayal of hunter being weaker than willow in terms of strength/combat abilities is just. not true. willow has powerful magic and yeah she yoinked hunter with her vines that one time but hunter has been trained since childhood to fight. he’s visibly more built than every other kid his age and even some of the adults. he beat up kikimora TWICE.
(i count the offscreen minecart chase in eclipse lake as one of their fights) (also in that fight he was fighting kikimora AND that EC captain AND two scouts AND a few abomatons) (also i dislike the scaling down of power of the coven heads in fandom too these ppl have been fighting with magic for decades kikimora is not a weak toddler she is a powerful witch)
hunter has shown in every episode he appeared in that hes highly skilled in combat. they had to injure him, exhaust him, and give him a new staff and a mental breakdown in eclipse lake for his fight with amity to be fair.
willow, in comparison, just grows vines everywhere because she’s never had to fight. this is very evident in the hexside fight in labyrinth runners, where hunter’s the only student doing any physical fighting while the other kids haphazardly throw spells around. hunter saying willow wouldn’t be afraid of him isn’t him saying that she would beat him in a fair fight. hes pointing out her general proactive attitude.
yes, willow can tie people up with vines but only if she has a timing advantage. hunter and willow wouldn’t fight because they’re friends. but in a theoretical fair fight between them, she would have to catch hunter off guard and completely restrain and disarm him before he can make a move. (the hunter vs amity fight shows that even when she tied him up hunter could still teleport out if he had his staff. also i think he PUNCHED that abomination bubble open???)
the point is that hunter is a child soldier and willow is not. he is much more skilled in combat than she is, and his hand to hand and staff-based combat obviously can compensate for magic uses considering he’s survived this long in the EC. (the magic duels in scout training, anyone?)
also, even if willow is stronger than hunter in terms of muscle (which i sincerely doubt bc of all the child soldier training but idk some people just naturally have more muscle than others) like her friends, willow isn’t the type of resort to fighting unless absolutely necessary. shes ride or die for her friends but she usually tries to “ride” until they get cornered and HAVE to “die.” just because hunter’s first instinct for everything is “flight” doesn’t mean willow’s first instinct has to be “fight.”
the portrayal of willow as everyones cutesy therapist who solves all her friends problems with violence is an unfortunate mischaracterization. the portrayal of hunter as a helpless, depressed, and traumatized child in need for everyone to take care of him all the time is also an unfortunate mischaracterization. these portrayals are only vaguely based in canon and i suggest fans rewatch the show during the hiatus to remember their other character traits.
for every charming fanwork with willow lifting hunter like a dumbell for her workout i want another charming fanwork with hunter lifting willow like a dumbell for HIS workout. the huntlow ship is BOTH strong enough to lift each other like dumbells and if i saw that more i might even stop calling them “the huntlow ship” and maybe indulge the thought that they might end up canon.
anyway all of this is to say. if in season 3 they deal with a minor villain like that museum guy and he still doesn’t back off after willow and the rest of the hexsquad gives him an emotional shounen protag speech. and also after hunter tries to get everyone to run away but it doesnt work bc the museum guy traps them or he falls face first into a puddle. what if willow beats the shit out of him. and after shes done she hands the reins to hunter and he beats the shit out of him. and somewhere during all that gus gives one of them a metal chair like that one MoringMark comic would that be the shit or what
so good omens. hm. truly I dont know how to feel. this is the most well executed cash grab i think ive ever seen. like. oh for sure this season Should Not Exist. but neil and presumably a lot of other people looked at it and thought. well that could make a lot of money. and like, these are people who can write and make good tv, like its not bad! its just the most patiently obvious cash in i think ive ever seen. it’s a completely different show. its.. fine. its taking all the things the rabid fans said they wanted and just giving it to them. and like. theyre just gonna keep going you guys asked for a straight drama romance and your going to get it. theyve committed to it now. and theyve done everything right like, there’s nothing truly offensive about it. and for those mad about the cliffhanger guys this is pat and parcel for romance shows they want to make money theyre gonna milk it for all its worth. they cant just live happily ever after, if they did we wouldnt have a season 2 in the first place. truly the right thing to have done with the story was to just have them kiss at the end of season 1 and never touch it again. but now we have this. cool.
When all of your pirate mutuals succumb to the Gaimen angels derangement and you can't join in the fun because you just do not give a fuck about them 😔
Hello, I've been thinking about your actors au. Are you doing anything about Rei and Mikio being the only side characters with faces in the first trial? Because I do have a theory about that which I haven't posted but I always thought that was really interesting. Even Yamanaka pointed it out in the first anniversary stream.
Ah, I definitely want to!! Mikio is the man in Harrow, right? (There's also maybe-Rumerie in Bring it On who drives me crazy to this day asdfsd) I'm hoping once the project ends and we get the bigger picture, I can really highlight their relationships more. I'll touch on some of my ideas real quick, but I'd love to hear your theory if you ever end up posting it 👀
My problem is, I originally thought the faces show the prisoners' love towards them, and not necessarily mutual relationship -- which causes some hiccups with including them as characters in the au... (Including t2 faces), Haruka hungers for his mother's love, but given her abuse, they couldn't in good conscience have her on set with him. Rumerie may have been some sort of friend, but he didn't seem so close that he'd be okay seeing Fuuta again and being implicated in his crime. Muu cares very deeply for Rei, but even if the murders never occurred, I can't picture a young girl would feel safe filming her own death at the hands of her bully... I ran into a similar issue with Mahiru and Kazui's partners, but as adults I felt like it was easier and safer for them to consent to the situation.
However! The fact that Kotoko's victim has a clear face really interests me, because that's the only one that (seemingly) has no established relationship or love between them. What could Muu's realtionship with her classmate have in common with Kotoko's and the victim she hunted down from a distance? So I'd love to compare with your thoughts and reevaluate my theory as the new mvs come out...
I feel like there's a lot of warranted RWBY criticism that winds up getting lost in the obnoxiously polarized discourse between the hatedom and fandom, and at this point I've learned to try to do better than that, shrugging off the bad takes, and actually listening to the good ones even when they're a bit overly harsh in their critique.
But there is one single post that does the rounds constantly that is my sole exception; seeing it always raises my blood pressure, and I have legit unfollowed a couple otherwise-innoffensive blogs over it; that fucking post of the gifs from Food Fight, captioned as "RWBY (2013-ongoing)"