#h*skerdust i can understand

[anonymouscheeses]

Each their own but...

What the actual fuck 😇💜

[verosikastrikerstellaexcuser]

Why I find H*skerdust better than St*litz

Since the post I made about potentially comparing these two ships got a couple likes and responses, I'm gonna go ahead and do that. Sorry its taken me a second, but here is why I think H*skerdust is superior to St*litz.

The overarching point I'm going to make is that I think H*uskerdust handled hypersexuality due to trauma along with an unrequited->requited relationship a lot better than St*litz has.

I'm going to preface here: I know that H*skerdust is contentious within the critical community, and I do definitely understand why. Things about the ship, like Loser Baby, have a lot of people divided. If you dislike both ships then this post may not be for you (you're free to criticize this post of course I'm just prefacing that you may not enjoy reading it). I am aware of a lot of the criticisms of H*skerdust such as that people don't like Husk comparing his situation to Angel's, that Husk is pushed into going after Angel despite having been harassed, and how it was rushed. Personally though, those things still work for me or I can look past them. Especially Loser Baby, since while yes, forced prostitution is not the same as forced labor, to me I think their situations are still comparable enough because they are both enslaved. That aside though, even though I like the ship I do understand why things about it may rub others the wrong way given it involves a lot of difficult topics. If you disagree with me that's a okay.

That prefaced, this is why I think H*skerdust works much better:

A) How H*skerdust frames unwanted sexual attention.

So, after the course of all of all of Angel's unwanted flirting towards Husk and Husk recognizing that its a persona Angel puts on, calling it out several times, things come to a head with the bar scene.

Once Angel gets really mad the scene frames the moment as uncomfortable; Angel is clearly unstable.

The conflict between them arises from Husk not liking Angel's harassment and not liking that its part of a persona. Angel meanwhile is angry at his act being recognized as an act. Husk pressing hard enough makes Angel explain why he has the act and to confront his feelings - he opens up to Husk about exactly why hes been acting the way he has.

Then, we have Loser Baby. Angel feels insecure at his coping mechanism, his act, being recognized and called out, as its how he deals with Valentino's abuse. The song is Husk's way of saying "You're not the only one in a pitiable situation, we actually have a lot in common and I get what you're feeling". Angel keeps putting on an act, but its hurting both him and others. He needs to admit that his situation is horrible so that he can then work on coping with his poor circumstances in a healthier way. While yes, he shouldn't be in those circumstances in the first place, he has to work with whats possible.

Angel's harassment of Husk comes from a place of trauma at being a forced prostitute. No, that does not make it okay, and if Husk had chosen not to forgive Angel then he would be within his full rights to do so. However, Angel is a victim of forced prostitution putting on an act and being hypersexual and inappropriate, who then has to directly confront and be honest about why he behaves the way he does. Husk guides him through doing so by being able to read him so well and being unafraid to call him out and recognize that his situation is horrible.

B) How Angel changes his behavior and THEN the relationship progresses

After the Loser Baby song, after the two communicate well, air grievances and open up to each other, Angel stops all of the harassment towards Husk. He changes! He meaningfully changes and stops the offending behavior. Husk continues to encourage healthier behaviors in Angel and only now opens himself up to being friendly with Angel, now hes not crossing his boundaries. Angel facing his issues made him better and made them able to become friends.

C) How this all compares to St*litz

St*las' behaviours come from a different place. Yes, harassment is harassment no matter who its from and always wrong but personally? Idk. I understand if people don't see it the same way as sexual stuff like this is highly personal and difficult. But I think Angel and the owl's circumstances do make it very different. St*las' motivation comes in two parts. One is that he is sexually repressed from the arranged marriage. And yes, that is a heavy burden. However, that doesn't erase the other part, which is that he actively fetishizes Blitz being an imp. He uses the power imbalance between them to not just harass Blitz but outright extort sex from him, and then, St*las gets off that power imbalance, since he gets off on Blitz being part of an oppressed species/race/class.

Angel's motivations, by contrast, lie in concealing and coping with the trauma of being a forced prostitute by pretending that actually he really does like being sexual all the time. Once he confronts that reality he stops bothering Husk because his flirting comes from an outside place, dealing with Val's abuse, and then he gets to know and bonds with Husk properly (even if a lot of it happens in the background or off screen sigh). St*las meanwhile, his bond with Blitz IS the harassment and the fetishization. Angel is putting on an act to cope with sexual trauma; St*las is gratifying his desires whatever the cost. Extorting Blitz for sex to deal with his arranged marriage and for his fetish is the problem, so he should leave Blitz alone if he genuinely wants to grow and change from that, not start a relationship with him.

With the latest episode (S2E8) of Helluva Boss, its clear that St*las has not properly owned what hes done to Blitz. I don't want to repeat what I've said before in other posts so this post here covers it. But if you don't want to read that post, then basically Angel being called out by Husk has actively made him a better person. When St*las is called out by Blitz, he just self victimizes. He knows the relationship isn't right but doesn't admit his wrongs.

Also, with the whole Poison sequence and lines like these: "I got so good at being untrue" "I disassociate I disappear"

I think Angel's motivations have been better shown than St*las' sexual repression motivation. We've seen Stella be mean to St*las and that hes lonely, yes. However, we've not really seen it shown how sexually repressed St*las is and how that motivates him to do things he shouldn't nearly as well illustrated as Angel's stuff was, imo. That isn't to say we haven't seen it. We saw it in S1 with how it hurt Octavia in Loo Loo Land, sure. But Helluva just keeps repeating this awkward pattern of "Noooooo St*las loves you really Octavia haha now go forgive him k" after he hurts her again and again. Its like it can't make its mind up whether St*las constantly chasing Blitz is a bad thing or not and doesn't want to admit its bad, which leads to a poor portrayal. St*las can continually fuck up yet never change, because since S2 the show doesn't allow us to see St*las as being in the wrong to the extent he very much is and it hyperfocuses on only his pain, all for the sake of St*litz being a thing. H*skerdust only became something because Angel changed. Now granted, Helluva isn't over. But the show so far has decided to frame Blitz as the guilty party and to downplay what St*las has done, and given how the trailers look... yeah :/.

D) Commonalities between each party

So, this is more minor section but I also just think H*skerdust have way more commonalities and actual reasons to enjoy each others company.

Obviously they're both dealing with the struggle of their soul contracts which is pretty major, but also, they both have experience with addiction. They're both streetwise city types that would be comfortable in bar, club, in nightlife environments doing nightlife activities etc. They both also have lesser known proficiencies as fighters but don't get to fight much, being busy with their work for Val and Alastor. Meanwhile St*las and Blitz don't seem to have many interests in common at all. Blitz seems to find the kinds of booksy things St*las likes boring. Which yeah that may not be a deal breaker but they need SOME common interests or something. The only two things I can think of are that firstly St*las finds Blitz's antics entertaining. Which. Okay. Thats not really enough for a whole relationship and what does Blitz get out of that? Then second they're also both dads but we've never once seen them properly bond over that either, the same way H*skerdust have fought together and drank together. I just can't imagine St*litz planning a day out, what would they even do, St*las would want to go to a museum and Blitz would find it a total chore. I just don't see them working well because it feels like they have very few commonalities useful for enjoying each other's company with regards to things like while spending days out together or finding topics to talk about.

[verosikastrikerstellaexcuser]

completely agree with your sto-litz vs Husker-Dust analysis- and wanted to add another little thing that just...kills my possible enjoyment of the former even without the horribly abusive context- the show never bothers to show them having a good time together. Never bothered to show them as friends.

Either it's Stolas harassing Blitzo, him being visibly aggravated and....angst. Lots and lots of angst. Like even if that owl wasn't the literal worse why would I enjoy a ship that....doesn't enjoy themselves? Like Hazbin's latter half being so rushed affected all the meaningful interactions- Husk/Dust included- but I still got to see some genuine moments from them post-episode 4 where they were friends- like Angel dropping Nifty on Husk's head and going full "deal with it bro" or them doing target practice together before the war- those little glimpses of comradery and playfulness you see in people that like the other. Y'know, friends.

And when the show DOES try to show them as friends it's just....so bad. Like the whole childhood friends mess that I won't touch with a 20 meter stick and episode 2x2- ie Stolas ignoring his missing child (again) in favor of getting onto his obsession's pants LITERALLY EPISODES after their whole"break up" moment in Ozzies.... these two can't even be friends, how the hell I am supposed to believe they can be a couple? Again, it's just not fun to watch.

Ah thanks anon! Glad you liked it. I know people have issues with H*skerdust and I really do get why as their ship involves a lot of contentious topics. And Hazbin was so so sooooo insanely rushed. You are basically forced to fill in bits using your own head which you shouldn't have to. But, it still works to me.

I think if you're doing unrequited attention -> requited attention in a story then it can be really tricky to get it right. Especially when it involves very sexually charged attention and not more reserved attention. But I'd say that making Angel a forced sex worker who's being hypersexual to cope is a lot better than making someone with immense class power and who is sexually repressed then go crazy and become obsessive about one specific lower class person he met as a kid and had his dad buy him to entertain him likeee ????

Husk sees through what Angel's doing with his act and he sees some of himself and how he is trapped too. So he pushes him to be better and once they reconcile with Loser Baby he continues to encourage Angel to be better and only THEN does he start to reciprocate affection or admiration or any positive kind of feelings, only when Angel changes and shows that he can be something other than a pot of lewd jokes towards Husk. They they reach that moment of understanding. They become happier together. They don't just make each other actively worse. They had angst but they overcame it. I could see them also having further angst potentially yet overcoming it again in a believable way.

While St*litz? Yeah it really is just misery misery and more misery and there's nothing wrong with making a ship that involves misery. The problem is lying to us that a miserable ship isn't miserable. We as the audience see so much damn misery and little else like you said, yet we're supposed to love their ship and believe deep down they're madly in love in a way that can totally be healthy and they're a great end game? They always seem one disaster away from a huge emotional blowout if they're not having sex, and everything constantly being sexual is only adding fuel to the fire of their issues. They have nothing in common. Huskerdust both have addiction issues, soul contracts, seem to like similar things I'm sure Angel would gladly play poker with Husk or they would go bar hopping together etc. While you have a booksy library nerd and then you have a guy who's just not into any of that. And that could still work but they need to establish other things they DO have in common. Right now we've only really seen the differences.

What would St*litz do if hanging out together? I feel like everything St*las would suggest would just have Blitz disinterested and disrespecting it lol. St*las has been obsessed with Blitz since birth like some kind of weird fixation. Love at first sight... as a child? Wtf? That look St*las gives Blitz all blushy as a child is while he knew NOTHING about the actual Blitz and who he is. That's the kind of crush as a child you grow the hell out of to still be thinking about 1 day as a child years later to that extent is insane and not healthy.

While Blitz meanwhile never thought of him again. Then only had sex with him when they met again as adults out of pity after seducing and tying him up to distract him so he could escape his house. And may I also add that St*las put that idea into his head to flirt with the weird "You're here to ravish me" and "nefarious intentions" comments.

St*las makes this face as he says hes going to take Blitz to his room and handle him. And then says all those comments to Blitz while the two of them are now alone in St*las' bedroom. St*las. Why did you decide to take Blitz to your bedroom. Why did you make that face. Why did you say those comments to someone you had only met as a child for one day and then they broke into your house. Its apparently all not serious, those weird sexually charged comments you began making towards someone you met once as a child and barely knew??? Then. Then why say them at all. Whats the joke? Why would you tell who's basically a stranger alone with you in your bedroom with you a joke like that? That's such a bizzare fucking thing to do.

So then Blitz starts to get physical and flirts back and St*las says he was just kidding with the flirting/jokes (the writing for St*las is so inconsistent and dogshit I s2g) and he tries to back out. In a panic over the book and escaping Blitz keeps going and ignores St*las wanting to back out (fucking GROSS that they wrote Blitz as doing this). Then St*las gives into it? Its just so fucking awkward and gross feeling that entire scene. And its the foundation for their entire adult relationship going forwards. EW. Husk and Angel's foundation is Husk getting him to snap out of being hypersexual and boundary crossing for both their sake's. Blitz and St*las, they never seem to make each other better they just seem to be miserable and constantly lie to each other. They barely seem to know or care what the other wants and needs.

Blitz being around St*las just encourages St*las' insane hypersexual behaviors which bring out the worst in him because yeah those are harassing behaviors and have a weird racial/species fetishizing undertone. For Angel they were a way of pretending he really did like being a sexual object and that's why when Husk called it enough and said he should recognize that his situation is bad instead of trying to pretend he likes it he stopped; Husk wasn't the thing actually motivating the issues. While Blitz absolutely is with St*las, St*las is unhealthily obsessed with him. And that motivates him to abuse his power and to ignore his daughter's needs. St*las shouldn't be around Blitz because it clearly causes him to act in ways which hurt others and himself because he clearly doesn't know how to act right towards Blitz in any capacity. His attraction is not normal or healthy.