Ok, but can we talk for a minute about how well they explained Moxxie and Blitzo's friendship in, what, two minutes?
That short flashback scene is crucial to understand why, despite all their bickering and fighting and Blitzo's emotional issues and complete disregard of boundaries, Moxxie doesn't give up on him.
Because Blitzo, in barely a few minutes, showed him more kindness than anyone had ever done since his mother.
Moxxie's life had just been shattered. Torn apart. He got his heart broken and his ass in jail. The person he trusted and loved more than anyone completely disregarded his safety for money.
Once again, he is all by himself against the world. Just like when Crimson killed his mother.
And then, this absolute weirdo just shows up and starts talking to him like they've been pals for years.
He introduces himself, talks a mile per minute, says a bunch of nonsense I still don't quite understand, mentions his daughter and how expensive his babysitter's gonna get... But most importantly, he has an escape plan and he's already included Moxxie in it.
Maybe it's for convenience. Maybe Blitzo would've done the exact same thing no matter who he got saddled up with. But the important thing is that, for all his flaws and issues, Blitzo can't bring himself to be truly manipulative and calculating, at least not if he senses the person he's trying to con is as vulnerable, if not more, as he is.
Let's draw a parallel between Chaz and Stolas, shall we?
Yes, Blitzo tried to murder or at least incapacitate Stolas. Yes, his only goal was the grimoire. But the moment Stolas revealed just how lonely he was and how much sleeping with his first friend meant to him, Blitzo couldn't bring himself to hurt him. And what did he do instead?
He gave our Owl boy the best night of his life.
With Chaz?
Yes, he was mostly kinky and curious about M&M's sex life, but he could tell the guy was a douchebag. So the moment they were done, he went behind his back to figure what was really going on there.
But with Moxxie?
Blitzo was genuine since the very beginning. Again, probably the first genuine person Moxxie's met since his mother, and he knows it.
This face?
This is the face of someone who's thinking, "Finally, a friend."
I wanted to start off with Millie to get a better feel of how I think imps should look and get down a baseline of wrath imps before I try working on any others since a lot of them look kind of the same? Idk I wouldn’t be able to tell Millie’s from wrath if there wasn’t a whole episode about it.
Oh I also wanted to make her actually look a bit more mature since I thought she was 20 years old tops but idk maybe she is! I personally just think shes like late 20’s early 30’s but up to future me. Here’s my notes that I planned out before starting actually:
Notes for millie design
- More confident/casual pose
- Weapon the doubles as farming equipment
- Give her a more rugged feel
- I need to feel like she could kill me with her gaze
- Big weapon maybe? Who doesn’t like oversized stuff
- Give her some scars, maybe a chipped or glued horn
- I know theyre cliche but.. overalls
- I wanna know shes from wrath I need to FEEL the texas
- Plus size but more built for strength and all that
- Maybe a cute matching bandana with her sister?
- Maybe make her tail a bit more pokey?
As you can see a few of these got lost in the process but I think she still looks really cute! Her redesign was actually really quick and only took me a little under 2 hours. Hopefully the rest of them will be this easy so I don’t have to look at another 19 hours of Vivziepop designs…
I haven’t entirely figured out Millie’s character yet but she’s likely going to stay more or less the same, just more fleshed out and not just Moxxie’s wife. She’s still the main fighter of the group since Moxxie is more sniping and medicine with how im working on him, but I think she takes a bit of an interest in Moxxie’s talents and vice versa. I still think Millie’s go to medical treatment is “rub some spit in it” and thats basically it/hj and last little tidbit, I based her a bit around places I visited as a child that were very southern to me. Also wanted her to look like she eats pancakes for breakfast 🥞!
A moment of silence for when I used to see this scene out of context (like, a lot of NO context, I barely knew anything about Helluva Boss back then) and used to think "Aw, they're going on a date, they must be an adorable couple!"
Because boy... literally NOTHING could've prepared me for the context behind (and beyond) this scene...
My one fear is that Stolas leaves the Anti-Blitz party genuinely believing that everything was Blitz’s fault.
We all know that in "All 2 U" Stolas attempts to do some self reflecting on the things he may have done wrong in the course of his and Blitz's situationship. However, all his attempts at self-reflecting are immediately thwarted because "NO NO NO HE'S A MOTHERFUCKER" (courtesy of Vero and Tex).
From the song, we can gather that Stolas firmly believes that in his eyes, Blitz never gave a shit about him. Blitz's actions earlier in the episode don't help him either.
And then when you also have to consider the fact that Stolas may have hooked up with Blitz's ex at that party... *sighs*
However, I digress...
For someone like Stolas, who is both extremely sheltered and lacks a lot of experience in social settings in general; he would be easy to manipulate and be part of that mob-mentality, when the Anti-Blitz party is essentially an echochamber of Verosika's feelings that 'Blitzo sucks and you are an innocent victim to his devilish charms.'
And while I am happy that Stolas was able to have some fun at the party, no one at that gathering is going to encourage self-reflection. In fact, they'll actively discourage it because the purpose of that party is to actively disparage Blitz himself.
I just think that the last thing Stolas needs right now is a victim complex.
This sounds so much like goodbye. And not just break up goodbye, but worse. I'm not going to put my exact thoughts into words, lest I speak it into existence. Aah, I hope I'm just overthinking it again. Blitzo! 😭
it's kind of funny that even when trying to make Blitz the sex-crazed one he's still more sympathetic than Stolas
like he comes onto him once in full moon then immediately stops when Stolas gets up and walks away (and only did it in the first place because he was scared of losing the book and Stolas has only ever wanted sex before)
and the same in apology tour, when he uncharacteristically says he wants to sleep with Stolas he immediately walks it back a bit and says his phrasing was crude when Stolas doesn't respond. Then his tone is way more measured for most of the rest of the scene when he says, quite rationally, that they've never done words, they've just done sex
The only time he brings it up again is when he says an 'angry fuck' would be good but he doesn't push the issue, just gets irritated at Stolas (from his perspective) all of a sudden acting like he hasn't been super into the dirty talk this whole time
even the one scene he gets lambasted for in the circus, he stops and asks Stolas 'what do you want me to do to you?' and just bites his neck when he panics that Stolas has seen the book is missing. and Stolas is consenting far more enthusiastically in that scene than Blitz ever has in the whole show when Stolas pays attention to him
meanwhile Stolas in s1 has ignored every 'no' he's ever been given, creeped Blitz out whenever he tries to initiate phone sex, fetishized him, objectified him, demeaned him, literally called him a plaything, etc. The two just aren't remotely the same even without getting into the power difference issue
Well, of course! Rule 1 of HB is that Blitzo's consent, feelings, and safety don't matter, only Stolas's does. Only Stolas is allowed to do whatever he wants to Blitzo and Blitzo is the bad guy if he gets upset about it.