#i am not immune to criticism

[angellic-critique]

EDIT: *Disclaimer, if you see the original posting with crude/first impressions I take full responsibility of my hostility. I'm just a disappointed and upset ex-fan. Tweaked typos, fixed Bugs Bunny Ref, and curses to be erased for accurate viewpoints as of 8/18/2024 --- Oh god, please don't get me started on how passive and surface level Blitz' """representation""" of drag/[genderswapping akin to what it feels like] alongside Moxxie are just used for eye candy/gags and NOT actual reasoning for the characters to genuinely try to show some gender expressionism! What do I mean by this? Due to Brandon Rodgers' ever present role in the show and projecting his past drag type stereotypes onto Blitz just like previous characters, without any thought and keeping it at a basis of a joke. Hence, the eye candy passive 'progressive' lack of genuine queerness is really hard to take seriously when both seasons of Helluva are like this.

Alongside Moxxie, the both of them are used as gags and jokes around/about the two cis[?] demon men reduced to visual jokes and walking punchlines rather then actually letting the characters be characters. Moxxie does not contain good or better drag considering most instances are for the plot rather then the character wanting to be drag or explore outside of their assigned genders. Before you try to bring up:

"Oh but Moxxie dressed up four different times surely that mea-"

He was the butt of the joke in all instances. Even the first time they performed drag was for a joke of a 'human disguise' that was quickly dropped post Unhappy Campers, examples being--

He was forced into drag as a disguise twice [thrice?], Forced into a wedding dress AGAINST HIS WILL MIND YOU

*Hallucination not actually the real moxxie a projection of Blitz' harboring feelings projecting moxxie to be drag- vs how he actually performs """drag"""

Spot the differences! No offense to bugs bunny of course at least he has substance and purpose to his drags for LOONEY purposes! He's saying the joke to always move the cartoon plot forward at least!

Blitz has only openly dressed in drag once and the fans applauded viv like it was a big deal. [Even though I personally believe Brandon is homophobic accidentally :/]

Even in merchandising moxxie seems uncomfortable to even perform outside of his gender role....???

I get the anxiousness is the appeal of the character but really put it into perspective why the valentines merch is like this !!!!!

I AM CRITICIZING A SHOW THAT I USED TO THINK WAS QUEER POSITIVE. I AM A QUEER YES.

[angellic-critique]

oh replies are turned off okay heres my two cents then Helluvatired- why is it that even with three writers-there is a lack of balance in the writing/script development and is merely made on a whim of 'oh yeah lets do that that sounds cool!' the series started off as stolas being an antagonistic force and through the use of viv wanting to desperately make a cashcow and realizing how popular stollitz is-again despite in canon over how the first season was potrying stolas as an antagonistic force that belittles and puts down blitzo with false praise- why are they suddenly endgame? Because viv wanted to do fujo and make THAT the focus rather then blitz being the main character it turned into the stollitz show-

Why after season 1 with adam neylan premiering season 2 did it get off the rails as if he has no clue of what to do with the characters i.e. ex's and ooh's, seeing stars, and unhappy campers being the worst rated episode and for good reason??? The fact that there's three writers and none of them can ever decide on actually having a focused a/b plot and derailing to go into c-pots that make no sense?????

I'm sorry but just because queer people are writing does not make them immune to criticism, adam has always worked with brandon rodgers so of course their humor would be first and foremost over an actual plot/doing something akin to season 1 like, hmm, actually having the assassin characters be assassins rather then screaming and crying and dancing around the plot rather then actually committing to a plot.

your argument falls flat because literally all three of these people can't write and it's been proven WITH THE SERIES BEING DERAILED FOR ALL OF SEASON 2 :////

Stop posting positive reinforcement/praise in the critical tag if you aren't aware of what we're criticizing and being mad towards because we're mad and upset that there is no plot. Proving that theres three writers constantly going back and forth isn't proving your point that this is a 'goodly written series' because if it were we wouldn't be as half of upset as the majority of the critical space is.

You can flash credits all you want but it's not like viv actually credits her actual hard working artists behind the scenes :/

and now a compilation of the episode credits:

(note that even though one of them didn't write the episode, the three are still credited as creators of the story in season 2)

[nat-20s]

I am far from saying the 60th anniversaries were perfect BUT I already know I fundamentally can't relate to people who didn't like the bi-generation. You don't like David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa being silly together? You don't like Donna getting her bestie back? You don't like the physical embodiment of radical self love?? You don't like that we get to keep the same bitchin Tardis set but it has a jukebox and entry ramp now??? Where's your whimsy where's your fucking whimsy???

[shorthaltsjester]

there are literally no standouts in downfall because everyone sat down at that table and said hey you wanna see something cool and proceeded to Become their characters but idk if it’s because they’re beside each other and that aids the dynamic or just because it’s the delicious similarities and insurmountable distance between the god of death and the god of (in various ways) life but ayden and emhira’s interactions were so chewy and delicious. i’ll be thinking of their exchange fairly early on after ayden cast lesser restoration on that old man and emhira not cruelly but just simply stating “you cannot heal everything.” and ayden’s equally simple reply “we can always try.” emhira seeing the family trist has built and wondering at the presence of children, “surprised there is laughter in such a horrible place” and i know she’s speaking of hawk’s hill but i wonder if she is also speaking of exandria itself in some ways. the delicious space between in and out of character that only really happens in improv stories where as brennan is narrating and says “in this dark room” and nick interrupts and adds “it is not dark.” brennan’s incisive point in the cooldown that while the love that ayden and trist have for mortals and for exandria is warm and the kind of love someone would likely Want from gods, there is something maybe more honest or whole about emhira who says . actually these mortals are little shits that will kill you not because they fear you but because they hate you. whose very existence should be (and still often fails to be) a reminder that the gods can be usurped by mortals. the insight nick shared in the cooldown that ayden does not forget emhira’s origins but in a way dismisses them, that the god of death is a different beast. ayden wanting to find. way to save the people of aeor, insisting that the prime deities Win if they can find a way to do so. emhira reminding everyone that death is inevitable (and she does not add anything to clarify that she intends such a statement to only exist for mortals) as she argues for them to work to take down aeor and the people in it. the fact that the god with the most present connection to mortality is also the one given the most explicit clarification that she Is the god we know as SILAHA calls her the matron, brennan’s narration clarifies purvon is her champion, taliesin as asha asks for clarification on the recognition of emhira as a god and prompting the familiar spectre of a woman in a white mask.

i want to be very clear that when i say there are no standouts i Mean it because i’ve been awed and endeared and intrigued by every single character choice everyone made and as always brennan’s narration is so incredibly well suited for the mission impossible greek tragedy vibes that comes with this story and i’m so fucking delighted by the fact that laura, ashley, and taliesin are playing gods that their characters have known quite well in the past. i’m incredibly excited by what we’ve already gotten to see from abubakar, nashir, and nick and cannot imagine what other greatness is to come. i’m psyched to see the relationship between asha and the law bearer and am delighted that (perhaps for now perhaps for the whole arc) it is being seen through the lens of “my wife promised me a visit with apples and all i got was a rock ice emissary”. i also have many incoherent thoughts about the fact that, of the players who appeared as the same character in the opening and the story, taliesin’s ash and asha are the ones whose name remains the most unchanged.

i’m obsessed with the fact that this creature sent as a stand in by the god of law and duty believes his primary gift is love. while there is a certain mourning and sadness to every god we see, that SILAHA has a certain playful whimsy and jofyful curiosity about the world. that the only one of them who has been mortal before stops to steal an imp necklace from the neck of a drunk on the train (and that moment between brennan’s narration that this man will be dead by morning but, with death standing invisible in front of him, he is incapable of seeing it coming, and then laura as emhira breathing in deeply and brennan having that spark a coughing fit. they are Story Telling). asha seeing the erased image of a god, of a family member and saying “there’s a hole in all of us.” brennan narrating “this is a place where they tried to kill a story. it’s a very frightened thing to do.” (and god. the motif of fear. especially given the very present fear felt by the gods in current day exandria. they’re doing insane things in the critical role 3 part departure).

trist reminding ayden “he never tells the truth” and asha contesting “he only tells the truth, it’s just rotting.” emhira and asha both as perhaps the less Good™ much more neutral but doing so in such different ways, asha as bitter and hungry while emhira seems uncomfortable but there’s a familiarity and a certainty in her discomfort with mortality (the law bearer would also be included here but the emissary seems much more like trist and ayden (for now) than emhira or asha). something as insignificant as trist and her husband speaking to their children and affirming that little lies are okay while trist has lead a significant part of her life likely dishonest about who she is. the fact that there’s a certain childlike quality to the emissary who they’re all charged with ensuring makes it to the end of things even if they cannot. the fact that nahal (unclear which god they were, and i’m assuming it’s the first god of death but regardless still an absolutely compelling development in a short amount of time) in those opening moments is horrified by the concept of away which is unfamiliar to them only to soon after look upon their family and say. maybe away was better. Especially if those were words spoken by the god who would one day be replaced. these three episodes are going to haunt me and i’m excited to meet the ghosts.

[eldest-of-katts]

okay because people have shown up in my dms talking smack I'm going to make one blanket statement on the 1000 year loli chilchuck thing.

yes, there has been a problem with young girls being put in suggestive positions in anime with the "uhmmm she's actually a bajillion years old" excuse. yes, other characters don't treat chilchuck like an adult. yes, he is short with big eyes.

However, chilchuck consistently acts like a grown man. he- in both the manga and the anime- straight up just is an adult. He looks like an adult when he is any other race during the swaps in the manga. When the other characters get turned into half-foots they look similar to chilchuck. He is explicitly stated to have more dungeon and general life experience than laios, and he acts like it.

The 1000 year loli trope explicitly functions as an excuse to prey on people who are inexperienced and unable to advocate for themselves. Chilchuck is a parent, is a union organizer, has explicit boundaries that he enforces rigidly, and he is treated as an adult man by everyone who doesn't have a fantasy racism-focused character arc/issue.

I can see how if you haven't read the manga and seen that he has an established life that he later reveals (and haven't paid attention to him in the anime lol) you could get a mistaken impression about him. Marcielle does too in the source material! It's part of her character at the start of her arc that she has issues with longevity!

The thing that irks me a little about this interpretation is that it leans into the child-coded discourse that was prominent a while ago (she's short!!!!! but has boob???? ILLEGAL!!1!) and it does a disservice to the themes of infantilization as a policy maneuver hurting the working class.

I saw chilchuck and his labor advocacy for half-foots both as a metaphor for racism (obvious take ik) and for ageism.

The working gen z as a cohort are being infantilized and pushed out of job markets due to infantilization, similar to half-foots in the show. gen z is being maliciously portrayed as too young to vote, enter office, know themselves, know their rights, and take advantage of their resources. Simultaneously, child labor protections and protections against workplace abuse are being rolled back in the US. In Japan, young people are being worked to the bone for nothing and are becoming disenfranchised as a generation while simultaneously expected to be the labor faction that supports the postwar generations in their old age.

Chilchuck's being treated poorly I saw as a clever commentary on the ways infantilization allows for protections to be stripped away under the guise that "oh it's just a job for teenagers- they don't need more than minimum wage" or "let the kids rescue the economy! they're always complaining about that job market!" while simultaneously stripping away rights under the guise of protection- "We can't have that on the internet! think of the children!" "to protect these young people we must raise the age of medical consent for hormones/reproductive health decisions!"

Kui's work with this series spoke to me on many levels, and specifically, the infantilization issue touched me in a way that few other pieces of media have. The struggle to be taken seriously in a stem field as someone young, as someone female, and as someone who had a high-pitched voice to the point I did years of voice training to be taken seriously, chilchuck's character resonated. I (kinda) understand your instinct to think "SHORT! CHILD! RALLY THE MASSES AND KILL THE PEDOS!!1!" but in this case, it's misdirected- mostly because the author was trying to use this misdirection to prove something to you, the reader.

Kui consistently makes cutting commentary on modern issues, the show's take on food neutrality as its headliner, but also the author's takes on cultural issues and the environment (with a focus on our place in the food web as animals). I feel that reducing chilchuck's very conscious position as a tradesman and an activist discounted due to his apparent age down to "1000 year loli ewwww let's send this random tumblr user suicide bait" just displays a lack of critical analysis of the show and a level of disrespect towards Kui and the work as a whole.

TL:DR- stop sending me kys messages I'm fucking that old man

[bucksboobs]

The idea of bucktommy shippers caring about henren is as laughable as buddie shippers caring about henren. Neither groups do

HenRen gets paid dust by this fandom it’s true. If I was being charitable I would say that it’s because their love story kind of already happened but it’s not like Bathena doesn’t get hype and they’ve been married for 6 years now. I think the show also sometimes forgets to let them be married outside of their kids, hence the lesbian bed death we’ve seen since season 6. All in all I think everyone could do better by Hen and Karen.

[pocketgalaxies]

laudna imogen connected threads of fate ;~; ;~; ;~;

[amazingspider-z]

a quick sketch page i like to call: what if eyes but fucked up ft. my continued saga of trying (and. ahem. not succeeding) of drawing fire

[batwingsandblackcats]

Laura as the raven queen is going to make me fucking pass out

[astronnova]

um. so like ..... bunny .... sea bunnies .... right . soorry

textless

[thresholdbb]

I just think murder every time I see "Wesley" and "Doctor Who" in a sentence together

[angellic-critique]

Addiction in helluva boss is always displayed as a positive conjuction for the characters and never called into questioning unless it's a female presenting character. The men constantly get away and passively if not aggressively enforce positive stereotyping about alcoholism over how it can make one powerful and dominant despite the overtones knowing they're abusers. Whereas female characters are berated over drinking or simply made fun of to be presenting as an instigator of the 'conflict' because that's all the plot can bother to use women for to make the men characters look like they have 'development'....

I actively hate the fact that drinking and downright addiction with drugs and outright drug abuse or addicts in recovery are actively laughed at if not mocked within both series.

The fact that stolas has not been called into questioning either for being a drug addict abusing his prescription anti-depressants with alcohol and its passively played off as laughs until... it's actually called out by ovtavia and spoilers it's not a pretty argument...

Please stop supporting helluva boss it blatantly teaches to excuse abusers and brush off the fact that they are using these methods to cope so passively just because for the simplistic nature of 'angsty college humor' 🙄

Loona drinks. Blitz drinks. Stolas drinks. Moxxie has drunk against his will and it was played off for laughter. Addiction is actively laughed at and treated like a joke when in the grandscheme of the narrative why are we even rooting for these characters and their problems if they aren't willing to have the acceptance of change and oh yeah that lost plot that viv promised called REDEMPTION.

At what point do the fans have to admit that there is no good writing or anything of substance about the themes helluva boss presents since it falls flat face first every single time it presents a new bad thing to gawk at for the entire episode :/ what is it trying to say? Nothing. It says nothing about abusers and addicts, if anything it encourages to endorse the toxic behaviors the characters indulge in without the consequences, I can't anymore.

[creeperfont]

character bleed but it’s just ashley johnson thirsting after beau/marisha for the rest of time forever

[unalloyedmiquella]

i just cant believe how low peoples standards are when they think dav is objectively good bc it has trans characters. as if trans people dont deserve good portrayals and good writing

like i truly dont care if ur media has “representation” if the representation is bad, and the writer and lead dev need to tell you what to think when to think it. no one here should be using therapy speak. no one here should be mentally stable enough to name their emotion.

taash should have been nb from the get go, their companion quest is half baked garbage as is most of the writing in this game

[fauncalloway]

Ashton and Deni$e are gonna hook up by the end of this arc and when he eventually tells Fearne she’s gonna find it so hot she’s gonna tell them she had a threesome in the woods and he’ll find it twice as hot and then they’re gonna kiss

[wackachewbacca]

Teven Klask may be a 6’6” to 7’0” tall red flag with an evil alignment, horns, wings, tail, gorgeous hair and eyes, a sexy sexy voice, and devilish charm and he may be the champion of the betrayer god Asmodeus who helped kick off the Calamity, making Teven an enemy to the Prime Deities and their followers, an assassin, a scout, a disruptor, and the Retribution of the Hells who can burst into flame at any moment but that will not stop me from shamelessly thirsting over the sexiest devil in all of Exandria’s history