#idk what i was doing with the background tbh

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

All of the background/minor characters in Helluva Boss are much more interesting than the main characters and I’m entirely certain it’s because they aren’t forced into the Stolitz universe and they’re the only reason I watch the show now.

Like, look at this imp family/single parent unit here.

They’re watching the trial, but before that the imp woman was washing dishes and the son was grabbing cookies off the shelf.

Hi! Thanks so much for reaching out.

I absolutely agree and I think there are a couple of reasons for this—

First—The imps actually have RULES for how theyre designed as a species.

These rules are really simple, and so pretty much anyone can design an imp.

1. Imps have red skin and yellow eyes.

2. Scars, birthmarks, freckles, and other skin markings are white

3. All imps have horns. Biologically female imps have black horns and black hair, and biologically male imps have white hair and white and black striped horns.

What’s nice is that, even with these general guidelines, there’s plenty of room for variation in designing imps. Some imp’s legs are bent like a satyr’s some have more human legs, they have varying lengths of tails, different body shapes and sizes, etc.

Idk if these design rules were in place for Imps as a species from the very beginning of the show, but I think having these rules helps A LOT because it means the character designers do have freedom to make unique and appealing designs, while not getting TOO crazy, which prevents them from being too over-designed:

(All character design sheets by Erin Frost—former artist and character designer for Helluva Boss)

Second—due to being background characters, they’re less likely to over-designed in general. This hasn’t always been the case (and sometimes still isn’t) with Hellaverse shows, especially Hazbin’s Pilot:

I don’t even think these are all necessarily “bad” or incompetent character designs on their own, but they have a lot of little details, and when they’re all squished together like that, it causes some pretty rough visual clutter. Charlie is supposed to by the main focus of the above shots, but she doesn’t really stand out from the background crowd.

Same with shot of Alastor watching the broadcast—he stands out a little better since he’s silhouetted, but the characters in the foreground having so much going on really detracts from Alastor as the main focal point.

This is also just like. Not a very good composition. I’m really not trying to be mean or rude but, the characters being so overly designed and having such similar color palettes really muddles things.

Also��because there are so many design elements trying to be incorporated at once, we sometimes end up losing all those little extra details that are added due to the visual clutter. I didn’t have any idea Alastor was a deer until like 2 years ago, because his antlers were so small I never noticed them. I thought he was an owl, tbh.

I think we get the most overly complicated designs when the character artists and designers are given like. 3 or 4 different themes or ideas that they have to blend together. Alastor is a deer AND a “radio demon” AND a practitioner of voudo. Angel Dust is a spider AND a mafioso AND a porn star. Some of those ideas absolutely end up being lost because so much is trying to be fit into the design.

The most infamous example of this is Queen Bee, who’s supposed to be a honey bee, lava lamp, fennec fox, party girl, and apparently also an animal tamer?

And I’ll be honest, I’m actually one of the few people who kind of likes her design. I think if you were to simplify her and take out a lot of the extra details, she could still be a fun sparkle dog-type character. But there’s so much going on with her, that a lot of her design elements get lost.

Like, apparently the little pink mark on her forehead is actually a closed eye??? Like I think it’s supposed to be an Ocelli, the third “eye” insects can have:

But it’s just like. Closed usually I guess. In theory, it’s not a terrible design idea for an insect character, but Bee has SO MUCH going on visually that this design choice gets entirely lost. I just thought it was like. A weird symbol on her forehead, and it took me AGES to realize it’s supposed to be her Ocelli or a third eye.

This happens a lot with more of the main characters in Hb and Hazbin, because they’re apparently supposed to be SO many different things that the character designs get too cluttered.

I think this is the main reason for a lot of the less appealing character designs in the Hellaverse, because they’re trying to be like. Ten different things at once. The imps avoid this fate though because, other than maybe their general profession and age, they’re supposed to be imps. They have those design rules we outlined before. I think thats what makes the biggest difference and is also why Mammon is actually the best design of the seven deadly sins because he’s literally just a round jester you look at him and your brain goes “yep that’s a jester” and youre not left trying to figure out what he’s supposed to be for 10 minutes. He’s not trying to be seven things at once. He’s a jester. With some extra arms. Sorry I was wrong when I said it was belphagor before. It’s mammon. Dudes literally just a jester.

[music-and-magic-1307]

In defense of Apple White:

TLDR: Her personality is counter to the themes, we get little of her backstory and what we do get is later in the show, being popular in universe giver her higher expectations for fans.

Okay, Apple White gets a lot of hate for being selfish but tbh I think she and Raven are equally selfish. This also includes a breakdown of the social hierarchy.

Apple is at the top of the social ladder, and on top of that, she’s from the most politically powerful story. Being at the top of a hierarchy gives you an innate privilege and ignorance of the flaws in the society. Essentially, by virtue of birth, she has blinders on, and is treated miles better than Raven.

Social ladder:

Royal Protagonist (Apple, Daring, Briar, Ashlynn)

Non Royal Hero (Hunter, Sparrow)

Non Royal Protagonist (Alastair, Blondie, Cedar)

Noteworthy Side Character (Maddie, Tiny, Farrah)

Villain / Antagonist: (Raven, Lizzie, Faybelle)

We also don’t get much of her background in the show, and what we do get isn’t until the second to last season (Dragon Games)

What we do get explains some of how she acts though. We see her getting a lot of pressure from her mother to be perfect at everything, grades, friends, and popularity. Truly Apple is the epitome of the “Little Miss Perfect” song that went around TikTok.

In the book we also get a story about why she clings to her destiny; at 6 years old she fell into a well. It’s said she was terrified. Page 120 of The Storybook Of Legends “It was the first time in her life that she’d ever felt alone. Or cold. Or really, truly scared.” “Even the scary parts of the Snow White story never scared Apple, because it was known.”

Apple has a LOT of anxiety around the unknown because of this event; which brings me to some of the more meta answer.

The narrative favors Raven.

The moral of Ever After High is individuality, questioning authority, and finding yourself and being authentically you.

This moral is in direct contradiction to Apple’s personality. She is Raven’s foil, and the narrative favors Raven. She is very trusting of the adults around her. (Back to the hierarchy, she has no reason to distrust them. They’ve never been anything but kind and supportive to her, unlike Raven.)

When Milton says that if they don’t sign the book that everyone in the story will “poof” (poof poof). Apple has no reason to doubt him, and again this is where I like the book more, she and Raven go on an adventure to see if it’s a lie.

But in both, Raven is not 100% sure that they won’t poof. She takes a risk (and is correct) but she gambled the lives of more than just her.

Apple is not. In fact. Only thinking of herself when she tried to get Raven to sign, she’s thinking of everyone in their story. She is not always the best at showing it, but Apple cares deeply for her friends and family, and is scared for them.

I would also like to point out that in Dragon Games she is being manipulated by Evil Queen, along with the pressure from her mother. It seems to walk back growth, but again, manipulation.

The show is full of flawed characters, and Apple is no exception. She is far from perfect but so is Raven. (Maddie might be perfect though… eh. Exceptions 🤪)

I would also argue that a character who is treated as popular and perfect in world has more pressure to be good from the audience. (Or cruel such as in Mean Girls and similar media) Apple doesn’t receive any (or very little) negativity from her peers until the Royal/Rebel debate begins. She was never given feedback to better herself. But I think this makes her harder to like by viewers/readers. She’s expected to then be perfect even by the audience.

Idk this was a little messy and all over the place, but while she’s not my favorite character, I don’t think deserves nearly as much hate as she gets.

[azrael-arryn]

I’ve been thinking abt viktor in a pretty silk robe recently so I drew it

I was gonna add a mini Jayce reaction but my iPads at %12 rn

[hajihiko]

youre one of the few artists that actually make kazuichi pretty thank you for not being one of the "well ppl dont like them so obviously theyre not attractive to anyone" ppl

also sorry if i sound insane

funny bc i often see the MOST fanning over him lol

[asmodeusamaryllis]

Gyari, casual outfit ★

[pixlokita]

I wonder if pit Bonnie is using some sort of auditory thing to cause Oswald hallucinations the more he’s around ?? Idk like the people screaming in the background or hearing him at random when he’s not there :Tc or maybe it’s sound disks he’s using as a disguise but for some reason it gives nightmares to Oswald instead >>

[toiletpudding]

The additional doodles I was originally going to have with the last post, next up is another comic and more drawings of our snake boi 🐍 🤌

[lil-lost-mind]

Did someone ask for Romero Richas?

"Stop prying"

Here's my gift for @bandana-o-the-wisp for the @mcyt-halloween :D

[arsenicflame]

A transparent Virtute for you, scanned from the back of the Winter Wheat booklet <3

(As a bonus, here's the one from the Vivat Virtute website too, I love her so much.)

[serenhob]

😭😭😭😭

Gonna sleep now but its taken me 3 HOURS to do this

Btw these are my progress photos in order (I'm sorry they are so ugly)

There's something off about him but I'm not fixing it now

[damianyadesmond]

i need this to be me tbh

[jaskefer]

Obsessed with the idea of Extraordinary Things being a back and forth between Jaskier and Radovid, with Jaskier trying to draw him out in the first verse, and Radovid finally answering him in the second.

Cause like, with Radovid, Jaskier meets someone who he can't fully read properly. He knows there's something under the front of a drunken, bumbling prince, but he doesn't know him well enough yet to be certain as to what.

So, he tests the waters a bit. throws out a line to see if Radovid will take it—and he does. A little bit. But it's so interesting to me, because it doesn't just feel like Jaskier is trying to nail down Radovid's truth in this verse; it feels like he's injecting elements of his own mask into it, as well.

"Keep your words on ice, your gaze lights the fire. They say 'keep on playing nice,' but I have no desire. Why waste our words when lips were made for extraordinary things? It's not a want, it's a need, it is paying no heed to what others say to sing."

This is Jaskier's read of Radovid as he knows him so far: a man hiding more complex wants beneath the veneer of a drunken party boy. But it's also Jaskier admitting that he knows this about Radovid because he wears the exact same mask himself.

Much like how Jaskier and Ciri speak through Geralt and Yennefer in order to process their own feelings about them later in the season, Jaskier sings through himself in order to comprehend who Radovid is. Jaskier is using the performative persona he's crafted for himself in an attempt to coax Radovid out of his.

All of it leads into the main intention of this song: "The greatest songs are made up of unspoken words of love. Of them, I've had enough. with you, I am enough." I am tired of having to put up a front. I want to be understood. I think you understand me. Prove me right.

And Radovid sees what Jaskier is doing. He comments on Jaskier's ability to see people for who they are and not who they pretend to be. But there's still more he wants to understand. This still feels like a game, in a way.

It's only after Radovid sees the brutality of Dijkstra and Philippa up close, watches them orchestrate the assassination of the queen and threaten to incriminate him if he doesn't fall in line, that he then grasps the vulnerability in Jaskier's lyrics. Jaskier is also caught between multiple conflicting desires, that of his loyalty to Geralt/Yen/Ciri, and that of his work as the Sandpiper & how said work is backed by his continued commitment to Redanian Intelligence. That internal conflict and the desire to escape it is also highlighted in the song's first verse ("they say keep on playing nice, but i have no desire"). Only after all of this, when true fear begins to take over and the game stops being fun, does Radovid truly begin to truly understand Jaskier.

And so, he seeks him out. And he responds.

“Drop the sweet disguise, your heart’s beating too loud. The fairytales and little lies can’t drown out all the sound.” You were right. I do understand you. I know what you really want, because we're the same. You can’t hide it behind a façade of a song and a story and a persona.

“Take this heart and break this heart for extraordinary things.” I don't know what will become of this, or us. I still don't fully know if we can trust each other. But no one has ever seen me in the way that you have.

It's not a want, it's a need. With you, I am enough.

[jacobseed]

SEWER RATS; sneaking and hiding and clawing through the streets of Dunwall in search of something better; a purpose, opportunities, a new life. To once be looked upon as royalty, now in the gutters only to be viewed as a disease. (x.)

[kwyoz]

the arm still bothers me sm, but i refuse to continue trying to fix this.

[d3adrobinz]

[pianapplez]

I'm so tired of shows that absolutely ignore the source material and feel like they straight up don't understand what's important about it, just make a different show why even bother at this point.