#in the situation between stolas and blitz

[itsmarsss]

the thing with stolas and Stella’s marriage is that i don’t think the goetia are dumb lol. like they have arranged marriages with the sole purpose of birthing their heirs… everybody’s aware there will be ‘cheating’ and everybody’s aware not everyone is heterosexual, the marriages are pure business.

the thing with their marriage specifically is that stolas has mentioned trying to make it a comfortable thing, tried to make it kind of like a real marriage but failed. but that was purely for via. he (and Stella surely) are children of marriages like theirs. he doesn’t want via’s early life to be like theirs were.

the thing about royalty is that while everybody KNOWS things happen, appearances are the most important thing they can have. how are they going to look down on the hellborn, how are they going to maintain their status if they don’t all appear pristine?

so in my understanding what pisses Stella off so fucking much about stolas sleeping with Blitz is truly the fact that he didn’t bother hiding it like he ‘should’. he “let” blitz announce it in front of her high society friends, he meets with him at the palace where the servants KNOW he’s doing it, he’s pretty public about being attracted to blitz and he did the worst possible thing he could do to their image in relation to the goetias, he asked for a divorce. goetias don’t get divorced, they die hating their spouses and that’s how it’s always been and that’s how it should be.

there’s also the BIG thing that is the fact that Blitz is an imp. She always makes sure to point it out, she compares him to the palace’s butler too when yelling at stolas. what’s more embarrassing than having stolas makes his affairs public? that public affair being with someone of what their own view as the lowest of the low. what do you mean he’s taking her life’s purpose away to be with an IMP?

[lost-romantique]

It's not a complete role reversal...

People are treating what happened at Sinsmas as a complete role reversal between Stolas and Blitz, where Blitz is going to be the one chasing after Stolas, and Stolas pushing his advances away...

When the situation is a bit more nuanced than that...

Blitz and Stolas both don't have their masks up

The reason why Stolas had such a hard time in the season was because he had to take down those impenetrable walls Blitz put around himself. In that same vein, Stolas also had these walls up when he communicated with Blitz as well.

By the end of the season finale, those walls are down and these gentlemen are able to speak to each other face to face without keeping up a facade.

Blitz and Stolas are together 24/7 now

The reason why it was difficult for them to communicate before was because they were operating under the terms of their transactional agreement where their only excuse to meeting each other was during the nights of the full moon.

However, by the end of the season, both characters live and work together.

Blitz and Stolas have wildly different problems they have to overcome

Blitz, before, was not in the right headspace to give or receive love because he was still under the belief that his love hurts people and that he didn't deserve to be loved. Remember, one botched love confession literally mutilated his best friend, killed his mom, and destroyed the lives of his entire circus family.

The reason why Stolas isn't in the right headspace to give or receive love is because he's still processing his new way of life as a commoner, and the fact that his daughter doesn't want to see him. If anything, the main obstacle keeping these bozos apart now is Octavia.

Blitz and Stolas do love each other

Despite all the bullshit these men have put each other through, they both do genuinely have feelings for each other. However, Blitz knows that what Stolas needs right now isn't his love, but his support. And Blitz is happy with that because the only thing he wants to do right now is be there for Stolas.

When Blitz lost everything in the circus fire, he was alone with nobody to help him and guide him. However, when Stolas lost everything during the trial, he wasn't alone because Blitz was there to pick him back up.

Blitz doesn't know how to give up

While it is true that Stolas shuts Blitz out at this moment, Blitz doesn't give up and use that as a sign of rejection.

Instead, Blitz improvises by inviting Stolas to dance, and Stolas reciprocates.

If Stolas didn't want to dance with Blitz, he didn't have to, he could have just as easily shooed him away but he didn't. In fact, Stolas looks so happy to be invited to dance.

Blitz has this knack for getting Stolas to laugh, even in his most darkest days... so that helps too.

Blitz has a goal now

This is Blitz's endgame, his goal. Blitz wants to be at a place where he and Stolas could be happy and healthy, and live a life with their daughters by their side. He wants this, and Blitz is going to operate in a way to achieve it.

Because that is who Blitz is...

He is a tenacious bastard that doesn't know how to give up. He wanted to be his own boss, so he opened a business. He wanted an easy way to get to earth, so he fucked a Prince. He wanted a family, so he made his own eclectic one.

Blitz, despite the fact that he can be a complete asshole and an idiot, usually has a way of getting what he wants in the end.

[awkwardandeccentric]

So I want to address something.

Octavia: “You had a choice and you chose him.”

I am of two minds: she’s 17. She’s going through a traumatic situation. She’s emotionally stunted because of the way she was raised.

She also told Stolas, to his face, in front of Blitz, that he should have let Blitz be executed.

I don’t hate her for this. Not at all. Teenagers are notoriously self-absorbed and you add some privilege/entitlement to that, a dash of trauma, and you get the inevitable consequences.

And also

She’s not an innocent little girl who’s done nothing wrong ever. She’s 17. She knows what she’s saying.

She said, to Stolas’ face, in front of Blitz and co., that he should have let Blitz die.

She’s speaking from a place of hurt and betrayal.

She’s also in the wrong for that. And I hope with time and perspective, with some maturity to understand that her father is flawed and traumatized and doing his best between a rock and a hard place, she will apologize for that.

[warblogs17282]

Just gonna say it again, Stolas deserves both Octavia and Blitz.

And that's not me saying that Octavia's feelings about the whole situation isn't justified, I'm not saying that at all.

Eventually however, Octavia will grow and mature as a character in regards to the whole situation, and so will Stolas in regards to the whole situation, which is made very clear in the scene at the end, with these two lines.

Things may be tough right now, but, eventually we'll see Stolas and Octavia back together, it'll be a hard journey, but I have every confidence that as both characters grow and mature more, we'll see the bridge between them get rebuilt eventually.

[fuzzandfeathers]

"Oh relax. I'm sure your big royal chicken ain't gonna let anything happen to his peppy lil' fuck doll." You already know the drill, rambles under the cut 😌

As much as I want them to eventually find out about it, I'm glad Blitz didn't know about Stolas' involvement in resolving the kidnapping situation in Oops. With the level of denial he was in, Blitz absolutely would've found a way to spin it into something negative. This art originally started off as an observation on how hard Blitz is projecting his own feelings about his relationship with Stolas onto Fizz's relationship with Oz. That if Blitz had known, the above line probably would've summed up what he'd think of Stolas' actions. The more I worked on it though, the more I realized it kinda went the other way as well, with Fizz doing a bit of his own denial and projection. Fizz wasn't wrong about Blitz missing the mark on Stolas' feelings, but his viewpoint has always struck me as having a bit of the rose-colored tint of exceptionalism, Fizz believing he earns his treatment (good or bad) via performance and separate from being an imp. That if he's good enough being an imp (and disabled) doesn't matter.

(spoiler: you can't succeed your way out of systemic inequality, sorry) Fizz and Blitz (pre-Mastermind) are both in relationships with unequal power dynamics and while I wouldn't consider Fizz and Oz's relationship unhealthy*, there's a sense of push-back against the inequality that isn't present for them but is for Blitz and Stolas. Despite their rocky start, Blitz and Stolas clearly see any inequality between them as something to resolve or address, whereas Fizz and Oz seem more resigned to it (or content to ignore it). Blitz is wrong about Stolas, but his dissatisfaction with their relationship isn't wrong - and Fizz could stand to learn a bit from that. So this piece ended up being more of a two-way conversation than I initially thought (and this post ended up being a lot longer than I planned 😂) *obviously it has room for improvement, but it's imperfect in ways that are realistic and non-worrisome. Even if I'm hoping for a bit of conflict between them going into season 3, I have absolute faith their relationship is solid and would make it out intact. Anyways, have this fun and relevant screenshot:

[tealvenetianmask]

Does Blitz blame himself for Cash's abuse?

Stick with me, and I'm truly sorry.

All of the people except Cash featured in the memories Rolando shows Blitz are people who Blitz has cared deeply for and felt like he hurt, failed to get close to, or let down.

Let's look at them (again, yes)

Tilla

Fizz

Verosika

Loona

M&M

Barbie

A whole lot of Stolas

So. What. The. Actual. Fuck. Is Cash Fucking Buckzo. Doing in this line-up?

Well. Hurting Blitz, horribly. My first meta on this scene didn't really capture this, but as many have pointed out, this is Cash grabbing Blitz's freshly burned wrist after the fire and smacking the ever living shit out the burned side of his face. Presumably blaming him for the fire and everything (and everyone) lost from it. And then Cash telling Blitz in the hospital that Fizz doesn't want to see him.

It's emphasized too. Right after we see the memory of Cash hitting Blitz, we see Blitz physically flinch while watching it.

So if this is just a compilation of horrible memories, maybe that's all there is to it.

But if it's a grouping of the people Blitz cares for, well . . . it makes sense for it to be that, doesn't it? Blitz has a lot of love in him, and yet he's scared of intimacy. His trauma is ABOUT hurting people, losing people, driving people away, craving closeness that he can't have . . .

Being an abuse victim is complicated. Being a family scapegoat is complicated too. A lot of abusers try to make the victim think that they're ACTUALLY the cause of their pain and everyone else's, and we already know that Cash did this to Blitz (literally in this same set of memories in the hospital).

But we also saw it in The Circus when Blitz was much younger, and saw how much this tactic got to Blitz.

Cash guilts his son into going into a dangerous situation for him. If Blitz doesn't do this, their lack of resources, the possible suffering of his parents . . . it will all be Blitz's fault.

And Blitz cares deeply (he always has!), so he does it.

Now one might argue that Blitz says "of course I want to help Mama" here and leaves Cash out of his reply, so he doesn't love his father. But reality is often more complicated than that. He's upset here that Cash is forcing this on him. Cash hurts him. His mother (seemingly) offers much more love. That doesn't mean that Blitz doesn't ALSO feel some care and responsibility for his father's wellbeing.

I think that Blitz believes (or at least a significant part of him believes) that he destroyed Cash's life too with the fire, and that he deserved that beating and being turned away from the hospital and possibly many of the beatings and beratings that Cash delivered in the past. I think that in the moment when Cash grabbed him, he felt that he fully deserved the agony he felt when Cash held his wrist.

I think a part of him loved his father growing up and still loves him-- that there were moments between the incidents of cruelty where they had fun together as a family, and where looked up to his dad and wanted desperately to win his approval.

I think that Blitz has a lot of anger toward Cash too, and that a part of him always knew that Cash was wrong to hurt him. He had a whole lot of resilience and defiance in him even as a young kid.

I think that he felt guilty for all of the times he felt angry at his father. I think he might still.

I'm off to cry and then grab my pitchfork and storm wherever Cash is living nowadays. Who's with me?

[micksture]

🦉 STOLAS REDESIGN 🌓

oh where do i even START. there is no metric or scale on this world that can adequately measure the sheer velocity of my eyeballs rolling into the back of my skull in contempt whenever Stolass the cringe ass nae nae baby comes on screen during the already painful watch of Helluva Boss. this goddamn piździelec is the bane of my existence. not only is he my least favorite Helluva Boss character, but my least favorite Hellaverse character in general. the narrative treats this pompous chicken drumstick as if he has the right to act like the victim, when all he’s ever done is put Blitzø in uncomfortable situations where Blitzø had to have sex with him to obtain the Grimoire, knowing full well that Blitz needed it to keep his business running. AND he keeps on neglecting Octavia, his DAUGHTER, to continue being weird towards/about Blitz. now, that in itself DOES make him an interesting character, but the problem is in the way he’s shown to us – as someone to be pitied. why is he treated like a good guy in the show, i will never understand. nerf the whiny bird and quit justifying his actions before I draw him stuck in a glue trap hitting the Peter Griffin death pose 🌞

Letting up on that hate-filled rant, let’s talk business!! Stolas is a self-centered manipulator with a victim complex that is blind to other people’s feelings in my rework. He blames everyone but himself for his actions and despises when things don’t go his way. In his eyes, it’s all Stella’s fault that he turned into a cheater (as if she wasn’t also forced into their loveless marriage like he was…). He was distant and cold from the start, and when Stella stopped trying to make their relationship work and quit taking his bullshit, he became even worse. His daughter isn’t exempt from his coldness either. As much as he swears up and down that he loves her, he still silently views Octavia as a nuisance, an obstacle that is firmly placed in the way of true freedom and peace that he could have been living, if not for his obligation to raise an heir. He feels entitled to being the way he is, since he’s never been treated all that well by life either. He very clearly feels trapped, but that doesn’t erase all of his faults.

I do like the idea of Stolas being a villain. A multifaceted character that has been wronged, but a villain nonetheless. And he is treated like one! He would NOT be the main focus of the show, however — the lights would be on I.M.P. tbh I’d rather go for a more episodic approach to the story, where each episode is about a different client of I.M.P. and we get to see the main characters actually doing their jobs as paid assassins and facing some wacky setbacks they have to overcome, rather than seeing the constant back and forth between Blitz and Stolas that the official show seems to revolve around now. So yes, Stolas wouldn’t be featured nearly as often! In fact, I feel like he’d usually get the most screentime in the heavy episodes: for example ones that would tackle his relationship with Blitz, or ones that would showcase his immediate family and how they all pretty much hate each other.

Now onto the design!! In all honesty, I don’t mind his official one, but I couldn’t help myself from hitting him with the redesigning-beam too. POW 💥

• He has gained quite a bit of feathers, especially around the neck. Also, instead of the weird hat-crown (???) with eyes situation he has in the official design, I just gave him a floating crown with one eye AND plumicorns – the ear-like feathers that owls commonly possess!

• I kept the astrology theme because it’s AWESOME. Every high ranking member of the Ars Goetia family has a different set of chores that they do to ‘regulate’ Hell. Stolas is the one in charge of the night sky in every Ring!! He studies galaxies, constellations and asteroids, among other things cosmos-related. he can also create galactic matter at will, hence the two nebula orbs he’s holding and the galaxy cape 🌌 (fun fact: you can phase your hand through his cape and it’ll be covered in star dust!)

• His cape is fastened with an Asmodean crystal. Why is that important? Well, an Asmodean crystal can work as an inter-dimensional transportation device just as well as the Grimoire. He knows what that kind of crystal looks like. Blitzø does not (Asmodean crystals are anything but obtainable for the common demons. Most have no idea what they look like). Also, Stolas has a lot of those crystals stored in the castle, thrown around forgotten chests and left unused. See where I’m going with this? Stolas purposefully retains this information and tells Blitz that he only has the Grimoire to spare, for which Blitz has to go to bed with him each month (as their agreement states), when he could’ve given Blitz one Asmodean crystal and part ways with him long ago. But he’s too selfish to let go of the imaginary relationship he created and continues the same cycle that leaves both of them more and more divided.

I think that’s it for now. This post is long enough as it is. Thank you for reading it though <3

[sopphic27]

Been thinking about the parallels between Lucifer and Stolas. Like. Lucifer was an odd one out among the angels, Stolas was an odd one out among the Goetia.

Lucifer fell in love with a human and was cast out of Heaven for giving the humans the gift of free will, and Stolas fell in love with an imp, and was cast down from his status as a Prince by basically implying that Blitz was not acting of his own free will.

They're both dreamers. They're both depressed. They've both split up with their wives (granted for very different reasons). They both have complicated relationships with their daughters. They would still kill or die for their daughters.

I think that if Lucifer found out about Stolas's situation (what really happened, not the fake version that was presented during the trial), he would probably see himself in Stolas. Can you imagine if Lucifer learned about the Goetic Prince who was banished for protecting his imp lover? Deja vu. Sucks that he wasn't at the trial. Idk how differently it would have gone since Andrealphus had the whole court wrapped around his finger with the exception of Vassago, Asmodeus, and Beelzebub. But still.

[rejectedfables]

the Helluva Boss Mission shorts, all coming out between Apology Tour and Ghostfuckers, serve multiple purposes. Obviously they bring much needed levity back to the show during a very emotionally heavy story arc, allowing the audience and the characters time to breathe. They also bring I.M.P.'s daily life back on screen, allowing the creators and audience to experience a little bit of that original concept of the show that the creators pivoted away from to follow the more plot and character heavy story they settled on. AND they give us a sense of time passing as we see Blitz go through the aftermath of The Breakup.

All of these are things I've seen other people talk about.

What I want to talk about is the fourth thing:

All three Mission Shorts are a reflection of how Blitz used to see Stolas.

An aggressive dangerous group of birds who say derogatory things to him and WILL kill him if he's not good enough at sex.

An obsessed fan who is impervious to all harm, talks down to him, uses pet names for him, fetishizes him, and only cares about the FANTASY of Blitz while not listening to or caring about him as a person at all.

Being trapped and treated like a source of entertainment, treated like less than a person, commodified for being violent by a duplicitous man surrounded by small horned pets who he infantilizes but who can be reasoned with.

All three of these shorts are throwing Blitz's own baggage around Stolas back into his face in weird subtle ways, and Blitz has to grapple with the fact that none of these ACTUALLY feel like Stolas to him. For as much as Stolas contributed to the situation they're now in, so did Blitz. Because Blitz has been reading him wrong this whole time.

[ripplestitchskein]

Struck today by how what a Luciferian figure Blitz is now, directly opposing his very creator. Satan says explicitly he created the Imps to serve, that’s why he lets the team go since they were just being dutiful as they were designed to be. It really feeds nicely into Hazbin and it does kinda suck that they can’t at this moment cross over due to contract shenighans as I feel like Lucifer would feel very sympathetic to this situation, but having it take place in the midst of his depression when he’s shirking his duties is also a nice reflection on Stolas too, another figure we see ignoring the reality of Hell from the upper echelons and only realizing now that he is contributing to it.

Some of this is because it’s coming from the same creator in a shared universe but it is a really fun tie between the two shows.

[daffodils-and-viscera]

i've seen a lot of posts comparing mastermind to truth seekers but hear me out: ozzie's

SO this may be long buckle in. these episodes kinda have the same plot?

blitzø has found himself in a bit of a sitch, as it were...

our beloved dramatic gay owl is at home watching gabriela pine over alejandro, when suddenly... blitzy is in trouble! omg let's get cunty and go save the day!!

however, despite showing up and saving lives (he may have literally saved blitzø's life in mastermind but that outfit from ozzie's changed all our lives forever soo...) blitzø isn't necessarily ((outwardly)) happy to see stolas (((we all know he does not mind stolas' ass in his face but stay with me here)))

stolas' privilege allows him to be immediately heard and not punished by the people who would never listen to blitzø's side of things, and stolas gets to be his dramatic lil bitch self and we love to see it

in ozzie's, blitzø has his past come back to haunt him in so many ways, he is put in the spotlight and he is decidedly not comfortable there, being called out for all the shit he's done to fizz and verosika and even m&m - HOWEVER! as we all now know, all of those people actually care about blitzø and he was just being his lil destructive self. he is given the chance to defend himself but it's overwhelming and he kinda freezes up

in mastermind, blitzø is being outright blamed for things he didn't do but like.. he actually didn't do any of that ! and yet he can't defend himself because nobody would listen to him even if he wasn't gagged.

the difference between these 2 episodes is in stolas' behaviour when HE is put in the spotlight- at ozzie's he is freshly separated from stella and probably hasn’t done anything social for a long ass time and he’s not used to being in public. and here’s this thing that he thinks is gonna be fun and will help blitzø but he is not able to express himself so he hides and the result of that is blitzø pushing him away, literally doesn’t want to touch him

in MASTERMIND our birdy babe is singing his lil heart out with no regard for what anyone else thinks of him or what might happen to him, which is so beautiful (but also stolas pls try not to inhale the water).... when he doesn't hide his feelings from blitzø we see how perfect it could be when their inner worlds merge and they are finally on the same page, and blitzø does the furthest thing possible from pushing stolas away !!!

(he did however still neglect to consider octavia's feelings when he decided to drop everything for blitzø... with devastating implications in mastermind) sorry to bring the mood down but this needs to be pointed out

in ozzie's, stolas tries to invite blitzø to his place (and we all remember how well that went)........ blitzø goes home alone and loona is not there, he is all alone and sad curled up on the couch on his phone looking at all the people he believes he's let down and it's heartbreaking

when stolas goes to blitzø's place in mastermind, stolas gets all the love and support blitzø has to offer and loona is there too and blitzø curls up on the couch on his phone looking at all these people who love and support him!!! and then he makes the couch all comfy for stolas and he’s not alone?? like they’re both so not alone that it hurts my heart to think about. these 2 have so much love for each other and yeah there's gonna be tough times ahead but they are not alone! !!!!

basically both eps end the same? but also everything is better now? because blitz was loved before he just couldn’t see it through all his nonsense

and stolas is still in a messed up situation and he's still kinda problematic and he couldn’t see it before through all his nonsense but now he’s more self aware?

the real difference is they have each other now! they are so not alone it makes them look stupid!!

anyway this is the longest post i've ever made sorry if it's rambly i have adhd and a lot of feelings about these two

[lost-romantique]

The Parallels Between Sinsmas & the Full Moon Breakup

Note: Please do NOT turn this post into a discussion on who's in the right and who's in the wrong. I think what happened between Stolas and Octavia is a complicated issue, and I think it's unfair to take sides. (We do not need another Blitz vs Stolas debate, especially between Father and Daughter.)

~~~~~~~~

Both breakups involve Stolas breaking it off with the two people that mean the world to him: Blitz and Octavia. 

The only difference is whereas Stolas had every intention of breaking up, or setting free Blitz in the Full Moon and did. 

Stolas had NO intention, and NO inclination of his daughter breaking up, or should I say disowning him in Sinsmas.

~~~~~~~

Let me start off by saying that Octavia, throughout the entirety of her argument with her father, exhibits traits from both Blitz and Stolas.

Octavia lashes out in anger the same way Blitz did in the Full Moon. However, unlike Blitz, who had no real way to gain control of the conversation and pull it in his favor. Octavia, from the very beginning controls the conversation, even while she's lashing out. 

Octavia’s entire tirade is filled with harsh truths, half-truths, her truths (even if they're false, they are true to her), and harsh call-outs. Similar to Blitzø’s tirade in the Full Moon.

“It was your choice, you chose HIM!"

“Can I get a fucking minute to think after everything you put me through, you pompous, rich ASSHOLE?!”

“You never loved mother, you don't love me, YOU LOVE HIM!”

“TREAT ME LIKE ONE OF YOUR BUTLER IMPS? You can't just dismiss me like that!”

"So does that mean you just stayed miserable because of me? Was I some fucking obligation? Is that why you didn't even hesitate when you got the chance to leave?"

"I mean you royal fucks think you can do this every time. Like you can just play with our feelings because we're smaller and not as important!"

Meanwhile, the one trait Octavia really takes from her father is the fact that, right now, she is stuck in her own head, not considering her father's own thoughts and feelings, and dismissing them.

Octavia doesn't bother hearing out her father, and fails to take into account his feelings. She doesn't see the pain and anguish she's causing him. 

Stolas does the same in the Full Moon (before Blitz's tirade), completely blind to anything else, aside from what he needs to do (give Blitz the crystal), he doesn't notice the fact that he drove Blitzø to tears.

~~~~~~~

But that's not all…

Pretty much every single negative event that Blitz experienced in Full Moon, Stolas is then forced to experience, by the hands of his own daughter.

It's almost cruel, as it is ironic.

(I just want to preface this by saying that Stolas was justified in the way he acted in Full Moon when Blitz triggered him, and I can not fault him for that. However, Blitz also had a right to get angry at Stolas for disregarding him. Complicated situation all around. I really don't want to turn this into a who was right and who was wrong debate.)

…

Stolas ruminated on the events of the Full Moon, and had a plan in his mind for how it was going to go down. His mistake, he didn’t even bother giving Blitz a heads up on what was happening.

Octavia's life came crashing down all around her the moment she saw her dad was willing to die for a man she assumed was just a homewrecker. By the time she confronts her dad, her mind was already made up.

…

Stolas controlled the entire flow of the conversation with Blitz in the Full Moon, and sent Blitz into a tizzy, making him grow ever increasingly distressed. 

Octavia controlled the entire flow of the conversation with her father in Sinsmas. Stolas becomes frazzled and desperate, trying to explain himself to his daughter.

…

Stolas forcefully gives the crystal to Blitz, without his consent. But was something Blitz ultimately needed. 

Octavia forcefully gives the bottle of antidepressants to her dad, without his consent. But was something Stolas ultimately needed.

… 

Cruel parting words are said to the other as a last Goodbye. 

Stolas to Blitz in Full Moon:

“Blitz, I think so very highly of you. I didn't realize you think so low of me… Goodbye Blitz”

Octavia to Stolas in Full Moon:

“You lied to me once, you will again. Have a great fucking life with him, Dad.” 

…

Stolas shuts down the conversation. He later teleports Blitz out of the palace.

Octavia shuts down the conversation. She forbids her father from chasing after her any further.

~~~~~~

The same way Blitz was forced to realize that his words and actions hurt Stolas so deeply to the point that he essentially lost him (Stolas) by the end of Apology Tour, and could genuinely do nothing about it, without fucking things up any further.

Stolas is forced to watch the person he cares deeply for, lose trust in him completely, and being unable to do anything about it. Unlike the other times Stolas could just hug his daughter and apologize. and make everything better; things are different now, his apologies don't mean shit to her.  It's too late. He's hurt her too much, and now she's blinded with her growing resentment of him.

Stolas is forced to feel what it's like to be truly abandoned by someone that mattered the world to you; the same way Blitz has gone through that feeling over (his mom)  and over (Fizz)  and over (Barbie) and over (Cash) and over (Stolas) again. Stolas is forced to feel that pain, to know that feeling Blitzø is so terrified of, the feeling of being truly abandoned.

[criticalcrusherbot]

What’s gross is that I bet you’re smarter than this, you just have a bizarre antagonistic parasocial relationship with Vivienne Medrano.

This critique is fundamentally flawed in its analysis, misinterpreting the narrative structure and character dynamics of Helluva Boss. Here’s a breakdown of why it doesn’t hold up:

1. The Claim About Blitz and Octavia:

The statement that Blitz “pretends Octavia’s mother never existed” grossly oversimplifies his behavior and motivations. Blitz’s struggles are rooted in his unresolved trauma and inability to form healthy relationships, not a deliberate erasure of Stella. Additionally, the idea that Stella is treated as a “nameless surrogate egg donor” is false. The show repeatedly acknowledges her presence, but she’s portrayed negatively because her actions (abusing Stolas, prioritizing status over family) make her an antagonist. This isn’t about erasing her but about exploring Stolas’s toxic marriage and its impact on Octavia.

2. The Misreading of Stella’s Character:

The critique argues that Vivienne “has to make the woman purely evil and unfeeling,” but Stella’s characterization is consistent with her role as an abusive partner and a foil to Stolas. Her lack of maternal care is a reflection of her values and personality, not an inherent “hatred of women.” Plenty of female characters in Helluva Boss are nuanced, compassionate, and strong (e.g., Millie, Loona, Octavia), disproving the claim of misogyny.

3. The Strawman Argument of “Gay Erotica”:

The scene where Blitz throws Stella out the window isn’t about her disliking “gay erotica.” It’s a comedic exaggeration that underscores the absurdity of the situation, fitting the show’s satirical tone. The focus isn’t on her gender but on the humor of the clash between her and Stolas.

4. The Daughters’ Reactions:

The daughters’ lack of mourning in the Christmas episode is a misinterpretation of the narrative focus. The scene is meant to emphasize Blitz’s moral growth, not delve into the daughters’ feelings. It’s also possible that the mom died quite some time ago and they have moved past actively mourning, but to assume they “don’t care” is reading into something the episode doesn’t explicitly address.

5. Accusation of Misandrist Themes:

Claiming that Vivienne portrays “gay men’s love as more pure” ignores the complexity of Stolas and Blitz’s relationship, which is far from idealized. Their love is messy, imperfect, and rooted in deep emotional baggage—hardly the pedestal the critique implies.

In summary, this critique misrepresents Helluva Boss by cherry-picking elements and ignoring context. The show’s nuanced exploration of flawed relationships, trauma, and humor-driven storytelling doesn’t align with the reductive and bad-faith interpretation presented here.

[warblogs17282]

I''m busy thinking about how this part of the episode is supposed to directly mirror what's already happened in the show.

Ignoring the obvious s1 e1 reference, let's start with the backstory behind this hit.

Something that this show makes very clear is that she is supposed to represent Stella, for multiple reasons that I will point out in this post.

Instantly starts out with ex-husband, just like with Stella and Stolas.

The next line proceeds to mention daughters, which is obviously the show planting the seeds for the scene yet to come, the Stolitz family scene. The daughters are very clearly supposed to represent Octavia and Loona.

Plus, the whole 'Can't stand my ex-husband enjoying himself' thing is also supposed to mirror Stella in a way, because guess who else purposefully went out of their way to ensure that their husband/ex-husband never was able to truly enjoy himself.

"When he fucking left me for another man!", when he left me for another man who was able to show him actual, true happiness. Just like how Blitz did just that for Stolas.

I also really want to note Blitz's and Stolas' reactions to all of this, for Blitz, even though he knows almost nothing about Stella, you can already tell he's put some pieces together and realized 'oh shit, this is sounding extremely similar to what happened between me and Stolas.', especially considering the way he looked over at Stolas when she finished talking there.

Which explains why Blitz looks so nervous and trying to talk her out of carrying through with the hit, before just outright denying the request, because it hits way too close to home for him as well. With the next thing she says after this scene pictured below just nailing the similarities home to Blitz.

As for Stolas' reaction, you can tell even before this moment that he's also realized just how similar the whole situation is to his own, and that detail tells us that Stolas isn't just talking about the person the client wants dead, but also himself.

Stolas thinks he's selfish for choosing to be with Blitz, Stolas thinks that he deserves death because of his 'selfish' choice to be with Blitz. Stolas likely thinks at that moment that he deserved to be killed by Striker for his 'selfish' choice.

And well, the show definitely doubles down on showing us just how evil the client is, just like Stella.

Then we get to the moment where every single similarity undeniably falls into focus for Blitz. Blitz doesn't see a random gay couple with two daughters he's been paid double to assassinate a member of, he sees himself, he sees Stolas, and their own respective daughters all in the same room as each other, he sees his dreams for the future with Stolas, and their daughters.

He sees a future of domestic bliss with the four of them, the future he's hoping he can achieve some day.

And because of all of these similarities between the family and Blitz himself, he cannot bring himself to ruin a happy family, can't bring himself to ruin what they have, can't bring himself to ruin what Blitz dreams for, can't bring himself to kill the person he envisions as Stolas, and can't bring himself to ruin the family that he envisions as his own as well.

Plus, Blitz would never be able to truly forgive himself if he took that shot, if he killed that man and ruined the family Blitz places himself in. Blitz would see himself as being no better than Striker if he did take the killing shot.

Because, let's compare s2 e4 and this episode for a second.

"Ex-wife hires assassin to kill their ex-husband with a daughter for extremely evil and selfish reasons."

"Ex-wife hires assassin to kill their ex-husband with two daughters for extremely evil and selfish reasons."

Even if Blitz only understands the s2 e4 hit as "Unknown person hired assassin to kill father with a daughter for unknown reasons.", as I've pointed out before, everything about this assassination hits way too close to home for Blitz.

Blitz has probably already realized at that moment that if Striker had killed Stolas in s2 e4, all of his hopes and dreams of having a happy family with Stolas, Octavia and Loona would instantly go up in flames.

So, why would Blitz want to ruin a family that has what he hopes for in the future? Why would Blitz want to kill the person he envisions as Stolas? Why would Blitz want to kill the person he envisions as Stolas, especially when Striker almost very well killed Stolas, which would've ruined the dream Blitz has that we see here if Striker had succeeded?

What I'm getting that with this is simple, the client represents Stella, the ex-husband represents Stolas, the daughters represents Octavia and Loona, and Blitz represents Striker.

But Blitz isn't Striker, Blitz could've very well chosen to be play the role of Striker and kill that ex-husband, ruining the family as a result for some money, but he didn't, Blitz saw the happy gay couple and their daughters, saw himself in it, and decided the money wasn't worth it, stopping himself or anyone else in the team from taking that killing shot, because Blitz simply refused to play the role of Striker, Blitz played his own role, which is himself.

Blitz is not Striker, and I feel like this moment goes to show even further that Blitz and Striker are supposed to be narrative foils to each other.

[becausegraf]

Stolas is not Blitz's first rodeo - the case for Blitz' potential history as a de facto sex worker

(Okay, whoop de doo, here we go, if I sit on this essay any longer I won't get around to having dinner.)

Imagine someone you're into knows you've been struggling to make ends meet, and they approach you with this:

"Hey there, I've been thinking, how about we meet once a week to get giggity and have a good time, and in exchange I'll pay your rent, no strings attached."

Since 'this is hell' and not real life, also try to imagine what for example Moxxie or Millie's reaction might be to something like this. How would you envision this might go?

'What the FUCK' would be a completely sensible response. Even if someone agreed to this, you'd expect some reluctance, unease, nervousness, internal conflict... from most people.

And yet, this is basically what Stolas offered Blitz, and even in a hurry, his reaction wasn't at all shocked or confused. We see no hint of awkwardness in his behaviour around or during his monthly visits, not a lick of it.

There's a simple explanation for this: Blitz has done this before plenty of times.

He's quite literally 'used to it' and accepts this as a fairly routine type of agreement, without even questioning the concept of 'that horny head-in-the-clouds dork of a prince had a good time with me, and wants me to keep servicing him enough to offer me precisely what I want'. Stolas is far from unattractive to him, sure, 'why the fuck not'. Of all the ways this situation could have played out, this is one of the less difficult ones to deal with - satisfying people using his body is pretty much a 'shrug' to him, as opposed to having to come up with some kind of manipulation, or negotiating a different agreement, or keeping the grimoire against Stolas' will and earning himself the wrath of a Goetia.

The premise:

There is a long, long list of clues, many of them hiding in plain sight as 'haha crude jokes oh Blitz u so silly' moments, that Blitz has a history of providing sex as a service.

I also believe this is something most of the fandom already implicitly expects or wouldn't be surprised at all if it were confirmed in the show, but a lot of the implications are entirely invisible, and the effects on Blitz' behaviour are VERY easy to read as 'it's a comedy show, they write him this way because it's supposed to be crude and funny'.

Parts:

1) A hoard of hints

2) How this contributes to the massive disconnect between Blitz and Stolas' understanding of their arrangement

3) Some notes regarding the 'stage persona' of a performer, and recognition of achievements - a connection to his VA and co-writer

1) So, let's look at some contextual evidence first. This list is mostly constrained by my limited capacity to rattle off more examples on the fly, I'm sure you can easily find more of these everywhere you look.

- 'It's your night', and other such flat dismissals

This can be read as him just being cold and apathetic towards Stolas, as obviously 'Blitz is an unempathetic jerk-ass boyfriend'. However, if you read this through the lens of Blitz truly handling this arrangement pretty much like a professional, it makes perfect sense.

'We can do what you want, you're the client here buddy. This isn't about my preferences or wants, my job is to please you and not the other way around.'

- 'You know, I'm not really fussed when stuff like this happens' about Stolas rescheduling

Kind of a funky thing to say about your lover asking you if you have time to meet a bit earlier than originally planned, isn't it? Again, this makes sense if you read this arrangement as Stolas being like a client with a monthly appointment, and Blitz as the accommodating professional. The customer is king, if Stolas wants to move their appointment date (for something Blitz can do during his off-hours that aren't likely to conflict with other plans) then sure, it's not like he's going to charge a damn cancellation fee.

- 'But I thought you like it when I talk all dirty and fucky and shit'

The start of Apology Tour is a rough one, but it reveals a lot about the hidden reasons behind Blitz behaving the way he does with Stolas, and why we shouldn't take everything at face-value.

During their encounters, Blitz is in work-mode: h's very deliberate about how he comports himself and how to play to Stolas' tastes, for as far as he thinks he understands them. Stolas responded well to the aggressive stuff upon their first meeting as adults, and from Stolas' POV he had no real reason to clock that as *not actually really what Blitz' own personal preferred style is*. For as far as the owl knows, Blitz truly is unforcedly, naturally just 'like that' - scathing, dominant, rogueish, confident, bold and brash and adventurous in bed.

I think it's likely that Blitz probably *isn't*, maybe partially but not entirely, but trial and error quickly showed him Stolas is into that so... sure, he can accommodate. Whatever the fancy man wants of him, he can stay 'in-character' in that kind of exaggerated role pretty effortlessly.

Blitz glomming to MnM is a pretty big tip-off that he does have a sense of what true close intimacy is like and he absolutely does have a yearning for that. His 'I'm just here for the sex' bad boy attitude does not truly convey who he is as a person in his entirety.

The rowdy sexy assassin-cowboy-imp is the role he plays for Stolas, under the assumption that that is what he's into, and as a way to shield off his own much more vulnerable and conflicted real feelings. When it seems as if Stolas is no longer satisfied, he tries to 'get his shit together' and dial up the intensity, taking the whole sexually aggressive act to a level where it majorly crosses Stolas' boundaries.

Blitz at that point is just SO confused, so in turmoil with himself, and so terrified of losing the one point of connection he has to Stolas (which at that point really is pretty much their sexual compatibility plus a dollop of mutual je-ne-sais-quoi) he gets frustrated and just slips into a blind defensive rage.

(...yeah, that sure went over well, didn't it. 'God damnit Blitz', thus spoke the entire fandom.)

- Blitz' encounter with Chaz

This is a very interesting one to me. This set of scenes shifts very rapidly from one impression of Blitz to another, a triple pile-up of 'lol gotcha'.

'Oh ok , Blitz gets that it's kinda iffy to bang your friends' shitty ex' immediately gets subverted to

'...welp I guess his weird fixation is enough to disregard that entirely', and shortly after to yet another twist:

'-aaaaand welp, he took advantage of the situation without even blinking, because his instinct made him catch a whiff of something, and he took the first opportunity to poke into it a bit more even if said opportunity is banging the airhead randy shark'.

Blitz 100% uses his body like a tool. Any personal pleasure or bonuses that suit his whims he gets out of it is only part of his motivation. His played-for-laughs fling with Chaz is really much more functionally motivated: diving into bed with someone is just one of the several items on his list of things you can do to slip past someone's guard, shmooze them up, get up-close and even have them dead-asleep to create the perfect moment.

Watching this unfold, I personally very much did have that moment of 'oh dear that's a little concerning', that he made it look like he's 'just kind of a morally questionable ass', so casually making it seem like he was having some fun for his own sake when he was clearly going into this with the plan to slink out as soon as he had the shark where he wanted him.

This example also shows that Blitz clearly understands that sex and intimacy and trust are connected, but for him personally, that's pretty much optional (or even explicitly to be avoided).

- 'I've spent too much of my time, energy and holes on getting us set up', (so maybe don't get lame about this Mills)

File under 'haha Blitz so crude' and the easy interpretation of this as referring ONLY to Stolas. This likely concerns all the work he's done over the many years, starting long before the short time he's had the grimoire at his disposal at the time he says this.

He also does note himself as a) business savvy and b) sexy as fuck as the two major assets he has that he thinks of first in this scene. Blitz knows he's capable of capturing 'that kind' of attention, and he's clearly willing to make use of that.

- Finding out later in the series that he has a whole slew of exes that are still upset with him

This 'reveal' aligns with the general impressions we have of Blitz by that point pretty well. I wasn't surprised at all about that one - 'Oh, of course he does'.

Blitz dodges truly close personal intimacy, but he hardly avoids getting into situations that most people would experience as explicitly intimate, vulnerable and personal. His idea of 'boundaries' are very different from those of most people he deals with, and it's truly no wonder he ended up attracting quite a number of people to him only to ditch out once it became clear they were expecting some kind of romantic commitment.

With his natural charisma and easy charm and his *actual* innate kindness, combined with his well-practiced capacity to flirt and fluster and flatter, people that get to know him may very well be tempted rather quickly. They then easily misread his intentions when he's not one to say no if they make a pass and he's passingly interested. Of course, as soon as they let it show they're falling for him in earnest, *WHAM* goes the door, with no warning and often a sound 'fuck you' to seal the deal and ensure they don't come back.

'Why would he go and get intimate with me, if he didn't want to be with me?!'

The sheer confusion only adds to the offense at that point, and it's that lack of a sensible explanation that contributes to the pattern of people struggling to 'get over it'. We want to know 'why', we need the story to make sense, but Blitz does not give people that closure easily.

'Sorry I have a warped relationship with sex and it doesn't mean to me what it means to you as a baseline, AND I have massive hangups about people getting the feefees for me because everyone who does gets torn to shreds, so if we get giggity that's all you're gonna get from me' isn't really the kind of thing Blitz tells people ahead of time or after the fact.

- I may add more later or in a reblog, I could go on for hours honestly...

2) All this is far, far removed from Stolas' entire world

We all understand pretty well that our beloved well-intentioned dork of an owl has had a pretty sheltered existence (albeit frought with its own problems), and has *very* little experience in the realm of actual sexual activities.

If someone more worldly were to encounter Blitz and regularly interact with him in the way Stolas does, I think it would very quickly begin to raise questions.

You know, if someone so consistently treated your 'sexy date nights' the way Blitz does, I think quite a few of us would start to catch on that maybe he's got some, eh, 'circumstances' that inform his behaviour. Stolas however has nothing to go off off - Blitz is the experienced one, and he certainly acts like everything they do is pretty par for the course. Blitz is the role model, the example Stolas learns from about 'how things work' and what the rules are.

The issue is that Stolas is trying to learn how to have a fulfilling intimate relationship with someone, while Blitz is, in some fashion, actually trying (rather frustratedly at times) to teach him the code of conduct around just-business sex work. Over and over and over we see Blitz try to remind him of these rules, and from our POV, this comes across as Blitz being kind of cruel and mean because he's bluntly brushing off every earnest attempt Stolas makes to forge a connection.

Stolas doesn't understand what's going on under the surface, and for the most part, *neither do we as the audience*. We're here for the fluffy love story, and the hilarious impish shenanigans of our kind-of-a-dick of a protagonist. *Neither we as the audience nor Stolas take Blitz' behaviour and push-back seriously* as we don't get to explicitly view things through his eyes with the full understanding of what the world works like for him. He's either acting like a douche, or being erratic and hilarious, all just meaningless funny bullshit - right up until the moment where he snaps and suddenly it's no longer charming.

Stolas hapless persistence with trying to move past these 'walls', as he truly does desire something very different, eventually leads to Blitz giving up on getting him to cut it out, and it really seems as if he desperately tries to interpret he situation as an unruly spoiled but harmless client getting way too into the 'playing boyfriends' roleplay.

After all, what else could it *possibly* be? Love? Ha ha ha fuck you, of course not. What kind of asshole would even suggest that, that's just hurtful, inconsiderate and stupid - don't play with his feelings like that, it's JUST BUSINESS and Blitz needs to keep his head on straight. He's got a job to do and if he fucks this up and lets himself get attached and it all gets too real holy fucking sh- just drop the sky on him while you're at it, why don't you.

NO.

3) There are some themes here, as per the person who plays a big role in shaping Blitz' character

As 'the sassy crass youtube dude' in reputation I wouldn't be surprised if Brandon Rogers himself might be kinda familiar with the effect of people mistaking your 'on stage persona' for who you really are. People at times approach performers like him under the assumption they're always 'like that', and they tailor their behaviour according to that, too, instead of taking a step back and treating them like a regular person with regular boundaries.

At some point Brandon also said one of the things he relates to the most with Blitz is how much it irks him when people low key look down on what he's achieved.

'Nobody just handed him stuff, he and the team put in a fuckton of hard work into getting to where they are now'

This echoes Blitz' derision towards Fizz as someone who seems as if he's being given privileges, resources and support on a silver platter, just for existing as the person Asmodeus has a special interest in.

I will let that lead into my concluding comment:

I'm pretty damn sure we don't officially know the first damn thing yet about everything Blitz has put himself through to make it out of his twenties alive, just for starters, and to then become successful and reliable enough to provide a stable home for Loona and get his business off the ground.

[tealvenetianmask]

Stolas Makes Decisions Alone

I'm here to predict more problems ahead for Stolas. But don't worry- I do think he'll get through them because of character growth.

Stolas has a pattern of taking drastic actions that he believes are right and getting so caught up in his own point of view that he doesn't really listen to anyone else. I don't think he realizes this about himself. As much as he's now dealing with the consequences of his decisions at the end of Season 2, he hasn't yet learned that he can't go it alone. That he needs to communicate with the people his decisions impact- namely Blitz and Octavia, the people he cares for most. What I'm saying is, even though he's not the only one, our lovely owl man is a misunderstanding factory.

As for why he's like this, I have some ideas, but first, let's quickly go over the ways we've seen this behavior play out in HB.

It's treated as kind of light in Season 1 . . . despite being great with words, he's a lousy communicator because he gets carried away with his own ideas.

In Murder Family, Stolas has no idea that Blitz is panicking and . . . yes, I believe feeling pressured in this moment, even if he likes the deal later. In Loo Loo Land, he doesn't pay attention to Octavia's (not subtle) reactions enough to realize that no, she does not want to go to Loo Loo, and she absolutely doesn't want to bring the person Stolas cheated with along as a bodyguard. Also . . . as soon as Stolas listens to Octavia here, their communication improves, and Octavia is allowed to decide on the next father daughter activity.

The independent decision making tendency becomes more serious . . . tragic . . . in The Full Moon.

Stolas goes into the episode with a plan to do what he believes is right (freeing Blitz from himself), and he's so set on it that he blindsides the guy and shuts him out at the first hint of rejection, unable to pay enough attention to realize that it's . . . not actually rejection, just another wounded person reacting to a sudden change, since the entire decision making process already happened inside Stolas's mind.

Okay . . . Mastermind and Sinsmas.

I'm letting him off the hook for Mastermind, because he had only seconds to do something to save Blitz's life. I don't think he's wrong here. BUT symbolically, in the courtroom, Stolas rarely looks at Blitz. Someone who loves him is standing behind him, and there are moments of recognition between them, but Stolas still faces the decision, and his fate, alone.

In Sinsmas, we get the most blatant version of this kind of decision making. Yes, I know he's off his meds and going through a lot. He could have waited a few more minutes for Blitz to get back and talked through his decision to march up to his palace and demand to see his daughter. Blitz could have helped him calm down, and they could've had a conversation and decided on the best way to do it.

But that isn't how Stolas makes decisions. It isn't how he's EVER made decisions. Helping Stolas would put Blitz in danger, or Blitz might try to convince him to wait. So in Stolas's mind, if it's a choice between being kept from his daughter and dying alone by Andrealphus's hand, well . . .

There's so much that could be discussed here. Medication/depression. Suicidality. Autism . . . does this pattern stem in part from difficulty reading social cues?

These are all topics worth analyzing but . . . here's one thing that I think is at the core of Stolas's character regardless of the situation or other factors.

Stolas had all of his decisions made for him for his entire life. No one consulted him. Ever. Not about his career. Not about his marriage. Not about how he would choose to behave and conduct himself in the world.

Then when he was somewhere between 18 and 20, he had a child. And suddenly, his decisions mattered. Not in the big ways for himself. He still had to carry out all of his responsibilities. But he could decide how to raise this kid (Stella wasn't really interested in raising her after all). He could do everything in his power to make her childhood joyful, to make her feel loved, to teach her that she could be herself.

The problem is, making decisions for a kid doesn't make you a great collaborative decision maker. Being a parent means being an authority. He wasn't totalitarian like his own father, but there wasn't really anyone to honestly talk through his decisions and process his emotions with. So he's spent 35ish years never making a decision with someone else.

He's also rich and powerful, and that both keeps him isolated and gives him . . . a somewhat outsized view of his own importance and ability to control situations, in my opinion.

But now Octavia is 17, and making decisions that impact her without adequately communicating doesn't really work anymore.

And the other person he loves is Blitz. And yes, Mastermind is an exception, but Blitz usually doesn't need to be rescued or protected. He certainly doesn't need to be protected from Stolas (i.e. The Full Moon). He needs a partner. And Stolas needs one too.

So yeah, until Stolas learns to communicate (or at least learns that it's necessary) I worry about what he'll go off and do on his own.

Note: please don't take this as me blaming EVERYTHING on Stolas. Blitz and Octavia both have some responsibility for the miscommunications that go on. I just think this particular tendency of Stolas's is interesting and wanted to explore it.