#just my two cents on this

[bikkue]

One thing has been bothering me a lot in many Hazbin Hotel reviews/analysis I've been seeing: the idea that Vivziepop hired "celebrities" to voice the characters and that it somehow cheapens the end product. (I don't have enough information about what went down between her and the old VAs from the 2019 pilot, so I'll refrain from commenting on that.)

This is a musical animated series backed by A24. It would not feel out of place at all for Vivziepop to cast musical theater performers as the characters in her show, as so many animated series and movies have done since Menken and Ashman changed Disney's (and other animation studios') approach to storytelling in the 90's. None of the VAs attached to the Hazbin Hotel credits can be considered "celebrities" in the normal use of that word - that is: their voices are not immediately recognizeable by the public at large and their names alone are not able to sell the show. The only performer who Viviziepop hired that fits the bill would be Kesha in Helluva Boss, the independent animated series that is not attached to this Amazon/A24 project. I think the most recognizeable name in the main cast is either Stephanie Beatriz or Keith David - and most people will remember them as "that woman from Brooklyn Nine-Nine" or "Dr. Facilier's Voice Actor", not by their own media personas.

Besides, it feels a bit dismissive when people just say they're "celebrities" and not, you know, actors who are doing the jobs they've been hired for. Keith David himself, for example, is an accomplished veteran actor, singer AND voice actor for many beloved roles - and he STILL is not recognized enough for his incredible range.

I understand that many fans are very attached to the original VAs (and that's completely valid, they are incredibly talented as well), but it feels kind of ridiculous to say that Vivziepop made the "wrong" choice here by casting a different set of performers in these roles.

Also: "Vivziepop should have saved the money she used on the Broadway VAs and given it to the animators!" I want animators to be paid fair wages just as much as anyone else, but this is not how the budget distribution for these types of projects work. You do know this is not how it works, right? Right?

[scummzz]

just to make it abundantly clear: i'm against what the Israeli government is doing to Palestinians and to the people living in gaza. gallant calling Palestinians "human animals" is horrifying.

the fact that israel can declare war against a country that isn't even considered a country by many other nations, is insanity to me. and the fact that Israel can declare war against a country that doesn't even have a military to protect itself, is horrible. it's not a war, but a massacre. the blockade that Israel has now implemented is awful. it's not war, it's a genocide.

israel is an apartheid state and has been colonizing Palestine. Palestinians aren't hamas, just as Israelis aren't the state of Israel. decolonization isn't going to happen through peaceful protests and demonstrations, or signing petitions.

i find it despicable that some think that hamas acts and speaks on behalf of all palestinians.

and to give you some numbers: from 1.1.08 to 19.9.23, 6407 Palestinians were killed, according to the OCHA. in that same timeframe, 308 Israelis were killed. and from 2008 to 2020, the number of killed Palestinians was 5590, whereas the number of killed Israelis was 251. what this means, is that the number of killed Palestinians increased by 817 in just three years, and the number of dead Israelis increased by 57.

and yes, i know that human lives aren't statistics. i want to highlight that Palestinians have suffered far greater losses in this "conflict" than Israel has.

i have nothing against jews and judaism. my problem is with zionists and with the Israeli government. my problem is with everyone standing with Israel and who are defending israel's treatment of palestinians.

free palestine.

[joanna-lannister]

cersei deserves better than jaime

👁️👁️

I'd say depends if we talk about show!JC or book!JC. If we talk about book!JC, I'd say I def agree with that, but if we talk about show!JC (which is the one I mostly talk about), I disagree. I think they are worthy of each other. Two scenes bug me with Jaime, but otherwise he has always been here for Cersei. Also, who else could make her happy?

[symphonyofsilence]

Let the poor man rest.

[houseofpurplestars]

What really gets me about the sentiment "Don't look away" is that its always used in the wrong context. People may be well meaning, but what they end up doing is flooding the conversation with zionist carnage in a manner not unlike the way zionists *want* their atrocities to be seen.

Rather than thinking, "I must traumatize myself with this image for Palestine," try, "I will not turn my back on the people of Palestine." Watching them die is not enough. Speaking only of their suffering is not enough.

Don't look away when Palestinians resist. Don't condemn them when they fight for their lives and land. Speak for their rights to live and move freely in their own homeland. Do not look away from their life. Palestinians are here, they remain, and they will remain, and they are in the future, and they will live free and happy lives just as anyone else should be able to.

"Don't look away" should not be a call to engage in real life atrocities like its a horror movie. "Don't look away" should be a call to make Palestine the focus of everything. Don't let people FORGET or IGNORE what is happening. You can talk about what is happening without sharing the same ghoulish photos that zionists love.

[yourhighness6]

Ugh I will always love the concept of Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko after the last agni kai, mostly because it makes no sense to me that Zuko was able to bounce back so easily after being struck by lightning, but also because the way the show treats bloodbending is just odd to me. It was a defense mechanism created by a traumatized victim of some of the most devastating parts of colonization, and although I understand that Hama was supposed to symbolize the "bad parts" of waterbending and was important for Katara's growth in realizing that the world isn't entirely black and white, its still disappointing to me that the show never explored the gray areas of blood bending, especially since that episode was, as I stated above, about understanding the gray areas of the war. Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko would add so much to the last agni kai in demonstrating that she has truly realized that "good" and "evil" are relative concepts, and Zuko being saved by both a defense mechanism of a survivor of colonialism and a type of bending used to terrorize his people would have even added to his arc, as the narrative required him to save and subsequently be saved by the physical embodiment of everything his family sought to annihilate.

[horrorlesbians]

atmospheres that are underutilized in horror-

weddings/bachelorette parties

high school graduation 24-hour lock-in parties

school winter break

middle schools

white collar businesses

airports/in-air flights

cruise ships

family reunions

college freshman claustrophobic dorms

the last two weeks of college during exams

industrial plants/warehouses

[an-established-butt-dent]

"What have they done to you,

Old friend."

Trapped in the fade, Solas comes face to face with the remnant of his spirit.

The Dread Wolf was his wisdom, mirror to his pride. In the wake of the wrathful Evanuris, it too, has succumbed to their taint.

Or, where I'm making wild plot speculations surrounding Solas trapped in the fade. while turning my brainrot into art pieces and gifs. I'M PACING MY ENCLOSURE. Looking for crumbs and scrabs of Veilguard. Please Bioware I'm begging, feed me. 😭

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

As per usual, it’s DP crossover with (probably) DC, although you could probably adjust it for other fandoms

ANYWAYS

A little kid and his mother are trick or treating in another city, perhaps at some kind of event rather than knocking on doors, and the kid is dressed as Phantom. It’s very adorable, with his little ghost-shaped bucket and clearly homemade and already stained costume—listen, white only works if you can just fly over street grime or phase it out of your clothes—and his slightly I’ll fitting wig. The kid is SO happy to be out and about dressed as his favorite, and maybe even showed it off to Phantom back in Amity Park before his family left.

The hero, insert whoever you wish here, is probably in civvies and just enjoying the event. The kid, meanwhile, is so glad when people ask who he is so he can explain, and so- the hero gets to hear ALL ABOUT the local town hero who is probably pretty small time despite the kid’s clearly exaggerated stories. The hero certainly never heard of him, but the kid’s mom confirms that Phantom really was the town hero, despite some mixed reviews of the poor guy.

“Did you manage to show him your costume?” the hero asks.

“Yeah! We went down to the cemetery to leave flowers and I got to show him my costume.”

Wait. Cemetery? Maybe it was part of theme, because Phantom had to be named that for a reason, but… it sounded like…

The kid ignores the suddenly VERY still hero and instead turns to his mom. “Momma, do you think we should bring him candy? He doesn’t get to trick or treat like we do, and I can work super hard to get him a bunch!”

The kid’s mom just smiles. “We could, but maybe we should bring him something homemade. I bet he’d like something more filling, teen boys like him have a hollow leg.”

The kid wrinkles his nose. “Like Vernie with the pizza bagels?”

“Like your cousin, yes. We can make some cinnamon rolls and take them to his memorial, maybe bring some of the apples from your grandpa’s garden…”

The hero is pretty much forgotten as the two-part family wanders off, not quite intentionally forgetting the hero is there so much as the hero somewhat accidentally ended the conversation when they just froze and didn’t ask anything further.

Not that the hero didn’t want to. But they’d learn something very serious.

One—there was a small town hero they’d never heard of. Two—that hero was apparently a teen. Third—most pressingly, the teen hero was both beloved enough to have kids dressing up as him and dead enough to have a grave.

This… might require some phone calls.

[royal-misfit]

The main reason I think Goncharov worked better as a piece of mass produced fiction over Zepotha really does come down to the basic concepts of each piece. Goncharov had a concrete idea from the start, it was a lost 1973 mafia film directed by Martin Scorsese. Meaning that people new to the joke could more easily understand how to add to the story. Martin Scorsese has an unique style to his films, he has directed multiple mafia/crime dramas that people could pull from to create a cohesive story that sounds plausible for him to have made. People were able to come up with characters (and the actors who played them) and an actual plot by just studying the genre and finding what would work. Zepotha is just marketing a single artist's work under the idea of "an 80's horror film", no director, no actual genre other than "horror" (what kind of horror? Slasher seems to be the most popular, but Zepotha sounds more like a giallo style supernatural horror to me). There's no director listed, so no one knows how this film would play out or look. Because horror is such a vague descriptor here, people are throwing just about everything to the wall to see what sticks, which slows down the actual storytelling potential. People are making up characters first, before a plot leading to there being like 50 named characters, but any actual story is lost. Tldr; Goncharov found it's footing much easier and faster by starting out with a concrete idea, while Zepotha is stumbling because it's vagueness makes it hard for anyone to agree on basic things like story or characters.

[cheekylittlepupp]

Everyone likes to poke fun at Astarion when he mentions his nails but you do know why he's like that, right?

He had to punch a hole in his coffin and claw his way through six feet of dirt after Cazador turned him.

Or maybe the time when he was locked inside a tomb for an entire year, months of which he spent scratching his hands raw, desperately trying to carve his way out.

It does make sense why he doesn't want to "ruin" his nails, I doubt he wants to remember either of those moments, and those are the ones we know about.

[bekolxeram]

I'm late to the party I know, but I need to learn how to make gifs first. I actually find the Bucktommy dinner scene a bit awkward, but not because they "lack chemistry" or the "flirting is problematic". It's not supposed to be just a cute bonus scene, it's engineered to stuff as much information as possible into mere 55 seconds. Here is my read on it:

The good old always at the hospital joke, probably just Tommy trying to lighten the mood after such a hectic day for the 118, but mainly a set up for the next part.

Buck does not see the humor in it, he seems upset.

Tommy has apparently gotten to know Buck enough at the stage to immediately clock it, and under all the dark humor and sarcasm, he does actually care about Buck's feelings.

The scene of Buck and Eddie in the hospital room with Bobby ends up on the cutting room floor, we've only got that one shot of teary eyed Buck when he breaks the news to Eddie at his house, so this is the first time in the episode Buck gets to express his fear of losing Bobby, his father figure.

And here we are, controversial moment number 1. There isn't much context attached to this line, so viewers interpret it differently. I'm in the minority camp that thinks Tommy is being serious here, Lou's delivery makes it seem like Tommy says this out of concern. I believe it's a call back to this line from the medal ceremony:

Here Buck is talking about Phillip the same way Tommy and Chimney (possibly Hen too) talk about Gerrard: like he's dead. Tommy is probably wondering if Phillip is another Gerrard situation, and he invites Buck to talk about it if he wishes to.

Buck gives a humorous but one word answer, so Tommy gets that he doesn't want to get too deep into it.

From this line on, it's a set up for the Gerrard reign of terror in S8. Tommy reiterates the jealousy he mentioned in 7x04, that he wants to become a part of the 118 family, which he only had a little taste of before he left to become a pilot.

Tommy backstory crumb. Buck and Phillip at least see each other at family functions, Tommy doesn't have a relationship with his dad at all. Judging by the medal ceremony, he doesn't seem to have any family left.

It confirms Gerrard as the anti-Christ anti-Bobby. Buck becomes the person he is because of Bobby, while Tommy behaved the way he did in the 3 begin episodes because of Gerrard. It acknowledges Tommy's toxic ways back in the days, but as we can see by the time Bobby became captain of the 118, Tommy was already on friendly terms with Chimney and Hen, we might have a chance to see the transformation in between next season. I've heard that season 7 is supposed to be a soft relaunch of the entire series, so maybe Gerrard is a good plot device to make new viewers understand the positive influence Bobby has on the firefam.

Classic deadpan humor from Tommy, Buck gets the message that he wants to keep the conversation lighthearted.

Now Buck has the power to decide which direction he's leading the conversation into, and he gives us controversial moment number 2, he brings up daddy issues and makes it horny. Look at his smirky face, he's definitely not trying to have a serious chat about father complex. He's the one who starts flirting, not Tommy, and it shows us unlike the nervous fumbling at the beginning of their relationship, Buck is now comfortable enough to initiate flirting.

Tommy can't say no to that face, so he flirts back, but it can also be interpreted as him being in denial of his obvious daddy issues. More conflict and angst for S8?

More flirting. Boy's got rizz towards all genders. He basically admits he might have "daddy issues" in a sexual connotation.

Now comes THE controversial moment of the scene, if not the episode. I've seen people online bashing Tommy for "making it sexual" (Buck did), "interrupting a meaningful conversation to satisfy his daddy kink" (no one is actually talking about any kink), or even "exploiting Buck's trauma to put him in an inferior role in a dom/sub relationship" (What? That's not what d/s is about).

I raise you the point that the word "daddy" is no longer some kind of kink exclusive lingo. This word has entered the popular zeitgeist the last couple years, and now it basically just means a sexy older man. I bet the daddy kink thing doesn't even cross the mind of most of the GA, they just take it as Tommy hoping Buck find this older man sexy. I think we might have collectively read too many smutty fanfics, that's why we all immediately jumped to the very extreme of the kinkiness spectrum when it comes to this scene.

Conclusion, the dialog in this scene may not sound natural, but that's not the point. This scene is in fact, an infodump. Kudos to the actors for making it cute.

[justarandomhelluvablog]

"Why do Asmodeus and Beelzebub get to be good people while Mammon is flat-out terrible?"

Because greed can't be good. Bottom line. You can make arguments for lust and gluttony not being inherently harmful, but not greed.

The very basis of greed is intense desire for something (not just money) with disregard for others. You can be lustful and still love (ex, feeling sexual desire for your partner). You can be gluttonous and still be responsible (ex, going out to a party on your weekend). But you cannot be greedy and care about others.

Being the embodiment of greed inherently means you cannot care about other people. That's why Ozzie and Bee get to be Ozzie and Bee. That's why Mammon will only ever be Mammon.

[i-know-the-endss]

i think the most frustrating part about tbosas is the fact that you want to root for coryo. you want him to be a better man for lucy gray. you want him and sejanus to become closer, to become the best friends sejanus believes them to be. you want him to run away and find a way to relearn all the oppressive and tyrannical ideals the capitol instilled in him.

but that’s not what happens.

coriolanus isn’t necessarily a good person. he’s not a bad person either, not yet, but he’s no where near good. and rather than try to be good, he gives up, he lets himself “go bad”, he rats out sejanus, he lets his anger get the best of him and loses lucy gray.

the idea that coryo could be a good person but chooses not to be is exactly the reason this book and this character are brilliant.

[wolveria]

With how incredibly cruel people can be in fandoms nowadays, I can understand the lack of interaction on tumblr.

I know it's well meaning, but I have a feeling folks who say "people who boop can also interact directly with blogs!" have never been sent hate mail, or received nasty comments, or been put on a list that gets passed around because they ship/write/draw the "wrong" thing.

SO yeah. The lack of interaction isn't what's killing fandoms. It's the people who go out of their way to harass other fans that leads to less interaction that kills fandoms.

And it's not really fair to expect people to interact in a hostile environment.

[ghostofthepresent]

Why I think Shiguang can be canonically read as romantic

(I will only be using the donghua for reference, so no Studio Lan retweeting those fanarts (lmao) nor those especially gay manhwa panels (lmao x2) nor even the songs ("chase you to the end of the world, just to say your name once more" my beloved).

It's important to start off by saying that I'm aware Director Li said they ended up not making Lu Guang a girl because they didn't want romance to be seen as a must in Shiguang's relationship by the audience (and because he feels that "bros can have a good heart-to-heart connection with each other"). In my opinion that was a great move since it allows more freedom with how they write them than they'd have otherwise. I also think viewing Shiguang as queerplatonic is a great read too and it doesn't diminish their love for each other nor the importance of their relationship at all.

With that said, despite Director Li's words, there's been things that had me going 🤨 as someone who likes to adhere to canon relationships and read into the writer's intentions, so I wanted to share why I personally see them as romantic.

EPISODE 2

We've all seen this coming, right? Most obvious parallel ever, and in the second episode no less. We all know the similarities between both relationships, so I will just touch on those I consider the most important ones.

Lin Zhen and Yu Xia have gone to college together, and since then decided to start a business of their own - named after a mix of their names. They've been shown as being really close and having no romantic relationships. Lin Zhen also says that Yu Xia's happiness is her own, and then it's shown to us that she's gone through years of unhappiness just for Yu Xia. I believe you can replace their names with Lu Guang's and Cheng Xiaoshi's in your head without me writing all this again. And I'm not even going to get into the most obvious parallels like the special noodle recipe for each pair.

I think it's safe to say that Lin Zhen and Yu Xia are implied to be romantic. From that "one noodle" scene, to the close shot of Lin Zhen grabbing her hand, etc.

Now, I want to get into a writer's point of view and pose two questions:

1. What's the purpose of this episode, when even those which seem episodic connect to the overarching plot of season 1 (even the missing kid's case, as it leads to the involvement with the police)?

2. If we answer the previous question with the conclusion that it's meant to show us the nature/development of Cheng Xiaoshi's and Lu Guang's relationship, what does that say about it?

"Partner" in Link Click

Continuing with episode 2, what really got me thinking about the romantic intentions in their writing was the constant mention of marriage and anything in relation to it.

(may I remind everyone that the driver's comment was said when Cheng Xiaoshi was complaining about Lu Guang lmao)

They're telling us through "show don't tell" (for example, when Lin Zhen kept on eating the noodle despite knowing they'd kiss) and, also, connotations. They are presented to us as business partners, but then the entire episode goes on to tell us that there's more to them by tying their relationship to things percived as romantic. So what they want to really tell us is that beyond simple business partners, they're life-long partners.

And then, after establishing this kind of connotation to the word partner, Cheng Xiaoshi says this to Lu Guang in the next episode:

This doesn't stop at them. While it's the most obvious example, I think partnership in Link Click is intended to be seen as romantic, or at the very least dancing somewhere close to it. Let's go even further and take a look at our fully canon, heterosexual relationships and see briefly how their story is written:

1. Dong Yi and Xu Shanshan: both of them chose the comfort of each other's presence over moving on with their respective futures. Dong Yi had so much faith in their relationship and their love that he couldn't choose a life/future that didn't have Xu Shanshan - choosing to not go back to his family home nor go to that interview, and instead waiting for Xu Shanshan to define their relationship.

2. Liu Siwen and Ouyang: Siwen spent his entire life training with the purpose of getting his father-in-law's respect and marry Ouyang, going every year over and over to fight him. His perseverance and his undying love for her allowed Siwen to do the (seemingly) impossible.

3. Chen Bin and his wife: they're a tragedy. His wife understood Chen Bin the best, enduring feeling lonely because she loved him and wanted a future with him. But their relationship was cut short, so they promised each other to be together in a future life to make up for the time they wouldn't be in this one.

With this + the pictures I attached, it seems like Link Click has set this theme of "love is a life with you" for its romantic relationships, a partner that will fight to stay because they can't see a future that doesn't have their beloved. Going back to episode two, this applies even to the noodle ladies. When Yu Xia remembered what actually matters to her, she went back home - to the start, to her hometown. And, most importantly, to Lin Zhen.

So why is Shiguang romantic? Why aren't they queerplatonic, or just best friends, or bros or whatever else? Because besides what I said at the start of the previous paragraph, Shiguang's relationship mirrors a lot of the romantic ones. Each story and author writes romance and other kinds of relationships differently, portraying them in the way they perceive "this is what this kind of love is like". And beyond life-long partners, I think that the key elements of romantic relationships in Link Click are the ones I highlighted in bold above in the 3 canon relationships part - which Shiguang shares, too.

(I didn't mention this before with the het couples, but I find it a little amusing that season 2 happened because a man wanted to go to the past and get his wife back (still fuck you Qian Jin) and then we find out Lu Guang did go back to the past and got his boyfriend partner back lmao).

"Friend" vs "Partner"

So where is the boundary between platonic and romantic? What marks the difference between a (best) friend and a partner?

There is, for example, Liu Xiao and Li Tianchen's relationship. They aren't shown to have any kind of romantic undertones and there's even the very real possibility of manipulation on Liu Xiao's side. They're also never labeled as nor call each other partners, but instead Li Tianchen says he "met a new friend" and Liu Xiao says he's "going to meet an old friend" years later. So we could say for now that they have a somewhat close relationship (we see Li Tianchen go against Qian Jin to give the phone to Liu Xiao), but never cross that "friend" label.

We can even bring Qiao Ling and the boys' relationship. She's never labeled as a partner despite taking part in the side job and, more importantly, being super close to both of them. She is very important and a cherished friend to Shiguang, so why not call her partner too? I think it's intentional. Since she's been given a familial role already (calling Cheng Xiaoshi her brother when talking to Li Tianxi), she can't fill a partner role. I wonder why? because it's supposed to be a synonym for a romantic relationship. who said that.

So even best friends (Qiao Ling, arguably what Liu Xiao is to Li Tianchen) don't enter this close space that is being a partner. It's different, it's beyond platonic. Or at least that's what they've been showing us for the past two seasons.

I could go soo much more into this honestly, because I do think the little hints thrown here (the music videos) and there (tiny seemingly inconsequential details) are worth to be looked at too, but I wanted to get into the core reason that makes me go "woah so they're In Love fr". I hope I expressed myself well ^^

tldr; the series shows us a divide between having a (best) friend and a partner, giving "partners" romantic connotations.