#nor am I interested in it

[pikp0kcas3]

The Hazbin Hotel fandom’s issue with accepting aromanticism and asexuality

Now that it is officially Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week, I want to talk about this!

I find that, as an aroace myself, I am constantly grasping at good representation and coming up empty— it usually ends up in one of two ways.

One: the character is portrayed as emotionless, cold, and robotic in nature. It’s the question aromantic and/or asexual people are often asked: “Are you heartless?” The answer is no, of course, but general media makes it out to be the opposite.

Or two: Their lack of attraction is seen as something to “fix” because they “haven’t found the right one yet”, and they end up with a partner as a “happy ending”.

It frustrates me greatly because of how little people actually see aromanticism or asexuality as a true part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

So when I watched Hazbin Hotel, and I found out about Alastor being aroace, I was over the moon. I was on cloud nine. I also saw how his voice actor has looked up the term as an attempt to learn about aroaces, which makes me OVERJOYED?? Amir is truly a blessing, and I love that he’s proud to embody a character that’s part of our community. It’s so beautiful to finally have a proper character, a fan favorite at that, who just so happens to be aroace— and that’s another thing I love about this.

It’s never explicitly stated in the show (though it is stated in interviews), but it’s rather clear when you’re watching, isn’t it? Alastor’s aversion to any sort of sexual advancement, coupled with Rosie’s blatant “I know you’re an ace in the hole” comment sort of spell out his asexuality pretty clearly, as well as what side of the spectrum he falls upon. In addition, his Valentine’s day card was strictly platonic, which caters to his aromantic side. It feels so validating to finally be represented, to finally have a character in media who shares the same lack of interest in romance and sex as I do.

When I entered the fandom to look for more content, I kind of expected to see the same respect for Alastor’s orientation there too. But that… wasn’t the case? I am fully aware that aromanticism and asexuality are both spectrums— of course, aromantic and/or asexual people can enter those kinds of relationships. I’m not denying that and they belong in the community as much as anyone else on the spectrum.

But, the more I see the same line again and again and again, the more it feels like an excuse to just ship what you want.

Usually I don’t mind shipping? I’m often a firm believer in people shipping what they like as long as it’s harmless and they don’t go crazy over it. I also know for a fact that Viv doesn’t have a problem with people shipping her characters. They are fictional, after all.

But in this case, people are ignoring the very thing that makes Alastor a part of the aroace community! People are ignoring his lack of romantic or sexual attraction!

Is this not the same as changing a gay character’s orientation to suit a straight ship? If not, how so? I’m told that we are a part of this community, so why aren’t we being treated like it? Why is it so hard to accept the people on the end of the spectrum who aren’t interested?

Something I’ve been noticing throughout my life is that society has not exactly progressed very much on the idea of accepting asexual or aromantic identities. Maybe we have, a little, since the old days— but hell, people in “the old days”, which in truth wasn’t very long ago, believed that asexuality was a medical condition to be “fixed” by taking the right medication or having sex. That’s a pretty low bar to clear. And on the romance side, you’re seen as a “late bloomer” or “boring” if you don’t express interest. These days, being friends with someone is treated like a gateway to them possibly becoming a lover. Not getting married, not going on dates, not wanting a partner— it’s all treated like a crime when it’s not.

Maybe I’m selfish, or sensitive, or I’m butthurt over nothing, or I’m making it all about me. Maybe I’m gatekeeping or whatever the term is. But please, please, please, I just want an aroace character like me who simply is not interested in sex or romance.

And I want fandom to respect that. I admire the creations that fans make— the art, the animatics, the writing and the character analysis. And I want people to keep creating because creation is indeed a beautiful thing.

But I really would like people to treat aroace identities like they’re important. Like it’s more than just a spectrum to get wiggle room to wrangle in another ship.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

there's just... there is no reason to make yet another cop show in this day and age. copaganda is not only bullshit, it is a failure of imagination.

you want to watch brooding characters with dark pasts investigate crimes in an official capacity? just use private detectives (cops have a miserable solve rate anyway). want eccentric geniuses & their sidekicks solving mysteries? i present you with armchair detectives & neighborhood busybodies. oh, you're craving a workplace comedy-drama starring overworked protagonists doing their heartfelt best to resolve community conflicts? social worker office sitcom! bitch this is ACHIEVABLE

[spacebubblehomebase]

"Say My Name."

Tumblr "Poll Results" for my #HHStargazersAU are out and so I'm releasing ALL the currently available titles of my future posts for this story!!! Though to not completely spoil the plot for everyone, I redacted some parts on the list. Just know that, while I DO have plans, they could always change and not everything is complete. But if you're still willing to be patient with me, here's a taste of my writing and art! Nothing serious. Just to see if it's to your liking. I won't always stick to such style, but there WILL be consistent world building as it's my favorite part of starting any AU! And if you like Chaggie or queerplatonic Radioapple centric stories then you're in luck because that's EVERYTHING I'm here for! It'll take a lot of effort, but GOD will it also be a LOT of fun! XD Still a show is nothing without an audience and according to my list, it's time for an INTEREST CHECK, so what say you? 👀✨️ -Bubbly💙

(For more context, check out "Part One" of my story! "A New Day Will Dawn...")

[infiniteorangethethird]

the loveless tag has too much negativity in it for my taste so reply to this with the things you enjoy abt being loveless!

mine is the ability to define my emotions and actions however I damn please and not having to confine myself to the labels and tiny boxes society has created just to make other ppl feel more comfortable around me

[thingthatgoes-butch-inthenight]

Cannot stress enough that idc abt corrupt priests, I care abt *corrupting* a priest. Getting that sweet innocent man to give in to his desires and whimper and beg for me? ......Yes plz

[soukokumychildren]

Alot of people on twitter wanted Soukoku with this gif of... uhhhhhhhhh

I managed to have some time so I squeezed in a sketch here you go

[starsoftheeye]

i need sam and celia to work out.

i dont mean that in the "they both live happily ever after and both survive" no they can die if that is what the plot requires, i just need their relationship to be okay. no petty drama or miscommunications that do nothing for either characters or plot other than be interesting

obviously the whole "alice not being over her and sams relationship" makes for good samalicelia shipping fuel and character-wise it is an interesting view into both of their characters, but i will be genuinely upset if it turns into a boring "which one will sam choose" romantic side plot

i can handle arguments, i can handle the realism of trauma and difficult situations making it difficult to maintain healthy relationships. what i cant handle is throwing away potential for a cheap shock, like we've seen in so many love stories before. what i also dont want is an unrealistic narrative that prioritises a relationship over a story

tma done their relationships very well, where the love was real, and at times it improved characters mentalities and helped develop them as their own people, but no matter how much they loved one another, it didn't save the world, and it didn't change fate. jon and daisy turned into monsters, martin and basira had to kill the people they loved most, sasha disappeared, and tim lost his brother, then himself. their love was never world-saving, and whats done would be done by the end of the day, but their love was real, and thats what made it compelling

as a fan of the characters, of course i want them to have a happy ending, and for everything to work out for them in the end, but as a fan of the show? i want it to hurt. i want to be devastated by these characters whose love was enough to bandage the wound but not enough to heal it

[themintman]

I am filled with HATE and SORROW y'all know how like Nurm is my favourite character my number 1 guy out of any piexe of media ever I love him dearly which sucks cause he's pretty unpopular but whatever whatever. N I'm like "man I really want to see some new Nurm content but everything I find I've either seen before or I created ☹️" and then I. I go on tiktok and I KEEP seeing edits that start with a clip with Nurm in them and then haha surprise it's actually a Petra edit!! Cause it's ALWAYS PETRA GOD DAMN IT and I love her. I love Petra so much. She is a fabulous character but ohm y god I am tweaking. I genuinely started crying y'all I am not sane nor normal. I'm so normal about him. Oh my good god I am going insane I am 💥💥💥💥

[greenleaf4stuff]

I still can't digest Adar's demise because he deserved better, or at least he deserved the chance to stab Sauron one last time, but I thought about it more, and Adar was so MVP that Sauron did not want to risk losing his body again to him, so he used Adar's children to take him out because he knew Adar wouldn't defend himself if his children turned on him. Sauron was kinda cowardly.

Hi anon and thank you for your ask! :)

I think part of Sauron using Adar's children to kill him might have been Sauron not wanting to get his hands dirty/avoiding a direct confrontation to minimize the risk towards his newer body (I didn't even fully register that aspect before, and it is a good point!), but I think the main reason he did it is because he knew it would hurt Adar the most.

As we can see in the scene itself, Adar doesn't even fight back. Partly because of Nenya (Sam Hazeldine mentioned in an interview that the transformation caused Adar to feel defenseless, that he wasn't able to fight Sauron anymore), but also - in my opinion - because he couldn't bear to hurt his children, whom he had spent centuries defending and fighting for.

Everything he did - including killing Sauron - was for his children (Sam Hazeldine mentioned in two interviews how Adar only continues to live for the uruk); I think one possible reading might be that when the uruk attacked him, he lost his will to live.

And it's essentially the most cruel death Sauron could have given Adar - not only have his own children turned against him, but they are now going to be enslaved by Sauron, and all of Adar's work to better their situation and future will have been for nothing. And Adar must have been aware of that, in that moment.

That he failed, utterly and completely.

It's just...extremely cruel, and petty.

As been pointed out various times, it also mirrors Adar's own betrayal of Sauron, but at least Adar was the first one to attack Sauron during the betrayal in s2e1, whereas Sauron didn't lift a finger and let Adar's children do the dirty work.

(Also, sidenote, but I think this way of killing Adar is also a cruelty towards the uruk - Sauron has already killed Glug, and when he begins to force the uruk into following his orders, they will know that it was they themselves - their own kin - who killed the only person who ever cared about their wellbeing and protected them. That they took their only choice of a better future from themselves, and are now stuck with the consequences.)

[carlottastudios]

Every day I get closer to making an unhinged behemoth of a post listing all of the things about Kaeya and his possible connections to mythology & stuff that I notice but NOBODY ELSE SEEMS TO BRING UP IN THEIR THEORIES

(edit: OMG I reached the tag limit I'm so sorry)

[novantinuum]

continually annoyed by how every single post i've seen supporting the notion that "the journal pages in BoB were fakes" just feels like thinly veiled anti material

[butcharium]

Send your warm thoughts I am currently in the very religious part of the country to visit family with my mother in the town/rural area where she grew up. Not that her family has ever been very religious, but we're here to spend time with my demented grandfather, and his new wife (whom I now realize has been married to him for 10+ years) is extremely pentecostal:)) I don't have a particularly close relationship to anyone here, including my mother, but my mother is at least someone I know how to talk with. I never figured out how to communicate with her family or the other people here, my brother and our cousins are far better at that:')

[crow-archivist]

I support Jonny D’Ville’s right to go absolutely feral

[ganondoodle]

the worst part about finding more and more about totk that i dont like is that ... it seems like one of my biggest fears is going to become true; all of my previous hyperfixations died because a new thing of the franchise came out and i didnt like it, turned that strange, perhaps unhealthy, love and attachment into disappointment and sadness and im afraid thats happening to zelda right now, the one hyperfixation i hoped could last or at the very least i would just grow slowly away from in a good way if it was just totk that i didnt like, tho its hard to see all the love people have for it and just ... feel the opposite about it, it would be fine (heck i really disliked links awakening but ultimately i just regret spending so much money on it, it didnt impact my feelings about the rest of the franchise) but because it diminishes everything about botw too .. a game that i still love deeply, its not fine aside from me not liking anything they did with the zonau, it basically steamrolled botw too, damn near ignoring it ever happened, cramming in zonau stuff where it wasnt before just so its literally everywhere, taking its mysterious and answerign them in boring ways, implying that stuff i loved so much about botw was yet just another zonau thing (the three dragons possibly having been zonau ..........the ancient hero mystery being .. that.......) people basically claiming as fact that its somehow slammed into the old timeline despite it making no sense nor has any evidence aside from some names that happened to be used once before or them saying whats the point of ever looking at botw again bc totk does everything "better" ...

you cant ignore it really, even if i try to ignore what i dont like, i know whats revealed in totk, and others know it too.

and in turn it all makes me go back to that strange self hatred i thought i had finally left behind, the why do i care so much, its stupid to care so much about a piece of media i have no control about anyway, whats the point of caring so much, you have wasted so much time and effort and thought and tears about something like this, why are you so weird, why cant you just be like everyone else and love it all, why are you like this, stop being like this.

knowing i cant stop being like this, fearing from the start it might happen just like it has so many times, that i fall in love with a piece of media so much that when it gets a new thing that i dont like but affects every aspect of it it all flips into anger first, then disappointment and sadness and in end into wishing i wasnt weird like this, knowing i cant change it ... and it turning out true

[hildegardladyofbones]

Existing in a class of 24 students has once again reminded me that allos are real and not made up by the Internet