Being a Charlastor shipper right now is not for the weak because this ship is literally harmless but the creator and her fans just outright decided it's public enemy number one in the fandomπ meanwhile abuser x victim ships are beloved and given shit ton of fanserviceπ
like Charlastor is the practically healthiest Alastor ship at this point but it's treated like the worst thing to ever exist in this fandom
Alastor canonically trusts Charlie but noooo πhis relationship with his abusive stalker that he hates is much more acceptable than him and the women he gave up his dignity to make sure she's safe from his abuser's hands
I wanna start by saying I totally get your reaction to all this Nonny. I get that it's frustrating to have to watch every other ship getting fed meanwhile we've been relegated to the trenches as everyone's enemy for... to be honest my guess is the fact that Viv never got over the fact that a bunch of pilot charlastor fans who 1. Didn't speak English, and 2. Were not aware of Viv's internet presence decided to make the pilot anniversary "Charlastor Day" so the hazbin tag had gotten flooded with a bunch of Charlastor art in celebration. The reason Viv was pissy about it? She decided for some reason that releasing the pilot on her ACTUAL IRL BIRTHDAY was a fan-fucking-tastic idea and was somehow butthurt that people were celebrating a non canon ship over her existence or something? That's my whole understanding of the events going on here because she was perfectly fine with Charlastor up until that point and only started being openly hostile to stuff surrounding it (even joke comments) after that happened. And even though this happened FIVE YEARS AGO she won't let it go.
That, and/or the fact that most fans of charlastor tend to be the ones that critique how she handles chaggie in the series (because she doesn't) and she is not and never has been good at taking criticism. Like, hate to say it, there's a reason why almost none of those who were involved in the original pilot are still in her circle.
And I feel like I have to preface this, every single time I talk about it, but I don't hate Chaggie. I'm not mad at the concept of Chaggie being canon. Never have been. Maybe it's my specific flavor of neurospicy but I don't have the energy to be mad at the existence of something I don't particularly like. What I get hung up and in my crashouts about is that it's very frustrating to want to watch a show about "haha funny roommates in a hotel in hell" the show and being constantly dragged into political drama that doesn't have the time to be delved into properly. Vox spent the last 6 episodes gearing up to declare war on Heaven. 6 EPISODES!! OUT OF 8!! She's got two episodes left to finally defeat him and it's not going to be satisfactory unless she ends on Deus Ex Lilith coming in and shutting it all down leaving us on a cliff hanger for another year and a half.
Adam got 3 episodes with the whole extermination thing. Again, OUT OF 8. Not that the ideas for these storylines aren't good, but the problem is that there's just not enough time for everything she wants to do. Ideally, the first season should have been all about the time period between exterminations. Charlie recruiting sinners to stay at the hotel, miscellaneous shenanigans they all get into. Masquerade isn't the best episode of season 1 for no reason. It's because we actually get to spend time with Angel, and Husk to a certain degree. We get to sit with these characters and understand them better, figure out where things might be going, what and who might end up being important to them. How this might play into their journey for redemption.
The hotel is effectively supposed to be Purgatory. The place where a soul goes to cleanse and absolve itself of its sins so that it's ready to one day ascend into heaven. Part of that is work, and making mistakes, and learning from them. But as much as I love Pen his death, and subsequent redemption didn't hit as hard as it should have because we didn't get to spend any real time with him. I have learned more about him being up in heaven than I did during the journey that got him there. Same with Vaggie's angel/exorcist reveal. Why should I care? I don't know jackshit about Season 1 Vaggie. Where hazbin shone best during season 1 was when we got those meaningful character interactions. There's a reason everyone loves the episode dad beat dad too; I'm not an ra shipper, I never will be thanks to some of its more toxic fans but when it first aired? I got the appeal! I did! It was fun watching Alastor and Lucifer interact and have their little pissing contest. It was fun watching Mimzy break in so that there was no actual winner and bringing trouble with her. It was AMAZING seeing Charlie stand up to her father in Alastor's defense because she may not agree with his methods but damnit he believes in her. Not her dream, HER.
Season 2 has dropped most of what drew people to it, the characters, for this wannabe a god plot with the Vees. Hence why the Vees are the most enjoyable parts of season 2: we get to spend time with those characters as opposed to our core cast which is glossed over to the point of them seeming entirely out of character. I am all for Charlie making mistakes, please, it highlights how despite everything she is not human and never was. No matter how well she means there will always be that barrier between her and nearly every single one of her friends. But just because she cannot understand them in a fundamental way doesn't mean she doesn't care about them. Season 1 Charlie "I am the princess of hell I can go where I please" Morningstar who went to Vee tower just to try and get Angel some time off would never leave Alastor to his own devices with a group of people she knows he can't stand. I refuse to believe she's that easily distracted by a "it's Alastor, he's probably fine" when after the battle of the hotel she was so relieved to see him again she completely disregarded his "no touching unless I initiate" boundary (and she's super big on boundaries and trying to respect them) just to squeeze him tight. That Charlie doesn't care that Alastor is a fucking prisoner? No. I don't buy it.
This turned into more of a critique of the show's overall story and writing than about Charlastor but I think the two at this point are inextricably linked. As Co-tagonists Charlie and Alastor's dynamic is core to the show. Even in season 1 we didn't need to see them interacting to understand Alastor was helping Charlie and holding up his end of their arrangement. The vibes were there. This season? We see them share like... 2 scenes? They don't particularly talk, Alastor wasn't as close/touchy around her as he was the prior season. And that feels deliberate. Like Viv would willingly tank her own show's story just to stick it to shippers. Which... not a super great way to run your show. Especially when Amazon knows who its moneymaker characters are and keep releasing products involving them. The dissonance is strong, and while I think Charlastor doesn't need to be canon or the writing doesn't NEED to be the best writing ever written you need to not let your ego get in the way of what the story is shaping up to be. How many seasons will it take for Viv to learn that lesson? Your guess is as good as mine.
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pixelskylines
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theartofmadeline
turnnoffyourmind
