Why I am Leaving the critical commuinity
So I've stated before that I'm planning on leaving the critical commuinity. Not to say that I'll never discuss HH or HB here ever again, but I'm not gonna consider myself apart of the "hatedome" anymore.
I think its best to just get my reasonings out:
My Thoughts and Views on the show have changed
I initially made a lot of those earlier posts as a teenager who didn't have the media literacy to analyze the show and who was regurgitating these things from other critics.
After a long while though I sorta stopped agreeing with my previous points particularly on Stolas. I'll just be going through some of the arguments I've previously used and explain why I don't stand by them anymore.
"Stolas and Blitz's actions aren't equal'
This is an argument I often used whenever I saw the defense of "Blitz and Stolas both made mistakes", and while I still believe this, thats also not the point. The defense wasn't that Blitz and Stolas are both just as bad but rather that they both made mistakes, not that those mistakes were equal, that regardless of who's worse they are both flawed.
Which leads me to the next point...
"Blitz is justified in hating stolas and the series frames it as otherwise"
Once again this is argument I used that was missing the point of the defense and what the framing of the show was going for. While yes, Blitz is justified in being uncomfortable with how Stolas treats him, the point of that cage scene in oops was that Stolas did show genuine care to Blitz and Blitz is just choosing to ignore that in favour of painting Stolas as this rich prince who doesn't give a damn. While I will still criticize this moment for bringing up things that were off screen, that doesn't mean we should just ignore the fact that these moments still happened and that Stolas did, cannonically, show that he did love Blitz in spite of his sexual advances.
So ultimately because of that, Stolas ends up being justified in being upset with Blitz for this, because we know that he, cannonically, has shown care towards Blitz. The point isn't that Blitz has no reason to be upset, its that he should reconize that Stolas does care about him. Those two ideas can coexist with each other.
The show coddles Stolas-
It does not. Yes the show starts painting Stolas in a more sympathetic light during season 2 but that doesn't equate to coddling, its just revealing the deeper nuances to Stolas' actions beyond him being just some horny-ass bird. It still acknoweledges that the deal was bad and doesn't try downplaying it, which leads me to my next point:
"Stolas coerces blitz"
So I will deffiently agree that no matter what argument someone may try to make Stolitz does start out as coercian and there isn't anything getting around it. However, its worth noting that the series does seem to be aware of this. Stolas constantly talks about "setting blitz free", the dialogue mentions it being wrong of Stolas to have blitz "tehtehred close to him" and the series acknoweldges that the deal was never right.
So ultimately it seems like stolas being coercian may have been the point, making it so Its not bad writting. Not saying that coercian is justified, fuck no, but the series seems to be aware that the deal was wrong even if the words "its coercian" aren't explicitly said
I also think that there can be an interesting reason for the deal being made about Stolas wanting to keep Blitz "close to him", so he could have his precious Blitzy be near him. But again, whether you see this as coercion or not, the series still has Stolas recocnize that the deal was wrong and has him make amends, so I don't think its bad writting under this case.
"But the coercian is romantized-"
No its not. The series calls the deal out as being an unhealthy power dynamic. several times with the scene where Stolas gives the asmodean crystal to Blitz being a prime example.
"But the show doesn't acknowledge the full extent of Stolas' actions."
True, but A: Viv is clearly aware of Stolas' flaws and she is going to address them later on (meaning that the scenes were intended to be set up and should be judged as such) and B: that doesn't exactly mean the show is trying to downplay them either. it still clearly knows that the deal was wrong, Stolas knows that the deal was wrong and goes to fix it. Its not ignoring the actions rather setting them up to be called out later. Viv outright says in a tweet that she's thinks both blitz AND Stolas made mistakes in full moon, I don't think she would've said that if she didn't plan this.
But viv is lying-
Lets actually look at this take for a sec….why tf would she? If Viv were to say "hey, I'm going to address the flaws of both of these characters!" and then proceed not to…do you really think she wouldn't think that'd cause some controversy when the show eventually ends? I've critiqued Viv in the past, but I somehow don't believe she is THAT stupid to think that lying to her fandom wouldn't have serious consequences for her later
I know that there are gonna be certain critics that will argue otherwise but personally I don't see any reason as to why Viv would lie about the intentions of her work.
Stolas has not developed-
He has. He is growing to be a better person here, he gives blitz the crystal and lets him go from the deal, him not being fully aware of the full extent of his actions, while a little bit stupid as I don't see why Stolas wouldn't have done any self-reflection to realize this, doesn't invalidate that. He still has issues but he is making progress to growing as a person, that should be recognized.
Ultimately while I still think that there are some valid critiques of Stolas (like the fact that there is no reason not to call him out earlier or how his flaws as a father are downplayed, though even then thats issue thats exclusive to seeing stars and no where else) I don't think I really stand by a majority of my critiques.
Thats the biggest reason why I'm leaving, I just...don't agree with people in this commuinity anymore, though I don't agree with a lot of what the fandom says either. I've sorta become more neutrual on the shows nowadays and I hoped I did decent job explaining why I don't agree with my arguments anymore. You're free to disagree or argue back or just blocking and unfollowing me if you not interested in that.
Now the other reason.
I'm old enough to watch these shows
So I used to think since I thought that Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel were just sex jokes and swearing that I could easily take them, right?
...ehhh, no not really. There were a couple of scenes in the series that felt a bit uncomfortable to watch as a minor with the dilldo's scene in exes and oohs being a big one, as well as the entire poison sequence during episode 4.
And thanks to the recent annoucement those things are likely going to get worse so I'm just gonna dip out.
So ya, thats why I'm leaving the commuinity. If you disagree with my reasoning, thats fine, like I said if you aren't interested in arguing back you just block me and move on. I just hoped I explained well enough why I don't really want to associate myself with this little circle here anymore. It was a lot of fun while it lasted but now I think I'm done and I'm probably gonna move on to other things now.
So...ya...see ya.
