#helluva boss analysis

First off in the orginal pilot the whole point is that Bliz has very sugessfully seduced this princess. Stolas is being horny as hell for him becuse Blitz had initiated. Now Blitz was fakeing enthusiasm sure but that is hardly Stolas fault. Yes to strong but like from his perspective they had established a explicitly sexual relationship and was acting accordingly. Of corse that is all retconned now but fuck.

We have Stolas makeing degreateing coments which is a problem and the show sees it that way. The problem isn't with there arrangement it is with him being low key classest which mind you is a normal plot point in royal/pesent romances. Like stright people have this plot point all the time. Oh my god this plot point is litterly in Merlin do y'all rember BBC's Merlin.

Stolas is constantly more sexually forward yes but only because Blitz Started a sexual relationship and Stolas has never had consensual sex befor he met Blitz. He doesn't know what is and isn't ok he's fumbling like a teenager in there first relationship becuase he's never dated.

Gotta appreciate the fact that the more time people spend with Chaz, the more disillusioned with him they become regardless of how much fun they were having at first or how attracted they were to him.

It's a small but effective way to illustrate how, while funny, Chaz's charisma is fleeting and skin-deep because deep down he is an extremely self-centred and shallow partner and character.

TL:DR: Blitzo went from lovable underdog, love starved and with baggage from mysterious past deeds in season 1 to center of the universe in season 2 with no grey morality and no challenge whatsoever and also hundreds of people fell in love with him at some point, which is as relatable as it sounds.

Before I begin, I would like to say to the Anti Vivziepop that could use this as fresh ammunation for their pathetic hate campaign that, as time of writing this, I still support Vivienne Medrano and her rise in the animation and entertainment industry and that the Hellaverse is a wonderful creation that I hope gets expanded in the future beyond Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss.

This is just an analysis by me for me on why now, between HH Season 2 ending and HB Season 3 beginning, I don’t feel particularly grabbed on the shows, particularly Helluva Boss.

I already know why I was cold on Hazbin Hotel season 2 and it’s all me projecting and external factors. Having Vincent Donald Elon Whittman Vox as main antagonist hirks me too much. Just saying, him dying an horrible and gruesome death would have been wrong for the show message of second chances and redemption, but it would have been damn cathartic for me.

Anyway, what I want to focus on here is on Helluva Boss, because I found myself losing interest more and more and I wasn’t sure why. Until it hit me after watching the Barbie’s Bad Day.

The fault is on Blitzo, unfortunately because he is the one guaranteed to show up every episode.

Granted, that idea I didn’t like Blitzo characterization crept in after Chaz Funeral. A lot of people are fans of Chaz and are happy he is sort of alive again now, but I’m not because his whole thing is that he is a annoying sex pest with no redeemable qualities or depth. Miffed, people have compared him to Angel Dust because of the excess of dirty jokes and rampant lewdness, but I always saw him as a Blitzo but worse. Chaz Funeral can be seen as a parallel to the Anti-Blitzo Party in Apology Tour.

But after a while I started asking myself what do I like about Blitzo, which come up to very little and that is probably why I’m much more cool down on the series after Season 2 ended, as something got terribly wrong on his characterization in it.

In season one Blitzo Buckzo gave me the impression of a scrappy underdog, someone taking on a challenge too big for him, that is the whole IMP business, and sometimes succeeding by determination and various degrees of luck. That is why he looked badass only against DHORKS and even then he and the team got saved Stolas Ex Machina at the end. That's endearing and makes you want to root for him and his merry band of murderous misfits. Blitzo Season 2 doesn’t give me that energy. Admittedly he doesn’t get in fights very often but every single time he has to look badass in some shape or form, which is cool once in a while, but time after time it does get annoying (I found myself rolling my eyes when he didn’t flinch when Millie threw her knife at him and cut his cheek in the Ghost***kers flashback, because it’s as stock as a badass moment gets).

So relatability got shunted in favour of spectacle, fine, but I feel like the character got overall flattened more and more to make him appealable to more people, which is the worst you can do for a character.

Also in season one, I got the impression that Blitzo was going to be this morally grey character trying to live an happy life despite the mistake of his past, but maybe there wasn’t the power or the time or the overall risk of making him someone to be judged for his wrongdoings and so his "mistakes" were never his fault. The most egregious one and probably biggest missed opportunity so far was his relationship with Fizz and the incident that caused Fizzy to lose most of his body. Now, most of the fans and their pet rabbit deduced pretty soon that Blitzo was the one causing the accident and they were right, but the incident was so accidental it basically absolved Blitzo of all potential faults. Could have gone like a drunken, rancorous and down to his luck Blitzo crashing Fizz’s first show under Mammon after leaving Blitzo and the Circus and dominoing to the big explosion and flying limbs. That is an accident that doesn’t anticlimactically get resolved in ten seconds and would bring some scrutiny on nowdays Blitzo. This resolution leave me with very little hopes on how they are gonna tackle his relationship with Barbie, who is probably mad because he saved her from the burning Circus but left their mother behind and they will reunite after sitting down and exchange three lines of dialogue.

Ah, Barbie, that’s who made me realize something else about him: He doesn’t seem to get any negative consequences from his actions. Someone wild and abrasive as him is more palatable when he gets punched in the mush by fate from time to time, but it doesn't seem to happen, ever.

Barbie Wire, on the contrary, gets smacked in the head with the frying pan of destiny and her past substance abuse issues are actually a strain on her relationship with Kendra. On that front and many, it’s Stolas who hard carries this power couple because his decisions had negative consequences on his life. His fairytale love for Blitzo causing him to lose title, powers and Octavia, the only other person he would die for and by the end of season two he is questioning basically everything. It’s complex and sad and brings a lot of discussions on the character and how his actions hurt others, if he is a good parent or if he could endure more for Octavia. It is not even certain if Via is going to be in Stolas’ life at the end of the show or they are going on their separate ways by the end of the show. That’s compelling narrative.

Blitzo instead seems to have a positive effect on everyone he meets, as if he is a magic fairy bestowed to the characters by the plot. He recruits Moxxie at his lowest, he adopts Loona and give her a family, he gives Millie a better life, it’s Stolas escape from his forced marriage.

Everyone loves Blitzo. Even those at the anti Blitzo party are a five minute conversation with him from caring for him again (see Verosika).

Apology Tour was a turning point for me.

I always said that the biggest strenght of Helluva Boss was the fact that it was written as if it was a romantic fanfic. No really, that is a positive. It’s undisciplined and selfserving like eating ice cream from the tub and who doesn’t love that even in winter. Problem is you have to control yourself and the instinct to top it with all the crap you like to the point no one else like it anymore.

I get the sensation that, if season one was a fanfic, season two veered into self insert fic territory and not a good one at that. The one were your self insert is the center of the universe, the one where they are super great at everything, super goofy but a total badass and can have or has had an active relationship or even romantic one with all the notable characters no matter the gender, orientation or other relationship without even attempting to flirt.

And to make it more irritating, for all of season one and most part of season two, Blitzo believes he cannot be loved by anyone else and that is going to die alone.

That is bold.

That is the genius high school student who says they failed the test every time when everyone know they will get max score and honors every single time while some gasps for air and hope in a miracle to not have to repeat the class.

I mean, some saint will say that something might have happen during his upbringing and Cash Buckzo traumatize him enough to believe he cannot be loved by someone else, but that doesn’t make it less of a cliché, the poor unlovable sod who wants to love but think they cannot be loved while an entire football stadium worth of people loved or even loves them still. Again, Apology Tour and the Anti Blitzo Party broke the spell for me.

If I was a cynic, I would think the fact that Brandon Rogers who voices Blitzo and on who Blitzo is loosely based on being the co-writer of the show might be the reason why this direction for the character has been taken, especially with Vivienne, producer and superbud being busy with Hazbin Hotel, Zoophobia and probably more stuff and cannot reel him in.

Voice Actors’ weight influencing the portrait of a character wouldn’t be the first time in the animation industry (Mindy Kaling absolutely ruining Velma springs to mind) or in this show. Ask yourself why Striker’s mystique and coolness took a narrative nosedive when Norman Reedus left the show.

Anyway, despite all this, I’m looking forward to season 3 because I love all the other main characters and maybe they will course correct on Blitzo. Again, this is all personal and what I don’t like could be a gem for someone else. I think that should go without saying but better append it here.

But yeah basically, the concept wasn’t invented by Helluva Boss…. and Amazon wouldn’t have greenlit all the seasons they needed and all the episodes they wanted if these series weren’t loved and successful, and the fact that they are so liked despite this is not a sign that they work like that???

This is not in bad faith or anything, because these people weren’t haters or antis but I don’t know I find really interesting some people think like that because this has never been a problem to me while watching it.

Barbie Wire finally gets the spotlight… but is her life even more chaotic than Blitzø’s?

From her past, her struggles, and that shocking girlfriend reveal, we break down her story and what it means for Helluva Boss.

OHHHH MA GODDDDDDD

Barbie has been one of my favorites since her s2e5 debut, and holy shit I LOVED THIS EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The amount of fucking lore not just for her but for how Hell works as well was INCREDIBLE TO SEE!!!!!!!!

It was so interesting to see her and Fizz are still great friends (idk how the fuck that didn't occur to me that that would be a possibility lmao). Also the deli guy Rick, ALSO had a circus mark on his head???

I just think it was so neat seeing that she is also basically just female Blitz in regards to their mannerisms, their speech patterns, and the fact that they always blame the things around them for their mistakes! She probably has some bit of self-loathing, I could imagine for feeling like she's so much like her brother.

Good on her for not using her old supply of H-8 when things get tough, though it's so sad seeing her and Kendra struggling (those end credits hurt me physically QwQ)

Also, I thought I recognized Kendra's voice from somewhere, turns out she plays Sapphire in Steven Universe and is played by the lovely, talented Erica Luttrell so kudos!!

NOT TO MENTION THE COLORS/ENVIRONMENTS IN THIS EPISODE HOLY SHITTT??????? I COULD MAKE A TOP TEN BEST BACKGROUNDS TIER LIST JUST FROM THIS ONE EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!