(I NOT YELL, MY HEAD WORK DIFFERENT)
WHAT IS HARBINGER HOTEL AND HELLUVA COMEDY, EXPOSER THERAPY'S PLOT?
WILL HARBINGER HOTEL BE JUST ABOUT REDEEMED OR WILL BE TALK ABOUT REDEEMED AND HOW FEAR AND HATE HEAVEN HAVE TO HELL MADE THEM DO HORROR THING TOO?
AND WILL HELLUVA COMEDY TALK ABOUT CLASS DIFFERENT AND RACISM? LIKE SHOW STOLAS AND BLITZØ HOW THEIR LIFE IS DIFFERENT
BOTH HAVE SAD CHILDHOOD AND BE BOTH TWO DAD TRY TAKE CARE THEIR GIRLS. BLITZØ IS A IMP WITH HIS OWN BUSINESS BUT STILL POOR, AND HAVE HIS ADOPTIVE DAUGHTER LOONA TO TAKE CARE TOO. AND STOLAS WHO WAS TEACH TO KEEP UP APPEARANCE WITH OTHER GOETIA AND HAVE TEACH HIS HEIR WHAT HER ROLE IS
AND EXPOSER THERAPY, IS PLOT BE WOMAN HAVE ZOOPHOBIA, GO AWAY TO SCHOOL TO BE THEIR THERAPY, NOT KNOW SCHOOL IS IN MAGICAL REALM? AND SHOW HOW DEAL FEAR?
Yay, my first ask about Harbinger!!
Honestly for both Harbinger and Helluva Comedy I wanted to keep the core principle alive while also putting my own spin on it. Basically amplifying and going further into what is already there. So yes, Harbinger Hotel will still be about redemption and Helluva Comedy will still be about classism.
Though to get more specific, while Harbinger Hotel does have a major focus on redemption, it also has a focus on community, found family, and how systems fail people, along with how to challenge those systems. The theme of attonment and what classifies as a fitting punishment is also something I want to delve into.
I also wanted to put an emphasis on Charlie being inhuman and a lot of the main cast not getting that, though that's mainly a slow burn plot point. I got this from a few AU's I see that take more of a horror or hellish twist on the story, as I really like the idea of Charlie being a little scary. If Lucifer gets to be an eldritch horror sometimes, why can't Charlie? Though I will say, most of these AUs make Charlie a little too violent, not in a "I don't think a version of Charlie would do that" and more "I think that should be an arc she goes through rather than this being something she already does".
When it comes to Helluva Comedy, however, I want to actively make it more of a workplace comedy drama instead of just focusing on the comedy and drama. So many people say that there aren't being a lot of missions in the main plot of Helluva Boss is good cause it would be boring, but workplace comedies like Brooklyn 99 actively prove that wrong. You can have a character-focused narrative while still having the set piece be a repetitive format. I also add a new plot point which is one, placing the IMP office in the pentagram, and two, going into the fact that Blitz, Moxie and Millie are seemingly all ex-cons, and how a society built on the fact that it's a punishment for other people would act towards citizens that have commited crime. Especially since Lucifer's hatred of Sinners is likely known hell-wide, at least to hellborn.
There's also the fact that I think the way that both Hazbin and Helluva are currently written, with the expectation that they would never be able to cross over, actively holds the shows back. resulting in them feeling rather empty, or making characters like Charlie seem preferable when, in reality, they're not. Loona was actively watching Charlie sing "Inside of every demon is a rainbow" in the pilot, and is still implied to be a fan of hers. Knowing Loona, that means Charlie is likely very popular with hellborn in general, or at the very least, popular with Imps and Hellhounds.
Due to this, I want Charlie and Lucifer to kind of haunt the narrative of Helluva Comedy Volume 1 and 2. They're not present, but their absence from the royal court and their influence in hell is felt. This leads to the classist themes, with Lucifer being largely negligent when it comes to the Sins and Goetia, which leads to the system being discriminatory towards people who are of a lower class and ex-convicts. Not to mention that Lucifer allowing the genocide of sinners to happen forced Charlie to put most, if not all, her attention on Sinners, leading to hellborn losing their one bit of advocacy and representation in the royal court. Meaning in the last 7 years, that the exterminations have been happening, hellborn society and the ruling class of hell have gone through a big regression since it's missing the two people that hold the Sins and Goetia accountable.
Now for Exposure Therapy, I'm going to be honest, this is my newest AU, so it doesn't have as much drafted yet. What I can say is that it's meant to show the mortal side of magic in Pentaverse. We already see with Alastor and Velvette that mortal magic and practices do have power in the canon hellaverse, and we see that cryptids like Bigfoot exist. So there is reason to believe that there is a magic side to the mortal realm that most don't know about. That's what Exposure Therapy is from a worldbuilding standpoint. From a plot standpoint, it is very much about fear and the human, or in this case, mortal, experience. How life is a chaotic experience for which no one has all the answers, much like phobias. While many people have reasons for their phobias, some are just purely irrational. Fear and emotion, in general, are a chaotic mess of sensations.
Cameron is still the main character, hell, the original series is named after a phobia she has, but each chapter will also follow another character. It's about her interacting with a world that is basically her worst nightmare, and choosing to stay in it because she recognises that, despite her fear, these people are still people. She is terrified, but she refuses to be cruel. So in a way, while defeating your fear is a main theme, another theme would probably be that just because you're scared, it doesn't mean you have the right to be cruel to another person.
I think that's all I have without getting into spoilers about these stories. I hope I answered your questions, despite the rambling. Thank you so much for the ask. I've been dying to answer a question about my Pentaverse AUs.
