#rambl

Character A: a white person with unshakable and unchallenged social power that literally NO ONE could refuse. Selfish, controlling, and extremely hurtful with their words because they are just too self absorbed and self victimizing that they just don't care about others. And when faced with the consequences of their actions, they blame their partner for not being nicer and more agreeable. They cry and act childishly until they are rewarded by the narrative with sex with no actual resolution.

And Character B: a brown coded person (because Viv refuses to have actual brown characters) with extreme trauma and literally 0 social standing to the point of their lives being in active danger due to the systems they live in. Character A specifically comes into their lives, and demands a relationship at the worst, most vulnerable points in their lives. Where they really have no other option but to go along with it since they have nothing, and saying no would either result in their death, or their family's safety being put in danger. Their rightful anger or worries are written off as them being ungrateful or rude, or as character flaws that they need to overcome to earn Character A's love. They come second to Character A's arc. They're trauma serves Character A's arc FIRST, and then if theres time left over fine, we'll care about them too.

Stoliz and Chaggie are meant to be the "healthy' lovey dovey ships. They're not like staticmoth with their weird ass villian love full of throwing shit at each other. We're "supposed" to root for them and ship it. They're framed as the beacon of hope in the fucked up Hell world they live in. And yet, both of them are about a white person emotionally abusing their brown partner that they have completely power over??

And my ao3 is public, so I'm the last person to bitch about this. But the fact that the horrific, dangerous power imbalance in both Stoliz and Chaggie's relationships are NEVER addressed is so weird to me. Blitz was SOLD to Stolas when he was a child, and then as an adult was in a coercive relationship where he had to trade sex for the opportunity to feed and house his daughter. Sex, that by the way, HE EXPLICITLY DOESN'T WANT TO HAVE. Its an on going joke in early HB that Blitz doesn't like Stolas and hates being sexualized, but does it anyway. This isn't to say that Blitz couldn't have a positive relationship in the future with Stolas. But the arc for their relationship is Blitz being rightfully hurt, and Stolas throwing a HUGE hissy fit and the narrative framing Blitz as a shitty abuser for...being a victm? I mean, one of the episodes is literally about brown sex trafficking victm being falsely accused of the rape of a pure, innocent white man so he can finally learn that...he needs to stop having feelings and fuck the man he never wanted a relationship with? I...don't know. I genuinely stopped watching after that. It was absolutely disgusting and I'm so good. That was a horrific way to try and solve the power imbalance problem. Again, I love a dark romance, but that...was irresponsible in a mainstream series.

And then with Chaggie. Everything revolves around Charlie and her throwing fits. We NEVER get to see Vaggie hurting, or her getting the support she needs. Vaggie was betrayed by her GOD, by Adam, by her sisters. A fallen angel, ans going through horrific body torture. She has nothing. She will likely be murdered if anyone in Hell found out she's an angel. And Charlie "saves" her. And honestly, this isn't a bad meetcute. The problem, is that Charlie sucks. She's controlling and frankly, cruel with her baffling levels of stupidity. She covers her terrible behavior with an Adorkable™ coating, but she's not a kind person nor does she try to be. She forces Vaggie to do unpaid labor, that Vaggie repeatedly admits she doesn't want to be doing instead of just putting the work in herself. Vaggie does, I would say, MOST if not all of the work for the Hazbin Hotel. Charlie at every opportunity that she has, ignores Vaggie's boundaries. Every time. I'm not joking. Every time Vaggie says "I don't want to do this. Can we not do this. I don't think this is a good idea." Charlie then says "nahhhh I'm doing it anyway." She just straight up doesn't respect Vaggie. And then, when we get the angel revel, instead of showing Vaggie crying or hurting because this secret that she's been hiding for years is finally out, and her worst fear that the love of her life would hate her. Ends up being true. Charlie hates her. Charlie is pissed off, and storms out. But we don't focus on Vaggie. We don't care about Vaggie. Vaggie is a bloodthirsty monster, she's angry, she's just as violent as everyone knew she was (at no point, not once, do we ever see Vaggie showing cruelty or violent behavior. She's a bit standoffish, but she's sweet and merciful. Idk why they keep lying about this. It feels racist) and if she thinks she deserves Charlie's love then she better prove herself. Charlie's "arc" in s1 is learning to forgive her awful, lying, bitch of a girlfriend so she can get back the relationship that benefits her. And Vaggie's "arc" is doing what Charlie wants. This repeats in s2. Charlie is cruel, Charlie ignores Vaggie's feelings, Charlie acts childishly until she gets sex and the arc is complete. There's never a true resolution, or this power imbalance being addressed, or ANYTHING about the flaws in their relationship.

Vaggie and Blitz, a Latina and arguably an indigenous character, are both sexual trophies for their white partners. Blitz is treated as nothing but a fetish, and then vilified for his pain while Stolas is treated as the uwu baby of the show that EVERYONE is just so mean for no reason. Theres even merch about it!! Blitz kys pins and Stolas the victm standee. Vaggie is used for her labor, and ignored otherwise. I think its very telling, that Charlie's the closest to Sir Pen and Vaggie, the only two characters in the show that NEVER challenge her and only do what she wants. Charlie is noticeably more dismissive and cruel to Angel. Vaggie's only songs in the show are I Love My Girlfriend, I'm Going To Kiss My Girlfriend, and I'm Fucking My Girlfriend. She's an accessory. Only Stolas and Charlie are given grace, empathy, and focus on their emotions. We're encouraged by the show to forgive them for all the insane shit they do, and think "Man, Vaggie/Blitz are just SO mean. I hope they apologize."

I also think it's fascinating the way people hating the ships seems to piss Viv off so much. I remember when those episodes of HB were released and everyone started hating on Stolas. BECAUSE HE SUCKS??? And she was liking and reposting a bunch of "uwu Stolas is a victm. Ew people who don't like stoliz ARE WEIRD". And then we have the new drama with Charlastor with her participating in anti culture and being very mean for no reason. Funfact!! A lot of charlastor shippers aren't lesbian hating misogynists!!!! Most charlastor shippers just think that Vaggie and Charlie are not very compatible, and prefer to put Charlie with someone who is moreso her equal and shares her ideals. And either ship Vaggie with Lute, or just put her with someone who actually likes her for who she is. Viv is SO mad that people don't ship her ships, that she starts vaguing about it and actively starts shit with her own fandom. Like babe. Your ships have really racist, uncomfortable undertones that you're trying to convince me is romantic and cute and you get super defensive over it when people call it out, to the point where people are scared to have opinions because you might bitch at them over it. She's 10000% projecting her misogyny and racism onto us, because she can't admit she's the one writing poorly executed stories lmao.