Comedy and Villains, and how Stella, Striker and Andrealphus show these concepts.
He's the character I feel like gets this the most. "Oh they ruined him." Or "They made him a joke." Is often the critique I hear of him, but I don't think that works. Why is it bad that Striker can be poked at? Why can't he also have ridiculous traits? Why does he need to be a serious villain? That's always what I've thought.
To me, it makes perfect sense that Striker would have comedic moments, because the show is a comedy. One of the first rules of comedy is to not let things stay too dark for too long, to break up tense scenes with comic relief. Traditionally, in a lot of comedies, the villains do have exaggerated traits of both villainy and ego- which we see in Striker. But striker's ego is actually a big part of his character and, his motives.
Some people also claim that changing Striker to be a Hypocrite was a bad decision- but I don't think he ever changed. Even in his first appearance, he spends a lot of the episode trying to taunt Moxxie, emasculating him and making him sound small whenever. "You little things aren't worth the cleanup" He also uses the same language that other classist or racist cast members say, like Stella, Andrealphus or in the microaggressions Stolas makes. This is important, because we can see already that Striker doesn't actually care about imps. "The two of us are superior to most of our kind" What Striker wants is a system that benefits him, he doesn't dislike the Goetia for exploitation, but because he wants to be in that cast with them, he wants to be seen as superior. "Relying on a weak-" He still mocks Moxxie even when two weapons are pointed at him because he still wants to feel powerful.
Western Energy actually shows us that Stiker wants to justify his actions, he's not saying those things about Goetia because he really wants equality, but because he wants to justify his cruelty, his sadism, he needs an excuse to do what he does, and societal stigmas are a good starting point for rallying his own hateful rhetoric.
So when in Mastermind, he testifies against Blitz, he's actually still following his character, because he's always been shown as a hateful, macho-man who takes glee in putting down he sees as below him, and that's why he's a foil to Blitz, who actually embodies what Striker claims he does. At no point does Striker do anything for anyone, he isn't actually concerned with the plight of his own, but Blitz does care. Even when he does get upset at being seen as a wrathian, we know Blitz doesn't necessarily look down on Wrath imps, from the fact that he hires Millie and Moxxie irregardless of their smaller stature, he doesn't try to separate himself out as the best imp, they're his family, regardless of ring or strength.
Now, Stella. She's actually a strange character for me, because she does everything the plot demands of her, so as far as that goes, she's a very successful villain. But the claims as to whether Stella is a realistic abuser I feel get lost in what parts of Stella's abuse actually needs to be analysed. Mainly because, Stella's actual motives and a lot of her actions are rather real, but it's the extreme single-mindedness she shows that makes it unrealistic. Her abusing her servant by flinging them is unrealistic, but the physical abuse of a servant? Not at all. Her smashing the glass, mocking Stolas, are all rather realistic. Of course it's extreme that she'd hire an assassin, but her reasons are all rooted in reality, her ego was wounded. That is crucial to understanding her. Of course the butlers and all are unrealistic, but that's all because those are exaggeration, because almost every character in a comedy has exaggerated traits- of course a bratty, violent princess who throws imps and screams day in day out is unrealistic, but that's not because her form of abuse is, that's because the setting she's in is unrealistic.
Now, for the argument that Andrealphus replaced Stella. Which isn't true. Because fundamentally they are different villains entirely, with different motives and methodologies, Stella just wants to see Stolas dead, nothing else, the actual change in rank isn't a big deal to her, just sticking it to Stolas for humiliating her. Andrealphus has entirely different motives, power and money, but note that he needs Stella for his plan and not the other way around- also, Andrealphus isn't noted to be super cunning, its actually worth noting that even the show is aware of how flimsy his plan is, even Vassago points it out that Stolas should be here, meaning that yeah, the plan is dumb, and Andrealphus only gets away with it because mastermind is a Kangaroo court.
Stella and being a mother- frankly, I find it strange how much people bend over to say that Stella is actually a good mother when the first time we see her she's committing a child abuse offence but abusing Stolas infront of Via- and the argument 'Via didn't care' isn't actually a good one because all it means is that Via is used to this abusive behaviour and shuts it out.
Quick side tangent, Seeing stars and Looloo land- Alot of people say that these episodes are signs Stolas is neglectful but the character acting says the opposite, Why with Via be excited for a promise Stolas made like 10 years ago if she didn't think he was reliable? Why would Via react so quickly if this was familiar to her? It's made abundantly clear that Via isn't used to her dad not being able to have time for her. Looloo land is the same, as Via was unaware of how abusive Stella is because of Stolas.
So, back to Stella, hints of Stella not being active in Octavia's life is actually present from the Start, we only see Stolas in the drawn pictures in Via's room, not Stella- after the argument Stella doesn't once try to say anything to Via, unconcerned that her daughter saw and heard all of that, but Stolas does- hell, even the image of Looloo hand suggests that Stella didn't enjoy going with them. This is only furthered with the understanding that even though Stella had been abusive for years, Octavia only started to hear about her parents having issues when Stolas was in a compromised state, because Stella was most likely more distant and henceforth wasn't someone Octavia payed close attention to, I would know, I come from separated parents and barely understood when my dad had issues growing up because he wasn't always there, until I lived with him- I'd much sooner come to understand my mothers flaws because it had been me and her from the start, but my father was distant, so I didn't notice until he was- that's probably where Stella is, distant, even if they're all in the same place, it's made clear that Stella only really shows interest in Via when Stolas is involved, like in Mastermind and Sinsmas- and the fact that Via is just trailing around alone in the Palace while Stella and Andrealphus have a spa day alone says that she has no issue excluding Via from whatever she's doing, hell, even the 'couples' party would have done that, she doesn't care to have her daughter around.
Andrealphus is the least important, but it's worth noting that the show makes a point of the fact that he isn't necessarily smarter than Stella. The big difference between them is ambition, Andrealphus wants to climb the ladder, Stella wants revenge- Stella quite literally would have gotten what she wanted in Western Energy if Andrealphus didn't manipulate and goad her into stopping. But Stella just wants him dead, but ultimately defers to him. Andrealphus just has different goals, and in Mastermind we see that he's not the best at planning, he gets really riled up at the face of Vassago's questioning, actively seems shocked at the idea that Stolas' banishment isn't permanent, and also decides to commit perjury for no good reason even though Blitz did use the book, all, hinging on no one contacting Stolas until afterwards, but that's the fun part- you can actually make sense of what Andrealphus is planning, but also that his plans are nonsense and he's a moron.
In Sinsmas, he actively provokes Stolas and then seems shocked when Stolas actually hits back- he also whines and blusters when he makes the realisation that a bunch of imps and a hellhound served him a plate of ass kicking, so yeah- it's telling. Andrealphus is ambitious and egotistical, not necessarily smart. His plans all hinge on others being stupid or apathetic, such as even at the start of Western Energy, where it was clear that he was trying to make Stella sound sympathetic to her victim, which obviously would never work in any world.
Andrealphus' comedy comes from how over the top he is in terms of his ideas and personality, and how hard he tries to conform to the ideal standards of the goetia, only to be so obvious in his hypocrisy.
Stella and Andrealphus only work together because they are siblings, but I could easily see than in any other situation, they'd never have cooperated, and that's important.
Note, comedies aren't always fully realistic, so when you analyse realism within those texts, you have to be certain whether you're reading the text properly.
