#I'm sorry but Hazbin is not worth the hype

[palettepainter]

(Kind of a vent. Also if you're one of those hardcore Hazbin fans the fandom has become infamously known for, I'll save you the time and tell you to just scroll past this cuz it's mostly me complaining)

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Hazbin's song More Then Anything was on the radio today, I don't know why since I walked into the kitchen right as the song was nearing it's end, and it was such a...weird feeling hearing this song on the radio

On one hand, for indie animation and animation as a whole, I am ecstatic that one of the songs was on the radio!

But at the same time, this shows writing and pacing is absolute trash and I don't think it deserved it. .

The only joy I felt for hearing this song on the radio, was because it gives me hope for animation, and the hope that it will boost the believe that indie animation CAN be worthwhile and enjoyable. But that's it, I felt no joy at the fact it was a Hazbin song (unless if it was Loser Baby, the internet can all agree that song is golden)

It's just mildly disappointing that Hazbin hotel, a show which the team behind CLEARLY care a lot about (lets face it for all of Hazbin's flaws, it wouldn't have gotten to the position it's in currently if it wasn't being made by very talented people who believed it's worth the effort. You have to give the team credit where credit is due), is such a disaster story and pacing wise. It's fairly obvious to me that the reason this show is doing as well as it is for the most part is because of the already large fanbase Vivziepop has grown for it.

People love these characters so much that despite the flaws in it's writing and characters - of which there are MANY - that they're willing to ignore these flaws and keep praising the show anyway because hey, content is content

And I get it. This show has been in the works for god knows how long. But I argue that because it's been in the works for so long, that the show we got just isn't as good as it could have been.

The story is rushed, the pacing is whack, we spend little to no time with Charlie (one of the more prominent main characters), we don't see Charlie genuinely bond with any of the other characters outside of Vaggie, the show can't decide if it wants us to believe Charlie's efforts are working or not, the finale song carries no weight what-so-ever because (outside of Angel and Husk) none of the characters have a genuine heart to heart moment to show they've bonded, frankly I found Charlie annoying she was not enjoyable to watch, the show has an entire song with Lucifer and Alastor arguing over who Charlie should view as her father figure when Alastor prior to that song had exchanged maybe five lines of dialogue with Charlie (none of which where fatherly), the show throws too many plot points at us that we can't appreciate them for a second before it's trying to shove the next one down our throats, Camilla's ENTIRE character! Her songs sound great she has a great voice actor, but her character got thrown out the window in order to be a plot device, Valentino being an idiot who needs Vox to talk to him out of a tantrum one episode and then being the most ruthless character in the entire show the next, and the show trying to make me feel like Pentious's sacrifice was worth it when we barely knew what his aspirations or faults where as a character

I know I just tore this show down, but believe it or not, I'm not a full blown hater. The reason I'm so annoyed is because I WANT this show to do good, I want it to be good. I want this show to make me feel like I should care for the characters through them bonding and struggling together, not because the show TELLS me I should care

And admittedly a large fault of all of this is the episode count, 8 episodes is a tight run time for any show. But when you get that episode count confirmed, that's when you gotta cut things. Yeah it might have meant we got fewer songs in the first season and seen less characters, but we would have been able to digest literally any of the plot points in that timeframe if stuff was removed

#Rant #I'm sorry but Hazbin is not worth the hype #The hazbin fandom deserved better than what we got #I don't know if it's because Viv just doesn't know how to write a show or because of the episode count being so short or a number of #other things #but the only things keeping this show a float in my opinion are the songs and the fanbase Viv already had

[sapphic-agent]

Let's Talk About Hazbin Hotel

Just a casual review. Hazbin Hotel's been coming up on my Tumblr dash a lot, and there's been some controversy around it. So I decided to give it a try.

(Note: I haven't engaged with anything that came out before its Amazon Prime debut)

To summarize: it's pretty okay. The animation is great and the songs are bangers. The plot is pretty solid; there are some hiccups but in only eight episodes it does pretty well in world building.

Though I guess that's where we have our first problem. Eight 23 minute episodes doesn't mean a lot of time for our characters to be fleshed out. Sure Angel Dust, Husk, Sir Pentious, Alastor, and even Lucifer get their moments. And don't get me wrong, that's great. But I feel a lot of that could have been geared towards our main characters: Charlie and Vaggie.

Let me just say, I love Charlie and I think she's well-written for the most part. She's flawed, but wants the best for the people around her. And that's great. That being said, it doesn't feel like we've gotten a real deep dive into who she is. What gave her the idea to redeem sinners in the first place? How has she interacted with the people of hell prior to the hotel? We know she helped Vaggie when she was injured, did that come before or after her idea for the hotel?

(If any of this is answered in the pilot, I'm sorry. But there's a good chance new fans like myself didn't watch the pilot either)

The most introspection we get into her character are Husk's offhand comment about her bleeding heart who focuses on others' problems instead of her own and Rosie mentioning her "moxie." And those things are being told to us, not shown to us. It's hard to view her as complex, though I am holding out hope that we'll get more into her in the next season especially with Lilith's inevitable return. I'm eager to see her grow more as a leader.

(I also hope they explore her temper. For me, that's when she's at her most dynamic. Feminine rage ftw)

Now, onto Vaggie.

I'm sorry, but I really can't get into her character at all. She's mean and untrusting and... that's it? Unlike Charlie she doesn't seem to have any defining character traits. No goals or aspirations that don't have to do with Charlie's. And even then, she doesn't display a lot of confidence in her, consistently doubting Charlie's input and even outright refusing that some of the patrons can change. It's like she doesn't actually believe that sinners can be redeemed and only puts effort into the hotel at all for Charlie.

(This isn't a problem with Vaggie per se, but her encouraging Charlie to confront Valentino felt so off to me. She's supposed to be more levelheaded and rational than Charlie, so wouldn't she know that Charlie doesn't really hold that much power? Her and Lucifer are basically figureheads, the Overlords are the ones that really run Hell. Considering she's so distrustful of Alastor, Vaggie would know that right? So why push Charlie into being assertive against one?)

And this is a direct contradiction to what is being told to us about her character. She, as an exterminator, showed mercy to a sinner and paid the price for it. If she believed that the child she spared was worth sparing, she should have some optimism that sinners deserve a second chance. But outside of hyping Charlie up, that's never shown to us.

Even in Scrambled Eggs- an episode that was centered around her- doesn't tell us much about her. Just that she's a semi-competent fighter who learned trust the "hard way." But nothing about her growing closer to the residents- despite being entrusted to teach them trust- just a song about her love and devotion to Charlie.

And I know that this is supposed to be her parallel to Carmilla and that the duet sets up their meeting later. But Vaggie's goals being so focused on Charlie and not the hotel or the residents means that there's such a disconnect here. Carmilla is singing for her daughters (and even Zestial), but it's also for all of Hell. She wants to keep them out of unnecessary war. Her goal has different facets to it while Vaggie's is extremely one-way.

To put it simply: Vaggie is boring.

And it's because of these things that I really can't get into Chaggie. It's... Okay. I guess. There's so little focus on it that outside of the reveal that Vaggie's an angel, it doesn't hold a lot of relevance throughout the show, good or bad. They could have been best friends and nothing would have changed.

If I'm being completely honest, Charlie has more interesting relationships with everyone else: Alastor, Lucifer, Angel, and even Emily who wasn't even on screen with her for that long.

(Unapologetically a RoyalHalo shipper. Also an Emily stan)

Speaking of Emily, I love what they're setting her up for. It seems like she'll either Fall like Lucifer and join Charlie in Hell or take over Heaven from Sera and work with Charlie to bring a better system. Either way, I'm excited for what they'll do with her.

Although I have to say, even though I love You Didn't Know, I do have some things to say about it and the whole trial scene.

As I said, the Hazbin Hotel songs are good. There's no denying that. But a few of them- like YDK- kind of hinder the plot. There's so much going on in this scene- so many important revelations- that it being a song I feel undercuts that. Like Emily finding out about Extermination Day and confronting Sera about it could have used a lot more attention. Her and Charlie aligning themselves together, while freaking amazing to listen to, kind of comes out of nowhere. Even- especially- Vaggie being revealed as an angel to Charlie is a lot less intense being sung through a song.

(It still slaps though)

But a lot of songs also have the opposite effect. More Than Anything, Poison, and Loser Baby convey exactly what they're trying to. You feel the emotion and flaws of these characters, you feel the pure connection/strife.

(Songs like Hell's Greatest Dad and Respectless are for fun and do help move the story along. They also give us a glimpse into the characters. I could do without some of them, especially because that time could be better spent, but they're still fun to listen to and watch. Respectless is so fucking good man)

I'm excited to see more of Lilith and her relationships with Charlie and Lucifer. It's implied during MTA that she was the one fostering the distance between Lucifer and Charlie. I wonder if that was intentional or just through Charlie's/Lucifer's POV. Also, her being gone at the same time Alastor was is definitely hinting at her being the one who has him on a leash.

Sir Pentious in heaven🥹 I don't have a lot to say about it, it just made me happy

All in all... Pretty good. Enough to keep me engaged. Looking forward to the next season👍🏾

#hazbin hotel review #hazbin hotel critical #anti vaggie #vaggie critical #anti chaggie #chaggie critical #tagging just in case #but i don't really hate vaggie or chaggie i'm just meh on them #royalhalo #i love them #hazbin hotel spoilers