It Seems Like The Hazbin Hotel Series Has Been Usually Doing A Lot More Telling Than Showing, And One

It seems like the Hazbin Hotel series has been usually doing a lot more telling than showing, and one of the things that especially suffers from this is Angel's path to healing.

Episode 4 marks the start of the process; Angel starts to talk to and confide to others about his personal problems.

Episode 6, however, tells us "yeah, he's doing pretty good btw". They even show us him standing up to Valentino and shit.

Which, don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to see people giving Val the ass-kicking he deserves but like-

h o w ?

We barely see any progression of Angel Dust resolving his personal issues. Again, he learns to talk to others about his problems in Episode 4, but that's about it. And Episode 6 wants us to believe that he's been pretty good breaking his old habits (it's supposed to serve as proof for the angels in heaven that "yes, sinners can change and get better.")

Angel has been dealing with his personal addiction since even before his death (reminder that he died from an overdose in 1947). He's even chosen to name himself after a drug.

Drug rehabilation is a very slow and gradual process. Addiction to drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc. isn't something you can just turn off with the flick of a switch. It's not a habit you can easily break within a week or even a month. People say that they're going to quit, but they don't. Because they can't quit. Not without a steady rehabilation process and therapeutic/medical help.

We don't know how much time passes between each episode of the show. No matter how long the time gap between episodes 4 & 6 is, the fact remains that we're only seeing the beginning of a healing process (episode 4) and either a "third act" or the ending to that process (episode 6.)

The series shows us the beginning of the pathway to healing but then suddenly jumpcuts to a much later point.

It's like giving us a book with 80% of the pages missing.

I warned everyone what happens when I'm bored. I've actually been really sick today, so I wanted to draw something silly to distract myself.

He's simply one hell of a hedgehog.

(I honestly never knew this fact until now. The more you know. 🌈⭐️)

when i found out that Silver the Hedgehog and Sebastian Michaelis are both voiced by Daisuke Ono i had to draw this.

why is it unironically such a good piece what art god possessed me bro 😭

"(Although Vox is hot, and episode 4 was great)"

You and me both there, pal.

The fuck is Charlie doing and is it interesting?

I don't mean this in a bad faith analysis type of way. I do tend to be very critical of media, tearing apart writing flaws is something of a hobby, and I will admit I haven't loved the first three episodes (Although Vox is hot, and episode 4 was great). HOWEVER, I'm genuinely curious about what the fuck Charlie plans to do with the hotel, because we saw her idea get shot down by heaven in EPISODE ONE.

I was honestly surprised to see stuff about Heaven so early, and I was especially surprised to see Charlie's idea get directly shot down by an angel so soon because it makes me question Charlie's behavior. If you don't understand my surprise or confusion, let me explain. Typically the story structure in a cartoon like this would be that the start of the show is building up the hotel, and getting someone to a point where redemption seems actually reasonable for them, and THEN they go to heaven and get shot down, potentially sending characters spiraling towards relapse in their good behavior and bringing up new challenges. This sets up the one at fault to be HEAVEN, which would eventually unite the group and bring them together again to figure out redemption for real. But that's not what's happened so far.

With Charlie getting shot down so early, and getting shot down alone, it sets up something that could potentially become very interesting if it's handled correctly, because at this point Charlie is keeping secrets from the group (aside from Vaggie). From what we've seen on the show, nobody else knows she brought her ideas directly to an angel, she pulled Vaggie aside to tell her this. Now, imagine the scenario I described previously again. They build up the hotel and get someone to a point where redemption seems reasonable, go to heaven and get shot down. But this time the interaction ends with the angels telling the group that they ALREADY told Charlie that it'd be impossible. Now in this scenario, despite the fact that heaven is still at fault, the group now also has a reason to be upset with Charlie, the one who brought the whole thing together. This could lead into a WAY MORE FUN path to coming back together and building the idea of redemption up for real, with everyone eventually believing the same way that Charlie does with actual character work necessary for the group to get there. And I really hope this is the direction that the show goes.

However, I'm nothing if not a critic, and I was let down very heavily by Helluva Boss, so I'm not impressed by Vivzie's writing. This could also get brushed off. This might've just been a rushed way to set up the extermination coming sooner and heaven being bad and dangerous. This ISN'T a hate post, I enjoyed episode 4, and I'm sure future episodes will be good too, but Vivzie's work has a bad habit of never giving interesting conflict to the female characters and never exploring them in favor of giving us more backstory for the male leads. I really hope that Charlie gets an interesting conflict with the other characters, I don't care if it's not what I described in this post, I love being caught off guard by a show, I just really want something interesting with Charlie, she deserves better than to be brushed aside like the women of Helluva Boss.

Sweet! (I probably should've known, given you've seen the cartoon lol.)

How did these guys become magical koopas (? Is that what we should call them?)

yes, magical koopas is the best way to describe them LOL also!!

i love the fact that magic is already a major part in the Mario lore, especially surrounding Bowser, Kamek, Jr, and the Koopalings! so i decided to lean into that already-existing lore!!!

i like to think certain species of Koopa are more likely to be magic-users, with Magikoopa and the more dragon-like Koopas like the species Bowser, Bowser Jr, and the Koopalings are being the ones with the strongest connection to magic and Koopa Troopas being the ones with the weakest connection to magic

since Kamek is Jr and the Koopalings' teacher and grandpa, he's the one who helped them learn transformation magic. while he himself can't hold his humanoid transformation very long anymore as he gets older, he found it best to teach the nine children how to do so for many reasons. for one, it's a good disguise; despite their humanoid forms still having features similar to their Koopa forms (namely hair, eyes, and some accessories), they can accomplish some tasks easier... or mess with the students at their school for fun if you're Iggy. another reason is because it's a good way for them to practice for their future positions in the Koopa Army, since having troops that appear human is a good fake out for certain opponents!

and finally, the reason they were all excited for this in the first place: they could live out their anime battle fantasies, because why learn how to have a humanoid disguise if you're not gonna use it for fun AND practicality?

in fact, Rose was the one who had the idea for them to use their humanoid disguises to be a magical girl inspired troupe! outside of generally using the transformations for fun, they also use their human forms at school (with the exceptions of Rose and Jr, who are homeschooled by Kamek since their magic is still somewhat unstable) since it's practice for future battles on the front lines. it helps them learn how to hold their humanoid forms for long periods of time, and the schools all know that it's part of their magic homework from Kamek; if they get tired during the school day, they can go back to their Koopa forms without being accused of being a different student or skipping class.

Ludwig, as the one with the strongest magic, can hold his form the longest. Roy, Morton, Wendy, and Iggy can all hold their transformations around the same time frame as each other, with Iggy being able to hold his form second longest. Lemmy and Larry also hold their forms for similar lengths of time, with Larry being the one who holds his form just a few minutes longer than Lemmy. Rose and Jr, however, hold their forms at different lengths of time each attempt; their magic is still more unstable and erratic due to lack of practice, hece the homeschooling from Kamek.

(also my first ask being about worldbuilding is so perfect because it gives me an excuse to yell about all the worldbuilding ideas™ ive been cooking for MONTHS.)

Interesting! 👀

One thing I especially like is how the magic to transform into a "magical girl" is already familiar to the users (because usually in magical girl animes, the protagonist(s) is usually a newbie who's unfamiliar with these abilities.)

Also, the fact that instead of using their magical powers to fight evil, these kids basically just like to fuck around and cause chaos. A very Koopaling thing to do.

The best part of all of this imo? The ability for a Koopa to change into a human form is actually not too-far fetched for the Mario universe. Sort of. (For context, the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon had an episode where Kootie Pie—aka Wendy O. Koopa—was turned into a human form to distract Mario in another one of their wacky Koopa schemes. "The Beauty of Kootie" it was called. Boy, was that a thing.)

Anyway, very interesting lore! Definitely gonna keep an eye out for more.

How did these guys become magical koopas (? Is that what we should call them?)

yes, magical koopas is the best way to describe them LOL also!!

i love the fact that magic is already a major part in the Mario lore, especially surrounding Bowser, Kamek, Jr, and the Koopalings! so i decided to lean into that already-existing lore!!!

i like to think certain species of Koopa are more likely to be magic-users, with Magikoopa and the more dragon-like Koopas like the species Bowser, Bowser Jr, and the Koopalings are being the ones with the strongest connection to magic and Koopa Troopas being the ones with the weakest connection to magic

since Kamek is Jr and the Koopalings' teacher and grandpa, he's the one who helped them learn transformation magic. while he himself can't hold his humanoid transformation very long anymore as he gets older, he found it best to teach the nine children how to do so for many reasons. for one, it's a good disguise; despite their humanoid forms still having features similar to their Koopa forms (namely hair, eyes, and some accessories), they can accomplish some tasks easier... or mess with the students at their school for fun if you're Iggy. another reason is because it's a good way for them to practice for their future positions in the Koopa Army, since having troops that appear human is a good fake out for certain opponents!

and finally, the reason they were all excited for this in the first place: they could live out their anime battle fantasies, because why learn how to have a humanoid disguise if you're not gonna use it for fun AND practicality?

in fact, Rose was the one who had the idea for them to use their humanoid disguises to be a magical girl inspired troupe! outside of generally using the transformations for fun, they also use their human forms at school (with the exceptions of Rose and Jr, who are homeschooled by Kamek since their magic is still somewhat unstable) since it's practice for future battles on the front lines. it helps them learn how to hold their humanoid forms for long periods of time, and the schools all know that it's part of their magic homework from Kamek; if they get tired during the school day, they can go back to their Koopa forms without being accused of being a different student or skipping class.

Ludwig, as the one with the strongest magic, can hold his form the longest. Roy, Morton, Wendy, and Iggy can all hold their transformations around the same time frame as each other, with Iggy being able to hold his form second longest. Lemmy and Larry also hold their forms for similar lengths of time, with Larry being the one who holds his form just a few minutes longer than Lemmy. Rose and Jr, however, hold their forms at different lengths of time each attempt; their magic is still more unstable and erratic due to lack of practice, hece the homeschooling from Kamek.

(also my first ask being about worldbuilding is so perfect because it gives me an excuse to yell about all the worldbuilding ideas™ ive been cooking for MONTHS.)