Whatever You Do, Don't Imagine Gwaine Marveling At Merlin's Magic And Telling Him Its Beautiful And Merlin

I found this video about Hazbin Hotel's problems, mainly Charlie as a character. Very good critical video.

What is your least favorite ship for hazbin/helluva, and why?

Warning, there will be talks of spoilers of season 2 because I will be mentioning the leaks:

Every time viv says something is going to be the greatest thing she ever made or loves, it ends up being... how to put it lightly... really, REALLY rushed or bad.

Like I'm seeing the different ways on how the season will be rushed. Due to the leaks, we know that Alastor will be kidnapped by Vox at some point, so I totally see Viv and the writers rushing to get to that plot faster.

So the less interesting plot points are left in the dust until Viv and the writers remember about it and quickly have to include it in some way.

EPISODE 4 OF HAZBIN HOTEL REVIEW!

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Tw: sa

I have never been sa, so I can not commentate if the scenes of sa in this episode were done right.

Some people said no, and others have said yes. I see both sides of this argument, but it is just one of those things where I can't speak on it since I never been through that. So I'm just not talk about the sa scenes.

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Summary of the episode:

Angel struggles to keep up with both his work life and hotel life. So Charlie decided it was time to use her status to help Angel out.

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My problems short formed:

● I didn't really like Charlie in this episode, I get what she was trying to do. It was just one of those things where it was done poorly.

● Why did Husk have to go comfort Angel when Charlie was the reason why Angel was upset.

● I get the whole Husk is the bartender. You spill your dirty laundry on, but like, how did he expect Angel to open up when earlier in the episode he spilled everyone problems.

● does charlie even know Val is a dangerous person?

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My problems long formed:

● I get what Charlie is trying to do in this episode. She just went the wrong way about it.

She came off a bit childish for wanting to have Angel at the hotel. But I get it! She wants Angel there to help him. The problem is that Angel has a job, and he is going to work odd hours sometimes. And it is not like this fact was hidden from Charlie.

Charlie knew Angel had a job, so again, she should've done something different. Like asking Angel for work schedule to work around it. Instead of going straight to his workplace, unprepared.

● this where I came to the question, does Charlie know that Val is a dangerous person?

I mean, we, the audience, know that Angel is in the hotel to get away from Val, but does Charlie know that? Maybe Angel didn't tell her the exact reason why he signed up for the hotel?

Anyway, Charlie shouldn't have gone to Angel dust workplace unannounced. Then, after being allowed in! She kept messing around the place and bothered the workers.

I hated that, especially that scene where she kept messing with the mic guy about her hotel, like come on, girl, it not the time nor place. You came here to help Angel not promote your hotel!

● Now, after all that, she started to cry. And then, when Angel finally snaps at Husk. Her and Vaggie are like, "Husk, that wasn't very nice of you!"

And it like, "huh?" All Husk did was trying to give advice to Angel. And, of course, it just went the other way. Charlie sent Angel work place on fire!!!!! I think they both owe Angel an apology. So both of them should've gone.

so real of you aubrey

pov you insulted magic users in fron of arthur and leon, both of whom are married to magic users

Merlin : Here's some advice

Leon: I didn't ask for any?

Merlin : Too bad. I'm stuck here with my thoughts and you're the only one who’s still alive.

The blond bloke in the suit swallowed heavily. “I’m looking for a Mr. Gaius White.”

Merlin’s mouth twisted. “That was my great-uncle, but he passed away. I’m the shop proprietor now.” He straightened to his full height and held out his hand. “Mer—”

Blond Bloke cut him off. “I’ll need some proof of that.”

Face scrunching up in distaste, Merlin snapped, “Why? Who the hell are you, anyway?”

Reaching into his breast pocket, Blond Bloke pulled out a business card. “My firm—er, my father’s firm—handled all the business legalities for Dragon Egg Books. My father has sent me to this ridiculous backwater to ensure our association continues.”

“It’s basically a suburb, not the bloody hinterlands, you posh tosser,” Merlin muttered, looking at the card.

The bookstore Merthur AU has begun!

Valentino is a pedophile

Or at least heavily coded to be one.

This post will focus on many triggering topics, such as the cultural glorification of pimps, the normalization of pedophilia within media, the glorification of sexual assault and abuse, child sexual exploitation, exploitation on the sets of hollywood, the book lolita and the 1997 films, blaxploitation, sex work and adjacent topics.

Before I start, I'd like to direct you to this video. It goes into depth on the film adaptations of Lolita and the directors behind said adaptations:

What is a pimp? A pimp is someone who predates on young and/or vulnerable people, offering security (whether it be physical, financial or emotional) in return for sexual favors and exploitation. Pimps are involved in the sex and human trafficking rings. Pimps are often found to be pedophiles and predate on specifically under developed and/or low socioeconomic communities and their vulnerable members (including children). This includes poc, queer, disabled, and any other type of minority that may feel the need to seek supports not provided by the government/society.

What is blaxploitation? Blaxploitation is the exploitation of Black, primarily American issues and culture, often through the lenses of white directors in media. This media was made to relate to African American Urban communities in the Americas during the 1970's. Although "exploitation" is clearly within the word, Black actors did have some say in the characters they play, making this topic ambiguous among the communities that these films were directed towards.

What is Lolita? Lolita is originally a book made by Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita's intentions were to show the true nature of pedophiles through the lense of a pedophile themselves. The protagonist is clearly bias and truly disgusting, though this is purposeful. Vladimir made this book as a way to explore this condition and criticize the sexualization of young girls. It was within his wishes to NEVER HAVE A GIRL PORTRAYED ON THE COVER OF HIS BOOK, as he understood how society treats young girls. This wish was ignored. Vladimir was approached many times by film companies wishing to adapt his novel, he turned them down multiple times, until he simply gave in, and the first Lolita film was made.

What were the lolita films? There has been multiple Lolita films over the years, see the linked video for more context. For this discussion I'll be focusing on the Stanely Kurbik's and Adrian Lyne's films from 1962 and 1997. These films had a large impact on how the media views young women and were a large part in normalizing sexual misconduct to young girls and women on the sets of movies and shows. These movies prioritize the sexual gratification of Humbert over the psychological horror that is a Middle aged man gaining the trust of a mother to groom and abuse her child. Almost villainizing Dolores as a "temptress" or "nymphette". Terrifying enough, on the sets of these films, the YOUNG TEEN GIRLS were preyed upon and abused in ways that Humbert himself would have to Dolores.

How does this all relate to the portrayal of Valentino?

Valentino is a pimp, duh, so all of the social connotations of a pimp related to him.

Valentino is specifically based on the blaxploitation stereotype of a pimp. This is a issue as its a racist stereotype.

How is Lolita involved in this? Charact design is an important feature of story telling. Lolita's iconic imagery of Heart shaped glasses appears in Valentinos own design, this paired with the context that majority of pimps are indeed Pedophiles and prey on young people leads to a disgusting revelation.

He's a Villian, why should we care?

Currently the romanticization of pimps are at a all time high, and not only in the Helluvaverse fandom. See source two for more information. But to keep on topic we'll be focusing on Hazbin hotel and its fandom.

The overall lack of seriousness around the character and mishandling of his general characterization of being a pimp and abuser is laughable. Hazbin hotel has the issue of not treating their villians with any sort of seriousness, and this paired with their inability to take sexual assault, exploitation and harassment seriously has lead to a lot of fans sharing the inability to treat these real life events with the empathy and seriousness they deserve.

This is seen in two trends within the fandom:

First Raph, Raph is a storyboard artist and a close friend to Viv. Raph is the vocal center of all fans of Val, and all fans of Val tend to follow in their lead. Raph has sexually harassed a minor, sexually roleplays in all age/family friendly conventions as angel dust, getting abused by Valentino. But what's most concerning is that there's speak of Raph seeking out a real Pimp to be under. This is not safe, and not behavior they should be proud of or modelling to their audience of unstable and vulnerable people.

Second is this stupid trend the fans of Val have made

Just... just look at the text and wording... I literally cannot-

The merch store for this show also turns the act of pimping into something to be proud of. This is something I'd see in a Andrew Tate store...

Viv often also promotes the romanticization of abuse within fandom along side general rape culture. This along side sending harassment to Limus for getting a sign with their critical video of Angel dusts portrayal over protecting her old VA, Michael Kovach from sexual harassment and assault from a Valentino cosplayer is INSANE.

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Wha- proshippers do realize that morality and representation still matter when they write fanfiction..... right?

That's the thing about proshippers. They claim that they just "like" a villain. But will then defend and fetishize them for their actions.

This along side the VA for Valentino seconding all of this behavior and promoting the show to literal CHILDREN is a genuine threat to any vulnerable person who interacts with the show or fandom.

Sources referenced: 1. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1137&context=dignity 2. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/05/pimps-use-instagram-to-glorify-sexual-violence-and-abuse-investigation-finds 3. https://www.womenslaw.org/about-abuse/forms-abuse/sexual-abuse-and-exploitation/forced-prostitution/basic-info-and-0 4. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/883/ 5. https://goldenglobes.com/articles/golden-age-blaxploitation-black-stars-black-audiences/ 6. https://www.britannica.com/art/blaxploitation-movie https://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0803/080398.opin.opin.2.html

Sir Leon questioning Arthur's plan of action (BBC Merlin 4x02)

Part 1 • Part 2