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mothbait · 1 month

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Ok so I watched Lily Orchard's review on Hazbin Hotel and it was extremely painful to get through

Ok, so I don't agree with SaberSpark at all with Hazbin Hotel, but at least he knows when a story has holes in it. Lily Orchard thinks Hazbin Hotel is perfect, even though I think it's horribly written garbage with a very underdeveloped nonsensical premise on arrival. However, this is Lily Orchard, so Hazbin Hotel just mature enough that she doesn't have to think too hard about the subtext because Hazbin Hotel is already on the nose and not subtle at all, while also enjoying all the swears and fucked up shit in there. It's interesting how backwards she is with her criticism.

She's the type of person that would enjoy fast paced garbage like Hazbin Hotel, while completely shit on good shows like SU and miss the point. She hates filler and character development; she's never read/watch dystopian, alien, sci-fi movies/shows ever and I can tell because she loses her mind over the Diamonds having fascist/colonizer tendencies even though they are aliens and fascism and colonization are common themes that crossover with aliens/scifi, because they're fucking aliens. if she can't handle the Diamonds being invaders, she would absolutely hate Invader Zim, Star Wars, Prometheus, the Alien trilogy, AVP, Interstellar, Black Mirror, 1984, Necromancer, The HandMaids Tale, Independence Day, War of the Worlds. Half of these have some themes of fascism or colonization. Alien invasions are an attempt at colonization.

Oh it gets better.

So pushing through the irrelevant rambling about genocide and her bitchfest about demons being gay and in hell, which sidenote; Christians are notorious for being homophobic and the common line thrown at gay people is "you will burn in hell!" Viv throwing gay people in hell only emphasizes how shitty Heaven is and Lute is openly homophobic towards Angel and Vaggie. I don't like that Viv is going with Heaven is all evil approach, but Heaven has to be evil and homophobic Lily to show that Heaven is evil. That is the fucking point.

"Charlie seems to learn that you can't force redemption on someone." The not so subtle jab at Steven Universe there I see, except hat Steven WASN'T forcing redemption on anyone at all. Charlie on the other hand is desperately trying to get demons in the building the entire time because there's 6 months left, which was because Charlie was desperately trying to tell to Adam how redemption could work and she was ignored by Adam entirely and she put gasoline on the already burning fire. She IS forcing redemption.

So Vaggie having a personality is also a bad thing apparently to Lily Orchard and she's mad that people complained about the dry ass relationship between them, because there isn't any filler episodes to flesh their entire character dynamic out. Filler episodes are Lily Orchard's weakness because she hates character development lmfao.

Lily Orchard's take on Angel Dust is also stupid as fuck. It's bad apparently when Lapis Luzli and Jasper have a toxic relationship, but it's 100% perfect depiction of abuse with Angel Dust and Valentino. Fuck off Lily. You're not consistent with your criticisms at all. While Angel Dusts abuse is gut wrenching to watch, knowing the background context, ruins the scenes completely. Also, it's rushed, lacks subtly and it 360's way too fucking fast.

Also so the rest of the her video is about how you don't need to develop characters and good pacing. Except that you do need to develop characters and good pacing to have character arcs make sense. It doesn't have to be massive lore dumps, but the lore is often the reason why the story takes place in the first place. You also need fillers in between and time for serious scenes like Val abusing Angel Dust to set in. Also Lily, you write fanfictions and you've never consumed anything with depth besides Kingdom Hearts which apparently has shit tons of lore in it and MLP, which also has shit tons of lore in it. That's why you like them so much, beside there's lore in there. You're telling me that there shouldn't be lore at all because reasons, but you also ramble mid review about how super cool and deep Kingdom Hearts is? Literally shut the fuck up lmfao.

#i’ve talked briefly on it before and i’m not gonna rant in the tags here #but lily orchard is one of my least favorite critique youtubers. she cut things out of context in her su vid #and reads everything in the worst possible interpretation of it. if anything is morally grey its the wrong thing #if a person messed up they did it on purpose. i’m going out of my way to not watch her hazbin video #hazbin hotel critical #youtuber critical

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mothbait · 1 month

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Made me choke on my tea during my lunchtime 🤣🤣🤣. Oh she's big mad now

#fully agree that people were dicks about her work when she was younger. but girl. you made a show on a major streaming service #some people*#you’re gonna have to live with some criticism. there comes a point where its on you to not look at it if you can’t take it

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mothbait · 2 months

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What happened to Alastor being scary

The biggest thing I noticed in Hazbin Hotel that Alastor is not scary. He used to be mysterious, creepy, and intimidating. We didn't know what he was thinking. We didn't know how he was feeling. He was such a great character because we knew he was insanely powerful, but he didn't act like it. But now that the show has come out, he's not scary or intimidating. He's just an edgelord.

Pilot Alastor wouldn't make this. Here he's goofy, but in a bad way. Where's the mysterious Alastor? This guy's just like "HAHAHAH I'M SO EVIL >:)" but he just seems stupid?

He also says all these corny lines, like "This is your sign not to mess with the radio demon," (it was something like that) "I'm about to end your fucking life," and "Adam. First man, next to die." He sounds like he's a 12 year old role-playing a creepypasta. These aren't intimidating, he just sounds dumb, edgy, and cringy

ALSO he seriously needs to STOP saying FUCK. It wasn't popular slang in the early 1900's, so he probably would never say it, but it also doesn't fit his persona. A really unique part of him is that he doesn't swear much and he's always smiling. He shouldn't say "ornery old bitch" and he shouldn't say 'fuck you." They just don't fit him. If he wanted what he said to have impact, he would have said something like "she's such a bitter old woman, bless her soul." or when Lucifer says the hotel's name isn't very clever, he should've said "your highness, intelligence is in constant pursuit of you, but it seems you have always been faster" because subtle insults he thinks everyone else is too stupid to understand seems more like his style.

I'll excuse him saying fuck once or twice. Maybe when he breaks his staff, and once more in season two? But he says it too much to have impact.

TL;DR, Alastor's not scary because he's not mysterious. He's just an angry edgelord

#hazbin hotel critical #i think the first man next to die line could’ve been creepy but in combination with the rest of it it wasn’t

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mothbait · 3 months

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I’m gonna start hazbin later today i’ll make a review when i’ve got time

#my only prediction is that every woman except maybe charlie doesn’t get character development

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mothbait · 3 months

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Very. Interesting rollercoaster of emotions coming back after a break like “oh man, sure can’t wait to review hazbin when it comes out!” Then looking in the tags and seeing all this stuff with poison and viv and the story boarders and. Eugh.

#vivziepop critical #hazbin critical

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mothbait · 6 months

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Why is every helluva fan hate anon like “you need to stop critiquing the thing i like and get a hobby, like mine, scrolling through posts of people critiquing the thing i like so i can yell at them for expressing their opinions”

#helluva critical #helluva boss critical #fandom crit #im not dead #i havent written about the new ep yet schools got me busy

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mothbait · 7 months

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whelp, didn't take long for hazbin hotel fans to be weird and aggressive under my art. glad i'm done with these redesigns.

#oh hey its danidraws with a bad take who’d’ve thought #‘they hate viv for being queer wrong’ where?? when??

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mothbait · 8 months

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Ok, I’ll stand by what I said regarding the new episode- I think it’s one of the better Helluva outings

But I noticed this while watching it and it’s driving me insane-

Barbie was supposed to be in this scene. They removed Blitzo’s sister from THEIR SHARED BACKSTORY. Viv is refusing to give this character any attention for some reason even though this screwed her over as much as it did Blitzo and Fizz.

#really like how this is how i learned the new ep is out #this is a uniquely bad way of them writing women #normally they don’t even try fleshing them out and here they tried and took it away lol

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mothbait · 8 months

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Hey guys, let's play a little game: Everytime we identify a misogynistic trope in Helluva Boss, we add a point. From the top of my head, I can think of:

• Addressing women as "bitches", constantly.

• Ex-Girlfriend/Ex-Wife character who's only characteristic is hating the person they used to be with.

• Fridged wife/mom character for the development of male characters.

• Female antagonists are all about romance and/or sex, so their conflicts end up revolving around that too.

• Women exist mainly as stand-ins for Men [Aka, they're only there to serve as compliments for the men without personality of their own].

• Two named female characters talk about something other than men for a whole scene.

• Two women cannot coexist in the same room without having some kind of rivarly-esq relationship [usually due to a man]

That's all I can think of atm, but feel free to add on.

#helluva boss critical #every woman is defined by their relationship to a man #they either love a man or hate a man #or are somewhere in between with loona #what is this 2014 fandom

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mothbait · 8 months

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Not usually one to complain about stiff or jerky animation but oh boy that promo gif looked rough

#helluva critical #helluva boss critical #i usually don’t complain about that cause i dont thhink i could do better myself but this was made by a team. for work #and it’s. not great

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mothbait · 8 months

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The butch hartman ask cursed me with the thought of Femme Hartman and I just had to share the burden

#i like seeing people in the comments talk about her tracing and not like. the transphobia. the sexism. the poor worker treatment

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mothbait · 8 months

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its practically an open secret that the creator of hazbin hotel/helluva boss sucks. i know artists who are familiar with viv's abusive behavior that are too scared to do anything because she can simply namedrop them and they'll be chased off of ANY website.

she blacklists people, she bullies people, she intimidates people, she's incredibly insecure and entitled. wanna know why most people who try to come out about viv's abuse tend to go silent? because she sends lawyers after them. I've seen leaked logs of what Viv is really like, she sucks, a whole lot actually.

I knew she sucked when she gave out that incredibly embarrassing "apology" where she plays victim, deflects blame, lovebombs her audience and doesn't acknowledge her more horrific behavior and zones in on minor instances like being a fan of blaire white (and funnily enough couldn't even be honest and admit she liked her! she had to pretend she was only a fan because she was "scared during political unrest")

vivziepop is an anti feminist. flat out despises women and worships men (but only if they're cis). she calls women she hates "bitches" and "cunts" and it bleeds into her incredibly misogynistic humor and writing. she's made comics defending catcalling women and transphobic caricatures of people she dislikes. she thinks trans men are "women with internalized misogyny". she makes man-hating female characters who are friendless losers that nobody likes, but her women-hating men are her personal favorite characters.

she treats her friends as people she can use and discard. she's great if she likes you, horrible if she doesn't. despite being familiar with how traumatizing cyberstalking and cyberbullying is, she weaponizes it against people she dislikes by playing victim. the scott cawthon incident was simply vivzie's mask off moment. she loves seeing people she hates suffer, she loves seeing them deal with mass criticism and backlash, even better if they're chased off the platform forever.

she thinks everyone who critiques her work are homophobic bigots because she doesn't like being told off for her incredibly embarrassing caricatures of queer men. she can't draw black people. she wrote an effeminate queer man with sexual trauma that she constantly sexualizes and makes a mockery of. her lead animator has a "rape ship" and an animatic to go with it that she approves of. she's threatened by redesigns because they're done by artists why have a basic grasp of character design and unironically thinks they're only done to attack the crew (and refuses to stand against fan harassment because of it).

and also her design of beelzebub is still goddamn horrendous.

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mothbait · 9 months

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This isn’t real. I refuse to believe Viv liked this/ someone said this 💀

Who did the hell said HB needs to be like South Park? You gotta be kidding me. Also comparing this show and claiming its LGBT rep is better than Bojacks should be a fucking crime what the hell

#idk what the hell they’re talking about i didn’t want south park and this isn’t bojack #hey wait i just reread this are they saying bojack wasn’t queer #todd chavez doesn’t deserve this

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mothbait · 9 months

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Since the OP of this post ended up being a pro shipper, here’s the logs of Viv being transphobic on their own

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mothbait · 9 months

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PSA: Castlevania Nocturne is basically one giant nazi dogwhistle. Here's why and what to do about it.

Netflix recently released a trailer and some information on Castlevania Nocturne, and with it has come a lot of hype and excitement online. While I can understand why, there’s a huge stain on it all that I haven’t really seen anyone talk about outside of certain circles: rampant, undeniable, inseparable-from-the-plot, clearly intentional antisemitism. And in all fairness this isn’t something that’s immediately clear from just the trailer, so that’s why I’m making this post: To inform people who likely just aren’t aware.

I ask that if possible, please don’t just tick off a box on a list of shows that are “problematic” and keep scrolling. Please read this post carefully, so you can understand what exactly the problems are and why they’re a problem.

(As a small disclaimer, I’m not Jewish myself. I’m writing this post in support of and with some guidance from concerned Jewish Castlevania fans, who frankly have better things to do with their lives than stress themselves out trying to explain why antisemitism is bad for the billionth time.)

Now, many folks who are familiar with vampire literature already know that vampire media has an unfortunate history with antisemitism. This isn’t to say that all vampire media is inherently nazi stuff; Rather that without a certain awareness and care, it’s very easy for the writing to accidentally fall into antisemitic tropes. (Castlevania as a franchise isn’t exempt from this either- looking at you, Portrait of Ruin.) If YouTube is your speed, Kaz Rowe has an excellent video on this and some other issues with vampire history:

youtube

I also recommend the following two articles, which I’ll be referring to later on.

The antisemitism present in Nocturne, however, seems to go beyond mere unfortunate ignorance. It is my strong believe that the antisemitism in Castlevania Nocturne is deliberate, fully aware, and written with intent to harm. So let’s talk about why and where I’m getting this information from.

The Plot, as Described by Netflix Themselves

On July 27th, Netflix released an article titled “‘Castlevania: Nocturne’ - Your First Look at the New Series”. This article goes into fairly extensive detail on the plot of the show’s first season. You can read it here:

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/castlevania-nocturne-news-release-date

Within the first two paragraphs, we have our first extremely loud alarm bell. The article proclaims, “As the peasant class rises up against the aristocracy, an even darker threat emerges: a cabal of powerful vampires intent on taking over the world and blotting out the sun forever.” The concept of a vampire shadow government connected to the aristocracy already mirrors the antisemitic trope of secret ultra-rich Jews (often euphemistically referred to as “elites”) controlling the world, but when looking at the specific use of the word “cabal”, it becomes incredibly clear that the parallels here are not just an accident. “Cabal” is not a word ordinary people use casually. To quote the previously linked article “Vampire Books: Deconstructing the Antisemitic History of Vampires With Deke Moulton”:

There is also a common trope of vampires operating through a secret, worldwide council that often governs ‘vampire affairs’ but also may dabble in controlling other aspects of the world’s governments. While some people can see a similarity to the Catholic Church, often times this calls upon the antisemitic trope of the ‘cabal’—that Jews secretly run the entire world (which is another strange antisemitic trope, as Judaism doesn’t have any central religious figure like the Pope). The word ‘cabal’ itself is a bastardization of the word kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism. If you combine this with a trope of vampires hoarding large amounts of money (especially gold?), you’re using yet another antisemitic trope that says Jewish people control the world’s banks.

Let’s continue reading the Nocturne summary. The next paragraph claims, “By the time rumors spread of a “vampire messiah” who must be stopped at all costs, the stakes in the Castlevania universe have never been higher.” The mention of a “Messiah” is another overt parallel, as Jewish tradition holds that a Messiah will one day arrive to restore the temples and bring about an era of peace (no, “Judeo-Christian” Kevin, it’s not fucking Jesus so shut up).

By the way, this is not the first example of parallels between Jewish people and vampires in Netflixvania. In season 2, episode 3, Alucard says of the Belmont hold, “It's like a museum dedicated to the extermination of my people.” This could be an innocent enough line on its own, poorly thought out but not necessarily malicious… But when combined with the themes of Nocturne, it paints a darker picture.

Continuing on, the Netflix article describes the character of Annette as having “used her power and wits to escape vampire-enforced enslavement in the Caribbean”. (This does raise the question of why almost every single person of color in Netflixvania is or at some point was a slave, but that’s a topic for another day.) This, again, parallels the antisemitic idea that Jewish people were behind the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Here’s an article from My Jewish Learning:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-and-the-african-slave-trade/

The article not only explains why this is a myth, but further points out that popular proponents of it include David Duke, former KKK grand wizard. In addition, this idea detracts from the reality that the slave trade was primarily orchestrated by and to the benefit of white Europeans and Americans.

So, just as a quick refresher, so far we have:

The aristocracy being controlled by a secret ring of vampires, with the specific word “cabal” being used as a descriptor, paralleling the “Jews control the world” antisemtic myth and pitting a cast of largely white, seemingly entirely non-Jewish protagonists in opposition to this group as the heroes

The specific use of the word “Messiah” calling to mind Jewish beliefs, and being presented as an ultimate evil which must be stopped at all costs

The Caribbean slave trade being run by vampires, paralleling a recently popular antisemitic myth that Jewish people controlled the trans-Atlantic slave trade

And that’s just what we know from an introductory summary. I do think it’s also possibly worth noting that the trailer puts a lot of visual focus on Richter’s blue eyes.

But Does This Make Them Nazis?

First of all, I will refer you to the old adage: “If it walks like a nazi and talks like a nazi, it’s a nazi.”

Secondly, the fact of the matter is, naziism is often subtle on purpose, and operates on a careful safety net of plausible deniability. While there are certainly those who wear their awful beliefs loud and proud, the vast majority of nazis are not going to shake your hand and say “Nice to meet you, I’m a nazi,” and they’re not going to put “he/him | 34 | nazi” in their Twitter bio. Instead, they’re going to put on their best nice guy impression, wrap their beliefs up in a cute little package of metaphor and ambiguity, and when you say “Hey, this seems antisemitic” they’ll hit you with “It’s not that deep!” and “Oh, it’s just a coincidence!” and “Why do you have to ruin everything by making it about race?”. That’s the entire point of a dogwhistle: to slide insidious beliefs in under the radar. You can’t just leave it at “well, he says he’s not a nazi” and let that be the end of it.

So while, no, I don’t have definitive proof that the writers are card-carrying nazis, the point is: Does it matter? Their work is still doing harm, still perpetuating extremely dangerous and cruel ideas. If I stab someone multiple times and then go “Oopsie!”, then I’ve still stabbed them, and they’re still probably going to tell their friends “Hey don’t hang out with that lady, she stabbed me like five times”. You get what I’m saying?

By the way, in my research for this post, I found a review for the first three seasons written by a Jewish woman, at Scoop’s Animation Corner:

https://scoopsanimationcorner.com/2020/08/17/netflixs-castlevania-is-a-near-masterpiece/

In this review, she points out how odd it is that Netflixvania includes characters from a variety of different religious and cultural backgrounds, there’s a conspicuous lack of any acknowledgement of Jewish people or Judaism whatsoever. When put together with the previously discussed issues of antisemitism… I mean, “the writers don’t hate Jewish people! They just refuse to acknowledge that they exist at all!” isn’t exactly a glowing defense.

Well That’s All Pretty Fucked Up. What Can I Do About It?

Unfortunately, what’s in the show is… In the show. We, as an audience, can’t exactly retroactively rewrite it. (And no, before you ask: writing fanfiction that pretends the problems don’t exist is not helpful.) However, if you want to avoid perpetuating the harm caused by the show, here are my suggestions:

Boycott the show. Completely. Don’t watch it on Netflix, don’t post on social media about how excited for it you are, don’t buy merchandise (official or fanmade), don’t eagerly pirate it and liveblog all about it. Let it die a brutal death.

Raise awareness. Talk about these issues online and in real life, and be relentless about it. Someone you know is excited for Nocturne? Let them know about its antisemitism problem. Unfollow and block people who continue to support the show once they’ve been informed of its issues. Bring up its problems continually on social media until it’s all anyone hears about it.

Educate yourself. Research antisemitic dogwhistles and the history of vampires and antisemitism, so you can learn what to watch out for and how to avoid it in your own writing and art.

Consider donating to Jewish charities or mutual aid funds for Jewish individuals.

Finally, if you’re interested in characters like Richter Belmont, Maria Renard, and Alucard, consider checking out the Castlevania games. The Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night duology details Richter’s initial rise to glory, his downfall beneath the pressure of destiny and generational trauma, and Maria and Alucard’s efforts to save him. They’re really thought-provoking stories packaged with fun gameplay, absolutely gorgeous graphics, and equally amazing soundtracks. Give them a try!

Thank you for reading. Stay aware, listen to marginalized voices, use your critical thinking, and remember to support your Jewish friends and neighbors. Don’t let antisemitism in media slide just because it also has some hot guys or whatever.

#antisemitism tw #castlevania #netflix

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