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lesbian-in-leather · 3 months

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Let's Talk About Alastor

Hazbin Hotel is rotting my brain so it's time for me to ramble about it to no one in particular!! Obviously this post will contain a whole multitude of spoilers, so please don't look under the cut unless you're fine with that/have seen the full season

As I mentioned in the tags of this post, I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about our beloved Radio Demon, especially in regards to the finale and how I think his plot could go next series, so buckle up folks, this'll be a long one

First off, let's talk about the way he fights. When he's fighting anyone, Alastor is big, and showy, and fucking deadly. We see it time and time again—he has fun when he fights, he enjoys the carnage and, most importantly, the terror he elicits from his foes. And that's why he was tasked with dealing with Adam—he's insanely powerful, and if anyone can take down the head of the exorcists, it would have to be Alastor (because obviously they didn't know Lucifer would show up to help, and Charlie hasn't fully come into her power yet, but that's another post). And he knows it! He knows he's powerful, he knows he's deadly, he knows everyone is shit-scared of him, and that's what he relies on.

And then the finale happens. He's in that final battle, and he's actually put to the test. And in terms of sheer power, for once in his afterlife he isn't the strongest in the room. He's actually outmatched, or at least on an even footing. And if he'd fought like everyone else, then maybe he would have succeeded—if he'd taken Carmilla's advice, I have no doubt that he would have won, or at least held Adam off for long enough that the others could have come and helped him. But he never stood a chance. Because he fights like an angel, and that's why he loses to one. Look at Carmilla's conversation with Vaggie:

"You leave yourself open with every swing; you fight like someone unafraid of harm" "Angels wield no shield, little armour, and fight with reckless abandon"

Remind you of anyone? Rewatch Alastor's fight with Adam—he's fighting just like he always does. He has multiple opportunities to take him out, but, like always, he chooses to play with his food. He's enjoying himself, he's riling Adam up, dancing around him, taunting him. Because at no point does he consider that he could lose this fight—he has no armour, no shield, he didn't even bring an angelic weapon! He just has his trusty radio mic (the source of his power? Perhaps... but that's a discussion for another post) that Adam breaks. And the genuine fear in his eyes, in his voice when that happens? He has no idea what to do. He never even considered this could happen. Everyone else is fighting for their lives, but he was treating this war like simple sport... until suddenly he couldn't.

And speaking of motivation, once again we can look to Carmilla's song to see why he loses when the other, objectively less powerful souls (Husk, Angel, Cherri, hell, even Nifty) succeeded. Yes, they weren't against Adam, but they were still fighting exorcists—you know, the same angels that have been decimating hell's population unchallenged for literal centuries. But they didn't die. Because they were fighting for what they truly believed in, because they had a real reason to not only fight, but to live. I saw it mentioned in this post earlier, and they make such a good point! Charlie's fighting for her dream and for her people; Vaggie's fighting for Charlie; Lucifer for his daughter; Angel, Husk, Pentious and Cherri are all fighting for their friends (something Charlie gave them, btw, but again, that's a different post). But what's Alastor fighting for? Power? Fun? To prove a goddamn point? I think he loses because even he doesn't really know why he's fighting. I mean, listen to Out For Love and tell me it doesn't apply to Alastor just as much as Vaggie:

"I see you're driven by your detestation Your every step is stoked with animus You need a different type of motivation Or there's no way that you can handle this I know you're thirstin' for vengeance, Vaggie You're out for blood But you'll only stand a chance if you're out for love"

Which would bring me onto where I think his plot will go in future seasons (should we get them), but first we need to clear a couple of things up and try to understand his character as best we can. Now here's the thing, I know a lot of people are divided on the topic of Alastor's feelings. Some people say he genuinely cares about the others, while some say he's just putting up a façade and playing the game, and that all of the supposed evidence of his feelings are actually manufactured manipulations. But I think both readings are true, and also, neither of them are.

Because I think Alastor does care about the others, to an extent. But I also think he refuses to acknowledge it, to recognise that part of himself, that he's buried those feelings so deep he doesn't even know that they can exist within him anymore. I think whoever holds his leash (Lilith? The seven year gap is a little too convenient to ignore, but at the same time, now that we know where she is, what's her motivation? Anyway, another post) pushed him towards the hotel for their own purposes, but I also don't think they're particularly checking up on him. I think his mission is to do with Charlie, but I also think he's grown genuinely attached to her over the months they've known each other. Why do I think this? I'm glad you asked!

First off, let's examine his reactions in various key moments throughout the series so far:

This first shot is the most annoyed we see him for the entirety of the song Should Have Stayed Gone, despite singing with one of his (many?) self-proclaimed rivals, Vox. Now yes, he does look moderately peeved, but I would argue that it's much less to do with Vox, and much more to do with the focus on television and his constant fear of irrelevancy (more on that later in this post). Then look at his expressions later—

Now he's enjoying himself, he has that ever-present shit-eating grin we all know and love. And, most crucially, no one else can see his expressions during this song. No one's looking at him in the first pic, and for the rest of the song he's in his radio booth, so it's safe to assume that his expressions are far less guarded than when he knows he's being observed. Why is that important? Well, let's take a look at another Alastor-heavy episode, shall we? That's right, no Alastor analysis would be complete without a delve into Dead Beat Dad, so here we go!

Right off the bat, we're shown his dislike of Lucifer. I know some people say it was all for show, but I disagree. Hear me out—Alastor's smart, no one's arguing otherwise, so why make an enemy of the literal devil just for sport? Now, let me be clear—I don't think he actually sees Charlie as a daughter-figure (at least, not consciously, and certainly not as strongly as he was making out). The thing is, he is good at reading people, and all it took was one look at Lucifer can't-wait-to-break-the-door-down Morningstar for him to realise that Charlie's affection was what mattered the most to him. However, his hatred of Lucifer was not all for show. So why did he hate him? The fact that he hadn't heard of him certainly won't have helped (again, Alastor definitely has a whole complex, we'll get to that), but his loathing started before Lucifer had even spoken to him. How do I know? Take a look at the moment when Lucifer has literally just opened the door

Look at that eye twitch. No one's looking at him. No one can see it. But the sheer, unbridled rage is so evident that he can't quite keep it from his face. And all Lucifer has done is hug his daughter. Now, assuming the two have never interacted before (Lucifer certainly doesn't seem to remember him, and Alastor doesn't act as though they've met) what reason does Alastor have to hate him? If Lilith is his master, perhaps it's on her behalf? But he doesn't seem particularly loyal to whoever holds his leash, far from it, so that leaves us with the two most logical options: either Lucifer is the one holding his leash (not impossible, but I wouldn't say it has much evidence thus far), or Alastor is genuinely opposed to him because of how he's treated Charlie. Because he does care about her, however little he'll admit it to himself.

Just to really hammer this point home, I'd like to show just some of the many other instances of Alastor being genuinely furious with Lucifer over the course of this episode—in fact, seeing as we've already talked about Should Have Stayed Gone, let's constrain ourselves to Hell's Greatest Dad for now, shall we?

All Lucifer has to do is laugh at the start of this song, and just look at Alastor's face! That's anger, or at the very least intense annoyance—with ever-smiling-Alastor, the proof is always in the eyebrows. Then we get this wonderful sequence of expressions while Lucifer begins insulting him:

Oh, and just in case you need a comparison, here's a shot of Lucifer insulting Alastor side-by-side with two different instance of Vox insulting Alastor. And some people still think Vox is his rival and he was just messing with Lucifer?

Now you may say, "Ah, but that's not a fair comparison! Alastor was clearly winning his argument with Vox, whereas he and Lucifer were on a much more even footing!" to which I would reply yes! Exactly! That's why Vox isn't anywhere close to being Alastor's rival, and also at least part of the reason Alastor cared so much when fighting with Lucifer. If winning against Lucifer was as easy as Vox, of course he'd pick that fight. But it wasn't. At the start of Hell's Greatest Dad, he's getting straight up humiliated (as those four waiter-esque pics demonstrate). And yet, he keeps fighting. Partially for pride, I'm sure, but some part of him absolutely cares about the argument he's making.

How do I know that? Well, you see, first of all we take a look at how Alastor acts when he first starts singing. As we all know, Alastor's power lies in his voice—his face was made for radio—and he's (almost) always so much more in control when he's talking, and always in control if his radio filter is in place. In fact, the stronger it is, the more he appears to be taking charge. So, when he first begins to fight back against Lucifer, he immediately puts that Cheshire-Cat-esque façade back into place, quite literally dancing around Lucifer as he does so:

And yet, his energy is so much higher than normal. He's leaping around, his usually calculated movements suddenly far more erratic and energetic than we've seen him. For example, in his first verse alone, he goes though all of this:

Not only is he using far more power, he's become so showy, his expressions are so much more unhinged than even he usually is, his pupils are near-constantly slitted, and, most importantly, take a look at his colour palette. Right at the very start it's still his classic red and black, but then—without Lucifer even interrupting—he gets so invested in convincing Charlie (and, by extension, proving himself better than Lucifer) that he switches to what I have dubbed his Powerful Palette. It only ever happens when he's demonstrating his full abilities; when he's angry at Husk, when he's fighting Adam, when he makes a new deal, and... now. Arguing with Lucifer over who's a better father to Charlie. And while usually it's in brief flashes before he returns to normal, here he stays consistently in his greens and pinks, for a good majority of the song. You don't think that means he really cares, even just a little bit?

And when Lucifer has the gall to interrupt him with his golden fiddle, and just look at Alastor then;

Look at his face, look at his posture. Alastor, notorious for waving his arms around in grand, swooping gestures, is standing there, gritting his fucking teeth, fists clenched, arms folded at what must be an uncomfortable angle. The only time he moves is to concede a tiny step so he can drop a fucking piano on the literal devil.

Now this bit is so interesting, because he, very briefly, seems to believe that he's won, or is at least winning. And even then, he doesn't relax, he doesn't return to his normal colour palette or even his normal expression. He's still furious, you can see it—with Vox, it was a game. This is personal, and then when Lucifer is actually not only fine but still fighting, now playing a new instrument, (literally playing the devil's chord) to deliberately ruin Alastor's melody? Oh that's pure rage.

This first expression is his immediate reaction to it and, perhaps even better, the other two are him trying to contain it. Because he knows he can be seen, but he physically can't look any more collected than that; he can't control his expressions during this song. If he could, he would, because it would irritate Lucifer all the more, and he's more than smart enough to realise that. But neither of them can control themselves here, because both of them really, genuinely, care.

Then he physically places himself in between Charlie and her father, not only pushing him out of the way, but then going so far as to physically drop him out of frame with a gesture reminiscent of a Roman Emperor as he reinstates his claim over Charlie—again, feeding into his need to be relevant and powerful (we're getting to that part, I promise). But isn't it interesting that this time, he didn't even use his power? He pushed Lucifer with his bare hands, not bothering with the intimidating shadows or powerplays, because for once it wasn't about that. For once he wasn't focusing on the person he was fighting, but on the person he was fighting for.

Now this exchange is so interesting. Because Alastor misses a really good opportunity to get Charlie on his side, and I think he misses it purely because he (almost certainly without realising it) gets actually, genuinely offended on behalf of his friends. Because when Lucifer calls the others losers, he's insulting Charlie's family. Knowingly and callously! Right in front of them! And if Alastor was in his right mind, he would have absolutely pointed it out with a fake gasp and a shit-eating grin. But look at the way he reacts to Lucifer's interruption—the narrowed eyes, the tensing of his shoulders, the flexed wrists and clenched hands. That's genuine anger; it's too immediate and out of character to be anything else. Because he didn't intentionally goad Lucifer into saying that. And instead of taking advantage of the opportunity, he responds by, very childishly, asking Lucifer to "butt out" of his song. Because they were Charlie's family first, and he may feign indifference, but he included himself among them for a goddamn reason, and how dare Lucifer insult them like that?

And again, compare how he's moving and standing to how he was in Should Have Stayed Gone. In this gif (and Hell's Greatest Dad as a whole, but let's focus on this bit right now) he's glaring, his shoulders are hunched—he tries for his usual nonchalance by pushing Lucifer out of frame with a swing of his hips, but then is immediately betrayed by his expression, and his reaction the second Lucifer comes back at him. Meanwhile, in Should Have Stayed Gone, this is how he acts while taunting Vox:

He's so much more relaxed, he's visibly having fun, and Vox is the one bending himself out of shape to try and get Alastor's attention win the argument. Another interesting parallel between him and Vox in these numbers is when Vox is clearly losing towards the end of his part in Should Have Stayed Gone, compared to Alastor's first verse in Hell's Greatest Dad.

I mean, these frames are just a little too similar, don't you think? Both of them desperately trying to grab the attention of the subject of the song, duplicating themselves and leaning over the borders to try and be noticed... oh Alastor.

And now, finally, we get onto the bit that I've been promising for this entire post: Alastor's inferiority complex. The thing is, I think I've worked him out (at least, to an extent). We've seen time and again that he hates the idea of being irrelevant—the fact he doesn't like any technology beyond radio (leading to the real reason for his annoyance in that very first picture I used, when he sees everyone gathered around Vox's screens); his reaction when Carmine said she had not in fact, been wondering where he was; his reaction when Lucifer says he's never heard of him; the way he rushes to "remind people why he's here" at the end of Dead Beat Dad, and the fact that when he first arrived he took out all of the overlords who dared to dismiss his power, just to name a few. His fatal flaw is clearly pride—he wants people to know him, he needs to be relevant or he doesn't know who he is.

And I think that's the real reason he hates Lucifer. Because, father-figure or not, the two of them do represent the same position in Charlie's life. But why would she need help from a human soul (albeit an insanely powerful one) when she has a literal angel around to do whatever she wants? Yes, Alastor is powerful, but if Lucifer is back in the picture... well, we all saw it in the finale. Alastor was quite literally fighting for his life, and barely escaped with it, while Lucifer was dancing circles around Adam, shapeshifting, taunting, joking, and all the while he was periodically rescuing Charlie too. His attention wasn't even entirely focused on the battle, and he wasn't even really trying to hurt Adam until the end when shit got personal.

And I also think that's why Alastor got so scared. Because he almost died. As I said right at the start, he fought like an angel. He didn't even consider getting hurt as an option. And now he's having a crisi of mortality, and being powerful and scared is a dangerous combination. So where will his story go from here?

Well, from the fact that he's still at the hotel, I think that's evidence enough that he's being forced to stay with Charlie—despite all the very real evidence we have that he does genuinely care about her (I mean, they way he talks about shaping her to Rosie? The gentle looks, the fact he loaned her his mic? Don't forget how he looked when that got broken, it's clearly so important to him, and he gave it to her twice. Not to mention the whole 'wanting to be relevant in her life' thing that I've been going on about for like, half of this post. Remember what Rosie said about words being easy, but actions are hard? Yeah, he says he doesn't care, but... anyway). So, he's being forced to stay while he looks for an out in his contract with someone. But where does that leave him in the wider story? Well, I do think he'll eventually turn on Charlie and the rest of the gang, but I also think that it'll be temporary. Assuming the crew gets as many seasons as they want to tell the full story (never a guarantee, but here's to hoping) then I think he'll probably stay for a while next season but work against them behind the scenes, then make an open move against them, then be gone for a while, then start his long and arduous journey back into everyone's good graces.

Obviously his deal with Charlie will come into play, and I think he'll probably use it as leverage to get out of his deal. "I'll make Charlie do what you want—without hurting her, or making her hurt anyone else—and I get to be free from this bullshit" kinda thing. I also think it'll be very interesting when that happens, because I have a theory on what he meant by the deal having "clipped his wings"—I don't think he can take anyone's soul anymore. Think about it; we've only seen him even attempt two deals this season, and not even once has he attempted to add a soul to his supposedly ever-growing collection. It would certainly clip an overlord's wings to not be able to amass any more underlings—especially since it seems that the more souls someone owns, the more powerful they are, not just in terms of owning other people, but in actual, tangible power. So I think he'll eventually get out of his deal, and then he'll be free and he'll go utterly off the rails... for a while. But it won't be as fun anymore. Husk and Nifty will have been forced to turn against their friends, and Alastor won't care what they think, because why would he?

Except suddenly he does. Husk's silences suddenly feel a lot more pointed, and Nifty refuses to even look at him, and suddenly he feels something he hasn't felt in a very long time, or perhaps he's never felt it at all. He feels guilt. Regret. He wants friends again, because they were loud and annoying and they didn't respect him but... he'll realise that his affection for them wasn't all for show, not even by half. Because he almost died for them. And even when he's talking about it, scoffing at his own perceived weakness... he calls them his friends.

And that's when the real fun will begin, because the Radio Demon On A Mission will be a force to behold, and god help anyone who gets in his way, because once he figures out the love he's fighting for... oh, he'll be unstoppable.

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edgybutnotveryedgy · 10 months

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My Very Unhinged Lila Theory Part 1/3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Lila isn’t a good liar. From the beginning she has told lies that a even a fifth grader would never take at face value. Let alone adults. Yet she has so many people who believe these lies to the point that she has multiple women convinced that they are all her mom. She is enrolled at multiple schools. She has a secret lair in the Paris catacombs. She has been caught in her lies multiple times even, yet it wasn’t until Confrontation that she was caught in any of these lies.

The easy thing to do is to say that this is just lazy writing or plot convenience or something, but I don’t like that answer. It’s boring and lazy and I like to have fun. That being said, I think to begin with the real question we should be asking is: why do people blindly believe Lila?

Knowing what we know about Lila as of season 5, I think that it is worthwhile to look back on her former appearances. Going through former episodes, I have come to the ultimate conclusion, I don’t think that Lila is just a good liar, even in universe. I believe she is using some sort of power or magic to make people believe anything she says.

To begin with, I would like to address the following. There are canonically other forms of magic and superpowers in the Miraculous universe. Obviously we have the Kwami, but on multiple occasions Plagg mentions other kinds of magic. In Origins Part 1, Adrien, after putting on his ring, says “No way! Like the Genie in the Lamp!” followed by Plagg saying “I met him once. So he grants wishes. Big deal. I’m way more personable!” There’s also mention of Dragons a few times in the series, as well as United HeroeZ showcases many different heroes and villains who have abilities of their own. There’s also The Legend of Ladydragon with the Renlings, who are similar to Kwami, but still are not Kwami.

Furthermore, Miraculous is a part of a shared universe. Any show that goes under the Zag Heroez brand is a part of the shared universe. This includes Zak Storm, Power Players, and Ghostforce. Obviously Ghostforce has its ghosts as its main supernatural element. Power Players has a life giving magic called minergy that brings inanimate objects like toys to life. Zak Storm has aliens, witches, ancient gods, Atlanteans, time travel shenanigans, magic wizard aliens, star people, magic guardians, and skeletons. And that’s just scratching the surface. (seriously please watch zak storm. It is so underrated and needs more eyes on it.) These are just the shows that have aired. There are more shows that have been stuck in production hell, like Fairyon, Pixiegirl, and others that all have other magical elements. Bottom line is that a character in Miraculous having powers that aren’t connected to Kwami’s is not unreasonable, and in fact would add a lot world building wise.

To begin with, I want to note some specific quotes from episodes involving Lila that I believe suggest her having some sort of abilities. I recommend that any readers should go rewatch the episodes themselves. In this post I’ll just be covering episodes in season’s 1 and 2. So lets begin!

Volpina

When Marinette first gets to school she hears everyone fawning over the new girl Lila. Here is her dialogue

[Shortly after watching Lila drag away a clearly uncomfortable Adrien.] [Marinette is panicking because she thinks Lila is going to seduce Adrien and then he'll never love her.]

Marinette: *gasp* "where are they going? Alya! We've gotta stop them."

Alya: "You need to chill out Marinette. My Ladyblog has the highest number of hits ever after that Lila interview!"

Marinette: "what's going on? I mean has this Lila girl hypnotized everyone or something?"

Tiki: "You wouldn't be a little jealous, Marinette?"

Marinette: "huh? Me? Jealous? No way!"

[Marinette proceeds to run after Adrien and Lila]

...

While Marinette is spying on Adrien and Lila, Adrien is looking at the book he stole from his dad. Lila comes over talking about doing history homework with Adrien.

Lila looks smitten with Adrien.

Her eyes look down and she notices the book Adrien has, then she immediately looks shocked.

Lila: "What's that?"

She pulls the book over to herself to look at it while Adrien starts to panic.

Adrien: "uh.. Nothing! Just stories about superheroes." (Smooth save bro)

Lila puts her hand on Adrien’s hand.

Lila: "I love super heroes!" (It feels like she's specifically trying to form a character that she thinks Adrien will like)

Lila turns the page and it shows Ladybug.

Lila: "Ladybug?" (She seems genuinely excited when she sees this.)

Adrien: "She's amazing!" (He's so smitten)

Lila suddenly has a jealous look. She puts the book down and moves herself and her chair over closer to Adrien.

Lila: "A girl doesn't need to wear a costume to be amazing, you know."

Adrien panicking autistically: "uhh, i don't know? I mean i-"

Lila: "so! You've got a little soft spot for the bug huh?"

Adrien: "me? Oh no. Not at all!"

Lila: "You know, I actually happen to be very close friends with ladybug."

Adrien: "Really?"

Lila: "We can chat about it if you want! Not here though. Why don't we meet at the park after school, and I'll tell you everything."

Adrien suddenly has to go to fencing practice, and he drops his bag. Meanwhile the book falls out, and Lila slips it away with her shoe. Before giving Adrien back his bag.

Why is she so obsessed with getting Adrien to like her?

Heroes Day Part One

Lila has apparently convinced her mom, the ambassador Ms. Rossi, that school has been closed down and isn't reopened due to akuma attacks, as well as apparently she has convinced her mom that ladybug is useless and unable to save anyone. Like... Doesn't her mom watch the news? Or go outside? She's an ambassador. There has to be more to this than just Lila being a good liar. Especially to her own "mother."

While in her room looking over the heroes day footage

Lila: "Liar! Traitor! Coward!"

Gabriel comes up on the screen to announce his contribution to the parade as well as to denounce Volpina.

Gabi: "in honor of the wonderful Ladybug who has saved my son Adrien and myself, and who relentlessly protects all of us every day. I have financed this tribute to Ladybug, because Ladybug is the only true hero unlike her mediocre imitations, such as Volpina."

As soon as Gabriel comes on screen Lila goes quiet and is suddenly very interested to know what gabe has to say. I just think this is interesting.

After hearing what Gabriel says about Volpina, Lila gasps and looks upset. She then proceeds to throw her laptop against the wall, then dramatically yell

Lila: "I HATE YOU LADYBUG!"

Next the scene cuts to Gabi doing his Hawkmoth thing. He sends an akuma out to Lila.

Lila is just sitting in her room looking very alone and upset.when she hears the akuma wings fluttering she looks up. Suddenly she looks frightened and jumps back a bit gasping before it goes into her bracelet.

Hawkmoth: "Volpina."

Lila: "Hawkmoth!" (She says this very happily)

Hawkmoth: "Your dreams were once a reality, until Ladybug turned them into a nightmare. Regain your power of illusion, and make this heroes day a nightmare for all Parisians!"

Lila: "With great pleasure Hawkmoth."

...

After Volpina does her whole thing and makes everyone in Paris worried,

Hawkmoth: "Dear Volpina, you've performed your role well for the time being. We will meet again very soon."

Volpina: "I'll be waiting, Hawkmoth."

After being detransformed, Lila looks up, and she has a very sinister smile.

About Volpina

Powers of Illusion. She uses her powers to make people believe what she wants them to believe, such as in her debut episode, where she uses these powers to convince Ladybug and Chat Noir and Adrien as well as all of Paris, that she is amazing and that she accomplishes great feats. As we know though, this is all an illusion. Much like her lies. She also uses these abilities to ruin the reputation of Ladybug in Hero’s day, as well as to attempt to trick Ladybug and Chat Noir. This mirrors her behavior in later episodes as well.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug theories #miraculous: tales of ladybug & cat noir #lila rossi #mlb #mlb analysis #mlb speculation #mlb theorizing #I have the power of autism and adhd #nothing can stop me #ahhhahahahaha #zag heroez #ml #ml lila #mlb lila

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