Was Hazbin Hotel really that bad?

Made for adult children, by adult children.
(Written February 2024)
Contains spoilers for season one of Hazbin Hotel.

Table of contents:
So what's the deal with Hazbin Hotel? - Season one - The characters - So is it really that bad?

I'm trying something new this year: I want to publish at least one rune a month if possible. I managed to write two in January, but despite frequently combing through old websites for inspiration, it was hard to find a topic that could generate several paragraphs. I have at least 3 unfinished drafts on my computer. (Yeah, I treat this like school...) Then I found out a certain pilot cartoon I watched years ago finally got off the ground. I very rarely jump on bandwagons, but I was already familiar with this and thought it would make a good subject.

Why yes, I did quit my job in December and am still unemployed. Why else would I be writing about this of all things?

I'm only writing this for the sake of making my stupid autism dumps more accessible to outsiders, but you're either lucky or must be living under a rock if you don't know! Hazbin Hotel is an adult animated musical-comedy about the princess of Hell opening a hotel to rehabilitate sinners so they can go to Heaven. Why? Because Hell is overpopulated and there are yearly purges from Heaven to keep the population under control. (Yikes...) But why is a demon offering a peaceful solution, and would the sinners in Hell even want to go through with this? Hm... I guess you'd have to watch it to find out.

I don't see the difference between this and real life.

I never cared much for Vivziepop, I never +watched her on DeviantART or bothered reading her webcomic Zoophobia. My first actual exposure to her art was when I saw her music video to "Die Young" by Ke$ha on Tumblr, and I didn't like it. I didn't like preps or scene kids on Myspace in the 2000s, and I'm not going to pretend to like them a decade later. There was some potential with her choice of color, but her designs were over-decorated and better suited as still images instead of animated characters. At the very least it was fun to pause and look at the background characters and frames, but it's really not my kind of animation.

So of course when I heard about Hazbin Hotel, it was clear to that Vivzie is just another rich girl able to make her DeviantART cartoon dream a reality. I mean that's not such a big deal, is it? It's just Sturgeon's law. But I ended up liking the pilot episode of Hazbin less than the fan music video. "Die Young" was fine as a personal project, but this is legit a pilot for a show?! The basic plot was okay, but the humor reeked of something a 13 year old who secretly watches Adult Swim would find "mature" humor. Angel Dust was probably the most grating character I've ever seen in recent years. It had too much going on at once and I had no investment in any of it. The designs were, once again, cluttered and make more sense as overpriced furry adoptables than TV show characters. (I just realized everything is streaming nowadays. You get the point.) Well, whatever. I stopped watching TV and listening to the radio 15 years ago, so this felt like just another mediocre media that I'm not missing out on.

On the other hand, the pilot for Helluva Boss wasn't as bad in my opinion. If Hazbin Hotel's pilot was a 5/10, then Helluva was a 5.5. Which isn't really saying much, I know! I watched some episodes of Helluva Boss and found it marginally more amusing, but I just wasn't invested enough to finish it. During the pandemic, I found that there were people who more dedicated to disliking Vivzie and her cartoons more than I was. (Ah... just like the Twilight haters... even if that series was kind of fucked.) That's kind of a low-hanging fruit though, isn't it? Despite being an "adult" show, it's clear mainly teenagers who want to feel grown up like it. Why are you wasting your skill on "fixing" something that doesn't deserve the effort? I may or may not ended up downloading an .mp3 for the song ADDICT back then, though. I will confess, as someone who unironically likes Brony music, it's not that bad of a song if you can get past the voices.

The first episode... was actually not nearly as bad as the pilot. I got more genuine laughs out of it alone than the zero from the pilot. Second episode... Uh oh... also not nearly as awful. Not as terrible as the pilot, but also slightly better than Helluva Boss. What the fuck is going on here? Third episode... fine... Fourth... uh oh, better... I've never been the binge watching type, but I ended up quickly finishing it in a day. Are you thinking what I'm thinking here? I think Vivzie actually wrangled in people with actual skill to handle this.

Season one takes place after the pilot, but I was able to jump into it and understand everything fine without rewatching it. Which is good, I didn't want to sit through that again... The first episode opens with a lore dump about Heaven, Lucifer, Adam and Lilith, and Lucifer and Lilith's exile to Hell. We follow Charlie in her attempt to pitch the Hazbin Hotel to Heaven, meeting the other Overlords, and rehabilitating their first guest. We also meet Lucifer, Charlie visits Heaven, and some game-changing secrets are revealed... (Trying to summarize everything in a few sentences and spoiler-free is a pain in the ass...)

I mentioned this already, but my biggest issue with Hazbin Hotel is that the writing is closer to what a teenager thinks is mature instead of an actual cartoon for adults. There's a weird mish-mash of "shocking" profane or sexual humor and a serious message about redemption at the same time. The soundtrack ranges from decent to very good, I have three five songs playing on loop constantly. BUT the random F-bombs in both the lyrics and general dialogue are out-of-place and feel more of a reminder that "HEY! This ISN'T FOR KIDS! Don't watch this, KIDS!" than adult characters speaking normally. The cast are supposed to be from different time periods, but with the exception of Alastor, it's not really evident in their speech (not voices) because they all swear like American teenagers.

Season one is also really short. The episodes take place in a span of six months, but I didn't even notice until it was said so. It felt more like a few weeks. There's also too much telling instead of showing. Like I said before, I haven't watched TV in over a decade so I have no idea what the standards are now - But 8 episodes is not long enough for a full season. Even the songs I otherwise like a lot are super short! It's a lot better than how the pilot squeezed in so much shit in 30 minutes, but there's still major pacing issues. It would've been better paced if it was stretched out to at least 13 episodes. There's too much going on at once and I just wasn't invested in half of the conflicts because they're introduced and resolved within the same episode.

I still actively dislike all of the main character's designs. After seeing them so much from internet osmosis for the last five years, I had to just tolerate them. If the actual show was going to be more polished compared to the pilot, they should've been simplified to be not as much of a mess to look at and easier to animate. Those poor Spindlehorse employees... (Not sorry.)

Alastor is incredibly disappointing. I love his concept, I love his voice, but he's hard for me to take seriously despite being a big bad Overlord that most characters are terrified of. A fun trivia I learned is that he was designed by Vivzie in high school... YEAH, I CAN TELL... To be blunt, his design is complete crap. I can't even tell he's supposed to be a deer, and it's too obvious he's a "subverted" fandom sexyman. "Haha, he has the similar motifs as most of the humanized Bill Ciphers on 2012 Tumblr and the Onceler, but he can't be a true sexyman because he's ASEXUAL!" Uh, okay... I think if his rivalry with Vox was on-screen more, it probably would've given him more points in his favor to me. (My impression on Vox is the other way around, good design but annoying so far.)

On that note, Mimzy's design is also painfully boring too for someone who is supposed to be important to Alastor. I literally thought she was a secret relative of Charlie because she appeared in the same episode Lucifer did, and they have similar color palettes. I really don't want to knock on the few characters in the show that aren't stick thin, but she really could've looked less same-y. How can you can fuck up the concept of a "trashy Betty Boop" when Drawn Together was able to nail it?

Adam also sucked, and not in the way the show intended him to be. "Haha, what if the Biblical Adam was a SEXIST DUDEBRO?" Wow, how edgy... Hazbin Hotel is already capable of having likable or "love to hate" villains, so I have no idea why Adam is so obnoxious. He has nothing going for him besides being a politically incorrect villain and every other thing he has to say was dropping F-bombs or being a pervert. His face reveal in the finale was also uneventful, but that was probably the point. That said, if Sir Pentious went to Heaven in the finale, does this mean Adam will go to Hell in season two? The first episode made it clear that he's not any better than the sinners, and in episode six, a complete hypocrite because he doesn't fit his own criteria for being worthy of Heaven. I really don't have much to say on the other angels, but I'd like to see more of Lute in season two.

Another criticism I had that carried over from the pilot is that Charlie and Vaggie's relationship is just not compelling to me. My thoughts when watching was that it would've been the same if Vaggie was just a friend and not Charlie's girlfriend. Vaggie is one of the more likable characters among the awkward-looking main cast, but she didn't have much else going for her besides being the voice of reason or Only Sane Woman. When I first saw the pilot, I understood where the Alastor/Charlie shippers were coming from; How the fuck does Charlie have more chemistry with a word-of-God asexual than her own girlfriend?! ...This was what I thought, until episode six revealed that Vaggie is a fallen angel! I'm sure this was one of those things that was obvious from a mile away, but I really liked this twist and adds a big rewatch bonus. Unfortunately, this is where the issue of season one being so short hurts it, because the conflict being contained to one episode and resolved too quickly didn't fully win me over.

Speaking of shippers... This is going to be commenting on both the characters and the show itself (I don't feel like making another section lol), but another thing I noticed with modern media like this is it's too aware of its fandom. I actively don't like this trend. It's inevitable since most of the DeviantART and Tumblr crowd have grown up and are now working in the industry, but I think creators having a close relationship with their fandom is a recipe for disaster. Especially for a cartoon infamous for having an immature fanbase AND vocal hatedom. A few years ago there were (now non-canon) in-character Instagram accounts for both Hazbin and Helluva Boss, but they're gone now because adoring fans with amazing social skills kept sending Rule 34 in DMs. I don't know too much about Hazbin Hotel's fandom outside of internet osmosis, but even when watching this season it felt like it was "responding" to certain fan trends.

When poking around for more information, my suspicions appeared to be correct. ADDICT started out as a fan song that later became canonized. I mentioned my first impression of the pilot was that Alastor/Charlie had more potential as a ship than Charlie/Vaggie (note to the Twitter crowd, "ship" doesn't always mean a wholesome romantic relationship to emulate in real life), only for Alastor to say Charlie is like a daughter to him. (This was to piss Lucifer off, so I doubt it was earnest.). Angel Dust/Alastor was another popular ship that was shot down in the first episode - Instead, Angel Dust has potential going on with Husk. Plenty of other fanon was canonized in season one, like Sir Pentious having a crush on Cherry Bomb that's requited in the finale. Again, I don't like this, I've always believed that doing this is a terrible idea. But this seems to have been how it was from day one. Side note, if you put a gun to my head and forced me to ship something in Hazbin Hotel, I'd choose Angel Dust/Husk, Lucifer/Alastor, Vaggie/Lute and Charlie/Emily. AAAAAAA!

If you're wondering what I think of other characters, I either don't have anything to say about them, or I dislike them too much to bother. I like Husk, but he's in the first camp. I literally have nothing to say about Sir Pentious or Cherry Bomb (besides she has the same problem as Mimzy where her color palette is too same-y). Niffty is firmly in the second camp. (Annoying!) I will say my favorite characters are Velvette and Carmilla, and I'm hoping we'll see more of them next season. I may or may not (I do) have some crackpot theories involving Carmilla, but I guess I'll have to wait until season two...

With a heavy heart, I have to say... No, it wasn't. If the pilot was a 5/10, and Helluva Boss is a 5.5, then season one is a 6/10. Some might say that's too generous, while others would say it's too low. But my bar was below the ground, I still have glaring gripes with it, and yet... The final product is rough around the edges, but passable if you don't expect a masterpiece. When I initially drafted this I expected it to come off as too positive, but it turned out more critical than I expected! Ironically, I think its flaws are why Hazbin Hotel is both loved and hated so much. There's rewatch value and the details we're already given are ripe for speculation to tide us over for season two. The nuggets of potential make you want more, and even as I went from disliking it to somewhat liking, my urge to "fix" it is still there.

If you're wondering why I barely touched on any behind-the-scenes controversy involving Viziepop herself, it's because I haven't used Twitter since last June and I don't see a point in virtue signaling. I explicitly expressed my criticism and disinterest towards Vivzie's art and previous work, and what I've read about her has shown she's incredibly unprofessional and awful at taking criticism. I still highly doubt the creators or working conditions of your media of choice is any more moral, and I'm not playing the "which is more problematic" game. Speaking of that, but I didn't watch this on Amazon Prime, and neither should you. Streaming and subscription services are a waste of money, and the things you pay to have access to instead of owning aren't going to be around forever. I say this at the end of every other page, but keep circulating the digital tapes just in case something happens to these shows.

This is how I feel when I encourage people to pirate.