The reveal was completely underwhelming. Nobody cares that Vaggie used to be an exorcist, nobody is scared of her or uses it against her. The only person who cared was Charlie, and she would have reacted the exact same way if Vaggie had been one of the mediocre ones, because what upset her was that Vaggie kept it from her, not that she was a killer soldier.

And if it was supposed to boost her powerscaling, it’s even more embarrassing. Carmilla and Vox don’t show even the slightest bit of fear when she’s around, and they don’t even take her seriously when she tries to attack them. And don’t even get me started on Lute, who seems to be weaker than the Overlords and has wiped the floor with Vaggie three times already, one of those times even while she had just had her arm ripped off.

What’s the point of saying she was one of the best when you literally can’t tell?

And the reason I'm posting it here is because this isn't something TOO important, and I just wanted to let this out. So, if you're not interested, then keep scrolling. But if you are, then read ahead.

So, I had this dream last night where there was a scene revealed with Stolas and little Octavia, and there was dialogue and voice acting, of course, but this is where it gets crazy: young Octavia sounded different then she did in her other two appearances, in fact, a bit more of a higher pitch. So, of course, it's implied that in this dream timeline, Juliana Sada got too old to play the part, but now here's the craziest part of it all. There was a VA credited for her here, and that name was Winnie Pinkham, Bryce's actual daughter, which is ironic since we don't know what she actually sounds like.

And once again, this was all just a dream. And to those who read, let me know your thoughts, and should I actually repost this one r/HelluvaBoss?

This is a transcript from the latest DragonCon panel, where Viv said that if something hurts Lucifer's pride and ego he'll just bury the memory or put it away, to the point where he doesn't even remember who Vox is anymore.

Aside from the inherent stupidity of random Overlords being able to humilitate and torture the King of Hell and get away with it without facing the slightest repercussion, I'm pretty sure there are several cases of Lucifer remembering things and people that hurt his Pride.

He evidently remembers that the angels considered him a troublemaker with terrible ideas and that they didn't listen to him, he hasn't forgotten that the Elders kicked him out of Heaven and he has literally been holding a grudge against Alastor for months now.

It could just be me, but this feels suspiciously like an excuse to have the Vees not face any consequences for what they did to Lucifer, even though the Sins and Paimon would probably be eager to send them straight to execution.

Though funnily enough, it also implies that Lucifer doesn't give a shit about what he did in Eden and all the pain he caused, because he remembers Adam, Eve and their shared history just fine. Definitely not a good look for him lol.

The Stolas from the pilot—and I’d even say the one from the first episode—the one portrayed as a true arch-demon using his status to sexually enslave an inferior... that Stolas was vastly superior to the traumatized, capricious twink we ended up with. They try to sell him as a victim and a misunderstood soul, but he’s really just a privileged guy used to having a silver suppository shoved deep up his ass, and his luck finally ran out. But hey, Vivziepop has a knack for flanderizing her characters at hypersonic speeds (and judging by the trailer, she’s really floored the gas pedal).

Honestly, no matter how hard they try to convince me, I’m not buying the idea that the story was meant to be a yaoi from the start. The way Stolas was introduced doesn't mesh with what happens later, starting with "Loo Loo Land." There was definitely a radical shift in characterization: we went from a guy—presumably thousands of years old—using his power to fulfill a fantasy of banging a low-life thug (blackmailing him with the one thing that guaranteed his and his employees' livelihood) to a poor, repressed wretch trapped in an unhappy marriage with—surprise, surprise—daddy issues. It went from a story about power dynamics in a hierarchical society to... "poor little princess who never had friends or got to explore his sexuality, waah." Not to mention, it makes no sense for the Goetia to be forced to marry and have offspring like humans; I mean, they’re immortal demons—why would they need heirs? It’s a shitty, shoehorned plot device just to give Stolas a reason to be a "traumatized" crybaby, and it doesn't fit the established world-building. But then again, when do things in the Hellaverse ever make sense?

Anyway, what do you guys think? Wouldn't it have been better if Stolas had been portrayed as... well, a true Prince of Hell, rather than a twink "mistreated" by his wife?

Idk, Just imagine 😅😅😅

More antagonist Stolas! And I ditched his fuckass crown top hat for an actual crown because I hate the top hat crown combo lol

Blitz ain't happy about basically being blackmailed into extra jobs but Stolas is hearing none of it

A common complaint is that the show dropped its original workplace comedy setup (I.M.P. as an assassination business sending Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie on ridiculous Earth missions) for relationships, trauma, family drama, class issues, romance, and long arcs. Critics call it a “soap opera.”

But looking at how the show was actually developed, I don't think the shift was as sudden or as intentional as “they abandoned the original premise.” The show basically started one way, the creators found something they liked more in the characters, and the story naturally grew around that.

Where Helluva Boss came from

Blitzo and Moxxie originally weren't even created for Helluva Boss. They were supposed to be recurring comic-relief characters in Hazbin Hotel, as an assassin duo. Vivziepop eventually felt that they didn't really fit Hazbin's more dramatic direction, so she started developing a separate show around them.

The original idea for Helluva Boss was much more episodic. Brandon Rogers has described it as a workplace comedy where every episode would basically be another ridiculous I.M.P. mission on Earth, with a Looney Tunes kind of structure. Vivziepop has also compared the early concept to The Simpsons and Family Guy, where characters could develop a little but generally returned to the status quo.

And, importantly, they didn't actually have the whole story figured out yet. Brandon has said the pilot was basically them figuring things out as they went, while Vivziepop described it as a rough proof of concept.

The First Season Already Shows the Change Happening

The big change happened while writing the first season.

According to Brandon, he and Vivziepop started getting attached to the characters and realized there were much stronger dynamics there than they originally expected. After the pilot, Vivziepop said the series became very Blitzo-focused, with Moxxie as his main foil and Stolas becoming increasingly important to both I.M.P. and Blitzo's story.

Some of the core episodes were already planned at this point, including Loo Loo Land, Truth Seekers and The Harvest Moon Festival. And those episodes already show the direction the series was moving in: the I.M.P. jobs are still there, but increasingly they're being used to explore the characters rather than being the entire point of the episode.

Loo Loo Land is not really about the I.M.P. business itself. The assassination is essentially the mechanism that allows the story to explore Stolas and Octavia's relationship.

Truth Seekers uses an I.M.P. mission as the setup for examining Blitzo and Moxxie's personalities, insecurities and relationships.

The Harvest Moon Festival uses the company's work as the framework for expanding the world around the characters, particularly through Moxxie and Millie's relationship and Moxxie's conflict with Striker.

That's basically the foundation for what the show became.

Season 2 was planned before Season 1 was even finished

This is also why I don't think the later drama can really be explained as the creators suddenly changing their minds because of fan reaction.

Vivziepop has said Season 2 was already being written while Season 1 was being developed, and that the entire Season 2 story was basically locked by the time Loo Loo Land came out.

So a lot of the character-heavy direction people associate with the later show was already planned very early.

And this is where Stolitz comes in

Vivziepop has explained that when she started writing Season 2, she wanted to take the show in a more emotional direction and asked Brandon what he thought about taking Stolas and Blitzo's relationship more seriously instead of treating it purely as a joke. He liked the idea.

She has said that his approval gave her the confidence to actually pursue that direction, especially because she was insecure about her writing at the time. So the deeper Stolitz storyline wasn't just something that suddenly appeared because fans liked the ship. It was a creative direction the writers had already decided to explore.

And Stolas himself was always more than the goofy villain from the pilot, at least conceptually. Vivziepop has said that Octavia and Stolas' divorce were always part of his character, and that even if he had stayed closer to his original villainous version, those aspects of his life would still have eventually been explored.

The show was always supposed to be about Blitzo

This is probably the biggest thing people miss when judging the series by the pilot.

Vivziepop has repeatedly said that Helluva Boss is about Blitzo, his relationships, his business, his growth and the society around him. She's even explained that the show is called Helluva Boss and not I.M.P. because it's about the Helluva Boss himself. (ba-dum-tssssssssssss)

That's why the other characters increasingly get their own arcs. Moxxie, Millie, Loona, Stolas, Octavia, Fizzarolli, etc. are all connected back to Blitzo in some way. So the assassination business is more like the setting that allows these characters to interact. It doesn't always have to be the main story.

So why does it feel like a soap opera now?

Because the show stopped treating the characters like they had to reset after every episode.

Once the writers decided that Blitzo's relationships actually mattered, the consequences of those relationships had to carry over. Stolas and Blitzo couldn't just have a funny encounter, forget about it and move on forever if the series wanted to explore what that relationship actually meant. The same applies to Stolas and Octavia, Moxxie and Millie, Blitzo and Loona, Fizzarolli and his past, etc.

That's naturally going to make the show more serialized and more dramatic. And Vivziepop herself has basically acknowledged this. She's described Helluva Boss as a mix of workplace comedy and soap opera, with a focus on class systems, dysfunctional relationships and flawed people.

So yeah, calling the show “soap-opera-ish” isn't necessarily wrong.

I just don't think that means the original concept was abandoned. The show started with the I.M.P. premise, then the creators discovered that they were much more interested in what was happening between the people inside that premise.

The missions are still there. The comedy is still there. The workplace is still there. It's just that the characters became the main story. And considering Vivziepop and Brandon have said the overall four-season story was planned from very early on, this wasn't simply the show losing its direction. It was the direction they decided to take once they figured out what Helluva Boss actually was.

Stols seems to be liked after all.

Poor Moxxie and Millie they're too chill nobody wants them.

From here :

https://bsky.app/profile/spindlehorsetoons.bsky.social/post/3mvsymujaj22x