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Really late to the party with this one as a number of users like WanderSong , DisneyFanGirl1997 , THEJURASSICWONDER , MorganTheMovieGeek97 and calypsaneera have already done it quite a while ago. But I’ve been taking my time rewatching the show's season, forming my thoughts more carefully, writing them down and taking care of my cold.

Before going further, just want to remind everyone that these are just my opinions and I hope you can respect them as I respect yours.

#1 Favorite + Love/Hate (but mostly love):

Adam - The First Man for the first place! As I've already mentioned before, I absolutely adore this arrogant goofball. He's a narcissistic jerk but also a hilarious and interesting character with an astonishing music talent, a fun design and array of both subtle and not so subtle insecurities. I became an infatuated mess after the first episode already and knew that nobody would be able to knock out my enjoyment of him and it only escalated further the more he appeared and by the season 1 finale I was too deep into this addiction to quit... I've been feeling such a strong mix of emotions towards him, it was sometimes physically making my heart ache. His personality is both infuriating and endearing to me. His smug attitude makes me want to see his haughtiness, confidence and pride broken but I also see every single possibility of how this exact arrogance is the result of his environment and past experiences and want to see him comforted. I love to see him embarrassed and humiliated just as much as I love to see him happy. I'd pull his hair, berate him, and tease the heck out of him before resting on his chubby belly, gently squishing his adorable face, petting his head and comforting him, telling him he's cute and handsome both with and without his mask. He has been living in my head rent-free for a while now and I just can't get enough of that guy! I haven't had such a complicated obsession with such a polarizing character since Sentinel Prime from Transformers Animated (which is still ongoing btw) and I doubt it will go away any time soon.

I genuinely hope the theory of him reincarnating as a sinner turns out legit, because I crave more of his entertaining douchy pathetic ass that I love with all my heart! If he doesn't - the overwhelming Sinner!Adam AUs on Tumblr will remain being my paradise!

#2 Favorite:

Two snake bois for the second place :}

Lucifer - I remember already being curious about him just from looking at his picture during the pilot and I got really hyped when I saw the leaked portion of the wip of his part in "Hell's Greatest Dad", because I quickly got a liking to those mannerisms and that voice.

Despite only showing up in two episodes of the first season, he was still able to get my love by displaying interesting character traits and worldview that were shaped by his origin as a fallen angel responsible for The Fall of humans and his relationship with his family.

Eventhough he's been a deadbeat dad for a number of years in Charlie's life, it's easy to assume by his behavior it wasn't for no reason. And it's clear throughout his screen time that he genuinely loves and cares for his daughter and honestly tries to make a change in himself for his child, letting her know he's there for her now and she's everything to him.

I'm glad that (judging by the apple-shaped room at the newly built hotel) Lucifer is staying at the hotel and I'm excited to see him further mend his father-daughter relationship with Charlie and build up bonds with the other residents of the hotel. Also, really curious about learning more of his background since I’m a firm believer the book story in the first episode is a case of unreliable narration that is filled with biases in Hell’s favor.

Sir Pentious - At the time of the pilot that comedic engineer was my most favorite character and he still remained among my favorites throughout watching the first season of the official show (eventhough he's not at the number one spot anymore). I love pretty much everything about him and while I agree with some people that, due to the general fast pacing of the season, his redemption feels a bit rushed as well, I personally can believe that a guy with his personality could get into Heaven early on. Still find it hilarious how the character who was originally supposed to be a one-off joke villain grew into an important part of the main team and ultimately became the breaking point in the conflict between Heaven and Hell by being the living proof that sinners can be redeemed. As many fans do, I’m really hoping to see how Pen’s new life as a winner will look like and if he is still able to keep in touch with the friends he made back at the Hazbin Hotel.

#3 Favorite + Love/Hate:

The Vees (Vox, Valentino, Velvette) - Conveniently, a trio for the third place! Needless to say, I love cartoon villains and these three, despite being more of secondary characters this season, definitely left an impression on me!

I have a more balanced amount of love and hate towards them whereas with Adam I pointed out that there's very little hate mixed with the overwhelming amount of love. If with Adam I would mix hugs and positive words with just some light teasing, with the Vees, my wish to gush over them would be mixed with an urge to punch them in the gut. The reason for that is the fact that Adam literally had very few to no ways of turning out any other way than the way he did: he was the first ever man on Earth and his only parental figures have been powerful creatures who made the world he lives in, him and his first wife, decided the best solution to fixing the problem of his wife leaving him by giving him another that was made from a part of him and specifically for him and let him get away with far from holy things just cause he was the first man. With such sloppy guidance and pampering of the first ever man created from the angels throughout both his life and afterlife, is it really his fault he's like this? On the other hand, Vox and Val lived and died in the 20th century and Velvette in the 21st. By this time, people already have a more stable system of right and wrong, at least compared to the time of the world's creation, and these guys, just like every other person, had a choice to be humane or harm others for their own needs and wants.

Unlike Adam, they have absolutely no good excuse for being the shitty people they are! And, yes, I say all three are shitty people! Not just Valentino! I'm really tired of seeing people going "Vox and Velvette are cool but Valentino sucks!" or "Valentino is an irredeemable piece of shit but Vox and Velvette can be redeemed and may even end up in Heaven." Guys, they are all horrible! Vox and Velvette are just as cruel and selfish as Val is! The only reason people single out Valentino is because the moments of his abuse of Angel are the only times the series shows a sensitive and appalling topic in a serious and uncomfortably detailed manner. (I'd like to see people defending their hate of Val and love of Alastor if Al's cannibalism was showed and treated as seriously and presented with all its details, like full dismemberment of human bodies and containment of their bloody parts. Though it's debatable if it would change these people's minds, considering that I saw a number of people in such discussions about ethics saying cannibalism is less bad than rape, eventhough it's just as messed up...)

Just because Vox and Velvette didn't sexually harass anyone on-screen like Val did doesn't automatically make them better people or more worthy of forgiveness for their bad actions! Just like Val, these two a) show absolutely no regard for their employees' lives and well-being (Velvette doesn't give two shits about her worker that was teared into pieces by Val, she was simply irritated she had to use a different model for her fashion show, and Vox has no qualms about using his lowest earners as shooting targets for Val just to make sure this twisted drama queen is really done with his temper tantrum) and b) don't mind and directly contribute to non-consensual relief of sexual needs (Vox's company makes voyeur scopes and Velvette sells love potions out of Val's saliva, basically, date rape drugs).

So, yeah, these guys not only enable Valentino's unethical sexual behavior, they promote, encourage and monetize such behavior throughout all of Hell, which makes them just as awful and dangerous as Val. Heck, with all of this in mind and the fact these two control pretty much all the media and most of general market in Hell, one could argue that they are bigger offenders because Val seems to focus on just abusing the workers of his porn studio, mostly being fixated on Angel, while Vox and Velvette's actions negatively affect demons both inside and outside of their workplace.

In conclusion, I find that Vox, Valentino and Velvette are characters that are all equally fun to love-hate and I'm looking forward to seeing them in the role of primary antagonists.

Love/Hate:

Alastor - When I first watched the pilot, this shady radio host was among my favorites along with Sir Pentious and Charlie. I found him to be a very entertaining character - an intimidating demon with 20s-30s aesthetic and cannibalistic tendencies who outwardly acted as a polite gentleman despite expressing his desire to watch other people's despair, hid his thoughts and feelings behind a wide smile and could fool anyone. That seemed like a very great mix! A perfect character to both be appalled by because of his blunt sadism and previous life as a human-eating serial killer and adored for his style and charisma.

When the show came out, his fun design, 20s-30s aesthetic and cannibalistic tendencies stayed intact, which I was very happy about. And while there were some changes to his characterization, like him becoming more passive-aggressive, more petty, more persistently showy and less subtle about his manipulation compared to his pilot counterpart, Alastor still remained a very interestingly polarizing character that’s fun to watch. He was honestly very to being put on my third place of favorites, right next to The Vees because of how somewhat similar to them he feels to me (a threatening immoral sadist that possesses a certain amount of charm and shows just a single glimpse of affection from time to time). The only thing that kept him from it is the out of character behavior that occurred on some occasions in the series and was too jarring for me to miss. And by “out of character” I don’t mean the comparison between the series and the pilot, I’m talking about the moments that feel at odds with the context of just the show itself. Such ooc instances include:

a) Swearing: It was very weird to hear Alastor casually calling Susan a "bitch" and dropping "fuck" several times. I don’t think Alastor is the type of character who should be saying profanities like some other members of the cast do, or modern slang for that matter. He's supposed to be the embodiment of a timeless classic, the beauty of art of the old day's radio-hosting, a well-mannered gentleman and the type of person that sticks to the traditions and values of his time, regardless of the changes and progress everything and everyone else is going through. And I feel like the show ruins it by making him say "fuck you", "bitch" and "pissy". It would've been a cool shock factor if he just said “fuck” just one time, for example, only when his cane got broken, since it was very surprising to him, but they overused it and made his speech stand out less from the rest of the cast.

b) Antagonizing Lucifer: In all other instances of Alastor being antagonistic to someone (like Sir Pentious or Vox), he was provoked first. But his hate for Lucifer and attempt to spite him by playing father figure to Charlie literally came out of nowhere. I like the song “Hell’s Greatest Dad” but only in a vacuum because I don’t see any good reason for why Alastor would act so hostile towards the king of Hell. Actually being jealous of Lucifer being Charlie’s father? No, that’s definitely not the case, because the body language in the song clearly shows it’s not about Charlie, it’s only about messing with Lucifer. Just projecting a possible trauma of his from his own dad? Too petty and impulsive even for Al. Lucifer being the target of hate of the person who owns Alastor’s soul (whether it’s Lilith or, much more likely, Eve/Roo) or just some kind of obstacle in Alastor’s plan in some way? Considering that Al, based on his part in the season’s final song made it clear doesn’t have positive feelings about being stuck in the deal for his soul, I don’t see why he should share his owner’s views on Lucifer. Wouldn’t it make more sense to somehow make an aliment with such power being to him get out of his predicament? And if Lucifer does in fact pose some kind of problem to Alastor’s plan, gaining Lucifer’s trust through manipulation like he does with Charlie seems more helpful and more like his styled opposed to open aggressive confrontation with obvious spite. If an intimidating person like Al was able to get in good graces with a sweet friendly codependent princess, despite his violent nature, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work with her awkward, depressed, occasionally clueless, goofy dad.

So, yeah, aside from these two notions, I like Alastor quite a lot and maybe if these moment get handled better in the future, he’ll become as perfect to me as he was in the pilot.

Love:

Charlie - I know that in our day and age the adorkable princess type feels redundant to people but I personally like this type of super-optimistic characters who try their best to spread positivity and kindness. Some people pointed out that she's way too much of a pacifist and can be inconsistent in terms of when she's being aggressive to someone and when she's her usual "love and kindness" self. In particular, the fact she was saying "sorry" during the fight with the Exorcists while all she was doing is protecting herself from their attacks with a shield, eventhough this is same girl who, prior to the fight with the angels, encouraged her friends to "fuck them up" and gave the adorable but terrifying menace known as Niffty an angelic blade, ordering her to "stab every angel" she sees, and, in the very same fight, talked harshly to and brutally stabbed Adam in the shoulder. Personally, I think these criticisms are totally valid and I agree that, in the pilot, Charlie felt more consistent while also having more guts when dealing with someone who was hostile towards her. But I think I can still personally forgive this moment because I can believe that she was just able to convince her more fight-focused friends to give their all in the battle while she herself wasn't able to follow her own advice because of her heavily empathetic nature, but erasure of Sir Pentious with holy light and killing of Dazzle makes her snap and violently act out on her emotions of anger and sadness from losing several friends of hers in a row.

Also, some people, including myself, felt Charlie can be a bit of a hypocrite, but a number of moments of her hypocrisy are more of the flaws on the part of Alastor's characterization rather than hers since his manipulation is more on the nose compared to the pilot. And her getting pissed at Vaggie for not telling her about being a former Exorcist angel despite the princess presenting herself as an all-forgiving soul is understandable since it can be hard to stay cool-headed and emotionally stable when dealing with the feeling of being hurt by someone very close to you. The only moment of hypocrisy that's been actually bugging me is the fact she's angry at Heaven for the Exterminations of sinners, yet, for some reason she doesn't pay attention to the fact there are sinners that also kill other sinners permanently with angelic weapons. Perhaps, it's because angelic steel is rare in Hell and most sinners still mostly slaughter each other with regular weapons which results in them just respawning after some time, or maybe she believes that, since angels in Heaven present themselves as righteous, they should be above killing anyone? Not sure. What I am sure about is that this awareness of Charlie's characterization flaws doesn't take away my enjoyment of her as a character. I think she’s a pretty fun protagonist and I sympathized with her throughout the season, appreciating her strengths and embracing her flaws.

Angel Dust - Just like with Sir Pentious, Angel's development was a bit rushed due to the general pacing, but, by God, do I like the fact he still managed to have actually noticeable development! And you have no idea how satisfied I was seeing this spider go form presenting himself as just a super horny reckless addict in the episodes 1, 2 and majority of episode 3 to starting to form closer connections with other residents in the end of episode 3 up to the beginning of episode 5, with the 4th one in particular showing him open up to others after we have a dive into his trauma and see his more vulnerable side, to still holding onto his harmful habits but slowly pushing them aside in favor of becoming a better person and looking out for Niffty in episode 6 to finally having most bare minimum of his cheeky, dirty persona and being focused first and foremost on helping and protecting his friends. I really can't express enough how nice it feels to compare his behavior in "Overtune", where Angel's lines were a flow of sex jokes and sarcastic remarks towards Charlie and Vaggie, or "Radio Killed the Video Star", where he had strong tension with Sir Pentious, to how he is in "Hello Rosie!" and "The Show Must Go On"! I'm pretty certain the only jokes that are relatively related to adult topic in these two episodes are his joke about Vaggie's lack of tits (which he probably did as just a sarcastic remark out of annoyance for her hiding the fact she's an Exorcist from them), him letting out a laugh after Husk said "These fucking angels won't stop coming!" and him cocking an eyebrow when Lucifer said "I'm going to fuck you" to Adam. Heck, Angel barely swears in those! Everything he says and does during the finale has something to do with him being by the side of those he cares about. I really like this transition of the character, because it shows that Angel, after he found a supportive group of friends and was able to make the first step in fighting against his abuser, toned down that showy excessive lustfulness, as he doesn't the need to use hypersexuality as a coping mechanism as much now. And I really hope they keep Angel in this more mature (development-wise) and healthier state and won't mess up his progress in the following season.

Husk - I remember I didn't get too much hyped on Husk when he was in the pilot. My reaction was just "An old man winged cat gambler bartender - cute." But that was it. In the series, he definitely became more relevant, being a former Overlord, and more complex character-wise. I absolutely love these type of characters who are grumpy and sarcastic but underneath it all can have one of the most empathetic hearts. I can understand some of the complains people had regarding the way Husk tackled Angel's abuse problem, because I see how it can be considered going overboard with pushing Angel's buttons to open up but I think people are taking it too far saying he was victim-blaming Angel. I personally never saw it as that. Their conversation and song never read to me as "Everyone's got problems! You're not special! So pick yourself up, loser!" No! It reads to me as "I know how it feels to be at the rock bottom and I think you should be honest about your situation with people, instead of trying to act like hot shit with perfect life while slowly ruining yourself!" And Angel did need this more forward approach. Because it's very likely the more heart-felt comforting method wouldn't work with a person like him since this kind of approach has already been somewhat tried by Charlie. Not saying you can't enjoy more wholesome and emotional takes on Husk's help to Angel though. Feel free to indulge yourselves in hurt/comfort fluff, guys :3

I'm interested in seeing more of Husk both on his own and with Angel in the next seasons.

Like:

Niffty - This little bug gremlin is adorable and funny as heck. I enjoy this "sweet but psycho" archetype. I'd put her in loved but due to not having as much character development or plot relevance (I mean besides stabbing The First Man), I'm not sure I can put her along with characters as complex and important to the plot as the other main cast members or the antagonists. Regardless, she's fun to watch and continue to be whether she stays just a comic relief or becomes a more active character.

Neutral:

Cherri Bomb - I thought of putting Cherri in the "Like" category with Niffty, but then I realized that, unlike Niffty who, while being occasionally put in situations where she functions in a unit with another character, she still has a number of moments of shenanigans she does by herself, making her a more independent character. Meanwhile, Cherri, throughout the rare appearances she's had in the first season, is pretty much exclusively defined by her relationships with other characters rather than her own personality. So, basically, she's always stuck in her roles of being Angel's bff and Sir Pentious's love interest and not really given any chance to be her own person. The situation in the pilot wasn't much better - her appearances there were also just Angel's bff and Sir Pentious's arch-nemesis at the time (btw, although I like that CherriSnake became canon but the fact that, because of the show's runtime and Cherri Bomb's small presence during it, the series butchered the 'enemies' part in the 'enemies-to-lovers' dynamic hurts my soul). I think the only piece of Hazbin media when she felt like a standalone character was in the "Addict" music video. So, yeah, unless she gains more substance as an individual character later on, I think she'll remain just "ok" for me.

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Description

Really late to the party with this one as a number of users like WanderSong , DisneyFanGirl1997 , THEJURASSICWONDER , MorganTheMovieGeek97 and calypsaneera have already done it quite a while ago. But I’ve been taking my time rewatching the show's season, forming my thoughts more carefully, writing them down and taking care of my cold.

Before going further, just want to remind everyone that these are just my opinions and I hope you can respect them as I respect yours.

#1 Favorite + Love/Hate (but mostly love):

Adam - The First Man for the first place! As I've already mentioned before, I absolutely adore this arrogant goofball. He's a narcissistic jerk but also a hilarious and interesting character with an astonishing music talent, a fun design and array of both subtle and not so subtle insecurities. I became an infatuated mess after the first episode already and knew that nobody would be able to knock out my enjoyment of him and it only escalated further the more he appeared and by the season 1 finale I was too deep into this addiction to quit... I've been feeling such a strong mix of emotions towards him, it was sometimes physically making my heart ache. His personality is both infuriating and endearing to me. His smug attitude makes me want to see his haughtiness, confidence and pride broken but I also see every single possibility of how this exact arrogance is the result of his environment and past experiences and want to see him comforted. I love to see him embarrassed and humiliated just as much as I love to see him happy. I'd pull his hair, berate him, and tease the heck out of him before resting on his chubby belly, gently squishing his adorable face, petting his head and comforting him, telling him he's cute and handsome both with and without his mask. He has been living in my head rent-free for a while now and I just can't get enough of that guy! I haven't had such a complicated obsession with such a polarizing character since Sentinel Prime from Transformers Animated (which is still ongoing btw) and I doubt it will go away any time soon.

I genuinely hope the theory of him reincarnating as a sinner turns out legit, because I crave more of his entertaining douchy pathetic ass that I love with all my heart! If he doesn't - the overwhelming Sinner!Adam AUs on Tumblr will remain being my paradise!

#2 Favorite:

Two snake bois for the second place :}

Lucifer - I remember already being curious about him just from looking at his picture during the pilot and I got really hyped when I saw the leaked portion of the wip of his part in "Hell's Greatest Dad", because I quickly got a liking to those mannerisms and that voice.

Despite only showing up in two episodes of the first season, he was still able to get my love by displaying interesting character traits and worldview that were shaped by his origin as a fallen angel responsible for The Fall of humans and his relationship with his family.

Eventhough he's been a deadbeat dad for a number of years in Charlie's life, it's easy to assume by his behavior it wasn't for no reason. And it's clear throughout his screen time that he genuinely loves and cares for his daughter and honestly tries to make a change in himself for his child, letting her know he's there for her now and she's everything to him.

I'm glad that (judging by the apple-shaped room at the newly built hotel) Lucifer is staying at the hotel and I'm excited to see him further mend his father-daughter relationship with Charlie and build up bonds with the other residents of the hotel. Also, really curious about learning more of his background since I’m a firm believer the book story in the first episode is a case of unreliable narration that is filled with biases in Hell’s favor.

Sir Pentious - At the time of the pilot that comedic engineer was my most favorite character and he still remained among my favorites throughout watching the first season of the official show (eventhough he's not at the number one spot anymore). I love pretty much everything about him and while I agree with some people that, due to the general fast pacing of the season, his redemption feels a bit rushed as well, I personally can believe that a guy with his personality could get into Heaven early on. Still find it hilarious how the character who was originally supposed to be a one-off joke villain grew into an important part of the main team and ultimately became the breaking point in the conflict between Heaven and Hell by being the living proof that sinners can be redeemed. As many fans do, I’m really hoping to see how Pen’s new life as a winner will look like and if he is still able to keep in touch with the friends he made back at the Hazbin Hotel.

#3 Favorite + Love/Hate:

The Vees (Vox, Valentino, Velvette) - Conveniently, a trio for the third place! Needless to say, I love cartoon villains and these three, despite being more of secondary characters this season, definitely left an impression on me!

I have a more balanced amount of love and hate towards them whereas with Adam I pointed out that there's very little hate mixed with the overwhelming amount of love. If with Adam I would mix hugs and positive words with just some light teasing, with the Vees, my wish to gush over them would be mixed with an urge to punch them in the gut. The reason for that is the fact that Adam literally had very few to no ways of turning out any other way than the way he did: he was the first ever man on Earth and his only parental figures have been powerful creatures who made the world he lives in, him and his first wife, decided the best solution to fixing the problem of his wife leaving him by giving him another that was made from a part of him and specifically for him and let him get away with far from holy things just cause he was the first man. With such sloppy guidance and pampering of the first ever man created from the angels throughout both his life and afterlife, is it really his fault he's like this? On the other hand, Vox and Val lived and died in the 20th century and Velvette in the 21st. By this time, people already have a more stable system of right and wrong, at least compared to the time of the world's creation, and these guys, just like every other person, had a choice to be humane or harm others for their own needs and wants.

Unlike Adam, they have absolutely no good excuse for being the shitty people they are! And, yes, I say all three are shitty people! Not just Valentino! I'm really tired of seeing people going "Vox and Velvette are cool but Valentino sucks!" or "Valentino is an irredeemable piece of shit but Vox and Velvette can be redeemed and may even end up in Heaven." Guys, they are all horrible! Vox and Velvette are just as cruel and selfish as Val is! The only reason people single out Valentino is because the moments of his abuse of Angel are the only times the series shows a sensitive and appalling topic in a serious and uncomfortably detailed manner. (I'd like to see people defending their hate of Val and love of Alastor if Al's cannibalism was showed and treated as seriously and presented with all its details, like full dismemberment of human bodies and containment of their bloody parts. Though it's debatable if it would change these people's minds, considering that I saw a number of people in such discussions about ethics saying cannibalism is less bad than rape, eventhough it's just as messed up...)

Just because Vox and Velvette didn't sexually harass anyone on-screen like Val did doesn't automatically make them better people or more worthy of forgiveness for their bad actions! Just like Val, these two a) show absolutely no regard for their employees' lives and well-being (Velvette doesn't give two shits about her worker that was teared into pieces by Val, she was simply irritated she had to use a different model for her fashion show, and Vox has no qualms about using his lowest earners as shooting targets for Val just to make sure this twisted drama queen is really done with his temper tantrum) and b) don't mind and directly contribute to non-consensual relief of sexual needs (Vox's company makes voyeur scopes and Velvette sells love potions out of Val's saliva, basically, date rape drugs).

So, yeah, these guys not only enable Valentino's unethical sexual behavior, they promote, encourage and monetize such behavior throughout all of Hell, which makes them just as awful and dangerous as Val. Heck, with all of this in mind and the fact these two control pretty much all the media and most of general market in Hell, one could argue that they are bigger offenders because Val seems to focus on just abusing the workers of his porn studio, mostly being fixated on Angel, while Vox and Velvette's actions negatively affect demons both inside and outside of their workplace.

In conclusion, I find that Vox, Valentino and Velvette are characters that are all equally fun to love-hate and I'm looking forward to seeing them in the role of primary antagonists.

Love/Hate:

Alastor - When I first watched the pilot, this shady radio host was among my favorites along with Sir Pentious and Charlie. I found him to be a very entertaining character - an intimidating demon with 20s-30s aesthetic and cannibalistic tendencies who outwardly acted as a polite gentleman despite expressing his desire to watch other people's despair, hid his thoughts and feelings behind a wide smile and could fool anyone. That seemed like a very great mix! A perfect character to both be appalled by because of his blunt sadism and previous life as a human-eating serial killer and adored for his style and charisma.

When the show came out, his fun design, 20s-30s aesthetic and cannibalistic tendencies stayed intact, which I was very happy about. And while there were some changes to his characterization, like him becoming more passive-aggressive, more petty, more persistently showy and less subtle about his manipulation compared to his pilot counterpart, Alastor still remained a very interestingly polarizing character that’s fun to watch. He was honestly very to being put on my third place of favorites, right next to The Vees because of how somewhat similar to them he feels to me (a threatening immoral sadist that possesses a certain amount of charm and shows just a single glimpse of affection from time to time). The only thing that kept him from it is the out of character behavior that occurred on some occasions in the series and was too jarring for me to miss. And by “out of character” I don’t mean the comparison between the series and the pilot, I’m talking about the moments that feel at odds with the context of just the show itself. Such ooc instances include:

a) Swearing: It was very weird to hear Alastor casually calling Susan a "bitch" and dropping "fuck" several times. I don’t think Alastor is the type of character who should be saying profanities like some other members of the cast do, or modern slang for that matter. He's supposed to be the embodiment of a timeless classic, the beauty of art of the old day's radio-hosting, a well-mannered gentleman and the type of person that sticks to the traditions and values of his time, regardless of the changes and progress everything and everyone else is going through. And I feel like the show ruins it by making him say "fuck you", "bitch" and "pissy". It would've been a cool shock factor if he just said “fuck” just one time, for example, only when his cane got broken, since it was very surprising to him, but they overused it and made his speech stand out less from the rest of the cast.

b) Antagonizing Lucifer: In all other instances of Alastor being antagonistic to someone (like Sir Pentious or Vox), he was provoked first. But his hate for Lucifer and attempt to spite him by playing father figure to Charlie literally came out of nowhere. I like the song “Hell’s Greatest Dad” but only in a vacuum because I don’t see any good reason for why Alastor would act so hostile towards the king of Hell. Actually being jealous of Lucifer being Charlie’s father? No, that’s definitely not the case, because the body language in the song clearly shows it’s not about Charlie, it’s only about messing with Lucifer. Just projecting a possible trauma of his from his own dad? Too petty and impulsive even for Al. Lucifer being the target of hate of the person who owns Alastor’s soul (whether it’s Lilith or, much more likely, Eve/Roo) or just some kind of obstacle in Alastor’s plan in some way? Considering that Al, based on his part in the season’s final song made it clear doesn’t have positive feelings about being stuck in the deal for his soul, I don’t see why he should share his owner’s views on Lucifer. Wouldn’t it make more sense to somehow make an aliment with such power being to him get out of his predicament? And if Lucifer does in fact pose some kind of problem to Alastor’s plan, gaining Lucifer’s trust through manipulation like he does with Charlie seems more helpful and more like his styled opposed to open aggressive confrontation with obvious spite. If an intimidating person like Al was able to get in good graces with a sweet friendly codependent princess, despite his violent nature, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work with her awkward, depressed, occasionally clueless, goofy dad.

So, yeah, aside from these two notions, I like Alastor quite a lot and maybe if these moment get handled better in the future, he’ll become as perfect to me as he was in the pilot.

Love:

Charlie - I know that in our day and age the adorkable princess type feels redundant to people but I personally like this type of super-optimistic characters who try their best to spread positivity and kindness. Some people pointed out that she's way too much of a pacifist and can be inconsistent in terms of when she's being aggressive to someone and when she's her usual "love and kindness" self. In particular, the fact she was saying "sorry" during the fight with the Exorcists while all she was doing is protecting herself from their attacks with a shield, eventhough this is same girl who, prior to the fight with the angels, encouraged her friends to "fuck them up" and gave the adorable but terrifying menace known as Niffty an angelic blade, ordering her to "stab every angel" she sees, and, in the very same fight, talked harshly to and brutally stabbed Adam in the shoulder. Personally, I think these criticisms are totally valid and I agree that, in the pilot, Charlie felt more consistent while also having more guts when dealing with someone who was hostile towards her. But I think I can still personally forgive this moment because I can believe that she was just able to convince her more fight-focused friends to give their all in the battle while she herself wasn't able to follow her own advice because of her heavily empathetic nature, but erasure of Sir Pentious with holy light and killing of Dazzle makes her snap and violently act out on her emotions of anger and sadness from losing several friends of hers in a row.

Also, some people, including myself, felt Charlie can be a bit of a hypocrite, but a number of moments of her hypocrisy are more of the flaws on the part of Alastor's characterization rather than hers since his manipulation is more on the nose compared to the pilot. And her getting pissed at Vaggie for not telling her about being a former Exorcist angel despite the princess presenting herself as an all-forgiving soul is understandable since it can be hard to stay cool-headed and emotionally stable when dealing with the feeling of being hurt by someone very close to you. The only moment of hypocrisy that's been actually bugging me is the fact she's angry at Heaven for the Exterminations of sinners, yet, for some reason she doesn't pay attention to the fact there are sinners that also kill other sinners permanently with angelic weapons. Perhaps, it's because angelic steel is rare in Hell and most sinners still mostly slaughter each other with regular weapons which results in them just respawning after some time, or maybe she believes that, since angels in Heaven present themselves as righteous, they should be above killing anyone? Not sure. What I am sure about is that this awareness of Charlie's characterization flaws doesn't take away my enjoyment of her as a character. I think she’s a pretty fun protagonist and I sympathized with her throughout the season, appreciating her strengths and embracing her flaws.

Angel Dust - Just like with Sir Pentious, Angel's development was a bit rushed due to the general pacing, but, by God, do I like the fact he still managed to have actually noticeable development! And you have no idea how satisfied I was seeing this spider go form presenting himself as just a super horny reckless addict in the episodes 1, 2 and majority of episode 3 to starting to form closer connections with other residents in the end of episode 3 up to the beginning of episode 5, with the 4th one in particular showing him open up to others after we have a dive into his trauma and see his more vulnerable side, to still holding onto his harmful habits but slowly pushing them aside in favor of becoming a better person and looking out for Niffty in episode 6 to finally having most bare minimum of his cheeky, dirty persona and being focused first and foremost on helping and protecting his friends. I really can't express enough how nice it feels to compare his behavior in "Overtune", where Angel's lines were a flow of sex jokes and sarcastic remarks towards Charlie and Vaggie, or "Radio Killed the Video Star", where he had strong tension with Sir Pentious, to how he is in "Hello Rosie!" and "The Show Must Go On"! I'm pretty certain the only jokes that are relatively related to adult topic in these two episodes are his joke about Vaggie's lack of tits (which he probably did as just a sarcastic remark out of annoyance for her hiding the fact she's an Exorcist from them), him letting out a laugh after Husk said "These fucking angels won't stop coming!" and him cocking an eyebrow when Lucifer said "I'm going to fuck you" to Adam. Heck, Angel barely swears in those! Everything he says and does during the finale has something to do with him being by the side of those he cares about. I really like this transition of the character, because it shows that Angel, after he found a supportive group of friends and was able to make the first step in fighting against his abuser, toned down that showy excessive lustfulness, as he doesn't the need to use hypersexuality as a coping mechanism as much now. And I really hope they keep Angel in this more mature (development-wise) and healthier state and won't mess up his progress in the following season.

Husk - I remember I didn't get too much hyped on Husk when he was in the pilot. My reaction was just "An old man winged cat gambler bartender - cute." But that was it. In the series, he definitely became more relevant, being a former Overlord, and more complex character-wise. I absolutely love these type of characters who are grumpy and sarcastic but underneath it all can have one of the most empathetic hearts. I can understand some of the complains people had regarding the way Husk tackled Angel's abuse problem, because I see how it can be considered going overboard with pushing Angel's buttons to open up but I think people are taking it too far saying he was victim-blaming Angel. I personally never saw it as that. Their conversation and song never read to me as "Everyone's got problems! You're not special! So pick yourself up, loser!" No! It reads to me as "I know how it feels to be at the rock bottom and I think you should be honest about your situation with people, instead of trying to act like hot shit with perfect life while slowly ruining yourself!" And Angel did need this more forward approach. Because it's very likely the more heart-felt comforting method wouldn't work with a person like him since this kind of approach has already been somewhat tried by Charlie. Not saying you can't enjoy more wholesome and emotional takes on Husk's help to Angel though. Feel free to indulge yourselves in hurt/comfort fluff, guys :3

I'm interested in seeing more of Husk both on his own and with Angel in the next seasons.

Like:

Niffty - This little bug gremlin is adorable and funny as heck. I enjoy this "sweet but psycho" archetype. I'd put her in loved but due to not having as much character development or plot relevance (I mean besides stabbing The First Man), I'm not sure I can put her along with characters as complex and important to the plot as the other main cast members or the antagonists. Regardless, she's fun to watch and continue to be whether she stays just a comic relief or becomes a more active character.

Neutral:

Cherri Bomb - I thought of putting Cherri in the "Like" category with Niffty, but then I realized that, unlike Niffty who, while being occasionally put in situations where she functions in a unit with another character, she still has a number of moments of shenanigans she does by herself, making her a more independent character. Meanwhile, Cherri, throughout the rare appearances she's had in the first season, is pretty much exclusively defined by her relationships with other characters rather than her own personality. So, basically, she's always stuck in her roles of being Angel's bff and Sir Pentious's love interest and not really given any chance to be her own person. The situation in the pilot wasn't much better - her appearances there were also just Angel's bff and Sir Pentious's arch-nemesis at the time (btw, although I like that CherriSnake became canon but the fact that, because of the show's runtime and Cherri Bomb's small presence during it, the series butchered the 'enemies' part in the 'enemies-to-lovers' dynamic hurts my soul). I think the only piece of Hazbin media when she felt like a standalone character was in the "Addict" music video. So, yeah, unless she gains more substance as an individual character later on, I think she'll remain just "ok" for me.

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