Twin High Maintence Machines: A Helluva Boss Stolitz Retrospective Part 1: Season 1: A Belated Pride Month Special: A Rope of Sand
Hello all you happy people and welcome to Twin High Matntence Machines, my look at one of the best and sloppiest queer couples in animation and one of it's most visable.
For as gay as animation, like any form of represintation it isn't immune to blind spots : We haven't got a ton of ace rep (Todd Chavez being the major exception), Trans rep tends to be kept to supporting (Barney Guttman being the Major Exception though Sorry about the Mess looks promising), and in the case of today when it comes to men loving men , they haven't really gotten a ton of focus. There have been fantastic gay male couples in animation: Ham and Crispin, Gus and Wally, Marshall Lee and Gary, but while all these get decent screentime it's rare they get to be the defacto main character. Marshall Lee and Gary are some of the rare exceptions of gettin ga generous amount of development and focus.. but there's really only one couple I know of that are the stars of their story, one couple that thorugh thier toxic boning provides the backbone for their series. You can see them making out in the image, you know who we're here for, let's talk about the boys.
Despite being a huge helluva boss fan, until I got the comission for this retrospective I never realized just how unique and important this pairting was, how no other major animated series had put the love story of two men at it's center the way modern classics like Owl House and She Ra had for women. I liked the story enough.
LIke those stories it also sidesteps portraying either man as perfect, letting both be the hot messes they are: Blitz is inhernetly selfish, pushes away anyone who cares about him before they can hurt him, kills for a living, harasses his employees and is transparently using Stolas. At the same time while more sympathetic due to his awful loveless marriage he had no say in, Stolas still choose to cheat on his wife in the messiest way possible, neglects his beloved daughter to the point he barely knows her by the start of the series, and takes no real steps to actually empathize with Blitz, wanting a romantic relationship but not really communicating that BLitz iz more than a play thing. Neither man at the start of the series is remotely ready for this, yet both plunge in head first because they need it: Blitz needs the grimoire to create a decent job for himself and his newfound work family, Stolas badly needs an escape from his guilded cage. It's the story of two people who used each other till it got all complciated and neither can commuincate for shit so it's only going to get worse before it gets better and even better leaves Stolas powerless, alone and hated by his daughter.
But we have a ways to go to get there, so for part one we're looking at season one, and all the growing pains the series had in going from Stolas being the main villian to everyone's faviorite messy twink and slowly realizing these two douchebags were very much the heart of the show
The Pilot:
Before we can dive into the full canon version of the relatoinship.. we have to talk about what we all saw first: the pilot.
The Helluva Boss Pilot is still deeply entertaining having a ton of quotable lines ("WHy ar eyou in our fridge?!" "Are you FUCKING filming us?!" "Sorry it was spiders" "Sorry I fucked your husband" and "You What") and a fantasticly dark punchline to the episode. As a pilot it does a solid job seling the basics of the series: A group of enterprising imps (and one hellhound) in hell consiting of needy attention starved extra horned up asshole Blitzo (the o is slient and shall remain tha tway for the rest of the review since umlauts are hard), approval desperate yet haughty Moxxie, his bloodthirsty wife Miliie and Blitz adopted 20 something daughter Loona who coudl give less of a shit about anything running an assaination buisness, targeting humans on earth for the sinners trapped in hell with the help of Stolas, a royal from hell Blitz iz dicking down in exchange for his fucking heavy book to get up there.
The basics are in tact, it's hella funny, the series got greenlit for good reason.. but it also changed a bit between pilot and series: Vivian Nixon took over for Erica Lindbeck as Millie, the humor kept it's wacky over the top energy but became more grounded in character stories, both changes for the better that helped define it.
The biggun though was stolas. The original Stolas, Brock Baker, was replaced by Bryce Pinkham and in the process the character shifted entirely from what he was in the pilot.
Baker's Stolas is out and predatory with Blitz, his sexual demands of his impish plaything being far more agressive and far more dominant and his requests of Blitz being far more sinister, wanting IMP to kill a climate change activist to keep climate change going so he dosen't get so lonely. He sounds sinister, a villian who uses our heroes for his own ends and uses Blitz in ways we'd rather shit off a freeway than comptemplate.
It's easy to see why this Pilot was later declared canon and why it left a bad taste in fans mouth that didn't quite wash out for some time, as it was hard to forget Stolas was this and not everyone closely pays attention to what's canon or not. THe pilot being made non canon... was simply necessary was both Stolas and Loona, whose way angrier and more hostile versus her passive agression in the proper series, were assholes and making the pilot non canon makes them just the right amount intended by the series.. but when you have so little material to start it's easy to see why fans didn't let that shit go right away.
The story easily could've gone that way but didn't as Vivian has admitted she let co writer brandon rogers pick if both Stolas and Blitz' relationship would be played less for comedy and if Stolas would be more sympathetic or the big bad... with him wisely choosing to go a bit deepre and make him less evil respectively. Yet for years with teh pilot as pretty much the best way to start the series, Murder Family isn't all bad but it's a rougher episode, this left fans starting with a version of one of the main cast that didn't remotely match what he'd become.
So unlike Hazbin, where the pilot voices aside still serves as a perfect starting point, they decided to do something drastic: Replace it
Mission Zero:
The more I think about Mission Zero the more I realize just what it had to took: you needed the budget for a full episode, to take time out of making season 3 and the shorts to make said full episode, and to release it and hope people were cool with finally defintevely replacing the pilot in canon. This was going out on a limb to do something I don't think any show HAS done. Many a show remade their pilots but few do so mid series and mid hiatus. Yet I get why wait till now: Before they didn't have the time or budget.
You have to remember despite this show's now white hot popularity and amazon pickup... making an indie cartoon is fucking hard. Most other creators get maybe one episode or pilot made then have to hope they get enough for a few more and that once the shows out the Merch Sales are good enough to fund more. Even GLITCH which has mroe than proven itsel fas THE biggest company in indie animation still has to make sure a show's merch sales are strong enough and views hold enough to greenlight a series no matter how instantly popular the pilot is. Amazing Digital Circus, Gaslight District and Knights of Guinivere were all huge hits on launch, but all still had to wait and Gameoverse, despite being a huge breakout this year, is STILL waiting a month later. Indies are great, they allow more freedom and have helped animation florish in one of it's darkest times and AMDC's big theatrical win opens the door for bigger money sources to come knocking to indies while letting the creators keep the rights in case they get fucked over instead of the fuckery we have now of
Being many a CEO's mantra. Indies are a net good but it is a hard space to break into and a harder place to stay in. So most indies have to have the pilot be the first episode, as you just cannot afford to spend an episode hoping for a pilot. It's why some shows are even just flat out doing animatics first instead: to get a foot in the door.
So my guess is part of why this happened was finally truly having security: by the time season 2 ended Hazbin had been picked up, the shorts were there as a buffer. Even if the Amazon Deal didn't work out, and I suspect it was on the table just waiting for the many layers of corprate to confirm Hazbin was profitable, there was space to do this and with Hazbin bringing in a new audience once again, it was time to clean things up. Viv had security , a very rare thing in animation at all these days and the rare opportunity why not take it. It would also have the bonus that probably wasn't intended at the time but certainly worked out of being a fresh episode for Amazon during the hiatus. When Amazon reran the show last year, it could still launch with a brand NEW episode that still served a purpose while giving Spindlehorse time to finish season 3 this time and release it weekly instead of months apart, making the giant space between episodes no longer an issue. There'd be a gap between seasons, sure, but all other shows already had that. It's a win win.
Mission Zero is the intro the series needed as from the start it sets up something the series proper just kinda ..vaugely hints at in season one and only gets into in season 2: the sucky position of imps in hell , how their the bottom of the pecking order far behind popos stool. Their lower middle class if their lucky.
The problem is the series only really gets into class differences on really big scales: Stolas is rich , Ozzie and Bee are deadly sins. When it comes to class divides in relationships it's such a big swing we assume it's just goetias and sins then everyone else. There's no real friction between succubi, fish people or others and the only clear divide is that hellhounds are bellow imps.
I'm not saying the whole series needs to be a treatise on class inequality but it just needed a few more hints at how hard it is for imps to build their own businesses. We're just told it's rare.
MZ helps with that but has to point blank laynit out. The series needs to genuinely try harder at world building. I get its charcter focused but just saying imps face descrimination dosent solve things. It clarifies things but you don't need blitz or Satan himself to say it.
While it can only do so much to fix the series issues there it is a far smoother intro: IMP tries to plan out their first assassination, firmly establishing how new the group is and how half assed they are at anything that isn't the actual killing part: blitz wants to charge in and be all badass neglecting self or worries about being caught , Millie just wants to kill em all and let Satan sort it out and maybe get a catchphrase despite blitz's protests and Moxxie prefers the boring but practical method if sniping then which is the correct one for the job.. just not the crew he has. Loona suggesting to just wing that mother
Ultimately winning. Along the way theirs leer pressure to kill children , pasgetti, pda and of course blitz telling everyone not to curse when as Moxxie points out his daughter is 22 and the f word is half his vocab. It gets across everything necessary: blitz is kind of a mess, clingy to his daughter and employees and also films his employees having sex though this time it's in public so it's a step down from ARE YOU FUCKING FILMING US dialing back the staking and dialing back loona to just being passive aggressive.
The biggest switch is stolas...charcter wise , he's a bottom 4 life. With the series knowing what he's doing we now meet him as he is: a love starved royal whose blind to both the reality of his one night stand with blitz and the massive power imballance. When blitz realizes stolas knows he took his fucking heavy book his reaction is to prepare to run. Stolas..just thinks it's a very horny game and can't understand why aggressively asking to fuck on a work day us an inconvenience and has fuck me blitzy baloons set up before blitz can understandably hang up..
So Stolas assumes okay I'll just come over for some afternoon delight. It better sets up his nature: that he doesn't really think about blitzes wants or needs and just assume blitz fucks him and wants to hold onto the grimoire out of genuine interest. He doesn't get a) this book is the only way blitz can be free financially and b) even consider this is a transaction fucking. The latter is on blitz to a degree who blurs lines for his own benefit and plays into stolas delusions but these two don't really know how to talk. But damn they know how to fucckkk which gets blitz his book but traps him in arrangement he hates. It helps set up the relationship as two people who want opposite things but neither is honest blitz out of fear and stolas because he's that naive believing romcoms are real and thus blitz will love him the same way eventually right? Right ?. It's a messy as fuck situation that tilted the sympathy towards blitz but this helps tilt it more evenly going into the rest of season 1.
Murder Family:
Murder Family certainly tried to establish the relationship but while I don't feel the stolitz scene here is bad it wasn't a great way to restablish it as it's very easy to misinterpret it.
Stolas is having some tubby time and sitting in blitz saying he needs the grimoire back after blitz borrowed/stole it. So wanting an excuse to see his sidepiece again makes an arrangement: once a month stolas gets the grimoire back to do his job and blitz fucks his lights out. Blitz is being shot so he hastily agrees. This sets the relationship up as a more permanent thing and does nicely show stolas obliviousness. Not able to see the full situation he dosent register blitz is in danger, putting him on a massive pedestal and never once thinking shit he's in danger. It's heavily implied by truth seekers he scrys/stalks blitz regularly but we see his view is limited. He gets turned on by the danger but never fully grasps blitz is in any.
Now is staking blitz okay? No. But many took this as Stolas taking advantage when really he's just an idiot
He doesn't grasp how creepy his actions come off in contrast to blitz who does he just doesn't care and is trying to push you away. It doesn't make his actions fine the series is clear on that, but it keeps him sympathetic. Stolas has never been in real danger in his whole life. He can't understand he's putting blitz in it or the concept of a bad time to ask. He's been surrounded by either servants, asshole royals or his daughter he dosent know how to relate and blitz is both too scared of loosing his company and took convinced stolas is a selfish prick to actually set boundaries. And this gets fully codified with the series best episode and it's first real masterpiece
Loo Loo Land
Loo Loo Land is where both the series and stolitz really snap into focus making it clear this is less about the job and more of a charcter focused series while still looping in IMP..
It also thoroughly defines Stolas after a pilot where he's not the same charcter and a transitional first episode. Loo Loo Land defines him as a person.
Stolas loves and loves hard. When his baby child baby has a nightmare, he sings her a whole musical number while showing her the end of a moon all assuring her shell be okay and is loved. Octavia is one of only two people in Stolas very sad lonely life he loves. Hes a gay man stuck with a screeching bully for a wife.. but he suffers it out for his baby girl baby.
The problem is while Stolas loves hard his love is selfish.. he adores Blitz and Octavia but dosent engage with them as people. He sees blitz as his knight, his roughish imp, his escape from his life and Octavia as his small baby and the only other good thing in it. He doesn't engage either on their interests or lives. With blitz he thinks sex is as good as talking so he's fine and with Octavia he's desperate to shield her from the truth. He prefers the two as fantasies on his pedestal because his reality is so miserable..
Stolas doesn't ...talk about his issues he internalizes. He drowned his awful marriage with booze and pills and fucking blitz is just another escape. You can't blame him for the marriage, that's jafars fault .but you can blame him for choosing numb complacency then avoidance. Octavia is almost an adult. He's had a few years to get the divorce but even after sorryifuckedyourhusbandgate, the one gag that made it to mission zero, he's still here.
He can say it's for his daughter...but the crumbling marriage is hurting her more than an earlier divorce would. Octavia , my adopted precious emo child, wakes up to her mom screaming about her dad's affair and given it had to have started at least a week ago, long enough for two missions and an I'll advised billboard, she's been doing this EVERY DAMN DAY screaming, breaking shit and not even noticing her daughter exists.
Many fans thought the show was trying to woobify Stolas with his backstory, demonize Stella...but really she was always horrible. The series does fumble the bag with her another way well get to next time but she's introduced tossing her servant around like a prop , emphasizing the imp part and calling Stolas getting a hotel plebian. She's established as a shrill classist bully who rather than just leave Stolas ass would prefer to scream every day. She was never good and never intended as such and unlike Stolas her intro makes that VERY clear..
So Stolas decides to run, to escape into the past by taking Octavia to loo loo land, a tacky rundown ripoff theme park in greed. What's telling is she says she's not interested, she's very clear about it ...and he just ignores it. Stolas is so used to blocking things out he tunes out his own daughter in favor of a version of her that no longer exists.
Now this would be bad enough ...but then he decides to throw Blitz in the middle of this. Stolas wants to have his cake and fuck it too and somehow, somehow sees this as remotely okay and not waving his affairbin his child's face. Then he does exactly that calling blitz the only man who can fuck me and my big dicked blitzy in rapid succession to a predictable and glorious response
He then just ignores that and offers to pay blitz. Pay him what? MONEYYY sonits enough for Blitz to ignore the red flags. His announcement after perfectly sums up imo. Blitz and Millie's exuberance, moxxies confusion and loona asking them to shut the fuck up.
So Stolas takes his daughter, his transactional fuck buddy, and his fuckbuddys two employees and it goes horribly on both ends. Blitz understandably wants professional distance , Octavia wants to leave and Stolas wants to flirt with what he thinks is his boyfriend and spend a family day with his daughter. No one is happy and it's all because rather than talk Stolas chooses action. Instead of actually introducing blitz to his daughter he tries to hang with both and force a memory.
The funniest thing to me in all this is that blitz and Octavia...are fairly similar. I mean blitz is hypersexual and Octavia ace but personality wise their both tempremental, push people away and hate fizz for very different reasons. Blitz is genuinely sweet to her the one time they interact and treats her like his own. Had Stolas just waited this might if gone ..okay.
Instead Octavia runs off in tears and blitz torches the entire park trying to reinact happy Gilmore.
The ensuing talk is heartbreaking: Barret does a really fantastic job selling how scared sad Octavia is that underneath the grimace and snark...is a scared child worried her dad will leave her for his dickhead boyfriend. She's terrified he'll leave when he dosent want to....he just wants to leave her mom but can't find the words. And for now their okay m..for the first time Stolas asks what someone else wants...what Octavia wants and while baffled by her love of taxidermy is willing to try. So for now their good....for ...now. sorry I'm tearing up next one please
The Harvest Moon Festival
Harvest Moon festival is an important step for these two as it hammers in just how little Stolas realizes their is a power imbalance. To him teasing about blitz' job being on hold while Stolas does his harvest moon duties,mcing a festival in Wrath and cursing the harvest and inviting blitz to visit so he can shamelessly flirt with him, it comes off to blitz as several days of pay lost and having to beat off a thirsty owl with a stick. Joke's on him, Stolas is into that shit.
Harvest Moon fleshes out how blitz feels about the arrangement. We knew he was uncomfortable, he was never happy dealing with Stolas but Blitz is, how do I put this.... A dick. An asshole. A selfish prick. Abrasive as a box of porcupines. Self destructive as an Ultimate Warrior. Like a coked up chiuaha with daddy issues. He's not pleasant you see.
On first watch I wrote off his treatment of stolas as just... How Blitz generally treats people who aren't Loona or a Horse. The man's very first still likely very canon apperance was checking out the princess of hell's ass on live TV, his first non canon apperance was blaming Moxxie for their finacial issues just cause... I could go on but this man is just a casual shit head to anyone he doesn't see as a child in his care, it's easy to write it off as just a normal day.
The Harvest Moon helps flesh that shit out by showing this really bothers him. It shows in the normal ways of course: Stolas calling him Blitzy in public gets a very irate "Say my fucking name" and Millie describing Stolas to her parents as "My boss' BOYYYYFRRRRIIIIIEND" has him ready to hit her in front of her daddy. Half jokingly but given how he rarely targets Millie with his bullshit, it stands out.
It's Striker that tears things wide open: With someone he's actually trying to impress and mildly crushing on.. Blitz stammers to explain ,embarrassed that his business relies on a transactional fucking and only recovering when Striker plays to his ego, framing it how Blitz WANTS to see it:as a manipulation and not as something he's trapped in. It's the first time the mask he puts up for well.... Everyone slips on this issue. It's no wonder he's immdietly trying hard to impress striker: the man is a sexy cowboy with a horse who validates him without remotely judging his bullshit or going way too far with it.
What's neat is that while Striker IS deceiving Blitz he does clearly respect him. His reaction to getting caught trying to put a bullet in where the money comes from is to offer blitz a more exciting life burning it all down. I do think Striker genuinely respects Blitz... But he doesn't understand him. He sees Moxxie and Millie as weak and disposable and working for Stella as a means to an end.
Where Striker fucked up... was not UNDERSTANDING blitz. For all Striker's kill your masters rhetoric, for all he's correct about Blitz being insecure about stolas, for all he blusters about moxxie being weak... He's made no less concessions than blitz with far less of an actual plan. Striker is selfish, only carring about himself and lashing out at other imps more than his actual opressors and targeting one of the most harmless Goetia he could possibly pick. Granted Stolas is still no pushover, we get proof of that next episode,but he's still not really a threat to anyone or opressing anyone on puprpose. He talks about killing overlords... but doesn't take a contract for them despite The Vees alone being a net loss for hell. Striker is a coward who uses this rhetoric as a shield for being the same kind of contract killer hell has dozens of and being one of far too many imps having to work for someone else.
For all his carnival of flaws, Blitz actually... Does shit. Sure he fucked stolas and continues to for the book... But he uses that to help others. He gave two other imps a better job, started a buisness for them, adopted a child who needed him. Blitz is working to improve imps station. It's slow and rickety...but it's actually something. And in turn he's not alone.Moxxie backs him up and together they almost beat striker. Blitz has a lot of underlying issues...but at least he has integrity. Speaking of underlying issues.
