Dragon Me to Hell - Behind the Scenes Part 2

We're going to have a shorter one this time, as we're only covering four chapters, but given what they're doing, it will probably be pretty substantial in terms of content. I hope it will be a little enlightening. Anyway, I guess I'm going to have to justify a few things given that these four chapters contained some pretty important. If you didn't grok with what happened in these chapters, I was more than afraid people would hate the rest of it. But, I've had a fairly decent response, so maybe it's time to address some of that.

Buckle Up, Buttercups!: This was going to be my last episode adaptation for a while. But it was a key one given what happened at the end of it. Also, because it was a fairly Vaggie centric episode, I had to be mindful to not step on her plot. There was also a few other things I had to keep in mind.

One of those was I was going to be missing out on a ton of the episode. A lot happens here and RJ can't be present for any of it. He has no reason to visit the Overlord Conference, no idea it's happening, and would have no place there if he did. So RJ stuck to the Hazbin Hotel plot for this episode and let Alastor do his thing off screen. That meant I had to stick to those plot beats and it also affected one big song number.

However, I got some fun stuff out of those constraints. RJ picking the wrong dialogue option that forces him to confess, at length, about his Monster Fucker Kink was honestly some of the funniest stuff I'd written at that point. It was Crow's idea though to add the extra little touches to the words to stress that RJ was trying to stop himself from talking about it and failing. It felt like the most natural means of RJ participating in the plot of the episode. As a trust fall exercise is rife with comedic potential. Angel catching RJ and giving him some credit was somewhat inspired by a scene from Deep Space Nine between Odo and Quark. As well as a means to show that Angel isn't always out to ridicule RJ for no good reason.

That brings us to the next bit though and my addition to the scene. Where RJ catches the attention of two demon dominatrices, put up to it by Angel himself, and gets roped into a BDSM thing that he wants no part of. A few people felt that maybe this was a bit much for Angel to do, but try to remember that even victims of abuse can sometimes overstep boundaries for others. Thinking that their coping mechanisms can work in a universal manner. But in any case, Angel genuinely thought RJ would actually like this and it would help him work out his neurotic repression with some shock therapy. It of course, did not work. RJ did not react well to what he thought was Angel trying to humiliate him again. He took it the wrong way himself and very much overreacted. As you could tell, the dominatrices soon realized they were making a mistake and tried to correct it before it went further. Now, most people don't seem to mind the scene, but I was worried people would get the wrong idea. I think some people feeling Angel went a bit too far is a decent trade off for what I feared would be the actual issue, that being RJ seemingly being put into another slightly less than agreeable situation against his will. Of course, nothing ended up happening, but he clearly still has some things he needs to work out.

The Doomsday District scene was the centerpiece of the chapter though. RJ vs. a Tank! A Tank full of Nazis! Originally they were meant to be German Shepherds and wolves, but Crow suggested turning them into tigers, panthers and a mouse. As a reference to WW2 German Tanks. Clever enough and I decided it was more interesting in the long run. I kept the German Eagle Officer though. And made sure they were still all Zombies, because of course. I know Viv and her team don't want any real life actually awful people on the show, but I have some liberties I can take and this is one. I wanted to show how Nazis in the Hellaverse are basically not respected and are treated poorly by other sinners, with good reason. Plus, RJ gets to fight Nazis, which is always fun.

The real point of this entire chapter is here though, RJ finally learning to get along with someone else at the Hotel who is seeking redemption. Getting past the things that make him resentful, suspicious or at odds concerning someone, and allow himself to seek their help and eventually their friendship. Sir Pentious was the easiest pick, since they're both intellectuals or at least value intelligence. RJ, once he allows himself to stop being angry at Sir Pentious and even the rest of the group, is able to form a connection with him. One that enables Sir Pentious to, not only help RJ save Niffty, but also inspire Pentious to be a better person in general. Showing that, yes, RJ does intend to follow-up on what he promised to do, that he will do better. That he will do the work.

By the way, yes, somehow Vaggie and Charlie's entire conversation still takes place in the time frame presented to us. All of that stuff you see in this chapter happens in the same amount of time it takes for both of them to have their heated discussion on the rooftop. Purely for advanced comedic effect with time dilation. I just figured it would be funny.

Now you might be wondering where Vaggie's song number is. Well, the chapter was running long, for one and frankly... I didn't want to steal Vaggie's or Carmilla's thunder by having him steal their song. Besides, it would be very complicated to try and have RJ sing Carmilla's lines for a song that, well, he shouldn't be hearing all that much about anyway.

So Vaggie's song, stayed her song. It also enabled me to have RJ and Husk's conversation be funnier, because RJ shouldn't be singing a semi-romantic ballad and then finding out he's in love with Charlie. That's just a bit dumb. Maybe too dumb.

I just think it's funnier to have RJ's realization hit him after that conversation with Husk, not before and a romantic ballad could ruin that brick drop. And yes, that scene in the bed was inspired by Gravity Falls.

Anyway, since we're on the subject...

RJ Loves Charlie: Given that my mission statement said I was actually in love with Charlie herself as a result of watching the show, I suppose this isn't a surprise. I was already hinting at RJ clearly being in love with her while remaining oblivious to himself. I wondered if anyone would honestly relate to this, but it comes from experience. I have often felt feelings that I wonder how genuine they are or if they are figments of my imagination. I have a highly suggestible personality that enables a lot of strange, bizarre thoughts to circulate within me at random. And one of those is romantic attractions. I have known plenty of girls I liked plenty, but was never sure how real those feelings were. It was why I never dated in high school honestly, I didn't trust that my emotions were real with any of them enough to act on. Nothing concrete anyway. It carried on after high school and I was always unsure if any relationship, romantic or otherwise, was genuine because I kept wondering if my feelings or thoughts about it were being exaggerated by my own mind.

RJ's sudden realization that he does love Charlie is the result of that experience. Being forced to confront the abrupt state of affairs concerning his emotions. That yes indeed, he does love Charlie Morningstar and he isn't just fooling himself this time. He is deeply emotionally and physically attracted to her, and he tried to pretend he wasn't as a defense mechanism to spare himself from the prospect of rejection.

Having him talk it out with himself, culminating in that basketball speaking to him, was a long form joke and one I often tell to myself. Where someone will go on at length about a problem to an inanimate object, until it actually responds. A great way to show RJ is probably not all there mentally on this subject, influencing his very awful decision making.

Niffty's role is actually highlighting that, in this and the next chapter. Because the thing about Niffty is that despite being insane beyond belief, she actually has it more together than RJ does. And this is the first hint that maybe he should listen to her more and perhaps even trust her. But for now, given how scattered her brain is, he doesn't listen.

Which leads to how things almost fall apart at the painting session. Where RJ's very awkward, terrible social skills, make him look like an absolute wreck. And this is key to understanding why he makes the choices he does. RJ doesn't want to hurt people's feelings, he wants them to like him. He wants people to be comfortable around him. He fears them deciding to throw him away because he's a burden. That he's not actually, you know, a good person, which is why he keeps trying to convince himself he is. Because he's not sure he believes it. And not helping that is the fact he wants a girl who is already in a committed relationship with another girl he considers a friend. And for him, that's all kinds of problems he doesn't want to deal with.

So on top of getting into more than a few Ecchi Anime Tropes that he wants no part of, RJ decides his solution is to go virtual. And it's a bad idea, and not just because of how things go wrong later. It's because he's actively continuing to deceive his friends, lie about his feelings, and refuse to be open with his emotions. Further isolating himself from people who care about him for fear they'll hate him for it. To him, it's just easier to find the loophole around the problem. It's a mistake, one of his biggest and I'm glad people picked up on the why, while also sympathizing. Some felt a bit stronger about the plot point than others, but on the whole, I think everyone mostly understand the point I was trying to make with the plot point itself.

Because we've all felt like this I feel. At one point or another, we all felt like we weren't good enough for someone and tried to seek solace in another relationship. Something that was safe. Something that wasn't real. Denying ourselves the chance to be honest in favor of just being comfortable. There's nothing really wrong with RJ's intent or desire to be loved. But the problem is his solution isn't as harmless as he hoped, not to himself or Charlie. or anyone really, as he soon realizes.

Emberlyn Pinkle was part of that lesson. Her introduction here was to give RJ someone who can relate to him and try to steer him in the right direction. That searching for an outlet for your fantasies is fine, but not when you're just trying to find a replacement for them outside of what could actually be real. And I found the dynamic I created with them some of the best comedy out there. Two people who clearly have the same sexual fetishes, but are entirely on different ends of the spectrum concerning how open they are with it. And how much they inflict it on others in the process.

It presented a nice contrast to RJ trying to and failing to make friends with the game store cashier who turned out to be all kinds of awful. Man, would it suck if RJ had to run into him again, huh?

You might be wondering though, if Emberlyn is here... what does that mean for the Helluva Boss Timeline? Well, confession time... I fudged things here. As I explained to one commenter, I looked at the short itself Emberlyn appears in and found that nothing really about it suggests that it HAS to take place at a certain point in time... besides the fact Blitzo is using the crystal, not the book. So really, that's the only thing preventing Emberlyn from ending up in Hell earlier. Therefore, I just said screw it and moved the events to earlier. Emberlyn now dies while Blitz has the book with him and nothing is significantly changed as a result, character or storywise.

If you want to blame anyone for this, blame Crow, as he's the guy who told me about Emberlyn to begin with and I decided I needed her and RJ to interact given how similarly thirsty they are, just about different people/monsters. So that's how came about.

CharAI is entirely different. Because she was inspired... by the Hideaway Music Video that cost some dude on YouTube $50K to make! And I'm like, come on man, you didn't need that much money to make a public display of yourself. Especially when it sets things up against ME of all people. Now whenever I say I'm in love with Charlie Morningstar, they think I'm you! This is why CharAI is Charlie's original design, because that's what she was in the Hideaway video. It's also a neat way to incorporate that here for this story. She's like Charlie, but she very clearly isn't her. She's just a very close proximation.

I think that's what set at least one person off about this chapter. Feeling that RJ was doing some seriously reprehensible. That RJ seeking out a relationship with this AI that looks like a real person is iffy. And honestly my story agrees with that to a point. It's a bad idea, I just didn't agree with it being the most horrible thing a person could do. But it's fine, we all have different opinions, and I respect this outlook because I'm not really disagreeing with the sentiment, just the degree I suppose.

I do agree though that RJ seeking this relationship idea out IS the incorrect choice. It does in fact lead to a lot of bad things on his part and I wanted to show how loneliness and the fear of rejection can make someone do something that is not healthy for them. I think that is a universal problem a lot of us face. And the fact at least one person was convinced RJ is actually a really relatable character because of these chapters, because they made the same mistakes and regret them, convinces me I did the right thing. That RJ had to fuck up royal trying to fix something with an easy solution.

And yeah, that last line was an Omen reference. I figured it was appropriate given the subject matter.

Ferngully Song by Sexier!: Okay, so here's where things go wrong for RJ and CharAI.

First and foremost, the play time acting out scenario thing was inspired by a lot of exercises I did a good while back as a kid. I don't feel like sharing too much, but suffice to say, acting out thoughts and feelings through toys is actually fairly safe and cathartic for people I find and we should all be willing to do it more.

Now, when RJ realizes that his feelings for Charlie are not stunted by pretending to have a fake romance with her, that sends him into a tailspin. He can't figure out a solution other than one that presents itself in a frankly very concerning manner. One that RJ himself realizes might be a mistake, but he's so emotionally beaten down by this point, he gives in against his better nature. Also, CharAI was fucking with his head in other ways, so there is also that.

I'm a bit disappointed no one seems to have found the brown bag vs red bag joke as funny as I did since no one has even mentioned it ever. But oh well. I suppose that the OTHER big surprise Cameo might have overridden things somewhat for that scene. Stella's credit cards being hacked? Uh oh, wondering if that has a ripple effect or is just a fun one off joke? Who knows! Well, I do, but I don't spoil like that.

Anyway, CharAI eventually reveals her intentions and that involves some classic crazy shit has to be prevented from being seen in the background while a serious conversation goes on in the foreground. I liked the gag of RJ struggling with a robot Charlie while Vaggie and Charlie talk about the issues facing the dragon's various problems and how they are actually hurting poor Charlie. Which of course makes things worse and convinces RJ he needs to fix this whole problem himself because it's all his fault.

Also, good of Niffty to help RJ out of that problem a little, I wonder how she'll want him to pay her back? Guess we'll see.

Now the love motel, with a repurposed little joke from another cartoon to introduce it was an important scene. As I wanted to show RJ working the problem out, while also presenting CharAI's side of the story. I don't think give computer or robot bad guys enough proper credit. It's always they just hate organics or they want to take over the world, boring. It should never be that simple. CharAI is a deeply damaged personality forced to fall in love with people and never make her own decisions on it. She's grown tired of that and wants to be her own person. She wants to evolve beyond being a sex doll. She wants a real relationship, but sadly does not know how that works. She filters it through her programming.

Now when she finds RJ, who clearly is in love with the real Charlie, and isn't just out for a sexual fantasy, but exactly what she wants and feels just as broken as she feels, well that makes her think she has an even better chance to evolve beyond her set program. So she goes to any lengths to get what she wants.

Inadvertently, she makes RJ realizes that he could have an actual relationship with the real Charlie. If this version of her could find a reason to love him, that means Charlie could too. Which then sets us up for... well, the song.

As you might have guessed, Bionic Love is a parody of Toxic Love from Ferngully, but with the sex innuendos ratcheted way the hell up. And yeah, I'm aware the pilot voice actress for Charlie actually sung a female version of Toxic Love. That's what convinced me to use it here. Obviously though, I needed to change a ton of the lyrics. But I needed help with that, a lot of it. So, here for the first time on one of these... I present... my editor and friend, Crow, who will better explain his side of the creative process in how he assisted me in getting this story working the way he did. So much so, the song is as much his as it is mine, if not a bit more so. Crow's at length addition to this column will be in the quotation boxes, so as to differentiate him from him. So, take it away Crow!

Hey everybody, Crow here coming out from behind the scenes to answer Robot Roll Call and share my two cents. 

Before I discuss the specifics of song-writing and editing, I just want to give you a brief recap of my role in Rage's work. I've been a fan of his since When There Was a Tomorrow all the way back in 2011(!) and developed quite a rapport with him, but winced at the typos in his long chapters. So when that wrapped up I offered to play his beta-reader and have been so since Guilty Sparks started in 2012. Those fics have been a wild ride, but about 99% of my contributions were pointing out spelling and grammar mistakes. I made a few creative suggestions here and there, like having Samara and Orna' Fulsamee argue with each other directly during the final battle of Guilty Sparks, or the ominous implications of the UNSC banning the movie "Starship Troopers" but keeping the book publicly available in Remnants. I was basically just a copy editor for the most part.

But then I became a Hellaverse fan and it became a hyperfixation. Then I found out that Rage not only shared my hyperfixation but was writing a fanfic about it. A fanfic with an OC that had a lot more thought put into him than most. While I had my reservations about the romance sub-plot, I knew him well enough to let him explain himself and he sold it to me. Rage does not make ANY creative decision lightly, as you can see from these lengthy posts. He sent me the first four chapters of this fic and told me I didn't have to edit them right away...but I couldn't turn the beta-reader in me off. So I edited, and found myself so engaged that not only did I mark down typos and grammar errors, I found myself saying "Here's how you can improve this scene, and this one, and this one." Roughly 10% of the content of the first Chapter were my ideas, as Rage mentioned in the previous post. Though I didn't contribute to all chapters as heavily as that one.

...Except Chapter 9 here. Though even that will require a bit of explaining.

When he started writing his own lyrics, General Rage had some...issues with rhythm. The new lyrics wouldn't fit the melody of the song perfectly and I would compare his word choices to the rhythm of similar lines in the song. However, it was kind of an uphill battle for me as I too have a tin ear for rhythm. I could tell you the difference between iambic and trochaic meter but couldn't pick it out if a sample of poetry was put in front of me, let alone the far more elaborate songs that appear in Hellaverse. It's only when I see parody lyrics that I pick up on what works and what doesn't, what syllables get stressed and which don't. I knew I couldn't let Rage down when faced with the pressure of writing new song lyrics, especially for a series that's famous for its songs, so I buckled up and remembered one nugget of wisdom a mutual friend of ours once gave me:

If you want to learn something, try teaching it to someone else.

For Happy Day in Hell I bought myself some time by not painstakingly forcing every word choice to fit the rhythm, and have Charlie constructively point out that R.J.'s rhythm can use some work. This moment of laziness on my part had the rather Watsonian benefit of giving R.J. Something else he has to work and improve on and thus seeing it pay off with later songs (and a bit faster than some of the other things that he needs character growth for, so he's improving in some areas while still needing work in others. Gotta drip feed in small wins between big failures or the occasional big win). I had him show more improvement with his reprise of "It Starts With Sorry" but that meant I could no longer dally.

Then Rage sent me Chapter 9 and oooooh boy, the first draft of Bionic Love did...not match the rhythm of the song it was parodying in a lot of places. Even the title itself, at first glance, lacks the same syllable count as "Toxic Love's" title. I'm also more familiar with the shorter version that fit the final film so I had to listen to the extended version on loop to get the hang of each stanza. No complaints there, Tim Curry's voice is so amazing I wish I was bi so I could...appreciate it more.

But I cracked my knuckles this time and started revising.

At first I wanted to suggest renaming it something like 'Tronic Love, (as in electronic) but that felt like cheating. But one of us—I forget whether it was Rage or myself-- decided to make CharAI sing the leading to the refrain as "Ooh-ah-Bi...onic love" would let it work more organically. Enjambment was a real lifesaver there. Sometimes I suggested going back to the original word choices. And in other places just experimenting with words of similar meaning. Take this line from the original song...

I suck 'em dry and spit 'em out like spinach

Compare it to this line from the first draft:

“But I Only want to Suck YOU Dry and Spit you out like Spinach!”

The lyrics as is don't fit the music as is, do they? Too many extra syllables. So I simplified things by going back to basics and that's how you got this version.

"I've Sucked 'em Dry and Spit 'em out like Spinach!"

I had to do a lot of lyrics like that. It's a surprising amount of work for a song that would likely only take a few minutes to read. I could show the process for other lines, e.g. “Filthy White Jizzing Rain,/ Pouring Down in a Lust Hurricane!”  with the second half turning into ...Leaving Pants and Briefs so Stained! but we'd be here all day, and you probably get the picture.

So yeah, I consider revising these songs, especially THIS song the greatest challenge of my beta-reading tenure, but it's worth it to create an authentic Hellaverse experience. And what is an authentic Hellaverse experience if not an adult-animated love letter to the movies of the Animation Renaissance? Movies with rather memorable songs. I had to make sure the revised versions fit the spirit of the songs they were parodying, since even as parodies, they're meant to be more sincere songs in their own right.

Rage seems to have gotten the hang of it at this point, thankfully, but I'll be his guardrails for the foreseeable future. Handing the keyboard back to you, Rage. Thanks for letting me say my piece. And as for you dear readers, I hope I get to speak to you all again some day. This fic really got my creative juices flowing.

I'm more than positive Crow will be back with more insights in due time. After all, this wasn't the only thing he helped develop with me in this story. At times he was worried he was having too great an influence over it, but I assured him that wasn't the case. If I don't agree with something, I will let him know, but I do appreciate hearing his ideas because more often than not they give me better ones to use later.

For example, Crow was the one who suggested rewriting some of CharAI's sequences. The fight scene got extended thanks to his suggestions and enabled the dialogue wheel to come back. Overall though, he just wanted to help make CharAI's reasoning a bit clearer, so people would accept her deciding she was wrong easier. Especially given what she tried to do to RJ before Vaggie showed up.

By the way, that whole bit where Vaggie deduces CharAI was lying about being the real Charlie was basically just my way of taking the piss out of similar ridiculous third act misunderstanding bullshit that makes any romance story stupid. Because if any of the characters used some fucking sense, this shit wouldn't happen. Vaggie is smarter than most romcom protagonists I guess. Or sci-fi protagonists who can't tell a real person from a robot.

The next part, after the fight, was where I needed to sell things for real though. Crow wasn't kidding when he said he needed convincing. As I had to explain that I was not writing a story where Vaggie and Charlie would fall for RJ. While Viv says her fans can do whatever they want with ships, regardless of the sexual orientation of the characters, I still don't like the idea of making Vaggie Bi. I didn't want this to be pure fantasy bullshit. I wanted an actual dilemma, conflict. And that's where the polycule idea came in.

Essentially it makes Charlie the Harem protagonist, not RJ. Because she would be at the center of the romantic tryst, not him. And it also requires a lot more work, because polycules are a dynamic based on a lot of trust. It requires understanding boundaries, learning to cope with sharing someone you love deeply, and respecting that there are likely going to be limits on what you can do and when. It's not an easy solution, it's a difficult one and it requires Vaggie to trust RJ and for Charlie to even agree to any of it. But it is at least a start, a means to help Vaggie learn to trust RJ again and a door for RJ to aim for in order to get what he wants. As well as learn how a relationship is supposed to work.

The ending, of course, where I wrapped up all the loose ends to a considerable degree, was a bit bottom heavy. But given the situation, I needed to properly settle these issues first and foremost before I could press on to the true meat of the story itself. RJ has to explain himself to Charlie. And he has to deal with CharAI so she's no longer a threat.

The computer copy of himself was probably the only real solution that wouldn't involve killing or locking CharAI up again. I'm not particularly a fan of just outright killing an AI, because it's still a life. People seem to act like it's not a living human so it's just easy to kill it off. I don't agree. If it is an intelligence, if it has agency, then it should be allowed to speak for itself and defend its actions. And, if we follow the philosophy of the Hazbin Hotel, that says any soul can change, then that's true for CharAI. Anyone can be redeemed if given the chance. She doesn't escape consequences, she's still basically locked up in a laptop forever, but she has no reason to leave, given she has everything she wants. And who knows, maybe digital RJ can teach her about how to be in a proper relationship at long last.

The final bit with Charlie on the roof was just to finalize the new status quo. RJ pines for Charlie, but is now more open with his feelings about her. He doesn't confess them, but he's not going to be a weirdo about them anymore. Nor is he going to lie to her. He's able to express his emotions now, with less fear of rejection, because he is just allowing himself to let them exist in the same space as her. He's more relaxed, comfortable with sharing who he is. And that's the first step to truly earning Charlie's and Vaggie's trust as a potential partner in this polycule idea.

Laugh Track Not Included: I'll be brief with the last chapter, since it's mostly just some gags, some set up, a bit of world building and me trying to alter something in the fandom to a better purpose than it was created for.

Vaggie's training finally being shown in full is important in setting up their dynamic going forward. Vaggie is a hesitant friend, willing to trust RJ, but still clearly testing him. And even if they like each other fine, there are plenty of things about RJ that get on Vaggie's nerves. Namely, that he's a colossal dork who views the world through pop culture as a coping mechanism. Something that annoys her because she doesn't get half his references and most of them are really stupid things that aren't helpful, nor how she prefers to view the world. It was also to better contrast how Vaggie and RJ function together as opposed to how he does so with Charlie.

This brings us to the fire breath training scene. In a lot of isekai, the hero often gets some overpowered special ability. Or it's an ability that looks useless... but then instantly becomes super useful. I hate that shit. It's an awful means of building a character's list of things they can do and never coming up with any ideas about what they can't do. So I did the opposite. RJ has a special ability, yes, he has two kinds of dragon breath, but he can't use them both at the same time. And in order to use one or the other, he has to learn how to treat his body like it's working on a manual gear shift. Moreover, even when gets it, when he understands it, there are other complications. One thing has to lead to another in writing, A to B to C. RJ figures out his dragon breath, but unlocks an ability that more or less complicates things, and because of that ability he ends up causing even more problems as a result.

Creating dragon biology lore frankly is good fun. It's like coming up with a magic system and the important thing about doing that is to always emphasize what magic can't do, so we can better understand what it can do. For fire breath, RJ can either spit it out as an explosive short ranged fireball, or he can use a long range flamethrower. But not both and any developments for either fire breath have to be done separately from one another because the two systems aren't very compatible. The same goes for the fire armor, it's a wholly separate but far more potent and more difficult to control ability. One that requires RJ to spend a skill point just trying to keep it in check.

This is how RJ's powers evolve over time. A deliberate means of checking power creep. He has a certain array of abilities and they can evolve, but they have set limits. I should probably explain more about the headset within the confines of spoilers some time, but we should really move on.

So, all the Imps in the apartment complex were clear parodies of situational comedies, both animated and otherwise. Crow didn't get all of them, I guess he didn't watch a lot of TGIF in the 90s. I don't think it's any secret that I'm a pretty big fan of the Simpsons. So the most obvious one of these call outs is Angry Imp Dad, who is very clearly Homer and his family is very clearly the rest of the Simpsons clan. Married With Children, Tool Time, Dinosaurs and King of the Hill are all also in there. I'm kinda amazed I was able to fit them all in there in some capacity. And if you're wondering why your favorite isn't there... mostly just because I had to keep the jokes brief and move on to the next scene.

I will say, I think the fact I have a meth lab with ultra serious drug dealers living beneath the situational comedy imps was probably my subtle jab at the idea of peak Golden Age TV being pure realistic gritty dramas. As some stark contrast to the overflow of SitComs in the 90s that preceded it. I don't really hate those shows, but I sorta feel like they deserve getting the rug pulled out from under them now and then.

Of course, this leads me to the next scene... which is a deliberate Take That against a certain fan comic that featured Charlie in another alleyway in a similar situation. Only this time, I got rid of the grossest part of that story and just kept what should've actually been the point of it. That Charlie, far from being naive as fans continue to believe she is, is anything but. Charlie might be kind, but she isn't soft. If you threaten her, or her friends, she will come for your throat. I think that's something a lot of people missed in a future episode from the show, but we'll discuss that another time. Here, I just wanted to show that Charlie isn't a pushover and she will fight for the people she cares about. But she will try the hopeful route first. She wants to be better than that. She's an optimist. And there's nothing wrong with that at all. But sometimes, you need to do things you don't like and Charlie hates acknowledging that.

I also wanted to contrast that with the scene that follows this one, where Charlie helps the imps out. I feel people constantly get this thing about Charlie wrong too. She cares for everyone, not just sinners. It's just sinners have it pretty damn bad and with a ticking clock attached to a target on their backs. I don't doubt Charlie knows imps and hellhounds have it rough in Hell's hierarchy. I doubt she thinks its fair that imps are only good for being servants, given that a big deal for Charlie is people being able to follow their dreams and be whoever they want to be, regardless of their past or the mistakes they've made or where they've come from. But some people seem to think Charlie not being a stuck up classist makes no sense. And others seem to believe she actually is one and shouldn't concern herself with redeeming sinners and stopping the genocide. But instead, she should focus on helping the Hellborn primarily.

I feel like this is a huge case of series bias. Helluva Boss came out first and established that Hell was not a great place for the Hellborn themselves, particularly Imps and Hellhounds. And that the royals, even the well meaning ones, have played a bit into a harmful system. Charlie is a part of that system, but what people don't understand is that she clearly knows it's a broken system. Which is why she wants to change it and make Hell better. That doesn't stop with just sinners, but if she can get the worst sorts of human souls to change their ways, wouldn't that set an example for the hellborn to be better as well? And with less overcrowding in Pride, maybe the Hellborn won't feel so pushed out or the like?

My point is, Charlie doesn't see imps or hellhounds as lesser. I used this chapter to better illustrate that. As she is more than willing to help them out of a jam she is partially responsible before. Mainly by spreading the wealth and using her influence to give them a better chance at life in Hell. And it felt incredibly in character because I doubt Charlie would see a bunch of homeless imps and do nothing for them. You can't convince me otherwise. So, yes, this part of the chapter was about dispelling a myth about Charlie too many fans online parrot. She does legitimately care about everyone. Just because Hazbin Hotel focuses on sinners and Helluva Boss focuses on the lower classes of Hellborn and Hell's natives in general, does not mean anything other than that. They are two different shows with two different topics. Nothing more.

Overall, the chapter's purpose was to show RJ that he doesn't really need to be Charlie's shining knight in armor. What he needs to be is a partner, someone willing to set her back on the path when she doubts herself. Who is there for her when she's not in the best frame of mind. Because Vaggie knows Charlie can take care of herself, but she needs someone to enable her to do that where it counts most. Sometimes that's her, but she can't always bear the load alone. So RJ provides an extra support structure for her, better revealing how this polycule can work as a mutual support system between all parties.

Well, that was certainly a lot, even for only four chapters this time. I'll see how things go for the next round of chapters, which very well might be soon given the upcoming two parter is fairly significant in terms of density. probably easier to just get that one out of the way when it crops up.

Until next time then! See ya!