#animation takes time
Complaints about fan service in Helluva Boss
Somebody reblogged a post of mine, adding that they think Stolas and Blitzo will end up together only because of the shipping. Using helluva boss critical hashtags and all. And I’ve seen more people complain about fan service in Helluva Boss. Mostly about stolitz, but about other stuff as well.
When an episode comes out, it has already been planned and written months ago.
They already started writing for season 2 before episode 2: loo loo land came out.
The “House of Asmodeus” animatic was made in 2020, the actual episode came out in October 2021.
They already finished the recording/voice acting for the next season months ago and season 1 isnt even finished yet. Meaning the end of season 2 was already determined months ago too.
Viv even talked about that she already had ideas for Blitzos character arc after multiple seasons. She said that before loo loo land came out. And ofcourse ideas change, but still.
A lot of fans and critics seem to think that these episodes are made one at the time. (That they only started working on ep 2 after ep 1 was released for example). But that’s not how animations works. All the writing and voice acting is done. And while one episode in the storyboard phase, another is in the animation phase and another is in the cleanup phase, etc. all at the same time.
Everything we see has already been planned long ago, without being influenced by the fans. The majority of the things that happen, happen because the writers want them to, NOT because of the fandom.
It seems like fan service, because there is so much time in between the releases of these episodes. Enough time for the fans to express what they want, regardless if that actually happens or not. Because of that, if it does happen, it looks as if the fans had some influence. Even when they don’t.
A lot of fans and critics seem to think that these episodes are made one at the time. (That they only started working on ep 2 after ep 1 was released for example). But that’s not how animations works. All the writing and voice acting is done. And while one episode in the storyboard phase, another is in the animation phase and another is in the cleanup phase, etc. all at the same time.
The creators even talked about future episodes having “accidental fan service”. “Accidental” being a key word here. (I’m fairly sure they were talking about the kiss scene in episode 6, but dont quote me on that). Viv and Brandon wrote something a long time ago, before the show had a proper fanbase. But it so happened to be exactly what most fans wanted, so it looks like fan service.
It does make sense to be wary of fan service in a possible season 3 however. Now that the show properly established itself and the fandom has wants and expectations. If they start writing new stuff for season 3 now, it might be influenced by the fans a bit, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
I dont usually like ranting in fandom spaces, because fandom should be a hobby. You know….for fun. So if you disagree with my take, that’s fine.
Also it’s been a long time since I watched all of these livestreams, so if I got any of the information wrong, feel free to correct me.
