YMMV / Helluva Boss

YMMV tropes for the Helluva Boss series

The following have their own pages:

• Base-Breaking Character
• Memes
• Ships That Pass In The Night

Other examples:

A-D

• Adorkable:
  • Moxxie is a bit clumsy at times, has Youthful Freckles, and is a cute gentleman to his wife, Millie. Taken even further when he gets drunk in “Spring Broken”, flopping around in a giggly stupor and being even more blatantly loving towards his wife.
  • When Loona gets flustered, she becomes a nervous, blushing mess and it is precious.
  • Collin being emotionally meek and jittery while still being fully genuine in trying to do good results in him being quite adorable. His weak attempts to stand up for himself against both his Butt-Monkey status and I.M.P ruining his efforts make him especially precious.
  • Stolas, despite his royal status, is also quite the dork: he's a Bumbling Dad who loves doting on his daughter, giggles at how silly the word "kooks" sounds, and finds tons of joy in reading, contracts included. ("This will be fun! I love words!"). And when he's not trying to woo Blitzø by unsuccessfully using dirty talk or acting like he's a character in one of his beloved soap operas, Stolas actually gets easily tongue tied and blushy when the imp is the one flirting: his flustered but excited reaction at being asked on a "date" by Blitzø is especially adorable.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Stolas' sexuality is a matter of some debate. Is he bi? Gay? Pan? Or is he just Blitzo-sexual?
  • When Loona snaps, “Yes, I am!” after Blitzo says she's sensitive in the pilot—is she actually a sensitive person with a gruff exterior to compensate, or was she just saying she agreed to shut Millie and Moxxie up and make them leave her alone? Subsequent episodes give a little more credence to the former. When Moxxie shows apprehension at killing a seemingly innocent family in "Murder Family", Loona actually looks sadly at the photo for a few seconds^note (which also hints at her origin as an orphan and her lament on how she never got to experience growing up with a normal loving family like them), before harshly doubling down that they must secretly do horrible things to deserve being killed by I.M.P. "Spring Broken" also shows her more insecure side, as she nervously flirts with Vortex and accidentally admits to not having any friends.
  • Did Robo-Fizz develop his disdain for Blitzo over the course of the two of them working together? Or, given later revelations about the real Fizarolli's hostility to Blitzo, was it programmed into him?
  • Was Blitzo seriously interested in Verosika? Or were his reasons for dating her more mercenary? After all, he slept with Stolas to steal a grimoire that would let him access the mortal realm, and Verosika is apparently able to travel there from Hell whenever she wants...
  • Succubus nature aside, just how mean is Verosika? Is she always so uppity and unsavory, or is she usually more calm and polite, and encountering her ex caused her to fly off the handle? And is the hallucination version of her to be believed, meaning she was hurt and driven away by Blitzo's behavior? “OZZIE’S” supports the latter theory, where she only joins Fizzarolli and Asmodeus' song when they switch the target to Blitzo, not really caring when Moxxie or Stolas is the one being insulted. On the other hand, she had no problem sexually assaulting Moxie simply as a way of getting back at Blitzo.
  • Was Blitzo stealing Verosika's credit cards really the main reason she broke up with him? Or, considering her claims that he was a selfish lover in "OZZIE'S", was that incident just the straw that broke the camel's back?
  • Did Chaz always see Moxxie as a meal-ticket/booty-call, rendering him perfectly willing to throw him under the bus when things got tough? Or did he actually like like Moxxie beyond mere lustful and materialistic reasons when they originally dated and he ended up losing him in a moment of poor judgement?
    • Also worth noting: Chaz taking off with all the money might have meant no one could prove Moxxie took anything, potentially limiting his charges to breaking and entering. Was Chaz actually keeping his head, and trying to make the situation less-bad?
• Awesome Art: Well, this IS by the same team that does Hazbin Hotel. The show uses the same beautiful art-style with very fluid animation and vibrant colors. It is the aspect of the show near-unanimously praised by even detractors.
• Awesomeness Withdrawal: The relatively huge gap between “OZZIE’S” and “The Circus”, which is nine months (For comparison, the longest previous wait was for “Truth Seekers” which was 3 months and 3 weeks) has resulted in a massive spike on the fanbase's desperation for content to help pass the time and keep up the hype, as Episode 8 which was supposed to help tide them over got Screwed by the Lawyers into a Missing Episode until it was finally released during Season 2's run.
• Badass Decay: Striker. In the first episode he appears in, he's taken very seriously, comes close to killing Stolas, and manages to get away scot-free. In later appearances, while he never stops being an active threat, he's noticeably less serious and more reckless, with a Running Gag featuring him being comically disgusted whenever one of his intended victims gets turned on by being at his mercy. His suave personality is also torpedoed - in his first appearance he ties Blitz in the games and gets along with him so well that Blitz offers him a job, does an effective job at pitching Blitz on teaming up with him so Blitz seemed to be genuinely considering it and gets several imps in the crowd to swoon for him. In other words, he's portrayed as both effective and attractive, nearly seducing Blitz to his side both figuratively and literally. In his follow up appearances, he is just an antagonist and all the dynamic he has with Blitz is gone, with the show also now mocking his physical appearance by having Fizz complain about his hygiene.
• Broken Base:
  • Does the show not focus enough on the assassinations I.M.P. carries out? Some people say that I.M.P come off as a borderline case of The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, and that since it's the premise of the series, there should be more episodes dedicated to the company pulling hits in the mortal realm. Others argue that doing so would run the risk of making the show overly formulaic, while the more scattershot approach to episode subject matter lends itself well to worldbuilding and Character Development. Furthermore, episodes that focus on I.M.P.'s assassinations such as "C.H.E.R.U.B." and "Unhappy Campers" tend to be among the show's most polarizing.
• The Chris Carter Effect: A particular criticism from detractors, and even some fans, is that the show has a bad habit of adding more spinning plates into the mix rather than resolving any of them, such as the Cherubs, Striker, Crimson, Blitzo's relationship with Stolas, etc. Since the series comes out periodically one episode at a time, fans started to become restless about this in the middle of Season 2, as it was continuing this trend while also having a few filler episodes that didn't advance many plots. Around that point, only one plot thread from the previous season was followed up on (Striker returning to kidnap Stolas on Stella's orders). The unrest grew to even greater volume when the long-awaited season 1 finale finally arrived after having been delayed significantly due to being Screwed by the Lawyers.
• Common Knowledge:
  • Loona's a hellhound, not a wolf as much of the fandom believes her to be. Given that all the hellhounds shown throughout the series so far take clear inspiration from real-life canine breeds, this is an easy mistake to make.
  • Blitzo and Fizzarolli are brothers, or at least adopted brothers, right? Wrong, they’re simply childhood friends. "Oops" showing that Blitzo was actually gonna confess his feelings to Fizz entirely debunks this.
  • Stella is commonly thought to be a swan demon due to her white dress and feathers (and possibly the irony of a swan, a bird associated with everlasting love, being in a loveless, abusive marriage). She is actually a peafowl demon, like her brother Andrealphus.
• Crack Pairing:
  • For some reason, Collin/Loona gained a small following on 4chan's /co/ board shortly after “C.H.E.R.U.B” got released despite neither of them interacting in said episode. The appeal likely stems from an Opposites Attract dynamic with Collin acting as a Morality Pet to Loona.
  • Despite never even interacting on screen and the only indication one even knows of the other being a brief barb about one of them being in rehab with the "sad, loser wash-ups", there is a surprisingly substantial following for Verosika/Barbie, usually under the idea they'd have met in rehab, and would connect in their shared disdain for Blitzo.
• Creepy Cute:
  • I.M.P may be genuinely demonic-looking and somewhat freaky, but all of them have a great deal of charm to them, both in design and personality. At the very least they look cuter than the majority of adult imps.
  • While Mrs. Mayberry may have taken on a monstrous Big Red Devil look after coming to Hell, she's designed to be more of a Cute Monster Girl, with her letting out some rather adorable smiles and expressions when she's feeling calm or happy.
  • The kids of the "Murder Family" have creepy faces and disturbing personalities after revealing their true selves, but even while being evil they come off as kinda cute, which especially comes into play when happily spending time with their parents or cowering in fear while hugging Ralphie.
• Crossover Ship:
  • Some like to pair Loona with Legoshi. It helps that Legoshi has traits that attracted Loona to Vortex.
  • Pairing Verosika Mayday up with Miss Heed is pretty popular as well. Helps that both are in-universe celebrities with an affiliation with, and powers related to, lust and the colour pink.
  • Fans often pair Loona with Roxanne Wolf from Security Breach, given their abrasive attitudes, Inferiority Superiority Complex and similar appearances (especially given that they are both anthropomorphized wolves). They also have a Hair-Trigger Temper and are very dangerous when they get serious. Some have gone as far as to call Roxy Mecha-Loona.
  • A more downplayed example that has decent popularity is 'Moxxiedust' (a ship between Moxxie of Helluva Boss and Angel Dust of Hazbin Hotel); while both series are set in the same universe they are under different production teams with Vivziepop herself saying the two series will never cross paths so the ship does technically count as a crossover.
  • Recent fan-art has depicted Loona having a crush on Death.
  • A recent fanfiction crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gives Loona some Ship Tease with Raphael. The author intended it as a joke until some readers compared the two's Belligerent Sexual Tension to Ninjara and Alopex, two other female canine-like characters that Raphael was part of an Official Couple with in both comics. This led to the author deciding they'd potentially make a cute Battle Couple and realizing that Raph Has a Type.
• Crosses the Line Twice: The show is about a company in Hell that murders people for a living, so of course there's going to be a lot of Black Comedy.
  • From series pilot alone, there's stuff like Blitzo having sex with Stolas shortly before telling Stolas' wife apologetically that he did so when he crashes into a cake she and some friends were about to eat out in the garden, along with I.M.P deciding the most respectful way to deal with a child they just killed is by dumping the mutilated corpse into the grieving mother's arms.
  • The first proper episode's still got it. After Moxxie spares most of a murderous family, including the children, he decides to let Earthly authorities handle it and calls the police. What do they do? Arrive on a helicopter and shoot the house with an anti-tank missile, killing everyone anyway.
  • While all the wanton murder and STD-ridden sex in “Spring Broken” is already a major case of Black Comedy, it tips into being utterly hilarious when taking into account the fact the entire competition was started over parking space rights.
  • The fourth episode is pretty much the epitome of the show's Black Comedy, being a slapstick-heavy story about opposing factions I.M.P and C.H.E.R.U.B trying to prevent/trigger a target's suicide.
    • Adding to the fourth episode, the fact that Blitzo unveiling the Mall Santa not only revealed a creepy fat man, but also the fact they had a shirt with "#Cuties" on it, and outright made the "You've been Gnomed" noise after being revealed.
    • Near the end of said episode, the man who was a Death Seeker for most of the episode realises the value of life and decides that he "no longer craves death"...right before being crushed by a falling piano. That was accidentally dropped on him by the people who spent the whole episode trying to convince him not to kill himself. It's so messed up that it's hard not to laugh.
  • The reveal that Stella hired Striker to murder Stolas over his cheating? Horrifying. Her discussing it over the phone with him with Stolas and Octavia at the table with her and completely not caring? Hilarious.
  • Crimson making some crude remarks about Moxxie's bisexuality adds fuel to the already tense situation and likely hits close to home for some viewers. And then Crimson reveals the ridiculous amount of motorized dicks he installed throughout the home as a "gift."
• Cry for the Devil: While Stella's not meant to be viewed as a sympathetic character in any light, "The Circus" reveals that she and Stolas were both forced into the marriage for the purpose of siring an heir, that it was arranged since they were children, and that neither were happy about it. While Stella's lashing out at Stolas is cruel and misplaced, a good amount of fans have pointed out that they're drowning in the same pool. "Western Energy"'s reveal that Stella has a controlling older brother who comes onto her in an uncomfortably sexual manner only added to this.
• Diagnosedbythe Audience: Given Moxxie’s general reservedness compared to the other assassins, his strong sense of justice, his infodumping about guns, and his literal-mindedness and trouble picking up sarcasm, it’s no surprise fans have read him as autistic.
• Die for Our Ship: Many Loona/Vortex shippers were quite upset when he was revealed to have a girlfriend in his first appearance, resulting in them either denying said girlfriend exists, killing her off in their fanfics, or having Tex break up with her in favor of Loona. Though with the Season 1 finale, this opinion quickly died off among several with the introduction of Vortex's girlfriend, Bee-lzebub, who quickly became a fan favorite among viewers and appreciated for how genuine her and Vortex's relationship is. Also helping is the fact that Bee proves to be just as supportive of Loona as Vortex is, leading many to instead consider the idea of shipping all three together.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Ms. Mayberry gets this treatment. A good portion of fans find her a victim of spiritual injustice, that for one impulsive act of wrongdoing, she gets unfairly damned. While she certainly is a tragic figure, there's a huge gap between rightful anger that your husband is cheating on you and cold-blooded murder. He was an ass who spat on his wedding vows, but that didn't mean he deserved to get his insides splattered out. She also had no idea that Martha and her family were serial killers and simply hired I.M.P to kill her purely because she was the one her husband was cheating with; if she did know, she no doubt would have warned Blitzo not to underestimate her.
  • Due to Season 1 only depicting their relationship after Stolas had an affair with Blitzo, Stella gained a lot of sympathy from fans who think she was right to be furious with him, with some going so far as to claim her hiring Striker to kill him was completely justified. This despite the show establishing early on that Stella is at best a neglectful and at worst horribly abusive spouse whose main problem with Stolas' affair wasn't even that he cheated on her, but that he cheated on her with an imp. It got to the point that when "The Circus" outright hammered in that Stella had always been vindictive, petty, and a blatant bully to Stolas verging on emotional domestic abuse, some accused it of being a retcon to make Stolas sympathetic by derailing Stella in spite of the overwhelming foreshadowing. While Stolas is by no means a saint, Stella definitely isn't the poor innocent victim some fans make her out to be.
  • Chaz, while implied to have actually cared about Moxxie in some manner, was still shown to be primarily interested in his own pleasure and satisfaction during his sole appearance. Despite this, many fanfics will have him be much more caring and considerate towards other characters, usually whoever the author wants to ship him with.

E-H

• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • For someone who only appeared in the first episode, Mrs. Mayberry has a lot of fans in no small part due to her sympathetic reason for entering hell and cool demon design. Many are hoping that she can get a happy ending by going to the hotel.
  • Josh, the sex demon that tried to get it on with Loona in “Spring Broken”, has gained a small following despite otherwise being a background character in Verosika's posse.
  • The pianist from the opera scene in “C.H.E.R.U.B” has his fans, who were quite happy to see him survive the collateral massacre between I.M.P and C.H.E.R.U.B.
  • Also in “The Harvest Moon Festival”, Millie's sister Sallie May quickly gained a sizable following despite only receiving a handful of scenes and lines. It helps that she has a gorgeous design, hilarious quips, and that she's a positively-represented transgender character. It helps that Sallie's voice actress is trans, just like her. She's so popular, in fact, that she's one of the few non-primary characters to receive official merchandise. The first short of the show is even about her and her sister Millie having a Girl's Night Out Episode.
  • The deaf imp kid Oliver in "Mammons Magnificent Musical Mid-Season Special (Ft. Fizzarolli)" has been getting a lot of fans online. Thanks in no small part to having an adorable albeit brief interaction with Fizzarolli, being adorable themselves, and being disabled just like Fizz, being deaf and with broken horns, which helps imply Fizz may see himself in the kid. Many fans are already dreaming of a return for the boy where Fizz takes him under his wing.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • When a male hellhound was seen in the Season 1 trailer, many fans speculated that he was either Loona's boyfriend or her biological father. Turns out neither was correct; Vortex had no relation to Loona, and while she had a crush on him, he didn't reciprocate her feelings and already had a girlfriend.
  • One popular fan theory says that Moxxie is of angelic descent, due to him having stronger moral reservations than most other demons we see. Some even went so far as to suggest he might be a Fallen Angel, at least until he was shown to have demon parents in "Exes and Oohs".
• Evil Is Cool: Striker is a slick, smooth-talking, tough and intelligent assassin who proves capable of taking on multiple members of I.M.P at the same time. And on top of this, he's voiced by Norman fucking Reedus. Naturally, he falls into this.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation:
  • "Spring Broken" revealed Blitzo adopted Loona when she was seventeen, displeasing fans who assumed he adopted her as a child which they felt was a stronger setup for their relationship and offers a much more nuanced look into Loona's mixed feelings about her adopted father.
  • "OZZIE'S" reveals that Moxxie and Millie are in their first year of marriage, which many viewed as less compelling than them being so in love despite being many years past their "honeymoon phase".
  • "The Circus" revealing Stella was evil since childhood and nothing but abusive of Stolas long before his resulting infidelity had some fans feel it was trying too hard to excuse Stolas's wrongdoings and negated the moral grayness/ambiguity that made it compelling. It also became part of the series growing criticism of shafting female characters, reducing Stella to a one-dimensional Hate Sink decided any depth or agency beyond propping up male characters conflicts.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • With Battle for Dream Island, due to Helluva Boss losing the Cartoon Crave Awards 2021 against BFDI. As a result, many Helluva Boss fans have bashed on BFDI for winning the award, while BFDI fans consider their show to be superior and consider Helluva Boss to be little more than swearing and sex scenes.
  • With Lackadaisy. After the release of Lackadaisy's pilot and the announcement of a first season, many fans started calling it superior to Helluva Boss and the show's supposed rival in the indie animation community. Meanwhile, Helluva fans mock the other show for supposedly being boring, accusing Lackadaisy fans of being pompous and annoying. Interestingly enough, the two works were previously Friendly Fandoms and VivziePop and Tracy Butler respect each others' work. This has caused no small amount of headaches for the fans who enjoy both shows equally and want all this drama to stop.
• Fandom-Specific Plot:
  • Due to the long wait after OZZIE's, a common subject in fanfics is seeing follow-ups to the episode, typically with Blitzo going through some major angst.
  • Due to Stella being an extremely one note character, many fans, even those not giving her the Draco in Leather Pants treatment, tend to flesh her out in fanworks, usually via pointing out that she's just as much of a victim of the Arranged Marriage as Stolas. They just chose to go about dealing with it in different ways.
  • After the season 2 midseason special, the idea of Fizzarolli and Asmodeus adopting Oliver and the wholesome domestic shenanigans that follow started floating around.
• Fandom VIP:
  • EMositeCC is a very famous name due to kickstarting the "Angel AU" trend among the fandom.
  • Jizoku is a rather infamous example within the Helluva Boss fandom, being a major source of Moxxie/Loona art with their NSFW comic 'A Night With Loona' being both widely recognized and the frequent subject of controversy due to the focus upon the aforementioned ship.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • With Stolas' whole deal being one giant Genius Bonus for occultists and demonologists, this leaves the 71 other demons from the Ars Goetia to be introduced. Since Stolas is revealed to be a member of the "Goetia Family", are they all members of this demon clan? Are they all as powerful as Stolas? Where are they and what the hell are they doing? This is compounded by the introduction of Asmodeus in “OZZIE’S”, another Ars Goetia demon.
  • Despite being stated to be Exiled from Continuity due to having different production teams, there is plenty of crossover fuel with Hazbin Hotel due to being in the same setting.
  • After The Circus revealed that Blitzo and Stolas first met when they were kids, fanworks that explore the idea of them keeping in touch with each other as they grew up have started cropping up.
• Fanon:
  • Many fans of the show believe that, if and when they interact with each other, Loona and Octavia will become Fire-Forged Friends, or at least something similar to that. This is actually more or less what happened when they met in "Seeing Stars" (with their heartfelt talk about fathers concluding with Octavia hugging Loona), although it hasn't been followed up on since.
  • Octavia being asexual and/or aromantic is a popular theory among her fans, due to her color scheme, overall mood and in particular her exchange with Stolas, where the Prince declares people want them for their money and bodies, to which she responds: "Our money maybe."
  • Before "Loo Loo Land" put the kibosh on the idea, it was actually fairly common for fics to depict Stella as being totally okay with Blitzo and Stolas's relationship, even being friendly towards Blitzo when he came over to see Stolas.
  • Prior to "Exes and Oohs" introducing his family, there was a curious trend among some fanfic writers to make Moxxie the Happily Adopted son of Alastor the Radio Demon, making his choice of clothing and his tastes in music a result of being raised by the former radio host.
  • On the NSFW side, it's common "knowledge" (or at least speculation) that Chaz has two dicks, due to the fact that some shark species in real life are similarly doubly-endowed.
  • Some fans tend to believe that despite her hatred for Stolas and wanting him dead, Stella genuinely cares about Octavia, depicting her as a case of Even Evil Has Loved Ones.
  • Many fans have assumed Millie is bisexual, much like her husband, both due to her comment about wanting to know what sex with Verosika was like and that it would be another cute thing for her and Moxxie to share.
  • Even though there is no real idea of what the relationship between Striker and Bombproof is like, the fanbase generally assumes that Bombproof is the one creature in Hell that Striker legitimately cares about and both tend to be depicted as having Undying Loyalty towards each other.
  • Due to Leviathan being a sea serpent in most other appearances, it's common to depict Envy as Hell's ocean. During his argument with Verosika in episode 3, Blitzo states that Hell's nearest ocean is "three circles down", so he was possibly referring to Envy.
  • Stella is often thought to be homophobic by the fanbase, sometimes openly portraying her as such in fan works. Despite the show implying she doesn't care about Stolas' orientation but instead is just classist.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Fans have begun to clarify the rather confusing fact that Blitzo changed the pronunciation but not spelling of his name to "Blitz", while many of his adversaries continue to use the old pronunciation, by spelling his name "Blitzø" to indicate it's being pronounced the way he likes, the "ø" representing not that distinctive Scandinavian vowel sound but an "o" that's been crossed out, as seen on his office door in the pilot. As of the end credits of “The Circus”, this is Ascended Fanon.
  • Some have taken to calling Andrealphus "Amogus", Andre, or Andy due to his actual name being somewhat difficult to spell or pronounce.
  • Eddie (the kid from the pilot) is occasionally referred to as “Billy” alluding to Richard Horvitz’ role.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Shortly after his introduction in “Spring Broken”, a decent portion of fans quickly latched onto shipping Vortex with Loona, as he's a fellow hellhound who also has an attractive design and gets along quite well with her despite their owners having beef with each other. Said fans care not one whit about him already having a girlfriend who is also a Deadly Sin and is way out of Loona's league in both power and status.
• Foe Yay Shipping: A good majority of shipping content by fans that doesn't involve canonical cases of attraction pairs together characters that in-story absolutely hate each other, since a great deal of the antagonistic interactions among the cast provide juicy amounts of content that can easily be construed as having romantic undertones if you squint hard enough:
  • Loona being a Jerkass to One in regards to Moxxie can be easily viewed as her being a massive Clingy Jealous Girl who hates that Millie got to him first.
  • The heavy antagonism between Blitzo and Robo-Fizz has just the right undertones for fans to see it as being a potential case of bitter ex-boyfriends. The introduction of the original Fizzarolli whom Robo Fizz was based on only adds to this, as not only is the antagonism even stronger between him and Blitzo, but the images showing them to be former Childhood Friends, especially them as teens, have them posing together in just the right ways that some fans construed it as a Childhood Friend Romance that turned sour.
  • The hateful interactions between Blitzo and Verosika can easily be viewed as a case of Belligerent Sexual Tension. Later episodes lends credence to this ship, as "Truth Seekers" reveals that Blitzo regrets sabotaging their relationship, and "OZZIE'S" has Verosika mainly sing about how much she did for him but Blitzo never reciprocated, both cases hinting that while they still dislike each other, there's still strong emotions involved which aren't necessarily negative, meaning that there's potential for them to make amends. Additionally, "OZZIE'S" also reveals that Blitzo keeps a photo of him and Verosika on his phone (alongside photos of his employees and family), showing that he still does care about her on some level.
  • The conflict between I.M.P and C.H.E.R.U.B, alongside their status as Foils, provides good material for literal Angel/Devil Shipping (specifically Blitzo/Cletus, Moxxie/Collin, and Millie/Keenie), though most of the shipping there is done in a "devils toying with angels" sense rather than making them genuine couples, since Moxxie/Millie are already a canon couple and Collin/Keenie is a popular non-hate ship.
  • Blitzo and Striker genuinely struck up a close connection with each other shortly after they first met, having hints of real admiration and strong chemistry, before Striker drew Blitzo's permanent ire by trying to kill Stolas and nearly killing Moxxie. Even after they became permanently hostile to each other, Striker seems genuinely disappointed that Blitzo turned down his offer to work together in bringing down the demonic hierarchy, and Blitzo seemed to seriously find his efforts to recruit him "kinda hot", even if he mainly followed along to keep him distracted until Moxxie and Millie showed up.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • With Brandon Rogers' YouTube channel due to the extremely similar humor.
  • With the Invader Zim and the The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy fanbases, due to the involvement of Richard Steven Horvitz. It helps that all three shows share in common that they're animated black comedies with wacky premises, Surreal Humor, Deranged Animation, Horvitz playing a Large Ham in each, and they all take place in a Crapsack World. Additionally, Maxwell Atoms, creator of Billy & Mandy, is working on this show as well and he provided the voice of Ralphie in the first episode, and Loo Loo in the second.
  • With Helltaker due to sharing the premise of having casts full of largely lovable demons and devils.
  • With Miraculous Ladybug due to Cristina Valenzuela's involvement as Verosika who also voiced Marinette from that show.
  • With The Owl House, as both shows have supernatural elements, contain LGBTQ representation, and involve Erica Lindbeck. They also have prominent owl characters.
  • With the Genshin Impact and Hereditary fandom since Paimon's announcement due to the two former fandoms also having their own character named Paimon.
• Genius Bonus: Stolas is based on the character of the same name from the Ars Goetia, who's usually depicted as an owl with long legs. Like his literary counterpart, Stolas is interested in astronomy and herbology.
• Growing the Beard: The pilot was entertaining and did a good job at introducing the characters, but "Loo Loo Land" solidified its quality by introducing a more substantive, serious story that would further grow throughout the series enabling the cast to be fleshed out by given them genuinely dramatic and emotional moments. The comedy also evolved from the pilot's random Cutaway Gags to more structured jokes and a greater balance of humor and drama.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Stolas' appearance in the pilot episode ends with him very aggressively trying to get an obviously disturbed and uncomfortable Blitzo to have sex with him again, which is played for Black Comedy. Stolas' original voice actor, Brock Baker, would later be accused of sexual misconduct, causing him to be recast for the show proper.
  • In light of "Loo Loo Land", Blitzo really should have kept his mouth shut regarding sleeping with Stolas in the pilot as the latter and Stella now get into arguments over this affair while also causing Octavia to fear that her father might leave her. Taken even further when it's shown in "The Harvest Moon Festival" that Stella wants Stolas killed for his adultery.
  • While the Take That, Audience! joke in "Spring Broken" was meant to reference Loona's popularity after the pilot as most, if not all the storyboards were already finished before the first episode premiered, it became annoyingly prophetic after several of the character blogs were spammed with NSFW art by trolls a few weeks before the episode aired.
  • The argument between Blitzo and Loona in "Spring Broken" regarding Blitzo's role as a parent in her life becomes harsher after "Seeing Stars", which revealed Loona's living conditions prior to her adoption.
  • In "Murder Family", Moxxie argues that while he draws the line at murdering entire families, he's willing to make exceptions for "shitty dad[s]" and mob families. While at the time this was just portrayed as a joke, in "Exes and Oohs" it's revealed that he came from a miserable upbringing in a Mafia family thanks to his own monstrous father, the Don to a mafia family in Greed.^note If it's any consolation, Moxxie doing a comical impression of a mafia stereotype takes on a new light knowing it's basically an unflattering impression of Crim's actual manner of speech.
    • In addition, during the pilot, Moxxie bluntly tells Blitzo that he would prefer to go back to the dream he was having of parents being murdered than wake up to him staring at him and purring in his face like a cat. When it becomes clear Crim is anything but someone Moxxie has a fond relationship with, this might seem like a positive dream instead... until it's shown that Moxxie's mother had a loving relationship with her son, likely the only one he had in his childhood, with Moxxie eventually losing her too and having to witness evidence that his father had her murdered and disposed of. Thanks to Crim, Moxxie having dreams about his parents being murdered is actually probably much more painful than if he did have a happy or stable family.
    • Now think back to Blitzo's line about how they are "killing a mother and ruining a family" during "Murder Family" when going after Martha, with Moxxie unaware about her crimes until later. Moxxie's family is ruined by his mother's death. No wonder he was wheezing afterwards. For a brief moment, he probably saw Crimson in Blitzo's place.
  • The series has had a couple gags about Blitzo wanting to enter a three-way relationship with Moxxie and Millie, with Moxxie's frustrations at Blitzo's lack of boundaries being Played for Laughs. "Exes and Oohs" (which still features Blitzo agreeing to sleep with Chaz due to wanting to experience by proxy what it's like to sleep with both of them) however would reveal that Moxxie actually sees Blitzo as a father figure, especially when compared to Crimson. Meaning, from Moxxie's perspective, every moment Blitzo tried sleeping with Moxxie and Millie, Moxxie was effectively being propositioned by someone he saw as his father.
  • Blitzo accidentally causing the circus tent in "Loo Loo Land" to burn along with destroying Robo-Fizzarolli seems hilarious. Then "Oops" reveals Blitzo caused a fire in the circus he and Fizzarolli worked at, which resulted in burn scars for the two, Fizzarolli having robotic arms, and the implied death of Blitzo's mom.
• He Really Can Act:
  • Bryce Pinkham gives an utterly heartbreaking performance as Stolas in "The Circus", mostly during his song "Stolas Sings".
  • Brandon Rogers, mostly known for his inappropriate, bizarre humor, gives an utterly heartbreaking performance for Blitzo's emotional breakdown in "OZZIE’S", the first time we've heard the usually clownish character sound so raw, vulnerable, and broken.
• He's Just Hiding:
  • Many fans believe that Martha's husband and children managed to avoid the missile the police fired at their house, since Moxxie's phone call would've given them enough time to flee before the cops arrived.
  • "Exes and Oohs" has two examples:
    • Despite having two confirmations to his death, some fans theorize that Chaz wasn't killed but was merely given A Fate Worse Than Death by Crimson. Helps that he was Killed Offscreen, meaning that he was never actually seen getting killed.
    • A smaller section of the fandom insists there is a way Moxxie's mother survived as well, as all the onscreen confirmation we get is her shoe floating on the water. Some even go as far as to theorize the bag Crimson pushes into the water after Moxxie's victim was just all of her stuff he was getting rid of. Perhaps he simply threatened to kill Moxxie to force her away?
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The "I.M.P Killed Jeffrey Epstein" meme became even funnier when Epstein was mentioned by name in the first episode.
  • The Take That, Audience! dig about Loona's popularity in the Furry Fandom in "Spring Broken" gained an entirely new layer after SpindleHorse themselves advertised risqué pin-ups of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss characters on Viziepop's YouTube channel.
  • Erica Lindbeck would go on to voice another apathetic assassin with a Hidden Heart of Gold- Lady Nagant, to be precise.
  • Moxxie and Loona are shown to have a Sitcom Arch-Nemesis relationship with each other, Loona regularly picking at Moxxie's insecurities while Moxxie lashes back in anger. With "Exes and Oohs" revealing Moxxie sees Blitzo as a father figure, his relationship with Loona can pretty much be summed up as pseudo-Sibling Rivalry.
  • With the revelation that Mammon is characterised as The Bogan, the name of the shitty theme park from episode 2 being "Loo Loo Land" takes on additional meaning, given that "The Loo" is an Australian euphemism for "The Toilet."
  • The Freeze-Frame Bonus in "Loo Loo Land" that Lucifer tried to sue Mammon for ripping off Lu Lu World becomes funnier once "Dad Beat Dad" reveals Lucifer is depressed and spends most of his time cooped up in his palace, meaning Mammon's copyright infringement was so insulting Lucifer personally went out to exercise his authority.
• Ho Yay:
  • Some fans see the interaction between Robo-Fizz and Blitzo as ex-boyfriends who are bitter now. Also counts as Foe Yay Shipping, given their current relationship. This interpretation has only become more prevelant with the introduction of the real Fizzerolli and the reveal that he and Blitzo grew up together, with a number of implications for a potential Childhood Friend Romance gone sour.
  • Blitzo's interactions with Striker have copious amounts of tension between the two, which some fans have immediately taken note of. Blitzo responding to Striker's offer to join forces to kill Hell's royal classes with "Ooh, that's kinda hot." in a slightly infatuated tone adds to this even more.
  • The YouTube picture promo for the episode “Western Energy features Striker and Stolas having their faces pressed against each other in a similar way to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Only this time, Striker has one of his hands coddling Solas in his cheeks.
• Hype Backlash: The show has amassed a large fanbase to its vibrant animation, catchy songs, and interesting premise. However, a combination of some die-hard fans overpraising the show on certain social media platforms and the fandom's overall bombardment on YouTube caused some viewers to be skeptical and look at the show in a more critical lens. After doing so, said skeptical viewers found the show to have numerous world-building inconsistencies, highly repetitive and mediocre writing, and some characters being underdeveloped like Loona, Millie, or Octavia. With all these taken into account, some feel that the praise the show receives is disproportionate to its quality. This sentiment only got louder after the release of Season 1 of Hellaverse companion show Hazbin Hotel, which, while not considered perfect, was seen as a superior show and written by basically the same people, leading many to reevaluate Helluva Boss in its wake and be more critical of its flaws.

I-R

• Idiosyncratic Ship Naming
  • Moxxie and Millie are called "M&M", due to their shared first initial as well as it rolling off the tongue better than trying to combine their names.
  • "Criminale" for Crimson/Alessio, both due to it sounding like criminal as it also sounding like "Crim and Al" when spoken aloud.
  • Loona/Bee is "Honeymoon", due to Bee being... well, a Queen Bee and wanting to "Get that motherfucking honey", and Loona being a different spelling of the Latin word for "moon".
• I Knew It!:
  • Many in the fanbase had predicted that Stolas and Stella were in an Arranged Marriage before “The Circus” confirmed it.
  • Many in the fanbase had also predicted the exact circumstances of Loona's adoption - that Blitzo had adopted her because he saw how alone she was.
  • One of the most persistent theories was that Blitzo accidentally destroyed his family circus, by fire, resulting in the white mark over his right eye, the loss of Fizz's limbs, and the death of Blitzo and Barbie’s mother. "OOPS" confirms this is indeed the case.
  • Immediately after "The Circus" aired, theorists began suspecting that Stolas was going to give Asmodean crystals to Blitzo as an alternate means to travel to Earth so that he didn't have to continue his transactional relationship with Stolas, as a gesture of affection on Stolas' part in an attempt to win Blitzo over. "Oops" confirms this in a conversation between Asmodeus and Stolas, with Stolas seeking Oz's help in finding a way for Blitzo to travel to Earth without using the Grimoire.
• Inferred Holocaust: Mammon threw a brief but nonetheless fire-powered fit in the middle of a crowded concert. One must hope that the crowd was wise enough to back away when he and Ozzie took on their more monstrous forms, or else the death toll would have been high.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Striker is shown to be one of the best villains in the series and was praised by fans due to his Creepy Awesome and Evil Is Cool moments, but on the other hand, Cash Buckzo and Alrick "Burnie" Burnz are more hated than him due to their realistically portrayed cruelties.
• Jerkass Dissonance: Loona in the Pilot, by all accounts, should have been a completely unlikable character. She's a straight Jerkass, a Spoiled Brat, and a Sour Supporter on the best of days. Her design and the reactions from the Furry Fandom say otherwise.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Mrs. Mayberry murdered her husband and tried to kill Martha but the fact that she was loyal to her husband and was kind to her students makes her actions tragic, especially when she killed herself out of guilt for having traumatized her students.
  • C.H.E.R.U.B are a clear case of Holier Than Thou attitude, and later state outright that they're Punch Clock Heroes who save people for fame and recognition, regardless of how innocent their protectorate actually is, but they're genuinely trying to do things that benefit humanity, along with potentially saving humans nearing death and giving them new purpose, so it's easy to sympathize with them when I.M.P keep screwing over all of their efforts, and plenty of fans find them outright undeserving of their fate at the end of their titular episode where their life-saving efforts that instead result in Accidental Murder causes them to be banned from Heaven, since the crime that caused the punishment wasn't all their fault. Collin, the purple sheep Cherub, borders on being a straightforward The Woobie since he never performed any outright jerkassery and was the only one to consistently express actual noble intentions, yet still got punished along with his team.
  • Blitzo is an obnoxious, clingy, selfish idiot who treats almost everyone around him badly, with no regards for their personal space or feelings, tendencies that are Played for Laughs early on. Come "Truth Seekers", we discover that the reason he behaves this way is because he craves intimacy and closeness with people, but has no idea how to go about achieving it in a healthy way. He's terrified of ending up alone, and chases people away to avoid being hurt when (he believes) they inevitably leave. And if that weren't bad enough, the episode brings his very complicated feelings about Stolas to the forefront - he seems to feel genuine affection for the demon prince, or at least a feeling of safety, but Striker's comments about how Stolas sees him as no more than a plaything are clearly still bothering him. Either way, Blitzo feels trapped, confused, and very afraid. He's not particularly sympathetic, but he's at least a bit pitiable.
• Karmic Overkill:
  • The C.H.E.R.U.B.s (barring Collin since he was more or less the Token Good Teammate) were meant to be Hate Sinks, with Cleetus for seeing their act of redeeming Lyle as nothing more than a job, and Keenie for her self-righteous attitude and implied prejudice towards Imps. However, some viewers didn’t think their crimes were bad enough to fit the punishment of getting kicked out of Heaven for accidentally killing Lyle. Even if you use the argument that the C.H.E.R.U.B.s shouldn’t have resorted to violence, the I.M.P.s kept getting in their way and it was clear at that point that talking it out with demons who kill for a living was out of the question.
  • Chaz may have been a scummy, overly lusting con man who was totally fine in breaking up Moxxie and Millie to get rich, but some feel him being murdered at the end was a little much, especially since it has been heavily implied that he still cares for at least Moxxie deep down and the far more loathsome Crimson is allowed to walk away.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
  • With almost every new episode released, Blitzo has an ever-growing number of characters he is shipped with, including Moxxie and Millie, Stolas, Robo-Fizz, Verosika, Cletus, Striker, and the real Fizzarolli. The fact most of the potential ship-mates are characters Blitzo hates, with most of them hating him back, is something said shippers find makes it even better, especially the literal Angel/Devil Shipping involving Cletus.
  • Moxxie isn't too far behind and in fact can either surpass or is on equal terms with his boss. Looking past his canon relationship with Millie, Moxxie has also been shipped with his coworker Loona, Blitzo, Striker, Verosika, Stella, Lin, Bee, Vortex, Chaz and even Angel Dust. In fact he's even been subjected to getting outright harems on occasion.
  • In terms of villains, Striker has a decent amount of ships to his name, being shipped with Blitzo, Moxxie, Fizzarolli, Verosika, Stella, Chaz and Vortex.
• LGBT Fanbase: Being a spin-off of Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss largely shares the same fanbase and has a lot of content along the same veins (Blitzo is pansexual and voiced by openly gay Brandon Rogers, Moxxie is bisexual and his sister-in-law is a trans woman who is in turn voiced by trans woman Morgana Ignis, Stolas is implied to be demisexual with a single-target attraction towards Blitzo and most of Verosika Mayday's entire entourage are Succubi and Incubi with all of the tropes that imply, just to name a few examples).
• Love to Hate:
  • Verosika Mayday and her posse are crass, uppity bullies who step on Blitzo and I.M.P, but they're fun, sexy, and charismatic. Verosika's aphrodisiacal music number is especially alluring.
  • Crimson is by far one of the most (if not the most) hated characters on the show for the abuse he heaped on Moxxie, his terrifyingly sinister and realistic nature, as well as his vileness and ruthlessness, yet these traits make him an entertaining and interesting villain for fans to root against and dearly wish that he gets his comeuppance.
  • Mammon is a greedy, abusive Corrupt Corporate Executive who exploits Fizzarolli for his own ends, but his vulgar and jolly demeanor makes him quite entertaining to watch, as does his total lack of scruples.
• Misaimed Fandom:
  • Some fans see Stella as wholly in the right being angry at Stolas for cheating on her. This overlooks that their daughter was so used to their fighting by the time Stella brings up his infidelity that she was treating him so long before he did anything to so provoke it, that she, unlike Stolas, never shows their daughter any affection on-screen, and that this was going on to some degree even before their marriage started falling about.^note This was hinted at in the Cold Open of "Loo-Loo Land" where not only is Stella hogging the blanket, when Octavia starts crying from her nightmare, she stays in bed and tells Stolas to deal with it. It's also implied their marriage was arranged or for gain and that she's less upset about his infidelity than it being with an imp and how it would hurt their reputation. ”The Harvest Moon Festival” revealing that she hired a hitman to kill him, not caring how much this will emotionally scar her daughter makes clear it's Disproportionate Retribution at best if not outright proof Stella never genuinely loved them. “The Circus” drives the point home further by making it clear (to the point of Anvilicious for some) that Stella was always a horrible person and never loved Stolas, and that she was abusive towards him long before he began his affair with Blitzo, which many of her defenders insisted was a retcon in spite the aforementioned hints.
  • Another misaimed demographic are atheists. Due to the portrayal of many theological elements and beliefs in a very wacky and cartoony format, many viewers jump to the conclusion that the show whole-heartedly agrees with their anti-religious stance. Nevermind the fact that critiquing religion in of itself is hardly a theme here, with the show devoting much more focus to plenty of other aspects, like the actual characters and even drama.
• Moe
  • Millie. Murderous tendencies aside, she is absolutely adorable and is an unfailingly loving and supporting wife to Moxxie.
  • From "Loo Loo Land", young Octavia looks utterly adorable and it's clear why Stolas went the extra mile to make sure she was happy.
  • Even before their official debut, the C.H.E.R.U.B trio (made up of the putto-like Cletus alongside Sweet Sheep Collin and Keenie) brought major love for how absolutely cute and precious they were shown to be in various livestreams. Once they made a proper appearance, the cuteness and lovability increased, since even though they were revealed to be Holier Than Thou Punch Clock Heroes, the fact they're doing it out of a desire for recognition makes them very huggable. It's especially present for Collin, who not only is the nicest member of group, but is also the designated Butt-Monkey, getting tormented and abused by even his own teammates. That huggability was amplified immensely following the end of the episode, as all of them become Jerkass Woobies by having their efforts be rewarded with getting banned from Heaven for something that wasn't directly their fault.
  • The child versions of Blitzo, Stolas and Fizzarolli from "The Circus" are all positively precious.
  • While Moxxie himself currently isn't exactly a slouch in this department (just look at how many is he shipped with), "Exes and Oohs" reveal what he was like as a child. A downright adorable little scamp.
• No Yay:
  • Many HB fans are extremely rabid over the idea that some people ship Stolas with Octavia. Whoever is behind Stolas's Instagram was especially uncomfortable.
  • Striker/Moxxie is also this. Despite them having Foe Yay Shipping potential, it is ultimately destroyed by the scene of Striker suffocating Moxxie having a bit too much Does This Remind You of Anything? for fans' liking.
  • Some people feel this way about shipping Moxxie and Millie with anyone but each other.
  • "Exes and Oohs" heavily implies that Moxxie sees Blitzo as something of a surrogate father figure, making Blitzo's lust for him and Millie much more of a hard pass for several fans.
  • "Western Energy" seemingly has a more disgusting take on this trope, since Stella's brother Andrealphus appears to be hitting on his own sister, such as calling her "lucky she's attractive" after she shows how much of an idiot she is, calling her "my sexy vixen" and, stroking her face and calling her "my dear". Even Stella has a in-universe reaction to her brother's disgusting display of incestuous interest in her!
• One True Pairing: While the shipping wars can get a little intense sometimes, you'd be hard-pressed to find a fan that doesn't ship Moxxie and Millie due to many finding their happy and wholesome marriage to be very sweet and heartwarming.
• One True Threesome:
  • While Moxxie and Millie are already an Official Couple that fans adore seeing express their love, there are a decent number of fans that like adding Blitzo to the mix, as not only does Blitzo express both familial and sexual interest in the duo (he outright shows in "Loo Loo Land" that he wants to have a three-way with them), the trio often act like a group of dysfunctional but caring parents towards Loona, who Blitzo is already the adoptive father of.
  • Some Blitzo/Stolas shippers threw Verosika into the mix after "Spring Broken", noting that she and Blitzo may not be completely over each other and that Verosika, being a succubus, may not care about Blitzo sleeping with other people. Meanwhile, even though Stolas and Verosika have yet to interact onscreen at the time of this writing, the subtle but unmistakable parallels between them have led a lot of these shippers to assume they'd get along like a house on fire. Not to mention the logic and appeal inherent in shipping two of the biggest perverts on the show with a succubus...
  • Not long after their debut, plenty of fans who like C.H.E.R.U.B took to shipping all members of the trio together, since whenever they show their true colors, their conflicting interactions provide prime Belligerent Sexual Tension bait. There are a few that go the Fan-Preferred Couple route with Keenie and Collin since her frequent aggression towards him makes for a good Tsundere dynamic, along with them both being sheep-angels, but Cletus acts as a good mediator for the two, along with how the show effectively dares the fanbase to ship them by having Blitzo call him a sheep-fucker.
  • Back to Moxxie and Millie. After Chaz was introduced in "Exes and Oohs," with the revelation that he had previously dated both Moxxie and Millie at separate points in his life, the trio became a popular threesome among the fans; especially since the episode implies that Chaz, in spite of all his Jerkassery, does genuinely care for Moxxie on some level.
  • After "Queen Bee" released and introduced Bee-lzebub, Vortex's girlfriend, many fans were quick to jump on the idea of adding Loona to their relationship as Bee is shown to be just as supportive of Loona as her boyfriend and seems fairly receptive to Loona calling her hot. The fact Bee repeatedly calls Loona cute certainly doesn't hurt either.
• Paranoia Fuel: The concept of people in Hell being able to put hits out on still living people is terrifying.
• Popular with Furries: It's a Vivziepop creation, so animalistic characters with interesting designs and personalities that draw in furry-lovers is par for the course:
  • Most prominent is Loona, the Hellhound receptionist, who is incredibly popular due to having one of the curviest and most exposing designs of the cast, with her surly and aggressive personality making for some entertaining interactions. The first episode proper made her even more popular, as while still surly, it also gives her some nicer qualities that show she does care about her colleagues. This gets lampshaded in “Spring Broken” when Blitzo tells her about "how many freaks up there" drool over her before he and the other IMP employees glare at the camera. To get an idea about how popular she is, Loona has more fanart than the rest of the entire cast combined.
  • Stolas is a close second to Loona, being introduced as an Ominous Owl with Depraved Homosexual tendencies in the pilot episode, whose sensual attitude really packs on the sex appeal. His proper appearances in the first two episodes brought him even more fans, as the first kept his sexual aggressiveness while toning down the "depraved" part of Depraved Homosexual, and the second expanded on his character besides his connections to Blitzo, such as his difficulties keeping his marriage together and love for his daughter.
  • Octavia, Stolas' aforementioned daughter introduced in “Loo Loo Land”, also has a budding fanbase, as she's an Ominous Owl like her father, only she carries a few traits from Loona in her moodiness. The fact that she's a Deadpan Snarker who's Sour Outside, Sad Inside, which belies how she still cares about her father, and is terrified of him leaving her, provides a lot of engaging and endearing aspects to her.
  • Loona's Day in the Limelight in “Spring Broken” fittingly enough introduced another Hellhound in Vortex, Tex for short. Along with how he's a major hunk of a wolf, appealing to muscular furry lovers, he's also a rare case of a genuinely nice and mostly good demon. The fact he genuinely treats Loona well and has interest in being friends with her provides major fuel for furry shippers, regardless of the fact that he already has a canon girlfriend.
  • Happened yet again with the introduction of the cherubs in “C.H.E.R.U.B”. Leaving out the putto-like Cletus, all of the other cherubs are chibi-esque furry versions of various animals, which greatly appeals to furry-lovers that prefer cuter designs. The voiced characters Collin, Keenie, and Deerie especially got their attention, as the major nice-and-mean contrast and interactions between Collin and Keenie provide excellent Belligerent Sexual Tension fuel for shippers, while Deerie's Sugary Malice Jerkass attitude brought about a sense of sex appeal similar to pilot-Loona.
• Portmanteau Couple Name:
  • Blitzo/Stolas is referred to as Stolitz.
  • Blitzo/Striker is BlitzStrike.
  • Fizzarolli/Asmodeus is Fizzmodeus.
  • Blitzo/Verosika Mayday is referred to as both Blitzday and Blitzika.
• Realism-Induced Horror: While the show is filled with gore, murder, and demonic supernatural imagery, for many, its most terrifying moments are scenes that have very little gore at all, such as Stella’s scarily realistic abuse of Stolas and everything about Moxxie’s childhood.
• Recurring Fanon Character:
  • Ackerhells' Francesco, a parrot demon and boyfriend/future husband to Octavia. The fandom latched onto him for being an unproblematic love interest for her (the lone teenager in a cast of adults) and for being a genuinely nice guy. His popularity only grew as Acker's later art would start fleshing out his own family and their relationship with the Goetias, to the point of being seen as secondary canon by some fans.
  • DaniDraws' Natasha, a large hellhound and the girlfriend to Loona. Seemingly over night, the tall, well-endowed, Russian hellhound became a fan-favorite, as did her pairing with Loona; due to her design, her incredibly kind personality and immensely cute relationship with Loona, even causing other artists to draw fanart of her and the pairing.
• Ron the Death Eater:
  • Verosika is usually lumped with people like Stella and Striker by fans as people who would attempt to kill I.M.P or Stolas, yet canon has never shown her to have any real murderous desires towards even Blitzo (a Freeze-Frame Bonus in "Spring Broken" even has her show brief concern towards Blitzo when he falls out of the van) and, when push comes to shove, she's shown to have no real quarrel with Moxxie, Millie, Stolas or Loona.
  • Stolas gets this treatment time to time, some doing so out of dislike for Stolas' toxic behavior towards Blitzo and other imps and that fact that he is an adulterer, while others do so out of disdain for his characterization in season 2. The results usually have Stolas' negative qualities turned up to eleven, with some alternate universes going as far to make him as abusive as canon Stella.

S-W

• Self-Fanservice:
  • While she's still cute in the actual show, some fanartists like to draw Millie as extra bustier and curvier than in canon. Loona and Octavia get this treatment as well.
  • Mammon became the subject of this, both when his design was teased and again when he made his debut in the show. Ironically, despite Word of God stating that the intent behind his weight was to make him seem more disgusting and debauched, even the fans with the strongest dislike of him have a habit of portraying him as a Big Beautiful Man in fanworks. In addition, the fuzzy nature of larger spiders is usually incorporated by giving him fur, often with a darker patterned area invoking a Carpet of Virility.
• Spoiled by the Format: Overlapping with Screwed by the Lawyers, as despite Helluva Boss being in a shared universe with Hazbin Hotel, it being an independently-funded web cartoon, as opposed to being a television series produced by A24, means that some plot points — such as Striker's desire to kill Overlords^note A caste of Sinner demons stronger than normal Sinners and slightly below the influence and status of the Ars Goetia family and the plagiarism feud between Lucifer and Mammon — will never be addressed or fleshed out due to legal issues preventing characters in one show appearing in the other. It also means that the show will either have to delicately tiptoe around Hazbin-related topics if it ever brings its characters to Pentagram City, or deliberately avoid going there at all.
• Squick:
  • Stolas dirty-talks to and about Blitzo in front of his own underage daughter.
  • Asmodeus' Intercourse with You song contains the line "Pretend you don't see that crust".
  • Mammon mentions wanting to make a sex doll of the winner of a contest which is open for children to enter.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "Mustang Dong" and its lyrics bear a resemblance towards "You Give Love a Bad Name". Fitting too, considering the history of Blitzo and Verosika.
• Tainted by the Preview: The announcement that Episode 8 was being skipped over and repackaged as a special due to legal issues in favor of Season 2 soured some fans, since it was supposed to be the second part of the season finale. While most were reassured that all the important information was delivered in the first part and won't be left confused, the fact that Episode 8 was written more as a bonus episode and visual spectacle rather than a narrative follow-up still rubbed others the wrong way despite this. Not helped is the lack of clarity about Episode 8 being a special rather than a proper episode.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Some disliked that Stolas and Millie's received new voices after the pilot episode. Especially in the case of Millie, due to Vivienne Medrano's reasoning for that change being purely that she dislikes when actors voice multiple characters.
  • Fans of the original version of "Just Look My Way" disliked several lyric changes in the official version. Most notably is the change of "Is this how she'd feel? Abandoned, all alone, and left to fend for herself?" to "Is this what you feel? Scorned by a realm that cannot comprehend. What you are, so I'll grant you this mercy this bind- on our souls needs to end"; modifying the context from being about Octavia to Blitzo. Said fans thought the original lyrics pointed out Stolas' flaws and the damage he caused to his daughter's well-being and that by removing that, it loses plenty of nuance.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • A common complaint with the series is the treatment of its female characters, especially the two female leads (Millie and Loona), who are often overshadowed by the male leads (Blitzo, Moxxie and Stolas) and receive little focus and development, in comparison, despite being part of the main cast.
    • Loona. Despite being as prominent as the rest of I.M.P in the pilot and taking up a good portion of the series poster, only three episodes ("Spring Broken", "Truth Seekers", and "Queen Bee") gave her extensive focus, while most of the time she contributed almost nothing to the overall story; and even then, two of the episodes still focus more on other characters (Blitzo's rivalry with Verosika and Blitzo and Moxxie's capture, respectively). Made even worse is as of "MAMMON'S MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL MIDSEASON SPECIAL (ft. Fizzarolli)", Loona has only had a single focus episode in Season 2 ("Seeing Stars"), and is otherwise Out of Focus, not even speaking.
    • Millie. Even though she has more screentime than Loona, and just as much screentime as Moxxie and Blitzo, Millie is the least developed member of I.M.P. by a wide margin. With her only major traits being her love of Moxxie and bladed weaponry, many deem her as being more like a Satellite Love Interest as opposed to a character in her own right. Even "The Harvest Moon Festival", an episode that takes us to Millie's childhood home, ultimately revolves around Moxxie and his self-esteem issues. Vivienne Medrano and writer Adam Neylan would dismiss these criticisms of Millie in a Dear Negative Reader Twitter thread, which arguably increased this sentiment more than anything. This worsened in "Exes and Oohs", as Millie having the same ex as Moxxie is used mostly as a vehicle to make Blitzo want to sleep with him to discover how he was able to date them both rather than to explore her character. What seems like her focus episode in "Unhappy Campers" also comes across as, again, more of a Moxxie episode as he is the one who makes all the mistakes and has to learn to support her when she gets the spotlight.
    • Both Blitzo and Moxxie's mothers - focus is given to the strained relationships between Blitzo and his father and Moxxie and his own father, Crimson, but both of their mothers have not had a single speaking line. Moxxie's mother appears in a flashback, where her face isn't even shown, and Blitzo's in a photograph, but so far both of them have existed solely to be Stuffed into the Fridge and have gone unnamed in the show itself. This is especially egregious in Blitzo's case as much of his trauma is implied to be due to losing his mother in the circus fire, as he even seemingly wears her pendant as a Tragic Keepsake.
    • Stella. The show could have either explored how she was also forced into an arranged marriage and having a child she didn't want because of the pressures of noble life, or explored how she uses the perfect family image to abuse Stolas, but she exists just to torment him. She has never had an onscreen conversation with her own daughter and what family she is actually from - and why she was chosen to marry Stolas - is never explored.
    • Barbie Wire. She is Blitzo's twin sister, having been alluded to throughout the series, but despite this, she had been almost entirely absent, especially from Blitzo's flashbacks in "The Circus" and "Oops"^note She was in the flashback in "Oops" according to the leaked animatic, but was cut for an unknown reason, and Blitzo's bad trip in 'Truth Seekers' (which had both Fizzarolli and Verosika, someone he had wronged). When she did appear in "Unhappy Campers", it was for barely two minutes, with no new information other than Barbie resents Blitzo for an unknown reason (possibly the circus fire as revealed in "Oops"). It's egregious considering Fizzarolli, Blitzo's friend & crush, had appeared in all of Blitzo's flashbacks and the bad trip, as well as had two back-to-back episodes exploring him and his relationship with Blitzo & Ozzie.
  • A number of fans found Chaz's Laughably Evil personality hilarious. Additionally, his possible lingering feelings for Moxxie and his undeveloped past relationship with Millie could have been used later on for drama or further development, both for him and M&M. However, he was killed off in the same episode he was introduced, limiting any future appearances he could make to flashbacks unless the show opts to retcon his death.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Some fans were hoping that "The Harvest Moon Festival" would be a Millie episode, given that she was the least developed of the main characters so far. However, the episode instead opted to focus more on Moxxie and even Blitzo, despite the episode introducing the audience to Millie's family and her childhood home.
  • In the same vein, "EXES AND OOHS" was seen as disappointing by some for not exploring Chaz's relationship with Millie at all. Much of the episode is focused on Moxxie and Chaz's falling out and Moxxie's strained relationship with his father, but the most that the audience sees of Chaz and Millie's history is her violent actions towards him, which are never elaborated on.
  • "Truth Seekers" had a great setup for a B-plot that developed Millie and Loona as they try to get along and work together to rescue Blitzo and Moxxie from D.H.O.R.K.S. However, the episode barely gives any screentime to the girls' efforts in locating the boys, instead focusing on Moxxie and Blitzo's truth-serum induced acid trips.
  • A fair amount of people were disappointed that Verosika and Stolas didn't actually interact with each other in "OZZIE'S", since they both have heavy shipping with Blitzo and each other.
  • “OZZIE'S” showed Moxxie being outright repulsed upon learning Blitzo had been creepily spying on his and Millie’s sex life to the point he refused to come to his boss’s aid during his public humiliation. Several viewers figured this would have serious repercussions in following episodes and had potential for interesting drama in I.M.P., possibly leading to a Breaking the Fellowship storyline; however, Season 2 carries on as if nothing happened between the characters, and Moxxie has thus far shown no further angst about Blitzo’s serious violation of his privacy.
  • "OZZIE'S" also ends with Blitzo calling Stolas out for using him as a sex toy constantly. This was presented as a major falling out and led to Stolas having a My God, What Have I Done? moment. Come the next time they see one another, neither act as though the conversation even happened and several episodes later, the initial fallout is addressed in a Blink-and-You-Miss-It text exchange. Stolas has spent some of Season 2 getting Asmodean Crystals seemingly to break the full moon deal but some fans felt the lack of a change in their onscreen relationship in episodes like "Seeing Stars" was odd given what a dramatic moment it was presented as, which wasn't helped by the extended hiatus between "OZZIE'S" and "The Circus".
  • The flashbacks in Oops and The Circus shows Blitzo's childhood in the circus, but his sister (who was his twin in the pilot) is absent both times.
• Ugly Cute: "Loo Loo Land" has many imp children and infants in the background and they manage to be rather adorable despite all being literal demons.
• Unpopular Popular Character: Chaz was shown to be loathed by every major character he appeared with in his sole appearance on the show, with Moxxie and Millie naturally hating over him over how their relationships with him ended extremely poorly, Crimson finding him to be extremely annoying due to being an utter sleazeball and wasting no time in offing him the moment he realizes that Chaz played him and even Blitzo coming to hate him after his horrible experience sleeping with him as well as over what he did to Moxxie and Millie. The fans, however, loved him, both due to him being utterly hilarious as well as his implied Hidden Depths and many were saddened when he got Killed Off for Real.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Cletus is sometimes confused as either non-binary or female by some, noticeably because of his eyelashes and pink color scheme, his unisex clothes and hair, and his unisex sounding voice.
• Viewer Name Confusion:
  • Many fans spell Loona's name as Luna with a U, due to the latter being a more common spelling in real life.
  • The fact that the main character spells his name "Blitzo" but pronounces it "Blitz" is a confusing thing to wrap one's head around, especially since characters from his past still pronounce it "Blitzo". Some fans call him "Blitzo" aloud without realizing that, textually, this is Malicious Misnaming.
• Viewer Species Confusion:
  • At first, many audiences assumed Stella to be an owl demon like her husband and daughter, or a swan demon due to her white feathers and long neck. Other guesses at her species included a dove and a secretary bird. Her brother was later revealed to be a peacock demon named Andrealphus, which greatly implies her to be a peahen.
  • Bee-lzebub was assumed to be a half hellhound demon at first before Viv revealed her to be half fox instead in a Twitter thread regarding her design. Resembling a hellhound, dating one and howling like one in her debut episode contributed to the confusion.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: In "Loo Loo Land", when Stolas is singing to Octavia, he uses the book to take her to a realm with a collapsing star and the whole thing is animated vividly and fluidly. In the same episode, the animation of Robo Fizarolli’s movements and his fight with Blitzo with a fire breaking out is also absolutely stunning.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Despite the cute, cartoon look, the show is not for children, featuring a lot of graphic violence and naughty language. The pilot episode has a crudely-drawn Content Warning card at the start, possibly thrown in as a result of the then-recent changes YouTube made to be in line with COPPA, with the final series using a proper warning card at the start of each episode.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • Bryce Pinkham has received much more positive feedback in the role of Stolas after the release of Season One's the second episode, where many fans — even those who don't necessarily think his voice is the best match for Stolas — praised his song number and delivery of his emotionally charged moments with Octavia.
  • Vivian Nixon received similar credit in the third episode for toning her southern drawl down a little as Millie.
• The Woobie:
  • Collin of C.H.E.R.U.B is definitely this, since out of the three of them he was the nicest, most caring of all. While Cletus and Keenie have shown that they care more about getting the job done and getting fame and glory from the act, Collin on the other hand seemed to do this because it was the right thing to do. And despite all that, he shared Cletus' and Keenie's punishment in being banished from Heaven, apparently forever.
  • Octavia, Stolas' daughter. Her parents are stuck in a loveless, abusive marriage which clearly has affected her. Then, she has to watch as her father (who is implied to have been her favorite parent) causes the marriage to break down further by having an affair with an imp, leading to her parents' fights getting even worse to the point where she can't pretend it's not happening. And when her parents finally divorce? Their fighting leads Stolas to forget a promise he made to her as a child. By the end of "Seeing Stars", she's on the verge of breaking down as she tearfully asks Loona:
    Octavia: Why does he hate her [Stella] more than he loves me?
  • Following the release of season 2, episode 3, Moxxie became viewed as such. He was born in a mafia family with a loving mother who wanted what was best for him and an abusive father who only cared about his own interests, all while Moxxie was forced to endure his mother being killed by his dad. This reveal really got people to realize exactly why Moxxie was so hesitant to kill Martha in the first episode, as the thought of killing a mother was a form of trauma he had already went through. While he does get over it once he realizes just how horrible Martha is, he is still traumatized when her family is mercilessly killed by the police. Not only that, but his father still desires control over him, and when he can't, makes it clear he wants Moxxie dead. Poor Moxxie had been suffering since he was just a kid.
  • Fizzaroli joins the ranks after season 2 revealed more about him. He lost all of his limbs, along with both of his horns, to the circus fire and was led to believe that Blitzo, his best friend, never wanted to visit him by someone. Even in his adult life, where he's an extremely successful jester, he's highly uncomfortable with everything Mammon makes him do, with Mammon also being an extremely Bad Boss to him, and he feels so insecure in his relationship with Asmodeus that it's left in him in a state of toxic perfectionism as well as some extreme anxiety because he's left feeling like he owes Mammon something, even though the latter never gives him anything back.

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