Hazbin Hotel is a mature animated series by Vivienne Medrano. It began as an indie animation by Medrano and her company, SpindleHorse Toons, followed by Helluva Boss not long after, with both in the same universe. The franchise began as a YouTube pilot in October 2019 and garnered over ninety-four million views. Most recently, it […]
Tag: Hazbin Hotel
Things Get Better?: LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2022
In January 2022, I wrote that there was a possibility that in 2022 things would “get better” in terms of LGBTQ representation, with new fandoms developing from shows which take risks by telling diverse stories. Although 2022, in some regards, more than lived up to this possibility and went beyond, there were challenges. In the […]
An Alternative to the Studio System?: Indie Animation Forges Ahead
Indie animation is on fire as of late. This is clear from the hundreds of thousands of dollars given to Final Space creator Olan Rogers for his animated project, Godspeed, which will document the “entire process of developing, writing, boarding, animating, and even pitching” an animated series. Sara Eissa, the creator of Astur’s Rebellion, an […]
The Indie Animation Boom Continues in 2022
In August of 2021, I wrote about the boom in indie animation, consisting of almost exclusively crowdfunded animations. Earlier this month, I expanded on that and wrote about various indie animations, specifically noting Hazbin Hotel and Wild Card which are in development. As storyboarder Amber Avara put it on January 7, “2022 is the year […]
Booming LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2021
In December 2020, I wrote that there is “hope in the future for diverse storylines and expanded representation,” adding that there is “a lot to look forward to in 2021 in terms of animated series…[which] will undoubtedly affect the ongoing war between streaming platforms for more subscribers, profits for themselves, and film distribution itself.” That […]
The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! Review
In recent years, demons have graced TV screens, from Vivienne Medrano’s two interrelated web series, Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel, to Castlevania on Netflix, and are set to premiere in the upcoming series Satina and Far-Fetched. One such series brings this to the fore: a funny slice-of-life Japanese anime series named The Great Jahy Will […]
The Indie Animation Boom and Crowdfunded Animation
On August 21, Vivienne Medrano happily promoted the newest episode of Helluva Boss, calling it the “most ambitious” episode they had done so far, thanking the Spindlehorse Toons team, and adding, in part, “Indie animation has POWER! Enjoy our hardwork!” Another indie animated series, EddsWorld, praised the episode, which garnered 800,000 views in a few […]
LGBTQ representation in animated series in 2020 and beyond
In the past year, various series have premiered on broadcast television and streaming platforms with LGBTQ characters and diverse casts. While there is still progress going forward, as every single major studio had failing, poor, or insufficient ratings for LGBTQ-inclusive films in 2019, according to the recent Studio Responsibility Index released by GLAAD, there were […]