What INDIE Creatives Can Learn from HAZBIN HOTEL

#charliemorningstar #vivziepop #animation
Hazbin Hotel is a lesson in getting eyes on your creative work. Especially considering its major flaws in storytelling, Hazbin embraced what it’s audience was craving and adapted itself perfectly to related media in a way that led to easy and eager clicks.
-- More Videos --
HAZBIN HOTEL’S Mastery of Tone - • Hazbin Hotel's MASTERY...
Defining BEAUTY - • Why is TRAGEDY Beautif...
How to Write Highly Quotable Dialogue - • How to Write HIGHLY QU...
My Methodology of Analysis - • My Methodology of Anal...
Edited by Tori R. @pinkerhero
Support the channel on Patreon:
/ schnee1
Read my comic Minor Champion!
www.webtoons.com/en/challenge...
Follow me on Twitter!
/ jd_schnee
Business email:
[e-mail]
0:00 - 100m views is INSANITY
2:16 - Easy clickability
6:17 - Identity
11:16 - Quality
14:10 - Escher Staircase Method
17:45 - Taboo
19:18 - Built in stakes

[@schnee1]

next video will be about ANGEL DUST!! (i think!)

[@jacqueshardin4601]

Oh boy!

[@AngelDustMyBel0ved]

Let's gooo

[@LunAdepti]

YAYY

[@fantasygeek74]

OMG LESGOOO HE'S MY FAV CHARACTER EEEEEEE 😁

[@Pinkninja0708]

YAAAAY!

[@syncrossus]

> We don't realize that we're putting our story socks back on, so to speak This analogy had me cackling

[@betula2137]

Gotta have the story socks on before I can put the plot armour on, it's heavy but the monsters don't like to eat it

[@snake.sketches]

I do not consume media, media consumes me

[@user-df6hw4ig5o]

SCHNEE HAS WATCHED TOH?? The owl house clips were literally the best jump scares ever

[@jaydinotjd]

Bro I’d go apeshit to get a toh video-

[@pathological8231]

@@jaydinotjdhonestly

[@neurodivergentlily]

OWL HOUSE

[@theaizere]

schnee=loml

[@peristeronic5520]

I would love lov love love LOVE an toh video.

[@artis8266]

I want to reference what Vivziepop said in an interview (which I am currently unable to find) to the effect of saying people should not watch Hazbin Hotel and takeaway that they should make the "next" Hazbin Hotel, but rather if you create and animate something you are personally passionate about it's that personal passion, drive, and style that will draw people in and bring success. The best takeaway from Hazbin Hotel for creators is to express your own style and passion, and that there is potentially a large but unseen audience with interest in what you can uniquely create. Don't let the mainstream dictate what you think you should create, make it if you like it.

[@helenanilsson5666]

The fanfic phenomena! "If *I* want to read this thing, there's probably at least one other person out there who would also want to read it"

[@tinaj3279]

I think you might be talking about an Angel Dust doodle stream she did with someone voice acting Angel improv. I feel like I remember her saying something like that on one of them

[@ImAlwaysSunny]

And the thing is Hazbin Hotel sparked so many other indie creators to publish their works I believe, which created a NEW niche where people just really enjoy watching indie creations! I'm not even a hazbin fan, but I appreciate it for pushing forward indie productions.

[@ign0ranc3isbliss]

Hazbin hotel introduced me to many indie creators right here on yt, it's definitely created traction for shows like lackadaisy and digital circus

[@joannemagat6040]

You're SOOO right - so much of Hazbin Hotel is clippable. It makes it easy to share with friends because of it! A year before Hazbin Hotel's official release on amazon, another indie pilot called "Lackadaisy" was uploaded to KZbin. I was wondering why it hadn't blown up the same way (it's furry content in a 1920s aesthetic, good animation, very niche and fun). This video answered that question for me 😅

[@leezard7696]

Lackadaisy's was released a full 3 years after Hazbin's pilot and was funded for a series within a few months whereas Hazbin took a little under a year to be picked up by a studio. Lackadaisy is remaining crowdfunded and indie, Hazbin is now officially mainstream as it's on Amazon. Lackadaisy has been a long running niche webcomic aimed at adults and is way more serious, subdued, and grounded in tone/setting, whereas Hazbin is aimed at older teenagers and 20-something internet people, is less realistic, a comedy, AND a more traditional tv musical. Comparing the two is comparing apples to oranges - they're entirely different things with entirely different target audiences, tones, and settings.

[@joannemagat6040]

Yeeee. I didn't realize how diff they were until schnee's break down lol. I discovered the Lackadaisy pilot from the same creative circles Ive been lurking on from Hazbin Hotel and made an association from that. Both successful in diff ways

[@KaterynaM_UA]

@@joannemagat6040 It used to be EVERYWHERE 10-12 years ago on Deviantart, I was a huge fan but I've just recently found out that it's released officially. Close to zero hype. I haven't seen it yet so I have to wonder if the quality of the final product was not great or creators are just very bad at marketing.

[@angel_of_rust]

so Hazbin Hotel is indie Family Guy?

[@sirbobulous]

Think about a Soap Opera. There isn't really an overarching *story* being told. It's putting a bunch of varied characters into a setting and nudging that default set up to create friction and then letting the characters bounce off that friction in their own unique ways. It's exceptionally compelling even if it isn't particularly *good* in some absolute sense.

[@suriketa2740]

Hazbin Hotel understands fandom culture and speaks fandom language. It shows. Because as you said, if you aim to the fandom your audience is a whole group of people who will create art, fics and tones of content promoting you for free, just because they love it. (full of a lot of this overlapping categories too)

[@neodoesmakeup]

Two majormajor things that played into the hype was that we could see how Viv handles a fuller production with Helluva Boss. We got to see a show fully on her and her studio’s terms. The other was that Viv was as transparent as possible, and tried to keep fans updated. Which you don’t normally get with larger animation productions.

[@xardinlume7345]

You managed to make a great and educative analysis that made me reflect upon myself and the people I know, AND kinda made me want to watch that pilot that I wasn't really interested in. Thanks and great job.

[@drongobrat6471]

that segment of how hazbin hotel spread from the musical fans to the christians literally blew my mind.. cuz i watched the show for the musical/gay/furry aspect and LITERALLY DID end up recommending it to my christian friend cuz i thought he'd find it funny and HE DID, and then my whole house watched it. You literally explained my own friend group's trajectory for watching the show

[@esteemedmortal5917]

I think a big aspect was the pandemic. KZbin had recommended the pilot to me but I didn’t watch it until suddenly, there was a lot of stress, fear, significant limitations on other activities, such that me and a lot of other people were craving entertainment. I think having something there that gave a much needed respite meant a lot of us bonded to it more than we might otherwise had. Also, Helluva Boss kept the momentum up by giving people a show in the same universe, which underwrote the promise of HH until it was ready to launch.

[@pumpkin2986]

It’s very interesting, because the break neck pacing is a common criticism of the pilot and show in general, but this video highlights that it’s one of the reasons the pilot even got to 100 mil.

[@helenanilsson5666]

It's actually a very interesting thing about writing (and probably also other art forms in general) - your first impression vs your over-analyzed impression. The impression you have when you go into something blind and experience it for the first time (especially if you do so without the "finding flaws" mindset) is completely different from the impression you'll have of something you've studied on a granular level. This usually comes up in writing advice as "remember that the reader won't see your text the way you do", but it clearly also applies to how people have looked at the Hazbin pilot. When looking at reaction videos, people who went in blind 4 years ago generally seem to be entertained and having a good time with everything happening so fast. Now that the series has gained even more hype and more serious critics do reaction videos of the pilot they have an easier time finding the flaws because they are used to seriously analyzing things like narrative and pacing.

[@OneNvrKnoz]

Wait, all this hype was from a single 30 or so minute episode?!? That’s nuts. Your analysis was almost as long! You’ve got me sufficiently curious

[@dansei3355]

Up until January of this year..yes.

[@grey8288]

Not just that - its from a pilot episode released in 2019. The pilot popped off. I will say that Helluva Boss contributed to retaining fans as well as drawing in new fans, though. HB is the sister series, also set in hell but focused on the hellborn and expanding on the world lore. It's free on KZbin and has gotten big enough to have guests as big as Kesha. So while we waited forever for Hazbin Hotel, we have been scratching the itch with Helluva Boss and many people found HB first and then found the Hazbin pilot from there.

[@KaterynaM_UA]

no, she was posting stuff for over a decade...

[@jolinewitsen3925]

The thing about Hazbin Hotel (and Helluva Boss) is that it's first and foremost a satirical comedy that just so happens to be set in Hell. It's not really meant to be all about the great plot to save Hell, it's got space to focus on jokes and character moments and fun songs. It's not a fantastical fantasy story about underdog rebels overthrowing a powerful regime with the power of friendship and magical abilities, it's a comedy that takes that approximate situation and kind of good-naturedly takes the piss at it. Just like most comedy shows, the grand purpose is to have fun with the premise and explore character dynamics, more than having watertight worldbuilding or perfectly arranged grand plots. Idk if all that makes sense, but I'm saying it's not just knowing their audience, it's taking the aesthetic/typical events of one genre and using it as the background to another. In that sense it reminds me a lot of Star Trek: Lower Decks and The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, which take sci-fi aesthetics and worldbuilding into a comedy genre

[@lunasroom4931]

its early and im recovering from a flare up so my brains not entirely catching up BUT i at least get the idea of how hazbin got so popular. ive been here since before the pilot and im so proud of viv and her team like holy shit if they can do it plenty more of us can right?!

[@daright1157]

I was thinking the same!!!

[@anarchclown]

All I was thinking when I, as a 47 year old man that has spent my entire life hanging out with weirdoes, saw Hazbin Hotel was... Oh... This is modern animated Rocky Horror Picture Show. Which by the way has had a fandom for close to 50 years without making any sense whatsoever... So just lets do the timewarp again I guess. :)

[@andrealabor3225]

I hadn't made that connection, but you hit the nail on the head. ... Now I really need Tim Curry to do a cameo, if it doesn't muck with his retirement.

[@n2nurulnadia]

Never was I a fan of musicals but since the carefully-crafted musicals effectively deliver the story-telling & drives the plot, they eventually grew on me. Personally I never realized any flaw of Hazbin Hotel because the characters' personalities already caught my heart. They are characters that are believable to exist in real life. There's believable & solid conflict to exist. There's good in bad and bad in good (the ying & yang concept) which what I noticed Vivziepop used for her characters' development which is super cool. Note to me: You can make an element (musicals) to add more values to another element (storytelling), as compared to making the sole element (musicals) be good on its own.

[@grey8288]

It also helps that the show has songs, but songs only take up ~ half the episode. A LOT of the show is still talking and it isn't entirely singing. This gives Disney vibes, and there's a reason it works. People who aren't a fan of musicals often still enjoy a show or movie that has a few songs in it.

[@pizza134]

When I watched the pilot the first time it legit felt like the universe was giving me something that was made specifically for me. Fot a while ive been searching for any shows or comics set in hell and never found anything good and then hazbin hotel came along and gave me that + great characters, songs, style, world, aesthetic, humor etc. The characters have personalities that it almost feels like i wrote them. The thumbnail already made me wanna click it but when i found out it was a musical just made me 3x more hyped to watch the episode, the artstyle is great, cartoony and cute. The world has so much potential and it looks so expansive and the aesthetic just literally seems like it was made for me, and the humorrrrr, like everything was so perfect its crazy. The only thing that felt off was the structure of how the story was told, its hard to explain but yeah, and then the show was way too fast paced, i wish the show had more time to breath and had a bit more structure and all that (still dont know how to explain what i mean but yeah) but i still love the show, not for the plot but for literally everything else

[@CrypticSpoon1]

This is a excellent and very insightful analysis that i havent seen anyone else talk about as of yet, very good

[@Haxpax]

I'm an older millennial. I grew up reading and writing fanfic. Vivzie's only about ten years younger than me. Our generation baked in weird fanfic. I love Red vs. Blue, RWBY, and Steven Universe because they feel fanficcy. They hit that sweet spot for me.

[@A_sad_vegetable]

Honestly I was getting so annoyed at all the criticisms people had for this show. Not because their points are unfounded or that I don’t agree with them, but because it just feels like everybody is taking it so personally as if watching the show physically hurt them. Meanwhile I was too busy enjoying myself to even notice a lot of the flaws in the first watch through. I tend to lean more towards slice of life shows so the loose plot didn’t bother me, but it’s clear that’s something other people value a lot more than I do. Once again it’s all just a matter of priorities ig

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

Ah yes the "viziepop literally ran over my dog with a gay steamroller" type of criticism

[@magnadramon0068]

Too be honest I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with the show. There is nothing wrong with a show being more character focused than plot focused. The Simpsons isn't a plot driven show yet you don't see people screeching about how bad it is.

[@OakenTome]

@@magnadramon0068People have been dunking on The Simpsons for years (decades, at this point?).

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

@@magnadramon0068 the Simpson left the cultural zeitgeist

[@spookyscarygraviton5944]

It's a decent first watch, but it doesn't really hold up on a rewatch. The flaws become quite obvious, especially in exposition. At least the songs are good enough to join my playlist.

[@unrealvoidgod4866]

This week has been blessed by schnee upload

[@jacqueshardin4601]

I love the word grimsical and that it is now part of my vocabulary. Thank you, Schnee!

[@nint357]

Schnee knows of Castle Swimmer and it's not weird that he does I guess but it's like my perception of reality collapsed in on itself but in a good way Edit: He knows Coley too... Reality is curling into itself

[@schnee1]

confession: those were both my editor's ideas (but she explained the references and it made sense to me!)

[@user-il7ot1rn5b]

2:24 CASTLE SWIMMER REP!!!

[@fuzya8636]

Legit imagine how awesome a castle swimmer animated series would be, I'd pay a kidney to see that lol

[@calvinjessen6960]

@@fuzya8636 the voice acting is what would make or break it

[@me-hv5pd]

you using toh to explain made my smile so big also me knowing every youtuber you showed made you just prove your point to me

[@criminal_real]

You showing coly for 'has been in every fandom' was such a jumpscare

[@sofig1237]

The minute you used Owl House clips I got excited. If you start doing videos on that, I will be so happy.

[@simplyepic3258]

When you were talking about how all 3 strengths can alternate blowing the audience's socks off it made me realize why I love the Arcane finale so much. In the final moments all 3 strengths (story, music, and animation) climax all at the same time. Having it all line up really works for a finale since it just leaves the audience with a sense of awe and there's no need to immediately 1-up it since the season is then over.

[@JoULove]

I'm enjoying the level of meta with schnee talking about pieces of media getting free advertising from content creators 😂

[@atesemireltutar6661]

A lesser youtuber would name this video "Hazbin Hotel SUCKS, But Here's Why It's Popular" but this guy very effectively criticized a viral sensation without being offensive. Hats of to you.

[@dersps5905]

Me, a gay loving person, about to gayly consume more gay media. Also oh my god Castle Swimmer, that webcomic is so good (and gay)

[@user-bf9kf9ln9t]

Its a good day when schnee posts Edit: Has schneee watched the owl house?!?!?? (O-O)

[@whouni]

Yes I want his opinion on the owl house so bad

[@komem_]

Schnee + Owl House would be 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@user-bf9kf9ln9t]

@@komem_ Words cannot describe how happy I would be to see that

[@komem_]

@@user-bf9kf9ln9t yes. just yes

[@Gibberissshhh]

This video is actually so good and so well written and it went inside my head?? There were such accurate things like the people whose consumption of media is more about their identity and self expression than the media itself?? Are you in my walls?

[@bunnysun.flower]

this whole video just reminded me how last year when the fnaf movie came out there was A LOT of critcts to it but it was still a HUGE success because of it's audience, me and my friends used to wonder who in the world would be able to use that same strategy to create GOOD media... guess Vivzipop is the first on that list 🌈

[@chiakinanami965]

At this point good writing is subjective, cuz like something can be so well written yet people would not even care to watch it, while hazbin isnt perfect yet I love it so much, call it bad writing but to me its genius

[@crediblesalamander8056]

The writing doesn't have to be great or even good, it just has to be competent enough to not distract you from the other elements this shows absolutely nails. For some reason, plot gets placed on this pedestal as the most important thing in a piece of media, but I don't think it is. If it's actively bad, it ruins the entire experience of course, but that's not any different from having shitty music, or shitty acting or shitty animation etc. I've only seen the pilot, but this is how I think about media in general.

[@at7072]

@@crediblesalamander8056it’s because for a marketing like situation it pretty much did everything it needed to do, it had no need for a good plot just a decent one, but even then I personally place plot over those things the show because had so much potential to do so much and a great story would have practically made everyone happy since it removes the complaints to be made

[@angel_of_rust]

@@crediblesalamander8056 so just because shitty media exists this show's writing doesn't need to be better? this is just "just consume product" but unironically. you underestimate how much people want good writing. Spongebob I think is an infamous case of what happens when you just let the writing hit the shitter. Nobody can point anything good about post-movie Spongebob. But people will recognize the gross-out humor, Squidward torture, infantilization and flanderization from that. Recent seasons have "better animation" but they almost come off as compensation for mediocre writing. Meanwhile Seasons 1-3 are highly regarded as the peak of animated television with writing that entertains audiences of all ages. It's why those 3 seasons always gets used for meme templates. Hardly any season past those become memes outside of the Sponegbob Chicken template, despite how hard modern Spongebob tries to be memeable. besides, as much as popular media isn't always good, good media isn't always popular either. but that's not really an excuse to have shitty writing when it could be good instead. you cannot substitute good writing, it's what gives the animation and other aspects of a show their purpose.

[@kappatrappa]

I think it's actually underestimating to say that Vivzie's prior work didn't have a major influence on the attention Hazbin Hotel got. Vivziepop was and still is a huge cornerstone of the animator's internet, and by extension the artist's internet. Her now privatized animation, Die Young, had around 74 million views by time it became inaccessible mid 2023. She had built an audience over more than a decade, not just for Hazbin, she was well known and recognized by 2015. Even most of the drama she is known for happened prior to the pilot. Of course, the animated releases of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss blasted her into space, but to say she wasn't already in the rocket by the time of Hazbin Hotel's pilot is heavily watering down her presence on the internet and the following she had. Without her early internet presence I do not believe it would have been half as popular as quickly as it was.

[@thumbaumrrr]

To be fair, i had never heard of her

[@mrstarfish]

@@thumbaumrrr I think it’s due to her recognition being in niche fandoms, which then helped gain the first early views of her show, as the people in the fandoms seen it first, then spread it to their other friends and their niche fandoms, which made KZbin start recommending it.

[@diss8702]

agreed with all of this, and here to ADD that the show creators got first-hand experience on what to do with Hazbin's sister show, Helluva Boss, which is actively airing on youtube with a new episode every few months or so. Majority of Helluva Boss fans came originally from Hazbin, as its pilot was released afterwards. It's a show set in the same universe, following hell-born demons instead of Hazbin Hotel's sinner (mortal souls in hell) cast. There's an overarching plot, romance, silly and dirty jokes, snarky, quotable characters, etc. I'm CERTAIN that the years-long fandom accumulation to Helluva Boss gave Vivziepop a frame of reference on how people would react to Hazbin Hotel, what to hammer in (good music, touching moments between characters, etc) and what to leave out (lack of care for a character's development when the episode isn't focused on them, "filler" episodes (tho that one is probably because of Amazon only giving them 8 to work with), etc)

[@kaylasolomon9578]

as someone who Does Not Like this show, this video was actually very helpful in teaching me how it got so popular so,,, thank you

[@octoberdoodles4196]

I am absolutely someone who sees media as a part of my identity. It’s exactly how I found this channel. I have several google docs FULL of notes taken while watching your breakdowns of Arcane because of how amazing that show is, and how I want to do everything I can to make my stories a fraction as good. Plus, you break it all down REALLY well! It would be my dream to have you do a video about my story…..lol

[@mahoganytree5491]

Wow, this was a really fascinating, insightful, and well made video. Thanks for making it.

[@zanettilla]

Idk, I dont care how many people whatch/love/engage with a show, I won't fold to the audience. While your analysis was great, I can't take much out of it because my way of enjoying art is with the piece itself, and I want to make good art, not engagable, sell-able, fandom-able art. If I die poor or If I never get to make a big project with nice funding well, that's a shame, but I will not let the audience change my art edit: I know there are different ways of axoeriencing art. it's just that this one is not for me

[@sleet3732]

The Amazing Digital Circus is another animated show made by an indie studio and a part of me wonders if this is the future for animation, like are we going to be seeing more animated plots uploaded to KZbin in hopes it to go viral creating a fanbase before season 1 is even greenlit.

[@angel_of_rust]

it's certainly a fundamentally different way of making a show. Spongebob and Jimmy Neutron pilots were only shown to executives, now modern pilots can ask the world if they're worth being series.

[@missing_names8001]

I found Hazbin Hotel one day in 2020 while playing roblox. I was using youtube as background music, and I kept seeing it pop up, thinking it was a song, and ended up playing it just to see. Part way through "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," I realized, this is a show, so I watched it the rest of the way. I showed my friends the next time I saw them and we all got hooked 😂 . Best thing that ever happened to me in 2020 to be honest.

[@dado8467]

My biggest dream is to have a personal Schnee to analyze thoughtfully every one of my favorites pieces of media

[@challengingarmadillo8472]

I’ve actually heard the term “power creep” used in terms of shonen anime, since the typical format is that this character goes on an adventure to become more powerful and face an impossible task. The characters need to grow more powerful, as do their adversaries, but it can’t just purely come from nowhere, and stakes still must be present to keep engagement and excitement for the future stories that the shonen will tell.

[@theaterkidstew]

this analysis of hazbins success was really helpful for me, i watched literally all the shows you put up as examples of “related audience” and these are the types of shows that i love to watch, this pretty much explained the science behind it and i love it! this will help me when i feel like creating stories of my own related to this sort of “weird queer kid who most likely has one or more niche interests and is an absolute geek over things they like” audience 😁😁😁😁

[@mrbushido56]

A important note you left out. The success of helluva boss. The show is a big hit on the internet and gathered a following which got people interested in watching the other project they have which is hazbin

[@robross5687]

You make really great content man :) , love your analytical style videos, they're a breath of fresh air from other large channels that make videos calling it 'analysis' when it's simply just exposition dump and barely anything else (Pyrocynical for example). Had a possible suggestion for a future video too: the show Invincible is packed with deep writing and developed characters and it might be a show you enjoy making a video about

[@A350flyernyc]

Really good analysis. Frankly, between this video and the last one, you do a good job explaining why this show has resonated with so many people. I personally love the show, but will admit it has flaws (though generally its still a good show and I don't think its nearly as bad as some people say). But thats the thing: You don't need to think a piece of media is one of *the best* for it to be one of *your favorites.* The ironic thing I have to laugh at is that even though I enjoy the show a lot, I don't think I'm anywhere near the target audience for this show. Of all the personalities you mentioned, I only really related to "religious Christian" (at least compared to my generation, but definitely not a zealot), and "neurodivergent" (though its manifested in me in a way that wouldn't make shows like this my cup of tea). In fact, many other shows that appeal to the Hazbin audience, I just haven't been able to get in to. And yet, I still love the show. While I'm sort of a crypto-fan of it, I've been a devout fan for years and really has grown to be one of the pieces of media I cherish the most, and I would probably be more of an outward fan if more people in my circles were as into it as I was. But watching this video really made me wonder why this show has become so important to me. It's not for me yet I still see myself in it, and its not just one of my favorite *shows*, but one of my favorite *things*. Idk if anyone is going to read this. I just felt I had to pen these thoughts, because this video made me think a lot about myself. Good job!

[@Lucifer_Abysseum]

Those things, knowing how the audience works, how identities work, analysing how something could become succesful, and tbh, analysing in general, are some things i am very very bad at and that's why i looooove your videos, they are amazing. Thank you for sharing you throughts and analysis.

[@mrstarfish]

Love this breakdown, I myself love Hazbin for its diverse characters and personalities, being a fanfic gremlin, I love stories of characters talking and dealing with each others problems. So when a show has characters whose designs and personalities I like, I’m jumping straight into the fic fandom

[@Ms_Ria]

What genuinely baffles me is how hazbin hotel is so much more popular than it's sister show Helluva Boss way before we even had the first season of Hazbin. Like, how tf does this pilot have so much fan engagement and art and cosplayers and fanfictions when Helluva Boss already had it's first season AND half of the 2nd season out on KZbin for free as well??? We're comparing just the hazbin hotel pilot and a few webcomics, to a fully fleshed out show with better quality and character depth at this point.

[@vywern4754]

So great to see my fav video essayist to touch on this show :)

[@essence1987]

omg GRUFF! it’s amazing to see one of the best creators on your vids schnee :)

[@SailorStudent]

Yas!👏🏼 More Hazbin videos!😍❤️

[@tabsi2436]

As a person who is a Fan of disney, musical, 90s Animation, Gay love, etc. This Show felt like it was made for me.

[@clairecandycake4094]

One more thing about that comment on activation cost- the Hazbin Hotel pilot starts with a song, and this song is the only one in the episode that is a cover. It’s the Judy Garland song, “I’m always chasing rainbows”. Even if you had no prior knowledge of this show and accidentally clicked it, you’re already going to be interested because it’s starting with something known, and not even just known, something that is apparent and carries a lot a respect and admiration. Whether or not it was on purpose, I’ll say when I watched the show for the first time I immediately was like, “wait a minute, is that the Judy Garland song?” Im feeling like, “why haven’t I watched this?” like you said. Amazing video!

[@reidchikezie1161]

Your videos are always refreshing and enlightening, thank you bro

[@jahkra9259]

This is absolutely fantastic analysis and advice, thank you!

[@queendsheena1]

This was an excellent video. Thanks for such an informative discussion.

[@marieseaman7855]

To be fair I think a lot of the issue with the story telling is that they were only given 8 episodes to tell the story for season 1. Had they been given a more reasonable amount of episodes I think we would have had better pacing and development

[@calvineagar1863]

Now I must use this analyzation on the amazing digital circus but 3 times as much!

[@andrealundgaard1838]

ANOTHER Schnee Video about Hazbin!?!? Is it my birthday already!? Love your takes and you analysis and how you somehow manage to hit it dead on the nail. ‘It’ being that thing that we want to be able to express and to analyze, but we haven’t quite connected enough dots or found the right words or “out-of-the-box-or-outside-of-the-classic-and-conventional-explanations” thoughts that you are so good at finding and articulating and make easily consumable. And like you said, most gushing about HH is just like 15:58 (and it is lovely) but so to ALSO see a deep dive that actually goes behind the inworld scenes and explains why we feel the way the show makes us feel, WHY it affects us and makes us want to keep gushing. Absolutely amazing! Love the work you do, love it every time I see you post something new, thank you for putting all this work into these amazing thoughts and sharing them with us!

[@Annilus-jg9wp]

Great vid man, thanks. I could really use this. Have a good day.

[@rosalindgatto9630]

I substitute teach in middle school and I can see the taboo in action with some of the artistic alt kids. I'll see the fanart they made, ask them slightly aghast what business they have watching that show as a 12 year old, and then compliment their drawing of Alister.

[@LinkEX]

Amazing analysis! I especially love how you integrated Escher's Staircase Method into it. Not only did you explain it really well. But applying it to this different medium is such a great idea! I never quite thought of it as a kind of diversification, like a good investment, but it becomes more obvious in this context.

[@DashXero]

I have a strange question: Is it at all possible to know your audience without feeling that you know your audience at all? I ask because recently, something I've been working on for a long time was shown to a group of people, and one of the first things one of those people uttered was "this guy knows his audience." I really don't feel like I do. I can't point to any conscious decision I made about the project where I considered anyone but myself and what I wanted for the project.

[@beardlessdragon]

then it's possible your audience is just people like you who liked it for the same reason you were interested in making it in the first place!

[@brushingmachine8238]

I swear I've been watching a lot of your videos ever since arcane and I've never watched arcane, still haven't lol. I'm so happy you're covering up about hazbin hotel, since it's the only thing i watch in yt rn. Thank you for your great analysis, keep up the awesome work :)).

[@user-zy8nw2lc9r]

About audience - it shouldn't be just pandering to the intended audience, like big studios often do, it needs to say "You and me - we are one blood, we speak the same language". It's even illustrated in the Hazbin Hotel show itself in one of the last episodes - canniballs refuse to follow Charlie until she spoke with them like the theater and musical nerd she is(and they are). (off topic, but I just wanna note: hazbin also appeals to me on the meta level as a story about screenwriter pitching her ideas to the higher ups and, as a writer myself, I find it amusing. did anybody else noticed it tho?)

[@marlowepup9863]

I love the Hazbin Hotel story, personally (though of course the characters and art and songs are gold as well)

[@Janky03]

I wonder if Schnee has seen the lackadaisy pilot. Since it can also apply the “90’s cartoon” you haven’t watched yet.

[@CptCh4os]

You know I have never understood what exactly market research and all that stuff around that is but now you have opened my eyes a little to that enormous world. Very interesting and as always well presented and easy to understand.

[@JasmynMorning]

This was so interesting and encouraging. Thank you!

[@vexasaurusrex5497]

I would love to see Schnee do some sort of video on The Amazing Digital Circus. I'm so curious to see what they pull from it, whether it be writing, media, or character analysis-- I just really love this channel's way of looking and explaining things.

[@SuperFlashfish]

I was NOT expecting a Magic the Gathering reference in this video AND a reference to Mark Rosewater??? AND HIS DRIVE TO WORK PODCAST???? I'm a huge Magic fan and, sir, you absolutely made my day! : D Oh, yeah, and the rest of your video was insightful and awesome lol.

[@williamaguilar5519]

I still really appreciate Hazbin, it restarted the indie animation craze, it was really fun and creative and even if you don’t like the show you can still appreciate it for what it did Edit: I just wanted to also add the fact that I love how the show did what I feel like like a lot of shows should do, and that is to not appeal to a demographic or trends. Just make a show for a type of person I feel like it tried to make a show for people who love old 90s and 2000s cartoons, people who love raunchy sex comedies, classic Disney musicals, and people who love shows that take risks

[@ForlornCreature]

I think the real test here would be to analyse the massive crossover of audience between hazbin/undertale/digital circus/five nights at Freddie’s and try to figure out what the common flavours are. I’ve been thinking and writing about that for a bit myself.

[@mkm1349]

Way I see it it's about weird cartoons characters with designs and subversions you never see in mainstream but that the internet has leaned towards in all these years. I see it very similar to the way creepypastas tried different kinds of horror than what movies and books had to offer for a while. And obviously the a lot of crossing with the queer community

[@ForlornCreature]

⁠@@mkm1349there’s so many really specific themes and choices that these things have in common. A primary theme of entrapment for example, or a hidden world, or a 90s nostalgia element, or a leitmotif, little or no human main characters, synthetic colour palettes (as opposed to naturalistic), I could go on.

[@mkm1349]

@ForlornCreature a yeah i should've said the 90s thing too, omori specially as well (human characters there but goes straight to anime and mental health issues so it grabs a large portion of the same demographic i think?). So i guess earthbound and the internet and lgbt are the main ingredients of them all just in different proportion for each. There's also a way of writing that connects them but i can't identify one clearly, overall personally i think toby fox did it best, making a very indie subcultural appealing thing that is also very well thought out

[@ForlornCreature]

@@mkm1349 I’m not familiar with omori, I’ll have to check it out

[@WobiNomicon]

Great vid. Keep it going 👍

[@annabelleowl9586]

1:15 GONCHAROV the greatest mafia movie ever created!

[@RachelHouk-ng3ql]

Fantastic and helpful analysis as always! I haven't watched HH and (probably never will), but your analysis neatly captures the "why" for that as well as why it was such a successful indi project. Plenty of useful take-aways regardless of what you make and what you're into!

[@HumanAki]

I'm so grateful for Schnee

[@memezastera]

Thank u good video putting towards what ive been unconciously doing in finding an audience for my music

[@jasonconley8667]

Brilliant breakdown

[@FeatheredWingz]

Oh wow! That staircase analogy is making me look at literally all the media I've interacted with & loved with fresh eyes....

[@angel_of_rust]

Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss are lowkey masterclasses of how NOT to write a show IMHO. because, for one, i've seriously never seen any show introduce characters and resolve conflicts within the same episode. not to mention how the lore and story bits are apparently spread across streams, tweets, and podcasts instead of all being portrayed in the show. Who even does that? That's just not how storytelling works.

[@Ty-mu7gl]

Your channel is AMAZING

[@CozzmicK1ng]

Honestly, I'm in SUPER deep working on a big project (a series, if you will.) and this video really helped me. Thanks a lot man. Really appreciate it. If you want, once I'm done figuring out the story, I could send it your way and you could see what you think? Or I could just drop it in the comments of a vid. But I totally get if you're busy or anything like that, just thought it'd be cool. Thanks, brother!

[@BlackMita]

No. I literally do NOT want my stuff to be that popular, because the headaches that come with it outweigh the accomplishment.

[@froppygurl07]

8:16, literally became the Leonardo Decaprio pointing meme when I saw Ambrosius and Ballister 😱👉

[@archer1949]

Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Helluva Boss keeping the IP in the forefront my brain, I’d have forgotten Hazbin Hotel even existed. I remember years ago being very impressed by the Infinity Train pilot. After years and years of waiting with no word, I gave up on it. I didn’t even realize it was a Cartoon Network series until it after it was cancelled and sank into Oblivion.

[@FeatherNotes]

An interesting watch! Also, always excited when folks bring webcomics into conversations here, hell yes to the classic indie medium!

[@ronancer]

dudeee why are you an actual GENIUS

[@matthewisguy7336]

0:01 Dang look at that creative person...

[@parazrael]

4:01 holy shit Be More Chill rep in the wild

[@crusatyr1452]

Your escher's staircase analogy actually reminds me more of a Shepherd's tone. Where there are 3 tones whose pitch and volume are increased and decreased out of sync in such a way that it always sounds like the pitch is increasing.

[@musicman24X]

I would be really interested to see you talk about the writing. A lot of critique I've encountered is pretty useless, mean-spirited, or not grounded in a aolid understanding of story and writing. Put bluntly, I want to hear someone with their shit together talk about it!

[@swaginator9798]

fr tho i love schnee's videos another cool review coming up