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This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
Being willing to nuke half a city and kys in the process for the sake of one dude is a level of hate matched only by the likes of Reverse Flash or Lex Luthor.
| “ | Vox: Oh-ho-ho, three for the price of one. You've just been fucking canceled! Carmilla: Vox, stop! Firing anymore will overload the weapon. Vox: Then I better make these shots count! Carmilla: You idiot, if it overloads, it will blow, taking you, us, and half the Pentagram with it. Vox: You know what? (cackles) FUCK HELL, FUCK HEAVEN, AND FUCK ALL OF YOU! AS LONG AS I WIPE THAT SMILE OFF ALASTOR'S FUCKING FACE, I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS. (cackles maniacally). |
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| ~ Christ on a stick! This guy was going to potentially end all of Hell, maybe even Heaven, just so he could get one over a guy he hated. He may not be the strongest Sinner in Hell, but after this, he's definitely the most irredeemable. |
2 weeks have been up for a while. Hazbin Hotel never fails to live up to its expectations, and the second season pulled a hefty bunch of no-miss-hitting bangers, an entertaining set of baddies in the form of the Vees (f/valentino, still), and plenty of wholesome content along the way, albeit followed with a bunch of heartbreaking conclusions for now on the half of where Angel Dust's arc is heading onward from here. Now, there has been talk outside here and in Discord that has been firmly established to be very, very surprising. For now, we actually have a legit candidate nobody expected was going to qualify in the rundown and no, Adam is established to be chummy and likely mutual to Lute and unfortunately, Valentino, for all the awful stuff he's done to Angel and everyone around him, does legit think highly of the Vees and his feelings for Vox is more than just lustful times.
This is where we get to the point, and to surprise all of you. Introducing the man of the hour. The TV Killed the Radio Star, One whom sought a "Brighter", bigger future, and guaranteed to trust our everything to him. Today, we're tackling one of Hell's most "powerful" Overlords and the leader of the Vees, Vox. This is, btw, once more a collaboration proposal, done with fellow Hazbin binge-fans, LordJarman and JackJackX.
What's the Work?
Hazbin Hotel is the 2024 adult-animated musical comedy series created by Vivziepop, a long-awaited and ultimately popular original web sensation that many people have been eagerly anticipating since its pilot aired in 2019. Ever since then, too many web series-loving suckers have been simping for the characters there and been spawning memes about it left and right, let alone the fanart, the fanfics, which spewed likely thousands! And, well... the thing an infamous YouTuber just dug his own grave over a 50K self-insert animation with Charlie. And to think, the series came a bit late after its spin-off series, Helluva Boss.
Anyways, Charlie Morningstar, the Princess of Hell with a lot of Disney Princess vibes, tries to set afloat her cause of redeeming sinners in Hell before the next Extermination. Running the Hazbin Hotel and a crew consisting of her girlfriend Vaggie, adult film star Angel Dust, the "wise-bartender" with a sexy voice Husk, crazy but adorable, anime-singing Niffty, former Hammy Villain-revealed-to-be-Wholesome (now redeemed good boi) Serpent Sir Pentious, and of course, the real star of the show, Alastor, they go about their mishaps trying to bring in patrons and guests to fulfill Charlie's cause and save all of Hell's overpopulated situation from Heaven's annual extermination.
It's not always about that; sometimes it focuses on the characters trying to regain and find some sense of self-worth, as well as overcoming their issues and dealing with how they go about their afterlife. Angel Dust is a good example. Eventually, driving where Adam is killed, the Exterminations seized, and Sir Pentious being living proof that redemption is possible, there are still obstacles and enemy opponents that stand between Charlie and her hotel, and those yet to come.
Who is He? What has He Done?
Vox, originally a human called Vincent Whittman, is the leader of the Vees and one of the top Overlords in Hell. A TV-headed demon with exceptional tech powers and a manipulative schemer with a God complex, Vox seeks to reach Heaven so he can achieve Godhood and rule among both Winners and Sinners. He is the arch-enemy and rival of Alastor.
Vincent took the concept of a "cutthroat industry" a little too literally.
Once a popular sensation on television during his lifetime as a mere news weatherman, Vincent grew jealous of many successful TV media personalities and was determined to reach the top, no matter the cost. Rising to absolute stardom with blood on his hands, Vincent first killed a rival news reporter in the alley from the shadows, sneaking up to him with his cane to slit him by his throat and dancingly toss his corpse into the garbage dumpster, which he later took his place and feigned grievance to earn sympathy points. It doesn't stop there, since Vincent would go on to kill a late-night talk show host who outshone his newscasting, later killing him by bashing and bludgeoning him with a spotlight after dark, and replacing him. No later would Vincent kill his two studio producers for no valid reason, hanging them together, for the sake of power.
Vincent proceeds to orchestrate several accidents that resulted in the deaths of possible rival TV stars; having a safarist brutally eaten by a shark by tapping the fragile glass tank, cutting the flammable gas wires to spread a leak that led a cooking show hostess to trigger an explosion on air unknowingly, and has a game show host rolled over to death by tampering with the spinning wheel. In the midst of it, Vincent grew more successful and popular, earning the title "God of Entertainment", and began striking a deal with his studio's network owner, Bob, to hand over his primary channel to him, insisting to "trust him" to "bring in new blood". This results in Vincent hanging him with his cane above the studio building, forcing him to sign the deed as he drops him to his death with lightning frying his body as Vincent once again prevails in further power.
Eventually becoming a cult of personality, Vincent would then obviously start a cult dedicated to his entire network and himself, feeding them with his charismatic persuasion that all network channels will never satisfy them with repetitive shows compared to his ideological entertainment, promising his cultists a "newer, bigger, brighter future" where he'll rule the airwaves and usher a "new era of entertainment". Fortunately, his time as a human who never made it bigger than ever was cut short when a TV monitor from above snapped and smashed into Vox's head, electrocuting him with a shard pierced into his right eye, killing him. For his vile sins, Vincent found himself reincarnated and damned into hell as a TV-headed demon with exceptional tech-like abilities, finding a new purpose to make a name for himself in Hell instead, Vincent rechristened himself into the all-powerful "Vox" we all know and love to hate today.
Somewhere, when he was still building his empire, roughly 70 years back, Vox came across a mutual partnership with the Radio Demon himself, Alastor, and grew side-by-side, unbeknownst that for the first time, Vox developed feelings for him and wanted to grow forward. On the fateful night at a bar, Vox proposes forming a team with Alastor and becoming powerful together, only to be brutally and harshly rejected by the latter, insisting that Hell has no place for mutual relationships or friendly companionships, which is nothing but weakness and dependence on others. Hurt from this outcome, Vox developed a begrudging obsession to shove it up to Alastor and become all-powerful among the rings of Hell itself. Throughout decades of making it to the top, Vox eventually found like-minded individuals, the rapist-pimp Valentino and the influencer, doll-witch fashionista Velvette, and formed "The Vees" (VVV), where they collected the souls of sinners, enslaved them to their bidding in respective forms of their businesses, and their empire grew.
Upon starting VoxTek, Vox began monopolizing Hell's entire technical support, technological companies, entertainment industries, and above all else in media, hitting so big that he's controlled a large majority of the system's channel network (funnily enough, the man pirated all channels from Earth's and Heaven's TV systems), his products sold at maximum capacity, conducting 666 News for propaganda purposes and (mis)information, and oftentimes brainwashing his viewers. But that's just the starters; the absolute worst stems from how he treats his workers. Being the one who funds and sponsors Valentino's pornographic business, Vox knowingly enabled and turned a blind eye to the countless amounts of sexual abuse and humiliating violations against Val's sex workers and adult film stars, particularly Angel Dust, upon signing the very contracts of having their souls sold to them. Vox himself even partook in it by sexually exploiting them for profit, and at worst, he milks their fame dry until he fires them when their worth runs out. There are also times that he straight-up verbally abuses his employees or overworks them to the point of actual slave labor, vice versa. Heck, there's a whole VoxTek employee hub addressing the rules. Largely blatant misconduct that's far from unfair to the workers, being forced to either drink Velvette's potions, participate in Valentino's porno films, and whatever products Vox has in mind with strong implications that it might cost them their lives from those options or should one wrong step come out of line, such as getting in the Vees' way at the wrong timing or ever so much as uttering Alastor's name.
It continues onward normally as it sounds, especially when Alastor was absent throughout the years, to Vox's delight, but still wanted payback...
Season 1
Dude casually hypnotizing people into investing in genocide protection devices he hasn't even invented yet. Corporate greed at it's finest.
Our first scene with the Media Overlord has him promoting his products and TV shows, mainly drones that Sinners can use to spy on others and a show called "Yeah I Fucked Your Sister So What?", while also hypnotizing his customers through his products to increase his popularity. He gets called up to the Vees penthouse by an irate Velvette whose fashion team is being massacred by a furious Valentino, to Vox's apathetic annoyance. He briefly stops to speak to a team of reporters who want his opinion on the next Extermination being moved up to 6 months instead of a year, using the crisis to convince viewers to invest in VoxTek's upcoming Angelic Security devices. Which he hasn't even started production of. After hypnotizing the reporters, he teleports to the penthouse to speak to Valentino. Upon learning Val was planning to attack the Hazbin Hotel in response to Angel Dust moving there, Vox calms Val down and advises him not to go there. Not because he's worried about Angel and anyone in the building, but to avoid any resulting bad publicity from starting a homicidal rampage over an employee who is still contracted to work for Val. To quell his boyfriend's rage, Vox offers to let Valentino shoot his lowest-performing employees to vent his frustration.
Vox's pragmatic approach doesn't last long when Val tells him Alastor returned after his 7-year disappearance and is working under Charlie Morningstar, sending the normally cool-headed Overlord into a fit of petulant rage over his hated rival's return. He then attempts to slander Alastor in a broadcast to all of Pentagram City, only for Alastor to give his own broadcast mocking Vox for his clout chasing and his reliance on the Vees, the latter he firmly denies. When Al goes for the heart and tells the people how he rejected Vox's proposal for a team-up, Vox loses his composure altogether and unwittingly causes a blackout throughout Pentagram City. Al closes off the broadcast, threatening to make Vox wish he'd stayed gone, leaving Vox fearful and humiliated.
I don't know what's crueller. Vox telling Pentious to kill himself for failing, or that Pentious just casually resigned himself to an eternal death. I'm glad Charlie gave him a place at the Hotel.
After the failed music battle with Alastor, Vox hires Sir Pentious to infiltrate the Hazbin Hotel as a guest so that the snake demon could prevent Alastor from making an advantageous deal with Charlie. When Angel Dust blows his cover, and Pentious calls Vox on his camera watch, begging his employer to save him, Vox mocks him for his failure and ends the call cruelly, telling the snake to kill himself if the princess didn't.
| “ | Vox: Pentious? Wait, you were CAUGHT?! Ha ha, it hasn't even been, a day?! Sir Pentious: Please, you've got to get me out of here! Vox: I can't believe we thought you could handle even something this simple. You know, do us a favor. If they don't kill you, go ahead and DO IT YOURSELF, YOU MISERABLE FAILURE! Sir Pentious: I-I. Just make it quick I guess, not that I deserve it. |
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| ~ Even with everything he does in S2, it's still galling that Vox would just casually toss Pentious aside to die do quickly, and in such a cruel fashion no less. Thankfully, Charlie's not one to hold a grudge and Pentious ended up getting Vox back indirectly with his redemption. |
But Charlie, being the sweet bean she is, instead uses Pentious's resulting depression to encourage him to redeem himself at the Hotel for real, which the grateful serpent accepts. Alastor briefly calls Vox through the watch to taunt him for his botched attempt to undermine the Hotel before smugly crushing the watch in his hand, leaving Vox screaming in petulant rage on the other end.
6 months later, Vox is shown watching the Hotel crew and their Cannibal allies preparing to fight the Exorcist legion in defense of the Hotel and Pentagram City, mocking their supposed futility and eagerly anticipating Alastor's potential death in the coming battle. He and the Vees watch the battle from their tower, Vox gleefully cheering the Exorcists on and having an erection at watching Alastor be wounded by Adam himself. He expresses shock at seeing Niffty stab Adam to death with an Exorcist knife, ending the battle with the Exorcists defeated for the first time in 7 years. Whereas the Hotel and the rest of Hell are celebrating their survival as they prepare to move forward, Vox and his partners see the aftermath of the battle as a new opportunity to expand their power base and set the stage for their takeover of Hell, laughing maniacally in anticipation of the dark future they plan to unleash on the afterlife.
Season 2
The poor, nameless female sinner never deserved to be taken advantage and disposed of like that, and the worse? This happens in real-life, and the contract Val presented had very icky unsubtlety.
In the aftermath of the thwarted Exterminations, Adam's death, and the Hazbin Hotel getting packed with customers (albeit for the wrong reasons, believing they were an Anti-Angel military of sorts), Vox sets his plans into motion. After tasking Katie Killjoy to portray the Hazbin Hotel crew in a very negative light and before everything else, Vox decides to play around with hiring and exploiting potential talents (victims) coming out of the hotel. Targeting a female Sinner, he lures her to the Vee Tower with the promise of fame and success, only to subject her to sexual exploitation, such as humiliating porn shoots, exposing her to online hate comments when her audience "sees too much", and then callously kicking her to the curb once her short career is milked for all it's worth. The worst? It's implied that her "holes were trademarked" (I think we can sneer and thank Val for that). Later, calling Velvette and Valentino for a meeting, whom the latter brought a female sinner to flirt with against Vox's wishes, with Vox tossing her into his shark tank to be eaten by Shok.wav, he proceeds to admonish Vel and Val for jeopardizing their reputation at various points, in particular drawing attention to Val constantly abusing Angel Dust in public, weakly chuckling as he says the abuse "isn't funny anymore" before playing a clip montage of a few times Val hit Angel in front of other demons to illustrate his point.
Even before being the so-called "People's Voice", Vox's earlier plans were blatantly shady from the start without ever hiding it, not to mention he's chill with whatever the bloody hell Valentino is about to do with the angels and Exorcists.
He then unveils his master plan: to use the Hazbin Hotel's victory over the Exorcists to instigate a Sinner revolution against Heaven, with the Vees (mainly Vox) leading the charge. When Val questions the logistics behind his plan, Vox wins the 2 over by explaining his past as a cult leader and his wish to reclaim the Godlike sensation that came with it, and claims to want to share the feeling with his colleagues and plays on their own personal desires to win them over in the song "Up There". These said desires from Valentino and Velvette's respective choices involved raping angels and making them sex slaves or mutilating them to make dresses from their wings, those not once bothered Vox in the slightest.
Vox then starts an organized smear campaign against the Hazbin Hotel, in particular framing Charlie as a domineering puritan zealot who wants to force Sinners to conform to her ideals or kill them. He and Velvette are then invited to the Hotel for an interview when a desperate Charlie, just after learning of Pentious' redemption, tries to prove her ideals true. Feigning politeness in the form of egging and pressuring Charlie with biased questions, Vox and Vel go along with Charlie's montage of proving the possibility of redemption and speed-running Angel Dust to be redeemed, attempting to pull off a cheesy western film scenario with Angel playing a cowboy hero and a begrudging Husk playing the damsel tied to train tracks. Vox, believing the scene wasn't "risky" enough, cuts the brakes Charlie installed on the train behind her back, causing the train to almost impale Husk with an Exorcist spear before being barely saved by Angel and Vaggie, much to Vox's disappointment. Vox proceeds to smugly mock the entire ordeal of Angel's failure of redemption and had the cruel gall to reveal that Angel's damnation stemmed from killing his own father. This ends up being the last straw for Charlie, who promptly orders Vox and Velvette to leave. He does, but not before mockingly asking the princess if she thinks he could redeem himself, only to sneer in frustration when Charlie reaffirms her belief, leaving with him and Velvette to use the edited footage from their visit to further run the Hotel's reputation through the dirt. This causes multiple demons to leave the Hotel.
Eventually, when Alastor's injuries start diminishing his capabilities, and Charlie otherwise heads to 666 News to prove redemption is possible with Niffty's help (which goes sideways indefinitely), Vox pops out when Alastor provokingly calls him to show himself within his domain of the Entertainment District, instantly killing a Cactus sinner by bursting down on him. Believing Alastor's here to negotiate to leave the Hotel be, instead, he's mocked for using his "incessant slander" as the other Vees backed him up when he's about to go head-to-head on the Radio Demon. In the middle of their fight, Vox had bystanders killed recklessly while fighting Alastor as the latter managed to outdo the other Vees, in which the 666 news caught wind of the fight headlines "Collateral Death Count Rising". As soon as he gets hold of Alastor, he rips off the strings of his wounds, prepping to kill him on the spot before Niffty and Husk show up, backing him against the other Vees before they are pummeled to the ground. Eventually, Alastor proposes a "now or never" deal to Vox to be taken as his "prisoner" under the conditions to let Niffty and Husk be, and that he isn't to "lay his hands on Charlie" (Technically speaking, as it is explained as you read down below), in which Vox giddily agrees to. Cue the montage where Voxxie boi has a whole parade over beating Alastor, mocking him on 666 news that he has no deer tail, gets a single smoothie for himself just to be a spiteful, lil' prick, and has sex with Val in front of him while tied up (Massive hate-braggart energy right there). Even as his prisoner, Vox is still mocked by Alastor from their history together, but does a reprise of "Don't You Forget" where Vox reminds him that the Radio Demon is under his string now, taunting each other before Val interrupts for a tasteless sex joke.
Now setting his plans into motion, Vox preps on spreading word of Alastor's defeat and capture, giving him the advantage to rally fellow Overlords to his side, like Zeezi, Prick and Hatchet, and Maestro (albeit failing to convince Carmilla Carmine and Zestial) throughout Bad with Us. Starting a rally to gather all Sinners to join his "resistance" army, Vox handles most of the preaching until Lucifer Morningstar, the King of Hell himself, crashes to intimidate and threaten Vox to back down as requested by Vaggie. Instead, Vox turns the tables around with words and song, getting the Sinners' full attention about "Making Hell Great Again" (yeah, if y'all understand this reference, let's leave it at that) and mocking Lucifer, having the nerve to say it's any wonder why Lilith left him and dares him to "smite" him (secretly knowing he can't smite sinners, that will be explained below as well). Humiliating Lucifer, Vox's support grows before Charlie and the angels arrive. Taking this time to spread propaganda using a clip montage of the past Exterminations and mocking their "weak apology" with gift baskets, he ends up getting Sera to fall for his trap, admitting her intentions to permit the Exterminations, to the uproar of the Sinners. From there, Vox signifies his rise to power, singing the titular VOX DEI, where he declares a Holy War against Heaven as he makes it clear that once they're up there, no "gift baskets" will be present. Only "decimation that'll put them in caskets", self-claiming as both the "Furor and Omega" before them, causing the angels to leave in devastation, and the remaining customers to leave the Hazbin Hotel.
| “ | ♪ When we pay you a visit, we won't be bringing baskets ♪ ♪ We'll be bringing decimation ♪ ♪ That'll put you in caskets ♪ ♪ I'll show you what it means ♪ ♪ To be the motherfucking king of Hell! ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm the furor ♪ ♪ I'm immense ♪ ♪ I am the avatar of your consequence ♪ ♪ I'M YOUR OMEGA! ♪ ♪ I'm the flood! ♪ ♪ I am the nightmare you made ♪ ♪ When you spilled our blood! ♪ ♪ So cower and hide ♪ ♪ Find a rope you can swing from ♪ ♪ Go say your goodbyes ♪ ♪ To your lives ♪ ♪ TO YOUR KINGDOM! ♪ |
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| ~ Not gonna lie, this was probably the most intense song in the show to date. TV dude went from talking shit about Alastor to threatening genocide on the kingdom of God. |
Just when you thought the "Poison" sequence was the worst Angel's afterlife could get.
Later on, Vox proceeds to convince Carmilla one more time to join his army and build him a powerful weapon to take out Heaven, even forcing Velvette to "apologize" to her unwillingly. She's still not convinced, however, though Vox manages to swing things to his favor by manipulating Carmine that she supplied Charlie with the very weapons that killed Adam and uses her own daughters against her to comply, which she agrees to and later leaves Velvette on her own to make it back to the Vee Tower. Vox then attempts to seduce Val to bring Angel Dust to him, until he gets caught midway by Vel, trying to hypnotize him into submission. Unfortunately, Val's somehow immune to his control, and the dispute between all three worsens, much to Alastor's amusement. Still managing to get Val to lure Angel Dust into a rundown motel under the impression of this being a "photoshoot", Vox ambushes him with violent assaults and electrocution in a torturous fashion. He then sadistically unveils the dark revelation for him, he's been brainwashing Angel Dust from time to time as his spy within the Hazbin Hotel since the moment he became a patron. Giving him information from the start, especially how he knows redemption works and Lucifer can't smite Sinners, drives him to despair before brainwashing him again in a truly horrific fashion.
| “ | Vox: Ah, it's almost cute how you scream everytime. Angel Dust: Wh-what? Vox: Oh, poor little Angel Dust. How do you think I was always one step ahead of the Princess? Or how I knew the angel's were coming? Or that Lucifer, COULDN'T DO ANYTHING TO ME? Think back, any late-night jobs you can't quite remember? There wasn't a moment, I haven't been WATCHING! (shows Angel all the times he had hypnotized him into giving him intel on the Hotel) Angel Dust: WHAT!? No, I would never... Vox: Oh, but you already did! You've been a wonderful spy for me Angel Dust, but I think your time at the Hotel has come to an end. Oh, don't look so upset. Velvette's gonna make sure you look great for your presentation. |
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| ~ I don't know what's more nightmarish about this scene. Vox torturing Angel just because he could, or making him betray his friends against his will and destroying his faith in himself in the process. Not even Val's constant sexual abuse broke Angel the way Vox did here. |
"CAN THE ANGELS COME OUT TO PLAY?!" Probably the biggest "Holy Shit!" moment in the Hellaverse.
Setting Angel up to be his spokesperson in his latest rally and mimicking Charlie's voice to call Lucifer and lure him into a trap, Vox intends to use him as a living battery to power up the very weapon he had Carmilla build him. When his trap succeeds in capturing Lucifer, Vox begins installing the glass sphere containing him into his weapon, not before he is mocked and reminded that he is a "failure" in life, which Luci wasn't wrong (he did die getting a TV monitor smashed into his head before he could "usher his entertainment era and whatnot), thus singing Brighter as he sets the final steps in his plans to fruition. On that day, Vox has the brainwashed Angel endorse his "cause" on stage as the former once more preaches his propaganda regarding the countless deaths of Sinners, as he then presents the built superweapon, the "Might of Lilith" as dubbed. Testing its destructive firepower and torturously draining Lucifer of his energy (OOH! THAT'S A BAD TICKLE!), he launches it onto the shielded atmosphere of Heaven, destroying the gates and launching a broadcast message to its Winner citizens, announcing his own "Extermination" against them unless their kingdom is surrendered to him 24/7, causing panic among the saved souls and almost escalating Sera, with no choice but to act, until Pentious talked her out.
| “ | Hey there, Heaven. It's about time we had a little chat. As you can see, we've been a bit busy since your last visit. Ya know, we've been hearing for so long about how the grass is greener on your side of the fence, so we thought maybe we should come over and see for ourselves! Heck, if we like it enough, we might just decide to stay. Now you might have some silly ideas about fighting us off, but don't forget, there are a lot more of us than there are of you. So guess what, Seraphim, you have 24 hours to surrender the kingdom of Heaven to me. Or you'll have a front row seat, to the next Extermination! | „ |
| ~ Vox casually making Sera's worst fears for Heaven a reality with one bone chilling speech. |
Meanwhile, back at VoxTek, Vox has Velvette arrange a special Overlord meeting for his triumphant moment (much to Vel's annoyance) to make a united front against Heaven, and once again mocked by Alastor regarding Charlie, and that her spirit is unbreakable, Vox is angrily stimulated to get her to admit to him being the strongest in Hell. Calling her, Vox lures her to come with the implication of holding Lucifer hostage, opting for her to come with Vaggie in a plan she and her crew (alongside Emily) set up to broadcast Pentious live from Heaven. On the night of Vox's celebration, he continues tormenting Charlie with a collage of every step he's achieved and humiliating the Hotel crew, unaware that the latter prepped to sabotage the event and rescue Angel Dust until each team respectively got into trouble with the other Vees (For Cherri and Husk, it's Val, as for Niffty and Baxter, it's Vel). Before and after that, Charlie attempted to make her presentation dedicated to Pentious and his redemption known, but the moment of truth was a second too late and blocked when Vox regained his composure and brainwashed everyone's minds from refraining from Charlie and Emily's words.
I don't know who had it worse. Lucifer having his energy painfully siphoned for Vox's omnicidal hissy fit, or poor Emily permanently losing a wing to protect as many demons as she could (including Alastor). To say nothing of the hundreds of Sinners that couldn't be saved from the beam.
Restraining the angel, Vox mocks Charlie for being a "pale, weak imitation of her mother", forcing her to admit that she lost and that he is the strongest Sinner in Hell. This was also encouraged by Alastor, which he gambits on as Charlie said it, thus Vox's ratings reached 100% and became all-powerful... not until he exactly "laid his hands" on Charlie, freeing Alastor from his grasp. Realizing he's been tricked into a deal where he's specifically "not to lay a finger" on Charlie, not "hurt" her, by technicality, Vox grew enraged and began fighting Alastor one-on-one once again, activating his full Demon form. Throughout the fight, Vox rampages throughout Pentagram City, getting dozens of civilians killed in a highway and soon destroying the entire structure with drivers still inside while pummeling Alastor. Vox then calls Shok.wav for help, siccing the robotic Megalodon onto Alastor, before he is accidentally swatted back near the Might of Lilith. Hatching a reckless scheme in mind, Vox activates the superweapon to fire and aiming at Alastor, recklessly getting dozens to hundreds (if not, potentially a thousand more) of Sinners vaporized throughout the crossfire, resulting in collateral damage, endangering the populace in the making, and destroying Baxter's laptop, once more delaying Pentious' broadcast.
Eventually, this would end up biting his approval ratings, decreasing as the citizens of Pentagram would begin seeing Vox's true colors come to light with the destruction on display and Vaggie and Carmilla sabotaging the Might of Lilith. Refusing to back down, Vox controls the superweapon and further recklessly aims for Alastor, vaporizing one of Emily's wings when she tries to save him and causing further damage to the city. With the Might of Lilith beginning to overload and directly aimed at Charlie, Alastor, and the critically injured Emily, Carmilla rightfully warns him that the more he foolishly uses its power and overloads, the more unstable it'll become, which will explicitly cause a massive explosion and take out everyone before him, including half of Pentagram City in the Pride Ring, which Lucifer, still inside the sphere, is tirelessly drained. Instead, Vox decided that it's time to "screw both Heaven and Hell" if it meant wiping Alastor's smile off his face just to get one final "one-up" at him, not until he is kicked off and called out by Valentino, of all people, and Velvette. For his arrogant response that he'll become a God, Val rips his TV head off his main body and tries to escape with him and Vel, only to realize one of his wings is burnt off.
With the Might of Lilith about to explode, the injured Emily, Charlie, their crew, and most of the Overlords (especially Val and Vel, albeit for pragmatic reasons, already tired of Vox's shenanigans) combined all of their powers to confine and destroy the superweapon's energy pulse, much to Vox's dismay and whining that everything he's built is ruined. In the aftermath, where Pentious finally broadcasts live to Hell that redemption is possible, Vox is last seen with the other Vees heading back to the Vee Tower. He makes a very nervous and hollow "apology" of going too far before blatantly asking about his current ratings, much to Val and Vel's annoyance as they make it back to the tower. Due to his current status, Val takes over as the new CEO of VoxTek (which, considering what he does... could be beyond bad).
Heinous Standards
No issues here, he's basically the second heinous contender. Even with the Hellaverse's "helluva" high Heinous Standard, Vox passes cleanly: He enables Valentino's regular sexual abuse of his workers/slaves, especially Angel Dust (with a one-off line about a "donkey show" implying he forces Angel into bestiality), in which he also took part of sexually exploiting other talents, openly suicide-dares Sir Pentious, wanted to take over Heaven so they would be the ones being exterminated with his idea of godhood involved the mass murder and torture of those who "doubted" him (and would help Valentino and Velvette into keeping them as sex slaves or skinning them alive respectively) to the point of waging a Holy War against them, horrifically brainwashing Angel Dust into being his spy and puppet, using Lucifer Morningstar as a living battery to siphon, permakills dozens to hundreds of sinners with the Might of Lilith upon recklessly aiming for Alastor (especially outside this being a regular basis), and is ultimately willing to nuke half of Pentagram City - killing at least thousands to millions (give and take on the overpopulation), including his "beloved" Vees and Shok.wav - just to spite Alastor. In addition, he's a serial killer back as a human, as his kills against rival TV stars are especially brutal. Even Vox's own death had him take dozens of innocent people he brainwashed down with him, as we see them all standing in a pool of water as a TV falls on his head and electrocutes him.
Coupled all of that together, Vox is arguably the most heinous character in terms of being one of Hell's worst sinners, especially when taking into account his lesser resources when compared to Adam, an all-out fratboy with yearly genocide. Whereas he's an all-powerful, holy angel with an army of Exorcists, Vox is a tech-powered Overlord with a large industrial business empire, and it took using Lucifer, one of the most powerful beings, to charge the Might of Lilith. That's not without mentioning, besides his personal rivalry with Alastor, he's also got his fair share of personal impact for Angel Dust leaving the Hazbin Hotel for good upon realizing he never made actual choices and nearly drove a wedge between Hell and Heaven, almost destroying Charlie's chances to make redemption possible known, if not for Pentious' last-second broadcast. Easy pass with flying colors.
Mitigating Factors
In the course of one season, Vox went from seeing Valentino and Velvette as equals to willingly endangering their afterlives just to satisfy his growing God complex. It really says a lot about the other 2 that they still wanted him around after all was said and done.
His Relationship with the other Vees (and Shok.wav)
| “ | Vox: Trust me! JUST ME! TRUST...us, no, I-I meant to say US! Velvette: Uh huh. Valentino: Yeah, okay. |
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| ~ It's worth mentioning that this obvious Freudian Slip happened BEFORE Alastor started playing mind games with the Vees. Even at their closest, Vox's selfish need to be the center of attention was always bubbling under the surface. |
Vox has a rather on-and-off relationship with his boyfriend, Valentino, and mutual partner, Velvette. They bicker, they mock each other, and most of the time, when things go sideways and stuff, they argue and argue. Nevertheless, they all get along very well with each other, though in the case of Val, Vox occasionally makes time with him and eventually gets intimate. Though comparatively, the deal with this particular relationship is that a portion of the majority is based on mutual sadism and delight in taking advantage of others, though on Val's end, he genuinely has a legit friendship with Velvette, who returns the same mutuality, and does have reciprocating genuine feelings for Vox, yearning and bemoaning for a future with him. And this is all coming from the same disgusting, vile rapist whose abuse of Angel is unforgivably depraved that it's still frowned upon by the audience.
Vox, meanwhile, ends up demonstrating that his hold with the Vees doesn't come first in his priorities; to him, they're second to his massive ego. He isn't above manipulating or feigning ignorance to get them on his side of the bargain of ruling Heaven, and at worst, takes them for granted. He blatantly does a bad job trying to hide the fact that everything he's planned together with them ends with "Trust Me!" rather than "us", and it happens twice or more when corrected by Velvette. He even pushes Val aside when it comes to his personal agenda with Alastor, slightly hurting him, makes a racist remark on not understanding his "island language", and when he does come around for either him or both with Velvette, it's mostly for assembling "their" (his) current plans of the grand scheme. The fact that he has them contribute very little for his rally against Heaven and roasting Lucifer in the background says much, and there's name-dropping them when demanding he's declared Hell's most powerful sinner.
The same can be said for his pet sharks, namely the large, Shockwave-expy Megalodon, Shok.wav. He has a fascination with them, yes, but it could merely expand to seeing them as valuable assets with very little interaction. There is one exception, though, he acts very affectionately towards Shok.wav onscreen with nothing indicating it's more of treating the large robot shark as less than anything but treating it as a real pet, and when it comes down to that, villains acting affectionate with their pets with no reason is a very hard trade when it comes to subverting it to be legitimate PEs in the making. The closest to how Shok.wav is no exception when it comes to Vox's ego streak is that he doesn't show as much concern or worry about the fact that while recklessly aiming the Might of Lillith towards Alastor, Shok.wav was also in the way. Maybe to some, it never crossed his mind, but given that Shok.wav was still chasing after Alastor, Vox bluntly went with it either way. Being an affectionate pet owner than his own shark thinks of him as his "father" is one thing, endangering it while gunning for your rival is a questionable matter.
| “ | Valentino: You. Are. NOT FUCKING KILLING US OVER THAT STUPID DEER! Velvette: It's over, ya dumb FUCK! Vox: FUCK THAT! This is MY moment. MY fucking destiny! I'm a FUCKING GOD! |
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| ~ You know you've gone too far with playing God when Valentino, the biggest serial rapist in the Hellaverse, is calling you out on it. |
Ultimately, what destroys all these relationships in one stone is the fact that Vox is willing to sacrifice everyone with allowing the Might of Lilith to blow up and bring down half of Hell with it in Pentagram City, he explicitly makes it very clear that he doesn't care who gets caught, either Hell or Heaven in the making, as long as he gets what he wants to feel satisfied in one-upping Alastor, why should he be concerned now? A fact that's rightfully called out by Valentino, of all people, and Velvette, albeit for the wrong reasons, but themselves, his only friends (and to Val, his love). It should also be noted that Shok.wav was also presented in the aftermath when the Might of Lillith was about to explode before it is confined, so from there, Vox subverts any care he has in favor of his petty agenda and egotistical delusions to transcend to godhood. What doesn't help is that he justifies his "apology" that he simply "got carried away", then blatantly asking about his current approval ratings. So yeah, nuff said on this.
His Past with Alastor
We get it, it's not hard to feel bad and why we can relate to Vox. But everything else he does in the name of godhood, taking advantage of others, and exploiting those into his grasp? This is the same guy who got turned on over Alastor getting his ass whooped.
This is the biggest iffy of an elephant in the room, and where most of the complexity and DILPin' treatment came from. You see, Vox used to be partners with Alastor back in the day, and it's noteworthy, clear as glass, that he developed genuine feelings for him at that time. Only to be brutally rejected and mocked by the Radio Demon to the point he was almost on the verge of tears, hence, he developed insecurities from that very moment, and he wanted nothing more than to one-up Alastor and prove him wrong. No matter what, he's still mocked otherwise for "relying" on others, and during the moment he's about to allow Pentagram City to be decimated, he's seen single-tearing at Alastor in his breakdown, showing how he's never moved on from the rejection. Obviously sympathetic on paper, coupled with WoG commentary from Vivzie herself in the second season interview, and Alastor claiming "he was broken from the start". There are several loopholes in why none of this holds up.
Let's start with the narrative and its context. Vox's rivalry with Alastor isn't purely based on his rejection or insecurities; this is more about his ego. We need to remind everyone in the room that Vox is a manipulative, egocentric narcissist with a buzzkill streak. When it comes to partnerships, Vox always makes it about himself and only puts himself first before anyone else, rarely credits the other Vees, and pushes them aside to achieve his own agenda. Because if this is how he treats his partners, then it's likely that the same way he would treat Alastor is no exception to this. I think it's also best contextualized throughout their interactions, as their rivalry on Vox's side is obsessively intoxicating and has no certain problems wanting him dead or humiliated for utterly petty reasons. Just for another reminder, this is the same guy who expressed immense satisfaction and weirdly got a massive erection over Adam beating Alastor while cussing up a storm. No doubt he's been very insecure since then, and how much he wants to prove Alastor wrong, despite constantly getting aid from others. Although it is portrayed as having a more power-hungry drive to reach Heaven and conquer all than it is focused on getting back at Alastor. Additionally, primarily achieving Godhood has nothing to do with his rejection, and that includes everything else he's done with or without the Vees, especially the sexual exploitation.
The idea of him being a vulnerable individual capable of feelings, as Vivzie claimed, and being "broken from the start" is left too vague for the latter, but the former? That's left to moot. As seen onscreen, there's no denying Vox still looks hurt, given how he flashes back to that moment he has on static, which would be a bit of a trigger button. However, what exactly happened after he got rejected stops Vox from being sympathetic in any way. He not only forced Alastor to watch him and Valentino have sex as a sadistic power move, he was also willing to kill himself, his so-called "loved ones" and half an entire city just to spite Alastor. This stops Vox's insecurities from being genuine and sympathetic and instead makes them a narcissistic, psychotic obsession.
We're unsure how damaged he got from Alastor besides his rejection, we do know that despite how "hurt" he was, Vox's hate overwhelmed any feelings left for his "past friend".
There's also him shedding a tear at Alastor in his breakdown that's worth bringing up, so lemme be real and get down to the point. Let's say, this is after the explosion happened and Vox somehow miraculously survived, laughing and then shedding a tear over his "victory", that would be much of a genuinely mitigating problem. But taking the actual scene into account, it was only after he shed a tear, he expressed giddy sadism at the idea of letting all else in the Pentagram burst into ashes with Alastor in it, further delving into his God complexity before and after he's called out by the other Vees, demonstrating how much he doubled down on his insecurities in favor of his petty agenda and fully embracing his blatant delusions. That's not quite how it ends with destroying whatever sympathy he's given, what actually stops all brownie points on Vox was the fact that he was a SERIAL KILLER back as a human. His human past by the whole narrative makes it bluntly clear that, before or after the rejection and his damnation in Hell, we're reminded that Vox isn't just an egomaniac, he was NEVER a good person from the start. He has ALWAYS been that way: envious of others' attention, he'll always crave and never stop from there until he gets bigger in stardom and aim bigger for another spotlight for himself. This alone destroys any sympathy regarding his backstory with Alastor and whatever is left to portray his insecurities as nothing more than a petty routine to get back at the Radio Demon for terminating their potential partnership, and even if it would've been genuine, Vox's manipulative behavior has no boundaries when it comes to wanting something in return or take dvantage of.
At the end of the day's full disclosure, whatever Alastor does more besides harshly rejecting Vox is shut in the dark, but ended up leaving not just seemingly a "broken heart" but a mortal wound on the latter's gigantic ego. Everything he's done, both past and present, has always been to feed his enormous, craving egocentrism and wants nothing more than to use, cheat, or control others to do his bidding to reach out and claim Godhood by his palm. Whatever genuine feelings he might've had, be it Alastor, his pet sharks, or maybe, just maybe, for some expansion to Valentino, he will, once more reiterating, double down on his issues, completely averting them in his personal pursuit to be worshipped and hog all the spotlight to himself with no intention to share it.
Comedy
Vox in season 1: A petty goofball who hated Alastor. Vox in season 2: A manipulative warmonger threatening genocide on Heaven itself.
Considering the reputation of Hazbin Hotel (Hellaverse, generally), like with Adam, Vox is no exception, and there's no denying how he lives up to letting us trust him with the entertainment, literally.
He is ham-personified and oozes it, especially when it comes to a specific plethora of moments like bragging about how he declines Katie Killjoy's suggestive offer to be "punished", getting muted by Baxter, and before and after, his spiteful, smug attitude towards Alastor, again, "I LIKE WINNING!". Although when he's got tasteless racist jokes like dressing up as a mariachi to convince Carmilla and ends Bad with Us with "cha cha cha", there's also bits of slapstick hitting his way, notably the time Valentino hits him with a glass drink up his TV face for rudely remarking how he speaks "island". There's also his whiny ass complaining how everything's ruined and nervously asking for his current approval ratings now that he's a mere TV head upon defeat.
Likewise, as much of a giddy, upbeat goof he can be, there's also reconsideration on how most of it is just outside his heinous territory. When it comes to his actions onscreen, there's not just levity; Vox is straight-up played as a dreading menace when the shots are called, especially when the higher stakes and the threat he poses to Heaven altogether are still taken seriously by everyone in-universe, even Zestial, a veteran Overlord who also sees the Vees as nuisances with Carmilla, knows what kind of atrocious things someone like Vox is capable of. To further hammer the nail, moments like his constant brainwashing over Angel Dust are absolutely horrific that after he proceeds with his plans, they are full-stop given enough weight in the making. And if anything said than done, most of these moments more or less highlight the egocentric, dickish attention-seeker he is.
This especially goes to mentioning his defeat and whining about everyone stopping the Might of Lilith's explosion, both only showcase the sore loser he can be, and staying as a head for the time being is quite karmic at its finest, especially highlighting the loss of his approval ratings. So whatever silliness is added to the flavor of his entertaining charm doesn't kill off how much of a threat he is capable of posing to everyone around him.
Others
Easily zilch for everything below. For someone who presents himself as "The People's Voice" and Hell's savior from the Exterminations, something he condemns Lucifer and Sera for sanctioning, it's made clear he doesn't actually have Hell's interests in mind and he's only manipulating the Sinner's anger towards heaven as a means to incite a war and conquer Heaven as part of his plot to become a God King over both afterlives. Even Zestial and Carmilla, who are themselves opposed to the Exterminations, acknowledge that despite his posturing, Vox is only serving his own goals rather than Hell's well-being, and Carmilla only works for him out of necessity. Him casually destroying portions of Pentagram City, killing countless demons in his efforts to kill Alastor, and later risking what is the equivalent of a nuclear explosion that would destroy half of the city and potentially more than even that just to kill the latter is further proof he couldn't give 2 shits about other demons, compared to the superficially upfront he posed when having himself and the other Vees do community service to the poor for instance. Again, this is the same guy who sexually exploited a random female sinner mere minutes ago before this.
His maintaining peaceful and cooperative relationships with the other Overlords is purely pragmatic because he needs their support for his business, calling Carmilla a bitch under his breath when planning to get her support to develop angelic security, and appeals to their personal desires during recruitment solely so they'll join him. When convincing Carmilla to help him build the Might of Lilith, he makes a blatant "you are with me or against me" declaration and implicitly threatens her daughters to make her cooperate. We also need to take into consideration that any so-called respect and faith in Lilith is merely bastardizing her belief into his rhetoric to look like a Well-Intentioned Extremist in the eyes of the public, and he had the gall to name-drop her as one of the people where he's "strongest" among them.
He's also not very big on personal standards. His chastising of Valentino and Velvette for their indecent behaviors is purely pragmatic because he wishes to maintain the Vees' public image and preserve business relations with the Overlords. In particular, his attempt to curb Val's abuse of Angel is specifically regarding his striking the porn star in public, not in private. The show even makes a point of showing that he enjoys Angel's misery just as much as Val does, personally editing moments Val hit him with goofy sound effects and is shown to be all too happy to abuse Angel himself, even quipping when torturing him in the latter half of S2 that he'd wanted to hit him for a long time. His embarrassment over his insensitive mariachi performance is solely due to realizing that he wasn't winning Carmilla over.
Now, before we conclude, yes, Vox is bound to return in future seasons, and he's set to make a comeback on the third one, where he's likely going to have something mitigating, so this should question you, the readers, why make this proposal at all. Honestly, proposing potential candidates who are likely to have some issues in the future is no longer an issue, and it's okay since it'll be worthwhile to re-evaluate when the time comes. Otherwise, we still have DCU's Lex Luthor, who is potentially going to be gone soon in the next few movies, but it's likewise worthwhile for now. Need I say more?
Final Verdict
Trust us with your votes, we're confident enough that he is a major yes for the time being. Now, that's good reading.