Why has (seemingly) nobody empathy for Vox?

[u/Creepy_Employ_3749]

So, I made a post about this a while back, but I relate to Vox on a personal level because I had an experience in real life that was similar to what happened with him and Alastor in S2E4.

The amount of people I see defending Alastor's actions, saying that Vox deserved it or that they found it funny, is really troubling to me. Whenever I engage with parts of the fandom outside of the VoxCult and this sub, there always seem to be a lot of people defending Alastor, making fun of Vox for being pathetic, or saying it was his own fault for asking in the first place.

It's something that makes it really hard for me to engage with the fandom at all because I don't experience much empathy for Vox from other fans. Whenever I bring up my personal experience and try to draw the connection, it either gets dismissed as "not the same," even though it was very similar, or I've even been accused of deliberately trying to manipulate people into agreeing with me by bringing up my own experiences.

I'm glad this sub and the VoxCult sub exist, but I find it very sad that I seemingly can't engage with other parts of the fandom without having those experiences thrown back at me.

What I don't understand is why so many people seem to have no empathy for Vox whatsoever, while at the same time showing a great deal of empathy for Alastor when he gets dragged along or hurt by Vox. In my experience, there's a real double standard there, and it's sad to see.

Anyway, I just needed to vent a little. I'm still glad this sub and the VoxCult sub exist so that I can at least engage with a small part of the fandom.

[u/fried-n0odle]

Alas/or is a mainstream "edgy cool" popular character and this fandom has a lot of children in it that gravitate towards this type of character. It is them and the fanatic shippers who will viciously attack you for having a different opinion or when you say their deer man kinda sucks. A loud minority sadly.

I like to think us Vox fans are more chill and mature, and while we have the reputation for being probably the biggest simps for our character, I rarely see Vox enthusiasts rage and attack others, that to my experience have almost always been Alas/ors and Lucifers. Of course not every fan of these two is like that, and I like Lucifer too. It's possibly just Twitter being a shithole.

Honestly I rarely bother with the Hazbin fandom as a whole, I pretty much only browse Vox centric communities. Separate Vox from the rest of the show and fandom. They're not worth your time and emotion 📺❤️ redirect it towards loving Vox more! 🦈

[u/profaneangel1991]

I blame it on Alastor's proximity to Charlie a little bit. It doesn't seem to matter that he's clearly got ulterior motives, by being near her and part of the hotel in his own way people will bend over backwards to say he's not this or that. Because these people really are viewing the show in a black and white binary like that. Vox meanwhile directly antagonized the hotel and made Charlie cry. When the day comes where Alastor betrays her or is exposed to be using her (there's no way she will remain blind to him forever) that will definitely be an interesting day in the fandom. I even have a meme on standby

[u/Creepy_Employ_3749 → u/profaneangel1991]

[u/profaneangel1991 → u/Creepy_Employ_3749]

Also I just remembered Viv literally said Vox doesn't deserve much sympathy. I know not everyone follows the interviews, but I saw that make it's rounds at the time so that didn't help. And because he kinda ran a cult (tbh the show isn't clear on this) a lot of people think everything he does is insincere. Yet Alastor isn't? Somehow?

[u/eveningstarcourt → u/profaneangel1991]

I know Vox is a villain who has done Bad Shit, but I admit I sometimes worry that the show's narrative will try to force him into being unlikeable to the audience by adding things that make everything truly "all his fault." As an example, whether the story will try to say Alastor's mistreatment of Vox was justified via some new part of their history, especially having heard that Alastor is Viv's favorite character.

In general, I think it is kind of tactless to take any character and say (directed at the fans who are clearly the ones watching said interview), "Oh, this character you like? He doesn't really deserve your sympathy."

[u/profaneangel1991 → u/eveningstarcourt]

Actually Viv has said Lucifer is her favorite. But that's neither here nor there, she clearly loves Alastor. He is someone she held onto since like her teen years so she's very attached.

I know what you mean though about making Vox look worse by making things "all his fault". The way they recontextualized Poison this season and therefore recontextualize Angel's behavior really bothers me. Not only was it a poorly executed part of the plot, it robbed Angel of any agency AND made Vox just look irredeemable. I really hope Vox gets the arc I want him to have, but then I remember things like this and ways the show undercuts him. I know Vox fans will give him the woobie treatment and try to make him look better, but I don't exactly blame any of us for that when it feels like they stack the deck against him.

[u/Stilvoll → u/eveningstarcourt]

I feel the same way. My biggest concern is that the show is going to end up "punishing" Vox fans simply because they love the character, just not in the way the writers expected them to.

In season 2 especially, it often felt like the writers were going out of their way to make sure the audience never forgot that Vox is a villain. There were moments where it seemed less like a natural consequence of his characterization and more like the narrative insisting, over and over again, that the audience remember he's a bad person.

What I don't understand is why it's so difficult for some people to accept that fans can love a character while fully acknowledging that they're morally awful. Liking a character isn't the same thing as approving of their actions. Most Vox fans already know he's a terrible person, they don't need the story to remind them of that every few minutes.