- "Oh, looks like your little Hotel didn't work out so well. Oh, Alastor. I cannot wait to watch you get FUCKED!"
- ―Vox
Vox is one of the many Overlords of Hell and is a major antagonist in Hazbin Hotel.[5] He is the owner and CEO of VoxTek and a member of the Vees alongside Valentino and Velvette.
A technology-savvy businessman, Vox pulls the strings of Hell's news and media and is determined to keep his iron grip over Pentagram City's citizens from Alastor, his arch-rival and in influence and technology.
Appearance
Vox is a tall and slim-figured, technology-themed demon who stands at approximately 7 feet.[6] He sports a flat-screen television for a head, with the monitor projecting eyes with red sclera, small cyan pupils and different-colored outlines - black for his right and cyan for his left. The screen also shows a mouth full of sharp, cyan-colored teeth and a long pointed tongue similar to Valentino's but cyan. Sometimes what looks like blood seems to drip out of his mouth.
He appears to have dark navy-blue skin with sharp, cyan claw-like fingers.
Vox wears a navy-blue tuxedo with the jacket sporting coattails, red-trimmed cyan lapels, thin cyan stripes and cyan lining, worn over a red-and-black striped waistcoat which itself is worn over a collared bluish-white shirt with an upside-down broadcast symbol and a rather large, red bowtie. He also wears heeled dark gray dress shoes with cyan-colored laces, toes, and tips on the heels.
He also wears a black top hat on his head, with red and blue designs reminiscent of a broadcast symbol and radio wave symbol, respectively. He has TV antenna that stick out the top of the hat, the right one bent into a zigzag.
Pilot
In the Pilot, Vox's appearance is nearly the same, but with some noticeable differences; his eyebrows are different-colored (aqua-blue right and cyan left), the blood-like substance appears to be permanent, and his left eye is always seen with black spirals.
He also appeared to have wrinkles located on the right corner of his left eye, colored in the same color as the outline.
In addition to his clothing, his suit is a dark blue-gray with the jacket not sporting any coattails, and its lapels, while still being red-trimmed, is a darker gray-cyan. The jacket's linings are instead colored in a blue-gray.
His shirt is instead a faded daphne-blue, and his dress shoes instead sport thin cyan stripes above the soles.
Personality
Vox is an egotistical, charismatic, and manipulative showman of an Overlord who craves attention.[7] To the public, Vox presents himself as a legitimate businessman of VoxTek Enterprises, giving the facade of a man of the people to the denizens of Hell, when in truth, he is power-hungry, and he manipulates their minds to boost his reputation. He is very intelligent and technology-savvy, and he is always keeping up with the latest trends and technology.[8] He seems to be able to hide his less desirable side in public and even in private unless he's pushed too far.
Despite his egocentric nature, Vox is loyal to the interests of his fellow Overlords and seeks to maintain their collective image of power. As the most level-headed member, Vox often acts as the de facto leader of the Vees. Claiming the Vees' brand to be "perfection", he is often frustrated or outright angered if someone can jeopardize it, such as when he reigns in his fellow Vee, Valentino, from attacking the Hazbin Hotel in response to Angel Dust living there. Another element that earns his ire is his rival, Alastor, whom he utterly despises and might be intimidated by as he sees Alastor as a threat to his plans. However, despite his immense hatred for Alastor, Vox doesn't let it override his more pragmatic side. He fully knows Alastor's power and doesn't risk underestimating him.
In "The Show Must Go On", he takes pleasure and joy out of seeing people fight and trying to kill each other, which causes him to get verbally explicit and overly honest, as seen when he along with Valentino and Velvette watch the fight between Adam and Alastor at the Hotel, saying that he got hard and that the fight is better than sex. He even shows this sadistic joy when he sees Alastor lose to Adam but gets angry when Alastor flees.
Abilities
- Electrokinesis - Depending on his emotions, Vox possesses the ability to control electricity. If he's angered, he can potentially make it so that a Hell-wide blackout happens.[note 3] He caused a blackout to Pentagram City in "Radio Killed the Video Star" when he was overwhelmed by Alastor's taunts.
- Electricity transformation - Vox can turn into electricity,[9] which he can use to move around or enter and travel through electronic devices such as security cameras, watches and television monitors that he can control as he pleases. There are a few flaws to this: the place Vox wants to go has to have some form of modern technology he could go through as he apparently can't teleport through an old-style radio. He also physically can't do anything outside said device.
- Spark generation - He can create sparks from his fingertips, which can be used to ignite and/or light something, like when he lit Valentino's cigarette in "Radio Killed the Video Star". He can even generate sparks on his body, especially when he is angry. He also causes what looks like a small surge or ripple of electricity to appear through the floor during Stayed Gone from his feet. It is hard to tell if this is part of the spark generation or a separate ability entirely.
- Hypnosis - In "Radio Killed the Video Star", it is shown that with his left eye, he uses hypnosis to keep his audience drawn into his program and keep their interest.
- Communication - He can receive calls from people such as Velvette with his screen head similar to calling on a phone. He can transfer the call to another device.
- Video playing - Vox can play videos on his face.
- Electronic device synchronizing - He can plug himself into other devices with the help of cables.
- Scrying - As shown in the prequel comic, A Day in the Afterlife, Vox is seemingly able to see through other screens, appearing to stare directly at Alastor while projecting into the TV display of a window-fronted store. He appears to need to be plugged into a device to do this.
- Self-replication - Vox was shown to be able to make clones of himself in "Radio Killed the Video Star" during Stayed Gone. However, he has only displayed the ability on television and it is unknown if he can do it physically.
- Acoustokinesis - He can manipulate the sound of his voice to sound more intimidating. He can also generate different sound effects such as echoing voices and the sound of a winning game machine.
Skillset
- Musical Talent - Vox has shown to be a talented singer.
- Dancing - Vox can perform amazing dance routines, like handling complicated moves to even being able to hold Valentino, a taller sinner, into a dip.
- Charisma and manipulation - The reason why Vox is a successful entrepreneur is that he can use his charm to manipulate others into buying his products even without his hypnosis powers, such as acting as he cares about his customers and making up products on the spot not even in production yet. He even uses this to successfully calm down Valentino to prevent further damage.
- Technology intuition - Being a businessman and head of VoxTek, Vox has great understanding of technology, allowing him to use his electrical powers to their full potential.
Gallery
Trivia
- His name may refer to the word "vox", a shortened form of the word "vocals", or from the Latin word "vox", meaning "voice". It may also be a portmanteau of "video" and "aux" (an abbreviation of audio), which are the two main components of television.
- Vivziepop and pilot co-writer Dave Capdevielle confirmed that Vox is one of the bigger antagonists in the series.[5]
- Faustisse stated that Vox was Caucasian while living, later also joking that he was "white, like really emphasizing the phlegm in your throat white".[note 4]
- Faustisse described Vox as being a dominating force when it comes to technology.[note 5]
- According to Vivziepop, Vox and Alastor do not get along due to their opposing views on technology, with Alastor disliking anything invented after he died in the 1930s, and Vox embracing new technology.[1]
- Vox's company was first revealed in the The Radio Demon comic, albeit unnamed at the time. It was also shown that the company sells products that start with the letter "V", including a cereal named "Voot Floops", a candy bar named "VV", a speaker named "Valkyrie", and a music app named "Vogitek".
- He is shown in The Radio Demon comic to be one of the few beings that can make Alastor swear. In the comic, Vox hijacks a TV signal to make his face appear across a storefront display that Alastor is watching. Alastor leaves, quietly swearing under his breath in a tirade against Vox.[10]
- According to Faustisse, Vox can play videos on his screen/face.[note 7]
- When asked what TV shows Vox would like, Vivziepop stated Vox does not have a specific favorite when it comes to his preferences for TV shows, but that he likes to watch commercials and enjoys game shows.[11]
- As seen in "Radio Killed the Video Star", Vox's left eye gains several circles in its sclera and the pupil becomes light blue electricity-like whenever he feels strong emotion or is hypnotizing people. This is a reference to his old design in the pilot.
- There is a picture on Valentino's desk in "Radio Killed the Video Star" that shows Vox having an older-style box TV for a head rather than his current flat-screen TV head.
- Before its archiving on Instagram, Vox was the manager of the non-canon social media app, Voxtagram, which depicted him in non-canon activities and events.
- Faustisse has described Vox as not being a polite person,[note 8] but whether this is true or not is unknown.
- Chronologically, Vox is the oldest of the Vees.
Development
- Vivziepop mentioned in a tweet that when she thinks what kinds of music to inspire a character that Alastor might actively hate or oppose, Dubstep is the only genre that pops into her head.[13] She added in a reply that she started listening to Knife Party again and included a picture of Vox with an older-style television head beside Alastor,[14] which may be an earlier iteration of Vox or may allude to an older appearance of his as he died before flat-screen televisions were invented.
- Faustisse talked about Vivziepop using music artists such as Skrillex and Knife Party as inspiration for Vox's design.[note 9] Both of these are artists who do appear in Vivziepop's official Hazbin Hotel Spotify playlist.[15]
- Vivziepop's headcanon voice actor for Vox was Mark Hamill.[16]
References
- Notes
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