🐇 they/them・asexual・aroace
🌙 Korean & American
☁️ ao3・bsky・한국어, 영어 둘다 ok!
My friend Lace and I take turns dragging each other into different fandoms, ahaha. Like…
(a) transformers (b) hazbin hotel
All blogs under the dallacuna network are 18+ and may feature content you may find personally objectionable, such as violence, sexual content, abusive dynamics, other taboo or transgressive themes, unconventional headcanons, opinions that run contrary to popular fanon, and sudden in-depth forays into matters of Korean to English translation. Common side effects include: blocking or muting as needed for your own personal enjoyment. The network is not covered by most insurance plans.
Directory:
If you're looking for a one-stop shop for all my posts, this is the blog for you! All of my original posts will be reblogged to this main hub. I will also be reblogging content from fandoms that do not have a dedicated sideblog. However, for the most part, I will only reblog content for fandoms I have made secondaries for to the relevant sideblogs.
Fandom Tags
ALNST | Alien Stage Aono-Kun FKMT (Akagi/Kaiji/Ichijou etc.) Hazbin Hotel (wasian vox) TF | Transformers (TFA, TFP) seinen shoujosei
Topic Tags
AO3 BDSM/RACK Fandom Culture Korean Commentary Purity Culture Tag Wrangling
Organizational Tags
(Note: These will be empty on this blog until my queue finishes posting—search these on Tumblr instead)
Microsoft is so cruel to me -gave me a mandatory Windows Update last night while I was sleeping and corrupted files so now I am fixing my PC instead of writing like I want to-
The Song of a Sad Ghost who Wanted to become Someone with a Lot of Money
Hi, I just really want this song to be appreciated by a wider audience, thank you… From Shinbi's Haunted House, sung by Kim Myungjoon.
"Thank you! Please come again"
"Heehee! Nice, I got the last one, hooray!"
"Huh?" [mint choco spicy shrimp]
A apartment with a Han River view
Probably doesn't have mold, right?
In the half-basement one-room
There's a cockroach here with me
The convenience store triangle kimbaps
I'm sick to death of them
The cramped subway of my commute
I don't want to smell the sweat of it anymore
If I experience something unfair
With no one backing me, guess I'll get the short end of the stick
Mom, please tell me
That you were a building owning landlady!!!
What crime did I commit in my past life~
For this one to end this way???
When I'm sad, I wish I could blow my nose with money
And get rhinitis from it!
"All I have to my name is money—!!"
I want to try shouting that just once!!!
On a penthouse terrace
I want to grill and eat ribeye…
Even without any problems at work
"What's with that face!!"—I got scolded for that
Father, please tell me
That you won the lottery!!!
What crime did I commit in my past life~
For this one to end this way??????
Designer luxuries I have stored in my wardrobe
I want to try throwing them out to people for free
"All I have to my name is money—!!"
I want to try shouting that just once!!
When I crave ramen, I wish I could fly to Japan
And eat Tonkotsu Ramen~~~
[crying]
[agonized scream]
[agonized screaming louder]
What I want isn't that much…
Just to win the top prize in the lottery!
Please put it in my bank account
After tax net-income 50 billion won!
All I was lacking was money
So why the hell was it so hard?
Finding my dream, without worrying about money
I want to try living like that just once…
In my next life, I want to be 2nd generation chaebol
about the murder protege AU!! : how did they meet and find out they're both murderers ? Al seems to know Vincent's Mom to some degree, so is he perhaps a friend of his parents ? :3
Also who's the better murderer between them?
I believe Lace is planning on uploading some sparknotes on the premise that'll give a broader picture! But to get you started:
The premise of Murder Protege AU is that Alastor is an established radio host in 1950s NYC who moonlights as a—or perhaps it's more that he's a hobbyist—serial murderer. Vincent, on the other hand, is just a teenage boy whom Alastor saw 'potential' in. Alastor witnesses Vincent, on a family camping trip, letting a man die under a rockslide and then play innocent, and then the two officially meet when Alastor approaches him.
In this AU, Alastor comes to know Vincent's mother after he meets Vincent! They justify their relationship as Vincent being an intern at Alastor's radio station (though that comes with its fair share of other frictions that are better off in a separate post), so on paper, Alastor is somewhat of an employer and mentor figure—though what he's really mentoring Vincent in is the art of murder.
So the question of who's the better murderer, the more seasoned is definitely Alastor! He's the one who knows how to get started, how to go through with it, how to enjoy it. But "better" depends on what metric.
The way Lace and I interpret Alastor, we think he isn't as fastidious as he would like us to believe, and he only gets away with his crimes in the first place because of the lackluster state of criminal investigation in the time period. Based on how we've set up their backstories, we also imagine Vincent to have had more access to formal education than Alastor, and for this to allow Vincent to better keep an eye on the rapidly advancing field of forensic science and surveillance technology, leading to situations like this art by Lace, ahaha.
A matching Vincent pinup to go with Cock and Balls Suspension Alastor LOL Full view in Technicolour on my bsky!! :D And a periodic reminder that this is an 18+ blog!
Actually you SHOULD make problematic content. You SHOULD explore dark or taboo topics. You SHOULD have a space where you can cope with your traumas or explore sensitive topics in a way that doesn't hurt anyone.
Also you should make problematic content for funsies. You don't need to have had trauma or need to be coping in order to explore dark creativity. You can just be a human who wants to explore dark and taboo topics because you want to. That's completely normal, btw.
Every single person on this planet thinks about dark and taboo things. It's literally the most normal thing in the world.
I know you said you think Vox isn't fluent in Korean, but is he largely able to understand spoken Korean? Or is there a limit to how much spoken Korean he can understand also?
Outsourced this answer to my co-conspirator @dallacuna-b, who is Korean themself and, that aside, has more linguistic experience than I do! (Plus it’s nice to delegate when chronic pain is beating my ass LMAO)
Lacuna: This is a good question, but one with a that needs a lot of context and nuance. The answer to this depends on two different variables: Historic Context, and Social Context.
To keep it brief, on the historical side, as established in the canon of the show, it's been around, possibly more than 70 years since Vox died and went to hell. That's a lot of time for language to change. Take for example, just English. Even though we can understand the bulk of English from the 40s and 50s, there are some things we would wholly misunderstand without context. Take, for instance, these famous panels from Batman #66 The Joker's Comedy of Errors! (1940):
These mean something very different to us now! Given that we have no reason to believe that Vox spoke Korean in those years, that's a long time for a language to become almost impossible to follow. Heck, we see that with internet slang every day.
Further, if Vox died in the 50s as is, I believe, at least Word of God established, this means that he died either immediately prior to, during, or after the bulk of the Korean War (which is technically still ongoing, aha)—this means that the Korean he would have known is not only 70 years old, it's from a country that no longer exists as we know it.
Since the Korean peninsula was split into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK / North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (ROK / South Korea) in 1945, and then signed the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953, the two cultures have been relatively isolated from each other and developed along completely different tracks—language included. These differences can be seen in both the vocabulary and the cadence of how they speak. In the second video from about 13 years ago, the narrator is speaking Seoul broadcasting dialect, and the woman in the video is speaking the most common North Korean broadcasting dialect. I'm not sure if non-Korean people can hear it, but the difference in cadence and emphasis is quite distinct to a Korean ear.
This isn't even touching upon the fact that even in modern North/South Korea, regional dialects can be incredibly difficult for people from other regions to understand! At least in South Korea, this forces everyone from other provinces to learn the Seoul Dialect, which is the one that everyone worldwide is probably most familiar with through kmedia, ahaha. I won't get too into this, but this video gives a decent snapshot of how different they can be.
Then there is, of course, social context. When Lace and I headcanon Vox as wasian, we're doing it within the context of actual US history, meaning that we take into consideration period-typical discrimination. Given the historical tumult of the 1930s onwards for Asian-Americans, it makes sense to us that Vincent, in his desire to assimilate into White Americana, would forgo his Korean heritage as much as possible. This seems likely to us, given that it's a pattern of behavior we see continue even through the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even into the 21st Century, when the stakes for East Asians weren't nearly so high (though discrimination continues on in its new forms).
It's a common story in any immigrant community, but very much so in Asian-American communities, that the children of first-generation immigrants either lose touch with, or never learn, their parent's native language, to the point where there are countless songs and essays written about it (Lace: It happened to me ^_T), but here's one from a Korean person who gives some context as to why, although I emphasize that this is one person's experience and that other people's—including mine—are very different. (And as a linguist, ignore where they say Korean is an altaic language!! That is a widely rejected theory.)
So given all this, in our headcanon, whatever Korean Vincent would have known is limited to what his mother would have used with him, which was an older form of Korean to begin with, and a language he has had little contact with in seven decades. Given the time period, he was disincentivized from using the language, and most likely he went all-in on a mastery of English that let him become the broadcasting star we know him to be. Given internalized racism, there's likely little reason or motive for him to pursue a connection with Korean culture post-death either.
God all this and I didn't actually answer your question ahaha, but what I'm getting at is, I think that he probably can't understand spoken Korean, especially modern spoken Korean. Maybe an old nostalgic word here or there, buried deep in his memory, but even that depends on what dialect is being spoken! I personally think if he wants to understand Korean, forgoing any fantastical intervention, he'll practically be starting from scratch.
Lace: I think prior to losing his Overlord status (I think) in the S2 finale, he could download language packs, though…
MY WISH WAS GRANTED OH MY GOD!!! yep im going insane. The way Alastor thinks about Vincent is so omg. I think Alastor is on his way to Not Being Normal about him. Also I love the way that he lowkey knows Vincent has a crush on him (obvious as ever lmao) but is just not acknowledging it. But lowkey i think he feeds into it. I hope im not reading too much into that part. Fucking radio voice. Yes Alastor it is your fault. Also the end bit where Alastor slides a bit into his hair? Oh my god? I just know Vincent's gonna be thinking about that for a while and I will be too. Also I REALLY wanna know the story of the deer snare and the palm gash. Im so curious. Also that para about Vox being mismatched? Hdkdhdkfbsksvdkdbskhd. I love this AU.
NOTE: im gonna leave this as a comment on the post too
I have to answer this as a reblog because I can't send replies, but!! Thank you so much for this kind and thoughtful comment. I'll say that you've accurately picked up on a lot of Lace and I intended, which is always reassuring from the writer's standpoint ^^
One of the challenges in writing this from Alastor's POV is that we interpret him as an unreliable narrator, so his words and conscious thoughts aren't to be as trusted as his actions and his subconscious choices (e.g. where his attention drifts, what he notices, what he makes a point of downplaying, etc.)
We tried to leave hints on that level, so it makes me happy to know that people are trying to read into it and analyze it to that depth. Thank you again for taking the time comment—lovely thing to wake up to ♡
[Murder Protege AU] Youths Think Up the Darndest Things!
An official continuation of @lace-hazbin's comic here!
Writers: Lacuna & Lace
Rating: Mature (non-explicit, but I'd prefer minors not interact with my work!)
Words: ~1.5k
cw: non-sexual age gap, non-sexual grooming, self-inflicted violence, references to period-typical racism
It was a fair solution. The sprinkling of blood on Vincent’s clothes was sparse enough to not cause alarm, so long as the boy had a bloody nose to go with it. The stray droplets on his trousers and shoes, Alastor supposed, could be chalked up to an inopportune sneeze. Still, it wasn’t the kind of idea he would have expected from a sixteen-year-old boy—even knowing Vincent Whittman to be that vicious creature who once watched the light leave a grown man’s eyes with vengeful glee, well, this was beyond the pale! If nothing else, his Vincent was certainly one of a kind.
Alastor does imagine it for a moment, of course, a forbidden flicker through the mind. He feels the resistance of cartilage against his grasp, the crack that would resound through the fine bones of his fingers. His hands twitch at the imagined heat of Vincent’s blood spilling over his skin, and just as quickly, he dismisses the thought in its entirety. What a fine, fine mess that would be, on top of everything else!
He schools his expression, tidying the corners of errant feeling as he contemplates the best way to express, ‘No, Vinny dear, we will not be breaking your nose today,’ in a manner that sounds less patently absurd.
“Ha! Hilarious,” is what he settles on, a dry drawl with a meaningful cant of his head. In the stuffy confines of the utility closet, it brings their faces almost too close, even accounting for their difference in height. From this distance, he can smell the faint citrus of the Brylcreem in Vincent’s hair, worn from a day’s runaround. “But perhaps we save the jokes for less pressing circumstances, hm?”
Alastor keeps his voice low, wary of the cops who could still be outside, but he has a voice made for radio, and it’s far from his fault if his tone gives the illusion of intimacy. Usually, it’s enough to have Vincent meekly accede to whatever he says. Usually.
“I’m not kidding, Mr. Al,” the boy this time insists, face a three-cent stamp of well-meaning earnestness—but he’s getting that glint in his eyes again, both the hazel and the blue, that Alastor’s grown all too familiar with. It’s the look of a dog with a bone between its teeth, stubbornness taking hostage of its good nature. “Look, I know it’s maybe a little much, but… It’s not like it won’t heal, right?”
“There is a chance it won’t heal right,” Alastor counters, words levied by a huff of laughter. Does Vincent even know what he’s asking for, he wonders? Alastor thinks not, or this conversation wouldn’t be necessary to begin with. He knows for a fact that the worst his boy has ever been injured was a rather deep gash across the palm, when his sweat-slicked grip slid up the blade of Alastor’s hunting knife as it caught bone. As well as Vincent had coped then, a facial fracture was a beast of a different color.
Dear, oh dear—clearly it falls upon Alastor, once again, to be the responsible adult.
He reaches out and places each of his hands gently, but broadly, over Vincent’s shoulders. Warmth fills his palms, dense and alive, even through the soft buffer of the boy’s sweater vest. Not a single pill in that wool—Ms. Shin is truly a mother worth her salt, the doting woman. “Listen to me, Vincent,” Alastor says, coaxing. “As happy as I am that you trust me, what sort of role model would I be if I didn’t look out for your safety?”
From this close, he can feel the air buzz as heat rises to Vincent’s face, obvious as ever, though Alastor pays it no heed. The boy’s expression, however, betrays his skepticism as he snorts, “Says the one who let me step into a deer snare.”
“That was different,” Alastor quips back, waving the comparison away. The theatre of it lands and earns a chuckle out of Vincent, who remains softly smiling as his mentor’s hand returns to its comfortable perch on his shoulder. Alastor’s own grin ticks up at the corners, indulging in at least this small victory, though he really doesn’t know what they’re going to do about the blood on the boy’s clothes.
Where there’s smoke, there’s a fire; where there’s blood, there’s a source. Alastor knows from experience that without sufficient excuse, red stains linger in memories as much as they do on cloth, and the next thing you know, when the pigs come skulking about, some old neighborhood biddy will be quick to recall drops of ruby on a shirtsleeve. Clearly, they’re going to have to start carrying two changes of clothes, but that’s hardly a solution for today.
He just needs a moment’s quiet to think this through. Unfortunately, that’s when his protégé decides to pipe up again.
“Still, Mr. Al, it’s not like we have any other options,” Vincent says, lifting his chin in what could only be a show of defiance, and Alastor has to mind his hands, untensing them from their sudden harsh grip. His smile grows prim as Vincent studies him intensely for one moment, two, before throwing up his gaze—and palms—in frustration. “Augh, come on, Mr. Al, you choose now of all times to get sentimental?”
Alastor’s irritation spikes. “Now, Vincent—”
“You know I’m right, you—fine! I’ll just do it then,” the boy says, then grumbles under his breath, “If you’re gonna be such a piker about it…”
“Excuse me?”
As Alastor considers raising his voice, Vincent sets about raising his hand. He gives Alastor no time to react as he abruptly slams the heel of his palm against his own nose. He jolts hard, then, clutching his face in pain. His glasses are knocked askew, fingers smudging prints all over the lenses that he lacked the wherewithal to take off first. “Ow, shoot—”
Alastor’s hands have wound their way into his own hair, but he lets go as a familiar simmer builds under his skin, outraged at Vincent’s mutiny. The only thing that tempers his rage from boiling over is that he’s almost impressed by the boldness of it. He suppresses the urge to laugh at the audacity.
The boy winds up for a second blow and Alastor scoffs in disbelief, grabbing his wrist before this lunacy can go any further. “Stop,” he snaps, voice cleared of its previous indulgence as he seizes Vincent by the chin. “Fuck, kid, let me see.”
He leads with his grip, turning Vincent’s head this way and that. Though it’s difficult to make out in the darkness, he can tell there’s no blood, and no visible mutilation. What a farce! Foolhardy enough to try and break his own nose, but scared enough to pull the punch. It would be almost cute if it weren’t breathtaking in its stupidity. This time, Alastor does laugh.
“I’ll say, darling, this doesn’t inspire confidence as to what you do out of my sight!” he murmurs, merriment mocking, and Vincent finally has the sense to look ashamed. He attempts to avert his eyes, twisting his head, but Alastor doesn’t let him. He holds fast, letting his fingers press divots into the soft skin of Vincent’s jaw, young enough still to be yet unmarred by the coarseness of a beard.
By objective measure, Vincent was a boy of amenable countenance. There were those eyes, of course, so showy even from a distance. Decent cheekbones, mouth well-formed. He had a strong, defined nose around which the rest of his face was pleasantly situated, which was to say that any slight disfigurement of the nose would upend the balance of his features to an unsightly degree. Where would his poor boy be then? Half-blooded, odd-eyed, with a snout as crooked as the rest of him.
Alastor smiles a little broader than before.
“You win, Vincent,” he says, watching the anticipation blossom over the youth’s face. “We’ll do it your way.” He releases Vincent, stepping back to make what little space he can between them in their confinement, and continues, “Clearly, if I don’t do it, you’ll hurt yourself wrong.”
He beckons Vincent closer, away from the wall. The boy complies, visibly swallowing his nerves. Alastor’s grin is all teeth.
There’s room now for his hand, and he reaches behind Vincent to cup the back of his head, where the boy’s brunet locks are shortest and humid heat gathers at the base of his skull. The natural texture of Vincent’s hair, coarse but soft, bristles against Alastor’s palm, product worn thin with sweat.
Curious, Alastor presses in with his fingertips. He slides them up against the grain of Vincent’s hair, and Vincent shivers.
“It’s going to hurt, but I think you already know that,” he says, in the voice he reserves for radio—warm and melodious, for an audience of one. Vincent watches him with nervous, trusting eyes, and Alastor gazes right back, keen. He lifts his free hand to firmly grip the bridge of Vincent’s nose, feels how the cartilage resists against his hold.
“Now, I’ll count you down from three.”
(Special thanks to Squid on Bluesky for beta reading!)
What do you think of Vox's calling Spanish an "island language" in the context of him being Wasian? As an Asian myself (well sort of. Not the kind of Asian most Americans think of when they think of Asians tho), I'm well aware that Asians can certainly be racist, but this disparaging of Spanish felt like such a white thing to do? Is it more because Vox is fairly monolingual and sees that as a good thing?
It actually felt very Asian to me, ahaha—vividly reminded me of all my middle-aged relatives, same with the stupid maracas thing he did with Carmilla. I think him calling Spanish an “island language” could actually have more to do with the fact he’s from the East Coast (likely Baltimore, MD, from “Brighter”—because the team are musical theatre fans, I wonder if it’s a Hairspray reference): The closest Spanish-speaking places would be Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, all of which are islands!
But yeah, a lot of Asians (East, Southeast, West, and South alike 😭) are casually racist in an ignorant way, especially those that are westernised. A lot of them lean into the “model minority” myth, believing that if they adopt white mannerisms they’ll be more successful and garner more prestige and acceptance than their “unsophisticated” peers (brown and Black people). Asians are also racist towards each other, both due to historical scars and strong nationalism.
Saving the bulk of analysis for our powerpoint but it's also a fact that in the time he was alive, a wasian Vincent Whittman would have been facing a tremendous amount of anti-East Asian sentiment in the United States.
This sort of social denigration directly contributes to the leaning into of the "model minority" myth like Lace references above. It's an aspect of human nature—when different groups are near the bottom in terms of social hierarchy, there's a great deal of psychological pressure to go, "No, we're better than them" or "At least we're not them," to preserve one's own sense of pride, and to put one's own group a rung higher on the metaphorical ladder.
Another angle is that Vox calling Spanish an "island language" could be read through the lens of a successfully assimilated person of color judging another person of color for "assimilating wrong" or not at all. It takes on a different nuance from the xenophobia of White Americans, because this can sometimes come with an internalized sense of, "Life would be easier for you if you did it 'right,' so why don't you?"
Then there's always just the good ol' "parroting what you've heard before without ever stopping to examine it" to "I don't see what the problem/I didn't like being corrected, so I'm going to double down on it" stubbornness pipeline that I think is such a common experience from Asian relatives ahahaha
Can I ask something. Do you think at this point, Vox was being groomed as a tool for Alastor to use by whoever is the big bad in Hell? Cause we have seen in Helluva Boss that Goetias can effect the human world from Hell and even normal natives can possess human souls. so the strongest evil in Hell slowly brainwashing a powerhungry boy idolizing a serial killer ( who may have started idolize him based on his family who could had been his old producers)
Think about it. The talk about being a "God of Media", Starting a acts of worship that involve death after multitude of sins like the cannibal family that worship Satan ( but could had been a cover for Roo), willing to needlessly kill even when it wouldn't help him ( like how did killing the producers would had given him the position? It would had only succeeded in making him suspect #1 if the 1st 2 death didn't ). By the time Al came and went and came back, he was groomed into a suicide bomber for Roo. Whether it was to wipe out Heaven for her or kill all of Hell so she could claim all their souls and free herself to do it herself, he was a pawn from the start.
I mean for HELL'S SAKE, HE WAS DEVELOPING DEMONIC POWERS WITHOUT EVEN TOUCHING ANY SORT OF WITCHCRAFT ( JUST ACTING AS A CULT LEADER FOR POWER), IF THAT'S NOT PROOF SOMEONE WAS USING HIM IDK WHAT WILL.
(Note: This was originally a reply to my "Vox Mass Suicide Theory" post here!)
Oh, what an interesting idea! As fun a thought as that is, I think I don't personally believe that's the the case for Vox, not because it seems impossible in-narrative, but because it seems unlikely from a storytelling standpoint. This is long, so explanation below the cut!
Firstly, to explain my approach to this fandom, I actually don't watch Helluva Boss! All my theorizing is only based on the canon of Hazbin Hotel, i.e. what I see on screen for the official release of this specific show. I am also, personally, of the belief that as these two are presented as different shows, they should be coherent independently, and I do not feel compelled to go seek answers from Helluva Boss when I can't find them in Hazbin Hotel.
Secondly, reading your thoughts, I think my personal interpretation of Vox differs from yours! Though I have entertained the thought before, I don't think that Vox "idolizing a serial killer" is a necessary part of his character. I think of Vincent Whittman as a bad, possibly troubled, but charismatic and capable man who could easily decide to become a serial killer without any outside inspiration.
To round back to my point about the storytelling, the focus of the show Hazbin Hotel—despite the pleasant surprise of Season 2—is not actually about Vox or Alastor. It's supposed to be more about Charlie, the hotel, and the concept of redemption. To me, this means that to be telling its story properly, everything that happens in the show needs to be in service to Charlie, the hotel, or redemption.
I personally feel that making Vox a pawn in some larger, longform scheme that started decades before he even arrived in hell simultaneously a) pulls too much narrative focus to him, b) cheapens him as a character, c) cheapens the core themes of the story.
What is the point of a story about redemption when we strip characters of choices and agency, for instance? I feel that one of the villains of the show, who has flagged a Chekhov's gun for a future a plot point ("Do you think I could be redeemed?"), having a backstory where he was groomed into malice by the Root of All Evil, would run contrary to the the story's focus on redemption.
If Vox gets a redemption arc, it should be based on actions he freely chose, bad or good. For someone who's presented as a self-made man of great success, I personally feel that Vox having agency over his actions is incredibly important to his character. I also feel that, as a character whose personal arc is heavily tied to his interpersonal relationship with Alastor, tossing a third party into their dynamic on Vox's side muddies the waters—to me, their story is one that makes the most sense when Vox was being pure of intention and vulnerable, and Alastor is the one with more inscrutable motivations and influences.
As for your questions/comments, these are my thoughts:
like how did killing the producers would had given him the position?
My interpretation of that portion in "Brighter" was that Vincent wanted complete control over his own media presence. I don't think he killed the producers to steal their position, but perhaps by eliminating the producers, and then sabotaging all the other shows, Vincent felt he would be able to pressure "Bob," the owner of the network, to rely on him and his ideas.
It would had only succeeded in making him suspect #1 if the 1st 2 death didn't
You'd be surprised at what a person can get away with when you're charming! Especially when the murders that happened so far are unprecedented in society. Had there been some other incidents in that locale where someone murdered others to take their jobs and opportunities? If not, chances are no one would have thought of it, especially when the murder methods were all different + quite a few of them were staged to look like accidents.
If anything, with how good he is at spinning things, I expect the public sentiment was more like, poor Vincent! Surrounded by so much tragedy—thank god he's there to help fill the cracks while the studio figures out what to do. They're lucky to have him!
I mean for HELL'S SAKE, HE WAS DEVELOPING DEMONIC POWERS WITHOUT EVEN TOUCHING ANY SORT OF WITCHCRAFT ( JUST ACTING AS A CULT LEADER FOR POWER), IF THAT'S NOT PROOF SOMEONE WAS USING HIM IDK WHAT WILL.
If you mean the the section near the end of "Brighter" where the screens lit up with his red-black hypnosis patterns, I personally thought of that as metaphorical! Something the story was showing to the benefit of the reader, symbolically, rather than something actually happening in-narrative. A lot of the songs in the show operate on stylizing events to make cool visuals and convey strong emotions, which I think that section of "Brighter" handled very well!
So in my interpretation, Vincent Whittman didn't develop any demonic powers as a human. I view that all a symbolic representation of how that was the moment he was becoming the Vox we all know and love as a person.
In the end though, everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and theories and fandom experiences! I know I tend to be pretty rigid in my personal interpretations, and because my main hobby is writing for craft, I just tend to view things through the lens of, "Is this likely based on the story they're trying to tell?" in a way that isn't for everyone.
I really appreciate you reaching out with your ideas and opening a discussion though! I hope even if you don't agree with my opinions, it was at least a little bit fun to read.
The way Lacuna and I are deadass working on a powerpoint to explain why we believe based on canon Vox is a Wasian man (and yes him being a racist Christian-themed cult leader fixated on the American Dream™ makes him being half-Korean born in the 1910s to a white American dad even more plausible)
Lacuna and I have been trying to puzzle out what Alastor’s plan is since s02e04 dropped and our leading theory now is that based on the trailer (“Do you really think you’re powerful enough to take on all of heaven? You haven’t even proven that you’re the strongest in hell!” @ Vox), he’s trying to get Vox to surpass him as the most powerful sinner in hell so he can get out of Rosie’s contract and then use Charlie’s contract to steal her powers instead… Still no idea if this will happen but it would be sooo satisfying
He'd want out of his contract with Vox too but since they didn't discuss punishments I'm assuming if the contract breaks he just gets released...? Since he doesn’t seem to be facing any consequences from not fulfilling Rosie's contract aside from getting his powers nerfed and there was no discussion of taking anything from Vox if he touches Charlie... It would seem kinda cheap imo if he's able to steal Vox's soul or powers out of nowhere w/o prior discussion frm a contract break since that's not what the contract lore seems to even be so far
