Do you think fans just assume that Vox is a talentless hack because they just straightforwardly believe what Alastor says about him depending on other people (which Alastor himself doesn't even believe, otherwise why would his plan hinge on Vox becoming the strongest Sinner on his own?), or for some other reason?
I have seen people talk about Vox relying on others in a way that makes it sound like a bad thing, and people take various characters (especially the protagonists) at face value on all sorts of things. So that probably is part of it.
But I think the bigger issue is that way too many people look at the way he copies others, and instead of putting it in the context of the entire rest of his character (self-worth issues, reliance on external validation, always trying to be what he thinks people will like), they just interpret it as laziness and having nothing meaningful of his own to contribute.
Like, I go into the YouTube comments of any reprise Vox does, and all I see is people talking about how clever and thematically appropriate it is that he's always copying other people's songs, because "he can't do anything on his own and has no original ideas". No one talks about how clever it is that VOX DEI (translation: The Voice of God) reprises a piece from a character who declares himself "nearly a god" while lacking the power to do what he's threatening to do, or that Vox is taking elements of Lucifer's performance while facing down angels. But everyone rags on him for copying Lucifer (and Sera) in the first place.
Or you've got the people who fully believe that he's copying Alastor's look, even though his suit bears strong resemblance to the outfit he was wearing when he died, and the only similarities between his suit and Alastor's are the pinstripes, the shape of the lapels, and the fact that they both wear bowties. Sir Pentious also wears pinstripes, his lapels are also the same shape, and his bowtie is actually the same style and colors as Alastor's, but no one is accusing him of copying anyone.
A couple shared stylistic elements isn't copying. At most, Vox's current outfit is inspired by Alastor's, because under his jacket, he's wearing the same vest-and-shirt combo that's been his style for seven decades. And even calling it inspired is a stretch, because Alastor does not have a monopoly on pinstripes, Vox has stripes on most of his outfits, and his jacket is both a different style and worn differently than Alastor's.
Aesthetics aside, there is a difference between copying something for the sake of copying, and copying something because it works and putting your own spin on it. Vox might be copying Alastor's shadow tentacles with his cables, but where Alastor uses his primarily for fighting, Vox is constantly using his for all sorts of utilitarian things. He might be copying Alastor's elemental form/teleportation, but unlike Alastor, he can and does use his as an attack power. Most of the time he doesn't just imitate, he modifies and adapts.
On top of the copying thing, some people just refuse to give him credit for certain things, and I cannot see any reason for it beyond that they want him to be a joke (or they just believe Alastor's rhetoric). I've seen a lot of argument that he would have been scared when Lucifer showed up if he hadn't known he couldn't harm him, or that the angels weren't scared by his performance in VOX DEI. Never mind that he doesn't even flinch when an angelic spear is held to his chest, confronts the angels without a hint of fear after his initial surprise, and Lute is literally the only one of the four who isn't visibly shaken by the event (Sera being motivated by fear is literally a plot point).
People just. Fundamentally do not understand the mindset that leads someone to copy others even when they're demonstrably capable of doing their own thing, or the way it affects them to actively reject who they are because who they are isn't "good enough". Or the fact that some people have a shaky sense of identity to begin with, and have trouble not soaking up bits of everyone around them like a sponge. So they see a character with any of those traits and it's like. Yeah, he copies people because he's nothing on his own.
Which is exactly the sort of judgmental attitude that makes such issues worse IRL, and one of the many, many reasons the unchecked ableism in this fandom is becoming increasingly irksome.
