I've noticed something since the finale and wonder if others have too..
In season 1, people kept saying, "Vaggie isn't an interesting character because all she is is Charlie's girlfriend." Then we learned the exorcist stuff in late season 1 and it came up again in season 2. Now I've seen, "Vaggi isn't an interesting character because all she is is Charlie's exorcist girlfriend." Like you guys just immediately moved the goalpost, huh? 👀
I want her to have more individual focus as much as anyone, but the show literally gave them something other than "Charlie's girlfriend" and they just lumped it into their same argument like it's nothing.
Now that I’ve finally gotten the chance to sit down and answer this, let me start with a simple answer: they find the writing for her character boring, so they want to discredit every single thing about her.
Now for the long answer: I haven't seen any "Vaggi is now just Charlie's Exorcist girlfriend" takes because I refused—and still refuse—to look in Vaggi's tag on Tumblr or go on Twitter to read other people's thoughts on Vaggi. Why? Well, I know that people are just going to say something along the lines of the aforementioned take. You see, anon, people in this fandom view Vaggi as an easy target to hate on, and I'm going to break down just why in this long explanation.
Vaggi is a lesbian woman of color. We know how misogynistic this fandom is, so it isn't a shock that people are hating on Vaggi for apparently "being nothing more than Charlie's (Exorcist) girlfriend" like they do Millie in Helluva Boss, but I want to raise a question to that: why is Vaggi the target of such criticism and vitriol, yet Husk gets none of that (that I've seen)? He's widely beloved by the fandom. Husk is my favorite male character in the Hellaverse, but one has to ask why he gets such a pass for being nothing more than Angel's love interest that happens to be a bartending ex-Overlord?
This is where the lesbophobia and misogyny comes in. We all saw how people lost their minds (in a bad way) when the song and scene for 'Easy' came out, and how people misinterpreted it as they gave bad faith arguments about it (mostly from fans of a certain ship. Ahem.). As Sam Haft, the co-writer for the song said, "This song exists in a place of romance, but also in a place of fun. And speaking as a partner who is sometimes prone to anxiety, there are times it is important your partner validates you, and there are times it is important that your partner gets you out of your head. And this song is a really fun example of the latter."
A woman who was trying to calm her partner down and reassure her while doing it, being twisted into some negligent r@pist, is beyond disgusting. The same people that claimed to hate it had no problem re-drawing their favorite mlm and mlw ships in the scene, so...we can gather that their problem with the scene wasn't the nature and context of the scene itself, but rather the two women in it.
That's just one example. Another example is how the effects of Husk's alcoholism gets touched on a smidge in 'Scream Rain' when he sings 'Love in a Bottle' and gets blackout drunk almost. Other than being an alcoholic ex-Overlord bartender, he's just Angel's love interest so far—and that isn't a bad thing because next season, I'm sure we'll get more of his past. That's fine and dandy with me, but as we saw with the finale, he'll be missing Angel. My fellow H*skerdust fans found this cute and interesting...but why is it "cute and interesting" for Husk, whereas if it were Vaggi in his shoes, she'd get all sorts of hate for only "revolving around Charlie" again and "not having anything outside of her relationship to focus on?"
As you've said, anon, Vaggi's past showed up in both seasons so far, and it's not gonna stop there; we've seen her be exiled from all she knew, and prior to that, we see she had some sort of connection with another Exorcist before her abandonment in Hell. Stephanie said Vaggi's insecurities and fears would be touched on in future seasons, so it would be nice if people would stop being so impatient. Her arc isn't going to wrap up in only two seasons with eight episodes each. Not only that, but Vaggi had been running the hotel as Charlie was trying to handle her own public image, and was tapping into self-identity by trying to find a new name for herself. One could argue that Vaggi and Husk were both only there for Charlie and Angel's plots, respectively, but in my opinion, Vaggi was doing a bit more than Husk. Also, I have reason to believe that if Husk and Angel had done 'Easy' instead, these complaints would not exist—and if they did, they wouldn't go to the extreme of accusing one of the men of being a r@pist.
This is not a Husk or H.skerdust hate post. I love both, and I also love pointing out fandom bias and hypocrisy. If I missed something or anyone has something they want to add/discuss, please feel free.
To add onto the lesbophobia and misogyny, this fandom is very racist. Like, very racist. Vaggi's justifiable anger in the pilot—and sometimes even in season one—was constantly reduced to her being an "angry Latina stereotype" because, y'know, Latinas can't just simply feel emotions or anything. They must keep their reactions in check no matter how justified they are in expressing anything other than mind-numbing happiness (sarcasm). Vaggi's anger also has people calling her "unlikeable" and a "bitch" and "annoying." But you know who doesn't get this kind of response for doing the same things on an even higher and worse level? You all know her name: lute.
Whether it's an unpopular opinion thread or just a thread discussing her in general, damn near the only thing I see people saying about her is that she's "hot." Listen, I'm not a lute fan in the slightest, but I find it pretty sad and superficial that her appearance is seemingly the only thing about her character that people want to focus on. Even if she is being 'called out' (and I say that loosely), they will still bring her looks up in the discussion—as if it erases her evil behavior or makes her actions okay. Her being a straight-passing white woman that has a close relationship with a straight-passing white male also plays into that, and we know how mlw ships are treated in comparison to wlw ships. And no, this isn't me saying you can't find her attractive; my point is, if all you can do is talk about her looks, then, perhaps, you like her for the wrong reason(s).
Vaggi can be called every name in the book by this fandom because of her co-dependency on Charlie, yet lute and her co-dependency on Adam gets nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Take a gander at this screenshot of a post that I came across:
(And I don't care if you disagree—do not send hate to this person. They asked a great question and I responded to it.) As I said in a previous ask, I'm not surprised that the straight-passing white man and straight-passing white woman get less flack and more excuses made for them than the Latina lesbian. Lute's role as Adam's second-in-command that's experiencing psychosis is sympathized with because she sang a song that people like about getting revenge on her victims. She can be as hypocritical as she wants and sing about her doing what's right for Adam, yet people shit on Vaggi for her part in "Whatever It Takes." They're both singing about people they care for, so why is Vaggi getting the heat? Why does Vaggi's trauma get downplayed and ignored/invalidated while being seen as nothing more than bad and/or boring writing, but lute's is something people want to actually dissect and understand?
Vaggi is a relatively harmless, golden-hearted woman who only wants to make Charlie's dreams come true, and people hate her for it; but lute can disfigure her, be an evil bitch, and only focus on her desire to avenge Adam and no one bats an eye? Yeah, okay.
Have another screenshot from a post of mine that I made a few days ago:
I, too, want Vaggi to have her own focus as the show goes on—and I know she'll get that, but the way I've seen individuals speak about her is nothing short of concerning. And I may have been harsh on lute in this response, but even I know she'll get some backstory to her relationship with Adam and why she's acting the way she is; the thing is, even though I'm not a fan of her at all, I can still put that aside and acknowledge that the audience is obviously going to get some insight into her. Why can't Vaggi haters do the same? (Yes, I know why. This whole post explains why, haha.)
This may not make a lot of sense and may seem like a bunch of rambling since it is a little after three in the morning, but the point is, the goalpost will always move when it comes to this fandom's expectations of Vaggi because lesbophobia, misogyny, and racism all play a role in the mischaracterization (intentional or otherwise) of her character.
