The Vogons are known for their universally terrible poetry. According to Marvin, they are also the worst marksmen in the galaxy.

Vogons are vaguely humanoid, though they are bulkier than humans and have an odd, pear-shaped build and green skin. One of their most distinguishing features is their highly domed nose which rises high above their small, piggy foreheads. They have been described as having "as much sex appeal as a road accident".

The Guide details the history of the Vogons, saying that billions of years ago, after the Vogons crawled out of the primeval seas of Vogsphere, it was "as if the forces of evolution had simply given up on them then and there, turned aside in disgust and written them off as an ugly mistake". They never evolved again, and their appearance hasn't changed in the billion, billion years since.

(as reported by Ford Prefect)
"Vogons are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. Their Constructor Fleet ships lok as if they have been not so much designed, as congealed. Uglier things have been spotted in the skies, but not by reliable witnesses. In fact, to see something uglier than a Vogon ship you would have to go inside and look at a Vogon or worse, inside one. Anatomical analysis of the Vogon reveals that its brain was originally a badly deformed,misplaced and dyspeptic liver. Consequently, thinking is not really something Vogons are cut out for. The fairest thing you could say, then, is that they know what they like; and what they like mostly involves hurting people and, whereever possibly getting ver angry. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders – signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. The best way to get a drink out of a Vogon is to stick your finger down his throat, and the best way to irritate him is to feed his grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. On no account should you allow a Vogon to read poetry at you.

"Far back in prehistory, when the first primeval Vogons crawled out of the sea, evolution gave up on them. Through sheer obstinacy, though, the Vogons survived. They have survived due to their thick-willed stubbornness. When pondering evolution, the Vogons simply said: 'who needs it?' What nature refused to do for them they simply did without until such time as they were able to rectify the grosser anatomical inconveniences with surgery. The Vogons have no appreciation for art of beauty, being known to smash the Scintillating Jewelled Scuttling Crabs that also originate from Vogsphere. They cut down their trees to use as firewood for cooking and eating these crabs, and they would catch and sit on the elegant gazelle-like creatures that also lived alongside them on their home planet."

Vogon poetry is described as "the third worst poetry in the Universe" (behind that of the Azgoths of Kria and that of Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings, the latter of whom was destroyed when the Earth was demolished).

The Vogons spent their years unhappily on Vogsphere until they discovered the principles of interstellar travel. Within a few short Vog years every Vogon had migrated to the Megabrantis cluster, the political hub of the galaxy. Since then they have formed the powerful backbone of the Galactic Civil Service. Also, some of the young Vogons join the Vogon Guard Corps, which gives them "dashing" uniforms and allows for promotion opportunities such as Senior Shouting Officer.

The Vogons were employed to facilitate an intergalactic highway construction project, and destroyed the Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Arthur and Ford found themselves in the company of Vogons on board one of the ships in the Vogon Constructor Fleet, after they had used an Electronic Thumb to hitchhike off the surface of Earth seconds before its untimely end. The Vogons treat them with hostility, and Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz tortures them with his poetry before ordering a Vogon guard to throw them out of the air lock, which they ultimately, and improbably, survive.

A Vogon Constructor Fleet is a group of ships used by the Vogons to destroy planets. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy states that it is impossible to hitch a lift on a Vogon Constructor Fleet, however Vogons have become so rich they can afford to employ Dentrassis as chefs on their ships. The Dentrassis hate Vogons, and frequently allow hitchhikers to come aboard, just to annoy them. A Vogon Constructor Fleet was used to destroy Earth, led by the ship known as the Business End. The Business End is commanded by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz. The ships in the fleet are yellow and hang in the air the way that bricks don't.

Most craft give a nod, however brief and unfriendly, towards beauty. Vogon ships do not nod towards beauty. They pull on ski masks and mug beauty in a dark alley. Vogon cruisers do not so much travel through space as defile it and toss it aside. The Business End is top of the range. She might not win any pageants, but she can wipe out the entire population of a world with a variety of advanced weaponry.