There are no hard and fast rules. Sometimes a specialty mic like the VR may be just what the doctor ordered, because it may sit well in a mix, or complement a specific instrument or voice. And the mic, with its colorful housing and gold basket, can be a great video prop, even it never sees battle action.
But, condensed from many professional users' opinions, it's safe to say that this mic does not have much sex appeal. It renders with narrow dimensionality, lacks in response speed, high frequency pleasantness, midrange authority, and robust, clear bass- all features its predecessor, the C12, possessed.
Yet, the VR can be useful for non-critical recordings in ways most Chinese copies of vintage mics cannot. The Teflon/Nylon ring capsule in the VR is quite an improvement in clarity over the original Teflon CK12 design that was used in "The Tube" - the otherwise identical predecessor of the C12VR.
As to construction: The mic is heavy, and as solidly built as "The Tube". Its internal mechanical construction is a big improvement over the original C12 from the 1950s. The low-noise-selected GE6072 Five Star tube can operate flawlessly for many years, and the power supply design guarantees drift-free supply voltages for years.
There's one other weak point of this mic, aside of its mediocre sound: C12VR tend to suffer from mechanical resonances because many components are not buffered or secured, so they vibrate when triggered by floor shock or strong SPLs, mixing low frequency resonances with the audio from the capsule.