‘The Legend of Vox Machina’ Season One Review – Is ‘Critical Role’ Cartoon-worthy?
The entire first season of The Legend of Vox Machina is available to stream now on Amazon Prime. Is there a future in animated D&D?
Critical Role has been streaming weekly D&D sessions for you to enjoy from home and become one of the most popular ways for fans to enjoy D&D without playing themselves. Staring friends and professional performers and voice actors, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, and DM Matthew Mercer, Critical Role has seen massive success as streaming web-show and podcast.
So when a Kickstarter campaign was kicked off to turn one of their adventures, The Legend of Vox Machina, into an animated series? It was no surprise that the campaign was backed and then some. And then a whole lot.
The Chaotic Good
There’s a lot to like about The Legend of Vox Machina. For those of us with little to no Critical Role knowledge going in, the animated series is surprisingly approachable. And for those of us with a D&D background, it also manages to capture the same feeling as a game played with friends. Which makes sense, because that’s exactly what it is.
On a technical level, everything is very watchable, if not enjoyable. Between a fitting and clean animation style, and a score that’s half score half jokes, Vox Machina successfully walks the line between serious high fantasy and the kind of low-brow table humor your buds are probably making with their own characters.
And of course the voice acting is top notch. The main cast is, naturally, all very skilled at portraying their characters, but there are a ton of other characters, too. While it would have been hilarious for DM, Matt Mercer, to play every single NPC, he only plays a bunch of them. Instead The Legend of Vox Machina brought on some of the biggest talents in voice acting to join the game. Stephanie Beatriz, David Tennant, and Rory McCann are just a few of the guest stars for your nerdy voice acting bingo card.
The Chaotic Evil
Courtesy of Amazon Prime
Unfortunately, to say that the first episode is difficult is an understatement. For viewers who aren’t already established fans, the series is something between a lot and a total turn-off. The same things that make The Legend of Vox Machina feel like an actual D&D campaign in a good way, also make it feel like an actual D&D campaign in a bad way.
The gratuitous violence, sheer number of seconds spent watching a character throw up, and number of “fucks” per minute in the first episode felt like they were trying to scare off people who weren’t their audience. And if that was the goal, well done.
At times, the entire show felt more like sitting at a table with my unwinding buds than watching a polished show. And in more than a few scenes the writing was awkward and without flow. As if they were prioritizing fun at-the-table quips over a little workshopping. Everyone at that table is funny and an experienced role-player and actor, so none of it was bad. But a few lines didn’t hit they way they should have.
And then there were the tropes.
The bard who wants to sleep with everything and the barbarian with a negative intelligence are both boring tropes that they lean on to the point of feeling cringy. Of course, I know they’re pulling directly from their own game. I don’t want to ding Vox Machina for making their show true to the source material. But if this is your first introduction to Critical Role, it can feel played out and dull.
Vox Machina Review – Final Thoughts
Despite its drawbacks and issues, The Legend of Vox Machina is pretty fun and I’ll be back if – let’s be honest here… when – they make a season two. Long-time fans (who’s opinions I trust and value) have promised that the character development and long term payout will be worth it. And who doesn’t enjoy some quality character growth?
Season one, though, is a fun watch. Established Critical Role fans will surely enjoy seeing one of their favorite stories animated and all of the subtle inside-jokes. And new fans will have no trouble jumping in with both feet and never missing a beat.
Have you seen The Legend of Vox Machina premiere yet? Are you a new fan or have you been into Critical Role since the beginning? Who is your favorite character? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
