Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Legend of Vox Machina’ on Prime Video, A Fun, Chaotic Take on Classic D&D Fare

The Legend of Vox Machina brings the charismatic cast of Critical Role, a weekly Twitch and YouTube show that follows a band of recognizable voice actors and personalities from geeky industries playing Dungeons & Dragons, into the animated realm. The series, with prominent voice actor Matthew Mercer taking on showrunner responsibilities, is based on the first campaign the Critical Role gang ran, the result of a successful Kickstarter that earned $11 million. A decidedly adult production with guts, grog, and expletives, the story takes place in the fantasy world of Exandria, brought to life via studio Titmouse. Its anime-esque aesthetic comes by way of South Korean outfit Production Reve, and these elements combine to make a unique take on the fantasy genre that you won’t soon forget.

THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We’re introduced to an aerial view of a gorgeous fantasy landscape that quickly devolves into a stormy bastion of terror. A band of heroes stands together: swordsmen, mages, archers, gnomes, and every fantasy trope you can think of, poised for battle. All of a sudden, they begin meeting hideous, gruesome ends. One party member is sliced to ribbons. Another is crushed to bits. It’s a quick and dirty scene that sets the stage quite well for Vox Machina: adult-oriented humor with shocking violence peppered throughout for good measure, a combination that’s worked for Titmouse before with one of its most popular series, Metalocalypse.

The Gist: The eponymous “Vox Machina” are a merry band of misfit heroes who travel together in the fantasy land of Exandria. They’re mostly rude, crude drunkards without a cent to their name, but they still get the job done. Sometimes. The group consists of barbarian Grog Strongjaw (Travis Willingham), gnome bard Scanlan Shorthalt (Sam Riegel), gnome cleric Pike Trickfoot (Ashley Johnson), half-elf Keyleth (Marisha Ray), human Percival “Percy” Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III (Taliesin Jaffe), and half-elf twins Vex (Laura Bailey) and Vax (Liam O’Brian). They also happen to travel with a bear. When they happen upon a job listing seeking a band of heroes to replace those killed off in the first few moments of the show (in a manner of gruesome ways), they sell themselves to the royal court via Scanlan’s song and move out to tackle the assignment. The only problem? They’ve bitten off a bit more than they can chew, as they realize what it is they’ve been asked to do: slay some particularly unsavory creatures, including a dragon.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of?: Vox Machina will immediately bring to mind the live-action classic The Guild, which brought together a group of MMORPG players for a hilarious 2000s comedy lead by Felicia Day — an occasional member of the Critical Role cast herself. It’s also reminiscent of Dan Harmon and Spencer Crittenden’s adult series HarmonQuest, which also animates a fantasy role-playing campaign, adapted from a story mapped out in front of a live audience and featuring a variety of familiar faces and voices: Nathan Fillion, Gillian Jacobs, and Aubrey Plaza, to name a few.

Our Take: Vox Machina is an adult fantasy that breaks out of the silliness typically reserved for the genre and pads things out with a seriousness seen in shows like Castlevania. It isn’t afraid to have the crew spout expletives every five minutes, then balance it out with plenty of lore and worldbuilding that endears you to the characters. It may rely on western fantasy tropes for much of its narrative, including the typical elves, dragons, gnomes, and the creatures we see in similar stories, but it stands on its own two feet with realistic dialogue, engaging combat, characters that can genuinely make you laugh, and some truly gory, gritty combat that pulls zero punches. Watching the team of Vox Machina slowly grow together from a ragtag bunch of misfits isn’t bad, either. And though they don’t seem truly capable of slaying dragons or working as a team at the onset, like most misfit stories, they have potential at their core, just like the series as a whole. Most importantly, it can and will make you laugh. It’s highly inappropriate, tosses F-bombs around like confetti, and isn’t afraid to let the entrails fly. Yep, it’s that kind of good.

Sex and Skin: Scanlan the gnome is about to have sex with a woman and there are a few allusions to getting it on, but that’s about all so far.

Parting Shot: Vax closes a bloody hand on a token before proclaiming “We’ll kill a f***ing dragon.” Vox Machina gathers together and looks onward, ready to take on a kind of carnage they didn’t realize they were getting themselves into. For a brief moment, the group looks like a force to be reckoned with, ready to take on all comers. They may be a ragtag bunch, but they’re ready to go to war.

Sleeper Star: Sam Riegel, of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Phoenix Wright fame, consistently steals the show as gnome Scanlan Shorthalt. Whether he’s urinating on some poor sap’s shoes or dropping his trousers at random, Riegel does a fantastic job of bringing this rude yet incredibly charismatic character to life. He busts out a couple of particularly hilarious musical interludes throughout the first episode, even tossing in a little early Kanye West-styled autotune for good measure.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Clearly you’ve never heard of the legend of Vox Machina. Allow me to give you a proper introduction.” Scanlan launches into a song that gives us some background on this merry band of fighters and clues us in on who it is we’re dealing with. Is it expository? Sure. Is it entertaining? Definitely.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Vox Machina is a fun, chaotic ride through the world the players in Critical Role have been building upon for years. It takes the characters viewers are likely already familiar with, and establishes a story that both fans and newcomers can get into without catching up on the series. It’s not mired in genre convention, with an adult lilt that western fantasy addicts will laugh out loud at, all the while channeling late nights spent DMing and role-playing with D&D groups until the sun comes up. It’s another way to enjoy the creativity Critical Role has shown us over the years, and a serious contender for one of the best dramedies you’ll see based on a video game — the type you’d only see on a streaming service.

Brittany Vincent has been covering video games and tech for over a decade for publications like G4, Popular Science, Playboy, Variety, IGN, GamesRadar, Polygon, Kotaku, Maxim, GameSpot, and more. When she’s not writing or gaming, she’s collecting retro consoles and tech. Follow her on Twitter: @MolotovCupcake.