Editor’s Note: “The Legend of Vox Machina” contains adult content and humor, mainly through innuendos and cursing. The cartoon also depicts blood in a very gory way and does not shy away from violence.
With the first three episodes premiering on Jan. 28, the adult animation series “The Legend of Vox Machina” entices fans with a series based on the story of a beloved Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Critical Role campaign. Derived from tabletop gaming company Critical Role’s narrative, the show introduces audiences to eight unlikely heroes who embark on a great death-defying journey.
Originally released in 2015 as a show for “nerdy” entertainment company Geek & Sundry, Critical Role is, as the cast says at the beginning of every episode, “where a bunch of [nerdy] voice actors sit around and play D&D.” The company includes pre-recorded footage of “sessions” — the widely accepted term for a period of time spent playing D&D — on their eponymous and self-operated Twitch channel most Thursday nights and on their YouTube channel most Mondays at noon. Currently, the show is on its third main “campaign,” referring to a long-standing string of sessions with mainstay cast members and a continuous story.
The cast of “The Legend of Vox Machina” includes an array of accomplished champions, rugged explorers and childish idiots who, as the party’s bard Scanlan says, “f**k s**t up.” The series is an accurate representation of an average D&D adventuring party, allowing many players to see their own characters and party dynamics reflected in the group’s exploits and embarrassments. As such, seeing these beloved characters come to life feels like a trophy of recognition for all D&D players, especially for the cast of Critical Role.
Critical Role is composed of eight permanent cast members with various guests appearing in special single-play sessions and smaller campaigns. Viewers may not know their names, but as fans of D&D, the voices are strikingly familiar. Matthew Mercer serves as the group’s dungeon and/or game master, weaving and narrating all the tall tales that the adventuring parties experience and navigate through, while Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel and Critical Role CEO Travis Willingham are the permanent party members at the mercy of Mercer’s mind. Everyone but Mercer develops a character for the stories and each member voices their respective character in the animated series.
Staying true to form is definitely one of the animated series’ strengths. Cast members Riegel and Willingham went all around Hollywood campaigning for the story of “Vox Machina” to become an animated series. When no one would pick the show up, Critical Role resorted to crowdfunding on Kickstarter. To the shock of the eight cast members, their $750,000 goal was fulfilled in less than an hour and after 45 days of crowdfunding, they gathered $11 million — enough to produce 10 episodes of animated content. Soon afterward, Amazon picked up “The Legend of Vox Machina,” giving the cast full creative control over the production. D&D characters are stereotyped usually as greedy adventurers or people along for the ride for fun, but the characters of the eponymous adventuring party Vox Machina aren’t portrayed in a two-dimensional fashion as mere adventurers looking for gold and glory. They are portrayed as beings who have moral codes, who care about people and things and who have very, very crude humor — true to the way that Critical Role portrays their characters. The voice actors’ talents and skills shine through as well, especially with Riegel’s various fun songs as the bard Scanlan during his introduction of “Vox Machina. Whereas most of the crew was introduced in a fun way with lots of fanfare, Scanlan goes into a self-indulgent rap segment that is quickly cut off by the king whom Vox Machina is introducing themselves to. This aspect of the series is remarkable, with each song showcasing the immense amount of fun the cast clearly had in the recording studio.
Another very distinct trait of the series is its fast pace, which is both boon and bane. The cartoon’s quick pace keeps things interesting without missing a beat. Each scene is either plot or character-heavy, sometimes both, captivating the audience. Similar to most D&D campaigns, the adventuring parties are always on the hunt for their next prize and journey. However, the fast pace fails to linger on key moments, especially ones that are entirely emotional. In the first episode, “The Terror of Tal’Dorei,” the druid Keyleth expresses concern regarding the teams and reveals that Vox Machina shouldn’t be together as a party. This simultaneously addresses various issues within, including the fact that the twins Vax’ildan and Vex’ahlia only care for each other. Keyleth also reveals that the barbarian Grog only wants to murder and the gunslinger Percy is embarassed to be seen with the group. Though Keyleth addresses the discordant nature of the group, which cleverly serves them well during battle, the show sometimes forgoes sentiment to hurry things along. “The Legend of Vox Machina” spans around 373 hours of narrative, combat and character development, something many animated series have difficulty capturing. Yet, the series does each remarkably. This cartoon is emotional with character arcs that are both refreshing and familiar, showing how dedicated the cast of Critical Role was in creating it. They have proved the characters to be relatable and loved by fans despite their flaws, strengths and ideals.
With the show mainly focusing on the characters, those who lack knowledge of D&D can easily enjoy “The Legend of Vox Machina” and the adventures on which they find themselves. Keen-eyed fans can notice references to the cast’s lucky or unlucky dice-rolling, which mainly shines in combat moments, such as Percy’s gun misfiring — a consequence of him rolling a natural 1, which is the lowest number that can be rolled, with the best being a natural 20. The show’s reference to D&D’s co-creator Gary Gygax’s last sandal made and to Critical Role’s second campaign, “The Legend of Vox Machina” also emphasizes the love and care that the cast poured into its creation, allowing for a widely entertaining series.
“The Legend of Vox Machina” is available to stream on Amazon Prime, with three episodes released every Friday. It concludes its first season on Feb. 18. With the series being green-lit for a second season, viewers around the world can experience the narratives of Critical Role and D&D. They definitely rolled a natural 20 with this one.
Beatrice Malvar is an Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at bmalvar@uci.edu.
