Amac Productions

The Legend of Vox Machina…

Sigh.

I don’t… I don’t even know where to start with this show.

Where do I begin? What do I say?

This is peak Critical Role here, I got to that much. Everything about the crazy here speaks to the campaign and the weird people behind it who have brought this world and characters to life.

For starters, that opening. Ugh, I loved it so much.

It was so perfectly well done.

We’re calling in a team of heroes to deal with this unknown monster and save the realm. These brave adventurers answered the call to heroism and will put their lives on the line – and they’re dead.

Like in 30 seconds flat.

Amazing.

Smash cut to the f*ckers who are actually going to save the day at some point because right now they’re all scared shitless and have no clue what they’re doing. Not to mention they’re not just taking on any regular ole’ monster.

No.

It’s a f*cking dragon.

Yep. I love their intro as these complete losers who can’t pay a bar tab.

Scanlan who gets distracted while he’s peeing and pees on a guy.

Pike is confused as to what they’re about. Are they the good guys? The bad guys? Are they out for money? Glory?

Honestly, I think Grog is the clearest of them all, except maybe Scanlan. Grog wants booze.

It’s a wonderful intro to the characters and the world so that if you never saw a single moment of Campaign One, you’ll still understand the fundamentals. Of the characters, the world, and what’s happening around them.

It’s nice, because I’ve never seen Campaign One. Just bits and pieces, which means the show is a little montage to the campaign without trekking through four hours of Critical Role’s early days on camera.

No offense to them, but I cannot sit through the homebrew version. Like I have an aversion to Campaign Three as well because it’s too refined. The set is too nice and complex and there’s a lot of production there now where there was very little in the first campaign since they didn’t have a lot of money to refine it.

Campaign Two feels like a nice mix of good production while not losing the group of friends at a table having fun.

Love that.

But anyway, we’re here to talk about episode one of the Prime Series The Legend of Vox Machina.

We’re introduced to everyone and given a clear view of each character. Vex and Vax are twins, they stick together, are stingy with their money, love a good fight, and enjoy being together.

Grog and Pike appear to have known each other for a while. Are good friends. So much so that when Grog impulsively chops a dude’s hand off, she comes to his defense. I mean, everyone does indicating there’s a level of care there, but they also dislike being slighted as people too.

To me, Pike felt very personal in defense. While the group defended their own honor and reputation.

Keyleth can’t hold her beer and honestly seems like the naivest of the group even though she’s not overly naive either. She also struggles with her power for an unknown reason so when she’s in the middle of a fight, she tends to get blocked. Like writer’s block but for fighting.

Scanlan is a flirt. And the bard. He’s annoying. I’m pretty sure that’s on purpose. I spent most of the episode wishing someone would punch him.

Percy is stuck up. Appears to think very highly of himself and little of those around him. Easy to anger and like Scanlan, I would like someone to hit him very much.

On the opposite end of that, is Grog who I want a hug from. The least annoying of them all and most straightforward character. He wants to beat things up and get drunk. Gotta love it.

Then Vox Machina decides to save the world.

Or at least help.

Until they discover what they’re fighting – a dragon.

A blue dragon.

Apparently, colors are bad. I don’t know what. Someone tell me in the comments or I’ll ask my girlfriend, the D&D expert.

The dragon nearly kills them all, except Keyleth saves them. Barely.

Something that Vex is annoyed with. It’s interesting to me, because clearly Keyleth is going through something difficult with her magic, but f*ck is Vex cares. A moment that is interesting and annoying, because you can’t stop the dragon either, don’t just put it all on Keyleth, Vex.

I love it.

It makes for interesting story telling when characters naturally grate on each other’s nerves which feels super organic to the personalities we have here.

Making it all the more complicated by the goo-goo eyes her brother is giving the woman who annoys the shit out of her.

Pike is also having some issues with her magic, though not as severely as Keyleth.

And they don’t work as a team.

Actually, it’s the thing they do worst.

When confronted with the blue dragon, they each take seperate shots like they’re working alone. Or in the case of Vex and Vax, with only each other. Just like in the tavern earlier in the episode, they get in each other’s way, and argue instead of coordinating with each other.

Which is something I truly commend the cast on portraying.

Becoming a team is not easy and it would be easy for the group of friends behind the scenes to play it like they know each other, because they do. But they actively choose to let the story unfold naturally.

Even in Campaign Two. The Mighty Nein have a similar issue with not knowing what the other is going to do in a fight and struggle to get on the same in a different way when they first come together. Of course, the group of friends playing them have been playing and working together for years, so they could easily sidestep the issue, but they never do.

A favorite thing of mine from this cast is metagaming only happens to hurt their characters, never to give an unfair advantage.

Like we know Yasha and Beau are doing something together tomorrow night because as a player, I heard it. So, I’ll have my in-game character try and weasel in because she wouldn’t know she shouldn’t. I love that.

Here, unlike with The Mighty Nein, Vox Machina suffers from lots of ego issues.

Like Percy who is mad any time someone messes up his shot that they had no idea he was taking. Or Vax and Vex who feel like they’re bogged down with these heavy weights that’ll end up sinking them too.

Each think they know best and truthfully, I don’t think any of them know anything.

Alas, they nearly die by dragon and decide well, eff this.

Except Pike who thinks they should help no matter what because we promised the council we would.

Which side note, screw the council. They pretty much believed they were sending these people to their deaths and let them go anyway. If anyone deserves to have their promise broken, it’s the council.

I would also love someone to explain to me how Vex can just like sense dragons. Is that normal for people?

Alas, Vox Machina is appalled when they discover a dragon laid waste to a village, murdering a family who had been kind to them. Including a very young child they were unable to save.

I enjoyed the mechanic of the spell slots being replaced with energy when Pike couldn’t heal the boy.

It resolves the game mechanics in show without issue.

With the death of a young boy, they believe they could have prevented if they had stopped the dragon before it reached the town on their minds, they vow to kill the blue dragon.

For the record, I don’t think they could have defeated the blue dragon before he burned the village down. They had no idea what they were walking into and had no plan and couldn’t work together as a group.

They simply had no shot at that fight on that day.

The little boy’s death is on the dragon. Simple as that.

Anyway, onto the next! Be on the lookout for the next review, next week, same day (Wednesday), and time(10:13am)!

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