They're rowdy, they're ragtag, they're misfits turned mercenaries for hire. Vox Machina is more interested in easy money and cheap ale than actually protecting the realm. But when the kingdom is threatened by evil, this boisterous crew realizes that they are the only ones capable of restoring justice.
A very Dugeon & Dragon-esk type of animation. The animation company is very well known and has good quality. I believe they are very similar in what was used to make _Gargoyles_ tv animated series.
There is a character for each of the classes, and fortunately each character _is_ a character unto themselves. They are very different and fuse into what a good team of friends could be if they found themselves born to such a world. There is enough gore to go around, and the writers did well with the comedy and gore alike. The story for this title's pilot is a solid 8 out of 10. The rich kid's mission for revenge against a sinisterly evil and neigh OP bad guy is epically done well, and is NOT something that is expected coming out of a Netflix streaming show. Okay, enough about the pros.
The Cons: And ofcourse when talking about **_anything_** from Netflix there are the **glaring** cancerous influences of social politics infesting the show. In most cases it's usually the narrative that is corrupted, but when that is not a possibility, SJWs settle for the background. There are different races in areas where there should be no variety in the people. There is the typical flamboyantly gay racial minority fat-guy who is a keystone in supplying or getting knowledge of important artifacts. >exasperated sigh< Ofcourse one of the young men in the main party has to flirt with the fat-guy to bargain with him. Annnnd ofcourse fat-gay-minority guy is OP in his own right, because you have to balance out the implied insult that successful minority men of commerce are all "flamers." And what adventure is not complete without toilet humor? Because that's what you need as you eat dinner to watch a show. >groans<
Another major gripe of mine is the over-compensation of rude language to qualify for the streaming rating. When I say overcompensate, I mean the "seinen" aspect to the show is unbalanced.
It's like how are you going to swear so much in a show, show SOOOO much blood and gore, then leave out the nudity?? And if there is nudity, why does it have to be tied to something gay? Usually with Netflix, this means male gay. And since the majority of the viewing audience is male, it becomes, "Why did you even bother??" It kills the nuance of the show, it's grittiness of the age. Gay instances were _never_ mainstream even in that time. Sure it went on, but no one gave it that kind of attention. And if they did, no one mentioned it aloud, not without threat of loosing their head. Even gay romance with women, from a guy's point of view, is a snooze-fest of epic proportions because with the social politics not wanting to "degrade women...", this little edict (no one asked for) neutralizes **_all_** sensuality (if there ever was any). There is nothing to the show that makes you want to see _more_ of this show if that is supposed to the "eye candy"!?! _That's_ what we're getting?!? I counted, you know. There were two pairs of boobs in this entire 12 episode first season. 4 tits; one of those pair belonged to an ugly mutant. Funny story, lackluster presentation. That is not enough boobs to get me to put up with another season of non-existent nudity, covert or overt homosexuality, and excessively crude language. You take out any two of these and you are left with a show not worth viewing. At best it's okay; at worst, it's annoying. Again, it becomes, "Why am I watching this???"
The studio would have done better to ex out all nudity or implied situations, modern swearing, and gore. And just ran the show as an animated series. Kids (should) out number adults when it comes to this kind of viewing genre, so the studio would have been better served in this regard. And again this "imbalance" has caused some serious errors in judgement and showing; potentially hurting its Nielsen rating. In other words, it could have been more with less, instead of trying to be something more and falling short. There is enough story, plot, action and engaging characters to make this show good. In fact, if I ignore the social political negatives (with a LOT of effort), the show is downright entertaining. I simply don't want to have to put in a focused effort (should never have to) to ignore the SJW aspect _every time_ I watch the show.
Don't know about you, but I'm not holding any bated breath for next season.
Good Luck in your viewing. -- Bob --
I'm at the end of Season 1. I'm intrigued enough to keep going but the series needs better writing. It's starts off well enough but it looses all stakes and tension.
Long monologues, short one-liners, red herrings, escaping enemies, and one-two many near-death experiences. That last one really hurts the series cause you never feel like any of the main characters are in danger, even when they're bleeding out and near-death.
Arcane (2021) was near perfection, Castlevania (2017) had some writing nonsense, Season 4 of The Dragon Prince (2018) killed the series for me and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022) is just trope-y garbage. Vox Machina (2022) sits somewhere between The Dragon Prince Season 3 and Edgerunners.
---
I'm at the end of Season 2. It's more of the same.
Grog's quest stands out this season but they've seriously gotta make up their minds about Pike's power level cause this thing about her constantly running out of juice whenever she needs to heal someone has gotten old.
