CRITICAL ROLE THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA PLUS

The mental skills, whether intelligence, wisdom, or charisma, of the Vox Machina party overall seem about as good as those of people on Jersey Shore, and it seems like no wonder people are doing things as obviously dumb as casting Call Lightning on a blue dragon when they saw humanoid footsteps and my first inclination, if I were a druid, would be to cast Moonbeam, which they would at least not be immune to even if it wasn’t a shapeshifter.

CRITICAL ROLE THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA PLUS

Plus I can’t get over the fact that the smartest guy in Vox Machina seems to be at best a +1 intelligence character with no intelligence skills at all.

While clichés exist for a reason, the way you avoid being a cliché is giving your anime hair gun duelist a backstory, not necessarily by trying to subvert every single expectation or by playing them straight. We never get to learn anything about the characters’ hopes, fears, motivations, or the like, which would more than make up for having a group of walking clichés. Maybe the rogue was an urchin, or maybe they are a gentleman or gentlewoman, and they might even be into something like counterheists or being a bounty hunter, or just an assassin rather than a kleptomaniac thief. Maybe the druid believes in being kind to the environment, or maybe they believe in survival of the fittest, or they think technology and nature can be harmonized in new and profound ways. Maybe the strong guy has an honor code, or wants to feast in Valhalla, or wants to avenge his brother, or is actually a gentle giant, or really smart under all that muscle.

“He’s big and strong, she’s a magical safari, I can’t tell Vax and Vex apart?” Those are just fantasy stereotypes and not even interesting ones. I do not find the character descriptions in Critical Role compelling at all. I have never played at a table with two women where both of them genuinely want to be healers, if anything, they usually both want to be rogues, though I’ve known a couple female paladin players who like being tough and knightly in addition to healing. The hobbit’s singing is also insufferable, and they should’ve just made a rap bard or something since the brief scene of him rapping seemed to fit more. There’s too much goofiness, too much “we’re adventurers!” groupthink type mentality, and too many clichés at the expense of any kind of character or plot development.

I tried watching the first episode of the show and I just couldn’t stand it.

Critical role the legend of vox machina