Nerdfury

So as to not bury the lead, Vox Machina is good. It's a fantasy cartoon aimed at adults. There's violence, blood, a little gore, and hints of sex. It's entertaining and would be much better if they stopped following the terrible trend of 8-10 episodes per season and actually put out a solid 20 episodes or so, so we got to see more backstory, more arcs, and more inter-character team-ups.

That said, this is not just for fans of Critical Role, but people who like solid adult animations who are not fans of Critical Role, even as far as people like me who dislike Critical Role. If you, like me, can't stand Matt Mercer and this weirdly popular corrupted variation of D&D (though WotC asking them to pay reasonable royalties for using their content made them create their own much worse custom TTRPG to use instead), then this is still enjoyable for you.

I have been a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender since it first released in 2005. The animated series was a masterpiece, as was its sequel series. And in spite of being a fan of the series than many of its newer fans have even been alive, I still enjoyed this adaptation of the series.

The series isn't perfect. It's not a scene for scene adaptation of the original series, but if you want that then go watch the animated series again. It's condensed and compressed for the sake of making a coherent series in 8 episodes. It's a little out of order, and there's some episode beats missing, but if you want the original series, go watch it.

The actors feel a little young for what I expected and not all of them are putting out Oscar worthy performances. The only two casting choices I disagree with are Elizabeth Yu as Azula and Thalia Tran as Mai, and I'm not 100% happy with Utkarsh Ambudkar as Bumi, but outside of that they do their absolute best on all fronts.

The action sequences are fantastic, with a brilliant adaptation of bending styles. I'm not sure they replicated the real world styles they were based on, but that's not a major issue. The music is sublime, with many beats referring to familiar songs.

Was it the same as the original series? No. Should it be? Absolutely not. It's its own adaptation and it's a good one.

I find it bizarre - unsurprising, but utterly bizarre - that people are getting mad that this kid's show, made for a very young audience in mind, is not suiting their own personal adult tastes.

It's a show for children. In the same way that Sesame Street is for children. This isn't Rebels, or Clone Wars. This isn't for a range of audiences. This is for young children, maybe ages 6 and below or so. It's 'Baby's First Star Wars.' If you're old enough to register an account and leave a salty review about a kid's show, it's not designed for you.

As for the show itself, other than being for children, it's a very good kid's show. The animation, music, sound fx, acting, and action is very good. It's low stakes, full of morals on basic life lessons like not being mean and helping people, and there's no violence involved. It's a great start for your Younglings to get their does dipped into the franchise.

Oh, and did I mention for all the big babies leaving low-rated reviews? IT'S A CHILDREN'S SHOW.