Prime Video’s 4-Season Fantasy Masterpiece Is Everything ‘The Rings of Power’ Should Have Been

Amazon Prime Video’s reputation when it comes to fantasy TV shows has been a little hit-and-miss over the years. Many of Amazon Prime Video’s original series are masterpieces, so it’s astounding when there’s a title that is expected to be groundbreaking and is hoped to change the face of TV forever, yet doesn’t resonate with audiences.

Despite coming from such a massive fantasy universe like The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power hasn’t exactly lived up to the standards of the rest of the Tolkien-based projects. However, thankfully, Amazon Prime Video has come through with another of their fantasy TV series, and The Legend of Vox Machina is a great example of a title that has done a lot of the things The Rings of Power hasn’t.

‘The Legend of Vox Machina’ Has Succeeded Where ‘The Rings of Power’ Has Failed

Vox Machina are wanted mercenaries in The Legend of Vox Machina.

While critics don’t take much issue with The Rings of Power, audiences have criticized it for a few reasons, including how it changes Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings works (to the point that some feel it’s more of a standalone title than a title in the LotR series), how the writing feels cheesy and affects the dialogue, and how it incorrectly overcomplicates the lore and timeline. With such a big budget and strong franchise associations behind it, it’s no surprise many viewers have been disappointed with The Rings of Power; they expected more from it. The show isn’t terrible; the critic reviews and streaming numbers prove that, but it’s definitely not impressive enough to stand proudly next to The Lord of the Rings movies, at least in the opinion of those who have committed themselves to the franchise since the very beginning.

Even though it hasn’t received the same hype as The Rings of Power, The Legend of Vox Machina has frequently proven itself to be the superior Amazon Prime fantasy TV show. The Legend of Vox Machina throws audiences into the world of Dungeons & Dragons and is an adaptation of the first campaign by the web series Critical Role.

The show introduces the fictional world of Exandria and its array of wild and wacky characters in a brilliant and eye-catching animated art style. The characters are all voiced by real D&D players, which makes the experience of watching The Legend of Vox Machina even more immersive, regardless of whether you’ve played D&D yourself before. Really, that’s The Rings of Power‘s biggest problem: it fails to make viewers feel like they’re in The Lord of the Rings universe with characters who belong there.

There’s a fantastic balance of humor and drama in The Legend of Vox Machina, something that The Rings of Power has struggled with. While The Rings of Power isn’t supposed to be that funny, its cringey dialogue and confusing writing decisions sometimes earn pity laughs, but The Legend of Vox Machina is ridiculous on purpose, much like a game of D&D.

Of course, the upcoming release of The Rings of Power Season 3 could change this, and hopefully Amazon has taken note of The Legend of Vox Machina‘s viewer response. However, until then, audiences should absolutely take the time to check out The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon Prime Video.