The Vox Machina animated show is on YouTube so the uninitiated can get on board before season 3

If you’ve been thinking about getting into The Legend of Vox Machina, Critical Role’s animated series, now is the perfect time: all of season 1 and 2 are available for free on YouTube, before the third season kicks off on Prime Video on Oct. 3.

You really don’t have to know much about Critical Role to enjoy The Legend of Vox Machina. I never watched any of the wildly popular actual play series before I dove into the animated show, and yet I fell completely in love with the compelling characters, the expansive world, and the exciting plotline. As a huge animation fan and a huge fantasy fan, it checked off a lot of boxes I didn’t even realize I was craving.

The animated show adapts the first Critical Role campaign, which follows a scrappy adventuring party (the titular Vox Machina) who end up having to be Big Damn Heroes and save the world from various threats (and a whole lotta dragons). I admit, I had my doubts with the first season, which initially seemed like it was going to be episodic humor-focused romps. But it turned into a remarkable serialized, plot-driven narrative that takes time to dive into the characters and their relationships with one another — while also keeping the crude jokes and funny riffs. I fell head over heels and now I have a The Legend of Vox Machina-themed calendar by my desk (if you were curious, September features bard Scanlan riffing on his lute).

I’d always been intrigued by Critical Role, but never had the mental fortitude to watch hours-long actual play episodes. The animated show is the perfect gateway: 30-minute episodes make the material much more approachable, but at the same time, it’s just so damn good I want to immediately press “next episode.”

The third season of The Legend of Vox Machina premieres on Prime Video on Oct. 3 — so you have just enough time to binge the two seasons that are out on YouTube right now to prepare.