‘The Mighty Nein’ assessment: Vital Function hits new highs with their darkest collection but

My first publicity to Vital Function wasn’t a clip from any of their campaigns, however as a substitute, a GIF set of their animated introduction for Marketing campaign 2. Scrolling previous it on Tumblr, I instantly grew to become bewitched by the characters. Who was this joyful blue tiefling combating foes with glowing lollipops and unicorns? What lay previously of this clearly traumatized, fire-wielding wizard? And the way had this disparate crew of goblins and people and orcs and extra banded collectively?

With these questions in thoughts, I set off proper down the Vital Function rabbit gap, discovering the adventuring occasion often called the Mighty Nein. But as a lot as I loved witnessing these characters’ tales play out in an improvised Dungeons and Dragons format, I could not assist however yearn for an enlargement on the animated introduction that had uncovered me to them within the first place.

Now, that enlargement is right here within the type of Vital Function’s new animated collection The Mighty Nein. And it is as superb as I had hoped.

What’s The Mighty Nein about?

The Mighty Nein is Vital Function’s second animated collection with Prime Video, following within the footsteps of The Legend of Vox Machina. Whereas the latter took a couple of episodes to nail the stability between bawdy humor and excessive fantasy, The Mighty Nein hits the bottom operating, delivering a darker, extra mature story proper from the get-go.

That story begins with a heist: A strike crew of formidable wizards from the Dwendalian Empire steals the highly effective Luxon Beacon from the Kryn Dynasty. The sequence performs out virtually wordlessly, punctuated by beats of deadly magic and hand-to-hand fight. It is a gripping reintroduction to the world of Exandria, one which units the stage for a devastating conflict between nations. It is also a darkly humorous alternative for The Mighty Nein‘s start line, as a result of whereas the Dwendalian wizards and Kryn troopers are elite, extremely organized forces, our titular heroes are… not.

By the point The Mighty Nein begins, the precise Mighty Nein crew is way from being assembled. Every of the crew’s members (and regardless of what the identify suggests, there are solely six of them) is scattered to the winds, coping with their very own woes. And belief me, The Mighty Nein does not skimp on the traumatic backstories. Grime-covered wizard Caleb Widogast (voiced by Liam O’Brien) scrounges for magical elements whereas operating from his previous. Goblin thief Nott the Courageous (voiced by Sam Riegel) drowns her sorrows at each waking second. Cobalt Soul monk Beauregard Lionett (voiced by Marisha Ray) faces derisions from her superiors, who dismiss her detective work primarily based on her hotheadedness.

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Elsewhere, shipwrecked sailor Fjord Stone (voiced by Travis Willingham) awakens with magical powers he did not ask for and would not know the best way to use, whereas prankster Jester Lavorre (voiced by Laura Bailey) cannot get her patron god (and finest buddy) to reply her name. Rounding out the group is Mollymauk Tealeaf (voiced by Taliesin Jaffe), a circus ringmaster oozing with charisma, but plagued with worries about his circus going beneath (and a few unsettling reminiscences).

In brief, these six don’t have anything in widespread. Nevertheless, the brewing battle over the Luxon Beacon will deliver these outcasts collectively in surprising methods and provide them the prospect to show that possibly, simply possibly they’ll make a distinction for the higher. Primarily based on the talents proven by each the Dwendalian and Kryn forces within the opening, although, they’ve their work reduce out for them.

The Mighty Nein builds a formidable crew.

Credit score: Prime Video

The Mighty Nein takes no shortcuts in terms of bringing its crew collectively. There are arguments and in-fighting aplenty within the collection, every an ideal showcase of the distinct personalities the present is working with. But from these arguments emerge robust bonds of camaraderie, made all of the sweeter by the battle it took to get there.

The Mighty Nein manages to protect the entire great relationships gamers crafted on the desk throughout Marketing campaign 2: Nott and Caleb’s safety of each other, Jester and Fjord’s playful friendship, Beau and Caleb’s rising respect and belief, Mollymauk’s capacity to deliver everybody collectively… I may go on, because the webs The Mighty Nein weaves between its characters are as wealthy and various because the characters themselves.

The complexities of those characters and their relationships come by, not simply in dialogue but in addition in The Mighty Nein‘s jaw-dropping motion sequences. The Legend of Vox Machina already set the bar excessive on the best way to translate Vital Function’s battles into animation, however The Mighty Nein greater than meets that bar, even surpassing it in terms of magic utilization.

That is as a result of every magic person in The Mighty Nein has their very own distinctive means of casting. Caleb makes use of materials elements to create damaging spells, Jester summons glowing herds of mini unicorns and sweet, Mollymauk wields blood magic that even he appears stunned he has entry to, and Fjord sends out watery blasts with out fairly figuring out how. Within the case of all 4, however particularly the latter two, watching them struggle means watching them uncover enchanting new talents on the fly. You are seeing heroes develop into themselves in actual time — and in spectacular trend, because of dazzling animation from Titmouse.

This sense of discovery turns The Mighty Nein into an unforgettable story of changing into one thing better than you ever thought you may be, and of discovering belonging you by no means thought you’d. It is the discovered household trope achieved to a tee, and actually, after I dreamed of an animated collection primarily based on the Marketing campaign 2 intro all these years in the past, by no means did I count on it to hit as laborious as this.

The primary three episodes of The Mighty Nein premiere Nov. 19 on Prime Video, with a brand new episode each Wednesday.