'The Legend of Vox Machina's Killbox fight proves that friendship kicks ass

In 2022, I described the Brimscythe fight from The Legend of Vox Machina as "face-meltingly epic" and one of the year's strongest fight scenes. Just over a year later, I'm happy to say that another fight scene from The Legend of Vox Machina has captured my imagination and blessed me with incalculable amounts of hype. That fight scene is none other than Vox Machina's brawl with the Herd of Storms in Season 2, episode 10, "The Killbox."

Season 2 of The Legend of Vox Machina is chock-full of amazing fight scenes — including a gloriously NSFW dragon smackdown — but there's no doubt that the Killbox fight takes the cake. Not only does it showcase the tremendous fighting abilities of Vox Machina, it also serves as a perfect culmination for Grog's (voiced by Travis Willingham) Season 2 character arc as well as an extra-satisfying reunion for our heroes.

The fight starts as a brawl between Grog and his tyrannical uncle Kevdak (voiced by Ralph Ineson). These first bouts are brutal, with Kevdak laying into Grog — who is still scrawny after losing his sword Craven Edge — and even impaling him on a wooden spike. As Kevdak threatens to kill Grog's companions Pike (voiced by Ashley Johnson) and Scanlan (voiced by Sam Riegel), Grog realizes a truth he's been unaware of all season long. His strength doesn't come from his muscles or his fancy weaponry. It comes from his friends.

It's the answer to the question Earthbreaker Groon (voiced by Ike Amadi) asked him during their fight all the way back in episode 2, and it is so satisfying to see Grog realize it while facing Kevdak. Suddenly empowered by his friends, Grog finds the strength to rage and jump back into the fray. (Sidenote: It's always a gift to hear Willingham deliver the line, "I would like to rage!")

But the power of friendship doesn't stop there! After being separated from each other for a few episodes, all the members of Vox Machina finally reunite when Vax (voiced by Liam O'Brien), Vex (voiced by Laura Bailey), Keyleth (voiced by Marisha Ray), and Percy (voiced by Taliesin Jaffe) come to Grog's aid. The splitting of the party is a divergence from Critical Role's original campaign on which the series is based, but it works: Grog starts this fight almost entirely alone, but as more and more of his friends arrive, he finds the confidence and power to finish what he started.

"It was so incredible, having to split the party in that way," Willingham told Mashable in a Zoom interview. "Having one group separated from the other half and having Grog, who usually thinks he is strong enough to handle anything, finally realizing after all these moments — and taking into account his encounter with Earthbreaker Groon — that it's not his own strength that he needs to rely on. He relies on the strength from his friends, from his family...to tackle the impossible."

The sequence where Vax, Vex, Keyleth, and Percy show up is a particular standout. As Grog mutters the command: "Vox Machina, fuck shit up!" we see snapshots of the four preparing for battle. Guns are cocked, blades are sharpened, and arrows are readied. Then, our heroes unleash carnage as Scanlan shreds a rocking guitar solo to inspire the team.

"Having Scanlan kick off the battle with a thrashing metal song was just a dream come true for me," said Willingham. "I don't know any other way to say it, it just went hard. That's all we told the board artists: "Go hard," and they came back with a sequence that absolutely blew our hair back."

The fight does indeed "go hard." From Keyleth's nature powers to Pike's holy magic, the scene sings with deadly enchantments. Grog's melee combat and Percy's many headshots provide several opportunities for blood and guts galore, while Vex and Vax each get to show off the power of their newly acquired Vestiges of Divergence. Above it all is Scanlan, providing a heavy metal soundtrack and bursts of deadly lightning.

The battle culminates in a masterful combo move by Vex and Grog. Vex transports Grog into her magical locket and flings him up in the air. He bursts out and falls from the sky, using the momentum to deliver a beast of a killing axe-blow to Kevdak. When the dust from the impact settles, we see that Grog has cleaved Kevdak in half.

As awesome as that moment is, it's made all the better by the fact that that is exactly how it played out in the campaign. Willingham rolled a natural 20 — the best possible outcome — on his attack against Kevdak and dealt enough damage to take him out himself.

"It was, at least for me personally, the top moment of the campaign," Willingham said. "It was just fate making itself evident through the dice and deciding an incredibly poignant moment for us."

Just as it was one of the highlights of the original Vox Machina campaign, the Killbox fight cements itself as one of the highlights of The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2. It's an action-packed blast fueled by great animation and Grog's own backstory. Plus, it comes with a tried-and-true moral: Maybe our real strength is the friends we make along the way.

The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video.