The box set received mixed critical reception; R.L. Shaffer of
IGN was critical in his review of it, calling the release was "a complete waste" and the bonus disc "roughly 80 minutes of mediocre entertainment". He recommended fans purchase "the shows you like instead, and start in the proper place, with the first season." He ultimately gave the release an eight out of ten, however, stating "while this set is certainly well rated" in its content, he could not "find a reason to recommend it". Noel Murray of
The A.V. Club expressed confusion over the selection of material, suggesting to the network to release a "straight-up Adult Swim best-of set with rarities".
DVD Verdict's Mac McEntire felt the set was not "good enough to warrant you re-buying them all", should buyers already own all six season volume releases. He gave the release an 85 out of 100, remarking the pilots as showing "just how tough it must be to create a pilot, one that not only introduces characters and settings, but also promises a potential for weeks and perhaps years of additional stories."
DVD Talk's Casey Burchby called the release "sloppy", stating that fans who already owned DVD releases from their favorite programming on the network "can safely skip the release", though the set "does fairly represent the insanely creative, off-the-wall nature of the network." Jeff Niesel of the
Cleveland Scene found the physical build of the set "a bit flimsy, but that's to be expected for such an affordably priced set."
The Austin Chronicle James Renovitch dubbed the release "the anti-box-set" that keeps "with the spirit of Adult Swim", while John Scott Lewinski of
Wired called it "a sort of survival kit" for desperate fans of the network. Writing for
Filter, Erik Nowlan rated it 90 percent, ensuring fans of Adult Swim will be "in pig heaven" upon its release. Nick Zaino of AOL TV praised the inclusion of
Sealab 2021 and
Metalocalypse, but called the pilots disc "a mixed bag, but mostly good."
PopMatters' W. Scott Poole felt that the selection of series was "odd", stating that while the series included "belong in any selection of Adult Swim bests", so did others, naming
The Venture Bros. and
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law as deserving candidates that were not included. == References ==