Hello everybody!! This channel is focused on reacting to Movies Anime and TV shows. Everything posted on here will be my first time watching it and I am happy to share my first thoughts with all of you :) Make sure to grab your snacks (I recommend popcorn) and watch alongside with me, THANK YOU
The entire production team, an art group for this show is all in house. Amazon prime only he's connected to it for showing it on their streaming platform
"If only the regular show was this quick" followed immediately by "It would be so sick if they follow everything, if every single bit of dialogue was put into here" 😅
in the campaign, Vax didn't actually attack Vex - the Charmed condition isn't Domination, so he tried to make peace between Vox Machina and the Briarwoods, but then Pike got him with a Greater Restoration and he got a t sneak attack poison dagger into Delilah - and then she hit him with Power Word Stun. They do make some changes for dramatic effect. In the campaign, Percy expelled Orthax with a Natural 20 Wisdom Save - this was far more intense. But in the campaign, Scanlan cast Friends on Percy to get him to hand over the pepperbox, and then threw it in the acid, and Taliesin has sworn revenge for that. Looking forward to you tackling season 2... and season 3 is coming in October!
It's not exactly how it went down in the campaign; the major points are there but they changed a lot for the show. IIRC, it was Vex who almost got killed by Delilah in that fight. Watching Critical Role is like watching people perform an old-school radio show -- they describe all of the action to you. Very often, I don't watch it, I listen to it while playing a game that doesn't take too much thinking.
Ooh buddy, now you get to go to season 2. Season 1 was amazing, but 2 takes it up a notch. No spoilers, but episode 10 especially is just *chef's kiss* 🤌
remember also that Pike was channeling more of the Everlight's power than one person could normally handle back at the temple, on top of being a cleric fighting undead. the whole thing is basically an extended Divine Intervention, and the Everlight (at least in her Pathfinder incarnation of Sarenrae) has no love for evil undead. In game, Vax had several magic daggers - flametongue, dagger of venom, dagger of lifestealing - and a blinkback belt that returned them to him when he threw them.
Clerics are usually a support class, healing everybody in the party and giving out power buffs. Until they have to fight undead. Then, Clerics become like an atomic bomb on the battlefield. Their holy damage and specialty spells are overwhelming. Your reward for playing a cleric and being a selfless team-player in D&D is when it’s time to fight the undead. That’s when it all pays off. In this case, Pike is not only a holy cleric dealing holy damage with a holy weapon, she’s also astral projecting her goddess’ power through the amplification of the temple, where her body is meditating.
The final barrel being blank was symbolic of Percy knowing that the killing will never end (Talisen confirmed as much in campaign wrap up) but if you watch the scene you see his shadow holding the barrel to his head which adds another layer that Percy fully expected to die in his quest for vengeance but continued anyway. I highly recommend watching clips of these moments TP burrow has done comparison videos that are spoiler free so you can see the origin of these scenes in the moment especially good moving forward into S2.
Scanbo = Scanlan + Rambo. In the original game, Sam wrapped his tie around his forehead like Rambo's headband. He managed to beat an encounter that was meant to be a challenge for the whole team; it was a little more strategic than lucky -- they made it sillier for the show. Since Anders was played by Steven Root, also known for playing Milton in "Office Space", the online joke is that he betrayed the de Rolos because they kept moving his desk and stealing his stapler. Your suggestion that Grog should ball tag Vax made me LOL! I'm thinking you will most likely finish this show in time for S3 when it drops in October!
1:49 Residuum glass is a focus for arcane power. The word lambent means light, so this kind of crystal would glow on its own and the residuum overloaded it with magic. 7:55 In the original Cassandra was the youngest at 13, and there were three other siblings between her and Percy. The youngest he could be at the time of the Briarwood attack was 17, and now hes around 22
In game, Vax had an item called a Blinkback belt, which meant any dagger he threw returned to its sheath. They simplified it here by having the dagger reappear in his hand. The Attack on Titan reference was deliberate - Matt Mercer plays Levi in the English sub. Captain Stonefell has been reimagined as a duergar, a dark dwarf similar to the one Keyleth told to "go to sleep"
In the original the trouble with the door was that there was no lock, it was a heavy church door barred from the inside. Scanlan teleported inside and they tried to leverage the bar with a sword, leading to Scanlans sliced hand. Then Vax went through a high, broken window (they didnt want to break any lower ones for Percy to get through as it was a church after all.) Scanlan, Vax, and a "Unseen servant" summoned by Scanlan tried to lift the bar....and failed miserably. Finally Scanlan used the big hand spell to just lift it off. They had to change the location for the show here to the prison, and so change the way which they finally get inside.
When Keyleth said 'it's us:' the bodies hanging from the tree were the ones Sylas and Delilah invited for 'dinner;' they were deliberately chosen to match the body type and relative appearance of each member of Vox Machina, including the two children to represent Pike and Scanlan. They were dressed up to resemble them. This was a blatant warning to Vox Machina that they knew they were coming.
All of those "Best Kills" happened in the original game. The people at the end of Ep 5 were dressed up like Vox Machina, as a warning to both the townspeople and VM. I always say that ending is a test for humanity -- if it doesn't make you stop and say, "That's fucked!", you failed. Stonefell is...or was...a Duergar -- evil underground-dwelling dwarves who are usually the bitches of the Drow. Scanlan has a beret because Sam was Gavroche in "Les Miserables" when he was a kid. The thing with doors is a D&D thing that happened to them in the game. You're a badass who just took down a dragon, now you're going home empty-handed because you can't roll high enough on the dice to find or open up its treasure vault. In the original game, there's a moment where it takes them 15 minutes, 3 spells, and 4 hit points to get through a door.
the casting for the Legend of Vox Machina is... well, legendary. Starting with the main cast, all accomplished VOs. Throw in David Tennant (The 10th Doctor, Kilgrave on Jessica Jones, Crowley in Good Omens). Add Khary Payton (The Walking Dead, Cyborg on Teen Titans, Aqualad and more in Young Justice). Sprinkle in Tony Hale, Indira Varma, Stephanie Beatriz, Felicia Day, Max Mittelman... and that's just the first two episodes.
So, some of this is redundant for you, but I wanted to fill in some gaps and give you the link to the Behind-the-Scenes videos. (also reactable!) Also, just FYI if you started with Campaign 3 you will be getting a lot of spoilers before too long. When they did Campaign 2 they kept the story very separate from the first one, despite being set in the same world, but further into Campaign 3 they lean pretty hard into the established history and bring back many familiar things. Hello! So... I confess, the following comment is a copy and paste of one I wrote quite a while back, have tweaked several times, and so now I fall back on it to give a Critical Role explanation. Yes, it's a bit longer than average, but... there's A LOT of stuff to cover, I summarized as best I could. Welcome to the world of Critters. Once upon a time, many years ago a talented voice actor was about to have a birthday, and to celebrate Matt Mercer, another well-established voice actor and talented GM (Game Master) offered to run a role-playing game for a group of friends... who also all happened to be voice actors. So, a group of nerdy ass voice actors sat around and played D & D. The group had so much fun they made it a regular thing, Felicia Day of 'Geek and Sundry' heard about this game and approached them with the idea of streaming it... and it became a hit in its field, eventually growing into its own company and channel known as Critical Role. Parting on good terms with their previous home, Felicia Day has a small role in the beginning of episode 2. Vox Machina was the group of characters they played in Campaign One, there has also been a Campaign Two, in which the cast plays a whole new group of adventurers. Both are set in the same world, but on different continents, and Campaign Two is set a few decades after the end of Campaign One. Each campaign ran for over a hundred episodes which are all over three hours long, and we are over 90 episodes into Campaign Three. They have also put out a bunch of other content, from talk shows to shorter games in other Role Playing worlds. They have played live shows to sold out theaters, become the number one channel on Twitch, have merch stores in multiple countries, have comics and actually published books of fan art (there are some talented as F*** Critters) they also started a nonprofit charity to... "Leave the World a Better Place." The whole cast would all tell you that they never expected any of this, that it has been a wild ride and they are just trying to hold on and be worthy of it. A few years ago they started looking into the possibility of an animation, but no one was buying, or at least not on their terms, so they went to the Critters to try and raise upwards of $700,000.00 over the course of 45 days in order to make a two-part special for themselves and their fans.... The Critters laughed, and smashed through not just the goal amount, but also ALL of their stretch goals within an hour. By day 45 they had raised nearly 11 and a half million dollars, added a bunch more stretch goals, and the two-part special became a season. Amazon took note and basically funded a second season (3rd season was green lit just before season 2 dropped) to get the streaming rights, but the show is created by Critical Role. Those Nerdy Ass Voice actors are the producers and have full creative control. Most of the people they hired, from writers to artists and composers are also fans who love and know the story and its world. It is one of the truest examples of a project of love I have ever seen. During the production of season one of the animation they put out a series of videos to keep their fans in the loop of how things were going. Interviewing the people behind the scenes and giving non spoiler info about the production. It's a good watch and will really help you understand the devotion and love that went into this project, as well as introduce the cast, the people who created these characters and this amazing story. Personally, how the lead composer got the job is one of my fav stories. Here is that play list. ru-vid.com/group/PL1tiwbzkOjQwJdoNetaNJE1zZVOE7xi8u The latest big news is that Amazon has signed off on producing a season based on the Campaign Two group, known as The Mighty Nein! And no I did not misspell Nein. They have also reached a multi year agreement that Amazon gets the first look at any new shows OR movies Critical Role wants to produce. Many a fans ears perked up at the mention of possible movies given the popularity of a particular 4 episode and done Campaign, “Exandria Unlimited Calamity” It is a separate adventure set in the same world, but way, WAY, before Vox Machina's or The Mighty Nein's Time. Once again, welcome to this new world, hope you enjoy your visit and stay for a while... it's a devoted community with a lot of heart... and dicks... so many dicks... LoL. Let Chaos Reign!
The Book "Tusk Love" is a running gag, that started in Season 2. It crops up every now and then and was included in the animated show for that reason too. ;) As is the trouble Vox Machina does have with doors. A lot of failed rolls there. You'll see.
Oh, the whole safe word thing is because, in the campaign, they actually had another player (who left for various reasons during this story arc), and his character created earrings that let the party talk to each other if they were within 500 ft. of each other. So in the campaign, they used the safe word "Jenga" if someone was in trouble. But they can't use that word in this show for copyright reasons, so they said "Chenga". Also, they removed the other character completely, so no earrings. So now it's just a nod to the fans.
Vax's belt is known as Simon, the one-eyed trouser snake. In addition to Sylas, Mercer has a bunch of cameos in this show. He was the fuckstick in ep 3, and told Scanlan to "Eat a fucking sandwich!" in ep 4. The online consensus is that the creatures in ep 4 are Wraiths -- incorporeal in darkness, weak in light, doing necrotic damage (shown here as black goo). In the original D&D game, Pike had to bail for months at a time because her player/actor had an acting gig in New York, thus explaining her absence. She'd Skype in when she could, but it was a bitch doing so -- 3-hour time difference, and the only input she got from the room was one laptop's mic and camera. When they found out she was doing this game, the show she was on ("Blindspot") wrote into her character that she played D&D.
-If youre playing Baldurs Gate, you would probably enjoy the first 13 episode arc of campaign 1 which takes them through the Underdark. None of it but a few little references made it into the show unfortunately. -Its all fairly accurate to the major events of the campaign, including some pivitol dice rolls, but theres still a lot of changes to cut everything down for time. TBH I think the characterisation of the main party and even some major NPCs suffers quite a bit, but that should hopefully all be sorted out by the series end. -Vexs headache isnt an insight check, its an interpretation of her ranger ability Primeval Awareness which allows her to sense dragons -The party was level 7 when they defeated Brimscythe, then quite a bit of time and major adventures are skipped here in the show (like the Underdark chapter) so they are level 11 by next episode
Bidet! 5:00 "Okay, I know what to expect from this frickin' show", is the perfect encapsulation of the first couple of episodes. They really throw everything at you and you get on board quickly. After that, you're prepped for the continuous level-up theyre serving. Glad you're loving it, but one thing is clear, you absolutely NEED to watch the short "making of" videos on their channel. They're in a playlist called The Legend of The Legend of Vox Machina, you won't regret it.
@JofroReactz heads up, the campaigns build upon each other, so I would recommend catching up on C1 and C2 before catching up on C3, unless you're OK with spoilers.
It should be noted, the ONLY credit Prime gets here is providing money for season 2 and beyond. The actual content and quality of the show goes ENTIRELY to Critical Role. This show, so far, has been one of THE BEST adaptations I've ever seen, and is even more impressive given the sheer amount of content in Critical Role's first campaign. Welcome to the ride, it's a phenomenal story.
@@SilverScribe85 mostly! They funded the first 10 episodes, and then Amazon provided enough to fund another 14, allowing for two 12 episode seasons. Obviously, that has since grown
At the time Critical Role started streaming, they were playing the first campaign for quite some time, they just added the cameras and continued the Kraghammer arc - if I remember correctly, they were around lvl 9 at the time. Brimscythe fight happened pre-stream, so they were ~7-8 lvl, they decided to start animation here, since those events will be important in the future. Kraghammer arc is skipped in the show, though mentioned once or twice, and we're jumping right into the Briarwood arc - and believe me, you're in for a treat, that's the point where I got completely hooked. I finished the entire 1st campaign, and I'm in the middle of the second one, which will also get animated, works on the first season are underway. Have fun!
I lucked out and finally found a game this spring after decades. It ended after a few months cause the DM moved away, but a new game starts in about 2 months.
