I love that the first thing Grog does with the gauntlets' power is break Zanror's chain. A small thing, but a great way to show where his heart lies, he doesn't seek power or control.
Kaylie was a part of the original campaign. Matt sprung the surprise onto the cast, including the part where she tells Scanlan while he's trying to bed her.
ONE OF US, ONE OF US! Part of it is really that you get it. You love the crass moments, cry at the hart warming moments. And the obligatory "Here, you stop it here!!"
Context for CRs origins. Sam and Liam had a podcast. During an episode Liam wished to play an RPG for his birthday. Sam used his connections in the VO industry to make it happen. Now we all get to enjoy the Best. Present. Ever.
Laura Bailey had the same birthday and wanted to play a rogue, but the game was Liam's birthday gift, so she decided to play a ranger instead, and they decided to be twins. When deciding on names, Liam sent an email to the wrong address, getting in touch with another VO, who was also a DM, who explained that he ran a Dragonlance campaign and half-elves weren't allowed.
You left out the part were word got around among the VO community in L.A. that a bunch of them had an RPG game going. Felicia Day got wind of that, invited them to play a session live on the internet, to which they all laughed and said: "Yeah sure, but no one is going to watch that." The rest is history.
@@leonielson7138 Not trying to be THAT guy, but...being that guy. Matt Colville is not quite a VO, he's a writer and worked for many years in the video game industry, so he's worked quite closely with VOs like Matt and Liam. His campaign setting is also not Dragonlance, it's his home-brew setting of Orden. Otherwise, yeah, this is always an amazing tidbit of history to share!
As far as I know, Sam didnt have anything do to with bringing together that first session. It was Liam and Matt. Liam mentioned to Matt that he hasnt played DnD in quite a long while when he found out Matt played DnD and as a birthday present, Matt offered to do a one shot. Which turned out to be the birth of Critical Role.
" Sam used his connections in the VO industry to make it happen..." This part is not true. Like at all. Back in 2012 Matt and Liam were working on Resident Evil 6 (Liam was the Voice Director, and Matt voiced Leon) and they talked about their hobbies during lunch breaks and stuffs, and thats how D&D came up. Matt was running multiple games arround that time, while Liam hasn't played since he was a teen. To get material for his podcast with Sam (where the theme was, that they were trying out new things before each episode) and since his birthday was also coming up Liam asked Matt to run a one-shot. It was actually he, who invited Sam, Laura and Travis (since Laura was also working on RE6), while Matt brought in Marisha and Taliesin, since they were both more experienced with the game. They found out that Liam and Laura has the same birthday and thats why Vax and Vex became twins. Ashley (and probably Orion) joined later, when it became an actual Campaign.
Scanlan saying 'haha and then I disguised us all as cows' actually happened in the stream. Someone was stealing cows so they made themselves look like bait, and it's one of the funniest moments on stream
Especially when Keyleth turned herself into a giant eagle to fly after the monster, but still had the spell on her that made her look like a cow. So someone casts fly on the party and now you have a bunch of cows flying after a monster.
@@nickscholz6559 oh yes! The chat was fecking toxic that day. Keyleth's trying to reason with the roc's caretaker and the chat's yelling: Someone shut her up! Just kill it! I didn't agree with Key on a lot of things but that episode just showed how good she could be when she put her foot down
Only Matt knew that Kaylie existed, and he sprung that on Sam/Scanlan almost exactly how it happened in the animated series! It’s a great moment, with everyone’s faces going on a WILD journey as it slowly clicks what is happening and what Kaylie is saying.
If I'm not mistaken, when Vex drops Grog in the campaign, it was one of more than a few times that Travis rolls a perfect timed Nat 20. It was very *chef's kiss*
It's so great to see how this story clicks with you as someone who didn't watch the campaign. It shows that it is indeed in itself a great story! Oh, and BTW: You really don't need to worry about how to correctly pronounce Umbrasyl. Matt called him the "Florida Dragon" recently, so ... there you go. 😂
This is the episode we learn that in Real life Scanlan is based off Eminem haha. Scanlan shorthalt = slim shady. Kaylee = Hailey. Dr Dranzell = dr dre. The legnths Sam goes to troll is insane.
Yup! In the campaign it was Scanlan that was discovered by Dr. Dranzel and joined his Spectacular Traveling Troupe. Kaylee joined long after he had left. Sam (Scanlan) would even call Dranzel "Dr. Dra" in the campaign.
The great part is that Sam built all the back story with S and S being like M and M, (Marshal Mathers) and slim shady and Dr D. and all the other Eminem stuff, but Matt sprung the Kaylee being his daughter on him, and Sam didn't catch the hint that Matt played into the theme. Matt is a sneaky devil.
@@Logan_Baron Matt is an evil genius. I wouldn't be surprised if he dumps novels and English class textbooks into a cauldron at his place and siphons off only the best storylines from the foam that bubbles up, like some artisan cheesemaker in Bavaria.
Kaylee being Scanlan's daughter was 100% Matt's idea. Sam was completely blindsided by the reveal, which happened almost exactly as shown, and ran with it. Matt does a brilliant job of incorporating a players backtory into the game, adding some details to subvert expectations and surprise his players.
@@Allantitan it does sound like friends, but he is yelling kinda incomprehensibly there which makes it hard to tell. The subtitles at least say "my pike" and even though they are wrong sometimes I'm going to believe that's what it is cause I really like their bond.
Best episode of the season. Grog's Kevdak fight and the Scanlan Daddy moments were huge character moments for both of them. I don't want to wait for the next season.
I love that this show is fantasy animation, but it is also about adults, not teenagers or a coming of age story, but instead adults with adult issues, but it also has so much heart and the friends that we made along the way. But it's for someone like me, an adult. And Sam's songs just kill it every time.
This is the episode I was waiting for since the show began, my expectations were high but holy hell they somehow exceeded them! Instantly became my favorite episode of this show and it might even be in my top 10 favorite episodes of all time if I'm perfectly honest... from the writing (it feels like not a single second was wasted), to animation, to music, to just sheer epicness of the fight, I honestly don't even know what it would take to make it any better. 10/10 from me, both for the episode itself and for the reaction!
(Potential spoiler for an NPC's class and mechanics) I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but the smallest of Easter eggs: when Gilmore is talking about keeping the city hidden murdering his complexion, this is a reference to his character class in the game. Gilmore is a Runechild Sorcerer. When he uses certain kinds of magic, glowing runes appear on his skin. I don't know if they'll ever bring that into the series, but it's a nice nod.
Okay, Sam and co. really made some banger songs for this season. Power ballad for the sphinx, metal for the fight and now that damn "crying bald man" which is catchy as hell.
I think Grog's insult to Kevdak was funnier in the campaign, but I can understand why they changed it. In the campaign, he asked Kevdak "So tell me...do you squat when you pee now?"
You’re right. Allura’s spell was convenient, to be sure. There is a spell in the game that both she and Gilmore would have access to that literally shows you a person (or a place if you prefer). Also, given how often Titmouse and the writers want to split the party for their convenience, it’s nice the spell is “real”.
Kevdak had these Titanstone Knuckles/ He wailed on Grog as he chuckled/ But while Kevin laughed/ Grog sliced him in half/ And said "These are mine now, fuckles!"
It's been said, but you're a Critter for sure. Glad to have another at the party! I think we all knew this episode was going to be fantastic, whether we watched the campaign or not. And yes, in the campaign, Matt surprised Sam by giving Scanlan a daughter, and it unfolded much like what we saw in the show, more or less!
Never apologize for being a sobbing mess. As an OG, I am living for reactions from people not in the know. Evil? Maybe. But so enjoyable the reactions. These fights really were this insane.
You should go back and see some clips of campaign 1 when you're done to see some of these cool ass lines improved. Like when Percy give Vex her title in front of her father to protect her. It was on a live show and was EPIC.
Yes! The Kaylie reveal was almost exactly the same in the campaign and was also a shock then! Sam got teased about trying to hook up with his daughter for ever after that XD Glad you're enjoying the show- this fight between Grog and Kevdak was one of the moments I was most looking foreword to seeing animated! It definitely didn't disappoint!
Watching the campaigns in real time - it felt like every major cliffhanger also happened when there was a scheduled break the next week for a holiday or vacation etc. They really keep that energy going into this series.
I'm not sure if the full streams are still up on Geek & Sundry, but in the first year, as the show picked up steam, they started getting art, gifts, and letters from viewers. "Critmis" was every week for a long time because players were showering them in stuff. Amongst that stuff, btw, was a 5 pack of elder dragon models for Matt, which he absolutely lit up for. That was the origin of the Chroma Conclave. They had killed a blue dragon pre-stream, so he left that model out of the plot. I think the reason that they have such a stellar reputation with longtime fans came out in some of the letters they received. Numerous letters indicating that viewers were in deep depressions, some suicidal, before finding the stream. They found that watching them play together was like being in the room with a group of friends having a good time. People started to meet up through fan pages and make connections. A lot of that early narrative has gotten left behind. They used to do updates on charity work regularly and at a certain point they asked viewers to stop sending them gifts and to donate to charities instead. During the first Campaign, at some point a taxidermied bear appears behind them. Someone sent it to them as a stand in for Trinket and it stayed there for the rest of the campaign. Some of this is in the RU-vid videos@ but there is a ton that wasn't included.
I thought you might like that song! Loved your reactions, as usual. A note from the game play: Travis had almost zero health (HP) as he dropped to attack Kevdak at the end of the fight; numerically, he generally has substantially more than anyone else in the group. So he basically had just the one chance to kill him -- and so, as you can guess, no pressure. So he rolls his 20-sided die for the attack . . . and it's a natural 20! And that means extra damage -- a critical hit. And after all of the dice are rolled for the damage, and all of the modifiers added on to that, it is just enough to take out the big guy! (Matt later revealed that at several key points this fight could have gone very differently -- not all of them included in this shortened version of the fight.)
When leaving the Feywild, unless you go through a permanent gate, time can get a little wibbly wobbly, kind of like Narnia. You can be gone for a day and have only a minute pass, or entire years. In theory, they could have returned a whole century after the dragons had attacked!
here’s a link to the narrated adventures of what happened pre stream! nothing here is spoils, it will just add some flavor to the group coming together, and show some of the timeline differences for things they made . i guess very slight SPOILERS about why pikes hair is white now, but i don’t think it will be brought up/the same reasoning in the show 😊 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kKixWUIgmKA.html
@@KBTibbs true okay so: angela if you see this and want to watch the video this is what you need to know. initially there was another party member named tiberius who was a red dragonborn. he left right as the briarwood arc was starting for personal reasons. it was very easy to remove him from tlovm story line. you will see him in this video, but he is wholly unimportant for watching the show. that is all
In the campaign, Scanlan met his daughter before the Chroma Conclave arc. The two had a flute playing competition that Scalan deliberately lost because he wanted to bed her. The reveal went about the same way and blew everyone's mind. It was hilarious
Matt Mercer is the king of cliffhangers. He is soooo good at finding the perfect spots in the streams to make the entire group of his players always go “wait wait wait! Just a bit longer! Let’s play longer!”
Been really fun seeing you get into this with no idea whats gonna happen in each episode, makes the crazy moments very entertaining for us in the comments. And with how they've reworked some events and brought in some stuff from the pre-stream days, even critters get neat surprises in these episodes. Matt totally has a thing for cliffhangers. It feels like every few streams he ends on one, and the rest of the cast (and especially Ashley) says something to the effect of "can we just play for another hour or five?". Funny to see how the show has maintained that effect with how they're pacing the events. Also cannot wait for the Mighty Nein show, that's a whole other bundle of pain and laughs and chaos that will be amazing to see adapted. Truly, Liam asked for the best birthday present that year.
It might be convenient, Allura had a spell to help the gang but funny enough it's an actual spell in d&d something called scry basically let's you spy on a someone, it's going to be a thing hahah
there were a few parts i was watching this episode and said i can't wait to see your reaction for this, and the next few episodes also. Us critters are a welcoming group and one of Mercer's catch phrases sums us up quite good, "Don't forget to love each other".
Fun fact: the cast was so nervous for this fight they brought in Wil Wheaton to touch all of Matt's DM stuff before the game. Because Wil Wheaton was cursed by the gods to always have shitty dice rolls, so they hoped the curse would rub off on Matt's dice xD
I think I watched an entire video of just Wil Wheaton’s shit dice throws. I feel like anything negative or bad that happens in a campaign, you can just blame it on him lol.
God I love this show. It has the darkest and most somber moments, but they're contrast to moments that are just such a pure joy (so much endorphin production from this show!).
The Legend of Vox Machina season 3 is officially confirmed, so yay! And given how well the show is doing, I have to imagine they'll get all the seasons they'll want in order to finish the story.
Such a great translation of the actual combat for the killbox. Travis did shout "Vox Machina, fuck shit up!" as their cue to attack the herd. Vex did use the necklace to transport Grog and drop him onto Kevdak... Travis rolled a natural 20 for a critical hit and the show accurately displays his description of how Grog finishes Kevdak. He shattered both legs and went unconscious when landing too lol. Fun side note, I recently caught up on The Last of Us. Not only did Ashley Johnson voice and MoCap Ellie in the game and has a role in the show, but if you watch the first episode, Joel's daughter Sarah is wearing a shirt with Marisha Ray, Kiki, on it!!! Also, Troy Baker voiced Joel in the game, and he was Liam O'Brien's roommate at the time lol Looking forward to both TLOU and VM reactions from you 💛
@@balijosu You got that right. Rolled a NAT 20 on a save and then a few moments later remembered that he should have had disadvantage and then rolled a 1.
It seems we will have at least two more seasons of this show and we know that Campaign 2 will get a show and standalone movie(s) in the same universe. I will love seeing EXU: Calamity as a full movie, also the Darrington Brigade would be fun.
Well that depends on Amazon. I think it is very likey, considering that they already greenlit a Mighty Nein Show. But you are right. The amount of story they have to tell with Vox Machina at this pace probably needs 3 more seasons. So 5 total. We'll have to wait and see.
I got into critical role from Campaign 2 with the Mighty Nein. You’re going to love that team! Vox Machina is a very on the nose D&D team with all the trope characters, edge lord rogue, horny bard, etc. But with the Mighty Nein, they really went for more unique character and class choices like Nott’s nervous goblin rogue or Jester’s trickster tefling cleric. They made some very interesting characters and I actually prefer Marisha’s Monk character Beauregard over her Druid character Keyleth so far. The characters really interact with each other and grew in interesting ways. My prediction is Jester will be your favorite character. Calling it now!
I finished the latest Vox Machina season, and I loved that Scanlon, Grog and the twins got a lot more focus throughout the numerous episodes. Pardon my “nerd-side” manner but Grog’s fight with Kevdak was the closest thing I got for a Kratos vs Thanos death match lol.
You figured it out when the line came, but yeah, the rage wasn't what he was saying was where his strength came from, but his friends are where his strength comes from, and thus seeing Pike in peril gave him the boost to get his strength back. He just didn't clarify it until a little bit later. Rather than the rage being the inspiration, his friends were the inspiration that caused him to rage.
You mentioned that they wouldn't show Pike's hair color being different for no reason. It is possible they are simply doing that as a nod to the Critters who are familiar with the RPG stream, just like Gilmore's shop (when they first go there for help with the blue dragon) contains an item that is a nod to the Mighty Nein.
Somewhere I read that currently they have campaign one mapped out to 5 seasons. But since 4 and beyond aren't green lit yet (that I know about) I'm sure that could change.
If the vocals are what bother you about metal, listen to Nightwish, it's Metal with an opera singer and it's even more awesome than what that sentence suggests.
I am only finding random bits of vox machina with you?!?! ... is youtube doing their CCp thing again? I do love taking these trips with you... you are amazing dear! ♥
Kayle was not part of Scanlon's backstory that Sam prepared, it was as much of a surprise to Sam as it was to Scanlon in that last scene where he said WAIT, I'm Daddy!
loved your face when you clicked on who Keylie was, in the stream the rest of the group worked it out before Sam, and the look of slow realisation on his face was priceless, I think Allura used the spell Scriying to detect were the others were. a bit like what Ripely does with the orb she has.
28:08 lol Allura is a pretty high level wizard you haven't seen anything yet. That is one of her powers from the campaign, she can scry on their location.
To be fair with the Keyleth/Vax moment, he had really bad timing in the first season at the Sun Tree so I guess they're tied, and if it helps it's "um bruh sill" lol
Not everybody likes metal but if its the just the harsh vocal what you dont like, there are metal bands with clean vocals , sweet angelical voices, ones tend to even turn a somthing into the operatic.(Amy lee with Evanescence, Sharon with Whitin temptetion, Simone with Epica, Nightwish with Floor, Tarja, Aneke... betwenn some metal bands).
Been looking forward to seeing this reveal for YEARS!!! The Kevdak fighte was a highly anticipated moment for me and for them to pair it with that ending!? *chef's kiss*
You can't blame Matt for the cliffhanger from last episode - that was actually Sam (Scanlan) and Travis (Grog), who wrote the episode. The cliffhanger we got was "Vox Machina, fuck shit up!" after Kevdak had pretty much already beaten Grog in single combat. The spell Allura uses - "Scrying" - is straight from the game, and in the game, was one Keyleth had and used a lot. They're showing Allura is more powerful than Kiki is just yet. The Kaylie reveal actually happened right before the dragons hit Emon in the game, and then they ran into them again in Westruun. It's all part of Scanlan's overall arc and you will cry. We sure did.
this is why i enjoy watching your reactions, the moment you figure out what kaylee is telling scanlan was awesome lol. you could see it click. i also really enjoyed the credits song lol. hes done an amazing job with the music this season
Fun Fact: Scanlan was based on Eminem. Marshall Matters (MM), Scanlan Shorthalt (SS). Daughters: Hailie, Kaylie. Dr Dre and Dr Dranzel (a member of Kaylie's troupe who actually played the role of discovering Scanlan's talent in the campaign)
Yes, it's a far better reaction to go in blind and I appreciate your willingness to do it. Also to entertain your audience at your own expense because when you said "get it in!" I had to pause the video because I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe, knowing what was coming.
I love that this was Scanlan's backstory episode tied in with Grog's vestige story. The fight was at crazy anime levels and it was so good, though in the campaign they were all getting their butts kicked. Scanlan Shorthalt was apparently based on Marshal Matthers who was discovered by Dr. Dre and has a daughter named Hailey...
The players were so stressed up about the Kevdak fight, they asked Wil Wheaton to come to the set and lay hands on Matt and all of his stuff. Wil is a friend of the cast, who ALWAYS rolls poorly. Like statistically unlikely poorly. This links to their secret plan: "Liam & Travis' secret plan to win the fight in E52" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lwuU5ZPiqpY.html And this links to a super-cut explaining the Wil Wheaton dice curse: "The Wil Wheaton Dice Curse" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-um7uTlb_i28.html
Generally, in story-heavy games like Critical Role's, players will give the gamemaster their backstory, or work on it with them, so there are story hooks the GM can use to tie the characters pasts into the ongoing story.
