No spoilers at all, but I wanted to warn you- this season gets very intense. I know that intensity made you stop watching season 1, and you might feel the urge to stop watching again, but I think you’ll be very satisfied with how everything wraps up, just trust the process and keep going. I love how much you adore our lil gunslinger, he’s my favorite too.
Yes. I love your reactions. And with how sharp you’ve been, you may even catch some comforting hints that other reactors missed, because you are very quick on catching the hints they leave in the animation. The critters are here to support you ❤ We love Tal’s “Whiney little one-percent-er” (affectionate) so much, we get it.
Yep… it’s going to be a wild ride, and some bends may scare you… but trust the process. These creatives do know what they’re doing, and they want you to feel the payoff, the emotional buy-in, and the tribulations along the way.
I’m one of the critters who backed the original kickstarter to get this show off the ground (my “legend of vox machina crew” beanie is starting to wear out lol) and I’ve watched every reaction I can get my grubby little hands on. You are going through the same emotions I did when watching the original campaign (with some adjustments for the show, naturally) and you’re so good at identifying the little details that pass others by. It makes you a DELIGHT to watch, and I even smile when I hear the orcs upstairs now. Oddly enough if gives your channel a silly and unique flair. This season gets intense and sad and emotionally draining at times. Take time between episodes as you need to, but I promise the end of the season makes it all worth it. You got this!
Never be ashamed for caring about the things and people you love. Those that matter to you will cherish you for it and those that don't aren't worth your time. I find it adorable that you care so much about Percy and believe you will find many others that do as well.
Truth. Percy and Keyleth had a lot of moments in the campaign that we just don't get in the show. Mainly because the show wants to focus on other things. But I feel the loss more in this season than I did before, since Keyleth is becoming more assertive.
@@eastersliceWe lost so many great character moments this season, sadly. Not just between Keyleth and Percy, but with all the party members. Especially Scanlan.
A sort of fun fact about animated Percy. He is 6 feet tall exactly and is used as the measuring stick for all the other characters to proportion their heights.
One extra tidbit, the little boy and girl who were playing with toy guns and had the scene with Grog were voiced by Travis (Grog), Laura (Vex, and married to Travis) as the little girl, and their son Ronin as the little boy. So, a nice little family scene. The closing credits song is sung by Matt Mercer and is an easter egg for Campaign 2, Mighty Nein. It made an awful lot of us very happy. The Emperex (non-gendered version of Emperor/Emperess) is something special as they are completely familiar with vestiges, including recognizing Myth Carver on sight.
Came to give the same fact, but the other thing is that their son Ronin is a big fan of Dragons and have his own dragon character and the only thing he want to record at the beginning was dragon noices, so they play a whole scene as a dragon first and then he records his lines. a complete family of lovely D&D nerds
So glad you're back! If you ever need a break again please take care of yourself but maybe a community post to explain like "Hey not feeling good I'll be back when I'm better." Would make us all worry a little less glad to see you continue LOVM can't wait for you to experience it!❤
hey never apology for the overlay, most of reaction channels have to do the same, an the ones that dont usually cut half of the episode, so to be honest i prefer it this way because well your honest reaction is what keep us coming back, love your videos and man this season will be a rollercoaster for you a already can tell, good luck and keep the great work
You said a lot of things in this video that I will not single out because I don't want to spoil anything. Let's just say with you watching and commenting on all those moments I am appreciating more and more how good Season 3 is in setting up and paying off a lot of different arcs. There is a lot to come and I hope you get to experience it unspoiled.
@@smashbrandiscootch719 Wrong. You are one of a few who don't like the changes. Every change made sure that the show is its own coherent thing that still honors the spirit of the stream. And Sam already confirmed that the change connected with his character is something they didn't abandon but simply table for next season. They have already proven with Vex's "Darling take the Mask off" that they can shift these moments around while still having great impact. This was never going to be a one-to-one adaptation. And the Critical Role cast was clear that they would change things.
@@smashbrandiscootch719 There is a lot to come. They did very well with the story. All major story events can still be adapted just fine. There, fixed that for you.
And, if I remember correctly, for early Ripley Matt literally just used Percy’s character sheet before fleshing her out further (with vestiges, orthax powers, possibly warlock levels etc)
yeah, so like a literary foil. someone who exists who has similarities but highlights the differences between them! i think i'm just using the literary terms as opposed to the ones matt might have used since it's what i'm more familiar with. :D
Percy player has said Percy would be Lex Luther if he had not met Vox Machina. after the campaign wrap up he said he would of let percy die his story complete after the briawoods if it was not for the romance story developing between Percy and Vex.
@@kyratries absolutely agree. I find it interesting, but not necessarily surprising, that Matt’s method of creating a foil was to just copy-paste the character and then tweak it
I really love your insight about how Percy has made Ripley *his* person in the same way he’s made Orthax *his* demon. If you thought the last two seasons were emotionally devastating, this one’s worse. But I really hope you’ll stick with it and do the whole season! It’s well worth it!
What really gets to me is how goddamned FLIRTY Ripley is with Percy despite the fact that she has no regard for him other than what she can get out of him.
also j'mon sa ord (the emprex of ank'harel) uses they/them pronouns and neutral terms, they're one of my favorite npcs from campaign 1 and i'm so stoked to see them on the screen. far too fine for their own good.
I adore your videos! Thank you for being insightful, analytical, and passionate about what you are watching! I’ve watched A LOT of LoVM reactions and you are one of my absolute favorites.
Honestly the reason I enjoy your channel is because of the attention you give Percy in general my favorite character of campaign 1 and from what I've seen most other channels tend to get swept up in the hype of the fights or comedic movements and hardly pay attention to characters feelings unless they are explicitly stated which is a damn shame all of these characters have become pretty complex by now . ALSO Keyleth and Percy are way closer in the campagain I hope they will set it up a little as we go on
It's not exactly explained, but Ripley built her first gun prototype from listening to rumours about Percy and his weapons that spread about cities like Westruun and Emon. The Briarwoods were likely too busy with their evil shit to care, but Ripley definitely knew he was alive and roaming about Tal'Dorei before the Briarwood arc. Trying to remake Percy's pepperbox by trial and error was also the reason she lost her arm.
i remember him being actively on her tail in the comics, which...i'm not sure how much that differs from the campaign and how much that differs from the show because their reintroduction in the show didn't feel that way, but that makes a lot of sense! of course she wouldn't share information that could be useful later on...
Ripley's teeth stay silent for the rest of the season, you can be calm about that. Also, Kyra is the real Squidward meme of "Oh no, she is hot". Ripley goes all American about the right of EVERYONE to bear arms. She really wanna play in a Wild West scenario.
Percy’s argument about ‘what happens when the oppressed become the oppressors’ isn’t inherently pro-oppression… but it is pro-status-quo, which is a manifestation of his privilege as a member of the ruling class. His point is that with guns as an accelerator, cycles of revolution and revenge are likely to propagate at a breakneck pace, causing far more collateral damage to innocents that are not in a position to defend themselves against every rising revolution or new regime. An uprising that takes time and care to prosecute has to consider its moves strategically, plan its targets specifically. It has to dismantle systems of oppression and control, and it has time to think about what it wants to come after. It might take years, even decades, but the likelihood that you arrive at a system where the oppression stops or at least lessens is greater. An uprising that happens in an afternoon is mob action. It’s indiscriminate, unfocused, targeting whomever it best feels it can vent its discontent upon. It feels rather than thinks. It’s hurt people hurting people. When you make toppling tyranny too easy, you create an environment that mass-produces tyrants. If you have one entrenched tyrant, you have oppression that can be navigated because it’s consistent… horrible, but predictably horrible. When you have multiple tyrants in competition, you have oppression that cannot be navigated because it’s in perpetual chaos. You never know whose prejudices you’re having to work through.
To be fair Percy wasn't lying to J'mon Sa Ord, he didn't say that he had killed Mistress Asharru, he just said that he was responsible. And in Percy's mind, he is.
"Takin it back, takin it back... She kind of is... BUT I'M TAKIN IT BACK!" yeah, i didnt know it was possible to shoot milkshake out the nose... thanks for that gift Lmao
A really cool detail about this episode - if you watch carefully, everything that Percy examines in Ripley's lab while she's going through her monologue is everything he uses to escape his captivity.
I was commenting while watching, almost reached the end of the video, then I accidentally refreshed the page and it vanished into the void. *deep sigh* Can't remember most of it. Percy's character design is exactly 6ft even. Because of that, he was used as a scale reference in all of the character and monster art, just "Percy for scale". Not sure why I find that funny, but I do :D
i'm swallowing down laughter at work, that is definitely funny in my book! percy as a unit for measurement. one percy, two percii, percy squared, 1/4 perc...the system is sound.
When you have a desire to punish yourself, there is no easier way to do so than self-inflicted guilt. Logic can not exist in this process. Or so I have heard...
I really enjoy hearing your thoughts along with the reactions; its always fun to share that emotional investment in a good story! Stopping an episodes on a first watch would drive me bananas, but I do wish I had local friends with as much interest. Definitely check out the campaign to screen comparisons when you are done with this season. There's a ton of great moments that got altered or couldn't fit!
We have kind of laid the ominous foreshadowing on thick for you, and you'll have to weigh in on how appropriate that was by the end of Season 3. But, just do us one favor: Don't stop. You've come this far, you've got to see it through. There's more riding on this now. There's you. And we're all with you.
in d&d there is a difference between devils and demons. Devils are Lawful Evil so rule driven and live in the Hells, Demons are Chaotic Evil and feed on Chaos and live in the Abyss
Hi there! I think you said a lot of interesting things, esp about Percy. I'll say that while I agree with everything you said abt him keeping quiet about Ripley, I also think it's the most likely thing that would have been dismissed by the group if even brought up - at least before this episode. She IS a huge problem, but I don't think anyone would've predicted how relevant she actually /was/ to their current mission. They didn't even care she got away at the ziggurat bc again, bigger problems. Too bad Ripley is chaos itself in the most methodical way possible (and unfortunately hot. which makes it very complex to me to watch her being terrible to Percy in very skin-crawling ways like the teeth snapping thing). Well. Maybe now that Vax is in a better place himself he COULD be able to have a more level-headed discussion, unfortunately he's spending his extra time not meshing very well with Keyleth... I have to say this season brings out a LOT of feels, but please keep at it! I think the finishing line is very rewarding to watch
you are right that the group probably wouldn't have cared, although Vex did ask Yennen about Ripley and then said something about probably running into her again, so if Percy HAD told Vex when she poked her head in, she probably would have cared. but yeah, the others not so much, i agree. good point. :(
@@kyratriesOn the other hand, I do wonder if part of Percy’s hesitation may have been born out of a concern that if he sounded like he wanted to hound after Ripley in the midst of the dragons going all apocalyptic, some members of the party would’ve seen it less as ‘oh, Ripley’s back at the worst possible time’ and more as ‘are we ABSOLUTELY sure Percy’s not giving off black smoke again?’ He’s desperate to be trusted. Presenting himself as renewing an obsession with someone that wronged him is something he may have been conscious of as a thing that might work against him.
@@caffeinedelusions oh yes, absolutely! fantastic point! percy was probably very worried about giving anyone in the group the idea he was 'hungry for vengeance' in the midst of everything else happening while he's still trying to prove he's OKAY NOW and WORTH KEEPING AROUND. percy has a big brain. he has room for a lot of worst-case scenarios. what if they don't believe me? what if they DO believe me? what can we possibly do even if we know she's around? thinking about it, the most logical course of action---for percy at least----would be to single out the members of the group who will take the news well rather than revealing it to everyone. pike, keyleth, and vex make the most sense to me because pike can read his soul or w/e she did that one time, keyleth would possibly freak but be sympathetic, but vex was the one who showed him the most trust and has continued to tease him and make him feel part of the group (punching him in the arm before running to the sun tree, 'i'm sure it happens to ALL the nobles', the terms of endearment etc) so it's possible percy would have just told vex at the right time but...sunken tomb. after that, i don't think he'd even consider telling vex about HIS problems and the rest of the crew is out of the question because of how guilty he feels over what happened also things get a little hectic. and then he just ends up not telling anyone until his secret shows up killing people. it's really easy like that to see why he didn't feel he could tell anyone :(
the ace attorney reference this episode took me OUT as a person who was a fan of sam riegel through ace attorney before i got into critical role. he plays phoenix wright in ace attorney 5 and 6 (and now 4 in the remastered version.) further fun facts, matt mercer (sylas, orthax, multiple npcs, etc. and the dm for critical role) plays nahyuta in aa6, and people have theorized that travis willingham (grog) plays simon blackquill in aa5.
"The twins are menaces to society" and I love that about them :) "Imagine... Father of guns" - Taliesin Jaffe (Percy) has said that Percy knew when he first made the pepperbox that this would happen. Percy is selfish enough to foresee all that and do the thing anyway. He just didn't think his dangerous invention would proliferate that fast. Taliesin seems to love playing deeply, frustratingly flawed characters, although fans don't always see his characters that way. The song Dr. Drenzel sings about the girl in Nicodranas, "The Ruby of the Sea", is an Easter Egg for fans of The Mighty Nein. I'm so glad you noticed Percy's crappy argument against Ripley's crappy plan. I can believe that Percy with his princely upbringing would have been taught to think that way, but (as we see in modern South Africa) it isn't an historic inevitability that the oppressed become oppressors. It also isn't inevitable that the oppressed win - Percy's argument would be a lot stronger if he simply pointed out that Ripley's plan is a lot more likely to give those who are already powerful a new way to reinforce their power. On the other hand, I do love how this episode shows us that Percy is always just a small sidestep away from becoming a mad scientist. :)
Yes. I thought exactly the same thing during that exchange. It's not a good argument. I chock it down to Percy not being on his game, because, well, he's living out his worst nightmare at the moment.
they're both wrong and they should know it. if our own history tells us anything, when the oppressed rise up (most of the time), we get a of unnecessary bloodshed and then, instead of the oppressed taking power and becoming the oppressors, it's almost always some other group of awful people who take advantage of the chaos and swoop in to take power. or, if not even awful, just some other powerful group that ends up in charge, like William and Mary of Orange taking power after Cromwell, or Danton taking power after Robespierre was killed during the French Rev, and how that would lead to Napoleon and then another 60 years of political turmoil, or Stalin taking power after Lenin and chasing off all his political opponents before startiest one of the deadliest regimes ever. but Percy would have definitely learned about nobles doing good things for the people---and Whitestone seems like it did actually have a good relationship with his family so that would simply be reinforced by his experience and it seems to me like Anna comes from an oppressed background and her own drive for revenge that feeds Orthax is against the entire structure of society but Anna would be the Robespierre of her own Revolution---an intellectual full of ideas of how things should be better, but ultimately unable to connect to the people due to her own ironic belief in her superiority due to her smarts, and then taken down by those around her who also believe in the cause as long as it gets them up the ladder. also maybe she'd also go a little batty at the end there. battier, that is. Uriel was actually making the first step in advocating the crown when he was murdered. we've seen places starting to reach in the right direction. if Anna wanted genuine, positive change, her goal should be facilitating those types of changes and using that big brain of hers to aid with the inevitable struggles a country will face during a drastic change in political climate as an advisor and strategist. not this. she's being fueled by vengeance, not sense, so Orthax finding her makes sense. and Percy might have had a positive experience with Whitestone but he's also just wrong. this got long i'm sorry, Percy dances along the line of brilliance and madness and sometimes needs to be yanked back from the brink especially when it takes him 5 minutes to make stuff that goes BOOM
@@kyratries Thank you. I really appreciate you expounding on this subject. I am not at well read on the subject, and I am grateful to hear from someone who is and can go through it so succinctly. Interestingly, in the campaign, Percy advocated replacing the Briarwoods with a council, which included Keeper Yennen, Cassandra, (and later himself), along with other townsfolk. Which meant that Vex's title probably didn't still exist, but we'll forget all that because we love that she got it. But, to your final point, yes. I wrote somewhere else that what Percy needs, most often, is guidance. He actually says words to that effect more than once in the campaign. Sometimes he needs VM to pull him back from his darker impulses. As was pretty obvious at the end of Season 1.
@@easterslice oh I love that Percy wanted a council! It would make sense, seeing as he was aware enough to know he shouldn’t be in charge. And yes to the guidance. Not babysitting, but someone to nudge him when he starts to veer. He’s such a wonderful complex character and I love how just these two episodes have expounded upon that character outside of what he has endured in the past and instead what he can be now. ☺️
i think Percy is facing is the Oppenheimer dilema in the case of Ripley, at the end of the day she wouldn't even have think of creating something like the Pepperbox with out Percy´s original design, and lets be clear Orthax give him the inspiration but Percy by try and error create the weapon, so in his mind any other version of it is something he bring to the world. In a way i think he actually was telling the true, or at least the true he belive, when he say that he was responsable for that murder, because in his eyes every person kill with a firearm in the future can trace that murder to his original creation. Look im not saying that he is correct or he deserve his guilt, but at the end of the day he is feeling it and coming back to what happen to Oppenheimer, that guilt will probably follow him for the rest of his life, he will just have to learn how to deal with it.
@@kyratriesI thought about Nobel creating dynamite as a construction tool to clear obstacles and saw it become weaponized. I might be totally misremembering the story but Nobel felt so guilty that's why the Nobel prize fund was started. He hoped to inspire people to create things to make the world better instead of what his invention was turned into and how the world would remember him.
I hope you can make room in your heart for Scanlans story too. I know in this episode the stakes were waaaaayyyy lower than the Percy stuff, but the poor little guy is just a mess.
On the topic of what to watch after Epic and Vox Machina are caught up.... There is a fan made Hamilton x Vox Machina crossover production. Cantana Pansaphical...or something like that. They have a Hamilton production for the Chroma Conclave arc, Dear Evan Hanson for the next arc, and Dr Horrible for the final arc.
Just so you know, Emperex J'mon Sa Ord is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. Also, the individual they left the plate with, Zerxus, is a character from the Critical Role mini-series "Exandria Unlimited: Calamity," which is DMed by Brennan Lee Mulligan. It's only four episodes, and I highly recommend watching it. It would be really cool to see you react to it, but since it's a little over 20 hours of content, it's entirely understandable if you'd rather just watch it on your own. Also also, definitely listen to the song from the end credits, and remember it. It's a pretty big reference to the upcoming Mighty Nein animated series.
It's interesting to me that regardless of how terrible Ripley's true motives are (and lets face it, this ultimately has nothing to do with oppressor/oppressed dynamics, it's about Orthax creating a system for mass soul harvesting and feeding Ripley rationalizations to do it), she's half-right in at least one respect. Before Percy and his Pepperbox, guns and black powder were unknown in Exandria. That genie is now thoroughly out of the bottle. Even without Ripley, no matter how hard Percy tried to keep his designs secret, now that the world has the idea of firearms it's only a matter of time before someone, somewhere, sees the potential and manages to create more. (Victor the powder merchant independently developed black powder for use in blast mining at about the same time, but hadn't yet applied it to developing firearms when Percy encountered him in Vasselheim) The only thing Percy can hope for at this point is to come up with some way of steering the development of this technology or the regulations surrounding its manufacture and distribution and even that is only going to delay the inevitable at best. The plain fact is that sooner or later firearms are going to change the world for better and worse, just as they did in our reality. Of course in a world where gods and magic exist, it is possible that direct divine intervention or some insanely powerful magic might wipe the knowledge from the world or change the physical laws of this reality to make black powder inert, but short of that ? Buckle up.
Just started watching Vox machina this week. Binge season 3 yesterday. No spoilers but in episode 3 there is a scene that will make you die if you ship Percy and Vex together. ;)
There is so much to talk about with Percy in this episode! I will take issue with two things. Percy can read a room, and he didn't lie to the Emperex J'mon Sa Ord. His failure in pulling rank in Vasselheim was more due to the city's emphasis on religion than his own idiocy. Pike was definitely the person who should have taken the lead in that situation, but that was an exception to the rule. When Percy confessed, he was parsing his words very carefully. He didn't say that he killed Mistress Asharu, he said that he took "full responsibility for her murder." Is it the complete truth? No. Was it a lie? No. And it was because he correctly sized up the situation, realized that they had no way to prove their innocence in that moment, and made a painful decision that would hopefully allow the others to avoid punishment. I do find it ironic that "No Mercy" Percy throws himself on the mercy of the Emperex, but it works to the extent that he wants it to. J'mon Sa Ord tempers their anger and gives a more merciful punishment to the others; only one person is made to suffer. That is the sort of calculation that campaign Percy often presented in situations where he could only see potential harm coming (which Keyleth always argued against, something the show never has time for). Change of subject: I like how you pick up on the Grog/Percy moments, and Grog's emotional intelligence. We don't get a lot of that, but it's cool that you are picking up on it. I also enjoy your hatred of Anna Ripley and her infuriating hotness. Like you, I can't thinking that his skin must be crawling anytime she gets closer than six feet away. She's scarier than Orthax.
No spoilers, but you're going to need the Ox for the rest of this season. Keep 'im close. Whatever you do, don't give up! Would you dig knowing that the voice of the kid with the gun was Grog & Vex's real-life kid?
8:45 Just to be sure: With saying "you have watched it" you mean both the old and this new opening which is new for this season, am I correct in that assumption? Btw, love how invested you are in this show, unlike some other watchers who I have seen.
You talked about getting Percy on online quizzes because you're insanely attracted to Vex and I just wanted to point out: everyone (save Vax) in Vox Machina is. I remember an episode where they were having downtime in Whitestone and it went from a scene where Percy was telling Vex how wonderful she is, to Vax babysitting a drunk Keyleth while she gushed about how pretty and cool Vex is, to Pike and Grog drunk in a tavern gushing about how pretty and cool Vex is.
Lol, meanwhile, I get Vex as the character I'm most like, and Percy is my favourite character. Kind of makes sense. She carries on my "Katniss Everdeen" dreams as a kid (I have my own archery equipment) while also being pretty sharp, strategic, and emotionally intuned (with others at least). I just wish I could be as cool and confident as her.
Kyra, please stop apologizing for anything. If the overlay provides you with the opportunity to react to THE ENTIRE EPISODE without edits, your new fans are thrilled about it! Your insights are amazing and your speculations are on point more than anyone I have seen react to TLoVM. And please, keep the no intro intros! EDIT to add: Many, many Critical Role fans have fallen for Percy and Vex or both!
Please be wary of spoilers! I know people here mean well but it’s so easy to for someone to get wrapped up in their own emotions and say something vague but spoilery… I’m of the opinion that most things are best enjoyed without outside foreshadowing.
With Percy, it's less about his guilt, it's more about personal responsibility. All that matters is stopping Ripley. Oh, and Orthax. Oh, and then dealing with the Conclave.
"If evil why hot?" is a question I find myself asking several time in this show. Ripley, Raishan, the Briarwoods, maybe one more that I could name that is an upcoming character. Honestly I blame it all on Phil Bourassa (the character designer for the show) being too good at his job. Sir, nobody asked for this. That's okay though because J'mon sa-Ord is also extremely hot and they are at least no longer actively antagonistic to Vox Machina. All of the shots reflected in Percy's glasses are so good this episode. Showing both what he's looking at and his expression at the same time. It's SUCH an effective bit of visual storytelling, and really showcases how they stepped up the animation in this season. That extra production time really did pay off. Guilt truly is one of Percy's defining character traits & one of his great flaws. Understandable considering the compound trauma he has been through, but a coping mechanism that isn't actually useful to anyone and doesn't solve any problems. I do think that there is an interesting angle with regards to Ripley and Percy as it comes to class differences. Percy obviously comes from a place of great privilege, and Ripley presumably (as she's talking here) comes from a place of very little. Ripley isn't exactly wrong in her ideals here, and the way that Percy says "I have no interest in revolution" puts on display some of that nobility blind spot. But also Percy is correct in his foresight that these are tools of violence, and that their spread won't cause the equality that Ripley is looking for-- they'll only allow new groups to hold all the power, and make it so much easier to violence to proliferate. Where he is wrong I think is in his assumption that loosing this technology on the world is on his shoulders (guilt again!!!)-- Ripley is correct here in that this technology was inevitable. Clearly black powder is already a thing in this world (judging by that there are merchants selling it), if not one of them then someone smart was going to come up with the idea of combining that explosive force with mechanics to create firearms. The idea of class conflict is a little beyond the scope of this show, but it's interesting to see some of it crop up here. I love the Twins doing twin-things in these episodes. You get a little glimpse of how they operated before Vox Machina here, and I love Vex ribbing Vax about her past in a thieves' guild. Also, Vax CLEARLY knows how his sister feels about Percy. It's so amusing seeing them have such similar reactions to their siblings' love interest-- you can really see the effects of that bond being the only thing they had for so long, and I think it will be interesting to see how or if they can grow apart from each other.
Percy has a huge blindspot when it comes to nobility, which IS interesting because Whitestone obviously likes the de Rolo family. His own personal experience would be that the system works IF the people in charge are good. Bad people equals bad system, reinforced by the Briarwoods. But it is, like you said, a huge blindspot, and also shows how Percy would end up getting tricked by Anders---he was never taught about class inequality in a way he could apply it to his own life, so would be unable to understand Anders' frustration at being unable to 'move up the ladder' and would therefore end up trusting him, unable to see why Anders would side with people who promised upward mobility. So his blindness has actually had a huge impact on his life...without him even really realizing it. Those who sided with the Briarwoods were all guilty. That was all there was too it. (Anders was, of course, a jerk, but his comments to Percy in their last encounter were really all about class inequality and how the Briarwoods were the ones who granted him the power he'd always been chasing, so it was obviously a huge deal for him that he still held a grudge over after the de Rolo parents were dead.)
@@kyratries I think you've hit the nail on the head when you say Percy would think the system works IF the people in charge are good. But that obviously hasn't been how it has been borne out. Anders is absolutely a huge example of how that system has already boomeranged back to hurt Percy-- without Anders and his resentment, would the Briarwoods have been able to take over Whitestone so easily? Especially in Season 1, there was a bit of a lean towards the goodness of the "rightful nobility" that fantasy tends to have a problem grappling with. It's also interesting in Uriel's final decision to democratize the government slightly and cede control to the council (including community leaders). Obviously Emon is a giant pile of rubble right now and the government is a big fire breathing dragon, so the point is a bit moot. Even in the livestream this isn't something that they ever fully grappled with, so ah well that's what fanfiction is for. I do think that there's something interesting with Vex splitting the difference between both worlds though, as a girl born to both elven nobility and human peasantry, and as a person who has lived as a penniless mercenary for most of her life and suddenly being given a title of her very own (via Percy's massive crush, cough cough). There are some ways in which she straddles both worlds.
@@shannonsavino4068 I found Uriel's choice really interesting and wish it had been able to play out. Because obviously that was in response TO the Briarwoods, but it was also a generally 'good' ruler recognizing the dangers of the system, and Percy might have been able to learn something from it if Uriel had lived to implement the new order. Also, not to ruin a wonderful Perc'ahlia moment, but Percy has to literally elevate Vex to a level above nobility, with none of them being worth her. That effectively takes her out of his scale of bad noble to good noble and ensures he will never have to place her within those constraints. And he doesn't even consciously realize he's doing it. So much of Percy's view of the world has been shaped by classism and poking at that mindset with a stick is so fascinating.
@@kyratries Uriel's choice is FASCINATING to me, and I wish that the kingdom didn't get immediately flattened afterwards so that we could see its consequences play out. It's really interesting that he recognized that a single point of failure in a monarch that can be corrupted by something like mind control magic is actually not the best system of governance. And yeah to be clear I think Percy's decision to give Vex the title was to allow her to externally reflect to the world the esteem he already had for her, but it also serves to put them on the same level socially and I don't think he even consciously realizes he's doing it. As Percy puts it in the stream, "The purpose of a title is to remind you that you don't really need it", but it also has a demonstrable real world effect. This is obviously a long ways off if at all, but I really do hope that we see an animated Campaign 3, if only because there are characters in that story that have a VERY different perspective not only on nobility but also specifically on the nobility of Whitestone.
@@shannonsavino4068 Apologies for repeating this, but in the campaign, Percy (or maybe it was Taliesin, I forget) proposed replacing rule of the de Rolos with a general council. Cassandra was on the council, she may have headed it, but she was one of several voting members. Of course, Cassandra and Percy still got to live in the castle. He still got to give out titles, and nobody ever questioned it.
Do remember, that in the end, this all was a game decided by dice. Yes things have changed from game to screen, but that always happens when adapting anything to the screen. However, in the end, you did nothing to "deserve this" with Percy. it's just how the game itself went (albeit it with some major changes on what happens to whom and where). And trust me there were moments where all criters were going WTF both in game and in animation as the changes happen ;) But we all braved the "NO MUST STOP WATCHING NOW!" instinct, and we came out mostly loving how it all wraps up ;).
For your own good, Kyra, from this point forward, don't read the comments. Things might get spoiled. That's... really all I can say. Courage going forward, Ronin.
Okay, I thought I was done, but then I saw your thumbnail with the ‘stop almost dying please’ aimed at Percy and all I can say is I want you to remember that statement for the rest of the season.
IF LOVM used D&D or CR stream lore, yes. But it is its own canon, CR created Zerxus so they can call him what they like. So that ‘um actually’ is like saying ‘technically, dragons breath fire not ice or acid’- in some media, sure, but not in this story with these characters
Taliesin Jaffe [re: Percy in the original game]: "The reason I give Percy so much shit is because none of this was a surprise to him; he knew Ripley was going to have guns, he knew others would come up with them on their own. He said to himself, 'I want to see these five specific people die, and I'm willing to let hundreds more die in the future as a result. Worth it.' Deal made. So, the first time he encountered a gun in the wild, it wasn't, 'Oh god, what have I done??' it was, 'Oh... that happened a little more quickly than I anticipated.'"
I can just picture Kyra at some point taking away Percys guilt, putting it on top of a shelf and be like "You will only get it back once you learn how to behave with this!" XD Also, fun trivia, Sam Riegel (Scanlans VA) did voice Phoenix Wright in Ace Attorney^^ and in the campaign he acted as an attorney for the group a few times (since he had a ridiculous charisma stat) Speaking of campaign, Percy and Keyleth had quite a few great moments together, being very different but still kinda best friends, but sadly they can only put so much into the series 😅
I’m inclined to agree that the “what happens when the oppressed become oppressors” line doesn’t really work here. There are all kinds of interesting arguments you could make, but Percy, who was in Whitestone when it was being ruled by vampires, should not be advocating against libration like that. I think a stronger line for him here would have been “I built this thing to bind myself to killing, not to free myself from it. I’m not so sure we should be making killing easy”
that is a way better line. i mean, percy is going to have a VERY complex notion of nobility and oppression considering his upbringing and how whitestone fared under the de rolos versus the briarwoods, so I feel like not bringing it up at all and instead focusing on the weapon would have made a stronger point, since we the audience went through that journey of seeing the pepperbox as a flashy weapon to an actual evil that percy nearly killed VM and himself with. also 'bind myself to killing' is just a sick line and sort of peak!percy characterization
Percy angsty about Ripley actively cultivating firearms is just angsty. not his fault, even if he feels like it. however him not telling vox machina that ripley had at minimum purchased a large amount of black powder was indefensible. even if i totally get his emotional reasons why he didn't. but that's why he's such a great character, he ain't perfect, but he's really trying.
Not a spolier exactly, as it doesn't impact the show, but there was a discussion in campaign regarding Ripley's intentions towards Percival having a 'personal' as well as a professional element. Matt's response (he of course was playing Ripley) was 'that she absolutely would'. So if you're picking up those vibes here, that's exactly as intended.🫣
Of course the tricky thing there is figuring out WHY she would. Would she see it as one more way of getting him enmeshed with her ambitions, or is there actually some part of that psychopath that actually experiences attraction to other people as people rather than tools?
@@caffeinedelusions (tw: seriously not consensual stuff for anyone reading in) first thing that popped into my mind is power. she doesn’t have to experience attraction to realize the absolute dominance and control she would prove over Percy by having that ‘personal’ relationship, especially since it would be…well, dubious consent is probably a good term here, and a light way to put it depending on when those intentions came to mind. by inflicting so much pain upon someone, abducting them, and then starting a ‘personal’ relationship, it would be like breaking him, right? she can do the absolute worst things to Percy’s body and still claim control over the rest of him. if she ever managed to get him to be attracted to her through some majorly screwed up ways, it would mean she controls his mind, the thing she most admires about him, so probably the part she would take pleasure in breaking. also bc a huge difference between them is Percy having true companions, being able to sway his emotions is a whole other twisted way of bringing him to heel. so I do think there are reasons for her to do something like that where the pleasure she gets is through sadism alone.
@@kyratriesYou’ll get no argument from me, that read is entirely consistent with everything we’ve seen of her character. Knowing Matt the way we do, though, the real debate is in which angle makes for the creepier story… because we know that when he goes dark, he goes DARK. If Ripley is acting on an actual attraction, I don’t think it points to her being at all redeemable. So much of her psychology is that utilitarian, mechanistic psychopathy that I get the sense she’d be disconnected from her own emotional life… which means she’d be acting on feelings she doesn’t know she has, and which may be utterly alien to her. She’d be obsessing over Percy and uncertain as to why, leading her to rationalize her ‘need’ for him into her plans as she tries to make sense of that experience… and it’s just possible that what CREATED that hypothetical attraction has its roots in liking how she felt having control over someone who, under other circumstances would’ve been part of the ‘ruling class’ she seems to want to tear down… like for her, the chemistry is very much born out of tearing into him with that hook, and the fact that his response was the exact opposite of attraction was what she likes about it… his revulsion made her feel powerful, and the consequence is that when she’s dealing with him, she becomes a habitual line-stepper that gleefully teased towards every boundary to relish the moment she pushes past it, and the impact of doing so…. All of which is BEFORE one starts accounting for what Orthax might be doing to her head with their own obsession with getting what they’re due from Percy as ‘the one that got away’. The whole reason the two of them are able to synergize so well is because they have this one point in their psychology that runs such a close parallel. Of course, I could be off base here. This is pure characterization theorycrafting, not facts.
That stuffed animal is going to need a vacation by the end of this season.
44:15- "I'm sorry my issues have guns"- Percy, in the campaign
20:46 The little boy is voiced by Ronin Willingham, Travis (Grog) and Laura’s (Vex) son. 😊
They absolutely DID come up with a whole language for Marquet, they hired some linguists for it this season
No spoilers at all, but I wanted to warn you- this season gets very intense. I know that intensity made you stop watching season 1, and you might feel the urge to stop watching again, but I think you’ll be very satisfied with how everything wraps up, just trust the process and keep going. I love how much you adore our lil gunslinger, he’s my favorite too.
Yes. We are here for you.
Yes. I love your reactions. And with how sharp you’ve been, you may even catch some comforting hints that other reactors missed, because you are very quick on catching the hints they leave in the animation. The critters are here to support you ❤ We love Tal’s “Whiney little one-percent-er” (affectionate) so much, we get it.
Yep… it’s going to be a wild ride, and some bends may scare you… but trust the process. These creatives do know what they’re doing, and they want you to feel the payoff, the emotional buy-in, and the tribulations along the way.
If I hadn't known the campaign and trusted Critical role, I don't think I would have survived this season! so with that said, Let them cook!
Kelley Hu's performance as Ripley is epic.
I’m one of the critters who backed the original kickstarter to get this show off the ground (my “legend of vox machina crew” beanie is starting to wear out lol) and I’ve watched every reaction I can get my grubby little hands on.
You are going through the same emotions I did when watching the original campaign (with some adjustments for the show, naturally) and you’re so good at identifying the little details that pass others by.
It makes you a DELIGHT to watch, and I even smile when I hear the orcs upstairs now. Oddly enough if gives your channel a silly and unique flair.
This season gets intense and sad and emotionally draining at times. Take time between episodes as you need to, but I promise the end of the season makes it all worth it. You got this!
Fun fact: Sam Riegel (Scanlan) also voices Phoenix Wright, hence the "Objection!"
Never be ashamed for caring about the things and people you love. Those that matter to you will cherish you for it and those that don't aren't worth your time. I find it adorable that you care so much about Percy and believe you will find many others that do as well.
"I continually wish that we had more of Keyleth and Percy." PAIN
Truth. Percy and Keyleth had a lot of moments in the campaign that we just don't get in the show. Mainly because the show wants to focus on other things. But I feel the loss more in this season than I did before, since Keyleth is becoming more assertive.
@@eastersliceWe lost so many great character moments this season, sadly. Not just between Keyleth and Percy, but with all the party members.
Especially Scanlan.
@@FrostyTheSnowPickle apparently they’re moving those to next season, they just couldn’t fit them onto this one
They did indeed come up with a whole language for the show, they hired/worked with linguists to create a distinct language for Marquet 😊
Episode 3 is going to rock your world. That being said... buckle up.
‘Percy as responsibility hoarder’ is definitely not wrong.
I love how much you love Percy!!!
my blood pressure hates me for it so glad it evens out a little ;;;;;
A sort of fun fact about animated Percy. He is 6 feet tall exactly and is used as the measuring stick for all the other characters to proportion their heights.
One extra tidbit, the little boy and girl who were playing with toy guns and had the scene with Grog were voiced by Travis (Grog), Laura (Vex, and married to Travis) as the little girl, and their son Ronin as the little boy. So, a nice little family scene.
The closing credits song is sung by Matt Mercer and is an easter egg for Campaign 2, Mighty Nein. It made an awful lot of us very happy.
The Emperex (non-gendered version of Emperor/Emperess) is something special as they are completely familiar with vestiges, including recognizing Myth Carver on sight.
Came to give the same fact, but the other thing is that their son Ronin is a big fan of Dragons and have his own dragon character and the only thing he want to record at the beginning was dragon noices, so they play a whole scene as a dragon first and then he records his lines. a complete family of lovely D&D nerds
So glad you're back! If you ever need a break again please take care of yourself but maybe a community post to explain like "Hey not feeling good I'll be back when I'm better." Would make us all worry a little less glad to see you continue LOVM can't wait for you to experience it!❤
9:56 CR hired linguists to make the Marquisian language
hey never apology for the overlay, most of reaction channels have to do the same, an the ones that dont usually cut half of the episode, so to be honest i prefer it this way because well your honest reaction is what keep us coming back, love your videos and man this season will be a rollercoaster for you a already can tell, good luck and keep the great work
38:47- I was honestly half expecting you to start singing "Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go"
lol i try not to subject you guys to TOO much of me singing
You said a lot of things in this video that I will not single out because I don't want to spoil anything. Let's just say with you watching and commenting on all those moments I am appreciating more and more how good Season 3 is in setting up and paying off a lot of different arcs. There is a lot to come and I hope you get to experience it unspoiled.
Except there isn't a lot to come. They completely ruined the story. Major story events can't even happen now because of how badly they screwed it up.
@@smashbrandiscootch719 Wrong. You are one of a few who don't like the changes. Every change made sure that the show is its own coherent thing that still honors the spirit of the stream. And Sam already confirmed that the change connected with his character is something they didn't abandon but simply table for next season. They have already proven with Vex's "Darling take the Mask off" that they can shift these moments around while still having great impact. This was never going to be a one-to-one adaptation. And the Critical Role cast was clear that they would change things.
@@smashbrandiscootch719
There is a lot to come. They did very well with the story. All major story events can still be adapted just fine. There, fixed that for you.
@@elbruces No.
You just released the Episode 7 reaction. Curious.
Love every video. Your gonna love episode 3
by definition Ripley is Percy's mirror... She is the 'what if' Percy have gone Bad
And, if I remember correctly, for early Ripley Matt literally just used Percy’s character sheet before fleshing her out further (with vestiges, orthax powers, possibly warlock levels etc)
yeah, so like a literary foil. someone who exists who has similarities but highlights the differences between them! i think i'm just using the literary terms as opposed to the ones matt might have used since it's what i'm more familiar with. :D
@DawdlingTwiddle Wizard levels as opposed to Warlock, but yes: Percy + Magic - his (flexible) morals
Percy player has said Percy would be Lex Luther if he had not met Vox Machina. after the campaign wrap up he said he would of let percy die his story complete after the briawoods if it was not for the romance story developing between Percy and Vex.
@@kyratries absolutely agree. I find it interesting, but not necessarily surprising, that Matt’s method of creating a foil was to just copy-paste the character and then tweak it
I really love your insight about how Percy has made Ripley *his* person in the same way he’s made Orthax *his* demon.
If you thought the last two seasons were emotionally devastating, this one’s worse. But I really hope you’ll stick with it and do the whole season! It’s well worth it!
You are *SO NOT READY* for next episode... 😈
What really gets to me is how goddamned FLIRTY Ripley is with Percy despite the fact that she has no regard for him other than what she can get out of him.
This is going to be a rollercoaster of a season for you but it is worth the ride I promise!
also j'mon sa ord (the emprex of ank'harel) uses they/them pronouns and neutral terms, they're one of my favorite npcs from campaign 1 and i'm so stoked to see them on the screen. far too fine for their own good.
That character design and voice are so perfect.
@@easterslice right? i'm obsessed with it.
@@eastersliceThe thing that I love with their design is that they use such simple clothes yet still they manage to look so royal and majestic
this episode was unfairly populated by hot people who wanted to hurt percy, but they get a total pass
I adore your videos! Thank you for being insightful, analytical, and passionate about what you are watching!
I’ve watched A LOT of LoVM reactions and you are one of my absolute favorites.
Honestly the reason I enjoy your channel is because of the attention you give Percy in general my favorite character of campaign 1 and from what I've seen most other channels tend to get swept up in the hype of the fights or comedic movements and hardly pay attention to characters feelings unless they are explicitly stated which is a damn shame all of these characters have become pretty complex by now . ALSO Keyleth and Percy are way closer in the campagain I hope they will set it up a little as we go on
Really appreciate your insights and analysis! Looking forward to your reactions to the rest of the season, I think you’re going to enjoy it.
It's not exactly explained, but Ripley built her first gun prototype from listening to rumours about Percy and his weapons that spread about cities like Westruun and Emon. The Briarwoods were likely too busy with their evil shit to care, but Ripley definitely knew he was alive and roaming about Tal'Dorei before the Briarwood arc.
Trying to remake Percy's pepperbox by trial and error was also the reason she lost her arm.
i remember him being actively on her tail in the comics, which...i'm not sure how much that differs from the campaign and how much that differs from the show because their reintroduction in the show didn't feel that way, but that makes a lot of sense! of course she wouldn't share information that could be useful later on...
Ripley's teeth stay silent for the rest of the season, you can be calm about that.
Also, Kyra is the real Squidward meme of "Oh no, she is hot".
Ripley goes all American about the right of EVERYONE to bear arms. She really wanna play in a Wild West scenario.
Loving your analysis!
36:25 the voice actor for scanlin also voiced Phoenix wright
its important to remember ( because the white hair throws you off) Percy is like 23-25 years old he's so young
Percy’s argument about ‘what happens when the oppressed become the oppressors’ isn’t inherently pro-oppression… but it is pro-status-quo, which is a manifestation of his privilege as a member of the ruling class.
His point is that with guns as an accelerator, cycles of revolution and revenge are likely to propagate at a breakneck pace, causing far more collateral damage to innocents that are not in a position to defend themselves against every rising revolution or new regime. An uprising that takes time and care to prosecute has to consider its moves strategically, plan its targets specifically. It has to dismantle systems of oppression and control, and it has time to think about what it wants to come after. It might take years, even decades, but the likelihood that you arrive at a system where the oppression stops or at least lessens is greater.
An uprising that happens in an afternoon is mob action. It’s indiscriminate, unfocused, targeting whomever it best feels it can vent its discontent upon. It feels rather than thinks. It’s hurt people hurting people.
When you make toppling tyranny too easy, you create an environment that mass-produces tyrants. If you have one entrenched tyrant, you have oppression that can be navigated because it’s consistent… horrible, but predictably horrible. When you have multiple tyrants in competition, you have oppression that cannot be navigated because it’s in perpetual chaos. You never know whose prejudices you’re having to work through.
To be fair Percy wasn't lying to J'mon Sa Ord, he didn't say that he had killed Mistress Asharru, he just said that he was responsible. And in Percy's mind, he is.
Look it's curly Keyleth!
I don't know what stirs Kyra the most: the Perc'ahlia moments or Percy feeling guilty. 😅
"Takin it back, takin it back... She kind of is... BUT I'M TAKIN IT BACK!"
yeah, i didnt know it was possible to shoot milkshake out the nose... thanks for that gift Lmao
Lol during "La Terreur" in French révolution dice didn't rolled, Heads did... lol
"You have to let it go... you have to..."
Turn away and slam that door ? ^^
1:01 You became a Critter. That’s all it takes. ❤
A really cool detail about this episode - if you watch carefully, everything that Percy examines in Ripley's lab while she's going through her monologue is everything he uses to escape his captivity.
New watcher of your channel here. I like your reaction vids of this series, the show itself is phenomenal and eager to see more of your reactions.
I was commenting while watching, almost reached the end of the video, then I accidentally refreshed the page and it vanished into the void. *deep sigh* Can't remember most of it.
Percy's character design is exactly 6ft even. Because of that, he was used as a scale reference in all of the character and monster art, just "Percy for scale". Not sure why I find that funny, but I do :D
i'm swallowing down laughter at work, that is definitely funny in my book!
percy as a unit for measurement. one percy, two percii, percy squared, 1/4 perc...the system is sound.
When you have a desire to punish yourself, there is no easier way to do so than self-inflicted guilt. Logic can not exist in this process. Or so I have heard...
I really enjoy hearing your thoughts along with the reactions; its always fun to share that emotional investment in a good story!
Stopping an episodes on a first watch would drive me bananas, but I do wish I had local friends with as much interest.
Definitely check out the campaign to screen comparisons when you are done with this season. There's a ton of great moments that got altered or couldn't fit!
I plan to! I want to ask for the table-to-screen moments people recommend once I'm done this season :D
I loved the Hands of Ord.
They are a certain tyoe of d&d player's worse nightmare.
Competent, well equiped, and intelligent city guards.
In terms of game mechanics, I'd say they're eldritch knight fighters.
Need to add this to the playlist
We have kind of laid the ominous foreshadowing on thick for you, and you'll have to weigh in on how appropriate that was by the end of Season 3. But, just do us one favor: Don't stop. You've come this far, you've got to see it through. There's more riding on this now. There's you. And we're all with you.
This is my biggest complaint this season: WHY IS RIPLEY SO HOT???
in d&d there is a difference between devils and demons. Devils are Lawful Evil so rule driven and live in the Hells, Demons are Chaotic Evil and feed on Chaos and live in the Abyss
Hi there! I think you said a lot of interesting things, esp about Percy. I'll say that while I agree with everything you said abt him keeping quiet about Ripley, I also think it's the most likely thing that would have been dismissed by the group if even brought up - at least before this episode. She IS a huge problem, but I don't think anyone would've predicted how relevant she actually /was/ to their current mission. They didn't even care she got away at the ziggurat bc again, bigger problems. Too bad Ripley is chaos itself in the most methodical way possible (and unfortunately hot. which makes it very complex to me to watch her being terrible to Percy in very skin-crawling ways like the teeth snapping thing).
Well. Maybe now that Vax is in a better place himself he COULD be able to have a more level-headed discussion, unfortunately he's spending his extra time not meshing very well with Keyleth...
I have to say this season brings out a LOT of feels, but please keep at it! I think the finishing line is very rewarding to watch
you are right that the group probably wouldn't have cared, although Vex did ask Yennen about Ripley and then said something about probably running into her again, so if Percy HAD told Vex when she poked her head in, she probably would have cared. but yeah, the others not so much, i agree. good point. :(
@@kyratriesOn the other hand, I do wonder if part of Percy’s hesitation may have been born out of a concern that if he sounded like he wanted to hound after Ripley in the midst of the dragons going all apocalyptic, some members of the party would’ve seen it less as ‘oh, Ripley’s back at the worst possible time’ and more as ‘are we ABSOLUTELY sure Percy’s not giving off black smoke again?’
He’s desperate to be trusted. Presenting himself as renewing an obsession with someone that wronged him is something he may have been conscious of as a thing that might work against him.
@@caffeinedelusions oh yes, absolutely! fantastic point! percy was probably very worried about giving anyone in the group the idea he was 'hungry for vengeance' in the midst of everything else happening while he's still trying to prove he's OKAY NOW and WORTH KEEPING AROUND. percy has a big brain. he has room for a lot of worst-case scenarios. what if they don't believe me? what if they DO believe me? what can we possibly do even if we know she's around?
thinking about it, the most logical course of action---for percy at least----would be to single out the members of the group who will take the news well rather than revealing it to everyone. pike, keyleth, and vex make the most sense to me because pike can read his soul or w/e she did that one time, keyleth would possibly freak but be sympathetic, but vex was the one who showed him the most trust and has continued to tease him and make him feel part of the group (punching him in the arm before running to the sun tree, 'i'm sure it happens to ALL the nobles', the terms of endearment etc) so it's possible percy would have just told vex at the right time but...sunken tomb. after that, i don't think he'd even consider telling vex about HIS problems and the rest of the crew is out of the question because of how guilty he feels over what happened also things get a little hectic. and then he just ends up not telling anyone until his secret shows up killing people. it's really easy like that to see why he didn't feel he could tell anyone :(
the ace attorney reference this episode took me OUT as a person who was a fan of sam riegel through ace attorney before i got into critical role. he plays phoenix wright in ace attorney 5 and 6 (and now 4 in the remastered version.) further fun facts, matt mercer (sylas, orthax, multiple npcs, etc. and the dm for critical role) plays nahyuta in aa6, and people have theorized that travis willingham (grog) plays simon blackquill in aa5.
i bought the whole ace attorney set months ago and now i'm finally going to play it, thanks for the info :D
"The twins are menaces to society" and I love that about them :)
"Imagine... Father of guns" - Taliesin Jaffe (Percy) has said that Percy knew when he first made the pepperbox that this would happen. Percy is selfish enough to foresee all that and do the thing anyway. He just didn't think his dangerous invention would proliferate that fast. Taliesin seems to love playing deeply, frustratingly flawed characters, although fans don't always see his characters that way.
The song Dr. Drenzel sings about the girl in Nicodranas, "The Ruby of the Sea", is an Easter Egg for fans of The Mighty Nein.
I'm so glad you noticed Percy's crappy argument against Ripley's crappy plan. I can believe that Percy with his princely upbringing would have been taught to think that way, but (as we see in modern South Africa) it isn't an historic inevitability that the oppressed become oppressors. It also isn't inevitable that the oppressed win - Percy's argument would be a lot stronger if he simply pointed out that Ripley's plan is a lot more likely to give those who are already powerful a new way to reinforce their power.
On the other hand, I do love how this episode shows us that Percy is always just a small sidestep away from becoming a mad scientist. :)
Yes. I thought exactly the same thing during that exchange. It's not a good argument. I chock it down to Percy not being on his game, because, well, he's living out his worst nightmare at the moment.
they're both wrong and they should know it. if our own history tells us anything, when the oppressed rise up (most of the time), we get a of unnecessary bloodshed and then, instead of the oppressed taking power and becoming the oppressors, it's almost always some other group of awful people who take advantage of the chaos and swoop in to take power. or, if not even awful, just some other powerful group that ends up in charge, like William and Mary of Orange taking power after Cromwell, or Danton taking power after Robespierre was killed during the French Rev, and how that would lead to Napoleon and then another 60 years of political turmoil, or Stalin taking power after Lenin and chasing off all his political opponents before startiest one of the deadliest regimes ever. but Percy would have definitely learned about nobles doing good things for the people---and Whitestone seems like it did actually have a good relationship with his family so that would simply be reinforced by his experience and it seems to me like Anna comes from an oppressed background and her own drive for revenge that feeds Orthax is against the entire structure of society but Anna would be the Robespierre of her own Revolution---an intellectual full of ideas of how things should be better, but ultimately unable to connect to the people due to her own ironic belief in her superiority due to her smarts, and then taken down by those around her who also believe in the cause as long as it gets them up the ladder. also maybe she'd also go a little batty at the end there. battier, that is.
Uriel was actually making the first step in advocating the crown when he was murdered. we've seen places starting to reach in the right direction. if Anna wanted genuine, positive change, her goal should be facilitating those types of changes and using that big brain of hers to aid with the inevitable struggles a country will face during a drastic change in political climate as an advisor and strategist. not this. she's being fueled by vengeance, not sense, so Orthax finding her makes sense.
and Percy might have had a positive experience with Whitestone but he's also just wrong.
this got long i'm sorry, Percy dances along the line of brilliance and madness and sometimes needs to be yanked back from the brink especially when it takes him 5 minutes to make stuff that goes BOOM
@@kyratries Thank you. I really appreciate you expounding on this subject. I am not at well read on the subject, and I am grateful to hear from someone who is and can go through it so succinctly. Interestingly, in the campaign, Percy advocated replacing the Briarwoods with a council, which included Keeper Yennen, Cassandra, (and later himself), along with other townsfolk. Which meant that Vex's title probably didn't still exist, but we'll forget all that because we love that she got it.
But, to your final point, yes. I wrote somewhere else that what Percy needs, most often, is guidance. He actually says words to that effect more than once in the campaign. Sometimes he needs VM to pull him back from his darker impulses. As was pretty obvious at the end of Season 1.
@@easterslice oh I love that Percy wanted a council! It would make sense, seeing as he was aware enough to know he shouldn’t be in charge. And yes to the guidance. Not babysitting, but someone to nudge him when he starts to veer. He’s such a wonderful complex character and I love how just these two episodes have expounded upon that character outside of what he has endured in the past and instead what he can be now. ☺️
@@easterslice Vex's title was real, she could still be a lady/baroness/grand mistress without any ruling power.
i think Percy is facing is the Oppenheimer dilema in the case of Ripley, at the end of the day she wouldn't even have think of creating something like the Pepperbox with out Percy´s original design, and lets be clear Orthax give him the inspiration but Percy by try and error create the weapon, so in his mind any other version of it is something he bring to the world. In a way i think he actually was telling the true, or at least the true he belive, when he say that he was responsable for that murder, because in his eyes every person kill with a firearm in the future can trace that murder to his original creation. Look im not saying that he is correct or he deserve his guilt, but at the end of the day he is feeling it and coming back to what happen to Oppenheimer, that guilt will probably follow him for the rest of his life, he will just have to learn how to deal with it.
that's a really nice comparison.
@@kyratriesI thought about Nobel creating dynamite as a construction tool to clear obstacles and saw it become weaponized.
I might be totally misremembering the story but Nobel felt so guilty that's why the Nobel prize fund was started. He hoped to inspire people to create things to make the world better instead of what his invention was turned into and how the world would remember him.
I hope you can make room in your heart for Scanlans story too. I know in this episode the stakes were waaaaayyyy lower than the Percy stuff, but the poor little guy is just a mess.
I'm sure Scanlan's story will hit hard soon, I was just a little preoccupied with Percy nearly dying 50000000 times /o\
On the topic of what to watch after Epic and Vox Machina are caught up....
There is a fan made Hamilton x Vox Machina crossover production.
Cantana Pansaphical...or something like that.
They have a Hamilton production for the Chroma Conclave arc, Dear Evan Hanson for the next arc, and Dr Horrible for the final arc.
If evil, why hot?
Just so you know, Emperex J'mon Sa Ord is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
Also, the individual they left the plate with, Zerxus, is a character from the Critical Role mini-series "Exandria Unlimited: Calamity," which is DMed by Brennan Lee Mulligan. It's only four episodes, and I highly recommend watching it. It would be really cool to see you react to it, but since it's a little over 20 hours of content, it's entirely understandable if you'd rather just watch it on your own.
Also also, definitely listen to the song from the end credits, and remember it. It's a pretty big reference to the upcoming Mighty Nein animated series.
It's interesting to me that regardless of how terrible Ripley's true motives are (and lets face it, this ultimately has nothing to do with oppressor/oppressed dynamics, it's about Orthax creating a system for mass soul harvesting and feeding Ripley rationalizations to do it), she's half-right in at least one respect. Before Percy and his Pepperbox, guns and black powder were unknown in Exandria. That genie is now thoroughly out of the bottle. Even without Ripley, no matter how hard Percy tried to keep his designs secret, now that the world has the idea of firearms it's only a matter of time before someone, somewhere, sees the potential and manages to create more. (Victor the powder merchant independently developed black powder for use in blast mining at about the same time, but hadn't yet applied it to developing firearms when Percy encountered him in Vasselheim) The only thing Percy can hope for at this point is to come up with some way of steering the development of this technology or the regulations surrounding its manufacture and distribution and even that is only going to delay the inevitable at best. The plain fact is that sooner or later firearms are going to change the world for better and worse, just as they did in our reality. Of course in a world where gods and magic exist, it is possible that direct divine intervention or some insanely powerful magic might wipe the knowledge from the world or change the physical laws of this reality to make black powder inert, but short of that ? Buckle up.
Just started watching Vox machina this week. Binge season 3 yesterday. No spoilers but in episode 3 there is a scene that will make you die if you ship Percy and Vex together. ;)
There is so much to talk about with Percy in this episode! I will take issue with two things. Percy can read a room, and he didn't lie to the Emperex J'mon Sa Ord. His failure in pulling rank in Vasselheim was more due to the city's emphasis on religion than his own idiocy. Pike was definitely the person who should have taken the lead in that situation, but that was an exception to the rule.
When Percy confessed, he was parsing his words very carefully. He didn't say that he killed Mistress Asharu, he said that he took "full responsibility for her murder." Is it the complete truth? No. Was it a lie? No. And it was because he correctly sized up the situation, realized that they had no way to prove their innocence in that moment, and made a painful decision that would hopefully allow the others to avoid punishment.
I do find it ironic that "No Mercy" Percy throws himself on the mercy of the Emperex, but it works to the extent that he wants it to. J'mon Sa Ord tempers their anger and gives a more merciful punishment to the others; only one person is made to suffer. That is the sort of calculation that campaign Percy often presented in situations where he could only see potential harm coming (which Keyleth always argued against, something the show never has time for).
Change of subject: I like how you pick up on the Grog/Percy moments, and Grog's emotional intelligence. We don't get a lot of that, but it's cool that you are picking up on it. I also enjoy your hatred of Anna Ripley and her infuriating hotness. Like you, I can't thinking that his skin must be crawling anytime she gets closer than six feet away. She's scarier than Orthax.
No spoilers, but you're going to need the Ox for the rest of this season. Keep 'im close. Whatever you do, don't give up!
Would you dig knowing that the voice of the kid with the gun was Grog & Vex's real-life kid?
i so dig! awww!
8:45 Just to be sure: With saying "you have watched it" you mean both the old and this new opening which is new for this season, am I correct in that assumption?
Btw, love how invested you are in this show, unlike some other watchers who I have seen.
yep, i looked up the new opening after watching episode 1!
and how could i not be invested? it's so good!
@@kyratries true😂
I Bet the video for the next episode last MORE than 1 hour… easily… 😂 ❤❤
You talked about getting Percy on online quizzes because you're insanely attracted to Vex and I just wanted to point out: everyone (save Vax) in Vox Machina is. I remember an episode where they were having downtime in Whitestone and it went from a scene where Percy was telling Vex how wonderful she is, to Vax babysitting a drunk Keyleth while she gushed about how pretty and cool Vex is, to Pike and Grog drunk in a tavern gushing about how pretty and cool Vex is.
Lol, meanwhile, I get Vex as the character I'm most like, and Percy is my favourite character. Kind of makes sense. She carries on my "Katniss Everdeen" dreams as a kid (I have my own archery equipment) while also being pretty sharp, strategic, and emotionally intuned (with others at least). I just wish I could be as cool and confident as her.
Kyra, please stop apologizing for anything. If the overlay provides you with the opportunity to react to THE ENTIRE EPISODE without edits, your new fans are thrilled about it! Your insights are amazing and your speculations are on point more than anyone I have seen react to TLoVM. And please, keep the no intro intros! EDIT to add: Many, many Critical Role fans have fallen for Percy and Vex or both!
You might want to finish watching the season now before you get spoiled
Please be wary of spoilers! I know people here mean well but it’s so easy to for someone to get wrapped up in their own emotions and say something vague but spoilery… I’m of the opinion that most things are best enjoyed without outside foreshadowing.
With Percy, it's less about his guilt, it's more about personal responsibility. All that matters is stopping Ripley.
Oh, and Orthax.
Oh, and then dealing with the Conclave.
Oh no, it's definitely guilt.
@@elbrucesIt can be both things.
@@caffeinedelusions yeah it's both
"If evil why hot?" is a question I find myself asking several time in this show. Ripley, Raishan, the Briarwoods, maybe one more that I could name that is an upcoming character. Honestly I blame it all on Phil Bourassa (the character designer for the show) being too good at his job. Sir, nobody asked for this. That's okay though because J'mon sa-Ord is also extremely hot and they are at least no longer actively antagonistic to Vox Machina.
All of the shots reflected in Percy's glasses are so good this episode. Showing both what he's looking at and his expression at the same time. It's SUCH an effective bit of visual storytelling, and really showcases how they stepped up the animation in this season. That extra production time really did pay off. Guilt truly is one of Percy's defining character traits & one of his great flaws. Understandable considering the compound trauma he has been through, but a coping mechanism that isn't actually useful to anyone and doesn't solve any problems.
I do think that there is an interesting angle with regards to Ripley and Percy as it comes to class differences. Percy obviously comes from a place of great privilege, and Ripley presumably (as she's talking here) comes from a place of very little. Ripley isn't exactly wrong in her ideals here, and the way that Percy says "I have no interest in revolution" puts on display some of that nobility blind spot. But also Percy is correct in his foresight that these are tools of violence, and that their spread won't cause the equality that Ripley is looking for-- they'll only allow new groups to hold all the power, and make it so much easier to violence to proliferate. Where he is wrong I think is in his assumption that loosing this technology on the world is on his shoulders (guilt again!!!)-- Ripley is correct here in that this technology was inevitable. Clearly black powder is already a thing in this world (judging by that there are merchants selling it), if not one of them then someone smart was going to come up with the idea of combining that explosive force with mechanics to create firearms. The idea of class conflict is a little beyond the scope of this show, but it's interesting to see some of it crop up here.
I love the Twins doing twin-things in these episodes. You get a little glimpse of how they operated before Vox Machina here, and I love Vex ribbing Vax about her past in a thieves' guild. Also, Vax CLEARLY knows how his sister feels about Percy. It's so amusing seeing them have such similar reactions to their siblings' love interest-- you can really see the effects of that bond being the only thing they had for so long, and I think it will be interesting to see how or if they can grow apart from each other.
Percy has a huge blindspot when it comes to nobility, which IS interesting because Whitestone obviously likes the de Rolo family. His own personal experience would be that the system works IF the people in charge are good. Bad people equals bad system, reinforced by the Briarwoods. But it is, like you said, a huge blindspot, and also shows how Percy would end up getting tricked by Anders---he was never taught about class inequality in a way he could apply it to his own life, so would be unable to understand Anders' frustration at being unable to 'move up the ladder' and would therefore end up trusting him, unable to see why Anders would side with people who promised upward mobility. So his blindness has actually had a huge impact on his life...without him even really realizing it. Those who sided with the Briarwoods were all guilty. That was all there was too it. (Anders was, of course, a jerk, but his comments to Percy in their last encounter were really all about class inequality and how the Briarwoods were the ones who granted him the power he'd always been chasing, so it was obviously a huge deal for him that he still held a grudge over after the de Rolo parents were dead.)
@@kyratries I think you've hit the nail on the head when you say Percy would think the system works IF the people in charge are good. But that obviously hasn't been how it has been borne out. Anders is absolutely a huge example of how that system has already boomeranged back to hurt Percy-- without Anders and his resentment, would the Briarwoods have been able to take over Whitestone so easily? Especially in Season 1, there was a bit of a lean towards the goodness of the "rightful nobility" that fantasy tends to have a problem grappling with. It's also interesting in Uriel's final decision to democratize the government slightly and cede control to the council (including community leaders). Obviously Emon is a giant pile of rubble right now and the government is a big fire breathing dragon, so the point is a bit moot. Even in the livestream this isn't something that they ever fully grappled with, so ah well that's what fanfiction is for.
I do think that there's something interesting with Vex splitting the difference between both worlds though, as a girl born to both elven nobility and human peasantry, and as a person who has lived as a penniless mercenary for most of her life and suddenly being given a title of her very own (via Percy's massive crush, cough cough). There are some ways in which she straddles both worlds.
@@shannonsavino4068 I found Uriel's choice really interesting and wish it had been able to play out. Because obviously that was in response TO the Briarwoods, but it was also a generally 'good' ruler recognizing the dangers of the system, and Percy might have been able to learn something from it if Uriel had lived to implement the new order.
Also, not to ruin a wonderful Perc'ahlia moment, but Percy has to literally elevate Vex to a level above nobility, with none of them being worth her. That effectively takes her out of his scale of bad noble to good noble and ensures he will never have to place her within those constraints. And he doesn't even consciously realize he's doing it. So much of Percy's view of the world has been shaped by classism and poking at that mindset with a stick is so fascinating.
@@kyratries Uriel's choice is FASCINATING to me, and I wish that the kingdom didn't get immediately flattened afterwards so that we could see its consequences play out. It's really interesting that he recognized that a single point of failure in a monarch that can be corrupted by something like mind control magic is actually not the best system of governance.
And yeah to be clear I think Percy's decision to give Vex the title was to allow her to externally reflect to the world the esteem he already had for her, but it also serves to put them on the same level socially and I don't think he even consciously realizes he's doing it. As Percy puts it in the stream, "The purpose of a title is to remind you that you don't really need it", but it also has a demonstrable real world effect.
This is obviously a long ways off if at all, but I really do hope that we see an animated Campaign 3, if only because there are characters in that story that have a VERY different perspective not only on nobility but also specifically on the nobility of Whitestone.
@@shannonsavino4068 Apologies for repeating this, but in the campaign, Percy (or maybe it was Taliesin, I forget) proposed replacing rule of the de Rolos with a general council. Cassandra was on the council, she may have headed it, but she was one of several voting members.
Of course, Cassandra and Percy still got to live in the castle. He still got to give out titles, and nobody ever questioned it.
Do remember, that in the end, this all was a game decided by dice. Yes things have changed from game to screen, but that always happens when adapting anything to the screen. However, in the end, you did nothing to "deserve this" with Percy. it's just how the game itself went (albeit it with some major changes on what happens to whom and where). And trust me there were moments where all criters were going WTF both in game and in animation as the changes happen ;) But we all braved the "NO MUST STOP WATCHING NOW!" instinct, and we came out mostly loving how it all wraps up ;).
For your own good, Kyra, from this point forward, don't read the comments. Things might get spoiled.
That's... really all I can say.
Courage going forward,
Ronin.
Buckle up sweet heart, it's going to be one of those rides, emotions will be up and down. This season hits harder than the other 2. Way harder!
Okay, I thought I was done, but then I saw your thumbnail with the ‘stop almost dying please’ aimed at Percy and all I can say is I want you to remember that statement for the rest of the season.
technically.... Xerces Illerez is a Devil Not a Demon....
IF LOVM used D&D or CR stream lore, yes. But it is its own canon, CR created Zerxus so they can call him what they like.
So that ‘um actually’ is like saying ‘technically, dragons breath fire not ice or acid’- in some media, sure, but not in this story with these characters
Taliesin Jaffe [re: Percy in the original game]: "The reason I give Percy so much shit is because none of this was a surprise to him; he knew Ripley was going to have guns, he knew others would come up with them on their own. He said to himself, 'I want to see these five specific people die, and I'm willing to let hundreds more die in the future as a result. Worth it.' Deal made. So, the first time he encountered a gun in the wild, it wasn't, 'Oh god, what have I done??' it was, 'Oh... that happened a little more quickly than I anticipated.'"
I can just picture Kyra at some point taking away Percys guilt, putting it on top of a shelf and be like "You will only get it back once you learn how to behave with this!" XD
Also, fun trivia, Sam Riegel (Scanlans VA) did voice Phoenix Wright in Ace Attorney^^ and in the campaign he acted as an attorney for the group a few times (since he had a ridiculous charisma stat)
Speaking of campaign, Percy and Keyleth had quite a few great moments together, being very different but still kinda best friends, but sadly they can only put so much into the series 😅
Not much due process in Ank'harel.
Is there any way you could talk a bit about what you are writing? Please? 😁
I’m inclined to agree that the “what happens when the oppressed become oppressors” line doesn’t really work here. There are all kinds of interesting arguments you could make, but Percy, who was in Whitestone when it was being ruled by vampires, should not be advocating against libration like that.
I think a stronger line for him here would have been “I built this thing to bind myself to killing, not to free myself from it. I’m not so sure we should be making killing easy”
that is a way better line. i mean, percy is going to have a VERY complex notion of nobility and oppression considering his upbringing and how whitestone fared under the de rolos versus the briarwoods, so I feel like not bringing it up at all and instead focusing on the weapon would have made a stronger point, since we the audience went through that journey of seeing the pepperbox as a flashy weapon to an actual evil that percy nearly killed VM and himself with.
also 'bind myself to killing' is just a sick line and sort of peak!percy characterization
Percy angsty about Ripley actively cultivating firearms is just angsty. not his fault, even if he feels like it. however him not telling vox machina that ripley had at minimum purchased a large amount of black powder was indefensible. even if i totally get his emotional reasons why he didn't. but that's why he's such a great character, he ain't perfect, but he's really trying.
50:06 J’mon Sa Ord is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, just so you know. 😉
Man, this season started out so well. Its too bad how they completely butchered the finale and irreparably ruined the story.
They did an awesome job with it. The story was great.
Not a spolier exactly, as it doesn't impact the show, but there was a discussion in campaign regarding Ripley's intentions towards Percival having a 'personal' as well as a professional element. Matt's response (he of course was playing Ripley) was 'that she absolutely would'. So if you're picking up those vibes here, that's exactly as intended.🫣
ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew no no ew I need to bathe in bleach now
Of course the tricky thing there is figuring out WHY she would. Would she see it as one more way of getting him enmeshed with her ambitions, or is there actually some part of that psychopath that actually experiences attraction to other people as people rather than tools?
@@caffeinedelusions (tw: seriously not consensual stuff for anyone reading in) first thing that popped into my mind is power. she doesn’t have to experience attraction to realize the absolute dominance and control she would prove over Percy by having that ‘personal’ relationship, especially since it would be…well, dubious consent is probably a good term here, and a light way to put it depending on when those intentions came to mind. by inflicting so much pain upon someone, abducting them, and then starting a ‘personal’ relationship, it would be like breaking him, right? she can do the absolute worst things to Percy’s body and still claim control over the rest of him. if she ever managed to get him to be attracted to her through some majorly screwed up ways, it would mean she controls his mind, the thing she most admires about him, so probably the part she would take pleasure in breaking. also bc a huge difference between them is Percy having true companions, being able to sway his emotions is a whole other twisted way of bringing him to heel. so I do think there are reasons for her to do something like that where the pleasure she gets is through sadism alone.
@@kyratriesYou’ll get no argument from me, that read is entirely consistent with everything we’ve seen of her character.
Knowing Matt the way we do, though, the real debate is in which angle makes for the creepier story… because we know that when he goes dark, he goes DARK.
If Ripley is acting on an actual attraction, I don’t think it points to her being at all redeemable. So much of her psychology is that utilitarian, mechanistic psychopathy that I get the sense she’d be disconnected from her own emotional life… which means she’d be acting on feelings she doesn’t know she has, and which may be utterly alien to her. She’d be obsessing over Percy and uncertain as to why, leading her to rationalize her ‘need’ for him into her plans as she tries to make sense of that experience… and it’s just possible that what CREATED that hypothetical attraction has its roots in liking how she felt having control over someone who, under other circumstances would’ve been part of the ‘ruling class’ she seems to want to tear down… like for her, the chemistry is very much born out of tearing into him with that hook, and the fact that his response was the exact opposite of attraction was what she likes about it… his revulsion made her feel powerful, and the consequence is that when she’s dealing with him, she becomes a habitual line-stepper that gleefully teased towards every boundary to relish the moment she pushes past it, and the impact of doing so…. All of which is BEFORE one starts accounting for what Orthax might be doing to her head with their own obsession with getting what they’re due from Percy as ‘the one that got away’. The whole reason the two of them are able to synergize so well is because they have this one point in their psychology that runs such a close parallel.
Of course, I could be off base here. This is pure characterization theorycrafting, not facts.