The anxiety and worry over the characters is understandable. Despite all that, press forward. Critical Role can rip your heart out, but it’s worth it. Now you’ve got Critters in your corner to walk you through it.
It's clear that Percy's story has haunted you for a long time. But the thing about stories is, they show you how to win (whispers from Arabian Nights). You can only know the full story when the story has reached its end. Keep watching, find out Percy's fate, and exercise the demons haunting you. We'll be right there with you.
the scene at the tree was a pivotal moment of the campaign, when the players realized just how hard Matt could go. Taliesin Jaffe has so many amazing lines they were able to lift directly to the show. He's got a gift. the show can get intense, but I hope you can make it through. I feel it ends up being very rewarding overall.
That whole door scene was a classic in game. Liam was just rolling badly for the lock. They ended up spending a ton of spells to get around it before finding they could have just used a window. It was just classic bad dice rolling, but showing that even the expert rogue still can have a spot of bad luck is fun. It's not an exact recreation, but a nod to it. AND yes, there's a running theme that doors suck. They stop all the best plans in TTRPGs. 🙂 Edit: I swear I made the comment as the scene started before you even asked. 🙂 Edit 2: Percy thought his sister was killed by those arrows, and he was the one telling that story that we got as a flashback. So, a semi-reliabile narrator?
@@bludfyre I'm pretty sure, thanks to Reliable Talent, that Vax never actually failed a lockpick roll. but failing strength checks was totally a thing.
"Does this world have a devil, like a Head Devil?" ... Short answer, yes. But that's a conversation for when you decide you're going to watch Exandria Expanded: Calamity. 😂 It's a very, VERY worthwhile watch - four episodes, and tells a story from the earliest days of Exandria (at least 1,000 years before Vox Machina in the timeline). Loving your reactions and insights, very happy that you came back to brave your fears and anxiety to finish the story with all of us! 🤗👍
Hello Kyra, we believe in you, we are here to walk along side you through this journey. These nerdy ass voice actors have made us all cry, jump for joy, scream in fear and fall in love with them every step of the way. As for your questions - Doors - they can't defeat them for some reason - bad roles after bad roles!! The show is very close to the campaign itself - they made certain changes to make the story work better and flow more accurately (things get forgotten or changed between multiple streams!). Some of the people are different but their essence is there. I would say 90% is directly from the campaign and 10% were changed to make the story cohesive and better for TV. Loving your reactions so far - stay with it you are strong!
Im so glad youve decided to finish the series! Youre asking alot of the right questions, most of which will be answered in time so keep with it. But yes, this arc is VERY dark. Percy is our beloved anime trauma baby, glad to see youve taken a shine to him
Hi there. I wanted to say that I really enjoy your reaction videos. A note on Percy.....if he's using his right hand with the pepperbox - that's Percy in control; if he's using his left hand with it - that's a demon in control. Its a small thing that Percy's creator Talisin Jaffe designed for Percy in the table top version of Vox Machina. Thanks.
Fun fact. The animators counted every single shot Percy made, and made sure to have him reload on screen anytime his gun was empty. Except for a few, certain scenes. The scene where he kills Stonefell for example, he shoots seven times.
@@NE0PYR0 No, he could reload his gun as a free action, and had action surge which allowed him to attack multiple times a turn, but he still had to actually reload his weapon every time. Besides, that's game mechanics, that has nothing to do with the animated show. Why would they bring something nebulous like that over?
@@joshuaburnett2634 Because! Nerd! Clearly! I would ask you for your ID, but obviously you are not part of the Illustrious Order of Nerds. You must now take four level of Nerd Disdain and deal with having the rest of us look down on you imperiously. Good luck with that. [looks down on you imperiously] {Nerd Disdain +4}
@@Ironoclasty I'm sorry, I get Nerd Disdain for clearly remembering the mechanics for a class I have never played, in a game I have unfortunately only played once. I get Nerd Disdain for noticing a tiny detail in an animated show no one else noticed? Clearly sir you are a member of the lower circle of the Illustrious Order of Nerds. I would be careful who you turn your Nerd Disdain toward. (Have a good day.)
30:10 funny you should say that because Travis (grog) and Laura (Vex) play Col Mustang and Lust in the dub, plus they’re married irl!! (always gives me a giggle seeing real couples play adversaries)
The door incident was a famous moment from the campaign with multiple people rolling 1 on a twenty sided dice - I think they relocated it, but it is a campaign reference. That said, in the campaign itself they seemed to always have bad luck with doors, so it became a unintended running gag.
As for them speed running the romance, I won't comment if there _is_ a romance, but for general pacing, keep in mind the Whitestone arc was 17 episodes of Critical Role, live streamed 1/week, so everything in Whitestone would have taken place in over 4 months IRL. _Anything_ that happens over the course of that time period wouldn't feel rushed, be it romance, character development, etc. When it's a single season (or less, first 3 episodes handled the dragon) of a cartoon, that _feels_ a lot shorter.
You worry about Percy? You shouldn't. His friends - no ....his family -do enough worrying about him. Sometimes a character has to touch hell before a greater force than hell can bring them back from it. In the case of Percy, its his friends in Vox MAchina. Point of fact, all of Vox Machina, despite their personality clashes love and help eachother like a well-knit found family. There's more hope for Percy .... for all Vox Machina than you realize. This series and group will make you laugh and cy so many happy tears to come. Its not that nothing bad ever happens to them, but the things they go through elevate them as people and characters. All they have to do is what we all do in life: BE BRAVE AND LEVEL UP. Kyra, I've only seen you view a handful of episodes, but Im already amazed at how sweet, charming, and endearing your reactions have been, as well as the love you share towards these characters that we all have in common. There has to be conflict, or there's no character growth, its pretty much a rule in good storytelling. I think a lot of viewers miss that. Or they want nothing too bad ot happen to their characters and have them be in domestic fluffly bliss all the time. Nice to think about but, ultimately - BORING. It's a heroes journey, after all. Challenges to face....and OVERCOME. Have faith in Percy. Have faith in all fo them. And most of all faith in yourself. You can do this. We believe in you.
If you haven't heard about this before now, here's the basic rundown. This is based on Critical Role, a web stream with a bunch of voice actors who play D&D. They started as a home Pathfinder game, which they got together to play for the birthday of Liam O'Brian (the voice of Vax). They played for a couple years as a home game. At the same time, Felicia Day had created a RUclips channel called Geek & Sundry as part of RUclips's initiative to promote content creation. She found out about the home game from Ashley Johnson, who was in one of Day's web series on Geek & Sundry. Day wanted to start up an associated Twitch channel and thought their game would be great on a live stream, so she asked them if they would be interested in streaming on her channel. They brought their home game over to the live stream, and switched from Pathfinder to D&D. They originally played the game live, leading to some great moments back in their early game. For example, in one episode, Laura Bailey (Vex) had received an item, and had placed the card for the item in her binder, but lost it. The chat in stream were able to tell her exactly where it was. Not long after they started playing, Day sold Geek & Sundry to Legendary Digital Network (who also purchased the Nerdist channel created by Chris Hardwick). For a while it was great, injecting some major budget into the channel, letting them do some really interesting shows. Then about the time their first campaign (like a military campaign, referring to the story about a specific team of characters) was finishing up, LDN was bought by a Chinese conglomerate. Which is when Critical Role broke away and formed their own company, creating their own RUclips and Twitch channels. The first 20ish episodes of their second campaign, following a team they call The Mighty Nein (as in German for "no") is on the G&S RUclips channel, and the rest on are on theirs. When COVID started, they had to move away from live streams, to pre-recorded episodes. And they're now on their third campaign, following another team (whose name is a bit of a spoiler, so I won't share it here). Different characters, but the same players. The animated series is a result of a Kickstarter. The original goal was $75k to make one animated special. They blew past that in a few minutes, and passed the $3M mark in about an hour. It ended up breaking the record for largest kickstarter of a tv series, beating the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarter (which Day was part of). After the success of the Kickstarter, Amazon picked up the series, greenlighting a full season plus one more. And after the success of this first season, they announced another season of this, as well as another series based on their second campaign. They released an animatic from that show a couple weeks ago, and it's expected they'll release next year. The first two episodes of the series show events that took place in their home game, before the stream started. And these events show what took place in their stream, starting about episode 25 or so. If you're interested in a taste of what the show is like, look up "critical role sun tree moment". There's a good video by SpekoVids that shows that scene as it was in the game, and then the clip from the animated series for direct comparison. There are a few differences. One of the major ones being the characters on the tree. There was no Pike stand in because she was in New York filming the show Blindspot at the time (which is represented here as her going off to the temple). Instead, there was a "figure painted red", which represents the character of a player who was removed from the show after 26 episodes because of issues he was causing. And a bear, representing Vex's pet Trinket. That player is one reason why they start the animated series with their second arc in the campaign. His character is still owned by him, so they can't use him. And the earliest episodes were more wandering around, and they were able to move important moments to different times in the story. If you do plan on watching their streamed show, there are a couple thing to know. If you start with the first campaign, episode 1, those early episodes were rough. Lots of technical issues, particularly with sound. And the afore mentioned player who caused a number of uncomfortable things at the table. Some people recommend skipping certain episodes. I don't. There are important things in those early episodes that come up later in the campaign.
God, your analysis of Vex and her character is so refreshing. I know that Laura (her VA and player) has said that she is ok with her portrayal in the show but as a Vex fan, I feel like without having watched the stream or read the comics or Kith and Kin, you really miss the heart of the character. So many reactors jump right to, she’s mean, jealous and or creepily in love with Vax. But that isn’t Vex and if you know from other sources you can see the fear and the abandonment issues and the deep need for control brought on by those things, in her portrayal here, but I can’t really blame other reactors who don’t have context for what the surface read of Vex is. That being said, your belief in Vex is a breath of fresh air for us Vex fans. The one thing I dislike about the animated show is that they jumped into the Vex and Keyleth tension without letting us really see their friendship first. As someone who was a girl new to the dnd space when the campaign started, one of the things that hooked me was the awesome depiction of cool female characters with healthy friendships with each other. As far as the anime coding, especially for Percy, well Taliesen Jaffe his VA/Player was one of the first directors and writers to take the genre seriously in the states. Pushing for better translations and hiring real actors to dub. He was the head writer for the Hellsing dub and later came back as head writer for Helsing Ultimate. It’s a genre he’s very passionate about and the animators took that and ran with it lol. The anxiety and worry and love you have for the characters is so sweet, and totally relatable. These nerds have made us laugh, cry and scream over the years and I can’t promise you anything without spoiling, except that the story is so so worth ride. It is a rewarding and epic tale of the power of friendship and the love they all have for each other.
All of these VAs sound like the coolest people to ever exist. Also...Vex in *love* with Vax??? wtf. I don't think I'd need to read the comics to get that Vex's issues have so much rooted in fear and protectiveness and the fact that the twins are obviously used to being all the other has, just from watching the show. She's allowed to be a human...a half-elf, dammit. Stop asking for complex female characters if you're just going to slap stupid labels on them without taking a moment to analyse why they act that way. *sigh Fingers crossed for Vex and Keyleth to develop a solid friendship once Vex has a chance to actually take a breather and process her emotions.
5:38: Yep, she gets a smile, and his whole posture relaxes a little bit. Got him out of his head for a moment :) Vex relaxes as well, for two people with the MOST trust issues, being able to relax around someone is pretty huge, I really enjoy the way they show us that. Something I was waffling about in a comment last episode we see again here, during the chase sequence Percy shows again how much faith he has in Keyleth. The cart doesn't slow at ALL, and there's no hesitation as he drives it at full gallop onto the vines. It's not even a question. (Also yes, those are very good horses. But Percy doesn't rein them in at all, is my point.) The delivery on that indignant "...and did you just 'Hyah!' me!?" is just *chef's kiss * it's my favourite overlooked line in that episode. 🤣 Critical Role tells good stories, they hit a lot of people directly in the feels, don't worry, we're here for it. :)
Sorry this is 2 days late ;; Thank you for your oversharing. The best kind of consuming media is when you get to talk to other people about it, because they always have different parts that stuck out to them and different takes and the best part is is that no one can be wrong or right because if there's evidence to support you, your interpretation is completely valid! Because oh no I completely missed out on Percy trusting Keyleth so much with those vines HE BELIEVES IN HER SO MUCH she is worthy and he trusts her and I'm just!!!! I'm so glad you pointed that out and Percy answering Keyleth's questions because neither of them have been able to go back to a home they love ;;;; so she asks exactly the right question and I'm going to be just...hawkeyes on these two from now on, all these characters and their relationships are giving me brainrot ;A; they took damage from a door i'm cackling thank you for the info, all the info on the guards and Stonefell, like I definitely manage without it because the show still makes sense but it's so nice of you to tell me what you know, I appreciate it
Column A Column B they had an aweful time with a door that wasn't even locked (just barricaded) and had a broken window next to it. (please excuse my terrible spelling.)
I can relate on the whole sibling part Looking forward to your reactions of the rest of the season and especially season 2! Also, your blue top matches well with Vex.
And Taliesin explicitly and intentionally designed Percy to be a Bishounen. I believe he took a lot of inspiration from various Anime Characters he's voiced over his VA Career. So, yeah, when it came time to animate Percy, he gave Titmouse and Phil Bourassa their marching orders, "Make Percy An Anime Bishounen." And so they did. It also helps that Titmouse, not only are massive Anime Nerds, but have produced a bunch of Anime throughout their career (you should check out their production catalog). And it helps that Phil Bourassa is most well known for designing a lot of DCAU Characters, specifically Batman and Young Justice. So Phil gave Percy the requisite Bishounen build, then Titmouse Anime'd the crap out of him. If you can think of an Anime Bishounen Trope, I guarantee you that Titmouse will have applied it to Percy by the end of Vox Machina.
All of your questions about Percy get answered in season 1, no spoilers of course, but if you wanna know what the deal with Percy is, just keep watching.
re. Vex's insecurities - in the campaign we got to see her forces to interact with strangers without Vax to back her up and the difference in her demeanor was night and day
Death flags are very real, but like.... just make sure to pay attention to all the characters. Thats all. But also, you ask a lot of good questions and they DO get answered. Some in positive ways and some in negative ways, but always in great ways. So definitely stick with it!
I snickered at you being grossed out by Stonefell's character design! I remember a couple of years ago quite a few reactors said he looked like a thumb, then one reactor said he looked like a big toe and I felt that was the more accurate description!
This is not really a spoiler, but this universe is based on the standard DnD take on gods, which is that there are many different gods, somewhat like Greek mythology. They all have different personalities and domains (for example. the Wild Mother rules over nature, and the Archheart rules over beauty and art). While there are demons and devils, there is no Devil, per se, but there is an evil god who rules over the devils. I think the demons are ruled by a different god. But for your purposes, demons and devils answer to their gods, but can act independantly. I'm enjoying your reactions a lot, because you don't hold back on what you are feeling or thinking. I know this story is dark, and hard to get through. Please just know that we are on this journey with you, and you will won't be alone.
You think the gag with the door is funny, wait till the spin-off series comes about with their second campaign of characters and the infamous "chair", 🤣🤣
Sorry...I hate it when reactors don't react to my favorite parts. For the record, I was horrified. The fact they murdered CHILDREN and then desecrated their bodies by dressing them up as Vox Machina is so beyond...I just thought Silas was going to eat them or Delilah would sacrifice them or something, but this was 1000x worse. They killed them just to send a message to Vox Machina, a show of their cruelty, their utter disregard for the people of Whitestone should Vox Machina fight back, and as a threat to the group as well. This is how we see you, the moment you arrive--already dead. I also really don't do well with child death though, so I probably will gloss over it just because it makes me really uneasy. I need a website like 'Does the Dog Die?' just for kids. I keep thinking about the little girl who dressed up as Pike, waving and smiling with no idea what was to come. And the other people? They lived in Whitestone. They knew how bad things were. Did they think that the Briarwoods had turned over a new leaf? That they were actually going to be treated well? Or did the adults just put on a brave face from the moment they got the summons to the castle? Ugh.
You Hoyos have much more skill than a lot of established Studios. Can we please get entire Episodes? Cooking Valkyries all over again for all I care, but pwease make it happen 🙏🏻
The anxiety and worry over the characters is understandable. Despite all that, press forward. Critical Role can rip your heart out, but it’s worth it. Now you’ve got Critters in your corner to walk you through it.
It’ll make you cry for every possible reason and we love it lol
42:32 ahhh “Bad News”…. That boy, Percy, has a unique way of naming things…. As you’ll find out.
It's clear that Percy's story has haunted you for a long time. But the thing about stories is, they show you how to win (whispers from Arabian Nights). You can only know the full story when the story has reached its end. Keep watching, find out Percy's fate, and exercise the demons haunting you. We'll be right there with you.
the scene at the tree was a pivotal moment of the campaign, when the players realized just how hard Matt could go.
Taliesin Jaffe has so many amazing lines they were able to lift directly to the show. He's got a gift.
the show can get intense, but I hope you can make it through. I feel it ends up being very rewarding overall.
That whole door scene was a classic in game. Liam was just rolling badly for the lock. They ended up spending a ton of spells to get around it before finding they could have just used a window. It was just classic bad dice rolling, but showing that even the expert rogue still can have a spot of bad luck is fun. It's not an exact recreation, but a nod to it. AND yes, there's a running theme that doors suck. They stop all the best plans in TTRPGs. 🙂
Edit: I swear I made the comment as the scene started before you even asked. 🙂
Edit 2: Percy thought his sister was killed by those arrows, and he was the one telling that story that we got as a flashback. So, a semi-reliabile narrator?
There was no lock on the door. It was a simple block of wood that they couldn't lift.
@@bludfyre I'm pretty sure, thanks to Reliable Talent, that Vax never actually failed a lockpick roll. but failing strength checks was totally a thing.
A rifle named Bad News, because nothing travels faster
"Does this world have a devil, like a Head Devil?" ... Short answer, yes. But that's a conversation for when you decide you're going to watch Exandria Expanded: Calamity. 😂 It's a very, VERY worthwhile watch - four episodes, and tells a story from the earliest days of Exandria (at least 1,000 years before Vox Machina in the timeline).
Loving your reactions and insights, very happy that you came back to brave your fears and anxiety to finish the story with all of us! 🤗👍
Hello Kyra, we believe in you, we are here to walk along side you through this journey. These nerdy ass voice actors have made us all cry, jump for joy, scream in fear and fall in love with them every step of the way. As for your questions - Doors - they can't defeat them for some reason - bad roles after bad roles!! The show is very close to the campaign itself - they made certain changes to make the story work better and flow more accurately (things get forgotten or changed between multiple streams!). Some of the people are different but their essence is there. I would say 90% is directly from the campaign and 10% were changed to make the story cohesive and better for TV. Loving your reactions so far - stay with it you are strong!
Im so glad youve decided to finish the series! Youre asking alot of the right questions, most of which will be answered in time so keep with it.
But yes, this arc is VERY dark. Percy is our beloved anime trauma baby, glad to see youve taken a shine to him
Hi there. I wanted to say that I really enjoy your reaction videos. A note on Percy.....if he's using his right hand with the pepperbox - that's Percy in control; if he's using his left hand with it - that's a demon in control. Its a small thing that Percy's creator Talisin Jaffe designed for Percy in the table top version of Vox Machina. Thanks.
Fun fact. The animators counted every single shot Percy made, and made sure to have him reload on screen anytime his gun was empty. Except for a few, certain scenes.
The scene where he kills Stonefell for example, he shoots seven times.
Wasn’t one of the mechanics that he got another round when he hit a nat 20?
@@NE0PYR0 No, he could reload his gun as a free action, and had action surge which allowed him to attack multiple times a turn, but he still had to actually reload his weapon every time.
Besides, that's game mechanics, that has nothing to do with the animated show. Why would they bring something nebulous like that over?
@@joshuaburnett2634 Because! Nerd! Clearly! I would ask you for your ID, but obviously you are not part of the Illustrious Order of Nerds. You must now take four level of Nerd Disdain and deal with having the rest of us look down on you imperiously. Good luck with that. [looks down on you imperiously] {Nerd Disdain +4}
@@Ironoclasty I'm sorry, I get Nerd Disdain for clearly remembering the mechanics for a class I have never played, in a game I have unfortunately only played once.
I get Nerd Disdain for noticing a tiny detail in an animated show no one else noticed?
Clearly sir you are a member of the lower circle of the Illustrious Order of Nerds. I would be careful who you turn your Nerd Disdain toward.
(Have a good day.)
@@joshuaburnett2634 Hmm, I see. Very well, I hereby revoke the Nerd Disdain upon you which I heaped. [funny hand wiggle]
So you worried about losing Percy and stopped watching ... and so you lost Percy. Hopefully you've got him back now.
...that's such a nice optimistic way of looking at it :')
30:10 funny you should say that because Travis (grog) and Laura (Vex) play Col Mustang and Lust in the dub, plus they’re married irl!! (always gives me a giggle seeing real couples play adversaries)
As the oldest sibling I completely feel you with the sibling stuff. I really really feel you.
The door incident was a famous moment from the campaign with multiple people rolling 1 on a twenty sided dice - I think they relocated it, but it is a campaign reference. That said, in the campaign itself they seemed to always have bad luck with doors, so it became a unintended running gag.
Saying all Percy needs to feel better is a good 8 hours of sleep is hilarious when one remembers that he met Orthax in his dreams
As for them speed running the romance, I won't comment if there _is_ a romance, but for general pacing, keep in mind the Whitestone arc was 17 episodes of Critical Role, live streamed 1/week, so everything in Whitestone would have taken place in over 4 months IRL. _Anything_ that happens over the course of that time period wouldn't feel rushed, be it romance, character development, etc. When it's a single season (or less, first 3 episodes handled the dragon) of a cartoon, that _feels_ a lot shorter.
You worry about Percy? You shouldn't. His friends - no ....his family -do enough worrying about him. Sometimes a character has to touch hell before a greater force than hell can bring them back from it. In the case of Percy, its his friends in Vox MAchina.
Point of fact, all of Vox Machina, despite their personality clashes love and help eachother like a well-knit found family.
There's more hope for Percy .... for all Vox Machina than you realize.
This series and group will make you laugh and cy so many happy tears to come.
Its not that nothing bad ever happens to them, but the things they go through elevate them as people and characters. All they have to do is what we all do in life: BE BRAVE AND LEVEL UP.
Kyra, I've only seen you view a handful of episodes, but Im already amazed at how sweet, charming, and endearing your reactions have been, as well as the love you share towards these characters that we all have in common.
There has to be conflict, or there's no character growth, its pretty much a rule in good storytelling. I think a lot of viewers miss that. Or they want nothing too bad ot happen to their characters and have them be in domestic fluffly bliss all the time. Nice to think about but, ultimately - BORING.
It's a heroes journey, after all. Challenges to face....and OVERCOME.
Have faith in Percy. Have faith in all fo them.
And most of all faith in yourself.
You can do this. We believe in you.
I almost died from laughing watching the live-stream with the door...! It was SO fun.!
Oh, this is the first I have heard of this sword-and-sorcery series. 😮 Thank you for introducing me to it. 😊
If you haven't heard about this before now, here's the basic rundown.
This is based on Critical Role, a web stream with a bunch of voice actors who play D&D. They started as a home Pathfinder game, which they got together to play for the birthday of Liam O'Brian (the voice of Vax). They played for a couple years as a home game. At the same time, Felicia Day had created a RUclips channel called Geek & Sundry as part of RUclips's initiative to promote content creation. She found out about the home game from Ashley Johnson, who was in one of Day's web series on Geek & Sundry. Day wanted to start up an associated Twitch channel and thought their game would be great on a live stream, so she asked them if they would be interested in streaming on her channel. They brought their home game over to the live stream, and switched from Pathfinder to D&D. They originally played the game live, leading to some great moments back in their early game. For example, in one episode, Laura Bailey (Vex) had received an item, and had placed the card for the item in her binder, but lost it. The chat in stream were able to tell her exactly where it was.
Not long after they started playing, Day sold Geek & Sundry to Legendary Digital Network (who also purchased the Nerdist channel created by Chris Hardwick). For a while it was great, injecting some major budget into the channel, letting them do some really interesting shows. Then about the time their first campaign (like a military campaign, referring to the story about a specific team of characters) was finishing up, LDN was bought by a Chinese conglomerate. Which is when Critical Role broke away and formed their own company, creating their own RUclips and Twitch channels. The first 20ish episodes of their second campaign, following a team they call The Mighty Nein (as in German for "no") is on the G&S RUclips channel, and the rest on are on theirs. When COVID started, they had to move away from live streams, to pre-recorded episodes. And they're now on their third campaign, following another team (whose name is a bit of a spoiler, so I won't share it here). Different characters, but the same players.
The animated series is a result of a Kickstarter. The original goal was $75k to make one animated special. They blew past that in a few minutes, and passed the $3M mark in about an hour. It ended up breaking the record for largest kickstarter of a tv series, beating the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarter (which Day was part of). After the success of the Kickstarter, Amazon picked up the series, greenlighting a full season plus one more. And after the success of this first season, they announced another season of this, as well as another series based on their second campaign. They released an animatic from that show a couple weeks ago, and it's expected they'll release next year. The first two episodes of the series show events that took place in their home game, before the stream started. And these events show what took place in their stream, starting about episode 25 or so.
If you're interested in a taste of what the show is like, look up "critical role sun tree moment". There's a good video by SpekoVids that shows that scene as it was in the game, and then the clip from the animated series for direct comparison. There are a few differences. One of the major ones being the characters on the tree. There was no Pike stand in because she was in New York filming the show Blindspot at the time (which is represented here as her going off to the temple). Instead, there was a "figure painted red", which represents the character of a player who was removed from the show after 26 episodes because of issues he was causing. And a bear, representing Vex's pet Trinket. That player is one reason why they start the animated series with their second arc in the campaign. His character is still owned by him, so they can't use him. And the earliest episodes were more wandering around, and they were able to move important moments to different times in the story.
If you do plan on watching their streamed show, there are a couple thing to know. If you start with the first campaign, episode 1, those early episodes were rough. Lots of technical issues, particularly with sound. And the afore mentioned player who caused a number of uncomfortable things at the table. Some people recommend skipping certain episodes. I don't. There are important things in those early episodes that come up later in the campaign.
God, your analysis of Vex and her character is so refreshing. I know that Laura (her VA and player) has said that she is ok with her portrayal in the show but as a Vex fan, I feel like without having watched the stream or read the comics or Kith and Kin, you really miss the heart of the character. So many reactors jump right to, she’s mean, jealous and or creepily in love with Vax. But that isn’t Vex and if you know from other sources you can see the fear and the abandonment issues and the deep need for control brought on by those things, in her portrayal here, but I can’t really blame other reactors who don’t have context for what the surface read of Vex is. That being said, your belief in Vex is a breath of fresh air for us Vex fans. The one thing I dislike about the animated show is that they jumped into the Vex and Keyleth tension without letting us really see their friendship first. As someone who was a girl new to the dnd space when the campaign started, one of the things that hooked me was the awesome depiction of cool female characters with healthy friendships with each other.
As far as the anime coding, especially for Percy, well Taliesen Jaffe his VA/Player was one of the first directors and writers to take the genre seriously in the states. Pushing for better translations and hiring real actors to dub. He was the head writer for the Hellsing dub and later came back as head writer for Helsing Ultimate. It’s a genre he’s very passionate about and the animators took that and ran with it lol.
The anxiety and worry and love you have for the characters is so sweet, and totally relatable. These nerds have made us laugh, cry and scream over the years and I can’t promise you anything without spoiling, except that the story is so so worth ride. It is a rewarding and epic tale of the power of friendship and the love they all have for each other.
All of these VAs sound like the coolest people to ever exist.
Also...Vex in *love* with Vax??? wtf. I don't think I'd need to read the comics to get that Vex's issues have so much rooted in fear and protectiveness and the fact that the twins are obviously used to being all the other has, just from watching the show. She's allowed to be a human...a half-elf, dammit. Stop asking for complex female characters if you're just going to slap stupid labels on them without taking a moment to analyse why they act that way. *sigh
Fingers crossed for Vex and Keyleth to develop a solid friendship once Vex has a chance to actually take a breather and process her emotions.
"You were the one I was least looking forward to" was such a bad ass line from the campaign
Ah yes. Vox Machinae's greatest foe. Doors.
And old people... and children
5:38: Yep, she gets a smile, and his whole posture relaxes a little bit. Got him out of his head for a moment :) Vex relaxes as well, for two people with the MOST trust issues, being able to relax around someone is pretty huge, I really enjoy the way they show us that.
Something I was waffling about in a comment last episode we see again here, during the chase sequence Percy shows again how much faith he has in Keyleth. The cart doesn't slow at ALL, and there's no hesitation as he drives it at full gallop onto the vines. It's not even a question. (Also yes, those are very good horses. But Percy doesn't rein them in at all, is my point.)
The delivery on that indignant "...and did you just 'Hyah!' me!?" is just *chef's kiss * it's my favourite overlooked line in that episode. 🤣
Critical Role tells good stories, they hit a lot of people directly in the feels, don't worry, we're here for it. :)
Sorry this is 2 days late ;;
Thank you for your oversharing. The best kind of consuming media is when you get to talk to other people about it, because they always have different parts that stuck out to them and different takes and the best part is is that no one can be wrong or right because if there's evidence to support you, your interpretation is completely valid!
Because oh no I completely missed out on Percy trusting Keyleth so much with those vines HE BELIEVES IN HER SO MUCH she is worthy and he trusts her and I'm just!!!! I'm so glad you pointed that out and Percy answering Keyleth's questions because neither of them have been able to go back to a home they love ;;;; so she asks exactly the right question and I'm going to be just...hawkeyes on these two from now on, all these characters and their relationships are giving me brainrot ;A;
they took damage from a door i'm cackling thank you for the info, all the info on the guards and Stonefell, like I definitely manage without it because the show still makes sense but it's so nice of you to tell me what you know, I appreciate it
@@kyratries This is such a sweet reply, thank you so much
@@InkyPetrel please always feel free to do The Thing at me if you want to ☺
When you quit watching it, you miss the whole story and you miss everything about Percy. The story writers knew what they were doing.
Column A Column B they had an aweful time with a door that wasn't even locked (just barricaded) and had a broken window next to it. (please excuse my terrible spelling.)
I can relate on the whole sibling part
Looking forward to your reactions of the rest of the season and especially season 2!
Also, your blue top matches well with Vex.
I love watching your reactions when I get home from work and crack open a beer. Keep up with the good stuff
There actually is an answer to your questions about Percy, but I'm not sure if I should share it before you get to the end of Season 1.
Regarding the doors, I believe it was a bit of both
Regarding anime-coding... all of VM has done anime dubs (except Marisha, but she's an anime nerd). It's how most of them met each other.
And Taliesin explicitly and intentionally designed Percy to be a Bishounen. I believe he took a lot of inspiration from various Anime Characters he's voiced over his VA Career. So, yeah, when it came time to animate Percy, he gave Titmouse and Phil Bourassa their marching orders, "Make Percy An Anime Bishounen." And so they did. It also helps that Titmouse, not only are massive Anime Nerds, but have produced a bunch of Anime throughout their career (you should check out their production catalog). And it helps that Phil Bourassa is most well known for designing a lot of DCAU Characters, specifically Batman and Young Justice. So Phil gave Percy the requisite Bishounen build, then Titmouse Anime'd the crap out of him. If you can think of an Anime Bishounen Trope, I guarantee you that Titmouse will have applied it to Percy by the end of Vox Machina.
You stopped watching HERE? This is where it starts to get INTERESTING!
All of your questions about Percy get answered in season 1, no spoilers of course, but if you wanna know what the deal with Percy is, just keep watching.
re. Vex's insecurities - in the campaign we got to see her forces to interact with strangers without Vax to back her up and the difference in her demeanor was night and day
*Grog finds booze
Kyra: "um, maybe not.."
Are *you* gonna tell the 'roid muscled kill-happy Goliath he can't have his ale? Cause I sure ain't 😆
The fact that you've read the origin comics means you'll likely recognise a few references over the seasons.
Death flags are very real, but like.... just make sure to pay attention to all the characters. Thats all.
But also, you ask a lot of good questions and they DO get answered. Some in positive ways and some in negative ways, but always in great ways. So definitely stick with it!
I snickered at you being grossed out by Stonefell's character design! I remember a couple of years ago quite a few reactors said he looked like a thumb, then one reactor said he looked like a big toe and I felt that was the more accurate description!
No Mercy Percy has entered the chat.
Cant wait for you to reach season 2
This is not really a spoiler, but this universe is based on the standard DnD take on gods, which is that there are many different gods, somewhat like Greek mythology. They all have different personalities and domains (for example. the Wild Mother rules over nature, and the Archheart rules over beauty and art). While there are demons and devils, there is no Devil, per se, but there is an evil god who rules over the devils. I think the demons are ruled by a different god. But for your purposes, demons and devils answer to their gods, but can act independantly.
I'm enjoying your reactions a lot, because you don't hold back on what you are feeling or thinking. I know this story is dark, and hard to get through. Please just know that we are on this journey with you, and you will won't be alone.
You think the gag with the door is funny, wait till the spin-off series comes about with their second campaign of characters and the infamous "chair", 🤣🤣
Probably the best way to put Vex's feelings out loud I've heard.
Deleted a comment cause it may be a spoiler for another show. My bad.
They are copying a running gag that stemmed from what kept happening in the actual game 😅
I was looking forward to the tree scene... and you kind of glossed over it. Oh well...
Sorry...I hate it when reactors don't react to my favorite parts.
For the record, I was horrified. The fact they murdered CHILDREN and then desecrated their bodies by dressing them up as Vox Machina is so beyond...I just thought Silas was going to eat them or Delilah would sacrifice them or something, but this was 1000x worse. They killed them just to send a message to Vox Machina, a show of their cruelty, their utter disregard for the people of Whitestone should Vox Machina fight back, and as a threat to the group as well. This is how we see you, the moment you arrive--already dead.
I also really don't do well with child death though, so I probably will gloss over it just because it makes me really uneasy. I need a website like 'Does the Dog Die?' just for kids. I keep thinking about the little girl who dressed up as Pike, waving and smiling with no idea what was to come. And the other people? They lived in Whitestone. They knew how bad things were. Did they think that the Briarwoods had turned over a new leaf? That they were actually going to be treated well? Or did the adults just put on a brave face from the moment they got the summons to the castle?
Ugh.
You Hoyos have much more skill than a lot of established Studios. Can we please get entire Episodes? Cooking Valkyries all over again for all I care, but pwease make it happen 🙏🏻