The Legend of Vox Machina - Episode 1 Reaction!
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- There's a new series making waves in the animation world (and beyond!) The Hester Bros. are here to check out Episode 1 of the Legend of Vox Machina, based on the popular series "Critical Role."
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Always great to see people fresh to Critical role react to these episodes. Also all the children were voiced by the cast's kids for extra emotional punch!
Vox Machina is based on the first campaign they did. And the first two episodes, specifically, are based on the pre-stream sessions that fans never actually saw.
The two village kids that were killed were played by Sam ( Scanlan) and Liams ( Vaxildan) son and daughter respectively. Apparently Sams son had fun recording the death gurgles.
Like father like son. Have you seen the interview Sam did as a kid when he was selected for the traveling production of Les Mis? Jokes about his character's death. Sam has definitely always been Sam...
I'd be great to see you guys do the full season. The threats get so much better than the dragon...
Yes, best couple really does a number on our heroes.
It's not that Pike didn't roll high enough to save the boy; it's that she didn't have any spell slots left to heal him. That's why she kept saying using the spell before "took a lot out of her" and she was "too weak from before". Managing spell slots is so important for the healer of the group (I say, as the cleric in my own campaign who recently used all my third-level spell slots to raise a skeleton army just before a major fight with a drider... *cough* ).
Yeah, non-D&D players always do that thing where they assume every single thing in the story is a natural 1 or a natural 20. Or in the Onision-looking guy's case, a 10? I'm not sure if he meant 20, because he basically described Scanlan's song as completely average.
For those who are unaware: Vox Machina fought a blue dragon. In Dungeons and Dragons, blue dragons breath lightning as their breath weapon. They are also IMMUNE to lightning damage. As such, Keyleth hitting the dragon with a massive lightning bolt, while impressive, did absolutely no damage to it.
Keyleth doing something impressive that basically achieved nothing is pretty well her early story in a nutshell. 🤣😂🤣
Long time Critter here (from about 2016/2017) and I have to say that after seeing all of the show they KNOCKED it out of the park. It's SO hard to translate something to a different medium and there are so many moments of "what do we leave out? What do we leave in?" This hit all of the major story beats and changed some things, but made things work REALLY well for TV (streaming in this case). I could not be happier or prouder. Most importantly, my biggest wish for this show when I backed it was for it to introduce a whole bunch of new people to the fandom that might not have given it a chance otherwise. It does that in spades.
If you decide not to react to it, I cannot HIGHLY suggest it enough for you to watch it. From all the reactions that I've seen from Critters to those who'd never even heard of Critical Role, this has been highly regarded.
This is SO their campaign, and it's probably the most accurate adaptation of D&D I've ever seen in my life.
@@ShadowyFox_86 right down to the bbegof every campaign: Doors
Please continue this! The show is more than worth your time.
Also, i guess you could say the show has zero filler. The entirety of the show is condensed story from their game. Episodes 1&2 are from pre stream play, think of it as a pilot. The other 10 episodes are a full story arc from the stream.
Agreed on all counts
Apparently everyone here knows what Critical Role is and have already sneaked a glimpse at the future events of this show. I personally don’t know anything about this world so I’ll be watching it blind alongside you guys. Glad, to see having some diversity with how you pick your shows!👍 Can’t wait to see what you’ve got cooking up next!!
I'm a new fan of Critical Role, and all I can say is welcome to the craziest ride!
Yessss please do the whole season!!! It just gets better as it goes!!!
Your faces when making all the bear puns. Taliesin would be so proud.
You should definitely react to the rest of the episodes. If you enjoyed this first one as much as you did, you’re going to love the rest of the season. You’ll be Critters in no time.
I dare say the bug had already bitten in.
Hell yes! Watch the whole series: it just keeps getting better and better.
Just adding another voice to the "definitely want you to do the whole series" chorus 😁
1st two episodes deal with a story that happened pre-stream (but still part of their home game) and the following ten episodes follow one story arc from early on in the 1st campaign from the stream, it strongly follows one of the character's back stories, and is a fan favorite arc. the pace is fast and never slows down (understandable since they are condensing about 40-50 hours of dnd gameplay down to about 6 for the show, but with that in mind they kept all the important beats and even enhanced them) If you don't check out the rest of the show for your channel I would highly recommend finishing the season in your free time.
Glad to see you guys check this show out! Long time fan of Crirical Role, and a new subscriber to you guys. Hope you enjoy the series!
Scanlan literally pissed on the DM 😄
Pike: "You saved our lives! Thank you!"
"Well, that's a lot of guilt to put on one person..."
O.o
I've been confused about that for like a year. At a guess I think he misheard it as 'we almost died because of you' instead of 'we're alive because of you.' I think he thinks Pike was needling her about accidentally charging the dragon up.
This show delivers like ubereats! As a critter, I loved it. They had to change things of course bc truncating hundreds of hours of gameplay into 12 25ish minute episodes means making choices about what and how you tell the story. But. The things they chose to do from a character and story perspective really worked for me. I loved the animation, it was like Saturday morning cartoons from the 80s but all grown up for adult viewing. And the nods to dnd, like you were saying, where you can almost see the rolls hitting the table in success or failure are so good. Which is why I think it works for everyone. They gave the critters what we needed from the live shows, dnd players recognizable easter eggs from a gaming angle, and for casual viewers there is also a quality story with great characters to enjoy.
It is ABSOLUTELY worth your time and resources to keep going with this. Consider: it's an adaptation of a thing that nerds like, and the nerds in question HAVE NO COMPLAINTS. Think about how rare that is, and queue up the rest of this show, because there's a reason for it.
The first 2 episodes are an introduction story pulled from their games before they were broadcast. The rest of the season is pulled from a storyline that happened on the stream and definitely digs deeper into the characters and world.
As for if it delivered for this Critical Role fan? YES!! It is amazing. There are lots of changes that are needed for compressing about 60 hours of game time to 6 hours of animation, but they maintained the important story beats for the episodes given and do a great job of pacing it. (To my mind anyway...) The plot digs super deeply into one character's backstory, but all of them get time to shine so most fans are happy. It definitely does a good job of creating emotions, and often changing them quickly throughout an episode.
Episodes one and two are definitely an introduction to the world. Episode three is where the arc actually proceeds. I can not recommend highly enough to continue watching.
This episode and it's second part was a creative take on a prestream adventure re worked to stream line it and introduce the characters at an early point I'm their character arcs.
Yes, I absolutely adore this show. There is a lot more detail in the live play but this has a lot for old and new critters alike. They do a fantastic job of getting the most animation friendly moments onto the screen without sacrificing the story or characters
Fan of Critical Role here. The first two episodes are good. It was great to see the characters we love animated. But the way the show picks up during episode 3 and beyond is when it gets AMAZING.
You guys have seen NOTHING yet. Enjoy the ride.
Even if you guys choose not to do more reaction videos on “The Legend of Vox Machina,” I highly, HIGHLY recommend the rest of the episodes in the season. It’s so worth it.
As someone who watched this campaign more than once...it delivers. If you continue to post reactions, I'll be here to watch. It only gets better from here.
YESSSSSSS I WAS SO HOPING YOU’D DO THIS. I really want to watch people who DON’T know CR react. I’m a Critter, but I’ve only seen the first episode of TLOVM so far. (I moved literally the day the prescreen released and haven’t even hooked my TV back up yet…) if you guys end up doing more than one episode, I might try to watch alongside you.
The adventure begins :) looking forward to your thoughts and personal insight.
Now roll for initiative.
This and the second episode are an event from before they started streaming. They've mentioned in interviews that it was the first time the group really realised they were fully out of their depth against a monster, and the first time they encountered direct consequences for their running away from the fight. It was a moment that solidified them as a group. Which was obviously part of their choice to use this as the introduction to the show.
Continue this please and yes the dice roll failing does get acted out.
Would love to see you guys go through the whole season! I'm a longtime fan of Critical Role and was a Kickstarter backer for this series, and my favorite reactions to see have been coming from people who are meeting these characters for the first time in animation.
The lamb squash was a homage to the Bambi vs Godzilla short from back in the day.
Yes! THANK YOU. Somebody else remembers this!
Great reactions/perspectives, guys! You should do more of this series - this was lots'a fun!
I do hope you continue this. It is highly worth your time, IMO. I will definitely watching for more reactions to this!
Do the whole season! It just keeps getting better and better
Love seeing your reactions and insights and would love to see you guys watch through the whole show!
MORE. PLEASE.
You understated the Kickstarter a bit. Their original goal was $750k, & they got $1M in an hour. They put out stretch goals, which also got kicked down in hours. In total they raised over $3M the first day & $11.3M during the 45 day campaign, setting a few records.
You might consider, at some point, watching one of the "making of" series for the show. The Legend of The Cast of The Legend of Vox Machina is Critical Role's cast going over the other voices.
New to this channel but I'm a huge fan of critical role and love watching blind reactions!
The first two episodes were from the home game that wasn't filmed, so it's new even to old fans. Starting with episode three we get the main arc of this season which was a fan favorite of the live show, but they move around and optimized different scenes so there are a few surprises for all of us.
I watched Harmonquest and I liked it!
A very comedic show, the story was light and fun.
However it usually depended on the guest. Overall it was a good show!
BTW, I rewatched the Gillian Jacobs episode so many times. Honestly, best episode of Harmonquest! 🔥🔥🔥
Legend of Vox Machina VA Cliff Notes:
Vax: Gara from Naruto
Vex: Lust from Full Metal Alchemist
Percy: Flash from Injustice (video game)
Keyleth: Various JRPGs (and wife of Critical Roll Dungeon Master)
Grog: Roy Mustang from Full Metal Alchemist
Scanlan: Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 version)
Pike: Ellie from The Last Of Us
Narrator: McCree from Overwatch
King: Ezekiel from The Walking Dead
General: David Tennant (yes, THAT David Tennant).
Yessss!!!! Do the whole series! It's amazing and just gets better the farther you go into the season. From episode 3 onwards they start to follow a story arc that was played through on Twitch, it was a fan favorite that everyone was so hyped to see it come to life in animation. From what I've heard in the Critter community pretty well everyone is enjoying the series. It's been made with so much love and you can really tell with the quality of the episodes. For me personally I loved the whole season so much, I was a backer for the Kickstarter and yes it has 100% delivered on my expectations. Were a few things changed or left out that I wanted to see? Yes, but there is still hope that they might pop up later as they have moved some things around in the timeline to make the narrative flow a bit better.
Your genuine enthusiasm and insight is really refreshing! I'll definitely be tuning into episode 2 if you keep reacting to TLOVM!
Oh Keyleth rolled a Nat 20 on the Lightning attack, too bad the Dragon had a 'Fuck you I'm Immune card'
This show just gets better and better each episode, and I really enjoyed your reactions - would love to see you do the whole season!
Can't speak for other critters, but I absolutely love how they made this show and how they retold the story in such a beautifully animated way. IMO this show captures the very nature of not only Critical Role as a whole, but also a great example of how a D&D campaign can feel.
Please do the rest! I loved this show (I had never seen Critical Role but I am a huge lover of dnd)
As a CR Fan from Campaign 1, a dungeon master, and a very critical film buff: I LOVED this show, they stay true to many actual roles in the campaign, yet embellish a few things which needed to be done. The characters are shamelessly themselves as they were played. I also have a soft spot for the relationship between Grog and Pike, the dynamic duo of a holy Gnome like Pike, and a 'kill-drink-fuck" Goliath like Grog. Overall, as both a fan and a critic, I think this is one of a kind, and you will be VERY surprised as to where it goes.
Need more guys. You did a great job on this first one. As a super fan, it's fun to watch how you are receiving this. And yes, it was really cool to see the CR cast bring their characters to life. Only 7 years ago they too were like you and just starting down their path. Its been incredible to see their lives unfold and with it resulting in this series.
Your reactions were great to watch! PLEASE PLEASE CONTINUE and watch the full season!! You will NOT BE disappointed!!!!!!!! Seeing the season 1 arc brought to "life" was AMAZING!!!! :)
Would love if y’all did the rest of the series! Great reaction!
This show is essentially taking hundreds of hours of live game and using it as a rough draft then taking the original writers (the players), adding in some more writers, animators, producers, etc. to create the distilled product you see on screen. The show is D&D. With some creative license (and renaming to avoid IP issues). There are some great vids out there that compare LoVM scenes to streamed Critical Role scenes. There are some vids that make good guesses at what skill checks, spells, etc. are reflected in story beats and action. The DNA of Critical Role is baked in.
But you don't have to know any of that. You can just sit back and enjoy the story for what it is; a well-crafted tale of adult fantasy.
I for one would love to see you continue the series.
Yes, this is an adaptation of one of the arcs of the first campaign, and yes, it delivers.
Great reaction! Glad you guys enjoyed the first episode and I desperately hope you react to the rest of it, it’s such a treat. As a Critical Role fan this show has absolutely delivered for me, and it’s so cool to see all these new people seeing and loving these characters I’ve known for so long.
The first thing a good dm does is create a solid reason for the characters to be invested in a quest and it's so evident in this episode.
Yes you should definitely do the entire series. As others have said the first 2 episodes are from pre-stream, that means, as good as they are, they don't hold a candle to the other 10 eps. They had to rebuild the story for 1-2 from memory and notes from 8yrs ago. 3-12 they had the videos of the actual play to work off of. This resulted in the Briarwood arc feeling a lot more polished and better written than the first 2 episodes.
“She sounded like Ru Paul saying that” NOW I CANT UNHEAR IT LOL
I'd love to see more of this! In my opinion it gets even better
oh yer Keyleth did roll a Nat 20 on that lighting strike, to bad even a Nat 20 means jack shit when your opponents immune to the attack
This show 100% delivered everything I was hoping for and them some. Id love to see you all react to the rest of the series. The Briarwood arc is one of my favorites across all 3 campaigns so far, and the way they got to animate it was beautiful.
Bidet! and a big Critter hug.
Please keep going, you won't regret it, this is a very welcoming community.
This is pretty great! I love seeing these reactions of people who don't know the Critical Role campaign, and are free of all the spoilers. I'd be down to see more reactions to the other episodes.
I can't say they don't exist, because I can only speak from my perspective. But I have yet to see a Critical Role fan (Critter) have something negative to say about the show, beyond something to the effect of "I wish there was more".
I appreciated the "bear fight" pun!
For a lot of the players it was their first game. Matt wrote the most D&D game ever.
I'll give it to you. I would have never found this series. I love it already and you just add to it.
The first two episodes (The Terror of Tal'Dore) are based on a story arc that was done before the cast of "nerdy-ass voice actors" were convinced by Felicia Day to run their regular game for Geek and Sundry. This was going to be the story for the single episode for which they did a Kickstarter. Then the Kickstarter raised $11 million, allowing them to do an entire six-episode season, so the rest of the season is actually built around the Briarwood story arc, which is amazing and will let you see that Exandria is NOT a "straightforward fairy tale setting."
To be honest, the first episode is the weakest of the show thus far -- not to say it's bad, but that it just gets so much better from here. So if you had this much fun with episode 1, you should DEFINITELY watch the rest of the series. And if you react to the rest of it I will definitely tune in to see your journey through one of the most iconic stories from Critical Role.
You guys gotta watch/ react to the rest. I guarantee you wont guess the twists and turns it'll take, you'll love it!
You guys would have loved Sam's (Scanlan) singing in the gameplay streams. He continually riffed on top 40s music and classic rock
Your Ace "thingy" is great
So there is a video I can link to, where they narrate their pre-stream adventures. THey actually did a bunch of stuff for the ruler Uriel to get their reward, ANd even had a 1 year timeskip of in game stuff. THEN the events of the second Episode happen. THen, awhiel later, they have the Briarwoods Arc, (FIrst Campaigne episodes 27[Path to Whitestone] toEpisode 39[Omens] ). Which are the Ep.3-12 of this show.
Aaaaa!!! So excited to see you guys covering this! While I'm a relatively new subscriber here, I'm a long time Critter. I myself was very pleased with what they did with the show and can't wait to see what you guys think of it!
I completely agree that the characters are the shows biggest selling point, but just you wait, the world of Exandria is wide and sprawling an littered with cool and interesting people and places and organisations and villians and shopowners and ruling classes and thieves guilds and lore, oh, the lore, there is _so_ much of it. I can't wait for you guys to dive deeper into this magical place we critters have come to love and call our home.
Also, welcome to the critter community. We're generally a friendly bunch, though we get excited very easily on occasion.
Pike being unable to heal the child had nothing to do with how high or low she rolled... she was simply out spell slots. Because she used her last healing spell on Grog.
The first two episodes didn't hit nearly as well for me as the second portion, and I'm VERY excited for the next season!!!
Even if you don't have time to react more, absolutely give the show a chance through to episode 3 & 4.
you want to look at the cast list ..they have a stellar lineup for guest stars
It would be awesome if you guys reviewed the whole series! I started watching the show based on your review and it is amazing so far!
Love watching new-to-CR people enjoying this series! ❤️ would definitely watch more if you made them!
Edit: BTW, long time critter here (2016 I think) and backer for the series on kickstarter. 10 out of 10 on the animated series for me. My only critique is that I wish the EPs were longer and that I feel like the pacing was a bit rushed early in the series, but It straightens itself out a bit later. Overall, LOVE IT!
The first two episodes is a quickly adapted retelling of a pre-stream encounter, much of it was changed for the show.
Episodes 3-12 are a lot closer to the campaign.
Absolutely recommend continuing to watching. I'll admit, the first 3 episodes are a lot of introduction and setting the stage. But from episode 4 onwards it really takes off!
Wiped out the fellowship of the ring in three seconds
Well it's _definitely_ doing it for me. I was hesitant to raise my expectations too high in the leadup to this show coming out, but was only mildly successful at that. They did a whole mini series of behind the scenes videos to hype people up, and it _worked_ .I can only reccomend watching those once you're through with the season, just look for the Playlist of 'The Legend of the ... of the Legend of Vox Machina' on Critical Role's RUclips channel. But even so, my (fairly high) expectations were completely blown out of the water, it's managed to do something I've seen few adaptations acomplish and that's to keep the feeling of the world and the characters and the story the same, while still condensing down the plot, shuffling some things around, timeline-wise, adding and leaving out some things and overall streamlining the whole story. It also helped ofc that they had an all-star team of not only voice actors, but also artist, designers, sound-designers, musicians and more working on this, and not a few of those were either critters to begin with, or have turned into critters since working on the show.
*Critters are the fans of the show, just in case that wasn't clear.
I think you guys would enjoy it a lot and I love to see the reaction of people who haven't seen critical role
Harmonquest has an entirely different feel. D&D is by it's nature just improv. If you like stand-up improv comedy, i imagine it would appeal to you. They played it live in front of an audience so there was a much greater focus on making people laugh than presenting a moving story. Critical Role played it live online but their story was much richer and much more emotionally resonant. Harmonquest isn't particularly deep but it's well-produced for what it is. If you can find clips online it would give you an idea of what it's like.
Episode 1 (part 1 & 2, so you technically should watch episode 2 anyway to complete episode 1) is a quest they did in their home game just shortly before they started streaming it on twitch. From episode 3 onward is an adaptation of their game, beginning with a story arc they call "The Briarwood Arc". From what they've done in season 1 is far and away an amazing adaption of what we the Critters know already at least as far as I'm concerned.
I also HIGHLY recommend you watch the rest of the series. It'll go places you won't expect while still remaining distinctly D&D and "fantasy".
First, The first two Episodes are a New story based on What happen before Critical Role started steaming on Twitch though Geek & Sundry, Episodes 3 through 12 is based on one of CR's best Game Arcs. Please do more Reaction on the hole Season 1
Bidet! (traditional greeting among Critters.) I love the series. It does a great job of condensing and interpreting the games they played. Can't tell you what you need to know because we don't want to spoil anything. But if you ask questions, I'm sure we will answer them for you in a non-spoiler way. Enjoy!
yeah, one fun thing about this is me just estimating their rolls.
I’m shocked that this isn’t the first uncensored reaction I’ve seen that doesn’t have an age restriction. RUclips is weird.
Nice reaction! I'm always happy to see the perspective of people who going into watching this blind!
To answer a couple of your questions, what I think you should know is that Critical Role started as a home game that had been going on for a couple years before Geek and Sundry approached them and said "Hey, can we live stream your game?" So there's a lot of stuff that happened before they started playing live. The first two episodes are based off of just one of the adventures they had that none of the fans got to see. From episode 3 onwards, the story follows the livestream and in particular the first story arc that really caught the attention of fans.
As far as how I would rate the show as a fan, I would give it an 8 out of 10. There were a lot of minor changes that made sense, and a few that seemed unnecessary. There are really funny moments, and sometimes they really over reach with the humor. There are some real heart-felt moments. The action is fantastic. Some of the character's flaws have been glossed over which makes a few characters less interesting in my opinion. There were some epic moments that just set chills down my spine to see realized on screen, and one or two that when I watched I thought "Yeah, that could have been better." But a lot of the things that I nit-pick about the show are things I only pick up on because I DID watch the live stream. Without that prior knowledge, I'd probably have given it at 10 out of 10.
Finally, my favorite character in the animated series is Keyleth. I think they did a great job balancing her flaws and her strengths. Vex also stood out a lot more to me in this series than the live show. Percy and Pike both have really great character moments as well.
I hope you guys continue to enjoy the show!
WATCH ALL OF IT PLEASE ;w;
10:10 It is a grizzly sight.
You know Critical Role is a generous Beast with Many Heads.
You definitely have to make reaction to the whole series. First half is a bit well… slow? But the last episodes? That some good sht
Your choice of hat is ironic. Travis (the voice of Grog) is also the voice of Portgas D. Ace in the English One Piece anime
Keep watching! It gets really good and the characters show real growth even in just one season so far!
To answer your questions: saying that show delivered for the fans is a big understatement, I mean every fan I know this series has exceeded any expectations we had going in (as well as some great easter eggs for us who know what to look for)
And for the 2nd question: my personal faves are the twins vex and vax and percy (the gunslinger) but everyone becomes likeble (even scanlan) through their charater arcs.
As for stuff you need to know, not realy much, the frist 2 eps act like a opening act before the longer over arching plot. don't sweat things like dice rolls cos the writers for this didn't really stick to stuff like that exactly but whent of off bigger story beats that stuff like dice and role-playing between the cast brought about, so just enjoy the story and the characters. Don't worry about learning how they came together as a group as when the campaign started we didn't know that either as it was their home game they had allready been playing for awhile. If you want to know about their origins though their is a series of comics about them (although they do include a red dragnborne charater who's player got asked to leave the game for bad behaviour..glad that stain has been left out of the cartoon) and a book specifically abour the twins history called kith and kin.
Hope this helps and welcome to the critters, we love to greet new people in our fandom!
I think one of the great decisions of this series was using the first two episodes as an introduction. This wasn't just designed for the hard core Critical Role enthusiast but for a broad audience of general fantasy lovers. I'll also say that it gets better and better and better as the series progresses. It's definitely something you should watch.
Yeah I like the style of Harmon Quest, where they break the 4th wall. As to Legend of Vox keep the world building.
Does the show deliver? As far as adaptations go, there are only two I haven’t felt at least some letdown: the Lord of the Rings films, and this.
Yes, the show is solid.
Every episode 1 reaction to critical roll. "Please don't hate us for making mistakes..." oh my God the hordes of fans are going to destroy us.
Episode 2 "Holy shit the critters are amazing, and so kind thank you so much for all the support!" Also bidet.
I subbed almost right away just cause my bro on the left has a OP beanie on.
Harmon quest is a lot of fun. There's a few other DnD animators I like on RUclips too, like puffin forest and dingo doodles. They mostly do anecdotal videos from their own DnD games though, not full length polished things like vox machina achieves. Also you should definitely watch the rest, even if you don't publish your reactions. It only gets better from here! (I'll admit I'm biased, I backed the kickstarter XD)