Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but since you guys mentioned how high-quality the show is: This show was originally crowd-funded on kickstarter. They pitched it to a lot of companies, and got turned down at almost every turn. So they decided to make it crowd-funded to not only get it made, but to show there was interest in the idea. The original plan was an animated special (the first 2 episodes were supposed to be one short film), with stretch goals to get this arc (the Briarwood Arc) animated in a mini-series. That was the *original* plan. Then ALL the stretch goals were met in the first *12* *HOURS* of the kickstarter being online. To put it in perspective, I believe the original goal was $750,000 with $3 mil in stretch goals. That $3 mil got hit before the first *day* was over. So they made more goals. And they kept getting met. By the end of the month-long kickstarter campaign, they'd raised over $11 MILLION for this project, *and* had gotten to keep creative freedom since they didn't sell the IP to any production company or anything like that. The series remained in the hands of the people who made it from the ground-up. Even when they made the deal with Amazon, they made sure they retained ownership/creative direction. Amazon saw the potential after the kickstarter, and actually has had a mostly hands-off approach from what I understand. That's why this show is so great! It's a story being retold by the very people who told it together in the first place. No corporate/hollywood B.S. No changes that ruin the core identity of the franchise. Just a group of friends who got the opportunity of a lifetime to see their story come to life in brilliant animation. Thanks for coming to my TED talk, if you read all that. Sorry it was so long.

"What if I need you ?" This is why I love Travis Willingham as a performer. The guy will comic relief all day long, until he hits you with that one sentence emotional sucker punch. Also, fun details I liked in these episodes : - When the Briarwoods went back to their room, they walk in front of a mirror, revealing that Sylas doesn't have a reflection, while Delilah does. - As soon as the guards leave after confiscating the cutlery, Vax plays with a knife, showing he managed to pocket one under the guard's noses.

22:01 "You've got to take Trinket with you!" Laura Bailey, voice actress and player of Vex'alia: "Yes!" Animators: **"NO!!"**

Percy's guns have unique homebrew mechanics, because they originally started playing Pathfinder, but when they started streaming they switched to D&D. His gunslinger class was missing in D&D, so they created one. He can do special tricks shots and other cool stuff, but his gun jams on a 1-3 on the d20 if I'm right. Maybe 1-5. He can fix it in combat, but there's a chance then that it breaks and he needs tools and time to repair it.

Grog’s intelligence of 6 is very low, barely on the level of sentience. He’s been polymorphed into animals several times and actually became smarter while he was an animal. XD. He does, however, have a relatively high wisdom stat, so while he might not have a lot of mental capacity, he’s quite perceptive and insightful and makes very good use of what little he does know so he often comes up with unorthodox but highly effective tactics and ideas. It’s an interesting juxtaposition because Travis, his player, is arguably the smartest guy at the table but has the attention span of a gnat half the time. Lol

I just realized how ironic it is when Silas says 'Charmed' to Percy, not knowing who he is for a moment and also having just magically Charmed the King

2:55 In the words of Travis, Grog's player: "I have an intelligence of 6, I know what I'm doing."

So Pike leaving is actually true to life in a lot of dnd groups. Sometimes other commitments mean that one or two players can't make it to the next few sessions. So this vignette of Pike leaving is more-or-less a representation of that common reality in D&D.

Say hello to No Mercy Percy! Fun fact: The snake is named "Simon" (The one eyed trouser snake) aka "Snake Pliskin" on stealth missions. Buckle up guys this ride gets insanely wild! :)

When the Briarwoods were walking in the hall, Delilah had a reflection while Sylas did not.

Pike and Grog are like family. They are best friends. Thats why He takes her words more seriously.

Episode four was apparently when the animation team finally realized that they wanted these characters to get messed up in the story. The Critical Role crew kept telling them to mess up the party, but this was the first time they stepped up and went “bet. Hold my beer” and stepped up the violence haha

Pike's story in the Briarwood arc is really good, although I should mention that while yes her belief in the Everlight is important, clerics in D&D generally use a holy symbol as a medium to cast their magic, so it being damaged by Delilah would really hinder her ability to cast spells. Another thing is that it makes for a good in-world reason for Pike to be away from the group, as during this and a few other parts of the original campaign, Ashley Johnson, Pike's creator and VA, was absent for several episodes due to her work taking her away for an extended period of time.

The First Appearance of NO MERCY PERCY. I heard the description of him being like that but seeing him like that is a thousand times more scary !

"What the fuck!? It's so good!" Hearing this always brings so much joy to my little critter heart. It just keeps getting better from here, can't wait to watch it (again) with y'all.

The show isn't a 1:1 retelling, but an adaptation. And the writers, headed by Sam (Scanlan's player) and Travis (Grog's player) are INCREDIBLY good and stay true to the essence of the story. It's kinda like the One Piece Netflix adaptation, where they had literal years worth of content to cram into a single season, and instead of trying to go beat for beat they wrote something similar and coherent while making sure to keep the major story beats, important character decisions and moments of development, and focusing more on capturing and staying true to the essence of the characters and story. So, no, the combat blow-by-bow wasn't necessarily each a specific roll of the dice, though when the roll of the dice resulted in something major that affected the actual story, they try to make sure that stays in. The other reason why this is so good is because it's literally a passion project headed by the original creators who have pretty much 100% control of the project. In fact, for the first season, Amazon only funded the last two episodes and agreed to put it on their platform and market it: the vast majority of the production of season 1 was funded by a Kickstart campaign that Critical Role set up. Critical Role set it up because they really wanted to see their characters animated and originally only planned on making at most 2 episodes ... then the Kickstart blew up because their fans ALSO wanted to see that. And since then, Netflix has pretty much gone with Disney's original model with Marvel: here's the money you need, now make awesome shut we can put on our platform and make sure papa Bezos gets his cut.

Ngl, Scanlan's song in the third episode, while it is inappropriate, is both surprisingly catchy and a real toe tapper

All the main characters are, of course, voiced by their players. Sylas Briarwood is voiced by Matthew Mercer, the Gamemaster.

Critical role is closer to 4 to 6 hour long episodes lol but yes, as a fan that watched them play and seeing this story at the table then seeing it translated to the screen has been amazing. Im stoked to see you guys enjoying it. It only gets better!!! Also their second campaign full of completely different characters got greenlit to become an animated show as well. So im excited to see all these actors playing completely different personas

The ghost scenes are some of the best horror/suspense buildup scenes ive seen in recent times. From just a easily missed glimpse of a white eye in the darkness to brutal death by a dark figure just out of sight. The animators did a fantastic job.

Haven't seen it mentioned yet but since I found ya'll through your ATLA reactions: fun fact that the VA for Delilah (Grey Griffin) also did Azula. Excited to see you're reactions for the rest of this show!

"is Grog actually the smartest one here?" As a barbarian he has an innate ability to roll natural 20s on all intelligence checks even though his is 6 or -3 ability score.

7:20 ~ ...I don't know if that's "intimidation" as much as "the barbarian grabbed the dude and threw him into a wall" ^^; ...

fun fact that the behind the scenes reason why pike leaves is because during the campaign ashley (who plays pike) had other commitments and couldnt make it to the groups dnd sessions, and they incorporated that into pike's story!!

Welcome to a much darker arc of The Legend of Vox Machina, courtesy of the Briarwoods.

This was their first dnd campaign for all but Matt Murcer and I think one other but I don't remember. The start of ep 3 was the second story arc they streamed, and it was at was about half way into the game. Ep 1 and 2 happened pre stream of their campaign. Also they switched from Pathfinder to DND when they started to stream.

In the campaign, Pike's VA, Ashley Johnson had to leave for long stretches to film another show across the country that she was contracted with. She'd drop in on video call to play when she could, and Pike's doubt after losing to Delilah and her journey to finding herself fits well in the show rather than just having her be absent.

Hearing you guys singing this shows praises this early on is amazing, because it just Keeps. Getting. Better. Loving it

With the “is this a check, nay 20” and stuff you are like 70% correct

And thus, no mercy percy was born

Grog "I have an intelligence of 6, I know what I'm doing" Strongjaw

Druids can learn the spell 'Daylight'. This was a great way to show our resident druid learning a new spell, for those who know D&D, and to show those who don't that spellcasters can learn new tricks and grow in power.

In the actual campaign, pikes plyer, Ashley Johnson, who is also the voice of Gwen in Ben 10, can you be with the group for long hair is the time because of filming. So incorporated that into this story as her losing her power

The actress that played/portrayed Pike (Ashley Johnson) worked on Blindspot for NBC. As she couldn't play D&D in Los Angeles while filming in New York, the show created an arc for Pike to explain Ashley's absence at the table. Also, the tabletop games last for 3-4 hours.

One major selling point for these stories crafted through D&D is that we naturally get a genuine sense of risk that other works try hard to create on their own while telling an interesting story. Because it’s a story heavily rafted through the chance of dice roles, truly no one is safe from their own stupidity of bad luck. They have basically NO plot armor and all of us who know this stories origin’s remember and loved that sense of danger and uncertainty.

“Eatch for an hour- actuallyni think its two hours an episode” Me: BLINKS IN FOUR+ hour episodes

“I think they’re more… I think they’re 2 hours” Giggles in 3-6 hour episode lengths.

Love that you are keeping these videos of two episode per video! Keep up the great work guys! It only get better from here 👍🏻💪🏻

Oh I'm so happy you guys are into this! I can not wait till you get into the coming episodes! Also the second campaign Critical Role did, Mighty Nein, is going to animated too!❤

you guys are doing this series so much justice

They cut one of the best lines though. At the table percy's screaming questions while desmond pleads for his life Percy: tell me? Desmond: I can't they'll kill me Percy: No they won't (cocks his gun and points it desmond's head) because i'll kill you first

I'm so hyped for y'all to watch this series 🎉😊

Ahh The briarwood Arc in critical role this is the fan favourite arc in vox machina

Part of why I think this is so good is because they have all been working in animation as voice actors for years. In addition to acting several of them have careers in directing. I’m mean the voice of Scanlon (Sam Reigel) has an Emmy for directing an animated series.

Necromancer and Vampire. Quite the Power Couple. Also, Pike left on her own journey because Ashley Johnson (who plays Pike) IRL got a job on the TV show Blindspot and was no longer able to attend regular sessions. She could only join in once every few months via Skype (they called it Astral Projecting).

15:39 To quote Grog himself, "I have an intelligence of 6, I know what I'm doing"

- Perceval De Rolo III is voiced & played in the campaign by Taliesin Jaffe who also voices Lord De Rolo from this series, Hawkins (One Piece), Blanka & Adon (Street Fighter), Skiadrum & Dist (Fairy Tail), Takeya (DearS), Leif (Hellsing Ultimate), Prosecutor (Space Dandy), Adolf (Monster), Masahiro (Paranoia Agent), Shizen, Kouha, & Houkou (Ikki Tousen), Kazuma (Free), Koji (Strawberry Eggs), & many more - Sovereign Uriel Tal’Dorei is voiced by Khary Payton who also voices Cyborg, Hot Spot, Herald, & others (Teen Titans & other animated DC series), Manny, Hex, & others (Ben 10), Aqualad , Black Manta, Black Lighting, Brick, & others (Young Justice), Black Samson & others (Invincible), Wasabi (Big Hero 6: the Series), Ten (Justice League), Maurice aka 9 & others (Codename Kids Next Door), Deuce (Loonatic Unleash), Tyr (Legion of Superheroes), Penguin King (The Super Mario Bros. Movie), & many more - Captain Jarrett is voiced by Eugene Byrd who also voices Principal O’Connor (The Ghost & Molly McGee), Jase & others (Rise of the TMNT), & many more

Being a long time fan and watching this come to fruition has been amazing ❤ bonus - watching other people find and love CR and Vox Machina too!

So...to put into context just HOW MUCH content they've made in the past 8½ years...if you watched the ENTIRETY of both The Simpsons AND One Piece TWICE, you'd still have a bunch of CR to consume - and that's JUST the 3 main campaigns, one shots, and mini campaigns. That doesn't include Con panels or talkshow stuff (though Talks Machina has now been removed from viewing for reasons that are easy to look up). But yes. It is a GOLIATH uptaking to get into. Most people (myself included) recommend just starting at the beginning of campaign 2, since it's very intentionally divorced from campaign 1, and honestly - a lot of tech and quality issues make consuming c1 pretty difficult if you didn't start watching then. It's just easiest to take Legend of Vox Machina as your take on c1. But it's awesome seeing you guys getting into this series. Hope you continue enjoying the ride :3

"OOOOH HE'S A VAMPIRE!!" oh, so it finally sssunk in eh? :P >:D lol

In the firearms rules for Percy's character, each type of gun had a "Misfire" number. If you roll equal to or lower than that(the natural roll, before applying any bonuses or penalties), the gun misfires. It was then unusable until you spent an action to roll a check to repair it on the fly. If you fail that check, the gun was unusable until you could spend time out of combat repairing it(at a cost).

Yea, IRL Pike's VA had to go shoot a live action show, so they came up with a good reason for her absence here and in game. She does come back with some video calls for the game as well, showcased in here, but not spoiling how :D

More random behind the scene stuff. According to all the stuff said by them and the production company Titmouse they went a bit extra on episode 4 cause they were able to do rated R animated horror which is rare to be able to do for animation which typically has a rated teen at highest. So the animators pushed to have some fun with this

21:00 hats off to the animations studio Titmouse. They nailed it. Some of the animators were fans of Critical Role before they got the opportunity to work on the show.

So just a little info on the show the creator's critical role teamed up with titmouse the animation team behind DC's young justice anime and each live action episode can be from 3 and half to 5 hours long and they would stay in character for almost 80% of the episode's with some moments being so good that it brought people to tears and their second campaign has now also been green lite for the next show that takes place after the events of this one in the same world.

the one-eye'ed trouser snake always gets me on that one, HA!

Great reaction. New to the channel to watch the reactions to this show. Looking forward to more. You’re in for a ride.

The reason Pike went off on her own is because during their campaign, Ashley (Pikes player/voice) had to go to NY for filming on the show Blindspot.

You guys should check out the original scenes regarding some of these moments, specifically here with Vox Machina vs the first fight with Silas and Delilah Briarwood. Talisin Jaffe goes ham in his parts in the role play.

It's so good thanks because of the fans. They kicked their Kickstarter's ass! It was only supposed to be a few episodes long, but because people donated way over what they needed, they had this opportunity. I'm excited for the Mighty Nein series and season 3. Also, Pike leaving, was because the actress Ashley Johnson I think was in New York shooting Blindspot. She sometimes came back for a few episodes, but she mostly was not on campaign 1 and 2.

1247 first recorded murder being solved by forensics. "The earliest known case of a crime being solved using insect evidence comes from medieval China. In 1247, the Chinese lawyer Sung Ts'u wrote a textbook on criminal investigations called "The Washing Away of Wrongs." In his book, Ts'u recounts the story of a murder near a rice field. The victim had been slashed repeatedly. Investigators suspected the murder weapon was a sickle, a common tool used in the rice harvest. But how could the murderer be identified, when so many workers carried these tools? The local magistrate brought all the workers together and told them to lay down their sickles. Though all the tools looked clean, one quickly attracted hordes of flies. The flies could sense the residue of blood and tissue invisible to the human eye. When confronted by this jury of flies, the murderer confessed to the crime." Smart people have always been around. When they didn't have modern tools, they found other ways to get things done.

In the same vein as this being an ‘actual’ played campaign, real life wrote part of the plot; while the details are different, Pike’s player, Ashley Johnson, had to semi-regularly be away for portions of the campaign, so an in-context out was provided. To a degree.

Also just a tidbit the gunslinger subclass that matt made for percy all of his guns have a "misfire" number like 1-5 depending on the weapon, and if he rolled under that then the gun wouldnt work and might even break when percys gun jams.

Probably been mentioned, but the voice of Lady Delilah is the same voice as Azula from Avatar

Their other campaign "mighty nine" is also getting a show on amazon.

I'm sure Erik knows this from his solo reactions, but the reason why Pike breaks off is because in the Campaign live play, her player, Ashley Johnson was absent for much of this campaign (as well as a lot of Campaign 2) due to filming a TV show in New York (everyone else is LA based)

During the time of the first campaign, it still wasn’t apparent as to how long they would be going, given that it is DND and there could be a TPK at any time. So Ashley Johnson, a.k.a. Pike, wound up, landing a roll on a CBS show that’s why Pike has to appear and disappear sometimes. It provided a kind of challenge for Matt to find a narrative way to excuse her character from time to time, and when he couldn’t, he would have to sometimes play the character himself or they’d be lucky enough that Ashley could Skype for the time they were streaming. It is a real credit to Matt Mercer, and the whole gangs ability to improvise and weave a tale that made the first campaign so beloved. So much so that their first intention was to just make an animated one shot to view some of their favorite moments, animated out in full. That was their Kickstarter, and I believe these guys should watch the spoiler free cut of their Kickstarter stream, which started hilariously due to the fans.

The Legend of Vox Machina is very similar to the One Piece Live action in the way that both are considerably condensed material. One Piece turning 45 ~25 min episode into 8 ~1 hour episodes,and The Legend of Vox Machina turning ~50 hours of live stream Dungeons and Dragons into 10(the first two episodes are prestream) ~25 min episodes.

If you want to learn more about the dnd classes may i suggest jocat's "crap guide to dnd" series despite the name it summarizes the classes very well

So, Ashley Johnson (Pike) got a job on the NBC prime time show "Blindspot" which filmed in New York. If you're a working actor, you don't turn down an NBC prime time show. So for a long while she could only Skype in every once in a while. That's why Pike is leaving the group. The average CR episode is 3 1/2 to 4 hours long. There are over 110 episodes in the first campaign alone. They're on their 3rd campaign now.

24:30 I understand, I've been watching Critical Role for two years and I'm still in campaign one

Thanks for watching this, its giving me a chance to rewatch and your reactions and love make it so much better!

Once you have watched all the episodes, some people have made videos showing big moments in the campaign next to how they did them in the animated series. So that would be fun for y'all to react to.

Pike leaves because the original tabletop episodes this is based on the voice actress was filming a TV show called Blindspot so she couldn't attend game sessions

the reason pyke is leaving right now is that the player Ashley was in a active acting role at the time and they were filming so she had to leave the state to film a half season at some times and then she was gone for period of times.

It’s a great example of how organic storytelling (D&D) can create far more meaningful stories than 99% of the shit churned out by major media companies these days. If these 4 episodes so far have been meaningful and entertaining, I’m glad to say you have no fuckin’ clue what emotional waves you will be riding with this one.

CR D&D streaming sessions are usually over 4hrs and have been as long as 7hrs. These guys don't mess around!

And that's our introduction to No-Mercival Percival

This is fun to watch. It's making me watch Vox Mechana again on Prime. I know because of copyright laws and that you guys aren't trying to get a strike, but it's sad that you can barely watch and hear the show itself while you react to it. I'm still enjoying these reactions.

I think one of my favorite things about VM is the music, it's so so perfect

God episode 4 is a wild like whoever animated props cause its FUCKING terrifying like geez and i hope theres more vox machina

The reason Pike had to separate was that during the campaign, her player, Ashley Johnson regularly had to leave to go work on Blindspot in New York. So she wasnt around for a lot of this arc

And THAT is why they call him No Mercy Percy

Watching this for the 2nd time makes me wonder if they're gonna throw an Easter egg in the form of a Tiberius body frozen in ice when they get to Drakonia...

ITS SO GOOD

It's cool, cause most of these banger one liners were improved on the spot in the og campaign.

Pike was busy making "The Last of Us" during the campaign and couldn't always make the "live" show. Sometimes Matt played her character. But when she comes back,,,, it's soooooooooo fkn'g bad ass!

I'd love to see Castlevania on the channel down the line. Especially since Nocturne just came out.

Fun Fact : Pike leaving the group is something that happened often because her VA Ashley Johnson (who also voices Ellie in The Last of Us) had obligations to a live action show called "Blindspot" which forced her to leave the campaign for prolong periods of time. This would continue even into their 2nd campaign The Mighty Nein, until Blindspot finally finished! Because they dont have to worry about that with the show, Pike ends up appearing in moments she didn't originally in the campaign.

lmao each session episode of the campeigns is 4-5 hours on average, roughly 120-180 episodes per campaign

Always remember with this show, generally speaking there is no plot armor for our characters here (NPCs maybe), so anyone can have a bad roll and die, that's D&D baby :D

Keyleth is my favorite character but that’s probably because I have a druid character in dnd.

I love how much they’re enjoying it so far, and we haven’t even gotten to the GOOD good shit yet!!

so the reason trinket is left behind a lot and not really used is because it died all the time and watching such a cute bear die over and over again would just make the series even sadder

Congrats on becoming a Critter (CR fan!) I am assuming at this point in time, you guys have already watched all of Season 1 and are just doing the editing and breaking it down. The first campaign covered 115 episodes roughly 3.5 hours each. The entire amount of content, for JUST the first campaing, spanned 373. They are now into their third campaign for their live stream, plus have several different off shoots of mini-series (4-5 episodes each) with different players and even different DM's. The level of quality does not deteriorate over time. So if you HAVEN'T started S2 yet, no frets. They keep up the awesomeness. They explore more of the characters backstories too. Fun fact: Matt Mercer (the DM) is in pretty much every episode. Not only is he the voice of Trinket, but his appearance keeps coming up again and again. I can't wait to see your reactions for the rest of the series, and for Season 2!!! On a final note, IF you guys are looking to ever play... head over to Start Playing Games online. There are a ton One-Shots (self contained modules that'll last between 3-4 hours) that are offered by a bunch of DM's. I've used them for date nights with one of my girlfriends who loves playing as I rarely get to play as I'm running my own campaings for family and friends. I also am starting up on there, but there are so many good DM's to choose from and many are geared towards beginners, that you can easily find a game that works within y'all schedule. Either way... have fun and happy gaming!

BTW, welcome to the introduction of "No Mercy Percy" ;)

*maniacal laughter* You think this is wild now, the ride's still chugging up that roller-coaster's first hill ;)

Damn, remembering just how epic season 1 was too

Sorry if someone has already said this, but they weren't fans of D&D before they started playing these characters. Laura/Vex, Travis/Grog, Sam/Scanlan, and Ashley/Pike were all D&D virgins before this campaign started. All of them are good improv actors, so getting into character is something they do with style. Not everything in this show is the result of a die roll, but there are moments that were written by the dice. Trinket didn't get a lot of screen time this season because 4-legged anmals are a bitch to animate. Minor spoiler, but we see more of him in Season 2, once the Amazon money has kicked in. It's fun watching you three. We not only get to see the noobs' minds being blown, but we get to watch someone who already knows the material, so we can see what we look like when watching reactions. How cool is it watching this show as a Critter? Let me tell you, the Critters are both relieved and delighted that the show is as good as it is. Many could say that you're only on ep 4...you ain't seen nothing yet.

Not sure if it was mentioned in comments, but this whole part with Pike leaving the group was made up for the animation because at this point in the game, Pike's player had to be away due to filming for a show on the opposite coast. Though she did try to meet up with them thru video call when she could.