Oh man I could write an essay for each of them seeing as we've been watching these characters alone for 400+ hours, but it's gotta be grog or vax. The best distillation of the dumb bruiser/the heart in any adventuring group, and the tragic trickster with the heart of gold.
What's best as an old time critter is seeing all the new people watching for the first time with a big grin on their face, like a child bombarded with presents. You are in for a wild ride!
It's amazing that this whole thing spiralled from "Gaara's voice actor wants to play D&D for his birthday" to "Amazon paid Sam Riegel real money to voice-act peeing on his Dungeon Master's legs".
That's more or less how I got in to the show. In the early 2000s, right after the LOTR breathrough, I joined a local LARP'ing boom alongside a bunch of other young kids. That was the beginning of my fantasy craze. Years later, I played Dragon Age Origins and got a real itch for interactive story-telling with companions in fantasy setting. Also listened to a favorite podcast of mine try out Pathfinder and, a few years after that, I got to try D&D 3.5e myself with two of my old high school friends. Only lasted 2 sessions (one of which I DM'd without knowing the rules) and it wasn't until I saw Liam tweet about Critical Role that I started watching the VOD for the first episode of CR and my D&D passion really took off. Since then I've been in online D&D campaigns with people from all over the world almost weekly.
Long time Critter here, and here's the backstory: About 8 or 9 years ago, Liam O'Brian and Sam Riegel (Vax and Scanlan respectively) were doing a podcast together called All Work No Play. Liam had a birthday coming up and asked his friend and fellow voice actor Matthew Mercer to run a one shot D&D game for him and a few others. They brought in Travis Willingham (Grog), Laura Bailey (Vex, and also Travis's wife), Taliesin Jaffe (Percy), Marisha Ray (Keyleth, and at the time Matt's girlfriend, now his wife), and later Ashley Johnson (who joined a session or two later as Pike). The group played, fell in love with the game, and then it became a regular thing for them at home. A few years on, Felicia Day (actress, writer, and founder of the content company Geek and Sundry) heard about their game and asked them if they would consider live streaming it on the Twitch channel her company was starting. They agreed, and it took off like a damn rocket. The show, Critical Role, was an instant success. The fans went bananas over the game, becoming what are now known as Critters. The group continued their home game on the channel, airing 115 episodes averaging 3 to 5 hours per episode. From there, the group started a new campaign from the very beginning on stream. Campaign 2 told the story of the Mighty Nein, a group of adventurers from the same world as Vox Machina, but set on another continent and roughly 20 years after Vox Machina ended. It was part way through this campaign that Critical Role would grow beyond being a show, splitting off from Geek and Sundry to form its own content production company. They got their own studio, hired more staff, created other shows beyond just their main show, and launched a Kickstarter for this series. The Kickstarter was originally meant for a single 20 minute animated special and had a goal of $750K. In under 12 hours, they raised over $3.5 million, going on to raise $11.3 million overall. This success led to Amazon taking notice. A deal was made to stream the series on Prime, and Amazon greenlit and is funding a second season already. Campaign 2 ran roughly 120 episodes before finishing, and now the company is on to campaign 3, set a few years after campaign 2, this time on the continent of Marquet, which was first introduced in campaign 1. Over the 3 campaigns they have brought in a number of super talented guests to play with them. These guests include comic book creators Kit Buss and ND Stevenson, author Patrick Rothfuss, fellow live stream DM Mark Hulmes, D&D story designer Chris Perkins, and the following badass actors: Khary Payton, Wil Wheaton, Will Friedle, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Felicia Day, Jon Heder, Ashly Burch, Sumalee Montano, Darin De Paul, Deborah Ann Woll, Joe Manganiello, and Mica Burton. They also created other shows on their channel, such as Exandria Unlimited which is a limited series in which Aabria Iyengar runs a group of players through a smaller campaign in the world Matt created. This show has Matt as a player, along with Ashley and Liam, plus it introduced Aimee Carrero, Anjali Bhimani, and Robbie Daymond as players (with Robbie going on to join the main cast in campaign 3). Another show they created was Undeadwood, a western style zombie survival game run by Brian W Foster. Foster was the host of Talks Machina, the main show's after show where fans would submit questions for the cast and they would discuss deeper things about the show. He also hosted Between the Sheets, an interview series with members of the cast and guests of the show. The players for Undeadwood were Travis, Matt, and Marisha from the main show cast, along with actress Anjali Bhimani and returning guest Khary Payton. The group has also done an Elder Scrolls tie in mini series with Aabria as a player, alongside Sam, Laura, and Taliesin and brought in Michelle Nguyen Bradley. DMs for this short series changed each game. They have also done other one shots with guest actos such as Carlos Luna, Erika Ishii, TJ Storm, Jasmine Bhullar, Ally Beardsley, Phil Lamarr, Markeia McCarty, Julie Nathanson, Roger Craig Smith, Krystina Arielle, and Erica Luttrell. Matt is the Dungeon Master, or DM. He created the world the game takes place in, sets up story hooks for the players, and in the live stream plays all the random folks they run into, the villains, and sets up the story beats for the players. He is also the Chief Creative Officer, CCO of their company now. Travis is their CEO and worked with Sam to spearhead the creation of the animated series. Marisha is Creative Director, and her work both at their company and at Geek and Sundry before the split is why they are as big as they are right now. She also is a driving force behind their other shows on their network, such as Undeadwood. Ashley is President of the Critical Role Foundation, the charity created by Critical Role to bring about positive change and leave the world better than they found it. The Critical Role team has a long history of charitable works since they began, and she now leads their works on this. While Laura, Liam, Taliesin, and Sam lack official titles in the company beyond founders, and executive producers on Legend of Vox Machina, they each have special roles they play. Laura is the company's mistress of merch, helping to shape the company's retail presence. Liam was, and I believe still is, "Art Dad", a nickname given to him because he took the lead on curating the absolute fuckton of fan art that got created by the community every week into the mid show break slideshow. Fun fact, in 2019 they hosted a live art gallery showing in LA where dozens of Critter artists from around the world had their works on display. Sam creates jingles and advertising skits for the shows sponsors each week and is responsible for the opening theme song for campaign 2, Your Turn To Roll, which went on to become the song used in their Kickstarter and the theme is further echoed in the music of the animated series. Taliesin helps out with multiple things as needed. Critical Role continues to create new stories each week on their Twitch channel, and their 3rd campaign is currently up to about a dozen episodes as of the time of this comment.
I myself consider myself a critter, but your long writeup reveals you to be a superfan. My respect! Even I learned some things here, thank you for this excellent summary!
@@TrairFrair lol one of several upsides to being around from episode 1. Got to watch all this awesome insanity unfold first hand. I was in the chat that night when they introduced the first ever shirt and it sold out before the announcements even finished. I was at Forbidden Comics in NYC for their first ever fan meetup where the line was down around the block and we all exploded in cheers when they got out of their ubers (spooking their drivers). Backed the Kickstarter. Holy shit has it been a wild ride.
So, I don't know if anyone's mentioned this, but since you like Ashely Johnson, its worth noting that when she acted in Blindspot, the directors (who were big critical role fans) let her use critical role merch on set (coffee mug). And she got to reference her character, Pike, in the show. I don't remember the exact quote but I believe a character was teasing her about playing a rouge or something in her nerdy games and her character said "Actually, I play a gnome cleric." It was a direct reference to Pike~
Specifically the other character referred to her playing D&D as an "Elf Girl" Which elicited the response. Not that it really matters, the context is the same.
I was lucky enough to jump in at episode 50 of campaign 1. Which didn't even have anything to do with Vox Machina but I was hooked by the actors. Started episode 1 and caught up and have been current ever since. These people really make you feel like you're part of something. As if whoever you are, here's where you can belong. In a way, they feel like friends. Seeing how much people love what they made makes me incredibly proud for them. Lots of feels.
I am an critter and backer from Critical Role since YEARS and i am not even american... I am german, but i love Pen and Paper, especially Dungeon & Dragons and i play most of the games in english... So i know the voiceactors and i was really hyped for this series! It was everything i asked for! I am so happy they still have the full control about the series and so we get the real experience! Greetings from Germany, love your reactions :)
@@KthulhuXxx Youd be suprised how many germans play DnD. My regular group is an international one (online, duh) and somehow we are still 5 germans + only 2 non-germans
The different characters are under certain class archetypes. Grog is your barbarian, he hits stuff and hits stuff harder Keyleth is a druid, a mage who has nature based powers and can turn into animals Pike is a cleric, which is a lot of healing and support, but cab still attack. Vex is a ranger, proficient with stealth and archery, has a special sixty sense Xax is a rogue, stealth bonuses and lockpicking skills Percy is a fighter, specifically a gunslinger, he just gets guns and attacks a lot. Scanlan is a bard, he casts magic through music, your stereotype playboy
As a bonus note Clerics are divine magic wielding priests that follow one of the many gods in the setting where the story takes place in the case the Planet of Exandria. Pike follows the Everlight. Without a strong faith to her god and her god’s ideals she would be without magic.
A quick Pike/Ashley Johnson fact you might appreciate: there is a point coming up where Pike goes off to do something alone and the rest of the group goes a different way (keeping it vague to prevent spoilers). Critical Role is filmed in California and Pike went off alone because IRL Ashley was in New York filming the show Blindspot and couldn't attend (except occasionally by Zoom).
When you describe the shadow on the guy, calling it "not blended" "cut clear" etc... that' cell shading. It's a technique that gets shadows down quick and dirty style.
I know you're getting inundated by my fellow critters, but I think you're enthusiasm for a show I've been following for years is incredibly well met. Almost all of them started voice acting in anime (hell I knew most of them from my weeb days) so they pulled those vibes into this project. I'm glad you're being sucked into this wild wacky adventure
Have fun with this show! It's super important TLOVM takes off successfully, since it's the only (good) dnd adaptation in popular media. If this blows up, the future of fantasy as a genre will be as bright as the early 2000s, when LOTR earned its popularity.
Good western dnd based , their has been some good animes based on dnd campaigns. but they didbt blow up examples Like record or loddos war and record of grancrest war both by same author were based on tavletop games he dmed but grabcrest doesbt show much dnd stuff , the author even made hos own tavle top games in japan
i've only sen the first episode so far. maybe it's because i'vebeen spoiled by anime, but the animation quality is pretty dissapointing. however i don't watch western animation, so i don't really know if this is considered good or not. either way, i'm sure it'll be entertaining enough, even if the animation isn't that great i'm sure it'll shine in other areas like the characters/voice acting etc.
@@lillewilleman The animation is pretty good for western standards. It's very comparable to Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is among the most critically acclaimed animated shows out of the US. But if unfamiliar, it can be jarring. I felt similar when watching Netflix's Castlevania, even though I thoroughly enjoy that series. It takes getting used to.
@@lillewilleman They chose this style because it's kind of a love letter to their childhoods (which is funny, considering this is absolutely not for kids). It's pretty much top tier animation in the classic 80's/90's TV style. It's actually pretty much the same as older anime from that time period, as well.
@@kevinmerz2036 Oh yeah Castlevania! I never finished that... maybe i should pick it up again, but yeah your right, it's pretty simillar to Castelvania. The biggest difference there is that in Castelvania they turn up the animations to a 1000 sometimes,
Never heard of this before watching it the other day and loved it! But yeah love Ashley Johnson and Laura Baileys in it as well. Great commentary Ange and hope you continue with it
Talking about having a large cast of characters. What I really love about this, is unlike most shows with an ensemble of characters, there is no specific "audience surrogate" character. No one who is new to the group that is supposed to be the person everyone explains everything to. When your characters are strong, you don't need one.
as one of the first 1000 backers, let me say: welcome to the party, I'm excited to see your journey through this! I started watching later in the vox machina campaign, and have been watching pretty much whatever they put out ever since. Context: all of the players of the game are voice acting their characters, and matthew mercer (legendary voice actor) is voicing a majority of the non-major Non-main characters that are less important/one offs, along with 1 major one. He was the GM, and originator of this world, and runs the game for the others. The others are the original creators/players are all (legendary) professional voice actors who are playing their own characters, including Ashley Johnson. As far as favorite character? tie between Percy and Keyleth. Sidenote: you might recognize General krieg's voice: 1 David Tennant, and thats just one of MANY fantastic actors in the show.
Thanks so much for helping make this happen! I really love what I've seen so far and I think this could be worldwide phenomenon. A superb beginning to what I hope is a long, wonderful journey!
Critter hug! Welcome! I'm so glad you decided to check it out based on the origin. I remember when this was announced as a Kickstarter I forgot I'd lit an incense stick and hadn't blown it out to ember yet, and set off my fire alarm. I was so excited!! I remember fan art for the 50th episode (shout out to the critters who exploded it into my Tumblr honestly) and caught up within a few weeks. I've been watching ever since. Can't WAIT to see the rest of your reactions.
I've seen quite a few tLoVM reactions by now - from OG Critters, new Critters, and non-Critters alike. And yet, yours is a fresh one - because you focus on the art of animation, and because you read up on the background of the show without watching any of it. Please keep them coming!
so glad to see you dipping into critical role through LoVM! if you wanna dip into more critical role (though catching up on the sessions is a looot), there's also some comics that cover their pre-stream adventures! and a bonus, since matt mercer's the DM, as a sweet/cheeky way of showing how he had to be the narrator being everywhere and voicing every NPC, they decided to include a matt mercer-lookalike in each episode. they didn't tell him about it, but it's a great way of stan lee-ing him into the series. hope you enjoy this all too!
AMAZING!!! I’m so glad you reviewed this. Would love to see more. Your reactions are so fun to watch. As a critter I love watching you react to this ❤️
ANGE I SWEAR TO GOD YOU ARE JUST PICKING WHAT TO WATCH FROM MY LIST OF FAVOURITES!!!!! Seriously though, as someone who's been into Critical Role for a long time, seeing this video pop up just made my day, one of the best feelings in the world is seeing new people get into something you love, and you don't get it often with Critical Role since hundreds of super long streams are pretty intimidating for anyone really, LoVM is really the perfect way to get a feel for why so many people fell so in love with it in the first place also for describing the animation, this style of art where you see very little blending done is called cel shading! Looks fantastic and lets the viewer fill in more intricate details if they want to! It's also great for when you want something to really pop, the cel shaded stuff is simple so if you have something that really needs to capture attention, throw in some more detail and it really stands out!
Wow this shocked me. I'm super happy you're reacting to this. I fell into the series by chance on twitch and laughed my 🍑 off. Look forward to seeing how you like it and if you'll continue reacting to it.
The reason the world feels so vibrant is because its a passion project. Creator made, bottom to top. No shareholder BS or whatever. The story is awesome, the lore goes deep, the characters are relatable. And the people behind it are actually great and genuine people. Its a great rabbit hole to go down, welcome and I hope you enjoy whats in store
To be clear, two first episodes are adaption of the story that happened before they started streaming, from then on, it's the third story arc of the game stream they're adapting :D (also, Percy's the best)
The two kids in this 1st episode were actually voiced by Liam O'Brien's (Vex) daughter and Sam Riegal's (Scanlan) son. In Dungeons & Dragons, chromatic dragons (red, white, blue, black, & green) are generally evil while metallic dragons (gold, silver, copper, bronze & brass) are good, and they have different breath weapons.
I've been waiting for someone to react to this show! Thank you!!! I'm so excited, you're gonna love it. I've been in love with this show for years now, I'm so excited for other people to see how amazing it is 🥰
OMG YESSS!!! The moment this was released I wanted you to react to it but thought there was no chance since its such a niche show so I'm so excited to see your reactions!
Long time Critter, binged first half of Campaign 1 right around the time they hit the halfway mark and been watching live since then. Glad to have you aboard. This story is for everyone and I'm glad so many more people get to enjoy it now.
Love seeing new people watch this show without knowing anything about the story! I love your insights and reactions. I'm a sub now. Hope you keep watching them all.
This is one of the best things on the Internet ever. One of my favorite D&D streaming campaigns meets one of my favorite reactors. Pure magic. So looking forward to seeing you go on this journey and maybe even watch the original D&D sessions.
As a long time critter it makes me so happy to see people finding and loving this show, the stories, the characters, and all the people involved. I'm biased of course, but I'd totally recommend checking out the game streams too :)
I was just putting something on in the background but you quickly captures my attention. Not many reactors I've seen actually take a minute to breakdown the animation. Definitely subbing
I loved watching your reaction, because you clearly got it 100%. The animation style, the pace, the fact that this has all been put together by a whole production team that is totally on form. I really would love you to do a reaction to the whole series once it’s all out tomorrow. You’ve hopefully kept up and are still loving it, but wow, it’s like it really pressed all of your buttons, and I’d love to see you reacting to some of the moments in the rest of the episodes too!
I'm here at work loving your reaction to all this now. I felt the same about this whole show when I stumbled on it by fluke, just paused on the pic on my TV and seen the trailer. Halfway through the trailer I had to stop it and just start. Keep watching 😁
I love her calling Dungeons & Dragons tabletop reading XD Genuinely! This is full of such cute reactions. A smile never left my face. I am always very interested in seeing people react to D&D content, especially critical role and all their nonsense. I was not an og critter. I came in a few years ago during Campaign 2 but quickly binged everything and got caught up and remain so to this day as a HUGE fan and lover, player, and DM myself of D&D. This series is amazing!! And the story behind it all is even more so inspiring. I'm hoping it opens the door to so many new D&D players
I'm a critter that has seen the original live stream and have been super excited for this show. I love how they keep it close to the original and still open enough to bring new people in. I love watching people who are unfamiliar with Critical Role and even D&D in general react to this show so excitedly. It just proves that the kickstarter money has been well-spent. You're in for a treat with where this story goes!
Your excitement and enthusiasm is a wonder to behold. I'm glad you love the show so far. Much more amazing stuff to come and season 2 is already in production
Super exciting to see you react to this. Ive been following you since you first dropped stranger things! I'm a huge critter and been a fan of them since the beginning of their livestreams. the first 2 episodes are based on their home game but seasoned critters will still know where it's going. So calling it a completely unique story isn't quite true, then the rest of the season is based on a very popular story arc within their first campaign from episodes 25 to like 38. and While episode 3 is the only one released so far that follows that story they've done a good job of staying true to it as best they can (considering these are 22 min episodes and each episode of critical role is like 4 hours lol) looking forward to watching your jouney on this!
Came here for the Vox machina review and LOVED your reactions and your insights about the animation! Please tell me you're watching the rest of this because there is SO much I want to see you react to! And you're right about the passion. I think this is a love letter to not only the story but this animation style they love. Titmouse was the perfect animation studio for this!
Im going to drop some easter eggs in this comment for those who dont know CR. The cast are all HUGE anime fans. Many of them have done lots of voice over work for dubs and Taliesin and I think Liam as well both had a huge hand in dubbing a lot of very popular anime shows. When Vax throws his daggers he can magically call them back to his hand. That is why you will see a dagger hit a target then disappear or why you often see a dagger magically appear in his hand. Also if you want a way to remember Vex verse Vax just look at the second letter in their gender. Vex is female. Vax is male... E for female and A for male. Most of the story was dictated by rolls. For example, when the group drank for the first few times Marisha kept rolling bad on her constitution saves, resulting in her character Keyleth throwing up after just one ale. This character the story of her being such a lightweight. As well if they go to pickpocket or pick a lock if they succeed or fail it is because that is what happened when they rolled live during the game. This is not a table top read. This is a game of dungeons and dragons and they roleplay their characters because they are all voice actors. Nothing was scripted. All improve aside from their DM who you will see a few times. The guy Scanlan pees on looks identical to Matt. He created this entire world and story for them and they just improved their characters within it.
I have to say as another one of the “OG’s” apparently that have popped up in peoples comments of reactions, I love knowing that what you’re about to dive into is magical. I was around Critical Role since like episode 3 of the first series. Sooo I kinda grew up with these very deep and relatable characters. They’re just based in such beautiful realism where yes, you can’t cast spells or hulk out or anything, but you can definitely relate to all the trials, accomplishments, and mistakes that the characters make on their journey to discover their true power. It’s promoting nothing but love, friendship, and community. Hopefully this wasn’t too long and lets just say that it’s a rollercoaster and I look forward to watching how much you love the ride!
Been a Critter for a long time. Love the appreciation you have for the work that's been put in. You're bringing a lot of attention to things I have no clue about. Glad I'm able to see these now.
As someone that discovered Critical role back during their early days, I love watching this slowly spread through all my social media and touch so many different people. This show is going to take us through their first D&D campaign and I can't wait for another retelling and experiencing it with you!
Been a Critter for years and I love, love, *love* seeing all these amazing reactors I follow on TH-cam seeing the awesomeness of this world and these people.
I like your reactions, your energy and love of the art of animation. Only one minor thing to point out, the Critical Role show this series is based on, is not a live read. The cast plays their own made up character in a group improv session of 3-4 almost every week. Also in that group is a person acting as the background characters, describing the environment and also being a sort of game referee. Looking forward to you reacting to the rest of the series. :)
I absolutely LOVE you! You’re reactions are great and I love that you got so invested in the story! I’m a sorta OG Critter, I’ve been around for two years now, so I hopped in during their second campaign. But I’ve watched everything they’ve put out and they’ve inspired me constantly in so many different ways. It’s such an absolute joy to see new people like you come to it through the animated series!
i am not an OG critter, but i started binging their channel about a year ago and i am only catching up to the middle of their second campaign, and they did such a great job adapting THOUSANDS OF HOURS of story and character development into a cohesive one (like it's a bit messy but considering what they were dealing with, it's a miracle), and it's so cool to have the best voice actors doing characters they actually created and i love them so so much
I love that you chose to go on this journey, Ang! OG Critter here who's been following the show since mid campaign 1 and even had an artpiece featured in their mid-game break fan art gallery. Live these characters to death and can't wait for you to fall in love with them too. But seriously, hands down - Percy RULES! You'll find out why!
I can't wait to see you react to the rest!! VM cast is so close to my heart and it's so exciting to see someone who's never seen the CR stuff watch the animated show for the first time
So happy you are checking into this, I’ve been a subscriber for about three months now but I’ve been a critical role fan (Critter) for over three years and I am one of the backers that helped fund this.
So glad you didn't watch the trailers. The Bear's name is Trinket because Vax usually stole trinkets whenever he could from cities, so Vex got a Trinket of her own while sticking to the wilds. "Ship" away. "Megasensory Powers" kinda... The Ranger class in D&D has an ability called Primeval Awareness. It can detect dragons.. and other stuff.
Super exciting to see you react to this. I have watched Critical Role since the first live broadcast, when my English was still basic and I only understood what they were saying and couldn't use the language for much else 😅 Critical Role and especially the Vox Machina story one is one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced. It wasn't just the story, which is one of the best I've seen, it was the whole experience of starting with them live and finishing the last moments with them in a story that was created in front of everyone at the same time we were watching it. It's something super special that I can't put into words.
I am so happy that you started reacting to this! I am glad that you can honor the craftsmanship that went into this on all levels. It really went above and beyond on all fronts. Get ready for all the feels if you dive deeper :D
Love the reaction, wanting to see more from you. I'm a long-time critter and one of the kickstarter backers. Its so awesome to see this labor of love finally come to fruition, and new folks faithfully seeing what we've seen only in our heads for the first time as well. They are following the actual story that was woven during the 1st campaign and doing it justice. And it seems the larger world is now seeing it for the first time. As far as a favorite character its very hard to choose as there was a LOT of intricate development over 400 hours of the stream time for this campaign, and hundreds more for the next 2 (campaign 3 is Still going on to this day). Thanks again, Subbed :)
Original critter since Campaign One. Cool to see someone so new to this crew enjoying their work. Can't believe you went the whole vid without mentioning Dungeons and Dragons. That's the engine by which they created these stories.
I hope you're continue with this series, your reaction and analysis was so good! I loved seeing your insights, you're smart and you pay so much attention, it's a delight to watch
Started watching Critical Role around episode 18 of season 1. So long time critter. This started out as a home game between friends. One of the things the cast talked about before even starting streaming is that they didn’t want it to change the dynamic of how they played, nor did they want it to break them apart. That’s a mantra they’ve carried through every campaign and every project they’ve worked on. I love that they kept the silly hi-jinx nature that Dungeons and Dragons can be at times!
In similar sentiment to my fellow critters, its so wonderful to see new people experience and connect with this show and these characters in similar ways like many of us did. I think that the reason nothing else is like this is because the characters and story were never written. There was a loose structure and and a few guidelines to keep things (relatively) sane, but everything else was created on the spot from the perspective of their characters. It adds a much more human like quality and relatability, as well as a modern feeling on what can be an overly serious genre. Looking forwards to more reactions!
I've been watching since near the beginning of the livestreams and love the group. I'm real glad to see you recognise them, I've seen far to many reactions from people coming in to the animation new giving Amazon the thanks/praise for making the series and it makes me so sad that they haven't heard how it's creator controlled.
As a longtime fan of Dungeons & Dragons, once I finally sat down to start watching the original livestream of their game, I was so hooked, I literally did not stop watching. For 3+ weeks, 16 hours a day, other than bio breaks, I sat watching this livestreamed D&D game of a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors until I caught up to the point they were livestreaming it every week, I think watching live first on 72 or 73. It was almost painful, cause I did not want to stop watching. From there, I switched to 5e D&D in home games, and kept watching obsessively, almost never missing an episode. 115 episodes of these characters did NOT disappoint, not once. It was followed by a second campaign that finished around October last year, and they've since started their 3rd. If you ever watch anything, I recommend their campaigns. D&D at its best, truly. I'm not sure if you are a D&D fan, but, if you have any interest, WATCH THESE CAMPAIGNS. It might be a bit significant on time investment, but, the journey is the point, not the destination.
ive been a critter for 2 1/2 years. i love this story so much, but i know how daunting hundreds of hours of footage can be, so im extremely excited that these characters are being made more accessible for mainstream audiences!!
so it wasn't a table reading, this is the campaign one of their at home and then livestreamed D&D game, and it's very faithful to the actual things that happened.
Woooooo! Next animation! Lesgooo Edit: I love the animation style too! Haha was fun to see you excited for ashley :) And as usual your commentaries amd overall energy too :D
It should be noted though this is note new content... the first few episodes are "new" in the sense that we have never seen it because that part of the story happened while they were playing just in their private home game. One of them one day told Felicia Day about their game, she invited them to play on her channel Geek and Sundry. They pick up their game from where they left off and have roughly 20 episodes with bits and pieces of this beginning story before we meet the Briarwoods. This kicks off the "Briarwood Arch". The show starts off with a small arch we never saw live. Then quickly jumps into the Briarwood Arch which is what the beginning of Campaign 1 is. No spoilers... but the first couple episodes also line up the Chroma Conclave Arch which is over arching plot of all of Campaign 1 (which lasted over 100 episodes spanning like 2+ years of IRL time).
All the cast members are 80's kids (except Taliesin, who's more of an 80's BC kid), and grew up on 80's/90's cartoons, which is a lot of how they got into voice acting to begin with. This is a love letter to the animation styles they grew up with and love.
The third episode of the series onward actually does cover material that was on the stream, so be warned if you are considering watching Campaign 1 of Critical Roll but don't want spoilers.
It's so fun to see someone reacting who doesn't know the characters or the story. I loved the episodes so far, but seeing someone reacting with genuine wonder to some things that area give to a critter is something else!
One of the best Kickstarters I've ever funded, and I almost missed pledging on day 1 to support the show, blew out a knee on the morning of the start of the campaign, so I ended up pledging to support the Kickstarter on day 1 from the Emergency Room.
That "Table Read" is a game called Dungeons and Dragons that they play. It is Roleplay and dice rolls with stats and characters. All of it is improvised. They play these characters in a story/world built by the DungeonMaster (Mathew Mercer). They all happen to be Voice Actors. The series is on it's 3rd Campaign now with all new characters and story/game, set in the same world.
Who’s your favorite character/ actor in this series?
Scanlan, but they're all great.
during the campaign, favorite player was Sam who plays Scanlan but purely character wise I would say Percy
Oh man I could write an essay for each of them seeing as we've been watching these characters alone for 400+ hours, but it's gotta be grog or vax.
The best distillation of the dumb bruiser/the heart in any adventuring group, and the tragic trickster with the heart of gold.
Marisha Ray / Keyleth, but honestly they're all so great. Live show is a treat, you should look at one of their one shots at least.
Pike, hands down.
What's best as an old time critter is seeing all the new people watching for the first time with a big grin on their face, like a child bombarded with presents. You are in for a wild ride!
Now imagine if they did little bonus features of Sams ads. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣 The Birthing ad killed me. Marisha blew me away.
I know, right? I've been around since Kraghammer, threw money into the kickstarter, and have been just running around watching reaction videos.
@@amyrenaud3638 I've been watching so many reactions now, and I'm so excited to see people react to episodes 4-6, cause damn are they good!
And then see them cry over good old Grog's cuteness.
Also best to run into a fellow Finnish critter in the wild
It's amazing that this whole thing spiralled from "Gaara's voice actor wants to play D&D for his birthday" to "Amazon paid Sam Riegel real money to voice-act peeing on his Dungeon Master's legs".
not to mention sam riegel signing a song about anal beads
@@hellothere2464 Well, yeah, but I didn't wanna spoil that one for her.
@@hellothere2464 at this point nothing Sam does surprises me anymore
@@littlepeach2010 Sam not schilling for a sponsor.
That's more or less how I got in to the show. In the early 2000s, right after the LOTR breathrough, I joined a local LARP'ing boom alongside a bunch of other young kids. That was the beginning of my fantasy craze. Years later, I played Dragon Age Origins and got a real itch for interactive story-telling with companions in fantasy setting. Also listened to a favorite podcast of mine try out Pathfinder and, a few years after that, I got to try D&D 3.5e myself with two of my old high school friends. Only lasted 2 sessions (one of which I DM'd without knowing the rules) and it wasn't until I saw Liam tweet about Critical Role that I started watching the VOD for the first episode of CR and my D&D passion really took off. Since then I've been in online D&D campaigns with people from all over the world almost weekly.
Long time Critter here, and here's the backstory:
About 8 or 9 years ago, Liam O'Brian and Sam Riegel (Vax and Scanlan respectively) were doing a podcast together called All Work No Play. Liam had a birthday coming up and asked his friend and fellow voice actor Matthew Mercer to run a one shot D&D game for him and a few others. They brought in Travis Willingham (Grog), Laura Bailey (Vex, and also Travis's wife), Taliesin Jaffe (Percy), Marisha Ray (Keyleth, and at the time Matt's girlfriend, now his wife), and later Ashley Johnson (who joined a session or two later as Pike). The group played, fell in love with the game, and then it became a regular thing for them at home.
A few years on, Felicia Day (actress, writer, and founder of the content company Geek and Sundry) heard about their game and asked them if they would consider live streaming it on the Twitch channel her company was starting. They agreed, and it took off like a damn rocket. The show, Critical Role, was an instant success. The fans went bananas over the game, becoming what are now known as Critters. The group continued their home game on the channel, airing 115 episodes averaging 3 to 5 hours per episode.
From there, the group started a new campaign from the very beginning on stream. Campaign 2 told the story of the Mighty Nein, a group of adventurers from the same world as Vox Machina, but set on another continent and roughly 20 years after Vox Machina ended. It was part way through this campaign that Critical Role would grow beyond being a show, splitting off from Geek and Sundry to form its own content production company. They got their own studio, hired more staff, created other shows beyond just their main show, and launched a Kickstarter for this series. The Kickstarter was originally meant for a single 20 minute animated special and had a goal of $750K. In under 12 hours, they raised over $3.5 million, going on to raise $11.3 million overall. This success led to Amazon taking notice. A deal was made to stream the series on Prime, and Amazon greenlit and is funding a second season already. Campaign 2 ran roughly 120 episodes before finishing, and now the company is on to campaign 3, set a few years after campaign 2, this time on the continent of Marquet, which was first introduced in campaign 1.
Over the 3 campaigns they have brought in a number of super talented guests to play with them. These guests include comic book creators Kit Buss and ND Stevenson, author Patrick Rothfuss, fellow live stream DM Mark Hulmes, D&D story designer Chris Perkins, and the following badass actors: Khary Payton, Wil Wheaton, Will Friedle, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Felicia Day, Jon Heder, Ashly Burch, Sumalee Montano, Darin De Paul, Deborah Ann Woll, Joe Manganiello, and Mica Burton.
They also created other shows on their channel, such as Exandria Unlimited which is a limited series in which Aabria Iyengar runs a group of players through a smaller campaign in the world Matt created. This show has Matt as a player, along with Ashley and Liam, plus it introduced Aimee Carrero, Anjali Bhimani, and Robbie Daymond as players (with Robbie going on to join the main cast in campaign 3). Another show they created was Undeadwood, a western style zombie survival game run by Brian W Foster. Foster was the host of Talks Machina, the main show's after show where fans would submit questions for the cast and they would discuss deeper things about the show. He also hosted Between the Sheets, an interview series with members of the cast and guests of the show. The players for Undeadwood were Travis, Matt, and Marisha from the main show cast, along with actress Anjali Bhimani and returning guest Khary Payton. The group has also done an Elder Scrolls tie in mini series with Aabria as a player, alongside Sam, Laura, and Taliesin and brought in Michelle Nguyen Bradley. DMs for this short series changed each game. They have also done other one shots with guest actos such as Carlos Luna, Erika Ishii, TJ Storm, Jasmine Bhullar, Ally Beardsley, Phil Lamarr, Markeia McCarty, Julie Nathanson, Roger Craig Smith, Krystina Arielle, and Erica Luttrell.
Matt is the Dungeon Master, or DM. He created the world the game takes place in, sets up story hooks for the players, and in the live stream plays all the random folks they run into, the villains, and sets up the story beats for the players. He is also the Chief Creative Officer, CCO of their company now.
Travis is their CEO and worked with Sam to spearhead the creation of the animated series.
Marisha is Creative Director, and her work both at their company and at Geek and Sundry before the split is why they are as big as they are right now. She also is a driving force behind their other shows on their network, such as Undeadwood.
Ashley is President of the Critical Role Foundation, the charity created by Critical Role to bring about positive change and leave the world better than they found it. The Critical Role team has a long history of charitable works since they began, and she now leads their works on this.
While Laura, Liam, Taliesin, and Sam lack official titles in the company beyond founders, and executive producers on Legend of Vox Machina, they each have special roles they play. Laura is the company's mistress of merch, helping to shape the company's retail presence. Liam was, and I believe still is, "Art Dad", a nickname given to him because he took the lead on curating the absolute fuckton of fan art that got created by the community every week into the mid show break slideshow. Fun fact, in 2019 they hosted a live art gallery showing in LA where dozens of Critter artists from around the world had their works on display. Sam creates jingles and advertising skits for the shows sponsors each week and is responsible for the opening theme song for campaign 2, Your Turn To Roll, which went on to become the song used in their Kickstarter and the theme is further echoed in the music of the animated series. Taliesin helps out with multiple things as needed.
Critical Role continues to create new stories each week on their Twitch channel, and their 3rd campaign is currently up to about a dozen episodes as of the time of this comment.
Very well done!
I myself consider myself a critter, but your long writeup reveals you to be a superfan. My respect! Even I learned some things here, thank you for this excellent summary!
@@TrairFrair lol one of several upsides to being around from episode 1. Got to watch all this awesome insanity unfold first hand. I was in the chat that night when they introduced the first ever shirt and it sold out before the announcements even finished. I was at Forbidden Comics in NYC for their first ever fan meetup where the line was down around the block and we all exploded in cheers when they got out of their ubers (spooking their drivers). Backed the Kickstarter. Holy shit has it been a wild ride.
@Angelina, you need to LOVE this comment!
DM's Pet!
So, I don't know if anyone's mentioned this, but since you like Ashely Johnson, its worth noting that when she acted in Blindspot, the directors (who were big critical role fans) let her use critical role merch on set (coffee mug). And she got to reference her character, Pike, in the show. I don't remember the exact quote but I believe a character was teasing her about playing a rouge or something in her nerdy games and her character said "Actually, I play a gnome cleric." It was a direct reference to Pike~
Specifically the other character referred to her playing D&D as an "Elf Girl" Which elicited the response. Not that it really matters, the context is the same.
I was lucky enough to jump in at episode 50 of campaign 1. Which didn't even have anything to do with Vox Machina but I was hooked by the actors. Started episode 1 and caught up and have been current ever since. These people really make you feel like you're part of something. As if whoever you are, here's where you can belong. In a way, they feel like friends. Seeing how much people love what they made makes me incredibly proud for them. Lots of feels.
as a critter it is so weird and amazing seeing all these creators i like reacting to tlovm I LOVE IT
I am an critter and backer from Critical Role since YEARS and i am not even american... I am german, but i love Pen and Paper, especially Dungeon & Dragons and i play most of the games in english... So i know the voiceactors and i was really hyped for this series! It was everything i asked for! I am so happy they still have the full control about the series and so we get the real experience! Greetings from Germany, love your reactions :)
don´t you mean zemnian? :)
Bit surprised you play D&D rather than Das Schwarze Auge.
@@KthulhuXxx Youd be suprised how many germans play DnD. My regular group is an international one (online, duh) and somehow we are still 5 germans + only 2 non-germans
@@lagggoat7170 Want a Canadian? lol
@@nuru666 Sadly we are full. Our DM said multiple times already she cant account for more players (fair)
The different characters are under certain class archetypes.
Grog is your barbarian, he hits stuff and hits stuff harder
Keyleth is a druid, a mage who has nature based powers and can turn into animals
Pike is a cleric, which is a lot of healing and support, but cab still attack.
Vex is a ranger, proficient with stealth and archery, has a special sixty sense
Xax is a rogue, stealth bonuses and lockpicking skills
Percy is a fighter, specifically a gunslinger, he just gets guns and attacks a lot.
Scanlan is a bard, he casts magic through music, your stereotype playboy
As a note, not all bards are like that
As a bonus note Clerics are divine magic wielding priests that follow one of the many gods in the setting where the story takes place in the case the Planet of Exandria. Pike follows the Everlight. Without a strong faith to her god and her god’s ideals she would be without magic.
@@m0ejo324 but thats the archetyp, not every barbarian is low int either, does not change the stereotyp though
are you sure about the lockpicking?
A quick Pike/Ashley Johnson fact you might appreciate: there is a point coming up where Pike goes off to do something alone and the rest of the group goes a different way (keeping it vague to prevent spoilers). Critical Role is filmed in California and Pike went off alone because IRL Ashley was in New York filming the show Blindspot and couldn't attend (except occasionally by Zoom).
When you describe the shadow on the guy, calling it "not blended" "cut clear" etc... that' cell shading. It's a technique that gets shadows down quick and dirty style.
I absolutely adore how they've written Keyleth in this, l love her so much.
I hope you'll record more of these, because I LOVED your emotional reactions and am definitely staying for more 🙂
There are a lot of reactors reacting to this show but few as good as you. Please do more.
I know you're getting inundated by my fellow critters, but I think you're enthusiasm for a show I've been following for years is incredibly well met. Almost all of them started voice acting in anime (hell I knew most of them from my weeb days) so they pulled those vibes into this project. I'm glad you're being sucked into this wild wacky adventure
Have fun with this show! It's super important TLOVM takes off successfully, since it's the only (good) dnd adaptation in popular media. If this blows up, the future of fantasy as a genre will be as bright as the early 2000s, when LOTR earned its popularity.
Good western dnd based , their has been some good animes based on dnd campaigns. but they didbt blow up examples Like record or loddos war and record of grancrest war both by same author were based on tavletop games he dmed but grabcrest doesbt show much dnd stuff , the author even made hos own tavle top games in japan
i've only sen the first episode so far. maybe it's because i'vebeen spoiled by anime, but the animation quality is pretty dissapointing.
however i don't watch western animation, so i don't really know if this is considered good or not.
either way, i'm sure it'll be entertaining enough, even if the animation isn't that great i'm sure it'll shine in other areas like the characters/voice acting etc.
@@lillewilleman The animation is pretty good for western standards. It's very comparable to Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is among the most critically acclaimed animated shows out of the US. But if unfamiliar, it can be jarring. I felt similar when watching Netflix's Castlevania, even though I thoroughly enjoy that series. It takes getting used to.
@@lillewilleman They chose this style because it's kind of a love letter to their childhoods (which is funny, considering this is absolutely not for kids). It's pretty much top tier animation in the classic 80's/90's TV style. It's actually pretty much the same as older anime from that time period, as well.
@@kevinmerz2036 Oh yeah Castlevania! I never finished that... maybe i should pick it up again, but yeah your right, it's pretty simillar to Castelvania.
The biggest difference there is that in Castelvania they turn up the animations to a 1000 sometimes,
Angelina: "Are we shipping?"
Me: oh.....you have NO IDEA
Same about Ashley Johnson. I got to meet her and the rest of the cast on my birthday a couple years ago. It was the best birthday present ever.
"I'm soo ready!" Narrator's voice: she was not ready lmao. So awesome to see people enjoying this :D
Never heard of this before watching it the other day and loved it! But yeah love Ashley Johnson and Laura Baileys in it as well. Great commentary Ange and hope you continue with it
Talking about having a large cast of characters. What I really love about this, is unlike most shows with an ensemble of characters, there is no specific "audience surrogate" character. No one who is new to the group that is supposed to be the person everyone explains everything to. When your characters are strong, you don't need one.
as one of the first 1000 backers, let me say: welcome to the party, I'm excited to see your journey through this! I started watching later in the vox machina campaign, and have been watching pretty much whatever they put out ever since. Context: all of the players of the game are voice acting their characters, and matthew mercer (legendary voice actor) is voicing a majority of the non-major Non-main characters that are less important/one offs, along with 1 major one. He was the GM, and originator of this world, and runs the game for the others. The others are the original creators/players are all (legendary) professional voice actors who are playing their own characters, including Ashley Johnson. As far as favorite character? tie between Percy and Keyleth.
Sidenote: you might recognize General krieg's voice: 1 David Tennant, and thats just one of MANY fantastic actors in the show.
Thanks so much for helping make this happen! I really love what I've seen so far and I think this could be worldwide phenomenon. A superb beginning to what I hope is a long, wonderful journey!
"They all have powers" ah yes, Percy is rocking the best power of all - A GUN!
Critter hug!
Welcome!
I'm so glad you decided to check it out based on the origin. I remember when this was announced as a Kickstarter I forgot I'd lit an incense stick and hadn't blown it out to ember yet, and set off my fire alarm. I was so excited!!
I remember fan art for the 50th episode (shout out to the critters who exploded it into my Tumblr honestly) and caught up within a few weeks. I've been watching ever since.
Can't WAIT to see the rest of your reactions.
I've seen quite a few tLoVM reactions by now - from OG Critters, new Critters, and non-Critters alike. And yet, yours is a fresh one - because you focus on the art of animation, and because you read up on the background of the show without watching any of it. Please keep them coming!
so glad to see you dipping into critical role through LoVM! if you wanna dip into more critical role (though catching up on the sessions is a looot), there's also some comics that cover their pre-stream adventures! and a bonus, since matt mercer's the DM, as a sweet/cheeky way of showing how he had to be the narrator being everywhere and voicing every NPC, they decided to include a matt mercer-lookalike in each episode. they didn't tell him about it, but it's a great way of stan lee-ing him into the series. hope you enjoy this all too!
AMAZING!!! I’m so glad you reviewed this. Would love to see more. Your reactions are so fun to watch. As a critter I love watching you react to this ❤️
ANGE I SWEAR TO GOD YOU ARE JUST PICKING WHAT TO WATCH FROM MY LIST OF FAVOURITES!!!!! Seriously though, as someone who's been into Critical Role for a long time, seeing this video pop up just made my day, one of the best feelings in the world is seeing new people get into something you love, and you don't get it often with Critical Role since hundreds of super long streams are pretty intimidating for anyone really, LoVM is really the perfect way to get a feel for why so many people fell so in love with it in the first place
also for describing the animation, this style of art where you see very little blending done is called cel shading! Looks fantastic and lets the viewer fill in more intricate details if they want to! It's also great for when you want something to really pop, the cel shaded stuff is simple so if you have something that really needs to capture attention, throw in some more detail and it really stands out!
You like Vex’ahlia’s name.
Her brothers full name is Vax’ildan.
And Percy‘s full name is Percival Fredericksrein Von Muesel Klossowski de Rolo III
I really appreciate with about The voice acting And The kind of actors
Wow this shocked me. I'm super happy you're reacting to this. I fell into the series by chance on twitch and laughed my 🍑 off. Look forward to seeing how you like it and if you'll continue reacting to it.
"Are they shipping?'
Not spoiling anything but let's just say they planted some seeds in the animation. 😉
The reason the world feels so vibrant is because its a passion project. Creator made, bottom to top. No shareholder BS or whatever.
The story is awesome, the lore goes deep, the characters are relatable. And the people behind it are actually great and genuine people.
Its a great rabbit hole to go down, welcome and I hope you enjoy whats in store
Yeees, so stoked you reacting to this!!!))
To be clear, two first episodes are adaption of the story that happened before they started streaming, from then on, it's the third story arc of the game stream they're adapting :D (also, Percy's the best)
The two kids in this 1st episode were actually voiced by Liam O'Brien's (Vex) daughter and Sam Riegal's (Scanlan) son.
In Dungeons & Dragons, chromatic dragons (red, white, blue, black, & green) are generally evil while metallic dragons (gold, silver, copper, bronze & brass) are good, and they have different breath weapons.
Actually, that's Vax:p
It's somehow appropriate that even after all this time, sometimes people still get Vax and Vex switched.
I've been waiting for someone to react to this show! Thank you!!!
I'm so excited, you're gonna love it. I've been in love with this show for years now, I'm so excited for other people to see how amazing it is 🥰
OMG YESSS!!! The moment this was released I wanted you to react to it but thought there was no chance since its such a niche show so I'm so excited to see your reactions!
Long time Critter, binged first half of Campaign 1 right around the time they hit the halfway mark and been watching live since then. Glad to have you aboard. This story is for everyone and I'm glad so many more people get to enjoy it now.
Love seeing new people watch this show without knowing anything about the story! I love your insights and reactions. I'm a sub now. Hope you keep watching them all.
Who’s your favorite character/ actor in this series?
Scanlan and Grog for sure
This is one of the best things on the Internet ever. One of my favorite D&D streaming campaigns meets one of my favorite reactors. Pure magic. So looking forward to seeing you go on this journey and maybe even watch the original D&D sessions.
Alright, home girl is watching Vox! She's got my sub!!!
It’s even better when you know Scanlan’s a bard and when he’s tuning his instrument it’s like a hit man loading his guns before going out
This blew my stinky socks off!! I'm so glad you reacted to this 🥰🥰
As a long time critter it makes me so happy to see people finding and loving this show, the stories, the characters, and all the people involved. I'm biased of course, but I'd totally recommend checking out the game streams too :)
I was just putting something on in the background but you quickly captures my attention. Not many reactors I've seen actually take a minute to breakdown the animation. Definitely subbing
Shipping? My dear newbie...
There is an entire FLEET!
I loved watching your reaction, because you clearly got it 100%. The animation style, the pace, the fact that this has all been put together by a whole production team that is totally on form. I really would love you to do a reaction to the whole series once it’s all out tomorrow. You’ve hopefully kept up and are still loving it, but wow, it’s like it really pressed all of your buttons, and I’d love to see you reacting to some of the moments in the rest of the episodes too!
I'm here at work loving your reaction to all this now. I felt the same about this whole show when I stumbled on it by fluke, just paused on the pic on my TV and seen the trailer. Halfway through the trailer I had to stop it and just start. Keep watching 😁
I love her calling Dungeons & Dragons tabletop reading XD Genuinely! This is full of such cute reactions. A smile never left my face. I am always very interested in seeing people react to D&D content, especially critical role and all their nonsense. I was not an og critter. I came in a few years ago during Campaign 2 but quickly binged everything and got caught up and remain so to this day as a HUGE fan and lover, player, and DM myself of D&D. This series is amazing!! And the story behind it all is even more so inspiring. I'm hoping it opens the door to so many new D&D players
So cool! Had no idea this was on your radar! Sooooooooo happy it is!
I flew into this blind, so thanks for the backstory. I think even I've heard of Critical Role and I've never seen them.
I'm a critter that has seen the original live stream and have been super excited for this show. I love how they keep it close to the original and still open enough to bring new people in. I love watching people who are unfamiliar with Critical Role and even D&D in general react to this show so excitedly. It just proves that the kickstarter money has been well-spent. You're in for a treat with where this story goes!
Your excitement and enthusiasm is a wonder to behold. I'm glad you love the show so far. Much more amazing stuff to come and season 2 is already in production
Super exciting to see you react to this. Ive been following you since you first dropped stranger things!
I'm a huge critter and been a fan of them since the beginning of their livestreams. the first 2 episodes are based on their home game but seasoned critters will still know where it's going. So calling it a completely unique story isn't quite true, then the rest of the season is based on a very popular story arc within their first campaign from episodes 25 to like 38. and While episode 3 is the only one released so far that follows that story they've done a good job of staying true to it as best they can (considering these are 22 min episodes and each episode of critical role is like 4 hours lol)
looking forward to watching your jouney on this!
Came here for the Vox machina review and LOVED your reactions and your insights about the animation! Please tell me you're watching the rest of this because there is SO much I want to see you react to! And you're right about the passion. I think this is a love letter to not only the story but this animation style they love. Titmouse was the perfect animation studio for this!
Im going to drop some easter eggs in this comment for those who dont know CR.
The cast are all HUGE anime fans. Many of them have done lots of voice over work for dubs and Taliesin and I think Liam as well both had a huge hand in dubbing a lot of very popular anime shows.
When Vax throws his daggers he can magically call them back to his hand. That is why you will see a dagger hit a target then disappear or why you often see a dagger magically appear in his hand.
Also if you want a way to remember Vex verse Vax just look at the second letter in their gender. Vex is female. Vax is male... E for female and A for male.
Most of the story was dictated by rolls. For example, when the group drank for the first few times Marisha kept rolling bad on her constitution saves, resulting in her character Keyleth throwing up after just one ale. This character the story of her being such a lightweight. As well if they go to pickpocket or pick a lock if they succeed or fail it is because that is what happened when they rolled live during the game.
This is not a table top read. This is a game of dungeons and dragons and they roleplay their characters because they are all voice actors. Nothing was scripted. All improve aside from their DM who you will see a few times. The guy Scanlan pees on looks identical to Matt. He created this entire world and story for them and they just improved their characters within it.
So did Travis ( Mustang from FMA just as an example) and Laura (Lust in FMA as well) ^^'
What makes this show so cool is the people playing the characters and then the characters
I have to say as another one of the “OG’s” apparently that have popped up in peoples comments of reactions, I love knowing that what you’re about to dive into is magical. I was around Critical Role since like episode 3 of the first series. Sooo I kinda grew up with these very deep and relatable characters. They’re just based in such beautiful realism where yes, you can’t cast spells or hulk out or anything, but you can definitely relate to all the trials, accomplishments, and mistakes that the characters make on their journey to discover their true power. It’s promoting nothing but love, friendship, and community. Hopefully this wasn’t too long and lets just say that it’s a rollercoaster and I look forward to watching how much you love the ride!
Been a Critter for a long time. Love the appreciation you have for the work that's been put in. You're bringing a lot of attention to things I have no clue about. Glad I'm able to see these now.
As someone that discovered Critical role back during their early days, I love watching this slowly spread through all my social media and touch so many different people. This show is going to take us through their first D&D campaign and I can't wait for another retelling and experiencing it with you!
Been a Critter for years and I love, love, *love* seeing all these amazing reactors I follow on TH-cam seeing the awesomeness of this world and these people.
I like your reactions, your energy and love of the art of animation. Only one minor thing to point out, the Critical Role show this series is based on, is not a live read. The cast plays their own made up character in a group improv session of 3-4 almost every week. Also in that group is a person acting as the background characters, describing the environment and also being a sort of game referee.
Looking forward to you reacting to the rest of the series. :)
I absolutely LOVE you! You’re reactions are great and I love that you got so invested in the story! I’m a sorta OG Critter, I’ve been around for two years now, so I hopped in during their second campaign. But I’ve watched everything they’ve put out and they’ve inspired me constantly in so many different ways. It’s such an absolute joy to see new people like you come to it through the animated series!
i am not an OG critter, but i started binging their channel about a year ago and i am only catching up to the middle of their second campaign, and they did such a great job adapting THOUSANDS OF HOURS of story and character development into a cohesive one (like it's a bit messy but considering what they were dealing with, it's a miracle), and it's so cool to have the best voice actors doing characters they actually created and i love them so so much
I love that you chose to go on this journey, Ang! OG Critter here who's been following the show since mid campaign 1 and even had an artpiece featured in their mid-game break fan art gallery.
Live these characters to death and can't wait for you to fall in love with them too.
But seriously, hands down - Percy RULES! You'll find out why!
I can't wait to see you react to the rest!! VM cast is so close to my heart and it's so exciting to see someone who's never seen the CR stuff watch the animated show for the first time
So happy you are checking into this, I’ve been a subscriber for about three months now but I’ve been a critical role fan (Critter) for over three years and I am one of the backers that helped fund this.
I can't wait to see you react to the rest of this! I love watching people who don't know much about the stream watch the show and enjoy it :)
So glad you didn't watch the trailers.
The Bear's name is Trinket because Vax usually stole trinkets whenever he could from cities, so Vex got a Trinket of her own while sticking to the wilds.
"Ship" away.
"Megasensory Powers" kinda... The Ranger class in D&D has an ability called Primeval Awareness. It can detect dragons.. and other stuff.
Super exciting to see you react to this. I have watched Critical Role since the first live broadcast, when my English was still basic and I only understood what they were saying and couldn't use the language for much else 😅
Critical Role and especially the Vox Machina story one is one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced. It wasn't just the story, which is one of the best I've seen, it was the whole experience of starting with them live and finishing the last moments with them in a story that was created in front of everyone at the same time we were watching it. It's something super special that I can't put into words.
I love your enthusiasm and am very much looking forward to seeing your upcoming reactions to this show!
I am so happy that you started reacting to this! I am glad that you can honor the craftsmanship that went into this on all levels. It really went above and beyond on all fronts.
Get ready for all the feels if you dive deeper :D
Love the reaction, wanting to see more from you. I'm a long-time critter and one of the kickstarter backers. Its so awesome to see this labor of love finally come to fruition, and new folks faithfully seeing what we've seen only in our heads for the first time as well. They are following the actual story that was woven during the 1st campaign and doing it justice. And it seems the larger world is now seeing it for the first time. As far as a favorite character its very hard to choose as there was a LOT of intricate development over 400 hours of the stream time for this campaign, and hundreds more for the next 2 (campaign 3 is Still going on to this day). Thanks again, Subbed :)
Original critter since Campaign One. Cool to see someone so new to this crew enjoying their work. Can't believe you went the whole vid without mentioning Dungeons and Dragons. That's the engine by which they created these stories.
I hope you're continue with this series, your reaction and analysis was so good! I loved seeing your insights, you're smart and you pay so much attention, it's a delight to watch
Omg I am so excited to see you dive into this. I am watching this RIGHT after dinner
Started watching Critical Role around episode 18 of season 1. So long time critter.
This started out as a home game between friends. One of the things the cast talked about before even starting streaming is that they didn’t want it to change the dynamic of how they played, nor did they want it to break them apart.
That’s a mantra they’ve carried through every campaign and every project they’ve worked on. I love that they kept the silly hi-jinx nature that Dungeons and Dragons can be at times!
i've been a critter for years! so so great seeing the story being made more available to wider audiences with this show :D
In similar sentiment to my fellow critters, its so wonderful to see new people experience and connect with this show and these characters in similar ways like many of us did. I think that the reason nothing else is like this is because the characters and story were never written. There was a loose structure and and a few guidelines to keep things (relatively) sane, but everything else was created on the spot from the perspective of their characters. It adds a much more human like quality and relatability, as well as a modern feeling on what can be an overly serious genre. Looking forwards to more reactions!
Please please do more!!! I love seeing new people coming in to our "little" fandom.
I've been watching since near the beginning of the livestreams and love the group. I'm real glad to see you recognise them, I've seen far to many reactions from people coming in to the animation new giving Amazon the thanks/praise for making the series and it makes me so sad that they haven't heard how it's creator controlled.
Woooaw I wasn't expecting that, fav reactor + fav content, what could be better?
As a longtime fan of Dungeons & Dragons, once I finally sat down to start watching the original livestream of their game, I was so hooked, I literally did not stop watching. For 3+ weeks, 16 hours a day, other than bio breaks, I sat watching this livestreamed D&D game of a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors until I caught up to the point they were livestreaming it every week, I think watching live first on 72 or 73. It was almost painful, cause I did not want to stop watching. From there, I switched to 5e D&D in home games, and kept watching obsessively, almost never missing an episode. 115 episodes of these characters did NOT disappoint, not once. It was followed by a second campaign that finished around October last year, and they've since started their 3rd. If you ever watch anything, I recommend their campaigns. D&D at its best, truly.
I'm not sure if you are a D&D fan, but, if you have any interest, WATCH THESE CAMPAIGNS. It might be a bit significant on time investment, but, the journey is the point, not the destination.
ive been a critter for 2 1/2 years. i love this story so much, but i know how daunting hundreds of hours of footage can be, so im extremely excited that these characters are being made more accessible for mainstream audiences!!
This was a joyful reaction to watch! It's so much fun to be an old critter watching new people find this series!
Star Wars and Legend of Vox Machina!!! This is getting better and better.
This was so incredible to watch!! Hoping to see lots more from this, can't wait
Please watch the rest of the show! You WONT be disappointed.
so it wasn't a table reading, this is the campaign one of their at home and then livestreamed D&D game, and it's very faithful to the actual things that happened.
Woooooo! Next animation! Lesgooo
Edit: I love the animation style too!
Haha was fun to see you excited for ashley :)
And as usual your commentaries amd overall energy too :D
It should be noted though this is note new content... the first few episodes are "new" in the sense that we have never seen it because that part of the story happened while they were playing just in their private home game. One of them one day told Felicia Day about their game, she invited them to play on her channel Geek and Sundry. They pick up their game from where they left off and have roughly 20 episodes with bits and pieces of this beginning story before we meet the Briarwoods. This kicks off the "Briarwood Arch".
The show starts off with a small arch we never saw live. Then quickly jumps into the Briarwood Arch which is what the beginning of Campaign 1 is.
No spoilers... but the first couple episodes also line up the Chroma Conclave Arch which is over arching plot of all of Campaign 1 (which lasted over 100 episodes spanning like 2+ years of IRL time).
All the cast members are 80's kids (except Taliesin, who's more of an 80's BC kid), and grew up on 80's/90's cartoons, which is a lot of how they got into voice acting to begin with. This is a love letter to the animation styles they grew up with and love.
As an OG Critter/ backer, I’m so happy this came to fruition
The third episode of the series onward actually does cover material that was on the stream, so be warned if you are considering watching Campaign 1 of Critical Roll but don't want spoilers.
Any plans to do more of these? I really enjoyed your reaction
It's so fun to see someone reacting who doesn't know the characters or the story. I loved the episodes so far, but seeing someone reacting with genuine wonder to some things that area give to a critter is something else!
As a long time critter, I love seeing it through your reactions!!
One of the best Kickstarters I've ever funded, and I almost missed pledging on day 1 to support the show, blew out a knee on the morning of the start of the campaign, so I ended up pledging to support the Kickstarter on day 1 from the Emergency Room.
That "Table Read" is a game called Dungeons and Dragons that they play. It is Roleplay and dice rolls with stats and characters. All of it is improvised. They play these characters in a story/world built by the DungeonMaster (Mathew Mercer). They all happen to be Voice Actors. The series is on it's 3rd Campaign now with all new characters and story/game, set in the same world.