I can't believe I edited this in one day Thanks for 9.5k subs 💖💖💖 From Dimension 20's A Starstruck Odyssey: S1E13 available on dropout.tv *ads by dropout
Hey guys making this took a year off my life but I wanted to do a sort of 'almost 10k subs' special. Polodio is the next comp 💖 i love you all so much and thank you for sticking with me and supporting me it means so much to me and really helped me make it through my seasonal depression this last winter. Ya'll the best. *edit- I half expected this video to bomb, I'm really glad ya'll like it 🥰 *edit- Polodio is gonna take a w h I L e **update I finished it! th-cam.com/video/kcX12yqdrLI/w-d-xo.html
Emily misdirecting Brennan by getting him to concentrate on the thermal detonators rather than the fragmentation device is some of the best D&D I have ever seen anyone play
It's funny because from what I understand, he DID read the Fragmentation device, but just kinda glossed over it. Also funny, is that she never used those Thermal detonators. They were a shit load of money paid to distract Brennan.
What made it so much better was when Brennan nixed their plans to let Reva body hop. You can almost see him relax, thinking he stopped shenanigans, only for them to STILL bamboozle him 🤣
Emily and Brennan have this chaotic energy between them that makes literally everything they do work for me. They should play as PCs in some one off so that their chaos can work with each other instead of fighting against each other.
@@Amelia7o9 Moonshine and Deadeye's arc is hands-down one of the series highlights of NADDPOD campaign 1 the combination of heartfelt roleplay and busted-ass mechanics abuse are truly a beauty to behold.
My favorite part of this is how you can see Brennan physically relax after he shuts down Riva hopping from drone to drone. That so obviously should have been what ‘slippery puppet” meant and it was just another beautiful bit of misdirection. Just stunning.
Oo I wonder if they planned to use that more in their scheme 😂 Honestly as a lover of cool stuff I would have loved to see Riva do that! Maybe her hit points are 1/3 and she’s disadvantaged to make it work
underrated bit but my actual favorite is Murph not knowing what's going on, and when Emily starts to unveil it, the way he turns to Brennan with the absolute GLEE of a fellow DM who's so happy this isn't happening to him
The way murph was like “no I’m good to stay here” while everyone else was like “NAH WE GOTTA GET YOU OUTTA THERE” bc he was the only one who DIDNT READ THE TEXTS
But they needed Barry for Brutus. That might be one of the greatest d20 fights ever with how creative they all were and how fun it was. They gotta go back to Starstruck 😭😭😭
I like to think Emily was saying “there’s no way I survive after this” because she thought Brennan was gonna kick her ass in the employee parking lot 😂
My fave part: Emily and Siobhan start giggling maniacally when he announces the plinth - Brennan probably thought they’re laughing at the idea of it and the space Girl Scouts, but they’re really cackling bc he played right into their hands
I did this one time in a D&D campaign back in the day. It's my single favorite D&D triumph. :3 So, in the climax of our campaign, our party had to descend into a dungeon at the center of a world ending dimensional vortex to destroy its core before it doomed the world to extinction. Waiting at the very bottom level there was *Orcus* himself in all his overpowered, 'I always hit and all my hits are one-shot kills against level 20 PC's' glory. The DM himself had clearly realized his mistake in using him about two rounds into the fight, like head in his hands "oh god I've TPK'd them, what have I done, they can't win" -- but by that point he was committed to seeing it through to the bitter end. Before we went into the dungeon we were all given an item we could use to summon/create any magical item we could think of under a certain level of power. A few floors into the dungeon I had chosen to create a portable hole, which proved useful in circumventing a few of the traps on the way. Well, seeing his fellow party members start to fall, Gilzean the Bard, Master of Masks, removed the folded up portable hole from the mundane hip pouch he kept it in, turned to the rest of the party, and bid them a tearful goodbye in a lovely speech I set to prose that I had to write up on the fly the turn before as I saw the writing on the wall. You see, he kept the hole in a hip pouch because by that point in the campaign everybody's backpack was a Bag of Holding. So Gil delivered his final speech, bowed, strode straight up to Orcus's face, removed his bag from his back... and put a portable hole into a bag of holding. This, by the way, was before the rule regarding this had changed - so it created a Sphere of Annihilation, killing them both instantly. I lost a character, but saved my party and the world. That was the last session we ever played together. :')
Honestly, I think Emily deduced that a structure would be important in this fight. Mostly because, out of everything in their wide arsenal, high damage to structures is the ONE THING they did not have. Even then, its 20d4 damage. That is a free fire ball right there.
My guess is that it was safe to assume a large droid of some sort (maybe a Vercadian Protector Droid) would be an enemy, so they prepped that to destroy any construct they may face.
"You look me in the eyes, Beardsley, and say 'Brennan, I think it's your fucking time'. It will be a cold day in hell when I go out like a fucking chump" - Brennan Lee Mulligan, accidentally foreshadowing events that will lead to Operation Slippery Puppet
For some reason, knowing that Brennan's mother - the creator of this world, is watching on a monitor somewhere close by is what really seals the deal. Knowing that you've defeated the DM? Good. Knowing that you did it in front of his mom? Priceless.
Elaine was only in studio for the finale, I think. She said during the finale that she *hadn't* seen the previous episodes yet, so I think she wasn't there for most of them, just the finale, and would have to wait for them to be released to see the earlier ones. Unless she was there for a few other random episodes?
similar but opposite energy to “kelmp.” “kelmp” sounds like someone shoved a leaf in your mouth and “plinth” sounds like your trying to spit it back out
Siobhan’s sense of humor is amazing; she’s my favorite “add on” joker of the bunch. Like, “Reddit is going to eat your ass, Brennan” is pretty funny, but Siobhan adding “your whole ass; cheeks and all” is the cherry on top
I don't think that was misdirection, I think they were genuinely hoping Brennan would let Siobhan drone hop, with letting her go down as a backup plan.
absolutely. I agree. But us as the audience in the moment (well..at least me lol) believed "ooh operation slippery puppet was to get her to teleport around." We were misdirected even though it was a genuine attempt.
@@kevlar427 Everyone might be on the same page here, but just in case, it seems the teleportation was meant to allow for the drone exploding without Riva's consciousness in it (which is probably why they named it that), but then they had to let Riva die to transfer drones instead.
To be fair to us, that teleportation was part of their original plan but when Brennan said you can’t teleport at will they did what they did best and improvised.
@@PoemJunkie it may not have been _intended_ or _purposed_ as misdirection, but it did in fact misdirect most of the audience and, more importantly, Brennan. So I propose calling it misdirection is accurate
the idea of emily poring over details about the fragmentation charge and coordinating all of this with siobhan (and the others who clearly know about operation slippery puppet!) while murph just ignores the text chain is perfect. incredible dnd household. i love the gunners!
I feel like Murph not reading the text chain is perfectly in character for Barry. Everyone else is making these complex plans, meanwhile Barry's in the corner going "My 'plan' is this and this" as he shows off his two massive guns.
I love ally in that they ask to do something, and once they see brennans reaction, they don't back down whatsoever. Like you can see brennan when asked to speak to plinth he perks up, but Ally says "I welcome them". It's that kind of role-playing that gave us the flying dancer rope scene in sophomore year
It's beautiful. The misdirection during shopping to get him to focus on the Thermal Detonators, the joke about the magnet to gloss over what she's attached to the Psycho-drone, the slack-jawed astonishment on their faces when they see the Plinth, the near miss when they mention Slippery Puppet too early, Zac's Nat 20, Murphy bypassing disadvantage by using a reflex save attack, Brennan losing his mind as it all comes to the climax, "We read the books, Brennan! And by we, I mean 'just Emily'", sending the kids to camp, "We're not letting the doggie die today, folks!"...dang. Such a great episode.
What’s funny is that now that I know what was coming Siobhan’s little laugh when the Plinth shows up sounds almost like an mischievous cackle instead of just a laugh
My favorite part is the name Operation Slippery Puppet. It's perfect because it's so dumb and vague to be meaningless, but if you're part of the plan, you're like duh. The drone is the puppet and it's getting thrown because it's too slippery to hold.
The best part to me is that it sounds like it could refer to Emily switching bodies, e.g. "slipping" between "puppets." It's just an extra level of misdirection. Very well schemed!
I didn’t realize until now that their reactions to the Plinth being introduced was because they had the group chat about operation slippery puppet and realized in that exact moment how they could use it in this fight.
Ah, but don't you see? That was *deliberate misdirection* on the team's part! It made him think "Slippery Puppet" was just Emily "slipping" between "puppet" bodies, letting him believe he'd put the kibosh on that. Only to catch him completely off guard! It's genius!
I really appreciate this supercut. It helps highlight some great moments. Like the laugh that goes around the table when Plinth is introduced. When you first see it, it's funny because that's a ridiculous thing to fight in a combat arena. But now we know they're laughing because "holy shit we have the perfect way to blow this thing up"
“How did you know there’d be a Plinth in this fight?” On top of Emily reading the book, you, you Brennan, you called the campaign “A Starstruck ODYSSEY”.
Watching Emily pull off the Slippery Puppet is like watching Michael Jordan win the championship with a 0.5 second buzzer beater. Some GOAT shit right here.
1:15 Brennan thinks they laughed because of the absurdity of fighting an ultra powerful rock...he didn't know it's because he just made their plan "super effective" 🤣
The first time Ally said “slippery puppet” I didn’t realize they were coordinating A Thing, and so the next time they rolled bad, I said out loud to myself, “it’s because you said something as cursed as ‘slippery puppet.’” Little did I know
@@Lucifersfursona Right? Who benefits from the utter randomization of everything. Seeking the natural conclusion of the universe due to the peak of entropy is pretty neutral (borderline benign, really), as far as villainous motivation goes, but robbing every creature in the universe of free will and agency by tearing apart cause and effect is just evil for no other reason that just wanting to see what happens.
I think the fact that Murph didn't know(probably by mistake or coincidence) actually made it catch Brennan that much more off-guard because Murph couldn't possibly give it away, and his reactions made me think Operation Slippery Puppet was just an inside joke.
@@potatopockets4980 Wouldn't be surprised if Murph saw Emily doing all the research and saw the text chain blowing up and decided it would be funnier if he stayed out of it, or if Em purposefully asked him to not be involved so that it would help bamboozle Brennan.
Watching the battle in hindsight, it's wild to see how much they were setting up for this. Like, Riva trying to jump psychodrones wasn't about trying trick teleportation, it was about vacating the drone so that they could blow it up!!
The reason I love Emily so much isn't because she's a chaos gremlin it's that she's smart. The best Emily moments aren't the chaotic ones but when she absolutely gets one over on Brennan because she read the material and knows how it works and is prepared for the unexpected. Emily really is a phenomenal D&D player... I was SO incredibly excited for her to be on Critical Role.
no, it's that she's smart AND a chaos gremlin. she knows the rules and uses them creatively, like when she effectively made a scrying spell using unseen servant and gaze of two minds
I love the idea of the group chat going apeshit the night before, planning for this big fight, and then Emily pulling this out of her ass during the fight
I remember waiting all day for this episode to drop, the way the whole opening was CHARGED with tension, how the prize money was going to cover Gunnie's debt, the performance check on top of the whole play... Operation Slippery Puppet brings fucking tears to my eyes, both in laughter and just the raw emotional catharsis of the situation.
@@Rylee_G omg you think this is the best campaign too??? Hell yeah. Idk if it's just that it's a sci-fi setting or what but I loved it so much. Also, incredible job on the editing, this really connected the dots in a way that the full two-hour fight doesn't
Emily learned that she should always have a backup plan for structures from A Crown of Candy when they had to break through the pillars (trying to keep it spoiler free). I bet it kinda messed them up how that fight went down
that shit was fucked, brennan could’ve easily TPK’d them in that scene, it was SO hopeless both from a battle standpoint and an emotional one. he made the saddest peppermint bark of all time that day :(
I wonder if Siobhan was laughing maniacally at 1:27 because she knew that Operation Slippery Puppet was going to be more successful thanks to the Plinth
That “oooooooooookaaaaaaay” when Brennan’s accepting that Riva’s old drone will be using a cone effect is so good. Also the lines “how did you know there’d be a plinth in this fight” and “am I getting Ocean’s 11’d on my own fucking show?” are some of Brennan’s best shocked replies of all times.
the way brennan says "...okay?" is literally what got me to watch this entire series. ngl i only saw a short clip of this and didn't see what 'plinth' was and thought these were throughout the campaign as some larger story, but it just being a girl scout cookie mascot is way funnier
@@aeronoctem103 Big Critical Role moment. Involved tricking a powerful fey that had heavy involvement in several character backstories in a way that entirely shocked the DM
@@aeronoctem103 Just imagine using a moldy old baked good to trick a very powerful Fey Being into doing the exact opposite of what they basically do as a life mission to make others miserable.
Almost even more impressive I'd say, considering critical role has 100+ episodes a season to do incredible slowburn and set up and d20 is only 18 episodes a season.
While the rest of the cast is cracking up laughing when Plinth is introduced, Murph just looks befuddled. Should've read the texts. Although him being just as surprised as Brennan really takes the whole thing to another level. Good job on editing this all together. Months later, and this sequence still cracks me up.
Honestly the funniest part of plinth for me was that it absolutely hated living creatures but was sponsored by space Girl Scouts/space girl scout cookies
Anyone else notice how everyone started cackling when he introduced the Plinth? That was a knowing "no fucking way Emily called it" laugh from the whole group (minus Murph, who never checks his texts).
I wonder if Ally is going to have some leftover consequences from Plinth being in their mind down the road... Its last words in their mind: "go, now, the prophecy..."
For anyone just wanting the key points: 0:00 Intro / "literally like a Vegas heist movie" 0:24 Emily stealth-buys a fragmentation charge via carefully-phrased request. 0:51 Introducing The Plinth (imagine the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it's psychic and it hates you) 5:48 Siobhan, piloting a remote drone body, positions herself near Plinth. 7:20 Another combatant knocks Siobhan's drone offline. (Yes, that is a corn monster.) 8:10 Emily takes her turn. 9:18 Emily uses a remote detonator to blow up the frag charge inside Siobhan's drone. 9:50 Frag charge game mechanics. 11:32 Brennan narrates the Plinth's destruction.
I've been watching this over and over again on Dropout. The way you can tell that they're scheming once you rewatch is so wonderful hehehe. Thank you for OSP clips. ✨✨✨
I had no idea how elaborate and involved everyone was in operation slippery puppet!! Holy shit!! can we appreciate how Emily got brennan to agree with every little step before her reveal. mentally backing him into a corner.
Teacher: Now, my fellow apprentice villains, what rule did Brennan break of the super villain code? Students: "He failed to notice the lack of genuine emotion in the loss of a teammate" Teachet: That's right! Being a Super Villain doesn't mean you don't understand emotions and the importance of teamwork. IT MEANS YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THEM IF YOU WANT TO TRULY BREAK THEM! Brennan's Plinth was strong to be sure, but it lacked the emotional capacity to eviscerate its victims. This could have preemptively detonated the charge in the body... but it's better to spring a trap early and suffer small damage earlier than at the "last moment." LEARN FROM THIS, if your players are dying but remaining "calm," that is NEVER a good sign. 😂❤
Well, thing is, they knew Riva herself was fine. It's just her remote body that was destroyed. Which isn't to say that isn't fine advice for all budding villains. I just think Brennan had a very good reason not to read too much into the players' (lack of) reactions.
I have watched this so many times and it's amazing every single time. The editing, the insanity and the sheer awesomeness of Emily combine to make a truly artful piece of work
PLINTH! PLINTH! PLINTH! God this Season just keeps getting better and better. I am so happy to have this mash up, thanks for the clip uploads Rylee, ya G
Elaine must be very proud of her favourite daughter's knowledge of the books she wrote and how well she utterly destroyed Brennan, formerly known as her other son
the atmosphere of absolute glee when Plinth is revealed is phenomenal-- at first it just feels like a reaction to an absurdly amusing enemy, but on second watch it's so obvious how delighted they are to be gifted the perfect foe to take brennan out like a chump
Hey guys making this took a year off my life but I wanted to do a sort of 'almost 10k subs' special. Polodio is the next comp 💖 i love you all so much and thank you for sticking with me and supporting me it means so much to me and really helped me make it through my seasonal depression this last winter.
Ya'll the best.
*edit- I half expected this video to bomb, I'm really glad ya'll like it 🥰
*edit- Polodio is gonna take a w h I L e
**update I finished it!
th-cam.com/video/kcX12yqdrLI/w-d-xo.html
that damn oversized fish polodio
Thank YOU!
"when a wee fish asks you to a tea party, you dinna say 'no'!"
@@lottesghost "I feel like you heard tea party and focused on that"
Thank you so much for making this! Watching your edits to relive d20 moments after a long day at work is such a high point in my day lol
Emily misdirecting Brennan by getting him to concentrate on the thermal detonators rather than the fragmentation device is some of the best D&D I have ever seen anyone play
It's funny because from what I understand, he DID read the Fragmentation device, but just kinda glossed over it.
Also funny, is that she never used those Thermal detonators. They were a shit load of money paid to distract Brennan.
She rolled a nat20 deception and Brennan got a 5.
What made it so much better was when Brennan nixed their plans to let Reva body hop. You can almost see him relax, thinking he stopped shenanigans, only for them to STILL bamboozle him 🤣
As Brennan once said “Emily is the best DnD player I’ve ever met and also she was sent from hell to kill me”
Emily and Brennan have this chaotic energy between them that makes literally everything they do work for me. They should play as PCs in some one off so that their chaos can work with each other instead of fighting against each other.
@@HazyPixel what does that stand for?
@@LoudAngryJerk not another dnd podcast. It's Emily and Murphs dnd show.
@@HazyPixel and and that's also the thing that Handy Annie is a reference to
@@Amelia7o9 Moonshine and Deadeye's arc is hands-down one of the series highlights of NADDPOD campaign 1
the combination of heartfelt roleplay and busted-ass mechanics abuse are truly a beauty to behold.
My favorite part of this is how you can see Brennan physically relax after he shuts down Riva hopping from drone to drone. That so obviously should have been what ‘slippery puppet” meant and it was just another beautiful bit of misdirection. Just stunning.
Holy shit you’re right
not sure if they actually meant to misdirect brennan with it but it turned out beautifully 😅
Oo I wonder if they planned to use that more in their scheme 😂
Honestly as a lover of cool stuff I would have loved to see Riva do that! Maybe her hit points are 1/3 and she’s disadvantaged to make it work
He thought too much about slippery and not enough about puppet
underrated bit but my actual favorite is Murph not knowing what's going on, and when Emily starts to unveil it, the way he turns to Brennan with the absolute GLEE of a fellow DM who's so happy this isn't happening to him
and him getting increasingly turned on by how clever his wife is
@@thegnome73 what did i just read
@@SageShadows facts
No, but seriously between CR and D20 there are actually several married couples, including Murph and Emily
@@micahnewby7964 that wasn't the part I was referring to 😭
i love that they live together and he had no clue she was gonna do this
I feel like Murph' not keeping up with group texts was somehow critical to Operation Slippery Puppet.
In the movie adaptation of this he'd be the audience surrogate
The way murph was like “no I’m good to stay here” while everyone else was like “NAH WE GOTTA GET YOU OUTTA THERE” bc he was the only one who DIDNT READ THE TEXTS
Barry is a beef boy, dont worry
😂😂😂
But they needed Barry for Brutus. That might be one of the greatest d20 fights ever with how creative they all were and how fun it was. They gotta go back to Starstruck 😭😭😭
@@Leemasterflex I think more Starstruck is almost guaranteed
@@Miglow yeah the final Adventuring Party had the gears turning for Brennan already.
I like to think Emily was saying “there’s no way I survive after this” because she thought Brennan was gonna kick her ass in the employee parking lot 😂
My fave part: Emily and Siobhan start giggling maniacally when he announces the plinth - Brennan probably thought they’re laughing at the idea of it and the space Girl Scouts, but they’re really cackling bc he played right into their hands
The whole plan boiled down to "I have made myself into a bomb... just in case." and that's fucking glorious.
I once turned myself into a bomb and made that the entire plan.
And it one shot a BBEG.
One of my favorite moments.
I did this one time in a D&D campaign back in the day. It's my single favorite D&D triumph. :3
So, in the climax of our campaign, our party had to descend into a dungeon at the center of a world ending dimensional vortex to destroy its core before it doomed the world to extinction. Waiting at the very bottom level there was *Orcus* himself in all his overpowered, 'I always hit and all my hits are one-shot kills against level 20 PC's' glory. The DM himself had clearly realized his mistake in using him about two rounds into the fight, like head in his hands "oh god I've TPK'd them, what have I done, they can't win" -- but by that point he was committed to seeing it through to the bitter end.
Before we went into the dungeon we were all given an item we could use to summon/create any magical item we could think of under a certain level of power. A few floors into the dungeon I had chosen to create a portable hole, which proved useful in circumventing a few of the traps on the way.
Well, seeing his fellow party members start to fall, Gilzean the Bard, Master of Masks, removed the folded up portable hole from the mundane hip pouch he kept it in, turned to the rest of the party, and bid them a tearful goodbye in a lovely speech I set to prose that I had to write up on the fly the turn before as I saw the writing on the wall. You see, he kept the hole in a hip pouch because by that point in the campaign everybody's backpack was a Bag of Holding.
So Gil delivered his final speech, bowed, strode straight up to Orcus's face, removed his bag from his back... and put a portable hole into a bag of holding. This, by the way, was before the rule regarding this had changed - so it created a Sphere of Annihilation, killing them both instantly. I lost a character, but saved my party and the world. That was the last session we ever played together. :')
“how did you know there’s be a plinth in this fight”, in the most defeated voice, just breaks me
OK but seriously how'd they know?
@@user-lv7xy8bp8g I think they didn't, I think it was for a just in case moment if her droid drop in a group of the enemies.
Honestly, I think Emily deduced that a structure would be important in this fight. Mostly because, out of everything in their wide arsenal, high damage to structures is the ONE THING they did not have. Even then, its 20d4 damage. That is a free fire ball right there.
My guess is that it was safe to assume a large droid of some sort (maybe a Vercadian Protector Droid) would be an enemy, so they prepped that to destroy any construct they may face.
10:12 I keep revisiting it.
"You look me in the eyes, Beardsley, and say 'Brennan, I think it's your fucking time'. It will be a cold day in hell when I go out like a fucking chump" - Brennan Lee Mulligan, accidentally foreshadowing events that will lead to Operation Slippery Puppet
To be fair, he did not go out like a chump. That was a hard fought and well earned victory, and devious to boot.
Beardsley was like. "Okay Brennan keep talking shit. I'll see you in the Dome Next Week."
For some reason, knowing that Brennan's mother - the creator of this world, is watching on a monitor somewhere close by is what really seals the deal. Knowing that you've defeated the DM? Good. Knowing that you did it in front of his mom? Priceless.
Elaine was only in studio for the finale, I think. She said during the finale that she *hadn't* seen the previous episodes yet, so I think she wasn't there for most of them, just the finale, and would have to wait for them to be released to see the earlier ones.
Unless she was there for a few other random episodes?
@@Peter_Cordes I think she was there for the first taping day too
and knowing that you defeated the DM in front of his mom _who is also the creator of the world you just defeated him in?_ unparalleled
@@Peter_Cordes Infinitely more funny to say they did him dirty in front of his mom
@@dialog_boxwhile still fully adhering to the rules of the game as well
My heart melts when emily says “☺️ do you want to know more, Brennan?” What a boss move
Same energy as Reva saying "Didn't think about birds, did'ja Brennan" from that seven maidens vid a while back.
My heart melts everytime I hear Emily laugh.
and then she literally did the 🤪face
I mean you know that challenging the DM puts a target on your character so it's definitely a power move.
this episode was a demonstration of the inherent comedy of the word "plinth"
pLinTH
@@Rylee_G when ally whispers "plinth?" as it dies, it got me
@@danielsos9824 honestly every time any of them says it it just sounds funny but esp "get FUCKED, PLintH!"
Kelmp.
similar but opposite energy to “kelmp.” “kelmp” sounds like someone shoved a leaf in your mouth and “plinth” sounds like your trying to spit it back out
I don’t know why but Siobhan holding up her phone with a photo of sunglasses GETS me the most EVERY TIME
Siobhan’s sense of humor is amazing; she’s my favorite “add on” joker of the bunch. Like, “Reddit is going to eat your ass, Brennan” is pretty funny, but Siobhan adding “your whole ass; cheeks and all” is the cherry on top
I had to gif it for a personal reaction meme
@@romxxii please send it to me, I NEED IT
It feels like a very Riva thing to do.
It’s extra funny because she’s already wearing regular glasses
I love the misdirection where we think operation slippery puppet is the teleportation scheme that Brennan shoots down. NOPE.
I don't think that was misdirection, I think they were genuinely hoping Brennan would let Siobhan drone hop, with letting her go down as a backup plan.
absolutely. I agree. But us as the audience in the moment (well..at least me lol) believed "ooh operation slippery puppet was to get her to teleport around." We were misdirected even though it was a genuine attempt.
@@kevlar427 Everyone might be on the same page here, but just in case, it seems the teleportation was meant to allow for the drone exploding without Riva's consciousness in it (which is probably why they named it that), but then they had to let Riva die to transfer drones instead.
To be fair to us, that teleportation was part of their original plan but when Brennan said you can’t teleport at will they did what they did best and improvised.
@@PoemJunkie it may not have been _intended_ or _purposed_ as misdirection, but it did in fact misdirect most of the audience and, more importantly, Brennan. So I propose calling it misdirection is accurate
the idea of emily poring over details about the fragmentation charge and coordinating all of this with siobhan (and the others who clearly know about operation slippery puppet!) while murph just ignores the text chain is perfect. incredible dnd household. i love the gunners!
He is DM of naddpod, so she's probably used to not talking to him about the shit she plans.
I won't be able to find this comment again from my main channel so hi yes i love them
I feel like Murph not reading the text chain is perfectly in character for Barry. Everyone else is making these complex plans, meanwhile Barry's in the corner going "My 'plan' is this and this" as he shows off his two massive guns.
Ally wishing for sunglasses and Murph handing his over and saying "I had my moment" is so sweet.
I love ally in that they ask to do something, and once they see brennans reaction, they don't back down whatsoever. Like you can see brennan when asked to speak to plinth he perks up, but Ally says "I welcome them". It's that kind of role-playing that gave us the flying dancer rope scene in sophomore year
"we don't know what ancient alien civilization built plinth but we do know they did not like living organisms"
"Folks, a priceless artifact and a real son of a bitch is no more!"
I love Brennan's announcer voice.
If that’s not a season 2 hook, i don’t know what is
Amazing, isn't it? And all this power... in the hands of A GIRL SCOUT TROOP. 😆
Edit: Okay, a really HARDCORE girl scout troop! But all the same!
It's beautiful. The misdirection during shopping to get him to focus on the Thermal Detonators, the joke about the magnet to gloss over what she's attached to the Psycho-drone, the slack-jawed astonishment on their faces when they see the Plinth, the near miss when they mention Slippery Puppet too early, Zac's Nat 20, Murphy bypassing disadvantage by using a reflex save attack, Brennan losing his mind as it all comes to the climax, "We read the books, Brennan! And by we, I mean 'just Emily'", sending the kids to camp, "We're not letting the doggie die today, folks!"...dang. Such a great episode.
This whole season was astounding
this episode should be put upon a plinth
What’s funny is that now that I know what was coming Siobhan’s little laugh when the Plinth shows up sounds almost like an mischievous cackle instead of just a laugh
The entire battle was spectacular. Its exactly what you want in an arena fight. Every character gets a moment to shine.
Even the enemies get a moment
My favorite part is the name Operation Slippery Puppet. It's perfect because it's so dumb and vague to be meaningless, but if you're part of the plan, you're like duh. The drone is the puppet and it's getting thrown because it's too slippery to hold.
The best part to me is that it sounds like it could refer to Emily switching bodies, e.g. "slipping" between "puppets." It's just an extra level of misdirection. Very well schemed!
I didn’t realize until now that their reactions to the Plinth being introduced was because they had the group chat about operation slippery puppet and realized in that exact moment how they could use it in this fight.
Brennan saying no to the "let Riva hop between three bodies" thing *right before* he gets Oceans'd Elevened is irony at its finest.
Ah, but don't you see? That was *deliberate misdirection* on the team's part! It made him think "Slippery Puppet" was just Emily "slipping" between "puppet" bodies, letting him believe he'd put the kibosh on that. Only to catch him completely off guard! It's genius!
I really appreciate this supercut. It helps highlight some great moments. Like the laugh that goes around the table when Plinth is introduced. When you first see it, it's funny because that's a ridiculous thing to fight in a combat arena. But now we know they're laughing because "holy shit we have the perfect way to blow this thing up"
Thanks!! It was a lot of work, I'm really proud of this one:)
“How did you know there’d be a Plinth in this fight?”
On top of Emily reading the book, you, you Brennan, you called the campaign “A Starstruck ODYSSEY”.
Is there a Plinth in the original Odyssey?
@@TheNo1pencil No, but there is in 2001: a Space Odyssey.
Watching Emily pull off the Slippery Puppet is like watching Michael Jordan win the championship with a 0.5 second buzzer beater. Some GOAT shit right here.
It reminded me of the "Philly Special" trick play the eagles ran in the superbowl. Totally unexpected, brilliant movement of the players on the field.
And even better on the replay 👌🏻👌🏻
1:15 Brennan thinks they laughed because of the absurdity of fighting an ultra powerful rock...he didn't know it's because he just made their plan "super effective" 🤣
The first time Ally said “slippery puppet” I didn’t realize they were coordinating A Thing, and so the next time they rolled bad, I said out loud to myself, “it’s because you said something as cursed as ‘slippery puppet.’”
Little did I know
The rest of watching this was
- utter delight
- shit talking Plinth for being a basic villain
Honestly Plinth’s endgame is more ethical and normal than Connie art lady’s causality engine
12:37 this is my favorite Ally face
That’s like a hallmark movie “dad showed up at my baseball game” energy
@@Lucifersfursona Right? Who benefits from the utter randomization of everything. Seeking the natural conclusion of the universe due to the peak of entropy is pretty neutral (borderline benign, really), as far as villainous motivation goes, but robbing every creature in the universe of free will and agency by tearing apart cause and effect is just evil for no other reason that just wanting to see what happens.
@@LidellFrasier peak libertarian engine
I think the fact that Murph didn't know(probably by mistake or coincidence) actually made it catch Brennan that much more off-guard because Murph couldn't possibly give it away, and his reactions made me think Operation Slippery Puppet was just an inside joke.
They did say, "You should read the texts, man!"
It sounds like Murph didn’t pay attention to the group chat
@@potatopockets4980 Wouldn't be surprised if Murph saw Emily doing all the research and saw the text chain blowing up and decided it would be funnier if he stayed out of it, or if Em purposefully asked him to not be involved so that it would help bamboozle Brennan.
"let the body hit the... floor?" is a very good line to end on
Brian “wife guy” Murphy having a moment at 10:12 lmao
We all could feel the anguish of "how did you know there'd be a plinth"
Watching the battle in hindsight, it's wild to see how much they were setting up for this. Like, Riva trying to jump psychodrones wasn't about trying trick teleportation, it was about vacating the drone so that they could blow it up!!
I love the stunned "How'd you know there'd be a plinth in this fight??", perfection
The “we’re done with Plinth” to “all I see is Plinth” pipeline is so real
The reason I love Emily so much isn't because she's a chaos gremlin it's that she's smart. The best Emily moments aren't the chaotic ones but when she absolutely gets one over on Brennan because she read the material and knows how it works and is prepared for the unexpected. Emily really is a phenomenal D&D player... I was SO incredibly excited for her to be on Critical Role.
no, it's that she's smart AND a chaos gremlin. she knows the rules and uses them creatively, like when she effectively made a scrying spell using unseen servant and gaze of two minds
I love the idea of the group chat going apeshit the night before, planning for this big fight, and then Emily pulling this out of her ass during the fight
it's not pulling it out of her ass if it's premeditated, no? cause it means spontaneous improvising, right?
I remember waiting all day for this episode to drop, the way the whole opening was CHARGED with tension, how the prize money was going to cover Gunnie's debt, the performance check on top of the whole play... Operation Slippery Puppet brings fucking tears to my eyes, both in laughter and just the raw emotional catharsis of the situation.
One of the best parts of the best campaign 💖
@@Rylee_G omg you think this is the best campaign too??? Hell yeah. Idk if it's just that it's a sci-fi setting or what but I loved it so much. Also, incredible job on the editing, this really connected the dots in a way that the full two-hour fight doesn't
The “we’re not gonna let the doggy die today chip. “No we are are not they’ll put you in jail for that jimmy” gets me every time.
and yet in the next episode, "there's no laws about dogs in Mas Vegas" 😅
Emily learned that she should always have a backup plan for structures from A Crown of Candy when they had to break through the pillars (trying to keep it spoiler free). I bet it kinda messed them up how that fight went down
That scene ruined me
that shit was fucked, brennan could’ve easily TPK’d them in that scene, it was SO hopeless both from a battle standpoint and an emotional one. he made the saddest peppermint bark of all time that day :(
@@sarahbearbabygirl in rememberance 🦀
God... That fight was bad. Could someone point me int the right direction? I forgot which episode it was.
@@lianneye5061 episode 6 is when the battle starts. it's called Chaos in the Cathedral if you're looking for the episode title
I wonder if Siobhan was laughing maniacally at 1:27 because she knew that Operation Slippery Puppet was going to be more successful thanks to the Plinth
I have no doubt
Now that Ive rewatched it a few times...its definitely the "I can't believe this is going to work yes yes yes" maniacal laughter
That “oooooooooookaaaaaaay” when Brennan’s accepting that Riva’s old drone will be using a cone effect is so good.
Also the lines “how did you know there’d be a plinth in this fight” and “am I getting Ocean’s 11’d on my own fucking show?” are some of Brennan’s best shocked replies of all times.
I strive, every time I play any RPG, to feel the joy Emily felt when she said "Do you wanna know more Brennan?"
I love how when they find out what Plinth is, they instantly start laughing and Brennan smiles along not knowing Operation Slippery Puppet xD
the way brennan says "...okay?" is literally what got me to watch this entire series. ngl i only saw a short clip of this and didn't see what 'plinth' was and thought these were throughout the campaign as some larger story, but it just being a girl scout cookie mascot is way funnier
2:37 Emily absolutely squashing a smirk by drinking water before Ally literally just mentions OSP😂
Love how you kept “get fucked plinth” with no additional footage between clips
I think this is the closest Dimension 20 has ever had to a "Do you want a blueberry cupcake?" moment
Okay I'm very curious, what does this mean?
When I saw this I thought the same thing. Great planning, understanding the mechanics and just really good rolls.
@@aeronoctem103 Big Critical Role moment. Involved tricking a powerful fey that had heavy involvement in several character backstories in a way that entirely shocked the DM
@@aeronoctem103 Just imagine using a moldy old baked good to trick a very powerful Fey Being into doing the exact opposite of what they basically do as a life mission to make others miserable.
Almost even more impressive I'd say, considering critical role has 100+ episodes a season to do incredible slowburn and set up and d20 is only 18 episodes a season.
Brennan just smiling in awe like a proud parent as the plan is unveiled.
While the rest of the cast is cracking up laughing when Plinth is introduced, Murph just looks befuddled. Should've read the texts. Although him being just as surprised as Brennan really takes the whole thing to another level. Good job on editing this all together. Months later, and this sequence still cracks me up.
Big Barry Energy
Honestly the funniest part of plinth for me was that it absolutely hated living creatures but was sponsored by space Girl Scouts/space girl scout cookies
1:18 where they all start laughing I used to think was them being terrified, but now I know it’s them going “holy shit we fucking GOT this” 😂😂😂
Sid's mom must have been so proud of her daughter in this fight.
😭❤️
How dare you make me cry like this!?!
Anyone else notice how everyone started cackling when he introduced the Plinth? That was a knowing "no fucking way Emily called it" laugh from the whole group (minus Murph, who never checks his texts).
I will never get over 5:19 when Emily says, "I can taste those 6 ZEROS!!!" And Lou joins her in the yum yum licking of their lips. hahaha
Emily Axford is the most terrifying person I've ever seen and i would sell my soul for a chance to play with her
I gotta say, Lou is looking FIIIIINE here. Just pure swag.
“Do I look like I have a Miata?”
“Yes.”
nothing makes me as happy as a Beardsley and Lou interaction
the MAD giggling when brennan announces plinth makes.... so much sense now, in hindsight
The delighted giggles as Brennan introduces the plinth didn't make sense to me while I was watching it but makes complete sense in hindsight 😂
dm's are usually the ones who surprise their players. its always fucking delightful when our players surprise us
oh my god. that was the magnet. holy shit, i completely missed that, emily is such a badass
Can we just talk about how insanely fucking cool Lou looks in his black suit and shades this episode
Margaret saying "I love you Pleenth" has been stuck in my head since watching this episode
"I have the money, can I buy *two* thermal detonators" immediately followed by "can I borrow some money to get two thermal detonators" XD
It was a distraction from her buying the fragmentation charge that killed plinth
I wonder if Ally is going to have some leftover consequences from Plinth being in their mind down the road... Its last words in their mind: "go, now, the prophecy..."
Honestly it might been referencing the prophecy of the slugs and the plinth could’ve been made to help stop the prophecy
@@fuzenakuhei8223 Maybe, but it would be fun if Brennan ever brings that back somehow, maybe if they do a spinoff season from this.
For anyone just wanting the key points:
0:00 Intro / "literally like a Vegas heist movie"
0:24 Emily stealth-buys a fragmentation charge via carefully-phrased request.
0:51 Introducing The Plinth (imagine the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it's psychic and it hates you)
5:48 Siobhan, piloting a remote drone body, positions herself near Plinth.
7:20 Another combatant knocks Siobhan's drone offline. (Yes, that is a corn monster.)
8:10 Emily takes her turn.
9:18 Emily uses a remote detonator to blow up the frag charge inside Siobhan's drone.
9:50 Frag charge game mechanics.
11:32 Brennan narrates the Plinth's destruction.
I love
Plinth
I watched the episode today. Emily had a glint in her eye once she read the description.
Yes, been looking for a compilation detailing “Operation: Slippery Puppet”. Great editing
Emily is a genius I love her
Just like a Mulligan to bring a Plinth to charge fragmentation fight
Beardsley's "Do I look like I own a Miata" kills me every time
Honestly the best moment on rewatch is about five episodes earlier when Emily tries to buy the fragmentation charge back at Plug’s
I've been watching this over and over again on Dropout. The way you can tell that they're scheming once you rewatch is so wonderful hehehe. Thank you for OSP clips. ✨✨✨
You're very welcome!🥰 what does osp stand for?
@@Rylee_G operation slippery puppet
@@batsybatsybats_ ohhh
I had no idea how elaborate and involved everyone was in operation slippery puppet!! Holy shit!!
can we appreciate how Emily got brennan to agree with every little step before her reveal. mentally backing him into a corner.
Teacher: Now, my fellow apprentice villains, what rule did Brennan break of the super villain code?
Students: "He failed to notice the lack of genuine emotion in the loss of a teammate"
Teachet: That's right! Being a Super Villain doesn't mean you don't understand emotions and the importance of teamwork. IT MEANS YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THEM IF YOU WANT TO TRULY BREAK THEM! Brennan's Plinth was strong to be sure, but it lacked the emotional capacity to eviscerate its victims. This could have preemptively detonated the charge in the body... but it's better to spring a trap early and suffer small damage earlier than at the "last moment."
LEARN FROM THIS, if your players are dying but remaining "calm," that is NEVER a good sign. 😂❤
Well, thing is, they knew Riva herself was fine. It's just her remote body that was destroyed.
Which isn't to say that isn't fine advice for all budding villains. I just think Brennan had a very good reason not to read too much into the players' (lack of) reactions.
@@Brasswatchman It made her the perfect trojan horse
Emily could destroy me with her mind alone, and I would thank her for it
I felt like my jaw hit the floor when I watched this operation unfold. Truly amazing. Thanks for this :D
I have watched the original scene like 3 times now it's so so good! Emily Axford is the best dnd player in the world.
They've come a long way from jumping cafeteria tables and getting beat up by corn
I have watched this so many times and it's amazing every single time. The editing, the insanity and the sheer awesomeness of Emily combine to make a truly artful piece of work
aw ^-^ im glad you like it!!
this is one of those moments in d20 where I feel like… physically exhausted (in a good way) from watching it
I felt that way after watching the Cathedral battle in ACoC. And then again here. Both ending at like 1am. It was that happy, satisfied tired.
Knowing now that this wasn’t even the end of the fight and they had basically a whole other half with gigachad Brutus that was just as scary too. 😂
10:10 Murph falling in love with his wife all over again.
And who could blame him?
this series has EASILY been one of my favorites of all time from the d20 crew and it's not even over yet
Thank you so much for collating this! I was scratching my head about the details of 'slippery puppet'.
yw!:) I didn't get it the first time either lol
@@Rylee_G wish it had the purchase from Plug's, but still love this cut yea!
When I tell ya I was cheering and cackling this entire fight
PLINTH! PLINTH! PLINTH!
God this Season just keeps getting better and better. I am so happy to have this mash up, thanks for the clip uploads Rylee, ya G
Okay but can we appreciate how Ally rolls their dice at 3:55. Im going to start doing that from now on.
Somebody once said on tumblr that Ally rolls dice like they’re ripping a beyblade and it’s literally SO accurate
Careful you may have more narrative dice rolls but with the chance of pulling an Ally
i desperately wish this could have been like mice and murder where we could see texts between players. i can only imagine the chaos
"this make me.....*Upset*" god Ally had some zingers in this fight
everyone looks so cool for this episode but especially Lou holy shit
Dude Ally is my enby icon! I’m agender and I’m still getting gender envy and euphoria over their voice cracking
lou actually pretending to find a spot to look plinth in the eye is so fkn funny oh my god
Elaine must be very proud of her favourite daughter's knowledge of the books she wrote and how well she utterly destroyed Brennan, formerly known as her other son
I love how the girl scout cookies have the most insane unknowable horror for a fighter
this is a most amazing fast one they pulled on brennan.
god that was such an epic scene.
the atmosphere of absolute glee when Plinth is revealed is phenomenal-- at first it just feels like a reaction to an absurdly amusing enemy, but on second watch it's so obvious how delighted they are to be gifted the perfect foe to take brennan out like a chump