This is not the same animation studio that did Korra. The designs/backgrounds/storyboards/core animatics/timings/3d assets/key frames/ etc are done by the folks at Titmouse in Los Angeles, with the outsourced production animation done in S. Korea by a studio called Production Reve. If there is any reason the character design style should look familiar, it is probably because it is done by the legendary character designer Phil Bourassa. This is the first major project he’s done outside Warner Bros. - where he did character designs and art direction for the DC Superhero animated movies and TV shows (Justice League, Young Justice, etc) - for over the last decade. Production Reve did some work on Korra season 3, and picked up some sequences for Voltron, but the primary studio on both of those ventures was Studio Mir, the studio that spun off of JM Animation, the studio that did Avatar. Titmouse is no stranger to using a variety of studios in Korea for production animation, and Phil Bourassa worked with a bunch of Korean studios a lot while working on the DC Superheroes.
Wraiths. Love how they show necrotic damage with the black ichor. The Everlight is the Goddess she serves. And at this point in the campaign Ashley, who plays pike, had a part in Blind Spot TV show which filmed in NYC, so she missed a bunch of episodes, or had to call in via Skype. Oh, and the twins are Vax and Vex (Vaxildan and Vexhalia). The groups is Vox. This was continuously confused during the game. The way that helped me remember was that the boy is VAx, as in Adam, and the girl is VEx, as in Eve.
This episode was written by Ashly Burch, who is a major voice actress (Borderlands, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West and much more) who had played with the CR folks a few times, including a couple episodes in campaign 2.
Pike staying behind is in reference to Ashley Johnson's IRL acting commitment that made her miss a large number of nights at the table. Matt Mercer, the DM, would have Pike go off on solo adventures to explain why her character wasn't with the party.
In _D&D_ you don't directly turn into a vampire from being bitten by one. If you die as the direct result of a vampire's draining attack (which lowers your max HP, limiting how much you can heal in a fight, and kills if the max HP hits 0), then you turn into something called a "Vampire Spawn", which is closely related to a vampire, but not _exactly_ the same creature. I really liked that, before they were exposed to Keyleth's sunlight, the wraiths were operating under lapdancer's rules: You can't touch them, but _they_ can touch _you_ when they want to. I also loved that this series gave them an opportunity to show what Pike was up to, during her absences, due to Ashley Johnson's out-of-town commitment. In the campaign, they usually just said that she had "temple duties" to perform, and there was some temple of Sarenrae (called "The Everlight" in the show for copyright reasons) that she had to help rebuild. Now we not only get to _see_ her side of the story, but she also gets an arc of her own (partly based on events that happened at completely different points of the campaign). The company name "Metapigeon" is an in-joke from the _Critical Role_ table. At one point, one of the players (Liam, I think) was accidentally "meta-gaming", i.e. having his character act on information that _he,_ the player, had but that his _character_ couldn't have known about. When they noticed it, someone suggested, "Well, maybe a bird flew across town and told him all about it." "Yeah, sure! It's not _us_ screwing up; it's these meta-gaming pigeons!" Ever since then, it's been a meme at the table to coo like pigeons, when the comments get a little too "meta-gamey", like: _"Coo, coo!_ Use MageHand, _coo!_ It'll set Jester up for her attack. _Coo, coo!"_ "Dang, the meta-gaming pigeons are flying low, today!" Speaking of the _Critical Role_ gaming table, the uniquely shaped table in the room where the final confrontation happens is based on the gaming table that was made specifically for _Critical Role,_ which they used for a long time, until they created a completely new set for the start of campaign 3.
I tend to remember Vex and Vax because I think of them as their full names rather than their shortened names. Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan. I’ve seen folks remember that VEx is fEmale and VAx is mAle as well. The entire campaign this is based off, it was a running joke that everyone would get them confused. Liam enjoys screwing with Matt.
I remembered the twins because in the campaign Vex was usually more annoyed (or "vexed" you could say) by shenanigans than her brother. I don't know that it works as well for the animation though, since Vax is slightly less of a practical joker/chaos gremlin than in the campaign. But that's what stuck for me, so in case it helps. :) I picked up "Ah, fuck a duck" (and that softer delivery of it) as a curse because of this show, and it stuck. I say it accidentally and get LOOKS :p (It is an expression already in some places, but it's not common) Oh my god can you imagine Charlie in this universe? 😂 I... actually, I suddenly kind of want that crossover, because then we'd get Musical Vox Machina, and I have wanted a musical episode since I STARTED watching CR. All of those delightful dorks can sing. Pike and her ancestors are used to Grog, the constant background noise is probably a comfort during uncertain times at this point. Yep, slightly homebrew wraiths. Good call! Only corporeal in the light. They were able to come through the wall behind Keyleth because she was casting a shadow behind herself. Stat point damage, not just hp (Con damage iirc? So permanently drops total hp until a restoration) Nasty af. Everlight is Pike's goddess, she was Serenrae in the campaign, which started out (as a home game) using some standard DnD deities, but over time Matt added a lot of homebrew to the pantheon, and also now with the animation, copyright stuff means they've changed the names. The Everlight is your standard deity of light and redemption, but with a focus on second chances, as well as destroying the undead of course, the normal radiant-based cleric stuff. Enjoying your reactions!
Just a note: Sarenrae is actually a holdover from the original Pathfinder game. She is a Pathfinder goddess of fire, redemption, and the morning sun. She was formerly an angel in Paizo official lore that ascended to godhood. When the game switched from Pathfinder to d&d when they started streaming on geek and sundry, Matt didn’t want to force Pike to change her goddess, so he imported her to the 4th edition d&d pantheon he was using as a minor deity with a small following. And then switched to epithets as their names once they made the show for copyright reasons.
@@thuirthiawindsong Good point! *facepalm * I temporarily forgot that it was Pathfinder during the home games, my bad! :) At least I remembered the domains mostly right I guess? Lol. I'll leave my brain splat unedited so your comment makes sense, but I feel very silly for forgetting, thanks for correcting it. (Genuine :) I'm annoyed I didn't catch it and gave incorrect info, glad you spotted it.) Clearly it's been too long since I saw C1, time for a rewatch. (Such a terrible chore. Not at ALL an excuse to sit in one place for hours at a time being entertained while I work on my crochet :p )
@@thuirthiawindsongjust a very very slight correction they started using the titles for the gods pretty much at the start of campaign 2 (with the exclusion of The Whispered One. they were using that title in campaign 1 because it was a mystery within the party as to what his actual God name was)...so Matt creating the titles had nothing to do with the animated show. But they have kept the titles for the show for the same reason they started using them in the campaigns for copyright reasons.
This is not the same animation studio that did Korra. The designs/backgrounds/storyboards/core animatics/timings/3d assets/key frames/ etc are done by the folks at Titmouse in Los Angeles, with the outsourced production animation done in S. Korea by a studio called Production Reve. If there is any reason the character design style should look familiar, it is probably because it is done by the legendary character designer Phil Bourassa. This is the first major project he’s done outside Warner Bros. - where he did character designs and art direction for the DC Superhero animated movies and TV shows (Justice League, Young Justice, etc) - for over the last decade.
Production Reve did some work on Korra season 3, and picked up some sequences for Voltron, but the primary studio on both of those ventures was Studio Mir, the studio that spun off of JM Animation, the studio that did Avatar. Titmouse is no stranger to using a variety of studios in Korea for production animation, and Phil Bourassa worked with a bunch of Korean studios a lot while working on the DC Superheroes.
Wraiths. Love how they show necrotic damage with the black ichor. The Everlight is the Goddess she serves. And at this point in the campaign Ashley, who plays pike, had a part in Blind Spot TV show which filmed in NYC, so she missed a bunch of episodes, or had to call in via Skype.
Oh, and the twins are Vax and Vex (Vaxildan and Vexhalia). The groups is Vox. This was continuously confused during the game. The way that helped me remember was that the boy is VAx, as in Adam, and the girl is VEx, as in Eve.
This episode was written by Ashly Burch, who is a major voice actress (Borderlands, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West and much more) who had played with the CR folks a few times, including a couple episodes in campaign 2.
Pike staying behind is in reference to Ashley Johnson's IRL acting commitment that made her miss a large number of nights at the table.
Matt Mercer, the DM, would have Pike go off on solo adventures to explain why her character wasn't with the party.
In _D&D_ you don't directly turn into a vampire from being bitten by one. If you die as the direct result of a vampire's draining attack (which lowers your max HP, limiting how much you can heal in a fight, and kills if the max HP hits 0), then you turn into something called a "Vampire Spawn", which is closely related to a vampire, but not _exactly_ the same creature.
I really liked that, before they were exposed to Keyleth's sunlight, the wraiths were operating under lapdancer's rules: You can't touch them, but _they_ can touch _you_ when they want to.
I also loved that this series gave them an opportunity to show what Pike was up to, during her absences, due to Ashley Johnson's out-of-town commitment. In the campaign, they usually just said that she had "temple duties" to perform, and there was some temple of Sarenrae (called "The Everlight" in the show for copyright reasons) that she had to help rebuild. Now we not only get to _see_ her side of the story, but she also gets an arc of her own (partly based on events that happened at completely different points of the campaign).
The company name "Metapigeon" is an in-joke from the _Critical Role_ table. At one point, one of the players (Liam, I think) was accidentally "meta-gaming", i.e. having his character act on information that _he,_ the player, had but that his _character_ couldn't have known about. When they noticed it, someone suggested, "Well, maybe a bird flew across town and told him all about it." "Yeah, sure! It's not _us_ screwing up; it's these meta-gaming pigeons!"
Ever since then, it's been a meme at the table to coo like pigeons, when the comments get a little too "meta-gamey", like: _"Coo, coo!_ Use MageHand, _coo!_ It'll set Jester up for her attack. _Coo, coo!"_ "Dang, the meta-gaming pigeons are flying low, today!"
Speaking of the _Critical Role_ gaming table, the uniquely shaped table in the room where the final confrontation happens is based on the gaming table that was made specifically for _Critical Role,_ which they used for a long time, until they created a completely new set for the start of campaign 3.
Spoopy episode indeed!
I tend to remember Vex and Vax because I think of them as their full names rather than their shortened names. Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan. I’ve seen folks remember that VEx is fEmale and VAx is mAle as well. The entire campaign this is based off, it was a running joke that everyone would get them confused. Liam enjoys screwing with Matt.
I remembered the twins because in the campaign Vex was usually more annoyed (or "vexed" you could say) by shenanigans than her brother. I don't know that it works as well for the animation though, since Vax is slightly less of a practical joker/chaos gremlin than in the campaign. But that's what stuck for me, so in case it helps. :)
I picked up "Ah, fuck a duck" (and that softer delivery of it) as a curse because of this show, and it stuck. I say it accidentally and get LOOKS :p (It is an expression already in some places, but it's not common)
Oh my god can you imagine Charlie in this universe? 😂 I... actually, I suddenly kind of want that crossover, because then we'd get Musical Vox Machina, and I have wanted a musical episode since I STARTED watching CR. All of those delightful dorks can sing.
Pike and her ancestors are used to Grog, the constant background noise is probably a comfort during uncertain times at this point.
Yep, slightly homebrew wraiths. Good call! Only corporeal in the light. They were able to come through the wall behind Keyleth because she was casting a shadow behind herself. Stat point damage, not just hp (Con damage iirc? So permanently drops total hp until a restoration) Nasty af.
Everlight is Pike's goddess, she was Serenrae in the campaign, which started out (as a home game) using some standard DnD deities, but over time Matt added a lot of homebrew to the pantheon, and also now with the animation, copyright stuff means they've changed the names. The Everlight is your standard deity of light and redemption, but with a focus on second chances, as well as destroying the undead of course, the normal radiant-based cleric stuff.
Enjoying your reactions!
Just a note: Sarenrae is actually a holdover from the original Pathfinder game. She is a Pathfinder goddess of fire, redemption, and the morning sun. She was formerly an angel in Paizo official lore that ascended to godhood. When the game switched from Pathfinder to d&d when they started streaming on geek and sundry, Matt didn’t want to force Pike to change her goddess, so he imported her to the 4th edition d&d pantheon he was using as a minor deity with a small following. And then switched to epithets as their names once they made the show for copyright reasons.
@@thuirthiawindsong Good point! *facepalm * I temporarily forgot that it was Pathfinder during the home games, my bad! :) At least I remembered the domains mostly right I guess? Lol.
I'll leave my brain splat unedited so your comment makes sense, but I feel very silly for forgetting, thanks for correcting it. (Genuine :) I'm annoyed I didn't catch it and gave incorrect info, glad you spotted it.)
Clearly it's been too long since I saw C1, time for a rewatch. (Such a terrible chore. Not at ALL an excuse to sit in one place for hours at a time being entertained while I work on my crochet :p )
@@thuirthiawindsongjust a very very slight correction they started using the titles for the gods pretty much at the start of campaign 2 (with the exclusion of The Whispered One. they were using that title in campaign 1 because it was a mystery within the party as to what his actual God name was)...so Matt creating the titles had nothing to do with the animated show. But they have kept the titles for the show for the same reason they started using them in the campaigns for copyright reasons.