Huzzah! :D (Also, a bit of a fun thing... the music that plays during No Mercy Percy's scene... that ominous chanting is the cast's names. No joke.) :D
Okay the Whitstone door is hilarious. it wasn't even locked it was just barred and there was a broken window. It took four spells, and a damage from a sword to get in.
@@Mattables A little more context here for you. It was in a different location at a different point of the game. But, yes, the door was barred from the inside. The problem they had wasn't necessarily the rolls, per se. It was the fact that the team that was trying to open the door, as you may have noticed from the Animated Series, are the characters seriously lacking any strength. Vax and Percy are Max Dexterity and no Strength. Scanlan is all Charisma and no strength. And with the door bar on the INSIDE of the door, they had no leverage. For example, had the bar been on the outside, Scanlan could have, simply, used Bigby's Hand to lift it. But with the bar on the inside he couldn't do that because Bigby's Hand is too big to fit under the door. Mage Hand, however, can fit under the door. Which is what he used. Problem: Mage Hand has crap for strength. It can barely lift an arrow let alone a massive door bar. So with their Strength Ratings so low, they, literally, failed every roll they made. Let this be a lesson kids: NEVER split the team, if you can help it. You may just run into something that your partial team is, literally, unequipped to handle.
@@ForeverDegenerateacually, scanlan used dimension door to teleport inside, failed to lift the bar, summoned an unseen servent which failed again. Then he tried to work with vax who was outside by having both of them push it up with a sword, which failed and hurt scanlan. Finally he summoned bigbys hand which easily opened it. In total he had to use 3 spell slots and got injured to open it.
Liam: "i roll to pick the lock" *dice clatter noises* Matt: "Well there isn't a lock, its barred from the inside" L: "Oh but i rolled a natural 20..." Taliesin: "A lock appears before you...utterly pickable"
Taliesin Jaffe (Percy) was a child actor from the time he was a baby. Both sides of his family were fairly steeped in Hollywood. Eventually, he basically quit acting when he realized he had the option and could actually quit. But he fell in love with the anime coming out of Japan during the late 80s and early 90s. He and his friends began using his high school AV club to make fan dubs of anime films they liked, which led Taliesin into directing (and eventually back to acting in) anime dubs professionally. So in this production, the animators seem to pull out all the vintage anime visuals when they draw Percival (the shapes he pulls are somewhat inspired by Lupin III, the Naruto running, the reflections in the glasses, etc.) kind of as a wink and a nod to Taliesin’s near 35-year history of involvement with anime.
14:06 you were spot on they spent an embarassing amount of time trying to open a single door, and so it became a running joke that Vox Machina's biggest weakness is doors
Fun (non spoilery) fact about the zombie giants: In the campaign, the party came across an empty stone giant fortress in the mountains on their way to Whitestone. Looked like there had been a fight, but no bodies. Only when they got to Whitestone and saw the zombie giants did VM realise that the Briarwoods probably took out that fortress and Delilah then raised the giant corpses and put them to work.
It's funny how a lot of reactors/people seem to think the Briarwoods are LETTING anyone leave. Ep1 Uriel mentioned 'dark rumors' about no one ever leaving Whitestone. That's also with anyone leaving having to, as non-adventurers, travel probably on foot through weeks of dangerous terrain- even if maybe undead weird dog things with weird mouths aren't hunting them down or undead giants squishing them at the gates. The old man in Scanlan's imaginary rescue scenario was the noble who was really enjoying his act in E3. Scanlan just appreciates superfans. And more is good, and will get you to S3 faster, but don't burn yourself out.
Yes, Grog is a goliath. Some names for things are registered by Wizards of the Coast so they use a different or more broad name. The 'old man' in the Scanlan plan to rescue Archie looks like Reginald from the fancy party in Emon who asked where the privy was, then later was so eagerly watching his Beads of Love rendition.
The "why don't they just leave" question has a pretty simple answer. Life is better than death. Also because geography. Whitestone is isolated. The nearest town is days away, and we saw what the timberlands outside of Whitestone look like on the way here. Then there are the cold, exposed mountain roads. The roads out of Whitestone may have been patrolled and kept safe for travel under the DeRolos, but you can bet they're left to the wild now, so anyone trying to leave would need supplies, travelling gear, experience, and a whole lot of luck to even survive the environment, let alone any extra dangers that might have been added by the Briarwoods, (who aren't keen on allowing anyone to leave and tell tales. Remember their story is that they are benevolently stewarding Whitestone after they DeRolos died). In any case, by the time VM arrives most of the people we see are old, hurt, sick, children, people with dependants, or revolutionaries. I think it's safe to assume that anyone who COULD leave, already has, or has died trying. "I'd sell all my stuff" ...to who, exactly? The giants? The Briarwoods? 🤣 Besides, gold wouldn't do anyone much good on the road, you can't eat or burn it. To paraphrase Liam (Vax's VA) Vox Machina don't have a leader...but it's Vex. Vax's little "fuckshitfuck" during the door scene entered my lexicon immediately, the delivery is just always funny :D Looking forward to the next one :)
Check out the voice actors too! The Duke is voiced by the guy who plays The Hound in Game of Thrones and Archie is voiced by Merry (the Hobbit) from Lord of the Rings. Actually, another Hobbit (Pippin) voices another character in the second season. There are a lot of big names in this show.
18:20 omg I HATED when she died! There's been so many deaths but it just hit me harder for some reason ALSO 19:18 I love Percy's unhinged hitman moments. Like my guy walking slowly with epic music in the background, covered in shadows except for his glasses, silent like the angel of death he is. So chef kiss mwah
Percy's VO, Taliesin Jaffe, has had a hand in a great many anime. Percy is his chance to do a bunch of anime tropes (like the shiny glasses) in his own show.
2 episodes a week would be fantastic. The awesome crow noises were likely made by Talesin Jaffe (Percy). The Duke is a Goliath and Kerrion Stonefell is apparently a human. Both are fighters.
4:47 Grog was a goliath in the campaign. They call him a “half-giant” in the show as part of their efforts to distance themselves from Wizards of the Coast (owners of D&D). Unfortunately this creates some unanswered questions like why is Grog bald and why does he have pale skin. (The answer used to be “because he’s a goliath”.)
Hey - loving the way your reactions are both immediate and also analytical. As for watching more, you could watch them in batches of three, because that's how they were released. Every third episode has a slightly bigger cliffhanger than the previous two because of this, so they were kinda made with the expectation that people would watch three at a time.
The song that plays when Percy puts on the mask is called “No Mercy Percy” and the wanted to give it that gothic choir vibe, but we’re struggling with what to have them sing. They finally landed on just singing the original cast’s names with extremely dark choral vowels. So if you listen carefully you can hear them sing “Tra-vis Will-into-ham Sam Rie-gel Ta-lie-sin Ja-ffe Li-am O-Brian Ma-tthew Mer-cer Lau-ra Bai-ley A-Shelby John-son Ma-ri-sha Ray.
The whole door thing, if I remember correctly was this: Multiple nat 1's, leading to Vax breaking 2 lockpicks I think, which then lead to Scanlan actually teleporting (dimension door) behind the door to open it from the other side. Which did not work. So they tried to engineer a lever from a shortsword. Another Nat 1 meant that Scanlan even took damage from it. I think in the end Percy shot the lock? So to open this one door, it cost 1 5th level spellslot, 2 lockpicks, some slashing damage and a bullet (bullets in the campaign were hard to come by, so that was quite a loss). And the best part? The door of the campaign, did not even really have anything to do with the main story. They were just investigating found a locked door and tried their damndest to open it. I think they found some notes of research or sth.
Vax rolled a Nat 20 on picking locks, for Matt to come back and say "there is no lock, it has a wooden bar across it on the other side Then Scanlan cast dimension door to the other side, tried to lift it and failed his strength check. Percy stuck his sword through, Scanlan rolled a Nat 1 and sliced his hand open. Percy tried to climb through the window, rolled a Nat 1 and "fell out the window." And IIRC, it took two tries for Bigby's Hand to lift it because Sam rolled too low the first time.
With the mirror thing, human's eyes are naturally drawn to movement, so I think many other people were drawn to the Briarwoods rather than the mirror on first time watching. The "Old Man" is a callback to the guy that asked where the privy was and then was enamoured with Scanlan and his song at the dinner. I really love this "reenactment" of the Whitestone door from the campaign. Percy's "I fell out of the window" is delivered so perfectly.
Would be great if you did at least two an episode or two a week. The first two season actually came out with two episodes a week, and this current season is 3 each week. It has been fun watching you react to this series so far. Oh and that old man in Scanlon's plan was the old man that asked him where the bathroom was and later when Scanlon is singing to distract everyone at the party while the rest of Vox Machina tries to find and save Vax.
I have noticed you commenting about the classes of npcs or enemies. Usually, a DM will pick a close enough enemy stat block from the monster manual and do some flavor changes or tweaks to make it fit their vison of what the enemy can do. So normally, any enemies you see are not going to be a class like you would make as a player character.
Gotta love those lighting, angles, and details. Right after the rafters shot, and then they show percy from above I like how they detail his bottom lip and chin to show his ruthless and hardened expression.
Time to jot down more notes and responses, since I've got a half-hour to burn: - Undead Giants are less of a threat if you've got a Cleric to hand, but as we know, the team's resident gods-botherer is busy with a crisis of faith at the mo, so... - Captain Stonefell is a Duergar, if memory serves -- think Dwarves, but with even _less_ time spent outside touching grass. (I'm only half-joking.) Voiced by Darin De Paul, too, if you've played the _Doom_ reboots (Dr. Hayden), _Destiny 2_ (Emperor Calus), or the Insomniac _Spider-Man_ games (J. Jonah Jameson). - Those undead hounds are the _least_ of the threats roaming that forest -- Lady Briarwood's necromantic experiments produced a _carnival_ of horrors, many of which were released into the woods for testing or disposal, and even after the adventure's end, they're still a threat. Trust me, Whitestone proper is the _safest_ place for _miles,_ even in _this_ state. - Grog's a Goliath, yeah. 'Half-Giant' may be reductive, but it fits well enough. - Keeper Yennen's another _Destiny_ voice: Gina Torres, the VA for Warlock Vanguard Ikora Rey. (The _LVM_ cast taps a _lot_ of triple-A talent, including a fair chunk of the core _Destiny_ cast -- just wait 'til you meet Lance Reddick's character!) - You can make mead in your own kitchen, if you know how. - Duke Vedmire, Goliath enforcer for the Briarwoods. He's rather persuasive. - I thought the mirror was obvious, too. Most vampires across fiction don't cast a shadow or a reflection on a mirror, as per Stoker rules -- it's one of the easiest bits of visual shorthand to use that, when it comes up, there's usually no mistaking it (unless your universe has _other_ conditions with the same effect, as in _One Piece)._ - The old guy was Reginald, the guy from the party in E3 who fell _hard_ for Scanlan. - Introducing Percy's side project, the secret weapon he was tinkering with while they were on house arrest: Bad News. Don't worry, you'll see what it can do soon enough. - I'm aware that the door fiasco was modified for the adaptation, but it's a pretty good illustration of what it looks like when everyone keeps rolling terribly until the DM says, "Okay, here's a way in, can we _please_ move along before I pass out laughing?" - 'The Oldest Trick in the Book'. - Scanlan may surprise even _you_ with what he can do with that hand of his. - We know that The List is a six-barrel pepperbox, but count the shots when No-Mercy Percy shows up: one to the hammer to disarm him, one to the left shoulder to knock him back, one to the chest, one to the right hand, and one-two-three for good measure. *That's **_seven shots._* - Things start picking up from here. If you wanted to step up from one a week to two, I'm down for it -- if nothing else, it'll get you caught up sooner, so you can join us in Season 3!
The way Percy names his weapons is so endearing to me. Yeah the big shotgun rifle is named Bad News because it's always delivered with a bang or whatever
All of his items are conversational terms. His glove is Diplomacy, the name for his pistol is The List, he has a restraint gadget called Manners, probably won't be seen in the show.
Goliaths have recently been updated to be sick as hell. For each true giant, there is a flavor of Goliath. Grog is a stone Goliath. But there are 5 more now Hill Good at keeping faces in the dirt Stone Durable as all hell Frost Slow people down Fire good at Burning things Cloud Now you're thinking with portals Storm Harm to me, is a 100 volts for thy It's quite fun
4:11 i mean... if your neighbor from down the street who said fuck this and tried to leave wound up hanging on your city's holy tree or squished by zombie giants (and that's been a regular occurance for the better part of five years) you might also think twice about leaving.
Been very much enjoying your reactions. You need to watch multiple at a time to catch up to Season 3 that just dropped. You are going to be blown away by S2 and 3.
Yup, Grog is a goliath. And the zombie giants were once living in the mountains outside Whitestone until the Briarwoods took over, killed them, and resurrected them as undead. Also, between the Pale Guard and the giants on constant patrole, if you’re caught trying to escape the city… well, you end up like those “dinner guests.”
5:30 respected preacher - "violence is not the answer, it will not help us and only make things worse- we must have patience and hope-" Gets summarily executed to stifle "resistance." Yeah great way for guards to avoid rebellion.
In the stream, there were patrols amd MANY more vampires they had to fight/avoid in and around whitestone, they were actively trying to keep people in the town so no word got out about this very remote sorverign city-state now being lorded by the undead
And also yes! More episodes, with season 3 coming out now, there'll be a ton of critters (aka me hello) looking for first time reactors of the series!!
To answer your question on why people still live in Whitestone. The undead wolfish creations that they fight on their way into the city are also preventing people from leaving
In the first season watch along with the cast they mentioned, there was a scene originally in the first episode that showed Uriel’s emissary he sent with the invite to the dinner, getting run down and killed by the wolves, but they cut it for time and because ending on a positive of killing the dragon felt like such a good first episode stinger.
There are many lovely mead recipes. You need a gallon glass jug, a quart of honey, spring water, some fruit if you want to get fancy and yeast. Champaign yeast is the best but I have made it with bread yeast. It needs to be kept in temperature stable conditions. I ruined 4 gallons one spring when a cold snap hit and my floor heat snapped on. Four gallons of honey vinegar. It did make good salad dressing with some olive oil. BUT 4 GALLONS!
What gets me man is the people who notice that Lord Briarwood doesn't have a reflection but completely miss that Lady Briarwood does have one and they start calling both of them vampires.
Oh, congratulations on your introduction to the wondrous world of mead. I'm a bit of a fan of spiced mead at the moment and even tried my hand at making some at home myself.
Bro you ain’t ready. Wish you had all the back story we do. Would make it even better but I enjoy seeing new ppl seeing stuff like this for the first time
Also, I REALLY want to see your costume!! Will you have the sheepskin jacket, too? Or are you going for the RPD look from Resi 2? These are the important questions on a Vox Machina reaction!!
A lot of reaction channels are well established, but the appetite for watching someone new fall in love with Critical Role and the Legend if Vox Machina, etc is near unquenchable 😁 believe me. Your love of the v themes you love and willingness to share about it is what I've watched eventually cause a channel getting into LoVM pop off insanely over dozens of channels now. Post episode, ppl are immediately looking to find a reaction channel to vicariously share the moments of revelation with all over again. My serious take, keep doing stuff exactly like you are. It feels authentic, curious, aopreciative if creativity, and that you v love v the same kinds of stories. It won't v tsje too long. As you continue on, it'll get more and more eyes, your face will be more recognized as one of the channels really getting into stuff, and it'll pop off! And every. Episode. All the way through where we are at season 3 episode 6 gets better and better! They're really getting into the deep story now, because the characters are well established, they've each gotten their leveling quests attention, and so on!
The old man from Scanlans the Revolutionary's rescue plan was the guy who he had teased about being "a libertine and a cad" at the party before the Briarwoods arrived. He makes another cameo later on. The mirror was pretty obvious. I'm always more surprised if someone misses it. Someone told me it was a clear sign of my ADHD. I watched the first season with a sureenough the folks who did not notice did not have It. LoL. Yes, the door was a bunch of really low rolls. 😅 Doors, the real BBEG of Critical role.
Percy is indeed a bit unhinged here, lol! This is a really good illustration put to motion of Matt instituting a very loose sort of insanity mechanic for Percy during this arc. You'll see why soon enough!😉
Matt, I am ready and willing to watch 90 minutes long videos of you reacting to two episodes. As I'm broke af I can't really afford to join the patreon so I don't I know how far ahead you are over there, but remember that season 3 dropped last week! Enjoy your attentiveness and enthusiasm in all your reactions ❤
Loving the reactions. I started watching you with Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss and I was so glad you started on Vox Machina! I don't know if I could handle watching just one episode a week. The release cadence is 3 episode drops each week for 4 weeks and even with three episodes I'm always left craving the next episode. On the plus side, you didn't have to wait a year and 9 months between season 2 and season 3 :D
11:10 so the old dude is the same one that got really into Scanlan's performance of 'Beads of Love' in episode 3. Also it's probably meant to show Scanlan's pan.
10:26 ngl I didnt see it first time either but I am a KS Backer I knew Briarwood was a vampire before the show existed (so it wouldnt have stuck out as much to me). But yeah quite a few reactors only clocked the vampirism when he bit Vax.
Yeah Grog is a goliath, but some words/names are registred by one or the other (Wizard of the cost for exapmle) and to avoid any problem they use different names, but yeah Grog is that. Also it depends on the lore. If I remeber correctly goliaths are technically related to giants, so Scanland wasn't so far off in his asumption (I mean being part giant, not knowing giants just because)
Well, considering that season 3 is currently airing and will be for the next 4 weeks, I'd say you could catch up pretty fast if you really wanted to ;) if not for me, do it for the VIEWS
Welp, you want more...you are gonna get more
Hell yeah!
YESSSS!
YAY!!!!! The first three episodes of season three have already dropped and I’m so excited for you to get there!!!
Huzzah! :D
(Also, a bit of a fun thing... the music that plays during No Mercy Percy's scene... that ominous chanting is the cast's names. No joke.) :D
We do!
Okay the Whitstone door is hilarious. it wasn't even locked it was just barred and there was a broken window. It took four spells, and a damage from a sword to get in.
Thats why i love the idea of dnd, sometimes its just about the rolls xD
@@Mattables A little more context here for you. It was in a different location at a different point of the game. But, yes, the door was barred from the inside. The problem they had wasn't necessarily the rolls, per se. It was the fact that the team that was trying to open the door, as you may have noticed from the Animated Series, are the characters seriously lacking any strength. Vax and Percy are Max Dexterity and no Strength. Scanlan is all Charisma and no strength. And with the door bar on the INSIDE of the door, they had no leverage. For example, had the bar been on the outside, Scanlan could have, simply, used Bigby's Hand to lift it. But with the bar on the inside he couldn't do that because Bigby's Hand is too big to fit under the door. Mage Hand, however, can fit under the door. Which is what he used. Problem: Mage Hand has crap for strength. It can barely lift an arrow let alone a massive door bar. So with their Strength Ratings so low, they, literally, failed every roll they made. Let this be a lesson kids: NEVER split the team, if you can help it. You may just run into something that your partial team is, literally, unequipped to handle.
@@ForeverDegenerateacually, scanlan used dimension door to teleport inside, failed to lift the bar, summoned an unseen servent which failed again. Then he tried to work with vax who was outside by having both of them push it up with a sword, which failed and hurt scanlan. Finally he summoned bigbys hand which easily opened it. In total he had to use 3 spell slots and got injured to open it.
"Its not even locked its just heavy as shit" - Marisha Ray, supressing laughter
Liam: "i roll to pick the lock" *dice clatter noises*
Matt: "Well there isn't a lock, its barred from the inside"
L: "Oh but i rolled a natural 20..."
Taliesin: "A lock appears before you...utterly pickable"
Taliesin Jaffe (Percy) was a child actor from the time he was a baby. Both sides of his family were fairly steeped in Hollywood. Eventually, he basically quit acting when he realized he had the option and could actually quit. But he fell in love with the anime coming out of Japan during the late 80s and early 90s. He and his friends began using his high school AV club to make fan dubs of anime films they liked, which led Taliesin into directing (and eventually back to acting in) anime dubs professionally.
So in this production, the animators seem to pull out all the vintage anime visuals when they draw Percival (the shapes he pulls are somewhat inspired by Lupin III, the Naruto running, the reflections in the glasses, etc.) kind of as a wink and a nod to Taliesin’s near 35-year history of involvement with anime.
14:06 you were spot on
they spent an embarassing amount of time trying to open a single door, and so it became a running joke that Vox Machina's biggest weakness is doors
it is not a joke!!!
Doors are THE WORST! XD
actually, there is a really good table to screen video out there showing the in game moment vs the animation... So funny
iirc they lost 1-2 of Scanlans spellslots and Scanlan also cut his hand
@@lagggoat7170 Three: one 4th level for Dimension Door; one 1st level for Unseen Servant; one 5th level for Bigby's Hand.
Yeah man, absolutely kick the pace up a notch! As long as it doesn’t burn you out, of course.
I absolutely agree!
Fun (non spoilery) fact about the zombie giants:
In the campaign, the party came across an empty stone giant fortress in the mountains on their way to Whitestone. Looked like there had been a fight, but no bodies. Only when they got to Whitestone and saw the zombie giants did VM realise that the Briarwoods probably took out that fortress and Delilah then raised the giant corpses and put them to work.
It's funny how a lot of reactors/people seem to think the Briarwoods are LETTING anyone leave. Ep1 Uriel mentioned 'dark rumors' about no one ever leaving Whitestone.
That's also with anyone leaving having to, as non-adventurers, travel probably on foot through weeks of dangerous terrain- even if maybe undead weird dog things with weird mouths aren't hunting them down or undead giants squishing them at the gates.
The old man in Scanlan's imaginary rescue scenario was the noble who was really enjoying his act in E3. Scanlan just appreciates superfans.
And more is good, and will get you to S3 faster, but don't burn yourself out.
Yes, Grog is a goliath. Some names for things are registered by Wizards of the Coast so they use a different or more broad name.
The 'old man' in the Scanlan plan to rescue Archie looks like Reginald from the fancy party in Emon who asked where the privy was, then later was so eagerly watching his Beads of Love rendition.
The "why don't they just leave" question has a pretty simple answer. Life is better than death. Also because geography.
Whitestone is isolated. The nearest town is days away, and we saw what the timberlands outside of Whitestone look like on the way here. Then there are the cold, exposed mountain roads. The roads out of Whitestone may have been patrolled and kept safe for travel under the DeRolos, but you can bet they're left to the wild now, so anyone trying to leave would need supplies, travelling gear, experience, and a whole lot of luck to even survive the environment, let alone any extra dangers that might have been added by the Briarwoods, (who aren't keen on allowing anyone to leave and tell tales. Remember their story is that they are benevolently stewarding Whitestone after they DeRolos died).
In any case, by the time VM arrives most of the people we see are old, hurt, sick, children, people with dependants, or revolutionaries. I think it's safe to assume that anyone who COULD leave, already has, or has died trying.
"I'd sell all my stuff" ...to who, exactly? The giants? The Briarwoods? 🤣 Besides, gold wouldn't do anyone much good on the road, you can't eat or burn it.
To paraphrase Liam (Vax's VA) Vox Machina don't have a leader...but it's Vex.
Vax's little "fuckshitfuck" during the door scene entered my lexicon immediately, the delivery is just always funny :D
Looking forward to the next one :)
Ah, Vox Machina's greatest enemies... doors and the elderly.
Check out the voice actors too! The Duke is voiced by the guy who plays The Hound in Game of Thrones and Archie is voiced by Merry (the Hobbit) from Lord of the Rings. Actually, another Hobbit (Pippin) voices another character in the second season. There are a lot of big names in this show.
11:16- The old man is the guy who was "into" Scanlan's song during The Feast.
We have just started s3 this month over on Prime... you need to catch up my man. This is top tier reaction content!!
18:20 omg I HATED when she died! There's been so many deaths but it just hit me harder for some reason
ALSO 19:18 I love Percy's unhinged hitman moments. Like my guy walking slowly with epic music in the background, covered in shadows except for his glasses, silent like the angel of death he is. So chef kiss mwah
Apparently, the soaring chorus is a choir singing the casts names.
Leee orrra baaal eee T ravis willing Haaaam etc...
Percy's VO, Taliesin Jaffe, has had a hand in a great many anime. Percy is his chance to do a bunch of anime tropes (like the shiny glasses) in his own show.
2 episodes a week would be fantastic.
The awesome crow noises were likely made by Talesin Jaffe (Percy).
The Duke is a Goliath and Kerrion Stonefell is apparently a human. Both are fighters.
Sadly this was asked in an interview, and Taliesin confirmed they weren't his raven noises.
But he does have a fantastic one :D
@InkyPetrel missed opportunity, lol
@@Ozgarthefighter Oh absolutely :D I also guessed it might be him in a few places, so I was a little sad to learn it wasn't.
I mean, Stonefell was a human in the campaign, but in the show I think he's a Duergar (dark dwarf)
@@theanyktos it definitely does seem that way.
4:47 Grog was a goliath in the campaign. They call him a “half-giant” in the show as part of their efforts to distance themselves from Wizards of the Coast (owners of D&D). Unfortunately this creates some unanswered questions like why is Grog bald and why does he have pale skin. (The answer used to be “because he’s a goliath”.)
Hey - loving the way your reactions are both immediate and also analytical. As for watching more, you could watch them in batches of three, because that's how they were released. Every third episode has a slightly bigger cliffhanger than the previous two because of this, so they were kinda made with the expectation that people would watch three at a time.
Would love more VM content! Keep it comin! Can’t wait till you’re caught up on S3
11:18 That’s Reginald from the “Feast of Realms” episode. The guy Scanlan calls “a libertine and a cad.”
The song that plays when Percy puts on the mask is called “No Mercy Percy” and the wanted to give it that gothic choir vibe, but we’re struggling with what to have them sing. They finally landed on just singing the original cast’s names with extremely dark choral vowels. So if you listen carefully you can hear them sing “Tra-vis Will-into-ham Sam Rie-gel Ta-lie-sin Ja-ffe Li-am O-Brian Ma-tthew Mer-cer Lau-ra Bai-ley A-Shelby John-son Ma-ri-sha Ray.
That's hilarious
The Matt cameo is the guy killed by the giant at the beginning. Presumably, this is a nod to Matt also voicing English Levi in Attack on Titan
11:08 hes pan/bisexual with a wide variety of tastes~
The whole door thing, if I remember correctly was this: Multiple nat 1's, leading to Vax breaking 2 lockpicks I think, which then lead to Scanlan actually teleporting (dimension door) behind the door to open it from the other side. Which did not work. So they tried to engineer a lever from a shortsword. Another Nat 1 meant that Scanlan even took damage from it. I think in the end Percy shot the lock?
So to open this one door, it cost 1 5th level spellslot, 2 lockpicks, some slashing damage and a bullet (bullets in the campaign were hard to come by, so that was quite a loss).
And the best part? The door of the campaign, did not even really have anything to do with the main story. They were just investigating found a locked door and tried their damndest to open it. I think they found some notes of research or sth.
Vax rolled a Nat 20 on picking locks, for Matt to come back and say "there is no lock, it has a wooden bar across it on the other side Then Scanlan cast dimension door to the other side, tried to lift it and failed his strength check. Percy stuck his sword through, Scanlan rolled a Nat 1 and sliced his hand open. Percy tried to climb through the window, rolled a Nat 1 and "fell out the window." And IIRC, it took two tries for Bigby's Hand to lift it because Sam rolled too low the first time.
4:50 Yeah, Grog's a goliath. But that's a Wizards of the Coast copyright, so for the show he and his people are 'half-giants'
With the mirror thing, human's eyes are naturally drawn to movement, so I think many other people were drawn to the Briarwoods rather than the mirror on first time watching.
The "Old Man" is a callback to the guy that asked where the privy was and then was enamoured with Scanlan and his song at the dinner.
I really love this "reenactment" of the Whitestone door from the campaign. Percy's "I fell out of the window" is delivered so perfectly.
Would be great if you did at least two an episode or two a week. The first two season actually came out with two episodes a week, and this current season is 3 each week. It has been fun watching you react to this series so far.
Oh and that old man in Scanlon's plan was the old man that asked him where the bathroom was and later when Scanlon is singing to distract everyone at the party while the rest of Vox Machina tries to find and save Vax.
I just imagine Stonefell as a teacher. "Toime fer introductery fizziks."
22:59 matt got Attack on Titan'ed in the very beginning of the ep
I have noticed you commenting about the classes of npcs or enemies. Usually, a DM will pick a close enough enemy stat block from the monster manual and do some flavor changes or tweaks to make it fit their vison of what the enemy can do. So normally, any enemies you see are not going to be a class like you would make as a player character.
Gotta love those lighting, angles, and details. Right after the rafters shot, and then they show percy from above I like how they detail his bottom lip and chin to show his ruthless and hardened expression.
I always get so happy when I see youve uploaded a VM ep, the more the better!! As for the doors, yes, its a hilarious moment in the campaign
Time to jot down more notes and responses, since I've got a half-hour to burn:
- Undead Giants are less of a threat if you've got a Cleric to hand, but as we know, the team's resident gods-botherer is busy with a crisis of faith at the mo, so...
- Captain Stonefell is a Duergar, if memory serves -- think Dwarves, but with even _less_ time spent outside touching grass. (I'm only half-joking.) Voiced by Darin De Paul, too, if you've played the _Doom_ reboots (Dr. Hayden), _Destiny 2_ (Emperor Calus), or the Insomniac _Spider-Man_ games (J. Jonah Jameson).
- Those undead hounds are the _least_ of the threats roaming that forest -- Lady Briarwood's necromantic experiments produced a _carnival_ of horrors, many of which were released into the woods for testing or disposal, and even after the adventure's end, they're still a threat. Trust me, Whitestone proper is the _safest_ place for _miles,_ even in _this_ state.
- Grog's a Goliath, yeah. 'Half-Giant' may be reductive, but it fits well enough.
- Keeper Yennen's another _Destiny_ voice: Gina Torres, the VA for Warlock Vanguard Ikora Rey. (The _LVM_ cast taps a _lot_ of triple-A talent, including a fair chunk of the core _Destiny_ cast -- just wait 'til you meet Lance Reddick's character!)
- You can make mead in your own kitchen, if you know how.
- Duke Vedmire, Goliath enforcer for the Briarwoods. He's rather persuasive.
- I thought the mirror was obvious, too. Most vampires across fiction don't cast a shadow or a reflection on a mirror, as per Stoker rules -- it's one of the easiest bits of visual shorthand to use that, when it comes up, there's usually no mistaking it (unless your universe has _other_ conditions with the same effect, as in _One Piece)._
- The old guy was Reginald, the guy from the party in E3 who fell _hard_ for Scanlan.
- Introducing Percy's side project, the secret weapon he was tinkering with while they were on house arrest: Bad News. Don't worry, you'll see what it can do soon enough.
- I'm aware that the door fiasco was modified for the adaptation, but it's a pretty good illustration of what it looks like when everyone keeps rolling terribly until the DM says, "Okay, here's a way in, can we _please_ move along before I pass out laughing?"
- 'The Oldest Trick in the Book'.
- Scanlan may surprise even _you_ with what he can do with that hand of his.
- We know that The List is a six-barrel pepperbox, but count the shots when No-Mercy Percy shows up: one to the hammer to disarm him, one to the left shoulder to knock him back, one to the chest, one to the right hand, and one-two-three for good measure. *That's **_seven shots._*
- Things start picking up from here. If you wanted to step up from one a week to two, I'm down for it -- if nothing else, it'll get you caught up sooner, so you can join us in Season 3!
The way Percy names his weapons is so endearing to me. Yeah the big shotgun rifle is named Bad News because it's always delivered with a bang or whatever
Its because nothing travels faster than bad news.
@@Eocarcin that's what it was, thanks
All of his items are conversational terms. His glove is Diplomacy, the name for his pistol is The List, he has a restraint gadget called Manners, probably won't be seen in the show.
More Vox Machina! As long as you don't burn out, buddies. Make sure you take care of you too.
Goliaths have recently been updated to be sick as hell.
For each true giant, there is a flavor of Goliath. Grog is a stone Goliath.
But there are 5 more now
Hill
Good at keeping faces in the dirt
Stone
Durable as all hell
Frost
Slow people down
Fire
good at Burning things
Cloud
Now you're thinking with portals
Storm
Harm to me, is a 100 volts for thy
It's quite fun
Sick glasses BTW 🎃👍
21:33 Percy fires seven shots to kill Stonefell. His gun can only hold six. So no, it’s not just an aesthetic thing…
I would love more VM episodes a week! Your reactions have been fantastic!
The Matt cameo was killed by the Giant at the start of the episode.
No mercy Percy!
17:04 You will not be disappointed.
4:11 i mean... if your neighbor from down the street who said fuck this and tried to leave wound up hanging on your city's holy tree or squished by zombie giants (and that's been a regular occurance for the better part of five years) you might also think twice about leaving.
Been very much enjoying your reactions. You need to watch multiple at a time to catch up to Season 3 that just dropped. You are going to be blown away by S2 and 3.
Yup, Grog is a goliath. And the zombie giants were once living in the mountains outside Whitestone until the Briarwoods took over, killed them, and resurrected them as undead.
Also, between the Pale Guard and the giants on constant patrole, if you’re caught trying to escape the city… well, you end up like those “dinner guests.”
5:30 respected preacher - "violence is not the answer, it will not help us and only make things worse- we must have patience and hope-"
Gets summarily executed to stifle "resistance."
Yeah great way for guards to avoid rebellion.
In the stream, there were patrols amd MANY more vampires they had to fight/avoid in and around whitestone, they were actively trying to keep people in the town so no word got out about this very remote sorverign city-state now being lorded by the undead
And also yes! More episodes, with season 3 coming out now, there'll be a ton of critters (aka me hello) looking for first time reactors of the series!!
I'm glad you're enjoying this show so much!!! Fun fact-- Percy's gun is named "the List"
3:46 The unintentional "carrion" pun is killing me :)
Keep watching, our lord dogoolmortin demands it
To answer your question on why people still live in Whitestone. The undead wolfish creations that they fight on their way into the city are also preventing people from leaving
In the first season watch along with the cast they mentioned, there was a scene originally in the first episode that showed Uriel’s emissary he sent with the invite to the dinner, getting run down and killed by the wolves, but they cut it for time and because ending on a positive of killing the dragon felt like such a good first episode stinger.
There are many lovely mead recipes. You need a gallon glass jug, a quart of honey, spring water, some fruit if you want to get fancy and yeast. Champaign yeast is the best but I have made it with bread yeast. It needs to be kept in temperature stable conditions. I ruined 4 gallons one spring when a cold snap hit and my floor heat snapped on. Four gallons of honey vinegar. It did make good salad dressing with some olive oil. BUT 4 GALLONS!
Fun Fact: At the door they did in fact botch pretty much every attempt to get around it. They actually took damage trying to get the door open.
Ah, the introduction of Bad News! (Percy's high caliber rifle)
What gets me man is the people who notice that Lord Briarwood doesn't have a reflection but completely miss that Lady Briarwood does have one and they start calling both of them vampires.
Oh, congratulations on your introduction to the wondrous world of mead. I'm a bit of a fan of spiced mead at the moment and even tried my hand at making some at home myself.
Well, everyone knows: ruthlessness is mercy
Really enjoying the show, as a huge dnd nerd (that barely is able to actually play) its teally scratched the itch for dnd content!
I love this show and I love seeing you love it as much as I did! I’d love to see more often
Bro you ain’t ready. Wish you had all the back story we do. Would make it even better but I enjoy seeing new ppl seeing stuff like this for the first time
Yes, more please! I love this show so much.
Yes double up or triple for this show. I look forward to these every week.
I meeeeean, Season 3 is out and running and be completely available in like 2 weeks. Way to go, im down for the journey :D
Resi 4 reference!! Subscribed!
PS. The DM for CR, Matt Mercer, voice Silas Briarwood, also voiced Leon in Resi 6.
Also, I REALLY want to see your costume!! Will you have the sheepskin jacket, too? Or are you going for the RPD look from Resi 2? These are the important questions on a Vox Machina reaction!!
A lot of reaction channels are well established, but the appetite for watching someone new fall in love with Critical Role and the Legend if Vox Machina, etc is near unquenchable 😁 believe me. Your love of the v themes you love and willingness to share about it is what I've watched eventually cause a channel getting into LoVM pop off insanely over dozens of channels now. Post episode, ppl are immediately looking to find a reaction channel to vicariously share the moments of revelation with all over again.
My serious take, keep doing stuff exactly like you are. It feels authentic, curious, aopreciative if creativity, and that you v love v the same kinds of stories. It won't v tsje too long. As you continue on, it'll get more and more eyes, your face will be more recognized as one of the channels really getting into stuff, and it'll pop off! And every. Episode. All the way through where we are at season 3 episode 6 gets better and better! They're really getting into the deep story now, because the characters are well established, they've each gotten their leveling quests attention, and so on!
matt got his head crushed by the giant in this one lol (also The Duke is The Hound from Game of Thrones)
im enjoying this, basically rewatching it through you rn before i get into the new season
22:55 check the guy the giant zombie squashes at the beginning of the episode ;)
The old man from Scanlans the Revolutionary's rescue plan was the guy who he had teased about being "a libertine and a cad" at the party before the Briarwoods arrived. He makes another cameo later on.
The mirror was pretty obvious. I'm always more surprised if someone misses it. Someone told me it was a clear sign of my ADHD. I watched the first season with a sureenough the folks who did not notice did not have It. LoL.
Yes, the door was a bunch of really low rolls. 😅 Doors, the real BBEG of Critical role.
Love your Epic the Musical content too.
The mirror scene is so obvious from episode 2 but I see so so many people miss it even when they are paying attention
Surprisingly, I would say about 90% of rectors miss the vampire mirror thing.
Percy is indeed a bit unhinged here, lol! This is a really good illustration put to motion of Matt instituting a very loose sort of insanity mechanic for Percy during this arc. You'll see why soon enough!😉
The door scene was very funny. All that trouble over the door, and it gets worse at points. I can never stop laughing 😂.
Oh, and Keylith turning into a sabertooth tiger is called Menksey
This episode is so funny though, the door, the cartoony reenactment of everyone's plans, "no it's shitty on the inside too" lol
Matt, I am ready and willing to watch 90 minutes long videos of you reacting to two episodes. As I'm broke af I can't really afford to join the patreon so I don't I know how far ahead you are over there, but remember that season 3 dropped last week! Enjoy your attentiveness and enthusiasm in all your reactions ❤
another lovely reaction, I'm always having such a blast watching those! ♥
Loving the reactions. I started watching you with Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss and I was so glad you started on Vox Machina! I don't know if I could handle watching just one episode a week. The release cadence is 3 episode drops each week for 4 weeks and even with three episodes I'm always left craving the next episode. On the plus side, you didn't have to wait a year and 9 months between season 2 and season 3 :D
7:12 well, they _don't_ have a leader, really. But it's Vex.
Watch em all! Season 3 is already coming out!
Yes. Please do more of these.
11:10 so the old dude is the same one that got really into Scanlan's performance of 'Beads of Love' in episode 3. Also it's probably meant to show Scanlan's pan.
Grog is actually a Goliath, but they call him a half giant in the show for copyright reasons.
No Mercy Percyyy!
Well, I want to see you continue the series. It’s just getting good.
WOO VOX MACHINA, would love double eps,
10:26 ngl I didnt see it first time either but I am a KS Backer I knew Briarwood was a vampire before the show existed (so it wouldnt have stuck out as much to me). But yeah quite a few reactors only clocked the vampirism when he bit Vax.
I’m right there with you! I want MORE!!
This show is amazing also they're animating there 2nd campaign (mighty nein) believe it's coming next year
Love Vox and love your content please continue 💙💙
All I'll say about Scanlan's Hand and Percy's shadow smoke is keep watching. Literally any other answer risks spoilers.
More Vox please.
That's my vote.
Liked and shared.
Yeah Grog is a goliath, but some words/names are registred by one or the other (Wizard of the cost for exapmle) and to avoid any problem they use different names, but yeah Grog is that. Also it depends on the lore. If I remeber correctly goliaths are technically related to giants, so Scanland wasn't so far off in his asumption (I mean being part giant, not knowing giants just because)
3:41 ... ... boy am I looking forward to your reactions to season 2
I love No mercy Percy
"Certain hand gestures": see episodes s1:e7 and s2:e11
So... Scan is pan. He's into aaaaaaaaaaaall the bodies.
17:08 patience.
Well, considering that season 3 is currently airing and will be for the next 4 weeks, I'd say you could catch up pretty fast if you really wanted to ;) if not for me, do it for the VIEWS
I want MORE!!!🎉🎉🎉
Oooh! if you like mead, can I recommend Drambuie? It's a sweet spiced honey whisky liqueur, and it's delicious.
Vox Machina vs. Door in the campaign: th-cam.com/video/Tb676aO6SXs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=i6Whqwrv9Ye1EzTS