Does Everyone Just DIE This Season???? : The Legend of Vox Machina s02ep1+2 BLIND Reaction

[@notchrisrivero]

The animation did a really good job of capturing the moment of "A 19 misses?!"

[@oceankim8791]

You are the only reactor I have ever seen that not only noticed that a dragon was missing, but made the connection to the creepy child that most people completely forgot about and remembered that dragons can shapeshift. That's some top-notch attention to detail and analytical skills, colour me impressed.

[@FrancisPlamondon1982]

Also the first one I have seen remember poor Reginald from the banquet! :D

[@xseedingme]

Indeed, excellent attention to details!

[@magp1001]

Whenever I see that scene where they show the history of the Vestiges, I remember that moment in the Kickstarter Q&A where Sam said, "It's animation! We can do whatever we want. When Matt talks about lore, we can show it." In response, Matt shouts, "I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT!! I CAN SEE FOREVER!!!" You think you hate Ripley now? Buckle in! In D&D, it's kinda assumed that if you're this class, you know how to wield these weapons; it's kinda assumed that Grog and Scanlan and Vax (and even Percy) could all wield a sword if needed.

[@ForeverDegenerate]

And Vex. Rangers can wield swords too.

[@richardhealy]

Ripleys continuing quest to find a patron to support her research.

[@fahrenheitmusic5688]

'Random tree growing out the side of a cliff' 😂 Well done❤

[@Yhelta]

Laughed my ass of then she said that

[@Tomahock84]

I love the Conclave's full names: Red = Thordak, The Cinder King White = Vorugal, The Frigid Doom Green = Raishan, The Diseased Deceiver Black = Umbrasyl, The Hope Devourer

[@Starsaber222]

In D&D, different colors of dragons channel different elements. Red - Fire (Thordak) Green - Poison (Raishan) Black - Acid (Umbrasyl) White - Ice (Vorugal) Blue - Lightning (Brimscythe) Chromatic dragons are generally evil, while Metallic dragons are generally good, and Gem dragons are generally neutral.

[@FrostyTheSnowPickle]

Also, to give their titles: Thordak - The Cinder King Raishan - The Diseased Deceiver Umbrasyl - The Hope Devourer Vorugal - The Frigid Doom Brimscythe - The Iron Storm

[@loganhemin4818]

And the voice actors respectfully: Thordak- The Late Lance Reddick (Fringe, John Wick) Raishan- Cree Summer (Rugrats, Inspector Gadget) Umbrasyl- Matthew Mercer Vorugal- Liam O’Brien (Vax) Brimscythe- David Tennant (Doctor who, Good Omens)

[@xseedingme]

I have quickly become a huge fan of your POV of this series. You are coming at it from a mental health and emotional intelligence perspective and it stands out. Thank you, Kyra, for your unique insights and observations!

[@mollymawkery]

I do love that your main critique for the various tests of Vasselheim boils down to, these fail babies are too codependent to be adequately judged separately. And you're absolutely correct.

[@geak78]

You got Percy's full name better than most of the cast. There's a supercut with everyone else failing at trying to say the full name that is quite humerous.

[@DarcOne13]

OMG, the guy that sent them to the Slayers Take is the Chet Superfan in C3!

[@blazingdutchmangaming3702]

The in-canon kill count of the dragon’s attack on the City of Emon is between 75.000 and 80.000. Not even mentioning the people who died after due to future effects of this attack. And yeah.. it was honestly a complete shock during the livestream that this was happening. The group was completely and utterly outmatched. Grog attempted to fight at first and missed with a very high roll, the fabled ‘19 misses’. The entire first episode is legitimately an incredible adaptation of the shock and uselessness the players felt at the table.

[@bludfyre]

It was one of the tensest moments in the table... even more than some of the boss fights

[@blazingdutchmangaming3702]

@@bludfyre there’s honestly one or two more super tense and epic fight moments of campaign 1 that come to mind, one is in this season as well, so no spoilers, and the other is the final fight, but honestly mostly due to the saved 9th level from Sam.

[@bludfyre]

@@blazingdutchmangaming3702 I felt like this was so much more tense because they were trying to sneak away the entire time. If we are both thinking of the same moments, they were fights where I thought characters could die, but it felt more like a D&D game, if that makes sense. Ultimately boiled down to "do more damage without taking so much you all go down." After "19 misses" it became clear they were outmatched and outgunned, so it felt more like a tense movie instead.

[@blazingdutchmangaming3702]

@@bludfyre absolutely fair! The reason I love the other fights is because of the interpersonal relationships between character and players. It’s definitely not easy to make an encounter where the players just HAVE to run and make sure they’ll still survive, looking at it as a DM, I mean. (I’m a forever-DM, so yeah hahaha) I’ve made multiple encounters where the aim is to create this sense, where the balance between danger and death is very close, so this moment really shows the proper skills of Matt Mercer as a DM, where he balanced this extremely well

[@risperdude]

Bidet! Your insights are uncanny. You call so many details. Good job! Love your insights.

[@Lngbrdninjamasta]

Bidet critters 🎉 We can finally use Grog's greeting ❤

[@Nic_S.]

26:00 Fun Fact those 2 kids were voiced by Sam Riegel's (Scanlan) real children.

[@shannonsavino2068]

27:35 you absolutely called it 😂 These two episodes are such good set up for the rest of the season. Here's the new status quo and new more powerful enemies, and here's a road to fighting them. The bit with the black powder merchant is a favorite from the campaigns, and a moment I'd suggest checking out in its entirety because it's so funny. Also, even as Percy isn't telling Vox Machina about Ripley, you can see in the visuals of that scene him actively turning away from the darkness and to the light (of Vox Machina, represented by Vex) in deciding not to pursue her and question the black powder merchant further.

[@easterslice]

That's a good catch. :)

[@Ironoclasty]

You know, Ripley isn't really much of a threat. She's missing a whole hand. How much could she really do without a hand? Right? I'm sure it'll be fine.

[@LordNomad28592]

You read the beats of this show better than any reactor I have watched. The sphinx played on their greatest fears so that they can see for themselves what their greatest strength is.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

She nailed so many of those moments. I laughed out loud at the tree growing out the side of a cliff comment.

[@havenomouth]

The "is this a pigeon" meme reference is crazy clever. It's not just a pigeon, its a "meta pigeon". It is an obvious moment of meta gaming where grog contrives a reason to go to the storm lords temple for seemingly no reason. (it was different in the campaign). When one of the players comments about something their character wouldn't know about, the rest of the cast pokes fun at them cooing like pigeons and they act like they are shooing away an imaginary pigeon. The metagaming pigeon has showed up about 25-30 times over the course of critical roll. Also Metapigeon LLC is Critical Role Productions LLC's production company for The Legend of Vox Machina

[@feloniousmonk4815]

The half a pepperbox is why Ripley only has half her hands.

[@Geth-Who]

YES for the Pratchett fandom! Not enough people know his work.

[@VampireHunter5790]

The sphynx was testing their resolve, and they passed. She needed to know that they were willing to give EVERYTHING to accomplish this goal. She had to know that they were worthy of the knowledge she has from the gifts the Knowing Mistress has given her. Vestiges Of Divergence are, like it shows in the animation, Powerful magical items not just swords but also armor, like the one Osissa sent them after to start with.

[@Eperogenay]

You got Percy's name right! Also, this was enjoyable. I'm looking forward to more!

[@djcowell91]

Yay! Love any reference to Terry Pratchet! Hope you have your emotional support Yak available for the next batch of episodes. 🙂

[@ConfuseTheMasses]

During a watch-along the cast did, Matt mentioned that ~75,000 - 80,00 people died in the initial dragon attack... In case you wanted a number.

[@Geth-Who]

So none of this is spoilers, it's just detail that Osysa skipped over: the Vestiges of Divergence are literally just the remnants of the Divergence itself - the separation of the mortal world and the realm of the gods, that stops them walking the earth any longer. It's about 850 years ago. They're different pieces of gear, but they were made for fighting against gods and their champions.

[@swordbrotherplatt9392]

19:36 did you forget about the spinning orb of death under Whitestone? Yes the chroma conclave is a big deal, but well….

[@InkyPetrel]

Guards, Guards is a fantastic book :D The Discworld series lives in my bones. I devoured all I could as a teenager, many of them more than once, and the worldbuilding played a not insignificant role in the way I think about a lot of stories. It's a rare day that some kind of reference from the series doesn't cross my mind. I love all of the dragon designs so much, and how they all move differently as well. I think Raishan is my favourite, with that almost crocodilian face, and the way she moves low to the ground, sort of rolling over structures the same way her poison cloud does. It's just so menacing, and completely...alien I guess? Not the right word but *handwave * Like, while all of the dragon designs are reminiscent of various animals, that hasn't added any kind of relatability or softness to them, like it sometimes can? It just serves to highlight that these are dangerous creatures. There's no Toothless here. Anyway, they did such an awesome job on them all :) Matt estimated that around 70-80,000 people died in the initial attack on Emon. About 1/3 of the population of the city, iirc. Alas poor Reginald, he was a libertine and a cad, and we liked him. Yep, you're right, these are about twice the size of Brymscythe. As far as DnD size categories, Krieg/Brymscythe was an "adult" dragon (so he was at least a few hundred years old, give or take), but these are "ancient", which means they've been around for probably 800 years-ish (with some wiggle room for how loosely Matt was keeping those age categories, he's never said exactly, I don't think?) but the point is yes, they're bigger, and smarter. They've had time to learn ALL the usual adventurers' tricks. Plus Thordak is larger again than the other 3, and the largest red dragon that's ever been seen on Exandria. "Whenever anyone refers to themselves in the third person... a megalomaniac" (a few scenes later) "Grog likes this belt" 😆 (lighthearted tone) "It's gonna be some random tree growing out the side of a cliff" LOL, well called! 🤣 How did we lose an entire dragon!? Vorugal, have you checked under the sofa? Osysa was MEAN, drawing on everyone's worst fear like that, but I think Scanlan got the harshest one. She's right though, they need to get past all of that if they're planning to save anything. You got Percy's name right first try! *highfive* I agree that part of Percy not mentioning Ripley was the desire not to cause trouble for the group again. But also I always read it a little as him...moving on?Sort of? Like, he's making a choice to focus on more important things, rather than vengeance. It's still not the best way to DO that, he could have told Vex, but I feel like it's maybe some growth, all the same? I dunno, could be misreading it. And there's still a lot of what you're saying as well. His face sort of relaxes a bit when he sees Vex though, and it reads to me like he's taking a breath and remembering he isn't that person anymore. Or he's trying not to be? Great reaction, thanks for sharing it, and for putting these out so fast!

[@rhianbeam1766]

Good: HELL YEAH BADASS DRAGONS Bad: Destruction of all of Iman potato potato.

[@elbruces]

*Emon. Iman was a supermodel.

[@kevonlordoftheslimes9084]

Your video description is my favorite thing (Happy surprise to get home from night shift to have this to watch)

[@purpletygertube]

So impressed by your sleuthing and predictive skills. Great job!

[@crowflight719]

Fun trivia fact: Liam O'Brien -- who does the voice of Vax - is also the voice of Vorugal (the ice dragon).

[@PaulGuy]

They all saw Ripley leave, so they all know she's still out there somewhere. The fact that she was in town recently doesn't really mean much if she isn't there now. That's part of why Percy is dismissive, plus there are bigger issues at the moment.

[@pastdark77]

Welcome to the new emotional rollercoaster. Good luck and we'll be here with ya.

[@CatherinesClaws]

percy in general is just kinda self-sacrificial, so i don't really think his point with vax was proving himself. he just really cares about has friend, as aloof as he pretends to be.

[@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll]

It's a nice fall day here in Norway and I am RELUCTANTLY TEARING MYSELF AWAY from this video in order to get some sunlight and exercise and other supposedly beneficial things. Thought you should know.

[@ciscoralmazora289]

Having mentioned Pratchett, I hope you followed Sam Vimes' entire character arc? The "Watch" series is my favorite of the Discworld books. 😉

[@Mr83nn0]

looking forward to the rest of your reactions of this season

[@johnobrien7562]

everyone calls out closing the gate as being ineffectual, but it did actually make Vorugal stop to crash through it. otherwise the dragon would've flown through - or over - and kept firing his ice breath. It may have spared them a few precious seconds. I do love Percy making the mistake of not revealing Ripley as an issue right after Victor says "I've learned from my mistakes!"... and right before Victor makes a big mistake.

[@easterslice]

I was thinking that it shows that Vex is thinking in two dimensions, while the dragons fight three dimensionally. Vox Machina does need to step up their strategy, along with their fire power.

[@Starsaber222]

A favorable take on Percy not mentioning Ripley is that while he was interested to learn that she had been in Vasselheim recently, he recognized that they had bigger problems at the moment and didn't want to distract from them. Not saying that's how he was thinking, just that it might not have been keeping secrets for the sake of revenge.

[@TheTecManiac]

Here, have some calming tea 😊🍵 ...you might need it 😅 But wow, you are really good at picking up certain things or even just predicting them, like the tree on a cliff XD looking forward to the rest of the season with you^^

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

You're right, they are connected. If you remember, in Brimsythe's lair, there was a carpet with 5 dragon heads on it. A blue, red, white, black and green dragon. Brimsythe - blue (lightning) Thordak - red (fire) Umbrasyl - black (acid) Vorugal - white (ice) Raishan - green (poison) They are also bigger than Brimsythe. That was an adult dragon. These are ancient dragons. Far larger, and far more powerful.

[@zenmastermtl]

For your D&D dragon info. There are 5 types of evil "chromatic" dragons. From least to most powerful (provided they are the same age/size.) White - Cold Breath - Savage and bestial Black - Acid Breath - Sadistic and cruel Green - Poison/Chlorine Gas Breath - Cunning and manipulative Blue - Lightning Breath - Vain and prideful Red - Fire Breath - Arrogant and greedy

[@ryanbagley3293]

And while its hard to say if it will ever come up in this story just fun to know that there are also the good dragons known as the 'metallic' dragons that are very much the mirror reflections of the chromatic ( Likewise from least to most powerful ) Brass - fire breath - Talkative and social Copper - Acid breath - Mischievous and playful Bronze - lighting breath - Brave and Direct Silver - Cold breath - Regal and Reserved Gold - Fire breath - Wise and Just

[@Iamtheultra-nerd]

Whilst yes, it is annoying that Percy didn't tell anyone about ripley (Which will probably be brought up) It is in character for Percy. Percy made the first gun, so now with Ripley making her own, Percy sees it as his problem to solve. And like Osysa said. Percy wants to be trusted, but at the same time feels like he can't be, so he tends to hide his problems from everyone else. And as he is my fav char ( And i can guess maybe yours?) I am bias for maybe not being as annoyed as others would be. But it just makes sense to me with who he is.

[@Biomacabre]

1:00:40 You got the name right so quick, that's amazing!!

[@Luzarioth]

To be fair to Vasselheim, they already survived an Apokalypse by not getting involved.

[@KestralWolfe]

Bidet, and beep beep to you! PLEASEpleaseplease look up the video of all of Viktor's scenes. You'll laugh your face off! The scene where they find Gilmore? At the table, they almost let him die. He was stuck under a bunch of nasty, and had the team looted instead of looking for him, they might have lost Gilmore forever. Luckily, Vax (Liam) did nothing but search for Shawn, and shamed the others (especially Vex XD ) for wanting to loot first. Great in-campaign moment. High stakes.

[@DracheLehre]

In another reality Vox Machina became members of the Slayer’s Take

[@fobbles_]

OOO I get to talk nerd shit! Ahem* In DnD Lore: The dragons can be separated into two (or three depending) groups: Chromatic and Metallic. Chromatic (meaning colorful) vary in 5 colors, one color for each head they’re mother, “Tiamat” possesses on her body! She’s like a colorful hydra. The pecking order for Chromatic Dragons goes as follows! Red- 🔴 top of the food chain! They are often the strongest, largest, and most known of all the dragons! Think of a story about a knight fighting a dragon, it was probably a red dragon in dnd lore. All dragons are prideful, but RED dragons wear it like a badge of honor. They are also hot headed and quick to anger. Blue- 🔵 Second runner up (but don’t let them hear you say that) Blue dragons covet internal pride above all else. They are the most likely to rule a kingdom of humans, as the little creatures fascinate them. They see their subjects as priceless as the gold in their hoard, and treat them similarly. Blue dragons are the best flyers of all dragons. They are also the most tactical, often never landing in a fight and summoning lightning to pick enemies off from a far. Where a red dragon finds pride in being the biggest, blue dragons find pride in DOING THE MOST! They’re accomplishments outweigh they’re birthright. But they are still butthurt about being momma’s second favorite, even though many could outmatch a red dragon if they tried. Green- 🐍 Green dragons are the middle child. Easily forgotten, but that’s how they like it. They hold more ambition than any other of their siblings, wishing not to just be the best, but to be the best at everything they do, constantly striving for their goals no matter the cost. They are snakes in the grass. They are the most intelligent and Machiavellian of the chromatics. They take down cities far in the future with little seeds they sew today. They lie, cheat, steal, and tell the truth when it’s the best play. If you think you’ve caught a green dragon red handed, you haven’t… also they have gills Black- 🏴‍☠️ Black dragons are the second weakens but you wouldn’t think that by looking at them. Also known as skull dragons, their skin often thins at the face making it look gaunt and sharp. They spit acid, which is actually the best option for them, and not for any other. You see… black dragons are the evil ones. All chromatic dragons do wrong, but black dragons do it because it’s FUN. They enjoy giving creatures pain. They like torture and crushing resolve. They’ll target the weakest first, run if they’re hurt, play dirty, because they like it. Also they have gills. White- ❄️ The runt of the litter yet also the most talented. White dragons are the stupidest, often not learning to speak until adulthood… so hundreds of years. BUT! What they lack in brains they make up for in instinct. White dragons hunt. They are primal. They are tigers in the grass. Polar bears. If you see a white dragon, it’s because it wants you to. They fight stronger opponents regularly for sport. They have a photographic memory and a sense of smell better than an elephant. They are the weakest, but nobody who fights one will tell you that.

[@gollumandeowyn]

In Dungeons and Dragons their are hordes of different types of powerful and dangerous monsters. Undead, Elementals, Aberrations, Giants, Fey, Fiends, Celestials, etc. The list goes on... There's a reason the name of the game has DRAGONS in it though...

[@kylemckinney5222]

I think Matt Mercer said the kill count for the attack on Emon was anywhere between 50-75 thousand people, I forget the exact amount

[@martingerlach8285]

Yes, they do seem bigger (the Dragons). These 4 are all ancient dragons, and I don't think that Brimscyth was ancient - Just adult/old. Ancient = more power, more danger.!

[@Starsaber222]

In the game, Brimscythe was a young dragon. They aged him up a bit for the show, but he was still effectively the intern of the Chroma Conclave.

[@DarcOne13]

And Thordak is "beyond ancient!"

[@justinwoolpert9381]

You can typically tell what element a dragon uses depending on its color in D&D. Red being fire, Blue meaning lightning, Green meaning Poison, Black meaning acid, and White being ice.

[@chipsalom]

Just a heads up because it'll help reduce confusion with things coming up. With the "running away" you're pretty dead on correct, except for Keyleth. She isn't running, her Arimente is literally a journey to the 4 tribes. She IS however procrastinating it, so that slight, very slight distinction will be important. The Sphinx was intentionally trying to get in their here to see if they have faith in themselves. she believes they might, or she wouldn't have brought them down. But she is trying to test them. I say this because it'll all wrap back around by the season finale and you'll see how right you actually are.

[@timidwolf]

If you're interested in dragon design, you should watch a movie called The Flight of Dragons, it has an interesting idea for how dragons work.

[@xseedingme]

enemies will also try to divide them so it's a thing they need to deal with

[@XxXxCOOKXxXx]

49:28 maybe that’s exactly what she’s trying to show them… 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Bigsteelguy4]

Onto season 2, it gets even better, but get your tissue box handy, it's a very emotional season.

[@DnD_Guru]

Keleths fear not only stems from "Elves live long" but she is a Druid and at high level they become pretty much immortal and ageless. She would outlive even the longest lived amongst those she knows

[@necromancerwu]

Also, just some background for Vasselheim. (light spoiler of lore and not plot) Though they come off as a bit of a jerk, not caring about what happens outside. Vasselheim has deep historical root and reason. So there was an age called the Age of Arcanum, where mortal's comprehension and mastery of the arcane magic was fantastic, they pretty much had fully functioning AI, and arcane magic created giant floating cities, the mortals rivaled the gods in their arrogant mind. Only a handful of people rejected such hubris and remained faithful to the prime deities. So when the age of Arcanum came crushing down (literally when their floating cities fell from the sky) as they were manipulated by the betrayer gods in their battle against the prime deities. Vasselheim was the last mortal city standing against the onslaught because of their faith and trust in the divine, until finally the prime deities triumphed against the betrayer gods. And gradually, survivors repopulated the realm but lost so much arcane knowledge was lost. So Vasselheim ever since doubled down on their divine connections, allowing only divine magic (holy magic, clerics, paladins) in the city and banned all arcane magic (sorcerer, wizard, bard), and focused entirely on defense, sanctuary and in the anticipation of the return of the betrayer gods again, so hopefully they can again stand against them as a last bastion of mortals. So in a way, dragons are just small fry, when your civilization is preparing a war with gods. Also, they didn't really make it clear in the show, Vasselheim is actually on a different continent, so yeah, Tal Dorei's woes really doesn't quite concern them much. Just look at our world, do nations come to other's rescues out of goodness of their heart?

[@SciManDjin]

For Sunken Tomb pay attention to the soundtrack!

[@Hulg93]

Yes, elfs live a very long life (750) BUT Keyleth just a half-elf (they live only 180 year) and because Keyleth is a druid she have an ability called "Timeless Body" (For every 10 years that pass, her body ages only 1 year)

[@chipsalom]

Not to mention arch druids of exandria can live over 1000 years

[@chipsalom]

Not to mention arch druids of exandria can live over 1000 years.

[@allocat586]

50:00 she's cooking

[@xseedingme]

Characters keeping secrets is a favorite thing for writers to do to build tension. It's a thing I strongly dislike but I understand why. It's just not realistic when it's used EVERY TIME a character needs to decide to open up or keep a secret.

[@crimsonhail8071]

Someone needs to give Umbrasyl some deodorant to stop those leaking pores

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

I mean, not *everyone*. (That's next season 😜.)

[@VampireHunter5790]

I'm sorry ... did she said her ORCS are home? I need an explanation XD

[@purpletygertube]

She meant her family/housemates. Sometimes she complains they are noisy.

[@davidbodor1762]

You keep saying Odessa, instead of Osysa, and Odessa is actually a city in Ukraine that was ravaged by Russians so it's a bit of an unfortunate slipup XD

[@purpletygertube]

It is. But it is also used as a first in the US and a city in Texas.

[@ryanbagley3293]

Yeah he was smaller, he was more or less nepotism hire due to him being the missing color to make up the full set of evil dragon types. these guys are like peak or near peak dragon power, which makes them individually some of the most powerful mortal creatures in existence, and together they are an apocalyptic threat

[@Luzarioth]

Say Hello to the Chroma Conclave, Thordak - Red (Fire) - THE Biggest, Ancient Dragon ever seen Raishan - Green - (Poison) - Ancient Umbrasyl - Black - (Acid) - Ancient Vorugal - White - (Ice) - Ancient Brimscythe - Blue - (Lightning) - Joung Adult The show somewhat fails in how big Thordak actually is. In the Game, he ordered Umbrasyl todo something... Umbrasyl ignored him, so Thordak picked up the Ancient Black Dragon and threw him into a Building. Dragons get more powerfull, the older they get... Brimscythe was basically the learning-disabled Kid they do Photo-Ops ;P

[@GameMasterToolbox]

Keyleth is half-elf, so her life span is shorter than full elves but longer than humans, buuuut, she is a druid. A druid aging slows down at a certain level to the point when combined with her half-elf age will be longer than an elf.

[@Luzarioth]

Talking about Dragon Designes, what you also keep in mind, there isn't a single, non-insect, creature in nature with 4 limbs AND 2 Wings. A realistic Dragon would have 2 Legs and 2 Wings

[@swordbrotherplatt9392]

39:00 yes way… it was! And everybody laughed at it too.