THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA 2x2 Reaction! | "The Trials of Vasselheim" | Critical Role

[@SebastianWeinberg]

Osysa's takedown of Scanlan was _brutal._ As a bard, Scanlan is well familiar with _Vicious Mockery_ and _Cutting Words_ - That's why his "Daamn!" sounds halfway between "Ouch! That cut all the way to the _bone!"_ and "That was well-delivered. Respect!"

[@moarblood5120]

So the irony of Grogs answer in his trial is.... for once he was using his brain ( definitely not his strength) to say that he knows the trick question is more deep/metaphorical and in so gets it wrong. Where as if he had actually used his heart to answer he would have gotten it correct. In the critical role campaign during this trial he did actually answer it correctly, but due to time restraints on getting as much into a 7 hour season and giving it more meaning I believe they are going to make it more dramatic and wait til Grog has to save the day or save one of his friends for him to realize what the actual answer is.

[@jordanpeterson5140]

I'm so glad they made Earthbreaker Groon a fullon anime old man badass.

[@GottaLookInwardToSeeOutward]

ryu and ken's sensei gouken

[@bcn1gh7h4wk]

Groon is basically Pai-Mei from Kill Bill meets Kor from Star Trek.

[@danielwhyatt3278]

Oh totally he looks awesome.

[@clownzzz4837]

I just heard Amazon has green lit campaign 2! Laura Bailey's Jester is my favorite character in all three campaigns. The black powder merchant, Victor, was improvised by Matt at the moment as he had not expected Taliesin to go searching for black powder. He quickly became a fan and player favorite, like Gilmore. Thanks for the reactions!

[@marykatedoyle9574]

I adore jester but I’m a Caleb girlie through and through. I can’t WAIT for the mighty nein show

[@operative2136]

I think there's a bit of a theme with this episode, in that it essentially lays out the obstacles that each character has to overcome to achieve their goal. Each character's personal flaw, as well as the knowledge of the vestiges. Speaking of the vestiges - some quick context: Basically the "Calamity" they refer to was a war between two factions of gods (the Betrayers and the Prime Deities). Each god equipped their mortal champion with a powerful weapon to act on their behalf. Eventually the Prime Deities won and to prevent another Calamity sealed the world (Exandria) behind a barrier so that the gods could no longer physically affect the world (ie. they need to use their mortal followers to influence the world). This event was known as "the Divergence". The weapons from the Calamity remained behind after the champions that wielded them died which is why they are now known as the "Vestiges of Divergence".

[@ShaggyRambo]

Exandria is a large world and Vasselheim has been around since the gods were battling primordial titans and each other also known as the calamity, it's a city rooted in religious traditions ruled by those religious bodies. And they are not wrong either they have the oldest most powerful city in the world, I wouldn't want to leave for a war across the Ocean w a people we never really were allies with either lol. That city has seen far worse than dragons. 🙂 And while 4 attacking at once might be an eye opener it's a very mortal/ Human reaction to assume the dragon's problem is with Emon and Taldorei while having that arrogance of "we have endured because of isolation" mentality of Vasselheim because it has ALWAYS worked for them. 🙂

[@bouboulroz]

You are mixing the Founding and the Calamity. The fights involving the titans happened before the founding of Vasselheim, during the Schism. The Calamity that Vasselheim endured happened after the Age of Arcanum, and titans weren't involved in the fight, just the factions of gods as well as mortals.

[@ShaggyRambo]

@@bouboulroz Ah thanks for the correct info. Still didn't do half bad for a quick recall at work lol. 🤣 So close

[@sybariticcupboardrat3763]

@@bouboulroz There's conflicting information about Vasselheim depending on on the source material - episodes, campaign guides, settings, etc. One version is that Vasselheim existed during the Founding, during the time of elemental chaos and survived every catastrophic war there's ever been. Maybe tens of thousands of years old. Another says Vasselheim was founded directly after the Schism. That would mean it was founded at the beginning of the Age of Arcanum. Reports of the length of that age vary too. Sometimes it's many thousands of years. One time Matt said that 'early Age of Arcanum' was around 1500 years before Vox Machina. But, if you do the math on that, that would mean the age of Arcanum wasn't very long, so Vasselheim can't be that old. Edit: Poor Matt can't keep the lore straight.

[@bouboulroz]

@@sybariticcupboardrat3763 From what I gathered, the founding of Vasselheim actually happened near the end of the Founding era. The Schism was already over, but there were apparently a few straggler primordials. It's still technically part of the Founding, even though the city was created after the Schism.

[@sybariticcupboardrat3763]

@@bouboulroz Yeah, I found conflicting information about when the actual end of the Founding era was. The stuff I found that said Vasselheim was founded after the Schism, specifically said it happened because the war had been won and mortals were safe to thrive. Eh, tail end of the Founding or very beginning of the Age of Arcanum... doesn't change when it happened by much.

[@miafiolekova5817]

Just on a side note. The black powder merchant Victor is a beloved NPC and his scenes are amazing. So u can see the joy of Victor here is a link to a supercut of his scenes, it is worth it to watch kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIucnoR3ps2Io7c

[@tlaragihai5953]

Earthbreaker Groon and Osysa were *perfect*. Groon`s speech to Grod was literal quotes from the campain. Perfect. I think Grog`s answer about "heart" was wrong because at this point he does not believe in that or he doesn`t know the source of his strengh, and Groon wanted him to say the truth. I love the sphinx. She is great and appropriately harsh for a sphinx. Also, hey, it`s Victor the gunpowder merchant, yaaaay! He`s one of the most beloved npcs in the campain, he is voiced by Matt Mercer because no one else could voice him, aaand I hope he`s okay and we`ll see him again! :D

[@WaywardVet]

Yeah, but Avatar's Boomy at the powder shop might already be a test for Percy even after being inspired. Knowing it's Ripley now I went from "Maybe they'll redeem her?" to "She's giving off Golum vibes". I know her character isn't based off a player so we're kinda at Matt's mercy here.

[@Dark__Thoughts]

Am I the only one who called it in this episode already that he meant his friends?

[@gregolsem4438]

sympathies and hospitalities = thoughts and prayers

[@illnamethechannellater653]

At least they giving hospitality thoughts and prayers is just basically sympathises 🤣🤣

[@mori1bund]

Vasselheim = Switzerland

[@violentmuse]

Lil fun tidbit. The zigguraut from last season was ORIGINALLY a temple to the Knowing Mystress, the Goddess which Osysa serves.

[@pauloskinner]

And now you know why us weird Critters say Bidet to each other :D

[@phoenixdzk]

Emon is the capital of the Taldorei continent. The near death experience from the tree was supposed to happen on the Easter continent of Wildemount, but since we don't seem to be getting the fall of Draconia, they shifted it to Vasselheim on the western continent of Othanzia Speaking of Wildemount, CAMPAIGN 2 JUST GOT GREENLIT for its own show! We're getting the Mighty Nein after Vox Machina 's story is done!

[@neintales1224]

So glad you are back to Vox Machina, and y'all are right about Scanlan being the harshest and feeling insignificant. And you're right about another thing :) Looking forward to you getting confirmation.

[@laurenceedward5910]

im sad about whats comming. i hope the mother scene will be done right, and also hoping it gets bothced because i wasnt ready the first time,

[@TrackMaster844]

4:20 - Did they recreate the meme template using Grog?? Lmao

[@IceMetalPunk]

Hey, don't be mean to Grog! He has an intelligence of 6, I think he knows what he's doing 😁

[@sarrasponda1]

I think Grog's final answer WAS the correct one: "I don't know." His first answer he chose because it's what he thought Groon wanted to hear (also what the audience expects to hear). The second one was true, and leaves room for him to go on a path to discover it for himself. Also, I think having him separate from his friends for their respective trials actually worked pretty well, since he's not really hurting for inspiration to fight, haha. He just needs the inspiration to look a little deeper.

[@AnxietyRat]

It wasn't. People who've watched the campaign know what the actual answer that Earthbreaker Groon was trying to get from Grog. Grog does eventually give him the correct answer... it will probably happen the next time they meet. But there is an actual "right answer". "Heart" and " I don't know" wasn't it.

[@sarrasponda1]

@@AnxietyRat sorry, I didn't word that very well! "I don't know" was correct in that it was true and allowed him to move forward, not that it was the final answer.

[@FLStyle]

Not a single reactor on KZbin I've seen has ever gotten the no-one can tell the difference between a cleavage and a crack joke.

[@AnxietyRat]

Yeah, I've seen maybe one or two out of ALL of the reactors on KZbin understand that joke and that it was another crack at grogs intelligence of him thinking that the butt was boob cleavage.

[@Dannydarko27]

​@@AnxietyRat its funny too since last season ep 2 he had his hands in da booty. Now he's literally in the booty but doesn't even realize it😅

[@kitchenmom]

Again I'm so happy that you two are watching this. Love your reaction to my favorite DD.

[@BiggySn1p3r]

All your questions will be answered.

[@SebastianWeinberg]

There were a couple of big lore drops in this episode - and a couple of subtle ones, sneakily dropped into side sentences, like no big thing. First you hear about "The Calamity", which was an almost 200 year long war of the gods that nearly wiped out all life on this world, and that ended (historically speaking) not that long ago - only about 800 years before the time of the show. Technically, this entire world is post-apocalyptic. Osysa casually mentions that she is the chosen of Ioun, "The Knowing Mistress", and that said goddess is wounded and still recovering. This actually ties into the story of Season 1, because the battle in which The Knowing Mistress was wounded took place where Percy's hometown of Whitestone is today. The ziggurat that lies underneath Whitestone and that the Briarwoods used to try and summon The Whispered One was once a temple to The Knowing Mistress. During the Calamity, she fought one of the evil gods there, thinking she had home-field advantage, but the betrayer god managed to wound her gravely and caused her temple to sink deep into the earth. Another god, Pelor, The Dawn Father, took over the fight, eventually won, and planted the Sun Tree that we saw in season 1, as a way to heal the ravaged land.

[@BARALover96]

I think grog needs to find it. Since he answered honestly he doesnt know which was the honest answer.

[@EugGenie]

I love that one line summary description of the season - "this season it's how to kill a dragon"

[@doug3691]

I loved your takes on Grog's trials, and Scanlan's; and, dumb as Grog ("heart" sounded right to me too) fits me also. Going from trouble in 2 cities, to trouble on 2 continents, and learning "to kill a dragon" indeed. And, learning to target vulnerabilities starts in oneself, apparantly.

[@AnxietyRat]

Heart WAS genuinely a good answer from Grog but earthbreaker Groon was looking for a very specific answer. And those of us who've watched the campaign know what the correct answer is because Grog does eventually get it right. Lol.

[@thehappyaipom]

So it's not very well explained in the show, but on of Keyleths biggest fears is being alone, and as a druid in dnd, she gets a feat at waaay late levels called Ageless Body. Which basically says she ages roughly 1 year for every 10, and as a half elf, this means she has one of the longest possible life spans of a player character, being able to literally live centuries before dying of old age, if she isn't killed before that.

[@CoL_Drake]

their second campaign is just greenlight for an animated series as well on prime ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4a9p2yGmcujsKc ALSO a first look into a movie deal with them as well Oh my god

[@superboyprime515]

Ther black powder dealer at the end gave me My Cabbages guy from Avatar,the last Airbender vibes ;)

[@thedarkknight2221]

I just love when guys who think brute strength is the only answer get their asses kicked but someone who has been honing their techniques their whole lives.

[@doug3691]

Yeah, but still love Grog.

[@PristineTX]

Good analysis.

[@selorkiith4461]

Victor is just the best!

[@mickdarcy3063]

How to Kill a Dragon and How to Kill Your Own Dragons!

[@TenebrousFilms]

Look up the Victor clips. You won't regret it.

[@dehro]

funny how so many youtube reactors really felt the sting of Scanlan's put down :D

[@Rafdi13]

#WeAreGrog

[@GottaLookInwardToSeeOutward]

the next ep will rip your guts out so prepare yourselves

[@WaywardVet]

You've clearly never worked military operations. "If you had this power, why weren't you looking into it?" ...soldier grabs random sheets of paper and shuffles them. "I was looking into this stuff! I still don't know what it is! I can't do everything at once!".

[@charlesmarkovetz9161]

i know you tubers dont have a tone of time but i think you would enjoy dnd if you had a good dungeon master to run a campaign with more of a character based game than combat oriented love the reactions

[@lamb4887]

bidet critters!

[@johncane4507]

Wait….season 2 is out now??

[@AnxietyRat]

It came out on January 20th. So yeah. It's out now. Lol

[@parsman9914]

When are you gonna react to Defenders and Daredevil season 3?

[@theawesomeman9821]

Grog looks like a Blue Kratos from "God of War".

[@AnxietyRat]

It's funny because Grog having a beard came out two years before Kratos having a beard showed up... So Kratos was kind of copying Grogs look not the other way around lmao

[@carlotacosta9193]

Osysa killed Scanlan lol

[@jonahlamond8648]

Please don't compare this to ring of power 🙏. Can we all just forget that "show" ever happened and watch this great show.

[@savankarkar9057]

1

[@aaa2115]

Harley Quinn Seaon 2 when? Please. (🙏)

[@pseudocide.]

Groon will (hopefully) but probably come back in future episodes!