THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA 3x1 REACTION | A Deadly Bargain | Critical Role

[@dm_dude]

I just love how Grog is ride or die always. Percy starts sprinting, zero hesitation. "Right behind you Percy!"

[@shaunstudios163]

I got season 1 flashbacks from those two in that scene

[@RFSCaveman]

I also liked the detail of Percy landing on Grog after they jumped to the street.

[@dm_dude]

@@RFSCaveman Yeah. I love how much they feel like an actual team. And it’s not just the usual romantic pairings get screen time. Grog and Percy actually kinda feel like brothers. And even that scene in episode 1 where Percy helps Vax after he’s been shot down.

[@piercewise1]

I also love that moment because it shows how intentional the writing is. Case in point: "Are we all goin' out the window?" from a few minutes earlier XD

[@cobaltbeau]

Keeper Yennen's "Grand Poobah" comment is actually a reference to something from the campaign! When Percy gave Vex the title of Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt, Grog got a little jealous, so Percy named him "Grand Poobah De Doink of All This and That"

[@andrewbernal9957]

And then the scene of Grog eating a jar of mayonnaise is iconic so changing it to “Grand Poobah de Mayonnaise” makes it a double reference. That was hilarious.

[@Cabur_Skirata]

You guys think we'll get the Keyleth cliff dive moment?

[@radicaladz]

Specifically it was a scene where Grog had collected a bunch of guns after a battle and was trying to use them as leverage to trade with Percy who for spoilery reasons wasn't really holding anything of significant value to Grog and was just trying to get him to cooperate. The appropriate ways to address a Grand Poobah are as follows:- "Hey you over there" "Hey you guy" "Old bean" "Sweet chestnut"

[@synthellaart1587]

​@@Cabur_Skirata I am so hoping for the Keyfish

[@SCUBAguypnw]

​@@andrewbernal9957I ate that too is one of the funniest things Travis/Grog has said.

[@cuppa6319]

When Ripley said he improved her designs, I believe she's talking about the ones she made but never finished, since she didn't have Orthax's help like Percy did. We see her failed attempts in season 1 and her inability to do it right is what blew off her hand

[@jetvulcan2020]

the blown up one that took her hand

[@heatth1474]

More specifically, the gun Percy is using right now is her failed project. He needed a new gun after his was thrown into acid so he picked hers and made it work. We can kinda see he doing that at the end of season 1, but it is super quick and not remarked upon.

[@radicaladz]

There are multiple pepperboxes: Percy's original aka The List, his second one Retort, the rifle Bad News, and now Ripley's new weapon Animus. Also, his shock glove is called Diplomacy, and at one point he gets a set of magical restraints called Manners. I love the naming convention for all Percy's weapons being tied to forms of communication.

[@mayaenglish5424]

I always considered Orthax's "help" to be less about the actual design/ construction of the weapon and more about the fuel required to stop being in a fugue state and commit himself fully to bringing such a horrific thing into the world. Like demonic Adderall if you will. Orthax was there when Percy created it, so he could fill her in on where she was going wrong I suppose. (please don't actually demonize adhd meds that was a joke, I forgot people are weird for a second).

[@IgnisKhan]

@@mayaenglish5424 Speaking as a person on ADHD meds, that was a great metaphor. I can think of other examples in fiction, e.g., in one of the books in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, a powerful psychic gets his hands on a world-class scientist and overclocks him until he makes a major breakthrough in a universe-changing technology. This kills the scientist.

[@carlotacosta9193]

Yeah Keyleth's moral dilemma with Raishan is really complex, I like that they didn't shy away from making her stand her ground, whether she's right or not

[@synthellaart1587]

And I am glad she's allowed to be angry. I love that this is being included and delivered well, too.

[@samminicksm]

Especially since Marisha got so much hate for it. Just because it wasn’t the optimal party choice doesn’t make it a “wrong” choice. It’s perfectly true to her character. Raishan killed an eighth of her people’s population. No one truly loyal to their people would reasonably make a deal with someone who did that except under extreme duress.

[@jasonmarbach]

Yeah, Osissa (sp? The first sphinx) in season 2 called out Kiki’s biggest fear, about everyone she loves not living long enough to see her succeed. She’s gonna outlive everyone in the party, by centuries, if they all live full lives uninterrupted by violence. That’s what Vax was seeing in the vision, kind of like Aragorn and Arwen, and Vax is afraid letting love in will just hurt her more once he’s gone

[@Omn1Media]

Okay that's what I thought but felt it was trying to imply something uncertain about it!

[@brilobox2]

@@Omn1Media Rooted in game mechanics too, since very high level Druids have their natural lifespans extended by a factor of 10. As a Half-Elf Keyleth wouldn’t normally live past 200, but being a Druid she’ll likely outlive everyone’s great-grandchildren and then some.

[@PristineTX]

19:20 Percy found Ripley’s failed rough prototype pistol when they first met up back in Whitestone in season 1, after they freed her from the Briarwood’s dungeon. It had obviously exploded (in the incident that presumably caused her to lose her hand.) without the vengeance demon, she wasn’t able to produce a gun. But when she took Orthax in…

[@Omn1Media]

@@PristineTX Thank you! I forgot about the busted gun he found...thank you for clearing that up!

[@alexworoniecki7231]

@@brilobox2 Well to really get into it if every generation in a family is 20-30 years she would out live "27-40 greats" of grandkids. That is alot of grandkids to say the least.

[@InkyPetrel]

You are the first reaction that's appeared on my feed! YAY! QUICK work! :D When she said "you've improved my design" she's specifically talking about the gun Percy has now, which he rebuilt from the destroyed prototype that was in her bag back in Whitestone in S1. (We saw him pocket the broken gun in the dungeon, but it's blink-you-miss-it.) Unlike "The List", "Retort" only has 4 barrels, and he uses it all throughout S2 but it's never actually mentioned in dialogue. In hindsight, one could theorize about HOW Ripley lost her hand.

[@nightingale8178]

To touch on Percy Ripley and Guns. No spoilers Percy is behind the idea and creation of Guns, but his inventions in that depertment never fully workes untill he made a subcouncious contract with Orthax. Since then Percy has been running around with Pepperbox. Ripley as an inventor herself and probably with rummors of a gunpowder weapon started designing her own gun herself. It never worked. Prototypes went boom. Thats how she lost her hand. Percy's current Gun is finalized version of Anna's prototype. Anna finally managed to build her own pepperbox upon, apparently making a deal with Orthax.

[@kenklingler4094]

19:53 Ripley has a pepperbox, based on Percy's, but probably a new one granted by Orthax. Percy has a new gun he created based on the one he found broken in Ripley's bag. She is talking about her first gun design being improved by Percy.

[@shaskusmas]

It's good to be back!! Woo! That whole Spice thing was one of the funniest campaign moments. I won't spoil because it's absolutely worth checking out! Great reaction, can't wait for more!! EtA: No, Percy did invent the pepperbox, supposedly driven by Orthax (I've always thought Orthax fed on Percy's rage, not fueled it, despite him saying otherwise(demons lie)), which inspired Ripley to make her own gun, which blew up her hand, then Percy took the blown up prototype and improved it, then Ripley teamed up with Orthax, who was there when Percy made the pepperbox, which Ripley was then able to improve on.

[@OneWingedAngelsBand]

The Do You Spice? bit was actually done by Sam Riegel in the actual campaign. Highly recommend you watch a clip of it. It was so funny they had to include it. 😂

[@jasonmarbach]

Yeah I agree, the art and animation has taken huge leaps forward even from the beautiful caliber it was before. This might be the most beautiful show on tv now

[@jefeweizen6831]

I think she was talking about the damaged pepperbox Percy found in her bag in the Whitestone dungeon back in season one. I can't recall what happened exactly in the streamed game, but it was either her having a similar idea or her trying to replicate what Percy had made. I could also be completely wrong. Great reaction though!

[@carlotacosta9193]

I'm pretty sure you're right, Percy got his hands on Ripley's attempt of replicating his pepperbox and improved it

[@radicaladz]

I was so glad to hear Lance Reddick return, but this was also a really great display of Cree Summer's range as Raishan. She has been an animation staple since the 80s and definitely deserves more credit as a BIPOC voice actress.

[@laurahart1337]

We're back!!!!!! Trinket: Leave my mama alone!!! Also: Do you spice?

[@katienichole6905]

Naaaaaaah, dont worry about the orb. the orb is just chillin.

[@n4l9bx]

I'm sure it's fiiiiine.

[@AAAndrew]

Kicking it off in top gear! They had started in Season 2 to add on to the 3-D CGI models, like the dragons, hand-painted highlights and such. They've taken that to a new level this season. Look at all of the details and subtle shadings on the dragons now.

[@radicaladz]

10:03 - becoming an archdruid massively prolongs your lifespan, and elves like Keyleth are already very longlived, which means her outliving the others and becoming functionally immortal is a very real possibility.

[@wildbronco038]

Remember what Osyssa asked Keyleth in S2. "What do you fear more? Failing your Aramente or knowing no one (that you love) will live long enough to see you complete it?"

[@seansilence2697]

Last season started it, but this season has really been impressing upon me just how terrifying dragons are lol

[@Frosty_tortuga]

when in the live action q&a Percys player said he wanted to feel what it was like to be responsible to create something that effects the world in a bad mass way like those that made nuclear weapons now he couldn't do that so the next best thing was guns

[@TriXJester]

She was always trying to recreate Percy's initial gun, they had met once before Percy joined Vox Machina and he attempted to kill her while she was away from the Briarwoods and failed. Thats how she knew about the gun before seeing Percy again in Whitestone and why she was attempting to make a new one and blew up her hand while doing so. When he was left to die in a cell by the guards is when Vox Machina came across him and let him out and he joined them. The irony of the Briarwoods leaving her in a cell to die and being freed by VM I'm sure is not lost on any of us.

[@wildbronco038]

The acid destroyed the gun, but the demon survived and found a new "host"

[@Birdthefeatheredone]

With Orthax, the demon, Percy made the first one. Ripley copied his initial designs and tried to make her own. Now with Orthax she is the anti-Percy as coined in the live game. As for how she got the position to copy his designs, that probably goes back to the home game where Vox Machina found Percy in a prison cell. For Keyleth, a high level druid ability slows aging, giving them another 700+ years of life. So Keyleth outliving her friends is a real concern. She could theoretically outlive Vex and Vax’s half sister, a full elf. They have also combined and shifted around some of the vestige powers, like the Deathwalker’s Ward is merged with Vax’s boots of haste.

[@jasonmarbach]

Been so excited to see your reactions. Binged the first three eps when they dropped and yeah it’s official, we are SO back

[@ghurcbghurcb]

A bit of trivia from the streamed campaign. (No spoilers) The whole thing with the favor Vex owed Scanlan went very differently, originally. First off, the broom originally belonged to a dragonborn necromancer named Gern Blanston, whom VM met in Pyrah. Gern let Vex hold that broom for a few seconds while he was distracted by something else, and she immediately hid it in Grog's Bag of Holding and pretended to accidentally drop it in lava. And so the broom was stolen. Then, when Vex needed to learn the magic word to activate the broom, she came to Scanlan. He acted very judgemental, so Vex said she'd owe him one. (BTW, the magic word in the campaign sounds like spitting, it's Draconic for "candle"). To cash in the favor, Scanlan bought a witch hat and told Vex that now she has to wear it whenever she flies. Also, Vex actually had trouble shooting while flying. During a trial run she accidentally shot Scanlan in the neck. Later Percy added a seat to the broom.

[@geak78]

When they helped Ripley out of prison, Percy found her pepperbox that she tried to create but was unsuccessful, hence the missing arm.

[@SecondclassKid]

Fast turn-around !! I’m so excited to hear what you think of this season, I agree it is VIBRANT in a way previous seasons weren’t. I also feel like they’ve slightly adjusted the face animations? Are the eyes bigger or just more expressive??

[@AlasdairGR]

When you first meet Ripley in season one, Percy searches her bag and discovers a prototype four-barreled pepperbox that detonated. This is what destroyed Ripley's hand. Percy took the parts and design and made it fully functioning after Scanlan tossed the original into the acid.

[@richardsuplee8137]

The trade off for Vex's life already happened. He is now a servant of the matron. He is her paladin now. Her champion.

[@jxcefxce]

Let’s goooo! Season 3 starting off with a bang. Looking forward to the rest of your reactions Omni!

[@NightSterling]

Yes if all of Vox just live normal lives and let time do its thing Keyleth will outlive all of them

[@ZukoHalliwell]

Even Vex and Vax? *[Possible spoilers below]* (Yes, it's a rhetorical question. I know about… you know.)

[@lagggoat7170]

@@ZukoHalliwell Yep - all three of them might be the same species but Arch Druids (aka Kiki after finishing the Aramente) age 10x slower. Even Pike and Scanlan will outlive the twins, afaik Gnomes have a life expectancy of 500, Half Elves like 150 ish?

[@mayaenglish5424]

Percy invented Guns, Ripley stole the plans for them/ observed him from afar and recreated his work. It's a little vague in the animation but they go into detail in the campaign. Ripley's designs were based on Percy's work. Percy got his hands on Ripley's gun prototype in season 1 in the scene where he's emptying her bag after they let her out of the cell. So he improved on her design of his original work lol. It's Genius projectile hot potato.

[@Nitrinoxus]

Gonna have to swing back around to share my thoughts on this first episode once I've watched it -- my BF's gonna want to watch along with me once he gets off work -- but for now, I'll just say I'm hyped as hell for this season!

[@Luzarioth]

Well... Humans, Half Giants and Helf-Elves would die first, the Gnomes live the longest, Kiki is a Druid so she would outlive them all.

[@gaflene]

I'm always so impressed by how much story and character the writers are able to cram into 20 minutes, its so well balanced, and even though I've seen the whole campaign they keep me on my toes.

[@gaflene]

Vorugal looks like a big winged version of Batcher from bad batch I can't unsee best puppy 😂😂😂😂😂

[@AdamEspersona]

The Diseased Deceiver. A perfect epithet for an ancient green dragon, known for their cunning and capacity for deception. Also suits Raishan given her sickness. And yay, Kiki finally lets out her anger, I’ve been waiting for this. And what a clever bit of writing, having their first kiss happen under the Sun Tree, the same place where Vax first confessed his love in Season 1. A bit of a do-over… if not for that vision. And yeah, first episode and it’s already intense… and yeah, it’s more vibrant due to simple art evolution. It’s also going to be a lot darker, so brace yourself.

[@theunfamousone2818]

The first part about the reconnaissance never happened, but damn was it cool. I don't want to say anymore changes yet as they may still appear.

[@richardsuplee8137]

Remmeber that Thordak did say Raishan is the nost improtant oart of the plan. She could be telling the truth to them and lying to throdak. She coukd be lying to them and telling the truth to thordak. She coukd be lying to everyone. Who knows.

[@piercewise1]

14:55 The animation has definitely taken a huge leap forward this season! I don't have any numbers or sources, but with Amazon's deep pockets backing this show AND a Mighty Nein series, it seems safe to assume that Titmouse has gotten enough funding to significantly scale up their operation.

[@mathsalot8099]

Destroying the Pepeprbox destroyed Orthax's hold on Percy, but you can't destroy a demon by destroying their totems. Orthax just moved on to another "servant."

[@EpicRandomness555]

0:58 You could technically listen to the first Campaign up until the point of the show. It’d be pretty long, especially when the first 20 episodes are a story not in the show.

[@jasonmarbach]

Kiki is going OFF, dayum

[@bouboulroz]

Vax having a harder time dodging Vorugal's breath attack than Thordak's might be a game mechanic reference: As a Rogue, Vax has a feature called Evasion, which allows him to entirely negate area damage that requires dexterity to mitigate (usually a good roll will only allow you to halve it), such as Thordak's breath of fire. However Vorugal's ice breath is mitigated by constitution, meaning that not only it was harder for Vax to avoid it in the campaign, but he also wouldn't completely negate the damage even with a good roll.

[@consolescrub4031]

If we're being technical he also takes half damage from failed dex saves anyway but as a lucky rogue, it would probably take a lot for him to get that. Con saves are the most painful thing for 5e rogues usually. Slightly funny that in this show it's almost always the party members with the smaller hit dice who end up grievously injured by enemies while the larger hit dice people have had their biggest injuries self-inflicted. (Pike, Keyleth, Vax and Scanlan mechanically have less hit points than Percy, Grog and Vex.)

[@BaronesaReturns]

Binged them earlier... This is quite a ride.. This was a very strong opening for the season!

[@azlinhappley5897]

Nice job echoing the red glow of the lights in your room with the glow behind the video clip. Design nerd here, game respects game.

[@melissanotthewebsbusiness7272]

You're my first for Season 3! Good to see you again, let's go!

[@oldladywinchester]

Percy invented the gun with the demons help. Ripley was trying to reverse engineer it and that's why she lost her hand. Percy found her gun in her bags in the dungeon and used it to make the one he uses now at the end of season 1. So she already had some knowledge of the pepper box. The gun in the acid destroyed the demons connection to Percy but didn't kill it

[@galmorzu]

So happy this show and your reactions are back! I just finished watching the new eps that went up, and I swear their budget goes up every season. And the intensity and writing in general just gets better.

[@kaniamia]

Generally when you kill a demon, they’re sent back to their home plane, but not permanently destroyed. So all Vox Machina did was sever the connection with Percy and send Orthax away… No bad can come of spurning a revenge demon, right? 😉 Ripley and Orthax are basically Percy’s two exes getting together with each other. And he’s very right to be worried about that.

[@kiyara94]

Holy shit that was fast! And still got a nice discussion happening, sweet :D

[@xotmatrix]

In season one, when the gang first encounters Anna Ripley in the dungeon, Percy searches her bag and finds and takes her broken pepperbox.

[@hhylobates4098]

Vaxs visions are possibilities, in the first one the dragons were attacking a city with pale buildings, domed roofs: AnkHarel. But Umbrasyl was alive in that, and hes for sure dead now.

[@bigd4998]

It’s out?!?!😱😱ok need to watch and come back for the reaction video!

[@ProperlyGaming]

Keylith, unless she falls in battle, is destined to out live all of her friends and family. She is already an elf which those folk naturally live longer combined with the fact that she is a druid who once is powerful enough will have their life extended 4x as long if im remembering correctly. But one day she will be standing in front of the memorial to her former adventuring party crying because she is the only one left.

[@stefanopolitis2805]

Hey man I genuinely love your and especially when you react vox machina episode ! I have not seen this video right now but I will watch it later and I’m sure it’s gonna be a masterpiece ! Ty for reacting my favourite show!❤

[@iManticore]

So the vision during the kiss came from two things. 1- Keyleth is the only full-blooded elf so she's already going to outlive people on a natural scale. The second is that in dnd, lv20 druids age at a rate that they'll live 10x they natural expectancy.

[@AnxietyRat]

10:00 the matron of ravens is the goddess of death and of fate... Not of possible futures... Destiny and fate are pretty much determined to happen, usually.... So I would say that it's very much safe to assume that the visions that Vax receives from the Matron about stuff are pretty much destined to happen... I mean there is also the argument that you can kind of guide your destiny slightly, sure... But it's probably NOT easy to do... And mechanically with how Druids work within the game of D&D that specific vision is destined to happen if Keyleth gets to a certain power level... When Druids get super high level within D&D... They essentially like double and triple their lifespan... So yeah if she lives long enough and gets high enough level in Druid... that vision is going to be her reality. She is literally going to outlive EVERY SINGLE member of Vox Machina. Even the gnomes of the group who have a much longer life span than the half elves.... It's really tragic but it is the reality of how the Druid class works... Monks also have a similar ability at high levels so I guess Druids aren't completely alone in that aspect of a super extended lifespan. But there is no monk within Vox Machina.

[@Luzarioth]

Ripley had a Gun Prototype Percy got in Season 1

[@sober667]

Kiki is a druid she literaly can be immortal and live forever

[@corporealghoul]

Glad you're loving vox machina. I can't wait for everyone new to critical role to see The Mighty Nein. That was their second campaign after they finished their first campaign which was vox machina. But vox machina was created on the spot for a birthday party. With keyleth not even being created yet because marisha was just going to be there to help not play. But then the group kept playing so she made keyleth. The cast learned what they could do with vox machina. Vox machina walked so the mighty nein could run. The cost got to sit down together now with 4 years of playing together under their belts. And got to create new amazing characters that imo are the most memorable I've ever met.

[@terryandjoe]

Duuuuude!! Here we fucking GO!!

[@monsterking1973]

Welcome back vox Machina great first three episodes and glad that lance was able to finish before he past

[@richardsuplee8137]

We see that anna ripley had a gun she made that percy took when they released her from the prison. It deems loke his new weapon is modified from that.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

Keep in mind, one of the Matron's areas she's over is fate. It's nearly impossible to defy fate. As far as we know, this is what the future holds for Keyleth if she completes her Aramente. She would outlive every other party member by 200 years at minimum and 900+ in the worst case.

[@TojiChiba]

Yeah Grogs full title is "Grand Pooba DeDoynk de Mayonnaise of all of this and that" 😁

[@sandorfalusi3486]

Percy invented guns on Exandria. Orthax just gave him inspiration as part of their deal, but the design and the idea came from Percy. Ripley tried to copy his design based on descriptions, but failed. That is how she lost a hand, by the gun blowing up during a test. They found her ruined gun when they captured her, and after Percy’s old Pepperbox was destroyed, he rebuilt Ripley’s failed prototype. (these are shown in season 1, but not explained.) Then Orthax found Ripley, and since Orthax knew the original working gun that Percy made, he could give Ripley the knowledge. Then Ripley started making more guns and creating more designs.

[@horse_lover_2025]

LET'S GO. :D

[@kojiberri]

I love this show! ❤❤❤

[@dannybob42]

Orthax wasn't tied to the pepperbox, it was like a pact weapon sure but destroying the weapon doesn't destroy the demon, so a new deal has been struck between them and Ripley

[@Omn1Media]

Thanks for clearing that up! I wasn't sure how that worked!

[@dannybob42]

@@Omn1Media no worries, I can see how it may've looked that way in season 1 but it was more symbolic of its pact with Percy being destroyed rather than the creature itself. Demons and Devils have different rules when it comes to death too, when they die on the material plane they return to where they come from (Demons from the Abyss, Devils from the Hells), they can only be truly killed in those planes of existence

[@jypziiatthecrossroads9047]

Raishon's nickname is the Diseased Deceiver, doesn't engender trust.

[@VampireHunter5790]

Keyleth is in fact a druid. Top level druids age 1 year for every ten they live soooo....

[@jetvulcan2020]

Grand Poobah of all this and that is a tittle Percy gives Grog in the game.

[@Lngbrdninjamasta]

Lets goooo 🎉

[@daimonclarke]

Its hiiiiigh noooon

[@corporealghoul]

I'm wondering if the studio saw the popularity of the show... and with critical role signing them on to do a second show that will likely be just as long. The studio may have increased their dedication to the show. All studios work on a ton of shows at the same time. And it's not possible to have every artist on every show. So it may be there case where the show is now being handled by the seniors in the studio.

[@operative2136]

Titmouse, the studio handling the animation were actually big fans of the actual play show even before the animated show was a thing. I suspect, the increase in quality may have more to do with being able to work on the show while not being in pandemic lock down. Not to mention, the animators working on the project have had plenty of time and practice to become truly proficient and comfortable with animating the show. Come to think of it, given their successes, it's always a possibility they may have been able to hire additional staff to further expand their production capacity.

[@jackakimbo5718]

While I do like me a Matt Mercer cameo as a farting dealer, we were robbed of the glory of Scanlan trying to buy hard drugs from children.

[@exriel]

Can't wait for the Keyleth v. Raishan payoff.

[@mayaenglish5424]

Percy didn't get the design's for the weapon from Orthax, it's a little messy in the animation, but Percy invented guns. Orthax sort of woke him up from his fugue state and set him on the path of vengeance and helped him focus all his formidable intellect on a means of revenge. Percy loved science and was an inventor before Orthax showed up, he just made fun interesting things like fireworks and wind up toys and clocks instead.

[@N7AslansHobbit_Ry]

You talked over the explanation of Vax's vision and Kiki's destiny lol

[@Omn1Media]

I don't know what you mean, I've watched it twice now and they don't talk about it

[@Brainth_1780]

@@Omn1Mediadon’t mind them, you’re right. You didn’t miss anything of importance

[@Luzarioth]

Don't watch the intro... massive spoilers !

[@ghurcbghurcb]

You think so? I'd say the only thing approaching a spoiler is [SPOILER] Pike wearing the Plate of the Dawnmartyr. But you can barely see it for a couple frames. And really, it's pretty obvious the season's big Macguffin would be obtained, and Pike is the only one who wears armor.