The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 Episode 1 Reaction

[@Luzarioth]

The White One: Vorugal, The Frigid Doom... (Ice Breath) The Black One: Umbrasyl, The Hope Devourer... (Acid Breath) The Green One: Raishan, The Deseased Deciever... (Poison Breath) The Red One... the biggest Dragon ever seen alive... Thordak, The Cinder King (Fire Breath).

[@JirkaKunst]

I am sad they decided to discard the joke that Umbrasyl used to be named just The Hope. And then marriage effed everything up, as he hyphenated.

[@МолчаливыйКлинок]

Oh boy it`s hapenning! Also about Scanlan`s comment about Brimsythe (blue dragon from s1) being "half the size of this f...", he basically wasn`t exaggereting. Brimsythe was a young-adult dragon, meaning he was about 100 years old. Every other dragon of the Chroma Conclave is ancient, meaning they are at leat 800 years old! And the worst part - dragons only become stronger the more they age. Stronger, bigger and smarter. Basically, Brimsythe was their intern, that was tasked with dirty work before actual dragons would appear.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😯😨

[@laurahart1337]

This episode does a wonderful job of showing the hopelessness of what originally happened at the table. When Grog's 19 missed the dragon it was an "Oh @#$^@" moment for everyone and I feel it came across.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Thanks for sharing what happened in the campaign and how it translated 😁

[@laurahart1337]

@@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2 They changed a lot this season and I am here for 100% of it

[@Knightlight-kw9sh]

Fun fact: The two kids that spy on Scanlan at the end of the episode are played by Sam Riegel's (Scanlan's voice actor) kids making the moment even sweeter

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Awww 🥰

[@passenthrualaska3293]

Just to be clear, there was never a chance that Critical Role was going to allow control of this show to be taken out of their hands by Amazon. They didn't need Amazon to make this show, Amazon made it easier, and took a good chunk of the production cost off of Critical Role's back, but it could have been raised by the fans as well. If you look you'll see that the main cast of Critical Role, Matt, Travis, Marish, Liam, Sam, Laura, Ashley, and Taliesin are not just actors, they are all also Executive Producers. Sam is also the Casting Director, and there are episodes that he and Travis wrote together. As far as I know (admittedly only as a rather rabid fan) pretty much everyone who works for this show was hired by Critical Role directly, from sound, to visuals, to the writing. This show, this story, means so much more to them than any paycheck no matter how big. So sorry to preach, I just needed to make it clear that it's not great of Amazon to LET Critical Role do as they wished with their show... they had no choice. Critical Role wouldn't have entered into a contract with them under any other conditions. However, I will say that it was great of Amazon to see a franchise with enough amazing potential that they conceded to such hands-off terms, something they likely very seldom do.

[@GerroxJr1]

👆 This right here. Amazon is a platform that reached out TO Critical Role, not the other way around. As they stated in their Kickstarter campaign, "we went to several different studios and they all turned us down." So they found some animators interested, asked for $100,000 for 1, 45 min cartoon, and got 11 million for a full season. 2 months later, Amazon said, "Hey we want to procure a 2nd season and release it on our platform." There is zero doubt in the fans' minds that this show would get produced and released with or without Amazon.

[@passenthrualaska3293]

@@GerroxJr1 Exactly! Though I would add, they were turned down by some studio's, but some were interested, they just wanted to make a few changes... to make the animation family friendly. An easy hard no for Critical Role, cause that ain't their show. LoL

[@elbruces]

What was really fortuitous was that when they made their pitch, CR couldn't have known that Amazon Prime also had Invincible in pre-production, so it just happened that they were getting into adult themed animation already. Both came out at around the same time. Amazon also had an incentive to keep CR "in the family," since they're also the top live stream channel on Twitch, which Amazon owns.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Amazon had a choice. They could’ve not gotten into business with Critical Role. It would have been a mistake, but they could’ve chosen to not take CRs terms. 🤗 which is basically what you said at the end there. So we’d still give them props for not having an ego when they were told by CR “it’s our way or nothing” 🙂

[@Ironoclasty]

@@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2 I'm fairly certain that Amazon saw the potential. When Critical Role asked for $750k for a kick-starter and got $11M, the public gave a pretty strong showing that this kind of content was in demand..

[@Ozgarthefighter]

Welcome to season 2! Buckle up for a wild ride! If it hasn't already been said, a third season is already in the works and CR recently signed a multi-year contract with Amazon that includes an animated adaption of CR's second campaign "Mighty Nein" as well as first look film rights. There is going to be a TON of content coming our way in the years to come. 😁

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Very happy to hear that 🤩

[@mrpersonman9480]

Fun fact about Ancient Dragons like those 4, they have an ability called True Sight, so they can see through magical illusions and trickery like that, so it makes it VERY hard for enemies to fool them in that regard. It worked on Brimsycthe cause he was a younger dragon, not as old and powerful, so they were able to get away with it. I absolutely can't wait to see your reactions to the later episodes cause they just ramp things up for season 2!

[@SKy_the_Thunder]

The start of the Croma Conclave arc was a major gut punch when it happened in the D&D campaign. Up to that point the biggest enemies the group had to face were cultists, mindflayers, undead, an archmage necromancer and her vampire husband, and the occasional younger dragon and beholder. And always initiated by them to some degree, deliberately going into danger. But in the span of one session they were attacked in broad daylight in the safety of one of the most powerful cities they knew, by a group of enemies they immediately knew they wouldn't stand a chance against one of in the best of circumstances, watched important NPCs die, lost their home and were forced to flee in a hurry before having time to even digest what was happening. In one strike everything they got used to was upended - but told well enough to not just feel like a random "rocks fall, everyone dies." It was a genuine instance of "holy shit!" out of the blue - but there were just enough dots to connect to realize it had been a long time coming...

[@chrisriley2321]

Introducing the Chroma Conclave: -Brimscythe "The Iron Storm"- Umbrasyl "The Hope Devourer" Raishan "The Diseased Deceiver " Vorugal "The Frigid Doom" Thordak"The Cinder King"

[@CeliriaRose]

Fun note, the voice actor of the lead dragon Thordak is one of my favorite actors the wonderful Lance Reddick. He has previously performed in the tv show Fringe as Agent Broyles, the hotel concierge Charon in the John Wick movies, Sylens in Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, and Martin Hatch in Quantum Break. I was so happy when I found out they got him fo Vox Machina.

[@ferrand12]

Gotta agree lance reddick is awesome. Broyles will always have a found place in my heart

[@MrDarkSidius]

Zavala in Destiny series, also only reason to watch recent Resident Evil series

[@elbruces]

Cedric from The Wire.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Knew that voice sounded familiar 🤩

[@elbruces]

Still gonna make fun of him for "Bobbles."

[@bandi138138]

CR first approached many streaming platforms with the animation idea, but was shot down by all of them (Netflix included) When none of them wanted to invest in the project, CR decided to start the Kickstarter, and had already hired Titmouse Animation Studio, the head writer, and show runner (they were all featured in the kickstarter announcement video) Once the Kickstarter was a success, CR was in the more dominant position in the dealmaking when all the streaming platforms approached CR, asking them to give them streaming right. Amazon was the smart one and made the deal to gain the streaming right, but no creative input. All in all, I’m very glad CR was able to hold all creative rights, and kudos to Amazon to have the foresight to relinquish full creative freedom to the team (looking at you, Netflix)

[@tlaragihai5953]

I`m happy to see you again!! :33333 It`s really touching that they kept the fact from the stream that Vox Machina sheltered refugees in their keep, it`s so heartwarming (and heartbreaking, to see these poor people who lost their homes and loved ones...) And how they`ve highlighted the death of sovereign Uriel by showing the reaction of his wife - it`s really added to emotions and the scene.

[@RomnilWater]

I adored season 1 and it did pretty much everything right in my opinion but wow Season 2 goes hard. It all blew me away from art direction, sound, and story. I knew certain beats were coming but still just sat in awe. You're in for a ride. Major love to Titmouse. You can really tell how much work they put in. This is among some of the most beautiful animation I've seen in short form animation (Not counting Arcane but that show's on a whole other level in terms of presentation that's just unfair to compare anything to).

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

We aren’t animation buffs but there were definitely some parts that even impressed us that we normally don’t see from animation. 🤩

[@FLStyle]

Oh yeah you're certainly correct. Despite the story wholly based on the events of the D&D Twitch campaign, Legend of Vox Machina 100% stands on its own, Amazon has no need to exert any influence or control over the story.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Glad they understood that 🙂

[@ghostchannel4766]

8:17-8:21 Yes, actually. This is an ability called Truesight. It allows the user to be able to see through illusions.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎👍🙂

[@jefferyoneill1]

More likely it was Vorugal's blindsight, ancient dragons don't have truesight

[@ghostchannel4766]

@Jeffery O'Neill I don't find that as likely for a few reasons. 1. Blindsight specifically states the creature does not need to rely on sight for this ability. It can even be used to represent echolocation according to the Player's Handbook, though it normally depicts heightened senses (. The animation depicts this almost as a lens going over the dragon's eye and not the dragon's uncanny ability of perception. 2. Blindsight does not automatically see through illusions. The way this is depicted in the animation makes it clear that this is not a saving throw failure. It is the dragon seeing through the illusion, which is exclusive to truesight. 3. While ancient dragons do not usually have truesight, I don't think any of the Chroma Conclave follows each ancient dragon's stat block to the letter as presented in the show, and it is at least partially due to a combination of a little bit of homebrew on Matt Mercer's part to make them feel special and some senses just being easier to depict on screen.

[@kagato23]

@@jefferyoneill1 they don’t inherently have it. But we’ve seen these dragons have additional powers. Nothing stops a dragon from learning magic.

[@suntiger745]

@@kagato23 Indeed. iirc all of the four ancient dragons are also spellcasters in some respect. (I think Matt added that to up the ante a bit, because the group is 7 players which is a lot for DnD and throw some encounters out of whack. Also, the 5e stats for ancient dragons are a bit underwhelming compared to how dragons are usually viewed in lore.) Vorugal is perhaps the least caster-inclined of them and even he has some non-standard abilities. Raishan is a very skilled spellcaster, though Thordak is overall more powerful. As for Umbrasyl, well, we will see that. :)

[@landail5681]

Great to see you two getting ready to enjoy Vox Machina once more! You're in for one hell of a ride, and I can't wait to be there to see it happen. 😃👍🔥❤️

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😊🥳

[@Caiothewwe4]

This season is amazing! I can't wait to see your reactions for later episodes!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Kicked off right into the action 😀

[@Acatia2]

It's very important for Critical Role that they retain ownership of their universe, Amazon came in late as a streaming platform after CR had already vastly cleared their funding goals. With the acclaimed results of season 1, they'd be crazy to try to and wrestle the show out of the owners' hands. Also, don't worry, humour will return... it's just.... time and place. Matt (the Dungeon Master and mastermind for the whole darn thing) estimated the Attack on Emon itself resulted in about 75k casualties, not counting any deaths that may happen later when dragons now sit on the city. For context, Brymscythe, the dragon from season 1 was considered the runt of the 5 by a landslide, so a quick door shield or healing flamboyant Gilmore's face were as much as you could hope for laughs here...

[@gamerbear84]

A tone shift to serious from the oh so playful corpses hanging from a tree? :P

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Exactly! Cosplay corpses was a hilarious gag 🤣 ahhhh, CLASSIC Briarwoods ☺️😜

[@CB-eo6xo]

Good to see you two also watching season 2 of Vox Machina. Prepare for the insanity and chaos that this band of misfits are known for. Also, yeah, the brutality and gore the dragons brought upon the capitol was just plain horrifying (if also jaw dropping epic) to watch......

[@MrTS700]

Dragons at a certain point gain the ability to see through illusions and invisibility, it's called true sight

[@jefferyoneill1]

No the don't, the have blindsight, not truesight

[@madhavmandava]

the fire dragon literally went kamehameha fire dragon style.

[@Dannydarko27]

This season is possibly not just one of the best seasons to be animated, but one of the best seasons of tv ever

[@madhavmandava]

guess I was wrong about 1 of those Dragons being a druid in disguise.....but damn that was tense......also I was rewatching the se 1 ep (2 or 3 I think).....in a carpet there was 5 dragons.....red, white, green, black and blue......they are the same 4 other coloured dragons that show up now

[@TwoSevenX]

Mighty Nein is generally considered to be not only their best work but the actors' favorite campaign so far.

[@Step43099]

I think you can see it just in how well they flesh those characters out from the very beginning. They were more comfortable streaming and better and more knowledgeable at DND

[@GerroxJr1]

That's really debatable. I loved campaign 1, had to slog through some parts of campaign 2. I have no doubt the Might Nein series will be amazing, but Vox Machina will always be my favorite Critical role party.

[@Step43099]

@@GerroxJr1 that sounds more like nostalgia than anything else. But it’s definitely not any definite stuff unless the players themselves say it somewhere so no arguments here

[@danielledaniel1900]

Not really a fan of campaign 2 or 3. That me not liking alot of the characters. I enjoyed campaign 1 and calamity

[@GerroxJr1]

@Step B. I wouldn't call it nostalgia, I'd call it more relatable to some of the decisions that I make, those I choose to spend my time around, and what those people do for me, or lack thereof. Mighty Nein had more inclusion, more hard choices, and more personal stakes thay I just didn't really vibe with. To be fair to C3, I haven't given it much of a shot. C2, I stopped watching like 3 episodes before the end because it was going nowhere fast.

[@purplelikefire]

So excited for your reviews this season!

[@SeanPGorecki]

Holy Mother Of Zeus! I have been watching your reactions of DBZA, and had no idea you were also fans of The Legend Of Vox Machina! You guys were already pretty cool, but your cool-factor has jumped leaps and bounds in my eyes! I have been a critter for a while, and even have some critical role inspired music on my channel! One of my songs is campaign 2 specific, so just be warned that there are spoilers. Lol.

[@jamesmorehouse9896]

Yess!!! Welcome back to the ride!!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😁🥳

[@vake1234]

red dragon: fire Blue dragon: lightnings (remember krieg?) white: Ice Green: toxic gases Black: acid

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎👍🙂 Thanks!

[@jefferyoneill1]

@@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2 For Metallic Dragons: Gold: Fire Silver: Ice Bronze: Lightning Brass: Fire Copper: Acid Platinum: Radiant, Ice, and Healing There is only 1 Platinum dragon, and he is a god

[@jefferyoneill1]

Tiamat: All 5 chromatic damage types, one for each head

[@Luzarioth]

funfact, most of the children in this season are voiced by Sams (Scanlans VoiceActor) Children.

[@kagato23]

So the thing is: this just doesn’t happen. Dragons aren’t just territorial, they as a rule don’t get along with other dragons of other types. The good dragons (metallic) tend to maintain a polite distance. The evil ones tend to fight or if one is too powerful, the other flees. But even then they don’t serve, they run or fight to the death. The idea that four of the evil ones are working together for any length of time (barring direct orders from their god, which is not the case here) is something NOBODY in universe would have seen coming .

[@randomcourier]

eyyyy season 2 reaction! lets gooooo

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎🤟🎉

[@sirfishalot6782]

in dnd, dragons are categorized as chromatic (green, black, white red and so on) and metallic (gold, silver, platinum, you get the idea). well, there are also gemstone dragons but if i am not mistaken they are a more recent addition, meaning i dont know much about them so i wont dive into them. generally speaking chromatic dragons are evil, whilst metallic dragons are good. no matter what colour they are however, dragons are also very territorial, so even good dragons usually do not work together. on another note, the streingh of a dragon grows as they get older. the blue dragon, brimscythe, that vox machina fought in season 1 was a young blue dragon, all other 4 members of the chroma conclave, thordak, raishan, vorugal and umbrasyl, are all ancient, meaning they are a lot more powerfull than brimscythe. I am really glad you started the reaction for season 2 now, i have been looking foreward to your reaction :D season 2 is quite the wild ride and (in my opinion) a lot better than season 1, wich was already good. so enjoy the ride :D

[@bouboulroz]

Just so you know, gem dragons are only a recent addition in 5th edition. They already existed in DnD's previous editions, and were relatively popular in the community.

[@sirfishalot6782]

@@bouboulroz ah thank you, i was not entierly sure since i started playing in 5th

[@elbruces]

It remains to be seen whether metallic or gem dragons are a thing in Exandria. None have made an appearance in any of the campaigns. Also if they were, you'd expect them to show up to do something about the Chroma Conclave.

[@sirfishalot6782]

@@elbruces i mean, mollymauk had a tapestry with the platinum dragon on it, and whilst thats a god, it does imply that they exist. Also, many of the metallic dragons like to shapeshift and interact with mortals, so it would not be a surprise if maybe there were metallic dragons involved, they just chose to stay "anonymous" so to speak (if i remember correctly silvers especially value their privacy)

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Thanks so much for the help on dragons 🙂

[@doug3691]

Agreed. This one definitely isn't a farcical next step for Season 1. This sequel Rocks! Glad you're back for these.

[@korculaamv9820]

Let's aaaaaaaa GOOOOOOOO!!!!! the first bunch of epsiode are kinda fast pacey but the latter of episode are soo good and I can't wait for you to see them! :)

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😁🥳

[@toonman5099]

(End of Season spoilers but doesn't get brought up in the show): The green eyed little girl was actually Raishan (the green poison gas dragon) in disguise.

[@PSGameStation]

It's been 10 000 years! It's finaly here! I've waited for your reaction to S2 folks! Season 2 is amazing, you're gonna love it a lot I think. *whispers* Now if I could ask you to upload WoW Dragonflight videos too. :D

[@davidbergfors6820]

I have been waiting! glad you got around to this now! Enjoy what I think is a mindblowingly better season that the first. I know, how is that even possible?

[@KaraOni13]

Amazon doesn’t get final say on the end result, Critical Role is the boss when it comes to this show.

[@hour707funny7]

❤❤❤❤❤ yes so happy for you guys to react

[@DavidGonzalez-zl3dz]

Alara doesn't just got powers. Pretty sure she's like a 15th level wizard at this point in the story

[@ShavedTomato]

I've been looking forward to your reaction!

[@CptCelestialCarnage]

I was expecting you guys to jump on this one as soon as it released, given how much you enjoyed season 1. Not to be rude but what took you so long?

[@jeremiahfour]

Been waiting for this

[@jefthereaper]

To be fair, its not much of the writers, as most of the stuff is directly from the tabletop game. They just alter or improviser some scenes, but most of it is right from the stream sessions.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

But they still need to adapt the campaign sessions into a workable episode. What things to change. What to keep. What to cut. 🙂

[@DaDunge]

15:15 Critical Role could have gone elsehwere if Amazon tried to pull that stuff, Amazon only has first option on the seasons of Legends of Vox machina they don't own the show.

[@madhavmandava]

so 5 dragon elements are not the same as universal or chinese elemets.......Fire, Earth, wind, water and ether(unversal as said)....fire, water, wood, metal and earth(chinese wise) but these 5(-1 from season 1) Fire, ice, acid, poison and thunder....creepy

[@aceofspade2120]

Yak, to be clear, Critical Role is completely brilliant with zero input from Amazon. They just agreed to the platform and to continue it, as it already had a first season created. And since it was written a certain way, it's clear that season 3 was already agreed upon too, along with deals for their other campaigns. It's easily the smartest move an executive made, just let them make their already top streaming show an anime. That's money in the bank, with a cast of veteran award winning actors, directors, producers, etc. And they hired their friends. Great move and hopefully one others follow. They also have their own sponsors for their stream, etc. It built an entire company from their DnD games. A studio, different shows, a book company, art company, non-profit that donates millions around the world, etc. Critical Role didn't Amazon for anything more than a place to stream it. If they created a patreon just for watching this anime, they would have been beyond wealthy from it.

[@mattramirez2135]

Love u two

[@pandapegs3557]

Highly recommend the sonic zombie series by Balena productions on KZbin. There are like 12 videos and they are very funny. Other than that amazing reaction😁👍

[@Jaybee6881]

Its about time lol

[@gryundiksergov4449]

😍

[@prodebates9182]

The audio keeps playing for me but the video cuts out every 15 seconds. Can you play the full video so I can just watch it 😢! I use my computer to zoom and just watch the video and try to ignore the small giggles you guys do every minute or so.