The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 Episode 12 Reaction

Hope you enjoy our reaction to The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 Episode 12. Early ad-free access to reactions as well as full watch along reactions via / definitelynotdefinitive
To see all of our Legend of Vox Machina reactions including season 1 check out this playlist • Vox Machina Reaction -...
Hit us up on IG - / wearedefinitelynotdefi...
Merch -definitelynotd...
Gaming Channel - / definitelynotdefinitive
#criticalrole #voxmachina #thelegendofvoxmachina #reactionvideo

[@willcline5918]

RIP Lance Reddick (voice of Thordak)

[@bromega2477]

Don’t want to sound insensitive, but I hope Keith David picks up the role.

[@danielramsey6141]

@@bromega2477 Oh yeah! Keith David can definitely make his voice boom

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@bromega2477 you can respect the loss of a person and hope for the continuation of a character, and I agree that Keith David would be a fantastic choice.

[@willcline5918]

@@bromega2477 That would actually be a fantastic choice

[@grandpagohan1]

​@@bromega2477He's probably the only choice. I can't think of any other actors who have the same silky boom as Lance did.

[@darrenl3289]

This is when Vax went from being a rogue to being the actual champion of the Matron of Ravens, a paladin.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎🤟

[@bouboulroz]

It's worth noting that whenever Scanlan was tempted to leave a dangerous situation, but decided otherwise, a child was involved. In season 1, Scanlan makes the decision to go after Brimscythe after witnessing the death of a child. During the first episode of s2, the last thing that pushes Scanlan to go after the conclave are the 2 injuref kids' admiration for Vox Machina. In Westruun, instead of going back to Grog and Pike, Scanlan decides to evacuate the citizens by himself after looking at the sick kid. And lastly, not wanting to be a coward in Kaylie's eyes is what make him fight Umbrasyl instead of fleeing. There often were other reasons and/or people giving him arguments about what the right thing to do is, but everytime Scanlan's focus was on the kids.

[@suntiger745]

Yeah. It's hinting at what he's missing in his life, though I'm not sure he realizes it until Kaylee comes along.

[@Ironoclasty]

There's also a point to be made that while we don't have many examples of Scanlan actually chickening out, that was the impression that his daughter made on him.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Well said 🙂

[@georgerobins4110]

Amazing foreshadowing of Scanlan desperately wanting a family (even if he doesn’t know it)

[@Luzarioth]

Raishan has been in Whitestone since Episode 1. Remember the little child with green eyes that stared at grog ? yeah... Also I JUST realized something: "We have to tell the People that Hope is not lost" a nice thing to say after killing "The Hope Devourer" :)

[@Raptor213]

If you think back to the first episode of this season, when they flee the city and come to Whitestone, there's one creepy little girl that makes eye contact with grog. That's Ryshan in disguise. At the end of the episode one of the dragons meet up in Emon to review the state of things you'll notice that they're only three dragons. Because the fourth one is in Whitestone.

[@bouboulroz]

There are a few hints spread out about Raishan's infiltration. The first one is that, after recognizing Keyleth and watching them run, she's shown with an ominous smile, but she doesn't try to pursue them (in fact we don't see the green dragon for the rest of the episode). Then, as you mentioned, there's the little girl staring at Grog, who's actually Raishan. She's also obviously missing from the meeting between the dragons at the end of episode 1 since she's in Whitestone at that moment. Later in the season, the fire ashari tribe warns Keyleth that the dragon who helped free Thordak passed as one of their people. It acts both as a reminder that dragons can turn human, and a foreshadowing that a dragon might infiltrate them at some point. Lastly, during the last episode, Keeper Yennen doesn't have her birthmark on her cheek.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

​@@bouboulroz I noticed the last part of Yennen in the final scene, but I never really noticed she doesn't have her birthmark when they arrive back in Whitestone immediately after exiting the tree.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😯 will have to rewatch that now

[@Logan_Baron]

I love that Scanlan describes his dream of a family with grand children as "the best dream". He sees finding out he has a kid, not just as a responsibility he needs to step up to honorably, or something he needs to make up to her, but what he actually considers the best thing.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

☺️

[@sullenskulls9709]

As far your trust in what they do with season 3 (and onwards), don't forget that unlike a lot of other TV shows, this story has already been fully realised, and told to completion, just in another format. Sure, they may change a few elements here and there, to better adjust the story for this format, but the important plot points and story beats are practically set in stone and have all been honoured so far. Obviously no spoilers, but have faith that this story is still only going to get better.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎👍😀

[@darklps5906]

I mean there is not much to fuck up story wise, as this is their first Critical role, dungeons & Campaign which they played live on twitch. The story is pretty much written with about 120 4h streams. The hard part really was what to cut out and what to leave in, and what had to be changed for an animated medium. Amazon recently also announced that they are working on an animation to their second D&D campaign called "The mighty Nein" The main group are were the players in these D&D campaigns while Matthew Mercer was their Game Master, which is why some choice roles are still played by him, like silas briarwood from the first season

[@flaminyawn]

Yeah, there's not early as much danger of this show (and others based on their campaigns) that other shows have of losing the plot because they just want to push out as many seasons as possible.

[@alicea3421]

Story is very rarely fucked up in anything. I struggle to even think of an example beyond being simply uninteresting which would be largely subjective. Something regressive or retroactive? Maybe something like She-Hulk? (i.e. discarding every story thread with no resolution.) The story can basically be anything, as long as it's well written. Look at Mandalorian Season 3; Plot - Ok to Fine - Probably the most subjective part, someone might want something else. Doesn't really make it bad. Everything else - Awful - Largely objective, characters making decisions outside their characterization as an example. There's no reason you can't have the same main story beats and instead make it coherent, with well defined characters, good dialogue, good direction etc. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you. I don't know how much they've adhered to scenes or dialogue that they played out in the campaigns. I'm just curious what you're referring to as story, I guess. Not specifics or anything. You just mean that people like the overall plot and beats? There are plenty of badly written movies where that's also true. This usually correlates with the unexpected. In the case of Critical Role, wouldn't it just be the moment to moment that makes it appealing?

[@darklps5906]

@@alicea3421 My comment was to this series specific, cause the players themselves voice their own characters and are on the storyboard. Meaning there's no room for the studio to fuck up, with the creators of said story looking over their sholders. Besides most of the team from the studio were critical role fans already before the partnership.

[@alicea3421]

@@darklps5906 I still don't really know what you mean. That they'll adhere to the source material? Are you referring to when "writers" try to make a story their own? They could change a lot and most of the audience wouldn't know or care as long as it's well written.

[@darklps5906]

@@alicea3421 The people that made the source material are on the story board of the show. They wanted their story animated, made Kickstarter for that and broke records with the amount of money they got from their fans, 12 mio. $. They and their fans wanted the story of their campaign as an animated show, and that's how it started

[@Drakefance5]

I really like how well Critical Role and probably other dnd games translates to an animated medium. With the story being constructed not from standard narrative conventions and tropes but rather a group of people making improvised decisions with essentially random outcomes, meanwhile another person does the same to counter their activity. It kinda makes for good story telling when nothing is certain. Sure you got bits that obviously lean into tropes like the sphinx and scanlan's love song but then you have stuff like two people heading inside a dragon to place an immovable sword, just for it to not work. Can't wait to see what they do with The Mighty Nein, I'm sure Jester will make for some really fun scenes.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

All I have to say is one word: fluffernutter

[@OldGreyGryphon]

@@ShadowyFox_86 Fluffernutter better make an appearance!

[@georgerobins4110]

Jester is gonna be so amazing animated I’m so excited

[@timidwolf]

When they originally started streaming their game they were already part way through an adventure, this was Kraghammer, the second story "grandpa" Scanlan was about to tell.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎👍🙂

[@hhylobates4098]

Very unfortunate that we lost "Kingslayer" Scanlan with that arc being cut

[@x.xraven7347]

Season 3 is going to be great and I can't wait for season 1 of the Mighty Nein so much to come😊

[@jetvulcan2020]

I am a little concerned about Mighty Nein it doesn't have the same narrative flow as Campaign 1 not sure how they will break it down into seasons.

[@RomnilWater]

​@jetvulcan2020 same though I hope they can pull it off. My guess is they're going to have to cut a lot and rearrange events to make it work. Which could backfire because what made the Mighty Nien who they are was all the little things they saw on the way.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎🤟

[@Jdn33315]

I’m expecting the story order of M9 to be rearranged (maybe more than VM), but the main points to remain.

[@SilverCity-lr5ru]

Depending on the myth, dragons can reproduce asexually. One of the oldest stories of dragons is of Fafnir a king who hordes so much gold he became a dragon.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😯

[@kingscourt9559]

In the live stream when they killed the dragon, they painted “One Down” in draconic on the cave wall with its own blood. Then they gave all the gold he took back to westren

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Nice! 😁

[@hhylobates4098]

They did give some to what was left of the herd as payment for helping fight it.

[@manahakume9870]

well yes the Croma conclave arch was LONG it was 2 to 3 times longer then the briarwood arch easily, honestly to do it full justice it should stretch into season 4 when i heard season 2 was only gonna be 12 episodes i was SUPER scared they were gonna try to force it all into the 1 season, i think they can make it fine as 2 seasons but there is so much already cut that would have been fun to see ;-; also i was informed by another critter that the official taldore campaign setting books, that crit role sells, notes that dragons in this world CAN reproduce Asexually through a ritual requiring large sum of gold :o

[@ShadowyFox_86]

I disagree about stretching this over 3 seasons. It doesn't make sense within the shorter narrative form. Putting it into one season would be impossible. Spreading it over two seasons is pretty reasonable since the ball really gets rolling on the storyline from here. It's fully doable to finish the arc in season 3. Stretching it into season 4 risks audience burnout.

[@manahakume9870]

@Shadowy Fox well to get a good 4 seasons there would have to be stuff in this season that they took out, I wasn't saying specifically about what is best narrativly I was talking about if they wanted to hit everything a little closer to actual play plot points cause lots of stuff got squished together

[@codebread5315]

Looking forward to A Bards Lament! :) Season 3 will be a wild ride.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

🥳🥳

[@georgerobins4110]

The episode better be called “A Bard’s Lament” too. So I can get adequately hype lol

[@yellow_flash813]

I hope Percy gets a dope Vestige , thats all i want for the next season 😢. Nice reaction, this last episode was crazy.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Last episode was crazy indeed. And all the vestiges are pretty cool so Percy should get a good one 😁

[@tlaragihai5953]

Oh, I have so many hopes for Percy and his Vestige!

[@georgerobins4110]

I’m beyond hype for what’s gonna happen with Percy for next season :)

[@jacobmcquinn4364]

If your curious about more lore on the world of vox machina, check out Exandria An Intimate story

[@aceofspade2120]

Best part of the storylines is that it's very much how the campaign went for the live play. And after years of playing, Percy's story was the first time the stakes were so high. And Thordak is male, and female dragons lay eggs. It'll be explained next season though, but those eggs are being incubated by Thordak's heat and the gold keeping them warm

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎👍🙂

[@jmhaces]

Since dragons are intelligent beings, I always assumed that they can decide to go against what happens in nature by default and have a male dragon do something normally a female reptile would do, such as caring for the eggs. Not gonna lie, the idea of this almost all-powerful ancient dragon with a booming voice who calls himself the Cinder King incubating a clutch of eggs by himself because he's a total dad did made me chuckle.

[@grinm1899]

it's been quite a ride! Really glad that you've also recorded your final thoughts on the season

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

We always love discussing it at the end 🙂

[@Acatia2]

The comment on season 2 being "incomplete" isn't entirely unwarranted. While the show needs to cut dozens of hours of side or hyper specific stuff that wouldn't translate well in a show, the length difference between the two arcs is noticeable. The Chroma Conclave Arc was at least twice as big as the Briarwoods and reclaiming of Whitestone. Percy was the first in depth backstory that was explored in the show with trace amounts of everyone else as happenstance. Pike notwithstanding (and part of Keyleth's since visiting all tribes took a while), everyone else's backstories were developed during the Chroma Conclave. If anything the Chroma Conclave is a mega arc comprised of several smaller ones. I'd have to check an episode listing, but honestly I think it's THE biggest arc of the campaign (depending how you count the last one), so it's not even guaranteed they handle Thordakk and surrounding loose ends within season 3.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

I think it just edges out later arcs.

[@Acatia2]

@@ShadowyFox_86 I think so too. I just can't remember if there were traces of the final arc in that tiny in-between section, or if that even mattered in the first place.

[@tlaragihai5953]

I hope they will prolong both the series *and* Conclave`s arc to season four. There`s too much plot threads and unfinished relationships, I think, to finish them just in 12 episodes. I think, even if they will progress only and solely the plot of finding Vestiges and killing dragons and nothing else (which they can`t actually do), even then the season will be too action-packed. Kill three dragons in 12 episodes - too much.

[@genostellar]

It kills me to know that Thordak's voice actor, Lance Reddick, died. What the hell are they gonna do?

[@AutumnWoodham]

Funfacts Dream Scanlan's tale of traveling through the mines of Kraghammer is actually part of the campaign, being the first events that happened in the live stream. It was one of the excursions that took place between fighting Brymscythe and the Briarwood arc, and was how they met Lady Kima. In the livestream, Raishan actually impersonated another character, but they had so little of an appearance in the animated series they changed it to being Yennen.

[@ZaberFangAT]

Out of curiosity, who was it originally? I haven't seen the original campaign, just the show.

[@AutumnWoodham]

@@ZaberFangAT A halfling ranger named Seeker Assum Emring. He's part of the Council of Tal'Dorei as the Master of Information and has appeared in the show in non-speaking roles. He's most distinguished by a tattoo covering one side of his face.

[@catiasantos9470]

Thordak was changed by the fire plane/jewel, he became capable to reproduce asexually.

[@theprideling]

That’s a bit of a spoiler though?

[@catiasantos9470]

@@theprideling they asked, and it's not like it's going to ruin the story for people.

[@suntiger745]

Seeing season 2 and 3 (and probably 4) as one overarching story is in essence correct. The Choma Conlcave arc in the stream was the longest arc of the campaign and it will need at least 2 and preferably 3-4 seasons to do it justice. It's also why we usually see some bits of character development from all or most of the characters, and some of them explicitly being spread out over several seasons. A campaign is a long form medium, and even shortening it down to animation episodes the character development take place over several seasons. I'm very glad that they don't do the all too frequent "focus episode" for one character where they get their character development for the season or even series, but space out the continuous development in a manner similar to the campaign. Yes, Keyleth had a focus episode, and so did Vex. Grog had two. But even for those characters there are development that happen in the other episodes too, just more low key. Same is true even for Percy, who had the least focus this season. Even he has not been stagnant. And for Scanlan's character development being short and only at the end (and epsiode 6 with Kamaljiori), well, that's just because it's just beginning in earnest. :) I'm not sure you can say the stakes will be raised in the next season, but I can say they will remain high. And Vox Machina are not done being tested and challenged, trust me. Normal dragon reproduction do require a male and female in Exandria, though since they are also very magical beings it is quite possible that they might find a way to reproduce by magical means (arguably, even normal dragon reproduction where the female lays eggs after a mating is as much magical as it is mundane). And gold/their hoard amplifies their magic. It's why they can make things happen in their lairs as a defence mechanism in case someone is stupid enough to attack them in their home ground. Even so, Thordak is a special case even for Exandria due the soul anchor and his time on the Fire Plane. I won't reveal any details why, but Raishan in sincere in her hatred of Thordak. She allied with him because he promised her knowledge she sought. He did not deliver. Does that mean she can be trusted? Definitely not. But she is sincere.

[@lynxfresh5214]

My D&D knowledge is a bit rusty but not all dragons are evil (lawful, chaotic or otherwise) there are good ones too (based on metals such as Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc) and their leader is the deity as well as Platinum dragon; Bahamut. And yes that also makes Final Fantasy (more or less) the offspring of D&D.

[@suntiger745]

DnD borrows from so many mythologies (as well as Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, C.S. Lewis and a number of others) that there's DNA from it in most fantasy games, books and films. :) Even the Elder Scrolls, which is perhaps the least standard fantasy game franchise, has elements of DnD in it.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

I wouldn't say that Final Fantasy draws too much from DnD and more the other way around, especially with the Eberron campaign setting.

[@ryanbrooks8045]

Scanlan is going through it this season. It was a little understated in the campaign but he's a character who lived his entire life not really thinking about consequences of his actions. It's not that he doesn't care about people or he only cares about himself.. he just didn't think about those things and in this season he's really getting hammered w/ seeing how his actions affect people, namely Kaylie. And thinking about his promises to his daughter and whether or not he can keep those promises has an affect on his decisions. I'll also say that the Vex stuff has an affect on her as well. There's a reason she had trouble talking about the trip to the Fey Wild afterwards. Decisions were made and not just w/ her dad. Her stuff can get overshadowed by the more visible Vax stuff but she's going through it as well. She had her time in the limelight this season specifically ep7-8 iirc.

[@RomnilWater]

Both seasons are incredible and have their merits but I think I prefer season 2. It may be because I watched the campaign but I really love this season because it feels like a transition/setup season. Those are really hard to pull off and I think they did a really good job with it. Season 1 was really good as a stand alone story (I'm sure this is in part because the original "plan" was that there was only going to be one season) and is strong for it's narrative closure. Meanwhile Season 2 has more momentum where you can see that more is coming and events are getting larger. Vox Machina is now being tested on their resolve and while they've made progress their journey is far from over. We've now met most of the major players in this story and I really hope we get to see it to the end so that all the bits of foreshadowing and character introductions have their payoff. The running theory is it would take 5 seasons to adapt the whole campaign (plus maybe a movie to cap off the epilogue). Considering that the show seems to be gaining momentum it's certainly possible we might get it all which is incredible.

[@CptCelestialCarnage]

Dragons in D&D can infact reproduce asexually by consuming parts of their (gold-) hoard.

[@madhavmandava]

Oh god now grog just reminded a scene from the movie dragonheart....must watch movie... Sean Connorary is in it

[@Jdn33315]

I’ll be interested in how the future Vestiges are interpreted on screen. Kinda like how the powers for Vax’s armor changed from the campaign to better suit the story. Some of the other Vestiges might do that as well.

[@madhavmandava]

Did vax did a Bruce Lee pulling Chuck's chest hair?...a chunk of it is painful

[@ShadowyFox_86]

I disagree that Scanlan wasnt a runner before this season. He has consistently shown he was a runner in every part of his life, not just his love life. He wanted to run in Episode 1 of the first season after they fought the dragon the first time. He wanted to run as soon as they got something to clear their name in season 1 (prior to their final fight with the Briarwoods). He wanted to run at the beginning of this season. He has been a coward since the beginning. His handicap at this point is himself, not him gaining something to lose. He is having to come to terms with his selfishness in the last episode. It's only the memory of what Kaylie said that helps him not abandon his friends to death. He's got a long and winding road ahead.

[@johnobrien7562]

This. He specifically tried to run right before the Brimscythe fight in S1E2 (Vax had to pull him through the portal), and yes, he was talking about going back to Emon with the evidence to clear their names (only to turn it back on Keyleth). They focused on that this season for very good reasons.

[@TriXJester]

This might of been the first time the crew of Critical Role has had a Big Bad in their house, it won't be the last

[@Huskeybear76]

Season 3 this 0ctober 2024.

[@aaronbourque5494]

Just because you pass one test doesn't mean there won't be more ahead.

[@Fnuggi16]

I'd love to see you guys reacting to the Lackadaisy pilot

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

It’s something we do intend to check out eventually 😅

[@FiniKoneko]

You guys should react to the new apex content!

[@GerroxJr1]

FINALLY! I was going to wait to watch them all at once because they came out in batches of 3.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

So when it came out you waited a month to see it all at once? 😯

[@Jackosaurus01]

Dinotrux

[@NeutralTea]

dragonborn are a race too. They, like Drow and Githyanki are not always evil, eve n their priginal dragon color type is considered normally evil.

[@Ryenyethescienceguy]

I have a film recommendation: Network. It is really good

[@madhavmandava]

So little Scanland has redeemed himself

[@TenebrousFilms]

Deathwalker's Ward, exalted! It happened later than this, and was triggered by Gilmore pushing Vax off a bridge. Not surprised they went for something more dramatic than humorous... though Laura was just as miffed as Vex that Liam/Vax got to fly too. Mythcarver, in its exalted form, can confer four melee attacks on the bearer, for a point of exhaustion. It's a magical effect, well represented here; bards rarely get to to wade into the fray. Remember how Grog split Brimscythe's skull? That was actually his killing blow on Umbrasyl. Vax got the killing blow on Brimscythe, but I can see why they switched things around for Scanlan's arc. There's a video called The Story Of Vox Machina that goes through all the pre-stream stuff; one of the drawings involves Vax slashing Brimscythe's neck, so maybe the whole 'where the twin rivers meet' thing actually happened? Critters that have dug up such details would know better than I. It's made writing fanfic for those times challenging; I assumed Vax got his Boots of Haste as loot from the leader of a guild of thieves, until one of the comics revealed they had been a reward from a mage.

[@leonielson7138]

This won't make sense for a couple seasons, but, "The Meat-Man cometh ..."

[@ABitofEverythingCounts]

This channel used to be great, what happened?

[@wiredjerk]

One thing to remember, this series is based on a long D&D campaign. Matt Mercer proved his storytelling prowess with how he led these characters into places and scenarios to evolve through their own choices, and none of the characters are fully formed yet. They’re all in the process of going to where they’re going to wind up, Scanlan, Vax, Vex…everyone. I fully believe that Scanlon was and Wayne, his options of leaving everyone in surviving for Kaylee’s sake, but it was her scornful words that were stopping him the whole time and goading to him into proving himself, and her wrong. The whole “Even if I leave and survive…she still won’t accept me…” kind of thinking. Which isn’t much of a departure from his character, because it wasn’t until the kids died did he decide to actually go after Brimscyle.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

Unfortunately, the surviving for Kaylie's sake really hasn't become a focus for him yet. He's just a coward at this point. Even his player has said it. Scanlan would rather run and save his skin in most situations up to this point. Kaylie calling him on it is what has started to shift him away from cowardice.