The Legend of Vox Machina S1 E10-12 (FINALE!!)
Added 2025-12-23 23:28:42 +0000 UTCComments
"No pc deaths in the first season" with like 8 minutes left in the episode feels like tempting fate...
Arlemy
2026-02-18 14:37:12 +0000 UTCSo, this is another case where the special circumstances of the players are being paid homage to at the cost of some rules accuracy. For the majority of the Briarwood arc Ashley Johnson had to be in New York to film for Blindspot, but when they got to the point where all the zombies were coming out of the everywhere, someone (not sure who, it was off air I think) said "hey we really need a cleric for this bit," and so they rigged up a monitor for her to zoom in for those episodes. Pike's astral projection spell is (metaphorically) called Zoom lol so it works a little different. (Sorry if someone else got there first, I just scrolled a bit to see if anyone explained and didn't see anything.)
Arlemy
2026-02-17 19:37:36 +0000 UTCCan't wait for season 2
silentinfinity
2026-01-19 02:44:33 +0000 UTCI am so glad you enjoyed this show so much! I cannot WAIT for you to start recording S2 & S3. And for Mighty Nein - I am so curious what you'll think of that tone!
Sarah Neely
2026-01-18 18:50:10 +0000 UTCThat ENDING. Gets me every time! LOVED your reaction as you realized… “that’s more than one…that’s more than TWO…”
A Walsh
2026-01-18 05:54:26 +0000 UTCI second this (the part about watching EXU Calamity, I've been following you since Epic)! Pretty much everyone who watches is agrees that it's some of the best actual-play content ever made, regardless of system or creator.
Sarah Moore
2026-01-12 21:41:02 +0000 UTCMortius I have to say, I did not know who you were at all prior to S1E1 showing up on my YT feed. I subbed right away to see the rest of your S1 reactions and have THOROUGHLY enjoyed watching you react to the season. Highly looking forward to the rest of your reactions for the other seasons as well as Mighty Nein. If I may also suggest, as I know you are a Pathfinder/D&D player, please also watch EXU: Calamity, which is a 4-part miniseries of actual play by Critical Role which was guest-GMed by Brennan Lee Mulligan. It's essentially a prequel which takes place long before the rest of the Critical Role franchise so not much context is needed. Total runtime is about 18-ish hours. It is some of the best D&D, if not THE BEST, ever played.
Howard Chang
2026-01-10 07:22:57 +0000 UTCI don't know if anyone mentioned it earlier, but the reason Pike was astral projecting in was because the player had to leave for filming something and couldn't make it so she went on a personal quest, but was later able to skype in (2015 zoom) for the latter half of the whitestone arc. Edit after the season: Also, just so you don't get too caught up on this thinking it's leading there, Tiamat wasn't really a part of the campaign, the five chomatic dragons are their own thing
Kyle
2026-01-10 06:21:47 +0000 UTCAnd thus begins Travis' obsession with cursed weapons....
Cara Freya Hoglund
2026-01-07 09:11:31 +0000 UTCMortius mentioned reading a Fanfic wherein Cassandra was the one to escape and Percy was captured by the Briarwoods. I don't yet know how good this is, as I only stumbled upon it tonight. But here is one I found with that exact scenario as the main plot: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60380023/chapters/154112257
Oouga
2026-01-07 03:52:26 +0000 UTCI don't think I have ever watched anyone's face more closely than I have watched yours during the Sovereign's announcement. As a DM you have a good understanding of the gravity of 4 dragons attacking. Mercer is the devil. 😂😂😂 Also don't shy away from watching Mighty Nein just because you haven't seen the rest of Vox...they may be same universe but there are no spoilers. Mighty Nein takes place several years later but its on a different continent and there is very little crossover. 😉
Imara121
2026-01-04 14:06:54 +0000 UTCAm I the most unobservant person alive or is that tattoo new?
Jem Carstairs
2026-01-04 05:18:30 +0000 UTCAs a first time watcher of vox machina the only thing I can think about the finale is the little Vex/Keyleth interaction at the end there. I am desperately needing that to be a set up for a yuri plot down the road
Samantha Casimir
2026-01-04 05:15:26 +0000 UTCThanks for the reminder! It's been a while since I've watched it!
Marguerite McBee
2025-12-29 22:39:31 +0000 UTCThat nat 1 on episode 12 was chef's kiss beautiful
Marguerite McBee
2025-12-29 22:39:08 +0000 UTCI'm honestly curious if anyone's written it. Would it be boiled down to a gender-swap? Or would the author take into consideration difference in temperament? And the ships might change!!!
Marguerite McBee
2025-12-29 22:38:51 +0000 UTCI also would love to see that de Rolo swap fic if anyone has any recommendations ✋
Ink Inc
2025-12-28 04:35:44 +0000 UTCJust got home from christmas and can finally watch the last episode. Woo! So happy you loved it so much! I truly think VM is one of the best series made in the last decade. And I'm not just saying that as a die-hard Critter. It's genuinely amazingly done on all fronts - and season 1 is the weakest by far!!! Absolutely agree: Grog is the best! In campaign my fave keeps changing every like 20 minutes. In the show? Grog is best boy And I love that you adore Gilmore so much. Matt has 2 characters he's super protective about in VM. His self-insert Allura and his best boy Gilmore. We were all surprised that he did not voice him, but they were absolutely right. Sunil embodies everything Gilmore! Delilah is not a Vampire! That is something that a lot of first timers don't pick up. She is a human (mortal) necromancer, who through a ritual made her husband into a vampire to save him from dying from sickness. When they were in Emon and they went to their room after the banquet, they walk past a mirror and in the reflection you can see Delilah but not Silas - that is the biggest early hint on who's a vampire and who's not.
PumpkinSparks
2025-12-27 22:24:24 +0000 UTCIm staying vague because they did change around more than Im mentioning but Keyleths almost-death in the antimagic area was a mad dash in the campaign to carry her out before 3 death saves were failed. Iiirc it resolved with a NAT 20 Death save!
Lagggoat
2025-12-27 20:20:57 +0000 UTCBeen loving your reviews but chill with the rules my friend this world doesn't follow them 1 to 1 :P
Robert Beyda
2025-12-25 15:41:58 +0000 UTCI love your dice bit! I absolutely lose my mind with every accurate prediction
Dee Cee
2025-12-25 10:12:03 +0000 UTC"Finish a piece of media before commenting on it" Says the guy whoes whole job is commenting on media before he's finished it!
Ink Magus
2025-12-25 09:49:42 +0000 UTCWorth mentioning: Delilah wasn't a vampire, just a super powerful necromancer
Evan Moran
2025-12-24 20:28:00 +0000 UTCAlso Delilah is a human necromancer, she made a deal with rhe whispered one to save Silas and he became a vampire that way.
Clarissa
2025-12-24 14:03:15 +0000 UTCThey need another healer! The other healer is the one who needs healing 🤣😅
Clarissa
2025-12-24 13:55:04 +0000 UTCOkay the muffled whimpering joke was great lmao
Tom Kaplan
2025-12-24 10:00:46 +0000 UTCFinal Fun Facts of Season 1! - During the campaign, they find and search Ripley's workshop before encountering her and find evidence of her failed attempts to recreate Percy's guns. It's also pretty much confirmed that she blew her own hand off during one of these failed attempts. - Something that didn't get a HUGE spotlight in the show, Percy in the campaign was VERY skeptical of magic and the gods. He was very "invention over arcana" for the entirety of the early campaign, so this arc and his growing spookiness came as a BIG shock. - Mechanically there's no way their weapons would still be enchanted, yeah, but also in the campaign once they left for the castle, we were pretty much done with the rebellion. So when they fleshed it out for the show, they bent the rules a bit. Matt is definitely a "rule of cool" DM when it counts. - The acid scene is definitely one that got a more cinematic treatment for the show. In the campaign they go through a series of attempts to both stop the trap and open the glass wall, before Scanlan is able to disable the trap thanks to a section of the wall melting. - The Briarwoods (Delilah, really) have some hella good lines. Honestly, everything about them is toxic except their love for each other. - To be fair to your assumptions, in the campaign it wasn't explicit that Cassandra was under Sylas's control, though it WAS established that he could control people as with Vax. They more assumed that she was just suffering from years of Stockholm Syndrome and restrained her until after the battle. - Your opinions are 100% valid, Beam Struggle is the best thing ever. - Unfortunately, LoVM pretty much scrapped Rangers being casters, as Vex doesn't use any magic in the show. - On that note, originally it was not Keyleth that died here, rather Vex was hit by Delilah's Finger of Death, reducing her to exactly 1 hit point, after which she fell from height and took falling damage, knocking her unconscious. - Before it's true nature was revealed (much later, so look forward to that,) the Spinning Orb of Death was believed my fans to be a Sphere of Annihilation, a very fun D&D item that disintegrates everything it touches. - The spell you're looking for is "Transport Via Plants," which everyone who's ever played D&D has gotten mixed up with Tree Stride, which is ironically just a shorter range version of the same spell. - "Oh, hello dragon, you're my favorite customer!" - Can't wait for next season, it's gonna be GOOD!
HamboneKablooey
2025-12-24 07:21:58 +0000 UTCAlso, Grog being your favorite means you are going to ADORE season 2 and I cannot wait! (He is best buddies! That will make more sense later. EDIT: Wait I forgot Pike actually started calling him Buddies this season, I take that back.)
LavendersBlues
2025-12-24 06:27:07 +0000 UTCI was trying to guess things you might have seen with Kelly Hu (Dr Anna Ripley) in them, and tbh she was in like every procedural cop style show through the early to late 2010's, she was in X2 as Lady Deathstrike, she was in The Scorpion King, she was in a lot of animated Batman movies (according to wikipedia, I never saw them), she was a recurring guest on Arrow...? I'm struggling, but Kelly Hu is prolific and one of those "been in everything" type of guest stars. OH! And she's in Phineas and Ferb!
LavendersBlues
2025-12-24 06:11:00 +0000 UTCorthax is not one you would recognize from 5e canon! he's matt's own creation :))
Rae ✨
2025-12-24 05:17:00 +0000 UTCLast thought: Percy shoots left handed and needs to reload after 6 shots. While possessed, he shoots with his right hand and his gun is always loaded.
David Pierce
2025-12-24 04:41:14 +0000 UTCMatt Mercer has said that the Briarwood's control over Cassandra was a combination of magical (vampiric charm) and non-magical (grooming) influence in tandem. I choose to believe that's why she could be under their influence and still sound like herself, instead of being the shell that Vax became under charm only. You are correct about the anti-magic field being the thing that broke Pike's connection. And as she mentioned in episode 10, once it was broken she wasn't able to quickly reestablish it. Finally, about the gun: if Percy had ever completed his revenge and removed every name, 6 more names would have appeared. The violence would never have stopped. Funnily enough, both Matt and Taliesin (Percy's player) came up with that idea independently, only finding out about it during the campaign recap (since it didn't occur at the table thanks to Scanlan's intervention).
David Pierce
2025-12-24 04:33:12 +0000 UTCI for one love the dice rolling bit you do as it's fun to see how your roles line up with what's happening and it's also a funny way to talk about your theories for what's going on :D
JustAnAnxiousMess
2025-12-24 03:08:41 +0000 UTCOmggg the “heavy” sequence in the show is my absolute FAVORITE I go feral for it every time haha 😂 best track on the soundtrack too except maybe the end fight one. It’s such a cool way to show how bards work. SO cool. Ahh!
Broody Gaming
2025-12-24 02:57:49 +0000 UTCGlad you're enjoying the series, and while I KNOW I should focus on what's in front of me and not be looking this far ahead I cannot wait for you to get to The Mighty Nein. I'm riding the high of that recent finale and seriously it's so so good.
Arson
2025-12-24 02:48:44 +0000 UTCwell, just watched 11 and it's nearly 3 am and I have to leave for christmas tomorrow morning and havn't packed a thing yet - so I guess I have to wait a bit to watch the final episode... But 2 thoughts: There are more healers in the party than Pike. Both bards and druids have healing word/hand. But in the show they made a point of them learning new skills. Like the way Scanlan learned how to polymorph and the more natural and haphazard way Keyleth healed Cass. Which for one I love, it makes the world feal more real to me. But also don't always assume that a character should be able to do a thing, just because their class allows it - also they might not have chosen the spell ;) To be fair, yes Cassanda was magically enthralled so it was incredibly clear that nothing she did was her fault. I kinda wished though they explored her story with showcasing stockholm syndrome or indoctrination or something akin. I totally understand why they did not do that (both from a timing and a not deviating to much from the original perspective), but I also trust the CR hand to handle that kind of situation tastefully and with respect - it woulf have been amazing to see that predicament in different lights
PumpkinSparks
2025-12-24 01:55:09 +0000 UTCJust watched 10 so far, but had some comments so I'm gonna get them out right now Love the Henna like hells! Thought the witch hat was a dick though... which isn't a bad thing :P The dice know! You totally misse dthe quick mind control flare in Cassandras eyes (as most people do on their first watch) Usually I wouldn't point that out, but since I know you watched the other two episodes that's okay ;) No matter if campaign or show, every firsttime watcher did not see the Cass backstab coming! For a some of us it was in the back of our mind as a possibility, but at this point of time it felt highly unlikley and was a freaking shock! Berserkers don't have extra immunities, they get an extra attack when they choose to go into a frenzy for the cost of an exhaustion. BUT barbarians have ARE tanks and Grog loves his people and has the intelligence of 6, so he knows what he's doing!
PumpkinSparks
2025-12-24 00:42:17 +0000 UTC
