#critical role vm

[caitmayart]

🎶It's Been a Whiiiile!🎵

Got nostalgic today and realized I haven't drawn these nerds in literal YEARS, so had a bunch of fun drawing them all being silly ♥

Love these Shits.

[slayerscake]

You think they had to remix the VM symbol so they wouldn't get sued by gmail

[pyrotechnicdarts]

well.

[forgetriestowrite]

wait imagine M9 get back from absolutely decimating the evil oligarchical hive mind on Ruidus and they're a team of middle-aged badasses including that obscure weird human duo that's been running around Wildemount solving conspiracies and government corruptions for the past 6 years

and everyone who was in that room in Vassalheim is just like "How have we NEVER heard of you before???? You're like the least subtle people ever??? And you're insanely powerful??? How the FUCK did this slip under our radar???"

[locuas642]

Say it with me: "Tragic Backstories for Mirror Villains aren't there to force you to feel sorry for them. They are to reinforce the point of what would happen should the heroes abandon their morals."

[roll4gay]

Half of episode 104 has been this and it’s incredible

[im-the-knight-of-stardust]

That they kept the chair next to Laura empty for Vax is something that can be so personal actually. Let me just break down crying in the corner over there.

[liltaireissocute]

modern AU

chaotic brother will always help his sister get her princess kissed

[gorgynei]

vaxleth + vex and keyleth's conversation about vax in c1e56

[denndrawings]

tender pike and vex moment post vex’s resurrection for @ wlwmages on Twitter as a part of @ CritRoleAction! 🇵🇸🍉

[etoilesdeglace]

*cue top tier combat*

[burr-ell]

Sometimes Things That Shake Up the Status Quo are Worse

I keep seeing people insisting that Exandria "can't return to the status quo, which was bad", but rarely do they say anything in support of that argument beyond "the Primes pick and choose favorites!". And while I'm not confident the show itself won't try to make that claim, the reality is that it just isn't borne out mechanically or narratively. Laying aside that non-Divine Soul sorcerers exist (like, and I'm just spitballing here, Aberrant Mind Ruidusborn), the gods work primarily through the on-the-ground efforts of clerics and paladins—people who have actively and consistently put in the work to devote themselves to the divine. This is a setting where resurrection magic, which relies on divine power, has been intentionally made more difficult than it is in DnD rules-as-written. Even clerics only get access to Divine Intervention at level 10 (when they've already spent a long time devoting themselves to their deity) and up until level 20 the chances of it actually working are vanishingly small—and level 20 clerics are both hard to come by and ultimately still limited.

In the rare event that the Prime Deities choose to bless someone who isn't a cleric or paladin, it's someone who has a good reason to have gotten their attention. Vax offered his life during a divine ritual in the burial site of the Raven Queen's most devoted champion and then actively committed himself to her cause. Yasha was an aasimar being mind-controlled by a devil who wound up at a divine altar and chose to worship Kord after he freed her. Orym is the devoted widower of someone who is in Melora's realm and was present at a ritual in a temple associated with Melora, and one of his companions prayed at a shrine to Melora on his behalf. Vex was directly in front of Pelor, had taken a leadership position in one of his sacred cities, and had received a vision from him directly—and even then, she had to earn it. Scanlan also had to earn the right to Ioun's favor and complete a trial, and had previously shown qualities and values that she believed were fitting of her champion. Fjord was a companion of a devoted cleric of Melora who had sought her help in keeping Uk'otoa sealed and made requests of her on Fjord's behalf, and Fjord also chose to meditate and then became a paladin devoted to her.

And in Exandria, if you don't want to follow a god, you don't have to. Percy, Keyleth, Grog, Beau, Veth, Caleb, Essek, most of Bell's Hells, the average commoner in the various cities the parties have traveled to—whether they outright dislike the gods as a whole or just don't have an interest either way, they're all capable of thriving with or without them, and indeed their problems are almost entirely caused by mortals. It's especially egregious when you consider that cities like Avalir were around during the Age of Arcanum, when the Prime Deities physically walked Exandria, and people like Laerryn, Patia, Zerxus, and Lacrytia Hollow—openly disdainful of the gods or even trying to create feats of magic to get on their level—were continuing business as usual. The previous god of death not only willingly abdicated in favor of a mortal during this time, but outright helped her do the job!

The Prime Deities can't win. If they didn't give anyone any power at all, they'd be viewed as selfish. If they'd stayed on Exandria after the Calamity, they'd be foolish and reckless. They're simply not capable of intervening and helping everyone, so they're labeled capricious. If they leave Exandria, they're abandoning not only their refuge and home, but also the people who need and rely on them. You can argue that "no one should have that much power" all you want, but I think it's exceptionally silly to take an argument meant to criticize the wealthy and powerful of our world (whose only unique quality is ultimately that they got lucky) and apply it to fictional deities (beings who are powerful by their very nature) who, while flawed, also think they're too powerful. They tried to protect Exandria from themselves and the Betrayers while still using their power to do right by the people there, and for the most part it was working just fine.

The "status quo" from before all this was and still is the best compromise available. No one has managed to sell a better one that doesn't amount to "cater to my blorbos and my self-indulgent idea of revolutionary politics, which may or may not also ultimately circle back to my blorbos". I think that's pretty telling.

[mayapapaya33]

Eventually people have to come to terms with the insane fact that narratively Percy and Jester shared the same role in the party...

Ok now that everyone is screaming at the screen in outrage and confusion, I shall explain myself. It's common knowledge that at least half the party had a crush on/fell in love with Jester right? Well guess what!? At least half the party ALSO had a crush on/ fell in love with Percy! That's right! Percy and Jester are the Party love interests. At some point in time, most of the members at least thought about both of them! (Exceptions being Caduceus and Grog, romance isn't their thing).

For Jester it was Fjord, Caleb, and Beau. Off the top of my head, they were the main three. I don't remember if anyone else had a crush on her, but you can cite sources later lol. Maybe Yasha a little but I don't remember. She charmed everyone, half romantically, half platonically.

For Percy it was Vex, Pike, and Tary as the main three, and apparently Keyleth briefly if I'm remembering the C1 wrap up (rip) correctly. And Scanlan that time under the effects of a potion lol. Also, some dubiously platonic kisses and face touching from Vax thrown into the mix lets be real. I do remember Liam point blank telling us to ship it and who am I to argue with the man? C1 E13 (1:38:36) lmfao. Basically, everyone other than Grog at one point looked at Percy and was like, hmm, maybe I'm in the mood for tall, pale and human.

[pyrotechnicdarts]

percy is canonically farsighted btw. in case you didnt know

[puwumats]

the wine's got me fucked up thinking about the keyleth/orym parallels. something horribly tragic happens to people you care for. it was a deliberate, and callous act, and killed innocents for no other reason than to further the one responsible's goals.

and now, due to world-ending circumstances beyond your control, you have to sit at a table with your friends and that very same evil and talk to them like they are your equal. some of your friends even want to side with them, however temporarily, for some higher goal. but you can't stop thinking about all those that you lost, because of this person. and the anger bubbles and boils away right underneath the surface of your usually-sweet demeanor, until you explode or die.

"you called a hit on my family. a successful one - fuck you" and "call me child one more goddamn time" are the same frustrated and bitter cry, just in a different key.

[locuas642]

*Wanting to talk about changes in "The Legend of Vox Machina" but in a "oh my god, isn't the adaptation process from one medium to the other fascinating???" way, not in a "is it good or bad?" way*