#like lovm is excellent

[kifu]

Unpopular opinion, but I hate hate the new animation style studios are leaning into. It's busy, it's jerky, it's hard to follow, it feels like stop motion done poorly.

[essektheylyss]

I know you said you need to stop screaming first but I am EAGERLY awaiting your thoughts on Essek in the teaser

OKAY OKAY HERE GOES.

The thing is, there's no real reason to include him.

Yes, he's very popular, but he has never historically been included as a default, validly! He occupies a very interesting space mechanically and narratively, but he is still not a PC. Yes, he's part of the Mighty Nein as a group, per canon, but not until the end, which in theory would be well beyond the first season, and so is Cad, who is not present in this teaser—presumably to preserve the mystery around [INSERT MAJOR SPOILER WARNING HERE].

I would imagine that Cad is not present because having Taliesin's voice twice is too much of a tipoff for anyone watching LoVM but not the campaigns, whereas simply having Matt voice someone is not.

HOWEVER.

There are a decent number of lines that you could choose for Essek that are about the Nein—personally, my favorite, that I've thought previously would make a really stellar trailer line, is from 124: "You certainly carve a unique destiny, don't you?" Everything down to the way Matt delivers it (which you can see here) would make it a really viable option.

But the line they went with isn't about the Nein—it's very much a line about Essek himself. "I want to unlock these mysteries. I want to dive as deep as I can into that ocean of the unknown and see what is possible." It's a line that is very specific to Essek and his actions and goals, even beyond his involvement with the Nein.

And it's placed in the middle of the pack, which frames him on the same level as the rest of the Nein! Someone who is not familiar with the campaign would hear that as simply another protagonist. But of course, he's not—unless there is some serious restructuring (more even than the restructuring present in LoVM, which, aside from introducing a few of the initial less plot-bearing aspects later, like the Slayer's Take, it's thus far structured in order), he won't come into the show for quite some time, and almost certainly not in the first season.

But we don't really have any idea how this show will be structured. There are different comments on the beginning from different sources; notably, Gizmodo mentions Calianna being present in some way initially, while no one else does. The logline most outlets are reporting revolves the Nein "prevent[ing] the kingdom from plunging into chaos when an arcane artifact capable of reshaping reality falls into the wrong hands," presumably the beacon (my beloved).

So it makes sense to mention Essek, for, you know, the obvious reasons, as comment on the beacon itself. (I'm going to guess they're simplifying it to one beacon, per the press release, for ease lol.) But this line, while about dunamancy as a whole and the powers of the beacon, is not about it directly. It's still about Essek's interest in it. It is an excellent line, and on its face, it has nothing to do with the Nein or the plot of the first fifty episodes of the campaign.

There's plenty of speculation to be done about how this might be structured, and I'm sure I'll do plenty of it because, let's be honest, I do not shut up about adaptation and translating stories between formats, it is one of my absolute favorite subjects, and this is the Nein, babey!!!

So my point here being: I think there is a lot of room with the nature of Wildemount politics to get a little wild with structure in the translation from D&D game to TV show that, while not impossible in LoVM, wouldn't really have added anything to the story, and honestly, might've taken away from it. Because the point is to watch Vox Machina become the big damn heroes! We do see tidbits of Brimscythe and the Briarwoods beyond the purview of the heroes, but mostly in ways that feel very '80s cartoon villain cameo' which fits the feel of the show perfectly.

But there are a lot of political players and forces in Wildemount that the Nein navigate whether they're aware of them or not, one of whom of course becomes a member of their party, and that's part of what makes their story so interesting. The Nein are the heroes that no one knows, who are always playing within and against the system and are hyper aware of that, and I think expanding how much of that we get to see now that the format allows for it (not necessarily a lot, not to the point of adding whole plotlines, but at least some of it) would only add to the tension and stakes, and Essek's presence in the trailer makes me wonder if they will.

[fire-of-the-sun]

I've seen takes where folks are upset that Keyleth is nowhere near as angry or confrontational in LOVM as she was in the campaign.

And yet, we've seen it in small doses in Season 1, like when she did one hell of an intimidation against that undead wolf to protect Vax, or the times she turned into Minxie.

And then in Season 2, ever since she passed through fire, ever since she learned that her people were betrayed by an imposter that freed Thordak, we've seen it grow.

Her first f-bomb drop in "Into Rimecleft".

Her frustration at the Fey Realms plants being "real assholes".

Her viciousness as Minxie when mauling members of the Herd along with conjuring that mighty Wall of Thorns in "The Killbox".

Being a fire elemental overall, which is just her anger manifesting as a massive being of fiery fury.

And then... the barely restrained venomous way she spoke Raishan's name at the end of the season.

Know where I'm going with this?

It's all building up to her own "vengeance vs. justice" arc in Season 3 once she discovers what Raishan had done.

That anger never left her, nor was it retconned out of her character. It was merely being stoked. And soon, she's about to erupt.

Excellent points! I'm no expert on the campaign so I can't pretend to know the full extent of Keyleth's character or level of aggression but I have read a bit about her animosity towards Raishan and am looking forward to exploring this side of her character next season! I already love the little connective threads they've set up between the two such as Keyleth seeing the eggs in 1x02, Raishan's introduction in 2x01 emphasizing Keyleth and, of course, the end of 2x12 as well. I think Keyleth and her arc is going to get a lot of attention next season and her story with Raishan will be a huge part of it and I can't wait!

[silverdestiny]

Hi holds up Percy :) he

He!!!

I'm new to the fandom due to the animated show but he. Is like my favorite kind of blorbo. I love he. I need more characters like he. He's plagued by trauma and has bad coping methods but he learns and grows and fights his demons (literally) and he gets some sort of good ending....

And the designs people had of him before the show are really cool too! Honestly I love the like.... trauma hair and how people interpret it. In this house we love well dressed men with traumatic backstories and he really checks all the boxes.

I'm undecided on if I will actually try to get more involved in the crit role stuff, I love DND stories but oh god there's so much content. Hundreds of hours of podcast even for just one campaign. Idk what I'd do while listening to it. But I REALLY want more Percy de Rolo content so I am MIGHTY tempted at least to try it. He.....

[nochiquinn]

campaign 3 episode 31: when all you have is a hammer

[turns twitch upside down and shakes it] where show

"you know the feywild nature of fearne" "DO I?!"

"shady ass"

"I FUCKING KNEW IT sorry that was liam"

you have a crown, you put it on

fond memories of keyleth trying to Hold Person artagan and matt just busting out laughing

"is it ticking" it's a pipe bomb!

I have processed none of this

"it isn't easy" taliesin

there is so much talking over each other tonight

taliesin you KNOW residuum is weird

you've heard of lucky charms get ready for dark charms

okay I'm back now. ish.

[justin mcelroy voice] don't drill a hole in your head

vaseline on the camera lens

the attention deficit is real

"things have been going so fast and furious" travis: [squint]

"good bit"

knowledge on a biscuit

"I love your new etsy shop!" "GOTTA START SOMEWHERE" too real, dial it back

THANK you imogen

"IS THERE THERAPY HAPPENING OVER HERE"

chetney

"I wanna hit a parent! I don't have issues, fuck you"

"my parents are great"

ashley

the entire table just DIED

oh OW

"we love you, and if we never see you again, fair play" hahahaha bioparent feels ACTIVATE if you need me I'll be in the floor

liam

liam if you mention the raven I'm gonna scream

none of us are over keyleth but liam o'brien is especially never over keyleth

matt as keyleth >

LAYS IN THE FLOOR

'this side of the fam' matthew I swear to god

"and hits it with a hammer"

liam is aiming directly for me

An Alone Place

excellent segue sam, A+

(I almost definitely spelled that wrong)

!!!

helLO?

butnotinacreepyway

gay

laURA

reminder that laura recorded grog's belch in lovm

I keep just picturing Beidou Genshinimpact but as a faun for Birdie. no I don't know where this comes from. pretty sure it's not the name.

fearne

GOD I want the orym shirt so bad

tr avis

NO

Just Cirque Things

delILAH

YEA DELILAH

'a bit'

tell the whole story delilah

oh NO

"fcg murdered their family" theorists how we feeling

four points of WHAT

SAM

WHAT

FADE?

When Internalizing Backfires

NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS A HAMMER

CHETNEY DIDN'T SLEEP

AND FCG'S THEIR HEALER

WHEN INTERNALIZING BACKFIRES

the angry eyebrows were foreshadowing

laudna :(

"that sounds like a japanese horror movie"

MATT

everybody's heart just STOPPED

(it's me, my heart stopped)

"all love is taken away" delilah and sylas are just gonna fuck me up forever huh

feaRNE

"I will behead you"

I knew fcg was gonna ruin me eventually and HERE WE ARE

fjsdlkf he had a fucking PANIC ATTACK

oh right ashton threatened to headsmash anyone that made fcg feel bad

travis is dead, we lost travis

S A M

oh for -

what's their mother's name

"I'm not an attacky thing, I'm a healy thing"

that is BAD FOR SWORD STOP IT

dad has HAD IT

gay

lore meteor shower

30 was the end of shadycreek, bc 26 was molly

STILL

[moghedien]

Your ability to see so much detail and have so many coherent thoughts about the lovm pre-watch is astonishing to me. I would need to be able to pause and rewind to catch half of what you did!

I did manage to get that the vibes were excellent though!

tbf when I liveblogged, it was my second time watching the episodes. my first time watching I was just flailing my arms around over everything lol

like when I liveblogged WoT on my first watch I definitely paused and rewound a bunch, which is why it took me 15-45 minutes longer to get through episoded than their runtime

and yes I very much liked the first two episodes and they made me very exicted to see the third tomorrow (tonight? did we ever figure out for certain when they're dropping? I'm still gonna check in an hour no matter what they say lol)

[nochiquinn]

campaign 3 episode 13: ball pit

who else is terrified that dorian being at the ball is going make his parents aware of where he is and they're gonna pull some fuckery to make him come home and that's how robbie leaves the game

trying to explain to my partner how every week we're all going "is this it? is this how robbie leaves? how are they going to hurt us???"

it is not a healthy relationship

"god help me....nord vpn" A Mood

unironically want those fidget spinners tho

laura ur sweater

laura's sweater right after the caleb comic came out

oh NO

BEAR HUG

my birthday's coming up. just sayin.

"you're halfway done!" don't remind me

"midnight tonight" false

still  not over matt's ponytail in the intro. is that a weird thing to focus on? probably!

"you've proven to be somewhat creative" true "and capable" mmmmmm

"everyone dies" "us or them?" yes

man I need to finish leverage

"was that obscene?" "yes" "I'm sorry"

"these two are really charming" YEAH they are

"I'm not as good at lying as I thought"

mala: 24 of your exandrian hours

"it's not because my feelings are hurt that you don't want to go on a date with me"

"what is this plan about?" "we're all fucking"

liam has a whole secret b plot to get the group into a polycule

at dawn we poly

"they know exactly what they're doing" yeah each other

METAPIGEONS

"it's the same plan!" "but better"

taliesin

"it won't be in my hand, I'm tucking it back" .....chetney

"if you want anyone to become suddenly punched we excel at that"

"have you ever tried putting them in your mouth" laura immediately bursts into giggles

the collective age of the table tonight is 12

sam

burt reynolds is always with us

I am only picturing lovm!elf!matt as the check clerk

thigh dagger

oh NICE

I BELIEVE IN YOU

give him a little orange zip tie, it's fine

god I love them as a group

like I love all of them always but EXU crew + imogen is winning my heart tonight

this might be a niche reference but any time a ballroom with big chandeliers is described I just picture the lobby of the renaissance waverly hotel where they used to have AWA

oh imogen's gonna have to roll for overstimulation isn't she

"there's a sharp thing over there, good to know" "currently being held by someone" "they're holding it for me"

everybody find your overstim buddy

"all of those are the same shape" "...none of those numbers you named look the same"

very "I don't respect literally any of you" vibes

they all know better now, they just remind travis of his own backstory

C POP

someone draw chetney in a jolin tsai getup pls

I want a phd in weird-ass dreams

it's full of politicians, they're all evil

copernicus and maude was my favorite nick jr series as a kid

can't believe laura murdered robbie in the parking lot

WAIT

HE????

[percy voice] new money

UNPROMPTED WHISPERS

PERCEPTION CHECK WHISPERS

sam: shit my other job

CYRUS

you ABSOLUTE DUMBSHIT

fantasy electric slide

this plan can only go well

and then a dragon descends from overhead

well that felt rude

"apparently anxiety pays off"

"oh my god I wish I could drink"

invisible prop work

all pronouns!

ONLY MAUDE REMAINS

fantasy cha-cha slide

robbie making me revisit my thing about Dudes With Ponytails

"hey STUPID get in the corner"

"I dropped an oops stone!" dkfjslk

CAN they get some sage??

LinkedIn dance

"I don't know if it's luck so much as you cutting in line"

you are not invited into the cule

oh god it's being a polyam person on a dating app

"nothing good comes from 9th level magic"

here we gooooo

YE

imogen's gonna explode their heads

marisha has forgotten how to chair

forgotten how to chair AND the notebook

robbie why do you EVER gamble on a roll, it NEVER works

propose to me by launching a ring across the room or don't bother

mala: pandemic proposal

excellent comeback fearne, a+

I was wondering if eshteross was seeing this shit

lmao poor robbie

mercury is in its gatorade this week I swear

oh NICE

I zoned the fuck out, has ashton stabbed anyone yet

rude

well now it's just foreplay

[john mulaney voice] and now I've thrown him off his rhythm

well rip cyrus

I just want to take this moment to defend myself and say that just bc I stated a fear at the beginning of the episode that doesn't mean I manifested it to come true

I didn't do this, cyrus was stupid all on his own

was emoth six kobolds in a dress

the shadow fucks!

MATTHEW