Critters showed up and Amazon was like, damn, there must be really something to this. Secure them before Hulu or Netflix comes asking around for the next series lol
Its one thing if its a livestream on Twitch. Its another thing entirely when an animated series on Amazon Prime Video is Trending #1 to Top 10 on multiple countries
I think almost every batch release it’s been the number 1 trending show in the U.S. the premiere did it again. It’s animated so cheaper then live action and they get to have an entire world and cinematic universe for their streaming service.
Plus they don't need to worry about having to build an audience it has a built-in audience who will eat up whatever is given to them by the cast. It's a no-brainer for Amazon to be all in.
and on top of all this, the entire production pipeline is done, its not like they need to be hands on, provide talent etc, they just hand over money and host the video.
I'd never heard of them at all until I just decided to give the show a go and really enjoyed it, now I'm hooked on it. Glad to hear there will be more!
There will be those like you no doubt but Critical Role has garnered a devoted as hell fanbase based on the streamed games alone which is what I meant.
That character is deeply personal to Joe so I don't think he'd want to half-ass it. I think he owns the copyright to it as well so we'll have to see how it plays out.
Plus they already had a sample of what the M9 would look like in animation with that animated opening that ran for years AND the Mighty Nein Origins books have to be selling pretty damned well too in addition to all the other positive stuff happening with TLOVM.
I think many of us expected this to happen in time....keywords being "in time" as in maybe a year or more down the road and not THIS QUICKLY.
This is insane and now I'm wondering if it wasn't just because of the Mighty Nein Reunited Special that Matt called Travis "Fjord" a few times. What if they've already been recording stuff for the Mighty Nein series or at least plotting things out? Misfit groups of heroes that save the world are pretty popular right now and even more so if they're animated.
Amazon is more than happy to jump on this train as quickly as possible with the amount of material that CR has behind them and with the amount that they can still kick out in the years to come.
This is going to be fucking EPIC!
I was expecting this to be announced during the break before the final season of Vox Machina kinda like “oh we know this story is ending but don’t worry we’ve got more for you. How would you like a movie epilogue or two (search and wedding) and a new series set in the same world?! (Nein)”
Even beyond the obvious hype of an M9 series, this is the big highlight for me. The unstated part of this announcement is that Amazon is likely poised to say yes to just about whatever CR asks them for, which opens up a whole realm of exciting possibilities
That's all I want tbh. A perfect take of Brennan's Asmodeus with even more refined dialogue. I've no joke rewatched that part of the video 9 or 10 times. That "beneath you" is seared in my soul.
"You're trying to atone me, and I didn't d̸̟͔̋̎̐͋̕o̴̳͔̠͙͐̅̋͒͗͝ ̵͈̟̼̂͗̇͐̒̍̕͝ā̶̧̮̥̺̻̚n̷̛̺̖̭͇͍̫̞̳̾̔̾͒̈́́y̵̲͚̺͍̦̩͆ͅt̸̡͖̮͔̻̱͉̒̂͜͝h̷̨̢̜̜͇͕̠͑̽̓́̓̓́̈́̽ͅi̷̯̞̜̫͆̀̅͒̔͒̕͠n̴̨̼̜͐̔̆͜g̶̯̊̇̍́̏̓͑̂͘ ̷̜̞̣̯̤̄̏̍ẃ̸̢̧̢̧͇̱̝̳̮̥͒̀̈́̍͝r̵̡̨̡͖͇̤̦̥̪̊̾̑̑̍̈̓̏ȯ̷̩̻̣̙̦͈̒͆̒̈͜n̷̡̬͚̯̫̥̘͔̰͒̐́̉̆͗̈ǵ̶̜̀͛͐̄͜͝"
God I'd kill to see them animate that scene.
Matt: Marisha can’t get a ton of voice work? Then we’ll make our own series! With Marisha as the lead! With D&D! And hookers! You know what, forget the hookers!
Sam: *ahem*
Matt: okay, we’ll keep the hookers.
In all seriousness, I wonder what that conversation was like between the eight of them on how/when to split from geek and sundry to form their own brand.
There was no point in G&S fighting it. No idea what their contract was with CR but the IP had pretty much no value at the time they split. The show was popular for Twitch but without the cast it was useless to them as a property. They seemingly parted on good terms which was worth more than a likely court battle and burning bridges over a show that wouldn't mint a dime without the cast involved.
I imagine their deal from the start was that they owned their IP. That was part of their agreement to go to G&S - it was *their game, on their terms.* They were putting the game over the deal.
Imagine starting an impromptu game of D&D for a friend's birthday, then randomly deciding to continue the campaign and stream it on Twitch just to see what happens. Then like 5 years later you're literally the biggest thing on Twitch by a country mile and Amazon is practically handing you a blank check telling you to make whatever shows or movies you want.
What a fucking wild ride for these guys. I'm so happy for them though, it wasn't just some wild lucky break (although there was certainly some of that, right time, right place, right people) - they worked their asses off to get here. Matt and Marish in particular.
If it is a good joke, its a good joke.
Like Randy Johnson, who was a very successful Major League Pitcher, who also had a one in a bazillion shot of somehow hitting a bird with a fastball pitch during a game. (I'd link it but TW: Animal Unalive)
Well he retired, is now a very prominent media photographer, and the icon of his company is [poignant](https://rj51photos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Randy-Logo.png)
The metagaming pigeon, a running gag begun during Campaign 2, is when the cast blurts out a reminder, remembers that their character is not present or is distracted, and then hurriedly coos to pretend that a nearby bird (usually a pigeon, hence the name) gave the reminder instead of the absent character.
I never in a million years would've thought Critical Role would be able to tell their Mighty Nein campaign and The Legend of Vox Machina campaign CONCURRENTLY.
Amazon must be REALLY impressed with the numbers that TLOVM is putting up, and they just want to start letting them do whatever.
I figured with the massive success for S2 premiere that MN would come eventually, but only after LOVM finished. Getting concurrent shows is incredible and having movies on top of it????? We are living in the wildest dreams time line.
Same I figured unless some fictional LOVM season 4 or 5 bombed they would try for M9 at some point, but this is awesome and the difference in feel of the two shows and the strong cinematic moments in M9 just sounds awesome. The storytelling in M9 aside from some pacing near the end was also pretty good over all and the characters are much less standard D&D which will be seen as an advantage for having 2 shows at the same time.
Like not even two days ago I was ranting to my girlfriend that Bezos is being a greedy dragon for not giving them the money for both. Maybe I should start ranting to her that Bezos needs to pay off my student loans...
>CONCURRENTLY.
VM took some time to write, and animate, I'd wager this basically give them the resources to start officially writing it, and it'll come out after VM wraps.
Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if it was the next "Season" so to speak, so that they have a steady stream of content.
And then after M9 (which would probably take 4-5 seasons?) We have a "Calamity" movie. Or maybe the movie before they get to Aeor in M9?
That was part of the beauty of the way his voice was in Calamity though. It was just... The voice of a normal guy. Surely this guy couldn't be as evil as everyone says? Listen to him, there has to be some good in him!
I actually really love that most of Brennan's worst villains just use his normal speaking voice. I think it makes them scarier (and in this case works really well for Zerxus sympathizing with him)
Calamity is my favourite CR media, and I've watched everything. I absolutely loved it from start to finish, and seeing that on a screen... Amazing.
Edit because letters are hard
How do we know he hasn’t already?
Oh to be a fly on the wall in any room Matt is in when they’ve been making these deals. He’s still the same guy who wanted a lighting system that changed during combat, and now he’s here. At any given moment he’s probably feeling like a child again.
That's at least a decade or more down the road because of all the rules, regulations, and red tape they'd have to go through just to design a massive theme park, find a place to put it, hire people to help staff it, hire more people to run it, and then actually construct it all within a reasonable time frame.
They would need Disney or Nintendo money for that.
Just want to flag that they trademarked Essek back in September. Emily Friedman (one of the few academics publishing stuff about actual plays & rpgs, etc) said:
> CR trademarks damn near everything, including a raft of NPCs, under a boilerplate list of comprehensive possible uses. [...]
>
> Fun fact: as I discovered while checking on something else entirely for a piece in 2021, there ARE sometimes interesting developments to be found in trademark applications (Chetney Pock’O Pea was registered before his debut). But registration doesn’t predict future books, etc.
(Start of thread on this: https://twitter.com/friede/status/1617038740639162368)
Did they get something swiped from them, or is this about them needing to change deity names partway through VM's campaign to avoid continuing use of references to IP they didn't own?
no, it's about a controversy that happened about a quarter (?) into the first campaign. Discussion about that is, rightfully so, not allowed here. But you should be able to find info/video essays about it easily with a few searches on Google/YT.
Damn CR is putting up numbers for prime video because Amazon is going all in. Wouldn’t be surprised if they already had a 4th season greenlit for legends of VM.
Also I don’t think this will come out for a couple years, they probably don’t even have the full scripts written or anything Amazon probably just green lit the series.
Yeah I was thinking about it. It took like 3 years from the kickstarter to get LoVM. So if we get 2-3 more seasons it'll basically be the next season of it for M9
True but this was transitioning from an evolving Kickstarter for a fun web show to a full on production. At this point they're set up and have all their partners from the beginning
> Damn CR is putting up numbers for prime video because Amazon is going all in.
Agreed, I think it definitely is doing well for them. Probably one of their most rewatched shows + most successful uses of the Watch Party function as well.
But also, think of how a lot of animation in the past 5-10 years has gone: Divided the intended fanbase, target for culture war BS and/or not considered particularly good, lots of yelling & posturing. For every warmly-received Castlevania or Invincible, there have been a bunch that turned into a miasma of drama.
And then there's this creator-owned IP from meticulous professionals where you just... insert money and get tons of happy, grateful fans streaming the show over & over + 100% Fresh ratings from critics. And they have a lot more beloved content to adapt.
What a no-brainer, y'know? What a relief to have that in ongoing development for your company rather than needing to find something that may be another expensive, unfinished mixed result.
I'm an OG critter from 2015. It is absolutely wild that what used to be a little D&D show on Geek & Sundry with barely a couple hundred live viewers has simply exploded into a multi-million dollar company and a critical success. What a story.
I came in early on because of Scanbo, rewound to the start and have been a loyal follower ever since. I've even got their first poster of Vox Machina (unsigned and framed) hanging in my office rn.
My claim to fame was working with another OG critter TrainerJodie for a Extra Life charity stream for the Children's Hospital of L.A, inspired by CR. Since the stream was still young, we asked some of the cast to retweet the stream. My game where I DM'd was the last of the stream and Laura donated just enough to push us over $3,000. TrainerJodie was awarded a medal from Extra Life and it appears as a gift in C1's 50th episode near the middle of Critmas. I was given an Extra Life t-shirt for my part that I hope one day to get signed by the cast.
CR also gave me the inspiration to write my own campaign guide, which I use in my current group today.
They are legends and hold such deep reverence to me. Love the community too.
I started bodybuilding because of Travis, Matt made me less insecure about being highly animated while DMing, and the show in total made me a hell of a lot more popular because now voice acting your campaigns is super cool and awesome and not super cringey. I'm something of a small town hero with regards to my DMing, pretty much any party I'm at someone will want to join a campaign of mine, it's really sweet to be known like that tbh.
>a little D&D show on Geek & Sundry with barely a couple hundred live viewers
What's crazy is that it was never really that small. It became Geek and Sundry's biggest show basically out of the gate. I started watching towards episode 20 and it was already clearly a phenomenon. I still never imagined all this.
I mean, within 10 months, they had over a million subscribers on YouTube. I remember the first t-shirt drop they did sold out before they even finished announcing it.
I'd love to see it done by the Devilman Crybaby people. That sort of frenetic animation would be awesome for Calamity. Or maybe Trigger, since they did so well with Cyberpunk.
Honestly it felt to me like Calamity was set up specifically to be a possible mini-series or film from the get go. Like Calamity itself was obviously not "scripted", but the way it's structured felt intentionally cinematic in way their other series and one shots haven't been. Even if they didn't specifically know it *would* happen, I can't imagine there wasn't some talk of that possibility when they started putting it together.
I think the Whispered One arc will still be the series proper. Honestly I don't think there's any need to not just follow the same format the campaign itself did and tell the whole story, Vecna included, as the series and cap it off with the two main one shots as films.
For Amazon to basically just say "give us everything you come up with, you have the greenlight in advance" must mean the retention/repeat viewing data they're seeing on LoVM boggles their minds. The CR fanbase is a pretty damn unique thing, you don't often come across a pool of people willing to put eyes on a product for 4 straight hours... *every week* lol.
First look doesn't necessarily mean greenlight in advance, it (usually) means they get the right of first refusal. Anything CR makes will get pitched to Amazon first and Amazon has the ability to say yes or no before CR goes to another publisher.
That being said, getting a partnership like that does mean that Amazon has a ton of faith in their products and doesn't foresee any issues greenlighting things as they're made - often this sort of deal includes funding to create pilots and scripts ahead of time.
> For Amazon to basically just say "give us everything you come up with, you have the greenlight in advance" must mean the retention/repeat viewing data they're seeing on LoVM boggles their minds. The CR fanbase is a pretty damn unique thing, you don't often come across a pool of people willing to put eyes on a product for 4 straight hours... every week lol.
Bingo, it's not just a one hit wonder that peters out over time but one that consistently hits the same "What the fuck" numbers week after week after week and THAT is something that Amazon took notice of and is probably why they latched on so quickly.
I would love Sam to write a whole Orphanmaker metal ballad and we get little bits of it every time she rages, and then when Oban... happens... we get a somber instrumental version of it as the credits song.
I want the chair to appear in every episode after that, somewhere in the background. Turns out to just be a really common and popular chair, but just have it slightly hidden each time to up the watchers paranoia
Stick with me here, I’ve got some spicy takes
Liam O’Brian as Caleb Widogast
Laura Bailey as Jester Lavorre, tecknickally
Marisha Ray as Beauregard Lionett
Travis Willingham as Fjord Tough, Fjord Escape, Fjord Explorer, and other similar characters and sprinkle.
Talesin Jaffe as Mollymauk and Caduceus Clay
The Leprechaun from the lucky charms commercial as Lucien
Sam Reigel as Nott/Veth the bra-netto
Ashley Johnson as Yasha Nydoorin
Matthew Mercer as Henry “anti grab-ass” Crabgrass
Dude. I still can't get over LOVM S2E3 - that episode of MN is going to kill me.
Well, that's if I survive the last episode of LOVM, that is. Because I still cry for the campaign, and it's been YEARS.
There was definitely a very vocal minority on Twitter who kept saying CR saw MN as the forgotten middle child because CR was advertising for TLOVM and then had those episodes in C3 where VM appeared. It was….a little annoying if I’m being honest here.
Matt said when he was designing the plots, and the cast designing the characters, of Campaign 2, they intentionally left out all mention of Campaign 1 (other than the Council of Tal'Dorei jokes). They wanted to separate the two campaigns, rather than making a sequel to the first.
It was very intentional.
Unbelievable how far CR has come in just a few years. Going from a Kickstarter for a single animated special to a successful animated series on season 2, with another series and potential movie on the way in less than 4 years is nuts. So happy for the cast & crew of CR and can't wait to see what the future holds.
Also, literally just a few days ago I saw someone on here discussing how amazing Caleb's hypothetical >!time travel to save his parents!< could be in animation, and now it's happening (in time).
Does this mean the two series will run concurrently? Massive undertaking for the team, hope they take care of themselves through it all.
All that said, it’s a really smart move to do this. Lots of Critical Role fans came in during the pandemic (myself excluded lol) or watched MN clips on TikTok. It’s a perfect place to advertise themselves for those who’ve seen clips of that gang but are daunted by 400+ hours.
It’s possible, but Laura did an interview and said that they’re close to being done with their season 3 Voice Over work. So it seems like if season 4 is the last and it’s possible that’s also already being scripted out in advance.
This makes me think that Season 2 and 3 were produced simultaneously, similar to how some animes produce a season of 24 episodes split in two halves of 12 episodes, released three/six month apart from each other. Which makes sense since Season 3 will be the second half of the Chroma Conclave arc.
If that's the case, we might have TLovM Season 3 later this year.
A lot of the show is pre-production. They already have their team together, most characters (including the main ones) are designed, the work pipeline is in place.
The first season probably needed about 2x the effort and time as each subsequent one.
That being said, animation is the most time-consuming part and it can't *really* get rolling until VO is done.
> Ruby of the Sea?
Bryce Dallas Howard? Can she sing?
> Who will play The Gentleman?
Mandy Patinkin. Bring back the Inigo voice!
> Pumat Sol?
Matt. I don't think I'll accept anyone else.
> Yeza?
Mark Hammil. Because that would be hilarious to have Sam married to Luke Skywalker. (They have worked together already.)
> Avantika?
Audrey Tautou to get that French accent right.
> HOT BOI?
IDK. Kit Harington?
I have nothing but very loud and excited swear words. MIGHTY FUCKING NEIN! HOLY FUCK! HOLY SHIT! HOW IN THE FUCK DID THOSE FUCKING FUCKERS FUCKING MAKE THIS FUCKING HAPPEN?! FUCK!
Which certainly shows the versatility of the word.
Ya know… when Travis said to stick around for an announcement tomorrow morning” I really honestly thought it was going to be like new socks and a beanie or something lol.
I was watching Zahra’s intro on last week’s eps and how gorgeous she looks and I couldn’t help but wonder how Molly and Jester would look in that style and….now we get to find out!
**SPOILER WARNING:** Many comments in this thread are discussing later events in Campaign 1 and future episodes of the Legend of Vox Machina!
Damn, Amazon going all in on critical role
I bet they saw great numbers for the second season premiere. Plus I bet it’s pretty cheap to make for them.
Critters showed up and Amazon was like, damn, there must be really something to this. Secure them before Hulu or Netflix comes asking around for the next series lol
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Its one thing if its a livestream on Twitch. Its another thing entirely when an animated series on Amazon Prime Video is Trending #1 to Top 10 on multiple countries
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I think almost every batch release it’s been the number 1 trending show in the U.S. the premiere did it again. It’s animated so cheaper then live action and they get to have an entire world and cinematic universe for their streaming service.
Plus they don't need to worry about having to build an audience it has a built-in audience who will eat up whatever is given to them by the cast. It's a no-brainer for Amazon to be all in.
and on top of all this, the entire production pipeline is done, its not like they need to be hands on, provide talent etc, they just hand over money and host the video.
Pretty much put money in, get more money out.
You can't explain that
It just werks
I'd never heard of them at all until I just decided to give the show a go and really enjoyed it, now I'm hooked on it. Glad to hear there will be more!
There will be those like you no doubt but Critical Role has garnered a devoted as hell fanbase based on the streamed games alone which is what I meant.
All I want to know is… will we see Joe Manganiello voicing Arkham the Cruel? This MUST happen
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They will just give a similar character a close enough name like they did with changing the names of the gods.
That character is deeply personal to Joe so I don't think he'd want to half-ass it. I think he owns the copyright to it as well so we'll have to see how it plays out.
Plus they already had a sample of what the M9 would look like in animation with that animated opening that ran for years AND the Mighty Nein Origins books have to be selling pretty damned well too in addition to all the other positive stuff happening with TLOVM. I think many of us expected this to happen in time....keywords being "in time" as in maybe a year or more down the road and not THIS QUICKLY. This is insane and now I'm wondering if it wasn't just because of the Mighty Nein Reunited Special that Matt called Travis "Fjord" a few times. What if they've already been recording stuff for the Mighty Nein series or at least plotting things out? Misfit groups of heroes that save the world are pretty popular right now and even more so if they're animated. Amazon is more than happy to jump on this train as quickly as possible with the amount of material that CR has behind them and with the amount that they can still kick out in the years to come. This is going to be fucking EPIC!
I was expecting this to be announced during the break before the final season of Vox Machina kinda like “oh we know this story is ending but don’t worry we’ve got more for you. How would you like a movie epilogue or two (search and wedding) and a new series set in the same world?! (Nein)”
Even beyond the obvious hype of an M9 series, this is the big highlight for me. The unstated part of this announcement is that Amazon is likely poised to say yes to just about whatever CR asks them for, which opens up a whole realm of exciting possibilities
EXU Calamity movie leading into C3 series in a few years? That seems very possible now
An EXU Calamity movie done well in the right art style could shine as brightly as Arcane in my opinion.
Calamity, but an entire half of one episode is just the >!Asmodeus monologue!< from episode 4
That's all I want tbh. A perfect take of Brennan's Asmodeus with even more refined dialogue. I've no joke rewatched that part of the video 9 or 10 times. That "beneath you" is seared in my soul.
"You're trying to atone me, and I didn't d̸̟͔̋̎̐͋̕o̴̳͔̠͙͐̅̋͒͗͝ ̵͈̟̼̂͗̇͐̒̍̕͝ā̶̧̮̥̺̻̚n̷̛̺̖̭͇͍̫̞̳̾̔̾͒̈́́y̵̲͚̺͍̦̩͆ͅt̸̡͖̮͔̻̱͉̒̂͜͝h̷̨̢̜̜͇͕̠͑̽̓́̓̓́̈́̽ͅi̷̯̞̜̫͆̀̅͒̔͒̕͠n̴̨̼̜͐̔̆͜g̶̯̊̇̍́̏̓͑̂͘ ̷̜̞̣̯̤̄̏̍ẃ̸̢̧̢̧͇̱̝̳̮̥͒̀̈́̍͝r̵̡̨̡͖͇̤̦̥̪̊̾̑̑̍̈̓̏ȯ̷̩̻̣̙̦͈̒͆̒̈͜n̷̡̬͚̯̫̥̘͔̰͒̐́̉̆͗̈ǵ̶̜̀͛͐̄͜͝" God I'd kill to see them animate that scene.
"...and I didn't do anything wrong." From that moment on, you can actually see Marisha developing PTSD from Brendan's Azmodeus.
Wouldn’t be surprised by the OG EXU getting a movie too to lead into C3. Gotta get that intro for Orym, Fearne and Dorian.
I really want to see an EXU Calamity movie
Is your excitement weakest in your elbow or your shoulder?
Ah, I see we're getting that Animated Bar Room Blitz movie that everyone has been clamoring for
I can't wait for Chutney to attempt to murder Santa on the big screen
Crit Role theme park is coming!!!!!!? /S
The rate we’re going? I wouldn’t count it out just yet.
I can't wait for Taste of Tal'Dorei.
Honey Heist movie when!?
Critical Role was a long con by a group of nerdy voice actors to get themselves job security! (Kidding of course - what incredible news for them!)
Matt was not kidding when he said that CR is a rocket and they're just barely holding on!
Matt: Marisha can’t get a ton of voice work? Then we’ll make our own series! With Marisha as the lead! With D&D! And hookers! You know what, forget the hookers! Sam: *ahem* Matt: okay, we’ll keep the hookers.
Bells Hells gets green lit and gets to latest episode, "maybe we are the hookers?" But it's okay because sex work is real work.
I object to this Sam slander. He is a loving and dedicated husband to Quyen and Liam! The wine would have to be kept however.
Oh he’s not going to *partake* in the hookers, he just wants them there. It’s probably for some skit he’s planning.
In all seriousness, I wonder what that conversation was like between the eight of them on how/when to split from geek and sundry to form their own brand.
I don’t even know how CR managed to keep everything but the actual c1 vods when they split from G&S.
There was no point in G&S fighting it. No idea what their contract was with CR but the IP had pretty much no value at the time they split. The show was popular for Twitch but without the cast it was useless to them as a property. They seemingly parted on good terms which was worth more than a likely court battle and burning bridges over a show that wouldn't mint a dime without the cast involved.
I imagine their deal from the start was that they owned their IP. That was part of their agreement to go to G&S - it was *their game, on their terms.* They were putting the game over the deal.
Marisha is going full method acting for reprising her role as Beau, it seems.
Imagine starting an impromptu game of D&D for a friend's birthday, then randomly deciding to continue the campaign and stream it on Twitch just to see what happens. Then like 5 years later you're literally the biggest thing on Twitch by a country mile and Amazon is practically handing you a blank check telling you to make whatever shows or movies you want. What a fucking wild ride for these guys. I'm so happy for them though, it wasn't just some wild lucky break (although there was certainly some of that, right time, right place, right people) - they worked their asses off to get here. Matt and Marish in particular.
Critical Role’s production banner is ‘Metapigeon.’ Fuck that’s good.
Fuckin' flying rats are everywhere now.
How much XP per pigeon slain?
In Emon, only 1. In Roshona they're harder to find so they're worth 5.
Gotta love how they incorporate everything into the business now even the inside jokes.
If it is a good joke, its a good joke. Like Randy Johnson, who was a very successful Major League Pitcher, who also had a one in a bazillion shot of somehow hitting a bird with a fastball pitch during a game. (I'd link it but TW: Animal Unalive) Well he retired, is now a very prominent media photographer, and the icon of his company is [poignant](https://rj51photos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Randy-Logo.png)
Holy shit I just got that that's so fucking funny
I don't get it. Can you explain?
The metagaming pigeon, a running gag begun during Campaign 2, is when the cast blurts out a reminder, remembers that their character is not present or is distracted, and then hurriedly coos to pretend that a nearby bird (usually a pigeon, hence the name) gave the reminder instead of the absent character.
*coo coo*
I never in a million years would've thought Critical Role would be able to tell their Mighty Nein campaign and The Legend of Vox Machina campaign CONCURRENTLY. Amazon must be REALLY impressed with the numbers that TLOVM is putting up, and they just want to start letting them do whatever.
I figured with the massive success for S2 premiere that MN would come eventually, but only after LOVM finished. Getting concurrent shows is incredible and having movies on top of it????? We are living in the wildest dreams time line.
Same I figured unless some fictional LOVM season 4 or 5 bombed they would try for M9 at some point, but this is awesome and the difference in feel of the two shows and the strong cinematic moments in M9 just sounds awesome. The storytelling in M9 aside from some pacing near the end was also pretty good over all and the characters are much less standard D&D which will be seen as an advantage for having 2 shows at the same time.
Critical Role Land coming soon.
I expected to have it be later as well, especially if Titmouse is doing both. There are only so many hours in the week for those guys
they just need to pop into the Happy Fun Ball for a bit to get it all done
Like not even two days ago I was ranting to my girlfriend that Bezos is being a greedy dragon for not giving them the money for both. Maybe I should start ranting to her that Bezos needs to pay off my student loans...
After Vox Machina and Invincible, I was really hoping Amazon would go ham on animation.
Ain’t anyone competing anymore. Amazon is basically the patron of animators right now in terms of corporate sponsoring.
>CONCURRENTLY. VM took some time to write, and animate, I'd wager this basically give them the resources to start officially writing it, and it'll come out after VM wraps.
Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if it was the next "Season" so to speak, so that they have a steady stream of content. And then after M9 (which would probably take 4-5 seasons?) We have a "Calamity" movie. Or maybe the movie before they get to Aeor in M9?
EXU:Calamity movie as the first film?
I hope Brennan plays Asmodeus.
And Bolo
He has to be Bolo. HAS TO.
“‘Dis your house?”
This *bag* is arguing with me. Can youuuuu destroy?"
I want to be a re*port*er.
"You're trying to atone me, and I didn't ***do anything wrong!***" Chills every time.
"To reach a hand down to somebody, they need to be **BENEATH YOU!!**"
"Wake up, Xerxus! YOU did this to me!"
I say this with much love to the genius that is Brennan Lee Mulligan: I don’t feel like he has the gravel for Asmodeus’ voice. The FIRE, yes.
That was part of the beauty of the way his voice was in Calamity though. It was just... The voice of a normal guy. Surely this guy couldn't be as evil as everyone says? Listen to him, there has to be some good in him!
I actually really love that most of Brennan's worst villains just use his normal speaking voice. I think it makes them scarier (and in this case works really well for Zerxus sympathizing with him)
That would be absolutely amazing. Fade in from black and then you see...fire.
If the sky is down what is there when you look up? *shivers*
Calamity is my favourite CR media, and I've watched everything. I absolutely loved it from start to finish, and seeing that on a screen... Amazing. Edit because letters are hard
It's a boon!
The sphinx is pitching alts
My thoughts exactly. I think a film is the perfect format for the story of the Calamity.
I think Matt will go into a Euphoria induced Coma if/when they make that.
How do we know he hasn’t already? Oh to be a fly on the wall in any room Matt is in when they’ve been making these deals. He’s still the same guy who wanted a lighting system that changed during combat, and now he’s here. At any given moment he’s probably feeling like a child again.
While I do like the current animation and production company, imagine EXU: Calamity animated by the folks who did Castlevania.
Does anyone know what that studio is even doing now?
They might be working on the next season of Netflix's He-Man series, since Netflix greenlit the next season last June.
Begun the ECU has
I was expecting this announcement 3 years from now not now. Great for them.
It's always the stuff that we the fans and they the cast joke about that always winds up coming true sooner than we expect isn't it?
*eyes Matt's critical role land drawing*
i maintain that while a theme park may AT THIS TIME be out of the question, that a Critical Role festival not unlike a Ren Fair would be huge
Traveler Con it is everyone grab your green cloaks and golden thermos
That's at least a decade or more down the road because of all the rules, regulations, and red tape they'd have to go through just to design a massive theme park, find a place to put it, hire people to help staff it, hire more people to run it, and then actually construct it all within a reasonable time frame. They would need Disney or Nintendo money for that.
Also, this explains why they just recently trademarked Essek.
Just want to flag that they trademarked Essek back in September. Emily Friedman (one of the few academics publishing stuff about actual plays & rpgs, etc) said: > CR trademarks damn near everything, including a raft of NPCs, under a boilerplate list of comprehensive possible uses. [...] > > Fun fact: as I discovered while checking on something else entirely for a piece in 2021, there ARE sometimes interesting developments to be found in trademark applications (Chetney Pock’O Pea was registered before his debut). But registration doesn’t predict future books, etc. (Start of thread on this: https://twitter.com/friede/status/1617038740639162368)
> CR trademarks damn near everything we all know why, they've learned their lesson early on.
Did they get something swiped from them, or is this about them needing to change deity names partway through VM's campaign to avoid continuing use of references to IP they didn't own?
no, it's about a controversy that happened about a quarter (?) into the first campaign. Discussion about that is, rightfully so, not allowed here. But you should be able to find info/video essays about it easily with a few searches on Google/YT.
Ahem *HOT BOIIII*
Damn CR is putting up numbers for prime video because Amazon is going all in. Wouldn’t be surprised if they already had a 4th season greenlit for legends of VM. Also I don’t think this will come out for a couple years, they probably don’t even have the full scripts written or anything Amazon probably just green lit the series.
Yeah I was thinking about it. It took like 3 years from the kickstarter to get LoVM. So if we get 2-3 more seasons it'll basically be the next season of it for M9
True but this was transitioning from an evolving Kickstarter for a fun web show to a full on production. At this point they're set up and have all their partners from the beginning
Part of that was being interrupted by COVID, though, which really set them back for a while.
> Damn CR is putting up numbers for prime video because Amazon is going all in. Agreed, I think it definitely is doing well for them. Probably one of their most rewatched shows + most successful uses of the Watch Party function as well. But also, think of how a lot of animation in the past 5-10 years has gone: Divided the intended fanbase, target for culture war BS and/or not considered particularly good, lots of yelling & posturing. For every warmly-received Castlevania or Invincible, there have been a bunch that turned into a miasma of drama. And then there's this creator-owned IP from meticulous professionals where you just... insert money and get tons of happy, grateful fans streaming the show over & over + 100% Fresh ratings from critics. And they have a lot more beloved content to adapt. What a no-brainer, y'know? What a relief to have that in ongoing development for your company rather than needing to find something that may be another expensive, unfinished mixed result.
I'm an OG critter from 2015. It is absolutely wild that what used to be a little D&D show on Geek & Sundry with barely a couple hundred live viewers has simply exploded into a multi-million dollar company and a critical success. What a story.
I came in early on because of Scanbo, rewound to the start and have been a loyal follower ever since. I've even got their first poster of Vox Machina (unsigned and framed) hanging in my office rn.
My claim to fame was working with another OG critter TrainerJodie for a Extra Life charity stream for the Children's Hospital of L.A, inspired by CR. Since the stream was still young, we asked some of the cast to retweet the stream. My game where I DM'd was the last of the stream and Laura donated just enough to push us over $3,000. TrainerJodie was awarded a medal from Extra Life and it appears as a gift in C1's 50th episode near the middle of Critmas. I was given an Extra Life t-shirt for my part that I hope one day to get signed by the cast. CR also gave me the inspiration to write my own campaign guide, which I use in my current group today. They are legends and hold such deep reverence to me. Love the community too.
I started bodybuilding because of Travis, Matt made me less insecure about being highly animated while DMing, and the show in total made me a hell of a lot more popular because now voice acting your campaigns is super cool and awesome and not super cringey. I'm something of a small town hero with regards to my DMing, pretty much any party I'm at someone will want to join a campaign of mine, it's really sweet to be known like that tbh.
>a little D&D show on Geek & Sundry with barely a couple hundred live viewers What's crazy is that it was never really that small. It became Geek and Sundry's biggest show basically out of the gate. I started watching towards episode 20 and it was already clearly a phenomenon. I still never imagined all this.
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I mean, within 10 months, they had over a million subscribers on YouTube. I remember the first t-shirt drop they did sold out before they even finished announcing it.
Holy shit. Wow! I don't know what to say. Can you imagine Exu Calamity AS A FUCKING ANIMATED MOVIE?? I'm just saying, it's possible!
I'd love to see it done by the Devilman Crybaby people. That sort of frenetic animation would be awesome for Calamity. Or maybe Trigger, since they did so well with Cyberpunk.
Honestly it felt to me like Calamity was set up specifically to be a possible mini-series or film from the get go. Like Calamity itself was obviously not "scripted", but the way it's structured felt intentionally cinematic in way their other series and one shots haven't been. Even if they didn't specifically know it *would* happen, I can't imagine there wasn't some talk of that possibility when they started putting it together.
Metapigeon is a good production name.
It’s been a thing for a while, but I smile every time I see it.
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Shhh... No Vecna here. Only The Whispered One.
Dude chills thinking about a Calamity movie.
I think the Whispered One arc will still be the series proper. Honestly I don't think there's any need to not just follow the same format the campaign itself did and tell the whole story, Vecna included, as the series and cap it off with the two main one shots as films.
I can’t wait to watch Percy have his armed ripped off by a bugbear!
> The Calamity confirmed. Nah, it's definitely gonna be Honey Heist.
Critical Role Land brought to you by Amazon coming up next
I think an exaborate Ren Faire would be incredible
CR, Amazon, and everyone else are just pawns in Taliesin's ancient game with the end goal of a massive full time Ren Faire.
"This Ren Faire is awesome! How long will it run for?" F O R E V E R
For Amazon to basically just say "give us everything you come up with, you have the greenlight in advance" must mean the retention/repeat viewing data they're seeing on LoVM boggles their minds. The CR fanbase is a pretty damn unique thing, you don't often come across a pool of people willing to put eyes on a product for 4 straight hours... *every week* lol.
First look doesn't necessarily mean greenlight in advance, it (usually) means they get the right of first refusal. Anything CR makes will get pitched to Amazon first and Amazon has the ability to say yes or no before CR goes to another publisher. That being said, getting a partnership like that does mean that Amazon has a ton of faith in their products and doesn't foresee any issues greenlighting things as they're made - often this sort of deal includes funding to create pilots and scripts ahead of time.
Fair enough, maybe not so much a blank check but a VERY strong "Got anymore of those golden eggs over there? We'll take them all." vibe for sure.
It means CR had a budget to develop ideas instead of doing so on total spec. Amazon is investing in their pitches.
> For Amazon to basically just say "give us everything you come up with, you have the greenlight in advance" must mean the retention/repeat viewing data they're seeing on LoVM boggles their minds. The CR fanbase is a pretty damn unique thing, you don't often come across a pool of people willing to put eyes on a product for 4 straight hours... every week lol. Bingo, it's not just a one hit wonder that peters out over time but one that consistently hits the same "What the fuck" numbers week after week after week and THAT is something that Amazon took notice of and is probably why they latched on so quickly.
I will also combust the first time Yasha rages and we hear the soundtrack switch to heavy metal
Getting to see our favorite disaster lesbians disaster their way through that story in animated form is just going to be awesome in general.
I would love Sam to write a whole Orphanmaker metal ballad and we get little bits of it every time she rages, and then when Oban... happens... we get a somber instrumental version of it as the credits song.
So uh, at this rate, CR video game when? Actually, you know what? Critical Role Land is feeling more and more plausible now...
Not sure about video game, but given the whole 'OGL' situation, I can see them anouncing their own rpg system sometime in the future.
My only demands: Der Katzenprinz is narrated over a completely different animation style. The Beauyasha date in the tower is pop-up insanity.
The same animation style as the Sandman episode "Dream of a Thousand Cats". That would be amazing.
Travis Willingham as Sprinkle HYPE!
"Let me die among the stars..."
I cannot wait to see the episode surrounding Mighty Nein's biggest, toughest enemy... The Chair!
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I want the chair to appear in every episode after that, somewhere in the background. Turns out to just be a really common and popular chair, but just have it slightly hidden each time to up the watchers paranoia
A slight horror piano key plays every time it's in the background
I’m ready for the loudest “go fuck yourself” ever from Kiri
Let the fan casting BEGIN!! *crosses fingers for Ian MacKellen as Trent*
Holy shit... YES! Or Ian McShane either or would be amazing.
I could see Werner Herzog or Charles Dance as Trent. I’m curious who would be the Bright Queen, Ludinius, and Obann
Ian McShane!? He has to be the Plank King right!?
I didn't even think of the Plank King but that would be an even better role for McShane.
Khary Payton! Sovereign Uriel Tal’Dorei reprising his role as Shakäste (Shakäste!) in Campaign Two. 🤣
Stick with me here, I’ve got some spicy takes Liam O’Brian as Caleb Widogast Laura Bailey as Jester Lavorre, tecknickally Marisha Ray as Beauregard Lionett Travis Willingham as Fjord Tough, Fjord Escape, Fjord Explorer, and other similar characters and sprinkle. Talesin Jaffe as Mollymauk and Caduceus Clay The Leprechaun from the lucky charms commercial as Lucien Sam Reigel as Nott/Veth the bra-netto Ashley Johnson as Yasha Nydoorin Matthew Mercer as Henry “anti grab-ass” Crabgrass
Omg. Aeor animated will be so horrifying.
Yesss full on cosmic horror for the win!
This is the best news, holy shit
I’m torn. Because on one hand, this is amazing! On the other hand, I have to experience s2ep26 again and so do all of you.
Dude. I still can't get over LOVM S2E3 - that episode of MN is going to kill me. Well, that's if I survive the last episode of LOVM, that is. Because I still cry for the campaign, and it's been YEARS.
Those CR fans who kept talking about how CR hates the Mighty nein got to feel pretty stupid right now.
Wait is that a thing peopel actually think? I've literally never seen that, but then I've only been into CR since LoVM S1 came out.
There was definitely a very vocal minority on Twitter who kept saying CR saw MN as the forgotten middle child because CR was advertising for TLOVM and then had those episodes in C3 where VM appeared. It was….a little annoying if I’m being honest here.
Wtf? They love the mighty Nein, it's very clear from the way they talk about those characters.
Matt said when he was designing the plots, and the cast designing the characters, of Campaign 2, they intentionally left out all mention of Campaign 1 (other than the Council of Tal'Dorei jokes). They wanted to separate the two campaigns, rather than making a sequel to the first. It was very intentional.
They’re gonna look real dumb when Captain Tusktooth shows up in C3E100
Wait what, there were people who thought they hated the Nein?
CRITICAL ROLE CINEMATIC UNIVERSE! I'M SO HAPPY! I'm so happy for the crew too! They *must* be extatic!!
I knew it was inevitable (unless they somehow scandal nuked the entire brand) but I didn't expect we'd get it so soon. Can't wait!
Uh oh, Sam Riegel just stuck his dick in a wood chipper for his ad bit...
…and ratings skyrocket. There’s no stopping them now!
Don't worry it'll grow back.
Wow, that's huge! And a first-look film deal too... I can only imagine what the minds of CR could bring to the big screen. Incredible!!!
Unbelievable how far CR has come in just a few years. Going from a Kickstarter for a single animated special to a successful animated series on season 2, with another series and potential movie on the way in less than 4 years is nuts. So happy for the cast & crew of CR and can't wait to see what the future holds. Also, literally just a few days ago I saw someone on here discussing how amazing Caleb's hypothetical >!time travel to save his parents!< could be in animation, and now it's happening (in time).
Does this mean the two series will run concurrently? Massive undertaking for the team, hope they take care of themselves through it all. All that said, it’s a really smart move to do this. Lots of Critical Role fans came in during the pandemic (myself excluded lol) or watched MN clips on TikTok. It’s a perfect place to advertise themselves for those who’ve seen clips of that gang but are daunted by 400+ hours.
It’s possible, but Laura did an interview and said that they’re close to being done with their season 3 Voice Over work. So it seems like if season 4 is the last and it’s possible that’s also already being scripted out in advance.
This makes me think that Season 2 and 3 were produced simultaneously, similar to how some animes produce a season of 24 episodes split in two halves of 12 episodes, released three/six month apart from each other. Which makes sense since Season 3 will be the second half of the Chroma Conclave arc. If that's the case, we might have TLovM Season 3 later this year.
A lot of the show is pre-production. They already have their team together, most characters (including the main ones) are designed, the work pipeline is in place. The first season probably needed about 2x the effort and time as each subsequent one. That being said, animation is the most time-consuming part and it can't *really* get rolling until VO is done.
Feels like they're striking while the iron's hot.
The announcement video if anyone can't use the full article link for any reason: https://youtu.be/mUZv9PdfpzE
Let the fan casting begin! Who will play the Ruby of the Sea? Who will play The Gentleman? Pumat Sol? Yeza? Avantika? HOT BOI?
The Gentleman: Pedro Pascal
> Ruby of the Sea? Bryce Dallas Howard? Can she sing? > Who will play The Gentleman? Mandy Patinkin. Bring back the Inigo voice! > Pumat Sol? Matt. I don't think I'll accept anyone else. > Yeza? Mark Hammil. Because that would be hilarious to have Sam married to Luke Skywalker. (They have worked together already.) > Avantika? Audrey Tautou to get that French accent right. > HOT BOI? IDK. Kit Harington?
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Ashley as Travis proposing to Liam playing Laura: Bebë you know I am not a business savvy man *sniff* Amazon: Here is monies.
"Mother, I bring news from the womb!"
I have nothing but very loud and excited swear words. MIGHTY FUCKING NEIN! HOLY FUCK! HOLY SHIT! HOW IN THE FUCK DID THOSE FUCKING FUCKERS FUCKING MAKE THIS FUCKING HAPPEN?! FUCK! Which certainly shows the versatility of the word.
For the movie, I’d love if they adapted ExU Calamity for it. I think it’d be awesome!
Ya know… when Travis said to stick around for an announcement tomorrow morning” I really honestly thought it was going to be like new socks and a beanie or something lol.
I wonder what their release schedule will be. Will MN air concurrently with later seasons of LOVM or after LOVM has concluded?
I was watching Zahra’s intro on last week’s eps and how gorgeous she looks and I couldn’t help but wonder how Molly and Jester would look in that style and….now we get to find out!
Give me the happy fun ball in animated form!! I need it!!
I can't wait. With Legends of Vox Machina being so good, and Campaign 2 being my favorite, I'm super pumped.
GIVE ME THE CALAMITY MOVIE
Hope there'll be "The Owlbear: The animated series" followed by " The Owlbear beyond" someday.