YMMV / Critical Role: Campaign One

• Abandon Shipping: Tiberius/Allura, which got hit with several major cases of Ship Sinking, most notably Orion leaving the show, Tiberius' In-Universe departure, and the ongoing Ship Tease between Kima and Allura. Also Matt confirming that the instant Allura knew that Tiberius had murdered the defenseless and unconscious mage, she lost all interest.
• Adorkable:
  • Keyleth — consider all of her interactions with Kashaw, her attempted performance of "Be Our Guest", her confusion over the purpose of gambling, her total awe at a street magician, her initial reactions to the Feywild, her child-like joy at getting and trying out her magical staff, and her rather... "inspiring" speeches.
  • Percy in Episode 42, due to the sheer glee in his voice at the thought that the party could steal an airship, and at the beginning of Episode 59 when he's just thrilled to be in the Feywild.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Clarota: Is he a cunning manipulator who deceived Vox Machina all along, only pretending to fit in a little more with the group every passing day, or is it all genuine character growth that is tragically washed away in a psychic tidal wave when he's reconnected with the Elder Brain's hive mind, and his personality was subsumed into the whole? Per Matt in the Q&A, Clarota was indeed evil and only pretending to fit in with the party; he later clarified in the Campaign Wrap-Up that it might have been possible for the party to convince Clarota to make a Heel–Face Turn, but it would have been very, very difficult.
  • Many fans interpret the benevolence of the Raven Queen differently. Opinions range everywhere from her being incredibly generous and good (if not Good Is Not Nice) to her being a consummate manipulator and the unrecognized/uncaught villain of the campaign with some fans going as far to argue that the group should've fought to seal her away. Did she take advantage of Vax's death to Vecna to secure her champion, and knowingly cheat the group out of being able to use True Resurrection on him? Or did she make the best deal she could offer with the circumstances? A further point of contention is the fact that she could have let Vax live out the rest of his natural lifespan, considering that he was going to be her champion for eternity.
• Arc Fatigue:
  • The Chroma Conclave arc goes on much longer than anything previously, and when taken as a whole it encompasses forty-five episodes. In comparison, the two previous major Arc Villains, K'Varn and The Briarwoods, both had arcs lasting 12 episodes. Alleviated slightly in that it's broken up into multiple sub-arcs, such as facing Grog's old herd and the Feywild, but the main arc still falls into Myth Stall for some.
  • Somewhat-related, Vax and Keyleth's romance. Vax confesses his love for Keyleth in Episode 33, and it's made clear two episodes later that she returns those feelings to some extent. However, the two don't become an Official Couple until Episode 65 due to various issues such as Vex's death making Keyleth's fears of losing Vax intensify and reminding her of what will happen once she completes the Aramente, and Vax's unexpected subplot with the Raven Queen making him pull away from everyone. In fact, many Critters thought they were already together long before it became an official pairing.
• Archive Panic: Hoo boy. 115 episodes at about 3 to 4 hours apiece plus a handful of specials that are considered canon mean that getting fully caught up is a staggering time commitment. According to CR Stats' infographic, the show up to Episode 100 has more hours of footage than the entirety of The Simpsons. While you can fairly safely jump on at the beginning of an arc, you might still miss out on inside jokes and previous events, leading to the temptation to start from the beginning anyway. Thankfully, by now all episodes are also available in podcast format (with the announcements and break edited out), so if you can bear missing out on the visual acting, hugs and other non-audible cast reactions, it may be more manageable to listen to this version while you're doing household chores or commuting.
• Awesome Ego: Scanlan has such a high opinion of himself that Matt once ruled in an early episode that he can use his bard skills to give himself inspiration dice. This is more of a case of Early-Installment Weirdness, as in early episodes they were still making a homebrew shift over from Pathfinder; functionally there is a 5e College of Lore bard feature, Peerless Skill, that allows a bard to inspire themselves, but Scanlan actually had to level up to 14 to gain access to that feature before he could do it again.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Tiberius. His tendency for what one might call over-preparation tended to divide people, depending on how much of it people are willing to accept as roleplay on Orion's part. Is it in-character for him to be Properly Paranoid, or is it power- and metagaming that slows the game to a crawl for everyone else? As the Critical Role fanbase has grown and audiences who came in during Campaigns 2 and 3 or The Legend of Vox Machina go back and watch Campaign 1, the general opinion of Tiberius has become increasingly unfavorable, and the divide among fans is now based primarily on whether he was always a bad character and should be forgotten entirely or if he was a good character with potential who had the misfortune of being controlled by a bad player.
  • Vax'ildan during the Conclave Arc. Some love the character, finding him caring, generous, and relatable to many fans with depression, while others found his behavior to be mean or selfish. Of particular contention are his post-break-up interactions with Gilmore (are they good friends navigating the tricky waters of "we were almost romantically involved", or is Vax taking advantage of Gilmore's lingering affection?); his treatment of Percy and general attitude since "The Sunken Tomb" (justified anger and sorrow, or pettiness and angst?); and his sibling relationship with Vex (heartwarming, protective, and perpetually trying to help despite not always knowing the best way, or increasingly possessive, demeaning, and self-centered?). Launching an attack on Raishan in episode 79, as detailed below, split opinions further.
  • Keyleth. She has a large fanbase, and Marisha Ray is often praised for her acting in roleplay moments. But following Tiberius (and Orion) leaving the group, there are also a few fans who aren't fond of the character for several reasons: Her inconsistency in regards to morality and how good the team is (and the hypocrisy that entails), such as when she incinerated a fleeing guard that's stopping to surrender not three episodes after she reprimanded Tiberius for buzzsawing the old woman or her sometimes questionable opinions (such as her distrust against Kima, the Roc situation, the Clasp deal, or her response to Vorugal flying over Whitestone). There are even some who believe her actions (especially in the Feywild) should have her alignment set at Chaotic Neutral, rather than the Neutral Good she supposedly is. Safe to say, starting from Briarwoods Arc, there is almost no safe place where you can discuss Keyleth civilly without someone bringing up these issues. Post Character Development, Keyleth was redeemed in the eyes of much of the fanbase, but she still had her critics.
  • Trinket. A lot of fans (and Laura Bailey) adore him, but other fans (and possibly Sam, as voiced using Scanlan) are tired of The Load (largely because Beastmasters were nerfed in 5E, especially compared to the other Ranger archetype, the Hunter). Scanlan saying "leave the bear" is a Running Gag in the show, but also an instruction repeated frequently in the chat or in comments. Trinket's uselessness in combat has reached the level where Matt has already had to give him several buffs to allow him to keep up, and fans are wondering if Matt will eventually just homebrew an archetype for the Ranger that better utilizes animals.
  • Gern Blanston. Though only appearing for one episode, he's split fan-reactions between either those who find him a hilarious guest who contributed with the introduction of the Broom of Flying or those who find his attitude a distraction to the Fire Ashari plight.
  • Arkhan the Cruel: While many players enjoyed the guest appearance by Joe Manganiello and found Arkhan to be a cool Token Evil Teammate, him being a Canon Immigrant added so late into the campaign divides the fanbase, with some feeling that his appearance took away from the epic conclusion of Vox Machina's adventures to further Arkhan's own cross-universe character arc, not to mention him being a fairly powerful character build. (Arkhan, in a separate stream, once broke the record for highest damage ever seen in a D&D game.) On the other hand, it was Arkhan's Canon Immigrant status that helped bring Critical Role into the official D&D multiverse, leading to The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount.
• Broken Base:
  • During the Underdark arc, Keyleth's distrust of, and outbursts against, Lady Kima sparked a lot of controversy. Some loved it for the great roleplaying and acting skills on Marisha's part — at one point she actually tears up — and felt it was in-character for her (aided by the fact that Vax did an Insight check on her during this which caused Matt to whisper something to him, implying Keyleth has some kind of Freudian Excuse for her suspicions). Others were annoyed because, from a gameplay standpoint, it served no purpose other than to antagonize an NPC who'd been nothing but helpful — one who'd recently been tortured, at that. This side was also confused at Keyleth suspecting a Paladin while trusting an Illithid. Other factors include the fact that Kima had endangered the party due to her desire for revenge as well as still being a relative stranger to the party. That, and the aforementioned Freudian Excuse of Keyleth's general distrust towards those of the faith due to events that occurred in her past that as of that time were not revealed to the audience until much later. The debate stopped when Keyleth and Kima ended up becoming Fire-Forged Friends.
  • Keyleth's behavior in Episode 26 regarding a monster Vox Machina were sent to eliminate; she was tired of the constant fighting (along with Tiberius and Percy moving closer to He Who Fights Monsters in recent episodes, at least in her eyes), and instead worked out a non-violent compromise. This divided the fanbase sharply; some believed that this scene went on too long or that it didn't make sense to care about killing some random monster, while others thought that it was a brave (and in-character as well as class-appropriate) move to stop the bloodshed before it escalated. Others just thought Keyleth's opposition to the perceived brutality was hypocritical, considering the questionable deeds she'd done in the past.
  • Orion's departure sparked waves of back-and-forth discussion on the Critical Role subreddit - while some were sad to see him gone and wished him the best, others were grateful he was gone after all the cheating, metagaming, and perceived attention-hogging, and some fans wanted to know very specifically why he left, especially with little fanfare compared to Ashley. Orion eventually came forward to say he was looking for the right way to explain his departure, confirming that he did leave by his own choice (however hard it might have been to make), and none too subtly told the subreddit to drop it.
  • The negotiations with The Clasp in Episode 42. During the discussion, Vox Machina (primarily Percy, Keyleth, and Vax somewhat) disagreed over whether or not it was worth it in the long run to ally with them in the wake of the dragon attacks. In this case the negotiations ended with The Clasp declaring Vox Machina enemies and refusing them aid. On the one hand there are those that say Percy handled the negotiations rather poorly, and that the portion of the deal allowing The Clasp to be introduced to Vasselheim should have been an automatic deal breaker. On the other hand there are just as many that say that Keyleth and Vax failed to see the bigger picture, and that sticking to their ideals ultimately cost them much needed resources and information. The fact that Seeker Assum went and made a deal with the Clasp later - without the help of Vox Machina - did not go unnoticed.
  • Vex stealing a magic broom from Chris Hardwick's Guest-Star Party Member in Episode 46. Some were fine with it, noting that Vex was still sore over losing the magic carpet and that it was in character for her, while others felt it was in very poor taste (specifically breaking the unwritten D&D rule "Never steal from the party") and that Laura broke character just so Vex could take the broom. (Laura explained later in a Q&A that she didn't know this was an unwritten rule.) Matt noted after the episode that Vex had officially shifted alignment to Chaotic Neutral, and this caused further divides that continue to this day; some think it was appropriate, while others view it as a Double Standard when her male co-stars have tortured people and stolen from each other without being dinged on alignment.
  • The ending of episode 79 has two:
    • First, during the battle with Thordak, many fans weren't happy with Scanlan refusing to use the flute to summon the Brass Dragon, and it didn't help that Sam kept teasing it. Other fans argued that it made sense that Scanlan was holding onto the flute as a trump card, as it could only be used once.
    • Second, the base was further splintered after Vax appeared to break a deal with Raishan to get the jump on her. Some argue that the decision was in-character and understandable, as the group had explicitly already decided to kill Raishan, and allowing her to get the information she wanted from Thordak could make her even more powerful in impossible to predict ways. This side was also encouraged by the fact that Raishan intentionally hit Vax with chain lightning during the battle with Thordak, indicating she was going to betray them after his death, and that Keyleth told Vax over the earrings not to let her touch Thordak's body. The other side argues that it was a dishonorable and poorly timed decision as the group was already spent and split up at that moment, further encouraged by the fact that Keyleth also said to wait for her to catch up, and the ensuing fight led to the temporary deaths of Vex and Scanlan.
  • Scanlan's argument with the group in Episode 85 caused a ton of debate amongst the fans. Did Scanlan have some valid points, or was he lashing out and grasping at straws? Should the rest of the group done more to defend themselves? And, most divisively, should Scanlan have left? Compounding the issue is the introduction of Taryon Darrington, Sam's second character, in the same episode. One part of the fanbase thinks he's hilarious and promises to shake up the group dynamics, while another feels apprehension about him as a replacement, especially with the unsurety of whether he'll be a temporary or permanent part of the group.
  • Then, episode 99 renewed episode 85's debates, with the return of Scanlan and the setup for Tary's exit from the group. While Scanlan apologized for leaving the group, fans are splintered on whether he apologized for the right reasons (especially after he only tried reaching out to the group in disguise, attempted to get ammunition for a gun he took without Percy's knowledge or consent in exchange for vital information, and tried erasing Vex's memory when she realized who he was) or if characters like Pike, Percy, and Grog reacted poorly with their rejections (especially with Scanlan's depression and attempts at sincerity). Then there are those who simply lament the loss of Tary after his Character Development and acceptance into the group and feel like Tary offered more potential for fresher development than Scanlan.
  • Episode 86 provoked a hefty debate when Vox Machina decided to sneak attack an innocent and unsuspecting target: Tary Darrington. One side argues that Vax's attack was specified as non-lethal, and he was right that Tary had to be taught just what kind of danger he was getting into. In addition, all four involved ambushers were clearly holding back after that (Grog's sneak attack was on Doty, and his turns in combat were spent taunting; Keyleth and Vax's first turns in combat saw them heal instead of hurt; and Percy merely held an action), and explicitly finding ways to test specific stats of Tary's (e.g. Keyleth hitting him with a fireball because "We haven’t really seen him dodge yet, right?"). The other side points out that 88 points of damage in a single blow (Tary only has 106 hit points)]] is overwhelmingly painful regardless of lethality, and this was all before Tary even got a chance to act. Vex is clearly upset when she finds them all, and Matt is even shocked enough to point out how "fucked up" he thought the situation was. The debate is further complicated with questions over how much was from the characters, and how much was just the players getting revenge on Sam for playing with their emotions.
  • Episode 88 sparked many debates over the Kraken encounter. Did Keyleth essentially abandon Tary and Grog to their deaths just to save Vex and Vax (who was already dead) and thus proves her unworthy of the Aramente challenge? Or did she make a pragmatic decision befitting a leader to save who she could while knowing when they needed to get out? (The cast, for their part, thought it was the right call, but the fanbase has heavy debate.) Likewise, Percy casting 'Friends' on Grog to make him go back for Tary and the last lodestone. Some people feel it's horrifying that Percy forced Grog to risk his life like that, especially after he'd referred to Grog as a brother in a previous episode, while others argue that it's just as bad to leave Tary to die, and that Percy acted to ensure the mission wasn't for nothing.
• Cargo Ship:
  • Vex and the magic broom she stole from Gern. Liam demanded fanart of them together immediately after the episode aired. Critters have been calling the ship Vroom.
  • Vax and one of his belts that resembles a snake, named Simon. He specifically goes looking for it after he loses it in episode 26 because "all the fanart has it", and is overjoyed when Vex (who managed to recover it off-screen) returns it to him as a Winter's Crest present.
  • Percy and grass, after he flirts with an angry lawn in the Feywild.
  • Keyleth and the Sun Tree, since she likes to check in with it whenever the group's in Whitestone. Because its stoner character voice occasionally slips into a familiar southern drawl, fans have taken to calling the ship McTreeleth
• Complete Monster: See here.
• Continuity Lockout: While they try their best to avoid this, because a portion of the campaign was done before streaming, there are times where fans are left in the dark about certain actions taken by the characters. For example, a contingent of viewers started ragging on Keyleth/Marisha for sending Craven Edge, an extremely powerful and malicious weapon, to the Dimension of The Dread Emperor, not realizing that the only reason she did that was because the party killed him pre-stream. Matt generally tries to inform the fanbase whenever he can to try and avoid these type of situations.
• Crack Pairing: People (including players!) started shipping Guest-Star Party Member Lillith and Percy after a joke at the beginning of Episode 26 and one really, really good piece of fanart, despite the fact that they barely talked to each other during their one encounter in Episode 25. Kit Buss and Taliesin Jaffe (their players) have winked and nodded to it, but refuse to confirm one way or the other.
• Creepy Awesome:
  • Clarota is definitely an example because he is a tentacled, telepathic, humanoid spell-caster. Whenever Vox Machina needs to interrogate someone during their adventure in the Underdark, they basically say "let's sic Clarota on them" and then look away as the mind flayer eats their brains. This is especially the case with the raspy voice Matt uses when role playing him.
  • The Briarwoods, if only to the players—Taliesin notes that Matt has "made them so much worse than [he] ever imagined".
  • Appropriately, Percy himself rapidly became more interesting to certain fans (or more obviously so; he always had that creepy plague mask) as his vendetta against the Briarwoods unfolded.
  • Grog's sword Craven Edge. A sentient, black metal greatsword that ominously whispers in Grog's head about how hungry it is and gets stronger the more it drains the blood from its foes. That isn't even getting into what happens when it's full or when it gets hungry again and consumes the soul of its current wielder.
  • Senokir. Seemingly a trustworthy ally, Senokir's way of behaving and speaking is nonetheless so off-putting and alien that the cast regularly shudders when he speaks. (It doesn't help that his laugh is pure nightmare fuel.)
• Crosses the Line Twice: From Episode 97. Keyleth dying, and Vex and later Vax freaking out? Very sad. Keyleth proclaiming they're "basically gods", before jumping off of a thousand foot cliff and turning into a goldfish because she thought she was going to hit water instead of splattering on solid rock? Absolutely hysterical.
  • Earlier on, and similarly related to Kiki, Ashley, of all people, describes Keyleth's pre-stream accidental killing of a child as "one of the funniest moments of the campaign."
• Cry for the Devil: As monstrous as he as, it's hard not to feel at least a little sorry for Thordak when it's revealed that he was enslaved, experimented on, and tortured by Opash during the latter's twisted soul experiments.
• Ending Fatigue: Due to the strength of the characters involved, and the mechanics of hand-to-hand fighting in D&D, the two duels between Grog and Kern really drag on. There are basically a lot of rolls that amount to Grog and Kern doing somewhere between six and eight points of damage, and it takes a lot of six-point damage rolls to get characters with that many hit points down to zero.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Clarota is quite well-liked for being an interesting take on a familiar creature, while also being a complex and sympathetic character. A lot of people ended up shocked and hurt when he betrayed the group and tried to kill them.
  • Lady Kima is also widely loved by the fanbase. When she joined the party at one of the live shows, the crowd erupted in cheers. Notably, Matt Mercer's brought her back to accompany the party multiple times.
  • Gilmore is this to the players, going from a one-off shopkeeper to a beloved regular NPC before the stream began. As soon as he made an actual appearance, he became a big one for the viewers as well. His hilarious flamboyance and prolonged Ho Yay with Vax go a long way toward explaining his popularity.
  • Kashaw and Zahra, the guest characters played by Will Friedle and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, are both extremely popular. Fans loved Zahra's extremely good roleplaying and her totally badass attacks on the dragon Rimefang, as well as her competitive relationship with Vex which eventually turned into a neat friendship. Kashaw is equally popular for his snarking, his absolutely fascinating backstory, and, of course, his fantastic exit. Fans love them—and the other cameo characters, the jaded Born Unlucky Thorbir and the ditzy spunky Lyra—so much that some want the cameo characters to get their own spinoff. Kashaw and Zahra's return from Episode 43 to 45 only made their popularity skyrocket further, and both Kashaw and Zahra have become recurring characters even when Mary and Will aren't available.
  • Piglet, the Goblin Barbarian played by Ashly Burch in the Pathfinder Oneshot, became very popular for being a hilarious Badass Adorable, especially for not only taking on a whole adventuring party, but decapitating one of them with a hammer, with many calling for her to appear in the actual show and wanting to see her fight Grog.
  • Fans and party members alike love Jarrett for being Tall, Dark, and Snarky and The Ace of all the guards at Greyskull. His brief moment of Ship Tease with Vex probably doesn't hurt either. In terms of non-player characters, his popularity at this point is second only to Gilmore, and like Gilmore, Kash and Zahra, his popularity has led to him appearing far more frequently.
  • Viktor. His zany prospector voice, the fact he more or less encapsulates the Cloudcuckoolander quality, was made up on the spot, and his "character progression." Matthew Mercer regularly gets applause (as well as side-splitting laughter) from his players for his portrayal of the eccentric black powder salesman.
  • Senokir the fire genasi jeweler from the City of Brass, due to his slightly creepy, halting voice, his bizarre mannerisms, and his general slippery vibe, has the players declaring him to be their "favourite NPC ever" after his first appearance.
  • Darin de Paul's guest character Sprigg was met with universal acclaim from the fandom, jumping to the top of many favourite guest character lists as soon as his introductory episode was done.
  • Jayne, Liam's player character for Sam's Bar Room Blitz one-shot, was an instant hit due to Liam's creepy portrayal and the fact that she's a cleric of Tharizdun, the Chained Oblivion.
  • Mariya Darrington, Taryon's mother, is well-loved for being a positive familial influence, her shared love of books with Tary, and her excitement at the prospect of adventure.
  • Ever since Matt revealed more about her in the campaign wrap-ups, a lot of the fandom became fascinated with Vesh, Kashaw's divine patron / wife / subject-of-sealing. Because there wasn't much of an opportunity for her to be involved in Vox Machina's affairs, a lot about her is still vague and mysterious.
• Fanfic Fuel: Invoked by Matthew Mercer himself, according to the Q&As. He has stated that he likes to keep some aspects of the world's lore and the characters' backstories vague so that those running their own Exandria campaigns can fill them in themselves. In many cases, (such as the fate of Keyleth's mother and the true nature of Vesh) he does have specific answers in mind, but still wants to leave them open for players running their own games. Even the Tal'dorei Campaign Setting book has some regions that are intentionally left vaguer than others. Similarly, Laura and Taliesin want to leave some of Vex and Percy's children unnamed so that people can play them in their own campaigns.
• Fan Nickname:
  • "No-Mercy Percy" has become a popular hashtag in the stream chat. Once he stopped being merciful, however, the fans and the party felt it.
  • Vax has been nicknamed Vaxildad, due to him being the Team Dad.
  • On a similar note, Scanlan has received the nickname Dadlan after the revelation of him having a daughter.
  • After his resurrection, Percy makes increasingly spontaneous decisions, including kissing Vex and attempting to literally stab Raishan in the back during a council meeting. Thus, he has been dubbed "Percival de Yolo".
  • "Matthew McConaughtree" for the Sun Tree of Whitestone, as voiced by Matt.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Percy and Raishan. Their interactions, built on both being clever and trying very hard to outmaneuver each other verbally, the former showing no fear and even being slightly mocking and teasing while the latter slowly growing impressed and amused in equal measure, left the chat jokingly calling for the two to hook up.
• Game-Breaker: Vax's Boots of Haste were one, by DM Matthew Mercer's own admission. He ported them over from Pathfinder before he fully understood 5E's balance, resulting in them breaking the "action economy" of the game, in his words. He's stated that he'd need to revamp them if they were to ever appear in a future campaign.
• Growing the Beard:
  • It's hard to pinpoint exactly when it starts (the general consensus seems to be after Ashley re-joins the players and around the Vasselheim arc), but as the show went on, the players started getting better at things like making snap decisions instead of squabbling, throwing themselves into dramatic moments but not letting them play on forever, filling awkward silences with jokes, and just generally keeping the game more interesting. Just compare Keyleth's worries about Kima in Episode 9 to her vision of her own death in Episode 22, or compare both of Grog's fights with Kern the Hammer. The differences are very slight, but the players are definitely getting into a groove—not that they don't still do things that are Facepalm-worthy. Coincidentally, the show may have started to grow its beard around the same time as Grog did.
  • As far as the storytelling potential of the show was concerned, the Briarwood Arc is typically agreed to be where it began to really hit its stride. This was the arc that began to more closely dive into the characters' pasts and their interpersonal relationships within the party to a much greater degree than previous episodes, from Vax's love for Keyleth to Percy's desire for vengeance against the Briarwoods for the murder of his family. It would also introduce several important characters and plot points that would become crucial to the story further down the line, such as Dr. Ripley and her fascination with Percy's guns, the Briarwoods seeking to bring about Vecna's return, etc. It's to the point that when the Legend of Vox Machina received enough funding to make an entire animated series, they knew that this was the first story arc they wanted to tell based on how popular it was with both them and Critters.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In Episode 6, Keyleth ends up pushing a duergar sentry into a lava pool to try to kill him quickly. As she does so, Marisha shouts, "This is the meanest thing I've ever done!" to which Laura retorts "Well, no. Remember you killed that kid that one time." This topic was (mostly) Played for Laughs as a Running Gag in the episode where Keyleth is having PTSD over that...and then the circumstances regarding the child's death are revealed in Episode 10's Q&A: she killed him by accident, snapping his neck while she was trying to save his life. Since then, it was mostly brushed aside as a past event and the party moved on...
    ...Until said event was revealed to have had more consequences than expected in Episode 22 with Keyleth's visit to the Fire Ashari. She reveals that ever since the accidental death, she had been unable to truly focus on her goals to be strong and to have the will needed to survive and that she was afraid of making another fatal mistake. This was preceded by her visit to the Earth Ashari, in the interim between the Pathfinder days and the start of the show, where she had a vision of her own death.
  • In Episode 11, Vax attempts to give a It Has Been an Honor speech before they face off against K'Varn the Mad which Percy interrupts with, "Vax. Screw you. I want my last words with you to be indignant and irritated." It takes a while but in a horrible case of Be Careful What You Wish For, Percy gets his wish in Episode 115, refusing to accept Vax's decision to go peacefully with the Raven Queen.
  • In episode 13, the party debates whether or not to hide the Horn of Orcus from Lady Kima and then ascertain what she really wants it for. Fast forward to the Mighty Nein, and a very similar situation creates genuine beef between party members that's even referred to as Bowlgate in the fandom.
  • Near the middle of Episode 24, Scanlan, Vex, Tiberius and Grog go to Kraghammer to pick up a reward they're owed, and they pretend that Vax, Keyleth and Percy—who all remained at the keep—are dead, in order to get a better payout. Marisha even jokingly says "I hope this doesn't come back to haunt us." Eventually, all three of them die at least once, Percy in a particularly heartbreaking way that reduced the entire table to tears, and by the end of the campaign, Vax dies permanently.
  • Percy kills Clarota with a headshot and gives the epic one-liner "Some people have no sense of fucking honor!" Awesome, right? Yes, until he brings it up almost ten episodes later at dinner with the Briarwoods as an Implied Death Threat. Then you remember that Percy's entire family was slaughtered by traitors, and the line becomes a little more chilling.
  • A common and long-lived cheer in the twitch chat is #NoMercyPercy, for whenever Percy does something particularly awesome. Episode 25 shows us what it looks like when Percy actually stops showing mercy, and it's terrifying.
  • In Episode 33, Vax gives Vex his Cloak of Elvenkind to improve her stealth checks. His reasoning, as he says, is "You almost lost me, I almost lost you." In Episode 34, Vex comes within a single hitpoint of permanently dying—he almost loses her again, cloak or no.
  • Episode 37 is called "A Musician's Nostalgia," and Geek and Sundry happened to release it on Youtube the same day as David Bowie passed away after a battle with cancer (Monday January 11th, 2016).
  • In Episode 32, Vax tells Percy, "But if you hurt my sister...If you hurt anyone else in this group inadvertently..." as a possible threat and Percy replies, "I would expect nothing less." Then Percy ends up triggering a trap that kills Vex in Episode 44. She was able to be resurrected, but now those words from before bear a lot more weight. Many of Percy's conversations and observations with Vax or Vex also become a little uncomfortable upon review.
  • Similarly, this line from Percy in Episode 44 becomes a lot harsher knowing what ends up happening later in the episode:
    Percy: I'm actually hoping [going to the Sunken Tomb] is the worst decision we make, 'cause then everything's uphill.
  • The revelation from Episode 69 that Vex is in love with Percy makes it that much harder to watch her tearful heartbreak during the end of Episode 68 and the beginning of Episode 69. The same situation also makes Percy losing his memory after returning from the Feywild in Episode 64 a lot more tragic. Although it is temporary, he completely forgets the acts of kindness that made Vex realize her feelings for him. It's easy to see now why Vex is so upset during those scenes.
  • Kerrek's attempt to calm down Keyleth in Episode 83 when she was so certain that she found some seemingly-dead friends and he thought she was being foolish: "Sometimes you lose people, and you never get them back." Two episodes later, despite being resurrected, Scanlan does leave the party, leaving everyone unsure as to whether or not he will return. Worse, Keyleth later loses Vax three times—once to the Kraken, once to Vecna, and once to the Raven Queen—and the third time is permanent.
  • Vax asks Scanlan for life advice in Episode 45, asking how he manages to continue smiling despite constantly risking his life. It turns out much later than Scanlan was a lot more traumatized and depressed than he let on, and his and Vax's positions end up reversed in Episode 85. Except unlike Vax, Scanlan's mental state deteriorates so much that he leaves the group. This entire exchange is heart-rending in light of later episodes.
  • Scanlan's misadventures as "The Meat Man", aspiring drug lord extraordinaire, become shaded by the later revelation that it was a warning sign of his deteriorating mental state. Scanlan wanted drugs because he was struggling to cope with the escalating danger of Vox Machina's adventures, which culminates in his second death/resurrection and a mental breakdown.
  • When Scanlan returns to the party in Episode 99, Pike has one of the harshest reactions alongside Grog. This gets a lot worse if you've seen the epilogue and campaign wrap-up, which reveal Pike was seriously starting to return his feelings ever since his letter to her, so you can see why she was so heartbroken at the outburst that led to him leaving the party. Even worse, the campaign wrap-up had Sam reveal Pike was probably the only one who could have convinced Scanlan to stay.
  • Keyleth says to Vax in Episode 45, “You do realize that if by some crazy chance, and we all somehow make it through this domination alive with the Chroma Conclave, and I complete my Aramente, I’ll still watch all of you die. Everything could go phenomenally well, and by becoming headmaster we enter a bit of a realm of mortality where I could live for a very, very long time. I’m afraid...every time I look at one of your faces that it’s gonna be the last...and I feel like deep down, I know that day is coming.” Her fears come true by Episode 88, because by the end of the episode, she's seen everyone else in Vox Machina die at least once. It gets worse by the time of Vecna's return and the disintegration of Vax, which resulted in him accepting a deal with the Raven Queen to come back. He does, but even if they win against Vecna, he will still die in the end.
  • Scanlan once advised Vax to leave the shit behind. In the ending, Vax leaves the S.H.I.T.s ^note Vox Machina's original name behind.
  • In Episode 18, Percy scores three crits in two rounds, and comments "such terrible things are going to happen to me because of all this good luck right now." Matt looks at the camera and nods knowingly. Following the Vasselheim arc, the Briarwoods come to Emon—and every episode involving them since has been one long Trauma Conga Line for poor Percy.
  • Also in Episode 18, Zahra seems to be very interested in Percy's tinkered weapons, and they trade a few jokes about his "holy hand grenade". Zahra also says they should "compare notes sometime", revealing that she crafted her own staff. In Episodes 29 and 35, it's shown that the List is part of the deal Percy unwittingly made with a shadow demon named Orthax—similar to a warlock pact blade. Zahra is a warlock, so if Zahra and Percy had actually compared notes, he might have realized what had happened to him sooner.
  • Tiberius finally asks Allura out in Episode 24 and gets something of an ambiguous answer. Percy and Keyleth tease him for getting "Schrödinger's Date", because it's a mystery as to whether it will actually happen. In Episode 26, Allura finds out that Tiberius murdered a defenseless woman, and it's pretty safe to say that the date's been cancelled.
  • Critters were playing off the Running Gag about Vox Machina's poor luck with the doors in Whitestone and suggested that the final boss of the Briarwood arc would be a door. At the end of Episode 34, the confrontation with the Briarwoods, Vex nearly dies because she's trapped inside a temple, unconscious, where magic doesn't work...and the doors are closed.
  • Gilmore runs into the party in a tavern in Episode 38, and he greets them by calling out "Well, isn't this the luckiest day for me!" Barely a few minutes later, he learns Vax is in love with Keyleth. Ouch. And in the next episode, dragons attack Emon, leaving him near-death.
  • In the same episode, Keyleth drunkenly protests stopping their pub crawl despite Scanlan's insistence they'll do it again tomorrow because "tomorrow some crazy person will show up at our door and want us to do something crazy and then we'll never have a free night again." In the next episode, four ancient dragons attack Emon, an event that indeed kicks off the longest arc of the show.
  • In Episode 39, Scanlan is being quite justifiably paranoid about the creepy skull the crew picked up in General Krieg's house, and he says, "What if it's a portal? What if it can send a dragon to us?" Or maybe four! Because that's how many ancient dragons attack Emon at the end of that episode. Good call, Scanlan.
  • The Goblins Pathfinder One-Shot is mostly a hilarious Black Comedy, but when you realize Zedd, the drummer for Scanlan's old troupe, made a cameo, and remember that Scanlan's mother died in a Goblin invasion, the final moments suddenly get a lot less funny.
  • Episode 44 has one where it gets harsher very quickly. After Vex fails her Reflex Save when checking the coffin, Sam quips "dead. Instant death." Once it's revealed this is EXACTLY what happens, he stops joking.
  • In Episode 56, guest character Kerrek has a private conversation with Keyleth, away from the rest of the party. Both Sam and Taliesin make jokes about Kerrek turning out to be evil and stabbing Keyleth in the back. At the end of the very next episode, something eerily similar to their joke scenario happens to Vax for real.
  • One of Sam's funniest Loot Crate endorsements happens while Taliesin is receiving a whisper for a Nat 20 perception check in Episode 64. Pretty much everybody at the table is laughing, except for Taliesin, who learns through the whisper that Tiberius is dead and impaled on a spike nearby. Knowing that, and watching Taliesin's face, it's really hard to find the scene funny the second time. Similarly, the cast joke "Lockheed has a better chance of being dead than Tiberius" before going to Draconia. The truth is the exact opposite.
  • What are the chances that Laura would be wearing a Valar Morghulis t-shirt for the session where a member of Vox Machina actually dies?
  • In Episode 84, after reviving Scanlan, Percy, Pike, and Kerrek prank an unconscious Scanlan by dressing him in one of Pike's nightgowns, tying him to the bed, and leaving pudding around. Then Scanlan wakes up in episode 85 and has a furious argument with the party over them not appreciating him, it becomes difficult to find the scene funny anymore.
  • Garmelie/Artagan's comments on the Theater stop being funny entirely after Matt revealed in the Campaign Wrap-Up what the Theater actually does. Turns out they were deadly serious warnings.
  • A real life example. Guest player Will Friedle played Kashaw, a cleric with a Dark and Troubled Past that included him being raped as a 15 year old by his goddess Vesh, who had groomed him since childhood. While a kinda typical dark background for edgier D&D characters, in 2024 after the documentary series Quiet On Set, it came to light that in 2004 Friedle, alongside many other actors, wrote a letter in support of child molester and former acting coach Brian Peck during his trial for sexually assaulting a minor. ^note For his part, Friedle disclosed the fact he wrote this letter on a podcast where he admitted to feeling shame about the incident and believes Peck had manipulated him, but his apology has been accused of being pre-emptive PR damage control because the letters were going to be disclosed. What's more, the victim in the case was revealed to be Drake Bell, who Friedle had previously worked with on Ultimate Spider-Man, and who not only made it clear he does not accept his apology as genuine but also brought up that Friedle never apologised to him in person during the time they worked together. Now, the decision to use child sexual trauma as flavour for his angsty roleplay character has a more uncomfortable light to it.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • Pretty much all of the interactions between Vex and Percy, particularly during their time in the Feywild and Ank'Harel, become much sweeter after learning that they had been in love with each other for far longer, at least as far back as near the beginning of the show ever since, for Vex, she received her first custom arrow. As for Percy, he knew for a very long time that he loved her but chose to not act upon those feelings due to his belief that he was unhealthy for her. After they both died and came back, however, everything changed.
  • The same holds true for Vax and Keyleth as they first slowly realized their feelings for each other during the Underdark arc, even though they both didn't realize at first that the same held true for the other. Thus, statements such as Keyleth saying that for many nights before going to sleep that Vax's face was the last thing she thought of end up becoming a lot more meaningful.]]
  • Scanlan's letter to Pike. Pike only reveals part of the letter during the campaign, saying that Scanlan's letter was lovely but she couldn't raise Kaylie alone. In the post-compaign Q&A session, the letter is revealed to be a loving note dedicated to her, stating that everything he's done the past few years has been to please and impress her and that, now that he knows about Kaylie, he realizes instead of chasing a lover he was "chasing a mother for [his] child". Likewise, the fact that, despite him asking Pike to be the savior to Kaylie he's unable to be, he ultimately mended his relationship with her and became a good father to her.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In Episode 15, everyone is blase about Keyleth falling off the edge of the airship since she can fly (thanks to Voluntary Shapeshifting) so she's not at risk. Much, much later in Episode 97, Keyleth finally dies in the campaign...from falling damage.
    • Made even funnier by an episode of Talks Machina where Marisha comments “I haven’t died yet, but if I do, I want it to be epic. As long as it’s not embarrassing. I don’t wanna die in some stupid way that has nothing to do with the current situation.”
    • Even earlier in Episode 3, Laura and Travis have a playful argument about Grog jumping down a thousand-foot chasm into some water. Keyleth's death by falling was due to her swan-diving off of a thousand-foot cliff and trying to turn into a goldfish, rather than a flying creature, before she hit the waters below.
  • In Episode 18, Taliesin mentions that he's fighting in his pyjamas, so Matt reduces his AC. Taliesin's response is "one day, far in the future, I'm going to find a way to make you pay for that." Episode 25, Percy slaughters the episode's boss, the Broker, in one turn, to Matt's obvious dismay — Matt even says "I kind of feel bad for him."
    • While it is a case of Real Life Writes the Plot ^note Matt and Marisha had to leave between sessions of the oneshot, Taliesin may have gotten his revenge, two years after episode 18, when he was in the DM/Storyteller chair for "Thursday By Night". Vampire Matt was compelled to open a window. Sunshine streamed in and reduced him to ash.
  • Keyleth buys a raven mask from Duskmeadow in Episode 20. If you take the plot of the campaign as a whole, this looks like brilliant foreshadowing for her falling in love with Vax and his fate as the Raven Queen's champion. But this was a completely random decision at the time, so it's a total coincidence. In the same episode, she and Vax go Undercover as Lovers.
  • In Episode 23, Scanlan says that he'll someday marry Pike and she'll be the mother of his children. Then it turns out Scanlan is already a dad in episode 38.
  • In Episode 26, Scanlan uses Seeming to turn Vox Machina into cows, and as the episode goes on he realizes that Seeming is not a concentration spell - it lasts for twenty-four hours. He's used Seeming exactly once before, in Episode 17... but he never dispelled it, meaning that Vox Machina would have technically been bright green for all of their first interactions with the Slayer's Take.
  • In Episode 4, Marisha jokes about how hilarious and awkward watching her friends flirt with her boyfriend is every time the PCs flirt with an NPC (like Grog's pre-stream liaison with the nymph or Vax's "arrangement" with Gilmore). The shoe's on the other foot now that Vax has confessed his love for Keyleth.
  • As if Scanlan's legendary rampage through a manor in Episode 31 wasn't hilarious enough, Episode 60 sees "Lady" Vex inheriting the burned-down manor when Percy makes her a Baroness. Even the players are quick to point out that technically this means that Scanlan burned Vex's house down.
  • In the intro/announcements portion of Episode 49, Laura explains that she played Jester, a Tiefling Cleric, in a one-shot for Kinda Funny. Little did she, or any of the cast or viewers know, that this would be an Early-Bird Cameo of her character for the second campaign. Laura even announces it in Jester's exact accent.
  • Every scene where the party is picking on Garmelie becomes so much funnier after The Reveal that he's an Archfey.
  • When Keyleth speaks to the Sun Tree about the cancerous tree in the Feywild, she accidentally says there may be a man living in named Fenthras, before correcting herself, as that's the name of the bow they were looking for. Turns out she was right about there being a man living inside, when they meet Saundor who lives inside the tree.
  • Happens to the players: it takes them about two hours to realize they still had Seeming cast on them during the fight in Episode 76, meaning Vax kissed Keyleth while Keyleth looked exactly like Vex.
  • Matt's narration in episode 78 that Kashaw and Keyleth are walking with a good six feet of distance between them is worth a chuckle.
  • Tary's first appearances involved being the Butt-Monkey to Vox Machina, including them sneak-attacking him and beating the crap out of him until he broke down in tears with his story. Then came Battle Royale III, where he paid them back and won.
  • Scanlan and Tiberius' "master class in wasting spells" back in the Underdark involved a Counter-Counterspell. Against Vecna, Scanlan manages Counter-Counterspell multiple times, single-handedly saving the party from total annihilation.
  • Scanlan was created when Sam asked Liam what was the lamest character and Liam said, "probably a gnome bard". Scanlan goes on to become a crime lord, the Champion of a god, and an instrumental part of defeating Vecna.
  • Tofor Brotoras, dragonborn paladin of Bahamut, is said to be dressed in an asexual robe that looks like a robe and a suit at the same time. Many asexual people have adopted dragons as a symbol for their community. There is also overlap between asexuals and nonbinary/gender-nonconforming people, and J'mon Sa Ord (actually the brass dragon Devo'ssa) has been referred to by Matt Mercer with they/them, he/him, and she/her pronouns.
  • Percy's little pouty tantrum over the party getting a golem (because he had wanted to build a robot) in episode 53 becomes this with Tary and his robot companion, Doty.
  • More on the Black Comedy side: In episode 44, Laura is the first cast member to lead the rest into making fun of Purvan Suul, a former Champion of the Raven Queen. Minutes later, Vex gets hit with necrotic energy, partially thanks to her greed, and dies instantly. This led to Vax making a pact to save her, eventually becoming Purvan’s successor as the Champion. Talk about instant karma!
  • In episode 66, A Traveler's Gamble, Laura (as Vex) admits that she can't spell "chateau". Cue campaign 2, and her character Jester grew up in a place called the Lavish Chateau, and worships a god called the Traveler, who definitely would enjoy his followers gambling with their chances!
  • In episode 91, Taryon starts casting alter self on Vex'ahlia to make her look like a tiefling. In his panic at her reaction to looking exactly like him and Keyleth, he changes the spell to make her look blue. In campaign 2, Laura proceeds to play a blue Tiefling.
• Ho Yay: Now has its own page.
• I Knew It!:
  • Many critters correctly guessed that Lord Briarwood was a vampire. Not as many guessed that Lady Briarwood wasn't - at least one chatroom user guessed she was a necromancer.
  • A few Critters called the fact that Cassandra de Rolo survived the Whitestone massacre, and some of them also predicted that she would betray Vox Machina. However, with the destruction of Orthax the shadow demon and the Briarwoods, she's come back to her senses and was forgiven.
  • Observant fans figured out that Percy planned to make Vex a Baroness the week before it happened in Episode 60. (Taliesin passes a note to Laura near the end of Episode 59, and when he's reading it later to Marisha, he mumbles the word "Baroness".)
  • Taliesin, Marisha, and a handful of Critters realized that Garmelie was more than he appeared to be.
• Informed Wrongness: The criticism Tiberius receives for killing an unconscious enemy mage (who happened to be an old woman) feels a little overwrought, considering both everything the team already did and would go on to do, and the fact that during the battle itself almost every other member of Vox Machina was gleefully attacking the old woman and laughing about how funny their actions were. It's one thing for Keyleth to go through a bit of a moral crisis in that moment, but basically every other member of the team agreed with her and chastised Tiberius for his horrible, unforgivable actions.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
  • A relatively minor example with Vex'ahlia, who has been paired with Percy, Keyleth, Grog, Zahra, and Jarett with varying degrees of popularity.
  • Likewise, Percy's been shipped with Vex, Vax, Pike, Keyleth, Lillith, and Raishan] as well as, occasionally any or all of the above.
  • Even Keyleth has been shipped with plenty of other characters. Namely Vax, Vex, Pike, Grog, Raishan, and Kashaw, just to name a few.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Anna Ripley served as a scientist for the Briarwoods, creating an acidic compound to distil Whitestone ore into residuum. When Percy de Rolo attempted to kill her, she took interest in his gun, a weapon never seen until Percy made it, and recreated one of her own. After being imprisoned for attempting to leave the Briarwoods, Ripley manages to convince Vox Machina to free her in exchange for her assisting them, successfully escaping the party the first chance she gets. Vox Machina later finds out that Ripley was using the gun they confiscated from her to spy on them, hiring a crew and obtaining two of the Vestiges of Divergence from under Vox Machina’s nose. She also manipulates Kynan into working for her by taking advantage of his resentment for Vox Machina when they rejected him. When Vox Machina chases after Ripley, she lures them into an explosive trap, badly injuring the majority of the party, before ambushing the party, resulting in her successfully killing Percy. Brilliant and manipulative, Ripley proved to be one of Vox Machina’s most dangerous enemies.
  • Arkhan the Cruel is a Paladin and Highlord of Tiamat the Scaled Tyrant. Embracing the doctrines of Tiamat, Arkhan finds himself allying with Vox Machina where he forms a cheerful alliance to bring down the wicked god Vecna before he can dominate all Exandria. Showing himself a skilled and tactical fighter, Arkhan reveals his intentions are less than benevolent after Vecna's defeat when he pretends to try to destroy Vecna's remaining hand. Instead, Arkhan severs his own and attaches Vecna's to the wrist, escaping under the noses of a dumbfounded Vox Machina before intending to use the hand to unleash Tiamat to bring order to the universe, even if she must destroy it first.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • After some of the acts the Briarwoods have committed during their time, #FuckTheBriarwoods is a popular line.
  • #NoMercyPercy, which started as a catchy hashtag, then got way too accurate, and then became #NoMercyMercer briefly for the Sun Tree. The Mercer variant picked up steam again with the whole four-dragon affair.
  • After Tiberius first cracks it out in Episode 6, "I encourage _______". Fill in the blank with anything you wish to encourage.
  • Whenever the Twitch stream experiences technical difficulties, the chat begins to chant "A STREAM IS EARNED" in reference to the Androsphinx's Arc Words.
  • "Wheres Larkin?" became a popular joke after Vax/Liam was the last one to realize that the NPC Larkin was actually Raishan in disguise.
  • "Raishan shot first!" became one after Matt confirmed on reddit that Raishan did intentionally attack Vax with chain lightning when there was no reason to, and to justify Vax, Vex and Keyleth attacking Raishan in Thordak's lair.
  • Fans started joking about Critical Role's "writing team" in reference to many moments of surprising serendipity or accidental foreshadowing, such as Tary giving Vex a limited-time revivify coin that went unused in its intended battle, a few minutes before Vex became the only one around to resurrect Keyleth after her cliff jump. Eventually, a commercial for the show had Matt and Marisha discussing that episode's script. Now the fans, cast, and crew will praise the writing crew after a particularly poignant moment.
• Narm: In Episode 8, Keyleth suddenly - and jarringly - gets on a Holier Than Thou soapbox in regards to Lady Kima, taking offense at the "murder" of a duergar king - who was trying to kill the party and had tortured Lady Kima, not to mention the torture and starvation of the prisoners they find. Keyleth then goes on to complain about how Kima's "righteous crusade" was likely to end in corruption. While Keyleth's background of seeing corruption in religion justifies her Nay-Theist attitude, the fact that her sudden rudeness comes seemingly out of nowhere defies the willing suspension of disbelief. Also counts as Unintentionally Unsympathetic, given that the king was, well, evil - not to mention Keyleth holding the Idiot Ball earlier in that same session and committing the Accidental Murder of a weak, starving dwarven prisoner (by picking him up in her maw while she was a saber-tooth tiger) hardly leaves her in a position to judge anyone.
• Narm Charm: Because every piece of dialogue on the show is improvised — except for some short pre-written descriptions by Matt — flubs, errors and silly dialogue can't be edited out in post-production, and this can cause dramatic moments to become unintentionally funny. Examples include Keyleth screaming "AND NOW LOOK HAPPENED!" during an otherwise tense debate about party communication, or Percy flubbing one of the names when torturing the Briarwoods' carriage driver for information about his family or musing "Life needs things to live," as if he's imparting wisdom. These errors are usually forgiven, though, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, viewers understand that the game is improvised, and are very forgiving. Sometimes, in cases like Keyleth's, the scene is intense and well-acted enough that the errors are only minor blips in the tension; or, in cases like Percy's quote, the players lampshade the error and use it to wring a joke out of the scene. Moments like these also make moments of insanely good improvisation — such as Keyleth's verbal beatdown of Raishan (and the later speech during their final confrontation) or Percy's "You're at the bottom of my List" scene — that much more impressive.
• Never Live It Down:
  • On occasion, Scanlan continues to point out that Tiberius did not contribute at the start against K'Varn.
  • Within one episode, Sam became fond of reminding Orion of the time he took a telekinetic buzzsaw to an unconscious old woman. Marisha gets in on it too: in the charity episode with Vox Moronica, she actually plays as the old lady Tiberius killed, although she doesn't reveal it until the end.
  • Percy will never escape yelling "Your soul is forfeit!" at the Broker when he finished him off. In addition, even he jokes about how all the evil talking items seem to want a piece of him. He's encountered at least three.
  • Traumatic accident or no, Keyleth will never escape murdering a child before they even started streaming their game. Nor will she escape faceplanting in lava.
  • Marisha is very tired of being told to "read her spells" after a few misinterpretations that hindered the group; she has a lot of spells to memorize, and some of them rely on Matt's interpretations.
  • Matt will never live down pronouncing "sigil" wrong (as "siggle") for the first twenty or so episodes - especially from rest of the cast.
  • Scanlan teases Percy about saying "Life needs things to live" throughout Episode 63, and long after.
  • It takes Liam an embarrassingly long time to figure out that Larkin is Raishan in disguise, and he hasn't lived that down yet^note it's made even more comical by the fact he never actually figured it out, Laura/Vex had to inform him after he began questioning where Raishan is and what they'll be doing immediately after they had just been talking about Larkin; as Travis figured it out immediately, it meant canonically Grog figured it out before Vax did. Fans demanding that Vox Machina find out where "Larkin" went has become something of a minor meme.
  • Marisha trying to reassure the rest of the cast with "No, it’s fine! We’re gods!" right before Keyleth instantly dies in episode 97 will be echoed forever, especially by Travis.
  • Scanlan will never be allowed to forget that he once (unwittingly) tried to hook up with his own daughter.
• Nightmare Fuel: Now with its own page.
• Not Badass Enough for Fans: In a conversation following "Battle Royale II", Mercer theorizes that this is why many of the fanbase don't like Keyleth; she's socially awkward and constantly doubtful, standing out heavily against the rest of the party who are largely stone-cold and confident. While every member of the party is very insecure and troubled, Keyleth is the only one who never bothers trying to hide it, which can come across as Wangst with how often it comes up.
• Porting Disaster: Three episodes (Episode 31: Gunpowder Plot, Episode 33: Reunions, and Episode 35: Denouement) have suffered from this in the process of getting put up on Youtube. In particular, Episode 31 was delayed by over half a week, which left a lot of European fans unhappy (especially because Geek and Sundry were very quiet about the issue outside of several tweets), and Episode 35 was released with crippling sound glitches that made the second half of the episode unwatchable for many. Again, the lack of real response from Geek and Sundry left European fans bitter, some claiming G&S were deliberately taking their time with the episode so that they could get more fans to subscribe to the Twitch channel and access the rebroadcast.
  • Episode 63: The Echo Tree has sound glitches throughout that makes it sound like it's a skipping record. While the previous three episodes have been mostly corrected by being uploaded in two parts, this episode has not.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • While it's a laughable thought to anyone getting into the show now, Percy didn't have a lot of fans in the show's early days. Despite his crazy inventions, he came across as the Ridiculously Average Guy of the party during the Underdark arc, never having much of an opportunity for roleplaying moments and playing more of a support role in battle. Opinions started turning around the Slayer's Take arc, where Taliesin's amazing improv skills and penchant for great one-liners began to show, along with Percy contributing more significantly to fights. Then the Briarwoods Arc happened, and he quickly became one of the most beloved characters in the party. It may have helped that, with Tiberius' departure, Percy had to fill the void of The Smart Guy, a role he turned out to be incredibly good at.
  • Trinket was derided by many fans because he caused spellcasters to waste spell slots attempting to transport him and because he isn't very effective in combat. After episode 45, Vex acquires a magical item that is able to store Trinket, allowing him to be transported easily and to be used sparingly in combat situations where he's more effective.
  • Taryon Darrington. His manner of introduction made it impossible for him to escape being labelled a Replacement Scrappy, and his Upper-Class Twit and Fake Ultimate Hero personality didn't exactly endear him to fans. This first impression was probably Sam's intention from the beginning. By the end of his arc his more sympathetic traits showed themselves and he underwent Character Development, and his performance in the third Battle Royale oneshot didn't hurt either. He outright won, against powerhouses like Keyleth, Percy and Grog! He was rescued to such an extent that many fans wished he'd stayed with Vox Machina permanently. Taryon was rescued even in the eyes of his player Sam, who revealed in the campaign wrap-up that he originally expected Tary to die within a few episodes, but instead he became just as popular as the rest of the characters.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Upon the revelation that Taryon is gay the chatroom for episode 94 instantly began demanding for him to meet and hook up with Gilmore.
• "Stop Having Fun" Guys: Tends to happen sometimes during the livestreams with the viewers constantly trying to "help" the players via spamming the chatroom to remind them of rules and racial traits. To some, it can be quite annoying, while others believe that it's better than sub-hyping and posting memes in that at least they're talking about D&D. The cast often lampshades it with the catchphrase "your fun is wrong".
• Strangled by the Red String: Zahra reveals herself to be pregnant with Kashaw's child when they two return for the final battle. The last time audiences saw them was over 50 episodes ago, where Kashaw had explicitly stated their relationship was Like Brother and Sister. According to interviews, their players had developed their characters' relationship and journeys together in text threads while the main campaign was progressing, so the build-up is natural from their perspective, but the audience wasn't privy to that information.
• Squick:
  • Kashaw thinks the harvesting of the Rakshasa is this.
  • Episode 75 and 76 has this for the twins when the rest of Vox Machina is disguised to look identical to them - because their love interests, Keyleth and Percy, now look exactly like their sibling. Worse still, Vax actually kisses Keyleth on the mouth while she looks like Vex, though only because Liam (and everyone else) forgot. Eww.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Several fans were disappointed that Clarota turned out to be Evil All Along, as having a Token Heroic Orc of the Illithid was considered very original on Mercer's part.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A few fans were disappointed that Vex'ahlia's death in episode 44 didn't stick, as they were interested in how the group would have coped throughout the rest of their journey, particularly Trinket. This repeated pretty much every time one of the characters died and was resurrected, which was why Vax's outcome in the finale struck a chord with people.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Keyleth falls into this often, being portrayed as The Heart when many of her actions show otherwise. While her pre-stream killing of a child (that was chained to the Arc Villain) was arguably not her fault (as while playing tug-of-war with someone who has a metal collar around their neck is undoubtedly a stupid thing to do, the Dread Emperor is the one who kidnapped and chained said child to begin with), her picking up a badly wounded dwarven prisoner - killing him in the process - was, due to Keyleth stupidly not bothering to check on him first. Additionally, her actions involving the Clasp only made things worse, with Keyleth (as well as Vax) putting heavy-handed moralizing and ego above taking care of the refugees that were suffering from the dragons' attacks. Later, her actions in the Feywild - blatantly ignoring repeated warnings not to mess with anything (and thus contributing to Percy's blindness) was bad enough, but her "prank" of not wanting to heal Percy's eyes because "it would be funny" came off as spiteful and cruel rather than humorous. Furthermore, her tendency to put herself on a pedestal to lecture the team (while stonewalling any arguments she didn't want to hear) and near-constant immaturity often caused her to be seen as less of a quirky, socially-awkward ball of sunshine and more of a petty, self-centered womanchild who rarely learned from her mistakes. Not to mention that her complaints against the amount of killing Vox Machina does is usually in favor people or creatures that try to kill them first, causing her to look like a short-sighted Hypocrite. She does get much better as time goes on, but for some it was too little too late.
• Values Dissonance: While the cast made a clear effort to be progressive and inclusive from the beginning of the stow, both Kashaw and Vax non-consensually kissing Keyleth stands out heavily to those going back to watch Campaign 1 after the later two campaigns. While Kash later apologizes and Vax and Keyleth's true Relationship Upgrade doesn't happen until much later under far healthier circumstances, it's telling that the animated series re-worked both moments. (Vax and Keyleth's in the Brirwood arc is instead a mutual Almost Kiss before they call it off to focus on the battle, Kashaw flirts with Keyleth but never gets physical).
• The Woobie: There's lots of them of many kinds.
  • Kynan, the Vox Machina fanboy in Episode 23 - especially after Vax nearly makes him cry. Vax even uses one of luck points to convince him to come back when he's ready. It's even worse after Episode 68 where he returns, betrays Vox Machina by working for Ripley, and then switches sides to join them at the last minute. After the fight, he's so guilt-ridden and traumatized he can barely speak.
  • Desmond, that poor, poor carriage driver. He spends several hellish years working for the Briarwoods, and then Vox Machina captures him after Percy shoots off his fingers, and then he's attacked by invisible stalkers. Kid can't catch a break.
  • Vex'ahlia and Vax'ildan don't talk about it but they've had a rough life. They were sent to their father who had them educated and so forth, but he was a very cold parental figure and the rest of the elves were little better, with Vex feeling more affected by the cold reception than her brother. Eventually they ran away and decided to return home to their mother, but it turned out that she was killed in a dragon attack. They both struggled to survive and had only each other to lean on as they learnt how to be a Ranger and Rogue respectively. They're all each other had until they became close with Vox Machina. Things get even rougher for them after Vex is killed temporarily and Vax bargains with the Raven Queen to save her life in exchange for becoming the goddess's champion - after he'd spent weeks slowly moving towards devoting himself to Sarenrae. Even worse, as time went on, the relationship between the twins has become strained as Vex's personal demons are brought to light and the walls that she had made for herself start cracking, while Vax is either unable or unwilling to see his sister not being the strong person he had assumed her to be for the longest time and is always slightly off target when he tries to help. There is also the fact that whereas Vex is pursuing a goal of forgiveness, Vax is instead now following an oath of vengeance. On top of all that, Vax's life will end with the villainous Vecna's, so his mortality is no longer ignorable.
  • Keyleth was thrown out into the world by her people once she learnt enough to do the Aramente, a destiny that was forced upon her since birth, and only because her mother never returned. Due to everything that has happened to her thus far, she doesn't even know if she's worthy to become the Headmaster of the Air Ashari. Which was apparently exacerbated by accidentally killing a child she was trying to save. Then there's the fact that she has a vision of her own death]] as revealed in episode 22, and that in episode 40 she witnessed through a scrying spell the devastation wreaked on the Fire Ashari village of Pyrah by a monster escaping the Plane of Fire. It gets even worse when she reveals to Vax that her greatest fear is seeing the people she loves die, leaving her alone while she continues to live for centuries. Keyleth essentially also has a breakdown in Episode 56 and confides in a local blacksmith named Kerrek that she never wanted her abilities nor her responsibilities, wanting to go back to the blissful and ignorant life she once had. Then there's Raishan, the dragon responsible for Pyrah's destruction, and Keyleth having to form an alliance with her nemesis to take out Thordak despite her desire to kill the Diseased Deceiver. Even worse, after meeting the elderly gnome Sprigg, her greatest fears resurfaced including what would be the biggest one: her fear of forgetting everyone with the passage of time. Losing Vax right after they defeated Vecna destroyed her emotionally, to the point that she says when they reunite for a moment a year later that she'll never get over him. By the end of the campaign, she's has seen all of her friends die at least once.
  • Good lord, Percy's an Iron Woobie. He's clearly traumatized by what the Briarwoods did to his family, and the strange affliction of his spirit certainly isn't doing his health any favours, but as of Episode 27, he's determined to track the Briarwoods down and get his revenge at last. Some of his actions, such as his...conversations with Desmond or Vock, might push him into Jerkass Woobie on occasion. Episode 44 serves as a breaking point for Percy as he accidentally ending up killing Vex'ahlia in the tomb of the Raven Queen champion. He's constantly feeling guilt, wanting to make it up to Vex and her brother after the former is resurrected. Plus, in Episode 57, he has a long talk with the Raven Queen, thinking that he is so broken that he believes that he is beyond redemption, especially due to the things he's invented in addition to his more callous actions throughout. At the same time is all sort of hilarious considering that a role Taliesin once played is possibly the Trope Namer for The Woobie.
  • Scanlan, despite his usual attitude and cheerful demeanor, is also no stranger to this. His mother had died from a goblin attack, and he never knew his father. So he never got to grow up with the joys of having a family. Then in episode 38 he discovers that a woman he slept with during his own travels eventually gave birth to a daughter named Kaylie, who grew to despise him due to him never returning. Scanlan, upon meeting Kaylie and realizing the connection they share, realizes just how much of a horrible person he is and that he wants to make it up to his child so very much. In fact, ever since the two choose to make amends, with Kaylie having him promise to come home alive, Scanlan has found himself unable to go back to the way things used to be, and he is now in a position where he has to value his own life with the risk of losing everything, including his daughter, should he fall and die. This results in a Heroic BSoD and him abandoning Vox Machina after he was revived a second time.
  • Kashaw is a Jerkass Woobie, despite his pretty surly demeanor. He's had a ridiculously tragic life, what with the goddess he's married to murdering everyone he knew when she consummated the marriage on his fifteenth birthday, and ensuring he must serve as a countering channel of positive energy to balance her as long as she exists.
  • Poor Tyriok the mapmaker, in his second appearance, loses his way in the Frostweald, gets turned to stone by basilisks, then resurrected without his arm and with all his precious maps turned to stone. Not to mention that Grog loves to pick on him - by telling him that a dagger Vax gives him will make him infertile, for example. Luckily, he seems to bounce back from it.
  • Sprigg appears in episode 105 as an eccentric and comical old gnome...wracked with guilt over running away when the rest of his former party was killed by hobgoblins, living alone for 37 years, and slowly forgetting everything about his former life, even his own name.

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