He’s guilt-ridden after the events of the Sunken Tomb and desperately trying to be of use, trying to ‘fix’ his friendship with Vax like one of his machines. Vex and Vax brush shoulders with their miserable father, making them the stars of this journey through wonderland - but we also see a little development from Percy, too. Splitting the party would never work in a tabletop game, but it's perfect for TV. A classic ‘A plot, B plot’ scenario that places each group into the stories that impacted them the most. The casting is imperfect, and she accidentally ejects Grog, Pike and Scanlan back into the Prime Material while herself, Vax, Vex and Percy land in the Feywild. When Umbrasyl attacks Kamaljiori and steals Mythcarver, Keyleth is forced to plane-shift Vox Machina to safety. The final bowstring that ties the season together is a choice that would never work in a tabletop game, but is perfect for TV: splitting the party. Image courtesy of Prime Video Image credit: Image courtesy of Prime Video The Legend of Vox Machina remixes and rearranges key moments from Critical Role's actual play series in order to provide greater narrative power and character development. He obtains a legendary blade through a personal triumph, rather than simply being present while the gang smashed syllables together. Aside from being a gorgeous song that shows off Alanna Ubach and Sam Riegel’s pipes, this moment also makes Mythcarver - Scanlan’s vestige of divergence - feel earned. He tells the story of Kamaljiori and his mate Osysa, separated by their duty. To wound the sphinx, Scanlan channels his hidden emotions into a powerful rock ballad. In the show, this turmoil is placed front-and-centre for us to enjoy. Livestream Scanlan struggled with his desire to find true love and authenticity, but much of that struggle happened below the surface. Vax and Keyleth both had their character-episodes, but now it’s Scanlan Shorthalt’s time to shine. In the TV show, this game of fantasy Scrabble is replaced by a simple task: wound the sphinx. Live, this was a somewhat clumsy mixture of brawl and riddle, where Vox Machina had to explore the environment to discover parts of his name. A special mention goes to the battle with Kamaljiori. While the pacing isn’t always perfect, we see these same moments of finesse throughout the entire season. The merging of Keyleth's character-defining moments isn't just a storytelling timesaver it's an active improvement over the original yarn. This isn’t just a storytelling timesaver it’s an active improvement over the original yarn. Keyleth must master the flame while Pyrah is under siege, walking through a literal trial by fire. This merges two character-defining moments into a more focused scene. In The Legend of Vox Machina, that incursion happens before she has mastered fire, not after. Originally, Keyleth completed her Aramente to Pyrah before the Chroma Conclave attacked, and returned to it to deal with an elemental incursion. The Legend of Vox Machina Season 1 review This places Vax and his new relic at the centre of the ensuing set piece, turning a throwaway fight with a beholder into a meaningful character moment. Zahra’s imprisoned beholder is also a clever narrative trick, allowing Vox Machina to fight the creature after Vax’ildan’s deal with the Raven Queen. For starters, Kashaw and Zahra accompany the party to the Sunken Tomb not as proven friends, but mistrusting allies, introducing a new tension to an already dire situation. This allows them to rewrite several key events and improve the original story. The TV show, however, doesn’t see them visit until after the dragon’s attack. During their visit, they embarked on two separate quests for the Slayer’s Take, and Keyleth finished her Aramente to Pyrah. In Critical Role’s actual play series, Vox Machina came to Vasselheim before they’d even heard of the Briarwoods. Perhaps the biggest change to the story is its timescale. While it’s true that any livestreamed D&D campaign can be bogged down by hours of combat, rule-wrangling and table talk, The Legend of Vox Machina still has an incredible amount of ground to cover. Spoiler warning: I’ll be talking about story elements from episodes one through nine of The Legend of Vox Machina, so make sure you’re all caught up! A throwaway fight with a beholder becomes a meaningful character moment. Distilling that into two seasons of TV is a legendary task, but nine episodes into season two of The Legend of Vox Machina and I’m pleased to report they’ve passed that impossible skill check. To scribble that down on a dry-erase board, that’s over one hundred and seventy hours of story and drama. The Chroma Conclave arc, an epic, continent-spanning struggle against four ancient dragons, lasted for 44 episodes. The average length of a Critical Role episode is four hours.
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