The thing about the Mighty Nein is… they’re not just fuck ups. All of them could and probably are the villains in someone else’s story. Well, except one.
Not counting the hippy therapist that brews dead people tea, the best of them is the enthusiastic kinda leader of a kinda cult of a prankster god.
Vox Machina is a bunch of fuck ups that needed a chance to show the world they were heroes
Bell’s Hells are a bunch of NPCs that are thrown into world changing events
But the Nein? They are people who have done terrible things. Terribly damaged people that have been hurt by the world and lashed out. People that had no one to rely on, but found each other. People who decide to break the cycle and do better than was done to them
There will be no Legend of the Mighty Nein. An animated series, yes, I hope to all the gods yes. But a legend? Nah, they are not the things of legend. No one knows what they did or what they faced
They were the perfect party to see the kingdom of “monsters” and help them. They are the party of redemption because if they aren’t beyond saving no one is beyond saving
Bell’s Hells are the party of the downtrodden and forgotten, the little folk standing up against a great power
The Mighty Nein are the people who can’t ask for forgiveness, who don’t want forgiveness, who don’t want recognition, but who know how easy it is to do the wrong thing and have decided to do the right thing anyway
it is a bunch of broken, fragmented people who become better together. it is a family bound by loss and love.
Anyway, when people ask where to start with CR, I can’t help but say Campaign 2. Because while it is meandering and frustrating at times, these weirdos have my whole heart, because, like them, I feel like no one is beyond redemption
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You wanna know what's crazy? Now knowing that Laura and Marisha didn't plan to be romantic this campaign at all, it is INSANE that everything went so perfectly, thematically, exactly the way it did.
The series of events from the rock breaking, Dusk showing up RIGHT as it was happening, to them making up just so Otohan could show up and kill Laudna not a DAY later literally because she wanted to get on Imogen's nerves ("Is she your favorite?"). And then Imogen obliterating Delilah with her own fucking hands for Laudna. Getting the circlet. Laudna holding Imogen on the ship they were about to crash having that Tether Talk^tm just before they were separated ONCE AGAIN.
Just the entire escalation that led to them meeting in Jrusar that day and Imogen blurting out "Can I kiss you?" in the mfing BREAD ISLE because she couldn't hold back her feelings is BONKERS.
Even down to Imogen saying she "thought dates were supposed to have sparks" after their date with pretty and telling Laudna she "has the biggest spark she's ever seen" a long ass time later in Bassuras.
The evolution of their feelings for each other, the tension that was building on that table every time they talked to each other. The fact that it all happened serendipitously with absolutely no previous plan and it went just the way it did? Immaculate. Showstopping. Absolutely astounding. If Marisha, Matt and Laura had sat down and planned this whole thing from the beginning it still couldn't have gone more perfectly.
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I'm still just blown away by how that scene played out, you guys. Like. Laura motherfucking Bailey.
She just managed to distill all these elements that have come together so perfectly. Imogen can shut out other people's thoughts now, and that should be so amazing! She should be so happy! And Laudna is so genuinely happy for her, because in spite of her own trauma, that's just who Laudna is! She wants only good things for her very dear (*cough*) friend!
But suddenly it's actually a point of insecurity because now Imogen can't hear Laudna's thoughts. And that's not something she's had to reckon with yet. And just that little bit of uncertainty? That question? Can I kiss you, because I don't know if it's alright anymore?
Like, that's such a brilliant acting choice. She absolutely crystallized the vulnerability there, put it on display, but risked asking anyway. Any time before this, it almost would have been too cheap, because she can cheat. She can see inside Laudna's head if she wants, she can know exactly how she'd feel about it. Probably she hasn't actually looked before, because Jesus that's scary. But now she can't know for sure, even though Laudna's right there saying "literally everything is open to you if you ask."
So she fucking asks.
That was such a perfect choice for that character in that moment, and you know Laura has to have been planning *something*, but she got that much meaning out of a scene she couldn't have fully planned in advance. Like, Marisha fully set her up for it, but really clearly didn't know she was going there.
I think I have to go lie on the floor for a while.
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A Not-Necessarily-Exhaustive List of Good Moments from C1 1-27:
"I have an intelligence of 6, I know what I'm doing"
"We're here to right wrongs, and right lefts—" "And write comment cards"
Tiberius Kraghammer
Clarota
"We'll explain later. You're on the roof of Osama bin Laden's house"
"We'll be taking your weapons, your armor, and I believe your pride"
Percy making the first trick arrows for Vex after a shopkeep was a dick to her about arrows, which is canonically when she began to fall for him
Keyleth killing that one duergar from the TLOVM flashback
"I encourage violence"
Lady Kima being freed and then pulverizing the corpse of the duergar who'd been torturing her
Matt's fucked up body horror monsters
Scanlan taking a dump on a bed for the first time
Pike's crisis of faith when she slits a duergar's throat with her mace and her holy symbol breaks
When the limited T-shirt run went live and then sold out before Marisha could finish reading the announcement
Vax getting his foot burned off in lava
Scanlan the Kingslayer
"Can I use my Luck feat for this?" "You don't have any feet left"
Kima and Keyleth's argument (it was good, haters eat my shorts)
The origin of The Cube
"I'm Vax that's Vex ->" "I'm Vex that's Vax <-"
"Screw you, I want my final words with you to be indignant and irritated!"
"He has three-quarters cover" "I ignore three-quarters cover :)" "...then fuckin' fire!"
"Some people have no sense of fucking honor!"
Travis's notes that just say "I don't trust Clarota I don't trust Clarota I don't trust Clarota"
Percy reacting to the Briarwoods being namedropped during a council meeting
Meeting Gilmore on-stream for the first time
The Belt of Dwarvenkind and Grog's obsessive attempts to grow a beard
Scanlan's blue-shit-scrying potion
Grog "Philip" Strongjaw vs Kern
Vax giving Minxie!Keyleth a belly rub
The hydra fight and the beef with the Slayer's Take
Episodes 18 and 19, in their entirety, but specifically:
Zahra and Vex's initial rivalry-turned-friendship-turned-"I have a crush on Zahra"
Lyra. She's just. so much. idk of what but she is it
"I'm wearing the pajamas with the buttflap and the buttflap is down. The buttflap is DOWN"
Scanlan introducing himself to Rimefang as Burt Reynolds and then Matt, in his scary dragon voice, calling him "Burt"
"I'm sorry, I'm a genius, I'm sorry! Oh, god I'm clever!"
Zahra killing Rimefang
Percy and Vex working together on a history check (it's important To Me)
Wil Wheaton rolling five Nat 1s. In one session
Keyleth and Vax posing as a married couple to get information
Kash insight-checking Thorbir, believing he has to be actively sabotaging them because no one could possibly be that bad at their job (he's not, he really is just that unlucky)
Wil, playing a dwarven fighter, finally rolling a nat 20...for an insight check
The magic carpet losing its enchantment in a pit of acid and Laura's scream of horror from offscreen
"Rakshasaaaaaaa!" -jazz hands-
Kashaw and Keyleth, which was thankfully reworked in TLOVM but was also hilarious
Vex exasperatedly kissing Grog, portrayed by Laura kissing a bewildered Travis
Tyriok the cartographer
Grog, the Vasselheim merchant, and the first and only time Vex started beef with a retailer
Keyleth recounting a vision she had of her own death
The Aramente trial in Pyrah and a cameo from Thordak
Travis getting a medal from a fan for losing to Kern and Matt making it canon
Grog fighting Kern again and winning
Keyleth getting arrested. For the second time in Vasselheim alone
The first appearance of the man. The myth. The Viktor
Kynan's first appearance and Vax's idea of "tough love"
Percy telling his backstory to the party and them immediately affirming their support for him ("You don't have to get involved in this" "Oh, we are SO involved" "You said you wanted 'em dead!") and Taliesin himself being moved to tears over this
Percy creating Diplomacy
Vax and Keyleth bear-sitting Trinket and braiding pink ribbons into his fur
Gilmore finding out Vax wants to see him and teleporting in from half a continent away
Vax shaving half of Grog's beard and Travis breaking a mechanical pencil with one hand
The feast, where Percy actually threatens the Briarwoods to their faces while disguised as Vax
Vax and the Briarwoods. "Gosh you guys are good-looking"
Vax nearly dying and having a vision of the two people he cares about most: Vex and Keyleth
Sylas jumping out the window and doing a perfect 3-point landing...while Delilah blows the athletics check and faceplants in the dirt
"SYLAS"
Vex scoring two crits on Delilah
Tiberius getting Feebleminded
Percy's attack on Desmond. My horrid little skrunkly <3
"YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT! DIE! DIE!" and Keyleth skipping her turn to just stare at Percy
Vox Moochina
Keyleth taking charge to save the ember roc
Keyleth conjuring a water elemental and Taliesin gargling water to translate her commands to it
And finally, the conversation between Keyleth and Percy where he privately confesses his own worries that he's going dark and that he's afraid of himself, and she expresses her concern for him and promises to be there for him
anyway c1 good
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