D&D General Legend of Vox Machina Trailer Released

Critical Role’s The Legend of Vox Machina will be released on Amazon streaming in batches of three episodes. Season 1 will release on Amazon Prime Video as follows:

• Friday, January 28th: Episodes 1-3
• Friday, February 4th: Episodes 4-6
• Friday, February 11th: Episodes 7-9
• Friday, February 18th: Episodes 10-12

 

[MNblockhead]

Looks funny. Kind of wish we could get a semi-serious show/movie, but thats never going to happen. It is a GAME after all...

If it is like the live stream there will be serious elements.

But I personally love that this feels like a D&D game to me.

 

[MNblockhead]

That narrows their numbers a LOT. Each group you add lowers it's appeal to general audiences. Normally you want to appeal to a larger and bigger audience rather than go niche.

I know it may appeal to many here that don't fall into the categories I listed, but (and meaning no offense) we here are a very small minority compared to the numbers who are the actual viewing public.

With what they've done I see it turning off a LOT of households (cartoon with violence and language...which is kind of like South Park, but this isn't a straight comedy and fantasy is another arena that makes it a smaller appeal already). It's not like Futurama which addresess some adult ideas but is clean overall, this series appears that it is going to be far over the top with language and violence from what I've seen already.

The only thing I can see keeping this from stopping anymore series like this being made and this being the last set of cartoons like this is Jeff Bezos. I think he is a MAJOR fan of D&D stuff and Fantasy...soooo...I could see him continuing it even if it has terrible numbers. That's happened before so not unprecedented...

But I just don't see this drawing in massive numbers or having the appeal that some of their other shows have.

I could be wrong (and I know everyone here probably hopes or thinks that I am), but I just don't see this show having a massive appeal overall. I think it may appeal to a subset of college age and a little older viewing audiences, but I don't see it catching on otherwise. I see it as a massive gamble (college age kids can make a cult series and things like that which persist, but just as often they drop them).

Nah, this will appeal to people who have never played D&D and never heard of Critical Role. Anime is huge now among Junior High School and High School kids. I think this will appeal to many of them. Just like the Critical Role of the live stream brought a lot of new players to the hobby, I think that this will do so even more. Amazon wouldn't have bought the rights to it if they didn't do their market research and think there was a potentially large audience for it. Whether it is personally your cup of tea or not, this is a great thing for the hobby.

 

[MNblockhead]

When Doctor Who gets lower than 3 million viewers questions come up on whether it should/will be cancelled or not by some.

There have been shows on streaming that had over 2 million viewers and got cancelled for lack of interest (netflix, we are looking at you).

Bigger shows look for upwards of 7 to 20 million viewers.

1.4 million is good for critical role, but is it good for Amazon...and how many of those will actually use Amazon Prime to watch the show?

I predict it will surpass 3 million viewers. Great voice acting, good story, and excellent animation for those who are into it. The violence will probably be a draw. It certainly didn't hurt Castlevania.

 

[MNblockhead]

I'm a Toys' R Us kid, and will always be a Toys'R Us kid

Nah, K-B Toys all the way!

...

All the way to B Daltons on the other side of the mall.

 

[MNblockhead]

It doesn't.

Most likely none of us can tell if it will be or not.

I am just going off of what they normally look at to determine whether a series will have a better chance of success or not. This is why Marvel normally has certain rules about what material goes into a Marvel movie and almost none are over a PG-13 rating.

You have those that break these barriers (such as Deadpool), but you also have your Suicide Squads and Birds of Prey as well when you decide to go all adult and ignore the family or other audiences.

I wonder if the same rules apply to Amazon / Netflix shows. I mean, Attack on Titan is an extremely graphic and violent anime series and it is HUGE.

 

[MNblockhead]

The Expanse?

I generally agree with your points though.

I thought the Expanse Game came after the TV show, which came after the books. Not that it matters to me. You can play a TTRPG as a drama or a slap-stick comedy. Critical Role has both, but is heavy on humor.

 

[Reynard]

I thought the Expanse Game came after the TV show, which came after the books. Not that it matters to me. You can play a TTRPG as a drama or a slap-stick comedy. Critical Role has both, but is heavy on humor.

The Expanse started as a home campaign for the authors but neither the books nor the show are really "based on" the campaign.

 

[darjr]

The Expanse started as a home campaign for the authors but neither the books nor the show are really "based on" the campaign.

If I remember correctly they were going to do a video game first, based on their campaign. Then an RPG. They had so much backstory and lore they put a book together for lulz and viola!

 

[Reynard]

If I remember correctly they were going to do a video game first, based on their campaign. Then an RPG. They had so much backstory and lore they put a book together for lulz and viola!

A friend of mine knows Daniel Abraham, who told him RPGs were good for world building but not for plots. As an author I concur. RPG campaigns only look like well crafted stories in retrospect and will lots of editing.

 

[Dire Bare]

Nah, K-B Toys all the way!

...

All the way to B Daltons on the other side of the mall.

B. Daltons? Pshaw.

Waldenbooks. Yeah.

 

[MarkB]

Have you ever heard of the Netflix show Big Mouth? I have no idea who the target audience is for that show and I can't believe it's a thing that Netflix greenlit, but it's already had five seasons and is getting a spin-off. I'm not certain traditional age demographics matter much anymore.

Another example from Netflix would be Final Space, a light-hearted animation with plenty of gore and violence which somehow manages to get serious, dramatic and heart-wrenching in ways that seem totally un-earned, yet nevertheless work.

 

[overgeeked]

The Expanse?

I generally agree with your points though.

The Expanse started as a home-brew game. Then was turned into a series of very successful novels. And got a boost from George RR Martin. Then it became a TV series. Then it became an RPG. It didn’t start as a TV series that was an adaptation of an existing RPG.

 

[overgeeked]

Or it's there to stay true to the stream. Those Critical Role %*&#@$ers cuss a lot.

Not really. They swear about average for adults not at work.

 

[Reynard]

Not really. They swear about average for adults not at work.

And here I figured it would have been easy to tell I was making a joke.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

So no joke, I hate gore. I hate grimdark.

IT is a testament to how good Invincible is that I still like it enough to recommend it.

Ditto. I hate gore, don't love excessive cussing, and generally don't watch animated shows.

I loved Invincible. I am currently watching Castlevania, and I love it, too. The next show on my list is Arcane, which I'm sure I'll like, too.

If a show is well-written, well-voice acted, and has good animation, even someone as squeamish as me can enjoy it.

I'm looking forward to adding this show to my list of "need to watch" when it comes out. And I've barely seen any of the first season of Critical Role. The animation looks good, I like the characters, and it's D&D-based. I think this show is going to be good and popular. If people that don't play League of Legends enjoy Arcane, I think that people that don't watch Critical Role or play D&D can enjoy this show.

 

[Parmandur]

I’m not over 35.

Heck, I'm over 35, as are most of the cast.

 

[Parmandur]

I’m 51, but I’m not over 35.

This logic is incontrovertible.

 

[Parmandur]

That narrows their numbers a LOT. Each group you add lowers it's appeal to general audiences. Normally you want to appeal to a larger and bigger audience rather than go niche.

I know it may appeal to many here that don't fall into the categories I listed, but (and meaning no offense) we here are a very small minority compared to the numbers who are the actual viewing public.

With what they've done I see it turning off a LOT of households (cartoon with violence and language...which is kind of like South Park, but this isn't a straight comedy and fantasy is another arena that makes it a smaller appeal already). It's not like Futurama which addresess some adult ideas but is clean overall, this series appears that it is going to be far over the top with language and violence from what I've seen already.

The only thing I can see keeping this from stopping anymore series like this being made and this being the last set of cartoons like this is Jeff Bezos. I think he is a MAJOR fan of D&D stuff and Fantasy...soooo...I could see him continuing it even if it has terrible numbers. That's happened before so not unprecedented...

But I just don't see this drawing in massive numbers or having the appeal that some of their other shows have.

I could be wrong (and I know everyone here probably hopes or thinks that I am), but I just don't see this show having a massive appeal overall. I think it may appeal to a subset of college age and a little older viewing audiences, but I don't see it catching on otherwise. I see it as a massive gamble (college age kids can make a cult series and things like that which persist, but just as often they drop them).

I mean, they regularly draw hundreds of thousands or even millions of viewers for their live games, and the Kickstarter was enormous. Not much of a gamble, since the audience already exists.

 

[Parmandur]

Very funny trailer: this probably represents the cherry picked most vulgar moments, and is not representative of the entire tone, which looks PG-13 like the rest of the CR branded materials.

 

[SkidAce]

That narrows their numbers a LOT. Each group you add lowers it's appeal to general audiences. Normally you want to appeal to a larger and bigger audience rather than go niche.

I know it may appeal to many here that don't fall into the categories I listed, but (and meaning no offense) we here are a very small minority compared to the numbers who are the actual viewing public.

With what they've done I see it turning off a LOT of households (cartoon with violence and language...which is kind of like South Park, but this isn't a straight comedy and fantasy is another arena that makes it a smaller appeal already). It's not like Futurama which addresess some adult ideas but is clean overall, this series appears that it is going to be far over the top with language and violence from what I've seen already.

The only thing I can see keeping this from stopping anymore series like this being made and this being the last set of cartoons like this is Jeff Bezos. I think he is a MAJOR fan of D&D stuff and Fantasy...soooo...I could see him continuing it even if it has terrible numbers. That's happened before so not unprecedented...

But I just don't see this drawing in massive numbers or having the appeal that some of their other shows have.

I could be wrong (and I know everyone here probably hopes or thinks that I am), but I just don't see this show having a massive appeal overall. I think it may appeal to a subset of college age and a little older viewing audiences, but I don't see it catching on otherwise. I see it as a massive gamble (college age kids can make a cult series and things like that which persist, but just as often they drop them).

Were you aware it is the highest funded video/show kickstarter ever?