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Author Topic: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role  (Read 23592 times)

Pat
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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #60 on: February 24, 2022, 01:02:58 PM »
"In Japan and in Japanese, anime (a term derived from the English word animation) describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime

I agree that most western people are going to think of a particular style of japanese animation when they hear the word Anime.
But is this anime? It's japanese animation.
Yes, but anime is an English word, not a Japanese word. It's changed meaning as it crossed language boundaries, and become more localized.

Though there is ambiguity about whether Western-styled animation done by Japanese artists is anime, or more specifically how Western it can be and still qualify. Batman Ninja is another bizarre hybrid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Zjk8m6LaY

BoxCrayonTales

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #61 on: February 24, 2022, 01:41:27 PM »
Not to mention that Netflix is using "anime" as a buzzword to advertise their original animated movies and shows. It's definitely being watered down as time goes on.

GeekyBugle

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #62 on: February 24, 2022, 06:13:32 PM »
Greetings!

Well, before Laura Bailey started doing Critical Role--she has played the voice of Jaina Proudmore in World of Warfcraft. She also sang the huge song, Daughter of the Sea, as part of the soundtrack for World of Warcraft's expansion, Battle For Azeroth. She's been regularly employed by Blizzard Entertainment for years. Laura Bailey has also performed at Blizz Con, and in concerts around the world with composer Neal Acree. She's world famous, with millions of fans everywhere. In addition to her constant work with World of Warcraft, she has done lots of work for other video game franchises, videos and series shows around the world.

She's no doubt quite wealthy, and owns a fortune.

Not bad for some "Second Rate Actress". I know Pundit has referred to the Critical Role people as second rate--and I'm like, ok. Laura Bailey is fucking world famous, and hugely successful.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Uhhhh, she did some voice work on a video game somehow equals "A-list"?  Sorry, Shark, but I think we're using different definitions here.  Actually, we're approaching different languages on this point...

Greetings!

Well, not merely "Just some video game"--but the largest and most successful video game franchise in the world.

As for a different language, well, perhaps. I see video games/digital stuff as being its own genre, its own world. Playing animated characters is certainly its own thing from whatever actors do in movies and TV shows. It seems like it is similar, but as an industry, very much its own thing, certainly at this point.

Is Laura Bailey a "Hollywood Actress" No, she isn't. But who cares about that? Beyond that, Laura Bailey doesn't *need* to be involved with Hollywood.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Also video games as an industry are way bigger than hollyweird. At least until the SJWs manage to grind them into grey mush.
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Omega

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #63 on: February 25, 2022, 04:40:23 AM »
Yes, but anime is an English word, not a Japanese word. It's changed meaning as it crossed language boundaries, and become more localized.

Though there is ambiguity about whether Western-styled animation done by Japanese artists is anime, or more specifically how Western it can be and still qualify. Batman Ninja is another bizarre hybrid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Zjk8m6LaY

Anime at some point became the shorthand of a shorthand for Japanese Animation. As video distributors were looking for a term to differentiate it from Western animation as there was some confusion.
First it was Japanimation. But the prior edition of SJW stupid screeched that that was wacist!
Then it was shortened to Japanime by some. But nope. Still wacist!
And eventually it was shortened to Anime. And odds are there was screeching of "Thats Ewasure!" because you know they would.

Fred Perry might have had a hand in standardizing the term down to Anime. He was the go-to guy alot of animation companies in Japan went to for advice. But I still have some old VHS where they were using terms like Japanimation.

Chris24601

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #64 on: February 28, 2022, 03:51:36 PM »
Well, my home group for fantasy games loved it; primarily because of how much the leads reminded them of various PCs they'd run and how what happened felt a lot like various adventures we'd had over the years... right down to ridiculous over the top swearing and violence.

As I understand it, the first two episodes were basically a short-hand they created to get the group together in lieu of how they got together in their actual campaign. The remaining episodes were a re-telling of their first streamed adventure and they plan to continue that down the line.

Most amusing to me in looking into a bit is that apparently their pantheon of gods is just the 4E pantheon with different names. Grogg the barbarian is also depicted right down to the facial marking as being a 4E Goliath. So in addition to some PF1 DNA there's also some 4E DNA in its backstory somewhere.

Wrath of God

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #65 on: February 28, 2022, 07:48:07 PM »
Well goliaths I think are actually 3E. Races of Earth or something like that. Alas they gained prominence in 4e definitely.

But yeah. IIUC they played first session with those characters in 4E, then switched to Pathfinder, so their pantheon is just 4E Pantheon + Sarenrae from Pathfinder (cleric character joined game in PF stage). And later of course they had to fill off serial numbers of both when publishing setting book-wise, that's why I think they use Whispered One for Vecna all the time.
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Ghostmaker

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #66 on: March 01, 2022, 08:31:43 AM »
Well goliaths I think are actually 3E. Races of Earth or something like that. Alas they gained prominence in 4e definitely.

But yeah. IIUC they played first session with those characters in 4E, then switched to Pathfinder, so their pantheon is just 4E Pantheon + Sarenrae from Pathfinder (cleric character joined game in PF stage). And later of course they had to fill off serial numbers of both when publishing setting book-wise, that's why I think they use Whispered One for Vecna all the time.
They did. Although later on, WotC and Paizo were generally supportive (hell, CR is -technically- canon in the D&D multiverse, as it's stated in one of the sourcebooks that the Hand of Vecna is currently in the possession of Arkhan).

This is one of those weird copyright/IP cases that, fortunately, didn't blossom into a nasty court fight. No matter what I might think of CR or VM, I'm glad it didn't because the LAST thing we fuckin' need are the courts arguing over who can use what god or character in a campaign.

Wrath of God

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #67 on: March 01, 2022, 12:13:43 PM »
Dunno how persecution of living play would work on YT or Twitch, alas TV Show is different pair of shoes.
TBH I consider basically all pantheons uninspired 4e, 3e, FR, PF so sort of *shrug*.

So CR made wise move to use titles instead of names. Which I generally kind of respect - Divine names are usually titles, it's very modern to have meaningless names by borrowing them from patrons. And WOTC made wise move to not sue people for playing their games even commercially.

On the other hands court war between CR and WOTC could really, really bring WOTC down.
"Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon.”

"And I will strike down upon thee
With great vengeance and furious anger"


"Molti Nemici, Molto Onore"

Chris24601

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #68 on: March 01, 2022, 01:37:34 PM »
On the other hands court war between CR and WOTC could really, really bring WOTC down.
Yeah, usually it’s Hasbro money vs. some schlub so the little guy gets hosed even if he afford to pay a lawyer long enough to get it into a courtroom.

But Vox Machina has Amazon money backing it… so this time it would be Hasbro as the poor schlub in any lawsuit.

That alone gives me a warm fuzzy just thinking about it.

Wrath of God

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #69 on: March 01, 2022, 06:44:28 PM »
Even without Amazon, let's say that in theory they would try to block CR for using copyrighted material like beholders and ilithids.
CR has enough fans for it to turn into massive PR clusterfuck.

"Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon.”

"And I will strike down upon thee
With great vengeance and furious anger"


"Molti Nemici, Molto Onore"

BoxCrayonTales

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #70 on: March 02, 2022, 09:23:57 AM »
Even without Amazon, let's say that in theory they would try to block CR for using copyrighted material like beholders and ilithids.
CR has enough fans for it to turn into massive PR clusterfuck.
It’s not like they couldn’t tweak the monsters to avoid copyright infringement. Change the beholder to a literal giant eyeball trailing optic nerves, and the illithid to a faceless tentacle monster with no recognizable anatomy, and you’re probably good.

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #71 on: March 04, 2022, 05:58:20 AM »
But then TBH why would WOTC really protest if they publish Mercer worldbooks and it's probably biggest advertisement of D&D ever
"Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon.”

"And I will strike down upon thee
With great vengeance and furious anger"


"Molti Nemici, Molto Onore"

Eirikrautha

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #72 on: March 04, 2022, 06:44:18 AM »
But then TBH why would WOTC really protest if they publish Mercer worldbooks and it's probably biggest advertisement of D&D ever
Because, according to US IP law, if you don't defend trademarks, you lose them.  So the moment WotC turns a blind eye to one group using beholders, everyone can use them.

Chris24601

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #73 on: March 04, 2022, 10:50:53 AM »
But then TBH why would WOTC really protest if they publish Mercer worldbooks and it's probably biggest advertisement of D&D ever
Because, according to US IP law, if you don't defend trademarks, you lose them.  So the moment WotC turns a blind eye to one group using beholders, everyone can use them.
Also because the show really isn’t so much a great advertisement for 5e as it for general big damn heroes fantasy roleplaying. Because the show isn’t trying to be meta about the story actually being a game session, but instead treating it like a traditional fantasy narrative (including changing events, removing/changing the many deaths/raise deads the party suffered, adding foreshadowing that wasn’t originally there and, most notably, portraying what were level 13+ PCs as a new groups of starting adventurers in the animated series).

Anyone starting a new PC in 5e and expecting to have adventures that look anything like what was shown on the screen with Vox Machina would be bitterly disappointed.

The Vox Machina setting also being basically 4E’s cosmology with the names filed off (a result of the one-shot that started the thing off being done in 4E before switching to PF for the ongoing pre-streamed campaign… yeah, the PCs were converted twice before they appeared on the CR podcasts… that’s definitely gonna muddy the more direct comparisons… they had to write up a custom class just to make Percy work in 5e like you’d see from OSR GM’s) also runs pretty counter to the Forgotten Realms/The Great Wheel also makes it feel less like D&D (in the same way that 4E is said to not feel like D&D).

Basically, it’s only an advertisement for 5e in the sense that 5e is default fantasy rpg on the market and in the long run I think there’s a market for those who like roleplaying who come into 5e, but dislike that they can’t really pull of Vox Machina Animated in 5e without a lot of houseruling.

Armchair Gamer

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Re: Vox Machina - From the Same People Who Brought You Critical Role
« Reply #74 on: March 04, 2022, 11:03:01 AM »
But then TBH why would WOTC really protest if they publish Mercer worldbooks and it's probably biggest advertisement of D&D ever
Because, according to US IP law, if you don't defend trademarks, you lose them.  So the moment WotC turns a blind eye to one group using beholders, everyone can use them.

  Beholders fall under copyright, though, not trademarks, and copyright isn't lost if ignored. It's also very easy to file the serial numbers off of beholders and illithids and avoid the problem, so even a victory wouldn't win WotC much.