“The Legend of Vox Machina” has brought some of the biggest moments from “Critical Role’s” first campaign to life through animation. From the bloodthirsty Briarwoods to the power-hungry Chroma Conclave and the megalomaniacal Whispered One. Throughout these arcs, standout episodes and clever Easter eggs have been front and center for fans to enjoy.

Fans have spotted countless Easter eggs throughout the series tied to other Critical Role campaigns. The Titmouse team working on “The Legend of Vox Machina” has managed to sneak in many throughout the series. Beyond the Easter eggs the Titmouse team has been able to experiment and play with the animation and genre.

In an exclusive interview with Temple of Geek, Arthur Loftis and Sung Jin Ahn reveal which episode of “The Legend of Vox Machina” is their favorite. They explain how it stands out from other episodes and plays with genre. The pair also reflect on how it unexpectedly mirrors how animation works as well.

“It Was The Most Heist I Could Ever Dream”

Temple of Geek: One of the things that is so cool about “Legend of Vox Machina” is you guys are able to play with different animation styles. This season we had the heist and we had Grog’s little intro song while also playing in different genres a little bit. We had horror here and there. So, what has been your guys’ favorite going outside of the expected traditional fantasy aspect of the show in general?

Arthur Loftis:

I mean, for me, that heist episode is my favorite thing we’ve done. It’s just so not like anything else in the show and it still contributes to the plot, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously. And honestly, I think the comedy in that episode just we really found our footing. That is the best. And to me, my favorite thing about Vox Machina is that it’s not just fantasy action adventure stuff. You can get that from so many other places and high stakes and big battles. We have that, but on top of it all, you get just really, really funny people in a room playing D&D and the D&D shenanigans are strongest in that heist episode.

Sung Jin Ahn:

I concur with Arthur; the heist stands up. And we knew when we were making that episode from script, we knew we were going to push the heist factor and the heist-ness vibe, but I wasn’t expecting how heist-y it got. Obviously with the continuation of everyone’s passion building toward the episode and then the final turn on top with the music from Neil [Acree]. So, it was the most heist I could ever dream that we knew was going to be heist, but it exceeded my heist expectations and just the chaotic as the end of how everything, in an ironic way comes together in the most unplanned way.

Temple of Geek: I do love a heist gone wrong that somehow still works.

Sung Jin Ahn:

Yeah. So, a lot of fun back and forth. And even in the earlier days, there were discussions and playing the security system. Right now, we have that stone statue and before it was a bunch of little other creatures. And again, we’re doing that dialogue like, “Hey, what could we strategize around?” It’s one big threat rather than all these multiple ones because it just gives us more focused control to uphold the quality of the animation and you contain it down that way.

Arthur Loftis:

I guess it goes to show how many moving parts there are when designing an episode like that. There’s so many ideas that get thrown out along the way before you get to the one that works, but truly even watching the episode, that’s kind of how animation feels. It’s like everything broke and yet here we are. Nothing goes with plan.

Sung Jin Ahn:

Yeah. And miraculously, it works out in the end.

“The Legend of Vox Machina” plays with genre. They of course lean into the action, adventure, fantasy, comedy, and tragedy that one might expect. However, they also dip their toes into horror, music, and obviously heist. “The Legend of Vox Machina” has opened the door to Critical Role’s story experimenting as they tighten up and streamline the story.

Another fun element of “The Legend of Vox Machina” and “Mighty Nein” has been incorporating Easter eggs from Critical Role. From small details like “Tusk Love” in Gilmore’s shop to Keyleth briefly becoming a goldfish in a musical number. These moments are call outs to elements of the campaign that they may not have time to explore or were more jokes than plot points.

Critical Role Easter Eggs To Keep An Eye Out For In The Legend Of Vox Machina Season 4

Temple of Geek: I was curious if you guys have any favorite Easter eggs from either this season or past seasons. One of the things I really love about this is we get those Critical Role Easter eggs in there.

Arthur Loftis:

Oh man, off the top of my head, there’s one thing that I’ll say. I don’t know if it counts as an Easter egg, but people on Reddit have discovered that we have sort of a font that we use for whenever things are supposed to look fantasy but not legible, but it is an actual font, which we’ve been using to spell actual messages in the backgrounds and on the props. I think someone caught the lantern that Percy’s holding up in the first episode. They couldn’t read the side of it. They were trying to decode it, but I asked our prop designer, and it says, “Fire goes whoosh.” So there’s all kinds of hidden little Easter eggs from season one ‘til now that we’ve hidden using that font.

I did just think of an Easter egg in the Heist episode; the whole episode takes place in Rexentrom, which is obviously a major “Mighty Nein” location. We were talking to Joseph, the art director on “Mighty Nein,” to see if there were little kind of things we could tie together with the other show, our sister show. So, in the background of the very first shot, you see the watchtower clock tower that they’re hiding out in, looking out at the Cobalt Soul, and you can see the silhouette of Castle Lungubrock in the background, and that is literally the design from “Mighty Nein.” We actually made sure it matched one-to-one.

Sung Jin Ahn:

I think I really like it because it just naturally kind of took a life itself from working on the anime series where it all starts back to season one with Keyleth barfing. The amount of barfing she did was never intended from script. That’s something we added in the storyboards just because why not? It seemed fun. Keyleth barfing into that, what are those dog creatures in our world called? Yeah,

Arthur Loftis:

It was some kind of dogman.

Sung Jin Ahn:

Yeah. So that was just the natural list. We just creatively just … And so now it became a tradition. So every season she barfed at some point and I think they added into the writing of this new season of she doesn’t barf. She’s being self-aware about, oh, I’m not going to barf this time. So just a cool Easter egg of itself that came to life from the show.

Arthur Loftis:

That’s her true character arc. How willing to barf she is.

Sung Jin Ahn:

Yeah. Now that’s what we call character growth.

All four seasons of “The Legend of Vox Machina” are available on Prime Video now.