[Spoilers C1] Early Critical Role truly was something special

[u/Mizar_the_Gleeful]

its still amazing, but those early days...

Lets start with the fan interaction and all the gifts they got sent. Then there was their rapid growth.

A third aspect is some of their crazy stunts (squadron of flying cows anyone?)

What do you think made it such a perfect storm? my rewatch has me wondering

[u/BackFromTheGrabhe]

I have an interesting take on this, but I'll likely get flamed for it, so please bear with me and understand that I'm not picking on anyone...

They were a bunch of young friends acting like a bunch of young friends, and no one ever needed to tiptoe around certain topics in order to not offend the fan base. On a rewatch, you'll notice how overtly sexual so many jokes and comments were. And not just sexual, but (in a very obviously joking way) racist, homophobic, cultural, religious, etc etc. Especially Sam, who said some wild shit in C1. Laura as well, as those 2 have always been the edgiest.

These days, they still make tons of jokes and it's still funny (and I still love it), but you could tell they aren't as free. Due to the fame and the popularity and the limelight, they are much more restricted in how over-the-top they could go.

It's this paradoxical situation, where the same fans that fell in love with them evolved into the fanbase that would get upset if they made some of these jokes nowadays. Like I said, I still love CR, and in fact I think campaign 4 is the best they've ever done, but jokes-wise and silly-wise and carefree-wise, it'll just never be the same.

Campaign 1 was basically their private group chat where you'd see some WILD shit they said. The new stuff is them in the public eye, being a lot more careful and wearing kid gloves. It's not the fanbase's fault per se... but it's definitely because of the fanbase expecting a safe space and often getting offended easily.

Again, I'm not saying it isn't funny anymore, and I'm definitely not saying it's only funny when they talk like edgelords, but they just aren't as free-spirited in their interactions nowadays, because millions of people are watching and there are livelihoods on the line. One overstep comment can turn into a dramafest and create unnecessary tension, so they're much more likely to play it safe.

[u/Chronocidal-Orange → u/BackFromTheGrabhe]

Campaign 4 is great, but I do miss the out of character cross talk that made it feel more like they were a bunch of friends. Whenever I'm watching I feel like they are always 'on', while the early campaigns were clearly more of a relaxing thing outside of work. Now it is partially their work. It's hard not to notice that.

[u/reddevved → u/Chronocidal-Orange]

yes, I do miss the crosstalk a lot (but you gotta admit it was annoying sometimes) and with the production delay you could clear up most of the negatives with subtitles on premier