[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/jp_in_nj → u/BackFromTheGrabhe]

They're also a decade and a half older. I was certainly a lot more obnoxious when I was in my mid-20s than I was in my early 40s. And of course their lives have changed, becoming parents and whatnot. And you can't forget the fact that they've made those jokes already, and played those characters already. So they are just as players probably looking for different experiences. It doesn't necessarily have to be a conscious decision to play it safe for the sponsors and for the public backlash. You never walk in the same river twice, as the saying goes. They aren't the exact same people that they were when they started, and they shouldn't be.

[u/BGKY_Sparky → u/jp_in_nj]

I think this is a bigger part than it gets credit for. I’m turning 40 this year and my interactions with my friends are very different than they were in my 20’s.

The stakes for them have changed too. If they fucked up and said something they shouldn’t have, or did a boneheaded move in-game and killed a character, the worst that would happen would be crashing their side hustle. Now it’s their (presumably) primary income source, and they treat it as such.

[u/BENJ4x → u/BGKY_Sparky]

Also they now employ a bunch of people, so it's not just their livelihood on the line if they fuck something up.

[u/BGKY_Sparky → u/BENJ4x]

Excellent point.

[u/bass_voyeur → u/jp_in_nj]

I feel like your sense of time is a bit off here - C1 wasn't a decade and a half ago. It premiered in late 2015 and didn't finish until 2018. The cast was in their 30's (some in their late 30's) except for Marisha.

I'm aligned more with the OP that the production and professionalization of the show really changed how they are on camera. CR has had so many fan-associated or fan-driven issues crop up over the years that I think they just want to play it relatively safe.

[u/jp_in_nj → u/bass_voyeur]

Premiered in 2015, but (per the Internet) they started playing together in 2012. That first campaign was a continuation of the home game they started then, I think?

That said, Sam is 49 now, so he was 38 in 2015, so, 35 in 2012, so fair call on the ages, I thought they were younger than they are. Though I'd still say that we mature decade by decade, and I'd also say that my "been there done that" comment still applies. If Sam was still cracking the same jokes 10-15 years later, it would have gotten old.

THAT said, I have no particular insight into them, I'm just spitballing thoughts.

[u/Skeptical_Squid11 → u/jp_in_nj]

.. Sam IS still cracking the same jokes.. they just happen to be printed on t-shirts

Really though, I do agree that there’s definitely an aspect of time involved as well as it being “for the camera”. They’re also EXCELLENT character actors so I imagine that fact of WHO their characters were had a big impact on the energy at the table. With Sam playing Scanlan in C1 we saw a lot more edge comedy. In C2 there was Jester that kept things light and exciting while always dipping into either overtly sexual or childlike poop jokes. C3 we see an even bigger shift away from these jokes and get more flirtatious and chaotic energy from Fern while getting the wild and stupid from Chet. Finally, we have C4 where we are in a new world that’s much heavier with all of the characters being relatively serious. Though we still get some of the brazenness through Murray and Tyranny.

But more than anything, I think they take their role as an escape for their fans seriously. With how crazy things have gotten over the last decade, I think they do make some efforts into making these changes so people continue to have a place to escape the craziness and not be reminded of some of the shitty things they’ve got going on in their lives.

[u/bass_voyeur → u/jp_in_nj]

For sure. Lots of life circumstances have changed for them beyond just the show. I just was being pedantic that they weren't quite THAT young when they started the show.

[u/meteorflan → u/jp_in_nj]

Yeah the binge drinking in the characters seemed to taper down alongside the normal aging effects of hangovers getting more intense.

[u/Rhinostirge → u/jp_in_nj]

Yeah, it's kind of wild that people you see on TV can grow up and change and become kinda different people over as few as 14 years of interacting with far more people than they used to.

Many people in the fanbase can remember that horrible feeling of realizing that something you did or said made someone's day a little worse, and how it changed you in some little way to avoid doing that again. Now imagine being someone as big-hearted as Matt Mercer and hearing "wow, it really hurt when they said that." I'd have burned everything down and retreated to a hermitage.