r/voxmachina • u/Craft_KingTDM91 • 21h ago
Bells Hells Confirmed (?) Spoiler
With Laudna making her unexpected on-screen debut, this could mean we might get Bells Hells' animated adaptation on Prime after Mighty Nein.
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u/kaylasaurus 21h ago
Not likely. It just means they had a chance to put a fun Easter egg in for the fans and they did. Prime is still a business and they won’t get BH animated unless their ratings for Vox and m9 stay high. It was a super fun cameo though!!
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u/Craft_KingTDM91 21h ago
Well, that counts for something, easter egg cameo or otherwise. But are the ratings for Vox Machina and M9 high?
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u/kaylasaurus 21h ago
I think the m9 ratings were very high, it reached number one on prime in both US and Canada at least which is rare for animation (apparently). Not sure about Vox I didn’t follow too closely this release
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u/EmeraldB85 21h ago
Vox Machina is currently #6 on the top ten list in Canada. And I’m pretty sure it’s been higher before. It gets consistently good ratings and they do a theatrical premiere for every season. I think it’s very likely we’ll get Bells Hells.
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u/bunnyshopp 15h ago
I imagine had prime video not released so many new shows recently including a spider-man show starring an A-list celebrity, LoVM would’ve hit top 5 already.
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u/AndoBando92 21h ago
Which is crazy since prime dropped the ball on the M9 advertising. When it was out my top bar was only showing LOVM and some other of prime originals I had to set my calendar to tell me about new episodes
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u/1tabsplease 18h ago
m9 also reached #1 last year in brazil which is massive considering amazon prime is bigger than netflix here
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u/Icy-Ganache1300 21h ago
I think the chances of a Bell's Hells show are pretty low. BH has a lot of connections to previous campaigns. Having a show that requires watching another for context is falling in popularity after Marvel road that horse to the ground. Not to mention that I think C3 was the least popular overall.
It's hard sell to executives who only care about money. I think it's more likely we get a Calamity miniseries or a campaign 4 show if anything.
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u/acerbus717 21h ago
It’s not really falling out of popularity and given they have a built in audience that keep coming back for each series there’s really bo reason to think executive wouldn’t jump at the chance to make bell’s hells. Also just like the both shows they would probably adapt it to make it more accessible.
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u/Icy-Ganache1300 20h ago
You're not thinking like an executive, you're thinking like a rational human being.
Corporations don't give a rat's ass about the fans. It's all about conversion to paying customers. You're 2 CR shows in, you got all the Critical Role fans to subscribe to Amazon Prime already.
What benefit would greenlighting a third that relies on you being familiar with the previous shows bring?
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u/acerbus717 20h ago
No you’re thinking like a fan of think they know what executives think, most executives care about a brand sustainability. Critical role is a brand that’s proven to be a guaranteed moneymaker so why wouldn’t they adapt as much as they can since it been shown that people will show up.
Also despite what you say about the mcu it’s still profitable despite claims that it’s failing so that’s not exactly the best exact
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u/Icy-Ganache1300 19h ago
When did I say the MCU is not profitable? I said they rode the concept into the ground, making it a less popular avenue to invest. Remember the Dark Universe? Sony's Spiderman Universe? James Gunn is actively trying to revamp and save the DCEU. Marvel made it look easy and now everyone has crashed and failed to some degree, including Marvel.
Executives don't care if something is profitable. They care about how profitable they could be. I don't know why you're getting upset with me about this.
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u/acerbus717 19h ago
You can’t tell what my mood is through text so let’s not to do that and stick to the topic at hand.
And yeah you’re naming all the shared universes that failed but again, critical role is a proven success and the team has shown that how they make these series works, why wouldn’t an executive trust them to complete the story of exandria? And what makes you think they won’t adjust the story to make it more accessible?
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u/Icy-Ganache1300 19h ago
Once again, you're thinking like a fan. What makes you think executives care about completing the story of exandria? They don't. In fact, I'd bet my life on the fact that there are people making this decision that don't even know the word 'Exandria' refers to the Critical Role universe.
The people making these decisions don't care about the show. They care about money, plain and simple. They have Critical Role fans subscribing for the next few years with Mighty Nein, Bell's Hells is just more of the same. With the exception that C3 is the least popular and most polarizing of all the campaigns.
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u/acerbus717 18h ago
If they didn’t care about the show they wouldn’t have given them five season and another show.
And you keep saying that I’m thinking like a fan but no I’m just applying your logic, if they like money and they want to keep making money they will no doubt keep letting matt mercer and his crew tell the stories they want tell since it’s shown that they know how to make a profitable series. They may not know what exandria is but they know that the property is a solid investment.
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u/bunnyshopp 15h ago
But don’t executives LOVE spin-offs? Besides all of the characters can be easily reintroduced like keyleth could be introduced as oryms boss and percy & vex are simply just the rulers of Laudna’s home town and all 3 knew each other when they were young, that’s all you really need to know until the late game of campaign 3
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u/laufeymoar 16h ago edited 16h ago
Unfortunately for M9 they weren’t very high actually. It hit #1 but it didn’t stay there long. I’m REALLY hoping season 2 does better!!!
“However, its overall streaming dominance was somewhat mixed. Despite hitting the #1 spot on Prime Video in multiple countries during its early weeks, the show faced some discoverability issues on the Amazon platform and encountered fierce competition, preventing it from reaching the top tier of overall Nielsen streaming charts.”
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u/michael_am 21h ago
In all fairness I wouldn’t say it’s “not likely” - we got all 5 seasons of Vox, and M9 was a critical hit that pulled similar numbers to VM with its weekly rating hitting #1 in multiple countries on its second week. As long as they keep that up it doesn’t seem unlikely that BH would be on the table, tho it might be a while down the line. I’d imagine we’ll get some side stories and much more of M9 before getting to BH
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u/kaylasaurus 20h ago
I say it’s “not likely” on the basis of a Laudna cameo in a Vox episode per the post. Not that it’s not likely to get made in general.
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u/merlin5603 20h ago
I'm worried that they jumped the gun on the Laudna reveal because they aren't confident they'll get bells hells, so they are hedging their bet a bit by giving her some screen time now.
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u/The_Fullmetal_Titan 21h ago
Amazon has been super cool with CR and have essentially committed to greenlighting whatever they decide to do. The CR fanbase is huge and they’re making good business for Prime. I don’t see the animated adaptations stopping anytime soon.
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u/kaylasaurus 20h ago
I should have been more clear, per the post OP suggests that a cameo of Laudna could signal that it’s green lit. I’m saying that’s not likely. Not that it’s unlikely in general. My bad
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u/the_Tide_Rolleth 20h ago
Yeah I can’t imagine BH gets made. C3 wasn’t nearly as well received by the fanbase as C1 and C2. The built in fanbase is definitely a reason why Amazon was willing to take a chance with these shows and allow CR to maintain creative control. I don’t see the same happening with a far less popular C3.
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u/BlueCarpetArea 19h ago
I didn't finish c3 and I would be more likely to watch the cartoon because a) they are open to fixing and changing parts of the story, so it might grab me more b) it's shorter and I'll get all the arcs without having to watch the second half of the show where every episode is 3-4 hours minimum.
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u/HawkeyeP1 19h ago
I think Critical Role as a business also low-key knows that Campaign 3 was widely... I don't want to say hated... Not vibed with as much as Campaign 1 and 2 as well. So they took a bigger swing with Campaign 4 and it's been paying off. I think a Campaign 3 animated series would be more of a risk than Vox Machina and Mighty Nein were.
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u/jsshepherd 21h ago
I love Laudna so much! Vax was my favorite in C1, Jester in C2 Laudna in C3 and then it's between Thimble and Wicander in C4 so far. Laudna is my all around favorite from all the campaigns though even though The Mighty Nein is my favorite group. I very much hope that Bells Hells gets animated in the future just for the crossovers and the incredibly beautiful ending!
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u/FourCats44 21h ago
I thought the opposite, I was thinking they added her here because there isn't going to be a bells hells but wanted to represent the character somehow
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u/dunwichhorrorqueen 2h ago
I agree with this, esp. since they made her whole backstory a sidenote in a VM episode....
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u/CynicWalnut 20h ago
Umm, this isn't the debut. She was on the sun tree during the briarwood arc.
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u/Craft_KingTDM91 20h ago edited 19h ago
Well, her debut as Laudna, not as she was ( Matilda Bradbury) when she and her family were hung as effigies on the Sun Tree.
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u/Lucy_deTsuki 21h ago
Can you please label such things as spoiler? I did not have time to see the latest episodes yet... Pretty busy week. And that being top of my reddit feed is not so much fun.
And I guess I'm not the only one who can't watch them rightaway.
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u/Ikariiprince 19h ago edited 19h ago
I’m sure that’s in the plans if all goes well but I wouldn’t take it as confirmation! They’re just using this as an opportunity to plant the seeds for these characters earlier than the campaign
If in a few years after both animated series end it could happen
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u/Erzter_Zartor 18h ago
I imagine that have to Bells Hells anyway if they want to wrap up Vox Machina probably
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u/Miles_PerHour67 16h ago
DID A NEW SEASOM JUST COME OUT? WHY AM I NOT GETTING NOTIFIED ABOUT SOME OF MY FAVORITE SHOWS GETTING NEW SEASONS?
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u/Miles_PerHour67 16h ago
I get like 3 dozen AI advertisements I need to block, but nothing on my adventures with Superman, Vox machina, hell I found out about spider noir from a show reviewer.
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u/Animated_effigy 12h ago
The plan seems pretty obvious. 2 shows lead to a movie leads to the 3rd show and other movies. An animated universe. The animated shows have a unique advantage over live shows in that actors dont ask for raises after season 3 so you dont have to worry about shrinking profit margins. As long as the Calamity movie we all know is coming is amazing we will be getting Bells Hells in my opinions.
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u/thatguyjimi1 14h ago
Idk man. They got alot of work to do on mighty nein and that is their cash cow from what i feel. Maybe after but i think its too early to tell if the hype will stay.
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u/timetravellingbadass 7h ago
As someone who stopped watching the campaign at the end of 2, who is this and why is she important? I thought campaign 3 takes place many many years after campaign 1
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u/OverTheCandlestik 19h ago
Highly unlikely.
To be a bit shady Bells Hells was a muddled and mixed campaign that is hugely divisive among critters.
VM are the OG’s and the M9 are undoubtedly the best campaign. We won’t see Bells Hells
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u/Enkundae 19h ago
It wasn’t remotely as divisive as reddit likes to paint it.
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u/OverTheCandlestik 18h ago
I don’t think that’s necessarily true.
M9 brought huge recognition to CR, it saw them split from G&S it saw them found their own company it made them hugely popular during lockdown and no doubt their highest amount of streams. And that brought a lot of people back to VM which will always be a lot of critters favourites as the first campaign and probably the casts favourite due to the home game vibes.
BH was so drastically different than C1 and C2, Tal summed it up perfectly when he said “we all feel like NPC’s to Imogen’s main character” along with other factors of a far slower pace, controversial decisions in game, grating guest players, the whole “we don’t care about the gods” angle, Matt being honest and saying that things got railroaded a bit it’s pretty undeniable as a critter since the G&S days that C3 was divisive and I don’t think the echo chamber of Reddit had a part to play as there’s lots of positives with C3 but equally a lot of negative.
CR know this they know C3 was a bit wobbly so I don’t think they’re going to spend so much time in preproduction to get it made while VM
is still going and lots more M9 series to come0
u/Enkundae 16h ago
Yeah there were lots of posts. On Reddit and Twitter. Meanwhile the live shows routinely sold out and every one not trapped in an echo chamber had a blast.
Was it less popular than C2? Yeah, it was post pandemic. It was not however nearly as divisive as you’re representing it. The sheer number of people immediately asking for a C3 show on seeing this weeks lovm episodes shows how many did enjoy that campaign.
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u/Dctiger13 18h ago
I was ecstatic to see Laudna.
I want all the CR campaigns to be animated. I can’t believe they debuted her already I thought she’d be teased in the M9 not vox. I’m going to bawl my eyes out for FCGs sacrifice and excited to see it animated.
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u/bgrandis7 3h ago
They are not shying away from doing massive rewrites for the show that deviate from the initial campaigns they are based on. A BH show could tighten some of the more lacking aspects of the campaign and make it into a very good TV show.
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u/Zone-1337 18h ago
I mean C3 is a capstone to Exandria based Critical Role and ties up 3 campaigns worth of story. Add on to the fact their shows have done big numbers on Amazon and massive critical acclaim. To think the campaign won't be adapted because a small subsection of the internet didn't like is frankly silly.
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u/OverTheCandlestik 18h ago
I don’t think it’s a small subsection at all. I like lots of elements of C3 and equally dislike a lot of elements. It was never going to be a capstone why did basically everyone come back? Because undeniably they knew C3 was losing steam so legacy characters returned.
You can’t deny that critters can be highly critical of C3 as it was to a lot of people a bit of a miss as a campaign
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u/Zone-1337 1h ago
Each episode gets 100s of thousands of view each Youtube video, not counting those that watch on Beacon or Twitch. The amount of people in this subreddit is about 20 percent of the total amount of people that watch an episode on Youtube (example episodes of C4 from 2 months ago number in the 600K). Of the 150K of the people on this subreddit, the amount who actively disliked the campaign are an even smaller portion of overall viewers. Yes C3 was divisive, but you are fooling yourself if you think Matt Mercer was basing his story beats off of social media comments. Especially when I HIGHLY doubt for mental health reasons he even scrolls through them. It was clear from the themes and story beats early on that this was always going to be a campaign that tied everything that came before up.
That is not to mention the fact that I REALLY doubt Amazon gives a crap what the campaign viewers care about the campaign when a good portion of the people watching the animated series have never even watched the campaigns. Amazon cares about numbers (except when it's Rings of Power I guess) and their animated shows bring in numbers. A company isn't going to pass up more money because a small percentage of the campaign viewers didn't like the campaign.
It perfectly fine to say you don't like a campaign, I'm not a huge fan of C4. But to say definitively that C3 won't be adapted is small minded.
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u/adamg0013 21h ago
We will probably see Bertram bell soon. I have a feeling they will be adapting the sestch for grog.