Ever since the first episode of The Legend of Vox Machina aired, longtime fans of Critical Role have been scrutinizing every episode to find all the Easter eggs and references hidden throughout the season. With hundreds of episodes that vary in length from 2 to 4 hours each, Critical Role has no shortage of material to reference and ways to please fans.
Eagle-eyed viewers have unearthed dozens of references and Easter eggs relating to Dungeons & Dragons, the professional history of cast members, and, of course, Critical Role itself.
As the primary Game Master for all of Critical Role's main campaigns, Matthew Mercer was the first person to bring the vast majority of Campaign 1's NPCs to life. The animated adaptation allowed the team to bring in a whole new cast to voice Vox Machina's supporting characters. Matthew Mercer still voices a handful of characters, but the animation team decided to pay homage to Mercer by placing a Mercer lookalike in every episode.
The first Mercer lookalike appears in episode 1 shortly after Vox Machina is thrown out of a tavern. Gnomish bard Scanlan pees on his shoe. He appears in every episode and even has lines in several of them. Fans have been debating whether this is one unlucky NPC or a small army of Mercer lookalikes.
Vax mutters "dagger, dagger, dagger" during a shopping trip to Gilmore's Glorious Goods in the fourth episode. Vax says this as he's searching for an effective weapon to use against a vampire, but fans of the original stream know it as Vax's catchphrase.
Throughout the Vox Machina D&D campaign, Vax's player Liam O'Brien often said "dagger, dagger, dagger" during combat in reference to Vax's ability to make multiple attacks with his daggers. He said it often enough that fans kept an unofficial count, and it appears on some Campaign 1 merch.
"Tusk Love" is a book that first appears in the second episode when Vax and Pike visit Gilmore's Glorious Goods for some advice on how to kill a dragon. Pike notices the book and is seen reading it later in the season.
In Critical Role canon, "Tusk Love" is a smut novel by fictional author Matilda Merceria. The book appears in the second campaign, purchased by Laura Bailey's character Jester. The book follows the forbidden relationship between a half-orc and the daughter of a traveling merchant. The cover of the book depicts campaign 2 characters Fjord and Jester, who fall in love during the campaign.
There are many Easter eggs hidden within Gilmore's Glorious Goods, and one that even die-hard Critical Role fans may have missed is the sandal in a glass case that appears in episode 2. This sandal isn't a reference to Critical Role, rather, it's a sentimental reference to the co-creator of D&D, Gary Gygax.
Prior to D&D's success, Gygax made a living as a cobbler. Once D&D started making enough money for Gygax to support his family, he stopped working on a pair of sandals to devote his time to D&D. His final sandal was eventually put into a display box where it is maintained as a symbol of Gygax's legacy.
A running gag throughout The Legend of Vox Machina is that this team of adventurers can't even figure out how to get a door open. This running gag is pulled directly from Critical Role for Vox Machina. Throughout the Campaign 1 stream, Vox Machina consistently struggled with doors. Whether they failed a roll or tried something wacky to open it, their failure with doors was so consistent that fans often joke Vox Machina's greatest enemy is the humble door.
Vox Machina often used up their spell slots and even took damage from attempting to open doors, something reference when Percy, Vax, and Scanlan attempted to unlock a door in Whitestone. Vox Machina also often encountered door trouble after successfully opening a door but failing to adequately check for traps, as seen when Grog busts down a door and walks right into a trap.
When the party is attacked by wraiths in Greyskull Keep in episode 4, the room they gather in contains a familiar table. The diamond-shaped table with a square cutout in the top corners looks exactly like the custom table players played at for part of Critical Role's second campaign.
In The Legend of Vox Machina, the table is destroyed during the fight with wraiths. While the fate of the real-life table was probably less violent, it was replaced with a new table when Critical Role updated their livestream set for Campaign 3.
An Easter egg was slipped in during one of the most epic fights in Vox Machina. During his Scanbo rampage on Vedmire's manor in episode 7, Scanlan walks in on a group of guards playing what appears to be Dungeons & Dragons. But this moment isn't just a meta nod to the game the show is based on.
During Grog's one shot, a special Campaign 1 livestream, Grog introduces several of his friends to the in-universe version of D&D called Bunions and Flagons. So assuming Grog got the name of the game right, those guards were most likely playing Bunions and Flagons, with the guard behind the screen serving as the Bunion Master.
In episode 6, while Whitestone's resistance plans Archie's rescue, the team gathers around a map of Whitestone. It appears to be a hand-drawn map drawn on graph paper, which could be a reference to the hand-drawn maps Matthew Mercer created for much of Campaign 1.
Additionally, this map strongly resembles the map of Whitestone Taliesin Jaffe created and shared with fans during Campaign 1. That attention to detail was a treat for longtime fans of Critical Role.
There are many nods to anime throughout the show, as most of Vox Machina's main cast has voiced iconic characters in English dubs of well-loved anime. A more direct reference comes in episode 8 when the team goes up against several magically animated suits of armor that bear a striking resemblance to Alphonse Elric from the Full Metal Alchemist franchise.
Vox Machina cast members Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham both did voices for the English dub in both the first and second Full Metal Alchemist anime. Bailey portrayed Lust and Willingham portrayed Roy Mustang.
In episode 3, a raven skull can be seen in Delilah's chest as she frantically searches for her grimoire. This is a particularly special Easter egg, as it appears to be a reference to Campaign 3 of the livestream.
In Campaign 3, Marisha Ray portrays the sorcerer/warlock Laudna. Laudna carries a puppet she created out of a dead rat and a raven skull. Laudna's warlock patron is none other than Delilah Briarwood.
