ok i know there’s a lot of debate about the m9 vs vm and what kind of family they are and the whole ~dynamic~ and everything, so here’s my take:
the biggest difference is that vox machina consists of enough siblings to form a pseudo-family dynamic, while the mighty nein is made up almost entirely of extremely awkward only children who are making up the whole dynamic as they go along.
in vox machina, you’ve got keyleth and scanlan, only children.
pike and grog, together for long enough pre campaign that they are essentially siblings.
percy, vax, and vex, all intimately familiar with the sibling experience.
the thing about vox machina is that the siblings can keep the only children in check (who are of course always demoted to youngest in a friend group setting) as well as each other–since percy is a middle child, the twins are twins, and pike and grog are of similar ages, none of them would ever allow anyone to usurp the position of oldest child. keyleth and scanlan both have enough of the confidence of only children to keep themselves from being knocked down too far. it’s a perfect system of sibling and nonsibling checks and balances.
the mighty nein, on the other hand, consist entirely of only children (or functionally only children in beau’s case), with the exception of caduceus.
which means that the m9 is entirely “how does found family?? hugging? relationships? i was flirting and then it was RECIPROCATED?? are we allowed to fight??? is….jealousy?? how does forgiveness? awkward? why awkward??”
they’re building a unique dynamic entirely from the ground up. beau and caleb were the first ones to figure it out wrt the sibling system of checks and balances.
and in the MEANTIME, caduceus, being a middle child suddenly in a position to seize the position of eldest child, has tricked all of them into thinking that he knows what he’s talking about, and none of them know any better because they have never witnessed a middle child grab for power before.
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