Highlights - Red Vs Blue Reminiscing

Here’s our second new post of Highlights, a series that points out worthwhile moments in games, shows, movies, comics, books, and more. Without further delay, let’s get into the highlights for one of my favorite web series, Red Vs. Blue. 

Before we get into the highlights, I know not all my readers are up-to-date on internet machinima culture (or even know what that is). So a quick summary, back in 2003, a small group of gamers turned animators, turned online entertainers started a web series called Red Vs. Blue. The series is considered an animated series, though in lieu of actual animation (most of the time) the series is filmed within the actual Halo games, utilizing the game’s engine and game-recording mode to setup stages and using the avatar characters as something akin to puppets.

What originally started off as a one-off gag was picked up by Microsoft, immediately latched onto by fans, and forced this small team of half-wits into making a company to expand their name, product, and ideas, called RoosterTeeth. Today, RoosterTeeth is one of the most popular channels on Youtube and it has several sister channels (Achievement Hunter / Let’s Play, The Know, Game Fails, Game Kids, and their Achievement Hunter Community Channel). They also do advertisements and conventions in between seasons of Red vs. Blue, RWBY, The Gauntlet, RoosterTeeth Shorts, and Immersion. They’re currently in the process of editing their first major motion picture. They are the best example of success on the internet and here are the highlights of their first, and still probably their greatest, show to date.

Church Historia?

While it is sort of unclear exactly what happened in that explosion during season three of the Blood Gulch Chronicles, two things are clear. One, everyone things they travelled through time (though many clues throughout the series indicate this is definitely not the case). Two, even though the Reds and Blues likely didn’t travel through time, Blue Team de facto leader, Leonard Church, most certainly did. He was sent forward (or backward) through time to try and prevent his death or stop a multitude of other events from taking place that land the Reds and Blues in their current situation for this season.

Anything that can go wrong most certainly does, despite all of Church’s best efforts. He loops through time, making dozens of attempts to save his skin, his team, or just kill everyone and hopes that solves the problem. It reminds me of the Simpsons Halloween episode where Homer travels back and time and keeps changing history. Regardless of how much they try to change or not change history, things just go wrong.

In the end, we have an army of Church’s all meeting in the same place with the original Church finally realizing that he can’t change what happens and just has to accept the teams will travel through time… apparently. The only outcome that changes here is that Church goes with the rest of the team during the time-travel explosion and he becomes a regular part of the series again from this point in season three going forward.

Revelation

I don’t have a clever or witty name for this. But Season Eight of Red Vs Blue (titled Revelation) is by far one of my favorite seasons thus far (though new episodes are really pushing it). Why? Two words, my friends. Monty Oum. You may remember him from such projects as Haloid or Dead Fantasy. He’s the amazing mo-cap animator who takes his skills to the next level starting with Red Vs. Blue by giving new life to the characters such as Agent Tex who becomes a martial arts master with the new moves she can do. The new animations add all new levels of storytelling that gave this series a breath of fresh air.

But the mo-cap animations are just the start of the good things happening here. We also get the thrilling conclusion to the Recollection trilogy. We see the end of the Meta, one of the most interesting and disturbing villains in the series. We see a character arc for Agent Washington that’s actually quite compelling. Characters die. Some characters step up and make bold and brave decisions we wouldn’t expect. We see Sarge rise to the occasion to be a real leader. On top of all this, the music is the best in the series and the writing is second only to one particular episode in season ten. Yes, I’m getting to that one.

Why Are We Here?

This is the quote that started it all. It’s been referenced so many times through the 13 (going on to 14) seasons this show has been around. It’s been used as a joke. It’s been used to tell a meaningful philosophical stance on the whole Red Vs. Blue conflict. It’s been used to motivate the heroes of this series. And this is just one of the many recurring jokes of this series that stand out. Headlight fluid. Tucker and the Teleporter. Tex being half-girl and half-shark. Ghost Church (now Alpha-Church). Caboose being a total idiot. Sarge being violent to Grif and wanting him dead. Caboose’s mind. The worst throw ever… of all time. These and many more are the reasons fans keep coming back to the series, to hear their favorite lines or get new hilarious jokes to add to the pile of golden laughs Burnie, Matt, Monty, and Miles have given us for over the past decade.

Carolina

Few shows can introduce a new character and keep the audience enthralled by them without pissing off that audience. People hate change. When Ryan was first introduced to Achievement Hunter, I didn’t really find him entertaining. But he’s been a regular part of the Let’s Plays and now he’s my favorite member of RoosterTeeth. Likewise, Carolina was a new addition I didn’t quite get into. Episode Twelve of Season Ten changed all of that and allowed me to see the character in a new light.

She wasn’t just a Tex rip-off. She wasn’t just some angry bitch that wanted to break everything. She has faced many struggles, suffered many loses, and sacrificed so much to get where she was… alive. The voice acting sold me on the character’s emotions and the expert writing from Miles Luna told a tale of a young woman who went to great lengths to prove her worth to the only man that she thought really mattered, her father. But it was all in vein and she lost the man she loved, the friends she cared for, and the rival who she could have been great friends with because she couldn’t get past disappointing her father. So much going on here that made me fall in love with this character.

Also, she’s a red-head. That helps a bit too.

Episode 100

The final episode of the Blood Gulch Chronicles was both a sad, hilarious, and surreal moment. I won’t spoil a lot here. But people die. Lives are changed… and then quickly reverted back to their normal routine. And it’s as if nothing really happened in Blood Gulch, but the stories will live on with the audience and the characters forever. When I saw this episode, I actually got nervous this was the end of the series. Thankfully, RoosterTeeth has kept this going for an additional eight seasons since then and it’s still going strong.

 Tucker Being One Badass Motherfucker

The latest seasons have actually been giving lots of character development to Tucker, a character who disappeared for about a season and a half to two seasons. He’s turned from being an irresponsible, lazy jerk who doesn’t really care about anything other than himself into someone willing to fight for what he believes is right. He actually has agency and wants to make a difference. He’s even become more skilled as a fighter and more brilliant as a tactician. Again, I won’t spoil much because this is actually part of the newest story arc for the series and I’m not sure where they’re going to go with it in the next season. But take that as a ringing endorsement that this series, despite being 13 years old now, is still just as good as when it started, if not better.

One last item of note. Earlier this week, Monty Oum passed away at age 33. He was not the creator of Red Vs. Blue, but as stated earlier, he was a big part of extending the life of the series, which allowed him to then move into making his own series, RWBY. This post was originally scheduled to go a week later, but due to the recent passing, we wanted to push this article up a week so we could give our proper respects to a creative force and amazing artist that touched the lives of millions of people in ways I can't even begin to imagine. Monty, you were one amazing person and I'm glad that, even if only for a brief few minutes, I was able to meet you in person to see that for myself. Thanks for the memories. You will be missed by all of us. Our thoughts and prayers are with RoosterTeeth and Monty's family.

That’s all for this week’s installment of highlights. If there are moments from Red Vs Blue you think we missed or certain characters or jokes you hoped to see, leave a comment below. If you enjoyed this, please be sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe. We’ll be back next time with more fun highlights from other great shows, games, movies, comics, and more. See ya next time!