Red vs. Blue: The Recollection

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The collection of seasons 6 to 8 of Red vs. Blue, in which the series takes more of a serious turn and focuses more on the Freelancers and The Director. The collection contains 58 episodes, as well as one miniseries, "Relocated".

Tropes used in Red vs. Blue: The Recollection include:

Reconstruction (Season 6)

  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: This is one of the primary themes of this season.
  • Anyone Can Die: South, Church, Delta, Omega, Gamma and the rest of the AI fragments the Meta had in its possession. Word of God says that the EMP did successfully wipe out all the AI in the blast radius, including Church himself, so while Epsilon possesses the personality of Church and Delta, along with (presumably) the other fragments including Omega and Gamma, in its memory, the true beings that had been seen up until that point were successfully Killed Off for Real.
    • This directly contradicts the Recreation Trailer, which shows Alpha-Church still watching over Valhalla.
      • Also, Epsilon's memories (especially given his apparent ability to absorb new ones from the people around him) seem precise enough to actually bring the AI "Back from the Dead".
  • Arc Words: From Reconstruction onward, "Memory is the key". Lampshaded by Caboose in Recreation:

Epsilon-Delta: Remember. Memory is the key.
Caboose: What? I thought we were done with that part.

  • Artifact Title: Arguable for Blood Gulch Chronicles seasons 3-5, but from this season onward is really when the titular teams of Red vs Blue essentially ally to fight a greater threat (save for whenever Sarge feels there's a good opportunity at hand to betray the Blues). Every time the teams separate again, it tends to be during time taking place between seasons.
  • Badass Abnormal: The Meta.
  • Badass Normal: Washington, as he's managed to deal with a fair number of cybernetically enhanced psychopaths and come out pretty good.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: It's not seen, but strongly implied that Caboose is this in regards to how others treat Sheila. Church has to back away from Caboose twice before Wash picks up the hint.
  • Big Bad: The Meta
  • Bittersweet Ending: Well, it does seem like the bad guys get punished, and our plucky heroes mostly get away. However, all the AIs are killed, including Church. We later learn that thanks to Caboose, Wash's plan to bring down Project Freelancer was unsuccessful, and Wash himself is imprisoned instead!
  • Bond One-Liner: "What are you going to do, shoo-" "Yes. Good suggestion."
  • Broken Masquerade: Wash reveals that the whole Red vs Blue war is just a testing ground for military projects such as Freelancer, and that Command was responsible for most of the things that happened in Blood Gulch Chronicles. However, it doesn't sink in for the cast (especially Sarge) until halfway through Revelations.
  • Broken Pedestal: Lopez makes it clear (to the audience) that the devotion he showed to Sarge from Season 2 has all but vanished.
  • Car Fu: The Meta's first encounter with the Reds.

Simmons: It threw our car at us.

  • Catch Phrase: "You have got to be kidding me" quickly becomes one for Wash.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: The previous series was more or less a zany, absurd comedy throughout, all the way up until its surprising Bittersweet Ending. Reconstruction, though still very funny, has more of emphasis on a coherent plot and a dramatic storyline rather than just amusing antics. It also retcons much of the previous series (see below).
  • Cerebus Retcon: In the original series, Church comes back as a ghost after being killed off. In Episode 16 of Reconstruction, it's explained that ghosts aren't real and that Church is actually the original AI, Alpha. We also learn that the Red vs. Blue "war" is just an elaborate training simulation and psychological experiment set up by Project Freelancer.
  • Changing of the Guard: "Recovery One" introduced Washington as a completely new protagonist. He is joined by the majority of the original cast eventually, however.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Agent South Dakota.
  • The Comically Serious: Washington.
  • Compilation Movie
  • Continuity Snarl: Most of the series thus far still makes sense within the context of Church being an AI.
  • Darker and Edgier: Whereas the Blood Gulch seasons were light on drama and action but heavy on comedy, the Recollection Trilogy (especially "Reconstruction") is the opposite.
  • Deconstruction of the parodic nature of "Blood Gulch Chronicles". All the wacky hijinks they had in the previous series, they get punished for and are now dealing with a more realistic military. There is an actual reason for all those robots and AI programs that kept popping up all over the place. Even the pointlessness of fighting a base in the middle of a box canyon is addressed. The parodic personalities of the Blood Gulch team meeting the more serious military personalities only made it even funnier.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Memory is key.
  • Doing In the Wizard

Washington: Church, there's no such thing as ghosts. You're one of them. You're an A.I. You, are the Alpha.

  • Epilogue Letter: The last episode of "Reconstruction".
  • Evil Overlord: Washington claims the Director is one of these, and that the teams' ultimate goal is to defeat him.
  • Flanderization: Flag Zealots aside, Caboose only killed his teammates twice, once with a malfunctioning tank, once while the teammate was possessing an enemy Red. Now telling him to help his allies is a surefire way to get them shot.
  • Funny Background Event: While Church is questioning Delta about Wash's sanity, Wash is in the background shooting South's body, dropping a grenade on it, roasting it with a flamethrower, and finally rolling a bunch of Fusion Coils up to it and detonating them.
  • Gainax Ending
  • Genre Savvy: Most of the major characters have levels of this, except, surprisingly, Washington.

Washington: "We don't need him to believe... until the next time we encounter the Meta."
(A loud thud is heard above them on the roof.)
Washington: "What the hell was that?!"
Sarge: "Come on! Do you even need to ask?"

Grif: You should explain what's going on, and I could make an educated suggestion.
Simmons: 'Educated'...? Okay, fine. This computer is a dedicated interface with a highly developed security protocol. The information we are accessing is stored on a separate database with its own dedicated hardware. That system has its own distinct layer of security. From what I can tell, the two systems verify their identities by trading randomly generated 2056-bit encryption keys. I'm trying to spoof one of those keys now. So, I'm all ears, any suggestions?
Grif: Oh yeah, I've seen that before. You should try uploading a virus to the mainframe.
Simmons: Jesus!
Grif: I find that viruses which feature laughing skulls tend to work the best.
Simmons: Shut the fuck up and let me work!

  • I Can't Do This by Myself: Agent Washington repeatedly uses this phrase, so much so that it's parodied in the first Rooster Teeth Shorts, where a fake recording session of Washington's voice actor Shannon McCormick shows him saying this, along with several other satirical versions of Wash's frequent statements.
  • I Resemble That Remark

Washington: You have got to be the most immature soldiers I've ever met.
Grif: Your face is immature.

South: Oh, come on Wash, what're ya gonna do? Sh- *headshot*
Wash: Yes.

Wash: "How do you ever get anything done if all you ever do is argue with each other??"
Church: "We don't! That's part of our charm! Quit fucking it up!"

Grif: Oh boy. That sounds like something that's gonna keep us busy for a few months.

  • Shaggy Dog Story: The Freelancer Program was created as a means to fight the aliens. In so doing, they tortured the Alpha into fragmenting itself so that it could provide AIs for implantation experiments. However, you realize that the Freelancer Program was a near total failure, with every soldier we've seen going crazy, dying, getting critically injured, or otherwise flunking out. So they wasted a lot of time, effort, resources, and people to fail at what they were doing. The only time it gets close to any type of success was when they captured Junior, but then he was either blown up or escaped when the hatch opened.
  • Space Marine: With the Meta bearing down on Command, Grif asks Simmons to change his affiliation to "Freelancer". Caboose has a similar request.

Caboose: Um, can you change my job title to something more important like astronaut -- oh! I know! Space Marine!

    • Ignoring, of course, that technically speaking, his job title already is "space marine"...
  • Surrounded by Idiots: The more time he spends around the Blood Gulch Crew, the more Washington develops this attitude.
  • Title Drop:

Washington: "Now I know you guys are all wrapped up in your Red vs. Blue battles..."
Caboose: " Blue versus Red. No one says Red versus Blue. It sounds stupid when you say it like that."

  • Tomato in the Mirror: When it's revealed that Church is an AI. However, it's quickly subverted when Church denies this, still believing himself to be a ghost.

Church: You're a fucking idiot.
Washington: That's not the reaction I expected.

  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: "Boo, motherfucker!"
  • Transferable Memory: Epsilon was created as a receptacle for the Alpha's memories, which include those of the Director of Project Freelancer.
    • He also appears to be able to assimilate memories from those around him.
  • Trying Not to Cry: When Sarge leave Lopez, he says with a choking voice that he promised himself he wouldn't cry.
  • Unperson: The Reds try to "defeat" the Blues by deleting them from the Command database.
    • The episode also hangs a lampshade on Ret-Gone, when Caboose disappears after the Reds finish purging the database. Simmons panics, thinking he may have deleted Caboose from existence. He was just using the bathroom before the upcoming battle.

Grif: Come on dude, tell us more about the reality bending computer. I'm hanging on your every word.
Simmons: I don't wanna talk about it.

  • Voice of the Legion The Meta's A Is all talk at once sometimes, and in the trailer for Reconstruction The Meta carves on the wall We Are The Meta.
  • Weapon of Choice: Caboose is the only member of the main cast to carry an Assault Rifle rather than a Battle Rifle or other signature weapon. Then there's the Meta's Brute Shot.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Director. His experiments were supposed to help humanity win the War against the Aliens. Even if everything he did ended in failure. And his torture of the Alpha was essentially a torture of himself, at least in his view.
  • Wham! Episode: Chapter 16, then again in the closing moments of Chapter 19.
    • All with one simple closing "Sincerely Yours, The Former Director of Project Freelancer, Doctor Leonard Church."
  • Wham! Line: A particularly large one on the series as a whole.

Washington: Church. There's no such things as ghosts. You're one of them. You're an A.I. You are the Alpha.

    • Also, the closing line of the series, as seen under Wham Episode above.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Averted due some surprisingly progressive legislation concerning Artificial Intelligences - it is implied in the Director and Chairman's memos that AIs are citizens, and have strict moral guidelines in place for dealing with them, more of which are added in "honor" of the Director after his actions concerning the Alpha are brought to light.
    • Also averted in how the other characters react to A Is (and discovering that Tex and Church are also A Is). For the most part, the Reds and Blues treat A Is just like any other person. In contrast, Freelancers treat them more like tools, because that's all they were for Freelancers, although this seems to change if they've been together for a long time (York/Delta, Wyoming/Gamma, even Tex/Omega, although that doesn't mean they like each other)
  • Word of God: On a podcast, Burnie reveals that Sigma was the A.I. assigned to Agent Maine, and this led him to become the Meta. Also, the Tex that appeared in Blood Gulch Chronicles was one of the AIs captured by the Meta.
  • Worst Aid

Relocated (miniseries)

Recreation (Season 7)

  • Atomic F-Bomb: Simmons gives one while being chased by the Meta.
  • Back from the Dead: Technically speaking, Church/Alpha. He was confirmed killed at the end of the last season, but using a Forerunner Monitor, Caboose was able to bring him back, by having Epsilon assume his memories and personality.
  • Badass: Tucker, all of a sudden.
  • Badass Decay: Arguably, the Meta, who was the most dangerous thing around in Reconstruction now reduced to being Washington's lackey with most of his powers stripped away.
  • Bavarian Fire Drill: An artifact hunter convinces the Blood Gulch team that he and his alien partner are in charge of a base by just claiming he's in command when they killed the actual officers.
  • Breather Episode: In the context of the Recollection Trilogy, at least; this season is considerably more lighthearted and has a slower pace than "Reconstruction" and "Revelation".
  • Car Fu: Subverted when Tucker tries to take out an enemy Warthog about to attack Sarge and Caboose's jeep by hitting it with his Chopper ramping off a hill (complete with gratuitous yelling during the entire very long time he spends in the air), but overshoots and misses them completely. However, this did give the jeep's gauss gun enough time to charge and attack the enemies while they were distracted.
    • Simmons also attempted this in an earlier episode against by firing a rocket launcher at a Mongoose to make the Mongoose hit the enemy. He overshoots, and all he accomplished was destroying the spare Mongoose.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: C.T. and the Meta.
    • The Man Behind the Man: Washington turns out to have been partnered with the Meta, and is the brains of their operation. The Chairman is the one who set Wash loose, but his interest in the situation is far less... personal than Wash's.
  • Big "What?": Simmon's reaction in episode 15 when he hears Donut's explanation for why he didn't help when the Meta attacked him.
  • Big No: Simmons gives one when Donut is killed.
  • Brick Joke: Sort of: A sponsor's-only ending for an Episode in Reconstruction shows that Doc was called to Last Resort by the Reds, but they were all gone by the time he arrived. A deleted scene in this season's DVD shows that, after a whole season, he's still there.
  • Continuity Nod: To Season 1.

Grif: Why are there only four pedals when there's six directions?

    • A later one comes in episode 14, when Tucker mentions they shouldn't touch the weapon he's supposed to be guarding because for all they know it could make them all sterile, a reference to the fifth season when Church speculates what the Red Team's new delivery is and theorizes a weapon that "makes anyone wearing blue armor sterile".
    • Simmons claiming he can't be racist against robots, since he's a quarter robot himself, pointing out that time Sarge turned him into a cyborg.
    • After Church comes back, his memory is a little fuzzy, and what he does know is mostly based on what Caboose has told him; for instance, he calls Sarge a pirate captain.
    • Also, he thinks Grif is yellow, just like how Grif is seen inside Caboose's head.
      • And that he spells his name with two "f"s.
    • Let's just say that it's full of plot points from previous seasons making a come back and being referenced. Every episode adds at least two or three to the pile.
    • There is a human soldier with C.T. who is called "Private Jones," but the Private corrects his pronunciation. It's actually pronounced "Jo-an-nis." This is, of course, the exact opposite situation as in "Reconstruction".
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Every freelancer except Meta, whose partnership with Wash is obviously tense.
  • Compilation Movie: While previous seasons were written and filmed one separate episode at a time, later seasons were written and filmed as a single unit, then edited into the episode-length segments.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Lopez is becoming snarkier with every episode.
  • Dynamic Entry: Tucker attempts to do one to a pair of C.T.'s goons with a Chopper, but ends up missing.
  • Easy Amnesia/Who's on First? When Church accidentally turned off his short term memory.
  • Face Heel Turn: Washington.
  • A Form You Are Comfortable With: Epsilon appears to Caboose as Delta because it knows Caboose trusted Delta. Although Caboose is a little unclear on the concept, so the benefit was largely wasted on him.
  • Friendly War: By this point the two teams spend more time being an extremely messed-up family that occasionally still shoot at each other for old times' sake, than actual enemies.
  • Friendship Moment: Despite how often Simmons is annoyed by Donut, he still tries to save the latter after he is shot by Washington.
  • How Do I Shot Web?: The monitor robot has no idea how to use any of his functions; he doesn't even know every power that he has.
  • Ironic Echo: In "Recovery One", there was a dialogue where South asks for a moment with her dead brother, Washington coldly says she has one minute, South bitterly says she guesses she should be thankful, and Wash says he guesses she better get started. In this series, almost the exact same words crop up regards Wash having five minutes to make a deal with the Chairman, with Wash echoing South's dialogue and a guard echoing Wash's.
  • Lowered Monster Difficulty / Conservation of Ninjutsu: Way back in Season 4, a single Alien was so badass it could effortlessly decimate Omega and his robot army, and could even curbstomp Tex in seconds. Now, in Recreation, we see them get slaughtered en masse by one Badass. Possibly a Justified Trope if the alien from "Blood Gulch Chronicles" was just a particular Bad Ass himself, or if the robots he was taking out just weren't that well made.
  • Made of Iron: Caboose survived stepping on a landmine which blew him hundreds of feet into the air crashing into a jeep without even pausing.
  • Man On Fire:

Caboose: Oh God. Now I'm burning! That's much worse than other things burning!

    • The above even applies to the Rule of Funny, with Caboose's random base fires:

Caboose: ALL RIGHT, NOW HOW DID THAT EVEN START?!

  • Meaningful Name: "Recreation" has two separate meanings. Re-creation refers to Church's return as Epsilon and recreation as in fun activities refers to this being the Lighter and Softer season of Recollection.
  • Miniseries: "Relocated" (four episodes).
  • My Friends and Zoidberg: The advertisement for the DVD announces the return of "All your favorite characters (and Simmons)."
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Turns out The "Chairman" was about to arrest the Director, but Wash's plan destroyed all of the evidence. Wash was promptly arrested. That being said, part of the original plan hinged on the Reds and Caboose turning Epsilon over, as Epsilon was the major piece of evidence. The fact that Caboose seemed to have kept it secret to try and bring back Church might explain why Wash is so pissed off at the Blood Gulch crew.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: Tex was shown in "Recreation"'s trailer, but never appeared in the series itself.
    • As was the original Church.
  • The Not-Secret: When filling Tucker in on what happened in season 6, they reveal that Church was not a ghost, but the Alpha AI. Tucker had apparently already figured this out, and thought everybody knew.
  • OH FUCK!: Simmons' reaction upon seeing the Meta.
  • Percussive Maintenance: Caboose tries to fix a robot's memory issues by hitting it with his gun. And it apparently worked.
  • Pinball Projectile
  • Promoted Fanboy: Gavin Free was originally just a fan of series from the beginning, but took over from Burnie Burns as director for Relocated and most of Recreation.
    • Hilarious Outtakes: There's an audio clip of "Gavino" reading The Director's letter from the Reconstruction Trailer, before Burnie interrupts, clarifying that he didn't want him to be "The Director for the season" he wanted him to "direct the season".

Gavin: Oh... Oh. I get it. My- So I should just-
Burnie: Get the fuck out of the booth, okay?

  • Self-Serving Memory: Sarge does in the first episode when he recalls how they deleted the record of the Blues from Command's computer, with his modifications including killing Grif and Simmons turning into a motorcycle. When Grif calls him out on this, citing his not being dead, Sarge tells Simmons to transform and run over him.
  • Shaggy Dog Story: The Reds vs. The Meta.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: Donut is killed at the end, paving the way for the much more serious and dramatic Revelation.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Lopez has adopted this attitude.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Tucker, who single-handedly pwns his way through C.T.'s team of Aliens and Marines. We later learn that he's the only thing that's prevented C.T. from breaking into the temple.
  • Trailer Spoof: The trailer's beginning is more or less identical to the trailer for Reconstruction. It then changes when Caboose causes an explosion in Blue base.
  • Two-Part Trilogy: While Reconstruction has a definite ending, Recreation ends on a cliffhanger to lead into the third installment, Revelation.
  • Unfamiliar Ceiling: Subverted for laughs when Donut keeps passing out and coming to, and each time he's told strange stories about what has been happening while he was asleep, which makes him wonder and ask how long he's been out. Turns out he's only been out for a few minutes, and the stories sound strange because it's Caboose who's been telling him the news.
  • Vertigo Effect: The second episode of Relocation has this when Caboose sneaks up on Simmons.
  • Weapon of Choice: Simmons seems to have adopted the Rocket Launcher as his.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Partially averted. It's revealed that Junior somehow survived the ship crash and the events at Valhalla, and was made an ambassador with Tucker, but we never see him again.
  • Your Mom: After they lose Caboose (again):

Grif: So embarrasing for you...
Tucker: Just go find the guy!
Grif: So sad...
Tucker: I fucked your sister.

    • A rare case of this being the actual truth.

Revelation (Season 8)

The last in the Recollection Trilogy, centering around the memories and AIs. The first showing also revealed that Monty Oum, the creator of Haloid and Dead Fantasy, is now part of the Rooster Teeth staff.

  • And the Adventure Continues...: After all the shenanigans, damage, lies, victories and defeats of the last 8 seasons, they decided to return to their Training program because they liked it and to hell if its not real for command, its real for them. The fact that technically they had shown to be the biggest badasses in the entire series far beyond mere trainees, literally surviving and defeating one One-Man Army after another while thousands of others didn't, make it all the more intense.
  • Affably Evil: Washington shows qualities of this and Evilly Affable at various points, showcasing what happens when The Comically Serious loses patience and goes to The Dark Side.
  • A God Am I: Church takes a little too well to the aliens worshiping him.

Tucker: You just read the instructions off our printer.
Church: Yeah, they eat that technology stuff up. You gotta know your audience, man.

  • Almighty Janitor: Despite only being 'trainees' used as practice for Freelancers, the Blood Gulch Red and Blue teams managed to take down: Omega, Tex, the Meta and dozens of badasses without suffering casualities. At the very least, Sarge and Tucker are far more skilled than their status as simulation-fodder suggests.
  • And I Must Scream: Arguably a subversion. Church and Tex's imprisonment in the AI capture unit would seem like this, but the narration at the end suggests that the two will finally find happiness with each other. Keep in mind that finding happiness with Tex is something Church has been trying to do for the entire series.
  • Animation Bump: Thanks to Monty Oum, fully animated CGI sequences are inserted into the standard Halo game-engine Machinima.
  • Anti-Villain: Wash has a degree of this, especially after you realize that the reason Wash is after the BG crew is because he was sent to prison because they didn't hand over Epsilon like he told them to.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In the first episode of "Revelation", the others try insulting Church to make him angry enough do the 'laserface' again. The insults are that 'he's ugly and nobody likes him,' 'he's annoying and his team sucks' and 'he's round and can't wear pants.' While none of them make him angry, the last one is the only one that manages to depress him.
  • Art Evolution: With Monty Oum of Dead Fantasy fame helping out in the latest season, the production values have taken a noticeable upswing.
  • Art Shift: The creator of Haloid and Dead Fantasy is now working with Rooster Teeth, leading to sequences where, though high quality, the shift is noticeable.
  • Autobots Rock Out: "Red vs. Blue", used in at the end of "Revelation" with the Reds and Tucker vs. the Meta with all of his equipment back online.
  • Badass: Several characters throughout the series, most notably Tex and the Meta.
  • Badass Normal: Agent Washington seems to be this. A close examination of his performance in the big fight in Episode 19 indicates he's not in the same superhuman league as Tex or the Meta, but he still manages to hold his own and while he's not the melee powerhouse that the Meta is, he's still a more competent fighter than any of the Blood Gulch crew as well as a damn good shot (all after being blow up and visibly injured by a bunch of landmines, I might add).
    • Both Sarge and Tucker count for this category, although not on the same level as Wash. Sarge because he was willing to get up close with the Meta to put his (really Wash's) plan into action, while Tucker has just become a great fighter all around, for a non-freelancer; Tucker's exploits include holding off C.T.'s forces on his own, slicing in half a warthog and a huge ass crate in a moments notice, and, most of all, stabbing the Meta through the chest with his sword, which would kill anyone else almost instantly. While nowhere near the level of the shown freelancers, both Sarge and Tucker are extremely competent soldiers. Honorable mention to Grif for wrestling the Meta's bruteshot away, leading to Tucker's stabbage.
    • Episode 20 seems to confirm it, As Wash finally hits his limit, and can't keep fighting. He did take an explosive round at point blank.
    • Grif as well, when you get down to it. A normal human would've died dozens of times in that fight with Tex. Grif has also been surviving explosions, falls, blunt-force trauma and bullets that should've killed him since Season Two... from both enemies and allies!
  • Barrier-Busting Blow: Done to Simmons near the start of episode 10.
  • Bat Deduction: Sarge's piecing-together of the situation at Valhalla quickly devolves into this, after starting out as a basic Sherlock Scan.
  • Behind the Black: The Meta somehow fails to notice that there's a tow hook and about fifty yards of cable attached to his chest until the camera pans down for The Reveal.
    • If you listen closely Sarge is actually only attaching the hook at the moment he mentions this to the Meta.

Sarge: Hey Meta, *click* settle a bet, would you? Does that thing look like a big cat to you?

  • Berserk Button: In an attempt to seal themselves from the Meta, the Reds try to make Church angry so that he activates his "laser face" in order to block the entrance by causing the wall to collapse. None of their insults have any effect beyond just mildly ticking him off. Then he sees Agent Washington. Laser face ensues.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Washington and the Meta.
  • Big Damn Heroes: "How about you pick on someone your own size?!". Immediately subverted at the start of the next episode, when the hero just gets a beating for his trouble. Further subverted in that Tex was kicking everyone's asses for a good seven minutes beforehand.
    • Then played straight in episode 19, when Caboose, Tucker, and the Reds fly in on the Pelican, and save Wash, Doc, and Church from the Meta, if only for a moment.

Washington: I would say that was the cavalry... but I've never seen a line of horses crash into the battlefield from outer space before...

  • Big No: Church, when the Meta uses the capture unit on Tex.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Even though our plucky heroes escape and the Big Bad is defeated, once again the Director seems to have escaped justice and Church and Tex are again lost, possibly forever. In an upbeat coda, however, Church makes peace with his nature and admits that, in spite of everything, the memories he has from his life are good ones, and now he has all the time in the world to wait for Tex to come back to him.
  • Book Ends: Reconstruction began with a soldier looking at the dead body of a Freelancer as the camera panned up in Valhalla, showing a huge number of characters (so many that the creators actually had to run several games and use splitscreen to get that many). Revelation ends with a soldier looking at Tex's body in Avalanche and the camera pans up to show a similar shot.
    • The final scene of the season is a bookend for the entire series thus far, with the original Blue Team, in the Reach Blood Gulch map, talking about how the Reds got a new car.
      • Similarly, the first and final Halo 3 maps which are used before the show presumably goes on to be filmed in Halo Reach match the first and final maps used in Halo 1 before they moved to Halo 2. When filming in Halo 1, they started with Blood Gulch and finished with Sidewinder. With Halo 3 they start with Valhalla (spiritual remake of Blood Gulch) and end with Avalanche (spiritual remake of Sidewinder).
  • Brick Joke: Episode 4. "Private Jimmy was here." In episode 10 we get almost a literal translation of the original brick joke when four characters are thrown into the air by an explosion. Sarge, Tucker, and Simmons land at the same time, and then Grif comes down after a lengthy delay. And lands in a much less comfortable position.
    • Episode 10: Tucker coming out of the teleporter covered in black gunk.
    • Episode 11: "That doesn't seem physically possible!"
    • Episode 18: "You ever wonder why we're here?"
    • Episode 20: "Hey Meta, settle a bet, would ya? Does that thing kinda look like a big cat to you?"
      • In that Same Episode: "Shotgun, "Dammit!"
  • Broken Faceplate: When the Meta manages to drive a spiked A.I. containment unit into Tex's visor, he smashes a large round hole into the front of it and absorbes her into the unit.
  • Butt Monkey: Grif and the other previous Butt Monkeys seem to be getting off relatively light this season. Then episode 10 comes along and turns everyone into the butt monkey for seven minutes. Strange though it may sound, Wash is actually the Butt Monkey for this season. He's been kicked around and stabbed in the back for pretty much his whole life, so he decides that enough is enough and turns evil. What's his reward? Endless hassle, bickering, humiliation, and a surprising number of ass kickings.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Tucker was providing his own sound effects for his sword way back in season four, and again briefly in "Recreation", but it is only in episode 10 that they start to qualify as this.

Tucker: Swish. Swish. Stab!

Sarge: You just got-- fires shotgun, setting off an explosion Goddammit, I messed up my one-liner!

  • Character Development: After Sarge snaps out of his Heroic BSOD. He softly leaves his hatred against the Blues behind him, gives a rather epic Rousing Speech that even drives Grif to help him, and sets out with the rest to make everyone from the Project Freelancer pay for what they did to them.
    • Washington, after a lifetime of betrayal, finally betrays someone himself. When they welcome him back with open arms, he is audibly shocked and contemplating what this means to him.
    • Simmons is more willing to challenge Sarge's authority after the rift in their relationship in the previous season. Conversely, this has caused Grif and Sarge to develop a closer relationship.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: The Tow cable was first established to get Doc out of the wall, and then it's used by Doc to rescue Washington. You think it's over, but then Washington hands the hook to Sarge...
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • Caboose's outdated armor. It isn't equipped with safety protocols like Armor Lockdown.
    • In Chapter 12, we learned that Recovery Beacons won't activate inside the backup Freelancer facility. The immediate crisis is resolved and Tex and Epsilon-Church head off to a mysterious snowy facility alone. In the remote location, Tex shoots Epsilon-Church in order to activate his Recovery Beacon and bring Wash and the Meta to her.
    • When "Revelations" first started, the series' main cover was an image of Tex's helmet with the faceplate shattered. In Episode 19, we see the events that cause this to happen.
    • The Meta's Brute Shot is almost literally one, albeit in a bit of a strange fashion. The Meta uses it to save himself from falling off the cliff after the fight with Tex. Later, when he tries to drag Grif off the cliff with him to his doom, Grif uses it do the same thing. Only this time, The Meta is still screwed.
    • And finally, the towing cable on the Warthog.
  • Chekhov's Skill a Meta Example when the Meta gets his AI abilities back (invisibility, shield dome etc.) and turns on Washington to fight the Reds and Blues. These abilities are very similar to the armor abilities in Halo: Reach (the next game after Halo 3) also Washington uses a knife, which is also something new to Halo gameplay in Reach.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: What's that? Turns out the Meta was only looking out for itself? Wow, that's so... characteristic.
  • Compilation Movie
  • Conspicuous CG: Just a little. The textures are a little too shiny, and ironically, the CG is a little too fluid compared to the jerky movements of the game engine. Still awesome, but you can always pick out a CG character in a shot before they've even done anything impossible within the game engine.
  • Continuity Nod: Bernie Burns has said that "memory" is a key theme of the Revelation season, and thus it is full of them to reinforce that:
    • The CGI Warthog has six pedals.
    • The aliens calling Washington "Shisno."
    • Tucker is the only one to get black stuff on his armor when going through warps, then gets punched so hard, that the aforementioned black stuff completely comes off, leading Sarge to make the comment that the punch "knocked the black right off of ya!" Tucker responds with "That's racist!" perhaps referencing his brief conversation with Church where the possibility came up that he could be black.
    • Grif forgetting to bring the squad's ammo. Ironically, this actually saves his life.
      • Sadly, it doesn't stop Tex from using Sarge's shotgun like a croquet mallet, slamming him in his balls, and make him smash into Simmons.
    • Tucker's sword doesn't work for anyone else.
    • "That doesn't seem physically possible!"
    • That flashback in season one when Tex attacked Sidewinder/Avalanche? Tex brings it up when they go back there, and you realize that was when she tried to save Alpha and failed.
    • When Tex is mentioning that Gamma was one of the A Is that tortured Alpha, the computer terminal that housed Gamma can be seen on a nearby wall.
    • The Freelancer training facility's A.I. (which sounds exactly like Sheila) is named F.I.L.S.S. This was also the name of the original Sheila before Church accidentally changed it during his time travel adventures.
    • Sarge (along with Grif and Simmons) end up in a grainy, black-and-white version of reality (just like when Sarge was shot and near death back in Season 1), and once again believes it to be the afterlife. It's actually revealed to be a recovery buffer for Project Freelancer units awaiting retrieval by a Recovery Agent, further Doing In the Wizard of the series more nonsensical elements.
    • Agent Washington: "That was the second worst throw ever. Of all time." Doc: "Hey, what did you expect? I ran track in high school."
    • "Does that thing kinda look like a big cat to you?"
  • Crazy Prepared: in Episode 19, we see that Tex has rigged the entire glacier with mines and hidden weapons to even the odds against The Meta and Washington.
  • Curb Stomp Battle / No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Tucker and the Reds are utterly decimated in episode 10. And it was beautiful.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The Meta, which is really impressive as he doesn't technically talk.
  • Death Cry Echo: The Meta lets out one final echoing roar as it plunges to its doom. Like all the Meta's sounds, it's Nightmare Fuel.
  • Defiant to the End: Tucker in episode 10 continues to fight and keep up his Deadpan Snarker routine even while getting his ass kicked, and by doing so manages to retain his Level In Badass even when it becomes clear he's out of his league.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Even the entire armed forces of the UNSC couldn't take out the Meta. Compared to the Reds and Blues, he might as well be a Physical God. And they take him down (possibly for good this time) in the span of a few minutes. and it's Awesome.
  • Disney Death: Grif.
  • Disney Villain Death: After 3 seasons, this is how the Meta is finally dispatched. He was a Badass Normal without any functioning equipment units when he fell and the response unit certainly sounds sure that he's dead. However, it's unknown whether the UNSC forces found a body.
  • Downer Ending: Despite everyone's efforts, Epsilon-Church is trapped within the AI storage device, and summons up an image of Blood Gulch from just before the first episode of the series to live in while he searches for Tex.
  • The Dragon: The Meta and its partner.
  • Dumbass Has a Point: Shortly after making fun of one of Doc's suggestions for tracking the protagonists to the point of making him walk away in frustration, Wash quietly tries it out. Doc calls him out on it later.
  • Dynamic Entry: Project Freelancer's secret weapon punches a sealed metal door off its hinges. Bad. Ass.
  • Easily Forgiven: In Episode 19, the Reds and Blues are surprisingly amicable towards Washington when they finally catch up with him and Church, especially when you consider the fact they weren't around to witness his Heel Face Turn following the Meta's betrayal.
  • Epic Fail: Technically what it becomes of Blood Gulch teams. They were teams of the lowest of the lowest in the army, formed to train the freelancers in "real" heavy combat. Instead they ended up killing 2/3 of the entire group, including the 4 strongest ones and literary bringing the entire project crashing to the ground. Say what you will about the idiots, when they go down, they go down spectacularly.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: After spending the entire season as the main villain, even Washington is shocked at the extent The Meta will go in its pursuit of power.
  • Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting: Hey, it's just what happens when you get Monty Oum involved.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": In Revelations 17, Sarge reveals that this trope has been inverted all along: His name is "Sarge". He is Staff Sergeant Sarge. Or S-Dog.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: After spending most of the season in the role of Deadpan Snarker comic relief, The Meta is back to full-on ultimate evil in Episode 19 just in case you forgot he was the Big Bad of the trilogy.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: Tex reveals that Omega and Gamma broke down Alpha-Church by repeatedly putting him through situations in which he was unable to do anything except constantly fail to protect the people he cared about.
    • And it seems that Church and Tex have this in common. While Tex is apparently an idealized memory of the Director's dead love, the fact she died is also integral to how the Director remembers her. So, even though she's the ultimate badass, she always fails just as she's about to achieve whatever goal she sets. This accounts for how, throughout the series, she kicks everyone's ass yet always manages to get captured or killed at the most important moment. Doubles as Tear Jerker on both counts.
  • Fake Trap: Washington notices that Epsilon-Church is lying injured in the middle of a perfect ambush position. He knows this must be a trap set by a freelancer, but it turns out the trap was set for the exact place they had stopped when they realized this.
  • Faking the Dead: Washington accomplished this by the end to avoid arrest. He's now part of Blue Team.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Tex gets impaled through the face by the spike on the capture unit. While there was no blood (since that was a robotic body,) one shudders to think what it would look like if Meta did that to a human
    • Nearly taken even further when it was revealed that Wash was going to be crushed and cut in half with a warthog by The Meta. Makes me shudder thinking about it.
  • Five-Man Band: The Remaining Reds and Blues at the end of chapter 18.
  • Flat What: Simmons uses one of these when he reflexively grabs onto the jeep that Grif and Sarge are riding in while flying through the air at high speed to escape an explosion.
  • Flip-Flop of God: Donut was killed by Washington (the "Recreation" DVD commentary confirms this), then he revives in the sponsors-only ending of Chapter 13 of "Revelation".
    • With some Retcon thrown in as well, since Donut was not really dead but in Recovery Mode all along. It's possible Rooster Teeth planned this, and were intentionally misleading in that commentary so as to preserve the secret.
  • Foe Yay: Invoked Trope. The Meta really doesn't want to pull Doc out of the wall by his codpiece. It'd just be weird.
  • For Science!: It's revealed that this was Project Freelancer's reason behind the Red and Blue armies; they took the lowest-scoring soldiers they could find and use them to collect combat data, and practice the skills of the Freelancers.
  • Friendship Moment: After all the abuse Sarge has given him, Grif still instinctively pushes Sarge out the way of the wrecked Warthog as it comes flying at them.
    • Debatable, but Doc saving Washington in episode 19, despite almost every previous scene featuring the two having Doc snarking at Wash, could've been this.
    • When Tex points a shotgun at Grif's head, Simmons cries out in genuine concern.
    • When Grif jumps on the Meta and tries to grapple it, Sarge holds his fire despite having a clean shot at the Meta so as not to hit Grif. Especially touching when you realize that it's the one time in the entire series when shooting Grif (in order to hit Meta) would actually have been a legitimate strategy.
    • At the end of the final fight, Simmons dives forward trying to grab Grif's hand before the Meta can drag him over the edge.
    • The relationship between Sarge and Grif in battle is noticeably different than their normal interactions. There is the aforementioned Grif saving Sarge from the flying warthog incident, but more importantly Sarge seems to rely on Grif in battle. The best example is in the finale where Sarge allows the Meta to grab a hold of him in order to attach the tow cable to him. Sarge's entire plan relied on Grif figuring out what to do, and that shows a great deal of trust in the minor junior private negative first class.
    • The final exchange between Epsilon-Church and Caboose where Church says goodbye to Caboose for the last time.
    • Hell, by the end the two teams are practically a rather vitriolic Nakama.
  • Gatling Good: Tex pulls out one in the Reunion episode out of the snow in order to fight the Meta!
  • Gainax Ending: Church willfully traps himself inside the capture unit in order to find Tex, with the environment inside the capture unit taking the form of his past memories in Blood Gulch (except created in Reach). Knowing that it could take him forever to find Tex and that they will probably never escape from the capture unit, Church concludes that if he is going to forever live through his memories than they might as well be good ones.
    • Although there is one thing that comes of it all, as Wash said earlier in the season, it was just evidence, no matter the condition the unit was in, and would be used as such.
  • Goomba Stomp: The Meta does this to the Warthog.
  • Gone Horribly Right: For the director, the Red vs. Blue teams were created to put Freelancers in realistic, potentially deadly simulations to perfect and weed out the participants while using the dregs of the army. Blood Gulch proved to be highly incompetent and efficient at the same time in this regard beyond his wildest expectations.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body: Tucker, Grif, Simmons, and Sarge are ALL used as weapons against each other during the the epic fight scene in episode 10. Then, in a truly weird inversion, Church is pummeled with his own former body in the next episode. Which doesn't seem physically possible.
    • In the Finale the Meta throws Sarge at the other Reds, leaving Tucker to face him one-on-one.
  • Groin Attack: This happens to Grif over and over and over and over and over again...
    • Seven times.

Grif: Why won't you just kill me?

  • Healing Shiv: Well more like a healing explosion at the end of "Up to Eleven". It causes a whole bunch of health packs to fall on the Reds.

Sarge: I feel defeated. Yet inexplicably rejuvenated!.

  • Heel Face Revolving Door - By the end of this season you'll realize the saddest part of the Freelancer existence: the only side they are reliably and consistently on is their own.
  • Heroic BSOD: Sarge experiences one after he learns the true nature of the Red vs. Blue battles in Episode 17. In Episode 18 he snaps out of it in style.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Episode 19. Washington looks like he's about pull one off when the Meta betrays him after getting his abilities back. Luckily, the Reds, Caboose and Tucker crash-land on top of the Meta in the Pelican.
  • Hope Spot: After the Pelican nearly lands on top of Meta, the capture unit is seen in the snow, and the Meta is nowhere to be found. It seems that the Pelican crash took him down, but just as Church and Wash try to take the unit, the Meta gets back up, with the capture unit still attached
  • Humiliation Conga: This.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: The Meta. Maybe.

Wash: Stop lecturing me, or I will shoot you, and feed you to the Meta.
Doc: ...Does he eat people?
Wash: Do you really want to find out?
Doc: No. Maybe. If we use another person, sure. It sounds kinda interesting.

  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Tex, in the face.
  • Interesting Situation Duel: Tex's beatdown on the Red's and Tucker in the Freelancer base filled with teleporters and her fight with Wash and Meta on Avalanche utilizing timed explosives and collapsing ice.
  • Ironic Echo: Sarge gives one to one of the first one-liners of the series... before going into a fantastic Rousing Speech centered around that one line. "You ever wonder why we're here?"
    • It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it?
    • A possibly unintentional example: at the end of Blood Gulch Chronicles, Church asked Tex what would happen after she helped O'Malley in his plan, and her response was "I guess we'll find out." In Episode 17 of this season, when Epsilon-Church asks Tex why she's betraying their location to Washington and the Meta, her response is "That's exactly what I plan to find out."
  • It's Popular, Now It Sucks: Don't panic, it's an in-universe example. Namely, how Caboose feels about the aliens taking to worshiping Epsilon Church.

Caboose: It's not fair! I worshiped Church way before it was cool to worship him.
Grif: Hey, I already told you, that's still not cool. That will never be cool. Ever.

  • Jossed: For a while, fans had speculated that Sarge and (after Recreation) Tucker might be able to match Tex in terms of combat skill. Then she returns in Episode 10 and utterly curbstomps the both of them without taking a hit or breaking a sweat. Episode 19 further implies that Sarge's early takedown of Tex back in Season 1 was a result of Worf Had the Flu.
  • Karma Houdini: The Director. Since at this point it is presumed impossible to get Epsilon out of the capture unit, that means there's no evidence against him and he'll get off scot free. There is the possibility, though, that the unit is incriminating in itself, even if the information in it can't be released.
    • And in his own words, he has brought a great deal of suffering down upon himself, even if the law won't recognize it as punishment.
    • Washington gets off scot free even though he killed Donut and Lopez.
  • Lampshade Hanging: While a flailing Simmons tries to grab onto the moving Warthog during one of the show's fancy new CGI scenes, Sarge tells him to stop showing off.
    • Simmons comments on the role of both teams in the continuity; Blue Team is generally much more involved with the plot, while Red Team tends to only be there for comic relief, or as Simmons points out, "talk about food and guns."
    • F.I.L.S.S. pointing out Tex's most glaring and obvious characteristic.
    • When Grif is hanging over a cliff, Sarge mentions a hatred of Cliff Hangers.
  • Last Stand: Episode 19. Although she fares very well against them, even going so far to give the impression she could have beaten them individually, Tex's fight against Washington and the Meta turns into this as she starts to take hits.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: In spite of their revealed status as disposable cannon fodder for Project Freelancer, the Reds and Blues rally together to take down the seemingly unstoppable Meta, one of Project Freelancer's deadliest legacies.
  • Licked by the Dog: Despite being kidnapped, coerced, held hostage and verbally abused by Washington, Doc still tries to save him in Episode 19; with 'try' being the key phrase.
  • Literal Cliff Hanger: In the finale Grif manages to save himself from falling off the cliff using the Meta's Brute Shot after slipping from Simmons' grasp.
  • Lotus Eater Machine: Inside the Epsilon Capture Unit, Epsilon Church decides to relive his memories of Blood Gulch while he waits for Tex's return.

I mean hell, if you have to live the rest of your life in a memory, you might as well make it a good one.

  • Made of Iron: The Freelancers in general, but Meta makes the other two look like plasticine with his endurance. Seriously, watch the last two episodes and see just HOW much damage he takes within a 20 minute timeframe. Kinda makes one wonder whether he actually died from that fall.
  • Meaningful Name: Sarge's real name is revealed in Chapter 17 to be: Sarge
    • Recollection, the name of the trilogy, has multiple meanings. The whole Freelancer project was a result of The Director attempting to bring his memories to life. Recreation and Revelation center around Epsilon, the embodiment of Alpha's memories. And, at the very end, when Church leaves the world for the last time, he tells Caboose that he'll now be in charge of keeping his memory alive. This is in addition to the fact that it is a collection of seasons whose titles begin with "Re".
  • Misfit Mobilization Moment: After finally coping with the knowledge that the Red and Blue armies are just disposable target dummies for Project Freelancer, and learning that Church and Tex are in danger from Meta and Washington, Sarge gives a Rousing Speech that rallies the Reds and Blues together to take the initiative for once in their lives and show the Freelancers "just what a big fight is all about".
  • Misguided Missile: Double subverted in episode 10, a rogue missile heads towards the Reds and Tucker, and it is heavily implied that it will collide with Grif's... er... Southern Regions, but it goes between his legs into a pile of explosives behind him and the others.
  • Mundane Utility: Simmons discovers the equipment that Project Freelancer used to give their agents superhuman abilities. Grif immediately decides he wants invisibility... so he can take a nap without Sarge finding him.
  • Mythology Gag: The pistol isn't quite as effective as it used to be.
    • And the older rocket launchers have heat seeking.
  • Nigh Invulnerability: In the final episodes, the Meta proves to be even more unstoppable than before. Tex and later Washington manage to land several good hits on it (including a backbreaker move and multiple knife cuts), but none of those even slow it down. Even being stabbed straight through the chest with the Energy Sword by Tucker (something that has been shown to be a one-hit-kill against everyone else it's been used on) only seems to inconvenience it slightly, although the sword does seem to slow the Meta down just enough for Sarge to set up its final defeat using the Warthog's tow cable.
    • Continuity Nod to Reconstruction. In this and Recreation, the lack of an AI meant he couldn't use his armor enhancements, like his Overshields, Invisibility, Bubble Shield (remember that one?), and his Super Strength was diminished. Now, with what is possibly the most complete AI besides the Alpha in his head, he is virtually unstoppable.
  • Not Quite Dead: Simmons thanks Doc for his willingness to be left behind to the Meta, even while Doc frantically tries to convince him he isn't willing.
  • Not So Different: Way back in Season 5, Wyoming and Omega's plan was to take control of the aliens' god and use it to corrupt their religion, which Church finds absolutely disgusting. Now, Church is controlling a powerful Forerunner monitor that the aliens worship, and is nonchalantly keeping them entertained with "parables" that he made up. It is a matter of degree, however -- Church has no intention of enslaving the aliens. He is just playing with their ignorance.
    • One of the DVD's deleted scenes shows that the aliens are facing almost the exact same language barrier issues as the humans. While humans perceive the alien's language as "Blargs" and "Honks", all the aliens hear from humans (even the Meta) is "gabba gabba".
  • Not So Harmless: After curbstomping the Reds and the Warthog early on, The Meta has spent the rest of Revelations pretty much as Washington's comic sidekick. Then in Episode 19 he stabs Tex through the face with a 2-foot-long spike, then uses her A.I. to restore his lost powers. Cue Oh Crap reaction from Washington, Church, and Doc.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: Near the end of the battle between Tex, Wash, and the Meta, this occurs. The chant is "Plagam extremam infilgere," which roughly translates to "violent murder." Considering what the Meta does to Tex in this scene, it's rather fitting
    • I suspect they intended the translation to be "bloody murder" and thus a callback gag to the Sidewinder troop who ran around literally screaming "bloody murder".
      • That would make sense if there a humorous nature to what happens during the song, but considering what happened, that's unlikely.
  • Painfully-Slow Projectile: The Meta's time stopper backfires, leaving him slowed down relative to everyone else. It happens right as he's about to punch Doc. Unfortunately for Doc, Simmons calculates that his fist, though appearing slow relative to them, still has the same actual velocity and force. And he is right.
  • Plot Tailored to the Party: Sort of. Each of the Reds and Blues participating in the final battle all play a part in defeating the Meta. Grif jumps on its back and manages to steal its Brute Shot, which leaves it open to being stabbed through the chest with the energy sword by Tucker, which in turn slows the Meta down enough for Sarge to attach the Warthog's towing cable to its chest plating, dragging Meta to its doom when Grif and Simmons push the Warthog over the edge of the abyss.
  • The Power of Friendship - On the DVD commentary, Burnie Burns says the only reason the teams can take down the Meta is because they know each other so well and can communicate in ways that can get them around their obvious disadvantages.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In Chapter 17, Tex delivers one to Epsilon-Church.

Epsilon-Church: Tex? I would have helped you.
Tex: You can't even help yourself. That's why you made me, Church. You made me to take on all the things you can't handle, just like you always have.

  • Required Secondary Powers: Subverted. When someone catches a large crate, the metal floor underneath them buckles. When the crate is thrown, we also see two dents where it was held up.
  • Restraining Bolt: The armor for the Reds and Blues have a remote lockdown ability to control rogue elements. Caboose uses this to stop Tex, but ends up paralyzing everyone else, save himself because his armor is outdated and lacks the shutdown feature.
  • Rousing Speech: In episode 18, Sarge delivers a truly epic one to both teams, which mobilizes them to take the fight to the Freelancers.

Sarge: I'm not telling you to go. I'm not even asking.
Grif: You're not?
Sarge: Nope. I'm going. That's it. You want to come? Come on. But I don't expect you to. Simmons will probably tell you that statistically some of us will probably die.
Simmons: All of us.
Sarge: All of us. All of us will probably die. But that's not what's important. Let me ask you two a question... you ever wonder why we're here?
Grif: (both look at each other) Umm... it does seem to be one of life's great mysteries...
Sarge: No, I mean you! What are YOU doing here?! You always act like you want to quit. You could have left whenever you wanted, nobody would have stopped you! So why are ya here? And you, Simmons!
Simmons: Me?
Sarge: You say you want to be in charge. They would've given you your own squad a dozen times over! You know it, and I know it. And you, Tucker. As much as I hate to say it, you're actually good at being a soldier!
Tucker: I am?
Sarge: I know you like to make yer' rude comments and pretend like it doesn't matter! But an entire alien RACE chose to make you their hero! So why are YOU here? And Caboose... ummm... it's good to see you?
Caboose: Thanks. I'm loving the whole speech so far.
Sarge: Maybe you're all here because this is the only place you fit in. Maybe you're here because you don't have anywhere else to go. Maybe you're here because you want to be here. The reason doesn't matter! What matters is that you're here. For all we know, Tex and Church are dead. That means we're the only ones who know what's happened, and the only ones who can prevent them from covering it up! The way I figure it... these Freelancers guy want to use us, take us away from our families, and send us all over the daggone galaxy just to test if their agents are ready for the big fight? Well... guess I'm interested in showin' em just what exactly what a big fight is all about! Time to clean a slate! I'm not orderin' ya too! I'm not even asking ya. You do... what ya GOTTA do, Private Grif.

Epsilon: And I mean, Hell. If you have to live the rest of your life in a memory, you might as well make it a good one

Sarge: There they are! Land right next to them!
Grif: Land. Right.
Sarge: You do know how to land this, don't you?
Grif: Sure. That just means "Stop flying", right?
Sarge: BRACE FOR IMPACT!
Tucker: Oh shit, this is gonna suck!
Caboose: I still haven't gotten my peanuts yet.

    • Also:

Sarge: "Attack!"
Simmons: "Get 'im!"
Grif: "We're gonna fucking die!"

  • Took a Level in Badass: Grif and Sarge. Oh dear God, Grif and Sarge. Hell, even Tex, despite already easily being the biggest badass of the series, has, as the episode 10 subtitle says, taken it Up to Eleven. Hell, through lots of preparation and sheer skill she's even able to get and maintain the upper hand in her long awaited fight against the series' ultimate monster, who's also assisted by another badass Super Soldier who's no slouch himself.
  • Too Kinky to Torture: Doc is so cheerful and wants so badly to be friends that he completely fails to act appropriately frightened, despite being held hostage, threatened, and beaten by an over-the-edge special forces soldier and a nigh-unstoppable insane killing machine.
  • Tranquil Fury: When the aliens draw an image of Washington in the sand, with the word "shisno" next to it.

Doc: What does it say?
Washington: It says... peace talks have broken down. Now we do it our way.

  • Unflinching Walk: Sarge has one in Chapter 20 when he advances on the Meta, on his own, blasting away with his shotgun before hooking the Warthog's tow cable onto the Meta's armour.
  • Up to Eleven: Lampshaded by the title of episode 10 for good reason.
  • The Unintelligible: The Meta is making... some sort of noise. I guess it's speech? Kind of?
    • Intelligible Unintelligible: Wash seems to understand what he's saying, although that's often Rule of Funny in effect.
    • It's possible that the Meta uses the same voice modifying technology that Tex and C.T. use to mask their gender. Conceivably the same technology could also serve as a translator by working in reverse, which would explain why only Freelancers can understand him.
      • It's revealed in the trailer for season 9 that the Meta was shot in the throat while he was still a normal Freelancer. Also Wash was a friend and was with him when it happens, so it is likely that Wash has just heard it long enough to grasp the basic meaning.
      • Episode 11 of Season 9 has a blink-and-you-miss-it moment where you here the Meta clearly say "Get off me" to a medic. Then in Episode 15 you can hear him respond to Carolina with "Too high" before he is kicked out of a window. His characteristic growl is present up to this point, so maybe it's some sort of preference or meant for intimidation.
  • Versus Title
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Doc was not at all pleased that Simmons left him stuck in the wall, whilst at the same time, "volunteering" him to stay behind and "sacrifice" himself.

Simmons: We'll always remember you. Bye!
Doc: Start by remembering me now! Simmons!

    • When Caboose accidentally ruins Tucker's plan to distract an enemy whilst Simmons prepares an ambush, Tucker calls out to Caboose, stooging off Simmons' position.

Simmons: You ratted me out, you son of a bitch!

  • War for Fun and Profit: The roots of the Red vs. Blue conflict are revealed to be: Project Freelancer took the lowest-rated soldiers they could find, populated the Red and Blue armies with them, and set them against each other to provide their Freelancer Agents with combat simulations and to otherwise collect valuable combat data.
  • Why Are You Looking At Me Like That??: Grif gets this treatment at the end of episode 18, when he wonders who they're gonna get to drive the mysterious vehicle they'll be using to save Church, Tex and take on the Freelancers.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Invoked during the team's fight in episode 10.

Grif: What do we do Sarge?!
Sarge: I don't know! I've never hit a girl in my life!
Simmons: Yeah! I noticed! Try harder!

  • Wrestler in All of Us: A German suplex is used in episode 10. Later, something resembling a backbreaker is thrown into a fight.
  • Worf Had the Flu: In the second-to-last episode, it's revealed that Tex is destined to always fail at the last moment, because she's based on the memory of the Director's lost love who died in combat, and the trauma of her death is an integral part of how the Director remembers her. This explains how, throughout the series, Tex always managed to get captured, killed, or knocked-out at a critical moment without accomplishing anything of actual importance despite being the series' biggest badass.
  • World of Cardboard Speech: Epsilon-Church delivers one in the final scene of Revelation

"I'd like to say that I found her right away, that I just walked into the Epsilon Unit, and there she was, waiting for me. As you can probably guess, it didn't happen that way, but, I know she's in here somewhere, and I'll find her. We always seem to find each other, for better or for worse. I don't know why the Director did what he did. I don't know if he was trying to revive a memory from his past, or if he was just trying to get it out of his head. But I figured out something that the Director didn't. It took Alpha, Delta, and the rest to help piece it together for me, but what I've learned is that a great love is a lot like a good memory. When it's there, and you know it's there, but it's just out of your reach, it can be all that you think about. You can focus on it, and try to force it, but the more you do, the more you seem to push it away. But if you're patient, and you hold still, then maybe... Just maybe... It will come to you. I just need to make sure I'm somewhere she can find me. I think this place is a little different than it was before. See, out there, everything is based on the Alpha, but in here, I guess I'm the Alpha. And maybe this time through, things will be a little different for me as well. I guess I'll find out. And I mean, hell, if you have to live the rest of your life in a memory... you might as well make it a good one."

  • Worst Aid: While still not great at any medical matters, Doc has definitely improved since Blood Gulch Chronicles. He was able to bring Wash back from the brink of death in the final episode.
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