Red vs. Blue: The Recollection: Difference between revisions

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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".

 

== Reconstruction (Season 6) ==

 

* [[Anyone Can Die]]: {{spoiler|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]].}}

** {{spoiler|This directly contradicts the ''Recreation'' Trailer, which shows Alpha-Church still watching over Valhalla.}}

* [[Arc Words]]: From Reconstruction onward, "Memory is the key". Lampshaded by Caboose in Recreation:

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Epsilon-Delta:}}''' Remember. Memory is the key.

* [[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.

* [[Compilation Movie]]

* [[Continuity Snarl]]: Most of the series thus far still makes sense within the context of Church being {{spoiler|an AI}}.

* [[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.

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''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".

* [[Hollywood Hacking]]: Hilariously [[Discussed Trope|discussed]] and [[Averted Trope|averted]] by Grif and Simmons:

{{quote|'''Grif''': You should explain what's going on, and I could make an educated suggestion.

'''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.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Wash whenever he has to interact with the characters from the previous seasons. His presence is the primary cause of [[Cerebus Syndrome]]. The Meta is the cause of the rest.

* [[Punny Name]]: Might be an accident, might not be that Agent Washington, aka ''Wash'', is the cleanup crew for the Freelancers. Cleanup. Wash. Think about it.

* [[Replacement Goldfish]]: Judging by the Director's words, probably {{spoiler|Tex}}.

* [[Secret Keeper]]: Agent Washington, until [[Wham! Episode|Episode 16]].

* [[Wham! Episode]]: Chapter 16, then again in the closing moments of Chapter 19.

** All with one simple closing {{spoiler|"Sincerely Yours, The Former Director of Project Freelancer, Doctor Leonard Church."}}

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''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, {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|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]]: {{spoiler|1=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]]

 

* [[Atomic F-Bomb]]: Simmons gives one {{spoiler|while being chased by the Meta.}}

* [[Badass]]: {{spoiler|Tucker, all of a sudden.}}

* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: {{spoiler|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".

** 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 {{spoiler|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.

*** 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.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Lopez is becoming snarkier with every episode.

* [[Dynamic Entry]]: {{spoiler|Tucker attempts to do one to a pair of C.T.'s goons with a Chopper, but [[Subverted Trope|ends up missing]].}}

* {{spoiler|[[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]]: {{spoiler|Despite how often Simmons is annoyed by Donut, he still tries to save the latter after he is shot by Washington.}}

* [[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. {{spoiler|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.

* [[Shoo Out the Clowns]]: {{spoiler|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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

 

* [[And the Adventure Continues...]]: After all the shenanigans, damage, lies, victories and defeats of the last 8 seasons, they decided {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|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 [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|intense]].

* [[A God Am I]]: Church takes a little too well to the aliens worshiping him.

{{quote|'''Tucker:''' You just read the instructions off our printer.

* [[Almighty Janitor]]: {{spoiler|Despite only being 'trainees' used as practice for Freelancers, the Blood Gulch Red and Blue teams managed to take down: [[Super Soldier|Omega]], [[One-Man Army|Tex]], [[The Juggernaut|the Meta]] and dozens of badasses without suffering casualities. At the very least, [[Mad Scientist|Sarge]] and [[Badass Normal|Tucker]] are ''far'' more skilled than their status as simulation-fodder suggests.}}

* [[And I Must Scream]]: Arguably a subversion. {{spoiler|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.''}}

* [[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 {{spoiler|with all of his equipment back online.}}

* [[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).

** {{spoiler|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.}}

{{quote|'''Sarge:''' Hey Meta, '''*click*''' settle a bet, would you? [[Continuity Nod|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 "[[Eye Beams|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 {{spoiler|Agent Washington. Laser face ensues.}}

* [[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 {{spoiler|Tex}} was kicking everyone's asses for a good seven minutes beforehand.

** Then played straight in episode 19, when {{spoiler|Caboose, Tucker, and the Reds fly in on the Pelican, and save Wash, Doc, and Church from the Meta, if only for a moment}}.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Even though {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|Tex's body}} in Avalanche and the camera pans up to show a similar shot.

*** 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 [[Groin Attack|much less comfortable position.]]

** The Meta's Brute Shot is almost literally one, albeit in a bit of a strange fashion. {{spoiler|The Meta uses it to save himself from falling off the cliff after the fight with Tex. Later, when he tries to [[Taking You with Me|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.

* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: What's that? {{spoiler|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.

** The CGI Warthog has six pedals.

** The aliens calling Washington "Shisno."

*** Sadly, {{spoiler|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 flashback in season one when Tex attacked Sidewinder/Avalanche? Tex brings it up when they go back there, and you realize {{spoiler|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. {{spoiler|(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}}.

** {{spoiler|"Does that thing kinda look like a big cat to you?"}}

* [[Crazy Prepared]]: in Episode 19, we see that {{spoiler|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. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|And it was]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke9wtbzGjCI beautiful].

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: The Meta, which is really impressive as he doesn't technically talk.

* [[Disney Death]]: {{spoiler|Grif}}.

* [[Disney Villain Death]]: {{spoiler|After 3 seasons, this is how the Meta is finally dispatched.}} He was {{spoiler|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 [[Never Found the Body|found a body]].

* [[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.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: {{spoiler|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, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|it's]] just what happens when you get Monty Oum involved.

** When {{spoiler|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.

** {{spoiler|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.

* [[Gatling Good]]: {{spoiler|Tex}} pulls out one in the Reunion episode out of the snow in order to fight {{spoiler|the Meta}}!

* [[Gainax Ending]]: {{spoiler|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.}}

* [[Goomba Stomp]]: The Meta does this to the Warthog.

* [[Gone Horribly Right]]: For the director, {{spoiler|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 [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|highly incompetent and efficient at the same time]] in this regard [[Serial Escalation|beyond his wildest expectations]].

* [[Healing Shiv]]: Well more like a healing ''explosion'' at the end of "Up to Eleven". It causes a whole bunch of [[Healing Potion|health packs]] to fall on the Reds.

{{quote|'''Sarge''': I feel defeated. Yet inexplicably rejuvenated!.}}

* [[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 {{spoiler|when the Meta betrays him after getting his abilities back. Luckily, the Reds, Caboose and Tucker [[Big Damn Heroes|crash-land on top of the Meta in the Pelican]].}}

* [[Mythology Gag]]: The pistol isn't quite as effective as it used to be.

** And the older rocket launchers have heat seeking.

** [[Continuity Nod]] to ''Reconstruction.'' In this and ''Recreation,'' the lack of {{spoiler|1=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.

*** Actually it looks more like several parts from a PSP MiniS Game by the name of "Hysteria Project" to me.

*** Yeesh. Am I the only one who completed the campaign mode for ''[[Modern Warfare|Modern Warfare 2]]''?

*** In episode twenty, a soldier mentions they actually have a budget of one crashed Pelican per mission, in ''[[Halo 3]]'' it seems at least one crashes per mission.

** Washington's "..but I've never seen a line of horses crash into the battlefield from outer space" line as {{spoiler|[[Big Damn Heroes|the remaining Reds and Blues crash-land with the Pelican]] }} could be referencing the way the Flood invaded the Ark in ''[[Halo 3]]''.

** {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|Actually, if not for Doc, Wash would have fallen off a cliff in finale.]]}}

* [[Stealth Pun]]: The episode "This One Goes To Eleven" (aside from the [[Up to Eleven|obvious lampshade]]) is Chapter 10... which leads into Chapter 11.

** {{spoiler|[[Double Subversion|Although he may be wrong]], depending on [[Your Mileage May Vary|your interpretation]] of Episode 19. Are his actions because of this trope, or because he's a pacifist who's taken a Hippocratic oath?}}

* [[Strange Minds Think Alike]]: Sort of. When radioed, Simmons doesn't get a chance to let Sarge know that they're being held hostage. After the end of the transmission, Sarge casually announces the exact situation at Valhalla, then goes on to justify it using increasingly convoluted reasoning.

'''Simmons:''' "Get 'im!"

'''Grif:''' "We're gonna fucking die!" }}

* [[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.

{{quote|'''Doc''': What does it say?

'''Washington''': It says... peace talks have broken down. [[Kill'Em All|Now we do it our way.]] }}

* [[Unflinching Walk]]: Sarge has one in Chapter 20 {{spoiler|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.}}

** [[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.

[[Category:Red vs. Blue: The Recollection]]

[[Category:Red vs. Blue]]