Redshirt Army: Difference between revisions

[[File:STrek9_9018STrek9 9018.jpg|link=Star Trek: The Original Series|frame| "[[Futurama|I won't lie to you, men; none of you but me will be coming back from this mission alive."]]]]

{{quote|''"Now you men will only be risking your lives, whilst I will be risking an almost certain [[Plot Armor|Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.]]''"|'''Hedley Lamaar''', ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' }}

Happens all the time in action shows. The hero, who may or may not have any special training or powers, is to be escorted into a "hot zone" by a team of Navy SEALs, [[Elites Are More Glamorous|Army Rangers]], [[Space Marine|Space Marines]]s, a [[SWAT Team]], or some other heavily-armed and one would assume well-trained unit. Invariably, mere minutes into the mission, they've all been ambushed and killed off by the platoon-load, leaving [[Only One|only the hero alive to finish the job]].

As the singular [[Red Shirt]] is the "good" counterpart to [[Evil Minions]], the [['''Redshirt Army]]''' is the "good" counterpart to the endless hordes of [[Mook|Mooks]]s. The [[Badass Army]] is the logical opposite to this; take note how often (as in the example above) [[Redshirt Army]] is, in fact, a [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] of [[Badass Army]] via [[The Worf Effect]]. Another opposite of the [[Redshirt Army]] are the [[Men of Sherwood]], who aren't quite badass enough to qualify as a [[Badass Army]], but who are at least competent enough at their jobs not to be wiped out in seconds.

See Also: [[A-Team Firing]], [[Cannon Fodder]], [[Conservation of Ninjitsu]], [[Curb Stomp Battle]], [[Lemming Cops]].

'''Note for Tropers''': [[RedshirtThis Army]]trope specifically deals with easily-killed ''good guys''. If you're looking for easily-killed ''bad guys'', go to [[Mooks]].

* The Marines of ''[[One Piece]]'', despite antagonizing the protagonists, who ''are'' pirates, are full of people who legitimately want to make the world a safer place, [[Knight Templar]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] members aside. However, they are mostly victims of the [[Worf Effect]], and by the time of the Paramount War arc, anyone who isn't a member of the admiralty can get swept aside with ease.

* Any friendly force in a [[Humongous Mecha]] series that isn't equipped with [[Humongous Mecha]]. (The AD Police in the ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' [[OVA|OVAs]]s count here, despite the fact that they ''had'' mecha -- themecha—the mecha they had were the mass-produced tin-can-death-trap variety.)

** If all the main characters have unique mecha, then any friendly force that does have mecha but only has one or two different models is also a [[Redshirt Army]]. For example, the allied armies in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' are simply cannon fodder.

* The Magical Teachers and Students in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' during the Mahora Fair arc were woefully unprepared for the fight... so Negi cons the entire student body into making a second [[Redshirt Army]] for this fight.

* Lampshaded in the cover of chapter 144 of Blade of the Immortal manga which features a dartboard with bullseye being taken up by a picture of the leader (100 points for hitting it) while the outermost ring is a picture of a faceless goon (10 points for hitting it). See it [https://web.archive.org/web/20200122033206/http://view.thespectrum.net/series/blade-of-the-immortal-chapter-144.html?ch=Chapter+144%2B144&page=1 here].

* The direct-to-video release ''[[Superman: Doomsday]]'' had members of said [[Redshirt Army]] [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] this before they fight Superman{{spoiler|'s evil clone.}}

* The Gotham Police Department in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' fits under this, if only due to their body count, even though they actually prove to be ''quite'' competent -- especiallycompetent—especially at the end of the movie, when the SWAT teams storm the building. The only problem is that "competent" just doesn't cut it with someone as [[Crazy Prepared]] as the Joker and [[Badass]] as Batman.

* The battle in the next-to-the-last ''[[Animorphs]]'' book involves a [[Redshirt Army]] who survives. The US army launches a military force consisting, essentially, of hundreds of soldiers accompanied by a couple dozen [[Sixth Ranger|Sixth Rangers]]s. And this military force's goal is a suicide mission worthy of the best of them: to launch an attack, in plain view, against a spaceship that "could blow asteroids out of the sky." Ordinarily a [[Sixth Ranger]] ranks much higher on the [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality]] than the [[Redshirt Army]]. But in this case, Visser One orders the Sixth Rangers killed first, because he takes them more seriously in both a strategic and a [[It's Personal|personal]] sense. And the Animorphs manage to sabotage his ship too late to save the Sixth Rangers, but in time for the ordinary soldiers to survive. When the [[Redshirt Army]] are the survivors, and some kids with superpowers are the casualties, it's a clear example of a plot that thwarts the usual laws of the [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality]].

* Each of the ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' HERO OF THE IMPERIUM novels will inevitably feature a part where Cain is forced to enter the jaws of hell, usually accompanied only by his [[Sidekick]] and a [[Redshirt Army]] (possibly with a few [[Mauve Shirt|Mauve Shirts]]s thrown in). The trope is however subverted as often as it's played straight, to the end that you can usually never tell if the book's [[Redshirt Army]] will survive or not: Several Mauve Shirts in the series actually came from Cain's (more successful) escort missions.

* Partially subverted in the novel ''[[GodsGod's Demon]]''. The character [[Noble Demon|Sargatanas]] increases the ranks of his military with an army of souls, which are normally either [[Nightmare Fuel|mounted as artwork]] or [[Fate Worse Than Death|turned into bricks]] by the demons (and only doing this because the soul [[Meaningful Name|Hani]] offered to form it after [[Exposition Beam|restoring the memories of his former life]]. The subversion comes in the form of this never having been done before (meaning the soul army has a partial element of surprise), as well as the souls using one of their [[Beneath Notice|common fates]] to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|get behind the enemy army and attack the flanks]].

* The German soldiers in ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]'' are very, ''very'' badly trained, and tend to die in swarms doing things that every experienced soldier knows not to do. The protagonists all survived their first few battles through sheer luck, and [[Taught By Experience|by seeing how other people died they've learned how to keep themselves alive]]--but—but they despair of explaining this to the [[New Meat]], who continue to get themselves killed. (Given the accuracy of the rest of the novel, this may be [[Truth in Television]], and it would certainly go a long way towards explaining WWI's casualty rates.)

** This was a frontier-mission that was so dangerous, that of 12 starships-- eachstarships—each identical, the most powerful class in Earth's fleet-- onlyfleet—only Kirk's ship and crew even ''survived.'' As Kirk put it, "risk, is our ''business.''"

* In ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'', player characters take on the role of Trouble Shooters, whose job it is to track down trouble in Alpha Complex and shoot it. Given that the PCs are ''supposed'' to [[Killer Game Master|get in over their heads]] and [[Total Party Kill|die]] [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|horribly]], this means the player characters ''are'' the [[Redshirt Army]]. They even start as Red-class citizens, which comes with uniforms in the appropriate color...

* Planetary Defense Forces in ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' are almost uniformly treated as speed bumps by any invader, or for [[The Corruption|Chaos]], a ready supply of expendable minions, generally getting wiped out in the first ten minutes or so of any invasion. The [[Imperial Guard]] also fulfills this function when the Space Marines are the protagonists.

** Averted in that some PDFs are as good as their Imperial Guard counterparts, if only because quality of soldiers, commanders and equipment varies wildly from place to place. Also justified, as the PDFs best soldiers and units are usually taken to fill up the ranks of the Imperial Guard. It's basically [[Curb Stomp Battle|light infantry vs. the legions of hell]]. Also the only reason that they are considered one is because ''everything else'' is genetically modified, sports ridiculous technology, comes in numbers much larger than theirs or backed by a god of some sort. So the fact that they go up against them anyway makes them a ''[[Badass Army]]'' if anything.

*** [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Sometimes, they win anyway.]] Look at Sergeant Osmar Adeodatus from [[Damnatus]], who was both PDF and badass. Mind you, he was hand-picked by the Inquisition, and he is [[Conservation of Ninjutsu|the only guardsman we see in the film]].

** The Imperial Guard havbehave been known to subvert this, though, for one very good reason. Sure, the soldiers usually fit the [[Red Shirt]] line. But they also have ''[[Tank Goodness|tanks]]''. Lots and ''lots'' of tanks.

* This is also common in [[First-Person Shooter|First Person Shooters]]. Redshirt Armies can be used as part of the [[Backstory]], explaining why [[It's Up To You]]. Other times, the Redshirt Army is made up of [[NPC|NPCs]]s who are pathetically weak, die easily, and can barely shoot, especially when compared with the main character. It's usually difficult to keep these allies alive, and the player is rarely offered any incentive or reward for doing so, beyond, perhaps, personal satisfaction -- orsatisfaction—or a hefty penalty if they die.

** ''[[System Shock]] 1'' & ''2'' also show the [[Redshirt Army]] as deceased bodies waiting for you to take their loot and diaries to finish the job they couldn't.

* Whenever a bunch of NPC allies appear in a [[Super Robot Wars]] game, ''they will die before the cut scene is over''. The non-OG games usually use [[Mobile Suit Gundam|GMs]] or other weak [[Real Robot|Real Robots]]s, but the [[Original Generation]] games give this duty to the Gespensts. Ironic thing is, [[Badass Normal]] and one-man-army Kai Kitamura pilots one of those Gespensts, and just will ''not'' be shot down easily.

* A mission in ''Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne'' has Kael defending a Draenei village from Fel Orcs. The Draenei return the favor by [[Redshirt Army|allying with Kael]].

* In [[Paradox Interactive]] games, you can make your own Red Shirt armies--justarmies—just focus on sheer weight of numbers while ignoring technological advantages or leadership. You can also be on the other end: an advanced, disciplined army will usually kill dozens to hundreds times more soldiers than it will lose.

* The entire point of ''[[Mount & Blade]]'' is to raise a [[Redshirt Army]] and have them fight the armies of everyone opposed to your kingdom. Or just everyone, if you feel like being a total sociopath.

* Queen Deirdranna of ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2'' uses an actual [[Redshirt Army]], who wear red shirts. On high difficulty levels you get to kill hundreds of them. That is, until the ''Black Shirt'' elites show up!

* The ''[[Total War]]'' series is bad about this. ''Rome:TW''--a—a game generally considered accurate enough to have been used in several actual documentaries--isdocumentaries—is a particularly major offender, drawing complaints from historians about the ludicrous amount of mutual bloodshed in the typical battle, and the fact that nobody really bats an eye if you go out and lose 75% of your army in a "close victory."

* In ''[[Battlefield: Bad Company]]'' and ''Bad Company 2''; the player's squad are the members of the titular unit. Bad Company is sent in ''before'' the specially-trained assault troops; because those guys are "too expensive to waste". So technically, you are a member of the [[Redshirt Army]] in those games. And you ''[[Averted Trope|get the job done]]'', better than any "[[Take That|special-ops douche-bags]] with [[Modern Warfare|pussy-ass heartbeat monitors on their guns]]".

* Lampshaded in ''[[StarcraftStarCraft II]]'' with one of the Marines' [[Stop Poking Me|annoyed]] lines: "Has anyone else noticed how no one seems to come back IN to the barracks?

** Also used in the story of '[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'': Arcturus Mengsk sends Sarah Kerrigan and a large group of soldiers to a suicide mission to cover his ass. Jim Raynor spends the rest of the franchise on a vendetta for what Mengsk did to Kerrigan, and none of the redshirts with her are ever mentioned.

** Much of ''Origins'' plot revolves around the player trying to gather forces to replace the [[Redshirt Army]] lost at Ostagar after Loghain's betrayal handed victory to the Darkspawn. Whether or not they would have won had Loghain played his part is debatable -While [[Glory Hound|King Cailan]] was sure they could win, Loghain thought defeat was so certain it was better to cut his losses and escape with his army intact. [[The Obi-Wan|Duncan]] was less confident about the battle than Cailan, but seemed to agree with his decision to fight nonetheless.

* In ''[[LAL.A. Noire]]'', you are frequently aided in shootouts by uniformed LAPD officers. While your plainclothes partners are invulnerable, the unis are not, and will often be gunned down in the first 30 seconds.

* In ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'' the [[Elite Mooks]] Blackwatch set up to have the marines be a [[Redshirt Army]]. Expecting them to be killed off by the thousands each week.

* In ''[[Goblins]]'', they wipe out part of an army by using a shield that triggers random major magic effects whenever it's hit. [http://www.goblinscomic.com/d/20081010.html\] This tends to subvert the [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]] in that the redshirts that do hit are probably doomed while those who miss may live, or perhaps the goblin is doing a redshirt-type act, as in the background it hints at the word "redshirt" not "redshirts" -- which—which reminds long timers that {{spoiler|the shield is random enough to backfire killing the goblin, upgrading the enemies, summoning weird dangerous stuff, or worse}}.

* Averted in ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' where the Azure City Army gives a damn good accounting of itself. Yes, they lose but they take a lot of [[Mooks]] with them and manage a fighting retreat in good order.

* There actually was an official [[Redshirt Army]]. The Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God) founded by Ghaffar Khan were known, in the 1920s, as the Surkh Posh, or 'Red Shirts'. They were an entirely pacifist movement, acting upon the principles of civil disobediance. Here is a quote from the founder:

* While not in charge of an official [[Redshirt Army]], General Charles Mangin gave a speech that summarizes this trope to its essence:

[[Category:Redshirt Army{{PAGENAME}}]]