#but if this is the beginning of some grif development FINALLY

[major-comet]

The Music in RvB: Restoration Kinda Sucks. Here's how I'd fix it.

I gave this as a presentation the other night after my first re-watch of the finale, and it was a major hit so I thought I would share it with other people who think too hard about Halo fanfiction.

Red VS Blue has some truly fantastic music in it's 21 year history, and I think that the music here was pretty weak. Obviously this post has major spoilers for RvB19 / Restoration, so be warned.

So, under the Read More is a typed up and fleshed out version of my powerpoint presentation where I will dive in and not just bitch about the musical choices, but explain how I would fix things. This is...really long, but I hope you all enjoy my thoughts :)

This will be best enjoyed if you listen to the songs I'm talking about as a refresher. For your convenience, I have input links to the songs on Youtube when necessary.

So what's the problem?

Since the development of the finale overlapped with Rooster Teeth getting shut down, it's very likely that they had minimal funds. I personally think this was part of why Burnie/RT was/were [reportedly] so insistent on using stock music for part of the season rather than a whole soundtrack done by Trocadero - I'm not sure they had the money to properly compensate for a full soundtrack. And maybe it was just a stupid / dick move, and had nothing to do with money at all, but that's what I choose to believe if only because it makes me feel slightly better about it.

This means that besides the stock music, the Zero song for that cameo, and Waning Moon (the Barenaked Ladies song), all we have are four re-used songs from earlier RvB - these songs being the Trocadero Grifball theme, I Say Ooh and Round One by Jeff Williams, and Vale Deah by Trocadero. There's also a David Levy composition in there somewhere according to the credits, R U Ready, but I have no idea what it is or where it plays. It's bothering the hell out of me because it does not appear to be a reused piece as far as I can tell - at least not reused from RvB. If anyone has any leads on this please reach out, because it seems crazy that there's one random possibly original David composition mixed in there. I've checked Apple Music and Soundcloud, nothing by that name.

In this very Meta focused film, neither of The Meta's themes play in any shape or form - [When] Your Middle Name is Danger by Trocadero or Plagam Extremam Infligere by Jeff Williams.

Nor do any of the character themes, really. Most of the series' iconic recurring tracks are completely absent. Tex's various themes, Carolina's theme - hell not even Blood Gulch Blues or the iconic intro music.

Were there any highlights?

Of course there were!

Considering I was going into the finale having only been spoiled on Vale Deah, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the Jeff tracks! That was totally unexpected, and really lovely.

Speaking of, I thought the use of Vale Deah was a really lovely touch. Fun fact: that song was used for the end credits of the Season 1 DVD, so it really felt like a sweet full circle moment.

I think that using a Barenaked Ladies song for that very sweet scene of Caboose, Grif, and Simmons reminiscing about Blood Gulch by the fire was a very lovely choice, and quite honestly it was my favorite scene in the whole thing. The BNL have been close to RvB and RT since damn near the beginning, and it was very nice to hear them attached to the finale in that small way.

I should also point out that the composer for the season is Carl Thiel - known for his work on Hot Fuzz and the second and third Spy Kids movies. I think he did a totally fine job. I liked the bugles that were under Sarge's death, but the rest doesn't really stand out much. Perfectly serviceable.

So, now that that's out of the way, let's break down those four returning songs a bit more - shall we?

Grifball Official Theme - Trocadero

This was a really funny choice. It's such a quick bit, but I respect Burnie's dedication to get in one last Grifball joke. Obviously, I would have preferred to hear a different song for something else, but this was totally harmless.

Vale Deah - Trocadero

Lo-fi Hip-hop beats to get divorced to.

God that scene was heartbreaking. I love this song a lot - I think a lot of Trocadero's strongest stuff is the stuff that just feels kind of melancholy. It's something Nico does really well, and I think Vale Deah is one of my favorite examples of that. Like I said above, I think this song was used really well - if I had to pick a different track for that same scene I would probably choose Half Life. While it was written during the Blood Gulch era, it wasn't really used in the show until Seasons 12 and 13 - notably, a version of it plays under Kimball's rally speech to the troops after Doyle's death. I just really like it, tbh. There's absolutely other songs that could work, but I think having it be a BGC-era track served the scene really well.

I Say Ooh - Jeff Williams

My feelings about this are pretty similar to Grifball. It was cute, it was nice to hear, but I wish they had used a different Jeff track somewhere else. Ultimately, it's pretty harmless. It is kind of an odd choice though - I'm pretty sure Jeff didn't write it for RvB. This was a song that he composed that was used in two RT Shorts (live action sketches that RT used to do). I think it would have been nicer to use one of his RvB tracks for the introduction of Niner - could have been a cute spot to use a track like I Am The Best or Forge World or hell, Come on Carolina would have been cute.

Round One - Jeff Williams

...Actually, I have a lot to say about Round One, so let's get everything else out of the way first.

Other Scenes that *should* have had returning tracks before I talk about Round One for a billion years

Sarge's death should have been scored with a version of Rally (Sarge's Speech). My vision is a version of it that's just the string section - familiar, but not enough to be distracting, and absolutely soul crushing if you do recognize it.

The scene with Wash and Dr. Grey in the hospital needed a hint of what Nico so lovingly calls the "Wash Trauma Theme" - which is closely related to the Trocadero Meta theme, fun fact. I think Limited Duty from the scene in Season 16 where Carolina tells Wash about the brain damage could have worked pretty well there.

The scene at the end with Wash and Carolina talking about Doc and the Freelancers really needed something. I think one of the variations of the Shizno trilogy Carwash theme could have worked very well.

Obviously the big scene with Tucker and Sigma on the ship would have really benefited from [When] Your Middle Name is Danger or one of the many themes that incorporates it, but I'd also throw Soul Clef XI into the ring! I think it's so interesting that the work around they came up with for not being able to get Elijah Wood back was to have epsilon!Sigma take on a more Felix-y type of voice. Partly because Felix was an incredibly ambitious villain so he fits it pretty well, but more importantly that was a very smart voice to pick to fuck with Tucker in particular! I think that was really smart, and I think having Felix's theme playing during that scene would have been really cool.

Bolt by Trocadero was never used in the series proper. However it was used in this ten year retrospective that they released alongside Season 10. I highly recommend giving it a watch, because watching it now that it's Over - RvB, RT, all of it - it's honestly kind of heart breaking. They're all filled with this deep optimism about the future of the company, and hindsight is a bitch on this one. They use it in a really sweet sequence at the end where they're showing a bunch of old photos. Anyways I think this should have played in the credits after Vale Deah finished. "We only want to have a good time."

Miscellaneous Trocadero Songs I would have liked to see them find a place for that I haven't already / will not mention elsewhere

Steady Ride (Gunmetal Green) - this is THE Grimmons song ever to me. I love it so much. Also fun fact: as of the interview Burnie did with Nico on the season 10 (I think?) dvd/bluray, this was Burnie's favorite Trocadero track. And you can tell when you watch the DVD cuts of the first 6-ish seasons - it plays all the time.

I like Good Fight a lot, not sure there was a great spot for it? but still would have been nice - It's used a few times as a Wash theme, I believe.

No One is my favorite Trocadero song and I wish it could've been there Somewhere. It was the elevator-music type song that played behind Vic in BG once or twice, I think was in the season 4 credits, and also played during the weapons demonstrations in the Meta VS Carolina Death Battle. I just like it a lot, lol.

Okay let's get back to Round One.

Why they shouldn't have used Round One for the big fight in RvB Restoration

AKA: The actual bulk of the presentation

Okay so we've got some pros and cons to this track. Starting with the Pros;

It's a song from an iconic scene - the 3v1 training room fight from Season 9

Tex and Maine are both in the fight

Was a great "Oh FUCK yeah" moment for the fans

Great track

Cons;

Not really a song for Carolina or the Meta (or y'know. Tucker. He's there too), and only kind of a song for Tex

Honestly the fight makes me think about York more than anyone else, since that's the fight where he gets hurt

Not a cool thematic moment besides just Tex being a badass

Started too late into the fight - it's sad that Carolina got a cool track when she (finally!) showed up, but Tex just got generic music. Show my girl some respect :(

So what would be better?

It has to be something that makes you think of at least one of the fighters. A track that's good for multiple would be better, but not required.

I think it should start when Tex first shows up, not when her armor changes. that’s a cool moment, but it still means most of the fight is working with Thiel’s score.

It should be something with a note of thematic relevance - for example, the big moment right at the end of the fight is Tex reminding epsilon!Sigma that she's not based on the Director's memories of her failure this time; she's based on the memories of Grif, Caboose, and Simmons. And she Always kicked their asses.

Still needs to be a big "Oh FUCK yeah" moment.

While incorporating Carolina's theme would be nice, I think it's more important to get at least one of the others - but we'll do our best here. I think this is moreso a Tex v meta!Tucker fight in my heart than it is a Carolina fight.

So let's look over a few options, shall we? These are in no particular order.

Spiral - Jeff Williams

This is the song that plays during the Season 9 car chase when Maine gets shot. It incorporates Carolina's theme, because in PFL her theme is never too far behind whenever a Maine/Meta song is playing, which has always been interesting to me. It has all that freaky choral stuff that Jeff loved to use, and generally is just a great track.

Fragments - Jeff Williams

This plays during the Freelancer break-in in Season 10, and it just rocks so hard. Anything from the break-in would be cool because that was the last time Tex, Carolina, and Maine/The Meta were all in the same place, and of course was when The Meta was properly created. I think it was so sad that they used the instrumental of Round One, because the vocals are part of what makes the Jeff era of RvB soundtracks so iconic, and god this song delivers! Also this song has a kickass trumpet solo at the end.

Slingshot (from the Death Battle) - Trocadero

Man this song rules. This of course plays in the Meta VS Carolina Death Battle from Season 14. It's a very different energy from the Jeff picks, but it rocks so fucking much. This is a fight between Carolina and The Meta, and would of course be a callback to a (marginally) more recent - and extremely popular - episode of the show. If you haven't watched the Death Battle in a while you really should, it still kicks just as much ass now as it did back when I was in high school.

Literally any other song from the 3v1 Training Room Fight - Jeff Williams

This includes;

Round One (feat Lamar Hall)

Bullfight (track starts about 01:32)

On Your Knees

I just think the instrumental to Round One is the weakest choice from this fight tbh! Bullfight is my favorite out of the three, because it sounds the most Tex-y. The guitars are very her, and it incorporates part of the Agent Tex motif. And On Your Knees would have had the biggest "Oh FUCK yeah" factor. But honestly even just using the versions of Round One with the vocals would have been way better.

EDIT TO ADD: a quick note - while it’s listed in the credits as Round One/Bullfight, that’s just how the instrumental is packaged on the OST. As far as I could tell in my two watches of it, they never actually make it to the Bullfight part of the track.

A Girl Named Tex - Trocadero

hold on, walk with me on this one.

I had a vision of Tex fighting meta!Tucker set to the "Yellow rose of Texas clad in black, lonely star tattooed upon her back. Double Tex she'll hit you like a truck. Double Tex and she'll mess you up." bit right after I watched 19 the first time and it's been haunting me ever since. (That bit starts at about 02:19)

This is her theme for the first chunk of the show - which just so happens to be the time period Grif, Simmons, and Caboose were primarily reminiscing about. It would have been cool as hell, and I can See the beginning of the fight in my head - the opening strums when caboose is saying his line about how he brought back someone even worse than church, and then the fight starts! I can see it in my mind, it would have been so cool!

I just think there should have been more Blood Gulch era music in here.

100 Tex Battle - Jeff Williams

This doesn't get you any Meta points, but obviously it incorporates little bits of Tex's, and a lot of Carolina's theme. Twisting a Tex vs Carolina fight - obviously, Carolina vs all the Tex bots in Season 10 - into one where they're fighting alongside each other would have been really lovely and a cool full circle moment.

This song is really cool, it's such a good fight. I do think it maybe sounds a bit goofy at points for this fight, but still a cool option.

Okay so now let's go over my top three-ish picks

Ice Fight (or maybe the revelations suite?) - Jeff Williams

Jumping to the end of Season 8, we have a fight that involves Tex vs The Meta! And Wash, Doc, and all the Reds and Blues (barring Donut and Lopez. Hmm. Doesn't that sound familiar.) are there! Ice Fight rules so hard, it's so good.

And it has some of that narrative theming I was looking for! While yes, Tex does technically lose this fight - so does The Meta. And how does she lose it?

By going into the recovery unit.

The main reason I suggest the Suite instead of just Ice Fight is because I think having a touch of Red Vs Blue would have been really nice.

Mental Meta Metal - Jeff Williams

Genuinely my favorite track from season 10. If you let the song play the whole way through, it has Jeff's themes for The Meta, Carolina, and Tex in it. This plays the first time we see Maine in a fight in Season 10, and is also Sigma's first time in the field after we see him pondering Meta-stability in the classroom.

It incorporates elements from both Spiral and Plagam Extremam Infligere, which is kind of Jeff's theme for the Meta that he established back in Season 8. It also plays during the Freelancer Break-in when he's tossing Carolina off the cliff. The Latin on that translates to “to inflict an extreme blow”.

It also has a very strong statement of Carolina's theme, which could have been a great opportunity to bring her in with her theme!

Now, before I go over my final pick, let's go over what we need again;

We need a song with thematic relevance to the fight, that’s from an iconic scene, has a good energy to it, and would give fans a big “OH FUCK YEAH” moment.

Well, isn’t it obvious?

Agent Tex (/ Tex vs Tank / Hell's Angel) - Jeff Williams

The first instance of Jeff Williams’ Tex motif, later used in Hell’s Angel and Tex vs Tank, etc. I would add the opening strum commonly heard in the later iterations, but keep it generally the Agent Tex version which was used in the S8 Warehouse fight, as seen above.

This is like. The RvB scene ever. So many people saw this before they watched the show, and many more never even watched RvB - just this fight, since RT uploaded it separately from the episode because they knew it kicked so much ass. It also helped draw in folks who may have been fans of Monty Oum's other work. Fun fact: This was RT’s outro music for a really long time, too. So it really has history with the company.

Part of why I think this pick would work so well, beyond it just being Tex's theme for the Jeff Williams era, is that it would be so interesting in terms of narrative theming. The Season 8 warehouse fight was Tucker, Grif, Simmons, Sarge, and Caboose against Tex.

This whole sequence was Grif, Simmons, Caboose, Carolina, and Tex against Tucker.

This was one of the other scenes being reminisced about around the fire - you can see it as one of the clips shown during the scene. I think it would have been a really powerful moment, and a fantastic "FUCK YEAH" moment for everyone whose stuck around this long. This track is so good, and I really do think it would have been the perfect choice for this fight.

It's not even my favorite, if I was just choosing favorites I'd have picked Mental Meta Metal or A Girl Named Tex.

What have we learned? Why Were We Here?

Red vs Blue is a show with a lot of really fantastic music in it's book, and a really strong history of musical callbacks - particularly with the Meta's theme and how it's so closely tied to the motif Trocadero liked to use as "Wash Trauma" music. Making a clever callback to a song you've used before can help strengthen the thing you're trying to get across to your audience. I think it's somehing that Restoration really struggles with, which is pretty sad. But I hope you found my deep dive / analysis of what could have been interesting.

I'd really like to dive in and do a long reflection about the series as a whole, but as it stands this is around 3,000 words and if I get started on that, this post will never end.

Thank you for reading all of that! if you enjoyed reading all of this, maybe you'd also enjoy taking the post-mortem survey that @asphodeldreams and I are running! Deadline for submissions is June 30th at 11:59 EST. We ask questions about things like your favorite characters, your favorite songs, when you started watching RvB, and more general thoughts like that. Once the survey is over, we will compile all of that data into something actually Readable (likely with charts and graphs and such) and post it so everyone else can enjoy the peek into the minds and sentiments of RvB fans.

#comet posting #rvb #red vs blue #rvb restoration #rvb19 #rvb finale #rvb music #jeff williams #trocadero #grimmons #rvb 19 #the meta #lavernius tucker #agent texas #tex rvb #tucker rvb #the meta rvb

[rvb-is-gay]

Final Thoughts on RVB Restoration

(note that i did not bother with proper punctuation here and additional thoughts may be added later)

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT:

wow. i have A LOT to say about this

first, lets start with the things i really liked about this finale:

red team fight scenes. simmons and grif fighting the meta was so good, especially simmons being SO BADASS. simmons stans were fed well. i always love seeing the reds and blues fighting, even if theyre not good, as opposed to freelancers fighting

caboose did a lot and i think had some solid development (as much as he could get in only an hour and 25 mins, at least) and it seems like they made him less dumb?? which is fine with me, it almost seemed like he matured. i also kinda liked seeing caboose being thrown around and beaten up cause it HURT ME SO MUCH but i love being hurt (i love caboose this isnt meant to be an insult to him). it was also just so surreal seeing caboose actually being hurt in an animation because he always managed to avoid major beatings like that before. him and tucker having a brief moment together was soul crushing and i wish we couldve had more of that

tucker being influenced by the meta has been a thing since the s13 finale and seeing it actually happen was really cool

tex being brought back was kind of a meh thing for me. i think everything tex related shouldve just been left in s10 because that season really wrapped it all up nicely. i did enjoy having her back, though, just for the sake of her as a character cuz i love her. and her and church together was so fucking cute and heartbreaking

sarge dying to save caboose was obviously fucking SADDENING but also sweet in a way cause i love caboose being the honorary red member. he loves his blue son

again, simmons being a badass was so fucking good

the grimmons scene with grif saying "come with me" was romantic as hell 😭😭😭

churchs gay little pose

chex scene with tex holding churchs hand was so gjfHDJSAFKGHSDJFSDFKAS GODDDDD THIS M/F SHIP HAS ME IN A CHOKEHOLD

now, the things i DIDNT like:

really unfortunate that the movie/season was only 1 hr 25 mins. it really limited what they could do with the plot and characters, but i understand if it wasnt possible for RT to do more due to warner bros for example

churchs whole youtube video thing was kinda funny but also dragged on for too long and was the perfect example of "show dont tell" NOT being implemented

a lot of stuff felt ooc, like how the reds didnt wanna help caboose at all. the beginning with epsilon showing up was understandable with how they didnt want to get involved, but later on the ship they just leave caboose to be choked out by the meta? THAT part didnt feel like the reds at all. grif also for some reason was so fucking mad and yelling a lot? idk where all that came from? it was so random like grif chill dude 😭

wash just being stuck in a mental hospital for something we dont even find out about until the end, which in a story sense isnt inherently bad obviously and can really add to the narrative, but in this case it just felt so confusing and like it didnt make sense. why would carolina and the reds and blues just let that happen to wash? not to say that getting help with mental health is bad or anything, just what i mean is they dont seem to care that hes gone or anything and dont visit him and hes treated like hes crazy the whole time hes in the hospital

479er being alive was really awesome, but it came out of nowhere (i understand that this is also probably due to the runtime restraint)

WHERE THE HELL WERE DONUT AND LOPEZ THE WHOLE TIME???? lopez showed up once and donut was in a 5 second thought bubble from simmons? the FINAL season of rvb and they dont even have the full crew of characters fighting together one last time? nobody talked about them at all? come on guys

the beginning with the convention was just really unnecessary and boring

why does nobody seem to care that TUCKER IS MISSING WITH MAINES ARMOR?? it feels like everyone just got brainwashed to forget about all the years they spent being friends

what was the deal with the covid jokes 💀

sarge wouldve never let himself die to a blue

doc just dies offscreen and its only vaguely mentioned at the very end and just happened out of nowhere, almost as an excuse for wash to not be present during everything with the meta?

where the hell has carolina been? she was never mentioned once until she showed up at the end

why why WHY did GRIF LEAVE??? i know season 15 was retconned, but the fact that he CARES ABOUT HIS FRIENDS and doesnt actually want to leave them unlike what he says shouldnt have just been forgotten about. AND SIMMONS JUST DOESNT WANNA GO TO EARTH TO VISIT? HELLO THIS IS NOT THE SAME GRIF AND SIMMONS WE'VE BEEN WITH ALL THESE YEARS. wheres that tweet saying "found family separating after the journey is bs" cause thats how i feel about that. 21 years spent building up these amazing relationships between these amazing characters just for them to seemingly not give a shit about each other?? is simmons just alone in blood gulch with tucker and caboose now?? 💀💀💀

i understand because he was the meta, tucker didnt have control, but it was still unfortunate to barely have any tucker this season

i understand that the meta was a threat to everybodys lives, but it feels like everyone was just ok with killing tucker to be able to kill the meta. it wouldve been so much better and angstier if they were having difficulties with it because thats their friend

why did one have to show up. i dont really have anything personal against her as a character or anything but i wouldve really preferred any and all things related to zero to just be wiped off the face of the planet

the music was just terrible. really unfortunate they wouldnt have trocadero return :( it felt so unnerving having this weird stock music playing whenever people were just standing and talking. throughout all of rvb, 99% of the standing talking scenes never had any music so this was so bizarre

some animated scenes looked really off, idk if it was just me

one personal gripe i have that doesnt actually really matter that much to the overall season, but it really bothered me, is that that IS NOT HOW THE BUBBLE SHIELD WORKS!!! i think technically we've never actually seen the bubble shield be entered or exited on screen so i guess you could argue that it works differently from how they work in halo? idk still bothered me

this season in general just felt like an AU?? even 15 through 17 felt more real as seasons of rvb than this did, and i HATED season 16, so thats saying something

and of course, grimmons. big congrats to RT for the longest queerbaited couple in i think tv show history. this one really pisses me off the most because just. how. theres a difference between a queer ship existing because people like it, and a queer ship existing because there was actual subtext and clues and their relationship is written so perfectly and its been around for so long that so many queer people came to really love and identify with it in spite of how shitty they were treated. idc, grimmons is canon in all of our hearts, fuck that

a great point from mod janae: the whole point of rvb, which aiden price even talks about, is that they come together as friends/family and even though they individually suck, together they can do anything, and a better ending wouldve been not to bring back tex carolina or even wash but to have gotten all the reds and blues back together to stop the meta. it was never about being the strongest but about working together

in general, i did not like the season. it had a few things i liked, but obviously the cons outweigh the pros here and so overall, i hated it. i mightve hated it even more than season 16 which is insane because ill fight tooth and nail for why season 16 is such a catastrophe. really disappointing that this is how rvb ends. i wouldve much preferred a cheesy "friendship defeats the bad guy and saves the day" ending because that IS what rvb is to a degree. anyways i understand how GOT fans feel now

#rvb #rvb restoration #rvb restoration spoilers #rvb19 #rvb 19 #rvb spoilers #rvb 19 spoilers #post #mod sol

[sodium-chloride-blog]

Forgot to type up the red team face hc's thought process, but I'm back from Quebec now, so...

Sarge was — fittingly — the biggest enigma. His design came to me almost instantly, and he went through basically zero changes. Somehow I realized there wasn't really anything for me to add except for maybe a few extra scars as time went on. The first design felt accurate right off the bat.

Somehow I just knew the first design I drew up for him was also the only design necessary. dude just looks like that.

I had a bit of a harder time figuring out what to do for Grif, but I had a few designs I had in mind and used them all the same way I did for Tucker.

Shorter hair in BGC like everyone else, except I gave him some stubble too because Grif would 100% rarely ever bother to shave.

Obviously added the stitches where Sarge used bits of Simmons to stitch Grif back together.

Hair grown out by the time the Recollection trilogy starts up, casually tied up in a messy bun because Grif definitely wouldn't put in the effort to cut it.

Finally a full on ponytail and much more facial hair by Chorus by the time he's matured and gained some confidence.

I was admittedly a little conflicted on whether to give Grif a bun for Recollection or Chorus, since putting his hair up might have been visually symbolic of his character development as he starts to put in effort for things/people he cares about. I'm still unsure if I made the right call leaving the bun in Recollection Grif's design and letting his hair grow out in Chorus.

Lopez is just Lopez lmao

Simmons felt somewhat easier since I had a clearer idea of what I wanted him to look like from beginning to end.

Same military-appropriate length haircut in BGC as everyone else.

Freckles because they just fit perfectly on him.

Awkward nerd smile, complete with dimples and long face/nose for maximum nerdy charm (or lack thereof).

Slightly grown out hair but not too much by Recollection, plus he has the cybernetic replacements on his face now. I tried to make the pupil on his cyborg eye more rectangular than his natural eye but I don't think it's very noticeable.

Finally grew out his bangs. I was torn between this haircut and the shorter, nerdier one, so I used them both. Plus he finally grows some facial hair by Chorus as he matures into his own person.

I like the idea that Simmons gradually growing his hair out past what the acceptable length is in the UNSC is a good representation of how he's grown as a person and doesn't adhere to the rules as strictly as he did in BGC. Something about becoming less of a suck-up and gaining confidence in his own choices and leadership.

Thought it would be a neat detail that he eventually gets a scar through the eyebrow that matches the one I gave Sarge.

Please please PLEASE tell me someone noticed where Grif and Simmons are each looking.

I struggled with Donut's design the most since he seems to have the most variation in design. I knew I wanted baby-faced blonde for BGC but coming up with a design that felt right afterwards was rough.

I ended up going through a few sketches for Donut before settling on a face with rounded cheeks and nose for a sort of boyish look.

By Recollection he has the face scars thanks to the plasma grenade. I ended up keeping Donut facing left even though it covered the hearing aid since I didn't want to throw off the balance on the page. (sorry)

I also had to give him an ear piercing. I just had to.

Some hair probably got burned off thanks to the explosion, so I imagine Donut probably gave himself an undercut on the undamaged side to make the hairstyle symmetrical. I don't think Donut had access to any hair dye during Recollection, so chances are his roots started to grow out.

By Chorus I wanted him to fully accept his face scars, so he ditched the eyepatch by then. Self love, baby.

His eyebrow on his scarred side has somewhat grown back by then, but not completely. The same goes for Donut's hair, though I imagine it grew out just enough for Donut to settle on a very stylish slicked back undercut, cuz y'know. 🫳💁‍♂️✨🌈

Donut got most of his character development post-Chorus during The Shisno Trilogy which is... Technically retconned now(?) thanks to Reconstruction coming out this Fall, so the last design for Donut probably would have fit season 15-17 more than Chorus when he really grew into his own. However, I think the design still works for Chorus to show how he matured over time.

ngl I kinda just threw something together for Doc. I couldn't really think of a design for him since there's a LOT of variation online. I'm not entirely happy with it, but it'll do for now unless I come up with something better later.

Maybe I'll draw more rvb characters sometime... Maybe the AI?

#red vs blue #rvb #sarge #dexter grif #lopez the heavy #dick simmons #frank dufresne #franklin delano donut

[str4ng3rdanger]

I'd love to hear more about the lighthouse au, even if it's just little tidbits and headcanons

okay so since this au isn't as developed as others i will go over a big thing and if i think of anything else to add then i will after

so i imagine that wash pleaded to caboose to help him of all people to get maine out the water after grif comments from on the ledge about seeing thrashing in the water below (because it pains wash to have to think about maine struggling to not freeze and drown in an arctic ocean like christ man) and he knows caboose is one of the more simple and sympathetic of the bunch, and it works.

with a strong grappling hook (considering they are by a base of sorts/if they were told to find power sources there may have been other equipment around), caboose keeps hold of it while wash retrieves maine, who initially struggles until realizing that this is his only way to. not die. and once he is back up, he is finally brought to a point of injury (stabbed, shot, nearby drowned, winded, and probably close to receiving some negative effects of the cold) where he can't exactly retaliate any further, and so the reds and blues manage to tell the personnel who show up that maine died and they wanted to personally deal with his remains when really bro is tired and they're getting him out of there. then they go back to valhalla and the character development begins!!

after all, maine has to either backstab the very guys that could have left him for dead with no clear ai in any feasibly easy sight, or he could take advantage of the fact that he is currently out of wherever he was before and has the vague support of the people around him. so, he decides to try and cope with literally everything going on - he has been doing nothing but chasing down things and killing for the past long while, and he is still trying to get used to not having other voices in his head directing him. i imagine caboose is the first one he befriends because he is entertaining and maine doesn't have to so much of anything to get caboose to talk about something random and fun. this leads to tucker taking the time to randomly stumble on a conversation (which are entirely one-sided since maine doesn't talk) and starts adding to it which leads to tucker becoming something of a friend to maine, and then tucker and caboose plan a thing to get maine and wash to talk to each other because even though wash had come up with the plan to save maine, i imagine they had avoided each other since making sure that maine was alright. they reconcile and things are pretty light-hearted for a while.

they antagonize the reds, which leads to red team getting used to maine as well, and all of them start to bond really well by the time carolina finds them.

now THAT, i imagine, goes very interestingly......but the post is long enough for now!

little side things:

considering doc was at valhalla when they got back, i imagine he had to help maine. wash probably stayed by maine's side until he regained consciousness (as he passed out on the way back to valhalla)

caboose loves to tell stories about church to maine, and encourages him on the fact that "church will forgive you when we see him again" when it comes to the fact that maine was hunting him down (and is indirectly why church went into the memory unit). maine probably wasn't handling such topics well initially, but caboose actually helped him get better at handling any subjects related to ai.

in addition to the above, caboose has had a lot of ai in his head before - he probably was able to somewhat bond with maine over this. maine likes to imagine caboose's perspective with it and sees him in a sense that there is hope for himself, too, even if their experiences with a lot of ai were drastically varying. (caboose has technically had 3 in his head at once though, in the form of alpha, beta, and omega during bgc)

grif keeps trying to steal maine's brute shot (weapon) back, and so whenever the blues kick their asses and whatnot, it is usually what they make the reds surrender.

lopez and maine get along surprisingly well, mainly because maine doesn't say dumb shit and can't interpret lopez poorly or something, and maine thinks lopez is funny so he'll listen to him rant about the reds and blues and might not even know what he's saying but pays attention so lopez appreciates it.

doc says he forgives maine but is passive aggressive for a brief period before warming up to maine being around, which is. pretty fair. doc has definitely asked "did o'malley talk about me??" and he maine just. grunted quietly in response. doc decided that it was up to interpretation.

i love this au it is so funny and charming to think about 💕

#red vs blue #rvb #mainewash #lighthouse au #rvb maine #rvb wash #rvb caboose #stranger static

[slapshot1977]

if grif is honest to god ‘quitting’ im also quitting 

#ride or die bitch #but if this is the beginning of some grif development FINALLY #then im stanning rvb 100% again lmao #rvb #spoilers #rvb lb #sorry i should have been tagging all of this

[rubykgrant]

(For the fun of it, I’m writing a bunch of RVB “Everything is the same, BUT-” stories, basically AUs that only change a few details, but not the entire plot. Here is the beginning of “Everything is the same, But Grif and Simmons met earlier”)

Dick Simmons is determined to make this WORK.

His parents are giving him this ONE chance, and he can’t let them down. Not again. Not this time. It is just too important…

All those bad test scores finally added up. Sure, he had passed all his classes thanks to extra-credit work, and he had graduated successfully, but… not a single teacher had been impressed with him. He stammered through every single presentation and oral report, he never worked well in a group, and when it came to additional activities, he never stood out (he still felt a twinge of resentment… all the things he was actually interested in, he hadn’t been allowed to join. His father had insisted he be part of some sports team, and he was TERRIBLE at sports. His mother encouraged him to try something else, but as usual, she dropped all her little hints that he wouldn’t be good enough for the gifted programs… and ultimately, she was right).

None of the colleges he applied to had accepted him. He didn’t have enough of his own money saved to afford anything on his own (and a future of loans followed by never-ending debt terrified him). Just barely into adulthood, Dick Simmons was suddenly faced with a very bleak future… he has nothing to do. No job. No school. No friends. His family refuses to allow him to simply sit at home and watch TV all day (because then he’ll just develop a bad habit of being lazy and aimless, his mother tells him… and in a way, he believes her). They give him one suggestion; join up. Enlist, and be shipped out to fight the good fight.

That means learning how to use weapons. That means OTHER people will be aiming weapons at HIM.

He isn’t especially motivated to get shot somewhere in outer space, so after getting the silent-treatment for several days, he begs his parents for something ELSE as an option. Eventually, they show mercy and speak to him… they’ll give him ONE CHANCE. Just one, to prove himself. They will pay for one year of classes at a university (not one of his personal choice, it will have to be somewhere that his father has some connections, but beggars can’t be choosers, and that is LITERALLY what is going on. He’s begging, and he has no choice). He’ll have to use his own savings to find a place to live and buy food. After one year is up, if he has managed to get decent grades and impress the professors, MAYBE his family will provide the money for additional classes.

Maybe.

He can’t mess this up. It has to WORK.

Dick Simmons winds up in New York. He arrives two weeks before his classes start, attends several interviews to meet the faculty and get a tour of the campus. The school isn’t very big; actually, it was somewhat cozy and casual… but he still feels intimidated. He has never worked well under pressure, and right now, ALL OF THE PRESSURE is on him. He hasn’t even started any of the classes, but he already feels like he’s behind on his homework.

He hasn’t found a decent place to live, either. Everywhere is so EXPENSIVE. He doesn’t qualify as a full-time student (his parents aren’t paying for all those classes), so he can’t live in the student housing. Even the tiniest, cheapest apartments will drain him of all his savings in just a couple of months… unless he found some roommates. Which is basically impossible. He didn’t even have any friends back home, how is he going to find some now?

First impressions are very important, and somehow, he always did the wrong thing when he tried to meet new people… for now, he’s been staying in cheap motels. They’re dirty and gross, but he can afford to stay here and eat at the same time (he’s not getting in these grody beds, though… instead, he sprayed disinfectant all over the floor, rolled out a blanket, and has been in a sleeping bag. It’s rough on his back, but at least he doesn’t literally feel his skin crawl. He’s not eating any food inside his room, either. This way, he won’t attract any BUGS).

One evening, while walking the route between his motel and the university (so he won’t get lost when classes begin), he passes by the student housing community… and sees some fliers; that weekend, there are going to be several parties to welcome back returning students, and help new students get to know everybody. This could be his big chance! He can meet some people here, people who will be his fellow classmates, people who might also be looking for roommates!

OK, he just has to get ready… he fusses over himself, trying to figure out something to wear that will make him look like a responsible potential roommate, but also doesn’t give out painful dork-vibes (everybody figures out he’s a dork eventually, but hopefully, he can ease them into that). He finally settles on a dark red button-up short-sleeved shirt and jeans. Not quite job-interview-clothes, because he’ll never look like a party-animal, but chill enough that he won’t be mistaken for somebody’s dad. Instead, he just looks like… a very tall and nervous red-head. He tries to part his hair one way, and then the other, unsure of which will look better. In the end, he realizes it doesn’t matter, he looks like somebody who dressed up as the archetype of “Junior CEO” for Halloween. The glasses only add to this, but he knows better than to try the contacts (his eyes will just water and run all night). He tries to slightly ruffle his own hair, so his bangs are a little more loose… that’s better.

When he walks over to the student housing area, he goes a little earlier in the evening than the time specified for the party. His nerves won’t allow him to be late, but he also knows better than to be the first one there (especially when he’s alone). He waits for a while across the street, then starts to see groups of people walking up to the entry gate that leads to the student apartment complex. NOW it was safe to join in. He has his student ID badge with him, and the security guard gives him a little nod when he shows it to enter.

As he looks around at all the different apartment buildings, he sees they have banners on them for different kinds of parties (friends who are reuniting, people who will be seniors this years, different academic and sports groups, ect). He sees one that proclaims this is a party for new students to meet and mingle with their returning classmates, so he decides that’s the one for him.

The door is propped open, and inside people are already in the middle of a party; lots of drinks and snacks everywhere, music blasting, laughing and talking… he’s totally out of his element, but nobody here knows that. He can fake it, he can mingle in a non-lame way. He can make this work. The main party is taking place in the large living room and kitchen on the first floor, but a few people are wandering upstairs. As he glances around, he sees a bathroom down a hallway (maybe bedrooms farther along and around the corner). There are sliding-glass doors on the far side of the living room that leads to some kind of patio, a couple of coffee tables that are cluttered with left-behind paper plates and plastic cups in the middle of the room.

He tries to locate the host, or at least somebody who actually lives in this specific apartment, but it is impossible. People are rushing all around him, he can’t seem to get a conversation going… jeez, he’s ALREADY a reject. This must be some kind of record. He takes a deep breath, and tries to relax. Forcing himself to act like he’s actually open and confident, he waves at somebody, says hello, they smile and hand him a cup of soda. For a minute, he almost thinks this will be alright, but then the other person sees somebody they know, and they’re gone, and he’s alone, and this is just his entire life, isn’t it? He doesn’t know what to do or where to go, nobody wants him around, and he just… he doesn’t even know why he’s here.

---

Dexter Grif is trying to stay positive.

He’s been stuck in a rut for a long time, arguably most of his life, but now he has a chance to change it.

His childhood had been a mess; no structure, no schedule, no reliability… some of it had been fun, though. He got to run around backstage and behind the booths at the circus, something most little kids DREAMED of doing, and when the circus was doing well, he had free treats whenever he was hungry. Sometimes the circus wasn’t doing very well. Sometimes, his parents weren’t doing very well. Being a small child with no control over anything in his life, he was at the mercy of those around him. Unfortunately, this meant he wasn’t doing very well.

He started school late, about 5 months after the other kids began kindergarten. That unfortunately became a pattern… in the years that followed, he would miss class, usually because his mom didn’t get him to school on time, and occasionally because he just didn’t want to be there. By the time he was in 3rd Grade, he was considered a “problem child”.

Early on, it was just him, his mom, and his dad. Then his dad was gone. Then his dad came back. Then his dad left again, but now he had a baby sister. Kaikaina was the reason he started paying attention to what day of the week it was, even if his mom still acted like every day was the weekend. Dexter Grif was a big brother now. He always made sure she was clean, had toys to play with, and food to eat. When she got big enough to crawl and then walk, he kept a close eye on her so she didn’t get lost or hurt (well, she got a few bumps and bruises, a couple of scrapes and skinned-knees… because she was also a circus kid who ran around everywhere. Her brother was a very good at fixing up boo-boos, though).

As they both got older, they were left alone more and more. Their mom didn’t always remember to go shopping for them. He still made sure Kai definitely had food, even if it meant giving her all his cereal and the last can of soup. He gets her to kindergarten every day, which is in the opposite direction of his big-kid school, so he’s always late… sometimes he just skips. When he starts getting desperate, he goes into grocery stores and steals packages of cookies right off the shelf, and runs out as fast as he can. When he is at school, he starts sneaking into the cafeteria to raid the fridge, or gets into the back-pack closet so he can go through the other kids’ lunchboxes. He’s considered a problem child, a delinquent, a lazy good-for-nothing…

He’s just hungry. He never wants his sister to feel like this, so he gives her all the food at home, and they keep running out of money, and they need other stuff like soap and clothes, so he takes that too, and he doesn’t trust any of the adults he knows to ask for help, so he’s just… stuck. He’s been stuck in the same rut since he was 5 years old… he wants out.

He wants to try and do something better, BE something better. High school had been torture, some of the teachers seemingly determined to make him give up on ever doing anything, but he still has hope. A few more years go by, Kai is doing alright, maybe now is the right time. She still depends on him, but he also knows she’s sick of her big bro always being up in her business. She’ll never actually start taking care of herself if he keeps stepping in.

He has to try and change. He needs to actually make an EFFORT.

He gets into college. It is mostly because of what he calls a “pity-scholarship”, meaning he’s a disadvantaged youth that college recruiters think would make an interesting success story… but he has to maintain high grades the whole time. If he starts to slip, they’ll cut him loose. He’s hardly a genius, but he’s not nearly as stupid as people think he is. He can do better. He can learn. He can TRY.

It is a bitter-sweet farewell from his sister when he leaves… they both try to keep it light and jokey, her telling him she’s gonna throw a party and trash his room once he’s gone, and him telling her not to do anything that will embarrass the family. Part of him doesn’t want to leave her… because in some ways, she still needs him, even if she doesn’t always want him around, and as stressful as it was, taking care of her has been the one constant thing in his life.

If he stays, he’ll never change. Kai will keep growing as a person, and one way or another, she’ll leave him behind eventually. He needs to grow, too.

He goes to New York, and he starts trying to figure out what to do with his life. It HAS to be different. At least he gets the housing problem solved; going to classes full-time means he gets to live in the student apartments. He hasn’t met everybody yet, but he’ll have a total of 3 roommates (two guys to each room, plus each room has it’s own bathroom, with a shared kitchen and living room… not too bad at all). He’s told by the first roommate he met, an older dude named Cole, that the other guys will show up at the mix-and-mingle party.

Before heading out, he takes the time to put on his brand-new hoodie (literally the first not-used thing he’s ever worn). It’s yellow, but not like neon-sunshine, more like a soft macaroni color (thinking about colors makes him miss his sister... she just didn’t see colors like other people did, and when he described them to her as a kid, he always related them to things she could understand; texture/scent/taste/emotions). He would have liked orange more, but this works for him. He’s got his faded-black cargo pants on, and it looks kinda cool with the yellow. Since he’s already thinking about her, he decides to do what Kai would if she were here, and pulls his hair up in a loose bun (they both had long dark-brown curls, but somehow, his was less prone to tangles, and she liked to play with his hair).

Dexter Grif is looking forward to this; it should be fun, meeting lots of other new students, being introduced to people that are coming back and know how the school works. This was college, the place you were supposed to find yourself, or reinvent yourself… he wasn’t going to be absent kid who always cut class, or the lazy kid who fell asleep at his desk. He wasn’t going to steal food or anything else to get by, he’d find a job somewhere, he’d take care of himself for once. He was going to get good grades, and graduate, and… and who knows what else. On the night of the party, surrounded by so many excited people laughing and taking, he feels like the whole world is brand new. He doesn’t know what will happen, but maybe that’s a good thing; just one of life’s great mysteries.

Somebody ordered pizza, 5 larges, and evidently they’re for EVERYBODY. He slowly makes his way over to a coffee table, reaching out to grab a slice of pepperoni… and it is just about the best pizza he’s ever had. Felling good and satisfied with food in his belly, he looks around, trying to decide if he wants to try and chat with another person...

Then he sees somebody; LITERALLY a wall-flower, back pressed flat against the wall near the kitchen, a cup of soda in hand, looking ready to cry out of frustration.

Oh no, he’s CUTE.

#red vs blue #rvb fic #dexter grif #dick simmons #grimmons

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Dislikes of Red vs Blue: Season 1

(Top 5 Likes)

So back a few months ago, in the lead up to RWBY Volume 7, I did a Top Likes/Dislikes list for all six volumes. I also did this for RvB Seasons 16 and 17, so… why not do it for the other fifteen? Especially with RvB18 on the way? Not only gives me an excuse to rewatch everything, but I get to have some fun~ So I will be covering RvB seasons 1-13 and 15. S14’s is gonna be a little bit different. But anyways, we’re gonna begin with the one that started it all, Season One~

Honestly though, critiquing Season One is hard. Mainly because this was a season made when RT was just a back bedroom with mainly Burnie and Geoff doing the machinima. We’re a long way away from RWBY-level quality. In the Blood Gulch Era,  it was just a bunch of friends making dumb stuff. Quality dumb stuff, but dumb nonetheless. So the five Dislikes are honestly minor and I don’t even really consider them bad. If anything, they show how far the show has come. So take the Dislikes list with a grain of salt, ut I needed to do it for the necessity of the list. So then, let’s get started~

#5. Not Fully Fleshed Out Characters

This is on the bottom because it’s really not that big a deal. The characters are kinda just somewhat exaggerated versions of the people that Burnie cast. They certianly have character, but aside from really Matt with Sarge, it’s just the cast playing exaggerated versions of themselves. It does kinda stand out because here, the characters don’t really have any defining personality traits or roles. We know a few things like Simmons being a kissass to Sarge, Grif is more out of shape, Caboose is a little dim-witted compared to the other Blues, etc. But when you look at all the future seasons, the lack of fleshing out is very noticeable. Especially for characters who are nothing like they were here, like Donut. I mean I don’t think he spouted even one innuendo here, it’s weeeeird.

Like I said though, this isn’t that big of a deal. The characters still have character and are still funny, it’s just clear that they hadn’t been fully developed. It’s a first season of what was originally meant to be a comedic miniseries and is very forgivable in that regard. It’s honestly fun to rewatch this season and then say Chorus and see how far the characterizations have come. Still, it is a tad noticeable and I needed five picks, so I’m gonna put it here. But again, it’s honestly fine. As is our Number FOur pick…

#4. The Voice Acting

These guys, aside from like… two or three of them, were not actors. They hadn’t done a bunch of material like they have now either, so this is again very forgivable. But it does make the voice acting lover in me kinda cringe when I hear it. You can tell that they’re trying, but as I said, this was still in the early days when no one really knew what they were doing. The one who did the best were either already actors (Joel, Yomary) or had more of a character to play with (Burnie, Matt). Everyone else, as I said, was pretty much given an exaggerated version of themselves and I think it kinda shows in the voice acting. They were all okay, but compared to their later performances and when they are given more characterization, this was not their best work.

But again, this is not that big of a deal. This was the early days and as I said, you can tell that they were trying. I think ti honestly adds tot he charm of early RvB. A bunch of friends making dumb stuff with a video game. I mean Gus outright recording his lines over the phone while living in Puerto Rico, he and the others were clearly dedicated to this thing. It’s not the stuff of legends, but given the tone of Blood Gulch, it works. It’s a dislike because like I said, it annoys my voice acting loving self and it’s weaker to their later performances. But still, it’s very enjoyable… even if some of the voices some chose are kinda jarring. Speaking of…

#3. Sarge’s Voice/Not Fully Fleshed Out Character

This one is super nitpicky, but it bothers me! We all know Sage and his overly exaggerated Southern accent, right? Well… in this one, he is much, much more subdued. Like I said, the characters weren’t fully fleshed out and so Sarge isn’t quite the same as we know him now. The voice reflects this. Here, Matt plays him like a stereotypical Nasty Drill Sargeant. IDK why, but the voice just… bugs me. I guess it’s just because I’m so used tot he current one, but it jarred me so much I had to check if Matt had been the one doing the voice in Season One. Sure enough…

Yeah, this one is very nitpicky and again reflects how I don’t feel the characters were very well fleshed out. I mean even comedic wise, Sarge didn’t really stand out and was really just there to give Grif a hard time. Even his hatred of Blue isn’t really there. Fortunately, this would be fixed in Season 2. Every time I look back at this though, it just takes me out for a minute cause ‘OMG this is not the Sarge I’m used too!’. So a nitpick, but a dislike nonetheless. But hey the fact that this is a minor issue speaks of how much I enjoy this season, haha!

#2. The Afterlife Scene

OH GOD THIS SCENE! IT CONFUSED ME ALMOST AS MUCH AS THE S3 TIME TRAVEL SCENES DID! ALMOST!

So… Blood Gulch is very weird. I mean it had Ghost Church, is this a surprise? But that wasn’t even the weirdest part of this season or even the entirety of the Blood Gulch Chronicles. No, that honor goes to this scene where, after Caboose shot Sarge when Church was possessing him, Sarge found himself in the afterlife. Church and Shelia are also there. Now, fortunately, Sarge comes back via Grif using CPR… on a bullet wound… yeah… but God this scene was the first time the show made me go ‘WTF am I even watching?!’ especially since unlike Chruch’s ghost thing, it never comes up again. Church having been an AI the whole time didn’t help.

Now I know it kinda got explained later as part of Recovery Mode, but it still leaves a lot of questions. Why was Church there? He got kicked out of Sarge’s body when he got shot. Maybe he went back in hopes of making it work? IDK. But maybe we can just say that since Church was possessing Sarge, he left some kind of trace and the Recovery Mode picked up on it. Cool… then why was Shelia there? Sarge wasn’t even at the canyon when Shelia was unleashed. Did Recovery Mode pick up on that from Church too since it was so recent? I guess that makes sense? And yeah I know that when they wrote this Church wasn’t intended to be an AI so maybe it really was the afterlife, but that’s no longer a possibility, so… AAAAHHHH!!!

Yeah… this is why I don’t try to think through Blood Gulch stuff too much. Doing so does nothing except make my brain hurt when I try to go over how it makes sense in canon. Don’t get me wrong, the scene was funny especially with Grif and Simmons trying to revive Sarge. Kinda feel bad for Grif for getting scolded when he just saved Sarge’s life, but it’s Sarge. Of course, he would. I also like the more muted colors int he afterlife and the weird wavy effects with the scenes in the world of the living. It’s a funny scene, just one that hurts my head whenever I try to make sense of it. Stupid me and my stupid need for logic…

#1. The Audio

This was by far the biggest thing I noticed, including back when I started this back in 2017. The audio is… not good. I think this might help explain some of the amateur voice actings because half the time, the filter effect distracts you from the performance. Now I actually do like them using the filter since it makes sense that they’d use mics int heir helmets to talk, but I think that they tuned it up a little too much here. The whole reason they did this was to hide the fact that people like Gus, Jason, and all the guys in California had to record their lines over the phone. It’s one of the better decisions that they made, but like I said, in this season it is super distracting.

The only thing maybe worse is the mixing when it comes to explosions. There are a lot of explosion effects in this due to all the guns, grenades, and tanks. They are loud. Really loud. Like I remember watching the scene where Church dies. I was watching it on my laptop with headphones and I had the volume at a fairly modest time. The explosion noise made me jump. It can sometimes also overpower the voice acting like I think there were a few times I couldn’t fully make out what the Reds were saying when Shelia was firing at the end. Add that tot he voice filter and… yeah.

The audio wasn’t bad. Like I could tell what characters were saying. The effect was just distracting though and clearly they needed some work on audio mixing. Which they, fortunately, did by the next season. I think Burnie even mentioned how annoyed he got at the constant complaints about the filter int he Season 2 commentary, but hey he listened! Still, for Season One, it was by far the thing that annoyed me most and while I know it’s because they didn’t have quality equipment, it still distracts me when I rewatch. So it’s going to be my Top Dislike for Season One.

Final Thoughts

As I have tried to make clear, I don’t view any of these as major issues. Heck aside from Audio, IDK if I’d even say I disliked them. Thrown off by them sure, but not outright dislike. It honestly helped the show I think. It’s certainly mature and kinda crappy work, but it added to the charm and appeal to the show. It’s why they still use stuff like and photoshops, it’s endearing. Even with the improved production quality and while they have maintained a lot of what made RvB such a fun series, the original seasons still have this unique charm that despite how stupid it is, you just wanna tune into it over and over again. So these may be Dislikes, but they’re ones to be proud of. But hey I’ve still got plenty of Likes to talk about, so stay tuned for that~

#rvb #rvb reviews #top likes/dislikes

[leafyfiddle13]

RvB Season 17 Review

Red vs Blue: Singularity has ended, and with it, so has the arc that started with Season 15. So, what did I think? This is my first formal review, so forgive me if it's a little sloppy.

I'm going to look at this season from multiple angles:

How did it look and sound?

How did it treat its heroes?

How did it treat its villains?

How good was its story?

How well did it conclude the Shisno Paradox arc?

Sound and Visuals

First off, this season has a great soundtrack. Aside from the synth rhythms that have been a staple of this arc continuong to be really fun, the new songs by Trocadero are really amazing. Seriously, if you haven't heard Enemy and Blood Gulch Blue, go listen to them right now.

SFX are still good, not much to talk about there. The portally noises and Huggins zooming and such still sounds cool.

I want to take some time to talk about the visuals though. One thing that this arc has done particularly well (S16 and S17 especially), is aesthetic. The cosmic elements here are really unique to the series, and I love the look. From the majestic, mythological armor choices of the Cosmic Powers (Labyrinth this season in particular looks like a Spartan Cyclops and it's great), to the structures, like Chrovos' Prison, Starseeds, the Labyrinth, I just love their aesthetic. The black holes in the Labyrinth look truly terrifying, and the "big bang pre-bang" we see in episodes 6, 7, and 12 is also just breathtaking.

In terms of animation, I love this season. We didn't get a whole ton, but what we got was amazing. The highlights to me were Wash pulling a gun on Genkins, Genkins getting impaled (ANIMATION IN CE YEEEEET) Carolina v Carolina, and The very short Genkins v Labyrinth. I especially love the latter because of how Genkins' holographic body glithces and reverts to his true form a bit every time he gets hit. It just looks great. I also think the Carolina fight was the best fight scene in terms of choreography this entire arc! I think Donut vs O'Malley still wins in terms of sheer spectacle, but tjis fight was really well done. Kudos to the animation team!

Heroes

Singularity took a huge risk by making Donut, who up until this point was little more than a running gag, into its protagonist. And it worked amazingly! In just 12 short episodes, Jason took the development he and Joe started in S16 and brought Donut into the limelight as a fully fleshed out, three dimensional character. And it felt totally believeable! Dan Godwin did amd amazing job this year as Donut, and this season really gave him a chance to show off his talents.

The next most major character is Washington. Wash has been my favorite charavter since I first met him in Recovery One all those years ago. I loved his arc last season, and this arc really did well by him. Having this season to be like the fandom's goodbye to the badass, tough-as-nails Wash we know and allowing us to ease ourselves into the idea that he's going to need some help from now on was really great. And I love how he and Carolina had their reconciliation, it was all beautifully done. Hats off to Shannon and Jen, they did and incredible job this season.

As for the other Reds and Blues, they didn't get a whole lot to do, but most of them at least had a few good moments:

Caboose talking about grief and beating up Genkins/Church was an unexpectedly powerful scene.

Tucker's scene in episode 9 where he had his revelation about leadership was also awesome. I'm one of those people who wasn't the greatest fan of how his character was treated in season 16, and I think this scene not only "fixes" that, but it also turned it into a cool part of his arc.

Sarge's whole labyrinth experience was a really cool moment for his character and the arc he's sort of had in the backround the last few seasons (I wrote more about it in another post)

Grif had some great moments. After being the main man in S16, he's taking more of a backseat, but his development is still very much intact. He's fully onboard with the plan once he's woken up. His conversation with Huggins was great (although it does suck they never met again to have resolution), his talk with Kai in the finale was really emotional, and getting the Grif sibs backstory was a welcome touch. Geoff and Becca really nailed it in that episode.

Lopez and Simmons really had nothing to do this season, unfortunately, but oh well, and least Lopez is literally older than time now lol

Villains

So in Singularity, we start out with Chrovos as our main villain, with Genkins as their lackey. I must admit, while Lee Eddy gave a fun performance as Chrovos, I still prefer Ray Schilens' take on the character. Chrovos was not my favorite villain, but they were serviceable enough for the first half of the season, and they had some fun monologues.

Genkins, however, really surprised me. When he was revealed to be evil last season, I was kinda ambivalent. I didn't really care about him, and he seemed just a tad too ridiculous. This season, especially in the back half, really changed my mind. Jason leaned into the ridiculousness of Genkins and made him full on maniacally insane. And I loved it. His insane twitches and cackles were a delight to watch and hear. I loved it when he betrayed Chrovos, because he was the more present and charismatic threat anyway, and it was exactly the kind of thing the "god of tricks" would do. Ricco Fajardo did an amazing job, one of the best performances of the season.

Story

In terms of story, I think Singularity is a vast improvement of The Shisno Paradox. That season started strong, then felt like it treaded water for 10 episodes, then quickly rushed to a finish. Singularity, on the other hand, moves very quickly. A bit too quickly in some cases. The first half of the season is extremely tight. The very first episode sets up the plot, with the introduction of the Everwhen, and Chrovos explaining time travel. I loved this explanation, and wrote a whole post about it here. Suffice it to say, time travel really confused me in S16, but S17 made it make sense in my mind. Donut find Wash, Wash visiting the Freelancers, and the two of them waking the Reds and Blues, all felt natural and felt like no time was wasted without feeling rushed.

Episodes 7 and 8, 7 especially, however, start to get a bit dull. The majority of both episodes is just spent explaining time travel again to the reds and blues. Not much happens. Which is a real shame, because SO MUCH happens in the last three episodes that it feels like it could have benefitted from adding in another episode to more fully flesh out the Labyrinth and the ending.

However, I do love the ending. Everyone's Labyrinth scenarios (except Simmons', which was really lame) were really good and offered neat insight into their characters. And the final twist with Genkins becoming Chrovos after going back to the beginning of time was incredible. Over all, I really like the story this season.

As an arc ending

I think Singularity did a great job. The Shisno Paradox ended on quite a crazy cliffhanger, with so many loose story threads and gods and such high stakes that it felt impossible to wrap up in just one more season, let alone a 12-episode season. But Singularity took all of that and made it work by bringing it to a smaller, more personal level. Tons of gods? Singularity just focuses one two, Genkins and Chrovos. Time travel through all of time? Singularity just focuses on the timeline of the show. It all makes the sotry feel more personal amd grounded, even with all these cosmic events happening. Amd I think it wrapped up the story that started in S15 and ramped up in S16 extremely well!

Final Thoughts

Over all, I think that Season 17 is my favorite season since Season 13 (my personal favorite). It was a really strong season, and I can't wait to see what happens next. I do hope Jason Weight stays on to write, as he has done an incredible job this season and the episodes he worled on last season.

I give Red vs Blue: Singularity an 8.75/10!

#rvb #rvb 17 #rvb singularity #rvb 17 spoilers #rvb spoilers

[anneapocalypse]

[RvB 17.12] The Finale: Theogeny

For the most part, I did enjoy the finale.

Donut and Doc got a hot second of screentime together! It's a small thing but I ship them and it made me smile.

I really, really enjoyed Doc getting a moment of introspection, accepting his O'Malley side as a part of himself, and asserting agency of that side of him. And Doc swooping in to help Wash in his part of the Labyrinth was its own kind of poetic.

They're doing the thing where Donut doesn't swear again, and I still don't understand why.

The Grif siblings scene was one of the best parts, I think. Kaikaina's childhood doesn't really have anything to do with the main story, but in her case I don't think it needs to, and it opened up an avenue not only for character development but also for us to see more of her relationship with her brother. It was an interesting choice to retcon Grif's one-man draft, and I don't think it was a bad one. I think it does feel significant for Grif to have joined the army just to get away from a home situation where he felt lost and stagnant... only to have the army feel just as meaningless and stupid. Overall, this scene was a really great moment for both characters and I dig it.

I can't say I understand why Sarge is in... Normandy, instead of revisiting his old ODST days or some other real military experience of his. I liked what they were setting up with him in the previous episode, but it feels to me like they lost the thread a little. Still, I think the overall idea—that Sarge is restless for glory in battle but when he actually gets there he finds it's just imminent death—works well enough.

Simmons... definitely got the shaft in this episode. His illusion is stupid. (And if you want to get into the weeds with me, it doesn't make any sense that Simmons' fear would be 1960s-style UFO movie aliens when this is a world where aliens actually exist and there was a war with them that spanned Simmons' entire life—aliens can't be Movie Monsters representative of cultural anxieties in a society where aliens are real. Anyway, moving on.) I wouldn't care that his Labyrinth vision was stupid if everyone's was stupid, but when all the other characters got an illusion that was at least going for serious and meaningful—well, it kinda sucks for Simmons. RvB Tonal Whiplash strikes again, I guess.

I'm less disappointed about not getting Serious Character Development for Simmons than I am about not really getting any resolution for Grif and Simmons' relationship, which since the beginning of season 16 has been pretty much dropped in a hole and left there. It's fine to have Grif picking on him given that that's the basis of their entire relationship, but it's not so great to end the whole story arc that way. It's especially not great when Grif's whole arc, which hinged on his relationships with his friends, also got dropped last season, and while he had a great moment with his sister, it didn't do anything to resolve that arc. So that's a shame.

Tucker's scene was brief but it worked fine, and his character arc was already resolved as well as it could be. I'm completely find with the Labyrinth being unable to torment Caboose (even though it makes the Labyrinth a much more on-the-nose ripoff of the True Warrior test) for the simple reason that I do not need to see Caboose sad again. They definitely could have done something meaningful for Caboose in a longer season but I completely understand why they didn't have time for it here and if anyone didn't need to be tortured, lonely and sad here it was Caboose.

I said what I had to say about Carolina's Labyrinth vision last episode, though I could probably write a whole other post just about how badly the recent seasons misread Carolina's relationship with her team in Freelancer, and I might still do that. (And for the record, this episode pretty much nukes the possibility that past!Carolina is intentionally wildly distorted, as they have present!Carolina comment out loud on how accurate an imitation she was, so... heavy sighing. You didn’t believe me when I said maybe this is what Jason really thinks Carolina was like in Freelancer, did you? I hate it when I’m right.) 

But I will also say that I deeply appreciated the way Carolina's illusion resolved. As soon as Carolina said, "Leave her to me," I thought, nah, that's not how she wins. Present!Carolina is stronger than her past self because she has people she can trust. That's the lesson of the Texbot battle back in season 10, and of "Great Destroyers" in season 13. She is stronger with friends at her side.

That the finale picked up that thread and delivered was a highlight of this episode to me.

And honestly... I think it was a strong decision to follow through on Wash getting re-shot. That doesn't mean I'm confident about how Wash is going to be written in future seasons (because uh, I'm not, especially without knowing who's going to be writing them) but both as a story decision and in terms of writing a character with a disability I don't think it's a bad choice to follow through with it and have the characters resolve to handle it together, versus just erasing it.

I'm glad Lopez is alive, and I liked the way they brought him back!

It sounds as though Donut is going off to do his own thing for a while, which is unfortunate because we just got the team back together at long last, but I suspect that's probably about voice actor availability more than anything else, and we're setting up an in-universe reason for his possible absence next season—better than the alternative, as Donut just being forgotten would be particularly bad after all this.

It is kind of a shame we didn't see Huggins again. We know she's alive, but she did just kind of disappear into the plot and never return, so that's too bad. Nor did the Reds and Blues get a face-to-face resolution with the Cosmic Powers, though we did at least get to see them.

Ending with the whole gang at the hospital on Chorus getting news about Wash was about as emotionally satisfying an ending as I could imagine for this arc, and I'm happy with that—and happier still that they apparently all returned to Chorus together, instead of splitting up.

Plot-wise, however, that does raise... questions.

Because if Huggins warned the Cosmic Powers of Chrovos' plan to escape before it ever happened, and Donut didn't get zapped by Loco's machine, and they all returned to Chorus together... then they changed the timeline.

And since this change will prevent them from ever receiving the time guns and time traveling, this isn't a closed loop. By the established rules of time travel, this is just as much a paradox as saving Wash. If season 16 never happens, then Huggins can't know about the plan and warn the Cosmic Powers. Maybe the Reds and Blues having become unstuck in time and able to freely traverse the Everwhen means that now they can make changes without consequence where before they couldn't, but if that's true then they should have been able to save Wash... I don't fucking know, this plot was, is, and remains dumb as rocks.

I mean this season does literally undo all of season 16, so I supposed I should appreciate that even if it doesn't make much sense.

But I said from the start I wasn't here for the plot this season. We got some emotional resolution and I can live with that.

I still think the best thing for Red vs. Blue would be to bring the show to a close. This is as good a stopping point as we're probably going to get at this point, or they could do another anthology season and then end it (and there would be something poetic about 19 seasons, as the first season was 19 episodes long). I'm not holding my breath, but that would be my preference.

Either way, I'm glad it's finished and I'm looking forward to a good old Off Season—no stress about New Canon and new writers, just chilling and writing fic, and probably returning to my happy place of "RvB ends at 13 and everyone stays on Chorus."

Looking damn forward to that.

#rvb17 #rvb critical #but also positive #rvb first spoilers

[callie-the-snarky-geek-blog]

RvB16 Episode 1 Review: The Shisno

(Old Blog Repost)

Season 15, to put it lightly, has had mixed reception. Some liked it, some didn’t. Some like parts of it, others like different parts. Regardless of where you stand, I think we can all agree that it wasn’t a perfect season. Personally I enjoyed it, but I was also a newcomer to RvB so… you know, I’m biased. Regardless, Joe did well enough to be given the reigns once again and it looks like he has some MASSIVE plans.

So finally, here we are with the sixteenth season. With only one episode, it’s still too early to determine if this season will be an improvement or a disappointment. But the first episode is supposed to draw us in. Did it succeed in doing so? Lets find out.

Overview

The introduction is… weird. We saw the medieval scene on Twitter.. well the first few seconds anyways. It being a medieval version of the famous ‘ever wonder hwy we’re here’ scene can’t be for no reason. I guess it MAY be a hint at the time travel aspect coming up, but for now it’s just baffling. What is even mroe baffling is the vortex and the voice following it. We now know that the voice belongs to a being named Muggins as he speaks of things being provoked by humble actions and briefly going over the end of S15. Some kind of prophecy has been triggered due to the time drill thing and even with it gone, it still fulfilled it’s purpose. Which leads us to…

Fighting over food! So first, Joe wasn’t kidding about this whole thing beginning as a quest for pizza. I need to rewatch that tease later to see what other hints are in it. But regardless, with the Blues and Reds defeated and Dylan offering to talk to the cops since they’re still wanted (and I imagine this leads to her and Jax’s final scene in S15), our guys have earned some R&R. It was honestly a nice welcome back to see them just bickering over something as ridiculous as where to go out to eat. It fits them so well and feels like a very nice welcome back after all the insanity last season. Things are slowly tingeing back to normal… at first.

Simmons notices that Donut is missing, so Grif sends Caboose to go find him. Honestly the fact that SOMEONE realized that Donut wasn’t there is a sign of improvement since it’s always kind of been a running joke that no one. Sure, sending Caboose probably wasn’t THE best idea, but it’s a sign of improvement! Then we get the… body horror scene… dear God that looked painful. It was still funny due to how oblivious to it Caboose was, but still… MAN. It wouldn’t have been as bad if it weren’t for Donut’s screams of pain. Man, Dan Godwin nailed it… and I imagine that had to HURT so kudos! So yeah… Donut vanishes to I assume the same place the time drill went since they use the same sound effect. I guess Donut will then ascent not Godhood since he is beyond the plain of space and time now. We’ll see~

So Cabosoe comes back empty handed and at first everyone considers going to find him… except Grif. He wants to get the Hell off the island before the cops get there. We’ll talk more about this in a little while but man do I have thoughts! So the Reds and Blues all agree on pizza with Sister tagging along. Carolina and the lieutenants meanwhile head for Chorus, Carolina to go check on Wash and the lieutenants to get back to what Jensen calls ‘interesting things’. So I assume that we’ll get some kind of B Story involving Chorus hijinks. Maybe if we’re lucky, a certain green mercenary will show up… I can dream!

This is where things get interesting as we then see two tiny balls of light. Muggins, who we already heard, and a female-voice done named Huggins. He is apparently a rookie as Muggins sends her to keep watch over the Reds and Blues and to both not lose them and to not be spotted. He meanwhile shoots across space and we get a REALLY cool intro sequence showing all the cast and the main crew members… though they forgot Geoff’s name for some reason (the Youtube version has it, so I assume it’s an error). Oops. They also don’t have Becca listed, though Sister isn’t technically a main character so I guess that’s why. Maybe in the future. But it’s really cool and the alien-esque soundtracks sounds so perfect.

Muggins arrives at what we can assume is the villains lair. IDK if this is an original set piece designed by RT Animation or if it’s an actual Halo map. Either way, it looks awesome. Dark, with a lot of red and black, but epic in scale. A proper villain lair. We get a glimpse of a green-armored soldier with a British accent golfing… weird. Anyways, Muggins reports to their leader who we only see partially. They have black armor and while they only say one word, it’s a… pretty damn intimidating voice. Muggins informs the leader that the ‘pizza quest’ has begun and therefore triggered the last part of the prophecy, ending the episode.

Review

While the episode is only nine minutes long, BOY HOWDY did it leave PLENTY to talk about. I guess we’ll start with Donut though. I have no idea what the Fuck just happened. It’s clear that the blast from the drill caused… whatever the Hell happened and we can assume form the earlier narration, that this was meant to happen. So this is definitely going to be important. Going off the promo material, where Donut’s in a kind of meditative pose, it seems like he’s going to become a God-like figure. My guess is that he now exists outside the realm of space and time, which is where I believe the drill now is. What will this do to Donut? I have no idea, but this is definitely going it be a lingering plot thread. And hey, Donut deserves the focus.

Something I also liked is how the Reds and Blues DID notice that he was missing. Look, they do not have a good track record of remembering either Donut or Doc. So the fact that Simmons relied it is a massive improvement. And I do like how after Caboose said that he was gone, Sarge and Tucker DID want to loo for him and not leave him behind. Grif convinces them not to, but still it is a HUGE sign of improvement compared to normal. And while they DID ultimately leave, I think it’s good that they at least recognized that Donut was gone and considered looking for him. It’s a good sign that they are growing.

Next lets talk about Carolina and Wash. So it looks like, at least for now, they won’t be in on the main plot. I assume that they’ll be given a B Plot revolving around Chorus, considering Jensen’s line about the going-ons there, but it’s too soon to tell. But yeah Carolina and Wash will likely be on the sidelines at least for now. Honestly… I an good with this! I love them both, don’t get me wrong. But lets face it, both have had a LOT of focus and attention ever since their respective introductions. Freelancer has been running the series for a long time now, and for good reason. But I really want to see the Reds and Blues on their own for once. S15 showed that, when they get their act together, they can operate and be formidable on their own with minimal Freelancer help. I want to see them have to deal with a massive situation without just having Wash or Carolina deal with it for them. I did like that Tucker plans to get Wash his own pizza though, just showing how much he cares for his teammate. You’ve grown up Tucker!

The biggest thing I want to talk about before we get to the villains though is Grif. Because his lines here are… interesting. It is clear that he wants to avoid any adventure, insanity, and dramatics as much as possible. When Jensen starts talking about Chorus, he says he wants to avoid the subject before trying to take it back. Then there’s the entire pizza quest thing. He doesn’t want to call it a quest. He doesn’t want to look for Donut because it would mean staying around and having to talk to cops. He calls out the others on how everything always has to be treated like a major production. He outright tells Sister that they’re not getting into anything crazy when she is clearly enthused about the idea. Now this could just be because he’s ‘hangry’ and also doesn’t want to chance getting arrested, but… IDK. To me, adding in the ‘new science’ line, it all paints a very clear picture: Grif wants things to go back to normal, just like he did last season… and it makes sense.

Some may say ‘wait, shouldn’t he be over this after last season?’. No. No he should not. Last season had Grif regret quitting because he didn’t like being alone and in the end, he DOES care about the others. And yes, he did willingly get into the thick of things when he joined back up. But here’s the thing, he did so because the others were in trouble and they needed him. But now that trouble is over.  Now there is a chance for him to FINALLY go back to a level of normalcy with the others again. It’s why he’s trying so hard to avoid talking about serious matters or refusing Sister and Caboose’s replies about ‘adventures’ and ‘quests’. He never got over wanting to be done with that. We never had any kind of scene where he comes to terms with the insanity that is his life, only of him having regret abandoning the others. So it makes sense that this is still a thing with him like it was last year. The only difference is this time, instead of quitting, it seems like he’s going to try to actively attempt to keep them out of any insanity. Will this go anywhere? We’ll have to see. But since the promo art just has him facepalming, I think this may be his character arc for the season. And since Grif is my favorite character and I loved his development last season, I am all for it!

That leads us to our ‘villains’. And I say that lightly because while they ARE clearly the antagonists, I… can’t really tell if they’ve evil. Going off Mugigns’ narration and report to the leader, it sounds like they are trying to prevent some kind of horrible catastrophe that the Reds and Blues unknowingly started. As for WHAT they are… well they aren’t human, at least not fully. It’s way too soon and we still know way too little. But I am going to assume that they are aliens and some kind of high cosmic order. One that makes the head of it essentially a God. Heck the names Huggins and Muggins seem to be based off Huginn and Muginn, ravens who act as the eyes and ears to Odin in Norse mythology. Going off that… yeah, we’re going full Thor here apparently.

The leader we can assume is the equivalent of Odin, the king God in Norse mythology. IDK if we’ll get a Thor and Loki equivalent…. unless the green guy is meant to be one or the other. But yeah, this means that this guy is scary news. It’s too soon to say who he may be, though I saw one person speculate that it may be Donut. And with the time travel stuff, it IS possible. But again, too soon to say. Though if not I guess that Donut becoming a God will be the key to beating this guy. Either way, the goal is unclear other than that a prophecy has been provoked. Whether they’re going to try to stop it form coming to pass, or make sure it comes to pass is unclear. We also don’t know what the prophecy is other than that the time drill’s activation was the first sign and the pizza quest was the point of no return.

So here is my current theory. As I said, I don’t think that the ‘villains’ are actual villains. Or at least they aren’t evil psychos like Felix or a well-intentioned extremist gone mad like Temple. I think that this ‘prophecy’ is going to make them see the Reds and Blues as the villains. So they are going to attempt to wipe them out in order to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. It makes them the antagonists by default. How that will cause time travel to factor in unless an attempt to kill them goes horribly wrong IDK. Still, that’s my current stance. Will it get cleared up? Probably and it’ll lead to the true villain showing up. Bu it’s still WAAAAY too soon to say, but going off Muggins’ worry it doesn’t feel like he and Huggins at least aren’t antagonistic. But we’ll see as things unfold.

All of this of course leaves a LOT of questions. What is the prophecy exactly? What is the catastrophe? How does time travel equate into it? How does the medieval scene fit into it? Is this based on any of the alien stuff we’ve had in the past? Is it something completely different? How does Donut’s current situation equate into this? What kind of aliens/interdimensional beings are these guys? Who is the golfing guy? Who is that four armed guy that we saw in the trailer? Is he with these guys? Or is he a different antagonist? Is he an antagonist at all? How do the Reds and Blues end up caught up in it? Are we going to learn the definition of shisno? There’s a lot of questions man! And that’s okay, it’s the first episode, we’re supposed to be asking questions. Gotta give Joe this, he left us with plenty to think about.

So the way that things currently stand is the Reds and Blues are going for pizza (and I assume that the ship crashes since we see them in a forest area in the trailer), Carolina is heading for Chorus, and the villains are beginning their own plans. What’s going to happen next? I honestly have no clue. I assume that we’ll be following the Reds and Blues still next episode and maybe they’ll discover Huggins, but I honestly don’t know. Way to keep us hanging Joe.

Final Thoughts

This is how you do a premiere! The episode leaves a LOT of questions, but plenty of laughs in classic RvB fashion as well. It uses it’s time effectively and while it was only nine minutes long, it sure didn’t feel that short. The scenes all serve as a nice welcome back, opens up new possibilities, and sets up things for our heroes nicely. Sure the medieval scene is kind of out of place, but normally in animation a scene like that is there for a reason, so we’ll see later. But the machinima and original animation were solid, the acting was good as always, the humor and banter were on point, and we have plenty of mystery to look forward to down the road. It also sets up potential character development for Donut and Grif, which is very much appreciated. It was very well done and I am absolutely craving for more! Great episode!

#rvb #rvb16 #rvb reviews #old blog repost

[trawpius]

Red vs Blue Seasons Ranking

Season 6/Reconstruction - I would die for this season. And I WILL.

Season 3 - Prime Blood Gulch. Church’s time antics will always be so fun. 

Season 7/Recreation - Top notch, again. Simmons emotional breakdown antics! Also, the scene where Sarge, Grif and Caboose drive directly into the water knocked me out.

Season 11 - Contact fuckin’ SLAPS. Good/cute character development?  Simmons emotional breakdown antics! Freckles, shake! No animated fight scenes, though.

Season 4 - “Simmons is a Blue” arc was Peak Comedy. Negative points for being the season where Tucker’s character becomes completely unlikable. Also fuck that one scene between Andy and Tex. Roosterteeth owes me big for forgiving them.

Season 13 - Decent comedy. Great plot! Doyle scene was weirdly heart-wrenching.  Love Kimball! Return of decent animated fight scenes. Could rewatch the Carolina/Wash vs Felix/Locus fight on loop. Ending had me in tears.

Season 10 - Present day plot was mediocre. Ending was cool. Freelancer plots was incredibly interesting, though. Connie did everything right. Tex also did everything right.

Season 5/Season 2 - Solid Blood Gulch. Iconique! Nothing more to say.

Season 8/Revelation - Introduction to the good, good Monty fight scenes! Kind of overly seriously. Final Showdown against The Meta was Good.

Season 1 - Pilot problems. Lacked a distinctive plot, lacked character voices. But, again, iconique! 

Season 9 - Comedy was actually pretty weak. Not even “Simmons emotional breakdown antics” could save it... BUT! The Freelancer plot was interesting. And had some of my favorite Freelancer scenes. [Carolina voice] Aaaah put the pussy in a sarcophagus!

Season 12 - Fight scenes were ugly as hell. Too many new characters. Season end was good.

Season 15 - Absolutely zero good fight scenes. Everything is back to looking stilted. The beginning was slow, took multiple episodes to reach moderately interesting characters. But the overall plot had some interesting concepts. It was just poorly executed. The only part that really emotionally resonated was the scene with Wash being delusional and getting shot.

Season 14 - Not story relevant. Arcs were split into parts. Nothing after the Immersion episode is really... worth a damn, to be honest.

The Triplets/The “Mission” - If I could, I’d rank these two episodes between Season 4 and Season 13. Bring them back! Bring them back! Shannon McCormick is a lesbian ally.

Red vs Blue: The Musical - The musical numbers were actually really good. I really liked Church’s? Also the disco number/vocaloid dance knocked me on my fucking ass.

Red vs Blue vs Roosterteeth - Joel reading the entirety of Fountainhead to Caboose.

Room Zero - 2D Animation is actually really fun! Decently funny.

Immersion: The Warthog Flip - I like Immersion! I Like Science!

The Meta vs Carolina - A few good goofs. The fight was lackluster, probably because a) not by Monty, and b) I had no emotional investment in it. Bogged down by recap.

Fight the Good Fight - Decently funny.

Caboose’s Guide to Making Friends - Cute and sad!

Mr. Red vs Mr. Blue - Funny, mostly because Sister rules. “End women’s suffrage! We have suffered enough!!”

The #1 Movie in the Galaxy: 3 - Not particularly funny, but the fake trailer was cool.

Club/Call/Consequences - Neat choice in style change. Not even slightly funny. Kinda misses what makes Locus and Felix interesting and compelling characters.

Head Cannon - Decent idea, mediocre execution.

Get Bent - Misogyny is funny! LOL! The “girl” Donut is, much like regular Donut, an offensive gay joke. But honestly? Big worm. From 

Stumbled Beginning/Fifty Shades of Red/Why They’re Here - The Sarge goof was hilarious. The rest was not. Age of consent joke and prostitute killing joke just... unforgivably bad. Just watch the Sarge scene, tbqh.

The Brick Gulch Chronicles - This is just The Lego Movie 

Orange is the New Red/Invaders from Another Mother - Unwatchably uninteresting.

Grey vs Gray - Disappointed this wasn’t about Dr. Grey. Unwatchable.

RvB Throwdown - I blacked out from how much I didn’t care.

POWER GAP!!!

Season 16 - I cannot even BEGIN to explain how completely unlikable this season is. I am perfectly content in pretending that the series ended after Season 13 or 15. The only interesting thing is Wash’s brain trauma, but like. God, this season is too garbage otherwise. What a crying shame.

#Arbitrary code execution #rvblb

[arse-blathanna]

I’m going to leave this under a cut for the sake of spoilers. Also, it’s long. 

Spoiler free TLDR: No season is ever going to be perfect but I had way fewer problems with this season than I did positive points. There is some stuff I’m not sure about, but the verdict is still that I really liked the season. 

The Good:

Overall, this season was a really unpredictable ride the whole way through, with a few handfuls of red herrings to keep it spicy. Some of these worked out better than others, but the fact that it was so unpredictable was nice. I rather enjoyed not knowing where anything was going.

Character moments. This season had a lot of characters getting to just slow down and talk to each other and it's so wonderful. I never thought I would get to see Simmons try to explain death to Caboose, or see the Reds get any proper development. Or Lopez have a minute where someone understands him and actually gets to converse with them.

We finally get a proper goodbye to Church and its something that I think was sorely needed in the fandom and in the show itself. The characters get resolution. As fans its a proper goodbye and an assurance in a way that Church won't be coming back. And the way it was done? It worked and I'm glad it was done.

The Reds and Blues really get a spotlight shone on them this season. It's up to them to solve their own problems,  and they can't rely on Freelancers or Mercenaries to help. This comes with some problems, which I'll get into, but overall, I liked it.  The fact that the main supporting cast wasn't super-competent in battle helped. We got to see them develop new skills (Simmons! With knives! Grif flying! Grif fighting hand-to-hand! Grif speaking spanish! Tucker's fighting got even better and he can now give a decent pep talk!) and it was nice seeing them really get to show off. Of course, one side got more than the others.

Red team development. Holy crap, red team development. This didn't end up being universal, but those that got it really got a lot. Grif is the obvious standout here, but Simmons and Sarge both also got quite a bit of time devoted to them. The development of their relationships on the whole was super satisfying, and I'm beyond happy that it was able to happen.

The Grif Siblings on the whole were huge for my enjoyment of the season. Yeah. Plural. Kaikaina has grown a lot since we last saw her, to the point where she's a successful businesswoman with connections that reach far out of Blood Gulch and even as far as Chorus. No longer a simple hussy indeed. Dexter was probably the biggest standout for the entire season for me. He's gotten the most development out of everyone, and there's still so much to do with him as he tries to turn over a new leaf and be better. He's gotten better as a fighter, he's figured out what matters to him, and he's here to stay. And the best part? These two are back together now, and I can't wait to see where they go with it.

Locus’ brief time onscreen showed a ton of development, and he’s been left with a lot open ended if they want to do more with him. The choice to show him not taking shots to kill rather than just saying he’s not killing was really smart. We got some nuggets of what he’s been up to, and Locus is really committed to being better. All of his time with the Blues and Reds was also just hilarious. I’m glad he finally got a hug.

The Bad:

All in all, my biggest problem with this season has been the pacing. A lot of this can be attributed to the unpredictability and the red herrings, which I did like. However, there were certain things like major plot reveals (see: the time machine/drill/time machine+drill confirmations) that come really late in the game and throw off the pace. It left the show in a position where it suddenly had a lot to do, and not a whole lot of time to do it. Should Nicolosi be able to write another season, this is a problem that I think would be much lesser.

The Carolina-Tex fight scene. There's been plenty of discussion on it, but its ultimate problem is that it is awkward through and through. The pacing was odd, and the animation often weird. I got the impression that they tried to mo-cap the entire thing and it just didn't work because so much of how these two characters fight is over the top. That said, I wasn't going into it expecting Monty Oum levels of action. I get the feeling that a fight animation B team was put on this fight while the better ones are off working on RWBY. A lot of animation was used on small things that could have been better used in fights or in other places, but that’s not as big of a deal for me. 

Donut being constantly ignored or forgotten, or left off to the side and not allowed to talk was frustrating. The character's notably hard to write, and I understand that, but I would have liked to see him used better. I'm a little iffy on how bad he was though since a lot of the problems with writing him this season seem to be a result of dropped plot threads. In a reddit thread Joe Nicolosi even alludes to this with regards to the Donut/Cronut swap everyone was expecting. It was already in the plans but got dropped because it was one thing too many, and I wonder how much Donut writing got lost on the cutting room floor at the last second because of that. That said, the finale possibly sets Donut up for further development, but that will come with time. 

Sidelining in general was a big problem with this season. Donut spent a lot of time not doing anything or even speaking. With Carolina and Wash, they spent 4 episodes offscreen before getting put into the fridge, then another 6 episodes before they were even seen again. In the same episode that they are released, Wash is immediately taken out of play and takes Locus with him. Carolina's around but doesn't get to do much aside from talk and show that she's significantly weakened. Doc once again suffers from "Where's Doc" syndrome until he was useful for 1 episode at the very end. Dillon and Jax also deal with this to a lesser degree.

The Weird:

I didn’t feel quite right putting them under the bad, so the Blues and Reds. On the point of being knock-off Reds and Blues, they were definitely successful, but as villains they were fairly weak (and I say this as someone who usually loves villains.) There were moments where they (specifically Temple) manage to raise the stakes to rather critical levels (like the fridge) but ultimately the motivation ended up being very weak and honestly convoluted. They’re going after the Freelancer people on a personal grudge, but also are doing their things to attack the UNSC. Picking one angle would have been much more successful. Ultimately, I think that after 9 seasons of having fairly serious and grounded villains the Blues and reds just come off as being too cartoonish by comparison. They would have been a better fit in the BGC era, but now their flavor doesn’t work as well because of what they’re proceeded by. Your mileage may vary on this. That said, Loco was a peach and will be sorely missed.

Jax and Dylan. I was really enjoying him at the beginning of the season, and I thought he would be fun, but the gimmick got old fast and he did feel like a plot device a lot of the time. Nicolosi even made fun of this fact. With regards to Dylan, I really like her as a character and I think she has the potential to be a nice callback character if the Reds and Blues ever need help getting information on something, but she wasn't the most interesting. The stuff with her boss and husband was dropped for too long, and ultimately felt somewhat pointless. Being sidelined for significant parts of the season didn't help on this front.  

Vic is another one where I’m not sure how to place him. There was a bit of uncomfortable stuff with him this season, but ultimately that was made up for in comedy for me. He got to be the world’s most annoying computer virus, he got a heroic death of his very own Vicish fashion.

Tucker’s writing in general was kind of iffy for me this season because it felt like he was being put in a position to learn a lesson that he already learned in the Chorus trilogy (being a leader comes with risks and not every decision is a good one.) There were a lot of moments where it felt like he should have been picking up on things, and his choice to Leeroy Jenkins the fight against the zealots was iffy. I just feel like there’s more that could have been done with him, but I don’t think it was all bad. The ToP stuff was also out there, but I don’t want to touch that topic really. 

#rvb15 #rvb15 spoilers #rvb spoilers #rvb finale spoilers

[vehlika-pelican]

warning for long post! i always get my best ideas at night when im on mobile and cant do a read-more. sorry. blacklist "vehl's headcannons" to stop seeing my stuff. no rvb season 15 spoilers i dont think. me3 is like 5 years old now so im not tagging it as spoilers for any of the games. OKAY, RVB X MASS EFFECT TRILOGY CROSSOVER ( mostly ME 1 because its been two hours since i started writing this post now and oh shit) #TuckerFightsARobotArmy is gonna be the tag for this and the inevitable sequel posts at first i thought, with default Femshep being a badass red-head that would make our local badass red-head Carolina the obvious choice for the role but it occurred to me that she would make a better Miranda Lawson than Commander Shepard. The Director is The Illussive Man (Tim). Aside from the daddy issues, Miranda is a big supporter of Tim's until she finally sees his dark side and resigns during the end of ME 2 just like Carolina was a staunch believer in the Director until she had to face the music. The Freelancers are involved in Project Phoenix and ultimately its every man for himself when the Director starts indoctrinating/reaperfying troops. She gets assigned to the Normandy SR-2 just before the agents make their escape and she's left out of the loop and feeling betrayed. She carries that well into hunting the Collectors and her loyalty mission involves maybe saving York and getting answers. Carolina goes into hiding just like Miranda during ME3, trying to take down her former employer and his organization on her own until she needs help. Thats where our best dudes come in. but then if she's taking the place of Miranda, who could be Shepard? let's start with the Reds. Sarge is too...Sarge. Maybe he could take Admiral Hackett's place as Admiral Colonel Sarge because obviously (everyone knows he's crazy but going from enlisted man to fleet admiral makes him a legend, and he really earned a name for himself during the First Contact War. that name was legally changed to Colonel.) Grif would be Joker, so our esteemed pilot/vehicle operator who's all back-talk and bitching. Simmons is where it gets tricky. Simmons could be an engineer, possibly a quarian, who got prosthetic limbs from when he temporarily served with Sarge on a joint human-quarian deployment and became enamored with the freedom to experiment in the Alliance opposed to the strict policies in the Migrant Fleet and sought to return to his service by trying to kiss ass. but i also like him as EDI because of the proximity to Grif and how they would develop that friendship leading up to Joker's Mission when Grif unshackles Simmons to save the Normandy in ME 2. i also kind of like krogan!Grif, and you know the two of them would have the greatest time messing with the Alliance's engineers during the retrofits. then when Simmons gets a body in ME3 he tries to get a faux-skin to look human but there's a problem and its missing in places on the left side and Grif decides to tell people he's just got some prosthetics from an accident. all shiny and chrome on the fury road. Donut is Kelly Chambers. trained in psychology but rarely clinical, loving all the species, somehow spreading a space-dog STD around the ship, a bit too naive if pretty gung-ho about the mission but give him a belt of lift grenades and hot damn we're in business. Lopez is the AI who robbed the bank? embezelled money? (ME 1) and threatened to detonate a nuclear bomb inside a shopping center but actually managed to buy and download himself into a ship and set sail for sweet robot freedom in the Persius Veil. he was caught by Sarge and officially "destroyed" when he's really locked in a Rampart mech with AI shackles that force him to aid Sarge in his crazy science endeavors. he refuses to speak anything other than spanish out of spite even when he genuinely needs assistance. now the Blues. Washington will have been with Cerberus until about the beginning of ME3 which is when Tim starts indoctrinating troops and members of Project Phoenix take their chances so thats too late to start trying to save the galaxy from the Reaper threat. Caboose takes the place of David (i might be getting the name wrong), an autistic savant who can communicate with a race of alien AI (the quarian-made geth) and is unwillingly mentally linked to the geth for an unknown period of time by his own brother (one of his sisters then? my poor boy imsorry). This would cause the neural trauma/scarring resulting in Caboose being... more Caboose. but he isn't found until sometime in ME2 by Shepard and co. Freckles is the mad AI who goes rogue on Luna (not EDI or part of Simmons in this au) but ends up being befriended by Caboose. he inhabits an Atlas/Titan mech and together they're unstoppable. Tex is an attempt to recreate Allison as an AI inside a cloned body made by the Director during the early stages of his madness. now she's taking Ashley's place as a trigger happy space racist, a double agent inside the Alliance and on Tucker's squad. Church almost dates her but something...feels off...and instead spends his time fighting with her because it feels...familiar? like when he used to argue with his mom when she was alive. huh. Kaikaina and Grif petitioned to serve together so she's on the squad as an infilitrator of all things. she and Wrex commiserate over the story of how she stole a krogan warlord's biotic hammer and she tramatizes Grif by flirting with his 800-pound ass. (not that it goes anywhere. Wrex thinks humans are too squishy.) which leaves...Tucker. because who else. Commander Shepard took the responsibility of proving the existence and defeating the Reapers only because they happened to be at Eden Prime when the prothean beacon was to be recovered. it could have been anyone caught in the beacon- Ashley or Kaidan or any other marine- and that person would have tried to do the same. Tucker in RVB isnt so much chosen to be the savior of an alien race (Doc said he was but that was more Junior) as he gets caught in a bunch of shit that went down in ways he was not expecting when he interacted with an ancient alien artifact thank you very much. so he's on the Normandy SR-1 because he's an N7-in-training or outright failed to get past N1 (which is still impressive because he was considered and thats not easy criteria to meet. let my man be a badass space marine. just a little bit. badass-in-training. HE'LL GET THERE.) but is noticed for his potential and is to be evaluated by turian!/salarian!Felix for Spectre candidacy. the first human Spectre. he's a biotic, i can't decide between adept and vanguard. Tucker and Grif are Totally On To the mission's importance because "spectre's(Felix) dont come along for shake-down runs" in their new experiental human-turian ship and they arrive at Eden Prime mid-attack. Tucker and his squad try to clear a path to the beacon while Felix scouts ahead. but then they find his body and eyewitnesses say it was someone he knew by name that shot him once he let his guard down and his back was turned. "Locus" they say. supposedly leading the assault with an army of heretic-geth and a massive ship emitting a terrible sound. they fight to the beacon, disable bombs along the way, and find it just as Locus's ship departs. as the squad's engineer is scanning it, Tucker notices they're starting to levitate and rushes in to grab them and throw them aside only to get caught himself. he gets the prothean vision-warning about the Reapers and maybe a special prothean omni-blade and its on. he has to prove to the Citadel Council that their Spectre Locus is a traitor and that the Reapers are real but visions? galactic extinction cycles? oh you humans are so full of it. you've been part of the galactic community for 30 years and now you're here with a conspiracy theory at best? i cant believe we thought you could work for us. blah. Tucker marches off but meets Church who's been trying to take Locus down from within the system to no avail. Alpha!Church is the Director's son but Allison got custody after the divorce and now he's a grouchy C-Sec cop getting nowhere real quick. Tucker invites him along and he's a shitty sniper but actually pretty decent with the Mako's cannon considering it handles like a drunk krogan who can do a flip it you drive off the cliff edge fast enough (what are mass effect booster jets for?). they track down a krogan mercenary (Wrex is probably still Wrex. because who could hope to live up to him?) and fight through a strip club and kill Fist and rescue a quarian (Palomo? make that Jensen) with evidence proving Locus is guilty. then they save Dr. Emily Grey and help her keep her small clinic in the wards from being shut down and she gives them sweet discounts and all the free medigel they can shove into their pockets. they rescue asari!Doc from inside a prothean ruin (got lost on a yoga retreat and panicked when geth started attacking...i guess he could be an archeologist but maybe they drag Grey along for the ride instead...) but he's developed a split personality due to how long he's been alone in there and its kinda murderous but coupled with biotics its pretty useful. (and yes, asari are mono-gendered and are all "female" but ME: Andromeda confirmed that some asari use masculine pronouns/identify as "male" and there's no way that wasn't a thing in ME 1 canon so Doc is he/him). on Virmire, he almost shoots Tex AND Wrex on the beach- put down your shotguns you fucking lunatics i will biotically throw you into the ocean! he helped Wrex get his family armor so Tucker manages to talk him down but man Tex could you chill its been months already. he has to leave Tex behind though to protect the bomb while he and Wrex save Kaikaina and Kirahee and fight Locus. they evacuate and the bomb detonates and atleast it was instantaneous. she wouldn't have felt herself be vaporized, it was quick and we stopped Locus from getting an army of krogan. Church is devastated and knowing that Tucker leaving Tex behind was a conscious choice splinters their friendship. but. Tucker has to finish this. its bullshit and why us. why'd it have to be us on this ship in this life shewasmyfriendtoo- but its a race against the clock to the lost relay and Ilos and theres no time to have a real talk. its complete bullshit. they get to Ilos but Locus is ahead of them and they have to fight so many geth and find a 50,000 year old message which only Tucker can understand but fuck this we're being left in Locus' dust openthisstupid templedoor*swish* oh shit this things a fucking key "guess we didnt have to fight all them robots" he said stepping over the mountain of slain robots because fuck my life. Wrex how'd you live so long life fucking sucks. "i've been drunk for a lot of it" great. yup. can the Mako go any faster. and then they meet Vigil but dont record it because they're still idiots who forget/dont mind the details until Simmons shows up in the sequel you morons but hey remember THAT CHASE WE WERE IN LETSGO and they drive the Mako into a relay and if Tucker made sure to crash into a geth colossus no one says anything- and they fly out into the Presidium Commons like if the Mako had wings but itfuckingdoesnt and why are there even jets on this tank. Locus and Sovereign beat them to the Citadel and the arms are closed but Hal-9000 over there is just chillin' on the Citadel Tower like he's shishing the kebab himself. then gravity goes off and they fight sideways all the way up the tower and those turrets sure are being turrets you know and not differentiating between us and the assholes ahead of us. but they finally make it and stop Locus short of the apocalypse. Tucker goes all renegade Locus was just afraid, the Reapers put his life in persepective and we are all so small and insignificant, "is servitude not preferable to extinction?" you're just a puppet, they're using you because you're weak, because you let them, do yourself a favor-! but Locus claims its too late and they fight and kill him. but he rises anyway. the fight the first and only Possessed Marauder- Sovereign controlig Locus' corpse through implants. he was mostly implants. and once its ash ashashashes Tex didnt even get to be ashes its unfa- and Sarge is over the comm, open the Citadel's arms son so the Alliance can save the day and Tucker has a choice. save the Council and sacrifice thousands of soldiers. or kill the Reaper and worry about new leadership later. its Tex again. worse. i need to think, theres no time, you know what this thing can do you saw in the vision i believe you so what do we do. make the call. and Tucker needs the Council's support...but the Reaper needs to be killed...but saving the Council will cost too much...but the Reaper could still call the others from dark space...they'll trust me... will the new ones? will the Alliance? Anyone? no. but someone will definitely be alive. kill Sovereign. the Council dies. the Destiny Ascention is destroyed. the Alliance suffers minimal loses. humanity fills the vacuum of power. humanity is no longer trusted. they blame him. he does too. have any of his choices been good enough? right? much of the crew goes their own way. Church goes back to C-Sec. maybe he'll call. Wrex returns to Tuchanka, faith in his people restored. Doc joins Grey at her small clinic. Jensen returns to the Migrant Fleet with geth data. and Tucker and the rest are... disgraced. no one says but they dont have to. every breath is a reminder of his failures and what he did. so much potential in him once, they say. he could have been great. instead he did this. and they fight geth. chase geth. fight more. they head to Alchera. more geth, they said. it isnt. the ship is blown apart. Kaikaina shoves anyone who cant walk into the escape pods. The XO is killed almost immediately. Grif won't leave. Tucker, please, Dex! Get Dex! she yells as she's dragged into an escape pod by a Yeoman and he storms over because he wont lose anyone else but the hull is gone and you can't run in mag boots. Grif is fighting for Normandy. Tucker can hear him asking for just a little more just enough to- to- but Tucker's having none of it and pulls and heaves and forces his idiot pilot into the pod. of all the times Grif chose to be the opposite of lazy. a streak of yellow catches his eye and its coming this way and he pushes off and hits the launch button but the engines blow and he hits something as he is set adrift. he's losing air. fuck, its- its behind him. he panics and scrambles for the puncture but his arms are geting heavier and he's already wheezing short little breaths shortlittlefailures youfailedyoukilledthem youkilledher. the sun in the distance is bright. he can feel his body tilt toward the planet, sees the sunlight cresting over the horizon. his vision goes dark around the edges. but the sun is bright and he doesnt notice he isnt afraid and he falls *maniacal laughter* someone should have stopped me. i think its super out of character but this is a rambling monster and not meant to go super in-depth or anything. god help me.

#vehl's headcannons #TuckerFightsARobotArmy #lavernius tucker #rvb #mass effect

[cerealmonster15]

RvB c:

yessss

my all-time ultimate fave character: donut and wash remain my favorite darlings, but i love so many othersa character I didn’t used to like but now do: tuckerrrr oh my god i couldnt stand him in the beginning, but he slowly grew on me and now i adore him (hes still a gross boi but with character development and stuff)a character I used to like but now don’t: lol does felix count? i like him more or less as a character but as a HUMAN BEING HE BETRAYED ME AND IS TERRIBLE. im still hurt lmfaoa character I’m indifferent about: sharkface bc i keep forgetting he exists and literally only remember when someones suddenly talking about him on my dasha character who deserved better: donut at least a little, but also kai (i hold on to the hope that she’ll be back again next season) and tbh lots of freelancers :”) like i get that they were all introduced to be doomed from the start as backstory but that doesnt make it hurt any less (and also maybe having most of the lady characters be a little more rounded aside from having anger/aggression/whatever as their main personality traits) (it’s gettin better with the newer ladies tho)a ship I’ve never been able to get into: hmmm.... idk but i guess wash/church or wash/doc on their own are hard to me for grasp for whatever reason, but two of them + another character or two in a poly ship really works in my head so go figure (maybe i feel like they need someone to balance it out more idfk) (but i still appreciate fanworks of them when i see it sometimes)a ship I’ve never been able to get over: donut/doc donut/doc donut/doca cute, low-key ship: nothing about me is lowkey but i like bitters/matthewsan unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it: most donut ships, especially tucker/donut and church/donut. i also really like ot3 grif/church/tucker (really any combo of those four bye)a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened: i cant really think of any shrugsmy favourite storyline/moment: i just. listen. epsilon’s final speech makes me cry ok i really liked it leave me alone-a storyline that never should have been written: u and i think some others have been making good points that the counselor in s13 was kinda out of place, which i hadnt really realized before my first thoughts on the show: [after having zoned out for a good while] “oh wait what are they talking about? is anything even happening i havent been paying attention theyre just standing around and talking i dont feel like watching any more-” [proceeds to forget about it for about a year or so]my thoughts now: it’s got its flaws [what show doesnt tho] but it’s my favorite and i love it and im glad that random guy on yikyak recommended i try watching it again 

[x]

#im gonna try to go to bed and do more tomorrow but my loud neighbors just came back #and i can hear them talking loudly thru my earbuds so i may come back #thanks brah #directium #asks

[calliecat93]

Since I can't go to RTX and they aren’t streaming it this year but I wanted to do a masterpost of something RvB related, I decided to write a wrap-up of this interview with Jason Weight on The SHizno RvB Podcast. Please go check it out because there was now ay that I could fit everything in here and there’s so much good stuff in it. SO please go and check it out! But anyways, here we go:

Joe had told Jason about the plan for a Donut and Wash season back at RTX, which Jason at first wasn't on board with. But once he began writing it, he got into it and became very attached to Donut. 

When rewatching the show to prep for S17, one scene that took note of was in the caves when Grif was making the Reds not look at Kai when naked… except for Donut since he just paid attention to the Blue’s base. It felt like he had depth in those kinds of moments and it got him to like him. He was very happy to see more people join Team Donut after the season. He feels like only the surface has been scratched for him.

He confirmed that Donut’s innuendo in the finale was intentional (even putting ‘tongue and cheek’ in the character notes) and any made after will likely be intentional by him.

When they talked about Donut and Tucker’s development, Jason joked that Simmons would be next to receive development. So it seems that Jason is at least aware of our desire for a Simmons season XD

The Everwhen was devised essentially as another method of time travel different from the previous methods seen before since doing it the same way again would have been boring. 

The timeline after the paradox in the Writers Room was called Schrodinger’s Ass. 

The version of time travel we got was the third version. Jason spent a month on Verison One, but Burnie had rejected it. Then he, Joe, and Miles devised a second version, but near the end they threw it out and the third version that included The Everwhen was made.

How it worked in previous versions was that Chrovos has made the alternate Blood Gulch as a containment unit type of thing to contain the Reds and Blues as she went backwards in time, giving them a limited amount of time before she reached the beginning of time and… honestly, IDK how to type the whole thing out. But to put it simply, it was very convoluted and thus The Everwhen was made. The first version was also rejected due to being too similar to S9.

Jason is on Red Team! His explanation? “Red Team is an actual team.” 

He really liked the direction that Joe took Wash, especially since him now having a disability gives him a new unique perspective that, even if he doesn’t get to write in the future, he looks forward to seeing the direction that Wash is taken. He also believes that if they focus on Wahs’s rehabilitation, Caboose should have a major role in it. HIRE HIM RT, DANG IT!

Simmons original nightmare was the same scenario and the same joke… except that the one int he UFO was his dad. The higher-ups rejected this since it could come off as, well… incestuous/pedophilic. Which while I think the ‘dad’ bit would have made more sense… yeah, I… can’t blame them for that one. Jason DOES say that in his mind, Simmons feels that he’s in his father's shadow and the scene was supposed to be in a Freudian reference to those feelings.

Genkins was originally not as intimidating int he script. Much of it came from the direction, especially in Episode 10 after he got skewered by the golf club. Same with Wash and Carolina’s scene in Episode 9. He greatly loved seeing the direction that Austin and Josh took with the scenes.

Miles had toyed with having a scene set directly after S13 (he says 10 but I think he meant 13), but Jason felt that it was best to leave that area alone since it had ended on such a perfect note and talked him out of it. Jason also toyed with having the guys see Epsilon’s final message ala Princess Leia hologram and Tucker picking them up/explaining Episolon’s nature. But it was too talky nor did it really affect anything, so they instead went with Tucker re-living Crash site Bravo which was done by Miles.

If RvB ended up a Seinfeld-esque comedy, Grif and Simmons would live together with Grif trying to get Simmons out of his shell. Sarge is essentially Dan DeVito. Tucker would live alone and use his sword to open up beer bottles. Donut would live in a gym due to, in his mind, him having severe allergies and is why he wears the Power Armor all the time. Carolina and Wash would live together and have a dog, and they both suck at dating due to judging the other’s dates (which Jason feels their relationship is brother and sister). Caboose owns the building they all live in. Lopez is maintenance. I want this show now.

Jason reads all the comments after all the episodes, including on Tumblr (I’m going to be so much more paranoid over my reviews now...) and one post he really liked was the idea of an RvB Road Trip since he used to be a roadie.

Jason doesn’t know how the whole Shisno thing came about since it was Joe’s idea. He does say that it used to be spelt ‘shizno’ until they found out how it’s officially been spelt as ‘shisno’. Whoops. They DID consider involving Wyoming’ time distortion unit in the story, but with all the other time shenanigans they felt it would make it too complicated.

Koen Wooten, a 3D Producer at RT, joked about putting time travel into every show from now on. Miles and Jason were unamused XD

He had a lot of fun with things like writing The Labryinth and Kai messing with Tucker

The hardest part was balancing out the time travel and figuring out what to look into and what not to. 

Jason is very used to being a director due to his own show, Starship GOldfish, and his scripts for himself are MUCH longer and detailed than they end up being in the final draft. For, he had a specific way that he wanted to have Chrovos done, so he was Skype’d in to direct Lee Eddy. Speaking of, he pushed for her after seeing her do Gwen from Camp Camp live at RTX 17 and he really wanted to have her in the show in some form.

For RvB Movie Nights, Jason thinks that Grif would like Caddyshack, thinks that Carolina is terrified of horror films like Paranormal Activity (which makes Wash confused) and ends up panic stabbing the TV, Simmons and Donut both do documentaries, Lopez liked Mr. Bean… then after going back to the beginning of time, he hates that kind of media and just watches an aquarium screen, and Kai likes Alien.

For Halloween, Jason would want to dress as the Fishman from S3 of Camp Camp. 

When questioned about the show potentially hitting serial escalation after the Cosmic Powers stuff, Jason talks about how they feel that they have now sealed off from that and can move more laterally again. But he does also feel that there are larger threats out there that affect you more personally, such as everyone trying to kill you which he thinks could be much stronger than fighting some ultra-powerful God. But we’ll have to see where things go from this point.

He believes that moving forward, Doc can be more important since he now is a nice guy with the danger of O’Malley in him. 

He also has seen that fans feel that the Reds and Blues need a rest, which he agrees with. One idea he likes that he did in PSA’s was do some Grif and Sarge bonding since he feels there’s plenty left unexplored there, Caboose helping Wahs rehabilitate, giving Simmons an arc, and Donut exploring the universe to do some world building. He and Joe liked the idea of maybe doing a mini-series, especially since Halo 6 won’t be out for quite a while and doing one can explore some new options. He also brings up ideas for the future like Locus on trial, Wash’s rehabilitation, and Tucker seeking out Junior to bond with him more after what happened in The Labryinth. I mentioned that RT needs to hire Jason ASAP, right?! RIGHT?!

He also feels that there would, ideally, eventually need to be a new villain… and suggests himself cause of him being British. HA! He also really loves villains and if he got to keep being the writer, he would absolutely voice the villain like Miles did as Felix. Although he does bring up the ‘self-insert’ critique but thinks it would be okay since as the villain it would be okay to hate him!

At the end of the interview, Jason talks about how collaborative the entire process had been and how Miles greatly helped him with the writing as well as Josh and Austin’s direction, who he hopes will still be on it. He says to thank them.

Well, that was fun! I will say, Jason hit all of the right buttons for me and I do legit hope that he can come back. But even if he can’t, this was so great and having his contribution was amazing. Thank you again for everything Jason~

#rvb

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Things That I Disliked ABout RvB: Singularity

(Top 5 Likes Post Link)

Well, it’s been about four months since RvB17 concluded. The shortest season in the series thus far, RvB17 has had overall very positive reception with good humor, compelling drama, and nice character development. I enjoyed it… but I would be lying if I said I loved it unconditionally. And I’d be lying even more if I said that it was better than the sadly often derided S16. The season has its pros and it has its cons, as every season of the show does. The cons this time probably annoy me more than some due to what I like and dislike, so that’s important to know before going further into this post.

So, it’s time for another Top 5 Likes/Dislikes about the recent RvB season! Now normally I do this shortly before the upcoming season, so why am I doing this now and not when RvB18 starts? Well, I’ve had a lot of these on my mind for a while, and after completing a recent rewatch, I want to go ahead and get it all out. To compensate, when RvB18 does roll around I’ll likely do a post about the past three seasons, and maybe some other stuff like what I’d like to see. And of course, as always, this is just my opinion and I will be as fair as possible, so take everything that I say with a grain of salt.

Anyways, let's get the part that I always hate doing done first: the Top 5 Dislikes.

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I hate being negative. I really, really do. Overall, S17 was a very enjoyable season and I liked it in spite of its flaws, as I do with most media that I get into. But I do have issues, more so than I did 15 and 16, and I do want to talk about them. Most of you who’s followed my blog probably already know them, but I’m gonna try to be more detailed about why I disliked it. So we’ll start with something nit-picky, and work our way up. So let's get started with...

#5. Execution of the time travel/The Everwhen

This one is probably the most minor, but the whole thing just… confuses me. So for those unaware, the Everwhen is essentially a giant time portal that allows you to possess your past self at any point in time. This is… not a bad concept at all. It’s a really cool one and they use it to great effect by going to various points in the show’s history. Then using the past variations of Halo also makes us more invested since we recognize those periods. And while I wish we got to see more moments in those periods that we didn’t see, the few that we got in Episode 5 with Wash and Carolina was very well done. I only have two real issues with the Everwhen. First being an excuse for the mass amount of nostalgia banking, but at least it served a purpose… well, the Freelancers did. The Mercs were totally unnecessary. But that can easily just be a me thing and I get that it made a lot of fans happy, so I won’t harp on it. The other reason though is the reason why it made this list.

The execution is confusing as Hell when you really think about it.

First, how does this exist? I guess we’re supposed to believe that Chrovos made it, which I guess that I can buy. But aside from a line in Episode 1 about how the Reds and Blues time period was the backswing that caused the paradox, there isn’t really anything about how this gateway suddenly exists. Which presents another problem, the Reds and Blues inside it. Okay, so the paradox happened and it messed their memories up. That I understand… but why are they having deja vu in the past?! Shouldn’t they have been like Wash was? In some period where they did and didn’t break time? I get that they were in the middle of the paradox while Wash had been in the present, but in that case, how did they get knocked back to the past? At first, I assumed that Chrovos put them there, which would have made sense in order to keep them out of the way. But that’s never said. The implication is that they just got put there randomly, but because of Wash’s state, it really doesn't make any sense for them to be there.

But I think I get why it was like this. On The SHizno Podcast, Jason explained how the original pitch was that the Reds and Blues were going to be in a simulation of Blood Gulch that Chrovos put them in. Think S9 when Epsilon was in the Memory Unit… which it being too similar is one of the reasons why that plan got rejected. It probably explains why they used Halo 2 Anniversary in the S16 finale if the simulation plan was still in effect when Joe wrote it. But that would explain why they were in the past and having memory issues while Wash wasn’t. And it being a simulation is what I thought it was... until Huggins was able to move through it without going through the portal, which made everything even more confusing. As much as I get being too similar to S9, I can’t but feel that it would have been the better move and not given me a headache over how this stupid Everwhen worked. Because it being a simulation and not the actual timeline made a heck of a lot more sense.

Ultimately, this is Number 5 because as I said, it’s nitpicky. Time travel is a mess no matter how it’s utilized, so I’m pretty lenient on it because thinking about it too hard is painful and not worth it. Plus it may just be my own stupidity confusing me. Still, it DID bother me and it made Episodes 7 and 8 especially a pain in the ass to watch through. But since again it’s overall more nitpicky, I’ll leave it at Number 5.

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#4: The Simmons Labyrinth

Yeah, we all knew that this was going to be on here.  What’s left to be said that I haven’t talked about already? I think we all know why this was hated. First, it isn’t funny. I mean don’t get me wrong, the delivery of the joke was fine, but the joke itself sucked and made no sense for Simmons’ character. Say what you want about Grif’s Labyrinth, whether you saw it as good or terrible, but at least it made sense for his character. Simmons… is afraid of aliens cutting off his private parts. I’m…. fairly sure that RvB has done a joke like that before, and it was likely better there. Plus it didn't fit the tone. All the Labyrinths, even Grif’s, were portrayed as either serious or at least uncomfortable for the victim. I guess they wanted something to lighten the mood, but… it failed. Badly. It just took me out of it until we got back to Carolina’s. Even knowing Jason’s original plan of the alien being Simmons dad, while that would have been more impactful, still would have been treated as the final cut was and still would have taken me out of it.

What could have been done instead? IDK. Could have had Simmons relive one of his many embarrassments in high school. Could have been focused on the test anxiety that made him fail and get shipped off to Red Boot Camp. It could have been one of the many traumas that his dad inflicted on him, like being forced on the women’s volleyball team or something. All of those are still lighter than some of the other Labyrinths and could have had a comedic edge, but it still tells us something about Simmons and would make sense for him. I… am still trying to figure out how what we got fits Simmons at all or tells us anything about him. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. 

The reason that this is Number 4 is because the scene was ultimately brief and Simmons didn’t exactly have a major role up to that point. It was incredibly stupid and not funny, but IDT it ruined his character or anything. Plus at this point, I and many others have gone on about it and there is really nothing left to say until we see what happens in the future. Jason seems to be aware of the critiques, and I imagine that others behind the show would also be aware by now. Maybe it'll be taken into account in future seasons and they’ll finally give Simmons the attention that he deserves.

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#3. Huggins

Ho boy, I’ve been waiting to let this out since the season ended. So for those who were reading my blog when S16 was airing, you know that Huggins was one of my favorite parts of said season. She was likable and fun, her friendship with Grif was adorable and helped his character massively, and she was just a bundle of joy who made me smile every time that we saw her. Her death, while I knew even then it was likely a fakeout, was a huge shock and had me praying that it being a fakeout was correct. Which it was! I was so happy… until we saw how she was actually handled this season.

Personality-wise, Huggins was fine. Her being able to go through time made sense and was even referenced in S16. But… well, she’s used to discovering that Black Holes lead to the beginning of time, goes through time to find the paradoxes that Genkins made, and… that’s it. In other words, Huggins was nothing but a damn plot device. I have a problem with character shafting, but this one was just unfair. Maybe Jason couldn’t think of anything else to do with her? Maybe her VA wasn't available for much? Maybe they didn’t have the budget to animate since Miles did say that they had a slightly smaller budget at RTX? IDK. There’s any number of reasons why, but it was annoying nevertheless. I mean Huggins only appeared in THREE EPISODES, and the first was only at the very end. After Episode 8, she just… disappeared.

There’s a lot of reasons why I hated this. First, just dropping a character like that despite her clearly being important and prominent is an insult to the character. I have issues with how the Reds and Blues were shafted aside from Donut, Wash, and Carolina, but at least they were still around. Huggins leaves to go find paradoxes in Episode 8 and then is gone. Last we hear of her is in the finale from Donut. But the bigger issue is that, if you remember, she was understandably angry at Grif for deciding to go with the plan to save Wash, even though he knew what would happen. It happened and… there’s zero reconciliation. None. Yes, Grif was happy to see her. Yes, he clearly felt remorseful. Yes, he did apologize. But Huggins never really forgave him, saying that she can't be mad at him at the moment because of the larger picture. But it was pretty clear that, while not enraged, she was still unhappy with him… and they don’t allow the two to talk? At all?! After everything in S16, we couldn’t get closure on that?! Really?!

That was what pissed me off. It pissed me off for Grif’s character, but trust me I’ll be going more into that shortly. But for Huggins, it pretty much just says ‘yeah, we are only bringing this character back for exposition and nothing more’. I know many hated S16, but Huggins was easily one of the factors that people enjoyed. I enjoyed it. As I said, her and Grif’s relationship was easily my favorite part of it and I still enjoy rewatching all of their interactions. IDK if she’ll be back in later seasons. I really hope so because, at the very least, she and Grif should reconcile. But even so, she deserved better than what she got. She was a good character, and she deserved better than what she got. I shouldn't be wondering if her remaining dead would have been a better alternative afterwards. I really shouldn’t. So… hopefully future seasons can maybe fix things, but for now, this remains a major problem for me.

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#2. Grif Character Shafting

In general, Season 17 had a BAD case of character shafting. Now it’s a huge ensemble cast, so not everyone is going to be able to get attention. I wasn’t that upset that characters like Sarge, Caboose, and Simmons (even if that doesn’t excuse his Labyrinth) not getting much attention because they had already been more lowkey in this story arc. I didn’t mind it with Tucker wither since he got PLENTY of attention with Chorus. Hell, I honestly wish that they kept Wash and Carolina more lowkey because they ALWAYS get the majority of the focus, but for S17’s story it’s understandable why they would so I can forgive it. But you should probably NOT shaft a character who has been one of the central focuses in an ongoing story arc and still had a ton of character development that had to be wrapped up.

You know… like Grif.

Yeah, I won’t lie. While I thought that Grif acted IC and everything… they really dropped the ball with him. I wouldn’t mind that much had S15 and 16 not happened. Those are two seasons that gave Grif a ton of character development. He was essentially the main protagonist in S16, the one most involved in the plot despite how much he tried not to, and began resolving his issues. He went from doing everything in his power to avoid the plot, to openly confronting it and even rejecting the pizza that he had wanted so bad. He was the only one who knew what was about to happen after openly being mocked by Genkins, and despite his best efforts, he failed to stop it…

...and this got aBSOLUTELY NO FOLLOW UP? WHAT THE HELL?! THat’s like if, after Season 11, Tucker acted like none of the events during S11 affected him and didn’t grow as a leader and a soldier. It would come off as super weird since 12 followed the aftermath of S11 and would have been a huge disservice to the character and his development. That’s how it felt here with Grif. At first, it looked like they may show stuff since Grif DID believe Donut at first. But he had to ignore it since Donut isn’t allowed to be listened to. When he got his memory back, everything should have been hitting him then and there. There should have been more anger and probably some guilt about how even when he tried, he still failed and now they have even more bullshit to deal with. But they just… bizarrely ignore it.

I wouldn’t say that Grif regressed, but the fact that there is NO follow-up to his development in a storyline that allowed said development to begin with is a disservice. I get it, they only had 12 episodes and Donut and Wash were the more important. I understand that. And hey, S18 could follow up on it. But there still should have been something. Maybe the reveal about him lying about the enlistment was supposed to be that. Which I did like that… but that was not enough imo. He didn���t reconcile with Huggins. There’s no follow-up about how he failed to stop the paradox. Even for someone as lazy as Grif, we should still be seeing some emotions there. His Labyrinth, while I ultimately don’t hate it and I do see how it can apply to his character, probably should have been something stronger like being stuck back on Iris with the volleyballs mocking him or something.

Character shafting does have to happen in an ensemble cast. But Grif should NOT have been one of them. IDK how they could have incorporated him better while still keeping everything intact, but it’s still frustrating. Again, maybe S18 can provide something. I hope that at least Grif is allowed to reconcile with Huggins and realize that he should actually talk about his issues because I do think that his scene with Kai was an important moment for him. Whether you like to hate the retcon, it makes sense for his character to run away and he’s actually offering to talk about it. Okay, it’s more for Kai’s sake than his own, but he’s still willing to talk about his feelings, which is not something that I could have seen him done without his S15 and 16 development. Hence why I think that is S18 has him be more willing to talk to say Kai or Simmons and about how much S15 and 16 really did affect him instead of trying to brush it aside by calling himself hateglue, he can have a complete character arc. But as far as S17 goes, there’s no excuse for it and was a big problem for me.

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Honorable Mentions

 Aka, the things that annoyed me, but not by much or I didn’t feel were bad enough to add onto the list.

Tucker not taking responsibility/talking to Wash: It was his idea to go and save Wash despite knowing the consequences, so he’s as guilty as Carolina imo. There should have been more focus on that, and about him reconciling with Wash and accepting what had to happen. The fact that they had zero interaction was bizarre tbh. But it isn’t as big of a deal as other things, so I kept it off. Consider this Number 6.

Character shafting: I hated it, and everyone outside Donut, Wash, and Carolina felt wasted. But it’s already a huge cast, so it was bound to happen and Grif’s was the one that manly pissed me off. So I spared it.

Nostalgia banking: That’s a me thing, so I didn’t feel it was fair to add it, especially since it overall did serve a purpose.

Carolina guilt trips need to die: I forgive it here because it worked for the story and was well executed. But... writers, you’ve done Carolina guilt trips since at least S10. It’s lazy and boring now. Come up with something new for her. Let it die.

Donut being ignored: Mainly, I think they played it up too much. DOnut displayed no noteworthy flaws in this season, and pretty much everything revolved around him. On rewatch, this was annoying and made him seem better and more important than everyone else. That’s unfair. But after all the years where he got shit treatment, he earned it honestly, so I forgave it.

And that’s it! So onto Number One!

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I thought long and hard about what Number One could be. Grif Shafting almost made it, but again the finale scene did actually make me happy. As such, I had only one real option left…

#1. The 12 Episode Count

Imo, this is I think the cause of many of the problems with S17 that I have. This should not have been a 12 episode season. 15 maybe, like last time. But not 12. Now there’s any number of reasons that they decided to go with that. Miles did say at RTX that they had a slightly smaller budget, so maybe they just simply couldn’t afford to do more than what they were able to do. Maybe they just thought that 12 episodes wrapped up the story and that there was no need to exceed that number or try to avoid stressing themselves and others out more. Production is hard and not cheap and you’re not going to be able to do everything that you want or even need to be able to do. As such, I’m not angry at them for deciding this since most likely, they had to work with what they had available.

That being said, it is still a problem. A 12 episode season has both its pros and its cons. With the pros, they were able to keep an overall steady pace and focus on what needed to be focused on without having to extend it or cram in filler. But the cons are you have to cram in as much as possible with limited time and put aside the things that aren’t as important. Grif wasn't as important as the other things. Huggins wasn't as important as the other things. They didn’t have time to elaborate on all the time travel, so they did as much as they could and then focus on the story. And Simmons Labyrinth was just a bad idea and would have still sucked even with a longer episode total, so nothing to say there.

My point is, while I do think that 12 episode seasons could work for RvB, they probably shouldn't have done it in the middle of a story arc. Again, they might not have had a choice, but it’s still an annoyance. The first half was fine and the best of the season. But the second half felt much more rushed and overstuffed. Episodes 7 and 8 shoved in exposition and it came across as more confusing than informing. Donut forgave everyone FAR too easily and it didn’t feel like they genuinely felt sorry after being called out. Which made the moment where he did call them out feel slightly less impactful. Only slightly, Then we rush through fixing the paradoxes and The Labyrinth within like four episodes, which when watching all the episodes together really makes it and the ending feel really anti-climactic. It’s like they shoved a ton of character stuff within like ten minutes, but we don’t get to explore it naturally. A problem that I think 15 episodes would have helped solve, but 12… it just… was not enough.

If they do go with 12 episodes again, I think it’ll work better since they’ll have a new story arc that they cal plan properly for. They didn’t have that luxury here. That, on top of Joe having to leave and Jason having to take over writing duties. Which is another annoyance. IDK the circumstances obviously and not to diminish Jason, but Joe should have been allowed to finish his own damn story, the fans' opinion on if he was good or not be damned. But again for all I know he chose to walk out, so I’m not going to go any further than that. Considering what they did have, the fact that they did make a good product is to be admired. But there’s still a lot of problems imo. Ones that I think that the episode count ultimately caused most of. As such, it is the thing that I dislike about RvB17 the most.

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Again, this is only my opinion. There was a lot that I did like about RvB17, and when I write the Likes post I’ll gladly talk about them. That being said, I do think that this wasn't as good as 16 and IDC how many people think I’m insane for saying that. It had story issues, character issues, and the second half was ultimately just a mess. A fun mess, but still a mess. No, IDK how any of these could have been done better and IDT it’s so bad that it can’t be amended in later seasons. But overall, these issues did damper my enjoyment and things that I hope to see improved in the future.

Okay! Dislikes are done! Thank God! Now I can do the happy stuff! Hopefully, the Likes post will be ready in a few days. But thank you all for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed~

#rvb #rvb reviews