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aestheticsandwriting · 4 years

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One-Shot a Day, Day 1: “Hold Me.” RvB

Link to read it on ao3.

Summary: (RvB Season 12 spoilers.) After Tucker is released from the hospital post season 12 (after being stabbed by Felix) he's feeling a little vulnerable and wants his boyfriend to hold him.

Tucker makes his way through the halls slowly, trying to avoid the more traveled routes in favor of the back ways and using storage rooms as shortcuts. It’s not that he didn’t want people knowing he was out of the hospital or that he didn’t secretly -or not so secretly- enjoy the attention, he just had a very specific place that he wanted to be. And he needed to be there fast, he only had a limited time.

When Dr. Grey told him he could leave, assuring her that he would come back every morning for bandage changes and wound check, he was ecstatic. As ecstatic as a person could be while semi-high on not-quite-narcotic painkillers, but ecstatic none the less. As soon as she had walked out to get his discharge papers -merely a formality that she insisted remain despite the fact that this hospital had stopped functioning like a normal hospital years previously and become a war recovery zone- Tucker had immediately grabbed his datapad on the side table and typed out a quick message, asking Wash if he could slip away from whatever he was doing and meet him in his -their- room.

He had just been walking out of the hospital when his boyfriend’s reply came through, telling him that he had managed to snag a two-hour reprieve from Kimball before having to go back to work, likely having a late-night before getting back to their bunk anyway, and asking if he wanted him to come walk with him back. The teal soldier had to remind himself not to jump for joy when he read the message, tapping out quick response telling him to just meet him there, armor off and in his civvies.

He finally makes his way into the barracks building, thankful he doesn’t have to be as cautious of other people now. Almost everybody in the building at this time are the men and women on night shifts and they’re asleep, he makes his way slowly to his and Wash’s room, a strong ache in his abdomen by the time he reaches the door. He pauses, taking a deep breath before opening it, stepping through to see Wash just pulling on one of his favorite t-shirts -an old one from his early days in freelancer that’s grown slightly thin and soft with wear- and that simple sight makes his eyes water slightly before he realizes what’s caused it.

“Hey, T, sorry I didn’t come up at breakfast this morning, Kimball had plans that she needed me to go over ASAP for a mission that left earlier.” The blond turns, taking in the sight of his boyfriend from his feet up. Clad in an old pair of shoes, some sweats, and a t-shirt that somehow perfectly matches his armor color that Wash had taken to him for whenever he was released, his armor having already been brought back to Tucker’s officially assigned room.

“Tha-” Tucker coughs, clearing his throat and wincing at the pain in his gut. “That’s fine, don’t worry.” His voice is still rough, and he silently curses himself as a single tear slips down his right cheek.

“Tucker, what’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

“No. I mean, yes, I have pain, but it’s minimal. I just… will you hold me, David?” Wash has to strain to hear the end of his sentence, it coming out muted and directed towards the floor, Tucker not looking him in the eye.

“I don’t want to-”

“You’re not going to hurt me. I promise, if something hurts or I’m uncomfortable, I’ll tell you. I just need to be held right now.”

“Come ‘ere.” Wash jerks his head, motioning to the two beds they had pushed together to form a bed big enough for the both of them before crawling in, moving to the far side so Tucker has room to settle in without too much movement, hopefully lessening his chances of hurting himself. The younger man sits gently, turning to curl into the taller man’s open and waiting arms, face buried in the blond’s shoulder, sniffling slightly.

“Thank you.”

There’s a silence that stretches between the two of them, interrupted occasionally by a sniffle from Tucker, becoming more frequent as the time goes on. “Hey.” A kiss to the top of his head. “You’re not in pain, are you? Incision’s okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I… Wash, I thought I was never going to get to do this again.” Another sniffle. “I thought I was going to bleed out before the guys could get to me. And I thought, ‘I am never going to hold him or be held by him again. I’m never going to kiss him again. I’m never going to get to tell him I love him again.’ And,” a sharp exhale, “fuck, it scared me. It scared me that I might never be able to do those things again, and it scared me that I thought I was going to die alone, with nobody there.”

“Shhh. It’s okay, I’m here.” The older man feels droplets of moisture on his arm that’s snaked under his neck and drops another kiss to his head. “I love you too, T. You’re not alone in working through this. It was a traumatic experience and it’ll take a while to get through it, but I’m with you the whole way, yeah?” A small nod from the smaller man, and a squeeze from the larger’s arms, careful not to tighten too much. “Good. I love you so much. I was so scared I was going to lose you. Not sure what I would’ve done if they hadn’t gotten to you. Thank fuck for Lina having the healing unit.”

It goes quiet, but Wash knows Tucker isn’t breathing deep and smooth enough to be sleeping, so he makes himself content with holding his boyfriend and allowing him time with his thoughts and emotions, confident he’ll talk if he wants to.

After some amount of time, Wash really isn’t sure how long, Tucker’s breathing does even out, and the blond hopes it’s a nice sleep he’s fallen into, not worrying about looking at the clock, knowing his alarm he set will go off when he needs to get up, armor up again, and head back to the war room for more assault tactic lookovers to finalize and confirm before upcoming missions, and he finds himself dozing on and off during the time.

“Mmm, Tucker?”

“Hm?”

“Gotta get up; my two hours is almost up; I have to be in armor and back in the war room in twenty minutes.”

“I don’t want you to go.”

“I don’t want to either; this is one time I’d be perfectly content to lay here with you until tomorrow morning, but I gotta go.”

“No, Wash, that’s not what I meant. I don’t know if I can handle being alone right now.”

“Go hang out with some of the other guys, there’s bound to be one of them that isn’t busy, or is just running drills and you can sit there with them.”

“I’m sure Carolina’s going to be in the war room with you, which means Church will be there, too, I can’t Caboose wrangle right now or I’ll open my incision and hurt myself worse. Simmons will bore me to death, Sarge will try to kill me, and Grif is disgusting. And I can’t take being around anybody else right now, it’s just…”

“Too much?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell you what, if you let me up right now, I’ll let you come to the war room with me and we’ll see about convincing Kimball and Doyle to let you sit in there, yeah?”

“That sounds fine.” Tucker starts to shift, wincing slightly as he does. “Ah, shit, I gotta take my pain meds too before we go up there. You start working on your armor, I’ll do that, and hopefully we can get there before they make me crazy tired like they did last night.”

“Hopefully.”

Tucker grabs his datapad that he had laid on the side table as the two head out the door, knowing he’s going to be bored at some point, slipping his other hand into Wash’s as they walk through the halls of the barracks, releasing it as they near the door. The two had officially been in a relationship since right after they were reunited but had yet to tell anybody except Carolina. Wash suspected a few other people had ideas about their relationship, but nobody had had the guts to come out and ask, and they were perfectly content with leaving it under the radar for as long as possible.

Wash reaches up, knocking on the door to the war room and waiting for the following ‘enter’ to open the door, Tucker closing it behind him. “Captain Tucker,” ‘that’s Kimball’s voice’ his subconscious reminds him through the slight haze of his medication starting to kick in, “good to see you out of the hospital, but what are you doing here?”

“Didn’t want to be alone.” He supplies before Wash can interject and say it in a more tactful way.

“I see. Please pull up a chair and feel free to spend as much time here as you want.”

“Thanks, ‘Nessa. I mean, uh, Kimball.”

“Sorry, Kimball, he took his pain meds right before we came, I think they’re taking effect.”

“I see,” an amused tone. “Now, back to the business at hand. Doyle, Carolina, and I were just discussing some plans for our assault on the small northern outpost.” A paper is slid across the table to the gray-and-yellow-clad soldier. “Here’s what information we have so far.”

Ten minutes later Tucker is snoring lightly, head lolled back and propped on the wall, and Wash rolls his eyes at his boyfriend before turning his attention back to the papers in front of him.

Nearly seven hours later the group is finished, helmets and gloves discarded around the room as they grew tired and started rubbing at their eyes. Tucker having gone back and forth between napping, playing around on his datapad, and picking at the small food supply that Kimball had brought to them around dinner time. Doyle grabs his armor pieces and leaves the room almost immediately, Kimball, Carolina, and Wash staying behind to talk a few minutes longer, both asking the freckle-faced man about Tucker’s wellbeing.

“He’s okay. I’m glad Carolina had the healing unit when she got to him, Dr. Grey doesn’t think he would’ve survived without it.” He glances over his shoulder, insuring that the dark-haired male is still asleep. “He’s at the point now that I’m sure he’ll be okay physically given time, but it messed him up a bit psychologically. That’s why I needed to leave for a while when he was released and why he came with me. He’ll be okay, I think, it’ll just take a while.”

“This… might be a sensitive question, but… Will he be okay at night? We don’t need him landing himself back in the hospital because he’s ripped his incision open during a nightmare.”

“It’s taken care of.”

“Okay…” Wash can see the question in her eyes, but is glad she doesn’t ask anything. And then Tucker ruins it.

“Babe? Why aren’t we in bed?” The slightly slurred question leaves Tucker’s mouth as he blinks back the light from the still harshly lit war room, trying to regain his bearings as to where he is.

“We’re in the war room, remember? Don’t worry, we’re about to go.”

“Okay.” Tucker struggles to stay awake through Wash’s explanation, snuggling back into the wall. Wash looks back over his shoulder, Carolina smirking at him, Kimball with a dark eyebrow raised.

“Agent Washington, I’m assuming that’s what you meant when you said ‘it’s taken care of’?”

“Yes, it is. Is there a problem with that, general Kimball?” The blond man is immediately on edge, posture straightening and stiffening, fight or flight response readying.

“Stand down, Wash, there’s no problem, I actually thought there might’ve been something,” there’s a softness to her dark eyes as an ever so slight smile graces her lips. “I’m happy for you both, I really am. I take it you already knew, Carolina?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Officially? Since right after we reunited. Though you could argue that we were basically in a relationship before the ship crashed.” Wash relaxes as the most genuine smile he’s seen from her graces Kimball’s dark tan skin, and he thinks briefly that he wishes for her sake she lived in a time or place where that smile could be used more often and her features not be hidden under a helmet, though he guesses one could say the same about all of them.

“I am happy for you both. Now, please, everybody get some rest tonight.” The three lean down, all picking up their discarded armor pieces. “And Wash? Tucker is welcome in here with us any time while he’s recovering.”

“Thank you, Kimball.”

By the time the pair get back to their room, Tucker is a little more cohesive than he had been, and Wash bumps his shoulder lightly. “Kimball knows.”

“Knows what?”

“About us.”

“What? How?”

“You half woke up in the war room and called me babe. She already suspected, though, and it’s not a problem.”

“Ooops, I’m sorry, I know we were trying to keep this under the radar.”

“It’s okay, Tucker. I’m actually kind of glad she knows. Doyle doesn’t yet, though, he had left already.” The two step through their door, Wash already pulling off more of his armor pieces, Tucker slowly pulling his clothes off, stripping down to his boxers like always.

“Wash? Will you hold me again tonight while we fall asleep?” Wash sees the unspoken ‘I need that reassurance’ in his eyes and smiles a gentle smile -one reserved strictly for Tucker and extremely rare times that Carolina sees it- and nods.

“Of course. It was very comfortable earlier.”

“Thank you.”

The couple crawls into the bed after Tucker takes another dose of his painkillers per Dr. Grey’s orders, finding a position that’s both comfortable for Tucker, but also close enough for him to feel the safety he needs and they drift off to sleep, each man having a peaceful night’s sleep being held by the other.

#mod becca #becca's writing #rvb #fanfics #post rvb season 12 #tuckington #lavernius tucker #agent washington #david washington #december one shot a day #one shot #one-shot

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calliecat93 · 5 years

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Red vs Blue Season 17 Review, Part One

On March 9th, 2019, Red vs Blue: Singularity premiered at last. After the monster cliffhanger of S16, to say that many of us had been anxious would be an understatement. Well, it’s several months later and the season has concluded it’s 12 episode run. So, was it good? Was it bad? Well… that’s a hard question to answer. But however we feel, we’re going to be going over it today in my Season 17 Review~!

This baby got a Hell of a lot longer than intended, so hopefully, it’s coherent. I tried to be firm, but honest. No matter what I think though, there is no arguing that these people put in a lot of work to make this season a reality. I never want that fact to be ignored. So thank you Jason, Miles, Josh, Austin, Greg, Joe, RT Animation, and everyone else for all the hard work. Couldn’t have been easy, but we appreciate it all the same~!

So with that said, for the final time, let us talk about Red vs Blue Season 17.

Visuals/Machinima

This season was unique in that not only was Halo 5 still being us, but they had to go back and use all the past renditions as well. It looked like they were going to use Halo 2 Anniversary for the paradox stuff, a familiar yet different design, but I guess someone decided it was better to just reuse the older games. Which I think was probably the right choice. Halo 2 Anniversary I think would have helped add this feeling of everything being off, but at the same time seeing the previous versions helps connect to the moments more. It adds more emotional investment since we’re seeing something that we recognize being fucked with. It meant more work for the Machinima team, and I hope that they’re all still alive and had a nice vacation after it was all over cause yikes. Their efforts are greatly appreciated~

The machinima was overall very good. Josh Ornelas has been with the show for six years as a machinimator and directed at least a few episodes of S14. So he was more than fit to be a co-director for this season. Austin Clark is newer and IDK when he started (my guess is around 14 or 15), but I think he’s shown that he’s perfectly capable both as a machinimator and as a director. I never noticed any issues with the machinima that threw me off… but as usual, it’s hard to critique what are essentially video game movements/defaults. Very least whenever the characters were emotional or something, I got the feeling from how the scene was framed. Even though you can’t see the faces, the machinimators know how to frame it to make you feel the intended emotion. Episode 9 with Carolina and Wash’s talk I think demonstrated that. Yeah, the VA-ing helped, but you can see the emotion, even though there’s no emotion to display. And while Austin handled the even-numbered episodes and Josh the odd ones, everything felt like they were on the same page, which is essential when co-directing. They both did an excellent job directing.

Animation was sadly sparse compared to the last season. Wasn’t bad though. There were some good bits, like the opening credits and Wash directing his gun at Genkins in Episode 3. Oh. and Genkins getting stabbed with his own golf club was pretty gruesome, especially with his writhing around, but seeing the original Halo animated was nice. We only got one fight scene, but it was Carolina vs Carolina and it was badass. Not as creative as the Donut vs O’Malley fight, but still really good and impactful. Loved it!. The sets and effects were all very good. Just look at the opening. The effects used for The Everwhen looked really cool and other-worldly. The Labyrinth looked pretty creepy, as it should be considering its true nature. And of course, all the previous Halo’s still looked good… maybe a little dated with Halo: CE but still as good as it did in the remaster.

Overall, visually speaking, the season was really good. The machinima looked great and was directed competently. I felt engaged, and that’s what’s important. Definitely one of the season high points.

Voice Acting/Music

We’re mainly going to be discussing Dan Godwin, Shannon McCormick, Jen Brown, Ricco Fajardo, and Lee Eddy. Everyone else in the main cast was pretty much at the expected level of quality. There’s sadly not much to talk about specifically, which we’ll go more into during the character section. But Joel, Matt, Gus, Geoff, Becca, and Jason Saldana all did well and gave the quality that I expect from them, just nothing that stands out really. I’ll say this, Geoff and Becca’s performance in the finale was very strong and emotional and I loved it. Matt he both got to do Wyoming again and had to do Doc and O’Malley at the same time, which he nailed perfectly. And hearing Burnie as Church again was really nice… but never let him do English Lopez again. Ever.

Let's talk about villains first. Ricco Fajardo as Genkins is freakin’ fantastic. While we got glimpses of it last season, Genkins fun but truly shitty self is on full display this season. And Ricco is clearly having the time of his life recording it. He’s just always so cheerful and having fun, but it feels so messed up and sadistic due to the circumstances. But he owns it. Sometimes having a villain who is just shitty can be fun, especially if you have a competent actor doing it. And Ricco absolutely nailed it. We also have Lee Eddy, who voiced 479er, make her return to RvB as Chrovos. She too is clearly having a fun time. She goes full-on Large Ham with Chrovos’ theatrics and basting but also portrays her getting fed up very well. It’s the Gwen in her showing, haha. But yeah, these are two fun villain characters, and the performances very much reflected that. Loved it~

Next, we have our Freelancers, Shannon and Jen. They both got the emotions hard this season. Which considering how their plot ended last season, is no surprise. It’s no shock that these two did very well, but… man… Jen had to express a lot of guilt, but also a lot of tears and pain. Which she did very well. Carolina feels terrible and has to accept that her efforts were in vain, and Jen conveyed that very well. The second that Carolina breaks down in Episode 9… God, I just wanted to hug her. Then there’s Episode 11 where Carolina is confronting her past self, and it truly does feel like two different characters, even though it’s the same actress. It was a very strong performance this season, arguably her best one yet.

Then we have Shannon. Oh golly, Shannon. How long has he been doing Wash now? Over a decade, right? He knows this character in and out… and he perfectly shows that this season. Wash has a lot to get through this season. His anger at Carolina, him having to accept what happened, accept what has to happen, it’s a lot. Shannon nails it. From going back and forth between normal and crazy in Episode 3 to any time his anger at Carolina showed, to his talk with Carolina in Episode 5, his acceptance of his fate and prepping for it in Episode 9, and his horror to seeing everyone die in 11. And he still got lighter moments, like his interactions with Donut, which were super enjoyable. Shannon just knocked it out of the park this season, and I loved it.

But of course, the one I have to give the biggest kudos to is Dan Godwin. While he has performed Donut since the very beginning… well, he only got to do so much since Donut only got to do so much. He never did a bad job, or he was on par with everyone else, but he simply wasn’t really allowed to go beyond ‘optimistic, innuendo-spouting moron’. That is, until now. Dan got to do so much this season. He got a full range to do with Donut that he really never got, or only got so briefly. He got to be emotional, he got to be angry, he got to be frustrated, he got to be utterly done with absolutely everything. And he conveyed all of that very well. Heck, I think the pitch even lowered a little bit compared to before, or it felt less squeaky as the season went on. It feels more like an in-between of Blood Gulch Donut and pre-Paradox Donut, which I think works. Overall, Dan got to show how much experience with the character he really has after so many years of not getting to, and he was by far the best performer due to it.

Everyone in the cast did great. Even for brief returns like Miles and Gray with the Mercs, Arryn Zech with Dr. Grey, and the Freelancers all did a great job. Jason Weight as Grif’s coach was also simultaneously hilarious and scary. He clearly put his all into it, anyways. As for the music… what? Ae we surprised that it was good? David Levy and Trocadero again delivered a solid soundtrack. The fact that we have to wait for both this soundtrack and still for the S16 soundtrack continues to upset me. But at least it means a lot of quality tracks whenever they do come out. Solid job overall from the music team.

Characters

So one of the problems with these reviews is I have to remember to look at things two ways: as a fan and as a critic. We had a lot of really good character stuff with some characters… and not so much with others. And looking at it as a fan and then as a critic causes two widely different perspectives regarding this section. Normally I’d rather get the negative out of the way, but to explain the negative I have to talk about the positives first. Hopefully, I don’t come off as too harsh, but I want to be honest in this review as well. So.. here we go.

Okay, happy first. The two main focuses of this season are Donut and Wash. Let's do Wash, and in turn Carolina, first. Wash… well, got put to the side last season for the most part. His plot was mainly focused on his brain damage that he didn’t know about and ended with his blow up at Carolina. Which we all know what that leads to. Here, Wash has to deal with the fallout of it. He gets to stabilize and be back to pre-brain damage and is determined to save the others… but his anger at Carolina is lingering. His arc this season is about him forgiving Carolina, helping Donut, and accepting his own fate. I think, overall, Wash had a very good arc. And this is coming from someone who is not that big of a Wash fan.

Wash’s anger at Carolina is understandable, but he realizes that she did it out of concern for him and never meant to hurt him, and especially after talking to her in Episode 5 and how even when paradox’d she still trusts him, he forgives her. Carolina, in turn, has to deal with the immense guilt of her actions… again. Yeah, the fact that we got another ‘Carolina is guilty’ story after Freelancer, S13, and S15, it’s feeling a little repetitive. But her emotions regarding it were very well written. You do really feel the remorse and understand why she did what she did. It makes it even worse when in Episode 9, Wash accepts what has to happen and Carolina has to accept it. It was one of the toughest scenes in the season but was such a beautiful, poignant moment for both. They still have problems, like Wash fears of losing everyone and Carolina has past issues lingering still over Freelancer and her family. But it’s safe to say that they’ve both become closer and stronger.

The biggest character of this season is, of course, Donut. This was a long time coming. Up until the end of the last season, Donut was probably the most underutilized character in the show aside from maybe Lopez and Doc. He went from a dumb but semi-competent rookie to a flamboyant, one-note joke character. Like after Blood Gulch I can't think of anything significant that he contributed. Recollection more or less wrote him out/killed him off, Chorus did nothing with him, and S15 also did nothing with him and even forgot him in certain scenes. S16 began to fix that, having Donut get annoyed at being ignored, nearly betray everyone, and then get into one of the shows best fight scenes by far. So we were building up for something for this season, and sure enough, it came and it came hard… was that at innuendo? Dang it Donut, you’ve influenced me too much!

This was developed for Donut that was loooong overdue. He further got frustrated with being ignored and belittled by everyone around him. He recognized his innuendo problem and tried to actively improve it. He showed some of that competence he had in Blood Gulch, piecing things together and actively taking charge since he understood things the most. When he told everyone off in Episode 7, it felt so satisfying because of how long he’s been treated like a nuisance when he was at worst a little annoying and TMI. He was willing, tried his best, and it really felt like he was finally allowed to be more than just a joke. It really made me like and appreciate Donut a LOT more than I did before. Like he used to not just be my least favorite Red, but my least favorite of the BGC. Now? He’s right below Grif and Simmons on the Overall Favorites List. Yeah, that’s a LOT of places.

Donut was great and I wouldn't change him getting him this development… but this development did come at a cost. That being development for everyone else. The other Reds and the Blues were shafted and shafted pretty badly. The first half of the season, they are trapped with no memory and go about how they would in that time period. Which okay, it’s necessary for the plot so we can overlook that one. They get restored in Episode 6… and they are STILL badly shafted. They are all joke characters, which does NOT work when we’re this deep in the plot. I mean we get some moments, like Tucker reliving his failure on Crash Site Bravo and recognizing his fault over the past few seasons, Sarge has his scenario in Episode 11 that I thought was very insightful, but those are small moments. Sadly, Donut got too much attention. Even with Wash, him realizing how he was the Donut of Freelancer was more or less contributing to making Donut look good, as did Tucker’s moment. I like those scenes and I love Donut… but not everything had to be about him. He’s the main character, not the only one.

Let's do the Blues first. As I said, there were more or less just there and had no real major character development or effect on the plot. But that being said, they were given some legit good stuff. Tucker got it the best as he re-lived Crash Site Bravo and finally realized true leadership was. It was about stepping up when no one else would and when things were at their bleakest, not being the cool, macho guy like he kept acting like it was. Which after these past two seasons, was nice to see. I was one of the people who were perfectly fine with how Tucker was written the past two seasons because I could see why he had regressed. But I do know that a lot of people didn’t like it, and this feels like a good way to bring it all around. Have Tucker relive his worst moment, this time having to let it go through, and therefore truly remember what caused him to step up on Chorus: because he had to. It’s short, but it does its job and this along with his Labyrinth vision I think has really helped Tucker’s character immensely.

Caboose is overall pretty minor but had some good scenes like beating the shit out of Genkins in Episode 6 and figuring out how time travel worked before the others. It helps show that he’s an idiot, but he’s a smart idiot (if that makes any sense) and was a step up from his limited screentime last season. He also had my favorite line in the entire season (“These graphics look horrible!”). Sister was overall minor, but I’ll go into her later. You’ll see why when I get there. Doc was overall also minor and how the Hell he was in the Everwhen I’ll never know, but I do like him in the finale and finally getting a grip on O’Malley. He more or less is a combo of the two now and seems much more capable due to it, so that’s good. So yeah, while it may not have been a lot, the Blues and Doc were at least given something, which is better than nothing at all.

The Reds though… so you know how these past two seasons started giving them more development? You would think that since Donut is the main character, that would continue, right? Haha… nope! They went right back to ‘the comedy relief team who do absolutely nothing!’! Which after the past two seasons started to do more with them… yeah, this felt like a slap in the face. Sarge annoyed me this season. Mainly in Episode 7 where he was a hypocritical asshole about Donut’s betrayal, ignoring how he not that long ago betrayed everyone and was still feeling guilty about it. He was also the one primarily being a jerk to Donut, which did not do him any favors. I know it’s Sarge and he’s an asshole, so it’s not 100% unexpected… but I felt like it was pushed too much just to contribute to the ‘Donut is so unappreciated!’ arc. His speech in Episode 6 was hilarious though and I did like his Labyrinth vision showing that he can't handle both civilian or army life. It was surprisingly insightful in a way that I’m not used to with Sarge. So yeah, I feel his screentime was on par with Sister and Caboose at least.

Simmons… got nothing. Absolutely nothing. I mean the running gag where he kept seeing Donut shot was really funny, and it also meant he wasn't an asshole like Sarge. Heck, he seemed to be the only one willing to hear Donut out about saving them in Episode 7. And he did more or less point out how they could launch the gold club through the portal to stop Genkind from reigniting the paradox, which was minor but nice to see for him. Him not being a kissass anymore is also sticking, which seeing him back when he was pettier in Episode 2 did make me appreciate where he is now. The way that he was legit concerned for Donut during the ‘Wash shoots Donut’ gag also helps make it look like he at least cared about him in contrast to Sarge’s jackassery. But he was otherwise just there. Very least, it also means he was the only Red that I didn’t get frustrated about since his character remained consistent… until the finale with the utter bullshit that was his nightmare. Seriously guys, what the fuck?!

But at least with Sarge and Simmons, they weren’t exactly in the spotlight last season, so I don’t feel like I got cheated with them. I cannot say the same about Grif, however. Which we will cover that, as well as the Story section, in Part Two.

(Part Two)

#rvb #rvb17 #rvb spoilers #rvb reviews #callie reviews

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dgknightblue · 9 months

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I’m going to add ice skating to my Simmons head cannon.

Sometimes a K or a D ends up in Simmons when I spell it so:

Knife Simmons tots cannon he has a knife collection

Post bottom and Top Surgery Simmons

Simmons got Top surgery from Sarge since he did his own Top surgery and knew how to do it.

(Sarge got his bottom surgery from old command)

Then when he was reassigned his bottom surgery was covered by new command.

They also altered his robotics so that he doesn’t shot his own foot and fixed some of the mistakes that sarge totally didn’t make.

Then Dr. Grey got a hold of him one day and made some upgrades with alien tech with Sarge. Church helped :3

Tattoos… who has them? Grif, Tucker, Kai, Donut

Piercings….. who has those? Simmons, Grif, Kai, Washington

What else? Hair dye? Kai, Simmons, Dr. Grey

#cute #head canon #red vs blue #rvb Simmons #rvb grif #rvb sarge #rvb Tucker #rvb Dr grey #rvb dr gray #rvb doc #rvb donut #rvb church #rvb washington #rvb kai

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justgenlockthings · 5 years

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gen:VIEW Episode 3 “Second Birthday”

Now let’s reflect on gen:LOCK’s first week of life, huh? Almost universal positive critical reception, with digression for its avoidance of really explaining much of the backdrop of the world in favor of more character-based interactions and awesome fight sequences. The gen:CRIT crowd threw a few more hissy fits before realizing there really wasn’t enough content for them to successfully nitpick, so they have more or less quieted down (either that or I’ve just become really good at ignoring anime snobs). A surprising number of fan theories have sprouted out from a mere hour of content. Valid comparisons to previous Western attempts at mecha anime like Voltron: Legendary Defender have been brought up, though I question how applicable they are to an independent company like Rooster Teeth.

Overall, it’s not a mind-blowingly popular show, and I wouldn’t expect it to be given it’s on an otherwise relatively unknown streaming platform with a still-divisive subscription service. But for the most part everyone who’s watched it has loved it and wants to see more, and the fandom is pretty steadily growing. I’ve seen people who’ve spent years avoiding FIRST accounts who bit the bullet and bought a subscription just so they could watch this.

So, how did the third episode go?

Training Daze

Alright, now this is the character intro I was hoping for. Not a lot of the action of the premiere in this episode, save for the training sequence, but the dialogue gave us a much-needed chance to learn more about the gen:LOCK recruits and their superiors. In the first half of the episode, Gray and Evan’s writing and some really great vocal performances (in particular from Asia Kate Dillon, Monica Rial, David Tennant, and Michael B. Jordan) do well to convey the stakes of their current situation, as well as the mindsets of these characters. True, we don’t really know what’s up with the Union, and if Gray’s to be believed we’re not gonna learn a whole lot more this season, but we know that things are bad for the Vanguard, and that the war has made the new recruits quite weary of throwing themselves into this program.

Likewise, the writing and Gray’s direction during the actual training sequence gave us a chance for some light-hearted action that showed us the characters’ styles, compared to the dramatic tones of the Imposter!Sinclair fight in “There’s Always Tomorrow.” The creativity the recruits had to employ to get past the striders showed us how their minds worked in battle under maybe less dire circumstances, and their increasingly frantic attempts at outsmarting the pilots provided as much insight into their thought process as it provided laughs. It felt like a reassurance that despite the war backdrop, these characters will still have a chance to have their own fun, and we the viewers are along for the ride.

Coming off of that, the humor also came through much more in this episode. It’s not quite the same brand of humor we know from RvB, and it’s not even quite the anime-inspired humor we see in RWBY. It’s more based in Gilligan Cuts, a dash of slapstick, dry remarks, and character clashes: this is definitely where Gray’s love of British comedy gets a chance to shine. I admit, Rooster Teeth shows haven’t been great at actually making me laugh out loud in a while, but some of the material in this episode elicited a genuine chuckle.

And yet despite the distinctly light-hearted tone, gen:LOCK doesn’t shy away from its dramatic story. There’s a strong underlying implication that the Union's effect on the world is even more devastating than what we saw in the premiere: we hear it in Valentina’s remarks on leaving combat, in Colonel Marin and Dr. Weller’s conversation, and in the arrival of the medivac transports. It was a reminder that this is a series about conflict, and nothing could make that more clear than Dr. Weller’s little speech, an obvious nod to the cycle of horrible news we’ve become numb to in recent years. gen:LOCK means business with its politics: Gray has a very clear idea of what he wants to say with this series, and it’s a message I think we could all use.

Conclusions

This episode feels like a breather after the insanity that was the first hour of content. For that reason, my initial reaction was that it was a comparatively weaker installment, but I can’t pay that much mind: even for a slower story, it’s still a pretty strong episode. We get some strong character interactions and insight, a better idea of the stakes of the series, and some well thought-out political messages. gen:LOCK is ticking all the marks of a good show in my book, and I look forward to seeing the next episode.

(Real talk tho: I hope we get a mech fight in the next one.)

#gen:lock #gen:lock spoilers #gen:view #gen:lock reviews #gen:lock analysis #analysis #reviews

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trawpius · 6 years

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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

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