Red vs. Blue/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

• Church's "ghost form" seems like it originated from the idea that ghosts should be white. But in the light of The Reveal, you have to ask yourself: What happens when you split white light?
• User:Peteman: Sarge's speech is awesome, no doubt, but his opening lines "do you ever wonder why we're here" has a double meaning. The question was originally answered assuming they were being asked why are they there, doing what they're doing, while the original question is about why they aren't in the shade. Sarge's question is asking about the former, but in the end, he's talking about bring to light the events that happened, as opposed to keeping people in the dark.
• Caboose' dislike of Tucker seems funny and random until you realize that Tucker throughout the Blood Gulch Chronicles was essentially Church's best friend. Hence Caboose is Jealous of Tucker.
• Grif's supposed status as Brilliant but Lazy. He's so lazy that thinking itself is too much effort for him short of life-and-death.
• Why were Wyoming's clones beaten so soundly when he himself appeared a credible threat? Because Wyoming prefers dirty-handed tactics and is more of an assassin than a real fighter. Examples include sneaking up behind Phil before killing him off, sniping people from a distance and looping time until he wins.
  • Wyoming was doing somewhat OK. A few of him got sniped, but they were able to corner the blues. It wasn't until the red came and mowed them down with the chaingun on the warthog that they got beaten soundly, which is understandable, since very few can withstand that weapon.
• In season 9, we are lead to believe that the director sends in Tex to help the Dakota twins after they botch their mission. However, it instead turns out to be Agent Carolina with her "Chameleon" armor upgrade. The fact that it wasn't Tex makes perfect sense because, assuming this takes place before the creation or fragmentation of the Alpha, that means that the Tex we all know didn't even exist yet.
  • I thought up two things about this. Either this is the Directors lover, which explains why she is badass like Tex. The other theory is that this is the body that Tex ends up possessing. Either one could explain why the un-named Freelancer is so much like Tex.
    • Or, as it turns out, she's just really good at being a Freelancer. Pity that we know (from what Delta says in season 6) that she's going to end up being given two A Is and go crazy.
• If Tex and Church's relationship reportedly ended badly, and Tex even brutally betrayed Church to learn the truth about her creation, why does Church keep fighting for her, and why can't they seem to just get rid of each other and move on? Because Tex is based on the woman the Director loved (and whom supposedly loved him back), and yet is destined to fail at everything she wants, their entire relationship is one cruel cycle: they fall in love, but Tex will always be unable to commit fully at the last second. Talk about brutal.
  • Holy crap!! That's almost as messed up as Evangelion!!
• Fridge Awesome here (is that a thing?): Doc's actions in the last episode of Revelation. Think about it: despite everything that Wash and the Meta have put him through, Doc decides to save Washington. Wash responds to this by insulting him. A few minutes later, Doc sides with Church, and Washington doesn't even factor in that he'll have to go through the guy who saved his life to get at Epsilon. A few minutes after that, Wash is dying, and Doc is - again - the only one who can help. He's been a lousy medic for long enough that he knows he can get away with letting him die. He has no reason to help him and every reason to "accidentally" let his scalpel slip (Doc isn't really clued-in here, so he might even think that Wash will start fighting again if he gets back up). But does he? Does he even consider it? No, he pulls together all his experience, gives it everything he's got, and saves him so that he goddamn STAYS saved. And then he walks away without getting anything for it.
• If the theory about Vic being an AI or VI is true, that would explain why and how Lopez translated Vic's message to Spanish in Season 4. (And how Sarge was able to translate it back into English with Andy.) An ordinary voice recording wouldn't have been translated to another language, especially not with the correct inflections while preserving the original voice and tone. But if that recording was actually a computer-generated message, Lopez's Spanish setting could've recognized the program and changed it to his default language: Spanish! Lopez, Andy, and Vic could all have similar programming: one was made from a robot kit sent by command, one was built out of pieces of armor, and one is theoretically an AI or VI.
• In season 9, episode 10, Wash has a moment when he assumes Tex is a guy. When South calls him out on it, he then accidentally calls Tex an "it." It may be him being a dork at the moment, but knowing what Tex actually is...
• After the big reveal in Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction where Church is revealed to actually be a super-advanced A.I. program, this troper recalled a conversation between Church and Caboose in the first season where Caboose's unique train of thought comes to the conclusion that Church is "a gay robot", which could either be taken as subtle foreshadowing or dumb coincidence (whether or not Church is gay, however, is still left to be decided). -- Omny87
  • At first, it seems the Ice map Avalanche had no real significance in being the location for the conclusion of Revelation. It was only recently that I realized that map's Halo 1 equivalent, Sidewinder, was the place where Tex made her first appearance in a Curb Stomp Battle, and Avalanche has Tex getting brutally killed by the Meta - in other words, it's meant to show that Tex's story has come full circle. -- Battra09416
  • At the end of Reconstruction, The Director of Project Freelancer, Dr. Leonard Church, states "My mind has always plagued me with the question: If the choice had been placed in my hands, could I have saved her? The memory of her has haunted me my entire life, moreso in these last few years than I could ever have imagined. But given the events of these past few weeks, I feel confident that had I been given the chance, I would have made those sacrifices myself. Had I only the chance." But why would "the events of the past few weeks," the struggle between Wash, the Meta, and Command, have convinced the Director? It didn't. It was Church and his sacrifice that convinced Dr. Church that he would have done the same - just like the AI that was based off of him.
• As this troper was finishing season nine, a thought struck me. At first, Tex's sudden ultra competence bugged the hell out of me. It was out of nowhere. She takes out Maine, York and Wyoming with relative ease. But then... again, an idea came to mind. Despite how awesome and badass she is, in the end, she's a deconstruction of the Mary Sue. She's everything The Director wanted her to be, as she's the memory of someone he once loved. But her death is an integral part of that memory. As Epsilon explains, the memory of her death dooms her to a cycle of failure at critical moments, turning the tide against herself at the last second. On top of that, her abilities don't endear her to Carolina or Wash, and the Blues and Reds like to think of her as the "scary chick." Only Church risks life and limb for her, and even Tucker points out that's just unhealthy. Mary Sues are supposed to be loved by everyone. Instead, Tex fosters fear, resentment or paranoia, and at the height of her power she inevitably fails. As cool as she can be, she's just as broken as Church. - Quadrophenia
• The Meta. Apparently he was trying to assemble a second Alpha using the AI fragments used as Freelancer equipment. What's the second letter in the Greek alphabet, the one that comes after Alpha? Beta. Throw an M in there and you have Meta.
• So far I have only started the seventh season so if i'm wrong correct me, but all the freelancers, who use the reds and blues for training purposes, have either purple (the mix of red and blue), white (the blending of all colors) or black (the absence of all color). I cant think of a meaning for grey that fits in my fridge moment. On a further note, the two purple characters i have seen, Doc and South, are people who either a) healing people regardless of side or b) are chronic backstabbers and the meta (white) is trying to get all the A.I.s which are colored in primary colors. Can any one think of anything else to add?
• I don't know if this was intended or not, but think about this. In Episode 2 of the BGC, Sarge says, sarcastically, that they won and that Grif is the big hero. Take that as Grif being the reason that Red Team won at Blood Gulch. Later, in the mini-series Relocated, Lopez informs Sarge that Red Team actually DID win at Blood Gulch because Lopez killed Grif's sister. So technically, a Grif was the cause of Red Team's victory at Blood Gulch! Foreshadowing!
• Anyone with understanding of genetics would realized that it would be pretty hard for Sister to be colorblind but not Griff. Then it hits you. She's not colorblind. She's so stupid that she can't tell the difference between red and blue.
  • It's possible that Grif is colorblind, just not as stupid as Sister.
  • Or Grif and Sister actually have different fathers.
• Especially after all the retcons, the series is now, arguably, a Love Story (albeit a reeeeeeeeally screwed up one). Seeing as how the existence of the Freelancers, Red and Blue bases, and a large chunk of the plot are pretty much due to the Director's love for Allison, and Church's feelings for Tex drive a large chunk of the rest of the plot, almost from Day One. Caboose's feelings for Church (whether you want to classify them as platonic or not) also end up being a strong motivator of the plot at certain points, too.
• No idea if this is intentional or not, but I love that The Reveal of Washington's first name comes as he is cornered and (seemingly) alone and squaring off for an (apparently) hopeless battle against the Meta and the Director.
• You know how Junior is supposedly the Christ figure of the aliens? Wouldn't that make Tucker, his mother, the Virgin Mary (emphasis on "virgin")?
• This was most likely a coincidence, but in The Bible, Revelation 20:1-3 reads, "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time." Fitting how, in Revelation episode 20, the Meta is killed by being chained to a Warthog and flung into an icy abyss.
• You know how Tex's main attribute is failure? Well, after both times the Meta absorbed Tex, he failed in both of his goals (he got all his AI emp'd, and then got killed by simulation troopers). So, it's safe to say that absorbing Tex caused the Meta to inherit Tex's attribute of failure as if it were his own!
• Gamma never really sent Church back in time. He just did what Tex said he did to the Alpha back before the Blood Gulch Chronicles. He created a scenario that made Church suffer by making him believe every bad thing that had happened in Blood Gulch was his fault.
• At first, it bothered me that Caboose got over Church so quickly and basically replaced him with Wash. Then, it occurred to me that Wash's lean-mean-killing-machine qualities might be what attracted Caboose to Church in the first place. Church is mean and snarky. Wash is even more mean and snarky, so of course Caboose likes him better.
  • Strangely, though, Wash seems less mean and snarky after spending time on blue team. It might just be because he's a more effective leader. Hell, he's probably been teaching Caboose and Tucker combat skills. Maybe even the Reds.
• A meta example: The season 10 premiere was the highest rated ever. What's the very first line of dialogue? "And now, the moment you've all been waiting for ... "

Fridge Horror

• The Red & Blue Zealots. Especially in light of the news that all of the Red vs Blue battles are simulations and that at least some of the soldiers are put into 'lock down' when they suffer supposedly mortal wounds and can be 'reset' by F.I.L.S.S. as was the case with Donut in S8, and we realize now, Sarge in S1... what does that make the perpetually self-slaughtering and respawing festival of madness that is the Zealots? What even is the purpose of that simulation? Those questions are bad enough... but then add on to that the fact that Freelancers were supposed to get in there to train up. Man, I almost feel bad for those guys...(the Freelancers, I mean)
• Given what we know about the nature of AI possession (at least in the case of O'Malley), one has to wonder how much of the Meta's actions were Maine, and how much were all the AIs inside his head. It's possible that Maine was just a passenger, unable to even speak as the AIs forced him to slaughter his way through his former allies.
• Wash inherited every memory Epsilon had. Think about that. Not only does he remember the entire experience of Alpha being tortured to insanity, he remembers everything from The Director's life at the point of Alpha's creation. He has the memories of three different beings crammed in his head. One of them went insane and had to remove those memories, the other led a life of obsession over his lost love. Does no one wonder how Wash can even function, anymore?
  • Repression. Lots and lots of repression.
• The Chairman's "trophies" in his office are a set full of items recovered from Project Freelancer. Sure, it becomes a Chekhov's Armoury toward the end of season 13 that comes in handy, but at the same time. The exact contents are a bit unsettling including: Tex's final robot body's severed head (with the stab wound), the memory unit Epsilon went into (with the blade deployed), the alien eye-artifact Caboose initially put Epsilon into, the Grifshot (Meta's former weapon), and Carolina's pistol... The same one she left with the former Director of Project Freelancer her father when they last saw each other, meaning that was the gun he committed suicide with... Tucker was right... Hardgrove DOES have issues!