History VideoGame / CommandAndConquerRedAlert

* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: Compared to the other two games in the series, this game retains the most serious tongue.

* HeroicBSOD: Stravos suffers this as his home, Greece, falls into the vile clutches of the Soviet Union.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Delivered nicely in the Allied ending onto Joseph Stalin by none other than Stravos, whose country Stalin destroyed in the war.]]

* CutscenePowerToTheMax: All superweapons are implied to be much more potent than their in-game usefulness (or uselessness) might suggest.

* PowerCreepPowerSeep: The Soviets have become progressively sillier, cartoonier villains as the series ran its course, going from fear-inspiring Nazi counterparts in Red Alert 1 to near laughable villains by RedAlert3 - along with the rest of the universe, though. Uprising undoes it a bit, having a bit of seriousness (particularly the Soviet campaign). In-Game, Mammoth Tanks and their counterparts have become progressively less threatening over the series - while they were always vulnerable to good micro, by RA3 they were utterly helpless against aircraft and could be disabled by (none-too) tactful application of a freeze ray.

* SchizoTech: The technology is all over the place, with assault rifles from '49, helicopters from '72, and ''GPS''. On a general scale, the tech level is that of 'Nam.

* KlingonPromotion: [[spoiler: Nadia poisons Stalin at the end of the Soviet campaign.]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: JosephStalin is supposed to be this in ''Red Alert'', except that, well... given the historical circumstances, it's actually a [[AxCrazy pretty accurate]] [[MnogoNukes portrayal]] [[TheCaligula of the]] [[PresidentEvil guy]].

!! The ''Red Alert'' series provides examples of:

<<|VideoGameGenres|>>

* KickTheDog: Right away in the first Soviet mission of ''Red Alert'', Stalin tells you to wipe out a village of civilians by strafing them with fighter planes.

* HumanResources: Yuri's Bio-Reactors from the ''Red Alert 2'' expansion. They don't generate much power on their own, but "garrison" infantry in them and they become some of the best power plants in the game.

* HurricaneOfPuns: In ''[=RA3=] Uprising'', everything the Cryo Legionnaire says are cold-related puns of commonly used terms and {{Bond One Liner}}s such as "It's snow time!" and "Let's kick some ice!", this said imitating Schwarzenegger's voice, who acted as Mr. Freeze in the Worst Batman Movie Of All Time. The name of the unit itself is a pun of an Allied unit from ''[=RA2=]''.
** Tesla Troopers with electricity puns such as "Here is your electric bill", " No Resistance" , "Like a Christmas tree", "Why so negative?".
*** This started with the Shock Troopers from the first game's add-on pack, ''The Aftermath''. "Extra crispy!" "Fully charged!" "''Shocking!''"
** The ''[=RA2=]'' Desolators spout nuclear and environmental puns, such as "[[TheBeatles Here Comes The Sun!]]" and "It will be a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring Silent Spring]]." Given the nature of the Desolator and the timeframe of the game, this could even be a HistoricalInJoke.

* EmpathyDollShot: Right at the start of the Soviet campaign, as the Soviet air force strafes fleeing villagers. [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption You gave the orders.

''Red Alert 2'' is set during the 70's, when the supposed puppet-Premier of the USSR leads a world communist alliance in a surprise invasion of the United States, with the help of the mindbending psychic Yuri. Though once more the Allies rally to win the war, Yuri has his own plans and steals a time machine in an attempt to conquer the past. He's thwarted, but the time travel shenanigans aren't finished.

In ''{{Red Alert 3}}'' Soviet scientists conclude that the Allies keep winning due to possessing Albert Einstein's technology, and so they build their own time machine to remove the physicist from history. This has the unintended side-effect of allowing a third faction to emerge, the Japan-based Empire of the Rising Sun. By the 1980's all three powers struggle once more for dominance, using some of the most insane arsenals ever imagined.

* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Battle Fortress and IFV are awesome in their own way. The IFV can change armaments depending on the troop type it is carrying; the Battle Fortress can crush other vehicles!
* BadassArmy: Everyone.
* BadassBystander: The Hollywood actors that ally with the Allied commander during the Hollywood mission in Yuri's revenge are fairly badass in their own right.
** Generic civilians in other RA2 missions will also sometimes open fire on enemy troops (yours or the opposition, depending). They don't do very much damage. This is slightly more prevalent in Yuri's Revenge, if any mind-controlled civilians happen to be standing around Yuri's structures when the player disables the psychic dominators on the map.

* BondOneLiner The Desolator from ''Red Alert 2'' and the Shock Trooper from ''Red Alert: The Aftermath''. Ironically, the Spy, who is a ShoutOut to JamesBond ''himself'', doesn't use them except in ''Red Alert 3'' when bribing enemy units ("Come on, fight for the winning team!").
** Pretty much any unit from ''Red Alert 2'' and beyond
*** Special mention goes to Apocalypse Tank: "It is day of judgment," said in a voice so low and rumbling it could register on a Richter scale.
* ButtMonkey: The Soviet Hammer Tank instructor in ''Red Alert 3'', during the tutorial. He is the one who is shot at the most by the other instructors (Allied Guardian Tank and Rising Sun Tsunami Tank) in annoyance for dumb questions, getting on their nerves, etc. Also, it's usually the Soviet army that the Tsunami Tank's "training robots" are modeled after. In the last tutorial mission, however, [[spoiler: he causes a FunnyBackgroundEvent where he slinks away and comes back as an ''Apocalypse Tank'', causing the Tsunami Tank, his main bully, to do a DoubleTake.]]
* CanonDisContinuity: The references in ''Red Alert'' that tied it into the Tiberium saga as a prequel are ignored in later ''Red Alert'' titles, even though many of them were Crowning Moments of Awesome. ''Red Alert 1'''s hardcore fanbase was displeased.
** WordOfGod states that while Red Alert remains a prequel to Tiberian Sun, Red Alert 2 is the result of more time traveling shenanigans, making Red Alert 2 an ''alternate'' alternate future.
* CloningBlues: the Cloning Vats of ''[=RA2=]'' and ''Yuri's Revenge'', as well as Yuriko of ''[=RA3=]'' being cloned several times, powering the Empire's ultimate ultimate weapon with many of her doubles. In ''Uprising'' she heads out to destroy a facility which has the sole role of mass cloning her.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The Soviets are red and the Allies blue, with certain [[JustifiedTrope justifications]] due to their political structure.
** Subverted with in-game cutscenes, where it's shown that both Allied and soviet Soldiers wear uniforms more practical for the situation (white camo for winter missions, and green camo for woodland areas).

* EmpathyDollShot: Right at the start of the original Soviet campaign, as the Soviet air force strafes fleeing villagers. [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption You gave the orders.]]
* EnemyMine: One example is to be found in ''Red Alert 3'' during the Allied campaign when the Empire of the Rising Sun attacks-the Allies and Soviets call a ceasefire to destroy the Empire, and proceed to betray each other at about the same time.
** Happens in the ''Yuri's Revenge'' expansion to ''{{Red Alert}} 2'' as well, when the Soviets and Allies team up to fight Yuri.
* EverythingIsBigInTexas: In ''Red Alert 2'', one Soviet mission has you hunting down the U.S. president in San Antonio. All of the male civilians wear cowboy hats and fire handguns at you. The U.S. base is actually around the Alamo, though they don't garrison it. But you can.
** Also played with: When the Soviets invade Texas from Mexico, one of their Apocalypse Tanks is shown crushing a "Don't mess with Texas" sign under its treads. The Apocalypse is the biggest tank in the game, of course.
* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: Soviet anti-ship squid from ''Red Alert 2''.
* EvilLaugh: Tanya may not be on the "evil" side, but just ''listen'' to her maniacal laughter as she mows down swathes of enemy infantry with GunsAkimbo.
** [[MadBomber Crazy Ivan]] from ''Red Alert 2''
* {{Expy}}: The original Red Alert was simply a morality-flipped version of GDI and Nod acting as, respectively, the Soviets and Allies with some minor changes to both, though differences quickly arose. By ''The Aftermath'', though, the Allies and Soviets had become much less like their Tiberian counterparts.
* {{Fanservice}}: ''Red Alert 3'' is presenting more and more of this stuff.
** Just pick ANY woman in ''[=RA3=]'', starting with the one on the cover. (Suki Toyama is a partial exception in that her uniform is not particularly revealing, though she gets her moment at the end of the Imperial Campaign)
*** The "Premier Edition" of the game came with a special "Girls of Red Alert 3" Cheesecake poster.
** It started with ''Red Alert 2'' really; Zofia, Eva, and Kari Wuhrer as Tanya? And ''Tiberium Wars'' wasn't immune either; Nod loves black leather and blondes. But yeah, ''Red Alert 3'' puts its predecessors to shame.
*** ''Red Alert 2'' was nothing. All the women, except Tanya, professionally dressed, no cleavages or bikinis, unlike [=RA3=].
**** While they were more covered up than the [=RA3=] characters, Aleksandra Kaniak and Athena Massey (Zofia and Eva) weren't hired just to provide some exposition.
** Take note of the various Bios that appear for the Loading screens. Note how all of the male characters get a standard mugshot you'd expect of a general, and then you get the female commanders (sans Naomi) in seductive poses. There's also the endings (except for Dasha).
* FiveManBand: With ''Red Alert 2'''s Battle Fortress, which carries 5 soldiers and lets them shoot out of it with their own weapons, you can create a Five-Man-Band-Mobile!
* FrickinLaserBeams: The Allied [[DisintegratorRay Prism]] and Spectrum laser technology in ''Red Alert 2'' and ''3'' respectively.
** One Soviet mission in ''Yuri's Revenge'' puts you on ''the moon'' of all places. As the lack of a breathable atmosphere poses a problem for your infantry, you instead get jetpack-cosmonauts with laser guns.
* GarrisonableStructures: Introduced in ''Red Alert 2''.
* GatlingGood: The Sentry Gun in ''Red Alert 2'', then Yuri with his own Gatling Turrets and Gatling Tanks.
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: Literally; Yuri's "Genetic Mutator" superweapon instantly converts a bunch of soldiers into massive musclemen.
* HeroicDolphin: Red Alert 3 is set to include dolphins with sonic weapons as seagoing infantry for the Allies, and the 3rd political party in the USA, the Federalists, adopted the Dolphin as their symbol. Of course, dolphins are already Allied sea units in Red Alert 2 as anti-giant squid weapons.
* HistoricalInJoke: The Cuba crisis in Red Alert 2.
** And the American sneak attack on Japanese-controlled Pearl Harbor in Red Alert 3.
* HistoricalVillainDownGrade:
** The Soviets after the first game. The first game gives what many accounts would consider an accurate depiction of Stalin's regime, but in the next two games they're just a joke.
** A bigger case is the Empire of the Rising Sun in [=RA=] 3, who are clearly modeled after [[ImperialJapan Imperialist Japan]], which in real life was infamous for its war crimes, which include pointless mass murders by the hundreds of thousands, enslavement of tens of thousands of women as sex slaves, and performing medical experiments on prisoners from their colonies that killed thousands of people. Even the whole honor aspect that's presented as a joke in the game was a scary thing in real life; they considered surrender dishonorable and would execute or use enemies who surrendered as slave labor, and fed their civilians propaganda about the Allies that drove them to commit suicide by the tens of thousands when America invaded the Japanese home islands. All of these thing are of course never brought up in the game and the Empire is simply presented as an over-the-top comedic organization, though interestingly it is brought up in an in-progress mod called ''RedAlert3Paradox'' where in the mod's version of [=RA=] 3 events, the Empire butchered a major Soviet city.

* IdiotBall: The Western Allies in the RA verse apparently decided that rather than, say, occupying, disarming, dismantling, and forcibly reforming the old Soviet Empire and its satellites after defeating them in the bloodiest war mankind had seen at the time, it would be better to reconstitute it, place [[DirtyCommies Alexei]] [[ImperialRussia Romanov]] in the Kremlin, and then back off while ignoring Soviet rearmament and moves to reconstruct the old Stalinist alliances. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong? To be fair, we more or less made the same mistake in our own history with Germany after WorldWarI, and we know what [[WorldWarII happened]]. It's fine for us to say; we have the advantage of hindsight.
** Actually even when the allied powers made the mistake in World War I, people were saying that back then that it was a horrible idea, so the Allies have no excuse.
* ILoveNuclearPower: The Soviets want to marry it. Of particular note are the Desolators. In ''Red Alert 2'', they come with a radiation beam that skeletonizes infantry, and have a secondary ability that can deny a sizeable tract of land to your enemies. In ''Uprising'' they have a [[DisSimile chemical sprayer]] and an acid shotgun/cannon reducing enemy amour. Heavily so.
* IncrediblyLamePun: Mortar Cycle.
* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: Red Alert 2 is all about this. Several missions in Red Alert 3 are also about completing or repelling such an invasion.
* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: Essentially the whole premise of Red Alert 3, especially if you win the Japanese campaign.
* JustAStupidAccent: The Soviets in all ''Red Alert'' releases. Also the Japanese in ''Red Alert 3''. All the briefing and communication videos are in English. Some of the units sometimes say things in their native language though.
** Taken to humorous [[YourMileageMayVary (or embarrassing)]] extremes in ''Red Alert 3'' when [[spoiler: Tanya is able to lure the Soviet ships at Cannes into a trap by speaking English with a fake Russian accent.]] Perhaps everyone just speaks English in this timeline...
* KaizoTrap: In the penultimate original Soviet mission, blindly following your objective (destroy or capture the Allied Chronosphere) would make you fail - you have to destroy all Allied presence in the sector first before doing anything with the Chronosphere.
** In ''Red Alert 3'', at one point you must prevent [[spoiler:President Ackerman]] from reaching a specific objective point without killing him. Once you destroy the objective point (stopping him is itself a KaizoTrap), he uses his own Chrono technology to warp over to an airstrip in an area you might not have thought to cover and attempt to flee.
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: The Soviet campaign in Red alert 1 ends like this, with everyone you meet dying in a convoluted series of back stabs and paranoia. Well, everyone except the [[MagnificentBastard adviser]] that is.]]
* KlingonPromotion: "Poison?! You '''bitch!!!'''"
* LargeHam: ''Red Alert 3'' has TimCurry, Jonathan Pryce, J.K. Simmons, and George Takei. Enough said?
** Stalin in ''Red Alert 1''
** George Takei would like you to know that [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs all your base are belong to him]].
** [[spoiler:And TheCameo appearance of DavidHasselhoff.]]
* LegacyCharacter: Tanya. Somewhat vague thanks to every campaign in the Red Alert series taking place in its own alternate universe, but her [=RA3=] unit profile makes it clear that "Tanya" is a title that is passed down from one woman to another (whose real names are all classified) through the ages.
* LetNoCrisisGoToWaste: In the Soviet victory scenario in the first game, the entire Russian war effort was a huge {{Xanatos Gambit}} by Kane to expand the USSR, then topple it, and use the ensuing chaos to strengthen the Brotherhood of Nod.
* LighterAndSofter: The first ''Red Alert'' had you massacre an anti-Soviet resistance or fight to stop Stalin from nuking London. ''Red Alert 2'' had mind-controlled squid and tanks that pretended to be trees. ''Red Alert 3'' let you fire armored war bears out of a cannon and TimCurry.
* LightningGun: All those Soviet ''Tesla'' weapons.
* MadBomber: ''Red Alert 2'''s Crazy Ivan unit. Full of one-liners to [[IncrediblyLamePun match.]] "I lost a bomb... do ''you'' have it?"
** "Here, hold this!"
* MadeOfExplodium: In ''Red Alert 2'' not only barrels, but pretty much ''every'' scenery prop explodes (albeit harmlessly), even if you only ordered a GI/Conscript/Initiate to shoot at it. A bunch of tires is passable, but ''beach towels''?
** Yuri's "Psychic Dominator" weapon permanently mind-controls a few enemy units. It also, for some bizarre reason, makes all nearby buildings explode.
* MeaningfulEcho: [[spoiler:Stalin comments on how excellent the tea is and Nadia comments that she made it herself. She said the exact same thing when she killed Marshal Gradenko. Both cups were poisoned.]]
* MolotovCocktail: Conscripts and Mortar Cycles in ''Red Alert 3''.
* MonumentalDamage
* NameOfCain: The first Red Alert game is where it's first implied that Kane is actually the Biblical Cain.
--> '''Nadia:''' "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord...and took up residence...in the Land of Nod!"
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Aside from Kane himself, some of the units bring up this trope, most of them being units that are incredibly apt at wiping out large amounts of particular enemies.
** From [=RA2=] and [=RA3=], the [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Apocalypse]] [[TankGoodness Tank]].
** From [=RA2=] and [=RA3=] Uprising, the Desolator.
** And from Uprising by itself, Reapers and Harbingers.
** And from 2 and 3 again, the Terror Drones.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Nice job killing Hitler, Einstein.
** [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Nice job erasing Einstein, Cherdenko.]]
* NighInvulnerability: The Iron Curtain in the second game temporarily makes a few buildings or vehicles immune to all damage. It kills infantry, though, because...[[WildMassGuessing they're not made of iron?]] Also, see RetGone below.
* NikolaTesla: Though he never appears or is even mentioned overtly in the series, it's safe to say ''Red Alert'' is probably where a lot of people first heard of Tesla.
* NoCampaignForTheWicked: In ''Yuri's Revenge', Yuri is the one who did not have a campaign.
* NonEntityGeneral: {{Lampshaded}} in ''Red Alert 3'', where near the end of the end of the Soviet campaign, a Conscript suggests that due to your success in taking it, [[spoiler:New York City]] will be renamed "Commandersgrad" implying the non-entity-commander is actually ''named'' "Commander"
* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: President Dugan is a President Personable and President Iron in certain amounts.
* PiggybackingOnHitler: [[spoiler:Kane is doing this with Stalin]].
* ThePlayerIsTheMostImportantResource: In ''Red Alert 2'', the video cutscenes after the final mission acknowledge that the success of the final battle was due to your leadership.
* PowerGlows: Starting with ''Red Alert 2'', any unit that makes it to Heroic (max veterancy) status will find their weapon fire glowing red, either in the form of a large red muzzle flash, the projectiles themselves glow, or the explosions they create are bright red.
** In ''Red Alert 2'', Heroic-level Grizzly, Rhino, and Apocalypse tanks launched two miniature nuclear shells per barrel, and Heroic-level V3 Launchers and Dreadnoughts launched V3 rockets with small nuclear warheads. Kirovs also got tesla bombs, at least doubling the area of effect with a blue electrical glow.
* PsychicPowers: Yuri in the ''Red Alert'' series is capable of MindControl, and the Empire of the Rising Sun's hero unit in ''Red Alert 3'' has powerful telekinetic powers.
** Yuri pulls a psychic possession ''over a telephone'' at the beginning of ''Red Alert 2''.
** With the aid of a special building, he can mind control an entire hemisphere!
* RedScare: The USSR are the main villains of the series.
* RetGone: The Chrono Legionnaire from Red Alert 2 had a gun that would ''erase people from the space-time continuum''. Storyline wise, this happened to Hitler and Einstein.
** And, oddly enough, it has absolutely no noticeable side effects on the rest of the world.
** During the time-erasing process, the target can't take damage from anything else; removing your own buildings from spacetime temporarily allows them to easily survive direct hits from ''nukes'', though your poor Legionnaires still get melted.
* SchizoTech: The original ''Red Alert'' is set during the '50s, but features Apache helicopters ('86), the M1A1 Abrams ('80), and Hinds ('72). ''Red Alert 2'' is set during the '70s but could pass for the modern day.
* SeriesMascot: For ''Red Alert 3'', the parachuting war bears. They might not be much good against armored vehicles, but they came to represent the all-out-crazy nature of ''[=RA3=]'''s unit design, and even appear on the box art. (Natasha the sniper is front and centre, though.)
* ShootTheShaggyDog: In one Allied RA1 mission, you have to carefully, painstakingly guide a single spy through a Soviet base to rescue Tanya. In the ensuing cutscene, the spy heroically bursts into Tanya's cell ''just in time''... and is promptly killed. He does provide Tanya an opening to escape, though.
* ShoutOut: The Empire of the Rising Sun is basically a love letter to everything the nerds love about Japan.
** The aforementioned school girl (a disturbed psychokinetic PersonOfMassDestruction), as well as the Empire's superweapon (the Psionic Decimator), may well be a specific ShoutOut to {{AKIRA}}.
*** Don't forget {{Wave Motion Gun}}s.
*** and {{NINJA}}!
** Similarly, the cheesecake uniforms that the women wear is a ShoutOut to 1940's era pin-up art.
** Even more in the ''Uprising'' ExpansionPack.
*** The Harbinger Gunship is based on the Spectre Gunship in ''[[CommandAndConquerGenerals Generals]]'' (and real life for that matter).
**** It is also a clear reference to the nuclear aircraft proposed during the Cold War.
*** The Pacifier FAV is a reference to the Siege Tank in ''{{Starcraft}}'', made even more obvious that the title of the mission to unlock it in challenge mode is called "Ready to Roll Out", which is the Siege Tank's creation line.
*** Above was just one example, just read all the titles of the missions in challenge mode, many are references to other games and fictions. Other examples are [[WarCraft Your Gold Mine Has Collapsed]], [[BattleRoyale Battle Royale]], Athena's Wrath (''Kane's Wrath''), No Match For The Guardian (Scorpion tank's line, ''C''), Red Crush (Nod crush, a song in ''Tiberian Sun''), [[SupremeCommander Superb Commander]].
*** The Cryo Legionnaire in ''Uprising'' is a reference to [[BatmanAndRobin Mr]] [[ArnoldSchwarzenegger Freeze]] ''and'' the Chrono Legionnaire unit from ''Red Alert 2''.
*** Less obvious, but the mortar cycle's death screams are the {{Stock Scream}}s of ''Tiberian Dawn''.
*** Speaking of Commander's Challenges, the [[IncrediblyLamePun Kill-A-Ton]] mission features the Desolator Trooper. Not only does the Trooper itself look like a [[BioShock Big Daddy]], there is always at least one in the mission followed by a miniaturized Yuriko Omega, the Insane Little Orphan Girl of ''Red Alert 3''.
** Presumably the Crazy Ivan unit in ''Red Alert 2'' is a shoutout to a 1996 game Krazy Ivan.
*** Hardly; Crazy Ivan, as a term in computer gaming, goes all the way back to TheAncientArtOfWar (possibly the first RTS, depending on how generous you are), and is a term taken from actual U.S. military slang, the most famous reference occurring in TheHuntForRedOctober, although appearing elsewhere beforehand.
** In a nod to ''{{Them}}'', ''Red Alert'' features a hidden campaign against Giant Ants.
*** In ''Yuri's Revenge'', the first Soviet mission involves stealing Einstein's TimeMachine and going back in time to stop Yuri. Unfortunately, a miscalculation places your army in the Cretaceous period, where they have to fight off dinosaurs until the time machine is recharged. [[spoiler:In the Soviet ending, Yuri has the time machine and is about to use it to take over history when Lt. Zofia inputs the faulty coordinates. "What is that?" * CHOMP* ]] Also, the second Allies mission takes place in Los Angeles:
---->'''Lt. Eva''': Looks like they're making another dinosaur movie, Commander. I guess they can't come up with anything original.
*** It's also a ShoutOut to the original Tiberian Dawn, where there were several hidden "Dino Missions" if you know how to input a special tag at the end of the shortcut.
** The War Bear may well be a shout out to [[http://badassoftheweek.com/voytek.html Wojtek]], a real life bear ''who served in World War II''.
** ''Red Alert 2'' had a shout out to the Orca Aircraft in the Tiberium series when Eva comments on the absurdity of the Attack Dolphins.
-->Intelligence informed me that effective countermeasures involves specially-trained dolphins which are now at your disposal. What's next, killer whales?
*** The Mental Omega mod did exactly this.
** The first mission in the Soviet Campaign in ''Red Alert 2''? Operation RedDawn.
* ShrinkRay: A helicopter unit in ''Red Alert 3'' has this.
* TheStarscream: Just about all of Stalin's cronies in ''Red Alert 1''.
** Yuri in ''Red Alert 2'' and ''Yuri's Revenge''.
** Subverted in ''Red Alert 3'': [[spoiler: Cherdenko tricks the player into thinking Krukov is TheStarscream - then Cherdenko ''himself'' becomes TheStarscream. President Akerman also, as it turns out, becomes TheStarscream, though [[WellIntentionedExtremist only because he thought he was doing the right thing]]. Or because he was an Empire robot. One of the two.]].
** Also subverted with the Empire: Tatsu is baited as the Starscream to his father for the first half of the campaign but the two men eventually reconcile their differences. Given CommandAndConquer games' propensity for CivilWarcraft and that even the "good" side (Allies) suffers one, this is actually quite surprising.
* StrangeBedfellows: The Allies and the Soviets join forces in Yuri's Revenge to take down Yuri, and again in Red Alert 3 to deal with the Empire.
* {{Steampunk}}: The Soviets in ''Red Alert'', especially ''2'' and ''3''. More specifically, Tesla Punk, since they don't use steam power, though they certainly do use the steampunk style.
* SuperSoldier: The Desolators of ''Red Alert 2'' and ''3: Uprising'', bonus points since they are uncrushable, in ''Red Alert 2'' they are heavy armoured elite soldiers armed with radioactive cannons which meltdown infantry and light vehicles with ease, their secondary is the ability to contaminate and entire area with nucler radiation powerful enough to keep killing units even after the desolators have moved out, in Uprising they are portrayed as [[EqualOpportunityEvil terminal ill]] [[SociopathicSoldier sadists]] in [[WetwareCPU life support armored suits]] capable to [[MadeOfIron withstand insane amounts of damage and pain]], they use as weapons sprayers [[Narm/VideoGames which look like gas dispensers]], that release vile jets of chemical waste capable to [[NightmareFuel meltdown any kind of infantry, including the female heroes]], in the most horrific way, their secondary attack launches an corrosive core which slowdown units and make vehicles and structures highly vulnerable to their primary weapons, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential sounds cool eh?]]
*** Though no matter how "super" they are, in both games they still fall in 1 shot to snipers however, and commandos make a short work of them.
** The expansions to ''Red Alert'' featured Volkov, a 1950s Soviet Cyborg and his dog, Chitzkoi. Volkov had enough firepower and durability to take on a ''battleship'' (this being one of his missions!).
* SupervillainLair: In ''Yuri's Revenge'', Yuri has a secret island, a family castle in Transylvania, and even a moonbase. Premier Cherdenko and President Ackerman have their own in ''Red Alert 3'', [[JamesBond the former inside a volcano]], the latter around Mount Rushmore. The secret Futuretech research facility takes place in a haunted castle lair.
** Lampshaded with Yuri's castle when Premier Romanov makes fun of it briefly ("He is like monster from movies") before he gave the Soviet commander the order to destroy it.
* TankGoodness: Each side in ''Red Alert'' (''all'' the ones, just about) get a signature killer tank: The Mammoth Tank in [=RA1=] (yes, a simple PaletteSwap of GDI's machine); the more evolved Apocalypse ''and'' the Tesla Tank of the Soviets in [=RA2=], along with the Allies' Prism Tank and Mirage Tank; the Allies' Battle Fortress in Yuri's Revenge; and not only do the Apocalypse tank, Tesla tank and Mirage tank make a return for [=RA3=] but the Allies gain an amphibious ''naval destroyer'' as well as discussed earlier. The Tesla Tank is now a speedboat with spider legs for walking on land. Even discounting the [[HumongousMecha King Oni]], the Japanese still have the WaveMotionGun tank.
** The Allies didn't really have any cool tanks in ''Red Alert.'' Unless you count the teleporting one.
*** In the Counterstrike expansion pack, the Allies where about to get a stealth tank that shoots missiles, but unfortunately it was cancelled, and only shows up in a (Soviet) mission.
* TechnoBabble: Lots of it. Repeatedly lampshaded, as the scientist characters generally fill in the generals on the technology while the player is being briefed. Since the generals can make neither head nor tail of what they're being told however, they cannot go on to explain to the player. ( [After lots of rambling about physics] "Yes, but what does [The Iron Curtain in Red Alert] actually ''do''" "It makes units invulnerable" "Thank you")
* TeleFrag: Using the Chronosphere in ''Red Alert'' to teleport infantry will automatically kill them. In ''Red Alert 2'', the Chronosphere could also be used to teleport tanks onto water or ships onto land, thereby destroying them.
* TemporalParadox (Averted, since everytime someone uses a time machine, the universe the person comes from still exists beside the altered one.)
** In ''Red Alert 1'', Albert Einstein went back in time to kill Adolf Hitler, resulting in a timesplit and thus stopping WWII in its roots in this Red Alert universe. However Stalin's communist Russia rose to an even higher power without a critical enemy.
** Also, overuse of the Chronosphere creates Chrono Vortexes, which are literal paradoxes and can kill anything.
** ''Red Alert 2'''s ExpansionPack ''Yuri's Revenge'' lets you travel back to the beginning of ''Red Alert 2'', which is another time split. At the canon end of ''Yuri's Revenge,'' the timelines merge again.
** ''Red Alert 3'' begins with the Soviets after ''Red Alert 2'' traveling back in time to kill off Albert Einstein. The new world they arrive in has no nuclear technology, almost defeated Allied Nations... and a rising empire with HumongousMecha just around the corner.
* TimeMachine: Einstein builds one to kill Hitler, then the Soviets build one to kill him.
** Supposedly the '''Chrono'''sphere, but it acts more like a [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleporter]].
*** AllThereInTheManual for the first game says it stops time and thus allows units to move to a new location before restarting time, though that doesn't resemble what appears on screen at all. [[FullMotionVideos FMVs]] shows it as opening a hole vehicles can walk through.
*** Einstein actually says in ''Red Alert 2'' that the Chronosphere is a device for teleporting objects, " . . . Through time, ''und'' through space." It does both at the same time, or none at all. (The exception being the time machine from ''Yuri's Revenge''. Though for all we know you could have just been teleported three inches to the side.)
*** Considering the Earth, Sun, and galaxy are all in motion, it had better teleport you through space as well as time, or else the hapless subject would have ended up where the planet is...a few decades from now.
**** But there is no objective reference point for this. All motion is based on subjective local reference points.
* TimeTravel: The ''Red Alert'' series. By Red Alert 3 we're on an alternate ''alternate'' timeline.
* TimeyWimeyBall: Just ''try'' to explain the canon. Go on, [[WMG/CommandAndConquer we dare you]].
** Chronologically speaking: at some point in an alternate history where AlbertEinstein single-handedly developed a method of time travel technology as well as the standard nuclear weapons, he decided that [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct he's had enough]] of AdolfHitler. The technology he develops allows one to go back in time to a given point, but if one touches any living thing from that time, they are erased, and the time traveler returns to the present, sans the now obliqued-from-history individual. Upon returning, Einstein finds that he saved the world from Hitler, sure, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero only to damn it even worse]] to JosefStalin. The events of the original Red Alert then ensue, and the paths break (or are simply bad writing) as follows:
*** I. The Allies, especially Germany and Britain, and without direct American military assistance, defeat the Soviet Union. A brave new world then develops throughout the remainder of the 20th century...until the arrival of a strange substance of ''still'' unknown origin.
* TitleDrop: At the end of the setup for ''Red Alert'', Kane declares:
--> '''Kane''': [[NineteenEightyFour He who controls the past, commands the future]]... he who [[TitleDrop commands the future conquers the past]].
** Also in ''Yuri's Revenge'', Yuri states "The entire world and all of its history is mine, to Command and Conquer"
* UnitsNotToScale: instead of complaining that the Allies managed to get an aircraft carrier in a lake, the Soviets should wonder what sort of lake can easily fit well over 50 aircraft carriers side-to-side.
* UnPerson: Yuri brands general Vladimir a traitor and a "non-person" after setting him up for Romanov's murder. Having known Stalin personally, he probably picked up the habit from the man himself.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Yuri's faction has the Grinder machine, which you can send your obedient soldiers (or hypnotized enemies) into to be [[{{Squick}} shredded into valuable scrap bits]].
* ViolentGlaswegian: The crew of the Allied [[TankGoodness Battle Fortress]] in ''Yuri's Revenge'' certainly qualifies.
** '''Battle Fortress''': ROLLING THUNDER!!
* WaveMotionGun: The Empire of the Rising Sun's artillery in ''Red Alert 3''. They're even flat-out simply [[ShoutOut called]] [[SpaceBattleshipYamato Wave Motion Guns]], and their floating fortresses use tri-barreled versions.
** Don't forget the Allies' spectrum cannons used by spectrum towers and mirage tanks.
* WeaponizedLandmark: ''Red Alert 3'' is the trope namer.
** ''Red Alert 2'' had, in the Soviet campaign, the Eiffel Tower used as a giant tesla coil.
** Shortly after, in the Soviet mission in Washington, try get close to the Washington monument. It shoots laser!
** And Mt Rushmore houses a laser, and its faces shoot lasers.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Stalin in ''Red Alert'' and his cronies try to pass themselves off as well-intentioned, particularly in his cronies' [[TheStarscream Starscream-esque]] moments (as they did in RealLife). Likewise to Premier Cherdenko and Emperor Yashiro in ''Red Alert 3'', [[spoiler: while President Akerman explicitly becomes this]].
* WorldOfHam-TO have any position in the army, you must be at least somewhat hammy apparently, ESPECIALLY in Red Alert 3
* WorldWarIII: Each game is set in a epic, worldwide war.
** Except that ''Red Alert'' was WorldWarII.
** ''Red Alert 2'' has an alternate World War III in the 1970s, taking place after the alternate World War II in Red Alert, retconning it's connection to the Tiberium series. ''Red Alert 3'' is an alternate ''alternate'' World War III, coming in at the end of an off-screen alternate alternate World War II with the Soviets enjoying their victory.
** Oh, dear, I've gone cross-eyed.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Stalin warns the player "If you fail, do not return", and later snaps an underling's neck for faulty intelligence ("You disappoint me, Kukov"). This was just after he threatened to execute you.
*** Threatened? He was in the process of having it done... "Take him outside and shoot him."

* CartoonishSupervillainy: Pretty much the entire premise of Yuri and his faction, which ups the somewhat ridiculous RA arsenal UpToEleven with the addition of genetically mutated Hulk look-a-likes, psychically powered infantry, UFOs, and so on. Then there's the expansion campaign, which features such gems as weaponized Moai statues, an Arctic/Moon base, and a gothic Transylvanian mansion headquarters. Regardless of which campaign, all of Yuri's plans end up failing spectacularly and then Yuri himself eventually being submitted to some humiliating fate.
* CastingGag: Barry Corbin, who plays General Carville in ''[=RA2=]'', is basically reprising his role as General Berringer from ''WarGames''. There's even an explicit ShoutOut during one of the Ant missions ("I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it'd do any good!").
* CivilWarcraft

* ContinuityNod: Kane features as one of Stalin's advisors in ''Red Alert 1''.
* CoolAirship: Kirovs.
* CoolBoat: The Allied [[{{BFG}} Cruiser]] deserves special mention. And the boats get progressively more CrazyAwesome as time goes on. The Helicarrier of Red Alert 1 ''would'' be here, but for some reason it's just set to [[DummiedOut be available at tech level -1, thus preventing its construction,]] though the player is only [[GameMod one variable]] away from being able to use them.
* CreatorProvincialism: Strongly averted in the first game, where nearly all the Allied cast are Europeans--it's not clear whether the USA is even in the war, as opposed to sending volunteers--and the three Allied sub-factions for skirmish missions are Britain, France and Germany.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Tanya's absolutely devastating to infantry and can instantly destroy any building she gets close to, but is utterly useless against vehicles. ''Yuri's Revenge'' gave Tanya the ability to blow up vehicles as well, but she still had to get close enough to plant charges, whereas they moved faster and could usually fire while moving.
** Also, several country-unique units in ''Red Alert 2'', such as the Sniper and Tank Destroyer.
*** The Tank Destroyer is most infamous in that it literally ''is only good against tanks''. Even against buildings, which you'd expect them to be competent against (given that all other units effective against tanks usually do well against buildings too), they will only do chicken scratches to.
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: The Chronosphere in ''Red Alert 1'' is shown teleporting many vehicles to the battlefield. In-game, it can only teleport ''one'' unit at a time every few minutes or so, and even then the repositioning lasts only a short period of time before the unit teleports back to where they were..
** In ''3'', the [[HumongousMecha King Oni]] is shown to be {{Kaiju}}-sized in the cutscenes, although it is much smaller in game
** In many of the earlier games, after-mission cutscenes would show units doing feats that cannot be replicated ingame (The Chronosphere example above is one; a helicopter one shot-killing a tank is another).
** In one cutscene for the first ''Red Alert'' a Tesla Coil is seen destroying a helicopter in one blast. In game, Tesla Coils can't even target airborne units!
*** Incidentally Tesla Coils can destroy Helicopters in one blast. The only possible way for this to occur is if somehow the Helicopter was stupid enough to ''land'' beside it.
** In ''Yuri's Revenge'' the Psychic Dominators shown in the opening cutscene are able to mind control entire sections of continents. To prevent it from being an ''enormous'' GameBreaker by giving Yuri's faction the ability to instantly control every unit and structure on the map if one is activated even once, in the game it can take over 9 units at most and cause a lot of base damage.[[invoked]]
* DeathFromAbove: The Soviets have Kirov Airships, and in ''Red Alert 3'' have a satellite that can pull enemy vehicles into orbit and drop them back down later.
** Harrier pilots actually say this when attacking.
* DevilInPlainSight: Yuri in Red Alert 2. Sure he's part of a villain faction, but he's ObviouslyEvil even compared to the other characters, and nobody but the brainless GeneralFailure suspects him of treachery.
* DirtyCommunists: '''[[MemeticMutation OF COURSE]]'''!
* DistaffCounterpart: '''Yuri'''ko Omega of ''Red Alert 3'' to Yuri of ''Red Alert 2''. Psychic and insane. BilingualBonus: Her name is Japanese for "daughter of Yuri".
** Or "lily child".
** Also, Natasha can be considered a female counterpart of Boris from ''Yuri's Revenge''. Or, much less connected, Jarman Kell of ''[[CommandAndConquerGenerals Generals]]'', both of whom function in the same way.
*** [[RockyAndBullwinkle Boris and Natasha]], eh? (Yes, they were actual codenames for the KGB.)
* EarlyBirdCameo: Many people don't realize that General Carville (and his actor) appeared in the second expansion of Red Alert 1, making him the only actor to appear in multiple titles and the only character other than Einstein to do so.
** There is a reason for this remaining relatively unknown: he didn't appear in the ''Aftermath'' that was released for computers, but in the ''Retaliation'' compilation package for the Playstation.
* EasyLevelTrick: The second allied level in 2 can be beaten by skipping your base building and using your starting forces to destroy the levels target.

* ActionBomb: M.A.D. Tanks in ''Aftermath'', Terrorists and Demolition Trucks in ''2'', and Yari Minisubs in ''3''
* ActionGirl: Tanya, Natasha, and [[DarkActionGirl Yuriko.]]

* AMillionIsAStatistic: Stalin (to whom the phrase is commonly credited, apocryphally) throws this line out there in the first ''Red Alert''.
** You can also hear it in the remixed "Radio 2" song which is included in the CD of ''Counterstrike'' and ''Aftermath''.

* BaldOfEvil: Yuri (and Kane in Red Alert 1).
* BaseOnWheels: In ''3'', The Soviet Sputnik and the second function of the allied Prospector are largely the same. The Empire's base building is completely based on this - each building comes as a vehicle and unpacks at designated position into a building. MCV in 1 and 3, but in ''3'' they can also pack themselves up and move to new location.
* BeardOfEvil: Yuri and Cherdenko.
* BeyondTheImpossible: The first game takes place in an AlternateHistory. WordOfGod states that ''Yuri's Revenge'' takes place in an alternate alternate history. ''Red Alert 3'' takes place in an alternate ''alternate'' alternate history.
* BigBad: Yuri (notice a trend?).
* BigNo: Many. As befits the pilot of a HumongousMecha, Kenji gets one with an ''echo'' in ''Uprising''.
* BlandNameProduct: [=McBurger Kong=], a spoof of [=McDonald's=] and Burger King.