Web Animation / Red vs. Blue: Family Shatters

Sometimes when you're feeling low and the
The world's out to get you
Just remember your friends to help make it through
Learn what it means to be a true team
I won't let you down, I'll follow your lead
We'll face any problem that come our way
We're stronger together, we'll never betray
Shatter Squad, we'll be BFFs forever
Shatter Squad, we're ready for our next endeavor
You've got me (You've got me)
I've got you (I've got you)
And together we are better
Here with Red vs. Blue
Shatter Squad

— Opening theme

Red vs. Blue: Family Shatters is a Red vs. Blue miniseries. It ran for eleven episodes from October to December 2021.

A non-canonical spinoff starring Shatter Squad from Red vs. Blue: Zero, the miniseries is described by the showrunners as a character showcase. It is also explicitly comedic, being designed as an Affectionate Parody to old-fashioned sitcoms.

Warning: This page will contain unmarked spoilers for Red vs. Blue: Zero.

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Contains examples of:

• Anguished Declaration of Love: In "Buzz:Kill", when Phase sacrifices herself to distract the wasp, complete with dramatic music.
  East: [reaching out] Phase! I... love you.
  Phase: I... hate you all.
• Answer Cut: In West's dream in "Hard Boiled", Tiny comes to him for help — some people are after her for something that's been stolen from her. When West asks what they want, Phase and Diesel burst in brandishing guns, the former commanding: "Fork over the MacGuffin, Tiny."
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: In "Freaky Friday", Phase and East can't get anyone else to realize that they've switched bodies. East tells Phase, "We haven't talked to the smartest person here yet." Cut to them running up to Raymond:
  East: Ray! Do you know… where Tiny is? We need her help.
• Bilingual Bonus: In "Buzz:Kill", One yells "Merde!" ("shit" in French) when the wasp catches her, allowing the series to get more swearing through without deviating too much from the sitcom style.
• Black Comedy Pet Death: West reminds them that getting a pet hasn't worked well before — cue a tombstone in a fish bowl.
• Blade Enthusiast: On top of Phase's signature weapon being a knife, she is shown having an affinity for them in general. She votes to have a cat for a pet because "they have knives for hands", and when she meets Santa, she says she needs more knives.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: "You live here now, don't you?" "I don't know, it's non-canonical!"
• Brick Joke: In episode 3, "Walk & Talk", Phase is handed some papers by a guy who has scissors sticking out of the back of his helmet. In episode 7, "Phase's Reputation", One sees Phase pick up some scissors, and recounts a rumor that Phase defended Viper base against shinobi and can cut off a limb with safety scissors. At the end of the episode, Phase offhandedly tosses the scissors into the ceiling behind her, hitting a hidden shinobi and causing him to fall down with the scissors stuck in the back of his head — the same guy (and scissors) seen in "Walk & Talk".
• But You Were There, and You, and You: West's dream in "Hard Boiled" has himself and the others cast in the roles of a Film Noir tale. West is a detective, Raymond is a rookie, Phase and Diesel are gun-toting gangsters, and Tiny is the client.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: Exploited to find a hiding Axel, as nothing can annoy a joke teller worse than bungling the punchline.
  East: I had a pencil with erasers on both sides. It wasn't very functional.
  Axel: [revealing himself] It was pointless! Come on!
• Can't Bathe Without a Weapon: A variant, Zero takes his sword to his bathtub to both heat the water and show his cartoonish evil.
• Chekhov's Gun: At the start of "Buzz:Kill", Raymond mentions that Shatter Squad cleared a minefield, and the mines are shown piled up in a corner. At the end, the mines are used to blow up the base.
• Christmas Episode: "Special Guestmas", which released a few days before Christmas. It opens with a shot of a snowy Shatter Squad base to the sound of jingling bells. It's also a guest episode, bringing in a Latin-speaking Lopez, Sarge and, adequately, Santa.
• *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": In a promo for The Matrix Resurrections, West dodges tennis balls Neo-style, only to throw out his back.
• Demoted to Extra: Diesel, who was a major antagonist in Zero, only has brief appearances, and his lines are "Die!" in two episodes.
• Denser and Wackier: The tone is significantly goofier and sillier here than it was in the fairly grim Zero storyline. Make sense, as it is a sitcom pastiche after all.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: In West's dream in "Hard Boiled", Raymond is shot and dies in West's arms.
• Didn't Think This Through: In "The Unbearable Lightness of Zero", Raymond hacks Zero's calendar, from which One figures out the best time to hit Viper. They're about to prepare to head out when they realize that they don't actually know where Viper's base is.
  Raymond: I'll go prep the Warthogs!
  East: Though, I can't help but feel like we're forgetting something...
  West: What's this about the Warthogs?
  One: Oh, West. We're about to go take down Viper! I just came up with the perfect plan.
  West: Oh. Great job, Agent One. I must admit, I'm impressed that you were able to pinpoint the base's location.
  [The word "location" echoes repeatedly]
  East: There it is.
  One: FUCK—
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: In "Phase's Reputation", Raymond sings the opening theme while walking along, and Phase hums it at the end.
• Double Meaning: In "Walk & Talk", East tells Zero that "[Tahj Mowry] was T.J. Henderson, smart guy" — "smart guy" as in the series that Mowry starred in as T.J. Henderson, but also as in a sarcastic dig at Zero.
• Dream Episode: "Hard Boiled" is about West falling asleep watching a Film Noir and dreaming his own Deliberately Monochrome hard-boiled detective tale starring himself and the others.
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: In "Phase's Reputation", One expresses her opinion that French is sexier than English.
  One: In French, we say, "rouge". Why, Ax? Why can't the English language just be sexy?
• Evil Is Hammy: "The Unbearable Lightness of Zero" showcases the villain in his most exaggerated form.
• Fight for the Last Bite: In a The Matrix Resurrections promo, One and East have a standoff over the last donut, which ends up being taken by Raymond while they're grappling in midair in slo-mo.
• Follow Your Nose: In the intro, Raymond floats through the hall, following the scent of a chocolate cake in the kitchen.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: The indicatively named "Freaky Friday" has Phase and East trading bodies for a while, although Voices Are Mental in this case.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Axel exclaims "crabgrass" a couple of times, reflecting his love of lawn care.
• Halloween Episode: "Night of the Living Dad", which released a few days before Halloween. It focuses on Axel's addiction to dad jokes, which are considered a possibly contagious threat akin to becoming a zombie.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In "Buzz:Kill", Phase and East head toward the mines, but are blocked by the wasp. Phase distracts the wasp, letting herself get stung so that East can get the mines.
• His Name Is...: In West's dream in "Hard Boiled", Raymond dies before he can tell him where the MacGuffin is.
• How We Got Here: West's dream in "Hard Boiled" opens with him and Raymond in a shoot-out, flashes back to how West got the case that led him there, then returns to the present.
• Human Hammer-Throw: In "Buzz:Kill", One tries kicking the wasp, but it catches her by the foot, slams her into the floor, then spins her around at high speed before launching her at the wall and sending her through it.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: In "Hard Boiled", West refuses to give the squad money to eat out until East points out the upsides for him, upon which he immediately changes his tune.
  West: I'm not going to say it again.
  East: No dishes, and we leave you alone.
  West: Take the company card.
• I Resemble That Remark!: In "Shatter Squad Needs a Pet", Phase and East both vote to get a cat. One objects to them each getting a vote, saying that they're the same person. They simultaneously respond "Excuse me?" in the same tone while making identical gestures.
• Kinder and Cleaner: Being a send-off of sitcoms, the language is much cleaner. The F-bomb only shows up twice, once bleeped and another in a Precision F-Strike at the end of an episode, and "shit" only shows up once, in French.
• Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: In "Phase's Reputation", the characters discuss rumors about Phase, with the sources of those rumors getting more indirect each time.
  One: A friend told me that Phase defended Viper base against an elite class of shinobi.
  [later]
  Raymond: Well, a friend's cousin told me…
  [later]
  West: Well, a friend's cousin's chiropractor told me…
  [later]
  Zero: Well, a friend's cousin's chiropractor's golf ball diver told me…
• Last-Second Photo Failure: At the end of the intro, Shatter Squad gathers for a group photo, only for Diesel to come crashing in just as the camera goes off. The resulting photo shows Diesel standing in the middle while everyone else is being flung away with the force of his landing, the cake that Raymond was holding having gone flying into West's face.
• Late to the Realization: In "Walk & Talk", One, Raymond, and East are walking along when they crash into Zero and Phase, and when the two groups go their own ways again, East and Phase have switched places. Zero takes a while to realize it, even as he continues the conversation he'd been having with Phase with East answering in her place.
  Zero: Okay, I'm getting sick of this attitude, Phase!
  [He turns to East and comes to a halt. A couple seconds pass.]
  Zero: …You're not Phase.
  East: [tilts head] Technically…
  Zero: You two sound so similar.
• Laugh Track: In "Phase's Reputation", when Zero walks in, a studio audience cheers from offscreen.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • Taken to the next level when Raymond discusses how getting R&R will lead to a beach episode, leading One to disagree that they are characters in a TV show, and a lot of meta commentary ensues.
  • "Special Guestmas" has Shatter Squad awaiting an appearance from a "special guest" who will come to check their base for the holidays in accordance with "cameo protocol". The squad is putting on some kind of play when West comes to deliver the news:
    West: No time for character growth, Axel. Just got word from on high.
  • West's dream in "Hard Boiled" revolves around the hunt for a mysterious "MacGuffin".
• Leg Focus: In West's dream in "Hard Boiled", Tiny, playing the damsel client, gets a Feet-First Introduction with the camera panning up her legs, playing off the "legs up to here" cliché while comically emphasizing her height.
  West: She had legs up to here. [Camera pans up from Tiny's feet to just below her knees.] Okay, here. [Camera pans up more quickly to her hips.]
• Literary Allusion Title: "The Unbearable Lightness of Zero" is titled after The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
• Meta Guy: Raymond is the only person who knows that narrative conventions and tropes seem to apply to their lives.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: When the wasp catches One, it slams her into the ground once on each side before spinning and throwing her.
• Mundane Made Awesome:
  • A meeting is called to discuss the most important of matters - Shatter Squad needs a pet! ("...what.")
  • A wasp is treated like the ultimate menace.
• Noir Episode: In "Hard Boiled", West dreams about himself as a noir detective, with Raymond as his sidekick, Tiny as the damsel client, and Phase and Diesel as gangsters.
• Not Actually the Ultimate Question: Phase-in-East's-body asks "Who am I?" and One responds "Is this an existential question?"
• Not So Above It All: In "Phase's Reputation", Axel gets fed up with One and Raymond speculating about Phase. When West comes in, Axel is relieved and thinks he'll put some sense into them, but instead he joins in.
  West: What's going on here?
  Axel: West, thank you. Finally, a voice of reason. Can you put some sense into Bebop and Rocksteady here? These two numbskulls are speculating what—
  West: What Danyell does in her free time, since she's introverted and no one ever sees her outside of work?
  Axel: Exactly.
  [West looks back and forth between Raymond and One]
  West: Weelll...
  Axel: Crabgrass. [facepalms]
• Period Piece, Modern Language: In "Hard Boiled", West dreams about himself and the others in a Film Noir story. While most of the characters use antiquated linguistics to match the setting, Tiny leans more into Valley Girl-style speech.
  Tiny: Like, I need your help, detective. [...] Whatever, Bruce. [...] Ew, I don't have it!
• Private Eye Monologue: In "Hard Boiled", West dreams of himself as a noir detective who narrates in a stereotypical gritty style, with short, choppy sentences and at least one metaphor.
  West: I remember it like it was yesterday. Raining cats and dogs. All I had was breakfast. The same breakfast I always have: black coffee and two eggs, hard-boiled. Lady Luck ran out on me the moment she walked in the door. Of all the bases in all the planets in all the solar systems, she walks into mine. She had legs up to here. [Camera pans up, but stops short.] Okay, here.
  […]
  West: Her money was no good here. And why would anyone want to spill this tall glass of milk? All I know is I could feel a cold chill down the back of my helmet.
• Pungeon Master: Axel's addiction to excessive dad jokes (including puns) is treated as Serious Business.
• Ring-Ring-CRUNCH!: "The Unbearable Lightness of Zero" shows Zero's wakeup routine: when his alarm clock goes off, a small target pops up from it, which Zero shoots.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: "Walk & Talk" consists of the characters walking around and talking. Zero is talking business, while Shatter Squad's conversation topics include candy and Smart Guy.
• Servile Snarker: In "Walk & Talk", Phase sasses Zero, her superior, as they talk. When Phase switches places with East without Zero noticing, East also sasses Zero, who — thinking that he's still speaking to Phase — snaps that he's getting sick of her attitude.
  Zero: How many times do we need to have this conversation?
  Phase: Two, three, sometimes four times a day, apparently.
  Zero: I want answers, Phase.
  Phase: You want a lot of things.
  Zero: Don't talk to me like I'm other people.
  Phase: How do you want me to talk to you?
  Zero: Like I'm your boss, not one of your Shatter stans.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title is a reference to the sitcom Family Matters.
  • In "Phase's Reputation", Axel refers to One and Raymond as Bebop and Rocksteady.
  • In West's dream in "Hard Boiled", his monologue for Tiny's introduction riffs off Casablanca.
    West: Of all the bases in all the planets in all the solar systems, she walks into mine.
  • A series of promos for The Matrix Resurrections recreate and play off scenes from The Matrix. There's One commenting "Whoa, deja vu" when she sees East and Phase walk by, One claiming to Raymond that she knows kung fu, East and One leaping at each other in a slo-mo Orbital Shot, and West dodging tennis balls Neo-style.
• Shrouded in Myth: "Phase's Reputation" is about the other characters exchanging wild rumors about Phase and how fearsome she is. Which in turn is full of juxtapositions of what is thought of her and what Phase actually does ("She tames the wildest beasts", as she plays with a cat).
• So Unfunny, It's Funny: Discussed by Raymond in "Night of the Living Dad" as a reason for why dad jokes are lame — supposedly the lameness itself is funny.
  Raymond: It's supposed to be ironic, I think. Like it's so unfunny that it goes full circle and becomes... funny again?
  East: Seems inefficient.
• Speak in Unison: East and Phase have moments of talking in sync. The former starts to admit it's freaky.
• Special Guest: In "Special Guestmas", Shatter Squad is alerted that they'll have a cameo from a special guest for the holidays. Lopez, Sarge, and Santa show up, but none of them turn out to be the guest in question. That turns out to be an animated Gus Sorola.
• Standard Snippet: "Freaky Friday" plays "Morning Mood" as Phase-in-East's body wakes up.
• Truncated Theme Tune: The first episode, "Shatter Squad Needs a Pet", is the only one where the opening sequence plays in full. For all others, it's shortened to the last few seconds.
• Verbal Tic: In West's Film Noir dream in "Hard Boiled", most of the characters have a tendency to end sentences with "see?" to fit with the period setting.
• Voices Are Mental: When Phase and East swap bodies in "Freaky Friday", their voices swap along with them, although it turns out that the only member of Shatter Squad who can tell them apart by their voices is Raymond.
• Walk and Talk: "Walk & Talk" is about Shatter Squad and Viper walking through the halls of Shatter Squad base, filmed mostly from the front, as they ramble about various topics. Shatter Squad and Viper's paths cross for hijinks. And then Zero and Phase note they don't even know where they're walking to!
• Wicked Wasps: "Buzz:Kill" is about a wasp that's not only wicked, but downright superpowered! It chases the characters through the base as they flee in terror, and beats up One, Axel and Raymond.
• Woman Scorned: In "Hard Boiled", West dreams of himself as a noir detective on a case from Tiny. Later Tiny turns out to be working with the gangsters shooting at him, and holds him at gunpoint. When West demands to know why, Tiny responds:
  Tiny: You and me, Bruce. We coulda had something. We coulda had... breakfast.

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