YMMV / Red vs. Blue: The Recollection

• Complete Monster: Sigma, representing the Alpha's ambition and creativity, is the evilest AI in the Meta. Interested in becoming human, Sigma gradually took over the mind of Agent Maine and increased his violence. He also manipulated Agent Carolina into getting two AI, leading to a mental breakdown, and helped torture the Alpha. Using Maine, Sigma stole Carolina's AI before nearly killing her. As part of the Meta, Sigma hunted down other Freelancers for their equipment and AI. The AI would be forcibly implanted into the Meta, whether they were willing or not. He also slaughtered multiple simulation teams as well as any recovery agents encountered. In a final bid to steal the Alpha, Sigma and the Meta attacked Freelancer Command, killing everyone stationed there and cornering and almost killing Agent Washington. Even with his destruction by EMP, Sigma's manipulation ensured that the broken Maine would continue to act as the Meta.

Season 6: Reconstruction

• Angst? What Angst?: Simmons is surprisingly okay with having been snubbed for a promotion to sergeant in favor of Grif.
• Ass Pull: The reveal that Church is the Alpha AI was something that was only foreshadowed in this season with little indication in the earlier series that he was anything more than a ghost and there were notable inconsistencies with that idea in earlier seasons that only get explained later on. The reveal itself was handled well enough that most fans accepted it without question.
• Awesome Music: The Meta's theme, aka "(When) Your Middle Name Is Danger".
• Continuity Lockout: Although Reconstruction marks the beginning of a new story arc in the series, many characters' jokes and quirks will make little sense if you've not seen the first five seasons. What's more, the Recovery 1 miniseries is a must if you're confused who this Wash guy is.
• Epileptic Trees: Church took over the Meta and used Wyoming's time control ability to escape the "Ehmp"? Epsilon is in Caboose? For a web series created by a bunch of self-proclaimed drunk guys, Red vs. Blue seems to get a lot of plot analysis.
  • Burnie even addresses this by saying that people sometimes get the plot exactly right in the forums. Although Word of God is that the above-mentioned bit isn't one of those times.
• Evil Is Cool: The bad guys of "Blood Gulch" weren't exactly uncool, but Meta takes this trope Up To Eleven as the most badass villain in the entire series.
• Fanon: Among other things, York and Maine's real names (James and Theodore, respectively,) and that Washington was a survivor of Reach.
• Growing the Beard: This is where Red VS. Blue at last finds a unique identity for itself, swerving between drama and comedy and finding ways to make the most random of past events both harsher and heartwarming than they first appeared.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • After Caboose leaves Rat's Nest, the blue in charge says that things are finally looking up for the team. The next time we see the Blue Base of Rat's Nest, all of the Blues have been killed by the Meta.
  • Grif lies about Donut's message because he doesn't want to be dragged into another long, dangerous mission. Come Season 15 and he straight-up abandons the Blood Gulch crew because he is tired of endangering his life all the time just to solve another one of Church's problems.
  • Caboose stating that he and Washington have a lot in common becomes a bit harder to listen to taking into account that after getting shot in the throat in Season 15, it is revealed in season 16 that Agent Washington now suffers from Cerebral Hypoxia because of it. Which is something Caboose suffers from and might be one of the many reasons why Caboose is the way he is. The Shisno Paradox (Season 16) also showcases Washington doing some pretty Caboose like behaviors.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In Episode 9, Sarge's call gets dropped and he complains about the stupid 4G network. At the time the joke was written, 3G was in prominence, and the joke was that the futuristic technology wasn't working right. Now it just comes off as a Take That! to modern cell phone technology.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Private Jones, voiced by Gavin Free, who his superior insists that has a surname pronounced "Jo-an-nis."
  • Private Walter Henderson, voiced by Michael Joplin, only appears for one scene and is heavily implied to be killed shortly after it, but Joplin's terrific performance as the Shell-Shocked Veteran and how effortlessly that scene establishes the new, Darker and Edgier tone makes him pretty memorable.

Season 7: Recreation

• Badass Decay: The Meta, who was the most dangerous thing around in Reconstruction now reduced to being Washington's lackey. Justified in Season 8 with the reveal that the "emp" in Season 6 killed the Artificial Intelligence units in his armor to make him able to run his equipment, rendering him weaker than he is used to being. Then he takes on Tex alongside Wash and wins, reversing this entirely.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Lopez became more popular every episode, mainly because of the growing apathy he had for the teams. Amidst all the wacky situations and AI conflicts, he couldn't care less if he tried.
• Epileptic Trees: C.T. has created many, mostly in regards to who it was that ordered him to go to Sandtrap. The fact that Washington seems to know him (or rather, her) in Revelation and said that it was "impossible" for her to be there only added to them. The character's real identity (The man in charge of the 'Insurrection' troopers that worked for Charon Industries) has only raised further speculation.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Remember this line from last season?
  Delta: I believe that Agent Washington's sanity is well within acceptable deviations, for now.
• After we learn in season 10 who the real CT was, it's hard not to see his death as an unfortunate tragedy.
• He's Just Hiding: When Wash shot Donut, theories involving holograms sprang forth from the discussion boards on the site. (These were quickly Jossed.) Of course he was still alive, just not in the way fans expected.
• Moral Event Horizon: A retroactively subverted example is Washington shooting Lopez and Donut. Neither had posed anything near a threat to him, and he just shot them, killing the only characters who had nothing to do with his incarceration! The subversion comes in Season 8 with the revelation that he just put Donut into recovery mode, though none of the other characters knew this. His later saving of Donut from one of the Tex robots in the Season 10 finale would fully absolve him.
• Shocking Moments: When Caboose resurrects Church through the memories of Epsilon, many were surprised and impressed with what he accomplished. Also doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.
• Sophomore Slump: While not considered bad, Recreation is seen as the weak link in the trilogy thanks to lacking the dramatic intrigue that Reconstruction and Recreation had.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Early in the season there appears to be a Running Gag where Grif and Simmons are effectively swapping roles. Simmons is growing more frustrated by Sarge's craziness while Grif is actually be more helpful, to the point where he and Sarge are almost talking on more pleasant terms. This all gets dropped the moment that Sarge and Grif head to Sandtrap, leaving Simmons behind at Valhalla.

Season 8: Revelation

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Depending on who is asked, Doc saving Wash's life in the penultimate episode is either Stockholm Syndrome in play (making his conversation with Wash where he says he doesn't have it a Suspiciously Specific Denial), a general desire to do the right thing, or him following the Hippocratic Oath.
• Awesome Music:
  • During the showdown in Episode 10. The score can be found here. The link contains spoilers.
  • Also, the inspirational tune from Sarge's "Do you ever wonder why we're here?" Speech in episode 18.
  • The utterly epic battle in Episode 19 is accompanied by equally epic music. It's also in the credits and episode 20 and is in fact called "Red Versus Blue."
• Badass Decay: While the previous season dropped the Meta's cred, this one digs it even deeper and drags Washington with him, as the pair of them act like a pair of 80's cartoon villains unable to puzzle out simple problems that Doc solves without even realizing, leaving Washington to gripe like a retiree at a supermarket. Granted, Tropes Are Tools, as this makes the two villains significantly funnier to have around.
  • Until the Finale comes around and shows that not only are they still incredibly skilled in combat, but they are more than a match for Agent Texas.
• Broken Base: The Opinion on the Animation Scenes quite vary. While some are not only impressed and amazed by how good quality was and how awesome the fight scenes were thanks to Monty Oum and were happy for a change of pace. While the other part of the fan base thinks that the fancy new CGI moments are unneeded as many of the older viewers enjoyed Red vs. Blue for its use of a limited tool-set (i.e. "pure" machinima) to tell stories.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Texas is an AI. Considering that way back in the Blood Gulch Chronicles she displayed the same power to linger as a "ghost" like Church had, which was later revealed to be the result of him being an AI, this didn't come as much of a surprise.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Washington's Oh, Crap! reaction when the Reds' Warthog crashes through the wall right on top of him becomes significantly funnier after The Project Freelancer Saga would later make a Running Gag out of cars being used to attack Wash. Evidently, one gets the implication that Wash might've been having a bit of a PTSD flashback at that moment.
  • Sarge decides to pose as Agent Ohio in order to infiltrate the Freelancers' Offsite Storage Facility. Come Season 14, we meet the actual Agent Ohio, and she & Sarge couldn't be any more different.
  • The ice fight from “Reunion” was always considered amazing, but opinion of it shot straight up after Halo 5: Guardians featured a fight scene between Master Chief and Spartan Locke that, despite getting the same amount of buildup and having just as much potential, was nigh-universally derided as lame and boring.
• Ho Yay: By this point, Caboose is practically Yandere for Church. The soundtrack takes this a step further.
• Narm: Shannon Mccormick's delivery of the below line is... kinda cheesy.
  Washington: Get them, Meta. Get them!
• Nightmare Retardant: Before he cracked wise to his handler, lost most of his enhanced abilities, and carted around medics embedded in giant slabs of stone, the Meta was actually pretty terrifying. He does become a badass once again when he fights Tex with no AI or powers. He gets back into Nightmare Fuel when he gets his powers recharged. As shown by Season 9, however, this isn't exactly unusual for him pre-insanity, as he and Wash were actually good friends.
• Signature Scene: Season 8 produced two outstanding scenes that became well-known beyond the borders of the Rooster Teeth fandom for different reasons.
  • In Episode 3, Agent Washington holds Sarge at gunpoint, only for the Warthog to crash through a wall in slow-motion. The animation quality of the fight sequence was such high quality by the standards of the show that it became regarded as the signature scene of its lead animator, Monty Oum, and remains one of the primary examples of his animation work.
  • In Episode 10, Tex curb stomps all the Reds and Blues in a single fight. The quality of the fight, the clever use of portals, and the Running Gag of Grif getting hit in the groin sent this scene viral so that even people who never heard of the show ended up seeing it. It continued to circulate as a quality animation fight for years after the episode aired.
• The Woobie:
  • Caboose. When you stop to think about it, after Reconstruction, he was alone. He needed someone in his life to look up to, but without his "best friend," he was the only Blue in Valhalla. And then, by the end of this season, Caboose loses his closest friend all over again.
  • By the same token, Alpha/Epsilon-Church and Tex.

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