YMMV / Red vs. Blue: Zero

• Ass Pull:
  • Phase being able to activate Tucker's sword. Tucker's sword is a "Great Key", and as established throughout the series, Great Keys can only be used by whoever claimed them, and for someone else to use it, the previous holder must first die, otherwise the Great Key will be unresponsive. While Phase did stab Tucker, he didn't die, yet Phase is able to activate it herself, completely ignoring the established rules of the Great Key. Although Raymond did say at one point that Tucker was dead, only for him to still be alive later, this implies that Tucker was clinically dead and that this qualifies as dead enough to allow ownership of the sword to transfer. However, the show itself does not do a good job explaining this, leading to much confusion.
  • Phase's Heel–Face Turn. One minute she's in the middle of beating the ever loving shit out of West for seemingly abandoning her to Starlight Lab's experiments, the next she's running to join the fight against Zero. While there is a single scene of her questioning whether or not Zero knows what the "Ultimate Power" actually is and expressing doubt in him, it's a stark contrast between her suddenly switching sides.
• Audience-Alienating Era: The Zero era received a primarily negative response from the overall RT fandom for a variety of reasons, namely due to how different it was from the rest of the franchise. The shift to a more action movie-esque story, an entirely new cast of characters considered severely underdeveloped, the shorter episode count and runtimes, the improperly fleshed out ideas, the negative responses from the creative team towards criticism of the series, etc. While the era does have supporters, they are largely in the minority compared to overwhelmingly negative reaction from everyone else. The reaction was bad enough that the season's showrunner Torrian Crawford (who left RT shortly after it wrapped) frequently took shots at the fandom, and producer Sean Hinz announced that RT had no plans to continue the Zero narrative going forward, leaving the season to be seen as the black sheep of the franchise before ultimately being declared non-canon, with the prologue of Season 19 retconning Zero into being nothing more than one of the numerous simulations that Epsilon ran shortly before his death at the end of Season 13.
• Badass Decay: All of the returning characters are hit with this.
  • Tucker gets stabbed and loses his sword, while also not doing anything to battle Viper outside of a brief moment.
  • Wash is on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle from Diesel, and spends the rest of the season hospitalized.
  • Carolina gets her ass kicked by Viper, but is at least able to kill Diesel and fight East and One simultaneously and win, which is more that Wash or Tucker managed to do, but then gets easily taken out by Zero during the final fight.
• Broken Base:
  • The decision to focus on a completely new cast of characters and not focus back on the Blood Gulch Crew. A lot of fans have cried foul and complained that this makes Zero "Red Vs. Blue In Name Only." Others have contended that it's nice to have the series focus on other characters since it will help keep the show fresh along with further expanding the series' universe.
  • Even with only the trailer being released, Carolina being Demoted to Extra has sparked a lot of arguments among her fans. Many have complained that by seemingly subjecting her to The Worf Effect and giving her a less combat-focused position on Shatter Squad, the series is repeating itself in how Carolina was previously nerfed in Seasons 12 & 15 to largely prop up the new villains. Other Carolina fans have instead argued that Carolina taking on a less action-focused role is reflective of her Character Development in Seasons 15 & 17 about her wanting to move on past her history as just a bloodsoaked Super-Soldier, and by her taking on more of a "pure leadership" approach, more interesting facets of Carolina's personality can be explored. And still others have pointed out that, as it's just a trailer, it's too early to say for sure and so everyone should just wait for the season proper to come out and see what happens then.
  • Washington's brain damage being cured offscreen. On the one hand, this effectively rendered Wash's development he received in Singularity, where he came to terms with his injury and accepted it for what it was, completely pointless in favor of hand waving it away. On the other hand, removing the last remaining plot thread left from the divisive 16th season makes it much easier for fans to pretend that season never happened.
  • Once the season started, the Actionized Sequel nature split the fans who didn't like that the comedy and characterization that drove the series seemed like an afterthought, and others who were enjoying the flashy fights.
• Cliché Storm: One of the bigger critiques against the season is how "by the numbers it feels". Production statements had said it was going to feel like "Red Vs. Blue meets The Fast and the Furious", with many noting that's what it feels like. A team put together specifically to combat a crew trying to pull off a heist so as to gain the "Ultimate Power", the team comprised of various archetypes, that culminates in the Big Bad revealing himself to be the heroes' predecessor and demoralizing them, until one of them gives a Rousing Speech and they have one final confrontation with the group. For many, it felt way too predictable and underdeveloped, not helped by the short episode count, to the point it felt like one of Jax's In-Universe cliched movie scripts rather than an actual season of RvB.
• Complete Monster: Zero, the leader of Viper, desired revenge against the Alliance of Defense for dropping the project GLASS and taking away his chance to be the leader of Shatter Squad. Desiring the Ultimate Power, Zero attacked several bases in order to steal artifacts and coordinates for temples, viciously slaughtering those who got in his way, having Washington tortured, and only sparing those who he wanted to trounce again in the future. Finally achieving his goal, Zero declared his intention to "burn the world down" and "destroy everything", all to show off his own strength out of petty spite.
• Epileptic Trees: A few episodes in, fans who were deeming the season too much like an action movie (every other scene is a fight or chase, the dialogue is mostly one-liners, the characters are secondary) were already wanting it to actually be revealed as one written and directed by Jax Jonez.
• Evil Is Cool: While all of Viper Squad certainly aimed for this, the one that stood out was Phase, with her show-offish Teleport Spam powers and penchant for slashing/throwing that earned her the nickname "Knife Wife".
• Fanon Discontinuity: Many fans were quick to pretend this season either never happened or wasn't a part of Red Vs. Blue due to the mediocre at best quality, and openly wish that should RVB get another season, that it ignore this season happened. It reached the point that when another Fortnite collaboration ad was done for Master Chief's inclusion, many commenters expressed displeasure at the inclusion of One and Raymond for being characters from Zero, not helped by their depiction as stereotypical millennials and calling Sarge and Grif boomers.
• Franchise Original Sin: Many of the initial concerns before the release of Zero (i.e., the season being focused on a different cast of characters from the Reds and Blues, an emphasis on action over comedy and character-driven drama, the quality of the new CGI animation and relatively fresh voice acting/writing talent, etc.) are practically identical to those expressed prior to the release of The Project Freelancer Saga years ago. The main difference seen post-Zero is that Shatter Squad is completely new to the series and comes across as underdeveloped, whereas the Freelancers had already been introduced to the setting long beforehand, and were given time both before and during the saga to explore their characters and dynamics. Additionally, while action is a big part of both iterations of the series, Zero uses it more for spectacle in itself, whereas The Project Freelancer Saga uses it as a secondary element to the character-driven nature of the story and to contrast between the elite Freelancers and the dysfunctional Blood Gulch Crew.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the Season 15 commentary, the director jokes that Porkensenson, the process server, is wearing a Symbiote-esque suit of armor that grants him power. Come Zero, this is exactly what the "ultimate power" the antagonist seeks ends up being. They even both use the same helmet design.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: One of the major criticisms of the season is the abysmal episode count, clocking in at the lowest of any season with only eight episodes. As a result, the pacing of the series is very off, some moments feeling too slow and others moving a mile a minute, with none of the characters getting the time to properly explore their characterization. Many as such feel like the season tries to cram too much into too little time.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many fans have openly admitted that they're mostly interested in Zero since they want to see Torrian Crawford bring his expertise in animated fight scenes, as previously observed in DEATH BATTLE!, to Red Vs. Blue.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Common reaction to Episode 5, where Tucker is seemingly killed by East, when his sword not igniting for others should be a clue. It's confirmed at the start of the very next episode that he survived the attack. Although not without consequences, namely, Phase stealing his Great Key.
• Lost in Medias Res: A major criticism of the season is that the viewers are thrown into the middle of a plot line and forced to listen to exposition about what is going on, with Raymond being used as an Audience Surrogate to explain the group dynamics to, and that a lot of the "development" is ultimately an Informed Attribute as a result, not helped by things seemingly happening offscreen in between each episode and requiring more exposition to explain.
• Magnificent Bastard: Phase, real name Danyell, is a member of Viper and Agent West's daughter, resenting him after he gave her up to be experimented on to save her life. Saved by Zero, Phase created a holo-echo, East, as a clone to join Shatter Squad, while she helped Zero with collecting the artifacts to unlock the Ultimate Power, killing many and torturing Wash to gain coordinates. Recalling East into herself to steal Tucker's Great Key, Phase eventually confronted her father and beat him unconscious before deciding to help Shatter Squad like her holo-echo used to.
• Narm: "STORY TIME'S OVER!" was supposed to be a badass one-liner, but the overwrought delivery made it unintentionally funny.
• Replacement Scrappy: Shatter Squad (save for Axel, who was well-liked even among those who hated the season) are widely regarded as an inferior replacement for the Reds and Blues, thanks to having bland and cliched personalities and rushed or non-existent character arcs.
• The Scrappy: Zero, the titular Big Bad, is not particularly well-liked by fans due to his inconsistent characterization that resulted in him alternating between being a Noble Demon, a Card-Carrying Villain, or a Well-Intentioned Extremist at random while always remaining generic and bland, his ultimate motivation being both utterly nonsensical and pathetic, and his Narmy cheesy one-liners.
• Seasonal Rot: While the season does have its supporters, most of the old fans found Zero the worst way the show could go, as besides the impressive action scenes, the writing was clichéd, lacking on the comedy and characterization that drove the series, and not handling well the old elements it carried over. The negative reception was so overwhelming, it was eventually revealed that the producers of Rooster Teeth decided to scrap the plot entirely.
• Tainted by the Preview: Despite many fans being intrigued by the new season's action scenes, there are just as many who feel as though the new season is Red vs. Blue in name only as, with the exception of Carolina and Washington, the previews and promotional material have said nothing about the Reds and Blues or implied they will have anything to do with the plot. Many of Carolina's fans were also unimpressed/annoyed at the trailer seemingly confirming that she'd be going through The Worf Effect again, after similar instances in Seasons 12 & 15 of her being made to look weaker than she was to prop up new villains.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: One of the biggest critiques of the season is how it ultimately feels like "Red Vs. Blue" In Name Only. The only members of the original cast that return are Carolina & Wash and later Tucker, but only Carolina has any real importance. The series' staple sense of humor and character driven drama is either dropped or replaced with moments that fall flat, Shatter Squad is considered severely underdeveloped even by the season's conclusion, and the season is more focused on nonstop action scenes over actually exploring character dynamics, causing many scenes claiming the cast underwent development to feel like an Informed Attribute. And in a bit of irony, a reaction after the preceding and divisive story arc was some fans asking if the show could go different and without the old characters... getting exactly that, only not in a way they liked.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • While Shatter Squad as a whole are lacking in characterization, Axel ends up suffering the worst due to a plot line seemingly being set up, but never followed up on. Axel is established in the third episode to have had history with Zero, even being there the day Zero seemingly died, and numerous points are made of Zero trying to tell Axel "the truth" or that he's hiding things from the rest of Shatter Squad. While this would seem to be set up to have Axel have a more personal dynamic with Zero, even revealing their shared history to the rest of Shatter Squad, Axel instead falls to the background, with West being the one to explain Zero's background, and One and Phase being the ones to defeat Zero.
  • Tucker being brought back and not doing much against Viper, instead just getting stabbed then having his sword stolen from him, but not only the weapon itself but also its ownership, has understandably annoyed and disappointed quite a lot of fans. Not helping matters is the seeming ignoring of his development last season, making him seem derailed yet again, and that no explanation is ever given for why he too is working for the Alliance of Defense when the rest of the Blood Gulch Crew are in retirement.
  • While Carolina has a big role, Wash is beaten up early in the season and spends whatever little screen time afterwards hurt or recovering.
  • Of the Viper crew, Diesel has little actual characterization outside of being the sadistic brute, and unlike Phase, no reason is ever given for why he was following Zero. To top it off, he's quickly killed by Carolina with little fanfare. All of this makes it seem like he exists just for the sake of Viper having a third member.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Exactly what the Alliance of Defense is and why Wash and Carolina signed up to work for them is never adequately explained. While Wash has the excuse of "wanting to help where he can" and Carolina stood by him, nothing is ever explained about why this organization in particular rather than, say, the UNSC. Implications are made that the group is connected to Starlight Labs via East's background and that it was another "magic bullet" project similar to Project Freelancer, but outside of that, nothing gets elaborated on.
  • Wash's brain damage is fixed completely offscreen with robotic implants, negating pretty much any potential storylines it set up.
  • The penultimate episode before the final confrontation with Viper has One give a Rousing Speech about how they went from a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits into a genuine team and that they will protect their own, even East/Phase. However, this is largely an Informed Attribute due to Shatter Squad spending most of their time either bickering or fighting Viper. No actual bonding or development is shown, making One's proclamation they had Character Development ring hollow, despite how important to the group's characters such development would be.
• Uncertain Audience: The season certainly aimed to be accessible to newcomers (something pointed out by star Fiona Nova, who says she was never interested in the original show to begin with) with its plot unrelated to previous events, barely any returning characters, and focus on crowd-pleasing action, while still following the formula enough to still please the fanbase. Of course, it backfired, especially in regards to being an entry point - a YouTuber fan of Rooster Teeth watching Zero with no RvB experience finished the season noting how much of a bad first impression it passes.

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