#looking at you rvb fandom

[leonardalphachurch]

putting up some decorations for all the ppl coming back to the rvb fandom

[vanlegion]

Hey Grimmons Peeps!

I know I'm small potatoes, and I've only just started poking around the RvB comm, despite being an RvB since S1... BUT, I just thought maybe I could give all the Grimmons artists/fans (be it art or fic or other mediums) a fun idea/challenge? For an entire month up until Restoration came out, I kept thinking:

'How could the team portray a non face reveal Grimmons kiss?' And I kept thinking of all these animation techniques they could used, or shortcuts, or background animations they could do. Which also evolved 'How could they get away doing a canon Grimmons background scene?' that may or may or not have a kiss. Like, if I could animate those SMFs or SMVs you best believe I'd be doing that. Someone on here said during the PFL Arc (So either S9 or S10) there was a background scene with Wash without a helmet which is how we know he's blond ~ but couldn't see his face. I haven't found it yet. But that's kind of the spirit of what I'm thinking of. So how would you guys have found a way to pull it off? Use whatever season you consider your canon ending. Or if you have your own ending. I dunno, like I said, I just thought this might be a fun idea/challenge/exercise in case some people are looking for one! I might storyboard my thoughts.

[funsizedcrow]

They r. The same

[banamine-bananime]

Alright, I know there have been several recent endeavors in the fandom looking at ranking characters, but I want to see what results look like if people are allowed to rank their 2nd, 3rd, etc picks as well and we take those into account.

I probably won't close this at any point, but I plan to do the analysis and graphs in 3 weeks (December 8), so get your votes in by then if you want them included in that!

[glassedplanets]

so long and thanks for ruining my sense of humor permanently

links to original posts:

wash and maine

wash and maine... 2!

felix

felix and locus

wash screencap redraw

while i'm at it, fic plug:

P vs NP

no quarter

my tag for rvb art on this blog goes back over ten years and there's much more art i made in the years before. there isn't a single year in my archive that didn't have at least one rvb post. i came to tumblr to be a hipster blog; rvb is the series that pulled me into "modern" fandom after i wasn't really involved in fannish things for a few years back in the dark ages. i didn't draw for a few years in there, either. it's kinda funny to be like "welp bye rip" because rvb has been pretty dead to me for a few years now* but it's also honestly so deeply foundational to who i am now that it sort of can't ever really be dead to me. i've met the overwhelming majority of my closest friends through rvb, either directly making friends in the fandom at large or through a six degrees of separation friend-of-friend-who-likes-RT kind of deal. i spent yeeeaaaarrrs of my life working on P vs NP and i still can't let it go! some of you have been here for TEN YEARS with me. idk. it's been real. thanks

*don't look too closely at any of the posting dates up there. don't worry about it.

[demonio-fleurs]

so i will admit, i am more of a “think of the positive” person because it is so easy to get weighed down by critical thoughts (whether valid or not!) in fandoms and i know from experience how that can have its effects, so this is probably the only negative thing you will hear me say about rvb restoration before i go back to either crying over tex and writing meta for her or just general one piece posting—

that was the ugliest fucking season of red vs blue, ever. of all time. the colors were muddied and ugly, the scenery was so textureless and bland, and the music was absolutely uninspiring. you could feel the lack of trocadero in every high moment, every scene that could have been enhanced by a leitmotif or musical call back.

i am not sure if they were using an in house engine to animate it, or what, but they should have gone back to halo 3 or 4 because even though those games are 10-15 years old, they still looked leagues better than what we got.

[justanotherfanartist]

taps mic. ahem.

help a student write a dumb rvb research paper? pretty please?? for funsies???

This is exactly what it sounds like.

My current final of the year for my language composition class is a massive synthesis + argumentative research paper on any topic of our choosing, and Roosterteeth + RVB has too much messy junk going on that I’m knee-deep invested in mentally at this point to pass up the opportunity to write about it.

And yknow, I see a ton of media analysis posts coming out of the fandom all the time and I’ve always loved seeing it and reading into it and sharing ideas and whatnot and this feels like my way of doing that too.

Essentially what I’m reaching out for is for you guys to help me crowdsource resources and share your ideas with me to include in my term paper*.

things that would be wizard cool of you to send me are:

any interviews or behind the scenes with the cast and creators you happen to know of

your own analysis or hot takes of the characters or the show as a whole

what the show has meant to you

any clips of old Roosterteeth expos

for the older fans, a rough idea of what the release timeline looked like for the episodes and what the buildup and fan reaction was for each one

any commentary or hot takes on how the fandom has changed since you joined/that you know of

what Roosterteeth did wrong (writing wise and irl)

what Roosterteeth did right (writing wise and irl)

tropes within the show you noticed whether originated by the show or not

tropes within the fandom, things like similar portrayals or bad/good takes on characters or face canons that span artists

literally anything you can give me, media, commentary, or opinion wise

(not to say I can’t find things on my own, I already have, but this is also about varying opinions and the general outlook of the fandom as a whole and measuring the broader impact of a show like RvB and it would be incredibly cool of you to help me out even with just crumbs of character opinions)

The idea is to get evidence together from clips, personal anecdotes, and opinions so I can present an accurate read on the fandom, especially when it comes to fan interpretation of RVB vs Roosterteeth’s intentions for the show (and behavior as a company) and explore what the show was supposed to be, what it literally is, how people see it, what its impact has been, and a general overview of the it’s legacy and lifespan, that sort of thing.

My thesis is most likely going to end up something in the ballpark of “How Roosterteeth exemplifies the Franchisation of Indie Media” or “Why RvB is one of the most complicated/misunderstood/divisive shows in modern media” or “How Fandoms interpret and recontextualize media”

I’m going to guess that I likely won’t be able to post the finished paper up online without a solid buffer window to avoid the two mortifying scenarios that are (a) being accused of creative plagiarism and (b) having to tell my instructor that the tumblr account with a 100% match to my course final is, in fact, my tumblr account, are two things I desperately want to avoid.

However if I can, simply for the sake of contributing to the fandom and creating something for us to all contribute to and discuss and crediting various peoples’ help and input would be ideal and, if at all possible, that would be the end goal.

so yeah. if you’re up for it I’d love for you to dm me your thoughts or (more conveniently for the both of us) fill out this Google form down here!

*im not gonna, like, repost your detailed character analysis as my own or something. I’m just trying to find some good quotes, general opinions, and ideas from the fandom so that I can accurately represent them and do our little corner of the internet Justice. And also because the audience of a work is a massive factor in media analysis lmfao. and also to create a community sourced Fun Thing™️ we can all look at and bite the corners off of instead of watching Roosterteeth crash and burn in the backgroun

[scribbleboxfox]

I feel like I've been a bit harsh towards RvB these past few days. Admittedly, emotions have been running high with the show ending and all that.

I do love the show, and I'm glad we got something of a definitive end. I think if it had happened sooner, it would've made me (and maybe you, too, reader) a lot happier.

Restoration did have its highlights. The voice acting was fun; Caboose's new VA sounded awesome, and honestly Caboose really carried the season for me. It was nice to see some of the newer characters (Dylan Andrews and Agent One) again. It was REALLY nice to see Tex again. I loved the 479er cameo, too.

Now that it's all over, I'm stuck reflecting on the show as a whole and what it meant (and still means) to me. When I first started watching Red vs. Blue, I was pretty depressed. But then Season 13 happened, and suddenly I was writing again, after going through a period where I was certain I'd never tell another story. Not only that, but I was drawing not just for school and work, but for fun! There was a period of time in my life where the only thing I was drawing was RvB-themed art; be it either general fanart or art for my fic. That's changed now, obviously. I've branched out a lot, but I doubt my skills would have improved as much as they did, as rapidly as they did, if I hadn't fallen in love with this show. I also made so, so many friends because of RvB. One of them, I even live with now!

It's funny — sitting back and looking at the big picture, now — how much of my life was shaped by this one show. Where would I be without it? I'm not sure I want to think about it.

Anyways, this is all just a long-winded way of saying "thank you, Red vs. Blue." It wasn't always a perfect show, but I think it's imperfections are a large part of why it has such a creative fandom. And I'm glad I got to be a part of it.

Bow-chicka-bye-now, you funky little space marines. Thanks for everything. <3

[gravesidepickup]

This is a fandom blog I created separate from my main so I could spew as much insane shit that I want without my friends staring on in horror at me 🫶

I'm 27 and I use whatever pronouns you want to give me tbh. Doesn't matter to me.

Maybe I'll post my fanfic acc eventually we'll see where the day goes

The tag for the shit I'm spewing ;

#graves rambles

Now with more art posting

#grave posts art

🫶

I do queue stuff so if I look like I'm active, surprise! I might not be.

❤️🖤🧡💛

Current fandoms and interests

MCU

Deadpool

X-Men

Comics

RVB (Grimmons has my heart and soul)

Send me your fic recs for any of the above and my life is yours

Or feel free to talk to me about any of the above too

[rvbrarepairweekdos]

RVB RPW Dos.0 Survey!

Take the survey now and let me know exactly what you'd like to see during this event! This is my first time running something like this, and I want to make sure I'm doing it right. The survey will also help me get an idea of what ships people are most interested in and what our little fandom declares as rarepairs!

Of course with this being this events first year, all questions and suggestions will be taken seriously. And I will not be telling people what they can and cannot make for this event outside of the parameters placed in the previous "what makes a pair rare" post.

Thank you and happy shipping!

[leonardalphachurch]

while we’re on the topic of whitewashing and drawing black characters, let’s talk about tucker’s eyes, yeah?

it is a very common headcanon among rvb fans to give tucker cool, glowing blue eyes. and that is. complicated. because i am sure the the intention the majority of people have when giving tucker cool glowing eyes to match his sword is not white washing. i’m sure most people just think cool glowing eyes are cool. and they are cool!

but there is a trend in media of giving dark skinned characters light eyes. and even if the intention is not whitewashing, it does contribute to that trend. and there is a trend in this fandom of whitewashing tucker, and a lack of diversity in the show, and often a lack of diversity in headcanons.

and so when you want to draw tucker with bright blue eyes, i want you to ask yourself: why do i want to draw this? do i just want to draw cool glowing eyes, or am i just using that as excuse to draw a black character with white features? i want you to look at your art, and want you to ask yourself: is there a trend, here, of drawing dark skinned characters with light eyes? do i even draw enough dark skinned characters for that to be a trend? do the majority of my characters have blue, green, grey eyes? even with unnatural eye colors, is there a noticeable lack of brown? why do i find lighter eyes to be more appealing?

this applies, for the record, to all european features. lighter skin, straighter hair, thinner/pointier noses, thinner lips. do you draw tucker with these features? do you draw other black characters with them? do you draw any other black characters at all? because yes, there are black people with light skin and blue eyes and straight hair but when that is the only black person you draw you need to ask yourself:

why do i not want to draw black people?

[voidedbattery]

Iron and Smoke

@rvbrarepairweekdos

I GOTTA GET MY CHARON STUFF IN!!!!!!!

By the way, see this post if you haven't read it yet. It has notes that you need to know when you continue to read this post.

This post has MAJOR focuses on the Sleeveless Insurrectionist and The Demoman (both of which refer to the characters in RvB).

+ POLL

also check image alts if you don't know what nonsense I drew today 🔥

This is one of the only two days where I'm gonna post about. Why? Here are my excuses:

Right, so let's get into it.

The Appetizer

Caboose x Reader

Once I looked up a fanfiction with this exact tag. I was curious, so I was wondering if there was something wholesome. And it was! I read a fanfiction on AO3 (i don't know where it is but it's like one of five) where you and Caboose decorate a cool banner and annoy everyone on base with it. How fun! Definitely the caboose of all time.

Also like... You're supposed to make ship thingies for other people on this date so here's that. I'm also gonna use the wheel too and

The Wheel

where is it

OH MY GOSH LOOK THERE'S MORE STUFF!! WOW!!!

anyways i found it after five mouse scrolls

GONNA SPIN!!

ah yes. a main character and a main character <3< <#,,333,3#<####3,3,3,3,,3,3.....

when i got a Starburst yesterday, it was orange and pink

is this

is this foreshadowing or what

yeah i still can't draw properly but i can make it obvious enough to make a couple people that i know to go crazy

i have like 7 of these drawings but they're not about halo at all so i doubt you'd be interested

but if you do, let me know!

Main Course

I'm going to expand off of this post.

In short, Ch6/Dax's arm is just as large as Ch4/Marcus' if you take the bandolier off.

Here's where the "deeper diving" begins!

Team Crimson

Who Marcus (Ch4) and Dax (Ch6) belong to

Initially started as three people

Marcus is one of those three

They advertise very lightly because of the attention they don't want to bring up, so they use posters

But it happens anyway when Ch2, Ch3, Ch4, Ch6 are KIA while Ch1 goes MIA

The above is referred to as the Longshore Massacre to some groups (this fact is mainly for a specific AU; lmk if you want in on this)

The wiki says that they resemble Noble Team so I'm headcanonizing that

The team plays rough with each other but can remain professional in specific environments

Occasionally give out cinnamon treats to little ones who pass by

You probably won't survive a road trip with them if it takes enough time for you to get hungry for food

They were hired exactly four times before Longshore

One of those times was because a few friends were bored

Marcus

If you want to talk with him about something, it's best to do it alone

He's a completely different person when the team's assembled

Probably has a really big dog that lives at his house

Lives in an apartment but sleeps over at his cousin's about 30% of the time

Has a mutation which is probably the reason why having no sleeves hasn't killed him for his six years as an ODST

Started going sleeveless by pure accident due to an alarm clock failure, so it was really four years without sleeves

Marcus just kept going as soon as people were all over him

"What's your workout routine? BROOO those shoulders" they'd ask

Would only hug his S/O for over 20 seconds

Anything other than that would go to anybody who genuinely asked for a hug

Once made $872.36 from arm wrestling bets at one of Earth's major spaceports

He's the one who gives out the cinnamon treats

Chain Twins

Would give out raw cinnamon powder

Yes, I included the twins specifically to say that they'd give out raw cinnamon

They enjoy really obscure fandoms

One of them probably likes history a lot, but nobody really knows about it because of the fact that the textbooks are hidden in his/her backpack the whole time

Dax

Emailed the leader about joining Team Crimson just solely to work with whoever was on the poster that he saw two months ago

Actually jumped so much that he put a dent in the floor when he met Marcus in person

I saw a post that said that Ch6 would be Simmons but 20% cooler and I'm making that canon

Either that or he's the Rookie if he grew up in a crowded neighborhood

Was born in New York City (or something similar if Dax wasn't Earth-native)

Eats really small burgers for some reason

You'd know when you go to a restaurant and he starts complaining about the size of the Junior burgers

Forgets to take post-workout supplements but still looks like one of those people who'd miraculously save you from a car wreck

I think he teaches the other workers in the Charon Industries company how to drive a truck or something

His party trick is taking the square of double digit numbers

Someone said this on an Amino post but Dax is really formal after his arm gets blown off

THE Main Course

(and not the 50 plates of appetizers that already filled your stomach for the next two meals)

Iron and Smoke

Iron, because Marcus goes to the gym really often

Smoke, because that's what explosions do

I would've used another element for "smoke" but I can't tell which one makes explosions

Uranium? No, that sounds too techy-

wait... what IF Dax was a techy sciency person?

probably not. Dax would need to spend less time at the gym so he can study

The actual relationship between Marcus and Dax

I don't think they've "done it" at all even though a lot of people joke about it

They do helmet bops every day. They do it every day somehow. Even if nobody's looking, they do it. Even if it's 12 AM, they do it.

Marcus is the dominant person in this relationship (battery why are you mentioning this)

Marcus and Dax share a shockingly similar physique. If they wore the exact same armor, then you couldn't tell who was who until one of their faces was shown to you.

Because they're ODSTs they don't focus much on social media.

If you followed them, their posts would be VERY outdated in terms of trendiness, and the posts would actually be its own thing rather than something else (marcus and dax actually focus on things like legs and forearms instead of jugs of creatine)

(this totally isn't to cope with my social media experience)

The two have been together for about 15 months up until the events of Longshore.

If they survived long enough to retire (Charon's actually given them enough money to retire at 30 and somehow live a really good life), Dax would probably try to build something cool at home. Marcus would watch and help with something heavy.

One time, someone made a statue for the two of them about a month before Longshore. It sits in a museum somewhere, and nobody (other than the sculptor) will find it until 2554.

Marcus will back up Dax in an argument.

Dax will listen to Marcus talk about his gains for a full hour.

sharkface has blackmail

Dessert

Marcus is the one with the red helmet by the way

In an alternate timeline Marcus goes scuba diving and argues with a... thing

But instead of burping he accidentally "scares it too much"

Happy November guys! Let me know if you want to see more...

[smilysstuff]

Joining the red vs blue fandom is probably one of the greatest decisions I ever made. Everyone hyperfixating on these silly blorbos and I get to join in is just- makes me so happy, looking at everyone's fanarts and fanfictions and I can't stop LOOKING. My surprise when there's still A LOT of people in the fandom making blogs and such and I got to meet some dearest friends because of it.

My art improved so much from wanting to draw the Reds and Blues myself and share it with others gaining confidence when I was met with positive responses. You you guys are just SO COOL. I have this giant impulsive urge to literally hug the Rvb community in its entirety and just say thank you, thank you so much for making me SO HAPPY, making me smile and laugh and probably many others too.

[simmonsized]

More rvb thoughts!!!

Okay because I'm fresh on season 6 and frothing at the mouth you may have more rvb thoughts:

- I feel like, looking back at a lot of the story, they really didn't need to destroy alpha Church. In fact it would have been kind of fascinating in a lot of ways, and if I had more time, I would do it my goddamn self

- like you know I love epsilon you know my sweet pizza lunchable but. I'm just saying. It would have been rly neat. Rampancy level neat you know???

- If you have not seen the behind the scenes for the director, he's played by basically "someone's dad" which is so cute to me he is just like. A Texas father. It makes listening to him completely hilarious. Oh john marshal reed, you're so cute

- I'm serious I'm so emotional about how Church was never given the chance to actually process what happened to him and who he actually is and I know okay I know epsilon is there but it's just not the same and I'm so upset

- we all know that the L in Church's middle name is Loser

- and you know what I actually feel the same way about Tex. Blah blah agency robbed blah blah you understand

- it's kind of interesting how the director talks to Wash through a "camera" that looks like a monitor, and then later epsilon is placed in a monitor

- God isn't it fucked up how the director's grief for Allison was so strong that it transferred into his AI. Isn't it fucked up how rvb is actually about grief and love

- "there are no punishments for the terrors we inflict on ourselves" YOU KNOW????????????

- trocadero is so fucking good and not to say underrated but people are so obsessed with contact when the ghosts that linger album is right fucking there

- my feelings are hurt and I am sad 8(

- I made myself sad

- I showed tony old docnut art and he actually started tearing up lmao

- tony is like one of the only people to hear the absolutely deranged things I've said in person, and also the only one who knows how many times I've said "they're in love" while staring at him desperately.

- I've actually met the chairman and the counselor before :) they're both super nice

- south...... Sexy

- Dr. Leonard "disgrunted cowboy wannabe" Loser Church

- it's kind of fascinating how you can kind of see the difference in facecanons between people who were in the fandom when Luke McKay's art was out vs people who got into it through Tumblr and stuff

- i have no idea what I'm saying we're watching the behind the scenes right now so I'm making eyes at the screen sorry anon I have so much to say I swear I do

[sodium-chloride-blog]

Thought I’d share some of my thought process behind my blue team face hc’s since so many of you seemed to like it so much

I’m absolutely biased since Church is by far my favorite (if that wasn’t obvious enough already), so he probably had the most thought put into his design.

According to the ultimate fanbook, the Director got in a fight with another private when he was in basic training who apparently broke his nose, up until Allison beat up the other guy. It’s not as noticeable in the hc sketches but in most art of Church I try to keep a small bump in the nose because of that. I just thought it was a cool nod to how Church is based on the Director.

Honestly I just can’t help but agree with the combination of glasses, black spiky hair, and goatee as the most widely-agreed upon design for Church. Like yeah, that’s what that crusty screaming blue guy would look like 👍

Compared to Tucker and Caboose, he goes through the least amount of drastic changes, somewhat due to the fact that he isn’t in a human body for very long. I like to think Church in his original AI form resembled a younger Director, maybe in his 20′s or 30′s, and the body they picked for him later just needed to look similar enough that the Alpha AI wouldn’t question it. It’s not exact, finding a perfect match is probably impossible, but I like to think poor Private Jimmy just happened to look enough like a younger Director that he ended up the Alpha AI’s host.

Seeing as Epsilon is based on an AI who’s based on a person, it made sense to me that the details got muddled somewhere down the line like a game of telephone. Since he’s only a fragment, the details aren’t as precise as they were on Alpha Church, hence more straight edges (like a model with less polygons).

Tucker was by far the most fun to work on, honestly. The fandom seems a little more divided on how he should look, but that just gave me more ideas to work with.

I like the idea that all 3 of them started off with shorter, ‘military-approved’ length haircuts which grew out as rvb went on.

Can’t forget Florida’s comment about Tucker’s ‘metrosexual good looks’

After the BGC and Tucker went on to become an ambassador, I imagine he got more confident with his energy sword and himself as a soldier. He’s got a few scars, a little stubble, and he’s grown up a bit, but he’s still good ol’ Tucker. His hair kind of worked perfectly for me to illustrate how he grows and develops as a person, for better and for worse.

In The Recollection Trilogy, it’s grown out a bit, but Tucker still keeps his hair neat and up in a ponytail. He’s still figuring shit out, but he’s doing well for himself.

Then the Chorus Trilogy comes along and BAM, hit ‘em with the depression. Some more facial hair, another piercing, a few more scars, but mostly the eyebags and his hair growing out more. First Epsilon leaving with Carolina, then losing Wash, Tucker had to balance the sudden responsibility of becoming captain to the lieutenants on Chorus along with the stress of losing his friends. He was never the leader, Church was always around 'to take the blame when shit went wrong’, and then Wash took his place. A ton of responsibility is suddenly thrust onto Tucker (bow chika bow wow), and I wanted to illustrate visually that he’s NOT taking it well at ALL.

Not only did his hair get longer, but it’s more disheveled now, hanging lower and not as neat anymore as he struggles to keep everything together.

Finally though, I like to think he eventually felt worthy enough as a soldier, a leader, and as a warrior to shave the energy sword symbol into his hair. I’ve seen a ton of fantastic art where people gave him that, and I loved it, but to me it felt almost like a sign of honor, something that he didn’t feel he was ready for until later into the Chorus trilogy when he’d start getting his foothold and regaining his confidence. Eventually he felt he was ready as he truly became a warrior deserving of the symbol.

Caboose was probably the hardest to pin down. There’s a ton of variation in designs, and I don’t think a single design has really become the most agreed-upon. It took some time to think of a design that, at least to me, felt like it matched his voice and personality.

Just like Church and Tucker, I gave him a shorter haircut for his BGC era when he was still a rookie. I had to ensure he looked friendly enough, so after a little searching around for ideas I settled on curly hair. I imagine he’d probably be a brunette. Real warm vibe.

Shoutout to @picz for the idea to give him freckles, outstanding move.

Of course during the Recollection Trilogy his hair grows out like it does for Tucker since they’re... Not really in the army anymore...? They’re sorta... Doing their own thing, so I imagine no one’s sticking to army protocols for hair length anymore (Except Sarge, obviously. Might make some red team face hc’s sometime too....)

I get the impression Caboose doesn’t outwardly show signs of stress quite as badly as Tucker during the Chorus Trilogy. He’s sad Epsilon left, but he isn’t anywhere near overwhelmed or distressed enough to develop eyebags like Tucker.

His hair has grown out longer, so Tucker or Wash probably tied it up into a ponytail for him.

Of course, Caboose grows up too, so I put some facial hair on that boy, plus a few more band-aids and patches here and there. He’s probably got a few scars by now, but not as many as Tucker since Tucker seems more the type to get up close and personal in combat with his energy sword.

[riathedreamer]

I remember reading your first fics on ao3 way back in 2016 when I had my first rvb phase. Your grimmons dynamic cemented itself in my wee teenage brain back then and everytime I’ve revisited rvb since, I’ve also revisited your writing.

Thank you for all the wonderful stories and for your service to red team 🫡

Thank you as well <3 The RvB fandom was my first real fandom, and man, it feels nostalgic to look back at old fics and usernames from that period. Thank you all for being there! <3 Red Team forever!