#rvb s16 spoilers

[heroictoonz]

king I've been putting off a rewatch of s15-17 for ages do u think its worth it

My instinct is so say no save yourself but like jokes aside I think that’s up to you like, I always said that they gave the RvBs a “bad ending” and that they ruined Tucker’s character post Chorus however, that was back when season 16 was literally first coming out

Flash back here but so when s16 was coming out I was just getting more and more upset with the writing of the show especially and honestly almost specifically Tucker. Somewhere near the end of s16 I stopped watching (didn’t even finish the season) and then after a bit I heard that the next season was gonna revolve around whole new characters

Now this, I only recently learned was weird miscommunication. See I’m trash ass shit at keeping up with news of shit even shit that I like so for the longest time I thought the story of this group I’ve been following since I was a teenager ended at s16 which KILLED me inside so I swore off the rest of the show and vowed to never watch it. Instead I mostly just rewatched Chorus or s1-s13 if I wanted to rewatch the “whole” show. Basically just watching till the end of Chorus and stopping. Every time I tried to go rewatch s15 to mmmaybe finish the show I kept remember how bad things got and kept running away

I’m gonna give some vague spoilers from here on out but it’s cause I do genuinely wanna talk about how I feel having literally only a few minutes ago finished s16 and s17 for the first time

I decided to finish RvB LITERALLY last night like no joke and it’s cause I saw spoilers out of context for s19 and I was like fuck it I need to see what the hell that is show is over anyways might as well finish it. So I am doing that now

I rewatched/finished s16 and fucking hated it. The good parts were Wash being cute and silly and my favorite guy ever of all time and forever. There’s also Grif and this character named Huggins they’re like on god one of my new brotps of all time damn RvB writes some good ass season specific supporting cast cause holy shit man. Also! I liked that Kai was in it! I enjoy Kai so so so so so much! I’ve always wanted more of her in the show! UNFORTUNATELY!

Tucker is so hard to watch. It’s so honest to god painful to watch. Maybe that’s what they were going for I don’t know. But, having now seen season 17 I get what they were TRYING to do I just don’t fully like how they did it.

In s17 Tucker admits to himself that the reason why in s16 he was acting so weird and gross and toxic masculinity “I have to have the biggest and most talented dong in the room at all times or I’ll kms” character ever is cause he was trying to be a leader

It’s sounds stupid and personally I think it IS stupid but now that I know what they were TRYING to write it makes these post Chorus seasons more bearable.

Basically, Tucker spent all that time in Chorus forced to be a leader. Once he finally got comfortable in the position of one Chorus no longer needed them. He wanted to keep being a leader keep feeling like a leader and it went to his head. He tried acting cool and tough and macho cause that’s what he thought a leader was and he says this! Out loud he admits all this to himself in s17! And honestly? That’s SUCH a good fucking concept it’s super fucking interesting and I really dig it plus with Tucker FAILING at being the leader it gave Donut well deserved character growth. I’ve always hated how sidelined Donut got compared to the others cause I’ve always liked him but s17 is definitely Donut’s season and to see him finally get screen time and respect and also have genuine moments of connection with the others was honestly really fucking awesome

So, do I like s16? God no. Do I recommend it watching it? Hard to say. You have to watch it if you wanna finish the show. Is finishing the show worth it? Honestly I dunno yet I haven’t seen 18 or 19 so it’s to be seen rn. But s17 where not perfect was definitely better than 16 and gave better insight on what they were trying to do. I don’t like the execution I don’t think it was as done very well but I like the ideas I like what they were attempting

S15 I admittedly do not fucking remember at all cause again it’s not a season I’ve rewatched more than maybe twice cause I kept stopping cause I just did not wanna deal with what I knew was coming. And I know me I know myself I know if I tried rewatching the show from the start or even s15 in an attempt to finish it I’d ever fucking do it so instead I just started from s16 and went forward

I don’t remember out right hating s15 but similar to the above I think there were good ideas and not all of them were perfectly done in writing. Also there’s this like really cool interesting thing that is about Tucker that then ends up being a stupid child support payment joke and that sucks so much it makes me so burningly livid I don’t even have a joke here it just makes me mad

But! It brings in the concept of other reds and blues other soldiers that were left in the rubbles of project freelancer which is super interesting again I think they coulda done more with specific parts of it and the “Tucker doesn’t pay child support for the buncha kids he fucked into existence” joke sucks especially when they CONSTANTLY SHOW HIM AS A VERY DOTING AND LOVING FATHER it’s fine I’m not mad I’m not bitter I promise

But uh yeah honestly if you like the show a lot I say watch it even if it sucks. Some of my biggest special interests are GARBAGE shows with writing so bad it makes me wanna commit actual arson. But, I love the characters I love the settings and I love what could have been maybe that’s why I always keep sticking around in stuff like this lol even if it sucks I like to imagine what could make it better cause I love it! And if I didn’t love it I wouldn’t care to put as much energy into wanting it to be better as I do! That’s the same with RvB! I wish it was better I wish SSOOOO BADLY that it was better but it’s cause I love it so fucking much not out of any sort of hate if that makes sense?

Idk tldr it’s up to you and you might suffer a bit but if you love the show I say go for it

Aaaand it’s 2am and I read ur ask wrong I thought that said “watch” not “rewatch” but? Points still stand I’m the kinda person that will rewatch even the seasons I hate to remember why I like the ones I love (I’m looking at you Ninjago season 3 you hot fucking garbage that I’ve sadly seen more times than I would like)

[arkhaline]

My Complete Thoughts on RvB: Restoration

Major spoilers for the entire season below the cut!

I think the biggest sin of this season was not clarifying when it takes place, as it cheapened a lot of the twists by genuinely confusing me or contrasting information that we had already been given in S15-S18. Keep this in mind for the rest of the review.

Maybe the allusion to Caboose’s voice being “misremembered” was confirmation that it was in fact a simulation post-S13, but it still wasn’t super clear to me. Especially since Dylan was talking about the Reds and Blues (even though I know they met post-S10), which kinda made it feel like Restoration could be post-S18 (unless that was the point). There was just enough ambiguity that it really could have gone either way for most of the movie.

I feel like the humor was a bit off?? Maybe it was a generational gap since the show was going back to someone who hasn’t written for it in a while and is older than the current writers (case in point: he used tropes that Gen Z makes fun of a lot, e.g. he’s right behind me isn’t he). The Zoom call bit also went on WAY too long. The metacommentary about the changing attitudes toward RT also felt a bit tone deaf. In general, a lot of the trademark RvB banter just felt stale, it was the more general dialogue that was stronger (though Church telling Caboose to shut up when Simmons was talking did make me laugh).

Also, Grif was so angry all the time at the beginning?? Felt out of character and took me out of those early scenes. Maybe it was a setup for the whole discharge subplot but it just felt… off

The writing was just a bit clunky at the beginning, felt very direct and exposition-y, but that might be because they had so much to cover in so little time. It resolved itself later, anyway (except for the rapid fire ending, there was so much to unpack there).

Alright enough complaining about the general format, here are my more detailed thoughts.

Sheila!!! That is all.

I can excuse Caboose secretly speaking Spanish the whole time because there was a bit in S16 (maybe 17? can’t remember) where he understands something that Lopez said.

I initially completely missed the fact that the Meta’s color scheme was an allusion to Felix, that is so fucked up. Tucker dressed in the colors of the man he hates the most about to kill his closest friends? Jesus.

The Director being Epsilon’s therapist in the YouTube video made me laugh really hard.

Speaking of therapists, Wash was patient 619-B and I think that was the Counselor’s voice. Is the implication that he survived in this timeline?? Because he died before Epsilon fractured himself, so that much should at least be set in stone. Not really clear on that.

The “Great Destroyer” thing felt a bit retcon-y, but I can get behind it well enough.

I got so excited when 479er showed up, glad that we got confirmation that she made it out of Recovery okay. Wish we could’ve seen her and Wash (and Carolina) interact though.

I wish they had done Sarge’s death a bit differently. Kinda wish he hadn’t been all “that worked out well!” only to be stabbed, it felt very “he’s right behind me isn’t he” and made the fact that he was about to be stabbed obvious from a million miles away. There’s definitely something to be said about him sacrificing himself for a blue, and the deathbed interactions he had with the others were really good, but it kinda just felt like shock value?? Like there wasn’t enough build up to the payoff, it just kinda seemed like he decided to save Caboose last minute without any major character motivations or development behind the decision.

Which is another thing, it felt like it relied a LOT on Red vs. Blue dynamics in the beginning, and I was fucking flabbergasted when they actually left Caboose behind. The same people who broke time to save Wash would just leave Caboose to die like that? No way.

Meta!Tucker felt like it wasn’t explored enough, mostly just “no I won’t do your bidding” and “yes you will” back and forth with no real depth. However, credit where credit is due, I LOVED how this gave us a new perspective to Maine’s descent into madness. That ten-years-of-torture-in-a-few-seconds thing? So fucked up. Can you imagine being tortured by the remnants of your best friend, who have zero regard for your well-being? If they did all of that to Tucker in the short time they were together, just imagine what they did to Maine to get him to the point he was at at the end of S10/by Recollection.

Bonus points for the fact that the fragments tortured Tucker without a second thought when they themselves are a result of torture. They seemed to spare no empathy for Tucker despite having been through this themselves. Then again, I suppose they are they are copies of the original Leonard Church, who had no such qualms.

Didn’t realize that Meta!Tucker was voiced by Miles Luna (aka Felix’s voice actor) until the credits, that was an extra layer of fucked up and I loved it.

I really enjoyed Wash’s plot for the most part. I was definitely super intrigued the whole time since so much of his subplot didn’t add up from his perspective. I mean, I think he deserved something more for a send-off since most of his arc wasn’t really related to his character as a whole (besides the freelancer thing at the end). However, I still enjoyed it for what it was worth.

Additionally, if this is post-S13, I wish they’d clarified because I assumed that Wash was suffering from cerebral hypoxia and not some other injury. They kept alluding to something that happened on Chorus, but I wasn’t clear on the fact that it was a separate timeline of events. The Doc plot twist threw me off a lot more as a result.

I could tell he was gonna launch himself off the cliff and it still made me laugh hysterically.

I’m glad that the final battle was in Blood Gulch. It’s cliché, but it felt full-circle. Plus, it was the best resting place for Sarge in canon and a good set-up for a “why were we here” moment.

I knew Simmons was gonna have his arm broken but I still gasped anyway. And when the shotgun was cut in half??? Bro my jaw was on the floor, it was like when John Wick’s dog was killed (probably, I’ve never seen that movie). But the way Simmons cocked the shotgun with one hand was badass as hell, good for him.

I’m glad we got something resembling a Simmons character arc? I think it relied a lot on setup from previous seasons of him becoming a leader, with little to no actual development in S19 itself, but it still felt at least decently satisfying.

“Best throw ever. Of all time” made me laugh, I love a good callback. Actually, there were a lot of fun callbacks to jokes, like the irony bit. They were greatly appreciated.

Tucker getting launched by a warthog actually made me laugh really hard, I love the “shotgun as a code word” bit so much.

The Tex plot twist was SO GOOD, I totally didn’t see it coming. Much better direction to go anyway, since we already put Church to rest in S15. So glad that Caboose was able to get his moment in the spotlight and have the smartest plan of all of them. Unless it was Church’s plan, in which case I find it so sweet that he wanted to bring Tex back instead of himself (even if it did cheapen the S9 “let her go” thing a bit). I also really loved the callback where her armor turned black because of the teleporter, that was really good.

I got so excited when they started playing Round One I’ll be honest. Also, I Say Ooh?? Was not expecting that one.

In all honesty, I didn’t love the soundtrack (kinda felt stock music-y and cliché in a lot of parts, plus it didn’t have the musical style that we’ve come to expect from RvB). It was fine, but nothing to write home about. The campfire song was good too. I know about the whole thing where Trocadero wouldn’t join on unless everyone was brought back on, and now that we know that RT is shutting down, it’s possible that this was because multiple musical artists just weren’t in the budget. That said, it’s a shame that there weren’t more original songs.

I called that Carolina was gonna be Recovery (though now I think about it, why was she doing Recovery?? was it even Recovery since Charon had been shut down??? What happened to her after Chorus???? Also her talking about how her and Wash would do everything together from now on meanwhile she left him behind in some hospital?????). Anyway, the fight with her and Tex was SO fan service-y but I ate it up anyway, good for them.

Tex winning because she was a collection of the Reds and Blues’ memories and she always won against them was so, so good, something to be said about the positive nature of the memories of your friends (I mean just look at how happy they had been when recounting everything they’d been through!)

Also if just talking about someone was enough to create a functional AI, it kinda makes the whole “torturing Alpha to make more AI” thing totally pointless and retcons the entire show but. Whatever.

TEX DESERVED THIS ENDING!! I like the S9 ending in a lot of ways, it was poetic that she was finally allowed to rest after being dragged back so many times against her will, but I think it also felt incomplete because I don’t know if being put to rest was what Tex herself would actually want. There is a significant difference between not electing to bring her back again and choosing to take her out of the fight. Tex was never allowed to make her own decisions, not even in S9. This ending was entirely on her terms, which I think was fantastic.

I loved the rockslide, it reminded me a lot of the ice fight from S8 was just generally very fun.

It’s established that Tucker became the Meta because he had several AI when just two was enough to almost kill Carolina. If this isn’t the canon timeline, then why didn’t Tucker become the Meta in that one? For a reason besides “the writers didn’t think of it”.

I hope that Burnie came up with the idea for this season by reading Meta!Tucker fan fiction.

The Doc thing was so??? Why did they do a Sixth Sense. Like I think that twist would have worked a LOT better if they made it clearer when this took place (I kept flip flopping on whether this was an alternate timeline post-S13 or main timeline post-S18 up until this point, which made the whole Doc-died-on-Chorus thing feel like it came out of nowhere since, if it was post-S18, we knew that Doc survived Chorus. It also makes Epsilon’s sacrifice to get them all out of there feel a bit cheaper since they didn’t all get out of there, but maybe that suggests that S15-S18 are the main timeline).

How did Doc heal Wash’s leg?? Was it even broken in the first place??? Did they ever clarify that????

I GASPED when the Freelancers showed up. It was camp as hell and hard to take seriously but also I don’t even care. I’m glad he got some kind of goodbye, since he was always too late to do so as a Recovery agent.

Kinda funny that Wyoming wasn’t there but Florida was, and also South was there even though Wash murdered her in cold blood. Anyway.

When One showed up I felt every emotion I think

Bro where the hell was Donut? There was no good reason for him not to at least show up, maybe on the pelican with One or something. Especially since S16 and S17 were dedicated to an entire arc about how everyone should stop disrespecting Donut, like come on.

Edit: did a little research and it might be because there’s no pink armor in the game this season was filmed in? Which is so hard to believe, since Halo has so many references to RvB. I can’t believe they would just cut out the armor colors of one of the main characters and make it impossible for him to return in the way we know him, it’s messed up.

I know time was short, but I wish we had more time to explore Tucker’s feelings post-Meta. Especially since he killed Sarge, even though it definitely wasn’t his fault. There probably wasn’t enough time to get into all that, but still, he seemed remarkably fine after everything that had happened. I guess that kind of exploration is what AO3 is for lol.

I have mixed feelings about the end for Tex and Church. On one hand, Tex calling herself Allison Church was so sweet and I loved how caring she was, it reminded me of when she said goodbye to Alpha during the Freelancer saga. Also, the fact that there was finally a Church free of the memories of his predecessors felt very satisfying. However, I kind of wish that they could have just had their happily ever after and stayed in the memory unit. I understand the decision—destroying the remaining AI was really the best way to make sure Project Freelancer was put to rest forever—but I kinda feel like she and Church deserved better than simply being put down after everything they’d been through.

One final team kill for Caboose. Ow.

The animation was really, really good!! It looked much better than that plasticky look the trailer had. I didn’t love Epsilon’s animations (they felt a bit jerky and overacted), but otherwise I think they did a really great job. I especially loved how they animated the AI on Tucker’s visor, it looked cool as hell.

I think one of the things this season suffered from was the overall tonal shift in the writing. Burnie hadn’t written for, and Matt hadn’t solely directed, a season in a LONG time. We’ve come to expect more character-focused narratives that dive into the nuisances of the characters and their relationships, and we didn’t really get that here (unless you count Sarge’s deathbed confession to Grif that he was hard on him because he wanted him to be more, which still felt a bit shallow. Actually, there are lot of things which could be considered set-ups in retrospect, but their intended payoffs didn’t feel like payoffs). I think there was a consequential whiplash as compared to what we have come to expect from RvB, and while the writing style we got wasn’t inherently bad (again, I liked a lot of it), it was definitely different.

I really, really hated that Grif left at the end. That’s literally the antithesis of his S15 arc, which felt much more complete and true to the character than this one. It’s impossible not to compare these arcs because of how inherently similar they are, and because I believe the S15 arc is superior (Grif’s exhaustion was a more subtle and believable reaction than this Grif’s raw anger, and his realization of how much he relied on his team was much more powerful than this Grif just tapping out), it makes the S19 Grif arc feel poorly thought out.

Also, he wanted to be discharged, but I don’t think they worked for the UNSC or any other military organization after Chorus since they all retired, so was any of that really necessary? Maybe retirement is just a vessel, so to speak, to represent Grif leaving adventure behind him for good. Still, I liked the way S15 handled this arc a lot more.

Vale Deah. Ow.

NO GRIMMONS??? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???

The most we got was Grif leaving and asking Simmons to come with him but like. “not scared to take risks my ass”, Burnie.

Honestly, I think this season was a victim of its format. Eighty minutes isn’t a lot of time to properly send off these characters, especially when RvB as a format is based on multi-season arcs. There just wasn’t enough time to build up tension or explore the dynamics of something as extreme as Meta!Tucker in a way that would feel satisfying. That said, I think Burnie did a pretty good job fitting as many things as he did into this format. A part of me is almost glad that Grimmons wasn’t made canon? I feel like it might’ve felt rushed to give it a satisfying arc in just 80 minutes in addition to all of the other shit going on, and I think after 21 years they deserved at least a satisfying resolution. However, they did NOT deserve an ending which implied that they would never see each other again, what the fuck.

TL;DR? 7.5/10. Far from perfect, and there were a lot of creative decisions made that I heavily disagree with. However, they did a lot right, too, and it still seems heartfelt in a way that helps me overlook some of its flaws. Overall, I enjoyed this season for what it was worth. There are some qualities of S17 that I think made for a better final goodbye to these characters, and some qualities of S19 that I think made for a better goodbye (in all honesty I never finished S18, but it wasn’t really a “goodbye” season anyway). Wrapping up a 21-year-old series is very difficult, and I have a lot of respect for Burnie and the others who worked on Restoration for what they put together. Truthfully, I’m gonna pick and choose which segments of S17 and S19 are canon in my heart (S17 is still the overall canon ending for me), but I’m happy with what we got in the end.

Anyways, I’m happy to chat more in the replies, let me know your thoughts!

[0utpost-alpha]

Red vs Blue S16:E15 - Paradox Thoughts/Season Review

FIRST MEMBER SPOILERS BELOW

Operation: Save Space Dad is a go!

I’m so proud of the Reds and Blues taking this seriously

Excuse me, when did Tucker learn that badass kick cause that was awesome!

Fucking Genkin’s watching them

Loopy Wash gives me life he’s so precious

Carolina’s little “bye” to Wash 🤗

Grif is so fucking smart. Just by sniffing out pizza he was able to determine that someone else time traveled to their location and could possibly try to hinder their mission. I’m so proud of my boy

Future Simmons to the rescue?

Can we just appreciate that Grif was so pissed off at Genkins he didn’t even give that pizza a second thought. That’s beautiful character development my friends

Red Team Shenanigans to the rescue

Oh hi, Mrs. Cyclops

JESUS CHRIST! I know Caboose is strong but that’s one hell of a golf stroke!

Good boy, Donut! HAMMER TIM- oh gdi O’Malley!

“I could create and entire race of beings with butts for faces, and faces for butts!!” Genkins been watching too much South Park

The O’Malley vs Donut fight has got to be one of the best fighting sequesnces ive ever witnessed in this series. The animation flows so beautifully. Also, we’re finally getting to see how much of a Badass Donut truly is! He’s got more to him than a good throwing arm. My love for Donut has just jumped tenfold

Wait, how is O’Malley able to duplicate himself? 🤨🤔

Donut ain’t falling for any of your bullshit O’Malley

“I’ve always had one heck of a throwing arm. I don’t miss!” That’s my boy! What a fucking badass!

RUN GRIF RUN!

Did anyone else notice when Grif runs out and screams “NO!” he starts glowing blue for a second? I know it’s probably the thrusters on his armor but it’s odd to see them now suddenly. They’ve never used them before.

Aaaaaand with Wash saved we start back......at the beginning......of the series.....what the fuck.

Wonder what the symbols on their armor mean. Can’t find any info on them.

Church! Wait no! Jimmy! Holy shit!

Holy shit tucker has no interest in the sniper rifle or what the reds and blues are doing?!?

End the season the way the series began, you’re giving me feels here Joe.

Ok weird ass sound and distortion on the mountain face, I see you there.

__________________________________________________

And with that Season 16 comes to a close. Overall, I think the season was great. Did it have moments where it dragged, had weak moments or lacked plot development? Sure. But I still found myself looking forward to the next epsiode regardless. Joe has always been one for a slow build up so I expected that, but he always follows through with an exciting climax and he once again succeeded in those expectations. Where Joe lacked in humor he made up for in drama. And I gotta give Joe major props for the Red Team development/drama. We asked and he damn if he didn’t deliver. That Donut vs O’Malley fight is definitely going into my top 5 list of epic moments.

Definitely looking forward to Season 17.

[cherrymangos]

SMALL SPOILERS FOR S16 UNDERNEATH THE CUT

I thought this moment was cute... He’s always thinkin about Wash :^)

Please do not use my art without my permission! Ask first!

[asa-ghost]

I called it. I knew the pizzadox was a trick.

[everwizard]

How the FUCK is O'Malley back!?

[mintcaboodle]

this is me when rvb finally pushes some main-cast romance after chex but its carolina x wash and kaikana x tucker

[jate-kara]

In all fairness, it was Donut. He can survive anything.

And that wooden pole was sharp.

Things that can’t break Sim Trooper armour: A hammer made to kill a god.

Things that can break Sim Trooper armour: A wooden pole.

[mereelskirata]

WELP. Looks like RvB has gone down the shitter. 

I mean time travel was one thing, but GODS? Hoboi. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still gonna watch but jesus christ... 

[ps1snake]

Red vs Blue: I Gasped

[creatrixanimi]

I've been dying for a Grif poster/print so I just made one XD I love my sunshine kids!!!! Also feel free to print this out. It should be 11x17inches but let me know if Tumblr messed up the quality and Ill sent you the file to print for personal use :3

[heroictoonz]

Thoughts on season 17?

So I talked briefly about s17 last night in a 2am haze here are those rambles but I'll try to give a whole debriefing on my opinions here (spoilers ahead obvi)

So, honestly, going into s17 I was very skeptical. I hate s16 with a passion even rewatching it last night to do this little 'finally finishing the show' thing I'm currently doing. I also have heard a lot of people talk about how Tucker was done dirty in these ending seasons. And I'm the kinda guy that does his best to hold of on having opinions on stuff I haven't personally watched cause I just don't think anyone can realistically have a strong opinion just based on other peoples thoughts and words. Buuuut it still didn't put much hope in me that was for sure lol

Going in though I was, admittedly, pleasantly surprised. It wasn't, like, amazing but it didn't suck! And it was FAR better than s16 and at this point that's all I can ask for lmao. The first thing I wanna talk about is, obviously, Tucker (lol) and his whole thing in s17.

So, like most RVB seasons, s17 is the continuation and end of of the time travel arc thing so it's coming off of s15 and s16 but mostly s16. Now, I'm actually gonna go ahead an preface all this with saying I fucking HATE time travel in media it almost always gives me a headache and I will talk about that at some point but I wanted to get that out of the way here.

SO Tucker. My guy of all time the dude of always and forever. He got probably ones of my favorite arcs of all time for a character especially in RvB seconded only to like the Freelancers. And I've talked about how much s16 basically turned me off the show for a LONG while and most of that was because of how they were writing Tucker.

S17 is not nearly as bad here. So they actually give a reason to his weird ass behavior in s16 and where I don't think it was perfectly executed it made it a lot more bearable for me, honestly. It put more context as to why his personality did almost a complete 180. It also gave me the time to really pick apart what they were clearly trying to do with him. Like having him work through his masking he does for his insecurities and still processing the whole hero arc he got a few seasons back. That's all super interesting I just do wish they'd have done it better.

But I will say; TUCKER IN THE LABYRINTH? TUCKER IN THE LABYRINTH??? FUCKING HELLO???? Like. No one said anything in the episode really. But like. My brother in christ he had a panic attack and then passed out on the fucking floor cause he watched his friends disappear and didn't know what to do or how to get them back. LIKE OH MY GOD??? Like Chorus we saw him get pretty frantic about the others being 'taken' by the Federation. So he gets pretty obsessive when someone is missing it seems but for his greatest fear that the Labyrinth used to try and get him to kill himself was juts? A fear of being alone??? That's insane. Like lots of people fear being alone! Lots of people fear their friends and family leaving them! That's normal ish enough. But for Tuckers fear to be so fucking strong that the AI believed it was enough to kill him?! DUDE WHAT? THATS INSANE! IT MAKES ME ACTIVLLY CRAZY WHAT THE HELL! I think blowing up is the only way I can cope with this thanks

Also, speaking. Of Tucker. UM THE TIME FRAGMENT HE HAD TO FIX? THANKS. THANK YOU. THAT WAS SO PAINFUL. THAT WAS FUCKING FOR ME PERSONALLY. THEY DID THAT SHIT FOR ME. No joke that happened and I fucking scrambled out of my bed and ran to my qp's room like STARRRRR and I'm over here like climbing into their bed and half to tears about to sob like a clown just like "STAR STAR THEY DID THE THING THEY DID THE THING ITS FRECKLES SHAKE STAR STAR HE HAD TO RELIVE FRECKLES SHAKE STARRRRR" and they're like "... yeah?" (<- They have seen like two seasons of this show and have no idea what the fuck I am on) BUT LIKE DAMN HIM HAVING TO SABOTAGE HIS OWN TEAM TO MAKE IT TURN OUT THE WAY HE NEEDS IT TO FIX THE TIMELINE. FUCKED UP. ESPECIALLY TO LEARN HOW FUCKING SCARED HE IS OF SHIT LIKE THAT EXACT SITUATION HAPPENING? FUCKING AWEFUL I LOVED EVERY SECOND IT WAS AMAZING BEST DECISION SINCE SLICED BREAD HOLY FUCK!

So, uh, yeah they made up for s16 at least for me :)

ANYWAYS. Other parts I loved: so like, fr? The time travel in this season wasn't as bad as other shows. It was p easy to grasp and the whole "reliving events to fix those points in time" actually made more since than most bullshitted time travel plots (I'M LOOKING AT YOU NINJAGO SEASON 2 EPISODE 6 WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME. IM LOOKING DIRECTLY AT YOU) so I did really appreciate that. Also them jumping through time like they were doing especially when Donut was with Wash? FUCKING AMAZING. It was like genuinely hysterical them continuously going back to the point where he shoots Donut and Donuts like WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS??? It's great peek comedy especially when its Wash that brings them back to that moment n hes like oh fuck im so sorry its GREAT

ALSO MORE OF THE FREELANCERS !!!! I LOVE THEM!!!! I love seeing our silly guy Wash interacting with the other Freelancers. Wash and Donut in this season were literally perfect. I loved them befriending each other and being silly together. Donut and Wash adventures are honestly the best part of this season actually.

Also WASH AND CAROLINA THIS WHOLE SEASON OH MY GOD. OHHH MY GOD. They make me so insane this season watching both how they started and then how they had like their mini breakup but came back together CAROLINA CALLING HIM HER BROTHER FUUUUCKKKK ITS SO EVERYTHING TO ME MAN THEY ARE FUCKING FAMILY DAMNIT

Speaking of family DONUT FINALLY GETTING RESPECT FROM THE REDS N BLUES! HOLY SHIT!! I've always hated how sidelined Donut got cause I love him I think he's great. But like, they pretend like he's so forgettable or not even there. And having TUCKER learn his character development in this season from DONUT and him and Wash telling ppl like no assholes listen to Donut he knows what he's talking about he can lead us THAT FUCKED ME UP THAT WAS SO GOOD ILL BLOW UP

I do, however, wish that Donut had more self respect. The whole "they may hate me but theyre till my friends!" bit was kinda not great LIKE if it had come in AFTER some of the stuff between him and Wash or him n Tucker then that would be fine but idk it felt weird that Donut chose the reds n blues over Chronos in s16 finale to me like it would make more sense if he was like nah fuck BOTH yall but we still gotta save the planet for me at least and then coming around like woah wait yall do care about me? n the apologies n shit

Speaking of apologies fucking Wash being like "you are all going after him and saying youre sorry" was so funny hes such a dad

HMMMM ALSO CAROLINA'S BIT IN THE LABYRINTH!! THAT WAS ALSO SOOO GOOD not to be insane but when she talks about having people in her life and that makes her stronger the camera is specifically showing Tucker and Wash behind her and this is where I blow up I just explode I cannot cope WAH

There's like just so many good character moments like with Grif and Kai in her Labyrinth god that was so so so good. And Huggins and Grif was also the perfect of all time as always. Huggins and Grif are so good I love them.

I will say another negative admittedly was how hard Kai had it out for Tucker like when they were trying to snap him out of the time thing and out of the Labyrinth idk like I'm sure it was all for laughs but it felt like when they had their talk that things were gonna be better for them like as friends obvi not as an item since she shut that down. But then like idk it felt kinda off to me but also the whole s16 thing just made me SUPER put off on any Kai and Tucker stuff in canon material. I LOVE the idea of them being friends I used to hc Tucker being super super close w both Grif sibs and I personally still do! But the show eh idk hard to explain ig lol

the TLDR is i liked it! it wasnt perfect but it was waaaay better than s16 and i had a good time either way !

[jate-kara]

Fair

RVB Season 16

or as I like to call it: Agent Washington Needs A Hug

[0utpost-alpha]

Watch the finale end with something like

*paradox happens*

Caboose: “Tucker?......I don’t feel so good.....”

[lexi-the-twilight-dragon]

Sooooo I said I'd write a fic regarding my dream ending to S17, so of course I had to finish it before S17 came out. Holy shit this fic turned out much longer than I expected, but I'm not sure an increase in length = a increase in quality? I did it tho, so here it is.

BROTHER TO BROTHER

That's when Grif notices something he never has before.

FANDOM: Red vs Blue. S16 spoilers. RATING: Angst/Fluff. WORDS: 1736 CHARACTERS: Grif, Doc (He got smashed into a wall and walked away from an explosion completely unharmed in S8, I think he can survive falling off an at most 442m building), O'Malley (mentioned?), Huggins (please tell me she's not permanently dead, RT), Deke Dufresne, OCs

~

To say the whole time-travel-fix-the-past-nearly-fuck-up-the-universe adventure was insane is a serious understatement. They were only trying to get some pizza for fuck's sake!

And honestly, when it's all over, Grif doesn't know what to do. How do you avoid getting dragged into other people's bullshit? He used to think he was good at that, but not so much anymore. (Pretty much since Wash showed up, huh.)

But it's over, it's finally fucking over, and for at least the next hour, they're safe. And yes, that's a "they". His friends are assholes, but that doesn't mean he wants to lose any of them. Not anymore.

That's when Grif notices something he never has before, and he knows full well what trouble his and the others' lack of notice caused.

He notices a distinct lack of a certain color that was here a few minutes ago.

Purple.

~

He catches the medic disappearing through the hills a little ways away.

"Hey Doc!"

Doc hesitates for a split-second, but doesn't stop walking.

"Doc, wait up!"

Doc starts walking faster. Grif nearly loses him again in the twists and turns of the landscape.

He wonders if this is what it looked like when he quit.

"Frank, stop!"

It's a name no one's used in fuck knows how long. Grif isn't sure he's ever used it. The medic has been 'Doc' to everyone for so long that Grif hasn't the faintest idea why he even remembers his real name at all. But he says it.

And Frank stops.

"Where the hell are you going?" He doesn't say it like an accusation, because it isn't one.

"What does it matter where I'm going?" Frank replies, barely even turning his head, "All that matters is that I'm away from you."

"... You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do. As long as I'm far enough away from anyone I could endanger, I don't care what happens to me. Maybe I'll even find my own little dimension again. Anything to keep everyone safe."

"Doc- Frank, you can't blame yourse-"

"Yes I can!" Purple armor breaks the stillness to whirl around and face orange. "I can because it is my fault! I can't..."

His voice cracks, and the anger seeps out of him as he takes a breath.

"I can't control him anymore, Grif. Who knows how long it will be before he takes me over again. Before he uses me to hurt more people. To hurt, to kill, to destroy..."

His hand flies for his Magnum, and Grif grabs his rifle just as fast. He doesn't actually want to hurt Doc, but if O'Malley were to take control of him again...

The pistol skitters across the ground some feet away.

Frank's arm doesn't move from where he tossed it, his visor and likely gaze lowered to the ground, and when he speaks again the tears are audible.

"You can't... trust me anymore. I don't trust me anymore. I'm more monster than medic, now."

He raises his head, and sees the rifle still in Grif's hands. Grif instantly regrets his actions.

"Actually," Frank says, "yeah, that's a better idea."

He raises his hands a little over his head and faces Grif squarely.

"Can't hurt anyone if I'm dead."

Grif hates the tone in his voice. It's the tone of someone who has accepted, and embraced, the fact that he's going to die. He's heard it in Simmons' voice, in front of the firing squad. He's heard it in Sarge's, on the Staff of Charon. He's heard it in Bitters' more times than he'll ever be comfortable with.

He'll never forget hearing it in Private Mayhew's as she bled out in his arms after the colony massacre.

But acceptance and a request are very different things. Frank is asking for it, and he's asking Grif to be behind the trigger. His hands are shaking already.

In theory, it's to protect other, protect the others. And from how the purple-clad medic sounds, it's be a mercy kill, too. In reality...

"No," Grif says, reholstering his rifle, "I can't do that, Frank."

Grif doesn't need to see his face to see the crestfalled expression on it. "But... but Grif, I'm a danger to everyone, you have to-"

"I can't do it, man. I'm sorry."

"Please!"

Purple shin-plates hit the ground as their owner falls to his knees.

"Please.. I can't... take this anymore. Just... end it, please."

If there's a tone that Grif hates more that that of someone who's accepted death, it's that of someone begging for it.

He kneels in front of the medic and clasps onto his shoulders.

"Look, I don't know exactly what you've gone through. I haven't grappled an evil AI for nearly as long as you. I haven't been stuck in an alternate dimension. But I do know what it feels like when your worst enemy is in your own head. And you know that I know, because that's something else O'Malley did to you, isn't it? Forced memories of all the people it jumped through into your head? It's the only way you could have known what my childhood was like.

"You're not a monster, Frank. You're you. You're Doc. You're our dorky, health-obsessed, pacifistic medic. I can't kill a guy like you, split personality or not."

Frank's visor is locked with his for a grand total of two seconds after that before he wraps his arms around Grif's own shoulders and breaks down into sobs.

Grif doesn't know what'll happen from here. He doesn't know how or even if Doc can be helped at this point. But, also at this point, he can't bring himself to abandon the poor guy.

And maybe, it occurs to him as Huggins flies around the corner looking for them, maybe the past can be fixed after all.

~

Doc didn't know what to expect when the orange-clad soldier got up from their semi-hug to go whisper conspiratorially with the cosmic light-ball.

He knows even less what to expect when Grif goes and grabs the frickin' time gun O'Malley had betrayed him with earlier. Are they going to exile him after all, only in a different time period?

Grif wordlessly pulls the trigger, and gestures at Doc to follow him through.

Doc follows him through.

The first thing he notices is an astonishing amount of green. His entire view consists of trees, ferns and undergrowth that greatly mottles but doesn't completely obscure the sunshine. There's the constant chortle of birdsong and other animal noises that instantly tells him that this is Earth. And if he listens hard enough over it. he can hear the trickling sound of a river.

His blood runs cold when he recognizes exactly where and when Grif has brought him.

"Th-this is..."

His spluttering is cut off by a distant cry of "Deke!" and the sound of splashing.

Through the undergrowth, down on the river's edge, he can see them, see himself. Two coffee-skinned boys, brown hair plastered to their faces as the panicked elder drags the limp younger onto the bank.

"Deke! Deke, can you hear me? Please wake up!" Young Frank DuFresne is shouting, though his brother is held close to him. The boy didn't know what else to do.

He didn't know how to save him.

"What are you waiting for?" Grif's voice tears his gaze away.

"W-what?"

The orange soldier turns his head to look directly at him. "He needs a medic. Go."

Purple helmet looks to the riverbank, back to the orange, then is shoved into the other man's hands.

"Thank you."

He tears into a run, tossing aside all vegetation between him and the bank. Between him, himself, and his little brother.

"Hey!" He drops to his knees as the younger him looks up. He knows merely from memory that the river water dripping down his face is mixed with sting tears.

"I'm a medic. I can help. His name's Deke, right?"

Young Frank nods vigorously. "He's not breathing, what do I do?!"

Hearing himself the panicked, even in clearly justified circumstances, makes it hard to keep his own voice level.

"We need to get him up onto more solid ground, I can treat him there."

A further few feet gets them some firmer ground. Not by much, but Doc doesn't want to waste any precious time.

"Lay him down here."

His movements are calm and practiced as he placed one palm over Deke's chest. Call him an unqualified medic all you want, but he has never forgotten how to do CPR properly. And this right here is the exact reason why. Even if he's internally dealing with the whirlwind of emotions of reliving the worst day of his life. But he can change that.

He will change that.

Deke remains unresponsive after one, two, three, four rounds of compressions as Young Frank watches in wide-eyed concern. But after the fifth, Deke's eyes fly open, and Doc rolls him on his side so he can cough up the water dislodged from his lungs.

"Deke!" Young Frank looks ready to pounce atop his brother in delight, but the older one stops him.

"He needs an ambulance."

Young Frank nods, before scrambling off through the trees to what Doc knows is his childhood home, where his parents are probably sitting on the porch drinking tea and waiting for their boys to come back from playing in the forest. Funny how things seem from a different perspective.

~

It's decided that Meredith DuFresne should ride to the hospital with her son in the ambulance. Frederick and Frank will travel behind in the car. It may take some recovery, but the paramedics say he's likely to survive thanks to the timely response.

Deke will survive. It's a dream come true in so many ways.

"Hey, mister!"

Young Frank catches the man in purple as he walks away.

"What's your name?"

The man looks at oddly for a second, then smiles.

"My friends call me Doc. I'm... a travelling medic."

The boy smiles back, then wraps his arms around the man's purple armor.

"Thank you, Doc."

Doc ruffles his hair, "Just some simple CPR. Might be a good thing for you to learn, huh?"

Frank looks up at him. Funny, Doc looks a lot like his father. Maybe he's a cousin or something?

"I will. I promise."

He lets go, and the man in purple disappears back into the forest.

~

A/N: Guess who jumped head first onto the Doc-Love Train with the recent season? Not that I ever disliked Doc, but being brutally honest, he was never really around long enough for me to get as attached to him as I was to the other Blood Gulch Crew. Season 16 tho... my jaw nearly hit the floor with his backstory monologue. It puts everything about his character in a whole new light. Why is there hardly anything about it on the interned? There needs to be more about it on the internet. So here's my piece. Even if I'm not completely happy with it.

[whatthefuckisasweep]

THIS IS THE CUTEST THING IVE EVER SEEN AND LIKE ???? UMMMMM I GIFEd it IMMEDIATELY AND ITSHOEHROEHSKEJJS???,?, i love THIS????