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the-fahc-golden-boy · 6 years ago

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“You’re Shorter Than I Imagined”

First chapter of a new fic I’m working on! That’s right folks, I’m rising from my grave to start writing again!

Pairing(s): Jeremy/Gavin Michael/Ryan Geoff/Jack

Read it on AO3 if you’d like: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20008159

~~~~~

“You’re shorter than I imagined”

Jeremy knew at age 9 what exactly a soulmate was.

At age 12 he was already planning his wedding proposal with the help of some of his friends.

At age 15, when he was much shorter than his classmates and deemed a “late bloomer” he knew he was going to punch his soulmate the first time he saw them.

At age 18 he had given up hope of growing past 5’4” and had come to terms with the fact that his soulmate was either going to get punched, or get a very sarcastic response (he was really hoping to punch them).

At age 24 he found himself in a different city, a different state; across the entire country. He somehow managed this by joining an underground boxing ring, stealing a monster truck, and faking his ID in order to get a plane ticket as fast as possible.

Los Santos was gritty, bloody, dark, and everything Jeremy needed to hide out for a while. What he wasn’t expecting was to end up planting roots permanently in the city.

The first root was Axial.

He met Axial while working as his “bodyguard” for a crew that was newly pieced together and still struggling with power balances. Jeremy was hired on to be extra muscle, and was immediately used to guard the hired hacker. Jeremy never said a word to Axial, and Axial never said a word to him.

Jeremy’s job was to keep watch over Axial to make sure nothing happened to him; so Jeremy just stood nearby idly on his phone. Axial just typed away on his laptop, occasionally talking in code over the radio.

“Hey eye-sore, c��mere for a moment,” Jeremy was startled slight by the slightly gruff voice coming from behind him. He quickly whipped around to see Axial rubbing at his eyes, the bags under them much more noticeable when he was looking away from his computer screen.

Jeremy pointed at himself questioningly, unsure if he was indeed the “eye-sore” Axial meant. Axial just nodded yes and sighed as he looked back at his laptop screen.

“Please tell me you know how to code. Even basics would be fine.”

“I uh, know some basic coding, yes. Enough to get by on my own.” Jeremy stood in front of the desk, unsure what Axial wanted him to do.

“I need you to look over this and see if you can find any coding bugs. If you can’t then go get me a rubber duck.”

A quick five minute glance soon turned into an hour long search through the mess of letters and numbers, which ended up in Jeremy making a run to the nearest corner store for a rubber duck. Jeremy picked up the first one he saw; a little yellow duck wearing a green frog hat. Axial laughed when it was presented to him, but graciously took the gift.

Two hours later saw him tiredly fixing the small bugs he found as he relayed the whole code to the little duck, which had been named “Duckington” by the two of them.

That little duck was the first piece of a long friendship.

The second root he planted was when he permanently joined the crew that had originally hired him to keep watch over Axial (or Matt seeing as how they were on a first name basis).

The crew was more of a rag-tag team of people, no one that really fit in anywhere else but with other misfits. It was actually rather nice.

Everyone felt more like a family, all on even ground with each other. No inner-crew hierarchies to climb, no chain of command to follow, it was very much a team effort which you never really saw with crews in Los Santos.

The crew was his family, better than the one he grew up with in Boston.

The third root was hard to appreciate at first.

The “B-Team” as they called themselves had decided to merge with one of the other similar crews. The “Fake AH Crew” as they called themselves, or really just the Fakes if you wanted to avoid the mouthful.

Jeremy had been skeptical at first, but everyone else seemed to enjoy (or at least entertain) the idea of coming together with the other crew.

The Fakes were smaller than them, but yet held more influence over the city by having picked up a couple heavy names over the years.

Jeremy got along with Kingpin, aka Geoff, the “leader” of the crew. He quickly learned that Geoff wasn’t the greatest at leading them, just good at keeping appearances up and helping direct people into the best jobs. Geoff was actually rather lazy and spent his free time reading and just overall being a dad to the crew. (Yeah Jeremy had accidentally called him dad a couple times, but so had everyone else at some point)

Then there was the Pilot. Fierce and stiff and just about as scary as the jets she flew. Only in reality, she was the closest thing to a human teddy bear. Jack was Geoff’s soulmate, she had shown the phrase on her arm to everyone in the crew as a warming-up story, the phrase “Dear GOD please don’t hit me” was written across her forearm, everyone laughing at the idea of Geoff “Touch my books and I’ll gut you” Ramsey had thought Jack was going to jump him the first chance she got, when in reality she was keeping him away from a drunk driver.

The story was warm and kind of sickenly sweet for a pair of crime bosses, but it didn’t make Jeremy feel any better about the five words scrawled across his own right arm. “You’re shorter than I imagined” Yeah whoever his soulmate was, was going to get a swift beating, supernatural connection or not.

The next person Jeremy got acquainted with was the Vagabond. Before meeting him, he was Jeremy’s idol and worst nightmare at the same time. The Vagabond was like everyone in Los Santos’ boogeyman; slinking in the shadows and taking lives like it was what he was born to do. But Jeremy quickly learned that the Vagabond was just a kind of a title, passed along to Ryan Haywood. A quiet former model turned mechanic that was roped into the life by a former friend and ended up with the black skull mask (the only constant) by sheer dumb luck.

Ryan and Jeremy worked well together, and hell even the Vagabond and Rimmy Tim did too.

Rimmy Tim was Jeremy’s new “alter-ego”. The purple and orange eye sore that had befriended Matt, that same art student’s nightmare that introduced himself to the Fakes on the first combined heist. Rimmy Tim was what Jeremy used to be; crazy, rambunctious, and just dumb enough to try to make a get away in a monster truck. Rimmy Tim was Jeremy minus the fear of his past.

Mogar at first was the last person Jeremy wanted to meet. Word on the street said that Mogar was a savage, some kid Kingpin picked up in the middle of the woods and handed a gun to, telling him one thing and one thing only, “Shoot first and ask questions never”. Some even said Mogar was the Jersey Devil himself. Jeremy knew all this to be a lie as soon as he saw Mogar for one night. Mogar was just Michael, a kid from his high school that had an obsession with lighting bags of dog shit on fire and throwing them into rich people’s yards while laughing his ass off about it for the next week.

Michael wasn’t scary.

But if he wanted scary? The one who locked himself up in the computer room with Matt all day was scary.

That was Geoff’s “Golden Boy” and from what Matt spoke of him? The dude was like anyone’s true worst nightmare. Fast fingers and an even faster mind. Sharp as hell and cold as ice.

The Golden Boy had access to just about any document that had ever touched the internet, and from there it didn’t take him much to connect the dots.

But from what Ryan spoke about him? He was just as young as Jeremy, and with enough ego to fill up two whole other people. Ryan said that he’d never stop asking dumb quesitons, and only ever left his “nest” when Jack forced him to eat with everyone else on occasion.

Jeremy was conflicted.

Matt spoke like he was a brilliant mastermind. (Annoying as hell to deal with, but an incredibly smart hacker). Ryan spoke like he was Geoff’s kid that Geoff was just trying to put to use somewhere he wouldn’t break anything.

In all fairness though, Jeremy didn’t believe either of them. Not until he had met this “Golden Boy” for himself at least.

So when he wasn’t busy he’d wait outside the computer room. Matt would slip out first and assume Jeremy was waiting for him. And well, Jeremy was just too polite to admit to his friend that he was actually waiting to try and meet the other guy. Never once did Matt leave after Golden Boy, never once did Jeremy get to meet him.

It went on for a month.

One whole month of Jeremy mulling over if it was really worth it to spend this much time trying to meet this “mysterious” crew member.

Eventually he was nearing the end of his patience, so he did what any sensible person would. He brought it up to Jack.

“I just don’t understand! I’ve met everyone except him, and no matter what I can’t seem to be in the same place as him at the same time!” Jeremy was gesturing wildly, his cowboy hat threatening to fall off as his hands flapped above his head.

“This is just how he is Jeremy, there’s no need to take it so,” She snickered slightly as attempted to mirror his flailing arms, “so to heart I guess.”

Jeremy just groaned, sliding down the kitchen counter. Jack just smiled and started to hum as she went back to cooking her lunch.

“I’d watch where you sit if I were you, this pot of boiling water seems dangerously close to your head.”

Jeremy didn’t need to be told twice. Vaguely hidden threats were how Jack worked at getting you out of her way. Vague threats that she’s actually followed through on more than one occasion. (He’d witnessed Michael trying to bug her for the keys to her car and she threatened to lock him in the walk in freezer. Michael didn’t believe her and about an hour later Jeremy and Ryan were breaking him out of said freezer like a human popsicle heist.)

A week later and he still hadn’t even caught a glimpse of the Golden Boy. In fact, it was to the point Jeremy was starting to think everyone was collectively pretending that he was real when instead this “Golden Boy” never existed in the first place.

Jeremy was sitting outside one of their warehouses with Ryan, keeping guard because according to Geoff, “Golden Boy” had picked up little tid-bits here and there that a rival crew might be making an attempt to break into their warehouse on the coast.

Jeremy let out a bored sigh and fell against Ryan. (It was a thing he did, leaning on Ryan like a child. Ryan didn’t mind, in fact he rather enjoyed it.)

“You’re thinking too hard again, I can hear the wheels groaning.” Ryan kept his gaze forward, eyes watching the bushes in the distance.

“It’s nothing” At this Ryan moved his shoulder, effectively moving Jeremy back into a standing position.

“I’ve spent enough time with you to know that isn’t how your brain works.”

“Ughhh, fine” Jeremy focussed on the same bushes as Ryan, noticing an odd shake to them. “It’s just, does the Golden Boy actually exist?”

Ryan laughed at this, his hand reaching for the gun at his hip. “Yeah unfortunately he does.” He drew the gun slowly out of its holster. “Why, still haven’t seen him yet?”

“No, I feel like you’re all just pulling some elaborate prank on me.” Jeremy pulled out his own gun as well, bringing it up slowly with Ryan’s.

“I think I have some pictures on my phone of him if you want me to-” Ryan quickly popped off two silence shots into the bushes while Jeremy did the same. “-show you.”

The two of them watched as two bodies fell out of the bush they shot at. A third body went sprinting off into the distance. Jeremy smirked, that one guy would tell his crew that the Fakes had found out their plans and had killed the other two guys who were staking out the place.

“Yeah, sure why not. My curiosity is killing me.” Jeremy clicked the safety back on his gun and slid it back into the holster on his thigh, Ryan mirrored him, sliding his back into the holster at his hip.

Ryan pulled his phone out of his back pocket and tapped on it, navigating to his gallery where Jeremy caught a glimpse of several candid shots of Michael. He decided that whatever was going on between those two, he definitely didn’t need to know.

“Here’s the smug prick decked out before he went off to a negotiation with Geoff,” Ryan turned his phone so Jeremy could see.

The Golden Boy was tall and slim, but he pulled it off. The way he was stretched out over the heist table highlighted the leanness in his figure. Jeremy realized now why he was called “Golden Boy”, everything about him just oozed money and ego. His hair was bleach blonde, the gold shades sparkled, the jewelry was a little much, but the nail polish was Jeremy’s favorite piece. In the picture he had his nails painted with gold and black, each nail alternating in color, reminding Jeremy of the woman from the movie Holes that painted her nails with rattlesnake venom.

Something about him just captivated Jeremy, just pulled him in and he couldn’t stop staring.

Ryan had noticed, and when Jeremy finally got ahold of himself, he swiftly gave Ryan a kick to his shins to wipe the shit-eating smirk off his face.

“He looks like rich asshole.” Jeremy lied.

“He kind of is, but in that annoying sibling way that makes you wish daddy stopped giving him an allowance each week.” Ryan turned his phone off and slipped it back into his pocket, giving Jeremy a chance to end the conversation.

“So… Guess we can head back to the penthouse?” He didn’t quite know what to do with his hands, so he settled on just putting them in his pockets.

“Yeah, let Geoff know the good news. Maybe celebrate a little bit.”

Jeremy nodded. Getting absolutely shit-faced sounded like the best option right now.

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the-million-mile-mountain · 6 years ago

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It All Lies Here (Chapter 1)

Jeremy Dooley is the first to die.

It’s on the nightly news, in every paper across the city, passed around the other gangs like wildfire. Rimmy Tim, Los Santo’s infamous madman, gone up in flames, his car turned over and dug into the dirt. It had been a long and tedious car chase, the cops nearly losing sight of him several times before the Rimmy-mobile had lost control, practically flying into a nearby field. By the time law enforcement had reached the scene, there was nothing to be found aside from the blazing car and charred leather interior.

From the outside, nothing appears to change with the Fakes. Half the city expects them to go scouting for another member for their inner circle, a sixth to balance them out like they’ve always had, but it never happens. Instead, the deals go down like normal, the crew members still take jobs around the city. To all who aren’t involved, it almost looks like it doesn’t affect the Fakes at all. But there are a few perceptive individuals, the B Team and a few dirty cops on their pay role, who notice things. They’re small, hardly worth mentioning, but the Vagabond seems to stand a little stiffer during drug exchanges, Ramsey’s eyes lose their sparkle, and the Golden Boy’s shine is dimmer now.

Trevor is the first to really see it. He’s visiting the penthouse, running some updates on a small-time gang scuffle back to Geoff, when he sees Gavin and Michael on the couch in the living room. They’re staring at the television, leaning against each other, their eyes vacant and hollow. The two men are getting a little gray around the beards; they’ve been doing this for more years than anyone thought possible, but they’ve never looked so…old. Here, letting their age and grief show, Trevor realizes he’s never seen them not laughing. Or yelling. Or just generally roughhousing. He clutches the files closer to his chest, making his way to Geoff’s office as he tries to block out the sound of Jeremy’s laughter, the home-made videos still playing on the big screen.

“Knock knock!” Trevor chirps, forcing happiness into his voice as he walks into the office. There’s papers on the desk, screens glowing on nearly every wall, but Geoff is merely reclined in his office chair, a bottle of scotch in one hand and the other rubbing at his temples.

“Got what you asked for, boss.” He plops the files down in front of Geoff, startling the other man into sitting up straight. Trevor pretends to not notice Geoff wiping away the tears. Or the bags under his eyes. Or how it looks like the man hasn’t shaved or slept for about four days, if the amount of stubble on his chin is anything to go by.

“Thanks man, I’ll look it over in a bit.” Geoff settles back into his chair, the worn leather creaking in protest.

Trevor nearly turns, nearly walks away from this whole thing, but he pauses just in the doorway, looking over his shoulder. He’s known Geoff for years, ever since he took Trevor in off the streets, gave him a job, a home, people to call family. Geoff is the reason that he has Alfredo for a partner, Matt for a friend, Meg and Lindsay as a team, a future to look forward to. Geoff and his gang have always been there for him. And now, though he knows that he wasn’t anywhere near as close to Jeremy as Geoff was, he still can’t help but miss the older man.

“Look, I’m not really good with words, and I don’t know if it’s my place to say anything,” he begins. Geoff doesn’t make any indication he hears Trevor, but doesn’t tell him to go away either. “But he was a good guy. We’re all gonna miss him.” Trevor tries to ignore the way his own voice wavers.

Geoff lets out a heavy sigh, and Trevor can hear the weight in it. “Yeah. Things just…won’t be the same without him.” He sniffles loudly, taking another swig from the whiskey as a few more tears roll their way into his beard.

When Geoff doesn’t continue, Trevor merely leaves, making a mental note to tell Jack to lock up the liquor, at least for a little while.

..:..:..:..:..:..

Gavin is next.

No one expects it. It’s a high-speed pursuit down the coast, Gavin’s bike creating bright pink trails in the darkness and flashing red and blue lights try to keep up with him. They have reports of the others involved in the heist having already evaded law enforcement, but this chase seems to be lasting a bit longer. From the news helicopter following along, it almost looks like Gavin will get away again just like the times before, disappearing into the night without a trace only to reappear the next day. It’s a plot even the police are expecting to follow, so it’s a shock when Gavin’s trail of lights plummets into the ocean. His bike runs dead into a guard rail, and the rider goes somersaulting into the sea.

The cops never find the body. Honestly, they don’t really try; a storm kicks up right after they lose Gavin and they lose hope of finding him. The ripples across the crime world are a little stronger this time; the Golden Boy, Ramsey’s infamous hacker, is gone. No more internet surveillance, no more tracking or monitoring how much information that man may or may not have access to. The other gangs in the area start to pick up activity, emboldened by the Super Power’s sudden loss of influence. Sure, they may seem as calm and collected as ever as they run their usual jobs, but the gang bosses and drug lords around the city boast that they have to be crumbling.

The turn out to be more right than they think.

Lindsay races to the penthouse as soon as she hears the news. Yes, Jeremy’s death had hit her and the rest of the B Team hard, but Trevor had warned them to stay away, to give the crew time to grieve. To his credit, he’d tried to tell her the same this time, but this is Gavin. Her boy, her partner in crime, her best friend is gone. And this is Michael. As much as Lindsay hurts, which is a fucking lot, she knows that out of all six partners, Michael has to be hurting the worst.

Lindsay is almost expecting there to be shouting when she bursts into the penthouse. Screaming, things breaking, Ryan yelling back, something. But instead, the quiet is almost suffocating. Ryan’s on the couch, his skull mask nestled firmly on his face and his eyes glued to the television. She can hear the re-hashing of tonight’s fateful car chase, and she’d have half a mind to scold him to torturing himself, but instead she makes a beeline for the back bedrooms.

She doesn’t even bother knocking before barging into Michael’s room, and her heart nearly stops at what she sees. Michael, the firecracker, the loudest of the lads, is curled into a ball on Gavin’s side of their humungous bed, pressing Gavin’s pillow to his face. She can see his shoulders shake from her position in the door, and the quietest of sniffles and sobs echo in the silence.

“Oh Michael,�� Lindsay breathes, immediately rushing to the side of the bed. In the dim glow of the single lamp, Lindsay can see the tears tracks running down his freckled cheeks. She cradles his face in her hands, tears forming in her own eyes, and he doesn’t even look at her and she brushes her fingers down to his shoulders, pulling him into a somewhat awkward but crushing hug.

“Michael, I’m so sorry.”

Michael say nothing, just snakes one hand around her neck and crushes her to him, and she chooses not to mention him shaking as the sobbing starts back up.

They lay together in bed like this for a long while, only pulling away when Michael’s breathing evens out, his shoulders losing their tension and his face going slack. Lindsay doesn’t hide her open staring, wondering how one person can go from being so vibrant and full of life to a mere husk of who they used to be. Michael’s been in this business for nearing thirty years, an impressive feat for anyone in this walk of life, and in all the time Lindsay has known him, both as a dirty cop and as a fellow criminal, she’s never known him to not be…loud. Obnoxious. Reckless and brash. Loving and caring. Himself. But now, with his boi gone and Jeremy already buried, he’s empty. And that’s not something Lindsay likes to see.

She wipes a thumb across his cheek, the other hand rubbing soothing circles into his back. “I’m sorry,” she says again, because at this point, what else is there to say? Gavin and Michael were together the longest, boyfriends and partners before even meeting the Fakes. A bond like that…it can’t be fixed with just words. Michael just lowers his eyes, fingers idly playing with the now-fraying edge of Gavin’s pillow.

Lindsay’s a talker, always has been and always will be. As The Phoenix, Agent of Chaos, and an absolute madwoman with a rocket launcher, there’s nothing she can’t and won’t do to bring her enemies to their knees in both fear and awe. But now, as Lindsey Tuggey, best friend to Michael and Gavin, she can’t find anything to do except hold Michael as he falls into a fitful sleep.

When Michael wakes the next morning, Lindsay is still here, small circles under eyes and a flimsy smile on her lips. And if she notices Michael reaching to the other side of the bed, desperately looking for Gavin under the covers, she doesn’t mention it. Instead, she makes the remains of the crew french toast, not sticking around long enough to intrude on their private moment of grief.

On her way out, Michael tugs on her sleeve, fixes her with a steely gaze, and whispers something into her ear.

“Take care of Meg.”

Her heart squeezes as she thinks of her girlfriend, who must also be devastated, and just nods, peeling away from the building a minute later.

..:..:..:..:..:..

No one is really that shocked when Michael goes next.

Mogar had been irritable the past few weeks, without the calming presences of the Golden Boy and Rimmy Tim to ground him. Setting fires, starting fights, and causing havoc have been his pastimes of late, and the other gangs just know it’s a matter of time before he does something stupid, like set a building on fire and not make it out.

Which is exactly what happens.

The nightly news covers it as a freak accident, a stray power line that had gone haywire and set an empty apartment building ablaze. And, by all accounts, that’s exactly what it looked like. Anyone who may have been in the building at the time would be unidentifiable by now, burnt to char by the blaze. The news crew conveniently left out that there was a tag on the side of the building, a “G” in bright gold spray paint. Or that there had been a puddle of gasoline near where the fire had started. Or that there was no way the power line could have just fallen into the middle of the building.

Or that all the doors were locked from the inside.

Meg is the one to visit this time, her already-thin figure shaking with rage. She barges into the penthouse, her hands curled into fists, knives clenched in each hand. She doesn’t announce herself, doesn’t ask if anyone is there, just lets out a blood-curdling scream. Three gaunt and mildly-alarmed figures appear from around the corner, their guns dropping as they catch sight of the infamous Baby Doll.

“Meg, what’re y—”

Meg interrupts Jack as she launches herself at Ryan, the older man’s eyes going wide behind his mask. Meg can’t think of anything coherent to say as they tussle on their carpeted floor of the penthouse, so she just starts yelling. A shout when he knocks the knives from her hands, a yell when she lands a punch on his chin, a scream when he falls and she pounces, fists pounding into his chest with a series of solid thumps.

She’s barely aware of Geoff and Jack yelling in the background, of their hands grabbing at her arms, of them bodily hauling her away from the Vagabond. Ryan merely stands up slowly, eyes not reaching hers as he reaches beneath his mask to wipe away some stray blood.

“You were supposed to keep him safe!” Meg screeches, struggling against Jack’s arms as she pins the smaller girl to her body. “You were supposed to watch him, make sure he didn’t do something stupid!”

“It’s isn’t anyone’s fault—” Jack soothes, but Meg just shouts again, he voice cracking near the end as she tries to keep the lump in her throat away.

“No! Someone should have been with him! I should have—” Meg breaks off, tears pricking at the backs of her eyes. She stops struggling, going limp in Jack’s arms. “I should have been there.” Meg’s voice is barely a whisper now, and she doesn’t even try to keep the tears from falling. Jack lowers her slowly to the ground, Geoff’s hands on Meg’s shoulders to steady her. Meg grips her own shoulders, as if trying to keep herself from breaking apart. “I should have kept him safe.”

Meg stiffens as large arms encircle her, and she feels the rubber of Ryan’s mask rub against her cheek as he squeezes. “It’s not your fault. He was hurting.” She can hear the tremor in Ryan’s voice as he speaks, feel the trembling in his shoulders. “No one could have stopped him, you know that.”

Meg barks out a short laugh, arms gripping at Ryan’s leather jacket, hiding her face in his neck. He still smells like Michael a bit, like Gavin and Jeremy too. Meg’s been a part of the B Team for years, known Ryan and Michael for longer than that. Back when they’d first met, it had almost seemed like they couldn’t die. Like they could rule the world forever, side by side. But now, that dream is crumbling, and the only people left are sobbing in each other’s arms, the night closing in around the penthouse and the remnants of its broken crew.

..:..:..:..:..:..:..

The others follow soon after.

What was left of the Fake AH Crew had tried to do something small-time, rob a bank like they’d used to back when they were two-bit criminals. And at first, it had all gone smoothly. The money was in the cars, the police were almost evaded.

Until the blockade.

The news stations had eaten up the story of Ryan Haywood, the infamous Vagabond going down in a blaze of glory, law enforcement on all sides as he fires his weapon into the mass of officers. They say that Sergeant Burns was the one to fire the killing blow, a bullet aimed at a weak spot in his already-damaged body armor that dropped the criminal in a matter of seconds. The Kingpin and his Right Hand were nowhere to be found during the confrontation, but many suspected they had retreated to their base to lick their wounds, the only members of the Fakes left alive. In certain circles, plans begin to form: take out the last two remaining members of the original Fakes and their territory would be up for grabs. Multiple crews around the area begin to whisper and plot; now that the Vagabond is out of the way, the other two will be easy pickings.

It only takes a few moments after hearing these rumors for Trevor to immediately set out for the penthouse.

Trevor speeds over as fast as he can, swerving in between summer tourists and cops cars who didn’t bother chasing after him. Everyone in the city knows that Trevor’s fleet of cars can outrun the cops any day at half-speed, and his foot is already pressed to the floor, the landscape blurring into a haze of building and headlights as he speeds to the penthouse.

Trevor knows that something is wrong as soon as he enters the penthouse. The lights are all off save for a few lamps in the corners. The coffee table and kitchen counter are immaculate, not a stray coffee mug or glass of beer left out, almost like no one’s lived here in months. The silence in the flat is only broken by the dull drone of the television still left on; just a few months ago, he’d be able to hear Michael screaming after Gavin, Jeremy laughing manically as he watched from the couch. Geoff would be half-heartedly trying to get the two younger men to calm down, and Jack and Ryan would just watch from the kitchen with matching grins, tired but fond, on their faces. The penthouse had never been silent, or clean for that matter, in the several years that Trevor had known the six Fakes. But now…

“Geoff?” Trevor calls out into the empty house. “Jack? You there?” Only his own voice answered him back, the blank, white walls almost mocking him. Trevor takes a moment to wonder when the photos, pictures of heists and vacations and picnics, had disappeared from the walls. It may have been right after Jeremy died; after all, being constantly reminded of someone who wasn’t there anymore couldn’t have been easy.

Trevor makes his way into the living room, and the two things that catch his eye make his heart drop. The first is an envelope, plain white with only his name on the front. It sits on the coffee table, as if awaiting his arrival. The second is the television. It’s tuned into a news channel, the blond woman sitting behind her desk obviously reading off of a teleprompter behind the camera.

However, it isn’t simply the news story that has Trevor’s blood freezing in his veins. It’s the video playing in the top right corner of the screen, and Trevor frantically grabs for a remote, turning up the volume in horror.

“—appears to have collided with the side of Mount Chiliad after a malfunction with the aircraft.” The camera zooms in on the brunt-out husk of a chopper, the make and model undeniably Jack’s prized helicopter. Trevor would know that vehicle anywhere; heaven knows he’d gone on enough jobs in that thing with Jack in the cockpit. “Officer Sorola of the LSPD recovered two bodies, positively identified as the Kingpin Geoff Ramsey and his right hand, Jack Pattillo.” The screen in the background changes to a still photograph of Gus, still in his uniform, and Trevor could have sworn that Geoff had paid off that officer ages ago.

The image of Jack’s helicopter, still ablaze and bent at awkward angles, slides back onto the screen, and Trevor can’t seem to move. He isn’t one to cry very often, hell he’s more likely to laugh something off and deal with it later, but something hollow settle sin his chest, and he opens Geoff’s letter without thinking, bringing the paper up to his face with shaking hands. It has Geoff’s trademark scrawl across the front, and he’s thankful he’s had years of reading his handwriting, or else it’d be illegible.

Hey there,

If you’re reading this, then I guess the worst happened. I didn’t wanna write this; it’s bad luck to act like you’re gonna die, ‘cause then it’s a guarantee. But with everything that’s happened, Jack said we have to have a backup plan. Which is you, I guess. The key to the penthouse and all of the passcodes to the warehouses and shit are in this envelope. Looks like you’re the next Big Man, kid. I hereby beq beake bequeathe leave the city to you. Take good care of the city while we’re gone, keep Lindsay and Meg from blowing it up.

See ya, kid.

Geoff, Jack, and Ryan

P.S.: The faucet in the secondary bathroom leaks, just so you know. Might wanna get that looked at.

Trevor glances between the screen and the letter, his heart pounding in his ears, his hands not quite feeling like his own. When Trevor had joined the Fakes, they had become his family almost instantly. That family had only gotten bigger when the rest of the B Team had come aboard, the whole lot of them nearly inseparable. But now…

It’s just them left. Just Trevor and his team. His family, the people he could trust with his life and more, are mostly gone now. He only has Alfredo, Lindsay, and Meg left. And as much as he truly cares for his team, sees them as family, there’s nothing they can do to replace Geoff and his goofy grins, his advice that sounds a little too sage coming from someone like him, or Jack with her reassuring presence and sharp wit. Michael too, Gavin and Ryan and Jeremy, they had at one point all seemed so invincible. But now, with the letter in his hands and the television still droning on, Trevor can’t help but feel small, almost lost without his family.

He isn’t quite sure how long he stands there, how long the tears have been falling, but when he comes back to reality, Alfredo’s arms are around his shoulders. They’re sitting on the couch. The TV is off, the letter in on the table, and Alfredo murmuring comforting words to him through his own tears. Trevor just lets this happen, closing his eyes and hoping that this nightmare will end soon.

..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..

Here’s the first chapter of It All Lies Here, finally! It’s been up on AO3 for a while (username is MillionMileMountain if you want to stop by and hang out), but this is the first time I’ve had a computer that could connect to this site for a while, so it’s a little late, but here you go! I’ll be putting the other two chapters up here in a bit, but please feel free to leave comments or anything! Also, my inbox is always open for prompts and things, or even just to talk. Thanks for reading! :)

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calliecat93 · 7 years ago

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Red vs Blue: Season 1 - The Blood Gulch Chronicles P1

If you have been a fan of Rooster Teeth or been on the internet since 2003, chances are you may have heard of the series, Red vs Blue, at least once. Created April 1st 2003, the Halo-inspired webseries about two opposing teams in a box canyon and the stupidity hat ensues has evolved form a 3 minute show made by some nerds in a spare bedroom to not only the internet’s longest running episodic webseries, but the longest running American produced science fiction series. Originally helmed by creator Burnie Burns, the show has run for 15 seasons with a 16th upcoming and gone through various showrunners and tone shifts, but it has always maintained it’s comedy, character dynamics, and wide appeal.

I am very late to the game with RvB, having only gotten into it in early 2017. But even in that amount of time, looking back onto Season One after watching the rest of the show... felt a little jarring. There’s various reasons why. Low quality audio , below average voice performances, characters not being fully fleshed out, and outdated graphics. When you look at this season and then look at... say Season 10, you can see how far the quality of all of these, as well as the writing, have come since the old days. However the importance of this season and it’s success cannot be ignored. Without this, Rooster Teeth most likely would not have existed. Which that would mean that Achievement Hunter, RWBY, Camp Camp, Day 5, etc would also not exist. It’s importance cannot be ignored here.

So I guess that gets the exposition out of the way, so lets go into the review.

Overview

Talking about Red vs Blue, especially the Blood Gulch Chronicles (Seasons 1-5) is honestly... not easy. The first season especially. Why? Well while RvB has always been a comedy, it later shifted into being more of a dramedy with an ongoing story. This one has the least amount of story, driven more by the characters shenanigans and dialogue.The good news though is that, despite what I thought when I began the show, you don’t have to know shit about Halo to enjoy it. There are some references, like one character referencing Master Chief and the Covenant in the first episode, but you don’t have to understand the lore at all. It may help, but its unnecessary. Which is good since I’ve never played the game and anything I know about is either from this show, Lets Plays, or looking it up.

The show’s concept is, at least in the beginning, pretty simple. So there’s this box canyon, Blood Gulch, smack dab in the middle of nowhere. In this canyon are two bases, Red Base and Blue Base. There are also two teams, the Read Team and the Blue Team. These two sides are at war because... ugh... some reason. The first episode points this out, so lets meet our cast. On the Reds, we are first introduced to Richard ‘Dick’ Simmons (voiced by Gustavo ‘Gus’ Sorola) clad in maroon and is the one pondering this to begin with (”Do you ever wonder why we’re here?). The other soldier, clad in orange, is Dexter Grif (voiced by Geoff Fink, better known today as Geoff Ramsey) and... yeah he has no idea why either, just getting strangely philosophical (”It’s one of life’s greatest mysteries, isn’t it?). The answer is because each side has a base in the canyon. Yeah, that’s the reason. Just go with it.

There’s two other Red soldiers, but we’ll get to them later. For now, lets shift over to the Blues. They only have two guys, Team Leader in colbalt Leonard Church (Burnie Burns) and Lavernius Tucker (Jason Saldana). Episode One very quickly establishes the two sides daily routine. Often, they just stand at their base on guard duty ether talking or watching the other side. Sometimes even both! It’s something that they’re used to/tired of with Church getting annoyed at Tucker pestering him about what the Reds are doing, which is the same thing they always do. Considering that these Season 1 episode are around three minutes long each, they do put that time to good used. The first two episodes alone are enough to establish the majority of the main cast and give us a feel of the two sides regular routine.

Speaking of Episode 2, Simmons and Grif have been called down by their leader, Sarge. Out of all the characters, Sarge is.. the most noticibly different in terms of voice. In the entire series he is voiced by Matt Hullum, RT’s current CEO... but the voice he uses here is DRASTICALLY different. But I’ll elaborate on that more when I get to character stuff. But speaking of voices, this is also a good time to mention one of the season’s biggest flaws, the audio work. It is very difficult to understand what the characters are saying a good chunk of the time with the filter effect not making it any easier. I had to turn up the volume various times to fully makeout what was being said. There is a reason why however. The RT guys were doing all of this out of a spare bedroom, pr in Matt and a few others cases, over the phone. The company was literally three guys (Burnie, Geoff, and Gus and at some point during BGC Gus temporarily moved to Puerto Rico, leaving only two guys) in a bedroom with an XBox and some cheap equipment. So it is very understandable why the audio was low quality, not counting the below average voice acting. But still the audio, especially compared to later seasons were they do have high quality equipment, is noticeable and annoying.

Okay, back to the series. Sarge shows the two privates their newest toy, the Warthog. An army jeep that... I gotta agree with Grif, I think Puma is a much more fitting name. We also learn that Sarge wants Grif dead. Seriously, he gets very creative with ideas in later seasons. The When You Wish Upon a Star parody in Season 8 always kills me. Lets put it this way, we learn that Grif gets shit on. A lot. The Reds are also expecting a rookie to be joining their ranks soon, much to the privates aggravation. A sentiment that the Blues can relate to as they too are expecting their own rookie. Oh, they’re also getting a tank! Cool... but can it play polka music like the Warthog? I don’t think so!

This leads us to episode 3! I’ll give the show this, it goes by quick. So while arguing over going to the Vegas Quadrant, which funnily enough was based on a true story that was later made into an RTAA, Simmons and Grif meet the rookie! Franklin Delano Donut (Dan Godwin), currently clad in the same red-colored armor that Sarge wears. Speaking of, Sarge is currently away at command and as left Simmons in charge... a memo that Grif didn’t get. No surprise there. Anyways, the privates decide to mess with Donut, tricking him into going to a non-existent a store to pick up some elbow grease and headlight fluid. Well now this RTAA suddenly makes sense. While Simmons does wonder if this was too harsh, Grif assures him that all that’s gonna happen is that the kid will run around the canyon for a few hours. What could possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile, the Blues got their tank as well as their own rookie, Michael J Caboose (Joel Heyman). They’re all admiring it with Church bringing up having a girlfriend back home. This causes Caboose to accidentally call her a... not nice word, annoying Church and setting up their relationship for the rest of the series. History in the making folks! Anyways, the two older soldiers get annoyed and send Caboose to guard the flag inside and await a general who doesn't look like them. Just as Donut arrives, and the two stupidly don’t turn around to see who they’re talking to, just assuming that it’s Caboose. So Donut goes in and since he doesn’t loo like the Blues... yeah you can both guess what Caboose does and how much Church probably wants to bang his head into the wall.

Church, believing Donut to be Sarge, wants to use a teleporter to cut him off... by making Tucker go first. Tucker refuses since it’s only been used on rocks, but Church forces him into it. And... nothing comes out of the other end. Wow, I’ve seen characters die early on, but daaaang. So Church goes on foot. Meanwhile, Grif eventually sees that Donut has the flag and he and Simmons get the Warthog. Church catches up to Donut, discovering that it’s not the sergeant... as Tucker finally comes out of the teleporter. His armor, which is normally aqua, is now completely black and he assumes that he got sent into the past. No, no Tucker, it’s two seasons too soon to bring time travel into the mix. Be patient kind sir! Anyways, the Reds show up and cause the Blues to take cover with Grif sending Donut back to Red Base. Kind of weird to see Grif doing his job tbh. Caboose, seeing that the others are in trouble, goes to get the tank.

We now meet Shelia. The tank! Yes, the tank has a name. She takes Caboose through the tutorial program... which he sucks at. Don't you just hate it when that happens? He is able to get it to the Reds, who have left the Warthog to get at the Blues, and the two plan to run back... with Grif leaving Simmons in the dust. Jerk. Well it doesn't matter, the Warthog ends up blown up when Caboose turns on the automatic firing system. Simmons yells at Grif for having the bright idea of exiting the Warthog... though if they had stayed in it, they’d be dead. But meh, whatever. In the meantime, Church realizes that Caboose is piloting the tank and comes out... causing Shelia to target on him and...

So... yeah... Church is dead. Damn, and only eight episodes in too. But ah well, he’s dead! That’s that! It happens! No reason to care whatsoever! Moving right along now! Oh, and going back to the audio, that explosion nearly blew my ears out when I had it on 10% of the volume. SO thanks for that RT, bunch of assholes.

The Reds eventually make it back to the base as the tank continues to fire madly. Caboose is afraid to try anything to stop it since... you know, he just became a team killing fucktard and all. Fortunately, Sarge calls the team, currently on his way back to base. Grif, in rapid succession, explains what’s happening and luckily Sarge has a solution... by dropping bombs! To his credit it works as Shelia is blown up, though Caboose is able to exit in time. He mourns the loss of the lady in the tank (roll with me here) and the Reds take the first victory in what up to now was a standstill. And that ends the first half of the season!

So lets about the production a little bit. Season 1 is 19 episode long, averaging at around three minutes. This was not the plan. From what I understand, Burnie’s original plan was for RvB to be a miniseries, IDK the exact intended episode count but it wasn't supposed to be this long. I can only assume that the initial success caused him to expand on it. But the point is, there was no long term plan. As such, Burnie originally wrote the episode mere days before they were set to premiere. Unless you are South Park, that kind of production schedule is INSANE. Now since this was initially going to be a miniseries, its once more understandable, hence hwy I’m not going to go off on it like I would with any other show. I only bring this up for a historical perspective and because the next few episodes are going to contain events that will shape the series much later in the future. Events that were conceived shortly before the episode went into production. But I’ll get more into that when we get to the Recollection Trilogy.

Now for the second half of the season. With a member dead and the tank totaled, Tucker, whose back to aqua-colored armor, calls command for backup. He’s answered by VIC. Now VIC is usually voiced by Burnie, but in this season he’s voiced by a different actor, and it shows. Anyways, the best that VIC can offer is to bring in a nearby Freelancer agent. Freelancers are neutral agents, often being employed by either side... or that’s the story Tucker gives. Oh Recollection Trilogy/Freelancer Saga, it’s gonna be FUN going over you. The agent being hired is known by Agent Texas, or Tex for short. It’s then that Tucker and Caboose receive a visitor... Church! As a ghost! Just... just go with it, okay? Anyways, Church came back to warn the two about Tex, an overly aggressive agent who murdered all of Church’s former squadmates on a snow planet known as Sidewinder. One soldier in particular, Jimmy, got beaten to death with his own skull. Man, that doesn't seem physically possible.

The point is, Tex is dangerous. Having this soldier in particular get involved may end up being more trouble than it’s worth. Church can’t elaborate too much, but he does make it clear to Tucker and Cabosoe that they, under ANY circumstances, should NOT involve Tex whatsoever. He also adds that Tex is the reason why he and his girlfriend didn’t get married, but he vanishes before he can talk further. Tucker is left confused... just as Tex arrives tot he canyon. Ho boy... so guys, do the Blues either A, heed Church’s advice and decide to not use Tex after all? Or B, disregard it completely and let Tex do whatever the Hell they want? If you guessed A, you are giving this show far too much credit, no cookie for you!

Well actually, I guess I can’t blame Tucker too much for not keeping Tex out though. I mean the first thing that they do is use Caboose for target practice. Considering what we find out later, there is another way to interpret this. But the Blues need Tex to get back their flag, and they have a very simple plan: go murder everyone and get it. Bloody... but hey, points for simplicity. Meanwhile, Grif gets the blame for the Warthog and yelled/shot at by Sarge. Donut is lamenting wanting his own armor color... before getting grenaded by Tex, who knocks Grif out and Simmons... meh, he just faints. All as the Blues watch the carnage from the safety of their base.

Tex returns the flag to the Blues... somehow without leaving Red Base. Weird. But that’s not all that returns, so does Church! Needless to say, he’s not happy when he realizes that his teammates completely ignored what he said and let Tex get very much involved in the conflict. Speaking of Tex, Sarge is able to catch them and knock them out. Grif and Simmons get back up, the latter denying that he fainted. Donut is still down and heavily injured cause a grenade to the HEAD at POINT BLANK RANGE is totally survivable, but if they move fast, he can get treated and recover, so they go look for Sarge.

Lets go check back with the Blues, who have realized that Tex has been captured. Church is annoyed and Tucker brings up his previous comment about Tex being why he didn’t marry his girlfriend. This... isn’t the exact truth. This leads into the biggest plot twist of the season, one that Burnie came up with shortly before the episode’s release. So that girlfriend of Church’s? Turns out that is Tex. Yep, Tex is a girl. We confirm this when she gets back up and a voice filter she was using to sound masculine shorts out, revealing the voice of Kathleen Zuelch (Gynda Goodwitch in RWBY). Much to the Reds shock.

Church goes on to explain Tex’s deal. You see, she had been recruited into a secret military program and given an AI. This AI caused spikes in anger and aggression levels, turning Tex into a violent, bitchy killing machine. Still, Church does care enough that he rallies the others into mounting a rescue. How? Well Church plans on breaking into the Red Base, which with him being a ghost is the most logical option, while Tucker and Caboose play distraction. To help with this, he has the two go through the teleporter to turn their armor back. Yeah I glossed over this, but Freelancers supposedly dress in black armor. This gets majorly retconned later though.

The plan ultimately works pretty dang well. The Blues distract Grif, Church possesses Sarge (which Burnie’s impression ALWAYS kills me), who goes down and knocks Simmons out... again. Well it wasn't by fainting this time. Tex... takes this this all pretty well. The two make their escape, but Caboose is unaware of the possession and... ends up shooting Sarge. GDI Caboose. Which then leads us to, what is by far, the most confusing episode of the season. Not the show, oh Season 3 in itself is a major mindscrew, but man does this one hurt my brain.

So after being shot, Sarge wakes up in the afterlife where Church also is. Oh, Shelia’s there too and Church isn’t happy about... you know, her killing him and all. So Sarge is currently in limbo as in the real world, Grif tries to save him... with CPR... on a head wound... yeah if you wanna survive Blood Gulch Chronicles, then you are going to have to throw logic COMPLETELY out the window. Trust me, when you do it makes it more bearable. This works, again forget logic, and Sarge wakes up good as new. He still berates Grif for it though, even though he just saved his life and all. At least Church and Tex got away alive... okay Church is technically dead, but just... just go with it!

Sometime later, Donut is back and recovered. He also has his own armor color now! Pi... I-I mean, lightish-red! Sarge also has obtained a speech unit for a Red member that I haven’t talked about yet because he has done absolutely nothing. Lopez, the group’s mechanic who as it turns out is a robot. Up until now he had zero lines and no overall relevance to the Reds antics, so I didn’t feel the need to bring him up. The speech unit works... except only in Spanish. I watched a recent RT Podcast the week before Christmas and Burnie, who also voices Lopez (yeah he does a good amount of voices, I think he did Tex’s voice filter too), got the idea from talking toys that would get stuck on the wrong language setting. When he explained that, it made SO MUCH MORE sense. So no one can understand Lopez and misinterpret everything that he says, a running gag for the entire series that’ll be better utilized in later seasons.

Over on the Blues, Tex is convinced to stick around until the Reds are taken out. as repayment for saving her. Why are the Blues keeping her around? Well Church wants to get the AI out of her head still and that would be kind of hard if she left. Plus forcing her when he can’t even fire a gun properly would not end well. They get Tex to work on repairing Shelia and Church finds that his body is still where he died. Worst, it’s rotting. Eww!! So a bit of a snag comes up. You see, when the Reds are dead, Tex will leave. Church can’t have that happen, so that means that he needs the Reds to stay alive. Since Tex almost has Shelia operational and will strike with her when done, he decides to go and warn them, leading us into the season finale.

Church leaves the Blues to update him on Tex as he goes to the Reds. He takes over Lopez and tries to warn them of the attack... but since Lopez can only speak Spanish, it goes about as well as you’d expect. Tex finishes Shelia and makes her move. Tucker allows Caboose to radio Church over this, a point that we’ll get to later. Church can’t properly convey that his warning failed and Tex proceeds to open fire on the Red Base. Well... shit. The now repaired Warthog fails to help, so what can stop Tex? As it turns out... Donut! He gets what may be some of the best karma upon someone ever, managing to throw a long-distance grenade into Shelia, causing her to explode and promptly kill Tex... for now.

Church, mortified, runs to Tex, leaving the Reds confused. In her dying breath, Tex confirms that the AI is gone and thanks Church. So that leaves the question, what happened to the AI? We find out soon enough. Tucker, realizing that things have gone to Hell, tells Caboose to fall back to Blue Base. But Caboose turns towards the camera, his voice becoming noticeably more menacing as he insists on being called O’Malley. And thus, Season One and the first part of The Blood Gulch Chronicles, comes to a close.

Review

(WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR LATER SEASONS)

Phew! That was a LOT of typing! For Blood Gulch, I’m going to be covering each season in their own post unless it looks necessary otherwise. Mainly because out of the current arcs, Blood Gulch is the least story heavy and the hardest to talk about due to it. But that doesn't mean that there’s nothing to say about it. But, as the warning above indicates, I’m going to bring up later seasons, but I’ll try not to give too much away. So... lets begin with...

Machinima

I couldn’t find a good place to talk about this in the overview, so we’ll do it here. For those unaware, RvB is not a traditionally animated series. It is created via use of machinima. According to Wikipedia, Machinima is “the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often video games are used to generate the computer animation.“ In short, it means taking an engine like say an X-Box and using a program like say Halo to create the graphics.

Now there is some belief that RvB is the first to do this, but that isn’t true. This method has existed since at least the 90′s, although it didn’t get the name ‘machinima’ until the early 2000′s. But what can be said is that RvB took the concept and made it work on a mainstream level. No one else was using machinima on the scale that Rooster Teeth was. The only other notable works I could find before RT’s influence was some short films using a video came called Quake, which was the first machinima to be created. I think it’s safe to say that no one had tried making a full-fledged continuous series out of it, or at least no one was hugely successful. It’s also not exactly an easy process, especially in 2003. For example, if you leave a character standing too long they’ll do a default motion as programmed into the game. This can kill a scene and therefore the machinimators will be forced to start all over again. If you have three or so characters all in the same scene and just one does this or you make even a minor mistake with the controls, you have to start from scratch. How Burnie and Geoff did this and lived I’ll never know. Just imagine how it is in later seasons when more characters are brought in, ugh...

The guys used the original Halo for Season 1 and years later would make a remaster. So as far as the machinima goes, it’s done pretty good. They’re limited in what they can do n some shots looked weird, like how when Tex’ filter shorts out she’s facing the Reds, then in the next shot is faced away form them. So that can be kind of jarring, but nothing that really throws off anything. About the only thing I hated looking at was VIC, who is more uncanny here than in any other season. But meh, his scenes are brief so I can live.

The graphics... have not aged well. This is not RT’s fault, the original Halo is nearly 15 years old and was part of the first generation of XBox. It’s not going to like Final Fantasy, is all I’m saying. Blood Gulch nowadays looks... IDK how to describe it. The settings look more realistic and less bulky and cheap in later seasons, though granted we get more than one location in later seasons. We’re limited to only the box canyon here. But again, I’m not expecting Pixar-quality CGI, so it doesn’t really take away form anything.

Writing

Like I said earlier, episodes were written shortly before they were set to be released. There was also no long-term plan, so Burnie was pretty much making things up as he went along. I mentioned Tex’s gender reveal, but things like Church being killed and in turn the ghost thing were not planned. They were conceived essentially on the spot. Normally, this kind of production style would murder a production. But... I’m not gonna lie, the writing is not bad. Yeah there’s stuff that breaks my brain like the ghost thing and Sarge in the afterlife, but there do get explained in later seasons and humor is subjective, so it might just be me.

Because of machinima’s limitation, the script and writing was probably the most vital thing. If people didn’t find it funny or engaging, then they weren’t going to watch it. This is a very dialogue heavy show where the lines and interactions are what tells you about a character and what they are feeling. Since the character models... you know, have a helmet covering the face and body language is near impossible, you can get why. And the dialogue is pretty good. Tucker’s en about women hooking up like Voltron cracked me up. Oh that’s one thing, the series relies heavily on black humor that wouldn't be out of place in South Park, so... be prepared for that.

BGC is very comedic focused. There is a plot and there are elements that later seasons will heavily rely heavily on. But the comedy is ultimately what comes first. There's a lot of jarring things as I mentioned, but I can say this. They do put many of these things to good use. For example, the teleporter turning armor black. I guess that may be a joke about Halo that I don’t get, but Church later utilizes this to create a distraction. Church is a ghost, and he uses this twice ti limited success. Church mentioning a girlfriend was done to have Caboose make a slut joke, and then it turns out that Tex is that girlfriend. Considering how the writing schedule was, it’s impressive that Burnie was able to take so many little things that were jokes and utilize them for the plot later. Looking back, it’s like a precursor to the decisions he makes for the Recollection trilogy, but that’s for there and not here. Still, kudos for taking those elements and making something out of them. That’s the kind of writing I like to see!

But as I said, the plot is secondary. Season One relies heavily on it’s character and the shenanigans they get into. The plot is kicked off by Donut mistaking Blue Base for a store when Caboose was conveniently told that the make-believe general didn’t look like a Blue. Pretty contrived when you think about it. The biggest plot twists were Church’s death and Tex being a girl, which again were split second decisions. It helped keep things interesting, but it shows that not a whole lot of thought went into the story. Ultimately while the show is genuinely funny, knew how to use certain bits to it’s advantage, and had those two twists, I don’t thin that the writing is exactly what got the show to succeed.

Audio/Voice Acting

We already went into the audio, and how it’s not very good. But the voice acting... is not much better. Aside from Joel and to a degree Matt, none of these guys are actors. So it is not at all a surprise that the voice acting is below average at best. I can tell that they’re trying, but... it comes off as empty and unmotivated a lot of the time. The best of the bunch are Burnie, Kathleen, and the aforementioned Matt and Joel. And even then, it’s weak compared to later on. I’m not saying that the others are bad, it’s just obvious that they were new to this at the time. I mean here’s a video of Gus and Geoff’s first recording session.

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If you’re not distracted by how young they are (seriously, QUIT GETTING OLD), Geoff missing about 90% of his tattoos, and Gus’ lack of hair, you can tell that they have zero idea what they are doing. I can’t blame them though, this is the very first session after all and again they are trying. Matt, Joel, and Kathleen were also working out of California so I can only imagine how tough getting the proper direction for them was. All of them do improve MASSIVELY though as the series goes on, Heck Season 2 is noticeably better but more on that then. I think another big reason on why it was lacking is because aside from Matt, they aren’t really playing a character so much as exaggerated versions of themselves, so they don’t have as much to work with. Hence why it’s good that Burnie fleshed them out in Season 2.

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The show’s music is... actually pretty good! There’s not a lot, mainly just guitar rifts used during season transitions, but they’re work. They have a folk music feel to them (or in the Warthog theme’s case polka) and I’m not normally a huge fan of that genre, but here it works. The shows intro, Blood Gulch Blues, it itself is really catchy and fun to listen to. The music was done by a group called Trocadero, who would do several other seasons. Now do I consider this to be the best music in the series? Well... it’s good, but no. Later seasons have a lot of really good tracks. But still, the soundtrack is nice to listen to and I really enjoy it!

Characters

To me, what makes or breaks a show is the use of it’s characters. A cliched story can be good if it’s both told well and if it’s character are utilized well. The cast here have a range of personalities and no two are the same. That said... they’re definitely not that fleshed out yet. There’s a few tiny things here and there. Simmons is a kissass to Sarge, Tucker makes the comment about using the tank to pick up women, Caboose is... not the brightest crayon in the box, but it’s not what defines them initially. Grif might be the biggest example of this I can think of. Later seasons establishes him as a fat, lazy slob who proudly shrinks his responsibilities, steals rations, and will eat expired food if he feels the need. Here? He... actually is trying to do his job with minimal complaint. I mean one of his lines in Episode 1 has him refer to joining the army to kick alien ass. He would NEVER say that nowadays.

Since I’m already talking about Grif, we’ll start the deeper looks with him. Grif is my favorite character in the show, albeit it took until Season 15 to set that in stone. So going back to now helps put things into perspective for me. As I said, the characters aren’t all that fleshed out yet. Grif is definitely the most laid back of the Reds, but again he’s willingly doing his job. He doesn't really display much of his more lazy characterization that we’re used to. The worst thing he does is leave Simmons to be killed by the tank to save his own skin, which yeah is a pretty shitty thing to do. None of these characters are exactly the most moral, to put it lightly. Back on topic, Grif’s the one who has them go get Donut, makes him go back to base, actually tries to get at the Blues before Shelia came, and even tried to save Sarge, I honestly believe that after Sarge got after him for using CPR, he decided ‘fuck this, I’m gonna get shit on no matter what the fuck I do, so I’m gonna do whatever the hell I want. It’ll make Sarge and Simmons pissy either way, so why even care? I’m just gonna do whatever the fuck I want and they can suck it up!” If that’s true, I can totally buy that and I’m sticking to that. But otherwise, Grif doesn't o very much aside from being the Red’s punching bag. Poor guy.

Simmons also does not do a whole lot. We do establish very quickly that he’s a kissass to Sarge’s command and he and Grif have this weird love-hate relationship. I can't think of too many nerdy moments for Simmons this season, IDT that really comes out until next season. Maybe even Season 3 when he’s fiddling with the portals. I could easily just be forgetting though. He’s kind of an arrogant dick, but he doesn't do anything that really makes him unlikeable. Maybe yelling at Grif about the Warthog, but Grif left him to die... yeah I guess I can’t blame him there... sort of. But otherwise, Simmons isn’t given a whole lot to do aside from arguing wit Grif and siding with Sarge. What I can say that him and Grif’s interactions were probably one of my favorite things in the season. The banter and chemistry between them felt really natural and I snickered at a lot of their bits, like arguing over Simmons fainting. This is probably because Gus and Geoff IRL are best friends, so I can imagine that their dialogue just wrote itself. But it’ works really well and helps make these two likebale despite both being assholes.

Sarge is still the leader and the one most determined to kill the Blues, but it’s definitely not as insane as later. The voice very much reflects this. Sarge has a very exaggerated southern accented voice in the show... except here and the start of Season 2. The southern accent is still there, but it’s mroe... .subdued? Laidback? Normal? IDK the right word, it’s definitely less exaggerated though. It was so jarringly different that I wasn’t sure if it was Matt still doing the voice at first. Sure enough it was still him. I can only assume that when they made Sarge’ murderous tendencies more exaggerated starting next season, Matt felt the need to do the same with his performance to reflect the character, And thank God for it. It felt so wrong here. Matt was probably the best actor, but that’s because he’s the only one given a character. As I said, Burnie essentially write exaggerated versions of his co-workers. Matt, as far as I know since I don’t work for him, isn’t a southern-accented drill Sargent. Anyone who works at RT reading this, please feel free to correct me. But anyways, Sarge is the leader, hates Grif, and is probably the most competent fighter among them, though not by much. Not much else to say otherwise except kudos for getting the most confusing scene in the season Sarge!

There’s even less to say about Donut and Lopez. Lope.... does nothing except fix the Warthog and shoot at Grif once. He eventually gets a speech module that only works in Spanish, and that only serves to make Church fail to warn the Reds. That’s it. Donut is the rookie who has no idea what is happening. He, next to Grif, is also the most different form later. he’s... normal here. I don’t recall him spouting even one innuendo an Dan’s voice is a lot less high pitched than later. He kicks off the plot by accidentally stealing the flag and is ultimately the one to defeat Tex. Which I will admit, was awesome and it was very fitting. But otherwise, Donut doesn’t get much to do here... or for much of the series infact. And don’t get me wrong, I like these characters and find them fun, but from a story perspective... yeah these two in particular aren't given much. But we’ll focus on that in later seasons.

As you may have noticed, the Reds don’t have much story going on.. and don’t for the majority of the series, sadly. They’re just the opposing force/comedic relief essentially. The Blues are the ones who move the story... well most of them. Tucker moves it the least, so we’ll start with him. He’s essentially there to be someone that Church can bicker with when not pissed at Caboose. In this season, this makes him the least interesting compared to Church with his ghost development and relationship with Tex, the badass Tex, and the dim-witted Caboose. His defining trait of being into women isn’t even really here aside from the earlier stuff with the tank. He will have more time to shine and show his competence, but that’s really not going to be until he gets the sword. We’re going to be waiting a while. But as with Grif and Simmons, the banter between Tucker and Church was really good and it worked. I can say the same for Tucker and Caboose as well.

Speaking of Caboose, he’s still an idiot... but not as badly. I mean Joel’s not even using the 'act like I’m taking to tiny animals’ voice that we’re familiar with. He’s using his regular voice. While Caboose is still obsessed with Church being his ‘best friend’and a dimwit, such as shooting Church when possessing Sarge, it’s not even close to what we’re used to. he has common sense and some train of thought for one, such as getting the idea to use the tank. It backfired horribly, but he recognized the danger. Now there is a potential in-universe reason on why Caboose became dumber, but we’ll cover that next season. For now, Caboose is at worst dimwitted and frustrating to Church, but hilarious for us. He’s still the character that I laughed at the most.

Tex comes in later, but she’s drastically different form the others. Not just because she’s the only girl either. She’s the most violent and willing to kill. I mean even Sarge hasn’t exactly done anything as brutal as hit a Blue with a grenade at point blank yet. Part of this can be blame on the AI making Tex more vicious than she would otherwise be. Personality wise, she’s no-nonsense and serious minded, there to get her job done as quickly and effectively as possible. She’s easily able to take on the Reds and only loses due to Sarge getting the jump on her... and even then she got the flag back tot he Blues so she didn’t exactly fail. She’s a tough person and doesn't have the best attitude in the world, even without the AI. She;s awesome and her arrival is ultimately the biggest story element. Her and Church's relationship is funny and really interesting, which helps both characters. Whether her feelings for Church are genuine or not, or even existent, isn’t expanded on here. But I do interpret her shooting Caboose as ‘practice’ as her getting revenge for killing him to begin with. Add that to her dying wors to him and... yeah I’m sure she does in her own way.

Finally that brings us to Church himself. Church is ultimately the character who pushes the story along and actually gets the Blues to do something. He’s a snarky asshole, easily frustrated and annoyed. He’s the straight man to Tucker pestering him and Caboose being... Caboose. His death is one of the biggest things to happen in the season and even in death, he pushes things forward. His relationship with Tex, he’s the one who plans her rescue, he’s the one who carries it out, and he’s the one most motivated to get rid of the AI. Lets face it, Church is the most proactive character and the one who ultimately keeps the plot moving forward, It’s why he was my favorite character in the beginning... that and Burnie being the only person I really recognized aside form Joel due to RWBY. Church is definitely who’d I consider the most well-written and relevant character, especially with what happens later and the closest thing that we have to a lead character.

Final Thoughts

Man, I did NOT expect this review ot get so long. I mean it took up 18 pages in my notebook, but still...

Ultimately, I don’t thin that Red vs Blue succeeded due to it’s writing or vocal performances. No, I think what made this work was both luck and being innovative. As I said, machinima existed, but not tot he scale that RT was putting it out. I think them choosing Halo, a popular game that was new at the time, really helped them. It also helped that they had somewhat of a fanbase due to their previous work on the sadly dysfunctional drunkgamers.com. Which, as the title says, has a bunch of drunkards reviewing games. Think of it as a sort of precursor to Achievement Hunter. They also released a parody video of the then new Apple Switch, as seen here:

youtube

Sheesh, and I thought Gus looked young in the recording session video... but my point here is the show was a success for several reasons. They took an obscure media form and did something different with it, took advantage of the open opportunities (Halo’s popularity, their previous fanbase.) They were also very lucky when it came to copyright. Yes even then, when Youtube didn’t exist, they could have gotten into legal trouble for making this show. Fortunately, Microsoft and Bungie liked it and allowed them to continue without paying a fee. How the deal works nowadays IDK, but I’m assuming that things are good since it’s still being made and all.

Season One proved to be a major success. It drew in Halo fans and fans of their previous drunkgamers efforts. Now IDK how things worked in 2003, I was only 10 and had no idea how to use the web was was too young to watch RvB anyways. However they counted views or whatever, it worked. It launched machinima to a more mainstream market and they even got interviewed by CNN and other news groups. Rooster Teeth very quickly became a spearhead in the world of web content, and they’d only grow form here. Season Two was a guarantee, especially with a cliffhanger that would keep viewers interested. But we’ll discuss all of that in the next review.

#rvb #rooster teeth #red vs blue #rvb reviews #this took me over two days and a war with vlc to make #I apologize for any innacurate info #but I worked really hard on this and I hope it is a worthwhile read

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furederiko · 8 years ago

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I've sort of lost track of holidays and festives since the year began, but today's Good Friday!!! Meaning it's a good friday to post a Random News Digest as well... Ahahahaha!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The quest for young Albus Dumbledore has come to a close. Warner Bros has entrusted the iconic role to... none other than Jude Law. Which shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the Brit actor's long history with the studio, from the "Sherlock Holmes" series to the upcoming "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword". Personally, I still think Rafe Spall would make a better Albus, but perhaps the movie needs more of Law's... star power considering the first "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" wasn't exactly the big "Harry Potter" hit that WB expected. Beside, Law also suits the "younger man and quite a troubled man" criteria better than Spall.

The down side of this casting, is the general assumption that the sequels will put more focus on the bromancing frenemy between his Dumbledore and Johnny Depp's Gellert Grindelwald. It has been hinted that the two characters have shared a rather 'close' relationship in the past, perhaps even something that was somewhat romantically inclined. Okay, let me correct that. J.K. Rowling has said it herself that "Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was.", so it's more than just mere speculation. Thus, it IS going to be interesting to see how Law and Depp come to blow with one another, which is what many "Harry Potter" fans should be dying to see. Then why do I call it a 'down side'? Because at least for me, it's Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander...'s magical ZOO that was the prime highlight of the first movie. Those creatures, with the chemistry between Alison Sudol's Queenie and Dan Fogler's Jacob Kowalski coming hot in second place, are the part that I found to be delightful. These three characters, alongside Katherine Waterston's Tina, have all been confirmed to return, so one would easily wonder how these New Yorkers are going to fit in the story that takes place in Paris and Watford, England. Admittedly, Tina and even Newt himself, were pretty dull and boring for a lead. But it would feel like such a crime if they are put aside to the corner, as the spotlight is stolen by Law and Depp instead.

It is currently unclear whether the next movie will once again feature two separate storylines going in parallel with one another. But that's exactly what's currently generating the concern for some people. David Yates will be returning to helm the second movie, so let's just hope he'll find a way to make the sequel feel more... balanced and evenly focused. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2", a tentative title for now because I'm not even sure if it will be accurate to the story anymore, is set to be released next year on November 16th, 2018. That's when we'll see whether this will turn out to be a magical Brokeback Mountain between Law and Depp, or another adventure of Newt & Co.

DC Films

Pray tell, why are we getting another poster for "The Justice League"? The popular notion is that WB is launching one as preparation for that last trailer debuting in theaters alongside "The Fate of the Furious". Yet when you look at the timing, somehow it just feels rather inappropriate. I mean, why not release it alongside those character posters and teasers last month? Can't remember? Those ones that oddly arrived on the same week to Spider-Man's posters and trailer. Sounds dejavu? Because Marvel Studios had just debuted the trailer and first poster for their upcoming Thor movie as well! You know, the one that will premiere just two weeks ahead of "The Justice League"!

Aaaah yes, THAT is the reason why calling this as coincidence is hokey at best. As if WB is trying to convince audience that... yes, despite the muted colors and the joyless forced humor, their grand ensemble movie is as colorful and fun. Now I can't help but wonder if this is a direct answer to that hillarious FANMADE video that's casually making fun of Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne and Gal Gadot's Diana Prince... LOL. Anyway, my point is... hogging on another movie's spotlight is acceptable, since many studios have been doing this since the Hollywood's dinosaur age. But I do really wish WB would stop being so dickish, while at the same time, being utterly obvious about it. Stop positioning themselves as the angry envious rival, subtly but blatantly creating flame wars with Marvel, because it does them no good. Acting all offensive in a non-existent competition is the wrong thing to do, because it makes them look BAD instead!

"Wonder Woman" also made news because the movie is said to be tracking for a $83 million opening. Eventhough it is unfortunately lower than DC Films' previous two movies, it sure didn't stop fans from turning into bragging mode and stuff. After all, that's how the internet works, and sorry to say, precisely the way 'DC fans' tend to overreact with things both good and bad. Meanwhile, another outlandish rumor hit the internet, claiming that WB will release not one, not two, but FOUR Batman-related movies in the year 2019. Yeah, judging from the studio's track record on announcing DC projects, only to end up losing directors or getting back to first page rewrites... over and over again, that sounds too good to be true, right? Despite all that, just imagine the headlines and numerous thinkpieces immediately run by various entertainment, and fansites. Well, at least until WB's producer Jon Berg and DC Entertainment's President Geoff Johns themselves shot down this report in their own hillarious way. I don't know about you, but THAT is what I call FUN.

Last but not least, Dolph Lundgren has joined "Aquaman" to play merman(?) King Nereus of Xebel. Making him the third antagonist after Patrick Wilson's Orm, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Black Manta. That's not counting the likelihood of Willem Dafoe's Dr. Vulko turning evil, of course. Director James Wan has confirmed this casting himself, and Lundgren will likely join production when it begins on May in Hawaii. Although having the former Punisher sounds good, once again, this casting felt a little toooo obvious to be a coincidence. After all, we just got a hot rumor surrounding Sylvester Stallone's important role in the upcoming Guardians movie. And when you start remembering that Lundgren used to play as Stallone's rival/opponent in "Rocky IV" before teaming up in "The Expendables" series? Aaaaaah, it's another act of spite, right there! Oh WB, when will you ever learn...

Transformers

Have you seen the latest trailer for "Transformers: The Last Knight"? I certainly haven't, because I'm totally not looking forward to see this movie anytime soon. But I heard it was great, and well... probably the best one this movie has released so far. Honestly, after the lackluster tragedy that was "Transformers: Age of Extinction", I never would've thought that we're going to get a 5th movie of this winding-down franchise. And this is just the beginning of another array of sequels, because director Michael Bay himself has explicitly stated to MTV that... "There are fourteen stories written. And there’s good stuff. So, I would like to do one of them, though.". 14? SERIOUSLY?!! Dang it, for a guy who thought "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" was meant to be the last, this statement felt like an offensive mockery. Anyways, this 5th movie is set to arrive on June 23rd. I'm personally more curious about whether it will rake as much money as the previous one. Somehow I suspect it won't, but general audience seems to love this franchise... so, we'll see.

SONY Marvel Universe

SONY Pictures has found its Miles Morales! What for? That animated "Spider-Man" movie that is set to be released on December 21st, 2018. Yes, the same date that recently has been occupied by "Aquaman". The young actor privileged to lend his voice for the animated Miles is none other than Shameik Moore. Fans might argue that Morales is half black, half latino in the comics, whereas Moore is not. But this is an animated movie, which only requires his voice, so I don't think it should be a problem. The actor himself shot to fame following his debut in Rick Famuyiwa's "Dope", later starred in the Netflix drama "The Get Down", and will next be seen in "The Pretenders". Speaking of "Dope", who would've guessed that it was such a good movie, eh? I mean, most of its main cast has gotten big comic book roles now. Tony Revolori is soon to be seen as Flash in MCU's Spider-Man. Kiersey Clemons is Iris West in DC's who-knows-when Flash movie, a feature that was almost directed by Famuyiwa. Zoe Kravitz was in "X-Men: First Class". And now Moore. Should we expect anyone else from that movie?

Aside from Moore, another cast who has joined the movie is Liev Schreiber. Schreiber portrayed Sabretooth in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", and is currently well known as the lead actor of "Ray Donovan". According to the same report, Schreiber will be voicing the movie's antagonist/supervillain, though his character is being kept a secret for now. If I didn't know better, I have a feeling that Schreiber is going to voice Otto Octavius, or more popularly known as Dock Ock. Unless he's being assigned to voice Kraven the Hunter, which might also work when you put into account his previous ferocious comic book role. Then again, just like Moore, only his voice will be utilized, so he can practically play anyone. LOL. Hollywood's favorite duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller are writing and producing this movie, while Bob Persichetti and Peter Ramsey will co-direct the movie. Considering this is an animated movie, shouldn't they start working from now? I mean, animation is unlike live action movie, because it needs to be done at least 2 years in advance to achieve the highest quality. Let's just hope that this movie will be able to stand against the rising tide of "Aquaman" when it arrives next year. Otherwise, this might spell trouble for SONY's ambitious universe.

X-Men Universe

In a very surprising (but seriously pleasant) announcement, "Deadpool 2" has discovered its future-mutant Cable. And my oh my, it's Mad Titan Thanos himself, Josh Brolin!!! Yes, scoring his second Marvel role, Brolin's Cable will be featured in not one, nor two, but FOUR future X-Men movies. Popular speculation says that his next movie will be "X-Force", if not "New Mutants" as well. He's joining Ryan Reynolds who is returning to produce and star as lead character Wade Wilson, as well as Zazie Beets who will portray Domino. Interestingly, Brolin has played a comic book character before, as the titular character in the critically and financially failed DC movie "Jonah Hex". Which means, he and Reynolds are fated kindred spirits from the get go! That's nothing but true fact, no matter how Reynolds openly 'complains' about it... LOL.

No offense to David Harbour, Brad Pitt, or Michael Shannon, but Brolin sounds too perfect for this role. Not just in terms of looks, but also in the actor's ability to play the straight-faced man with a penchant to infuse his character with various kinds of intensity. "Old Boy", and "Sicario" are great examples of this. Created by Rob Liefeld and writer Louise Simonson, Cable is the complete opposite personality to the obnoxious, oddball, and foul-mouthed Deadpool. He's a tough, no-nonsense mutant whose gruff attitude and mysterious aura didn't waste time to attract a great number of fans. He has also been paired with Deadpool ever since. Suffice to say, it's a character that is right up on Brolin's alley, with "Men in Black 3" as its easiest example. With this sequel expected to arrive in 2018, production for the David Leitch feature is set to have a June start in Vancouver. Brolin is currently filming his Thanos role with Marvel Studios in Atlanta, and might even have completed his motion-capture part already. So rest assured, scheduling issue is not even a thing. Interestingly, both movies will be released next year, which means, 2018 would be a truly Marvel-ous year for Brolin!

Marvel Studios

Have you seen the mindblowing first teaser of "Thor: Ragnarok"? The long awaited teaser was simply rock and roll AWESOME, wasn't it! Not only director Taika Waititi delivered a Thor Odinson's movie that already felt distinctly different to his previous solo features, he also imbued it with his signature quirky fun but gorgeous colorful style. It felt like this least-favored franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally embraced its funky Asgardian glory and cosmic side, eh? As if that's not enough to please us, it has already scored an amazing achievement by being the most-watched trailer that both Disney and Marvel Studios ever released! Is this a good sign? Most definitely. In fact, this was such a splendid teaser, I'm actually hoping that Marvel Studios won't be releasing anything else after this. This one's more than enough to grab audience's attention.

The official poster that came afterwards, though? Perhaps it didn't quite leave a similar impression, but arguably still emitted a strong promise of colors and style. Especially with all those Rainbow-Bridge-tone illuminating the titular character. Just look all those gorgeous colors, right? Chris Hemsworth is looking cool with that new haircut, and of course, don't forget the absence of Thor's beloved Mjolnir. Seriously, this movie is going to be strangely fun but epic! November 3rd, 2017 can't come soon enough.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves too soon. "Ragnarok" is still 7 months away, and there's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming" that we need to anticipate first! With all three releases of the year looking equally fun and colorful, it would be a mistake to skip any one of them, right? HUGE mistake. And we can expect the first screenings reactions from "Vol 2" pretty soon. Why? Director James Gunn, along with stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Dave Bautista have kicked off the sequel's worldwide promotional tour in Tokyo, Japan last week. Not surprising, because it is set to hit theatres in Australia, Southeast Asia, and other international countries theatres starting on April 25.

As for the North American region, if I'm not mistaken, some of the press members are going to be the first to see it, just a few days from now. I bet early social media reviews and responses will arrive pretty much the same day. That's also the same reason why it's going to get harder and harder to avoid spoilers spreading throughout the internet. Even interviews and press roundup have slowly reveal details about the movie, much earlier than we expected. For example, Kurt Russell has spoken to Total Film (via Flickering Myth) on whether we'll be seeing a "Tango and Cash" reunion in this movie between his Ego the Living Planet, and Sylvester Stallone's mysterious character. Nah... I won't spoil anything about it, just go ahead and read the article if you're up with a little spoiler.

For the time being, "Vol 2" is tracking for a $150 million domestic debut. This is considerably close to the opening of "Captain America: Civil War", and also a solid improvement to the $94,3 million debut of the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" back in 2014. It's hard to predict whether this opening estimation is on point or not, because even "Beauty and the Beast" have magnificently surpassed its initial tracking number (and has broken the $1 billion mark yesterday). There's always a chance that the same accomplishment will occur with "Vol 2", considering the franchise is now sitting on everyone's top 5 most favorite among the MCU. Not to mention, "Vol 2" is the first movie that will kick start the 2017 Summer Movie season in the US. I guess we'll have to wait and see, and hope the best for the sequel. Because if it's good, then I bet Gunn would not shy away from returning to create a "Vol 3".

As for "Homecoming", several rather spoilery details of the movie might have landed online as well. In this case, regarding the "Daily Bugle" existence in the MCU, several scene descriptions from an event held in Tokyo, the possible appearance of other Avengers beside Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, as well as actress Angourie Rice's true role in the movie. Hailing down from a Tom Holland's fanbase account on Twitter, these reports felt... a little hard to fully believe, because it could very well be a subjective assumption on their part. So do take them with a huge grain of salt.

Finally, remember that candid photos of Elizabeth Olsen filming an action scene for "Avengers: Infinity War" in Edinburgh? There's a video version of it now, and one that looks rather... dire and serious. This scene once again hinting that Olsen's Scarlet Witch and likely Paul Bettany's Vision will come into blow with a CGed henchmen, presumably the Black Order members. If you're curious, then go ahead and check it on Youtube. Assuming it hasn't been taken down, of course. Inline with the casting announcement from FOX, it seems Josh Brolin would have concluded his part as Thanos in May so that he can join the production for "Deadpool 2" in Vancouver. Which is probably why the "Infinity War" production will then proceed with his Black Order members instead.

Netflix

This might sound surprising, but it's the last category for today! Yes, because I have no topics for the game section. LOL.

It wasn't long ago that we heard Marvel's "The Defenders" has wrapped its production, to pave way for the second season of Marvel's "Jessica Jones". Looks like Marvel's "The Punisher" has followed suit as well with its completion. A Twitter fanbase account for lead actor Jon Bernthal, reported that the cast has thrown away a wrap party for the production that began on October 2016. Judging from this, it's safe to assume that the series will in fact arrive later this year instead of next year. It's a little suspicious though, that it wrapped just a few weeks after "The Defenders" eventhough they started at relatively the same time. Considering the mini series only has 8 episodes, does this mean "The Punisher" might be a more compact/shorter series than those previous four? I sure hope so, because forcing these serialized shows into a 13 episodes with materials enough for maybe 10 at most, certainly didn't work charm. Said sentiment has even become one of the loudest talked-about criticism thrown at them. Here's hoping Netflix will realize this issue and solve it accordingly, because seriously, watching Marvel's "Iron Fist" alone has already worn me out.

Meanwhile, Netflix is reminding its audience that the 2nd season of "Sense8" will arrive in May 5th, by launching an official trailer. Which is highly necessary, because even I have forgotten that I've written about this fact before! YIKES!!! The inability of Netflix to set a fixed annual release date is admittedly troublesome, as it tends to wore out its devoted audience due to uncertainty of when to expect any continuations. "Sense8" and "Voltron Legendary Defender", as well as their uncertain delays are good examples of this particular issue.

IMHO, "Sense8" is a show that would have benefitted from having its second season arriving as soon as possible, preferably in mere months apart (just like the Network side, perhaps?). The first season was undoubtedly slow if not poorly paced, and the story only got interesting and intense in the last two-to-three episodes. It undeniably felt like an extended intro for the real story, thus forcing viewers to wait too long (remember, first season was launched in 2015!) to see what's next (one that hopefully explores the REAL intrigue behind them), simply doesn't do any good. Sure, there was a "Sense8: Christmas Special" on December 23rd last year, but I doubt many even knew it existed nor have watched it. I sure haven't, because even I only remember about it just now, FOUR months later. LOL. And to be honest, although I'm probably among the few who DID enjoy the first season, I've realized I'm not that anxious to see the second. Why? I have forgotten whatever was happening in it, so seeing this new trailer only succeeded in making me scratch my head in confusion. That is NOT good...

Thankfully, Netflix's bingewatch functionality helps to counter this problem. After all, unlike movies that come and go, we can view any of their original shows anytime we want. So those who haven't seen the first, can plan their start later by watching both seasons all at once. Trust me, I believe that would be more effective for this series. So right now, I'm patiently waiting for the critics' reviews first before actually checking the second season. While at the same time, re-watching the first season one by one, which might be a challenge because sadly this show doesn't have a strong rewatchability. My only hope is, I won't end up forgetting about this plan in just a few weeks after release. LOL.

#Random-News-Digest #random thoughts #news #movie #fantastic beasts and where to find them #dc #justice league #transformers #spider-man #animation #deadpool #Marvel Studios #thor: ragnarok #Spider-Man: Homecoming #guardians of the galaxy vol. 2 #Avengers #infinity war #netflix #the punisher

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