#what would wash be like as the meta what would carolina

[leonardalphachurch]

my main opinion is. god i wish that was actually tucker. i wish we actually had tuckers character instead of him just being puppetted. i wish tucker went evil. i wanted the toxic brainmeld boy yuri so badly. you could’ve done anything interesting with this. you did the most boring option. i hate it here

[carmarriage]

red vs blue restoration blew such huge chunks im actually mad. like completely enraged. and i wouldnt have it any other way. rest in peace you son of a bitch

[xerith-42]

Every fucking day I think about how Tucker killed the Meta.

He killed him. It was the holes in his suit from Tucker stabbing him that ended Agent Maine's life.

Obviously it was a group effort. And Tucker would never take the full credit for the kill. Maybe throw in a snarky "I couldn't take him on my own then, but I totally could now." But he knows that they only beat the Meta because of their team effort.

But he dealt the killing blow.

I don't know how Tucker would react to hearing that's what happened. To read the official autopsy and see that Maine was killed by asphyxiation.

Especially after the stories he's heard from Wash and Carolina about their friend. Fond memories they occasionally indulge to remember the great man they once cared for, instead of the monster that took his place.

Tucker probably would feel... Bad. Even if neither one of them feel that way or blame him, there's still that guilt that he caused Washington even more pain than he's already been through. That one of the dead friends that haunts Carolina died by his hands.

They couldn't be more grateful to him. Agent Maine died a long time ago, and neither one can agree on when it happened. But it was before the Reds and Blues ever met him. Tucker didn't kill their friend, he freed them of the burden that was the Meta.

The monster they unwittingly helped to create.

Tucker helped them move on from the guilt of knowing there was something they could do but didn't.

It's only because the Meta is dead that Carolina can mourn Maine.

It's only because the Meta is dead that Wash can let himself have a friend like Maine again.

[blueteamjax]

I wish we got to see Carolina and Wash with the Reds and Blues more post season 13. It feels like they're constantly being kept from their family. They're the most fun when they're with everyone and they can still have their more serious moments.

Idk, the scene in 15 where we find out what they've been up to on Iris and when Wash is goofing with the rest of in 17 with the swords were some of my favorite moments. UGHHHH

WHAT WAS THE POINT OF SEPERATING WASH FROM EVERYONE! Let him have his support system and worry about his friends when they're in trouble. I would have killed to see Wash fight Meta!Tucker. He's part of the reason Tuckers a better fighter. Having to defend himself from his own moves that he taught Tucker.

It felt like they really wanted to give us Wash angst but also were worried that having him part of the main story would mean that he would be too strong to lose. Especially if Carolina was also there.

[sco07ut]

how did i feel about the way rvb19 treated iys female characters:

dylan: weird???? she felt so mischaracterised. between that and the new voice she fully felt like a new character ☹️ it also felt like she was forced in for like no reason. in s15 she seemed to be like a pretty esteemed journalist so idk why she would be stammering on stage in a nearly empty comic con. peculiar and i think they could’ve made the intro so much better if it had been a bit more like s15. dylan having some sort of interview maybe, talking about the disappearance of the rnbs and still getting cut off by the meta but in a way that like actually feels like her ? like she wasn’t particularly afraid of spencer porkinsensen (or whatever the fuck he was called)

kai: i was hoping she’d get a cameo but christ not that short. where in the name of god was my kai + grif interaction. i also think she could’ve killed the meta with sheer cunt force alone, my girl was held back !!!! also so disappointed that she never got to see tex again

sheila: i was not expecting you!!!! but it’s so good to see you again. did they rescue her from charon or something?? honestly quite sweet.

479er: Really wasn’t expecting you ! she contributed to the plot really nicely, it didn’t feel like she was forced in at all. it would’ve been nice to see more of her though, i feel like her scenes happened Very quickly. i also would’ve loved to see her interact with the other freelancers (particularly carolina and tex) but whatever i can’t complain too much about her

grey: what did they do to you!!!!!!! who are you!!!!! you are not the emily grey i know and love!! you would have so much more consideration for wash ☹️ another case of being mischaracterised so bad that i fully didn’t realise it was grey until wash said her name. this might also be because the infinite armour looks absolutely nothing like her but i don’t know jack abt infinite so i can’t really say anything

tex: I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I CANNOT BELIEVE RT ACTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGED HER PAST ENDING WAS SO DIRTY. wish she had maybe had a small conversation with the rnbs but honestly her saying ‘and in their memories i always kicked their asses’ was enough. she knows she’s the woman ever. i wasn’t expecting her to get sucked into the unit though :( like i suppose it makes sense to let her finally rest with whatever iteration of church was created when the ais merged but man i was looking forward to her joining the rnbs again and like idk getting to know her daughter properly this time?? severely missing tex and carolina content

carolina: where did you even come from girl!! where were you before you dropped out of the sky!!!!! i also wish she had spoke to the others & had like an actual scene where she was told sarge was dead bc they had like a weird little friendship going on and he’s just gone !! i feel like she barely did anything. she just dropped into the fight, did fuck all, and then revealed that wash has apparently been hallucinating the dead body of doc. erm

bonus ct + south: ct’s speech was alr i guess it wasn’t particularly memorable but it was nice that she was included tbh. though i was surprised south was in the freelancer lineup given she lowk bullied wash idk

in conclusion: my girls deserved better

[smilysstuff]

RVB19 SPOILERS!!

I expected it through a mile even a lightyear, tried to give it the benefit of the doubt but with the company practically going to be deleted- it's like through their rush they forgot that s19 was continuing directly off the part where the reds and blues were ready to die together, then Red team later in the movie ditched caboose to be almost strangled to death by his possessed teammate and friend?? There is moments where I mildly laughed yeah but some of the serious scenes just didn't made me emotionally connect. I was vividly chanting in my head that there's no way they got rid of Sarge just like that, and I was in full belief that Sarge is gonna dig out of his grave any second now right? Right?? Also where's donut. Beamed when I saw Sheila but what about freckles? Grif is a private again?? What about his title as captain???? It all felt like some sort of unserious crack plot, and that's literally also rvb's entire thing and they failed at it. Had to admit, Tex coming back folded me backwards like a lawn chair in the best way possible, but again, is it just me or did the fight scene at the almost end felt like some sort of death battle video.

I'm more upset about the fact that everyone else had a mild reaction to Tucker as the Meta, I was so especially excited on what Carolina's and Wash's reaction would be to Tucker losing himself in the same process that took a friend away. The horror the devastating potential of Meta!Tucker, ended with an off screen joke, alright. Gonna cutely wait for the fix it fics to flood in soon enough.

Anyways tdlr : should've ended with grimmons making out 😒😒😒

[rubykgrant]

Re-watching RVB, and like... yes, it was VERY cool that they made previous "nonsense" with certain characters very relevant with new context, but also? The order of events drives me crazy! What do you MEAN, they put the super secret original AI crime in a box canyon, in the middle of nowhere, while I guess all this Meta stuff was going on? Like, even if it wasn't clear that what the Meta's plans were, Maine and Sigma absolutely did just wreck a bunch of stuff and run off. Wash just went through the Epsilon incident. Tex attempted some kind of rescue for the Alpha, followed by him being taken away, thus Blood Gulch shenanigans... and somehow Tex is still getting assignments from Project Freelancer? Or "Command", whatever they're pretending to be called.

The whole project just got in trouble for Dr Sadboy doing his AI crimes, Carolina has gone underground, and Wyoming is still doing missions? York is just out there, traveling around, stealing stuff like Robin Hood (he robs from the rich, and gives to the him). South and North are doing stuff somewhere? Tex and Church keep DYING, and you'd think that would get Dr Sadboy's attention, but nooooooooo. Tex says she wants to "kill" the Omega AI, and like... I get that you're mad, but that feels counter productive? Also, the fact that she WAS an AI, who was tricked into thinking she was somebody else, and also got an AI partner... there is so much potential for that, because while Omega was "rage", it also could have been framed as him being "over-protective", and would take over Tex to make sure she could survive missions, but then BOTH of their anger issues combined would get out of control. Do we see anything like that? Nah.

I think it is believable that she may have lost her memories again at some point between the failed Alpha rescue and meeting Church in Blood Gulch, but he sure don't KNOW that, do we? What was happening??? I can also believe that whatever was actually going on, Gary acting like he doesn't now Church and just decides to mess with him makes sense, he WOULD do it for the bit... but Wyoming? Dude, do you know that's the Alpha right there? Do you have a plan for that? Besides time-travel until you shoot all his friends? Freaking FLOWERS? Like, yes, I can imagine my own "reasons" for all of this, I can figure out some kind of background-AU... but in the actual series, everybody is just running around doing whatever

[major-comet]

was just thinking about restoration again. idk still tagging for rvb finale spoilers i guess? i talk about wash and carolina a lot pspsps

what the fuck was up with the treatment of matt hullum’s characters

- sarge dies partway through (i expected it so i don’t feel too strongly about it one way or another. at least not at this particular moment, check back in a week and my answer may be different lol)

- doc was actually dead the whole season and wash misses him so badly and feels so guilty about his death that he’s been talking to the ghost in his memory the whole time. (frank dufresne im so sorry that you had to be one of rvb’s biggest punching bags right up until the very end)

- maine of course is never physically there (other than as like a weird force ghost at the end), but his presence is felt throughout the whole thing - except wash never gets to actually interact with meta!tucker (or. tucker at all, actually.), and carolina only does with her fists, so what’s the fucking point of it all. why invoke that memory if you’re not going to do anything interesting with it?

the memory of maine, wash’s friend, who even in the height of sigma’s control still managed to take small mercies on wash. not killing him at the end of recovery one and even leaving him the healing unit. not taking the chance to kill him while he had time stopped. wash’s friend that, after he was just a shell of his former self post-emp (the emp that wash triggered), he used like a tool/weapon/dog to hunt down epsilon and the reds and blues - the same ones who would later go on to become wash’s new family.

tucker got the killing blow on maine. tucker stabbed him, which drowned him, and then he wound up in maines shoes - physically and mentally, donning his armor and finding himself in the same position with epsilon!sigma that maine was in with the original. the weapon that wash wielded against the reds and blues being turned back against him in the form of tucker, now wielding the very sword that killed maine against his friends.

the memory of maine, carolina’s friend who wound up irreversibly harmed because carolina gave him the ai explicitly created for her. he was consumed by the creativity and ambition shed by the alpha at the thought of her being killed because he messed up - because he couldn’t save her. the manifestation of alphas love and care for carolina was responsible for the majority of her friends getting killed or at least seriously harmed.

all of that, and they don’t do anything interesting with wash and carolina having to reckon with the same thing happening to someone they care about again.

- and this is way more petty and i feel weird ending with it after all that, lol, but wyoming doesn’t even get to be a goddamn force ghost. he’s the only one who doesn’t get to be a force ghost. fucking florida apparently haunts wash’s memories more than wyoming does. trust me i love florida, i really do. but unless there’s a scene i don’t remember in season 17, wash and florida never Spoke on screen, due to florida being silent in the freelancer flashbacks in 9-10 until his captain flowers reveal. they all got to be in carolina’s true warrior test, why couldn’t wyoming join the empty chairs at empty tables party in wash’s head? fucked up, if you ask me

[tvckerwash]

I'm forever upset over the fandom completely fucking up wash and epsilon's dynamic (and also giving wash ai related trauma that he does not have).

like....wash isn't mad at epsilon, he's able to recognize that their whole situation wasn't something either of them could've predicted or circumvented, and despite it negatively impacting him, wash does not hold anything against epsilon for. ya know. trying to kill himself in his head.

and you wanna know why wash doesn't hold anything against epsilon for it? because he knows that wasn't epsilon's fault—it was the director's fault that epsilon was pushed to that point, and he is very aware of the fact that he was just the guy who was unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire of epsilon's very traumatic existence.

all things considered, wash is pretty neutral when it comes to epsilon. beyond seeing him as a victim, epsilon is mostly a means to an end for him. wash would've never learned the truth about the director and would've never had the information nessacry to take pfl down without epsilon, and for that, he's honestly very grateful for their brief time together in a way. epsilon was literally his key to everything, and because of that, wash simply can't be angry at him for what happened.

epsilon on the other hand is quite angry with wash, and he spends a good chunk of present day s10 trying to other him from the bgc along with carolina, with his emotions peaking when the bgc turns their backs on him and carolina. epsilon feels as though wash betrayed and abandoned him when he had to be removed because he was impacting his mental state, and he is blinded by those negative feelings to the point that he is unable to look at their situation objectively in the same way wash is able to.

unfortunately, their situation never got resolved because s10 is literally the last time they interact in the series, and even more unfortunately, their situation is unlikely to ever be resolved at this point. it's honestly really sad because it would've been so nice to see wash and epsilon talk about what happened so that epsilon could get some closure regarding his unresolved feelings, and there was so much potential between the two of them regarding epsilon failing/going into rampancy.

like imagine epsilon telling wash that he's afraid he's going to get carolina hurt, imagine him telling wash that he's afraid carolina is going down the same path as the meta and that he's afraid that he's going to become like sigma. imagine him telling wash that he's afraid of losing himself again, but this time he won't be able to come back.

imagine wash telling epsilon that he needs to tell those things to carolina, imagine him telling him that she'll understand, and that she won't be angry or upset with him. like this would add so much more to that scene epsilon has with carolina in s13 where they talk about what happened.

imagine wash telling epsilon that he's not angry or upset with him, and that he knows it wasn't his fault and that he forgives him. imagine epsilon apologizing for being himselfTM, and then they have a jokey moment about the whole thing because church?? having emotions that isn't anger???? absolutely impossible.

[slyvester101]

Despite what everyone thought, Wash did actually know how to sleep. 

He knew intimately how not getting enough rest could mean life or death, how just one sleepless night can incapacitate someone to the point of dysfunction.

He has a scar on his shoulder from a bullet he couldn’t dodge, feet stumbling over the terrain after a sleepless night high up in a jungle canopy. A sniper shot through his armor, piercing his skin and leaving a nasty mark on his thigh when he was too tired to stay aware of his surroundings. He almost got stabbed in the throat after getting backstabbed by a tip, leaving a faint scar tracing the side of his neck.  

There are many more scars like that–-usually a bit more mundane in nature, like when he tripped over his own feet and broke his nose by face planting into the concrete—that reminded Wash of the importance of sleep, that pushed him to getting as much sleep as he could. 

He wasn’t always able to get a solid eight hours in a row, nightmares are a hell of a bitch and sometimes a mission called for unusual hours awake, but Wash quickly figured out that he could make up for the sleep he missed by taking naps throughout the day. And since he was almost always on the move, he learned to sleep in some… odd positions. But if it meant the difference between life or death, Wash was willing to learn how to sleep in full power armor on a stack of crates in the middle of the day.

So yes, Wash knew how to sleep even if his way was rather unusual. And he knew that he wasn’t the only one with quirks when it came to when or how they slept.

Which is why he didn’t say anything about Tucker’s odd sleeping habits when he joined the blues.

They had just finished fighting the Meta, bodies bruised and a little broken when they finally made it back to the safety of their base, so it made sense that most of the time spent in those beginning months were used for sleeping, healing, and recovering from the long months hopping from fight to fight. 

It made sense to find Tucker curled up in bed well into the late hours of the day, napping on the couch or on the roof of the base. Wash was a little surprised when he spotted him cuddling with Caboose in his room occasionally with all the bitching and complaining Tucker does about him.

Even once they are all healed up and settled, Wash didn’t take notice of Tucker’s occasional lack of energy, simply assuming he’s just always been a low maintenance, low energy guy, maybe even a little lazy sometimes.

There are days where Tucker can barely get out of bed to eat, those days only noted because Caboose would come up to Wash and ask him to help get Tucker up for the day. But there were also days when Tucker seemed to burn with energy, buzzing in his skin and begging Wash for a spar or two.

He didn’t think anything of it, not really. He understood trauma and depression and everything that came with it. He, himself, wasn’t the best example of mental stability. So he didn’t say anything.

Not until Crash Site Bravo.

He’s training with Tucker, Caboose having already finished his laps and off to explore more of the canyon, still peppy and hopeful for the day Church comes back (Wash has his doubts, but he doesn’t voice them. He too wants to hold onto the hope that Carolina didn’t just leave him behind again). 

Tucker’s been falling behind more and more lately, more stubborn and grumpy and passive aggressive than ever. He snaps when Wash gives orders, continually sleeps in past schedule, and is always finding excuses for breaks.

Wash thinks Tucker is just being pissy about his friend leaving and about Wash taking charge during their extended stay in the gorge 

He’s not wrong, but he’s not completely right either.

“Tucker! I didn’t say you could stop!” Wash shouts from his place at the end of the track, arms folded as he waits for Tucker to get his hands off his knees and finish the lap.

He still had two more to go.

“Just… just give me a minute.”

Wash grits his teeth, patience slowly thinning the longer Tucker drags this on. He barks at Tucker to keep moving, that the battlefield will not allow Tucker a break to catch his breath. 

Tucker only gasps, shaking on his legs before his knees crash to the ground, unable to keep himself up any longer.

Wash drops the hardass act, worry sinking into his stomach as Tucker crouches more and more on himself, seemingly unable to catch his breath. “Tucker?”

He starts moving when Tucker doesn’t respond, the harsh breathing being the only response Wash gets. He kneels down next to him, gets his hands on his shoulders to keep him steady as he checks him over for injuries. “Hey, hey, are you okay? Did I push you too hard?”

Tucker throws a weak glare his way, wheezing and panting like he’d never run a lap in his life. “What do… do you think? Fuck.”

“Easy. Deep breathes. Take your time, okay?” He lets Tucker crash into his chest, heavy and exhausted. They sit there for a while, Tucker doing his best to take large gulps of air now that he doesn’t have to worry about collapsing onto the floor.

It takes a while, but he does get his breath back and the shaking stops. They take Tucker’s helmet off as well, the aqua soldier practically melts into the cold armor of Wash’s chest plate when his bare face hits the metal. “‘M really tired, Wash.”

“You’re always tired, Tucker.” An observation, not a critique. The last few months are now being observed in a different light as Tucker mumbles an important detail.

“Chronic fatigue is a bitch.”

Wash blinks. “I didn’t know you had chronic fatigue.”

“Why do you think me and Grif get along so well? We both tired ass bitches.” Ah, that explains a lot actually. The constant napping, the lack of motivation, the sudden crashes in energy. Wash really should’ve taken that into consideration.

He feels even more like a jerk when he remembers he thought of Tucker and Grif as lazy assholes. The sting of shame rings loud and clear as Wash shifts Tucker to sit more comfortably against him. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Not wake me up at 5am every morning?”

“I think we can manage that.” Wash snorts, relaxing a bit at hearing Tucker sass him as usual.

His amusement fades a bit when Tucker seems to melt in relief at the statement, almost sobbing at the confirmation that he’s no longer required to wake up so early in the morning. “You’re exhausted, huh?”

“I just wanna sleep all the time. It fucking sucks. I can’t do anything.” Tucker slumps further into Wash, misery soaking into his voice.

Wash thinks back to Blood Gulch, to the days where Tucker seemed to have endless energy, a smile nearly cracking his face open as he ran circles around the reds with Caboose. He then thinks of the days where Tucker stayed miserably tucked in his room, bleary eyed and grumpy and more crass than normal. 

Wash had figured Tucker was having a bad day, that his mind had decided to fill with thoughts of inadequacy or insecurity like it does for Wash. And maybe there was a bit of that, but Wash would now pay good money that Tucker was more upset about the fact that he couldn’t get out of bed, that he didn’t have the energy to be the high-spirited man he was than anything regarding his mental health. 

Looking back at the previous infrequency of Tucker’s less energetic episodes and comparing them with Tucker’s more recent descent into tiredness and dimming motivation, Wash makes the conclusion that there’s other factors pushing Tucker off the deep end into his sleeping disorder.

“Do you have any meds you need to be taking?”

“Ran out. I think Grif is running low too.” Tucker mumbles.

Wash makes a note to talk to Simmons about that, hopefully the red had gathered tips on the best way to assist with someone showing symptoms of extreme exhaustion, maybe even things specific to Tucker with how long they’ve known each other. Until then, Wash settles to keep Tucker safe while he faces the rough edge of his exhaustion. “Well, that’s shitty.”

“Yeah. Shit.” Tucker curls further into Wash, not even trying to muffle down his whines as he hisses in pain. “My head hurts.”

“You wanna go lay down?”

“If I lay down, I am not getting back up again.” Tucker warns, skeptical that Wash would let him rest that long.

Wash vows to be a better friend than that, one that Tucker (and Caboose) can rely on to tell them when they’re tired or hurt, to earn their trust to tell him that they have a fucking disorder they need meds for. He grabs the back of Tucker’s neck, squeezing gently as he leans him to sit back.

“I think I can make an exception.” Wash assists Tucker back to his feet, arms reached out to help him stand. It becomes clear rather quickly that Tucker will not be making it to his room on his own. 

After stumbling side by side for a while, Wash decides to just save them both the headache and scoops Tucker up into his arms. He expects Tucker to protest, to flail and bitch about being held like a baby, but Tucker simply sinks into Wash, sighs gently, and shuts his eyes. 

He’s out before they even make it halfway to Tucker’s room. 

Wash takes his time getting there, not wanting to disturb Tucker from his much needed sleep. He lets habit guide his legs as he focuses on keeping the precious bundle in his arms still, smiling gently at the soft look of Tucker’s face as he relaxes.

He’s so focused on his face, in fact, that he doesn’t even notice the new presence hovering behind him.

“Is Tucker hurt?”

It takes every bit of Freelancer training to not jump as Caboose pops out from seemingly nowhere. Wash smiles gently at him, hoping it’s as comforting as possible as he adjusts Tucker to fit snugly against his chest, thankful that he didn’t wake up from the sudden noise. “No, he’s just tired.”

Caboose nods sadly, pouting underneath his helmet as he twitches in place. “Tucker is always tired.”

“I know, Caboose.”

“He is out of medicine.” Wash blinks. He hadn’t expected Caboose to know about Tucker’s condition. Then again, they have been on a team together longer than Wash has. Caboose probably knows more about what’s normal or not for Tucker. 

“Yeah, he told me. He’s probably going to be pretty worn out until we can get it refilled.”

“Tucker hates being tired.” 

“I know. We’ll figure something out for him, try to make things easier while we’re stuck in this canyon.” Caboose nods again, but doesn’t say anything more as he stands off to Wash’s side, looking a little antsy as he stares at Tucker.

“Something wrong?”

He shakes his head as he picks at the seams of his gloves. It’s weird seeing Caboose so fidgety and not bouncing off the walls or yelling at the top of his lungs. Wash puts together that maybe, just maybe, Caboose is purposefully being quiet so Tucker can sleep. “No, it’s just that I’m usually the one to take Tucker to bed when he falls asleep because Church isn’t strong enough to carry him.”

“Oh… Would you like to help me?” 

“Yes!” Caboose slaps a hand over his mouth after he shouts, looking at Tucker’s still sleeping form before letting his hand slip away to show off his smile. Bouncing on his feet as he crowds near, Wash lets him gently hold up Tucker's dangling legs as they walk the last stretch to Tucker’s room.

Once Tucker is gently placed under his blankets, his armor removed and placed in a pile on the floor, Wash tries to move away to exit with Caboose in tow. He’s stopped by Tucker latching onto his arm, grip firm and unmoving as he’s tugged to lean on the bed.

“Stay.” He hears him muffle into his pillow.

Caboose stage-whispers his gasp, shaking Wash gently as he shares his idea. “We should have a sleepover! We can make a fort and everything!”

Wash looks down at Tucker, the man not even trying to hang onto consciousness before slipping back asleep. He nudges him a little, silently asking for approval before they no doubt turn his room into a giant mess of pillows and blankets. Tucker hums softly, pushing into the touch as he sinks into the bed.

That’s probably the best they’re gonna get.

“Alright, let’s do it. But—” He holds up a hand to keep Caboose from cheering, putting a finger over his mouth as he whispers, “—let’s keep quiet so we don’t disturb Tucker, okay?”

Caboose nods, zipping his lips and throwing away the key before bolting out of the room to gather supplies. Wash sighs after him, smiling as he lets himself sit fully on the bed. He bumps slightly into Tucker as he does, the line of Tucker’s body curling into him the closer he gets.

In a moment of pure intuition and impulse, Wash cards a hand through Tucker’s hair, careful not to pull on the long locs Tucker spends meticulous care on. He gets to watch as Tucker melts against him, practically purring under his hands as Wash gently scratches at his scalp.

“Sleep well, Lavernius.”

I’m gonna get you out of here. He thinks.

I promise.

[doubleodonut]

i really did want to like this season going in but ugh. like hearing oh it's written by burnie directed by matt, the seasons i don't like got entirely retconned (petty. i know. no shade to people who like the shisno trilogy i was just eh on it), clearly meant to be a return to reconstruction-era format in some way. all sounds fantastic. unfortunately

basically everything from sarge's death onward felt entirely un-earned and un-genuine. this is probably my biggest sticking point with it all. rvb has been extremely good at making these incredibly silly characters do emotional moments well in a way that feels true to the characters- the finale to season 13, for example, is one of the best bits in the show, imo. and that's a really delicate balance! because fundamentally, these characters are built on comedy, and often being mean to each other, and making genuine interpersonal moments between them can be a really tricky business. the emotional moments in restoration, for me, leaned way too far into the sappy side and as such felt entirely un-genuine, starting with sarge's speech and continuing for the .. most of the rest of it.

now, some other bits would have felt really good if it weren't for their surrounding stuff, if that makes sense? like. after sarge's death, simmons becoming first-in-command and immediately discharging grif. that's really good. that's REALLY GOOD it feels true to their characters and earnest in a way they would be. but the surrounding problems that i mentioned already made it land a looot softer than it should have.

the whole retcon thing was...really unclear, frankly. like, it was sort-of-stated in the trailer, but when the season opened with dylan, as well as the reveal of wash in the hospital, carolina doc and donut being gone, i'd figured that oh, the retcon implied in the trailer HADN'T actually happened, church's simulations just included the stuff that happened. (and also, you should be able to tell what's going on in a piece of media without having watched the trailers..) but no, the retcon was apparently real, this season took place directly after the chorus trilogy. just not communicated well.

where were carolina and donut. like, we know doc'd died but, like. where are those two. donut just ISN'T there (only just mentioned by dr. grey at one point and simmons at another), and carolina is. missing, for some reason, until she's needed for the final fight. given carolina's absence for most of the thing, her moments with tex also felt very underbaked.

the "doc's been dead the whole time!" twist was stupid i'm sorry. i feel like it could have been done well if the rest of the season was better but as it is it just feels cliche. i think i get what they were going for- we never saw the final climactic fight of season 13 because church never saw it, now coming back after however-many-months, we as the audience weren't filled in on how that battle happened, making a surprise "actually, x died!" thing narratively interesting. it just wasn't done well, imo

the meta as a villain was .. just strange as it was played out. the idea of meta!tucker? tucker stuck in his own body while being puppeted by the epsilon-fragments-as-meta? or even, like what epsilon thought was going on, tucker straight up heel-turn? that fucking rules. i am SO into that idea. but i really didn't like how it was done. epsilon-meta was just..goofy. their lines all sounded like a cartoon villain. so much threatening and so much..talking? like, compare to alpha-meta- silent save for the interconnected whispers of the ai, focused, driven, not having long protracted villain speeches. not that villain monologues are BAD, they just don't feel right for the fucking meta! it made them as a villain feel weird and, again, pretty cliche. also, like, the bit where they held the sword to simmons' face and started monologuing threateningly at him? just didn't fit with what we know about the meta at all. the meta would have fucking stabbed him without hesitation that was some felix-type shit

(now, maybe this was the influence of the "host" between either version of the meta. like, maine is silent, so maine-meta is silent. tucker is super chatty, therefore so is tucker-meta. that would have worked if a) tucker was actually the meta rather than just A Meat Puppet and b) the dialogue actually had any resemblance to how tucker talks rather than Stock Villain)

jumping off the topic of epsilon/tucker!meta. tucker was so stiffed this season. the meta could have been piloting a robot body and it would have made 0 difference. the torture scene didn't land and had basically no actual purpose. as others have pointed out, an ACTUAL villain!tucker could have been pretty fucking cool if done right, and would have been a really interesting twist on the meta. i think meat-puppet-tucker could also have been done interestingly, if we saw more of tucker and his conflicts with the ai, or, like, even what happened leading up to the meta Happening after the end of s13. but tucker, one of the imo most interesting and best characters in the entire show, just had almost no influence, purpose, no character development, nothing.

perhaps most damningly of all, it just. wasn't funny. there were a couple little jokes here and there that got a laugh out of me, but there was no sustained comedic energy throughout the thing, and a lot of the bits (church's youtube exposition, the zoom bit) dragged on for WAY too long. i cant believe they did the "ehh.......it's right behind me isn't it" bit entirely straight.

overall, i felt this season is overall underbaked. there were some very cool concepts, bits, and ideas, but all together just did not work.

[hidingoutbackstage]

i wanna believe that kai was the only person who was “normal” to tucker after restoration, in part bc she wasn’t rlly there for it like everyone else was. wash was dealing with his whole shit, and the meta tucker stuff probably reopened some trauma for him, so he’s not gonna be normal about it, tucker killed sarge so simmons is probably gonna be kinda iffy about it, grif is gone, donut is still mia (i mean he’s on chorus but we don’t know what he’s been up to so idk how he’d react sorry) carolina is probably gonna treat tucker too gently, and i just know tucker doesn’t like to be treated like he’s fragile and needs to be cared for, and caboose, well he’s not dumb. and he did have that “i’m sorry this is happening to you and i forgive you for killing me” moment and that kind of thing doesn’t rlly go away so i feel like caboose might be too over-comforting as well but also not be able to look tucker in the eye in the same way

kai though, she isn’t shisno trilogy kai, she’s just the kai we saw in previous seasons that was a lot funnier and more outgoing. and she was at the convention tucker attacked, but that’s p much it. she didn’t even rlly see tucker as the meta. so i feel like after restoration, even if someone took the time to tell her “hey here’s what went down with this guy who’s really traumatized” i still think she’d treat tucker the way she would have back in blood gulch. not necessarily hornily, but just, like, an equal. not super scared of him (she found lopez choking her until she passed out “hot”) and not treating him like he’s fragile, and i think that’s something tucker would need. some sense of normalcy. someone to make him remember the good old times when things weren’t so serious and he could throw around sex jokes and just hang out with buddies without constant threats and need for alertness. may or may not be working on a fic involving this idk

[zeravmeta]

Thoughts on RvB Restoration Finale

not really that long just my 2 cents

I wanna say I liked the movie because I did enjoy myself watching it, but honestly I'm very much gonna stick to the RvB17 open ended finale

Overall the movie was... ok? It wasn't unwatchably bad the way RvB Zero was but it also just made a lot of choices that I disagree with fundamentally both with the writing and the core themes of the series as a whole. I've had this take ever since RvB14 on the fanbase and the writers but this movie flat out says it:

The writers are fucking unable to let go of PFL and Chorus in a meaningful way.

For a series thats core message is about saying goodbye, they literally dont let that part of the show die. They are functionally unable to let go of the past peaks of the franchise and write something new. And I get it: RvB fundamentally cycles with its storytelling, but what was so refreshing to me about RvB14-17 was that it actually progressed itself Past those peaks of RvB10 and 11-13 (and honestly people REALLY dont appreciate the good in those later seasons). It felt like a natural (if wacky) progression, and it definitely wasnt perfect but it gave the extended cast more opportunities to shine in ways we didnt appreciate before

This movie just doesnt do that? Honestly the fact that they KILLED Sarge and Doc was so... disrespectful to me? Like not in the sense that it was as bad as how RvB Zero (fake) killed Tucker, but more like it felt like the writers killed them off because they were following a book titled "How To Write Story" and saw 'killing off characters is good writing'. Sarge got a dramatic send off that also didnt feel that impactful? And I did see it coming from the start but having Doc be Washs' guilt haunting him just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Its a really self contained story, a whole bunch of characters outside the main 3 reds and Caboose felt ooc, a good chunk of characters dont even show up (dude where was DONUT??? youre telling me he only has 5 seconds in Simmons' mind in a cheerleading costume?), it was composed of like 3-4 sets total, Carolina, Tex and 479er all just kind of Show Up to be badasses in the way The New Person would show up in an MCU movie...

Honestly watching this movie I kind of felt like it would have a twist ending. Like the credits would play and then itd zoom out to show the Reds and Blues post S17 in a movie theater watching this dramatic finale, because thats honestly what it felt like: The whole movie was a cheap facsimile of RvB as a whole. The fact that Trocadero wasn't allowed/signed on to make the music for this finale really does influence this movie, since they used a whole bunch of songs and osts that felt out of place (though I will admit Vale Deah softly playing as Grimmons said goodbye to each other did make me choke up a little)

Despite my negative review, I do still recommend watching it, since there was stuff I did like: Simmons in a leader role, Tex and the fun reveal during her fight with Tucker-Meta, Grif FINALLY getting to retire, Caboose as a whole was really well written, there IS good in this movie! And again it's not unwatchable bad, it just... kind of leaves a somber, sour taste in my mouth. This movie threw a whole bunch of stuff to the wall not to see what would stick but to break it all and leave for the insurance money. Just a "hey since we're sinking might as well make all these callbacks and break a bunch of stuff along the way."

Welp. Goodbye, RvB. At least this way I know that RT dies without riding your coattails any longer. And hey given that RvB technically has 3 endings (RvB17, Zero and RvB19) you can just take your pick on what you like best anyways. Quick edit no jutsu I forgor to mention there is the sequence at the beginning of the movie where it is implied RvB19 COULD also be one of the simulations in and of itself so. yeah you can in fact just take it as you will

[0utpost-alpha]

Personal Thoughts On Red vs Blue: Restoration

Alright so, it’s been a few weeks since Red vs Blue Restoration hit the internet. I’ve had time to sit, think, cry and process RvB and Rooster Teeth as a whole ending. As I stated on a previous post, I got into RVB around 2015? I think Season 13 had ended then. So I haven’t really spent as much time with the Sims Troopers as many others have. But those 9 years were wonderful and I’m grateful for finding such an entertaining show and fandom. Any show that can make me laugh my ass off and also make me full on sob my eyes out is 10/10 in my book.

Anyway, moving on. I said I’d put out my own personal thoughts and feelings for Restoration in the form of a Pro’s and Con’s post; so here it is:

THE PROS

The AI Fragments: I LOVE them going back and focusing on the AI fragments again. I remember hearing that Miles was talking about how he was going to do something similar with them after the Chorus Trilogy but things happened and Jason ended up taking over after Season 14. I personally always adored the idea of the Reds and Blues each getting one of the AI fragments that suited their personal needs and would lead to more character development for them later on down the line.

Tucker and the AI’s: On the subject of AI’s, After Season 13, I remember reading a lot of fan theories and fanfics that often brought up what possible side effects Tucker could go through with Epsilon not only shattering but having all those fragments at once helping him power the Meta suit. And it looks like a lot of them weren’t far off! While we will never know what actually happened once those doors were opened, at some point either immediately or not long afterwards, the AI took control and ran off with poor Tucker.

Caboose’s Voice: While it was a little jarring at the beginning, being so used to Joel’s, Michael Malconian did a phenomenal job as Caboose’s voice. I feel like he got that child-like, not all there, but still ready to help out however he can personality down perfect. NGL, I think I actually prefer this voice to the old one. I’m just sad that we won’t get to hear more of this Caboose.

Speaking of Caboose: I love how they had Caboose have a big brain moment. Instead of bringing back Church, something he wanted more than anything, he knew Tex was their best chance against Meta!Tucker. Also, destroying the Memory Unit. Talk about huge character development for Cabooses character. (It’s also possible that this was what Church asked Caboose to do when he was whispering to him in the ship? I need to go back and rewatch it)

Simmons: I know there was already an image or video around showing Simmons with the robotic arm, but I kind of fell off the RvB bus after Zero came out so I missed a bit of content that was floating around on the internet. So me and @yourscientistfriend were tickled pink when we noticed his arm for the first time. It’s small, but nice to know that RT remembered that specific detail about Simmons.

Sarge’s Sacrifice: alright, this one is probably on a lot of peoples Con’s lists but I personally feel like, if any of them were gonna be killed off Sarge was the best because; he died doing what he loved. Fighting. He protected his boys and went down on his own terms. His farewell to Grif definitely hit the hardest. I think deep down we all knew Sarge cared about Grif, but actually hearing him say it was so satisfying.

Memory is the key: the boys sitting around the campfire reminiscing about everything they had been through together in the last 23 years was such a bitter sweet nostalgia blast. The fact that they also got BNL to do a song over it was kind of a nice surprise too.

THE CONS

A lot of characters didn’t really get a chance to shine. It mainly focused on Simmons, Grif, Tucker and Caboose for a majority of the movie. Donut was only there in a thought bubble for a gag, Carolina didn’t even show up till the very end, and Wash didn’t even get to fight, he honestly didn’t really even serve a purpose except to fall off a fucking cliff to get Carolina’s attention and I feel like that wasn’t even necessary. Hell, I think they even forgot about Lopez after that one scene at the beginning. I honestly feel for the Donut and Doc fans. They seriously got screwed over.

“Come With Me”: So. Grimmons didn’t become canon. I am, severely disappointed as I’m sure a majority of the fandom is. I wasn’t expecting a kiss or a make-out section or anything that extreme. But I feel after all these years of teasing us they could have given us SOMETHING.

Tucker Trauma: As I said in the Pro’s, I loved the set up they did with Tucker and the fragments. However, what I didn’t like was how they didn’t address the trauma Tucker went through with them controlling him. They forced him to kill innocent people, attack his friends and mentally tortured him in order to get him to cooperate or wear him down enough to take control. But after they remove the fragments, he’s just ok now? Back to his regular bow chika bow wow self? Don’t get me wrong, like with many of my other cons I realize that a lot of things had to be scrapped or cut because of time and that because Season 19 had to be turned into a movie instead of a full blown season they couldn’t properly address a lot that they probably wanted to. But I wish we could have at least got something along the lines of Wash taking Tucker back with him to get physically and mentally checked out.

Also, wtf is up with Grif just up and leaving. I know Season 15-17 was retconned (update: they weren’t retconned) but damn man, Grif really doesn’t care about any of them? Even after the whole reminiscing scene? It just feels out of character for him. I feel like after everything was said and done he would have taken those papers and shot them or something. Said something about how someone’s gotta give the new leader of the reds a hard time, said something about not leaving till he figure out why they were there!?  Anything than whatever the hell that was.

Thing’s I’m sad will never happen now that Red vs Blue is officially over:

More time with Locus’s character as well as character development and redemption (as well as possibly becoming one of the Reds and Blues)

Grimmons

Simmons’s getting an arc that better fleshes out his character and would give us more background into his history (I mean come on. From the bits and pieces we got over the seasons, it’s very clear Simmons’s had a shitty past. Yes, I’m still mad that his labyrinth was turned into a alien probing joke)

Never seeing an actual conclusion to the fight at the end of Season 13. (I get they wanted to let the fans play around with ideas on what happened but it still bugs me).

Wash and Simmons bonding during a knife training session

Wash and Tucker bonding over AI Trauma

Tucker and Junior bonding

Overall, it was an ending. And probably the most decent one we could have gotten considering everything that was going on. A lot of other shows didn’t even get that. So I honestly can’t complain too much. They also deliberately left the ending pretty open so the fandom could easily write their own ending if they wanted to which is awesome of them.  

[leonardalphachurch]

How do you see the timeline of rvb? Here's how I see it. 3 years of freelancer flashbacks, then after a year season 1, then after 3 months seasons 2 3 4 5, then after 18 months season 6, then after a month seasons 7 8, then after a month seasons 9 10, then after 6 months season 11, then after a month season 12, then after a month season 13, then after 10 months season 15, then after a year seasons 16 17. So between start of freelancer and end of 17 there's been 8 years. Thoughts?

i have a problem in that i want there to be a more substantial period of time between the moi crash and out of mind but i don’t want there to be that much time between the moi crash and season 1. but, like you said, season 4 (and therefore oom) happens a couple of months after season 1. the idea of york only bumming around for about a year just feels so wrong to me… like if i had it my way he’d have been chilling with delta for like 5? at least 3. because like. i feel like blood gulch should be a thing where so much happens in such a short period of time that it’s so so impactful to the characters (especially tucker who i’m ngl i kinda base the timeline around what works best for his character arc to me) but like… gah. i think a big part of the problem is that the pfl flashback arc just has a completely incomprehensible timeline. how much time takes place between scenes? man i’m getting myself worked up about 9 and 10 again lol. like if they didn’t retcon it, if alpha was just being stored at sidewinder for a while we could make that a longer period of time… like i guess he still could be but. hey like. why didn’t the meta just go. take alpha at the end of 10. like. he was right there. what was the… what was stopping him. could you. it get alpha out unless he wanted it? is that why tex left him? i don’t know man. i hate that they were in a spaceship. 9 and 10 feel so like. dreamlike? ephemeral? nothing feels grounded. i guess it does work as them being memories. they feel like memories. disconnected sequences of important events.

what were we talking about. oh right the timeline. yeah yours works. we give 2-3 months between 6 and 7 since season 6 is 1 year after the war and the season 7 trailer says it’s 1.25 years after the war. and season 6 is probably like a couple weeks to a month? did you know valhalla and high ground (the place church was) have to be like. incredibly close to each other. because wash gets south’s recovery beacon and is able to get to her from valhalla to high ground before the meta is able to kill her. that’s so fucked up. tex literally crashed like 30 minutes from where church was. ugh. anyway we give around 3 months between 8 and 9/10. one month just feels too short for them to run from the law, find new bases, have blues establish some kind of routine wrt wash, and then have carolina show up and then do a whole adventure to find and break into the unsc storage facility to save epsilon. but i don’t know if it’s a full 6 months to season 11… maybe like 4? there’s some amount of legal bureaucratic nonsense they have to deal with, and they are on chorus for an amount of time before we meet them in season 11… 6 months just feels a bit too long for tucker and wash’s dynamic if that makes sense? like they’re clearly closer than they were in 10 but there’s still a wall there and even if wash is being kind of a bitch i still feel like. that amount of time of just chilling together would change tuckers time a little bit from the “all i have is you” thing… like if we say there’s ~three months worth of legal bs to deal with and then ~a month of crashing on chorus and establishing themselves at the crash site like. that to me feels like the amount of time that would establish wash and tuckers relationship to where it is. though i guess you also do have much less time after season 8 so they presumably have zero relationship development to you during that time. which i don’t think doesn’t make sense we don’t exactly see them interacting during 10. oh i definitely put a few months between 12 and 13 though. like they seem really established there, and the space pirates are like. genuinely kind of losing at this point. which is why locus and felix go recruit the prisoner ship. the others i’m less sure on but i do think there’s a larger timeskip than a month there. maybe even between 11 and 12 too but i won’t die on that hill. and then obviously the 15-17 timeskips are actually told to us lol

wow i fucking. rambled huh. tl;dr decent timeline. i actively disagree with the amount of time between 6-7 and 12-13 but everything else is small discrepancies i won’t die to defend. well i won’t die to defend any of this. it doesn’t matter that much.

[archenarrow]

Meta Shaped Thoughts

So the Meta remains one of my favorite things in fiction and my brain is full of it again, as it does periodically. I'm just gonna ramble an amount and try not to spin off on too many tangents but still probably will go off on several.

Basically, started with the transition from Agent Maine, to the Meta, to that third thing that happens post AI fragments. Y'know, that thing where it's still just what's left of Maine under that helmet, but it seems to still identify as the Meta. The Councilor refers to it as Agent Maine again, but he is still distinct from who Maine was before Sigma got into his head. Also its pronouns shift around with these, Agent Maine is he/him, the Meta is it/its, post AI the pronouns sometimes go either way (I think, I will admit that I haven't checked recently).

Anyway, though, starting with Agent Maine: he is on the Freelancer leaderboard for the scenes we see, but he is consistently low on it. In fact, every time we see him fight a Freelancer level foe in season 9, he loses. This is very much in contrast with how we saw the Meta in seasons 6-8. The Meta had been portrayed as an unstoppable death machine in pretty much every appearance it had. It wasn't impossible to drive it off, but it always came back stronger. Agent Maine on his own wasn't this dangerous, however he was indestructible. It reminds me of the old Sgt Rock comics. For those who didn't read them, the Sgt Rock comics are about Sgt Rock, a U.S. army sergeant during World War 2. Sgt Rock was a boxer before being a soldier, and while he wasn't a great fighter, it was impossible to keep him down. Having to beat the immovable object became a rite of passage in order to fight the actually good boxers. Anyway, I feel like Maine might have served a similar role with the Project Freelancer leaderboard, you need to be able to beat him in order to really make it into the big leagues of the Freelancers. Like, Maine just doesn't stop. He can't beat Tex in sparring, but he's the only person who is able to keep fighting past the point where his armor is supposed to be locking him in place. He seems at a stalemate with the Charon/Insurrectionist ODST up to the point where the other guy gets a gun, but being center massed with a sniper rifle, having a magnum mag dumped into his throat, shooting him with a magnum again, hitting him with a truck, then hurling him down and off an overpass all fails to kill him. Another thing is that he seems friendly with a few other Freelancers, I see people bring up his relationship with Wash, but he also seems like one of the folks who is closer to Carolina based on their banter during the heist. She jokes with him about being a baby, his lack of subtlety, and shows way more concern for Maine's injuries during the heist than she did with say North's injuries at the oil platform.

And that leads into Maine being paired with Sigma, Carolina giving up her AI so that Maine can communicate more easily (there's probably another tangent in here about ableism in Project Freelancer). Carolina later feels responsible for what Sigma would do to Maine. but we immediately see Maine becoming thematically more the Meta, even if the transformation takes time. There's the very obvious stuff, like the sequence of Maine gearing up before the assault on the Insurrectionist base, how it shows that we are very much entering Meta territory now. And the switch is immediate, from this point onwards, Maine doesn't lose a fight. In fact, Maine/The Meta begin getting back at everything that had previously bested Maine. Maybe some of this is just showcasing how much of a difference having an AI and being able to use his equipment (I forget if it's canon that Maine's equipment was strength enhancement or if that was a fan idea) makes in a fight, but there's a feeling of vindictiveness to it when Maine holds the soldier who'd shot him before helpless for a prolonged period before finishing him off. How he gives the other soldier from the freeway a moment of relief and then realization before throwing her into the sea. And also that friendliness with the other Freelancers seems to dry up, there is no more banter with Wash or Carolina, even when fighting alongside each other. The most we get is other Freelancers looking on Maine from a distance with concern about these changes. Maine's transformation into the Meta, the parts of it we see onscreen at least, is fast. His characterization changes rapidly once he is paired with Sigma, of course culminating after the crash of the Mother of Invention, the additions of Eta and Iota making the Meta fully into what it was when we first saw it in Recovery One and season 6.

But then Maine's body outlives the AI fragments, even if it still seems to identify as the Meta rather than Maine. And we see some personality changes, reverting more towards what Maine was like beforehand. It jokes with allies, heck the fact that he can work with allies again is notable. But ultimately, he still has that need to acquire AI again. I do feel like there's a few different reads on what that need to reacquire an AI. I think some of the things in the show itself blame it on Maine himself and some desire for power on his part, especially that bit at the end of Restoration. But the more interesting read to me is that it's more akin to an addiction. The Meta has been the Meta and can't go back, he can't just be a human brain working on its own now, it needs something to guide him. It literally can't function like it used to without another mind to run its equipment.

Anyway, that's a pile of thoughts on the Meta. I think that's most of the coherent stuff so I'm going to post this while my brain just kinda keeps chewing on it.