History YMMV / CommandAndConquerRedAlert2

* HollywoodHomely: Lt. Eva Lee, who serves as the Allied MissionControl. While she's clearly beautiful, she's much less obvious {{Fanservice}} than her [[EvilIsSexy leather-clad Soviet counterpart]] and even on her own team her looks are far more downplayed compared to [[ActionGirl Agent Tanya]]. When SheCleansUpNicely for the final cinematic of the ExpansionPack, it's a genuine surprise.

** In the base game, sending infantry units into the Hospital would count as if they were trained again. Players with a Cloning Vats could exploit this by constantly sending infantry to the Hospital to get more clones for free.

* TierInducedScrappy: Tank Destroyers are only good against tanks and nothing else. They do scratch damage to infantry and even much less to buildings, are slow, and cannot fire while moving due to their fixed turrets.

** Destroying the World Trade Center Towers in ''Red Alert 2''. Of course that is entirely up to the [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential player]] to do. However, destroying the Pentagon isn't. And that's ''the first Soviet mission''. To further hammer the point home, ''Red Alert 2'''s original box art featured a burning New York City skyline, with the WTC on fire. After 9/11, Electronic Arts recalled all of the unsold units, and for a month, you couldn't even buy the game. What did the new, less offensive box art feature? No NYC, but the American flag in the Soviet commander's monocle was replaced with a [[NukeEm mushroom cloud]].

* WeirdAlEffect: Ask anyone who played ''Yuri's Revenge'' what lines are spoken in the background of the song "Brain Freeze"- they'll remember. Now ask them what movies those lines came from- they won't.

* EvenBetterSequel: Red Alert grows beyond being an expy of the Tiberium Saga with this installment and many interesting gameplay additions are introduced. The LighterAndSofter camp elements add charm without completely derailing the game. The invasion of mainland USA scenario is as good as it gets. Stalin [[spoiler:(and Kane/the Brotherhood of Nod)]] is hard to replace as a villain, however.

** France can be considered this from a defensive/turtling point of view. An arrangement of Grand Cannons and Patriot Missile batteries is nigh-impenetrable.

* LethalJokeWeapon: The Allied German tank destroyers. They're pretty much [[CripplingOverspecialization one-trick ponies]] and are pretty much useless against infantry and buildings. As a result, they are a source of mockery to many C&C fans. But, if you're not paying attention, they can pick off your ore harvesters and cripple your economy (if you're playing as Allied or Soviet factions). And woe betide any enemy [[GlassCannon Prism Tanks]] that get in the Tank Destroyer's range.

*** Chrono Commandos can be described as teleporting Navy [=SEALS=]. For double the price of a [=SEAL=], you have vastly improved Chrono Legionaries who can FlashStep between buildings with C4 and with careful micromanagement, make a base disappear in seconds. Their main weaknesses are their inability to target vehicles like Tanya can, stiff unlock requirements (infiltrating an Allied Battle Lab, which is something that can't be done in the campaign proper), and their significant price tag of $2000, but your main army can help finish off what they couldn't handle, such as a group of the aforementioned Prism Tanks & supporting vehicles.

*** Chrono-ing Demo Trucks / Crazy Ivan [=IFVs=] directly into enemy base. While it requires a lot of effort to pull off it's an insta-kill tactic if aimed precisely and ''there is '''no defense''' against this''.

* NarmCharm: This is a ''Red Alert'' game mixing solemn and wacky elements, so take your pick.

** [[spoiler: General Carville's death]] at the hands of a Soviet suicide bomber is certainly this. He didn't even see his attacker and the void created by his murder is immediately felt by the entire Allied chain of command. As President Dugan presides over his funeral, he passes the torch along to you, the Commander, saying you must finish what was started for the good of the world.
*** No doubt to the joy of many gamers, [[spoiler: he's saved thanks to time travel in ''Yuri's Revenge'']].

* MemeticBadass: In the Allied mission "Time Lapse", Tanya has been noted as a badass who can survive a nuclear explosion and only need a stretcher, a head bandage, and some time to recover. To elaborate, she can be "killed" by the Alcatraz Nuclear Reactor explosion when she blows it up, but a cutscene plays showing she only had a bump on the head.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Smx1IK99Oo Grinder]].

* WeirdAlEffect: Ask anyone who played ''Yuri's Revenge'' what lines are spoken in the background of the song "Brain Freeze", they'll remember. Now ask them what movies those lines came from, they won't.

* LethalJokeWeapon: The Allied German tank destroyers. They're pretty much [[CripplingOverspecialization one-trick ponies]] and are pretty much useless against infantry and buildings. As a result, they are a source of mockery to many C&C fans. But, if you're not paying attention, they can pick off your ore harvesters and cripple your economy (if you're playing as Allied or Soviet factions). And woe betide any enemy [[GlassCannon Prism Tanks]] that get in the Tank Destroyer's range..

** An slightly overweight Einstein with a hammy, atrocious German accent but somewhat grandfatherly and trying to keep it serious is a prominent example.

** While often PlayedForLaughs, the idea of being forcibly mind-controlled into serving the oppressive Soviet Union by Yuri and his Psychic Corps is certainly an unsettling prospect; as is the notion of being forced to fire on your own countrymen.

* NarmCharm: This is a ''Red Alert'' game mixing solemn and wacky elements, so take your pick. An slightly overweight Einstein with a hammy, atrocious German accent but somewhat grandfatherly and trying to keep it serious is a prominent example.

** Several multiplayer maps in the expansion feature neutral/civilian combatants. You read that right - white tanks, soldiers, whatever are affiliated with civilians. AI doesn't target civilians but the neutral units have no qualms about targeting any player's (including computer controlled) units that vander into their field of vision. Which means that if even a single neutral tank finds their way into any base they can and will happily proceed slowly raze it to the ground and [[KarmaHoudini the AI won't mind it a single bit]]. This can be hilariously exploited.

* LethalJokeWeapon: The Allied German tank destroyers. They're pretty much [[CripplingOverspecialization one-trick ponies]] and are pretty much useless against infantry and buildings. As a result, they are a source of mockery to many C&C fans. But, if you're not paying attention, they can pick off your ore harvesters and cripple your economy (if you're playing as Allied or Soviet factions). And woe to any enemy [[GlassCannon Prism Tanks]] that get too close to them.

** "Red Revolution", the penultimate level of the base game's Soviet campaign. You are completely surrounded by Yuri's Soviet forces (supported by Psi-Corps Troppers) that are constantly pouring units into you, and will freely use the Iron Curtain to break through your defenses. Your best bet is to quickly take over a cliff next to your base to get the high ground, but even then you'd stand a better chance building a Nuclear Missile Silo and take out the Kremlin in two hits than trying to break through Yuri's base, where the only cost-effective solution is to ZergRush through a backdoor and destroy all the Nuclear Reactors you can find.

** [[{{Mondegreen}} We captured, we captured! We captured Harry Potter!]]

** Yuri's Boomer Submarines (from the ''Yuri's Revenge'' expansion). Obviously an {{Expy}} of the Soviet Missile Subs from ''Red Alert: Aftermath'', the Boomer is a submarine that can fire missiles at on-shore targets. These missiles are similar to those used by the Soviet Dreadnought and can be shot down, but they inflict '''BIG''' damage if they do hit a target. Also, the Boomer Sub is a stealth unit, much like the Soviet's Typhoon Attack Sub, which allows them to sneak up on unsuspecting opponents. While Boomers are expensive and slow, they are pretty durable and devastating and are worth their price tag. Even just one Boomer can be a very serious threat to your base if you don't have a reasonable amount of anti-air defenses.