Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Headscratchers / RedVsBlue

Go To

1'''WARNING: All spoilers on this page are unmarked! If you haven't watched the whole series, read at your own risk.'''
2
3[[foldercontrol]]
4
5[[folder:General]]
6* Why is the Meta the bad guy?
7** No, really. When we're first introduced to him, the series plays him like a monster in a horror movie, killing innocent people just so he can harvest their AI and equipment to make himself more powerful. Later on, it's revealed that the Meta exists because Sigma took control of his host, and set out to collect as many AI as he could, with the diabolical goal of reaching "metastability"- the evolution from a fragment to a full personality. But wait- isn't he just repairing the damage done to the Alpha? Washington describes what the Alpha was put through as "reverse-engineering a multiple personality disorder," and every action undertook by Sigma indicates he only wanted to reverse that process, and re-unite the fragments with the Alpha. There's no indication that he forces the other fragments to work with him, and since the other fragments are said to be obsessed with the Alpha, it makes sense that they'd work with him to find it. He kills Freelancers to recover these AI, yes, but the fact that he left both Washington and Caboose alive after scavenging from their unconscious bodies indicates he only kills targets if they fight to prevent him from achieving his goal. Which again, based on everything the show itself has told us, is repairing a broken mind.
8* Am I the only one who thinks it's kind of unfitting to describe Omega as Alpha's rage? It just doesn't seem like anger was O'Malley's main character trait. Granted, you could argue that most of the time we saw him, he was inside Doc and thus possibly being calmed down a little by Doc's pacifist nature, but considering O'Malley was always going on about being an evil-doer and wanting to take over the universe, wouldn't it be more fitting to say that Omega was Alpha's evil side, or lust for power?
9** We're talking about the same people who thought they were 2000 years in the future because they ended up in a place without ice and who believe pumas are mythological creatures. Brilliance is not their overriding personality trait; ignoring the obvious in favor of complicated theories is.
10* How can an A.I. have an A.I.? Especially in the case of Tex and Omega, but also when Omega went into Church for a brief moment.
11** One word: nesting. You can have one program inside another (Windows can run Word, for instance). To answer your question in a different way, the A.I.s are based on human minds, so how is it any different than a normal human like Caboose using an A.I.? Also, it turned out Omega was part of Church anyway.
12** The Freelancers were all about experimenting with AI. When they ended up with the Tex AI as a side effect of creating the Alpha, they probably figured "Hey, why not stick two AI together and see what happens?" Because Tex was the more "complete" AI, instead of just a fragment (technically, yes, she's a part of Alpha's memories, but I don't think she was created when they split up Alpha, I think she manifested before that somehow), she ended up being the one in control.
13** She was created beforehand. When the Director's (presumably) flash cloned brain was... [[BuffySpeak AI-ified]], Tex was spawned alongside the Alpha.
14* So this has probably been answered by a WordOfGod at some point, but how did Tex and Church ''not'' realize that they were AI's before their respective TomatoInTheMirror moments? Unless they were somehow "possessing" human host bodies (which of course opens up all sorts of other questions) they had to have been running around in robotic bodies even prior to being "killed" in season 1 of BGC. Soooo...did neither of them ever bother taking off their armor and notice that they weren't wearing a meat-suit? Did the fact that they never had to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, or otherwise do anything else remotely human not tip them off? The only real explanations seem to be that they somehow acquired real human bodies, had ridiculously over-designed robots, or were just plain morons.
15** They could well have been programmed not to question such things.
16** Come Season 14, we know that Church had a human host whose mind he overrode.
17* Why does nobody react whenever Epsilon either mentions or shows up with his AI memory buddys? Does Carolina know?
18** I assume they already know. in Season 8, the Epsilon version of Delta spoke to Grif, Simmons and Caboose. The Roosterteeth rule of exposition is generally that if one character learns something, assume they told the others at some point off screen.
19* Just what the hell is the Director's motive for everything? During season 6, it seems he wants more AI for legitimate military reasons for purpose of saving humanity from the Covenant (admirable, if morally gray). However, during season 10, it's strongly implied that the Director was actually more concerned in trying to bring Allison back to life. That makes no sense though. How does driving the Alpha insane and making a whole bunch of different AI from him affect bringing Allison back? In addition, if his goal was that he wanted Allison back he more or less had that right off the bat when Tex (or Beta) showed up.
20** I don't think bringing back Alison was his one goal in all of his life. He did indeed want to protect humanity against the Covenant. In the season six finale he mentions that he never had the chance to serve as a soldier and I think, in some ways, he kind of regretted that. Especially considering he probably always compared himself to Alison, who presumably was just as good a soldier as Tex was. He also said in the finale, that his memories of Alison have become more painful as he's grown older, so he may have been able to put the thought to one side, at least for a time. Also remember in season eight, when Epsilon remarks that he couldn't get Tex out of his head, so he literally had to create a new version of her. Maybe once the Director had created Beta, he was able to put it behind him and focus on Project Freelancer. Once Tex went rogue, he couldn't stop thinking about her again and had to make a new A.I of her. Torturing the Alpha to make fragments was less about recreating Tex and more about trying to equip his Freelancers as much as possible.
21* It kinda bugs me that the Blues are such a CharacterMagneticTeam while the Reds are... not. Seriously, the Reds haven't had a permanent new member since Donut. Apart from briefly having Doc as a prisoner and then Sister who was never technically part of the team anyway, it's always been the same guys. Meanwhile the Blues got Caboose, Tex, Doc briefly, Andy, the alien, Doc again, Junior, Sister and Epsilon. I know the plot usually revolves more around the Blues but still...
22** Lampshaded in ''Revelations'', as Simmons asks "Hey, ever notice how the Blues have a lot more going on than us?"
23** This is probably because of the team's individual members. Specifically, Church and Tex. When the serious angle comes into play, they're the best characters to center it around, because it fits them.
24* If Church is based off the Director, why do they sound nothing alike?
25** Probably to make him easier for the Director to work with. It'd be weird if the sentient computer you used every day sounded exactly like you.
26* Why is Church, the Alpha, permanently a dick/angry all the time? His backstory is that he was tortured, so he went insane and cast away his personalities, which formed different individuals on their own. Except, one of those personalities is Omega, the Alpha's anger. If Church's anger was separated from him, why has it become his defining characteristic? He should be a generic everyman if his personality was stripped from him, not a hothead.
27** In the commentary of ''Reconstruction'', Burnie acknowledged the contradiction and joked that Alpha just had ''such'' a filthy temper that even losing Omega didn't make a big difference. His other, more serious explanation is that with Omega gone, Alpha still gets angry, but now without reason. Such as hating the Freelancer program even though he (as far as he knows) has no reason to do so.
28** There is also a theory floating around that the Alpha is trying to compensate for its missing parts.
29** Because it's a split personality. From what I understand, when someone manifests a SplitPersonality, where a new personality is created, often representing a specific aspect of the person, they don't ''lose'' the ability to feel that way outright. Just because Omega represented Alpha's rage and was separated doesn't mean he loses that emotion completely. He just tried to dissociate himself from a large bulk of his rage in order to "protect" his psyche. Just like when he lost the memories from Epsilon doesn't mean he loses the ability to remember. At least that's the best justification I can think of.
30*** That's what I was thinking. Church still has anger (Omega), logic (Delta), the ability to lie (Gamma), creativity (Sigma), the ability to remember (Epsilon), etc., but they're cut down from his original ones, turning him into a relatively ineffectual, not all that brilliant guy who's a terrible shot. Presumably, with all of his faculties intact, he'd be at least at Freelancer level.
31*** Depends. At full capacity, he's a "Smart [=AI=]", essentially making him like Cortana.
32* Every Freelancer is given a codename (a state) and a A.I named after a letter in the greek alphabet. There are 50 states and 24 letters in the old greek alphabet. How is this possible?
33** They stopped assigning AIs after Wash, remember? Presumably, if they had continued and used up all the letters, they would have started using letters from different alphabets.
34** They '''started''' with 50 Agents (49 not counting Tex / Allison). Given the Director's methods, the leaderboard was probably just a method of determining who got AI, outside of specific experiments like North and South. We also know at least a couple Freelancers have already died, though others outside the main cast do seem to exist.
35** In the commentary for Reconstruction, Burnie mentioned that there were less A.I than Freelancers. Some A.I simply didn't survive the fragmentation process, others were kept in storage for experimentation and weren't given greek letters for names.
36** Season 10 also shows that AIs were reserved only for the very best Freelancers.
37* All Freelancers are given agent names based on states in the USA. Keeping that in mind, look at North and South; North Dakota and South Dakota. The states they are named after have the same name, but with "north" or "south" added to it. Now, look at Carolina. Isn't there also a North Carolina and South Carolina? I can understand just calling her Carolina and not North or South, so she doesn't get confused with the Dakota twins, but shouldn't there be a second Carolina? I've only seen one, and no explanation as to where the other is.
38** One of the series' songs implies there's an Agent DC, so it may be there was only ever one Carolina, with Agent DC making up the difference.
39** The song also mentions Puerto Rico (but immediately follows with "does that even count?").
40** Carolina is named in part for having two AI implanted according to WordOfGod. DC is also a Freelancer in the song.
41* Why does everyone (largely meaning Freelancers in the prequels) seem to think that Washington is not a terribly good agent? York even makes fun of him. I don't get it. He has displayed remarkable competence ("NOW can we go?" after single handedly taking down an aircraft, etc.), but more importantly-- HE WAS ON THE LEADERBOARD! Heck, Florida and CT weren't even on it. Yet Wash tells one of the BGC "I was mostly known for getting a grappling hook stuck to my crotch." This doesn't make any sense to me at all.
42** You're correct, Wash is extremely competent compared to the Reds and Blues and even most soldiers aren't as good as him, but compared to the Freelancers, he sucks. I mean, look at their fighting skills; the Freelancers are on par with the Spartans if not superior to them, whereas Wash doesn't show nearly the same amount of skill. They call him a bad field agent because compared to them, he is a bad agent, at least from their perspective. It's easy to understand, the Freelancers aren't exactly the most mature people despite their profession and they make fun of Wash because it makes them feel better about themselves. Wash is always low on the leaderboard, but he's there because he just cares about getting the job done.
43** Exactly. Project Freelancer took the best of the best. Wash is just the worst of the best of the best. He's still miles ahead of average soldiers, and even further beyond sim troopers.
44* What the hell happened to the Demo Man insurrectionist? Did they just retcon him out of being alive or did they forget him entirely.
45** Well a RoaringRampageOfRevenge is probably difficult to do with no arms.
46* Why does everyone refer to the Covenant as "the aliens?" The cast of the series seems to know everything a common person in the Halo universe should know so why don't they know what name of the empire that almost destroyed humanity is called?
47** Easy answer - they don't know crap. Most of the cast is either incredibly stupid, downright insane or have artificial memories. In the finale of ''Reconstruction'' Sarge is shown not to know what UNSC is. How is it possible for everyone to be so ignorant is another question, but they clearly ''are'' that ignorant.
48** While the Red vs. Blue borrows extensively from the Halo universe for obvious reasons, they are not actually one and the same and instead of the Covenant, they only have the one species of alien that they're fighting.
49* Since the Mother of Invention crashed at Sidewinder, does that mean the base there is built from the ship's wreck?
50** Given that you can see the wreckage of the Mother of Invention and it's visited in the third episode of the season, maybe not. Then again, the map in which the third episode is filmed might be a remake of Sidewinder. I wouldn't know, as I have yet to play Halo 5.
51* What the Hell is an Oversight Subcommittee? (Like, I looked up both terms but I'm confused as to how it's supposed to fit into the UNSC (Or UEG?) hierarchy. (Also, why the head of such a group would be giving a public speech as seen at the beginning of Season 13.)
52** Exactly what it's name implies. A group of people who oversee the investigation of something. In this case they're investigating Project Freelancer. As for why Hargrove was giving a public speech, he's a politician and the CEO of Charon Industries.
53** I guess that explanation just doesn't add up to me; the UNSC is a purely military entity, so it's hard to imagine a career politician like Hargrove having any sort of authority in it, especially in a position of such apparent power. My point about his speech is more that, by all accounts he likes to keep out of the public eye in general, and IRL people aren't that interested in politicians who are unelected but powerful bureaucrats (Except for a president's cabinet members) which is all that Hargrove really is.
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder:Blood Gulch Chronicles]]
57* What happened to blue team's original Sargent?
58** The Blue Team's original sergeant was Captain Flowers who died of an aspirin allergy. It... sort of makes sense in context. See the middle of Season 3.
59* How is "Du-frain" difficult to pronounce? If you saw the name "Dufresne" written down and weren't sure how to say it, that'd be one thing, but just hearing someone say "My name is Dufresne" and claiming that you can't pronounce it? It's two simple syllables, Church. You're not [[TheDitz Caboose]].
60** It's ''Red vs. Blue''. ''Everyone'' is an idiot, even if they're intelligent enough to recognize it.
61** Actually I just think Church was being lazy and didn't care about the guys name anyway. It's Doc, nobody likes him.
62* In Season 3, (almost) everyone is sent 2,000 (?) years into the future. So how the heck are the Red vs. Blue war and Project Freelancer still going on? Better yet, how did characters like York survive?
63** Tex and Church wonder the same thing in season 5, and Tex says something along the lines of "There's a lot of people telling us lies." The only people who really confirm that they're that far into the future are Vic (whose job it seems is to lie to the characters) and Gary (who is ''made of deceit'').
64** Also consider how, when Tex meets up with York, neither he nor Delta find anything strange about her reappearance. If they really had time-jumped 1000+ years, you'd think ''someone'' would have said "Holy crap, where have you been for the last 1000 years?"
65** Wash says that Command was behind everything that has happened to the Blood Gulch teams all along, so the timeskip might have been completely fake.
66* In Season 3, when Church and Grif are in jail on Sidewinder, and Wyoming walks up to them, he is using invisibility. Invisibility was not his ability, it was Tex's. How did he get invisibility, and if he had it, why did he never again use it?
67** The show is set in the Halo universe, where there is more than one cloaking device. I'm guessing Tex's cloak is more effective than the regular kind. She can attack people without turning visible and stuff. Wyoming was presumably using the an ordinary cloak like the ones you get in the game and I guess he just never felt the need to use it again. Although he may have. He did sneak up on the Blues when they were at Red base.
68** In Chapter 4 of ''Recreation'', when Donut mentions to the Counsellor that the reason they were at that base where they fought O'Malley was because they were sent to the future, the Counsellor is extremely confused. We then learn that Sarge's conclusion that they were several thousand years into the future was based on ''very'' shaky logic. Said 'logic' was that the place they were in had an intact base and a lot of ice. After the explosion, wrecked base and no ice. Sarge takes this to mean an ice age has ended and they are now in the future. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't heat melt ice? And, y'know, explosions blow buildings up? Sarge is a master of the {{Bavarian Fire Drill}}.
69** According to Freelancer records, that is training scenario 3.
70* If Church kept failing miserably to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, why didn't he learn from his mistakes and take precautions to avoid them? For instance:
71** Don't kick dirt on Lopez's, ahem, [[RefugeInAudacity switch]]
72** To stop Flowers having a heart attack, just don't give the guy the medicine.
73** [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim Kill Donut when he meets him in the cave.]]
74** Research definition of Friendly Fire beforehand.
75** Don't talk to Sheila and Lopez about the Robot Army.
76** Leave a 'Broken, Do Not Use' sign on the teleporter, rather than fix it yourself.
77*** Three big things: Firstly, he only went through the events at Blood Gulch once. So... he couldn't learn from his mistakes. Secondly, it's implied in season 10 that all of that was, in fact, just a virtual simulation being run by Gamma to torture Church by making him think everything was all his fault. And lastly, rule of funny.
78*** Yeah, but it said 'Many failed attempts later...'. You'd think he'd learn...
79*** Those failed attempts are various different ways that we didn't see. He didn't mess the same things up, he messed up in new and creative ways. And again, likely a simulation designed for him to fail. Kinda has that going against him.
80* If the Reds and Blues didn't really time travel how did Captain Flowers die? And why was Sheila talking as if a long time had passed?
81** Captain Flowers probably died of a heart attack, like Church originally believed.
82** As for Sheila, Vic may have tampered with her to screw with the BGC, after he realized that they thought that they were in the future.
83** In Reconstruction, When Wash and the others find Sheila in Valhalla, she mentions that her onboard clock seems wrong once she left Blood Gulch. That would seem to hint that someone or something did indeed tamper with her.
84** The time travel lie was apparently part of an actual training scenario, so Project Freelancer Control probably did some stuff to make it look like time had passed. Change the clocks, remodel the bases, make Sheila look older, that sort of thing.
85* If Church was an AI rather than a ghost, than how was he able to talk to Sarge when he was briefly dead?
86** Sarge likely wasn't brain dead, and Church was possessing him.
87** We know AI can enter people's minds, as evidenced by Tex and Church entering Caboose's mind. Sarge was never fully dead, just knocked out, which is why CPR worked on him, so maybe Church was inside his mind like with Caboose. Caboose is a moron, and thusly his mind is scattered. Sarge is heavily devoted to the fight, so perhaps his mental layout just happens to look a lot like Blood Gulch, and has accurate depictions of those around him.
88*** Either that, or, given that each AI seems to have a power, Church's AI power was enabling Sarge to view what was going on around him while passed out.
89*** The powers actually come from equipment. It's just that some equipment requires an [=AI=] to use, because there are calculations involved that a human cannot possibly do, especially in the heat of battle.
90** But what about the Sheila ghost?
91*** Church ascribed her as "dead" too, so he could have filled her in. Either that or she's an AI fragment linked into him.
92*** Only Church reacted to Sheila. She might not have really been there.
93** ''Revelation'' reveals that the grey netherworld was actually just Sarge's mind being placed into Recovery Mode, a state where a soldier's armour is locked down and mind preserved in a virtual construct when they are severely injured. A.I.s can also enter that construct.
94* When Church was sent to the past, he was still possessing the robot body Sarge built for him. How did he grow a beard?
95** How was Sarge able to give his team a pep talk while singing the Red team anthem with the Red flag appearing out of nowhere? They're just throwaway gags.
96** Especially since that beard didn't last more than one scene.
97** Short version: RuleOfFunny.
98* Waaaay back, in Season 2 - have they ever explained how Tucker managed to just get better, despite the fact everyone went after O'Malley ''because'' he had been severely injured? Did they bring it up in an audio commentary?
99** No, [[UnexplainedRecovery they didn't explain it.]] Presumably they originally had a different plan for what to do with Tucker and then changed their minds at some point (In the Season Three commentary, they do mention that a ''lot'' of stuff was cut from the season simply because it was already so long). On screen, the most likely reason is that Tucker wasn't as badly injured as the characters thought. They aren't the smartest people after all.
100** Maybe Tex knows rudimentary first aid, and the armor took care of the rest.
101* A random headscratcher from Season 4: Why was Andy intimidated by Tex threatening to detonate him? Wasn't exploding kind of... his life goal?
102** He's a bomb. A sapient weapon. His goal isn't ''just'' to explode. He's supposed to explode where he can hurt people and break stuff slash where his boss wants him to. In the middle of the enemy base? Peachy. In the middle of nowhere as a million dollar firework? Not peachy. Years of academy training wasted.
103* Though it explains where the yellow-armored Church during the time loop comes from... it just raises more questions! How exactly did Caboose's version of Sister end up being identical to Church's actual personality when he left, especially considering he hadn't had the same personality before? Why did the yellow Church suddenly jump into the time loop? And how exactly is that Church part of the loop at all? He didn't even exist until almost everything is over.
104** I always thought that Church possessed Caboose in one of his a million attempts at keeping the bomb in his body from going off. He then stuck around and played the part of Sister, Church's twin brother... for some reason. I think that theory was mentioned somewhere in the WMG section. >_>
105** Yellow Church was standing next to one of Wyoming's numerous dead bodies (possibly the last one), and the time machine was so damaged by that point that it malfunctioned. [[RuleOfFunny And just ''happened'' to send them both back to Sidewinder.]]
106** It's Caboose. Nothing makes sense to him. Nothing makes sense in his mind. It must be one hell of a coincidence.
107* If Gary is actually a Freelancer AI, how did he exist 1,000 years before Project Freelancer even started?
108** Same way the Alpha got there. {{Time Travel}}.
109*** How/why did he do this?
110*** To trick Church after the plan to use Lopez's weather control device to take over the universe failed, so they could get him to eventually save Tucker so he could give birth to Junior so O'Malley could kidnap him to use him to win the war and gain power. Why did O'Malley create such a crazy GambitRoulette? Because he's evil and insane enough to think that a Weather Control Device could help him to take over the universe to begin with.
111** It was all a lie. Gary is the AI of deceit.
112* Why didn't Washington show up when Tex died?
113** Firstly, we can't be entirely sure she ''is'' dead. Wash himself said he wasn't sure if she was alive or not. Secondly, it's possible that she doesn't have a recovery beacon on account of the fact that she can't be killed in the conventional way. Finally, it's possible that Wash wasn't on active duty at the time. He had been shot in the back by South, I imagine that he would have needed some time to recover and wasn't available to be sent in until the Meta had already left Valhalla.
114** While the first part of that might be true, you have to remember that Tex being "killed" took place months before Washington got shot in the back, as Tex was killed at the end of season one and Wash getting shot in the back was somewhere in between the end of season 4 and the beginning of season 6.
115** Blood Gulch is infamous for its bad radio signals and messed up communication. If Tex did send out an Recovery Beacon when she 'died', it's possible that it was either lost in nowhere (like what almost happened to Omega before he snatched Doc) or interrupted by Vic.
116* Why does Gary have the time distortion and manipulation powers both as a monitor and as a tank when every other Freelancer has their established powerup with them instead of their AI?
117** It's been stated that the A.I are capable of running the armour abilities. It's possible that, when he was a monitor, Wyoming left his time manipulation unit with Gary so he could use it. However when Gary is operating the tank, I'm betting that Wyoming was the one using the armour ability. After all, his helmet was taken by Tex onto the ship, where the Meta retrieved it. If it had still been in the tank, the Meta wouldn't have been able to get to it.
118** It's also possible that Gamma simply transmitted the calculations and data to Wyoming to facilitate its use.
119* In Season Five, Caboose suggests transferring Sheila's AI into his armour the way Omega had. Church tells him that it wouldn't work because she's not that kind of A.I. However later, Gamma, the same kind of AI as Omega, is able to take over the tank.
120** It's possible that Gamma is backwards-compatible. Kind of like how you can play [=PS1=] games on a [=PS2=], but not the other way around. Gamma is sufficiently advanced enough to fit inside the tank and take it over.
121** Also, they needed a massive cable to transfer Sheila to the ship, because shes hardwired into the Tank. it could just be that they lack the equipment to transfer, or that her functions are too specialized to work in a humanoid form.
122* In season 4, Church tells a disguised Simmons that he likes Donut, whom he considers to be pretty harmless. Wouldn't Church think the exact opposite, knowing that Donut was the one who "killed" Tex in season 1?
123** Church is yanking Simmons' chain in that scene. It's not about what Church really thinks, it's about what will make Simmons upset. And let's face it -- aside from that one lucky throw, Donut ''is'' harmless.
124
125[[/folder]]
126
127[[folder:Recollection]]
128* South uses Delta to power her shield, right? So how was she able to use the shield before using Delta, considering that she doesn't have an AI?
129** Going by how Grif is able to use powerups without an AI, it seems that even simulation soldier suits can use powerups, [=AIs=] only help manage the calculations required to run them. And how could an AI produce energy anyway, wouldn't they just drain more?
130** Indeed. Some powerups, such as South's shield and Tex's cloak are just "on/off". Others, such as Wyoming's time control, need an [=AI=] to run. One wonders why Meta couldn't use the Cloak until getting Tex, though it could have been a mild case of ObfuscatingStupidity on his part until he could get his hands on an [=AI=].
131*** That's because while the cloaking device is relatively simple to run, Meta still had all his other armour enhancements as well, which were draining power from his suit. He needed an A.I to calculate the power requirements. Another possibility is that the cloak is difficult to use, but Tex was capable of using it without Omega because she was an A.I herself.
132* In Recovery 1, Wash seems to be meeting Delta for the first time. But then in the first episode of Season 10, York says to Delta, "Have you been talking to Wash again?"
133** Delta likely hadn't seen Washington for years since the Epsilon breakdown. It's possible Delta was simply unsure if it was Wash when he first saw him. Especially considering the change in personality Wash had since the breakdown.
134* In ''Recovery One'', South claims she no longer has the ability to use her armor enhancement, the dome energy shield, because the Meta stole it. Yet in ''Reconstruction'', she used it just fine. When did she get it back?
135** BlatantLies? It ''is'' South, after all.
136** The lies went all the way to Command. At the end of ''Recovery One'', we find out Command predicted Washington would behave the way he did, and the whole thing was a set up. South then betrayed Command once she had Delta. It was a GambitPileup, and it's possible the Meta never attacked South (until ''Reconstruction'' anyway).
137* Holographic storage is a real (fringe) technology. It is quite immune to [=EMP=]s.
138** I didn't think the idea was to destroy the AIs, it was to shut them down. Besides, the AIs aren't holographic storage. They're artificial intelligences that use holographic projections to communicate.
139** Maybe emps work differently than [=EMP=]s.
140** Wrongo. Wash clearly says that the AIs are being kept in holographic storage. Their holo-projection doesn't matter. It might destroy all the surrounding circutry needed to access the data, but that can be fixed. Maybe that was Wash's intention?
141** Probably so; however the plan revolved around not destroying the stored AI but [[spoiler: tricking Maine and destroying the ones ''he'' had which worked perfectly. There's actually not any indication there are any stored AI at all; most likely it was a white lie Washington used on Church, similar to the Director and Maine.]].
142** This is likely an oversight on the part of Rooster Teeth, but could evolve into a plot point. What if the Director decided to use the EMP Wash set off to cover him moving the rest of the AI fragments before the authorities could arrive so he could continue his work in secret? This would also make Wash's plan a little more logical, as his main goal was to get Epsilon to the authorities first and then use the EMP to stop the Meta and cripple the HQ, but not to destroy the rest of the potential evidence.
143** Suit storage is never said to be holographic. Wash's statement applied to the actual data records. However, even those seem damaged. What is likely is that while the data isn't actually damaged, various components and the interfacing technology is damaged beyond repair. Besides, it's never stated that holographic storage is literally holographic storage: much like many computer terms, it might simply be called that while being something else.
144* It's been focused on Church for almost the entire series at this point. I think they could do something with the fact that Grif is pretty much unkillable, despite all the effort Sarge has put into it. Let the Reds have a turn!
145** The Reds do have some importance: Burnie mentioned a long time ago that the number of robot kits the teams received was very important. The Reds received one and the Blues received two. The Blues have two known AI characters, ergo...
146** He says that, and yet they haven't done a damn thing with the reds for over ten years now...
147** The Reds are the ones most responsible for defeating the Meta.
148** Check out Season 17. Donut is arguably the main protagonist.
149* Why did Washington ask Church to go? He knew that he would be at the epicentee of the EMP. He knew that it would kill Church. Washington intentionally lead Church to die.
150** Maybe the plan was that he would jump back to his robot body before the EMP went off, but because it fell out of Caboose's jeep, he got caught in the EMP after all.
151*** They were at least a few miles away at the time.
152** Or maybe Church realized what he was and went along with it. In that moment before the [=AIs=], he probably learned what he truly was. And I suppose that's something he wanted more than anything else.
153*** More than living?
154** Also, [=EMP=]s don't necessarily destroy computers, they shut them down (like when Sarge modified the Warthog to use the EMP for more power--it didn't destroy it every time, it just shut it down for a while). So the idea was probably to shut down the AIs until they could be safely rebooted in isolation somewhere.
155*** Then why does [[WordofGod Word of God]] say [[spoiler: the Alpha is gone]] is my question...
156*** Perhaps they're lying? It's not unheard of for creators to intentionally give out misinformation so that the fans don't actually know what's going on until the creators are ready for the big pay off where we find out what really happened.
157*** Also, what was the exact words of WordOfGod? I mean, remember back when season five was closing and they said it was the end of Blood Gulch Chronicles to make everybody sad, but then continued the series in another way? There could be a similar loophole.
158** Emps might not, but electromagnetic pulses work by frying every single transistor in the circuitry. That's pretty destroyed.
159** Church and Tex show an ability that no other AI seems to be able to do; survive long term without a body. Not even Omega can survive without another body to hop into very quickly. Therefore, while other AI would be destroyed by the EMP, the Alpha likely could.
160*** Could what? Please be specific.
161*** Could survive the emp by outrunning it and waiting for people to arrive for him to possess.
162** Wash clearly wanted to bring an end to the whole ordeal. What exactly the Alpha knew is still unrevealed, and he too could have become DrivenToSuicide by regaining his memories. It's clear however that Wash didn't coerce him into going into what the Alpha knew was his death.
163** I should point out that Church, Omega, Sheila, and Tex all went into the "Deadworld" Or some kind of sublevel of the battlefield intranet that is used by the Simulation troopers and Freelancers when put into armor lock. This is probably used for backing up the AI's in the simulation to make sure they aren't lost to a freak accident. When Church talked to Sarge when Sarge was shot in the head, Sarge was also in the "Deadworld".
164* Washington said Church always agreed with Delta... but there was only one case where Church agreed with him, the rest involved him openly questioning a fair number of things Delta said (namely Washington's sanity).
165** Delta was a representation of his logical side, not his intuition. Which means they would only agree in situations where they both had the same amount of knowledge. So as an example, Delta had known Wash longer than Church and as such, was able to make more informed opinions about his sanity, while Church would be relying on pure intuition.
166*** That doesn't change the fact that Church only agreed with him once.
167*** Church may have only agreed with Delta once, but Delta agreed with Church several times, which I always thought was just as important. Don't forget that Delta wasn't around them for very long. He didn't exactly have a lot of time to be agreed with. For the amount of time they were both present they never seemed to disagree.
168*** That's why it bugs me. They agreed once on one thing, and had only a handful of conversations, most of which would not have included any reason to agree or disagree. There was not have had enough interaction for Washington to have made that assessment.
169*** Washington probably just listed a bunch of attributes that Church would have, him always agreeing with Delta was one, since that's his logic. The fact they didn't spend much time together is irrelevant.
170*** There's at least one instance in which Church did not agree with Delta, though indirectly. Washington killed South after Delta suggested it, but Church treated Washington as though he were crazy. That means Church did not agree with Delta's suggestion that Washington kill South. However, what's interesting is that even after that incident, Church still considered Delta to be a trusted source of information (such as asking questions about the Freelancer program while they were getting into position to take down the Meta).
171*** This can be addressed by what someone said a little earlier. Church disagreed because he didn't have the information Delta did. Delta had personally witnessed South backstab people multiple times, and knew that if they brought her along it would just be a matter of time. Church had only just met South and to him it seemed like cold blooded murder.
172*** Not to mention the fact that while it might have been a perfectly logical act that doesn't mean Church would agree with any logic, even his own. There is more to him than logic after all, so he could be objecting for other reasons while still agreeing it's perfectly logical (note that he never really says it wasn't necessary, just that Wash is crazy for doing it without hesitation).
173*** Note that Church’s immediate reaction to Wash killing South was saying that it was “cold,” not crazy. Cold, in this context, means logical, but not compassionate. This implies that Church agreed with Delta’s logic, but not Delta's decision.
174*** I actually thought a better demonstration of Church being the Alpha would have been that his logical abilities impressed Delta, namely when he predicts that the Meta is running out of power. Given that Church is actually [[spoiler: Dr Leonard Church, Director of Project Freelancer]] its pretty reasonable to assume he's a genius and is therefore the only character capable of keeping up with Delta. On the other hand, agreeing with Delta is just common sense.
175* Church still has "residual" memories from the original Leonard Church. However, some of these memories would have to be lacking. At least the torture would have to be missing, because that's what Epsilon had. Yet he would also need to have forgotten having been the Director, and having been copied into an AI, and all of his experiences as that AI up until the torture started. So why doesn't he notice these "blank spots"?
176** It's very likely that he only has memories up to the point of his age minus a couple years or so. Remember that the Director is an old man and most certainly didn't become Director until at least a bit older than Church believed himself to be. What really bothers me about that are the dates. Wouldn't that be a good way to prove he's an A.I.? The dates would have to be out of whack somewhere if he really has anything of the Director's memory.
177*** Hmm... a thought just struck me about that. Sheila said that her on-board clock was messed up during the crash, didn't she? Perhaps all the clocks in Blood Gulch were specifically set backward so that Church wouldn't notice the discrepancy. Other people might have noticed it, but just not brought it up for various reasons - plus, not very many residents of Blood Gulch were exactly smart enough to notice something like that and consider it important.
178** The Director states he's an old man, so let's just say he's about sixty or so. Church sounds and acts like he's either late twenties or early thirties. He doesn't notice any blank spots because he lacks about thirty years of the Director's memories anyway, due to their (apparent) ages.
179** Its fairly common knowledge that the human brain will "make up" things to shove into memory gaps and be utterly convinced in its veracity unless showed overwhelming evidence to the contrary. (And sometimes not even then.) Also, if the soldiers in blood gulch thought they were living at a date fitting to convince Church he was really the age he was supposed to be, would explain why the red and blue thought they were in the future.
180* If Church was really the AI Alpha, then when he was sent to Blood Gulch, was he in a robot body and didn't know it? Or was he in some kind of a clone body?
181** Season 14 reveals that the body Alpha inhabited belonged to one Private Jimmy. His memory of Tex killing Private Jimmy with his own skull is his memories growing muddled with Jimmy's as Jimmy is implanted with the Alpha AI.
182* Who were the Church and Tex we saw in the trailer for ''Recreation''? I get that this Church we see now is Epsilon in a new body, but... what about the other two? And the other Tex, for that matter?
183** My guess is that the Church and Tex we saw in the trailer are the real ones. This new Tex is some kind of copy I bet. Or maybe she's the end result of some kind of splitting thing, like what happened to Alpha.
184* Has WordOfGod actually confirmed whether or not the trailer for Recreation is in continuity or not? I've heard some people assume it isn't, but I haven't heard an official statement yet. There's nothing in the trailer to imply that it's fake, especially considering how Reconstruction's trailer wasn't. There's also the fact that certain events, like the fire at Blue Base or Grif teasing Simmons about subtracting one from five are referenced later on in the actual season. But at the same time, there's been no word on whether or not those were the real Church and Tex we saw and whether or not they'll be returning at any point.
185** {{Word of God}} (Burnie Burns, I think) has confirmed that the scene with Tex and Church in the trailer is a non-canon 'hook' to get people to watch. {{Trailers Always Lie}}.
186* Donut dies from one bullet. Washington ''blows up'' and survives.
187** First of all, Wash may still have York's healing unit. Secondly, Simmons once said that the armour they all wear is designed to absorb explosions. Granted, he also said it deflects bullets, but I imagine Wash knows all the weak points of the armour and therefore, where best to aim. Also, being a Freelancer, I wouldn't be surprised if Wash's armour and pistol are both more advanced than the simulation troopers.
188** The only one who confirms Donut is dead is Doc, and his lack of medical knowledge is a running gag. It's been confirmed that the sponsor ending of Episode 13 is canon and Donut is in fact, alive. He was just in lockdown mode.
189* In chapter ten of ''Revelation'', near the start, Tucker appears holding his battle rifle and his deactivated sword is attached to his hip. Fair enough. But then when he confronts Tex with his sword drawn, his rifle is nowhere to be seen and he now has a pistol on his hip. Shouldn't his rifle be on his back? Why did they change his weapon set?
190** Maybe Tucker needed to get rid of the extra weight to move around better.
191** When he used his sword it was a Creator/MontyOum animated sequence, not the normal machinima. Monty might have left it out on purpose to make it easier to animate, or he just goofed and forgot it.
192* The only ones stationed at Valhalla were the Reds and Caboose. How do they explain how Tucker and a guy in Church's armor (I assume they are trying to pass Wash off ''as'' Church, but that doesn't change anything) are suddenly there?
193** I think the command doesn't really seem to pay much attention to the Red and Blue simulations. After all, no-one at command seemed to raise an eyebrow when Simmons deleted the Blues from the database and they sent no reinforcements to Valhalla even when it was five Reds to one Blue.
194*** The fact that the Blues were deleted from the records is probably what allowed the oversight. The data on the Blues was retrieved from the off-site backups by FILSS/Sheila and therefore would have had information on Tucker and Church.
195** Besides, the ones who showed up to take care of things didn't seem to actually be Freelancers. If the Director really ''is'' being tried for breaching protocol, it would make sense that some other branch of the UNSC is in charge of cleaning up after the Freelancers. Therefore, it's unlikely they'd actually know much more than "there's some red guys and some blue guys".
196* If Project Freelancer got shut down, why are the Freelancer training bases still in operation?
197** Project Freelancer was only one faction of the UNSC. Once it was shut down, the UNSC seized their training grounds and allowed the Reds and Blues to continue their training.
198* So where did Wash get the cobalt armour from? I'm guessing he took it from Epsilon's robot body, but how come he still has the yellow trim? Even if he took the shoulder pads from his old suit (which he didn't, as we see his old suit on the ground, still bearing the yellow trim), where'd the yellow stripe on the helmet come from? Did the group just happen to have a can of yellow spray paint with them?
199** Yes. Sarge is that kind of CrazyPrepared. Seriously though, Burnie mentioned how this was for the benefit of the audience, to make clear that it really is Washington we are seeing.
200** Well, they ''were'' still near that Freelancer base. Could've still been some supplies (including armor or at least armor parts) lying around in some back room somewhere.
201** Or they could've just painted the armor, something which the Blue Team did previously with Lopez and Simmons himself did (with the exact same results of "missing a few spots").
202* Does no one care that the real Church, for all intents and purposes, is basically dead? Sure, Caboose's perception of reality has probably blurred the line between Alpha and Epsilon, and Sarge, up until recently, didn't care about the Blues. But shouldn't Tucker at least be sad? This goes for Donut, as well. You can't say that they don't care about each other enough, because Church was sad when Tex "died," and Simmons was visibly distressed when Grif appeared to have died.
203** This may be more due to the specific relationships in question. Simmons and Grif (in the words of Tucker) bicker like an old married couple. Having seen Caboose's mind, it's very possible he doesn't exactly understand that Church!Alpha is dead. Also, I tried counting the number of times Caboose himself killed Church but lost count. Tucker not only wasn't concerned when Church died the first time back in Season 1, but he'd seen Church come back from the dead multiple times previously. Tucker was not surprised as Church being the Alpha, and therefore may have more understanding of the AI portion of Project Freelancer than is stated outright in the show. Church and Tex, however, have a romantic history. Thus no one cares when Church!Alpha dies because they're on the other team, don't understand, or don't care/expect him to come back. Donut was the butt-monkey of the Red Team, and Lopez was a robot and could be repaired, plus he just made back-ups of himself. Also, Sarge becomes very professional once he figures out Simmons's message and therefore was more concerned with the mission than fallen team members (something he doesn't seem to worry much about anyway considering his plan to get Andy the Bomb into O'Malley's compound in Season 3). Grif has already shown that he outright does not believe someone is dead until he sees the body personally after Lopez tells him his sister is dead, so it's not surprising he's not broken up about Donut. Therefore, the only people who would be upset at the death of a teammate is Church with Tex, Simmons with Grif, and Caboose with Sheila.
204* Epsilon Church has actually only known Tex for, at most, a couple of days. He never really forged a brotherly relationship with Caboose. He's never even been to Blood Gulch. All of his emotional scenes in the finale...feel kind of meaningless.
205** I think when they say that Epsilon has all of Alpha's memories, they really do mean ALL of them, including the Blood Gulch memories. Notice how at the end, Epsilon-Church says that Blood Gulch looks different from how he remembers it, despite Epsilon never having been there, only Alpha-Church. If you're wondering how Epsilon got Alpha-Church's memories, remember that in ''Reconstruction'' when Church got close to the Epsilon unit he started getting painful flashes of memory, this may have been the two of them wirelessly interfacing with each other.
206** Alpha merging with Epsilon seems to make the most sense to me, since he thought Tucker was Captain Flowers due to his armor color. Caboose arrived at Blood Gulch long after Captain Flowers died, and if anyone ever told Caboose that Tucker's armor was originally his, I doubt Caboose would have remembered it long enough to relay the information to Epsilon.
207** Yeah, I'm going to go with the merging theory. It makes sense in a lot of ways. And the stuff he says at the end (about Epsilon and Alpha) makes it seem that he's not the Alpha, he's not Epsilon, he's just... Church, with some extra memories thrown in.
208*** Further supported by the fact that Church now seems to have all the memories from the other AI, such as all of Delta's logs, as well as the AI that Caboose never met (like Sigma and Theta during his rant against the Director). Church also retained the ability to project without a need for a host, something none of the personality fragments were capable of doing (he still needs it for long distance travelling, but still). It also gives a happy ending by letting Church reform and accomplishing what the Meta was trying to do.
209* In ''Revelation'' Chapter 10, why does Tex keep crushing Grif's nuts over and over again? Wouldn't it be more appropriate for her to be hitting Tucker in the nuts, what with his constant "bow-chicka-wow-wow!" jokes and general chauvinism?
210** The people who make WebAnimation/RedVsBlue, Rooster Teeth, have specifically said that she does this to Grif because she somehow found out about him punting Epsilon-Church in an earlier episode.
211** From a writing perspective, everyone else in the fight had something to do, so Grif at least needed a running gag. Tucker has his sword, Caboose is pushing buttons, Sarge is trying to stand up to Tex, Simmons is trying to obey Sarge's plan. None of these would be in-character for Grif, and with everyone else having a purpose to write jokes around, Grif got stuck being the Butt Monkiest.
212** According to the commentary that was just Monty putting some jokes into the fight scene.
213* Epsilon Church really never seemed to know about Alpha Church. In the finale, he said that originally, everything was based on the Alpha, but in the memory unit, he is the Alpha. Wasn't the Church from Blood Gulch Chronicles the Alpha already?
214** It could be a dual meaning - in there, he is the Alpha as in, "the most important person," or he's the Alpha because "Epsilon gets to live through Alpha's memories," or even that "Epsilon became Alpha through copying Alpha's memories and entire being," or tons of other dual meanings. I doubt it was to be taken literally.
215* How do the people at "Command" sleep at night? They create simulation environments for "Red" and "Blue" squad members to fight each other for training purposes... but said "Reds" and "Blues" actually try and hurt/kill each other! (They use live ammunition, Tex nearly kills Donut with a grenade, Sarge was able to call in a massive airstrike, etc) Since when did "training" involve actually loss of life and/or life-threatening injuries?
216** Not everyone has a conscience, friend.
217** Plus, they didn't seem to be too bothered. How many times have Grif and Tucker been blown up / beaten / shot?
218** HumansAreBastards. Especially [[CorruptBereaucrat bureaucrats]].
219** The Director also had absolutely no problem whatsoever with torturing to the point of insanity an AI based on his own mind--and while he may not have treated [[spoiler:Agent Tex]] as badly, he certainly didn't treat the AI [[spoiler:sort of]] based on his lost love with too much care or respect either. Why should he care any more for the humans under his command?
220*** Yeah, but not everyone at "Command" knew about Alpha being tortured. The Director and the Chairman knew, and probably the engineers involved knew, but the Freelancer agents certainly didn't know. It seemed like a pretty classified thing. I guess it just bugs me that the freelancers (especially the non-evil ones like Wash and York) could go into an RVB base and start blowing guys up as part of their "training."
221*** Well actually it goes a bit further, in this Troper's opinion the Director is legitimately insane, losing Allison was so devastating to him that he has completely detached from reality.
222** The Armor Lockdown shown in Season 8 as an explanation for the "afterlife" Sarge saw when he was nearly killed in Season 2 [[spoiler:as well as Donut's recovery in the sponsor-only version of that Season 8 episode]] mean that even though they're using live ammo, they aren't in any real danger. Also, the simulation soldiers were specifically chosen because they wouldn't be missed by the regular army.
223*** Which raises a warehouse full of FridgeLogic as to how none of the Sim Troopers were supposed to notice that they couldn't die, or how Freelancer got rid of the "bodies" and what they'd do with "dead" soldiers, and how your armor locking up is supposed to protect someone from being blown up with artillery, crushed by a tank, or even just stabbed in a vulnerable spot or having a mag emptied into you (which we clearly see in Halo and this show can kill even the best-equipped Spartans), but hey, if the entire Blood Gulch Chronicles were an [[AWizardDidIt elaborate simulation by project freelancer...]] It's also my headcannon that all Sim Troopers underwent some kind of brainwashing (that likely damaged many of their minds) to make them fit their assigned roles better and prevent them from questioning things.
224** Actually, Season 15 seems to be retconning the armor-lockup retcon with Mark Temple's backstory, where we saw how Biff died. Not to mention all the other sim troops Sarge killed in season 14. Granted those all were accidents, but they seem like easily replicable ones; if the armor can't save someone from a sharp stick accidently knocked at them, how it is supposed to save them from bullets, bombs, shrapnel, etc? Not to mention Carolina and Tex didn't seem all that surprised or remorseful.
225* If Grif and Sister are from Hawaii, then where the hell did they go ice skating where Sister could have been stuck underwater for three hours?
226** Just because they lived in Hawaii doesn't mean they never left the place, ever.
227** 500 years into the future, a lot can change. For all we know, Hawaii is cold in the future.
228*** They have these things called refrigerated ice skating rinks, you know…
229*** But those are not put over lakes. It's just ground under a layer of ice.
230* Simmons personally saw Washington execute Donut. Why is he so amiable and friendly towards him, treating him like he would any other blue?
231** Most of the stuff with Wash is up in the air; we saw very little of their interactions after the fight.
232** Wash just helped save their lives. That ''might'' help with the whole "(not) Killing Donut thing".
233* Church tells Caboose to remember him because Tucker "will just fuck it up." I'm sorry, what? Caboose is the one with the good memory? I know this isn't the actual Church from the BGC, but still... Caboose? Has he not realized he is a [[TheDitz ditz]]?
234** It seems like Epsilon Church has a much more brotherly relationship with Caboose since he's spent more time with him, as opposed to Alpha Church who spent more time with Tucker before Caboose showed up.
235** Remembering Church wasn't important in a practical sense; the stuff about memory keeping you alive was generally meant metaphorically when people referred to it. (The AI project obviously gave it a double meaning because they were based on minds and, sometimes, memories.) It was just a FriendshipMoment done for Caboose's benefit. Epsilon knew he might be gone forever, so he gave Caboose a job that would make Caboose think that he was doing something vital for his best friend.
236* Is it ever explained exactly why the sight of Washington was enough to make Epsilon angry enough to activate his laser eye? What did Wash do to him? I thought it might be a hint of something that happened between them back when Epsilon was Wash's A.I but we never learn anything. Even if Epsilon was recalling Alpha's memories, the last time we saw Alpha and Wash together, they were working with each other.
237** Washington was rounding up all the AI fragments and taking them back to Freelancer HQ. Epsilon contains the memories of all of the fragments, or at least their base personalities and major memories. Epsilon can't explain what made him so pissed, it must have been the other memories.
238** Immediately after, Epsilon says he wants to go back, he's pretty frantic about it, so it's possible anger isn't actually what sets Epsilon off, just extremely strong emotions. And... come on, seeing his old partner (even if he doesn't remember it) would bring back some pretty nasty memories anyway (as he was paired with Wash immediately after he was split off from the Alpha), even if he didn't consciously realize it.
239*** Church!Epsilon hasn't regained all his memories by this point and is acting irrationally because they are starting to return slowly and cryptically (including memories the Epsilon AI hadn't experienced). Also, the only two encounters Epsilon and Washington have had at this point (Wash's original implantation and pulling him out of storage) ended with Epsilon trapped in a recovery unit but aware of the outside world.
240* How does Wash understand what the Meta is saying?
241** Probably just because he's been around him so long. Judging by the Season 9 trailer, they were friends (or at least close colleagues) before the AIs drove Meta nuts.
242* Why didn't they use Caboose for any of the fight scenes in Revelation? Had he gone mano-a-mano with Tex, it would have made for a pretty awesome and action packed fight. First of all, Caboose has been shown to be physically stronger than Tex when he had to carry Andy into O'Malley's fortress (and considering some of the feats of strength ''Tex'' demonstrated throughout Revelation, that's saying quite a lot). What's more, despite his sheer and utter stupidity, Caboose has also demonstrated mad skills with just about any firearm he's ever used (i.e. sniping Sarge in the head, defeating all the Reds and Blues at Battle Creek, gunning down a fleeing South Dakota at range, etc.). All things considered, his only real flaw is that he only manages to fight well against people that he's trying to "help," but that had already been easily worked around by his teammates ordering him to "help" the enemy. All they would have had to do was say "Caboose! Go help Tex!"
243** I understand that Caboose hasn't been in a CGI part yet due to rules Roosterteeth made for each character. But why is Caboose in particular the one they chose to have that restriction?
244** I figure it's because Caboose's humor lies more in his stupidity than his incompetence in battle. The more I think about it, CGI Caboose getting beat up by Tex or helping the others fight off the Meta just seems kind of strange in my mind.
245** Also pretty cruel, since he's basically a [[ManChild child]]. Also, why didn't they just shoot her or run to a more defensible position? How is that a worse option than hanging around and letting Tex beat the shit out of them?
246** They ''did'' try to shoot her. Repeatedly. But she was fast enough to dodge, get close up and disarm them before they could get any shots in. They didn't run because A: they were unfamiliar with their surroundings so they didn't know if there was a more defensible position nearby, B: she would have followed them and I really doubt any of them would be able to outrun her and C: they were panicking. Most of them were barely even trained as soldiers and they were up against Project Freelancer's ultimate killing machine. I'd have panicked too.
247** Agreed on the reasoning behind Caboose not being in CGI because him getting beat up would just be cruel. It would be like [[ShootTheDog shooting a puppy]]!
248** Yes, I totally agree that having Caboose fight would be cruel but they've also used CGI for gags, like Grif kicking Epsilon and Doc being stuck in the wall.
249** It was mentioned in the commentary that they had planned for some animated gags with Caboose (such as his helmet getting turned around so he couldn't see), but they never got around to doing them and by the time they got to the Tex fight, they stopped using the animation for gags and they agreed that it just didn't feel right to have Caboose animated.
250* This one is very minor, but after Grif crashes the Pelican into the canyon in Revelations, Wash tells Tucker and Caboose to go collect stuff for him. He mentions Tucker by name, but Wash has never met Tucker. How did he know his name?
251** Multiple ways. First, all the Reds' and Blues' profiles were on file; Wash could have come across Tucker in the databases. Second, Tucker found out about how the conflict between Reds and Blues was a lie, and Wyoming was sent after him; presumably, more than one Freelancer was told about the situation. Third, the Blood Gulch gang could have told Wash about him. Fourth, Tucker was working as an ambassador to the aliens, so he could presumably have celebrity status. Fifth, he has an alien child, which isn't exactly commonplace, and is probably widely talked about. Sixth, Wash could've been briefed on the entire Blood Gulch gang when he was sent after them.
252* Why is it when Tex and Church arrive at the frozen base, Tex takes one look inside, talks a little about Alpha and then immediately leaves, saying the Director is the only who can answer her questions now. Was there a scene in the sponsored version where she looks around the base and finds nothing there or something? Because it feels awfully abrupt. Why go all the way to that base if you're just going to leave again.
253** The base was an old Freelancer place. She went there to get munitions to fight Wash and the Meta when they arrived.
254** I assumed she saw that the place was abandoned and that everything was shut down/wiped, so she instead switched to luring Wash/the Meta there so they could take her to the Director instead.
255* The entire "Revelation" in season 8 that Red vs Blue battles are a lie! We already knew that, Wash told us all about in Reconstruction, so why did everyone act like they had no idea?
256** Probably because the way Wash said it in Reconstruction (arguing about why they should let him order them around), they probably thought he was either making something up to be a jerk to them, or otherwise wrong. (Heck, Sarge even scoffs, "You're making that up!") It wasn't until Revelation that they had concrete info other than just taking Wash's word for it, so that they realized yeah, he'd been absolutely right, and they just couldn't deny it anymore. Or in short, I'd say it's part of the {{running gag}} that nobody ever takes Wash entirely seriously.
257** Also, Sarge seems to be the only one that cares. The Blues are busy with the actual plot, while Simmons is just more annoyed he was considered expendable and Grif…well, caring would require putting forth effort.
258* Why was Wash hesitant to let Church enter the Epsilon unit? I thought his original plan was to capture Church in the unit, let it malfunction, and hand it over to the Director?
259** The Unit failing wasn't planed, it was a result of it getting hit by Tex during the battle. The Meta and Wash originaly rigged it, so AI couldn't get out on their own, but they did not want to make it impossible to extract them. By keeping Epsilon outside of the shutting down Unit, Wash still had a chance to hand him over to the Chiarman/Commander and buy his freedom. With Epsilon (and Tex) inside of the broken unit, its impossible for Washington to prove they even existed.
260* In Reconstruction, Washington was surprised to find out that the Meta was Maine. But Washington worked with Maine before. Shouldn't Washington have recognized him when they fought?
261** He wasn't surprised; ''Church'' was. Wash was the one who offhandedly revealed the information while talking to Command about Agent Maine's Recovery Beacon, indicating that he must have known at least since the start of Reconstruction.
262* What was the point in everything Wash did in Reconstruction? Let's recap, he goes all the way to Freelancer base to find the Epsilon unit. The Epsilon unit has evidence of all the atrocities that project freelancer did to the Alpha. However, the goal wasn't to help Epsilon, but to simply turn it over to the authorities where it'd be left there as evidence. Also, the plan was to have Church/Alpha help Wash to fight Meta, but Wash knew full well that the EMP would kill Church. If it wasn't to help the Alpha, and he didn't seem to be under orders from anybody, then what was the point in all that stuff in Reconstruction? I get why he's doing the stuff in Revelation, that was simply to save his own ass and keep him out of prison. That's completely understandable. But he wouldn't be in that mess in the first place if he hadn't turned against Project Freelancer, who hadn't really done anything to him at that point. It sounded like he was angered at what they did to the Alpha, but part of his plan involved the complete annihilation of the Alpha.
263** You do remember the whole "torturing an AI so it breaks into fragments" deal, right? And that Wash had Memories of that process via Epsilon? Let me get the quote: "We take it, and we get it in the hands of someone who can use all its information. Then they can bring down the person responsible for what was done to Alpha. And to me. And to my friends. They can take down the Director." Wash simply wanted to get revenge on the Director, and wipe out the fragments that formed the Meta since they killed a bunch of Freelancers. Having Church staying behind was morally questionable, but Church had a choice.
264* So in Recreation, it was revealed that the Reds and Blues weren't actually sent into the future via bomb-blast back in season 3, but instead relocated while unconscious to investigate the Great Weapon? In that case, how did Church still end up going back in time?
265** Recreation hints that it had something to do with Gamma using Wyoming's time manipulation device.
266* At the beginning of episode 19 of Revelation Wash tries to stab Tex with the memory unit and she knocks it out of his hands and almost off the cliff. He then yells "Be more careful, this thing cant take anymore hits." What bugs me is who is he yelling that at? If doesn't make sense for it to be Meta because he didn't have it and had no part in it getting knocked away. It makes even less sense to yell at Tex because she has every right to be knocking it away since Wash is trying to STAB her with it. It's entirely his fault but he seems to be yelling at someone, can anyone clarify this for me?
267** Wash is highly stressed and generally likes yelling at people for something they have no fault at.
268** I understand the stress part but I don't recall any time he yells at people for things they didn't do, except the incident with Donut. Even then Wash tends to be the one who is rational and calm, not the one who lashes out at others when he messes up, it all just seems too out of character to me.
269** I figured he was just warning the Meta to watch where/how he's attacking just in case he would accidentally hit the device. Not so much laying fault anywhere as just giving a heads up on the situation.
270** He was probably yelling at Tex. I've seen scenes in movies and such where a character will yell at the person they're fighting to be more careful with something, or to give something or back, or something else the person they're fighting very clearly isn't going to do. Usually it's just a person's instinct to say something like that.
271* Does Grif still have super speed?
272** Probably not. That was at least one armor set in the past, and didn't work right then, so there wouldn't be much point in trying to use it again even if Simmons didn't remove it immediately.
273[[/folder]]
274
275[[folder:Freelancer Saga]]
276* In Out Of Mind, Tex and York talk about York's eye injury and they all agree it's Omega's fault. But Season 9 reveals that York lost his eye ''before'' they began implanting AIs in people.
277** York's eye injury was caused by Maine throwing a grenade in training, and Tex saved his other eye by using shooting him with the sticky stuff, which hardened the armor and saved York's life. Now, none of this has anything to do with Omega, but notice that Tex and York never ''actually'' say it was Omega's fault. They just say that by going after Wyoming, York can get revenge. This makes sense, because Wyoming was also in that training simulation, and he was also using lethal firearms. With Maine and Wyoming both being so reckless, it was just a matter of time before someone got injured, and the fact that it happened to be Maine that eventually caused York's injury doesn't mean Wyoming was being any less of an asshole. In summary, the revenge is on Wyoming, Omega's not to blame, Tex saved York in a training mission.
278* Who exactly are the Freelancers fighting in season 9? They're getting data files and planning attacks like it's a huge operation, but wasn't the whole point of Project Freelancer to fight the ''Aliens''? Why're they killing humans, when all of humanity was supposed to be on the same side of the war?
279** It might be similar to what happened in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series. Originally, the Spartans were designed to fight against human insurrectionists; the UNSC didn't even know the Covenant existed until the Spartans had already become full-fledged super-soldiers. Seems confirmed as of episode 13, when insurrectionists are explicitly mentioned.
280* In episode 11 of season 9, when Wash, North, South, Carolina and CT come running in to check on York, the Director comes in and says they ought to be ashamed of themselves. Um....why? Whay did they do? He makes a speech about how they need to work as a team. So....what, expressing concern for a teammate's well being is not teamwork? I could understand him yelling at Maine and Wyomming for going all LeeroyJenkins in the last episode, but he's specifically yelling at the others.
281** My guess is that he was just pissy and took it out on them.
282** He was scolding them for interfering, and praising Maine and Wyoming for their ingenuity.
283*** They only interfered when York got blown up. Why would he scold them for not letting York ''die''? And it wasn't even really interfering at that point, because the fight was pretty much over. I guess he could be pissed at Wash, because in episode 10, Wash looked like was about to get someone to stop the fight, but he specifically yelled at all of them. The whole thing sounded pretty weird and nonsensical, like the dialogue was written for another scenario altogether.
284*** Keep in mind that the Director is intended as an asshole boss. He doesn't care about the individual freelancers, he only cares about making them the best they can possibly be so that they can complete their missions. In his mind, it seems, the loss of a freelancer is acceptable if it makes the rest of them better fighters, or if it accomplishes their goal. For instance, in the most recent episode, the Director sends Tex with the transmitter, and doesn't tell any of the other freelancers. If things hadn't played out the way they did, the firing of the MAC would likely have resulted in a couple of freelancers dying. Further, the pelican, that Carolina calls, also departs with only Tex and Wash on board and the pilot doesn't ask about the others, or call for a second pick up for them.
285*** My guess is that the Director was scolding them for taking York's side. If York wasn't knocked out cold, the Director would be scolding him too for 'abandoning his teammates'. Though he's scolding everyone else, his speech seemed mostly directed at Washtington, who asked why Wyoming and Maine weren't going to be punished.
286* Why would Church have any reason for an OhCrap when Tex told him she knew everything? I mean, he went in there hoping to find her with memory completely intact, and then pull her out. It was only when he had to reconstruct Blood Gulch that he needed everything to go the way it was back in BGC.
287** Probably because up to that point, she hadn't so much as mentioned that she knew everything. So it's not like he gets to meet up with his beloved Tex again and they can go skipping off into fields of daisies; from his perspective, she obviously doesn't care about staying with him. And Church being Church, he's obviously not willing to let her go yet.
288* Why does Carolina call Epsilon!Church "Alpha" in the finale? If she was working with the RvB guys, including Wash I'm assuming, wouldn't she know it was Epsilon and not the original Alpha?
289** WordOfGod is, Carolina doesn't care if he's Alpha or Epsilon. She needs him to get to the Director (probably because he can get through Freelancer security) but she doesn't care about him more than that. Which leads to an interesting contrast between Wash and Carolina--Wash may not like Church, exactly, but at the end of the day, the reason he's against the Director is because of what the Director did to the Alpha. By contrast, Carolina's presumably in it for what the Director did to ''her.''
290* While it's nice and all that Wash and the Blood Gulch crew seem to be gradually becoming friends, it's kind of spoiled by the fact that they still believe Donut is dead. Sure ''we'' may know the truth, but they don't. Even Wash himself, as far as we can tell, believes that he really did kill Donut. It just seems a little...cold.
291** As far as we know they think he's dead. Sarge seemed a bit... off about it didn't he? It's possible Sarge knows Donut isn't dead and is pretending for a tactical advantage or something.
292* How does York being part of the last episodes' mission fit with the trailer? The trailer seems to occur somewhere between episode 17 (Maine is injured) and episode 19 (where Wash is seen talking with CT, and the trailer shows he followed Maine to the medical facilities, so directly after said injuries occured, presumably). The thing is, York says this bit in the trailer about the docs "letting [him] out tomorrow"... while he obviously was already "out", with Wash and Maine even. So what does he mean with "out"? I mean, it can't be a mistake from, like, an early trailer made before the whole season was planned, in the same trailer you can see him driving the Warthog from episode 17 when everything goes south. And he can't be talking about some other wound he might have got during this mission, since he's replying to Wash's really unambiguous "How's your eye", implying he's been under medical surveillance since episode 10... So what's that all about?
293** RT's mentioned that the trailer had some sequences out of order. It was mainly to give us a "feel" for the season and isn't meant to be taken as actual events happening. Kinda like the Recreation trailer, where you see Chuch's ghost talking with Tex, though that never actually took place.
294** Aside from York's "how's your eye", Wash's knowledge of the AIs, and them being on Angel on My Shoulder rather than Mother of Invention this would fit perfectly at some point shortly after 17 (likely prior to Carolina's meeting with the director in 20). Only problem is that Wash and York's other discussion after the mission kinda seems redundant at that point. I think it's about as canon as Alpha and Tex walking around Valhalla in the Recreation trailer.
295** Remember "Planning The Heist"? York implies that he's not actually released from medical care yet. Chances are he's back in recooperating, possibly from strain since he wasn't even supposed to be out yet.
296* Why haven't they found out that Donut is alive yet? He was shot at Valhalla, and presumably left there, and at the end of Revelation, the Red and Blue teams (or at least the Red team) went home, back to Valhalla. Wouldn't they have found Donut wandering around?
297** Episodes 13 and 14 of Season 10 confirms that this is the first time both teams have returned to Valhalla since the events of Season 8, as the Red Team figures just now that it should be time to find Lopez, and it is apparently the first time Tucker has been to Valhalla since Caboose is giving him a tour of their base.
298* In Season 10, Episode 10, when CT and the Pillman escape... What exactly is stopping Tex and Carolina from breaking down/hacking the door? They only just went through a second ago before Tex started complaining that they "got away."
299** They ran to a ship. It's possible Tex and Carolina knew they wouldn't catch up to them before they took off.
300** It's more the fact that they didn't even do ''anything''. Maybe call in an airstrike? Try to override the door with those fancy AI they've got? Or put a tracking device so they can catch em later? Nope. As soon as CT and Pillman go through the door, it's "aw shucks, they got away."
301** It's been established that Carolina is a shit leader plus I doubt Tex cares all that much if the Director's plans go down the tube. And if you want to look at Lina in a better light, you could say that she WANTED CT to get away.
302*** That's a good point, especially since CT was mortally wounded.
303** The power was cut off and the door was still shut behind them. Carolina and Tex had no equipment to break through and had no way of knowing that they were actually going to a ship. Wasn't really all that much they could do; especially given that there wasn't likely to be any support in the area. Remember, they had to sneak in via freefalling for miles.
304* So, Wash's Freelancer special ability is apparently an EMP burst? How does that work, given that Freelancers were designed to be A.I. equipped soldiers, and EMP is specifically shown to fry A.I.s?
305** It's of noticeably smaller scale, so it's likely modified in some way.
306*** It's probably directed/close range/weakened (capable of knocking things out without permanently damaging them). In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' Ratchett had an EMP that could pretty much OHKO any opponent (he almost never used it in such a manner, it's supposed to be used like a Cybertronian anesthetic), but he himself was immune to its effects. Perhaps it's something similar?
307*** Could also be a smart pulse that only resembles an EMP. The only thing it's shown to do is shut off a Warthog's engine, and in fact we don't know if that's Wash's armor ability or not yet. Might just be a sort of grenade or something; Wash could never use an EMP with an AI in his armor as it would wipe it clean.
308* Minor one, but how is summoning Maine "fighting fire with fire"? Because the Sleeveless Insurrectionist is strong, and Maine is strong? Seems less fighting fire with fire and more... fighting.
309** "Fighting fire with fire" means "fighting like with like". Hence, if you're getting your ass kicked, you bring in your own guy who excels at kicking ass.
310** Wash may have been making a lame pun about Sigma.
311* Carolina's surgery in Episode 14. In her armor? And if they're cutting into her head/neck, why isn't her hair partially shaved? Or at least, you know, moved out of the way? And they let her recover in her armor too? I know there's limitations on the animation, but they ''did'' show an extended segment of North and York in their jammies. So why not be more realistic about Carolina's surgery?
312** The "surgery" seems to consist of a small incision in the back of the neck. It's probably equivalent to having a mole removed. As for recovery, where better to recuperate than in a self-contained protective full-body suit that's already equipped with full life-support functions?
313** Thinking about it actually, why is Carolina having surgery anyway? We've never seen characters undergoing surgery to receive an A.I before. Both South and Caboose were able to take on Delta instantly. Wash took Alpha on off screen, but there was clearly no time for surgery. Even Carolina herself took on Epsilon by herself.
314*** Just because we haven't seen, say, York in surgery doesn't mean he didn't have it. Remember, the Freelancers all took the surgery as standard operating procedure.
315*** There's a difference between carrying an AI in your armor and having a full interface. It's why York and North could still hear Delta and Theta in their heads, even out of their armor, but the best Tucker could do for Epsilon was his disgusting storage unit.
316* In Season 10 episode 15 we learn that Donut survived being shot by Wash because of the armor lock, which was released in the middle of season 8. Simmons asks why he survived bleeding out and we learn he was healed by Doc. However at that point in time Doc was with Wash and the Meta chasing Epsilon. How did Doc get back in time to save Donut? Even though he isn't in the last scene of Revelation and therefore left before the Reds and Blues he shouldn't have been able to get there before them. And if they thought Donut was dead because they saw him after Revelation but before being recruited by Carolina, then why did Doc go to Valhalla and how was Donut still alive at least days later?
317** It's pretty much an intentional HandWave. Donut was clearly shot in the head / upper chest (the bullet goes through him and breaks the window on the Warthog) but he mentions he was shot in the stomach.
318** Presumably the armor helped keep him alive, and if Donut knew any basic first aid, that would have helped too. If treated properly, it can actually take a very long time to die from a gutshot.
319** This is a universe where rubbing aloe vera on the patient's neck is a legitimate treatment for a gunshot wound to the foot. Don't think too hard about it. It's turtles all the way down.
320* Why was the Director so scared about Agent Texas? We're talking someone who earlier in the season took on three people, with live ammunition also involved, without him being worried. Especially since Carolina didn't want to kill her, just prove she was better.
321** Maine and Wyoming's thought process: "I barely know this person, but she's ''really'' getting on my nerves. Time to bump it up a notch." Carolina's thought process: "BITCH IMA KILL YOU."
322** Yes, but does the Director know that? He honestly seems to have no reason to be worried, from his POV. Especially since, now that I look back at the other ep, that session wasn't scheduled either.
323** Well this was the first time anyone tried using two A.I at once. Who knows how Carolina might have reacted? For all he knew, she might have gone nuts and tried to kill Tex.
324** I was wondering the exact same thing. I figure either a) He believed that having multiple A.I. might potentially turn Carolina into a Meta, causing her to attempt to absorb other A.I.. Being a cold bastard, he was perfectly happy to experiment on Carolina, but freaked out when it looked like Tex might be at risk (since she's an A.I. and all). Or, b) Carolina is just that good, so the Director was worried that with A.I.-augmentation she had a legitimate chance of doing real damage to Tex. I'm betting on a), Freelancer has gone to great lengths to keep the A.I.s from interacting with each other, and Tex doesn't seem to have had any interactions with any of the A.I. fragments except for Omega (who might be some sort of special case due to his mobile nature).
325** It should also be noted that, when it comes to Tex, the Director's thoughts and feelings probably aren't entirely rational.
326** It most likely largely based on the match being unsanctioned. The Director is a notorious control freak, so anything that he doesn't have full control over, especially if it involves Tex, would naturally have him worried.
327** Given one was his daughter, one was his lover, he may simply not have been able to bear the idea of them in combat. He does have some feelings, after all.
328* Donut and Lopez and Doc have been in that valley for weeks and supposedly so have the BG crew....so how is it they're only now thinking of trying to repair Lopez or run into Donut and Doc?
329** The BG crew's been there less than a day -- maybe 24 hours, tops.
330** Also, it's shown that this is the first time they've been back to Valhalla since ''Revelation''.
331* Is it just me, or does North have an AngstWhatAngst moment in Episode 18? He causally mentions that they were removing all the AI's (and we know from Out of Mind that they were deleting the AI's), and he doesn't seem at all upset about little Theta and his skateboard.
332** North still has Theta, remember, so he might be lying a little to hide that fact.
333* If I remember correctly, during Recovery One and the early portions of Reconstruction, nobody really knew who was killing Freelancers and stealing their AIs... but the Director, Counselor, and Tex were all witnesses to Agent Maine ripping out Carolina's AIs and tossing her off a cliff. It could be explained away by the Director covering it up, but why wouldn't Tex tell anyone at Blood Gulch about the psychotic supersoldier? Or Hell, why wouldn't Project Freelancer inform its Agents (especially South and Wash Recovery One) that Maine was responsible? And as a side note, why didn't Maine actually attack any other Freelancer until after the Blood Gulch Chronicles ended?
334** Tex would have no reason to mention Agent Maine to the Blood Gulch crew. He wasn't involved in any of the events they were and would have no reason to go, "Oh, by the way, Agent Maine has gone crazy and is stealing AI's. Just thought you should know that." As for the agents, this is Project Freelancer. They never tell anyone anything. Remember in Season 9, they refused to give information about the Sarcophagus despite knowing what they were after, which complicated the mission greatly. They operate on the strictest need to know basis and don't tell anything that could put them at risk or cause any type of information leak. Even if it put the agents in great danger The Director won't tell them anything.
335** Another theory: Director and Co ''don't'' know Maine = Meta. They were pretty far away when it happened and just saw a hulking silhouette throw Carolina off the cliff. At that point, only Tex knew.
336** By the time of Reconstruction, it sounded like they were 75% sure it was him, but lacked confirmation until he was wounded and his recovery beacon went off.
337* Awesome as Episode 19 was, it seemed to leave some gaps in storytelling. Last we saw York, he was still cuddling faithfully with Carolina. How'd he go from that to "siding with the enemy?" We saw North have ''one'' civil conversation with Tex after Carolina's implantation. How'd he go from that to trusting Tex so much that he'd turn against lil' sis? [[SarcasmMode Men... they're like the wind.]]
338** I can't speak for York, but as for North ... he's a smart guy, he's observant and he knows his sister better than she knows herself. Tex spent this season becoming less and less of a psycho bitch, while South has been hurtling headlong in the other direction. Therefore, his decision may have been based less on Tex's behavior and more on South's -- he saw a chance to pull her aside and have a heart-to-heart, and he took it.
339** York and North also may have been influenced by their AIs -- which would explain why Wyoming was still very much an antagonist.
340** We know that at least a few days passed between episodes 17 and 18. Between then, Tex could've showed them everything in the data files - more than enough proof for them to turn on the other Freelancers.
341* In Episode 19, Tex storms the Mother of Invention and finds Alpha, who is in a confused and broken state. They have a heartbreaking exchange and she leaves. But why? He didn't remember her, he couldn't remember his own name, yes... but why leave him there? The whole point was to come get him. She could've turned him into the authorities, or some legit, non-crazy scientists other than the Director to try to fix him. Why leave him there to suffer who-knows-what-else?
342** So ... kidnap him? He was unwilling to leave, there wasn't time to convince him, and trying to take him against his will would probably have caused more problems than it solved.
343* What's the point of having Simulation Outposts after the events of Episode 19? Connie's dead, Carolina's 'dead', the ''Mother of Invention'' has crashed, Maine's gone rogue, York's gone rogue, Tex has gone rogue, and North has gotten into a heated fight with his fellow Freelancer (I don't think he'll be punished since South was the only person he fought, and he's shown to have been working for the Project in ''Recovery One''). That leaves the Dakotas, Wash, and Wyoming as the only Freelancers left in the project. Why put them into training simulations?
344** Remember, there are 49 Freelancers (many of whom are unseen), and only 7 are KIA, MIA, or rogue so far (Georgia, Utah, CT, Carolina, Maine, Tex, and York), so 42 are still in the program. More than enough to have reason to have simulation outposts.
345*** Wyoming went rogue himself too; the same season has York mention so earlier. That leaves 3 Agents, and the rest apparently off panel. However, the future timeline isn't done yet, so we may well still see the implications of the mass defections on the Freelancer program.
346** Alternatively, no one cared. The sim troopers are just the useless waste of the UNSC so it's a good way to get rid of them and keep them out of their hair.
347* Okay, so way back in the first season, the Blue Team calls for a Freelancer, and they get Tex. Considering Tex went rogue, though, why would she have been sent? It's not like the Director would somehow find a rogue Freelancer and give them a new assignment considering what's recently happened. That'd be like looking for that guy who robbed you to help you with something.
348** Tex might have hijacked the signal from Vic.
349*** Except Vic specifically says he's sending "Freelancer Texas", so there has to be more to it than just her intercepting the transmission and showing up on her own. Unless maybe she knew Alpha was there and fiddled with Vic's systems to put herself back on the active roster? Maybe the Director offered her amnesty for some reason? Maybe she blackmailed him into taking her back? Although given the way she interacted with Omega, my personal theory is that she somehow gets a memory reset in the intervening period, and then it wears off over the course of the [=BGC=].
350*** A few options. One, Vic's a Troll who did it for the lulz. Two, they didn't want any other Freelancers accidentally discovering Church was the Alpha so they decided to have the one who did stick with him, rogue or not. Three, Vic did that himself to keep up the masquerade.
351** A very simple [[{{Pun}} Meta]] reason- the initial episodes were made long before any long-reaching plot was made, and the one about Tex still being a Freelancer is one of them.
352* What is with Omega suddenly reappearing as the VoiceOfTheLegion? Is this a case of BackFromTheDead or just an echo?
353** This really doesn't count as a headscratcher because they haven't had the chance to explain it yet. If the Director recreated Tex, he was probably able to futz around with the other fragments, too.
354** Episode 21 heavily implies taht the Director fragmented Tex just as he did to Alpha in an attempt to get her right. Omega just spawned from a torture scenario. In fact, judging by the performance of the Tex bots, he's not even close to the original quality.
355* Per Church: "Tex once told me that she would've give anything to save you (Carolina)." So... absolutely anything, except anything ''useful''? Like trying to ''convince her''? Like sharing the data files with the rest of the class? Nope. Just storm the ship, beat her up, don't even bother telling her why you're there, but give a BigNo as she's falling to her death. Y'know, for old times' sake.
356** It's not stated outright, but it was heavily implied that Tex and York took off before Carolina woke up (or at least, soon enough after that there wasn't time to try and speak to her). Besides, if your greatest rival -- the one who drives you to irrational, almost insane measures in your attempts to beat her -- tried to show you files (that she got from a dead traitor) saying your leader/mentor/father figure is actually a villain, ''would you listen?'' Or would you rat her out to the higher-ups and ruin all her plans? Tex knew which choice Carolina would have made. "Useful", as you defined it, simply wasn't an option. End of story. And before someone says "Why couldn't York do the explaining?", I repeat: It's not just the Who that makes the situation problematic. It's the What and the Where and the Why. And the How. ''And'' the When. Basically, there's just no way Carolina would have listened.
357** Worth noting is that Maine was an unexpected variable, and Tex most likely didn't count on his interference.
358* Ok, I know it's supposed to be RuleOfCool... but how did Maine manage to get that tattoo? I can't imagine him asking any of his coworkers to do it for him. I especially can't imagine him going to a random tattoo parlor and growling instructions at them until they got it right. And how would he tattoo the back of his own head? And no way would I ever believe that it's a temporary, the kind that you lick and stick on.
359** He could draw or print out a copy of the design, then shove it at a tattoo artist and growl until they got the idea.
360** Well, let's be honest. If Maine and Sigma come up to you saying Maine wants a tattoo, are you REALLY going to say no to him? He probably did get a coworker to do it.
361* Just what the heck ''did'' happen to Washington? So far, there's been no connection between the loveable cuddly naif in the flashbacks and the not-quite-as-grim-as-he-used-to-be antihero in the present day. Unless something's going to happen in the last episode of the season (or at least gives us a hint that there's more flashbacky goodness to come at some point), it seems incomplete.
362** I'm not quite sure what you mean by a connection between those times because we have clearly seen Wash change over the course of the show. He started out very naive and innocent until Epsilon gave him the horrible memories that warped him to become bitter and revenge driven until the kindness of the Reds and Blues caused him to gain real friends and give up on his revenge. If you mean the scene in 17 where he still seems the same versus him in Recovery One doesn't make sense, then it is quite possible he hasn't sifted through all of Epsilon's memories at that point and in too much confusion to really process everything.
363** He's also yet to see Project Freelancer completely fall apart, which could be what also triggers his aloofness because similar to Carolina, he becomes conditioned not to trust any of his squadmates.
364* It's pretty clear that, as of S10E21 Carolina has a SuperSpeed upgrade but... how? Did Maine not take her upgrades when he took her AIs? If so, then where did he get the Camouflage upgrade?
365** She may have gotten it the same place Grif got it that one time when he was hoping for invisibility, since she backtracked to all the Freelancer bases the BGC had visited in previous seasons.
366** The Meta may have only taken one of her upgrades. She hasn't been seen to use camouflage in the current timeline.
367** I'm going to go with the "got another one"... hell, she may have taken Grif's old one since we never do see him remove it, maybe he just never activated it again. Wouldn't make sense for the Meta to take just one, and leave (of all things) SuperSpeed and keep only [[WhatKindOfAUselessPowerIsHeartAnyway Camouflage.]]
368** Given Maine's [[TheJuggernaut nature and style of fighting]], he may have felt super speed to be unnecessary or even counter-productive.
369* (Epsilon) "What comes next... Carolina and I need to do alone." What about Wash? I mean, okay, he (questionably) didn't go through as much shit as Carolina because of the Director, but still... He has plenty of reasons to go and confront him along with Carolina and Epsilon. I understand why Epsilon would allow the Reds and Blues to sit "what comes next" out, but why exclude Wash too?
370** I guess Wash has decided to let go of his grudge against the director. Both he and the rest of the Blood Gulch crew only came along to make sure Church and Carolina survived.
371** There's also the fact that Wash now identifies more as part of the Blood Gulch group than as a Freelancer.
372** In light of TheReveal, Carolina wanting to face the Director alone makes perfect sense.
373* Don't know if this technically counts as a Headscratcher, but, with some of the revelations in the last ep of Season 10, thinking about all the dynamics between the [=AIs=], Tex, and Carolina now makes my head hurt. (Also: is she Theta's "sister"?) Her flirting with Church and some of the flirty overtones of the way she acted towards the Director doesn't help either.
374** In light of TheReveal, Carolina's relationship with the Director becomes less "flirty" and more "Daddy, will you ''please'' pay attention to me?" As for Epsilon, everyone considers him a separate entity, so that doesn't really make much difference.
375* How did Church leave behind his sniper rifle at the end of Season 10's finale? Being an AI/hologram and all.
376** RuleOfCool. Besides, Carolina could've placed the rifle there.
377* So, I got the general implication that Florida was simply discharged and the NoodleIncident was harmless, but someone else said that they ''blew up the actual state''. what really happened? I don't think that they really blew up Florida, since that would be a ''true'' violation of protocol...
378** It seems pretty likely that they somehow destroyed the entire state. It was shown on the screen behind the Counselor during their conversation.
379*** I don't buy it. I think it was likely that the screen was just symbolic: to destroy the actual state would require some big nukes (something I doubt the Director had at his disposal), and the Director would have his hands full with questions concerning the Florida Incident rather than the torture of the Alpha AI.
380*** Ah ha, but the Counsellor said he would "take care of it". He was there to get his hands dirty when the Director couldn't, and to make sure they both came away smelling like roses.
381*** It's ambiguous. For all we know, that could've been the scenario that they merely told the simulation troopers and Freelancers what happened to Florida. Massive misinformation to the people who only have contact with the outside world through them seems a lot more plausible than ''destroying a state''.
382*** True, but [[ForTheEvulz don't forget who we're dealing with, here.]]
383*** And there's also the fact that Project Freelancer ''still answers to the UNSC''. They're under strict supervision by the Oversight Committee (which immediately disbanded PF the second they heard they were doing illegal research) and they don't even have the resources to get more than one AI. It doesn't seem plausible that they could get enough equipment to destroy state, much less get away with it.
384*** And don't forget that it is far in the future. Destroying a state is probably easier, and requires much less equipment in the 25th century. Especially one that's surrounded by water on 3 sides.
385*** Given the level of technology seen in RVB it doesn't really seem like Freelancer has enough technology has enough technology to destroy a state and completely get away with it scot-free. Even if they could pull it off, they're not held accountable for it. I think that the Oversight Committee wouldn't give a rat's ass about the Alpha if he were pursuing the guys that destroyed Florida.
386* As much as I loved the callback to Florida and [[spoiler: the return of Butch Flowers]] how does "destroying Florida" (either literally or by just telling those involved in Project Freelancer that it's been destroyed) explain the disappearance of Agent Florida? The purpose of hiding the Alpha at Blood Gulch was, more than anything else, hiding him from the Freelancers. So yes, the lack of Florida would explain the lack of Agent Florida to those outside the organization... but Tex, York, North and everyone else already know Agent Florida. They wouldn't think that, by destroying the state, that means that the Agent never existed, they met the guy.
387** They could just said that he was coincidentally killed in action, probably by saying he happened to be in Florida at the time.
388** ... then what's the point of saying Florida's destroyed?
389*** To explain why they don't replace him. Also there are 50 states in the Union, but we don't see anywhere close to that number. Half the people who met Agent Florida are either dead, on the run, or otherwise not inclined to care too much. However it's made clear from dialogue that not all the Freelancers know each other (since Wash doesn't know what happened to Georgia), so there'd be plenty of them who wouldn't have known that there was an Agent Florida, and thus if they ever asked about it they can just say that they decided against assigning one in the aftermath of Florida's destruction.
390*** I'm sorry, but none of that explanation holds up. "To explain why they don't replace him" doesn't really... matter. They're covering up the loss of one Agent, it doesn't matter whether he's replaced or not. And as for those people "on the run"... they are exactly the ones that he's trying to hide the Alpha from. York definitely met him, along with North (who is a bit of a wild card). Wyoming and Carolina as well, but they're not terribly related (we don't know the specifics of Wyoming going rogue, and Carolina is presumed KIA).
391*** "[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim I used to be a Freelancer like you,]] [[MemeticMutation but then I took a]] throwing axe [[MadeOfIron to the chest and dropped several dozen feet]]?" No one would have been surprised if he wasn't able to fight after that.
392* ''Why'' exactly does Connie consider Tex her "friend?" ''Why'' does she trust Tex the most, enough to leave behind the files to no one else but her? We never even see them interact! And if CT knew what Tex was, wouldn't she trust her the ''least''?
393** Connie trusts Tex to save Alpha because she knows that Alpha is someone Tex loves. As for calling Tex a friend, I guess she was just a really NiceGirl. Which just makes her death all the more tragic.
394** Plus she knew Tex was an AI, meaning that Tex would have the most reason for rebelling against the Director.
395* Not really sure where to ask about this so forgive me if this is in the wrong section, but does anyone mind telling me what the after credits sequence on the blu-ray is? Me and quite a few others won't be able to get our hands on the blu-ray and our others attempts at finding out have failed.
396** In no particular order:
397*** We see a UNSC dock for spaceships. A green armored guy with a jet pack careens through space. We discover from his rather casual conversion with Agent Utah after he collides with a station window that he's Agent Georgia.
398*** Doc packs for the trip, but took too long and was left in Valhalla. The pilots whom the BGC stole the planes from don't seem to have a problem with him, so he'll be fine.
399*** North carries South out of Freelancer command, complimenting her on their fight. They resolve to keep an eye out for each other, which we know won't work out.
400*** Carolina walks back into Club Errera. She's actually out of her armor, so we don't know where Church is.
401*** The live action Allison clip. This one also plays after the credits of episode 22 on the website.
402* Why wasn't Caboose in the BackToBackBadasses scene in season 10, episode 21? He was there and fighting, yet he was left out of the circle that formed near the end of the fight, which had everyone else.
403** For most of the fight, he was running around and rampaging in the background. It's possible that he was still fighting on the outskirts - something actually useful, since it would mean less Texes for the rest of the crew to have to handle. Also, you can't exactly pull a BackToBackBadasses when you're rampaging.
404* Wouldn't Wyoming's Time Repeating Ability have come in handy during their conflicts with the Insurrectionists?
405** Yes, yes it would. However; RT pretty pretty much flat out stated that Wyoming is nothing more than a joke character to them so even when he is doing something important, it's going to end up being a joke in the long run.
406*** That's not an excuse to completely forget something that was supposed to be such a huge obstacle to killing Wyoming in Season 5 and The Meta in Season 6.
407*** No, StoryBreakerPower is probably the more relevant excuse.
408*** Still though, even just a hand wave as to why they aren't using it would've been fine. Every other line of Season 10 was a reference anyway.
409** I think that the Director didn't successfully develop the time unit within the flashbacks shown. At least that's how I wrote it off.
410** Some of the armor power abilities are very difficult, if not outright impossible, to use without an AI to help run them. It's stated several times that it's a miracle that North was able to use his enhancement without killing himself. Time/space manipulation would certainly be complex. So, maybe Wyoming can't use his ability without Gamma, and he didn't get Gamma until fairly late in the season, when all the insurrectionist battles were over.
411* Why is Conneticut portrayed as a good character, and Tex is portrayed as bad/psychotic to kill her? Even with the hindsight of CT being a a good guy who was trying to put the Director away, it doesn't change that by that point, CT had tried to kill all the freelancer agents (or ally herself with people who were trying to kill them, which is just as bad).
412** CT was trying to get away and minimize casualties on both sides. Tex was in the opposite frame of mind.
413* When the AI's are all freaking out at the mention of "Allison" the engineer starts rocking a screeching inside the sarcophagus, why would it? It's not linked to the AIs any more.
414* Why did the Director laud Wyoming and Maine for using live ammo against Tex? Leaving aside the fact that it's a serious OutOfCharacterMoment for him, given how protective he is of Tex. More saliently though...what exactly is the supposed advantage in using live ammo, beyond petty spite?
415** "No rules on the battlefield," I suppose. Or, maybe he thought that Wyoming and Maine weren't a real problem to Tex, given she had a more aggressive AI than them. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he only freak out when Carolina and Tex were about to fight? He probably knew that, with two AI, Carolina was a bigger threat to Tex than Wyoming and Maine were.
416** That kind of makes sense, but my problem was more that there's no discernible tactical advantage to using the live rounds- like, it doesn't actually help them ''win'', so I don't understand what he means by there not being any rules on the battlefield. Also, IDK, I can't see how an impromptu live-fire exercise is less dangerous then a physical sparring match. (This is WildMassGuessing but maybe, MAYBE it'd make sense if he was actually worried about Carolina and her real name is Allison)
417[[/folder]]
418
419[[folder:Chorus Trilogy]]
420* Where did the Reds, Blues, and Carolina get the new armor (from Halo 4)?
421** They probably found it in the base or stole it when they were leaving the Director's hideout and just didn't put it on until later. i wouldn't think too hard about it.
422** The armor fairy brought it, just like when they switched over from Halo to Halo 2.
423** It's stated by Wash in episode 1 that the ship they were on crashed on the way back to U.N.S.C space. They probably were reequipped with the latest armor after they were picked up.
424* Why does Agent Washington use his name when he contacts base for his SOS? Didn't he fake his death ?
425** He faked his death because he was facing imprisonment for destroying evidence of the Director's crimes. It could be that after season 10 Wash was able to recover some logs from Epsilon or something and finally cut a deal with the Chairman for his freedom.
426** Also, with the Director's death, the last of Project Freelancer died with him. There probably wasn't any more reason to waste resources imprisoning Wash.
427** Season 12 states they were all pardoned for taking down the Director.
428* "Cecy" notes that there are 16 "hostiles" in the canyon, to which Donut immediately notes there are 11 of them there. (Sarge, Simmons, Grif, Donut, Wash, Tucker, Caboose, Doc, Lopez 1.0, Lopez Dos.0, and Freckles). That leaves 5 empty slots. The scene then cuts to Blue base under attack by 4 hostiles, whom Freckles takes out. But then "Scout" shows up, shielding them from Locus's sniper shot. 4+1(Scout)+1(Locus) is 6 people, not 5. Math error?
429** Perhaps Felix was simply out of scanning range at the time the scan was made. After all, he only shows up at the very end of the firefight.
430*** Or it could have been Locus. Remember, he has cloaking armor, so it's possible he may be able to keep himself out of scanning as well.
431*** Not to mention that Lopez is just a head. CC probably didn't count him. It's even mentioned by Sarge.
432* Could someone please explain Locus's HeelFaceTurn to me? So the flashback to the Great War shows he does have a conscience, but he just buried it under the idea that soldiers [[JustFollowingOrders just follow orders, and therefore have no moral responsibility for themselves, even if they're committing genocide for a paycheck.]] Alright. But then how does learning that Felix is afraid of him make him [[HeelRealization admit/realize he's a monster?]] Felix is either afraid of him because [[TheSociopath Felix is a cowardly sociopath who's of course going to fear other people betraying him as quickly as he'd betray them,]] or simply because Locus is dangerous warrior who even genuine allies have reason to fear, but how does realizing either motivate Locus to change?
433** Just before that Santa said "You were broken by war. It was his goal to see you never healed." It wasn't that Felix was afraid of him. It was that Felix had been lying to him and manipulating him for years.
434* On a similar note, I'm not sure I get Felix's "it all means nothing" monologue, despite having listened to it over and over. So [[BreakThemByTalking mocking Tucker]] by saying that they boosted the morale of the Chorus citizens so that they killed each other faster, not realizing that it only further Hargove and the Mercs' plan. Okay. But then he says "it (their sacrifices) all means nothing, because at the end of the day, if I'm stronger than you, and if I'm faster than you, then I can kill you." That seems like a non-sequiter, because it didn't matter who was stronger or faster; the Feds and News weren't fighting the right people. Is he saying morale is useless in an army? Because it definitely isn't, and for all his sociopathy, he should know that as a soldier.
435** The point of Felix's monologue in the broader sense is that he's never really cared about anything. He's just a sociopath who believes that being able to do what he wants is all the justification he needs. Their sacrifices mean nothing to him, because the only "rule" Felix follows it that might makes right.
436[[/folder]]
437
438[[folder:Season 14-17]]
439* Why were Agents Ohio, Idaho, and Iowa even part of Operation Freelancer? The project is set up in a way that anyone incompetent would be made a sim trooper, why didn't the Triplets end up as Sims? And, if they were still more competent and could do more than Sims, why weren't they put in Officer Placement like Agent Florida?
440** It's fairly early in the project, and the ending seems to imply the stalemate the Triplets entered inspired the sim troopers.
441* Given the reveal about Church and Private Jimmy, does that mean Tex's Season One body was also a co-opted soldier?
442** Tex's "injury" in the training room in Season 9 would seem to imply that she was always a robot.
443* So, this is a borderline-meta question but it does need to be addressed; is the assertion that the Blood Gulch Crew was hand-picked to mirror the Desert Gulch Crew a SeriesContinuityError or a {{Retcon}} or what; just last season we were shown that, while Grif, Simmons, Sarge, and Tucker were picked in a way that could support this idea (And presumably Lopez's robot kit could've been tampered with to ensure he mirrored Lorenzo), Caboose and Donut were clearly sent there by accident (And had little resemblance to their counterparts at first; Caboose only turned into a true CloudCuckoolander after Omega possessed him and he was deprived of oxygen for a while, and Donut really only became the way he was after Tex stuck a grenade to his head).
444** Perhaps the original crew selected before the accident (and Caboose and Donut) were from a list of possible candidates that fit within a certain criteria and the not-so-suitable were shuffled forward? It would be believable to assume that so long as they were going to do similar stuff, it wouldn't matter that they had a differing personality, which would stick those two further down the list. The whole "mirror-counterparts personality" thing with Caboose and Donut may very well be just a freak coincidence, or predetermined to happen hence why they would even be on the list to begin with.
445** Miles tried to HandWave: adding one Blue (Tucker) and three Reds (Sarge, Grif, Simmons) inspired by Desert Gulch to Church and Flowers made for two even teams. only Vic's malfunction and Flowers dying ruined the plans.
446* If Tex's throw had so much force behind it, why was Carolina able to deflect it so effortlessly? She's not been shown to have ''that'' much strength. (And I re-watched the scene, the broom did ''not'' go through a gap in the armor, just through a black part of the metal plating. I'm willing to accept that it doesn't splinter because of artistic license or a bit of UnreliableNarrator on Temple's part, but the rest is really questionable.)
447** Carolina was testing out a new prototype version of her armor. The completed version, suit she was wearing on Chorus, helped her withstand getting knocked through concrete and falling off a cliff, stuff that her old suit couldn't match. Chances are her proto-suit was better at shock absorption, hence the deflection. This also explains what happened after Carolina deflected the broom: the older model suit just couldn't take a hit like that. Grif took similar hits in the Recollections trilogy and survived because his suit was improved.
448*** I just watched the series all the way through and this explanation feels more like WMG than an actual explanations. No explanation during the episode was given. In other words, like much of the rest of that season, the writers enforced reality even when [[ArtisticLicensePhysics reality did not work that way]]. It was obviously written to be just PlayedForDrama considering the fact that Cronut survived a missile launcher and other injuries in the same episode, though off-screen.
449* In The Shisno Paradox, why does Simmons say that every theory on time travel states that it’s impossible? Yes, the time they thought they time-traveled was a ruse, but Project Freelancer’s temporal distortion armor enhancement allowed Wyoming to time travel, and he just witnessed a working time machine mere hours ago.
450** He didn't know about Wyoming as much as Tucker and Church. The latter, well, Dylan's sources made it clear that time travel is not something they could predict. Hence Simmons being in disbelief (specially as the time portal he saw earlier was made by a huge machine as opposed to a rifle-sized device).
451*** That seems highly unlikely given that the Reds and Blues have been implied to have told their stories multiple times during the Chorus Trilogy. More likely, the writers just wanted their own time travel plot and ignored or forgot all previously established information on time travel itself. The writer for Season 15 and 16 especially preferred to shoehorn his movie parodies in at the expense of character and plot.
452* In Season 17, why does Delta twig to the Alpha's presence as soon as Church speaks, when he couldn't do that in Reconstruction?
453** The gang just had a conversation involving a paradox, which didn't happen in Reconstruction. Delta twigged out not from meeting Alpha, but the realization of what Wash dragged him into. That or Delta's voice actor wasn't brought on for that many lines.
454* Something confusing in regards to the StableTimeLoop at the very end. After Genkins is beat and the StableTimeLoop is explained, Donut says that Huggins is gonna warn the other Cosmic Powers before Genkins' plan can even start, and that Chrovos might even get him as a cell mate.
455** In regards to stopping his plan before it begins, wouldn't that be ''another'' RealityBreakingParadox? If Genkin's plans never begin, then he can never become Chrovos, and if he never becomes Chrovos, then how can any of the ''Shisno Paradox'' ever happen? Even if you rationalize it as the Cosmic Powers not doing anything but just being ''aware'' of Genkins' manipulations, wouldn't that cause a paradox itself because some of their actions are ''dependent'' on Genkins' going undetected?
456*** Season 16 repeatedly shows that anyone who time travels is more likely to cause past events than change them. It also shows early on that the Cosmic Powers know what's happening because of the "pizza quest" prophecy. Huggins is likely the source of that prophecy. The gods just didn't care to remember all the details.
457** How exactly can Chrovos have themselves as a cell mate?
458*** If referring to ''Genkins'' being the cell mate, wouldn't that be ''another'' RealityBreakingParadox since Genkins ''has'' to become Chrovos for any of this to happen, and putting him in a cell ''with'' Chrovos ''prevents'' him from becoming Chrovos?
459*** If referring to a second Chrovos, how exactly would that work? Every time Genkins goes into the black hole, he pops out at the beginning of the Universe to enact the StableTimeLoop. But since Chrovos is already ''in'' the Labyrinth, and the timeline doesn't seem to run on multiverse theory, how can there be ''another'' Chrovos? Genkins falling into the black hole shouldn't create a new Chrovos every time, otherwise there would be an infinite number of Chrovos' due to it being a StableTimeLoop.
460[[/folder]]

Top