History Characters / CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeriesFactionsAndCharacters

** Yuri's Army is completely and utterly inhumane in a way that Nod would consider too extreme, as its arsenal consists of pyrokinetics who immolate their opponents to death, snipers with bullets laced with a highly contagious, highly lethal virus that causes people to messily explode into a cloud of the stuff, and literal slave labor, which, should be specified comes in the form of absolutely filthy and stuffy looking vehicles helmed by absolute scumbags who keep the slaves in live by threatening to gun them down with a machine-gun that's been mounted to the vehicle, and said slaves are only given shovels for mining ore and are clad in nothing but a pair of pants, not even having shoes or being allowed to take bathroom breaks or even have regular meals.

** Yuri's Army is completely and utterly inhumane in a way that Nod would consider too extreme, as its arsenal consists of pyrokinetics who immolate their opponents to death, snipers with bullets laced with a highly contagious, highly lethal virus that causes people to messily explode into a cloud of the stuff, and literal slave labor.

* CorruptedCharacterCopy: Like how Yuri is one to Kane, Yuri's Army is one to the Brotherhood of Nod, but without any of the characteristics that serve to make it seem less evil, such as its VillainWithGoodPublicity and BreadAndCircuses tendencies. Yuri's Army is also completely and utterly inhumane in a way that Nod would consider too extreme, as its arsenal consists of pyrokinetics who immolate their opponents to death, snipers with bullets laced with a highly contagious, highly lethal virus that causes people to messily explode into a cloud of the stuff, and literal slave labor. Yuri's forces aren't afraid, either to have normal people irreversibly transformed into mentally retarded, child-like musclebound giants that are unquestionably loyal to Yuri to the point where they don't have any free will, in contrast to Nod's most diehard adherents, from the fanatical Black Hand to the cyberized Marked of Kane, following their Messiah's word willingly, whether through brainwashing or genuinely.

** The late-game tech they use is [[{{Pun}} shockingly]] mundane in comparison to the late-game tech of other factions, as the most whimsical they'll get is the tesla technology they like to use, and even then, it's still unimpressive in comparison to the Allies, whose equivalent of the tesla tech that they use is the infinitely more cutting-edge prism technology, which uses reflection and dispersion to fire beams of pure light at their targets.
** The way they progress through their tech tree in ''Red Alert 3'' is also this, as they stick to the old-school method of simply building specific structures to unlock their units, while the Allies and the Empire have to purchase upgrades to unlock their more advanced technology, with the Allies doing it by purchasing clearance from Construction Yards and/or Command Hubs, while the Empire has to purchase upgrades for each individual production structure on top of them having to construct a Defense Bureau and Nanotech Mainframe respectively.

* BoringButPractical: Their Tier 3 units are shockingly mundane in comparison to the Tier 3 units of the other factions such as the Allies Mirage Tanks and Aircraft Carriers, or the Empire's King Onis and Shogun Battleships, examples of their Tier 3 units are the Apocalypse Tank and the Dreadnought, which are simply an extra large tank with two barrels instead of one and a side-arm that has varied from game to game, and a battleship that has missiles.

* RevisitingTheRoots: They're the only faction in ''Red Alert 3'' to still use the old method of construction that was used in the preceding games, as the Soviets and the Empire of Japan use their own ways of building structures.

** The Apocalypse Tank in Red Alert 3 is able to crush smaller tanks. Its secondary weapon is a Magnetic Harpoon that pulls other vehicles toward it.

** LiterallyShatteredLives: Frozen units will shatter when hit with the slightest damage, making freezing lethal. Frozen air units (IFVs or Multigunner Turrets loaded with Cryo Legionnaires can target air units) will immediately come crashing down.

* LighterAndSofter: They've become less menacing with each game, as in the very first game, they were a faction almost EXCLUSIVELY composed out of {{Hate Sink}}s who do nothing but commit various war-crimes throughout both campaigns, with the most sympathetic one being a drunkard general who's remorseful over said war-crimes. In ''Red Alert 2'', there were more likeable members, with Premier Romanov shown to be genuinely humane and reasonable, treating the Soviet General kindly and with appreciation. That said, they still had some dark sides, such as Vladimir and Yuri, who are both completely and utterly despicable with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, as well as the architecture of their structure looking fairly ominous and menacing. By the time of ''Red Alert 3'', they've gone full on LaughablyEvil, yet they're a [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass legitimate]] [[BewareTheSillyOnes powerhouse]] as they always were, but none of their members are truly completely hateable, given that Cherdenko, the only one who can be considered completely evil, is an amusing LargeHam, while other characters are either evil, but not really despicable like Moksvin, friendly towards their comrades like Oleg, as well as Zhana, who is merely a loyal and patriotic soldier and they have abandoned the ominous and threatening looking aesthetics they had in the previous game for a bright and cheerful one that incorporates red stars and other communist imagery, alongside having an earthy green color as their primary color. They are even completely sympathetic and heroic in their campaign in the ''Uprising'' expansion, given that their first mission starts out with them launching a rescue mission on a [=FutureTech=] facility to rescue some of their chief scientists. Moreover, all of the missions after that have them fight against the corporation, who quickly prove themselves to be as just as evil as the Soviets were in the first game, as they're seen testing out their Cryo Legionnaires by freezing innocent civilians alive and then shattering them to pieces with their Boost Kick, and the final mission of their campaign being a mission to prevent Rupert Thornley from trying to take over the world.

** In ''Red Alert 2'', while America is able to keep the Soviet invasion from fully overwhelming them, it's not until it receives help from the Allies in Europe and Albert Einstein that the tide truly turns. That doesn't stop the Americans from claiming that they won, which is mocked in ''Yuri's Revenge.''

* LandSeaSky: They represent the sky, as they consistently have some of the best aircraft units in the game and even have a Top Secret Protocol that upgrades their aircraft in ''Red Alert 3''.

* DeathFromAbove: One of the main strengths of the Allies is they have a large powerful air force (they get an indirect example in Red Alert 1, as while the Soviets have a larger variety of aircraft, they also sorely lack many mobile units that can attack air units, making the Allied Longbow helicopter a ''serious'' nuisance against Soviet armies). The Harrier from [=RA2=] sometimes invokes this by name when ordering it to attack something.

* StartOfDarkness:[[spoiler:Surprisingly, despite ''Red Alert 3[='s=]'' lighter and campier tone, the Allies seem to be undergoing a dark path morality-wise, as their campaign ending is fairly ominous in tone, as the new president of America intends to "share" the fruits of capitalism and consumerism with the now conquered Soviets and Empire, clearly intending to placate them with this so that they don't resist them, and this descent into darkness is outright confirmed in ''Uprising'' as the Soviet Campaign reveals that [=FutureTech=], an R&D company associated with the Allies, is highly sinister and immoral, and a major member of them, Rupert Thornley, is collobarting with them to take over the world. The Imperial Campaign also reveals that they care more about ruling over the Empire rather than helping it out, as they do nothing when the Soviets start taking over the northern parts of their territory, and even try to attack them rather than come to their aid after they steal their technology to use against the Soviets.]]

* DayOfTheJackboot: ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' depicts the Soviet Union taking over Europe and the USA in dramatic fashion. In their [=RA=] ending they occupy London and specifically Buckingham Palace, in [=RA2=] alone, they destroy the Pentagon, bombard the Statue of Liberty into rubble, mind-control the US president, [[RuleOfCool turn the Eiffel Tower into a giant tesla coil]], shut down Wall Street (complete with infantry march), and start expanding into space.

* FreezeRay: The appropriately named Cryocopters and later Cryo Legionnaires in ''Red Alert 3''. There is also a superweapon-sized version in the form of a support power. They're [[HarmlessFreezing mostly harmless]], but frozen objects will [[LiterallyShatteredLives shatter]] if hit with the slightest damage, and for air units (done by cryo legionnaires garrisoned in a multigunner turret/IFV) the result is not something to laugh at since they will immediately come crashing down when frozen.

* {{Irony}}: They're very heavily based off of the GDI, down to having a HEAVILY similar logo, but they're more similar to the Brotherhood of Nod in terms of their play style, complete with the use of stealth in the form of Gap Generators, and the Mobile Gap Generator, which function like the Stealth Generators and Mobile Stealth Generators respectively, and the Mirage Tank, which is similar to the Stealth Tank due to them both being stealth-capable battle tanks, with the only difference is that the Mirage Tank disguises itself as part of the scenery while the Stealth Tank turns invisible, as well as the two using a heat ray and missiles respectively.

* DayOfTheJackboot: ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' depicts the Soviet Union taking over Europe and the USA in dramatic fashion. In their [=RA=] ending they occupy London and especifically Buckhimghan Palace, in [=RA2=] alone, they destroy the Pentagon, bombard the Statue of Liberty into rubble, mind-control the US president, [[RuleOfCool turn the Eiffel Tower into a giant tesla coil]], shut down Wall Street (complete with infantry march), and start expanding into space.
* DeathFromAbove: In Red Alert 3, the Soviets can drop orbital debris ranging from satellites to space stations on their enemies, along with any vehicles they picked up with their magnetic satellites. There's also Kirov Airships.

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: Severely downplayed, but in the 1st Red Alert, the Allies were genuinely at a disadvantage due to the Soviets having way more firepower than the Allies do, forcing them to rely on hit-and-run and non-conventional tactics just to stand a chance, and the Soviets themselves also had Volkov and Chitzkoi, two highly dangerous cyborgs, with the former even being a certifiable OneManArmy. By the second game they still have some advantages over the Allies, such as their psychics and cloning technology, but this was then taken away from them by Yuri when he turned against them and formed his own army. By the time of Red Alert 3, they've found themselves downgraded even further, as they are no longer in possession of nuclear technology thanks to erasing Einstein from the timeline, and their units have been downgraded as well, as their Desolator has gone from using beams of nuclear energy as well as being able to generate a field of radiation to using a chemical sprayer as well as a cannon that launches globs of corrosive fluids that weaken the durability of vehicles and structures, and their Apocalypse Tank have lost their anti-air missiles as well. Despite this, they're still just as effective as they normally are.

* ItsRainingMen: One of the Soviet Special powers gained from the Airfield in ''[=RA1=]'' is "Paratroopers", which drops a bunch of infantrymen at the designated spot. Not particularly useful most of the time, but it allows for some interesting possibilities in the right tactical environments, not to mention the fact that you're getting around a dozen soldiers for free every couple of minutes.

* AxCrazy: Downplayed. She isn't a foaming-at-the-mouth maniac but a LOT of her quotes make it clear that she's extremely violent and enjoys killing other people, and one of her lines in ''Red Alert 2'' is just her laughing maniacally. Just imagine her as [[Manga/BlackLagoon Revy]], but as a military commando, lack tattoos, and is not a StrawNihilist.

* BoringButPractical: Their Tier 3 units are shockingly mundane in comparison to the Tier 3 units of the other factions such as the Allies Mirage Tanks and Aircraft Carriers, or the Empire's King Onis and Shogun Battleships, examples of their Tier 3 units are the Apocalypse Tank and the Dreadnought, which are simply an extra large tank with two barrels instead of one and a side-arm that has varied from game to game, and a battleship that has missiles. [[AluminumChristmasTrees It should be noted that twin-barelled tanks are an]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VT_tank actual thing]], [[AluminumChristmasTrees ableit extremely rare]], making the Apocalypse Tank even more mundane.

* LighterAndSofter: They've become less menacing with each game, as in the very first game, they were a faction almost EXCLUSIVELY composed out of {{Hate Sink}}s who do nothing but commit various war-crimes throughout both campaigns, with the most sympathetic one being a drunkard general who's remorseful over said war-crimes. In ''Red Alert 2'', there were more likeable members, with Premier Romanov shown to be genuinely humane and reasonable, treating the Soviet General kindly and with appreciation. That said, they still had some dark sides, such as Vladimir and Yuri, who are both completely and utterly despicable with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, as well as the architecture of their structure looking fairly ominous and menacing. By the time of ''Red Alert 3'', they've gone full on LaughablyEvil, yet they're a [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass legitimate]] [[BewareTheSillyOnes powerhouse]] as they always were, but none of their members are truly completely hateable, given that Cherdenko, the only one who can be considered completely evil, is an amusing LargeHam, while other characters are either evil, but not really despicable like Moksvin, friendly towards their comrades like Oleg, as well as Zhana, who is merely a loyal and patriotic soldier and they have abandoned the ominous and threatening looking aesthetics they had in the previous game for a bright and cheerful one that incorporates red stars and other communist imagery, alongside having an earthy green color as their primary color. They are even completely sympathetic and heroic in their campaign in the ''Uprising'' expansion, given that their first mission starts out with them launching a rescue mission on a [=FutureTech=] facility to rescue some of their chief scientists, and all of the mission after that have them fight against the corporation, who quickly prove themselves to be as just as evil as the Soviets were in the first game, as they're seen testing out their Cryo Legionnaires by freezing innocent civillians alive and then shattering them to pieces with their Boost Kick, and the final mission of their campaign being a mission to prevent Rupert Thornley from trying to take over the world.

* AxCrazy: Downplayed. She isn't a foaming-at-the-mouth maniac but a LOT of her quotes make it clear that she's extremely violent and enjoys killing other people, and one of her lines in ''Red Alert 2'' is just her laughing maniacally.

* LighterAndSofter: They've become less menacing with each game, as in the very first game, they were a faction almost EXCLUSIVELY composed out of {{Hate Sink}}s who do nothing but commit various war-crimes throughout both campaigns, with the most sympathetic one being a drunkard general who's remorseful over said war-crimes. In ''Red Alert 2'', there were more likeable members, with Premier Romanov shown to be genuinely humane and reasonable, treating the Soviet General kindly and with appreciation. That said, they still had some dark sides, such as Vladimir and Yuri, who are both completely and utterly despicable with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, as well as the architecture of their structure looking fairly ominous and menacing. By the time of ''Red Alert 3'', they've gone full on LaughablyEvil, yet they're a [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass legitimate]] [[BewareTheSillyOnes powerhouse]] as they always were, but none of their members are truly completely hateable, given that Cherdenko, the only one who can be considered completely evil, is an amusing LargeHam, and they have abandoned the ominous and threatening looking aesthetics they had in the previous game for a bright and cheerful one that incorporates red stars and other communist imagery, alongside having an earthy green color as their primary color.

** From the second game onwards, this is ZigZagged. On the one hand, Soviet standard infantry such as Conscripts and Flak Troopers are ridiculously expendable, with commanders encouraged [[WeHaveReserved to throw them at the enemy due to how cheap they are]]. On the other hand, they consistently maintain powerful tanks, Tesla weaponry, and intimidating bombardment units such as the Dreadnaught and Kirov Airship.

* BondOneLiner: The Desolator from Red Alert 2 and the Shock Trooper from Red Alert: The Aftermath both love doing this.

* LighterAndSofter: They've become less menacing with each game, as in the very first game, they were a faction almost EXCLUSIVELY composed out of {{Hate Sink}}s who do nothing but commit various war-crimes throughout both campaigns, while in Red Alert 2, there were some more likeable members and Premier Romanov is shown to be genuinely humane and reasonable, and treats the Soviet General kindly and with appreciation, but they still had some dark sides, such as Vladimir and Yuri, who are both completely and utterly despicable with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, as well as the architecture of their structure looking fairly ominous and menacing. By the time of ''Red Alert 3'', they've gone full on LaughablyEvil, yet they're a [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass legitimate]] [[BewareTheSillyOnes powerhouse]] as they always were, but none of their members are truly completely hateable, given that Cherdenko, the only one who can be considered completely evil, is an amusing LargeHam, and they have abandoned the ominous and threatening looking aesthetics they had in the previous game for a bright and cheerful one that incorporates red stars and other communist imagery, alongside having an earthy green color as their primary color.

* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: In the first game, the Soviet infantry was vastly superior to the Allied forces in terms of sheer strength, with only the Allies' [[WeHaveReserves ability to field more units at a cheaper rate]] allowing them to keep up. They also had much stronger tanks, could defend their bases with [[ShockAndAwe Tesla Coils]], and had a number of advantages in the air as well. Their only weak spot was in the navy, as their only ship (Submarines) is useful only against ships and sinks after only a few hits.

* ItsRainingMen: The USA subfaction in Red Alert 2 had a paratrooper ability, which meant that they could conceivably drop fourteen [=GI=]s (pretty formidable), anywhere on the map, for free, every few minutes. ''Red Alert 3'' gives the Allies the Century Bomber, which can load a group of infantry and then drop them at a selected location.

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: The first game gives what many accounts would consider an accurate depiction of Stalin's regime, although still somewhat pretty far-fetched bunch even compared to Stalin's government of the real life 1930s and 40s, but in the next two games they mostly serve as a not-so-threatening [[JokeCharacter comedy antagonist]] compared to a less-conventional enemy faction. . This might be partially explained by the fact that between the first two games the USSR was apparently a western puppet regime, which only broke free thanks to [[EvilChancellor Yuri's]] influence. Out-of-universe it's just because the creators decided to emulate cheesy 1950s DirtyCommunists propaganda (mind control plots, anyone?) rather than documentary material about the horrors of the early Soviet regime.

* CorruptedCharacterCopy: Like how Yuri is one to Kane, Yuri's army is one to the Brotherhood of Nod, but without any of the characteristics that serve to make it seem less evil, such as its VillainWithGoodPublicity and BreadAndCircuses tendencies. Yuri's army is also completely and utterly inhumane in a way that Nod would consider too extreme, as its arsenal consists of pyrokinetics who immolate their opponents to death, snipers with bullets laced with a highly contagious, highly lethal virus that causes people to messily explode into a cloud of the stuff, and literal slave labor. Yuri's forces aren't afraid, either to have normal people irreversibly transformed into mentally retarded, child-like musclebound giants that are unquestionably loyal to Yuri to the point where they don't have any free will, in contrast to Nod's Marked of Kane being enhanced cyborgs fanatically loyal to their Messiah but still retaining their own identity.

** The Empire of the Rising Sun resembles the Brotherhood of Nod in many aspects: both factions are obsessed with ruling the world, are devoted to their charismatic leader, use egregious propaganda and outlandish military tactics to defeat their enemies,and deploy rocket weaponry and experimental weapon systems such as futuristic lasers as well as HumongousMechas. The Empire's fanaticism, suicide attacks and willingness to commit inhumane atrocities is comparable to Nod, as well as to the Global Liberation Army terrorist faction in Generals.

** To a lesser extent, Yuri's faction, as they both have a secondary color as their primary faction color (purple and orange, respectively), their commando unit, Yuriko Omega, is another psychic whose name is based off of Yuri himself, and a good majority of their units being anime references in some way (i.e. the Steel Ronin blatantly being a [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Gunman]], the Jet Tengu being the Variable Fighter in Gerwalk mode) is quite similar to the sci-fi B movie theme of the units of Yuri's army (The flying disc being a UFO, the Mastermind looking like something straight out of a B-Movie.). The Wave-Force artillery is an energy-based artillery unit much like the Magnetron, although the Wave-Force artillery focuses solely on dealing damage and has a manual fire trigger, making it ''much'' better at dealing with enemy units.

* GodzillaThreshold: Despite Einstein viewing war as [[TechnicalPacifist not his profession]], he nonetheless considers the threat posed by the Soviets, whether it's Stalin in ''Red Alert 1'' or Romanov and Yuri in ''Red Alert 2'', to be enough for him to give the Allies the technological edge they need to win.