I wouldn't get anything done, but I probably wouldn't care...

So... a while ago, I wrote a blog about the Halo games, and as I was re-reading it, I realized a Halo blog isn't complete without exploring the webshow inspired by the game: Red Vs. Blue. Red Vs. Blue is a Machina series based on Halo, created by the fine people at Rooster Teeth. I stumbled upon the show a while back when I was piddling around online... my brothers stuck with it more than I did, but I kept coming back to it. It was dang funny, and had a really good story line. When the DVDs went onsale, I began to watch it more steadily, finding it easier to keep up with the episodes when I didn't have to wait for a good internet connection. I bought Season 1 of the Blood Gulch Chronicles, and began watching... and got instantly hooked.

The show is broken up into 3 arcs: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, Reconstruction, and Relocated, and the episodes are short, but hilarious, despite some choice language.

The Blood Gulch Chronicles is labeled as such because they mark the beginning of the RvB adventures. RvB takes place during the "great war." Somewhere out there, in the vast galaxy, Master Chief is fighting to save the world, and the battle lines are drawn as such... the Red army vs. the Blue army. The BGC take place in a canyon known as Blood Gulch. Blood Gulch is a canyon... a small canyon. On one side is a red base, on the other is a blue base... and that's it. The character's are stuck in a stale mate to see who will finally win and ultimately inhabit two bases in an empty canyon. Sounds boring, but the two teams get themselves in so much trouble, it's hilarious.

The story starts with each team getting a new recruit. The Red Team gains Private Donut - a clueless n00b who just so happens to be in red armor - armor designated for the Sargent ONLY. The Blue Team gains Private Michael J. Caboose... a naive and fairly moronic character. Caboose is... well, for lack of a better term... slow. The two sides cross each other for the first time when neither side wants to deal with their new recruit. The Reds tell Donut to go find headlighter fluid and elbow grease, and the Blues tell Caboose to guard the flag - loosing the flag loses the battle - because a surprise guest may come and inspect it... a guest who is the only person that doesn't look like them. Donut mistakes the blue base for the store, and Caboose mistakes Donut for the special guest, allowing him to take the flag back to red base. This causes the blues to go on the offense, trying to get back their flag, and ultimately results in Caboose killing Church - a member of his own team. Now greatly outnumbered, Caboose and Tucker (the other member of the blue team) are forced to radio for the help of a freelancer - Tex - but ghost Church isn't happy about that...

Meanwhile, Donut's retrieval of the blue flag gets him a promotion, and a chance to change the color of his armor. The color he picks gets him a bunch of ridicule from Grif and Simmons, the other two members of the Red Team. Sarge (the sargeant) and Lopez (a mute robot) inform everyone that they plan on attacking the blue base, due to their advantage, but the arrival of freelancer Tex and her Omega AI even out the odds.

The Blood Gulch Chronicles have 5 season, in which a number of characters are introduced, and the main characters are fleshed out. It's hard not to have a favorite by season 2, and by season 5, it was hard to see it go. The writing was amazing, and a lot of the jokes they drop are hilarious and out of no where. Amazing one liners, drawn out jokes, and a pretty deep underlying plot made the BGC pretty sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone who can weather the swearing. (Quite possibly the only negative thing about the BGC is the swearing... there's lots of it XD so be warned.)

Then came Reconstruction. The end of the BGC was epic, and left room for a number of things to happen, which is where Reconstruction comes in. We're introduced to the character of Agent Washington, a member of project freelancer (like Tex) that had a sketchy past with his implanted AI. He is assigned to investigate what happened at Blood Gulch outpost 17B (blue base) and figure out how to stop a new menace: the Meta.

Reconstruction was my favorite series, despite that Tucker only makes one teensy weensy little cameo in the whole thing. It had a lot of the charm of the BGC, but it was also really well written. Underneath all the jokes and humor and nonsensical stuff, the plot was AMAZING. Genius, I would dare say. Reconstruction focuses around Project: Freelancer and their implanted AI's, and the whole thing is just done very well. What struck me as truly amazing was how they took something familiar that happened WAAAAAAAAY back in season 1, near the BEGINNING of season 1 of the BGC, and turned it around on me. I didn't even see it coming. XD Not to mention, the ending is somewhat bitter sweet - and ending that makes you want to cry, but at the same time leaves you KNOWING more is coming.

And come more did. Enter Relocated. Relocated is a bit of a landmark series for the folks over at Red vs. Blue - and not just because it's the first time the boys have "relocated" to Valhalla. Relocated was directed entirely by a new director... and I must say, he did a SMASHING job! :) Relocated's run was very short... 4 episodes, and I just finished watching the last one before I wrote this review. It was done well, and did what I think it was intended to do: left viewers wanting more. With only a 4 episode run, I can't say it was my favorite, but I can say it is a necessary watch, if you plan on immersing yourself in the RvB world.

All in all, the show is amazing. I love it. I laugh every episode, and I can't help but appreciate how much work is put into the thing. If you don't mind swearing - and I won't even say mild because it's not mild... there's a LOT of it - then check it out, because it is worth it. A really... really... REALLY good show. :)

And that's all I've got to say... but I'll leave you with one of my favorite episodes:

Reconstruction Episode 5