Criticizing random bullshit about RVB again. This is about Shisno & its characters/cast but I don't remember Shisno enough to be credible (and I just don't like that arc much) so a grain of salt is recommended.
I think one of my biggest nitpicks of S15-17 (bar the more obvious flaws) is how much random character bloat there is. Even in a show with probably a hundred characters. Like, sure, the Blues & Reds and the Cosmic Powers exist for reasons, but they're secondary cast members who have no real emotional impact on anything.
PFL saga also has a LOT of characters running around, between the main guys and every Freelancer introduced. But they all tie into the story at least somewhat, between the twins showing the severity of conditions in Freelancer or even just, like, Florida existing to show how orchestrated the Director's control and corruption is (which might be a generous reading, admittedly).
Chorus does it too, with the mercs, the Chorusans, even re-introductions of characters who had no real significance prior. But they're all there for a reason. You get enough time with them to at least understand most of their roles in the plot, then they move away once they've fulfilled that role, they aren't pushed to the front outside of those narrative needs.
But Shisno has all these characters who overstay their welcome, do nothing interesting outside of maybe one decent scene they're in, and get pushed aside so quickly or used too hard for comedy that they just feel like filler to give the illusion of refreshing a show that was already kind of on its last legs.
They exist to make a joke but are introduced like they might be something more and it creates a weird dissonance between their introduction and the fruition of their character. It's one thing to have random side characters who are meant to exist for the comedy of their existence, but something about the Blues & Reds felt dry and needless while the Cosmic Powers were just egregious in number and extremely boring in execution.
The Blues and Reds (outside of Temple and Biff) generally serve the singular purpose of performing a bit that's completely (IMO) said and done after their introduction. They do, of course, have more potential before this, where they're used to frame the Reds & Blues for crimes they didn't commit, but I honestly think the tension and potential of all that falls apart when we find out they're just "evil clones" of the main cast down to personality. It doesn't really make sense, it gets old quickly (because we don't NEED identical copies of the characters we've already spent 14 seasons with), they get built up as a group then pushed to the side when we realize the main villain is just one out of their entire group.
You could argue, I guess, that some of them had their moments--Gene with the knife, Loco's time machine--but I honestly think those "moments" were MacGuffins that felt secondary to the joke that they're meant to be reflections of the Reds & Blues. They have their moment that serves the plot or character development but they're still very disinteresting on their own.
The Cosmic Powers have a similar flaw where too many of them are introduced at once and none of them have ANY staying power but Chrovos and Genkins. They, again, serve a purpose of showing the convoluted AI system they seem to be, but I'm going to be so honest most of the shit surrounding them makes no sense in RVB's universe. They're a little too all-powerful in presentation and needed SOMETHING to justify their existence in the surprisingly grounded (relative to Halo canon) world RVB exists in (in that so much of RVB's sci-fi drama falls in line with military/human corruption rather than otherworldly power that feels like some shit out of a Marvel movie).
And, to be clear, having a lot of pointless characters isn't necessarily a problem in and of itself--I feel like at least a third of RVB's named cast is just random tertiary characters--but it feels like Shisno characters are trying to replicate the pattern RVB presents in its arcs by introducing a new secondary cast to the main characters, but it completely misses what makes this pattern work.
With PFL and Chorus, your attachment to or enjoyment of these extra characters--the Freelancers, the AI, the Lieutenants--usually winds up culminating in some sort of climax and subsequent resolution. They reintroduce Sharkface and Price briefly enough to serve as reminders of PFL's echoes on the Reds & Blues' lives. Even the most comedic of Freelancers choose a side to stand on after the system starts coming undone. Even joke extras like the Zealots during BGC are used with some discretion; they make their jokes and leave, they're not set up to be much more than the bit they were made for.
I think THAT'S what makes the B&Rs and Cosmic Powers so boring to me--their setup was potentially interesting, but after that setup is explained the majority of those new characters fall flat in the way of motive or personality. There's nothing intriguing about Cronut or Surge or Burnstrom or the Fates when they're not on the screen, but the story kind of introduces them ALL with the same gravity that the most interesting of them (Temple, Genkins) have despite them ultimately, individually amounting to nothing.
I'm not really trying to make some statement here about Shisno's writing but I just find it to be a flaw of its design. I don't like the Blues & Reds or Cosmic Powers as a whole for these reasons, which is disappointing with how much potential the Blues & Reds especially had (they didn't need to be personality clones, they're wearing armor, it's extremely easy to impersonate people who are wearing armor...). It just adds to why I think Shisno is the weakest arc of the entire show.
RvB0: What went well, what didn’t, and all the in-between.
Since RT is making this a bit easier by releasing the complete seasons in long videos, this is arguably something that probably should be done to wrap up the whole thing, and maybe see how far the series has come.
Red vs. Blue: ZERO is arguably the most divisive season of the entire series of the show.
Now obviously, people are very resistant to change, but whereas the prior seasons had change that was received to varying degrees of positivity, it was overall, positive.
So let’s go over some history to better understand what happened.
The main aspect of the original Reds and Blues, intentionally or not, were based off of gaming stereotypes.
It’s WAY too long to describe here, so here’s a link to how it works: [here]
Seasons 1-5 is basically a showcase of these gamer stereotypes. Displaying them as their base personalities and grows them as these new characters.
The whole entirety of Project Freelancer is pretty much a deconstruction of gaming tropes. The AI are Lootboxes that give an edge to a player, they have leaderboards, and they go into lobbies with lower level players to basically flex all over them.
The Chorus Trilogy has an arc deconstructing the concept of these types of team battles, pointing out how it never really amounts to anything except profits for the one side that’s basically the third party (Think Mann Co from TF2).
Season 14 is basically a celebration, so we’ll skip that, but keep in mind Meta vs. Carolina, it’ll be important later.
Season 15 is basically an attempt to revive the series. Maybe a documentary on prior pro players, and how people might try to exploit them, or how people may have lost their streaming careers to some of the players humiliating them, but that’s a stretch. There is no real tie to gaming here, or during this arc. This is where the whole thing starts declining. A lack of actually tying it to a gaming trope arguably makes it much more different than the previous seasons.
So, where does RvB0 stand in all this? Well, it is a bit of a return to form by being a previous pro player wanting to get a new squad, but having to now adapt to a new team.
But the way we’re introduced to them is jarring. This isn’t some episode of DEATH BATTLE. We should get to know who these characters are by their interactions with one another, their dialogue, and their actions. But let’s take a look at what gaming stereotypes we’re working with here. we already covered Florida, and the Director is basically these guys’ sponsor who basically caused all of what happened. Carolina is the streamer who gets mad at losing her top rank, York is the nice guy who probably helped set up other peoples’ streaming equipment and is just a friendly guy to be around in general, South and North are what happens when someone gets a rare item from a lootbox and the other doesn’t, etc.
Shatter Squad, is unfortunately, a lot of repeat gamer stereotypes.
West is basically the dad who is an ex-pro trying to make sure his team succeeds, like Florida.
One is the competitive pro who doesn’t like having her top spot challenged, like Carolina.
Axel is the resident Cool Guy™ whose exploits are told by anecdote or flashback. Similar to Tucker, except minus the sex jokes. Or maybe he’s like Wash, in the sense that he’s an ex-pro who got out of the game but keeps being dragged back into it by other circumstances (maybe financial).
East is the new player, much like Caboose. She thankfully is different enough by way of being the stream mole who helps out the other team by sabotaging the team she’s a part of.
And Raymond is the guy who thinks that all his tech and equipment will give him an edge over his opponents, much like most of the Freelancers who had an A.I.
The action is actually good, except for one scene. The scene where East (temporarily) kills Tucker.
Like… Torrian. Torrian. Meta vs. Carolina is my favorite episode of season 3 aside from Hulk vs. Doomsday, and you have him go down to a dagger? You pretty much animated an epic fight scene with all the Reds and Blues in the RvB0 advertisement that really should have been Tucker vs. Jaune as a means of joint advertising- I’m getting off topic here.
The new characters are also a point of some good and some bad. Obviously, you can only do so much with the OG characters until it becomes stale. This is why Dragon Ball is starting to get boring. It’s also why Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is still going strong. But trying to diversify the cast isn’t going to go well with a lot of the original audience. The most progressive thing the Blood Gulch Chronicles did was have Church challenge Simmons’ stereotypical comments regarding Donut. Change won’t go over so well with the audience.
In addition, the passing of Tucker’s sword to another character wasn’t going to go over so well without a big fight scene over the sword. Again, Torrian: YOU MADE Balrog vs. TJ Combo, All Might vs. Might Guy, and Blake vs. Mikasa. Out of everyone on that team, you of all people would have been more than qualified to animate a cool fight sequence that would showcase Tucker stopping East from just stabbing him. I know that the research is left to other people, but one of the big things about the characters is that they tanked a bomb worth a few dozen megatons of TNT… And Tucker goes down… To a dagger.
The fight sequences of RvB0 are great. I’ll say that much. But after every fight, I fully expected Wiz and Boomstick to come in and explain why the fight went down the way it did. Though, that may be due to me actually being interested in RT because of DEATH BATTLE… For better or for worse…
The dialogue wasn’t that great though. A lot of the humor falls flat, and the only joke I legitimately laughed at was when a member of Shatter Squad (One IIRC) responded to Carolina’s bold and serious declaration of “We have to save Lavernious Tucker” with “Who’s Tucker?” This is a series where the comedy comes from dialogue. So slapstick and physical humor don’t land as much, and the whole thing of them making reference to their situation doesn’t let a joke land as well as it could.
People are used to the head bobs of prior seasons, so the expressive gestures is super jarring and actually makes dialogue harder because you have to accompany it with the gestures. The limitation of what they had in season 1-5 is what led to innovation. Limits are how you make something extraordinary. So the freedom of actual gestures makes the overall product feel less like RvB and more like Torrian‘s equivalent of RWBY. He wanted to make a bunch of cool fight scenes. Which like… He had the perfect place to do that: DBX. Want a character who can generate a clone and uses a bladed weapon to fight? Uh, Noob Saibot is right there. You could have him fight… I don’t know, maybe Shadow Jago? They both utilize darkness, it would be fun.
Regardless, I honestly hope that wherever Torrian takes his talents, that he’s going in a place that he likes and that can keep him and his family comfortable.
RvB0: It’s a mess, it hardly really connects back to the OG Reds and Blues, and while the new characters breathe a new life into the series that was sorely needed, it probably wasn’t what people expected. This changing of the guard type of story doesn’t really work when the previous guard doesn’t pass down the mantle.
Also, Carolina constantly calling Wash by his real name just feels like some random pandering. It used to be special that you didn’t know what the real names of the Freelancers was, but the constant use of it just feels like something to just be there to constantly use.
ok so now that the final episode of rvb0 is out for everyone, lets get into some discussion about it! please note that post isnt a topic of debate but rather just my personal thoughts about everything, so dont go arguing in the replies
(fair warning ahead of time for any fans, this is mostly criticism and negative feelings about it, so keep scrolling if you dont wanna read it)
When RVB0 was first announced, I remember everyone was first upset that the Reds and Blues weren't in it, including me. But now that I've watched the whole thing, I can say with confidence that my only issue with RVB0 isn't the lack of the Reds and Blues, but rather everything. the dialogue, some of the animation, the characters, the delivery, the pacing, the ridiculous amount of clichés, etc. I don't dislike RVB0 just because there's no Reds and Blues. I dislike it because I just found the entirety of it bad.
When I first started watching it, I went in with an open mind that maybe this season could actually be really good. I’d also be lying if I said that there wasn't a single scene that I liked. There were actually a few, but they still didn't make up for just the overall badness of the season. But please note that I don't blame the voice actors for any of this or even just Torrian Crawford for the season coming out a giant mess. Many people worked for this season and always had the opportunity to improve or change things but didn't. But anyways, let’s get into some of the criticisms I have for this season.
1. Smaller and more opinion oriented criticisms
This isn’t really criticism or anything important, but rather just a few things I found a bit weird to me personally.
First, the term “ragtag team of misfits” was used to describe Shatter Squad (and was even actually said out loud by One in the last episode, which sounded just so cliché and dumb in my opinion). I don't think this describes them at all?? Everyone has, at the very least, decent relationships with each other (save for One and East who were competitive with each other (which I also fucking hate in RVB that all the girl characters are always competitive with each other)), but that still doesn't really fit the term ragtag) and they all fight very well. I think ragtag fits the Reds and Blues more than it does Shatter Squad; they're bad at fighting, they argue and fight all the time, they're idiots, and that's why we love them. If they had just stuck with “a team of misfits”, that would've made more sense, but again, this is more of a personal opinion than genuine criticism.
Second, I don’t really like the aesthetics this season had. Everything felt a bit too neon and bright and then some stuff just felt like it came straight out of World of Warcraft or something. It didn’t really feel like RVB.
Third, my feelings about Carolina constantly calling Wash David can be summed up by what Michael said in the first episode of Halo 4 LASO: “Now we’re just gonna throw his name around all willy nilly. It used to be a secret.” When someone is called by their real name in RVB or just any story in general where everyone goes by code names, it’s usually a big deal and indicates something serious. Carolina wore out Wash’s name the first time she said it and it just got more and more irritating from then on out and lost its value.
Fourth, who was the blue and purple soldier in the first teaser we got? Was that One? Did they decide to change her armour colour? I don’t know, I just randomly remembered that and thought it was weird but I guess it must’ve just been a colour change.
Now, onto the more serious criticism.
2. Animation and dialogue
The second thing I wanna talk about is the animation. Don't get me wrong, the fighting animation is probably the best compared to everything else and it was pretty good to watch, but the talking and idle animations and gestures were..... kinda yikes. I know that it could be chalked up to “well we’re not used to seeing animated gestures since all of RVB usually has everyone just holding their gun and using the regular Halo models” but there were still some pretty bad parts.
Take the scene from Encounter at 3:26 as an example (I uploaded the scene to YT to put here, but obviously it was blocked for copyright):
This scene is probably one of the worst when it comes to not only the animations, but the dialogue, pacing, and delivery. When I first saw this, I honestly laughed. Here's a list of my problems with this scene and what made it so laughable:
The overexaggerated hand gestures. I get that because everyone's in armour and a helmet, it can be hard to show expression, but this feels like a bit much. Especially when One says “what? You’re pulling us off the mission? You cant do that!” I think that one scene in season 15 when Grif stays behind on Iris while everyone leaves and it slowly zooms in on Simmons’ visor somehow does a lot better at expressing feelings than this.
East immediately making the connection between Axel and Zero feels weird. I don't know if its just me who feels this way, but I think it should've been a little bit longer before she immediately is just like “you know Zero don't you”
Axel saying “I... I do... I did” also sounds weird and like he was trying a bit too hard to sound dramatic. I don't really know how to describe it its just such a weird delivery of the line.
The way they all immediately start yelling at each other.
One saying “Axe, I trusted you” right after saying “tell us the truth”. Girl, you gave him no opportunity to explain and just immediately jumped to not trusting him anymore. Speaking of which, I don't think this was ever really mentioned again and had no meaning or importance to it.
The echoing of “I trusted you” also feels cliché to me, but this is more of a minor thing.
I think this one comment on one of the episodes on the RT site that says the dialogue “seemed acted rather than natural. It didn't really sound like how people normally talk, more how actors talk in plays” is how I feel about all of the dialogue in RVB0.
3. The villains
Zero and Diesel both felt like they didn't really have any motivation at all for being villains. Phase is probably the best when it comes to this. She was essentially abused by her father as a child and forced to undergo being experimented on. This is an actual good and understandable motivation.
Diesel we know basically nothing about, and then on the other hand, all Zero wants is power. But for what? Why? I can understand that power is a pretty common thing for people to want, but it still kind of felt like there wasn't really anything there.
Some previous good villains in RVB include:
Temple: Temple witnessed his best friend be brutally murdered right in front of him by 2 soldiers who didn't give a shit and just left him to die, especially right after he told him he was having a baby. Of course it’s understandable that he has a hatred of Freelancers after this. Any normal person would.
Felix: Felix was probably the best villain of all of RVB, to be honest (right beside the Director). He was just somehow so likeable and had so much personality, despite being an asshole. His ultimate motivation was money and being rich, which is another thing I can understand; the more money you have, the more you can essentially do whatever you want and live in luxury. I mean, even so many people in real life do horrible things just for money. I don't even have to give examples for this. Felix in general is also just a psychopath.
The Director: The whole reason the Director did what he did was because he lost the person he loved most in the world: his wife. He was willing to do literally anything to bring her back, leading to all of his actions in the Project Freelancer saga. You can find many examples of movie/TV/book/etc characters/villains seeking vengeance as a result of loss of a loved one and grief. Despite being a horrible person, the Director actually managed to be a villain you could even sympathize with, making him even better.
Sharkface: Although a bit of a more minor villain, similar to Temple, Sharkface is a villain because he wants revenge on the people that killed his team, the people he considered to be the only family he’s ever had.
4. Tucker & the swords
The fourth thing I wanna talk about is the whole thing with Tucker and the swords. I always found it kinda weird how both Tuckers sword and now Locus’ sword in the chorus trilogy were the same, but then in RVB0, Zero’s sword looks and acts completely different, but that might just be a little nitpick of mine.
As for Tucker, it was so good to see him. Although I don’t know if it was just me, but he seemed a little OOC. What I didn't like about seeing Tucker again was that he did literally nothing the entire episode. He was useless. He said “I can fight” at one point but then all he does during the battle is get held at knife point, run away, and then get stabbed and have his sword taken. Tucker isn't an amazing fighter, but he’s definitely a lot more capable than just this. We’ve seen him in action many times and I just feel like he could've done a bit more. It almost feels like he was purposefully nerfed and tossed aside just to advance the plot.
Another thing that I and probably a lot of people are upset about is the fact that Tucker might not even own his sword anymore?? When East stabbed him, he apparently died and the sword was rebound to Phase, but it wasn't very clear that this was the case. Although the beginning of the next episode starts with hospital beeps and a flatline, I don't think it was still really clear enough that Tucker actually died long enough for Phase to reclaim the sword because I saw a handful of people confused in the comments and, like me, even thought it was just bad writing at first and that the writers completely forgot about the rules of the sword established over several prior seasons.
When in the hospital, Wash tells Tucker that he almost died. Although I actually liked this scene because it was nice to see wash and tucker bantering again, I think it could've been made better and made the plot clearer if instead of saying he almost died, Wash said something along the lines of “Tucker, you died. Your heart stopped, but they were able to bring you back thanks to their advanced medical tech” and then in response Tucker freaks out because that means his sword will now work for Phase and now they know how urgent the situation is.
I really really hate that Phase just has Tucker’s sword now and nothing is even said about it. If Tucker was to give his sword away to someone, I think many people would prefer that it was at least someone close to him, like Junior for example, but instead it goes to a random girl he hardly knows.
5. Pacing
The fifth thing I wanna talk about is the pacing. This season was definitely a lot shorter than normal and I think that’s one of the things that really prevented it from being good. The entire story just feels rushed and while I understand that it can be really difficult to build a good story and characters in such a short time, I think there’s still ways you can do it without it feeling like there’s so much missing. I think the long intros and outros are also responsible for less time and maybe they should’ve considered cutting them to give more actual episode time. Here’s a few things that were poorly done as a result of bad pacing:
The final battle against Zero: The whole battle just somehow felt like a typical video game boss battle that ends super quickly to me. Shatter Squad didn’t even defeat Zero, he just up and got disintegrated or whatever from Black Lotus.
Shatter Squad giving up on their mission: After receiving the silly deep voice filtered message from Zero, everyone on Shatter Squad just immediately gives up on finding him.
One’s speech: One’s speech wasn’t awful or anything and I didn’t really have any problems with the speech itself, but rather just how quickly the team went from “we can’t do it.. it’s over..” to “you’re right! I’m in! Let’s go get them!” Compare this to Doc and Sarge’s speech to the Reds and Blues after Church and Carolina leave in season 10 episode 20. It just felt a lot more genuine (this is probably because the Reds and Blues had a lot more time to be developed, though) and was only given after some time passed rather than 2 seconds later. The scene and context also transitioned well into it and at first, nobody was on board with what Doc was saying, which is more realistic in my opinion. People’s minds won’t just instantly change, they’re still gonna think about it and maybe have a few doubts at first.
Phase and West: During their fight, West talked a lot about how he regrets giving Phase away to Starlight, that he won’t hurt her, and is even willing to die for her. Their scene together ends with Phase punching him in the head and then leaving to join the others and nothing else about them is mentioned. We don’t know if Phase forgave him or not, we don’t know how West feels, etc.
Tucker’s sword: Phase still has Tucker’s sword and like the scenario with West, nothing about it is mentioned. We don’t know what she’s going to do with it, if she’s going to keep it, if Tucker’s gonna do anything about it, etc.
6. Clichés
Clichés aren’t inherently bad and can be really impactful and good if done right. But when it comes to RVB0, it’s jampacked with clichés that aren’t good. Here are a few examples:
Everyone gives up until a speech is given: All of the points for this are the same as above, but I wanted to include this scene as a cliché as well.
Every female character is competitive with each other: RVB falls into this a lot, like I mentioned earlier. It happens again with East and One, although luckily they seem to resolve it, but not until literally the end of the season.
West’s fit about East: All of the lines and delivery in this scene were just atrocious and cheesy. I think West’s dialogue just could’ve been a bit more original, but instead we’re given this boring predictable “I won’t lay a hand on her. I promised her. I promised her mother. I promised she’d be safe” spiel that has no emotion to it in his voice.
The whole “I got this, you go ahead” thing: This isn’t like a super cliché thing, but I found it pretty interesting how it happens twice in the same episode.
I think this is pretty much all I can think of at the moment. If I think of anything else, I’ll add onto this. Overall, I think RVB0 would’ve done a lot better as just an RVB spinoff so that it could have more episodes and seasons dedicated to developing characters and a good plot. I’m really disappointed with this season and I hope whatever comes next is better than what RVB0 was. I hope the team that worked on it can learn a few things that come from the good and valid constructive criticism given to them. And if I had to pick, I think I’d say Raymond was my favourite out of all the new characters. He just felt the most relatable and realistic to me.
I like reading ur stuff, I’m pretty brainless and I wanna absorb some of your critical criticism of rvb. Aka pretty pleaseeeee gimme some more of that shittt
Thank you! I always appreciate when people like my takes on RVsB, I used to get a lot of "it's not that deep" type responses from people who didn't like RVsB crit LOL. And I do agree it's not that deep, but I'm just very interested in the complex nature of "offensive" media + the way it interacts with fans over time, especially when societal views also change gradually.
I have a LOOOOOOT of issues with RVsB's writing and the fandom itself so it's hard to know where to start unless someone gives me a prompt to discuss, but recently I've been thinking about a couple things (long paragraphs ahead):
The way fandom regards ableism with Wash in general, which has always been a NOTORIOUS sore spot in the time I've been an RVsB fan--there was always a lot to say about the infantilization of Wash being a traumatized adult who was once naive in the past, but since Zero came out I've been REALLY. FUCKING. ANNOYED. with people acting like Zero is an evil season because it "erases" Wash's disability from Shisno, which always felt fetishistic and romanticized to me in the first place. I hold that RT LOVED overusing Wash for angst just because he was a fan favorite (though Chorus did it less, which MADE SENSE because that was JUST after Wash got to have his arc!), and I feel like it's such selective hearing to be mad about Zero "erasing" Wash's disability without commenting on 1.) the INSANE AMOUNT of ableism RT has ALWAYS had with Caboose, 2.) the practical fetishization (by the fandom mostly) of Wash's trauma in general, and 3.) the way it was used to make Carolina his caretaker/give them romantic undertones (misogyny) throughout 16. Eyeroll.
At that; I mentioned it earlier today but can we like. Let Caboose be a grown ass man for once. Like I cannot explain how sick I am of opening a fic and seeing that he's drinking juice at Donut's Wine & Cheese Hour or using puppies and playgrounds as metaphors for war. I don't CAAARE if it's canon we all know it sucks. Be so for real.
My feelings toward SisTuck as a ship, which--do NOT get me wrong it's not bad. As a brown person I LOVE a good brown people ship and will always take the least transgay of them over any white gay ship (when they're done well)--has always troubled me because of the nature of both Kai and Tucker being oversexualized brown people and being paired together BECAUSE they're oversexualized. Not to mention all my issues with how both of them are written in 16 (99% sex jokes until the moment they can use it all as shallow feminism). And a lot of people perpetuate the sexual aspect of their canon dynamic (sometimes accidentally) because it's like. One of the only things they have in canon that ties them together. It's one of those things that could be awesome in a better world but as it stands I'm just not really sold on it because its context in canon just feels like. Oddly misogynistic and racist to me. Unless brown fans are writing it, THAT'S when it's awesome.
On the topic of Tucker: it occurred to me again recently that I'm not big on most Tucker FCs, both because of how often people depict him with alien markings (which is weird to me because like. Why do you need to make the one canon Black character of the main cast "exotic" like that. It's a complicated topic WRT aestheticization and colorism) and how people always draw him with the same looong dreads (no research done on Black hair growth and the time and effort it takes to develop long dreads!). In general the anti-Blackness surrounding Tucker in both canon and fanon is still really bad (from what I've seen). IDK.
FUUUUCK ROBOT FANTASY RACISM. This is tied to a long Lopez tangent I have in my drafts but generally I fucking despise fantasy racism and its nature of co-opting real world violence against POC to reflect it on non-human races. And RT literally ONLY used it to make jokes about Lopez being a manual laborer/"illegal alien"/receptively bilingual "Mexican" guy. Like god. Whatever.
In general I'm always thinking about racism and colorism in the show and fandom. Like I can't help it. And yes I'm still thinking about how bad the misogyny in most major female characters is. SMFH.
RT has always sucked even through the rose-tinted glasses of most people's nostalgia (I was never an RT fan though, just an RVsB fan, LOL). Their fans, sadly, internalize a lot of bullshit from them even when you'd think it's obviously bigoted.
You're always welcome to ask me for thoughts on specific characters/ships/headcanons/etc and I'm always happy to share my take on them!
The new characters breathe a certain new life into the series. Their various abilities, powers, and equipment makes for really interesting fights, and it’s an interesting take on a long-running series.
Cons:
The lack of the original characters makes it feel like a brand new show rather than RvB. This makes it seem like less RvB and more like Torian doing his own version of RWBY… Which is to say he wants an excuse to make a bunch of cool fights following a story.
Pros:
All the animation is gorgeous. While the lack of the use of old Halo movements makes the show kinda jarring when compared to older seasons, it’s really interesting to see it being fully animated.
Cons:
No real character development. In episode 2, the characters are basically glossed over like they were in a DEATH BATTLE or like in Suicide Squad. The characters aren’t given time to develop and have their stories fleshed out over time, it’s all thrown at you in episode 2.
That weird in-between:
After every fight scene, I expect Wiz and Boomstick to come in and explain why the fight went the way it did.
The dialogue in RvB Zero is really clichéd and cringe, and after every fight sequence, I fully expect Wiz and Boomstick to come in and explain why the fight went the way it did.
Not bad considering it was written by a guy who is mostly known for fight animations.
Overall, the dialogue is really cringe at worst or clichéd at best. It feels clunky at times, and in all honesty, Carolina, Wash, and Tucker felt unnecessarily nerfed to keep the new main characters relevant.
Carolina gets the most spotlight out of all the characters we originally knew, and she’s basically the teacher character. She kinda needs to have her hand held a bit by the others to figure out enemy weaknesses, which isn’t that great. Number 2 on the Freelancer leaderboard can’t figure out how to beat her opponent without advice from a new guy that she barely knows?- Uh huh. Yeah right.
Action is a highlight. Seriously. Look at anything Torrian’s animated, and you’ll be blown away. Obligatory “there’s a lot of flips” joke here, and yeah.
If anything, this feels like Torrian’s version of RWBY, it’s a plot jumbled together to justify a bunch of cool fight scenes, action sequences, and music tracks. There’s not a whole lot of breathing room to be had, and I want to reiterate: This whole thing is very much action-reliant on their whole overall story arc.
Characters are told and shown through action and fighting styles (as well as that Suicide Squad esque introduction we got in the earlier episodes), and that’s kinda it for character development. This isn’t an episode of DEATH BATTLE. We should learn about these characters through dialogue and character interactions, not some rundown on their backstory from an outside party.
So yeah. RvBZERO:
If you’re looking for an action series, go for it, but if you’re looking for a good and well-thought out story with interesting dialogue and character interactions… I’d say don’t.
Also, seriously: I legit expected Wiz and Boomstick to come in after that final fight and tell the audience how and why everything went the way it did.
I still hate the new dialogue in RvBZERO. It’s so cliché and cringe.
The Chorus trilogy had a better rousing speech.
I guess this is what you get when the guy who’s directing this is mostly known for animation rather than dialogue. Like… I’m never going to complain about the animation. But dialogue?- Oh hell yeah.
