100 Fun Facts About Red Vs. Blue

Who created Red vs. Blue?

He also voices Church and Lopez, and later bought the series' rights back after the studio that made it shut down.

Which production company made Red vs. Blue?

The company grew out of the series, with the whole crew quitting their day jobs once it took off.

Red vs. Blue is set in the world of which video game franchise?

The creators deliberately kept the story independent of the games' lore so newcomers could follow it.

What is the name of the desolate box canyon where the two teams are stationed?

According to Simmons, each team's base exists only in response to the other team's base.

In which year did the first episode of Red vs. Blue premiere?

It launched on April 1, which the series kept as its traditional premiere date for many later seasons.

What is the technique of syncing game footage to pre-recorded dialogue called?

The studio had never heard the word when it started; it thought it had invented the idea.

How many episodes was Red vs. Blue originally meant to run?

By episode 8 the writers had used only about a third of their joke list, and the plan kept growing from there.

How many full seasons does Red vs. Blue have?

There are also six mini-series, plus non-canon public service announcements and holiday videos.

What is the subtitle of the final season, released as a movie in 2024?

It premiered as a feature film on May 7, 2024, with an episodic cut following more than a year later.

Graham Leggat of Lincoln Center's film society called the series 'as sophisticated as' which playwright?

He described it as part locker-room humor, part absurdist tragicomedy, part vivisection of game culture.

The Red and Blue armies secretly exist as training simulations for which program?

Neither team is usually motivated to fight the other, with the exception of the Red leader.

The Freelancer agents are named after what?

Hence Agents Texas, Washington and Carolina; the AIs follow a different naming scheme entirely.

The series' AI characters are named after what?

Epsilon ends up taking over Church's identity after the original Church's death.

What over-the-top rank does Red Team's hotheaded leader hold?

Matt Hullum voices him, and also plays the incompetent medic Doc.

Season 18, Zero, was fully animated in which toolset rather than filmed in a game?

It parodied action movies instead of shooters and introduced a new cast, which its director called a 'restart'.

The 'spark for the whole series' was a debate over whether the Warthog looks like which animal?

The argument was re-created in episode 2 and became the joke the theme song's lyrics are built around.

On which website did the creator's early voiceover gameplay videos appear?

The site, run by Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola, closed shortly after the first trailer was ignored.

Which magazine's request to use a video on its cover CD prompted the series' relaunch?

The crew decided they needed a website to capitalise on the exposure and re-released the trailer to coincide with the issue.

An early character-introduction video was set to which Limp Bizkit song?

The action-heavy teaser promised a very different show from the situation comedy it became.

To fund working on the series full-time, the team opened an online store selling what?

Quote-based shirts and '-isms' posters remain a staple of the merchandise line.

The 2006 mini-series Out of Mind premiered exclusively on which platform?

It was also the first production shot and edited in 720p widescreen instead of letterboxed fullscreen.

The original five-season run ended in 2007 with which episode number?

The first five seasons were later reshot in high definition using the PC versions of the games.

Which 2008 season began the Recollection story arc?

It was the first season shot in the third game and moved the story to one year after that game's events.

Which animator was hired from season 8 to create the series' action sequences?

He was a fan of the show, and his animated fights took months to produce compared with a week for a game-shot episode.

The 2010 premiere of Revelation crashed the studio's site and which video host?

The first four episodes had been previewed at PAX East a month earlier.

Season 14 broke from the usual format by being what kind of season?

It mixed backstories, such as the Locus and Felix trilogy, with non-canon PSA-style episodes.

Who wrote and directed Season 15 after making 'The Brick Gulch Chronicles'?

He returned for The Shisno Paradox and co-wrote Singularity despite being unable to direct it.

In which year did the creator acquire the series' rights after the studio shut down?

The episodic version of the final season was released in December of that year.

Which character's reveal as a woman was written shortly before the episode went into production?

Church's death was improvised the same way; season 1 scripts were written on a Sunday for a Friday release.

The skull used to beat Private Jimmy to death came from which multiplayer mode?

Writing around what exists in the game is the main limitation of the technique, the creator told The Screen Savers.

Until midway through season 3, Texas-based actors recorded dialogue where?

Los Angeles-based actors such as Joel Heyman and Kathleen Zuelch recorded over the phone during season 1.

In which city are the studio's recording offices located?

Two cast members once phoned in their lines from New York State and Puerto Rico.

Which band has supplied the series' music since its first season?

Bandleader Nico Audy-Rowland sent in a song unsolicited during season 1; episode 8 was the first with any music at all.

Composer Jeff Williams left the series after season 10 to score which new show?

Its first trailer had been shown right after the season 10 credits.

When more than four characters were in a scene, Geoff Ramsey worked a gamepad with what?

Each character is a player 'puppeting' an avatar, and the camera is simply another player's first-person view.

Which older Mac games were used in season 3 for scenes set in the distant past?

Because the shooter series is their spiritual successor, the graphics quality doubles as a marker of time's progression.

In the sequel game, what input makes a character lower his weapon for dialogue scenes?

The developer added it deliberately after fixing the look-down bug the crew had exploited in the first game.

To fake crane shots, the crew first stood the camera player on what?

Later they simply stood the cameraman on other characters, a trick also used to make Donut appear to jump higher.

In the sequel game, which map served as the counterpart to the original canyon?

A huge shadow over Red Base there caused lighting problems until a glitch was found late in season 4.

Which software is used to edit the audio and video together?

After Effects adds props the game lacks, such as tombstones in episode 20 and Christmas lights.

Roughly how many downloads did the first episode get within a day?

It was featured on Slashdot, Penny Arcade and Fark the same day; server costs soon forced a move to peer-to-peer sharing.

Which game developer contacted the studio after episode 2 and turned out to be supportive?

The crew had feared a shutdown; instead a deal let them use the game without license fees, continued by 343 Industries.

BBC News Online's Darren Waters compared the show's anarchic energy to which series?

The Village Voice was less kind, dismissing season 1 as 'Clerks-meets-Star Wars'.

Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson, a fan, voiced which character?

His band had earlier commissioned special videos for its concerts.

Grifball, later an official game mode, began as a joke by which character about hurting Grif?

The joke was made in season 4 and became a real multiplayer variant in the third game.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare references the series with an achievement called what?

It unlocks for killing a Chupacabra; Gears of War's nod is the grenade-tagging award 'Is it a spider?'.

Diary of a Camper, the first known film made with game footage, was made in which game?

A group called The Rangers made it in the 1990s; Red vs. Blue is credited as the first such film to break out of the underground.

Paying FIRST members of the studio's website were originally called what?

Membership cost US$5 a month and brought early access, inspiring the fan-made parody 'Sponsors vs. Freeloaders'.

Which TV channel, founded by Robert Rodriguez, picked up the entire series in 2015?

Rodriguez praised its 'quality writing and pioneering motion capture techniques'.

In which year did the series win a Webby Award for Animation?

It was nominated again the following year and also took Best Animated Web Series from the IAWTV.

How does Red vs. Blue's third season explain its sudden move to Halo 2's sharper graphics?

They are blown into the future when a bomb inside Church's robot body explodes, while Church himself is hurled far into the past, filmed in a much older shooter.

With no visible mouths under their helmets, how do Red vs. Blue's characters show who is speaking?

A bobbing head does the talking: in the first Halo, a glitch let a player holding a pistol and looking down seem to stand at ease, and nudging the view made the figure nod.

In Red vs. Blue's first season, how did the cast members living in Los Angeles record dialogue?

Over the phone was the only option at first, since three of the voices lived far from the Texas crew; a second studio was later set up in a cast member's Los Angeles home.

After a damaged voice card, Red Team's robot mechanic in Red vs. Blue can speak only which language?

Spanish is all Lopez can manage after his commander fits the speech unit without grounding himself, and nobody else on the Red Team understands a word of it.

In Red vs. Blue's first season, the feared mercenary sent to reinforce the Blues is what to Church?

His ex-girlfriend, as Church admits while planning her rescue from the Reds; his ghost had already warned the Blues that she once wiped out his whole squad.

In Red vs. Blue's fourth season, what startling diagnosis does the medic Doc give an ailing Tucker?

He is pregnant, Doc concludes after detecting two different heartbeats, and the diagnosis proves right before the season is over.

Which audience stationed far from home did Red vs. Blue's makers supply with DVDs and merchandise?

Soldiers in Iraq received plenty of both and wrote back, and photos surfaced of troops in the Middle East posing with their weapons and the first two season box sets.

Which question, pondered by two bored Reds, is the title of Red vs. Blue's first episode?

Why Are We Here? has Grif and Simmons wondering about their posting while two Blues spy on them, and the fifth-season finale's title asks it again in the past tense.

What name does Red vs. Blue's talking tank give as it coaches Caboose through a tutorial?

Sheila introduces herself as soon as Caboose takes the controls, and seasons later, once the tank has been shut down, she is uploaded into a crashed ship instead.

In Red vs. Blue: The Shisno Paradox, which food does a time-hopping Grif find erased from history?

Pizza has vanished from Grif's old college pizzeria, which now sells calzone and stromboli, so he heads to sixth-century Italy to get it invented.

Which film star voiced Sigma, the scheming AI behind the Meta, in Red vs. Blue's tenth season?

Elijah Wood plays Sigma, the fragment who fixates on a theory that an AI could become human and sets out to gather all the others.

After Lopez repairs the Blues' tank in Red vs. Blue's second season, what do the two machines do?

They fall in love, to Caboose's dismay, and Lopez later sings a love song about her so that the Reds will switch off their radios.

Which Red vs. Blue rookie, sent on a fool's errand by teammates, is handed the Blue flag by mistake?

Donut, hazed by Grif and Simmons with a hunt for supplies that do not exist, wanders into a confused Caboose, who simply gives him the flag.

In Red vs. Blue's sixth season, Agent Washington reveals that the ghostly Church is really what?

An AI known as the Alpha, in fact: Church was copied from the mind of the secretive Director, and every other AI in the scheme was splintered from him.

In Red vs. Blue's first season, how does Grif revive a leader who has been shot in the head?

Performing CPR somehow does the trick, even though the wound is a bullet to the head, fired by Caboose while Church was borrowing the body.

In Red vs. Blue, what is the name of the short-tempered talking bomb who translates for the Alien?

Andy stays silent until the computer Gary insults him, then proves so rude and volatile that the Blues must keep calming him down in case he explodes.

In Red vs. Blue's third season, the computer Gary spends a thousand years building what for Church?

A teleporter is the stranded Church's only way home from the distant past, and the terminal's research and construction take a full millennium.

In Red vs. Blue's final film, which prized weapon does the dying Red leader bequeath to Simmons?

His shotgun goes to Simmons along with command of the Reds, and with his last words the old leader admits he was hard on Grif because he saw his potential.

Which weapon, left on a hill as season 10 ends, is Red vs. Blue's Church inaccurate with?

The sniper rifle is Church's own, yet when ordered to shoot a Red he stalls for so long, and aims so poorly, that it is taken off him.

What first name does Red vs. Blue's Church share with the Director, as a season 6 sign-off reveals?

Leonard is no coincidence: the Director's final memo, written as he steps down to face criminal charges, is signed Doctor Leonard Church.

Which Halo hero appears as a larger-than-life soldier in a Red vs. Blue special made for E3?

Master Chief features in that E3 special, but the writers otherwise kept the story independent of Halo's own plot so that viewers who had never played the games could follow along.

Which company commissioned Red vs. Blue videos for store demo kiosks and a developer conference?

Microsoft, maker of the console the series is filmed on, ordered the kiosk clips, and a premium edition of Halo 3 later shipped with Red vs. Blue content.

In Halo 3's campaign, Red vs. Blue cast members voice a skit about a soldier stuck at what obstacle?

A locked door defeats the soldier in the game's second mission, and the conversation changes depending on which difficulty level is being played.

The Village Voice called Red vs. Blue's first season Star Wars meets which Kevin Smith comedy?

Clerks was critic Ed Halter's comparison, and it was no compliment: his review dismissed the show's humour as shallow.

Alongside Penny Arcade, which web cartoon did Red vs. Blue's makers name as an influence?

Homestar Runner was named alongside the gaming comic and, possibly, Mystery Science Theater 3000, though the team avoided in-jokes in favour of office-style military humour.

Which Hollywood body nominated Red vs. Blue's tenth season for its Outstanding Digital Series award?

Producers Guild of America voters shortlisted the season that wrapped up the prequel storyline and closed with the first trailer for the studio's next animated series.

Why did early Red vs. Blue episodes carry black bars across the top and bottom of the picture?

To hide the game's HUD, since console Halo could not easily switch the display off; a 2010 remaster reshot the early seasons on PC and dropped the bars.

Before the move to Halo 2, how did Red vs. Blue's crew make the ghost of Church look transparent?

Recording every scene twice, once with Church and once without him, was the only way at first; in the sequel a weak camouflage power-up took over.

Which Red vs. Blue cast member voices both the gruff Red Team leader and the medic Doc?

Matt Hullum plays both, became a main writer from the second season, and returned years later to direct the feature-length finale.

Which YouTube comedy duo lent their voices to the teaser trailer for Red vs. Blue's season 11?

Smosh founders Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla voiced the teaser for the season that opened a new trilogy and introduced a fresh theme song.

Which Halo 2 map is the beachside fortress of the villain O'Malley in Red vs. Blue's third season?

Zanzibar becomes O'Malley's stronghold, and a later season returns there to hunt the Meta at the map's wind-power facility.

In Red vs. Blue's third season, O'Malley switches on which secret weapon built into the robot Lopez?

A weather control device is hidden inside Lopez, whose memory also holds secret plans from Red Command, which is why his old team is so keen to get him back.

Which weapon does Red vs. Blue's Tucker find in a fortress, only for it to lock itself to him?

An energy sword binds itself to whoever finds it first, so Tucker is dragged along on the Alien's sacred quest, where the blade turns out to be a key.

Why do Red vs. Blue's Reds hold a fifth-season funeral for a leader who is still alive?

Command presumes him dead, the Reds conclude when a recruit arrives with word that a team commander has died, so they hold an impromptu service, give eulogies and bury their grumbling leader alive.

In Red vs. Blue's fifth season, the ship that crash-landed in the canyon proves to carry which relative of Grif?

His sister, Kaikaina, steps out and reports to the Reds, though being colourblind she has missed the fact that it was the Blue side that sent her.

Inside Command in Red vs. Blue's sixth season, what scheme do the Reds carry out against the Blues?

Wiping them from the database looks like a neat way to win the war, but it backfires next season, when Command no longer believes the Reds have an enemy to fight.

After the raid on Command in Red vs. Blue's sixth season, the Reds are rehoused at which outpost?

Valhalla, where the season's mystery began with two slaughtered teams, becomes the Reds' new home, with Caboose as their only Blue neighbour.

In Red vs. Blue's seventh season, Caboose rehouses Epsilon in which kind of floating Halo robot?

A Monitor becomes the new body for Epsilon, who has Church's voice and personality, and the local aliens, who worship ancient artefacts, bow down to him.

In Red vs. Blue's sixth season, Agent Washington guesses that the Reds' secret pass-phrase is what?

Codeword it is, quite literally, and the correct guess is enough to make the Reds hold their fire while he explains himself.

Which of the Meta's weapons does Grif keep as a trophy in Red vs. Blue's tenth season?

Brute Shot ownership sparks a row with Washington when the weapon turns up among the belongings the Reds offer to trade for their flag.

On which forgotten colony planet do Red vs. Blue's heroes crash-land and stumble into a civil war?

Chorus was a colony at the edge of settled space that slipped everyone's mind after the Great War, leaving its people to govern themselves and then to split into two armies.

What does Red vs. Blue's Caboose name the AI-controlled Mantis he frees from debris?

Freckles takes orders seriously: the machine threatens Tucker for disobeying a direct order, and Grif and Simmons are scared to go near Blue Base.

Which two mercenaries infiltrate opposite sides of a civil war in Red vs. Blue to keep it raging?

Felix and Locus pose as hired guns for the rebels and the government, while both secretly answer to an employer who wants the two armies to wipe each other out.

In Red vs. Blue, the Chairman who prosecuted the Director is unmasked as boss of which company?

Charon Industries is run by Chairman Hargrove, who gave the mercenaries their orders under the code name Control until the Reds and Blues cut into his transmission.

What job does Dylan Andrews hold as she hunts the missing heroes of Red vs. Blue's fifteenth season?

An investigative reporter for Interstellar Daily, she talks her boss into one week to learn why the Reds and Blues turned to crime, and finds that impostors are to blame.

The post-credits scene of Red vs. Blue's final film parodies the ending of which 1980s teen comedy?

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is the model: Tucker turns to the audience, tells them the series is over and bends his famous catchphrase into a goodbye.

Which spin-off of Red vs. Blue: Zero was retroactively counted as the show's nineteenth season?

Family Shatters began as a non-canon side story with the cast of Zero and was only later promoted to a numbered season of the main series.

Which subtitle names Red vs. Blue's seventh season, in which Caboose sets out to bring Church back?

Recreation follows Caboose's quest out to a desert dig site, and it ends on a cliffhanger with two of the Reds' crew shot by a former ally.

Which streaming service added the first five seasons of Red vs. Blue in 2014?

Netflix took the original five seasons first and added seasons 6 to 12 the following April, shortly after the show gained a YouTube channel of its own.

In Red vs. Blue's eighth season, why does Caboose alone keep moving during an armour lockdown?

His helmet is outdated and lacks the lockdown protocol, so the safety measure he requested to stop a rampaging attacker freezes everyone else as well.