Chupathingy

Wash heard this so many times during boot that he got in the habit of carrying a straw with him so he could pull it out and reply, dryly, “Got one right here.”

8/31 for anon! apologies but because I always draw Wash without his helmet I decided to reverse things a little. XP also here have some of his cat family to make up for it. 

AND EVERY TIME WASH DOES SOMETHING STUPID A BIG HEART JUST POPS ON HIS HELMET

OR WHEN YORK STEALS HIS CORNBREAD IN THE DINING HALL AND A BIG ANGRY FROWNY FACE SHOWS UP

Assuming they enlist as soon as they are able,  Locus/Felix each enlist at 18, go through basic, get shipped off somewhere.  They each spend a few assignments learning skills, becoming decent soldiers. 

They meet for the first time at the outpost mentioned in 12x6.  They spend some time stationed there before the horrible battle, at least a few months, enough that they develop a willingness to put up with each other for more than 15 minutes, perhaps purely because they each recognize the other as a skilled soldier.  Then, the battle happens and they do their best to save their teammates and CO, to protect that which they’re guarding, but both Locus and Felix take major hits, and most of their squad dies before help can arrive.

They both immediately get dropped in medical for a few weeks, after which they find out they’re being discharged for medical reasons.  For a few years, Locus struggles to find purpose in his life and spends most of his time wandering between the gun range, a gym, and the VA medical center, where he runs into Mason Wu (Siris).  Meanwhile, Felix spends his time either drunk or high, trying to forget that he needs sleep, because when he sleeps sober, he dreams about the war and wakes up in a panic when Locus doesn’t respond to his transmissions.  He ends up at the medical center again, where Locus finds him and introduces him to Siris.

A few years after they all first meet, Siris comes up with the idea for bounty hunting.  They do a few smaller jobs successfully, they take a break for Felix to get clean, and they start taking on bigger, riskier jobs. Eventually, this takes them to Lozano, and we see the outcome from season 14.

At this point, Felix/Locus are at least 25, probably closer to 30.

After that, they start doing jobs that are a little less clear-cut morally clean, Siris stops working with them because he’s afraid for his family, and Locus is entirely dependent on Felix telling him what to do, because he needs orders in order to be a soldier, dammit.  They spend years doing this, becoming some of the galaxy’s best mercs, and then they nab the Chorus job. 

They were likely on Chorus for at least 5 years, based off of Felix’s “we’ve been playing these guys for *years*” comment, Kimball’s dialogue in 12x6, plus the fact that they had been their long enough to off multiple leaders on either side.  So, by the time the Reds and Blues get to Chorus, Locus and Felix are likely in the 35-40 range, if not older.

or, Anne’s Big Fat RvB15 Meta Post

Strap in, pals, this is gonna be a long one.

Let’s get the disclaimers out of the way first! These are, as always, my personal and subjective opinions. Some of these opinions are critical. If you are not interested in hearing any criticism of Red vs. Blue, you should probably just stop reading here. If you loved season 15 and feel it was without flaw, I am happy for you and I’m not trying to ruin your day. If you think this is going to upset you, this is your chance to be on your way. That said, I’m always up for friendly discussion and you are welcome to disagree with me as long as you’re civil and come prepared to defend your assertions.

Needless to say, this post contains spoilers for the entire season.

I also need to give the biggest shout-out to @tuckerfuckingdidit–it is impossible to quantify how much meta we’ve shot back and forth during the season, how many concepts I’ve talked through with her and how much those conversations have fed my inspiration and my desire to actually get this beast completed, so my hugest thanks to red for going deep into RvB with me and generally being an awesome pal. <3

Red vs. Blue’s season 15 starts off very strong. In fact, in my opinion the first five episodes are the strongest in the season, and with that setup, I found myself taking a very optimistic view of the season even as the cracks in the writing began to show later on. I still enjoyed watching, and withheld an overall judgment until the season was complete. Now that it is, I’ve had the chance to rewatch it start to finish and think about the progression of this season as a whole, as a complete narrative arc.

What I want to explore here is this: where, why, and how does season 15 go off the rails? Why is the writing so much weaker in the back half, where does the narrative fall apart, and perhaps most importantly to me as a writer, how could some of these problems have been avoided?