I think there was always an undercurrent of bitterness and strangeness behind Simmons.
There was, but it was never the sole basis for his personality before. Just a facet of it, more of a quirk that came out when he was backed into a corner. Now it's like he's the kid at school who gets hung up on the flagpole by his underwear. IDGI.
Well, he was the only one of the Reds who didn't get a drastic personality shift at some point. Well, he and Lopez... but then he's also the only one who seemed to be acting more 'normal' from the beginning. So either his big shift is coming bcbw or he's stuck where he's at.
It seems, however, that Epsilon was influenced a bit more by the last couple seasons where - oddly - Grif and Sarge got along better than Sarge and Simmons. Perhaps that's skewed it additionally.
It's true, Simmons was the closest to his true character--Church even pointed that out. He had the foundation of nerdism/science geek still there, but it's like they stripped the Simmons/Sarge relationship that, in my eyes, may have at times been a little one sided, but for the most part, I feel like Sarge favored Simmons. Always gave him preferential treatment. He may not have loved him like Simmons wanted, but at least he took a stronger liking to him than Donut, and certainly moreso than Grif. Now I'm just a little lost as to what exactly everyone's relationships are. I mean, Donut seemed the most distraught over Simmons's death. That was surprising.
I think that difference can be attributed to the other Reds having been 'off', especially Sarge, who hasn't quite returned to normal yet (unlike Donut and Grif - as an example, Grif and Sarge seem to get along all right even when Grif is being his lazy self). It's not something I had thought about until this discussion, but Simmons's relative social position on the Red Team seems to have been based, to a surprising extent, on Sarge hating Grif. Simmons could agree with Sarge, suck up, establish a place for himself on the food chain, so to speak, and that's not nearly as possible when Sarge is more relaxed, likes everyone more, and overall, just hasn't created a clear hierarchy (not nearly as much as in BG). Even though Simmons is the same, his situation is completely different, and being unable to, well, do what he's good at to get into a position of relative power probably leaves him more vulnerable to those personality quirks. He wouldn't have the confidence that might otherwise hide any bitterness - and likewise, he doesn't have the power he probably wants, given that he's really not that different in eBG.
That's all pretty sad. I hope things get better for him in this season, even if nothing's real in the pod. He doesn't deserve this. :(
I thought the characters were pretty much themselves during the funeral, though. For all that Sarge may have favoured Simmons the most of all the Reds, he wasn't exactly the type to... I dunno, get attached? Not to mention being kind of... crazy... in the first place and reeeeally not caring about anyone else's mortality. That actually seemed like the old Sarge. Donut being overemotional is also more of a Donut stereotype. And normal Grif is a bit like normal Sarge, what with never seeming to care all that much about the other characters, although it seems more like he's pretending he doesn't care rather than actually not giving a fuck (he has a moment or two where he does seem to care, even in that episode).
...Yeah, that was kind of long, and I think most people here know more or have thought more on this than me so I'll just kind of... summarize with... no, I thought Simmons was pretty normal, funeral seemed pretty normal by regular BG standards, and all the weird stuff is just due to how the other three guys are/have been behaving funny? ...I'll... go back to the other thread now ok.
Key sentences from the pretty (very) awesome post:
I think that difference can be attributed to the other Reds having been 'off', especially Sarge, who hasn't quite returned to normal yet..
Simmons's relative social position on the Red Team seems to have been based...on Sarge hating Grif. Simmons could agree with Sarge, suck up, establish a place for himself on the food chain...and that's not nearly as possible when Sarge is more relaxed...
Even though Simmons is the same, his situation is completely different...and being unable to...[kiss ass] to get into a position of relative power probably leaves him more vulnerable to those personality quirks.
The last paragraph is kind of a summary, except more of "this is what I think" and less "this is why". I'm used to needing to write summaries by now. :(
Another thing to consider is that they've kind of been doing the whole "summarize Blood Gulch's major points in one half a season," so in fact we might be leading up to Simmons defecting to Blue Team with this latest...
I was actually really hoping we'd see Simmons defect to the Blue Team, as that was probably for me my favourite moment for Simmons (besides him leaping to the turret of the Warthog), so I was a bit dissapointed to see it not happen.
I know this is a double post, but there hasn't been a post in two months, so...
If Season 10 contains sequences set in the Present Time, I hope they give some focus to Simmons. He's hasn't really had an intresting part of the storyline since Recreation. I sooo wanted him to blow the fuck out of Blue Base.
I'd really like to see some practical use for the Reds. They were important in helping Wash find Epsilon and take down the Meta but overall, the Reds have been used more for comedic value while the blues advance the plot (well, while Church advanced the plot).
I have high hopes for the next season-- after all, the Reds seem to be the bulk of the small force that went after the Tex/Epsilon memory unit. I don't remember if we heard Tucker's voice, but one way they could keep advancing the plot would be to arrange the groups as Blood Gulch vets vs. on BG vets.
It's time to let the Reds have character development! Tucker's grown some, Donut may have, and everyone has changed a bit with the revelation that Red vs Blue was just a sim.
Something I've been toying with is that some lind of basic brainwashing was used on all Sim soldiers in order to solidify their belief that the other color was their mortal enemy.
The attitudes of the Sim troops we've seen is completely inconsistent with soldiers engaged in a simulation.
Let's deal with the repurcusions of the Simulation! Let's get more (and serious) character backstories! Let's tackle the universe at large, get a solid feel what what the environment that all this exists in. Heck, tell us what the Director's endgame was with the Freelancers and the AIs was! What was the situation that led to the project? What was the supervision? What was goin on?
*post written on an iPhone, hence the typos and slightly incoherent nature of the post.
Oh, I meant there hasn't been an intresting storyline involving Simmons since Recreation. Honestly, Simmon's mini-storyline in S9 was actually really boring and slow, and just made out Simmons to be a bit of an idiot. I mean, he walked into his own trap...I thought Simmons was the smart one.
That's not the trailer, that's just a clip from the season. Panel Burnie said the season would be a split one again, so split between Freelancer stuff in animation and Blood Gulch guys in game engine.
Also... Sigma is Orange . I'm still trying to deal with that.
Me too. I actually want the "Simmons is part cyborg" story to continue. They always gaze that part everytime it was mentioned, but never got into any details.
So anyways. I think Simmons should experiment with AI in his head this season. I have a feeling the AI is another big thing that's going to happen as the story of the Freelancers comes to a close.
Yeah, but I feel that the team is going to be going after the AI as a whole. Not just happen upon one as they journey, but rather going to retrieve them all.
Not just happen upon one as they journey, but rather going to retrieve them all.
I can't help but think of Pokemon when I read that. I do like the idea of all AIs coming back. They were a big part of the Freelancer story and I think if they're gonna finish it they have to bring back all of them. It would be cool if Simmons could some how be added in that storyline.
I'm not entirely sure all of them were in there. Plus it has been discussed that the director may have created more than one AI "Master Program" if you will. I just believe that there is little evidence that the Meta had all of the AI minus the Epsilon unit and Alpha.
To which we were led to believe that they were all destroyed.
Like Washington said, "Cheaper to store than to delete."
I believe the reference to more than one AI during Recon was the fragments, not another smart AI. While I want them to not be gone, Burnie indicated they were all ehmped precisely because they were all in storage (or in the Meta) but for Epsilon. Not that Burnie can't change his mind (as he seems to oft do) but just sayin'...
