Editing Red vs. Blue (section)

==Overview==
The ''Red vs. Blue'' storyline spans nineteen<ref>[https://www.patreon.com/posts/104120078?utm_campaign=postshare_fan Morning Somewhere Patreon]</ref> full-length seasons and seven mini-series. [[Rooster Teeth]] periodically releases self-referential [[public service announcement]]s and holiday-themed videos, which are generally unrelated to the main storyline and not considered canon. In these videos, the members of both teams are actors who claim to be from ''Red vs. Blue''.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Although the visual background of ''Red vs. Blue'' was primarily taken from the [[Halo (series)|''Halo'' series]], [[Rooster Teeth]] consciously limits connections to the [[Halo universe|''Halo'' fictional universe]]. A special video made for [[Electronic Entertainment Expo|E3]] 2003 portrays [[Master Chief (Halo)|Master Chief]], [[Halo (series)|''Halo'''s protagonist]], as a larger-than-life member of the army, and the ''Red vs. Blue'' trailer and first episode establish that the series is set between the events of the first two games. Beyond these references, the storyline is independent, a decision that, according to Burns, is intended to increase accessibility to those unfamiliar with the games. For example, even though the cast of the [[Red vs. Blue season 4|fourth]] and [[Red vs. Blue season 5|fifth]] seasons include characters from the [[Covenant Elite]] alien race, [[Rooster Teeth]] never portrays those characters in their original ''[[Halo (franchise)|Halo]]'' context.<ref name="Smith">{{harvnb|Smith|2006}}</ref> Beginning with the [[Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction|sixth season]], titled ''Reconstruction'', the series begins to follow ''[[Halo (franchise)|Halo]]'' more closely. It is established that [[Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction|Reconstruction]] onwards takes place one year after ''[[Halo 3]]'' and several characters indirectly reference Smart AI, the [[Human-Covenant War]], and [[Forerunner (Halo)|Forerunners]]. Also at several points it is noted that Project Freelancer is under the jurisdiction of the [[United Nations Space Command]].{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

During its first seventeen seasons, ''Red vs. Blue'' centered on the Red and Blue Teams, two groups of soldiers engaged in a supposed civil war. Originally, each team occupies a small base in a box canyon known as [[Blood Gulch]]. According to {{Rvbchar|Simmons}}, one of the Red Team soldiers, each team's base exists only in response to the other team's base. It is later revealed that there is no actual civil war; both the Red and Blue armies are under the same command, Project Freelancer, and only exist as training simulations for Freelancer Agents. Although both teams generally dislike each other and have standing orders to defeat their opponents and [[capture the flag|capture their flag]], neither team is usually motivated to fight the other, with the exception of Sarge, the leader of Red Team.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

The eighteenth season, referred to as ''Zero'', centers on an elite team of special operations soldiers, known as Shatter Squad, as they try to stop another group of soldiers, known as Viper, from getting the keys to a powerful suit of armor known as the Ultimate Power. Unlike the original series, ''Zero'' instead parodies action movies. While certain character, vehicle, and weapon models are carried over from ''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]'', the series tries to distance itself from the ''Halo'' universe, instead introducing a new military force known as the Alliance of Defense in place of the UNSC. Rather than being a machinima produced in the ''Halo'' engine, the series is now fully animated in [[Unreal Engine 4]] and uses assets from the Unreal Engine Marketplace that are unrelated to the ''Halo'' franchise, although there are moments that scenes are animated to mimic machinima limitations. ''Family Shatters'' originally acted as a non-canonical spinoff involving the characters introduced in ''Zero'' but was retroactively made the nineteenth season of ''Red vs. Blue'' after the release of ''Restoration''.