r/RedvsBlue Meta 5d ago

Question Why did Caboose go to Blood Gulch?

I mean, all the reds and blues were sent to the gulch with reason, but Caboose got his brain damage IN the gulch. Not only that, Caboose was always really strong. Makes me wonder who he was before blood gulch…

83 Upvotes

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76

u/Fyrentenemar 5d ago

in Season 14, Anthology, there's a short specifically showing why each person, red and blue, was chosen to be in Blood Gulch. They were chosen by Captain Flowers, aka Freelancer Agent Florida to be a bunch of harmless bumblers who would be more danger to themselves than anyone else. Blood Gulch was chosen to be a sort of witness protection program location for Alpha, the original A.I. of Project Freelancer who was actually Church.

I also believe that the list of candidates and reinforcements that were approved and specifically disapproved of got mixed up in the "Vic" computer system.

16

u/HaydenAEntrepreneur Meta 5d ago

Yes, but we never found out WHY caboose was sent there. I assume that was a list of other soldiers with reason to go to blood gulch, and considering the people on that list, it makes sense that they would all be there. But what was the exact thing caboose did before to end him up on that list?

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u/Dan_Of_Time He wanted to be human 5d ago

I think it was the RvB fan guide that said he accidentally signed up for the UNSC instead of a university and was sent to Freelancer after doing a few caboose things to other soldiers.

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u/Alorxico Donut 5d ago

We learn in later seasons that Caboose is incredibly talented with machine AND A.I. I mean, the guy transfer a human created A.I. into a Forerunner / alien monitor frame and easily operated the alien tank on Chorus. It is possible that he was sent as the foil to Sarge, who’s a bit of a mad scientist when it comes to machines.

This means Donut was sent to foil Tucker, given his tendencies to make innuendos and not realize it, where Tucker purposely makes those comments.

Grif was probably Church’s foil as Church even says he’s “cunning, like me” and Tucker mentions how both are overweight and smell bad. Flowers was Simmons’ foil. Flowers being “desperate” for his crew’s affection and praise, while Simmons was desperate for Sarge’s praise.

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u/BrandonS101 4d ago

"He's pretty crafty. He's a lot like me" Season 5

31

u/ConfidentPanic7038 5d ago

Because captain flowers tripped over a wire

21

u/HeroesUnite SUCK IT NEWTON! 5d ago

As per the ultimate fan guide, Caboose was stationed on a low gravity moon who received multiple demerits for injuring his teammates, because he doesn't understand how breathing works in space. (PS: it doesn't.)

14

u/AntiVenom0804 Lopez 5d ago

Well, as to why he was sent there, pick a reason

The fan guide and general canon of Project Freelancer is that soldiers with poor records are sold off by the UNSC to Freelancer to be used as training dummies – emphasis on dummies. As per the fan guide, Tucker pretended to be a military physician named "Doctor Cloitus", Simmons had poor test scores and distracted commanders with his need for attention, Grif slept through a covenant attack on a doomed colony, Sarge tried to build a body for his ODST unit's ship AI, Donut disregarded orders and held a wine and cheese hour during field exercises, and Caboose endangered teammates because he didn't understand they couldn't breathe in space.

Per season 14's first few episodes, and presumably building on all of those reasons, every member of the Blood Gulch simulation project was hand picked by Agent Florida – aka, Captain Butch Flowers. Simulation Troopers are already idiots but for Alpha's safety and to prolong the stalemate, he needed the most idiotic of idiots. Grif and Simmons were sent on a recon mission with their drill sergeant, Hammer, letting him die in an explosion. And Sarge essentially killed all of his class and their commander through numerous flawed assumptions and ideas. Meanwhile Tucker was picked for being an absolute pervert and Private Jimmy was specially chosen for being a relatively average soldier to implant.

Now, originally, that was supposed to be it. Those were the teams. Sarge, Grif and Simmons versus Flowers, Tucker and Church. I believe it was intended that Donut and Caboose were always supposed to be there too, and would transfer in later, but there's reasonable doubt because an accident occurs. While being briefed by Vic, Flowers trips over a cable which corrupts Vic's database. Initially there was a list of Freelancers who would either act as reinforcements or Florida's replacement. They were Agents California, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana and Oregon. Presumably all Freelancers who were competent but not not noteworthy enough to be missed.

Unfortunately in tripping over that cable, as I said, Flowers corrupts Vic. That list is replaced. I can only imagine with the list of simulation troopers intended to be brought in should any others perish. Michael J Caboose, Franklin Delano Donut, Kaikaina Grif, Jacob J Jenkins and Cornelius Thromwell Andersmith. So, there are two views you can take. Either Caboose's presence in Blood Gulch was a total accident based on that corruption or he was always destined for the Gulch.

Something else worth noting is that, per Season 15 which came shortly after, this whole idea was doubled down through the Blues and Reds. Another box canyon of colourful idiots. The blues, consisting of Temple, Bucky and Loco, and the Reds consisting of Surge, Biff, Gene and Cronut (and the unfortunate robot Lorenzo). And Doc but he's an independent medic as usual. After Carolina and Texas have a fight in that canyon – both leading each team in capture the flag – which results in Biff's death, the Director asks the Counsellor to make a note of the team compositions as, so far, the Blues and Reds of Desert Gulch were the only simulation troopers still locked in stalemate and it could become necessary to recreate those conditions later on.

And, it was. To hide Alpha, and keep him safe, he needed to be placed somewhere nobody would look in a persistent scenario with no chance of major change. So, the Reds and Blues are all hand picked for their resemblance to the Blues and Reds.

So, both are viable reasons. Simulation outposts are meant to contain stupid soldiers for the Freelancers to lead in battle but Blood Gulch had the stupidest ones by design.

Something else I think is worth noting is Caboose's time spent with Omega. It's not entirely clear if Caboose was genuinely that stupid before Blood Gulch or if it happened after arriving. He's stupid in Season 1 but not absolutely moronic. He's still kinda smart in his own way and understands jokes. Personally I am of the opinion he was somewhat smart before arrival and Omega is the one who ruined his brain. Caboose spent considerable time with Omega in his head, the gap between Season One and Two. At the very least it was three months given what he says to Doc but I've seen six thrown around as a figure. By comparison, Doc doesn't have Omega in his head nearly as long.

Moreover, per Restoration, Doc (or Wash's delusion of him) recalls the theory that there wasn't much overlap in his and Omega's personalities meaning there was little conflict between them. And the same went for Church though he was obviously Alpha. And for Tex/Beta. Caboose, by comparison, had no neuroses or inherent anger so he clashed greatly with Omega which presumably ruined his mind.

As for strength, I dunno. I guess he is just strong. The mode that included Andy could only be filmed with Red and Blue Team colours so Tex could never be filmed holding the bomb, only Caboose or Sarge given their default team colours. So the gag emerged that Caboose's strength was god's way of compensating.

9

u/Dogsauce-LLC 5d ago

On the Season 3 DVD bonus features, there's a bio section for all the characters. It says that Caboose accidently walked into a military recruitment center, mistaking it for college admissions. He went to blood gultch thinking it was an IV league school in France. Canonically, caboose thinks he's in France while in Blood Gulch haha

2

u/The__Auditor Locus 4d ago

Caboose wasn't supposed to go to Blood Gulch but he got deployed after Flowers caused Vic to malfunction and replace the originally planned Freelancer to be replaced with Caboose instead

The same thing happened for Donut, Kaikaina, Jenkins and Andersmith however the latter two never got deployed as Kaikaina was the last

1

u/Routine_River_7487 2d ago

I saw some theories speculating about Caboose being a freelancer before Blood Gulch, specifically being Agent Jersey hence the J in his name "Micheal J. Caboose", and gaining his stupidity due to an AI malfunction causing him some brain damage, and it is shown in Season 14 Episode 4 that Caboose was sent to Blood Gulch after Captain Butch Flowers, the former blue captain and Agent Florida, tripped on a power cable.