The Penny Arcade Expo, a weekend-long celebration of gamer culture, gives equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop gamers alike. I am not nearly so generous with my schedule however as I spend at least half my time holed up in the Bungie booth and then spread what is left of the wealth amongst the remainder of the offerings. As Bungie shared their booth with the fine folks from Rooster Teeth this year, that meant Red vs. Blue was automatically a significant part of my PAX experience. As I have called myself a fan of theirs for quite some time now, I was extremely content straddling the fence between the two areas, and not just because it rubbed me in all the right places either.
The main attraction occurring in the Red vs. Blue booth over the weekend, besides the mere presence of everybody’s favorite award-winning production group of course, was the constant stream of hot Grifball action. Spread out on a long table were eight Xbox 360 consoles, each with its own monitor (four stations on each side), which proved to be the perfect setting for the constant swing of hammers and arming of bombs that went down over the entirety of the weekend. On Friday they hosted an open play session where anybody and everybody could pull up a chair and join in on the Grifball fun. Saturday and Sunday were more structured with three 16 team tournaments spanning over the two day period. I just happened to be in line to buy some shirts when I realized the dream team was sitting right in front of me. I have no idea how Caboose continued to play with me constantly taking his picture. And while I am thinking about it, I have no idea how I kept my place in line while I was thoroughly distracted by the fact that Caboose’s handsome face was two feet from my face. That is one attractive man, especially when he is kicking some Grifball ass. I’d be happy to get in the way of his bullets any day of the week.
Along with their booth, Rooster Teeth also put on an extremely entertaining panel which was easily one of the most popular events of the weekend. Numerous heartbroken fans were turned away due to a filled to capacity theater. The ones lucky enough to gain entrance were treated to a hilarious question and answer session (the lamest question of the night award went to the gentleman who flatly said, “2+2″), witty and frequently belittling banter between the team members (there was an impromptu and apparently much needed intervention), and a special piece of eye candy in the form of an animated video. As a big fan of their current Reconstruction series, it was very different from what we are used to but still quite hilarious in its own right.
I had a chance to briefly talk with Joel Heyman, the voice of my most favorite Red vs. Blue character Caboose, after the panel which left me in the giddy excited state of a schoolgirl. While I already shared the interactions, I feel the need to repeat the encounter as it was quite memorable for me. It went a little something like this:
Me: Hi! I’m bs angel. Everybody tells me I am the female version of your character.
Joel Heyman: I’m sorry.
If my Red vs. Blue experience only included Caboose, I would be one happy camper. The fact that it consisted of so much more was just icing on the cake. As they do every year, Rooster Teeth put on one hell of a show. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some catching up to do on their latest offering. I do hope my sweet Caboose makes an appearance.
Posted by mendicantbias00 on September 3, 2008 at 3:31 am
I absolutely love Caboose, his quiet, innocent, homicidal tendencies make me laugh out loud all the time, but I think the dynamics between Tucker and Church are where its at for me (a la RvB 1 opening scene). That looked like a fun time as well, did you get in on any Grifball action?
Posted by mendicantbias00 on September 3, 2008 at 4:50 am
I would also like to add that it’s awesome to hear Tucker’s voice again. :D
Posted by Stuicide on September 3, 2008 at 7:29 am
Awesome stuff all around.
I heard about their surprise video, but hadn’t been able to see it. I love it, I can only imagine the things they can do when they’re not limited to what’s in Multi-player, but that was kinda the charm.
Funny guys, and Burnie likes to spawn camp on Grifball.
Posted by davyboy94 on September 3, 2008 at 7:40 am
wow that was awesome im gonna check to see if a new reconstruction is up yet
Posted by the Light Show on September 3, 2008 at 8:30 am
red vs blue = complete and total awesomeness!!! and grifball. i love it. and caboose is gonna take over the world someday. i just know it.
Posted by Laird on September 3, 2008 at 9:16 am
Good article, Hah you got a picture of the back of my head!
Posted by Ragingterror on September 3, 2008 at 9:20 am
Joel Heyman does not play Caboose. Joel Heyman IS Caboose. Seriously. Spend enough time with him, and you’ll see.
He’s a good guy, though, if you can get to know him a little bit.
Ever think that maybe you jumped the gun with your husband, Angel? ;)
Posted by bs angel on September 3, 2008 at 9:20 am
Never. I do continue to appreciate from afar though. :)
And I left your head in Laird because it makes me laugh, LOL, …
I totally forgot to mention the awesome Grifball plushies they were giving away during the panel. If I am remembering correctly, they were handmade by somebody but unfortunately I can’t recall by whom. They were beyond awesome though!
Posted by Ragingterror on September 3, 2008 at 9:21 am
^^^ Griffon Ramsey. Wife of Geoff Ramsey (Grif) and writer for the RT webcomic.
Posted by davyboy94 on September 3, 2008 at 11:08 am
Sarge and Caboose are my fav characters in the series :P
Posted by Naepa34 on September 3, 2008 at 11:24 am
wait, what were the grifball plushies of? grifballs?
Posted by bs angel on September 3, 2008 at 11:47 am
Yes, and they were totally awesome! They were giving them away throughout the weekend.
Posted by davyboy94 on September 3, 2008 at 11:52 am
is there one in the comp ?
Posted by mendicantbias00 on September 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm
You mean one of these?
From Devin Olsen’s trip to PAX.
Posted by Crazyeye0 on September 3, 2008 at 12:37 pm
God, I havn’t been keeping up with RVB since I was on holiday, I’ve missed what? 5 episodes of Reconstruction? I need to know what happened in the last few episodes since the one which ended with Caboose Unconcious/dead with all the AIS in a cirlce around Delta.
Posted by Naepa34 on September 3, 2008 at 12:57 pm
wow, I could definitely seeing myself running around with one of the grifball plushies shouting “BOMB ARMED” and then the subesequent “GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL”. yea, I shout “goal” in grifball.
Posted by PikminGod on September 3, 2008 at 1:54 pm
is a big bomb part of the givaway?
Posted by Ken Raves on September 3, 2008 at 8:23 pm
It’s so awesome they released two PSA’s. And also…I smell some secret anime workings, deep in the Rooster Teeth HQ.
Posted by Naepa34 on September 3, 2008 at 10:29 pm
oh yea, RvB definitely is up to something. I say they make a RvB movie.
Posted by nate on September 5, 2008 at 12:49 am
i heard Caboose “fights covenant on heroic” with Sister if you know what i mean. how weird is that?