- "Now I know you're worried about our mission. But I can tell you this. There's nothing, more important to me, than the safety, and well-being, of my men. Or my name, isn't Captain Butch Flowers."
- —Captain Flowers in Silver Linings
Captain Butch Flowers, also known as Freelancer Agent Florida, was the Blue Team's previous commanding officer at Blood Gulch. Despite Flowers' few appearances, his roles in the Blood Gulch Chronicles, the Project Freelancer Saga and Season 14 have had a significant impact to the series.
Role in Plot
Project Freelancer
Agent Florida alongside Agent Wyoming.
Flowers is present during a briefing in Planning the Heist, but isn't assigned to a team. He is then present on the Pelican that picks up Carolina, after the battle with Insurrectionists on the highway, in order to retrieve a briefcase. Flowers returns in Oversight, spying on C.T. and other Insurrectionist soldiers with Freelancer Wyoming. Later, he and Wyoming attempt to ambush the Insurrectionist Leader and C.T. when they retreat into a bunker. But, before the two can initiate their attack, he is spotted by the Leader and is struck from afar by his thrown, collapsable tomahawk. After being struck, the other Freelancers arrive.
Flowers survives the injury and pulls the embedded tomahawk out of his shoulder, with Wyoming remarking; "Good show, mate! That's the spirit. Still have a bit of fight in you." Flowers then proceeds to throw the tomahawk at the Chain Guy and Chain Girl but falls short. After taking cover from the incoming fire, he then proceeds to shoot the crane's arm in the complex using an under barrel grenade launcher. As a result, the crane collapses, causing its cargo to knock the two chain gunners off of the platform and crush them.
"Ready for duty, Sir. And, might I say, pleased as punch you picked me."
Later on, following a break-in initiated by Freelancer Texas, the Director decides to move the Alpha A.I. to a location where nobody would find him and suggests someone whom they could trust to guard him. The Counselor recommends Flowers as the prime candidate, in which Director corrects him by stating "You mean Agent Florida?" Flowers then walks into the room and happily accepts the responsibility. The Director then states that they need a way to explain Agent Florida's disappearance, in which Counselor replies that he already has it handled. In order to cover Flowers' tracks, the Director and Counselor erase all records of Florida and prepare to send him to a secluded box canyon with Alpha.
Transfer to Blood Gulch
In order to ensure the Alpha's safety, Flowers oversees a Red army boot camp and recruits three candidates that he believes will be perfect to act as the Blood Gulch Red Team: Privates Simmons and Grif and their C.O. Sarge. Flowers also recruits Private Tucker as the third member of the Blood Gulch Blue Team. For the final step, Flowers forcibly implants the Alpha into Private Jimmy, giving Alpha full control over Jimmy's body and believing it to be his own. Flowers then greets Alpha, now calling himself Church, and introduces him to Tucker. With both teams set for a never-ending conflict, Flowers relays his progress to the Director and speaks with V.I.C., a secret computer residing under the canyon.
Vic informs Flowers to make sure that the Alpha has no recollection who his true identity or the events of Project Freelancer and shows him the backup Freelancers to take his place if he shall die. Confident that nothing will go wrong, Flowers leaves but trips over a plug connected to Vic's computer. This, unfortunately, swaps the names of the Freelancers with Simulation Troopers and changes Vic's personality.
Flowers as the commanding officer of the Blue Team.
While at Blood Gulch, Flowers plans to lead a Blue offensive to destroy the Red Team and knows the key to the Blues' victory. Unfortunately, Flowers soon dies from what Church and Tucker assumed was a heart attack in his sleep. Upon finding his dead body, Tucker takes Captain Flowers' armor for himself. It was later revealed that he had encountered Private Church from the future, who didn't know about his allergy and injected him with Aspirin, in an ironic attempt to save his life.
Return and Demise
In Episode 96, it is revealed he was revived by and allied with the Green Alien and inhabited by O'Malley when he met Doc, Sister, and Junior in the underground caves. He was wearing the standard blue armor - most likely Tucker's old armor - and talked with two voices, his and O'Malley's. In Why Were We Here?, O'Malley left him and left him unconscious. Doc healed him, and went back onto Blood Gulch and talked to Tucker about the situation. He announced that he had information that could win them the war, but dramatically pauses before he reveals the information and is sniped by unknown forces.
Personality
When he first appeared in the series, Flowers was down to earth, treated the Blues with kindness, and was protective of them, making him a complete opposite to Sarge. He's shown to be very positive most of the time and strangely speaks about the Reds as if they were kids as he calls them "old rascals". He also seems to have much humility as he doesn't mind being called by his name without his rank.
As Agent Florida, Flowers rarely spoke and followed every order he was given, making him seem very professional about his job. Flowers seems to have much trust from others, as the Counselor and Director gave him the duty to protect Alpha at Blood Gulch. He also seemed to have a darker side as he barely showed any concern for the soldiers that he was going to pick for leader of the Red Team in Blood Gulch, allowing Sarge to kill Lemons despite his plea for help, and how he implanted Church into Jimmy so he could be possessed by him.
Relationships
Wyoming
Florida and Wyoming seem to work well together. The two are shown spying on the Insurrection and C.T. in Oversight, where Florida seems to act as a sidekick to Wyoming. The latter later compliments Florida on his strength after he gets back up from a strike from a tomahawk in the shoulder. Florida seems to be one of the only characters who isn't annoyed by Wyoming, maybe even appreciating his company.
Tucker
In Silver Linings, Tucker is shown to like Flowers. However, after Flower's (first) death, Tucker takes his armor for his own. In Why Were We Here? Tucker briefly speaks to Flowers before he dies a second time, after which Tucker states that he was still going to keep his armor. Responsible for Tucker ending up in Blood Gulch, Flowers seemed to enjoy Tucker's company, even once stating that the latter has "metrosexual good looks".
Church
Church seemed to like Captain Flowers, at least a little, as he displayed respect for him as a Captain and tried to save his life after he went back in time (though he accidentally ended up killing him). He did find some of the Captain's comments awkward, though. Unbeknownst to Church, however, Flowers was actually meant to keep the Reds and Blues involved in a never-ending conflict, in order to ensure Church's safety, due to the fact that he was the Alpha AI. Flowers also made sure that Church never knew his true origins or the Meta, under orders from the Director. Despite this, Flowers seems to like Church as a soldier and has befriended him.
V.I.C.
Flowers was Vic's partner in the mission to keep Church safe in Blood Gulch. He is also responsible for V.I.C's eccentric personality after disconnecting a wire from V.I.C.'s main computer.
Caboose
While the two have never met Flowers is responsible for Caboose ending up in Blood Gulch after corrupting Vic's list. From what the others told him, Caboose seems to like Flowers more than Tucker as he mentions him to Epsilon and not Tucker.
Donut
While the two have never met Flowers is responsible for Donut ending up in Blood Gulch after corrupting Vic's list.
Sister
Flowers is responsible for Sister ending up in Blood Gulch after corrupting Vic's list. Unlike Donut and Caboose, Sister was aware that she was sent to replace Flowers. The two briefly met after Flowers was revived by the Green Alien. Sister then tried to convince Doc to help Flowers after Omega fled his mind.
Doc
While the two are never seen interacting Doc presumably helped Flowers after Omega left his mind.
Simmons
While it is unknown if Flowers met Simmons he personally selected Simmons to be on the red team in Blood Gulch.
Grif
While it is unknown if Flowers met Grif he personally selected Grif to be on the red team in Blood Gulch
Sarge
While it is unknown if Flowers met Sarge he personally selected Sarge to be the leader of the red team in Blood Gulch despite witnessing him cause the deaths of several of his comrades and his superior Lemons under the assumption he was a blue.
Director
The Director seemed to trust Flowers enough to let him guard the Alpha and orchestrate the Blood Gulch simulation. This is later revealed to be a mistake as Flowers corrupted Vic's list and personality, assembled the team that would eventually take down Project Freelancer, and got himself killed twice. Despite this, Flowers highly respected the Director, being one of the few Freelancers who did not go rogue.
Great Retreiver
While the two are never seen interacting with each other the Green Alien brought Flowers back to life.
Skills and Abilities
Combat
Though he has only been shown in combat on rare occasions, Florida seems to be a very formidable opponent. While he may lack the same strength as the other Freelancers, he is a very smart fighter, using his surroundings to his advantage. An example of this is first shown in C.T. when he, York, Washington, and Wyoming were all pinned down by the rapid gunfire of the Twin Insurrectionist Chain Gunners, with seemingly no way out.
Though he was not strong enough to strike the gunners with a tomahawk, the throw bought him enough time to take cover. He quickly discovers a way to take the upper hand in the situation by malfunctioning a nearby crane and causing the box it was holding to crush the Chain Gunners to death. Florida also seems to have the trust of the Counselor to protect the Alpha and the Director showed no doubt in his decision.
Kills
Before he was sent to Blood Gulch, Agent Florida killed Chain Guy and Chain Girl.
Gallery
Trivia
- According to Burnie Burns Flowers was present at the Freelancer training facility[1]. It was revealed in the episode Don't Say It that Flowers was actually Freelancer Agent Florida, and was transferred to Blood Gulch to watch over the Alpha A.I.
- Due to his rank of Captain, Flowers is the soldier in Project Freelancer with the highest stated rank seen in the series and the only Freelancer agent given a rank at all.
- Flowers is the first Blood Gulch Blue Team member to die in the series.
- Coincidentally, Flowers' real name relates to his assigned Freelancer name, as the Latin translation of Florida is flowery or filled with flowers.
- Flowers is the only Freelancer Agent whose full name is revealed, aside from Tex, (Allison Church).
- Flowers currently has the second highest armor changes in the series, having three different types: aqua colored Mk. V armor, blue colored Mk. VI armor, and blue colored ODST armor with ammo rounds wrapped around.
- As of the Head Cannon episode he, Tex and Doc are the only people Omega enters that isn't seen.
- In the Project Freelancer Saga, it was not revealed who the Blue Soldier working for Project Freelancer was until Don't Say It, revealing him as both Butch Flowers and Agent Florida. Flowers had no recorded dialogue in any appearances in his Freelancer armor prior to this episode, not even grunts of exertion when in battle, likely to keep his identity a secret until the reveal. Before then, many fans of the series called him MBG (Mysterious Blue Guy).
- Flowers is the third highest ranking soldier in the series, tied with Tucker, Simmons, Caboose, and Grif, and behind Colonel Sarge, General Doyle and General Kimball
- Flowers, along with Washington, is one of the only known Freelancer who did not go rogue and personally disband from Project Freelancer.
- They are also the only Freelancers who became the leaders of a Blue Team.
- Flowers prefers to tell time in reference of the four seasons; spring, summer, fall, and winter. Instead of the traditional Gregorian calendar.
- Flowers believed that the "war" would last 14 seasons, about 3 ½ years. But this was reference to the amount of seasons Red vs Blue has at this point.
- According to V.I.C. Flowers was a fan of the Barenaked Ladies.
References
| Blue Team |
|---|
| Blood Gulch: Leonard L. Church · Epsilon · Lavernius Tucker (ε) · Michael J. Caboose (ε) · Tex (ε) Washington · Sheila · Butch Flowers · Andrew D. Kaboom (ε) · Junior · Kaikaina Grif · Freckles |
| Desert Gulch: Mark Temple · Buckey · Loco |
| Coloblind: Wynn · Squatch · Deuce |
| Other: Jimmy · Jacob J. Jenkins · Mickey · Miller · Jones · Blue Grunt Leader · Phil (Falcon) |
| Vehicles: M808V Main Battle Tank · Chopper |
| Project Freelancer |
|---|
| Head Staff: Leonard Church · Aiden Price |
| Agents: Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · California · Carolina · Connecticut · Delaware · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Iowa · Kansas · Maine · Maryland · Montana · New York · North Dakota · Ohio · Oregon · South Dakota · Texas (ε) · Washington · Wyoming · Utah |
| Other Members: F.I.L.S.S. · Four Seven Niner · Recovery Six · Recovery Nine · Tank Guy · Lemons · Lieu |