Grif
Statistics
Name:	Grif
Affiliations:	Red Team
First Appearance:	Red vs. Blue Trailer
Armor Color(s):	Orange
Occupation(s):	Minor Junior Private Negative First Class (unofficial demotion- previously Sergeant)
Weapon(s):	Battle Rifle, SMG, Magnum, Brute Shot
Relative(s):	Kaikaina Grif
Voice Actor:	Geoff Ramsey

"You realize you just doomed us to certain death just so you could insult me, right?"

—Grif on Sarge's agreement to break into command.

Minor Junior Private Negative First Class Dexter Grif^[1] is a main character in Red vs. Blue. He is voiced by Geoff Ramsey, co-creator of the series. Grif is the slacker of the Red Team, and a wise-cracking loud-mouth to boot. He is also Sarge's #7 man.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Role in Plot 2.1 Misadventures in Blood Gulch 2.2 Surgery 2.3 Into the "Future" 2.4 Return to Blood Gulch 2.5 Sister's Arrival 2.6 Later Adventures 2.7 Freelancer Offsite Storage Facility 2.8 Battle at Sidewinder 2.9 Rescuing Epsilon 2.10 Back to the Desert 2.11 Return to Valhalla 2.12 Rescue Mission 3 Personality 4 Relationships 5 Themes 5.1 Intelligence and Initiative 5.2 Fighting the War 5.3 Armor Color 6 Skills and Abilitites 6.1 Driving Ability 6.2 Kills 7 Inconsistencies 8 Gallery 9 Trivia 10 References

OverviewEdit

Despised by his leader Sarge, Grif has the lowest social and military rank of both teams since Reconstruction. Although Grif's laziness does create problems for the Reds, Sarge always blames him when things go wrong, regardless of Grif's (or anyone else's) actual guilt in the matter. Physically, a lifetime with smoking and eating processed snacks has left Grif in the worst shape for a soldier. He claims that his entire diet consists of Oreos, which he is proud of since it complies with a flawed diet plan Donut was briefly a fan of. Despite having different personalities, Simmons and Grif often spend their time together, as both have similar curiosities and ideas.

He has repeatedly admitted to sleeping during staff meetings and neglecting to do his assigned tasks. Sarge also comments to Grif's laziness on several occasions, one of which, during Recreation, Sarge says to him in response to Grif's question "Who watches me?"; Sarge replies "Nobody. You move less than Donut does." which is emphasized by Donut's inactive state at the time.  In the Red vs. Blue: Animated video, Grif appeared to be left handed and overweight. Luke McKay's character art for Grif also indicates that he is overweight.

Role in PlotEdit

Misadventures in Blood GulchEdit

In Season 1, at the start of the series, Grif is seen conversing with Simmons regarding 'why they are here' in which Grif goes on a thoughtful rant, only to be shot down by Simmons's question as to why they are in the canyon. Later, they are called down by Sarge to name the new Warthog, which goes through a multitude of names, and to be informed of a new rookie joining their ranks. Later, when Sarge leaves to receive orders from Command, he and Simmons meet up with Donut, who they briefly confuse with Sarge due to the same armour colour, but due to the annoyance he is, they send him off to buy "headlight fluid" and "elbow grease" at the store.

After some time, Grif spots Donut, who has the Blue Team Flag, and joins Simmons in rescuing him with the use of the Warthog. They manage to pin down Church and Tucker behind a rock, but then decided to leave it and try to sneak around the back, only to retreat from Caboose and Sheila. Later, he, Simmons and Donut are being fired down upon by Sheila at their own base, but are rescued by an air strike set up by Sarge. He is then blamed for the Warthog's destruction, and is shot at by Lopez. 

After some time, after Donut obtains his 'light red' armour for getting the Blue Flag, he is knocked out along with Simmons and Donut, the latter being gravely injured, by Tex, who punches him in the face. After Tex is captured, he, along with Simmons, is assigned to guard her, but is called by Sarge to assist with Tucker and Caboose, each one covered in 'black stuff'. When Sarge is shot by Caboose in the head, Grif saves him with CPR, though is reprimanded due to the illogical use of treatment for a head wound, though Simmons was being praised for this same act.

Afterwards, he reveals that he did not know that Lopez was a robot, thinking that quiet guy who drank motor oil to 'impress him' and spend some time trying to figure out what Lopez is saying. During Tex's second assault on Red Base, he is assigned to guard the Red's ramp while Sarge and Simmons try and fend off Tex, though they fail at this. He is later seen watching as Lopez, possessed by Church, goes after the dying Tex. He is first seen in Season Two attacking the Blue Team with his fellow Reds, though his failure to bring extra ammo forces them to try and force the Blues to surrender. 

After some negotiating, the Reds receive Doc, while Grif publicly announces that he sucks, is a girl, likes ribbons in his hair, and wants to kiss all the boys, much to Sarge's delight. He is then later seen talking with Doc, who denies this saying that if he wants to make any headway around the base, he cannot be seen around Grif, seeing as how he is not that popular. Some time later, when the Reds decided they no longer want Doc, he and Simmons are sent to return him to the Blues, only to find Church and Tucker in a compromising position, and becomes insulted when Church does not turn around to face them.

SurgeryEdit

When Doc is rejected, Grif and Simmons leave him in the middle of the canyon. Later, is forced to stay back at the base and 'talk' with Donut, while Sarge and Simmons deal with Lopez, who has escaped from Church, but due to the new cobalt paint job, is mistaken for a Blue. He then reports a 'new Blue' to the teams after he spies on them through a sniper rifle. After Sarge decides to turn Simmons into a cyborg, he and Simmons go in search for parts they can use, and end up at the Warthog, but they both panic when Tucker, driving Sheila, is unable to find the break and runs over Grif. It is later revealed that Grif had survived the tank, due to Sarge transplanting Simmons' leftover organs into him. Simmons then gets angry at Grif for misuse of his organs for drinking, smoking and overeating.

When Sarge announces that Lopez has orders from Command in his head, he send Grif and Donut to spy on the Blues. Grif, becoming annoyed by Donut, who constantly talks about being a 'spy' send him into the cave, where he meets Doc talking with O'Malley, and then captured by the Blues. In exchange for Donut, Sarge builds two new robots, one of which punches Grif when someone says 'dirtbag', After the Mexican Stand-off against the Blues and robots, O'Malley's attack, him and Lopez leaving through the Red's teleporter, and the Red-Blue truce, he, along with the others Reds and Blue, save for Donut and Sheila, go through the teleporter, only to end up in Sidewinder with Church, where they are captured by Max Gain.

Into the "Future"Edit

In Season Three, Grif and Church are both to be shown imprisoned by Sidewinder's Reds, and while Church is confused as to why the Reds are still there, when Tex killed the Blues, while Grif remarks that this is not a surprise. When Caboose unknowingly arms the bomb in Church's stomach, which comes out as a burp, Grif is impressed by it, and say he can top it. They are later confronted by Wyoming, who has just killed all of Sidewinder's Reds, and after bantering with Church, he leaves them to starve, only for their cell to open for unknown reasons. They then both later join up with the rest of their respective teams as they are doing battle with O'Malley, but Grif is blown into the 'future', where he, and the rest of his squad, and Caboose try to explain to Tucker what has happened via a play. After exploring the wasteland, Grif gives out a number of Hollywood, California post-apocalyptic clichés, to explain what may have happened. He then agrees with Tucker to pimp out the new Warthog they have found to attract women.

Later, both Grif and Simmons are sent to scope the area out, though they fail at this when they trap the Warthog in a ditch while trying to preform several 'Dukes of Hazard-like stunts', and then go off in search of Tex, who has sent them a distress message. When the Reds and Blue meet up with Tex, they begin to discuss an attack plan on O'Malley's fortress, though they reject Sarge's plans. When the attack begins, Grif and Simmons are sent to look for O'Malley, but when they are unable to find him, are called to the base's computer, which holds a recording of Church, who warns them about the sword. They are all then trapped inside while the bomb is set to explode. His escape plan is to eat through the wall. Thankfully, Church appears from the 'past' and disables the bomb. Afterwards, Grif, Sarge and Simmons discuss a distress signal they received over their Jeep's radio while Donut distracts the Blues.

While preparing to locate the signal, Grif is sent to spy on the Blues to see what they are doing, only to become confused by their attempts to sooth Andy. During O'Malley's robot attack, Sarge mistakes this for the Blues, and orders Grif to act as a shield, though Grif wishes to assist Donut (who is running around screaming). During their escape, Girf, along with Simmons and Sarge, is able to secure a seat on the Warthog, leaving Donut to walk, as they follow the signal, and upon finding that the signal is coming from Blood Gulch, he begins yelling "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!", thus, ending the season.^[2]

Return to Blood GulchEdit

At the start of Season 4, Grif has been screaming in despair atop the cliff for several hours, despite the efforts of his team to coax him down. They do manage to get him down though, when they begin to shoot at him with sniper rifles. Later, as Sarge is giving about awareness, he, Simmons and Donut, witness Sheila roam around Red Base, while Sarge remains oblivious to her. When Simmons tries to convince Sarge about Sheila, Grif claims he did not see her, just to mess with Simmons. When Simmons is banished from the Reds because Sarge thinks he has gone insane, he appoints Grif Simmons' old position, only to lose it shortly after due to his laziness. When Sarge holds a contest for the spot of 'Number Two', Grif is automatically disqualified, though is still entered just so he could be last. When Donut is promoted, and some time has passed, he converses with Simmons (now dressed in mostly blue armour) regarding Simmons' plans to destroy the Reds, by making them jealous, though he fails at this.

After this, when Simmons and Sheila begin to attack Red Base, Grif is able to convince Simmons to stop his attack, and to come back, but Sarge refuses to let Simmons come back because he is now in Blue armour, (though Sarge was understanding about him attacking the base). Grif is then taken prisoner by Simmons and brought to Blue Base, though he complains about being treated nicely.

Simmons then tries to push him into the Blue Base's hole, though he pops back out due to the gravity lift inside. Simmons then tries multiple more times to push him back in with the same result. After playing with the gravity lift for a while, he is knocked-out/rescued by Sarge, who is then knocked out by Simmons when Church arrives.

Both of them are brought back to Red Base as part of the Red's surrender to the Blues, while the Blues get the Warthog. When Sarge and Grif wake up, they do not believe him about his portal of him rescuing them. When Simmons tries to return to the Reds, both Grif and Sarge make this difficult for him. When Simmons does return, a mock-trial is held for him, in which Grif acts as the defense, and settles for a hefty fine which it to be split between him and Sarge when he points out Donut would try to be the bailiff in hot-pants.

When some times passes, the Reds restart their mission to retrieve Lopez's head, which has vital information from Command, though Grif thinks that the information is the same generic orders they have been getting all along. When they do manage to get Lopez back, this is proved true, though it is in Spanish. When Sarge suggests using Andy to translate, Grif points out that bombs explode, and huddling around one is dangerous. When Andy does translate this, Grif tries to comfort a depressed Sarge by allowing him to insult him. When the Reds are then attacked by Church and Sheila, and learn about Tucker's pregnancy, they become confused, and later call for back-up. When Sheila leaves on her own accord, and Church because he is outnumbered, the back-up ship arrives, and lands on Donut.

Sister's ArrivalEdit

At the start of Season 5, Grif and the others are seen standing over the ship trying to figure out what the weird banging noise from inside is. Church, having come back immediately, calls dibs on the ship. The Reds, having then realized they were angry with Church, as things would have been, Church left and a woman emerges from the ship. Her name is Kaikaina Grif, and she is Grif's younger sister. Grif immediately tries to make her leave, but she refuses and says she has been sent as a replacement for a lower class soldier of the squad; and that one of them will be promoted as the replacement for their deceased leader.

The Reds initially are shocked and Sarge refuses, saying that he is obviously alive. However, Grif tells him that if this is true then Command has made a mistake and is apparently not always right. Upon hearing this the Reds prepare for Sarge's Funeral. After the burial, Simmons promotes himself and becomes a tyrannical leader. Shortly thereafter the Reds learn that Grif's Sister is actually there as a member of Blue team and that the deceased leader she was talking about was Captain Butch Flowers and the promotion to the lower class soldier was for Church. After convincing Simmons to help dig up Sarge, Grif takes his sister over to Blue team and tells them she is on their side. He does this in an attempt to protect her from Sarge and Simmons, but regrets his action after Tucker says he plans on sleeping with her.

He and Simmons go down into the cave to find Sarge and are jumped by some unknown people. They kidnap Grif and Sarges shotgun, which is why Sarge and the others come looking for Grif (to find the Shotgun). They find both and shortly after find Vic's control panel. Grif and the others see his sisters armour laying on the ground and presume she has died. Grif becomes distraught and depressed, until he finds out she is actually just naked. He then threatens to kill her for insulting the family name of Grif.

The Reds then learn that the Blues have invaded their base and decide to takeover Blue base in return. Once they reach the surface, they sucessfully capture an unoccupied Blue base, much to Grif's joy. Unfortunately, the Reds realize that Wyoming has captured the Blues, and attempts to kill them. Grif happily states that the Blues will die at the cause of someone else, allowing them to relax. This leads to Sarge getting frustrated at the fact that he won't kill the Blues, much to Grif's disappointment.

Afterwards, the Reds attack numerous Wyoming clones and soon chase Caboose. After being unable to find him, the Reds are soon infected by O'Malley. O'Malley eventually infects Tex and the two, along with Junior, the Green Alien, Gamma, and Andy, escape in Sheila, now a Pelican. Andy then detonates while inside the ship, by orders from Sarge, and causes an explosion. Afterwards, the Reds then return to Red base, where Grif and Simmons spy on the Blues from the cliff. After a brief conversation, Sarge orders the two to come down in order to inspect a new vehicle. On their way down, Grif successfully calls 'shotgun' on the vehicle before Simmons, much to his anger.

Later AdventuresEdit

During the events of Reconstruction, Grif, along with Simmons, is relocated to Rat's Nest and has become a sergeant. However, due to his poor leadership qualities, he and Simmons are soon sentenced to execution for losing his teams' ammunition. Sarge comes and rescues the two, sending them on an important mission. They reach Zanzibar and meet the Meta. Grif, thinking the Meta is a fellow red, tries to get his help. In return, Meta begins to throw many huge objects and vehicles towards Grif, nearly killing him. When the Meta escapes, the Reds join the Blues and Agent Washington to stop him, with Grif being demoted to Minor Junior Private Negative First Class along the way. Eventually, the team is able to stop the Meta and shut down Project Freelancer all together.

In Recreation, Grif, Simmons, and Sarge are relocated to Valhalla, finding Donut. He tells them about Tucker needing help at the desert. Grif, Caboose, and Sarge go to find him, hopefully getting the Blues back into the database at Command. After getting stuck in a minefield, they are helped by C.T. C.T., however, causes them problems later, attacking them and deceiving them; but the team, with the help of Tucker, eventually kills C.T. In Revelation, Grif and Sarge made an effort to save Simmons from Wash and the Meta. When returning to Sandtrap, he ditched the unconscious Epsilon by kicking it into a minefield.

Freelancer Offsite Storage FacilityEdit

He and the Reds followed Caboose and Epsilon to a hidden facility owned by Project Freelancer. After failing to pose as a Freelancer and Sarge's "improvisioned plan", they find Caboose guarding a door to the secret lab. However, Caboose leaves immediately and Tex punched through the door. The Reds and Tucker get beat up by a newly, revived Tex, and Grif gets hit in the groin most of the time during the fight. Epsilon-Church then appears and challenges but is easily beaten up by Tex using his old body while Grif and the other Reds watch. Grif is seen holding a med pack near his groin.

He is later put into armor lock with everyone else except for Caboose. Grif is taken out of Recovery Mode when Epsilon-Church disables the Recovery Mode for all Red Units. He and the other Reds had a debate with the Blue team on whether or not to disable Tex's Recovery Mode. Ultimately, Tex's Recovery Mode is disabled and she attacks Tucker immediately for the ex-wife crack he made about her earlier. Later, Simmons finds a Speed Unit and installs it into Grif's armor, which the use of results in Grif collapsing. Despite his initial refusal to assist Caboose in rescuing Church, Sarge asked him why he stayed on Red Team when he had the opportunity to leave.

Battle at SidewinderEdit

After a particularly rousing speech by Sarge, Grif decided to lend his aid, and the Reds, Caboose, and Tucker, boarded a Pelican to catch up to Church. After crash landing, the Reds set off to look for a power source, but soon afterwards engaged the Meta head on. Grif threw flame grenades and fired his battle rifle alongside his teammates, and was knocked over by a brute shot round. After recovering, Grif joins Sarge and Tucker in close combat with the Meta. In a rare moment of courage, he leapt on the Meta's back, attempting to hold him or wrestle him to the ground, managing to steal his Brute Shot before being thrown aside.

Sarge was then thrown into Grif and Simmons, knocking the three Reds aside. After engaging the Meta alone, Sarge signaled Grif with their code word, "Shotgun," prompting Grif to push the warthog off the cliff with Simmons. The Meta, hooked to the vehicle, was dragged down. In an effort to kill Grif and save himself, the Meta grabbed Grif's ankle and dragged him down. However, Simmons was able to grab him temporarily, freeing him from the Meta's grasp, and Grif was able to jab the Meta's brute shot blade he had stolen into the side of the cliff, saving himself. Afterwards, Grif, along with the rest of the remaining Reds, departed for their base in a stolen Hornet.

Rescuing EpsilonEdit

Some time later Grif, along with the other Reds and Blues, was met by Carolina, who helped them save Epsilon and apparently were forced to fight through an entire UNSC base to find him. After Epsilon is brought out of the unit, Grif reports that they are taking fire. He is later seen coming back in a Warthog, splattering two UNSC soldiers. He then waits for Simmons to arrive in another Warthog. When Simmons arrives and Carolina gives them orders, and then Wash translates the order for them, they leave.

Later they make a pitstop due to them driving for hours and Grif and Carolina get into an argument over it, with Grif saying they need it for snack breaks, bathroom breaks, and taking pictures of funny street signs such as Bonner St. Grif and the Reds then take concern on Simmons' theory of Carolina betraying them and decide to abandon the mission. However, after Washington tells them about a possible ambush that could be waiting for them when they return, the Reds decide to "not" abandon the mission.

Back to the DesertEdit

The Reds, Blues, and Carolina soon find themselves in the desert, where Carolina and Washington leave the Reds and Blues to go find C.T. Later, the Reds come out from behind the Elephant to talk to Blue Team about their concerns about Carolina. Grif soon complains about the heat, in which Simmons reminds him of his helmet's cooling fans. Grif tells him that his sweat had already short circuted his cooling fans during basic training. When Carolina departs with Epsilon, the group gather inside the temple. Afterwards, Carolina returns and informs everyone that they heading to Outpost 17-B.

Return to ValhallaEdit

The Reds, Blues, and Carolina arrive at Valhalla, where Grif states that he gets paid overtime (much to Simmons' shock), and leaves to the base. Afterwards, Sarge and Simmons return to the Red base and inform Grif that they have found Donut and Doc, in which the two left them banana bread, much to Grif's appreciation. As time passes, Simmons and Grif discuss "why they are here", with Simmons coming up to the conclusion that they are here because of the Director, due to the fact that he caused them all their problems. Sarge joins them and adds that if they do kill the Director, their lives will become much worse.

After talking to Carolina, Epsilon gathers everyone inside the Red team's Holographic Chamber, where the final plan to kill the Director is discussed. However, Grif refuses to help Epsilon and Carolina on their mission and begins to leave, which results in the rest of the group to refuse to help as well. Epsilon then scolds Grif for leaving, and eventually gets mad at the rest of the group, blaming them for all his problems. As a result, the group leaves the Chamber, disgusted by Epsilon's words.

Sometime later, the Blues manage to take all of the Red's equipment. When Wash questions what else do the Reds have, Simmons reveals the Meta's Brute shot to them, which Grif calls the "Grif Shot", but refuses to give it up. Doc soon then gives an inspirational speech to the Reds and Blues, reminding them on how much they have changed since they first met. Following Doc's speech, the Reds and Blues decide to go help Epsilon and Carolina but Wash reminds them that the mission will be dangerous and the Director plays for keeps. 

Sarge, however, tells Washington that despite their troubles with Freelancers, the Reds and Blues have always managed to overcome them, due to having each other's backs. Grif adds that their troubles would have also ceased long ago if they quit whenever Church yelled. Wash, as a result, agrees to help. Suddenly, a trio of UNSC Hornets surround the group and attempt to arrest them, but the Reds and Blues manage to take the Hornets and fly off to Carolina and Epsilon's location.

Rescue MissionEdit

The group find Carolina being attacked by an army of robotic Tex drones and quickly rescue her. The group soon then go into battle against the army, where Grif nearly gets hit in the genitals by three drones but is rescued by Tucker and Carolina. Despite the group's courageous efforts, however, they become overwhelmed. Epsilon successfully manages to shut down the drones and then tells the group that he and Carolina must complete the next task alone.

After Carolina and Epsilon confront the Director, they decide to relocate the Reds and Blues to a place where they can call home. Back at Blood Gulch, Sarge orders around Simmons and Grif to approach him on the double.

PersonalityEdit

Grif is the wisecracking loud-mouth of the Reds, being self-centred, acerbic, and lazy. With respect to personality, Grif is fairly brash and has a flair for melodrama. He is quick to make silly theories or insults, even toward people who could clearly kill him without hesitation. Grif is easily scared and would rather run away from a battle rather than deal with it. Although he admits to being lazy, when his sister arrives in Season 5, he said he would try to maintain his status as a good-for-nothing slacker, but nothing would stop him from beating her up and sending her back home.

Despite his setbacks, Grif expresses loyalty, as he has stayed with his team despite the misadventures they've had, and has also shown care for his teammates, willing to fight to save them as the series progressed. Although he may be lazy, he is unlikely to betray his comrades.

RelationshipsEdit

Main article: Grif's Relationships 

Grif's relationships with other characters provides much humor throughout the series.

ThemesEdit

Intelligence and InitiativeEdit

One of Grif's main traits, and most ambiguous, is the question of his intelligence. It has been called into question numerous times, both through his actions and conversations. He mispronounces words like both, which he pronounces as bolth in Episode 14; and margin, which he pronounces as margarine in Episode 55. He made a sarcastic claim that he did not know what jogging is as a wisecrack comment made to enforce his slacker nature and sarcastically stated in Relocated that he thought electricity was "invisible magic." Not completely clueless, however, he is also often the first one to point out the flaws in Sarge's plans; largely because many of these plans involve Grif's demise.

When Simmons defects to the Blue Team, Church tells him that Grif is the smartest one on the Red Team, though this may also be a way to purposely upset Simmons for fun. However, in Episode 85, Church mentions to Tucker that although he considers the other Reds to be fairly unintelligent, he is wary of Grif whom he considers to be "crafty." It can also be noted in the Columbus Day PSA he showed disgust towards Columbia University, claiming he is a 'Harvard man', meaning he may have had something to do with the school. Recently, he came up with Manhattan, Europe, and the Pacific Ocean as states. In short, Grif seems to be fairly intelligent in terms of logical thinking, but does not have much common knowledge, possibly due to his laziness and unwillingness to learn.

Fighting the WarEdit

Although none of the soldiers on either side, save Sarge, are enthusiastic about fighting the war, Grif is arguably the least motivated. Owing to his status as a draftee, Grif is reluctant to take part in any action, falls asleep during meetings, forgets his various duties, and actively tries to withdraw from the army by any means possible. Assigned with carrying extra ammunition in combat situations, Grif has, on at least three occasions, neglected to do so. In a deleted scene on the Season 4 DVD, Grif and Donut have a conversation in which Grif reveals he sometimes clogs the barrel of his gun so he won't have to do any fighting.

Grif has repeatedly tried to leave the army, even going so far as to attempt being court-martialed. An example of this is when Sarge says that the next person to talk about Simmons' feelings is getting court-martialed. Grif says that "Simmons likes to go into the bathroom and cry while he punches the mirror. Well, better go pack my bags." His frustration at being in the army is best showcased when, at the end of Season 3 and the start of Season 4, the Red Team emerged back in Blood Gulch, and Grif stood on the cliff-top for several hours screaming in despair.

He has shown a small amount of initiative and courage, such as when he assisted Sarge in ambushing Agent Washington, going as far as to taunt the Freelancer while doing so. Although, when he discovered that Wash was still a threat even after being hit, he went right back to being fearful and trepidatious in combat. He also made an attempt to physically attack the Meta, slowing him down for a moment by jumping on his back. He was immediately thrown off, but managed to steal the rogue Agent's brute shot.

It was, in fact, his and Sarge's teamwork that led to the Meta's death, which is an achievement that multiple highly trained soldiers died trying to perform. Even after his promotion to Staff Sergeant, he is still as much of a slacker as he was before.

Although he has enjoyed some heroic moments, Grif is in all capacities a poor soldier and perhaps the least capable fighter of the Blood Gulch soldiers. In almost all combat situations he has been in, he only ends up getting pummelled by his opponent or his assault has little effect on them. A prime example of his limited combat skill was when fighting the Tex drones, even though he had them outgunned, he was eventually overwhelmed and required assistance from Carolina and Tucker.

Armor ColorEdit

Grif's armor color was a source of confusion for fans for a while, which the directors noted on the commentaries for the seasons 1 and 2 DVDs. Many fans were under the impression that Grif's armor was in fact yellow and not orange. Even a radio conversation between Church and Tucker in Season One, where Church explicitly called Grif "the orange one", and a scene not long after where Sarge and Church converse and Church again calls him "the orange guy", was not enough to convince the fans otherwise..^[3] This eventually culminated in a convenient scene in Season Two: Church and Tex entered the mind of Caboose and encountered his incorrect perspectives of most of the other characters, in which Grif was yellow. Church pointed out the discrepancies to the mystified Caboose.^[4]

This is reinforced again in Episode 78, in which Sheila calls Grif "lemon-head" and Grif replies, "Hey, I'm orange!" In the bonus Thanksgiving episode, Church describes Grif's armor as "like somebody threw up and decided to call it a color". Another hint came during a first person POV from Lopez, one of his objectives was listed as "Hate the orange one". Strangely enough, in Recreation, Caboose referred to Grif as actually being orange, suggesting that Donut should "kill the orange one" to please Sarge. When Epsilon Church asked who the yellow one was Grif replied saying he was orange, not yellow.

His orange armor is most clearly seen when standing next to Sister, as her armor is yellow. It is also seen, but not as much, during the Halo 3 series', in which his armor blends in with his orange visor. When Grif is seen in Halo 4, his gold visor color displays another way to tell the difference, as gold is similar to yellow.

Skills and AbilititesEdit

Driving AbilityEdit

Grif seems to be very skilled in operating vehicles, nearly always being the main character driving a vehicle of all the Reds and Blues. He is usually the one driving the Red's Warthog, in which he shows excellent driving skills in several situations. He is shown to be able to drive and prefer an Elephant to walking in Well Hello. He even shows to be a skilled pilot, as he was able to fly a Pelican to Sidewinder, though he crashes it when they arrive. Lastly, he was able to steal and fly a Hornet in n+1.

KillsEdit

Despite being one of the least skilled soldiers in the series, Grif successfully killed many Wyoming clones and two UNSC soldiers by running them over with the Warthog. Also, with Simmons' and Sarge's help, they were able to defeat the Meta and he was able to slay a few of the Tex-drones in True Colors.

InconsistenciesEdit

• It should be noted that in Season 5, when the Reds thought that Sister had been vaporized by the Blues, Grif took this hard, and was genuinely sorrowful over the death of his sister. But in Relocated part 3, when he heard from Sarge that Lopez killed his sister, he didn't seem to believe the news for a moment, saying that his sister has a history of amazing survival. This is probably through the fact that he did not see "proof" of Sister's death. But this might not be inconsistent as when it was believed his sister vaporized her armor was on the floor with the camera looking at it.
• In gratitude for bringing down Project Freelancer at the end of Reconstruction, the UNSC allows the teams to use Valhalla as battlefield. Despite his long-expressed desire to leave the Red Army, Grif seems to make no effort to leave the team considering the bases serve no purpose and it is unlikely he will face charges for leaving a fake army. Sarge later points out this inconsistency to Grif to prove he really wants to be part of the team.
• In Why Are We Here? he tells Simmons that he signed on to fight aliens, though in the rest of the series it is said that he was drafted.
• In Hate to Say Goodbye, Grif states that the team is underfire outside when the team rescues Epsilon. However, in Follow the Leader, he seemingly arrives for the first time as the groups extraction.

GalleryEdit

TriviaEdit

• Grif is the first main Red vs. Blue character that appeared in the Halo: Reach engine, during the Deja View PSA showed on Bungie Day 2010
• Grif seems to have chiroptophobia (fear of bats) as seen when he refused to enter in the hole Sarge fell in because of them.
• Grif made a brief cameo appearance at the end of the Grifball: Team Slipspace mini series.
• Grif states in the Columbus Day PSA that he went to Harvard University. He appeared to respect his school to some degree, openly mocking Columbus University.
• Grif and his sister are from Honolulu, Hawaii. Evidence of this can be found on the Season 5 DVD and the Recreation commentary.
• When asked to answer if there was anything that most people would not know about Grif on the Cockbite Radio Podcast, Geoff replied that he likes long walks on the beach, is secretly in love with Simmons, and that one day the two of them will have a baby, when science makes that possible.
• Grif, along with Caboose and Sarge, is the one of the only characters in the series to appear in every season of Red vs. Blue; however, he only makes a vocal appearance in Season 9, and doesn't physically appear.
• Grif, along with Simmons, is one of the only characters in the series to appear in all types of animation forms used in Red vs. Blue (machinima, animated, and CGI).
• Grif is the lowest ranking soldier of the Reds and Blues, being a Minor Junior Private Negative First Class.
• Grif's rank could be considered similar to Doc's rank, as both aren't real in the military, both are "first class", and both obtained them from Freelancer Command (Grif got his from Washington specifically).

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Reconstruction, Chapter 14
2. ↑ Rooster Teeth Productions (2006). Audio commentary. In Red vs. Blue: Season Four [DVD]. Buda, Texas: Rooster Teeth Productions.
3. ↑ Rooster Teeth Productions (2003). Audio commentary. In Red vs. Blue: Season One [DVD]. Buda, Texas: Rooster Teeth Productions.
4. ↑ Rooster Teeth Productions (2004). Audio commentary. In Red vs. Blue Season Two [DVD]. Buda, Texas: Rooster Teeth Productions.

Red Team
Sarge (ε) · Dick Simmons (ε) · Dexter Grif (ε) · Franklin Delano Donut (ε) · Lopez the Heavy (ε) · M12 LRV · The Motorcycle