Halo: A Complete History of Red vs. Blue Easter Eggs

For over 2022 years, Halo fans have long pondered the thought of “You ever wonder why we’re here?” This was the first major line and recurring theme of the hit Machinima web series Red vs. Blue. Developed by the Texas-based production company Rooster Teeth utilizing multiple Halo games, Red vs. Blue was a 19-season-long series focused around the comedic and dramatic escapades of Red Team and Blue Team as they fight, bicker, and eventually become allies with each other. While RVB officially concluded in 2024 with Red vs. Blue: Restoration, elements of the second-longest running web series can still be found in Halo games today through a variety of fun Easter Eggs and references.

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The First Red vs. Blue Easter Eggs

The first season of Red vs. Blue debuted in 2003 and practically became an overnight sensation with its hilarious characters and innovative use of Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer to create a narrative-driven web series. While many Halo fans quickly grew attached to the Reds and Blues’ antics based in the multiplayer map Blood Gulch, Bungie themselves were fans of the show and soon thereafter began corresponding with Rooster Teeth to support the series. This would begin RVB’s long-running history with the Halo franchise and close relationship with Bungie and future Halo developer 343 Industries. References to RVB first appear in the credits of Halo: CE’s PC release, with its credits acknowledging the actors and producers of RVB in special thanks.

By late 2004, RVB transitioned to using Halo 2’s multiplayer as its primary filming engine. Before players even had a chance to play Halo 2 though, gamers who purchased Halo 2’s limited collector’s edition could have watched a short documentary featuring RVB and its cast and crew. In terms of references in-game, Halo 2 players can find a faint sketch of “Why Am I Here” on the upper wall near sniper spawn on the multiplayer map Beaver Creek in reference to the RVB line “You ever wonder why we’re here?”. Later on, in 2005’s Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack, players can find two red and blue soda machines with a rooster and chattering teeth logos on the map Turf. These soda machines were in reference both to Rooster Teeth and RVB.

You ever wonder why we’re here?

Xbox 360 and Bungie-era RVB Easter Eggs

Red vs. Blue wouldn’t fully transition to utilizing Halo 3 as its primary filming engine until 2008, but several Easter Eggs and references were already built into Halo 3 when it debuted in 2007. In the second campaign level, Crow’s Nest, just before players venture left toward the hanger, if players continue straight they’ll encounter a marine banging on a door and yelling at another marine. These marines are played by various RVB actors with the pair of actors changing depending on difficulty, including:

Jason Saldaña and Matt Hullum on Easy and Normal difficulties
Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola on Heroic difficulty
Burnie Burns and Joel Heyman on Legendary difficulty

All the Warthogs in Halo 3, ODST, and Reach additionally feature the name Puma on their wheels, a reference to RVB’s second episode “Red Gets a Delivery” wherein the Reds debate over whether the Warthog should be called a Warthog or a Puma. Following the release of Halo 3’s Heroic and Legendary Map Packs, Bungie and Rooster Teeth debuted a brand-new gamemode called Grifball in late 2008. Based on the Grifball game mentioned in RVB’s 58th episode “Hunting Time”, Grifball has two teams of Reds and Blues equipped with gravity hammers and energy swords compete to catch the Grifball (a bomb) and score goals. Players on either team who carry the ball will turn orange, just like Red Team’s lazy soldier Dexter Grif.

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Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach RVB Easter Eggs

Grifball went on to reappear in Halo: Reach, Bungie’s final Halo game, as an official playlist. Besides the Warthog wheels, no explicit Easter Egg to RVB is found in ODST, but Rooster Teeth did help produce many of ODST’s gameplay trailers. However, RVB was featured heavily in Halo: Reach’s Halsey tribute room Easter Egg in the ninth campaign level, The Package. After activating a hidden switch, defeating a troop of energy sword-wielding Elite Generals, and entering a secret door on Legendary, players can visit Halsey’s lab and read an entry on RVB entitled SUBJECT: RvB [CIV]. This in-universe data entry details Red vs. Blue as “incessant puppeteering.”

Red vs. Blue actors were able to voice the marines in Crow’s Nest after Rooster Teeth successfully bid $9,000 in a 2006 Child’s Play dinner auction to record dialogue in Halo 3.

Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians RVB Easter Eggs

When 343 Industries gained control of the Halo franchise, Red vs. Blue was initially heavily featured in 2012’s Halo 4 in a variety of Easter Eggs and references. For one, after winning five multiplayer War Games matches, players will earn the achievement I Halo 4 is more famous for its comedic RVB Easter Eggs found in the PvE mode Spartan Ops. In one chapter of each Spartan Ops episode, players can find hidden radios scattered about the level. Once the radios are shot at, a snippet of RVB’s Blood Gulch Blues theme song will play and characters from the series will then appear, replacing the normal audio for the level. RVB character appearances in Spartan Ops include:

Joel Heyman as Michael J. Caboose
Burnie Burns as Leonard L. Church and V.I.C.
Geoff Ramsey as Dexter Grif
Gus Sorola as Richard "Dick" Simmons
Matt Hullum as Sarge
Kerry Shawcross as Agent Georgia

While Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians did see the return of Grifball in official multiplayer playlists, Guardians did not feature any Red vs. Blue Easter Eggs in its campaign or other lore-related content. However, there was a RVB reference in a cosmetic weapon coating. The description of the 2016 Halo Championship Series Contender Red legendary weapon skin stated, “Let's all take dying as an open action item.” This line is a direct quote from Simmons in RVB’s 38th episode, “K.I.T. B.F.F.” Just before Sarge begins attacking the Blues. Despite this lack of Easter Eggs and references, Red vs. Blue went on to use Guardians as the basis for Seasons 15-19.

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Halo Infinite RVB Easter Eggs

Compared to lackluster Easter Eggs and references in Halo: 5 Guardians, 2021’s Halo Infinite featured a plethora of Red vs. Blue Easter Eggs and references both in its campaign and multiplayer. When players call for a Scorpion tank to be dropped off at UNSC Forward Operating Bases, the Pelican pilot Echo 216 will occasionally say, “Your Scorpion's on the way. By the way, her name's Sheila.” This is a reference to the recurring character Sheila in RVB, who is the Scorpion tank’s onboard artificial intelligence and close friend to Caboose and the Red Team’s Spanish-speaking robot Lopez. If players successfully bring the Scorpion to War Chief Escharum’s House of Reckoning, they’ll receive the achievement Bring Sheila Home Safely, another reference to RVB’s Sheila.

Similarly, in Halo Infinite’s campaign near the easternmost gun battery, players can find a dead marine and a dead Grunt in makeshift bases surrounded by red and blue lights. This is a reference to how Red vs. Blue repeatedly centers around the Reds and Blues being trapped in bases in enclosed spaces such as the multiplayer maps Blood Gulch and Valhalla. If players have the IWHBYD skull activated, they can occasionally hear marines ask Master Chief, “Do you ever wonder why we're here?” Another reference to the RVB line “You ever wonder why we’re here?” From RVB’s first episode, as asked by Simmons to Grif.

Halo Infinite Multiplayer RVB Easter Eggs

In Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, if players purchase and equip the comical personal A.I. Mister Chief based on Halo’s protagonist Master Chief, the artificial intelligence will occasionally say, “was that a blue spider?” After the player eliminates another with a plasma grenade. This is in reference to Red vs. Blue’s 11th episode “Knock, knock. Who's there? Pain.” When Red Team’s rookie recruit Donut asks if a plasma grenade stuck to his head is a spider. Similarly, if players equip any of their personal A.I. With the color Lightish Red, their A.I. Will turn pink. This is another Donut reference, as the character later dons pink armor in RVB’s 16th episode, “A Slightly Crueler Cruller” but he always refers to it as lightish red.

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