Dexter Grif

"I would just like to let everyone know, that I suck!"

- Naelson embarrassing himself in Red vs. Bleu

Captain Naelson Velasquez Mesa is a main character in Red vs. Blue and is voiced by Geoff Ramsey. He tends to not listen to orders and frequently makes sarcastic comments at the expense of his own team. He also spends much time with his teammate Simmons, with whom he has a complex friendship with. He is a main character in most seasons, with the exception of Season 9, where he only has a voice cameo at the very end of the season.

Overview
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 of 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.

Basic Training
Grif attended college in Ithaca for a year, frequently eating at Sammie Raphaello's Pizza before he dropped out and enlisted in the Red Army. Before Blood Gulch, Grif was deployed in a simulation outpost called Danger Canyon under drill sergeant Hammer. After failing to show up on time for a training exercise, Grif encounters a frightened soldier named Simmons while attempting to cross a narrow bridge. Hammer orders them to move but the two refuse. Eventually, the two of them run across after being fired at by their Lieutenant. Because of this incident, Lt. Lieu calls the three of them into his office and, after lecturing them, sends them on a special mission to Timberland to find Red survivors and gather intel.

When the three arrive, Hammer attempts to move Simmons and Grif closer to the base, but the two refuse and convince Hammer to leave with them back to base. However, Hammer instead enters the base and is killed by a bomb set by the Blues, leaving Grif and Simmons to return to Danger Canyon and tell everyone that Hammer died a heroic death. Lieu then congratulates Simmons and Grif on their return and, by orders from Butch Flowers, sends them out to Blood Gulch on a "special mission".

Misadventures in Blood Gulch
In Season 1, 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' question as to why they are in the canyon. Later, they are called down by Sarge to name their new Warthog and to be informed of a new rookie joining their ranks. When Sarge leaves to receive orders from Command, Grif and Simmons meet the new rookie Donut. Finding Donut annoying, Grif and Simmons send him off to buy "headlight fluid" and "elbow grease" at the "store". Later, Grif spots Donut with 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 are forced to retreat back to base when Caboose and Sheila arrive. As Sheila pins them down, Sarge rescues them via air strike, and the latter blames Grif for the Warthog's destruction. After some time, Grif, Simmons, and Donut, are knocked out by Tex, who regains the Blue Team flag. After Tex is captured, however, the Blues manage to rescue her, after Church possesses Sarge. When Sarge is shot by Caboose in the head, Grif saves him by performing CPR, though is reprimanded due to the illogical use of treatment for a head wound. Afterwards, Tex enforces her second assault on Red Base, with Grif assigned to guard the ramp while Sarge and Simmons try and fend off Tex, though fail. He is later seen watching as Lopez, possessed by Church, goes after the dying Tex.

Surgery
Grif is first seen in Season 2 attacking the Blue Team with his fellow Reds, though his failure to bring extra ammo forces them to try and have the Blues to surrender. After some negotiating, the Reds receive a medic: Doc, while Grif publicly embarsses himself, much to Sarge's delight. However, when Doc nearly kills Sarge with the warthog, Grif and Simmons attempt to return him back to the Blues, but only find Church and Tucker in a compromising position. When Doc is rejected, Grif and Simmons leave him in the middle of the canyon. Afterwards, Sarge and Simmons attack Lopez, mistaking him for a Blue, but Simmons becomes injured during the assault.

When Sarge decides to turn him into a cyborg, Grif and Donut search for parts they can use, but Sheila quickly approaches them and runs over Grif. Grif, fortunately, survives the hit, due to Sarge transplanting Simmons' leftover organs into him. Sarge then announces that Lopez has orders from Command in his head, and sends Grif and Donut to spy on the Blues. Grif, becoming annoyed by Donut, ditches him, but the latter gets captured by the Blues. During an exchange for Donut, O'Malley attacks, kidnaps Lopez, and leaves with him through the Red Team's teleporter. To complete their goals, the Reds and Blues make a truce and go through the teleporter. Grif leaves with Church and the two end up in Sidewinder, where they are captured by Max Gain.

Into the "Future"
Grif and Church are soon imprisoned by the Sidewinder Reds, while Caboose unknowingly arms the bomb in Church's robotic body from another location. The two are later confronted by Wyoming, who has just killed all of the Sidewinder Reds. After bantering with Church, he leaves them to starve, only for their cell to open for unknown reasons. Grif and Church then regroup with their respective teams and battle O'Malley. Unfortunately, the bomb in Church's body explodes and sends the group into the "future". After the Reds remove a Warthog from inside a ditch, they receive a distress message from Tex. The Reds and Blue meet up with Tex at Zanzibar, where they begin to discuss an attack plan on O'Malley's fortress.

When the attack begins, Grif and Simmons find the base's computer, which holds a recording of Church warning them about 'the sword'. They are all then trapped inside while Tex's bomb is set to explode. 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. Afterwards, O'Malley again attacks with his Robot Army, prompting the Reds to make their escape by following the signal, which leads them back to Blood Gulch. Disappointed, Grif yells "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!", thus, ending the season.

Return to Blood Gulch
In Season 4, Grif continues to yell in despair atop the cliff, so his team begin to shoot at him with sniper rifles, forcing him to return back down. Later, Grif, 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. As a result, Sarge banishes Simmons, assuming he has gone insane, and appoints Grif the latter's old position. After Grif loses it due to laziness, Sarge holds a contest for the spot of Simmons' position, with Donut being promoted. Disliking having Donut give him orders, Grif finds Simmons colored in blue armor and tries to persuade him to return to Red Team.

However, Grif is taken prisoner by Simmons and brought to Blue Base. Unfortunately Grif is knocked-out/rescued by Sarge, who is then knocked out by Church. Both of them are brought back to Red Base by Donut, who tells them a story about how he "rescued" them, but Sarge and Grif do not believe him. After Simmons returns to the Reds, the team restart their mission to retrieve Lopez's head, which holds vital information from Command. Unfortunately, after the Reds retrieve Lopez, as well as Andy to translate, the inofrmation is proven useless. To make matters worse, the Reds are soon attacked by Church and Sheila. However, when Sheila leaves on her own accord, and Church because he is outnumbered, a back-up ship arrives, and lands on Donut.

Sister's Arrival
In Season 5, Grif, Sarge, and Simmons huddle around the ship and attempt to figure out the source of a strange banging noise coming from inside. Church and Sheila, having returned, force the Reds to stand down but abruptly leave soon after. A soldier then exits the ship and greets Red Team. The soldier is revealed to be Kaikaina Grif, Grif's younger sister. Sister explains that she has been sent as a replacement for a dead commanding officer; and that one of them will be promoted as the replacement for their deceased leader. Upon hearing this, the Reds prepare for Sarge's funeral. After the burial, the Reds learn that Grif's sister is actually a member of Blue team and that the deceased leader she was talking about was Captain Butch Flowers.

After convincing Simmons to help dig up Sarge, Grif takes his sister over to Blue team in an attempt to protect her, but regrets his action after Tucker says he plans on sleeping with her. He and Simmons then go down into the caves to find Sarge but are jumped by unknown people. When only Grif is kidnapped, he is questioned by Andy, but the latter soon flees with the kidnappers. The Reds then find Grif and, shortly after, discover Vic Jr.'s control panel, where they learn that the Blues have invaded their base. So, they decide to takeover Blue base in return. Once they reach the surface, they successfully capture an unoccupied Blue base and realize that Wyoming has captured the Blues and attempts to kill them.

Afterwards, the Reds attack the numerous Wyoming clones and soon chase Caboose. After they lose 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. 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 Adventures
During the events of Reconstruction, Grif, along with Simmons, is relocated to Rat's Nest and becomes a sergeant. However, due to his poor leadership qualities, he and Simmons are soon sentenced to execution for losing his teams' ammunition (he later reveals to have sold the ammunition to Blue Team.) 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 for their success of bringing Project Freelancer to justice, where they find Donut. He tells them about Tucker needing help at the desert, so Grif, Caboose, and Sarge go to find Tucker, in hopes to get the Blues back into the database at Command after deleting all Blue Team records. After getting stuck in a minefield, they are helped by C.T. C.T., however, causes them problems later, attacking and deceiving them. Fortunately, the team find Tucker and with his help, eventually kill C.T. During so, the group also discover that Caboose has revived the memory of Church into Epsilon.

In Revelation, Grif and Sarge learn that Simmons has been taken prisoner by Washington and the Meta, who have incapacitated Donut and Lopez, and venture back to Valhalla to save him. After doing so, the Reds return to the desert, where Grif ditches the unconscious Epsilon by kicking him into the minefield. He and the Reds then follow Caboose and Epsilon to a hidden facility owned by Project Freelancer. After failing to pose as Freelancers 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 Epsilon-Tex, and Grif gets hit in the groin most of the time during the fight.

Learning the Truth
Grif is later put into armor lock with everyone else until Epsilon disables the Recovery Mode for all Red units. Later, Simmons finds a Speed Unit and installs it into Grif's armor, which the use of results in Grif collapsing. Eventually, he and Simmons discover that the Reds and Blues are low scoring operatives pulled from their unit and that the entire Red vs Blue war was a simulation, depressing Sarge to the point where he quits the army. However, when Caboose asks for their aid to rescue Church and Tex, Sarge states he will help and, although refusing at first, Sarge asked Grif why he stayed on Red Team when he had the opportunity to leave.

After a rousing speech by Sarge about each of the soldiers' good qualities, Grif decides to lend his aid, and the Reds and Blues board a Pelican to rescue Tex and Church. After crash landing at Sidewinder, the Reds set off to look for a power source, but soon afterwards engage the Meta head on. Grif joins Sarge and Tucker in close combat with the Meta where Grif leaps on the Meta's back and steals his Brute Shot before being thrown 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, is dragged down but grabs Grif's ankle as well, in an effort to kill him and save himself. Fortunately, Simmons manages to grab Grif temporarily, freeing him from the Meta's grasp. Despite this, Grif loses grip and falls off the side of the cliff. Luckily, Grif manages to jab the Meta's brute shot blade he had stolen into the side of the cliff, saving himself. Afterward, Grif, along with the rest of the remaining Reds, depart for their base in a stolen Hornet.

Conflict with Carolina
Some time later Grif, along with the other Reds and Blues, was met by Carolina to help her save Epsilon from the UNSC Archives. After Epsilon is obtained, the group leave the archives and make a pit stop at Zanzibar, where Grif and Carolina briefly get into an argument. Later on, the Reds take concern on 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.

The Reds, Blues, and Carolina soon find themselves in the desert, where Carolina and Washington leave to find C.T. While the two are gone, the Reds and Blues talk about their concerns towards Carolina, in which Epsilon suggests for the teams to stick together in order to learn more about her. To do this, the group implant Epsilon into Carolina's Mongoose. When Carolina departs with Epsilon, the group gather inside the temple. Afterwards, Carolina returns and informs everyone that they are heading to Outpost 17-B.

The group soon arrive at Valhalla, where Grif 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 Hologram 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 entire group leave the chamber, disgusted by Epsilon's words.

Rescue Mission
Now depressed, the Reds and Blues continue their shenanigans. When the Blues manage to take all of the Reds' equipment, Simmons offers the Meta's Brute shot to them, which Grif calls the "Grif Shot", but Grif refuses to give it up. Doc then reminds them of how much they have changed since they first met. Following Doc's speech, the crew decides to go help Epsilon and Carolina but Wash argues against this. Sarge, however, tells Wash that despite their troubles with Freelancers, the Reds and Blues have always managed to overcome them, due to having trust in each other. Wash, as a result, agrees to help. Suddenly, a trio of UNSC Police Hornets surround the group and attempt to arrest them, but the crew steal the Hornets and fly off to help Carolina and Epsilon.

The group find Carolina being attacked by an army of robotic Tex drones and quickly rescue her. They then go into battle against the army, but, despite their courageous efforts, quickly 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. However, on their way back home, the Reds and Blues crash land a pardoned ship in an unknown location. So, they build temporary bases to reside in until they can be found.

Shipwrecked on Chorus
At Red base, after Sarge "borrows" the Blue team's tank he uses it to rejuvenate the base, but fires several shots at Grif in the process. After Wash takes back the tank, Grif and the Reds discuss the base's design, where Sarge decides to divide the base's interior by using a wall, with one side belonging to Sarge and the other belonging to Grif and Simmons. Unfortunately, Simmons pleads for Sarge to take down the barrier as he cannot take Grif's uncleanliness anymore. As a result, Sarge constructs a new robot to help the team: Lopez 2.0.

Lopez 2.0 is taken to the comm tower and manages to fix it, allowing the teams to come in contact with Donut, who agrees to rescue them. Suddenly, Caboose introduces his new robot Freckles to the group, prompting Sarge to send Grif and Simmons to recon the Blues, in concern for Freckles. Unfortunately, only Grif returns back from reconnaissance and tells Sarge that Simmons joined the Blues. Sarge retaliates by attacking them in the Warthog in order to save Simmons, but Freckles destroys it and nearly kills Sarge. Suddenly, Donut, finally arriving, ends the frenzy and informs the group that he has brought the rescue team: Lopez and Doc. He then adds that the pilot departed after he dropped them off, angering the two teams who proceed to attack Donut.

Soon after, Sarge, Grif, and Doc enter the ship to find something big enough to destroy Freckles, seeing him as a threat. While inside, Grif discovers several items, including: teleportation cubes and sticky detonators. Soon after, the trio find and dismantle a giant Mantis, and proceed to take it back to base. However, Grif loses several parts of the Mantis on their way back, leaving Sarge with little to work with. Afterwards, Grif joyfully messes around with the teleportation cubes, having also secretly taken them back with him.

Battle at Crash Site Bravo
When Sarge completes his construction on the Mantis, Cyclops, it detects 16 enemies in the canyon and threatens Red Team, but quickly shuts down. After noticing this, the Reds hear gunshots over at Blue base and rush over. Suddenly, Locus and Felix appear before them, where Locus wounds Felix. Locus then asks the Reds and Blues to come with him, but they refuse and the latter escapes. The group then interrogate Felix, who explains that they have crash landed on the planet Chorus, whose society is currently undergoing a civil war between the New Republic and the Federal Army of Chorus.

Felix asks for their help, but the group refuse, only wanting to leave the planet. Nonetheless, Felix and the teams fortify the canyon in preparation for an attack, where Grif and Doc demonstrate the different frequency levels of the teleportation cubes to Sarge. During the demonstration Grif tosses a cube at Doc and accidentally teleports him away. After the teams complete their fortifications, they are suddenly attacked by Lopez 2.0, while in control of C.C., and the Federal Army of Chorus, led by Locus. As the group retaliates, Grif uses his teleportation cubes to eliminate numerous Feds.

Locus and his forces then incapacitate Wash, Lopez, Donut, and Sarge, alarming Grif. New Republic reinforcements soon arrive but are quickly killed by the Federal Army, forcing Grif, Tucker, Simmons, and Caboose to retreat with Felix into the tunnels before the entrance collapses. Back at the New Republic's underground base, the four are informed of their friends' status and the New Republic leader, Vanessa Kimball, persuades them to stay and fight in order to help rescue them and end the war. When Grif expresses his doubts of their abilities, Kimball explains that her troops desperately need a shed of hope and pleads for their help. As a result, the four have the New Republic troops perform drills, much to Grif's displeasure.

Joining the New Republic
Weeks later, Grif, along with Simmons and Caboose, undergoes a training exercise where he takes command of his "Gold Team" squad. However, the exercise gets out of hand and the three are scolded by Kimball. Afterwards, Kimball informs Grif, Simmons, Caboose, and Tucker that she has discovered the location of their friends, based on secret Federal Army information Tucker received, and states that if the four can prove to her in five days that they are skillful enough to lead a team, she'll allow them to rescue their friends.

After being unable to get help from Felix, the four recruit Smith, Bitters, Jensen, and Palomo for assistance, where Grif tries to call dibs on the leadership position, but loses to Tucker. As the group begin their training, Simmons and Jensen install capture software onto everyone's helmets, in order to record their sessions. However, despite their rigorous training, the squad is laughed at by both the recruits, as well as other Republic soldiers. Soon afterwards, Grif angrily berates Bitters for eating his jelly cream pie, in which Simmons tells Grif that he is becoming more like Sarge, horrifying the latter.

Soon after, Tucker gathers Grif, Simmons, and Caboose inside a bunker and tells them that they will rescue their friends without the recruits. Grif is the first to agree, as he refuses to put the recruits in danger and become more like Sarge. With Simmons and Caboose agreeing as well, the four depart on two Warthogs, before leaving an apology message to the rebels, and soon arrive at a deserted Fueling Station. There, the four discover four mercenaries speaking to Locus regarding their captured friends. After they vanish, the four continue on and eventually arrive at F.A.C. Outpost 37, where they unexpectedly run into their friends.

Battling the Space Pirates
They tell each other the truth behind why the rebels and Feds are fighting each other, and come up with a plan to end the war between the two factions. Suddenly, the compound is attacked by Locus and a group of mercenaries, who force the Reds and Blues to stand down. As Locus prepares to kill them, Felix arrives and betrays the group, revealing that he and Locus used them as a means to cause further conflict in the Chorus Civil War, all due to their superior wanting the planet free of its inhabitants. Fortunately, Carolina emerges from hiding, disguised as a mercenary, and uses a Teleportation Cube to escape with the group.

Arriving at a secret Forest Base, Carolina and Epsilon explain that their ship was purposely crashed on Chorus by the Space Pirates, who are mass-producing advanced versions of the ship's Freelancer equipment. When the group attempt to study Grif's Suppressor the latter refuses to give it up, so Epsilon possesses Grif and forces him to drop it. After they discover a connection between it and the Teleportation Cubes, the Reds decide to search for the ship's manifest at Crash Site Bravo, while the Blues search the other half of the ship at Crash Site Alpha. When both teams return, with the Reds obtaining the manifest, the group interrogate a space pirate named Zachary Miller, who teleported back with the Blues.

After Wash and Carolina gain info from Zachary, several space pirates attack the base, forcing Wash to teleport the group to the fueling station, where he reveals that Freckles' storage unit contains a tracking device. After Epsilon removes the tracker, he and Tucker engage in an argument, with Tucker wondering why the others aren't angry with Epsilon like he is. Grif and others remind Tucker that while Epsilon made some mistakes, they have as well and convince the two to make amends. After they do so, Felix and Locus contact the Reds and Blues and offer them a first-class trip off Chorus.

Distrustful of the two, the group are forced to decide on whether they stop the Space Pirates and save the Chorus armies or take the pirates' offer and return home. The crew decide on the former and execute a sneak attack on the mercenaries at Radio Jammer Station 1C. After Felix reveals the Pirates' plans to Tucker, Grif and the other Reds and Blues disable the radio jammer, allowing Epsilon to send Felix's recorded words to the Feds and Rebels at Armonia, who finally learn secret behind the Pirates' involvement in the war. Because of this, Felix and Locus teleport away. After the Feds and Rebels form a truce, they pick up the Reds and Blues from the radio jammer station and thank them for their efforts.

Going to War
Regrouping at the New Republic HQ, Grif, Simmons, Tucker, and Caboose reunite with their recruits and thank them for picking them up. After Epsilon processes the manifest, the crew learn the true identity of Control: Chairman Malcom Hargrove. When the Chairman declares war on Chorus, the Reds and Blues, Federal Army, and New Republic, accept. A month later, Grif is seen looking for Kimball at Armonia, eventually finding her in the war room. He expresses his complaints about not receiving second helpings in the mess hall but Kimball orders him out. Later on, Grif and Simmons teleport to Charon Research Complex 2C and retrieve a pile of Charon equipment, collected by Carolina, Epsilon, Tucker, and Sarge.

When the two return to Armonia with the supplies, all of Charon's hybrid weaponry suddenly explodes, due to a reaction Tucker caused by reactivating an alien temple. Because of this, Grif and the other Reds and Blues contact the team at the research complex and, together, devise a strategy to fight the space pirates while they're down. It is ultimately decided that the Reds, Wash, and Chorus armies will accompany Kimball in an assault on Crash Site Alpha while the Blues, Carolina, and Grey follow map coordinates the temple emitted.

Upon arriving at Crash Site Alpha, the Reds begin the assault, with the rest of the assault team following suit in the attack. Unfortunately, a large ship emerges from the sky and releases several space pirate reinforcements, forcing the assault team to take cover inside the ship. Simmons then devises a plan of escape by using the ship's engine to create a smokescreen. After releasing the smoke, the Reds lead the assault team away from Alpha. Although both the assault team and Carolina's group return to Armonia with few causalities and a "rescued" Doc, the Reds and Blues expresses shame on the final results of their missions.

After witnessing an argument between Kimball and Doyle, the Reds and Blues ask Doc to help them hold a counseling session for the generals in order to improve their relationship, though Grif is deeply insulted by Doc after the two give a demonstration on how things will play out. Initially, there is little cooperation and mostly arguing, however, Doyle ends up complimenting Kimball and expressing a desire to work together, much to the crew's surprise. Unfortunately, the session is abruptly cut off when the Space Pirates attack the city.

Charon's Final Assault
In order to survive the assault, Epsilon suggests eradicating the pirates by overloading the nuclear reactor in the center of the city, with Wash, Carolina, and Kimball being sent to overload it. Meanwhile, Doyle and the other Reds and Blues head towards the Armory to escape on a Pelican, but discover that Lopez is stuck inside of it. While the others prevent the pirates from entering the armory, Grif helps Simmons remove Lopez from the engine, allowing the others to escape. Doyle, however, decides to remain in Armonia and incites the Pirates into chasing him.

After dropping the Blues off in a safe area, the Reds return to the city and pick up Wash, Kimball, Epsilon, and Carolina. Meanwhile, Doyle ignites the city's reactor in an act of self sacrifice, killing a majority of the space pirates and destroying the city. After Carolina protects the crew from the blast radius, the team regroups at Crash Site Bravo with the armies, who mourn over the loss of Doyle. As the crew formulate a plan to stop Felix and Locus, Kimball delivers a speech to the Chorus armies that motivates them to fight as one.

After obtaining alien artillery from the Temple of Arms, the Reds and Blues assist the Feds and Rebels in attacking the pirates at the Comm Temple. Carolina and Wash, after having destroyed the Purge, later regroup with them, just as the pirates release several Mantis. While the Freelancers and Chorus armies fight the robots outside, the crew enter the temple's control room and encounter Felix and Locus. Surprisingly, however, Locus betrays Felix and assists the crew in killing him. After obtaining his former partner's sword, Locus activates the Temple for the crew and disappears, allowing them to broadcast their message. The message transmits to numerous comm devices across the galaxy, revealing Hargrove's crimes.

Because of this, Hargrove himself flies the Staff of Charon to Chorus and releases numerous Mantis droids around the temple to kill the remaining inhabitants. As a result, the Reds and Blues infiltrate the ship in order to shut down the robots and manage to succeed with F.I.L.S.S.'s help. Unfortunately, they end up trapped inside Hargrove's trophy room when his forces attack them. As Hargrove's forces breach their way into the room, the crew prepare themselves for the impending attack, with Grif rearming himself with his Brute Shot. However, what the crew doesn't know is that Epsilon deconstructed himself from his memories of the other fragments in order to help them, resulting in his death.

Retirement
Following the end of the war on Chorus, Grif and the rest of the Reds and Blues go into exile to live a quiet life on a remote moon, though they fail miserably, resorting to undergo random shenanigans. Ten months later, IDA reporter Dylan Andrews and her cameraman Jax Jonez find the crew and relay a message of Church. While everyone springs into action to locate the message's source, Grif refuses to go on another adventure revolving around Church once more, tired of his constant resurrections. Though Andrews tries to convince him otherwise and appeal to his softer side, Grif snaps at her and walks off, returning only to tell the others that he is not coming with them and officially leaves the Red Team and the Reds and Blues altogether.

As the days pass following the crew's departure, Grif grows insane and begins interacting with volleyballs to fill the void of his friends' absence, going so far as to draw each of their faces on a volleyball and learning how to speak Spanish in the process. Suddenly, Locus, accompanied by Lopez, finds Grif and informs him that his friends are in trouble. Initially shocked that Locus managed to find him, Grif accompanies the two to rescue the others. Arriving at Armada 8, Grif distracts the Blues and Reds while Locus rescues Carolina and Washington. Upon getting captured, Grif apologizes to his friends, until they are rescued by Locus and Sarge.

Rescue of Earth
Realizing that the Blues and Reds have left for Earth, the Reds and Blues are soon forced into a firefight with the Zealots, where Wash gets injured. After Locus flies Wash to the hospital, the crew learn of Temple's plan and prepare to pursue him. Grif gives Tucker a pep talk and motivates him to lead the charge in stopping the Blues and Reds. Upon arriving at Earth, Grif helps Dylan maneuver past incoming missiles but ultimately gets hit. Fortunately, the crew survive their ship's crash-landing and battle the Blues and Reds' forces, managing to infiltrate their lair in the process.

As Loco's Machine activates, the crew hastily make their way to Temple, where Grif and Simmons encounter Gene, who tackles Simmons. Confused on which Simmons is the real one, Grif asks the two "why are we here?", with Simmons giving him the appropriate response. The two then defeat Gene and make their way to Temple, who has placed the other Reds and Blues in armor lock. When Grif fails an attempt at a rescue, Temple holds him at gunpoint but hesitates to shoot. As a result, Grif tackles Temple, allowing Dylan to free the other Reds and Blues.

Once the crew incapacitates Temple, Loco's machine grows unstable and creates a portal to the past, with Church on the other side. After the Reds and Blues say goodbye to Church, Dylan has Vic stabilize the machine before it completely disappears. The crew then regroup outside and reunite with Sister and the Chorus lieutenants, who inform them that Wash is alive and recovering. Upon seeing his sister again, Grif embraces her with a hug.

The Pizza Quest
Having read one of Jax’s books on story structure while alone on the moon, Grif discovers that adventures are often started by incendiary incidents, and decides to avoid them in real life so he will never have to work again, ignoring the part saying that if the heroes refuse the incendiary incident then a tragedy will happen that causes the adventure anyway. Grif proceeds to use this by changing the subject when it is mentioned interesting things are happening on Chorus. He then convinces the Reds and Blues (except for Carolina, who had departed for Chorus) to go to his favorite pizzeria Sammy Raphaelo’s. While en route to the pizzeria, Grif crashes the Pelican the group was in when it receives an encrypted message from Locus. He then convinces the Reds and Blues to take a longer route to Sammy Raphaelo’s by going through a peaceful forest in a longer route rather than a shorter route through a scarier forest.

A suspicious Simmons questions him about this, and Grif gleefully informs him of his plan. When Donut emerges from a lake asking the Reds and Blues to go on a quest, Grif convinces them it is a prank. When they arrive at Sammy Raphaelo’s, they find it destroyed along with the entire town it was in. Donut explains he was sent by God to recruit The Reds and Blues to battle the Devil King. Donut then sends them back in time by a few days to when Sammy Raphaelo’s was still intact. Grif is overjoyed to eat the pizza he has been craving, but it is destroyed by Kalirama. Grif is devastated and brought to his knees, completely ignoring the battle with Kalirama. Once a shot by her is about to hit Grif, Doc pushes him into another time portal - where they are followed by Huggins - where the two awaken in an unspecified point in time.

Personality
Grif is the wisecracking loud-mouth of the Reds, being self centered, acerbic, and lazy. With respect to personality, Grif is fairly brash and has a flair for the melodramatic. 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 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. Grif later reveals to Sarge that he isn't lazy because he dislikes work, he is lazy because he enjoys how much it irritates Sarge.

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. Along with this, Grif seems to actually be impacted and take in what people say about him, even though he claims he doesn't care. Such examples include his interactions with Simmons and when he begins to act like Sarge in Season 12. Although he may be lazy, he is unlikely to betray his comrades and truly seeks to be part of the team. Since Season 6, Grif has appeared to have (slightly) matured in regards to the way he treats others and has become much more soldier-oriented in mentality.

In the Chorus Trilogy, Grif demonstrates more willingness to engage in battle with enemies and steps up to leadership positions far quicker than he once did, but still panics when he believes his allied forces are outnumbered. During Thin Ice, Grif actually uses a tactic he performed to avoid work as a successful infiltration strategy. In The End, he is noticeably the most upset member of the Reds and Blues when Hargrove shows up in the Staff of Charon in a final desperate assault against the inhabitants of Chorus, revealing that he really wanted the mission to succeed. At the end of the episode, Grif shows pride in his friends as they prepare for the final battle onboard the ship, and stands defiant in an unusual show of courage against the Chairman's forces.

In Season 15 Grif appears to be in confort with his retirement, even when he did, on his words, "the same damn shit with the same damn idiots", but when Dylan reveals Church's message and the rest of group want to save Church, Grif is the only one who's on disagreement with the idea of returning to action, even went as far as asking why Church can't still be dead and leave him alone. When Dylan tells him her idea of him (caring of his friends and wanting to do the right thing), Grif angrily says she has the wrong idea of him and reveals he hates everyone, and leaves the crew without remorse of his words.

It is later revealed that he actually does care for his friends proving Dylan's point when it was shown that he went insane being alone and quickly joining Locus and Lopez to rescue them. At that point though his insanity is severe, even to Locus. He had become much more talkative, unfocused, and dilusionial. This is likely due to the extreme isolation, boredom and the guilt of abandoning his friends. He had created volleyball duplicates of his friends to talk to and voices for as if they were still there, even going as far as learning Spanish just to speak for Lopez. Unable to tell reality, he thought Locus was a hallucination and had to touch his helmet to determine if he was real. He also appeared much more apologetic, trying his best to say sorry and attempting to save volleyball Church for the duplicate Blues.

By the time he reached Armada 8, he appeared to have returned to his original composer, finally making contact with the Reds and Blues to give his apologies. He also appears much friendlier compared to previous seasons, calling Caboose his friend which is something the Blue team won't even do. It should also be noted that he is much more willing to work and fight, even volunteering to escort Dylan Andrews to the Machine (to everyone's shock). This side of him is also demonstrated when he saves his friends from Temple and even says beating Temple would satisfy him.

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

Intelligence and Initiative
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. He came up with Manhattan, Europe, and the Pacific Ocean as states when prompted. 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 "War"
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 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 fighter and perhaps the least capable fighter of the Blood Gulch soldiers, aside from Donut. In almost all combat situations he has been in, he only ends up getting pummeled 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 and destroyed some at first, he was eventually overwhelmed and required assistance from Carolina and Tucker.

Armor Color
Grif's armor color was a source of confusion for fans for a while, which the creators 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.. 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. 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. During Oh Captains, My Captains, Grif complains about being called gold rather than orange.

Injuries
Multiple times throughout the series, Grif has been greatly injured by many characters in the series, either on purpose or by mistake. Sarge mainly would purposely find ways, and excuses, to put Grif in danger or hurt him in some way. For example, as revealed during the Relocated mini-series Sarge would inadvertently put Grif in harm's way in order to complete a task, later by stating that the risk was "worth it." During Why Were We Here?, Sarge orders the Reds to execute their emergency plan, which is simply hurting Grif. In This One Goes to Eleven, Epsilon-Tex hits Grif multiple times in the groin, even going as far as to have him land his groin on a roadblock. In True Colors, the Tex Drones strike Grif twice in the groin, with Grif yelling, "Not again!"

Filthiness
Grif is notorious for his lack of cleanliness and poor habits. He has been shown to smoke in his helmet, eat dozens of snack foods, drink, survive on a diet of Oreos, and possibly do drugs. He is also extremely overweight despite his armor not showing it, which is a source of constant ridicule from his team. It should also be noticed that he does not like to clean or bathe, having argued with Sarge about him not showering, and not performing a single cleaning in the events of Season 11. Epsilon possessed him and stated it was like "breathing through a trash can". However in Objects in Space it was shown that the Retirement Moon base was very tidy, while in Previously on it was filthy. This indicates Grif must have cleaned the whole base by himself during his friends' absence due to either guilt or boredom.

Driving Ability
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 Reds' 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, though he quickly changes his mind and continues on foot when he realizes how slow the vehicle moves. 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. Later in season 15 he asked repeatedly to drive Locus's ship. He was also able to pilot Dylan's Pelican and dodge missiles locked on the ship momentarily. Due to his skills with vehicles, Grif could be considered the primary driver and pilot of the Reds and Blues.

Recovery
While played more for comedic effect, Grif has been shown to make a quick recovery no matter how severe the injury is ever since his surgery after Sheila ran him over in Season 2. Such examples include when he's shot several times by his own team in Why Were We Here?, being blasted off the Valhalla communication tower by his own grenade in Relocated: Part Three, and when Sarge shot him with the Blues' tank in One-Zero-One, as he quickly recovers by the end of the episodes. This is even shown in combat, as Grif is shown to not only be conscious, but still have the ability to stand after Epsilon-Tex assaulted his groin several times in This One Goes to Eleven.

Manipulation
Possibly a method for getting out of work, Grif has been shown to be able to manipulate members of his own team on numerous occasions. Some of which include, passing blame on an attempt to go AWOL on Simmons, getting Donut to leave on numerous occasions, convincing Sarge to halt Simmons' trial due to Donut's roleplay, to stop his assault on Caboose at Valhalla due to the chances of getting sent to another base, convincing him to allow him to help Caboose's mission, and get out of dish duty on Chorus with Simmons, and trick Simmons into believing Game Of Thrones was factual. This shows his skills in being a manipulator, but he can be just as easily manipulated too.

Bilingualism
Since leaving the Reds and Blues to continue his retirement in Season 15, Grif somehow manages to learn how to speak Spanish fluently in order to play the role of Lopez while talking to his volleyball replacements for the Reds and Blues. He seems to be a quick learner as it only took him a few weeks to master it.

Kills
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, he was able to defeat the Meta, managed to slay a few Tex-drones in True Colors, and kill at least 5 Federal Army soldiers with Teleportation Cubes in Fire. In Cloak and Dagger, Grif kills at least one mercenary with a Suppressor.

Inconsistencies

 * 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. After the events of Reacts, Grif officially quit the team, but he later rejoins them.
 * 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.

Trivia

 * It seems Grif is a smoker as shown in What's Mine is Yours; however, he's never shown smoking again afterwards.
 * It is also hinted that he may also be a drug user, in Previously On, he had discovered mushrooms that mimics the effects of methamphetamines on an extreme scale, not only did he spike Simmons food with it, but brought it with him to consume later when rescuing them. Additionally, Season 5 showed that he took several drugged shots from a needler to be in knocked out while only one was required for Simmons.
 * Grif is often regarded as grossly overweight by the other characters in the series. Although this is impossible to portray in any standard Halo video game engine, he is depicted as visibly overweight even while in armor in Red vs Blue: Animated.
 * Grif and his sister are from Honolulu, Hawaii. Evidence of this can be found on the Season 5 DVD and the Recreation commentary.
 * A number of facts about Grif's upbringing have been revealed over the course of the series.
 * In Season 13, the O'Malley personality in Doc reveals that Grif's parents seemed to favor his sister more than him. O'Malley goes on to imply Grif did not have a stable father figure growing up.
 * In Season 5, Sister revealed that their mother worked in a circus, both as the fat lady and the bearded lady. Later in Season 13, the O'Malley personality in Doc reveals that their mother also "turned tricks behind the elephant cage", which Grif was apparently aware of. O'Malley also implies Grif's eating habits are a result of him turning to food for comfort from his family life. When confronted by his friends, Grif could only sadly comment "It was a really nice circus."
 * Grif is one of two families to have had a sibling physically appear on the show, the other family being North and South.
 * Grif seems to have chiroptophobia (fear of bats) as seen when he refused to enter in the hole Sarge fell in because of them.
 * In the community-created gametype Grifball, the ball-carrier turns orange when the bomb is picked up and the player becomes "Grif".
 * Grif made a brief cameo appearance at the end of the Grifball mini-series "Double Agent".
 * Grif states in the Columbus Day PSA that he went to Harvard University. He appeared to respect his school to some degree, openly mocking Columbia University.
 * 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, was the only one of the Reds and Blues to be drafted, and is secretly in love with Simmons, and that one day the two of them will have a baby, when science makes that possible.
 * Grif is the first main character to appear in the Halo: Reach engine, during the Deja View PSA shown on Bungie Day 2010.
 * 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 rather than a physical one.
 * 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, 2D animation, alternative CG animation, and stop motion). They also currently have the longest series lifespan than any other character, with both being first introduced in the Red vs. Blue Trailer.
 * Grif was once the lowest ranking soldier of the Reds and Blues, being a Minor Junior Private Negative First Class. However, his promotion to Captain in Season 12 now makes him among the highest ranking soldiers encountered in the series (along with fellow captains Flowers, Simmons, Caboose, and Tucker), only behind Colonel Sarge, President Kimball, and General Doyle.
 * Grif's rank of Minor Junior Private Negative First Class 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).
 * Grif also has been promoted and demoted the most times out of all the characters in the series with a total of three times (Promoted from Private to Sergeant prior to Reconstruction, then demoted to Minor Junior Private Negative First Class in Reconstruction, and finally being promoted to Captain in Season 12).
 * Grif has been shown to grow attached to various alien-tech weapons, such as the Meta's Brute Shot, the Teleportation Grenades, and the Suppressor.
 * Grif shows several similarities to Garfield the cat from the popular comic strip, as both are overweight, orange, highly lazy, and only seem to like eating and sleeping.
 * According to the Red vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide Grif survived an alien attack on his unit due to sleeping at his post causing the aliens to believe that he was dead and walk right past him. This ultimately had him transferred to Project Freelancer.
 * In Objects in Space, Grif confirms he's agnostic.
 * Grif seems to be analogous to the sin of Sloth from the Seven Deadly Sins of Man. While he is typically depicted as lazy, given time, effort, and motivation, Grif has shown immense potential. One instance is how he completely mastered a foreign language in only a few weeks.