- "Suck it Blue!"
- —Simmons to the Blue Team in Everything Old is New Again
Captain Richard "Dick" Simmons is a main character in Red vs. Blue and is voiced by Gustavo Sorola. He is usually the level-headed, straight man of the Red Team, although he is also a compulsive sycophant towards Sarge, despite the latter's delusional leadership. He also spends much time with Grif, who he has a complex friendship with. He appears as a main character in most seasons, with the exception of Zero, and notably serves as the deuteragonist of Recreation, due to him being the main focus of the season's B story.
He appears in the Restoration film and serves as the main protagonist.
Overview[]
During his youth, Simmons was a stereotypical nerd as he is now, but his father abused him for these traits, making Simmons lack a proper father figure. After joining the "military", Simmons was quite hateful towards his teammates at first, except Sarge, which causes Grif to call him a "kiss-ass". As the series progressed, however, Simmons began to treat his teammates, and sometimes the Blues, with the greatest concern, respect, and compassion than most others; like friends or even family members. Simmons was intended to be the "smart, yet troubled guy," according to Rooster Teeth.
Simmons is also one of the most logical and intelligent characters in the series but seems to have a large ego, although he does maintain a high level of confidence. He's very self-conscious, as he considers suicide after Sarge demotes him, runs back to Blue base to cry after Church insults him and usually seeks approval from several characters in the series. It's also shown that despite having different personalities, Simmons and Grif have the same curiosity and ideas, such as the reason they were sent to Blood Gulch is worthless in Season 1 or when Grif tempted him about using the armor enhancements in Revelation.
Role in Plot[]
Basic Training[]
Simmons enlisted into the UNSC, but was transferred to Project Freelancer due to low test scores and was stationed at an arctic outpost, where he ate a dog due to Command being unable to send rations during a seasonal blizzard. He was later deployed to a simulation outpost called Danger Canyon along with his drill sergeant Hammer. During a Red Team training exercise, Simmons becomes frightened while attempting to cross a narrow bridge. Hammer orders him to move but Simmons refuses. Another Red soldier named Dexter Grif then appears, after failing to arrive on time, and refuses to cross the bridge as well. 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 eventually convince Hammer to leave with them back to base. Instead, however, Hammer enters the base but 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[]
Simmons appears in the first episode discussing with Grif about their reasons in Blood Gulch and then called down by Sarge to name the new jeep, which they call the Warthog. When Donut arrives, both Simmons and Grif send him off on a fool's errand to get elbow grease and headlight fluid. Later, he and Grif come to save Donut with the Warthog and pin Church and Tucker behind a rock. They then leave the jeep to find another way to get them, but are attacked by Caboose and Sheila and are forced to retreat back to their base. When Sheila attacks Red base, the Reds are saved by Sarge's air strike.
When Tex attacks Red base, Simmons faints but later wakes up. He then guards Tex after she is captured by Sarge and Lopez. During Church's rescue, however, Simmons is knocked out by a possessed Sarge. As Tex launches her second attack on the Reds with Sheila, he and Sarge go to fight them off with the Warthog but are defeated moments later. Luckily Donut manages to kill Tex and disables Sheila with a plasma grenade. Lopez then runs to the tank, in which Simmons questions whether they should go help him, with Sarge stating it would only ruin the moment.
In Season 2, Simmons and the Reds attack the Blues and take Doc as their hostage. However, after having problems with Doc and failing to return him to the Blues, Simmons speculates that Lopez has been reprogrammed to help the Blues after seeing a blue repair the tank. Sarge concludes that someone should volunteer to be turned into a cyborg to even the odds; someone so loyal that they would never betray the team and have the capabilities to repair things; making Simmons the perfect candidate. Simmons is then given cybernetic body parts by Sarge. His robotic elements also lead him to occasionally shoot himself in the foot and be based on a Freon-cooling system.
After the operation, Simmons' remaining organs — except for his spleen, are transplanted to Grif in order to save his life after he is run over by Sheila. Unfortunately, Donut gets captured by the Blues. So, the Reds make a trade of two robots to save Donut, but are confused upon seeing Lopez and Shelia together and then being attacked by O'Malley. The Reds and Blues are then forced to work together to fight O'Malley off. The two teams follow O'Malley into the Reds' teleporter, but with the teleporter malfunctioning, each character is separated, sending Simmons (alone) into the Teleporter Nexus.
Into the "Future"[]
In Season 3, Simmons attempts to reunite the teams, finding Sarge and Caboose first. After rescuing them using the Teleporter Nexus, Simmons shows hatred toward Caboose after taking the attention of Sarge, but things get worse when Caboose activates the bomb inside Church. After reuniting all the teammates, Simmons leads everyone (except Tex) against O'Malley, and comes up with a plan to stop him. He opens a portal to Battle Creek and has the Grunts attack O'Malley; but the rest of the team are too late to destroy the bomb inside Church. After the bomb goes off, everyone (except Church) is sent into the future.
After repairing a warthog the teams find, they obtain radio contact from Tex. The two teams reunite with her, later attacking O'Malley's fortress and defeat him. Simmons attempts to capture O'Malley with Grif during the attack, but O'Malley escapes. Simmons then tries to locate Lopez's head, but is interrupted when Caboose finds a message from Church before the entire complex shuts down. Later after the Reds get a distress signal from a "surviving red team", they follow it to the location to help them. In The Storm, the Red Team realizes that the distress signal has led them back to Blood Gulch.
Demotion and Defection[]
In Season 4, Simmons runs afoul of Sarge's fickle nature when he insists that Sheila is still roaming the canyon. As a result, Sarge declares him insane and demotes him. Having lost his purpose in life, Simmons suffers a breakdown, exiles himself from the Red Team, paints his armor mostly blue, and, assisted by Sheila, begins to wage a one-man war against his former teammates. While on the Blue Team, Simmons notices that strange things have changed since they arrived, such as the bases having upgrades and more room when no one has been there since their departure, making him question what has happened.
Simmons then succeeds in "capturing" Grif, forcing Sarge and Donut to launch a rescue operation, but the two are foiled by Church, who suddenly returns to Blood Gulch. Although Simmons attempts to hide his true identity from Church, the latter privately reveals to Sheila that he has recognized Simmons all along. Tired of being used by him, Simmons challenges Church's authority, causing Church to contact Vic Jr. indirectly. After apparently hearing Church's conversation with Vic Jr., Simmons returns to Red Base to relay information. With the rest of the Reds reluctant to accept him back, Simmons changes back into his maroon armor. Nevertheless, after a quick "trial", Sarge imposes a hefty fine for treason and insubordination, to be split between himself and Grif.
Red Team Takeover[]
After rejoining the Red Team, the Reds find Lopez and listen to his message from command. When this message reveals no real information, Simmons and the Reds are suddenly attacked by Church and Shelia, where Church explains everything bad happening at Blue base, with only the Reds wondering about how Tucker is pregnant. Church then retreats after Caboose reports to him, but orders Sheila to stay. Donut decides to see the baby after hearing that it was born but is then crushed by a ship.
At the start of Season 5, Simmons is concerned about trying to get the ship off of Donut, pointing out the best ways to do so, but Sarge ignores these ideas. When it is revealed that Grif's sister was in the ship, she states that she is there to replace their dead commander (really the Blues'), so Simmons convinces Sarge that he is dead to become the new red leader. Yet, when it is revealed that Sister is on the Blues' team, Simmons realizes that now he and Grif need to go rescue their missing teammates from underground. Once they get underground, Simmons and Grif contact Sarge and Donut but are later drugged. When Simmons comes to, Grif is gone. After Sarge and Dount find Simmons the three run off to find Grif.
After finding Grif, the Reds try to make contact with Vic Jr., but Simmons starts hearing an echo in a section of the caves and discovers that Vic Jr. was there communicating with Sarge, but then disappears. After briefly running into Andy and Lopez, the Reds reach the surface and take the Blue Base, but then come to save the Blues from the Wyomings. In the final episode, Simmons is possessed by O'Malley and threatens to kill Sarge, but after Tex forces the A.I. out of Simmons' mind, Simmons becomes normal again and figures out how to blow up the ship (if Church's plan fails) by using Andy. After Tex escapes with O'Malley in the ship, Simmons and Grif return to base to spy on the Blues, happy that things are back to normal. The two then join Sarge and Donut to see the new vehicle.
Later Adventures[]
After the events of the Blood Gulch Chronicles, Simmons, along with Grif, is transferred to a different base, with Grif being promoted to staff sergeant. Grif brings all of his typical laziness and incompetence to the role and the two soon face execution for selling their team's ammo to the Blue Team. Sarge, on a false mission by the Meta to stop Washington, rescues them and the three catch up with Wash and the Blues at Zanzibar. However, an attack by the Meta forces them to team up. Simmons and the Reds assist Wash and the Blues in infiltrating Freelancer Command, where Sarge has Simmons hack into command's computers in order to delete the Blues.
However, Simmons has second thoughts after finding the data, but Sarge quickly erases them before they regroup. When Wash and Church return, Wash explains to them that Church is the Alpha A.I. but the group don't believe it. Suddenly, the Meta arrives, prompting the group to escape with Epsilon while Wash stays to activate an EMP, which will destroy all of the A.I. programs. As the Reds and Caboose escape, the EMP activates and shuts down the Reds' warthog. Luckily, Caboose manages to escape with Epsilon in hand. For bringing Project Freelancer to justice, the UNSC award the Reds and Caboose with bases at Valhalla as a result.
In Recreation, the Reds discover Donut in their new Hologram Chamber, built by Lopez, and debrief him. During so, Simmons slowly realizes that Sarge doesn't give him the respect that he thought he once had and becomes more unwilling to follow his orders. When Sarge and Grif leave to help Caboose in finding Tucker, Simmons decides to blow up the Blue base, but is ultimately slowed down when Donut reveals that Caboose kept the Epsilon Unit when they were told to give to the UNSC. As he prepares to leave to get Caboose, things become worse when Simmons finds Donut in the Blue base with the Meta. After a continuous battle with the Meta, Simmons decides to lead Lopez and Donut on a suicide run to find the Meta’s vehicle in order to escape.
They find the Meta's cloaked vehicle but are unable to start it. In a final attempt to save themselves, Simmons tries to use the vehicle's machine gun turret to kill the Meta, but isn't strong enough to move it without power. Washington then appears, seemingly to save the Reds, but reveals that he is working with the Meta and demands to have the Epsilon unit. The Reds, still confused, don't give an answer, resulting in Wash shooting Lopez in the head and then Donut in the stomach, leaving Simmons alive. Simmons then calls to Donut, hoping that he is alive.
Taken Prisoner[]
In Revelation, Simmons is forced to call for a medical officer, Doc, and reveals that Donut is dead. Simmons apologizes to Doc for putting him in this situation before Wash and the Meta knock Doc out. When Doc wakes up Simmons explains most of what has happened and is forced to trick Sarge to return to Valhalla, but (accidentally) explains what has happened in a secret message. When the remaining Reds return, Simmons comes up with an idea of saving both him and Doc by overloading Doc's medical scanner to release a blast that could "reset" Meta's systems. When the Meta realizes that Wash is in danger, he proceeds to kill Simmons and Doc, prompting them to execute the plan.
Doc shoots the Meta with the blast, resetting his Temporal Distortion unit. Doc gloats over the success but Simmons states that the Meta is still a threat since he's moving at the same strength and speed. Doc refuses this fact and is thrown into a wall when the Meta touches him. Simmons attempts to help but is forced to escape alone when Sarge and Grif approach. After the Meta recharges, Simmons jumps onto the Warthog and is dragged by its rear, before the Meta destroys it. When the Meta prepares to eliminate the Reds, Epsilon suddenly arrives and leads the Meta away. The Reds then escape Valhalla, with Epsilon sealing their exit with a blast from his laser.
Upon returning to the desert, Simmons tries to fix Epsilon's systems before he is kicked away by Grif. Upon finding Epsilon in the minefield, Epsilon-Delta tells Caboose some important information. After Epsilon-Church wakes up, he and Caboose leave the desert for a hidden facility, in which Simmons comments that the Blues always "have more stuff going on" with them. Simmons then joins Grif and Sarge to follow Caboose and Epsilon for the facility, unaware that Tucker is also following them as well.
Learning the Truth[]
The Reds reach the Freelancer Offsite Storage Facility and pose as Agents of Project Freelancer so F.I.L.S.S. would give them access inside. The Reds create Freelancer names in order to obtain access, but Grif calls himself Agent Pluto, screwing up the attempt. Sarge, as a contingency plan, shoots F.I.L.S.S.'s module interface, giving them access. They discover a door that Caboose is guarding and the latter leaves as the door begins to weaken. Epsilon-Tex reveals herself from behind the door and attacks the Reds, and soon Tucker.
When Epsilon arrives Tex begins to beat him up, until they are all sent into Armor Lock where Simmons and the other Reds argue. Luckily, Epsilon soon releases them from armor lock when they agree not to hurt Tex. When Tex goes to find data files to find out who she is, Sarge sends Simmons with her so he can re-add the Blues back into the database. Later, while taking inventory, Grif comes to see Simmons overlooking some armor enhancements. He hooks up Grif with a Speed Unit and Grif runs around the whole facility, eventually coming back where he started, crashing into a wall.
Simmons later goes back to the files and, with the help of F.I.L.S.S., re-enters the Blues back into the database. While there, he also discovers that the war was truly fake, upsetting Sarge. As a following result, Sarge quits the army. When Caboose comes out to tell the others that Church and Tex are in danger, Sarge decides to go with him, surprising Simmons and the others. Sarge then makes a speech to the others, where he tells Simmons that he believed the latter would be given his own squad a thousand times over. After Sarge's speech, Simmons tells everyone he knows how to get to Epsilon and Tex: by Pelican.
After the capture of Epsilon-Tex, the Reds and Blues rescue Washington from the Meta, and are soon sent to find power supplies to sustain the memory unit. However, the Meta returns and attacks Wash and Epsilon, so the Reds and Tucker fight him off. After Sarge connects the Warthog's towhook to the Meta, Simmons and Grif manage to push it over the cliff, taking the Meta down as well. As the Meta attempts to kill Grif, Simmons grabs hold of him, preventing the Meta to succeed; however, he loses his grip and Grif falls over the edge. Luckily, Grif saves himself with the Meta's Brute Shot. Simmons then attempts to aid Caboose with the capture unit, but can't stop it from shutting down. The group are later interrogated by a UNSC Police officer. When the interrogation ends, the Reds talk about the Blue Team's "new member" before they steal a Hornet to go back home.
Conflict with Carolina[]
Afterwards, Simmons and the other Reds and Blues went on a mission with Carolina to rescue Epsilon from the UNSC Archives. After departing with Epsilon in hand the group make a pit stop at Zanzibar, where Simmons acknowledges his worry towards Carolina to Sarge and Grif, believing that she would betray them when they need help. After viewing more of Carolina's actions, the Reds agree on Simmons' theory about her and decide to abandon the mission. However, Wash convinces them to stay by stating that an ambush may be waiting for them back at their base, due to them being wanted criminals.
The Reds, Blues, and Carolina then venture off to the desert, to find C.T. The Reds make a truce with the Blues in order to talk about their concerns about Carolina and try to figure out how to get closer to her without her knowing. Simmons gets the idea to transfer Epsilon into Carolina's Mongoose to spy on her, and has Caboose assist him. When Carolina departs with Epsilon, the group gather inside the temple. Afterward, when Carolina returns, she informs everyone that they are heading to Outpost 17-B.
When the group return to Valhalla, Sarge and Simmons run off to find Lopez, in which they find the latter mounted on post as a scarecrow. They also discover a hut containing Donut and Doc, who happily greet them. Upon returning to the Red base, 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 all their problems. Sarge joins them and states if they leave to go kill the Director, things will become much worse. Afterward, Carolina and Epsilon gathers everyone inside the Red team's Holographic Chamber, where the final plan to kill the Director is discussed.
However, the group refuses to help Epsilon and Carolina on their mission, with Sarge adding that Epsilon and Carolina's mission isn't their fight, in which Simmons agrees on. This causes Epsilon to angrily blame the group for all his problems, which results in them leaving the chamber, disgusted by Epsilon's words. Depressed afterward, the Reds and Blues continue their shenanigans, until Doc interrupts them and reminds them on how much they have changed since they first met and, in the end, all got what they wanted, such as Simmons being reunited with his old teammates.
Rescue Mission[]
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. Sarge, however, tells Wash that despite their troubles with Freelancers, the Reds and Blues have always managed to overcome them, due to their trust in each other. Simmons also adds that they gave Wash another chance after facing the Meta, and Wash, as a result, agrees to help. Suddenly, a trio of UNSC Police Hornets surround the group and attempt to arrest them, but the Reds and Blues manage to steal the Hornets and fly off to help Carolina and Epsilon.
The group find them being attacked by an army of robotic Tex drones and quickly rescue them. Simmons, equipped with a rocket launcher, and the others then go into battle against the army and eliminate multiple Tex drones, but are soon 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 as a result, they build temporary bases to reside in until they are can be found.
Shipwrecked on Chorus[]
After Sarge "borrows" the Blue team's tank, he and Simmons use it to rejuvenate the Red base. After Wash regains the tank, the Reds discuss the problems of the base layout, designed by Simmons, and Sarge decides to split the base in half, with Simmons and Grif sharing one half. Simmons, however, soon begs Sarge to split the base equally, due to Grif's laziness and filthiness. He then suggests that they could use the robot kit parts from the ship to aid in repairing the comm tower, but Sarge decides to build a new robot and have it aid in the construction instead, creating Lopez 2.0 as a result.
The Reds take Lopez 2.0 to the comm tower and the latter manages to fix it, allowing the group to make contact with Donut, who agrees to rescue them. Overjoyed, the group celebrate, until Caboose introduces his new robot pet Freckles, prompting Sarge to send Simmons and Grif to recon on Blue team. However, during their recon, Tucker spots them and reveals that they're only following Wash's orders. This causes Simmons to decide to stay with the Blues so he can avoid his team's disorganization and uncleanliness while he enjoys the Blue team's arrangements. When Wash arrives, Simmons tells him he's joining the Blues before Sarge, who overreacted and assumed Simmons was kidnapped, attacks them with an unwilling Grif.
During the standoff, Simmons explains that he willingly went to Blue base, and Sarge decides that he has committed treason. When Caboose is "elected" to Blue team leader, Simmons tries to return to the Reds, but Freckles threatens to kill him for desertion if he leaves. Suddenly, Donut, Doc, and Lopez arrive and interrupt the tension, overjoying the Reds and Blues. Donut, however, reveals to them that he simply had the pilot drop them off and leave, prompting both sides to pummel him for his stupidity. Still held prisoner by Freckles, Simmons uses the base's power supply to create the social media website Basebook.
Battle at Crash Site Bravo[]
After Wash regains leadership of the Blue team, Simmons and the Blues are attacked by white armored soldiers. After Freckles kills them, the teams regroup and meet Felix and Locus. When Locus retreats the group interrogate Felix, who reveals that the crew have crashed landed on the planet Chorus, where a civil war is occurring. Felix also reveals that the New Republic want them to join their faction to win the war against the Federal Army of Chorus, but they refuse. Despite this, Simmons and the others help Felix fend of an attack by the Feds. Simmons soon rejoins the Reds and presents his base fortifications: a minefield.
When the teams complete work on their defenses, Lopez 2.0 attacks them while in control of C.C. To make matters worse, the group are suddenly attacked by Locus and his team of federal soldiers, forcing them to engage. Simmons and Sarge use the tank to eliminate many Feds, before it's destroyed by Locus. During the battle, Donut uses Simmons' minefield to destroy Cyclops/Lopez 2.0 and Simmons (with Tucker's help) is able to restore power to Freckles by using the ship's power supply. Although New Republic reinforcements arrive, Locus injures Donut, Lopez, Sarge, and Wash, much to Simmons' horror.
As a result, Simmons, Grif, Tucker, and Caboose, are forced to retreat with Felix into the tunnels before it's sealed off. After the battle, the four are taken to the New Republic's underground base, where they are informed of their friends' capture. The New Republic leader, Vanessa Kimball, persuades them to stay and fight in order to rescue their friends and end the war. While the group express their doubts, Kimball explains that her soldiers are in need of a shred of hope and asks them to try and lead them. As a result, Simmons, Grif, Tucker, and Caboose are promoted to captains and are given personal squads to train, taking on leadership positions for the first time.
Joining the New Republic[]
A few weeks later, Simmons, along with Grif and Caboose, undergoes a training exercise where he takes command of his all-female "Red Team" squad, although he has difficulty talking to them. Unfortunately, the exercise goes haywire and the three are scolded by Kimball. After Tucker returns from a mission at F.A.C. Outpost 22, Kimball informs them 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. As a result, the four recruit Jensen, Bitters, Smith, and Palomo for assistance, where Simmons fails to become leader of the mission, losing out to Tucker.
As the group begins their training, Simmons and Jensen install capture software onto everyone's helmets, in order to record their sessions. However, despite their efforts, the squad is laughed at by both the recruits and other Republic soldiers. Because of this, Tucker tries to persuade Simmons, Grif, and Caboose to go rescue their friends without the recruits. Simmons tries to talk some sense into Tucker, but the latter convinces him otherwise, stating that they will wing the whole operation. Eventually agreeing, the four depart on two Warthogs, before leaving an apology message to the rebels, and soon arrive at a deserted Fueling Station, where they discover four steel-armored soldiers speaking to Locus regarding their captured friends.
After the soldiers vanish, the four continue on and eventually arrive at F.A.C. Outpost 37, where they unexpectedly run into their friends. They tell each other the truth behind why the Rebels and Feds are fighting each other and come up with a plan to have the two armies form a truce. However, after Simmons notices that the compound's alarms have stopped, the base 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.
Battling the Space Pirates[]
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. The group soon study Girf's Suppressor, and note its similarities to the teleportation cube. After finding out that someone supplied the grenades on their ship, the Reds search for the ship's manifest at Crash Site Bravo, while the Blues search the other half of the ship at Crash Site Alpha. While at Bravo, Grif happily states to Simmons he has quit kissing up to Sarge and the two reminisce about their time with the rebels.
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, space pirates attack the base, forcing Wash to teleport the group to the fueling station, where he reveals that Freckles' storage unit Locus gave him contains a tracking device. After Epsilon removes the tracker, Felix and Locus contact the crew and offer them a first-class trip off Chorus. Distrustful of the two, the group execute a sneak attack on the mercenaries at Radio Jammer Station 1C, where the Reds manage to capture a few pirates.
After Felix reveals the Pirates' plans to Tucker, Simmons and the other Reds and Blues disable the radio jammer, allowing Epsilon to send Felix's recorded words from Tucker's helmet cam 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, vowing that they will return. After the Feds and Rebels form a truce, they pick up the Reds and Blues from the radio jammer station and regroup at the New Republic HQ. While there, Simmons, Grif, Tucker, and Caboose reunite with their recruits and thank each other for their actions, where Simmons finally is able to speak properly to Jensen.
Going to War[]
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, Simmons, along with the other Reds, is placed in charge of Armonia's armory. After he and Grif return a pile of Charon's weapons, collected by Sarge, Tucker, Epsilon and Carolina, to the armory he and Donut begin messing with them, until the weapons suddenly begin firing freely, due to Tucker activating an alien temple.
The group at the research facility inform the crew at Armonia of the event and decide to make a plan to attack the pirates while they're at a disadvantage. Kimball, Wash, the Reds, and Chorus armies will execute an assault at Crash Site Alpha while Carolina, Dr. Grey and the Blues follow map coordinates the temple emitted. Upon arriving at Crash Site Alpha, Simmons, Sarge, and Grif begin the attack, with the rest of the assault team following suit. Unfortunately, a large ship emerges from the sky and releases several space pirate reinforcements, forcing the assault team to take refuge inside the shipwreck. Luckily, Simmons devises a plan of escape by using the ship's engine to create a large smokescreen, which everybody agrees to.
After releasing the smoke, the assault team escape Alpha and return to Armonia. Although Carolina's group return as well with few causalities and a "rescued" Doc, Simmons expresses shame on the final results along with the rest of the Reds and Blues. After witnessing an argument between Kimball and Doyle, the crew ask Doc to help them hold a counseling session for the generals in order to improve their relationship. 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 relief. 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 killing the pirates by overloading the city's nuclear reactor, with Wash, Carolina, and Kimball being sent to overload it. Meanwhile, Doyle and the other Reds and Blues head to the armory to escape on a Pelican, but quickly discover that Lopez is stuck in the ship. After Simmons removes Lopez from the engine, the crew board the ship. Doyle, however, remains in Armonia and incites the Pirates into chasing him, allowing the crew to escape. After dropping the Blues off in a safe area, the Reds return to the city and pick up Wash, Kimball, Epsilon, and Carolina.
However, Doyle ignites the city's reactor in an act of self-sacrifice, killing a majority of the pirates and destroying the city. As the blast reaches the crew's Pelican, Carolina uses her Bubble shield to protect them. The crew then regroup at Crash Site Bravo with the armies, who mourn the loss of Doyle. After Kimball delivers a speech to the armies that motivates them to fight as one, the Reds and Blues assist the Feds and Rebels in an assault on the pirates at the Communication Temple, after obtaining alien artillery from the Temple of Arms. After Carolina and Wash successfully destroy the Purge, they quickly regroup with the others, until the pirates release several Mantises.
While the Freelancers and Chorus armies fight the droids outside, the crew enter the temple's control room and encounter Felix and Locus. Together, the crew overpowers Felix before Locus joins him. However, Locus betrays Felix and assists the crew in killing him, with Simmons and Tucker, in particular, using grenades to finish Felix off. After obtaining Felix'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 Staff of Charon and succeed in shutting down the droids, 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 Simmons arming himself with two needlers and expressing his honor to fight alongside Sarge. 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.
Epsilon's Post-Chorus Simulations[]
Shortly before his death in The End, Epsilon simulated a multitude of potential scenarios that could happen in the event that everyone but himself survives, including Simmons.
Retirement[]
Following the end of the war on Chorus, the Reds and Blues decide to 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 explain that a group of terrorists is posing as them. In addition, Dylan also explains that several Freelancers have gone missing and relays a message of Church, given to her by Kimball. As a result, the Reds and Blues prepare to find the source of the message alongside the reporters while the Freelancers search for their missing comrades. However, Grif refuses to accompany them and quits, which understandably upsets and confuses the others, most notably Simmons.
The crew and reporters then arrive at an abandoned city where they find another strange relay. While doing further investigation, Simmons tries to explain the concept of death to Caboose, and through his explanation Caboose garners that Simmons misses Grif, a fact which he vehemently denies. After Dylan traces the relay's signal to Armada 8, a canyon looking strikingly similar to Blood Gulch, the crew confront their "imposters", a group of simulation troopers who call themselves the Blues and Reds. Their leader, Temple, explains that they were also troopers for Project Freelancer and that the UNSC is killing off all Freelancer personnel. Suddenly, UNSC aircraft spot and attack both groups but the sim troopers manage to fight them off. They then take refuge in an underwater base, where the Reds and Blues find Doc working with their counterparts.
After collecting supplies for the Blues and Reds' machine, the group pick up Wash and Carolina, who were searching for the missing Freelancers Dylan told them about, and inform them of their campaign against the UNSC. Soon after, the Reds and Blues realize that Wash, Carolina, Dylan, and Jax have gone missing and confront the Blues and Reds about it, learning of their sinister motives in the process. Sarge and Doc, unfortunately, side with the Blues and Reds and help them imprison the crew. Thinking fast, Simmons briefly attempts to feign siding with the Blues and Reds in a bid to act as a double agent for Tucker and the others, but Caboose gives him away before he can set his plan into motion. As a result, the remaining Reds and Blues escape and fire Lopez into space in hopes that he'll find help.
Rescue of Earth[]
Grif, who has gone insane in his loneliness on Iris, arrives at the Blues and Reds’ underwater base and launches a brief rescue mission which results in him getting imprisoned and therefore reunited with his friends. The Blues and Reds then promptly reveal that Church's message was a fake and that he is, in fact, dead after all. After the Blues and Reds leave for Earth, Sarge and Locus, fortunately, free the crew and reunite them with their missing friends. During this time, Grif reconciles with Simmons for leaving, and Simmons happily forgives him. Upon planning an escape, Tucker forces the crew into a firefight with enemy Zealots, resulting in Wash getting injured. After Locus flies Wash to a hospital, the crew learn of Temple's plan courtesy of V.I.C., and formulate a plan of retaliation on their way to Earth.
After eliminating several enemy sim troopers, the crew infiltrates the Blues and Reds' lair, where Loco activates his machine. As the crew makes their way to Temple, Grif and Simmons encounter Gene, who tackles Simmons. The two engage in a brief scuffle but are interrupted by a confused Grif who cannot tell the difference between the two. Both attempt to convince Grif to kill the other, which only baffles him further. Grif finally asks "why are we here?", with Simmons of course giving the appropriate response and Gene being duly defeated. The two then proceed to confront Temple, who has trapped the other Reds and Blues in armor lock. When Grif, again, 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. As Loco's machine grows unstable, it 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.
The Pizza Quest[]
With Earth saved, the Reds and Blues decide to leave for lunch but notice that Donut is missing. Grif, however, argues against finding him and flies the crew off to Sammie Raphaello's Pizza in a Pelican while Carolina leaves for Chorus with the Lieutenants. Grif crashes the ship in a forest near the pizzeria, forcing them to walk the rest of the way. Suspicious of Grif's actions, Simmons confronts him. Grif explains that after reading about incendiary incidents from one of Jax's books, he's devised ways to avoid adventures in real life so he will never have to work again.
The crew suddenly finds Donut in the forest, who has obtained time-traveling abilities. Donut explains that he was sent by God to recruit the Reds and Blues to battle the Devil King, when suddenly the goddess Kalirama attacks the crew. Donut gives them all Time-Portal Gun's, allowing the crew to escape through time, with Sarge and Simmons escaping to ancient Egypt. Simmons tries to investigate the time machine but Sarge opposes it, deciding to use it to prevent the slaughter of his men during the Battle of Broken Ridge. Sarge's efforts to save his men fail, as the present and past Sarge's conflicting instructions lead to the soldiers being massacred.
In another attempt to right his wrongs, Sarge gets three ancient warriors, John, Alex, and George, to help him prevent another event. Traumatized by his betrayal of the Reds and Blues, Sarge decides to kill Temple and sends himself, Simmons, and the squad to the point in time where the crew meets the Blues and Reds. Upon arriving at Desert Gulch, Sarge kills Temple but the group realizes that they're not in the past, but the present, on the set of Jax's film based on their feud with the Blues and Reds, and the victim was an actor.
After several frantic phone calls from Dylan to Carolina, she informs her that she fears the Reds and Blues may be lost to time and must meet an expert on time travel to figure out how to save them. Washington and Carolina arrive to visit Jax, who is said time travel expert. There, they run into Sarge, who confirms that he and Simmons now work with Jax and do in fact have a time machine, much to the Freelancers' dismay. Simmons demonstrates how the time machine works by opening a portal to have a conversation with his past self during the time when Sarge attempted to recruit Achilles.
In an effort to figure out what form of time travel they may be experiencing and whether or not it's free will, Jax coaxes Sarge to decide if he is going to use his time machine to enter a storage closet or not, and then open it. If Sarge decides to travel, he will be there; but if Sarge decides not to use it, he won't be. Simmons opens the closet door, only to anti-climactically find Lopez and Caboose.
Grif, Sister, and Tucker later show up as Jax tries to piece together a timeline of events regarding the Reds and Blues' adventures throughout time. The gang eventually leaves Jax to work on his movie, only to realize this isn't going to get them anywhere. Grif, Sister, and Tucker inform the rest of the crew about the Cosmic Powers, with them all coming to the conclusion that they need to confront these deities head-on to figure out what's going on. The gang opens several portals to Starseeds, where they reveal themselves in full to the Reds and Blues. Simmons soon realizes that these "gods" aren't really gods; they're A.I. They were created by Chrovos to help manipulate and control younger races, and their appearance is nothing more than a holographic projection, putting an end to Simmons' internal dilemma about science and religion. The Cosmic Powers grant the Red and Blues access to The Hammer and send them on a quest to reenforce Chrovos' prison with said weapon.
After it's revealed to Washington that he is suffering from memory loss due to his cerebral hypoxia, he leaves in frustration, feeling betrayed and lied to. Donut also decides at that moment to take The Hammer for himself and deal with Chrovos on his own. The Reds and Blues decide to unite and go back in time to prevent Wash from getting hit by a stray bullet. While there, Grif soon discovers that they've walked right into a trap set by Genkins, who wanted them to stop Wash from getting hit in a plot to un-make the universe. Grif attempts to warn the Reds and Blues about Genkins' plan, only to be too late. The Reds and Blues successfully prevent Wash from getting hit, causing a paradox as everything fades to white.
Paradox[]
The Reds and Blues are now stuck, reliving their past on a timeline constructed by Genkins, who assumes the role of Church.
[Under Construction]
Other Versions[]
Epsilon Unit[]
This version of Simmons has a personality that is nearly identical to his real world counterpart's. It's also shown that he doesn't like change when the rest of the Red Team obtain their original personalities and also cares for his team just as much as his real world counterpart's. However, when he thought Andy would explode, he revealed that he respected none of his teammates, despised them all, and felt his skills were underused. His psyche is also questionable like his original counterpart.
Changes[]
Simmons first appears in Rounding Error where he is ordered by Donut to get on the missile turret of the Warthog. He fires at the Blues, who are spying on the Red's modifications to their jeep and is soon yelled at by Donut. Church then goes down to tell the Reds that their personalities are wrong from their real world counterparts, in which Simmons questions Church on how he himself is different. Church responds to Simmons that he is pretty much spot on, depressing the latter. After Church limps away back to Blue base, as a result of being shot by Donut, Sarge and Simmons begin to discuss if what Church said was true.
Simmons is later seen trying to give Grif an order from Sarge. However, Grif disregards Simmons' message and tells him not to cross his mopped floor. Nonetheless, Simmons tells Grif that Sarge ordered him to relax, but Grif doesn't seem to understand what relaxation is. Simmons then asks where Donut is and, after Grif tells him, Donut comes out sobbing. Simmons tells him that Sarge wants him to help build a robot Command sent them. As Donut runs tracking mud on the floor, Simmons looks at Grif, expecting him to freak out. However, Grif is relaxing.
Later outside the base, Simmons and Sarge begin production of their robot, having completed the legs. Donut walks out and talks to Sarge personally, leaving Simmons alone by himself. When Donut finishes, Simmons asks Sarge if they can have a private conversation as well. Sarge, aggravated about his talk with Donut, tells Simmons to forget about it and get back to work.
Conflict with Lopez[]
Afterwards, the Reds complete their robot Lopez. Sarge asks Simmons if he would like to do the honors of activating Lopez, but soon decides to do it himself, disappointing Simmons. Simmons gets more disappointed when the Reds begin stating that Lopez would be taking over all of Simmons' duties. An earthquake ensues while Lopez is being activated and Simmons panics. Upon activation, Lopez speaks Spanish. Simmons believes his voice unit was damaged in the earthquake, but Sarge reveals he ordered a Spanish model robot. During another earthquake, Lopez begins to panic, taking yet another one of Simmons' duties.
Later atop Red Base, Simmons gets jealous of the attention Lopez is getting and decides to put a stop to it. At the cave entrance, Simmons calls Lopez on a secure channel and lures him into the cave. As Lopez makes his way into the cave, Simmons explains to himself that he is going to electrify Lopez. However, Lopez overhears and decides to go the other way around. Simmons attempts to stop him but goes into the puddle and electrifies himself. Lopez later puts a shackle on his ankle and spray paints his own armor maroon so he can take Simmons' spot, Simmons tells Lopez he'll regret this.
Later, Simmons successfully frees himself and goes down to get Lopez; however, when he arrives at Red Base he sees Lopez in pieces, and believes him to be dead. As the Reds give a eulogy for Simmons' funeral, Simmons becomes disappointing with how little the Reds knew about him.
Personality[]
Simmons is portrayed as a stereotypical nerd as he enjoys working, thinks logically, and tells jokes that only he seems to find amusing. Simmons is also a very considerate person, as he has been shown to be very compassionate and kind to other characters. In addition, Simmons has expressed enjoyment in physical combat, as he was ecstatic when the Reds attacked the Blues in 1.21 Giga-Whats?? and Everything Old is New Again, and the Wyoming clones in Repent, the End Is Near. He also enjoys cleanliness and order as he believes it makes things more efficient and peaceful.
Simmons seems to also be very forgiving, such as when he returned to the Red Team in Season 4 and gave Washington, Carolina, and Epsilon second chances. Though he has many positive traits, Simmons is not without his flaws. He is very self-conscious with a questionable psyche, which causes him to breakdown and sometimes cry. Also, it's shown that he easily becomes jealous and annoyed, which caused him to leave and once betray his team during Season 4. However, Simmons is still a caring soldier who will do what he can for his team and friends as he has shown many times.
At the start of the Chorus Trilogy, Simmons originally relied on others for emotional support and had difficulties talking to women due to his nervousness when girls focus on him. However, because more people showed appreciation for his intellect and by interacting with his female squad (specifically Jensen), Simmons' self-confidence and psyche improved, causing him to suck up less to Sarge, talk to girls (a bit more) properly, and share his ideas without a doubt. Over time, Simmons has become a confident captain who is proud to help those in need or his own friends.
Relationships[]
- Main article: Simmons' Relationships
Simmons has developed various relationships with many characters throughout the series.
Themes[]
"Shotgun!"[]
During the Blood Gulch Chronicles, Simmons has called shotgun for the Warthog before Grif almost every time since episode 2. However, later in the series, Simmons has had the misfortune of not calling shotgun in time, being constantly beaten by Grif. He nearly broke this streak in Reconstruction: Chapter 9, however, Grif promptly pulled rank on him and took the passenger seat for himself and is later mentioned in Reconstruction: Chapter 19 after the Reds and Caboose obtain Valhalla for bases. The gag was absent in the series until Out of Body, as after Epsilon is implanted into Carolina's motorbike, Grif states that Simmons can call shotgun 'this time' but he refuses.
In Fire, when Simmons and Sarge decide to use the tank to draw the Federal Army's fire, he calls shotgun. It appears again when Simmons yells "Shotgun!" off screen in Armonia, Part 1 after Tucker states he won't be sitting next to Doc on the Pelican when they prepare to leave the city. Simmons and Grif later call shotgun at exactly the same time when the group uses the damaged Falcon to get to the Staff of Charon in The End. It was also voted by fans to be the best running joke on The Best of Red vs. Blue Awards. Something to note is the joke is sometimes followed by Donut claiming "shotgun's lap" after shotgun is taken, much to Simmons' disdain.
Shouting Injuries[]
During the Blood Gulch Chronicles, every time Simmons is hit or knocked unconscious, he shouts where he is hurt, for example, "Ow, the back of my head!", "The front of my face!", or "The back of my lower legs!" He even goes as far as saying "Ooh, the back of your head!" when Church knocks out Sarge before he executes Simmons for treason. However, the gag has had little to no mention in the later sagas. However, in Hit and Run, a Fed specialist yells "The back of my head!" when he's knocked out, referencing Simmons' gag of calling out injuries. The gag is referenced again in Dish Best Served by Doc when Grey knocks him out.
Ethnicity[]
Also, a running gag of Simmons' dubious ethnicity begins when Grif, unable to understand Lopez's Spanish, believes Simmons can translate, due to being "of a Latino persuasion." Simmons, however, insists that he is Dutch-Irish in Points of Origin. This is referenced a few more times before being dropped, until it is resurrected in Season 4, where Donut lists the language menu options when called by Simmons, and says "For unconfirmed Dutch-Irish, press one too, as in, also."
The joke returns in episode 99, when the Reds (except Donut) fight the Wyoming copies in the Warthog. As Simmons shoots at them with the chain-gun, he says "Suck it, cracker!" Wondering why he would use such a slur, Grif asks "Cracker? I thought you said you were Dutch-Irish!" Since then, the joke has been less referenced in later seasons, only being mentioned a few times. The gag is also related with his own voice actor, Gustavo Sorola, on his own ethnicity.
"Wanna talk about it?"[]
During the Blood Gulch Chronicles, someone will say something odd then Simmons will ask if they want to talk about it. He has had this discussion with Grif and Sarge in seasons 1 and 2. In Season 4, the gag returns, but reversed, as Simmons (on Blue Team) tried to convince Church Donut's armor was pink and Church asked if he wanted to talk about it. It’s referenced near the end of Reconstruction after deleting all data relating to the Blue Army on Freelancers database, Caboose sudden disappearance makes Simmons fear they also removed him from existence until Caboose appears behind the Reds; when the others jokingly ask him to continue his theory, he replies he doesn’t want to talk about it.
It appears again in Recreation reversed, as Simmons said something odd, and Donut asked to talk about it. It is also used between Sarge and Epsilon in Season 10 with Sarge asking if Church had a fetish with women with quick tempers.
"Suck it Blue!"[]
Simmons has developed an urge to tell an enemy, most commonly the Blues, to 'suck it' since Season 2. The phrase, much like Tucker's catchphrase, has become a staple of Simmons' character and has become very popular. There are multiple variations as well as the series progressed, such as: "Suck it Red!", "Suck it whites!", "Suck it Freelancers!", "Suck it evil soldier dudes!", and "Suck it Black!" This quote was also voted to be Simmons' most memorable quote by fans in The Best of Red vs. Blue Awards.
Psyche[]
Throughout the series, Simmons' psyche has been brought up to question and suggests that he suffers from several psychological issues. One example is his relationship with Sarge, who he's shown to consider a father figure, possibly implying that Simmons lacked one in childhood. For example, in Free Refills, Simmons asks a holographic Sarge generated in the Hologram Chamber for permission to call him 'Dad'. This is also shown when he tries to join the Blues in Season 11, stating Wash can call him "champ" or "son".
In Season 4, Grif states that Simmons punches mirrors when he cries, which shows Simmons hates himself when he's at his weakest, making him even more self-conscious as mentioned before. Simmons cries and wishes that the Reds were as emotional to one another when Wash apologizes to Caboose in Neighborhood Watch, implying he seeks similar compassion. Along with this, Simmons gets enraged by certain details, an example shown in Heavy Mettle, where he pulls his gun on Grif for using his toothbrush.
It's even implied that he ate a dog to survive a blizzard in Retention Deficit. His Epsilon-counterpart is also shown to have similar psychological issues, once mentioning that his father left him despite promising he would return. When Simmons begins to have a panic attack in Oh Captains, My Captains, it's ultimately revealed his father abused him when he attended junior high, forcing Simmons to join a women's league sports team instead of letting him become a "mathlete". This explains his nervousness around girls and possibly his other psychological issues.
Loyalty[]
Despite his many note-worthy qualities that make him a great soldier, Simmons's loyalty to his team is questionable. In season 4, he not only abandoned his team to join Sheila at blue base, painting himself blue (to Sarge's disgust), but also led an attack on his old base. Despite his admiration for Sarge, he is not above removing him if it leads to a promotion, such as when Sister arrived in Blood Gulch. In Head Cannon, when Omega invaded him, he was willing to side with the A.I. in order to get revenge for his mistreatment, until Omega was able to escape from Simmons when Caboose turned his radio on. When Sarge, Grif and Caboose went on their journey to save Tucker, Simmons went to blow up Blue Base despite orders against it. When shipwrecked on Chorus he was more willing to join Blue team than to put up with Grif's typical habits.
Skills and Abilities[]
Weaponry[]
Simmons has been shown to have some skills as a soldier, defeating some of the Wyoming clones and Recovery soldiers with some degree of ease using the Warthog's turret. He also claims to be an expert at handling rocket launchers, as shown in Recreation, Revelation, and Season 10. Simmons' skill with the rocket launcher is basic yet effective as he was able to force the Meta onto the defensive in n+1, which made the Meta target him as the prime threat and was also able to eliminate several Tex drones with the weapon in True Colors. Simmons was able to kill several Feds in Season 11 with the turret on the Blues' tank.
While facing the Space Pirates during the battle of Crash Site Alpha, he uses the Heavy Machine Gun Turret on the Warthog throughout the battle with no struggle. Because of his skills with both the machine gun turret and rocket launcher, Simmons could be considered the heavy weapon specialist of the Red Team and Reds and Blues. However, Simmons is shown to have skills with pistol-like weapons as well, specifically near the end of Season 13. He uses Needlers during the final confrontation with the Space Pirates and Chairman's forces and even wounds Felix by shooting him in the shoulder. Most notably, Simmons later takes Felix's Sticky Detonator to prevent the latter from using his Hardlight Shield, resulting in Felix's death.
Combat[]
Simmons is also physically fit, for example: in Season 1, after running back to Red base, Grif is clearly out of breath but Simmons isn't; in Season 5, he successfully lands on his feet from dropping hundreds of feet from the air when entering the caves; in Recreation, he was shown to outrun the Meta's blasts; and in Revelation, he was able to hold on to the warthog while being dragged by it and after the Meta destroyed it. Also, Simmons has quick reflexes as shown throughout the series, such as when facing the Meta, where he was able to avoid the Meta's fire and quickly blocked the Meta's brute shot blade with his own rocket launcher. In Training Daze, it's shown that Simmons is able to keep up with all of Tucker's forms of training the group goes through.
Simmons also displays some skill with knives, as he was able to pull out his knife before Gene and was almost able to overpower him, and he would have had Gene not called for Grif to help them.
Intelligence[]
Simmons' greatest strength is his intellect and proves to be one of the smartest characters in the series. Sarge considers Simmons the Red Team's unofficial science officer, something Simmons approves of. He has keen computer skills, as he was able to control the teleporters in reuniting with everyone and was able to hack into Project Freelancer's main computers. Simmons also seems to have knowledge of physics, sometimes quoting Einstein's Theory of Relativity and making scientific observations of situations that others, such as Grif and Sister, find incomprehensible.
Simmons has some skills in engineering as well, as shown when he successfully insert an armor enhancement on Grif in Revelation, was able to install Epsilon into Carolina's mongoose in Season 10 (with Caboose's help) and was able to dismantle Lopez in order to get him out of a Pelican's engine in Season 13. Also it's shown in Season 3 that Simmons can use holographic projections by unknown means. When the Reds and Blues find out that they are only simulation troopers, Grif asks why Simmons would be with them, since he seems so smart. Simmons states that time tests are not fair as it's not how fast you know the information, but that you know it at all. This, along with other skills Simmons has, made him possibly the only Blood Gulch soldier worth any actual military status.
Simmons is very creative when using his intellect to solve issues the Reds and Blues face. For example, in +1 Follower, Simmons creates Basebook to allow the Reds and Blues to easily communicate across Crash Site Bravo, and in Training Daze, he makes Helmet Cameras with Jensen's aid, which became key in stopping the conflict at Armonia. Notably in Temple of the Key, when the Chorus forces were surrounded by the Space Pirates at Crash Site Alpha, Simmons devises a successful plan of escape by using the ship's engine to create a large smokescreen to cover them, resulting in all the remaining forces surviving.
Simmons is also shown to have great preparation skills for various scenarios, such as packing extra ammunition knowing Grif would fail to do so and was even prepared to have his mind invaded by Omega with preplanned activities.
Leadership[]
Due to having a great deal of skill, compassion, and a high intellect for a simulation trooper, Simmons has shown a great degree of leadership. Such as in Make Your Time, where he not only leads the Reds, but the Blues as well, and together briefly defeated O'Malley using the Grunts; or in Recreation, he took command of the Red Team in Valhalla and was able to defend against the Meta with no casualties until Washington appeared. Sarge even states in Rally Cap that command would've given him his own squad to lead. In the Season 11 finale, Simmons, along with the remaining Reds and Blues, takes leadership of the young New Republic soldiers. Unfortunately, this leadership is somewhat stunted by his problems with talking to women.
Kills[]
With his surprising amount of skills, Simmons has successfully killed many enemies in the series. Along with this, he helped Sarge, Grif, and Tucker kill the Meta in n+1 and is partially responsible for destroying Lopez 2.0 and C.C. in Fire as he was the one who set up the mines. Simmons has killed several Space Pirates, the first seemingly with his Battle Rifle when Carolina rescues the Reds and Blues in Cloak and Dagger and several others throughout the rest of Season 13. Simmons, with Tucker's aid, also delivered the killing blow to Felix when he used the latter's Sticky Detonator to send him falling to his death.
Inconsistencies[]
- In Why Are We Here?, Simmons is shown to be annoyed when Sarge demands to see him and Grif, while Grif seems quite positive. The staff would seemingly switch the relationship of Simmons and Grif with Sarge for the rest of the series. This is later explained in Why They're Here, where it's shown when they first meet, Grif shift blame to Simmons for several problems to earn Sarge's approval.
- In Season 3, Simmons is shown to not only have great skills with teleporters, but also can use a holographic projection, yet it's never explained on screen. Although it's mentioned in the Season 3 commentary that it was planned to be explained as having something to do with him being a cyborg.
- Even though Simmons is part cyborg, due to a majority of his organs being transferred to Grif after he got hit by Sheila, the EMP in Reconstruction finale doesn't affect him at all. Simmons' status of a cyborg was largely ignored after Season 3, seemingly forgotten until being mentioned in Recreation and again in Season 11, and even goes unmentioned from the Fan Guide. He also states that he's only 1/8 cyborg, but this would go against Sarge's list of the many organs he removed from him, meaning he's either wrong or Sarge didn't remove as many as he stated.
- Although Simmons is a skilled and intelligent soldier, he was placed in the 10% of worst soldiers. This is brought up by Grif in Revelation after learning the truth of the simulation tests, who sees it as odd. Simmons defends himself by mentioning he is simply a slow tester, which pushed him into the lower percentile.
- It's also worth noting that another criteria for being simulation troopers is poor field skills which Simmons may have possessed prior to the series.
- In Lost But Not Forgotten, Simmons and the others state that none of them have ever led a team before. Yet, Simmons has in fact been a leader three times: in Season 3, he leads the Reds and Blues against Omega; in Season 5, he briefly takes command of Red Team; and in Recreation, he takes command of the remaining Reds at Valhalla when the Meta appears. However, each of these were only temporarily.
Behind the Scenes[]
Filming[]
Simmons was sometimes portrayed by a red colored Spartan in the Halo: Combat Evolved engine, due to the fact that Spartans of different color couldn't board the same warthog. Because there was a noticeable difficulty in differentiating between the game's red and maroon colors, Rooster Teeth could have Simmons and Sarge board a Warthog at the same time. With Grif, the staff sometimes used camera angles to obscure one of the soldiers or have Simmons get edited in after filming Grif driving, which proved difficult. Fortunately, this issue was not present in future Halo games, as they would allow characters of different color to enter the same vehicle.
Although he is established early on as wearing maroon-colored armor, Simmons' shade of red has wildly varied in its depictions across the different Halo game engines. Such instances include the darker "crimson" or the slightly off-read colored "brick". In general, the closest color to "Red" without matching Sarge is the color usually defaulted for depicting Simmons.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- "Dick" is short for "Richard", making Simmons' name "Richard Simmons", a reference to the famous exercise video actor.
- Simmons was born in Dutch, Ireland.
- According to the Season 3 DVD Character Profile for Simmons, Simmons' grandfather was co-pilot of the second ship to arrive after the Great Battle of the Delta Quadrant, while his father was assistant ambassador of Earth on Rigel 2 and provided cold drinks and coffee to the signers of the historic Rigelian Treaty of 2512.
- Simmons is known for his issues with his father, as an example, prior to abandoning him, Simmons’ father forced him to join a women's league sports team instead of letting him become a mathlete.
- In The Rookies, Grif's story about Simmons not wanting to go to the Vegas quadrant is a real-life reference to when Gustavo Sorola didn't want to go to Las Vegas with his co-employees.
- Simmons is the first cyborg introduced in the series and is one of the only three shown.
- Simmons is the first character shown in the series to have an armor color scheme consisting of two colors: blue with maroon trim (disregarding early versions of episodes from season 3).
- Simmons is shown on the Season 4 DVD box art in his blue armor, the first time he had appeared on a season DVD box art.
- Simmons doesn't use anyone's bathroom except his own, despite having been being in 'the war' for many years. In Simmons' own words, "It's going to be a very eventful homecoming."
- Sheila and Church have called Simmons "tomato can", which he takes offense to.
- Simmons suffers from ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes, as validated in Episode 89.
- Simmons is one of the few smart characters of the Blood Gulch soldiers (examples: explaining Einstein Theories of Relativity, being the most logical of the Reds, able to hack into the Freelancers files, etc.), the others being Lopez, Church, and Tex.
- Simmons spoke both the first and last lines of the Blood Gulch Chronicles. His first line ("Hey?") asking Grif "Why they were here?" and his last line ("Fuck!") was exclaimed after Grif called shotgun on the Reds' new vehicle at the end of Episode 100.
- Simmons has the most appearances in the first saga of the series out of all characters (94 episodes). He also currently has the most appearances of the entire series to date (289 episodes).
- According to Sarge in Upon Further Review, Simmons code name is Maroon One, which relates to his armor color (maroon) and his original rank (Private First Class).
- The name sounds similar to Marine One, the name of the helicopter that the President of the United States rides in.
- Like everyone else in the series, Simmons is right handed in video game format. However, in This One Goes to Eleven, while animated in poser, he appears to be left handed, possibly meaning that he's ambidextrous. This is further supported in The End, where he dual wields two Needlers.
- In Check Your Local Listings, Simmons states that he becomes very nervous when girls pay direct attention to him. This is further shown in Season 12 where he has a hard time communicating with his team due to it completely consisting of girls.
- Ironically, Simmons is shown to have more females romantically attracted toward him then any other character in the series (with a total of three canonical love interests), as Sister is shown to consider Simmons hot in Season 5, while both of his lieutenants show they have a crush on him in Season 12.
- Simmons was presumably sent to Project Freelancer for low test scores. When questioned on this by Grif, Simmons replies that the time limits weren't fair.
- The rocket launcher seems to have become Simmons' signature weapon since Recreation, as he has used it in several battles, such as the battles against Epsilon-Tex, the Meta, and the robotic Tex-drones. He also appears with the rocket launcher on the "Simmonsisms" poster, the Red Team artwork, and uses it in Red vs. Blue: Animated.
- However, during the Chorus Trilogy, Simmons seems to use the rocket launcher less and mainly uses pistol-like weapons, as he uses a Magnum in the Season 12 Teaser Trailer, he uses Needlers near the end of the saga, and he later killed Felix using the Sticky Detonator. He even takes Carolina's pistol from the Chairman's trophy room in The End before giving it to Donut.
- Another weapon that Simmons seems to prefer using is the heavy machine gun turret, mounted on the Warthog. Unlike the Rocket Launcher, it seems to be one of the more consistent weapons of choice for him. As he is almost always on the Warthog's Turret even in the Chorus Trilogy and has racked up quite a lot of kills with it as well.
- As shown in Deja View PSA where the Reds and Blues are temporarily shown in Hemorrhage, Simmons gained the ability to project holograms of himself through his Armor Ability, though the holograms will become "self aware" if not deactivated within a few minutes.
- Simmons, along with Grif, is one of the only characters in the series to appear in all types of animation forms used in Red vs. Blue (machinima, 2-D animation, animation using Poser, and stop motion). They also currently have the longest series lifespan than any other character, with both being first introduced in Red vs. Blue Trailer.
- Simmons has, at one point, been described to be capable of farming cabbage.
- Simmons created the websites Simmons and Basebook, which is used by several characters in Season 11. They're also parodies of the popular websites, Google and Facebook.
- With his promotion to Captain in Season 12, Simmons is now one of the highest ranking characters encountered in the series, along with fellow captains Flowers, Grif, Caboose, and Tucker. He is only behind Colonel Sarge, General Kimball, and General Doyle.
- In several instances, it has been mentioned that Simmons plays Dungeons & Dragons, a fantasy tabletop role-playing game.
- In Training Daze, it's shown that Simmons knows how to use military hand signals.
- According to Match Breaking, Simmons uses multiple dating websites, currently Tinder, to find possible relationships. Along with this, a previous date of his confirms his username is ScilonSlayer19.
- In the comic book series, Dead Rising: Road to Fortune, there is a soldier named Simmons, who appears to know another soldier very well, who he calls "Sarge".
- According to special episodes and advertisement at the end of some episodes on YouTube, Simmons is in charge of running and organizing the Red vs. Blue YouTube channel.
- As said in Previously On, Simmons learned Esperanto in an attempt to speak with Lopez, thinking that it meant Spanish.
- It is heavily implied in Previously On that Simmons and Grif had sex with each other when the Temple of Procreation was activated, which both of them regard with open discomfort and an unwillingness to discuss.
- Whether this confirms Grif and Simmons to be LGBT+ characters is unclear as it's possible that the tower overrides someone's sexuality while activated and there are no implications prior or afterwards of either having an interest in men. The fact this whole event was revealed to be part of a simulation run by Epsilon during Restoration further muddles the issue.
- Both Simmons and Church briefly appear in RED vs BLUE, a video by Corridor Digital, with Gustavo Sorola and Burnie Burns reprising their roles.
- Any time Simmons has joined Blue Team, it has always been Sarge's fault. When he first joined them, it was because Sarge believed he was crazy and no longer respected him. The second time was when he forced Simmons and Grif to share a room together. He then sent them on a recon mission where Simmons heard about Washington making Tucker clean the base and maintain order, causing Simmons to leave Red Team.
- According to Red vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide, Simmons had coded an entire self-created RPG game. This may be a reference to the fact that Simmons has a love for RPGs (be it Tabletops or video games) such as Dungeons & Dragons. This is further stated in Perusing the Archive, when Sarge tells Simmons not to apply DnD logic to real life.
- According to the Microplastics! PSA, Simmons has subscribed to Marine Life magazine, believing it had topics centered around the military rather than topics about the ocean.
- According to Favorite Member of Blue Team?, Simmons' favorite member of Blue Team is Sheila.
- Simmons' armor on Halo: Combat Evolved is the default armor (mark V), while his color is Maroon.
- His Armor on Halo 2 consists of the default armor (Mark VI), while his primary and secondary are Crimson. During his brief "defection" to the Blue team, his primary color was switched to Blue while his secondary color remained Crimson (in an effort to depict him as having "missed some spots" when repainting it.) Additionally on Halo 2: Anniversary, his armor is the full set Mark VI, with Maroon as his colors.
- In Halo 3, his armor is the full set Mark VI set to Maroon.
- In Halo 4, his armor consists of a Mark VI helmet, shoulders, forearms and legs, while his chest utilized Stalker (CRUSH).
- In Halo 5: Guardians consists of full set Mark VI.
- In Halo Infinite, Simmons uses the Mark V(B) armor core, with Mark VI helmet, SAP/Mark V shoulder pads, Transradial prosthesis on his left arm, and Cadet Brick armor coating.
- In Theogeny, it's revealed Simmons' biggest fear is being chased by a group of aliens inside of a UFO, who want to abduct him to steal his penis for "scientific experiments".
- According to Jason Weight, it was originally planned that the UFO would be piloted by Simmons' father, as a Freudian slip to Simmons still feeling like he's in his father's shadow. However, the higher-ups at Rooster Teeth vetoed this idea, as it could've come off as unintentionally incestuous/pedophilic.