- "They will all taste oblivion! Which tastes just like Red Bull...which is disgusting."
- —Omega speaking through Doc in Nut. Doonut.
Artificial Intelligence Program Omega, also known as O'Malley, was designed for the Special Operations program Freelancer and was assigned to Agent Texas. Omega was a fragment of the Alpha A.I., specifically the Alpha's rage, and soon went rogue after Tex arrived in Blood Gulch. Omega served as the primary antagonist of The Blood Gulch Chronicles.
Overview[]
The common enemy of both the Reds and Blues, Omega is an artificial intelligence program, fragmented from the Alpha A.I.'s rage. As part of a Special Ops program, Freelancer, the program was implanted into agent Tex's armor to make her more aggressive and dangerous. The name O'Malley (Om-alli) originates from a portmanteau of Omega and Allison; the latter Tex's real name. He was used with Gamma and Sigma in experiments against the Alpha A.I., which the Alpha would purposely fail, driving it to further madness.
Role in Plot[]
Project Freelancer[]
During his time at Project Freelancer, Omega was shown to have an effect on Tex's attitude, making her more angry. During a match with Agent Carolina, Omega wished to assist Tex, though she assured him that she could handle it on her own. Later, as Carolina laid screaming in agony on the floor, Omega is heard whispering to Tex, urging her to kill Carolina. Tex struggled for a bit before punching Carolina, knocking her out cold. Later, Tex admitted to North Dakota that Omega took longer to get used to than most A.I. and wasn't sure if she could depend on him. She then informs North that she has been pulling Omega from her head and hasn't been using him for days, unbeknownst to the Director as he might take serious action toward her decisions.
Afterwards, Omega was present during the creation of the Epsilon A.I., along with Sigma and Gamma. Together, the three A.I. assisted the Director and Counselor with fragmenting Alpha's memories. When the torturing process was complete, the Director told Omega and the other A.I. to log off. Eventually, after the Freelancer break-in, Tex escapes Project Freelancer with Omega.
Conflict in Blood Gulch[]
Towards the end of Season 1, just before Tex attacks the Reds for the second time, O'Malley assesses that Tex has little chance of survival and leaps by radio into Caboose. Under O'Malley's possession, Caboose becomes more aggressive and periodically makes threatening statements in "a scary voice", but O'Malley is never able to take full control. After being forced out of Caboose by Church and Tex, O'Malley possesses Doc, of whom he is able to take almost total control and use to further his own agenda. With Doc, O'Malley executes a rampage on Blood Gulch, kidnaps Lopez, and escapes through the teleporter.
He seems to work for Vic to some degree, hiring Wyoming to take out Tucker, claiming Vic will give them a bonus for killing him, but it is unknown if this deal was permanent or temporary. When the Reds and Blues chase O'Malley to Sidewinder, the A.I. fires upon them with a Rocket Launcher. However, he and Lopez are soon blasted into the "future" by the bomb in Church's stomach and end up at Zanzibar. Upon recruiting the Red Zealot into their ranks, O'Malley, Doc, and Lopez fortify their new fortress and prepare for the Reds and Blues' assault. After managing to escape, O'Malley has Lopez construct a Robot Army and uses them to attack the Reds and Blues. Unfortunately, a mysterious creature destroys the army.
O'Malley's confrontation with the Alien near the end of season 3 leaves his fate ambiguous, but it is revealed in Episode 73 that Lopez, Doc, and he are still alive and have been hiding in a secret lair. In Episode 74 and 75, O'Malley, Doc, and Lopez return to Blood Gulch, at the request of Church, to diagnose Tucker's illness. In return, O'Malley demands something to be named later. He never does name his price, however, as at the end of Season 4, he takes his chances and jumps Doc and into Captain Butch Flowers. From there O'Malley jumps to multiple hosts before finally finding Tex, who intentionally exposed herself to infection. O'Malley left Blood Gulch with Tex, Gamma, a Green Alien, and Tucker's alien son Junior to "win the war". However, their pelican explodes thanks to Andy and crashes in Valhalla, leading to the events of Reconstruction.
Capture and Destruction[]
Following the crash, operatives from Project Freelancer launch a mass investigation of the Outpost 17-B "Valhalla" area after all but one of the Simulation Troopers are found dead. They find a Red Team survivor named Walter Henderson who is later questioned by the Counselor, and reveals that the crash of a strange ship in the Valhalla area led to mysterious events like the Blue Team killing each other and, soon after, an "infection" that made most of the Red Team go insane, referencing Omega. An unknown hostile then killed all the Red soldiers leaving Henderson the only survivor. The Counselor tells Washington that he suspects that the "Meta" has now acquired Omega. This is revealed to be true as Omega is seen captured alongside Tex and the other Freelancer A.I. fragments. During Wash's pursuit of the Meta, Wash activates Freelancer Command's EMP, destroying Omega and the other A.I.s that the Meta had captured.
O'Malley is mentioned by Tex in Standardized Testing. Tex reveals to Epsilon of the location of where Alpha was sent to after the very first Freelancer break in, which Tex herself led, and it was there more and more "tests" were run on him. Other AI were used in the torturing process of Alpha, with Omega and Gamma being used to create tests that Alpha would purposefully fail, driving him mad, and breaking him to the point he could not recognize anybody, not even Tex. When Church asks if she and the other Freelancers succeeded, Tex says no, and that she failed herself and Alpha.
Lasting Influence on Doc[]
During the events of the war on the planet Chorus, Doc was accidentally teleported to an unknown location during an accident with a Teleportation Grenade. During this time, Doc was supposedly subjected to a number of unknown horrors, which he describes as "I lost my mind! Then I found it! Then I lost it again!" After the destruction of all the teleportation grenades, Doc returns. However, his ensuing reunion with the Reds and Blues as well as the discovery they had failed to notice he was even gone resulted in a deep fracturing of Doc's psyche, creating a natural split personality with a facsimile of the O'Malley personality surfacing. Despite the fact the Omega A.I. is not present in his armor, the experiences while under its influence allowed Doc's mind to effectively recreate the personality it had assumed while in his head, from the physical prowess to the increased aggression. While Doc tries to repress the O'Malley personality it pushes its way through from time to time, even becoming the dominant personality. Fortunately, Doc manages to accept this side of himself and utilize it for good.
Other Versions[]
Epsilon Fragment[]
The memory of Omega that occupied Epsilon's mind was suppressed along with Sigma throughout The Chorus Trilogy, unlike the memories of the other fragments. This memory of Omega was later separated from Epsilon, after the latter deconstructed himself at the end of Season 13.
Personality[]
As a fragment AI representing only rage, Omega lacks a definitive personality. As a result, much of his personality, intelligence, goals, and skills alter depending on that of the host he is currently possessing. He has a conflicting attitude and seems to like confrontations.
Caboose/Omega[]
While infecting Caboose, Omega was characterized as a semi-serious insane killer. Despite constantly threatening others, particularly Tucker, he never killed anyone, though it was only to avoid blowing his cover. This Omega does not exhibit any of the world-conquering desires and does not demonstrate any of the grand plans of his other incarnations, which could possibly be attributed to Caboose's limited intelligence.
Doc/Omega[]
Omega infected Doc near the end of Season 2, which caused a massive change in personality. This version of O'Malley is present for the longest of the versions present in The Blood Gulch Chronicles and is characterized as an over-the-top, monologue spewing megalomaniac, serving as a parody of typical super villains. This O'Malley has expressed a wish to eliminate both teams, either to destroy or take over the universe and to "crush every living soul into dust." He expresses these desires in long monologues (with a tendency to overuse the words "fool" and "folly") accompanied by extended fits of evil laughter and extreme close-up shots of his visor.
His plans for achieving these ends usually involve overly complex schemes or mechanical soldiers or weapons. As he lacked many skills in such areas, he often had Lopez design and build such contraptions, which O'Malley commonly took credit for afterwards if successful. He is also able to understand Lopez's Spanish, but needs help to issue commands to Lopez's robot army, and occasionally mispronounces words (pronouncing nuclear as nucular and struggling with the word fruition). Despite this, he was still seen as a dangerous threat to the Teams, due to the fact he could use a rocket launcher well. It should be noted that while infecting Doc he and Doc had two separate personalities, as opposed to when he inhabits others, there only appears to be one personality.
Butch Flowers/Omega[]
When Flowers became the host of O'Malley, it was so that O'Malley would have a host body in order to continue the prophecy of Junior and the Sword. Flowers remained as calm as before, but he also became more serious and calculating.
Simmons/Omega[]
When Omega spent a brief time in Simmons' head, Simmons became very angry and insulting towards everyone around him, including Sarge. He seemed focused on killing Sarge, so that he could take over Red Team and ensure that from then on everyone would "kiss MY ass!"
Donut/Omega[]
Due to Donut's effeminate personality, while possessed by O'Malley, he becomes an aggressive feminist decrying the flaws of a "patriarchal society."
Grif/Omega[]
While infected, Grif demonstrated a common O'Malley desire to take over the world, but when this conflicted with his lazy nature, he decided to take a nap instead.
Sarge/Omega[]
Sarge demonstrates an even more militant and sadistic attitude while possessed by O'Malley, laughing at the prospect of hitting his own soldiers and telling the world to "Drop and give me infinity!"
Tex/Omega[]
When inhabiting Tex, Omega acts more calm and speaks in a cold, slow, mechanical voice that comes across as calculating and intelligent. Despite being able to switch between hosts, Omega always found a way back to Tex, desiring to infect her.
Church/Omega[]
In the few seconds Omega possessed Church, he quotes that he "didn't feel any different." At first it was assumed that was because Church had a mean and aggressive nature to begin with. However, it has been revealed that it is due to the fact that Omega is part of Church's personality since he is the Alpha AI.[1] It is later revealed that Omega almost took over due to Church simply not caring if he did, but Tex intervened.
Relationships[]
Because Omega's personality depends on who he possesses, he only has a few consistent relationships. Most of the Red and Blues saw him as a common enemy ever since K.I.T. B.F.F.
Doc[]
O'Malley had possessed Doc throughout most of The Blood Gulch Chronicles. Doc was afraid of Omega at first, but eventually became more willing to aid him. However, the two often argued (in a split-personality) about what to do and disliked each other's characteristics. Despite this, Omega sometimes enjoyed Doc, particularly his medical practices, and used him to be his host for a period of time.
Lopez[]
After kidnapping Lopez, Lopez became O'Malley's minion willingly and accepted his orders many times. However, their relationship was greatly strained, as the two insulted one another, Lopez tricked Omega into insulting himself, and corrected his mistakes from time to time.
Tex[]
O'Malley seems to have a strange attachment to Tex, as he had planned to possess her the most. After he left Tex, Tex made it her goal to kill Omega for good. However, in Episode 100, Omega wanted to "rejoin" with Tex to make his plans come to fruition.
Church[]
Being the A.I. that "hurt" Tex, Omega is the main reason that Church doesn't like any A.I. and it's shown that he hates Omega the most. As the series goes on, it's made clear that O'Malley has a dislike of Church as well, though it does not seem to be as strong as Church's. It is later revealed that Omega is a fragment of the Alpha A.I. that represents its rage and anger. Omega was also used to help the Director torture the Alpha, in order to create more fragments.
During Why Were We Here?, when O'Malley takes Church over, he feels nothing; this is later theorized that it was simply the Omega and Alpha rejoining. It is revealed in Head Cannon that Omega paused for a minute when he realized that Church's mind felt familiar to him. Church allows him to take over but Tex knocks Church out before Omega could.
Gamma[]
Although the two haven't been seen interacting much, Gamma was an ally of Omega during the Blood Gulch Chronicles. Both ended up being captured by Sigma and the Meta and destroyed by the EMP Washington set off. The two were later revealed to have assisted in torturing the Alpha.
Caboose[]
After O'Malley left Caboose, Caboose's intelligence greatly decreased, but Caboose stated that Omega taught him how to be angry and that they were like roommates when he was with him. However, Omega later states that Caboose is an idiot and never favors him as his host, suggesting that the feeling was only one-sided.
V.I.C.[]
V.I.C. was an ally of Omega and the only person Omega didn't try to kill. It was later revealed that V.I.C. had paid him and Wyoming to kill Tucker.
Themes[]
Aggression[]
Due to the fact he's the fragment that represents anger of the Alpha A.I., Omega often is angry, crude, and offensive to many characters. Whenever he possesses someone, they become very aggressive to others because of this trait, such as Doc and Caboose. Omega also often insults others, most of the time saying "You fool!", and becomes infuriated when someone tries to correct his mistakes.
Evil Laugh[]
Whenever Omega possesses a host he often performs an evil laugh, similar to a stereotypical villain, mimicking the host's voice. He often enjoyed doing this whenever he could, even when it's not needed or his victory was so minimal it didn't matter.
Skills and Abilities[]
Possession[]
Omega seems to be one of the most skilled A.I. in possession compared to other A.I. programs, with the exception of the Alpha. His possession greatly increases the skills of the host he possesses, such as Doc who became skilled with the rocket launcher in combat. In several episodes, he used this ability to escape from capture or death and he's one of the few A.I. to be able to take control of the host. However, unlike the Alpha, Omega can't take complete control of them which causes the host to appear as though they developed a split personality.
Influence[]
Omega seemingly had the capability to leave behind remnants of his personality in his human hosts. This can be attributed to the brain damage that he can inflict on them. Currently, only two people have an "O'Malley State": Caboose, who can access it by channeling his anger, and Doc, who regained it as a split personality. He had to stay within the mind of the host for a longer time, however, and he has often been with the individual for either entire seasons or many episodes.
The remaining Reds and Blues only had Omega in their heads for mere seconds to a few minutes. While he remained in Tex for a long time, it is unlikely she was affected due to the fact she is an AI as well. Being a part of the Alpha fragments, Omega was unable to even affect Church while possessed, let alone leave a personality. Delta was able to do something familiar by leaving a message in Caboose's mind as well, but this was nowhere near as dangerous.
Kills[]
Since he aided Tex in several battles, he is also partially responsible for several characters Tex has killed. Along with this, he caused Doc to kill so many people that Doc now has the highest kill count out of all the Reds and Blues, however, they aren't shown.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- O'Malley is one of the few characters to be voiced by more than one actor, several of the production crew, including Burnie Burns, have claimed they favor the O'Malley presented by Matt Hullum (while the A.I. controls Doc) rather than the O'Malley in Caboose (voiced by Joel Heyman). Hullum brings about more depth to the role, and the O'Malley presented by him has been regarded as a combination of Stewie Griffin, Dr. Evil, Gollum, and Dr. Eggman due to his evil "Mwa-hahahaha! The world will be mine!" is similar to Eggman's phrase (some people have decided he sounds decidedly like the original G1 Megatron).[2]
- The fact that all of the soldiers in Blood Gulch were able to be taken over by O'Malley raises the question of why their armor could handle an A.I. just like the Freelancers' armor could, although a logical explanation for this is that both armies and the Freelancers use standard-issue armor and equipment. This was confirmed by Carolina in Catch Up, No Mustard that all Freelancer personnel, including simulation troopers, have neural implants that allow for the storage of AI units after Epsilon demonstrated his ability to possess others by taking control of Grif.
- Omega's natural voice seems to be either a cold, mechanical voice as seen in the Blood Gulch Chronicles or a deep, guttural growl displayed in Season 10.
- During the episodes Reckless and True Colors, one of the Tex robots speaks in Omega's tone of voice.
- Omega, along with Sigma, Epsilon, and Alpha, is one of the few A.I.s that can influence their hosts to the point where they can fully control their actions.
- Omega was voted the "Best A.I." in The Best Red vs. Blue DVD Ever. Of All Time.
- In Red vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide, Eddy Rivas reveals that in Season 10, there was going to originally be a scene after Tex and Carolina's fight in which Tex questions Omega about interfering during the match. During the interrogation, Omega possesses a nearby guard. As Tex demands Omega returns to her, she asks the guard's name, to which Omega looks down at the name badge, sees the name 'O'Malley' and remarks that it "Has a nice ring to it". This scene had been intended to explain the origin of Omega's nickname and why Tex stated she had been pulling Omega to North, but Rivas eventually decided to cut it due to reservations about the scene appearing like a continuity error, similar to Tex's line about being Agent Nevada.
- Tucker, Sister and Sheila are the only characters Omega did not take control of in Why Were We Here?
- The audio commentary for Season 5 explained why Tucker and Sister were not infected by O'Malley; their characterization and dialogue were very offensive, so offensive that it was never even recorded for deleted scenes.
References[]
- ↑ http://rvb.roosterteeth.com/viewEntry.php?id=695
- ↑ Season 2 DVD