Tucker (Red vs. Blue)

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Tucker
Tucker as seen when using the Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 engines respectively.
Voice actor(s)	Jason Saldaña
First episode	1
Affiliation	Blue Team
Armor color(s)	Cyan
Full name	Private First Class Lavernius Tucker

Private First Class^[1] Lavernius Tucker is a main fictional character in the machinima science fiction comedy video series Red vs. Blue. He is voiced by Jason Saldaña. Tucker is one of the members of the Blood Gulch Blue Team, and, along with his teammate Church, debuted in episode 1.

[edit] Character history

Born in Detroit^[1], Tucker has been in Blood Gulch the longest of the Blue Team - Church joined him and Captain Flowers only after the massacre on Sidewinder. This loss of another base resulted in the three Blues remaining in Blood Gulch, as Tucker and Flowers previously intended to pull out.^[1] After Flower's death, Tucker took his cyan-colored armor for himself and apparently allowed Church to assume command. Throughout Season One, Tucker poses as a supporting character to the rest of the cast, owing to his aversion to work; the plot would focus only on him for the sake of a joke, some of which become running gags (see below). This continues in Season Two, until he is ordered by Church and Tex, a mercenary and Church's ex-girlfriend, to interfere with the Reds and their radios while they conduct a mission to destroy a renegade AI named O'Malley. Tucker is thus forced to use his own initiative for the first time.

Not long after, in episode 38, Tucker discovers that Red and Blue are controlled by the same Command when he accidentally overhears a conversation between the Red Team's sergeant and their contact Vic, who is also the Blue's contact. This revelation is dismissed by everyone else; Tucker was soon knocked unconscious, and before he could divulge the information, Vic contacted Sarge and told him that Tucker would make things up about the respective armies; believing Vic, Sarge told the other Reds the same thing. Church, too, does not believe the claim, as he believes Vic to be the one who invented the story, though Tucker maintains the belief regardless of what the others say. Nonetheless, Vic convinces O'Malley to kill Tucker so the information cannot spread; to that end, O'Malley hires the bounty hunter known as Wyoming.

During a raid on O'Malley's fortress, Tucker discovers a sword which he immediately puts to good use, dispatching the Red Zealot. He takes a liking to the sword and refuses to let anyone else touch it. In episode 64, after the Blues befriend an Alien, it informs the Blues that only the first person who discovered Tucker's sword can activate it. Even though the Alien had originally come to claim the sword for itself to fulfill its sacred quest, Tucker is forced to unwillingly join the quest as the sword is now joined to him. It is later revealed, to his disbelief, that the sword is actually a key to a gate to a spaceship, which is soon destroyed.

In episode 73, after returning from the quest, Tucker falls ill for an unknown reason. Caboose thinks that Tucker might have contracted the disease from a swamp, while Church hypothesizes that it might have come from the sword, and Andy, the Blue Team's sentient bomb, suggests poor personal hygiene. Doc performs a diagnosis on Tucker and comes to the conclusion that he is pregnant, which Church does not believe. However, Doc's diagnosis proves correct, and Andy confirms that the Alien had the ability to impregnate a host with a parasitic embryo. Near the end of episode 77, Tucker gives birth to a creature that immediately speaks a language similar to the Alien's in a high-pitched tone. For the first few episodes of season 5, Tucker is comatose, finally waking up in episode 82. In episode 84, upon meeting his "baby" it is revealed that his idea of a "Father/Son relationship" is that of a divorced person with visitation rights. From then on though he shows a little more compassion for it, naming it "Junior" and even defending it when Church insults it.

[edit] Characteristics

Smart-aleck, sarcastic, rude, prone to juvenile humor, and obsessed with women, Tucker has many characteristics of an unruly teenager. Like Grif, he has an extreme aversion to combat and work, and often complains and tries to stall when ordered into battle. Although he sometimes lacks prudence and common sense, which leads him to jump to conclusions, Tucker has become somewhat smarter as the series has progressed. He has conceived a few decent plans and enjoyed a couple of heroic moments.

In episode 54, when Tucker reveals his first name as Lavernius, Church asks whether Tucker is black. Although Tucker never answers the question, Caboose later refers to Tucker as "the other black one", the first being the black-armored Tex. This parallels the racial musings on the Red Team, where Grif insists that Simmons is "of a Latino persuasion", despite Simmons' Dutch-Irish heritage. The joke is never again explored after this episode.

[edit] Running gags

Tucker has been the focus of a few running gags throughout the series.

[edit] Sniper rifle

Due to the scarcity of the sniper rifle and the faster reflexes of the other soldiers, Tucker has never been able to use one. He was originally supposed to get one ordered from Captain Flowers, but because of the captain's death, the order was never placed. This gag began in the first episode of the series, when he is berated by Church for questioning him about the activity of the Reds; Tucker's response is one of irritation as Church has a sniper rifle and he, Tucker, does not. This gag is repeated numerous times throughout Seasons One and Two, eventually being phased out in Season Three after he accidentally discovers the sword during the attack on O'Malley's base. After using the sword to kill the Red Zealot, he declines an offer by Tex to trade his sword for her sniper rifle. The gag is mentioned briefly in Season 5, where it is demonstrated he has excellent eyesight, on account of he "never gets to use the fucking sniper rifle".

[edit] Teleporting

Whenever Tucker goes through a teleporter, he always emerges with his armor covered in "black stuff", which appears to be soot. Apparently the experience is also painful. Barring a single occurrence involving Caboose in episode 14, this has never occurred to any of the other characters; he comments on this in Season Three, after noticing that none of the other characters have been coated with the "black stuff", exclaiming "Just me? What the fuck?" in confusion. Because of this black covering, however, Tucker's life is inadvertently saved, as Wyoming fails to recognize him in episode 42, a fact of which Tucker was unaware. This was briefly touched on in episode 89, when Church mentions rebooting several devices to repair them, listing the teleporter as one, and Tucker expresses his concern that this was not really successful.

[edit] Being knocked out

Tucker also has an unlucky tendency to get knocked unconscious. Having been knocked unconscious by friend and foe alike, he suggests to Church that they should rotate knock-outs in Season 3, although Church's response reminds Tucker that he, at least, has not been killed yet, and Tucker retracts the suggestion. The Rooster Teeth Team have asked Jason Saldaña how many times he has had to say, "Oh, what happened?", and jokingly remarked that Tucker for most of Season 4 can be summed up with moaning.^[2]

[edit] References