Church (Red vs. Blue)

Private Leonard L. Church, also known as Artificial Intelligence Program Alpha, was a main character in Red vs. Blue, and was voiced by Burnie Burns, co-creator and former main writer of the series. He was the de facto leader of the Blood Gulch Blue Team and later revealed to be the Freelancer AI Alpha (revealed in Reconstruction: Chapter 16 by Agent Washington). Rooster Teeth often used Church, who has an irate disposition, to advance the plot by managing the situation at hand; this in a way makes Church the main protagonist of The Blood Gulch Chronicles, the deuteragonist in Reconstruction, and a posthumous character onwards for the rest of the series with Epsilon taking his place and role.
At the end of Reconstruction: Chapter 19, Church is finally revealed to be based upon the personality of the former Director of Project Freelancer, Dr. Leonard Church. The remaining part of Church was Epsilon. Epsilon, like Church, is voiced by Burns and has similar traits and looks, despite being a fragment.
== Overview ==
When the series began, Rooster Teeth wanted to portray Church to be like Gustavo Sorola, being quite annoyed and having a sarcastic, intelligent grasp on certain situations. Church shows to be easily angered or annoyed by anyone and "dying" has added to this trait of his. Even though he states he dislikes his teammates and the Reds, some instances have shown Church to be a caring person to several characters through the series, most notably Tex as the two (supposedly) used to be a couple.
To provide a twist in character development, Burns decided to kill Church early in the series and to return as a ghost. However, this posed filming and post-production challenges for the creators. Church has also been filmed in four different games representing the three different eras of the story. As the series progressed, Red vs Blue became more focused on Church and later his copy, Epsilon.
== Quotes ==
TBA
== Trivia ==
* Unlike his counterpart Epsilon, Church himself has not been alternatively computer animated, although he is seen in an animated render on the "Churchisms" poster. However, the poster also shows the monitor, suggesting it could be Epsilon instead of Church.
** In "Killing Time", there is a computer animated Church, though in that case it's a memory being possessed by Genkins.
** However, Church has been shown in 2D animation in Red vs. Blue: Animated.
*** This appearance of Church was retconned in the Red vs. Blue: Season 13 episode Room Zero, as it is now Epsilon.
* Despite holding a sniper rifle all the time, Church seems to miss nearly every shot with it, unless he's lucky or by accident. Whenever Church actually manages to line up a shot, something always renders it irrelevant (either he shoots something unimportant or a temporal loop/distortion gets in the way).
* To date, it is unknown what the L. used to represent Church's middle name stands for.
* For some unknown reason Church is afraid of sickness. This is revealed in Season 4 when Tucker was "sick" and Church was too afraid to go into Blue Base and find out what was wrong with Tucker instead being content with sending in Andy instead, despite the fact that he was still an A.I. in a robot's body, or at least a ghost as far as he knew at the time.
* Despite living in a robot body, Caboose and Tucker claim Church is getting fatter in Season 5.
* One possible reason that Church and Tex broke up may be because of disloyalty. Church once mentioned to Tucker that Tex would often steal his money and sleep with other men. Also, in Vive la Resolution!, for resolution recommendations for Tex, one reads; "She meant nothing to me," and "How many times do we have to have this argument?" As these memories were ultimately fake due to Church being the Alpha, it is unknown if this history was in any way rooted in the people he and Tex were based on.
** There is a possibility that some of the memories of him and Tex he recounted belonged to Jimmy, who was also mentioned to have a girlfriend of his own before Alpha was implanted into him. While only speculation, it is possible that some of Jimmy's memories of him and his girlfriend, as well as the hypothetical bumps in their relationship were mixed with Church's, which could have lead to the breakdown in his relationship with Tex.
* Despite generally hating him, Church became genuinely sad, and angry when Caboose is killed in an attempt to save him and Tucker from Wyoming during Same Old, Same Old.
* It could be possible that Church is Jewish, due to the fact that one of the graves in Everything Old is New Again had a Star of David (a symbol commonly used on Jewish items, including tomb stones). Also in Red vs. Blue: The Musical, all of Church's graves are marked with Stars of David.
** In Red vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide, when the Director meets Allison for the first time, he states that his surname is Jewish. This heavily implies that he, and Church by extension, are likely Jewish. (It should be noted, however, that the Alpha idea had likely not been conceived at this point and the gravestones were likely included for comedic effect, as Tucker even notes that the team doesn't even have the tools to bury someone, much less construct them a gravestone.)
** In the RvB Holiday Special (non-canon), Sarge mentions that next year "Church is going to sing us something about a dreidel," a Jewish item.
* Alpha is one of four A.I.s, the others being Sigma, Omega, and Epsilon, that can influence his host to the point where he can fully control their actions, such as when he took control of Sarge.
* When Church was revealed to be an A.I., it was originally stated that the body he possessed before Caboose killed him wasn't biological, even though Tucker claims it stunk. Burnie Burns confirmed in the Jenga Jam interview that Church's first body was, in fact, robotic and Tucker's comment was just a joke. This was further established in the Red vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide, stating that Red Team was also given a robot making kit to mask that Alpha was on blue team. However, in Why They're Here, this was retconned so that Church was unknowingly possessing Pvt. Jimmy, explaining why he stunk.
* Both Church and Simmons briefly appear in RED vs BLUE, a video by Corridor Digital, with Burnie Burns and Gustavo Sorola reprising their roles.
* Oddly, in Motion to Adjourn, despite hardly ever being able to hit ANYTHING, Church manages to shoot Caboose's pinkie toe.
* Burnie Burns said most of Church's personality is inspired by Gustavo Sorola, who is known to be bossy and yell at others.
* Church's name came from a sign in Buda, Texas that simply reads "CHURCH", which Burnie Burns drove by on the day he was deciding on character names.
Category:TV Show Heroes
Category:Jerks
Category:Artificial Intelligence
Category:Video Game Heroes
Category:Science Fiction Heroes
Category:In Love
Category:Amnesiac
Category:Deceased
Category:Suicidal
Category:Comedy Heroes
Category:Possessors
Category:Parody/Homage
Category:Internet Heroes
Category:Creations
Category:Related to Villain
Category:Article stubs
Category:Red vs. Blue Heroes
Category:Fragmental
Category:Predecessor
Category:Tragic
Category:Genderless
Category:Paranoid
Category:Scapegoat
Category:Legacy
Category:Posthumous
Category:Mascots