| “ | I would just like to let everyone know, that I suck! | „ |
| ~ Grif embarrassing himself in Red vs. Bleu |
Captain Dexter Grif is a main character in Red vs. Blue and is voiced by Geoff Ramsey. He tends to not listen to orders and frequently makes sarcastic comments at the expense of his own team. He also spends much time with his teammate Simmons, with whom he has a complex friendship with. He is a main character in most seasons, with the exception of Season 9, where he only has a voice cameo at the very end of the season.
Overview
Despised by his leader Sarge, Grif has the lowest social and military rank of both teams since Reconstruction. Although Grif's laziness does create problems for the Reds, Sarge always blames him when things go wrong, regardless of Grif's (or anyone else's) actual guilt in the matter. Physically, a lifetime of smoking and eating processed snacks has left Grif in the worst shape for a soldier. He claims that his entire diet consists of Oreos, which he is proud of since it complies with a flawed diet plan Donut was briefly a fan of. Despite having different personalities, Simmons and Grif often spend their time together, as both have similar curiosities and ideas.
He has repeatedly admitted to sleeping during staff meetings and neglecting to do his assigned tasks. Sarge also comments to Grif's laziness on several occasions, one of which, during Recreation, Sarge says to him in response to Grif's question "Who watches me?"; Sarge replies "Nobody. You move less than Donut does.", which is emphasized by Donut's inactive state at the time. In the Red vs. Blue: Animated video, Grif appeared to be left handed and overweight. Luke McKay's character art for Grif also indicates that he is overweight.
Personality
Grif is the wisecracking loud-mouth of the Reds, being self centered, acerbic, and lazy. With respect to personality, Grif is fairly brash and has a flair for the melodramatic. He is quick to make silly theories or insults, even toward people who could clearly kill him without hesitation. Grif is easily scared and would rather run away from a battle than deal with it. Although he admits to being lazy, when his sister arrives in Season 5, he said he would try to maintain his status as a good-for-nothing slacker, but nothing would stop him from beating her up and sending her back home. Grif later reveals to Sarge that he isn't lazy because he dislikes work, he is lazy because he enjoys how much it irritates Sarge.
Despite his setbacks, Grif expresses loyalty, as he has stayed with his team despite the misadventures they've had, and has also shown care for his teammates, willing to fight to save them as the series progressed. Along with this, Grif seems to actually be impacted and take in what people say about him, even though he claims he doesn't care. Such examples include his interactions with Simmons and when he begins to act like Sarge in Season 12. Although he may be lazy, he is unlikely to betray his comrades and truly seeks to be part of the team. Since Season 6, Grif has appeared to have (slightly) matured in regards to the way he treats others and has become much more soldier-oriented in mentality.
In the Chorus Trilogy, Grif demonstrates more willingness to engage in battle with enemies and steps up to leadership positions far quicker than he once did, but still panics when he believes his allied forces are outnumbered. During Thin Ice, Grif actually uses a tactic he performed to avoid work as a successful infiltration strategy. In The End, he is noticeably the most upset member of the Reds and Blues when Hargrove shows up in the Staff of Charon in a final desperate assault against the inhabitants of Chorus, revealing that he really wanted the mission to succeed. At the end of the episode, Grif shows pride in his friends as they prepare for the final battle onboard the ship, and stands defiant in an unusual show of courage against the Chairman's forces.
In Season 15 Grif appears to be in confort with his retirement, even when he did, on his words, "the same damn shit with the same damn idiots", but when Dylan reveals Church's message and the rest of group want to save Church, Grif is the only one who's on disagreement with the idea of returning to action, even went as far as asking why Church can't still be dead and leave him alone. When Dylan tells him her idea of him (caring of his friends and wanting to do the right thing), Grif angrily says she has the wrong idea of him and reveals he hates everyone, and leaves the crew without remorse of his words.
It is later revealed that he actually does care for his friends, proving Dylan's point, when it was shown that he went insane being alone and quickly joined Locus and Lopez to rescue them. At that point though his insanity is severe, even to Locus. He had become much more talkative, unfocused, and delusional. This is likely due to the extreme isolation, boredom and the guilt of abandoning his friends. He had created volleyball duplicates of his friends to talk to and voices for them as if they were still there, even going as far as learning Spanish just to speak for Lopez. Unable to tell his delusions apart from reality, he thought Locus was a hallucination and had to touch his helmet to determine if he was real. He also appeared much more apologetic, trying his best to say sorry and attempting to save volleyball Church for the duplicate Blues.
By the time he reached Armada 8, he appeared to have returned to his original composure, finally making contact with the Reds and Blues to give his apologies. He also appears much friendlier compared to previous seasons, calling Caboose his friend which is something the Blue team won't even do. It should also be noted that he is much more willing to work and fight, even volunteering to escort Dylan Andrews to the Machine (to everyone's shock). This side of him is also demonstrated when he saves his friends from Temple and even says beating Temple would satisfy him.
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