On Characterization and Red Alert...
Okie... Cas is bored, and thus is getting verbose. :P Time to dig out a soapbox and start blabbing!
The subject of the moment: Red Alert. G1, not Armada. He's twitchy, he's paranoid, he's a complete workaholic, and he's difficult to keep in character.
He's pretty lucky for a minor character in G1, having an entire episode just to himself. Unfortunately, he's belted over the head in the first few minutes of that episode, and is utterly nuts for the most of the rest. So unless you're writing a story set in the middle of Auto Berserk, Red Alert should not act like that.
To start off with... Red does not have a glitch. He snapped in Auto Berserk because he was nailed in the head with chunk of falling ceiling, which damaged his logic center. He was delirious, and was not acting like himself. After being rescued, he is fixed, and goes back to his normal paranoid self. Him having difficulties with returning to normalcy after what happened in Auto Berserk is one thing; making Auto Berserk out to be normal is another. His being high-strung isn't a glitch, either, it's a a Type A personality with a massive amount of responsibility.
*cough* Ranting aside, there's two main things to remember about Red:
His sensors are very sensitive. Going by his tech specs, he can "hear a pin drop" at over a mile, has an amazing sense of smell, and possibly even better sight. Someone mutters something all the way down the hallway, and he hears it.
He's also very very dedicated to his job. He's the security director (not capitalized unless it's "Autobot Security Director Red Alert") and responsible for keeping his fellow Autobots safe in their home base. He takes his duties very seriously.
Too seriously, in fact. Here's where the fun comes in... Red is indeed paranoid. Combining his sensor net with his dedication to his duties and you get a twitchy, jumpy Lamborghini. Stick him out in the woods at night, where he can here every animal and insect noise for miles around, and he's going to be convinced that the rustling in the bushes behind you isn't a squirrel, it's a Decepticon raider getting into position.
That said, Red Alert is not Cliffjumper. He's also not Breakdown. He's not convinced that everyone is working against him (unless he's been beamed in the head by falling bunker ceilings, in which case he's excused), or that *insert name* is really a Decepticon. He might think that everyone else are a bunch of slackers who can't remember that they're in a warzone and not at a party, but he doesn't think they're traitors. That's Cliffjumper's gig.
Nor does Red think that every unknown object is a Decepticon listening device or camera! Wrong Lamborghini - the one who thinks car headlights are really optics and are watching his every move is Breakdown, who is, hilariously, the Stunticons' scout. Yes, Red Alert is aware of the danger, and may insist on scanning anything he finds suspicious (and Primus save anyone who tries smuggling unauthorized materials into the Ark), but he's not going to freak out because the streetlight above him flickers and might be sending signals to the enemy.
And a few more things - Red Alert is a pain. He's caustic and utterly focused on his work, and sees no reason to shirk on the work just to go have fun. Between this and his insisting that everyone drop what they're doing to go check out that strange noise that he's sure he heard over there because of course it's a Decepticon... he's not popular. But the other thing he's not is ignored. When Red Alert insisted that it was too dangerous for Cosmos to transmit data, Optimus Prime listened, and sent out a team to get the data in person. Optimus values the advice of his security director - because how good of a security director could he be if his commander ignored him? His fellow Autobots think he's a pain in the converter, but they also acknowledge that he's very good at his job.
Red Alert's closest friend is Inferno, and the two work together often. Red Alert's few appearances in canon mostly feature Inferno right along beside him, and from the "Aw, Red, not again!" that we here from Inferno in the beginning of Auto Berserk tells us that it's not terribly uncommon for Inferno to get left behind to guard the security director. Still, Red's a bit of a bastard to Inferno anyway, snapping out his orders without so much as a please. But they're still friends. Red says so himself, at the end of Auto Berserk, and Inferno seemed quite happy to hear it. And of course, much more can be read into that little smiling session and Red calling for Inferno when he was trapped, but that's open to personal interpretation. (^.^)
And to top it all off, he's one of the few characters who have a nickname in canon. Even Optimus sometimes refers to him simply as "Red."
Yes, yes, teal deer alert. So, to summarize. Red Alert does not have a glitch. He does not think that any of the Autobots are secretly Decepticon spies or that they're conspiring against him. He's not a conspiracy nut. He's the director of security, and while he's paranoid and everyone knows it, his reaction to being dismissed isn't going to be hysterical panic attacks, it's going to be anger. He's serious, caustic, and grouchy, and very good at his job. As director of security, he has to be suspicious, because everyone's lives may depend on him catching something the others miss.
The subject of the moment: Red Alert. G1, not Armada. He's twitchy, he's paranoid, he's a complete workaholic, and he's difficult to keep in character.
He's pretty lucky for a minor character in G1, having an entire episode just to himself. Unfortunately, he's belted over the head in the first few minutes of that episode, and is utterly nuts for the most of the rest. So unless you're writing a story set in the middle of Auto Berserk, Red Alert should not act like that.
To start off with... Red does not have a glitch. He snapped in Auto Berserk because he was nailed in the head with chunk of falling ceiling, which damaged his logic center. He was delirious, and was not acting like himself. After being rescued, he is fixed, and goes back to his normal paranoid self. Him having difficulties with returning to normalcy after what happened in Auto Berserk is one thing; making Auto Berserk out to be normal is another. His being high-strung isn't a glitch, either, it's a a Type A personality with a massive amount of responsibility.
*cough* Ranting aside, there's two main things to remember about Red:
His sensors are very sensitive. Going by his tech specs, he can "hear a pin drop" at over a mile, has an amazing sense of smell, and possibly even better sight. Someone mutters something all the way down the hallway, and he hears it.
He's also very very dedicated to his job. He's the security director (not capitalized unless it's "Autobot Security Director Red Alert") and responsible for keeping his fellow Autobots safe in their home base. He takes his duties very seriously.
Too seriously, in fact. Here's where the fun comes in... Red is indeed paranoid. Combining his sensor net with his dedication to his duties and you get a twitchy, jumpy Lamborghini. Stick him out in the woods at night, where he can here every animal and insect noise for miles around, and he's going to be convinced that the rustling in the bushes behind you isn't a squirrel, it's a Decepticon raider getting into position.
That said, Red Alert is not Cliffjumper. He's also not Breakdown. He's not convinced that everyone is working against him (unless he's been beamed in the head by falling bunker ceilings, in which case he's excused), or that *insert name* is really a Decepticon. He might think that everyone else are a bunch of slackers who can't remember that they're in a warzone and not at a party, but he doesn't think they're traitors. That's Cliffjumper's gig.
Nor does Red think that every unknown object is a Decepticon listening device or camera! Wrong Lamborghini - the one who thinks car headlights are really optics and are watching his every move is Breakdown, who is, hilariously, the Stunticons' scout. Yes, Red Alert is aware of the danger, and may insist on scanning anything he finds suspicious (and Primus save anyone who tries smuggling unauthorized materials into the Ark), but he's not going to freak out because the streetlight above him flickers and might be sending signals to the enemy.
And a few more things - Red Alert is a pain. He's caustic and utterly focused on his work, and sees no reason to shirk on the work just to go have fun. Between this and his insisting that everyone drop what they're doing to go check out that strange noise that he's sure he heard over there because of course it's a Decepticon... he's not popular. But the other thing he's not is ignored. When Red Alert insisted that it was too dangerous for Cosmos to transmit data, Optimus Prime listened, and sent out a team to get the data in person. Optimus values the advice of his security director - because how good of a security director could he be if his commander ignored him? His fellow Autobots think he's a pain in the converter, but they also acknowledge that he's very good at his job.
Red Alert's closest friend is Inferno, and the two work together often. Red Alert's few appearances in canon mostly feature Inferno right along beside him, and from the "Aw, Red, not again!" that we here from Inferno in the beginning of Auto Berserk tells us that it's not terribly uncommon for Inferno to get left behind to guard the security director. Still, Red's a bit of a bastard to Inferno anyway, snapping out his orders without so much as a please. But they're still friends. Red says so himself, at the end of Auto Berserk, and Inferno seemed quite happy to hear it. And of course, much more can be read into that little smiling session and Red calling for Inferno when he was trapped, but that's open to personal interpretation. (^.^)
And to top it all off, he's one of the few characters who have a nickname in canon. Even Optimus sometimes refers to him simply as "Red."
Yes, yes, teal deer alert. So, to summarize. Red Alert does not have a glitch. He does not think that any of the Autobots are secretly Decepticon spies or that they're conspiring against him. He's not a conspiracy nut. He's the director of security, and while he's paranoid and everyone knows it, his reaction to being dismissed isn't going to be hysterical panic attacks, it's going to be anger. He's serious, caustic, and grouchy, and very good at his job. As director of security, he has to be suspicious, because everyone's lives may depend on him catching something the others miss.