Thoughts on Blue Umbrella?

[reborn]

So, I got quite hyped when I saw the blue umbrella logo during the ending sequence of RE7. For me, Resident Evil IS Umbrella. I had a lot of hopes for this, but questions aswell. Did Umbrella revive itself, did they become the good guys? Apparently, it's just a group of PMC's now, trying to fix the ♥♥♥♥ they caused, which is still quite stupid/weird, considering that only a certain ammount of personnel were actually responsible for the outbreak. What do you guys think?

[Lanzagranadas]

I think it's really stupid. And to make it even more stupid they say Umbrella was revived in 2007. Looks like they just "forgot" the whole Neo-Umbrella affair from RE6.

There's literally no reason to revive them other than fan-service and low quality bait "Hey look folks, Umbrella's back". Completely hilarious and unnecessary because the series universe is already bloated with anti-bioterrorism organizations (BSAA, Terra Save, DSO), yet somehow they felt the need to add one more.

And now instead of sending Chris with the BSAA to fight bioterrorism, this time they sent Chris with a new Umbrella created for exactly the same friggin' purpose: to fight bioterrorism.

So yeah, there's FOUR anti-bioterrorism organizations so far, yet somehow it takes three ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ years to notice something was wrong in the Baker plantation... lel.

[reborn]

Originally posted by Lanzagranadas:

I think it's really stupid. And to make it even more stupid they say Umbrella was revived in 2007. Looks like they just "forgot" the whole Neo-Umbrella affair from RE6.

There's literally no reason to revive them other than fan-service and low quality bait "Hey look folks, Umbrella's back". Completely hilarious and unnecessary because the series universe is already bloated with anti-bioterrorism organizations (BSAA, Terra Save, DSO), yet somehow they felt the need to add one more.

And now instead of sending Chris with the BSAA to fight bioterrorism, this time they sent Chris with a new Umbrella created for exactly the same friggin' purpose: to fight bioterrorism.

So yeah, there's FOUR anti-bioterrorism organizations so far, yet somehow it takes three ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ years to notice something was wrong in the Baker plantation... lel.

I know right?! Also, from what I read, apparently Umbrella (PMC) has been observing the Bakers for a while, but did not intervene for whatever reason.

And yeah, it's like 3 anti-bioter organizations weren't enough, and they had to add another one, some sort of umbrella branch. I haven't really been following RE6 but I've read stuff about Neo-Umbrella. What I generally noticed is that there's limited information about Umbrella Corp in general, and I'm not talking about backstory or characters, but about actual deployment, facilities and actions. I'm pretty sure that just like they skipped Neo-Umbrella, they'll do the same with this one.

[Payne☣]

To me Umbrella has to be evil. Its supposed to be the antagonist of the story. I laughed at the idea the main character being "rescued" by them, they probably exprimented on him. heheh

But add in the films and Re4, 5 and 6. The storyline stopped making sense for me really after RE3.

[reborn]

Originally posted by Payne☣:

To me Umbrella has to be evil. Its supposed to be the antagonist of the story. I laughed at the main character being taken away by the blue umbrella helicopter. He thought he got away, right they probably exprimented on him.

But add in the films and Re4, 5 and 6. The storyline stopped making sense for me really after RE3.

Yeah exactly.

I've been a huge fan of RE Films, yeah I know they were bad but I loved the focus on Umbrella. I've watched each one atleast like 5 times (I was also doing some work based on 'em, that's why).

I haven't really been following the games. The first 3-4 focused on Raccoon City/Arklay Laboratory, then we've got Resident Evil 4(Played all those so far). So, don't get me wrong, RE4 was an amazing game, but it doesn't fit in the lore of resident evil. From Raccoon City, Umbrella, Zombies and Underground Facilities they take us to another completely different universe with mutated characteres and big ass "monsters", in villages, castles and islands. It just didn't really seem like a RE game for me. Then we've got the new ones. BSAA got in the game, Neo Umbrella that somehow went extinct, Tricell and a whole bunch of different organisations and characteres.

About the Blue Umbrella, I thought the same aswell. Too bad it's apparently some sort of PMC Group working for a good cause now. Seems like they ruined the whole plot there. There was an excellent chance they missed with Umbrella.

[klimat13]

Blue Umbrella makes absolutely zero sense whatsoever and completely breaks any kind of immersion which is an accomplishment in itself in a seres that previously got away with all kinds of bioweaponry just fine.
But seriously, US government reestablishing Umbrella to "atone for the corporation's sins" is like if US reestablished Blue ISIS to rebuild Syria or Blue Waffen-SS to atone for their sins in Europe. It's such an extreme nonsense it blows my mind.

But screw common sense, Capcom gotta shove some more Umbrella fan-service into the series at all costs I guess.

[Overseer]

Blame RE4 for killing off Umbrella. Its simply too valuable of an asset to let go. Umbrella is simply core RE and has a high PR value for Capcom. And it was a mistake to kill it, just like Wesker.
Wonder if blue/white umbrellas will sell better than red/white ones.
As for lore they could have done a more complex scenario. This whole we have to atone for our sins is a bit absurd. Even more so when you think about how the government was involved but managed to keep it secret.
But since the story of RE is now going more the MGS direction with PMCs and all sorts of different groups fighting each other, its actually not too far off. With this whole setup Capcom can release more competitive games and generally go into a new direction. Just don't forget that RE was a conspiracy story (mixed with some zombies) back in the 90s where that was a common theme due to polical circumstances. Nowadays society is afraid of different things.

But the whole PR was so worth it. Counteless speculations and theories on the internet kept people going. Ever since the RE7 trailer at E3. And i would say i enjoyed that hype more than the actual facts that came with the game itself. Good times nonetheless.
Now let's team up Hunk with Chris and steal some viruses from other PMCs.

[Condey]

Originally posted by Overseer:

But since the story of RE is now going more the MGS direction with PMCs and all sorts of different groups fighting each other, its actually not too far off. With this whole setup Capcom can release more competitive games and generally go into a new direction.

Wouldn't this slightly contradict with the theme of RE Games? I also don't get why they decided to create a new organization instead of using the current ones and placing those ex-Umbrella assets in them.

[Santa Claus]

Originally posted by Lanzagranadas:

I think it's really stupid. And to make it even more stupid they say Umbrella was revived in 2007. Looks like they just "forgot" the whole Neo-Umbrella affair from RE6.

There's literally no reason to revive them other than fan-service and low quality bait "Hey look folks, Umbrella's back". Completely hilarious and unnecessary because the series universe is already bloated with anti-bioterrorism organizations (BSAA, Terra Save, DSO), yet somehow they felt the need to add one more.

And now instead of sending Chris with the BSAA to fight bioterrorism, this time they sent Chris with a new Umbrella created for exactly the same friggin' purpose: to fight bioterrorism.

So yeah, there's FOUR anti-bioterrorism organizations so far, yet somehow it takes three ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ years to notice something was wrong in the Baker plantation... lel.

All of your points are valid and what they did frustrates me a lot.. We keep seeing new Companies and Organizations in the RE Franchise while they old ones could still work perfectly.

[reborn]

Originally posted by ReBel:

- We keep seeing new Companies and Organizations in the RE Franchise while they old ones could still work perfectly.

The worst part with this is that there's no sequence betwean each game. It's like every game is independant and every sequel is modified and adjusted to new environments.

[Overseer]

Originally posted by Condey:

Wouldn't this slightly contradict with the theme of RE Games?

Not really. Just remember that awesome prerendered William Birkin cutscene in RE2. Infiltration and special forces was always part of RE. And building a game around it would contradict nothing. Imagine a game where Hunk has to infiltrate a large facility where an outbreak happened, to get a sample (pretty much what Ada did all the time anyways). Filled with monsters and locked doors. But more in the style of what we now have with 7 and Not a Hero.

[Santa Claus]

Originally posted by Overseer:

Originally posted by Condey:

Wouldn't this slightly contradict with the theme of RE Games?

Not really. Just remember that awesome prerendered William Birkin cutscene in RE2. Infiltration and special forces was always part of RE. And building a game around it would contradict nothing. Imagine a game where Hunk has to infiltrate a large facility where an outbreak happened, to get a sample (pretty much what Ada did all the time anyways). Filled with monsters and locked doors. But more in the style of what we now have with 7 and Not a Hero.

Hmm.. This seems interesting. However, they killed off "red", evil Umbrella, including USS, Hunk, UBCS, and everything else. Even though they could remake the old games or even launch new projects that target the period Umbrella was still a thing an was trying to survive. There's also BSAA but for me atleast it got a bit boring and monotonic.

[reborn]

Originally posted by Overseer:

As for lore they could have done a more complex scenario. This whole we have to atone for our sins is a bit absurd. Even more so when you think about how the government was involved but managed to keep it secret.

Lots of plot holes right there indeed.

[Lanzagranadas]

It's really ironic but by bringing Umbrella back Capcom is basically telling us that Umbrella will never be back.

Seems like they didn't get the picture that fans loved Umbrella because it was such a strong evil entity behind the events of the first five RE games. No one needs a Good Umbrella to fight bioterrorism when there are already several organizations created in previous games for the same purpose, just like no none needed a good Wesker's son saving the world.

I mean, seriously? instead of building a new and strong evil organization and some stable villain they bring back Umbrella as the good guys while spamming organizations and generic terrorists that born and end in the same game they were created for? Los Iluminados, Tricell, Il Veltro, Neo-Umbrella, The Family, Sheng-Ya... and I will laugh my ass off if there's no mention of The Connections in the next RE game.

They had more than enough games to create something even stronger than Umbrella but they just "Nope", they just want this franchise to be stuck with the "Umbrella/Wesker" legacy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ forever. How many wasted opportunities and games/movies with dumb plot lines that won't lead anywhere...

[reborn]

Originally posted by Lanzagranadas:

-snip-

Well stated. Reason for Umbrella being so succesful was its evil nature. Now they took it completely away and left us with a few random terrorist groups and the same pattern in their games.

[Déagol]

Jesus, it was just a small DLC.
I'm sure they'll add more to all those new companies and characters in their next big RE game.
I feel like I am playing my games wrong since I am mostly just enjoying the experiences.