The fight continues for our grunty quartet in this second helping of shipboard mayhem…

(5:39) Level 9 ('Keyes') on Legendary and Heroic. Relating to my article Grunts versus Flood, this sequel to BCM87 shows four Grunts fighting some Flood at the start of the level, just around the corner after I've got cloaked to watch. It includes a few lines which didn't feature last time around, plus multiple mishaps with plasma grenades and possibly the funniest bit of footage I've ever recorded. The play is on Legendary except for two clips on Heroic.

Released March 20th 2015, gameplay recorded November 18th-25th 2013, March 22nd 2014 and March 15th-16th 2015.

00:02 (Clip 1 - Opening victory) In this brief opener the Grunts quickly deal with the two combat Flood, and one of them celebrates with something like "Weee, ho-ho yo!".

00:17 (Clip 2 - Take it) A couple of red Grunts aggressively see off the Flood attack with weapon-fire and plasma grenades, ending with a satisfied cry of "Take it!". (From 2013)

00:29 (Clip 3 - Friendly tag 1) A Grunt in the front line is looking the wrong way and gets taken by surprise when a spore attacks, but there's worse to come. Another Grunt lets loose with a plasma grenade but it catches the backpack of a guy standing just in front.

00:39 (Clip 4 - We are the champions) After decisive action with a plasma grenade, sending one of the combat Flood flying overhead, the Grunt celebrates with "We are the champions" - a victory line not featured in BCM87. You'll notice also that he needles the wall. I assume he's trying to needle some Flood in the hangar. Grunt behaviour is a bit buggy here as they sometimes try to attack enemies they shouldn't even be able to see, let alone hit.

00:51 (Clip 5 - Give it your best shot 1) The Flood have advanced into Grunt territory, and one of the troopers invites the the shotty guy to "Give it your best shot". He obliges with a blast, after his buddy delivers a stinging lash. (From 2013)

00:56 (Clip 6 - Shield self-tag) This foolish Grunt throws a plasma from behind the stationary shield, only to have it bounce back onto his backpack. Highly amusing I'd say. The blast reveals me to the Flood though, and I take a shotty blast. I was killed a few seconds later. (From 2013)

01:03 (Clip 7 - Ba-bye) This was the final clip I added. I like how the grenade blast briefly illuminates the Grunts at the end, plus it was good to have a 'Ba-bye' line in the movie.

01:10 (Clip 8 - You dead) Two Grunts dive my way when another throws a plasma. One of them is quickly latched onto by a spore, and the other then fires persistently to kill it. Not before he kills the Grunt himself though. The grenade thrower calls him an idiot. (From 2013)

01:24 (Clip 9 - Wife and kid) Under threat of shotgun blast, a Grunt pleads "Please, I have wife and kid!" - another line which didn't make it into BCM87. Luckily for him though, the Flood goes down. (From 2013)

01:31 (Clip 10 - Going nowhere fast) This Grunt wants to advance, but there's just not enough room. Seems to be getting crowded by his buddy, so he just runs on the spot, until finally freed up. But by then the main action seems to be over.

01:40 (Clip 11 - Oooh) A Grunt leaps in surprise when hostilities open with a shotty blast. In the far corner another Grunt has a mishap with a plasma grenade (undoubtedly intercepted by the overturned container) and gets himself killed along with a buddy, eliciting an "Oooh!" from this first guy. I recorded multiple clips in which this guy leapt in surprise (he did it almost every time), and many of them likewise featured a grenade mishap in the corner. But I picked out this one because of the reaction line.

01:49 (Clip 12 - Friendly tag 2) When a needler Grunt advances to the front, he gets more than he bargained for: a plasma grenade on his backpack, courtesy of a careless buddy behind. Apparently this sort of thing has happened before, as he cries "Not again!". He appears to catch a lash for good measure, just as it's going off. Another amusing aspect is that the grenade thrower then says "Boooom!" as if pleased with his work. The blast did actually kill that shotty guy though. Actually I caught that Flood lash too. It's dangerous trying to do camerawork down that corridor! Normally I wouldn't be so far down it, as it's best to avoid triggering the hangar troops, who can distract the Flood.

01:57 (Clip 13 - Kill you dead) The frontmost Grunt gets caught by a spore and is then plastered by fire from both sides, quickly going down. The Grunts continue firing at the spore, and when one of them pops it he says "Kill you dead!".

02:08 (Clip 14 - No, not me) Nice shotty blast here, sending a pleading Grunt head over heels. These Grunts just don't seem to know that the Flood are not good listeners. (From 2013)

02:12 (Clip 15 - Lash double-kill) Two Grunts get fatally fixated on killing a spore which is busy nibbling a colleague. They fail to notice the shotty Flood running up the corridor, and he kills them both with a single lash, then blasts the final Grunt to finish off. Neat work!

02:21 (Clip 16 - Multiple dives) When the second Grunt throws a grenade, it gets intercepted near the corner, causing a lot of amusing diving. (From 2013)

02:30 (Clip 17 - Wall self-tag 1) This demented fellow throws a grenade at the wall right in front of him, resulting in a comical self-tag which kills two buddies as well. The final member is not impressed, saying "What?". (From 2013)

02:36 (Clip 18 - We win, we win) Here's a new camera position for you; I was standing on the overturned container. The Grunts do good work and one of them celebrates with a cry of "Ha-ha-ha, we win, we win!", one of the victory lines which did feature in BCM87.

02:48 (Clip 19 - This way) A Grunt in the corridor gets attacked by a spore, and the alarm is raised by this other guy. After a brief bit of creeping he spots the advancing combat Flood, and takes a fatal shotty blast.

02:58 (Clip 20 - Needled spore) We already had a vicious cry of "Take it!" in clip 2, but here's another, uttered after a spore gets explosively needled - which you don't see very often. (From 2013)

03:05 (Clip 21 - I'm the man) Couple of good celebratory lines in this robust dose of corridor action. There's a "Woo-hoo!" which didn't feature in BCM87, and then "Oh I'm the man, whoa ha-ha!" which did. (From 2013)

03:17 (Clip 22 - Friendly tag 3) The Grunts have already dealt with the combat Flood, but now the alarm is raised when the carrier is spotted. It's quickly popped (great sound effect), but when a spore mop-up operation begins, grunty disaster strikes, courtesy of a friendly tag.

03:29 (Clip 23 - Give it your best shot 2) Yet again we have a Grunt foolishly inviting the shotty Flood to give it his best shot. This time he obliges without delay. He's subsequently put down by a needle explosion though, thanks to the work of two other Grunts. There's a cry of "Monster!" at the end. This clip was recorded about 17 minutes after clip 5, and I expect I was playing from the same checkpoint, trying to get the most entertaining outcomes from a promising initial configuration. (From 2013)

03:36 (Clip 24 - Bad spore tag) A Grunt tags an incoming spore, which then lands on his face. And as if that wasn't enough trouble, his buddies hit him with friendly fire while trying to get the spore. (From 2013)

03:42 (Clip 25 - Boom, burn) The Grunts do good aggressive work here - looks like they're really enjoying it - and a grenade sends the combat Flood flying overhead.

03:51 (Clip 26 - Oooh dead) Cute short clip in which a Grunt finishes off what I think was the final spore. There was at least one other Grunt out of shot. (From 2013)

03:55 (Clip 27 - Cold fusion) The Grunts seem to have things well under control here, and one of them delivers the victory line "Yeah, nice job guys, cold fusion on me, hah!". I had that line in BCM87, but it's a rather good one so I didn't mind including it again. A point of amusement in this clip is that one of the Grunts shoots a Flood body after it lands.

04:04 (Clip 28 - Wall self-tag 2) Here's another demented Grunt throwing a grenade at the wall on the left. It comically lands on his head and he goes running off. I elect to hold my position, and fortunately he's clear of me by the time the blast goes off. (From 2013)

04:10 (Clip 29 - Kill) As a yellow Grunt goes down under plasma fire, two red troopers in the front keep at it, and clean up nicely with a grenade. The short "Kill!" cry is one which didn't feature in BCM87, but another reason I've included this clip is just because that frontline twosome made a good sight near the end. (From 2013)

04:18 (Clip 30 - What you doing?) After a Grunt lobs a grenade, causing two buddies to dive away, he gets caught by a spore, then killed by plasma fire aimed at the spore. One Grunt rebukes the other - "What you doing?". Actually they didn't even get the spore; you can hear it at the end.

04:27 (Clip 31 - History) Sounds to me like a combat Flood has reanimated. An alert goes up, and grunty weapon-fire ensues, plus the amusing line "We're gonna go down in history!", which also featured in BCM87.

04:40 (Clip 32 - Got one) In this short final front-view clip, a Grunt backs off while firing his needler, and is happy about getting a spore. (From 2013)

04:44 (Clip 33 - Container self-tag) A Grunt tries a grenade throw from behind the container, with fatal results. I made numerous tries at getting good footage of such a mishap, having noticed the potential for it with a particular set-up. I would've liked a touch more lead-in time - even half a second would've been good - but it was hard to get into camera position fast enough. Here I was only just getting into my crouch; but the view was still good enough for using in the movie. This clip used the same set-up as clip 11, which featured another such grenade mishap behind the container.

04:50 (Clip 34 - Take that) Three Grunts do a spot of mopping up with the carrier form, and at the end there's a nice view of them, along with an amusing delayed "Take that!" line. (From 2013)

05:01 (Clip 35 - Cyborg mishap) A Grunt fails to tag a leaping spore, and I think his subsequent death is caused by the barrage of fire coming from at least two of his buddies below me in the corner. The ruckus draws the attention of the other Flood, but the two combat guys walk straight into a plasma blast. Unfortunately that blast also sets off a nearby plasma, which kills the nearest Grunt and wrecks my cloaking. I'm quickly killed by the two remaining Grunts, and one of them spits for good measure.

05:18 (Clip 36 - Carrier creep) This grunty fool thinks the fight is over, and has his back turned on the corridor, but he's got a nasty shock coming. The carrier creeps slowly forward, then rushes over the final distance, to hunker down just as his target turns around. The Grunt has just enough time to leap in surprise before being blasted away by the pop. The loose plasma grenade kills the released spores, and the final Grunt cries "Save us!" from behind the shield. I think this has to be my funniest bit of footage ever; the comedy was perfect. (From 2013)

Closing remarks I'd been expecting to do a sequel to BCM87 practically ever since I released that movie, and now fifty movies later I've finally got around to it. Actually I would've been working on some other topic, but the switch was prompted by a bit of forum discussion relating to Grunt voicing. It seemed like an opportune time to showcase the H1 guys again. They remain my favourite variety of course, with the boisterous H3 mob in second slot (the H2 brigade were much less fun compared to H1, and the H4 Grunts were simply abysmal).

The opening clip is from March 2014 when I tentatively started work on a sequel, but I only recorded a little and instead got back to the business of a detached dropship turret (BCM98 and so on). About 44% of the remaining action is from 2013 when recording for BCM87 (I've flagged those clips), and the rest is newly recorded. And I'm pleased with the result!

This time around, friendly tags and self-tags became a bigger theme, numbering three and four respectively, compared with one and zero last time. I'm not sure why I didn't include any self-tags before. Three of the four clips here were from that time. I think I was focusing more on dialogue though. Of course, dialogue was also a strong consideration this time too; but I felt more free to include funny events regardless of dialogue, as so many Grunt lines had already been covered.

In regard to the final clip, that's one of the ones I recorded when working on BCM87. I think the reason I didn't use it to end that movie was because I already had another excellent ending clip in place (obtained a day earlier), which was more dialogue focused, and I thought that was a better fit with the rest of the movie. I figured that the carrier clip could instead make a strong ending to either a sequel or to a 'Freakiness and fun' movie. Been looking forward to showing it for a long time.

Will there be another sequel sometime? I don't rule it out, but I think it would take an awful lot of play to end up with something which contains sufficiently special and different clips to sit well with the two movies I've already got. Even with this sequel, I really had to work at things to get the additional footage needed. And I have to say, holding a crouch again and again is not easy on the left thumb! But who knows? Maybe in another fifty movies time I'll be up for it.

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