Of the eleven episodes that the series had, only four of them outright shatter the continuity RvB: Zero had established. The others feel like fun slice-of-life episodes that take place before, after, or even during Zero's main story.

The reason I'm advocating for this is that Family Shatters, for the most part, does a better job at helping audiences learn more about the characters, and its tone and presentation are more in-line with what you'd expect from Red vs. Blue. Still not perfect by any means, but it'd be a shame if the series was dismissed as irrelevant when it's an overall better product than its fully-canon counterpart. Not many fans watch the backlog of old PSA's for that very reason, and when it comes to Shatter Squad, even if they're being put on hold for the time being, they still need all the help they can get.

Is Family Shatters' tone seamlessly in sync with the rest of the franchise? No, but then again Zero's a huge tonal disconnect from the rest of the series anyway, so that's not really a huge factor in my opinion. It's still more RvB than Zero anyway.

So hey, if Rooster Teeth is sticking to their guns and making Zero canon despite audience backlash, might as well try and salvage the overall better material from the Shatter Squad era while they're at it. Despite its marketing, very few episodes are so outlandish that they're impossible to associate with the main story.

And so that brings us to here! What episodes could be canon and which ones couldn't! Who cares, you ask? I do, so I'll line 'em all up in a row.

Shatter Squad Needs a Pet - CANON. A post-Zero episode devoted exclusively to Shatter Squad's family dynamic.

Night of the Living Dad - CANON. Phase isn't featured here so you can fit it in as a pre-Zero episode, or post-Zero with Phase being her usual standoffish self and deciding she's above this crazy bullshit.

Walk and Talk - NON-CANON. Disregarding dialogue from Phase that directly says this isn't canon, the premise doesn't work because there's no room in the series' continuity where Phase and East are still in separate factions while also having Shatter Squad know they're two halves of one person.

Beach Episode - CANON? Might have to squeeze this one in a bit harder than most, because it's extremely meta. But the spirit of the episode isn't all that out there, and again, could fit in a post-Zero setting depending on Phase's current alignment with Shatter Squad, which was always left purposely ambiguous. Viper is indirectly referenced as "local punk kids" despite the apparent deaths of Zero and Diesel, but the characters are never referenced by name or shown outside of Raymond's fantasy, which by his own admission, has 'limited assets due to budget cuts'. So it's more like they're placeholders rather than expecting them specifically to rise from their graves and shimmy their corpses to the beach. Depending on Phase's status on the Squad, this could still work fine.

Freaky Friday - CANON. Another casual post-Zero slice-of-life story with the body swap gimmick being about as excusable of a scenario as the concept of Holo-Echoes. The fact that it's specifically between Phase and East is what makes this episode's premise plausible.

The One With the Escape Room - CANON. Yet another post-Zero slice-of-life episode without any overly-wacky scenarios or deliberate defiances of continuity.

Phase's Reputation - NON-CANON. This is where the series starts to just do whatever it wants with a deliberate disregard for continuity. Not to say that makes this episode bad, it just means that it's taking advantage of the series' lack of concern for continuity, specifically by making Zero an amicable foil to Shatter Squad which just isn't in his character if it were canon.

The Unbearable Lightness of Zero - CANON. As far as I'm concerned, this episode actively improves the story of RvB: Zero. It fits in perfectly between that season's episodes and helps sell the characters' identities (especially the main villain's) better than anything from the season it's inspired by.

Buzz:Kill - NON-CANON. Literally only because Zero turned out to be involved at the last minute despite Phase being a part of Shatter Squad. But hey, if he ever turns out to be alive and continues to be a thorn in Shatter Squad's side, this could be subject to change.

Special Guestmas - NON-CANON. Similar trappings as before: Zero is extremely casual with Shatter Squad, and on top of this it's fully embracing its non-canon identity by nonchalantly featuring Santa, Lopez, Sarge, and even Gus Sorola without any buildup, fanfare, or in-universe explanation beyond wanting to be meta. This is the most PSA-esque episode of the lot, just an excuse to make as many cameos as possible.

Hard Boiled - CANON. 90% of the episode is a dream by West. Could easily be set after Zero otherwise.

So what's the point of all this? Mainly the fact that Family Shatters could be just as relevant to the canon as, say, Season 14. Some of it obviously doesn't work, but a surprising amount of it does, and select episodes add more to the source material that can be appreciated by those who care the most about it.

I won't pretend to know how Sean Hinz or the rest of RT operates, but depending on how else they're handling damage control following Zero's reception, including this in the main continuity really doesn't hurt anything in my opinion.

For those who do legitimately try to find the best in Shatter Squad, what do you think? Does it really matter or am I just overthinking things?