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On Grand Theft Auto 5’s private No Pixel role-playing server, streamer Vincent Cyr, known best for his Uchiha Jones character, sometimes plays an environmentalist, vegan tow truck driver named Rick Rhymes. Sound familiar? That’s because Rick Rhymes is based off The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes — but instead of fighting the dead, Rhymes is hunting “gas walkers.” Cars. He’s using his potato-fueled tow truck to get cars off the road. Like Rhymes often says, “If we poison this air we’re not going to be around much longer.”
Last night, actual Walking Dead star Chandler Riggs, who played Grimes’ now-dead son Carl, joined Cyr on Grand Theft Auto 5 for a family reunion. It was perfect. Cyr’s got a pretty good Grimes impression, and a whole bunch of iconic quotes to pull out throughout the stream. Lines like “Stuff... things” and “I will kill you.”
Riggs, on the other hand, is a little more awkward in his role-play. Carl was pretty awkward himself, and maybe it’s just part of the role. Regardless, Riggs had a harder time staying in character when interacting with Cyr’s Rhymes — clearly amused at Cyr’s Rhymes impression.
My favorite moment? When Rhymes and Carl were reunited for the first time on stream. At first, Rhymes refuses to acknowledge that Carl’s returned, not wanting to open himself up to the pain of losing his son. When he finally realizes it’s Carl, Rhymes takes a knee and apologizes: “I thought they wrote you off,” Rhymes says. “I thought you were gone. I watched you die.”
Riggs starts laughing and covers his face. “Me too,” he says.
Plenty of other hijinks ensued through the Chandler’s time on the Grand Theft Auto 5 role-playing server — his first time streaming on Twitch in years. Rhymes spent much of the time showing Carl the lay of the land in Los Santos — a far cry from the infected ruins of The Walking Dead’s world — like when Rhymes chaperones a date where Carl takes a Los Santos citizen hiking, encouraging him to stop telling dates his last girlfriend was beheaded. (RIP Enid.)
