Introduction to Halo Month and Guests
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Chatsunami. I'm Satsunami and joining me for Halo Month is of course my Spartan in Arms Adam. Hello hello, good to be back. And of course we couldn't tackle this particular topic without some reinforcements so joining us from the skies is our very own ODST Green Shield.
Green Shield's Lukewarm Halo Sentiments
00:00:40
Speaker
Green Shield, welcome back as well. Lock and load and raid to talk about this movie. You said that was such conviction Green Shield.
00:00:47
Speaker
with such passion oh god it brings a tear to a grown man's eye you know my feelings towards the halo franchise it's lukewarm
00:00:56
Speaker
I mean, it's not that bad. We have played Halo 4 together. Okay, but scratch that comment. That's probably not the best example to
Best Starting Point for New Halo Players
00:01:04
Speaker
jump into. Or would you say it's the best game to jump into, Adam, as a new time player? Maybe not if you're doing it by yourself, but I think if you're playing it with others, any of them are pretty much okay to drop into. Well, you started on 3, so you're not coming to this for the story and everything. You're coming to this for the exciting action. I think I also started with Halo 3.
00:01:28
Speaker
We're all casuals here, to be fair. This is a casual nami podcast now. And is there an astronaut meme? It always has been. All this time, always.
Focus on Halo Legends and Previous Episodes
00:01:37
Speaker
As you may have slightly noticed by the past two episodes, we have indeed been focusing on a particular indie gem called Halo, you know, that old indie FPS shooter. Yeah, the first episode we talked about Halo Infinite, the second episode. I challenged Adam on his, well, knowledge.
00:01:57
Speaker
I wouldn't say on the Halo lore. My ability to guess. And you did it so well. You got three out of seven. I mean, that's a passing grade in some countries. Yeah, exactly. If you lower the pass market, it's a passing grade. Exactly. Of course, we can't have a month going by without having a Chatsunani episode. Today, we are going to be talking about really in a normal way in Halo.
00:02:22
Speaker
As we talked about last week Adam, Halo has books, it's got obviously games, it's got comics and things, but one of the things you wouldn't really expect it to have is
Exploring Halo Legends: A Star Wars Visions Comparison
00:02:33
Speaker
anime. And of course the show we're going to be talking about today is the 2010, I was about to say hit, but I don't think it was as much a hit as I thought it was, Halo Legends. Now I've got a question before I go in depth about this series. Did any of you ever hear about this
00:02:49
Speaker
I had no idea. I'd never heard of this, to be honest, until you brought it to my attention. I did know of Halo Legends and its infamy, but I didn't really know what actually happened in it. I didn't realize it was a chronicling of different stories. I'm not quite sure what the exact wording would be. It's not serialized, I guess. It'd be something different, episodic maybe.
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah, so I was aware of Halo Legends, but I didn't know really anything about it. And what it ends up being is a lot like what Disney have recently done with their Star Wars properties, where they've introduced the Star Wars Visions, which were a series of short Star Wars world related anime episodes, each one directed by a different director and different studio, anime studio. So each one was very unique in its tone and
00:03:40
Speaker
art style. This seems to have been the precursor to that. I wasn't aware of anything like Star Wars Visions prior to that, so I was quite interested that this may be the first example of it. I don't know. So yeah, if anyone can correct me on that, I'd be interested to know. But yeah, it was certainly an interesting watch.
00:03:58
Speaker
The Matrix did something similar to this, am I right in saying? You are right, yeah. The Animatrix or something? I seem to recall watching it when I was, well, quite young compared
Japanese Studios Behind Halo Legends
00:04:06
Speaker
to the time. Yeah, it was called Animatrix. You're right. I don't know if they were all different animation styles. It might have been. I was so young when I last saw any of it. My only memory of it, I've not watched it properly, was walking into my brother's room while he was watching it. And it was like a really graphic scene when Android was like going to crush
00:04:24
Speaker
someone's head. My brother made me like close my eyes and turn and turn away and so that was like my only real kind of like memory of Animatrix. I've been trying to watch it ever since ever since because I'm like now a grown man and I'm like I feel like I can probably handle the uh android crushing the person so I would like to like to check that out but I've not been able to to see it since so I'd like to check that out. And now this time around you're experiencing a whole different type of trauma through evil wages. You're wishing that android was crushing your head. Pretty much.
00:04:52
Speaker
It did seem that way. Halo has never been so Japanese, is what I'll say. So yeah, to give a bit of context about what we're talking about today, Halo Legends is of course a series of seven short films set in the Halo universe of course. As far as I know, anyway, I'm looking at my notes here, so don't worry, I've came prepared.
00:05:11
Speaker
Yeah, there were apparently six Japanese anime reductions that worked on this. Some of them I don't really recognise, so Green Chill Police feel free to let you jump in. There was B Train, Casio Entertainment, Bones, Production IG, Studio 4... I don't know if this is correct, Studio 4 degree centigrade?
00:05:34
Speaker
or 4 degrees. That's the way it's written. Studio 4 degrees centigrade. I don't know if it's that or just Studio 4 degrees. And of course, totally animation, which you and I both know as the creators of works like Dragon Ball, One Piece, basically any anime that doesn't have a definitive ending.
00:05:52
Speaker
I bet I can identify which one was the toy animation one. I identified an art style. I even noted it down like, why is this one look so Dragon Ball Z-esque? And so I think, I think that one will probably be pretty clear. Studio Bones is another one I'm familiar with. Can't off the top of my head tell you what they've done before, but I recognize that. I don't think I recognize any of
Initial Negative Impressions of Halo Legends
00:06:10
Speaker
the others though.
00:06:10
Speaker
other than Toei Animation. Although some of them looked better than others, but we will go into that more in depth. In the main episode, yeah, Toei Animation was definitely the one that stood out to me. Out of curiosity, before we move into the main discussion, did you recognise any of the styles Adam? Were any of these familiar to any shows you've seen before? I can't say they were, I have to be honest. There was nothing that where I was watching that I was like, oh this seems familiar. It was all new to me.
00:06:40
Speaker
And that's the best way to watch Halo Legends blind. And yeah, see without any further ado, will we just jump into it? Sure. Oh, and just to clarify, Studio Bones made My Heracodemia. Did they? Yes. Huh. Every day's a school day. I can hear that, like, disappointed. Just get on with the episode. Let's jump into it. But before we do, as always, we will be right back just after these messages.
00:07:06
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami, a variety podcast that talks about topics from gaming and films to streaming in general interest. Previously on Chatsunami, we discussed Game of the Decade, Deadly Premonition, the romantic thriller, Birdemic, and listen to us get all sappy as we discuss our top five Christmas films. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can find us an anchor, Spotify, YouTube, and opiate podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.
00:07:38
Speaker
We are Beer and Chill Podcast. Podcast where we review TV shows, games, movies and whatever else takes our fancy. So what are you waiting for? If you're a cool kid like us, you're gonna listen to the Beer and Chill Podcast. You can get it anywhere from Spotify all the way to your grandmother's radio. My name is Jan. And I'm Craig Yisi. And we are Beer and Chill.
00:08:13
Speaker
And we are back. Yeah, let's just jump into these seven short films. As I said before, Halo Legends is divided into seven short films. I think in total it's about two hours, isn't it? Yes. Before we break those down, I'm quite curious to hear what both of your
00:08:32
Speaker
opinions are just kind of in a general sense. So I'll start with you Green Shield. What was your opinion or your kind of first impact watching this series? Was it positive? Please tell me it was positive. On a whole no, it was not positive. I found it quite laborious to get through. I did not enjoy the majority of the stories. The odd scene in some were redeemable but
00:08:58
Speaker
For the majority of the two hours I watched it, I was bored, which I can generally excuse a bad movie, a bad TV show, if it's at least entertainingly bad. I can't excuse it if it's boring. And I was very bored watching this. It was so boring, in fact, that my partner, she decided, I will get up and go do chores instead of watching this with you. This is this this this border.
00:09:24
Speaker
To such an extent, she got up and decided to stop doing laundry because it was preferable to watching this. Put that on the box. Halo Legends, you would rather be doing Legend City laundry. Exactly. There were aspects of it that I found interesting. I appreciated learning a little bit more about the Halo universe, something that I was not too familiar with previously. I feel now much more in touch with the history of the Halo franchise, so that's something
00:09:53
Speaker
But as I said before we started recording, the notes I was taking were a complete stream of consciousness. I felt like I went into a fugue state at times. Right. Right. The avatar state. Yeah, I went into the avatar state like from pure emotion and anger at some of the things I was I was witnessing and having to be having to endure. I made some very angry notes about some sometimes about the show, sometimes about what I plan to do. Does that tsunami for making me watch
Halo Legends in the Halo Timeline
00:10:19
Speaker
It was an experience like none other. It was two hours. I will not get back. I have started writing my own death note as a result of this. And each time a new director came onto the screen, another name was added. Adam, what were your thoughts? I'm quickly moving on before Catenciot has any time to write my name in the death note. So Adam, what did you think? Oh, I thought this was the best anime that we'd watched so far. About everything else. I swear to God, Adam. Oh, oh, I feel my heart.
00:10:51
Speaker
And that's the end of the episode. Thank you so much for joining us. Sorry. Well, I'm kind of a bit aligned with Green Shields. I don't really have any hate towards this, but I do kind of agree with what you were saying about it being quite dull, to be honest. I kind of felt this was a bit of a nothing burger. I felt like I went to one of my favorite fast food restaurants, ordered a burger, and then when it arrived, opened the packaging, and there was a toasted bun, there was a lettuce, there was a sauce, but they were missing the actual, like,
00:11:21
Speaker
it was natural like meat or whatever in the middle I was like oh some of these things are nice but I don't know if I like the series treading water I have to be honest so this am I right in saying that's not me this came out about the same time as Halo Reach yes you're right and I totally didn't look up the day of that yeah
00:11:38
Speaker
It came out in 2010, which is about the same time Halo Reach came out. The one thing I do want to point out, which is something quite interesting they brought up saying it's like a Nothinburger, because this came out, you know, Halo 3 came out in like what, 2007 was it? And then ODST followed that.
00:11:57
Speaker
And then of course after that, there was kind of like a real dry spell of Halo content. As far as I remember, there wasn't much content between. Like everybody was waiting for Halo 4, but instead they got Halo Reach. To say this is a movie, is Halo Reach?
Critique of Origins Episodes
00:12:14
Speaker
But yeah, there wasn't a lot of content coming out at that time for Halo, as far as I remember. Other than that and the odds, I always remember in YouTube at the time people would cut together the live-action adverts for Halo 3 and they'd be like, oh my god guys, it's the new trailer for the Halo movie and we've never had a Halo movie even in 2022.
00:12:38
Speaker
Except for the Amazon series that's supposed to be coming out soon. I think it's Amazon, yeah. Yeah, apparently, supposedly. They keep saying that. Hopefully it'll come out. In fact, I think it will because it is Amazon. If anybody's going to be soulless and push out a mediocre product, it's going to be Amazon. Now I'm just kidding, Amazon. I love you. Please don't burn me off a twitch. It was quite a dry spell and I feel as if in terms of visual media, unless you were reading the books, but Adam, have you ever read a hero book?
00:13:08
Speaker
I actually have, believe it or not, I actually have read one. It was just, it was one that basically retold the story of the first game. So it's not really like, I mean, it added some stuff into it. It's not really one that exploring the extended lore, but I have, I can say I've read one. I was going to ask you Green Shield, but, um, I get the few ones, no. Maybe I read the pamphlet and one of the, the discs one time. Ah, that still counts. Yeah, definitely counts.
00:13:33
Speaker
It seems as if this came out and it was the only thing that Halo fans really had up until Reach. So you had Reach and you had this and I think people were probably expecting it to, you know, maybe give people hints and teases about Halo 4, which nah, definitely didn't. But speaking of teases for Halo 4, that actually brings me on perfectly to the very first set of episodes, which for Green Shield's pleasure, it was divided into two long bars.
00:14:02
Speaker
that of course being origins one and two. So the central plot of both of these episodes is it focuses around the kind of the ending of Halo 3 where Master Chief is sitting on a ship you know just chilling out and Cortana for some reason decides to open up a history book. She starts talking about the
00:14:21
Speaker
forerunners who are, you know, the alien race who created the Halo Rings, she talks about the rise and fall of them, she talks about the flood, she talks about the rise of humanity, the Covenant War. I'm gonna ask, particularly to you Gringyield, as a person who's not really as keyed into the Halo War, did this explain anything to you? Did this like clarify the story or the lore or
00:14:46
Speaker
Well, yes and no. A lot of it was just nothing. They did a whole like 10 minute segment, or not 10 minutes, maybe, maybe like five minute segment on like humanity going to war with each other. And it was like, we know, I lived that. Like that's, that's, that's my world. I know, I know the Hiroshima happened. I know the fall of Egypt and Rome and all that kind of happened. Like there's this, it just felt like the monologuing for the sake of monologuing.
00:15:12
Speaker
I did note that at the very start, the very first scene that we see Cortana is like very like Ghost in the Shell like I don't know if either of you, I know Adam definitely is not but I don't know if if Sasanami if you've seen Ghost in the Shell but like it was so similar to that that I was kind of taken aback by it and then I took me second I was like oh this must be Cortana and I was like this came out
00:15:33
Speaker
10-15 years after Ghost in the Shell, so I probably was taking some level of inspiration from it there, but hard to say. But yeah, we get this kind of overview of the Halo history, and I was very confused, because what I learned from it, and if those of you who haven't seen it aren't as familiar with Halo history, the
00:15:53
Speaker
Events at the start of the movie, I had assumed was like Halo times, like in the future kind of thing. But no, this all happens in the past. And much like the film Prometheus, another fantastic work of art, you find out how humanity was actually created from some genetic DNA that some aliens had like kept a giant intergalactic sperm bank and were like, Oh, let's just repopulate the universe.
00:16:17
Speaker
And I was like, wait, so is that how they're saying civilization started? The first we see is like a caveman, like Neanderthal looking guy. So are they suggesting no dinosaurs? Yes, dinosaurs. Like what happened prior to the caveman introduction from the aliens giving the Earth us? Are dinosaurs fake? Are they fake news? Did the aliens put the fake dinosaurs there?
00:16:45
Speaker
you know, considering what I know about the lore, I don't think the dinosaurs have actually been explained. You know, that's actually a very good point. Just to kind of give some slight spoilers to Galo, there is like a huge, you know, I'm not going to go into him depth because let's face it, we're far too young for this, but the long and short of it was, as you said, it's like an intergalactic spin.
00:17:09
Speaker
essentially where they have like met humanity before and they put humanity in is the thing and yeah did they pick up the dinosaurs I don't know it just you're totally right because then it's like well did they catalog all the other animals on Earth? But then we have that one other episode I don't want to skip ahead too much where there is a dinosaur there's other dinosaurs what is going on? Well technically that's not Earth technically but I do get you
00:17:38
Speaker
Oh, I'm sorry, Planet Flintstone. Well, yeah, true. Dragon Ball Flintstone. I mean, that is a very good point. I've actually got no rebuttal for that for once. I've got no rebuttal yet. Yeah, so I kind of briefly summed up
00:17:54
Speaker
what I was witnessing rather than what was going on of like goo alien attacks has tentacles because you know anime and then like there's some energy swords which are kind of like whips they fight back they die but apparently they sacrifice themselves and then they team up with something to fight against the goo again and then they are like oh let's all kill everything and just restart I've summed up 25 minutes of what happened
00:18:19
Speaker
At this point of me watching, I had just fully taken in like, okay, this is two hours. I'm watching two hours of this. Because again, I did not know that this was split up into many episodes. So I had just I was like, okay, this is like that history and lore thing for Game of Thrones that I've seen. This is two hours of this. And like I was dreading it.
00:18:40
Speaker
I was absolutely trying it. And so when I started to see that like this was over and something else new was starting, I went, Oh my God, the movie is actually starting. And I thought this was all just like the precursor to the, to this like grand hour and a half movie that was about to start. And then the duel happens. So I don't know. I don't know. Adam, what was your take on, uh, on origins before we get into duel?
Criticism of The Duel Episode
00:19:03
Speaker
this for my opinion was the worst way to start this film this was so dull i honestly about fell asleep about fell into a coma during this for me who's a bit more well versed in the kind of halo mythos and stuff i didn't learn anything new
00:19:18
Speaker
this was all the stuff that I knew that the games before had explained so I was sitting here like why am I being told and this is what surprised me I was like I presumed for the most part people who would watch this would have like played the Halo games and kind of be a bit au fait with it so I was like you're not telling anything new here to anybody who has like played any of these games so I thought this was terrible a terrible beginning
00:19:40
Speaker
There were two strands here that kind of encapsulated my kind of dual feelings about this whole thing. One part was that I loved hearing the music again and I really liked how through the whole Halo Legends they actually have like the original score and the original music and I absolutely adore the Halo music so I loved hearing it.
00:19:55
Speaker
And the second part was I hated hearing established characters in the Halo universe, but with different voice actors. So this was Cortana in the first bit, and it's a different voice actor. And not to crap on the people doing the new voice actors, but I just really don't like that. I don't like hearing established characters with different voices. And this kind of happens later on, the Master Chiefs, in some of these later episodes and voiced by somebody else. And I always find that very jarring. Yeah, I really don't have much to say about this one.
00:20:23
Speaker
I thought it was so dull. I thought the art style in part one looked like it was drawn by a child. I thought it was terrible. Like the way like the elites, you see like kind of like caveman elites, I think at the end, oh my god, they looked like something I would draw and that's not a comment.
00:20:43
Speaker
Heart 2 looked slightly better, I thought, so I was like, alright, that's fine. But I just thought it was such a terrible way to open this, to be honest. I know at the start that the animation style is somehow both really basic and detailed at the same time. I don't know how they accomplished it, but I did not like it. It was very unpleasant. It feels very static, doesn't it?
00:21:02
Speaker
Yeah. You know, it's like action's happening but it feels as if it's like, you know like when you watch my edits and it's like you've got a still image but you've got something like moving across the screen. It was like a yes. Yeah, it's like a gif on top of a still image. Adam, you'll know what I'm talking about but do you remember the beginning of Cortana where it's like, it's like,
00:21:23
Speaker
basically to explain to you, it's like a jpeg on the screen and then you see the ships flying towards the jpeg and it's clearly a jpeg they're flying towards you, you're like yeah no that's just lazy. It's the same for that, I totally agree. It felt as if for a story like Halo which is massive and bombastic and you know it has got such a grand scale of like intergalactic genocide
00:21:49
Speaker
it just felt very slow and even the action scenes, it felt like a powerpoint. Do you know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of whoever took over in 343. It was their powerpoint to actually take over Halo from Bungie, but the only reason they got the job was because the other applicants were stuck in the lift.
00:22:08
Speaker
so I'm just like yeah sure this is his powerpoint like let's just hire him yeah that's all I have to say for that one but we'll we move on to the second one let's do it episode two known as the jewel basically it's a explanation for the title of arbiter so for any halo fans and non-halo fans out there the title of arbiter is basically like a fancy elite where you know they're basically like a leader aren't they Adam
00:22:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's the, well, originally I think that's what the title is. I think by the time of Halo 2 is where this kind of condition gets introduced, it's kind of like a punishment slash honor thing. Like it's like, it's like you only get it if you've like failed horrifically, if you fail the covenant horrifically, but it's like a way of like redeeming yourself. I guess that's kind of, that kind of dual purpose of it is kind of explained a little bit in this episode.
00:22:58
Speaker
So in this episode I think it goes back to like the first Arbiter, so like in the lore the title of Arbiter used to be like in their culture, the aliens culture, it used to be this title of honor and high reverence and then all of a sudden because one of the Arbiters stood against the Covenant who are of course the enemy faction and he ended up like bringing disgrace to that title and
00:23:24
Speaker
Yeah, that basically follows the first Arbiter to kind of fall from grace in this one, which, fun fact, Green Shield, because I know you're feeling slightly in this one, but apparently this technically is canon, this episode. If you look at the Halo 2 Anniversary Edition, there is like a screenshot of the ending of this episode, which basically solidifies it in the canon. So yeah, take that how you will.
00:23:49
Speaker
With happiness or salted rage, I'm gonna be on the sea before you guys jump in. This is probably my least favourite out of all of them. Like, I would rather watch Origins again, rather than... Well, I suppose it's on par, but I feel as if this is the worst, artistically. I would rather squeeze two lemons in my eyes, and if I did, it would be less blurry than the animation style of the duo.
00:24:14
Speaker
My partner came back in briefly and then left after seeing this one. And she just commented that it looks like there's a drunk filter on the camera. It looks like it made me feel queasy watching it. It was so bad. I had no idea what was happening most of the time. The dialogue was written so poorly. And why is it Japan?
00:24:33
Speaker
The Covenant, Arbiters, whatever were wearing kimonos and had samurai fights and their buildings looked like feudal Japan. Make it make sense, Satsunami. Make it make sense. Well, to be fair, and this is like years later in hindsight, like about 11 years later in hindsight, but Star Wars Visions technically did the same thing.
00:24:55
Speaker
and I think it's just because it's anime and it's got Japanese influence and it's their interpretation, which I'm going to admit, although I found it off-putting the first time I watched it, I appreciate the kind of twist on it. Lore-wise, it does not make sense. I don't think
00:25:13
Speaker
they would have been running around in kimonos and I'm not just saying that, I genuinely had them back me up here but there's been no like Japanese influence for the elites or anything as far as I'm aware. I could be wrong, there could be a book out there, you know, like the Bushido Code of the Arbiter but I don't know, I genuinely do not know but I totally agree, I thought the art style in this was horrible. Initially I liked it, I thought oh I can't wait to see where this goes and then all of a sudden things started moving and you're like oh no,
00:25:43
Speaker
Oh, no, I was, I was not, not necessarily opposite, but immediately I went, Oh, no, the animation's gone trash. Like, why is it so fuzzy? There's like, like all the CGI animation nonsense, like, Oh, this isn't gonna be very good. And again, I thought this was the start of the movie. So I was concerned this was going to be the next hour and a half. So I was very fearful. I made a comment that at the very start, there's like a fight in the woods. And I said, some covenant people are fighting in the woods, though I can't be sure because I can see fuck all.
00:26:13
Speaker
do you know what that just your comment there, do you know what that reminds me of? Do you remember the old anti-piracy adverts you used to get in videotapes? Where it would be like the really fuzzy like 100 like Dumbo or 101 Dalmatians and you would get the kid in the background going, mom the screen's all fuzzy or that the screen's all fuzzy.
00:26:33
Speaker
replace that child with my partner, she said, is it, have you got like a buggy copy? Like, is, have you like pirated this movie and it like, it just looks like this. And I was like, no, no, this is just how it looks like. And I like, I was so appalled by this and it was just revolting. Like it was awful.
00:26:50
Speaker
I've got to say, I felt like I was watching this after having Vaseline smeared over my eyes. I actually probably enjoyed this episode more than Origins, because at least I felt like things were happening. Because it was a slightly new tale, I was like, right, this isn't just a retread of stuff that I already know. And I kind of liked
00:27:06
Speaker
the final, like the kind of final big fight, the end. I think I got a bit accustomed to the, to the style, the visual styles. So I kind of got a bit more, but I have to agree. I agree. If you could believe when she was that first fight in the night, I had no clue what was happening. I couldn't tell who was who, like what was going on. I was just so like, Oh God, I was like, I couldn't believe they'd made this the visual choice. But yeah, again, like I enjoyed that bit more than origins I say, but again, I,
00:27:29
Speaker
I'd put this probably more towards the bottom of the episodes in the collection. I give the point to Origins because I could see what was happening. I didn't know what was going on in the duel at any point. I didn't know what the story was, I didn't know what was happening. It reminded me of, I once went to a drive-in movie, an outside movie, and there was a glare from the sun and I couldn't see anything for about 15 minutes. I still felt like I took in more in that experience than I did in this one.
00:27:57
Speaker
Would you say that this is your least favourite then out the entire series? This was my least favourite for sure, just purely because I didn't know what was happening. The animation was terrible and the dialogue was just awful. Bottom half for me, but not the worst. There's a couple more that I would put below it.
00:28:16
Speaker
Now I'm interested to see which one you're gonna choose. I think I know but I'm gonna hold off. So yeah let's move on to the next one then. So the next one on the list so called is Homecoming which it was an attempt that's all I'm gonna
Homecoming Episode Analysis
00:28:30
Speaker
say here. So yeah Homecoming focuses on a Spartan called Daisy 023 who decides to
00:28:38
Speaker
Breakout, well, it's kind of like a flashback episode. Half of it's focused on her having a jolly and breaking out of her Spartan training program and finding out about the horror of what they've done while they've been kidnapped, and then the other half is her as a Spartan trying to save a group of Marines.
00:28:57
Speaker
I thought this was probably one of the stronger episodes but there were some moments like again it suffers from that origins aspect of like static action if that makes sense you know it's like people standing fired in guns but like there's no weight behind them you know they just like stand there and muzzle flashes just come out it's like oh okay Green Shield thrown it back to you what did you think of this one?
00:29:23
Speaker
It was certainly nicer to look at than the duel. I didn't enjoy it. I found the story to be a bit all over the place. Considering they have such a short time to tell their story, I feel like using flashbacks and cutting back and forward so often means you're not really successfully telling any one story. Instead you're trying to tell two or sometimes three stories.
00:29:46
Speaker
in this and again you only have they only had about 10-12 minutes on this story so it seemed like poor writing a poor choice to write it in that way to create the story in that way because we initially have these Spartans sort of fighting against some aliens and then and I what I noticed I quite liked they animated the guns just like the rifles in the games where you can like see the the number that shows like how much how many rounds of ammo are in the gun and I really liked
00:30:13
Speaker
I really like that I thought that was a nice nice touch and it's what I what I knew of Halo from my brief experience of it so that was that was nice to see and then we had the moment where our main character's helmet comes off and we realize it's a woman like oh my goodness this Spartan is a woman I don't know in the Halo games is it quite often that you see female Spartans or is that oh my god kind of moment it's more common now but I trying to think I don't oh Reach was probably the first
00:30:40
Speaker
gave my writing since that's not me with a with a theme where we saw a female spartan yeah i think you're right actually okay that's uh yeah so like i i it felt at the time like it was a like a oh my gosh moment like the way that they like focused in when the helmet came off and you you find you see that it's a girl in there and then we as you say we learned she's called daisy and then immediately jump into a flashback and i'm like we've just met this character why are we jumping into a flashback
00:31:05
Speaker
We see her in some recruit situation where she's training and like her eyes are so far apart that you could land a Banshee between them. It's like a, you could like put a runway between her eyes and land like a small spaceship there. The design on her is very strange, but then we get to see them on some Warthogs. Again, some more like hints, hint, nudge, nudge. This is actually Halo. And that, so that was pretty cool seeing them. And then like an orb lands on a bridge and blows them up.
00:31:29
Speaker
And then we kind of just keep jumping back and forth between these storylines where she seems to have hunted down like her original clone recipient because we find out she's a clone or something. That's what I gathered. Maybe I've misunderstood. No, she's not the clone that the girl that she finds at home is the clone. Oh, I see. Okay, that makes more sense then.
00:31:47
Speaker
Yeah, so it's like, it's to do with this like Spartan two program, which is like what the Master Chief is one of these Spartan twos, and then they're like kids who are kidnapped from their homes, basically, and like, forced into this like, genetic modification and like, you know, really brutal training regiment to become these elite soldiers. And so what's what's happened is to make to like, cover the tracks, basically. And so like, there's not like, you know, because in the middle of these kids are disappearing, they'd be like,
00:32:11
Speaker
intense interest in everything. So to cover that, they've created these clones, these sort of sickly clones of the kids who I presume are basically engineered to only live for a couple of years and then die. And so that's who she encounters when she gets back. Why don't they just make proper clones and then train them to do this, Barton? Because it's not as harrowing.
00:32:29
Speaker
And, you know, you can only have a good soldier if there's like some harrowing, there's a harrowing backstory in there. Cool. Yeah, that's, that's stupid. We have her threatened to kill her clone for a bit and then doesn't do that. The clone is very understanding. And then Daisy gets blasted with a needle gun, which like, I know Halo like a little bit. Who gets killed by a needle gun? Like that's such a noob weapon. I know, but if you, if you're not paying attention, you get hit with that burst. True.
00:32:55
Speaker
That's true. So yeah, so that was that was my impression. It was it was better than the duel for me, mostly because the art style was more pleasing to look at. But I didn't find the story very engaging. And I thought it was too all over the place. What about you, Adam? This was my favorite of the collection. I really liked this episode. I have to say I really enjoyed the story. And I actually I like Daisy's character.
00:33:15
Speaker
I found it, I think it was, I found it quite, I see what you're saying about kind of jumping all over the place, but I found it quite simple. The story in my own head and I actually found it quite affecting in a way that I didn't find many of the other episodes like affecting in any, any way at all. Also, I found it quite interesting to actually, I actually like this one because I got to learn some stuff I didn't know.
00:33:34
Speaker
Whereas with Origins, I felt like it was just a rehash of things that I already knew. I kind of liked that I got to learn a bit more about the Spartan 2 program and how truly messed up it is. And I kind of appreciated that. And I don't know, I think that added to why I liked Daisy's character. And yeah, I just found this a really interesting story and just one that I was actually gripped by and really enjoyed throughout its runtime. So it was definitely my favorite of the collection.
00:33:56
Speaker
although it's maybe maybe not the best one out the series of shorts but at least it does try something different and it does expand on like the lower of the Spartans who are of course one of the like more iconic aspects of the franchise but I do agree with what you were saying Green Shield those eyes those eyes are anime nightmare fuel speaking of like odd ones out when we move on to the next episode
00:34:23
Speaker
if we must. So the next episode is Odd One Out, which is a bit more of a comical take. It focuses on the Spartan 1337, yeah very subtle, and he of course is a very comical chap who looks very much like Master Chief, falls on a planet that
00:34:41
Speaker
Basically it's just like any planet you would find in Dragon Ball Z.
Odd One Out: A Comedic Take
00:34:46
Speaker
Really? Yeah, just think of the bottom wastelands and add dinosaurs, add a huge angry monkey. This is basically like Halo meets Dragon Ball. You know all those people out there writing their Dragon Ball Z ex-Halo fanfictions? Stop. Just stop. You know, this is it. This is the episode.
00:35:03
Speaker
I hear a lot of people asking for Goku in Smash, people asking for Master Chief in Smash. I mean, you already have the mash up here in Halo Legends, so I don't think you really need to have either of those characters in Smash Bros. Nah, not really, to be fair, not really. Adam, I'm going to switch it around this time. What did you think of this episode? So this is what Dragon Ball is like then? Yes.
00:35:24
Speaker
Yeah, this was a weird one for me. I get what they were trying to do. There was some goofy fun to be had in this episode. I wouldn't lie, I chuckled a bit at it. But this felt so out of place to me, especially coming after Homecoming, which is the tale of this child who's been kidnapped and then escapes and discovers that she's been replaced with this clone, and then it's back to the harrowing test facility that we turned into a super soldier. And then it's like, oh, and here's this really goofy episode.
00:35:53
Speaker
And I don't know, it just, it felt such a jarring tonal switch to me. And even in the episode as well. So for the most part, the episode is trying to be this kind of like odd ball, kind of goofy, as you say, like Dragon Ball-esque thing. And I'm okay with that to an extent. I'm like, okay, that's fine. I kind of see what you're doing.
00:36:10
Speaker
But then at the end, they try to have this kind of almost like affecting emotional moment where we find out there's like this AI that's on the planet and it's like, assume this mother role for these children. To me, it just felt all over the place this episode. I still think Origins is my least favourite because it put me into a coma nearly, but this one was my next least favourite because I just felt like I got slapped in the face with a fish or something for this one. I was like, what is happening here? So yeah, I was not a fan of this one.
00:36:37
Speaker
I did like the action in this one, I have to say. I don't want to say bombastic, it wasn't bombastic but... A bombastic smorgasbord. Exactly, a bombastic smorgasbord patent pending. Yeah, I do agree. Like even seems like when the when the profit of like regret or truth or whatever the profit of something was like sending off the killer brute and he was doing like the weird anime thing where he was like oh I need a vacation and you're like
00:37:05
Speaker
Ah, really? That's what you're gonna do with this toy. Green Shield, what did you think of this episode? I just thought it was just a wonderful dive into a classic anime trope of the slapstick nature. This was actually, I'm joking a little bit there, but this was actually one of my preferred episodes of the series. I actually like this one more than most of the rest.
00:37:28
Speaker
Cause it was, it was fun. Like it was, it was, it was silly. It was stupid. You, you were, you do get whiplash a little bit from going from the, uh, child trafficking soldier story to the, um, slapstick, uh, like stupid Spartan dinosaur story. It was, it was interesting. It was fun. It was, it felt like you were going, you were watching a Saturday morning cartoon, the style of the jokes, the manner of the villain, the fact that there was like a, a villain sending a monster off, like, um, monster of the week style anime, like Power Rangers esque.
00:37:58
Speaker
kind of episode. It felt a lot more childlike, it felt a lot more fun I guess is the word. It wasn't taking itself seriously. One issue with a lot of the lore for a lot of video games, Halo is not the only one, is it takes itself so seriously and there's a certain edge to them because of that era of video gaming where the culture was of edginess and they kind of
00:38:23
Speaker
feel like they have to maintain that certain edge. And so it's nice that you can sort of take the take the boots off, throw in some sandals and just have some fun with it. Whilst this was made by Toei and there's a lot of Dragon Ball Z-esque-ness to it, I wouldn't say this is what Dragon Ball Z is or Dragon Ball is either for
00:38:42
Speaker
Adam, who's not watched either of those, they are very different in how they approach. There's just a lot of montages, sorry, homage, homages to the Dragon Ball tropes. Like we have the, uh, the powerups and the style of fighting and all that kind of thing. And just a point from what you were saying earlier about.
00:38:59
Speaker
the fight choreography. There was one scene in particular where it really changes up where the the monkey man is about to like fire off like a big laser and the spartan 1337 throws a grenade shield down at the ground and that just action of throwing the grenade shield out in the ground was like so beautiful like out of out of nowhere i was like wow that looked really good so that kind of took me aback a little bit i don't know what you guys thought of that
00:39:24
Speaker
It was interesting seeing, because obviously Halo is just like a kind of typical, you know, FPS shooter and space shooter by extension. So it was quite interesting to see like hand-to-hand anime combat, if that makes sense, and also try and weave in the Halo-ness, if that makes sense. It wasn't like he just turned into a Dragon Ball character and it powered up and things. He was like using these bubble shields. He was using his like assault rifle and everything.
00:39:52
Speaker
I did think that was really a good way to integrate that into the action and just the story as a whole, but I will agree this is definitely one of the sillier sides. So what did you think Adam? I have no reflection of the action that Grigioz is talking about. I'm gonna be honest, this just kind of, after a little bit, I kind of became a bit numb to this and I was just kind of waiting for it to end. It didn't do it for me this one, I'm sorry.
00:40:18
Speaker
So what you're saying Adam as you're the old one out in this discussion? Apparently so. Apparently so. I don't like having fun. I want the edge. Give me the edge back.
00:40:27
Speaker
You're on edge. We'll go back in the Death Note. Oh god no. One day. What have I done? You're on edge. I'll give you edge. You have paper cut from the Death Note. Yeah, our next episode on the list is of course Prototype.
Prototype Episode Review
00:40:40
Speaker
I have to admit this is probably one of my, although it's a bit of a cheesy ending, it's one of the higher up episodes for me. So Prototype basically focuses on a sergeant or, I
00:40:52
Speaker
I remember as a sergeant or a captain or something and he basically pilots a mech suit that's like a prototype but my god they should have put the funding into this suit. Rather than a goddamn Spartan program they should have been funding these suits and of course he covers his troops escape by basically blowing up the entire covenant.
00:41:11
Speaker
I thought the action was really good. I thought the action was stellar, but the story in this fell a bit flat. But what did you guys think? First off, I'm just jumping right away to the end of prototype, because I have a question. Did he say that the ship was called the Heart of Midlothian? He did. Yes. That's a football team based in Edinburgh. Nice.
00:41:30
Speaker
It might be something else. I don't know. So what we're learning is that the, the creators of the, uh, the Halo program are from Gorgi at Edinburgh is, is what I'm, what I'm picking up from that. But that's, that's a very regional specific reference. So I found this one boring again. The action was kind of cool. The mech was fun. They did a time skip. Why there was a girl, a girl soldiers dying and she's like, remember be human. And then it's like three years later, some other characters we see are like under fire and they're like,
00:41:59
Speaker
Oh, where's Ghost? Oh, this is a suicide mission. Every time Ghost does a mission, all his troops get killed. Said Ghost rocks up in a mech and is like, I've got this mech now. And then his commanding officer is like, no, don't use this mech that is clearly going to help us win this battle. No, that's not what you're supposed to do at all. Can I just say it's kind of ironic. The woman's like, be more human. And he's like, step in the Gundam. Got it. Yeah, get in the robot, Ghost. But sorry.
00:42:28
Speaker
And then they did this whole thing and I was just wondering like, what was the point of the scene with the girl at the start? This is silly. And then they're like, oh, the trigger word to detonate the mech is the word that she said three years prior. I don't know about you. When I make a password, like has he made that his password for everything for those three years? Because like, I'm not remembering a thing from three years ago as my password.
00:42:50
Speaker
Do you think he had to click like forgot password and do all the security questions before he got like ability to like find the be human thing again? Are you saying they had to do a capture to prove he was human?
00:43:03
Speaker
I mean, probably. If I can just break down in tears. Are you proof that you're human? He just starts crying. He blows up something and then his commanding officer who I'm pretty sure is the same one who was like, no, stop winning the war is then like, he was a true hero. Let's let us leave in our heart of Midlothian ship. That was something it was certainly 10 minutes of my life. But yeah, what do you think Adam?
00:43:30
Speaker
So after Homecoming, this was my next favorite one. I really liked this one again. I thought it was a simple tale, but I found it effective. I really liked it. It's a very well-worn cliche character arc. It's the soldier who deadens themselves and destroys their humanity to become the most effective soldier, but then learns to be human again as they sacrifice themselves. So it's very much a cliche, but I don't know. I quite like that. I like that kind of character arc. I like that cliche. I agree with you, Saxony. I thought the battle scene in the mech was
00:43:58
Speaker
really cool, I really liked it. Probably like my favourite bit of action in the whole of this collection. So yeah, well I don't, it was quite a simple story, but I dunno, I really liked it to be honest and said it was probably my second favourite. Will we move on to the next one then, or is there any final closing comments any of you have? Be human. The Babysitter.
The Babysitter Episode Dynamics
00:44:19
Speaker
The penultimate episode is The Babysitter, which of course is
00:44:24
Speaker
Ah, it's okay. Again, this is one where I don't think the animation was as good. It basically follows a team of ODSTs who are basically like the special forces of the hero universe. They follow a Spartan who looks like Master Chief deceptively. Plot twist, it isn't the Master Chief.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, it just kind of explores their rivalry as they try to kill one of the prophets. I thought this episode was okay, but I just thought they were a bunch of whiny bitches at times. I don't know, what did you guys think of this one? Okay was the exact word that I wrote down to describe this one as well. Yeah, I agree. It was another cliche kind of cliche driven one for me, you know, it's that sort of like
00:45:05
Speaker
you know, of learning like ever like being I I'm the only I should be the one to carry this out and then learning that you know, learning more about yourself and learn. I don't know. Yeah, but it felt not the kind of cliche driven one. I did laugh and roll my eyes like the opening of this one is like it's in the it's in the mess hall of this this UNSC ship and then these two like just average grunts are just getting there getting their lunch and then
00:45:26
Speaker
It's like, oh, don't go so over there. That's the ODST. No, there's the best of the best. The hell jumpers and the hell jumpers, hell divers. Yeah, but hell jumpers are ever like, well, don't go so over there. Like they're the best, the best. And then we cut over to the most, this whiny teen with this like stupid anime haircut being like, I should be the one to do this mission. And I was just like, oh my God.
00:45:47
Speaker
It's set to tone for me and I was like, I'm not going to enjoy this one as much as some of the others. I mean, it was fine. It was okay. But like, I just, yeah, I agree with you. It was just a bunch of whiny people. And I was just like, please just please brute gravity, hammer them all. Do me a favor. What did you think, didn't you? This is my favorite of all.
00:46:07
Speaker
I found it to be fun. I liked the role of the Spartan in this. I liked how they were able to get the kind of, not progression, but character. Yeah, as a character progression of the team by the end of the episode, how they previously did not like.
00:46:23
Speaker
Spartans and then after their experience with one and the sacrifice of the Spartan that they are with they came to sort of really respect them and like defended the Spartan when a random guy comes over to the end at the end. I know it immediately that like new chapter with a new anime angry anime protagonist because it was a very kind of cliche kind of anime boy um spiky hair and all that kind of stuff so
00:46:46
Speaker
It felt, it felt very kind of typical anime to me. I enjoyed it. There was, I know you, you know, you didn't really like the, the art style. I actually quite liked this art style. I found it to be quite interesting, quite pretty in many ways. I found the, some of the, the, the fighting, they kind of went for like a comical nature in some of like the graphicness. Like it was like, like they'd be like breaking the necks of the little goblin covenant things. Good ones. Yeah.
00:47:08
Speaker
Yeah, the little covenant grunts, but like they, they were like really grotesque and like snapping their necks, but like it was almost comical and how they portrayed it. So that was kind of a weird juxtaposition. The general fighting was pretty cool. There was a great scene where, what are the ogre like covenant ones called? Sure. These names are terrible. I'm going to talk to Bill Gates.
00:47:32
Speaker
I'm not Steve. I'm not Steven. I'm not going to. I'm not the law librarian. I'm not going to research this, this franchise. So the brute sneaks in behind them and is like about to whack one of them with a big hammer. And the Spartan steps in and just catches the hammer mid swing. And I went, Oh, that was cool. And I was like, Oh, that was really awesome. And I was I hadn't realized until that point the size to
00:47:55
Speaker
difference between Spartan and the rest of the troops. I was like, oh, Spartans are gigantic. So that was, that was, that was quite amusing. So realizing that. And then I love a mute protagonist or just like someone who just doesn't speak. You don't see the face, but there is awesome. Like it's very like, but like the, the Mandalorian for a lot of it. There's lots of kind of characters like that where they, they don't, don't speak. They just kind of get it done. And I find that very fun. Very interesting.
00:48:20
Speaker
And that's what the character of the Spartan was like in this, that you had these whining troop and they were just getting the job. The Spartan was just getting the job done. Once the helmet came off and they did, you see it's a woman and she does speak. I did find the dialogue to be a bit meh, which is maybe why.
00:48:36
Speaker
as a character, they don't speak very much because they don't have, they're kind of annoying voice. They don't sound great. Or maybe they're hiding that they are a woman for respect reasons. I don't know if space six at sexism is a thing in the year 33,000, um, whenever a halo takes place. But yeah, it was again, I don't, I don't sound like I'm kind of picking up on this again, but it does feel like they put particular emphasis on the fact that it was a female Spartan that the helmet came off and the hair like whoosh.
00:49:03
Speaker
goes in the wind, it's like, oh my goodness, it's a girl. But it does seem like they did that, which I mean, this, this was made by a different studio and directed by a different person than the other one with Daisy. So you can't really say that it's like they're doing it too much because it's two different people. But it does feel like they've already done that trick once in this movie. So it doesn't hit as well the second time when it's a reveal that the Spartan that's been with them the whole time is a girl.
00:49:27
Speaker
But yeah, so the Spartan dies fighting the brute or something during a big battle. And the angry anime boy who's a sniper takes a shot from like, ridiculously far away and like nails the prophet or the prophet. There you go. You're getting the lingo. Nice. From very far away. We'll make a lore library to get out of here.
00:49:47
Speaker
more of a lower assistant librarian. My call of judiness was seeing him with the crosshairs on the profit and be like, oh no, he's too far away. You need to like move the crosshairs a little bit to the side to like think of like wind resistance, distance, so that kind of thing. I was like, there's no way like this is gonna
00:50:02
Speaker
the Coriolis effect. Exactly. Exactly. The old Coriolis effect. So I was I was I was a little bit like, oh, you need to adjust the scope a little bit to do that. But no, he nails him right in the face, absolutely wipes him out. And then the other covenant people start screaming, which was kind of funny. And then we kind of go back to the ship where they are. Our team is like all sullen because their Spartan friend died. And then someone comes over and was like, hey, those Spartans suck, right? And then they're like, shove off. Spartans are cool. And then that's how it ends.
00:50:29
Speaker
Was this not like an episode of Beyblade? Ah, if only. Ah, can we watch more Beyblade? Yeah, next week. Me too. Me too. Okay, that's us told. One against two, that's how democracy works. There's only one way to settle this. What, a fight to the death and the hero ring?
00:50:47
Speaker
I was going to say a Beyblade match. Oh well, that's even more fun. Beyblade match on the Halo ring. Would it not just keep going? You're what, I'm not even going to link it on this. It's going to take up the whole episode, my god. I think the Beyblade lore states that the Halo rings were created as a Beyblade arena originally. And yes, speaking of a grand finale, that will not be us playing Beyblade and Halo. Will we finally touch on the one, the only, the very baffling package?
The Package: A Disappointing Rescue Mission
00:51:15
Speaker
Let's finish the fight.
00:51:17
Speaker
the package where to even begin with this one in the package the master chief along with i want to say blue team but you know it's just a group of random Spartans with the most part they are trying to save Dr Halsey who is spoiler the package
00:51:32
Speaker
I'm not gonna lie, although I do like some of the action scenes, the dialogue is horrific in this one. This is one of the ones that, although it looks cool, it feels as if it's like someone's DeviantArt fanfiction, especially towards the ending with Dr. Halsey, who is a
00:51:51
Speaker
Well in the games she is a relatively older mature woman and this one she is a young blonde anime girl which was very surprising. I was like oh so where's Dr Halsey and then it's revealed oh this is Dr Halsey and you go oh are we doing this Japan okay.
00:52:07
Speaker
If not, but moving back to you guys, I need you all. Yeah. What did you think of the package? So most of what I have to say about the package is just like what the animation reminds me of. It looks like original Xbox cinematics. It looks like a fan made YouTube video, like like Red versus Blue. It looks like the movie Hoodwinked. Do you remember the movie Hoodwinked? Oh, that is a criticism on the app.
00:52:33
Speaker
yeah but like am i wrong though does it does or does it not like remind you of the movie hoodwinked it's a little hoodwinked yeah oh it's so just ugly like what are they thinking like i will say when the helmets are on it's not so bad when they did the human faces especially at the start like holsey was whatever at the end but the human face at the start looked
00:52:54
Speaker
awful like really really bad like I don't I don't know there was a certain time period where they were animating it this way and like it was you understood it was it was the best they could do with CG animation where it was but like why did you just not why didn't why don't you just like be like um it's not ready yet let's not make a feature movie or a short with this animation just yet let's wait until it's developed in a way where these don't look like fever dream monsters and
00:53:22
Speaker
Why have they done this? Why have they created this monster? It was absolutely baffling. What I will say about the actual story, it felt very Star Wars-y for a Halo story. The voice acting was like a Saturday morning cartoon. And going back to the Star Wars thing, it was very much a Perkins moment.
00:53:40
Speaker
where uh one of the characters is like flying in the spaceship like around in space as you do and it'll like individual pods and uh and he's like i'm breaking up no and he's like that explodes and i just i just went porkins no so that was that was the most fun i had in that chapter and then they do like a raid on the covenant ship they rescue that that halsey doctor who looks like samus from a much better space game called metroid
00:54:08
Speaker
And then they run away with the highest knees that you've ever seen. Their running is so awkward looking and incredibly inefficient when they're trying to escape an exploding spaceship to be running a Team Fortress 2 character. And then there's a moment where Halsey says, can't you do anything? And Master Chief or whoever it was just shrugs and that also made me laugh. And then the very last line,
00:54:34
Speaker
of the chapter and of the entire thing is something tells me this is just the beginning. I said out loud, I hope to God it isn't. I hope this is just the end and there's no more of this because it was just not a fun experience. But yeah, that's just what I thought of it. What about you, Adam? I'm surprised. I thought this would have been your favorite, Satsunami, because this is exactly how you play Halo, which is just charge your head, ignore the enemies, run for the plot.
00:55:03
Speaker
And what's wrong with that Adam? I was just a pure comp, just a simple comment there. No judgement.
00:55:13
Speaker
No, like, I thought this episode was okay. Again, I actually thought the action was quite decent in this one. This one to me felt the most realistic to the Halo games in that it was really focused on just intense action over like any kind of like deep storytelling, which I've always said is the Halo games aren't their best when they do that, when they lessen the kind of lore and the story and focus more on just, you know, on the shooting and the action. I'm surprised those space bikes have never shown up in a game. Or as far as I know, do you know if they've shown up?
00:55:42
Speaker
Not as far as I know, no. Because it feels like I think it would definitely show up at some point, but apparently not. I did get some, I got some major Doom movie vibes at one point in this when they had an FPS scene. I don't know if you've seen the Doom movie, which is very famous slash infamous for having a like a very weird first person action scene.
00:56:02
Speaker
And there's a little bit of that in this one. I got some vibes from that. Just to bring me full circle again to something I said when we were talking about Origins. I didn't like the person voicing the Master Chief in this one. I kind of wish Master Chief wasn't in this story because I'm very used to hearing a specific voice from Master Chief and I did not like this one.
00:56:22
Speaker
I don't know. I didn't mind this episode. I thought it was okay. I'd probably put it in the top half for me of the episodes of this collection. It's definitely not my favourite, but I like the action. I like that it focused a bit more on that, rather than the storytelling.
00:56:39
Speaker
you know there was no boys with anime haircuts so that was a thumbs up from me. They were all covered up with helmets. Exactly, so I didn't know. Just one thing I want to touch on before we wrap up, just something you said Green Shield where they said, this is just the beginning. Like can you imagine being in any other type of war, you know like 1916 in the middle of World War I and being like this is just the beginning and it's like well no you're halfway through the war.
00:57:04
Speaker
Well, I have to say, I don't think they knew in 1969. Well, of course. I know, but you know what I mean. I mean, in hindsight, that's a fictional word. Yes, the Hyrule War, not the First World War. For you to say. I love the lore of the First World War.
00:57:19
Speaker
Oh, the lore's great, you know. That time Master Chief dropped in, yeah. Anyway, sorry, my fanfiction aside. Is this episode coming out of Remembrance Day? Oh, of course it is. You know it. That's why we're recording it ahead of time so I can give it to Adam so he can censor it as appropriate.
00:57:35
Speaker
Yeah, you've got a whole daily counter of like black markers and things like that. So kind of as a summary, I did think this episode was good with the action, but yeah, not good with the plot, which basically is just like any other Halo game really.
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah, just before we wrap up, Green Shield has started with you first. Out of 10, how would you rate Halo Legends and would you recommend it to anyone?
Final Thoughts: Recommendations for Halo Fans
00:58:01
Speaker
I'll deal with a second point first. No, I would not recommend this to anyone. It was a waste of time. Maybe if you separate the episodes and don't watch it as two hours, if you just pick and choose your favourites, it's not as bad. But overall, 3 out of 10.
00:58:20
Speaker
and Adam. I'd give it six teddy bear charms out of ten. I would recommend it to an extent. Like, I would recommend it to fans of the games with the caveat that I would say skip origins because it's so dull. But watch the others because you might find some in here that you enjoy. I don't think it's essential watching by any any sort of imagination. I do feel like I could have still been quite happily a Halo fan and not seen this. But you know, if you're looking for some more Halo content,
00:58:46
Speaker
There's probably worse things out there. There's definitely better things out there, but there's probably worse. So I'd say check out some of it. Just skip Origins and then check out the other six and you might find one that you like. As much as we've criticized Origins, I will say I did learn something of the Halo history from it. I don't necessarily think it was good, what I learned, but I can now say I understand the Halo story a little bit better.
00:59:10
Speaker
so that has that going for it whereas a lot of the other stories I kind of just felt like they just happened there wasn't really anything to them like I was still bored watching origins but I did feel like I took in what was going on like I can now I can now give like a very quick kind of synopsis of the history of Halo where to where like where the games are at okay cool
00:59:32
Speaker
Do what you count. I feel you can learn this history though from the games and it's much better. That's my counterpoint I would raise. Well, the thing is Adam, I don't want to play the games. Well, that's your failing, not mine. I can't help you. Once you play all the Zelda games, Adam, I'll play the Halo ones. We'll tell you what, we'll do an exchange. A cultural exchange. I'll play Zelda, you play Halo and we'll come up through that. Like a hostage exchange.
00:59:58
Speaker
My god, this is the most amicable hostage exchange I've ever had. I want a pizza and a helicopter. And a copy of a copy of Time. A mint edition copy of Majora's Mask. Kind of echoing Adam's point there, I would probably agree with you there. I would give it more of a six or see if I'm being really generous, like a 6.5. Like, I think for the time, although then again, that's like saying bottle of water is great in a desert because there wasn't as much yellow.
01:00:27
Speaker
it content out there when this came out. I would definitely say this was a 6 or a 6.5 out of push. What are your IGN-esque reviews here? Throw a pair and give it a proper review. Too much water. Stop trying to be edgy and just lowering your grade to be cool. Just be honest and give it the 6 it deserves.
01:00:46
Speaker
I'm struggling to give it a 7 because I do agree with you Adam, I do think that if you're a Halo fan, you're not guaranteed to enjoy this particular entry, but at the same time I do think it's kind of cool in a way that it expands in some of the lore. What I do like about it is its difference.
01:01:05
Speaker
a bit like Star Wars Visions, which I'm sure we'll probably cover in a future episode. It is inevitable, but I liked the fact that they were trying different things, and not all of them landed like absolutely. Like some of them were just terrible, and some of them were, you know, blinding the Jew.
01:01:25
Speaker
I don't know. I like the fact they were trying to put their own spin on it. I will say this, a lot of them did feel kind of samey. In terms of the Spartans, I felt as if homecoming and by extension the package were the only ones that gave the Spartans like distinctive designs and things. I wanted to see a bit more of that. That's fair.
01:01:44
Speaker
What I didn't really like was the babysitter at Odd One Out where they just looked like Master Chief, and I know technically that was a plot point in Odd One Out, but it just kind of felt like, oh right, we've got another Master Chief, but they're not Master Chief, they're Master Chief 2.0 or someone else and you thought, you know, if you're gonna be wacky, just go all out. Because I mean it was Odd One Out, although obviously lore-wise it's not the best, at least it kind of went
01:02:09
Speaker
they are so yeah I think it's a good supplemental it's not necessary viewing as you said Adam but it's a fun enough entry but yeah I would agree like origins is like being in an actual history class I would say
01:02:25
Speaker
What I will say in defense of Odd One Out is, yes, it definitely like he looks like Master Chief, but I think he kind of needed to because otherwise there's very little that holds this to a Halo story. You wouldn't really be able to tell that it was a Halo story if it was, if they didn't have a Master Chief-esque stand-in to collaborate the Toei style and the Halo franchise.
01:02:52
Speaker
I'll agree that in Babysitter that the Spartan character does kind of seems like a mute Master Chief stand-in there. But again, it's funny you think about the two I actually liked. No, it's not like a damn indictment to say these are terrible. I know it's not a personal attack on me. I know you wouldn't do that to me, Satsunami.
01:03:17
Speaker
No, but I thought that both those stories were more engaging than the others. I found the others to be boring. Whereas I didn't find those two to be boring. I think that was the distinctive factor. And three maybe a bit, a three out of 10 may be a little bit harsh, but I don't think I would put it above a five out of 10. Over five, I would say I enjoyed, I would like, I enjoyed it mostly, but I didn't enjoy it mostly. So I don't think it deserves anything higher than a five out of 10.
01:03:44
Speaker
So I think, I think, I think a four is probably the highest I will give it. Do I hear a five? I will not grace it with a five. I'm giving it a bump because it's got the original music in it and that music is glorious. So it gets a point for that for me. I don't know if it was an original score. There was no original score. It's not as it's just from the game. The music is perfect.
01:04:08
Speaker
The music is lovely, but everyone knows the halo music is lovely. I'd be more angry if they replace the music than I'm angry at the voice actors, but I'd be more angry if they had different music. I don't know. It feels like it does what a lot of properties do now, where they cash in on former IP success, that they'll use cheap tactics of like, hey, do you remember this? Not to reference South Park, but they essentially member berries things in to convince you you actually like something.
01:04:37
Speaker
Throwing in the Halo music doesn't make it any better because they're using something that was used in something that's good because it's cheap. I would give them points for the music if they used something original to this story. Using just the Halo orchestra is cheap.
01:04:56
Speaker
I enjoyed hearing it. I was like, Oh, this is nice to hear. I wouldn't be like, Oh, well done for doing that. Like, I would say like, like a movie that guides the galaxy. Like I would say well done to the soundtrack because they picked a bunch of songs not related to the, to the franchise already that sort of come together and make, make a lovely soundtrack. But if they'd used something that was in Iron Man.
01:05:17
Speaker
again, then I'd be like, Oh, that's cheap. You're referencing another movie that people liked the music that they liked from that. I don't agree that it deserves points for its music. Because I think I think it's a cheap. So what you're saying is don't use this perfect cake that we have here, use these leftover ingredients to make something subpar. I'm sorry, I don't agree. I respect your opinion. But I don't agree.
01:05:55
Speaker
I give all my money. Pour the cold water, it immediately freezes on them. We don't know, we have carolers here. They went extinct after they watched Halo Legends. And on that depressing note, yeah, thank you all so so much for listening to this episode of Chat Tsunani and thank you Green Shield and Adam for enduring and watching Halo Legends. My pleasure. It wasn't my pleasure. And on that note, stay safe, stay awesome and most importantly, stay hydrated.
01:06:03
Speaker
The music is perfect and should be used in any Halo product.