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Halo 2: The Arbiter vs. Tartarus
Minifigs below made using custom decals. Don't forget to visit my shop, where you can buy decals, instructions, and custom accessories! And you can find instructions for the aliens on this page!
First posted August 27, 2007.
To wrap up my Halo 2 series as I move into Halo 3, I present to you now: the Final Battle of Halo 2... Tartarus vs. The Arbiter! Also known as: some cool new figs on a crappy diorama. But hey, at least there IS a diorama!
Could this diorama be any crappier? Not very easiily!
I've heard of many different ways to win this battle... some of which involve exploiting the game to get either a Banshee into the room, or to get Half-Jaw the invincible Elite to do the whole fight for you. I haven't been able to get either of those cheat methods to work yet, myself. As a matter of fact, Ryan and I still haven't actually beaten this fight on Legendary difficulty. It's hard.
Usually we just let Sgt. Johnson snipe Tartarus until his shields are down, then we hose the Brute with two Brute Plasma Rifles each. Eventually we get frustrated and jump to another platform to annoy one of our two invincible but not-too-helpful allies, Sgt. Johnson and Miranda Keyes. Apparently a lot of other players use these two damage sponges to vent their frustration as well. How else would Halopedia have such detailed but completely pointless information about which types of attacks will cause Miranda Keyes to bleed? Wiki's, am I right?
In the final battle scene, Tartarus has an Elite skull, a trophy from the new Covenant Civil War, attached to his large bronze-looking shoulder pauldron.
Halo 2 actually picked up some recognizable voice actors. Tartarus is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, a veteran of the industry who was also the main villain in one of my favorite PC RPG's, Baldur's Gate. The Arbiter is voiced by Keith David, who has many credits to his name as well, including Goliath, protagonist of the awesome cartoon "Gargoyles."
"How do I stop it?!"
"Well, it will take some time to go over the proper procedures..."
(unnaturally long pause in dialogue)
"Quit stalling!"
Miranda Keyes' voice always grates on my nerves. Her voice actress is actually
more of a television actress, so that might explain why she's not as
good at pure voice work.
"Johnson, I'm on it!"
"Negative, ma'am, not until that Brute is dead!"
Yes, I like to make all LEGO minifigs yellow, in the classic fashion, but I did make a brown Sgt. Johnson as well. Here is a terrible photo of him.
Apparently Johnson was supposed to use a Beam Rifle in this fight, not a sniper rifle? Eh, details.
And here's Keyes again. Personally I found her to be one of the most annoying characters in the game.
You know, the Arbiter has one of the most uncomfortable-looking helmets
ever created by man or alien. After inspecting it very closely in the
game in order to make this minifig, I observed that it has the following
features: a big hook-like beak on the front that covers up the front of
his mouth, going BETWEEN his mandibles... a pair of sharp hooks on
either side that go between the SIDES of his mandibles... and finally,
two more small hooks that go under the bottom of his head and
practically force their way down his throat! Perhaps all of this is
meant to be painful to the Elite as punishment for his previous
transgressions. The only question that leaves is just how the Arbiter
was so easily able to don this torture device in the cutscene where he
first puts on his helmet.
"What do you want your Arbiter to... OW, this helmet hurts like hell!"
My original Arbiter minifig (still built because I have a fondness for it) next to his much larger brick-built counterpart. I can't decide which one I like best. I guess if I could find a way to get the clay-made head onto the brick-built body that would result in the best combination, but I hate working with clay.
And my personal favorite of the new minifigs shown here: Tartarus, Chieftain of the Brutes! I don't like the Brutes that much, but I gotta admit, Tartarus was pretty cool. In fact, I wish they'd kept him alive as a villain in Halo 3. The minifig was fun to make, although I went through many designs for his hammer (the Fist of Rukt, according to Halopedia) before settling on this one, which I'm still not quite satisfied with.
Finally, here's Tartarus next to one of his Brutish goons. Note the height difference (Tartarus's head is three plates tall instead of two), and also the different hands. I used my original Nova Refuge Slashrim Lizardmen hands for him so that his wrists could rotate in order to hold a two-handed weapon. Oh, and finally, Tartarus also has his original shoulder shield in this picture, without the Elite skull attached.
Well that's it for Halo 2! Next time, it's on to Halo 3!
Minifigs below made using custom decals. Don't forget to visit my shop, where you can buy decals, instructions, and custom accessories! And you can find instructions for the aliens on this page!
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which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this website.
