Sierra 117 - Arrival

(Want to make your own custom minifigs? Don't forget to visit my decal shop, where you can buy the stickers I use to make mine!)

It's been quite a while since I posted my last Halo LEGO update. I wish I could say I've finished a new vehicle like the Brute Chopper or Hornet, but alas, all I have for you this Halloween (10/30/2008) is this vignette of the opening scene from Halo 3: "Sierra 117 - Arrival"...

"This ain't good."
"Damn. How far'd he fall?"
"Two kilometers, easy."
Sergeant Major Johnson: "Stay sharp!"

Wash: "His armor's locked up. Gel layer could have taken most of the impact... I don't know, Sergeant Major."

Johnson: "Radio for VTOL, heavy lift gear. We're not leavin' him here."

Master Chief: "Yeah. You're not."
Johnson: *cough* "Crazy fool! Why do you always jump? One of these days, you're gonna land on somethin' a stubborn as you are! And I don't do bits and pieces."

Johnson: "Where is she, Chief? Where's Cortana?"
Chief: "She stayed behind."

Johnson: "Chief, wait! The Arbiter's with us!"

Johnson: "C'mon now... I've got enough to worry about without you two tryin' to kill each other."
Arbiter: "Hmph. Were it so easy."

Arbiter: "We must go. The Brutes have our scent."
Johnson: "They must love the smell of a real man!"

(Sometimes Johnson says "testosterone" or "bad ass" instead of "real man" here. He says "hero" if you're playing on Heroic. What's that? You heard him say "green"? I guess you really are then.)

Johnson: "First squad, you're my scouts. Move out! Quiet as you can."

Johnson: "And as for you... just try not to wreck my planet!"

(this line also changes if you're not playing with 3 or more players)

When playing the Halo 3 Campaign in 4-player co-op, player one is the Master Chief, player two the Arbiter, player three a blue Elite in Combat Armor named Ntho 'Sraom, and player four a maroon Elite in Assault Armor named Usze 'Taham. Thankfully Bungie never made anyone in the game try to say these ridiculous Elite names out loud.

Yes, I made some modifications to the Elite leg design. Basically, I simplified it so that it would no longer require cutting up rods in order to make new Elites. I don't really think the "megaphone" legs look quite as good (and they also make the Elites a little too tall), but they're easier to duplicate and build. So they'll do for now.

Old Half-Jaw also makes an appearance in Halo 3 as the rebel Elite "Ship Master." This rank is the only name used for him since, as I said, Bungie made the wise decision not to actually use any "real" Elite names. Unfortunately, Shipmaster never leaves his ship through the entire course of the game.

A shot of the new Elite back decals.

You know, as cool as this new "Halo: Recon" game sounds, I for one would like to see some new alien worlds instead of just earth. Hey, Bungie! How about a new game where you play as the Elites returning to their homeworld? They could find it overrun with Brutes or Flood or something and have to take it back. Player 1 could be the Arbiter, Player 2 could be Half-Jaw, and Players 3 and 4 could be the same Elite guys from the Halo 3 campaign. We could finally get an inside look at Elite society and culture. That'd be awesome! And if you really want to have humans in the game, you could make a human ship arrive to help their Elite allies take back their homeworld. Some new Elite armor permutations would be nice too (preferably with the mandibles showing). Just a thought.

As you can see, I rather like the Elites.

To answer your nagging questions:

1: The Chief's new helmet and chest armor are from an awesome website called BrickForge: http://www.brickforge.com. If you decide to place an order there, be sure to let 'em know Saber-Scorpion sent ya!

2: Yes, the details on the armor as well as on the arms and legs are my own custom decals, as usual. Please check out my online shop! http://www.saber-scorpion.com/shop

3: The human assault rifles and pistols here are from another awesome site called BrickArms: http://www.brickarms.com. If you decide to place an order there, be sure to tell him Saber-Scorpion sent ya!

The Dynamic Duo: Arby and the Chief.

Some people have commented that the Arbiter's armor is gold in Halo 3. As awesome as that would be (though hard to replicate since LEGO has few gold pieces), his armor actually only looks gold when the light strikes it a certain way (when backlit outdoors). When he's standing in most normal lighting, the Arbiter's armor looks bluish-grey as usual. I tried to do a little combination effect on my LEGO version using a yellow-to-grey gradient. Hope you like it.

UPDATE (11/21/2008): People are still arguing with me about the gold armor thing, apparently because McFarlane Toys mistakenly made their Halo 3 Arbiter action figure have gold armor. Yes, I say mistakenly. Action figure companies can make mistakes too. They probably only had certain screenshots to go by, and so they got it wrong. I'm going by the game itself, not an action figure. Proof:

- Here is an official Bungie screenshot showing the Arbiter looking gold. Notice the odd angle, and the light source behind opposite the viewer? This is the only way you can replicate this coloration. Here is a shot I took with this type of lighting.
- Now, here, here, and here are some additional screenshots I took (still on Sierra 117, and outdoors I might add - it looks even greyer indoors) of the Arbiter looking normal. As you can see, his armor is grey. Sorry to disappoint.

(Want to make your own custom minifigs? Don't forget to visit my decal shop, where you can buy the stickers I use to make mine!)