"Into the Belly of the Beast" LEGO Halo Vignette

(Posted February 2008)

“Into the Belly of the Beast” from Level 3: Truth and Reconciliation of the original Halo: Combat Evolved. The Master Chief watches as the Marines around him ascend via the gravity lift into the Covenant carrier. Meanwhile, in the ship high above, a Covenant Elite orders his Grunts into their ambush positions. Of course, this entire scene was shrunken slightly to fit the vignette size.

The clear supports are actually pretty sturdy. They wobble, but they don't break very easily. No stud overhang. However, the central hole isn't quite as big as the platform below. You can either chalk this up to "forced perspective"; or the fact that I wanted to make some of the blue beam things hanging from the top as well.

View from above. I never noticed that one of the lights around the ring had fallen off until after the photos were taken. Bah!

This was the most humiliating moment in the Marine's career, as he ascended upside-down toward the enemy ship. Luckily or unluckily, the Chief was playing on Legendary, so he didn't last long afterward anyway.

Closeup of the Covenant on top. Note the holographic Covenant computers, accurate to the game.

Closeup of the Marines and the Chief. As you can see, the Master Chief fig is completely new and based on the Halo: Combat Evolved suit, the Mark V. I still prefer it, personally. It's sleek!

"No Covenant? Looks like nobody's home."
"No Covenant! You just HAD to open your mouth!"

UPDATE: This vignette successfully won first place in the BrickArms Halo Vignette Contest. My prize was a package containing the newest BrickArms weapons, the BA-M5 and BA-M6 (inspired by Halo weapons, obviously), and another new gun as well... Here are some shots of the figs holding them:

The bonus weapon I received is the HK MP7, in the hands of Sgt. Johnson on the far left. It makes a nice stand-in for the Halo SMG, if you get rid of the suppressor. Of course, it makes an even better stand-in for the Half-Life 2 SMG, since the Half-Life 2 weapon was actually based on the MP7.

And finally, here's my "special edition" renovated Mark V Master Chief from Halo: Combat Evolved. I love the way the decals turned out (especially the feet), but I'm still not 100% satisfied. I may do more revisions later, including returning him to his normal size so that his proportions are more correct and the assault rifle doesn't look so tiny in his hands...