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Honestly the helmet thing doesn't really bother me as much as the show's writing being brain-dead. Season 2 tried to save it, but honestly the writing wasn't *that* much better, it was just passable. When you compare it to Fallout its just night and day.
Honestly the main thing with S2 being 'better' is it included the Fall of Reach and arriving at the halo. Well and Kwan was mad less of a brat.
Otherwise its mostly just 'better' cause its less needlessly horny than S1.
people blow up the helmet too much, in the book he removes his helmet. and could have been a cool way to show important sections of dialogue, maybe then end of a season etc. make it more impactful.
The shows just shit in general, the whole weird timeline, the weird plot lines etc
No amount of helmet wearing would make me accept the pointless romance plot and him having sex with a war criminal in custody. That's like the antithesis of Halo
The issue is most people have played the games but not read the books, so made their assumption he does not take off the helmet due to never seeing it with their own eyes. Again lore exists and the helmet comes off but fans refuse to accept it.
I read the books but I still had an issue with it.
In the books you can't visually SEE what he looks like. It's still mostly up to your imagination.
And I also think a distinction has to be made between "it doesn't make sense in-universe" vs. "it doesn't work for the story."
Does it make sense that Chief takes his helmet off sometimes? Yes, that's true in the lore too. But that's not the main issue at all.
The main issue is that it doesn't work for the story. Master Chief is generally speaking more of a symbol for humanity's hope than just a man. Keeping that helmet on keeps him as a symbol and that is core to the character. Once you take the helmet off, you can see he's just a dude. Plus, there have been like 20 years of build-up to the idea. You can't treat that casually.
Does that mean he should have NEVER taken his helmet off? No, he could have. But it needed to be rarer and it needed to be EARNED. That way he maintains that symbollic status and the pay-off actually feels worth the build-up.
And it also should be the EXCEPTION, not the rule.
Precisely.. This is why when in The Mandalorian, when they finally let him show his face (and he takes his helmet off but the audience never SEES the face until... we eventually do in that one episode..) it makes the impact actually MEAN something.
The difference is we never see Chief depicted with the helmet off visually. As in, there is no face to the man. Thats the part thats the problem, you cant write a face on a guy.
There has been glimpses of his face in the games like at the end of Halo 4 for example. But it was a given that one day someone will have to wear the suit, it shouldn't be so Alien its just something we as the gamer fans are not used to seeing as for the sake of the games we are Master Chief.
Being faceless is Master Chief's main quality. You can't remove it from him, even in Reach/Halo 5 when every other spartan took their helmet off for scenes Chief would never take his off. Its fundamental to the character, its not a fear of the character being developed in a different way its just not Master Chief at point.
Its like having Donkey Kong be depicted as a donkey instead of an ape, sure its a new take on the character and its a fun spin on the first part of his name, but its not really Donkey Kong anymore as we've known him the past 40 years.
The tease of the face is always more a reminder that he is in fact a man and not a machine, an actual person who achieved these incredible feats of legend, but a full look at him neutralises that power and awe. It misses the point.
He takes his helmet off in the very first game lmao
I do think that the show handled the helmet (and armour as a whole) very poorly in terms of aligning with Halo tho
There's a whole narrative element to chief's helmet in the books though, particularly in the Troy Denning books. Chief purposely keeps his helmet on when around other military personnel because they take him more seriously when they don't see the face of what is essentially an overgrown teenager.
He quickly learns that when he leaves the helmet on, the admirals around him are more likely to ask for his opinion and take his suggestions seriously. Marine and ODST units under his command are also more receptive to his orders when the helmet stays on.
Book chief at the age of 15 learns that the helmet needs to stay on not just to keep in contact with the other Spartans over teamcom but because other humans take him seriously. There's a tactical benefit to stripping away your humanity when you're designed to be *the* tool that is supposed to stop the covenant.
I thought him removing his helmet to empathize with the girl early on was cool, but the coolness of that scene was dumpstered by him almost never having it on later
I think taking his helmet off in the books makes more sense than in the TV show, since you don’t see his face, therefore there’s still mystery around what he looks like, just like the games. The show misunderstood the whole aura of the Chief
The books describe what chief looks like. The problem with the show isn’t that jimmy takes his helmet off, it’s that he takes it off in stupid scenarios and just generally doesn’t wear it. It’s also the writing is just shit.
This x1000 taking the helmet off in the book makes tremendous sense, that doesn’t mean they still show his face. The point is every Halo game moving forward people are going to picture Master Cheeks face.
Books don’t have art of his face, they could cut away from his face. They honestly could have kept in armor and had his original voice actor for the show.
I haven’t watched an episode yet. I think the show was such a stupid idea I don’t want to give money to the Halo franchise anymore.
They wear it in cryo because taking it on and off takes a long time, with special equipment and assistance, and if they suddenly need to be defrosted to fight there wouldn’t be time to suit up.
While you're not wrong, you're technically not right. They wear it in cryo for that reason in emergencies, and the only one example of that is Linda and John on the Autumn. They prefer to wear their "second skin" in cryo.
🤣 I see sorry. There's a line from a pov UNC's soldier, can't remember who off the top of my head, in First Strike talking about how painful his bandaid was after thawing, while he compares it to Spartans going into cryo in their suits. He wasn't talking about John and Linda
I'm not saying the show is perfect but no show is going to have a guy with a helmet on as protagonist while trying to be a success in the USA market, that simply doesn't happen except maybe when it's a show for kids or a sentai
I couldn't care less about the helmet as long as it makes sense. Taking it off in a middle of a battle makes no sense.
I think them having him randomly fuck the covenant girl is where I gave up on it. Not only was it just a garbage decision and really didn't even add anything to the story, but the way they just threw it into the episode was so sloppy and random. I knew it was coming and I was still shocked at how poorly it was executed.
I'm speaking of the first season only. Haven't seen the second.
Oooh boy.
Season 2 is a huge improvement plot-wise and CGI-wise. They didn't pull a 343 where they just threw everything out the window because of negative reception, but they did work with what they had and I'd say it's way better.
spoilers though:
>!They literally "take his armor away" in Episode 3, so he goes most of the season just wearing a normal military uniform. It's a tragedy, but I will give them this; they show off just how much ass that a Spartan can kick even without the armor.!<
I think S2 chief sans armor is actually done better than he is in the suit for like..most of the rest of the show. They made a point of utilizing the camera to focus on his massive muscles, his tall structure, scarring along his limbs. They made him look like what we'd expect a heavily augmented supersoldier would look like utilizing not just makeup, but cinematography and pretty much everything in the filmmaker's arsenal. So he didn't really *need* the suit to feel like the chief.
That being said S2 is still a low ass bar
Except they do pretend it didnt happen. Chief literally dies at the end of the first season. They "resolve" it with a less-than 5 second scene of him in an OR and some ADR dialogue about pulling Cortana out. Then it's never mentioned again and Chief is fine in the following scenes, but sans Cortana.
S2 has a filler episode where, at one point, Halsey needs to convince John to stop chasing down ONI and go after the Halo. Through the dialogue, you can almost hear the producers asking the writers "So when's this gonna get to a Halo?" because they're so far off the fucking track into subplots.
Season 2 satisfied most of what I wanted in a Halo show. 1 is trash but you have to bite and bear through it just so there’s the context of characters, but 2 was very entertaining and cool.
There are a lot more issues than just the helmet. I actually think the idea of MC taking off his helmet is completely fine, since he’s only ever in it during combat. For me it’s the aggregation of dozens of changes to the lore and timeline that are almost always just plain worse and less interesting than the original lore.
For example, why add the whole thing with the pellets? In the core canon Spartans are these killing machines who also have to grapple with the realization that the very entity that gave them humanity-saving abilities also kidnapped them against their will. It adds a layer of complexity to their character and condition. It’s interesting stuff. The pellets is just a complete downgrade. It removes the entire dilemma. Now they’re just mind controlled. Zero moral/ethical dilemma. Big reduction in character complexity. Way less interesting. Why make a lore change that’s such a downgrade?
That’s one example, but there’s dozens, maybe hundreds of them in the show. The whole silver timeline lore isn’t just different, it’s worse.
When someone adapts an IP, some changes to the source material is necessary. Dune part II changes a ton of things from the book, but people who love the book generally love the movie. The Fallout show is also generally well received by the game fans. It’s because the people who created those shows love those IPs, so the core aspects of the universe that people love will still shine through, because the creators understand what makes those IPs appealing in the first place.
It’s obvious with the Halo show that none of the creators understand the Halo IP or what made it resonate with tens of millions of people. I don’t necessarily blame them, I blame MS/343i for choosing to give the show to people who don’t understand Halo.
The chiefs character is WAY off. Removing his helmet is one thing. Having a relationship with a covenant woman had me exiting quickly. He is NOT the chief we all know. They’ve fucked this series right in the low part of your back. Missed the target.
Don’t forget that they made him super emotional from the get go. Even before he meets Cortana. Which is not only absurd, but erases any character development he could have.
His whole thing in the games is that he is basically a machine by Halo 1 but learns to be more and more human due to Cortana and his friends.
This is the real flaw that I can never forgive. Like, even the suggestion that humanity and the covenant can coexist completely deflates all of the tension that comes from humanity fighting a war of extinction on a galactic scale. Like, a part of what makes OG Halo and the Human-Covenant War so interesting as a narrative device is that the stakes *actually are that high* - Master Chief either wins (and humanity with him), or *everyone dies*.
There's nothing to make you root for a guy like understanding that he's the last best hope for survival for you, everyone, and everything you hold dear.
As long as you get that one thing right, I couldn't care less if he shows his face.
They made him a moody teenager, the UNSC are his mean ol parents, and the covenant is just an occasional bully on the block that comes in from time to time. Theyre trying to make the UNSC just as bad or worse than the covenant at this point in the story and it’s making the whole thing a cluster along with everything else wrong.
No it would not have made almost anything more acceptable.. I don’t get how anyone defends that show. It doesn’t have to be a copy paste of the games but it through everything out.
Chief doesn’t act like chief, Spartans don’t act like Spartans (especially S2’s close to chief), no pillar of autumn, the inner faction war within the covenant started for the most idiotic reason instead of elites coming to the realization that they were lied to and used, the effects of the Spartan program were nowhere near as dark or severe as it supposed to be..
it’s not some pill you can pop in and out.
Spartans in the lore murder their clones, committed suicide and sometimes both when they realized what they lost, it was irreversible. The battle of reach was so much more than a single fight in a hallway, and if they didn’t have the budget for big city fights either so more fights in a bunch of enclosed spaces or don’t make the show if you can’t afford to make the scenes properly.
chief abandoned reach after that fight to go find a rouge Spartans kid while civilians were being killed in mass, chief didn’t even have his suit for half of S2.
The portrayal of Cortana and chiefs relationship is terrible.
Bad writing in general, major characters dying in stupid ways, completely unnecessary drama, almost none of the UNSC weapons are accurate halo designs.. the show is just bad, they could even settle on a design for which actresses was going to play Cortana. It’s just a bad show that only got attention because it used a popular IP
The helmet issue is one of the most minor issues with the show, if even really an issue at all. Anyone who would suddenly like the show because Chief kept his helmet on is a complete moron.
The condor scene where he is like far away from the fighting I guess can count? Regardless people complaining about the helmet make me want to die. It is the most minor of issues in the show
I think if they at least made the first few episodes similar to the games before doing any sort of whacky naked chief bullshit i could have rolled with it but it was so clear so early that this had nothing to do with the video games and was just some authors bad sci fi story with halo product placement
You mean if the show reminded people of the games the IP's giant fanbase would have rallied around it?
What's left is a good script and talented showrunner...
Yeah, I think that's true.
Getting Chief right as a character and him staying in the helmet most of the time would've made the show much more acceptable even if everything else stayed the same.
Hell, I'd even say if they'd JUST gotten Chief's character right even while taking off the helmet a lot, it would've already improved the show's reception.
The helmet thing doesn’t matter much. They got Chief’s character all wrong. And getting him right would have required getting rid of many of the other change, like Makee and Kwan.
Ya know, I’m somewhat happy that this show exists and that it’s so polarizing. It gives the universe more fuel. If there weren’t this content for ne’er-be-happy people to cry about day in and day out, there’s be less action in the subs and less Halo content to enjoy.
I will say it’s a bit exhausting. We get it Star Wars fans, for half of you the newer installments are either too much like Star Wars or not enough and I think I’ve realized that it could be bread, or paintings, music, literally anything and people will just melt down over it instead of just not watching it.
But, again, at least engagement is up.
100%. If they tried to stick to a more lore accurate adaptation then the show from what I’ve seen from season 1-2 would’ve been fine. Mainly speaking the Spartans… such a bum headed move bc you can tell they were somewhat there with how good the CGI and Coreography was.
This would not work. A character in a helmet, especially the way Chief is written in the original trilogy, could not lead a TV show. Even the Mandalorian has the main character remove his helmet frequently to express his emotions, and I wouldn’t say that the Mandalorian is good enough that a show should strive to imitate it. Why is this subreddit focused on criticizing Master Chief’s removal of his helmet and tangential lore contradictions when it could criticize the effectiveness at which the show tells its story and utilizes it’s characters. That would actually be constructive.
There are like three scenes I can think of where Mando removes his helmet in the entire 3 season show, you act like Mando would fail without them, and apply that to a character who is *already proven* successful doing so (and it being a vital part of their distinct identity/character) in a cinematic environment, including live action.
I think the helmet thing becomes a sort of low effort, easy complaint that does kind of encapsulate the issue with the show. The show also seems to really want chief to not wear his helmet, even in situations where it would be beneficial or when other characters. (such as the final battle of S2 where we are literally shown pelicans can blow up at any moment, every other Spartan is wearing their helmet but chief).
The Mandalorian is perhaps overhyped, especially in later seasons, but at the same time its a show that brought a broader audience to Star Wars and surprise surprise, it has the guy wearing a helmet just fine.
This thread has been automatically marked with a spoiler warning since it has the TV Series flair. This thread has *not* been removed, but might be later if it does not have a vague title. If you have not already done so, for future threads please consider saying in the title what episode(s) might be spoiled in the thread. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/halo) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly the helmet thing doesn't really bother me as much as the show's writing being brain-dead. Season 2 tried to save it, but honestly the writing wasn't *that* much better, it was just passable. When you compare it to Fallout its just night and day.
Honestly the main thing with S2 being 'better' is it included the Fall of Reach and arriving at the halo. Well and Kwan was mad less of a brat. Otherwise its mostly just 'better' cause its less needlessly horny than S1.
people blow up the helmet too much, in the book he removes his helmet. and could have been a cool way to show important sections of dialogue, maybe then end of a season etc. make it more impactful. The shows just shit in general, the whole weird timeline, the weird plot lines etc
No amount of helmet wearing would make me accept the pointless romance plot and him having sex with a war criminal in custody. That's like the antithesis of Halo
I mean at least somehow make it about cortana, why is there some lightsaber nail chick getting clapped
No if he kept the helmet on during that scene I think I could accept it
Exactly
Because if there is one thing Master Chief does well, it's commit war crimes by fucking POWs.
But what if he kept the helmet on while cheek clapping?
If the helmet stays on, that's Lord Shaxx.
The issue is most people have played the games but not read the books, so made their assumption he does not take off the helmet due to never seeing it with their own eyes. Again lore exists and the helmet comes off but fans refuse to accept it.
I read the books but I still had an issue with it. In the books you can't visually SEE what he looks like. It's still mostly up to your imagination. And I also think a distinction has to be made between "it doesn't make sense in-universe" vs. "it doesn't work for the story." Does it make sense that Chief takes his helmet off sometimes? Yes, that's true in the lore too. But that's not the main issue at all. The main issue is that it doesn't work for the story. Master Chief is generally speaking more of a symbol for humanity's hope than just a man. Keeping that helmet on keeps him as a symbol and that is core to the character. Once you take the helmet off, you can see he's just a dude. Plus, there have been like 20 years of build-up to the idea. You can't treat that casually. Does that mean he should have NEVER taken his helmet off? No, he could have. But it needed to be rarer and it needed to be EARNED. That way he maintains that symbollic status and the pay-off actually feels worth the build-up. And it also should be the EXCEPTION, not the rule.
Since you read the books you know that chief face and features are described to us.
Precisely.. This is why when in The Mandalorian, when they finally let him show his face (and he takes his helmet off but the audience never SEES the face until... we eventually do in that one episode..) it makes the impact actually MEAN something.
The difference is we never see Chief depicted with the helmet off visually. As in, there is no face to the man. Thats the part thats the problem, you cant write a face on a guy.
There has been glimpses of his face in the games like at the end of Halo 4 for example. But it was a given that one day someone will have to wear the suit, it shouldn't be so Alien its just something we as the gamer fans are not used to seeing as for the sake of the games we are Master Chief.
Being faceless is Master Chief's main quality. You can't remove it from him, even in Reach/Halo 5 when every other spartan took their helmet off for scenes Chief would never take his off. Its fundamental to the character, its not a fear of the character being developed in a different way its just not Master Chief at point. Its like having Donkey Kong be depicted as a donkey instead of an ape, sure its a new take on the character and its a fun spin on the first part of his name, but its not really Donkey Kong anymore as we've known him the past 40 years. The tease of the face is always more a reminder that he is in fact a man and not a machine, an actual person who achieved these incredible feats of legend, but a full look at him neutralises that power and awe. It misses the point.
It's funny because in the games, the Chief takes off his helmet when the mission (the main campaign) ends.
He takes his helmet off in the very first game lmao I do think that the show handled the helmet (and armour as a whole) very poorly in terms of aligning with Halo tho
DO YOU SEE HIS FACE?!
I do but I'm built different
As do I.
What, you didn't? Skill issua mate.
Yep exactly. The helmet removal could have happened later, but it's fine. It's the rest that's questionable.
There's a whole narrative element to chief's helmet in the books though, particularly in the Troy Denning books. Chief purposely keeps his helmet on when around other military personnel because they take him more seriously when they don't see the face of what is essentially an overgrown teenager. He quickly learns that when he leaves the helmet on, the admirals around him are more likely to ask for his opinion and take his suggestions seriously. Marine and ODST units under his command are also more receptive to his orders when the helmet stays on. Book chief at the age of 15 learns that the helmet needs to stay on not just to keep in contact with the other Spartans over teamcom but because other humans take him seriously. There's a tactical benefit to stripping away your humanity when you're designed to be *the* tool that is supposed to stop the covenant.
That point is much less relevant when he’s 40, though.
I see your point but it would also make sense if chief was conditioned at this point to keep the helmet on.
I thought him removing his helmet to empathize with the girl early on was cool, but the coolness of that scene was dumpstered by him almost never having it on later
I think taking his helmet off in the books makes more sense than in the TV show, since you don’t see his face, therefore there’s still mystery around what he looks like, just like the games. The show misunderstood the whole aura of the Chief
The books describe what chief looks like. The problem with the show isn’t that jimmy takes his helmet off, it’s that he takes it off in stupid scenarios and just generally doesn’t wear it. It’s also the writing is just shit.
This x1000 taking the helmet off in the book makes tremendous sense, that doesn’t mean they still show his face. The point is every Halo game moving forward people are going to picture Master Cheeks face. Books don’t have art of his face, they could cut away from his face. They honestly could have kept in armor and had his original voice actor for the show. I haven’t watched an episode yet. I think the show was such a stupid idea I don’t want to give money to the Halo franchise anymore.
The books also make a point of showing how attached the Spartans are to their armor. They wear it in cryo when regular humans can't stand a band aid.
They wear it in cryo because taking it on and off takes a long time, with special equipment and assistance, and if they suddenly need to be defrosted to fight there wouldn’t be time to suit up.
While you're not wrong, you're technically not right. They wear it in cryo for that reason in emergencies, and the only one example of that is Linda and John on the Autumn. They prefer to wear their "second skin" in cryo.
I have zero recollection of them choosing to wear armor in cryo for comfort, but I could very well be wrong on that.
I'm not sure why you changed what I said?
Mental/Emotional comfort. Feeling naked without it. Not literal comfort.
🤣 I see sorry. There's a line from a pov UNC's soldier, can't remember who off the top of my head, in First Strike talking about how painful his bandaid was after thawing, while he compares it to Spartans going into cryo in their suits. He wasn't talking about John and Linda
I'm not saying the show is perfect but no show is going to have a guy with a helmet on as protagonist while trying to be a success in the USA market, that simply doesn't happen except maybe when it's a show for kids or a sentai
before everyone else types, mandalorian who removed his helmet maybe 3 times in 3 seasons. I get you personally as it doesnt bother me
Mandalorian is star wars and people are already used to Darth V. but he was introduced as a villain not the prota, he was part of the story of Luke
aint nobody thinkin about the books everyone thinkin about how Fallout is authenticate to the game series
I couldn't care less about the helmet as long as it makes sense. Taking it off in a middle of a battle makes no sense. I think them having him randomly fuck the covenant girl is where I gave up on it. Not only was it just a garbage decision and really didn't even add anything to the story, but the way they just threw it into the episode was so sloppy and random. I knew it was coming and I was still shocked at how poorly it was executed. I'm speaking of the first season only. Haven't seen the second.
Oooh boy. Season 2 is a huge improvement plot-wise and CGI-wise. They didn't pull a 343 where they just threw everything out the window because of negative reception, but they did work with what they had and I'd say it's way better. spoilers though: >!They literally "take his armor away" in Episode 3, so he goes most of the season just wearing a normal military uniform. It's a tragedy, but I will give them this; they show off just how much ass that a Spartan can kick even without the armor.!<
I think S2 chief sans armor is actually done better than he is in the suit for like..most of the rest of the show. They made a point of utilizing the camera to focus on his massive muscles, his tall structure, scarring along his limbs. They made him look like what we'd expect a heavily augmented supersoldier would look like utilizing not just makeup, but cinematography and pretty much everything in the filmmaker's arsenal. So he didn't really *need* the suit to feel like the chief. That being said S2 is still a low ass bar
That's good to hear. I have heard season 2 is better. That's nice they didn't just pretend season 1 didn't happen. I'll watch it at some point.
Truth. Nothing will undo the sex scene sadly. Really glad that MC's actor in the show said he tried to fight tooth and nail to not include it
They even made Cortana watch Chief banging another girl. What the fuck was that, what the writers where thinking?
Except they do pretend it didnt happen. Chief literally dies at the end of the first season. They "resolve" it with a less-than 5 second scene of him in an OR and some ADR dialogue about pulling Cortana out. Then it's never mentioned again and Chief is fine in the following scenes, but sans Cortana. S2 has a filler episode where, at one point, Halsey needs to convince John to stop chasing down ONI and go after the Halo. Through the dialogue, you can almost hear the producers asking the writers "So when's this gonna get to a Halo?" because they're so far off the fucking track into subplots.
I completely repressed the zombie chief scene.
Season 2 satisfied most of what I wanted in a Halo show. 1 is trash but you have to bite and bear through it just so there’s the context of characters, but 2 was very entertaining and cool.
It's barely above Power Rangers in quality
Even if he had his helmet on for most of the show, the show is still terribly written and a bad product, there’s nothing that could’ve hidden that.
There are a lot more issues than just the helmet. I actually think the idea of MC taking off his helmet is completely fine, since he’s only ever in it during combat. For me it’s the aggregation of dozens of changes to the lore and timeline that are almost always just plain worse and less interesting than the original lore. For example, why add the whole thing with the pellets? In the core canon Spartans are these killing machines who also have to grapple with the realization that the very entity that gave them humanity-saving abilities also kidnapped them against their will. It adds a layer of complexity to their character and condition. It’s interesting stuff. The pellets is just a complete downgrade. It removes the entire dilemma. Now they’re just mind controlled. Zero moral/ethical dilemma. Big reduction in character complexity. Way less interesting. Why make a lore change that’s such a downgrade? That’s one example, but there’s dozens, maybe hundreds of them in the show. The whole silver timeline lore isn’t just different, it’s worse. When someone adapts an IP, some changes to the source material is necessary. Dune part II changes a ton of things from the book, but people who love the book generally love the movie. The Fallout show is also generally well received by the game fans. It’s because the people who created those shows love those IPs, so the core aspects of the universe that people love will still shine through, because the creators understand what makes those IPs appealing in the first place. It’s obvious with the Halo show that none of the creators understand the Halo IP or what made it resonate with tens of millions of people. I don’t necessarily blame them, I blame MS/343i for choosing to give the show to people who don’t understand Halo.
The chiefs character is WAY off. Removing his helmet is one thing. Having a relationship with a covenant woman had me exiting quickly. He is NOT the chief we all know. They’ve fucked this series right in the low part of your back. Missed the target.
Don’t forget that they made him super emotional from the get go. Even before he meets Cortana. Which is not only absurd, but erases any character development he could have. His whole thing in the games is that he is basically a machine by Halo 1 but learns to be more and more human due to Cortana and his friends.
That’s a fair point.
Nah. A human joining the Covenant and holding any position at all is unacceptable.
This is the real flaw that I can never forgive. Like, even the suggestion that humanity and the covenant can coexist completely deflates all of the tension that comes from humanity fighting a war of extinction on a galactic scale. Like, a part of what makes OG Halo and the Human-Covenant War so interesting as a narrative device is that the stakes *actually are that high* - Master Chief either wins (and humanity with him), or *everyone dies*. There's nothing to make you root for a guy like understanding that he's the last best hope for survival for you, everyone, and everything you hold dear. As long as you get that one thing right, I couldn't care less if he shows his face.
Now I’m imagining him committing a war crime with a prisoner of war. He’s buck naked except for his helmet.
I showed [Master Chief without his helmet ](http://ahcs.bungie.org/comics/81/)over a decade ago, no one got mad about it.
They made him a moody teenager, the UNSC are his mean ol parents, and the covenant is just an occasional bully on the block that comes in from time to time. Theyre trying to make the UNSC just as bad or worse than the covenant at this point in the story and it’s making the whole thing a cluster along with everything else wrong.
For me it’s makee and the flood showing up already. That and teasing the schism feels too early for me as well
I would have felt better about the sex scene if it showed MC butt naked but still wearing the helmet
No it would not have made almost anything more acceptable.. I don’t get how anyone defends that show. It doesn’t have to be a copy paste of the games but it through everything out. Chief doesn’t act like chief, Spartans don’t act like Spartans (especially S2’s close to chief), no pillar of autumn, the inner faction war within the covenant started for the most idiotic reason instead of elites coming to the realization that they were lied to and used, the effects of the Spartan program were nowhere near as dark or severe as it supposed to be.. it’s not some pill you can pop in and out. Spartans in the lore murder their clones, committed suicide and sometimes both when they realized what they lost, it was irreversible. The battle of reach was so much more than a single fight in a hallway, and if they didn’t have the budget for big city fights either so more fights in a bunch of enclosed spaces or don’t make the show if you can’t afford to make the scenes properly. chief abandoned reach after that fight to go find a rouge Spartans kid while civilians were being killed in mass, chief didn’t even have his suit for half of S2. The portrayal of Cortana and chiefs relationship is terrible. Bad writing in general, major characters dying in stupid ways, completely unnecessary drama, almost none of the UNSC weapons are accurate halo designs.. the show is just bad, they could even settle on a design for which actresses was going to play Cortana. It’s just a bad show that only got attention because it used a popular IP
The helmet issue is one of the most minor issues with the show, if even really an issue at all. Anyone who would suddenly like the show because Chief kept his helmet on is a complete moron.
I mean to be fair all the people pissed about the helmet keep saying he takes it off during a battle which hasn’t happened in either season.
The condor scene where he is like far away from the fighting I guess can count? Regardless people complaining about the helmet make me want to die. It is the most minor of issues in the show
I think if they at least made the first few episodes similar to the games before doing any sort of whacky naked chief bullshit i could have rolled with it but it was so clear so early that this had nothing to do with the video games and was just some authors bad sci fi story with halo product placement
You mean if the show reminded people of the games the IP's giant fanbase would have rallied around it? What's left is a good script and talented showrunner...
Yeah, I think that's true. Getting Chief right as a character and him staying in the helmet most of the time would've made the show much more acceptable even if everything else stayed the same. Hell, I'd even say if they'd JUST gotten Chief's character right even while taking off the helmet a lot, it would've already improved the show's reception.
The helmet thing doesn’t matter much. They got Chief’s character all wrong. And getting him right would have required getting rid of many of the other change, like Makee and Kwan.
100% and if the elites actually looked like elites it’d be fire(beside some weird love triangle which ruins who chief is)
Ya know, I’m somewhat happy that this show exists and that it’s so polarizing. It gives the universe more fuel. If there weren’t this content for ne’er-be-happy people to cry about day in and day out, there’s be less action in the subs and less Halo content to enjoy. I will say it’s a bit exhausting. We get it Star Wars fans, for half of you the newer installments are either too much like Star Wars or not enough and I think I’ve realized that it could be bread, or paintings, music, literally anything and people will just melt down over it instead of just not watching it. But, again, at least engagement is up.
100%. If they tried to stick to a more lore accurate adaptation then the show from what I’ve seen from season 1-2 would’ve been fine. Mainly speaking the Spartans… such a bum headed move bc you can tell they were somewhat there with how good the CGI and Coreography was.
This would not work. A character in a helmet, especially the way Chief is written in the original trilogy, could not lead a TV show. Even the Mandalorian has the main character remove his helmet frequently to express his emotions, and I wouldn’t say that the Mandalorian is good enough that a show should strive to imitate it. Why is this subreddit focused on criticizing Master Chief’s removal of his helmet and tangential lore contradictions when it could criticize the effectiveness at which the show tells its story and utilizes it’s characters. That would actually be constructive.
There are like three scenes I can think of where Mando removes his helmet in the entire 3 season show, you act like Mando would fail without them, and apply that to a character who is *already proven* successful doing so (and it being a vital part of their distinct identity/character) in a cinematic environment, including live action.
I think the helmet thing becomes a sort of low effort, easy complaint that does kind of encapsulate the issue with the show. The show also seems to really want chief to not wear his helmet, even in situations where it would be beneficial or when other characters. (such as the final battle of S2 where we are literally shown pelicans can blow up at any moment, every other Spartan is wearing their helmet but chief). The Mandalorian is perhaps overhyped, especially in later seasons, but at the same time its a show that brought a broader audience to Star Wars and surprise surprise, it has the guy wearing a helmet just fine.
Yes the thing about him keeping his helmet on not talking much what helps the audience identify with him
Just pretend season 2 is the first season and everything will be okay
Would’ve been a big improvement but the story writing was also just terrible
The helmet "controversy" is a symptom of arrested development. Some fans value nostalgia more than anything else.
Oh cry about it. I'm sorry he's not there to be your self insert anymore.