So last night I decided to sit down and watch the Halo Legends BD that I bought a week ago. Normally, seeing as how I'm a big Halo nerd, I would have watched it the day I bought it, but since my son also loves Halo he wanted me to wait until he could watch it too.
I have to admit I was a little worried about it going in because, although I don't have anything against Japanese anime, I'm not this big anime fan either and I was worried how it would fit with Halo. Luckily it fit wonderfully and even managed to give me a new respect for anime.
I loved how each episode had it's own unique art style and story telling techniques. Going in I assumed from the previews that the CGI episode would be my favorite, but that actually turned out to not be the case. here's a breakdown of what I thought of each episode:
Origins : This one is tied with "The Duel" right now as my favorite. Cortana, showing some signs of rampancy, talks to the Master Chief who is still in cryo sleep after the events of Halo 3. It doesn't specify how long they've been floating through space, but Cortana decides it's a good time to spill the beans on the origins of the Forerunners, the Flood, and the events leading up to the Forerunners firing the Halo rings and wiping out all life in the galaxy.
Origins is technically two episodes, "Origins I" and "Origins II", but the second one picks up right where the first let off so it's like one long episode. Origins II has Cortana talking about humans and our desire to kill each other through war. I don't want to give too much away for those that are interested but haven't seen it yet so I'll just end by saying that it's really cool stuff if your a fan of the Halo universe.
The Dual : This one was really cool and unique because it tells the tale of (I assume) the first Arbitor, the great Sangheili warrior who defied the Prophets and is the reason that being named Arbitor is a mark of shame. One of the most interesting aspects of this episode to me was seeing what a female Sangheili looks like in the form of Han, Arbitor's wife whom he loved very deeply.
He was a great general of the Covenant and possibly Sanghelios' greatest warrior at the time. The armor worn by all of the Arbitors after him is (again, assuming) either his original armor or made to look like it. I found it very poetic that the last elite to be named Arbitor and wear that armor would not only defy the Prophets like the original Arbitor, but he would ultimately play a major role in bringing down the entire Covenant and expose the Prophet's lies.
Homecoming : This episode tells about Daisy, a Spartan who escapes the Reach training facility to get back home to her family. Upon arriving she learns that when she was taken by the UNSC, they replaced her with a clone so as not to raise any questions. Daisy is then forced to make a very hard decision.
Odd One Out : I have to admit, the first time I watched Halo: Legends (I've watched them all at least 2 or 3 times now) I actually skipped past "Odd One Out" because I really didn't like the idea of this goofiness being applyed to Halo. After I finally did watch it I was pleasantly surprised. The humor was well done and they managed to have this cookiness about it without having to throw out the Halo fiction and feel. My favorite part was hearing a Prophet say, "I need a vacation" after trying to tell a minion which way to run.
Prototype : This one didn't do much for me in terms of Halo fiction, but it still managed to tell a great story. The story is that of a regular marine called "Ghost". Ghost is the leader of a demolition squad that is tasked with destroying a prototype weapon so that the Covenant can't get their hands on it. After seeing every member of his last squad die in a single mission, he vows to not let the same thing happen twice and dons the prototype armored suit to fend off the Covenant forces and buy his team enough time to escape the doomed planet.
The Babysitter : I really enjoyed this episode for telling what is just a really great story. It tells of a group of ODST's (including Dutch from Halo 3: ODST) that have just learned that they're next OP will be lead by a Spartan. O'Brien, the ODST squad's sniper, is bitter because instead of being the shooter like normal, he now has to play back up to Cal-141, a Spartan.
Their mission is to assassinate a Prophet and document Forerunner ruins. Along the way they have several Covenant encounters including one that leaves O'Brien and the other ODST's with a new found respect for their Spartan teammate.
The Package : The funny thing about this episode is that, going in, this is the one I thought I would like the most. I really like CGI and so after watching the previews I thought I would like the computer animated one the most. While I did really like it, it was definitely not my favorite. Although I must say that I really did enjoy seeing Blue Team in action. Seeing the Master Chief fighting along side Kelly and Fred was really cool.
Also the whole plot was basically them rescuing Dr. Halsey from a Covenant ship, which brings up a whole slew of other possibilities itself. I really like how they went out of their way to show that Cortana was basically an AI representation of Dr. Halsey. All in all I just wish we could've seen more of Dr. Halsey and Blue Team and maybe found out why the hell Dr. Halsey was being held on a Covenant ship.
Overall Halo: Legends is fantastic to watch if your a Halo fan. Even if you don't like Halo you still might find something you like. Whatever the case it's definitely worth checking out.
*note: I wrote everything up to "The Dual" about 2 or 3 days ago and everything else just now, which is why I start out talking about how I just watched it for the first time and then later say I've seen it 2 or 3 times. Just wanted to clear that up.*
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