PSA: Second Halo Legends episode free, available today only
by Ben Gilbert 
{ Nov 21st 2009 at 11:30AM } 
Microsoft also notes that this will be the last week for Xbox Live Silver members to explore Waypoint, and in turn, enjoy the weekly free episodes of Halo Legends. If you're wondering what time the show will be available for you and you don't live in North America, a full list of showtimes is available on Xbox.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Slaziman (PSN ID: Slaziman) @ Nov 21st 2009 11:37AM
Will he also die at the end like Spike Siegel?
Boom, ruined.
BananaBoat @ Nov 21st 2009 12:16PM
He might not be dead according to the movie.
Boom, ruined.
Reuben @ Nov 21st 2009 12:27PM
Actually, the movies takes place between two episodes in the middle, closer to the end of the series. The director said which ones, but I don't remember.
BananaBoat @ Nov 21st 2009 12:33PM
Yeah, but there are times in the movie where Spike is knocked unconscious (from the perspective of the events in the movie) and he's mysteriously back on the Bebop with Jet, who talks about things related to the events near the end of the TV series.
Obviously it is only one theory out of many, since the director refuses to say one way or the other. In other words, no, he isn't dead in the official sense, but no one would blame you for thinking he is or he isn't.
Tiptup300 @ Nov 21st 2009 1:53PM
Watched the first one and it was hilarious! It was drawn so bad I loved it. When the characters would turn to the side the dimensions kept changing so me and my friend actually had to pause and rewind the part where the spartan doubles, wait no, TRIPLES "his" body, but "his" head stays the same size. So yeah, their pretty bad.
Reuben @ Nov 21st 2009 1:56PM
I don't really notice any real problem with the animation, except that it's 10 years old. You need to look at it through that light.
LegendaryRedass @ Nov 21st 2009 2:10PM
Damn, spoiled. I haven't seen that yet.
eNrique @ Nov 21st 2009 3:11PM
[deleted]
The Dark Wayne [Planeteer: Power of the Batusi] ATDFs Financier and Batman @ Nov 21st 2009 9:18PM
could you fail any more enrique? Why not post that in the threads with huge several paragraph posts? This thread was barely even about Halo. You are probably the worst fanboy on here.
Zeke The Geek @ Nov 21st 2009 11:39AM
I thought the same thing when I saw the first episode. He looked exactly like Spike Spiegel. Of course, they could have just been going for that spikey hair cliche in animes, but still...
WiredKnight: Keeper of Threads @ Nov 21st 2009 6:57PM
Spike's hair isn't spiky, it's curly.
BananaBoat @ Nov 21st 2009 12:18PM
The only good thing that came from watching this episode was the free Guilty Spark for my avatar. The art style hurt my eyes.
Darth Bradwart, The Dark Lord of the Sith-ATDF Co-Founder @ Nov 21st 2009 1:37PM
I got that for my pile of achievements.
You got it for watching Legends?
BananaBoat @ Nov 21st 2009 1:41PM
Oh, I'm not sure. Maybe I got it for downloading Halo Waypoint. I did have a stack of achievements, so that could be it as well.
Either way, guilty spark annoys the hell out of me, but it makes a cool avatar item (especially since it's free)
Hyperion45 @ Nov 22nd 2009 2:53AM
Just going into waypoint gives you Guilty Spark. The other clothing is unlocked from ODST achievements
Lurkero @ Nov 21st 2009 12:35PM
I was thinking Spike Spiegel the whole time.
colostomeboy @ Nov 21st 2009 12:43PM
I need to rant really bad SPOILERS AHEAD!
WHAT THE HELL BUNGIE?! so far all i have seen from these episodes is halo being turned into a piece of crap! forerunner architect is not ancient chinese buildings! so what if the story is in canon the buildings sure as hell aren't. this past episode was ridiculously terrible. and the characters are not covenant at all. elites have four jaws that separate when they talk, they don't have mouths like humans do. secondly why did the main antagonist for this episode have freaking samurai armor on? and when the arbiter is killing all the other elites and has to fight a hunter, the hunter is about the size of a phantom! hunters are not that big! WRONG AGAIN! the only thing these anime episodes want me to do is to stop liking halo. Microsoft needs to stop trying to market Halo and the xbox 360 over there because the audience is not that big over there deal with it! And the end fight between the arbiter and afro samurai (sarcasm, the elite just looks like a samurai with that ridiculous armor on) is them staring at each other for about ten seconds, then stabbing each other in the gut and they both die!
ok so there is my angry rant, it is just how i fell, i am not trying to attack anyone (besides bungie and Microsoft)
The Tofunator @ Nov 21st 2009 12:50PM
You do realize that Bungie has nothing to do with this, do you? It's just 343 Industries.
Charliekrad @ Nov 21st 2009 12:56PM
yep its really bad but its not bunige's fault its microsoft
Mindkiller @ Nov 21st 2009 1:38PM
I enjoyed it. I actually liked the art style, though it took some getting used to.
The 'watercolour-y' look grew on me after a while. Some of the frames in it would make an awesome desktop wallpaper
I don't really care for the Halo lore, so whether the representation of the covenant was accurate or not doesn't bother me. I just see it as a parallel to the halo-verse.
REP96st @ Nov 21st 2009 2:03PM
Isn't there Samurai armor in Halo 3?
Be easy, you're taking this to serious, like this is for realz... That episode was dope.
David @ Nov 21st 2009 3:44PM
yeah, you're the friend i can't watch a movie with because all you'll do is complain that it's not 100% like the book. when a different artist takes up an idea they are going to take their liberties with it. complaining that artist A doesn't do the exact same thing as artist B is completely asinine. what in the world makes you think that any one artist will just try to copy another's vision?
anyway i'm actually quite enjoying these halo legends episodes, and i'm only moderately interested in halo. i think the animation style (watercolor?) is refreshing, it's decently written, and, if you're even minimally a fan of anime, you'll love the pacing and style.
Mostly Harmless @ Nov 21st 2009 7:20PM
I think you guys are criticizing his criticism too much.
Honestly, I think that the artists and directors are taking way too much liberties.
I'm more of a fan of the Halo lore than the actual games, and a lot of this annoyed me.
In this most recent episode, the art was just hard to watch, period. And when you give Elites human mouths, they cease being Elites. In regards to the whole extremely Japanese influenced environments, I think that's another big problem. I find it extremely hard to suspend my disbelief to the point where an entire planet is Japanese buildings with Chinese ruins, which are supposed to belong to a long ancient super race.
As for the Hunter, I can believe that, since Hunters are just big masses of really small aliens, so a bunch got put in an even bigger suit of armor.
As for the actual writing, you could tell that they weren't written by people who write anime, but by people who write Halo. In the games, the cheesy writing was acceptable because it didn't have a predefined expected quality, and it was in a genre of media where a lot of artistic freedoms can be taken with the viewer still happily taking part, but anime is different from video games, and they writers really should have been thinking about how the script would be received in an anime.
Okay, this is looking really big... So I'll just end by saying that I agree with almost all of colostomeboy's points. I really hope that the rest of them aren't going to be overly asian to compensate for the fact that their original dubs are English.
R (Planeteers | Power of Penile Pulse) @ Nov 22nd 2009 1:16AM
Your points are noted. Ill just say this: 1. its an anime, probably not even canon.
2. Hunter's COULD be that big. Hunter's are actually made up of a bunch of worms that come together to form a hive mind capable of wearing hunter armor and using their weapons. If enough worms came together they could make a super omega hunter I suppose. The thing that bothered me the most was that there was only 1 hunter and not a pair.
But again, its an anime. Trying to apply common sense on an anime is a step down a maddening path.
Zee @ Nov 23rd 2009 4:04PM
I hated when they introduced the weird mouths in Halo 2. Ruined Elites for me.
Mad @ Nov 21st 2009 12:57PM
And only one day to view it..! So far I've spent 10 minutes trying to watch this damn crap, it's buffered 4 times and I've seen about 1 minute. The quality is so crap I feel like I'm watching some CD from that Panasonic console 15 years back..!
We should be paid to put up with this and watch this crap!!
Bushman311 @ Nov 21st 2009 1:06PM
Stop watching it on dial-up
Mad @ Nov 21st 2009 1:11PM
I'm not on dial up and Zune HD works fine! :)
Drago Dracini @ Nov 21st 2009 1:14PM
stop having bad internet.
REP96st @ Nov 21st 2009 2:04PM
Whatchoo got, Net Zero?? Mines came on in a few secs with no lag or interruptions at all.
Mazrael @ Nov 21st 2009 6:00PM
Absolutley no lag whatsoever
Drago Dracini @ Nov 21st 2009 1:15PM
So yea... it was really bad... wasn't really a Halo feel to it. I mean... it was like a bad samurai movie, the art was neat though. Really nice sumi-e style.
Adam @ Nov 21st 2009 1:28PM
wow, could they find a more antiquated model to release the show? Each episode is available for only one day? Are they going to start showing it at specific time soon?? Give me a break!
Darth Bradwart, The Dark Lord of the Sith-ATDF Co-Founder @ Nov 21st 2009 1:39PM
So, I didn't watch the first. Did Cortana become...Porntana?
The Dark Wayne [Planeteer: Power of the Batusi] ATDFs Financier and Batman @ Nov 21st 2009 9:17PM
if only!
xnifex @ Nov 21st 2009 4:15PM
Does anyone have a link to it being hosted on the intarwebs like last time? I'm at work for the rest of the day & don't have a chance to watch it.
Scott Summers @ Nov 21st 2009 4:24PM
"I need to rant really bad SPOILERS AHEAD!
WHAT THE HELL BUNGIE?! so far all i have seen from these episodes is halo being turned into a piece of crap! forerunner architect is not ancient chinese buildings! so what if the story is in canon the buildings sure as hell aren't. this past episode was ridiculously terrible. and the characters are not covenant at all. elites have four jaws that separate when they talk, they don't have mouths like humans do. secondly why did the main antagonist for this episode have freaking samurai armor on? and when the arbiter is killing all the other elites and has to fight a hunter, the hunter is about the size of a phantom! hunters are not that big! WRONG AGAIN! the only thing these anime episodes want me to do is to stop liking halo. Microsoft needs to stop trying to market Halo and the xbox 360 over there because the audience is not that big over there deal with it! And the end fight between the arbiter and afro samurai (sarcasm, the elite just looks like a samurai with that ridiculous armor on) is them staring at each other for about ten seconds, then stabbing each other in the gut and they both die!
ok so there is my angry rant, it is just how i fell, i am not trying to attack anyone (besides bungie and Microsoft)"
WHAT HE SAID. I understand that these people are respected japanese animation artists, but this isn't supposed to be Earth or something that they created. This is an American IP with an already established look to it. Forerunner structures are not japanese pagodas, and Elites should not be wearing samurai armor. The first episode (The Babysitter) turned the ODSTs into simpering babies, if the main character is any sort of example. Ridiculous.
The Elites have the split mouths, and here they go drawing them like they have a single mouth in parts, but then a split one in others. The Hunter looked like Godzilla, and where was its bond brother? Made no sense.
ChuckBartowski (ATDF Technical Consultant) @ Nov 21st 2009 5:14PM
too bad. Fucking deal.
Scott Summers @ Nov 21st 2009 6:20PM
@Chuck
Lemme think for a second. Uh...no. Not gonna happen.
ChuckBartowski (ATDF Technical Consultant) @ Nov 22nd 2009 1:06AM
and what would you do? Start a halo legends boycott? Yeah because that would totally work. If you dont like it, dont watch it. Like i said, fucking deal.
Scott Summers @ Nov 22nd 2009 2:26AM
@Chuck
I don't recall saying anything about starting a boycott. In fact, I don't quite recall saying anything to that effect. In fact, my post simply stated my grievances with the show. You're the moron actually assuming things. However, if I wanted to, I could. And to use your words against you?
Fucking deal.
ChuckBartowski (ATDF Technical Consultant) @ Nov 22nd 2009 2:59AM
What im saying is that, you can go take your opinion somewhere else. You have such a huge problem with it. good for you. If your not gonna do anything, get over it.
Scott Summers @ Nov 22nd 2009 3:22AM
@Chuck
Or what? You're going to keep telling me to deal? Sorry, Chuck. My opinion is just as valid as yours, and like I said earlier---to use your own words against you.."Fucking deal."
So if YOU'RE not going to do anything...get over it. I'll still be here regardless. Dontcha hate it when your own words get used against you?
Brett @ Nov 21st 2009 4:52PM
Thanks for the reminder!!
Ilunc @ Nov 21st 2009 5:20PM
wow what the heck, halo is gonna suck if 343 keeps going down this path.
StalkerofHades @ Nov 21st 2009 5:37PM
I actually enjoy these little vingette episodes. I don't believe they need to adhere strictly to the canon and it's interesting to see someone else's interpretation of the halo universe. These just seem to add more to the expanding lore for Halo and gives us something else to consider.
Mazrael @ Nov 21st 2009 6:04PM
Joystiq should delete any spoilers as they post. ruining it for people. I didn't click the post for that very reason..
Though I am wondering why the disc in my drive started spinning when I was exiting waypoint. even when I was on the dash. ejecting didn't work either (as in it wouldn't eject).. so I turned off the 360, then back on to play Dragon Age
No Kill Tayler @ Nov 21st 2009 10:10PM
The art style kills me.
Xa31nov1s @ Nov 22nd 2009 12:23AM
The heavy Japanese influences are a bother, the dialog is a little cheesy, and the art style is hit-or-miss, however, I did really enjoy the somewhat illogical uber-fights between the Arbiter and those droves of Covenant.
Overall, though, I preferred the 'Babysitter' to this one, and at this point I'm just hoping that the proceeding episodes don't feature as much Japanese influences--they really stick out.
Machiavellian @ Nov 22nd 2009 2:46AM
So far so good in my opinion. The art style grew on me by the end of the short and I started to appreciate what the studio was going for. Its definitely will not be enjoyed by the Saturday morining cartoon crowd or even the generic Pixar crowd as well.
As for the Japanese influences, maybe I missed something but these are all Anime. The Studios are Japanese so if you have a problem with Anime, I am sure Halo Legends probably will not be your content of choice.
I have read the Halo books and this did not seem to go to far from the farm. I thought the script, dialog, animation etc were all top notch. At first I was leaned back in my chair watching the short but by the end I was leaned forward very interested in what I was watching.
Probably one of the things I will like about Halo Legends the most and this is going by the two pieces I have seen so far is that MS did let the studios go hog wild so no two episode will be the same in concept, animation or vision. Each will have their own unique view which probably will not appeal to a lot of western viewers but still be quality work that will get devoted fans for each one. For the Duel, at the end of the short, I became a fan of the art style and like to see it worked on and improved.