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SDCC '09: Halo
There were a few Halo things to do on my jam-packed Comic-con '09 mega-adventure. The 'con was host to two exclusive Halo figures, the Halo panel, and an unexpected signing. Halo Panel: After the first Capcom Lost Planet 2 salamander raffle, I had just enough time to run back up to catch the Halo panel, which was being held in the same room the Capcom Line-up panel was in just an hour before. I walked in right as the trailer for Halo Legends was starting. Halo Legends is an anime project similar to the Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight in that it brings together separate animated stories from acclaimed anime directors and studios. The anime consists of seven shorts produced by Studio 4°C, Production I.G, Bones, Toei Animation, and Casio Entertainment. On the panel were head of 343 Industries Frank O'Conner, Halo Legends Managing Editor Kevin Grace, and producer David Cho, but those three weren't the awesome part of this panel. Also there were Production I.G President Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Studio 4°C President Eiko Tanaka, and the very talented director and mecha designer Shinji Aramaki. Holy frak, Shinji Aramaki is here. Aramaki directed the newer Appleseed anime movies and has designed mecha on such things as Genesis Climber Mospeada and Bubblegum Crisis, among others; he even did character and vehicle designs for the beloved cartoon M.A.S.K., that's how awesome he is. After some introductions a video was played of another famed Japanese animator, the legendary Mamoru Oshii. And then my mind just exploded. Oshii directed the original Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh, Patlabor, and much more. You see, Oshii is a bit of a recluse and doesn't make many appearances, so this video of him saying that he could not be at Comic-con, but is happy to be involved with Halo was more than I ever thought I would see of the man. Oshii is the creative director on both of Production I.G's shorts. O'Conner said that they are doing this project to expand the story of the Halo universe. The project is partly a result of the Halo Graphic Novel and regular novels being such successes. He felt that an anime would be a "natural fit" for the franchise. Ishikawa and Tanaka essentially said that they were happy to be working on the project, however, Aramaki is actually a Halo fan, himself. He received an Xbox 360 from his wife and he played through Halo 3. He liked it so much that he went back and played Halo 1 and 2. Wow, Shinji Aramaki is even cooler than I imagined. Aramaki actually wanted to make a Halo anime well before he was approached with this project. O'Conner said that everyone they asked to do an animation for Halo said yes; nobody turned them down. Interestingly, each of the seven episodes is considered canon, except for Toei's, which will be a fun look at the Halo universe. O'Conner stated that people feel this project is a corporate push, but said that the animators and storytellers were given complete creative freedom.
Questions from the audience were opened rather early in the panel, with questions from all across the Halo board. The questions concerning Halo Legends gave us a little additional info on the project. Master Chief will be in at least one episode, which may show him after the end of Halo 3, but the anime will also have stories about other Spartans, some of them female. One of the shorts will have a look into the history and culture of the Covenant. Some of the locations of the anime were taken from multiplayer maps. Nothing has been announced for casting because they haven't finished yet, but the disc release will have English and Japanese options. One fan asked if anything from the I Love Bees story will be included in Halo Legends and O'Conner said yes, it would. Including things from I Love Bees is probably the coolest news about the Halo Legends stories. A Marine asked if we would see any Marines kicking ass in the anime. O'Conner replied that Marines will be kicking ass and getting their asses kicked. A few of the questions were about Halo: Reach, which O'Conner didn't have any info on because it's a Bungie project. A Halo movie question got the expected answer of nothing to announce. One ridiculous fan asked if there was an easier way to unlock to Recon armor. Really, dude? Did you really just ask this? O'Conner said that there were many ways, but then told him that it was under his chair. It was pretty funny. After the questions the Halo Legends trailer was shown again. Signing: After the panel Aramaki, Ishikawa, and Tanaka were doing a signing of exclusive Comic-con Halo Legends posters at the cramped Xbox 360 booth. Each of them signed a different poster featuring their company's animation, so each person in line received three posters signed by some of the most talented hands of animation. This was incredibly cool and I was able to snap a quick photo of the three. Sadly, it was obvious that there were many kids that did not realize the level of talent that they were getting signatures from, because these kids were just here for "teh Hayloz." The posters each had a number on the bottom, such as "3 of 7," making seven different posters, one from each part of the anime. Only these three were being handed out / signed at that time. There was another signing the next day, but I was unable to attend it, so I'm not sure if the rest of the posters were handed out, or if the same people were signing. I was just happy I got a poster signed by Shinji Aramaki. I'm a big fan of Aramaki's work, so I would have been happy even if he signed a used napkin. Figures / Exclusives: Disappointingly, McFarlane Toys did not have a big display area for new, upcoming, or prototype Halo and Spawn figures this year. At the image booth there were two small display cases with the multi-armor pack Spartans, a Mongoose, and those awful Odd Pods. There was also one lone display case in the Diamond booth, but I didn't see it while I was there. It wasn't until I got home after the convention that I saw photos of it at Spawn.com. There wasn't anything in it that we haven't seen before, though, just some figures from Series 6. Oddly enough, all the tags on the figures said "Available now" when the figures won't be out until October. Strange. As for exclusives this year, there were two exclusive Halo figures at Comic-con. The first was the orange Grifball Spartan, celebrating Rooster Teeth's funny Grifball game they made for Red Vs. Blue. This Spartan had the coveted Recon armor and came with a Grifball, Gravity Hammer, and Energy Sword hilt. This was a Toys 'R Us exclusive, but was being sold by Entertainment Earth. Are TRU and EE buddies now? The other exclusive was one that many fans may not have known about: the pink Hayabusa Spartan. Pink Hayabusa was a series 4 exclusive for D&R Lineups. However, D&R decided not to sell the figure until Comic-con at their booth. So, it was a little late in coming, but the fans that stopped by their booth could get a girly-but-awesome pink Hayabusa. - Shawn - 8/5/09
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