Happy Thursday everyone! This week has been bananas in the best way possible and I've finally found a bit of time to sit and work on this. I never really appreciated how much work Grim/Uny/ske7ch did to get these put together until the Spotlight became mine. Let me tell you...even with my writing skills being rusty and needing practice, it's worth it. You always manage to surprise us with so many amazing creations that I love sifting through. All for the love of the Haloverse. 💚

CRÈME DE LA CRÈME

This is QuintSays' rendition of Troy Denning's Silent Storm. It's simply stunning. I don't know that words can do it justice so I won't ramble on and I'll let you see for yourselves.

SNICKER'S DOODLES

Let's jump right into the fray here, shall we? Have coffee, will Spotlight!

We're kicking things off with a nod to our upstairs neighbors with /u/enduring_conviction's UNSC frigate created in Minecraft! He's promised me a video of the (allegedy decorated and detailed) interior so maybe we'll see that sometime later but in the meantime, this is fantastic. And I'm totally not jealous of the creativity and skill here - it's not like I just get lost spelunking in Minecraft and require rescuing or anything...

Okay look. I know I'm bad at driving in Halo (unless it's the Reach Falcon. I'm a fantastic Falcon pilot for some reason.) but even I can park better than this, @AquaAxz. What on earth were you thinking here? How does this even happen lol.

I like to pretend that @HaloCodex's Master Chief is flying away in anguish thinking, "Why me?!" from the terrible parking above. Realistically, I'm pretty sure that's not true but in my brain, that's how this story goes and you have to admit it's a little funny. Even if that's not the actual story here, this is a fantastic piece of work. (No, dual wielding swords is not confirmed. Don't even try that!) Look! Even this group is marveling at that parking job! Or they're watching Chief's heavenly flight. Oh...oh wait. According to @TheArchitect013, these are Bounty Hunters. Boooo. My head canon was way more fun.

/u/LAST_ICONOCLAST posted this screenshot he took on Halo: Reach's Highlands map. He quickly ran it through Snapseed and it looks great! And hey, if you're the last Halo fan to hear the news, Reach is coming to MCC and MCC is coming to PC which means, Reach is also coming to PC. Woo!

xDrummerWorldx took these screenshots and @BeneficBen was gracious enough to tag me to make sure I saw them. I couldn't decide which was my favorite so I'm just gonna let you kids see them all and make up your own mind. I like the first one! No wait, the third one...Oooh but the second one...And that fourth one! SO MUCH AWESOME. CANNOT PICK.

@Chief_Plz wanted to see his Spartan drawn in the style of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure so he turned to @JJ_RABBID who turned this out. It's absolutely charming and it makes a lovely profile picture!

Until I was collecting content for this Spotlight, I had no idea Chief was musically inclined. Considering his many other varied talents, I'm not surprised to see @halosofia showing off Chief's guitar skills. (Think he's more of a Breaking Benjamin or Incubus kind of Chief? I definitely don't see him as a Hoobastank kind of Chief.)

If you don't know who @pixelflaregfx is, then you are missing out hugely. He's an incredibly talented individual who just casually drops pieces like this portrait of Noble Six being "Hyper Lethal" and then DOESN'T EVEN USE THE HASHTAG. Yes I'm grumpy at this. I found this by accident and I'm glad I did because it's spectacular, as is everything I've seen Will make.

If you prefer ODSTs to Spartan IIIs, /u/ThePsychoKat has you covered with this ODST fan art. I love the color palette here and also how unimpressed the Superintendent is.

The fact that @MarkHuf07481742 created a Twitter account just to send along some of the pictures from his wedding makes me incredibly happy and honored. These are such fun pictures and I wish you and your wife a much, much grander journey than the Great one. 💍💖

Homemade Specialties

I was never a huge fan of arts and crafts because I have a tough time thinking creatively, so seeing you all crank out these amazing handmade pieces makes me so happy. I never knew I needed/wanted some of these in my life until I saw them.

Check out this stained glass Energy Sword that /u/TheThiccLoaf (lol) made. It's lovely!

Meanwhile, /u/WeAreFarmers248 used Inventor Software and a benchmill to turn out the quintessential Halo logo. I love how clean and simple it is.

I did mention that Reach and MCC are coming to PC already, right? Okay good. That also means that Master Chief will need a mouse. Luckily, @Pyxelyart's got him covered so we're good to go.

@TexD41 is also pretty stoked to see the PC news this week and brings us a trio of Chief, Cortana, and Arbiter all in one. I really love this one.

I don't know if /u/blindvalkyrre knows that #PachiMarchi is a thing but if not, they should totally send this to the @PlayOverwatch team. I can't get over the flood feet, it's so cute!

If you've recently lost your Plasma Grenade, /u/BFAnim's Grunt seems to have found it for you. I'm sure he'd love to return the blue orb to the rightful owner. Please reach out at your leisure to reclaim your lost items.

Rounding this section out is /u/SKYKiKi77's birthday card for Master Chief. This is too precious for words and I would probably cry if someone handed me something this adorable on my birthday. Happy belated birthday John!

Made to Order

This was simply way too badass not to share. /u/CDONNS somehow got his hands on the front panel of a soda machine from the Halo 3 Mountain Dew Game Fuel days. He went all out and built a frame to hold the electronic guts and now has it hanging in his new mancave. Did I mention that there's sound when it lights up? Yeah. But wait, there's more. To turn it on, the command is, "Alexa. Wake me when you need me" and it's accompanied by the Mjolnir Mix. I am so jealous. You can see the album of the full process, including a video of it lighting up here, check it out! I desperately tried to find a way to embed the video so you guys could see it in action but alas I was not successful.

Eye Candy

We've now arrived at the portion of the Spotlight where I can show off some cool cosplay and ink. I've refilled my coffee (I need a bigger mug) and I'm ready to move so...let's go!

I love the clever photoshopping done here. /u/JariyaSerket put herself in Cortana's world for this and it's awesome.

Spartan cosplays are always fun. @paigeosity was a Spartan for Halloween and knocked it out the park. (Better late than never, right?)

Okay so we have a Cortana, we have a Spartan...How about an Elite? Yes I'm serious. @DrLeo has wanted to cosplay his Elite, Field Master Varo 'Kordunai, for a long time. To help make this pie-in-the-sky dream a reality, he enlisted the help of @MegavoltService and now it is my pleasure to introduce you all to the Field Master himself. In costume, Leo stands over seven feet tall(!) and is an impressive sight to behold. Unfortunately for me to ever see seven feet, I would require at least five more shoes. You can check out Leo's twitter for some more pictures and even some video of the cosplay in action. Highly recommend checking it out!

Our favorite Master Chief's birthday was a week ago today. To celebrate, /u/LunaOmega decided to make sure they always had a small bit of Chief with them always. I love the style here and think it turned out super well!

Turns out that people really like getting Chief related ink and I love seeing the finished products. As /u/gaza90965 put it, "Got a little bit of Halo with me always."

Looks like /u/Nomoneynoparts also has a little bit of Halo with them always with the Halo 2 Chief tattoo! Also excellent.

"Sam, Chief tattoos are cool and all but I want something different." You asked, you got it! How about a Mark of Shame? @TheNobleTaco got himself branded for life with said mark! (Bonus points if your name is Mark!)

What's better than the Mark of Shame tattoo? How about ANOTHER one so we have TWO Mark of Shame tattoos? Yeah. That's right. This is Ult tii ma's Mark of Shame and I really dig it!

Instructions Unclear

If you're new to the Halo community, then you have about 18 years worth of Halo history to catch up. Also, welcome! But to help you catch up or brush up, the folks over at Halo Podcast Evolved/Blogging Evolved have put together a kickass repository of Halo lore. They've taken everything and tried to put it in an easy to follow format from start to what we know now. So if you are more interested in "okay so what happened before this?" and less interested in, "What's Silent Storm about?" then this is the timeline you're looking for. Check it out!

Sweet Rolls

Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you that I'm not big on movies or videos. I rarely watch/enjoy Youtube videos. So when I tell you that I watch all these and enjoy them, know that this is high praise. With that said, we have lots to watch so let's get started!

I'm starting with my favorite one because OMG IT'S SO CUTE! /u/mightypopua turned his little girl into the most adorable Master Chief in the galaxy and she's on patrol on Sidewinder!

You guys remember Puckett, right? Well, this episode of his Top 10 Plays of the Week features Muggsy - better known as the genius behind the incredible content put out by our @HCS team. Anyways, I'm mad at him for not telling me this was out and that he was in it so I had to find it on my own. And now I can share it with you!

While we're on the subject of pros and stuff, check out the Bubu Dubu movie starring Bubu Dubu himself! (Didn't see that coming, did you? Oh? You did. Ah well.)

One of the things I love most about Halo are the wacky and unexpected things that happen when you're playing. For Joeccardo, some of that crazy cropped up in a Warzone match!

Boonshadow made himself a sweet little action montage for his Youtube channel. I love this and would love to see more of his, "Welcome to Halo 5." :)

OMNI is back with their OMNI: Ruckus Episode 2 montage!

@TheArchitect013 wanted to take a stab at making their own version of the MCC announcement trailer, how'd he do? :)

Last, but certainly not least, check out @SimonKent98's "Halo Cinematic Mashup: 100 Thousand Years War" - I really enjoyed this!

PETITS FOURS

I know this has been a really really long Spotlight but you only have yourselves to blame, okay? We're almost done. I promise!

Doodle's Snickers and #Pizzapocalypse

If there was any question that we have the best community out there, you guys came through in spades this week. As a joke, ske7ch commented on a Reddit post by /u/thewombinthesky and asked, "What kind of pizza?" What started out as a cheeky joke turned into an incredible innundantion of pizzas to the studio. So much so that there are now Game Informer, Kotaku, Polygon articles about #pizzapocalypse. Not only did we get multiple deliveries on Tuesday, yesterday Richie and I got a pizza delivery LIVE ON STREAM (watch the VOD now!). And today, not to be outdone, someone changed it up and sent us brownies (from Domino's! Our receptionist says it's been the same Domino's delivery driver every time, poor guy) and someone even doubled down and sent some quiche and croissants.

We had garlic knots delivered too but Grim was hungry.

I love you guys and you have managed to keep me fed this week when I'd otherwise forget, but please don't send us more pizza. <3 Also because you all have had me going down to reception, totally throwing off my groove. Every time I get up and head in the general direction of the elevators, everyone around me gives me the side eye and goes, "...no."

But hey, some 2200 odd words later, I finally am at the end of this week's Spotlight. Just in time - I have a chocalatine on my desk that I've been saving until I hit the end. Until next time!

Cheers xx

--Sam

PS - Literally as I was wrapping this up, more pizza showed up. I can't make this up.