I’ve been wandering about this for a long time. Since Halo 2A is coming around the corner i was wondering if there is an explanation between the changes from the Halo 2 marines to the halo 3 marines. I know that they’re supposed to be the same according to some crates found in halo 3. I know that Bungie said the marines and ODST’s were Visually/Aesthetically updated from Halo 2 to 3. So is there a explanation?
Also since 343 has new halo 2A marine models are all 3 of these marines types the same?
I don’t know about canonically, but I tell myself since this is at the end of the war and resources probably aren’t that readily available, that there are probably different variations of armor floating around, some newer than others or by different contractors & manufacturers. But really, I don’t know.
The ODSTs aboard In Amber Clad may have had a different variation of the ODST armor than those aboard the UNSC Say My Name, both of which we in orbit above Earth at the same time.
Some of these canonical explanations can get a little annoying, like why do Spartans no longer need med kits with Mark VI & Gen II armor?
Or why after 2 decades with the Mark IV armor did Chief only get to rock the Mark V for a few months before getting the Mark VI, which he’s now had on for over 5 years?
The real answers are gameplay improvements and aesthetics. But let’s see who can give the canonical answers to these below. 1000cR each*. Extra Credit: What is the name of the AI Admiral Parangosky gave to her protege Serin Osman?
*in order to get those 2000cR, you’re going to have to play a couple matches in Reach.
Anyway OP, it’s visuals. I still haven’t seen a good imagine of a H2A marine. I read that they’ve updated the H2 version like they did with the ODSTs, which is great. They’re not messing around with this remake.
> The ODSTs aboard In Amber Clad may have had a different variation of the ODST armor than those aboard the UNSC Say My Name, both of which we in orbit above Earth at the same time.
Which isn’t unreasonable when you consider Spartans get different variations. Master Chief wore Mark V at the same time Noble Six wore Mark V**. So the ODSTs should also have different variations.**
> Some of these canonical explanations can get a little annoying, like why do Spartans no longer need med kits with Mark VI & Gen II armor?
Mostly just a gameplay change but MJOLNIR Mark VI comes with Automatic biofoam injectors.
> Or why after 2 decades with the Mark IV armor did Chief only get to rock the Mark V for a few months before getting the Mark VI, which he’s now had on for over 5 years?
He’s had it for 5 years but 4 of them he was lost in space with it. Wearing it in Escalation could be a personal choice.
What is the name of the AI Admiral Parangosky gave to her protege Serin Osman?
Black Box(BB)
Yeah, the marine/ODST BDU thing is confusing. I chalk it up to the whole “Better graphics=stuff looking waaayy more advanced than it did before”, a la the Mark V in Halo CE: Anniversary (which looks beautiful).
I’m almost 100% positive they won’t retcon the halo 3 era BDU.
In H2A you’ll notice the marine armor is actually the ‘Insurrectionist era’ BDU seen in Halo Wars, in forest camo. So they’re not actually introducing a whole new armor type here.
Furthermore, the Halo 3 BDU has been seen in too many other places for it to be replaced. It also appears in ODST, Halo Legends and even Halo 1 Anniversary, itself a remaster, on the bumblebee pilot.
If you’re looking for an in universe explanation, i’d say the H2A marine armor was probably worn by the marines on the In Amber Clad because resources were drawing thin, and then subsequent forces in the area all had the halo 3 type armor which was probably the most popular at that time.
Hope that helped, I thought quite a bit about this.
EDIT: Halopedia actually has an article on it which I think is really useful. Basically, the Halo CE (original) and Halo 2 (original) marine armors aren’t canon, but there are 4 main versions of the Marine BDU which are:
Insurrectionist Era/Early War: Halo Wars, H2A
Cross-Branch: Reach, CEA
M52B: Halo 3, ODST
Post War: Halo 4, (Most likely Halo 5)
Gazz, i noticed that the Halo 2A marines looked like the wars. With the chest plate and the shoulders. I’m glad i wasn’t the only one that noticed that. I guess i was hoping that for Halo 2A they would use the M25B armor since Bungie said that the marines in Halo 3 were updated halo 2 marines. So i guess i was hoping that 343 would make those two the same. I’m glad that they used the Halo wars models at least. I guess i assumed that in the early 2530’s that all the “Halo Wars” BDU was retired and that in 2531 the M25B armor was standard issue.
Halopedia is insisting that the Marines only received a graphical update from Halo 2 to 3. If that’s true, then it’s possible that the Halo 2 Marines look so different simply because they have a ton of pouches on their chest.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that the Halo Wars BDU bears a striking resemblance to the original BDU from CE. I believe this is simply supposed to be another take on the classic Marine uniform, like Reach’s BDU, rather then a completely separate entity. The only evidence Halopedia has for the Halo Wars variant being its own canon uniform was how it appeared in Halo Legends. And of course, we all know how a great deal of the visuals in Legends are considered non-canon.
> Halopedia is insisting that the Marines only received a graphical update from Halo 2 to 3. If that’s true, then it’s possible that the Halo 2 Marines look so different simply because they have a ton of pouches on their chest.
No, Halopedia is saying that the Halo 3 design for the ‘M52B’ marine armor overwrites Halo 2’s canonically, as Halo 3’s is the fully realised vision for it.
Essentially, what we’re seeing in H2A is 343 replacing the Halo 2 ‘M52B’ with a completely different armor set, in this case the Halo Wars marine armor, probably because it resembles the Halo 2 armor more than the Halo 3 armor does anyway.
So now, in canon, what was the same armor in 2 games are now split into two different armors, both of which already canonically existed before this point.
> No, Halopedia is saying that the Halo 3 design for the ‘M52B’ marine armor overwrites Halo 2’s canonically, as Halo 3’s is the fully realised vision for it.
That’s basically what graphical update means. In CE, Captain Keyes’ uniform looks more like pajamas or a pair of sweats due to graphical limitations, but Bungie obviously didn’t have this is mind. Which is why in later games, Navy officers actually look like they’re wearing Navy dress uniforms.
> > No, Halopedia is saying that the Halo 3 design for the ‘M52B’ marine armor overwrites Halo 2’s canonically, as Halo 3’s is the fully realised vision for it.
>
> That’s basically what graphical update means. In CE, Captain Keyes’ uniform looks more like pajamas or a pair of sweats due to graphical limitations, but Bungie obviously didn’t have this is mind. Which is why in later games, Navy officers actually look like they’re wearing Navy dress uniforms.
Yeah but like I said in the rest of that post, the marine armors are getting split up in universe now anyway, because of H2A.
It’s a little different than the traditional H2-H3 stuff. For example, the difference in Miranda Keyes’ officer’s uniform in between Halo 2 and 3 could be written off as a graphical upgrade as well like her dad’s, but from the blur cutscenes we can see the design in Halo 2A is loyal to the original, once again creating a split by creating a new type of uniform.
For me, I just like to think they are all canon and are used by different regiments ect. Maybe Catalog will jump into the thread to clear this up, either way, it does not really matter now, since we have new armour with Halo 4 and moving forward 343 have a pretty solid suite of sets to use 
When i saw the Halo 2A Johnson wearing the marine armor i was hopeful that 343 was going to use the halo 3 marine design. But later on it’s the Halo Wars armor. I’m just really disappointed that 343 didn’t use bungie’s designs. I mean why make a visual upgrade when it already was visually updated?? And yeah if catalog would answer my question that would be amazing.
> When i saw the Halo 2A Johnson wearing the marine armor i was hopeful that 343 was going to use the halo 3 marine design. But later on it’s the Halo Wars armor. I’m just really disappointed that 343 didn’t use bungie’s designs. I mean why make a visual upgrade when it already was visually updated?? And yeah if catalog would answer my question that would be amazing.
Yeah, if Catalog confirmed what i’m thinking it would give me a lot of peace of mind.
That said, even without that i’m fairly certain what we see in Halo 3 still exists in the Halo Universe, even with Halo 2 anniversary’s additions.
I don’t have a problem with the original Marine armor being non-canon. Don’t get me wrong, I think Halo: Combat Evolved is a beautiful game, with some of the best visuals, but the marine BDU…let’s be honest, it looked too bulky and non-functional. The Halo Wars BDU seemed to take that design but make it look more functional and militaristic. Well, hopefully Catalog will give us some clarification on this. On an unrelated note, did anyone else notice that Miranda Keyes’ uniform incorporates elements from FUD’s cadet uniform?
This isn’t the BDU from Halo Wars. Did you guys forget what the BDUs look like? The BDU in the picture, assuming it isn’t a placeholder, is much more similar to the Halo: Reach BDUs. For reference.
> EDIT: Halopedia actually has an article on it which I think is really useful. Basically, the Halo CE (original) and Halo 2 (original) marine armors aren’t canon, but there are 4 main versions of the Marine BDU which are:
> Insurrectionist Era/Early War: Halo Wars, H2A
> Cross-Branch: Reach, CEA
> M52B: Halo 3, ODST
> Post War: Halo 4, (Most likely Halo 5)
> http://www.halopedia.org/UNSC_Marine_Corps_Battle_Dress_Uniform
This all makes sense. The problem is that in H3 they are worse off then they were in H2. So why do they need to default old outdated armor in H2A but not H3. 343 should have made the mariens a cross between Cross-Branch and M52B. That would have made more sense canon wise. I also think it would look better than using Early Era armor.
However the way I have always thought this happened. Halo CEA and HR have the same armors because Reach was a Military R&D planet that used different armor and weapons than other places. Earth that was not as heavily used for R&D (and was ultra top secret, therefore thought to not be in as much danger, plus far away fro the front lines) was still using Insurrection Era equipment. As for H3, I cannot explain (cannon wise) why they suddenly get better equipment (I would say it was just good old fashioned lore braking ascetic updates that were made just to have ascetic updates).
> > EDIT: Halopedia actually has an article on it which I think is really useful. Basically, the Halo CE (original) and Halo 2 (original) marine armors aren’t canon, but there are 4 main versions of the Marine BDU which are:
> > Insurrectionist Era/Early War: Halo Wars, H2A
> > Cross-Branch: Reach, CEA
> > M52B: Halo 3, ODST
> > Post War: Halo 4, (Most likely Halo 5)
> > http://www.halopedia.org/UNSC_Marine_Corps_Battle_Dress_Uniform
>
> This all makes sense. The problem is that in H3 they are worse off then they were in H2. So why do they need to default old outdated armor in H2A but not H3. 343 should have made the mariens a cross between Cross-Branch and M52B. That would have made more sense canon wise. I also think it would look better than using Early Era armor.
>
> However the way I have always thought this happened. Halo CEA and HR have the same armors because Reach was a Military R&D planet that used different armor and weapons than other places. Earth that was not as heavily used for R&D (and was ultra top secret, therefore thought to not be in as much danger, plus far away fro the front lines) was still using Insurrection Era equipment. As for H3, I cannot explain (cannon wise) why they suddenly get better equipment (I would say it was just good old fashioned lore braking ascetic updates that were made just to have ascetic updates).
In the Halopedia article it states that the Halo 2/3 BDU can have interchangeable armour arrangements. For instance, the boots are the same, however the sin guards are not, these are both canon, as they are different shin guards attached to the same boot, and thus referred to as the same thing, so really its kinda all canon, the pouches are also attachable, ect.
Interestingly enough in Halo 3’s the crates have pics of the Halo 2 M52B chest,boots ect on them. Not sure why. It could either mean that the halo 3 BDU is supposed to be the Halo 2 version but updated. Or both armors exist. But i like the thought that the Halo 2 marines aren’t canon. But what ever armor 343 decides to use in Halo 2A is going to be Canon.
