I think it’s actually the Mark VII base. Now, it doesn’t have the functionality of the Mark VII, but it has the appearance. Now, what’s the reason behind this? Simply put it, Cortana must of have “borrowed” the blueprints to a prototype Mark VII, which would later be given to Naomi-010 in early 2553. Since it was late 2552 when the Forward Unto Dawn was stranded around Requiem and Naomi-010 got it in early 2553, the Mark VII probably was in its development stage. Now, while the 'Chief was in cryo-sleep, Cortana used the nano-bots on his armour to change it into the shape of the Mark VII. I also want to say that in the Essential Visual Guide for Halo 4 said that Master Chief’s new armour was based off of the Mark IV. Now, it could just be based off the Mark IV, because it looks similar to one seen in Halsey’s Journel. However, in the Kilo-Five trilogy, it states that the Mark VII Naomi-010 looks similar to the Mark IV. Therefore, I think there’s a pretty big chance that the Mark VI in Halo 4’s campaign actually has the appearance of the Mark VII, and the Mark VII will look almost just like it (Probably will have the damage on Chief’s right chest-plate removed, of course). Anyways, I’d like to see your ideas about this.
Mark VII can look like whatever the user wants it to look like. It was stated in Glasslands that the user could alter the appearance to whatever they wanted due to the Nanobots. That is why Naomi’s armor looks like Mark V on the cover of Thursday War.
343i needs to stop trying to make a canon explanation for everything. Master Chief’s armor design was a result of artistic change, so stop trying to say otherwise. It’s an insult to the fans. Especially when you say Cortana used nanobots (Something the suit was never told to have) to completely overhaul the entire armor, yet leave a gash in the chest which brings forth a massive breach in protection.
The Master Chief’s armor is MJOLNIR Mark VI but it was remodeled by Cortana to resemble an older form of Mark IV. This is confirmed in the Halo 4: Essential Visual Guide. There is no point in theorizing that it looks like something else when the book already confirms what it’s based on.
> 343i needs to stop trying to make a canon explanation for everything. Master Chief’s armor design was a result of artistic change, so stop trying to say otherwise. It’s an insult to the fans.
I think it would be a bigger insult to the fans to completely erase what Bungie had done for the heck of it. 343i came up with a reason to give him a new look without destroying the classic design. His Halo 2 and 3 look remains canon and Spartan-IVs can equip classic Mark VI if they want. Nanotechnology is also not a new technology they made up on the spot. The Warthog and Mongoose were descibed as using Nanotech in their engines and those are mass produced on an assembly line. If cheap engines mass produced can have Nanotech, then why can’t the most expensive piece of equipment built by the UNSC have it?
The canonical reason came AFTER the real reason: artistic license. Take that as you will.
I guess that depends on your definition of “after”. People at 343i had made several references to the fact that the Chief’s armor was modified and they said it before Halo 4 had ever released. It’s not like they released the game and then released the Visual Guide afterwards to explain it. All the Visual Guide did was say that it now looks like Mark IV. Frank O’Connor mentioned that “Nanobots” had made repairs to Chief’s armor in April 2012 and BS Angel said in September 2012 that his armor was “Very fancy, very custom, very unique ‘Cortana special’ armor”.
So again it depends on your definition of after. Did they tell us it was modified during it’s first introduction? No. Did they tell us it was modified before the game released? Yes.
They designed the armor well before the game was released. Well before that interview.
So after everything that could possibly suggest otherwise, basically. Doesn’t get more after than that.
So it really doesn’t depend on your definition of after.
Actually it does. You make it sound as if 343i made that up as some excuse for the change, simply because they didn’t comment on it right way and didn’t say anything about for a few weeks or months later. That’s not true because 343i never tells us everything when they show us something new. When has 343i ever shown us an image or video and then sat us down like little children and explained every single detail about what we’ve been shown? Never. They drop video teases or concept art and then go back to being quiet while the community speculates it’s head off about what they’ve just seen. That’s how 343i works.
People just didn’t like the answer finally given so they criticized it and dismissed it all as completely “artistic license”. Part of it certainly is but the Nanotech is the In-Universe explanation. People are just going to have to deal with it.
“There’s some fairly radical modifications to his armor. Some of those are an artistic evolution, but some are connected to the story. We just can’t talk about it yet. He’s been in space for a long time.” - Frank O’Connor
Honestly they did all they needed to in game to ‘explain’ it. John checks himself out after waking up, says “you’ve been busy” and we move on.
It acknowledges the change without going into unnecessary detail on the ‘how’. Maybe that was not their original intent but that was enough for me.
Its been 4 years and Cortana has had nothing else to do but tinker with things and sort through the data she has gained about the Forerunners.
> Honestly they did all they needed to in game to ‘explain’ it. John checks himself out after waking up, says “you’ve been busy” and we move on.
>
> It acknowledges the change without going into unnecessary detail on the ‘how’. Maybe that was not their original intent but that was enough for me.
>
> Its been 4 years and Cortana has had nothing else to do but tinker with things and sort through the data she has gained about the Forerunners.
I can kind of agree with this. Bungie’s games rarely explained important details. What was the Covenant? What are Spartans? How did the Chief and Johnson make it back to Earth? Keyes had a daughter?! How did Regret find Delta Halo? Or Earth?
So many questions, a few still unanswered. I can agree with Wazooty to a degree: it’s likely that 343 did start on the armor design before a canonical explanation, but they certainly always intended to explain it. The fact that we see classic mk. VI in War Games is evidence of that.
> Actually it does. You make it sound as if 343i made that up as some excuse for the change, simply because they didn’t comment on it right way and didn’t say anything about for a few weeks or months later. That’s not true because 343i never tells us everything when they show us something new. When has 343i ever shown us an image or video and then sat us down like little children and explained every single detail about what we’ve been shown? Never. They drop video teases or concept art and then go back to being quiet while the community speculates it’s head off about what they’ve just seen. That’s how 343i works.
>
> People just didn’t like the answer finally given so they criticized it and dismissed it all as completely “artistic license”. Part of it certainly is but the Nanotech is the In-Universe explanation. People are just going to have to deal with it.
>
> <mark>“There’s some fairly radical modifications to his armor. Some of those are an artistic evolution, but some are connected to the story. We just can’t talk about it yet. He’s been in space for a long time.” - Frank O’Connor
[/quote]
</mark>
> Boom. There is it