To start, it's borderline absurd to think that all of the Ghosts, Banshees, Scorpions, etc would look identical to each other; that there would be only a single model. Like saying "fighter jet" and expecting only F-16s. Something I always think (again, just personally) Halo can use more of is a sense of... galactic biodiversity we'll call it. Variations and permutations that really actually make the world feel diverse and "alive" so to speak. So when the opportunity comes along where we have a new model of rocket launcher, or Warthog, or Wraith, or whatever, you better believe we'll try and best find a way to fictionally "fit" it into the fabric of the universe. It's much more fun IMO to imagine squadrons of Banshees or Seraphs made up of various models flying through the air during a battle than to just assume "whatever is the newest look is the 'real' look and the 'only' look it's ever been)

Sometimes those things are created specifically as a different model from the beginning. And yes, sometimes it's just artists being artists and putting their own spin on something. Thing is, I see some of you saying "fictional justification is dumb, just call it artistic expression and be done with it." If we were to do that, each new thing would simply be overwriting the last, as if the last had never happen, and frankly, I think that's silly (in most instances). If you are fine with it simply being artistic license, then it already shouldn't affect you whether we come up with a reason or not. It just looks how it looks and that's it. Some of us however, prefer the idea of adding to the universe and trying our best to make it all fit together as best it can. Does it always work? Of course not. Some rationalizations are naturally a stretch, and we do the best we can.

On asset reuse, that's oftentimes just a reality of the process. Take the SOS Elites. The H2A versions and the H4/5 versions simply don't use the the same underpinnings (tech wise); it's not like simply reskinning one to look like the other. So in order to be more efficient with resources, it makes sense to utilize one over the other. Now, "canonically" if you were to observe the SOS faction in "real life", you would see Elites in H2A-style combat harnesses, you would see Storm-class harnesses, you would likely see Ranger harnesses, Spec-ops, etc as well. Since that's not exactly simple to do within the realm of the game, when you watch an H2A cutscene you can think of it as getting one slice of "reality", and H5 as another. And again, for those who just prefer to go on thinking that you would rather just see it as artistic license, please feel free to do so! lol No one is stopping you, and fictional justification isn't hurting that mindset.

On species variation, again, I think it would be absurd to imagine that ALL Elites look like they did in H2A, or H4/5, or HW. Same with Grunts, Jackals, etc (yes I know Jackals are a bigger stretch; please, it's sci-fi lol). On a fun side note, my wonderful and lovely significant other is currently finishing up her phD in Biology, with a specialization in Functional Morphology. So trust me when I say I have some pretty decent access to a wealth of rational scientific hooks on which to try and build relatively plausible justifications for regarding phenotypic variation. Again is it perfect? No, but it's not nearly the stretch that many a forum denizen or casual fan might assume.

So are all changes/justifications 100% optimal? Of course not, but I'll be damned if there aren't passionate and talented folks tirelessly trying their hardest to try and get it to all work together, make as much sense as possible, and maybe most importantly, continue giving folks a universe they enjoy exploring and questioning.

So much for only saying a little...

<3
Grim