: So, yeah. Where did the Spartan-IVs come from? Six years ago, Spartans had to
: be augmented during puberty. Halsey specifically cited the genetic
: augments as working best on pre-pubescent subjects. The augments to
: improve muscle density, the ceramic ossification, and the catalytic
: thyroid implant all read like something best done during puberty, when the
: body is already growing and changing. For years, I had this mental image
: of Halsey's surgeons hijacking the puberty process and using it to shape
: the Spartan's bodies.

: The Spartan IIIs also had to be augmented during the puberty process, clear
: up to the Gamma class fielded in the 2550s.

It's actually even more absurd than that. We know from Ghosts of Onyx that just two months before the S-IV program was launched in January 2553, the UNSC was preparing to begin training the next class of Spartan-IIIs (Delta Company). They had the candidates sorted out and were already bringing supplies in. That obviously didn't work out, but 343i would have us believe that in those two months, the UNSC not only sorted out the bureaucratic hurdles involved with starting an all-new Spartan program, but also:

Figured out how to expand the Spartan augmentations' genetic compatibility criteria to include everyone, as opposed to a small fraction of the population.

Figured out how to apply the augmentations on fully grown adults of drastically different ages.

Design and mass-produce an all-new type of MJOLNIR armor. And not just one set for each Spartan, but dozens of redundant variants for every single mission specialization.

Design and build all-new facilities for the augmentation, training, and housing of the Spartan-IVs.

Hire and train the instructors, doctors and dozens of other staff involved with the new program.

All this and more in a span of two months. With the existing Spartan infrastructure and know-how largely lost with Onyx.

: Some people argue that the UNSC was able to ignore genetic requirements for
: the Spartan IIIs, which proves that work was being done on making the
: augmentations general-issue. I believe that it's a qualitatively different
: sort of advancement, if it was even a technological improvement. After the
: first round of Spartan II augmentations, the UNSC would have had plenty of
: empirical data on how to treat and prevent some of the failures and
: abnormalities. After that, was very much accomplished?

It pays to mention that they only managed to broaden the genetic requirements a bit, not ignore them altogether, no matter what Traviss tries to insist.

: Halsey's Journal was just about the greatest entry into the Halo franchise.
: The origins of both Spartans and MJOLNIR and how they evolved from their
: initial concepts were revealed in a wonderful blend of storytelling and
: universe-building that 343i hasn't even come close to reproducing. That's
: because Nylund cared about the details of how MJOLNIR came together, even
: if the pieces were glued together with technobabble. 343i turned MJOLNIR
: from the Space Shuttle to cosplay Guyver armor, no intermediate steps. No
: missing... OK, it's all missing links.

This. all of it.