For example: I don't mind the Chief's armour changes because the armour is one thing that 343 did well. But storm covenant, the forerunner, and the soviet washing machine factory FuD interiors were just bad.

Great change? I'm OK with that (as long as it doesn't take the piss).

: People on this forum (myself included) often fall into the pitfall of
: thinking everything in a fictional universe has to appear functional and
: be canonically consistent. But that's dumb, and it's a philosophy bound
: for disappointment. The point of a fictitious universe is to entertain the
: audience, and it's a lot easier to do that when you're loose with your
: in-universe rules.

Loose but not lax. There is a point where things are so loose that you think that they are not even trying.

They probably aren't really trying because they want to do their own thing. I might be able to get on board with that if their own thing was amazingly good. But it is not.

: So yeah the mantis doesn't make a lot of sense, but it isn't supposed to.
: It's a fun walking tank . Halo has always followed the "rule of
: cool" anyway - just look at the freaking scorpion.

Halo has always been cheesy and a collage of all the cool stuff from Alien and Aliens, with a bit of ring world thrown in for good measure. I remember a (Mac World?) Halo demo that had marine characters with faces of some of the guys who worked for Bungie. It was fun and you could see that the guys making it where having fun. So Halo shouldn't be too po faced.

: Maybe it's been previously established that forerunner machines can make all
: the holograms they need. Whatever, arms still look cool .

There is the problem. We don't relate to sentinels as enemies because things without limbs are just machines and we don't get worked up about fighting machines - unless they are terminators with limbs and skulls - just like prometheans. But, whereas terminators are cool: prometheans are not; their holographic fright-faces are just a joke. When that first, scripted, promethean did his fright-face at me I laughed. I think I said, "you can not be serious".

: Spartan Vale is ludicrously curvy and that doesn't meet my definition of what
: a realistic supersoldier should be. Too bad, lots of fans enjoy
: fanservice . Who am I to begrudge them that?

People will still buy a game even if it doesn't have fan service. How many people bought Halo for Cortana?

Guys, that's not a rhetorical question - did any of you buy Halo because of her little blue bod? Don't worry, we are all friends here - fess up. Anybody?

Halo once had standards - it WAS cheesy but it had some standards. Cool is difficult. If you try too hard, if you don't have good judgement and some restraint then fan service and rule of cool can just become farce.

: When it's distressing to you that the chief's aremor keeps changing and there
: aren't any explanations: too bad - he's gotta look cool because it sells
: games .

I agree on this point because, in my opinion, they did a great job with that armour. To me, he actually did look cool. But he also looked military and practical. (maybe his tummy was a bit exposed but that is quibbling)

In addition: he is now wearing gen2 compatible gear. Not sure exactly what that means but, I think, they gave him new armour when he got back. I just hope that his new armour doesn't have all the old scratches. (Art and story being in conflict) I am just going to forget what we saw in h4.

: I'm definitely butthurt that the sizes and designs of frigates isn't
: consistent between halo game installments , but sometimes you have to take
: a step back and realize that you're never going to get what you want
: (canonical consistency, that is). Ever. The fact that the games (and other
: media) are so inconsistent in that regard should be enough evidence that
: to most consumers, it doesn't actually matter. at all. so we're just not
: their target demo, and we need to be ok with that.

: Or maybe you enjoy being disappointed, you masochist.

No, I don't like disappointment and, to a degree, I have walked away from Halo. But when I see something like that new promethean it wrings a cry of outrage from me - a WTF? and a, "you can't be serious!!?" :-)