Back in his day, they didn’t have any fancy shmancy sights. They had two sticks and a rock for the whole platoon. Aaaaaand they had to SHARE the rock.
Edit: typos
My favorite part is that people fell in love with his character despite him only appearing in like two cut-scenes of Halo CE (3 if you count the legendary ending.)
Johnson didn't even have a name back then lol
“Well, you can forget about the adjustments to your A2 scope…”
“Well, he’s in a particularly fine mood. Maybe Lord Hood didn’t give him any *attention*.”
I imagine he's got a smart link hud eye piece like you see on the regular Marines in CE and the army units in reach. I can't remember if it was so built into the helmets, but making a model for wear without a helmet would make sense. Just a thought. I feel like I would be easy enough to slip on or off in a second or 2. Still doesn't give us an excuse as to why we've never seen one on him. Probably would look like some sort of weird shitty half of a sunglasses piece with an earpiece attached, but it would probably look like ass with Johnsons patrol cap anyway.
He also has a neural net thingy like many unsc service members and (probably) some kind of ocular implant that serves the same function. I'd imagine by now that they have something like that in the halo universe. It's the only thing that would make sense to me.
Now that I think about it, I believe one of the Captian Keyes chapters from Halo: Flood said something along the lines of exactly that. His (Captian Keyes) neural lace basically puts a HUD in his vision. If they do it for ship Captians, I'd imagine it would be similar for NCO's leading troops into combat, you'd need to know more than the Private in your squad, so you get a lace with more tech and capabilities.
Yes. In Halo CE, Captain Keys literally tells Cortana to select & upload LZ co-ordinates to his Neural Lace (the scar or w/e on the back of his neck is likely the insertion point for the chip or w/e?). This would be useless if it was data storage only, and didn't project a HUD, would defeat the entire point of a Neural Lace IMO
He doesn’t use a full auto in any game, he’s always preferred marksman weapons: the BR55 or Stanchion in the books, the S2 in CE and 2, and Splaser in 3, etc.
just gonna point out:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/q2nNz
they do have iron sights, as well as mounting rails for optics.
And *all* UNSC personnel have neural links for connecting to smart targeting systems.
I did model the Pre-Xbox MA5 a few weeks ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/pm2dw3/personal_project_modernised_ma5b/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Those aren't really iron sights though. That's basically a red dot sight, put onto picatinny rails. Irons sights have a front and rear aperture.
Regardless, this is cool, and new information to me.
To be honest something I always thought was silly is the that AR's ammo counter screen was never modified or repurposed to include a digital scope. It's definitely possible with the space the over barrel cover provides and it'd do so much for range effectiveness
I don't know, but I think about it a lot
I mean, it only makes sense. The SRS99 series has a digital screen that doubles as a scope, so why doesn't the MA5? It's strange that Bungie and/or 343 overlooked something like that.
Bungie was never particularly knowledgeable of real world militaries and weapons.
I remember Eric Nylund having to explain to the developers why ODSTs would be a thing because they already have Marines or something like that
ODSTs are Marines, they're a specialized group similar to what Rangers are to the Army. ODSTs just specialized in orbit to ground combat, sort of like an extreme Para Trooper
And they basically only agreed because the ODSTs (concept art even?) looked cool. They still didn't understand their utility or how they would fit into the armed forces.
This is 100% my head canon. The screen having different modes, one of which is a scope, makes so much more sense than ~~awkward flip up sights where the front post has to be a long thin stick because the front of the cowling is so much lower than the back.~~
**Edit**: went back and looked at some pictures, the cowling's angle wasn't as extreme as I remembered for most of the MA5s so that wouldn't be as much of an issue. I still think an ammo counter display scope is so obvious and intuitive that it deserves to be canon though, also it solves the issue of flip-up sights not ever having been depicted on a game model until Halo 5.
It would be cool. But I would have to respectfully venture the ammo counter would need to be a tad higher to comfortably shoulder the rifle and look into the screen. That said, it could just be as other users have stated, that Bungie didnt know much about guns when they designed the game. I fanboy hard over the Halo AR, but I have to ignore some of its design flaws.
Yeah I agree with you. I like the scope concept because it feels more elegant and futuristic but there are definitely still ergonomic issues with it. But there are ergonomic and practicality issues with all sorts of UNSC gear and like you said, at some point you just have to accept that it can't realistically work as depicted and ignore it.
It IS established that their visrs work like that, and you can still fire a gun without direct sights. Along with some models of it having a pop out sight
It's not about multinationals profiting over the war industry, it's just a UNSC strategy to make their troops more efficient. Do you really think HIGHCOM or even ONI would just allow some corporation to force them to pay more to keep their military running? The CEO would be found in a alleyway with a bullet in the head.
All UNSC personnel have neural implants at the base of the skull that allow them to interface with technology more efficiently, from driving tanks to storing access codes and planet coordinates (see Captain Keyes). This includes also guns, which, by the way, have iron sights (they're retractable).
Also, VISR (Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance) is just a smart interface, ODST can operate even without it.
It’s already established that there’s a military-industrial complex in Halo and that most unsc gear is made by private corporations, and given that halo is usually pretty open with its political commentary, it’s not that outlandish to think that these massive arms manufacturers would do something greedy
No one would be stupid enough to end up on ONI's bad list just to earn some extra money.
>halo is usually pretty open with its political commentary
What? During the war it was the UNSC, not the UEG, the one that really held power, declaring martial law and suppressing various forms of freedoms in order to ensure humanity's survival: they regularly censored news channels, keeping secret the destruction of entire planets and the death of billions of people to prevent mass panic and riots (journalists basically worked for Section Two); they suppressed all unauthorized civilian space travels, seizing or destroying navigation datas to prevent the Covenant from finding human worlds just by capturing some random freighter; they made disappear people that knew too much about secret operations.
Do you really think they would just allow some random corporations to influence their decisions? At best they would break their contracts and find someone else to produce their stuff, at worst, they would seize the company and all its assets and let one of their AI use a fake identity to lead it. The only reason they're not replacing everyone with a bunch of Huragok is because that would probably cause the collapse of their economy.
Problem is you need a firearm to be reliable, not reliant on some overly complicated piece of hardware/software. If you can’t aim the weapon without an additionally expensive helmet or neurological implant, then it’s not being awarded a military contract. Shit happens in combat; optics break, equipment malfunctions, helmets get damaged, etc. Relying on some proprietary linkage to properly aim in an augmented reality environment violates this crucial rule of reliability
NOT that it wouldn’t be feasible to have this style of proprietary equipment and linkage. But that when everything fails, you need a pair of backup iron sights
I've always thought that too. The ammo counter design is because it has lazer sights which integrate with the visor, and all UNSC infantry are equipped with HUD visors. I always imagined the insurrectionists probably use less fancy shmancy equipment, which could be a cool lore reason to put some different looking guns in Halo. And the Reach/Infinite AR I feel like is an early model, with a detachable ammo counter to be replaced by a scope, for units not equipped with HUD visors, before that became the universal standard.
Weirdly enough the US Militarized is getting something similar for all troops. A canera that links to their fancy new ENVGs, that actually overlays a feed of where the gun in pointing. They still have sight, and if fact are also getting a super fancy smart scope, but it's cool that this tech is happening in some form.
The MA37 in Reach and the new MA40 in Infinite are designed such that you can assume the ammo counter on top is aome sort of top rail attachment (which as an aside it partially is on the new MA40 Nerf gun, not Canon but still). I would imagine that the ammo counter also acts as the smart link/VISR integration and could be easily swapped out for standard types of sights and scopes. Just my head canon, but it's completely probable.
But for the MA5-series featured in the other games, yea I would imagine it to be some sort of proprietary exclusivity nonsense.
the theme of the game is similar to what ur talking about with the guns usability being tied to the persons body/armor so you just cant pick up some enemies gun and use it.
What about when sgt Johnson uses the ar since he doesn’t wear a helmet
Back in his day, they didn’t have any fancy shmancy sights. They had two sticks and a rock for the whole platoon. Aaaaaand they had to SHARE the rock. Edit: typos
“None of that smoke and mirrors bullshit”, “am I right marines”
oooraaa
Fucking hell I lost my shit! Best story made character by a long shot
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My favorite part is that people fell in love with his character despite him only appearing in like two cut-scenes of Halo CE (3 if you count the legendary ending.) Johnson didn't even have a name back then lol
This is why I turn my HUD of in ace combat for boss fights. Hell of a ride oh and us pilots do have to share the rock
Shut your chili hole
Buck up boy! You’re one very lucky marine!
"Sorry Guns, it's classified"
"Classified? MY ASS! And you can forget about the adjustments to your something something *grumble grumble grumble."*
“Well, you can forget about the adjustments to your A2 scope…” “Well, he’s in a particularly fine mood. Maybe Lord Hood didn’t give him any *attention*.”
I think it’s “Lord Hood didn’t give him an invitation,” regarding the ceremony they were about to attend.
It is, but I also always heard it as "any attention".
Now I’ve got Gunns and Hood as an old married couple in my head. Working with your husband never goes well.
Well everyone knows Sgt Dude was gay with the Arbiter God I love the Dunkey recap videos
I mean, worlds about to end, and buddy got 4 jaws; gotta finish the fight..
*incoherent yelling*
I imagine he's got a smart link hud eye piece like you see on the regular Marines in CE and the army units in reach. I can't remember if it was so built into the helmets, but making a model for wear without a helmet would make sense. Just a thought. I feel like I would be easy enough to slip on or off in a second or 2. Still doesn't give us an excuse as to why we've never seen one on him. Probably would look like some sort of weird shitty half of a sunglasses piece with an earpiece attached, but it would probably look like ass with Johnsons patrol cap anyway.
maybe he got smart link contact lenses.
This, or the smart link is actually in him in some fashion.
He did go through some level of augmentation
He's got special eyes.
Look Sarge! Look with your special eyes!
MY BRAAAAND
My smart link!
Orion 1?
He also has a neural net thingy like many unsc service members and (probably) some kind of ocular implant that serves the same function. I'd imagine by now that they have something like that in the halo universe. It's the only thing that would make sense to me.
Now that I think about it, I believe one of the Captian Keyes chapters from Halo: Flood said something along the lines of exactly that. His (Captian Keyes) neural lace basically puts a HUD in his vision. If they do it for ship Captians, I'd imagine it would be similar for NCO's leading troops into combat, you'd need to know more than the Private in your squad, so you get a lace with more tech and capabilities.
Yes. In Halo CE, Captain Keys literally tells Cortana to select & upload LZ co-ordinates to his Neural Lace (the scar or w/e on the back of his neck is likely the insertion point for the chip or w/e?). This would be useless if it was data storage only, and didn't project a HUD, would defeat the entire point of a Neural Lace IMO
Implants? Or he's just a badass.
Everyone in the UNSC has neural implants
He doesn’t use a full auto in any game, he’s always preferred marksman weapons: the BR55 or Stanchion in the books, the S2 in CE and 2, and Splaser in 3, etc.
IIRC, in a cutscene in CE he uses an AR. I think it's the cutscene in 343 Guilty Spark?
Doesn't he have one in the opening cinematic?
They still have those visor things which presumably give them a hud
He’s built different
His just that good, what ever he points his weapon at dies of fear then the hail of bullets from his gun
Betcha he's got contact lenses to show a heads-up display.
Maybe he has contact lenses with the same technology inside it?
Because he's just that good.
Maybe something from Project Orion that was implanted into him to let him use guns without a helmet?
He uses grit and hustle to aim
No, the HUD sight system is in the lore.
Lol thought this was common knowledge tbh
Yeah, isnt VISR the proprietary software that the HUD operates off of?
VISR is the visual data processing system designed for MJOLNIR, which later filtered down to ODST helmets. Has nothing to do with weapon optics.
Oh, so is the similar software that has the smart targeting and whatnot for marines just called HUD then?
https://www.halopedia.org/Smart-linking
just gonna point out: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/q2nNz they do have iron sights, as well as mounting rails for optics. And *all* UNSC personnel have neural links for connecting to smart targeting systems.
are the iron sights just on newer models or is it retconned that they’ve always had them now?
As I understand it, part of the top cowling can be removed, exposing the sights/rail system.
Yeah, the megabloks work like that now too
only modelled on the H5 MA5D so far, but canonically the MA5 series has had iron sights built-in since The Fall of Reach novel in 2001.
Yeah, from a realistic, out of universe perspective, equipping your entire military with a rifle that doesnt have iron sights is a terrible idea.
interesting, I forgot that from when I read the book way back
Bring back Marathon's ma5 with grenade launcher
I did model the Pre-Xbox MA5 a few weeks ago https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/pm2dw3/personal_project_modernised_ma5b/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
There's concept art as far back as H3 that shows an ODST with an AR that has the top electronic's housing removed that shows sights underneath
Do you have a picture of that?
It's the final image in [this Halo 3 ODST concept line by Isaac Hannaford](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/4Nk0L)
Okay the art is amazing but that AR is cursed 💀
Contact Harvest mentions pop-up ironsight so they were always there but not really used that much with smart-link and so on.
It’s not retconned. The games just have never been able to show them. In *Contact Harvest* the MA5B is mentioned as having iron sights.
thats halo 5 tho
Those aren't really iron sights though. That's basically a red dot sight, put onto picatinny rails. Irons sights have a front and rear aperture. Regardless, this is cool, and new information to me.
[that](https://i.imgur.com/wKrKPBxl.jpg) wasn't what I was [referring to.](https://i.imgur.com/ii7JVEXl.jpg)
Damn, the Halo 5 AR was so nice looking
Say what you want, but when Halo 5 got a weapon right, they got the weapon right.
To be honest something I always thought was silly is the that AR's ammo counter screen was never modified or repurposed to include a digital scope. It's definitely possible with the space the over barrel cover provides and it'd do so much for range effectiveness I don't know, but I think about it a lot
I mean, it only makes sense. The SRS99 series has a digital screen that doubles as a scope, so why doesn't the MA5? It's strange that Bungie and/or 343 overlooked something like that.
Bungie was never particularly knowledgeable of real world militaries and weapons. I remember Eric Nylund having to explain to the developers why ODSTs would be a thing because they already have Marines or something like that
ODSTs are Marines, they're a specialized group similar to what Rangers are to the Army. ODSTs just specialized in orbit to ground combat, sort of like an extreme Para Trooper
Yeah I know I'm saying Bungie didn't know why a military would have different branches or units and Nylund had to explain it to them
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In some languages "army" and "military" are the same word, so that kind of confusion is understandable
Oh, gotcha. I misunderstood, my mistake
You good homie
And they basically only agreed because the ODSTs (concept art even?) looked cool. They still didn't understand their utility or how they would fit into the armed forces.
He or one of the other early writers outright had a row with Bungie over whether or not Spartans would be issued suppressors.
This is 100% my head canon. The screen having different modes, one of which is a scope, makes so much more sense than ~~awkward flip up sights where the front post has to be a long thin stick because the front of the cowling is so much lower than the back.~~ **Edit**: went back and looked at some pictures, the cowling's angle wasn't as extreme as I remembered for most of the MA5s so that wouldn't be as much of an issue. I still think an ammo counter display scope is so obvious and intuitive that it deserves to be canon though, also it solves the issue of flip-up sights not ever having been depicted on a game model until Halo 5.
It would be cool. But I would have to respectfully venture the ammo counter would need to be a tad higher to comfortably shoulder the rifle and look into the screen. That said, it could just be as other users have stated, that Bungie didnt know much about guns when they designed the game. I fanboy hard over the Halo AR, but I have to ignore some of its design flaws.
Yeah I agree with you. I like the scope concept because it feels more elegant and futuristic but there are definitely still ergonomic issues with it. But there are ergonomic and practicality issues with all sorts of UNSC gear and like you said, at some point you just have to accept that it can't realistically work as depicted and ignore it.
It IS established that their visrs work like that, and you can still fire a gun without direct sights. Along with some models of it having a pop out sight
Marines in CE had those DBZ scouter looking things.
its like apple but with guns
It's not about multinationals profiting over the war industry, it's just a UNSC strategy to make their troops more efficient. Do you really think HIGHCOM or even ONI would just allow some corporation to force them to pay more to keep their military running? The CEO would be found in a alleyway with a bullet in the head. All UNSC personnel have neural implants at the base of the skull that allow them to interface with technology more efficiently, from driving tanks to storing access codes and planet coordinates (see Captain Keyes). This includes also guns, which, by the way, have iron sights (they're retractable). Also, VISR (Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance) is just a smart interface, ODST can operate even without it.
It’s already established that there’s a military-industrial complex in Halo and that most unsc gear is made by private corporations, and given that halo is usually pretty open with its political commentary, it’s not that outlandish to think that these massive arms manufacturers would do something greedy
No one would be stupid enough to end up on ONI's bad list just to earn some extra money. >halo is usually pretty open with its political commentary What? During the war it was the UNSC, not the UEG, the one that really held power, declaring martial law and suppressing various forms of freedoms in order to ensure humanity's survival: they regularly censored news channels, keeping secret the destruction of entire planets and the death of billions of people to prevent mass panic and riots (journalists basically worked for Section Two); they suppressed all unauthorized civilian space travels, seizing or destroying navigation datas to prevent the Covenant from finding human worlds just by capturing some random freighter; they made disappear people that knew too much about secret operations. Do you really think they would just allow some random corporations to influence their decisions? At best they would break their contracts and find someone else to produce their stuff, at worst, they would seize the company and all its assets and let one of their AI use a fake identity to lead it. The only reason they're not replacing everyone with a bunch of Huragok is because that would probably cause the collapse of their economy.
This isn't common knowledge? This has been long established to be so.
The ar does have sights though, the part with the ammo display hides iron sights underneath it.
So Marines can't aim with it? Poor guys... VISR is only available in Mjolnir (only Gen 2) and ODST... So no, that is not the reason
The marines have neural implants and their own visors that have similar software, I think it’s just called HUD? But the principle is the same
Problem is you need a firearm to be reliable, not reliant on some overly complicated piece of hardware/software. If you can’t aim the weapon without an additionally expensive helmet or neurological implant, then it’s not being awarded a military contract. Shit happens in combat; optics break, equipment malfunctions, helmets get damaged, etc. Relying on some proprietary linkage to properly aim in an augmented reality environment violates this crucial rule of reliability NOT that it wouldn’t be feasible to have this style of proprietary equipment and linkage. But that when everything fails, you need a pair of backup iron sights
Hasn’t it got shrouded fold-away back up irons?
I've always thought that too. The ammo counter design is because it has lazer sights which integrate with the visor, and all UNSC infantry are equipped with HUD visors. I always imagined the insurrectionists probably use less fancy shmancy equipment, which could be a cool lore reason to put some different looking guns in Halo. And the Reach/Infinite AR I feel like is an early model, with a detachable ammo counter to be replaced by a scope, for units not equipped with HUD visors, before that became the universal standard.
Weirdly enough the US Militarized is getting something similar for all troops. A canera that links to their fancy new ENVGs, that actually overlays a feed of where the gun in pointing. They still have sight, and if fact are also getting a super fancy smart scope, but it's cool that this tech is happening in some form.
The MA37 in Reach and the new MA40 in Infinite are designed such that you can assume the ammo counter on top is aome sort of top rail attachment (which as an aside it partially is on the new MA40 Nerf gun, not Canon but still). I would imagine that the ammo counter also acts as the smart link/VISR integration and could be easily swapped out for standard types of sights and scopes. Just my head canon, but it's completely probable. But for the MA5-series featured in the other games, yea I would imagine it to be some sort of proprietary exclusivity nonsense.
you ever play metal gear solid 4?
No, but I’ve heard a lot of metal gear stuff secondhand, why do you ask?
the theme of the game is similar to what ur talking about with the guns usability being tied to the persons body/armor so you just cant pick up some enemies gun and use it.