Ode to a Plastic Helmet

Chapter 1: Finish the Fight

I remember the day you arrived on my doorstep.  I had preordered you nearly a year in advance.  Gamestop online, Legendary Edition.  I went to work that day and checked the UPS tracking page probably about every 5 minutes, cursing myself for not going to the midnight release and instead relying on a brown truck that could show up at any time.  Pure torture.  And then it said "delivered" some time around noon.  I left work, speed-walking to my car.  I never should have gone in that day.  What if someone stole you off my doorstep?  I would have never forgiven myself.  But as I pulled in the driveway, you were there.  I ran.  There was no reason.  You were only ten feet away.  I scooped you up, barely breaking stride, ran back through the garage into the house.  Then I slowed down a lot.  The package needed to be opened carefully.  I had suddenly become a 10-year veteran of the bomb-squad.  Your box was a poster.  The helmet was in a cloth case.  It was Christmas and I was ten years old again, opening up a Nintendo, a Super Nintendo, a Gameboy, a Virtual Boy, a Nintendo 64.  I thought the helmet would fit my head.  It looked like it in the pictures.  At least it held three games. 

The next few minutes are so fuzzy.  I must of turned on the tv, surround receiver, and hit the eject button on the Xbox within a couple milliseconds of each other.  It's something so practiced and routine anyways, but I think it happened at least 100% faster this time.  The controller was already charged and ready; I had made sure of that overnight.  There's no time to check out what else is on the dashboard today.  I'm faster than the 2.4 GHz signals spewing out of my controller.  Play the damn disc already. 

Intro Drums for the Bungie Logo.  Marty's music.  Goosebumps.  Then the title screen and the chants begin.  BIG goosebumps.  Nobody does it like Marty.  NOBODY.

Master Chief crashes into a jungle.  Suit locked up.  But I know he'll be fine.  There is work to do.  Grunts to kill.  Planets to save.  Galaxies to cleanse.  I spent the next 8 or so hours playing through the campaign on Normal.  This was story time.  I knew it would be the end.  The flood would be gone.  But how?  And what would happen to me and Cortana?  I didn't even eat that day.  Master Chief doesn't stop to eat or sleep.  The mission was clear.  And I had done it.  Was Master Chief really dead when the Ark blew up?  Nope, but I had to spoil that for myself on the internet.  I knew there would be a Legendary-only ending, but there was no time for it on that day.  I would see it eventually.

I was fat, dumb, and happy on my fill of Halo.  Saved the galaxy in one day.  On to Multiplayer...


Chapter 2: One is a lonely number

My friends list was still bare, but not for long.  I had been searching the internet for months in preparation.  I knew I needed a clan, or at least people to play with, or Halo 3 multiplayer would die just as Halo 2 had died for me.  When there is no one to play with the multiplayer is not fun.  One Timmy after another just screaming.  But I was determined to make Halo 3 different.  I knew there had to be people out there.  I don't know how or when I found 2old2play.  I think it was just one among a bunch of bookmarks I had gathered in advance.  So when I was ready for the multiplayer, I checked it out.  I joined a Halo clan that seemed like a good fit.  Not pressure, fun games, and relaxed.  I made some good friends.  That clan eventually collapsed, but the few leftovers merged into the HaloTards, and it was a perfect new home.  No drama, no yelling, no pressure.  If you are good at Halo, we want you in our clan.  If you suck at Halo, we want you in our clan even more.  We are out to have fun, and if you like fun, we like you. 

I may not have nearly as much exp as some of my clanmates, but without the HaloTards and 2old2play, I would have much much less.  I probably wouldn't even have beat the game on Legendary.  That $150 helmet has been paid off over and over and over thanks to 2o2p.  Great friends, clan nights, ridiculous clan forum topics, and even stupider Halo custom games.  But damn it, we have our fun.


Chapter 3: Here comes Reach

There is no shipping wait this time.  Oh hell no.  Gamestop midnight release this time.  I will brave the line of timmies.  I've already given Gamestop nearly $600 for this.  A brand-spanking new Halo-themed Xbox with a quieter fan and bigger hard drive are waiting.  And a statue of Noble team that already has a reserved spot next to my helmet is waiting as well.  Is that too much to spend on one game?  I don't think so.  At this age it gets harder and harder to get that ten-year old Christmas morning feeling back.  But come midnight on Tuesday I will have it.  I'm already getting it.  The Reach countdown on my phone excites me.  Seems like not too long ago it was a forty days.  It's down to three now.  Three days until Christmas.   

I don't think I'll be able to finish the campaign that night.  Knowing what happens to Reach, I don't feel as driven as I was with Halo 3, but once I start it maybe the feeling will be back.  Maybe I will finish it that night.  There is no work the next day.  There would have been no point as my brain would have just been a skipping record stuck on the Reach track anyways.  And Bungie will have surprises.  I can't wait for the surprises.  And I like jetpacks.


Chapter 4: The Fight Always Has an End

I don't know how much I'll play Halo 3 after Reach comes out.  Probably not at all, honestly.  I've saved the galaxy from the flood scourge and the covenant take-over five or six times over already.  And the multiplayer has been slightly stale for a while now.  But the helmet will always be there.  It's just a stupid plastic helmet that won't even fit on my head.  But it is also so much more.  It's that Christmas morning feeling.  It's the impetus that saved Xbox Live gaming for me by forcing me to find 2old2play.  It helped me make bunches of new friends that I haven't even met in real life (yet), but they are friends.  Real friends.  That helmet started it all.  A plastic helmet that arrived on my doorstep 3 years ago.  It's always going to be there next to my Xbox.  Holding whatever three games I'll be playing the most at that time.  It'll be there reminding me of all the good times I've had with Halo and all the good times to come with Halo. 

It's not just a stupid plastic helmet.  It is Halo.  And I love it.