The Armored Artist Blog

ODST: Orbital Drop Shock Trooper

Let’s flashback to November, 2004. We are still fifteen years away from the first Covid-19 cases, we haven’t yet seen how Anakin becomes Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith, and an entire generation of gamers are celebrating the release of the much anticipated sequel to 2001’s major flagship game that arguably launched the Xbox brand as a real contender in the video game world. Halo 2 arrived with much fanfare, promising the return of Master Chief to push back against the onslaught of the Covenant – not the mention the return of highly entertaining multiplayer matches with friends and the ultimately the debut of the franchise on the new Xbox Live.

The original Halo blew me away. My siblings and I received an Xbox console for Christmas and along with it the first adventure of Master Chief. I spent many nights with my brother and my friends (and even my brother’s friends) scrambling to snatch victory from each other in multiplayer tournaments or fighting through alien enemies desperate to beat the campaign on Legendary.

I really connected with the narrative and loved all the design work in the world the game created. Plus, so many positive memories had been built playing the original. This meant I was no exception when the second game was announced. I was hyped. When it finally released, Bungie leaned into the excitement, even releasing a limited edition version of the game in an attractive metal case.

Halo 2 Collector’s Edition (click arrow for more!)

Seeing the Limited Collector’s Edition of the game in its sleek metal case next to the standard release of the game on store shelves made the choice easy. It’s wild now seeing all the promotional things packaged inside. The Halo Mountain Dew Slurpee from 7-11 is particularly notable.

While I sat on a cozy couch all those years ago, deeply engrossed in the much grander scope of the sequel’s campaign, a new group of combat companions were introduced. Locked in drop pods that were fired from a ship in orbit, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers joined Master Chief in the fray making for one of the coolest introductions I had seen at that point. Even then, my youngster self thought it would be cool to have a set of armor like theirs. My own Helljumper armor.

ODST in the Series History (click arrow for more!)

The ODST debuted in Halo 2 and would go on to be featured in all the subsequent Halo games as well as multiple live action appearances. The Halo: Landfall shorts by director Neill Blomkamp with Weta Workshops, released in 2007, marked the first time any Halo content was showcased in live action with ODST troopers providing the main focus. Despite a brief cameo in 2012’s Forward Unto Dawn, the Helljumper’s most notable live action presence remains the exceptional narrative trailer for Halo 3: ODST which followed a full arc of a trooper’s journey in two of the most cinematic minutes in the franchise’s history.

Recently, I decided to make that childhood dream a reality. I love creative projects, and putting together a set of ODST armor definitely fits that bill. My intention with this project is to create a wearable ODST costume that can also be used as a decorative display piece when not in use. The helmet seemed a great place to start.

The first thing I wanted to do was some sketch work so I could understand the form of the helmet a little better and start thinking about how I wanted to do the coloration of my particular helmet. One of the interesting things about the Halo universe is that there is a lot of standardized military equipment but characters put their own touches on it, giving personality. I want to do the same with my helmet.

I ordered a resin cast ODST Helmet H3 from Branfuhr Studios, which I’d like to say was a very great experience. They answered my questions quickly and were very helpful. If you’re looking for a high-quality Halo helmet, I highly recommend checking them out (Note: this is completely unsponsored, I just really had a great experience with them and the helmet quality is top-notch.)

There were a couple of options available when I was ordering the helmet. I opted for Branfuhr Studios to trim out the resin visor section that is present in the raw cast as well as provide the initial coat of primer. This is how the helmet looked when it arrived. The cast was super clean and feels very sturdy. I also chose the blue-tinted visor which has a really nice reflective quality while providing decent visibility when wearing the helmet.

I wanted to incorporate a little bit more detail into the recessed areas on the side of the helmet. I measured the opening, cut some brass rods down to size, and super glued them in. I also added a few flat pieces of styrene sheet into the lower cavity.

Once the small bits were added, I hit the whole helmet a black primer from Games Workshop.

My next step is to airbrush the true base colors. There are going to be some areas that will be more metallic whereas most of the helmet I want to have the muted matte colors common in military hardware. I also am considering how to do stenciling for the UNSC and ODST insignia. I might even add some other stenciled details.

I’m really looking forward to continuing this journey, I’m enjoying it a lot so far.