Arby 'n' the Chief

Arby 'n' the Chief is a Live-Action Machinima Hybrid series created by Jon Graham, credited as Jon CJG, about the lives of figurine versions of the Master Chief and the Arbiter. It is mainly based around the two playing Halo: Reach and Halo 3, and doing things related to Halo, but also will occasionally focus on the duo playing other games such as Call of Duty 4 and Devil May Cry 4, whilst spending the remainder of their time pulling off various shenanigans.

Toys

 * Master Chief
 * The Arbiter
 * Cortana
 * Greg
 * Todd
 * Travis

Xbox Live

 * Trent Donnovich
 * Claire Ferguson
 * Clyde
 * Kylie
 * Duncan
 * Adam McIntyre
 * Eugene Black
 * Colin Hunt
 * Tyler King

Other

 * Scott Loveheart
 * Agent Smirnoff
 * Skyler Loveheart

Background
Arby 'n' the Chief is about two Halo 2-era Action Figures of the Master Chief and the Arbiter who live in their owner's (Jon Graham) house. When Jon is at home, the figures stay put and do not move, as one would expect of a typical figurine. Whenever Jon leaves, they start moving around, playing games, and pulling off shenanigans, similar to the Disney/Pixar movie Toy Story. The only four people who have seen them physically is the delivery man from "Pilot", Scott and Agent Smirnoff in "Endgame", and Claire in "Arby 'n' the Chief in L.A.". Though, Arbiter has convinced Scott that they are hallucinations from his massive substance abuse, and the "In L.A." series is counted as non-canon.

Usually, the duo plays Halo 3, or Halo: Reach as of Season 4, on Xbox LIVE although Arbiter also enjoys playing other games such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Wii. Chief is typically seen expressing scorn and dissent whenever someone chooses to play any game that is not Halo related, and as such, Chief stays away from such games. However, he does venture out of his normal way to try those games, though his performance is terrible, and what time he does devote to the playing of different games always results in an increase in Chief's hatred for that game. Later on in the series, however, Chief becomes more tolerant of non-Halo games, such as Resident Evil 5, despite later on joining a protest against the game itself because of its alleged racism.

Master Chief Sucks at Halo
In this prequel to the later series, Jon's Halo 2 Master Chief action figure comes to life, and begins playing the Halo 3 Beta. He plays extremely poorly, partially because of his unfamiliarity with the new features of Halo 3, but mainly because of his total lack of video gaming talent (at one point, he picks up a spike grenade and throws it at a nearby wall, killing himself and blaming Bungie for making a "gay wep0n"; in another scene, he accuses another player of hacking due to the player's use of a bubble shield).

In the second episode, we find him asking the Arbiter (apparently a different Arbiter action figure than the one who would later be featured in Arby 'n' the Chief; like the Chief, this Arbiter is unintelligent and uses Leet Speak) to play Halo 3 Beta with him on MSN. However, the Beta has been concluded, prompting the Chief to try and drown himself in the toilet. When the suicide attempt fails (because he is wearing a helmet), he decides to play Halo 2 on Xbox Live. He quickly gets booted for offensive behavior, which includes betraying teammates for power weapons such as the Energy Sword. Afterward, he decides to check out Bungie.net for updates on Halo 3, and discovers that the game's release date has been announced for Tuesday, September 25, 2007.

In the final episode, we find him under the Halo 3 Legendary Edition Helmet. He comments on how a man on the internet lied to him by telling him that "wearing this helmet does not make you pleh better". He proceeds to play Halo 3, and after a bad display of gameplay, he takes a Sniper Rifle and gets a lucky headshot while jumping. He thinks he has become the best Halo 3 player in the history of the world, and decides to make a Halo 3 montage. After seven weeks, and with assistance from the Arbiter, he finally completes his "masterpiece," which consists of a misspelled title; the film clip was filmed unskillfully, with the shooting technique of merely pointing a digital camera at the TV screen. To top it all off, the film comes with an annoyingly loud soundtrack ("Crawling" by Linkin Park).

Endgame
Endgame is the originally intended finale for Arby 'n' the Chief before the debut of the sequel series Arby 'n' the Chief: In LA. It is split into six parts.

Arby 'n' the Chief in L.A.
On November 2, 2009 it was announced that a sequel to the series is in production. The sequel's title is "Arby n the Chief in L.A." Jon Graham stated on his blog that he is not working on the project, and that Machinima.com has taken complete control of the series. However, Machinima.com is still going to go to Jon for him to provide tips and information to help with series continuity.

Because of bad fan reception for the first two episodes, on November 24, 2009, much to his dismay, Jon Graham stated on his blog that he was asked by Machinima to fly to L.A. and help them with the third episode to "give the new crew a running start." However, he was detained by US Homeland Security as a Canadian citizen and was denied entrance to the United States; the new arrangement is for Jon to simply write the scripts and manage the voices, while a film crew in LA does all the actual production. Jon stated on his blog that he still doesn't consider the series his anymore.

It is unknown whether the series will continue, due to it's unpopularity compared to the series made by Jon Graham.

Season 4
After the results of Arby 'n' the Chief in L.A. became apparent, Jon revealed via his blog that he will be producing a fourth season of Arby 'n' the Chief. That would not be a continuation of Arby ‘n’ the Chief in LA, but of the original series, taking place after the events of “King” but before those of Endgame; unlike Arby 'n' the Chief in LA, Jon is creating these episodes entirely on his own, with no outside involvement from Machinima.com. Jon has described the new season as having, “No melodrama, no crazy plots, no new characters, just classic Arby 'n' the Chief, back-and-forth banter and wacky around-the-house antics.” The first two episodes, which were premiered at CanWest 2010, center around the Halo: Reach Beta, while the rest of the episodes will be based around other popular Xbox 360 games or other plots that do not relate to video games. A trailer is available on YouTube, the first episode was out on June 26, 2010 and the last one came out on December 10, 2010

Season 5
Season five picks up roughly where season four left off. It brings back Greg the spider as a regular character since he was well recieved by fans. The new season differs from season four in that all the episodes are now connected story wise and will be leading up to a big climax at the end of the season Jon Graham revealed on his blog.

Season 6
Season six picks up where season five left off. Four months have passed since since Arbiter and Chief were banned and are now coping with their withdrawal, with negative side-effects. A new plot device in the series includes the establishment of "Chaos Theosis," the group of hackers whom are now rebelling against a new strict Online Terms of Usage that was set up from Arbiter and Chief's actions at Trent's wedding.

Hypermail
A new segment to season six is a show known as "Hypermail," (formerly known as "Hypernews" from season five.) A fanmail show that will rotate weekly between season 6 and it until the season's end. The segment is non-canon and displays the characters in their usual attitude, as well as addresses more real-life and/or pop culture events from the perspective of The Arbiter and Master Chief, thereby breaking the 4th wall in the series.

Season 7
Season seven picks up a few weeks after Season six. It brings back Greg the spider, as well as Cortana from Season 2 and 3 as regular characters by constant demand from fans. This time, the new season will be focusing on Arbiter and Chief dealing with a clan of Trolls, striking a relationship with them in the process that could cause the toys to question their values and embrace their darker selves.

Bytes: Season 1
A new show of Arby 'n' The Chief that coincides with season seven is a show known as "Bytes," In this show, These shorts about two or three minutes long and revolve around Arbiter and Master Chief, but within a parallel universe. The style of Bytes resembles that of the show's earlier seasons.

Background
On May 25, 2008, Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie premiered at the machinima event CanWest ‘08 (which the movie was created for) and was published on YouTube the same day. The movie seems to take place in between the plot line of Episodes 10 and 11, and features all of the main characters of the series up to that point (thus, not only are the Master Chief and the Arbiter present, but so are Cortana, Todd, and Travis). The movie also marks the first time that any character has ventured out of Jon's apartment.

Production
Jon Graham is famous for being a solo machinima producer, but for the Movie, his friend Daniel Lazslo, aka D Laz, assisted him in the production of the film, most notably with visual effects.

Filming
The Movie was the first Master Chief Sucks at Halo 3/Arby 'n' the Chief production to go outside of Jon Graham's apartment. Filming took place in three different cities: Vancouver (Jon Graham's old residence), Chilliwack (another Canadian City), and Los Angeles (where Jon Graham visited to work at the Machinima.com headquarters for several days).

Plot Summary
In the beginning of the movie, the Master Chief forces the Arbiter, Cortana, Todd, and Travis to play along with a horrible game of "pretend" with Chief (one of Todd's lines is nothing but a crude drawing of a penis). As the others leave, the Arbiter approaches the Chief and consoles him by telling him it was very "Imaginative". While watching machinima videos online, the Chief begins to insult Jon Graham (also known as DigitalPh33r at the time), saying that his videos are shitty and repetitive. The Arbiter tells him to make a machinima of his own, but on one condition: If the machinima is bad, the Chief has to be nice for a day. The Chief retorts by saying that if the machinima is good, then the Arbiter, Todd, Travis, and Cortana have to "shut up" for a day. Several weeks later, with the help of the Chief's online friends, his machinima is complete. It is very badly done, is over three hours long, and contains bad voice acting, over-the-top character actions, and a terrible plot. Everyone hates it, though the Arbiter and Todd attempt to sugar-coat their criticism. Angry, the Chief says that he has uploaded it to the internet and that the result of the bet should depend on the online reaction (which is Chief standing at the computer for a day and continually hitting F5 in order to refresh the page over and over, resulting in more views).

The Chief's video attracts the attention of the eccentric machinima director Skyler Loveheart, the head of "Douchebag Studios." Loveheart mistakenly thinks that the movie was made as a parody of bad machinima, and believes that the video is a work of genius. He contacts the Chief and tells him that Douchebag Studios could use the Chief's talents, and that they want him to come down to Los Angeles to create a serious machinima under their new contract. The Chief happily accepts and tells the Arbiter and Todd that he "doesn't have to live with [those] douchebags anymore." To everyone's delight except the Arbiter’s, the Chief leaves and heads to LA.

In Los Angeles, the Chief is greeted by Loveheart. The Chief asks to use Loveheart's phone, which he uses to call the Arbiter. He begins to brag to and insult the Arbiter, who angrily throws the phone out the window. The Chief then makes an online video (which parodies Uwe Boll’s infamous Youtube video containing much of the same content), in which he boasts about his machinima talents and challenges anyone who disagrees to a boxing match; according to him, beating his critics in a boxing match will somehow prove that he is right and they are wrong. The video annoys the Arbiter, who "can't think of anyone with an ego that massive." Travis tells the Arbiter to let it go, and that they should be celebrating. The Arbiter half-heartedly agrees.

Nearly two months later, the Chief's attempt at a "serious" machinima is complete, titled "TEH EPIK BATEL." Loveheart, seeing the video and how bad it is, realizes that the Chief isn't cleverly satirizing bad machinima, but is simply bad himself. Loveheart furiously tells the Chief that he had invested a lot of money in him, and, pulling a pistol from his pocket, attempts to shoot him. Luckily, Loveheart's hyperactivity causes him to aim erratically, and so every shot misses, even hitting himself in the knee with one of the shots. The Chief steals Loveheart's car and escapes, heading back home. Loveheart shoots himself in the head, causing a ludicrous amount of blood to spurt out.

Back at Jon's apartment, Travis and the Arbiter are playing Halo 3. Losing, the Arbiter forfeits, saying that he's not in the mood. The Chief arrives, and is greeted coldly by the Arbiter, whom the Chief mostly ignores. He goes on to enthusiastically greet Todd, Travis, and Cortana, who don't reply. The Arbiter tells him that he has quite a lot of nerve coming back after the way he behaved, and that he should go. The Chief, upset, cuts power to the apartment and leaves. He walks into the road and attempts to commit suicide by throwing himself in front of a car. The Arbiter, who followed, begs the Chief to get up, saying that he needs him in his life and that he even loves him. After a few more moments in which the Chief does not respond, he turns away. Suddenly, the Chief gets up, saying, "TAHTS SRSLY TEH GAYIST SHIT IV EVAR HERD." He recalls when he tried to commit suicide in Master Chief Sucks At Halo 2, and comes to the conclusion that he can't die. He asks for a hug, which the Arbiter gives, not realizing the Chief has stuck another insulting sign on his back (“IM GAY”), just as he did in Episode 6.

Later, Todd, Travis, and Cortana are having a discussion on the Master Chief's destiny (namely, whether he'd go to Heaven or Hell; the unanimous conclusion is that he is going to Hell). Just then, a large Master Chief helmet appears around the corner of the hallway, saying that it is the “real” Master Chief and declaring that “I AM HEER TO EAT UR FACE. OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.” This badly frightens everyone, especially Todd, who screams feminately at the top of his lungs and runs away when he sees it. However it turns out to be a prank by the Chief, who recites his classic line, “llolollolllolloolollololloololol,” as the movie ends.

Trivia

 * The Arbiter and Master Chief figures are from Halo 2, but Cortana, Todd, and Travis are all Halo 3 Action Figures.
 * Though distributed by Machinima.com, the series is technically not a machinima, with the majority of each episode filmed live-action and video games simply being a plot device.
 * In the second episode of the series, the Arbiter wrote Bungie a letter asking to give the Chief Recon armor, which was granted by the beginning of Episode 3. Bungie, of course, actually did give Jon Graham the Recon armor; many viewers of the video thought that Jon was given the armor because of the email that the Arbiter wrote, leading many of them to write their own emails to Bungie asking for the armor themselves. Jon, however, has revealed that he did not actually send the email that he wrote for Episode 2, and that Bungie gave him the Recon purely because they admired his videos.
 * In Episode 19, "Panic" of Season 3, Chief is heard saying a reference to both Halo 3 and 300. Right after he attacks the corrupt red Spartan for almost shooting Arbiter, he begins to say nonsense until the end where he says, "FOR SPARTA."
 * Even though Master Chief's shooting accuracy is horrible, he tends to give headshots when he's not planning to give one.
 * The time on Jon's clock used to always be 3:43. This a reference to 343 Guilty Spark, which was confirmed by Jon Graham in one of the episode commentaries. Though, the running gag hasn't been seen since Season 4.
 * Though Cortana was kidnapped by an alien, she only disappeared from the series a few episodes after Todd and Travis were kidnapped. This indicates that they were kidnapped separately; however, given that the alien had no desire for Cortana, her disappearance is strange. It is possible that Todd asked the alien for some company besides Travis and figured that it would not bring any harm to her (or made the alien promise not to do so), not realizing that the alien would later fire Cortana into a nearby sun. Surprisingly, at the very end of Season 5 finale, when cortana is supposed to be dead, her voice (Microsoft Mary) is heard, with the same colour in subtitles, saying "Arbiter..." and waking him, with no response, cause the episode ends. Though, as revealed in the first episode of Season 6, it reveals that in fact the voice came from the Chief, who was using Microsoft Mary's voice from a computer. However, at the end of Season 6, It was revealed that Cortana was only lost in the move.
 * In the episode "Wedding", when Master Chief Says "Ima chargin ma lazor! SHOOP DA WOOP!", he is referencing an internet meme started by Dom Fera on Youtube with his animated shorts titled "The Laser Collection." This is quoted a number of times throughout the series.
 * The controllers that the characters use in the series are never actually turned on. Jon has stated that this is because the Xbox 360 controllers have a ten-minute automatic shutoff timer and he never feels like turning them back on.
 * At the end of Season 3, Episode 1 “Cold,” when the Arbiter says, “Something very strange is going on…” the pillowcase moves by itself. Many fans who noticed this theorized that some sort of ghost or other apparition was somehow responsible for the disappearances of Todd and Travis and Cold Storage’s deletion. In the commentary for “King,” Jon revealed that the pillowcase moved simply because a gust of wind from his fan hit it; he never even noticed that the pillowcase fluttered until people began pointing it out.
 * In Episode 9 "Newcomers" when the Arbiter says he has the flag and is coming through the middle, he actually doesn't have the flag.
 * Episode 8 of "Arby and the Chief in LA" is named "Two Betrayals". This is a reference to the Halo: Combat Evolved level Two Betrayals, which is quoted from in Episode 11.
 * Adding to the mysterious disappearance of Todd and Travis. In a Director's Commentary on the Season 5 episode "Cheaters," Jon admitted at he did not like how Todd and Travis (and possibly Cortana) were too One-Dimensional and uninteresting as characters (Todd being too nice, Travis being too loud.)

Internal

 * DigitalPh33r
 * Machinima

External

 * Arby 'n' the Chief Wiki - An entire wiki dedicated to Arby 'n' the Chief.
 * Arby 'n' the Chief Fanon Wiki - An entire wiki dedicated to fanfiction of Arby 'n' the Chief.
 * Machinima.com's page on Arby 'n' the Chief.
 * Youtube's Machinima Channel.