Arby 'n' the Chief

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Template:FOF-1 Template:Machinima Template:Infobox machinima Arby 'n' the Chief is a live action internet video series created by Jon Graham, also known as Jon CJG (who was in turn known as DigitalPh33r when the series began production), about the lives of figurine versions of Master Chief and the Arbiter. It is mainly based around the two playing 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.

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, Jon Graham's, house. When Jon is at home, the figures stay put and do not move, as one would expect of the typical figurine. Whenever Jon leaves, they start moving around, playing games, and pulling off shenanigans, similar to the Disney/Pixar movie Toy Story.

Usually, the duo plays Halo 3 on Xbox Live, although Arbiter also enjoys playing other games such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii. Chief is typically seen expressing scorn and dissent whenever Arbiter chooses to play any game that is not Halo 3, and as such, Chief stays away from such games. However, he does venture out of his box to try those games, though his performance is rotten, and what time he does devote to the playing of different games always results in an increase in Chief's hatred of that game. Later on in the series, however, Chief becomes more tolerant of non-Halo games, mostly Resident Evil 5, despite jumping on the bandwagon and joining a protest against the game itself because of its alleged racism.

Characters

File:Soirofl.gif

A short clip from Episode 6: Brawl where Arbiter finds a note on his back.

Master Chief: Master Chief is a foul-mouthed, immature and illiterate sexist who loves to trash talk other people, including his own "friends" on Xbox Live. He is most commonly seen talking in "1337 Speak" (Leet Speak), which consists of shortened words, usually with numbers in them, with a seemingly dyslexic nature. He also conveys his emotions with text emoticons, such as "sad face", which appears on the subtitles as :(. Other than the Halo games and later Grand Theft Auto 4 and Resident Evil 5, he despises any other game, especially Call of Duty 4, to which he created his own title for that game (Cock of Doody 4). Even though Halo 3 is the only game he plays out of self-interest with the exception of playing Devil May Cry 4 once (which he quickly grew to hate), he appears to be very bad at it, as shown whenever he plays. It should be noted that Chief possess next to no skill whatsoever when it comes to video games, and oftentimes invests in harassing fellow teammates and/or players during games instead of actually playing the game. He hates all non-Microsoft or Bungie products, including the Wii and Mozilla Firefox, to name just a few. He seems to have feelings for Cortana, and openly expresses them to Arbiter, although he starts to despise her after Episode 10 ("Conflict").

Master Chief's stunning lack of intelligence leads him to entertain himself with scandalous and oftentimes ridiculous events, to include multiple attempts at cheating people in unintelligent ways. For example, after playing Call of Duty 4 for several seconds, he tries to exchange the game disc for a chocolate chip cookie with a hole in it after he snaps the disc in half and flushes it down the toilet out of rage. He also states he is drunk when he only drank a bottle of water and crudely spelled out the word "beer" on the label ("BeR," spelled with a backwards E). His only real friend is the Arbiter, to whom he has shown a more decent side of himself on rare occasions. The Chief can also be extremely sensitive, such as when he is reduced to tears by Craig and his MLG friends. In addition, he has moral standards (that apparently do not apply to himself, only others); he is even disgusted when Scott steals Jon's wallet (from Chief) to use his credit card to order two hundred hookers on the phone, albeit he later claims that Scott 'stoles it from meh'. Master Chief is voiced by Microsoft Sam.

Arbiter: Arbiter is a friendly and intelligent character who, apart from the Chief's friends on Xbox Live, is Master Chief's one and only friend. When it comes to playing Halo 3 or any other game, the Arbiter is exceptionally skilled, as opposed to the Chief, who is terrible. He plays Call of Duty 4 as much, if not more than, Halo 3 until Halo 3's Legendary Map Pack is released. Jon Graham stated in one of his director commentary episodes that he modeled the Arbiter after himself. It was hinted in some way at the end of the episode "Girls" that the Arbiter is attracted to Cortana (though not as much as Chief); unlike Chief, though, he politely backs off after Todd and Cortana show interest in each other. Although he says he does not like beer or anything that makes him unhealthy, he gives in to the pressure that Chief puts on him to drink in the episode "Party," resulting in a very painful hangover and partial memory loss the next morning. Soon after, in Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie, he asks Travis for some alcohol while being forced to watch Chief's incredibly lengthy and poorly made machinima. He later turns away from beer, only to be tempted back again and again by Chief's aggravations.

Whereas Chief actively seeks conflict, Arbiter has been described by others as a "natural mediator," always working to solve problems whenever they arise (an attribute that has been showcased more and more frequently as the series has continued). Usually, he is the "smart one" and Chief rarely understands Arbiter's advanced vocabulary. This frequently results in him having to point out how nonsensical other peoples' opinions are, however, which he is infamous for doing in a frank, uncensored, and sometimes actively insulting manner that has been known to offend many people, particularly when he is annoyed. In the first three seasons, he is usually depicted as rational and relatively calm, though Master Chief is able to drive him to frustration and even outright anger on a regular basis. He is shown in Arby 'n' the Chief: Endgame, however, to have a definite capability for sadness as well; he is genuinely despondent when he realizes that his body is falling apart and when his online girlfriend, Claire, dumps him. He is voiced by Microsoft Mike. He represents Jon Graham's opinion of gaming products.

Cortana: Cortana was first introduced at the very end of the episode "Girls". Like the Arbiter and Todd, she is depicted as being quite intelligent. She is Todd's girlfriend and the love interest of Master Chief, as well as the unfortunate victim at the bludgeoned-end of his sexist remarks (for example, being ordered to go make sandwiches for him on multiple occasions). It was hinted early on that she might have been a possible love interest of the Arbiter as well, though he never pursued it. She is kind to the Arbiter and of course Todd, but, because of Chief's sexist attitude and his attempts to break-up her existing relationship, she resents him, and has labeled Chief as a homophobe. She says she was a gamer once, but has never actually been seen playing the Xbox. It is revealed in Season 3, Episode 13 that Cortana, Todd, and Travis had been kidnapped by an alien that looks "suspiciously like Jon's chin," who shoots Cortana into an alien sun, thus killing her.

Summary: All Cortana ever seemed to do throughout her short time in the series was whine about the Chief. She is voiced by Microsoft Mary.

Todd: Todd is smart, kind, and somewhat cowardly. He is a Todd McFarlane Halo 3 Master Chief figure. Todd is Cortana's boyfriend and, along with Travis, was introduced in the middle of the episode "Newcomers." His Xbox Live Gamertag is "Colbert Fan," referring to Stephen Colbert; this admiration for Colbert is a trait he shares with both Arbiter and Cortana. Not much can be said about him, as he hardly ever had any parts in the series and mysteriously disappeared not long after his first appearance at the end of the episode "Conflict (Part 2 of 2)" along with Travis. It is revealed in Season 3, Episode 13 that Todd, along with Travis and Cortana, were kidnapped by an alien that looks "suspiciously like Jon's chin"; after allowing them to play one last game of Halo 3 Matchmaking, the alien concocted an interesting, yet creative, way of removing them from the storyline. He is voiced by Jon Graham

Travis: Just as Todd is similar to the Arbiter, Travis is much like the Chief. They are both unintelligent and enjoy doing simple and stupid things such as looking at "lolcats" pictures online. Travis is a Brute Chieftain figurine who was introduced in the middle of the episode "Newcomers", along with Todd. He is obsessed with various adult pleasures. For example, as soon as Cortana and the Arbiter met him, he asked if they had any beer, and shortly after asked if the Chief had any porn on the computer while he was looking at Lolcats.com. He also finds the storyline of Grand Theft Auto IV boring, playing the game only to do things like pick up prostitutes. His Xbox LIVE Gamertag is Gynecoologist, the reason being "because vaginas are cool." In Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie, he revealed that his personal version of Hell would consist solely of being forced to play the Halo 3 Campaign level Cortana on Legendary over and over again for the rest of eternity. He mysteriously disappeared at the end of "Conflict (Part 2 of 2)", along with Todd. In Season 3, Episode 13, it is revealed that Travis, along with Todd and Cortana, were kidnapped by an alien that looks "suspiciously like Jon's chin"; after allowing them to play one last game of Halo 3 Matchmaking, the alien concocted an interesting, yet creative, way of removing them from the storyline. He is also voiced by Jon Graham.

Scott: Scott is an online hacker introduced in "Endgame", the series' final season. He has dealt cocaine for sixteen years between Canada and Russia, leading to his pursuit by one Agent Smirnoff of Russia, whose government has sentenced him to "thirty-seven consecutive death sentences." Due to his inability to pay rent for an apartment of his own, Jon gives Scott a room in his apartment in exchange for half the rent payments. He is even more vile than the Chief, spending most of the day in his room, engaged in personal activities and smoking. "At the same time, usually.", according to Arbiter. He has also used Jon's credit card to order up to three hundred two hundred hookers at once over the phone.

Scott is almost always extremely high, to the extent that Chief and Arbiter do not even have to hide from him, as he considers them hallucinations which appear after "his fourth cocaine sandwich." In Episode 5 of the Endgame miniseries, Scott is shown hacking Halo 3 and afterward is revealed to be the hacker who is untraceable, even by Bungie. After being confronted by Chief and Arbiter, he is shot to death by Agent Smirnoff, and in the last moments of his comically lengthy death sequence, he grabs a bag of his cocaine and snorts it shortly before choking on his own blood. He is played and voiced by Jon Graham.

Agent Smirnoff: Agent Smirnoff is a Communist Russian Special Agent who is in search of Scott, the hacking crackhead. While arresting Scott in the woods he is incapacitated when Scott throws cocaine in his face, temporarily blinding him. Master Chief and Arbiter call him after learning that Scott is the hacker he is looking for. In the last episode of the series, Agent Smirnoff shoots Scott approximately twenty times, two of which are through the head. He is particularly fond of Triscuits. He is played and voiced by Daniel Lazslo.

Claire: Claire is Arbiter's online love interest, introduced in Endgame. Arbiter meets her in a Halo 3 match, after they simultaneously state their disdain at several other players who are acting foolishly, but elects not to tell her his real name in fear that she will reject him as a perceived Halo 3 fanatic. Instead he tells her his name is Jon, and they instant message on MSN. Their relationship abruptly ends when the Arbiter lets slip that his name is not actually Jon, and that Jon is his owner's name. Due to limited screentime, Claire does not have a very definite personality. She enjoys watching the waves on Last Resort, saying that they are very soothing. Arbiter, however, only agreed with her to "go with the flow," and said that the date they had watching the waves sucked.

In Endgame: Part Five, Scott apparently shoots her with his Spartan Laser. However, in Endgame: Part Six, she finds the Arbiter on Valhalla and forgives him, saying that how he saved Xbox Live was brave. Upon learning of their plight with rent, she generously offers the spare room in her apartment in California to them. When they arrive in the beginning of Arby 'n' the Chief in LA, she has apparently started a relationship with Jon. She is voiced by Jon Graham. It is unknown who plays her character in Arby 'n' Chief: In LA.

Sonic: Sonic the Hedgehog is briefly introduced in Breaking and Entering. He loves Sonic games, even defending Sonic on the 360. He is always on a high from a Sharpie, which he sniffs at regular intervals. He is the only one who knows where Halo 3 is in Mario's house, and gets locked in a cupboard by Mario, because he mistakenly hinted to Chief that Halo 3 is in the house.

Toad: Toad is introduced in Ensemble. He is a far cry from his video game persona in that he loves drugs and regularly uses coarse language. He captures the Arbiter and locks him in a cupboard, but refuses to comply with Mario's orders to kill Arbiter and Sonic. He helped kick Chief out, but later helps him save Arbiter and Sonic from Mario's clutches. He is voiced by Jon Graham.

Luigi: Luigi is very timid, often submitting to Mario. He objects to kicking out Chief, but is unsuccessful. Later, he helps Chief rescue Arbiter and Sonic after he refused to kill them. He lives in constant fear of Mario, and is reluctant about Chief's counterstrike, worrying that "Mario will kill us."

Mario: Mario is homicidal and deranged, and apparently believes that he is the face of gaming, due to the success of his multiple titles. He attempts to kill Arbiter and Sonic, for different reasons. He hates Arbiter and Chief because they are from Halo, and though this is not stated, his hatred of anything Halo could stem from paranoia and fear of anything undermining his status. He also hates everyone else, especially Luigi. He locks Sonic in a cupboard for accidentally telling Chief where his copy of Halo 3 was hidden. Mario has been driven insane due to other gaming characters, specifically Chief, as he continues to fret about the possibility that Chief will result in the toppling of Mario from the "gaming titans" status.

Whoever disagrees with Mario is either kicked out of his house, or locked in "the cupboard." He tries to kill the Arbiter and Sonic by microwaving them, but is defeated when Master Chief, Luigi, and Toad break in, only to provoke Mario into closing the door and turning on the microwave, sealing the Arbiter and Sonic's fates. Mario and Chief then engage in a fight, leaving Toad and Luigi to get the Arbiter and Sonic out of the microwave. Chief climbs onto Mario's head and stays there attempting to lock Mario in a chokehold. However, Mario stumbles over the edge of the counter and the duo fall to their alleged death on the hard floor. Mario is later put into cold storage in his own freezer. It is unknown whether his supposed death was genuine or not. However, Mario is seen exiting the freezer after the credits of the last episode, bent on exacting vengeance on all who betrayed him.

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 25th, 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).

Episode Guide

Season 1

#	Title	Episode Length	Summary
1	Pilot	9:56	The episode opens with Master Chief dreaming about Halo 3, where he wins an award by a Bungie representative for being the best gamer in the history of the planet. A parcel delivery reveals "The Arbiter".
2	Recon	9:05	Master Chief comes up with a hilariously complex idea to get the Recon armor piece from Bungie, but resorts to the Arbiter writing a letter for him.
3	Attitude	8:07	After successfully receiving the armor piece, Master Chief proceeds to annoy fellow players by bragging. Taking out his frustration on the Arbiter, he destroys his copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
4	Melee	8:09	Master Chief yet again gets frustrated after the Arbiter scores a custom match kill that should have been his, after a simultaneous melee gave the Arbiter the score because he had more health.
5	Martyrdom	9:02	Unable to understand how his 714 GB pornography download would cause severe lag, Master Chief stops playing Halo 3. Accompanying the Arbiter in a game of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, he is explained by his friend about the "Martyrdom" perk.
6	Brawl	8:32	After failing to grenade and rocket-jump over a nearly-impossible gap in the level ""Halo", Master Chief and the Arbiter decide to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Season Two

#	Title	Episode Length	Summary
7	Girls	8:28	After noticing the derogatory way Master Chief treats female players, the Arbiter makes it his duty to turn him into a gentleman. Although originally successful, Master Chief reverts to his old ways when a Cortana action figure arrives at Jon's apartment.
8	Legendary	7:17	After discovering the "forge filters" in the newly-downloaded Legendary Map Pack, the Arbiter has Master Chief come up with a good forged-map for it. Master Chief's distorted idea of the perfect forge map is to activate all forge filters; put all starter and respawn spots next to each other, and put spend the entire budget on scenery items and equipment that is irretrievable.
9	Newcomers	9:22	The night after playing Halo 3 with annoyingly serious players, Master Chief and the Arbiter are welcomed by two new guests - Todd and Travis. Master Chief becomes jealous when Cortana and Todd become close friends.
10	Cortana	7:12	After fruitless attempts to brake up Todd and Cortana's relationship with drawn images of an affair and a 9-1-1 call, Master Chief has only one option left: to kill Todd.
11	Conflict - Part 1	9:16	Humiliated by Travis' trick which had him thrown into a mirror after a failed chat-up line with Cortana, Master Chief announces to the Arbiter that he will teach Todd and Travis a lesson. That night, he approaches them with a knife as they sleep.
12	Conflict - Part 2	8:04	Master Chief fights Todd and Travis, quickly defeating Travis with a kick in the gonads. The chief and Todd are evenly-matched until he tricks Todd into turning his back. About to kill him with the knife, the Arbiter and Cortana stop him just in time. The next day, Cortana approaches Master Chief - Todd and Travis have disappeared.

Season 3

#	Title	Episode Length	Summary
13	Cold	7:25	Master Chief tries to raise money to purchase "Cold Storage", unaware that it is free.
14	Wedding	8:07	Master Chief and the Arbiter are invited to a wedding on Halo 3. While the Arbiter tries to go on with the idea; which he feels is taking the game too far, Master Chief plans to crash the party.
15	Professional (Part 1 of 3)	7:25	Master Chief introduces to the Arbiter his new friend Craig, who claims to be an MLG player. Knowing of MLG ("Major-league gaming"), the Arbiter sees through Craig's lies clearly. Chief on the other hand, believes him to be real.
16	Face Off (Part 2 of 3)	6:41	After making Chief cry, the Arbiter approaches Craig and his friends. They agree to have Master Chief fight Craig.
17	Showdown (Part 3 of 3)	10:02	Master Chief begins his match with Craig, drunk. Unbeknownst to him, the Arbiter has "Player 1" controller, and is pretending to be Chief to win the bet. Beating the Arbiter with camping and power-weapon tactics, it is up to Master Chief to take down Craig when he suddenly leaves his console.
18	Glitch	8:58	After downloading the "New Xbox Experience", the Arbiter is shocked by Master Chief's desire to kill himself. After stopping him, he is told that Chief lost his Katana piece. Not believing it to be of anything serious, the Arbiter is taken to a game of Snowbound, where all players have ceased their desire to kill each other after noticing that they too have lost their armor pieces.
19	Panic	8:43	On Snowbound, the glitch-affected players begin killing non-affected gamers in a frenzy of anger at the loss of their armor pieces. Before the surviving non-affected players (with the addition of Master Chief) kill each other, a Title Upgrade is announced by Bungie that will fix the glitch.
20	Cheater	10:11	Master Chief begins using cheats to excel at Halo, after finally giving up with trying to get better with experience. A Bungie employee with a gravity hammer (the "Banhammer"), not prepared to ban the Arbiter as well (the two are using the same game account), has Chief's Recon armor removed as punishment, instead.
21	Company, Part 1	7:18	After watching a horrible amateur machinima, the Arbiter and Master Chief agree to found their own machinima company. After seven weeks of work, the Master Chief comes up with "The Shawshank Redemption 2: Taking Back Manhattan". Writing in over five-thousand characters, he is only able to hire three child gamers.
22	Party	5:17	The Arbiter wakes up after a night of drinking and finds Jon's apartment wrecked and Master Chief asleep in the toilet. Looking through the damaged items (such as an Xbox console with its lead cut and reattached at a smaller length), the Arbiter begins to remember the events of the previous night.
23	Company, Part 2	6:15	After forcing the Arbiter with legal action for not signing a non-disclosure agreement (Which he opposes due to it not being a real company), Chief returns to his machinima without him. He is unaware that the Arbiter has now sabotaged his production to make him come to his senses.
24	Evil	10:18	After playing Resident Evil 5, Master Chief returns to Halo 3 and joins a protest against the game - the protesters believe that Africans being featured in gaming is somehow racist. After seeing their point with the current events happening in the continent, the Arbiter leaves to think about it. Returning the next day, he has the group disband, citing that Capcom's want for the game to take place in Africa was not racist or insensitive, but because it was important to the story. Back in the apartment, Chief begins to annoy the Arbiter with his constant Wesker quotes.
25	King	18:09	Stranded in a glitched game of King of the Hill, the players begin arguing over which of their favourite machinima series are the best. The Arbiter finally ends it, by making them agree that all of the mentioned series are popular and liked by many people. The game finally returns to normal and Chief wins the game. Elsewhere, what happened to Todd; Travis and Cortana is revealed to the viewer.

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.

Title	Episode Length	Summary
Part One	6:07	An international drug smuggler and cocaine addict on the run from the Russian government responds to Jon's need of a roommate to pay his bills.
Part Two	5:24	The Arbiter befriends a girl in a Slayer match called "Claire". He and Master Chief are also introduced to their roommate; Scott, who believes that their unexplainable existence is caused by eating his 'Coke sandwiches'.
Part Three	7:29	An entire game of Halo players are lagged-out by a hacker, while the Arbiter begins talking to Claire on MSN.
Part 4	7:36	Master Chief cuts off his foot to impress Bungie into giving him back his Recon armor. Meanwhile, they discover that Scott is stealing from Jon, and Claire breaks up with the Arbiter for lying to her about his identity.
Part 5	9:34	Scott begins stalking Claire in a Sandbox maze, eventually killing her with a SPARTAN laser while continuing his "lagging out" tactic. Master Chief and the Arbiter find the Russian agent who was chasing Scott in episode one, and bring him back to deal with him.
Part Six	11:19	With Scott's cocaine-covered corpse and blood coving Jon's apartment and the remainder of his money taken by Scott, the figures consider the possibility of them being sold to pay for Jon's living. Luckily, Claire; who had overheard the events of the previous episode on her headset, learns the truth about the two titular characters. To make it up for saving Xbox live, she offers Jon to share her apartment in California so that he doesn't end up homeless.

Season Four

Jon has recently revealed via his blog that he will be producing a fourth season of Arby 'n' the Chief. This is not 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, and the first episode is scheduled to be released on Saturday, June 26, 2010.

Title	Episode Length	Summary
Episode 26: Out of Reach	5:18	In an effort to play the Halo: Reach beta before its intended opening time, Master Chief takes the concept of disk-burning to far and mutilates the disk with a knife.
Episode 27: It's A Beta!	4:05	Master Chief and the Arbiter take turns in playing the Reach beta. Left with nothing else to do, Chief uses Arbiter's Bungie.net account to forum post his thoughts on the game.
Episode 28: Pirates	4:51	Master Chief uses Arbiter's Bus pass and university assignment for a pirate role-playing game, unaware that Arbiter will require them.
Episode 29: Aces and Spaces	5:37	After offending Arbiter's drawing-abilities, Master Chief challenges him to an aptly-named "dick-drawing contest".
Episode 30: Giveth and Taketh	5:34	Master Chief grows bored of Halo 3 and plans to play the Halo Reach beta to kill time until Reach comes out in September, but is choked when the Arbiter tells him that the beta is no longer unavailable. Then Chief tries to play Halo 2 multiplayer to relieve "the good ol' days." Arbiter tries to explain that Halo 2 online multiplayer has been cancelled, but the episode ends before he can tell Chief.
Episode 31: God's Work	6:15	When the Arbiter attempts to play "Demons and Souls" on PS3 without Chief realizing and freaking out. Eventually Chief finds out and throws Jon's PS3 controller in the toilet and the episode ends.

Arby 'n' the Chief in L.A.

File:Inla.jpg

The title card is used in YouTube Thumbnails

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.[1] 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.[2]

Episode 1: Dear Jon

In Claire's house in California, the Chief is attacking one of his teammates solely because he has Recon as well. The Arbiter tells him that soon everybody will have Recon, so this is pointless; predictably, however, the Chief does not accept this fact and ridicules the Arbiter for still waiting for Claire to return.

Claire and Jon return, and Jon goes to take a shower. Claire attempts to apologize to the Arbiter about how she is going out with Jon, but the Arbiter insists that it is okay and that he understands why she would not want to date him. Claire thanks the Arbiter and follows Jon.

The Arbiter is frustrated because, ever since they arrived in California, he and the Chief have literally been doing nothing but sitting on the sofa and playing the same video games over and over. He decides to leave the house and go outdoors in search of adventure. The Chief follows.

Episode 2: Walking in LA

The Arbiter awakes inside an overturned box on the streets of Los Angeles, complaining that he feels terrible, and asks the Chief how he feels. The Chief responds that he smells like cat piss. Arbiter points out that if he bothered to clean up once in a while, he would smell better; Chief retorts that he always smells like roses. The Arbiter points out the Chief's inconsistency - he had just said that he smelled like cat piss - but the Chief answers that he smelled like roses which a cat had urinated on.

Angrily, the Chief complains that this is "some adventure": the two have no home, no sofa, and most importantly, no Xbox. The Arbiter then makes the Chief tour around Los Angeles, visiting Hollywood, the beach, and other locations. The scene then cuts to an intense duel in Halo 3 between two MLG players. One manages to kill the other with a plasma grenade, and the victor is revealed to be Chief. In a parallel to the first episode of the original series, the commentator says that he "wouldn't be surprised if Bungie made him his own special armor that would make Recon look like a silly pink dress that only women wear." The Chief proceeds to teabag the other player, but is awoken out of his daydream (again) by the Arbiter.

It is revealed that the Chief has crudely improvised an Xbox controller out of a TV remote, a couch out of an empty box of tissues with a piece of torn towel, and an Xbox and television out of a large jug with an illustration of stick figures shooting at each other. The Chief insists that this was a vision of the future, but the Arbiter calls this stupid and tells the Chief that they are going to the zoo, suggesting that the Chief can throw feces back at the monkeys. The Chief at this point is tired of adventures and decides to set out to find an Xbox so that his vision will come true, before strolling down an alley. The Arbiter follows him and finds the remains of numerous action figures strewn across the ground. A dog approaches him, but is scared away by the Chief wearing a piece of black cloth. The two set off to the zoo.

Episode 3: Lost

This is the first episode of Arby 'n' the Chief in LA that Jon wrote and voiced for.

Master Chief and the Arbiter are lost next to a dumpster. The Chief wants to go to the zoo like the Arbiter suggested last episode, but the Arbiter has had second thoughts and explains that they can't go to the zoo because people cannot see them bor else they would both be captured and experimented on by the government. When the Chief makes a crude comparison to the movie District 9, the Arbiter reveals that he believes in aliens, which the Chief laughs at him for. The Arbiter retorts by asking why the universe is constantly expanding and so unfathomably large if Earth is the only planet that supports life. The Chief says that God is fat and needs that much space for Himself, and that the universe expands because He is constantly getting fatter.

During the ensuing debate, the Arbiter is forced to freeze for a moment as someone walks up to the dumpster and throws something away. Amazingly, the Chief ends up winning the argument; when the Arbiter tells him that he is completely illogical, he counters by saying, “sew iz teh fax taht wez iz aliv3. u evan sed, s0 fux u.” The Master Chief still wants to go to the zoo, but the Arbiter physically stops him The by shoving him against a wall (prompting the Chief to shout, “halp!1 rap3!”). Master Chief then suggests that they go back to Claire’s house. When the Arbiter doesn’t want to go back because he is still upset over Claire, this time the Chief refuses to listen to him and heads off on his own.

Arby 'n' the Chief in LA: Holiday Promo

The promo starts off with Master Chief recording himself with a video camera. He thanks the viewers for watching his internet movies and wishes them a "merry crist mass." The Arbiter corrects the Chief by saying "Merry Christmas." The Chief tells the Arbiter to shut up, and the Arbiter shrewdly bets ten dollars that the video will cause a heated religious debate in the comments below (which it did). The Chief finishes off his video off by telling the viewers to be "sur3 2 staye h0m3 n t0uch ur firendz n famiblyz 0n chriist maass dae" and asks the Arbiter to reassure him. Surprisingly, the Arbiter tells the Chief to fuck that because he is going to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie instead.

Episode 4: Breaking and Entering

The Arbiter is walking behind the Chief on an LA street, telling him to stop, at which Chief tells him to "fux off." The Chief starts picking up and throwing stones at Arbiter, who ducks behind a cardboard box and, trying to stop Chief's immature behaviour, throws a stone at him, which hits him in the face and makes him "cry" and fall to the streetShocked at what he has done, the Arbiter runs over to the Chief and attempts to apologize, but the Chief, pissed off, knocks the Arbiter over and attacks him. The Arbiter throws him off and tells him that all he wants is for both of them to be safe and happy. They find a “Pro Gamers” residence, which the Chief attempts to break into despite the fact that the door is wide open. The Arbiter is nervous upon entering the building, but the Chief assures him that there is no one there. Immediately, however, a third voice pipes up, “Yes there is!” and the two look to see that the owner of the voice is Sonic the Hedgehog.

Episode 5: Ensemble

The Sonic action figure is constantly high from repeatedly sniffing a Sharpie that he is carrying, and he walks with a slight limp, using the Sharpie as a makeshift cane. Sonic is overjoyed to see them, as he thinks that they are from Starship Troopers. Creeped out, the Arbiter suggests to the Chief that they leave, but when the Chief learns that they have an Xbox in the store, he immediately elects to stay. Sonic introduces them to two other action figures in the store: Luigi and Toad. When Sonic proclaims that he has found Starship Trooper characters, the Arbiter corrects him and tells him that they are actually Halo figures. Toad and Luigi tell the Arbiter and the Chief to leave, because their “leader” has absolutely no tolerance for Halo; it is revealed that he gave Sonic his present limp because he caught him playing Halo 3 once. They then hear an angry voice yelling at Toad for not making food for him; Toad and Luigi quickly hide the Arbiter and the Chief. An angry Mario figure stomps into the room and berates Toad for not making him food, and punches out Luigi when he interrupts him. Mario threatens to physically abuse Toad as well until the Arbiter intervenes and steps into the open, confronting Mario.

Episode 6: Clash of the Titans

The Chief and Sonic play Sonic the Hedgehog on the Xbox, but the Chief is angry, thinks that all the Sonic games "sux coxx," and repeatedly asks to play Halo 3. Sonic tells him again that nobody is allowed to play it and that it is hidden. Meanwhile, the Arbiter and Mario face off. Mario is angry with Halo because, in his eyes, he was the face of video games until the Master Chief stole it from him. Throughout the discussion, Luigi interrupts, only to be constantly shot down by Mario, especially when he brings up Luigi’s Mansion (which features Luigi instead of Mario). Mario also again yells at Toad for not having his pasta ready. The Arbiter defends the first two Halo games, but admits that, after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released, Halo 3 (along with everything else) was "just so 'meh' in comparison." The Arbiter goes on to concede that the Mario games, despite possessing exceptionally shallow plot, do deliver solid gameplay, and that Mario should still be the face of video games. However, he reignites the argument by saying that Banjo-Kazooie was better than Super Mario 64. In the meantime, the Chief has had enough of playing Sonic and vows to play Halo 3, despite Sonic's pleadings not to.

Episode 7: The Dark Side

Following the events of the previous episode, Mario reluctantly allows the Arbiter to stay because of his intelligence. However, he refuses to let the Master Chief stay, and the Arbiter can only remain as long as he sells out the Chief. Toad advises the Arbiter to betray the Master Chief, pointing out how the latter would not hesitate to do the same, while Luigi pleads that such an act would be morally despicable and that it would be horrible for the Arbiter to betray his "friend." Meanwhile, the Chief is looking for a copy of Halo 3. When Sonic asks him what he is doing, he covers up by claiming to be looking for gum. He eventually finds it in a Tony Hawk’s Ride game case with the Halo 3 disc hidden inside it. He basks in happiness as the Halo 3 soundtrack plays.

Episode 8: Two Betrayals

The Chief, wanting the Xbox to himself to play Halo 3, tells Sonic that Mario wants to see him. Sonic, worried, leaves the Chief alone with the Xbox. Meanwhile, Mario is still shooting down Luigi's Mansion, pointing out that while Luigi only saved Mario once in that game, whereas Mario has saved Luigi countless times over the decades. The Arbiter and Toad arrive, and Mario demands the Arbiter's decision. The Arbiter accepts Mario's offer to allow him to stay on the condition that the Chief be kicked out. At that moment, Sonic arrives and begs Mario not to hurt him, as he had only just heard from the Chief that he wanted to see him. After the Chief complains again about the map Boundless (another version of Snowbound), Mario storms into the room and, after a brief argument, throws the Chief out while the Arbiter looks on. The episode ends with a shot of the sad Master Chief sitting outside the door of the shop.

Episode 9: Exile

The Arbiter wakes up in the Professional Gamer and wonders if the Chief is okay. Outside in a box, the Chief wakes up and is initially excited to play Halo, but then remembers his situation and sits down, depressed, in his box, wishing for socks. Meanwhile, Mario throws Sonic in a cupboard, despite the latter's pleas. Luigi attempts to intervene on Sonic's behalf, but he is once again shut down by Mario, on the threat that Luigi will also be thrown in the cupboard with "them." Mario reveals that he has planned for Sonic to have some company in the cupboard. Toad talks to the Arbiter, who is having second thoughts about betraying the Chief. Toad tries to reassure the Arbiter, with some success, before mentioning that Mario wanted to see him. Arbiter says that he probably shouldn't keep Mario waiting, and Toad replies that he does not mean to. Without warning, the Arbiter is stunned by a large falling piece of plastic.

Episode 10: Alone

A tied-up Arbiter is dragged by Toad to Mario and Luigi. The Arbiter vehemently protests against this behavior and asks Mario what is going on. Mario responds by declaring his hatred for the Master Chief, but adds that he hates pseudo-intellectuals like the Arbiter even more. Besides, according to Mario, the Arbiter looks like Bowser. When the Arbiter retorts that he looks nothing like a dragon, he is thrown into the cupboard with Sonic. Sonic says that he is locked in for telling Chief where Halo 3 is, and begins to get high from his Sharpie marker. He offers it to the Arbiter, who eventually accepts.

The Chief, meanwhile, is playing "catch" with a crude blob representing the Arbiter drawn on the side of his box. Not surprisingly, the drawing fails to catch the ball. Enraged, the Chief calls the Arbiter drawing "a shithead" and kicks it, accidentally punching through the box with his foot. He is unable to get it out, loses his balance and falls, stuck. The Chief briefly considers the possibility that he may in fact be stupid, just as the Arbiter has been telling him all these years, but promptly disregards it.

Episode 11: Outcasts

Inside the cupboard, Sonic is still getting high from his Sharpie while Arbiter is trying to listen to a conversation outside between Mario, Luigi, and Toad. Mario intends to kill Sonic and the Arbiter, but both Toad and Luigi finally refuse to comply. In response, Mario kicks them out as well, much to Toad's dismay, as he left his bong inside.

Toad and Luigi overhear the Chief's calls for help, and Toad (after laughing at the Chief’s situation) frees his foot from the box. The Chief invites Toad and Luigi into his "house" and tells Toad to wipe his feet, which prompts a short argument between the two. The three sit silently for a moment before Toad remembers to tell the Chief that Mario is about to kill the Arbiter and Sonic. The Chief quotes “himself” from the Halo: Combat Evolved level Two Betrayals: "That's not going to happen," which is a reference that Luigi misses because he has never played Halo. The Chief calls him a faggot in response.

Episode 12: Counter Strike

The Arbiter and Sonic are in the cupboard smelling the Sharpie, which the Arbiter admits is pretty good, though he takes care to remind Sonic that he wouldn’t be doing it if not for the fact that he is about to be killed. Then Mario opens the cupboard. Sonic mistakenly thinks that Mario is there to give them ice cream, but Mario announces he is going to kill them, which apparently causes Sonic mild dismay. Meanwhile, the Chief has finished concocting a highly incoherent plan which involves blowing up the door and gunning down Mario. Toad immediately thinks of a simpler, easier plan, but Luigi is unsure about killing Mario, which prompts Toad to explain to him Mario must be defeated, while a frustrated Chief looks on. The Chief tries to smash the door with a rock, but fails. Toad to insults the Chief for this, which results in him having a rock thrown at him. He throws it back at Chief, who dodges, and the rock smashes the window. The Chief, Luigi, and Toad find the Arbiter and Sonic tied together in a microwave with Mario about to kill them. Mario closes the microwave and confronts the Chief, ending on a cliffhanger.

Episode 13: Game Over

Mario presses the start button on the microwave, starting the long and painful process of melting the Arbiter and Sonic. The Chief, Toad, and Luigi climb up onto the counter with the microwave, but the Chief is punched out by Mario while Luigi and Toad have difficulty finding the "cancel" button and opening the door, respectively. Mario turns to them and punches them out as well, but is suddenly attacked from behind by the Chief, who holds onto Mario's head, distracting him and giving Toad time to stop the microwave. However, Mario loses his balance with the Chief holding onto his face, and they both fall over backwards off the counter. Both Mario and the Chief hit the ground and lie still, apparently dead. The Arbiter insists to Toad that the Chief's "done this before," and that he'll get up in just a moment, but the Chief remains still and quiet. He is wrapped in a magazine and given a funeral of sorts, whereas Mario is simply thrown into the freezer by Toad. Arbiter says that he was wrong the entire time about the Chief, and that he should not have sold him out just for a place to stay. Toad still thinks that Chief was an asshole and comments that he looks like a burrito inside the magazine.

To commemorate the memory of "Han Solo," Toad suggests that they all play Halo 3. However, the box is missing. Outside, it is revealed that the Chief - very much alive - has broken out of the magazine and has stolen the Halo 3 box. Angry at the Arbiter for betraying him, the Chief reflects that he does not have to listen to the Arbiter anymore and now that he has a copy of Halo 3, he is his own boss. He continues to celebrate his independence, repeatedly misspelling "boss" in the subtitles as the episode ends.

After the credits end, however, the freezer is shown open with no sight of Mario, indicating that he is still alive and has escaped to hunt down the other action figures.

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

Arby 'n' the Chief: The Movie

Background

On May 25th, 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/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 effeminately 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 http://www.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, the 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 is always 3:43. This a reference to 343 Guilty Spark, which was confirmed by Jon Graham in one of the episode commentaries.
• 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.
• 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.

Links

Internal

• DigitalPh33r
• Machinima

External

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