true, they're antisocial in a way. plus the only one who can really relate to them are so few, you won't see people announcing they were child soldiers. career military dudes like johnson and buck get a kind of pass tho
When conscripted at age 6-7 it doesn't really make sense to be a social butterfly. "First we taught them to be silent, then we taught them to be Spartans!"~Dr. Halsey
@@peteramaranth85 actually in the original intention for a scene in the later part of this story were O'Brian sees the Spartans face it he recognized her as his child hood friend when he was 6 or 7 which is way he reacted the way he did
Actually much more than 7ft tall since the armor only adds few centimiters and master chief is 2,18 metters being on the small side, the stimations puts her (considering we see the ODST buck here) above 2,35 metters tall without armor.
It is the same Dutch from halo 3 odst by the way, shortly after this took place he got deployed to alpha 9. And on another note, yeah, spartan II's in general just don't talk much. Lest they need to in front of a superior officer. But they actually did have a secret sign language for each other that only spartan II's could understand. One example being, they'd take their middle and index finger and make an upside down arch motion at the bottom half of their helmets to convey content towards one another. Basically saying they were happy to see each other.
There was a lot of competitiveness between ODSTs and Spartans. Before Spartans were introduced to the UNSC ranks, it was the ODSTs that were the cream of the crop, the best of the best. The Spartans completely uprooted their position on the food chain. That’s why a lot of ODSTs had a negative view on Spartans. It didn’t help that Master Chief (accidentally) killed a couple of ODSTs right after getting his augmentations (if you remember from watching Fall of Reach), that story eventually spread among the ranks as well, further cementing this air of rivalry and antagonism between the 2 groups. Spartans were seen as heroes, sure. But they were also viewed as sociopathic freaks of nature, a necessary evil to win the war against the Covenant.
@@darnell7871 I may be wrong but I believe in the book it was 4, he heavily injured 2, paralyzed one and killed another. Might be wrong tho, haven't read it in a while.
@@luisalmanza119And if I'm not mistaken, a family member of one of those ODSTs later became a very powerful insurrectionist leader out of spite, can't remember if he is in Venezia or not (planet) but if he is then next Halo Infinite operation (season) is going to show what happens when a grudge goes for too long too far and someone becomes terminally obsessed with proving a point. He either self-destructs or proves his point. Hint: This guy is going to prove that anyone can make a Spartan. From augmentations to armour, if you don't have all the UNSC data or materials, fill the gaps with alien tech.
@wonkatar2813 not always true. There are numerous Spartans who were discharged and sought out wives and husband's. One of them even fell in love with an officer at base I believe.
@@thelionshonorthere was romance between two members of Black Team but they were considered defects in the eyes of ONI because they were always rebellious and questioned authority, ie. Sneaking away to make out or fighting with the other Spartans as kids, and the third member stole a pelican and crashed it so he was their third member lol
@@Bossman12000 Pretty sure you're combining both Black Team and Gray Team into one. Jai-006 and Adriana-111 from Gray Team would sneak out of training occasionally, but their relationship wasn't romantic. And Michael-120 was the one that crashed the Pelican. Margaret-053 and Otto-031 from Black Team were the ones in a romantic relationship.
She wasn’t not speaking bc of fear of misogyny or anything like that. Spartans (especially the IIs) just don’t really talk to non Spartans unless it’s necessary. They’re very antisocial and kinda shy.
Its not misogyny. Space command military is co-ed. Cal was just wearing a tank, which looks gender neutral on pretty much everyone. Spartan 2s are just very quite professional types. Real only like talking to each other. They were raised to kill humans by the villages. Plus seeing pretty much half thier siblings not survive the procedures, usually being the only survivors of fight the covenant. Just much simpler to stay disconnected and not get attached. Especially to those more squishy than a spartan. With the exception of Halsey and any trainers they had growing up.
16:00 i generally think she kept quiet not because she was shy or by misogyny, i think she was quiet because she wanted to get the job done, she knew that had she spoke things might get complicated between her and O brian so she kept quiet til the end where in the truth she was babysitting him more than he was babysitting her so in a way she was in the mission to give support to o brain so he could make the shot on the prophet
3:10 If you remember back to Fall of Reach, A newly augmented Chief severely beat several ODST's in a gym, killing one of them. Since then ODST's have had a sour opinion of Spartans.
I think most people in these comments are upset because they don't want to see Cal potentially reduced to this idea of an average woman who has to battle sexism, when what was admirable about her was that she was far above and beyond petty rivalry and just wanted to do her job and help her team do their job. It's that Spartan mindset that people find heroic about her, so it would be reductive of her as a Spartan if sexism was getting to her and she chose to stay quiet as a result. To Spartans, things like that are a non-issue, which makes them all the more heroic because you always get to see how forgiving and accepting they are of the flaws of average people. They're strong so that normal people can fail and keep trying.
Yes exactly . In universe her being afraid to speak because of misogny makes her unqualified to pass Spartan bootcamp in the first place. She's not afraid , just incredibly effecicent
Callie was silent because that's how spartan IIs are Quiet, they don't socialize with others typically. That's why chief barely speaks. They aren't suppose to be similar to other humans. That's why many people hate the "Spartans are still human" trope. Misogyny doesn't have anything to do with it. They're broken individuals; to their core. Bred to be a weapon.
The tension between the Spartans and ODSTs actually isn't top for off from real world elements. Within the US military, different special forces units have been known to be peirce rivals due to each viewing themselves as the most superior. There's been a few cases but I remember one in which a Green Beret killed a Navy Seal (both are US spec ops) in Iraq or something which had to do with the tension and rivalry.
its funny how you say they would have belittled her if they knew she was a woman, but its almost like O'Brian immediately had respect for her the moment he knew.. because they thought it was a man all along.
He definitely had a huge amount of respect there. He appreciated that she saved his life in that moment. He respected that she sacrificed herself for him and I feel like he felt terrible about yelling at her for saving him all those times.
ODSTs don’t like Spartans because they think that Spartans are spoiled, Spartans ALWAYS get the best equipment, the most attention (you guys know why). But it’s mostly one sided because although ODSTs don’t like Spartans. Spartans don’t really care and just wanna get the job done
Spartans do not have this idea that one soldier is lesser than another, so in a sense, Spartans do not feel very strongly or otherwise about ODST's. They are simply fellow soldiers who are operating on the field with them. But ODST's feel slighted by the fact that before Spartans, they were the Elite Soldiers everyone admired and looked up to. Couple that with the fact that Chief bodied 3 or 4 ODST's when he was 14 and not even in armor yet, creates a lot of bad blood between the two factions. And because the joke was that Spartans were just Frankenstein's monsters, robotic and unfeeling, ODST's further saw fit to separate themselves from the Super Soldiers. Everyone treated Spartans like they were just soulless killing machines, calling them names, avoiding them, treating them as inhuman monsters. Eventually, as Spartans started to die and people became aware that Spartans were dying, they realized that Spartans aren't inhuman. Now, Spartans are treated like heroes, welcomed just about everywhere with open arms and cheers. It's interesting though, because as far as we can tell, in the extended universe, sexism and racism are pretty much non-existent in the 26th century. So the choice here to keep Cal-141 quiet until the reveal was either to touch on sexism in the modern day or it was a grand revealing that the EU was ready to touch on the other Spartans that never got to be realized in the game. Since Linda-058 was inactive during Combat Evolved and the other Spartans were elsewhere during Halo 2 and 3. Bungie kinda tried to build this idea that Chief was the last of his kind, that of the 75 final candidates, only he remained. This however, was kind of undone over the years, much to Bungie's annoyance.
YES! My favourite one. Maybe not the best, but it's such a beautiful tale about the fragility of life when it comes to the Spartans and the shattering of the mythical expectations that most soldiers have about them.
Outside of the relationships between Spartans and ODSTs, there was a conscious decision to have every character address Calina as a male. Everyone watching, along with every character in the short had an assumption of what a spartan was (i.e. Master Chief). The creators knew this and used Calina to challenge our presuppositions. Meg was simply acknowledging this oversight within herself, as we all should, and likely have as fans of the franchise. Mysogyny can be defined as having 'ingrained prejudices' against women. AKA, nurtured opinions that are not based on reason or experience. It's a charged word, but she's technically correct. There is nothing wrong with recognizing the potential harm in our biases, even if we have the best intentions. I would even argue that there were many conscious attempts to introduce us to the idea of female spartans and that it enabled Halo: Reach to be the treasure that it is. The fact that we're having this conversation is also a testament to how tasteful the creators have been in handling this type of subject matter.
I think Halo does a good job showing this in general. We see people from both genders preforming very well and being strong. Miranda being a good commander who can think on her feet just like her father, Linda outdoing most Spartans with her sniping capabilities, Halsey with her vast knowledge being one of the greatest minds at ONI. And all of the marines all equally as strong as one another.
It is the same Dutch from the game, and ODSTs were originally the meant to be the best of the best in the UNSC, however since the introduction of the Spartans they sorta lost that. So some resent the Spartans because they got augmentations, instead of spending years training and getting experience to become an elite soldier. Also, the planet wasn't Sanghelios, I don't think the elites would have statues of humans
The Spartan 2 project was done with the utmost secrecy. The ODSTs wouldn't have known about the augmentations. The augmentations were to be genetically compatible to the Spartan 2 candidates. As for that planet. It was in Ancient Humanity space before the Human-Forerunner War and the creation of the Halo array.
If I was an ordinary soldier and I saw a Spartan, I would immediately assume that they have some sort of augmentation. And I don't know why you're telling me about the planet, I didn't ask about it@@maxwellchen-byerley5598
I wouldn’t really call it a stretch to say that’s one of the implied themes of the short. It’s meant to be a shocking reveal that the Spartan was a woman, yes there’s the in-universe fact that Spartans just don’t talk much but it’s definitely being purposely used as a framing device to create a certain impression and then subvert it, a la Samus Aran. And I imagine it does stand out more to her as a woman than it would to you as a man. Metaphorically the whole short is just a woman carrying her team through a match but staying mute on game chat, an experience many women you’ve played Halo with probably find familiar.
@@arbingtoni mean its one eay definitely i just thought it was more to drive home the spartans are ultra removed from the rest of humanity in their existence of being living legends.
@@arbington Well in the Halo universe, in the 26th century, sexism is supposed to be pratically non existent, we see plenty of important females characters in the games and books and it makes sense that it is like that so i dont see why this anime would have sexism in it, there not even really sexism thought in the main characters mind, he just doesn't like Spartans because ODST are like that in the lore, they just despise Spartans and thats it, i dont think it would have changed anything for him to know sooner that she is a woman. For example, he is not having misogynistic thought when he learn she is a woman at the end, in fact he seems to respect her more, plus, in the Halo universe, there is a lot of womans in the millitary, gender is not even really a thing that mentioned at all, they're just soldiers.
@@Angel_77-ur8hx True. And even if they knew she was a woman the whole time, Cal is still a seven foot tall killing machine. They wouldn’t belittle her.
I post this on a lot of The Babysitter reactions but it’s really tragic seeing O'brian thinking about Cal at the end, and how you can tell he's realizing how much of an impact she ended up having on his life just to immediately be gone forever.
This Dutch is the same Dutch from ODST. This is a bit earlier in the war from my understanding so ODSTs still hated Spartans. They hated them for a few reasons. One was due to what Chief did to the group of ODSTs in Fall of Reach. They were mad a kid beat up and killed their own. They saw the Spartans as undisciplined rookies. But they were also mad that the Spartans were overshadowing them. They hated that a bunch of kids were doing better than they were and they hated that the Spartans were getting all of the attention. The ancient structures are interesting. They aren’t Covenant and they are also not Forerunner. In Halo 4 you will see who I believe are the true builders of the ruins. It’s also not Elite ruins. Spartan IIs are usually pretty quiet unless they have made friends in the group. Spartan IIs are talkative with other Spartan IIs and anyone they are close with. You actually see this with Chief you notice he only talks to people he is close with or anyone he is supposed to report to. He barely talks to anyone else. We only see Chief as the only Spartan up until Reach. After this point we actually see that there are many female Spartans some are actually more skilled than Chief. Chief by Spartan standards is actually kinda average for a Spartan II but he excels in team cooperation. Linda from Blue Team is a beast at sniping and is considered one of the best Spartans and Spartan Kurt who is in the books was one of the best of the Spartan IIs. You learn more about those two as you read the books. Spartans generally are dehumanized by most. Halsey ironically does humanize them she does care about her Spartans. Initially she didn’t but over the years she spent with them she really began to think of them as her children and in the end does call them by name. Cal wasn’t quiet because of misogyny Spartan IIs are just very antisocial. And the ODSTs were kinda just assuming she was a he because of how big she was and how strong she was. It’s a group of guys so they usually don’t see women fighting out in the field.
Like most Spartans, she was very reserved, practically never speaking, except at the time of her death. Cal-141's death left a strong impact on all the ODST's he fought with. They, like all ODSTs, had had rivalries with the Spartans and considered them big weirdos, but Cal-141's efforts on the mission and the action of saving O'Brien several times changed their minds about them.
That is dabatable to say most Spartan 2s quiet. Halo Wars Red and Omega team talked a fair amount . Mainly Red team. Halo Reach with Jorge. Plenty of other places were the 2s talked. Master Chief all through the games.
I wanted to make this comment to be perfectly clear. if you disagree with meg on her shared opinions & thoughts on this video or any other that is fine. but be respectful. there is never a reason to insult & be an asshole just because you disagree. be mindful & respectful you should be when sharing your thoughts as you would want someone to be respectful to you when discussing thoughts
Spartans truly fit into the "Tragic Hero" category most don't know Spartans saved them/the galaxy. And all the things they've been through and didn't get to experience because adults forced them into it.
Spartan II's are shy by nature due to their lack of social activities and isolation during their training and augmentations. It could be covering that topic but I dont think it was
Something brilliant about the end scene where the ODSTs yell at the Marine, Berger - from the camera perspective and where the characters are seated, the apple that hit Berger was thrown by O'Brien.
The only thing I can add to this is that Cal-141 reminds me of Samus Aran (Metroid) tall af, silent type and even blonde. Not to mention her "gender reveal" turned out to be a twist that shouldn't change anything (yet it does, doesn't it?), it is the same absolute badass you saw throughout the whole episode/games, putting things in perspective (regarding the ODSTs "spartanphobia" in the episode and sexism irl)
The Babysitter is by far my favorite of the Legends shorts, I'm happy to see you liked it! Also I see a lot of people pointing out Cal not being talkative, but I feel like people are kinda misunderstanding why. She and the other Spartan II's are not very sociable as they had been abducted and trained heavily in military combat at the age of 5, so their social skills were heavily stunted. Effectively raised for as long as they can remember to be weapons at the UNSC's disposal.
I absolutely love this episode of Halo Legends and I'm very glad you're reacting to it. It's so interesting to see the (rather one sided) rivalry that the ODSTs have with the Spartans.
Hey Meg I just wanted to let you know that you’re one of my favorite UA-camrs and watching you try new things and get so into them has really helped to inspire me to check out things I thought I would never have interest in and for that I want to thank you much love ❤️
ODSTs have a one-sided rivalry with Spartans, especially after Chief had that fight with those 3 ODSTs in Fall of Reach, Spartans in general are very anti-social, so she didn't speak not because of misogyny but because that's just is how Spartans are when interacting with Marines or ODSTs.
On a not so fun fact: There's a deleted cutscene for Halo 2 called "Day at the Beach" It covers the Metropolis intro cutscene from one of the other Pelicans that gets shot down. This cutscene shows a group of ODSTs retreating from their Pelican after it goes down. We only learn one of the ODSTs names, O'Brian and we only get his name because he dies in the Pelican crash. There's a lot of speculation as to whether this O'Brien and the one from "Day at the Beach" are the same character. It's worth noting that they're both part of the 105th division of ODSTs, so there's some merit to the thought. Now in terms of canonicity, in the final game, all of the ODSTs that were seen in "Day at the Beach" were replaced with regular Marines and no reference is ever made to an O'Brien, so we can't say for certain that O'Brien is even dead in canon. It's likely that they're separate people, sharing a name only as a reference to Bungie employee William O'Brien.
Day at the beach is definitely part of the main Halo canon (the cutscene was even remastered for H2A) but, unlike this Dutch being confirmed to be the same Dutch from ODST, we have no confirmation that this O'Brian is the same one who gets KIA in Day at the Beach.
The ODSTs don’t really like Spartans is because of Chief killing 2 ODSTs and crippling another that attacked him at the gym in the Fall of Reach movie. They saw them as freaks and thought they were trying to replace ODSTs with Spartans. That sort of thinking faded away near the end of the war and during the war not all ODSTs disliked Spartans Also the building were I believe ancient humanities, like humanity during the Forerunners time. And O’Brian probably wasn’t sexist because Cal (the Spartan) saved him many times and he still didn’t like her without knowing her gender and his mind was changed after what he thought was a freak in armor taking his job, die for him after he was openly hating on them and being disrespectful. When I saw the scene for the first time my thoughts were jokingly “oh so now you like the Spartan now that you know it’s a women”
Hey Meg, been watching ya for a little bit now, and just wanted to say I love watching you get to experience what so many of us grew up on. I’m sorry that the community can be toxic, especially those of us who know so much of the series already. There’s so much we would love to tell you about it, but its great seeing you learn, and figure out so much on your own, and with a little help from the community. Hopefully people can give you a break, and let you enjoy the Halo franchise, as the rest of us do. Anyways, keep doing what you do best, and I look forward to seeing more of your reactions and gameplay!
I think your take on Cal not speaking being in part a self defense against sexism is a really good take! It's not something I had considered before, it makes sense that being as huge and strong and capable as she is, she probably has encountered people who were weird about it, and Spartans not being the most socially adjusted people, it makes sense that she would just find it easier to not engage with them and let people assume whatever they want.
Have you checked out the Halo 2A a Day at The Beach cutscene? It features a familiar name... its a fan theory for sure but one I certainly apply to. Loving the breakdowns btw, love seeing people enjoy this content
So something about spartan IIs They are extremely antisocial, causing them to not be chatty, at all, unless around other Spartans, then it’s mostly just about the mission. You can’t blame them though, they were abducted when they were 6 and had only the drill instructors and other Spartans to talk with, so they just Don’t talk often. Another thing with Spartan armor, the only way you can properl hear them talking is through external speakers (or comms). So cal very well could be saying things, but no one hears because she didn’t turn on her external speakers :)
During the war the ODSTs had a one sided rivalry with the Spartans. ODSTs use to be the best of the best, but then the Spartans came out of nowhere and stole the show. O'Brian is meant to represent this rivalry. Cal-141 is also wearing Mk4 armor which historically made it very difficult to distinguish between male and female Spartans. Mk4 had more armor plating because the shielding technology was not implemented until Mk5. If Mk4 had energy shields Cal probably would have survived.
Other than maybe Romeo's jokes in ODST, I can't think of a single moment of sexism in the games or extended media. Five hundred years in the future people have kinda moved past that.
Just a reminder to please not discuss any lore that Meg has not come across yet - be it in books, cinematics, or elsewhere. (She may want to discover it all herself.) Thank you!
I'm not sure if you take requests, but if you plan on continuing the Halo series to the 343 games (4, 5, and Infinite), after, or if you finish 5, I strongly recommend a really funny Polygon video from a series they have called "Unraveled". Basically, this guy had never played Halo campaign, and instead of playing MCC, he chose to catch up and prepare for Halo Infinite, by reading the 31 Halo books that had been released by that time. And holy shit, it is one of the few fantastic Polygon videos.
odsts have a prejudice against spartans because spartans are oni’s pets, odsts were used as punching bags by spartans during training, and odsts believe the spartans arent worth more than 10 odsts.
Someone else is already pointed out that the Spartans and the ODSTs have a bad history because of what the master chief did, But you also need to remember ODSTs are constantly on the front line and they're always dying and yet the unseen the public only seem to praise the SPARTANs. In a way ODSTs are envious but also resentful.
Meg’s sexism analysis is quite rudimentary (that everyone, me, you reading this, everyone, reacts to women in power in a certain way) and the way that this community has reacted to this basic lens of analysis (that women are treated differently) is indicative of… huh …. Well… Misogyny
While women are treated differently right now due to misogany in the episode that wasn't why Cal was silent. She's silent because Spartan II are very antisocial and focused on getting the job done. In halo lore, by the time of the games, bigotry had well died out with the last main one being inner colonists vs outer colonists well that and xenophobia towards aliens.
@@carlosmedina1281 hello, was halo written by people alive right now who live with experience and enact misogyny or was it written by people who live this future that somehow doesn’t experience any misogyny regardless of their background
@@midmoose I was just giving the lore reason. Cal wouldn't care about sexist troops, she was silent because she is only focused on the mission and not pointless chat.
@@midmooseIn the Halo universe, in the 26th century, sexism and racism are supposed to be practicaly non existent with humanity, you see a lot of womans and black people that are Spartans, normal soldiers or scientists, a lot of important character are woman in the books and games, 2/5 of John teammates in Blue Team are womans, Halsey, Miranda, a lot of Spartans are woman etc. Saying Halo is misogynistic or that there is sexism in the universe is false. The only sexism i could see is in the Convenant but they are an alien alliance so anything is excusable really. Its clear Bungie didn't want the Halo universe to be misogynistic and it makes sense because its in the far future in the 26th century.
I dont think cal was staying silent because of misogyny, Spartans are not super chatty especially with people they dont know (they are shy)
true, they're antisocial in a way. plus the only one who can really relate to them are so few, you won't see people announcing they were child soldiers. career military dudes like johnson and buck get a kind of pass tho
@HuntersWrathlol and she calls him studmuffin
When conscripted at age 6-7 it doesn't really make sense to be a social butterfly. "First we taught them to be silent, then we taught them to be Spartans!"~Dr. Halsey
The Spartans name is Calina, or Cal-141. She is actually one of the taller Spartans IIs, being almost 7 ft tall without the armor.
Yeah, she and Master Chief were good friends.
and still younger than the odst's she was with
@@peteramaranth85 actually in the original intention for a scene in the later part of this story were O'Brian sees the Spartans face it he recognized her as his child hood friend when he was 6 or 7 which is way he reacted the way he did
Actually much more than 7ft tall since the armor only adds few centimiters and master chief is 2,18 metters being on the small side, the stimations puts her (considering we see the ODST buck here) above 2,35 metters tall without armor.
It is the same Dutch from halo 3 odst by the way, shortly after this took place he got deployed to alpha 9.
And on another note, yeah, spartan II's in general just don't talk much. Lest they need to in front of a superior officer. But they actually did have a secret sign language for each other that only spartan II's could understand.
One example being, they'd take their middle and index finger and make an upside down arch motion at the bottom half of their helmets to convey content towards one another. Basically saying they were happy to see each other.
AWWWW
@@MegMage That is known as the Spartan Smile.
@@MegMage THIS IS THE ORIGIN OF ODSTS TEAM!!!!!!!!! LOVE THIS ONE!!!!!!!!!
There was a lot of competitiveness between ODSTs and Spartans. Before Spartans were introduced to the UNSC ranks, it was the ODSTs that were the cream of the crop, the best of the best. The Spartans completely uprooted their position on the food chain. That’s why a lot of ODSTs had a negative view on Spartans. It didn’t help that Master Chief (accidentally) killed a couple of ODSTs right after getting his augmentations (if you remember from watching Fall of Reach), that story eventually spread among the ranks as well, further cementing this air of rivalry and antagonism between the 2 groups.
Spartans were seen as heroes, sure. But they were also viewed as sociopathic freaks of nature, a necessary evil to win the war against the Covenant.
John only injured two but killed one right?
@@darnell7871 I may be wrong but I believe in the book it was 4, he heavily injured 2, paralyzed one and killed another. Might be wrong tho, haven't read it in a while.
@@luisalmanza119And if I'm not mistaken, a family member of one of those ODSTs later became a very powerful insurrectionist leader out of spite, can't remember if he is in Venezia or not (planet) but if he is then next Halo Infinite operation (season) is going to show what happens when a grudge goes for too long too far and someone becomes terminally obsessed with proving a point. He either self-destructs or proves his point.
Hint:
This guy is going to prove that anyone can make a Spartan. From augmentations to armour, if you don't have all the UNSC data or materials, fill the gaps with alien tech.
@@OnePlayer480 Of course the fate of Alpha-9 squad in Halo 3 ODST.
Breaking News: Tiny Helljumper is obsessed with giant Spartan girlfriend four times his size.
Cal wasn’t silent because of sexism she is silent because Spartans in general are antisocial.
yeah they have no drive to seek out companionship
@wonkatar2813 not always true. There are numerous Spartans who were discharged and sought out wives and husband's.
One of them even fell in love with an officer at base I believe.
@@thelionshonorthere was romance between two members of Black Team but they were considered defects in the eyes of ONI because they were always rebellious and questioned authority, ie. Sneaking away to make out or fighting with the other Spartans as kids, and the third member stole a pelican and crashed it so he was their third member lol
@@Bossman12000 Pretty sure you're combining both Black Team and Gray Team into one. Jai-006 and Adriana-111 from Gray Team would sneak out of training occasionally, but their relationship wasn't romantic. And Michael-120 was the one that crashed the Pelican. Margaret-053 and Otto-031 from Black Team were the ones in a romantic relationship.
@@Ayser-ly7ss probably I just know that one team were the suicide team due to constant insubordination
She wasn’t not speaking bc of fear of misogyny or anything like that. Spartans (especially the IIs) just don’t really talk to non Spartans unless it’s necessary. They’re very antisocial and kinda shy.
Its not misogyny. Space command military is co-ed. Cal was just wearing a tank, which looks gender neutral on pretty much everyone.
Spartan 2s are just very quite professional types. Real only like talking to each other. They were raised to kill humans by the villages. Plus seeing pretty much half thier siblings not survive the procedures, usually being the only survivors of fight the covenant. Just much simpler to stay disconnected and not get attached. Especially to those more squishy than a spartan. With the exception of Halsey and any trainers they had growing up.
Min 10:08 Her name was Cal-141, she belonged to the Spartan II program along her other "brothers" and "sisters", among them John-117 the Master Chief
16:00 i generally think she kept quiet not because she was shy or by misogyny, i think she was quiet because she wanted to get the job done, she knew that had she spoke things might get complicated between her and O brian so she kept quiet til the end where in the truth she was babysitting him more than he was babysitting her so in a way she was in the mission to give support to o brain so he could make the shot on the prophet
3:10 If you remember back to Fall of Reach, A newly augmented Chief severely beat several ODST's in a gym, killing one of them. Since then ODST's have had a sour opinion of Spartans.
Lets not forget to add that he was like 12 and not in any sort of armor
@@ClericOfPholtus 14
Mainly the 105th. But yeah
Spartans are taught to be silent.
Then they were taught to be Spartans
Not sexism, Spartan II with some exceptions like Fred are generally anti-social in nature and in general won't chat with non-Spartan iI
I think most people in these comments are upset because they don't want to see Cal potentially reduced to this idea of an average woman who has to battle sexism, when what was admirable about her was that she was far above and beyond petty rivalry and just wanted to do her job and help her team do their job. It's that Spartan mindset that people find heroic about her, so it would be reductive of her as a Spartan if sexism was getting to her and she chose to stay quiet as a result. To Spartans, things like that are a non-issue, which makes them all the more heroic because you always get to see how forgiving and accepting they are of the flaws of average people. They're strong so that normal people can fail and keep trying.
Yes exactly . In universe her being afraid to speak because of misogny makes her unqualified to pass Spartan bootcamp in the first place. She's not afraid , just incredibly effecicent
@@Connor8609 Absolutely based
Its also spartans being Anti social unless they have a blue lady in their heads
Callie was silent because that's how spartan IIs are Quiet, they don't socialize with others typically. That's why chief barely speaks.
They aren't suppose to be similar to other humans. That's why many people hate the "Spartans are still human" trope.
Misogyny doesn't have anything to do with it. They're broken individuals; to their core. Bred to be a weapon.
This was too little of a time with Spartan-141. Most others speak a fair to a lot more.
The tension between the Spartans and ODSTs actually isn't top for off from real world elements. Within the US military, different special forces units have been known to be peirce rivals due to each viewing themselves as the most superior. There's been a few cases but I remember one in which a Green Beret killed a Navy Seal (both are US spec ops) in Iraq or something which had to do with the tension and rivalry.
its funny how you say they would have belittled her if they knew she was a woman, but its almost like O'Brian immediately had respect for her the moment he knew.. because they thought it was a man all along.
He definitely had a huge amount of respect there. He appreciated that she saved his life in that moment. He respected that she sacrificed herself for him and I feel like he felt terrible about yelling at her for saving him all those times.
ODSTs don’t like Spartans because they think that Spartans are spoiled, Spartans ALWAYS get the best equipment, the most attention (you guys know why). But it’s mostly one sided because although ODSTs don’t like Spartans. Spartans don’t really care and just wanna get the job done
Don't forget a 14 year old spartan accidentally killed a few ODST in the gym.
@@zachplummer625 oh yeahhhhhh that too
Master Chif @@zachplummer625
Spartans do not have this idea that one soldier is lesser than another, so in a sense, Spartans do not feel very strongly or otherwise about ODST's. They are simply fellow soldiers who are operating on the field with them. But ODST's feel slighted by the fact that before Spartans, they were the Elite Soldiers everyone admired and looked up to. Couple that with the fact that Chief bodied 3 or 4 ODST's when he was 14 and not even in armor yet, creates a lot of bad blood between the two factions. And because the joke was that Spartans were just Frankenstein's monsters, robotic and unfeeling, ODST's further saw fit to separate themselves from the Super Soldiers.
Everyone treated Spartans like they were just soulless killing machines, calling them names, avoiding them, treating them as inhuman monsters. Eventually, as Spartans started to die and people became aware that Spartans were dying, they realized that Spartans aren't inhuman. Now, Spartans are treated like heroes, welcomed just about everywhere with open arms and cheers.
It's interesting though, because as far as we can tell, in the extended universe, sexism and racism are pretty much non-existent in the 26th century. So the choice here to keep Cal-141 quiet until the reveal was either to touch on sexism in the modern day or it was a grand revealing that the EU was ready to touch on the other Spartans that never got to be realized in the game. Since Linda-058 was inactive during Combat Evolved and the other Spartans were elsewhere during Halo 2 and 3. Bungie kinda tried to build this idea that Chief was the last of his kind, that of the 75 final candidates, only he remained. This however, was kind of undone over the years, much to Bungie's annoyance.
YES! My favourite one. Maybe not the best, but it's such a beautiful tale about the fragility of life when it comes to the Spartans and the shattering of the mythical expectations that most soldiers have about them.
Outside of the relationships between Spartans and ODSTs, there was a conscious decision to have every character address Calina as a male. Everyone watching, along with every character in the short had an assumption of what a spartan was (i.e. Master Chief). The creators knew this and used Calina to challenge our presuppositions. Meg was simply acknowledging this oversight within herself, as we all should, and likely have as fans of the franchise.
Mysogyny can be defined as having 'ingrained prejudices' against women. AKA, nurtured opinions that are not based on reason or experience. It's a charged word, but she's technically correct. There is nothing wrong with recognizing the potential harm in our biases, even if we have the best intentions.
I would even argue that there were many conscious attempts to introduce us to the idea of female spartans and that it enabled Halo: Reach to be the treasure that it is. The fact that we're having this conversation is also a testament to how tasteful the creators have been in handling this type of subject matter.
Well said.
I think Halo does a good job showing this in general. We see people from both genders preforming very well and being strong. Miranda being a good commander who can think on her feet just like her father, Linda outdoing most Spartans with her sniping capabilities, Halsey with her vast knowledge being one of the greatest minds at ONI. And all of the marines all equally as strong as one another.
It is the same Dutch from the game, and ODSTs were originally the meant to be the best of the best in the UNSC, however since the introduction of the Spartans they sorta lost that. So some resent the Spartans because they got augmentations, instead of spending years training and getting experience to become an elite soldier. Also, the planet wasn't Sanghelios, I don't think the elites would have statues of humans
Lol I said it was the same Dutch too but my comment got deleted
The Spartan 2 project was done with the utmost secrecy. The ODSTs wouldn't have known about the augmentations. The augmentations were to be genetically compatible to the Spartan 2 candidates. As for that planet. It was in Ancient Humanity space before the Human-Forerunner War and the creation of the Halo array.
If I was an ordinary soldier and I saw a Spartan, I would immediately assume that they have some sort of augmentation. And I don't know why you're telling me about the planet, I didn't ask about it@@maxwellchen-byerley5598
This animation has absolutely nothing to do with sexism. ODSTs just don’t like Spartans, but will work with them due to professionalism.
I wouldn’t really call it a stretch to say that’s one of the implied themes of the short. It’s meant to be a shocking reveal that the Spartan was a woman, yes there’s the in-universe fact that Spartans just don’t talk much but it’s definitely being purposely used as a framing device to create a certain impression and then subvert it, a la Samus Aran. And I imagine it does stand out more to her as a woman than it would to you as a man. Metaphorically the whole short is just a woman carrying her team through a match but staying mute on game chat, an experience many women you’ve played Halo with probably find familiar.
@@arbingtonmy aunt when we would play BTB on Reach back in 2010
@@arbingtoni mean its one eay definitely i just thought it was more to drive home the spartans are ultra removed from the rest of humanity in their existence of being living legends.
@@arbington Well in the Halo universe, in the 26th century, sexism is supposed to be pratically non existent, we see plenty of important females characters in the games and books and it makes sense that it is like that so i dont see why this anime would have sexism in it, there not even really sexism thought in the main characters mind, he just doesn't like Spartans because ODST are like that in the lore, they just despise Spartans and thats it, i dont think it would have changed anything for him to know sooner that she is a woman. For example, he is not having misogynistic thought when he learn she is a woman at the end, in fact he seems to respect her more, plus, in the Halo universe, there is a lot of womans in the millitary, gender is not even really a thing that mentioned at all, they're just soldiers.
@@Angel_77-ur8hx True. And even if they knew she was a woman the whole time, Cal is still a seven foot tall killing machine. They wouldn’t belittle her.
I post this on a lot of The Babysitter reactions but it’s really tragic seeing O'brian thinking about Cal at the end, and how you can tell he's realizing how much of an impact she ended up having on his life just to immediately be gone forever.
This Dutch is the same Dutch from ODST. This is a bit earlier in the war from my understanding so ODSTs still hated Spartans. They hated them for a few reasons. One was due to what Chief did to the group of ODSTs in Fall of Reach. They were mad a kid beat up and killed their own. They saw the Spartans as undisciplined rookies. But they were also mad that the Spartans were overshadowing them. They hated that a bunch of kids were doing better than they were and they hated that the Spartans were getting all of the attention. The ancient structures are interesting. They aren’t Covenant and they are also not Forerunner. In Halo 4 you will see who I believe are the true builders of the ruins. It’s also not Elite ruins. Spartan IIs are usually pretty quiet unless they have made friends in the group. Spartan IIs are talkative with other Spartan IIs and anyone they are close with. You actually see this with Chief you notice he only talks to people he is close with or anyone he is supposed to report to. He barely talks to anyone else. We only see Chief as the only Spartan up until Reach. After this point we actually see that there are many female Spartans some are actually more skilled than Chief. Chief by Spartan standards is actually kinda average for a Spartan II but he excels in team cooperation. Linda from Blue Team is a beast at sniping and is considered one of the best Spartans and Spartan Kurt who is in the books was one of the best of the Spartan IIs. You learn more about those two as you read the books. Spartans generally are dehumanized by most. Halsey ironically does humanize them she does care about her Spartans. Initially she didn’t but over the years she spent with them she really began to think of them as her children and in the end does call them by name. Cal wasn’t quiet because of misogyny Spartan IIs are just very antisocial. And the ODSTs were kinda just assuming she was a he because of how big she was and how strong she was. It’s a group of guys so they usually don’t see women fighting out in the field.
Like most Spartans, she was very reserved, practically never speaking, except at the time of her death.
Cal-141's death left a strong impact on all the ODST's he fought with. They, like all ODSTs, had had rivalries with the Spartans and considered them big weirdos, but Cal-141's efforts on the mission and the action of saving O'Brien several times changed their minds about them.
That is dabatable to say most Spartan 2s quiet. Halo Wars Red and Omega team talked a fair amount . Mainly Red team. Halo Reach with Jorge. Plenty of other places were the 2s talked. Master Chief all through the games.
This is probably your first time seeing Mark 4 mjolnir armor
Mk IV MJOLNIR appears briefly in Halo Legends: Origins part 2, which she has already reacted to.
I wanted to make this comment to be perfectly clear. if you disagree with meg on her shared opinions & thoughts on this video or any other that is fine. but be respectful. there is never a reason to insult & be an asshole just because you disagree. be mindful & respectful you should be when sharing your thoughts as you would want someone to be respectful to you when discussing thoughts
Spartans truly fit into the "Tragic Hero" category most don't know Spartans saved them/the galaxy.
And all the things they've been through and didn't get to experience because adults forced them into it.
Spartan II's are shy by nature due to their lack of social activities and isolation during their training and augmentations. It could be covering that topic but I dont think it was
Something brilliant about the end scene where the ODSTs yell at the Marine, Berger - from the camera perspective and where the characters are seated, the apple that hit Berger was thrown by O'Brien.
The only thing I can add to this is that Cal-141 reminds me of Samus Aran (Metroid) tall af, silent type and even blonde. Not to mention her "gender reveal" turned out to be a twist that shouldn't change anything (yet it does, doesn't it?), it is the same absolute badass you saw throughout the whole episode/games, putting things in perspective (regarding the ODSTs "spartanphobia" in the episode and sexism irl)
The Babysitter is by far my favorite of the Legends shorts, I'm happy to see you liked it!
Also I see a lot of people pointing out Cal not being talkative, but I feel like people are kinda misunderstanding why. She and the other Spartan II's are not very sociable as they had been abducted and trained heavily in military combat at the age of 5, so their social skills were heavily stunted. Effectively raised for as long as they can remember to be weapons at the UNSC's disposal.
I absolutely love this episode of Halo Legends and I'm very glad you're reacting to it. It's so interesting to see the (rather one sided) rivalry that the ODSTs have with the Spartans.
3:40 Actually Ancient Human Ruins, not Forerunner, if I remember correctly.
Hey Meg I just wanted to let you know that you’re one of my favorite UA-camrs and watching you try new things and get so into them has really helped to inspire me to check out things I thought I would never have interest in and for that I want to thank you much love ❤️
ODSTs have a one-sided rivalry with Spartans, especially after Chief had that fight with those 3 ODSTs in Fall of Reach, Spartans in general are very anti-social, so she didn't speak not because of misogyny but because that's just is how Spartans are when interacting with Marines or ODSTs.
On a not so fun fact: There's a deleted cutscene for Halo 2 called "Day at the Beach" It covers the Metropolis intro cutscene from one of the other Pelicans that gets shot down. This cutscene shows a group of ODSTs retreating from their Pelican after it goes down. We only learn one of the ODSTs names, O'Brian and we only get his name because he dies in the Pelican crash. There's a lot of speculation as to whether this O'Brien and the one from "Day at the Beach" are the same character. It's worth noting that they're both part of the 105th division of ODSTs, so there's some merit to the thought.
Now in terms of canonicity, in the final game, all of the ODSTs that were seen in "Day at the Beach" were replaced with regular Marines and no reference is ever made to an O'Brien, so we can't say for certain that O'Brien is even dead in canon. It's likely that they're separate people, sharing a name only as a reference to Bungie employee William O'Brien.
Day at the beach is definitely part of the main Halo canon (the cutscene was even remastered for H2A) but, unlike this Dutch being confirmed to be the same Dutch from ODST, we have no confirmation that this O'Brian is the same one who gets KIA in Day at the Beach.
Can’t wait for the package reaction
I specifically went hunting for peoples reaction for this, so thank you so much for posting this. It was wonderful.
She was taken from us too soon T-T
The ODSTs don’t really like Spartans is because of Chief killing 2 ODSTs and crippling another that attacked him at the gym in the Fall of Reach movie. They saw them as freaks and thought they were trying to replace ODSTs with Spartans. That sort of thinking faded away near the end of the war and during the war not all ODSTs disliked Spartans
Also the building were I believe ancient humanities, like humanity during the Forerunners time.
And O’Brian probably wasn’t sexist because Cal (the Spartan) saved him many times and he still didn’t like her without knowing her gender and his mind was changed after what he thought was a freak in armor taking his job, die for him after he was openly hating on them and being disrespectful. When I saw the scene for the first time my thoughts were jokingly “oh so now you like the Spartan now that you know it’s a women”
They are indeed Human and built way before the Halo rings were built.
I believe the Spartans are silent due to trauma
That totally isn't true they are plenty talkative at some points in time. Like all throughout the games.
It did look like an elite planet. and yeah most probably the same dutch we know and love.
Hey Meg, been watching ya for a little bit now, and just wanted to say I love watching you get to experience what so many of us grew up on. I’m sorry that the community can be toxic, especially those of us who know so much of the series already. There’s so much we would love to tell you about it, but its great seeing you learn, and figure out so much on your own, and with a little help from the community. Hopefully people can give you a break, and let you enjoy the Halo franchise, as the rest of us do. Anyways, keep doing what you do best, and I look forward to seeing more of your reactions and gameplay!
Sangheili is the species. Sanghelios is the planet.
Cant wait for you to play Halo Reach! You're going to love it.
Halo Legends is really great I wish you a happy joyful
Thursday and Thanks Meg.💞🐕🐕💞
This is probably my favorite Legends episode. Nice reaction as always ❤
I think your take on Cal not speaking being in part a self defense against sexism is a really good take! It's not something I had considered before, it makes sense that being as huge and strong and capable as she is, she probably has encountered people who were weird about it, and Spartans not being the most socially adjusted people, it makes sense that she would just find it easier to not engage with them and let people assume whatever they want.
Have you checked out the Halo 2A a Day at The Beach cutscene? It features a familiar name... its a fan theory for sure but one I certainly apply to.
Loving the breakdowns btw, love seeing people enjoy this content
So something about spartan IIs
They are extremely antisocial, causing them to not be chatty, at all, unless around other Spartans, then it’s mostly just about the mission.
You can’t blame them though, they were abducted when they were 6 and had only the drill instructors and other Spartans to talk with, so they just
Don’t talk often.
Another thing with Spartan armor, the only way you can properl hear them talking is through external speakers (or comms). So cal very well could be saying things, but no one hears because she didn’t turn on her external speakers :)
During the war the ODSTs had a one sided rivalry with the Spartans. ODSTs use to be the best of the best, but then the Spartans came out of nowhere and stole the show. O'Brian is meant to represent this rivalry. Cal-141 is also wearing Mk4 armor which historically made it very difficult to distinguish between male and female Spartans. Mk4 had more armor plating because the shielding technology was not implemented until Mk5. If Mk4 had energy shields Cal probably would have survived.
Other than maybe Romeo's jokes in ODST, I can't think of a single moment of sexism in the games or extended media. Five hundred years in the future people have kinda moved past that.
Really? Not a single instance? Not one? Just ODST alone had Sadie’s Story and Buck’s bad romance. lol
@@arbington so we're calling little girls fighting against corrupt cops and "bad romance" sexism now? seems fairly arbitrary
@@sb17899 I’d say police chiefs creeping on young women and trying to abduct them is, at the bare minimum, kinda sexist behavior yes.
Just a reminder to please not discuss any lore that Meg has not come across yet - be it in books, cinematics, or elsewhere. (She may want to discover it all herself.) Thank you!
I'm not sure if you take requests, but if you plan on continuing the Halo series to the 343 games (4, 5, and Infinite), after, or if you finish 5, I strongly recommend a really funny Polygon video from a series they have called "Unraveled". Basically, this guy had never played Halo campaign, and instead of playing MCC, he chose to catch up and prepare for Halo Infinite, by reading the 31 Halo books that had been released by that time. And holy shit, it is one of the few fantastic Polygon videos.
Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry.
odsts have a prejudice against spartans because spartans are oni’s pets, odsts were used as punching bags by spartans during training, and odsts believe the spartans arent worth more than 10 odsts.
That isn't exactly why ODSTs hate Spartans. It was the incident between John and the few ODSTs.
You need to watch "forward ynto dawn". Its pretty good.
I think youd be able to hit that snipe Meg 👍
Someone else is already pointed out that the Spartans and the ODSTs have a bad history because of what the master chief did,
But you also need to remember ODSTs are constantly on the front line and they're always dying and yet the unseen the public only seem to praise the SPARTANs. In a way ODSTs are envious but also resentful.
You should eventually react to Halo: The Mona Lisa!
Reach 🫂
your hair looks cool
Spartans Never Die.
:)
Hi Meg hope you are having an great and awesome day ❤
Super great video but LOOK AT THAT HAIR, it's like 2022 all over again
Cal-141
Best one ever!!!!
Meg’s sexism analysis is quite rudimentary (that everyone, me, you reading this, everyone, reacts to women in power in a certain way) and the way that this community has reacted to this basic lens of analysis (that women are treated differently) is indicative of… huh …. Well… Misogyny
While women are treated differently right now due to misogany in the episode that wasn't why Cal was silent. She's silent because Spartan II are very antisocial and focused on getting the job done. In halo lore, by the time of the games, bigotry had well died out with the last main one being inner colonists vs outer colonists well that and xenophobia towards aliens.
@@carlosmedina1281 hello, was halo written by people alive right now who live with experience and enact misogyny or was it written by people who live this future that somehow doesn’t experience any misogyny regardless of their background
@@midmoose I was just giving the lore reason. Cal wouldn't care about sexist troops, she was silent because she is only focused on the mission and not pointless chat.
Unless some ruder comments were deleted all i see is disagreement
@@midmooseIn the Halo universe, in the 26th century, sexism and racism are supposed to be practicaly non existent with humanity, you see a lot of womans and black people that are Spartans, normal soldiers or scientists, a lot of important character are woman in the books and games, 2/5 of John teammates in Blue Team are womans, Halsey, Miranda, a lot of Spartans are woman etc. Saying Halo is misogynistic or that there is sexism in the universe is false. The only sexism i could see is in the Convenant but they are an alien alliance so anything is excusable really. Its clear Bungie didn't want the Halo universe to be misogynistic and it makes sense because its in the far future in the 26th century.