Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup
Deleted line(s) 199 (click to see context) :
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:A good portion of the players we see Arbiter fragban are {{Jerkass}}es.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Eugene and Tyler repeatedly allude that Colin is involved with something beyond the pale even for them, and which they've told him to tone it down before he gets himself in trouble. [[spoiler:Colin is a pedophile who grooms children online]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* ComicallySmallBribe: After the dust has settled and the threat has passed, the network's compensation for players affected by Chaos Theosis -- who not only banned their consoles from online play but also stole their personal and credit card information -- is a coupon for buy-one-get-one-half-off blueberry milkshakes at participating restaurants. And to get the coupon you have to spend 6000 of your own gamerpoints.
Changed line(s) 205 (click to see context) from:
--> '''Cortana''': Tell me, Chief, why do you think it is that you were rejected by that girl you encountered online? Why do you think you're rejected by anybody and everybody you encounter online, for that matter? Hm? Do you think it just might possibly have something to do with this volatile attitude of yours? … Don't kid yourself Chief, the root of your issues lies far beyond my presence. You've been antagonizing everybody around you long before I entered the picture.
to:
--> '''Cortana''': Tell me, Chief, why do you think it is that you were rejected by that girl you encountered online? Why do you think you're rejected by anybody and everybody you encounter online, for that matter? Hm? Do you think it just might possibly have something to do with this volatile attitude of yours? … … Don't kid yourself Chief, the root of your issues lies far beyond my presence. You've been antagonizing everybody around you long before I entered the picture.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Now a redirect to This Index Touches Itself, and should not be used as a trope.
Changed line(s) 333 (click to see context) from:
* {{Foreshadowing}} - In Season 3 Episode 4, two of [[{{Jerkass}} Craig's]] Major League Gamer] pals [[{{Fetish}} get (presumably Halo-induced) erections]] and [[ADateWithRosiePalms decide to go rub one out.]] This later becomes the catalyst for Master Chief's win against Craig later in the episode.
to:
* {{Foreshadowing}} - {{Foreshadowing}}: In Season 3 Episode 4, two of [[{{Jerkass}} Craig's]] Major League Gamer] pals [[{{Fetish}} get (presumably Halo-induced) erections]] and [[ADateWithRosiePalms [[IllBeInMyBunk decide to go rub one out.]] This later becomes the catalyst for Master Chief's win against Craig later in the episode.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Cut Bitch Alert due to the entry being nothing but complaining, in addition to the trope not really fitting.
Deleted line(s) 297 (click to see context) :
* ArcNumber: Every time you see a clock, it will either display [[Franchise/{{Halo}} 3:43]], [[LeetLingo 13:37]] or digits that will add up to [[RuleOfSeven 7]] (which is a reference to Creator/{{Bungie}}).
Deleted line(s) 299 (click to see context) :
* TheMovie: ''Arby 'n' The Chief: The Movie''. "Endgame" could also be considered one.
* ArcNumber: Every time you see a clock, it will either display [[Franchise/{{Halo}} 3:43]], [[LeetLingo 13:37]] or digits that will add up to [[RuleOfSeven 7]] (which is a reference to Creator/{{Bungie}}).
Changed line(s) 304,305 (click to see context) from:
** Amazingly, Chief has also become this in some recent episodes, seeming to embody Jon's wild, silly, artistic, and emotional side while Arbiter embodies his logical thought, controlled behaviour, and cynicism. But how much Chief channels Graham and how much he is of his classic stupid self vaires from episode to episode.
* AuthorFilibuster: See AuthorAvatar
* AuthorFilibuster: See AuthorAvatar
to:
** Amazingly, Chief has also become this in some recent episodes, seeming to embody Jon's wild, silly, artistic, and emotional side while Arbiter embodies his logical thought, controlled behaviour, and cynicism. But how How much Chief channels Graham and how much he is of his classic stupid self vaires varies from episode to episode.
* AuthorFilibuster:See AuthorAvatarArbiter has sometimes been used to get across beliefs and opinions that Jon himself also shares. Chief usually has the opposing opinion of Arbiter so that the latter can counter the nonsensical arguments and statements that the former makes.
* AuthorFilibuster:
Deleted line(s) 308,311 (click to see context) :
* BitchAlert: Cortana. Seriously, all she ever did was bitch about Chief. It's like it was her only purpose in the series. Jon just doesn't want to admit it.
** At least until the last few episodes. Even from beyond the "grave", that's when she wanted both Arbiter and Chief to fight the good fight against Eugene and his guys. Talk about character development.
** Also, did she ever consider Arbiter a real friend? Why does he keep preaching all these redeeming qualities about her? It's hard to be friends with someone who keeps forgetting that you exist.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: The figurines' owner is named "Jon", and the second episode has Chief commenting on a Bungie blog post about the first episode. Furthermore, the plot of TheMovie is started when Chief watches several machinima videos by [=DigitalPh33r=]. There are also multiple references to ''Arby 'N' The Chief'' being a real machinima show within the show's universe.
** At least until the last few episodes. Even from beyond the "grave", that's when she wanted both Arbiter and Chief to fight the good fight against Eugene and his guys. Talk about character development.
** Also, did she ever consider Arbiter a real friend? Why does he keep preaching all these redeeming qualities about her? It's hard to be friends with someone who keeps forgetting that you exist.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: The figurines' owner is named "Jon", and the second episode has Chief commenting on a Bungie blog post about the first episode. Furthermore, the plot of TheMovie is started when Chief watches several machinima videos by [=DigitalPh33r=]. There are also multiple references to ''Arby 'N' The Chief'' being a real machinima show within the show's universe.
Added DiffLines:
* BreakingTheFourthWall: The figurines' owner is named "Jon", and the second episode has Chief commenting on a Bungie blog post about the first episode. Furthermore, the plot of TheMovie is started when Chief watches several machinima videos by [=DigitalPh33r=]. There are also multiple references to ''Arby 'N' The Chief'' being a real machinima show within the show's universe.
* TheBusCameBack: Todd, Travis, and Skylar Loveheart return in ''The Reboot'' after being absent from the series for more than a decade.
* TheBusCameBack: Todd, Travis, and Skylar Loveheart return in ''The Reboot'' after being absent from the series for more than a decade.
Added DiffLines:
* TheMovie: ''Arby 'n' The Chief: The Movie''. "Endgame" could also be considered one.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
The Chick is now a disambig, dewicking
Changed line(s) 343 (click to see context) from:
* GamerChick; TheChick: Cortana, although [[InformedAttribute she's hardly been seen actually playing games]].
to:
* GamerChick; TheChick: GamerChick:
** Cortana, although [[InformedAttribute she's hardly been seen actually playing games]].
** Cortana, although [[InformedAttribute she's hardly been seen actually playing games]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Arbiter and Chief die again, but this time directly confront and talk to Jon. Taking down the fourth wall a bit, Jon explains that in spite of all the misery and existential dread that he filtered from his own life into Arbiter, their existence is ultimately not an unhappy one; ''Arby 'N' The Chief'' is the source of many people's happiness so in spite of the apparent meaninglessness that plagued them, their life ''has'' meaning. Realizing that his existence genuinely cheers people up, Arbiter joins Chief in reincarnating back into Jon's apartment, this time with Cortana and Greg also resurrected. And with the series ending, Arbiter is finally free from the terrible feelings and choices Jon had him make, and the show's gonna be back to basics as a series of short comedy sketches where the toys just hang out and have fun from now on.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** [[spoiler:Agent Smirnoff returns to kill Black Cat and rescue Arbiter and Chief from being kidnapped in the finale... only to in turn by killed by a grenade he sets off.]]
Added DiffLines:
* NoFourthWall: [[spoiler:Arbiter and Chief die in an explosion again, but suddenly find themselves faced with Jon himself, tearing down the fourth wall to tearfully apologize for putting Arbiter through so much existential pain but also to reassure him and Chief that their adventures, as written by him, had been the bright spot in many people's lives.]]
Added DiffLines:
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: [[spoiler:Arbiter confronts Jon for putting him through so much misery for the sake of his series. While Jon tearfully apologizes, he notes that by filtering his own misery through Arbiter, he managed to show viewers going through similar things that YouAreNotAlone, and thus became a genuinely happy part of many people's lives. By extension, Arbiter and Chief themselves had been bright spots for so many people, leading to Arbiter forgiving Jon.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Poisonous Friend is no longer a trope
Changed line(s) 212 (click to see context) from:
'''Arbiter: (StunnedSilence)''' ...''[[PoisonousFriend You're poison.]]'' Your infantile volatility and cowardice [[spoiler: rid us of our only true friends in the world.]]
to:
'''Arbiter: (StunnedSilence)''' ...''[[PoisonousFriend ''[[ToxicFriendInfluence You're poison.]]'' Your infantile volatility and cowardice [[spoiler: rid us of our only true friends in the world.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 7,8 (click to see context) from:
''[[https://www.youtube.com/show?p=H4Z8Vj7XZOc&s=1 Arby 'n' the Chief]]'' is a {{Machinima}}/Live-action comedy created by Creator/JonGraham (formerly known as "[=DigitalPh33r=]"), who also produced ''Machinima/DeusExMachina2007''. The series follows [[LivingToys two figurines]] based on Bungie and Microsoft's ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' series coming to life while their owner is away. As the title suggests, the main characters are based on Master Chief (a LeetLingo-speaking {{Jerkass}} whose only concern is how much he "pwns" in any given game, something that he is completely incapable of actually doing) and the Arbiter (a DeadpanSnarker who often acts as the voice of reason to the Chief's mindless ranting). One of the unique features of the series is that many of the characters actually speak through a [[SyntheticVoiceActor PC voice synthesizer]] instead of acted voice-overs. The series is based on Graham's previous shorts, ''Master Chief Sucks At Halo'', where the series' trademarks (including synthesized voice-overs and the Chief's personality) were developed.
to:
''[[https://www.youtube.com/show?p=H4Z8Vj7XZOc&s=1 Arby 'n' the Chief]]'' is a {{Machinima}}/Live-action comedy created by Creator/JonGraham (formerly known as "[=DigitalPh33r=]"), who also produced ''Machinima/DeusExMachina2007''.''WebAnimation/DeusExMachina2007''. The series follows [[LivingToys two figurines]] based on Bungie and Microsoft's ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' series coming to life while their owner is away. As the title suggests, the main characters are based on Master Chief (a LeetLingo-speaking {{Jerkass}} whose only concern is how much he "pwns" in any given game, something that he is completely incapable of actually doing) and the Arbiter (a DeadpanSnarker who often acts as the voice of reason to the Chief's mindless ranting). One of the unique features of the series is that many of the characters actually speak through a [[SyntheticVoiceActor PC voice synthesizer]] instead of acted voice-overs. The series is based on Graham's previous shorts, ''Master Chief Sucks At Halo'', where the series' trademarks (including synthesized voice-overs and the Chief's personality) were developed.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/season_4_9.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[AC:i r guy who gon t33ch u less0n!]]]]
->''"[[VitriolicBestBuds This is going to be a great relationship. I can tell.]]"''
-->-- '''The Arbiter'''
''[[https://www.youtube.com/show?p=H4Z8Vj7XZOc&s=1 Arby 'n' the Chief]]'' is a {{Machinima}}/Live-action comedy created by Creator/JonGraham (formerly known as "[=DigitalPh33r=]"), who also produced ''Machinima/DeusExMachina2007''. The series follows [[LivingToys two figurines]] based on Bungie and Microsoft's ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' series coming to life while their owner is away. As the title suggests, the main characters are based on Master Chief (a LeetLingo-speaking {{Jerkass}} whose only concern is how much he "pwns" in any given game, something that he is completely incapable of actually doing) and the Arbiter (a DeadpanSnarker who often acts as the voice of reason to the Chief's mindless ranting). One of the unique features of the series is that many of the characters actually speak through a [[SyntheticVoiceActor PC voice synthesizer]] instead of acted voice-overs. The series is based on Graham's previous shorts, ''Master Chief Sucks At Halo'', where the series' trademarks (including synthesized voice-overs and the Chief's personality) were developed.
The series was a massive hit among Machinima subscribers and has garnered a substantial following which helped propel the series to greater heights and wider recognition. Even though Jon Graham is working on future projects such as ''Chemotheraplay'', ''Arby 'n' the Chief'' is already being labeled his best. In fact, many consider it to be one of the best shows that Machinima has featured on their channel.
The original series initially ended after the third season with a six-part finale, "Endgame". The finale led to a spin-off, ''Arby 'n' the Chief in LA'', produced entirely by Machinima.com with minimal input from Graham. After a break from the series, Graham announced a fourth season of ''Arby 'n' the Chief'' in 2010, which later ended up canceling out the L.A. continuity in favor of a more streamlined narrative. This was followed by a fifth season in early 2011, and a sixth season in mid 2011. A seventh season was announced and premiered in early 2012, and finished on August 17th, 2013, ending the show as a whole...
...at least, until January 22nd, 2015, when an eighth season was announced to be in the works.
The show also had two spinoffs made by Jon himself- "[[FourthWallMailSlot Hypermail]]", which had Arby and Chief "[[AnimatedActors out of character]]" as they answered fanmail and provided updates on the development of the main series, and Bytes, a three-season GagSeries that counteracted the increasing CerebusSyndrome of the concurrent main show by hearkening back to the roots of the series by portraying the duo in [[LighterandSofter lighthearted comical antics.]] (Seasons 1-2 are [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]], while Season 3 is canon and ties into the main series.) While Hypermail has long since ended, Bytes is still being produced. The series also had a prototype in the format of ''Master Chief Sucks At Halo'', which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Chief being awful at Halo. Interestingly enough, Jon would revive the format ''nearly a decade later'', only this time with Chief being awful at a variety of different games. The ''Chief Sucks At X'' series is sporadically updated and runs concurrently to ''Arby n The Chief''.
!! Tropes appearing in this series:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Season 1-4]]
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: The "shocking" twist ending of Chief's first machinima "TEH AELINS FRUM TEH OTUAR SPAESS" in TheMovie, which as mentioned above is a shoutout to the notoriously bad Doom fanfic [[Fanfic/DoomRepercussionsOfEvil Repercussions of Evil.]]
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Subverted, Chief finally regains his Recon but learns you could get it from doing the Vidmaster challenges.
* BadassLongcoat: Subverted with Agent Smirnoff. He's notoriously clumsy.
* BadassCrew: Parodied with Chief's "n00bz". Every one of them is an insanely bad Halo player and they are all beaten easily by Arbiter. Not to mention Chief says the exact point of them is to use exploits, which hurts their awesomeness significantly.
** [[spoiler: By the end of season 5, all of the toys qualify. [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Yes, even Chief.]]]]
* BigNo: The Chief, when the Arbiter cancels his 700 GB porn download.
-->'''Chief''': MAI SEXAY PRONZ!11!one!
* BileFascination: parodied in-universe in "Endgame".
--> '''Chief''': god damit this gaem is gay ''[{{beat}}]'' wen is teh sec0nd 1 cumign out
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Scott vs. Agent Smirnoff.
* BloodyHilarious: [[spoiler:Scott's death.]]
* BreakingTheFourthWall: The episode before "Endgame" has Arbiter and Chief stuck in a game with several people, two of whom recognize Master Chief's voice from the show.
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: During a ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' match between Chief and professional gamer Craig, Craig notices he has a hard-on and goes at it while Chief is temporarily distracted from the match. Craig, however, gets caught in the act by his parents, and the ensuing confusion on his side allows the normally incompetent Chief to win the match.
* ChekhovsGun: In the 10th episode of Season 4 "Night of the evading dead", Chief wakes up Arbiter by telling him there's a big spider next him, implying that he has arachnophobia. [[spoiler: In the finale, a giant spider appears in Jon's house, and this becomes an important plot point.]]
* {{Handwave}}: Only a mild one in ''Endgame''. Scott has seen Arbiter and Chief moving around and talking, why is this not an issue?
-->'''Arbiter''': He's convinced we're hallucinations brought on by his constant substance abuse
-->'''Scott''': What the hell? You guys aren't supposed to appear until after my '''fourth''' coke sandwich!
** Then again, what about Agent Smirnoff and Skylar Loveheart? Oh that's right, they're insane.
* HesBack: Not a character, but Chief's [[spoiler:foot, which he cut off and was given back to him as christmas present by Arbiter, who apparently repaired it.]] Chief tries to invoke this trope, but ends up just as fail as he always is. It's also symbolic of the series returning to it's post "Endgame" glory.
* ISurrenderSuckers: Chief when he fights Travis.
-->'''Chief''': k k stop sotp stpo. i surendir. [[spoiler: JK LOL]]
* ImmuneToDrugs: Scott eats cocaine sandwiches.
* LookBehindYou: During the fight with Travis and Todd
-->'''Chief''': HOLEH MUTHR OF GOD. L@@K OTU. ITS TEH COVERNINT.
** And with Arbiter.
-->'''Chief''': OMG LOOK AT ALL THE HORRIBLE THINGS OVER THERE
* [[IronicNickname Metallic Nickname]]: Chief's Noobs in "Digital Fruitcakes" is a subversion:
--> '''Arbiter''': [[SarcasmMode "Your noobs". Sounds about right.]]
--> '''Chief''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint ITS METALLIC MORON / WERE ACTUALLY LIEK FUCKING PRO]] / SRSLY
--> '''Arbiter''': [[YouKeepUsingThatWord I think you mean ironic.]]
* MythologyGag: Jon's character, Scott, is listed in the credits with the last name, "Loveheart". Jon's character in TheMovie was Skylar Loveheart.
* OverlyLongGag: The death of Scott.
* [[PutOnABusToHell Put On A Spaceship To Hell]]: The fates of Cortana, Todd and Travis at the end of "King".
--> [[spoiler: Todd and Travis then [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment had their butts made love to by a big gay outer space alien that looked suspiciously like Jon's chin and were later eaten alive.]] ]]
--> [[spoiler: As the alien had no desire for females, Cortana was later thrown into an escape pod and fired directly into the center of an alien sun.]]
--> [{{beat}}]
--> [[TakeThatAudience Happy?]]
* SamusIsAGirl: as episode 6 reminds us.
--> '''Chief''': O RLY?
--> '''Arbiter''': Yeah.
--> '''Chief''': hawt / dos she hav boobz?/
--> '''Arbiter''': I would assume so, Chief...
--> '''Chief''': COOL / [=H1GH=] FIEV
--> ''[{{beat}}]''
--> '''Arbiter''': ...No.
--> '''Chief''': coem on / dun leev a brothar hanging
--> '''Arbiter''': What the hell is up with you today? Are you high?
--> '''Chief''': on lief, arbitur / on lief
* SelfImposedChallenge: When Arbiter challenges Chief and his Noobs, he only uses magnum and sprint, and he wins.
--> '''Arbiter''': [[BadassBoast It's all I need.]]
* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: The Finale [[spoiler:involves Greg and Cortana returning to live with Arbiter and Chief, just as it seems Arbiter will be lonely and miserable living with Master Chief]].
* ShoutOut: The end of the Machinima Chief produces in TheMovie is an obvious shout out to the end of the SoBadItsGood VideoGame/{{Doom}} fanfic ''[[Fanfic/DoomRepercussionsOfEvil Repercussions of Evil]]''.
** Arbiter's (though then stolen by Jon), girlfriend is named [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Claire Redfield]].
** Travis' name is a reference to the character of the same name from the machinima "Matchmaking" the is lampshaded in the episode they first appear.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX18WUL-SH0&list=SL "Digital Fruitcakes" (4x09)]] is one long ShoutOut to ''Film/AClockworkOrange'', complete with the same colorful opening titles and credits.
** In TheMovie, the petition to stop Chief from making machinima in and his subsequent video response are direct references to similar events revolving around Creator/UweBoll. Chief even uses the same phrases as Boll in his video.
* TakeThatAudience: Jon addresses some of his more zealous fans with these from time to time. In the first episode of ''It's a Wonderful Live'' he outright tells his general response to complainers: [[MST3KMantra "What's the big fucking deal?!"]]
** Arbiter delivers one at the end of "Panic" [=(19/S3E7)=]https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Machinima/ArbyNTheChief#
--> '''Arbiter''': A few of you obsessive types are probably now scampering to your Xboxes to register the gamertag "assassininja4827", "assninja4827" or some other slight variation. No one will be impressed. Just wanted to call you douchebags out on that beforehand. Owned.
** In fact, Todd, Travis, and Cortana's deaths seemed like this.
* TravelMontage: Parodied in TheMovie. When Chief escapes from LA, it zooms out to the classic "line on the map" scene - except the lines are a tangled mess because Chief has no idea where he's going.
* RasputinianDeath: Scott takes [[OverlyLongGag A LOT]] of bullets to bring down. Lampshaded by the Chief.
-->Why won't this faggot just die?
* RealTrailerFakeMovie: a parodic variant in the ColdOpening to "The Mail Room II" [=(37/S4E12)=], complete with ParrotExposition. [[RecycledInSpace IN 3D!]]
--> '''Arbiter''': [[TakeThat Fuck 3D.]]
* WhoWouldBeStupidEnough: When Chief learns about the visual effects.
-->'''Chief''': put them all on
-->'''Arbiter''': Settle down, Chief. I mean most of the visual effects ARE cool and all, but some are made entirely for Machinima and it's impossible to see with them turned on. Playing with them all on would be fucking stupid. What kind of ignoramus would do that? Who, Chief? Who, I ask you? ''Who?''
-->([[TemptingFate Ten minutes later...]])
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Season 5]]
* ActuallyPrettyFunny:
-->'''Arbiter''': Tight fit.
-->'''Chief''': [[YourMom Leik ur mom]]. [=ROFL=]
-->'''Arbiter''': Fair enough. I set myself up for that one.
* AffablyEvil: Trent Donnovich, despite his portrayal as a CorruptCorporateExecutive in the first episode and a harsh first meeting with Arbiter, later tries to make friends with him and invites him to the wedding "church". Subverted after Arbiter discovers he's cheating on Claire.
* BigBad: Trent Donnovich.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Greg fragbans Trent's staff in the finale before they can ban Chief and Arbiter.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Jon's Xbox is permanently banned, cutting Chief and Arbiter off from online gaming and social interaction, but Trent is defeated, Arbiter and Claire are still friends and even though Greg's in hiding, at least he is still around.]]
* BrickJoke: In Episode 6, Brawl, Chief gives Arbiter a hug just to put a sign that says "im stuped" on his back. Arbiter doesn't know about this until the end of the episode.
** And then it happened again in the movie.
*** And, to make it a true BrickJoke, another hug occurs in the fourth episode of Hypermail. And both characters end up getting signs on their backs.
* BusCrash: Happens with Travis, Scott and Cortana.
* CallBack: The pilot opens with the finale of "Wedding", the second episode from season 3.
** Also in the the same episode, Chief tells the security guys, [[PreAsskickingOneLiner "We r guyz, WHO GON TEACH U LESSON!"]] a variation on one of his first lines from the very first episode.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The typo Trent makes when spelling Arbiter's gamertag.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: Timothy, the player Chief met in "Time Wasters" and other earlier episodes who called him out for being bad at Halo. In the penultimate episode he turns out to be a member of an organization of underground hackers and takes Arbiter and Chief to the organization after they got kicked from the server that Trent and Claire's wedding is taking place in.]]
* CoDragons: Trent's sisters also act as his right-hands. He also has ''another'' set of CoDragons in his MLG security guards, Cameron and Cody.
* FinalBossPreview: Arguably the matches against the two security guards count as this.
* GainaxEnding:
** The ultimate fate of Todd, Travis and Cortana: being kidnapped by an alien named Zanthar (who looks suspiciously like Jon's chin) and getting butt-raped to death.
** [[spoiler:Season 5 ends with spoiler: Arbiter waking up to the sound of Cortana's voice, despite her being "dead".]] [[spoiler:Which turns out to be an incredibly cruel prank by Chief.]]
* HesBack: [[spoiler:Greg gives Arbiter his helmet at the end of the season.]]
* HowWeGotHere: Season 5 starts with Chief and Arbiter preparing to raid a wedding. Most of the season details the events leading up to it.
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: "Play to win".]]
** MythologyGag: This season runs on these. There were {{Call Back}}s to Josh Butterballs and his [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Stupid Obvious Information Magazine]], [=sm0k3w33d4lyph3420=], Chief also makes a few variations on his lines from previous episodes.
* LetsGetDangerous: In preparation for the wedding, Chief and Arbiter [[spoiler: meet a group of [[TheCracker console modders]] who help them to bypass Trent's ban on them, give them various cheats including unlimited ammo and the ability to make all the fusion coils at the wedding explode, and guns and melee attacks that result in a console ban and all of the victim's personal information being stolen.]]
* TheMistress: [[ThisIsUnforgivable Trent has one.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In the finale (should be mentioned that this is Arbiter's answer to a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech delivered to him [[spoiler:by Trent]] an episode earlier):
--> '''Arbiter''': [[spoiler:It doesn’t surprise me that a dose of emotion would have a toxic effect on an emotion-deprived cretin like you. Who’s really the plastic one here? Your bleak outlook on life is poisonous. Maybe the world is a big sinking ship. But we can’t accept that as an inevitability and use it as an excuse to act like shitheads. We have to be the change we seek. We have to build something better for ourselves.]]
* RefugeInAudacity: TECHNODICKS. TECHNO TECHNO TECHNO TECHNO TECHNODICKS.
* ShoutOut: The speech Chief gives to Greg in the episode "Cheaters", is an homage to the monologues Patrick Bateman gave in Literature/AmericanPsycho.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The music at the end of "Severance", when [[spoiler:Chief and Arbiter attack Trent, and the final battle between them is about to start]], the music is surprisingly calm.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: [[spoiler: Claire gives one to Arbiter.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Season 6]]
* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:Kylie's motive for working with Chaos Theosis was so that she'd have enough money to leave home because of her abusive father.]]
* AffablyEvil: Duncan in season 6 seems to qualify.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: [[spoiler: Episode 8 ends with Chaos Theosis marching on TOSER's HQ]]
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Chief and Arbiter in the season 6 finale. They are commended and made internet icons for their involvement in the destruction of [[spoiler:Chaos Theosis]].
* BadassBystander: One player in "Cradle to Grave" [[spoiler: refuses to lie for Adam and ends up throwing him to the dogs, all with a calm demeanor despite Adam directly insulting him previously.]]
* BadassCrew: Chaos Theosis.
* BigBad: [[spoiler:[[CorruptCorporateExecutive Trent Donnovich]] is this [[HijackedByGanon again]]. Chaos Theosis is merely a front for Trent's malicious activities.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Kevin and several other TOSERS enforcers]] in "Blackout".
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: In season 6, the thirteen year-old TOSER applicant, Kevin.]]
* DiscOneFinalBoss:
** A villainous inversion. [[spoiler:Chaos Theosis succeeds in destroying TOSERS, but Clyde reveals that the next part of their plan is to destroy the OMN itself.]]
** [[spoiler:Clyde himself gets fragbanned in "Severance", only for it to be revealed he was working for someone else.]]
* TheDragon [[spoiler:Clyde to Trent. He leads the hackers Trent hired and is his final line of defense against]]
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Arby and Chief cooperate with Cameron and Cody to survive the hackers attack on the application match]]
* EvilCounterpart: In season 6, Arbiter's would be Clyde (both have Elite models). Chief's however is disputed; Adam would most likely fit since the two have the same cringeworthy sense of humor and are naturally apathetic when it comes to the feelings of others.
* [[spoiler:HeroicBSOD: Arbiter. 4 months and counting. He's showing signs of coming out of it though.]]
* [[spoiler:HijackedByGanon]]: [[spoiler:In Severance, Kylie and Clyde were fragged, disbanding Chaos Theosis. However, by signing into Clyde's account using his password, Arbiter and Chief find out that Trent Donnovich, Season 5's BigBad, was behind the entire thing.]]
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Silent Strike turns out to be Chaos Theosis' double agent in TOSERS]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: Episode 9 ends with Arby gearing up for one after Claire is banned and her personal accounts hacked.]]
* TemptingFate: A rare example where things actually get better for the person that tempts fate.
--> '''Arbiter''': We're going to need a miracle.
** [[spoiler: A tank spawns behind him]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Season 7]]
* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:Eugene's father.]]
* BackForTheDead: The player Arbiter rescues in season 7 [[spoiler:returns and ends up [[ShoottheDog being fragged by his hands in a later episode]] ]].
* BatmanGrabsAGun: [[spoiler:Despite being against Chief spending with Jon's credit card in the past, Arbiter ultimately agrees to use it to buy another Xbox after Colin bricks theirs.]]
* BerserkButton: Whatever you do, do '''not''' attempt to represent Eugene's clan in a negative fashion. Your life may just be ruined, and not in the conventional way.
** It's also not wise to insult Claire in front of Arbiter.
*** Or blame him for [[spoiler:Cortana's demise]].
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Eugene and his clan serve as the antagonists for season 7. At first, they seem like a band of harmless, annoying trolls whom the duo befriend. This changes once the resident smart guy, Colin, [[OhCrap acquires an upgraded version of Fragban]]. It then becomes a matter of Arbiter and Chief realizing ''who'' they are dealing with.]]
* BigBadWannabe: A scene from an early episode had Eugene Black confront the leader of a copycat trolling clan. Eugene delivers a biting TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the copycat and reveals that he had obtained the copycat's (embarrassing) Internet history and posted it on his school's blog before banning him.
* CerebusCallback: An absolutely brutal one at that. In ''"Game Over"'' as Arbiter is still recovering from the shock of [[spoiler: listening to Eugene commit suicide right in front of him]], Chief offers advice on calming down, like saying good things like "I'm in my happy place". Arbiter rebuffs it, saying he doesn't have faith in mantras, and that he'd have to be [[TemptingFate "really and truly desperate"]] to resort to using them. In literally the next episode, ''"Ignition"'', in the span of a few minutes, [[spoiler: Arbiter discovers Cortana didn't leave, she was murdered, that Chief accidentally killed her, followed by accidentally shattering Chief into pieces in the subsequent vengeful rage, which is immediately followed up by Tyler tracking them down and trying to break into their apartment with a chainsaw, and [[TraumaCongaLine hearing him get gunned down by cops shortly after and having his blood drip onto him.]]]] After all that happens...?
-->'''Arbiter:''' ''...I'm in my happy place...I'm in my happy place...''''[[MadnessMantra I'm in my happy place...]]''
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:In the 4th episode, "Terminal", Master Chief removes a plug for some reason and when The Arbiter goes to turn on the Xbox, it won't power on so he casually puts the plug back in. This just seems like a minor plot point, but in the next episode "Heat", Master Chief decides to scare Cortana and put her in the oven. When she isn't scared, he turns the oven switch on thinking the oven was unplugged and nothing would happen. Instead, [[OhCrap she burned to pieces.]]]]
** [[spoiler:The matchbook]] in season 7.
* CigaretteOfAnxiety: [[spoiler:Both Arbiter and Chief take up smoking, each to cope with his own personal grief.]]
* ClusterFBomb: Chief swears like crazy when he realizes that [[spoiler: he just killed Cortana.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: By far the darkest season of the show.
* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: The series finale, "Ignition". Arbiter and Chief commit suicide by setting the apartment ablaze.]]
* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:After Eugene commits suicide, Tyler goes to Arbiter and Chief's apartment to get revenge, only to be shot and killed by the police.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Eugene's fate.]]
** [[spoiler:Almost directly followed by Arbiter and Chief.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Chief is NOT happy to find out that [[spoiler: Colin is a child molester.]]
* EvilFeelsGood: [[spoiler:Arbiter, when he gives in and starts doling out kills with Eugene's clan's fragban software. Especially after he finally got back at fragging a random player during "Spiraling" who insulted him once before in season 7. When asked how it felt, he simply states "Good." And as of 'In Memoriam', he's totally into fragbanning other players alongside Eugene.]]
** [[spoiler:Arbiter eventually sees the error of his ways once Eugene displays a much more sinister side of himself, though.]]
* EvilCounterpart:
** [[{{Troll}} Eugene]] to Arbiter. Both share the same ideologies regarding life and their places in the universe. They're also both teetering on the MoralEventHorizon, which draws the two together.
** Chief meanwhile has [[AxCrazy Tyler]] as his counterpart. Both are [[PsychopathicManChild PsychopathicManChildren]], though Tyler is ''much'' more sociopathic than Chief.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: [[spoiler:Chief and Arbiter both change the armor colors on their avatars to black after agreeing to use Fragban 2.0.]] {{Lampshaded}} by Eugene
-->'''Eugene''': Black armor now, huh? Kinda lame but whatever.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Arbiter and Chief assist Eugene's clan in their fragbanning spree across the OMN. Arbiter is initially reluctant to at first, but he eventually gives in and joins the rest of the clan in fragbanning players.]]
** [[spoiler:Eventually though, Arbiter and Chief turn against the clan and stop them from fragbanning anyone else. Though, as shown in the season 7 finale, Arbiter may still have a bit of Eugene's influence in him.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: Eugene for the most part. He has tendencies to be kind, but they hide a very monstrous and destructive personality.
* FinalBossPreview: The toys' first confrontation with Eugene and his clan [[spoiler: before they're mercilessly fragged]].
* FreudianTrio: The nameless trolling clan has Eugene as the Ego, Tyler as the Id and Colin as the Superego.
* HesBack: [[spoiler:A case of They're Back in "Event Horizon". The duo finally come to their senses and confront Eugene and his clan in a desperate bid to end their malice.]]
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:Arbiter returns to this trope, and for good reasons.]]
** ''Eugene, Eugene, EUGENE.'' Despite having a calm demeanor, he has proven himself to be a complete sociopath on multiple occasions and is only staying afloat because of his sister. [[spoiler: He isn't afloat for long]], and he only gets worse from there.
* HowWeGotHere: The season starts with Eugene and his clan attacking an in-game funeral, and being approached by Chief and Arbiter. It later cuts to a few months prior.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: {{Deconstructed}}. Chief and Arbiter's desire for companionship leads them to [[spoiler:join Eugene and his on their fragban spree.]]
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler:"Awesome possum".]]
* KickTheDog: Tyler, ''literally''.
** [[spoiler:The dog... also literally... [[TheDogBitesBack bites back]].]]
* KickTheMoralityPet:
** [[spoiler:Arbiter turns his back on Claire when he meets her again. While Eugene is the one to actually shoot her, Arbiter doesn't seem to have a problem with it.]]
** [[spoiler:Eugene fragbans Michelle after she breaks up with him.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:A good portion of the players we see Arbiter fragban are {{Jerkass}}es.]]
* LemonWackyHello: Chief getting high from smoking cereal. Lampshaded by Arbiter stating that cereal doesn't have hallucinogenic properties.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Chief after accidentally killing Cortana.]]
** [[spoiler: Arbiter says this almost word for word, when he realized what he just did after losing his temper so badly he shattered Chief into pieces after tossing him against a wall in a vengeful rage after discovering the above happened.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:The normally friendly and rather cheerful Greg, who peppers his 'speech' with text lingo and smilies like Chief, becomes dead serious when he confronts Chief about Cortana's death, begins writing with perfect grammar, capitalization and punctuation, and even manages the [[PrecisionFStrike Precision D-Strike]] mentioned below despite him normally [[GoshDangitToHeck going out of his way to sanitize even casual speech]].]]
* OneLastJob: [[spoiler:Arbiter refers them taking down Eugene's Clan with Fragban 2.0 as this, and compares it to their previous conflict with Chaos Theosis.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: Well, "D-Strike", but same principle. [[spoiler:Delivered by Greg after he witnessed Chief not only [[MoralEventHorizon MURDER Cortana]], but is then forced to lie about it to Arbiter. After Chief thanks him for covering for him, all Greg can "say" is a simple and concise: ''[[YouMonster "Damn you."]]'']]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Early on in season 7 Cortana smacks Chief with a pretty brutal one.
--> '''Cortana''': Tell me, Chief, why do you think it is that you were rejected by that girl you encountered online? Why do you think you're rejected by anybody and everybody you encounter online, for that matter? Hm? Do you think it just might possibly have something to do with this volatile attitude of yours? … Don't kid yourself Chief, the root of your issues lies far beyond my presence. You've been antagonizing everybody around you long before I entered the picture.
--> '''Chief''': well u sure as hell hasnt b33n n e fucking help skank, thats foar goddamn sure
--> '''Cortana''': That's just it, Chief. All I've been trying to do is help you. I realize the notion probably comes as a complete surprise to you, but it's true. You just can't accept it because you refuse outright to listen to reason. … Perhaps, rather than refusing to reason, you simply can't. That your under-developed brain won't allow you to.
--> '''Chief''': mai brains r the shit
--> '''Cortana''': I couldn't agree more. Utter shit. Even you know the truth. You know full well that any of us three could destroy you in any conceivable argument on any subject, and it kills you that you can't ever conjure up a rebuttal that's even remotely substantial. The only route you've found to take is to get angry and spit pathetic insults left and right that, ironically, only ever accomplish making you yourself look like a complete fool. You are a fool, Chief. Worse yet - you're an unlikeable and therefore unsympathetic fool. You're a blight. An utter embarrassment to yourself and everybody around you, twenty-four-seven. Accept it - and for God's sake, try to improve upon yourself.
** In the final episode of Season 7, "Ignition", during the peak of his despair when Chief [[spoiler: reveals the real reason behind Cortana's vanishing wasn't because she left, it was because he accidentally murdered her.]] Arbiter gives an utterly venomous one after Chief has the gall to say a tasteless reply to Arbiter's grief over [[spoiler: resenting Greg for helping Cortana "leave" when it never happened, and how Greg left because he couldn't stomach looking at Chief after seeing him kill her, and couldn't stand hiding the truth from Arbiter.]] And it's easily some of the most angered words he's said to Chief. [[VitriolicBestBuds And that's saying a lot.]]
-->'''Chief:''' u mad, bro?\\
'''Arbiter: (StunnedSilence)''' ...''[[PoisonousFriend You're poison.]]'' Your infantile volatility and cowardice [[spoiler: rid us of our only true friends in the world.]]
** In the same episode, Arbiter gives one to ''himself'', right as [[spoiler:he's about to commit suicide by jumping out of the apartment window after everything that's happened in the short-timespan]]:
--> '''Arbiter''': [[spoiler:There's nothing left for you here. You've never belonged. You're a freak. You've contributed nothing. This is what you deserve. This also happens to be your ticket to salvation. You're a lucky motherfucker to have this opportunity. Just a couple of terrifying seconds in exchange for bliss. Now that's a fucking bargain. Don't think about it, just do it. Come on, you fucking pussy. You worthless, plastic [bleep]. Do it. Fucking do it. Now.]]
* SeriousBusiness: Eugene and his clan take trolling ''very'' seriously, to the point of humiliating a copycat troll who was smearing their name.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The scene where [[spoiler: Cortana gets melted in the apartment oven]] has the fucking Blue Danube Waltz playing in the background.
* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler:Chief and Arbiter briefly become this when they join Eugene, Tyler and Colin in their fragbanning spree.]]
* VillainRespect: Eugene and Tyler both respect Chief and Arbiter for their raid on Trent Donnovich's wedding, viewing it as a fine example of trolling. Colin also starts to respect Arbiter as the series goes on.
* VillainousFriendship: Eugene, Tyler and Colin are all good friends with each other. They later extend their friendship to Arbiter and Chief. Chief evens remarks at one point that Tyler and Eugene are among the few people who genuinely liked him.
* WhamEpisode:
** "Heat". [[spoiler: Chief accidentally burns Cortana alive in the oven.]]
** "Two Point Zero". Colin finishes developing Fragban 2.0 and shows it off to Eugene and Tyler.
** "Wake" and "Dead Weight". [[spoiler:Arbiter and Chief join Eugene, Tyler and Colin in their fragban spree.]]
* WhamLine: Massive Damage gives us [[spoiler: "shes just plastic."]]
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre:
** [[spoiler: Cortana gives one to Arbiter in Terminal.]]
** [[spoiler: Greg's note that Arbiter found. "You have a good heart, Arbiter. Don't lose it."]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Season 8]]
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Arbiter and Chief sit in the shower and throw insults at each other like they usually do. Chief tosses a "you're gay" at Arbiter to which he retorts that since they're both in the shower, it applies to both of them. Then both toys have a genuine laugh over it.
* AIIsACrapshoot: PAL, originally coherent and friendly, devolves into a personality similar to the Chief we all know and love, pretty much becoming an immature version of HAL 9000.
* AmbiguousSituation:
** Chief (in the form of a drone named PAL), Arbiter, and Cortana are on a spaceship for some reason, with Arbiter occasionally having flashes of the events of Season 7. Arbiter and Chief then return to life after they are killed in this world.
** Discussed by Arbiter when he starts noticing some oddities after returning to life. Despite Chief apparently blowing up Jon's apartment, familiar furniture and decorations still somehow made it into this new setting. Arbiter also notices how their lives are similar to a video game in hindsight, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall with their lives easily dividable into various stages]] [[SerialEscalation and their enemies like progressively harder bosses]]. Things are weird enough for Arbiter to seriously consider alternate universes and timelines to explain everything.
* BackForTheFinale / TheBusCameBack:
** Josh Butterballs, Gregory, Sarah, and even a minor online gamer from the very first episode all reappear in the first episode of the season. Jon himself as a character also finally makes a reappearance.
** Zanthar, the butt-raping alien that is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial totally not Jon's chin]] and the one responsible for Cortana, Todd, and Travis's disappearances, returns to perform a hostile takeover of Arbiter's ship.
** The TOSERS organization makes a return.
** The SeriousBusiness guys return in a cameo.
** [[spoiler: Adam]] returns as the season's BigBad.
** Chief's friend Jeremy, AKA [=XxXsM0k3w33d4LyPh3420XxX=], also appears, having become an internet celebrity through his Halo Reach kill montages. [[spoiler: [[BackForTheDead He's promptly killed by Adam]]]].
** Clyde and Kylie from Chaos Theosis return, with Duncan also getting a mention. [[spoiler: [[BackForTheDead Clyde is killed off fairly quickly however]]]].
** [[spoiler:Jon himself returns after seasons and years of being suspiciously absent from his own apartment...only to be killed by Adam.]]
* BackFromTheDead: For reasons yet unexplained, Arbiter and Chief return to life in new toy bodies.
* {{Bathos}}: [[spoiler:Jon is suddenly killed by an exploding X-Box, a sudden and horrifying turn of events that freaks both Arbiter and Chief out. [[UndignifedDeath Also, some of the shrapnel ended up in Jon's crotch]].]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Adam]].
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Invoked. Near the end of their James Bond parody, Arbiter is storming off when Chief says 'well i guess that's a raptor[[note]]Chief is trying to say 'That's a wrap' but keeps replacing 'wrap' with 'raptor' throughout the film[[/note]]'. Suddenly, Arbiter is attacked a giant plastic dinosaur toy and is pinned down by it when Chief then pulls a knife out and stabs it to death. There is no word on whether if it was real or a prop, and judging from Arbiters reaction he's just as confused.
* ChekhovsGun: Several things from the 2001 arc.
** Several of the weapons in the armory are eventually used by Arbiter when the situation starts to get dire, but the AT mine is of particular note as a ChekhovsBoomerang. [[spoiler:It's how Arbiter defeats PAL, by tricking him into getting within its range and using that to convince him to let Arbiter out of containment. Even after that, it finally gets detonated when one of the Allens triggers it.]]
** The button on the ship's sound system that is implied to open one of the doors [[spoiler:eventually causes PAL to accidentally let Arbiter back on the ship after locking him out to suffocate.]]
** The copy of ''Custer's Revenge'' on the ship's computer [[spoiler:distracts the Allens due to their obsession with raping butts, allowing Arbiter to evade them.]]
** Most obviously, the warheads in the cargo bay. [[spoiler:They get detonated by Arbiter in the finale when he gets wounded and outnumbered.]]
* ContinuityNod:
** In the 2001 arc, Todd, Travis and obscure one-shot character Randall are listed as being aboard the ship in cryosleep.
** Chief's "noobs" (Todd, Kyle, and Tucker) from "Digital Fruitcakes" have their iPhones listed on the ship's computer.
** Trent Donnovich is revealed to have been sent to prison after the events of Season 6, [[BlackComedyRape where he's been raped daily]].
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Chief retains his X-Box Live troll attitude and the season shows how even more unwelcome this behavior is in the PC 2010s. For instance, the other players in a ''Halo 4'' match waste no time reporting Chief for his behavior instead of argue with him like previous seasons would have them do.
* EvilVersusEvil: ''Halo: Reach'' is shown to have erupted into a turf war between [[spoiler:a resurgent Chaos Theosis and another Hacker Clan led by Kylie.]]
* GagPenis: The Allens claim to have [[CrossesTheLineTwice 14-inch-penises]]... and 7 testicles... [[{{Squick}} and ejaculates for a duration of 11 minutes]]...
* HowWeGotHere: At some point following the ending of Season 7, Claire holds an online funeral for Arbiter and the Chief (since it's on a Halo server, you can probably guess how well that goes). We then see Arbiter and Chief watching from a cliff, then cut to them playing the game, Arbiter pushing Chief to help him in "bringing it all down."
* LittleNo: Arbiter when he finds himself with Chief and as a toy once more.
* PlanetOfSteves: Every one of Zanthar's mooks is named Allen.
* PoliticalOvercorrectness: Aside from the TOSERS, who expand their activities to reacting to people complaining about differing political views, RealLife police angrily brushes off Arbiter's attempts at reporting a pedophile when more important things, like misgendering, are going on.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Arguing with Strawman about emotional pain, Arbiter makes the case that pain is necessary and sometimes even important to grow as a person.
* MundaneSolution: TOSERS throw Arbiter and Chief in internet jail. As Strawman dramatically monologues about their avatars rotting in their cell and he and his fellow TOSERS watching with pleasure, Arbiter simply shuts off their console. Strawman later alerts his superior that they escaped.
* RevisitingTheRoots: Season 8 returns the series to Arbiter and Chief simply hanging out in Jon's apartment and dishing out satirical commentary on online culture, this time expanding to things like Youtube, Let's Plays, streams, and Patreon.
* ShapedLikeItself: Arbiter and Chief get into an arguement about [[ItMakesSenseInContext racism, hate crimes and being the leaders of the alt-right]] against a zealous TOSER called Moderator [[StrawMan Strawman]].
* StarterVillain: PAL 9001 [[spoiler:and Zanthar]] for the first act, which takes place before the toys even come back to life in the real world.
* TakeThat:
** Downplayed when Arbiter finds out that Creator/DonaldTrump has become President of the United States, to which both he and Chief act with mild confusion. A more appropriate TakeThat is given towards those who childishly cut ties with friends who supported him, as exemplified by a Reach player becoming upset with a friend of ten years revealing that he voted Trump.
** TOSERS seem to be a parody of the anti-free speech far left, treating things such as misgendering and saying mean things as serious issues and banning players for them.
** [[MeaningfulName Ray Cist]] is an over-the-top caricature of far-right racist extremists.
* WhamEpisode: "Play To Win": [[spoiler:Jon comes home and is promptly tracked down and killed by Adam.]]
* WhamShot:
** In the very first episode, we see Arbiter and Chief, alive and well in both Reach avatar and toy form.
** Arbiter plugs in a USB drive and looks through it...to find program files for all of the series' previous antagonists.
** Arbiter encounters his hallucination of Eugene once more, but shrugs it off as another unknown player that entered their server. After a confused and silent look from Chief, Arbiter looks at the wi-fi router...which is unplugged.
* WholePlotReference: The majority of the first half of Season 8 is the plot of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. Then the aliens obsessed with anal rape show up.
* YouKeepUsingThatWord:
** Chief gets really into calling Arbiter a "cuck." Eventually, Arbiter calls him out on the fact that he doesn't even know what that word means.
** Turns out the TOSERS or at least [[MeaningfulName Strawman]] don't even know what the "alt-right" are either, just that they're bad and racist.
* YouKnowImBlackRight: An SJW attempts to pull this on Chief by claiming he's part Native American.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Arby N The Chief in L.A.]]
* MoonwalkDance: An episode has Arbiter and the Chief visit several attractions and sights around L.A./Hollywood, one of which is the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Chief does the moonwalk on Music/MichaelJackson's tile, although, because of the format of the show (live-action action figures), only his upper body is seen, while his legs are not.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Series-wide tropes]]
%% recurring, consciously used tropes contributing to series' style as a whole; also single-used tropes that are not actually part of the plot.
* ArcNumber: Every time you see a clock, it will either display [[Franchise/{{Halo}} 3:43]], [[LeetLingo 13:37]] or digits that will add up to [[RuleOfSeven 7]] (which is a reference to Creator/{{Bungie}}).
* AesopAmnesia: Chief has come to the realisation that he sucks at Halo at least ''three times''. It usually doesn't stick. However, as of "Double Trouble", [[spoiler: he's finally learned to play well enough to [[TookALevelInBadass fight two professional players together with Arbiter and almost win.]]]]
* TheMovie: ''Arby 'n' The Chief: The Movie''. "Endgame" could also be considered one.
* ArchNemesis: The series showcases several for both toys, usually one each per season.
** For Arbiter: Scott, Trent Donnovich, Adam [=McIntyre=], and finally Eugene.
** For Chief: Todd, Trent's bodyguard duo, and Kylie (to an extent).
* AuthorAvatar: Arbiter, and Jon has already [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080128002650/http://www.halobabies.net/archive/08/01/25/digitalph33r_behind_arby_n_the_chief/ admitted to it]]; this has not, however prevented many instances of AuthorFilibuster from occurring. (Though they have become more rare as of late.)
** Amazingly, Chief has also become this in some recent episodes, seeming to embody Jon's wild, silly, artistic, and emotional side while Arbiter embodies his logical thought, controlled behaviour, and cynicism. But how much Chief channels Graham and how much he is of his classic stupid self vaires from episode to episode.
* AuthorFilibuster: See AuthorAvatar
* BackToBackBadasses: Chief and Arbiter in the season 5 pilot.
** Hell, pretty much any time they are facing a threat online.
* BitchAlert: Cortana. Seriously, all she ever did was bitch about Chief. It's like it was her only purpose in the series. Jon just doesn't want to admit it.
** At least until the last few episodes. Even from beyond the "grave", that's when she wanted both Arbiter and Chief to fight the good fight against Eugene and his guys. Talk about character development.
** Also, did she ever consider Arbiter a real friend? Why does he keep preaching all these redeeming qualities about her? It's hard to be friends with someone who keeps forgetting that you exist.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: The figurines' owner is named "Jon", and the second episode has Chief commenting on a Bungie blog post about the first episode. Furthermore, the plot of TheMovie is started when Chief watches several machinima videos by [=DigitalPh33r=]. There are also multiple references to ''Arby 'N' The Chief'' being a real machinima show within the show's universe.
* BookEnds: Both the series pilot, and what at the time was the series finale, have a scene where someone at least claiming to be a delivery boy knocks on the door.
** In the series finale, [[spoiler: Arbiter and Chief both hold the same weapons they wielded when they first met.]]
* CanonDiscontinuity: To much relief from the fans, the L.A. continuity was scrapped when season 4 came around.
** The original series finale Endgame is also considered non-canon aside from the introduction of Claire.
** The Season 3 Finale "King" is this as well, mostly due to the 4th wall-breaking nature of it and the silly nonsensical ending that was thrown out the window with [[spoiler: Cortana's return in Season 6, whereas she had been previously killed off at the end of King]].
* CatchPhrase: The Chief has "[[NoYou NO U]]", among other things.
** [[YourMom Ur mom]] and me were *insert DoubleEntendre* last night!
** UR FACE!1
** lol remember arbitur?
*** Chief even calls a drunken Arbiter out on [[BorrowedCatchphrase using this one]].
-->'''Arbiter''': [[OutOfCharacterMoment LOL, remember Chief?]]
-->'''Chief''': [[HeyThatsMyLine HAY. thats mai thing arbitur. u cant use mai thing.]] remember. remember its mien. lol remember arbitur?
-->'''Arbiter''': LOL, I remember Chief.
-->'''Chief''': [[HypocriticalHumor LOL. ur so silly.]]
-->'''Arbitur''': I know, LOL.
-->'''Chief''': LOL
** FREEZE / TOSERS / GET DOWN ON THE FUKCING GROUND
* CerebusSyndrome: The show is probably the most notable for making such a drastic change in tone from pure comedy to somber drama from seasons 5 to 7. It stands to reason why season 7 is considered so bleak compared to its predecessors; main themes include death, grief, murder, and lies.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: most noticeable with Chief - he used to be simply a SmallNameBigEgo FanDumb [[TheDitz Ditz]], but then he started realizing that he is not as good at Halo as he previously thought. And he has recently got a tiny grasp of sarcasm (not that he makes use of it very frequently). His relationship with Arbiter has been changing over time, too. See also AuthorAvatar above.
** It's also a little weird watching Chief write off many games as stupid and that Halo is way better than them (like ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl, VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4'') and took some serious convincing to get him to even play them when you later see the Chief willingly play many different games without a mention of Halo or even that the game sucks (like ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'').
** By Season 7, Chief even displays the ability to think way ahead into the future to the point where he makes a multi-layered argument to Greg about [[spoiler: why telling Arbiter that Chief is the one responsible for Cortana's disappearance would be a bad idea. He goes so far as to predict Arbiter's emotional state beyond simply beating Chief up, understanding that Arbiter would be miserable and probably blame himself for Cortana's death.]] This all becomes a bit ironic when you consider that only a couple of episodes earlier Cortana criticized Chief's lack of ability to form actual arguments. A far cry from the "no u" style argumentation Chief had generally used up to this point.
* DeadpanSnarker: Arbiter. Also, [[spoiler: Chief's hallucination of Cortana.]]
* {{Deconstruction}}: The series acted as one for the state of video games and the gaming community when it first started. With the start of season 5, the series began deconstructing the LivingToys trope. The sixth season takes it further, and the seventh [[DarkerAndEdgier makes the previous two look like fairy tales]], [[DeconstructorFleet taking apart the whole show's premise]] by [[DespairEventHorizon conveying the existential dread of it to the fullest extent.]]
* TheFaceless: Almost all of the human characters have never been seen, instead being represented by their ''Halo'' avatars. The only exceptions to this are Skylar Loveheart, Scott, Agent Smirnoff, and Jon as of Season 8.
* {{Foreshadowing}} - In Season 3 Episode 4, two of [[{{Jerkass}} Craig's]] Major League Gamer] pals [[{{Fetish}} get (presumably Halo-induced) erections]] and [[ADateWithRosiePalms decide to go rub one out.]] This later becomes the catalyst for Master Chief's win against Craig later in the episode.
* FourthWallMailSlot: Introduced in season 4... [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse never to be mentioned again.]]
** [[DoubleSubversion ...until "Hypernews I" (43/S5E5)]], where it turns into somewhat of a LeaningOnTheFourthWall variety.
--> '''Chief''': [[LampshadeHanging didnt we set up taht acount liek months ago?]]
** After Season 5 finished, the mail slot has spun off into its own show - ''Arby 'n' the Chief: Hypermail''
* FanDumb: in-universe - Master Chief is a parody of the UnpleasableFanbase of ''Halo''.
* FreudianTrio: Chief is TheId, Arbiter is TheEgo, and Cortana is TheSuperego.
* GamerChick; TheChick: Cortana, although [[InformedAttribute she's hardly been seen actually playing games]].
** Claire counts as well, and may as well be the archetype for all gamer chicks.
* GiantSpider: The finale of season four introduces one, which even [[BringMyBrownPants terrifies arachnophobe viewers]].
* {{Homage}}: "Hypernews I" to ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'', which is [[AuthorAppeal Jon's favourite game]]. And that's despite Chief giving the game an extremely negative review, akin to WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd, making it somewhat an AffectionateParody of the former (and possibly the latter).
* JerkAss: Master Chief.
** Arbiter zig zags from Jerkass to JerkWithAHeartOfGold. But then again, [[DeadpanSnarker it's Jon.]]
** And Travis, to a lesser extent than Chief.
** Trent Donnovich makes Chief look like a decent [[strike:human being]] action figure.
*** Subverted in Trent's case during the second half of the fifth season. He's actually rather friendly, although it remains to be seen whether he's genuinely nice or if it's just a gambit to gain Arbiters trust.
*** [[spoiler:DoubleSubverted.]]
** Craig.
* KilledOffForReal: Not "killed" per say [[spoiler: but one of the security guards from the wedding gets fragged during the application match. The other one makes it out though.]]
** [[spoiler: He made a brief reappearance in the attack on TOSER's HQ where he fought along side his friend on split screen before both of them were fragged. Also Claire was also fragged during the attack too, in a way that arguably is a MoralEventHorizon for Adam.]]
*** [[spoiler: Adam passed his MoralEventHorizon a loooooong time before then.]]
** In Endgame, [[spoiler: Scott literally gets killed]]. Also, at the end of Season 3, [[spoiler: Cortana, Todd and Travis all got killed]].
** In Season 7, [[spoiler: Cortana gets cooked alive inside of an oven by Master Chief]].
** In Season 7, "Crush", [[spoiler:after getting told off by Arbiter for only wanting him as a friend and nothing more, Claire gets frag-banned by Arbiter's new clan.]]
* KnightInSourArmor: Arbiter. It pops up every now and then, but is most noticable in season 5. His TheReasonYouSuckSpeech [[spoiler:to Trent Donnovich]] pretty much sums up what this trope is all about.
* LanguageTropes:
** Master Chief: LeetLingo + [[WebOriginal/LOLCats LOLspeak]] + {{Pluralses}} + RougeAnglesOfSatin + {{Malaproper}} + ClusterFBomb
** The Arbiter: SophisticatedAsHell + PrecisionFStrike
** Cortana: SesquipedalianLoquaciousness
** Greg: [[TerseTalker txtspk]] + [[WingDinglish drawings]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: The theme from ''Film/ThePursuitOfHappyness'' and Three Little Girls from the Mikado.
* LivingToys: The premise.
* {{Machinima}} ''and'' Live Action Puppeteering.
* NietzscheWannabe:
** Arguably FEELS GOOD MAN in "King".
** In season 5 Trent Donnovich, as demonstrated with his "sinking ship" analogy.
* OddCouple: the eponymous characters.
** Not to mention Chief's temporary crush on Cortana. Their personalities are the weird part.
* OddlySmallOrganization The clan of hackers that will be the main antagonists of season six seem to only have four members, according to the trailer and Jon's blog at least.
* OhCrap: Chief's usual reaction to Arbiter's rage.
* OnlySaneMan: Inverted, as the Chief is the only ''really'' odd character.
** Or actually [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagged]] for Arbiter: characters of common sense comparable to him come and go, as do Chief-alikes.
* PsychopathicManchild: Chief. How else do you explain him destroying a Call of Duty 4 disc just to spite Arbiter?
** Adam in Season Six. Holy fucking shit. Technically, he doesn't qualify for the 'man' part of this trope, but absolutely everything else fits him to a tee.
** Tyler also qualifies.
* RunningGag
** Josh Butterballs and his SOI Magazine.
* SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud: Chief LOVES this.
** [[MemeticMutation MAI ROFLCOPTER / IT GOAS SOI SOI SOI SOI SOI SOI SOI]]
** ROFL car goes NNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
** MAI ROFLKNIEF GOEZ [[AudibleSharpness SLIEC SLIEC SLIEC SLIEC]] LOLOLOL
** Is that the one that goes WHARBLEGURBLEH?
* SeriesContinuityError: Quite a few.
** In the original ''Master Chief Sucks At Halo'' trilogy, there was an Arbiter character whose personality was comparable to Chief's. In ''Arby 'n' the Chief'' pilot, an Arbiter figurine arrives in a box, seemingly meeting Chief for the first time. However, in "Face-Off" (episode 16/[=S3E4=]) Arbiter refers to a "sick montage" Chief made with him in the original trilogy, implying that he is the same character. {{Retcon}}? BreakingTheFourthWall?
** NegativeContinuity was once [[http://joncjg.blogspot.com/2010/07/video-arby-n-chief-s04e03-pirates.html consciously introduced]] in "Pirates" (episode 28/[=S4E3=]).
** [[http://joncjg.blogspot.com/2010/06/secret-project-arby-n-chief-season-four.html Season four was supposed to take place sometime after "King" (season 3 finale)]]; Arbiter and Chief seem to be still living in Jon's home in Canada. Fair enough. However, the fifth season seems to have borrowed Claire from "Endgame", this time voiced by Elizabeth Carr-Ernst. How they managed to stay at the same place (if this is supposed to take place after "Endgame") is never mentioned.
* ShooOutTheNewGuy: The massive backlash and subsequent removal of Todd and Travis.
* TheSociopath:
** Adam, despite being eight, is incredibly wrathful and indifferent to others' suffering and emotions. [[spoiler:When he returns in Season 8, he's become more cold and sociopathic, now killing people by using his fragban hacks to cause their consoles to explode.]]
** Tyler is a more low-functioning example, being easily angered and incredibly violent.
* TheSpeechless: Greg, who can't talk due to being [[spoiler:a spider]] writes on sticky notes to communicate.
* StealthHiBye: Greg LOVES doing this to scare Chief and Arbiter, it helps that [[spoiler:he's a UncannyValley spider toy.]]
* StraightMan: The Arbiter
* StylisticSuck: Don't mess with Chief when he's got beats to lay.
-->''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CewOjHHwR4 ACTIVATE, ACTIV-ACTIVATE, ACTIVATE, ACTIV-ACTIVATE, ACTIVATE, ACTIV-ACTIVATE...]]''
* SyntheticVoiceActor: the eponymous characters and Cortana. This is constantly {{lampshaded}} in season 5, even to the point of {{deconstruction}}.
* TakeThat: As shown by the Chief being a TakeThat at Halo's FanDumb and indicated by some episodes' director commentaries, the plots of some episodes are aimed at common complaints that the Halo fanbase made about the games, or make fun of Xbox Live users in general. This intensified when Graham discontinued ''It's A Wonderful Live'', a separate machinima series designed to vent out those same frustrations.
* TooDumbToLive: Master Chief. We're talking WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead levels here.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Arby and the Chief constantly get on each others nerves, though the two will occasionally express fondness for each other.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Not exactly but when someone is killed with the fragban hack equipped, it will result in a console ban and all of the victim's personal information to be stolen.
[[/folder]]
----
[[caption-width-right:350:[[AC:i r guy who gon t33ch u less0n!]]]]
->''"[[VitriolicBestBuds This is going to be a great relationship. I can tell.]]"''
-->-- '''The Arbiter'''
''[[https://www.youtube.com/show?p=H4Z8Vj7XZOc&s=1 Arby 'n' the Chief]]'' is a {{Machinima}}/Live-action comedy created by Creator/JonGraham (formerly known as "[=DigitalPh33r=]"), who also produced ''Machinima/DeusExMachina2007''. The series follows [[LivingToys two figurines]] based on Bungie and Microsoft's ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' series coming to life while their owner is away. As the title suggests, the main characters are based on Master Chief (a LeetLingo-speaking {{Jerkass}} whose only concern is how much he "pwns" in any given game, something that he is completely incapable of actually doing) and the Arbiter (a DeadpanSnarker who often acts as the voice of reason to the Chief's mindless ranting). One of the unique features of the series is that many of the characters actually speak through a [[SyntheticVoiceActor PC voice synthesizer]] instead of acted voice-overs. The series is based on Graham's previous shorts, ''Master Chief Sucks At Halo'', where the series' trademarks (including synthesized voice-overs and the Chief's personality) were developed.
The series was a massive hit among Machinima subscribers and has garnered a substantial following which helped propel the series to greater heights and wider recognition. Even though Jon Graham is working on future projects such as ''Chemotheraplay'', ''Arby 'n' the Chief'' is already being labeled his best. In fact, many consider it to be one of the best shows that Machinima has featured on their channel.
The original series initially ended after the third season with a six-part finale, "Endgame". The finale led to a spin-off, ''Arby 'n' the Chief in LA'', produced entirely by Machinima.com with minimal input from Graham. After a break from the series, Graham announced a fourth season of ''Arby 'n' the Chief'' in 2010, which later ended up canceling out the L.A. continuity in favor of a more streamlined narrative. This was followed by a fifth season in early 2011, and a sixth season in mid 2011. A seventh season was announced and premiered in early 2012, and finished on August 17th, 2013, ending the show as a whole...
...at least, until January 22nd, 2015, when an eighth season was announced to be in the works.
The show also had two spinoffs made by Jon himself- "[[FourthWallMailSlot Hypermail]]", which had Arby and Chief "[[AnimatedActors out of character]]" as they answered fanmail and provided updates on the development of the main series, and Bytes, a three-season GagSeries that counteracted the increasing CerebusSyndrome of the concurrent main show by hearkening back to the roots of the series by portraying the duo in [[LighterandSofter lighthearted comical antics.]] (Seasons 1-2 are [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]], while Season 3 is canon and ties into the main series.) While Hypermail has long since ended, Bytes is still being produced. The series also had a prototype in the format of ''Master Chief Sucks At Halo'', which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Chief being awful at Halo. Interestingly enough, Jon would revive the format ''nearly a decade later'', only this time with Chief being awful at a variety of different games. The ''Chief Sucks At X'' series is sporadically updated and runs concurrently to ''Arby n The Chief''.
!! Tropes appearing in this series:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Season 1-4]]
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: The "shocking" twist ending of Chief's first machinima "TEH AELINS FRUM TEH OTUAR SPAESS" in TheMovie, which as mentioned above is a shoutout to the notoriously bad Doom fanfic [[Fanfic/DoomRepercussionsOfEvil Repercussions of Evil.]]
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Subverted, Chief finally regains his Recon but learns you could get it from doing the Vidmaster challenges.
* BadassLongcoat: Subverted with Agent Smirnoff. He's notoriously clumsy.
* BadassCrew: Parodied with Chief's "n00bz". Every one of them is an insanely bad Halo player and they are all beaten easily by Arbiter. Not to mention Chief says the exact point of them is to use exploits, which hurts their awesomeness significantly.
** [[spoiler: By the end of season 5, all of the toys qualify. [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Yes, even Chief.]]]]
* BigNo: The Chief, when the Arbiter cancels his 700 GB porn download.
-->'''Chief''': MAI SEXAY PRONZ!11!one!
* BileFascination: parodied in-universe in "Endgame".
--> '''Chief''': god damit this gaem is gay ''[{{beat}}]'' wen is teh sec0nd 1 cumign out
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Scott vs. Agent Smirnoff.
* BloodyHilarious: [[spoiler:Scott's death.]]
* BreakingTheFourthWall: The episode before "Endgame" has Arbiter and Chief stuck in a game with several people, two of whom recognize Master Chief's voice from the show.
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: During a ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' match between Chief and professional gamer Craig, Craig notices he has a hard-on and goes at it while Chief is temporarily distracted from the match. Craig, however, gets caught in the act by his parents, and the ensuing confusion on his side allows the normally incompetent Chief to win the match.
* ChekhovsGun: In the 10th episode of Season 4 "Night of the evading dead", Chief wakes up Arbiter by telling him there's a big spider next him, implying that he has arachnophobia. [[spoiler: In the finale, a giant spider appears in Jon's house, and this becomes an important plot point.]]
* {{Handwave}}: Only a mild one in ''Endgame''. Scott has seen Arbiter and Chief moving around and talking, why is this not an issue?
-->'''Arbiter''': He's convinced we're hallucinations brought on by his constant substance abuse
-->'''Scott''': What the hell? You guys aren't supposed to appear until after my '''fourth''' coke sandwich!
** Then again, what about Agent Smirnoff and Skylar Loveheart? Oh that's right, they're insane.
* HesBack: Not a character, but Chief's [[spoiler:foot, which he cut off and was given back to him as christmas present by Arbiter, who apparently repaired it.]] Chief tries to invoke this trope, but ends up just as fail as he always is. It's also symbolic of the series returning to it's post "Endgame" glory.
* ISurrenderSuckers: Chief when he fights Travis.
-->'''Chief''': k k stop sotp stpo. i surendir. [[spoiler: JK LOL]]
* ImmuneToDrugs: Scott eats cocaine sandwiches.
* LookBehindYou: During the fight with Travis and Todd
-->'''Chief''': HOLEH MUTHR OF GOD. L@@K OTU. ITS TEH COVERNINT.
** And with Arbiter.
-->'''Chief''': OMG LOOK AT ALL THE HORRIBLE THINGS OVER THERE
* [[IronicNickname Metallic Nickname]]: Chief's Noobs in "Digital Fruitcakes" is a subversion:
--> '''Arbiter''': [[SarcasmMode "Your noobs". Sounds about right.]]
--> '''Chief''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint ITS METALLIC MORON / WERE ACTUALLY LIEK FUCKING PRO]] / SRSLY
--> '''Arbiter''': [[YouKeepUsingThatWord I think you mean ironic.]]
* MythologyGag: Jon's character, Scott, is listed in the credits with the last name, "Loveheart". Jon's character in TheMovie was Skylar Loveheart.
* OverlyLongGag: The death of Scott.
* [[PutOnABusToHell Put On A Spaceship To Hell]]: The fates of Cortana, Todd and Travis at the end of "King".
--> [[spoiler: Todd and Travis then [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment had their butts made love to by a big gay outer space alien that looked suspiciously like Jon's chin and were later eaten alive.]] ]]
--> [[spoiler: As the alien had no desire for females, Cortana was later thrown into an escape pod and fired directly into the center of an alien sun.]]
--> [{{beat}}]
--> [[TakeThatAudience Happy?]]
* SamusIsAGirl: as episode 6 reminds us.
--> '''Chief''': O RLY?
--> '''Arbiter''': Yeah.
--> '''Chief''': hawt / dos she hav boobz?/
--> '''Arbiter''': I would assume so, Chief...
--> '''Chief''': COOL / [=H1GH=] FIEV
--> ''[{{beat}}]''
--> '''Arbiter''': ...No.
--> '''Chief''': coem on / dun leev a brothar hanging
--> '''Arbiter''': What the hell is up with you today? Are you high?
--> '''Chief''': on lief, arbitur / on lief
* SelfImposedChallenge: When Arbiter challenges Chief and his Noobs, he only uses magnum and sprint, and he wins.
--> '''Arbiter''': [[BadassBoast It's all I need.]]
* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: The Finale [[spoiler:involves Greg and Cortana returning to live with Arbiter and Chief, just as it seems Arbiter will be lonely and miserable living with Master Chief]].
* ShoutOut: The end of the Machinima Chief produces in TheMovie is an obvious shout out to the end of the SoBadItsGood VideoGame/{{Doom}} fanfic ''[[Fanfic/DoomRepercussionsOfEvil Repercussions of Evil]]''.
** Arbiter's (though then stolen by Jon), girlfriend is named [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Claire Redfield]].
** Travis' name is a reference to the character of the same name from the machinima "Matchmaking" the is lampshaded in the episode they first appear.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX18WUL-SH0&list=SL "Digital Fruitcakes" (4x09)]] is one long ShoutOut to ''Film/AClockworkOrange'', complete with the same colorful opening titles and credits.
** In TheMovie, the petition to stop Chief from making machinima in and his subsequent video response are direct references to similar events revolving around Creator/UweBoll. Chief even uses the same phrases as Boll in his video.
* TakeThatAudience: Jon addresses some of his more zealous fans with these from time to time. In the first episode of ''It's a Wonderful Live'' he outright tells his general response to complainers: [[MST3KMantra "What's the big fucking deal?!"]]
** Arbiter delivers one at the end of "Panic" [=(19/S3E7)=]https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Machinima/ArbyNTheChief#
--> '''Arbiter''': A few of you obsessive types are probably now scampering to your Xboxes to register the gamertag "assassininja4827", "assninja4827" or some other slight variation. No one will be impressed. Just wanted to call you douchebags out on that beforehand. Owned.
** In fact, Todd, Travis, and Cortana's deaths seemed like this.
* TravelMontage: Parodied in TheMovie. When Chief escapes from LA, it zooms out to the classic "line on the map" scene - except the lines are a tangled mess because Chief has no idea where he's going.
* RasputinianDeath: Scott takes [[OverlyLongGag A LOT]] of bullets to bring down. Lampshaded by the Chief.
-->Why won't this faggot just die?
* RealTrailerFakeMovie: a parodic variant in the ColdOpening to "The Mail Room II" [=(37/S4E12)=], complete with ParrotExposition. [[RecycledInSpace IN 3D!]]
--> '''Arbiter''': [[TakeThat Fuck 3D.]]
* WhoWouldBeStupidEnough: When Chief learns about the visual effects.
-->'''Chief''': put them all on
-->'''Arbiter''': Settle down, Chief. I mean most of the visual effects ARE cool and all, but some are made entirely for Machinima and it's impossible to see with them turned on. Playing with them all on would be fucking stupid. What kind of ignoramus would do that? Who, Chief? Who, I ask you? ''Who?''
-->([[TemptingFate Ten minutes later...]])
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Season 5]]
* ActuallyPrettyFunny:
-->'''Arbiter''': Tight fit.
-->'''Chief''': [[YourMom Leik ur mom]]. [=ROFL=]
-->'''Arbiter''': Fair enough. I set myself up for that one.
* AffablyEvil: Trent Donnovich, despite his portrayal as a CorruptCorporateExecutive in the first episode and a harsh first meeting with Arbiter, later tries to make friends with him and invites him to the wedding "church". Subverted after Arbiter discovers he's cheating on Claire.
* BigBad: Trent Donnovich.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Greg fragbans Trent's staff in the finale before they can ban Chief and Arbiter.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Jon's Xbox is permanently banned, cutting Chief and Arbiter off from online gaming and social interaction, but Trent is defeated, Arbiter and Claire are still friends and even though Greg's in hiding, at least he is still around.]]
* BrickJoke: In Episode 6, Brawl, Chief gives Arbiter a hug just to put a sign that says "im stuped" on his back. Arbiter doesn't know about this until the end of the episode.
** And then it happened again in the movie.
*** And, to make it a true BrickJoke, another hug occurs in the fourth episode of Hypermail. And both characters end up getting signs on their backs.
* BusCrash: Happens with Travis, Scott and Cortana.
* CallBack: The pilot opens with the finale of "Wedding", the second episode from season 3.
** Also in the the same episode, Chief tells the security guys, [[PreAsskickingOneLiner "We r guyz, WHO GON TEACH U LESSON!"]] a variation on one of his first lines from the very first episode.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The typo Trent makes when spelling Arbiter's gamertag.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: Timothy, the player Chief met in "Time Wasters" and other earlier episodes who called him out for being bad at Halo. In the penultimate episode he turns out to be a member of an organization of underground hackers and takes Arbiter and Chief to the organization after they got kicked from the server that Trent and Claire's wedding is taking place in.]]
* CoDragons: Trent's sisters also act as his right-hands. He also has ''another'' set of CoDragons in his MLG security guards, Cameron and Cody.
* FinalBossPreview: Arguably the matches against the two security guards count as this.
* GainaxEnding:
** The ultimate fate of Todd, Travis and Cortana: being kidnapped by an alien named Zanthar (who looks suspiciously like Jon's chin) and getting butt-raped to death.
** [[spoiler:Season 5 ends with spoiler: Arbiter waking up to the sound of Cortana's voice, despite her being "dead".]] [[spoiler:Which turns out to be an incredibly cruel prank by Chief.]]
* HesBack: [[spoiler:Greg gives Arbiter his helmet at the end of the season.]]
* HowWeGotHere: Season 5 starts with Chief and Arbiter preparing to raid a wedding. Most of the season details the events leading up to it.
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: "Play to win".]]
** MythologyGag: This season runs on these. There were {{Call Back}}s to Josh Butterballs and his [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Stupid Obvious Information Magazine]], [=sm0k3w33d4lyph3420=], Chief also makes a few variations on his lines from previous episodes.
* LetsGetDangerous: In preparation for the wedding, Chief and Arbiter [[spoiler: meet a group of [[TheCracker console modders]] who help them to bypass Trent's ban on them, give them various cheats including unlimited ammo and the ability to make all the fusion coils at the wedding explode, and guns and melee attacks that result in a console ban and all of the victim's personal information being stolen.]]
* TheMistress: [[ThisIsUnforgivable Trent has one.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In the finale (should be mentioned that this is Arbiter's answer to a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech delivered to him [[spoiler:by Trent]] an episode earlier):
--> '''Arbiter''': [[spoiler:It doesn’t surprise me that a dose of emotion would have a toxic effect on an emotion-deprived cretin like you. Who’s really the plastic one here? Your bleak outlook on life is poisonous. Maybe the world is a big sinking ship. But we can’t accept that as an inevitability and use it as an excuse to act like shitheads. We have to be the change we seek. We have to build something better for ourselves.]]
* RefugeInAudacity: TECHNODICKS. TECHNO TECHNO TECHNO TECHNO TECHNODICKS.
* ShoutOut: The speech Chief gives to Greg in the episode "Cheaters", is an homage to the monologues Patrick Bateman gave in Literature/AmericanPsycho.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The music at the end of "Severance", when [[spoiler:Chief and Arbiter attack Trent, and the final battle between them is about to start]], the music is surprisingly calm.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: [[spoiler: Claire gives one to Arbiter.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Season 6]]
* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:Kylie's motive for working with Chaos Theosis was so that she'd have enough money to leave home because of her abusive father.]]
* AffablyEvil: Duncan in season 6 seems to qualify.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: [[spoiler: Episode 8 ends with Chaos Theosis marching on TOSER's HQ]]
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Chief and Arbiter in the season 6 finale. They are commended and made internet icons for their involvement in the destruction of [[spoiler:Chaos Theosis]].
* BadassBystander: One player in "Cradle to Grave" [[spoiler: refuses to lie for Adam and ends up throwing him to the dogs, all with a calm demeanor despite Adam directly insulting him previously.]]
* BadassCrew: Chaos Theosis.
* BigBad: [[spoiler:[[CorruptCorporateExecutive Trent Donnovich]] is this [[HijackedByGanon again]]. Chaos Theosis is merely a front for Trent's malicious activities.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Kevin and several other TOSERS enforcers]] in "Blackout".
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: In season 6, the thirteen year-old TOSER applicant, Kevin.]]
* DiscOneFinalBoss:
** A villainous inversion. [[spoiler:Chaos Theosis succeeds in destroying TOSERS, but Clyde reveals that the next part of their plan is to destroy the OMN itself.]]
** [[spoiler:Clyde himself gets fragbanned in "Severance", only for it to be revealed he was working for someone else.]]
* TheDragon [[spoiler:Clyde to Trent. He leads the hackers Trent hired and is his final line of defense against]]
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Arby and Chief cooperate with Cameron and Cody to survive the hackers attack on the application match]]
* EvilCounterpart: In season 6, Arbiter's would be Clyde (both have Elite models). Chief's however is disputed; Adam would most likely fit since the two have the same cringeworthy sense of humor and are naturally apathetic when it comes to the feelings of others.
* [[spoiler:HeroicBSOD: Arbiter. 4 months and counting. He's showing signs of coming out of it though.]]
* [[spoiler:HijackedByGanon]]: [[spoiler:In Severance, Kylie and Clyde were fragged, disbanding Chaos Theosis. However, by signing into Clyde's account using his password, Arbiter and Chief find out that Trent Donnovich, Season 5's BigBad, was behind the entire thing.]]
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Silent Strike turns out to be Chaos Theosis' double agent in TOSERS]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: Episode 9 ends with Arby gearing up for one after Claire is banned and her personal accounts hacked.]]
* TemptingFate: A rare example where things actually get better for the person that tempts fate.
--> '''Arbiter''': We're going to need a miracle.
** [[spoiler: A tank spawns behind him]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Season 7]]
* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:Eugene's father.]]
* BackForTheDead: The player Arbiter rescues in season 7 [[spoiler:returns and ends up [[ShoottheDog being fragged by his hands in a later episode]] ]].
* BatmanGrabsAGun: [[spoiler:Despite being against Chief spending with Jon's credit card in the past, Arbiter ultimately agrees to use it to buy another Xbox after Colin bricks theirs.]]
* BerserkButton: Whatever you do, do '''not''' attempt to represent Eugene's clan in a negative fashion. Your life may just be ruined, and not in the conventional way.
** It's also not wise to insult Claire in front of Arbiter.
*** Or blame him for [[spoiler:Cortana's demise]].
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Eugene and his clan serve as the antagonists for season 7. At first, they seem like a band of harmless, annoying trolls whom the duo befriend. This changes once the resident smart guy, Colin, [[OhCrap acquires an upgraded version of Fragban]]. It then becomes a matter of Arbiter and Chief realizing ''who'' they are dealing with.]]
* BigBadWannabe: A scene from an early episode had Eugene Black confront the leader of a copycat trolling clan. Eugene delivers a biting TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the copycat and reveals that he had obtained the copycat's (embarrassing) Internet history and posted it on his school's blog before banning him.
* CerebusCallback: An absolutely brutal one at that. In ''"Game Over"'' as Arbiter is still recovering from the shock of [[spoiler: listening to Eugene commit suicide right in front of him]], Chief offers advice on calming down, like saying good things like "I'm in my happy place". Arbiter rebuffs it, saying he doesn't have faith in mantras, and that he'd have to be [[TemptingFate "really and truly desperate"]] to resort to using them. In literally the next episode, ''"Ignition"'', in the span of a few minutes, [[spoiler: Arbiter discovers Cortana didn't leave, she was murdered, that Chief accidentally killed her, followed by accidentally shattering Chief into pieces in the subsequent vengeful rage, which is immediately followed up by Tyler tracking them down and trying to break into their apartment with a chainsaw, and [[TraumaCongaLine hearing him get gunned down by cops shortly after and having his blood drip onto him.]]]] After all that happens...?
-->'''Arbiter:''' ''...I'm in my happy place...I'm in my happy place...''''[[MadnessMantra I'm in my happy place...]]''
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:In the 4th episode, "Terminal", Master Chief removes a plug for some reason and when The Arbiter goes to turn on the Xbox, it won't power on so he casually puts the plug back in. This just seems like a minor plot point, but in the next episode "Heat", Master Chief decides to scare Cortana and put her in the oven. When she isn't scared, he turns the oven switch on thinking the oven was unplugged and nothing would happen. Instead, [[OhCrap she burned to pieces.]]]]
** [[spoiler:The matchbook]] in season 7.
* CigaretteOfAnxiety: [[spoiler:Both Arbiter and Chief take up smoking, each to cope with his own personal grief.]]
* ClusterFBomb: Chief swears like crazy when he realizes that [[spoiler: he just killed Cortana.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: By far the darkest season of the show.
* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: The series finale, "Ignition". Arbiter and Chief commit suicide by setting the apartment ablaze.]]
* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:After Eugene commits suicide, Tyler goes to Arbiter and Chief's apartment to get revenge, only to be shot and killed by the police.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Eugene's fate.]]
** [[spoiler:Almost directly followed by Arbiter and Chief.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Chief is NOT happy to find out that [[spoiler: Colin is a child molester.]]
* EvilFeelsGood: [[spoiler:Arbiter, when he gives in and starts doling out kills with Eugene's clan's fragban software. Especially after he finally got back at fragging a random player during "Spiraling" who insulted him once before in season 7. When asked how it felt, he simply states "Good." And as of 'In Memoriam', he's totally into fragbanning other players alongside Eugene.]]
** [[spoiler:Arbiter eventually sees the error of his ways once Eugene displays a much more sinister side of himself, though.]]
* EvilCounterpart:
** [[{{Troll}} Eugene]] to Arbiter. Both share the same ideologies regarding life and their places in the universe. They're also both teetering on the MoralEventHorizon, which draws the two together.
** Chief meanwhile has [[AxCrazy Tyler]] as his counterpart. Both are [[PsychopathicManChild PsychopathicManChildren]], though Tyler is ''much'' more sociopathic than Chief.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: [[spoiler:Chief and Arbiter both change the armor colors on their avatars to black after agreeing to use Fragban 2.0.]] {{Lampshaded}} by Eugene
-->'''Eugene''': Black armor now, huh? Kinda lame but whatever.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Arbiter and Chief assist Eugene's clan in their fragbanning spree across the OMN. Arbiter is initially reluctant to at first, but he eventually gives in and joins the rest of the clan in fragbanning players.]]
** [[spoiler:Eventually though, Arbiter and Chief turn against the clan and stop them from fragbanning anyone else. Though, as shown in the season 7 finale, Arbiter may still have a bit of Eugene's influence in him.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: Eugene for the most part. He has tendencies to be kind, but they hide a very monstrous and destructive personality.
* FinalBossPreview: The toys' first confrontation with Eugene and his clan [[spoiler: before they're mercilessly fragged]].
* FreudianTrio: The nameless trolling clan has Eugene as the Ego, Tyler as the Id and Colin as the Superego.
* HesBack: [[spoiler:A case of They're Back in "Event Horizon". The duo finally come to their senses and confront Eugene and his clan in a desperate bid to end their malice.]]
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:Arbiter returns to this trope, and for good reasons.]]
** ''Eugene, Eugene, EUGENE.'' Despite having a calm demeanor, he has proven himself to be a complete sociopath on multiple occasions and is only staying afloat because of his sister. [[spoiler: He isn't afloat for long]], and he only gets worse from there.
* HowWeGotHere: The season starts with Eugene and his clan attacking an in-game funeral, and being approached by Chief and Arbiter. It later cuts to a few months prior.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: {{Deconstructed}}. Chief and Arbiter's desire for companionship leads them to [[spoiler:join Eugene and his on their fragban spree.]]
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler:"Awesome possum".]]
* KickTheDog: Tyler, ''literally''.
** [[spoiler:The dog... also literally... [[TheDogBitesBack bites back]].]]
* KickTheMoralityPet:
** [[spoiler:Arbiter turns his back on Claire when he meets her again. While Eugene is the one to actually shoot her, Arbiter doesn't seem to have a problem with it.]]
** [[spoiler:Eugene fragbans Michelle after she breaks up with him.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:A good portion of the players we see Arbiter fragban are {{Jerkass}}es.]]
* LemonWackyHello: Chief getting high from smoking cereal. Lampshaded by Arbiter stating that cereal doesn't have hallucinogenic properties.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Chief after accidentally killing Cortana.]]
** [[spoiler: Arbiter says this almost word for word, when he realized what he just did after losing his temper so badly he shattered Chief into pieces after tossing him against a wall in a vengeful rage after discovering the above happened.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:The normally friendly and rather cheerful Greg, who peppers his 'speech' with text lingo and smilies like Chief, becomes dead serious when he confronts Chief about Cortana's death, begins writing with perfect grammar, capitalization and punctuation, and even manages the [[PrecisionFStrike Precision D-Strike]] mentioned below despite him normally [[GoshDangitToHeck going out of his way to sanitize even casual speech]].]]
* OneLastJob: [[spoiler:Arbiter refers them taking down Eugene's Clan with Fragban 2.0 as this, and compares it to their previous conflict with Chaos Theosis.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: Well, "D-Strike", but same principle. [[spoiler:Delivered by Greg after he witnessed Chief not only [[MoralEventHorizon MURDER Cortana]], but is then forced to lie about it to Arbiter. After Chief thanks him for covering for him, all Greg can "say" is a simple and concise: ''[[YouMonster "Damn you."]]'']]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Early on in season 7 Cortana smacks Chief with a pretty brutal one.
--> '''Cortana''': Tell me, Chief, why do you think it is that you were rejected by that girl you encountered online? Why do you think you're rejected by anybody and everybody you encounter online, for that matter? Hm? Do you think it just might possibly have something to do with this volatile attitude of yours? … Don't kid yourself Chief, the root of your issues lies far beyond my presence. You've been antagonizing everybody around you long before I entered the picture.
--> '''Chief''': well u sure as hell hasnt b33n n e fucking help skank, thats foar goddamn sure
--> '''Cortana''': That's just it, Chief. All I've been trying to do is help you. I realize the notion probably comes as a complete surprise to you, but it's true. You just can't accept it because you refuse outright to listen to reason. … Perhaps, rather than refusing to reason, you simply can't. That your under-developed brain won't allow you to.
--> '''Chief''': mai brains r the shit
--> '''Cortana''': I couldn't agree more. Utter shit. Even you know the truth. You know full well that any of us three could destroy you in any conceivable argument on any subject, and it kills you that you can't ever conjure up a rebuttal that's even remotely substantial. The only route you've found to take is to get angry and spit pathetic insults left and right that, ironically, only ever accomplish making you yourself look like a complete fool. You are a fool, Chief. Worse yet - you're an unlikeable and therefore unsympathetic fool. You're a blight. An utter embarrassment to yourself and everybody around you, twenty-four-seven. Accept it - and for God's sake, try to improve upon yourself.
** In the final episode of Season 7, "Ignition", during the peak of his despair when Chief [[spoiler: reveals the real reason behind Cortana's vanishing wasn't because she left, it was because he accidentally murdered her.]] Arbiter gives an utterly venomous one after Chief has the gall to say a tasteless reply to Arbiter's grief over [[spoiler: resenting Greg for helping Cortana "leave" when it never happened, and how Greg left because he couldn't stomach looking at Chief after seeing him kill her, and couldn't stand hiding the truth from Arbiter.]] And it's easily some of the most angered words he's said to Chief. [[VitriolicBestBuds And that's saying a lot.]]
-->'''Chief:''' u mad, bro?\\
'''Arbiter: (StunnedSilence)''' ...''[[PoisonousFriend You're poison.]]'' Your infantile volatility and cowardice [[spoiler: rid us of our only true friends in the world.]]
** In the same episode, Arbiter gives one to ''himself'', right as [[spoiler:he's about to commit suicide by jumping out of the apartment window after everything that's happened in the short-timespan]]:
--> '''Arbiter''': [[spoiler:There's nothing left for you here. You've never belonged. You're a freak. You've contributed nothing. This is what you deserve. This also happens to be your ticket to salvation. You're a lucky motherfucker to have this opportunity. Just a couple of terrifying seconds in exchange for bliss. Now that's a fucking bargain. Don't think about it, just do it. Come on, you fucking pussy. You worthless, plastic [bleep]. Do it. Fucking do it. Now.]]
* SeriousBusiness: Eugene and his clan take trolling ''very'' seriously, to the point of humiliating a copycat troll who was smearing their name.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The scene where [[spoiler: Cortana gets melted in the apartment oven]] has the fucking Blue Danube Waltz playing in the background.
* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler:Chief and Arbiter briefly become this when they join Eugene, Tyler and Colin in their fragbanning spree.]]
* VillainRespect: Eugene and Tyler both respect Chief and Arbiter for their raid on Trent Donnovich's wedding, viewing it as a fine example of trolling. Colin also starts to respect Arbiter as the series goes on.
* VillainousFriendship: Eugene, Tyler and Colin are all good friends with each other. They later extend their friendship to Arbiter and Chief. Chief evens remarks at one point that Tyler and Eugene are among the few people who genuinely liked him.
* WhamEpisode:
** "Heat". [[spoiler: Chief accidentally burns Cortana alive in the oven.]]
** "Two Point Zero". Colin finishes developing Fragban 2.0 and shows it off to Eugene and Tyler.
** "Wake" and "Dead Weight". [[spoiler:Arbiter and Chief join Eugene, Tyler and Colin in their fragban spree.]]
* WhamLine: Massive Damage gives us [[spoiler: "shes just plastic."]]
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre:
** [[spoiler: Cortana gives one to Arbiter in Terminal.]]
** [[spoiler: Greg's note that Arbiter found. "You have a good heart, Arbiter. Don't lose it."]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Season 8]]
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Arbiter and Chief sit in the shower and throw insults at each other like they usually do. Chief tosses a "you're gay" at Arbiter to which he retorts that since they're both in the shower, it applies to both of them. Then both toys have a genuine laugh over it.
* AIIsACrapshoot: PAL, originally coherent and friendly, devolves into a personality similar to the Chief we all know and love, pretty much becoming an immature version of HAL 9000.
* AmbiguousSituation:
** Chief (in the form of a drone named PAL), Arbiter, and Cortana are on a spaceship for some reason, with Arbiter occasionally having flashes of the events of Season 7. Arbiter and Chief then return to life after they are killed in this world.
** Discussed by Arbiter when he starts noticing some oddities after returning to life. Despite Chief apparently blowing up Jon's apartment, familiar furniture and decorations still somehow made it into this new setting. Arbiter also notices how their lives are similar to a video game in hindsight, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall with their lives easily dividable into various stages]] [[SerialEscalation and their enemies like progressively harder bosses]]. Things are weird enough for Arbiter to seriously consider alternate universes and timelines to explain everything.
* BackForTheFinale / TheBusCameBack:
** Josh Butterballs, Gregory, Sarah, and even a minor online gamer from the very first episode all reappear in the first episode of the season. Jon himself as a character also finally makes a reappearance.
** Zanthar, the butt-raping alien that is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial totally not Jon's chin]] and the one responsible for Cortana, Todd, and Travis's disappearances, returns to perform a hostile takeover of Arbiter's ship.
** The TOSERS organization makes a return.
** The SeriousBusiness guys return in a cameo.
** [[spoiler: Adam]] returns as the season's BigBad.
** Chief's friend Jeremy, AKA [=XxXsM0k3w33d4LyPh3420XxX=], also appears, having become an internet celebrity through his Halo Reach kill montages. [[spoiler: [[BackForTheDead He's promptly killed by Adam]]]].
** Clyde and Kylie from Chaos Theosis return, with Duncan also getting a mention. [[spoiler: [[BackForTheDead Clyde is killed off fairly quickly however]]]].
** [[spoiler:Jon himself returns after seasons and years of being suspiciously absent from his own apartment...only to be killed by Adam.]]
* BackFromTheDead: For reasons yet unexplained, Arbiter and Chief return to life in new toy bodies.
* {{Bathos}}: [[spoiler:Jon is suddenly killed by an exploding X-Box, a sudden and horrifying turn of events that freaks both Arbiter and Chief out. [[UndignifedDeath Also, some of the shrapnel ended up in Jon's crotch]].]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Adam]].
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Invoked. Near the end of their James Bond parody, Arbiter is storming off when Chief says 'well i guess that's a raptor[[note]]Chief is trying to say 'That's a wrap' but keeps replacing 'wrap' with 'raptor' throughout the film[[/note]]'. Suddenly, Arbiter is attacked a giant plastic dinosaur toy and is pinned down by it when Chief then pulls a knife out and stabs it to death. There is no word on whether if it was real or a prop, and judging from Arbiters reaction he's just as confused.
* ChekhovsGun: Several things from the 2001 arc.
** Several of the weapons in the armory are eventually used by Arbiter when the situation starts to get dire, but the AT mine is of particular note as a ChekhovsBoomerang. [[spoiler:It's how Arbiter defeats PAL, by tricking him into getting within its range and using that to convince him to let Arbiter out of containment. Even after that, it finally gets detonated when one of the Allens triggers it.]]
** The button on the ship's sound system that is implied to open one of the doors [[spoiler:eventually causes PAL to accidentally let Arbiter back on the ship after locking him out to suffocate.]]
** The copy of ''Custer's Revenge'' on the ship's computer [[spoiler:distracts the Allens due to their obsession with raping butts, allowing Arbiter to evade them.]]
** Most obviously, the warheads in the cargo bay. [[spoiler:They get detonated by Arbiter in the finale when he gets wounded and outnumbered.]]
* ContinuityNod:
** In the 2001 arc, Todd, Travis and obscure one-shot character Randall are listed as being aboard the ship in cryosleep.
** Chief's "noobs" (Todd, Kyle, and Tucker) from "Digital Fruitcakes" have their iPhones listed on the ship's computer.
** Trent Donnovich is revealed to have been sent to prison after the events of Season 6, [[BlackComedyRape where he's been raped daily]].
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Chief retains his X-Box Live troll attitude and the season shows how even more unwelcome this behavior is in the PC 2010s. For instance, the other players in a ''Halo 4'' match waste no time reporting Chief for his behavior instead of argue with him like previous seasons would have them do.
* EvilVersusEvil: ''Halo: Reach'' is shown to have erupted into a turf war between [[spoiler:a resurgent Chaos Theosis and another Hacker Clan led by Kylie.]]
* GagPenis: The Allens claim to have [[CrossesTheLineTwice 14-inch-penises]]... and 7 testicles... [[{{Squick}} and ejaculates for a duration of 11 minutes]]...
* HowWeGotHere: At some point following the ending of Season 7, Claire holds an online funeral for Arbiter and the Chief (since it's on a Halo server, you can probably guess how well that goes). We then see Arbiter and Chief watching from a cliff, then cut to them playing the game, Arbiter pushing Chief to help him in "bringing it all down."
* LittleNo: Arbiter when he finds himself with Chief and as a toy once more.
* PlanetOfSteves: Every one of Zanthar's mooks is named Allen.
* PoliticalOvercorrectness: Aside from the TOSERS, who expand their activities to reacting to people complaining about differing political views, RealLife police angrily brushes off Arbiter's attempts at reporting a pedophile when more important things, like misgendering, are going on.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Arguing with Strawman about emotional pain, Arbiter makes the case that pain is necessary and sometimes even important to grow as a person.
* MundaneSolution: TOSERS throw Arbiter and Chief in internet jail. As Strawman dramatically monologues about their avatars rotting in their cell and he and his fellow TOSERS watching with pleasure, Arbiter simply shuts off their console. Strawman later alerts his superior that they escaped.
* RevisitingTheRoots: Season 8 returns the series to Arbiter and Chief simply hanging out in Jon's apartment and dishing out satirical commentary on online culture, this time expanding to things like Youtube, Let's Plays, streams, and Patreon.
* ShapedLikeItself: Arbiter and Chief get into an arguement about [[ItMakesSenseInContext racism, hate crimes and being the leaders of the alt-right]] against a zealous TOSER called Moderator [[StrawMan Strawman]].
* StarterVillain: PAL 9001 [[spoiler:and Zanthar]] for the first act, which takes place before the toys even come back to life in the real world.
* TakeThat:
** Downplayed when Arbiter finds out that Creator/DonaldTrump has become President of the United States, to which both he and Chief act with mild confusion. A more appropriate TakeThat is given towards those who childishly cut ties with friends who supported him, as exemplified by a Reach player becoming upset with a friend of ten years revealing that he voted Trump.
** TOSERS seem to be a parody of the anti-free speech far left, treating things such as misgendering and saying mean things as serious issues and banning players for them.
** [[MeaningfulName Ray Cist]] is an over-the-top caricature of far-right racist extremists.
* WhamEpisode: "Play To Win": [[spoiler:Jon comes home and is promptly tracked down and killed by Adam.]]
* WhamShot:
** In the very first episode, we see Arbiter and Chief, alive and well in both Reach avatar and toy form.
** Arbiter plugs in a USB drive and looks through it...to find program files for all of the series' previous antagonists.
** Arbiter encounters his hallucination of Eugene once more, but shrugs it off as another unknown player that entered their server. After a confused and silent look from Chief, Arbiter looks at the wi-fi router...which is unplugged.
* WholePlotReference: The majority of the first half of Season 8 is the plot of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. Then the aliens obsessed with anal rape show up.
* YouKeepUsingThatWord:
** Chief gets really into calling Arbiter a "cuck." Eventually, Arbiter calls him out on the fact that he doesn't even know what that word means.
** Turns out the TOSERS or at least [[MeaningfulName Strawman]] don't even know what the "alt-right" are either, just that they're bad and racist.
* YouKnowImBlackRight: An SJW attempts to pull this on Chief by claiming he's part Native American.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Arby N The Chief in L.A.]]
* MoonwalkDance: An episode has Arbiter and the Chief visit several attractions and sights around L.A./Hollywood, one of which is the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Chief does the moonwalk on Music/MichaelJackson's tile, although, because of the format of the show (live-action action figures), only his upper body is seen, while his legs are not.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Series-wide tropes]]
%% recurring, consciously used tropes contributing to series' style as a whole; also single-used tropes that are not actually part of the plot.
* ArcNumber: Every time you see a clock, it will either display [[Franchise/{{Halo}} 3:43]], [[LeetLingo 13:37]] or digits that will add up to [[RuleOfSeven 7]] (which is a reference to Creator/{{Bungie}}).
* AesopAmnesia: Chief has come to the realisation that he sucks at Halo at least ''three times''. It usually doesn't stick. However, as of "Double Trouble", [[spoiler: he's finally learned to play well enough to [[TookALevelInBadass fight two professional players together with Arbiter and almost win.]]]]
* TheMovie: ''Arby 'n' The Chief: The Movie''. "Endgame" could also be considered one.
* ArchNemesis: The series showcases several for both toys, usually one each per season.
** For Arbiter: Scott, Trent Donnovich, Adam [=McIntyre=], and finally Eugene.
** For Chief: Todd, Trent's bodyguard duo, and Kylie (to an extent).
* AuthorAvatar: Arbiter, and Jon has already [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080128002650/http://www.halobabies.net/archive/08/01/25/digitalph33r_behind_arby_n_the_chief/ admitted to it]]; this has not, however prevented many instances of AuthorFilibuster from occurring. (Though they have become more rare as of late.)
** Amazingly, Chief has also become this in some recent episodes, seeming to embody Jon's wild, silly, artistic, and emotional side while Arbiter embodies his logical thought, controlled behaviour, and cynicism. But how much Chief channels Graham and how much he is of his classic stupid self vaires from episode to episode.
* AuthorFilibuster: See AuthorAvatar
* BackToBackBadasses: Chief and Arbiter in the season 5 pilot.
** Hell, pretty much any time they are facing a threat online.
* BitchAlert: Cortana. Seriously, all she ever did was bitch about Chief. It's like it was her only purpose in the series. Jon just doesn't want to admit it.
** At least until the last few episodes. Even from beyond the "grave", that's when she wanted both Arbiter and Chief to fight the good fight against Eugene and his guys. Talk about character development.
** Also, did she ever consider Arbiter a real friend? Why does he keep preaching all these redeeming qualities about her? It's hard to be friends with someone who keeps forgetting that you exist.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: The figurines' owner is named "Jon", and the second episode has Chief commenting on a Bungie blog post about the first episode. Furthermore, the plot of TheMovie is started when Chief watches several machinima videos by [=DigitalPh33r=]. There are also multiple references to ''Arby 'N' The Chief'' being a real machinima show within the show's universe.
* BookEnds: Both the series pilot, and what at the time was the series finale, have a scene where someone at least claiming to be a delivery boy knocks on the door.
** In the series finale, [[spoiler: Arbiter and Chief both hold the same weapons they wielded when they first met.]]
* CanonDiscontinuity: To much relief from the fans, the L.A. continuity was scrapped when season 4 came around.
** The original series finale Endgame is also considered non-canon aside from the introduction of Claire.
** The Season 3 Finale "King" is this as well, mostly due to the 4th wall-breaking nature of it and the silly nonsensical ending that was thrown out the window with [[spoiler: Cortana's return in Season 6, whereas she had been previously killed off at the end of King]].
* CatchPhrase: The Chief has "[[NoYou NO U]]", among other things.
** [[YourMom Ur mom]] and me were *insert DoubleEntendre* last night!
** UR FACE!1
** lol remember arbitur?
*** Chief even calls a drunken Arbiter out on [[BorrowedCatchphrase using this one]].
-->'''Arbiter''': [[OutOfCharacterMoment LOL, remember Chief?]]
-->'''Chief''': [[HeyThatsMyLine HAY. thats mai thing arbitur. u cant use mai thing.]] remember. remember its mien. lol remember arbitur?
-->'''Arbiter''': LOL, I remember Chief.
-->'''Chief''': [[HypocriticalHumor LOL. ur so silly.]]
-->'''Arbitur''': I know, LOL.
-->'''Chief''': LOL
** FREEZE / TOSERS / GET DOWN ON THE FUKCING GROUND
* CerebusSyndrome: The show is probably the most notable for making such a drastic change in tone from pure comedy to somber drama from seasons 5 to 7. It stands to reason why season 7 is considered so bleak compared to its predecessors; main themes include death, grief, murder, and lies.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: most noticeable with Chief - he used to be simply a SmallNameBigEgo FanDumb [[TheDitz Ditz]], but then he started realizing that he is not as good at Halo as he previously thought. And he has recently got a tiny grasp of sarcasm (not that he makes use of it very frequently). His relationship with Arbiter has been changing over time, too. See also AuthorAvatar above.
** It's also a little weird watching Chief write off many games as stupid and that Halo is way better than them (like ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl, VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4'') and took some serious convincing to get him to even play them when you later see the Chief willingly play many different games without a mention of Halo or even that the game sucks (like ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'').
** By Season 7, Chief even displays the ability to think way ahead into the future to the point where he makes a multi-layered argument to Greg about [[spoiler: why telling Arbiter that Chief is the one responsible for Cortana's disappearance would be a bad idea. He goes so far as to predict Arbiter's emotional state beyond simply beating Chief up, understanding that Arbiter would be miserable and probably blame himself for Cortana's death.]] This all becomes a bit ironic when you consider that only a couple of episodes earlier Cortana criticized Chief's lack of ability to form actual arguments. A far cry from the "no u" style argumentation Chief had generally used up to this point.
* DeadpanSnarker: Arbiter. Also, [[spoiler: Chief's hallucination of Cortana.]]
* {{Deconstruction}}: The series acted as one for the state of video games and the gaming community when it first started. With the start of season 5, the series began deconstructing the LivingToys trope. The sixth season takes it further, and the seventh [[DarkerAndEdgier makes the previous two look like fairy tales]], [[DeconstructorFleet taking apart the whole show's premise]] by [[DespairEventHorizon conveying the existential dread of it to the fullest extent.]]
* TheFaceless: Almost all of the human characters have never been seen, instead being represented by their ''Halo'' avatars. The only exceptions to this are Skylar Loveheart, Scott, Agent Smirnoff, and Jon as of Season 8.
* {{Foreshadowing}} - In Season 3 Episode 4, two of [[{{Jerkass}} Craig's]] Major League Gamer] pals [[{{Fetish}} get (presumably Halo-induced) erections]] and [[ADateWithRosiePalms decide to go rub one out.]] This later becomes the catalyst for Master Chief's win against Craig later in the episode.
* FourthWallMailSlot: Introduced in season 4... [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse never to be mentioned again.]]
** [[DoubleSubversion ...until "Hypernews I" (43/S5E5)]], where it turns into somewhat of a LeaningOnTheFourthWall variety.
--> '''Chief''': [[LampshadeHanging didnt we set up taht acount liek months ago?]]
** After Season 5 finished, the mail slot has spun off into its own show - ''Arby 'n' the Chief: Hypermail''
* FanDumb: in-universe - Master Chief is a parody of the UnpleasableFanbase of ''Halo''.
* FreudianTrio: Chief is TheId, Arbiter is TheEgo, and Cortana is TheSuperego.
* GamerChick; TheChick: Cortana, although [[InformedAttribute she's hardly been seen actually playing games]].
** Claire counts as well, and may as well be the archetype for all gamer chicks.
* GiantSpider: The finale of season four introduces one, which even [[BringMyBrownPants terrifies arachnophobe viewers]].
* {{Homage}}: "Hypernews I" to ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'', which is [[AuthorAppeal Jon's favourite game]]. And that's despite Chief giving the game an extremely negative review, akin to WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd, making it somewhat an AffectionateParody of the former (and possibly the latter).
* JerkAss: Master Chief.
** Arbiter zig zags from Jerkass to JerkWithAHeartOfGold. But then again, [[DeadpanSnarker it's Jon.]]
** And Travis, to a lesser extent than Chief.
** Trent Donnovich makes Chief look like a decent [[strike:human being]] action figure.
*** Subverted in Trent's case during the second half of the fifth season. He's actually rather friendly, although it remains to be seen whether he's genuinely nice or if it's just a gambit to gain Arbiters trust.
*** [[spoiler:DoubleSubverted.]]
** Craig.
* KilledOffForReal: Not "killed" per say [[spoiler: but one of the security guards from the wedding gets fragged during the application match. The other one makes it out though.]]
** [[spoiler: He made a brief reappearance in the attack on TOSER's HQ where he fought along side his friend on split screen before both of them were fragged. Also Claire was also fragged during the attack too, in a way that arguably is a MoralEventHorizon for Adam.]]
*** [[spoiler: Adam passed his MoralEventHorizon a loooooong time before then.]]
** In Endgame, [[spoiler: Scott literally gets killed]]. Also, at the end of Season 3, [[spoiler: Cortana, Todd and Travis all got killed]].
** In Season 7, [[spoiler: Cortana gets cooked alive inside of an oven by Master Chief]].
** In Season 7, "Crush", [[spoiler:after getting told off by Arbiter for only wanting him as a friend and nothing more, Claire gets frag-banned by Arbiter's new clan.]]
* KnightInSourArmor: Arbiter. It pops up every now and then, but is most noticable in season 5. His TheReasonYouSuckSpeech [[spoiler:to Trent Donnovich]] pretty much sums up what this trope is all about.
* LanguageTropes:
** Master Chief: LeetLingo + [[WebOriginal/LOLCats LOLspeak]] + {{Pluralses}} + RougeAnglesOfSatin + {{Malaproper}} + ClusterFBomb
** The Arbiter: SophisticatedAsHell + PrecisionFStrike
** Cortana: SesquipedalianLoquaciousness
** Greg: [[TerseTalker txtspk]] + [[WingDinglish drawings]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: The theme from ''Film/ThePursuitOfHappyness'' and Three Little Girls from the Mikado.
* LivingToys: The premise.
* {{Machinima}} ''and'' Live Action Puppeteering.
* NietzscheWannabe:
** Arguably FEELS GOOD MAN in "King".
** In season 5 Trent Donnovich, as demonstrated with his "sinking ship" analogy.
* OddCouple: the eponymous characters.
** Not to mention Chief's temporary crush on Cortana. Their personalities are the weird part.
* OddlySmallOrganization The clan of hackers that will be the main antagonists of season six seem to only have four members, according to the trailer and Jon's blog at least.
* OhCrap: Chief's usual reaction to Arbiter's rage.
* OnlySaneMan: Inverted, as the Chief is the only ''really'' odd character.
** Or actually [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagged]] for Arbiter: characters of common sense comparable to him come and go, as do Chief-alikes.
* PsychopathicManchild: Chief. How else do you explain him destroying a Call of Duty 4 disc just to spite Arbiter?
** Adam in Season Six. Holy fucking shit. Technically, he doesn't qualify for the 'man' part of this trope, but absolutely everything else fits him to a tee.
** Tyler also qualifies.
* RunningGag
** Josh Butterballs and his SOI Magazine.
* SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud: Chief LOVES this.
** [[MemeticMutation MAI ROFLCOPTER / IT GOAS SOI SOI SOI SOI SOI SOI SOI]]
** ROFL car goes NNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
** MAI ROFLKNIEF GOEZ [[AudibleSharpness SLIEC SLIEC SLIEC SLIEC]] LOLOLOL
** Is that the one that goes WHARBLEGURBLEH?
* SeriesContinuityError: Quite a few.
** In the original ''Master Chief Sucks At Halo'' trilogy, there was an Arbiter character whose personality was comparable to Chief's. In ''Arby 'n' the Chief'' pilot, an Arbiter figurine arrives in a box, seemingly meeting Chief for the first time. However, in "Face-Off" (episode 16/[=S3E4=]) Arbiter refers to a "sick montage" Chief made with him in the original trilogy, implying that he is the same character. {{Retcon}}? BreakingTheFourthWall?
** NegativeContinuity was once [[http://joncjg.blogspot.com/2010/07/video-arby-n-chief-s04e03-pirates.html consciously introduced]] in "Pirates" (episode 28/[=S4E3=]).
** [[http://joncjg.blogspot.com/2010/06/secret-project-arby-n-chief-season-four.html Season four was supposed to take place sometime after "King" (season 3 finale)]]; Arbiter and Chief seem to be still living in Jon's home in Canada. Fair enough. However, the fifth season seems to have borrowed Claire from "Endgame", this time voiced by Elizabeth Carr-Ernst. How they managed to stay at the same place (if this is supposed to take place after "Endgame") is never mentioned.
* ShooOutTheNewGuy: The massive backlash and subsequent removal of Todd and Travis.
* TheSociopath:
** Adam, despite being eight, is incredibly wrathful and indifferent to others' suffering and emotions. [[spoiler:When he returns in Season 8, he's become more cold and sociopathic, now killing people by using his fragban hacks to cause their consoles to explode.]]
** Tyler is a more low-functioning example, being easily angered and incredibly violent.
* TheSpeechless: Greg, who can't talk due to being [[spoiler:a spider]] writes on sticky notes to communicate.
* StealthHiBye: Greg LOVES doing this to scare Chief and Arbiter, it helps that [[spoiler:he's a UncannyValley spider toy.]]
* StraightMan: The Arbiter
* StylisticSuck: Don't mess with Chief when he's got beats to lay.
-->''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CewOjHHwR4 ACTIVATE, ACTIV-ACTIVATE, ACTIVATE, ACTIV-ACTIVATE, ACTIVATE, ACTIV-ACTIVATE...]]''
* SyntheticVoiceActor: the eponymous characters and Cortana. This is constantly {{lampshaded}} in season 5, even to the point of {{deconstruction}}.
* TakeThat: As shown by the Chief being a TakeThat at Halo's FanDumb and indicated by some episodes' director commentaries, the plots of some episodes are aimed at common complaints that the Halo fanbase made about the games, or make fun of Xbox Live users in general. This intensified when Graham discontinued ''It's A Wonderful Live'', a separate machinima series designed to vent out those same frustrations.
* TooDumbToLive: Master Chief. We're talking WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead levels here.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Arby and the Chief constantly get on each others nerves, though the two will occasionally express fondness for each other.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Not exactly but when someone is killed with the fragban hack equipped, it will result in a console ban and all of the victim's personal information to be stolen.
[[/folder]]
----
