"Origins" highlights Forerunner battles with the Flood and "shed light on some of the main events of the Halo universe," according to official word. A "making of" episode of that segment will run the week after, all part of the hype cycle to get Halo fans in a lather for the release of the full Halo Legends anthology on DVD and Blu-ray in February.

And if you're still into watching those Red Vs. Blue machinima shorts, you can expect another one of those too, just in time for Christmas. The Holiday Special airs December 24 to 26, hopefully featuring a coked out Carrie Fischer and musical number from the ghost of Bea Arthur. But somehow we doubt it.

Because if you are going to rip someone off, do it with clay.

"It's one of those kits where you get a small piece of clay and have to 'unearth' what's inside," notes reader Sarah. And whatever did she find?

This is like an archeological expedition where the goal is to dig up who is going to get sued. No, it's not like that at all — it really is!

If only you could just buy one figure, and customise it yourself...oh, like you can with this new "Halo Rogue Deluxe Armour Pack", the toy manufacturer obviously having been informed by Pantone that there aren't any more colours left to paint the same Spartan with.

It's a "blank" figure, which comes with a variety of weapon and armour configurations for you to play dress-ups with, including all the important Hayabusa gear, and should be out around March.

The official Halo Waypoint Twitter account brings word of Tojima's hire, the second—that we know of—former Kojiima Productions staffer to join Microsoft in its Halo-expanding endeavors. Ryan Payton, assistant producer on Metal Gear Solid 4, joined the internal Halo team late last year.

Sounds like Konami and crew may have a little difficulty as of late in keeping their audio talent interested in sustaining their employment at the Japanese publisher. Regardless of Konami's musical staffing problems, we look forward to what the combination of all that talent and the backing of the Halo franchise will bring.

The ¥5,980 Blu-ray version is a two-disc set, while the ¥4,980 DVD version comes on three discs.

Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio4 C, and Toei Animation are each creating shorts for Halo Legends.

Production I.G.'s Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) is serving as creative director of the project, while Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed) will be directing Production I.G.'s Halo Legends episodes.

Update: According to a Microsoft spokesperson, this is not final Halo Legends box art.

アニメ『Halo Legends』がブルーレイとDVDで2010年2月16日に発売決定 [Famitsu]

[via Go Nintendo]

We featured Alex Kobbs' impressive LEGO recreation of the Zanzibar multiplayer map back in 2007. Now he's getting ready to release a 25-minute long feature set in that level, featuring an epic battle between the forces of Red and Blue. You can keep up with the project's progress over at the Kooberz Studio blog.

Halo Helljumper #5 Written by Peter David. Drawn by Eric Nguyen.

Summary Via Publisher Marvel Comics:
Dutch and Romeo have gotten themselves into some pretty crazy situations, but stealing a Covenant ship would definitely get a medal for Most Insane Thing Done In the Line of Duty. If they survive this, they'll still have plenty of questions to answer: what the heck are the Covenant doing here on Planet Ariel, an otherwise harmless colony? And why are they acting so strange-taking the humans hostage instead of glassing the planet, which is their M.O.? Whatever's lurking deep underneath the surface, if the Covenant wants it that bad, it has to be big… and deadly. DON'T MISS THE GRIPPING CONCLUSION TO THIS HEART-STOPPING STORY!

Free Realms #3 (of 12) Written by J.S. Lewis. Drawn by Jon Buran.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment:
Dane and Maya return from their dangerous mission into the Briarwood to retrieve the missing girl, but the queen's representatives aren't offering a hero's welcome! Looks like the queen couldn't care less about the young girl and instead wants the box containing the potion that could keep her majesty from dying. But the box is empty! Now Dane and Maya must return to the Briarwood to find the vial before the queen dies...or her fate becomes their own!

Sky Pirates of Neo Terra #3 Written by Josh Wagner. Drawn by Camilla D'Errico.

Summary Via Publisher Image Comics:
This issue is non-stop action as Billy and the Pirate King clash over the Light Crystal. Wurl engages in a battle-to-the-death with an old rival, and Suma and Racket have to help fend off a Sky Pirates attack! Based on a game for Nintendo DS and Wii.

Starcraft #6 Written by Simon Furman. Drawn by Federico Dallocchio and Brian Denham.

Summary Via Wildstorm Entertainment:
What exactly is Cole Hickson's connection to Jim Raynor? Unless the threads of the past can finally be unraveled, the future is looking distinctly truncated. Trapped and surrounded by hostile Zerg insectoids, not to mention a vengeful C.O. and his crack Cerberus unit, the War Pigs might be making their last stand as the Protoss prepare to incinerate the Zerg-infested world the War Pigs are stranded on!

Warcraft Death Knight Volume 1 Written by Dan Jolley. Drawn by Rocio Zucchi.

Summary Via Publisher Tokyopop:
Thassarian is a loyal Lordaeron solider that longs to be a great hero like his deceased father. Although he possesses immense strength and skill, Thassarian is told that he lacks the spark that all great leaders have to guide men into battle. So when Prince Arthas calls to arms brave men to sail to Northrend and battle the scourge army, Thassarian sees his chance to prove to others—and himself—that he has what it takes to lead. When Arthas goes missing, Thassarian bravely searches for him...and unwillingly becomes ensnared in darkness. Led to a mysterious cave, Thassarian is transformed into a Death Knight, a powerful, emotionless pawn of the Lich King who will follow any order, no matter how cruel...

"Echoes of the Past Part Two": As Knuckles' friends try to valiantly defend the Master Emerald against a seemingly never-ending horde of robots, Knuckles delves deeper into the mysteries surrounding him... until he finally finds Dr. Finitevus! Knuckles is bent on revenge, but he's not counting on the surprise twist that will delay his quest. You can't afford to miss this exciting, action-packed issue!

Due for release in early 2010, there'll also be a weapons pack, should your diorama be lacking in duel-wielding or grenades. You'll be able to get them anywhere you can already get the previous 1,345 figures in the range.

These aren't the kind of things you'd get as a pre-order gift thrown in a cheap plastic frame. No, these are the kind of things that are limited to 100 of each, and will cost you $175.

There are three different prints, and each measures 13x19 inches.

And, all things considered, they're not bad. Since launching on September 22, ODST has sold just over three million units, having sold 1.5 of those in its first month on sale.

Sure, that's nowhere near Halo 3 levels, but then, ODST had nowhere neat Halo 3's levels of content or marketing.

Halo 3:ODST Continues Its Sales Dominance [IGN]

The Mongoose is actually a modified Kawasaki ATV, and was used rather publicly during the big Halo 3 launch event in New York City a few years back. Should still be in good shape if the seller's appraisal checks out, but Halo 3 purists please note: no mention is made of whether you can actually snuggle two adults together on the thing or not.

Mongoose @ Craigslist [via Joystiq]

Avatar item unlocks.... Awards given for people who get Achievements pulled from a series of related games... what do you think?

Click the thumbnails for more details.

Halo: Helljumper #4 Written by Peter David. Drawn by Eric Nguyen.

Summary Via Publisher Marvel Comics:
With an entire Covenant regiment hot on the trail of their comrades, Dutch and Romeo don't have a lot of options…the radios are out, so they can't alert their CO as to what's behind them, and they don't have enough firepower to take the Covenant force out on their own. But… hey, what's this here? A lightly guarded Covenant Drop Ship? But who'd be stupid enough to steal a Drop Ship? Two of the UNSC's finest, perhaps?

Starcraft #5 Written by Simon Furman. Drawn by Federico Dallocchio.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment:
On a zerg-infested world, the War Pigs come face-to-face with Jim Raynor, but it's becoming painfully clear that nothing is what it seems, least of all the man who brought them back together for this do-or-die mission – Cole Hickson. Prepare for revelations, shocks and cover-to-cover action! Plus, a peek at Nuura Joss' troubled past! This one has it all!

Five more days of pumpkin-loving left, Kotaku. Get 'em done!

Developed by Microsoft's Halo group, 343 Industries, in conjunction with game development studio Certain Affinity, Waypoint launches in November. It is intended to be a must-visit digital location nestled into the Xbox 360 dashboard.

Waypoint will allow Halo fans to watch Halo videos, track their quest for new Halo gameplay awards, brush up on Halo lore and learn about great Halo players. It will also likely be something that they can someday play.

The gameplay aspects that Waypoint creative director Jason Pace hinted at to Kotaku won't be apparent at launch on November 5. Ideas for it are still in development.

"I think it's safest to say that it would be a game-enhancing experience," Pace said. "It will be a much more deeply interactive one."

Responding to suggestions from Kotaku that Waypoint's gameplay could involve anything from a Halo character running through the Waypoint hub to an interactive Halo timeline filled with secrets, a la the PlayStation 3's Metal Gear Solid Database, Pace said, "My answer to that is that both options are fully on the table."

While Waypoint may become some sort of game down the line, what it will be on November 5 is a nexus of Halo content that, in Pace's words, "aggregates your experience across the Halo franchise."

Waypoint will retroactively pull the Xbox Achievements accomplishments from players' Halo 3, Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST save files. It will apply those Achievements toward Halo Waypoint Awards. An example of an Award is a Vehicle Specialist, which will be offered in several tiers. The lowest tire might require a player to have just a few of the vehicle-based Achievements in any of the Xbox 360 Halo games. But to reach the second tier of that award, a player would probably need to have and excel at more than one.

Another sample of an award would be a career-completion tracker than levels up as players finish each Xbox 360 Halo game. Halo games that don't support Achievements — the first Halo and Halo 2 — will not be tracked.

The development team is pondering awards that would require group efforts, but none is planned for Waypoint's initial release.

At launch, pride will be the only reward for achieving the awards in Halo Waypoint's first iteration. But that seems likely to change. "Moving forward, absolutely we feel it is important to pin that achievement to something tangible," Pace said. By "tangible," he said he was referring to anything from additional game content to Avatar add-ons.

The roll-out plan for Waypoint at launch involves an offering new content, seven days a week. Mondays are spotlights on people who play or make Halo games. Tuesday focus on non-video-game Halo projects. Wednesday's are days to showcase Halo gamers' best screenshots and saved films. Thursdays' highlight machinima. Fridays are strategy days. Saturdays are premiere days for portions of the Halo Legends anime series. Sundays are days for delving into Halo lore.

All of this content and the award-tracking is intended to feel like it's being presented as taking place within the Halo universe. Pace said he doesn't want to mess with the established fiction and go so far as having, say, Cortana doling out Achievements to players, but the team's intention is that "the information being presented to you on the screen is coming from a UNSC source."

The launch of Halo Waypoint is not a shutdown of Bungie.net, the longtime hub for Halo info and deep stat-tracking administered by the now-independent inventors of Halo at Bungie Studios. That site will continue, and Pace said that Waypoint won't be trying to duplicate what Bungie's site does best. "They do stats so well it would be silly for us to re-invent that wheel," he said. "There is such a wealth of information there I wouldn't imagine we would look at changing that for Halo 3."

As Bungie moves beyond making Halo games — it's last announced one is next year's Halo Reach — and Microsoft continues to make them, it makes sense that a Microsoft-backed Halo nexus would be built. The teams involved in Bungie.net and Halo Waypoint will coordinate with each other to ensure the ideal content is available at both virtual locations, Pace said.

Waypoint will launch for all Xbox Live users for free on November 5, before switching to premium Xbox Live Gold-only access later in the month. As to whether there could be a mobile version for a Zune or iPod, Pace said he couldn't comment other than to say "mobile is very important to us."

Pace said Halo fans can expect the Waypoint team to "continue to push new features and content all the time."

With animatronic eyes and a face, this Halo Covenant Elite head will most surely form the ladder. That's right, moving mandibles means you can use all caps when you describe what you're going as for Halloween.

Not a lot is known about YouTube user petemander1, the guy who is making this thing, but his attention to detail and ability to create scary moving eyes is pretty amazing.

Halo Elite Costume [YouTube, via Joystiq]