Mister Chief

"Mister Chief is the absolute zenith of human endeavor and a perfect encapsulation of human talent."

- Frank O'Connor

Chef Pretty Officer Mister Chief Spartan 117 (pronounced "one-seventeen"), better known as Mister Chief, is a character created by the then-Bungie employee Frank O'Connor that recurringly appeared in Bungie Weekly Updates.

History
"Mister Chief is a terrible idea that snowballed out of control, and now we’re stuck with it, like the internal combustion engine or Justin Bieber. I don’t secretly think he’s awesome, nor do I secretly think that Mister Chief has any actual artistic or canonical merit. He is the bastard child of a more desperate time. You know the expression “outsider art?” Whereby art is created from an unexpected place, like an elephant with a paintbrush. A French artist, Jean Dubuffet coined the term to describe paintings made by children and the inmates of insane asylums. Well, that’s exactly what Mister Chief is."

- Frank O'Connor On 1/16/04, Frank O'Connor posted his first weekly update. At the time, Halo 2 was still under a veil of secrecy. Frankie had just seen a promotional poster by Lorraine McLees and wanted to include it his weekly update, however it was not possible at the time. So instead Frankie created a horrible artist's impression of it. Instead of Master Chief holding a gun, Frankie drew him with a lightsaber from Star Wars, "because guns are hard to draw". It did not look quite right so Frankie drew in some eyes and mouth and labeled it "Mister Chief".

O'Connor got such a response from fans that he decided to include another Mister Chief image in his weekly updates from then on. Mister Chief has been made in many different styles, including imitation Caravaggio and Japanese manga. Most ideas come from fan requests.

Mister Chief has been replaced in a couple weekly updates by Mrs. Chief, Evil Chief, and HotTub Guy (something which he believed San'Shyuum to resemble).

As Bungie's April Fools prank in 2008, the staff at Bungie drew Mister Chief's face on the population map in the matchmaking lobby of Halo 3.

During PAX Prime 2014, a member of the 405th.com Halo fan costuming community wore a Mister Chief costume when proposing to his girlfriend on the stage of 343 Industries' Halo panel. Frank O'Connor, who headed the panel, commented that "No polygons were harmed during the creation of that costume". Two Mister Chief avatars were later included in an update to Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Season 5: Anvil, released in 2021, includes a Mister Chief face as a helmet attachment for the Mariner helmet.

On September 17, 2015, Xbox's YouTube released a video featuring Mister Chief explaining Halo 5: Guardians 's Requisition system.

The Warzone Firefight update released on June 29, 2016 includes a Mister Chief easter egg in the Score Attack game mode; when the player(s) beats any mission of the campaign on LASO level (Legendary, All Skulls On), the post-carnage report background shows Mister Chief on a sheriff suit with a cowboy lasso.

Trivia
Halopedia uses Mister Chief for the Real World Era icon, which one can see at the top of page about real world topics.