If there is anything that peeves me in the Halo cannon it's a lack of consistency. Given that the games are pretty bare-bones in their story telling, other media had to be made to fill in the gaps. This makes the Halo fiction somewhat of a clustrerfuck. It's only now that the games are acknowledging what was laid out in the books but obviously everyone's not on the same page. What I'm mostly talking about is all the equipment. I thought everyone had the same old shitty olive green Mark V armor until death and that MC war pretty much the only guy to get the Mark VI upgrade. Also in Halo 2 they kill the Assault Rifle, then bring it back again, what the fuck guys? Now in Halo Reach which we all know it takes place before Halo: CE there's all sorts of different armors, in all sorts of colors and a shit load of new weapons. Again shouldn't they all have the same armor? And what's wrong with green? Isn't that a standard for pretty much every army today? But no, do you know what would be better? Fucking teal, you'll blend right in! 
 
I suppose it's useless to complain about it now, nonetheless, get it right the first time. Fuckin' Bungie.

Because it's a game...

Go outside!

" Because it's a game... "

I would rather they Mixed things up a bit, than keep everything the same. And gameplay over Canon is always the best strategy. 

because people play halo for the gameplay and bungie changed the equipment the make the game more fun and then they made the fiction around that.
And I support that way of making games

I'm pretty sure Bungie have gone on record stating they think of cool situations to shoot dudes in first, think of a story to tie it all together second.

HEY
 
I am excited for my pink armour DONT TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME.

Who plays Halo for it's story?  Seriously who cares if it's canon is inconsistent.  Go buy Mass Effect or... 
@Cube said:

" Go outside! "

This is an issue which comes up whenever they do a prequel. In order to progress the game they have to throw in new weapons and abilities but this doesn't make much sense because where did everything go in the earlier games? I'm sure they'll come up with some story explanation that with Reach being the last of the major off world colonies most of the UNSC and almost all of the Spartans buy it so they took all the fancy toys with them. I'm perfectly fine with that because as has been stated before Halo has never had an incredibly deep narrative going. Sure, it's a good narrative but it isn't exploring anything deeper than you being a one man army destroying the enemies of humanity.
 
Also, if you want to try and explain the garish colors that the Spartans are rocking you could easily say that they know they are badass and are trying to draw as much attention to themselves as possible. In this way it'll draw the attention of the larger more threatening opponents such as the Elites while scaring Grunts away completely so that the regular Marines can hit them when they are distracted.

" HEY  I am excited for my pink armour DONT TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME. "

1.  Same thing happened with Star Wars.
2.  They make it work with their cannon.
3.  Did you complain about the new weapons in Halo 3?  Where were they in Halo 2?  Did they make all of those in 3 hours?
4.  It's a video game. 

Hey, hey guys. I'm just complaining about the canon here, really I welcome new weapons and more customization. Maybe I'm just nit picking since some people pawn off Halo as a DEEP EPIK UNIVERSSSSSE!!!

When Bungie was making the first Halo I guess they never thought it'll become such an opportunity for an epic story so it obviously had some flaws but overall they managed pretty well so far and they made a good enough story. They have video games that are a lot fun to play and if you want to go deeper about Halo they got really well written books (especially those from Eric Nylund) that makes a really interesting sci-fi story/universe to enjoy. 
 
So don't worry and enjoy the game. It's a lot better than many other game can tell about their story... cough cod cough

NERD ALERT!!  

 
@Three0neFive

" I'm pretty sure Bungie have gone on record stating they think of cool situations to shoot dudes in first, think of a story to tie it all together second. "

Spartans customize their armor to a great degree, it's built to be modular and they strap all sorts of crazy ass mods onto it. MC is running vanilla cause they were prepping for a mission when Reach gets attacked and they have to bolt- the Spartan's weapons locker gets destroyed in the space battle, so he has none of that on Halo. Both of those facts are mentioned in the Fall of Reach, though you might have overlooked them. Halo 2 he gets the new Mark VI suit then Earth is immediately attacked, so no time for modification there. Halo 2 obviously runs right into Halo 3, so again, vanilla armor.
 
Assault Rifle was a gameplay decision, easily overlooked. Gameplay goes above story concerns, even though everything you complained about is pretty easily covered by the existing canon. There are plenty of other mistakes though, but that's to be expected when working on a universe this large that spans so man mediums.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is idiotic on so many levels I am not even going to explain how foolish op is.

It's Halo, who needs consistency when you have amazing gameplay.

If the only flaws you can manage to find in the Halo canon are different armour colours and disappearance and reapparance of the AR then I'd say Bungie did a pretty damn good job. So much of what you're complaining about is fully explained as well if you actually pay attention, I don't see how you can get so pissed off about the canon if you don't even know most of it :| The Spartan III's were allowed to choose the colour of their armour, and, as Spartans are not exactly agents of espionage, I don't think it really mattered how bright it was. Spartan II's had green armour because they were more regimental military guys, seen in the public, nowhere near as 'individual' as the Spartan III's. Also you need to consider that Reach is the military and scientific hub of humanity, the main HQ of the UNSC, where all the latest military equipment is developed, the new weapons and armour abilities are in the prototype stages and just being tested out by the Spartans on the planet, when Reach is glassed, everything is destroyed. That's why we don't see things like jetpacks and grenade launchers in CE, because they could only be found on Reach and were destroyed in the prototype stages before they could be mass produced and shipped out to other colonies. The canon is incredibly well put together and protected in Reach, as it is in all of the Halo games.  
 
So I think Bungie did pretty much get it right the first time. Fuckin' douche.

" Go outside! "

You do realise the entire Halo series (bar Halo Wars) is based around about 3 - 5 months? It's not like it's YEARS in the future.
 
Besides, the reason for the AR dissappearing in Halo 2? It wasn't the Navy's tech. The model of AR used in CE was one used by the Navy and therefore, Pillar of Autumn had them a-plenty. Halo 2 did not start the same way, and didn't have the same tech. That, and with it being on Earth, they had access to all of their hardware, not just what they took with them.

Minor squabbles, that's just crazy.

" Because it's a game... "

Bungie's general policy seems to be that when they add new weapons in the games it's canon that those weapons existed all along, they just weren't given to the soldiers in the battles experienced previously. What you said about the Master Chief and his armour is correct for the Spartan IIs but Noble Team is composed almost entirely of Spartan IIIs which were outfitted with different armour and weaponry. Personally I don't think the Halo fiction is a clusterfuck, if you've read all of the books and played all of the games it all fits together logically. I understand your issue with consistency but the alternative is to develop a game with no new weapons or armour and crappy character design, no thanks.