Guard Duty
Guard Duty is a Halo-based machinima web series created by Syp The Mighty and Revoltge. It is centered around the dysfunctional guards of Outpost Black Out as a deranged man seeks them out. It is primarily filmed within The Master Chief Collection game engine after initially using the original Halo 3 engine.
Originally airing from January 5, 2012 until July 31, 2023 in what is now the Classic continuity, the series continuity was reset with Season 1 on December 22, 2023.
Characters
Main article: Characters
Main
| Character | Portrayed by | Main Series | Classic | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | Rat's Nest | Classic S2 | WarGames | Classic S1 | ||
 |
Intro-Mind (2022—) Syp The Mighty (2011—2022) |
Main | TBD | Main | Guest | Main |
 |
Ella Rhee (2022—) Winter (2012—2013) |
Main | TBD | Main | Main | |
 |
Xanthe Folan (2022—) Firesinopa (2012) |
Main | TBD | Main | Guest | |
 |
Syp The Mighty | Main | TBD | Main | Main | |
 |
Blankslate (2024—) Syp The Mighty (2022—2024) James Brown Jr. (2013) Chase Hobby (2012) |
Main | TBD | Main | Guest | Main |
 |
Revoltge | Recurring | Main | Recurring | Guest | |
 |
TheiDsStudios | Recurring | Guest | |||
Supporting
| Character | Portrayed by | Main Series | Classic | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | Rat's Nest | CS2 | WG | CS1 | ||
 |
Syp The Mighty | Recurring | Main | Guest | ||
 |
EthanChaotic | Recurring | TBD | Guest | ||
 |
Revoltge | Guest | TBD | |||
 |
HezArt1 | Guest | TBD | |||
 |
Natasha (2024—) Syp The Mighty (2022—2023) |
Guest | TBD | Recurring | ||
 |
Corvaeraas | Guest | TBD | Guest | ||
 |
HezArt1 | Guest | TBD | Guest | ||
Series
Season 1
For more information, visit Season 1
Season 1 is the first season of Guard Duty, introducing the characters and setting of Outpost Black Out, airing from December 22, 2023 until August 19, 2024.
Rat's Nest
For more information, visit Rat's Nest
Rat's Nest is an upcoming prequel miniseries to Guard Duty, centering on Emery Eden prior to the events of the series. It is currently in production.
S2 - Echoes
Echoes is the upcoming second season Guard Duty, to enter proper development when the production wraps on Rat's Nest. It's title was revealed in Stay Tuned, an episode of Guard Duty Sides.
Classic
Before being relaunched in 2023, Guard Duty originally was released between January 5, 2012 and July 31, 2023 across two seasons with 13 episodes as well as two miniseries. After Revoltge fully joined the series to co-write the finale of Classic Season 2 with Syp The Mighty, the series continuity was reset with a new Season 1. Retroactively referred to as Classic, this version of Guard Duty centered on a disgruntled Geff Rodrigo as he struggles to accept his job as a guard on Outpost Black Out.
Main Series
- Classic Season 1 is the first major installment in the Classic series, airing from January 5, 2012 until June 23, 2012.
- Classic Season 2 is the second major installment in the Classic series, airing from April 9 2022 until July 31, 2023.
Miniseries
- Major Malfunction is a standalone special retroactively considered to take place during Classic Season 1 that aired from July 30, 2012 until August 15, 2012.
- WarGames is a miniseries taking place after Major Malfunction and during Classic Season 1 but before Classic Season 2 that aired from July 21, 2022 until April 24, 2023.
Timeline
- Truth¹, beginning flashback occurs three years before Classic Season 1
- Pilot, occurs sometime after Truth¹
- Annoyances, occurs sometime after Pilot
- Question, occurs sometime after Annoyances
- Bagels, occurs sometime after Question
- Why-Fi, occurs sometime after Bagels
- Tagged, occurs sometime after Why-Fi
- Heated, occurs sometime after Tagged
- Memo Chat, occurs sometime after Heated
- Coming Soon, occurs sometime after Memo Chat
- Classic Season 1
- Talking, occurs sometime after Coming Soon
- Something, occurs a week after Talking
- The Point, occurs three weeks after Something
- The Transfer, occurs immediately after The Point
- Upgrade and Deception occur during The Transfer
- Infinity, occurs immediately after The Transfer
- Classic Season 2
Gallery
A special comic by Syp The Mighty and Jax Beetle for Thanksgiving 2024
Trivia
- Syp was largely inspired by the popular Halo machinima series Red vs. Blue when she made Classic Season 1. When developing Classic Season 2, Syp intentionally avoided rewatching Red vs. Blue as she sought different inspirations particularly in adult animated series Archer and Harley Quinn as well as sitcom Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. For Season 1, Syp largely maintained those same influences in addition to Parks & Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, while Revoltge was influenced by animated series Legend of Vox Machina and RWBY among various anime series.
- Though obviously non-canonical to the Halo video games as a fan work, Guard Duty seems to occur sometime after the events of Halo 4 whilst being filmed within the Halo 3 engine. This is true in both Classic and the Relaunch continuities.
- Before the development of Classic Season 2, various attempts at rebooting the series were attempted between 2012 and 2022 including:
- A reboot in which Annoyances was to be the first episode of that was originally made while Syp was part of machinima group Firelight Studios to be set entirely on Outpost Black Out. Six episodes were written for this version, with Revoltge co-writing the first two episodes, structured like a sitcom. This version was scrapped upon Syp's departure from Firelight Studios, with Revoltge never being part of the group to begin with.
- A second reboot that Question and Bagels were made to promote. This version was fully written, with 10 episodes, and would have had a completely different plot with more mystery elements. This alternate version only had two episodes written, with little plot. When Syp took an extended hiatus from video making to focus on her own original webcomics, this version was scrapped.
- A third reboot while Syp was part of a sketch comedy group 06 Media, with fellow members Dagnarrow and Dazalaras to star with her. This version was also fully written, with 19 episodes, once again with a completely different plot that would have saw Jace Casper as part of the main group instead of June in addition to Jones from Major Malfunction as a sixth guard. When 06 Media went on an indefinite hiatus, this version was scrapped.
- Various unmade versions including a pilot for a fourth reboot set earlier in the timeline of when the guards first meet, an original live action comedy short for 06 Media featuring Geff and Jace, an original webcomic reboot part of Syp's Space Comics series, and an original stop-motion reboot using figures hand-crafted by Syp. All of which would be scrapped upon the production on Classic Season 2.
See Also
- Halo, the video game series in which Guard Duty is based and filmed within
- Sandguardians, a Halo-based machinima series created by Intro-Mind (voice of Geff Rodrigo) that shares much of the same voice cast as Guard Duty