Ex-Halo composer goes into politics, of course his campaign site looks like a rejected sci-fi main menu design
“I never wanted to be a politician and I still don’t,” says the man announcing that he's becoming a politician.
Ok, so, you remember Halo and Destiny co-composer Marty O'Donnell, known for putting together the soundtracks to your childhood with the likes of Michael Salvatori? Well, he’s now running for US congress in Nevada, with a campaign site that looks like something a lovechild of Master Chief and Captain America might appear behind.
To get them out of the way, here are the serious facts. O'Donnell’s running for the Republican party. Where, you ask? It’s the third congressional district of Nevada, which is currently represented by Democrat Susie Lee, whom O'Donnell will be battling for votes once November rolls around.
If you want an idea of what kind of platform the ex-composer - who most recently soundtracked VR game Golem after a pretty messy divorce from Bungie - is running on, the essay he’s written on Twitter in order to announce that he’s doing so doesn’t exactly leave much to the imagination.
“I never wanted to be a politician and I still don’t,” it begins, “I’ve had two successful careers and have started a few small businesses. I’ve also worked for some big corporations. I was ready to retire and spend more time with my family – which I’ve done for the past [three] years. I think they’re ready for me to find something else to do.”
So, ostensibly - it would seem - because his folks are sick of him moaning that there’s nothing on telly, O'Donnell’s decided to try and fix America by, among other things, (checks notes) tightening up border security and pushing traditional family values as a cure-all for society’s ills. Hey, at least his campaign website has some pictures of space on it.
Yes, because parody is dead, the ex-Bungie composer’s actual campaign website looks like a main menu design that probably wouldn’t quite make it into Halo or Destiny, mainly because it looks too much like something a Helldivers 2 roleplayer might post ironically. It’s a combo of moving shots of constellations with similar colours to those used as the background to Skyrim’s skill trees, a font straight out of Starship Troopers, and a red and blue colour scheme that’d make Homelander blush, and it’s attached to a serious political candidate.
A true ‘graphic design is my passion’ moment.
It’s almost goofy enough to distract you from the fact O'Donnell looks to have decided to use “Marty’s Army” as the name for his supporters, which definitely doesn’t arguably sound a bit too militant for this kind of thing. All I’m saying is, I think if Emperor Palpatine might look at something and say it’s a bit too on the nose to use in a country that had its Capitol building attacked by the supporters of a defeated political candidate just a few years ago, you may want to reconsider it.
We'll have see how O'Donnell's stated mission to "bring back sanity and civility to the public discourse" on the issues affecting American life goes.