Tag Archives: Halo

#0705: Spartan Jorge

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

SPARTAN JORGE

HALO: REACH(MCFARLANE)

Jorge1

You know what goes well with Halo? More Halo. So, how ‘bout some more of that? Of all the Halo games, I think Halo: Reach may be my favorite play-through experience. I really liked the customizability, and I liked Noble Team (well, most of Noble Team, anyway). The coolest member of the team was definitely Jorge, the team’s heavy weapons guy. So, let’s have a look at one of his figures, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jorge2Spartan Jorge was released as part of the first series of McFarlane Toys’ Halo: Reach line of figures. The figure stands a whopping 6 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation. Like Mickey, his size is a bit divergent from Spartan Thorne, though in the opposite direction. It is once again accurate to the source material, as Jorge’s listed height is 8 feet on the dot, so he’s a pretty tall dude. His joint layout is more in line with Thorne than Mickey, but the hip joints are still different. It’s for the better, as Jorge’s hips allow for a much better range and a stronger set of joints than Thorne’s. Jorge got his own unique sculpt (which would later be re-used for an unmasked Jorge.) It’s a great translation of the game design. The armor has a nice amount of texturing and weathering, which adds a nice touch of realism to the figure. He’s also got a suitable amount of bulk to him, which is definitely true to the character. If there’s one drawback, it’s his backpack; it’s a separate piece, and it doesn’t stay in place very well, which is super annoying. However, it’s nothing a spot of glue can’t fix. Jorge’s paint is a good match for the sculpt, with plenty of variety to the colors and nice bit of weathering, which brings out the sculpted details nicely. He’s even got some very nicely handled insignias on his torso, which are a great touch. Jorge’s one accessory is his signature mini-gun, which is exquisitely detailed, even if it is a little difficult for him to hold.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After picking up Mickey and Thorne, I knew my next purchase would have to be Jorge, my favorite member of Noble Team by far. I was fortunate enough to come across an eBay auction with him, Carter and Noble Six. The other two were missing most of their parts, but Jorge was totally complete, which I was very happy about. Jorge is a very nicely handled figure, with only a few minor issues that don’t hold him back.

Jorge3

#0704: Mickey

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

MICKEY

HALO: ANNIVERSARY (MCFARLANE)

Mickey

Over the course of the last several months, I’ve gotten pretty well sucked into the Halo games. I really have come to enjoy them. One of my favorite parts of the games are the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODSTs, who sometimes assist the game’s Spartan lead, Master Chief. The ODSTs actually had their own game, Halo 3: ODST (that I am still currently playing my way through. I get distracted…), which gave us a whole team of named ODSTs, each with a unique design. As an added bonus, three members of the team were voiced by Firefly alums Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, and Alan Tudyk. Alan Tudyk, known for playing the plucky, upbeat, sometimes panicky pilot on Firefly, played ODST Michael “Mickey” Crespo, the team’s plucky, upbeat, sometimes panicky pilot (well, he flies a few of the ships, anyway).

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mickey2Mickey was released in the second series of McFarlane’s Halo: Anniversary line, which was released to coincide with the special 10th anniversary re-release of Halo: CE. The figure stands 4 ½ inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. He’s a good half an inch smaller than Spartan Thorne, but that’s actually accurate to their respective heights. The articulation scheme is also a bit different than Thorne’s. Some of it, such as the wrists and shoulders, is a bit more primitive, but other parts, such as the hip articulation, are actually a far better design. It’s an interesting assortment of joints. Structurally, Mickey has a lot of pieces in common with the Halo 3 line’s version of the Rookie, which is sensible, given they’re both ODSTs and all. The sculpt is really nicely done, with a ton of detail work and some very intricate work on the armored pieces. He’s also the spitting image of his in-game counterpart, which is always a good thing. I really love all of the patchwork details of the armor, especially the little add-ons like the ammo strapped to his calf. The little details really make this guy work. The paint accents the sculpt marvelously, Mickey5showing off all the various bits of armor quite well. The best part of it is once again the little details, in this case the small things printed on his armor, such as the emblems and writing on his chest. They even got the piece of tape on his helmet with his name handwritten on it. That’s really cool! Mickey was packed with his rocket launcher, which is his primary weapon from the game. It’s just as nicely detailed as the rest of him, and even has instructions on use written on the side. It does have one small piece broken off, but that’s not the worst thing. He also included a piece of the “Build-A-Logo” thing, but mine didn’t have that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After really liking Spartan Thorne, I decided to dive headfirst into McFarlane’s Halo line. Since I like the ODST design so much, I figured one of them would be a good starting point. Of course, most of them are on the pricier side now. Fortunately, I was able to find Mickey, courtesy of a seller on eBay who had a large selection of Halo figures loose. Thorne may have been cool, but Mickey’s even cooler, and definitely gets my vote for personal favorite!

Mickey4

Guest Review # 0033: Emile & Mongoose

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

EMILE & MONGOOSE

HALO MEGA BLOKS

Emil&Mongoose1

The following is a guest review by Tim Marron. For more from Tim, check out Timsical Thoughts and Tim’s Blarg.

Is Mega Bloks one word or two? I can never remember. It’s never been a big interest of mine, being the devout Lego purist I am. However, the one thing Mega Blocks does have over Lego is the Halo license and that is something I can get behind. If you saw my review of the Noble Team Minimates, you most likely caught on to my attitude toward Spartan Emile from Halo: Reach. If you didn’t, no worries, I’ll catch you up. “DUUUUUUUUUDE, EMILE IS GETTING THIS DONE!” Got all of that? Good. Anyway, today I’ll be looking at the MegaBlox incarnation of the true hero of the Haloverse, Emile himself, and he even comes with a sweet Mongoose ATV. Let’s get into it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

EMILE

Emil&Mongoose3Skull face. That’s how you know this guy is serious. He’s got a skull face on his helmet face to protect his face face. Being his only appearance, this figure is based on Emile’s look from Halo Reach. He stands about 2 inches tall and features 16 points of articulation. He’s built on the “new(er) super posable” mini-figure body with a unique head and addons for his armor parts. The sculpt work is decent and pretty close to the in game assets though some of the smaller details are a little soft. Also, while the armor on Emile’s right shoulder is technically correct, it is missing the sheath for his trademark big knife which is a bit of a shame. The head does seem a little small on close inspection but if it were any bigger it would really limit the movement in his neck, so it’s forgivable. Plus, it makes him look super jacked-up and imposing… for a Mega Brix figure. There isn’t much to speak of in terms of paint. Most of Emile is cast in the appropriately colored plastic. His helmet is really the only substantial painted area with his visor done in a nice metallic gold. The aforementioned skull-face-over-his-face-face is painted in silver but is a little hard to see without actually holding the figure in-hand. Despite the lack of sheath, Emile does come with his big knife and a shotgun. I would have been happy with just that, but no, Emile doesn’t stop there.

THE MONGOOSE

Emil&Mongoose2He comes with a Mongoose ATV so he can get into a fight faster, blowing stuff up and stabbing what’s left. As you can probably guess given this is a Super Cubez review, the Mongoose is built of small bricks and plates and whatnot. All assembled, it is about 4 3/4 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1 1/2 inches tall. When you consider that this is a building toy, it does actually look pretty good and as close to the source material as can be expected, especially at this scale. In addition to different colors of bricks, some pieces feature painted UNSC logos and other markings that you would expect. Emile can sit pretty securely on it and in a way that looks natural. The Mongoose doesn’t have any accessories of it’s own since it’s already kind of an accessory, but it does have a platform and handle on the back end if another Spartan happened to show up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t even remember when I got this set. That’s how long ago it was. My best guess was around the time Ethan reviewed his UNSC Soldier ODST figure. I just know at the time I wasn’t really into Ultra Chunx, but the set featured Emile so how could I say no? Since then I seem to have amassed a small army of various Halo mini-figures so I’d say it left a good impression on me.

#0679: Spartan Thorne

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SPARTAN THORNE

HALO 4 (MCFARLANE)

Thorne1

Well, guys, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think I’ve gotten hooked on video games. Well, a video game, anyway.  I know, the video games were supposed to be the guest reviewers’ thing. I’m cutting into their area. So, the game (or game series, rather) in question is Halo. Given that both Tim and Super Awesome Girlfriend are pretty big fans of the franchise, it was really only a matter of time. Of course, another factor for me getting into the games is so that I can have an excuse to buy all the cool toys from the game, like today’s focus, Spartan Gabriel Thorne.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thorne2Spartan Thorne was released in the third series of McFarlane Toys’ Halo 4 line. Thorne is one of the main Spartans featured in the story portion of Spartan Ops. His armor is a re-skin of the Recruit armor, which is the armor set every player starts out with in Halo 4‘s multiplayer portion. McFarlane’s Halo stuff is kind of in a scale all its own; Thorne is about 5 inches in height, which puts him at about the same height as all the other Spartans in the Halo 4 line, and he has 32 points of articulation. His articulation is very similar in design to McFarlane’s Walking Dead line, though it’s a series or two behind in some of the joint styles. In particular, he’s still got the rather restricting ball jointed hips, which really can’t do much but a basic standing pose.  Also, the shoulders and elbows are somewhat restricted, but this is more to do with the character design than it does the articulation scheme.  Although the character himself may just be a re-skin of an existing game model, Thorne’s figure is actually a unique sculpt.  Overall, it’s an impressive piece of work.  The Recruit armor has been very nicely translated to plastic form, and the figure has lots of nice detail work, especially on the more heavily armored portions. One thing that is a bit of a let down is the sculpt on the hands. Neither of them has a trigger finger, the fingers are just one solid piece.  For a figure based on a game where 99% of the characters are carrying some sort of gun at all times, that seems like a silly decision.  As it stands, it means he holds every weapon awkwardly at best, which is not cool.  The paintwork on Thorne is pretty nicely handled.  There’s a bit of slop here and there, but nothing too noticeable, and the armor has some tremendously well-handled weathering to it.  He looks appropriately battle-hardened.  Thorne was supposed to be packed with a basic Halo 4 assault rifle, but the piece was missing from my Thorne’s packaging.  Given that Halo‘s really big on the whole two weapons at a time thing, it’s a bit of a letdown that Thorne didn’t include anything else, and it’s just made worse by my figure not having the one piece he was meant to have.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t going to get into Halo toys.  I really wasn’t.  Then Tim and I found a clearanced Commander Palmer figure at Target.  Tim ended up getting her, and I caught this guy on the back of the box.  He wasn’t anywhere to be found at that Target, but I kept my eye out and eventually found him at a slightly out of the way Toys R Us.  Of course, he was missing his gun and they only had the one, but, fortunately, Tim offered to loan me one of his spare Magnums, so Thorne wouldn’t have to go unarmed.  Thorne has a few minor issues, but he’s a pretty great figure overall.  Of course, he also opened up the floodgates on getting more Halo stuff…

#0660: Spartan ODST & Active Camouflage Arbiter

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

SPARTAN ODST & ACTIVE CAMOUFLAGE ARBITER

HALO MINIMATES

ODST&Arbiter1

What’s this? Halo Minimates? Surely this must be a guest review! Nope, it’s still good ol’ Ethan, doing what he does best. I’ve been steadily getting more and more into the Halo games, which has done a great job of making me check out all of the tons of Halo merch from over the years. Not surprising anyone, one of my first purchases was a set of Minimates.  What a shock. So, let’s have a look at the Spartan ODST and Active Camouflage Arbiter.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released in the second series of two-packs in the Halo Minimates line, which were released exclusively at Toys R Us.

SPARTAN ODST (BLUE)

ODST&Arbiter2The Spartans are the bread and butter of the Halo franchise, so they cropped up quite a bit in these sets. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 12 points of articulation (due to the boots). This particular Spartan has the basic Spartan Mark IV armor, but features the ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) helmet. The ODSTs are themselves not Spartans, just normal guys who assist the Spartans throughout the games, but in Halo 3 (and Halo: Reach) you can customize your Spartan to wear one of their helmets. The figure has quite a few add-ons; ten in all. They are the helmet, torso, shoulder pads, gloves, belt, thigh armor, and boots. The body armor is all the same as the various other base Spartans in the line. It’s quite nicely detailed and fitted pretty nicely to the Minimate body. It’s a little on the bulky side, but that sort of comes with the territory. The helmet is the same one used on the ODST Rookie and the three other Spartan ODSTs. It’s pretty decently handled and matches up well with the armor on the body. If I’m being a bit picky, the visor seems a little thin, but other than that, it’s pretty great. Paint was pretty key on a lot of the Spartans, as it was the main thing that differentiated all of them. This one is, as noted by the name, blue, which is a pretty striking color for a Spartan. The blue is nice and bold and cleanly applied. The gold on the visor is a little sloppy on the edges, but not atrocious. The figure also has some pretty cool detailing on the black under suit, which keeps the figure from being too basic. The Spartan ODST included a battle rifle (which, according to my resident toy gun expert Tim is a Halo 3 battle rifle).

ACTIVE CAMOFLAGE ARBITER

ODST&Arbiter3The Covenant Elite certainly don’t intend to let the Spartans have all the fun, not even in the whole “having the main character” department, so, behold, the Arbiter, the second best thing to come out of Halo 2 (after dual-wielding). One of the neat things about the Elite is that their base armor ability is Camo, which makes sneaking around pretty darn easy. This figure replicates that effect. He’s a little taller than the Spartan and has a whole 13 points of articulation, thanks to an extra point at the neck. The Arbiter has 12 non-standard sculpted pieces: helmet, head, neck, chest piece, shoulders, hands, leg armor, and feet. All of these pieces are the same as those used on the other two versions of the character, but that’s certainly not a bad thing, especially for consistency’s sake. The pieces are all very nicely sculpted and they make the Arbiter look sufficiently alien in comparison to a normal ‘mate. It’s a little hard to see some of the sculpted details on this guy, but they’re definitely there and they look pretty cool. Arbiter doesn’t have much in the way of paint, what with being all clear and such, but he does have some faint linework representing his face under the helmet, which is definitely a nice touch. The figure is packed with a pair of energy swords, because what else would you pack with the Arbiter?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Odd as this might be, I pretty much entirely missed out on Halo Minimates when they were at retail. That said, this is actually my second set of them (I got my first on clearance at Toys R Us, based solely on the fact that they were Minimates). I found this set (along with way too much other stuff) at Yesterday’s Fun, while on vacation. I really like this set because it has two of my favorite things, the Arbiter and ODSTs! It’s actually a pretty fun set!

#0471: USNC Soldier ODST

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

USNC SOLDIER ODST

HALO (MEGA BLOCKS)

I’m relatively new to Halo. I remember Halo 2 being released, and I even had an Xbox at the time, but I never got into it. The majority of my exposure to the game was the small handful of multiplayer games I’d played with friends who owned the game. However, over the holidays my brother got an Xbox One, as well as a copy of The Master Chief Collection, so we’ve been steadily playing through the co-op versions of the first four games. Now, I’ve grown more familiar with the franchise and I actually kind of like the designs enough to pick up a few toys here and there. My first foray into the world of Halo toys is minifigures, but, shocking every one, it’s not Minimates, it’s the current set of Halo minifigures from Mega Blocks.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The USNC Soldier ODST, here forth referred to as “ODST Guy,” was released as part of the second assortment of Halo Drop Pods, one of the many, many, many ways that Mega Blocks is distributing their figures. The ODST guy is available in both copper and blue. In case you couldn’t tell, this is the copper version.  The figure is roughly 2 inches tall and features 16 points of articulation. He’s based on the basic ODST design, seen in Halo 3 ODST, as well as briefly in Halo 2. The ODST design is a little different from the basic Spartan design, as it’s meant to be just a normal guy in the armor as opposed to a genetically engineered Spartan. The figure’s sculpt is shared with all of the versions of the ODST guy, and it’s pretty good. Each of the armored pieces (apart from the helmet) can be removed, and they’re each nicely sculpted and accurate to the source material. The underlying/head is also well sculpted. The interesting thing about Mega Blocks minifigures, in comparison to other minifigures, is that they’re proportions are only the slightest bit tweaked. The hands and feet are a bit larger than usual and figure is a little bit stockier over all, but that’s about it. On a figure like the ODST guy, it almost isn’t noticeable that the proportions have been changed. The figure’s paint is fairly basic, with most of the work being on the head and hands, but what’s there is well applied. The blue used for the visor is really nice, and all of the colors seem well chosen. The figure includes a bronze drop pod (which he comes packaged in), a basic Mega Block piece with the Halo logo, which serves as a stand, and a suppressed SMG.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The ODST guy was picked up while I was out looking for the new Bionicle line with my boy Tim. We decided to stop by Toys R Us, and Tim found an Emile from the same line. I didn’t want to miss out on the Halo fun, so I picked up this guy. The ODST design is pretty cool, and I really love the suppressed SMG, so this figure’s a pretty great fit for me. Mega Blocks still don’t surpass Minimates, but they’re getting pretty close!

Guest Review #0021: Noble Team Minimates

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

JORGE, EMILE, NOBLE SIX, AND GAUSS HOG

HALO MINIMATES

Warthog1

The following is a guest review by Tim Marron. For more from Tim, check out Timsical Thoughts and Tim’s Blarg.

You may know that I’m a big fan of the Halo series of video games, however, Halo Reach never quite seemed to stop teetering on the like/dislike fence for me. It was one of those frustratingly middle sort of games where any negatives on one hand like lame deaths, Kat in general, and an overall meh delivery of plot were balanced on the other hand by things like Emile, jetpacks, new guns, and Emile again. Fortunately, the set I’ll be looking at today has far more of the better parts of the game in it. And there’s plenty Emile to be had. I mean, it’s just one figure but that’s enough. It would just be weird to have, say, 6 of the same character. But I digress, on to the reviews.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

In this set we get two of the more memorable/tolerable NPC Spartans from the game’s campaign, Emile, and Jorge, along with Blandy McBlanderpants a.k.a. Noble Six as well as a big car they can all ride in. They make up half of the central Noble Team, the remaining three Spartans being grouped in another set.

JORGE

Warthog3For those unfamiliar with the game, Jorge is Noble Team’s guy with a big machine gun, along the lines of Drake and Vasquez, Dutch, or the TF2 Heavy. He’s based on his appearance in Halo Reach, for it is his only one. He stands about 2.5 inches tall and features 12 points of articulation. He’s built on the basic Minimate body with a modified waist which adds a little extra height to him. In addition, he comes sporting special pieces for his helmet, body armor, hands, leg plates, and boots. All of these pieces are pretty well sculpted and accurate to the game, though the fact that his bulky-ass shoulder pads are part of his body armor does mean his arm movement is pretty limited. The paint is not stellar. There’s a fair bit of slop and bleed on his armor and his visor is more of a pinkish beige rather than gold. He is the only Spartan of this set who actually has a face under his helmet. The details are a little too heavy and dark, making his wrinkles and facial stubble look like he drew them on with Sharpie. The texturing on the hair is a surprisingly nice touch though. Jorge comes with his signature big machine gun.

EMILE

Warthog4I’m not sure if this came across earlier but Emile is radtastic, sick nasty, and other combinations of words meaning he’s the coolest dude in the entire game. He’s the team’s resident ‘splosion master and the only character in any Halo game to have a big knife visibly on his person at all times. Construction-wise, he is built the same as Jorge except minus the torso extension and with his shoulder plates being on his arms instead of part of his body armor. The sculpt work is, again, well done and faithful to the source material. Emile shares the same boots, left hand, and right leg plate with Noble Six. Emile’s paint is an improvement over Jorge’s with only a couple sloppy spots. The skull pattern on the helmet looks pretty good too, though the black outline around the whole thing makes it look more like a sticker rather than an etching. Emile also has his trusty shotgun which is painted in snazzy silver, a nice touch that really makes it stand out.

NOBLE SIX

Warthog2Ah, Noble Six, the player character. He/she/it is what we refer to as a blank slate (I’ll keep things simple by saying “he”). He has no personality and no characterizing dialogue that I can recall, not even a face that the player can see. The figure is built the same as Emile, just with different armor pieces for his helmet, body, shoulders, right hand, and left leg. It’s all based on the starting armor set you have in the game so it’s a reasonable choice, even though in my playthrough, I wore the operator helmet, but that’s a petty gripe. The sculpt is right on par with the other two Spartans and the paint quality is the best of the lot, though not the most exciting. Nobby Sticks comes with an assault rifle.

THE VEHICLE IN QUESTION

Warthog5The Warthog is pretty much the cornerstone of the vehicles in the Halo so it’s inclusion in this set makes a lot of sense. But this isn’t the standard run-of-the-mill ‘Hog. The one in this set is the Gauss Warthog, meaning it has a Gauss Canon on the mounted turret in place of the traditional machine gun. In my opinion, it is the superior of the two. Aside from the proportions, it’s a near perfect recreation of the game vehicle. All three of the Spartans can fit in it together: one driver, one riding shotgun, and one on the turret. The wheels do in fact spin, which I’ve heard is not always a guarantee with Minimate vehicles. The turret can rotate 360 degrees and angle up and down. Overall, it didn’t need to be included but I’m glad it was as it serves nicely to keep the Spartans together and looks good doing it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was a Christmas gift from my boy Ethan. Up till that point, I’d only had a couple Minimates of my own so of course he jumped on the chance to remedy that, and I have to say, of the available sets to choose from, he chose wisely. Despite being a little dull, Noble Six is still a fun little figure and Jorge and Emile are just as awesome as they were in the game. It’s a good thing Kat wasn’t part of this set, otherwise she would probably have run over Noble Six and driven the Warthog off of my dresser.

Guest Review #0017: Master Chief & Cortana

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

MASTER CHIEF & CORTANA

HALO MINIMATES

Chief&Cortana1

Heeeeeeeyooooo! This is the first guest review done by the mysterious Super Awesome Girlfriend, who is way too supportive, that Ethan keeps talking about. Yes, that’s right folks; I’m a real girl! I honestly don’t know much about minimates, or this particular line of figures. So unfortunately, I won’t be able to give you any of that background information because action figures aren’t really my forte. Instead, I can give you a very brief background on the actual game characters since gaming is my guilty pleasure!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures were released in the 4th Toys R Us exclusive series. The series was based on Halo, the popular gaming franchise created by Bungie. The set includes characters from all the games, including some of the main alien characters, the Rookie from ODST, and even the Hayabusa armor from Halo 3 multiplayer (you know, the one that took hours to get because you needed to collect the bloody skulls throughout the game to unlock the individual pieces. And yes, I did get the armor, though it took me forever to get). This particular two pack includes Master Chief and his AI Cortana.

MASTER CHIEF

Chief&Cortana2As most people know, Master Chief is the main character of the Halo franchise, without him and his very recognizable voice the game would not have been as successful. He is the playable character for all of the main games, Combat Evolved, Halo 2-4, and is briefly mentioned in Reach and ODST. He’s the mysterious masked badass that defends humanity with an assault rifle, some grenades, and a witty AI companion, Cortana.

The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches in height and he has 12 point of articulation. This figure is based off of the design from Halo: Combat Evolved, which is personally my favorite. According to my boyfriend, this figure has the standard minimate body with unique arms and add-ons for his helmet, torso, belt, thighs, boots, and hands. The figure successfully captures Chief’s design in CE, which is really refreshing because some of the other figures didn’t transfer very well. Now, the figure isn’t flawless but the flaws are pretty amusing, so it’s okay. Master Chief doesn’t have two left feet (though we never see him dance…) but he does have two left thighs, making one leg taller than the other. His right leg is literally the left one but switched, so he has a butt plate on the front of his leg. But other than that little hiccup, the figure is well painted and very satisfying. The Minimate also comes with a well recreated version of the original assault rifle and a really tiny Cortana on a chip that can clip into his hand!

CORTANA

Chief&Cortana3Since Combat Evolved, Cortana has been a constant companion for gamers as they played the games, guiding you in the right directions and giving you constant and witty dialogue. In the story, she wasn’t made for the Master Chief, but under the circumstances their paths crossed and their relationship grew as they took down the Covenant and the Flood together. Basically, there is no Chief without Cortana. Period.

Minimate Cortana is modeled after what I believe is the Halo 3 design. She is roughly 2 ½ inches with 14 points of articulation. According to Ethan, she has the standard Minimate body, which has a painted female body, with removable hair. The figure doesn’t have any noticeable flawless, like two left thighs, but she doesn’t have anything really unique about her except for her stand. Since Cortana is an AI, she is usually stored in a data chip that is stored in the back of Chief’s helmet. For this figure, her stand is the data chip which actually has pretty good detailing, not a lot but enough to be satisfying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got these Minimates on our one year anniversary, which was Christmas Eve. I knew that I was getting figures this season, because Ethan wanted me to join the guest reviewing family, but I was really touched that these were my first. If you haven’t noticed already, I am a gamer. I love video games and I have been playing for more than a decade now. Halo: Combat Evolved was the first serious game that I played on the original Xbox when I was six or seven with my older brother. I have been a fan of the series for a long time and I stuck with it, and will probably continue to stick with the story until 343 Industries really piss me off. I’ve told Ethan a few times about how I got started with video games, and Halo, so I wasn’t surprised by what he got me. Instead, I found it poetic that the first figures that I got where the characters from the first game that I played that really got me into gaming. I grew up with Master Chief and Cortana, and I find it sweet and a little surprising about the things that Ethan remembers.

Guest Review #0005: Ranger Elite

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

RANGER ELITE (SANGHEILI)

HALO REACH

IMG_0645

Today’s review is written by Tim Marron.  Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts.  Take it away Tim!

When it comes to video games, two of the traits I tend to look for are the presence of shootbangs, and a high level of polish. I don’t mean that in the sense of the game being thoroughly tested and fine-tuned, although that is also desirable. No, I mean it’s got lots of shiny things. As many of you probably know, the Halo franchise meets both of these criteria consistently across titles and it is from this series that today’s figure comes. I’ll be taking a look at the Ranger Elite from Halo Reach, the origin story of the Halo universe.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

For those of you not familiar with the Halo games or lore, Elites, or Sangheili if you really want to show off, are a species of alien that are part of a military coalition known as the Covenant. This specific figure is part of McFarlane Toys’ fifth series of Halo Reach action figures and depicts an Elite in the Ranger armor. He features 25 points of articulation and stands about 6″ tall, when you can get him to stand, that is. The sculpt is pretty accurate to the look from the game and is mostly original apart from the feet, hands, and lower torso which are reused from all previous Halo Reach Elites. There are some seam lines and kibble, but anyone handy with an X-acto knife should be able to remedy these easily enough. I do appreciate how the Elite’s face can be partially seen underneath the transparent visor of his helmet instead of, say, having the visor be painted on opaque… and the wrong color. I’m looking at you, DC Direct (see my review of their Tali’Zorah figure). The sculpting does start to be an issue when it runs into certain areas of articulation on the figure. Places like the knees and elbows are sculpted to match as closely as possible to the shape of the character model in the game. However, the simple hinge joint they used on the figure aren’t entirely compatible which results in the knee caps and elbows peeling away from the rest of the arm or leg when you bend the joint. This forms weird little spikes that aren’t meant to be there and can be a little pinchy if you aren’t paying attention. The paint is decent although hardcore collectors will notice some serious areas of slop and bleed over. That being said, the average casual collector such as myself will be totally fine with the paint which has a nice variety of textures like metallic and even pearlescent in some areas. The Ranger Elite comes with a Focus Rifle, Plasma Grenade, and back plate that can be removed to attach a jetpack from one of the other figures in this line. I would have liked a stand of some kind because he is a touch on the wobbly side, but it’s not that big of a deal given that this is probably the most toy-ish action figure I have. This guy isn’t meant to be stood up on a shelf, he’s meant to be played with, and I kinda like that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was maybe one of my most impulsive impulse buys. I got him from Toys-R-Us, where I had gone initially to browse the Nerf aisle (ask me about my Nerf collection, I dare you) in search of an early release. I only saw it as I was wandering back through the store. The combination of my favorite Halo armor design along with one of my favorite weapon designs both in one box caused an involuntary reflex in which I took the figure to the checkout, purchased it, and walked back to the car. Ok, maybe it wasn’t involuntary but I am glad to have the figure. It does have its issues as a figure, but as a toy, I give it a resounding BLARG of triumph.