Tag Archives: Spartan

#0866: Spartan Athlon

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

SPARTAN ATHLON

HALO 5: GUARDIANS (MCFARLANE)

AthlonWal1

One of the things that makes the Halo license so appealing to toy companies is that, thanks to armor customizableity, you can generally get several different figures out of one Spartan Armor mold via repaints. McFarlane Toys in particular exploited this during their tenure with the license, while at the same time using these repaints to give their most supportive retailers exclusive figures. The Halo 5 line was pretty egregious about it, with half of the Spartans in the first series being offered in two distinct paint schemes. I’ve already looked at one variation of the Athlon, but why not look at another?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AthlonWal2Like the prior Athlon, this figure was released as part of the first series of Halo 5 figures from McFarlane. This particular version was exclusive to Walgreens. The figure is roughly 5 inches in height and he’s got 32 points of articulation. The sculpt is the same one used on the prior Athlon figure. I liked it there, and I like it here. It’s nice and clean, has plenty of details, and sums up the design from the game pretty well. The main selling point of this figure is his paint job. Instead of the bumblebee-like yellow and black, this figure is blue and off-white. It’s definitely a more appealing color combo, if I do say so myself. Also, instead of a dark blue visor, this one gets a more standard gold visor. If I’m honest, that part doesn’t look quite as clean. It’s not bad, but it’s a little flatter than I’d like. In general, I like the color choices on this figure better, but the actual application of the paint seems to be a slight step down. There’s a fair amount of slop and bleed over, which is just a bit more noticeable on a cleaner Spartan design such as the Athlon. It’s not terrible, but it’s a noticeable step down from the other Athlon. Another area of difference between the two figures is the accessories selection. He includes the same basic Magnum (included with all the first series Spartans), but he’s traded out the assault rifle for an SMG, which is a change I’m definitely okay with!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

None of the Walgreens near me had this particular figure in stock, so I didn’t get him until I was on vacation with my family over the winter holiday. I was actually pretty excited to find him, as this color scheme is definitely my preferred of the two available. Ultimately, the quality of this figure isn’t quite as high as the normal release, which is a bit of a bummer. However, this is still a pretty solid figure, and he adds enough new to make him worth the purchase.

#0848: Master Chief

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

MASTER CHIEF

HALO 5: GUARDIANS (MCFARLANE)

MasterChief1

If you’ve been following the coverage from Toy Fair, one of the big things announced was Mattel’s acquisition of the full Halo license. Previously, Mattel had the building blocks license, due to their purchase of Mega Blocks. Now they’ll be handling the figures proper as well, taking the license from current holders McFarlane, who have been doing the figures since Halo 3. That also means another scale change (to 6 inches), which is a bit of a frustrating point. Anyway, I actually do have a couple more McFarlane figures on the schedule to be reviewed, which includes the franchise’s main character, Master Chief.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MasterChief2Master Chief was part of the first series of Halo 5: Guardians figures from McFarlane Toys. He’s one of the main release figures, and is available in all the major places. The figure stands roughly 5 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. I’m still not sold on the hip joints on these later figures, but Chief manages to have some decent enough movement. Structurally, this figure looks to share most of its parts with the Halo 4 versions of the character. That’s reasonable, since his armor doesn’t appear to have changed all that much between the games. He has a slightly different head, which reflects some damage he has taken to his visor in the meantime. Generally speaking, the quality of the sculpt is downright superb. The detailing is incredibly intensive, which gives the figure a ton of great texture work. About the only complaint I can really think of is the arms, which, like Spartan Fred, seem almost as if they haven’t quite been put all the way together. It’s fine when he’s holding a rifle, but can look odd in a basic standing pose. In addition, there’s the usual complaint about the lack of trigger fingers, but at this point I barely even notice that. Chief’s paint is as much a work of art as the sculpt of the figure. He captures the basic colors of the Chief pretty well, but what really sells the figure is the addition of dry-brushed silver on many of the armored surfaces, which helps to sell Chief’s armor as being sufficiently worn-in. Master Chief includes an assault rifle (with a cool customized deco) and a magnum, both of which can be stowed, either on his thigh or his back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Well, I had a pretty sizeable Halo collection, and absolutely no Master Chief figures in it. That seemed wrong somehow. I ended up finding him at a Target I stopped by while on a shopping trip with Super Awesome Girlfriend and her best friend. I’m actually really happy with this figure, and I admire the level of detail included. It’s a shame McFarlane won’t be getting to do a full selection of Halo 5 figures.

#0780: Spartan Technician

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

SPARTAN TECHNICIAN

HALO 5: GUARDIANS (MCFARLANE)

SpartanTech2

Wow, another Halo review? Already? Yeah, but this is the last one for a little while. So enjoy it, you hypothetical questioners of my reviews, you. I have not played Halo 5 yet (and I don’t intend to unless they do some really major patches and DLCs), but I did get pretty swept up in the hype train that was the tie-in toys. I’ve already looked at Fred and the Athlon armor, so today I’ll be wrapping up my <current> Halo 5 collection with at the Spartan Technician.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SpartanTech1The Spartan Technician is part of the first series of Halo 5 figures from McFarlane Toys. This particular figure was Toys R Us’s exclusive figure from the assortment. Like the Athlon, the Spartan Technician isn’t an actual character, but rather an armor set from the game. The figure is about 5 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. For some reason, the mid foot movement has been cut, which is slightly frustrating. Structurally, the Spartan Technician is the same as fellow series 1 figure Spartan Tanaka. Given than Tanaka wears the Technician armor, this is a warranted sharing of parts. It also means that this is actually a female spartan, which is cool, since we don’t have a lot of those. The Technician is kind of a clunky, utilitarian design, which is an interesting change of pace. It’s not quite as bulky as, say, Fred, but the focus does seem to be on functionality over design, so this one’s really not sleek at all.  There’s a lot of obvious mechanics, exposed wiring, and random protrusions. It makes for an armor that is pretty effectively different than the others, as well as making for a pretty interesting looking figure. The sculpt translates the design quite well, and has a nice amount of texturing and the like. The underlying body is nicely handled, with more realistic proportions than are usually afforded to female video game characters. The figure clearly has some feminine characteristics, but there’s nothing super overt, as should be the case when dealing with a heavily armored super soldier. The Technician’s paint is what sets her apart from Spartan Tanaka. While Tanaka was a more subdued set of greys, the Technician is a deep green. It’s rather striking and stands out rather nicely from the rest of the assortment (barring maybe the Athlon). The paint is overall very well done, and the washes on the armored parts in particular do a really great job of showcasing the sculpt’s details. The Technician is packed with a battle rifle and a Magnum. Both are very well sculpted, and they have the usual tabs for stowage on the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Technician is officially the last piece of Halo merch I’ve gotten. I picked her up while out and about for my brother’s birthday, back in August. I like green, so when I saw the Technician on the back of Fred and Athlon’s boxes, I knew I wanted to track her down. Ultimately, I’m not sure she’s quite as much fun as the other two, but I still like her quite a bit, so I’m glad I got one. And now begins the wait for Spartan Buck and the rest of series 2.

SpartanTech3

#0742: Spartan Athlon

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

SPARTAN ATHLON

HALO 5

Athlon1

Hey, look! Another Halo review! So, in my review of the recent Spartan Fred figure, I lambasted 343 Industries’ decision to not include any local multi-player in Halo 5. I won’t get into the specifics again, but I still think it kind of sucks, especially now that the game is actually out. But, as I said, the game has been released, so the decision’s highly unlikely to be reversed at this point, barring some sort of patch later on. Anyway, opinion of the actual game aside, I still like a lot of the new designs coming from the game. One of the new basic armors in the game is the Athlon armor, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Athlon2The Spartan Athlon is part of the first series of McFarlane Toys’ Halo 5 figures. Unlike all of the other regular release figures in the series, the Athlon is not a specific, named character, but is instead just a generic Spartan. The figure is just over 5 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. Unfortunately, the figure still gets saddled with the down-graded hip joints that first appeared on the Halo 4 figures, however, they do seem to offer a much better range of motion than other figures with the same joint design. It could be worse. In contrast to the bulky, tank-like Centurion armor sported by Spartan Fred, the Athlon has a much sleeker, more streamlined look. Clearly, this is an armor build more for speed and agility, which is befitting of an armor named “Athlon.” Really, it almost looks like a futuristic sports player, more so than a soldier. The sculpt is a lot smoother and cleaner than other Spartans from this series, which works well with the design, but there are a few nice spots of texture work, especially on the underlying bodysuit and the hexagonal assembly of the visor. The shoulder pads sit a little low for my liking, but aside from that, the figure looks pretty great. The joints of the figure don’t stick out the way Fred’s did, which is definitely a plus, and the overall proportions of the Athlon are very realistically handled and well-balanced. As a basic armor set, the Athlon has no specific color-scheme in the game, so the colors and other details have been randomly assigned. Rumor has it that this particular color set was chosen by MC Toys’ head honcho Todd McFarlane himself. At first glance, I really wasn’t a fan of the yellow and black; I thought he looked a bit like a bumblebee.  However, in hand, it actually works pretty well. The bright, bold colors and numbers on his helmet and shoulders kind of add to the sports theme set by the rest of the armor, which makes the whole thing work out a bit better. The paint is generally applied nicely, and I like the slight metallic sheen of the whole figure. The Athlon is packed with a basic Magnum, as well as the standard issue assault rifle, painted up in a slightly tweaked color-scheme. He can hold both alright (though he still really could use some trigger fingers) and both can be plugged into his thigh or back for stowage.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found this figure at the same time as Fred. Fred was definitely the one I was more looking forward to of the two, but I thought the Athlon looked cool enough to warrant purchasing. This is a pretty fun figure, and it’s definitely a slightly more stand-out armor set.

#0721: Spartan Fred

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

SPARTAN FRED

HALO 5 (MCFARLANE)

SpartFred1

Well, Halo 5 is nearing release, but, despite my newfound fandom of the series, I won’t be picking the game up. In their infinite wisdom, 343 Industries have chosen to remove not only local co-op, but all local multiplayer as well. Now, I’m really just a casual gamer, but I feel like that kind of takes away a lot of the game’s charm, since local multiplayer has been a pretty distinctive feature of the prior six games in the series. But, I’m not exactly going to get them to change their minds by complaining about it here. On a more positive note, whether I play the game or not, I quite like some of the game’s new designs. The game centers around two teams of four Spartans each; one led by newcomer Locke and the other led by series mainstay Master Chief. Today, I’ll be looking at one of Chief’s teammates, Spartan Fred.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SpartFred2Fred is part of the first series of Halo 5: Guardians figures from McFarlane Toys. Fred is actually a preexisting character from the Halo mythos, having shown up in a few comics and animated shorts. Nevertheless, Fred has a new look for Halo 5, and that’s the look we’ve gotten here. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. The hip joints continue the slightly downgraded, ball-jointed style introduced with the Halo 4 figures. It’s not ideal, but it could be worse. I did notice that the Halo 5 figures had slightly looser sockets, so the legs pop off from time to time. Fred has a new sculpt (though he does share it with the slightly differently colored Spartan Centurion, available exclusively at Target) depicting him in the newly-developed Centurion armor. The Centurion armor is designed not unlike a tank; it’s big, bulky, and rather angular. It certainly looks like it could take a beating and keep on going. It’s definitely in a similar vein to Spartan Jorge’s design, if perhaps a little more svelte. Generally, the sculpt does a very nice job of translating the design. It’s got some great detail work and texturing, and has a lot of depth. The proportions are alright overall, but the arms end up being a little longer then they should. They almost look like the joints haven’t been pushed all the way in or something. It’s easily hidden by bending the arms at the elbows a bit, so it’s not a huge deal or anything, but even then, those joints are still there…waiting. Fred’s paintwork is pretty good overall. His armor is a nice greyish-teal color, with a wash over it to help bring out the sculpt’s details. He’s also got some gold detailing here and there. Some of the edges are a little sloppy here and there, but overall, everything’s pretty clean. After cutting the accessories to just one per Spartan in the Halo 4 line, McFarlane brings things back up to two, giving Fred a DMR and a Magnum. Both guns are nicely sculpted, but due to the grip of the hands, Fred has a little trouble holding them. Both guns include detachable pegs, for stowage on his thigh or back, which is useful, though his back armor does get in the way of properly attaching the DMR.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Tim and I stumbled (almost literally. They were randomly sashed in the building block section) upon half of the first series of Halo 5 figures at my local TRU. Tim grabbed Kelly and I got the Athlon armor and good ol Fred here. Fred’s definitely a cool design, and definitely up there as one of my favorite Halo figures.

#0713: Air Assault Spartan

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

AIR ASSAULT SPARTAN

HALO: REACH (MCFARLANE)

NobleArmor1

Hey look! More Halo! A certain writer seems to have gone on a bit of a buying spree…

So, one of the coolest things about Halo: Reach was just how much say the player had in what Noble 6 looked like. You could customize your character to have any combination of several dozen armor sets, and your character would appear that way in the main game, even during cutscenes. Because of that, 6 looked different for every player. Cool in-game, but how do you translate that to merchandising. Well, most merchandise had the basic Mark V armor in a basic dark grey (a look dubbed Blandy McBlanderpants by Tim), which isn’t the most exciting thing. McFarlane Toys decided to offer the best of both worlds, with both the basic Mark V Noble 6 in the main line (seen here), as well as a series of deluxe figures with multiple armor sets, allowing the collector to build their own Spartan, just like in the game! I’ll be looking at one of those sets today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NobleArmor2The Air Assault Spartan was released alongside the fourth series of McFarlane’s Halo: Reach line. It’s titled “Air Assault” due to that being the armor set it’s wearing in the package, but it also features pieces to the ODST, EVA, and CQC armors. No points for guessing which armor set I bought this for. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation. The AA Spartan uses the same articulation scheme as Spartan Jorge. This is definitely the best set-up McFarlane’s used on the Halo figures. God only knows why they abandoned it, but the figure definitely benefits from having it. Sculpturally, the figure uses the basic Mark V Spartan body used by most of the line, which features an assortment of ports and such to allow for various armor pieces to be attached. The figure looks a little goofy without the chest piece, but it’s not meant to be viewed that way. The underlying body is pretty nicely proportioned and has a fair bit of texture and detail work, which is pulled right from the game models. The one real drawback of the sculpt is the hands; they’re just a simple grip, with no trigger finger separation or anything, which means they’re a real pain to use for holding, say, a gun. Which is a bit frustrating for a figure from a franchise where the main characters are pretty much always carrying guns. So, that’s the basic body, what about the armor? Well, the basic armor set is the Air Assault armor. This is the sleekest of the armors available here, which makes sense, given the name, and it’s probably my second favorite of those included. Next, there’s the ODST armor, which is my personal favorite. It’s modelled after the armor worn by the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (like Mickey), but, amazingly enough, none of these parts are re-used from prior ODST figures. The helmet is more angular than past versions, especially on the visor. I do with the head was just a little bit bigger, but it’s not terrible as is. Next is the EVA armor, one of the more consistently available Halo armors. The helmet is definitely this armor’s strongest trait. The shoulders are weird, and don’t sit as well as I might like on the figure. The last full armor set is the CQC (Not to be confused with the CQB armor from the same game). I’m not much of a fan of the helmet on this one, but the torso with the pouches is definitely cool, and very well sculpted to boot. The figure also included an extra helmet, the MP helmet, which is easily my least favorite in the set. Of course, I don’t like the design in the game, so it’s at the very least accurate. The paintwork on the figure and various armor parts is top notch. The figure was available in both Blue and Steel color schemes. I went with Steel. It has a nice brushed effect to it, which makes it look nice and weathered, and all the armor sets have great work on the insignias and such. Apart from the armor sets, the figure includes no accessories, but McFarlane was kind enough to offer a weapons pack around the same time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, after being sufficiently pulled into Mcfarlane’s Halo stuff, I figured I might as well have fun with it. This set had a few of the parts I used on my in-game Noble 6, so I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon. It’s certainly a fun set, and it even allowed me to salvage the “junk” Carter and 6 I got with my Jorge figure, effectively giving me three new figures in one purchase!

NobleArmor3

#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

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!