Tag Archives: Video Games

#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.

Guest Review #0037: Overworld Alex

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

OVERWORLD ALEX

MINECRAFT (JAZWARES)

Alex1

The following is a guest review by Jill Mardesich.  For more from Jill, check out her blog Future Music Educator Rambles on Life.

Minecraft by Mojang is a game that has managed to sweep the nation, and one of my personal favorites. It is available in just about every platform you can think of, minus Wii and other Nintendo consoles. Because, you know, Nintendo doesn’t play well with others. Alex is the female version of the basic player character (Steve), and I absolutely adore her. She’s not super exciting, but the design is so much more interesting than Steve’s, and she’s a girl.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Alex2Alex is, as stated before, the female player character in the wildly popular game, Minecraft. She is a part of the third series of Minecraft figures. She stands approximately 3 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. She is a very blocky figure, which follows the game’s overall aesthetic. Her paint work is exceptionally detailed, but there are some fuzzy edges along the facial features, and there’s some pretty noticeable slop on both of her arms, but especially the left one. The orange of her hair is nice and vibrant on top of her head, but when painted onto the body, it seems to have been applied overtop the green of her shirt and causes the color to look really dingy and just… off. From a distance she looks awesome, but up close she gets a little disappointing. I don’t care that much though, because I’m really into her as a character anyway. For her accessories, she comes with a bow, a gold sword, and a Slime. The box looks pretty cool, but the edges of the paintwork are not clean, and it’s a little tricky to get her to hold it in a secure fashion. The sword is pretty nice, the paintwork is super neat and the sword is immediately identifiable as the material it is made of in the game. The Slime is a cool item to receive, replacing the normal building block that comes with the figures in this line. It also looks really cool, a 1.5 inch cube made of transparent green plastic with different shades of green plastic on the inside to provide the detailing. It leads a super clean likeness to the Slimes in the game, and a really cool looking piece. My one complaint about the Slime character is that the color green for the transparent plastic is a rather dark green, which is inaccurate to the game and causes the detailing inside to be difficult to see. If the transparent plastic was a lighter green like it is in the game, I think the details inside the Slime would be more vivid and impressive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Even though there is literally no story to the game Minecraft, I have loved Alex since she was introduced. She was a surprise to me in one of the updates (because honestly, who actually reads the entire update list when they log in to Minecraft?) and I was ridiculously excited to discover that my Doctor Who skin wasn’t working and it was instead I got to meet Alex. I think she has a really cool design, and I think the fact that she was such a surprise to me is part of the reason why I love her so much. She was like a present that I never expected. It seems fitting that my wonderful boyfriend Tim got her for me at the store in the same manner. She’s not a perfect figure, but she is still really cool and I’m excited to have her.

Guest Review #0036: Altair Idn-La’Ahad

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

ALTAIR IBN-LA’AHAD

ASSASSIN’S CREED (MCFARLANE)

Altair1

The following is a guest review by my Super Awesome Girlfriend, Jessica Headlee.  For more from Jess, check out her book review blog, Of Books and Pen.

Altair was the assassin that started the Assassin’s Creed franchise and he is the first ancestor that Desmond Miles relives through an animus. Altair was the main character of only one platform game and one or two mobile games. In a few of the later games he did appear briefly within the story, and a few times the players could play as the original assassin for a time within the main story. Within the games, Altair is credited with being the master behind the Assassin’s Order that Ezio Auditore is introduced to in the second game.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Altair2The Altair figure is part of the 3rd series of McFarlane Toys’ Assassin’s Creed line. He is about 5 inches tall with 24 points of articulation. The outfit this figure is wearing is a good replication of the one from the first game. The figure is well textured, giving the appearance of rough linen, which has been added to by the shadowing done by the paint. The boots, trousers, sleeves, and hood also include natural folds, which adds to realism of the figure. I also enjoy the detailing of the belt, pouches, and arm guards, including the silver coloring on the buckles and the sword’s sheath. The paint of the figure is well enough, the only mistakes that I found were around the red sash, where stray bits of red paint got on the white of the robe.

While playing the game and seeing Altair in later installments I don’t believe I ever saw his face. In the games the hood was always up and shadowed his face so that you couldn’t see more than the lower half. The only time you see most of his face is in the promotional videos and pictures, and possibly in the intro of the first game before you get to the main menu. With this figure you can clearly see the face, which I expected. However, the face bothers me a little. It’s a nicely sculpted face, don’t get me wrong, but it looks too much like Desmond Miles to me. I understand that Altair is Desmond’s ancestor, but I never pictured him to be the spitting image of a descendent several centuries in the future. From the few glimpses of most of his face I never pictured him looking exactly like Desmond. All that aside, the face of the figure is fine, including the faint scar on his lips and the stubble of his facial hair.

Along with the figure came a collection of accessories that Altair had within the game. The two hidden blades are simple in design, just like in the game, one in the resting position and the other in the fully extended position. The famous Altair sword, one that makes me geek out completely, has a simple look as well, with subtle detailing in the hilt. The sword also fits rather well within the figure’s nicely sculpted sheath. Finally, the figure comes with four small throwing knives shaped like they were in the game with little markings on the hilt. The knives fit well enough in their sheaths on the belt, however, occasionally the knives on the upper part of the belt will pop out of the holders when the figure’s arms move and bump into them. Unfortunately, the figure does not come with the long dagger that Altair could use in battle, which is a little bit of a shame. Overall, the figure is a well-made representation of one of my favorite assassins from the franchise.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Altair was given to me by my super awesome boyfriend, Ethan, for Christmas this year. He’s always so attentive, he was there when I bought a different Assassin’s Creed figure and later asked me about all of my favorite characters. Let’s say a few months later I got a handful of new Assassin’s Creed figures, including Altair. The figure is fantastic and I’m happy to add him to my growing collection of action 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

#0777: Combat Elite

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

COMBAT ELITE

HALO 3 (MCFARLANE)

EliteMags1

When I think Halo, my mind tends to immediately jump to the Spartans, who are the protagonists of <most> of the games in the series. The main character, Master Chief, is one of them, and the default settings for players in multiplayer games always have the player as a Spartan. They tend to get pushed to the forefront. With the exception of the three ODST reviews, all of my Halo reviews so far have looked at the Spartans. But, what good are a bunch of armored heroes without a foe to face off against? My personal favorites of those foes are the Covenant Elite, who make for the best direct parallel to the Spartans. So, let’s have a look at one of them, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

EliteMags2This particular Combat Elite was released as part of a Team Slayer two-pack in McFarlane Toys’ Halo 3 line. He was originally packed with a Blue Mk VI Spartan. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 25 points of articulation. In the games, the Elite are noticeably larger than the already massive Spartans, but that’s not quite the case with this particular figure, at least when compared to the Spartans I have from Reach, 4, and 5. To be fair to McFarlane, the scale is noticeably smaller on the Spartans from 3, so this figure would probably look a lot more menacing with them. As is, he’s not terrible, truth be told; he’s about the same height as the average newer Spartan, and he’s a bit bulkier, so it works. Just don’t put him next to, say, Jorge. He looks even better with the ODSTs! As far as sculpt goes, he’s got the same basic sculpt as all the Halo 3 Combat Elites. It’s perhaps not as fantastic as some of the more recent stuff, but it’s still no slouch. The armored parts are very clean, sharp, and mechanically detailed, and the underlying areas are covered with tons of fantastic texturing. I’d say he looks like he stepped right out of the game, but I think he might even be better than the game in terms of detail. I will say the wrists look really skinny, especially in comparison to the rest of him, but that’s my only real complaint. Paint is kind of important on a lot of these figures, since it’s the one thing that sets them apart. This Elite’s color scheme is a nice red/purple combo, which looks really sharp. And it’s not just solid red, solid purple either. No, there’s a lot of great variation in the color coded areas, which adds a nice level of depth to the figure. Plus, he’s got some great wash work to help accentuate the sculpt, which does its job well. I also love the glossy finish on the armored parts; it gives him some nice pop. The Elite’s one accessory is a standard plasma rifle, which is admirably sculpted, and sits well in his hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Combat Elite was the last piece of my Halo buying spree from this past summer. I actually got him at the same time as the recently reviewed Rookie figure. After getting that many Spartans and ODSTs, I figured I needed at least one of the Elite. So, I was looking at the various options, and this guy caught my eye. I like the color scheme, because it makes him look kinda like Magneto, so that’s kind of become his name, for me at least. I’m glad I picked this guy up, because he’s a lot of fun!

EliteMags3

#0773: The Rookie

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

THE ROOKIE

HALO 3 (MCFARLANE TOYS)

RookieODST1

One of the more distinct things about Halo 3’s spin-off, Halo 3: ODST, was the diverse team of ODSTs that make up most of the game’s cast. Because of this, it can be easy to overlook the main player character from the game, simply named The Rookie. Of course, it could also be due to him being totally voiceless (aside from some heavy breathing). That might have had an effect. He was hardly overlooked in terms of toys, though, and he got three separate figures just from McFarlane alone. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the first of those.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RookieODST2The Rookie was released as part of Series 6 of McFarlane’s Halo 3 line. He’s the second ODST soldier to see release in the line, but the first of the actual ODST characters to show up. The figure stands roughly 4 ½ inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. Unsurprisingly, this figure has more than a few parts in common with ODST Mickey. The base body on the two is pretty much identical, which is fine by me. The sculpt is still very well detailed, and the armor looks to be a pretty spot on recreation of the game armor. There are a few notable differences between the two figures, though. Where Mickey had asymmetrical shoulder pads, the Rookie has two that match. Nothing really special there, just the same shoulder pad used on both sides. He’s also got a more traditional pack on his back in place of the more tech-y thing Mickey was sporting. His right shin does not have the extra rounds seen on Mickey, but he does have a few extra pouches taped there. He’s also got another pair of pouches attached to his left thigh (seriously, what’s with all the pouches? Was Rob Liefeld involved?) and a spare grenade on the left of his belt. The Rookie is generally more balanced and symmetrical than Mickey. The most jarring change between the two figures, at least for me, is the head. The Rookie’s head isn’t simply Mickey’s with the camera removed, it’s a totally different sculpt. It’s a lot thinner, almost like it was squashed or something, and just generally doesn’t look as good. It’s passable, but could be better. The paint on the Rookie is kind of an issue, but not from a quality standpoint. The quality is fine; everything is pretty clean and the metallics look pretty awesome. However, there are a few inaccuracies with the colors chosen. Overall, he feels a little on the green side for the Rookie, who was a more subdued color in the game. In addition, he lacks the Rookie’s white helmet stripe, and the color of the chest plate is a bit too dark. The Rookie was packed with his signature suppressed SMG, as well as a piece of the build-an-insigna thing that McFaralne did.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Rookie was one of the last purchases in my grand Halo action figure splurge over the summer. He was bought from the same eBay seller from whom I got a lot of my other figures, for a surprisingly reasonable price given the aftermarket value on this figure. He’s not quite as strong a figure as Mickey, but I’m still happy to have him, and he looks pretty sweet with the rest of my Halo stuff!

RookieODST3

#0767: Batman Beyond

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

BATMAN BEYOND

DC COMICS MULTIVERSE (MATTEL)

BatBeyondDCM1

Uh oh. It’s a Mattel figure. This can’t be good. Okay, that’s not entirely true or fair. Mattel figures have the potential to be good, or even on the rare occasion great. In fact, most are at least passable, but some aren’t. And also, I don’t like Mattel as a company, for a whole slew of reasons, chief among them being that a whole lot of their products just feel so lazy. In fact, in the last year, I believe I’ve bought a whole four Mattel figures, mostly due to the vast majority of their output being rather dull. One of those four figures is today’s entry, Batman Beyond. Let’s see how he turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BatBeyondDCM2Batman Beyond is part of Mattel’s DC Comics Multiverse line. The line doesn’t really have traditional series to speak of, but BB was released in the last year of the line. He’s part of the Arkham City sub-set, and is based on one of the alt looks for Batman from the game, rather than being an actual Terry McGuinness Batman Beyond. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 18 points of articulation. The layout of the articulation is the same as both the Christopher Reeve Superman and Arkham Knight Robin figures. It’s not the worst articulation ever, but it could really, really use some sort of upper arm swivel and a mid-torso joint. The current layout leaves him a little stiff looking. In general, the sculpt of this figure feels pretty stiff and somewhat oddly proportioned. Some of that, such as the small head and larger hands, are at least partly present in the game design, but some of it’s just weird sculpting. Like Robin and Superman before him, the figure’s waist just sits too low, which looks really odd. Also, it looks like BB’s got at least a few parts in common with several of the previous Batmen. Because of this, he still has the usual Batman boots, which aren’t accurate to the design, as well as a weird shoulder piece that looks like it should have a cape or something attached, but it doesn’t, which is reasonable, since BB’s not supposed to have a cape anyway. Since one of the draws of Batman Beyond is his sleek design, these issues with the re-used pieces jump out a lot more than they would otherwise. BB does get his own head, belt, and forearms, which all do a pretty great job of capturing those parts of his design, and blend pretty decently with the rest of the sculpt. BB’s paint is one of his stronger suits. Everything is pretty cleanly handled, and his emblem in particular is nice and crisp, and really stands out well from the rest of the figure. BB has no accessories, which isn’t out of the ordinary for a Multiverse figure, but remains annoying given the price of the figure and the fact that he re-uses quite a few pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember how I was done with DC Comics Multiverse? Yeah, that seems increasingly incorrect. When I was down in North Carolina visiting family, I ended up finding this guy on a grocery run. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Batman Beyond design, and Super Awesome Girlfriend was there with me, so there really wasn’t a chance I was saying no to this one. He’s a flawed figure to be sure, and definitely reminds me of why I don’t really do Mattel figures anymore, but he’s Batman Beyond, which does a lot to outweigh some of the cons.

#0762: Arkham Knight

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

ARKHAM KNIGHT

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT (PLAY ARTS KAI)

ArkKnight1

When I was first starting to duck my head into the whole video game thing, I tended to stick to games based on properties with which I was already familiar. That meant I stuck with comic books and super heroes a lot of the time. Comic book-based video games have a reputation in the past of not always being the best they could. That being said, in the last few years, a few have been a bit better received, such as the Batman: Arkham games. The third (main) installment in that series, Arkham Knight was released earlier this year, and received a number of toy tie-ins. Today, I’ll be looking at one of the figures of the titular antagonist, the Arkham Knight.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ArkKnight4Arkham Knight is the third figure in Play Arts Kai’s Batman: Arkham Knight line. He was released in September of 2015. The figure stands about 10 inches tall and has 49 points of articulation. The posablity on the figure is generally pretty great, though it’s worth noting that the joints are ratcheted, which can make moving them a little bit tough at first. He gets an all-new sculpt, based on the character’s appearance in the game. Well, more or less, anyway. Play Arts Kai has added their usual dash of stylization, in order to keep him consistent with their other figures, but the design is pretty much unchanged. It’s a pretty solid design, overall, and it’s got a cool “anti-Batman” vibe to it. The sculpt does a good job of translating the design into a real, physical object. There’s plenty of detailing, especially on the armored parts, and everything’s nice and sharp. He’s got softer rubber pieces for his upper torso, shoulder pads, and belt, all of which are very well sculpted and add a nice level of depth to the figure. The folds in the fabric portions of his costume (mostly the pants) are sculpted very dynamically, which definitely gives the figure ArkKnight3a sharp look, if not a super realistic one. The sculpt does a good job overall of integrating the articulation, though some areas, such as the wrists, are a little more obviously joints, and other joints will leave odd parts of the underlying sculpt exposed. Arkham Knight’s paint work is very nicely executed. Everything is pretty cleanly applied, and there are a lot of nice subtleties that add a lot to the figure. The faceplate of the helmet is definitely my favorite part; it’s cast in a semi-translucent dark blue plastic. The eyes on the helmet are set just a slight bit lower than they would be on a normal person (since they’re actually just HUD representations of eyes, not the real thing), which gives AK this weirdly unnerving quality. The figure is packed with a pair of handguns, a larger gun (which, I believe is meant to be a combined version of the two smaller ones, in-game), an extra folded up front grip for the larger gun, an extra head without the clear faceplate and HUD eyes, four pairs of hands (fists, trigger finger, relaxed, and open), and an articulated display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I haven’t actually played any of the Arkham games, but I’ve picked up a few of the figures here and there. I though Arkham Knight had a pretty cool design, so I was looking to pick up one of his figures. I had originally intended to get the DC Collectibles version, but I ended up deciding to pick up this guy when I found him at Baltimore Comic-Con (in no small part due to some pushing by Tim). He’s my first Play Arts Kai figure, and he’s a lot of fun. I’m definitely glad I decided to get him.

ArkKnight5

#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.