Halo 3 Series 1
McFarlane Toys’ new series of collector-oriented figures from the Halo video game franchise are nothing short of outstanding. They exhibit the jaw-dropping sculpts and paint detail that you would expect from a McFarlane Toys figure, but they also feature the best articulation model I’ve seen on a mass-market action figure since ToyBiz’ Marvel Legends. Expand the post to see pics and reviews of figures from the first series.
There’s a lot to say about these figures, but I’ll try not to ramble on and on. The first, and most noticeable thing about them is their… “unique” scale. Basically, these figures are in a 5″ scale. But that’s not entirely accurate. You see, Master Chief - the main hero character - is exactly five inches tall. And then all the other characters are scaled relative to him. Someone did the math, and that makes them actually a 4.29″ scale given Master Chief’s “real” height. That’s a little too obsessive for me, so I’m just gonna say 5″ scale. The problem with that is… they don’t fit in with anything else! Oh well, that’s a small gripe, given how awesome the figures are.
MASTER CHIEF
Master Chief is the shining star of the series, of course. His sculpt, design, and detail are all breathtaking. But it’s this little guy’s articulation that sets him apart. The package says “18 POA”. That’s a gross understatement. By my count, he has well over 30 points of articulation. He has ball and socket shoulder neck, waist, and wrist artic, and then he has neat swivel/slot/hinge/ball type artic on his shoulders, hips, knees, elbows and ankles. The artic is really tough to describe, so you’d do better just to pick one up and check it out for yourself. But, basically, these guys can get into any position imaginable! They have something like six separate POAs in each hip. It’s kinda crazy, actually.
SPARTAN MARK VI (RED)
The red Spartan figure is just a repaint of the green Master Chief fig, minus the nifty “battle damage” accents on his chest. The red figure also comes with a grenade accessory that MC didn’t get for some reason.
SPARTAN MARK VI (BLUE)
This one is just a blue repaint of Master Chief, with a grenade accessory like the red version. The blue Mark VI is exclusive to Wal-Mart.
SPARTAN MARK VI (White)
Just like the blue and red Spartan Mark VI armor color variations, this is a white version of Master Chief’s armor. The white version is a “specialty store” exclusive, meaning you can only find it at places like Gamestop or online stores.
SPARTAN EVA (Red)
The EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity … I think) is the first of a few different armor permutations McFarlane is going to give us on the Halo 3 Spartans. The EVA is mostly recognized by the big rounded gold head, but also features a unique chestplate and shoulder armor pieces. The chest pieces, shoulder pieces, and heads are removable and interchangeable on all the Spartans (except Master Chief), so you can swap around parts to customize your own unique character from the game. Pretty nifty!
SPARTAN CQB (Steel)
The CQB, like the EVA, is another armor permutation. I think it stands for “Close Quarters Battle”. It’d be nice if McF would explain that on the package… This is my favorite armor type so far. The CQB features a beefy head/helmet with strong lines and accents, as well as blocky shoulder/upper arm pads and a unique chestplate with a sculpted on knife. The steel color version is exclusive to Gamestop stores.
SPARTAN CQB (Blue)
Just like the Steel CQB, this is a blue color variant of that armor type. This version is exclusive to Wal-Mart (as is the blue Mark VI Spartan) and seems to be pretty tough to find. But it was worth the hunt. It’s probably my favorite of the bunch!
BRUTE CHIEFTAIN
Yay! Onto the Covenant! The Brute Chieftain is by far the biggest figure in the series. He’s right at 6 inches tall, and considerably thicker/bulkier than the others. He has all the detail you’d expect, and features a very similar articulation model to the Spartans. He gets a big axe accessory, and just looks quite menacing facing off against his foes.
JACKAL SNIPER
This figure is another winner! The sculpt is just awesome. And his artic is really great - and innovative. Eying him in the package I didn’t think his shoulders had much artic at all. They looked to be standard swivels with a bicep cut. But, once I got him opened I realized they had the same slot-peg artic as on the other joints, allowing for an excellent range of motion while not breaking up the sculpt aesthetically. Really really cool.
GRUNT (Emerald)
I guess “Grunt” really means “runt”. This guy is tiny. But his small stature doesn’t mean he doesn’t have great articulation and a brilliant sculpt. He also gets two nifty little guns as accessories, plus a removable shell/backpack and a removable gas-mask. He also comes in two color variations - emerald green and orangish gold.
GRUNT (Gold)
And here’s the Grunt in his orange/gold variation.
CORTANA
I caved and picked up Cortana on a whim even though I was originally going to pass on her. She has 0 points of articulation. Yep. She’s just a little translucent statue that stands on a light-up display base. That seemed kinda lame, at first. But once I got her out of her package and “turn her on” I was mightily impressed. The glow effect is really awesome - and powerful. In fact, I bet you can probably see mine from space. It’s almost blinding. There are three little blue LED lights in her base and since she is a translucent figure with some opaque paint accents, the light shining through her really makes her look like her holographic video game counterpart. I’m impressed! (Be warned though, her batteries are not included! You’ll need two AAAs to light her up!)
GROUP SHOTS
Overall, I was really impressed with these figures. I have never played any of the Halo games and have no familiarity with any of the characters, but I know a good toy when I see one and these are great toys. Some are a little put off by the ten dollar price tag for a figure in this small of a scale. But, to me, the exquisite detail and clever engineering of the articulation more than makes them worth the price. They are highly recommended!
Tags: halo 3, mcfarlane
Awesome pics and reviews! Just an FYI, the Brute Chieftan’s weapon is a gravity hammer, so the blunt end should be facing forwards. It creates a warping gravity effect around enemies when it slams into them or near them. Kick-ass melee weapon.
I really need to get some of these. I love Halo.
akatsuki! nice to see a familiar username around here! i figured an armor lover such as yourself would be into these. i appreciate the info on the gravity hammer. maybe i need to pick up a cheap copy of halo so i can actually familiarize myself with the game! and yes, you need to get some of these, asap!
awesome review. because of this review, i was aware they were out, and go and behold, one of my walmarts was teaming with them. i guess walamrts get different stocks because i found tons of MCs and blue CQBs, not the red or blue MC repaints. yes, these are awesome figures that remind collectors of the days of good figures and the thrill of the hunt. thank for reviewing!
Plain_sliced:
You saw the blue CQB at a Walmart?
All I’ve been able to find were the red & blue spartans and MC.
That’s good to know though, I guess I’ll have to check a couple others…
yeah, there are two different Wal-Mart case mixes:
Case A - Green Grunt, Red Mark VI, Blue Mark VI
Case B - Orange Grunt, Blue CQB, Red EVA
I haven’t seen case B yet, so no CQB or EVA for me… The Wal-Mart end-cap PDQ’s only have case mix A, and all the wal-marts in my area put out the end-caps. So, I’m gonna have to wait for those to sell through and for them to start restocking before i’ll see the blue CQB.
There is also a grey/steel colored CQB variant from Gamestop. You can order it online through their store. I have that one en route to me at the moment!
And there’s a white Mark VI variant that is exclusive to “specialty stores” you can order it online through various comic shops, and I’ve heard of people getting it from Amazon.
Basically, there are lot of variants and color options out there to choose from!
Wow, I’m totally going to have to grab some of those variants.
These things are kinda rocking my world, and I’m a diehard PS3 guy.
John Christopher Depp,
someones lack is anothers surplus. my area has blue CQBs but no blue nor red mark VIs. i’ve been to 16 walmarts, and either they don’t have any at all, or there will be a blue CQB. gamestops in texas are all screwed up with some not releasing any until june 3. doesn’t make sense. i still got a MOC blue if you want to trade for a MOC EVA.
yeah. the two different case mixes were a bad idea. they should have packed both wal-mart exclusives in all the wal-mart cases. i don’t have ready access to the red EVA. i lucked up and found one at gamestop, but haven’t seen another one since. all my wal-mart got was the red and blue Mark VI cases. and, like your problem with the 16 wal-marts, only one of the five or six in my “immediate” area stock McF figs at all…
i just got me a green grunt the other day. i had no clue the walmart i regularly go to sold McF figs so when i saw the little guy i snatched him right up(along with my movie war machine) what sucks though is that as i carefully popped him out of his plastic prison, the peg in his leg swivel snapped very easily so i had to return him and there werent anymore left
Were did you get the blue CQB spartan? I’ve checked walmart and the web, but cant find it. But ia already have the Chief, steel CQB, and the Brute cheitain.
The distribution on the blue walmart spartans was weird. some places only got the CQBs, some only got the Mark VIs, and others got both. I ended up with an endcap full of nothing but blue mark VIs at my walmart, so I traded online with a guy who had nothing but CQBs at his. McFarlane stated a while back that this line was at a 90% sell-through. Which means there won’t be any restocks of series 1. They’re all gone! If you still need a blue CQB at this point, i think trying to trade on a forum (TheFwoosh, Spawn.com, Toynewsi.com, etc) would be your best bet. or … ebay…
I have the Brute Chieftan, Steel CQB spartan, Red Mark6 spartan, and the master Chief, but i cant find the Blue CQB saprtan, anyone know were to buy one??? Ive checked every where!
Well, the Blue CQB was a wal-mart exclusive, so at this point your only shot is probably ebay or to try to buy/trade one from someone at the forums at spawn.com. I’d try the forums first. You’re likely to find a better deal there.