Master Chief with Cloak

Still looking for that Master Chief with Cloak figure?  Look no further than your favorite discount retailer.  As we continue to toward the holiday season, the toys are filling the wasteland that was the toy department at the likes of Ross, TJ Maxx, and Marshall’s.  I found John-117 here at my local Ross last night.  They also had the other Master Chief that came in this two figure wave.  I had him already, but the $9.99 tag on them is fantastic.  You could army build for that price, but who needs so many Master Chiefs?

As with most everyone else, I agree that it is what is under the cloak that matters the most.   He is a great figure.  The cloak makes him pitch forward, and does not lend itself to a very good figure for display.  Take it off, and you get a pretty great Master Chief.  He has really good articulation, and two grasping hands.    He comes with the Boltshot pistol that is huge and badass.   He also comes with Cortana’s dogtags in a secondary hand.  The cloak fits tight to his body, so the backpack comes as a separate piece that you slot in after removing the cloak.

This is right up there for me, for the best of the best Halo figures in the 6 inch scale.  He has the articulation we want, but more importantly, the paint is great.   It is dark, the way it should be, and he looks ready for action.

Keep your eyes out for deals at the discount retailers.  You never know what you are going to find.

“Maybe I can find a working Cortana at Marshall’s.”

Halo 4 – Master Chief and Spartan Scout (Series 2)

I was browsing my local Walgreens while I was waiting for my flu shot.  I came across strangely small, skinny packaging for Halo figures.  It looks like Series 2 is on a much smaller card than Series 1, which was pretty much the same size as all of the previous Halo figure cards.  The better news was they were on sale for $4 off.  I picked up the Spartan Scout out of the two that were available there at that store.   Later in the week I traveled to another Walgreeens that is about equal distance in the other direction (less than 2 miles), and I found the Master Chief.  I realized I had 20 Halo figures from earlier editions, but I never got the Master Chief.  Now I have never played the game, but the figures are cool enough to hold their own.  I did see the movie that came out a little while ago, and the Master Chief was Bad@$$!   I knew he was a must have figure.  This is the one.

The two figures are amazingly well articulated, as we have come to expect.   They have so much detail packed into those small bodies, and 27 points of articulation.   Master Chief comes with a railgun, while Scout comes with a Sticky Detonator Weapon.   I am kind of leaning toward Master Chief for the win on this one.  The Rail gun is a good rifle.  The sticky gun is okay, but it just looks like a pistol.

Master Chief also comes with a Cortana Micro-Ops figure.  She comes on a disk, but the center comes out so Master Chief can hold her in his hand.  Nice touch there.

As always, the figures are great.  They are a lot of fun to play with and pose.   They stand really well, and take almost any position you put them in. They also come with some special codes to change the skins on your game figures or weapons.  Since I have never played the game, I don’t have a need for the codes, but they are a nice touch to get the gamers to buy the toys too.

As always, more pictures on my Flickr Page.  These were too fun to do a standard photo shoot.  They were a lot of fun to play with.

The rest of the Halo MiniMates Series 1

I got down to Toys R Us today to search out the remaining Halo MiniMates from Series 1.   Thankfully they were all there at the first TRU so I did not have to go on a hunt for them all over the earth.

Warthog:

The Toys R Us Exclusive version is nice and clean.  It looks like it just rolled off the assembly line.  Way to clean for what we would expect from a vehicle in the Halo world, but this is still a great vehicle.  Well made and sturdy.

UNSC Marine 1 and Spartan ODST (Active Camo):

The Marine has some really nice color variations that give him a unique look.  He has a full face under his helmet as we have come to expect from the non-full helmet Halo figures.

The ODST has great details.  Of course they are hard to pick up on the camera since he is in his camo, duh!  I am really happy with how clear he actually came out.  He has a really great gun that is unique from all of the other figures.  I hope we get to see it again in a colored version later.

Sgt. Johnson and Spartan CQB (Blue):

Sgt. Johnson is a tough looking guy, and to lead a bunch of Spartans, I would think he would have to be tough.   The CQB is a great version of the Spartan Armor.  The blue and black really make for a nice combo.

Jorge and Noble 6:

The offering from Halo: Reach brings Jorge and Noble 6.  Noble 6 is fairly standard with a slightly different gun from the standard Halo gun.  Dark grey and black… can’t go wrong for an armor color.

Jorge is very detailed and very colorful.  He comes with his heavy gun, but with some tweaking of the arms, he is actually able to hold it… just don’t touch him after you put the gun in his hands.

Jorge is unique in that he has a face under his full helmet.  Now I have said it before that I don’t know much about the game past what I have learned from the toys, but I have to assume we see his face in the game, thus making it okay to put his face under the helmet.

Master Chief and Arbiter:

Well, if they have to have a double from the standard part of the wave and the TRU exclusive, I guess having the Master Chief be the repeat, that is okay.  He is a standard Spartan, so it does not matter if there are a few of him running around.

The Arbiter looks great, and comes with two of the hand blade weapons.  His helmet comes off to reveal an ugly little face I doubt even a mother could love.

Here is all of Series 1.  2 vehicles and 14 figures.  A great collection that really has a nice look.  I really hope these do well and gets us other vehicles and hopefully the rest of the Reach soldiers.

I still don’t know what they are talking about.  They say it conveniently holds six figures.  The Warthog cannot hold six figures.  Five in each, and the other four guys have to walk.

Finally my Halo MiniMates arrived

They were supposed to be out in November, but they did not come out until mid December.   I received two packs from  my favorite online MiniMate source stuckakid.

Warthog and Driver

4 Pack

These are different from the sets that are supposed to be at Toys R Us, though I have not seen any yet.   I am afraid that the Halo fans beat me to it, but I will keep my fingers crossed that they will start to show up after New Years.

Everything I know about Halo I have learned from the toys.  I have never played Halo, and probably will never get to as I do not have a game console that has it.

4 Pack:

Group photo from left to right:  UNSC Marine 2, Master Chief, Elite Assault Armor (Cobalt), Spartan Scout (White)

Four figures, and four distinct armors.  I love the MiniMates.   There are a few parts here and there that are reused, but even though these guys are so tiny, they (at Art Asylum) go to a lot of trouble to make sure the figures are as accurate as possible.

The figures are well made.  The Master Chief and Spartan Scout have black heads under the helmets.   The Marine has a face under there.  even the Elite has a face under his helmet.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but suffice it to say it is one ugly face.  🙂

Warthog:

The Warthog version I received is a dirty one.  The TRU version is clean.    This is a REALLY well built vehicle.  Very sturdy, and strong feeling.    The driver is a little tricky to get down into the seat since he has giant bulky armor on his legs.  I figure that a standard MiniMate would just slide right down in there.

The turret on the back swivels 360 degrees as well as moving up and down.  It is really easy to attach a gunner back there.

Combined:

The box for the Warthog says that it can “conveniently” hold 6 figures.   Tell me, do you think all of this manhood can fit inside this vehicle:

Well, here it is with all five figures inside:

That was five figures, and it looks like they had to be shoved in with a shoe horn.  I don’t know how they expected six figures to fit in there.   And as a military vehicle, there is nothing “convenient” about their seating arrangement.

Over all I am very pleased with the figures.  I am looking forward to hunting the others down at Toys R Us and seeing how the rest compare.   Hopefully this will take off so we can get some other vehicles.  I would love to see the MiniMate version of the Halo quad bike.