Mattel is new to the Halo franchise. When they acquired Mega Brands (makers of Mega Bloks) last year, we didn’t know what to expect of them. Well, now we know. They are producing a series of Halo dart guns under their ‘BOOMco” brand. At Toy Fair, they showed off a Plasma Pistol, Magnum, SMG, Carbine, and a VERY cool Needler.

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On with the pics:

Mattel seems to be using a red theme for the color of their UNSC dart guns. This is mostly due to keeping it away from looking too real. The Magnum comes with several darts. As you can see, there is one in the barrel, one on the side (each side), and a couple at the magazine clip.
I think there will be several people who will custom paint theirs to look more game accurate. I plan on that.

The Plasma Pistol has storage for extra darts at the bottom of the dart gun. You load one in the front and tap the light blue “U’ shaped button (for lack of a better term) at the back to fire the weapon.
This next picture comes from XBOX, with credit to James Monosmith, marketing manager at 343.

Once again we see a red UNSC dart gun, this of course being an SMG. I didn’t see this one in person, so I can’t comment on where the dart storage is or how many come with the set.
Another pic by Monosmith, this one gives us a nice looking Carbine and what appears to be a variant plasma pistol. As I didn’t see these in person, I can’t comment on their dart storage or amount.

Lastly, we come to what I thought was the best of all the Halo dart guns, the Needler. Below is a concept package shot, once again from Monosmith.

These last three pics are mine. The needler comes with 16 darts.
In the front, you load up 8 of them, while on top you put the other eight. Here’s a better shot showing the placement of the darts up front.

I asked the representative from BOOMco if the needles up top fed through the gun to shoot out the front. While he said they would have loved to have done that, it would have been too expensive. Instead, they made the top ones light up. When you fire the weapon, a light under one of the darts turns off to let you know how many shots you have left.

Watch the video below for the live demonstration I saw at Toy Fair. (Apologies that it’s portrait and not landscape. My dear wife held the iPad in the wrong direction.)

Smaller dart guns will retail for $12.99 (your price may vary slightly depending on which store you get it from). The needler will be $39.99. This due to the electronic feature.

I didn’t get a price on the Carbine as again, I didn’t see it in person to ask about it.

One thing to remember folks, these are toys, so if you’re looking for 100% accurate in-game looking weapons, these are not for you. However, if you’re looking for fun, inexpensive representations of them, then I highly suggest getting them. I hope to add these to my collection, especially the needler.

-Sal