Here is a gallery of the upcoming Hlao Avatar minifigs. Remember folks, these can be mixed and matched. (with exception to the Warthog)
Cute little things. I believe they are to retail for $3 each and are blind packed in a plastic tube.
Category Archives: Halo Collecting
McFarlane Halo 4 series 1 Carded pics!
These two pics have been leaked and I’m happy to bring them to you. The front is Master Chief, which we all knew would be in this wave.
Note however that in this pic there is a San Diego ComicCon sticker. It’s likely this is an early release with the only difference being the sticker itself. Again, Master Chief is in the first wave at mass retail, so unless you just HAVE to have one carded with the SDCC sticker on it, I suggest you pass on it.
The second pic shows the back and there is some interesting information to be read there. Now we know that the first wave consists of: Master Chief, an Elite Zealot, a Grunt “Storm” (Wonder what that means?), and a Spartan “Warrior.” Below that is says to look for Cortana, Spartan “Soldier” (Hmm, SPartan Classes now too, besides loadouts?), a Crawler and a Watcher. The last two are interesting. Are the the fauna of the shiled world “Requiem,” or are they a Forerunner construct like the engineer and just have different jobs that the engineers do?
Here’s a pic of Requiem from the inside. In it you can kind of make out flying animals/constructs that sort of resemble the Watcher. (Click on it to make bigger)
Very near center, just to the right of the middle hanging column is the animal/construct I’m talking about. Could this be a watcher? Or is it an engineer?
At any rate, the back of the card also notes that coming Holiday 2012 there will be a “Secret Enemy Figure.” It goes on to say “Don’t miss this deluxe boxed figure of an enemy unlike anything before.”
Well if that doesn’t whet your appetite for new Halo McFarlane toys, I don’t know what will.
Thanks to “Mr. Sci-Fi” for providing me a link so I could present this to you.
-HFFL
Toy Review: McFarlane Halo Anniversary Series 2 Mickey (ODST) not the mouse…
Here is my review of Mickey, the latest addition to the ODST squad from Halo 3: ODST. Mickey comes with his Rocket Launcherand the body of the bird part of the UNSC emblem.
The figure has the standard (which is to say excellent) articulation for a Halo human figure:
•  Ball Joint Head
•  Ball Joint Shoulders
•  2-part swivel Elbows
•  Ball joint wrists
•  Limited Ball joint Torso
•  Ball Joint Hips
•  2-part swivel Knees
•  Ball Joint Feet
The Pros and Cons:
Pros: It’s an extremely detailed figure. Lots of great sculpting went into this figure and it shows. The paint was good and the printed “Mickey” and “ODST” on the chest show particular attention to detail.
Cons: As with some of the other figures in this wave, Mickey can’t quite hold his weapon as intended. Not without much work that you may give up and choosing the “good enough” option. On mine his left shoulder armor came off. It didn’t appear to have any glue holding it on. Thankfully it’s a big enough piece not to loose so easily. Still, things like this shouldn’t happen.
And now for the pics:
The detail is awesome. Note below the sculpting and the printed parts. The backpack features some of the tiniest print of any McF Halo figure to date.
Whiloe there were a couple of minor things that could have been improved on, overall this is an amazing figure.
Whether you like ODSTs, or the specific squad from the game, this is a must figure to have. It’s my second favorite of this wave and is a very welcome addition to the collection.
Two more individual figs and two boxed set reviews still to come.
-HFFL
Toy Review: McFarlane Halo Anniversary series 2 Guilty Spark/Sentinel
McFarlane’s Halo Anniversary Series 2 has hit and I’m happy to bring to you my reviews of the figures.
The Sentinel features the following articulation:
•  Ball Joint Head
•  Hinge Shoulders
•  Hinge “Elbows”
•  Hinge “Wrists”
•  Lower “Mandible” hinge joint
Guilty Spark feature only the eyeball turning to reveal a red eye, as it’s sole articulation.
Pricepoint: $11-15 US depending on store
The Pros and Cons:
Pro:Â These have been long wanted “figures” from many fans. While not really much for articulation, Guilty Spark plays such an important role to the original trilogy that it was almost a must that it be made. The Sentinels were at times allies and foes during the games and make for great forerunner army builders.
Con:Â Guilty Spark is relatively plain. Even though you can spin the eye to it’s red position, that’s the only thing that turns red, whereas in the game more of it’s blue lighted lines turned red. That is near impossible to do on a toy such as this, so it’s easy to overlook it. Though i do plan on doing my own custom red version. The Sentinel has me a little disappointed. If the arms lined up right, I’d have been extremely happy with it. However, as you can see from the pic below, they were misaligned at the forearm and wrist joints. This made it look like it was damaged, rather than a pristine construct of forerunner design. I do wish McFarlane could do more about Chinese quality control on these. If this had been packaged differently, it may have gotten into consumers hands in better condition.
I bought 4 of these so I could have extra sentinels. Unfortunately only one of the four was good, while the other three all suffered from some misalignment in the upper arms.
As such, my overall impression of this pack is not favorable. They are both figures I very much wanted, but the outcome left something to be desired. Sculpt wise they are great. How the sentinel was constructed, not so much.
The UNSC emblem part is the other wing. Not much to say about that.
From here on the rest of the wave gets better, thankfully. So I’m able to “suffer” the two figures I wasn’t as impressed with.
Now for the pics of this set:
-HFFL
Toy Review: McFarlane Halo Anniversary series 2 – White Multiplayer Spartan
McFarlane’s Halo Anniversary Series 2 has hit and I’m happy to bring to you my reviews of the figures.
The White Multiplayer Spartan features the following articulation:
•  Ball Joint Head
•  Ball Joint Shoulders
•  2-part swivel Elbows
•  Ball joint wrists
•  Limited Ball joint Torso
•  Ball Joint Hips
•  2-part swivel Knees
•  Ball Joint Feet
Pricepoint: $11-15 US depending on store
The Pros and Cons:
Pro: Is one of if not the first color variation that Joyride made during it’s tenure as the Halo action figure license holder. So this variation is a nod/throwback to that. As a white base color it lends itself well to custom paint jobs.
Con: Really an unnecessary figure. If you weren’t into collecting Halo figures back then, the color variant really means nothing.
My particular feeling towards this figure is “meh.” I bought it solely for the UNSC part to complete the Shield. Unfortunately, once I got it, I had even more buyers remorse. As you can see in the photo below, one of the legs near the waist has a HUGE black mark on it. It really detracts from the figure for me. I know McFarlane can’t really regulate Quality Control when the figs are being manufactured in China. Still, I as a consumer shouldn’t have to explain this either. Mind you I did buy mine from an online site that I use frequently. Had I bought this in store, I’d have looked over the figure to make sure the paint was good. In this case, I’d have passed on this particular fig.
The UNSC emblem part as you can see also has a shoddy paint job. So needless to say, my overall feeling toward this figure is very disappointed. Had it not had the UNSC part, I likely would have passed on it.
One thing I wish McFarlane Toys would focus more on is campaign figures, meaning specific characters. If they are to do multiplayer figs, then make them in the typical team Red and team Blue colors and from there only a rare few other colors, like Master Chief Green, Steel, and white. yes, this was a white figure, but it has smudgy metallic blue markings on it.
Thankfully, this was one of two out of the five figs from this wave that I wasn’t as impressed with. The other one isn’t bad, but it has it’s drawbacks, which you’ll see in another upcoming review. For now the pics:
The figure comes with a Battle Rifle, which is always welcomed. Note the black mark on the leg, visible in the two most left views in the pic below. One other thing I didn’t mention above was that this figure was so horribly posed in the package that it cam out bow legged and I tried to fix that. You can see in the right most view that the lower portion of the one leg is grossly aligned.
Note that the figure comes with a frag grenade and a wing piece of the UNSC emblem. AS you can see by the one I got, the paint was horribly misprinted. Sigh.
Now, all my problems with this figure aside, if you find one with a good paint job, should you get it? Well, that depends on if you want to complete the UNSC emblem or not. Or, if you have a feeling of nostalgia towards the Joyride figures. As I mentioned above, this would have been one figure I’d have passed on. That’s saying something too as I collecting very near everything McFarlane Halo.
-HFFL
McFarlane Halo Anniversary series 2 wave.
Before I get to each figures review I wanted to quickly post the wave as a whole and the buildable UNSC Emblem that comes with them if you get the whole wave.
The card back is the same for each, so I’ll post it once here. Only change is the UPC from figure to figure.
-HFFL
Toy Review: Mega Bloks Flood Pod Elite Combat Form
Flood Pod Elite Combat Form: Set number 96929
Tech Specs
Build Time:Â 2 minutes including sorting
Set Piece count:Â 26
Price:Â $11.99 US
The minifigs included are two flood infection forms, one purple elite minor, and the arm and head of an elite flood form.
This is a good set if you want to do a little army building, especially of those little flood infection forms. I am missing one of the little clear pegs to attach it to the clear base, but I’ll get that from Mega through their customer service line.
The value of the set is good, almost great, IMO. The only two things I would have changed to this set were the color choice of the elite to be the correct blue in-game color, and a different weapon for the Elite. Why Mega insists on a plasma pistol for the Elite, I don’t know. At the least it should have a plasma rifle. That’s a small knock though, nothing huge.
Overall Rating:Â 8.5 out of 10 medals. It would have scored more if it had been game correct in color, as well as the plasma rifle instead of the pistol.
And now onto the pic:
Just one, however, it’s a composite of everything in the set.
It really is a nice set. Though I’m tired of the pods, this one is so very different from the rest that it’s a welcome addition to the collection. The flood infection forms add value to the set, as do the flood extra parts for the Elite.
If you’re a fan of the pods or Flood, this is a must have set.
-HFFL
Toy Review: Mega Bloks Covenant Drop Pod Elite Ultra
Covenant Drop Pod Elite Ultra: Set number 96928
Tech Specs
Build Time:Â 2 minutes including sorting
Set Piece count:Â 24
Price:Â $9.99-11.99 US
This set has 24 pieces.
The minifig included a Silver Ultra Elite. It’s a fantastic figure and I wish Mega would release it in more sets. I find myself wanting to get a couple more of this set. Plus there are arms, chest and a head of the Ascetic Elite if you choose to switch armor. I personally prefer the Ultra much more.
The set is fairly standard fair for a drop pod set. One figure, a couple of weapons and the pod and bonus armor. While I like the pods, I do think they are to the point of saturation now. I kind of hope Mega is done with the pod sets after these releases.
The value of the set is good ok, though I’d have like another full figure or more weapons not often released, like the plasma rifle.
Overall Rating:Â 8 out of 10 medals. It would have been higher, but again, I’m getting a bit saturated with the pods and would prefer more minifigs and/or weapons.
And now onto the pics:
Finally the Ultra Elite:
For me the Ultra is the real draw here. Typically these show up in groups of 4 in Firefight, so I’d like to have that many sets. However, given the cost of the set itself and I not wanting more pods, I can’t justify buying multiples.
Still, I highly recommend getting this set if you like pods, or Elites, or both.
-HFFL
Halo McFarlane and Mega Bloks Toy Reviews tomorrow!
Whew, I’ve been busy today. Finally got to take photos of my McFarlane Halo Anniversary Wave 2 figures, two box sets, and two Mega Bloks Drop Pod sets. I’ve got to edit the photos and finish writing the reviews. Expect those to roll out tomorrow.
As a preview, let’s just say McF needs to check China on their Quality Control (or lack thereof). But not all is ill with the McFarlane stuff. The Mega Bloks sets a excellent.
Brute Chieftain and Chopper Product shot
While I’m not so much a fan of the chopper, this set I’m very much looking forward to. For me the draw is the Brute Chieftain. It’s an awesome figure and quite large for a minifig. The helmet sports semi-soft plastic near the top to keep from breaking off as well as for child safety. Something I applaud Mega for thinking about. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a prototype of the Chieftain while at Toy Fair this year, and again can speak from first-hand that it’s an amazing figure.
Here’s the product shot followed by my prototype Cheiftain.
This set will retail for around $12 depending on store. The Chieftain is awesome, the gravity hammer is excellent, and the chopper completes the set nicely.
New Halo Mega Bloks coming fall 2012!
Here are four new sets slated for release later this year. While Fall is the release season, typically fall releases show up in mid-summer.
First up is one of the smaller packs. This should retail for about $5US. It includes the Air Assault spartan with what appears to be a Commando helmet or possibly the same helmet that came in the AA turret vs Rocket hog set from last year. With some extra weapons and YEAH! a BR, this set is worth the $5.
Next we have a gold Ascetic Elite set. Again a $5 set. It also comes with the standard Elite Minor helmet. Besides the Ascetic Elite, the real draw for me here is the Plasma Rifle. That weapon has only recently been introduced into the line, so the more I can get of it the better. The Needle Rifle is also a nice addition.
Up next is Cobalt Blue UNSC Armory set. Comes with the standard Mk V Spartan, CQB Spartan and the arms and helmet for the scout armor, as well as a Marine. This set should ring in around $11-12US. A good set, but the lack of a full fourth figure is a little disconcerting. About a year to a year and a half ago we used to get sets of four figures for $10. With the price raised by a dollar or two and half a figure missing or more, I just feel I’m missing something. The extra weapons are nice, and the armory stand is cool for extra pieces. However, for the money, I’d rather have a complete fourth figure.
Lastly we have a Silver Covenant Armory set. While I love the new style of grunts, since there are only two of them and one complete elite (standard), plus arms and helmet of an ascetic, I’m again feeling like something is missing. I understand the idea is to mix and match armor. I’l refer to my comments above about the extra money for less product. Also, I’m perplexed by the color choice here. When it comes to Covenant forces, I’d much prefer in-game colors, rather than “skittle” colors. Grunts come is typically orange, green, red, and purple armor colors. I’d like to see those before we get these odd color sets. Hopefully Mega will address that. As a note to Mega, I as well as others WILL buy more of the in-game colors to army build, rather than the off-color sets. The one thing to note with this particular set is the inclusion of the Focus Rifle. While it looks to be unpainted, it’s still a very welcomed addition to the Halo weapons line.
Again, look for these to come out mid-summer.
Mega Bloks UNSC Desert Combat Unit Toy Review
UNSC Desert Combat Unit: Set number 96958
Tech Specs
Build Time: 5 minutes including sorting
Set Piece count: 53
Price: $11.99 US
This set has 53 pieces, most of which pertain to the minifigs. The pieces for the armor crate/display are simple enough and repeated for other armor sets, but in different colors.
The minifigs included are two marines that are the same except the heads and a Spartan that you can customize to be an EVA or CQB or Scout.
I find myself wanting to get at least two more of this set so I can have one each of the spartans and along the way pick up some extra Marines. While I do not think this set is as good as the Crimson Covenant combat unit set, it’s still a very worthy purchase.
As with the covie set, I chose to go away from Mega’s build for the armor display and make a sort of crate instead. I’m not going to display the extra bits of armor. So, by building the crate, I have the pieces in a more compact area that can store easily.
The value of the set is good, but again not as great as the Covie set in my opinion. The reasoning is that we have already had marines, EVAs, and CQBs. Having just the head and arms of a Scout does not make up the difference in what use to be the purchase prices of 4 figures. So the value is good, but not great.
Overall Rating: 8.5 out of 10 medals.
And now onto the pics:
The minifigs:
The crate takes form and my final version of it:
And the set as a whole:
Again this is a good set. Certainly if you’re building a desert scene these will fit in nicely. In fact they fit in very well with the recent Wal*Mart exclusive set that had tan marines and a spartan. So this is a nice way to bolster that squad.
-HFFL
Mega Bloks Crimson Covenant Combat Unit Toy Review
Crimson Covenant Combat Unit: Set number 96959
Tech Specs
Build Time: 5 minutes including sorting.
Set Piece count: Â 47
Price: $11.99 US
This set is marked as having 47 pieces, many of which are tied up in the minifigs themselves. It’s a simple set with one glorious minifig among the others.
The pieces for the armor crate/display are simple enough and repeated for other armor sets, but in different colors.
The minifigs included are two grunts, one of which with the two pronged methane tank and the other the normal tapered tank. They are of the new larger grunt design and look fantastic.
The real prize of this set however is the Elite, or rather the Honor Guard Elite pieces. You can take a non-descript Red Elite and make him a pseudo Flight elite by switching heads, or as most of you will likely do if you get the set, make him into the most awesome Honor Guard Elite. I have to say that Mega really hit this one out of the park. The Honor Guard is very well done and begs to have a second one next to it for extra guard duty.
The value of this set is actually pretty good considering you get the two grunts in the new larger style, and the Elite with the extra Flight helmet and Honor Guard pieces, not to mention the Armor crate/display pieces.
I really encourage those who like to army build to get this set and in multiples. Even if army building is not your thing, this set is nearly worth it alone for the Elite Honor Guard and I wouldn’t pass it up. It’s definitely going to be a hard to find set in the future.
Overall Rating: 10 out of 10 medals.
Now here are some pics from the set:
The grunts:
The armor crate (though I chose to go off plan here and make it my way instead):
And finally the creme de la creme of the set, the Elite Honor Guard:
Target coupon for 50% off all Mega Bloks (including Halo!!).
Target is running a 50% off coupon for all Mega Bloks (including Halo). You can find the coupon in your Sunday paper.
If however you want to order online, you can do that too and I have the coupon code for you: TGT8AJVK Now, I did this and it gave an error, but when you continue with the purchase it DOES take half off.
I bought a Pelican online and saved nearly $40. I’ll now be going to my local store to get a UNSC Elephant and save almost $60 there. Woot! It’s like getting the Pelican for free in essence after buying the Elephant. If you’ve though about buying Mega Bloks Halo stuff before, NOW is the time to do it. The coupon is only good until the end of this month.
-HFFL
McFarlane Series 6 White JFO (Walgreens exclusive) in hand pictures!
I was able to get this via eBay. I do not often look to eBay for new toys. However, given the dubious nature of stocking for Walgreen’s stores and the likelyhood that this figure is going to be extremely hard to find, plus all the wasted time and especially gas looking for it, I opted to take a hit and get it on eBay before it becomes much harder to get and more expensive.
That said, I’m happy with this figure, though I think there is a little bit TOO much “dirt” on it. You’ll see what I mean in a moment. First let’s look at the figure carded:
Standard card, nothing to denote this is an exclusive on the front. Then again, since I got this from eBay, if there are any Walgreen’s stickers they were removed before I got it.
Now here we can see in the composite view shot the dirty look to the figure I was talking about, along with a close-up shot:
Here’s a good look at the Target Locator included, close-up in four views:
Finally a friend asked me to post the UPC of the figure for easier reference when going to Walgreens to explain to the workers there what they were looking for. So I’m happy to oblige.
Now as far as the figure itself, it uses the standard multiplayer base figure. All of the armor parts have been released before, but in different colors. What makes this fairly unique is that it’s White (albeit dirty white), and it’s one of the view that has a visor color other than gold. Since it’s an exclusive, I HIGHLY suggest if you see it at Walgreens to pick it up immediately. I doubt you’ll see it again. As well, and again I don’t push this often, if you see it on eBay for a price you’re willing to pay, get it.
A white spartan of any armor configuration is desired as it is the easiest to custom paint. Though with this one’s exclusivity, I’d think twice about it.
-HFFL