Here’s the Didact without his helmet. I’m SO glad McFarlane has given US the choice of showing the Didact with his helmet off or as seen below, off.
The Didact is GINORMOUS in comparison to Master Chief!
Here are the armor and weapon skins that you will get should you buy the Didact figure.
Mine is on the way! I’ll review it when it comes in!!
-Sal
Fast on the heels of the CIO spartan review comes this Master Chief toy review. A logn wait between series 1 and 2 is worth it!
On with the review (click to make pics bigger):
The slim packaging is a great idea. For one it saves on cardboard which saves on trees being used, plus excess garbage. Good for the environment! The Cortana microfig is display nicely with it’s own graphic. It’s a really nice bonus with the Master Chief figure.
As with the other figures in this wave this one comes with a code. Here is the ‘Riptide’ skin for the Assault Rifle. I like this skin as well. Given that bonus skins via the Champions Bundle cost money, these being bonuses for no additional cost on top of the figure is VERY welcome indeed!
Master Chief in orthogonal views. This one compared to the one from the cryo tube is MUCH cleaner. In fact I think it’s even better than the one that came in series one of the Halo 4 figures. Not just for it’s clean paint application, but also considering the weapon skin code AND the Cortana microfig. You definitely get your monies worth from this figure!
The railgun with the MC fig is well done. Weathered AND has small UNSC and UNSC bird emblems on it! Now THAT is detail folks! The peg in the middle is removable and is there if you want to stow the weapon on Chief’s back.
A little tough for me to get in focus, here is the Cortana micro figure. This is just FANTASTIC! Not only is the sculpt great, the paint application on such a small figure is OUT OF THE PARK Awesome!!!
What’s great about the Cortana micro figure is that it DOES come out of the ‘puck-like’ stand. Now I will say BE CAREFUL doing this. It is a small figure. While slightly flexible, you don’t want to break it.
You can see more of the detail that went into this figure above.
Finally, Master Chief holding Cortana in his hand. It seems purposeful that Cortana was made to pop out of the stand for Chief to hold. This pic shows more of the detail of Cortana.
McFarlane REALLY nailed this toy. Not only is Chief FANTASTIC, but the Cortana minifig is amazeballs!
I HIGHLY recommend getting this, even if you have the series 1 Chief figure. Again, you get the code, plus the Cortana Micro figure.
This gets a STRONG 10 of 10 from me!
-Sal
It’s been a long time coming for series 2 of the Halo 4 figures by McFarlane. Thankfully that wait is over and this series is hitting retailer shelves.
My friend ‘StunkPK‘ and his son (and a member of my gaming group) TheBigCheese320 found some of these at their local Walgreens. They were kind enough to pick up this figure as well as the Master Chief figure from this series for me. (Master Chief review coming shortly after this review).
On with the review (click to make pics bigger):
I’m not sure if this series will all be in the slim packaging as seen above. I kind of hope so. The wider packaging takes up shelf space, which means less room for more Halo toys. I like this design anyway. The back of the packaging as well as the front of the card are the same for all of the figures.
This particular figure is the ONLY exclusive to series 2 and is found at Walgreens. What separates this figure from the regular purple CIO in this wave (and for that matter any of the Halo 4 figures to date) is that is has one of the ‘skins’ on it. I like this figure even more so for that. Though it would be impractical to get every spartan with every skin, I’m glad that McFarlane has given us at least this one (to start).
All of the figures in series 2 come with a code. The codes are either for a weapon skin or armor skin. As you can see above this one comes with the “Bones” DMR skin. It’s pretty cool in-game.
Here is the figure out of the package in orthogonal views. Again, you can see the great sculpting here. Paint application is fantastic.
The DMR that comes with this is very well sculpted and also has good paint application. That little peg in the middle is if you want to stow the weapon on the Spartan’s back. It is removable.
Finally we see here (apologies for the bit of fuzziness in the pic) we see the articulation of the figure. It’s LOADED with articulation! This is one of McFarlane Toys strong points when it comes to Halo action figures.
While this was a long wait between series 1 and 2, it’s been worth it. Glad to have the bonus weapon skin and very glad that there were no issues with paint application, articulation and sculpt.
I give this figure a 10 or 10!
-Sal
If you don’t know the McFaralane online store has gone through renovations and will reopen tomorrow.
Might be a good time to see this:
So you might want to bookmark this page for tomorrow…just sayin’.
If it does come up and you DO get one, please forward on some photos to me and I’ll be more than happy to feature it on the blog.
-Sal
SA-WEET!
Won’t be long now ’til WE get our hands on it! (TWSS)
-Sal
I’ve written about this figure before and shown a “pre” preview. Now McFarlane has released more images of the Didact action figure, so it’s time to share them with all of you!
The level of detail is exquisite! Paint application looks superb. One thing I’m noticing too is that the joints seem to be fairly well hidden. That is a HUGE plus too me.
Here’s a shot of the Didact in it’s packaging:
Can I say that I am SUPER excited that McFarlane Toys included an alternate head with this? So extremely happy they did this. For much of the game we see the Didact with his helmet off, however there are those time where it’s on. I think it’s great that McFarlane is giving US the choice of how we want to display the Didact figure, rather than coming out with one helmeted then later down the road another without. That said, I’d still like to have two of these to display both ways!
As you can see on the package shot there are armor and weapons skins. I previewed those previously as well, but just in case you missed it, here are what they will look like in the game:
The Venator armor already looks like a form of Forerunner armor to me. So adding the Didact’s color scheme/accents is freakin’ AWESOME!
Now THIS is how all the Forerunner weapons should look! (IMO)
I’m quickly finishing up my Suppressor commendation, but I’m going to hold back a bit until I get this figure so I can rock the new skin!
Here is the official text blurb from McFarlane about this figure:
Paint: original paint
Scale: 9-inch
Format: action figure
Packaging: boxed
In scale with our standard 6-inch figures, these deluxe boxed collectibles bring the larger characters and accessories of the Halo universe to your toy collection.
Our Didact action figure captures every detail of the Master Chief’s powerful nemesis, from the wicked spikes of his metallic armor to the glowing lines tracing along every piece. Figure stands approximately nine inches tall, includes 29 points of articulation, and includes a code that unlocks exclusive Halo 4 video game content – Refractive Venator Armor Skin and Refractive Suppressor Weapon Skin!
There is no retail price listed, though it’s been reported previously that it’s expected to be $29.99.
To view on McFarlane’s official site go here.
-Sal
Coming soon from McFarlane Toys!
This is sure to be a quick sell-out like the Chief Vs. Hunter statue was. So stay tuned…
[UPDATE] Got a new pic showing the not as yet finished statue as being peered at by Todd McFarlane.
Looking good Todd, looking good!
-Sal
The image is a comparison between McFarlane Halo action figures. They are to scale with each other, so they also represent the scale in the game.
Wow, Master Chief looks PUNY… 🙁
(Click image to make full size)
So are you excited for the Didact figure? Plan on getting it? Do you have the Knight and/or Master Chief yet?
-Sal
When you buy the soon to be released Halo 4 series 2 action figures from McFarlane Toys, you’ll get an extra bonus!!!
FINALLY, we have pics of what these skins look like and are called. Personally, as I’m a collector of McFarlane figures, I’m VERY happy that these are coming out. Without further ado, let’s get to the SKINS!
The Storm Rifle finally gets a SKIN. ANd it’s very COOL (pun intended). It’s called “CHILL” ANd you’ll be chillin’ like a villain if you use this cool as ice skin!
Next it’s time to “Engage” upon a new Carbine skin, called…ENGAGE. I think this DEFINITELY looks like a skin you’d see on Covenant Weapon.
There’s no bones about it, this next skin is awesome.
For the next skin we have Riptide. I like the look of this skin. I just wish we could give the skins other colors.
Next we have an armor skin. By wearing this would we then be the Toxic Avenger?
Another Armor Skin is NOT Ruined by this design. In fact RUIN is my second favorite of these new skins.
And finally a pair of skins that share the same name. One for a weapon, the other for an armor skin. I give you: REFRACTIVE!
These two skins are by FAR my favorite of all of these new skins. It makes sense too as the Didact figure is going to cost you more than the other figures since it’s bigger. Still, I can’t wait to ROCK these skins!!!
Look for these figures in October from major retailers.
Here’s the blurb from McFarlane on these:
“For years, McFarlane Toys’ Halo action figures have brought the characters of the Halo video game series to your toy collection. This Fall, they’ll start giving back, by bringing cool new customization options into your Halo 4 game!
With Halo 4 Series 2, all of our figures will come with unique codes that unlock new, exclusive in-game content to help you stand out in Halo Infinity multiplayer. We’ve got a total of eight new armor and weapon skins, and each one is only available through McFarlane Toys action figures. Each figure unlocks a different item. All armor skins feature customizable colors.
Update your Spartan’s armor and loadouts with these never-before-seen patterns!
If your Spartan needs a new style, help is on its way. Halo 4 Series 2 will be in stores this October.”
-Sal