This latest review discusses a long awaited toy. The Cryo Tube. We first caught a glimpse of an iteration of this all the way back in Halo CE. This version is the 343 take on the one from the end of Halo 3 going into Halo 4.

I first saw this toy version at New York Toy Fair this year and happy to know it was being made.

This box is actually a bit smaller than it may seem. Not too much wasted space. Graphics are solid as usual. Mine came with a big dent at the top of the box. This is due to the thin cardboard used for the outer box. Sigh, ah well, I’m an opener and displayer, so it’s not a big a deal to me as it would be to someone who likes to collect mint and display in box.

Oh, I should note that the price of this set was $25. That is an excellent price given the figure alone would range between $13-16 depending on where you got it from. Read on to get my views of the Cryo Tube itself.

For the moment though, let’s take a look at the Master Chief figure that came with the set.

Much more silver showing through here than I would have wanted. The sticky detonator gun is a nice little accessory. The visor was well painted. Maybe a bit too well done given it looks nice and clean compared to the rest of the very weathered figure.

Below is the comparison between the one I got in the 4-pack (on left) and the one in the cryo tube set (on right):

Despite what it may seem, the figure is the exact same. Now if I could just get one without much if any of that weathering, I’d be happy. I prefer my MC to look more olive than weather worn silver. The cryo tube one does work for the set as it looks like he’s coming out of cryo sleep in frigid air and this is ice/condensation built up on him. Though, I do not think that was intentional.

Next we get to the tube itself.

To open, gently pull away from the tube, then lift the door up. Mine gave a surprising, almost scary “cracking” sound when I went to open it. I thought I broke it. So your mileage may vary, just be careful when opening it. The detail inside is superb. Heck, I’d like to be flash frozen asleep in that comfy looking tube. LOL

Seems like Master Chief did too. He wanted back in for some more much needed rest in preparation for Halo 4. I think he said something like, “Wake me, when you need me.” So I let him rest and with that the last quick pic of the instruction sheet on how to open the tube and this review comes to a close.

A good set, worth the money. I recommend it.

-HFFL

I got a tip from a friend of mine that the single carded figures could be found at Gamestop. Not only that, but that they were in different packaging than other retailers.

Since Gamestop’s shelf space is very limited for things other than games, McFarlane made a special packaging to accommodate them.

First here is the normal packaging (pic from McFarlane’s website):

Now the same figure in the much smaller Gamestop packaging along with a comparison next to his blue brother:

I actually MUCH prefer the smaller packaging. Less waste for one. Also, for those who like to keep their stuff carded, but displayed that way, the smaller packaging gives them back some space that the larger one would have taken up.

I wish single carded figs would all be this way for every store, not just Gamestop.

Anyway, about the figure. Well, it’s no different than the blue one reviewed previously. Has the same articulation (though the ankles on mine don’t want to move much). Of note on my particular figure, the right toe piece keeps popping off. Annoying.

I have to say that I’m not really all that impressed with the Halo 4 multiplayer figures thus far. The paint apps seem very flat. Not much detailing at all. The Sniper is almost all a grey slab of plastic but for those few green dots in the scopes.  I can’t help but think that some better weathering would have spruced this up a bit.

Now there is something to be said about the sculpt. McFarlane did a good job there. In this respect though, they are emulating 343’s design. From what we saw coming out of the Halo Bulletin last week, you could either be more excited or less. I’m kind of “meh” at this point. Only 1 or 2 helmets have me anywhere near excited for them. The rest are just a bit too angular and non-Halo to me. That being said, I’m sure they’ll grow on me to some degree. Then again, some in Reach never did. I’m looking at you Military Police helmet…

Here is the first Toy review from HFFL for Halo 4 McFarlane Action Figures!

This boxed set includes the new style Master Chief, a Blue “Soldier” Spartan IV, Zealot Elite, and Storm Grunt.
Weapons included are: Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Energy Sword, Plasma Pistol

Each figure has the standard articulation:
•  Ball Joint Head
•  Ball Joint Shoulders
•  2-part swivel Elbows
•  Ball joint wrists (except Grunt)
•  Limited Ball joint Torso
•  Ball Joint Hips
•  2-part swivel Knees
•  Ball Joint Feet (except Grunt)

The Pros and Cons:
Pros: Great value for the set and a way to get three of the figures that are also on single card. The only one different is the Spartan IV. In this set it’s blue, the single carded fig is red. the sculpts are excellent as always.
Cons: Not really any cons to this set. The redesign of the characters is due to 343 and not McFarlane. So whether you like the look or not, McFarlane in not to be credited.

And now for the pics:

Pic from McFarlane’s website.

Great detail, though mine had just a bit too much silver paint on the helmet for my liking.

The grunt detailing is fantastic, though I’m not a fan of the redesign. I’m sur eit will grow on me though. Just take a look at the size of McFarlane grunts. The Halo 4 version sure is beefier than the Halo 3 version. Look at that Grunt bummer! LOL.

Once again, McFarlane nails the sculpt. This elite looks more monstrous and scary than any previous iteration. I love the color. The stunted mandibles with the head remind me more of the Rancor from Star Wars than the traditional Elite. The range in size from Halo 3 to Reach to Halo 4 is huge. The Halo 3 Elite looks puny, while the Reach Elite just looks like a slightly smaller brother. I’m liking this scale size, even if it doesn’t fit with the Halo 3 style figs.

I definitely recommend getting this set. It’s worth it and can save you from multiple purchases form the single carded figures if you’re not looking to repeat figures in your collection.

-HFFL

I saw these first at New York Toy Fair this year and immediately was excited for them. They are a fun small size in realistic detail. Great for building massive and small dioramas alike. They also are affordable.

The boxed High Ground Gate set seen here retails between $27-30 depending on store. It’s an okay price, but is leaning toward being a little over priced. I really hope McFarlane doesn’t up the price on these as that would price these sets out of my budget.

The carded pic are directly from McFarlane’s website, the loose shots are mine.

As you can see the set comes with the gate, a Warthog (same as the small carded set), a shooting Spartan, and a Machine Gun Spartan. The micro figs and Warthog make up only about $7 of the set, so that means you’re paying about $20-23 for the Gate piece.

The one really great thing about these sets are their detail and this one doesn’t fail. It’s very detailed and would look great in a diorama.

The turret has little slots to fit the hands of the gunner.

While the place where the turret is normally positioned on the gate swivels. Not really necessary, but a nice added feature.

The Gate opens and closes and looks good from both the front and back sides.

It’s a good set and will look great with the other High Ground sets. I look forward to getting the Laser Tower set to complete this scene from one of Halo 3’s multiplayer maps.

-Sal

I saw these first at New York Toy Fair this year and immediately was excited for them. They are a fun small size in realistic detail. Great for building massive and small dioramas alike. They also are very affordable.

The large card sets seen here retail between $16-18 depending on store. I think it’s a fair price, not just for what you get, but the overall quality of what you get in something this small in scale.

Both “carded” pics are directly from McFarlane’s website, the loose shots are mine.

First up is the Falcon set: This set includes the Falcon, Carter (Noble 1), A crouching marine, and a Pilot. The Falcon has several moving parts that really make this a sweet set. Not only does the cockpit open to put the pilot in, but the rotors spin as well as swivel from top to front. Add to this the side gun mounts fully retract and are quite posable, considering their diminutive size. It might seems steep to pay $16-18 for this, however the detail is great and the moving parts really help to make up for any perceived shortcomings due to price.

Next is the High Ground Bunker set. I thought this a little strange at first but then when you couple it with the High Ground Gate and the very soon to be release High Ground Tower/Missle cannon, it really sells the whole thing. However, this set did have it’s drawback for me. The set comes with the Bunker in several pieces that you can choose to combine or not as you see fit. As well it has a Shade Turret in game accurate colors. For micro figs it has a Red Spartan, Marine, and strangely a Reach style grunt. I say strange because this set is depicted from Halo 3, not Reach and the grunts are completely different.

Be certain to check the bottom underside of the bubble as that is where the two connecting baseplates are. I almost threw away the bubble before realizing they were there.

In the above pic you may see where the front most piece of the bunker doesn’t quite fit well with the rest of the set. In order to make it flush, I had to tape it underneath. Also, these pieces are slightly flexible, which may mean you could have some sag over time. That remains to be seen though. The assembly of the bunker isn’t tight either. The little pegs on the baseplates don’t exactly fit right, but with some gentle nudging you can make them fit.

It may be a little hard to tell that the grunt I’m holding has peg holes so it can fit in the turret. The problem for me is that the legs weren’t evenly straight and the peg and holes were so darn small that I gave up after 5 minutes of trying to make the little guy fit. I’ll try again later, but this time I may use tweezers. The Shade is very nice. As you can see it can pivot up and down as well as rotate 360°.

These two sets start to border on expensive, so I hope in future waves the price doesn’t go up. The Falcon is a solid buy, while the Bunker set alone isn’t impressive. However, if you really want to make a High Ground diorama, then it’s a must buy. In my case I want to make a diorama, so…

-Sal

I saw these first at New York Toy Fair this year and immediately was excited for them. They are a fun small size in realistic detail. Great for building massive and small dioramas alike. They also are very affordable.

The small card sets seen here retail between $7-9 depending on store. I think it’s a fair price, not just for what you get, but the overall quality of what you get in something this small in scale.

All “carded” pics are directly from McFarlane’s website, the loose shots are mine.

First up the Banshee set. This set comes with a Reach style Banshee (my preferred version as it’s sleeker than previous incarnations), as well as two micro figures. One is an Elite Pilot while the other is an Elite Ranger.

The Banshee’s four wings rotate slightly and independent of each other. VERY cool set. I want to get another one of it.

Next is the Ghost with Wolf Spider Turret set. This set includes Emile (Noble 3 from Reach) and an Elite, I think it’s supposed to be an Ascetic, hard to tell. Also of course the Ghost and Wolf Spider Turret. The turret comes with an extra “closed” hatch if you want to display it that way. Be forewarned, trying to pop that closed hatch on should be done be small nimble fingers. It’s not for thick fingered folks… The turret does rotate. Do NOT try to take the Ghost off it’s stand. It is not removable. That’s a feature I wish McFarlane would have considered. I broke mine off the stand after shooting the pics…

Thirdly comes the ODST Drop pods. This is a good set with lots of detail. Comes with one deployed pod and one landed pod. Each pods’ front doors pop off and can be put back on easily. As well the side doors swivel out on each. There is a small steel color stand for the deployed pod and a highly detailed dirt base for the landed pod. The micro figures with this set are as follows, Buck, Dare, the Rookie. I think this one has some good value to it given the two pods.

Lastly is the Warthog/Mongoose set. I think this is my favorite set and I can already see this being reissued as a Gauss hog set and/or Rockethog set. Included are a Chain Gun hog, Mongoose (Reach style), micro figures of Marine Gunner, Spartan Warthog Driver, Spartan Mongoose driver.

All in all really good sets. Detail is fantastic at this scale. Price is good to great. If you want to build a diorama, these are certainly the ay to go. I highly recommend them.

-Sal

Several preview pics and information have been released for the upcoming series 2 of the Micro Ops line.

Here’s the intel and pics:

Scorpion:

This set includes a new Halo 4 UNSC Scorpion tank, a heavy ground combat vehicle used by the UNSC during large scale operations, features a hatch that opens and closes, along with a rotating & elevating turret. The set also includes Halo 4 Master Chief and two Marine figures for a total of 4 pieces.

Covenant Watchtower:

This set includes the Covenant Watchtower from Halo: Reach, featuring a working gravity lift that elevates figures from the ground level to the top. The set also includes two Jackal Snipers with Needle Rifles and a Jackal Major with Needler for a total of 4 pieces.

Gauss Hog with Generator:

This set includes a Warthog, the UNSC’s primary ground vehicle, with rotating Gauss Cannon; and a UNSC Generator to be protected by Spartans from enemy attack. Also includes Kat (a member of Noble Team from Halo: Reach), along with a UNSC Trooper driver and gunner for a total of 5 pieces.

UNSC Wolverine:

This set includes a Wolverine, an anti-aircraft half-track vehicle used by the UNSC, that features a rotating turret and driver hatch that opens and closes. Also includes UNSC Marine driver and UNSC Flamethrower Unit figures for a total of 3 pieces.

Figure pack (with Ground Cover):

This set includes Jun and Jorge (members of Noble Team from Halo: Reach), along with a UNSC Trooper, Elite General, Grunt Ultra, and Grunt Heavy figures. Also includes a Small Barrier, a mobile metal ground barrier used by UNSC infantry forces, and a Portable Energy Shield, a deployable cover created by the Covenant (enemy) for a total of 8 pieces.

Covenant Drop Pods:

This set includes two Covenant (enemy) Drop Pods, high-altitude deployment vehicles used by Elites to deploy a single occupant to a planet’s surface. Each pod features a removable hatch door. Set also includes a beach base, flight stand, and two Elite Ultra figures for a total of 6 pieces.

What’s cool is that we’re getting the Noble Squad members in these. Hopefully McFarlane will round out the squad with Carter and the default Noble Six in the next series.

-Sal

I was out and about this morning and stopped into my local Target for some headache medicine. Decided to check the toys and lo’ and behold, there was a TON of new McFarlane Halo toys.

Every Micro Ops set except for the High Ground Tower (which I’m not sure is supposed to be out right now atm anyway).

As well the ODST Drop pod (Gorgeous), and Halo Avatar minifigs. On that note, I need a regular Master Chief and Warthog if anyone can help?

Also there was the exclusive 4-pack of figures. In the set are: Master Chief, Elite Zealot, Grunt, and Blue Spartan. Good looking set.

Unfortunately, I had to pass on all of this for the time being as I’m low on funds. Doesn’t mean you have to though. If you were waiting to hear about these toys hitting shelves, they are! Well, at Target anyway.