Just finished recording the newest Podtacular podcast. In that episode we talk about all things Halo collectible and toy related. If you want to hear me geek out, this is the podcast for you! LOL
Dust Storm from Podtacular should have this up tomorrow. When he does, I’ll get a link up here pronto for that podcast.
-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
We start off with the Matchmaking Playlist Update. The Sniper is the weapon of the day here.
Team Snipers will be receiving new and updated maps: Ragnarok has received heavily optimized respawns, with many of the mid-map respawn points being moved to reduce the frequency of gaining control at the “50-yard line” and continually spawn-killing the enemy. Additionally, the respawn points behind and in front of the bases have been optimized to reduce the frequency of spawning out in the open. Also, Pitfall will be added to the playlist alongside Community Forge maps “The Ark,” made by The Fated Fire and “Opticon,” made by SaItyKoalaBear.
The Ark offers a wide mix of sightlines and scenery that help players learn and understand the map relatively quickly. For a look around the map (and potentially a jump on your opponents) check out the vid below.
Opticon brings a large arena-esque map into the Snipers mix, and offers challenging angles and sightlines into the middle structure, guaranteeing that securing map control will be no easy feat.
In addition to these updated maps, there are some new game types. The first of these are Covenant and Forerunner Snipers, which will equip players with Beam Rifles and Binary Rifles, respectively. Also, the traditional Team Snipers variant will no longer have any on-map weapons, and each game type (Team Snipers, Covenant Snipers, and Forerunner Snipers) will feature single-weapon sniping experiences. There is something new inspired by “No-Scopes Only” custom game types that have been popular in custom game lobbies for years. This coming Monday, Snapshot will make its premiere in Matchmaking.
SNAPSHOT
In this new game type, only “un-zoomed” kills will add to your team score. Players will still be able to zoom in, and even kill opponents whilst in-scope, but these kills will not count towards your team score, and your team will be upset with you for being so foolish for zooming in with a Sniper Rifle.
Players will start with both the Beam Rifle and UNSC Sniper Rifle. Extensive playtesting went into this game type, and we decided to start players with the Beam Rifle as the primary weapon due to the fact that un-zoomed kills with this weapon come at a faster and smoother pace, and we believe that this leads to an optimal flow (as well as laughing, chaos, and epic multi-kills). As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback about this game type.
Community Game Type Highlight: Conversion
Over the next few months (and potentially beyond), I’ll be highlighting noteworthy contributions from the community in the Bulletin. These may come in the form of maps, montages, and more. This week, I’ve decided to focus on a custom game type that has gained some steam and popularity over this past summer: Conversion. I had the chance to play this game type a few days after it was officially released, and was impressed by the new twist on an attack/defend round-based game type, which is based off of Extraction. There has been a significant amount of work on the game type since I last played, so I reached out to The Psycho Duck, one of the brains behind the project, to discuss the game type, where it came from, and where it is now. Enjoy!
(What follows is an interview with the creator of this game type. To see this go to the official site. Link at end of article)
In the meantime, you can download the gametype and maps here:
Conversion Gametype
Firebase map
Colony map
Lastly the screenshot spotlight. This week: Ricochet.
I particularly like this shot:
To read the full bulletin, go HERE.
-Sal