{"id":27935,"date":"2016-12-14T14:40:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T19:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/?p=27935"},"modified":"2016-12-14T14:40:27","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T19:40:27","slug":"the-12-days-of-halo-toy-reviews-day-2-mattel-master-chief-figure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/?p=27935","title":{"rendered":"The 12 Days of Halo Toy Reviews: Day 2; Mattel Master Chief figure"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second\u00a0of 12 consecutive days of Halo Toy Reviews. Over the course of those days, I\u2019ll be reviewing Halo Mega Bloks, Mattel Halo figures, Prop weapons and more.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"logo-mattel\"<\/p>\n

Technical Specifications:<\/strong><\/span>
\nArticulation:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Ball Joint Head
\n\u2022 Ball Joint Shoulders
\n\u2022 Hinged Elbows
\n\u2022 Ball Joint Wrists
\n\u2022 Swivel\u00a0Torso
\n\u2022 Partial\u00a0Ball Joint hips
\n\u2022 Double Hinge Knees
\n\u2022 Ball Joint Ankles
\nAccessories:\u00a0<\/strong>Assault Rifle,\u00a0Energy Sword
\nAdditional Contents:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Instruction sheet showing how to put the armor on
\n\u2022 2 small pins to attach weapons to figure
\nCost:<\/strong>\u00a0$15-18 (US) depending on where you buy it at retail
\nAvailability:\u00a0Mass Retail\u00a0<\/strong>(I got mine from Toys R Us, on sale for $12!)<\/p>\n

And on with the pics!\u00a0<\/strong>(Click pics to make\u00a0BIGGER<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

So here we have it. Mattel picked up the license that McFarlane left. And I have ot say, from what I’ve seen so far, I’m pretty happy with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The package design is good. Plenty of Forerunner graphics all over it. A large window on the front of the box allows you to see the contents quite well. The back of the box shows you the figure with none of it’s armor on. As well, it shows the other figures in this series. Something NEW to Halo action figure collecting is the “build-a-figure” theme. This is something that has been happening with other franchise line for quite some time now. I’m very happy to see it come to Halo. In this series, if you buy one each of the figures, you will have a piece from each that when put together will make a Promethean Crawler!\"mt-master-chief-fig-box\"Here is a closer up view of the armorless Chief.\"mt-master-chief-fig-back-box-detail\"<\/p>\n

When you open up the box, there is a plastic tray that slides right out. Here it is shown with everything in the box with exception to the instruction sheet. Each piece of armor is relatively close to the area on which you put it on the figure.\"mt-master-chief-fig-contents\"<\/p>\n

Here’s the instruction sheet.\"mt-master-chief-fig-instructions\"<\/p>\n

To put the forearm armor on, you have to first remove the hand. NOTE: It takes a little effort to pop the hand off. Don’t try to force this too hard as there is a small joint at the wrist. I’m concerned that this might break. It hasn’t happened to me yet and as of this writing, I’ve opened up 3 of the Mattel figures. So just be careful. After you slide the forearm armor on, it takes a little force to get the hand to go back in all the way. The shoulder armor fits partially around the upper arm and has a small pin on the inside of it that inserts into the upper arm. See the red circle in the graphic below.\"mt-master-chief-fig-top-armor\"<\/p>\n

Next up is the leg armor. The thigh\u00a0armor similarly to the shoulder armor wraps around and has a pin that goes into a hole. This might take a couple of tries to get it on right. As the hole is hidden from view when putting the thigh armor on, you’ll have to move the piece around slightly until you feel the pin insert int the hole. The shin\u00a0armor is in two pieces, front and back. Once again, a pin for each into a hole. When properly placed, there is no gap between the pieces. The pic below shows the thigh armor not all the way snapped together.\"mt-master-chief-fig-bottom-armor\"<\/p>\n

The “butt-plate” is a simple push in with one pin. Do take care as this may pop off during play.\"mt-master-chief-fig-butt-plate\"<\/p>\n

After this, you slide the foot armor on. The pic I took wasn’t that great, so I elected to not include it. It is pretty easy to slide the foot armor on. Work from front to back, popping on the heel of the foot into the armor. Just like you would a real shoe.<\/p>\n

Here is the Assault Rifle. Really nicely painted. The hole just above and to the right of the trigger hole is where one of the pins (included in a small bag within the box) goes. This if you choose to store the AR on Master Chief’s back.\"mt-master-chief-fig-ar\"<\/p>\n

Chief holding onto the AR. Yes, as you can see, he can hold it with both hands quite easily!
\n\"mt-master-chief-fig-ar2\"<\/p>\n

Next up, the Energy Sword. This has a good amount of translucency to it, with exception to the handle, as it should be. The right side of the graphic below shows the thickness of the sword.
\n\"mt-master-chief-fig-energy-sword\"<\/p>\n

To allow Chief to better hold the Energy Sword, Mattel included an extra right hand with the fingers split two to each side. A REALLY good addition to this figure as it can hold the sword well.\"mt-master-chief-fig-split-hand\"<\/p>\n

And just as I said above, Chief is holding the sword one-handed. There is no droop of the arm, which happens with other action figure franchises. So a great job here by Mattel toy designers.\"mt-master-chief-fig-energy-sword2\"<\/p>\n

Here are the two pins I eluded to above. One is slightly smaller than the other. For this figure though, You’ll really only use the longer one, which fits into the AR\/Back of Chief. The smaller one CAN be used for the sword. However, as that is normally kept on the thigh, and the sword is drawn as opposed to closed down, it doesn’t fit there correctly. Besides, would YOU want an activated energy sword attached to your leg? I sure wouldn’t, LOL.\"mt-master-chief-fig-weapon-pins\"<\/p>\n

The Crawler piece you get with the Chief figure is a portion of the body. As I review the other Mattel Halo figures in this series, you will see the other parts. At the completion of the Mattel reviews, I’ll show the crawler put together.\"mt-master-chief-fig-crawler-piece\"<\/p>\n

Orthogonal views of Chief.\"mt-master-chief-fig-ortho\"<\/p>\n

A few detail shots. The back thrusters are detailed VERY well. On the chest there is indeed the braille “117” dots. Now one thing I’m still not sure about is the thin red line on Chief’s Upper thigh.\"mt-master-chief-fig-detail\"<\/p>\n

Now to the articulation!<\/p>\n

Mattel’s Halo action figures have a very good amount of articulation to them. The graphic below better demostrates where and what kind of articulation there is with the figure.\"mt-master-chief-fig-articulation\"<\/p>\n

You can get the figure into some good poses. Here Chief looks like he might have just kicked a soccer ball. Or maybe a Grunt, who knows?\u00a0\"mt-master-chief-fig-pose\"<\/p>\n

Ah, now HERE is the Grunt kicking Chief! Ha ha!! Yes indeed, with a little patience, you can pose the figure on one leg. It takes some balancing but can be done as evidence by the pic above and below.\"mt-master-chief-fig-pose2\"<\/p>\n

Finally, I wanted to get Chief into his now iconic Halo 4 Cover art pose. I positioned the figure from memory, so I’m a little off here. But as you can see by the pose picture and the actual Halo 4 art work, I’m close and the figure can replicate the pose quite well!!!\u00a0\"mt-master-chief-fig-h4-cvr-pose\"\"halo_4_cover_art\"<\/p>\n

Evaluation<\/strong>
\nSculpt:\u00a0<\/strong>Very well done. The only issue I have, is with the thigh armor pieces. They do not completely wrap around the thigh, so there is a gap at the inner thigh. 9 of 10 medals.
\nArticulation:\u00a0<\/strong>This figure has articulation that for the first batch of Mattel\u00a0Halo figures is quite good. Hip articulation is a little limited.\u00a010 of 10 medals.
\nPaint Application:\u00a0<\/strong>The paint is good here. Not too much beyond the greens and black, with a tinge of red.\u00a0The only small issue to this\u00a0is that the armor looks like plastic and not durable metallic armor. Maybe down the line, Mattel\u00a0can mix some kind of metallic paint or sheen coating in with the plastic to punch it up a little. Still, this is really minor with me as this is after all, a TOY!\u00a0The AR has a very nice art deco to it. 9\u00a0of 10 medals.
\nAccessories:\u00a0<\/strong>Once again, that AR is really nice. Definitely glad we got an Energy Sword so early in Mattel’s run with the license! 10 out of 10 medals
\nPlayability:<\/strong>\u00a0Standard playability. It can be pose in many\u00a0positions. Pretty durable, just take care not to lose armor pieces. I suggest glueing them into place. But of course, that is your decision. 10\u00a0of 10 medals.
\nOverall:\u00a0<\/strong>48\u00a0medals out of a total 50 medals.<\/p>\n

Do I recommend this product?\u00a0YES!\u00a0For the first of the Mattel Halo Action Figures, they did an EXCELLENT job manufacturing a Master Chief figure.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I was a little concerned about anotehr toy company taking over after McFarlane Toys. After all, McF had the license for years and made many excellnt figures in that time. I can say with confidence that the license is in good hands with Mattel. They are after all a toy company. Some worries that other people had about the sculpt of the figures, didn’t pan out, which is a good thing. I’m really happy with the sculpting here.<\/p>\n

And with that, the\u00a0first Mattel Halo action figure review is complete. Of course, look for more of these over the next couple of days and then from there as new series of figures comes out.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions about this set that I didn\u2019t cover in the review, please feel free\u00a0to ask me. Either reply below or e-mail me at sal@halofanforlife.com<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think of the review. If you get\u00a0this\u00a0yourself, please let\u00a0me know your thoughts on it too!<\/span><\/p>\n

If this review gives you an informed decision on whether to purchase the toy\u00a0or not, please consider a small donation (50 cents) to the blog. It\u2019s much appreciated and helps ensure that HFFL stays registered\/active on the internet. Thank You.<\/span><\/p>\n

-Sal<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the second\u00a0of 12 consecutive days of Halo Toy Reviews. Over the course of those days, I\u2019ll be reviewing Halo Mega Bloks, Mattel Halo figures, Prop weapons and more.\u00a0 Technical Specifications: Articulation: \u2022 Ball Joint Head \u2022 Ball Joint … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mattel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27935"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27940,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27935\/revisions\/27940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}