Merch Madness: Halo Anniversary Series 2 "The Package" Master Chief Action Figure

Figure: Halo Anniversary Series 2 "The Package" Master Chief Action Figure
Company: McFarlane Toys

 Final Verdict: 5/10

Clearly I can not help myself from raving about Halo stuff. Either that or it's the most wide-spread and common video game goodies available. Maybe both.

I picked up this figure at my local Toys R Us, where I spend my lonely nights when the internet is down. This particular Master Chief is ever so slightly different then all the other Master Chiefs out there. This particular model was created as part of the Halo Anniversary series of figures which celebrate everything that is Halo. This Master Chief is modeled very specifically as the Master Chief that appears "The Package", a short film featured on the DVD of Halo Legends. For those of you living under a rock, here's a mid-film clip to give you a taste:

This film was produced by Casio Entertainment and directed by Aramaki Shinji. Their segment of the Halo Legends was their most important work as a studio. Other then that, the most notable would be segments of CG for Final Fantasy: Dissidia.

Regardless, the most distinctive differences in this MC is the additional paint job (the white war stripes and the small red detailing) and the particular mark of armor. The change isn't tremendous, but if they were to release ANOTHER Master Chief, I'm glad they made the effort of adding something new to the mix.

 

The packaging is a fairly simple plastic on cardboard backing type, which doesn't look great to display, so it reduces my guilt in tearing him free of his plastic prison. Master Chief comes with 3 accessories, his iconic assault rifle, a frag grenade, and a piece of the UNSC logo.

 

There's a few things that surprise me when it comes to the accessories: first, there's a bar protruding the side of the assault rifle, which I'm assuming is to mount on the side of his thigh (or so I assume since that's the only holes on his body) though when on display, I don't see why he wouldn't be holding his gun, and when he is, there's an awkward stud jutting out the side. The frag grenade, however, has the opposite problem. There's a hole that takes up about 42% of the thing for no apparent reason. And no, it DOESN'T fit on the gun's peg. Though it does fit on the end of the barrel.

I created... a grenade launcher. Harr harr.
 

There's also the insignia piece. It's not really something important at it's just a hollow piece of cheap plastic which looks like nothing without the rest of the set. It's a cool extra little feature for a dedicated collector though.

Anyways, onto the main course. Master Chief is advertised to have 28 moving parts. These "moving parts" however, are not easy parts to move. For such an articulated figure, he's awfully hard to position. His knees won't bend more then a 45 degree angle, and his thighs maybe 15. This is an issue for display. The less movement he has, the harder it is to pose him in a balanced position that doesn't look awkward as hell. So unless you resort to sticky tack under his feet, odds are you'll have him standing straight, or, y'know....

Looking like Voldo from Soul Calibur.

Or crossing over into my My Little Pony collection.

It also advertises 28 moving parts. There's actually 17 moving parts, not 28. Although, I've figured that they meant axes on which parts can move. That makes a lot more sense. He can rotate rather unnaturally, though he can't bend very well.

Other then that, the sculpt is highly detailed and intricate (as well as accurate) as MacFarlane figures are recognized for, though mine did have a slight factory defect on his knee, I don't expect that it's a widespread problem.

Wtf is this shit.

To finish it off, the paint job. It's almost perfect except for one wide green line on his waist that looks to have been misaligned or bled. This is unfortunate as other then that, the paint is a high quality and looks fairly resistant to abuse.

Crotch paint leak.

Overall, this figure is nice to look at at first but is plagued with multiple imperfections. It's not unique enough to seduce anyone but a passionate Halo collector into purchasing it, especially at a 16.99$ canadian retail plus tax. There are much more impressive Master Chiefs out there, and this isn't "the one" to own. Although, I have to admit I had fun testing it out for this review...

Maybe too much fun.

So I gave this figure 5/10 crab walks for just not being quite as epic enough to be something "new", not being flexible enough to truly be poseable, and leaving me with a lot of unanswered questions (and not to mention leaving me with an extra piece that is useless unless I buy the rest of the set). Until next time!

...I promise no more Halo related reviews for a while.

Geek Read: Halo: The Fall of Reach

Title: Halo: The Fall of Reach
Publisher:  Tor Books; First Edition edition

Authors: Eric Nylund

Published:  03/08/2010

Page Count: 416 pages

Final Verdict: 7.5/10

Picture unrelated to opinion but related to what I do on Saturday nights.

I'm not usually one for novel adaptations of anything, not movies, not games. Novels are usually better as it's own original material, something that was planned and loved and poured over for hours trying to wring out a creative thought which was then pushed into something (usually) great, the same can be said of games. I really admire fiction authors as they are not only are they able to spin wild thoughts into solid, structured sentences (which is something I clearly struggle with, amirite?) but they can do so about worlds that don't exist, about material that's completely made up. They can make fantasy so vibrant it feels real.

This isn't one of those books. It's not original material, it's based off a video game. A hit video game. One with thousands and thousands of nitpicking die-hard fans willing to tear apart a story to find it's clashes with the source material. Living up to those expectations can't be easy. You can't pretend you can tap into someone's gaming experience and capture that feeling in a book. This book doesn't try to do that. It simply tries to tell you it's story. 

After my last read (which you'll be able to tell through my review felt like it gave me an intelligence tumor), I thought I'd tone it down with something more brain-numbing (and with explosions). I had started to read The Fall of Reach years ago, but lost it partway through. I recently picked it back up (which is now the definitive edition, with an additional 27-ish pages of content) and decide to re-tackle it. Let's say, for something I expected to go ratatatatatat for 8 chapters had a little more to offer then that.

The Halo: Fall of Reach novel tackles the origin of Master Chief and the Spartan-IIs and serves as a precursor to the original Halo game. The book is written in third person, yet it concentrates a lot on the thoughts of the main characters. Throughout the book, you explore many people's conscience about a whole wack of subjects, from the morality issues associated with genetic engineering, to what defines humanity, to a soldier's reasons to fight. You get to explore different characters with a wide range of emotions and personalities and get a little insight at how they personally handle the current madness. There's a big emphasis on conscience throughout the novel which is very different from the mindless satisfaction of splattering Covenant with your Warthog in game. It forces you to stop and think a minute.

The Master Chief is obviously the main focus in the story. I was wondering how they would choose to portray him as he is a mostly silent character in the games, and his actions are almost always dictated by your decisions. That would mean no Master Chief is ever the same, thus making the character even harder to recapture as everyone will have different expectations. They settle this on making him remarkably average. John-117 is unbelievably normal, with feelings and questions and imperfections all the same. He stays very human despite the fact that he is practically half machine. His only real superhuman trait is that he is wholly, almost blindly dedicated to his cause. You can not help but once again project yourself in his image. He's normal, I'm normal, we are the same (now for that power armor..).

The story covers plenty of unanswered questions and sheds light on many references only mentioned in-game. Though the futuristic human world is vast with a multitude of planets, systems, colonies, ships, and much more to keep in mind, it's relatively easy to follow. The simple level of language used is most likely to keep the average gamer interested. It's easy enough to not have to think and dive into this world of glorious battles. It's simplistic without being stupid. I don't feel like the book is spoon-feeding me information bite by bite, but it does take it's time to properly explain what is going on and where without having you lose interest.

I was hoping for a book to shut my brain off to, something easy to read. This book is both of those, but a little more. It did grab my attention and encouraged me to keep reading without wanting to put it down. It didn't delude my love for Halo by adding any soppyness or just dumbing it down. The Halo universe is a vast and fascinating one and it was interesting to take a dive into it to get away, even when I was miles away from my Xbox. It kept me entertained, but I can't say it ever really surprised me. I'll give it 7.5 frags out of 10 for being a solid, fun read that lacks in maybe a little shock and awe.