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.