Halo SPARTAN AIR ASSAULT!

McFarlane Toys Halo Series 3  Spartan Air Assault (Female)  2011

I bought something made by McFarlane Toys!  Seriously!  There's something about this company that has always rubbed me the wrong way.  Maybe it's the hyper-detail (usually gorey), maybe it's the overwashed paintjobs, maybe it's the statuesque unposeability of most of their figures - could be any of these.  But I think it's most likely that their female figures almost always offend me in some way.  Why is it that men get armor and detailed costumes while women get skull bikinis and stripper poses?  I get why people love the brand.. I do.  But I find I'm usually drawn to a toy line with nostalgic retro vibe, whether in character selection or the actual look of the figure.  But McFarlane Toys is as far from that personal ideal as you can get.  That said, I just bought my first TWO McFarlane action figures this weekend (You'll see the second one reviewed later this week).  They're both amazing and have me totally re-assessing my views on the company.

I don't play video games.  I have a very addictive personality and I have spent entire summers zoned-out in front of a gaming console.  Luckily at this point my gaming skills have degraded to a point where I'm too frustrated with most systems to even try.  I do however like video game characters and toys.  I don't have too many, but I'm intrigued and always checking out new products (fyi... I'm the guy who collected Magic cards but never played).

So Halo.  I know zip about this game.  From the toy boxes, I surmize that there is an ongoing battle between aliens and humans.  And the humans are constantly decked-out in stylized combat armor.  Always seemed a little oppressively masculine to me.  But what's this?  A pink one?  Isn't pink a trendy boy robot color nowadays? It's a generic unnamed character... is it really a girl?  It looks a little feminine I guess... or is that just the pink?  Rest assured, the box clearly labels it as female.

She comes with a gun and a removeable chestpiece.  In the toy aisles, you will see lots of "Accessory packs" where you can get alternate pieces of armor for the figures.  She has a few random pegs in different places on her body so she could theoretically be "Geared up."

She is surprisingly articulated and poseable.  This is definitely not the McFarlane Toys I grew up with!  She's loaded with ball-joints and hidden swivels.  My only issues are that the joints could be tighter.  The leg articulation on mine was a little loose and was having trouble holding exaggerated poses.

Time for some comparison pics!  I don't own any other Halo figures so I'm just showing her with two random action figures of popular scales; a 3.75" G.I.Joe and a 6" DCUC.  I think the Halo figures may be in a scale of their own making.  There is another Halo female coming out this Spring - the character Kat in her unmasked version (she wears blue armor).  I'm excited to photograph the two together.

Cheers!