Zadzooks: Spartan EOD, Mongoose and Cobra Commande…
Thanks to the proliferation of film, comic-book and cartoon characters, companies are bombarding consumers with an incredible selection of action figures. With tongue in cheek, let’s take a peek at some of the specimens worthy of a place in Zad’s Toy Vault.
McFarlane Toys continues to transform the popular Halo video-game franchise from pixels to plastic with its latest Halo Series 6: Medal Edition. The 6-inch-tall selection of action figures offers characters and creatures well-known to the loyal Halo gamer. They include a Flood Pure Form Stalker, the Rookie from Halo 3: ODST, a Brute Bodyguard, Elite Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadumee and a cuddly Grunt. The set also presents a warrior in stunning blue armor along with his speedy form of transportation.
Figure profile: Built by UNSC’s Damascus Materials Testing Facility on Chi Ceti 4, EOD armor is specifically designed to protect Spartan supersoldiers from explosive ordnance. Its shoulder pads and Storm Trooper-style helmet also cut down on incidents of dismemberment and decapitation.
The Mongoose, an ultralight, four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle, carries a driver and passenger. It is designed to move UNSC soldiers quickly to unoccupied battle sectors for reconnaissance.
Accessories: This slick boxed set offers a Spartan driver in baby-blue battle armor with no weapon, but a whopping 26 points of articulation and some slick battle-fatigued paint detail.
The in-scale olive-green Mongoose ATV feels like a completed Monogram model kit. It offers turning handlebars, spinning tires, windshield, adjustable foot stirrups, a muddy paint job and a rear seat that folds down for a fellow Spartan to ride on the back.
One big warning for the collector: The wrist joints on McFarlane’s Halo Spartan figures are about as fragile as glass and will snap with very little force. Also, shoulder armor pops off when you breathe on it, so be careful when setting up the UNSC Vs. Covenant diorama.
Read all about it: Marvel Publishing offers the latest sequential-art odes to the video-game franchise through either the hardcover Halo Uprising ($24.99), written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Alex Maleev, or the five-issue series Halo: Helljumper ($3.99 each), written by Peter David with art by Eric Nguyen.
