If there’s one character from the Halo 4 video game that fans have been demanding an action figure of more than The Didact, it’s Spartan-IV Sarah Palmer. Though we only see Sarah Palmer in cut-scenes during the Halo 4 campaign, she’s the central character of the immensely popular Halo 4 Spartan Ops and an integral part of the Halo 4 mythos. McFarlane Toys has basically dropped the ball with their Halo 4 figures line, but luckily, we’re getting a Sarah Palmer figure that’s much better instead. It’s the long-awaited and heavily-anticipated Square-Enix Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Sarah Palmer figure…

The Right:

As I’ve said a few times now on this site, I don’t play Halo multiplayer (unless it’s Halo Wars). So I don’t have any emotional connection to the Sarah Palmer character, as she’s only seen in a couple short cut-scenes in the Halo 4 campaign. That said, I love the Spartan Scout armor permutation, I love female Spartans, and more importantly, my wife loves female Spartans. So it was a foregone certainty that this Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Sarah Palmer figure was coming home.

One of the first things we did with this Halo 4 Play Arts Sarah Palmer figure was compare her to the Halo Reach Kat Play Arts figure. Yikes. Square-Enix has come a long way in a few short years. Kat looks like a chunky block of action figure in comparison, whereas Sarah Palmer looks like an honest-to-god human being. It’s scary just how much the Halo Play Arts Kai figures have evolved in a couple years.

My wife decided to one-up me by taking Sarah Palmer outside and taking some photos with the figure–and man, does Sarah Palmer look realistic. I feel like in some of these photos Sarah Palmer looks like she really is real. The appearance of this figure is just straight-up amazing.

In case you were wondering–No, Square-Enix didn’t cheap out on the sculpting or deco for the back of this Halo Play Arts Kai figure either. All 360 degrees of Sarah Palmer look great (no, I don’t mean it that way), and Square-Enix hit little details of the Spartan Scout armor like the huge shoulder armor dead-on. There’s even an extra little connector piece to allow the Railgun to attach perfectly to the back of the Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Spartan-IV Sarah Palmer figure.

As seen in the Halo 4 video game, Sarah Palmer isn’t nearly as beefy as the male Spartan-IVs are. My wife argues that Square-Enix made the Sarah Palmer Play Arts figure too thinned-down in comparison to the bulkiness of the Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Spartan Warrior, but I’m on the fence about that. Scale-wise, I think Palmer is pretty close to what we see of her in-game.

Sarah Palmer comes with two weapons. One is the Magnum that came with the Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Spartan Warrior figure. It looks just as good if not better with Sarah Palmer, as Palmer actually uses a Magnum in-game. And yes, the Magnum does still have a peg molded into it permanently. And yes, I’ll be complaining about that at length in a bit–and then some.

The other–and far more exciting–gun that comes with the Sarah Palmer Halo 4 Play Arts Kai figure is the Railgun. Barring the tiny little Halo Mega Bloks Railgun, this is the first time we’ve seen the Halo 4 Railgun in toy form. The Railgun is a large and difficult weapon to replicate, but I think Square-Enix has achieved that goal admirable. The sculpting is superb with tons of little rivets and details, and there’s plenty of deco and paint weathering to keep the Railgun looking realistic.

The packaging for the Square-Enix Play Arts Kai Sarah Palmer figure is the same fine book-like style of the other Halo 4 Play Arts action figures I’ve been reviewing. I posted a ton of shots of the packaging in the Sarah Palmer unboxing article I wrote last week, so consult that if you want to comprehensively see the packaging for Sarah Palmer. I think the art on the box could be lightened up somewhat, but the packaging is still some of the best on the market.

The Wrong:

First off, as we’ve seen in the Halo 4 video game, Sarah Palmer is the only Spartan IV skilled enough to dual-wield. So it would have been nice if this figure was capable of doing so, but Square-Enix only gave us one Magnum. For a ~$70 action figure, I think they could have afforded that extra piece of plastic.

Of course, I doubt that it’s a cost-cutting strategy that Square-Enix left out the second Magnum. No, I’m near-certain that they only gave us one Magnum because of the accursed peg molded into the left side of the Magnum mold. See, in order for Sarah Palmer to be able to attach a Magnum to each of her legs accurately, Square-Enix would have had to create a whole new Magnum mold with the peg permanently attached on the other side. And that was clearly not in the cards. Were it not for the ridiculous, illogical pegs permanently molded into all the Halo 4 Play Arts Kai guns this wouldn’t be an issue. Thanks, Square-Enix.

While comparing Sarah Palmer to my wife’s Halo Reach Play Arts Kat figure, I realized something else unwelcome. While the Square-Enix Sarah Palmer Play Arts Kai figure looks worlds more realistic, the rubbery plastic used on her feels far less durable and stable than that used on Kat. Combined with Sarah Palmer’s tiny feet, this can make it a little difficult to pose properly. The plastic used for the Halo Reach Play Arts Kai figures feels a lot less loose and is easier to work with.

Finally, I’m not 100% sold on the Play Arts Sarah Palmer figure being completely authentic to Palmer’s appearance in the Halo 4 video game. I feel like Square-Enix rounded Sarah Palmer’s chest armor more than it is in the game (I don’t think I need to explain why they would do that to any guy reading this), while making her armor a shade too grey and not enough silver-white. Are these deal breakers? Nope–but they don’t seem quite right to me, and I wanted to be sure to mention them.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

I paid about $64 shipped for my Halo 4 Play Arts Kai figure from Amazon. If you can find her cheaper all the more power to you, but I practically live on the Internet and I’ve not seen her a penny cheaper than that yet.

Overall: I was very careful when writing about the flaws in this Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Sarah Palmer figure, as I wanted to be truthful, but I also didn’t want to be the jackass who rained on everyone’s parade. Is this Sarah Palmer figure perfect? No, not really. Her plastic isn’t as sturdy as some of the older Halo Play Arts figures, the design of the figure isn’t completely authentic (at least not in my opinion), and she could really use a second Magnum–without a peg molded into it. But these are all little deficiencies, which are only slightly nick away from what is otherwise one phenomenal action figure. From the superb paint deco to the intricate sculpting to the sheer awesomeness of the Railgun, this Play Arts Kai Halo 4 Sarah Palmer figure is an absolute winner. If you like the character, you owe it to yourself to buy this figure before it’s sold out–there will never be a better Halo 4 Sarah Palmer action figure made than this one.

GRADE: A-