It’s raining Spartans, hallelujah. Well, no. Not really. There’s actually only three Spartans in Halo 4 Series 1 Wave 2 by McFarlane Toys, but it’s at least an improvement over the scant two Spartans released in Wave 1. See, Halo figure collectors have been pretty spoiled by McFarlane Toys over the years, sometimes getting well over a dozen Spartan armor and color permutations in earlier series. So when there were only two Spartans in Halo 4 Series 1 Wave 1, it left fans feeling a little deprived. Luckily, not only do we get three Spartans in Wave 2, but one of them is our second blue Halo 4 Spartan! Finally, we can begin building a squad of matching Spartans! There’s just one problem with that…

The Right:

The days of getting one Spartan base body in a box set with all the pieces of armor to make many different figures are gone. One thing that sets apart the Halo 4 Spartan armor permutations from previous incarnations is that this time, the different armors really are radically different. As a result, the McFarlane Halo 4 figures need to be much more differentiated as well. So much has been changed over the base body from the Wave 1 Spartan Warrior it’s crazy. The Spartan Soldier has an all-new helmet, chest armor, back armor, leg armor, shoulder armor, waist armor, and even foot armor! You’ll be amazed that this is the same base mold underneath it all. McFarlane could have totally cut corners and cheaped-out on this figure, but instead they took the high road and opted to make the different Spartan permutations as authentic as possible. Way to go, McFarlane Toys!

As I said in my review of the Blue Spartan Warrior, the upper-body articulation on the Halo 4 Spartan action figures is superb. The sculpt has ball-joints tooled into the shoulders, elbows, wrists, upper torso, and head–everywhere you could reasonably expect this Spartan to be able to move. From an upper-body articulation point-of-view, I really don’t see how the Halo 4 Spartans can get any better than they already are.

The paint wash and weathering on the paintwork is extremely nice, as McFarlane Toys is the master of paint detail. I do have a major issue with the paint that I’ll be discussing a bit later on, however…

I also really, really appreciate the addition of character bio description text to the side of the bubbles on these figures. While the language used for the Spartan Soldier bio is nigh-incomprehensible I’m still pleased that there’s finally an attempt being made to describe the action figures for people who don’t know every detail about the Halo 4 universe.

The Wrong:

The Spartan Soldier figure has a much less-cool gun than the Sniper Rifle that the Spartan Warrior came with, along with all of the same articulation drawbacks as that figure had. The lack of thigh joints and restricted range of motion of the hip joints is as troublesome as ever, and it’s frustrating that the lower-body articulation has gotten so much worse since the 2010 Halo Reach figure molds were created.

An updated Battle Rifle is the only weapon that comes with the blue Spartan Soldier action figure. It’s actually very well-detailed and nice to have, but I’d have much preferred a new gun from Halo 4 to be included, or at least a gun that McFarlane Toys doesn’t usually give us with every other Spartan. I complained a lot about the ever-present grenades in previous McFalane Halo toy series, but since those are no longer present, I wish we got a second accessory of any kind to take their place. A small gun like a Magnum or Plasma Pistol would be especially great.

The Ridiculous:

When I first got the Spartan Soldier (Blue) in my hand, I was pretty ecstatic to have my second Halo 4 Blue Spartan figure, and was confident his paint was a close match for that of the Series 1 Wave 1 Spartan Warrior Blue. I strolled home with him, opened him up, and plopped him next to the blue Spartan Warrior–and then discovered that the paint was a complete mismatch. The blue Spartan Soldier action figure’s blue paint deco is unfortunately quite a bit darker than the Spartan Warrior’s blue paint. It’s several shades darker, and looks jarringly noticeable next to the Spartan Warrior’s comparably light blue paint. To me, it’s just ludicrous that McFarlane Toys couldn’t even match the paint colors between the two blue Spartans in Halo 4 Series 1.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

The Blue Spartan Soldier has been hard to find at retail so far, but he’s available at Amazon as of writing for $12 with no tax and free shipping. It’ll be tough to beat that even if you find the Spartan Soldier at a store!

Overall: As much as I was disappointed that McFarlane Toys failed to match the paint colors of the two Halo 4 Series 1 Spartans, I actually prefer the darker blue present on this blue Spartan Soldier. In addition, I think this figure visually looks a lot better than the Spartan Warrior did. On the downside, his Battle Rifle isn’t as compelling as the Sniper Rifle with the Spartan Warrior was, and his lower-body articulation is still lackluster enough to bother me. I definitely think that the Halo 4 Spartan Soldier is a good figure, but he’s just lacking in enough ways that he never gets beyond “good” and into the realm of “excellent”. Recommended.

GRADE: B