While many of the Halo McFarlane Toys action figures are pretty nice, sometimes you might want to spring for something a little more exquisite (and a lot more expensive). Enter Square-Enix and their Halo Play Arts Kai line of figures. If there’s one branch of Halo toys that hasn’t gotten a fair shake on this blog, it’s the Square-Enix Halo Play Arts Kai line. Not because I don’t want to cover these figures, but because they’re just so cost-prohibitive to collect with retail prices of $50-$70 each. But when my wife asked for a Halo Reach Play Arts Kai Kat figure for Christmas, I had all the motivation I needed to order “my” first Halo Play Arts figure…

The Right:

The first thing you’ll notice about this Kat figure is that, well–she’s huge. Spartans are supposed to be larger-than-life, and sometimes it’s hard to remember that with a 5″ McFarlane figure or a 2″ Halo Mega Bloks figure. But Kat is a towering 9″ of bionic woman, and her overall size definitely takes some of the sting out of her equally large price-point (you won’t find a Halo Play Arts Kat cheaper than $40).

As much as I love my McFarlane Halo figures (and I do, no doubt), their Halo Reach Kat is just not at the same level as this Halo Reach Play Arts Kai Kat figure is. The sculpting, proportions, and paint deco on this Kat figure are all phenomenal, and Kat looks like she stepped right out of the Halo Reach video game. With the masterful paint weathering and sculpting on this figure, Halo Play Arts Kai Kat looks less like an action figure and more like a high-end piece of memorabilia.

Articulation-wise, Kat reminds me of the legendary G.I. Joe Sigma 6 line from a few years ago. Halo Kat Play Arts Kai is loaded with articulation, but it’s all hidden exceptionally well. She can take on any number of poses and still look totally natural and realistic in her stances. I particularly love the ratchet elbow joints that lock into place and the ankle rockers on Kat that allow her stand in nearly any position without risk of toppling over. The Square-Enix Halo Reach Kat Play Arts figure doesn’t necessarily have much more articulation than her McFarlane Toys counterpart–it’s just better and more usable articulation.

Halo Play Arts Kat comes with two guns and a frag grenade. Kat of course needed to include her signature Magnum, but it was nice of Square-Enix to include an Assault Rifle in addition. Kat looks much more well-prepared with the Assault Rifle pegged into her back, and for the heavy price-tag on this figure, it’s nice to have an alternate weapon for some extra poses. The weapons all look great as they have multiple paint apps on them and a layer of weathering adding on top for realism.

The Wrong:

I would love nothing more than to say that this Kat figure is all sunshine and rainbows, but that’s just not true. First of all and most disturbingly, the tube connecting Kat’s shoulder plate to her bionic bicep broke immediately out of the box. And when I say immediately, I mean we touched her arm and the tube instantly snapped off. Not what you’d expect from a $50-$60 action figure, is it? My ever-resourceful wife created a new and more durable tube for Kat and attached it, but at this price, she shouldn’t have had to.

The problems don’t stop there, either. Kat’s right shoulder joint that holds up her bionic arm is ridiculously loose. That makes sense, since the joint is so thin, but it’s also holding up a very thing arm. And to be honest, I expect that for the exorbitant amount of money Square-Enix charges for their Halo Play Arts Kai figures, they can find a way around having a weak shoulder joint.

Finally, for some asinine reason, Square-Enix made the decision to put very apparent non-removable pegs onto Kat’s weapons. The keyword here is “non-removable”. Yes, while McFarlane Toys can somehow find a way to put removable pegs onto virtually every gun in their line of $10 Halo figures, Square-Enix simply cannot fathom a way to engineer this feature on their $50-$60 figures. *cough*

Having the pegs sticking out of Kat’s guns while she’s holding them looks obviously cheap and downright silly. Considering how sensational the Halo Reach Play Arts Kat figure itself looks, it’s obnoxious and disappointing to be pulled out from the realism of the figure by a big peg sticking out of her Magnum.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”
The Halo Reach Play Arts Kai Series 2 Kat figure was released a couple years ago and is now pretty wiped out from most specialty stores that carried it. I bought my Kat Play Arts figure for about $40 with free shipping online, but as the figure is long out of production, I’ve no idea how long she’ll still be available so cheap.

Overall: I’m finding myself very torn on assigning a grade to this Halo Play Arts Kai Kat figure. On one hand, the figure is quite expensive compared to what most folks are accustomed to paying for Halo figures, and this figure has definite quality control issues that a figure that costs $50-$60 simply should not have. On the other hand, this is hands-down the best-looking Halo Reach Kat figure ever made. Sorry McFarlane Toys, but this Kat blows yours out of the water in sculpting, paint deco, and even articulation. I’m penalizing the grade for this figure due to the quality-control annoyances, but don’t be fooled–this is the best Halo Kat action figure ever made.

GRADE: B