Well, well–it certainly has been a while, hasn’t it? I can’t remember a drought of Halo toy news this bad since the Halo Mega Bloks and Halo McFarlane Toys lines kicked into high gear over half a decade ago. Luckily, with the New York Toy Fair 2015 happening next week (and yes, Halo Toy News will be in the house for the 2015 Toy Fair), I’m hoping things are about to really pick up again. And perhaps as a precursor to that, the first photos have appeared of the Halo 4 Series 3 figures that went up for order months ago!

Finally–finally–we have some new Halo McFarlane Toys figures to talk about. The last new figures that McFarlane Toys showed off for their Halo action figure line were the Master Chief figures that I saw at the New York Toy Fair 2014 almost an entire year ago. So, yeah–this latest trio of mass release Halo 4 Series 3 figures (I’ll talk about the exclusive later) have been a long time in the coming.

And while they don’t revolutionize the Halo McFarlane Toys offerings, I must say, all three figures do look pretty good.

First up, we’ve got the leader of the extremist faction of the Covenant: Jul ‘Mdama! I’ve been wanting an action figure of Jul ‘Mdama since I read the oustanding Karen Traviss Halo books a few years ago, but never thought that Jul would see the light of day in toy form. For once, I’m thrilled to have been wrong.

The Halo 4 Series 3 Jul ‘Mdama McFarlane Toys figure is mostly just a repaint of the popular and hard-to-find Halo 4 Series 1 Elite Zealot, but the Jul figure does feature an awesome holographic symbol on his head denoting him unmistakably as the leader of the Covenant Remnant.

McFarlane Toys even remembered to paint the hand symbol onto Jul’s torso, properly identifying him as the Didact’s Hand! The McFarlane Halo 4 Jul ‘Mdama figure will include one accessory: the Halo 4 Energy Sword which was previously only available with the Elite Zealot figure.

Next up we’ve got one of the more prominent Spartan-IV soldiers, the McFarlane Toys Spartan Thorne figure! Thorne is no stranger to action figures, as he’s previously been released as a Sprukits figure and also as an incredible Three A Toys sixth scale figure. That said, this is the first (and likely only) 5″ Spartan Thorne figure that will ever be produced, so I’m looking forward to it.

The Halo 4 Series 3 Spartan Thorne action figure is the first (and again, likely only) Spartan Recruit figure that McFarlane Toys is releasing. He’s a nice enough looking Spartan soldier, but what really sells this figure is his numerous appearances in the Hal video games and the ongoing Halo Escalation comic book series.

While I am getting the 3A Toys Spartan Thorne figure, the character is important enough that I’m going to grab the McFarlane Toys Thorne Halo figure as well.

Finally, we’ve got the figure that most would consider the headliner of McFarlane Halo 4 Wave 3: Commander Palmer.

I don’t know if McFarlane Toys refrained from calling her “Sarah Palmer” on the packaging out of fear of retailers rejecting a female figure or what, but the official name for this figure is simply “Commander Palmer”. Even so, there’s absolutely no room for doubt that this is the Commander Sarah Palmer from the Halo 4 video game and the Halo comic books, captured in her unique steel/red Spartan armor.

I would have preferred if McFarlane Toys had opted for a shinier, more metallic-like steel color for the paint on the Sarah Palmer figure’s armor, but this figure still looks like a solid representation of the character as seen in Halo media. The McFarlane Sarah Palmer obviously isn’t up to the insane quality of the magnificent Play Arts Kai Sarah Palmer figure I reviewed a few years ago, but this figure also won’t cost the crazy amount of money that that figure sells for now on the aftermarket.

I’m glad that McFarlane Toys is giving the Halo 4 Commander Palmer figure two Magnum Pistols as well–I believe this is the first McFarlane Toys Spartan figure to ever come with two pistols to dual-wield!

Halo 4 Series 3 is now available for order online, and is expected to be released in stores in February 2015 (yes–that’s this month!). I’ve ordered all three figures already, and will be sure to post full reviews and photos of the entire wave (which is quite a luxury, given how few Halo figures McFarlane Toys has released in the past three years).

Now that you’ve seen the final finished product, what do you think of McFarlane Toys Halo 4 Series 3, Halo collectors? Will you be buying any or all of this new assortment of McFarlane Halo figures, or has the massive slowdown in this line killed your interest in it?