Call me a bleeding heart, but I have always had a soft spot for the Grunts. The poor, subservient Unggoy have pretty terrible lives as part of the Covenant, and I immediately sympathized with them after reading my first Halo novel. It was only when I played my first Halo video game, though, that I discovered the Grunts are also pretty gosh-darn cute. So when I heard the Grunts were being redesigned a bit for Halo 4, I was majorly concerned. But those worries were for naught. I got my first up-close look at the Halo 4 Grunts from the McFarlane Toys Halo 4 Grunt Storm action figure–and the Grunt Storm is not only still as charming as ever, but also quite a bit more formidable-looking…

The Right:

As the Grunts are the mist natural army-builder of the Covenant forces, they’ve appeared in the first series of every McFarlane Halo action figure line. First Halo 3, then Halo Reach, then Halo Universe, and now Halo 4. Since they’re such a common race to want to army-build, it’s important that the Halo 4 Unggoy figures be pretty good. And they are very good.

The huge difference between past Grunts and the Halo 4 Grunt Storm is that this class of Grunts does not wear the trademark mask over its face, and instead is fitted with a tube that delivers methane from the Grunts’ methane tanks directly into their nostrils. The result is that we see the Grunts’ faces much more clearly than ever, and their new, more reptilian appearance is even more prominent. This was a bit of a switch for me, and I wasn’t sure what to think at first. But as I looked at the Grunt Storm’s head sculpt and compared it to prior Grunts, I found that I liked it much, much more. This is the best-detailed and most realistic head sculpt (if you can call any head sculpt of a short reptilian humanoid realistic) ever.

McFarlane Toys’ Grunt Storm action figure has a removable helmet, a feature which is all-new to Halo Grunt figures. I always get a little twitchy about removable hats and helmets because they don’t always fit properly or they sometimes cause the head underneath to not be sculpted authentically, but that’s just not the case here. The orange helmet fits snugly on the Grunt Storm figure’s head, but easily comes off with a firm tug. Best of all, the Grunt head underneath doesn’t appear to have had its sculpt compromised in any way to facilitate the removable helmet. I really wish all companies could do headpieces as good as McFarlane Toys did this one.

Not only is the Halo 4 Grunt Storm action figure the coolest-looking Grunt toy ever, it’s also the most flexible. Due to being somewhat smaller figures, the Grunts often get shafted on the articulation end of things. Not this time! The Grunt Storm figure has a ball-jointed neck, swivel upper head, ball-jointed upper torso, double-jointed ball-joint shoulders, swivel biceps, hinge elbows, ball-jointed hips, and double-jointed ball-joint knees.

What’s more, all of the articulation on the Halo 4 Grunt Storm works marvelously. Though he has disproportionately large lower arms, the shoulder joints have been built tight and strong to hold them aloft. And the Grunt Storm’s legs are limber enough to allow him into running positions like never before.

Paintwork is one of the things McFarlane Toys is famous for, and their Grunt Storm figure’s paint deco really shines. He’s clad in traditional orange armor, but the orange is accentuated by silver and brown and a second tone of orange. The Grunt Storm’s body has various paint washes and different colors on it everywhere, adding depth and emphasizing the detail of the sculpt. Truthfully, this Grunt Storm Halo 4 figure is an impressive work of art like no Grunt before him.

The Grunt Storm figure includes one weapon: the classic Plasma Pistol. The Plasma Pistol is one of the most common weapons and has appeared in every Halo game, and was an obvious choice to include with the Grunt Storm, as it’s a weapon traditionally-used frequently by various classes of Grunts. The paint deco on the Plasma Pistol is pretty nice for such a small gun, as it’s molded in black and then has paint applications in green, purple, silver, red, and blue. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such a tiny gun from a low-end action figure come with so many paint apps before! It slides comfortably into either of the Grunt Storm figure’s hands and the Grunt Storm looks great wielding it. No complaints here.

The Wrong:

I was very surprised to discover than the Halo 4 Grunt Storm action figure’s methane tank backpack was non-removable. Typically the backpacks have been removable from the Grunts, allowing the Halo 3 Grunt figures to stand up more stably and the Halo Reach Grunts to be customized into other classes of Grunts. It seems like a real step back to have backpacks that are permanently sculpted into the mold for the Halo 4 Grunts, and I hope we don’t see less Grunt figures in general or less-diverse Grunt figures because of it.

In addition, I’m really not a huge fan of the lack of any kind of wrist articulation. I understand that it would be difficult to add wrist articulation in because of the nature of the Grunt Storm’s lower arm design, but it’s pretty annoying having to move the Grunt Storm at the bicep or elbow in order to aim his gun.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”
The McFarlane Toys Halo 4 Grunt Storm action figure is just starting to hit retail right now. As an army-builder the Grunt Storm will likely be a little difficult to track down initially, but with patience you should be able to assemble a squad. But if you don’t want to wait, various online retailers have the Grunt Storm ready to ship out right now!

Overall: The Grunt Storm is an all-around excellent first Unggoy entry in the Halo 4 action figure line. The sculpt, paint, articulation and (dare I say it) character design are all the best of any Halo Grunt toy ever produced before. The helmet works precisely as it should, and even the tried-and-true Plasma Pistol looks terrific and ready for Halo 4. I have some apprehensions about the decision to make the backpack on the Unggoy mold non-removable, but I have faith that McFarlane Toys knows what they’re doing with the Halo 4 line and has a plan. While this toy isn’t purest perfection captured in plastic form, the Halo 4 Grunt Storm action figure by McFarlane Toys is a very solid opening entry in the Halo 4 line, and easily earns a recommendation.