After visiting two dozen Walgreens stores in a period of eight days (and no, that’s not hyperbole), I finally managed to hunt down the one exclusive figure from McFarlane Toys Halo 4 Series 2: the Green/Steel CIO Spartan action figure… at the very first Walgreens store I visited, which had finally restocked. The irony in the situation is not lost on me. But I digress–after an arduous journey, I hath claimed my prize. Was the Halo 4 Series 2 Steel/Green Spartan C.I.O. exclusive figure worth the hunt? Read on for the review…

The Right:

I was not overly enthusiastic (or enthusiastic at all) to hear that Walgreens was getting their second-ever exclusive Halo figure as part of this year’s only wave of Halo 4 action figures from McFarlane Toys. But, seeing as how Target and Walmart passed on the series entirely, if Walgreens was going to step up to the plate and order a store exclusive Spartan…? Good for them. I moaned a lot about having to track this figure down, but bravo to Walgreens and McFarlane Toys for getting us an extra Halo 4 multiplayer Spartan figure at all.

The Green/Steel Spartan C.I.O. is packaged in the new slim card packaging for Halo 4 figure, which I’m very content with. Less packaging means less expensive for McFarlane Toys, less waste for the environment to have to cope with, and less dollars we have to pay per figure. The front of the package prominently displays the DMR Bones skin image, which is a nice move to catch gamers’ attention (presuming games are perusing the toys department at Walgreens, anyway).

Once you get him out of the package, you immediately see that the Walgreens Halo 4 Spartan C.I.O. figure is painted in very light shades of green and “steel”. I know some fans are already complaining about these paint color choices, but I love them. They’re very reminiscent of the deco colors on the Bones skin for the DMR, and I find that the seafoam green color balances really well with the light grey/silver McFarlane picked for the “steel” on the armor this time.

As with the Orange Rust Spartan Scout figure I reviewed last week, McFarlane Toys had to put a lot of money and effort into tooling unique armor pieces for the front and back of the C.I.O. Spartan. So much work went into the different Halo 4 Spartan armor permutations that it’s a real shame we’re getting so few Spartan figures this time around–I would love a wave full of Spartan multiplayer exclusive figures like we had in the old days (though preferably without any ridiculous Australian exclusive figures).

The CIO Spartan (Steel/Green) action figure includes one weapon: the Halo 4 version of the UNSC DMR. As the Walgreens exclusive Spartan CIO beat its Violet Purple CIO brethren to the market by a week, this is the first figure to include the new DMR. All of the little sculpting intricacies and details put into this Halo 4 DMR make it easily the best DMR we’ve ever seen in toy form, and the handle fits perfectly into the Spartan C.I.O. figure’s hands (which is worth mentioning since plenty of Halo Reach and Halo 3 figures couldn’t hold their includes weapons worth beans).

The Wrong:

The only real problem I found with this particular Spartan is that his lower-body joints were a tad loose, straight out of the package. I’m not all that surprised by this, as the basic Spartan leg mold has already been used by more than a half-dozen figures, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying.

This is worlds better than McFarlane’s Halo 3 days, where Spartans’ entire limbs would break off permanently out of the package, but it’s still disconcerting to pose a brand new Spartan C.I.O. figure and have his leg joints give out under his own weight.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

The Halo 4 Wave 2 Spartan C.I.O. (Green/Steel) figure is a Walgreens exclusive. If you don’t have a local Walgreens or don’t feel like hunting around for this guy, I’ve seen the exclusive Spartan CIO selling for $15-$20 shipped on ebay. Considering I probably spent that much in gas on top of the $15 I paid for the figure, that’s not all that bad.

Overall: Despite his loose hip joints and the total pain that it was to track down this figure as quickly as I could (and it was a pain), I definitely think that the Steel/Green Spartan CIO figure exclusive was well the fuss. The C.I.O. Spartan armor permutation has won me over as one of my favorite Halo 4 designs, and the deco on this Halo 4 Series 2 McFarlane Toys figure is the best on any Spartan that they’ve done for Halo 4–period. The sculpting and paintwork on the Halo 4 DMR are terrific, and I think the Halo 4 video game DLC code will make sure this figure is a hot seller on the market. More Spartans as good as this, please, McFarlane Toys–I promise, I’ll buy them all.

GRADE: A