Captain Jacob Keyes is pretty near and dear to my heart. No, it’s not because of his appearance in the original Halo video game or its remake (though it’s cool that Captain Keyes is the first character you ever see in Halo)–it’s the Expanded Universe novels’ character development of Captain Keyes that spawned my affection for the character. Captain Keyes is a character Halo collectors have been requesting since McFarlane got the license back in 2008, but Keyes always seemed like an unlikely candidate to be immortalized in plastic. But everything old became new again thanks to the release of the Halo Anniversary video game last fall, and collectors’ patience has been rewarded with the first-ever Halo Captain Keyes action figure. He’s not the best Halo figure ever–or even the best figure in this assortment–but I sure am glad to finally have Keyes in my collection…

The Right:

For those of you unfamiliar with Captain Jacob Keyes (why are you on this website?), he is the commanding officer of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, the ship you start off on in the original Halo: Combat Evolved video game. While Keyes does little and meets a grisly Flood-infected end in that game, the character also appears and receives development in Halo novels such as “Fall of Reach”, “The Flood”, and “The Cole Protocol”. So although Keyes isn’t the most pivotal character in the Halo mythos, he’s one that myself and many others have been coveting for quite a while. (Now how about that Dr. Catherine Halsey figure, McFarlane Toys, hm?!)

The Captain Jacob Keyes action figure is a 100% all-new mold. It sounds silly, but we don’t get that many figures in the Halo line made up of completely unique tooling, so it’s pretty exciting that McFarlane Toys went the extra mile to make this figure accurate and special. The gray military outfit is sculpted to look extremely formal and nearly wrinkle-free, just as it should be: Captain Keyes is a dignified commanding officer and he looks the part.

I think McFarlane Toys did a particularly admirable job on the ribbons representing Keyes’ medals and the other decorations on his uniform. They’re quite eye-grabbing and you can clearly make out details like Captain Keyes’ Purple Heart and Captain’s Bars Insignia. These were all especially important details, as they provide the main splash of color on the Captain Keyes action figure’s uniform.

If you’re expecting Captain Keyes to be in the same scale as Sergeant Johnson from the Halo 3 line, you’re going to be disappointed. Instead of being in the old figure scale, Captain Keyes is scaled to the new Reach-styled figures. This is in “The Right” because, while Captain Keyes may tower over Sgt. Johnson like a giant right now, the future of Halo figures is this larger 6″ scale. It’s unlikely we’ll ever get another Captain Jacob Keyes figure, but it’s entirely possible we’ll get a future Miranda Keyes or Sgt. Johnson in the larger and improved scale, and it’s nice to know that we’ll have a perfect Captain Keyes to stand with them when the time comes. And while Keyes looks like the Hulk next to the old Halo 3 human figures, he looks totally appropriate posed next to any of the Master Chief figures from the Halo Anniversary line.

The Captain Jacob Keyes action figure features 22 points of articulation, including: ball-jointed head, ball-jointed torso, double-jointed ball-joint shoulders, double-jointed ball-joint elbows, restricted ball-jointed wrists, T-Crotch swivel hips, double-jointed ball-joint knees, and restricted double-jointed ball-jointed ankles. 22 points is a fairly respectable amount and more than you’d expect for a commissioned officer who stands around and does virtually nothing in the games. I’m never a fan of T-Crotch hips on any figure–ever–but Captain Keyes is about as nonathletic of a character as we’re going to find anywhere in the Halo line, so if there’s one figure I can cope with them on, it’s him.

The Build-A-UNSC-Logo piece that comes with Captain Keyes is the banner piece that has the “UNSC” acronym written on it. The whole UNSC Logo gimmick isn’t lighting my world on fire, but I don’t mind it as a free bonus and it seems logical to include the important “UNSC” piece with the only human Captain figure we’ve ever gotten from McFarlane Toys.

The Wrong:

Commander Jacob Keyes includes only one weapon: a Magnum pistol. Unfortunately, McFarlane Toys decided to reuse the old Magnum pistol mold, and it still has a huge peg sticking off the side of the gun. With Commander Keyes being much smaller than the Spartan figures and having more limited wrist articulation, there’s really no way to hide the fact that the gun has a big peg sticking off it. It looks pretty bad unless you do a killer job of angling the gun to hide the peg from view. The worst part is, Commander Keyes doesn’t even have any peg holes in him, so the peg on the Magnum is functionally useless as well as being an eyesore. For Commander Keyes’ only weapon, this is a big disappointment.

The Ridiculous:

I outright hate the way that McFarlane Toys did the deco on Captain Keyes’ face. His eyes look glazed-over and lifeless, and his mouth is painted with a terrible straight black line. It took me a few days to place exactly where I’d seen the face on the Captain Keyes action figure before, and then it hit me: He looks like freaking Bert from Sesame Street. I love McFarlane Toys, I rarely have any issue with their paints apps whatsoever, but Captain Keyes’ face looks ridiculously bad because of the deco. Captain Keyes is one of the most distinguished, grizzled veterans in the Halo universe–he shouldn’t look like a dopey, young-adult Muppet.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

Commander Jacob Keyes is part of the Halo Anniversary Series 2 case assortment that is shipping this spring to all major retailers. I haven’t seen the set at retail yet myself, but I assume it will hit Toys R Us and Target first.

As far as online options go:

Amazon has the Halo Anniversary Commander Keyes figure in-stock from a variety of sellers at right around retail price (and some even below retail price!), many of which are offering free shipping.

BigBadToyStore still has Commander Jacob Keyes available for just $11.99, as well as the Halo Anniversary Set of 5 for $58.99, and they also have a TON of other Halo items available at the best prices of any online store.

CMDStore has Commander Keyes for $17.95 in-stock now, as well as nearly every non-exclusive Halo figure from every McFarlane series available, as well as having the complete Halo Anniversary Series 2 available for just $59.95.

And if you want to try your luck, there’s always ebay, where you very likely can get a good deal on the Halo Anniversary Commander Jacob Keyes action figure. You can check out the current listings for Commander Keyes on ebay by clicking here!

Overall: Frankly put, Captain Keyes is not a tremendous action figure. His articulation is some of the worst of any McFarlane Toys Halo figure (with some exceptions like the Drone), the Magnum looks wrong in his hand because of the unnecessary peg on it, and his facial paint deco makes him look like a Muppet. Captain Jacob Keyes is a fan-favorite character finally getting his day in the sun, but I have to be honest–he’s a below-average action figure, especially for a great company like McFarlane Toys. They tried, and I appreciate the effort, but in this case McFarlane Toys simply did not get it right. Hardcore Halo fans like me will want the Captain Keyes action figure regardless, but I can’t recommend this figure to anyone who isn’t already enamored with the idea of owning a Captain Keyes toy.

GRADE: D+