When the Halo Minimates line was first announced a few years ago, I was pumped. The Halo Mega Bloks line hadn’t really blossomed yet, and some of the first figures shown for the Halo Minimates line were the three Covenant Prophet hierarchs, character who to this day haven’t been produced by MEGA Brands or even McFarlane Toys. Unfortunately, the set containing the Prophets was cancelled due to a lack of orders, and fans of the Prophets had their hopes dashed for a few years. But–! Though the Halo Minimates line is ending before Halo 4 is released this fall, the Prophets have found their way into a line of Halo toys at last. Today I’m reviewing the Prophet of Mercy and the Arbiter (Ripa ‘Moramee) from Halo Minimates Series 4. The Prophet of Mercy is here–and he’s really quite awesome. The Arbiter? Not so much…

The Right:

In case the introduction didn’t give it away, the figure I’m really excited about in this Halo Minimates Series 4 two-pack is the Prophet of Mercy, so we’ll start with him.

The mold used for the Prophet of Mercy (and the Prophet of Truth in the Halo Minimates Series 4 Box Set) features a variety of all-new parts debuting for Series 4, including the Prophet’s shoulder pads and back attachment and his crown and chair. The Prophet’s face is actually one of the most detailed and complicated portraits I’ve ever seen on a Minimate. The Prophet of Mercy looks a lot like a sad E.T., and if I didn’t know better I’d never expect him to be a genocidal sociopath.

The Prophet of Mercy Minimate has a little bit less articulation than we’re used to in a Minimate figure–because he, you know, is just a torso on a chair. In total, the Prophet of Mercy has 8 points of articulation including a ball-jointed neck, swivel waist, ball-jointed shoulders, hinge elbows, and swivel wrists. Though the Prophet of Mercy figure can’t do a lot besides look around and posture in his chair, that’s still more flexibility than Hasbro is putting in some of their ~$10 Star Wars figures this year. But to be blunt, the Prophet of Mercy is a character who literally sits there in the game and does nothing–and then dies. So does he really need a lot of articulation? No–no he does not.

The Minimate Prophet of Mercy figure has two accessories: a removable crown and the famed Prophet chair. The crown plugs tightly onto the Prophet of Mercy Minimate’s head, and the brushed gold paint used on it makes the Prophet of Mercy figure look quite regal. His chair is even more impressive, as it features several different shades of grey and steel, along with yellow accenting that adds color and matches the Prophet of Mercy’s sleeves. The Prophet of Mercy’s torso fits perfectly onto the chair and quite frankly looks awesome in it.

On to the Arbiter. Astute fans will know that this Arbiter figure isn’t the well-known Arbiter from Halo 2 and Halo 3 (Thel ‘Vadamee), but rather the late Halo Wars Arbiter Ripa ‘Moramee. Though this version of the Arbiter never appears on-screen with the Prophet of Mercy in a game, Ripa ‘Moramee was the Arbiter during the period when the Prophets rose to power (as chronicled in the great “Contact Harvest” novel), so the pairing makes perfect sense to me. Ripa ‘Moramee completes the hat trick here by being one of the very select few characters released as a Halo Minimates figure, a Halo McFarlane Toys figure, and a Halo Mega Bloks figure.

The Arbiter figure has some extremely ornate armor with a huge amount of sculpting detail in it. It’s well beyond what I usually expect from the Marvel Minimates, so I was pretty excited to see how well-decorated it was. Ripa ‘Moramee’s armor is painted in a brushed silver which looks great and is an ideal representation of the armor’s color in the games. I was also pleased to see that Diamond Select Toys gave the Arbiter figure shoulder armor only on his right shoulder, which is authentic to the character’s in-game appearance.

Ripa ‘Moramee comes with two accessories: a removable helmet and an energy sword. The energy sword is molded in transparent purple with a painted silver handle. The energy sword looks even better than I thought it would in the Arbiter’s hand, where it fits firmly and really pops visually.

The Ripa ‘Moramee Arbiter is a more traditional Minimate figure, but he still has less than the standard 14 points of Halo Minimates articulation. Minimates Arbiter Ripa ‘Moramee has only 10 points: a ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed shoulders, hinge elbows, swivel waist, ball-jointed hips, and hinge knees.

The Wrong:

As much as I love the inclusion of the Halo Wars Arbiter figure, I have several issues with the Ripa ‘Moramee Minimate that bother me enough for me to bullet-point them here:

Ripa ‘Moramee is one of the largest-known Sangheili (Elites) ever. So it seems a little awkward that he looks pretty dinky next to many of the other Halo Minimates figures. I’ll talk about this more in my upcoming review of the Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadam Minimate.

Although I like that the Arbiter comes with a removable helmet, the way that it fits on his head it always completely covers Ripa ‘Moramee’s eyes, baffling me as to how the Arbiter can ever attack. Perhaps that’s the real reason Sergeant Forge was able to kill the Arbiter in Halo Wars?
With the helmet off, you can very easily see a mold line on the head that bisects the front of the Arbiter’s face. It looks really bizarre and really takes me out of the appearance of the figure.
Due to the nature of the Arbiter Minimate’s add-on parts, he’s missing the wrist and foot articulation most Minimates have.
The elongated, rectangular crotch piece of the Arbiter is very prominent and looks out-of-place among the Arbiter’s bulky body and armor pieces.

Overall: I am overjoyed that Diamond Select Toys managed to get us Prophets Minimates before the impending end of the Halo Minimates toy line, and the Prophet of Mercy does not disappoint. The Prophet has all the articulation you’d ever want from the non-dynamic character, his facial expression is one of the most elaborate I’ve seen on a Minimate, and his chair is far more interesting than I expected. The Arbiter Ripa ‘Moramee figure, on the other hand, disappoints me a lot. His armor looks tremendous, but the figure itself is riddled with little problems such as missing articulation, a weirdly-sitting helmet, a small size compared to other Halo Minimates, and so forth. I love that there’s a Halo Minimates figure of the Halo Wars Arbiter, but the figure itself I simply do not love. If you’ve been wanting a great-looking Prophet of Mercy figure or you’re a diehard Halo Wars fan like me, you’ll definitely want this set–just be aware that the Arbiter figure may be of a lesser quality than you’d hope for.