I’d be lying if I said I didn’t groan when I saw a white Spartan Mark VI announced for Halo Anniversary Series 2. As much as I love Spartans, I have over 100 Halo 3-scaled 5″ Spartans from the good ol’ days of McFarlane Toys 2008-2010. In fact, I have the white Mark VI from the very first series of Halo 3 figures. So after passing on the Halo 3 5″ Recon Spartan in the Anniversary Advance series, I was not exactly gleeful to see a precious slot that could have been given to an Engineer or Prophet taken up by what I presumed was a repaint of the old 2008 Mark VI mold. I should’ve had more faith (and sense): This Spartan Mark VI action figure is a repaint of the new 6″ Mark VI mold from the Master Chief Evolution Three-Pack, and marks our first multiplayer 6″ Mark VI. Now that I’ve got him in my hands, I’m thrilled to have him and I’m never buying another old 5″ scale Mark VI again…

The Right:

Technically, McFarlane Toys has never made a multiplayer Halo 2 Spartan in the MJOLNIR Mark VI armor before. Since McFarlane Toys started making Halo figures with their Halo 3 line, they never explicitly stated that any of the many Mark VI figures that came out were intended to be from Halo 2. Until now. So this is McFarlane Toys’ first-ever Spartan Mark VI. Technically. All legalese aside, even if this armor is essentially the same as the Halo 3 Mark VI armor, this mold is completely different and an amazingly improved piece of tooling over what was released in the 2008-2010 Halo 3 line.

McFarlane Toys is renowned for the outstanding quality of its paint deco, and the white/blue Mark VI is another sharply-decorated action figure. With a white-armored soldier there’s always the danger of it looking “too clean”, but there’s a great dark paint wash utilized here that enables the white Mark VI to stand out and look his best while still remaining dark and gritty. I’m often not a fan of secondary colors on Spartans, as they can be really jarring if they’re not just right. However, I actually really like the blue secondary color of the armor this time–it’s just subtle enough so as not to be distracting, and it also adds a little bit of color to what’s otherwise a very plain color scheme. I’m also really pleased about how much purer the white color looks on this Mark VI than the original. I don’t recall if the old 2008 Mark VI always looked so yellow-white or if the paint on it is just yellowing with age, but there’s no question that the Anniversary Collection Mark VI has the better and whiter paint job right now.

Even back in 2008, McFarlane Toys’ Spartans were super-articulated, so it’s no shocker that the new Mark VI is also overflowing with articulation. The Mark VI has a ball-jointed head, ball-jointed upper torso, double-jointed ball-joint shoulders, double-jointed ball-joint elbows, double-jointed wrists, swivel hips, double-jointed ball-jointed thighs, double-jointed ball-joint knees, and double-jointed ball-joint ankles for a grand total of 28 points of articulation.

While the old 2008 Mark VI mold has similar articulation, it was not nearly as usable. The Spartan figures from those days were made of a much more brittle plastic, so you had to be careful not to force the joints to move too much or they might break. Troublesome parts like the wrists that commonly broke on old-style Halo 3 figures feel tough and sturdy enough to pose all day now. And while the old Mark VI still had an upper-torso joint, the ball-jointed upper-torso on the Anniversary Collection Mark VI is infinitely better and has a far great range of motion of flexibility than the old one did. The new mold is a total upgrade so far as articulation is concerned–there’s not a single part I feel moved better on the old-style mold.

One non-weapon accessory is included with this figure: the left wing piece of the UNSC Logo build-an-emblem. I can legitimately say I never cared about having a 3-D sculpture of the UNSC Logo, but it’s free, so what the hell. The paintwork on the wing is nice enough and I’m happy enough to have any free Halo item, so I guess I can always hang this in the back of a figure display somewhere.

The Wrong:

If there’s one flaw with this figure, it’s his weapons. The Spartan Mark VI includes two weapons: the ubiquitous Battle Rifle and a frag grenade. I’ve accumulated so many grenades over the years that I could live happily without ever seeing another, but it does fit nicely on the peg on the back of the Mark VI’s waist. The Battle Rifle was a popular weapon back in the day, as I have no clue how many of the Halo 3 Spartans McFarlane packed with it–but it was a lot. This verison of the Battle Rifle is quite similar to the old one. And by similar, I mean it’s the same Battle Rifle. No, really. The Mark VI mold itself may have grown an inch, but the Battle Rifle did not grow proportionately and is the same old mold repainted. It looks “good enough”, but I’m just so irritated that McFarlane Toys cheaped out and didn’t give us a properly-scaled Battle Rifle to the increased-size Spartan. Lame, McFarlane Toys. Lame.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

The Blue/White Spartan Mark VI 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 Spartan Mark VI 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 the Spartan Mark VI (white/blue) 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 the white and blue Spartan Mark VI for $12.95 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 Mark VI Spartan. You can check out the current listings for the Mark VI Spartan on ebay by clicking here!

Overall: Before I got Halo Anniversary Series 2 in the mail, I had already planned out in my mind that I was going to be madly in love with the Guilty Spark and Sentinel figures, while the Mark VI Spartan and Master Chief were going to be going in a box in the closet. I was wrong on all counts. This Spartan Mark VI is so superior to the old 2008 mold it isn’t funny. While the number of articulation points hasn’t necessarily increased, this mold is a major upgrade in range of motion over the original. In addition, this figure doesn’t feel like its limbs will break off every time I move one as the old figures did, meaning I can get a whole lot more posing and fun out of this Mark VI Spartan than the original. I’m annoyed about the Battle Rifle included with this figure being a reuse of the one from the smaller-scale Halo 3 figures, but that’s really my only issue with the Mark VI. McFarlane Toys has created a monster, and now I want to upgrade all of my Halo 3 Spartans onto the new and improved mold. The Halo Anniversary Spartan Mark VI is an outstanding figure–it earns a high recommendation for Spartan fans Halo collectors everywhere.