Given the prominence and popularity of the Master Chief, you’d think there’d be Halo Master Chief figures in every assortment. And if McFarlane Toys were Mattel, we certainly would have dozens of crazy Master Chief variants by now and he’d be warming every shelf in America. Instead, McFarlane Toys has released a surprisingly few number of Master Chief action figures, sticking solely to versions of the character that are authentic and make sense. We’ve had battle-damaged Master Chief, Halo 2-style Master Chief, Halo 3 style Master Chief, low-polygon Combat Evolved Master Chief, Active Camo Master Chief… and that’s it. A shockingly low number of Master Chiefs for a line with close to 200 Spartan figures in it. But Halo Anniversary Series 2 brings us something unexpected and totally cool–our first Expanded Universe version of the Master Chief, as he appeared in “Halo Legends The Package”…

The Right:

The high-point of of the Halo Legends collection of animated shorts was “The Package” for the majority of viewers, as it was the only one of the short films to heavily feature the beloved Master Chief. In it, the Master Chief and a group of Spartans (including fan-favorites Fred and Kelly) infiltrate a Covenant fleet in order to retrieve a crucial “package” (of a sort–I’m not spoiling it). The Master Chief’s Mark IV armor in “The Package” is a drastically anime-inspired stylistic reinterpretation of the Spartan armor.

McFarlane Toys created a 100% new mold for Halo Legends “The Package” Master Chief, and the result is is as accurate of a Halo figure as you’re ever going to find in your lifetime. It literally looks like a plastic-izing wormhole opened up in time-space and the Master Chief walked out of Halo Legends and onto your shelf. Every paint detail, every sculpted line on the armor, every texture–everything–is exactly as it should be. This is bar-none the most faithful representation of a Halo character we’ve ever gotten from McFarlane, and I am pretty much madly in love with it.

While I think the robotic style used all over the armor is terrific, I particularly love the feet on this figure. No, not because I have a creepy foot fetish of something (did I actually just say that?), but because the design of the foot with the covering over it is so reminiscent of the way the feet are designed on many of my favorite Mobile Suit Gundam models.

One of the coolest details that McFarlane Toys added to this figure is the second grenade peg-hole on the Master Chief’s left leg. This is in fact accurate to the Chief’s appearance in “The Package”, and the kind of minor detail I didn’t expect to see McFarlane Toys catch at all. Halo Legends Master Chief includes only one frag grenade, but as I complain about all the time, I have a million extras, so that’s hardly a concern.

The big “117” imprinted on the Master Chief’s chest-plate is an addition that is unique to the Halo Legends version of the Spartans, but I think it actually makes a lot of sense. While I get a kick out of the romanticized notion that Dr. Catherine Halsey (creator of the Spartan-IIs) can tell all of the Spartans apart in identical armor just by their body motion, it’s silly to think any other military personnel could do the same.

Every square centimeter of “The Package” Master Chief is covered in paint detail. There’s a fantastic dark wash on the figure so that there are speckles of dirt and battle damage covering all of the wide-open green areas of the armor, as well as having all of the red insignias and red lines inherent to the character model.

Despite being a bulky, tank-like soldier, “The Package” Master Chief is still suited up with a ton of articulation like every good McFarlane Toys Halo figure should be. Master Chief has 26 points including a ball-jointed head, ball-jointed upper torso, double-jointed ball-joint shoulders, double-jointed ball-joint elbows, double-jointed ball-joint wrists, ball-jointed thighs, double-jointed ball-joint knees, double-jointed ball-joint ankles, and swivel ball of the feet. The ball of the foot joints are critical because they let Master Chief easily get into running and leaning poses that it would other be difficult to balance him in. In addition, I raved about the ball-jointed upper torso in the Halo 2 Spartan Mark VI review the other day, and I’ll do so again here: the new ball-jointed upper torso McFarlane Toys has started using work absolutely phenomenal. With this upper torso articulation, Master Chief can easily look up, down, turn his entire upper-body, lean, run–whatever you want. Love–love–the ball-jointed upper torso.

This Halo Legends version of the Master Chief is in the new and improved Halo: Reach 6″ style, so he’s incompatibile with Halo 3 figures, but compatible with all of the figures released afterwards (other than repaints). The only real big losses are that there’s no in-scale Sgt. Johnson or Arbiter that “The Package” Master Chief can pose with (for now). On the bright side, he looks just right and totally in-scale alongside Emile, Captain Keyes, the Halo 2 Mark VI Spartan, and so forth.

“The Package” Master Chief comes with an Assault Rifle as well as a frag grenade. The Assault Rifle is the same old mold from the Halo 3 line, but in this case it looks totally to scale and fits into Master Chief’s hands so ideally you’d think it was made just for them. The Assault Rifle works so perfectly here that it would have been wasteful for McFarlane Toys to sculpt a new one, so I really can’t complain. And thanks to the dual peg holes in Master Chief’s left leg, I not only want to use the frag grenade, but I had to go into my “big box of Halo grenades” and retrieve another! It’s a miracle!!

The “globe” piece of the Build-A-UNSC-Logo comes with Halo Legends Master Chief. Master Chief protects the whole world (and then some), so that’s A-OK with me. If McFarlane wants to keep giving us free bonus pieces, I’m more than happy to accept them.

The Wrong:

This figure is about as close to perfect a Master Chief as I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t mind slightly more range of motion in the legs by having the hips be ball-jointed instead of the thighs, but it certainly isn’t a deal-breaker or anything close to it.

The only real complaint I have is that it’s going to be another 4 or 5 months before Fred-104 is released to join the Master Chief, but that’s not even a valid complaint, as I never in a million years thought we’d get a figure of Frederic from Halo Legends and the Halo novels.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

Halo Legends Master Chief from “The Package” 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 Series 2 “The Package” Master Chief 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 Halo Legends “The Package” Master Chief 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 Master Chief from “The Package” 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 Series 2 Master Chief from “The Package” action figure. You can check out the current listings for “The Package” Master Chief on ebay by clicking here!

Overall: Halo Legends “The Package” Master Chief has the most authentic sculpt and paint deco I’ve ever seen on a McFarlane Toys Halo figure, and is a real sight to behold and play with. I literally cannot wait to get the Frederic-104 figure using this mold in the fall, and if McFarlane Toys doesn’t mod this mold into a Kelly-087 there’s going to be hell to pay. The ever-so-slightly limited leg articulation holds this figure back from purest perfection, but don’t be fooled–if you’re a Halo fan, you want this figure. You need this figure. Unless you’re vehemently opposed to owning an anime-inspired version of the Master Chief, “Halo Legends The Package” Master Chief receives the highest possible recommendation.