hog

time once again for the san diego comicon, which for us toy geeks means toy fair 2. tons of new stuff gets shown off at the sdcc, but so far, other than the xevos gorilla, the main thing getting my interest is the halo 2 toys. most notably, that they’re really really good!

i am genuinely impressed with how well joyride seems to have taken to heart the complete lack of effort they put into the first game’s toys. maybe that lady working on merchandise at bungie had an effect on them after all.

last time, the master chief wasn’t even as posable as 3 3/4inch gijoe. this time he’s nearly marvel legends caliber. ie, double jointed elbows and knees, ball jointed everything else almost. it’s hard to tell exactly from the pictures, he might still have cut-hips, but the double joints really help. and the sculpt is better, the colors are better, and the paint is better.

still not quite perfect though. compared to a screenshot from halo.bungie.net, you can see that the full size figure’s chin is way too big, like a motocross helmet. and the minifigure’s chin is too small.

the brute looks fantastic. good sculpt, and plenty of arm articulation; ball shoulders, swivel arm, elbows and wrists. looks like just cut hips, but at least he’ll be stable. great sculpt as well. his arms will give him alot of expression, and that’s more useful than being able to be in a running or crouching pose.

the hog looks largely the same as the first one(and may in fact be the same sculpt (but the colors look vastly superior. they ditched the fugly dark metal green in favor of a non-metallic olive green. still not accurate but it looks much better.

best.
repaint.
ever.

although, while my jeep jeepster concept toy isn’t really a civilian hog, is is very hog-like, it’s yellow, and it’s made of die-cast metal. whereas the joyride civvie hog will cost $15 and be made all of cheap plastic.

but i’ll probably get one anyways.

i’m starting to dislike the mark 6 mjolnir chest armor. it’s a little too generic. the mark 5 armor was bulkier, but it had a more distinctive shape to it. the mark 6 could stand to be a little closer in shape to the mark 5… ah well. the rest of the armor is largely the same, and i love how lean the chief is now.

speaking of, scott thinks the legs on the mark 6 toy are too skinny. i’m not so sure.