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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land Because the kids can’t get enough miniature plastic replicas of replica rock stars from a replica rock n’ roll game. Due in stores next February, McFarlane’s line of “Guitar Hero Rockers” are 2-inch, stylised versions of the game’s main characters, and will be bundled in pairs. If your quarterly quota of McFarlane/Guitar Hero plastic merchandise hasn’t been filled by February, they should cost you around $US7. Check ‘em out here
McFarlane keep on releasing Halo figures, and the kids, the kids keep on buying them. Latest products to roll off the money-printing machine include some more Master Chief/Spartan variants, a range of 2.5″ figures that come in three-packs (for hot desktop Red v Blue action) and a deluxe 8″ Hunter figure, complete with intricate, wormy neck detailing.
First announced a few weeks back, here’s a first look at perhaps the strangest piece of Guitar Hero-related marketing we’ve seen to date: McFarlane’s range of small, stringless, unplayable plastic guitars. It looks like they’re meant to be used by the company’s line of Guitar Hero figures, but since that “feature” is mentioned nowhere in the line’s press release, there remains the possibility these guitars are meant for…well, just sitting there.
Those figures of your “favourite” Guitar Hero “characters”? They’re just the start of Activision and McFarlane’s push to sell you more mostly-immobile hunks of Guitar Hero-related plastic. Due for release in January 2009 will be a line of customisable guitars that let you swap out the heads, necks and bodies (no word on size or price), while later in the year, there’ll be more versions of the guitars, as well as 10″ versions of the already-seen characters, eight more of the 6″ characters (including Clive Winston and Eddie Knox) and a few lines of 2″ character figures. If you’re torn between just which Johnny Napalm 10″ figure you’ll want – the “British Flag” variant or the “Skeleton” variant – the full release (sadly, lacking any pictures) follows.
Sure, you may have lost interest in the seemingly endless procession of Halo 3 repaints, but have others? Nunh unh. They’re still buyin’ ‘em, so McFarlane will keep sellin’ em. These five figures – two Elites, a Brute Stalker and two Spartans – are the latest to roll off the factory line, and will be available only at Wal-Mart and Toys ‘R’ Us. galleryPost('newhalo', 5, 'New Halo 3 Figures');
More Halo figures are on their way. And already, it’s time for lazy repaints! While McFarlane are sending five “new” figures our way early next year, three are just Master Chief repaints. Boring. The other two, though, are custom Spartans, one in CQB armour (a Wal-Mart exclusive), one in EVA armour. And are much more interesting. Least, they are if you find 6-inch Halo figures interesting.
Nothing wrong with McFarlane’s Halo 3 toys. Then again, you don’t have to put much work into them either. You exchange currency, you receive the goods, that’s it. Where’s the fun in that? Nowhere, that’s where. So custom toy creator Jin Saotome decided to come up with his own custom Halo 3 Master Chief, cannibalising a GI Joe, an old Halo 2 toy and then a whole bunch of custom sculpting.
