Review date: 2/24/2005
Revised: 2/25/2005

Manufacturer: Medicom

Released: 2005

Availability: RARE

Type: Trading Figure

Personal Story:
I saw an ad for it online a while back before the game was released. I was incredibly excited about it until I found out it was only available to people who preordered the Japanese version of the Halo 2 game in Japan only. I was devastated so I basically cried for days and then gave up on ever owning it. But after the game was released in Japan, people started posting links in KubrickWorld to various auctions on Ebay. One seller had it for an insane price but later cut the price in half (but it was still expensive as heck). I was a huge Halo fan so I purchased it right away and was very happy. This is THE most I ever paid for a single kubrick figure. It beats the price of the Kerberos kubrick I had purchased earlier by a wide margin. I also have to mention that the South Korean seller who sold it to me gave me a very pleasant experience so it cushioned the pain in my wallet. ^^;;

Sculpt:
The sculpt is excellent. Medicom managed to capture the look of Master Chief incredibly well. The first thing they did right was the head sculpt. It looks amazingly accurate (unlike the official action figure *chuckles*). They sculpted out his visor perfectly and the design on it is dead on. All the little grooves and sections including his "cap" and flashlights on the side of his face were sculpted out. I was very impressed. Even the back of the head includes all the parts that we saw in the game. Fantastic!

The body is just as nice. The torso also has all the armor plates and shoulder pads. The shoulder pads are actually connected to the main body's armor so it doesn't move with the arms which I found interesting. They don't get in the way and we don't need to deal with them falling out. Good design choice. The same can be said for the hands with the "wrist protectors" on the back of the hands. They are also connected to the armbands. They don't move with his hands which I thought was interesting. It's a great detail that Medicom could've basically executed with paint. The legs and feet are (yes again!) full of the details we saw from the game. It has all the tiny grooves and indentations that was expected. He just looks correct from front to back except he's been turned into a kubrick. This is definitely a very cute version of the Chief. :D

The accessories included are a pair of submachine guns (SMGs) and a rifle. They are excellent, just like the figure. They are dead on accurate without anything taken away. Some might find them a little thinner than the source but I think they look just right. All the tiny parts like the screws, scope, magazines and grooves were sculpted and they look great. I was very happy with them. But while the guns are perfectly sculpted, the Chief can't really hold the dual SMGs that well simply because his little kubrick hands weren't designed for it. A minor problem that Medicom couldn't avoid so I won't count it towards the final grade.

The figure also has a nice amount of articulation considering he's supposed to be in armor. Medicom took some new design decisions and they worked very well. Master Chief's movement is only limited by the turning of his head. That's about it. Excellent sculpt overall!

Paint:
The paint is also very nice and clean but not perfect. First, the colors are great. Some might've wanted him to be darker but I think it looks right for a kubrick. I have to admit that his green pigment looks remarkably similar to the action figure's color scheme. Interesting. But let's move on. The green is all matte color instead of glossy which some might find controversial. I didn't have any problems with it. It looks good all around.

The visor is perfect. I love the gold metallic paint used for it. It may not be chrome but Medicom doesn't usually use chrome that often so it's fine. It looks good and simple. The blacks and silver metallic paint for the rest of the figure are fairly clean with minor slop. They look just as accurate as can be.

The guns are pure matte black with a tiny bit of silver. I did find a stray silver paint on my rifle but I was able to fix that. It's probably an isolated incident. Not a major problem.

Some other flaws I found include a minor nick on the right side of his cheek which is not very noticeable unless you look at him closely (it bugged me tremendously though). Other problems include tiny little bumps on his chestplate. I thought it looked like dirt got between the paint and the figure which is a shame. It's also not very noticeable unless you light it a certain way. They look like battle damage if you want to be optimistic. Most casual collectors won't see this problem but it does take away the coveted Flawless Award that I wanted to give it. Oh well. Almost perfect.

The box. Very nice design using the official artwork from Bungie. But I'm puzzled why Medicom didn't use an original kubrick illustration like they always do with other kubricks. The size of the box is larger than the standard kubrick boxes too. It's about the same size as the Star Wars kubrick boxes.

"Bill Gates is my bitch."

Master Chief with his SMGs. As you can see, they look awkward when he actually tries to hold them.

The guns. Great details and very accurate. Superb sculpt.

The back.