Review date: 7/22/2006
Revised: 7/26/2006

Manufacturer: Muckle Mannequins

Released: 2004

Availability: RARE

Type: Statue

Personal Story:
This is gonna be long, you have been warned...

The first time I ever heard of this statue was from my online buddy, Chad, who works for Bungie (yes, developer of the Halo franchise). He mentioned his boss gave him a Master Chief statue that was made in Germany. I wanted pics but he said cameras weren't allowed in the office (for obvious reasons). :( Well, a few months later, I happened to read about this statue on a Halo fan site and when I finally saw pics of it, I fell in love. I finally saw it appear on Ebay but it was very expensive. So I passed and waited again. When I was hunting down for the foam promo statue a few years later, this statue popped up again. I finally bid and won an auction from a French seller. BUT, as of this review, the statue hasn't arrived and I've opened a "Item Not Received" dispute with Ebay about it. After my trip to China and Hong Kong, a US seller had it for around the same price that I had won from the French seller. It was Buy-It-Now so I pounced and received it in two days. Yay! But I discovered something hilarious. The US seller I had purchased from had purchased the same statue from a UK seller that I was watching on Ebay before my trip! He ended it early so I couldn't even watch it during my trip. I checked again and discovered that during my trip, the UK seller had reposted it and the US seller I purchased from had won it from him for less than 1/3 of what I paid...lol. Oh well, you win some, you lose some, right? Both the French and US auctions were very expensive so I'd be fool not to try to get my money back from that damn French seller. But I think he scammed me so I reported him to Ebay. *sigh*

Sculpt:
Oh...My...God. This 1/6 scale statue is simply magnificent! My jaws literally dropped when I took it out from the box. It is one of the most impressive statues I'd ever laid my eyes on that was made for consumers (and I've seen plenty). The sculpt is absolutely dead-on! Master Chief's helmet, body etc is peeeerrfect. It is definitely the most accurate version of Master Chief I'd ever seen. Muckle Mannequins definitely did it right. The sculptor(s) should definitely be commended for such an amazing sculpt.

The head/helmet is very detailed with all the grooves and little bits of details. The shape of the helmet and visor is very accurate. No weird warping or smooth corners like his action figure counterparts. Yea baby! It looks solid from front to back. Excellent. The rest of the body is just as impressive. The chest and back is also very accurate. Every little part of his armor was sculpted out. No shortcuts were taken with this statue. The back is equally as impressive as the front with all the grills and netting textures. Awesome. The folds near his joints is nicely done and looks realistic. The SMGs also look pretty accurate to the source. The scale looks correct and the Master Chief's grip on them is well done. I guess I can elaborate on it but I'd be repeating myself at the awesomeness of the sculpt and that would be repetitive. It looks damn good, that's all I can say. Hehe.

The pose is pretty cool too. It depicts Master Chief holding his famed SMGs and surveying his surroundings. It's a simple pose and I liked it. As I mentioned, it looks like it was based on the Halo 2 poster where we see it from below Master Chief and looking up into the sky. For anyone who's seen that poster, you will probably know what I'm talking about. It isn't the exact same pose but it seems that was the source where it was taken from. Some people might've preferred the other pose from the box art of the video game since that pose was more action-packed. But I feel that pose would've been predictable. This pose also allows us to admire his armor more fully than his box art pose.

The only negative would be the base. I have to admit that I'm not a fan of it. It's simply a rectangular piece based on a section of a ground from one part of the game. It's decorated with some grooves that were sculpted pretty well. But it also has the "Halo 2" logo and words engraved on it. Bad decision. Why? It makes it look a little more cartoony and ruins the overall presentation of piece. I'd rather see a base with a more natural look like the foam promo statues. It's not a big deal but it's definitely an eyesore compared to the statue itself. I also think a circular base would've been a better idea. Another minor quibble would be the scale. They stated that it's 1/6 scale but since Master Chief is 7 foot tall in the game, he should be taller than my regular 1/6 scale figures. But he's the same size as them so the scale isn't accurate. Very minor quibble.

In any case, the overall quality of the statue is simply amazing. I've rarely seen a statue that was made for consumers with zero problems. I couldn't even find an unintended chip or scratch on it. I guess I scored one of the perfect ones. Quality control was doing their job. ^^ It also feels nice and heavy. It's so heavy that you'd think this piece was made from stone. The weightiness really helps in making feel like a nice sturdy piece of art. Neato.

Paint:
The paint job is equally outstanding. What I found interesting is that it's really hard for me to look for flaws with it. The main reason was that Muckle Mannequins added a lot of damage effects on his armor so it's tough for me to look for paint problems. But from what I can tell, everything looks correct. Maybe certain parts could be cleaner but I didn't find anything that stood out to me.

The colors chosen is very close to the source. The pigment used for the green may be a bit lighter than the source, but it looks very very good. I guess you can say that the green color looks more like the color of the Kubrick version from Medicom. I'm not sure if the darker green would've made a difference but the lighter green, looks fine. I actually prefer the final colors over the pigment that I saw on the box. Some people might be disappointed to know that the visor uses a regular gold metallic paint (like the Kubrick version) rather than chrome (like the action figure). It looks good though and they made it glossy so I won't be complaining. The SMGs look pretty basic though. I would've liked some of the parts to have a tint but it's a basic black. The black outfit near the joints were painted with a glossy black which was a nice and simple. The damage effects all over the armor is really really great. I really like the silver used to indicate heavy damage and I liked all the little bits like the lights and other parts of armor were painted in. There are also lots of very subtle bits of black/brownish paint to accentuate the grooves which makes the statue look realistic up close. It adds a lot of nice burn marks and grime to create a sense that Master Chief's been in a war zone. Very nice detailed work. Lovely!

My only gripe would be the base (again). The gray looks good but the blue paint used for the logo and "Halo 2" words are a little too bright. I think a darker blue would work better and make it more realistic. The light blue makes it look a bit too cartoony even though I know they were trying to be accurate to the real words in the game. The light blue also takes away the realism and subtle aspects of what a base should represent. I guess if you're truly hardcore, you
can paint over them. But I won't be doing that for the price I paid. ;) The good thing is that they were painted very cleanly. Zero slop which makes up for the color choice.

Where can I find this?
Ultra rare, IF you live outside of Europe. This is a pretty tough item to find. I think several online stores in Germany and some surrounding countries in Europe still have it available (as of this review). But since it was released a few years ago for a limited time, it's pretty rare there too. Your best bet would be Ebay, but it's rare there also. I wish you a lot of luck.

The box. Good design. They tried to mimic the game's box art but the graphics/photos used are kinda amateurish and all the images makes the design look too busy. They should've gone for a more stylized minimalist look. But it's good to see what the statue looks like and it's definitely eye-catching from a distance.

"I eat Sony fanboys for lunch."

Lovely details.

Looks kickass from all sides.

The base. It's the only weak link. Boring design and the blue color is way too bright.

The back. It's so friggin' detailed! *faints*