The Halo franchise has seen a number of different toys and figurines from various manufacturers over its 15-year history, but none have been as extensive as Mattel’s Halo Mega Bloks line. It appears that Microsoft has quite a bit of faith in Mattel, as the two companies have signed a “master licensing agreement” for Mattel to produce a plethora of new Halo toys.
“Partnering with Mattel not only expands visibility for Halo products in retailers worldwide, it unifies the design, development and creative vision of an important branch of Halo consumer products,” Microsoft said in the announcement.
Unfortunately, this might mean that new Halo figurines look more like toys than they do the actual characters from the game. An image included with the announcement shows off several characters, including Master Chief and Spartan Locke, and they appear slightly skinnier and less menacing than the recent McFarlane figures.
But figurines aren’t the only toys on their way. New BoomCo blasters (essentially Mattel’s version of Nerf) of both the classic MA5 assault rifle and the Brute Spiker are set for release and will retail for $50 and $20 respectively. Additionally, two RC vehicles will also allow your cat to finally live out its fantasy as a Halo villain. An energy sword ($50), should allow you to live out your fantasy as the Arbiter.
“We’re excited to work with Mattel to bring innovative, quality, and most of all, fun products to old and new Halo fans alike,” 343 head Bonnie Ross adds.
While I’m not a huge fan of the new figure designs, I’m a Halo Mega Bloks addict — I buy them constantly and never have enough room to display them, which becomes a problem with sets as big as the Elephant and the Phantom. We’ll see if Mattel can win over Halo fans when its new toys launch this fall.
