Review: Halo 4! It's Kind of Boring!

Halo 4 is an extremely polished, visually stunning, sci-fi/action sequel that is not nearly as fun as it should be. Which is probably a controversial opinion to have. A glance at the Metacritic paints a different picture entirely with most major reviewers awarding high nineties to perfect hundreds, so why did I continually struggle to connect? Why do large portions of the campaign feel like a repetitive chore? Haven’t we experienced a lot of this before?

To find out what went wrong (but also what they got right)... join me after the jump!

Halo Avatar Figures Are Weirdly Addictive

Remember the initial backlash when X-Box 360 added the new menu / avatar system? It's been a few years now and everyone has gotten used to it. But.. enough to sell blind packaged figures of Halo styled avatars?

I gave in and bought 3 of them. At $2.99 a piece, they felt like pocket change in the overpriced Mohegan Sun casino marketplace (as seen in the fancy marble backdrop of my photos) . For the price of three of these weird little guys, I could buy 2 bottles of water or spend 30 seconds at a slot machine. Given the circumstances, Halo Avatar Figures were the best option. Plus this was a Suncoast Motion Picture Co., which doesn't exist back at home... so I'd probably never see these again.

Check out the waving camo dude! And the Warthog! Are you curious what these look like up close? Click through the jump to see which ones I got.

Pre-Order Hot Toys 1/4 Scale Dark Knight! Arkham City Catwoman! And 3A Halo!

Ruthlessly determined to bankrupt us, our pals at Sideshow have updated with a handful of extremely appealing pre-orders to tempt your whimpering credit card out of hiding. How can I not share these with you!

Each time the genius artisans at Hot Toys release a figure I'm inclined to insist that it's the definitive version of that character. I certainly felt that way after seeing their recent Dark Knight Rises 1/6th scale Batman, but no - they prove me wrong by now offering up this 1/4 scale version! What does that mean? That this guy is even bigger, now standing about 18 inches high! Check this out...

I have so many more images, and all the pre-order info of this bounty... after the jump!

ThreeA Toys Showcase Portal Robots and More!

I'm consistently entranced by the work of ThreeA toys, spearheaded by phenomenal artist Ashley Wood (who hails from right here in Perth!). ThreeA are now in the midst of their Re-Venture toy and art show and there's some simply stunning future product images spilling onto the web. One of particular note is their incredibly detailed figures of Atlas and P-Body from Portal 2:

Source.

For more on ThreeA and their releases and where to find them, join me after the jump!

Catching up with Minimates

It's been a long time since I've bought any Minimates. In fact, it's been a pretty long time since I've bought any non-vinyl action figures. I'm guessing it's been about 2-3 years. But before that it, I was pretty much knee deep in block figures.

I prefer Kubricks (which I can't find) and Palz (which I miss terribly), but Minimates are kicking some serious square ass right now. The shelves at Toys R' Us were seriously stocked yesterday, and I saw a bunch of new(er) Minimates for the first time.



If you've been out of the loop like I have been... READ ON!