by Loran
Okay, I’ve stated it before, but who doesn’t love the Warthog? The thing has become as synonymous with the Halo franchise as the Chief himself has. It’s a cool vehicle and whenever you see it, you know what it is. There’s no mistaking it for some random G.I. Joe vehicle or whatever. Really, I’d rather see Cortana go from the franchise before this thing. Okay, that’s a lie but you know what I mean. In a way, the Warthog is to Halo as mushrooms are to Mario and Luigi—you get rid of them, the whole atmosphere is lost. Over the years we’ve seen a few variants on the good ol’ hog, and I’m here to cover just one of those.
To support the release of the Warthog, McFarlane put out both attachments for the vehicle’s turret, the Rockets and the Gauss Cannon. This was a wise move, as it kept fans from needing to buy additional $30+ vehicles just isn’t economical. So instead, they made a pair of optional turrets at $20-$30 with an included figure! Actually that… isn’t very economical either, but it’s certainly more practical, because at the very least, the packages are nice.
Each turret includes a custom Spartan with a basic color of steel and a secondary color, thankfully breaking from the typical model. For this review I have the Rocket Launcher attachment with custom JFO Spartan, mostly because I liked the look of the Spartan more.
As silly as the rocket launcher looks, it’s got a certain charm to it. Sure, it’s nowhere near as good as the Gauss cannon is in-game, but it’s great for causing chaos… and for making your driver angry. By and large, it’s a pretty faithful recreation of the weapon.
While it may look good, there are some design flaws. For one, one of the two cannons is loose, and it’s not a problem exclusive to mine—I’ve heard accounts of several other sets having a loose launcher, too. Second, the handles are way too close together. I understand why you want game accuracy, but sometimes you have to go for function over form: these figures don’t have enough articulation to grasp these handles without looking silly!
The turret pops into the back of the hog better than the basic machine gun turret, surprisingly! It doesn’t feel like it’ll fall out as easily.
The figure is a great addition, but not one without issues. He has the JFO head, Commando shoulderpads, FJ/Para kneepads, and… a basic torso with no knife? What the heck? That’s… really lame. Of all the torsos they could have picked from, they look the least exciting. Still, I didn’t buy this set for the figure himself, I bought him for the customization potential. I’m planning on somehow getting every armor set that comes in steel and messing around with them, and the non-standard color scheme of this guy makes him a great base figure.
Of course, he lacks any kind of weapon. I guess the justification was the turret itself is his weapon, but without a knife, this poor guy is left defenseless if his Warthog gets blown up…
If you own a Warthog, getting either one of these sets is a no-brainer. They have QC issues, but they certainly improve the play value of your ‘hog, and the figures make great custom fodder. If you’re at FPNYC and feel like augmenting your ‘hog, grab one of these!
