by Austin Becknell
Small Yet Mighty: Ever since the Halo video game came out I was blown away by the characters and how awesome they looked, and of course we got several waves of action figures from a few different companies such as Joyride and McFarlane and in the past few years MEGA BLOKS. The Halo MEGA BLOKS was released around the same time as the video game, Halo Wars. The MEGA BLOKS industry sky-rocketed after the release of the Halo MEGA BLOKS because fans were waiting for Lego to come out with their version, since the first game.
Of course the MEGA BLOKS mini figures are much more realistic and more articulated than the standard Lego figure, which seemed to be more fitting for the genetically-enhanced super solders' overall playability. At first these MEGA BLOKS stuck to Halo Wars characters and vehicles but with the release of Halo 4 they began to make characters from that video game as well, and now we have more ships, and more characters than we can count with these awesome Halo MEGA BLOKS.
The price range for these MEGA BLOKS are from $3.00 and up (and up), it just depends on what you want. The small mystery packs are $2.99 at retail price, of course you don’t know who you’re getting but more than likely it’s a good figure to add to your collection. Of course the bigger the set, the bigger the price. The most expensive vehicle to date is the Forward Unto Dawn ship which at retail runs at around $400.00.
If you’re a Halo fan and you want every vehicle as well as a small army of Spartan or covenant soldiers the MEGA BLOKS is the route to go. There are several vehicles that have been released that aren’t even in the games, they are simply creations made by MEGA BLOKS to strengthen the Halo experience. They are also very playable; these are made for smaller children as well as adults. So if you’re an adult Halo fan or a young Halo fan these small figures are definitely a good investment, and who doesn’t like bonding time while you’re spending 2 days building the Covenant Scarab. I highly recommend these MEGA BLOKS figures to every Halo lover, and Lego type toy collector out there.
Don’t have it, Make it.
What happens when you see a character from a movie, comic book, television show, video game, or something in real life and they don’t have the action figure for it? Some people curl up in a tiny ball and begin to sob -hoping that some day a figure will get released, but some people decide to make their own action figure; this is known as customizing.
One customizer in particular, Brandon Flores, also known as HALICON, from Hollywood (CA) has changed the way people customize. Brandon sticks to mostly Star Wars customs, in particular the Star Wars Black Series 6” line. He has created some amazing things and posted them on fan sites all over. One of his greatest works-in-progress is a scale Imperial Walker from Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back; which is roughly 5 and a half feet tall. He has also done several other things such as a custom snow speeder, Hoth Scout Trooper, Hoth Heavy Trooper, Star Wars episode 7 Storm Trooper, as well as his own episode 7 concept Snow Trooper and episode 7 Ball Droid. He has even gone as far as making a zombiefied Darth Vader.
Brandon's love for customizing started when he was a young child. His father loved collecting models and his love for figures sprouted from there. He remembers using a x-acto knife and a screw driver to disassemble and re-assemble figures at a very young age. His work is amazing and every piece is several days worth of work and it truly shows, it just goes to show that some people really do have a talent and a love for action figures beyond just the factory-made figures.
Brandon still has tons of customs to come and show the world, at this moment he is working on a scale Tie Fighter for the newly released Tie pilot, because waiting for a six inch factory made vehicle is to long of a wait for this amazing customizer. If you want to see some of his amazing works join the Star Wars Black Series 6” fan site on Facebook, where he posts pictures of his customs quite often. Just remember that with time and patience that anyone can take a simple figure and turn it into something amazing. Brandon has actually inspired me to take up the customizing hobby and I have created a couple Star Wars customs that I am quite proud of, so remember if they don’t have it, make it!
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