TCN Hottest Toy of the Week - Halo 3 Orange Hayabusa figure

This week's Hottest Toy of the Week is the Halo 3 Orange Hayabusa Spartan Soldier action figure. For anyone that collects Halo 3 action figures, you know that there are a huge amount of exclusive colored variants spread around to different retailers. I picked up the Walmart-exclusive Blue Scout trooper this week, and Entertainment Earth is selling a Yellow ODST variant while BigBadToyStore is selling a Violet CQB exclusive.
But the Orange Huyabusa action figure is not available in the U.S. It is a Series 3 exclusive to Game Station UK and Game Australia, and in pretty small quantities at that. This has caused the price of this figure to skyrocket on the secondary market. One sold this past week for a whooping $305 on eBay, and other current auctions show similar high demand (and along with it high prices). We get readers from all over the world on this website, so if you can get your hands on one of these babies, you truly have what seems to be one of the hottest toys of the moment.

McFarlane reveals new Halo website and helmet 3-packs

McFarlane Toys unveiled their new Halo products website this week, and also some new goodies coming our way over the next few months. McFarlane has an incredible amount of Halo themed action figures coming out over the next 9 months (in 4 different scales!), so even though the line has been successful so far, I wonder if it can really support such a large number of releases. We shall see. It wouldn't be the first time McFarlane Toys took some early success as a sign to completely overrun a line with product.
One thing I really like though is the Halo helmets. Planned for an early 2009 release, these Halo helmets will be sold in 3-packs, with each helmet including a display base. The display bases are made to interlock, but the really cool thing is that these helmets will fit on the heads of all your 12-inch Spartan action figures, allowing you some pretty diverse customization options.

They will be released in 4 different sets starting in February:

Set #1
- Mark VI (Red)
- EOD (Red)
- CQB (Red)
Set #2
- Hayabusa (White)
- EVA (Olive)
- Rogue (Tan)
Set #3
- Master Chief
- Rogue (Silver)
- CQB (Orange)
Set #4
- EOD (Blue)
- Hayabusa (Red)
- EVA (Teal)

McFarlane "Halo Wars" action figures announced

Today, McFarlane Toys announced they will be releasing action figures based on the forthcoming video game "Halo Wars". The figures will be sold in 3-packs, and each figure is 2 1/2 inches tall with articulation at the waist. So far, 4 sets are planned, and they are due for release in March of 2009 for an MSRP of $10.
Above is a picture of a preliminary clay sculpt of a Spartan Soldier (with 2 plasma pistols) from Set #3.
Official news release here.

Halo 3 action figure news dump

Lots of happenings in the Halo 3 toy universe. The McFarlane series of Halo 3 toys have been flying off the shelves. Series 1 was released in March, and Series 2 was released last month and is quickly disappearing.

Series 3 is set for release in September, with 6 new figures:

• MASTER CHIEF
• SPARTANS
• ELITE COMBAT
• JACKAL MAJOR
• FLOOD COMBAT HUMAN
• WAR CHIEFTAIN (Weapon Class)

Also, an exclusive Halo 3 2-pack (pictured above) will be coming to Fred Meyer stores in November. This boxed set will include the Master Chief and the Brute Chieftain featured in Series 1.

• HALO 3 2-PACK FRED MEYER EXCLUSIVE

And speaking of exclusives, if you missed the San Diego Comic Con Halo 3 exclusives (Spartan Soldier EVA "HellSpartan” plus an exclusive clear Spartan Soldier) you can now order them online from the official Halo 3 site. They had a limited run of 3,000 each, so supplies could run low -- so hurry up if you are interested. They are $30 for the set.