Series: Halo 2, 3

Craftsmanship: 8.9 / 10
- Good balance and poseability
- Compatible with the other Halo figures
- Clear plastic creates a neat effect
- Need a voice chip to say, “Grenade!”

Playability: 9.2 / 10
- Good durability
- Small clear guns and grenade can be lost
- Perfectly compatible with Halo and Halo 2 figures 

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As the SpecOps Grunt is nearly identical to the regular (and visible) Covenant Grunt that shipped with the original Halo series, most of the text below has been cribbed from the original review.

If there’s one enemy in the Halo universe that I have a fondness for blowing up, it’s the Covenant Grunt. Sure, sneaking up on an Elite and whacking him with a rifle butt is not without its charm, but for pure entertainment value nothing beats a plasma grenade stuck to a Covenant Grunt, retreating with his arms raised, screaming in that high-pitched whine, “Grenade!” And I count down in my head, “3…2…1” BOOM! Pure satisfaction.

Joyride Studios has done the source material an extreme justice here, not only making an accurate Grunt but also a very playable action figure.

The SpecOps Grunt is made of clear plastic.  Any other figure that received the "stealth" treatment is labeled with "Active Camouflage," but I suppose the selection of SpecOps was done because of the way "Active Camouflage Grunt" sounds a bit like what one would hear while visit a public washroom.  Without color, the details are little harder to see but the sculpt is the same as the original Grunt found in the original Halo series.

There are articulation is used to good effect here and though you might think the massive “tail” would upset the balance of the figure. In some positions this is true, but for the most part, the Grunt is an extremely balanced figure and the Grunt can be kept “fresh” for display and can be posed in a variety of diorama situations.

The sculpt is great. I applaud the amount of detail that is present, particularly with the head, the bony protrusions at the elbows, and the textured skin. The Grunt also seems to be in pretty good scale to the other Halo and Halo 2 figures. At first blush, he seems way bigger 

than he should be but after doing a little more research (i.e. playing a few more hours of Halo 2) I have to say he looks pretty close to – if not bang on – the scale of the other figures. Joyride has also done a fantastic job of making sure the weapons of the Halo figures are interchangeable and it remains consistent here. The gun can easily be swapped out for other Covenant weapons (even if the "stealth" factor kind of flies out the window). It’s a feature, which leads perfectly to a look at the playablity…

The Covenant Grunt has a high degree of playability, by itself and with the Halo figures. The only real risks present to the SpecOps Grunt is that the accessories can be lost -- the plasma grenade is 

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made of clear plastic and is tiny -- and the spindly elbows look like they might snap under really rough play (however, I didn’t encounter this problem during the play test).

Joyride is doing good stuff with Halo license and the SpecOps Grunt is just another great example of this.

- Omni

(February 13, 2006)

Related Action Figure Reviews:

- Covenant Grunt (Halo)

- Cortana (Halo)

- Hunter (Halo 2)