It’s like deja vu! It seems like only yesterday that I was reviewing the original Kat figure from Halo Reach Series 2, but it was actually over a year ago. The first female Spartan figure ever released, Kat was highly-impressive at the time and a definite victory for fans of female Spartans everywhere. But as good as that first Kat was, with a full year of design innovations and technological advancements, this second version of Kat is even better with loads of cool new sculpting details and articulation points!

…Nah! Just kidding. Like all of the other unhelmeted figures of Noble Squad, Series 6 Unhelmeted Kat is a straight-up reuse of the old body mold with a brand-new head. Is she still worth getting? Well, depends on how much you like that new head…

The Right:

Let’s start off with Kat’s new hat–I mean, head. Kat (Noble-Two) is not a hot chick. She was never meant to be, and she isn’t. Kat is a grizzled veteran who’s spent the entirety of her life in the war zone, and she has the scars and hardened facial features to prove it. To be considered a success, you’d need to see all of that on this Kat figure’s face. And thankfully, I think McFarlane Toys has actually pulled that off. The paint on Kat’s face is expertly applied, and her eyes are particularly penetrating and impressive. She may not be the prettiest woman you’ve ever seen, but I think this is an faithful a representation of the character of Kat as you could ever ask for.

Since this is the same figure as Series 2 with a new head, it’ll surprise no one that Series 6 Kat still has the same fantastic 25 points of articulation as that one did. Kat features a ball-jointed head, double-jointed ball-joint shoulders, double-jointed ball-joint elbows, double-jointed left wrist, swivel right forearm, swivel hips, ball-jointed thighs, ball-jointed upper-torso, double-jointed ball-jointed knees, and double-jointed ball-jointed ankles. The package claims Kat has 28 points of articulation, but without the swivel feet and right wrist articulation other Spartans have, I’ve only been able to count 25 on her. Her articulation is still stellar and you can get a variety of poses out of her–I’m just not sure exactly what else McFarlane Toys is counting.

The paint that is applied (more on that shortly) is neat and clean, Kat’s joints are nice and tight, and the bionic arm is as cool now as it was when this figure was first released. It sounds like I’m not saying much here in “The Right”, but that’s because not much has changed and what was solid about this figure last time out still is.

The Wrong:

Unhelmeted Carter really set the bar for the unhelmeted figures, in my opinion. He had a new head, the debuting Reach Spartan Laser weapon, and paint deco that was a nice improvement over his release in Series 2. Kat doesn’t fare as well. Whereas Carter’s paint had more details the second time around, Kat actually has less. The “caution” yellow and black stripes have been removed from her feet, the small red triangle details on her armor have been left out, and the pouches on the sides of her belt aren’t painted as well. There aren’t any additions or improvements of any kind to the paint deco on Kat, leaving this version of Kat a total downgrade from the neck down.

Unlike the unhelmeted Carter figure from Series 5, Kat also comes with no new weapons. She has her signature Magnum and one of the ubiquitous frag grenades. I would have liked to have seen her come with a data pad or a helmet she could hold or anything to make this figure feel a little bit more ‘new’. Again–this is still a good figure as it was a year ago, but I feel like other than the new head, McFarlane really didn’t try very hard at all to make this a worthwhile purchase for longtime collectors.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

Unhelmeted Kat is part of the Halo Reach Series 6 case assortment shipping to all retailers, and is packed at one-per-case. As a rare female figure in the line, Kat may be elusive to find in stores at first.

As far as online options go:

As usual, the first place Halo Reach Series 6 hit online is ebay, where there are plenty of Unhelmeted Kats available right now, so you may be able to get a good deal. You can check out the current listings for the Unhelmeted Kat directly on ebay by clicking here!

BigBadToyStore has the Unhelmeted Kat available at the regular retail price of just $11.99, and they also have a TON of other Halo Reach Series 6 items available at the best prices of any online store.

Overall: I loved the first Kat figure in Reach Series 2 and it earned an ‘A-’, but this figure scores only a ‘B’ despite being almost entirely the same figure. Why? Because it’s pretty much the laziest of new releases possible without being a straight repaint. McFarlane Toys sculpted an all-new head, which is admittedly pretty good, but that’s the only “new’ thing about this figure. The paint applications on the figure are almost identical, but are lacking a few details from the original. Kat was a great figure in Series 2 and she still is, but unless you really and truly care about having an unhelmeted head for her, there’s just nothing new here. Kat is a good figure and is recommended, but if it’s a choice between the Series 2 and Series 6 Kat, the original one is the definitive and better version.