One of the things about Halo is that, as Microsoft’s biggest flagship series (& Chief their mascot), the aesthetic of the franchise is an incredibly important part of the appearance of Microsoft’s gaming endeavors as a whole. The thing with the image of Chief changing is that the portrayal of the series on merchandise & internet imagery all needs to change too, so I was really interested when I saw that 343s Halo store on Jinx went on absolute firesale a couple weeks ago, & almost everything in the store was massively discounted. Seems clear to me that they are trying to burn up Halo 4 / Halo 5 style depictions as quickly as possible…and, correct me if I’m wrong, but it looks like the link to their office merch store hits a dead end & Halo is no longer featured at all on Jinx.
Even their Microsoft Official products on their site only has a handful of Noble team insignia shirts & generic items.
I feel like the Halo merchandise market for the past 8 ish years has been rather tacky, especially since they eventually ended up partnering primarily with cheap kids brands for standard collectibles like Mattel, Megabloks, & BoomCo. I’m kinda hoping that with the overall aesthetic change for the game, they also partner with higher quality brands. There has been something cheap feeling about all the stuff they’ve had for a few years overall…
Mostly mentioning because, besides my interest in Halo collectibles & figures (I have craptons of the Halo 3 & Halo Reach McFarlane stuff), I feel like this sounds poorly timed what with the Halo Outpost Discovery event happening …I know it’s good to have a Halo themed event to start spooling up public interest in the series, but I actually was interested to see if there was any new stuff to buy to wear to the event in Philly, & it feels like the event is a little stuck without much to show during this time of transition?
Has anyone been to the Outpost Discovery events that have happened/are happening? I saw a video where someone mentioned the convention had a lively merch shop…I’m curious to know if they are selling old art style overstock, generic Outpost Discovery brand items, or if they have anything new reflecting the design of what they’re working on under wraps (Infinite)?
I don’t know about the Outpost merch shop, but the online store could really use an update. I’m not personally one for merch, but the store is very, very bland. There’s not a thing on it that grabs my attention as something that I would potentially buy, or even gift. I’ve gone to places like ThinkGeek before they were absorbed by GameStop, and even they only have a few notable items, being figures of the chief, a pelican, and the Infinity, Motorcycle helmets, POP figures, and a few articles of clothing. Nothing much. It would be cool so the merch shop get an overhaul!
Not sure if its the same thing your talking about but this thread might be helpful.
> 2533274807802500;3:
> Not sure if its the same thing your talking about but this thread might be helpful.
^ Yup
OP - everything is shifting over the the Xbox Gear store, you can find Halo merch on there right now
https://gear.xbox.com/
> 2533274813317074;4:
> > 2533274807802500;3:
> > Not sure if its the same thing your talking about but this thread might be helpful.
>
> ^ Yup
>
> OP - everything is shifting over the the Xbox Gear store, you can find Halo merch on there right now
> https://gear.xbox.com/
Yeah, I had noticed.
I think what I found most interesting is that technically the gear hadn’t been “shifted” or “moved” to the Microsoft store, bc they don’t offer anything from the Jinx store. What I found the most interesting is how 343 clearly can’t commit to a new merch store lineup right now since the new art style has barely been revealed beyond Chief’s Gen3 MJOLNIR. All they have is a couple Noble Team shirts, generic hoodie, a Reach mousepad…
I just thought it was funny bc I went to Halo Outpost just two days ago in Philly & I was hoping for some new Halo Infinite styled stuff but it felt like the same thing – everything was themed specifically around the event itself or kept as generic/vague as possible since there is no official unified art direction (yet) at this time. Was funny to see them only showing Halo 1-3 designs for statues & imagery (primarily Halo 2 Anniversary stuff since it was the last retro themed release with good graphics to use as a point of reference – Halo Wars 2 didn’t fit the bill enough for that and lacked Chief). Meanwhile, the merch shop only had Halo 4 Chief costumes & plastic helmets & Halo 5 themed megabloks stuff…
While I think its a shame that this event could have pushed merchandise sales to further benefit the development of the next game, it’s interesting to see how far 343 & Microsoft are willing and able to go to slowly alter the face of the series after pushing the Halo 4 aesthetic for over half a decade. I never thought they’d do this because it shows a willingness to admit that they may have gone too far off in some places, something big companies are rarely willing to do.
<p></p>
The J!nx line of closing for Halo has ended now, hence the move over to the gear store. J!nx had a sale to get rid of the last of their stock. I imagine closer to the time of Infinite releasing or as other projects are revealed they will have more merch available
Yeh it’s kind of weird that the store’s mostly gone…plus the store kind of looks a bit too basic, underwhelming.
I’m surprised 343i don’t get involved with the fan creations since there’s really good shirts out there on other sites like one where it had a grunt saying ‘grunts live matters’ but I did like look of the Halo Wars cereal shirts before 343i took it off their site.
> 2533274813317074;6:
> The J!nx line of closing for Halo has ended now, hence the move over to the gear store. J!nx had a sale to get rid of the last of their stock. I imagine closer to the time of Infinite releasing or as other projects are revealed they will have more merch available
Wicked Cool Toys being the most recent announcement. They will be releasing Halo Infinite action figures, play sets, plush, role play items, and more come Holiday 2020! I think there’s a small chance we’ll see something or at least hear more about this during New York Comic Con in October. If we don’t, I can almost guarantee that we’ll see a few items during the New York Toy Fair in February 2020.
Speaking of halo collectibles and merchandise, I wanted a few halo things from companies other than jinx. One thing I wanted for merch was a Halo fig pin, sadly one dose not exist. A halo geeki tiki also dose not exist. I have suggested halo to both companies. Maybe one day I will see a Halo fig pin.
I have a few jinx things, like the Spartan lock figurine. I wonder what new gear we will see from them in the future.
we could really use a lot more innovating merch ideas…