'Half-Life' Gordon Freeman Action Figure Revealed

Jul 2, 2012 by Andrew Dyce

Half Life 2 Gordon Freeman Action Figure

It may not be the kind of new, official Half-Life announcement that fans have been waiting to hear, but the first chance to get a portable Gordon Freeman of one’s very own is still worth taking notice. The officially licensed Freeman action figure won’t be available until September, but he’ll be bringing a few extra perks as well. And we don’t mean the glasses.

The more devoted of Half-Life fans will surely have already noticed the fact that the figure doesn’t closely resemble, well, any of the most popular Gordon Freeman artwork. Since the player doesn’t actually run into that many mirrors throughout the series we’ll let it slide, but it’s obviously too late to change anything at this point anyway.

The action figure spotted by fan site LambdaGeneration is being sold by NECA, placing the protagonist in the Mark V HEV suit introduced in Half-Life 2, albeit with some slight tweaks. Unfortunately, the figure doesn’t include any Half-Life 3 hints or easter eggs, but does come with a miniature headcrab, bugbomb, two sets of interchangeable hands, the now famous crowbar and last but not least, the Gravity Gun. Quite a collection for just USD $18, and standing at 7″ large enough to appreciate the fine amount of detail.

It’s hard to say exactly what it is about Valve‘s properties that seems to be tailor-made for plushies and collector’s items. There’s no question that each of the developer’s games has enough fiction and imagination to warrant more attention than a standard military shooter, as was evidenced by the Portal animated film that we hope to see more of soon.

While the Freeman action figure is sure to be added to several fans’ collections – or burned outside Valve’s offices in protest – it actually isn’t the only official Half-Life news to surface recently. The batch of Half-Life 3 concept art that leaked last week has been confirmed as legitimate by the developers themselves, so development does seem to be slowly shuffling towards some type of announcement.

Obviously this must be just the beginning, since it would be foolish to create a Gordon Freeman action figure without also releasing an Alyx Vance, Combine Advisor and most importantly, the G-Man. Hopefully a strong fan reaction will push the manufacturers to roll out even more figures with twenty points of articulation. After all, countertops and bedspreads aren’t going to be able to save themselves from a Combine invasion.

What do you Half-Life fans think of this version of Gordon Freeman? Does the lack of perfect resemblance to official artwork sour the entire thing, or is the chance too good to pass up?

The action figure doesn’t arrive until September, but if you’ve got to have it, be sure to pre-order it now.