While we’ve known about McFarlane Toys’ Halo 4 figures for the better part of 2012, one company that’s been quiet about expanding into Halo 4 is Square-Enix. But the silence has been broken, and Square-Enix’s intentions have now been laid bare: Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Series 1 figures will be arriving in the first quarter of 2013!

Past Play Arts Kai Halo series have been composed of as many as 3 figures, but Halo 4 Series 1 will contain just a duo of figures: the Halo 4 Master Chief and a blue Spartan Warrior. The Master Chief is the legendary icon of Halo, so he was always a lock for Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Series 1. A generic blue Spartan Warrior seems like a bit of an odd choice, but the McFarlane Toys blue Spartan Warrior was a box-set exclusive, so this will be the first individually-available version of that Spartan armor permutation in blue. In addition, the color scheme on the Square-Enix Play Arts Kai Spartan Warrior is far, far more elaborate and interesting than that of the McFarlane Toys version.

As is customary for Play Arts Kai, both the Master Chief and the blue Spartan Warrior figures will include a pair of alternate hands and multiple guns. The Spartan Warrior includes a Battle Rifle and a Magnum, while the Master Chief includes a Plasma Pistol and an Assault Rifle.

The main differences between the Halo 4 figures lines by McFarlane Toys and Square-Enix Products are the size, price, character diversity, and detail. While the McFarlane Toys line will unquestionably be far cheaper and have a much deeper character selection, the Play Arts Kai Halo 4 figures will be much larger (about 8″ tall), better-detailed, and a lot more expensive (~$60 per figure). Given that we’ve never seen a single non-Spartan in the Play Arts Kai line, don’t expect any enemies for your Spartans to fight, either. Even so, the first two Halo 4 Play Arts Kai figures look incredible, and I’ll definitely be bringing the pair home next year.

Both the Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Master Chief and Spartan Warrior figures are available for pre-order from BigBadToyStore right now.