I think the 4-era armor is just plain ugly and as far from life like as possible. The bumps and protrusions that don't have any value aesthetically or functionally. The shoulder pauldrons don't make a lick of sense and there's so many edges on it I'm surprised John doesn't cut or get caught on himself. While the older armor isn't perfect by any means, at the very least it's simple and streamlined from head to toe.
I really wish they showed Chief (Not the easter egg, quick pan of the cryo tube but full body in front of the screen) in Reach. In my opinion all of Reach's Spartan armor was well designed to be both usable and identifiable as advanced military hardware. The base armor was smooth and worked on it's own but the additional attachments like the medkits, external cameras, and ammo pouches only added to the usefulness of the armor.
It's really unfortunate that 343 decided to go a very different route, hopefully they listened to the feedback/criticisms about their art direction.
I'll definitely keep buying the 3A Reach figures, but anything related to Halo 4 will be a long time coming till they mark it down. I'm still surprised they didn't design a Mark VI Chief in time for Halo 2 Anniversary, but like everyone knows ThreeA has awful scheduling and wouldn't have gotten it out in time anyways.
Ugh, that's the ThreeA figure that I've been waiting for, as I've skipped all of the other Halo figs.
