SO now we come to the end of my now 6-part review of this awesome set. I really encourage everyone out there who wants a piece of Halo history to get this set. Yes, it’s $250 and YES, it’s SO worth it.

So here we go with the final round of pics:

Besides the Master Chief minifig, we also get a Blue Storm Elite (only previously available as red in the Halo 4 Warthog set), a UNSC officer – FIRST time available (the arms and legs are the same as the technician), and of course the technician which was only available previously in the Countdown (or Sabre) set. The BR shown is included as well and is meant for Master Chief. The blok with the number on it is there for the batch/lot number in case of a recall.

I really like these extra minifigs. I would love to have a few extras of the elite. It goes without saying that having a small army of technicians would be awesome and a few extra officers would be great too. Unless they are released in future sets though, I’ll have to be satisfied with the ones I do have.

Here is the wing UNSC sticker. Now on the box it’s shown close to this position, while in the directions is very close to the front of the wings (in the pic that would be to the left of the wing). I happen to like it near middle as that’s closer to what it was on the original ship from Halo 3. However you choose to place this is your decision, so don’t let anyone detract you form your desired placement.

Here we see some stickers near the mid section of the ship.  MEGA was kind enough to cut the sticker on the left so that when the ship is put together it fits with the other portion of the sticker from the front half.

Some of the stickers at the front section of the ship. They add a nice touch to the ship without being obtrusive or overpowering to the rest of the model.

So now we come to the part where we see how the ship is fit together from it’s two main halves.

First you lift off the two roof panels by the midsection from both halves. As well, you’ll need to remove the hoses or they’ll get in the way of the ship being assembled.

Here you can see where it appears that several pieces will slot into the other half of the ship. Notably the smooth tiles near the middle of the pic actually do slot into holes that are part of the construction of the front section. As well there are two pegs that click into other holes to help keep the ship together. A very well done and thought out design by MEGA.

Here’s another view closer up of those holes and pegs that come together.

Here’s where the ship comes together. You can also see the sticker that was neatly cut by MEGA and how it comes together as well.

Note in the pic above the 1X8 plates that have been added. These too help in the connection of the halves. Surprisingly that’s all that is need. Those two, plus the pegs previously seen. Of course I wouldn’t go trying to pry them apart or carelessly carrying the ship around. But for the purposes of display those are all you need to keep the ship together.

Fit the roof panels back on. By the way, I suggest taking them all off then start with the front one and work you way toward the back. It can be a tight fit with those middle two, especially with stickers applied at the front of the back half.

In the previous three pics I left the roof hatches deliberately open so you can see just how dark it is in there even with the hatches open.

Now for the finished result! (Be sure to click the pic for the larger version!)

Isn’t she a beaut! I have to say I am SO impressed with this build. MEGA really knocked it out of the park here. So many added pieces to the sides give it great character. The main structure of the model is VERY sturdy. The minifigs are welcomed extras as are the MANY gun accessories. This is one impressive building block model.

Here are some stats I got during the build:
Build time: 5 hours sorting pieces ; 10 hours building. Not too bad for a model of this piece count.
Size: over three feet long, including the front antennae.
Weapons and accessories: 14 guns 1 radio back pack.
4 Minifigs

If you want any other stats on the model, just shoot me a reply below or e-mail me at [email protected].

As always, MEGA allows for extra pieces in their models. This set was no different. In fact the allowed for so many extra pieces that I was able to build something I think was cool…

Above are the leftover pieces I had.

So I went ahead and built a mini Forward Unto Dawn with them!

And finally below the mini model with the full sized one!

So that’s it. The Forward Unto Dawn from Halo 4. It’s a masterful piece and any Halo fan should be proud to own it.

It’s exclusive to Toys R Us for $250. Now before I go, I need to give a shout out to Toys R Us. When I first pre-ordered this back in July, I pre-ordered at the “Buy One Get One Half Off” price. I made sure to note that I wasn’t going to be charged on the credit card for the transaction until this shipped. However, I was charged which ended up making me default on other transaction for a total of $210 in fees. While the initial charge form TRU was put back into the account, the damage had been done from those fees. This is partly documented on the blog during that time.

What was good was that I was put in contact with one of their corporate customer service persons. He fixed this by calling up a local store that had it in stock. From there I just need to go pick it up. So in essence I got this for $40+tax less than retail. Also, he is to send me a gift card for $125 (half the amount for the second ship I would have got). I’m still waiting on the gift card and will let you all know when I get that. In fact you folks will benefit from it as I plan to buy Halo stuff with that gift card for prizes for contests on the blog.

Suffice to say that I’m glad the TRU made good on their end so far and hope they complete what we agreed upon as it will benefit the blog members too.

Back to the set for a final thought. This is the FIRST in MEGA Bloks “Signature” series. We can only hope that they release at least one new Halo signature series ship a year. I’m hoping for the UNSC Infinity next. Then possibly a Covenant ship. The price is up there, but again, for what you get, it is SO worth it. I’m COMPLETELY satisfied with the set!

THANKS MEGA!
-Sal

As promised here is the next section in the Mega Bloks Forward Unto Dawn signature series model. This section took about 2 and a half hours to complete. I was missing just one piece, though thankfully not integral to the build. Technically it’s three pieces those as the two others I had were 2X1 slopes of the higher angle rather than the smaller angle as shown in the directions (these two will be pointed out in the next article). Aside from this, the build has gone on flawlessly and thankfully for the rest of the build there were not other issues as well.

Now, on to the pics!

The lower prong of the front section is started. Note the repetition here as in previous sections. It really helps in the strength/stability of the model.

The lower prong’s base shape is essentially complete. Now for underside.

I really like how Mega used reverse slope pieces here. And nice BIG ones too. Again stability.

And now for some greeblies and walls topside!

Yet more greeblies and the walls of the armory start to really take shape.

The armory panels to be inserted. 3 SMGs, 3 Magnums, 5 Assault rifles, 3 Frag Grenades, a Radio backpack, and finally the sticky detonator round out what you see here. Also included are a Covenant Plasma Rifle for the Elite and a grey BR for Master Chief.

A couple of views of the armory. Really nice job here on Mega’s part. Good bit of weapons. I do wish the had more detail, like the Sticky Detonator. But really, these guns will just stay in their lockers anyway, so I’m fine with them being black. It likely helped to keep costs down too.

The top prong is built similarly to the bottom one. Note the long bloks extending form the right. These will be placed on the walls of the armory to position the prong and add stability.

Okay, now here is where Mega could have chosen to cheap out, but they DIDN’T! Kudos to them for adding greeblies to the bottom side of the top prong. As seen in the next pic, it really adds character to the empty space between the prongs. Here is where I was missing one part. Look to the top middle just right. There is a 2X1 plate in the two semi curved sections. Now look at the bottom. It’s not there. That was one of the parts missing. Again, not essential, though I’ll be asking Mega for that part.

If you can see it, there is a clear 2×2 blok near the front of the prongs that ties them together. It adds stability, while not interfering with the look.

Here’s the top side assembly of the top prong. Note on the right side of the pic is where a soon to be built removable section of the roof will be housed.

The front shot shows were some neat attachments will be placed….in the NEXT part of the build!

Now, does this look a bit boxy at this point? Sure, but that does NOT tell the full tale. Come back and see the next part where I build the roof and side panels. Those really flesh out this portion of the ship and make it go from being boxy to being smexy!

-Sal

Okay, so Thanksgiving slowed me down a bit on this project as I was away for a couple of days. Now that I’m back, I’m all over the project. In fact I’m literally over with the project. It’s finished! Originally I had planned on 4 parts for this project, but I think I’m going to stretch it to 5 or 6 parts now that I see the amount of photos and description this model needs.

So here is the third part. The Aft Roof.

Above shows various panels built to be attached to the side of the aft part of the ship. Some really cool parts here. I especially like the ones with the clear blue panels.

Here are those same panels attached. They REALLY help to flesh out the sides of the ship.

Now we have the wing assemblies. These really show the camo effect of the bloks. I actually wish this would have been with solid color bloks than camo effect. No need for camo in space, imo.

The wings attached.

This is the start of the top part of the aft portion of the ship. It includes what will be the “bridge” of the ship. All those “arms” you see at the bottom will have roof panels snapped into them.

The bridge assembly further along. I like the way MEGA used their curved parts and wasn’t afraid to have them built inverted. Nice touch actually!

Here are the panels I mentioned. Easy to build. They are mirrored from side to side. I actually built these at the same time instead of one side at a time. I just mirrored the panel I built to make the other side’s panel. Very easy to do.

They’re now attached to the finished bridge section. This already looks like a spaceship itself…

Here it is placed on top of the ship. What’s cool is how it attaches. It’s NOT permanent. And that’s a good thing. It makes it easy to get to the inside of the ship at any time.

The next spine section. This one is in front of the bridge spine section.

The panels for that spine and attached. I like the little gun mounts. However, be careful as the hooks that attach to the sloped bloks aren’t tight, so you can easily knock them off if you’re not careful.

Added to the ship and a cool front view showing the ship in perspective.

And from the rear. Hmm, I’m thinking I may have to put some fiber optics in this ship. It would make it look VERY cool, especially in the dark.

And here it is from the top. Just look at all that great detail!

Okay, so at this point you COULD actually stop. It just depends on if you want to have the WHOLE ship or just the part that is in Halo 4. The only thing you’d need to do now is add the stickers.

But I can’t do that. I have to complete the ship. So on to part 4 where you’ll see the front section of the ship come together.

-Sal

Normally when I do a review for a Mega Bloks set, it’s all in one article. However, given the size of this set and the time it’s going to take to get it built, I thought I’d go a different route for this one. For the next several days until I get the set completed, I’m going to be posting articles detailing the build process of the amazing set.

Up first is the unbloxing (yes I meant to do that, LOL) and the sorting of all the pieces.

This box is massive. Note the handle on top of it. It’s needed believe me!

A shot of what’s on the back of the box.

As you can see from above, when you first open the box you are greeted to some very nice interior artwork as well as the THICK instruction manual.

When you lift out the manual these 4 shoesized boxes are underneath waiting to be taken out.

See, I told you the instruction manual is thick!

On the back of the manual you have this fantastic compilation artwork of recent sets. It’s almost identical to the larger poster that was given away at FanFest in Toronto earlier this year.

The above three pics show three of the boxes contents. LOTS and LOTS of bloks!

And finally for this part are the sorted pieces. I had to photoshop two photos together to get these all in one shot.

As you can see I like to be a bit organized. I stack the same pieces together 10 high with leftovers in a smaller stack. Also, note the orange tabs on the parts list. I do this with very large sets like this.  What I do is catalog the parts against the parts list to make sure I have the amount is specifies. By putting a tab down on the part it lets me know it’s been cataloged. There are two more pages of parts and I did this with those as well.

Already I’ve spent 5 hours on this and that was all just in the unboxing and sorting…

I’m loving it though!

Stay tuned for follow up articles showing the build in progress!

-Sal