Mega Bloks Police Cruiser Standoff: Set #97452

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 10 minutes sorting, 30 (this includes my time stopping to take pics for the review)
Set Piece Count: 234
Minifigs: NMPD Police Officer, Brute Chieftan (Red outlined)
Weapons: Magnum, Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Gravity Hammer
Accessories: N/A
Price: $20
Special Features: wheels spin, window opens/closes

And on with the pics! (Click pics to make BIGGER)

As usual, the box art is well done. On the front, Mega calls out the fact of the figures are super poseable.

The back of the box not only shows the set, super pose ability, but also, the other two NMPD (New Mombasa Police Department) sets. I can’t wait to get those to, to review.
Here is what you get in the box.
The sticker sheet is small. Only six total stickers.
The pieces are all sorted and ready to be put together.
The car starts out with one larger black piece that is a special mold. If I’m not mistaken, this could be the same piece used for MEGA’s Need for Speed line. I could be wrong though. As you can see you build layers on top of this.
Next the car starts taking shape. The wheel wells give it it’s first curvature, then the rear assembly. After you make the doors separate then attach those, you build onto the back more and add the police lights.

Above shows the set without, then with stickers. Your choice, though this is one of those times I say the stickers look better on the model.
Here’s the police car in orthogonal views. It’s a nice little car. The front and back views look pretty cool, IMO.
Above we see that the car’s windshield fully opens to allow access for the mini fig. An AR and Shotgun are stored within. Take note that I had an extra 1X1 white plate. I put this to use by attaching it under the weapons storage so as to prop them up. That’s not in the directions.

Here we see the magnum and gravity hammer included. As well, there was an extra seat and pin piece. This is presumably if you want to make your police car a two-seater instead of one.
The NMPD Officer has the new articulation to it. Below you see him without the armor.
This is the third Brute Chieftan we’ve got from MEGA and I think it’s the BEST so far. I love that it’s all black with the red outline to it. Makes him look more fierce than the previous two releases of this figure.
Here we have the left over pieces. Again showing the seat, pin and a 2×1 gray tile.
The officer fits in the car quite well, even with his armor on. As you can see he’s holding his magnum in one hand while holding the steering wheel with the other.
And the set in it’s entirety. The added articulation really helps the mini fig to hold the shotgun much better. The Brute does not have the new articulation, but still holds the hammer quite well.

Summary: This set is a quick build. I had no issues with the build and it stays together nicely. This is a small set for $20. The Brute was the big reason I wanted this, but the car is nice, even if a thing not seen much in Halo. (You can find it in Halo 3:ODST.)

Overall Rating: I give this set 8.5 out for 10 medals. This set is good, though I’m not convinced of it’s $20 price point. Yes, there are 234 pieces, however, many of those are small pieces. Nearly all are stock pieces. SO no need for new molds which should have kept the price down. I’ll explain more below. The car itself has white/grey camo pieces. This I do not like. The car has no reason to have the camouflage effect to it. It’s an urban vehicle. Plain white would have been MUCH preferred. As such the price and color choice of bloks are what keeps this from being a perfect 10 set to me.

Now, let’s breakdown the price point vs what you get in the set.
2 figures account for $7 of the set, including their weapons.
This leaves $13 for the car itself. It’s not really worth that price in my opinion.

Let me give another set for reference. The EVA’s Last stand set came with an EVA Spartan TWO Hunters and nearly a complete warthog. That set also cost $20. Hunters are much bigger than Brutes by comparison. Yes, the warthog wasn’t complete, but darn near so. As well, that set came with a nice green raised baseplate and some plants. So for the money, you clearly got more in that set than this NMPD Cruiser set.

To me, even with the higher piece count, I feel this set should have been $3-5 less.

I do recommend it, especially if you know you’re going to collect all of the NMPD sets. However, if you’re on the fence about these, at least wait for them to go on sale.

Since the NMPD is sort of a sub-line of Halo Mega Bloks, I’ll be interested to see how well they sell.

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think of the review. If you get this set yourself, please let me know your thoughts on it too!

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Thank You.

-Sal