Mega Bloks Covenant Drone Outbreak: Set #CND03 <–Mega has gone with a new number system for their sets it appears.

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 20 minutes sorting, 1 hour 10 minutes building (would have been less if not for photographing for the review)
Set Piece Count: 378
Minifigs: Jorge S-052, Blue JFO Spartan, 2 Covenant Drones (First appearance from Mega Bloks)
Weapons: 2x Plasma Pistols, Shotgun, Target Locator, Machine Gun turret, with removable turret.
Accessories: Large Backpack (for Jorge)
Special Features: Removable roof on truck allows for standard figures to fit inside
Cost: $30

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

As always, we start with the box. Nice shot on front, shows the final build.
Below, the contents of the box.Everything sorted out.Below is the wrecked structure. This somewhat resembles the structure from the ODST set a few years back. It should as it uses many similar pieces, but in different color.
The truck in it’s first half of the build. This is a pretty easy build.Next the cab portion of the truck is built. The roof of the cab can easily come off to allow for figures to be put inside. You’ll see that later in the review.The truck is done and awaiting stickers to be applied to it.And the stickers applied! We get a turret with the set. And of course you can take the top part off and give it to Jorge as that’s his signature weapon.
Below are the other weapons 

There were not many extra pieces left over. I ended up placing these on the back side of the structure. One, to not show them, and two to not lose them.

Now we come to the best part, the mini figures.

This is the first time Mega has released a Halo Drone figure. It’s a really good interpretation of the drone in Mega form. It doesn’t have elbow or knee articulation, but amazingly doesn’t seem to need it. It does have a heel clip so that you can snap your drone on to a pole. As well it has a hole at the base of the body that you can also use to place on a pole. You’ll see this later in the review as well. You get two of the Drones. I really hope this isn’t the only time we see these. There are red and green versions to be made!
Now before I go further, I do want to say I’m slightly disappointed with the lack of paint detail on this figure. The wings should be a translucent purplish blue. As well, the tan armor bits should have black around the edges. See the below pic for an in-game drone.As you can see the missing detail of the black around the edges makes the figure slightly less dynamic. I’ll be custom painting one of mine to look more like the in-game version. When I get that done, I’ll post it here.

Oddly, I got these two little baggies of extra parts. I didn’t need them as my drone figures had all of their parts. Still, they’ll look good as parts from a blown apart Drone!
Next is the JFO Spartan. Technically this is the second version to be released. The first was an Orange one from the Target exclusive Last Man Standing !! pack. However, I’ve not seen that in stores and can’t recall seeing anyone else finding it either. Really, the only thing that makes this a JFO fig is the helmet. The shoulders are Commando shoulders. I suspect because the actual JFO shoulders are small that they wouldn’t fit into the new removable armor system that Mega has created. That’s kind of a bummer as I was hoping for those shoulders too. Still, this figure is pretty cool. I hope they make a red version of the JFO helmet as I want to try and make my Spartan Armor that I used in Halo Reach.
And now we come to Jorge. Ah, the magnificence that is this figure. The sculpt is of course great. The colors are bright. I know some are saying too bright, but I’m fine with this as after all, it IS a toy. This is the first ‘named’ version of Jorge. However we did get a ‘not’ Jorge version in the Spade set from awhile back. Mine is packed away for now, so I can’t easily get a comparison shot of the two. When I do find it, I’ll post a follow up on that.

Below shows the figures in the cab of the truck. Yes they both can fit in there. And yes, as you see, you can fit Jorge in there, even with his backpack still attached.Now one little issue is the turret. Or rather, I should say it’s placement. If you plan on having it on the truck, well, it won’t fit by placing it on studs, in the traditional manner. The top part of the below pic shows that one of the legs is above the other two. To fix this imbalance, you have to put two legs of it against one of the side walls of the bed of the truck. Then, CAREFULLY, squeeze the third leg in a little so that it fits into the bed.

I chose not to put the golden warthog sticker on my structure as shown. I’m keeping it for something a little more special.I too this pic into photoshop and straightened it out for you. Hmm, so will my dream of a Golden Warthog come true? I’ve only been asking for this from Mega for oh…about 3+ years now. With the stats given on the sticker, I am thinking it may just become a set. Hopefully we’ll see this from New York Toy Fair this year.
BTW, this Golden Warthog DOES appear in the games. However, it’s show on a billboard. I took the liberty of getting a screenshot of it and am posting it here so you can see it for yourselves.
And here’s the whole set. As you can see, one drone is in the air, having place the body on one os the clear poles. The other is clutching one of the rebar pole from the structure with it’s heel clips.

Oh AND if you so desire, the new Mongoose can fit on the bed of the truck. Note that I put one of the barrels included with the Drone set in front of the Mongoose. This is snapped down and keeps the Mongoose from rolling off the back of the bed.

Summary: The set is a quick build given the amount of pieces included. The truck is a good build. The structure is a simple build. As you read, I think the figures are excellent.

Overall Rating: I give this set 8.5 out for 10 medals. This set has good value at $30 for 378 pieces. Again with my usual 10 cents per piece rule, the set could have cost $37-38. So I’m fine with the $30 price point. The truck is nice, though an odd choice given that it’s barely seen in Reach (though it is drivable). The structure I found to be needless, but for the exception of placing the Drones on it.

With the truck I can see the possibility of people making custom vehicles from the parts. Heck, I plan on doing that when I get two more of this set.

So why did I give this a 8.5 instead of a 10?
• The truck, while a nice  build is an odd choice. I am glad it’s UNSC green with UNSC stickers though. I suppose Mega chose this in lieu of giving us yet another Warthog.
• The structure as I mention is rather useless for me. I’ve already got it broken back down to it’s smaller pieces. The steel beams I can use in a diorama. I’ll figure something out for the other pieces. If the structure wasn’t included, the price could have been dropped a couple of dollars. The structure itself has 26 parts to it. But again, since we already got a price break on this in comparison to the number of pieces, I’m okay with this.

Yes, I know that sounds a bit weird. I’m for and against the structure. So that’s where you decide for yourself when you get the set. Do you think it’s warranted in the set or not? Will you instead use it for custom or diorama fodder?

Do I recommend it?  Absolutely! I know many are getting this set for the figures alone. Though not worth $30 for just the figs, that truck does help to make up the difference.

Again, I really hope this isn’t the last time we’ll see the drones.

If you have any questions about this set that I didn’t cover in the review, please do not hesitate to ask me. Either reply below or e-mail me at [email protected]

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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-Sal