Versus Snowbound Highbase: Set number 97069
Target exclusive

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 20 minutes sorting, 1 hour 40 minutes build. Total 2 hours.

Set Piece count: 438
Minifig: Red EVA Spartan, Blue EOD Spartan
Weapon: Mauler, Spiker
Accessories: Arctic Mongoose, Blue Flag
Special Features: Ramps can raise and lower

Price/Value: $40 US

The price is a good at $40 since the set has 438 pieces. I’d have expected to pay closer to $44. The packaging is great. I’m glad to have an arctic mongoose. The set came together quickly and was an easy build. I made one minor mistake that was easily fixable. (See if you can find it.) The set is really tall at 16.5 inches high. So you’ll need some tall shelf space to display it.

The set looks nice, but I can’t help thinking about it seeming unfinished. Two whole ramps are missing. Mind you for the piece count the price is great and I dont’ think I’d want to pay more for the set, but the addition of another gold ramp and purple ramp wouldn’t have added that much more to the cost. If it were another $5 for those two, I’d have been happy. So now my quandary is, do I buy another to make one complete base or 3 more to make two complete bases? And then what to do with the extra pieces?

The blue glass fins are really the draw here for me. Also, the way the MEGA designers utilized certain angles to get those fins attached at the base, including the grey bars is a great example of their skill and design aesthetic.

Well, enough talk, here are the pics.

Click on images to see a larger version.

The sorted brickyard.

At this point I would have shown the progression of the base build, but since I’ve made a cool animated gif for that, I’m going to show other parts of the build first, then the gif.

Both the wide and narrow fin assemblies:

The golden ramp

And now the animated gif:

Capture the flag!

As you can see in the following pic, this set looks good from one side,. Not so much the other as it feels like it’s missing parts.

Here’s what you have left over and what I built with those pieces.

Yet another Red EVA. This makes at least three we’ve had. Okay so this one has frosted feet. Still, I’d have preferred a different kind of Spartan. The EOD is great though!

The set once again, now with figs, and a close up of the figs in action.

Summary: This is a good set. What keeps it from being great, for me, is those two missing ramps and yet another Red EVA. As mentioned above, the extra pieces needed to make the other two ramps wouldn’t have driven up the price too much. I would have gladly paid another $5 to have those.

Still, the set is a good value and looks fantastic. So I definitely recommend it. Doubly so if you want to complete the Versus Snowbound Target exclusive theme.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 medals.

-HFFL