Mega Bloks Smuggler’s Intercept

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 30 minutes sorting, 2 hours building. Your time may vary as I stop to take pics for the review along the way.
Set Piece Count: 590
Minifigures: Agent Estrin, Agent Locke w/human head and helmet
Weapons: x2 DMR
Accessories: x2 Power Cores, x2 small crate, x1 long crate, buildable LARGE crate, buildable basecamp.
Special Features: cargo container arms pivot down, cockpit hatch opens/closes, large cargo crate doors pivot out
Cost: $60 US (Mass Retail) I got mine for only $14 through a sale at Toys R Us. Bought this on March 6, 2018. Yeah, I waited a long while to buy this. Glad I did as I saved a LOT of money!

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

As always, the box art shows off the set nicely. The back of the box shows most of the features of the set.

You get several bags of parts, a couple of loose baseplates and 7 sets of 4×4 round bloks attached to sprues. You do NOT need the flat plate parts on those sprues. I keep them anyway. Never know when you may need them.

Here are the pieces sorted out.

Okay, let’s get into the build.

First the instruction manual has you build the base camp. You start with the terrain pieces. Note that the color of the smaller parts is similar to the ship color. It’s a good thing that Mega has you build the terrain first as you could potentially use the wrong color piece elsewhere. Good on them for forward thinking here! The base camp is a great little bit of “set dressing”. That is to say, it helps make the scene and fills up more of a diorama.

Next we build the large cargo crate. You start with the base, add the cargo, then the front and back walls and roof. Finally, you add the doors that pivot down.

Here is the cargo container from the side, showing the cargo inside and the doors pivot down.

You start out the build of the ship with the cockpit. As Mega likes to use “camo” colors, this set has a goldish tint with some copper running through it. Some parts of my set had a LOT of copper. I decided to use those parts on one side of the ship so it looks like it’s damage. That’s the side you can’t see in this review…

Next you build the rear with engines and the connection bridge. The build wasn’t difficult. Though, I had a small hangup with the cockpit hatch as it didn’t want to close all the way at first. The engines use a pin and rod system to connect together. I didn’t think that would work, but they actually fit snug enough.

The container is held in place by four arms that have two pivot points each. It’s worth noting that in the top part of the pic below, the container is attached to the bottom of the bridge of the ship. So you don’t really need to have the arms clasped around it to hold it in place. However, doing so makes it even more secure!

Here’s a closeup of the cockpit. No stickers or printed pieces for controls.

Now the figures.

Agent Destrin. This armor configuration is that of ONI in Halo Nightfall. For the most part, it’s ODST armor.

Agent Locke. Locke comes with both a human head and a helmet. With exception to the red stripe, the figure is the same as the other one. Isn’t his head SHINY?!

In the pic below we have: Top, Leftover pieces; Middle, stabilizer pieces; build with leftovers. The mini build of leftovers kind of looks like a cargo sled. Works for me. 

And the final set! A good bit of extras here, beyond the ship. This really helps to flesh out the set.

Summary: The set has a lot of extras that help to make up the value and playability of the it. Unique named figures is a draw for this set.

Overall Rating: I give this set 7.5 out for 10 medals.

Why did I give it a 7.5 out of 10?
• The only real knock I have with this set is the ship itself. As explained above, it’s not Mega’s fault. It’s the designer of the ship for Halo Nightfall. That said, personally, I’d rather this whole set not have been made, so that a more desired set could have been slotted in it’s place. This is the reason why I waited so long for picking up the set. Because I didn’t like the ship in the movie, I don’t find the set worth the full retail price. That’s very subjective though. So let me explain other parts of the set.
• I really like the buildable cargo container. Nice little bit of details and can hold a decent amount of cargo. I haven’t tried yet, but I think it can hold a mongoose inside.
• The buildable basecamp is an excellent addition to this set. I’ll be using it elsewhere in the setup of my collection.
• The named figures are a plus and to date are the only ones from Nightfall to have been made. That we get a human head for Locke makes this a draw. The detail/paint application of the figures makes them unique to all others. While they appear to be ODST, the color of armor, undersuit, gold and striping set them apart.

Here’s my opinion on the break down of the value of this set. (In US dollars)
• The figures with one weapon each equate to $3.50 each.  $7 total. (This said, since they are named figures, they are worth more.) Destrin I put at $5. While Locke with the human head and removable helmet I put at $8. So my estimate of those combined is $13.
• Basecamp: This is just for the terrain pieces and structure, NOT the crates and power cores. I value this at $3.
• Buildable Cargo Container: Again, just the container, none of the cargo stuff. Value of $3.
• Accessories including: small crates, long crate, x2 power cores, x7 sandbags. large and small cans. Combined value of $6.
• Ship: As I personally am not a fan of the ship, I do not hold much value to it. So let’s just go by piece count of it instead for a more objective approach. The ship contains 393 pieces. (Yes, I counted per the instruction manual.) Value then at the collector’s guideline of 10 cents per piece would put this at $40. So you may use that if you wish. As I don’t hold as much value to the ship, I only value it at $20 tops.
TOTAL: $45 (before tax and in U.S. dollars) 

Again, that is my VERY subjective opinion on value. As the set originally retailed for $60, I didn’t find it worth it. Since I did however get it for $14 on sale at Toys R Us, it was a tremendous value.

Do I recommend it?  Maybe. Really depends on what price you pay for it. As I value it at $45, that’s the MOST I’d consider paying for it. If you find it for less than that, go for it! The extras beyond the ship make it good to pick up. 

I might customize the ship. I’m thinking about taking out the bridge part of it and making it a short civilian ship. I don’t know if I’ll actually do this. But if I do, I’ll update this review.

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].

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-Sal