Mega Construx Halo Heroes Series 8

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 1 minute sorting and building, each.
Set Piece Count: Varies from 18 to 25 depending on figure. See pics below for exact count for each figure.
Minifigures: Jackal Minor, Spartan Recruit with “Proven” (Flame) skin, Master Chief Mark V armor with Cryo Freeze details, Spartan Emile, Spartan Centurion “Ironside” skin, Dr. Halsey
Weapons: Respective to the order of figures above. Orange Needler, SMG with “Master Control” skin, Assault Rifle, Shotgun w/Kukri Knife, Battle Rifle “Bloodthirst” skin
Accessories: Buildable Figure Stand with post (each), Personal Energy Shield (Jackal), Cortana micro figure (Halsey)
Special Features: Translucent mottled light blue Baseplate for each figure stand with this series
Cost: $5 US (Mass Retail) Each

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

As with each Halo Heroes Series before, there are 6 figures in this series.

Right to left here for Series 8 we have: Jackal Minor, Spartan Recruit with “Proven” (Flame) skin, Master Chief Mark V armor with Cryo Freeze details, Spartan Emile, Spartan Centurion “Ironside” skin, Dr. Halsey

Each set comes a figure stand the same as below. The exception is the corresponding character name.

There is an insert sheet with each figure. It’s the same for all, no specific printing for certain characters.

Now let’s take a look at the figures!

Jackal Minor – While it seems odd to include an army builder in the Heroes series, it should be noted that this particular Jackal has the new additional thigh articulation. 

The secondary thigh pieces and articulation allow for this Jackal to stand  a bit taller than it’s predecessors. Some ruddy red paint with speckling is added to the arms to indicate scales. As well there is the small chest armor swish details. THAT is attention to detail folks! Those swishes could have easily been left off. They are super tiny. Yet, Mega found a way to include them!

The Type-56 Needler seen here is a base model color version by 343. It’s lacking a little paint detail to make it game accurate, but it still pretty cool. The plasma personal shield is awesome! I really love that Mega includes the splash effect on it.
Here is a graphic of the in-game needler model:

Each figure can stand atop it’s included stand. The translucent post helps with more dynamic posing. As you can see here, I have the Jackal in a slight action pose, standing on one foot.

Spartan Recruit with “Proven” (Flame) skin – WOW! I really love the details applied here with the “Proven” (or otherwise community named FLAME) skin. They really pop and make the figure on the whole stand out. The green visor pops out even more due to this. 

Appreciate that paint application folks. These are small figures and that is a lot of detail jam packed on to it.

The weapon skin applied to this SMG is called “Master Control”. This is an homage to the Tron movies and is the FIRST fan made skin to make it into Halo games AND be made into a toy!
This skin was originally designed by Halo community member @Vetoed. From there 343 went to work making the whole compliment of standard weapons with this skin variant, seen below.

Once again, the figures can be posed in all sorts of positions. I opted for a more standard pose with the Recruit as the flames on the armor make it stand out more than a dynamic pose would.

Master Chief Mark V armor with Cryo Freeze details – Here we have a proper Master Chief from Halo CE. That blue detailing you see is supposed to represent Cryo Freeze. It’s an odd choice, but does make this a unique figure. Lots of fellow collectors/customizers have taken to either ‘erasing’ this effect or painting it over.

Here you can see a lot more of the Cryo Freeze effect. I need to buy another of this figure so I can have one without the effect.

Chief comes with a standard Assault Rifle.

Here is Master Chief bursting into action ready to take on the Covenant!

Spartan Emile – This is the second time we’ve had an Emile figure. The first came in the UNSC All Terrain Mongoose set that I previously reviewed here on the blog.

Emile has a LOT of detail here and is loads better than the first official Emile release (seen further below this orthogonal pic).

As you can see with the original release, the etched skull is barely visible and some of the detail is missing, such as that on both pieces of shoulder armor as well as thigh and forearm details in the Series 8 version. Also note that the new release’s base armor color is more accurate than this first release.

Emile comes with his standard Shotgun and Kukri Knife. The only thing that would have made this figure set better is if the knife could have been able to be attached to the large shoulder armor as it is in game. Still, pretty darn cool, IMO.

Emile is armed to the teeth and ready to take on the Covenant by himself!

Spartan Centurion “Ironside” skin – A rare orange armor color makes an appearance. Here we see a Spartan with Centurion armor (same as Spartan Fred from Blue Team). The white details are the skin applied to it.

This ortho view gives you much better looks at the detail applied. My one complaint here is the visor color choice. It’s red, but almost looks like Mega forgot to color it in. A shiny gold or silver would have offset this more properly. Still, it’s a cool little figure.

The skin applied to the included Battle Rifle is the ultra rare “Bloodthirst” skin. This is a fantastically applied skin to a very small piece of plastic. WELL DONE Mega!!

Here you can see the in-game model. Shown in the graphic is a scope that is not included with the figure set.

I love this pose. The Spartan is patrolling, alert and ready should any bad guys come across his path!

Dr. Halsey – FINALLY we get a Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey! I have been clamoring and campaigning for a figure of her from Mega for many years now. Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome, thought there are some small details I’d have done differently.

As seen in the packaged shot above, Halsey has light blue shoulder patches. These are missing from the figure on the front. The color of the jacket and smock are off too. I’d have preferred an almost white jacket with slightly darker blue details. The head is that of Cortana just repainted. I’m okay with that as Cortana is modeled after Halsey. However, the hair style isn’t the same as Halsey’s. Still it’s acceptable, to me.

Mega tried hard to get Halsey’s name on the smock. It’s hard to make out here and this is the best pic I had. But indeed, it does say Halsey, even if a bit choppy. Kudos to them for trying. This is after all a VERY SMALL graphic.

We’ve had Cortana in micro scale before, however, it’s always nice to have her again. Here she’s in a very light almost greenish blue color. Mine has a black spot on it. That’s easily remedied though with some careful use of paint remover.

Cortana stands ready to assist Dr. Halsey. One thing I’d like to see in future releases of micro scale figures is the ability for minifigures to hold them. I’d really like to see Halsey or Chief be able to hold Cortana in their hands.

All the figures in Series 8 on their respective stands with their weapon and/or accessories. Click on the pic to see it bigger!

While Master Chief escorts Dr. Halsey to safety a lone Jackal is set to attack. Three Spartans race in to take out the would-be assassin!

Summary: There is next to no build time with these figures as it’s just the stand to put together. A good selection of characters and others from Halo lore.

Overall Rating: I give Series 8, a 9.25 out for 10 medals.

Why did I give series 8 a 9.25 out of 10?
I gave a rating for each figure, then roughly averaged the final tally. Below are my ratings per figure.
Jackal Minor: As stated above, an army building figure such as a Jackal seems an odd choice for the Heroes line. I get that it has additional pieces and articulation now. However, i do not think it fits with this specific series. the figure itself is very good and I like the weapon and shield that come with it. On the set alone if it were a blind bag figure, it would be given a 10 or 10 medals. However, since it’s in the Heroes series at a $2 higher price point, I have to account for that and give it an 8.5 of 10 medals. Only the price keeps it from being a 10.
Spartan Recruit with “Proven” (Flame) skin: This figure’s paint application are so well done, especially given the small scale of it. The color choice of base red armor with yellow flames and white details make this figure LIT! Pun intended… I like the green visor as it stands out. 10 of 10 medals!
Master Chief Mark V armor with Cryo Freeze details: I’m happy we have a proper Halo:CE Master Chief. However, the Cryo Freeze details are a bit odd. It does make the figure unique, but not necessarily in a good way. This isn’t just my opinion either. I’ve seen many other fans/collectors say the same or similar things about this paint effect. As such I need to mark this as 8.5 of 10 medals. Would have got at least a 9.5 WITHOUT the freeze effect.
Spartan Emile: When compared to the first release of Emile, you can see hands down that the Heroes version is MUCH better. More accurate armor color, better and more details really set Emile apart. I consider him the jewel of Heroes series 8 (along with the Flame Recruit). 10 of 10 medals!
Spartan Centurion “Ironside” skin: I like the armor of the Centurion. The color choice is rare in the Mega line, so it’s acceptable in the Heroes line. I’m not a fan of the red visor as it’s lost against the deep orange armor color. As said above, gold or silver for the visor would have popped better and made the visor more visible. I might have to customize mine to have this. I am impressed by the Bloodthirst skin applied to the Battle Rifle and that saves the figure from any shortcomings I have with it. As such, I give it a 9 of 10 medals.
Dr. Halsey: Oh, Dr. Halsey. How long I’ve waited for you…LOL. It’s a good figure. Not great but certainly good. Minor details missing from her outfit and slightly off colors are what hold her back from being the jewel in series 8. Still, she is VERY hard to find as many a fan/collector have snagged her up the moment they’ve seen her. She’s very much in demand in collections. So if you see her, get her! Set wise it’s a good figure. However, since she’s a named and long desired character for the Mega line, I need to acknowledge this. So she gets a 9 of 9 medals for me. I do hope though that Mega makes her again and in more accurate in-game colors.

Let me break down my opinion of the value of this set. (In US dollars)
• Each figure with one of the weapons each $3.50 each.
• The buildable stand is made of 4 pieces. Normally this would mean a value of 40 cents for the complete stand. As each stand however comes with the name printed on the large black piece, I put the value of the whole stand at $1.
TOTAL: $4.50 (before tax and in U.S. dollars)

The price of $5 (average retail U.S. price) is just slightly over that. Since each figure comes on it’s own specific card with corresponding character artwork, I can waive the 50 cents difference in light of that.

Do I recommend it?  YES! Halo Heroes is one of the very few things I collect both a carded and another to open. These IMO, are highly collectible, especially if kept in the package.
As with each Halo Heroes series of figures, a couple are stand outs, some are average and one or two may be meh. That holds true here too. 

The jewels in Series 8 are IMO, Emile and the Recruit, though Halsey due to the overall desire for this character definitely gets special mention.
I think this is the first time I’m not thrilled with a Master Chief figure and it’s only because of the addition of the Cryo Freeze effect.
The Jackal is the meh figure here as I do not think it belongs in the Heroes series. The Spartan Centurion is the average figure and could have been included in a blind bag series, but for those added paint details which put it into the Heroes line.

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]

If this review gives you an informed decision on whether to purchase the toy or not, please consider a small donation (50 cents) to the blog.You can donate via PayPal to [email protected]. Or just click the paypal link at the right on the main page of the site.  It’s much appreciated and helps ensure that HFFL stays registered/active on the internet. Thank You.

-Sal