Mega Construx Banished Turret Takedown

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 2 minustes to sort, 12-15 minutes to build (Your time will vary from mine as I took pics along the way for this review)
Set Piece Count: 123
Minifigures: Mark IV Spartan (Blue)
Weapons: Sniper Rifle
Accessories: figure stand
Special Features: Push button collapses turret
Cost: $15 US Mass Retail. (Though this was not heavily distributed in the States.)

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

The front box art shows the set is cool action display. The back shows the figure and turret and how the action feature works.

You get several bags of parts and an instruction booklet in the box.

The large “MCX” bag has some free flowing parts and 2 smaller baggies within. One bag holds parts for the legs of the turret, while the other has the parts for the minifigure.

Here are the parts that have printing on them. I especially like that the red angled pieces have unique printing and are not the same or mirrored printing.

EVrything is sorted out and ready to build!

First thing is to build the body. The red “L” shape will become the push button that will enable to action feature.

Further building the body. I was curious how the action feature was going to work when it seemed we build right on top on the seam between the two halves of the body…

Next up, we build the four legs of the turrret. They are all the same build, so I’ve only shown one of them here in a 2 step progression shot.

All four legs are attached. Kinda reminds me of the Locust!

Now on to the turret! As you may guess, it does indeed rotate 360°.

With the base of the turret compelte, we build the gun itself. Those printed angular pieces come into play here and really make it look like a Banished turret.

The turret is added to the body. As you can see at bottom left of the collage below, the turret mounts onto the body by way of a small pin that is part of a 2×2 plate.

Below shows that indeed the turret swivels 360°.

At this point, you have the two purple projectiles and perhpas a few leftover pieces. I make the leftover pieces into a grenade.

Surprisingly, when you depress the red button, the turret does indeed (and easily I might add) split and fall down. It’s a neat little feature.

The figure is a standard Mark IV. This one in a metallic blue. Mark IV was obviously chosen due to Red team’s Mark IV armor in the Halo Wars games, for which the Banished are a part of….as of this writing.

Will the Spartan take out the formidable turret?

YES they will!

Summary: The set’s build time is quick. The action feature is neat. The figure is standard for the theme.

Overall Rating: I give this set 9 out of 10 medals.
Why did I give it a 9 out of 10?
• At the cost of $15, I’d have liked to have had 2 Spartans, or a Spartan and a Marine, in this set as the turret does not make up the rest of the value for the set, despite it’s part count and action feature.

Here’s my opinion on the break down of the value of this set. (In US dollars)
• The Spartan with stand and sniper rifle I put at $4. Perhaps if it had some specific paint on it to make it unique, it would have been valued higher.
• The turret itself is a cool design and has that neat action feature. That said, it doesn’t hold the remaining $11 of the proposed $15 retail sale price. I value it at $7.
TOTAL: $11 (before tax and in U.S. dollars) 

Given that the set costs $15 US before tax, I find this set a little over priced. With the piece count of 123, I think a fair price would have been $12. If another figure were added in, then yes, $15 would have been right on par here.
However, given that this set was not distributed to the United States en mass, if you can find it for $15, it’s worth it.
I ended up paying $22.50 for mine. Ugh…you long time readers know I abhor having to pay more for retail sets. This one I had to import from Mexico back here to the States to get it for this review.

Do I recommend it?  Yes. This epecially if you’re a Banished fan. I wish this were more readily available as I would have bought FOUR of this set, just for the turret alone.

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