During last month’s BlokFest in the UK, TheSSMotion revealed three new Halo Mega books sets. All of which appear to be two-part cryo tubes, similar to how we got the two-part drop pods from last year. The look of the pods is a sparkly metallic. However, the Spartans shown with each set do not appear to have metallic ink, like the ODST counterparts did in the drop pod series.

First up is the GREEN Cryo-tube

The tube looks great. Again, noting that it appears to be a two-part mold, instead of a build able set. The Spartan shown is a HAZOP Spartan from Reach. It’s missing it’s left shoulder armor though. I’m hoping for a different weapon. Or at least a blue energy sword instead of purple. I’m just not a fan of any energy sword that isn’t blue. But that’s me. Not the figure has the new articulation. So the shoulder, chest, and thigh armor are removable. I’m looking forward to this set. The HAZOP from Reach was one of my favorite armor designs from that game. The Cryo tube isn’t a bright free like the figure, for which I’m grateful.

Next up, the BLUE Cryo-tube

Now this Cryo-tube is a bright blue. That actually looks pretty good though for it’s color. The exciting part though is the figure. It’s an Oceanic armored Spartan. The armor that comes with this very cool. Note how the shoulder armor resembles that of the EVA from Halo 3. The helmet itself is a nod to the Bioshock franchise’s Big Brother. The set comes with a SAW as well.

And lastly the RED Cryo-tube

Heh, now that is a BRIGHT red! It will look great with my planned Halo themed Christmas tree. (Seriously!). The Spartan is an Aviator armored spartan from Halo 4. I really dig the helmet. Heh, I’ve never been a fan of then “drum kit” shoulder armor though. That’s no fault of MEGA though as they are designing from 343’s files. The color of the tube and spartan don’t match, but I’m totally okay with that. I like this color on this spartan.

I haven’t heard official word on when these are due out. Though if they follow the same path as the Drop Pods did, then expect to see them in the last quarter of 2014.

Having seen these, might you get them when they come out? Reply below!

-Sal

Mega Bloks UNSC Weapons Pack II: set #97207

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 1 minutes sort time, 2 minutes build time
Set Piece Count: 28
Minifigs: Halo 4 Space Marine
Weapons: Assault Rifle with skin, DMR with Tiger skin, Grenade Launcher, Shotgun, Mounted Turret
Accessories: Fusion Coil, Sand Bags X4
Price: $8
Special Features: N/A

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

For a small package, the box shows the contents nicely on both the front and the back.
Here are all the pieces sorted out.
The small weapons rack. The handle is for the DMR.
A fusion coil. I’d like to see one come with a RED inner core. We’ve had both green and yellow. That’s ever so minor though and does not at all take away from the set.
Above is the turret. It’s made of 4 pieces. Note the right most pic showing the bottom of the turret. It shows that the two rear legs have stud holes while the front has notches. 
Above shows why the legs are made as such. The two rear legs fit onto studs while the front one fits in between them. It’s a great design for the turret base.
Be sure to click on the above pic to see it bigger. This Halo 4 Space Marine (yes, that’s it’s title) is highly detailed. It has no less than 5 colors to it. To the furthest right, I show it with it’s backpack on. This is an army building figure for sure!The finished set can all be placed on the small baseplate, while the mini fig attaches to the turret. Four sandbags round out the rest of the set. No leftover parts.

Summary: This set is virtually build free. The weapons rack, fusion coil and turret take less than 2 minutes to build. (Likely even less than a minute). The inclusion of 4 weapons, a turret, a fusion coil and four sandbags really make this a set to own. The skins on the AR and DMR are fantastic and I hope we see more Halo 4 skins in the future on Mega Bloks Halo weapons.

The price is $8, though you might be able to find it for $7 if you look around. I do NOT expect this set to stay on shelves. So buy it when you see it. The set says it has 28 pieces to it. Now normally I use a 10 cents per piece formula. However, in the case of weapons packs, it’s a little different. First the figure accounts for $3-4 of the total. Each weapon is 25 cents, the turret would be at least $1. That leaves the fusion coil, weapons rack pieces and the baseplate to make up the rest and I think they definitely do. So what I’m saying in a nutshell is this set is perfectly priced for what you get inside! If you score it for less than $8, count yourself lucky!

Overall Rating: I give this set 10 out for 10 medals. I cannot find any flaws with this set. It’s just that good!

There will be a revision of this set later in the year. The main difference between the sets will be the mini figure having the new articulation in the revised set.

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think of the review. If you have this set yourself, please give me your thoughts on it too!

-Sal

Mega Bloks Flood Hunters’ UNSC Falcon: set #97173

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 20 minutes sort time, 60 minutes build time
Set Piece Count: 460
Minifigs: Covert Ops (Dark Grey) Spartan Mark V [B], Covert Ops (Dark Grey) UNSC Pilot; 2 Flood Carrier forms, 3 Flood Infection forms (chocolate brown)
Weapons: Assault Rifle, SMG
Accessories: N/A
Price: $55-72 depending on where you get it from at retail. I got mine for $51 on eBay. (Thanks to my wife for purchasing it for me.)
Special Features: Cockpit opens/closes; spinning and rotating rotars; front mounted gun pivots and rotates; side mounted guns have multiple pivot points; slight forward landing gear pivot; fits 5 mini figs comfortably

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

The front and back of the box. Nice representation of the set on both sides.

The window for the box lets us know what minifies are included.
Set contents.
All the pieces sorted out. This took about 20 minutes to do.

The first 10 or so steps of the base of the Falcon.
Many steps ahead the Falcon’s lower half is really taking shape.

Side panels are built and attached to the forward section of the Falcon.

We move on to wing assembly.
Adding the tail section to the wing section.

Now here is the toughest step in the Falcon build (it’s the same for the previous versions as well). The “marrying” of the top and bottom sections can be a little tough. Take your time, don’t try to force them together as you might pop off some pieces. Once you’ve got it lined up correctly, I suggest to start pushing the back section together, then move on to where the wing meets the body near the front. 
Added the cockpit and some other details. Be careful here too. The prongs on the cockpit that adjoin to the body do not easily snap it. Don’t force this either as you don’t want to break those prongs. Once you’ve got it in place, you should here a satisfying “CLICK”. Then you know it’s in place.

The side mounted gun is a great display of articulation with limited pieces. This was designed VERY well.

Adding the rotors to the ship. And it’s done.
We get an assault rifle and SMG with our UNSC figs.
Here we have 3 infection forms. Why they are chocolate brown, I do not know. Still, it’s good to have more infection forms.
The carrier form. I still think the shape is funny. It should be a little more pointed at the top. That cut in the top is a little too big, IMO. I suppose it was done that way though for ease of getting infections forms in and out of it.

The UNSC Pilot included. Man, I just LOVE this dark grey color scheme!
The Spartan included. Definitely one of the better painted figures as of late. The detailing on the back is awesome!

Here are the leftovers. I couldn’t really make anything significant out of them. So I’m calling this a refueling cart.
Here we see the Spartan in one of the side gunner positions. His hand is clipped on to the handle, while the seat has a nub that fits nicely into the figs back. This makes for a good fit and the figure won’t fall out of the ship.

Here is the completed set with figs and the leftovers. One thing to note, I actually put more of the stickers on this time. This Falcon just looks SO much better with the stickers on them.

Summary: This set is a moderate build. It can easily be built in one sitting if you’ve got about an hour to an hour and a half. The set has nice amount of minifigures with the set, including the infection forms. If you haven’t bought a Falcon yet, I HIGHLY recommend this one!

Overall Rating: I give this set 9.5 out for 10 medals. This is a nice color variant of the Falcon. I’m a fan of the Covert Ops dark grey color. The reason I took off the scant 1/2 of a medal is for the brown color of the infection forms and the price. Otherwise, this set is STELLAR!

The price for this set is a little high, given the piece count. It’s hard to find in stores now, so you’re likely going to have to find it on eBay. I lucked out and won this from an auction there for $51. You’ll be just as lucky if you can find it for that price. Most are going for $75-80 now. ToysRUs had this priced at $72. That is WAY too much, IMO. Other locations had it for $55. Not too bad, but still about $7 more than it should have been.

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think of the review. If you have this set yourself, please give me your thoughts on it too!

-Sal