For Easter, my wife got me nearly the whole line of Jada Toys Halo line. Only one I didn’t get was the Hornet (and it’s variant).
Here are the four sets she got for me:
First, let me state that I hadn’t intended to buy this line. I didn’t want to start collecting yet another line. However having finally seen these in person, I was excited to open these up and see what the sets had to offer.
Below is my review of the Mongoose set.
This set comes on a small card and costs $8 (price may vary depending on store).
There is also a variant of this set that has Blue Spartans instead of Red. Also, of not, on Jada’s website, it say that the red set is a “gloss” finish, while the blue set is a “matte” finish.Once I removed the bubble from the cardback, I was greeted to this nice graphic:
Now that I had the outer packaging removed, I found this:
Turns out the base is screwed in. In order to remove it from the cardboard, without destroying the cardboard you have to unscrew it.
Okay then… I did find this step unnecessary. I understand this was likely done to keep the toy in place in the packaging. A good thing for those who collect stuff and keep it mint in package, but I’m not one of those folks, normally.After fumbling with the figures a bit to try and make them fit on the mongoose, I finally got this pose:
And here are the minifigs themselves:
Now, I want to make note of several things here that will resonate among my forthcoming other Jada Toys reviews. Do NOT buy these for the minifigures. While their sculpt is decent for their size, and even the articulation is ok. The joints used are either flimsy or too tight. Not uniform at all.Be very careful when trying to articulate these minifigs. I had a heck of a time trying to get the hips to bend. In the case of the figs above, I didn’t get it to work and didn’t want to break them, so I stopped trying to force the issue. Hence why the driver is off the seat.
The rider couldn’t hold the crossbar and I had to kind of squeeze him into place.
The vehicle itself is nice, though the handlebars and rear view mirrors are a flimsy plastic.
That brings me to another point. When a toy is touted as die cast metal, I kind of expect the whole thing to be so, or the overwhelming majority of it. That wasn’t the case here. I’d say it was about 50/50 metal/plastic.
I’m trying not to be overly critical here, so let me end this review on a positive note. The paint is good on the vehicle. The size makes it easy to display anywhere. Great for your desktops at work. For the price of about $8 I think it’s worth it. Though I’d have designed the figs a bit differently.
