Toy Review: Mega Bloks UNSC Mantis Set #97115

Posted on 02/17/2013 by Sal

I have been waiting a long time to get this since I first heard it was in production around late September/Early October. Then when I saw it in person at New York Comicon last year I just KNEW I wanted this set.

Okay, so there were some snags in this set, which I’ll go over, but stick through til the end. I promise the set won’t disappoint.

UNSC Mantis: Set number 97115

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 20 minutes sorting, 1 hour build. Total 1 hour 20 minutes.

Set Piece count: 443
Minifigs: Spartan Warrior (Steel)
Weapons: SAW
Accessories: N/A
Special Features: Opening/Closing top hatch, multiple double joints
Price/Value: $35 US

The price is pretty good for the piece count. I was missing several parts when I checked the pieces against the parts list. Still, I proceeded to put the set together, knowing I’d be calling Mega Brands on Monday to have the missing parts set to me.

Normally that alone would really put me off to a set. However, since I had seen this in person, I knew the set was going to be a fun build regardless of the missing parts.

Without further ado, here is the pictorial review with commentary (click the pics to make bigger).

Box Front

Box Back

Box Contents

Contents of big bag from previous pic upper left

The pieces are sorted

Upper body being put together

Top hatch assembly

The upper body is complete except for a missing part. I’ll make note of that in a later pic.

Machine Gun arm assembly

Rocket Launcher arm assembly

This arm is missing two parts. Again, I’ll make note of the in the next pic.

The circled areas denote where there is a missing part.
• Upper-missing 2X1 reverse slope on the rocket launcher arm
• Middle-missing 2X1 modified double round piece
• Lower-missing “T” piece. This one was a bit critical as not having it makes the arm very unstable. It comes off way to easy without this piece.

Leg Assembly

Leg final assembly

The legs were the same build (just mirrored), so I’m only showing one leg here.

Lower body assembly-missing 3 parts.

I made a slight error building this section. Top row second pic shows 2 elbow plates in the wrong postion. I fixed that in the lower first pic.

The parts missing are:
• Upper left-missing pin
• bottom row second pic-Missing small 1×1 slope
• bottom row second pic-Missing small 2×2 “wing” This is hard to see due to other piece built on top of where it should be.

Large section assembly

Final Assembly

Sorry for the blurry shot here. Some better ones are to follow.

So at this point, I was missing 6 parts. Nothing too major, but the “T” and pin parts are fairly important to the stability of the Mech.

Now on to the Docking Station.

Docking Station build steps

Docking Station Final Assembly

Final set shot.

Now this looks good, however, I’m just not satisfied with the docking station. There is nothing like this in-game. So I took the dock apart and remade it with the left over parts. Speaking of…

Left over pieces

Missing parts list

Damaged bag

Here I found the culprit of the missing pieces. Looks like this bag was crimped at the wrong place as there seems to be a burn mark (top circle). The bottom circle denotes a tear in the bag before the parts were removed. Makes sense as I had some loose parts in the box. I thought they might have just been extra. Turns out they weren’t.

Redux Docking Station

And here is the set finalized with the docking stations redone and the computer station added to, plus the minifig. I like this set up better.

Summary: This set is fantastic. Having to deal with missing parts really put a damper on things. But I got through it and hope to get those missing parts soon after the order for them is made. The Mantis itself is superb. I love the details and the joint system for this set is by far better than any previous jointed sett to date. The loading dock was really not needed, though it’s nice to have for set dressing. Getting rid of that though, the price could have been knocked down $5-7 and I’d have been perfectly fine with that. Since we did get the loading dock, I wanted to make it something closer to what is in game (aboard the UNSC Infinity). The minifig is awesome as they usually are.

Overall Rating: 9.5 out of 10 medals. It would have hit 10 of 10 if not for the missing parts and the docking station not being necessary. Still, it’s a FANTASTIC set and one I HIGHLY recommend! In fact I’m planning on getting multiples when I can get them on sale.

There will be 4 Halo toy reviews tomorrow/Monday!

Posted on 02/16/2013 by Sal

My dear wife was kind enough to pick up the Mega Bloks Mantis and Spectre for me as well as two sets of Halo minimates.

I’m going to work hard to get the reviews all done tomorrow. If not they’ll be complete by Monday. Woot, it’s going to be a fun Halo day for me tomorrow!

Besides those reviews, I’m finishing up Spartan Ops ep 9 comic book and working on a couple of other articles.

-Sal

Toy Review: McFarlane Halo Blue Team

Posted on 02/12/2013 by Sal

I’ve been wanting to see other named Spartan IIs come to the McFarlane Halo line for some time. Other than Master Chief and Jorge there hasn’t been any. Until NOW!

Blue team brings us Master Chief, as well as his squad mates Fred-104 and Kelly-087.

Now on with the review.

The box has a nice window to see all the figures and accessories. On one side you get details about each spartan, while on the other side, a graphic of the spartan with their weapons. The back shows the team again as well as the next series of McFarlane Halo figures and Micro Ops sets.

I just posted pics of these the other day. The box shows Lasky, while Waypoint didn’t. I’m still trying to get absolute, confirmation on Lasky. I hope he’s in this wave. I really like that character.

Someone else reported that the Micro Ops line was cancelled. As far as I know, it hasn’t. In fact the box shows the next wave of Micro Ops. Man, I hope like heck these DO come out. I LOVE the scale of these!

So here is what you get inside the box. The three figs, a Spartan Laser, 2 knives, Assault Rifle, Energy Sword, Shotgun, and 2 Plasma Rifles. That’s a decent mix of weapons and accurate to what was in the cartoon episode.

A quick height comparison reveals that Fred and John are the same height while Kelly is shorter.

Other than paint application, the only two differences between Fred and John are their helmets and shoulder armor. Good use of the same mold, while making them look different.

Oh, forgot to mention one leg has an extra hole. Not sure why though.

Kelly’s figure gets a brand new sculpt. Receding visor and high heels! Just what a female spartan always wanted, LOL. McFarlane did a great job here making her cartoon accurate. Shame the cartoon itself played into a stereo type with the heel thing. Still, this figure is striking and easily differentiated from the other two.

Finally here’s a graphic of the articulation of the figures. Each has the same articulation as the other two in the box.

McFarlane really did a wonderful job here with these figures. I highly recommend getting this boxed set, which retails for around $32-35. That’s a GREAT price considering an individual figure costs around $12-14 each. So you actually SAVE money with this boxed set.

This set gets a 9.5 out of 10 medals from me. Only reason it didn’t get the full 10 is that the knives aren’t so easily held nor stored on the figures. But that’s a minor nitpick. GO GET THIS BOXED SET!!!

-Sal

McFarlane Halo 4 series 2 pics and info.

Posted on 02/11/2013 by Sal

Rumor has it this series has been delayed until September. I have confirmation of this from BBTS.com, the online retailer I normally get my McFarlane figures from.

Regardless, it’s still nice to see better detailed pics of them. Waypoint released these on their site yesterday.

Toy Review: McFarlane Halo 4 Promethean Knight

Posted on 02/08/2013 by Sal

Having paid for this several months ago, I forgot when it was coming out. So to my happy surprise this showed up at my door yesterday (as well as the 3-pack Blue team set to be reviewed tomorrow).

I have to say that this is a fantastic figure before I go any further.

Okay so on to the pics and the review. As always, click on the pics for a larger version or open in a new window to view while reading the review. (And of course you can download the images. I just ask that if you repost this article and/or the pics to give me credit as “Pictures by Sal Salerno of HaloFanForLife.com“.

The figure is packaged in a box with a large “window” to showcase the figure. What I like is that the box isn’t overly big. It fits the size of the figure well. The window makes it very easy to see the figure. That’s a good thing for those who like to keep their toys in the package. I’m not one of those folks (normally). The graphics on the box are pretty good.

As seen from the side of the box, the figure has 40 points of articulation and the Watcher figure can fit in the back. Though it’s really just the body of the Watcher, and not the ring portion as well. Still, that’s fine by me.

When you first take the figure out of the box, it comes twist tied to this inner plastic. Note the curved foot anchors at the bottom. Be sure not to throw these away accidentally. While I didn’t need to attach these for the review, they are important to keep for display purposes.

The figure has some amazing articulation. Here is the list of articulation for the Knight starting from the top of the figure:

• Each “back wing” is ball jointed (x5)
• Ball Jointed Head
• Ball Jointed Shoulders (x2)
• Ball jointed Elbows (x2)
• Ball Jointed Shoulders small arms (x2)
• Swivel Jointed Elbows small arms(x2)
• Swivel Jointed Wrists small arms (x2)
• Swivel Waist
• Ball Jointed Hips (x2)
• Ball Jointed Knees (x2)
• Ball Jointed Feet (x2)

Now if you add the joints up it’s only 23. However, if you count each ball joint as TWO that being “double swivel” instead of true ball joint, then there are more than 40 points of articulation. So it’s all in how you interpret the articulation of a figure.

Regardless, the articulation on this figure is SUPERB!

The detail of this figure is amazing. The shape of the parts and the grooved in lines are all crisp. Paint detailing is fantastic. I didn’t find any blemished on my Knight at all. The only slight issue was the Scattershot (weapon in the Knight’s right arm) was slightly curved. I think that has to do with how it was twist tied into the inner packaging.

I was so surprised that the small black arms had articulation. McFarlane could have skimped here and I wouldn’t have cared. Yet they didn’t and it makes the figure just that much better.

The cost of the figure is around $26-30 depending on where you buy it from. Is it worth that? A resounding YES! The size of the figure is great. It fits in well with the other figures from the Halo 4 line (I’ll get a comparison pic up shortly). The sculpt, paint application and articulation are just amazing.

My only complaint is why don’t we have the Lancer, Battlewagon, and Commander versions of this yet! LOL.

This is a MUST by if you collect Halo McFarlane figures. And I’ve got to say even if you’re a carded collector, this is one you need to open up and display. (So yeah, buy TWO of them. One to keep in package and the other to open.) Seriously, the figure is THAT good.

-Sal

McFarlane Halo Avatars Series 2 Mini-Figures!

Posted on 02/08/2013 by Sal

Here are the avatar figures for series 2:

• Blue EVA Helmet and Legendary Tee
• Emile
• Anniversary Helmet and Tee
• Blue JFO Helmet and Black Noble Team Tee
• Brute Costume
• Metallic Gold ODST
• Banshee
• Red Spartan Mark VI

I want them ALL! Of course the Gold ODST and Banshee are going to be the hard ones to get (likely). I say this because that was the case with the gold fig and vehicle from series 1.

As soon as I can get a pic of these, I’ll post it.
-Sal

Halo Toy Review: Mega Bloks Cauldron Clash

Posted on 01/22/2013 by Sal

Alright, here we go!

I’m SO happy to have been able to get this set. It’s FANTASTIC!

The minifigs alone are practically worth it. A Promethean Knight, Watcher, 2 crawlers, UNSC Marine, and a Spartan Soldier. WOOT, it’s a ready made Firefight!

Cauldron Clash: Set number 97118

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 20 minutes sorting, 1 hour 15 minutes build. Total 1 hour 35 minutes.

Set Piece count: 518
Minifigs: Promethean Knight; Watcher; 2 Crawlers (standard); Green Spartan Warrior; Marine w/white helmet/goggles
Weapons: Railgun, DMR; detachable Scattershot and Forerunner sword from Knight
Accessories: N/A
Special Features: 3 ramps can slightly swing up and down, though only meant to be in the down position.
Price/Value: $45 US

The price is good for the piece count, though there are a lot of smaller parts, especially clear orange and red. No complaints from me though, I LOVE transparent toys and those certainly fall within the realm of it, for me.

Normally I would include pics you can click on to make bigger. However, since I upgraded my WordPress, there is a kink that won’t allow me to upload new pics. While that’s being addressed, I’m still going to link to the images, however, they will be on my Flickr account temporarily, until the above issue is resolved.

Stick through the entire build in photos as there is a special custom of this set at the end.
Now on to the pics!

Box Front

Great art as always. Only issue is it’s a mirror image of how the set is actually built.

Box Contents

Contents of big bag from upper left in previous pic.

The pieces sorted out.

The Promethean Knight unassembled

Watcher unassembled

The base of the set in a few steps.

The center bridge being added.

Bridge trap assembly

Center Ramps added.

Side Ramp added.

Bridge “block” added.

This isn’t in game. It’s a little something extra added by Mega Bloks.

The tower.

I found this part of the build to be fun. Though there is some repetition at the top black bloks, it’s a very nice design. I really like that it is tall. That’s something Forerunner design is known for.

The completed main set sans figures.

Green Spartan Warrior w/Railgun

It’s neat how the set includes the clear parts to make it seem like the Spartan is using a jet pack. Too bad it doesn’t actually come with a jet pack. Maybe that will be in a future set. Still, it looks cool.

The two crawlers, shown in different poses.

These crawlers are awesome! While only having 5 points of articulation (one at each hip and one at the head), it’s plenty. The legs are just slightly soft so as to allow it enough give in the knees that they won’t break easily. (Of course if you try to force them into certain positions, they will break, so don’t force them…)

UNSC Marine

I’m impressed with the amount of paint apps on this figure. It looks like the in-game character at this scale. Well done Mega!

Promethean Knight and Watcher

The Knight is the real GEM of this set. Mind you there are a lot of other good points to the set, but this, IMO, is the BEST of them. Not only dos it have awesome articulation (shoulders, elbows on big arms, the extra set of arms, hips, knee, and head), but it also has room for the Watcher in the back AND the Knight’s back opens up just like in the game. WOW! Mega knocked this figure OUT OF THE PARK! The Watcher is cool in it’s own right as it’s top and bottom wings can also pivot. That’s something I didn’t expect.

The completed set w/minifigs.

Now that is a very cool set!

The leftover pieces after the build.

But wait!!!

I had an idea for this set from the first time I saw it. I just knew I could find a way to add it to one of the standard battlescape bases and make it stand out even more. So, I set out to do just that, and I’d say I succeeded. The following is the process of customizing the above set to fit onto the battlescape with LIMITED customization. In fact MOST of the set remains intact as Mega had intended, just a little bit of switching parts around.

As with any custom I make, I do my best to make the custom from ONLY the parts in that set so there is no need to buy other sets to make the custom. Other than the actual battlescape base itself, ALL of the rest of the pieces are from the Cauldron Clash set. SO without further ado, here is the custom:

Set in basic disassembly

As you can see at this point, the set is still rather intact. I’ve removed the base ground plates and the transparent orange and red pieces form the baseplates.

The NEW underside of the main platform.

Views of the platform on the battlescape.

This was my first go at the repositioning of the legs of the platform. It works okay, but isn’t quite stable enough on the baseplate, so I fix that later.

The new longer main center ramp.

For this section, I simply moved the original center ramp further down and connected the lower ramp to the main bridge first. The 2X6 dark grey plate that connects those two ramps was taken from the dark grey pieces that were underneath the ramp originally.

The parts leftover…

These were the additional parts leftover after the custom.

The set now on the Battlescape.

As you can see the side ramp is completely intact. As is the tower. Even the lower platform is intact as is from the directions. I just turned it 180 horizontally to fit on the battlescape.

Revised underside of main platform.

As I mentioned, the first go at the platform is okay, but I wanted more stability. So I added 2 2×6 plates and 2 2×2 plates and took off 1 each of the 2×2 rounded bloks from the two legs pictured. This gave the platform MUCH more stability. Again, those parts are from the set itself so no additional sets needed for this modification.

The final pieces left over.

On the left were the pieces I already had left from the original build. On the right are the additional pieces after the custom build. I’ll likely find a way to incorporate the transparent pieces for an extra lava-like appearance.

The FINAL Custom!

Alternative view.

Finally, I took the battlescape apart (only takes a few small screws). From there I painted ONLY the green part to look like a lava flow going under the bridge and ramp.

I think this looks pretty darn good if I don’t say so myself…er, wait, I just did, LOL.

Summary: This is a great set. The minifigs are fantastic in sculpt and articulation. Mega did an amazing job of scaling the characters down to minifig scale and still get the details in them. The structure itself is cool and definitely one that I plan on getting extras of to make a much larger Forerunner lava base. The sorting and build time is fast and can be done in one sitting. At $45, it’s a decent price. Though when built may seem just slightly lacking. Fret not as you DO have a lot of extra pieces left over and can add to the lava (as you can see from my left over pieces).

Overall Rating: 9.5 out of 10 medals. Maybe a few dollars less or another Knight and this set would have got the perfect 10 from me. Still, it’s definitely worth getting and I HIGHLY recommend it!

To view larger pics from this review, please check out my flickr account.

UPDATE I’ve added on the left over pieces to make a new ramp, terminal and lava flow. See below!

Add-on ramp. It includes a hinge.

Add-on terminal. You would access this from the “ground level.”

The lava flow now has the orange and red translucent bloks over it to add more color.

The full customs with the three new add-ons using up all of the left-over pieces.

alt final add-on view

-Sal

Mage Bloks Halo Cauldron Clash review delayed til tomorrow.

Posted on 01/21/2013 by Sal

I have to delay this until tomorrow. TRUST me, it’s certainly worth the wait. Let’s just say there is paint involved and leave it at that…

-Sal

Custom UNSC Broadsword made of Mega Bloks!

Posted on 01/16/2013 by Sal

My friend “Goodwill Hunter” (whom I’ve previously interviewed on the blog), has posted a brilliant custom UNSC Broadsword over on SpartanBloks. I highly recommend checking out the thread for more pic of this great custom.

Now hopefully Mega Bloks will take notice and make the Broadsword a reality as a building set. (Hmm, maybe news at this year’s New York Toy Fair???)

-Sal

Halo Mega Bloks series 6 minifigs!

Posted on 01/07/2013 by Sal

I love collecting these little minfigs. This particular wave brings more translucent figures to market. In particular is a lime green translucent elite. I can’t be certain, but I think someone at Mega Bloks made that with me in mind as I LOVE lime green AND translucent figures.

So without further ado, here are the figures from this wave.

The front of the minifig packet:

Here’s the insert that shows all the figs, minus the “secret” translucent figs:

What I like about this wave of figures is that there is something in it for every kid/collector. You’ve got army builders in the Marine, Jackals, Grunts and even that very cool shade of Blue elite. You’ve also got several Spartans, of which the always cool Grenadier version and now the Mark V [b] version, only previously available in the Countdown set (which cost $100). Like wise there are those awesome translucent figures if you like the hunt for rare minifigs.

Kudos to Mega Bloks for yet another fun wave to collect. Hopefully I can find some more Jackals. I need a few squads of them…

-Sal

HaloFanForLife.com

A site by a Halo fan for Halo fans

Category Archives: Halo Collecting

Toy Review: Mega Bloks UNSC Mantis Set #97115

There will be 4 Halo toy reviews tomorrow/Monday!

Toy Review: McFarlane Halo Blue Team

McFarlane Halo 4 series 2 pics and info.

Toy Review: McFarlane Halo 4 Promethean Knight

McFarlane Halo Avatars Series 2 Mini-Figures!

Halo Toy Review: Mega Bloks Cauldron Clash

Mage Bloks Halo Cauldron Clash review delayed til tomorrow.

Custom UNSC Broadsword made of Mega Bloks!

Halo Mega Bloks series 6 minifigs!