Covenant Armory Pack II: Set number 96997

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 1 minute sorting, 1 minutes build. Total 2 minutes.

Set Piece count: 22
Minifigs: Yellow Assault Elite with extra Combat Elite head.
Weapons: Plasma Rifle, needler, needle rifle
Accessories: N/A
Special Features: N/A

Price/Value: $6-7 US

We don’t really get Yellow Elites, so this was welcome. The weapons are painted well. Because of that they look much better than the normal all purple versions. Some purply bits to build and a green baseplate round out the set.

Here are the pics.
Click on images to see a larger version.

Summary: The painted weapons really help this set to shine. The Elite itself is good if not so detailed. Nice to have an Assault Elite though so I’m not knocking it.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 medals. Add a sticky grenade and a sword and I’d have bumped this up to 5 medals.

-HFFL

UNSC Armory Pack II: Set number 96996

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 1 minute sorting, 1 minutes build. Total 2 minutes.

Set Piece count: 22
Minifigs: White AA Spartan with extra HAZOP helmet.
Weapons: SMG, Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle
Accessories: N/A
Special Features: N/A

Price/Value: $6-7 US

FA nice little set for building up your Arctic Spartan ranks. The only minor issue is that I was surprised that the baseplate wasn’t white instead of the green that it is. The extra helmet looks a little out of place on the figure as it’s not as detailed in paint apps. Still, it’s nice to have options.

Here are the pics.
Click on images to see a larger version.

The AA Spartan looks good. I think this is the first “male” version of the AA Spartan.

Summary: A nice little set with virtually not build time. Worth the price.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 medals Add an extra weapon and a frag grenade and I’d have bumped this up to 5 medals.

-HFFL

Okay, I only have a pic of the back of the box, but it’s very cool.

Here’s a bit of a close-up of part of the back:

Photos courtesy of “Dielectic”

What’s great is the you get another look at the full model, as well as numerous other close-up shots showing detailed areas of the ship.

Note in the close-up pic the stocked armory. In it you have the following weapons (subject to change):

5 Assault Rifles
1 Battle Rifle
3 Frag Grenades
1 Radioman backpack
1 Sticky grenade Pistol
3 Magnums
3 SMGs

Not too shabby.

I’m really excited to get one of these!

-HFFL

I’ll have 6 reviews up during the day tomorrow. They are all of the small weapons packs or armory sets. Pics are taken of 5 of the sets already. Write-ups will be completed throughout the day, so look for them.

I saw this first at New York Toy Fair. I liked the size of it, but was concerned about the $40 price tag. Read on and you’ll see if I still had concern after buying it.

Okay, let’s first talk about the whole packaging.

As you can see from above, the packaging is underused or really…too big. Roughly 25% on the right as you see it doesn’t have anything in it. The flimsy thin cardboard used for the outer case of the box doesn’t help either. It may look “pretty” but doesn’t stand up to shelf wear even at the store.  That said, I do like the graphics. I just think the box should have been smaller and the cardboard more sturdy. Yes, there is a layer of cardboard inside (this has the printed background on it behind the drop pod), but the box itself just seems to fragile.

Okay, so here is what you get in the box. But first, let me state that the set is $45, not $40 as expected. The detailing is fantastic. Just look at the inside. Not to mention the air brakes. Really, all over the sculpting is top notch.

Now the Rookie figure is just plain awesome. The amount of detail and paint application put into this shows up very nicely. I’m very pleased with how this turned out.

Next we have the door assembly. Shown is how the side doors close.

Here’s the inside of the main hatch:

This is a thick piece folks. The pic doesn’t do it justice. You’ll see this in the next pic though.

Click on the pic and zoom in on the front view. You’ll see there there are some interior walls to the front hatch.

Nice detail on the air brakes. They can lower and raise (though if you raise them too high, they pop right off. They don’t break like that, just pop off so no worries. Also, it’s nice to see that they fold up as well when not in use.

Finally I show the bottom detail. McFarlane really nailed the detailing here not skipping over anything.

So was this worth it? Hmm, I’m still trying to decide that for myself. The figure would go for about $13-14 single carded. So that means the pod itself would be in the $30 range. It’s limited on moving parts, but the detailing is fantastic.

Right now I’d have to lean on it being slightly overpriced and should have been closer to $35. I guess we’ll know better in a month or two if these are still on store shelves and not selling.

UNSC Rhino: Set number 97016

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 30 minutes sorting, 3 hours build. Total 3 1/2 hours.

Set Piece count: 822
Minifig: Red Scount Spartan (with armory parts for Recon), Marine with gold goggles; 2 Reach style/size yellow grunts
Weapons: 2 Sticky Grenades, Needler, Plasma Pistol, Fuel Rod gun (now in purple), Battle Rifle, Assault Rifle, Covenant plasma turret
Accessories: Deployable cover (shield), Radioman backpack, 2 light olive green ferns
Special Features: Tank Cannon can move up and down, turret rotates 360°, two hatches open/close, tread assemblies can pivot and treads move forwards/backwards on wheels

Price/Value: $85 US

The price is spot on for the piece count. I like the dark green camo effect here. The tank itself looks very powerful. The cannon/turret assembly is bulkier and much bigger than the smaller Scorpion tank. That’s a good thing. The tread assemblies are repetitive (as you’ll see in the pics below). That made this build feel faster than it was.

One thing to note that I missed until the end. I normally open all the bags with pieces and sort them…except any minifig bags. So while building, I thought I was missing 6 pieces. They were all the same piece. It was the flat 4X4 tiles with black lines on them. I was ready to complain about this, until I got to the end of the build and realized those pieces were included with the armory bits for the Recon Spartan. So this explains why you don’t see them on during the build process, but do at the end.

Enough talk, here are the pics.

Click on images to see a larger version.

Below you’ll note the “Addendum” sheet. Be sure to follow those two steps for the correct build.

This next pic is of the contents of the big bag above (near top left).

Sorted

The Forerunner structure was easy to build. I like the color of the structure. I really like the green baseplates. I hope more of these type of baseplates show up in future sets. They really help to flesh out dioramas and add color as well instead of just sticking a set on a wooden shelf.

In this next series of pics you can see that the build for each tread assembly is the same. Three face one way while the others face the other direction. The stabilizing “feet” are the same build and can be put on any opposite two treads.

The turret assembly was a fun part to build of this set. MEGA really knocked it out of the park with the design of the turret. Great angles, bulky looking as it should be. It just feels powerful.

The cannon assembly was quick, and much MUCH better than the Scorpion tanks cannon.

The next pic series is of the body of the Rhino. This was the most extraneous part of the build. It wasn’t until about half to two thirds of the way through that I really appreciated the design and aesthetic of the body build. It’s sturdy and has some black parts that add to the look of the body.

The final assembly of treads, turret and body. Ah, it’s a masterpiece of Halo MEGA Bloks design.

The minifigs, weapons, and accessories (minus the Plasma turret and deployable cover-seen in next pic):

Final set with figs, tank, and accessories:

Leftovers and what I did with those parts.

Summary: This is a great set. The repetitive build of the treads made it easy to build and quick. The overall design of the Rhino is spectacular. Well built and sturdy, it screams “POWER.” I enjoyed watching this come together as I built it. (with a slow phase in the body build) If you missed the Scorpion tank, then by all means get the Rhino. It’s a WAY better tank. I hope it makes it’s way into Halo 4. If not, I’ll still be very happy to have the set. If you did get the Scorpion and are on the fence about this tank, please allow me to gently urge you (by that I mean push heavily) into getting the set.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 medals.

-HFFL

Versus Snowbound Highbase: Set number 97069
Target exclusive

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 20 minutes sorting, 1 hour 40 minutes build. Total 2 hours.

Set Piece count: 438
Minifig: Red EVA Spartan, Blue EOD Spartan
Weapon: Mauler, Spiker
Accessories: Arctic Mongoose, Blue Flag
Special Features: Ramps can raise and lower

Price/Value: $40 US

The price is a good at $40 since the set has 438 pieces. I’d have expected to pay closer to $44. The packaging is great. I’m glad to have an arctic mongoose. The set came together quickly and was an easy build. I made one minor mistake that was easily fixable. (See if you can find it.) The set is really tall at 16.5 inches high. So you’ll need some tall shelf space to display it.

The set looks nice, but I can’t help thinking about it seeming unfinished. Two whole ramps are missing. Mind you for the piece count the price is great and I dont’ think I’d want to pay more for the set, but the addition of another gold ramp and purple ramp wouldn’t have added that much more to the cost. If it were another $5 for those two, I’d have been happy. So now my quandary is, do I buy another to make one complete base or 3 more to make two complete bases? And then what to do with the extra pieces?

The blue glass fins are really the draw here for me. Also, the way the MEGA designers utilized certain angles to get those fins attached at the base, including the grey bars is a great example of their skill and design aesthetic.

Well, enough talk, here are the pics.

Click on images to see a larger version.

The sorted brickyard.

At this point I would have shown the progression of the base build, but since I’ve made a cool animated gif for that, I’m going to show other parts of the build first, then the gif.

Both the wide and narrow fin assemblies:

The golden ramp

And now the animated gif:

Capture the flag!

As you can see in the following pic, this set looks good from one side,. Not so much the other as it feels like it’s missing parts.

Here’s what you have left over and what I built with those pieces.

Yet another Red EVA. This makes at least three we’ve had. Okay so this one has frosted feet. Still, I’d have preferred a different kind of Spartan. The EOD is great though!

The set once again, now with figs, and a close up of the figs in action.

Summary: This is a good set. What keeps it from being great, for me, is those two missing ramps and yet another Red EVA. As mentioned above, the extra pieces needed to make the other two ramps wouldn’t have driven up the price too much. I would have gladly paid another $5 to have those.

Still, the set is a good value and looks fantastic. So I definitely recommend it. Doubly so if you want to complete the Versus Snowbound Target exclusive theme.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 medals.

-HFFL

Flood Siege: Set number 97071
Toys R Us exclusive

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 15 minutes sorting, 2 hours build. Total 2 hours 15 minutes.

Set Piece count: 426
Minifigs: 2 Orange Elite flood, 2 flood infection forms, 1 “Not-Jorge” Shark Grey color Spartan, 1 Shark grey color AA Spartan.
Weapons: Assault Rifle, 2 Plasma Rifles, Machine Gun Turret
Accessories: 2 Barrels, 1 power core, 4 sandbags, 1 jersey barrier (can modify to make two smaller ones), Long UNSC Storage case
Special Features: Mass Driver swivels around and pivots up and down; Mongoose wheels spin

Price/Value: $58 US

The Price is a little high at $58 since the set has 426 pieces. Using the simple 10 cents per piece guideline, that should put the set at about $43 dollars. TRU is known to boost up the prices of their exclusives though. I bought this when there was a “buy one get one 40% off” sale. The other item I got was the Covert Ops Wolverine. So between them I paid what retail should have been on the two sets. This set takes up a bit of space, however you can always take off the little connecting pieces and display the individual tower differently. The addition of the mongoose is nice. It’s a slightly different design from earlier versions and the “shark grey” color is fantastic. This goes for the Spartan figs as well. More to talk about, so I’ll do so during the pics views. I was really surprised with how quickly this set came together considering the number of pieces included. It was a fast build for me. I expected it to take another hour at least to build.

Here are the pics.
Click on images to see a larger version.

The contents of the large bag in the upper left corner are shown below:

The pieces sorted into the brickyard below:

Note the back end fenders are different from the original mongeese.

The center structure comes together below.

Next the landing pad:

The next few are of the Mass Driver tower and turret assembly:

Note the closest grey 2X8 plate is a different color. I fixed that after the pic was taken.

The mass driver above is by far the coolest looking part of this set.

Below is the pivot assembly for the mass driver. The following pic after shows the correct position of it on the Mass Driver. The directions are incorrect initially, but a step or two later show it in the right position, so be aware of this when you build yours.

The complete Mass Driver tower:

Here are the two connector assemblies for putting the towers together.

The completed set: It’s important to note that I went away from the instructions for the jersey barrier. It calls for it being one long barrier. However, there were enough of the right color pieces left over to easily make two smaller ones.

A closer look at the minifigs and weapons: MEGA did miss an opportunity with the Elite Flood figs. It would have been great if they would have included the other arm as well as the standard elite Combat helmet in orange. This way, we could have made elites that were in the colors of Elite Officers from Reach. Ah well, maybe in another set…

Left over pieces (again noting mine would be different from yours if you choose to make the jersey barrier long as instructions show.) Instead of trying to make a mini of the set with the leftovers, I just cobbled the pieces together to make some sort of robotic hauler.

The sticker sheet. I almost never use the stickers to sets. I dont’ want them to fall off, become lighter in color or get damaged. So I just don’t put them on.

Summary: This is a good set. Not really from any specific Halo scene. Instead it utilizes parts from various games. The Mass Driver is definitely from Halo Reach, while you could imagine the landing pad for Halo Wars. The center structure is kind of own it’s own, but adds to the set nicely. The price may be a hinderance for some. If so, wait for a sale. TRU does have those regularly for Mega Bloks sets. I wouldn’t call this a must have set for every fan. However, for fans like me, it really adds to the overall collection. I think I’ll rebuild mine into a taller UNSC structure. It’s a good set to get an extra one of (at a sale price). I do recommend getting it.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 medals! The price is really the only major drawback to this set. It’s a good set, if unspecific to any particular Halo game. More flood are always welcome and that new shark grey color just stands out nicely.

-HFFL

These set will be built, pics taken and reviewed over the next couple of days. Stay tuned!

-Sal

Versus Snowbound Combat Unit: Set number 97065

Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 1 minute sorting, 1 minutes build. Total 2 minutes.

Set Piece count: 47
Minifigs: Blue Spartan Mk V; Blue Combat Elite; Red CQB Spartan; Red Combat Elite, All minifigs have frosted lower legs.
Weapons: Shotgun, magnum, needler, needle rifle
Accessories: N/A
Special Features: N/A

Price/Value: $12 US

For the price you are getting what you pay for. Minifigs cost around $3 in the blind packs, so 4 should cost you $12. That’s exactly what you get. 4 minifigs, 4 weapons, 4 blocks to put them on. Plus you get a couple of black larger plates and the sloped printed plate saying what the unit is. Simple and right on target for the price. The only thing I wish would have been switched was the black baseplates for white. That’s just a preference though.

Here are the pics.
Click on images to see a larger version.

First pic is not mine. (I hastily opened mine before taking pics…)

Summary: A nice little set with virtually not build time. Worth the price.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 medals! It’s a filler set for the Snowbound theme. I’d have like to see different spartans and elites used, but still a solid set.

-HFFL