The Seraph is a nicely done Covenant starship being release soon. More pics to follow when New York Toy Fair comes around. In the meantime, enjoy this preview pic from the Nuremburg Toy Fair.

The shape from top view looks good. I can’t wait to see this in profile view.

Nuremburg Toy Fair in Germany is going on now and Mega Bloks was kind enough to post some images of their display.

Wow, the Gold Ascetic Elite and Gold Elite General are awesome. Can’t wait to find out when and where these will be available.

The Brute chopper is a neat little set and comes with the new Brute Chieftan and Gravity hammer! I hope to acquire 8 of those hammers as I want to make a Griffball set.

The full display of their die cast line is nice to look at. Looks like a huge battlefield!

Woot, more to come soon and more to come in less than two weeks when HFFL goes to New York Toy Fair!

The images in this post were gleaned from the following link (note that these have been stated as prototypes and may not be the actual product to appear on store shelves later this year): http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=495022

Of this photos, I’m most looking forward to the Sabre set. It’s well designed and I’m very glad it comes with playset pieces besides the ship. Though that will drive the cost up. Next the Rhino is welcome. Though it’s an obscure vehicle from Halo Wars, it commands to be played with. Bigger and more powerful than a Scorpion tank and with two extra tread sets, it’s a behemoth on the battle field.

I already have two Wraiths, though I know I’ll get another of these in this newer format. The Seraph is the counter to the UNSC’s Sabre and looks well made. The only suggestion I would have had was to make more of it in the wine/burgandy color bloks like the recently release Revenant was. The Orbital Banshee screams for multiple purchases and with the added AA cannon, I know I’ll be getting a few of them.

I’ll get all of the figure sets of course and will look to build up a small army of Elite Flood. The Brute Chieftan with Chopper is cool. Now if I can just get my hands on 8 more of the Gravity Hammers that come with that set so I can make a cool Griffball set…

Well, since these are “prototype” pics, I’ll enjoy them for what they are. More to come though in a few weeks when HaloFanForLife goes to New York for Toy Fair!

As promised I took my second set of the newly released Covenant Revenant Attack and customized that Revenant to be more accurate to the in-game model.

So here it is next to the original on the left. I was extremely fortunate during the custom build to have enough pieces left over to make somewhat close mini-sized Revenant.

I ONLY used pieces from the one set to make the custom. NO parts were used from the other set. So you too can make this custom if you just bought one set.

(Click on pics to open up a larger version)

Here is a nice shot of the custom a 3/4 front driver’s side view.

Here is the mini at a similar position:

A comparison front view of the original/in-game/custom model.

A comparison side view of the original/in-game/custom model.

As you can see by the front view I was able to make it slimmer and closer to the in-game model. Also note that the much of the build retains the original build at least from the outside. The rear area had some slight changes to accommodate the large 3×3 curved pieces. I integrated them with the back to better reflect the in-game model with shows more of the wine color armor on top and just to the sides of the seats.

For those wondering, YES, the side wings do indeed rotate, though less than Mega Bloks’s design. I was willing to give up a little bit of that articulation for better accuracy to the look, however my pivot point is much closer to the in-game model than the original.

I’m going to keep both the original and custom versions intact. I do have a couple of ideas for a third version of this set. If it ever goes on sale later on in the year, I’ll tackle this custom again and rework the design.

I hope you like the custom. Let me know what you think of it by signing up for my blog and posting here.

-HFFL

Covenant Revenant Attack: Set number 96982

Build Time: 5 minutes sorting, 30 minutes build. Total 35 minutes.

Set Piece count: 281
Minifigs: Elite Ultra, Elite Minor, Spartan Commando
Weapons and Accessories: Needler, Plasma Rifle, SMG, Long Ammo Crate, Bubble Shield generator
Special Features: Revenant’s front wings pivot, rear mounted cannon deploys

Dimensions: Revenant: approx. 6 in. long X 5 in. X 2 in. high; Bubble Shield: approx 5 1/2 in. diameter X 3 in. high.
Price/Value: $32.99 US

The set has 281 pieces. Most of these are dedicated to the Revenant, while the remaining are shared between the Covenant barriers and bubble shield. The directions are straight forward, with one exception. Step 12 calls for a small curved piece. Be certain you have the smallest size. I put on the one just bigger than that then realized my mistake at the next step.

All in all this is a great set. Cool new minifigs with excellent sculpting and paint application, and a repeat of the blue elite minor, which is a welcome army building enemy.

The Revenant’s color is amazing. It’s a shiny wine/burgundy color that really stands out. It’s VERY close to the in-game color. Hopefully this will mean an Elite Zealot minifig will soon come as those colors are very close.
The bubble shield is a great addition to the Halo Mega Bloks toy line. At first I was concerned how this was going to be created. Having experienced bubble shield from other toy lines (the Star Wars Droideka one comes to mind), I was immediately concerned about safety for small children. Not to worry, not only it the shield so large that there is no way it would not let air in, there are 4 holes created by each of the studs on each of the 5 pieces of the outer bubble shield. This was a WELL executed piece and I highly applaud Mega Bloks for the design and consideration to child safety.
The Covenant barriers are two welcome pieces of set dressing. I always appreciate the extras like these as they bring a subtle yet more filling role to the set and toy line overall.

When I first heard that the Revenant was going to be made I was ecstatic. I consider this the Covenant’s hot rod of Halo Reach. It has the speed of the ghost and half the firepower of the wraith. With it’s sleek curving lines and color it really stood out.

For the typical retail price of $32.99, this set is just slightly overpriced, however I have my theories as to why. I’ve talked with two other collectors about this as well and the theory summarized is that the new color as well as molding had to have it’s costs recouped somehow. Not to mention the amount of paint applications on the minifigs, especially the Ultra, and Spartan. I hold a general 10 cents per part rule when considering price. So at 281 pieces that amounts to just over $28. The set costs $5 more. However, in my opinion, given the great new color and the amazing bubble shield I consider it worth it. An extra minifig would have been great. Since there are extra arms and a helmet for the Spartan that makes up the difference for me.

I’m VERY pleased with this set with one exception. The front wings are one stud too wide. You’ll see in the pics later the comparison between the toy and the in-game model and it will become quite clear. As well Mega actually got the wings wrong as far as the position of where the wing pivots. It should have been further out and not right next to the body. Still it’s close, just not perfect. The only other minor annoyance was that I couldn’t get the Ultra into the set with the peg in the back and had to take that out and just have him holding onto one of the steering grips.

Overall Rating: With this review I am changing my medals to go from 1-10 instead of the usual 1-5. For this set I give it an 8.5 medals out of 10. The front wings were the main reason for it not being a 10.

Now on to the pics (click to see a larger version):

The front and back of the box:

What you get inside the box and what comes in the bigger bag:

The sticker sheet:

The pieces sorted into the “brickyard”.

Some new and interesting pieces in this set:

Step progression shots:

Alternate views of the finished Revenant (before stickers applied):

Toy/In-game comparison shots. Here is where you can plainly see the error of the front wings. You can see how the front wings are too wide and the pivot point should be out further. I believe this could have been accomplished. I did buy two sets of this, so I’m going to attempt to make a custom one with the corrected wings being more slender and the pivot points being further out. Look for that to come in the near future. Note how the toy is more an inverted “T” block shape whereas the in-game model is more trapezoidal and streamlined. I know the Covenant shapes are harder to create in Blok form, so some leeway is given there.

The amazing bubble shield. A note on this. It was first supposed to be yellow/gold as it was in Halo 3. The color wasn’t coming out right, so Mega opted to do it in blue, hence the health shield. They did however keep the generator in the set. While technically incorrect, I am happy they kept the generator in and look forward to a yellow/gold bubble shield in the future.

The Covenant barriers come together:

Here are the pieces left over (I was actually missing two parts from the build, thankfully those were hidden parts. I’ll be contacting Mega about getting the replacement parts for this):

I always enjoy making “minirigs” out of the left over parts and this is what I came up with.

Here are the minifigs that come with the set:

A close up of the Elite Ultra. Fantastic sculpt and paint apps.

The spartan in various views with both sets of extra armor on:

The completed set (sans stickers):

I hope you enjoyed reading this review as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also hope you found it informative.

All in all a great set. I recommend getting it!

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