You may be wondering why a site devoted to action figure collecting is reviewing what in most circles would simply be considered a "building toy" and you'd have a point. However, we are living in an interesting time in the toy world, where our definitions of what is and what isn't an action figure are being tested. With that in mind, this seemed like an excellent time to take a look at a new toy series that pushes that boundary and makes one wonder if these toys, specifically the Halo Wars sets from Megabloks, is a building toy that comes with tiny figure accessories, or a series of tiny figures, almost by definition action figures, that happen to come with building toy accessories.
A Little About Megabloks
Before we can talk about the figures, we must touch on the building sets themselves. Now, it would be too easy to compare any interlocking building set to the world famous uber-toys, Lego, but it would also be a little unfair. Sure, some people may consider Megabloks to be a clone of the building toy that started it all, but over the past decade or so, Megabloks have made huge strides in becoming a high quality building toy in their own right, adopting innovative features and landing huge licensing deals. So let's state right here and now that this review will opt out of comparing them to any previous brands of building toys and look at the sets for what they are on their own merit.
The Halo Wars Authentic Collector's Series
As this is a site devoted to action figure collecting, we won't spend too much time talking about the actual building toy aspect of the series, but a few important things must be noted.
The Halo Wars series is a massive toy launch for Megabloks and a merchandising no-brainer thanks to the popularity of the video game that has spawned all kinds of gear from collectible statues to action figures from McFarlane Toys.
The series includes:
- The Aerial Ambush Set
- The Covenant Ghost Vehicle
- The UNSC Hornet
- The UNSC Scorpion Tank
- The Warthog Set (with Covenant turret gun)
- The UNSC Turret Gun
The Megabloks Building Sets
For starters, it has to be admitted that this reviewer didn't expect to have nearly as much fun as was had while putting these sets together for the first time, but several hours of unbridled fun later, I found myself tempted to take them all apart and build them all over again. I cannot express enough the power it took for a grown man to resist the urge to hold the UNSC Hornet aloft in the air and run around the living room making "zoooooom!" noises. Luckily, decorum prevailed, albeit just barely.
The pieces to the building sets themselves all fit nicely and firmly, despite the occasional stubborn piece. In fact the pieces themselves were a bit of a worry when you have hundreds of them spread out onto the dining room table and you find yourself thinking, "Oh no! What if I'm missing a piece!" That turned out to not be a worry at all, because not only were all of the required pieces included, but Megabloks had the foresight to include several extra pieces. This is like getting extra french fries without asking. This is one of the great little things in life.
Other stand-out details about the building set were the many innovative specialty pieces included in the sets like vertical lift-off turbines and the hinged cockpit covers that really made these sets far more than just your usual collection of interlocking building blocks. Other details like the swirling camouflage and speckled metallic finish of many of the bricks from the UNSC vehicles added greatly to the gritty "coolness" of the sets.
Another nice touch was the sheet of decals that came with every set, allowing builders to apply realistic dashboard readouts to the driver's side of the Warthog or even a jagged line of bullet holes down the hull of a Covenant ship.
Overall, the Halo Wars series from Megabloks provided a brilliant mix of playability and creativeness for the younger building-toy aficionados of the world and will give the older, more discerning, collector and building toy fan a astounding level of detail and displayability. If this reviewer were to use a grading scale, these toys would rightfully earn a strong 9 out of 10.
The World's Smallest Action Figures
In a separate article here at About Action Figures, we attempted to define what is and what isn't an action figure. The article did its best to set some ground rules on the differences between figurines, action figures and dolls. Ultimately, the article came to the conclusion that although there are clear differences in these different types of figures, there are occasional exceptions to the rules and often gray area in which a particular figure may fall.
The figures included in the Halo Wars sets from Megabloks definitely fall into such a gray area. These figure, included in each set are so well sculpted, well-painted and articulated, that they practically steal the spotlight from the building toy aspect of the sets.
The figures each stand anywhere from 1 1/4" tall (the Covenant grunts) to 2" tall (all of the other figures) and possess anywhere from 4 to 12 points of articulation, an amount before unheard of in a figure this small.
Almost every figure in the sets include at least one accessory, usually a weapon that the figure can firmly grip in its tiny hand. Furthermore, there are many parts in the building set themselves that possess pieces such as handles and steering wheels specifically made for the figures' tiny hands to grip onto, only adding to the interactivity of the the figures and the vehicles.
For a closer look at each figure available in the various Halo Wars sets visit the link below to an image gallery that shows each figure and discusses the posability and accessories of each figure.
