WARNING: The following post may induce unhappiness, rage, and slight nausea for people who hate Mega Bloks.

Proceed with caution.

UNSC All Terrain Mongoose

The Box

You can already see the box in the picture above. The left and right panels are just an inspiring picture of the Chief with the Halo logo. The top panel shows the size of the super-posable Emile figure, and the bottom panel contains legal info. The back of the box can be viewed by clicking the thumbnail below.

The Contents

Inside the box is the usual stuff. Instructions and parts are all here, but there's also an advertisement encouraging me to "Join the community!" whatever that means. I'm not going to go through and compare each MB part to the LEGO part that it's a clone of similar to because that takes too much effort and I'm lazy.

Three separate bags. One for the figure (with another part for some reason), the other two don't really have any method to how they're packaged from what I can tell.

The Figure

So obviously the reason I bought this set was for Emile and not because I need a vehicle to take pictures of.

Emile is a fantastic representation of how he's depicted in-game. Really glad that Mega was able to license and market the figure as Emile instead of a random Spartan (they did that with all of Noble Team in the past). He features the amazing, new-for-2014 articulation for Halo figures (my store only just stocked this set recently, so I wasn't able to obtain it until now). The new system features twelve separate points of articulation, with enhanced arm posability (using hinges instead of ball joints), and a new armor system. The armor system is 100% compatible with Spartans using the same system, so you can swap upper and lower body armor, shoulder armor, and thigh armor between other figures. Standard human figures (ODSTs and Marines) feature a similar system, but the torso mold is different. Emile's paint job is spot-on and there's a lot of detail molded onto him. I wish they made his red armor piece a bit weathered with a blackwash though. It looks too shiny and new. His helmet carving is also a bit simplified (some could say cartoonish), but it's not that big of a deal.

In short, Emile's a fantastic figure and does his on-screen form justice.

The Parts

I sorted out the parts by type (kind of). The wheels come assembled, but you can take the tires off. If anybody's wondering about part quality, I can assure you that it's as strong or stronger than LEGO. All of the parts have a great amount of clutch power, even the 3mm clips and bars. The only MB parts I've had lose their clutch power or break altogether are translucent clips. The figures are made mostly of a softer plastic though, so their details may rub off from excessive use. Something I love about Mega's products is how many unique molds they have. While they have the standard selection of bricks and plates, they have a lot of highly-detailed specialized pieces for vehicle building. Also, all of the decals are printed on. While the UNSC letters on the rear fender are tiny and a little disappointing, the headlights and UNSC logo come pre-applied, so no problems with dust or being off-center. Yay!

The Build

The build is simple and straightforward. Nothing really interesting or mind-blowing about it. But that doesn't stop it from being fun and satisfying. You're left with

The Nitpicky Stuff

Every set has its flaws. Now it's time to point them out.

Firstly, the Mongoose is big. It looks fine when it's sitting alone, but when you pair it with a figure, it's just out of scale enough so that it looks off.

Second, the front and back are very lackluster. I get that this is a military ATV, but that doesn't mean you can't make it look nice! The front is great until you get to the center. It just sort of cuts out. A curved slope of some sort would've been great here. The back also needs a little work, the 3mm bar plate sticks out farther than it should (and becomes detrimental to the playability), and the open stud makes it look even more out of place.

Third, the Mongoose is skinny! I'm willing to cut a bit of slack here because it has to accommodate a figure. But the center section is still thin and hurts the standalone look.

Fourth, the play-feature. One of the main purposes of the Mongoose is that another person can ride on the back of it and make the Mongoose a mini Warthog. The 3mm bar plate is great and all, but it's placed in the center where a figure cannot grab onto it in a way that looks good. It also juts out too far, so a figure has to lean back to be able to pose well with a weapon.

And Fifth, it's really, really hard to get a figure in a decent position on this thing. It takes a lot of positioning and coordination to do it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Mongoose isn't a bad set. Originally it retailed at $12 USD, but I bought it for $10 USD. I'm not disappointed with my purchase, and most of its flaws are overlookable.

Pros:

Super-Posable Emile!

Updated Mongoose!

Kukri knife!

Detail!

Cons:

Hard to position figures on.

Front and Back are lackluster.

A little out of scale.

All pictures used in this review can be found in the

(with some others too!)

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