There aren’t too many quintessential environments in the Halo games that could be considered absolutely iconic, but the UNSC Cryo Bay is one of them. It’s where we meet the Master Chief for the first time in Halo: Combat Evolved and where he leaves us at the end of Halo 3. Years later, the UNSC Cryo Bay is where we were finally reintroduced to the Master Chief this year in Halo 4. To commemorate the occasion, MEGA Brands decided to release a new 2013 Halo Mega Bloks set depicting the Master Chief and Cortana in the UNSC Cryo Bay from the beginning of Halo 4. The set is another success for Mega Bloks, and a worthy portrayal of the legendary UNSC Cryo Bay…

The Right:

It’s a testament to the popularity of the Halo franchise that there have been not one, but two, toy releases of the UNSC Cryo Tube, a non combat-oriented set piece. McFarlane Toys released their own UNSC Cryo Tube back in August, and the Halo Mega Bloks Cryo Bay 97088 is joining it just in time for 2013. If you’re expecting the Mega Bloks Cryo Tube to be anywhere near as detailed as the McFarlane Halo toy, you’re going to be severely disappointed. But while the McFarlane Halo Cryo Tube has superior, exquisite paint detailing and is a beautiful piece in its own right, the Mega Bloks version of the Cryo Bay substitutes features and play value to make up the difference between the two.

The feature that I suspect will attract the most buyers to this set isn’t really a “feature” at all–it’s the Mega Bloks Halo figures included: the Master Chief and a small Cortana. It’s a stunning statistic, but in the nearly half-decade of Halo Mega Bloks sets being produced, this is only the second Master Chief Mega Bloks figure released–and the first that won’t cost you hundreds of dollars and a giant Forward Unto Dawn ship to own. The price-point on the Forward Unto Dawn is out of my range (feel free to send me a review sample, MEGA Brands–no, really), so this is my first-ever Mega Bloks Master Chief. He doesn’t look quite as detailed as the one from the Forward Unto Dawn set, but that’s the difference between a figure from a $12 set and a $250 set. Personally, I’m just happy to finally officially own the Chief.

This is actually the third Cortana in the Halo Mega Bloks line. She was the Ultra-Rare figure in the Halo Mega Bloks Series 4 Mystery Pack Blind Bags (and a real pain to find), and also came as a small holographic figure with the Forward Unto Dawn. So really, this is also the first easy-to-acquire figure of Cortana, the co-star of Halos 1-4. Cortanas pedestal can be removed from the Cryo Bay (obviously), or you can just pop the Cortana figure off itself to move her around. Cortana isn’t especially detailed, but she’s also a 1-inch PVC. The fact that she’s about the right size, the right color, and clearly recognizable makes this Cortana figure a win as far as I’m concerned.

The very inclusion of the Master Chief and Cortana in this set would make it a must-buy for most people.

But wait–! There’s a Cryo Bay too!

It looks like a lot of pieces in the photo, but the 72-piece Halo 4 Mega Bloks UNSC Cryo Bay 97088 is one of the quickest builds of any Halo Mega Bloks set this year. It only took me about 10 minutes to build the set (though I also damaged it, but we’ll get to that in a bit). Any child to adult who’s ever built a Mega Bloks set will have no problem putting this one together quickly and effortlessly.

So far as play features in the set go, well–there’s not a ton, but I think that can be excused here. The Cryo Tube can swivel upright or lean backwards, and the hatch can open and close to move the Master Chief figure into or out of the set. Really, what else could anyone realistically expect from a Cryo Bay set, though? There’s also a loaded Weapons Rack (which I’ll discuss momentarily) and printed-on control panels (no stickers!) that look absolutely fantastic.

One of the absolute coolest ideas for this set is that MEGA Brands themselves diagrammed on the back of the box how you can purchase multiple sets and expand the Cryo Bay! Many collectors would have done this anyway, but it’s terrific to see the foresight that MEGA Brands put into this set.

When the Master Chief wakes up from stasis, the first thing he’s going to reach for is some trust UNSC weapons, and MEGA Brands has generously included a whole Weapons Rack for the chief to peruse! You get three unpainted weapons: the Battle Rifle, the Assault Rifle, and the Sticky Detonator. The rifles are pretty standard and welcome, but the highlight here is definitely the Sticky Detonator. If the Sticky Detonator isn’t anyone’s favorite new weapon from Halo 4, I cannot understand why.

The Wrong:

Two things spring to mind that MEGA Brands could have done to make a really great set just a little bit better.

First of all, the Halo Mega Bloks UNSC Cryo Bay 97088 has purposely been designed with expansion in mind–but if you do so, you’ll have to settle for every single Cryo Tube being #16. Considering how frequently MEGA Brands employs decals in their Halo Mega Bloks sets, it’s pretty disappointing that the one time I actually want to see stickers, there are none. The “16” is imprinted on the UNSC Cryo Tube itself, so if you want to expand the diorama (as suggested by MEGA Brands on the back of the box), you’re going to have to customize the numbers on the Cryo Tubes yourself or settle for having every tube in your UNSC Cryo Bay be #16. This bugs me a lot, given that a simple sticker sheet with a couple different numbers on it would have really made the Cryo Bay organically expandable.

Secondly, I had a weird issue with this set I’ve never had with a Halo Mega Bloks set before: I actually damaged one of the pieces putting the set together. Getting the “glass” window on the Cryo Tube to snap into place was trickier than I expected, and when I finally did get it to click into place, the peg on the bottom of the window slashed the door of the Cryo Tube, leaving a very obvious ugly gray scratch on the door. I typically employ the utmost caution when assembling my sets, so I’m pretty upset about this. If I made this mistake, I can only imagine a huge number of kids and other collectors are also going to unwittingly damage their Cryo Tube door just trying to put it together.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

I’m a little bit spoiled when it comes to Mega Bloks, and I can’t stand waiting for them to hit retail stores. So I got my Halo 4 Mega Bloks UNSC Cryo Bay 970888 from BA Toys, who almost without fail beats every other retailer to the punch. They still have some left in-stock now, but after those sell out I don’t expect to see many of these sets hit stores until after Christmas (only Walmart stores seem to have received this set at physical retail so far).

Overall: MEGA Brands did most everything right in capturing this iconic Halo 4 scene as a toy diorama. I cannot express how pleased I am to get an official Master Chief figure and a little Cortana without having to buy a $250 UNSC Forward Unto Dawn ship to do it, and the Cryo Bay itself looks pretty fabulous for a $12-$15 set. Add in the fact that you can buy multiple Cryo Bays to expand the diorama and this set is pretty riveting. I would have liked it if there were alternate number stickers for the individual UNSC Cryo Tube doors, and I’m more than a little upset that I scratched the door when I snapped the “glass” into place, but these are minor gripes that only slightly bring down an otherwise surprisingly stellar set. If you’re a fan of building dioramas for your Halo figures to be displayed in or you just want the Master Chief and Cortana without dropping $250, the Halo 4 Mega Bloks UNSC Cryo Bay 97088 is an absolute must-buy.

GRADE: A