Halo Mega Bloks Covenant Spectre Ambush 97110 won the poll a few months back for the absolute most-wanted of all of the Halo Mega Bloks 2013 sets announced for the winter, so I made it my mission to get both the Covenant Spectre Ambush and the UNSC Cryo Bay 97088 as quickly as possible to provide reviews for fellow Halo fans. The Halo Mega Bloks UNSC Cryo Bay got my attention by packing some of the best features of a small-sized Mega Bloks Halo set ever, so I had similar hopes for the Covenant Spectre Ambush. While Halo Mega Bloks 97110 isn’t quite the trendsetter that the Cryo Bay was, it does end up being a very solid ~$22 addition to the line with plenty of new pieces to drool over….

The Right:

Halo 2 fans rejoice–the Covenant Spectre has arrived in Halo Mega Bloks form at long last!Designed as a Covenant equivalent of the UNSC Warthog, the Spectre never really had a chance to catch on in popularity, as it was unceremoniously ditched from the Halo video games following Halo 2. This left fans without a lot of hope that the hovering Covenant troop-carrier would ever see a toy release beyond the terrible old Joyride Spectre, but MEGA Brands has come to the rescue of Spectre fans.

I always liked the Spectre and thought it was a “cute” Covenant vehicle. Though I wasn’t dying for it the way I am for a Halo Wars UNSC Cobra, I’m more than pleased to see the Covenant Spectre finally gets its day in the Halo Mega Bloks sun.

There isn’t a whole lot of “excitement” built into the Covenant Spectre, but that’s really because the vehicle doesn’t do all the much in the Halo games either. There’s a fully-rotating plasma turret (which is actually a problem I’ll discuss shortly), along with curved anti-gravity lifts on the bottom of the Spectre and an opening cockpit hatch.

One thing that I am very happy about is that this set includes NO STICKERS!! The 2012 Covenant Revenant Attack 96982 set made me want to pull my hair out with how difficult it was to get the stickers to stay on the vehicle, and ever since I’ve had a pretty negative attitude toward decals in Halo Mega Bloks sets.  All of the detailing on the Covenant Spectre is printed directly onto the blocks and the result is a vehicle that looks far more impressive than it would if the details were just applied stickers.

Nothing bores me more than getting Halo Mega Bloks sets with the same old Elite Combat figure in them in various colors, so I was pretty giddy (no, really–giddy) to get two of my favorite Elite armor permutations in this set: a white Elite Commando figure and a white Elite Honor Guard! The Honor Guard is especially welcome, as we previously only had this mold released once (in Crimson). If MEGA Brands wanted to sell this affordable set based on figure selection, they made some pretty irresistible picks.

The other portion of this set is a small piece of terrain and a UNSC Marine figure to defend it. The tan and green Marine figure with backpack is nothing special (we all have a million of them at this point), but the two weapons he comes with are brand-new and good excuses to purchase this set. First off, he comes with the first release of the M6C SOCOM pistol, and it looks killer. Seriously–I want to army-build this gun in painted and unpainted forms as soon as possible. Memo to MEGA Brands: Please include the M6C SOCOM in Halo Mega Bloks 2013 sets as much as possible.

In addition to the M6C SOCOM, the Marine is packing one of the most powerful weapons imaginable: a turret with removable Missile Pod! The Missile Pod works well and is maneuverable while attached to the turret, but there are little handles that plug into it when the Missile Pod is detached for the Marine to carry it around for even more destructive fun! The detachable Missile Pod has terrific play value and looks great–a real must-have for your Halo Mega Bloks UNSC armies.

The Wrong:

The one real aggravating aspect of the Halo Mega Bloks Covenant Spectre Ambush set is how incredibly loose the entire turret platform is. As advertised, the turret can rotate 360-degrees, but it’s so loose that when I move the Spectre the turret is constantly swinging all over the place. It’s noisy and impractical and I think I’m going to have to do some modifications to the turret platform to stop this annoying habit from continuing.

I’m also really disappointed we don’t get an Elite Honor Guard Energy Stave packed with the white Elite Honor Guard figure. The Energy Stave is only included in the Halo Mega Bloks Covenant Crimson Combat Unit that includes the red Elite Honor Guard, so it’s impossible at the moment to ever get an Energy Stave for this white Honor Guard Elite figure without depriving a red Honor Guard of his signature weapon. I really don’t understand why the Energy Stave of all things was left out of this set–was anybody really crying for another Focus Rifle (which didn’t even exist in the game the Spectre is from) or Plasma Rifle?

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

I ordered my Halo Mega Bloks Covenant Spectre Ambush 97110 from BA Toys and got it last week, but they’re completely sold out now. All hope is not lost, though, as Amazon currently has a few Covenant Spectre Ambush sets available for $21.99 + free shipping and no tax!

Overall: While the Mega Bloks Halo Covenant Spectre Ambush set doesn’t “wow” me to the extent that the 2013 UNSC Cryo Bay did, I definitely feel like it’s a worthwhile set that gives us a lot of cool new additions to the Halo Mega Bloks line. It’s pretty awesome to finally have a Covenant Spectre vehicle, something many fans had given up hope for ever seeing again, and I’m psyched that it comes packed with the first UNSC Missile Pod and M6C SOCOM (both of which have been executed perfectly). I’m never excited about another UNSC Marine, but I think the white Elite Honor Guard and Elite Commando figures were great choices to give collectors some uncommon Elite molds. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but the Covenant Spectre Ambush 97110 is a solid set that has just enough “new” included that I feel most collectors are going to definitely feel the need to pick this set up.

GRADE: B+