I had been planning to start my series of Halo Mega Bloks Summer 2013 set reviews with the new Battle Units, but as I started opening sets, there was an unexpected hit. One set that stood out from the rest I was opening as being the most fun and interesting and thus the one I was most excited to begin talking about. The surprise standout of the new Weapons Packs (and perhaps the small size summer Halo Mega Bloks sets altogether) is the Halo Mega Bloks Forerunner Weapons Pack 97166…

The Right:

If you’re looking for a set that you’re going to spend hours building, this isn’t it. The Halo Mega Bloks Weapons Packs are meant for quick and easy building and equipping your figures with new weapons as soon as possible, and that’s just what you get with the Forerunner Weapons Pack.

I spent maybe a minute assembling the new Forerunner Weapons Pack, but I didn’t get this set for the time spent building it–I got it for the tremendous weapons (and equipment) that comes with the set.

While we’ve had our fair share of UNSC and Covenant Weapons Packs and Armory sets in the past, this is the very first Promethean Forerunner Weapons Pack. As such, the main concern I had with this set was getting some cool Forerunner technology–with paint detailing–for the very first time. And the Halo Mega Bloks Forerunner Weapons Pack 97166 is a complete triumph as far as that goal goes.

MEGA Brands had the Mega Bloks Halo Summer 2013 Weapons Pack boxes out on display at the New York Toy Fair 2013 a few months ago, but we couldn’t see the backs of the boxes then. Now that we can, there’s a nice surprise–some of the new Halo Mega Bloks boxes now list the guns included in the sets! Not everybody is hardcore enough to differentiate a Scattershot from a Light Rifle, so this is a nice bit of extra exposition for those who can’t.

Something I hadn’t noticed in the prototypes of this summer 2013 Halo Mega Bloks set, but was immediately obvious to me after taking the set out of the box, is that MEGA Brands has changed the color of the translucent plastic “wings” on the Promethean Watcher from the color of the first Watcher release in the Cauldron Clash set. Whereas the inner wings were a pale yellow-orange previously, now they’re a much bolder and more vivid orange. This is definitely a positive change, and I’m looking forward to getting a Mega Bloks Promethean Knight now with the same dark orange translucent plastic used on its sword.

Ordinarily we get three guns with a Mega Bloks Halo Weapons Pack set, but the Forerunner Weapons Pack 97166 only includes two: a Scattershot and a Suppressor. Both weapons have a tiny bit of paint deco on them, which goes the extra mile in making them look more detailed weapons and less like plastic toys. You won’t be replacing the awesome Halo 4 Play Arts Kai Suppressor with this Mega Bloks Suppressor, but for what it is, it does its job nicely.

The Forerunner Weapons Rack itself is pretty plain, but the addition of just a few translucent orange pieces really goes a long way in making it look Forerunner. Instead of getting a third gun with Halo Mega Bloks 97166, we get something far better than any of the guns in any of the new Weapons Packs: a Forerunner Hard Light Shield! The Mega Bloks Hard Light shield is cast in translucent blue plastic that is ideal, and has every sculpted detail you’d expect molded in.

The Hardlight Shield can be handheld (as there are handles on each side), and it also can have a clear claw piece inserted into it so that it can attach to the flight stand pole that the Promethean Watcher comes with. Again–fun!!

You can position the flight stand in front of a Halo Mega Bloks Promethean Knight figure so that it looks like the Watcher is protecting the Knight with the Hard Light Shield! This is sheer genius and just tons of fun.

The Wrong:

I have just one nitpick about the 97166 Halo Mega Bloks Forerunner Weapons Pack, and it has to do with the manufacture of the set. For whatever reason, the factory printed the manufacturing stamp on one of the pieces of the Forerunner Weapons Rack that’s meant to face forward. As you can imagine, this looks more than a little ridiculous. Because, you know–the Forerunners probably didn’t hang out in China.

This isn’t a huge deal or anything, but at the same time, it is pretty annoying and inconvenient. You would think MEGA Brands would have seen the production samples early enough to catch something silly like the manufacturing stamp facing the front of a set, but I guess not.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

I got my Halo Mega Bloks Forerunner Weapons Pack from BA Toys, where the set was priced at $6.95. BA Toys is now totally sold out of the new Summer 2013 Mega Bloks Halo Weapons Packs, but they still have pre-orders available for most of the other new sets coming out.

Overall: When MEGA Brands announced a Forerunner Weapons Pack, I knew it was going to be a good set, but I never thought I’d like it this much. The Promethean Watcher itself is improved because of the darker orange plastic, while the painted Suppressor and Scattershot are great additions to the line. But my favorite part of the set is unquestionably the Forerunner Hard Light Shield, which is absolutely perfectly executed.When the only thing I can find to complain about about a set is the manufacturing date stamp, you know MEGA Brands has done something very right. This is an outstanding set by MEGA brands, and easily worthy of buying multiples of. Highly recommended.

GRADE: A