Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit 97082 Review with Gold Hunter

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Just when you think you’ve seen just about every variation imaginable of Halo Mega Bloks figures, MEGA Brands pulls a rabbit (or in this case a Hunter) out of a hat! As part of the summer 2013 wave of Halo Mega Bloks Combat Unit figure packs, MEGA Brands has brought something new to the table that no one was expecting. It’s the Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit 97082, headlined by the first Gold Hunter Captain figure ever released by any toy company!

Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit 97082 Gold Hunter and Grunt Figures
The Right:

Though this set is officially the “Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit”, the real centerpiece of the set is unquestionably the Gold Hunter Captain figure included in it. This is the first time that a Covenant Hunter figure has been included outside of a vehicle set (yes, I consider the wrecked Warthog from the EVA’s Last Stand 96937 to be a vehicle), and I’m pretty stoked about it.

Halo Mega Bloks Gold Hunter Captain vs. ODST Figures For those who didn’t play a lot of Firefight in the “Halo: ODST” video game, Gold Hunters would occasionally appear and fire individual Fuel Rod Cannon-like shots in the manner that they did in Halo: Combat Evolved, as opposed to the streams of plasma that Covenant Hunters shot in later Halo video games. This is not the type of figure I ever would have expected to see released, but it’s a welcome addition to my collection. MEGA Brands is nothing if not thorough!

Halo Mega Bloks Gold Grunt Figure from ODST Battle Unit

This is probably the most successful Grunt in Covenant history.

The other Covenant figure in this set is a Grunt wearing Gold armor. I don’t believe we’ve gotten the non-Ultra Grunt in gold before, so it’s nice to have him. He includes a Needler molded in slick, shiny purple. Not a whole lot to say about this figure, other than if there’s one Covenant force you can army-build endlessly, it’s Grunts, and this one is as good as any.

Mega Bloks Halo 97082 ODST Figure with Spartan LaserNext up in this set we get a plain old, everyday ODST Mega Bloks figure. He’s perfectly generic, and that’s fine–I know plenty of Halo Mega Bloks collectors thrilled to be getting some easily accessible regular ODST figures in this set. He’s packing a Spartan Laser, which we’ve gotten relatively few of in 2013.

Mega Bloks Halo ODST and Active Camo ODST from 2013 ODST Battle Unit 97082At this point, I’m pretty much over Active Camo Mega Bloks figures. I’ve got enough clear and translucent rainbow Spartans to last me a lifetime. But–! If there was one more Active Camo figure I wouldn’t mind having (besides the Arbiter), it’s probably an ODST. Now, I don’t know how canonically correct it is to have an Active Camo ODST at all (I didn’t think ODST armor could handle Active Camouflage), but there’s no denying that it’s nice to have a covert specialist ODST figure in Active Camo. Again–not sure if it’s correct for this figure to exist, but I like it anyway.

Halo Mega Bloks 97082 Active Camo ODST Silences a Grunt Birthday PartyWhat I like more than the Active Camo ODST, however, is his Active Camo SOCOM gun! I’ve been enamored with the SOCOM ever since MEGA Brands started packing it with the winter wave, and I love it even more in clear Active Camo. Something about sneaking up on a poor, unsuspecting, sleeping Grunt and activating Grunt Birthday Party with the deadly precision of the SOCOM is just too much!

Gold Covenant Hunter Captain Figure from Halo Mega Bloks 2013The Wrong:

The only big nitpick I have with regard to the summer 2013 Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit 97082 has to do with the “gold” paint that MEGA Brands ended up using on the Gold Hunter Captain and Gold Grunt in this set. In the publicity photos, we got to see rendered shots of the Gold Hunter in shiny, beautiful gold armor. The paint used on the actual figures is more a mustard yellow/brown color than the resplendent gold that many fans are probably expecting.

MEGA Brands Official Photos of Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit PrototypesNow, maybe that prototype was a bit too Gold, but at least that Covenant Hunter was still Gold and brown/tan. Looking at the official preview images and some of the gorgeous shiny gold painted Covenant figures we’ve previously had in the Halo Mega Bloks line, it’s tough not to be disappointed with the mustard brown color of this Gold Hunter.

97082 Mega Bloks Halo ODST Battle Unit ODSTs vs. Covenant Gold Hunter and Grunt“Where Can I Buy It?!”

I got this whole wave of 2013 summer Halo Mega Bloks sets from BA Toys, which has become my favorite Mega Bloks retailer due to the fact that they almost always, without fail, get their new Halo Mega Bloks sets in before anywhere else. The Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit (as well as the Brute Battle Unit) are both still available for order at BA Toys as of writing.

Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit 97082 PackagedOverall: The Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit 97082 is a good, solid Halo Mega Bloks figure set. The only real standouts in the set are the Gold Hunter figure and the Active Camo SOCOM, but everything else makes for worthwhile army-building. If the paint used for the “gold” Hunter was a bit more shiny and less yellow-brown, this would be an ‘A’ set. As it is, this set is still very good and definitely recommended for anyone wanting some army-builder figures and the best Gold Covenant Hunter we’re likely to ever see in toy form.

GRADE: B+

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Comments

Halo Mega Bloks ODST Battle Unit 97082 Review with Gold Hunter — 21 Comments

  1. This set is my type of thing I like odsts and I can use more grunts and hunter’s but the active cammo odst is just one of those things that you like but don’t like at the same time but to this set is worth it

  2. B plus? That seems a little low just because of one fault. It should have at least gotten an A.

    • It’s not just “one fault”, though–it’s a big deal. The centerpiece of this set is the Gold Hunter, and its paint deco doesn’t quite meet my expectations, hence the “B+”. It’s a very good set, but it’s just not quite “excellent”.

  3. I’m quite surprised that reviewed this set before the Security Spartan Combat Unit. I hope it’s because you’re saving the best for last. 😉 Personally, I love Active Camo Mega Bloks figures. There’s just something about seeing all the molded detail on a figure without all the paint in the way. Maybe it’s stupidity. I dunno. :p Thanks for the review, though. In the prototype, even the Spartan Laser looks shiny. I’m telling you man, Photoshop doesn’t equal final product. I’m still happy with the Hunter. The color looks better than I had thought. 😀

    • Depends which sets. The brute combat unit, ODST combat unit, booster frame sets and weapons packs are already hitting some stores.

  5. Don’t count that gold color against it. It’s really hard for the manufacturers to make a legitimate gold figure at this price point. Sure, the Arbiter from the Halo Fest exclusive and Phantom set used metallic paints, but it’s because they’re smaller figures, limited releases, and from bigger sets, which help to justify the cost.

    • But we know that MEGA Brands can make figures in shiny gold paint in the cheaper sets, because we saw a Gold Elite Zealot Drop Pod figure last year that was exactly the color this Hunter would have been perfect in. I’m not saying MEGA needed to use Chrome Gold or Vac-Metallized Gold or anything like that–just some paint that was actually gold and not brownish.

      I’m not exactly “dissing” MEGA here–I love Halo Mega Bloks. But they’re saving paint deco costs by including the unpainted Active Camo figures in this set, and I would have liked it if they had used the same gold paint that we’ve seen them use on previous sets even cheaper than this one. Obviously I really like this set–I just think that using a proper gold paint would have made it even better.

  7. It’s ironic how the Hunter, the true stand-out of the set, is also the reason why you took points off of the set.

    The SOCOM is cool in Mega Bloks, but in game it is just so bad…

    • Halo 3: ODST. It is its first and, as of now, it’s only appearance. It was intended to replace the Battle Rifle in ODST.

  10. Nice, review, and I will definitely be picking one of these up! When are your other reviews going to come out for the two other weapons packs and the booster frame sets?

  12. The gold grunt and hunter are what I need for my collection. The active cammo odst and the other odst will make my collection better too. I’m totally getting two or three

  13. I will probably end up giving that ODST one of my many, MANY extra painted suppressed SMGs.

  14. I bought this set yesterday and my ODST has black as his secondary, is that a mistake or a variant?