I honestly wasn’t expecting to write any more posts here on Halo Toy News until the beginning of the New York Toy Fair 2014 this weekend. But then a funny thing happened–I started receiving messages and E-Mails from a multitude of readers (you know who you are) that MEGA Brands had unexpectedly posted the complete lineup for Halo Mega Bloks Series 9 96978. To my absolute astonishment, it is true. The 2014 Toy Fair won’t begin for a few more days, but we already know the full lineup for the Halo Mega Bloks Series 9 figures blind bags…

Wow, this is genuinely a surprise! Last year we didn’t get to see Halo Mega Bloks Series 7 until the New York Toy Fair, but this year we’re being given the privilege of seeing the whole lineup before NYTF 2014 even begins! I’ll look forward to seeing all of these figures in-person at the event next week, but for some, let’s take a peek at the official images for the Mega Bloks Halo Series 9 figures…

Purple Brute Stalker with Gravity Hammer: WOW!! Finally, a cheap way of army-building Brute Stalkers! And–and!! And a grey Gravity Hammer in a blind bag?! Amazing. Absolutely amazing. I’d assume this figure will at least be classified as “Rare”, but I want to purchase quite a few of these. Excellent choice, MEGA Brands!

Orange Flame Marine with Flamethrower: Finally–finally–the Flame Marine makes his long-awaited return! While this mold wasn’t the most popular back in the early days of the Halo Mega Bloks line, there are plenty of fans crying out and asking for a chance to cheaply army-build these Halo Flamethrower Marines now. I love these and hope that they’re “common” on the rarity scale.

Red Spartan CIO with Gravity Hammer: …And here’s the Gravity Hammer in black! This is the figure that I assume will be the “Ultra Rare” in Series 9 Halo Mega Bloks, and deservedly so. I’ve grown to adore the CIO Spartan armor, and the black Gravity Hammer is definitely a suitable prize for the Ultra Rare figure.

Brown Grunt Storm with Needler: We desperately needed a cheap way of army-building the Grunt Storm figure, although I much, much would have preferred orange Storm Grunts to brown Storm Grunts. Even so, I’m certain this figure will be “Common” and a best-seller.

Promethean Crawler: We’re still at a point in time where Promethean figures are a necessary novelty, and I’m glad to see the Halo Promethean Crawler Mega Bloks figure making a return appearance here. Not particularly exciting, but fine for a figure that’s likely to be an easy-to-find troop builder.

Green Spartan with Shotgun: Honestly, I’m not very good with the various Halo 4 armor permutations, but I believe this is a Recon Spartan (Help me out, Halo 4 fans). Visually this is far from the most compelling Spartan figure, but it’s always nice to have a green Spartan in the blind bags.

Gold Security Spartan with Shotgun: As usual, any color Spartan Security figure is the high point of any Halo Mega Bloks series for me! This is certainly nothing groundbreaking, but certainly the top figure on my want list from Mega Bloks 96978 Halo Series 9. Thanks, MEGA Brands!

Active Camo Skirmisher with Needler: Finally, we’ve got one of the most-demanded figures in Halo Mega Bloks blind bags form–the Skirmisher! But wait… there’s a catch. As it turns out, the Skirmisher is in partial Active Camo, with its arms and Needler still visible to the naked eye. I’m not sure what MEGA Brands is thinking with this one, but I’ll be sure to ask at the 2014 New York Toy Fair this weekend.

If you’re like me, you definitely weren’t anticipating seeing Halo Mega Bloks Series 9 Mystery Packs just yet. Even so, what do you think of them, Halo collectors? Will you be collecting this whole series of Halo blind bagged figures, or does this set miss the mark as far as you’re concerned?