Halo Mega Bloks Exclusive Set #97117 Forward Unto Dawn

Product Description

Establish your army, build and expand your units with the Halo Signature Series: Forward Unto Dawn by Mega Bloks! The Forward Unto Dawn is a Charon-class light frigate moderately outfitted to engage enemies of similar tonnage effectively. Frigates of this class are equipped with low-to-medium grade magnetic acceleration cannons, embedded missile delivery systems, a light point defense network, and three dorsal launch bays which can effectively deploy nuclear armaments. The primary purpose of Charon-class frigates such as Dawn, is to swiftly engage and neutralize attacking threats, both at significant range and in close-quarters skirmishes, thereby making them primarily defensive in design and intent. Light frigates can also be used for escort and, less frequently, within concerted attacks against stationary targets. Ideal for children ages 8 and up!

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #191564 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Mega Bloks Halo
• Model: 97117U11

Features

• Buildable Charon-class light frigate with removable hull and multiple interior compartments
• Break Away Mode allows you to relive key Halo moments
• Buildable Cryo Bay with light-up Cortana
• Fully stocked UNSC Armory, Sticky Detonator and Covenant plasma pistol
• Figurines included: UNSC Officer, UNSC Technician, Covenant Zealot Elite and The Master Chief!

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
WOW. Just WOW...
By John S. Dean
My 9 year old LOVES Halo, and loves legos and mega bloks now. We've been doing a lot of the Halo sets, and I happened to see after Xmas that they had a bunch of them 40 to 60 percent off, so I grabbed a dozen different ones. This one wasn't on sale, but I just had to have it, there was no way I could pass it up.

As with all the megablok Halo sets, it's done very well and looks great. I used to dislike the way things were packaged, unlike Lego kits that have bags numbered and used for specific parts of the build... But I found that ultimately I like the lack of organization since now I've showed my 9 year old how to get all the bags open and start sorting out all the parts into piles so everything is organized and easy to find. I think that, for me, is now a bonus since he's getting really good at sorting things, analyzing different parts that have something in common (such as angled pieces of different sizes and shapes going in separate piles but all together so when he needs some angled piece, he knows what part of the floor to look for) and planning how to space them out so the ones he has to get the most often are within arms reach. That to me was like a lightbulb going off, since I was able to turn the negative into a great teaching tool. Especially with the large sets like the Elephant (almost 1300 pieces to sort and organize) and this one which is almost 2900 pieces.

For a 9 year old, having the colored dots showing exactly where each piece fits is great. It helps for the larger sets since it makes it easy to get each section done. He starts out intimidated by the sheer number of pieces, but as he starts he just focuses on a step at a time and has learned that large things are comprised of smaller things, and that if you take big things in small sections, it's not so overwhelming. Always an important lesson for kids to learn.

No missing pieces in our set like some reviewers complained about on other sites - but they have a great automated system online where you don't even have to talk to anyone to get the piece shipped out, so it couldn't be any easier to get any missing pieces. Everything fit fine - which is something I've had issue with Mega Bloks a few times, where the raised bumps weren't quite formed right and I had to pull out a knife and trim a bit for a piece to snap right.

The box itself is almost a work of art - completely different than any other Mega Bloks box for any other Halo sets. Open it up and there's just gorgeous artwork on the INSIDE of the box top. And then you see the instruction manual laid on top of the next piece of cardboard that covers the four separate boxes of parts inside... The instruction book is like 18 inches wide when closed, and almost intimidating before you open it. I've seen christmas catalogs from companies that were smaller...

But as with all the other sets, it's laid out well, and taken bit by bit, it's not so overwhelming. I didn't put the stickers on yet since about half way through we decided we'll need to do a stop motion movie of the assembly for the second build of it, so we knew it was going to come apart again in the near future. But my oh my, it's an impressive monster.

The design is great - I actually bought a new multi layer coffee table for my great room just to have a place to keep all of the Mega Bloks Halo sets we have now, and to have an unused flat surface large enough to keep this when not being played with.

Master Chief looks incredible - definitely the best looking Mega Bloks figure we've got. And the light up Cortana is a nice touch as well. It was odd having a Mega Bloks instruction manual with troubleshooting tips on the back for if lights don't work...

You definitely want a lot of space to sort out and organize the pieces when you start this. I've seen some people who just spread out everything in a single large circle and spend most of their time combing for parts. I like knowing all my "1 wide tall 4 longs" are over THERE (all part of showing my son how to organize as described above). And we would've probably gone nuts during the build if we didn't know where things were. And over time we sped up as repetition had forced us to memorize the locations of most shapes and sizes.

We ate standing at the kitchen counters during the build process so we could use the dining room table as our base of operations. That was a first, usually I just get a large cutting board to assemble on and we spread all the pieces out on the great room floor. But I knew that we wouldn't finish it during Christmas break, and his time would be limited during weekdays since we'd only have a couple hours after supper to do homework and everything else that has to be done every day before we could work on it, so having the floor overrun with all the plastic pieces wasn't an option.

I ended up buying a total of three of these, one from a local brick and mortar, two here from Amazon, because I'm sure down the road these will become far more valuable than they are now so the other two are a cheap little investment for after these are out of production.

If you like Halo, and you like Mega Bloks, this is the golden ring to grasp. No question about it. For the first time I'm even keeping the box simply because it, in itself, is a collectors item...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Impressive, very impressive
By James W. Durney
2,877 pieces is about two times larger than the "standard" big kit. Think of a small suitcase to image the size of the box.
My five-year old grandson needs both hands to pick it up. Their is some real weight to this kit. I have seen it listed at 20 pounds for shipping purposes.

On the inside of the box cover is a full color picture of Master Chief and Cortana.

Below that is a black cardboard holder for the instructions. This is an 11" x 17" 114 page book, 97 pages are instructions.
A fold on the left side of the book helps the pages to lie flat. The system is not perfect but helps. I keep a paperweight on the pages to complete the process.
The book is the standard visual step-by-step instructions that are not language dependent. Locations are highlighted by color codes.
A three-page parts list, instructions on how to "break apart" the finished ship and some full color illustrations complete the book.

Under the instructions are four boxes. Each box contains some of the pieces for one of the four building stages.
Your option is to dump everything out or to keep the peices in the boxes. Everything out requires a HUGE amount of space!
You can assembles the peices needed for a few steps by searching the boxes Each box has a visual of the contents.
After you have all the parts or think that you do. Build the steps and start searching the boxes again.

The instructions for a stage run from about 17 to 25 pages. The finished ship is about three feet long and a foot high.
This is not something you will build in a couple of days, unless you give up sleep and eating.

Master Chief and Cortana are the "good" figures. The Elite and two crewmembers are filler.
The light up Cortana could be a problem area. You remove a tab to activate the batteries.
Mega Bloks suggest replacing the batteries if Cortana does not light up.

A small sheet of stickers completes the kit.

The standard of nine cents a piece pricing is not holding in the secondary market.
Checking shows prices of from seven to fifteen cents a piece depending on the seller.

This is a great kit! It is fun to build, makes a great display item and could be a true "collectable".

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Amazing
By Carbon
Im a huge halo fan, and though my son isn't old enough to play the game, the mega blok sets have been the next best thing for him, and fun for myself as well. We just finished putting this together, and I must say I am very, very impressed. I would buy it again in a second. It must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. I hope they come out with the Infinity, cause right now I'm going through lego...err Mega Blok withdrawl.

The only downside is I'm not looking forward to him playing with it, which he is so excited to do. I think I'll put up a shelf in him room so this is outta reach for a while.

See all 6 customer reviews...