With the changing of the guard and Mattel taking over MEGA Brands, I feared that the days of seeing obscure, niche Halo vehicles represented in the Halo Mega Bloks toy line might be over. But at New York Toy Fair 2015, Mattel/MEGA Brands proved that that was not the case! While there aren’t many vehicles from Halo Wars remaining that need representation in Mega Bloks Halo toys form, we can cross one of the largest off the list: the Halo Mega Bloks UNSC Vulture flew in at the 2015 Toy Fair!

Because of the fact that it’s both among the largest and most obscure Halo vehicles to appear in a Halo video game, I had all but given up my hopes of ever seeing a UNSC Vulture Halo Mega Bloks set released any time soon (or, well… ever). But it appears that I shouldn’t have given up just yet, because the largest and most exciting (at least for me) Mega Bloks Halo set to appear at the 2015 New York Toy Fair turned out to be the long-awaited UNSC Vulture Gunship!

The CNG71 Mega Bloks Halo UNSC Vulture Gunship set is due out for release in late summer or early fall 2015, and will retail for $89.99. Considering this is the largest known 2015 Halo Mega Bloks vehicle and one many of us never thought would see the light of day, that’s a price I’m more than happy to pay for this beast of a set!

The official description in Mattel’s press release describes the features of the UNSC Vulture Gunship as follows: “Used in extended air-to-ground battles, this behemoth of the air relies on its vast array of armaments such as buildable autocannons, rocket pod turrets, and a vertical missile launcher for heavy barrages.”

While Mattel hasn’t 100% accurately captured the Halo Wars Vulture model, I have a hunch that this may in fact be a totally on-model Halo 5 Vulture vehicle…

While the UNSC Vulture’s only appearance of importance to date has been in the Halo Wars video game, it seems pretty likely that the Vulture will be reappearing in this year’s Halo 5: Guardians video game! Why, you ask? Well, the three figures included with the Halo Mega Bloks Vulture Gunship set are a UNSC Pilot, a blue Spartan Mark-IV and… the first-ever Halo Mega Bloks Agent Locke figure!

If there was any better set-selling character that MEGA Brands could have packaged with the UNSC Vulture Mega Bloks set than Agent Locke, I don’t know who it would be! Nice sales tactic, MEGA! The Agent Locke Mega Bloks figure and his allies feature the super-articulated bodies and interchangeable armor introduced last year to the Halo Mega Bloks line (of course).

I’ll be continuing to provide coverage of the various Halo toys and collectibles seen at the 2015 New York Toy Fair throughout the month, and you can ‘Like’ Halo Toy News on Facebook to have more news and photos transmitted right to your Facebook Newsfeed!

What do you think of the Summer 2015 Halo Mega Bloks UNSC Vulture Gunship, Halo collectors? Is this a vehicle you’ve been long awaiting and will be happy to plunk down almost a hundred bucks for, or is there something different you were hoping for for the largest mass-release 2015 Halo Mega Bloks set?