I’ve never been a Skylanders fan, but with toys like these Skylander Giants Mega Bloks sets, I could definitely learn to be. I got frustrated trying to find one of the new Mega Bloks Skylanders Giants sets at retail to review, so I ended up ordering online. I sort of just wanted a set to report on–but once I actually had the 176-piece Skylanders Giants Mega Bloks Troll Mech Ambush 95413 in my hand, my heart thawed instantly and I realized that Skylanders is yet another franchise MEGA Brands can make into a grand slam toy line…

The Good:

I’ve glanced at the Skylanders figurines that are sold as “accessories” for the video games, but those never really lit my collecting fire. Those Skylanders figures always struck me as being more of a necessary add-on to the video game than toys to be played with and enjoyed in their own right. I’m a toy lover first and a video game fan second, so that was never enough for me.

But these Skylanders Giants Mega Bloks–these I could get into.

There are four components to the Troll Mech Ambush set: the Skylanders Giant Tree Rex, a Troll, a Gun Snout mech, and a sheep on a rock (yes, you heard that right).

Tree Rex is one of the Skylanders Giants created for the new video game of the same name. Tree Rex apparently started out life as a normal tree before exposure to mutagenic chemicals eventually caused him to evolve into a sentient, heroic giant. So essentially, Tree Rex is a humongous mutant tree monster. How cool is that?!

Tree Rex’s toy for the video game is pretty static, but the Skylanders Giant Mega Bloks Tree Rex is anything but boring and easily blows its predecessor away. Like the majority of the Halo Mega Bloks and Warcraft Mega Bloks figures, Tree Rex is loaded with articulation: a ball-jointed head, ball-jointed shoulders, hinge elbows, swivel wrists, ball-jointed hips, and hinge knees. Having a heroic tree monster figure that’s this flexible is crazy and fun.

Tree Rex is a real behemoth of a figure, too–he towers over other Mega Bloks figures (even the Mega Bloks Halo Hunters!), and has the heft to hoist them up without falling over. I absolutely love the wood-like textures sculpted into Tree Rex, and the paint washes add a ton of visual appeal to the figure (particularly on his moss-like thighs). The Tree Rex Mega Bloks figure can be posed punching, throwing, jumping, kneeling, and so forth, and he looks excellent doing all those things. Tree Rex is a real winner all-around.

While Tree Rex is the standout hit of this Troll Mech Ambush set, I don’t want to overlook its other components. Trolls are the main antagonizing trooper of the Skylanders world, and the Mega Bloks troll in this set is good enough to army-build. These are a far cry from the intimidating orc figures in the Warcraft Mega Bloks line, but the Mega Bloks Skylanders are aimed at a younger audience, so that’s okay.

The sheep figure is an interesting addition, as sheep are an indigenous species of the Skylanders and Spyro worlds that are typically non-combatants. I like having one included as part of this set, as I think it adds a bit more life to the Skylanders world–it’s not just good guys fighting bad guys–there are unaligned, innocent lifeforms as well.

Finally, the biggest (and most expensive) part of the set–the Gun Snout that put the “Mech” in “Troll Mech Ambush”. When I heard the word “Mech”, I was expecting something different–but a Gundam this ain’t. This is basically a walking gun platform–and that’s okay! I really didn’t expect much from the Gun Snout as I was building it, but once it was built, I had a real blast with it. The ball-jointed hips and knees make the Troll Mech far more poseable than you might expect, and it can take on all sorts of ninja kicking poses and the like. Plus, the missile-firing action on the platform works extremely well. The Gun Snout is a little doofy-looking, but when it comes right down to it, it is a superbly-designed toy.

The build for this set was quick and simple–it only took me about half an hour to build this 176 piece set, which is positively lightspeed for my usual slow building style. Kids should have absolutely no troubles building this set–it’s straight-forward and simplistic. You can check out my step-by-step build of the Skylanders Giants Troll Mech Ambush set to see the Gun Snout build from start to finish.

The Wrong:

Honestly–nothing. I really, really enjoy this set. A lot more than I expected to. From a critical point-of-view, I really can’t find a thing that this set does wrong.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

I haven’t heard about this particular set being found at retail yet, but it should be in stores shortly (if not already). I purchased mine from my favorite Mega Bloks retailer, BA Toys.

Overall: I was pretty ambivalent about Skylanders as a franchise, so I was in a general malaise about this toy line until I had a set in-hand and built. But to my delight, MEGA Brands is quickly winning me over again. While I’m not as excited about this line as the Halo 4 Mega Bloks and World of Warcraft Mega Bloks coming out in 2013, I definitely see where Skylanders Giants Mega Bloks has a flavor all its own and can carve a niche for itself. The Skylanders Giants Troll Mech Ambush 95413 is an amusing build that’s full of character and gives us far more articulated and fun figure versions of the Skylanders characters than the figurines made for the Skylanders video games. The mark of an outstanding toy line is that it gets you interested in licenses you previously weren’t, and this Troll Mech Ambush set is definitely beginning to do that for me. Recommended.