Warcraft Mega Bloks are in a sort of transitory state. MEGA Brands seemed to think that World of Warcraft would be the instant blockbuster license for them that Halo Mega Bloks is, but production seemed to far outpace actual sales. This year, World of Warcraft Mega Bloks production has apparently been cut way back, while the quality of the items released has gone way, way up. Case in point, the World of Warcraft Goblin Shredder 91045. If I could summarize the review of the Mega Bloks Warcraft Goblin Shredder in one word, it would be “fun”…

The Right:

I’ve built so many LEGO and Mega Bloks sets in the past year that sometimes I forget that building is supposed to be fun and not just mundane. The Warcraft Mega Bloks Goblin Shredder reminded me of that. The Goblin Shredder is the third Mega Bloks “mech” I’ve built this year (including the Skylanders Troll Mech and the Mega Bloks Halo Mantis), and the Goblin Shredder was easily the most joyous build of the three.

The build itself only took about an hour, but it was never tedious construction in the least–the actual Goblin Shredder build was one of the freshest building times I’ve had in a long time.

While the Halo Mega Bloks Mantis is obviously more realistic and intimidating, the Mega Bloks Warcraft Goblin Shredder is a whole lot crazier and more inventive.

The intense visage on the front of the Goblin Shredder manages to be scary despite its goofiness, and I actually think the vehicle looks better in toy form than it looks in the game.

The Goblin Shredder has three main gimmicks: a spinning saw blade on its right arm, an articulated claw on its left arm, and a torso that can be spun 360 degrees to really slice through enemy forces. All three of these action features not only work flawlessly, but are wildly fun to use!

Seriously, I love having the Warcraft Mega Bloks Goblin Mech 91045 gripping Ghouls with its claw hand and shredding it with the buzzsaw. (Yeah, I know–I’m sick.)

The 2013 World of Warcraft Mega Bloks Goblin Shredder includes three figures: the goblin hunter Grimple and two unique undead Ghouls–Rotgut and Gravegnaw. Grimple is nice enough and I get why a Goblin needed to come with the Goblin Mech, but I’m over Goblin Mega Bloks figures at this point. He just looks too similar to the Goblin figures I already have, and I’m not at all a fan of the frequently-used crossbow weapon.

The real prize figures with this set are the Ghouls. While there are two different paint decks of the Ghouls available as random Mystery Figures in the Creature Packs, there are another pair of different Ghouls here. It’d be easy for MEGA Brands to just throw in two of the same Ghoul here, but instead we get unique Warcraft Ghouls figures and they both look great. The blue Ghoul–Rotgut–is a lot more striking than the other Mega Bloks Ghouls, and easily my favorite of the four.

The Wrong:

There’s really only one drawback to this set, but it’s one that annoys the heck out of me. The upper and lower torsos of the Goblin Shredder mech are held together by a sole piece. The result? The top and bottom halves of the mech separate far too easily and I’ve had the lower half of the Goblin Shredder fall off numerous times when picking up the toy from the top.

In addition, the ball-joints on the arms don’t work as fluidly as I’d like. I can still get most any pose that I’d like out of the Goblin Shredder, but it can be a real hassle getting the arms into just the right positions that I’m envisioning.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

MEGA Brands has been pretty conservative with their WoW Mega Bloks production this year, and I’ve never–ever–seen this set in stores. I ordered mine from BA Toys’ website, and they also have the set in-stock in the BA Toys Amazon store right now.

Overall: While I tend to believe that LEGO blows away Mega Bloks as far as large sets go, MEGA Brands very often can claim they sell the best small and medium sets, as is the case with this Mega Bloks World of Warcraft Goblin Shredder 91045. There are a couple nagging flaws with the set like the loose connection at the waist and the awkward arm articulation, but this set is just a total blast to play with. The Goblin Shredder Mega Bloks set is a surprisingly terrific set, and it’s a shame it’s been so scarcely distributed to stores. Highly recommended.

GRADE: A-