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Da Vinci’s Flying Machine (Mega Bloks)

November 1, 2017 | By Errex More

A couple years ago, Mega Bloks tried their hand with the Assassin’s Creed license, producing a number of building block sets inspired by the videogames developed by Ubi Soft.

Amongst these sets, my absolute favorites is #94303, Da Vinci’s Flying Machine. This s a small set, consisting in 74 pieces to build the aforementioned flying contraption, a small base and one assassin minifigure.

The Assassin is, of course, none other than Ezio Auditore. From the looks of the minifigure, I would say it is intended to represent him at the time of the events from Assassin’s Creed II.

Ezio wears a light gray hood and tunic, a sash made from bright red silicone and a pauldron. The hood can be removed, revealing a huge hole atop his head, but fortunately, Mega Bloks also provides a hair piece to be used instead.

Even though a few of the costume elements get in the way of the articulation, Ezio still has quite a nice number of joints, consisting of:

• Ball jointed head.

• Peg & hinge shoulders.

• Peg & hinge elbows.

• Swivel wrists.

• Swivel waist.

• Ball jointed hips.

• Hinged knees.

For weapons, Ezio comes armed with a pair of hidden blades and a sword. The blades clip onto the hand pieces and the sword can fit a loop sculpted onto the soft rubber sash.

The Ezio minifigure is great and all, but the really striking part of the set is Da Vinci’s Flying Machine. The piece is modeled after some of the surviving sketches left by Da Vinci, and for the most part uses construction elements taken directly from Mega Bloks parts library.

The wing armature is achieved using small round bars, connectors and c-clips attached to a thicker frame made with regular plates. The wings and tail pieces are made from a somewhat rigid fabric cut in the characteristic shape from Leonardo’s design, making the completed build a reasonable approximation to the real life model,

Of course, the Ezio minifigure can ride on the Flying Machine, hanging from the bars underneath, and the vehicle can be held aloft using the clear plastic rod and clip that connects it to the base.

I liked this set so much, that if I could only choose one set from the entire Assassin’s Creed line, I would choose Da Vinci’s Flying Machine over any other set without a second thought.