Tereglith Posted May 4, 2011 A full ten days ago, I ordered from Toys 'R' Us both the Tripod Invader and this set. After what was apparently a tortured ride through the bowels of the US mail system, they finally arrived at my doorstep today - just in time for my camera to have taken a ride to Washington DC with my relatives. So if you demand pristine pictures, or pictures that are good at all, skip down to the bottom and just read my thoughts on the set. If you are ready to brave their badness, however, simply scroll down... Set Name: Jet-copter Encounter Set Number: 7067 Number of Pieces: 375 Number of Minifigures: 3 (two Alien Pilots, one ADU soldier) Cost: $39.99 USD Box: The box is surprisingly large, definitely not in line with the current trend in some lines of box miniaturization. It's very bright, with intense but 'cool' colors. I think that LEGO must have read a survey somewhere that says kids are attracted to lime green, because it's a major component of the design like it has been for World Racers and Power Miners too. The box is only about half-full of five bags, an instruction booklet, and two sticker sheets. Stickers are applied to the Jet-copter, but not to the Alien scout craft in this review. Instructions: The instructions are printed in a single small thick booklet, only one main step per page. The background is decorated with a subtle arrangement of the fictional alien writing that is also seen on the various stickers for the other alien sets. Color differentiation is good. The instructions go very slow, usually only one or two types of piece added at each step, making the piece callouts somewhat unnecessary. Build: I didn't take any pictures of the build. It's fairly straightforward, with only a few large sub-builds. They have the decency to tell you right at the start of that section that you'll be building TWO of the alien scout ships, avoiding the typical annoyance when you reach the end of a section and find it saying "2x". It was dividided into bag one (scout ships and figures), bags two (the copter's body), bag three (the rest of the copter), and a large bag with all the biggest pieces. It took no more than forty-five minutes to complete straight through. Alien Ships: These little guys are the first part of the build. They contain the new windscreens, four new 4x1 studless tiles in trans blue, and a bunch of purple 1x1 round studs. They're larger than I thought they would be, each fairly appreciable on its own. The cool gimmick these two have is, of course, that you can fold up the sides, click them together, and get this: Which is even more surprisingly large. It's about thirteen studs across. I don't really see the tactical advantage of this move in an aerial dogfight, but for a toy, it's really cool. Jet-Copter: At about 34 studs long, the Jet-copter is really sizeable as well. It's nice and sturdy, capable of being held from almost any place on it, from the tail to a wing to a single skid. This makes it quite swishable. The rotor is sturdy as well, but sadly wobbly when spinning quickly. To get it to spin steadily it's best to apply torque as close to the center as possible. The flick-fires in the wings are extremely poor as missiles. (poorer than usual, that is). They have been left where they landed after I did my best to fire them. A quick glance beneath the blue panel reveals why - a seemingly clever mechanism greatly decreases the efficiency of the launching, sapping energy from your 'flick'. Luckily, the copter sure isn't helpless without them. In addition to the four missiles, the copter has four front-facing heavy machine guns, two trans-orange antenna shooters (heat rays?), and two expanded versions of the new ADU pistols. These are extremely aimable, a neat feature. For those of you keeping count, that's TWELVE weapons. Clearly these guys aren't to be trifled with. If the aliens aren't pumped full of lead, burnt to crisps, or blown to smithereens, they can be captured in a stasis pod. In a nice touch, this pod is compatible with the Earth Defense HQ pod room. It attaches to the Jet-copter with a click-hinge. It's secure, but odd. I prefer the copter without it. The ADU trooper has a manic smile on one side, and a sqiggly-mouth, one-eyebrow-raised face on the other. I guess all those guns on the front give him enough confidence to not have a scared face. If he's separated from his copter he'll wish he had a scared face, though - he doesn't come with a sidearm of his own! The cockpit doesn't have a hinge; it's attached by three studs beneath it, and easy to remove and put back. Ratings: Design: 7/10. There are enough annoyances and weird bits (like the pod when attached, the open sides of the UFOs, the flick-fires) to pull down the score some, but overall I like it. I know some have called it 'megablocksy', but I don't think so at all. MB designs are characterized by clumsy overlapping plates interspersed with overly-specific <insert that tiresome argument> pieces (If anyone wants to call the large pieces in this set <insert that tiresome argument>, I would advise them to read through the larger Alien Conquest topic for Aanchir's thoughts on the subject), while this set is designed in a very LEGO-characteristic manner. The UFOs in particular are well-designed to be modular when together, yet fully independent when apart. Playability: 10/10. Connect and unconnect the UFOs! Fire the missiles (not very far)! Spin the rotor! Adjust the skids! Put the alien in the pod! Put the pod on the back! Make it fly around and around! Make it shoot the UFOS! Make the UFOs shoot it! Make it shoot the tripod (not included)! Make it shoot your other spaceships! Make it shoot your cat! The possibilities are endless. Swooshability: 10/10. The high number of grab points and sleek design make it a natural swoosher. Price: 8/10. A lot of the pieces are tiny, like all the purple studs, and once put together the jet copter seems somehow small, even though it's big. Maybe that's just me keeping it next to the enormous-for-$20 Tripod set, but it feels a little less substantial than $40 should. I suspect it's the lack of minifigures. Which reminds me... Minifigurres: 6/10. Only three figs for a $40 set? Not good. Two of them are absolutely identical? Even worse. All of them are available in cheaper sets? Worse still. This set has a lot of good points. The minifigures are not one of them. They're cool figures, don't get me wrong, but unless you're building an army or doing an interplanetary version of The Parent Trap, having two identical pilots isn't too useful, and the ADU guy is run-of-the-mill for this line, with a very generic face. I wish he was mustache guy instead. Mustache guy is cool. Pieces: 10/10. Old, useful pieces in new, awesome colors? check. New useful pieces in old awesome colors? check. Awesome useful pieces in awesome useful colors all around? double check. Even if you don't like the design, this set is a great parts pack, especially if you're a neo-classic spacer. Mmm, blue. Total: 51/60, or pretty darn good. I've noticed that this is a pretty polarizing set; people either seem to love it or hate it. I fall on the 'love it' side, and if you fall on the hate it side I hope I may have convinced you otherwise, even though all I know I've convinced you of is to never buy a digital camera for $19 at Wal-mart. 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Fuzzylegobricks Posted May 4, 2011 Very nice review here tereglith! The set is nice with the pieces but the helicopter to me looks way too much like a huge sack of metal, It doesn't look much like a helicopter. The stickers may be a good thing to get for me though, HINT HINT! & Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dino_Bot Posted May 4, 2011 Playability: 10/10. Connect and unconnect the UFOs! Fire the missiles (not very far)! Spin the rotor! Adjust the skids! Put the alien in the pod! Put the pod on the back! Make it fly around and around! Make it shoot the UFOS! Make the UFOs shoot it! Make it shoot the tripod (not included)! Make it shoot your other spaceships! Make it shoot your cat! The possibilities are endless. LOL! you sound so excited! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Artanis I Posted May 4, 2011 I thought I replied to this before... oh well. Are the mini ships identical - meaning you could connect more than 2 together? Not sure why I'd want to line them all up, but 3 might look cool. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cardinal Brick Posted May 4, 2011 Thanks for the great review of this set this is second on my list after the Tripod (which is an great set) I'm intrested you say it seems small but it isn't I shall look forward to testing that theory myself as soon as I get it. Alien conquest is shaping up to be a great theme. Playability: 10/10. Connect and unconnect the UFOs! Fire the missiles (not very far)! Spin the rotor! Adjust the skids! Put the alien in the pod! Put the pod on the back! Make it fly around and around! Make it shoot the UFOS! Make the UFOs shoot it! Make it shoot the tripod (not included)! Make it shoot your other spaceships! Make it shoot your cat! The possibilities are endless. Swooshability: 10/10. The high number of grab points and sleek design make it a natural swoosher. ope I may have convinced you otherwise, even though all I know I've convinced you of is to never buy a digital camera for $19 at Wal-mart. Someone's most certainly been having fun swooshing and blasting aliens! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hewman Posted May 4, 2011 The quality of your words more than made up for lack of quality of the photos! This was never on my must-buy list but you've made me at least decide to look more closely at the set before making a final decision. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TimToyGeek Posted May 4, 2011 Good enthusiastic review! I'll add my .02 as well since I have the set: I do feel that the Jetcopter is just the right size. It's not huge, it's not small. It's a size of helicopter that Lego doesn't normally do, they're usually big troop transporters or miniature scout choppers. This feels like a true attack helicopter, very well armed and agile. The build itself is very solid - there are spots where I think it looks a bit flimsy like the tail fins or the jet engine/skid assemblies, but these are actually well built to be sturdy and durable. This ties in nicely with the swooshability of the chopper, when put together it feels more like a toy than a model. I think that helps to justify the pricing. The alien ships are definitely identical, you can join them on either side (just add rivets where needed) so if you have more than one of these sets you could make a 4x4 ship. It might look a little funny, but I could see it being interesting, like those modular alien ships in Battle: Los Angeles. The aliens can definitely hold their pistols while piloting their ships. I also feel that the capture pod is kind of out of place here. It's a nice piece, and it's great that it's compatible with the HQ areas too, but it's kind of odd that it clicks onto the back of the helicopter, it may be in need of a rebuild or something. I think maybe I may rework it so that it plugs in upside down (currently it only plugs in canopy side up) so that it could be reworked into a bomb mechanism, or the ADU could eject the alien in mid-flight. I did modify the launchers a bit - I didn't care for how the rods rattled around, so I added a couple of technic collars inside the launcher, which also helped beef up the springiness of the launch action. Since I probably won't be getting the mobile HQ at this time, I like that there is a formidable, well armed ADU vehicle available at a moderate price point, and it helps that it may be one of the best medium side helicopters that Lego has done. Tim "toy geek" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Yellow Brick Posted May 4, 2011 Thanks for the review Tereglith A helicopter in space, Sounds crazy and thats why I love this set . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Final Exit Posted May 4, 2011 The jet copter does look superb I love the alien ships too Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Algernon Posted May 4, 2011 I'm a big fan of the aesthetics here. It's very clean looking. I hope your camera is back in working order soon so we can see some nice detailed pics of this beauty. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sinjid Posted May 5, 2011 a very good looking set I lice the copter nice amount of weapons but I think the capture pod is ridiculous you're shooting the aliens out of the sky even if there you manage to take down the UFOs without tuning them into ash the crash would destroy whatever is left but still by (almost) all means a great set Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted May 5, 2011 Thanks for the review Tereglith A helicopter in space, Sounds crazy and thats why I love this set . It's not actually totally clear whether Alien Conquest takes place in space-- it seems to be an Earth-based alien invasion theme, so a helicopter isn't too out of place for Alien Conquest's human forces. M:Tron, on the other hand... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lightningtiger Posted May 5, 2011 Great review 'Tereglith', even with those pictures..... I have the same problem ! I like the play feature of two fighters can become one and visa versa ! The copter has that Blue Thunder feel to it, this alien theme seems to be getting better and better. Keep fighting them aliens everyone ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lance Posted May 25, 2011 Sorry, I have no cat to shoot at, and no jet copter to shoot with This looks really good, but just 3 figs? Oh well the design's good! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
