Review: 70700 Space Swarmer

[Lord LOLrus]

My second review here (my first was 70701) is of 70700 Space Swarmer, the smallest (I think) set of this wave.

Set Number: 70700

Name: Space Swarmer

Piece Count: 86

Minifigures: 2 (1 Galaxy Squad (Blue “Robot Sidekick”), 1 Alien (“Buggoid”)

Price: $11.99 USD

Starting with the box...

Front:

In the lower right corner the Blue Robot is shown, and in the upper right the Alien is tearing a hole in the box.

Back:

The canopy (I’m sure there’s a better word, but I’m too lazy to find it) opens, the wings are fully posable, and the alien spaceship eats robots.

Top:

Once again, we have a 1:1 pic of a ray gun.

Contents:

We have two bags, one for large pieces and one for small, and an instruction booklet.

The large bag.

…and the small bag. The small bag seems to have a lot more pieces than the large one.

New and/or interesting parts:

I’m pretty sure that the trans-red windshield bubble is new; the trans-neon green wing piece is new (or at least unusual) in that color. We get four more inverted 1x2 - 2x2 brackets, and a neck brace in dark grey. There’re also two 1x2 piece with a stud on one side and a place for a technic peg on the other, four of those Ninjago blades, seven dark red Exo-Force robot arms, and some yummy red cheese slopes.

Here we have the instruction booklet. It’s the same size as the one in 70701.

A random step.

…and the parts list.

The Minifigures:

The Alien and the Blue Robot (the color is Dark Azure). The Alien (what is it supposed to be? Doesn’t really look like an alien. - Upon checking the LEGO website, I have learned that it is a "Buggoid") has a different torso print than his Mosquito friend, but his legs are identical. The Alien’s head is made entirely out of standard ABS plastic - no rubber here! However, the head reminds me less of a bug and more of Zoidberg from Futurama.

The Blue Robot has a unique torso print, and its leg printing is unique as well. The head is also made out of standard ABS.

Both figs have unique printing on their backs. Neither has a double-sided head. The Alien’s head has a long spine-like protrusion hanging down its back, and looks sort of like plating. Unfortunately, the Alien’s head is also entirely fixed due to the spine, and can’t turn at all.

I believe the color of the "Buggoid" is called Olive Green (like Jabba the Hutt, or the Moria Orcs).

The Build:

We start out with a simple jetpack, apparently powered by machine guns.

The Robot is very close to tipping over at this point, which is why it’s also equipped with…

…a huge laser cannon (or something). Now it’s pretty well balanced.

Here’s the base of the “Swarmer,” everything attaches to this, using those cool inverted 1x2 - 2x2 brackets. The control panel (which you can barely see - sorry about that) is printed; no stickers here.

This is one of the wing assemblies. It’s fairly simple, and the wing can rotate 360° and can be angled any which way.

Here’s the Swarmer with wings attached.

Next the craft is flipped over to put on some legs - just robot arms with blades, but they look OK. (If you wish to mod your Swarmer to be more like an insect, there are places to attach extra legs.)

Note: upon further posing of the Swarmer, I've found that the legs are very floppy, and don't hold their position well.

This is the maw assembly. Simple enough. The round tile is printed.

Here’s the finished model.

From the rear. There appears to be a single, sad little rocket engine.

The ray gun can be stored here while your alien spaceship...

…munches on some yummy robot! Nom nom nom.

Scoring:

I really dislike awarding points to things; I always feel like I’m missing something, or getting too subjective.

Design: 8.5/10

Pretty good for a small $12 set. Plenty of SNOT, good poseablility, being able to eat minifigs is always a plus. In addition, the ship doesn’t look like anything I’m used, and I am liking the look.

However, the legs are very hard to pose and they don’t hold in place well at all.

Features: 7.5/10

Not very many, which is to be expected in a small set such as this. Even the back of the box only lists one feature, the “Grabbing function.” The reasons it’s not rated any lower are because I really like the eating function, and I’m glad it had neither a catapult nor a Flick-fire.

Parts: 7/10

It has some nice pieces, like the inverted brackets, the windshield, and the pieces the legs attach to.

Minifigures: 9/10

2 figs for $12 seems to be standard, and I really like the robot. I’m kinda bummed that it doesn’t have the armor like the robots in the largest two sets have, but it’s still a great figure.

Price: 4/10

$12 for 88 pieces?! That’s 13.6¢ per piece! What is LEGO thinking? …Well, I suppose I did buy it, so I guess they’d say things are working fine.

Total: 36/50

72%. That’s pretty bad. However, I still like this set quite a bit, mostly because of the figs and unique ship design.

I’m not really very happy with this score; the set seems better than this. Nevertheless, I’m not going to further mess with the numbers.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my aliens have some minifigs to snack on...

[Vindicare]

Great review! The photos are all nice and really show the set off. Your review was perfectly written as well, very descriptive. The sets pretty cool, I think. I can see a bunch of these heading towards Earth flying in formation. One thing though, I'm not 100% on this, but I don't believe the androids legs are a unique print. I think they all have the same print.

[Ceroknight]

Thanks for the review!

I'm happy the alien head mold is ABS not rubber

[ETAV8R]

Great review. I took one of the extra green tooth parts and put it in the rear thruster area. Now it resembles a green stinger.

[Lord LOLrus]

Great review! The photos are all nice and really show the set off. Your review was perfectly written as well, very descriptive. The sets pretty cool, I think. I can see a bunch of these heading towards Earth flying in formation. One thing though, I'm not 100% on this, but I don't believe the androids legs are a unique print. I think they all have the same print.

Nope. It's subtle, but the robot's knee pads are rectangles, while the human's are more angular:

Thanks for the feedback. It's good to hear that people find these useful.

[Big T]

Thanks for the side by side pic of the Blue squad robot and guy, they look really nice together. This is such an awesome little set, nice clear pictures. Bit of a shame the legs are little weak, but that's not too bad. The alien is such a cool figure even if his head can't turn I think

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for another GS review 'Lord LOLrus', this one has an interesting alien vehicle but not much else....not as good as the set in your first review.

Anyway......Brick On Review 'Lord LOLrus' !

[snefroe]

thanks for the review. there are some pretty nice parts in the set. the set itself isn't all that spectacular though... a "theme filler"

[Devorath]

One of the best Space themes ever, in my opinion.

[Gryphon Ink]

Great review, Lord LOLrus. This set looks like a very good "backbone craft" to form the bulk of the insectoid army, and it's priced perfectly for that role. I like the fact that the ship and the "buggoid" are insectlike but not trying to be just like an Earth insect - this craft looks a lot more extraterrestrial than either of the big alien ships in GS, which just look like big cartoony insects to me.

I figure if you buy this with a Swarm Interceptor, you've got a great sample of Galaxy Squad goodness, with more or less evenly matched forces and matching squad members. An awesome way to introduce Lego Space to a new generation this Christmas!

[Janay Bicer]

Reminds me a bit of mars mission...great review btw

[DarthTater]

Thanks for the review! Love the buggoid and his ship, but not a big fan of the robot. His head is to small for his body in my opinion- it makes him look..... Fat. But still a great review on a good set. The buggoid and ship alone worth the price.

[Tuchito]

Nice review!

I like the new alien figures!

[Algernon]

Thanks again for the review. I love this set, as it's pretty much flawless. Solid construction, great looking design, two great minifigures and a nice low price point (though it could be lower). I can't wait to get it!

[Ace Krampus]

Wish this was a few dollars cheaper. I'm thinking I won't buy this, but who knows when I actually see it. I've said that before, haven't we all?

[Csacsa234]

Thanks for the review! I just bought it and it's a really cool little bug ship. I like the colors and the shape of the swarmer. The buggoid fig is awesome too, much better than the insectoids, but the robot sidekick is nothing special, IMO this robot is the weakest from the GS theme. My only concern with the vehicle is that the legs are very weak and sometimes they can't hold the weight of the ship.