Review: 6982 - Explorien Starship

[Walter Kovacs]

Way back in 1997, I was just coming out of a dark age. Having been a fan of the early ’80s Classic Space line, the Exploriens theme caught my eye. I had always lusted after the Explorien Starship, but the price tag was just too high. That is, until Target put it on clearance.

Stats:

Name: Explorien Starship

Number: 6982

Theme: Exploriens

Year: 1996

Parts: 652

Minifigs: 4

Original MSRP: $80 USD

Links: Bricklink, Peeron, Brickset

Instructions

Front

The front of the instruction manual shows the Starship flying around, while the rover and on e of the humans hunt for fossils. The wings are shown locked into place.

Back

The back of the instructions show some alternate builds. I've tried to build that spaceship, but it always falls apart.

Random Page

This page shows part of the construction of the neck that connects the crew compartment to the wing section. You can see some of the thrusters used to launch the mighty beast from a planet's surface. As you can see, there are no part callouts, so some extra care needs to be taken when moving from step to step. LEGO sometimes likes to sneak in small parts when you're not looking.

Bits and Pieces

The Big Pile

This was a big set back in 1996. LEGO wasn't in the habit of producing many 1000+ sets. Still, the set feels like more than 650 pieces when you look at it.

Printed Parts

The printed parts are a mixed bag. The computer slopes are very nice, and useful in any spaceship. The tiles with the buttons is one of my favorite control panels. The tile with the red stripes could be useful if you need a warning sign. I've never used them outside of this set. The arrow tiles are one of my pet peeves. I just don't see why we need a reminder on how the set functions work once it's built.

Stickered Parts

The fossil tiles that are ever present in the Exploriens line are fun. The images change when you look view them through a trans red or trans blue part. The hologram on the 4 x 4 tile is great, too bad it doesn't photograph well. If you look closely, the reflective sticker on those deltoid clips are coming off. In all of my sets that have stickers, it's only the ones on those deltoid clips that have ever given me trouble. Not sure why that is.

Interesting Parts

Her are some of the more interesting parts from this set. You might notice a black tile in thee inside of the cockpit piece. I have always had trouble removing that tile. The stanchion is the only one I own in my collection. The slope with studs on the sloped edge is useful for some SNOT. In fact, it is the only SNOT on the entire model (used on the back section to cover the canon). While interesting, the large panel piece is a waste of plastic, in my opinion. It is so large that it is difficult to use in MOCs without a lot of gyrations to get the right spacing. And once you do, your construction ends up gappy. A terrible part, if I don't say so myself.

Minifigs

Minifigs

I will always compare space themed minifigs against the classic space era spaceman. The Exploriens minifigs are good, but not as good as those classic figs. The android (someone informed me that her name was Ann Droid ) is probably the best of the lot, with her printed legs. You do get all three Exploriens minifigs in this set. The problem is that the set could have used one more.

Without Helmets

In this photo you can see the printing on the faces. Apparently in the future, all humans are redheads. The microphone details are nice, though.

Minifig Backs

This picture shows those classic space air tanks in wonderful black. None of the minifigs have any back printing.

The Mini-Rover

While the Mini-rover is tiny compared to the immense size of the Starship, it does add quite a bit of playability. As such, it deserves it's own section in this review.

In-Build

The Mini-rover build is very straight-forward. This photo is taken just after the first of the robotic arms is attached.

Three-Quarter View

And here we have the completed Mini-rover. It has two robotic arms, one with a magnet for collecting those all important fossil tiles, and one that uses these pantograph parts as a claw, presumably for moving rocks or debris.

Front View

The front view shows the arms in the down position. In fact, the arms are too heavy for the hinges that allow the up and down movement, so the LEGO designers used a 1 x 8 plate for the arms to rest on so they wouldn't drag on the ground. Not the best solution, but at least they gave us something.

Back View

In this view, you can see the pin that holds the Mini-rover to the back of the Explorien Starship. The wing piece keeps the rover from rolling over when it is attached to the Starship.

Top View

There is plenty of room in the rover for a minifig, but there are no controls I guess Ann is supposed to plug herself directly into the rover and control it that way.

The Build

Like the Mini-rover, the Starship build is very straight-forward. Despite the fact that both wings are identical, LEGO repeated all of the steps in the instructions. I find this a waste of paper, and it makes the build a tad repetitive.

This photo shows the starship just three steps in. We are currently constructing the center of the work area. If you own this set, you better get to know this step well. You'll be repairing this area time and time again.

Several steps late, and the central work area has really taken shape. You can see the hologram prominently displayed. The black plates that extend out to the webbed dishes and printed slopes will eventually be the secondary cockpits.

At this point, the set changes gears and construction of the main cockpit begins. The main cockpit is almost airtight, unlike the rest of the work area. I say almost, because that 2 x 2 area directly behind where a pilot would sit remains open, even in the finished set. It could be a bone of contention for those that dislike gappy cockpits, but at least all three humans have air tanks, so no one is going to suffocate in the vacuum of space.

The cockpit is nearly complete in this photo. I want you to pay special attention to those two hinges at the top rear of the cockpit. Those black 1 x 2 pieces are the connection point to the rest of the ship. The ONLY connection points. If you think that a mere four studs is too little to hold the cockpit, especially when it can hang down, you'd be right.

The cockpit has now been attached to the work area. The technic parts are a locking mechanism to keep the cockpit upright when you don't want it to hang down, complete with an arrow tile to tell us how it works.

The "roof" of the work area is nearly complete now. The roof consists of a pair of 4 x 8 wings, which rotate to the sides when the roof needs to open, and a large space wing, which rotates up towards the front. The antenna array will eventually sit on this space wing portion.

The work area is complete, except for the antenna array. The smaller windscreens on the sides allow access to those workstations I pointed out earlier. The windscreen on the back end opens, but is intended to be decorative. You can see the two arms, one of which has trans red/blue dishes for revealing fossil tiles, and the other which has a magnet. The arms are really well constructed, with the hinges being arranged so that they stay level even when raised. Unfortunately, they aren't long enough to be terribly useful. The rest of the build adds on to the back end.

At this point the starship is only missing its wings and cannon. Those gray technic bricks that you can see are for the wings to lock in place. This system works much better than the cockpit lock, despite the wings being much longer and heavier than the cockpit.

This is one complete wing. The tires are there for when the wings are down. If you land the Starship when the wings are in the down position, the tires will roll along the ground, raising the wings up. It works very well, although you will have to lift the wings a little bit to lock them into place.

This is the complete assembly with both wings in place. This entire assembly is dropped onto the back of the starship. The only thing missing are the main thrusters, which are added next to last.

The Finished Product

With so much going on, and so many parts locking into place, it is difficult to show all of the play features with just a few photos. So instead I will show the finished product laying flat on a table, and then show a series of pictures with the model on some effective (though hastily built) stands, so you can a good feel for how the wings and cockpit work.

Three-Quarter View

At long last, you get to see the finished product. The ship is absolutely massive. The large box at the back end houses the cannon. The walls of the box fold to the sides so that the cannon can be brought out.

Side View

This side view shows the full length of the Explorien Starship. You can see the Mini-rover attached to the back of the ship. For the sheer size of the starship, you would think that they would have included more thrusters. As it is, there are only two, on the end of each wing. There are three thrusters for liftoff, if that tells you anything.

The neck that connects the work area to the wings in back is a natural place to pick this set up and swoosh this set. The weight is well distributed here, as well. The center of gravity for the finished ship is around here.

Front View

The front view gives you a sense of just how big this set is. How many times have you seen a set where the front is in focus, but the back end is out of focus. This set is just plain big.

Back View

This picture shows the Mini-rover, just hanging out back there. Just above the rover you can see the cannon peeking out from its sheath. You can also see the rather inadequate looking thruster out on the wing tips.

Top View

Not only is the set long, it also has quite the impressive wingspan.

Three-Quarter View on Stand

And finally we get to see the wings and cockpit unlocked. Those stands had to be 12 bricks tall in order to allow the wings to hang down without touching a surface. As you can see, the sheath protecting the cannon in back are connected to the wings, and not to the main hull. So when the wings hang down, the cannon is exposed, for good or ill.

Side View on Stand

Another view of the wings in the down position. Notice the angle of the cockpit in relation to the rest of the starship.

Front View on Stand

At least the massive wingspan is reduced when the wings are down. The ship is actually pretty easy to move, regardless of the wing position. The wings and cockpit are hanging by gravity only, so if you bank with the wings down, the one lowest will swing as you make your turn. There is nothing locking them downward.

Back View on Stand

From this view, you should get a sense of how much those wheels will help when the ship comes in for a landing. They keep the wings from catching on the ground.

Uh-Oh

This photo was taken while I was moving the model for these photos. And it illustrates the major problem of this set: it is inherently unstable. The floor of the work area can and will simply fall off of the model while swooshing. It has nothing to do with whether you build on a table or not. The stresses are just too great on the set, so the studs where the neck meets the work area lose their grip.

Now, the set can be beefed up in this area to help it hold together a bit better. But I can just imagine how many 8 year olds were disappointed that their beautiful $80 starship fell to pieces the first time they tried to swoosh it.

A Weak Point

This is the other weak point in the model. It is where the left side of the cockpit connects to the work area. Even if you manage to get the floor to stay in place, this section will come apart, whether the cockpit is locked into place or not. Get used to repairing this area, too.

The Antenna Array

I mentioned earlier in the review how the roof of the work area opened. Here it is, in action. Sort of. The array is wonderfully detailed. If only those darn stickers would stay put.

The Cannon

One would think that the largest set in a theme would have the most impressive details of that theme. Not so in the Exploriens line. While the cannon looks very nice, there have been more elaborate cannons on some of the less expensive sets.

The Wing Mechanism

Here is a close-up of the wing locking mechanism. The technic axle does the actual locking. It slides back and forth, and the hinge brick and tile with handle to the left keep the axle from moving when the wings are locked. As simple as it seems, the method works well. I have never had the wings unlock when I didn't want them to.

The Search for Fossils

What would an Exploriens set be without some form of trans red and blue elements for viewing the fossil tiles. On the Starship, this feature is tucked in between the main hull and the wing. The assembly is hinged, so it can rotate from the wing in toward the hull. This isn't terribly useful, as the assembly looks better tucked up against the wing.

Also, the assembly has two sets of hinges controlling the up and down motion. This keeps the assembly level, even when raised.

Overall this assembly is in a bad location. It is tucked in so close to the hull that it is hard to use them effectively.

Fossil Retrieval System

Like the dishes, nearly every Exploriens set has a magnet arm for picking up the fossil tiles. And like the dishes on this set, the magnet arm works in much the same way. It is tucked into a tight space on the right side of the ship, which makes using it a little difficult.

Storage

The explorers needed a place to store all of those fossils that they find. This compartment serves that purpose nicely, as long as you find no more than two. The compartment behind it holds one of the instruments for the explorers. Neither of these compartments is airtight, so they feel a little tacked on. But they do add a little bit to the set.

Main Area Interior

The main work area is nice and open. And the hologramed tile looks fantastic. Unfortunately, if you put the minifigs in the cockpit and at the workstations, this area is left empty (Ann is usually left in the Mini-rover, especially during flight). One more minifig would have done nicely.

Cockpit Interior

For as small as the space is, the cockpit has some really nice details. There are plenty of controls for our pilot to keep this Starship flying straight.

Workstation Interior

The other humans get to man the workstations during flight. Hopefully you get a sense of just how large the gaps are in this area. I would hate for any of our explorers to fall out during take-off.

Scores

Build: 8/10 The wing build is a bit repetitive, but the rest is straight-forward. The instructions are easy to follow.

Playability: 10/10 Everywhere you look, there is plenty to do with this set.

Minifigures: 8.5/10 The minifigs are solid, and you get all four of the Exploriens figs in one set. It still could have used one more minifig, especially for the price.

Pieces: 9/10 A very nice collection of parts that any MOCer can get use out of. As long as you need black and white.

Price: 5.5/10 The price to parts ratio is just plain bad, especially when you consider that almost all of the parts are standard. And you only get four minifigs for that hefty price tag.

Design: 5/10 This was a tough score to give. On one hand, the set is absolutely gorgeous. But it has that one glaring flaw: it WILL fall apart if you try to swoosh it. For me, that is far too much of a flaw to allow to skate on by.

Total- 46/60 If it didn't fall apart, this would easily have been the best of the Exploriens sets. Silly me, expecting my sets to stay together when played with. Still, it is a very good set, and with a bit of reinforcement becomes a fantastic set.

Full gallery for more pictures.

[Big Cam]

Stunning review.

This only gets an above average from me becasue back in 1996, LEGO knew the value of a dollar but still this is overpriced for the pieces and lack of figs.

[ZO6]

Thanks for this very detailed review.

I've always liked liked this set a lot, and was very happy when I got around to buying it for Christmas back in 1996(?). I found the set had excellent playability, and the front of the ship always reminded me of the enterprise from Star Trek Voyager. It's too bad the model never held together very well for you, this was never a problem for me. I used to run around the house as fast as I could, swooshing the ship everywhere and the only damage ever done was breaking off the yellow antennas from time to time.

The pet peeve for me with this set (and it's not really to do with the set design, but instead parts quality) is that a handful of the white pieces have yellowed quite a lot due to exposure to air. I've been extremely careful to store this big white ship out of sunlight, but some of the pieces have completely yellowed - even the sides that would have received no light at all.

Edited April 27, 2010 by ZO6

[Aanchir]

This set is still hanging by some fishing line from my basement ceiling (if I remember correctly; I'm at college now so haven't been in my basement for quite a while). That says at least a little for its structural stability, although I've probably been a bad child and looted pieces from it from time to time.

Anyway, great, thorough review! Exploriens might not have been the most attractive theme (I loved it at the time, but it seems pretty lousy in retrospect), but it's rare you find a theme that's so bare-bones that every expense goes towards functionality.

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Great review. Thanks. I like the set design but don't really care fore the minifigures that much so I gave it an above average only.

[Walter Kovacs]

Thanks for this very detailed review.

I've always liked liked this set a lot, and was very happy when I got around to buying it for Christmas back in 1996(?). I found the set had excellent playability, and the front of the ship always reminded me of the enterprise from Star Trek Voyager. It's too bad the model never held together very well for you, this was never a problem for me. I used to run around the house as fast as I could, swooshing the ship everywhere and the only damage ever done was breaking off the yellow antennas from time to time.

The pet peeve for me with this set (and it's not really to do with the set design, but instead parts quality) is that a handful of the white pieces have yellowed quite a lot due to exposure to air. I've been extremely careful to store this big white ship out of sunlight, but some of the pieces have completed yellowed - even the sides that would have received no light at all.

This set is still hanging by some fishing line from my basement ceiling (if I remember correctly; I'm at college now so haven't been in my basement for quite a while). That says at least a little for its structural stability, although I've probably been a bad child and looted pieces from it from time to time.

Anyway, great, thorough review! Exploriens might not have been the most attractive theme (I loved it at the time, but it seems pretty lousy in retrospect), but it's rare you find a theme that's so bare-bones that every expense goes towards functionality.

Hrm, perhaps the instabilitiy is unique to my set only. Well, I bought this set as an AFOL, so it's not like I don't know how to put a set together, so I'm not imagining it. Maybe I just got a bad set of plates. It's a shame, because otherwise this set is fantastic. If you like the Exploriens theme, that is.

As for the yellowing, I have that problem with my white and old light gray pieces, too. There's a topic floating around somewhere (I can never find it when I need it) that talks about using peroxide to bleach the yellowness out of the parts. I'll see if I can't track it down.

[ZO6]

As for the yellowing, I have that problem with my white and old light gray pieces, too. There's a topic floating around somewhere (I can never find it when I need it) that talks about using peroxide to bleach the yellowness out of the parts. I'll see if I can't track it down.

CP5670 has the problem of oxygen sensitive pieces documented here, and there is some discussion about using the peroxide here.

[smegged]

This was the final set I got before my dark age (which lasted a whole 3 years - though in 96/97 I got very few sets). I loved it to death. Chock full of play features and translucent parts and computer parts.

[CP5670]

I have mixed thoughts on this set too. On one hand, it's very large and is full of great features. I especially like the covered cannon and the idea of a bridge is probably unique among Lego space sets. However, it's pretty flimsy and has an empty feel in many places. The bridge walls are so open that the area looks unfinished.

I found the set had excellent playability, and the front of the ship always reminded me of the enterprise from Star Trek Voyager. I

The theme in general seems to have been designed with some inspiration from Star Trek. Check out this set description in this catalog for example.

Edited April 28, 2010 by CP5670

[Dunjohn]

Nice review. I don't own any Exploriens, I was well into my dark age when it was around. I'm divided over it; on the one hand, I like the colour scheme and the exotic shapes and pieces, but on the other hand, I think the ships are way too busy and uncoordinated. This ship in particular has angles sticking out of it everywhere. And as you say, the swooshability is very low despite its appearance. It's a set I'd like to have, but I think it'd annoy me once I've built it.

[Skulls_Eye_Schooner_Sailor]

You don't think the minifigs are as good as the classic ones? Look at the details they have! Also, I like the Spyrius Android better, which is where it first showed up. Although, I can't find the head to mine back! I even still have the clear helmet!

You said there were ways to reinforce the set. Care sharing that with people or is it something that is pretty much common sense?

80 bucks? Wow, is it really that much bigger than, oh say, the Deep Freeze Defender? I wouldn't mind seeing some comparison shots to that, and maybe Galactic Mediator.

[snefroe]

well i always liked this ship. Yep, it's BIG, probably the biggest ever, and nope, it does not have the sleek lines of the classics, but i loved the minifigs, the printed tiles and computers... true, many of the big parts, i did not use for anything else but this ship, but all these trans blue canopies made up for them...

as far as i remember, there were no stability problems with my ship, but then, i did not swoosh it in the nude...

[KimT]

as far as i remember, there were no stability problems with my ship, but then, i did not swoosh it in the nude...

Well I have

I bought this in 2003 on clearance sale in Denmark at some 50-60 USD.

I should have gotten more to sell, but I didn't.

They had a lot in the supermarket where I stumbled upon it.

All MISB and crisp.

Ah well, this is one of the better non-classic-space sets there is.

Thanks for the great review and walk down memory lane

[Walter Kovacs]

You don't think the minifigs are as good as the classic ones? Look at the details they have! Also, I like the Spyrius Android better, which is where it first showed up. Although, I can't find the head to mine back! I even still have the clear helmet!

You said there were ways to reinforce the set. Care sharing that with people or is it something that is pretty much common sense?

80 bucks? Wow, is it really that much bigger than, oh say, the Deep Freeze Defender? I wouldn't mind seeing some comparison shots to that, and maybe Galactic Mediator.

My nostalgia tells me the Classic Space minifigs are superior to any other space fig. Red and white only, none of those yellow, black or blues.

I've put a simple 2 x 10 plate under the weak part, and it seems to hold up much better. Of course, once you do that, then you have to add plates under tha black webbed 6 x 6 dishes, and lower the white cones that are under the ship so that it can still lie flat on the floor or table. Fairly easy, but a little care is still necessary.

IF I had a Dep Freeze Defender or a Galactic Mediator, I'd certainly give you a comparison shot. But the second largest space set I own is the Interstellar Starfighter out of the UFO line, and it is much smaller. I'd say the IS is 25-35% smaller, just as a guess.

[Section8]

Great review! This set came out right before my dark age, but I was always in awe of the size of it compared to the other previous spaceships. Thanks to your review, I can now see that my admiration was misplaced. The ship seems empty, largely on account of the long, thin spine between halves. I also find the position of the two functional arms odd. The magnet seems useless with such a limited range of motion and the transparent disks are also in a tight spot. I've seen better designs for these functions on the other Exploriens sets. The low number of minifigs is disappointing, but typical for the large vehicles in each space theme. The Deep Freeze Defender, Galactic Mediator, Mission Commander, and Mega Core Magnetizer all have only 3 figs for ~450-500 pieces.

For the sheer size of the starship, you would think that they would have included more thrusters. As it is, there are only two, on the end of each wing. There are three thrusters for liftoff, if that tells you anything.

It takes more energy to reach orbit than to maneuver while in orbit

[RocketClone]

Great review Walter Kovacs!

The use of the Spyrius droid head, trans-green pieces, and the printed pieces make this ship a must buy, but i don't know if the cannon sticking out in the end makes this appeasing to buy though.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread! I just have to say, great review! Unfortunately this set is so big that I'm not able to store it assembled. I do enjoy its great play value. I remember that I bought this set for myself in 2003, I ran out of money because of it, but I had drooled over it ever since I learned it existed (the theme had already been discontinued). Great set, but it's true, it doesn't have a very solid design. Aesthetically, it completely appeals to me.

[TheLegoDr]

I would have quit following legos just before this theme became available, but it looks really neat! I loved the late 80s space theme a lot, but then I "grew too old" for lego... now I'm right back where I started hah.

[grobda]

Bought this set recently, although i'm mainly interested in classic space I was looking to expand my brick count and it was cheap.

On building I'd agree with the consensus that this ship is just too gappy. The main crew area is dangerously open to space. The set works best when viewed from a distance when its size and layout look great. Close up and for playing with It doesn't work very well. I found it too heavy and flimsy for high speed swooshing.

The good news is it has nice rebuild value to to the quantity and variety of bricks. the large sloped pieces are tough to incorporate as hull components but work nicely as wings. The original model lasted 2 days before I broke it down and built a fully enclosed 2-3 man ship.