REVIEW: #6887 Allied Avenger

[Bob De Quatre]

Introduction

In 1991, the Blacktron did a comeback after the 1988 line. In the spirit of the recent M-tron theme, the Blacktron received new uniforms and new secondary colors. The yellow was replaced by white, and the transparent elements used the newly introduced transparent neon green color. While the first Blacktron theme used small modules that could be combined differently in the same set or with modules from other sets, the Blacktron Future Generation introduced the bubble cockpit that could detach from the ships and connect to others. The theme comprised 13 sets, making it one of the largest space theme of the 90's.

Once again, the Blacktrons are the bad guys, trying to steal technologies from the poor M-tron and avoiding the Space Police that will also have its makeover in 1992.

All pictures shown here, and some more, can be found on my Flickr album.

Set information

The model I'm presenting is not from a MISB happy find, but from my childhood collection, so parts have been stored, played and sadly mistreated for years. I used some new parts, but most of them are from the set I bought in 1991.

Set Name: Allied Avenger

Set Number: 6887

Number of Pieces: 100

Theme: Blacktron II

Year Release: 1991

#6887 on Brickset

#6887 on Rebrickable

#6887 on Peeron

Packaging

I don't have the original bow anymore, but pictures of it can be found on the internet. The boxart is common for sets of this era: the Lego logo in the upper left corner and a nice picture of the set in action.

Picture courtesy of Peeron.

Instruction

The instructions come in a A3 sized booklet. In this era, there wasn't a parts list for each building step. That proved quite challenging, especially when building larger sets. Sadly, there is no B model on this set.

Build

The build is pretty simple and straightforward. The main body consist of white bricks sandwiched between black plates. still there are some interesting modified plates, like the hinges or the old 2x2x2 bracket.

The wings are also easily constructed around 2x2x2 brackets.

The bubble cockpit design is simple but really effective, using a 2x4x2 brick with studs on sides to attach the transparent parts. Hinges and slopes help complete the build.

Minifigures

The set comes with a single Blacktron II minifigure, with no accessory except its helmet and oxygen tank. This minifigure appears 21 times in 14 sets released in 1991 and 1992.

Interesting parts

The part selection is very good for a set of this size. It include 5 printed tiles: one 1x2 white tile with a yellow arrow, and four 2x2 white round tile with a yellow arrow. The trans-neon green bubble cockpit parts were pretty common back then, but they still are great. The bubble cockpit is built arount a black 2x4x2 brick with studs on sides that is a very usefull part, even if it's less used now than it was in the early 90's. The part selection is completed by some hinges, 2x2 brackets, wedge plates and fins.

Play features

As every other set of the theme, the bubble cockpit can detach from the model and can be recombined with any other set. Note that for each set of the theme, the bubble cockpit is slightly different. It's fun to notice that throughout the theme, the yellow arrows always indicate the "direction" of a play feature.

The wings could be lowered or upped when the Avenger isn't landed. It's not much, but still a nice feature on a set of this size.

Conclusion

The Allied Avenger is a nice looking set. Lego made every single one of the 100 pieces count, and most of them are valuable parts for any space builder. I don't quite remember if I enjoyed this set as a kid (I surely did!), but I know I made a great use of those "classic" space parts.

Playability: 7/10 - Not really fun by itself, but a great addition to a Blacktron fleet

Design: 9/10 - A simple but really effective design

Price: NA - The set is available on Ebay for a very varying cost, once again Bricklink might be the best way to get the set

Overall: 8/10 - A nice set for it's size

Thanks to Oky for bringing up one of his usual funnies

[Hobbythom]

Great review. I really like this set. It is simple yet effective with an interesting design of the wings. Blacktron II has some great sets by the look of it.

[___]

I like the set as all older SPACE sets (ehm, I mean all Space sets ), as I am having this set I need to say - not sure if you meant it or it is there just for a picture (probably so I guess) - but just to clarify things: this little gem comes without any baseplate, of course.

To me Blacktron I were much more original in design, or better said were much more interesting to me than Blacktron Future Generation (aka Blacktron II), anyway all these sets are just too good to not have them, that is simply true!