Constructive Critique of "2024 Space"

[Canondorf]

At first I thought that 2024 Space was a prequel to "Classic Space".  It seemed to have a technological aesthetic slightly above the NASA-style sets of City Space.  It was just my personal head-canon.  It seemed below far-future Futuron or M-Tron or Ice Planet or Unitron in a timeline.  However, the latest sets have brought back the Futuron style uniform.  This makes me think that the sets are simply contemporary to "Futuron I", or even a continuation.  Perhaps this is "Futuron II".  Perhaps we will soon see "Blacktron III" re-introduced as antagonists?  And "Space Police IV" as protectors?  I would love to see it; the complete revival of the Lego Space theme.

In general I like the sets.  I think Lego almost hit 1990s levels of coolness, but there are things that just didn't completely do it for me.  I'd like to offer a friendly critique of the range.

First off, I put Ice Planet oxygen tanks on a 2024 Space minifig, and oh god, it looks so much better.

Oxygen tanks were a symbol of the hard sci-fi aesthetic of Lego Space.  They give a real isolated "I'm having to carry around all my air" vibe to the old sets.  Like they were on distant asteroids and hostile planets in some remote barren star system around an ancient star.  The addition of an Ice Planet oxygen tank to these 2024 Space guys makes them look soooooo much better.  Bring back the classic tank!  In general, I think the level of technology in the 2024 Space sets looks interesting, hard to place on a timeline with previous space sets, very Mass Effect like, but could do with something that hits home, that they are in an extreme environement, far far away from habitable comfort, like the bulky oxygen tank.  Also it was a Lego signature; the slightly retro look of the tanks just works.

In the 1990s sets, there were often no canopies covering the pilots of vehicles.  Giving a sense that they are operating in vacuum or near-vacuum.  They often had this interesting configuration of a forward piloted drivetrain, where the pilot was sitting on the front of the vehicle's drive wheels, giving it a fuel-cell powered moon buggy feel, less like a gasoline-powered car with a car-like drivetrain from today.  That gave a very airless vacuum-of-space type aesthetic, in how a small secondary craft would simply be just a few thruster-nozzles attatched to a little hopper.  2024 Space by contrast has gone with a completely enclosed look, which in certain circumstances looks good, but on ground vehicles, it can look a bit much like a "car".  I wouldn't mind a few open-top secondary ships, that acknowledge the lack of need enclosed vehicles in many environments, when you are already wearing a pressurised environmental suit.

Overall, compared to say Futuron, the two look related, as do many of the goodguy space factions - Classic Space, Futuron, Ice Planet, Exploriens, 2024 Space - but I do miss the deep transparent colours that the canopies had on older sets.  They just somehow looked far future, when combined with the angular designs.   I initially interpreted 2024 Space as being a prequel to "Futuron", set after "City Space", so the aesthetic was halfway between City Space's moon missions, and Futuron's far-future civilization.  But the lastest set now uses Futuron uniforms, so it seems more like this is much more a full space revival, closer to Futuron.  Near-contemporary to all the other 1990s Lego Space themes. 

Comparison:

If I was going to revive Lego Space for good, I would re-name or label this range "Futuron II", a far-future off-world civilization, and then re-introduce "Blacktron III" and "Space Police IV" as antagonists and protectors of these good-guy civilian explorers.  Perhaps the name "Exploriens" was always just a name for the exploration division of the Futuron Federation or something, with "Space Police" being another division.  Perhaps "Unitron" was just a name for an alliance of "Futuron", "Space Police", and "M-Tron".  Who knows how it fits together? 

I've seen people re-colour the 2024 Space sets, with blue Futuron canopies, and it looks very good.  I'm not saying that the range needs to copy every aesthetic from the older sets.  This is a new era.  We have different views now on space technology than in the 1990s, more focused on digital IT systems, nano-technology, AI, smooth curved computer-aided design, etc, as opposed to pure Newtonian engineering.  But if this is indeed a revival of space, then it would be nice to see the return of these uncanny futuristic designs like low-G lunar-lander type vehicles, moon buggies, etc.  Then just keep these three factions in circulation, if necessary, add "M-Tron II", "Ice Planet II", Zotaxians and stuff if more factions are needed.

[SpacePolice89]

A very well written review of the subtheme. I found this a very interesting read.

[Aanchir]

I definitely get the nostalgia for the old air tank piece… but at the same time, I feel like the 2024 Space minifigures still feel plenty "hard sci-fi" without it, particularly since the astronauts in most of the sets wear chunky backpack-type accessories similar to the life support systems that real astronauts wear (which not only provide oxygen, but also include equipment to keep the wearer cool, track their vitals, and filter exhaled carbon dioxide, moisture, and odors out of their oxygen supply). If anything, the bigger issue I see is the absence of these life support packs from the polybag and 4+ sets.

By comparison, the old air tank piece never particularly resembled a real astronaut's life support pack in the first place. What it DOES resemble are the sort of pressurized air cylinders worn by firefighters or scuba divers — which was probably a deliberate choice to ensure they could also be used for those sorts of minifigures in the Town theme, rather than just for astronauts.

The Futuron-inspired spacesuits from this year's Galactic Spaceship also lack life support backpacks of any sort… but I assume this is because they are intended as flight suits similar to those worn by NASA astronauts while aboard a spacecraft or space station, whereas the 2024 versions are pressure suits geared more towards spacewalks.

[Canondorf]

I wouldn't mind if Lego went with a realistic astronaut life support pack, but some of the 2024 Space astronauts don't even have packs of any kind! 

They are just wearing the 2024 Space Suit without anything on their back; no room for compressed oxygen at all.  It's quite immersion breaking.  The blue pack that some pilots wear, is also is largely empty of equipement or space for compressed oxygen.  It looks more like some sort of tiny jet pack.  It looks totally impractical as a life-support device, seemingly having no room for compressed oxygen.  If Lego decided to go full hard sci-fi with a revival of the far-future Space theme, and make a new all-enclosing chest-and-backpack piece the new standard for Lego Space, I would be quite happy with that - though I suspect many people would rather just have the classic tank back as a homage.

Edited January 30, 2025 by Canondorf

[Feuer Zug]

I like the air pack vibe on the modern minifigs. Nice touch. And your redesign of 60430 towards a Futuron scheme is brilliant. Your post is a good read and I like it. For me, the two eras mesh well. With the potential upcoming Futuron II uniforms, oooh, what's not to like?

[Canondorf]

Just to be clear, I didn't make that lovely Futuron re-design, it was someone else on the internet :)

I've written a couple of speculative timelines of how it all fits together, but here is another for interest:

20th century - "1995 City Space" | humanity is launching to orbit - [e.g. 6339 Shuttle Launch Pad]

21st century - "2022 City Space" | humanity is exploring the moon - [e.g. 60350 Lunar Research Base]

21st century - "2019 City Space" | humanity is exploring planet Mars - [e.g. 60226 Mars Research Shuttle]

23nd century - "Classic Space" | humanity is exploring asteroids and extrasolar planets - [e.g. 6980 Galaxy Commander]

25th century - "2024 Space" | humanity is exploring extrasolar planets - [e.g. 60431 Space Explorer Rover and Alien Life]

28th century - "Futuron" | humanity is exploring exoplanets deep into the galaxy - [e.g. 6893 Galactic Starship]

Alternatively you could swap 2024 Space as being *after* "Futuron I", meaning it would be "Futuron II".  It's a little unclear whether their space suits are meant to be intermediate between "City Space" and "Classic Space", or between "Classic Space" and "Futuron", or alternatively after "Futuron".  The story on the marketing blurbs says that they are looking for the energy crystals, which seem to power their crystal-botanic-battery fuel cells.  Maybe they are some form of silicon-based microscopic crystalline life-form leaving a high-energy crystal deposit as biological waste, and being spread across multiple star systems by asteroids i.e. 'panspermia' hypothesis.  Ideal resource for Blacktron to steal :)

 

[Renny The Spaceman]

I do wonder if at this point it makes more sense to go City Space, Futuron, Classic space when trying to timeline them, it goes against the gut instinct to make CS the first proper Sci-Fi them but in terms of evolution it makes more sense that the look gets gradually sleeker and more streamlined with time and as the logo gets bigger 

[Canondorf]

2 hours ago, Renny The Spaceman said:

I do wonder if at this point it makes more sense to go City Space, Futuron, Classic space when trying to timeline them, it goes against the gut instinct to make CS the first proper Sci-Fi them but in terms of evolution it makes more sense that the look gets gradually sleeker and more streamlined with time and as the logo gets bigger 

The only reason people tend to put Classic Space first then Futuron is because it seems even behind the scenes, that is what designers were thinking. The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks by Daniel Konstanski, says that Futuron was developed as a far-future continuation of the earlier civilization seen in Classic Space.  Their colonies or outposts become an entirely new civilization with extensive planetary infrastructure and transport networks. 

There is one other circumstantial piece of evidence that 2024 Space comes either before or after everything, and it's that they have a different system of uniform colours to the Classic Space and Futuron guys.  Three departments, Blue, Green and Yellow, for pilots, scientists and engineers.  As opposed to four or more colours in those other two.  It might indicate either an earlier or later development.

• - Blue: Pilot/Explorer Division
• - Green: Science Division
• - Yellow: Engineering Division

vs.

• - Red: Pilots
• - White: Explorers
• - Yellow: Scientists
• - Blue: Security
• - Black: Spies

Interestingly, I also seem to remember reading that originally, Lego was envisioned as three eras: Castle for the past, City for the present, Space for the future.

Edited January 31, 2025 by Canondorf

[Canondorf]

The final thing I'll say, is just that I think 2024 Lego City Space (or whatever we are calling this new theme) is a step in the right direction to having Lego Space back, the beloved theme that we think was probably killed by poor choices in the late 1990s, followed Lego's licensing deal with Star Wars.  I think this could be seen as either Futuron II or Futuron 0, and bringing either Blacktron III or Blacktron 0 back to steal their crystals would be great.  But I think, as I said above, that the 1990s aesthetic was in some ways actually more evocative of the magnificent desolation of space, it's infinite wonders, than these car-like vehicles.  I also think the range was inspired a little too much by popular movies and games, rather than Lego's own excellent past:

The 60431 Space Explorer Rover strongly resembles the ND1 Nomad from Mass Effect: Andromeda.

The 60433 Modular Space Station strongly resmebles the Endurance from Interstellar.

This is fine; taking inspiration from other science fiction is what science fiction has been doing for 120 years now.  Homage is a high compliment.  Or else Star Wars wouldn't have "tractor beams" and "proton torpedoes" like earlier Star Trek had "tracktor beams" and "photon torpedoes", etc.  Or "spice" in Star Wars and Dune.  Or various methods of FTL being labelled warp drive or hyperdrive, etc.  What I think however is that copying other design philosophues, actually dilutes Lego's own unique aesthetic, that was equally good and valid:

The small NASA-punk style open-top one-seater vehicles, that were little more than seat, fuselage, and a few thruster nozzles.  They could do with a return in some cheap polybag sets alongside bigger stuff.   Lego could actually do with having more faith in it's own prior design philosophies and antecendants.  It makes for a good playset to have something astronauts can quickly hop around in.

Lego's own stuff looks industrial  No nonsense civilization of diligent workmen in space.  The open-top lunar rover style vehicles give out construction vehicle vibes.  It's got an engineer's eye dream of a space colony, where these people are building, mining, setting up transport networks, etc.  If in the 2000s space went wrong by introducing too many weird themes that had cartoony elements, then it makes sense to go back to Futuon, Blacktron and Space Police as the basis for a revival of the Lego lore.

In general, I agree with this guy's take:

 

[mon-o-mat]

On 1/31/2025 at 5:39 PM, Canondorf said:

The final thing I'll say, is just that I think 2024 Lego City Space (or whatever we are calling this new theme) is a step in the right direction to having Lego Space back, the beloved theme that we think was probably killed by poor choices in the late 1990s, followed Lego's licensing deal with Star Wars.  I think this could be seen as either Futuron II or Futuron 0, and bringing either Blacktron III or Blacktron 0 back to steal their crystals would be great.  But I think, as I said above, that the 1990s aesthetic was in some ways actually more evocative of the magnificent desolation of space, it's infinite wonders, than these car-like vehicles.

[...]

The problem I see here, is that this industrial style is created by a combination of two things, that in my eyes just don't work in modern Lego anymore:

-Very basic builds that often consist of little more than what would be necessary to hold the thing together and give it a roughly vehicle or spaceship looking form.

-Generous and often seemingly random application of "Space" decoration parts.

As soon as you try to scale them up to modern Lego standards you will get the following problems:

-You loose the barebone look, this can be seen with the remade Blacktron Renegade, that had its look recreated with the addition of Lattice towers because otherwise the middle section would have been to massive and empty.

-Decorative parts need to be placed more mindfull, as they have to be built up from bricks to be of proper proportions or you risk creating an optical mess that actually cannot show its functionality (this is in my eyes an actual problem for many of the old space sets.).

[Canondorf]

I'm not sure that fleshing it neccecarily ruins the old aesthetic (as you say the Blacktron Renegade handled modernisation well).

15 minutes ago, mon-o-mat said:

The problem I see here, is that this industrial style is created by a combination of two things, that in my eyes just don't work in modern Lego anymore:

-Very basic builds that often consist of little more than what would be necessary to hold the thing together and give it a roughly vehicle or spaceship looking form.

For example of the preservation of principles on a MOC I Googled, on this one, the cabin still sits on the front of the drivetrain:

Admittedly, it's a big looking MOC.  I would say that including a few little rovers, as secondary vehicles within larger ones, akin to City Space 2019 say, would be a good start.

[mon-o-mat]

On 2/3/2025 at 5:19 PM, Canondorf said:

I'm not sure that fleshing it neccecarily ruins the old aesthetic (as you say the Blacktron Renegade handled modernisation well).

For example of the preservation of principles on a MOC I Googled, on this one, the cabin still sits on the front of the drivetrain:

Admittedly, it's a big looking MOC.  I would say that including a few little rovers, as secondary vehicles within larger ones, akin to City Space 2019 say, would be a good start.

Yes, that thing is very massive.

But the problem is still, a modern industrial design has to be done deliberatly because otherwise the thing looks just unfinished, while in the 80s and 90s that was just the bricks you had.

The other problem is of course that basically all modern larger windscreens are rounded and smooth. In fact I think, that the Magnetizer's windscreen also has perfect proportions, that basically no modern windscreen can replicate.

Edited February 4, 2025 by mon-o-mat

[JesseNight]

Wow that M-Tron moc looks awesome! And yeah it's big for sure, with 2 of those giant windshields attached to each other!