LEGO Sci-Fi 2016 Pictures and Rumors

[rodiziorobs]

On 11/14/2016 at 1:12 AM, LEGOshibainu said:

I share this exact feeling!

So do I, and I can't begin to explain why.

[DPrime]

On 11/11/2016 at 4:22 AM, msx80 said:

i don't know about you guys, but i never could feel Star Wars as a "Lego space theme", even if it's definitely sci-fi and spaceships, for reasons even i can't comprehend.

I agree. It's too much "its own thing".

To think we were spoiled, last year, getting Benny's ship, the mech, and even the green Futuron minifig in that town set! Oh, I love for the days...

[M'Kyuun]

I agree as well. While I really enjoy Star Wars, and continue to be excited with new releases, especially in light of Rebels and the upcoming movies, SW has it's own look and feel which are very different from LEGO's various space themes. I have to think that their previous space themes didn't do as well as they'd hoped, or they may have been continued, or expanded. Galaxy Squad gave me an expansionist vibe, with the colored factions, but either it didn't do well enough to continue, or it was purposely limited from the start. I think one of the major obstacles facing the designers is that there is an expectation for conflict, rather than exploration, and that becomes the mandated sole focus in all these Space sets. If that's indeed the case, it's an artificial limit I hope they move beyond at some point. I think, too, an animated show, like Ninjago, would help a homegrown space theme reach an audience, esp if written at or above the Ninjago level. They could do some incredible world building within this theme.

Like many other LEGO Space fans, the revelation of Benny's Spaceship ignited serious hope in me that a CS revival was nigh, even if it was only for a wave or two. Alas, we got one cool ship- better than nothing, but a bit of a letdown nonetheless. I hope we get more CS in the next LEGO Movie. In the meantime, I await Toyfair season and hope LEGO will surprise us with another new space theme. I find it interesting that TLG consider Space an 'evergreen' theme, but only produce their own space sets at several-year intervals. I imagine they feel that SW bridges that desire, but this fan would be happy to have both new LEGO Space and SW on the shelves every year.

[Aanchir]

12 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I agree as well. While I really enjoy Star Wars, and continue to be excited with new releases, especially in light of Rebels and the upcoming movies, SW has it's own look and feel which are very different from LEGO's various space themes. I have to think that their previous space themes didn't do as well as they'd hoped, or they may have been continued, or expanded. Galaxy Squad gave me an expansionist vibe, with the colored factions, but either it didn't do well enough to continue, or it was purposely limited from the start. I think one of the major obstacles facing the designers is that there is an expectation for conflict, rather than exploration, and that becomes the mandated sole focus in all these Space sets. If that's indeed the case, it's an artificial limit I hope they move beyond at some point. I think, too, an animated show, like Ninjago, would help a homegrown space theme reach an audience, esp if written at or above the Ninjago level. They could do some incredible world building within this theme.

Like many other LEGO Space fans, the revelation of Benny's Spaceship ignited serious hope in me that a CS revival was nigh, even if it was only for a wave or two. Alas, we got one cool ship- better than nothing, but a bit of a letdown nonetheless. I hope we get more CS in the next LEGO Movie. In the meantime, I await Toyfair season and hope LEGO will surprise us with another new space theme. I find it interesting that TLG consider Space an 'evergreen' theme, but only produce their own space sets at several-year intervals. I imagine they feel that SW bridges that desire, but this fan would be happy to have both new LEGO Space and SW on the shelves every year.

I don't think making Space sets conflict-based is any kind of obstacle to the designers, as plenty of other conflict-based themes tend to do just fine, and it doesn't seem to result in lower-quality set designs. Even a lot of the older Space themes had a conflict element to them (Blacktron vs. Space Police, Spyrius vs. Futuron, etc), it's just that the different factions were generally split up instead of having multiple factions in the same box.

I think the "multiple factions per box" thing actually is a positive step for LEGO in general, as it broadens the number of stories you can tell with a single set. Kids can still play with the factions individually as they please, but they no longer have to buy multiple sets to create a fight scene or chase scene. It's sort of similar to how in LEGO City, police sets now generally include a crime to stop and fire sets now generally include some type of burning structure to put out, instead of just one "faction" of characters and their vehicles. Or how recent Bionicle sets generally include a bonus mask for the character to hunt down instead of making you buy separate mask packs for bonus masks. It's a story-starter, essentially.

A LEGO Space TV show could be interesting, though if it's aimed at boys it'd probably have to wait until Nexo Knights ends. Now, what I'm curious about is the potential for a girl-oriented sci-fi theme. LEGO has had great success with LEGO Friends in the modern-day sphere and LEGO Elves and Disney Princess in the fantasy sphere. Girl-oriented sets have only just now entered the sci-fi sphere with LEGO DC Super Hero Girls, but it'd be great to see LEGO try and introduce their own original IP in that category. Mind you, it wouldn't specifically have to be a Space theme — other sorts of sci-fi themes like a steampunk or spy theme could also be neat. But I feel like a Space theme would come closest to delivering what people in this topic would like to see.

Speaking of spy themes, don't forget that Ultra Agents was designed as a "post-Space" spy theme (even using Solomon Blaze from Galaxy Squad as one of its core characters). I know that may not be any comfort to people who want actual astronauts and spaceships, but if LEGO was worried that the two themes might be in conflict, that might help explain why the current Space hiatus has been longer than usual. I certainly don't think there's any need to worry that LEGO or their customers have given up on the idea of LEGO Space.

[danth]

On 11/28/2016 at 0:25 PM, Aanchir said:

I think the "multiple factions per box" thing actually is a positive step for LEGO in general, as it broadens the number of stories you can tell with a single set. Kids can still play with the factions individually as they please, but they no longer have to buy multiple sets to create a fight scene or chase scene. It's sort of similar to how in LEGO City, police sets now generally include a crime to stop and fire sets now generally include some type of burning structure to put out, instead of just one "faction" of characters and their vehicles. Or how recent Bionicle sets generally include a bonus mask for the character to hunt down instead of making you buy separate mask packs for bonus masks. It's a story-starter, essentially.

To play devil's advocate, there were many Mars Mission and Galaxy Squad sets I passed on because I liked the human vehicles but not the alien/bug vehicles. Nexo Knights is the same way -- I want the cool Knight vehicles or mechs but don't care for the sillier bad guy stuff. 

Here are some examples:

http://brickset.com/sets/7646-1/ETX-Alien-Infiltraitor Awesome human robot but bizzarre alien space ship. Wanted the robot but did not buy.

http://brickset.com/sets/70708-1/Hive-Crawler Loved the jet bike but totally uninterested in the giant bug.

http://brickset.com/sets/70322-1/Axl-s-Tower-Carrier The vehicle is awesome but the big bad guy is just silly. Without the bad guy this would be about $10 cheaper and way more worth it to me.

[msx80]

On 28/11/2016 at 9:25 PM, Aanchir said:

Ultra Agents

That was a lovely theme, with some of the most underrated villains of all times. There were some excellent minifigure like Infearno, Psyclone and Antimatter. I've acquired many sets of that theme and loved them, but it's obviously not the "space" kind of sci fi.

About the conflict aspect, as everybody i'd prefer something a little more deep than good vs bad, possibly something spanning diverse activities (exploration but also maybe building, resource production, etc) and more than two factions. But i think that's hardly coming, as the theme is tailored to children, mostly, so it's kept simple (I've read similar discussion for the Castle fans, btw). I don't see issues in having sets with two submodels from different factions btw: even if you can like one more than the other, they provide more play value than separated sets.

A TV show could probably help give a more profound backstory but it would inevitably contain some kind of fantasy aspect (just like nexo, ninjago or chima) which would probably ruin it for any "serious" sci-fi fan. I guess our only hope is designing our own unofficial theme :)

[M'Kyuun]

I'll also throw in a thumbs-up for Ultra-Agents. There was some great imagination, humor, as well as some really cool models, in that theme. Thoroughly enjoyed UA while it lasted.

I'll clarify that I don't necessarily have an issue with built-in conflict, per se, as Aanchir pointed out, it provides a foundation for a story. However, I don't think it needs to be the dominant theme in every box. The City sets often feature just a vehicle without any inherent conflict or situational element to drive the imagination. It lets the builder provide the play setting. To my tastes, a well-rounded space theme would have elements of exploration, surveying and sampling, base/world building, and of course, conflict. There are plenty of other avenues to explore, but in the interest of brevity, I'm generalizing.

Galaxy Squad was a neat theme; I liked it, and models like the Galactic Titan stand out in my mind. I get that the bugs weren't to everyone's fancy; I thought they were ok, the Mantis set notwithstanding( i.e. terrible). This is one of those cases where I think the theme would have benefited by keeping the human and alien models separate. None of the bug machines seemed as well developed as the human ones. When I see models like the Umbaran Tank from Clone Wars, that's akin to what I'd think an Insectile bunch of aliens would be taking into battle. That's what I was hoping for when the theme was first announced. Alas, not what we got.

GS really had an overtly military feel to it, IMO; while some folks out there may have forged peaceful agreements with their alien bug counterparts, that's not really the message I got from the imagery or the models themselves. That's ok for an isolated theme; however, I hope future space lines aren't that blatant. I'd love to see more sets like Pete Reid's Exo-Suit from Ideas make their way to shelves. It's nice to have a balance within the theme.

[msx80]

On 3/12/2016 at 0:14 AM, M'Kyuun said:

GS really had an overtly military feel to it, IMO; while some folks out there may have forged peaceful agreements with their alien bug counterparts, that's not really the message I got from the imagery or the models themselves.

Yeah, in a sense reminded me of Starship Troppers. Military against space bugs.

I liked the alien models in GS. There were some cool builds. The only problem i had was the color scheme, too uniform across the theme. Humans were predominantly white but with varing secondary colors, the alien were all lime and dark red.

 

 

[Faefrost]

On 11/25/2016 at 5:35 AM, DPrime said:

I agree. It's too much "its own thing".

To think we were spoiled, last year, getting Benny's ship, the mech, and even the green Futuron minifig in that town set! Oh, I love for the days...

It depends. Yeah we didn't get any new Space Theme sets. But this has been one of the better years in decades for Classic Space builders and Moc'ers. Love it or Hate it Nexo Knights has been a parts bonanza. From tons of nice Blues to those wonderful new trans orange canopies and pieces. And while there are no new out of the box CS sets, take a good look at sets like 76049. The 'Avenjet Space Mission set. Tell me that that doesn't look remarkably like a CS type ship. Heck just looking at it you can't help but wonder if it started out its design existence as the Galaxy Squad Red Team ship that we never got. Plus we had a few useful CMF's. OK not very Classic, but a couple of nice Spacey ones. The Blue Haired evil Cyborg Lady certainly MOC's well. Heck 70322 Axl's Tower carrier looks and feels rather in the same style as Classic M-tron or Blacktron ground vehicles. You could convert it easily to a CS craft just by not using the stickers and changing the top of the tower slightly. 

[Robert8]

This belongs in a 2017 thread, but I don't want to start a thread just for this, so I'm posting it here

 

As hinted by Itaria, there will be a Sci character in CMF Series 17, to be released next May.