LEGO UFO Appreciation.

[TheLunabrick]

Who remembers the LEGO UFO series? It was a really weird and short lived space series but I feel like in general its not talked about enough. It had awesome prints and insanely detailed figs. I just felt like making a UFO appreciation thread for the series, if anyone remembers it. So if you have any sets, minifigs, or memories of this series post below!

[tnmears]

oh man, this theme...

It's...just...so alien... and quite unlike any other LEGO theme aesthetically.

This is one of my top favorites, and one theme I don't mind getting duplicates in.

I somehow never got a 6975, but the 6979 is one of my favorite ships. It just feels balanced and the fiber optics is insane.

And don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but the big quarter pieces are the best.

[TheLunabrick]

Yeah I loved how alien it felt. The shift designs were all great and good lord were the minifigs awesome! The sets and figs just looked so bizarre but in a good way. I also remember the UFO themed race track in LEGO Racers fondly.

[Alfadas]

I am too young to remember it, at the time it came out I was 2 or 3 years old, but for some reason I do have this little set from it: http://brickset.com/sets/2847-1/Flyer, and I do quite like it! Indeed, the figure is very detailed, especially for its time.

[Robert8]

I LOVE this theme

I was like 8 years old when this came out. UFO and Adventurers were my favorite themes in my childhood. This is my Classic Space theme.

The whole theme is just so unique. And the Aliens were so cool. Alpha Draconis is one my favorites minifigures. He looks so menacing

From this theme I own the Cyber Saucer, the Alien Avenger and the Cyborg Scout

I'd love if LEGO releases an UFO styled alien in the CMF theme.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Robert8

[snefroe]

ahhhh... UFO... looooong time ago... I first saw these sets on dislplay at the shopping mall, at around the year of release, I guess. I was very impressed, even though still in my dark age. I especially loved the large trans-yellow parts I did buy the sets a few years later when I was back into Lego. However, it wasn't this theme that got me back into the Lego world. I also didn't buy the largest set of the theme. IMO, that was not worth the price Lego was asking.

I still have mixed feelings about most of the later themes of Space, on the one hand, it was the golden age of printed parts, like the brilliant computers, I couldn't have enough of, but i disliked many larger or weird parts that I could not use for anything else. I also was not a fan of the color combination...

IMO, like many other themes of this period, UFO suffered from a faltering quality. To me, it looked like "the end of the line" of the traditional space theme. Soon star wars would take over, making these space themes obsolete, probably sooner than they deserved, but they were not the best ever, either

[ETAV8R]

I love the UFO theme. While I was young when Classic Space came online and loved it at that time. Looking back in retrospect I could easily see UFO vehicles/figures hiding out waiting to be found out by the Classic Space explorers. Think I've picked up three UFO sets since coming out of my dark ages. They are great stuff.

[legoguy1984]

I remember buying one small set for the parts but on the whole it was never my thing. Years later I bought a mixed lot and got an alien minifigure, was very happy to add him to my collection.

[TheLunabrick]

The alien minifigs from these sets were so crazyily detailed and that was a large part of the appeal for me. It was common at the time to see such detailed minifigures.

[Boba Brick]

This brings back a lot of memories. I remember i always wanted 6975 but never get it 
 

Edited April 10, 2019 by Boba Brick

[Alpha Draconis]

God bless this topic, hopefully someone is still around to talk about this. 

I just very recently joined the forum, but UFO is also one of my absolute favourite themes. I never had any sets myself as a kid (was way too young at the time of their release), but I had a lot of Lego catalogues from the 90s from my older cousins. I just thought (and still think) that this is one of the most insane themes with badass minifigs. The menacing minifig helmets are the best!

I recently got my first UFO set - 6900, used of course. Holding the actual thing in my hand feels magical, although I admit, looking at the underside of the saucer pieces is not that appealing. You have to look at the set from certain angle for best results. I still love it tho. 

I MAY have gotten carried away a little with the craving for more sets after I got my first set and I MAY have bought sealed 6979 Interstellar starfighter. I am planning on building it in the near future and maybe doing a review on it and posting it on this forum. Would anyone here be interested in that? 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Alpha Draconis
wrong set number

[Alexandrina]

57 minutes ago, Alpha Draconis said:

I MAY have gotten carried away a little with the craving for more sets after I got my first set and I MAY have bought sealed 6975 Interstellar starfighter. I am planning on building it in the near future and maybe doing a review on it and posting it on this forum. Would anyone here be interested in that? 

I'd love to see a review. There are lots of gaps on Eurobricks for older sets that never got reviewed, because they came out in the time before Eurobricks and nobody's ever gone back to do them - anything to fill those gaps is welcome. I meant to do the same with the Mystic Mountain Time Lab, but the version I bought was missing a piece and I've not yet got round to replacing it.

I don't actually have any UFO sets in their entirety, but I have a lot of the pieces - some of the big printed saucer pieces, in particular - from a mixed job lot. I'm curious to know what the sets themselves are like, so I'll be waiting on your review with bated breath

[TeriXeri]

While I only have 2 small UFO sets (still have them built but seperated from newer LEGO) , the theme certainly had some amazing figures and printing, alongside Insectoids.

This set was tiny, and yet the figure with the neon orange head and armor was ahead of it's time.

The other set : very simple, but full of awesome printed parts and neon.

 

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by TeriXeri

[Alpha Draconis]

12 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

I'd love to see a review. There are lots of gaps on Eurobricks for older sets that never got reviewed, because they came out in the time before Eurobricks and nobody's ever gone back to do them - anything to fill those gaps is welcome. I meant to do the same with the Mystic Mountain Time Lab, but the version I bought was missing a piece and I've not yet got round to replacing it.

I don't actually have any UFO sets in their entirety, but I have a lot of the pieces - some of the big printed saucer pieces, in particular - from a mixed job lot. I'm curious to know what the sets themselves are like, so I'll be waiting on your review with bated breath

Thanks for your interest, I'll try to do a proper review on it. It is going to be my first review ever, so it might be a bit rough around the edges. 

I too have noticed the gap in old set reviews you mentioned - when buying the set I got almost no pictures of the sealed set I could use for reference. And the reviews on YT were reviews of used sets (don't get me wrong, the reviews are good, but for someone looking for a sealed set, the crucial parts are absent). That's what primarily drives me to make this type of content - to give a modern reference with lots of pictures to anyone buying these sets sealed or looking to invest. I think you should definitely do a review on your set, I'd love to see it! 

[Lyichir]

There were definitely things I thought were cool about the UFO theme growing up, like the heavy use of trans-neon green and the big domed saucer pieces, but even back then the types of printed detail on both the sets and the figs made them feel odd compared to previous space themes (including Spyrius, one of my first Space themes that also featured a lot of saucer-like vehicles). Personally I preferred the later take on the concept in the Alien Conquest theme, which went for more of a cartoony B-movie feel. But I suppose the UFO theme walked so that that theme could run.

[badgerboy]

This just makes me feel OOOOLD!

I was working in my first job after university, designing toys for cereal packets. Nestlé (Cereal Partners) had the option to promote these sets on their cereal boxes. I can't remember what happened to that but we got sent some photocopies of promotional images, to brainstorm from. We couldn't see anything on the photocopies and in the end, to just see the Aliens we had to sign NDAs and all sorts.

Exciting times they were. I was really impressed with the sets, bought some for my nephew (who was about eight at the time), I was hoping to build them with him... nope, he did them himself & wouldn't let me look at them :-(

[JeffBuilds]

Yeah,

 This series was the Great Grand-Daddy before any of the other Alien LEGO sets. Predates Life on Mars, Mars Mission, Space Police 3, Alien Conquest... I liked the unique armor pieces and the helmets, and I had a couple of the old sets. I'd still like to see about getting the Shell Gas Station exclusive UFO Polybag set (well, it was more of a box) with the plain black Helmet! When I was much younger, I didn't care much for this set, prefering Aqua Raiders, or the Aquazone wave 2 faction, but sitting here and thinking hard on it, they had some dated, but good ideas. The aliens, while still in Minifig form, had transparent heads, and faces like nothing I'd ever seen before.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

This is one of my favorite Space themes!

I was always mesmerized by the alien figures, and really wanted to own some as a kid (but didn't find some until years later). I think they have aged quite well, to be honest! Looking back, I really like the intricate detailing, especially on the trans neon green windshields. I really like these designs, and I don't think the Alien Conquest UFOs ever measured up to those of this theme.

[Lord Insanity]

I really liked the UFO sub theme.  I still think the main suited aliens are the best ones Lego has done so far.  Those suits still remind me of the Chigs from the TV series Space Above and Beyond that came out 2 years before Lego's UFO theme.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was an inspiration even if unintentionally.

I always treated the UFO overlords as "assimilating" minifigs into their cyborg underlings.  When Insectoids came out afterward they became the genetically enhanced super cyborg "assimilated" grunts.  When Alien Conquest came along I used those as lab grown "hive" soldiers with the "brain" aliens acting as the local control units for the UFO overlords.  Galaxy Squad provided some more lab grown cannon fodder.

Of course its all in vain the UFO overlords will never defeat the Futuron Starfleet and Blacktron Marine Corp. 

[Celloguy]

Definitely Lego's best ever alien minifigures, and I have a liking for the large Lego parts that everyone else hates - they always have beautiful geometries and many uses if you are imaginative enough. So yeah, I'm still a fan.

[hagridshut]

I've got mixed feelings about UFO.

Spyrius and Unitron were the last space themes from which I bought LEGO sets as a child.  I remember seeing UFO in stores, but I didn't really like the use of large quarter saucer pieces.  

 

On 3/22/2021 at 9:46 PM, Lord Insanity said:

I really liked the UFO sub theme.  I still think the main suited aliens are the best ones Lego has done so far.  Those suits still remind me of the Chigs from the TV series Space Above and Beyond that came out 2 years before Lego's UFO theme.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was an inspiration even if unintentionally.

Nice observation!  I see the resemblance now but I never drew the connection between the Chigs and the LEGO UFO aliens. 

Edited March 25, 2021 by hagridshut

[sander1992]

I think that the concept was great.
The sets were a bit too simple and used too many big parts.
Colorscheme and minifigures were amazing.
The sets had some nice play features.

Robo-Force and Insectoids had the same amount of details on the minifigs.

[Alpha Draconis]

ok, I got the feel of how pictures from Flickr get pulled to the form. You can expect my review on 6979 sometime later today

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by Alpha Draconis
deleted irrelevant content

[Alpha Draconis]

if anyone's interested - I posted a review of sealed 6979 Interstellar starfighter here