The Future of Lego Space. (opinions, ideas, discussion)

[Kingfisher]

Hi, Fairly new here but I thought I would share a recent experience.

I was in London and visited the Piccadilly Circus Lego store.It had the new Millennium Falcon on display which was awesome. I then noticed in the Pick A Brick wall that alongside the normal 2x4 bricks in various colours were two draws of grey 6x3 wing elements. Either they had a few left over from building the new model, or they are trying to inspire more wing elements to be used, as in this new Lego Space set.

Does anyone know if the Wing elements are normally in Lego pick a brick selections? 

[rodiziorobs]

I've seen them there many times; the frustrating thing is there isn't always the corresponding wing, so sometimes you can get lots of lefts but no rights. 

[Kingfisher]

I assumed that since there were two draws, one would be left handed and one right handed so very suitable for planes and spaceships. Unless you are making a windmill, I would have thought you would pick up an equal quantity of each. Thanks for the warning; it is never good to assume these things else the future of space would be very left handed.

[Digger of Bricks]

As many of you probably already know, Blizzard Entertainment earlier this week announced a partnership with TLG for Overwatch sets to come possibly early next year. While it may be yet another licensed property, it does boast a rather colorful host of characters and their respective rides; so, perhaps both Space and Sci-Fi fans in general may find something to come away with from this upcoming line. 

[Exetrius]

I'm pumped for this and really curious what they come up with. From what I know, Overwatch is basically country/cultural archetypes as heroes/villians, in sci-fi style. The worldmaps are equally diverse and interesting. I expect a ton of new parts useful for sci-fi and space minifigs/mocs, though maybe not in the Classic Space department. 

 

I just remembered I said something about games and sci-fi... It turns out it was in my first post in this thread:

On 28-4-2017 at 12:20 AM, Exetrius said:

-snip-

Moreover, games like No man's sky, Horizon Zero Dawn, and movies like The Martian and Interstellar are proof of the renewed interest in space and exoplanet exploration. Instead of a City mobile police office, the new generation of fathers may be more inclined to buy a cool exoplanet exploration vehicle. 

Somewhat close, right? Fathers of this generation want cool exoplanet exploration vehicles Overwatch.  SW has some nice ships, aliens, soldiers and pilots covered, but the overly-present media merchandising is slowly killing me (not to mention: overpriced!). DC/Marvel has it's moments, but on the whole not a consistent source of good sci-fi material. So it's good to have a fresh flavour in LEGO's current sci-fi niche (even if it is yet another licence)! 

[Digger of Bricks]

5 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Somewhat close, right? Fathers of this generation want cool exoplanet exploration vehicles Overwatch.  SW has some nice ships, aliens, soldiers and pilots covered, but the overly-present media merchandising is slowly killing me (not to mention: overpriced!). DC/Marvel has it's moments, but on the whole not a consistent source of good sci-fi material. So it's good to have a fresh flavour in LEGO's current sci-fi niche (even if it is yet another licence)! 

I think the lack of color (for the most part) is what makes fans of Classic Space indifferent to Star Wars, so at least Overwatch looks to have that going for it. 

[Exetrius]

19 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

I think the lack of color (for the most part) is what makes fans of Classic Space indifferent to Star Wars, so at least Overwatch looks to have that going for it. 

Pretty much all of the Imperial craft and walkers adhere to the very grey colour scheme indeed, but that makes them appealing to group together, in the same way as all things Classic Space look good together. So I don't know if it's the colour. What is lacking in SW sets, which was present in CS, is attention to functional space and the pilot. Most large SW sets are not minifig scale on the exterior, sometimes not even featuring a cockpit. Of the smaller craft, most sets have little else besides a cockpit. A space for a blaster or a little crate maybe, but that's it. All the attention is focused on wings and engines and such. CS is about galaxy explorers, they need to live in their spaceships, so the interior matters!

[Aanchir]

5 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Pretty much all of the Imperial craft and walkers adhere to the very grey colour scheme indeed, but that makes them appealing to group together, in the same way as all things Classic Space look good together. So I don't know if it's the colour. What is lacking in SW sets, which was present in CS, is attention to functional space and the pilot. Most large SW sets are not minifig scale on the exterior, sometimes not even featuring a cockpit. Of the smaller craft, most sets have little else besides a cockpit. A space for a blaster or a little crate maybe, but that's it. All the attention is focused on wings and engines and such. CS is about galaxy explorers, they need to live in their spaceships, so the interior matters!

As much as I’m with you on interior detail being important, I’m not sure Classic Space is all that exceptional in that regard. Many of the vehicle sets had little more than a cockpit and sometimes a cramped cargo space, stuff you can just as easily find in several Star Wars vehicles like the Millennium Falcon, AT-TE, U-Wing, Imperial Landing Craft, or Clone Turbo Tank. What I’d like to see is something with an interior to rival sets like the Fortrex, Sunshine Catamaran, Agents Mobile Command Center, or Destiny’s Bounty, with spaces set up for various lifestyle tasks like eating, sleeping, training, mission planning, research, or what-have-you.

[icm]

I'm a bit surprised to see bright colors and interior detail/functionality listed as "selling points" or "nostalgia points" for Classic Space relative to other Space subthemes and Star Wars. 

As a kid browsing through the Brickset database, I always thought that Classic Space had pretty drab, dull colors - all that gray! all that white! such unrelieved acres of blue! - and was pretty devoid of cool functions (though I admit I wasn't aware of most of the modular play features).  It wasn't until M-Tron that Space really got colorful, and Star Wars sets certainly have (and have always had) quite as much accent color to relieve the gray as CS ever did.  It wasn't really until the Blacktron Message Intercept Base that Space started to get cool features involving parts that move together as part of a mechanism, and that's after the Classic era.  Likewise, even the earliest Star Wars sets had plenty of location builds and other accomodations of the idea that there's more to life than jumping in an X-wing and blowing stuff up, as General Organa would say - while, as Aanchir notes, many of the vehicle sets in Classic Space had little more than a cockpit and sometimes a cramped cargo space, and only the 1979 and 1980 moonbases were real buildings, as opposed to skeletal platforms. 

All that considered, I'd hazard a guess that the focus on jumping in an X-wing and blowing stuff up as opposed to going boldly where no one has gone before is what makes many Classic Space fans indifferent to Star Wars.  But what do I know?  It's not as if there's any really broad survey data for comparison.  Besides, many Neo-Classic Space builders have decidedly militaristic interpretations of whatever faction operates the LL ships and their successors, and the official NCS ship (70816) acts as a "battleship" when it appears onscreen.  So - heck, I don't even know what question I'm trying to answer.  Maybe I better go to bed.  For the record, I'd certainly love to see a new Space theme that includes detailed interior spaces in mobile bases and fixed bases. 

In the meantime, I'll just pretend that the upcoming Arctic Mobile Exploration Base is a great big Gerry Anderson-style behemoth land vehicle that's about to run off a cliff on a distant desert planet that mysteriously resembles a cheap 1960s soundstage, unless our hero the CMF Series 16 Astronaut can shut down the fusion reactor (sabotaged), engage the emergency brake (also sabotaged), or bail out the top hatch (jammed).  He'll make it out, but you just know that rover won't appear in the next episode!

Edited May 28, 2018 by icm
Minor text changes.

[Exetrius]

Guess I should have done a little more research, CS came just after my father's childhood after all and I haven't owned nor played with CS sets. That said, I browsed through the CS sets tagged "spaceship" on Brickset, and concluded that in general CS sets have a lot of the build dedicated to functional volume compared to what's going into the wings.

Compare that to, say, a Naboo Starfighter, Krennics shuttle, a Jedi fighter or a TIE fighter: the focus is different. That's what I was getting at. 

@Aanchir Yes please! Those had cool interiors!

@icm I easily forget CS is not just the blue-grey-trans yellow.. not at all excited by the white-grey-trans blue actually. 

 

[Digger of Bricks]

6 hours ago, icm said:

It wasn't until M-Tron that Space really got colorful, and Star Wars sets certainly have (and have always had) quite as much accent color to relieve the gray as CS ever did.

...but never the colored canopies that Lego's in-house Space themes usually had. That for me is the star focal point for many of the sets within their own themes.

6 hours ago, icm said:

In the meantime, I'll just pretend that the upcoming Arctic Mobile Exploration Base is a great big Gerry Anderson-style behemoth land vehicle that's about to run off a cliff on a distant desert planet that mysteriously resembles a cheap 1960s soundstage, unless our hero the CMF Series 16 Astronaut can shut down the fusion reactor (sabotaged), engage the emergency brake (also sabotaged), or bail out the top hatch (jammed).  He'll make it out, but you just know that rover won't appear in the next episode!

That latest of subtheme of City is what gives me hope that we'll see a lunar or Martian exploration subtheme for that line in the near future. 

[Kingfisher]

I am all for a new style of spacecraft, and if it has its own colour scheme, even better. As long as it has moving parts and plenty of detail, I believe that it will capture the interest of both young and old builders.

[Captain Mutant]

On 28/05/2018 at 4:17 AM, Aanchir said:

What I’d like to see is something with an interior to rival sets like the Fortrex, Sunshine Catamaran, Agents Mobile Command Center, or Destiny’s Bounty, with spaces set up for various lifestyle tasks like eating, sleeping, training, mission planning, research, or what-have-you.

I think I might be able to help ? 

https://captainmutantblog.wordpress.com/planetary-outpost/

[Digger of Bricks]

Here's a good, close-up look at that new helmet/ponytail mold, courtesy of Friends theme designer David Tauzia during TLG's Fan Media Days event in Bilund:

New Elementary - LEGO® FAN MEDIA DAYS 2018: WHAT HAPPENED 

[Exetrius]

Let me try to stir up a bit of conversation: if you were a space minifig, what profession would you like to have? 

• Pilot
• Soldier
• Squadron Commander
• Fleet Captain
• Mechanic
• Miner
• Scout/Explorer
• Scientist 
• Law Enforcer/Cop
• Engineer
• ... something else!

It's fun to imagine what the world would be like to a minifig and it may help to get some fresh ideas. 

I think I would like to be an Explorer or Pilot: always on the move, discovering things as-you-go and enjoying the ride. 

 

I'm in the space mood right now, as I've started working on a new space Ideas project and recently built another mobile suit (which I still need to photograph). 

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by Exetrius
added ones in green

[x105Black]

4 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Let me try to stir up a bit of conversation: if you were a space minifig, what profession would you like to have? 

Choosing from your list, I would say Scout / Explorer.  Scientist is also good, but I like the freedom of being an Explorer.

[Digger of Bricks]

7 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Let me try to stir up a bit of conversation: if you were a space minifig, what profession would you like to have? 

Among the selection you cited, my choice probably would be the Scout/Explorer, as it'd be an occupation which fuses Classic Space with the Adventurers genre, something I'd like to see in a potential theme down the road. 

7 hours ago, Exetrius said:

I'm in the space mood right now, as I've started working on a new space Ideas project and recently built another mobile suit (which I still need to photograph). 

Ooooh, is this mobile suit a part of this upcoming Ideas project of yours? 

[Aanchir]

On 6/17/2018 at 9:26 AM, Exetrius said:

Let me try to stir up a bit of conversation: if you were a space minifig, what profession would you like to have?

Given my taste for designing LEGO characters, creatures, etc (especially using Bionicle parts) I would probably design robots. Considering how many LEGO robot designs there were even in the Classic Space era, there's probably a lot of demand for robot designers in LEGO Space!

[Exetrius]

22 hours ago, x105Black said:

Choosing from your list, I would say Scout / Explorer.  Scientist is also good, but I like the freedom of being an Explorer.

20 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Among the selection you cited, my choice probably would be the Scout/Explorer, as it'd be an occupation which fuses Classic Space with the Adventurers genre, something I'd like to see in a potential theme down the road. 

3 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Given my taste for designing LEGO characters, creatures, etc (especially using Bionicle parts) I would probably design robots. Considering how many LEGO robot designs there were even in the Classic Space era, there's probably a lot of demand for robot designers in LEGO Space!

Good, good! And yes, there must be mecha engineers by the thousands out there!  

By the way, I added two new occupations, but if anyone else can think of other exciting additions please share! 

 

20 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Ooooh, is this mobile suit a part of this upcoming Ideas project of yours? 

Nope, it's a MOC I finished in May (and still haven't photographed properly, yet... ), this one:

That doesn't mean I wouldn't try to make a mobile suit set somewhere along the way. 

[Digger of Bricks]

On 6/17/2018 at 8:26 AM, Exetrius said:

I'm in the space mood right now, as I've started working on a new space Ideas project and recently built another mobile suit (which I still need to photograph). 

Speaking of Ideas projects, I just saw this one Classic Space themed submission that had been posted only yesterday, which has already gathered 650+ supporters as of the time of this post! Kinda unusual for a Classic Space project nowadays, don't you think? 

LEGO Ideas - Classic Space - Anniversary Set 40 Years 

10 hours ago, Exetrius said:

 By the way, I added two new occupations, but if anyone else can think of other exciting additions please share! 

Law Enforcer/Cop? Why of course! 

[bondp99]

12 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Speaking of Ideas projects, I just saw this one Classic Space themed submission that had been posted only yesterday, which has already gathered 650+ supporters as of the time of this post! Kinda unusual for a Classic Space project nowadays, don't you think? 

LEGO Ideas - Classic Space - Anniversary Set 40 Years

Really cool set but I doubt that TLG will make those old helmets again

 

btw now 815 supporters

Edited June 19, 2018 by bondp99

[Captain Mutant]

It’s amazing how fast it’s gathering support. I was put off though by the fact it only has two walls and no roof. But obviously that isn’t bothering most people ? 

[danth]

On 6/17/2018 at 6:26 AM, Exetrius said:

Let me try to stir up a bit of conversation: if you were a space minifig, what profession would you like to have? 

Robot Pilot! 

16 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Speaking of Ideas projects, I just saw this one Classic Space themed submission that had been posted only yesterday, which has already gathered 650+ supporters as of the time of this post! Kinda unusual for a Classic Space project nowadays, don't you think? 

LEGO Ideas - Classic Space - Anniversary Set 40 Years 

Wow. I really like those vehicles! Supported.

4 hours ago, bondp99 said:

Really cool set but I doubt that TLG will make those old helmets again

It's within the realm of possibility. They already remade the "cracked" version for Benny. A new non-cracked version would be a god-send. I'm hoping it happens for the new movie!

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

22 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Speaking of Ideas projects, I just saw this one Classic Space themed submission that had been posted only yesterday, which has already gathered 650+ supporters as of the time of this post! Kinda unusual for a Classic Space project nowadays, don't you think? 

LEGO Ideas - Classic Space - Anniversary Set 40 Years

Love the idea of getting the classic spacemen in new colors. I doubt we'll get this set but I supported it regardless! I am #901.

Edited June 20, 2018 by BrickHat

[Robert8]

16 minutes ago, BrickHat said:

Love the idea of getting the classic spacemen in new colors. I doubt we'll get this set but I supported it regardless! I am #901.

Benny was a pretty popular character in TLM. So there could be more classic space characters in the sequel