Anyone want to talk about the Mars Mission Sets?

[LegoDW]

Hello.  Just got a bunch of Mars Mission Sets.  Checking to see if anyone want to discuss the sets, moc's, thoughts, whatever.  Had a alternate thread but was more galaxy squad vs Mars Mission.  

Realize this is a older theme so not sure AFOL interests.  Wish we had an current theme but what are you gona do?  

 

[LM71Blackbird]

I thought they were kinda cool. I got the ETX Alien Mothership Assault (set # 7691) when I was about 8 or 9. It was a used set so it's missing a few pieces, but it was a fun build. I think every kid goes through a space phase before they find their preferred building theme.

[icm]

The Life on Mars theme came out when I was a kid, and the Mars Mission theme followed when I was in my Dark Ages.  I was aware of it, but I though it was pretty terrible compared to Life on Mars - so unrealistic, so violent, such ugly aliens, so orange!  When I got back into Lego and started reading the Eurobricks and Brickset forums again, I was very surprised to see how fondly Mars Mission is remembered by a lot of AFOLs now, mainly the set in whose childhoods Mars Mission was released.  Looking at the sets with a dispassionate eye, I can see that a lot of them have pretty clever transforming functions and building techniques, and I can see the references to Classic Space in the theme pretty clearly, so I understand why a lot of people remember them fondly.  However, they're still too violent, ugly, and garishly orange for my taste.

[danth]

I think Mars Mission has aged somewhat well, besides the crappy alien figures.

Pros:

• Good designs for the human vehicles -- the drill walker is legitimately awesome
• Classic Space logo
• Space!

Cons:

• Story based on a single real planet; limiting
• Alien vehicles were kinda lame and were forced into each set for "conflict"
• Smaller alien figs were super lame
• No air tanks?!
• Not a huge fan of orange
• Bronzed visors look kinda cheap IMO; should have been trans orange or blue

[LegoDW]

I have 7 Mars mission sets now.  Some I love, some not so much. What do you think I should do with the following. Wanting to set up some sort of display.  Thinking my Chima sets will be teaming up with the Marsions against the humans.

These sets I love

MT21 Mobile mining unit

MX-71 Drop Ship (my favorite of the sets I own)

ETX alien strike

MX-11 Astro Fighter

MT-31 trike

These sets I don't really care for and thinking about rebuilding into something else
MX-81 Hypersonic Operations.  This set is just to large and no really not a good base, ship or whatever.  Did split off the two cockpits into space craft.

MT-51 Claw Tank.  I am missing the top section (platform and canopy).  Really don't like the claw, tank tracks and wheels really don't go together.  

Anyone have any good ideas

 

23 hours ago, LM71Blackbird said:

 I think every kid goes through a space phase before they find their preferred building theme.

I got the buildings first.  Now in my space phase.  How many space sets do you have?

23 hours ago, icm said:

The Life on Mars theme came out when I was a kid, and the Mars Mission theme followed when I was in my Dark Ages.  I was aware of it, but I though it was pretty terrible compared to Life on Mars - so unrealistic, so violent, such ugly aliens, so orange!  When I got back into Lego and started reading the Eurobricks and Brickset forums again, I was very surprised to see how fondly Mars Mission is remembered by a lot of AFOLs now, mainly the set in whose childhoods Mars Mission was released.  Looking at the sets with a dispassionate eye, I can see that a lot of them have pretty clever transforming functions and building techniques, and I can see the references to Classic Space in the theme pretty clearly, so I understand why a lot of people remember them fondly.  However, they're still too violent, ugly, and garishly orange for my taste.

The orange has grown on me.  The aliens......not so much.  They look cool, but you really can't do much with them.  Life on Mars had some really interesting aliens.  What did you think about the aliens from conquest?

5 hours ago, danth said:

I think Mars Mission has aged somewhat well, besides the crappy alien figures.

Pros:

• Good designs for the human vehicles -- the drill walker is legitimately awesome
• Classic Space logo
• Space!

Cons:

• Story based on a single real planet; limiting
• Alien vehicles were kinda lame and were forced into each set for "conflict"
• Smaller alien figs were super lame
• No air tanks?!
• Not a huge fan of orange
• Bronzed visors look kinda cheap IMO; should have been trans orange or blue

Agree except for the alien spaceships.  Two I have are really just awesome!  

[LM71Blackbird]

1 hour ago, LegoDW said:

I got the buildings first.  Now in my space phase.  How many space sets do you have?

I have the one Mars Mission set. My collection is kinda limited. I have a bunch of the old space themes elements, but I have no idea what sets they might build. I usually went for the city sets and now I prefer age of sail kind of stuff.

[icm]

^^I like the aliens from Space Police 3, Alien Conquest, and Galaxy Squad.  The prints are great, and the sculpts are goofy and detailed.  Those are fun, silly aliens that aren't really threatening, and wouldn't look out of place in a CGI cartoon for kids.  The Mars Mission aliens, on the other hand, are very crude sculpts with virtually no detail, and they're meant to be scary, ugly, threatening aliens - they would look out of place in Chicken Little, but not in Alien.  I just don't go for that kind of stuff.  All this said, I haven't yet convinced myself to buy any Alien Conquest or Galaxy Squad sets.

[LegoDW]

39 minutes ago, LM71Blackbird said:

I have the one Mars Mission set. My collection is kinda limited. I have a bunch of the old space themes elements, but I have no idea what sets they might build. I usually went for the city sets and now I prefer age of sail kind of stuff.

I am unfamiliar with the Age of Sail stuff.  Did a quick google search and looks like custom moc of older sailing vessels. Looks like there are some really nice moc's here.  Can see why you would want to collect/create these.  My boat themed sets are all city based.  I had planned on having a larger area set aside for a harbor/sea in my city.  Unfortunately it got downsized as other parts of my city grew.  

Do you display your Mars Mission set or does it clash to much with your nautical theme?

 

11 minutes ago, icm said:

.  All this said, I haven't yet convinced myself to buy any Alien Conquest or Galaxy Squad sets.

I really like the Galaxy Squad humans and bug alien min figs.  Prefer the Blue team for human mini figs.  Not that familiar with Alien Conquest, but after a quick search looks like they have some good mini figs.  They have blue suited humans!  Aliens look so much better then Mars Mission.

As for the sets, I own one Galaxy sets, the praying mantis set.  Some days I like the alien bugs, others I don't.  Most days usually prefer space ships to bugs thou.  Have to say prefer the bugs to the human space craft in Galaxy Squad in design.  

Do you own any Mars Mission Sets?

 

[LM71Blackbird]

10 minutes ago, LegoDW said:

I am unfamiliar with the Age of Sail stuff.  Did a quick google search and looks like custom moc of older sailing vessels. Looks like there are some really nice moc's here.  Can see why you would want to collect/create these.  My boat themed sets are all city based.  I had planned on having a larger area set aside for a harbor/sea in my city.  Unfortunately it got downsized as other parts of my city grew.  

Do you display your Mars Mission set or does it clash to much with your nautical theme?

 

Yeah, I spend most of my time on Eurobricks over in the pirates discussion. Well, my room is pretty small so unfortunately I don't have to much space for displaying models. I usually build digitally because of that. It keeps my room organized and my brick collection isn't too big at the moment. I've got some models on my flickr that you might find interesting if you click my signature.

[icm]

^^ Nope, Mars Mission is one theme I skip over pretty fast when I've playing with my Brickset wanted list, pretending my Lego budget is much bigger than it really is.  However, I recently got a Life on Mars set (Solar Explorer) that I really wanted as a kid.  As an adult, I find it pretty disappointing.  I also got a Space Police 3 set (Hyperspeed Pursuit) that I missed in my Dark Ages, and that one's a mixed bag.

[LegoDW]

21 hours ago, icm said:

^^ Nope, Mars Mission is one theme I skip over pretty fast when I've playing with my Brickset wanted list, pretending my Lego budget is much bigger than it really is.  However, I recently got a Life on Mars set (Solar Explorer) that I really wanted as a kid.  As an adult, I find it pretty disappointing.  I also got a Space Police 3 set (Hyperspeed Pursuit) that I missed in my Dark Ages, and that one's a mixed bag.

I like the space police space ship in this set.  What about the set is keeping you from a big thumbs up?

22 hours ago, LM71Blackbird said:

Yeah, I spend most of my time on Eurobricks over in the pirates discussion. Well, my room is pretty small so unfortunately I don't have to much space for displaying models. I usually build digitally because of that. It keeps my room organized and my brick collection isn't too big at the moment. I've got some models on my flickr that you might find interesting if you click my signature.

I like your buildings, this one is my favorite.  What does the 617 signify?

 

 

<img width="782" height="440" src="//c1.staticflickr.com/2/1757/42352778531_548ac00dec_c.jpg" class="main-photo" alt="QV14.1 | by LM71Blackbird">

 

 

 

[icm]

The canopy of the police ship is attached with too many studs, making it difficult to remove and replace without damaging the rest of the build.  Inside, the controls of the police ship look great, but they're too fragile, making it difficult to place the minifig at the controls and remove it therefrom.

[LM71Blackbird]

1 hour ago, LegoDW said:

I like your buildings, this one is my favorite.  What does the 617 signify?

Thanks! In Brethren of the Brick Seas (a lego role playing game) we use different dates. So instead of 2018, the 6 replaces the 20 and 17 replaces 18. So in the game the year is 617.

[Digger of Bricks]

I have many disassembled components and instruction manuals from a number of Mars Mission sets, not to mention a good handful of astronaut figures from them too.

As for what I currently think of the theme as a whole, I sort of liked it, but I guess I would've changed the White on the astronauts' spacecraft to some other sort of base color to complement the solid and transparent orange accents and canopies. The alien craft, on the other hand, didn't bug me at all honestly, as they did have a somewhat Blacktron-like semblance to a degree.

As for which was my favorite set from the theme's entire run, it'd have to perhaps be either the MT-61 Crystal Reaper or the MT-201 Ultra Drill Walker.

[LegoDW]

So I got tired of looking at my M-51 claw tank.  Don't really like this set.  So far I have reworked the treads/wheels.  I added a 3rd wheel to each side to make a more conventical tank tread and deleted the two large orange wheels. Also I took the lasers off one of the arms and mounted them on the tread assembly.  Looks better.  Reworked the control center.  Not trying to figure out what to do with the claw and rest of the build.  Will post some pictures.

23 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

As for which was my favorite set from the theme's entire run, it'd have to perhaps be either the MT-61 Crystal Reaper or the MT-201 Ultra Drill Walker.

The Drill Walker is nice.  I like the ETX Alien Infiltrator Mech and MX-71 Recon Drop Ship.  

[jmn610]

The Mars Mission sets were my favorite Lego theme by far. Looking back, they were if nothing else, way too orange. As far as I know, I own every set they made. There were a few small sets that were scrapped when they canceled the set series. A few got around in France if I remember right, however, they are very easy to assemble from spare parts.

I might also note, a ton of the popularity came out of the Lego. com game. It was quite fun.

[Digger of Bricks]

From many of the used sets I do have, all the Trans-Light Orange canopies that you can part out from them are great to use for "Classic Space Evolved" creations, especially since I don't have many (if any) Trans-Yellow canopies, so they can act as a fair substitute. 

[mon-o-mat]

I actually like the colors. I don't know why, but the idea of a massive white vehilce standing in the red dust of mars is somehow appealing to me. Most of the later vehicles are quite good, but I dislike most of the first wave. But the aliens where kinda boring and most of their vehicles were to similiar.

What I noticed is that basically all the visors are ugly now, because the gold color is wearing of.

Some Moc I created a while ago with LDD:

Edited July 24, 2018 by mon-o-mat

[LegoDW]

Sorry for the delay in posting my modified Claw Tank pictures.  As stated above, I got this set used and it was missing the top command platform.  Basically I really just did not like this set when it was built. My moc process is as follows

1) Started with the tank treads.  So I like the tank treads (wish they were real treads like the other set).  I decided they would look cooler if I moved them on the inside of the new moc.  I custom built a new frame for them going with 3 spindles instead of the original 2.  Also got rid of the 2 large orange wheels (not sure what TLG was thinking).

2) The next thing I focused on was the main deck of the moc.  I build it with only variable direction going up and down (used the elbows of the original arms).  Tried to build so could move left and right too but platform was just to unstable.  This really isn't an issue now as the new tank is very maneuverable side to side (spins on it tracks now)

3) I kept the original Claw in the base just for sentimental reasons.  Also moved the alien holder vessels to the rear of the tank.

 

Anyhow.  I really like the set now.  Looks great with my other Mars Mission sets.  Next time will clean my assemble table a bit more before I take any pictures.  What do you all think?  Is this better then the original Claw Tank?

 

[Digger of Bricks]

A leaked catalog image showcasing a few of the upcoming Avengers: Endgame sets include a new Quinjet build in Earth Blue and Trans-Light Orange predominately. Namely, it has Trans-Light Orange recolors of 35303 (a.k.a. the Speed Champions canopy) and what looks to be 35404 from TLBM Batmobile. 

[Lyichir]

I wasn't a huge fan of the sets when they came out, but the game Lego Battles for the Nintendo DS made me warm up to them somewhat. I kind of wish more alien architecture had been featured like in that game—the ships had a fairly unique Giger-esque aesthetic and some outposts or bases with a similar look could have been amazing.

[LegoDW]

On ‎2‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 7:13 PM, Lyichir said:

I wasn't a huge fan of the sets when they came out, but the game Lego Battles for the Nintendo DS made me warm up to them somewhat. I kind of wish more alien architecture had been featured like in that game—the ships had a fairly unique Giger-esque aesthetic and some outposts or bases with a similar look could have been amazing.

I still like the sets, favor the bad guy ships, the mini figs not so much.  Hear TLG is coming out with a revised Mars Mission theme, based on actual ships not fantasy.  Interesting in seeing these new sets.

[Digger of Bricks]

On 2/13/2019 at 5:26 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

A leaked catalog image showcasing a few of the upcoming Avengers: Endgame sets include a new Quinjet build in Earth Blue and Trans-Light Orange predominately. Namely, it has Trans-Light Orange recolors of 35303 (a.k.a. the Speed Champions canopy) and what looks to be 35404 from TLBM Batmobile. 

...and here it is officially! 

[icm]

Looks like the Avengers are getting some help from the Nexo Knights to me!

[Digger of Bricks]

13 hours ago, icm said:

Looks like the Avengers are getting some help from the Nexo Knights to me!

As I've also mentioned over on the Marvel topic back when the catalog leaked, I think more of this guy from Series 7 in terms of color scheme rather than Nexo Knights: