10497 Galaxy Explorer 90th anniversary set

[jodawill]

29 minutes ago, CP5670 said:

Agreed, tiles are generally more useful than printed slopes or bricks, especially since you can always set them at an angle to get the same look as slopes. I hope they offer that tile on Bricks and Pieces (or whatever it's called now), so we can get them in decent quantity.

I'm curious to see if someone can come up with a technique to make the tile flush with the slopes. It's a bit off in this B model:

It may not be possible to get it perfectly flush, but I wonder if there's a blue angled SNOT brick that has a 33 degree angle. If there is, that might look better. I'll have to go see if I can find something on Bricklink.

Edit: I was thinking of something like this, but this seems to be the only piece they've made that works like that.

Edited July 21, 2022 by jodawill

[GeoBrick]

On this smallest alternative build, I have the impression its better to use one of the old printed slopes (if available in your parts collection). And shorten the cockpit area with a stud on the front side for good measure.

But basically, it looks a tad too big for a one-man ship.

[Wonderpants]

I’m just hoping someone does some 3rd party 1x6 bricks with LL918 and LL924 printed on them. 

Not including them does seem like the biggest disappointment with this set. 

[icm]

If you count the studs, the 918 here is just about the same overall length as the last T-70 X-wing model.  It has a smaller wingspan but much thicker, bulkier wings.  Without building either of the two in Studio I'd call it a toss-up as to which is more massive.  So this 918 is pushing the limits of the typical Lego single-seat starfighter size class, but it's not definitively oversized.  Just scaled up in proportion like the 924 and the 928.  I do think it's interesting that the 924 here is larger and bulkier than the original 928 set, but that's only to be expected if the 928 has been scaled up 50% in every direction.

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, jodawill said:

I'm curious to see if someone can come up with a technique to make the tile flush with the slopes. It's a bit off in this B model:

 

It may not be possible to get it perfectly flush, but I wonder if there's a blue angled SNOT brick that has a 33 degree angle. If there is, that might look better. I'll have to go see if I can find something on Bricklink.

Edit: I was thinking of something like this, but this seems to be the only piece they've made that works like that.

There isn't much in the way of fixed-angled SNOT bricks, but you could probably come up with a close match with hinges. Here's a quick and dirty attempt at it using only a few parts—you could potentially get it even closer by varying the hinge type and its position relative to both the tile and base to get it angled and positioned exactly how you want.

[jodawill]

2 hours ago, Lyichir said:

There isn't much in the way of fixed-angled SNOT bricks, but you could probably come up with a close match with hinges. Here's a quick and dirty attempt at it using only a few parts—you could potentially get it even closer by varying the hinge type and its position relative to both the tile and base to get it angled and positioned exactly how you want.

Thanks for the illustration. I think that does look better than the B model. It will be fun to do some modifications to each of these models once the set is released.

[Elephant Knight]

7 hours ago, GeoBrick said:

On this smallest alternative build, I have the impression its better to use one of the old printed slopes (if available in your parts collection). And shorten the cockpit area with a stud on the front side for good measure.

But basically, it looks a tad too big for a one-man ship.

It just means the pilot has lots of elbow room!

EKnight

[TeriXeri]

Really my only nitpick in terms of tiles/prints would be a lack of something like a brick or 2x2 tile with a space logo as the original had a logo behind the cockpit, but overall it's not a big deal.

 

For something like a 1986-1988 white space base/vehicle I'd just use the 2022 City space logos.

Those aren't exactly gold-backed Classic logos, but the design is close enough for me for a modern MOC, and they are prints with white backgrounds.

Edited July 22, 2022 by TeriXeri

[jodawill]

46 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

Really my only nitpick in terms of tiles/prints would be a lack of something like a brick or 2x2 tile with a space logo as the original had a logo behind the cockpit, but overall it's not a big deal.

 

For something like a 1986-1988 white space base/vehicle I'd just use the 2022 City space logos.

Those aren't exactly gold-backed Classic logos, but the design is close enough for me for a modern MOC, and they are prints with white backgrounds.

That cheese wedge would look really good on a small, single person ship. I hope I can get those from PAB next time I order.

[danth]

3 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

It's interesting that Lego has decided to reuse the Space symbol but assign it different colors for different missions/planets. Cool in a way, but also makes each print less useful. I don't really want to use either of those for traditional Space MOCs. Although I guess I could assign them new missions/planets. Maybe the blue one for Seatron (ocean planet) and the orange one for some desert exo-planet.

There's even a silver logo, I assume for Moon missions, on a sticker for the Moon drone from Lunar Research Base. The blue and orange astronaut torsos also have the silver logo for some reason.

[Lyichir]

17 minutes ago, danth said:

It's interesting that Lego has decided to reuse the Space symbol but assign it different colors for different missions/planets. Cool in a way, but also makes each print less useful. I don't really want to use either of those for traditional Space MOCs. Although I guess I could assign them new missions/planets. Maybe the blue one for Seatron (ocean planet) and the orange one for some desert exo-planet.

There's even a silver logo, I assume for Moon missions, on a sticker for the Moon drone from Lunar Research Base. The blue and orange astronaut torsos also have the silver logo for some reason.

Honestly I've liked the way City has used variations of the Classic Space icon for NASA-esque "mission patches". Yes, less useful for "true" Classic Space MOCs, but it's still a fun reference to that history as well as to the type of iconography that inspired the Classic Space logo in the first place.

So far some of the variants have included things like these two (rocket orbiting around the "dark side of the moon" and rocket orbiting around Mars) as well as ones for orbital missions with the red rocket rotating around Earth. Sometimes I think it'd be fun to MOC a futuristic "museum of Space history" that traces the timeline from these sorts of modern-day space missions to the Classic Space future we know and love.

[TeriXeri]

I do hope if City returns to Mars again, they the logo style will be consistent with the 2022 "mars" missions set and use the orange planet, and not the 2019 style.

Not that the 2019 logo or figures are bad, it fit really well with the orange colors, and the orange visor figures were my favorite.

New Mars astronaut suits could use orange backpacks instead of the azure ones from 2022.

 

As for Classic Space, I do hope more sets will be made before retirement of 10497 , if it's inspired by an original set, best option would be 6971: Inter-Galactic Command Base , it's a base, and it had a blue, yellow and black space figure which would compliment the Explorer for sure.

Could be interesting to see 6 wide window frames and angled windows filled with trans-yellow windows.

Angled window frames are in production in this version.

Edited July 22, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Lyichir]

29 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

I do hope if City returns to Mars again, they the logo style will be consistent with the 2022 "mars" missions set and use the orange planet, and not the 2019 style.

Not that the 2019 logo or figures are bad, it fit really well with the orange colors, and the orange visor figures were my favorite.

New Mars astronaut suits could use orange backpacks instead of the azure ones from 2022.

 

As for Classic Space, I do hope more sets will be made before retirement of 10497 , if it's inspired by an original set, best option would be 6971: Inter-Galactic Command Base , it's a base, and it had a blue, yellow and black space figure which would compliment the Explorer for sure.

Could be interesting to see 6 wide window frames and angled windows filled with trans-yellow windows.

Angled window frames are in production in this version.

 

To be honest, a part of me hopes that if we get a moonbase-type set it's something original instead of being based strictly on one older set.

I've been trying to come up with a moonbase to go with the Galactic Explorer, and when trying to base it on an older set one thing I kept noticing was that none of the older moonbases really seemed ideal. There were neat features, but they were often scattered between sets. Moreover, trying to update the older moonbases to the same high standard of the new Explorer, almost ALL of them were lacking in certain ways. For example, while the new Explorer is fully enclosed and even has a sliding bulkhead door to separate the interior from the cargo bay (ensuring that it can always be airtight even when deploying the rover), pretty much all Classic Space-era moonbases were either partially or fully exposed to the elements, with even the more enclosed ones having entry directly via an open back.

This isn't entirely unlike the challenge described by the designers of the Lion Knights' Castle set, when they found that no single classic castle set really represented all of the best of what the castle theme had to offer. And their decision to instead create an original castle, inspired partly by older sets but combining some of the best features with ones that the classic sets had little precedent for at all, yielded truly impressive results. I feel like a similar approach could do incredibly well for classic space, creating a base that takes inspiration from the aesthetic of older bases but polishes them into a much more finished-looking base, combining features from classic sets including command centers, dormitories, launch platforms, vehicle bays, and monorail transit into something that doesn't just do justice to those older sets but improves upon them.

That's not to say that if they can manage to update a single base into something as impressive as this new Explorer I'd be disappointed. But I think a true "ultimate base" is more likely to result from a more original approach.

[TeriXeri]

39 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

But I think a true "ultimate base" is more likely to result from a more original approach.

Oh I agree here, something original would definately be prefered, I mainly picked that set example due to the original having the yellow, blue, black figure combination.

A combined base with multiple buildings (hinged for example), and platforms, along with plenty of communications, launch and some crater inspired terrain would be great, a full size 10497 landing pad might be a bit too much, but it depends on the type of budget.

 

Edited July 22, 2022 by TeriXeri

[technicfanatic]

Some review videos have given us the part list pages for this set - is someone creating a list to have available for stud.io? Or will LEGO give an official parts list that we can use?

[Warbinator]

I'm surprised that the tiled logo piece here is controversial. I'm really excited about it, and it will be great for a huge variety of MOCs. The slopes are limiting in that they always have to be placed at an angle, but a tile can be placed vertically on the side of a craft, placed flat on a wing, or in just about any conceivable configuration. This opens up a lot of options for versatile uses of the logo.

[danth]

Apparently these bad boys are getting ready to ship!

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, danth said:

Apparently these bad boys are getting ready to ship!

I saw one person on Facebook mention that not only has their preorder shipped, but the GWP Forest Hideout (rumored to be rereleased starting on the first of the month) was apparently added to their shipment. Sounds like a nice surprise!

Edited July 28, 2022 by Lyichir

[TeriXeri]

32 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

I saw one person on Facebook mention that not only has their preorder shipped, but the GWP Forest Hideout (rumored to be rereleased starting on the first of the month) was apparently added to their shipment. Sounds like a nice surprise!

I can't preorder this set in Europe, but if I try pre-order something like the Avatar Tree (which would ship october 1st), the current GWP (40529: Children's Amusement Park until July 31st) does get added to order.

Edited July 28, 2022 by TeriXeri

[icm]

The Forest Hideout was the GWP when I placed my pre-order for 10497 in June. My card was just charged for the purchase and the tracking number says it should be delivered on Monday. However, the Forest Hideout GWP will be shipped separately and its tracking number has no delivery date.  We'll see if it gets here!

[lowlead]

^^ Similar situation here.  The Forest Hideout appears to be shipping separately with a tracking number already assigned, while the two 10497s are In Warehouse.  Curious.

[danth]

1 hour ago, lowlead said:

^^ Similar situation here.  The Forest Hideout appears to be shipping separately with a tracking number already assigned, while the two 10497s are In Warehouse.  Curious.

Same. The Explorer isn't supposed to be "released" yet. But, not sure why they wouldn't just send it if they have it sitting there. EDIT: I guess they're probably processing orders now, and it probably takes a while to process them all, get them into shipping boxes, etc.

Edited July 28, 2022 by danth

[Lion King]

Not sure if I understand why some of you are concerned that the Galaxy Explorer is not released  while Forest Hideout was shipped with its own tracking ID#?  If my memory serves orrectly, it should be released on August 1 if we pre-order and then it would be avaiaable more widely on August 4. Please correct me if I am mistaken. So I kinda don’t see an “issue” myself. 

 

[danth]

1 minute ago, DBlegonerd7 said:

Not sure if I understand why some of you are concerned that the Galaxy Explorer is not released  while Forest Hideout was shipped with its own tracking ID#?  If my memory serves orrectly, it should be released on August 1 if we pre-order and then it would be avaiaable more widely on August 4. Please correct me if I am mistaken. So I kinda don’t see an “issue” myself.

It's not really an issue. Maybe slightly puzzling tho, to not just wait a few days and send both together to save a box.

Wait! I just got notification my Explorers have shipped!!! 😍😍😍

Not sure if it has really shipped but I have a tracking number...could just mean it's ready to go to the carrier. But I got the shipping notification for my Forest Hideout this morning, and it's is already at the Fed Ex warehouse.

[lowlead]

@DBlegonerd7 Neither an 'issue' or 'concern' as you put it, just a curiosity.  As Danth said, why not wait and save a box and a delivery stop by shipping them together on the 1st?  Seems wasteful, but if that's their system so be it.