Mars Spacecraft Exploration Missions

[danth]

Has anyone bought this set?

o

It's a pretty nice set with printed parts and a cool space ship design. I bought it just because I really like the space ship on the box.

I guess there's an app you're supposed to download for instructions but there's no effing way I'm going to do that. Lego needs to include instructions, period. And stop forcing stupid apps on us. I was able to figure out how to build the spaceship just from the box and through the process of elimination. It's a really nice little ship.

But I also wanted to do an alt build. I didn't want to change the design too much, I just wanted to make it so the ship could split into two ships; i.e. implement a "combiner" gimmick. I came up with this:

The ship splits into two using the included clips & bar plates. After splitting, a small engine folds out of the smaller ship. When combined, the engine is pointed down and forms the a VTOL rocket and front landing pod.

The leftover parts were able to make a rover:

It's a pretty cool parts pack. However it's too expensive for it's part count by about $10, especially considering it's lack of printed instructions. If it was cheaper I would potentially buy multiples.

Oh and I posted this here because it's unquestionably a sci-fi set. I mean, it's a spaceship. Going to Mars.

[icm]

If I had all the money to buy every set I want I would get this one, but there’s so much good stuff this year that it’s very low on my list. I’m glad to hear you like it though. Knowing your discriminating tastes from our conversations on the forum, I consider any recommendation of a sci-fi spaceship type set from you a very high recommendation indeed :)

 Nice alt build there too! Good to see the set fulfilling its core function of being good for building and rebuilding into lots of fun wacky things.

[TeriXeri]

Just received this set, mainly as an expansion/parts pack, especially in combination with the Police mission which adds more tails/engines, and the "boat" can be turned into a 6 wide spaceship bottom.

I love this concept of type of set, and the no-instruction / app thing doesn't bother me.

Those builds are nice, and show what can be done.

Edited July 17, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Henchmen4Hire]

On 7/15/2022 at 11:53 PM, danth said:

I guess there's an app you're supposed to download for instructions but there's no effing way I'm going to do that. Lego needs to include instructions, period. And stop forcing stupid apps on us.

I understand why someone would argue for physical instructions and to avoid apps altogether, but this is probably the worst set possible to use for those arguments.

It makes sense to require whatever the app is (I'm guessing it's not the LEGO Instructions app) for this particular product, it's a major part of the experience. Kids are on their phones all day anyway, might as well distract them from Fakebook for a while and get them doing something more stimulating like this.

Going rogue and doing your own thing is cool in the world of LEGO, but it's not a valid reason to call whatever the app is "stupid". Maybe buy a set for your kid or nephew or something and see how they interact with the product as a whole.

I used the LEGO Instructions app for the first time recently to build some Speed Champions vehicles and didn't mind it. It sped up the build process a little not having to deal with a booklet, plus it's one less stack of paper to clutter my desk and storage.

[danth]

10 hours ago, Henchmen4Hire said:

I used the LEGO Instructions app for the first time recently to build some Speed Champions vehicles and didn't mind it. It sped up the build process a little not having to deal with a booklet, plus it's one less stack of paper to clutter my desk and storage.

Deal with a booklet? What's do deal with? Having something that doesn't require batteries and a screen and and internet connection and doesn't just disappear someday when Lego decides to remove it?

The more people that use the instruction app, the sooner Lego takes away physical instructions for good. I'm not going to encourage them.

[TeriXeri]

I did use the app for the other 2 City missions sets and liked what they offered in terms of experience, however, LEGO should at minimum offer PDF instructions if they don't want to do paper.

I mean, mario sets still have pdf instructions, and LEGO went out of their way to make alternate build instructions even recently for some 90th anniversary builds. 

PDF is also a whole lot easier to save, compatible with a lot, and for quick references you don't need to do through many screens of app-missions (8 missions per set)

I know freebuilding is the ultimate goal of this set, alongside missions to solve certain goals, as opposed to a Mario set, but I don't see how a an option for a pdf would detract from that.

Edited July 23, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Henchmen4Hire]

13 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

I did use the app for the other 2 City missions sets and liked what they offered in terms of experience, however, LEGO should at minimum offer PDF instructions if they don't want to do paper.

I opened the missions to see what they were like, and I like them, they're entertaining without being obnoxious or overly cute. Little rascal me would have loved to have something like this.

I know we can download PDF instructions for almost any other set, from the official LEGO website, though I saw that the PDF download for this set in particular funnels you over to the app again. Granted, that's weird since there are definitely instructions in the app, so not making them available the usual way is...weird. Def agree the PDF for the instructions themselves should be available as a standalone download.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Henchmen4Hire

[TeriXeri]

Quickly played through the missions yesterday, but overall I like the parts in this set for sure.

The return of the old X-wing windscreen in 2 sets now (white in this one, and trans-purple in a wakanda set) hopefully means it will be made more.

The Geode in darkgrey are new as well in that color, and it's nice there are 2 in this set, surprised they were not used in the other 2022 Moon sets, but they made 2 variants of a double-moulded boulder for that.

Edited July 26, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Lord Insanity]

I came really close to buying one of these today because I really like the concept, but then I saw the price was $39.99.  I was hesitant when I thought it was going to be $29.99, at $39.99 that is a big fat nope.  No where near enough parts in colors I care about for that price.  If those canopy parts were in trans-yellow, trans-dark blue, or trans-green (regular not neon) I might have gone for it even at $40.   Trans-light blue is never gonna happen at $40.

[jonwil]

I bought this during the Big W mid year sale here in Australia (along with the other 2 Missions sets) and I love it (and the sale price was cheap enough that I was willing to go for it)

 

 

[Mandalorianknight]

On 7/23/2022 at 6:15 AM, Henchmen4Hire said:

It makes sense to require whatever the app is (I'm guessing it's not the LEGO Instructions app) for this particular product, it's a major part of the experience. Kids are on their phones all day anyway, might as well distract them from Fakebook for a while and get them doing something more stimulating like this.

IMO, this seems to be lego's mindset, and I think its a huge misstep for them. So many of their new themes (Vidyo, Hidden Side, etc) rely on apps for the main gimmick, and seem to belay the thought that instead of trying to stop kids from being on their phones all the time, we should just "redirect them" to things that include both screens and physical bricks. So I have two arguments against it: a business one and a more real-world one.

1. The app integration doesn't seem to be all that sucessful. Hidden side made it the base 3 years, but they still functioned without screens pretty well, and was by no means a smash hit. Dimensions was cancelled before it's intended end, and I gurantee the only reason it made it as long as it did was because of all the exclusive liscensed figures. Fusion only lasted one wave. Vidyo was an atrocity and died hilariously quickly. Mario's a weird spot, since it's technology based but doesn't have quite as much app integration, and more importantly, lego could release a red 2x4 that says mario on the side and it would sell. Then look at lego's most successful non-liscened themes: Ninjago, city, friends. And while they might have tie-in shows or games, you don't need an app to play with the set as intended. Time and time again we see lego's app integration attempts fail, and for some reason they won't stop trying.

2. Why are we trying to integrate apps into legos in the first place? It feels to me like giving up and deciding, "well, kids are going to be on their phones all day anyway, might as well try and make legos fit in with that" when it feels like the right move might be for parents to, y'know, not let their kids use their phones all day. Especially when you consider lego's target age range for most of these is 6-12.

On 7/23/2022 at 4:33 PM, danth said:

Deal with a booklet? What's do deal with? Having something that doesn't require batteries and a screen and and internet connection and doesn't just disappear someday when Lego decides to remove it?

The more people that use the instruction app, the sooner Lego takes away physical instructions for good. I'm not going to encourage them.

Exactly. I'd guess we're no more than 10 years out from lego trying to remove instructions from standard sets under the guise of being "environmentally conscious" or "not wanting to waste paper" or something. 

On 7/23/2022 at 6:15 AM, Henchmen4Hire said:

I used the LEGO Instructions app for the first time recently to build some Speed Champions vehicles and didn't mind it. It sped up the build process a little not having to deal with a booklet, plus it's one less stack of paper to clutter my desk and storage.

Sorry, last thing. How difficult exactly do you find the instruction booklet to be? More than that.. do you keep all your physical instructions? Like, I'll keep the ones from really rare or expensive sets, or the ones that are big enough to be bound and not just stapled, but... every set?

Edited August 21, 2022 by Mandalorianknight

[Henchmen4Hire]

On 8/21/2022 at 7:41 AM, Mandalorianknight said:

and seem to belay the thought

You lost me here, did you intend to use "belay" or a different word?

On 8/21/2022 at 7:41 AM, Mandalorianknight said:

Time and time again we see lego's app integration attempts fail, and for some reason they won't stop trying.

I'm fine with that, it's not like I'm the one funding these experiments anyway. I hope they keep trying with all sorts of themes and eventually develop something awesome.

I'm not strongly in favor or against any of this stuff, what I'm in favor of is seeing cool stuff developed, whatever shape it may take.

On 8/21/2022 at 7:41 AM, Mandalorianknight said:

when it feels like the right move might be for parents to, y'know, not let their kids use their phones all day.

Sure, but realistically that's not going to happen, the problem is only going to get worse as tech gets flashier and flashier. As a toy company, it makes sense for the Lego peeps to try to tap into that addiction.

Booklets: To me, they're superfluous, redundant, etc. I live in a modern country and have access to the internet 99% of the time, I'm not sweating at the thought of booklets going away.

I also don't collect Lego as an investment, If I could buy just the poly bags directly from the company at a reduced price I would.

[Mandalorianknight]

13 hours ago, Henchmen4Hire said:

You lost me here, did you intend to use "belay" or a different word?

Yeah I'll be honest with you I have absolutely no idea what word was supposed to go there. Reinforce is what should be there, but I have no idea how that turned into belay.

13 hours ago, Henchmen4Hire said:

I'm fine with that, it's not like I'm the one funding these experiments anyway. I hope they keep trying with all sorts of themes and eventually develop something awesome.

I mean, if you're buying legos at all, you are funding these experiments, at least indirectly. Lego can't keep making themes that flop unless people keep buying sets. It's money better spent on new molds/marketing/pay raises/literally anything besides this. Even if they feel the need to keep that budget for R&D, I don't think they need to focus on technology integration. Not everything needs to have to be charged or connect to a phone.

13 hours ago, Henchmen4Hire said:

Sure, but realistically that's not going to happen, the problem is only going to get worse as tech gets flashier and flashier. As a toy company, it makes sense for the Lego peeps to try to tap into that addiction.

 Lego's been around for almost a century. Technology has advanced greatly over that time period. And lego's bestselling sets generally aren't stuff like vidiyo or hidden side, it's standard system sets. In contrast, very few of their attempts to "tap in" to technology with the sets themselves work. (The only two with any success have been mindstorms/boost and mario, and again, literally anything mario sells.)  

14 hours ago, Henchmen4Hire said:

Booklets: To me, they're superfluous, redundant, etc. I live in a modern country and have access to the internet 99% of the time, I'm not sweating at the thought of booklets going away.

....I mean there's a few things here.

1. You have internet access 99% of the time. Great. Not everyone does. I live in a pretty suburban area, not exactly in the mountains somewhere, and even my internet's spotty sometimes. Should my ability to build a lego set depend on how many cellular bars I have? More than that, what about the people who rarely do have internet access? And even more than that, what about kids? Most 6-12 year olds don't have mobile phones. You want them to be unable to build lego sets without borrowing their parents? Or do you just think all kids should have internet accessing devices at the age of 6?

2. Even if we're in some hypothetical scenario where everyone has constant, great internet access and every kid for some reason has a mobile phone, availability isn't the only concern here. A lot of people, myself included, build lego sets as a way to get away from screens for a few minutes. I think there'd be a lot of backlash if lego decided it was a smart idea to make it so you couldn't build a set without a phone.

I might be coming off a little belligerent here, but it honestly really bugs me how casually you're ready to cast aside instruction booklets.

[rriggs]

I got this set in a closing down sale locally

i understood the app was required to build it but naively assumed that a PDF or similar instructions would be available through the app

OK, I said, let’s go through the missions and build it that way. Except you can’t. Apart from the hull of the ship and some ancillaries they build is never completed in the app/missions. Each bag end with a do what you want sentiment and by the end of the missions you have 60% of a spacecraft and a huge pile of spare pieces

As I said, I was expecting the app but never thought that you wouldn’t get a completed set at the end of it. The customisation/ideas concept and spare pieces to achieve it isn’t bad but the failure to show you how to complete the base model is not good

Very happy with the minifigs and the LEGO Space flag though 

I’m just glad I didn’t pay full price for it!

Edited August 27, 2022 by rriggs

[TeriXeri]

Not having a "complete" model is entirely the point of the type of set as they mention those parts are put in the box for scenarios (app).

The official image shows what's pretty much leftover after the app builds are done / 

I'd still prefer if there was a PDF or something for the base-builds instead of using the app, but I don't think the app ruins the purpose of the type of set.

I think it makes good use of the parts budget,  multiple types of Flames, Wings, Rocket boosters etc are rare to get in a normal small set in this amount.

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by TeriXeri

[rriggs]

Scenarios and customisation using the additional parts I have no issue with. The app isn’t too much of an issue (as I generally use my iPad and PDFs to build anyway)

My disappointment was simply the missing steps to complete the model. Probably doesn’t help that I don’t normally buy space sets so my experience and imagination when it comes to finishing the set myself is lacking

I also got the pickup truck Missions set in the closing down sale but now that I know what to expect and as regular vehicles are much more in my wheelhouse this will hopefully be less strange for me

 

[Henchmen4Hire]

On 8/26/2022 at 10:47 AM, Mandalorianknight said:

 I might be coming off a little belligerent here, but it honestly really bugs me how casually you're ready to cast aside instruction booklets. 

Not belligerent, but it seems to me like you think I want LEGO to go full blown Skynet with cyber integrations in every brick or something haha. I just have no need for booklets.

I like to see new ideas and ways to interact with products, regardless of if they flop. I like the Hidden Side and Vidya (yo?) and whatever that monkey warrior theme is and the set this topic is [supposed to be] about, etc. They're...interesting, and I appreciate them for what they are. I may not buy them, but I like that they exist and hope more cool, crazy, weird stuff keeps coming.

Edited September 7, 2022 by Henchmen4Hire

[lowlead]

It's a pretty good space parts pack and I might pick one up eventually.

Also, I could definitely see a 6 or 7 yr old having a meltdown because they can't finish the exact ship pictured on the box step by step.  I'm not against apps entirely, but I'm strongly in favor of complete instructions always being available in downloadable pdf format on the website.  Creativity, adventure, etc...yes, I get it.  I'd like to think that LEGO already knows not all kids necessarily want this open-ended build experience, and some prefer to be guided to achieve the exact thing on the box at the end.

$ .02