Mars Mission is much better than most give it credit

[Scorcher43]

Mars Mission had its flaws of course, the absurdly high sticker count in many sets being the bane of children building sets and collectors efforts to complete them and sure, two piece green aliens aren't a brilliant minifigure design on its own. But I do believe that the theme has been overlooked enough and as a fan I would like to present my reasoning. 

The greatest aspect of the theme is its excellent vehicle designs. The Astronaut vehicles are quite impressive and as aside from a few exceptions, they have the consistent vision of being civilian mining vehicles drafted into military service. Take the Claw Tank for example, between its massive grabbing claw, the elevated glass cockpit designed for spatial awareness more than protection and its cargo tubes, it’s clear this was intended as a cargo hauler. Furthermore, the Crystal Reaper is literally just a crystal harvester with a single gun and a couple of missiles strapped on for self-defence. These aren't the weapons of an organised invading army, it’s the desperate defence force thrown together with what they had. The alien’s designs are also excellent, all of them being sleek, pointed, designed for speed and stealth, the complete opposite of the Astro's rugged and heavy vehicles. They truly look alien, almost animal-like in some respects with the red teeth accents and flowing green tentacles. 

I will also issue a small defence of the figure designs themselves. The alien drone designs whilst being lack lustre are purpose built for the sake of their vehicles, you know, the thing you’re buying the sets for. Being only two studs wide, they can fit in places where conventional minifigures cannot, which helps with the design of the vehicles as it makes them far less bulky than they could be. Whilst I admit that perhaps the battle droid design could have been used instead, I think it would take away the more unique aspect of the alien drone design and would simply be a copy of the Life on Mars aliens. The astronauts are also perfectly fine, sure they all have the same uniforms, but each has a unique face print as well which does bring some variety. Keeping in mind this is fundamentally in-universe meant to be the early days of Lego space exploration, so it would stand to reason that they wouldn’t all have personalised uniforms yet.

In particular, I think it’s actually very poor the fact that many are so opposed to the conflict in a box formula, when it emphasises the play aspect of the sets. Sure, pacifism and more diplomatic space themes have their appeal, but I think we need to remember these weren't designed with AFOLs in mind and most kids usually aren’t entertained by pure exploration. Most kids probably won't be getting more than one set for a while as well, unless birthdays and Christmas’s are close together, hence its prudent to get both factions into the single set so that kids can get a basic storyline going at least with the first buy. Maybe this wouldn't be an issue if the theme wasn't conflict focused, sure, but then we wouldn't have many of these excellent designs.

Also let’s face it, the colour pallet is phenomenal, the orange and white of the Astros is such a good look, very pleasing to the eyes. The alien's black and lime just adds to their mystique, the aura of 'alien', almost evoking the xenomorph with its black form and green acid blood. When put together they create the perfect contrast, complimenting the existing contrast of vehicle designs excellently. It may simply be personal taste, the the colours are the icing of the cake. 

I would like to hear other opinions on this theme though, feel free to comment and start your own discussions!

[danth]

Mars Mission had some amazing sets:

I agree that the stickers were a turn off and the little aliens were lame.

[Oky]

Agreed, it was a great theme. The sleek designs, NPUs, and consistent and appealing color schemes really put this above the previous Mars theme and other Space themes. Wish I had picked up more than just one of the small sets. I don’t mind stickers (if anyone wants to send me theirs, I’d happily take them), so the only thing I didn’t like were the lame alien figs. Never really saw the problem with the “conflict in a box” concept either which existed in other LEGO themes long before this one. And as you said, the visual storytelling of mining vehicles retrofitted with defenses by necessity was excellent. 

I wouldn’t put Mars Mission above SP3 or Galaxy Squad which also had some great set designs and WAY better aliens, but it’s certainly a good one to look back on and does feel a bit underrated. 

[danth]

One thing I don't like about "conflict in a box" is it makes sets more expensive and forces you to buy things you don't like or nothing at all.

For example:

I really like that drill mech! But I don't like ANY of the alien ships from Mars Mission.

So do I buy both, or neither? In this case I chose neither. So, sale lost for Lego.

Also it means no $10 mech set or $20 alien fighter set for Mars Mission. Instead you get a $30 set that many kids can't afford.

[blavenn]

I'm sure this theme would make a great comeback once we send some SpaceX Starships over there in the coming decades.

[Scorcher43]

14 hours ago, danth said:

Mars Mission had some amazing sets:

I agree that the stickers were a turn off and the little aliens were lame.

That it did mate. The Ultra-Drill is an excellent set, perfectly captures everything I love about the theme, very happy you've pointed it out. But its also the bane of my existence because mine doesn't have all of the stickers anymore so it never feels complete, hence it also captures my biggest gripe, the stickers... 

11 hours ago, Oky said:

Agreed, it was a great theme. The sleek designs, NPUs, and consistent and appealing color schemes really put this above the previous Mars theme and other Space themes. Wish I had picked up more than just one of the small sets. I don’t mind stickers (if anyone wants to send me theirs, I’d happily take them), so the only thing I didn’t like were the lame alien figs. Never really saw the problem with the “conflict in a box” concept either which existed in other LEGO themes long before this one. And as you said, the visual storytelling of mining vehicles retrofitted with defenses by necessity was excellent. 

I wouldn’t put Mars Mission above SP3 or Galaxy Squad which also had some great set designs and WAY better aliens, but it’s certainly a good one to look back on and does feel a bit underrated. 

Exactly what I'm saying, the visual storytelling through the sets themselves and the gorgeous colours make it easily my favourite sub-theme. SP3 and Galaxy Squad are close seconds, but they don't do me the same way Mars Mission does.

If you'd like to pick up more sets, definitely start with the Claw Tank Ambush or Recon Dropship. They are both great sets in their own right and for whatever reason they seem to have been the most circulated if my ebay and bricklink searches have told me anything, which means they can be easy to find for a good price. 

10 hours ago, danth said:

One thing I don't like about "conflict in a box" is it makes sets more expensive and forces you to buy things you don't like or nothing at all.

For example:

I really like that drill mech! But I don't like ANY of the alien ships from Mars Mission.

So do I buy both, or neither? In this case I chose neither. So, sale lost for Lego.

Also it means no $10 mech set or $20 alien fighter set for Mars Mission. Instead you get a $30 set that many kids can't afford.

That's a very valid point mate, the formula is good when we're talking big single buys, but it has certainly got its drawbacks when considering it cuts off access to what would be perfect low to mid range sets. I also would love to get the mech on its own, and if I wasn't also interested in getting the Infiltrator then I'd be pretty frustrated at having to pay 3x as much for it so I can understand the frustration. 

[Scorcher43]

4 hours ago, blavenn said:

I'm sure this theme would make a great comeback once we send some SpaceX Starships over there in the coming decades.

One can only hope mate. I'm pretty sure this is where Elon's gotten his inspiration, he just wants Mars Mission to become reality!

[Time77]

It had some good designs, but I think it signified the beginning of the end for space. Sloppy alien vehicles, bland characters, focus on the conflict in the box, etc, etc

[Oky]

On 3/28/2023 at 1:48 PM, danth said:

One thing I don't like about "conflict in a box" is it makes sets more expensive and forces you to buy things you don't like or nothing at all. For example: I really like that drill mech! But I don't like ANY of the alien ships from Mars Mission. So do I buy both, or neither? In this case I chose neither. So, sale lost for Lego. Also it means no $10 mech set or $20 alien fighter set for Mars Mission. Instead you get a $30 set that many kids can't afford.

The loss may be on your part too. The upside of conflict sets is that you get more variety in one buy and might end up with a build, minifigs, or parts that you like and would otherwise have missed out on. In this particular example, while the mech is nice, it has limited poseability and the alien ship is the true star of the set with a neat transforming feature, at least according to reviews I’ve seen. There have been several instances where I could only afford one small set from modern themes, so I was glad to get a bit of both factions in that set. Also, it’s not like there weren’t plenty of other small, cheap sets in this subtheme to choose from if you couldn’t afford this one. 

2 hours ago, Time77 said:

It had some good designs, but I think it signified the beginning of the end for space. Sloppy alien vehicles, bland characters, focus on the conflict in the box, etc, etc

I mean, the characters weren’t any more bland than most of the ones in previous Space themes. It may seem that way when compared to Life on Mars, but that theme was the only one to have such distinct characters up to that point. If anything, characters only became more unique after this in SP3 and Galaxy Squad, so that didn’t signify anything. And the alien vehicles were anything but sloppy. As already pointed out, they had a very distinct and consistent color scheme and look. As for the conflict, see above. But sure, if you want to blame the death of Space on the theme that brought it back after a long hiatus and kept it going for several more years, go ahead. 

[Umbra-Manis]

Mars Mission was my childhood! The MT-31 Trike was my ever non box of bricks set

Personally I don't mind the two piece aliens, I got a lot of fun as kid with the tube system in the eagle command base and all the vehicles. The commanders were also a fun addition and physically imposing based on their size.

So many of the vehicles had great break apart or transformation functions which were always fun. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Umbra-Manis

[Time77]

On 3/31/2023 at 12:59 PM, Oky said:

I mean, the characters weren’t any more bland than most of the ones in previous Space themes. It may seem that way when compared to Life on Mars, but that theme was the only one to have such distinct characters up to that point. If anything, characters only became more unique after this in SP3 and Galaxy Squad, so that didn’t signify anything. And the alien vehicles were anything but sloppy. As already pointed out, they had a very distinct and consistent color scheme and look. As for the conflict, see above. But sure, if you want to blame the death of Space on the theme that brought it back after a long hiatus and kept it going for several more years, go ahead. 

When I said "characters", I always mostly referring to visuals and not distinct characters. Mars mission astronauts all have that white-gold visor astatic of all modern space(aka city-space). In my mind, that focus on "realism" tainted SP3 and galaxy squad (the space police colorscheme being gray, white, and black (with hints of blue) and the galaxy squad colorscheme being white). Compare that to the transparent yellows and blues of CS or the red-black-neonGreen of Mtron. I will cede that maybe the concepts and color-schemes are okay, but the designs in practice are sloppy.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Time77

[MAB]

On 3/28/2023 at 3:07 AM, Scorcher43 said:

Mars Mission had its flaws of course, the absurdly high sticker count in many sets being the bane of children building sets and collectors efforts to complete them and sure, two piece green aliens aren't a brilliant minifigure design on its own. But I do believe that the theme has been overlooked enough and as a fan I would like to present my reasoning.

It is a dead theme in the sense that it is long retired and incredibly unlikely to come back. If you think it is underrepresented and overlooked, then create MOCs around it. That is the only way anything survives once it is retired.

On 3/28/2023 at 3:07 AM, Scorcher43 said:

In particular, I think it’s actually very poor the fact that many are so opposed to the conflict in a box formula, when it emphasises the play aspect of the sets.

People have different opinions. If others don't like something, they don't like it. It is not poor that they don't like something you like, it's just different tastes.

For me, it was one of the worst space themes. Boring human figures, terrible aliens, horrible colours for the sets and boring designs especially for the alien ships. They repeated some of the mistakes (for me) in Galaxy Squad (although the ship designs were better), but fortunately they also did other themes like SPIII and Alien Conquest which were more to my taste. I only bought the Alien Mothership which was probably the best of a bad bunch of alien ships, and got rid of it years ago. I nearly went for the Crystal Reaper as it looked like the best of the land vehicles but didn't as I had decided against getting the theme by the time.

This is partly why I liked the short lived themes we used to get. If you didn't like aspects of one, then another similar but different one soon came along.

 

[danth]

On 3/31/2023 at 9:59 AM, Oky said:

The loss may be on your part too. The upside of conflict sets is that you get more variety in one buy and might end up with a build, minifigs, or parts that you like and would otherwise have missed out on. In this particular example, while the mech is nice, it has limited poseability and the alien ship is the true star of the set with a neat transforming feature, at least according to reviews I’ve seen. There have been several instances where I could only afford one small set from modern themes, so I was glad to get a bit of both factions in that set. Also, it’s not like there weren’t plenty of other small, cheap sets in this subtheme to choose from if you couldn’t afford this one. 

I can't say I like this idea that I should be forced to buy multiple factions in a set, including a faction with designs I don't like, just in case I might come to appreciate it someday. 15 years later, I still think those alien designs are ugly, so I'm going to say my first instinct was right.

12 hours ago, Time77 said:

Mars mission astronauts all have that white-gold visor astatic of all modern space(aka city-space).

Ooh, that's another minor flaw in Mars Mission: the visors. Bronze? Ugh. Should have been trans blue. That color would have "popped" against the white and orange, and matched the guns.

[Lyichir]

I wasn't an enormous fan of Mars Mission at the outset, but its appearance in Lego Battles for the Nintendo DS made me warm up to it. Originally I wasn't necessarily a fan of the conflict-driven storyline (too much nostalgia for Life on Mars from my childhood), after a while I began to appreciate the distinct appeal of Mars Mission's Giger-esque space horror aesthetic that the video game played up with the addition of creepy bases and outposts for the aliens. The human faction had several neat vehicles as well, though mostly they appealed to me for Technic functionality that I feel like the later Power Miners theme pulled off slightly better.

[dirkberlin]

I like Mars Mission a lot. Was total in dark ages, And I like a few oversized sets. The Dropship, the Driller and the big MX81 of course. The smaller ones where okay. Maybe the Crystal Reaper more then this. Where lucky and get a good konvolut with a few complete sets.

Yes the Aliens have almost crappy spaceships. To open, to much use of bick slopes. The best I thing is the one of the MX81:

With the vertival Roundslopes it has some stuff of volume. But in fact all of them are cheap opponents, so the kids could play with them.

[Time77]

On 4/3/2023 at 11:28 AM, danth said:

I can't say I like this idea that I should be forced to buy multiple factions in a set, including a faction with designs I don't like, just in case I might come to appreciate it someday. 15 years later, I still think those alien designs are ugly, so I'm going to say my first instinct was right.

Ooh, that's another minor flaw in Mars Mission: the visors. Bronze? Ugh. Should have been trans blue. That color would have "popped" against the white and orange, and matched the guns.

I'm kinda fine with the bonze/gold in theory... It's just how plain it is. While unitron suffered from an abundance of colors, the mars mission guys are just really plain looking. I agree, blue would have looked better, but it wouldn't have pushed them to where they needed to be.