Galaxy Explorer 10497 is a great set, but...

[Operacion Saturno]

Let's stablish something before I start typing. I love 10497 and I think it pays homage to the 1979 version.

So I'm not saying it was bad, but it could be epic.Here are some highlights to prove my point.

1.- Too many G.E. redesign MOCs.

I´ve seen maybe a hundred Galaxy Explorer remakes in the last 5 years, but I saw one in particular reviewed in a youtube channel, before they released the 10497, which had almost the same features and even had retractable landing gear. So for me the 10497 is the perfect Galaxy Explorer MOC. But was something we been seeing for years.

2.- "Too small" remake. 

1245 pieces is a lot of pieces for a set, but, if you compare that amount of pieces with 10305 Lion´s Knight castle's 4514 pieces castle "remake", it feels short. Imagine what the designer would be capable of if he had those 3250+ pieces to work with?

3.- Landing pad and base.

The achiles heel of 10497. The ship design is magnificent, However, even the designer of the set stated that he had to leave out the base and landing pad. A true shame. 500 more pieces and two 48 x 48 baseplates would made a world of diference.

4.- New trans yellow pieces.

We already had a large 13252 trans yellow windscreen from 70816 Bennys spaceship.....  also all the other trans yellow pieces in the set had been released previously. Something Classic Space fans are always looking for are new elements in trans yellow color, since is rare Lego Group uses them in sets and even more rare realeases new ones. 

Let's be honest here, wouldn't you like the set even better if there were 1x4x3 panels or a large curved windscreen never before released in trans yellow?

5.- Shock and Awe factor.

The helper droid was a great add on and the best option they had since benny already used the other type of 80s droid. The rocket sleds were a shock and awe add on to the original ship. So I have nothing against those new features, but it could be even more features in it.

Ever felt butterflies when entering the toy isle at your local walmart or Kmart back in the 80s the first weeks of january?

You didn't knew what to expect form the new Classic Space sets back in the good old days. New features, new designs, new pieces.... That's the problem with the 10497, you already had a prelimilar idea of what to expect and that was the main problem with 10497, I feel the base had more potential to include new features than the spaceship itself: Retractable dome roof landing pad, modular base, maintenance machinery, loading-unloading crane, new color astronaut, minifig, a small blacktron spy vehicle, I can go on.

Bottom line, 10497 is a great Lego set, but knowing what Lego designers are capable of creating, it could be even more awesome.

[SteveOC]

The 10497 is a great value for money set but I actually thought it was a bit too big, complicated and flimsy. I’m not really complaining as it looks great but the original 928 was a really nice sturdy, swooshable set that I could put together from memory when I was a kid.

No pleasing some people is there!

[TeriXeri]

I think it's good to have sets at various budgets, I don't think every remake needs to be a big $400 set.

And this is already scaled up a lot, so adding a base at that new scale would inflate the cost, and while it was part of the original set, a big landing pad is a pretty bland feature.

There are MOCs that used the simplest solution to a landing pad with a 48x48 baseplate, with "pixelated" tile design, which is pretty much the only alternative to keep the original yellow circle design, without requiring large, very precise prints. 

That said, a Control Tower would have been nice, as it wouldn't have needed a full baseplate , and some of the included computer prints , yellow windows etc could've been reused.

In the future, I'd love to see one of those command base sets , especially something based on 6971: Inter-Galactic Command Base would make sense as it has blue/yellow/black space figures which are not in 10497.

Edited June 22, 2023 by TeriXeri

[Operacion Saturno]

On 6/22/2023 at 11:16 AM, SteveOC said:

The 10497 is a great value for money set but I actually thought it was a bit too big, complicated and flimsy. I’m not really complaining as it looks great but the original 928 was a really nice sturdy, swooshable set that I could put together from memory when I was a kid.

No pleasing some people is there!

A problem with modern Lego designs is you have to sacrifice stability to get new "looks". 

I would love to have at least a new trans yellow piece in this awesome set. 

[danth]

I think the 10497 Galaxy Explorer set might be one of the best of all time. It's a million times better than the original, it has copious prints (including consoles and the Classic Space logo and the LL928 bricks), an entire new wing design created just for it which ended up being perfect, amazing build techniques (the airlock, brick built arrow, and wing edges for example), etc etc. A total love letter to the original.

I just cannot complain, personally.

I think the three complaints I see most from others are:

1. It's too sleek. Forms of this complaint might be that it's too fighter-jet like, or it doesn't have the double-decker look of the original.
2. It didn't come with any new windscreens.
3. It didn't come with any sort of base or landing pad.

I just don't care about #3 at all. We can get a ground base or landing pad as another set. That'd be great. The ship was most important. I echo everything @TeriXeri said about this. I'm actually glad the set was only $100 -- it makes it feel less bad to buy (unlike the Lion Knight Castle), and more fun to buy in multiple.

I am sympathetic to complaint #2. I was kind of hoping for new windscreen parts myself. Anything new in trans yellow. A large trans yellow panel could have been especially nice. But I can't hold it against 10497 for having the trans pieces it does. It's not the fault of that set that I already have all those pieces.

And I do get #1. I think what the people complaining about that really wanted is some sort of second floor in the back of the ship. I can see the appeal of something like that. I just think "make it more clunky" is a tough sell. Most people want a sleek ship, not the Homer.

I know some people do want the Homer... For me though, the steeper angle of 10497's rear backwards windscreen conveys enough of the original's upper hump, especially from the side view.

I still want a CLASSIC. SPACE. THEMED. CREATOR. SET. to provide us more transparent yellow pieces. Maybe a base would be one of the builds.

Edited July 13, 2023 by danth

[M'Kyuun]

No "Homer" for me; I think Mike Psiaki's design is a nigh perfect homage and update to the venerable 497/928 Galaxy Explorer. In truth, I like the raked crew compartment design better than many of the stepped designs I've seen in MOCs over the years; it adds an air of refinement and advancement while imparting a greater aerodynamic aesthetic regardless of the usefulness of such in the vacuum of space. To its finest essence, it's a beautiful model replete with expanded interior spaces, a sliding airlock door, retractable landing gear (a huge thumbs up from me as a retired aircraft mechanic and enthusiast; IMHO, every flying contraption LEGO makes as a set should have functional gear as a minimal feature), the extendable ramp design, the lovely SNOT wings and fairings, the updated buggy, and yeah, even the inclusion of the 1:1 robot from set 6809 XT-5 and Droid. Personally, I would have liked a more advanced version of the droid, too, given the palette at hand to do so, but the inclusion of this rather obscure bot has its own charm; Mike didn't need to include it, but it's cool that he did. I empathize with those who wish that the update had included base plates and a comm base but given that the ship was always the primary draw, and also given that Castle was the main winner of the contest, hence its far larger anniversary set, I'm ecstatic that we got what we got in 10497 and that it turned out so beautifully. LEGO was under no obligation to give us a second anniversary set, but the fact that they went ahead and delivered a grand homage to what is arguably the most iconic of the Classic Space sets, certainly, at least, of the blue and grey period, is to be celebrated and enjoyed especially in light of the dearth both of reissues of old sets and the making of new original space themes. I, for one, am a very happy CS fan and I swoosh my lovely up-sized Galaxy Explorer with unadulterated glee. Space! 

[Alexandrina]

On 6/30/2023 at 4:44 AM, danth said:

Most people want a sleek ship, not the Homer.

Completely unrelated to the Galaxy Explorer (which is a wonderful set) but possibly because I've never been interested in cars beyond the barest functional sense, and because it's one of the best vehicles in Simpsons Hit & Run, I've always thought of the Homer as a cool car. To the point where I don't like watching that episode because I don't get the reveal; I'm not sure what's supposed to be so horrible about it.

[arnoldtblumberg]

Love the design, love the set. No notes for LEGO, would just prefer they do more CS-inspired sets.

[MAB]

1. If LEGO didn't make official sets because someone else has made a MOC, then we wouldn't get anything official. Can you imagine the outcry if LEGO announced that they were going to remake the GE but didn't as plenty of people have made their own MOCs.

2. Comparing sets in one theme to another, especially one off sets, is a bit "the grass is always greener on the other side". I think I saw more positive comments about GE than the castle when it came to size and price. If they had padded out the set to make it 3 or 4 times larger and more expensive,  would it really be a better set? Not to me. 

3. 500 more pieces and 2 48x48 baseplate is probably another $100 and then gives a huge problem for some - displayability.  For me, the ~32cm width is just about displayable on a shelf. Going to a 48x48 baseplate would lead to an overhang or the need to display on a table or larger cabinet, or paying for the base and not displaying it. I tried to build a base for it, from a large number of LBG plates and tiles, to fit my display shelves. Given it was only just slightly wider than the ship, I found it distracted from the ship. It looked great as a base / landscape for smaller ships, but really needs to be significantly larger than the ship to look good.

4. I found the windscreens fit the set well. For something like this, I prefer a decent looking set than a less good looking set with new parts.

5. I have one on display in my collection and people often gravitate to the GE first. I think it has a big shock and awe factor.

[Brickshipyard]

Thank you for posting this topic and while I generally agree with your criticisms the Lego designers and marketers played the Galaxy Explorer Remake (GER for short) too conservatively in some aspects, they absolutely met the milestones of delivering a modern, yet nostalgic version at an affordable price point. All that ship for $100 leaves almost no room to complain. Somehow, no stickers, all prints, and plenty of special space parts are included.

Not to mention the discounts at some retailers make the ship a total steal. I bought about 10 copies, mostly at a 25% to sometimes 50% discount. I'm probably an extreme AFOL space set loving demographic among the buyers, but I do believe even casual space fans are encouraged to buy multiples of the GER because it has been well marketed.

My favorite thing to do with 2 GER copies has been to make a large, "frigate scaled" spaceship. My example is the Nebulon B-Frigate I made. Many other MOCer's have also made cool space creations on rebrickable from a single to multiple copies.

The nostalgic way Lego marketed the GER with the yellow and black box art is perfectly executed. Yes, I wish the set came with a baseplate, and even a crater one, but it's not hard to buy one separately and customize your own.

I don't react positively often at new Lego releases in the past few years because even if the set is highly detailed and includes everything a fan could want, the price make s it dead on arrival usually, even after factoring in license and inflation fees. By contrast, the value formula of the GER absolutely makes sense and is accessible to a wide range of buyers - a traditional marketing tactic Lego used to employ regularly across all themes and lines. The GER wouldn't be that remarkable in the past environment, but in Lego's current marketing scheme it stands out as a product for the masses, not just the super rich, elite fans. Thank you for reading.

[Operacion Saturno]

On 7/14/2023 at 9:48 AM, arnoldtblumberg said:

Love the design, love the set. No notes for LEGO, would just prefer they do more CS-inspired sets.

me 2