1990s Lego Space was best - how to revive Lego Space

[Blip]

"Mis-management of the Star Wars brand"... now there's an understatement, if ever I saw one! I love me some Star Wars Lego, but lord knows the repeated re-designs of the same vehicles over and over is beyond tiresome... But I digress.

Not sure I'd necessarily call Lego space "hard" scifi, though it certainly used to use visible elements of mid-20th century technology in an effort to say to kids "look, it's a spaceship!" :D  As far as the SP laser bars are concerned, well for all anyone knows they're supposed to actually be some kind of energised bars...  

I do agree that the mix you listed was pretty much the pinnacle of Lego's space themes in terms of the balance of color mixes; though if we were to see it reintroduced somehow (I am under no illusions as to the likelihood of it happening), I'd advocate the following:

1) Fold in the more basic Classic Space color themes (perhaps skipping the alternating green and yellow and blue canopies and giving them a more basic trans grey) for use as a generic "civilian colony" theme since Futuron seems to be handling the exploratory stuff with its neo-NASA color scheme.

2) On this point I'd reintroduce the Classic black+grey sets but revamped as a stealth-equipped spy / intelligence organisation working to safeguard Futuron et.al. from the shadows, while Space Police is doing the "grunt work" lol

3) Allow for the addition of slight color variations within the themes, such as dark blue parts for Space Police, dark and rust red on M-Tron, grey and metallics for engine components on Futuron, variations on yellow or tan to signify rust and wear on some of the Blacktron parts, etc etc

4) Give the factions sealed interiors for their larger sets, so that we also get non-vacuum space suits / uniforms and a bunch of characters -- think of the fun that could be had realising a futuristic bunch of space pirates with Blacktron! :D 

5) Others have complained here that "I don't want to see the same over and over" which I do understand, but also feel stems from a false premise, that everything would remain exactly the same year on year. In fact, the idea should be that we get plenty enough variation within -and between- new sets released in the themes every year or so, so that people want to expand their factions, and aren't bored by them.

I'd love new huge tracked / wheeled vehicles, space bases, flagships etc to be added on alternating years, with each of the factions getting a shot at one, and smaller sets getting added at varying rates -- there's a huge potential for variation to be had, especially if gluttonous license fees for the likes of Disney aren't being paid for...

Anyway, that's my tuppence worth; YMMV. :)

 

[Henkeso]

I don't really understand what -or who- such a revived theme would be for. In theory, I should be all for it - I was only interested in space sets when I got my first sets at the age of 10. I had a bunch of M-tron ships, a couple Blacktron 2 (I used to build TIE fighters with the canopies before there was actual Star Wars Lego, and my "dark ages" started before the first Star Wars sets came out), the Ice Planet base. But my pride and joy was the Futuron monorail that my parents gave me for my birthday. I still have the tracks and train base with the battery-powered motor, but most of everything else was lost to time.

Anyway, I loved the sets. But I wasn't interested in the builds as such, they were always interesting to me as starting points for rebuilding and expanding. A Lego set is a sketch, that uses just enough detail to suggest something much more elaborate - like how all the space bases don't really have interiors, just frameworks that could be filled in. That's what I loved about the space sets in particular - all the Town, Pirate and Castle sets were also like that, but the Space sets didn't really have any real-life sources that showed how it was "supposed" to look like, so I was free to build out the ships and stations according to my own imagination.

For me, the "golden age" of Lego Space was when it was in a "dark age" of its own, when it wasn't officially supported, because that's when talented builders like nnenn, Peter L Morris, and dasnewten used a very limited palette of bricks (at least compared to today) to make absolutely stunning creations with a level of detail and technique that no official Lego set could ever hope to match. I occasionally came across photos of their builds on social media, and even when I wasn't actively building I admired them, thinking "I could never build anything like that). So of course, when I started building again I immediately decided to build a replica of dasnewten's Naganata starfighter. It took 3 months and taught me a lot. But when the Blacktron ship came out as a GWP last year, I wasn't interested in it at all - I'd seen much better versions of that ship MOCed (by people on this forum, no less), and if I wanted to get the original I'd just do that. But again, I only liked the original Space sets as a kind of "idea book" - sketches for more elaborate MOCs. I bought the Galaxy Explorer, and while I agree with most of the opinions I've read about it here (it's a very nice-looking model with some interesting build techniques that I appreciate), I don't like the idea of Lego sets being made just to sit on a shelf and look pretty. I want Lego to stick to making smaller sets that focus on playability while leaving AFOLs and enthusiasts freedom to MOC up larger, more detailed and elaborate versions of the things that the sets themselves only suggest.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is, for me there's no value in re-releasing or rebooting or whatever. If I want to build a MOC based on the old themes, I can do so already. I believe the current Space sets on offer by Lego are perfectly fine, doing exactly the same job as the ones I had in the 90s, namely to get kids to build spaceships, bases, rovers and hopefully remix the sets into new builds of their own. It makes me a bit sad when I'm displaying my MOCs and kids come over to ask where I got the instructions for them from, as if they can't imagine someone just using Lego bricks as just that - building blocks.

[danth]

28 minutes ago, Henkeso said:

I don't really understand what -or who- such a revived theme would be for.

Probably for all the people actively posting in the thread. And the many others who aren't on Eurobricks but post about wanting 80s/90s style Space to return on reddit, Brickset, etc etc.

28 minutes ago, Henkeso said:

I believe the current Space sets on offer by Lego are perfectly fine, doing exactly the same job as the ones I had in the 90s, namely to get kids to build spaceships, bases, rovers and hopefully remix the sets into new builds of their own.

And they would still do that if they were in a Space theme outside of City with more integration of classic factions/colors.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the Star Wars forum to tell the people there that I don't understand who all the Star Wars sets they hope to see would even be for, and that all the sets that exist are perfectly fine.

 

 

Edited March 31 by danth

[Canondorf]

37 minutes ago, Henkeso said:

I suppose what I'm trying to say is, for me there's no value in re-releasing or rebooting or whatever. If I want to build a MOC based on the old themes, I can do so already. I believe the current Space sets on offer by Lego are perfectly fine, doing exactly the same job as the ones I had in the 90s, namely to get kids to build spaceships, bases, rovers and hopefully remix the sets into new builds of their own. It makes me a bit sad when I'm displaying my MOCs and kids come over to ask where I got the instructions for them from, as if they can't imagine someone just using Lego bricks as just that - building blocks.

Although I know from long experience on internet forums that there are some people who can get really angry when a person argues for this, sometimes to the point that you can get personally attacked no matter how polite you are, I don't believe in taste being subjective, I believe there are objective ways to define even abstract things like beauty.  (It doesn't mean you can't have co-equal "different types of beauty", or anything like that, but they are each approaching a "true form" of a different "ideal"). 

 

So, the reason I personally want 1990s themes back, is just that I think they were objectively beautiful, perhaps approaching a different ideal than say the Star Wars aesthetic aims at.  I think younger collectors would love them just as much today; the colours are timeless on some of them, I would say.  Dare I say, they were objectively better as playsets too, in that they allowed quite a wide latitude of imagination, or customisation and interpretation.  Of course, this is my opinion, just as everything we utter are our opinions (needless for anyone to say).  MOCs are, like you say, not for everyone, some people build Lego for the sets.  On that front, 2024 Space is a good start, but I hope it's just a start, that they are warming up to a bigger space civilization.  Antagonists.  Mining rigs.  Hidden secret bases.  Monorails traversing remote canyons.  Telescopes hunting new worlds, tracking stations, listening posts, lonely outposts, and radar dishes. 

I didn't have any Unitron aside from a minifig or two, nor do I think the above set is the best base I've seen, but the set seems to have quite a lot of interesting elements.  A rover.  A spacecraft.  The suggestion of a large structure.  Some kind of telescope or message intercept dishes.  Something like a probe or satellite.  All with quite few pieces, lots of studs to stand minifigs on, etc.  It was just a random set I pulled off the internet to compare.  Very imaginative I would say.

On 3/30/2024 at 4:10 PM, Eggyslav said:

Just wanted to say I think this is super cool.   Exactly what I would love to see in an official set.

On 3/30/2024 at 5:53 AM, danth said:

I know what the next argument is going to be: Star Wars is different because it's SO popular. But it's not different. It's the same. People in every fandom want the same stuff they wanted before. Star Wars fans want more Star Wars, Harry Potter fans want more Harry Potter, and Classic Space fans want more trans yellow, blue & gray spaceships forever. 

Exactly, people don't want "change for the sake of change", I think personally.  They just want something "done well" each time. 

[Eggyslav]

40 minutes ago, Canondorf said:

Just wanted to say I think this is super cool.   Exactly what I would love to see in an official set.

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. :)

[JesseNight]

4 hours ago, Canondorf said:

Exactly, people don't want "change for the sake of change", I think personally.  They just want something "done well" each time. 

While I personally agree with you there, I think this mostly applies to the fans who appreciate quality.
Unfortunately that may just not be the majority of people who buy it. After all, a good business will make what sells best, right?

And yeah I love those space themes, though I prefer late 80s over the 90s!

13 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Yes, the stickers are not good. That's true. I very much prefer printed bricks. But I'm glad that the remake looks a bit different because I also have the original. It was one of my favorite spaceships when I was a kid.

The old still is among my favorites! I love the front of the new one, I just wish the middle had been sized up to stay in the same proportions with the larger canopy... and maybe have a more convenient way to open.

[Canondorf]

12 hours ago, JesseNight said:

While I personally agree with you there, I think this mostly applies to the fans who appreciate quality.
Unfortunately that may just not be the majority of people who buy it. After all, a good business will make what sells best, right?

I'm a fan of science fiction in general, and something I noticed with some of my other sci-fi hobbies, is that really it's a "trade off".  So building quality means you get long-time loyalty, long-term sustainable sales, but less overall uptake.  Building for mass appeal, on the other hand, means you get short-term uptake, but nobody remembers or cares about the product two years later, and you may lose all your fans through complete dissolution of your identity.

Like so much in life, it's a sacrifice of energy, one way or the other, between two different outcomes.

The great science fiction franchises, that are still talked about after 50 years, which have fierce loyalty, built their world's deep, rather than wide.  They got long-term sustainable reliable sales of their merchandise through loyalty, and fierce fans crossing three or four different generations.  They tended to be the ones with some deeper and coherent vision or philosophy.

In many cases, when the corporation in charge of said franchises disgarded the "ideal form" of these franchises, they destroyed 50 years of fandom, and found that the short-term audience that they had aquired forgot them.  I think, being honest, that this is what happened to late Lego Space themes.  They alienated fans, and missed the point or appeal of Lego Space.

20 hours ago, Blip said:

I do agree that the mix you listed was pretty much the pinnacle of Lego's space themes in terms of the balance of color mixes; though if we were to see it reintroduced somehow (I am under no illusions as to the likelihood of it happening), I'd advocate the following:

1) Fold in the more basic Classic Space color themes (perhaps skipping the alternating green and yellow and blue canopies and giving them a more basic trans grey) for use as a generic "civilian colony" theme since Futuron seems to be handling the exploratory stuff with its neo-NASA color scheme.

2) On this point I'd reintroduce the Classic black+grey sets but revamped as a stealth-equipped spy / intelligence organisation working to safeguard Futuron et.al. from the shadows, while Space Police is doing the "grunt work" lol

3) Allow for the addition of slight color variations within the themes, such as dark blue parts for Space Police, dark and rust red on M-Tron, grey and metallics for engine components on Futuron, variations on yellow or tan to signify rust and wear on some of the Blacktron parts, etc etc

4) Give the factions sealed interiors for their larger sets, so that we also get non-vacuum space suits / uniforms and a bunch of characters -- think of the fun that could be had realising a futuristic bunch of space pirates with Blacktron! :D 

5) Others have complained here that "I don't want to see the same over and over" which I do understand, but also feel stems from a false premise, that everything would remain exactly the same year on year. In fact, the idea should be that we get plenty enough variation within -and between- new sets released in the themes every year or so, so that people want to expand their factions, and aren't bored by them.

I'd love new huge tracked / wheeled vehicles, space bases, flagships etc to be added on alternating years, with each of the factions getting a shot at one, and smaller sets getting added at varying rates -- there's a huge potential for variation to be had, especially if gluttonous license fees for the likes of Disney aren't being paid for...

All of that sounds good to me :)

The classic themes seemed to have the pattern of: Good Guy Civilians, Bad Guy Spies, and Good Guy Protectors.  At the very least, I think one good guy civilian, and one rival faction, makes sense.  It seems like 2024 City Space is the "civilian colony" theme of today.  Depending on how Lego wants to develop this current 2024 Space theme, you could have multiple civilian factions like at the height of the 1990s when Futuron, M-Tron, Ice Planet, and Unitron overlapped - or perhaps give the current 2024 civilians mining-themed sets like the legendary 6989 Mega Core Magnetizer instead:

[mon-o-mat]

20 hours ago, Canondorf said:

 

 

Who wrote those marketing texts? Especially the Blacktron II one not only sounds bad, it also doesn't contain any real impulses for imagination.

The interesting part in my eyes is, that there were actually THREE years of sets in one catalogue. This of course means, that despite having only a small amount of new sets per year, and only one faction per year, you probably had a wide variety of sets around.

 

2 hours ago, Canondorf said:

The classic themes seemed to have the pattern of: Good Guy Civilians, Bad Guy Spies, and Good Guy Protectors.  At the very least, I think one good guy civilian, and one rival faction, makes sense.  It seems like 2024 City Space is the "civilian colony" theme of today.  Depending on how Lego wants to develop this current 2024 Space theme, you could have multiple civilian factions like at the height of the 1990s when Futuron, M-Tron, Ice Planet, and Unitron overlapped - or perhaps give the current 2024 civilians mining-themed sets like the legendary 6989 Mega Core Magnetizer instead:

I think it would be possible to spread the current three factions out, to give them each a couple of more specialized sets. To be fair I have no idea how to give the Pilots interesting sets that are better than the current Interstellar Spaceship, but I think the Scientists and Engineers could use some reinforcements.

[JesseNight]

9 hours ago, Canondorf said:

I'm a fan of science fiction in general, and something I noticed with some of my other sci-fi hobbies, is that really it's a "trade off".  So building quality means you get long-time loyalty, long-term sustainable sales, but less overall uptake.  Building for mass appeal, on the other hand, means you get short-term uptake, but nobody remembers or cares about the product two years later, and you may lose all your fans through complete dissolution of your identity.

That is very true.
I'm just sad to see 90% of businesses nowadays aim for that quick profit rather than long term customer appreciation, loyalty, and trust.
The reason is simple though... It works (from a business pov), and fomo is easily exploited (almost nobody would NOT buy from a business anymore out of principle if that means they miss out on something).
Loyalty was a much bigger thing when a shop owner around the corner had to look his customers in the eyes, rather than dealing with world businesses where the people making the decisions will never have to deal with the customers.
(sorry for straying a bit offtopic, it's one of those things that really annoys me in life... we tend to forget we actually do have the power to demand change)

6 hours ago, mon-o-mat said:

I think it would be possible to spread the current three factions out, to give them each a couple of more specialized sets. To be fair I have no idea how to give the Pilots interesting sets that are better than the current Interstellar Spaceship, but I think the Scientists and Engineers could use some reinforcements.

The interstellar spaceship is imo the best thing of the series (but I'm a bit biased towards spaceships rather than bases or land vehicles).
There's always room for a bigger spaceship in the series, right?

[MAB]

Space is a bit like Castle in that it covers a very wide subject area and to survive should cover as much of that as possible, even if that means some fans opting out for a year or two. Just like Castle can cover man vs man type factions, it can also go into fantasy and cover dragons, trolls, dwarves, etc. Space is similar in that it can cover human exploration but should also cover fantasy elements such as aliens and fantasy planets. Covering exploration would be fine for a while but soon gets boring if similar but slightly different ships in the same colours year after year. I found Alien Conqust to be a fun break from other Space of the past, especially the aliens and alien ships reminiscent of1950s B-movies. Whereas other that don't like aliens can just sit it out and wait until what they like comes around again. There is a big issue that if they make only part of a genre again and again for one group of fans, then they are missing out on a large section of the market. 

[mon-o-mat]

21 minutes ago, MAB said:

Space is a bit like Castle in that it covers a very wide subject area and to survive should cover as much of that as possible, even if that means some fans opting out for a year or two. Just like Castle can cover man vs man type factions, it can also go into fantasy and cover dragons, trolls, dwarves, etc. Space is similar in that it can cover human exploration but should also cover fantasy elements such as aliens and fantasy planets. Covering exploration would be fine for a while but soon gets boring if similar but slightly different ships in the same colours year after year. I found Alien Conqust to be a fun break from other Space of the past, especially the aliens and alien ships reminiscent of1950s B-movies. Whereas other that don't like aliens can just sit it out and wait until what they like comes around again. There is a big issue that if they make only part of a genre again and again for one group of fans, then they are missing out on a large section of the market. 

Alien Conquest was a nice as an concept (Lego X-COM), but a failure in its implementation. The Tripod looks definitifly the best from the Aliens's side, while the two UFOs...  They are too samey and I don't see, what the larger one really offers over the smaller, besides a ring, that makes it just larger (and cost more) and a spaghetti arm.

And the ADU seriously lacked a standalone Jetfighter I think.

But I understand why people really don't see it as a Space theme as the humans don't even have a single space ship and the setting is just Earth.

BTW, I just noticed a badly placed Sticker on a official? product picture:

[MAB]

4 hours ago, mon-o-mat said:

ut I understand why people really don't see it as a Space theme as the humans don't even have a single space ship and the setting is just Earth.

Well from the aliens point of view, it is space exploration!

4 hours ago, mon-o-mat said:

Alien Conquest was a nice as an concept (Lego X-COM), but a failure in its implementation. The Tripod looks definitifly the best from the Aliens's side, while the two UFOs...  They are too samey and I don't see, what the larger one really offers over the smaller, besides a ring, that makes it just larger (and cost more) and a spaghetti arm.

The larger one looks considerably better, mainly due to its size. Plus it has the sound brick. 

[mon-o-mat]

On 4/1/2024 at 11:51 PM, JesseNight said:

The interstellar spaceship is imo the best thing of the series (but I'm a bit biased towards spaceships rather than bases or land vehicles).
There's always room for a bigger spaceship in the series, right?

WIP on my side:

[JesseNight]

@mon-o-mat Now we're talking, that looks great! Hope to see more pics of that one in the future!

Btw did Lego really abandon the canopies using a hinge to open, or is it just not visible?

[mon-o-mat]

4 minutes ago, JesseNight said:

@mon-o-mat Now we're talking, that looks great! Hope to see more pics of that one in the future!

Btw did Lego really abandon the canopies using a hinge to open, or is it just not visible?

Thanks.

Hinged canopies are of course still used, i.e. the Interstellar Spaceship has one.

[Lyichir]

12 hours ago, mon-o-mat said:

WIP on my side:

Oh very nice! I wanted to try to make a bigger spacecraft like that, but ended up getting builder's block. This one looks fantastic!

[Aanchir]

Oh that's lovely! I like the use of airlock connectors on the sides, rather than just for connecting the spaceship modules front to back. I think the back wings could use more black on them to match the design language of the front wings and the wings of the various spaceships in the official sets. Also it could maybe stand to use more Sand Blue (unless you consciously omitted that color out of personal preference, which is totally valid if so).

[mon-o-mat]

On 4/12/2024 at 5:54 PM, Aanchir said:

Oh that's lovely! I like the use of airlock connectors on the sides, rather than just for connecting the spaceship modules front to back. I think the back wings could use more black on them to match the design language of the front wings and the wings of the various spaceships in the official sets. Also it could maybe stand to use more Sand Blue (unless you consciously omitted that color out of personal preference, which is totally valid if so).

Thanks, yes, the colors are in need of some refinement. Especially for the blue. The sideways connectors came as an idea from studying the last big space polic ship. You might notice, that the front section of the main body looks suspiciously similiar.

[Operacion Saturno]

If interested, I have a facebook group called Lego Space Futuron/Exploriens/SP3. It covers everything related to white/black/trans blue Space Mocs. Like in the early 90s.

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1421271881962817

 

 

 

Edited April 18 by Operacion Saturno

[Mandalorianknight]

On 3/30/2024 at 5:05 PM, SpacePolice89 said:

Some kid swallowed 50 of them and then got stuck on the side of a bus.

""average kid eats 3 magnets a year" factoid actually just statistical error. average kid eats 0 magnets per year. Magnets Georg, who lives in cave and eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier and should not have been counted"

 

The honest answer is yes, it's star wars. lego won't fully bring the sci-fi classic space back because star wars fulfills that niche for them (and let's not kid ourselves by saying classic space was science-based...). While us fans would love to see more classic space, I don't think it would appeal to kids much. Hence why the classic space we do get is primarily stuff adults mainly pick up- the icons set, or more expensive GWPs.

[danth]

11 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

The honest answer is yes, it's star wars. lego won't fully bring the sci-fi classic space back because star wars fulfills that niche for them (and let's not kid ourselves by saying classic space was science-based...). While us fans would love to see more classic space, I don't think it would appeal to kids much.

Star Wars doesn't appeal to kids either.

City Space 2024 is basically Classic Space (but in more boring colors) and it seems to appeal to kids just fine.

[Black Falcon]

On 4/19/2024 at 6:23 PM, danth said:

Star Wars doesn't appeal to kids either.

City Space 2024 is basically Classic Space (but in more boring colors) and it seems to appeal to kids just fine.

I wouldn´t be so sure about SW not appealing to kids much. However as for Classic Space, kids would surely play just fine with old sets if they are given to them, but I don´t think thoses Sets would have a chance if a kid would be able to choose a set in a store. The question would be how would classic space look if they brought it back now. Similar like they did with the Galaxy Explorer would be likely, and that would be more appealing to kids than if they would make the Sets more true to how they were back then for sure. If they would appeal well enough in the end, is something we could just speculate about.

[Doddsino]

Admittedly, I agree that the 90's were the best, but I definitely prefer the second gen of both Blacktron and Space Police, mostly due to their color schemes. 

What I liked most about a lot of those series was that they seemed to each have a specific role. The M-Tron were extractors, Ice Planet built rockets, Space Police were...police, and Blacktron were the criminals. Futuron made the most sense as your general space society.

I always felt that Spyrius felt out of place, although I really liked their sets...I just never felt they were the true successors to Blacktron. 

Unitron, (which I always considered the spiritual successor to Futuron) on the other hand had potential, but their sets were mostly bad. 1995 just felt like a rushed year for Space since it seemed like Aquazone got the cool futuristic sets instead. Unitron has always been my least favorite series, but would be my go to when it came to bringing back a series, mostly BECAUSE of the fact it was underdeveloped, it has the most potential to broaden out the ideas.

Exploriens were super cool too, but felt too far removed by this point when it came to association with the Classic Space considering the previous 2 years. They were kind of in their own realm, but it worked.

Then unfortunately 1997 and 1998 just completely made radical changes, and while there were some cool sets, they just felt like their own thing, no cohesion with the general previous themes. It would have been nice to see who the UFO sets were invading, or why there were astronauts riding on robot dinosaurs, but it just was what it was. I did like the Insectoids though.

If I were to bring back the classic Lego themes, these would be the rules to follow;

1. Each theme has a specific purpose, whether it's a space quarry, a space research station, a space transit, or a space law enforcement. 

2. Color schemes, each theme would look different, the same way you couldn't confuse a construction worker wearing orange with a police officer wearing blue.

3. Each set fits into the theme it's intended for. Meaning if it is a space police officer, they don't have a space bulldozer. And a space miner isn't going to have a space jail.

4. Sets don't need to use the classic smileys, but no heads that have screaming or shocked faces. When we were kids, we could use our imagination that the character we were playing with was either screaming or shocked or whatever. We don't need a physical representation of it.

5. Any space buildings or stations have 4 walls and a roof. This drove me crazy as a kid since most of the time the ships and vehicles were a thousand times cooler than any set that had a baseplate. The Spyrius Lunar Launch Site as an example despite being an ugly set, what purpose did the transparent canopy have? To block space radiation? None of them ever looked fully complete.

[Aanchir]

2 hours ago, Doddsino said:

What I liked most about a lot of those series was that they seemed to each have a specific role. The M-Tron were extractors, Ice Planet built rockets, Space Police were...police, and Blacktron were the criminals. Futuron made the most sense as your general space society.

Honestly it's kinda surprising to me that so many people interpret M:Tron as a mining-focused faction, because they were originally developed as a rescue/emergency response faction, and were primarily marketed as such outside North America (such as in this shop video, this TV commercial, and set names from Britain, Australia, and most of continental Europe).

Is anybody aware of any links to commercials or print publications that suggested they were primarily focused on mining? The only example I've seen that comes close is the Brick Buildmore comic from the summer 1991 issue of LEGO Brick Kicks magazine (US) / LEGO Innovations magazine (Canada), which can be read here and here . But other American commercials, magazines, and catalogs I've seen don't say much at all about what M:Tron does, just that they're a high-tech faction and that Blacktron wants to steal their computers. And it'd be genuinely surprising if such a widespread belief among AFOLs simply stemmed from just one comic strip!

In the sets themselves, I guess I can see how the transparent 1x1 round plates inside the smaller storage containers could be interpreted as some kind of mineral resource, but none of the models include any sort of shovels or drills, and many don't even have lasers. On the contrary, a lot of their identifiable gadgets include floodlights, fuel pumps and repair tools like hammers and wrenches.

Even the Idea Book 260 that I had when growing up included an M:Tron rescue vehicle with a Futuron astronaut in a magnetic stretcher, rather than any sort of mining equipment (and the accompanying inspiration photos show M:Tron astronauts repairing a monorail and lifting and repairing Futuron vehicles rather than mining).

Edited April 21 by Aanchir

[mon-o-mat]

2 hours ago, Doddsino said:

5. Any space buildings or stations have 4 walls and a roof. This drove me crazy as a kid since most of the time the ships and vehicles were a thousand times cooler than any set that had a baseplate. The Spyrius Lunar Launch Site as an example despite being an ugly set, what purpose did the transparent canopy have? To block space radiation? None of them ever looked fully complete.

The problem with this approach ist that you waste large ammounts of bricks on additional walls, that could find better use in additional features or just size. And of course it blocks lots of play, something even an open up feature cannot really solve in my eyes. Personally I remember, that the bases I build as a kid often resembled a table-top map with an open top design.