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

[Aanchir]

16 minutes ago, mon-o-mat said:

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.

Very good points — in sets, I often tend to prefer an open-backed approach to an open-top approach, since it allows more of a "minifig's eye view" of the interiors. But open-topped buildings were definitely an easier starting point for childhood MOCs, since it lets you build from the ground up without worrying about how those walls are going to support the ceiling or any upper floors.

In the particular case of sets like Lunar Launch Site, Ice Station Odyssey, and Alpha Centauri Outpost, the incomplete look of the structures was at least partly budget related. Raised baseplates were extremely expensive, so creating an impressive-looking structure on top of them at an affordable price point often meant using a lot of large panels and columns instead of solid walls. This was also an issue that Castle and Pirates set designers faced, though in those themes the usual solution was to have a few main gatehouse/tower structures with lots of large arched openings, and short parapet walls instead of full curtain walls connecting them.

But "fully enclosed" structures have never really been the norm, even in themes like Town and Castle — it's easy to forget, but back in 2007 when the Café Corner set came out, it was a major outlier. And that departure from tradtion was a little controversial among some builders, as expressed in topics like this one:

(unfortunately the text in some of the comments from old topics like this has been cut short for some reason — maybe data corruption during a server move or board software update or something like that — but there are quite a number of people who seemed to prefer the more traditional dollhouse-style approach for cost, space, and playability reasons).

The 2020 and 2024 City space bases are some of the first that have been fully enclosed, and I'm sure not being built on expensive ramp-and-pit or crater baseplates helped make that possible. But even so I wouldn't necessarily expect that to be a universal rule for space bases going forward. Even this year, the crew quarters, botany module, and lab module in the Friends Mars base are enclosed, but the "command center" is not. And in space themes like those of the 90s that skew even further into futuristic sci-fi territory, audiences are already prepared to suspend their disbelief more than in "real life" inspired themes like City and Friends. That may make full back walls a less worthwhile use of bricks for these themes than additional interior features or space vehicles. So honestly, I'm content with designers of any future Space sets continuing to make those decisions on a case-by-case basis.

[Artanis I]

I only disagree with #5, I think for children the 'dollshouse' format for play is very important. Otherwise the building needs to fold out, not just have a removable roof - that's too fiddly for kids. I never found any problem with imagining back or front walls on anything!

 

17 hours ago, Doddsino said:

no cohesion with the general previous themes

This is a characteristic of most Space, Castle & Pirates releases since early/mid 90s, and to their over-all detriment for long-time collectors like myself.

All of the waves & factions of Castle from 1984 to 1992(93?) or so went together seamlessly. Classic helmets didn't really gel with the visored replacement, so otherwise 1987 to 1993 or 96 Space (depending on one's opinion) was likewise seamless. Pirates was more like 1989 to 1993 or 94. Now, everything just sits in its own sandpit - too bad if your KKII knights, UFO aliens or such don't 'go' with anything else!

[PaleozoicBricks]

22 hours ago, Aanchir said:

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).

This is the only way I can think of M-tron. I was always confused when people called them a "mining" faction. But I grew up with power miners and rock raider. Now those are miners. I consider rock raider to be the mining faction of space. 

Also I love those old shop video's 

[mon-o-mat]

On 4/22/2024 at 12:00 PM, Artanis I said:

I only disagree with #5, I think for children the 'dollshouse' format for play is very important. Otherwise the building needs to fold out, not just have a removable roof - that's too fiddly for kids. I never found any problem with imagining back or front walls on anything!

 

This is a characteristic of most Space, Castle & Pirates releases since early/mid 90s, and to their over-all detriment for long-time collectors like myself.

All of the waves & factions of Castle from 1984 to 1992(93?) or so went together seamlessly. Classic helmets didn't really gel with the visored replacement, so otherwise 1987 to 1993 or 96 Space (depending on one's opinion) was likewise seamless. Pirates was more like 1989 to 1993 or 94. Now, everything just sits in its own sandpit - too bad if your KKII knights, UFO aliens or such don't 'go' with anything else!

Back then, there were just less parts and colors for designers to play with. When you just have  handfull of different accessories to create knights from or decorate spaceships with they will look similiar.

But of course the main problem is, that everything that is not a on-shot has to be a story driven multi media project.