Algernon

Worst set ever: Space edition

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Yeah... while those sets left a lot to be desired, I really don't know if they deserve to be called the worst sets ever.

Now don't get me wrong, both of them have their positives (SE I got for a cheap price and save for the flimsy bit, it makes a nice swooshable craft and the sound brick in the latter is nice and again, good parts pack), but those are just the first two sets that came to mind.

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To me it was none other than this:

http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=7644-1

More like "Hypersonic WE'RE GONNA F***ING SHOOT YOU!!!!! Aircraft"! Jeez, 6 black and 16(!) white gun pieces! Someone sure was in a trigger happy mood when they designed this set...

EDIT: w00t! 150th post!

Edited by Scorpion

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I'm glad those Mars Mission sets came out during my dark ages... If I'd seen those I'd have probably never come back to LEGO!

Give it some credit... this is one of my favorite Space sets of all time.

But I agree, there was a lot of room for improvement.

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Well, to be perfectly fair, the Hypersonic "We're gonna F***ing shoot you" Aircraft (as Scorpion would call it) definitely has some potential... I would like to see about getting those large wings it used for possibly making a bomber of some kind. Most of the sets would have been decent parts packs, but then again, the same could be said about the Fright Knights (my least favorite Castle theme)....

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Well, to be perfectly fair, the Hypersonic "We're gonna F***ing shoot you" Aircraft (as Scorpion would call it) definitely has some potential... I would like to see about getting those large wings it used for possibly making a bomber of some kind. Most of the sets would have been decent parts packs, but then again, the same could be said about the Fright Knights (my least favorite Castle theme)....

It definitely depends on your LEGO collecting style. I usually just buy sets with designs that I like - I'm not much of a modder. So the Hypersonic F***ING SHOOT EVERYTHING ship was something I was happy to skip. :laugh:

I just hope Galaxy Squad is up to snuff. It can't be as bad as MM wave 1...

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Having missed out on decades of space themes during my dark-age I don't feel I can truly comment on the 'worst set ever'. But, as a huge fan of 'Classic' Space back in the late 70's and early 80's I recall looking at some sets and thinking that Lego were just rehashing older sets but making them bigger by adding an extra cockpit. But the one that really destroyed my love of Lego and possibly sent me hurtling into the dark-age was this mess of randomness.

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1195-1.jpg

Set 1195 Alien Encounter; worst space set ever.

Looks like it's build by the kid next door... Actually the majority of Life On Mars sets looks like that,

except for some bigger sets.

Edited by -zenn

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1195-1.jpg

Set 1195 Alien Encounter; worst space set ever.

Looks like it's build by the kid next door... Actually the majority of Life On Mars sets looks like that,

except for some bigger sets.

This. I wasn't much a fan of the alien designs either. That said, the biggest set was pretty awesome, if a little gimmicky.

Mars Mission I only got the smallest set in the line because the rest of the sets looked a little jumbled, though the alien crafts looked impressive. The aliens themselves were repulsive, however.

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Give it some credit... this is one of my favorite Space sets of all time.

Ironic, isn't it? The worst and best Space set of all time IMO are both part of Mars Mission.

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It definitely depends on your LEGO collecting style. I usually just buy sets with designs that I like - I'm not much of a modder. So the Hypersonic F***ING SHOOT EVERYTHING ship was something I was happy to skip. :laugh:

I just hope Galaxy Squad is up to snuff. It can't be as bad as MM wave 1...

I'm almost the complete opposite.... Since coming out of my first dark age (which lasted from the middle of 1994 to early 1997), I've mostly looked at sets as parts packs.... Since 1997, I can only name maybe two or three sets that I bought based on the fact that I liked the design, namely the Raid VPR and the Vampyre Hearse, and even then, I made significant modifications to the base designs (I posted the Hearse mod in the Action themes forum and will be posting my Raid VPR mod here soon). Most sets I buy never even get built as the original set: Most are just sorted out into my various parts bins and the minifigs suitably modified and added to whatever army/faction I'd had them earmarked for.

...Of course, this makes sense considering that, based on the LEGO Personality survey I've seen floating around here, I'm a "Purist MOCer", although the "purist" part is rather inaccurate, considering that I blatantly use Custom accessories (Brickarms, BrickForge, Arealight, etc) and even high-quality Clone brands (Tyco and Oxford, although mostly for hidden, structural support, since some of the colors don't quite match).

Praiter Yed: Those two sets you posted from Classic Space are rather interesting, considering the kind of almost worshipful respect for Classic Space most people have around here. That Robot vehicle is quite hideous, and proof that even a much-loved theme like Classic Space can have a few duds...

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But the one that really destroyed my love of Lego and possibly sent me hurtling into the dark-age was this mess of randomness.

Oh my! That is really... wow! I had never noticed that one before. That's just... Wow! Did they legalize weed in Denmark that year or something?

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.... I recall looking at some sets and thinking that Lego were just rehashing older sets but making them bigger by adding an extra cockpit. But the one that really destroyed my love of Lego and possibly sent me hurtling into the dark-age was this mess of randomness.

I was wondering when the 6951 would come up. I have very fond memories of that set from Christmas 1984, it really is one of my favourite sets for ingenuity and playability, and it has a lot of wonderful parts. The 6880 has an incredible locking mechanism for the trailer and for me it is a real classic. I really like the LoM peaceful aliens too, the first contact Minifig humanity had with foreigners without shooting them. So, I guess people just look at stuff differently. I am reluctant to say any space set is a bad set, but I was pretty disappointed by the whole 1986 range (apart from the awesome 6872 and 6940), which sent me into the dark ages until Star Wars - just in time to miss Blacktron - thanks guys! The 6780 was a disappointment when I finally got it and I think the 6985 is probably one of the worst capital ships. So for me personally, I nominate 1986 as a year. Before it, every set was amazing, and from 1986 they weren't any more.

Edited by robuko

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I have yet to see 6982 in this thread... pardon me if the intent of the topic somewhat deviates here, but does anyone have this opinion? I have been debating getting this set for a while out of pure fascination... it is one of the most interesting star ships in my opinion, but everyone who has owned and reviewed this set hasn't really given it much critique nor praise. And others simply don't like it.

What is EB's thoughts?

Edited by Apollo

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I think by far the worst aspect of Mars Mission was the crappy trans-green aliens.

I cant find fault with any of the Alien Conquest sets although I do agree the alien mothership wasn't all that imposing.

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I think by far the worst aspect of Mars Mission was the crappy trans-green aliens.

I cant find fault with any of the Alien Conquest sets although I do agree the alien mothership wasn't all that imposing.

That was pretty much my thoughts, but it did come with a nice exclusive minifig (the Alien Commander), and was a good parts pack (a bunch of those 2x4 light bley train roof slope tiles and enough narrow guage track to complete a full circuit), and with a bit of modification, makes a nice medium-sized flying saucer (which is what I did with it)....

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My pick: http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=7691-1

I actually liked the Mars Mission line (particularly the second wave), but that set is just an eyesore. I was suckered into picking it up and trust me, it's much worse in your hands than it is on the box.

What's so bad about this set? I have it, and I like the pump cannon that it came with and the fact that the alien ship can split into four ships.

I am still surprised no one has mentioned this: http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=6835-1

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I was wondering when the 6951 would come up. I have very fond memories of that set from Christmas 1984, it really is one of my favourite sets for ingenuity and playability, and it has a lot of wonderful parts. The 6880 has an incredible locking mechanism for the trailer and for me it is a real classic...

I must admit that your opinion is much more informed than mine as I never actually owned the set :wink: . At the time I'd already moved on from Space to Technic and was probably becoming more interested in girls than Lego :laugh: but I do remember seeing pictures of it and thinking that Lego had lost the plot with 6951.

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I was wondering when the 6951 would come up. I have very fond memories of that set from Christmas 1984, it really is one of my favourite sets for ingenuity and playability, and it has a lot of wonderful parts. The 6880 has an incredible locking mechanism for the trailer and for me it is a real classic. I really like the LoM peaceful aliens too, the first contact Minifig humanity had with foreigners without shooting them. So, I guess people just look at stuff differently. I am reluctant to say any space set is a bad set, but I was pretty disappointed by the whole 1986 range (apart from the awesome 6872 and 6940), which sent me into the dark ages until Star Wars - just in time to miss Blacktron - thanks guys! The 6780 was a disappointment when I finally got it and I think the 6985 is probably one of the worst capital ships. So for me personally, I nominate 1986 as a year. Before it, every set was amazing, and from 1986 they weren't any more.

I'll agree it looks like it has some wonderful parts. It's like they took a bin of every really really cool part they had and tried to use it at once. But I still can't escape the feeling that the overall result closely resembles something cooked up at 3am as the Ambien kicks in

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I am not really known as a sci-fi guy- but I have actually purchased more than my fair share of “cool” space ships over the years.

I wonder if nostalgia is playing a factor here, because there are so older sets that were clunkers while a lot of people are ripping on SP3 and Mars Mission. I don’t know if any recent set has been so hideous I would drop it below some of the older clunkers.

My favorite space theme of all time has to be Blacktron II. I have heard people complain about Blacktron II’s color scheme, but I always loved it. I loved the all black Blacktron I figures, but the black and trans-yellow didn’t do it for me.

Some of my favorites:

MegaCore Magnetizer

Allied Avenger

Aerial Intruder

Deep Freeze Defender

Warp Wing Fighter

MX-71 Recon Dropship

MT-61 Crystal Reaper

But the worst sets ever list is a little shorter:

Ice Station Odyssey Hated this set. All the later stations are SOOOOOOO boring. This one, however, might be the worst.

Robo Raptor What the heck is this?

Robo Master ^^Is it a bigger one of these?^^

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Why is everyone hating on RoboForce? It's better than a lot of others, including (in my opinion) almost all Futuron sets and a lot of the second year of Space police III.

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Having missed out on decades of space themes during my dark-age I don't feel I can truly comment on the 'worst set ever'. But, as a huge fan of 'Classic' Space back in the late 70's and early 80's I recall looking at some sets and thinking that Lego were just rehashing older sets but making them bigger by adding an extra cockpit. But the one that really destroyed my love of Lego and possibly sent me hurtling into the dark-age was this mess of randomness.

That mess of Randomness was awesome! It was a true mobile base. You had a short range car and spacecraft that docked into the main ship. It had manipulator arms and storage compartments for taking samples of whatever planet it was on at the time. A wide array of sensors, and yes, a rocket in back for....well, communications or defense, whatever tickled your fancy.

I spent a long time just looking at that thing in the store before getting it and it quickly became the center of most of my stories even the ones that were mostly MOC-driven because you could say it was your base and still move it. And who doesn't like getting into the docked vehicles and flying/driving away just as the destruct countdown gets to zero? It could use the sample storage as detainment cells. It could use the manipulator arms to battle other robots or perhaps alien queens and then when the conflict is over return to actual SCIENCE!

I believe the US name was Robot Command Center which led to it having a large part in the Mechanical rebellions as it could override controls of otherwise sentient robots.

Loved it loved it loved it.

-Tohst

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I would say most of the Life on Mars sets. The sets were made up of lots of specialized parts and were full of open spaces, with little in the way of solid construction. 7317 was a good example. The theme was obviously also influenced by the introduction of Star Wars around that time, bringing dull, low contrast colors into Space.

Among recent sets, the SP3 Gold Heist is one that comes to mind. SP3 was an excellent theme overall, but this set was really weak.

Roboforce was a strange theme with its two completely different color schemes and minifigs, but some of the sets had great ideas (especially the Robo Master's cockpit) and lots of unique printed parts. I can't think of any specialized molds used in that theme either. There were definitely worse themes than that one.

Praiter Yed: Those two sets you posted from Classic Space are rather interesting, considering the kind of almost worshipful respect for Classic Space most people have around here. That Robot vehicle is quite hideous, and proof that even a much-loved theme like Classic Space can have a few duds...

Classic Space actually had a number of very poor designs. Look at some of the 6800 sets as well. People tend to look at Classic Space with rose tinted glasses.

Most themes had at least a few duds. I think the one exception was M:Tron. All of those sets were at least pretty good.

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That mess of Randomness was awesome! It was a true mobile base. You had a short range car and spacecraft that docked into the main ship. It had manipulator arms and storage compartments for taking samples of whatever planet it was on at the time. A wide array of sensors, and yes, a rocket in back for....well, communications or defense, whatever tickled your fancy.

'snip'

There seem to be a few comments from members (like myself) who didn't actually own the set but agree that it looks awful, and a couple of comments from people who owned it and think it was brilliant. Would it be fair to surmise that 6951 was a horrendous looking set with some excellent play features? :wink:

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