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!

@Stephan I've been using Stud.io since LEGO shut down LDD, but I hate it. LDD was better in so many ways and I'd like to update it w/ the current parts palette. Do you have a link to your files?

I appreciate that link to Brickfever. I skipped on the UCS Helicarrier set in the hopes that LEGO would do one in minifig scale, similar to how they do the capital ships for Star Wars. I got my wish, but man is it underwhelming. I wish they'd eschewed the motion feature and made the exterior more accurate, more like a scaled down UCS set. LEGO has done a nice job with chibi Star Wars ships for their playsets, but that Quinjet looks nothing like its namesake. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but this is so off the mark from what I'd hoped we'd get. Instead of a flying aircraft carrier, we get a shoebox with wings.

Derailing a bit, but I mentioned over in the rumors thread my observation that the upcoming airliner seems to take its new cockpit piece's inspiration from the Airbus A380, a welcome addition in my mind. I like that high swept forehead look that makes the Airbus look so sleek. I also posited the idea of a supersonic transport, a la the Concorde, which is nearing its twentieth retirement anniversary, as a City Airport set. It'd be a welcome change from the typical airliner models, as well as introducing the younger generation to the supersonic commercial liner, planting the seed of inspiration. For us old-timers, it'd give us a bit of our glorious aviation past in a fun playable form. Concorde was such an impressive aircraft, and it's sad to see it lingering in museums rather than sailing blue skies. Even if I could never afford a ticket on Concorde, much like the various space programs and other aviation achievements, I can marvel in them vicariously, and to have a City set that commemorates it would be wonderful.

Yep, I'll be picking up a copy of that rover, maybe two. :) Agree with the Batman leaks- the truck and the buggy have my attention. I'm trying to figure out if that canopy is the 4-stud wide or 6 wide. I hope 4, but I think it's the 6. The 4 would have a lot more utility MOC-wise, methinks. At first glance, I thought the buggy was the Arkham Knight video game Batmobile, but sadly, no. I watched Jang's commentary on the upcoming Monkie Kid sets- that Bull mech looks very interesting. I like the horse-cycle, too, and the Bull tow truck. The latter has a cool M.A.S.K. vibe to it. I wish LEGO would do more stuff like that. The Monkie Kid HQ looks really cool. The level of detail in that set reminds me of the Ninjago Movie sets, particularly Ninjago City, with all the colors, details, and signage. It also reminds me a little of Samurai X's cave Chaos set. It's not the sci-fi I was looking for, per se, but it looks to be more on the Ninjago level of sci-fi, much of which I've enjoyed over the years. Still, I yearn for spaceships, and aliens, and all the stuff between. C'mon LEGO. Please?

Considering that, with those two hulls spliced together, this is largest boat LEGO has ever made, the tower section does look a bit small in comparison with the minifig. I think they're doing the same sort of thing they do with Star Wars capital ships; make everything look to scale externally, minus the minifigs. If you take the figs out of the picture, it looks like a much better mini-scale vessel. With the figs, it just looks too small, relatively speaking. It' a common problem with any number of toy brands, not just LEGO, as creating an in-scale model would be impractically large, unwieldy, and expensive. The beauty of a LEGO model over other toys is that it can be modified fairly easily. When I first saw pics of this ship, I had hoped that that mid-deck would also be properly scaled to accommodate minifigs, but looking at it with scrutiny for the first time, it's pretty clear that that's not the case. Ah well, to be expected, I suppose. I'm still getting it, as I love these big ships. I hope another cargo freighter is close behind. Love me some cargo sets. For the 2020 LEGO offerings on the whole, so far as where my interests lie (City, Ninjago, some Creator, some Star Wars, the very infrequent Technic), this has been a lackluster year for me, and subsequently, I've bought less LEGO this year thus far than I have in decades. I would have loved another expansion wave of last year's excellent City Space sets. I like sci-fi, and right now, aside from Star Wars, for which I've become fatigued, LEGO's just not making much that grabs my interest. Ninjago has been sustaining me, but aside from a couple of sets, the rest of last year's wave, with all the video game stuff, just didn't pique my interest. I'm starting to get excited about the upcoming Ninjago and Monkie Kid stuff- lots of good in there, both from a parts and a set perspective. I'm also down for that Airbus inspired airliner, although I dislike the continued use of that large single piece wing. Even if it raised the price by $20-30, I'd much rather get a building experience with the wings using plates, and preserve the integrity of the entire interior cabin space. I know I'm not alone in that sentiment. The rest of the undersea line is decent; I'll likely pick a few of them up. I like all the new sea life molds. LEGO's building a nice repertoire of animals, insomuch as they'd be able to make a nice fully populated aquarium/zoo set that I think would be a great addition to City, especially if they did it as a line, with a series of different scaled sets. I watched a couple documentaries on the majestic Concorde yesterday, and having been retired since 2003, I wonder if LEGO will do a commemorative model to mark her 20th anniversary in 2023? It's a bittersweet thing, but personally, I'd love a City SST taking its design cues from Concorde. Since the A380 seems to have informed the shape of the new airliner cockpit piece, I wonder if they'd take similar inspiration from a jet that was way ahead of its time to give City Airlines a bit of a futuristic boost.

It's closer to near future rover designs, but the alien is a nice sci-fi nod. If this is the only way we're going to get spacy sci-fi stuff, then I hope at least one out of every Creator wave gets something sci-fi in it. Personally, though, I'd like to see a stand alone line with a couple of waves throughout the year like we used to get. I know a lot of folks want to see classic space themes redone, and I wouldn't mind it either, as CS is near and dear to me; however, I'd be just as happy to see something new, like the Galaxy Squad, for example. I thought most of the alien builds were weak in that line, but I liked the majority of the GS vehicles. More importantly, it was an attempt to try something new, and I applaud the effort, regardless of how it was ultimately received. I thought the good far outweighed the bad in that line, as I have for pretty much all their space lines. It also provided an alternative to Star Wars. I wish those alternatives came more frequently. The Vic Viper build is nice to see, and reminds me of Nnenn, may he rest in peace. While it shouldn't come as a surprise to LEGO that sci-fi space is popular (sites like Flickr and Pinterest abound with sci-fi MOCs consistently), they're reluctance to do their own sci-fi space themes is puzzling. I think the demand is there, although apparently their market research says otherwise. I'll take what I can get in the interim. Hopefully the rover proves to be a good seller prompting more sets like it.

yeah, I saw that, too. Look at all the Technic beams bridging the split. I'd love to see the float tests they did before arriving at that solution. I hope they do a cargo ship in the same vein. I also hope they do a floating platform at some point. Even if LEGO shies from depicting oil drilling these days, a platform for oceanic sciences would be nice. There's something intrinsically cool about floating platforms, whatever their purpose. Two of those hulls tied together would make a good base for a small aircraft carrier.

Fantastic resource. Def appreciate the work you put into it, and the presentation is perfectly evocative of the original sets. Bookmarked into my faves. Thanks!

It's not so much not understanding IDEAS, per se- the concept is obvious, but more to the point, why people prefer the things they do, which often seems inconsistent with what I would expect the majority to find appealing. And yet, like you said, projects that seem fantastic garner little support, while other projects that seem less desirable for whatever reason get the votes. It's people I don't understand.

That's the first I've heard of Monkey Kid, but to my ears, it sounds more fantasy than sci-fi. Did some Googling, and all I found for Monkey Kid was a 1995 Chinese film set in 1970's Beijing about intellectual parents of a nine year old girl being sent off for 're-education' in the country. So I'm guessing Monkey Kid is something new. I confess my ignorance, as I had to look up Journey to the West as well. Honestly, with Ninjago already evoking a strong Asian vibe, I'm a little surprised that they'd want to do another Asian inspired series with, seemingly, so much in common,such as fantastic creatures, dragons, god-like characters, and other fantasy tropes richly detailed in ancient Chinese and Japanese folklore. It doesn't sound like the sci-fi I want to see, but that doesn't mean I won't give it a watch. I just hope it's better than Chima; I loved the sets and the concept, but I thought the show was really subpar, especially in light of the superior writing and characterization of Ninjago, which was done so well that an adult could enjoy it as well as children. Chima seemed to be written to a lower age bracket, and just didn't quite capture the charm and 'sophistication' of Ninjago. IMHO, that is. Anyway, I guess we'll see what kind of show, and by extension, sets, we get with Monkey Kid.

I concur- not very spacy looking. I think the lights would have looked better as small teardrop shaped nodules on the sides of the helmet rather than two big round lights on the forehead. Those just aren't very aesthetically appealing, IMHO.

Back in 2017, I finished my second version of the Koenig Monster from the Macross anime series. My first version was about another third larger, but the joints just couldn't handle the weight, and I subsequently decided to downsize and try again. Fortunately, I was able to make it work. Initially, I wanted to use a two-tone tan with red accents as the color scheme, based upon some art I found online, but as I worked on fleshing out ideas in LDD, I discovered to my dismay that a number of the parts I needed weren't available in the tans at the time, and having accumulated a lot of blue and gray, decided, like my first attempt, to just build it in Classic Space colors and styling. It stands about 15 and a half inches tall to the tips of its cannons, transforms without removing parts between all three modes, is fully articulated, and features retractable landing gear in shuttle mode. Since these pics were taken, I've since updated the canopy section with a more line-art accurate access panel using the 4x4 trans-yellow dish from last year's Batcave set. Eventually I'll take some pics. Hope you like. https://www.flickr.com/photos/95379588@N08/44181063412/in/album-72157666939175729/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/95379588@N08/42422129770/in/album-72157666939175729/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/95379588@N08/44181265472/in/album-72157666939175729/

Thanks Danth! Classic Spacy indeed.

Finally took a peak at the new helmet in question, and I concur with the majority consensus here- not crazy about it compared to similar previous helmets. The lights just don't look good to me, but everything else is fine. It looks like it'll be a dual mold, with a non-removable visor. It certainly looks to be cross-compatible across themes, so that's good.

Thanks Peppermint_M! No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the pics to show up, so I just posted the links. 'Preciate the kind words, too.

I wonder the same thing sometimes. Projects like the birds, while done well, hold no interest for me at all personally, and just don't pack the fun or excitement of so many other projects that garner far less support. It's one of life's mysteries.

The Lunar CS Outpost appeals to me, so I supported it, but with only 45 votes and only 59 days to go until it expires, I don't hold out much hope that it'll reach it's 10,000 vote goal. More's the pity, as out of the three you posted, that one captures the look and feel of original CS while giving it a modern makeover. It would be a fun set to build and play with.

Kinda does, now that you mention it. But it predates LEGO's SW license by three years, and the first appearance of the Stormtrooper by six. The helmet design was a nice cross-theme mold, as it appeared in space, divers, and fire , IIRC. That cross compatibility was a great hallmark of older LEGO sets. They create a lot more original molds today, so we see less sharing across themes. I'm not complaining, as I'm glad LEGO has the financial footing these days to expand the palette as needed/desired. They just need to make more/better joints for us hapless mecha builders. Grrr!

The case can be made for nearly every IDEAS set that's come along, with Ghostbusters and the Back to the Future Dimensions pack being the only two exceptions I can think of off the top of my head, that these sets are generally singular releases. There's been no more Tron, no more Voltron, no Back to the Future aside from the Dimensions, no NASA space stuff outside of IDEAS, and no Classic Space revival after Pete Reid's Exosuit and the few LEGO Movies' sets. As a mecha fan, I'd love to see more versions of Voltron released, and most certainly more Classic Space inspired stuff, but I've come to the sober conclusion that it's just not going to happen. Bear in mind that many of the current set designers grew up with and are huge fans of Classic Space, and yet even with that much influence behind the scenes, the amount of CS we've gotten over the years has been a dribble rather than the deluge many of us wish for. I'm thankful for those dribbles, though. Benny's Spaceship was such a wonderful surprise when it was revealed, and of course, my mind went into overdrive thinking of the possibilities of what's to come, but Benny's ship was a one-off for the first LEGO Movie. When space was rumored to be a main setting for LM2, again, I dared hope for more CS goodness, and we got some, but, sadly, not in the grandiose scale of Benny's ship. So, as the saying goes, I believe that the classic themes' ships have sailed so far as any real strong representation on shelves going forward. IDEAS is a great venue to that end, as it provides a potential doorway for bringing those old themes back to life, if ever so briefly. I wasn't really aware of the Barracuda Bay submission until pics of the actual IDEAS set were revealed, and having watched the designer vid and read early blogger reviews, I love what they did with the final model compared to the submission, which was a great idea itself. But taking the ship elements out of the playset to create a modern facsimile of the classic Black Seas Barracuda, as well as infusing the entire model with the classic Pirates look and feel, was a brilliant creative direction, IMHO. I'm not really a Pirates fan (although I jumped on board, pun fully intended, when the theme was revived back in 2009, culminating in the most impressive Imperial Flagship, which I still have displayed b/c it's awesome). I haven't really bought any Pirates stuff after that, but I did very much enjoy that particular line of sets, and I believe I bought just about every set in the '09-'10 line. I'm on the fence for the Barracuda Bay set, although, I must confess, it looks pretty great. I'd love to see something in this vein done with Classic Space themes for an IDEAS set. Well, they make the rules, and they can break them if it suits their whim. Personally, as I said, I think it was good decision, as the final set, to me anyway, has a much more fun inviting look to it than the darker submission. And, too, the ability to assemble the broken ship into a complete model, based off the classic Black Seas Barracuda, is just a great play feature. I think the final model has a broader appeal. That may not be to everyone's liking, but from a sales perspective, it's the way to go. Too, I think the nostalgic appeal will certainly entice a lot of older folks who still carry a fondness for their old Pirates sets. I really have no nostalgia for Pirates, and it's appealing to me. :)

Fingers crossed- SPACE!

Perhaps a portent of things to come?

It's telling, sadly so, that 2020 is a rather disappointingly sparse year for sci-fi offerings, especially when there have been no postings for almost three months. As a minimum, I wish LEGO had expanded last year's City Space sets with another wave, something to fill the void. While a lot of their IPs have sci-fi elements, along with Ninjago, it's just not the same, and honestly, most of what's on offer this year in those properties doesn't interest me a great deal. With the demise of Nexo-Knights, a good source of interesting parts and mecha sets is now gone, with no suitable replacement. I hope LEGO has some new sci-fi property in the works, preferably one set in space. Thus far, 2020 has been the least exciting year for me in a long time so far as LEGO goes. It's more money in my pocket, but less joy overall. :(

I failed to ask, is this a real or fictional edifice? I did a quick search and found no matches to Midgard's National Museum of Science and Technology, so I'm guessing it's completely out of your head, which makes it all the more impressive. In my earlier post, I was so awestruck by all the minutiae you put in the model, that I forgot to remark on those stunning angular supports for the external staircases- just gorgeous. On the whole, a masterpiece of period architecture.

Wow, that's a most impressive piece. Great subject for a build, and you capture the time period beautifully, not only in the architecture, but details like gas lamps, the winch on the roof, the steam driven cars, not to mention copious amounts of wrought-iron railings and trim, and the well-attired minifigs inhabiting the Museum grounds. The modularity of the Museum is well done, as well. It makes me wish and hope that LEGO will give us a proper museum Expert Creator Modular Building set. Hopefully, this inspires some of those designers. Great work!