Lord Insanity

Well all the modern NASA based set discussions have been going in the Special Themes forum. I don't really care if it is here but I figure he would get more response from the forum where that subject is usually discussed.

Nice MOD. I think you captured the probe at that scale far better than the set LEGO released. I should point out that real world NASA stuff typically goes in the Special LEGO Themes forum section. I admit seeing the subject in the Sci-Fi forum, I expected some crazy sci-fi neon laser MOD or redoing it in Classic Space colors or something.

I agree with this one. The squatting bigfigs have never looked good. Not only that but not a single one of them is small enough to accurately reflect the character they are portraying either. Maybe certain versions of the Hulk himself is supposed to be twice as tall as a person but the vast majority of characters are most definitely not supposed to be that big. I remember when Nexo Knights came out and made the figure Axl. Ever since I have been hopping for a generic non-armored version to use and represent every single character that has ever been made as a squatting bigfig. It's almost like a building toy should be customizable and build-able.

The first Mega Bloks set I bought after Mattel bought them and switched to the higher quality ABS plastic was the Assassin’s Creed Gunboat Takeover. I found it a Target on clearance for $11. (Its MSRP was $50, like what a similar size LEGO set would have been). Suffice to say after my previous experience with Mega Bloks the only reason I took a chance even at that price was the "rumored" massive quality jump Mattel ordered. It was based on a smaller hull sections that LEGO themselves grossly underused and I wanted a good merchant vessel for my pirates to attack. I was blown away at just how much better the quality was. I have had that ship (MODed to my uses as a trade ship) assembled and played with for several years now. There has been no noticeable degradation of color or clutch power anymore so than the LEGO parts they have been also played with. The Mega figures are easily the weakest part of the line. They are basically miniature action figures, I am not really a fan of them. However they do work really well for Masters of the Universe which was an action figure line in the first place. This is of course purely subjective. Many people on the more generic toy and collectible forums actually like the miniature action figure concept and consider it far superior to LEGO minifigs. I am pretty sure he is referring to the build itself (The Mould King Flying Dutchman) being on the flimsy side relying on the quality of the parts to hold together correctly. The build itself is not meant for play because of its fragile nature. The parts quality is by necessity top notch.

I have actually built that set. (Masters of the Universe being one of the few non-LEGO toys I had as a child, I couldn't resist the combination of brick based building toy and Castle Grayskull.) Old MegaBloks was crap quality. Modern MegaConstrux plastic quality is virtually identical to LEGO. The "wildly inconsistent" color is completely intentional. There are three separate green colors used in Grayskull. The instructions and the inventory rather specifically differentiate the bricks of the same shape and size that are "slightly" different in color. Under good lighting the difference is as obvious as "gray" vs "blay" and is used to good effect to make the castle have that iconic mottled look. The uneven plates is just the same laziness (of not pushing the pieces together all the way) LEGO's own marketing department also routinely shows in promotional images of actual product. The design of the build is fantastic. I would love LEGO to produce an AFOL targeted castle that is even half as well designed as MegaConstrux's Castle Grayskull. I have no problem with people flat out not wanting to support other brands. But do so as an informed choice and not just assuming they're still the same quality they were 20 years ago.

My unpopular opinion would be that LEGO needs to start taking their competition seriously instead of treating them like insignificant nothings. Lego is currently the number one toy company world wide. There is only one direction to go from that position. Rival brick companies used to be obviously inferior to LEGO brand but that hasn't been true for several years now. In certain things the competition is better quality than LEGO right now. Look at how many stickers the MegaConstrux Masters of the Universe sets use. None at all, the decorations are all prints. Unlike the older MegaBloks the newer MegaConstrux plastic quality is nearly indistinguishable from LEGO. You could buy a Chinese production of a brick built Van Gogh's Starry Night on Amazon before LEGO even announced it as a "winner" of becoming an Idea's set. As the image of the painting is public domain and anyone can translate it "into the brick", there is nothing LEGO can do about it. If LEGO's version isn't at least as good as the one already for sale before they even announced it would become a set, they shouldn't have even bothered. Make no mistake, I still have a near exclusive preference for LEGO brand. However, my purchasing power should not be taken for granted. LEGO really needs a serious reality check.

This can not be emphasized enough. If LEGO isn't selling it anymore and any applicable patents are expired there is absolutely no reason not to buy the third party stuff. LEGO stopped selling PF components, that means we must switch to their new standard right? Yeah, not happening with that mobile device dependent junk. The days when Cobi, MegaBloks, and various Chinese brands were obviously lower quality are long gone. (I wouldn't be surprised it that is part of why MegaBloks rebranded to MegaConstrux.) The quality difference between LEGO and the competition is almost non-existent now. LEGO really needs to start treating their rival brick companies as serious competition rather than treating them as mere pests.

To be fair Lego had previously depicted native Americans and Pacific islanders as yellow figs. Neither of those would be considered "white" anymore than Lando would. I find the whole "inclusive" discussion really odd. Not because I am opposed to diversity and representation in Lego form, but because I have never considered mini-figs to be representative of "me" at all. I always treated yellow figs as an alien race of "minfigians" that just happen to have silly caricatures of humans from different time periods and eras applied to them. I do like the modern policy of licensed sets depicting real people and characters get proper flesh tones while non-licensed stick with the classic yellow. But I also view yellow as being the non-human "minfigian" race of "people". Like most good compromises no one is really happy. The whole reason I love classic Lego is because " I " make the story. Now I realize that is much harder to do in the modern era of Lego with so much defined story material compared to the mere "seed ideas" of 20-30 years ago. That is something The Lego Movie depicted that I have always done even as a kid. " I " am the "creator". If Lego insists on defining so much story in their themes and expects people to identify with the mini-figs, then they need to be as all inclusive as they can. With Lego it is stupidly easy to just add a few extra heads and hair pieces to gender swap most figs. The company really has no reason not to be able to sell a few sets with those options if people actually want them.

Yeah they really should have made "Benny" have a normal undamaged suit in this set. The fake cracked helmet bugs me more than the smudged torso, but I will definitely replace the torsos too if Lego ever bothers to make a "new" blue space shirt in a commonly available set again.

Oh that is the most ridiculous typo. I can't believe I missed that. Regarding 6972, my slight disappointment was specifically about the European name Star Gate Departure Centre (yes the book had that typo printed in it) that appeared in the guide book. Having only seen the set in the form of a tiny picture for several years, I imagined that the trans red parts on what I would later learn is a rocket, were part of a "star gate". I imagined that as being some sort of dimensional doorway to the unknown. Keep in mind this was 7 years before the actual movie Stargate came out. When I first saw the movie Stargate I laughed at the fact that everyone knows "star gates" are trans-red and the movie screwed up. When I finally got the set a few years later I was a bit let down by the mere rocket. I do however think the set overall is still the second best non-monorail space base Lego has made to date. (Only 6987 Message Intercept Base tops it) The overall appearance and shaping of 6972 Polaris I Space Lab just has that wow factor that still captivates me today. The "white and black with trans-blue windows" classic space sets did have one major difference (besides the figs) to Futuron. The classic space sets made use of trans-green and trans-yellow in addition to trans-red as accent color parts. Futuron used trans-blue in addition to trans-red as accent color parts. It is a subtle but important difference.

Man my wife thought I was crazy for buying 25 copies of the set. I also bought 25 "unbroken" blue helmets thanks to 71708 Ninjago Gamer's Market, to convert the "Benny" to not have that stupid faux broken helmet. I must be the only person in the world that never actually broke my original space helmets. I have broken helmets from buying used Lego from yard sales and stuff but I never broke or cracked my own.

6940 was the first "large" space set I received for Christmas. (The first "large" non-Basic set at all really) This set was instrumental in my love of Lego Space. I mean who doesn't want a space walker equivalent of a nuclear missile submarine. I never really saw this as an AT-AT equivalent probably because I had many adventures with the set long before I ever saw Star Wars. I do have a bit of an oddity with it though. I grew up with the old product guide books that used to come in sets. The 1987 product guide used what I would later learn as the European names to the sets. So growing up I never thought of 6940 as the Alien Mood Stalker it was the Thunderfoot Launcher. Similarly 6972 wasn't the Polaris I Space Lab it was the Star Gate Departure Centre [sic] 6972 was one of those sets I always thought looked awesome in the guide book. I was slightly disappointed when I finally picked it up in the late 90s and found it did not in fact have a star gate but a rocket. But of course being Lego I uh... fixed that. When people say: "Classic Space" I think of the page spreads from the '87 guide, that is my Classic Space.

So the VHS cartoon set I watched growing up had all three of the original Petunia Pig cartoons. Apparently that gave me a bit of a distorted perception of how well known and used the character was. I'm pretty sure the original intent was mocking (not supporting) that stereotype by taking to the extreme. I mean I can only speak to the cartoons I have seen, but I would bet that the Academy award winning cartoon For Scent-imental Reasons is probably Pepé Le Pew's most well know short. The human French man in that short reacted to Pepé the same way everyone else did. As far as chasing Penelope, that short ends with her falling in a barrel of water and Pepé falling in a bucket of paint. She winds up looking like a drowned rat and Pepé no longer looks like a skunk nor has his telltale "stink". She then proceeds to chase him the way he had been chasing her while he runs away. It is over the top ridiculous on purpose. No sane person was ever meant to think they were being serious. I mean we got mini-figures of Darth Vader and Voldemort not to mention Mola Ram from Indiana Jones and a Demogorgon from Stranger Things. The idea that Elmer, Sam and Pepé are somehow inappropriate is flat out absurd.

I am fan of old school Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s. As Petunia Pig is arguably the most well known original era female character, I just assumed she was a given. I am surprised so many have never heard of her. That is like a Disney cartoon fan saying they never heard of Daisy Duck. As for Speedy Gonzales; when ever some well meaning idiots suggest banning him because he is a stereotype, actual Hispanic rights groups routinely point out that he is the hero and is considered a positive portrayal. While I really wanted Elmer, Sam, and Foghorn I understand that they will want some desirable characters for a potential series 2. A series 2 would give them an excuse to make variants like Duck Dodgers and Cadet Pig too. I do like what characters they did make though. Marvin was my number one must have. He looks as good as I reasonably expected a mini-fig-ized Marvin would. Same thing with the Road Runner. That is pretty much exactly what I expected and I am happy with that. I want mini-fig-ized versions of these characters just like the Disney series' before it. If I wanted correctly proportioned plastic statues I wouldn't be buying Lego mini-figs.

Awesome to see a review like this for an older set. Thanks. My biggest complaint about this set was the name. Why is a Starship being called a Starfighter. The UFO theme did have the original V-Wing Fighter. 6836 was a great small set. As someone that owns all of the main UFO sets I would say both have their pros and cons. I like the overall look of the Alien Avenger better but I think the Interstellar Starship Starfighter has a better overall build. The Avenger is mostly hollow underneath but it does have a nice down facing "engine" that everyone probably just used as an "Independence Day" (the movie) style mega laser. I was in the opposite position. I was an older teen when UFO came out. Unlike most I never had a "dark ages" where I wasn't into Lego. UFO and Explorians were the first themes that I had a job and could intentionally buy multiple copies of the smaller sets like the V-Wing. Sadly that was near the end of the continuous Space theme.

I would be surprised if anyone not already into trains would even order this considering the nature of how it might be made. I can see how that might be a problem for the uninitiated though. I wasn't really thinking parting out the sets so much as simply extending the build by building more window sections and possibly making it wider to account for proper track geometry. Having a second stair bridge (and a third set to make both fit increased width) would be useful too. Really if you like the design and just want to upscale it to proper track geometry buying 2 or 3 "sets" seems like it would be way easier than redesigning it from scratch. The biggest hurdle to that is going to be the likely price tag. Personally I would ditch the actual train it comes with entirely to save on cost. I do however realize its inclusion probably makes the build overall more appealing and more likely to succeed. Am I the only one that actually thinks the current redesign using the garage door panels and technic framework looks better than the original idea of using the old space panels? I really like the early 1900s industrial gothic aesthetic its current version gives off.

It's funny I never considered Tron to be cyberpunk, though I see why it would be considered such. I always think "Neon Anime" when I hear "cyberpunk", basically exactly the Prime Empire Ninjago line. I guess it is sort of like Wild West versus Victorian steampunk. They have obvious overlap but the style can be quite different.

To be fair it is likely that anyone with the space for two loops of track probably would want 2 or 3 copies of the station to make it long enough anyway. If a person only wants (or can afford) one copy of the station they could always use the second track as a static display for the included train and only run one powered train through the other track. It's not ideal but it is better than the nothing we otherwise have.

Ninjago Prime Empire is about as cyberpunk as you can get in Lego form. They should still be fairly easy to find on store shelves but are definitely nearing the end of their run.

The factory was cancelled. Of course it was. There must be some absurd prohibition on industrial builds by Lego. I have been wanting a good industrial factory since I was 9 years old. Like seriously where do minifigs actually make stuff in Lego town / city. I was really looking forward to a silly cartoon dynamite factory in my town. I figured the "crooks hideout" and police vehicles were merely an annoying extra we had to buy to finally get a factory. I don't suppose we could just get the factory released at some point without the "conflict" stuff.

I really liked the UFO sub theme. I still think the main suited aliens are the best ones Lego has done so far. Those suits still remind me of the Chigs from the TV series Space Above and Beyond that came out 2 years before Lego's UFO theme. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was an inspiration even if unintentionally. I always treated the UFO overlords as "assimilating" minifigs into their cyborg underlings. When Insectoids came out afterward they became the genetically enhanced super cyborg "assimilated" grunts. When Alien Conquest came along I used those as lab grown "hive" soldiers with the "brain" aliens acting as the local control units for the UFO overlords. Galaxy Squad provided some more lab grown cannon fodder. Of course its all in vain the UFO overlords will never defeat the Futuron Starfleet and Blacktron Marine Corp.

I really wanted the chemical plant to get a second chance. I can't necessarily fault Lego as the original designer may have been contacted and unable to rework their submission though. Still a major bummer. Train station Studgate is a pretty awesome consolation prize though. As long as the rework pans out I am definitely ordering one of those. This right here is the single most important point for anyone trying to figure out how Lego can do limited run "sets" via the Bricklink designer program. These will NOT be Lego sets at all. They are an order of parts that happen to make a MOC build. It requires people to put their money where their mouth is and actually pre-order too. Better than not getting a proper Lego set of the "idea" but not as good as an actual set would be.

Cool MODs. One of the things I liked best about the 2019 City Space line was the modular units. You have repurposed the Lunar Space Station to great effect as a trailer for the rover. Good stuff.

This thing is really cool looking. It's a shame that the regular crowd in this forum doesn't really appreciate near future sci-fi as much as the more fantastical far future sci-fi. Great build and crisp clean photography from multiple angles so we can really see all the nice details. I really like the back door that looks like it can dock to a station with an airlock.

I am going to guess not having an actual elevator shaft is the complaint from the Ninjago City set. Having a elevator shaft in a Daily Bugle set makes perfect sense for the building and lots of cool super heroics occur in elevator shafts. I do find it interesting that there seems to be a divide between fans of MCU and comic based sets. I can't be the only one that likes both and just uses which ever character designs I happen to like best as the "real one" for my "Lego-verse".