hagridshut

Wow, you are lucky to have many of the 3 in 1 space sets already! I am in the U.S. and the LEGO shop here only says "coming soon". I would very much like to see a detailed moon base built from many of these sets.

Great work all around. The neo-Classic 6801 is my favorite too. It feels classic, yet new and adventurous! 90's kid here, and I am definitely a big Unitron fan. It was the last LEGO Space theme of the 20th Century where I felt some deep connection. I'm still enamored with the printing on the minifigures, the color palate, and the weird designs with extending arms for equipment (Space Station Zenon has a few of these, as does Star Hawk). I started to lose interest in LEGO Space during the Exploriens era (1996-1997), and aside from Android Base and Nebula Outpost, I still don't like the general Exploriens aesthetic. Things got progressively worse with Roboforce, UFO, and then Insectoids. It wasn't until nearly 10 years later that Star Justice and then Space Police III got me interested in LEGO Space again. Most of the 2000's was a "dark age" for me. I still paid attention to LEGO, mostly because of Harry Potter, but whenever I perused the SciFi offerings at a store during those years, I just got more and more depressed about the sets. I'm glad that LEGO has revived some space stuff in recent times with TLM/TLM2 and the Creator 3 in 1 Space Exploration Rover.

https://youtu.be/pCv7NuqNB4M Good speed build and overview of this year's Space Rover Explorer. Some have previously commented that the color scheme is similar to another 3 in 1 Mobile Home set. The review shows the interior, which resembles a mobile home, complete with: bed, sink, plants/foodstuffs, and places to store extra gear. The set has one minifigure, but I think the rover is really a 2-person vehicle, where each person takes turns driving while the other rests in the habitat section or operates the various machines on board (crane, robot arms, sensors, and so forth). Minifigure has interesting prints, which include the classic "Planet and Spaceship" logo from Classic Space, Futuron, and Mars Mission themes. Robot and alien, both brick built, are interesting characters. I plan to buy this as soon as it becomes available in the US. I never owned any of the Classic Space or Futuron rovers, so this is a nice opportunity to obtain a large and detailed surface vehicle for my space collection.

Good to hear everyone's perspectives. I also enjoy LEGO as a hobby for one tangential reason: the community and shared interest with people, both local and around the world. It's just fun sometimes to build a random MOC with a friend, or assemble the latest Winter Village set.

I have found myself wondering why I occasionally buy a LEGO set, or spend time refurbishing my old sets from the 1980's and 1990's. Here are my reasons: Nostalgia. I enjoyed building LEGO sets and still do. Experiencing sets that I missed out on. Although I had a good number of sets as a child, and some of my friends also had a lot of LEGO, there are many LEGO sets that I did not have the opportunity to either build or see in person. Appreciating LEGO as art. I like discovering how LEGO designers take something complex, and create a LEGO model that captures the essence of that thing, with only a few hundred or perhaps a few thousand components. For example, the world of Harry Potter is very rich in terms of people, locations, and stories. It is a great challenge to convey the vastness and random curiosities of Hogwarts, or the decrepit yet charming and cozy Burrow, or the personalities of the many characters. More generally speaking, I also like to see different building techniques, creative new uses for existing pieces, and interesting color palates. Do you collect LEGO? Any thoughts on why LEGO has great appeal to people across many generations?

Nice work. I would buy this if it were a LEGO set. I like the green/white color scheme and use of Octan logos. The use of mechanical valves, hoses, and varied types of control panels also gives it a look that very much reminds me of Classic Space. I wish LEGO would bring back sets that are in the spirit of this build.

I agree with this. What I liked most about LEGO Space from the early 1980's through the mid-1990's was the variety of original, inspirational designs. MTron and Ice Planet were not merely rehashes of Classic Space or even Futuron. The themes and their follow-ons were unique takes on how exploration and life in space might work. I don't think re-makes of Blacktron or 900-series spaceships are what LEGO Space needs. What's needed are fresh designs that capture the imagination of kids and adults alike. Some of the sets from The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part have this. I bought the Super Secret Police Dropship because it was a fresh take on Space law enforcement, and it has a very cool and playable design. I also bought Emmet's Rescue Rocket, because it was a whimsical "Jules Verne" type of spaceship that made me think of exploring the stars. What makes a good LEGO Space set? It should look interesting and have nice play features. I also feel that it should not be too complicated in terms of greebling or other non-functional décor. I understand why greebling exists on Star Wars sets representing huge vessels like Star Destroyers or Death Stars: to give a hint at all the smaller structures that are dwarfed by the larger ship. However, I don't think they add anything to a smaller 1-2 person spaceship, or even a bigger spaceship that can accommodate 6-7 mini-figures. The ship should be of a size and weight where it is not unwieldy for a child of appropriate age to fly around. Empty space is ok and even good: it leaves room for creativity and expansion. For example: the Space Police 2 Galactic Mediator and the Classic Space Cosmic Fleet Voyager had interiors that were empty in some areas and customizable. Inter-Galactic Command Base is another example of a set with a lot of "empty" room for customization. I do have hope that LEGO Space will make a comeback. A new generation of children will become interested in space exploration, inspired by the creativity of commercial space launches (like SpaceX) and the real possibility of Moon and Mars colonies within the next few decades. I think there should be plenty of demand for Space sets to help kids give form to their imaginings of a future where many people live in space.

I usually go to a store in person to buy a new set. Most of the large retailers near me will sell LEGO at a discount. Occasionally I will buy from an online retailer like Amazon, or from an independent shop on Bricklink for sets that are out of production.

This is a great reference site with nice photos of all the old sets. Space was my favorite LEGO theme from the early 1980's through the mid-1990's. I lost interest after Spyrius and Unitron, because the designs from the Exploriens through Insectoid themes just didn't resonate with me. It wasn't until Star Justice and Space Police III, almost 15 years later, that I regained interest in Space.

I noticed this too, but I don't mind. I don't intend to buy 31052. While 31107 has some stylistic similarities, it is close enough to classic space that I intend to add it to my collection. I like the space terrain wheels and the crane. I always wanted an M:Tron Celestial Forager (6896), but never got around to acquiring one as a child. 31107 is even better.

A beautiful and wonderous design. This is very different than most spaceship MOCs and I like the zoological inspiration.

Nice! I wish LEGO had given Unitron a bit more attention. I always liked the minifigures and color scheme, and wished for more Unitron sets.

Nice work on the terrain and the facility built into the brick mountainside.

Nice design! I like the mechanical hand and the magnet hand.

Haha, this is great! I like the detailed cooking area and M-Tron guys in different hats. Nice use of trans-neon green pieces too, particularly the main radio dish piece stacked with the dark gray one.

Not a Harry Potter set, but is anyone considering converting this into Malfoy Manor? It's supposed to be an amusement park attraction, but the architecture and "dark artifacts" make it a compelling candidate for the lair of Lucius Malfoy & family. https://brickset.com/article/51362/this-year-s-fairground-set-revealed!

The moment I saw this, I thought MALFOY MANOR This has all the vibes of the ancestral estate of Harry Potter's schoolyard rival.

I'd forgotten about Star Justice. That would make sense. Star Justice is one of those big sets I kind of wish I'd bought. I remember seeing it in a LEGO store and being reminded of Classic Space. Agreed that this looks like it's from before "Mars Mission". The Mars Mission stuff looks very futuristic, more so than "Life on Mars". Life on Mars vehicles and ships don't look too far ahead of today's City Space, so my guess is that the 2020 Rover is from somewhere near that era. Mars Mission vehicles are also obviously militarized, which the 2020 Rover is not.

Thanks for posting the high-def photo of the box. The torso printing overall looks great. I am wondering where this set might fit in the history/timeline of Lego space sets. To me, the rover and astronaut look slightly more technologically advanced than the "City Space" sets, which have a different style of planet/orbit logo, but they are closer in style to "City Space" vehicles than Classic Space and Futuron, despite the astronaut having a Classic Space logo. It makes me wonder if this set represents a time between "City Space" and the time where Classic Space exists.

I noticed that too. The outside of Hogwarts could change drastically from film to film. Hagrid's Hut also looked different from year to year, even though each iteration of the hut always looked like it had been there for a lot time Oddly, the sense I got from the Harry Potter books was that the Hogwarts castle interior was prone to some measure of self-reconfiguration. I have to go back to check the early books, but I distinctly remember students getting lost because staircases and corridors constantly shifted.

It just occurred to me that minifigures are basically the "Chocolate Frog Cards" of the LEGO world.

I'm very happy with this 2020 wave of Harry Potter sets. In particular, The Burrow and The Astronomy Tower are beautiful in their colors and detail. I don't know if they'll fit into my budget, but I'm sure they will make collectors and children alike very happy! The brick-built Hedwig seems to be the most controversial. I don't think LEGO intends this to be a high volume set, as it is not play oriented, and it is a Barnes & Noble exclusive in the U.S. market. I see it more as a display piece/collector's item. I do like it, although it wouldn't rank high on my purchase list, since it is not a minifigure scale set.

Excellent! Spyrius and Unitron were the final 2 space themes that I bought sets from as a child. I remember building the Saucer Scout, Recon Robot, and Saucer Centurion. The minifigures were my favorite, especially the Spyrius Droid (aka Major Kartofski). There are so many cool prints too. Minifigure torsos have a "cyborg" look to them, and the various tiles/panels representing computers still hold up well today.

Very innovative! I like the use of Blue Tail 4 x 2 x 2 to elevate the Command Space Centre above the lunar baseplate, and the use of Yellow Windscreen 6 x 4 x 2 Canopy as a window/skylight on the roof of the building. Nice details on the air tank storage and satellite dishes too. Refinery is excellent. Nice use of Technic pieces on the mining rig. Pipework and valves really capture the feel of Classic Space.

I suspect that the answer may be more simple than nefarious. The color scheme of the rover is a close match to the City Space sets and could be seen as part of that collection. Both are mostly white and dark gray, with a tiny bit of color for highlighting: Orange for City Space and Blue/Red for the rover. Both use trans dark gray for windows and canopies. The Classic Space White/Blue would have clashed with City Space. I would have preferred the set have a Classic Space color pallet out of the box, but it’s not a dealbreaker for me.