danth

I see what you mean. Not sure why I did that, maybe I thought the gap created visual interest? But now I'm doubting it...I might futz with it and see if it looks better without the gap. Yeah the large radio antenna is a monstrosity. The white tiles/round bits were used to hide large areas of anti-studs but I admit they look out of place. I'll see if I can improve it somehow... I was sad that I didn't have a way to create the appearance of a large round dish. The 3x2 tiles are the best I could come up with to make the whole "dish" area look bigger. Busted! Wow you notice everything! Yeah, that was a mistake...I was going off memory and didn't realize it was wrong until I posted it here. Oops. Thanks for noticing! Getting an approximation of the original aerial was tough. Yay! Thanks, I really liked how the interior turned out. YES. Taps are a must. Gotta have something to hook up to, for exactly that reason. Wow, those are great thoughts! I daresay the rover is the best part of this, at least in terms of whimsy/ridiculousness. I didn't even think of the reasons why it might actually be practical. And I think you might be right about the sets I "referenced", although it would have been sub-conscious. When building it I had the thought "Hey, this looks...right somehow" and I bet some part of my mind was thinking of 6883's shape. It does! 😮 Thanks for the thoughtful feedback. Definitely makes it feel more worthwhile to make MOCs and post them here! 😊

Wow, didn't know that. I guess it's nothing new. I still don't like it but glad to know it's not some new trend to worry about. Not sure exactly how it splits but I believe you.

What's up with the pinnacle piece on the Magnifico castle? Lego is now giving us cheap vinyl rooftops instead of Lego bricks? I hate it.

Thanks! This is on Flickr too, pretty sure I'm Danth1 over there. I noticed there are some things I've posted here that I forgot to post on Flickr though.

Thanks icm! It means a lot to hear that from a certified space ship expert! Glad you like the reverse windscreen and it doesn't look too dorky. I mainly did that to be different from the official alt builds. Aww, you're too kind Aanchir. I love your story about the parking robot! I might have to reenact it, sounds and all! I was hoping you would respond to this because I knew if you did you would compare it to the Space Dart! And you are absolutely right because I thought about the Space Dart when working on the nose. The black gear in the middle is a direct homage to the black stripe on the Space Dart's nose.

@Karalora, well said!

Oops, I somehow totally missed that part of @TeriXeri's comment. Yeah, that seems like a strong likelihood. Man I'm out of the loop. I had to google Artemis 1, and didn't even know about the upcoming manned missions.

I wonder how much this has to do with having no upcoming SW movies until 2026 at the earliest, combined with post-sequel trilogy TV shows not being all that popular with the exception of the Mandalorian. Is the SW well running dry?

Thank you for putting this much more concisely than I could have (although you're gonna make me hungry with comments like that )! I can't help but to post a link to this. Yep. Sorry everybody!

Not sure what you mean. I was pretty unimpressed with the Blacktron Cruiser remake. My complaints about Lego Space sets are like, way simpler and easier to understand than yours. Like, in Space Police 3, they literally used aviation helmets in the first wave. Whether you liked those helmets or not, the complaint is simple and easy to understand. I don't think anyone is going to understand you without very specific breakdowns of what aspects of a set you like and don't like, with pictures. When you used multiple versions of El Dorado fortress, with links to pictures of each, and a breakdown of your complaints, it made sense to me. I know you've posted pics with regards to Galaxy Explorer, but for some reason I (personally) feel like I'm still missing something. EDIT: I do understand and sympathize with some of your complaints (e.g. it could have been more "double-deckery") but that will have be enough for you; I don't agree that 10497 is a failure in some way for being what it is. And of course most people are going to flat out reject any arguments that say "10497 was like this, but it SHOULD have been like this!" The majority of people here think 10497 was a home run. We like it for what it is. Like that dropship MOC you posted. Should the next Space set look like that? Maybe, I don't dislike it, and I appreciate its very different take on the Space aesthetic. Is that what 10497 SHOULD have been? Well, almost nobody is going to agree with that. I'll repeat what I said before. We need more Space sets! Then you can pick your favorite.

I think of Benny's Spaceships as being the other end of the spectrum (that you proposed) from 10497. Benny's Spaceship has more whimsy, weirdness, messiness, and is arguably easier for rebuilding or MOCing from a kid's point of view (large single wedge piece wings vs wings build of smaller wedges).

Thanks @Rubblemaker. Honestly, making transforming MOCs a major PITA. Or at least, I'm not very good at it yet. I'm hoping it gets easier. It's all in the joints. I was hoping the Mixel joints would make transforming MOCs easy but they actually bend in the wrong way. Unlike this hinge which keeps the studs in the same plane, you can only move Mixel joints such that studs are in different planes. Not sure if I can get the problem across without pictures, sorry. The bigger clicky joints at least don't have this problem. My goals are simplicity, sturdiness in both modes, reasonably poseability in robot mode, and good looks. And that's freaking hard!

I forgot to reply to this. Thanks @Renny The Spaceman! What's funny is that 442 only ever came with one pilot! Maybe that's why the single pilot was smiling...he offed his annoying co-pilot in the depths of space and now has full control of his ship!

Not sure I'm following you. A space ship in classic space colors, with detachable smaller spaceships (a gimmick ever present in Classic Space) and a wing extension that revealed weaponry (present in 6886 and others), the LL designation, the double decker configuration, a body shape similar to 6931 and others, robots in the old style...the list goes on. How does any of that not work in terms of Classic Space? IMO, 10497 was exactly this. Great at play and looks. Maybe not a ton of greebling but that's more of a SW thing anyway. I loved building the Galaxy Explorer AND both amazing alt builds. All of them have great play features. All of them look awesome. And the set is perfect for MOCing. Check out my signature for two MOCs I did just with the leftover parts from the alt builds. @Merlo, I gotta thank you...people used to think I was a picky Space fan that couldn't be pleased. Now you're taking all the heat for me! 😁

There is truth in this, but I think it might be overstated. I would argue that any historic theme is going to be based more on what popular culture thinks something should be than actual historic truth. Whether it's castles, ninjas, pirates, or vikings. They're going to be based more on movie portrayals of those times than anything else. For spaceships, it's the same. I don't think "what popular culture thinks something should be" is that nebulous for space. An X-wing, Buck Rogers Thunderfighter, BSG Viper all look like they could exist in the same universe, largely because Ralph McQuarrie designed all of them. 40 years later, the Lightyear XL-15 looks like it would fit right in with them. Even all the space games have ships that look alike. This image from the new Starfield game looks like it could be from any space movie or space game: That looks exactly like half the Space MOCs I see. Down to the pilot with helmet and air tank. Except it's annoying as hell when they're in the same boxes. I skipped many Mars Mission and Galaxy Squad sets when I wanted the very cool, relatively small "Good guy/Human" builds, but didn't want the large, ugly bad guy builds. The Lego bad guy builds are, universally, never as good. "Conflict in a box" also means poorer kids can't buy nearly as many sets because most of the small builds are in the same box with a larger build. In the above sets, the human builds are small but awesome. The bad guys are weird, gruesome, and large. I don't care how much anyone likes the bad guys here, they should be in their own sets. Most kids are going to want the smaller good guy builds more than anything. Hell, at least put builds of the same size in the same box. I hate it when there's a huge mech with a tiny, throwaway enemy build. As if they could possibly have a fair fight.

To be fair, 40 years ago, you had Luke vs Darth Vader, Joe vs Cobra, He-man vs Skeletor, Autobots vs Decepticons. Basically every popular action-figure-based toy had good guys vs bad guys. This conflict wasn't (and isn't) typically seen in non-action figure toys, like toy cars (Hot Wheels), traditional construction toys (wooden blocks, Lincoln Logs), or "girl" toys like Barbie an other dolls. So really it's not that kids have moved on, it's Lego that has moved on from being a traditional building block toy, to an action-figure based toy. Minifigs in this case. This is another example of the "because kids" argument used to tell AFOLs they can't have what they want.

No, because that would actually be kinda cool and interesting.

What, like if you're the first on the scene? Definitely :) But critique is the only way anything or anyone gets better. If you think you're the best, you probably won't work super hard to be the best and then some!  That wasn't directed at you. It was directed at people complaining that you are critiquing sets. Basically they should defend the sets by saying what the set does right, if they can, instead of being mad that you dared criticize something. That is a brutal shot. Yikes. But, we're in a 2024 Space sets thread. This critique of Pirate sets is getting off topic. We got there organically, but still. That might be part of what is upsetting @arnoldtblumberg, understandably.

Oh right, Space vs. Classic Space. Most definitions of Classic Space don't include Futuron and later Space themes. I don't think I've heard a good term for Futuron through Insectoids. Post Classic Space? Some fans only consider the first couple years of Space to be Classic Space, but they're a minority.

Well you didn't say that before. You were being sarcastic and basically saying we shouldn't do anything but praise Lego. What you said above is actually a valid point. Nah. Maybe some people are overly critical. I don't see any toxic negativity though. Unless you think all critique is toxic, which is silly. I see a lot praise and hopefulness in these threads, way more than criticism. I you want to say that we're getting off topic critiquing a Pirate set, maybe you're right. What do you hope for in 2024 space sets?

No, I mean YOU. In response to people's criticisms of the Galaxy Explorer, I explained everything I liked about it. You just whined about the complaints. Toxic positivity is a thing. You can't just expect everyone to fanboy out and accept everything uncritically. You can't say liking something is allowed but not liking something isn't. That's just silly. Maybe that's not what you meant but it kinda comes off that way. If you're saying that the Galaxy Explorer is so obviously amazing that the repeated complaints almost seem like trolling, well, I kinda get that.

I can give you specific examples of sets I bought to scratch the Space itch. Green windscreen for the win. And no stickers! The raccoon parts are generic enough; swap the torso and it's not Rocket but just a random friendly anthropomorphic trash panda. But I don't like the shape or the color scheme. Lego designers could do better from scratch. And frankly I just don't want licensed anything in my sets. As a recognizable Guardians of the Galaxy design, this is a build once and scrap for parts set. Mars Spacecraft Exploration Missions is close to being phenomenal. It's an honest to god spaceship, and there are tons of space parts, and tons of prints, with no stickers. And the ship looks good. I would have preferred trans blue, or any nice trans color, over trans light blue. But for some insane reason, this is a City set. Also it's too expensive by $10, and infuriatingly, does not come with paper instructions. Space bunny mech? I'm in. Has the vibe of a Classic Space rocket base. The stickers suck and should be prints. The trans clear window should also be trans orange. I hate when sets mix windscreen colors for no reason. The trans light blue bits are boring too. I don't really "get" why there's a pig cook or blue cat or what's up with the woman. I would prefer some more archetypal space people, or more bunny people to fit the theme. I don't care at all about Monkie Kid characters or their story. I think the pig and woman figs are stupid. A generic anthropomorphic pig head would be cool, but not an angry pig cook. These two sets have to get honorable mentions even though they're not space. The first one is very sci-fi and has amazing colored windscreens. All five vehicles have simple, clean, and nice looking designs. Great colors, no stickers, only a few prints. All have modularity similar to old Space sets (especially Blacktron) where you can swap around the front and back bits. The torsos are sci-fi and generic and reusable. The second one gives me Blacktron vibes thanks to the black visors and torsos. These sets are perfect. Even the price is perfect. I'm pretty in love with this flying space car I made just by swapping the bits around!

I don't get the complaints about 10497 myself, other than extremely minor nitpicks. But I don't see any problem critiquing Lego sets generally. If you can't handle it when someone criticizes a toy, I find that pretty sad, frankly. Better to chime in with why you love something than to just complain, IMO.

I approve of the space vs Space classification (little "s" vs big "S") and agree with what you said, though I wouldn't care if a Space theme had molded alien heads.

Thanks, that gives me a much better idea of what you're talking about. And I think I even agree with your assessment, though I can't speak to ease of rebuilding. I think 10320 makes these specific mistakes: The use of the reddish brown 2x1 rounded plates as exposed brick simply doesn't look good, they should have used the actual brick piece. The reddish brown pieces are everywhere, which doesn't work. It breaks up areas of wall that are just too small for that detail. The wall sculpting just isn't that good/interesting. The dock area is really rough. The rocky areas have an overly messy/distracting look. Maybe that's the kind of thing you are talking about. The MOC is my favorite of the newer 3 designs. Back to Space. I think 10497 had a much better execution than 10320. I can almost guarantee you that Lego uses computer algorithms to process all designs and suggests ways to cheapen them. Even down to what colors are used. Then the budget guys twist the designer's arms. The internals of most larger sets look like they were designed by AI.