danth

Actually, Star Wars replaced Space, other than the recent City Space sets (which, btw, show both that 1. Lego knows that non-Star Wars Space is popular and can sell and 2. Lego is forced to shoehorn sci-fi Space sets into City due to licensing agreements). And LOTR, Harry Potter, and Disney replaced Castle. More like licensing happened and kids can only buy what's available.

I don't recall any Ninjago space sets. Although maybe that's why you included City. I still think it's weird that Ninjago went everywhere BUT space. I'm pretty much sick of the Ninjago aesthetic. I like ninjas & mechs & vehicles but I just don't think the Ninjago sets have good designs. Anime mecha already have a cool Japanese aesthetic, so I don't get why Ninjago mechs need to be ridiculously ninja'd out. Or the vehicles: a helicopter with swords for rotor blades and a shuriken for a tail rotor. Is that cool, or stupid and ridiculous? I guess some kids may like it, but anime mechanical designs are way cool without being stupid. To sum up: Ninjago is extremely and narrowly Asian-coded stylistically, but somehow doesn't even nail that excellent Japanese sci-fi design sense, so it's not capable of replacing sci-fi themes generally. The recent City Space sets were cool without being extremely goofy.

This set looks impossibly good, in terms of subject matter, value, and hopefully lack of stickers.

This is really cool. I don't totally get what's going on with the Tudor style walls. Is the white stucco crumbling away from the black boards, or is something else going on?

I haven't heard anything about the Upscaled Blue Spaceman in a while. I'm hoping for some sort of update soon.

Damn, that's a great price for the Renegade. I'd probably grab a couple for MOCs if I had room.

The first time I realized the yellow "stripe" might be an homage to the yellow hoses was when looking at your modded Renegade. I think you removed enough yellow "noise" that I could finally see it.

Big yellow hoses instead of the yellow stripe would be my choice, if there are any big hoses available in yellow. Actually this one just came out last year: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=14301#T=C&C=3

Less yellow, and a sensor array that actually looks like a sensor array. Nice. 👍🏼

What color are the trans bits? Trans bright green?

Uhh, why are you keeping us waiting? That sounds awesome!

This contributed to one of the main things I don't like: the big chunky block that is the left side sensor array (or whatever it is). It's too bad the connection design takes up so much vertical space. Maybe to prevent sagging? I feel like there has to be another way to do those connections that would allow a flatter/sleeker profile and eliminate the blockiness.

I don't agree that building a MOC makes one ineligible to have an opinion on an official set. 😉 I think my only gripe that is purely based on "being too different from the original" is the overuse of yellow. It's an Icons set, it should keep the iconic color scheme of the original. I think that's a fair expectation. And I think almost every review I've read or watched called that out specifically, and almost all of the mods I've seen remove the excessive yellow. It's an almost universal criticism across the fanbase. I don't think I've ever complained about the other major difference from the original, which is the larger rover replacing the storage unit. Well, I've complained about the execution. I think it could have integrated in a way that hides the wheels and two-stud gap in front of it when docked, but I am fine with the change conceptually, and I'm glad it got us another windscreen. If this is true, then maybe the new Renegade really is a good remake, because I thought the major failing of the original was trying to stretch its parts budget too thin. I love the original but the build is a bit janky in hand. I agree, and I know somewhere in this forum I've said the new Renegade is more comparable to Benny's Spaceship than the Galaxy Explorer. It looks like a set from kid's theme. Putting the new Renegade in Creator 3-in-1 is an interesting idea. I think its official Alienator build sucks even worse than the main build though, so I'd want different/better builds. And less yellow.

Thanks for being specific about what you wanted to be different. Did you want more interior in the main front cockpit, or in the central section? Personally I wanted bigger, less messy wings, and much less blocky sensor/gun unit on the left protrusion, for starters I think it does look very evocative of the original Renegade, especially the cockpit and wing shape like I said before. Obviously there are also differences. I think it's a good example of how to look menacing and cool in a way the new Renegade set does not. Sorry, I didn't mean to come off that way. I said I was glad to hear you agree that the set isn't great. But you were both, in fact, making excuses. I literally quoted them. I think it's fine to acknowledge that a set isn't good/as good as another set, without giving Lego a pass. If you had some specific reason why the Renegade is harder to remake in a way that is pleasing with modern parts, I might be more convinced, but I have only heard hand-wavy assertions. Give me specifics! How so? We agree that the set looks bad. Or do you mean that you think it was impossible to make a good Renegade and I don't?

I don't love reading excuses for why Lego sets aren't good, but I will gladly accept the admissions that the Renegade, in fact, isn't. I think this MOC, while having a different design and color scheme, captures the energy and menace of the original Renegade better than the new set. Especially the cockpit and wing area. I don't think anything about the original Renegade makes it "too unconventional" too update. This MOC has a similar unconventional design and looks amazing in modern bricks. Its wings actually look cool and not like messy afterthoughts.

Yep, the new Renegade is better as a parts pack than an actual set...other than having too many yellow bricks. The prints are really good, and the new yellow windscreen is a godsend. An apt description. I've described it as looking like a low-to-mid MOC.

Similar story here, except I only bought 5 GEs, and bought 1 Renegade. I scooped up extra Renegade printed parts, minifigs, and windscreens on PAB too. I'm not above picking up another Renegade if it goes on sale, but it's just...so bad.

Very cool! I like the fresh color schemes! The police ship as Raid VPR vibes and has the right about of neon yellow. The criminal cargo ship has a really cool and original design. Nice job!

If they only planned to make a certain number of sets, "retiring" could just mean they've sold most of the sets. But it certainly could have flopped, and if it did, I maintain that it is the fault of the poor set execution. This set was not the grand slam of design that the Galaxy Explorer was. It was actually exceedingly poor for an Icons set. It's not worth arguing over, because if someone can't tell from looking at it, no argument will be convincing.

I saw it at Target.

Ah, thanks for confirming. Hopefully the other sets will be more sensible in scale. I'm getting sick of my age being seen as dollar signs by Lego. I want the same kinds of sets I wanted as a kid, not multi-hundred dollar monstrosities that I need a whole table to display and are too big too tear down for MOCs.

It really seems more and more that Lego isn't for kids. These are priced like adult sets. Including the $60 Pikachu, assuming it's a single buildable model.

I still maintain the new Blacktron Renegade is not a good set. It doesn't have the visual coolness factor of the original. It could have, and should have. But it's just nowhere near as good as the new Galaxy Explorer. So I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't sell, despite Blacktron being a beloved classic theme. I think even Lego knew it kinda sucked, which is why no pics ever leaked (until like the same day as the official reveal), and...well, they took other actions that were designed to quell criticisms of the set, but I'll get attacked for mentioning them.

I'm boycotting all Disney products forever now, including SW, Marvel, all of it.

Wow, congrats to @alex_lyman for running away with all the votes! And to everyone who entered and voted, and to @Bob De Quatre for organizing! It was fun to participate and even more fun to see everyone else's contributions!