SpacePolice89

You have very accurately described my buying pattern when it comes to CMFs. I only collect minifigs that are in some way related to older space factions.

That's true. But as a kid I preferred toys with not too much backstory like Blacktron and Futuron. I liked it more when Lego had it's own universe but I also understand your point of view.

That would be very fitting for a Futuron set but I got inspired by the Seatron monorail prototype set. It included a white Futuron spaceship with a red canopy and red Futuron minifig. Maybe if Futuron would have continued after 1990 we would have had canopies in different colors just like classic space had? That's why I went with a green minifig and a green canopy. I agree that white and trans dark blue is the best color combination for Futuron.

When I grew up I liked the original Star Wars movies very much (and I still do) but I never felt that my Lego needed to be Star Wars related, because it's very limiting when all minifigs have names and predetermined roles. It was much funnier to play with Futuron, Blacktron etc. where I could imagine myself as an astronaut or give the minifigs names and roles and play whatever I wanted with them. Lego had a unique concept that was their own and stimulated imagination and creativity but now they rely too much on commercial mass culture.

Never underestimate the power of generic spacemen!

Thanks for the feedback. I've been thinking about making the whole set a little bit bigger or longer so at least one minifigure could fit inside where the back wall is currently.

Same as your assumption that Space could never outsell Star Wars, just my opinion. We can agree to disagree. I believe there is room for both Space and Star Wars to be sold concurrently but then a certain degree of sales cannibalization has to be tolerated.

This set is perfect in every aspect. For many years I've been waiting for a set like this. Incredible detail and cool features.

A well designed in house space theme could easily sell at least 70-80 percent of what Lego Star Wars is selling and you wouldn't have to pay any license fees. With no such fees the sets would be cheaper and more people would buy them. If they were given the same budget as the Lego Star Wars design team we would most certainly see similar if not better sales figures. Star Wars is actually not so popular among kids today, spaceships always sell so it's completely unnecessary to pay for the license when the the spaceships could be Futuron or Blacktron instead.

I think that the classic themes had a broader appeal when it comes to kids. A 10-14 year old as well as younger children could easily be interested in sets like the 6285 Black Seas Barracuda but few kids over the age of 9 would be interested in a set like 71453 Izzie and Bunchu the Bunny. I know that the 18+ sets are also suitable for people younger than 18 but they are often very big and expensive and not readily available. Most modern in house sets are not suitable for 8-12 years olds while older sets from the classic themes had a great appeal to that age group.

I agree with you but they they weren't consistent enough. They were released for a very short time and didn't get any follow up sets or wave two the next year. Some of those sets were very good but didn't get enough visibility due to a lack of marketing efforts and a short lifespan.

I was thinking about the quality of the design and work put into the sets not necessary the amount of money poured into the process . When they retired many designers in the late 90s and brought in people with fancy diplomas but no idea about Lego they lost a lot of know how and it took time to fix that mistake. Nowadays they have so many bright people working there that it would be possible to design proper sets from scratch instead of relying on IP from movies. The detail and feel of classic themes also appealed to older kids while nowadays in house themes seem to be geared towards children that are younger than nine. When I was twelve most of my classmates were still into Lego but I doubt that would be the case with modern Lego themes. Today's sets are more "little kid's toys" with very bright colors, many play features and large Duplo like pieces and animals. When I was 14-15 some classmates still liked to come to my house to build huge pirate ships and recreate sea battles, that would never happen today. To each their own. I believe that it's possible for original themes to coexist peacefully with the more modern themes and licensed themes. In an ideal product portfolio there would be something for everyone.

In the 80s and 90s there were a lot of Star Wars toys and action figures as well as a zillion other licensed toys but it didn't stop Lego from being competitive or have good sales figures. They even had some new fresh themes that were very popular like Aquazone and Western. It was a huge mistake to discontinue Space and Pirates and to juniorize Town and Castle and that lost them sales, along with other bad decisions this was the cause of the financial problems. Somehow they managed to salvage Town and turned it into City which is a very successful theme nowadays with many sets released each year. Later attempts to resurrect Castle, Space and Pirates have unfortunately not been consistent or good enough and if proper resources were allocated to those themes they would also be perennial top sellers. That is correct. They tried to do too many different thing. Nowadays I'm worried that they are sinking too much money into all sorts of obscure app related themes that not children nor adults are interested in.

NO STICKERS!!!! The Galaxy Explorer is a great example how to modernize a set/theme while simultaneously keeping the original style and feeling. Similar sets for other space factions would be very cool. Maybe they could also manufacture some smaller sets that would be more similar to older sets in design and parts, I believe they still manufacture many of the critical parts for many space factions or at least still have the molds. Such sets would also appeal greatly to children so they could even be sold in stores

I'm not completely sure because I was so young back then but I believe it is 6703: Minifig Pack.

I think that for the moment and in the near future we'll have to rely on Creator and Icons sets when it comes to the classic themes. But if Lego would release a classic theme they would have to make it perfect if they want it to succeed. Not too j u n i o ri z ed nor overly complicated, it would have to be balanced and appealing just like the Black Knights or Spyrius to name a couple of examples. I believe if such a theme would be released today it would be very successful. Someone in the company just have to be brave enough to bring back the themes from the golden era of Lego. It's would be similar to when Chevrolet brought back the Camaro after a long pause in 2010.

That's true. When it comes to new sets I mostly buy Creator or Icons sets. But I would have preferred if Lego didn't juniorize the products in the late 90s. The juniorization almost led to bankruptcy and they were forced to sell their soul to Hollywood, it saved the company but at a high cost. Imagine if all that didn't happen, then we would still have the original themes and the financial problems in 2004 wouldn't have happened.

I get his point, there is a clear pattern with the releases and Lego has clearly shown that they want to bring back classic themes as either large expensive sets or smaller GWP sets. I strongly disagree that speculation is pointless because the classic style sets have been very popular and it would be very strange if they suddenly stopped producing them. I hope we'll get a Space Police or Futuron set next year, it would make sense because they are from the same era as Blacktron and the later Classic Space sets.

I buy only authentic Lego products, new or used. I believe other companies have no right to steal Lego's work. And Lego bricks sold in Europe are mostly made in Denmark or Hungary while the competitors mainly manufacture in low cost countries with sweatshop factories. I know Lego also has factories in low cost countries but they treat their employees well also in those countries. The only exception is custom sails and flags or reproduction of old sails/flags that are not available anymore. The same goes for ropes and string.

I don't like any licensed Lego themes (I like many of the movies they are based on but feel Lego has lost it's soul and become a marketing tool for Hollywood studios) or flesh colored minifigures. I have a strong dislike for this part, Right Shell 2x6 W/Bow/Angle and I believe that it and similar parts made Lego sets very ugly. I don't like studless designs. I don't like the color palette of new Lego themes or many new parts that are too round or overly detailed.

For me the top 20 sets have not changed much over the years but the internal ranking between them might change if I have a Castle, Pirate, Space or Town phase. Only a very special set can break into the top 20 like the 10020: Santa Fe Super Chief or the 10497: Galaxy Explorer. Maybe if Lego would have continued the themes and factions from the late 80s and the early 90s or something in a similar design language my list would be very different.

1. 6886: Galactic Peace Keeper 2. 6481: Construction Crew 3. 6990: Monorail Transport System 4. 6067: Guarded Inn 5. 6074: Black Falcon's Fortress 6. 6059: Knight's Stronghold 7. 6593: Blaze Battler 8. 6271: Imperial Flagship 9. 4564: Freight Rail Runner 10. 6263: Imperial Outpost I thought this would be easy but it wasn't. The top three sets were easy but the rest wasn't. If it was a top 20 list it would have been easier. Then I would have included some Spyrius and Blacktron sets as well and some more Space Police 1 and Futuron sets. And maybe the Santa Fe locomotives or some newer sets like the Cyber Drone or the Galaxy Explorer 2. And how to rank them was also difficult. Some of these sets I've had since childhood and others I've bought as an adult. Some choices were more strongly associated with memories from childhood than others but the number one criteria was how much I like the sets today (which surprisingly didn't differ all that much from my preferences as a kid).

Back in 2007 I was inspired by the fort to build something similar for the Imperial Soldiers This is an old photo of mine from Brickshelf from 2007 that shows a small part of the fort and a ship that was inspired by a Swedish galley This photo is also from 2007 and if the picture would be a little wider you'd see the coast border guard/harbor pilot station on the left just outside the picture

@MazinThe Battle of Rilax in 1714 happened on the other side of the peninsula but that's not very far from where the photos are taken. It would be fun to build a fort based on Gustafsvärn someday, and I guess it would be best to use Imperial Soldiers because their uniforms are the closest to Swedish uniforms of that era. Hangö (Hanko in Finnish) is part of the Swedish speaking part of Finland and I am indeed a Finland-Swede (a term we prefer because it's the direct translation of Finlandssvensk). As a kid I spoke Swedish and English (because I have many relatives in Canada) and on the third grade we started to study Finnish in school. It is very difficult to learn Finnish because it's not related to Swedish at all and classes were very theoretical. When I was 17 I went to play hockey for a team in Lohja and all my teammates spoke Finnish and that's where I learnt to speak better Finnish. I remember that there used to be some Polish ferries in the harbor and my parents used to travel with them in the 80s if I remember correctly. I was a very young child in the 80s so I do not personally remember. I have visited Poland a couple of times and it is a very beautiful country, my dad's former colleague at his job was Polish and with him we have visited Warsaw. When I was younger we had an RV and we drove across Poland from the Baltics to Germany.

Thank you! All the minifigures are actually from 6252 Sea Mates released in 1993. Thank you! The pictures are taken on a beach called Gunnarsstrand in Hangö, Finland. I live quite close to the spot where the pictures are taken. Hangö used to be a coastal fortress town when the city was a part of Sweden. Therefore it is vey suitable to take this kind of pictures here. My ancestors moved to the area from Sweden because they served in the Royal Swedish Navy. In 1809 the fortress called Gustafsvärn was attacked by the Russians and destroyed. They also burned the town. The structure you see is a combined border guard and harbor pilot station built in the 60s or 70s that is situated on the southernmost cape of Finland.