Ruthin Road

Sorry, fairly late to this set now I am out of my "Dark Age", but unfortunately it feels like less than the sum of its parts to me as well. There should be so much to like: classic spacemen, printed pieces, a reasonable price, and clearly a lot of thought and care went into the design. However, as many have commented, it is too big and fragile for effective "swooshability". OK, it is a marketed as an adult set but surely many will want to enjoy the set with children. It is such a big flaw. While some of the building techniques are interesting (the slanted double cockpit, the arrows, the cargo door mechanism), they also feel over engineered to me; complicated and big for the sake of being complicated and big rather than adding to the form and function of the set. I actually prefer the alternate models. Some of the interior details like the airlock are well done though. The biggest drawback for me is that it doesn't feel like "Classic Space". While it is hard to define, there is something practical but idealistic about most of the original designs. They appeared designed for scientific endeavour and exploration (and to be played with!!), rather than to necessarily look sleek and streamlined like the new Galaxy Explorer, to some extent I am sure due to limitations in parts and cost. The new set does feel soulless in comparison. I accept this will seem like nitpicking. I think it demonstrates how difficult it is to recreate old sets. Too faithful and it is hardly worth doing; too many changes and you risk losing whatever it was you were trying to recreate.

Yes, I think my opinion of the Galaxy Explorer is in the minority! It seems overengineered to me, interesting building techniques but done to be complicated rather than necessary, and not adding to the form or function of the set. Should probably post my opinion on another thread rather than risk derailing this one! Sorry, I should clarify that use of obvious in terms of being a practical and profitable set rather than not being worthy of a remake. Deep Freeze Defender is great and I would like a remake, but Lego seem to have discontinued trans-neon orange, it would need a few special moulds and it might be a bit too "young" to be in peak nostalgia profit territory as yet. Similarly M-Tron is memorable but any remake would presumably need to do without the magnets for safety reasons, which would kind of defeat the purpose.

The two smaller GWPs (Forest Hideout and Blacktron Cruiser) have been far my favourite of the remakes, adapting well to modern pieces. The bigger sets you mention have all seemed padded out to a greater or lesser extent (presumably as you say for money making purposes) and I think actually look more cluttered, busy and indeed ugly as a result. It will be interesting to see how much nostalgia the Lego market will tolerate and how Lego move on from direct remakes. The number of "iconic" individual sets is actually quite low, with the two most obvious spaceships being done already.

I am torn by this set and want to like it. When I first saw the pictures I was excited - it's totally Eldorado Fortess! However the more I looked, the more doubts crept in. The towers appear stolid, too densely built and lacking in definition. The detailing and use of red bricks is clumsy in places. And compared to the original, dare I say a bit ugly? I fear the (understandable) decisions to recreate the baseplate in bricks and introduce the modular feature have created too many compromises with the overall look of the set, and overly restricted the designers. I wonder whether the trading post-inspired modular feature would have been better as an alternate build? Unfortunately I don't think the extra features are enough to surpass my cheap Bricklinked MOD of the original although I have been inspired to create an extension with underground sections. It's a shame because it is a respectful and thoughtful homage to the original set. Just shows how difficult it is to improve on the original. I really liked the recreated Forest Hideout and Blacktron Cruiser (other than the stickers), and do wonder whether the modern reinterpretations are better suited to selected smaller sets?