jodawill

Hundreds of new parts are up. Does anyone know what SWORD, NO. 27 6503202/3214 is?

I would say the Black Falcon torso was the best selling minifigure part. Best selling animal was the dark orange horse. Best selling brick was the gray 1x2 masonry brick.

The purple space helmet is showing out of stock. I can't wait to order them!

I never expected it to be on PAB given how specific the elements are. But I could definitely see it showing up in a future set, maybe a $100 set of some kind.

I just checked whether the minifigures, sails, and flag are still marked as IP elements. They're not! So we should see them on PAB soon.

I don't think curves fit the classic space aesthetic at all. Consider the real life vehicle designs the '80s. They had lots of straight lines, rectangular headlights, etc. That's beautiful to me. I love how simple they are. I've never been a fan of the more recent trend of curved hoods and headlights. They look balloon-like, like they followed the obesity trend in America. To me, it seems like some of the new classic space MOCs are following this trend, which isn't really in the spirit of the futuristic designs of the '80s. This is something the designers of 10497 got right. Someone mentioned the City space sets earlier. Aside from the bland color scheme, the curvature is what turns me off from those. They seem futuristic from the perspective of the depict things no one has actually done yet, but they seem to depict people in the present day achieving realistic goals (like going to Mars) as opposed to an idealized future where we can achieve anything, like Star Trek.

Yeah, there are a few pieces I forgot about. I also hadn't realized that some of those parts are somewhat rare, like the trans-red 2x2 round bricks and the radar dish. I should stock up on those while they're available. I guess they didn't immediately come to mind because they're not prominently featured in the set compared to the amount of gray and blue. I like the smaller sets because parts like that stick out a lot more. It makes it look a lot more interesting to me personally. As someone mentioned earlier, the criticism of this set isn't really about this set in particular. It's about the lack of variety. I've said before that this set is fine for what it is. I'm personally not into sets that are built for "build it and stick it on your shelf." As far as that goes, the set is pretty cool. I wish there was as much variety in original space themes, castle, and pirates as there has been for Star Wars for so many years. If I was a Star Wars fan, I wouldn't care whether the UCS Millennium Falcon exists as long as there's a regular sized one. For the classic themes, it's kind of like we're getting UCS sets only and the people who either prefer the smaller sets or can't afford the bigger ones are just left by the wayside. I wish we could get a wave of 5-10 sets in each of these themes every year or two.

The windshield section comes off just by trying to open the cockpits. The clicky hinges require a lot of force to move, and it puts a lot of strain on that section with the double-stud configuration. Sure, there are a lot of useful generic pieces in the set. I bought mine for $40-$50. It's a great value for the parts. But compare the number of interesting parts to Xenon X-Craft. In that set, you get trans-yellow antennas, trans-red radar dishes, a smaller windshield useful for smaller afternoon builds, a big gray rocket, a big Trans-red radar dishes Trans-yellow antennas Trans-red antennas Smaller windshield that's useful for small, afternoon builds Big black rocket engine Big gray rocket engine Two small gray thrusters Two black flexi-hoses Two printed arrow tiles Printed computer tile (the smaller ones, again, being more useful for shorter builds) A gray bracket that allows you to hold a minifigure under the windshield in a much smaller space Four trans-yellow cones Robot and yellow minifigure These are the kinds of parts that give classic space sets so much flair. And this is all in a tiny set that would only be $10-$15 today. The new set has a few interesting parts. The 2x4 space logo tile is cool to have, but it's also very difficult to use in a way that looks good. There are several cool printed tiles. There are two windshields. Personally, I'm not a fan of the shape or size of them. But that's just my personal preference. You get the printed brick also. And, of course, you get four minifigures. But really, that's pretty much where the interesting, unique parts end. There's not a lot of bling. The original Galaxy Explorer didn't have a blinged out appearance like Xenon X-Craft, but it had a lot more interesting parts, such as trans-yellow bricks and plates, the smaller windshield (which can be used for both big and small builds), a crater baseplate, a 1x2 space logo brick, a TV antenna, a large radar dish, and rockets. If I had a choice between buying 10497 at $100 or 497 for whatever its inflation-adjusted retail price would be, the original would win, hands down. I don't see this new set as an improvement over the original in any meaningful way. It's just larger. Having said all of that, I'm glad we got this set. I'm extremely happy to have new red classic space minifigures. I hope we get some more interesting sets next year with this big space anniversary they're celebrating.

It's not just the wings. The entire section that holds the windshields comes off constantly too. This is one of the reasons the whole thing just comes off as a MOC to me, not a polished Lego product. Yeah, it's fine if you're going to put it on a shelf. But that's not the point of Lego. You're supposed to play with it and use your imagination to build other things with it. It fails on both of those fronts. Personally, I've always been a big fan of the smaller ships. Xenon X-Craft is probably my favorite classic space set. And that's not nostalgia talking. It was discontinued before I was born and I didn't discover it until I was an adult. It's just a great set. It has a wonderful, colorful part selection. It has a lot of depth to it, lots of fun shapes, and bright colors. Benny's Space Squad and Emmet and Benny's 'Build and Fix' Workshop are perfect examples of what I think modern classic space should look like. They're brilliant because you could spend less money buying several copies of each set, have a lot more minifigures, and enjoy a lot more time building smaller ships, which I have done with my son for many hours. They just perfectly embody the essence of Lego. Just remove artificial wear on the blue minifigure and everything related to Emmet, and you have a great start to a new wave of classic space sets. I want to see entire waves of things like this, then move onto more factions in a similar spirit.

Wow. The way you used those frogs is incredibly clever. Well done!

Exactly. If there was a new wave of space sets every year and there was a set that didn't cater to my personal preferences, it wouldn't matter. I would simply buy the ones I like and move on. When it comes to all of these classic themes, we were starved for decades and now they're giving us these gigantic "take it or leave it" adult sets. When you're spending $400 for a castle, which is really the equivalent of buying an entire wave, people are bound to be upset when it isn't exactly what they want because there are simply no other options. With the smaller sets, we could buy several of the ones we prefer and it was a lot easier to come up with some simple MOCs. Honestly, for me, the smaller sets from the past are just a lot more fun because they aren't gigantic projects. Most people are busy, but if I can sit down for an hour on a Saturday afternoon with a 300 piece set, I could come up with a really fun creation. There's nothing wrong with this set. It's a great set for what it was meant to be. It really is. What's wrong with this set is that it's the only set. But.... that's apparently changing next year. The leaked info says that next year, every theme is going to have a space wave. So it's possible that there will be something for everyone. At least, I hope so. I really want there to be some classic space sets that are under $30, not really because of the affordability factor, but because I want simpler designs.

I think 10497 suffers from the same problem that most adult sets do. If it was someone's MOC, I would think it's really cool and I'd be impressed. But I don't want to buy a MOC. I want to buy a Lego set. I'm not a sophisticated builder. With the original classic space sets, and even with Benny's Space Squad and the other ship that was released in the same wave, it was easy for a person like me to use the same parts to build something new that's just as cool as the set. That's how Lego always was until only a few years ago. The new Galaxy Explorer looks really cool, but it's too fragile to play with. It starts crumbling every time I move it. And although it contains a lot of useful parts, it isn't the kind of selection where I can easily make my own ship in 20 minutes. (That's why the 2x4 tile replacing the original slope is so frustrating for me.) I would be a lot happier with sets that are in the same spirit as the original. I want small ships that are easy not only to build but to reimagine into other things. I don't have the time or skills to make a MOC at the 10497 scale, and neither do I want to to be honest. The scale of the original was a lot more charming. I was really excited about this set when it was announced, and the more time I've actually spent with it, the more I've soured on the entire concept. I bought a lot of them because they were cheap at Walmart and I wanted the minifigures. But I kind of wish I had used that money to buy real classic space sets. That's kind of where I'm at with these Icons sets in general. I prefer the originals over the imitations.

Seatron would be amazing! Imagine if they just started releasing all of the cancelled themes like Europa and Romans.

There's a rumor that a new space set is coming in October. Set 10391, an 18+ set. $99.99 US, 966 pieces. What do you all suppose this is? I suppose it could be a Blacktron set since those torsos are still in stock on PAB.

I didn't realize that the new images were actually 3D. That does change things. Sometimes it's hard to tell from a single photo what a piece actually is. I have to look stuff up on Bricklink a lot. I've definitely bought two-sided heads before when they weren't suitable for the hats I was using. (I've actually considered erasing one side, but I'm such a purist, I feel bad about actually having this thought.)

I'm not holding my breath regarding the city sets. Those typically don't include anything I'd find relevant for sci-fi. But with all of this emphasis on space, it wouldn't surprise me if we get something else similar to 10497. I'm calling it now: we're getting a black space minifigure. Is it time to sell my collection of them now?

I'm still not seeing the new images. Maybe they're testing it in certain regions. With the old images, a lot of the parts don't have an image at all. Could it be that they're testing an automated system to generate images for the parts? If so, that would be a huge plus because sometimes it's hard to figure out what a part is.

I agree. I don't like to build with sad or angry minifigures. Whenever I get a new Lego set, the first thing I always do is toss out any head with a smirk, frown, or angry face and replace them with whatever happy faces I can find. I know it probably sounds weird, but I think the minifigure's faces affect my mood while I'm building. And I always prefer generic faces over specific ones because I want things that can be repurposed, and an army of simple smiley faces looks a lot better than an army of two or three faces that are so specific, they all look like the same person. The homemaker figures were great too. My father in law just brought us some Legos he got at a garage sale for 50 cents. It had two bluecoats and most of the parts from the homemaker set 190. We built some of the homemaker set before I washed the parts. My kids loved it. So far, we're only missing the black hat. If you look at the all of the ideas on the box, it's just incredible how much you can build with so few parts. The homemaker figures were genius. You could build them with whatever clothes you want, or not include a body at all so you can build at a smaller scale, like this school bus. You've got to love that castle too! (Disclaimer: This isn't my picture. Someone just happened to post one of these on Mercari right after I washed our parts last night. Unfortunately, I don't have the box.) I never realized before I looked at the instructions for this set that they used the same face for the grandma and the grandpa. It's crazy because if you see that face with the old lady hair, you'd think it looks feminine. But then you swap out the hair with a hat, and it makes a very convincing old man. It's fantastic! It's so simple, but I think the designers put a lot of thought into that face.

No, you're not the only one. Not only the colors and the quality of the print, but the design itself was superior in 1989, by a long sea mile. I have both versions of Eldorado Fortress on my table right now. I just asked my seven year old son which one he likes better. He said he likes the new building better because he can open it up and reach his hands in. Then I asked him which soldiers he likes better, and he said he likes the old ones. I asked him why, and he said he doesn't know - the old one just looks better. I'd say his opinion is the most objective you can get because he isn't tainted by nostalgia, and unlike me, he gets really excited about things that are new and different.

I do like that version with the yellow under the cannon. Replacing the yellow panels with white isn't a bad decision since all of the other walls in the set are white, but it's a bit odd to have white along the bottom in only one spot. I imagine they did it because that piece is currently only produced in white and light bluish gray and they had more important parts to spend their allowance on. Well, Bricklink shows that part appeared in yellow in 2022, but it's not on Pick a Brick, so I imagine it's being phased out. There's probably a lot of nuance to part selection like this that we aren't aware of as outsiders. Since everyone else is modifying the new set, I decided to use some of the parts from the new set to improve on the original. I'm starting with that platform that holds the front cannon. That's probably the weakest part of the original set. I tried to just move that round section from the new set to the old one. It kind of works. The quarter round plate on the front right sits one stud farther forward than the original, but you can work around this without any additional parts. The most difficult challenge here is the gap formed by the baseplate. You can't just put those round bricks on there. It looks weird with that huge gap. I found that it looks a lot better if you just add one of those 1x2x3 inverse slopes to the right of it, with the slope going up the baseplate. But this exposes the anti-studs on the back of that part, which is fine for the side, but I think is a little onsightly on the front of the building. It's not that bad, but I'm going to try working with it in Stud.io and see if I can come up with something better.

It shouldn't matter too much as long as I can find the parts I'm looking for, but I agree. It's too shiny. It looks really strange. But that vibrant yellow actually does look accurate in that picture, so maybe it will be easier to differentiate the colors. I'll have to wait until I get the update to see for myself.

I haven't gotten the update yet. It also keeps kicking me out after loading the page once. I just remembered they also had some maintenance time for the rewards section the other night. I wonder if there's anything new there.

You could use Google Drive to share the SVGs. Please do. I can't wait to see them!

How do you know other shops will have it?

I've been wondering about this too. It had an incredibly short run for such a large set, and it was unavailable for many months before just being removed from the site entirely. Personally, I'd like to see them just release a similar ship at a lower price point and remove all of the island stuff. Maybe they could do the Skull's Eye Schooner next. It would be funny if they did rerelease POBB because that would mark the third time they've rereleased that set.