Do you think that Alien Conquest is up to Lego Space standards?

[vexorian]

A return to early 90s space theme/feel is what the doctor ordered. SPIII was a great leap forward, but AC feels like they are taking 5 steps back. I'm not even sure what their target audience is with this one.

but that's only true for nostalgic AFOLs.

Either way, if you take a look to the UFOs in this theme, they seem to try to be updates of the 1996 UFO theme. The minfigure torsos remind me of insectoids too.

[Ogre]

I, for one, love the feel of the Alien Conquest theme. It's way better than the UFO theme IMO, which is the closest analogue it had in previous years.

(underlined by me)

EXCEPT for one thing...the stickers. I like the old UFO printed parts better. Not the PARTS per se, just the fact that they were printed. Of course, UFO had stickers too...those holographic looking things...but, most of the stuff was printed, which TENDS to be better than stickers. I know some folks PREFER stickers, because that way they can choose not to use them and have 'blank' pieces instead and I understand and appreciate that but, for ME, I prefer the printed parts.

I have to say too, I'm not thrilled with the blue uniforms for ADU. I'm guessing they didn't go with a 'tactical grey' because they had just used that for SPIII but, it would have been nice if they had gone with at least a SWAT blue...you know...something a wee bit less...*ahem*...'colourful'.

Totally love the aliens though and I dig the fact that they're rockin' the lime green and purple. Totally works for me.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Ogre

[Ardelon]

I wasn’t too thrilled when i saw the first pics, for the often-cited reasons that it isn’t really a space theme and the bit too lively color scheme. I’m still not thrilled (I wonder how well a helicopter could hold up against a flying saucer!), but i’m glad TLG explored this avenue. It may not be strictly space, but it’s a legitimate sci-fi subtheme. I do like the alien minifigs.

Having said that, I feel the space theme standards themselves aren’t too stellar since 2000. I wasn’t too comfortable with the moral universe of

SP III (Human High Culture anyone?), and the previous two Mars themes weren’t all that either, though if i was a kid i would probably have found them cool.

So yes, IMO AC does live up to current LEGO space standards, which isn’t saying much .

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I wasn’t too comfortable with the moral universe of

SP III (Human High Culture anyone?)

I think that Lego wasted an opportunity to make an interesting inter species police force. As much as the alien villains looked cool, alien cops would have been awesome too.

It has been a very long since Lego last put some aliens as good guys in the Space theme. This is something we are lacking.

[robotimms]

I think that Lego wasted an opportunity to make an interesting inter species police force. As much as the alien villains looked cool, alien cops would have been awesome too.

It has been a very long since Lego last put some aliens as good guys in the Space theme. This is something we are lacking.

This was something that my son and I were talking about on our way home from our last visit to the Lego Store. We both agreed that there needed to be more good aliens. He suggested that it would be cool if further along in the Conquest line, the humans picked up some alien allies from some conquered world, which I think would be kind of neat.

[Algernon]

While some of the designs are novel, I find the AC as a whole falls flat on it's face for several reasons:

1: color scheme- way too busy, way too garish. Enough with the purples and yellows and lime greens. As a whole it's far too busy. A dark grey/light grey/blue/trans whatever would have been fine. The additional Colors make them far too wonky. And what is up with the maersk blue ADF outfits. Totally throws off the scheme and makes it feel cobbled together.

2: ship designs- the alien ships are, for the most part, garbage. The "mothership" is nowhere close to previous "core ship" quality. Too much open space and too little detail.

The ADU vehicles feel like city theme ships with crazy color schemes and a few guns tacked on. Reminds me of the Mega blocks area 51 sets. Perhaps it was supposed to tie into the city theme, bur it just feels off.

3: overall feel- it seems that TLG group tried to capture a 50s alien feel with a modern day earth feel, and ended up doing neither of them justice. It's goofy, and it's unnatural.

A return to early 90s space theme/feel is what the doctor ordered. SPIII was a great leap forward, but AC feels like they are taking 5 steps back. I'm not even sure what their target audience is with this one.

A few good points-I like the alien design. Good addition to the SPIII villain base. Not very compatible as a whole with LEGO parts, but manageable. An the new guns are decent. Again, the alien guns feel 50s and the ADU feels modern, but decent pieces nonetheless. Need to make them in black and white now.

Ok, rant over.

You're being pretty harsh. Actually, some of these criticisms aren't warranted at all.

1) The color scheme is busy, but I find it appealing. The purple and lime green perfectly suits the 50's vibe of the alien invaders, and although baby blue is a strange choice for the ADU, it works fine. Power Miners was worse, in my opinion.

2) I agree that the mothership is one of the weaker sets, but the alien vessels themselves are far from "garbage". The UFO Abduction set is pretty much the perfect LEGO representation of a flying saucer. The Tripod is lovely, as well. You're probably thinking of the smallish "throwaway" fliers that LEGO always includes with the larger sets to add play value. Although those are indeed unimpressive, they are not unique to Alien Conquest.

The ADU sets are awesome - I'm not really sure I understand your issue with them. The Earth Defense HQ is possibly one of the finest sets to come out this year (I am not alone in this opinion).

3) It's goofy, sure, but that's kind of the idea, don't you think? The "futuristic" element was necessary for it to sell to the younger audience. There may not be much logic in it, but I think LEGO did a nice job of keeping the 50's vibe and the futuristic vibe in separate sets. For example, the Abduction set is clearly homage to every B-movie ever, and it goes without saying that the Tripod is referencing H.G. Wells. The Jet-Copter and the HQ are certainly more modern, possibly even comparable to Space Police III in design - but the designs are quite nice, and since the emphasis is on the futuristic element, I don't think it clashes at all.

This isn't the first time LEGO Space has thrown two very different ideas into the same theme. Spyrius had giant robots and flying saucers - both new to LEGO Space at the time.

I personally love Alien Conquest. I only have the two smallest sets, but I'm saving up for the HQ. It is definitely a quirky theme, but considering that LEGO also introduced NinjaGo this year, I'm not very put off by it. LEGO's just supposed to be fun, after all.

[fr33manator]

You're being pretty harsh. Actually, some of these criticisms aren't warranted at all.

1) The color scheme is busy, but I find it appealing. The purple and lime green perfectly suits the 50's vibe of the alien invaders, and although baby blue is a strange choice for the ADU, it works fine. Power Miners was worse, in my opinion.

2) I agree that the mothership is one of the weaker sets, but the alien vessels themselves are far from "garbage". The UFO Abduction set is pretty much the perfect LEGO representation of a flying saucer. The Tripod is lovely, as well. You're probably thinking of the smallish "throwaway" fliers that LEGO always includes with the larger sets to add play value. Although those are indeed unimpressive, they are not unique to Alien Conquest.

The ADU sets are awesome - I'm not really sure I understand your issue with them. The Earth Defense HQ is possibly one of the finest sets to come out this year (I am not alone in this opinion).

3) It's goofy, sure, but that's kind of the idea, don't you think? The "futuristic" element was necessary for it to sell to the younger audience. There may not be much logic in it, but I think LEGO did a nice job of keeping the 50's vibe and the futuristic vibe in separate sets. For example, the Abduction set is clearly homage to every B-movie ever, and it goes without saying that the Tripod is referencing H.G. Wells. The Jet-Copter and the HQ are certainly more modern, possibly even comparable to Space Police III in design - but the designs are quite nice, and since the emphasis is on the futuristic element, I don't think it clashes at all.[

This is just my opinion, not meant to be anything but.

I just don't like it personally.

I thought the color scheme for power miners worked, for what it was. A little harsh on the eyes, but concise enough. Not nearly as busy as AC

And the sets themselves aren't horrible, (I like the design of the HQ, FWIW) it just feels off, to me

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

For example, the Abduction set is clearly homage to every B-movie ever, and it goes without saying that the Tripod is referencing H.G. Wells.

As a big fan of Wells, this is one of the few things that I admit I loved from this new theme.

[robotimms]

This thread has got me giving this line a bit more thought and I've decided that I really like it. My only real beef with it is the Mothership set, it's awfully big for a whole lotta nothin'. The Supreme Leaders Ship may have been a more apt name for the set. I don't really have any other problems with this line. The colors are fine for me. I love the retro saucer designs. Most of all, the alien designs are great! Finally, there is a worthy adversary to our Lego heroes, not rock monsters, snap together aliens, not something from a different line. I've had fun building the sets, modifying the sets, and my children love them as well.

I can see where some wouldn't care for these, the colors are very bright and the vehicles are somewhat corny, but oh well. If this series carries foward, and it should, TLG had better take it to the next level though, because I don't see how they can keep this line successful by adding more retro styled UFO's and Earth based attack vehicles to the line-up. I think they'll need to move the battle into space or at least beyond Earth to keep it interesting.

[Algernon]

This thread has got me giving this line a bit more thought and I've decided that I really like it. My only real beef with it is the Mothership set, it's awfully big for a whole lotta nothin'. The Supreme Leaders Ship may have been a more apt name for the set. I don't really have any other problems with this line. The colors are fine for me. I love the retro saucer designs. Most of all, the alien designs are great! Finally, there is a worthy adversary to our Lego heroes, not rock monsters, snap together aliens, not something from a different line. I've had fun building the sets, modifying the sets, and my children love them as well.

I can see where some wouldn't care for these, the colors are very bright and the vehicles are somewhat corny, but oh well. If this series carries foward, and it should, TLG had better take it to the next level though, because I don't see how they can keep this line successful by adding more retro styled UFO's and Earth based attack vehicles to the line-up. I think they'll need to move the battle into space or at least beyond Earth to keep it interesting.

I pretty much agree with everything you've said here. Alien Conquest strikes me as a fresh, new twist on LEGO Space, and for that I like it. I'm also very fond of some of the designs. But, unfortunately I don't think we're getting a second wave. We'd have heard of it by now. :/

[Gryphon Ink]

I pretty much agree with everything you've said here. Alien Conquest strikes me as a fresh, new twist on LEGO Space, and for that I like it. I'm also very fond of some of the designs. But, unfortunately I don't think we're getting a second wave. We'd have heard of it by now. :/

That right there is my biggest problem with Alien Conquest. I really like the theme. I think three of the sets are wonderful, while the Jet-Copter is pretty darn good and the Mothership is nice, but unfortunately overpriced and misnamed. But like a few others have said, the theme would need to escalate and possibly move into space ("Alien Conquest 2: Counterattack!") to really make it soar, and although I think it's early days yet I'm afraid that won't happen. We'll be left with only the Earth Defence HQ as a hint of just how good AC could have been.

If I had any money to wager, I would confidently put down $100 on the EDHQ becoming one of the hottest "Classic Space" sets around in ten years' time.

[Algernon]

That right there is my biggest problem with Alien Conquest. I really like the theme. I think three of the sets are wonderful, while the Jet-Copter is pretty darn good and the Mothership is nice, but unfortunately overpriced and misnamed. But like a few others have said, the theme would need to escalate and possibly move into space ("Alien Conquest 2: Counterattack!") to really make it soar, and although I think it's early days yet I'm afraid that won't happen. We'll be left with only the Earth Defence HQ as a hint of just how good AC could have been.

If I had any money to wager, I would confidently put down $100 on the EDHQ becoming one of the hottest "Classic Space" sets around in ten years' time.

I'm actually a little surprised that we're not getting a second wave - less successful themes have gone on for two years or more. Mars Mission was pretty much a bum note among AFOLs, but it stuck around for two more waves and improved immensely. Space Police III did the same. Even Atlantis got three waves. Why not Alien Conquest??

I agree, though, I think the Earth Defense HQ is one of the best Space sets we've gotten in quite awhile. I don't own it yet but I'm planning on picking it up this Christmas - I'd be very disappointed if I missed out on such a gem.

[jonwil]

We may find out about a second wave sometime in early-mid 2012, we didnt know about Alien Conquest wave 1 this time last year AFAIK.

[Aanchir]

(underlined by me)

EXCEPT for one thing...the stickers. I like the old UFO printed parts better. Not the PARTS per se, just the fact that they were printed. Of course, UFO had stickers too...those holographic looking things...but, most of the stuff was printed, which TENDS to be better than stickers. I know some folks PREFER stickers, because that way they can choose not to use them and have 'blank' pieces instead and I understand and appreciate that but, for ME, I prefer the printed parts.

I have to say too, I'm not thrilled with the blue uniforms for ADU. I'm guessing they didn't go with a 'tactical grey' because they had just used that for SPIII but, it would have been nice if they had gone with at least a SWAT blue...you know...something a wee bit less...*ahem*...'colourful'.

Totally love the aliens though and I dig the fact that they're rockin' the lime green and purple. Totally works for me.

Now, this is where you and I have to disagree. The printed parts were one of the things I most hated about the UFO theme, and possibly one of the reasons I have such a pro-sticker attitude today. Many UFO printed parts had what I consider excessive detail, and I've never used any of them in MOCs outside the UFO theme. And considering I haven't made UFO MOCs since the theme was new, these printed parts mostly have served to take up space in bins.

Some of the UFO printed parts like those giant quarter-dish pieces wouldn't really have worked with stickers. They're not smooth enough and cover too big a space for stickers to be applied easily. But other pieces, like the angled wings that narrow from four-wide to two-wide could easily have had stickers without any difficulty applying them. The Alien Conquest theme tends mostly to have stickers that look easy enough to apply, are printed on white (some people prefer clear stickers, but I dislike them-- they show dust and fingerprints too easily), and have basic designs.

Another area where stickered Alien Conquest parts have an advantage over printed UFO parts is size. Most stickers in Alien Conquest cover only a small-to-medium area of the set. In contrast, UFO had a lot of huge, <insert that tiresome argument> parts (hard enough to use on their own) printed across a broad area. What this means is that the UFO themes were often relying heavily on these decorations for their aesthetic. In contrast, Alien Conquest sets tend to look fine with or without their stickers, and the stickers are used sparingly for logos and occasionally texture. It makes the stickered parts far more versatile and the builds of the sets much more intricate in comparison.

Anyway, that's enough ranting about that. I can totally respect many sorts of printing. But UFO strikes me as possibly the single worst example of the use of printing in LEGO themes.

As for the Alien Conquest minifigures, I love their color schemes. One reason I love them is that the three most vibrant colors (Bright Yellowish Green, Bright Reddish Violet, and Dark Azur) have such wonderful contrast against each other. It is a bit odd that Dark Azur would make its debut in this theme where it's used almost exclusively for minifigures, but I think it's a wonderful color that helps fill the gap left in the bluish-green area of the spectrum after Bright Bluish Green (Bricklink's Dark Turquoise) was discontinued so many years back.

The bright blue vehicles and bluish-green uniforms of the ADU are a bit unusual, to be sure, but I think this actually helps balance out the ADU and aliens in terms of realism. The ADU has somewhat more realistic future-military vehicles and uniforms, but a cartoony color scheme. In contrast, the aliens have ships with muted color schemes, but following cartoony, B-movie design principles. Admittedly, the blue vehicles of the ADU are extremely unusual, especially with the pixel camo (what could they possibly be blending in with?), but all in all I would have been bored by grey vehicles.

It should be noted that while I like the theme's colors from a design perspective, I haven't bought any of the sets yet, and color scheme is indeed a factor in this. The colors just don't seem too much like ones I need in my collection, or ones I would really like to MOC with. But the main factor in why I haven't bought any Alien Conquest sets has nothing to do with set design-- it's just that I've chosen to invest in Ninjago, and don't have the budget for both themes.

[Lyichir]

Keep in mind that we can't be sure there's no second wave. Occasionally a theme will skip a season; I believe Agents did this, having one wave in Summer 2008 and having the second wave in Summer 2009.

On topic: I can't really tell what "Lego Space standards" is supposed to mean. Lego Space has been a diverse theme for some time, with sets of varying quality. I don't see how Alien Conquest is less deserving of the title of "Space theme" than any other; while space is no longer the backdrop, the theme clearly is meant to fit that sci-fi niche. I don't see how this theme is lower quality than other themes either; then again, I liked Space Police III's cyberpunk-esque style and its many homages to classic themes, and while I had no love for Mars Mission at the time of its release, its space-horror aliens and space-military human factions have grown on me in hindsight. Lego Space hasn't been one homogenous theme since Life on Mars in the early 2000s, and I don't see how any theme is more- or less-worthy to carry that label.

[Scorpion]

There are something that annoy me regarding AC, some of which relate to AC itself, other span other lego themes aswell.

First of all, the disparity among sets. If you want ADU vehicles, you're tough out of luck. You can either get the XBOXHUEG ADU command vehicle or Jetcopter or the tiny, tiny ADU jeep. You want something in-between, you're out of luck. Now the aliens are more evenly distributed: you got the tiny scout, the medium tripod and the XBOXHUEG "mothership". I hate to be a grumpy old man (oh, who am I kidding? I love it! xD), but that's one of the reasons I hate two-faction themes. Look at any early 90's catalogue: when you had a one faction theme, you would have atleast one model in each category. Look at M-Tron's or Blacktron II's roster! There are vehicles of every type in all sizes, from small to huge, we all could get something we wanted...

Then there's the models themselves... This is tangentially related to my previous point. I mean, look at the ADU headquarters. It has 3 vehicles: the main ground vehicle, the UFO and the jetfighter. The UFO and the Jetfighter would be terrific vehicles in their own right, and it's a shame we don't have anything else on catalogue (well, appart from the tripod, I guess) that's similar that we could buy if we didn't want to plonk down 90€ for the ADU HQ...

The main vehicle in the set doesn't do it for me. The design is uninspired and too big for what it does... Double goes for the mothership. Take a page from the early 90's. Then, when a model was big, it meant more space for the minifigs (and us!) to play around in. Don't be big for bigness' sake.

And seriously, what with the limes and the weird colour schemes? (see: AC aliens, power miners, world racers) Can't we have good colour schemes with strong colours? What's the matter with greens, whites, blacks, blues, reds and yellows?

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

There are something that annoy me regarding AC, some of which relate to AC itself, other span other lego themes aswell.

First of all, the disparity among sets. If you want ADU vehicles, you're tough out of luck. You can either get the XBOXHUEG ADU command vehicle or Jetcopter or the tiny, tiny ADU jeep. You want something in-between, you're out of luck. Now the aliens are more evenly distributed: you got the tiny scout, the medium tripod and the XBOXHUEG "mothership". I hate to be a grumpy old man (oh, who am I kidding? I love it! xD), but that's one of the reasons I hate two-faction themes. Look at any early 90's catalogue: when you had a one faction theme, you would have atleast one model in each category. Look at M-Tron's or Blacktron II's roster! There are vehicles of every type in all sizes, from small to huge, we all could get something we wanted...

Then there's the models themselves... This is tangentially related to my previous point. I mean, look at the ADU headquarters. It has 3 vehicles: the main ground vehicle, the UFO and the jetfighter. The UFO and the Jetfighter would be terrific vehicles in their own right, and it's a shame we don't have anything else on catalogue (well, appart from the tripod, I guess) that's similar that we could buy if we didn't want to plonk down 90€ for the ADU HQ...

The main vehicle in the set doesn't do it for me. The design is uninspired and too big for what it does... Double goes for the mothership. Take a page from the early 90's. Then, when a model was big, it meant more space for the minifigs (and us!) to play around in. Don't be big for bigness' sake.

I hadn't thought about this, but this also annoys me. Somehow, this theme feels "incomplete". In the early nineties, and I would say pretty much everything before Insectoids, almost all factions got a great variety of sets. Of course, we could get a second wave, but so far the amount of sets available feels incomplete.

[Aanchir]

There are something that annoy me regarding AC, some of which relate to AC itself, other span other lego themes aswell.

First of all, the disparity among sets. If you want ADU vehicles, you're tough out of luck. You can either get the XBOXHUEG ADU command vehicle or Jetcopter or the tiny, tiny ADU jeep. You want something in-between, you're out of luck. Now the aliens are more evenly distributed: you got the tiny scout, the medium tripod and the XBOXHUEG "mothership". I hate to be a grumpy old man (oh, who am I kidding? I love it! xD), but that's one of the reasons I hate two-faction themes. Look at any early 90's catalogue: when you had a one faction theme, you would have atleast one model in each category. Look at M-Tron's or Blacktron II's roster! There are vehicles of every type in all sizes, from small to huge, we all could get something we wanted...

Then there's the models themselves... This is tangentially related to my previous point. I mean, look at the ADU headquarters. It has 3 vehicles: the main ground vehicle, the UFO and the jetfighter. The UFO and the Jetfighter would be terrific vehicles in their own right, and it's a shame we don't have anything else on catalogue (well, appart from the tripod, I guess) that's similar that we could buy if we didn't want to plonk down 90€ for the ADU HQ...

The main vehicle in the set doesn't do it for me. The design is uninspired and too big for what it does... Double goes for the mothership. Take a page from the early 90's. Then, when a model was big, it meant more space for the minifigs (and us!) to play around in. Don't be big for bigness' sake.

And seriously, what with the limes and the weird colour schemes? (see: AC aliens, power miners, world racers) Can't we have good colour schemes with strong colours? What's the matter with greens, whites, blacks, blues, reds and yellows?

What's wrong with "weird" color schemes like Power Miners, World Racers, and Alien Conquest? Instead of "weird", I'd call them "interesting". I might be a bit biased coming from a BIONICLE background, where colors like lime and orange were very, very common. But TLG has worked hard to eliminate many of their most obscure colors, and I think it would be silly not to make good use of the ones they have left (not that lime is especially obscure anyway).

In the case of World Racers, most of the colors were pretty normal anyway. Today, lime isn't much more unusual than green was in the 70s and 80s. Purple, like the Alien Conquest alien craft sometimes feature, is unfortunately still a rather rare color that we should treasure. It's every bit as "normal" as green is anyway, being a secondary color in a slightly darker shade than the classic Bright Blue, Bright Red, and Bright Yellow primary colors.

I won't give a lecture on why two-faction themes are the norm nowadays, because I'm sure you know already, and I have nothing to convince you of. Even when today's trends are understandable, that doesn't mean all fans have to like them. Personally, I enjoyed the one-faction themes I was lucky enough to live through, and I enjoy today's two-faction themes. Still, forgive me if I sound like I'm rambling.

I'll admit that I enjoyed Aquazone (which was usually two simultaneous subthemes representing opposing factions) a lot more than, say, UFO or Exploriens. That didn't stop me from collecting the latter themes, though. Also, even with today's two-faction themes I don't necessarily try to balance the two factions-- in Exo-Force, for instance, my twin brother and I only bought the human battle machines, while our younger brother got the robot battle machines. Role-play is less fun with one-faction themes, but we adult fans generally have enough sets from previous years to make our own conflicts, if we even still role-play with the sets at all!

As for the sizes and costs of sets, I don't see anything wrong with the Earth Defense HQ. All of the smaller vehicles included enhance the play value of the main vehicle tremendously. It reminds me of the Agents Mobile Command Center, though admittedly not nearly as cool for me since the smaller vehicles don't all fit inside the main vehicle. The play value of that set, not to mention the building of it, was completely worth the high price tag IMO.

And as for single-faction themes having sets in every price range, that's true. You could get anything you wanted from those themes. But I cannot comprehend that anyone would want a set like this unless they had already bought a larger set from the theme (or, of course, unless they couldn't afford any larger sets). It's a small set with few useful parts and hardly any play value. The main advantage to two-faction themes is that the smallest sets today still come with role-play opportunities. This set gives you the opportunity to play out a conflict scenario without needing any other sets in their collection.

Meanwhile, I don't see how Earth Defense HQ, with its many smaller vehicles, is any different than the Neptune Discovery Lab, which likewise included a vehicle large enough to exist as a mid-size set all by itself. And I think the Explorien Starship was every bit as empty and boring as the Alien Mothership this year. These were the sets I grew up with, and I loved them. In retrospect, they don't seem nearly as fun as I remember them. But inexplicably, I remember having lots of fun with them, so obviously they did their job better than I as an adult can even comprehend.

Edited September 6, 2011 by Aanchir

[fr33manator]

There are something that annoy me regarding AC, some of which relate to AC itself, other span other lego themes aswell.

First of all, the disparity among sets. If you want ADU vehicles, you're tough out of luck. You can either get the XBOXHUEG ADU command vehicle or Jetcopter or the tiny, tiny ADU jeep. You want something in-between, you're out of luck. Now the aliens are more evenly distributed: you got the tiny scout, the medium tripod and the XBOXHUEG "mothership". I hate to be a grumpy old man (oh, who am I kidding? I love it! xD), but that's one of the reasons I hate two-faction themes. Look at any early 90's catalogue: when you had a one faction theme, you would have atleast one model in each category. Look at M-Tron's or Blacktron II's roster! There are vehicles of every type in all sizes, from small to huge, we all could get something we wanted...

Then there's the models themselves... This is tangentially related to my previous point. I mean, look at the ADU headquarters. It has 3 vehicles: the main ground vehicle, the UFO and the jetfighter. The UFO and the Jetfighter would be terrific vehicles in their own right, and it's a shame we don't have anything else on catalogue (well, appart from the tripod, I guess) that's similar that we could buy if we didn't want to plonk down 90€ for the ADU HQ...

The main vehicle in the set doesn't do it for me. The design is uninspired and too big for what it does... Double goes for the mothership. Take a page from the early 90's. Then, when a model was big, it meant more space for the minifigs (and us!) to play around in. Don't be big for bigness' sake.

And seriously, what with the limes and the weird colour schemes? (see: AC aliens, power miners, world racers) Can't we have good colour schemes with strong colours? What's the matter with greens, whites, blacks, blues, reds and yellows?

A like minded AFOL i see.

My criticisms of AC are much the same

We desperately need a return to 90s space style.

This new stuff is bupkis. color scheme is poo-poo /old man rant. haha

[Ogre]

This thread has got me giving this line a bit more thought and I've decided that I really like it. My only real beef with it is the Mothership set, it's awfully big for a whole lotta nothin'. The Supreme Leaders Ship may have been a more apt name for the set.

Agreed.

IMO, when I think "Alien mothership", I'm thinking of a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE beastie of a ship, that all of the other 'little ships' come out of. This LEGO 'mothership' does NOT cut it. As the Supreme Leader's invasion limo, sure, no problem...just change the name.

[Algernon]

Agreed.

IMO, when I think "Alien mothership", I'm thinking of a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE beastie of a ship, that all of the other 'little ships' come out of. This LEGO 'mothership' does NOT cut it. As the Supreme Leader's invasion limo, sure, no problem...just change the name.

To be fair, that kind of size isn't often seen is non-licensed system sets. And the mothership is already fairly large, considering the price point. I think LEGO did an acceptable job with the concept. Will I be buying it? No, but I don't dislike the set.

For perspective, compare it to the Mars Mission alien mothership.

[fr33manator]

Agreed.

IMO, when I think "Alien mothership", I'm thinking of a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE beastie of a ship, that all of the other 'little ships' come out of. This LEGO 'mothership' does NOT cut it. As the Supreme Leader's invasion limo, sure, no problem...just change the name.

Right, the only way that would qualify as worthy of a "mother ship" designation would be if it was a mini scale ship and the "alien overlord" was supposed to represent some giant tentacled alien mother. Kind of like in ALIENS.

But that is just my personal opinion

[vexorian]

The mothership looks like would be a portal, has sound and a cool minifig. If you like bulky looking UFOs get the one from the abduction set and you'll be set.

[fr33manator]

The mothership looks like would be a portal, has sound and a cool minifig. If you like bulky looking UFOs get the one from the abduction set and you'll be set.

Now if they had made it a portal TO the mothership, that would have been much better

[Aanchir]

I agree that something called a mothership should be able to connect to or deploy smaller vehicles. And yes, it is possible at a reasonable scale. Consider Atlantis's Neptune Carrier, which is actually called the Neptune Mothership in some languages.

With that said, I don't think size or emptiness is the problem with the current mothership set. Small fighter craft could have potentially been mounted on the support struts that connect the inner disk with the outer ring. As for the large empty spaces, including deployable fighter craft on them could have helped balance that out, or alternatively thicker support struts could have improved the set.

I imagine part of the reason that these things weren't done is that the sound brick together with so many large pieces cut down on how much content the designers could afford to give the set at this price range (the Sketch Model really does suggest that thicker support struts were planned at some point but abandoned, likely for reasons of cost).

Overall, though, I think it's silly to criticize a set because the name and the actual content doesn't match up. LEGO names haven't always made sense, even in the earlier days of LEGO space. Consider the 1991 minifigure pack, titled "The United Galaxies" in the UK despite including both Blacktron and Space Police figures. Or the Exploriens set "Alien Fossilizer", a name probably only chosen because it sounded cool and contained the word "fossil". What's important are the actual contents of the set.