7645 Review - MT-61 Crystal Reaper

[Svelte]

7645 - MT-61 Crystal Reaper

Piece count: 600

Price: $AUD79.95, 49.95 Euros (in most countries), 39.99 GBP, USD 49.99

It's happened in the wider world, and it had to happen to Lego - yes, the 80s are back. Space invaders, holograms, compulsory seat-belt wearing legislation, and the return of classic Space. Ok, we don't have a fully fledged classic space theme back yet, but if 7645 is the way of the future, I think Lego is ready to do it properly. I wasn't a huge fan of last year's Mars Mission sets and only picked up a few on clearance, but this set is light years (excuse the pun) ahead of 2007's offerings. This mining vehicle is solid, compact, and well-designed. It looks impressive, and even better, it has fantastic Power Functions operability! Behold 7645 - MT-61 Crystal Reaper! (PS I wasn't joking about the holograms or seat belts.)

Part 1: Box, Instructions, DSSs (Dreaded Sticker Sheets), Parts

Front of box:

Back of box:

2 x instruction booklets:

DSS numero uno - for the Reaper

DSS number two - apologies for the blurry pic but I wanted to capture the sweet shimmy of the metallic holographic background on this sheet The way it catches the light really makes a difference to the small alien craft and makes it look much more interesting from the plain stickers of last year. There's heaps of spare silvery stuff once the stickers are applied for those who use the leftover sticker material for customising.

Parts bags - 4 numbered with one extra with larger pieces

Parts everywhere - woo! I know the Lego instruction books scold me if I mix bags, but I'm a devil-may-care kind of guy. In your face, TLC. I love mixing all the parts together before I build, it reminds me of my youth when the days were long, anything was possible, and I didn't need strict instructions not to build on grass or poke my eye out with a technic shooter.

Interesting parts - these may or may not be new, my technic knowledge is not that detailed.

The little scoop parts are so cute and have a heap of potential uses. I love 'em. They're like Smurf hats at Miniland scale.

These technic wheel things in orange are also cute. They kind of remind me of marigolds. Giant Fabuland marigolds!

The track pieces - you get 70 of these - here's the section of track for one side - as you can see it's about 52 studs long. These hold together better than the small ones on the Hailfire Droid/ Jungle Cutter.

Part 2: Minifigs, small mining transport, alien ship

I have to confess - I forgot to take an individual snap of the astronauts . It's the usual bunch though - Scaredy Face guy, Sunglasses in Space Man and a third one I can't remember. You don't really care, though? You're only interested in the alien commander and his matching arms/ legs combo deal. As brickbitz noted in his review of the smaller set, the glowy eye is just a 1x1 cylinder. The set also comes with 2 normal jellies - one pictured here for size. You'll see what happened to the other one soon enough...

The alien craft is nothing exciting, apart from the gorgeous glinting stickers. Here's the road safety angle. The commander actually clips onto a 1x2 plate with handle so he can't fall out! Then the lime tentacle thing descends on top of him to keep him firmly there, like a baby seat. Not very brave for an alien commander, is he? I mean, did Darth Vader ever use a seatbelt? Tssk.

With cradle up:

This part of the build also includes the small astronaut mining buggy - small and effective. (Please note in this build I've applied stickers to everything bar cockpit pieces.) This comes with radio and saw piece.

Part 3: The Reaper!

The first part of the build is the detachable shuttle. I really like the retro aesthetic of this with the angled wings and the side hoverpod things. It is much better than the comparable vehicle from 7699. The new flickfire piece is a waste of space - it's fairly limp. I prefer the simple flickfire technic pin to be honest. There's also a very nice little side workshop as you can see. I really like how the control unit is 'plugged' into the wall via 5 1x1 round plates (third pic, it's a bit dark). Great detail. [The technic pins on the back are there to connect the Power Functions battery box. It's odd they're included at this stage of the instructions - maybe the intention was to release it originally with all the necessary motors etc but the price point was too high and they scaled it back]

The base. The shuttle sits on that bley technic axle in the middle when the Reaper is fully assembled.

The little vehicle scoots down the ramp at the rear, which folds up to hold it in place when the Reaper is in motion. You can see there's a crystal container here as well - another nice small detail which I found the 2007 sets lacked. There's also an alien here - thankfully not in those horrendous trans-orange tubes so prevalent last year.

The complete assembly. Isn't it snug? It's just the right size too - not massive but large enough to be a serious mining vehicle. The ominous black treads contrast nicely with the white/ orange colour scheme of the vehicle itself. The trans detailing - blue for weapons, neon green for energy - is carried nicely through the whole set. The blades and the scoops whirl nicely as the machine trundles along.

Top down view:

Tread detail:

Whirling blades of death!

The buggy descends:

Probably the most disturbing aspect of the whole set is this pic:

The jelly has an orange pump plugged into its heart which is connected to an energy supply on the left hand side! This vehicle runs on alien jelly juice! Either that or it's milking the jelly in some equally disturbing fashion. How amoral is that! I know there's been debate about this - the jellys aren't innocent, they're evil energy crystal thieving maniacs etc - but I find it a bit odd that the humans respond by chaining the jelly up to the bowels of their mining vehcile and suck energy from its heart. People debate about violence in Lego as represented by realistic minifig weapons, but I think the moral lesson here is even worse - it's OK to exploit foreign life forms for our own gain if they treat us badly first! (Who-fans, I think the Ood should have a word with the jelly Commander )

That aside, this set is well-designed and fairly good value at $AUD79.95. It's definitely a notch above last year's Mars Mission sets overall, with improved detailing and more useful functions. The holo-stickers are fab and it's nice to have an alien commander, even if he is a bit bulky and his fingers are identical to his toes. However, if all these reasons by themselves weren't reason to recomend this set, the following is....

Part 4: Power Functions

The best part of this set - and the reason I bought it, really - is the integration of Power Functions. Bizarrely this isn't mentioned at all on the box and I only found out about it from the instructions when they were posted on Eurobricks! (Instructions for book 2 which has the Power function stuff available here.) This is a great idea and hopefully we will see more new sets take this kind of approach (especially with the new Train sets). Luckily I got Monster Dino 4958 on sale for half price earlier this year so already had most of the necessary motors etc - the only one needed was an extra small one.

What you need is listed in the instructions below with redirections to Shop @ Home to buy the motors. Note there's actually a mistake on this page. The 2 small motors you need are both 8883 not 8882 (which is the large XL motor). Way to confuse the kids there, Lego!

Attaching them was a dream and only took a few minutes (In contrast to 4958 where it was almost impossible to remove motor elements without dismantling the model). Basically the back platform and some plates and orange slopes come off, you attach the motors, and then the smaller plates go back on. These parts are now left loose:

Overall the look of the Reaper isn't badly effected as you're mainly viewing from the front anyway:

Sadly I can't show you how it moves, you'll just have to trust me that it does ! The way it is steered is demonsrated in the instruction pages above. Basically each motor is controlled by a corresponding switch on the remote. Move them both forward to move forward, move one right to turn right, move both back to move back etc. It zips along! It's a speedy little thing! Personally I wouldn't want to be in it's path as it comes roaring down the Martian canyon! (My cat was scared as it was.)

It is oodles of fun and definitely worth trying if you have the motors or can get them cheaply, and adds a whole new dimension to the 'play' aspect of 'playset'. It is also as I said very quick to switch between modded and non-modded Reaper in contrast to the more fiddly Dino creations. The only problem I had is that if it moves too fast, the weight of the battery box at the back tends to pull the whole thing back and it rears up. It does correct itself though. I only trialled this on carpet last night so it may behave differently on other surfaces - I will need to experiment!

Part 5: Summation

This is a great set made even better with the addition of Power Functions. At $AUD79.95 it's well-priced. Buy it! Buy the motors as well (K-Mart still has stock of 4958 at $89, wait for a 15% off sale)! You won't regret it. Buy 2 and make competing battle machines! The only thing is... just don't torture that poor jelly

Edited June 24, 2008 by Sinner

[Wilhelm screamer]

Wonder full job, but now my wallet aches in misery.

[BearHeart]

Im not that into Mars Mission... but this set reminds me of the Jungle Cutter

[Corvus]

Great review. I just got 7644 MX-81 Hypersonic Operations Aircraft. It's a great ship. I started to review it, but then it started to rain (I was outside), so the review is coming tommorow.

Technicolor stickers! Very pretty!

[iamded]

You really are an awesome set reviewer, svelte_corps!! Thanks very much for this sweet review, so in-depth and detailed, that is one sweet vehicle! It's got three of my favourite things, treads, orange, and big slicey blades! Thanks again!

~Peace

[brickbitz]

Another great review. I'm looking forward to getting this set sometime soon.

I wasn't aware of the power function aspect, similar I suppose to the old technic sets which had an additional instructions for those with the relevant motors.

I knew those dino's I got at clearance would come in useful.

Nice to see the recent "bulldozer" treads appearing in black. Grey seemed a slightly unusual colour choice.

[radiant7]

These new sets are just totally off-the-wall radical :D. It's the little details like the scoops on the blades and the alternate alien energy source (Lego didn't even have to include those, but they did!) that show Lego are really getting back into their groove this year. The ability to add power functions is just so cool as well, I'm going to pick-up the Creator Monster Dino set for the electronics when the sales hit as svelte has suggested.

A very entertaining review, just like the Agents mobile command center one :D

[AgentRick]

This set looks 10 times sweeter with the power functions, too bad I'll have to buy some extra.

[Pencoin]

nice review

the power functions is a nice idea and i ownder if it will appear in any other new sets?

regarless if i get this (i decided to just to get what ever looks good in the shops from now on ) im defianltey picking up some of the white visors off bricklink

[Brickmaster]

Wow, this thing is very cool. Definately no lack of details, and is quite cheap for the bang of the set that you get. For some reason I really love the bay in the back of the detachable ship. Quite an improvement from last years line.

Thank you for the review.

[Algernon]

I was going to buy this set anyway, but now I'm even more excited. :D My favorite part of this set is the bay that holds the little cart vehicles.

[Asuka]

Thank you for that fine review, svelte_corps.

That´s a pretty cool set, much more solid than the Armoured Drilling Unit, with a nice little transporter

and some for sure pretty interesting additional power functions. A very smart idea indeed! Did I miss

something or is there really only one (and probably improved) shooting device? And there´re even some

levers to control the vehicles.... wow. A matured MarsMission on indeed! Now let´s get rid of these poor

utilized jellies and we´re right on the way....

[zero1312]

Isn't it a lovely set? I too have one. (modded, of course )

[Svelte]

Did I miss something or is there really only one (and probably improved) shooting device?

No, you didn't miss anything. There's only one, and it's the less obtrusive new piece The range is pretty poor, though .

[Iron Moose]

So, is there some way to get all those motor bits at once, or do you have to buy them on their own? I don't think I've ever seen them in a store here...

[Svelte]

So, is there some way to get all those motor bits at once, or do you have to buy them on their own? I don't think I've ever seen them in a store here...

Only from S@H so far, or if you buy sets which they come in.

All the ones you need (apart from one additional small motor) are available in the 4958 Monster Dino set (which I got half price). I ordered the extra from S@H at the same time I bought the set - but only because I had already looked at the instructions and knew what I needed. (If people have the Ferris Wheel set as well I think the small motor comes in that.)

[Algernon]

This should be reported to the news .

[xenologer]

Well

I guess its nice that they're making the story background a little more clear. With that jelly plugged into the power cable...

Hmmh, both Jellies and crystals can be used as power sources, think theres a connection? both of them are transparent and greenish...

Maybe Jellies hatch from crystals like eggs? or need them as food? or something important like that?

Yay for evil humans.

[I Scream Clone]

Thanks for the great review Sveltecorps. I bought some of the MM last year and ended up selling them off for SW. This new set has got me interested in MM again, partly due to your cool review! :thumbup:

One question though, Did you get this set in Aust shops or S@H, just wondering if i should be looking for it yet? EDIT: sorry just saw your other post saying it was ordered from S@H

Cheers

ISC :skull:

Edited June 4, 2008 by I Scream Clone

[Zarkan]

Excellent review.

Loving. This. Set. I mean, come on, it's a flipping tank! Awesomeness is written all over this - from all those blades and scoops at the front to the mini rover. And yes, you can even turn it into a motorized battle tank! Reminds me of the old technic days when they advertised in the manuals how to hook up the kits with separately sold motors.

Another day, another review of an awesome set. Yes, this is sure TLC's year!

[Darth_Legois]

The only thing is... just don't torture that poor jelly

I smell another "Dont hurt the dragons/jellies" or something group

Nice Reveiw i dont realy like the MM sets [We WANT MORE STARJUSTICE/SPACE SKULLS!!!!!!]

But this one looks Ok i guess suprised they dont say that it has power functions on the box

[Belloq]

Really Nice review!

I love those sweet looking power functions on it, if only the orange bits could be replaced, then you could have a futuristic and motorized Jungle Cutter

Anyway, the alien bit was disturbing, but the overly-tall new commanders look very, very cool!

All in all, a great set, but I won't be able to buy it, because, in a few days, S@H will become 600$ richer and my wallet will writhe around in pain on the floor.

[Algernon]

Why is it that Agents and Star Wars get their own news articles but this fantastic set is totally ignored?

[Svelte]

Why is it that Agents and Star Wars get their own news articles but this fantastic set is totally ignored?

I think maybe there's a bit of Star Wars excitement on the front page which has probably got a few members frothing with excitement.

Not every review needs to be frontpaged anyway .

[Algernon]

No, but this IS one of the most anticipated sets of 08...