Review: 7310 Mono Jet

[The Cobra]

Many years before real men, Lego minifigs landed on Mars; this is the story of one small human vehicle.

Set data

7310: Mono Jet

Year: 2001

Theme: Space

Subtheme: Life on Mars

Pieces: 33 (no extra pieces)

Price: 4 USD / ?? EUR / ?? UKP

Building time: less than 10 minutes

MISB on review: Yes

More info: Brickset - Peeron

Box front: A good overview of the set.

Box back: An odd alternative model.

Box content: One bag, three loose pieces, instructions sheet and promo poster.

Promo poster: One side overviews the theme, the other one goes 360 degrees on Lego products. Click thumbnails for larger pics.

Instructions: Not a booklet, but an A3 sized double sided sheet. Click thumbnails for larger pics.

Minifig: We learn from the instructions sheet that his name is "Assistant". What is he looking at? Up there, on the left...

Mono jet: Let's start building. This is the left part shot from the right, so the white slope brick is at the rear, and the light blue slope at the front.

Mono jet: Adding a Technic Axle; it will host the big wheel and connect the two outer parts.

Mono jet: Considering the anti-violent policy, I assume that's not a laser cannon!

Mono jet: The big monowheel: the axle is put into three 1x2 technic bricks, two on the left side and one on the right. As for the controls: no steering wheel, no hinges/sticks, just a printed tile.

Mono jet: Let's build the right part. The blue 1x2 plate matches Assistant uniform. According to Peeron, that piece was only used in light blue from 2002.

Mono jet: Adding (printed) plates, and the engine is now complete.

Mono jet: Building is now complete.

Mono jet: View from the front-left. You can now tell for sure, it is totally out of balance!

Mono jet: View from the rear.

Mono jet: And a view from the top, too, for a complete overview.

Review:

How time changes things: today, even a set this small would host (at least) a human minifig and an alien. And being those 2001 Mars aliens funny (much, MUCH more than those silly 2007/8 green jellies), it would have been a plus. But we're not here to talk about what isn't, let's see what is. Lego also went on Mars with a couple of sets in the Discovery theme in 2003.

Building is obviously fast and easy (yet at first I stupidly misplaced the big white cylinder, putting front in the back and vice-versa). I'm not sure what the whole thing is supposed to be. Basically a land vehicle, because of the giant wheel. Yet it's the most unbalanced monowheeler I've ever seen; the Jet will usually lie on the top left corner. Be aware of that if you're playing on a table, or any other lifted surface: The monojet will ALWAYS head to the left, even if that means falling into the void.

A friend of mine suggested: Mars' gravity is different than Earth's, and this thing hasn't obviously been designed for our good ol' planet. Please note that Lego designers tried different (and often uncompromising) wheeling solutions. Check other small vehicles in the theme, like 1413/7301 Rover or the human half of the 1195 Alien Encounter (which I both own and will eventually review after I've done with my MISB sets). The "antenna w/inverted dish", whatever it is, can rotate for a very small angle, about 30 degrees.

I bought it regardless of already owning two other LoM sets, because at 4 Euros including S/H it looked like a bargain. Not to mention, this so-called new "Space Police" looks awful to me and just wants me to grab some old real space sets. Yes, even these late ones before the Space theme was put on hiatus.

Rating:

Color scheme: 4/5. Simple but effective. May I add: the opposite of the set!

Minifigs and accessories: 2/5. I've yet to understand why LoM minifigs had no gloves. Or did they use YELLOW gloves that looked like bare hands? And, no accessories at all. I'm not a huge fan of those big visors, but it doesn't look that bad. The head piece looks interesting, it could be used in city sets as a phone operator or something alike. I just wonder, where are the eyes looking at?

Pieces: 3/5. Quite few, so it's really hard to come up with a decent alternative model. Thumbs up for using three printed tiles (two of them come from the Stingrays sets), and no stickers at all. The unparallel wheel helps the set to be totally out of balance.

Playability: 2/5. Not exactly the funniest set one could think of. The wheel spins, the monojet moves and that's basically it.

Design: 2/5. I can't say it's not original. And I can't either say it's plain. Maybe it's just too daring for me.

Overall rating: 2,5/5. If I didn't actually liked it, I just wouldn't have bought it. But the MonoJet is "A million light years away" (to quote one of my favourite bands) from being a classic, a top seller or just the "best in its theme", even if the theme itself was not that great.

The final words: grab it for 4 bucks, or just leave it wandering on the red surface. And if you buy two of it, try this combo (still unbalanced!)

[Algernon]

I won't lie: I love this set. It was fun, small, and collectible. I also confess that I love Life on Mars. I think it was much better than Mars Mission and I loved all of the Mechs. I think the mechs in this theme were as close as LEGO got to an Armored Core type theme.

Fantastic review, I really enjoyed it.

[strider406]

Good review. I own this set and it's not to bad.

[Natman8000]

I remember when I got this for 99 cents. Brilliant set.

[xenologer]

I love this set.

Good source of nice printed tiles. And you get that engine piece.

I suspect the only reason such an odd design was created though, was to satisfy all the people who bought the Trike and needed an extra wheel to MOC a normal 4 wheeled vehicle.

It's a shame the modern Mars Mission Trike doesn't have a similar accessory set...