mon-o-mat

Flick-fires worked good as long as they were exposed and easy to flick at. Which of course on many Star Wars set they were not. I don't think that those pins had more friction than the technic bar, as the length of the friction element is shorter. The old spring loaded Technic/Bionicle shooter may have been powerfull, but it also was large and akward to fit into a system set and often didn't make any sense were they put it (cough 2008 AT-TE). They also often had the same problems with their exposed triggers. But as a kid I think I would have prefered the modern shooters over what we had back then (akward Bionicle shooters on some of the larger sets or nothing). As an adult collector, the spring loaded shooters are pretty dircreet, especially when not laoded.

The spaceship also fits perfectly onto the start ramp of the base set, where it really stands out, thanks to that sleekness. The transport that actually belongs to the base on the other hand is so bulky, that it looks better laying on the shelf.

I think the despiction of 1920s China or India in those themes would be problematic today. I think the Himalayan parts would be OK. Maybe combine the temple, the Yeti and the Baloon into a nice set, that works for both display and play.

I wouldn't interpret anything into that map. But I just noticed, that there are set specific maps.

I think just like the Animal Rescue subtheme this is supposed to be sold through its animals. But yes, the foliage is really weak in this sets. Not that it doesn't actually look good, for City I think they are really well made, but they all seem to be little more than flimsy backgrounds. In fact they remind me of the pedestals in a natural hisotry museum or indeed the decoration in a zoo.

I really want to like the Jungle sets, but somehow they really feel sterile compared to the bright orange ones. They are just missing all those accessoires and little details to really get the adventure and exploration feeling across.

Back then, there were just less parts and colors for designers to play with. When you just have handfull of different accessories to create knights from or decorate spaceships with they will look similiar. But of course the main problem is, that everything that is not a on-shot has to be a story driven multi media project.

The problem with this approach ist that you waste large ammounts of bricks on additional walls, that could find better use in additional features or just size. And of course it blocks lots of play, something even an open up feature cannot really solve in my eyes. Personally I remember, that the bases I build as a kid often resembled a table-top map with an open top design.

Thanks, yes, the colors are in need of some refinement. Especially for the blue. The sideways connectors came as an idea from studying the last big space polic ship. You might notice, that the front section of the main body looks suspiciously similiar.

Thanks. Hinged canopies are of course still used, i.e. the Interstellar Spaceship has one.

WIP on my side:

Alien Conquest was a nice as an concept (Lego X-COM), but a failure in its implementation. The Tripod looks definitifly the best from the Aliens's side, while the two UFOs... They are too samey and I don't see, what the larger one really offers over the smaller, besides a ring, that makes it just larger (and cost more) and a spaghetti arm. And the ADU seriously lacked a standalone Jetfighter I think. But I understand why people really don't see it as a Space theme as the humans don't even have a single space ship and the setting is just Earth. BTW, I just noticed a badly placed Sticker on a official? product picture:

Who wrote those marketing texts? Especially the Blacktron II one not only sounds bad, it also doesn't contain any real impulses for imagination. The interesting part in my eyes is, that there were actually THREE years of sets in one catalogue. This of course means, that despite having only a small amount of new sets per year, and only one faction per year, you probably had a wide variety of sets around. I think it would be possible to spread the current three factions out, to give them each a couple of more specialized sets. To be fair I have no idea how to give the Pilots interesting sets that are better than the current Interstellar Spaceship, but I think the Scientists and Engineers could use some reinforcements.

Sounds reasonable. But of course the old magnets were so much better for a sci fi crane than just plain hooks.

Oddly enough Ice Planet is one of those themes I could imagine today. Maybe with a new light block as gimick to represent special heaters that are needed to survive the harsh envoirement. Btw, do we know why the magnets were retired? And why they then came back for two City sets, but completly oversized?