The Future of Lego Space. (opinions, ideas, discussion)

[icm]

This wave of sets is not so much set ON Mars as it is meant to inspire kids to treat their homes, yards, etc, as Mars.  The only set actually ON Mars is the Mars Research Shuttle.  The space station orbits Earth, the Moon, or Mars, as you please.  The Space Research Rocket Control Center has the launch site and launch control center for a heavy lift rocket that may contain a Mars-bound payload.  The Rocket Transport also has a launch control center, plus a clean room/maintenance bay for a little rover that the rocket in the set will DELIVER to Mars.

[Henjin_Quilones]

10 hours ago, PBRStreetgang said:

I guess I am just a little confused? Is this is supposed to be part of a Mars base?? Some figures have helmets,...one building is enclosed and there seems to be a bit sampling. But on the other hand one building is open and some figures are dressed up,.....non-space fashion?? 

Is this new City theme on Mars?? I mean the theme is called LEGO City Mars Exploration sets??

This depicts the Earth-based launch center, not a location on Mars. The figure in space clothes is presumably running through a simulation, hence the scientist-looking person with a laptop looking on.

The theme is Mars Exploration, but most of the sets are still in LEGO City on Earth, getting ready to explore Mars, doing the typical NASA-type stuff like tests and simulations. They need to make sure the gear does what it is supposed to do, after all, before sending it thousands of miles across space to another planet! 

[MAB]

On 4/28/2019 at 7:15 PM, x105Black said:

It's really weird that he has an alien head on a stick, but I'm not complaining about getting that piece.

Isn't this some minifigures playing a practical joke, using an alien mask on a stick pretending there are aliens for the camera.

[PBRStreetgang]

On 5/10/2019 at 10:06 PM, Henjin_Quilones said:

This depicts the Earth-based launch center, not a location on Mars. The figure in space clothes is presumably running through a simulation, hence the scientist-looking person with a laptop looking on.

The theme is Mars Exploration, but most of the sets are still in LEGO City on Earth, getting ready to explore Mars, doing the typical NASA-type stuff like tests and simulations. They need to make sure the gear does what it is supposed to do, after all, before sending it thousands of miles across space to another planet! 

Indeed,...thanks for the reply. I guess I had it in my head the theme would be on MARS,...like the old Classic Space theme (presumably the Moon). 

[Artanis I]

On 5/11/2019 at 3:02 AM, MAB said:

Isn't this some minifigures playing a practical joke, using an alien mask on a stick pretending there are aliens for the camera.

That's what it looked like to me

[x105Black]

On 5/9/2019 at 8:25 AM, BlackFalconSpace said:

Not quite. Its the new logo but its hard to tell in that picture

Bummer, missed opportunity, but I get that they are going all out with this branding for the City Space stuff.

On 5/10/2019 at 1:02 PM, MAB said:

Isn't this some minifigures playing a practical joke, using an alien mask on a stick pretending there are aliens for the camera.

Yeah, I guess so, but still weird.

[Captain Mutant]

Hello everyone. I’ve started dabbling on the YouTube and made a video about a forthcoming LEGO space set - I’m thinking it might be of interest to people on this thread :) 

 

And while I’ve got your attention, I also took a look at a space set that LEGO Ideas refused to have on the site (and no, it’s not because it was bad ;) 

 

[1980sSpaceGuy]

Can't wait for my first Lego sets in 20+ years* 60227: Lunar Space Station & 60224: Satellite Service Mission 

*received Benny's Space Squad as a gift recently.

Love the white with orange accents color scheme as well as the overall and Space Exploration/the Martian influence!

Love the whole line including the great people pack with scientists, astronauts and lots of funny humor.

[Digger of Bricks]

Looks like @Gbailey46 has a newly-submitted Ideas project readers here may be interested in... 

LEGO Ideas - Cosmic Hyper Cruiser

[icm]

Hmm ... usually I like GBailey's work, but this leans too heavily into random greebling for me.  I prefer cleaner lines.  Also, the shape of the spaceship isn't very interesting.  That rover is pretty cool though.  I'd go for the rover without the spaceship, but not for both at once.

[Artanis I]

Was gonna say "too greebly"

[Digger of Bricks]

Has anyone here yet seen @paokus's latest submission? 

LEGO Ideas - Euclides Sector II

[toastergrl]

Oh yessssss I adore CS stuff. That looks like a fun base indeed! Definitely a grand display piece.

[PBRStreetgang]

Yeah,..like that. Would love to see a huge Moonbase, with buildings and launch pads.

Oh well,...hope springs eternal. 

[astral brick]

Apparently the future of Lego Space is Lego City. Literally down to earth. Did the designers lose the ability to dream?

[Captain Mutant]

On 7/16/2019 at 6:20 PM, toastergrl said:

Oh yessssss I adore CS stuff. That looks like a fun base indeed! Definitely a grand display piece.

I love the fact it's a fully enclosed base (just like mine ?), and really like the shuttle. Just need a bit more stuff inside the base itself - but that didn't stop me from supporting it a few days ago ?

1 minute ago, astral brick said:

Apparently the future of Lego Space is Lego City. Literally down to earth. Did the designers lose the ability to dream?

I'm hoping this year's sets were just the preamble and next year we'll have proper space bases - but if that's not the case, there's loads of proposals over on Lego Ideas - let's vote for them all to tell LEGO what we really want ? 

[Digger of Bricks]

1 hour ago, astral brick said:

Apparently the future of Lego Space is Lego City. Literally down to earth. Did the designers lose the ability to dream?

As far as we know, Disney's Star Wars is what's primarily keeping LEGO Space grounded. 

[Aanchir]

7 hours ago, astral brick said:

Apparently the future of Lego Space is Lego City. Literally down to earth. Did the designers lose the ability to dream?

Of course not. Modern-day Space sets have been coming out pretty much every four or five years since the early 90s, across themes like Town, Discovery Kids, Creator Expert, Creator 3-in-1, and City. Their existence today hardly means that they're somehow taking the place of far future space themes.

And there's no shortage of futuristic science fiction and science fantasy stuff in other recent themes like Ninjago, Nexo Knights, or Hidden Side. The fact that it isn't space themed hardly means the designers creating those sets lack imagination.

If anything, I think it's wonderfully creative that LEGO has been dabbling in so many forms of science fiction and fantasy such as weird fiction (Hidden Side), medieval futurism (Nexo Knights), and sentai (Ninjago), as opposed to sticking exclusively to bog-standard space opera subject matter like spaceships, spacesuits, aliens, robots, and ray guns which so many people think of when they hear the words "science fiction".

Not to mention all the blatant space stuff in The LEGO Movie 2… especially with that in mind, it's bizarre to hear LEGO Space talked about as though it's in the midst of some long absence that might never end.

[astral brick]

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

Of course not.

Given that it was a rhetorical question, it is saddening to notice that there are sci-fi elements everywhere but where they belong, id est Space. Although Mars Exploration sets are very nice, they represent the final nail in the coffin in relation to a hypothetical Space renaissance. In fact if even Lego City is now embracing "light" sci-fi elements in its catalogue, then there is truly no hope for a new Space line.

So the big picture is pretty clear, hard sci-fi is dedicated to Star Wars, and I can't help thinking of how many potential great Space sets will never see the light of the day because the designers don't have the chance to express their imagination, being forced to replicate pre-existing models taken from some movies.

[icm]

10 hours ago, astral brick said:

Apparently the future of Lego Space is Lego City. Literally down to earth. Did the designers lose the ability to dream?

Frankly, Lego sets like this year's Space line are what I always dreamed of as a kid but could never get.  A realistic rocket for minifigs to ride - not a rocket ship, but a rocket?  Fantastic!  An orbiting space station that is explicitly inspired by real space stations?  Count me in!  A modular system that makes it easy to build a deep space Mars ship that looks like something assembled in orbit out of a number of modules, as opposed to a sleek ship that's clearly more fiction than science?  Those were the stuff of my dreams as a kid!  That's the kind of thing I always wanted to build as a kid, but couldn't build with the parts existing at the time!  If anything, I'd say the designers of this year's Space line have showed great creativity and great "ability to dream" by finally making available, in 2019, the kinds of space-themed sets I wanted as far back as 1999.  Maybe it's not your dream come true, but it is mine.

[Toastie]

2 hours ago, Aanchir said:

opposed to sticking exclusively to bog-standard space opera subject matter like spaceships, spacesuits, aliens, robots, and ray guns which so many people think of when they hear the words "science fiction".

Even just inserted here as a fraction of a full sentence (I love how you, @Aanchir, use and play the full width and depth of the English/American Language; everytime, it is a pleasure to read your posts/replies - they represent human culture, as far as I am concerned), this is the core of the matter.

At first, I was just linearily following arguments about Space vs Starwars and whatnot. 

You know what simply blew me away? Emmet's Dream House converting into a space ship. That is so much space and >not< Starwars - it cannot be more distant.

So yes, when you like blue and grey, and trans yellow - that is not for you - that thing is boldly blue and yellow. But: It is space, as in my space.

All the best
Thorsten

 

53 minutes ago, astral brick said:

then there is truly no hope for a new Space line.

What then IS a NEW Space line? Honestly, I am asking that myself. (I digged the LEGO space stuff back then. A couple of decades ago)

Certainly not what has been done in the past, right? It has to be >new<, as you said. Or do you want to revert to Space Opera? Over and over again? I believe not.

Another thought: Is all the Apollo 11 stuff - now hyped evrywhere - NEW? I don't think so. Nor do you, I believe.

Going to Mars - phew - Mars ... I want to go to what they talked about in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I want to get on board of Emmet's Dream House and take off. Not to Mars - no, to new worlds.

All the best
Thorsten

 

 

 

 

 

[astral brick]

9 hours ago, Toastie said:

What then IS a NEW Space line?

You may look at Shiptember challenges and countless of space-themed mocs or neoclassic remakes to have an idea. It would be interesting to see a fraction of these techniques applied to official sets.

9 hours ago, Toastie said:

Honestly, I am asking that myself. (I digged the LEGO space stuff back then. A couple of decades ago)

Certainly not what has been done in the past, right? It has to be >new<, as you said. Or do you want to revert to Space Opera? Over and over again? I believe not.

Given that I don't understand what is wrong with space opera, how many iterations have we seen of police or fire stations/trucks/cars? Anyway, past space themes have proved to be able to go beyond the dicotomy good guys/criminals and have shown multiple color schemes. So yes, there is life beyond blue, grey and yellow bricks. 

9 hours ago, Toastie said:

Another thought: Is all the Apollo 11 stuff - now hyped evrywhere - NEW? I don't think so. Nor do you, I believe.

I don't think that it can be classified as sci-fi, Nasa sets are based on real models. However the point of no return is seeing that even Lego Town/City went from reality - space shuttle sets - to light sci-fi designs.

9 hours ago, Toastie said:

Going to Mars - phew - Mars ... I want to go to what they talked about in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I want to get on board of Emmet's Dream House and take off. Not to Mars - no, to new worlds.

Considering the current catalogue's situation, I am afraid that you would land, at most, in a galaxy far, far away.

[MAB]

11 hours ago, astral brick said:

Given that it was a rhetorical question, it is saddening to notice that there are sci-fi elements everywhere but where they belong, id est Space.

Why does Space have to be sci-fi though? With current interest in space missions and the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and so on, if anything there is a strong impetus behind space being more science fact than science fiction.

[astral brick]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

Why does Space have to be sci-fi though? With current interest in space missions and the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and so on, if anything there is a strong impetus behind space being more science fact than science fiction.

Science over fiction, that is the lack of the ability to dream that I feared.

[Captain Mutant]

Hello all, while we're debating the pros and cons of science over fiction in our LEGO sets, I thought I'd share a video I made for the Apollo50 celebrations - a MODing of the LEGO Lunar Lander set :)

Hope you find it interesting.