One of the Academy's hopes is that we can provide Academy standard reviews of all the new sets, so that people can really see the set and read a very high-quality review that is both pleasurable and informative. So, welcome to the first of my two Academy-standard Space Police III 2010 reviews, and enjoy!

Set Title: Raid VPR

Set #: 5981

Theme: Space Police III

Pieces: 69

Minifigures: 2

Year of Release: 2010 (November 2009)

Price at Release: USD $10

Buy it? Inventory? Bricklink Not yet on Peeron. LEGO

INTRODUCTION

Each year I think about going Black Friday shopping on Black Friday after brunch. I haven't made it yet. On Sunday, however, I decided to hit up my nearest TRU, just to see if they had some new sets and see the sets in person. I wasn't expecting to find the buy one get one %50 off deal that they had, excluding Atlantis and Star Wars (that greedy TRU). Deciding not to follow in the footsteps of the numerous parents filling their carts with Venators and every other huge SW set that their children had written onto lists that the parents were carrying around, I picked up the two new Space Police sets. I'd never bought an SPIII set before, but these looked appealing, and who can pass up a nice deal especially when it gets you some awesome helmets and purple cheese?

BOX

A rarity in one of my reviews, I will actually show you the box since I bought this set right before reviewing it! The front has some snazzy background depicting the inside of one of those domed cities, and is that Earth in the distant background? The officer looks scared out of his mind at seeing Rench jump out of nowhere. The SPIII logo has been changed a little since the 2009 wave, in that it is now outlined in red highlights instead of in blue. Comparing this logo to older ones in the shop, I must say the new one looks a tad more exciting and urgent.

The back of the box features the ship again from a good angle in front of a futuristic-cityscape, as well as the features which are an opening cockpit, a flick-fire missile, and the minifigures, which are certainly a big feature of this set.

On the top of the box there is a sideways full-size picture of our alien frenemy, which the alien himself seems to enjoy.

Oh, his name is Rench in a any language!

INSTRUCTIONS

How would we build our cute little fighter without the instruction manual? The front has the same graphic as the box front, as normal. The manual was neatly folded (too bad 5982 didn't fair the same, as you will someday see).

The back features the all new Nielsen ad, which has a catchier color scheme and bolder lettering, but is ruined by that very… uh, excited? middle-schooler.

The steps have a very plain background, and I must say that color differentiation was not the best, as I had to look at my pieces sometimes to see if it meant black or dark grey. That wasn't too bad, though, since there were no pieces in two different colors, or many pieces at all. I chose this step since it shows the very worst stickers.

Here is that obligatory parts list, fit nicely on one page.

And an ad for the lovely yellow and purple 5982, soon to be review by yours truly.

PIECES

Ah, the lovely pieces, many in fresh white, perhaps my favorite LEGO color. The only problem with fresh white is that it doesn't stay too fresh for long. The pieces are in an appropriate color scheme for a cop vehicle, and there isn't much of note besides those long panels, and the new cockpit piece, which I will show below.

So, here's that new cockpit piece, which I was surprised to find since the box features the old cockpit piece. The only difference - that added square-ish blip that makes it fit completely over a 2x2 piece. There have been several old parts that have redesigned over the past few years, and I dislike this one. It does add to stability, but detracts from look. Many a sleek MOC starfighter with the old cockpit might look a good deal odd and less sleek with the redesign.

And, of course, the sticker sheet, a must in any SPIII set! A printed tile would've been better for the controls, but at least that sticker wasn't hard to apply. It's those long ones that say Police that were annoying. (Sorry, took this pic in the place where I built the set)

MINIFIGURES

Perhaps what many of you came for: the minifigures! And how nice they are. On the left, there is Rench (perhaps a relative of Kranxx), who has an updated Blacktron II torso (comparison below) that does not quite match the skull belt, but looks good anyway. On the right is the standard yet awesomely printed Space Police officer, who sports a Doc head from Power Miners. That cop looks pretty evil to me. Who is the real bad guy here?

Rench has a simple but stylish continuation of his built on the back of his torso, while the Space Police office has a walkie-talkie and some… padding? Not so tough on the back of that head, is he? Unless he's just really angry…

How does the updated torso compare to the old one? Well, though it's hard to tell from the picture, the new one has some printing like the clip on the shoulder strap that is metallic and so it shines. The new one also has that Blacktron II logo on the other shoulder pad, which the old one doesn't need since the logo was plastered all over their ships.

ACCESSORIES

Since he's all alone against a fighter, Rench gets Chewbacca's old favorite, the security camera turned heavy blaster, a step up from the megaphone.

The officer (who LEGO calls a Commando), meanwhile, gets airtanks and a completely awesome new helmet with a trans-red visor, making it even cooler! Ok, that aviator helmet with black visor was nice, guy, but this is the real futuristic in-space Police deal. The only minor drawback is that the cop's screaming face is printed a bit too low down, so the bottom of his mouth is covered, but you still get the idea of his fright. I will cover the helmet more thoroughly on my larger review of 5982, so stay tuned.

BUILD

With some technic and stuff, the build isn't as straightforward as a normal City car or other small set. Here it is:

COMPLETED SET

It isn't so easy to brightly photograph a white ship on a white background (for your average guy like me, anyway), so I'm sorry if any of these pictures aren't my best.

When taking pictures of all angles of this set, I was provided with an odd dilemma; should I shoot it from kind above, which makes it look awesome all the time, or straight on, which from some angles makes it look odd and misshapen. Being a dedicated reviewer like me, I decided to do both, and where I took both angles, I will show them atop each other.

Let me start with a flattering 3/4 above angle. This ship is certainly a sleek little devil, a pride of any futuristic police force. It is extremely sturdy, highly swooshable, not to mention cute and sleek. Many have compared it to a Jedi Interceptor, but it's also just it's own thing. A sort of cross between a small airplane and a fighter, if you ask me.

Now the front, above and straight on. LEGO's placing of the trans-red and -blue works perfectly as a back and forth. But see the straight on angle? Then it doesn't look so great.

A side view. The sides are basically the same, except the conversely colored trans pieces. This view reveals the airplane-looking fin and the engine looks like it should provide a good amount of thrust for such a small ship. In a straight on view the front wings just look silly, to me.

The back. Not much to see here besides the engine, again looking big enough to shoot the ship forward. This time the straight on shot doesn't look so bad.

PLAY

Now all there is left to do is swoosh (in the buff, if you fancy), flick those flick-fire missiles, and decide who's going to win. Sorry, no flick-fire missile videos this time, good readers.

In my opinion, no measly alien with a suped-up video camera can stand up to a sleek, powerful fighter, so Rench is on the run trying desperately to not get the stuffing beaten out of him for shooting at an officer. (Translucent STAP stand not included in set)

CONCLUSION

All in all, a fine start to my 2010 LEGO shopping experience. I don't know if this set is supposed to be $10 or less, but either way I think $10 is fine for a wonderful fighter and two great minifigures. Sure, the fighter doesn't look great straight on from the side, but when are you going to look at it from that angle anyhow? Though I don't own any of the first wave sets, I think this is a step up from the smaller sets since it is an enclosed fighter and not just a speeder bike, and it is extremely sturdy and swooshable. A great purchase for anyone, I'd say.

RATINGS

Parts: 9.5/10 - 69 for $10 is a teeny bit low, but I don't know what the fighter is lacking, so…

Minifigures: 10/10 - New super-cool helmet, redesigned Blacktron torso, lime green alien, what else could you ask for, four green army men?

Design: 9/10 - Wonderfully sturdy, just doesn't look great straight on.

Build: 9/10 - Fast but intriguing for a small set, but the color differentiation wasn't superb.

Playability: 9.5/10 - Quite swooshable, but the missiles might not flick well because of the way their holders are connected.

Price: 10/10 - For $10, it's what I expect and it's a fine deal.

Overall: 9.5/10 - Make yourself happy, buy this lovely little SPIII set, it won't disappoint.

I'll hopefully be back soon!

You changed my mind on this set. I like it more now. I still won't get it because there are a lot of better sets coming out for the same price

This set is awesome. I built it two days ago, and then today I went down and bought two more. I took off the left wing of one, the right wing of the other and moved one pin, and I was able to make a double flyer. It turned out really cool, and really looks like it could take on the new tow truck that has only one police officer with a tiny little gun. An easy change to add more to the police roster.

Over all I could not put down the set. I kept having to swoosh it around. And the helmet of the new police is great. It sits a little high on the head, but has great details. I was a little worried when I saw they were changing helmets, but these new ones are nice. It is a shame that the new wave has changed though. I like a little more continuity to my lines. There was not really a reason to change like there was with the Power Miners going after magma based monsters. Oh well, adds new depth to the characters I guess.

A little hiccup on the name; it should be "Raid VPR".

I definitely like this set, although the price count is awfully low. I'm having a hard time figuring out whether this or the other new SPIII set, or one of the older ones on Clearance is a better buy.

I definitely love the Blacktron torso. I remember prelims having it... scratched out and faded? I think? But I do like that it's not; it's Neo-Blacktron.

[-TA-]

A little hiccup on the name; it should be "Raid VPR".

Oh, you're right! I feel silly now. Could a mod please change the title to VPR? I'l have to change my title pic too…

Cool little set, the green head is a inner, I want the orange and green version but space police isn't in my budget. Thanks for the review!

I've changed the title for you Clonie. Just ignore my comment on the set's name in the Academy, I didn't realize it was already pointed out here.

I wonder what VPR stands for... I always think Viper or something.

I quite like this set for a little one. I simply love the minifigs, that new SP helmet is very cool.

The ship is a bit scrawny unfortunately, it reminds me of a little sparrow or something. But, it is pretty sleek, and it has some good parts. I'll definitely buy one of these at some point.

Thanks for the nice review!

This could be my very first SP3 set!

I really love this sleek looking spacecraft, that is real cool to swoosh around. Even the minifigs itself is great, and I think this is one set I should not missed. Just a stupid question, as I didn't really observed much in SP3, but is the Space Police (Human) minifig, different from the ones that were released in 2009?

Thanks for sharing this wonderful review with us!

Just a stupid question, as I didn't really observed much in SP3, but is the Space Police (Human) minifig, different from the ones that were released in 2009?

Only the helmet, and that that head print was not used for a Space Police figure before, I believe.

I wonder what VPR stands for... I always think Viper or something.

I had the same thought.

I suspect this set is TLC's answer to all the "Vic Viper" space fighter contests going on at classic-space a while back.

I has the characteristic split nose.

Indeed, you are correct about the inspiration. Read about the designer's thoughts here. I found this through The Brothers Brick today.

Nice review, I like the in-build pictures very much.

And this is such a cool set, I`ll probably get this as my first real SP3 set, so far I only have the Impulses.

I also thought of this looking like a Vic Viper when you remarked it looked like a Jedi Interceptor, like: "JSF[Jedi Star Fighter]? maybe... hang on, forward prongs, two wings, fin on the back... that`s a Viper!"

Nice review Clone O'Patra

This is a nice set and you just might have changed my mind to get it.

It's nice and cheap and comes with a cool new green alien.

Also the parts aren't that bad.

Nice review!

CommanderFox

Edited December 3, 200915 yr by CommanderFox

Great review of a great set!

Only one thing I wonder--could Rench possibly be a female? Kranxx's mother, perhaps? I say this based on a police log entry that comes up on the SP3 site:

"Tuesday, November 17:

Space monster baiting, 14:45 d.m., Pan-Galactic Cosmo-Zoo. Followed up on a report of a disturbance at the Supernova-Worm pen. Kranxx was trying to break through the containment nega-field. Said he thought it was his mother. That's crazy; everybody knows his mother is green, not purple."

I doubt it . . . but still.

Nice review Clone O'Patra! I may have to look into the Reviewer's Academy...

The set itself is great. The minifigs are awesome and that helmet is

However, I have one problem.

The kid on the Nielsen advert. Why is he yelling? He look's like he's throwing a tantrum, not promoting Lego sets.

Not a good message for kids. "Throw a tantrum and you get Lego!"

Other then that, the set is awesome. Too bad we have to wait to get it in the UK.

Ben Kenobi

wow, if you compare this set to the old space police sets it looks so much better. :cry_happy: . the commando would look better with a black visor.