On 5/29/2011 at 4:10 AM, prateek said:

I think this line needs more ADU vehicles/a base. Right now its too centred on the aliens. And new alien heads would be nice too.

I like the idea of a base, but I think vehicle wise, they're pretty even. For example,

7050 Alien Defender small ADU vehicle--small alien vehicle

7067 Jet-Copter Encounter big ADU vehicle--1(or 2 small) decent sized alien vehicle

7065 Alien Mothership--7066 Earth Defense HQ

Although, there's still leaves both 7051 Tripod Invader and 7052 UFO Abduction. So, the scales do tip towards the alien side more than I thought.

Chances are that Wave 2 will see the humans "fight back" and get more stuff.

Has anyone taken the Alien IQ test on LEGO.com? Some of the questions are kinda tricky, but in general it's pretty humorous. Whack-An-Alien is hard, though. Haven't tried the other game yet.

EDIT: Tried all three games and finally got three stars in each. Whack-An-Alien was easy compared to the shooting game.

Edited May 29, 201113 yr by Aanchir

  On 5/29/2011 at 3:05 PM, Aanchir said:

Has anyone taken the Alien IQ test on LEGO.com? Some of the questions are kinda tricky, but in general it's pretty humorous. Whack-An-Alien is hard, though. Haven't tried the other game yet.

I have.You are right aanchir, it took four tries to defeat the alien android,and one of the question's was rigged,(click on the alien)to answer that one click on the word.whack-an-alien was impossible for me,and the other game is alright,but it's impossible to hit all 40 ufos due to slow missile recharge rate.

  On 5/29/2011 at 3:22 PM, krystalKING said:

I have.You are right aanchir, it took four tries to defeat the alien android,and one of the question's was rigged,(click on the alien)to answer that one click on the word.whack-an-alien was impossible for me,and the other game is alright,but it's impossible to hit all 40 ufos due to slow missile recharge rate.

I wouldn't say getting 100% on the shooting game is impossible, but you'd have to be both fast and extremely lucky. I think all you need is 90% to get all three stars. The way to get that many is to try and make sure whenever possible you hit two saucers at once-- even if it means letting a saucer make it nearly to the edge of the screen before shooting it. It took me many tries to get all three stars.

yes you just need 90% (36/40) to get three stars..I am having trouble with the whack-a-alien one

It looks like there will be a game called "Alien Conquest" in June

  On 5/29/2011 at 5:20 PM, ceroknight said:

yes you just need 90% (36/40) to get three stars..I am having trouble with the whack-a-alien one

It looks like there will be a game called "Alien Conquest" in June

I saw a picture of that game somewhere and it looks like a first person shooter.

Anyone else have problems with the front grille of the HQ falling off at the slightest touch? How did you remedy it?

  On 5/30/2011 at 3:32 AM, Legocrazy81 said:

Anyone else have problems with the front grille of the HQ falling off at the slightest touch? How did you remedy it?

Not me. However the things that fold out in the rear section - the left one is fine, but the right one comes off EVERY TIME I fold it in or out.

I got it now. For some reason, I didn't notice the bottom yellow 1x4 brick with the studs on front down there . It's now on there nice and firm. But, I don't, however, have a problem with the rear side hatches.

  On 5/30/2011 at 4:31 PM, Legocrazy81 said:

I got it now. For some reason, I didn't notice the bottom yellow 1x4 brick with the studs on front down there . It's now on there nice and firm. But, I don't, however, have a problem with the rear side hatches.

I thought that may be it. Ironically last night I folded out the right aerial dish thing and it didn't come off. I didn't want to try the left side this time...

The last 3 (smallest) sets arrived yesterday, so I now have all 7 built. As soon as I get time I'll take snaps of them all together (without stickers) then I'll put the stickers on (grrrrrrr) and snap them again.

I have to say, the Tripod set has the most more interesting/notable parts of the 7 sets. But I don't understand a comment I read earlier about its legs not articulating at all. Mine do...

...one appeared over Big Ben...

I have a question for anyone who might own the recently released Battlepack.

I understand that the figures are made at a different facility to the minifgures that appear in the regular sets in the theme.

This means that they feel slightly different to regular minifgures, or so what a review has told me. Now I'm not bothered about them being about the same quality as Collectible Minifigures, but there's one thing I want to know.

Some of you may have noticed that the Collectible Minifigures seem to have a looser grip on accessories than minifigures we tend to get in regular building sets - items placed in their hands tend to fall out easily, or seem to "spring" out of their hands, probably due to slightly differing properties of the two different plastics I'm not sure if I'm being very clear about that, apologies.

Since these battlepack figures seem to be made from the Collectible Minifgure series plastic rather than regular minifgure plastic, I assume that the hands are the same too, and thus don't grip accessories as well. Can anyone confirm this?

P.S - I'm trying not to make this post seem biased in any way towards regular minifgures. In my opinion, the difference in quality between figures from the core line of sets and extended lines like battle packs and the collectible figures is mostly negligible, save for the minor issue I have with the hands.

Anyone here collecting an army? My minifigs/sets are 99% castle or castle passable such as NinjaGo, Prince of Persia and Pirates.

t Not sure if I want to diverge my lego budget into sci fi minifigures, but the alien troopers and alien defense unit soldiers look pretty cool.. Although I could use the alien troopers as monsters. The cheapest and most suitable sets for army building would be the Alien Striker, Alien Defender, and Alien Conquest Battle pack (If only they made one for each side, then I could just get the aliens to use as monsters).

I might get the Defendr just for the figs and to mod it...

  On 6/1/2011 at 1:46 AM, lego40k said:

Anyone here collecting an army? My minifigs/sets are 99% castle or castle passable such as NinjaGo, Prince of Persia and Pirates.

t Not sure if I want to diverge my lego budget into sci fi minifigures, but the alien troopers and alien defense unit soldiers look pretty cool.. Although I could use the alien troopers as monsters. The cheapest and most suitable sets for army building would be the Alien Striker, Alien Defender, and Alien Conquest Battle pack (If only they made one for each side, then I could just get the aliens to use as monsters).

I would LOVE too but, like you, I don't have the money. I will try to get every set from the line though.

  On 6/1/2011 at 12:16 PM, Masked Builder said:

I would LOVE too but, like you, I don't have the money. I will try to get every set from the line though.

I just like the soldiers. I have the money, it just means less money for kingdoms lion and dragon knights, and ninjago ninjas and skeletons. I don't want to get the other sets because I wouldn't have anywhere to put those big sets. plus the special minifigures do not interest me that much. I think I might just get a couple of strikers and defenders and settle with a small army.

Dunjohn just linked me to this fantastic interview with Mark Stafford about Alien Conquest. Looking at the mothership's sketch model, it did seem more formidable in the prototype stage, but it still didn't seem to have the ability to link up with smaller craft that people expect of a mothership. Interestingly, its added bulk hardly comes from the inner disk being larger (even though it is four studs larger in diameter)-- rather, the "struts" connecting the inner disk and the outer ring are thicker, using the classic Space Shuttle body piece. I guess the reason this wasn't done in the final set was a combination of cost constraints and the desire to incorporate the "spinning" feature, which seems to be absent from the sketch model.

Another preliminary model shown is of the Mobile Command Center. This is cool, but not nearly as cool as the final set. One thing that's interesting is the logo, which is a variation on the Classic Space logo. However, I do not like this preliminary logo as it is hard to decipher and doesn't have the same charm as the classic Space logo or the "near-Earth" Space logo used in the City theme.

The sketch model for UFO Abduction is also shown, demonstrating how the function of the set was the first thing developed and the "retro" design was only applied later. I definitely prefer the final model to this more rugged-looking concept, but in a more serious theme with an atmosphere like that of Mars Mission, a concept like this could be made to fit in very well.

I love that the jetcopter barely changes. You really can't improve on perfection, huh?

This is way better than the final version! I have when they dumb down the final sets, just like they did for most of SPIII

  On 6/2/2011 at 9:33 PM, prateek said:

This is way better than the final version! I have when they dumb down the final sets, just like they did for most of SPIII

I've made my peace with the the realities that designers face.

I can see why the changes were made. The mechanism used to turn on the light brick requires pressing down on the dome. That would scratch the dome and put stress upon the dome's hinge. This makes using the light brick while abducting helpless people awkward. The dome itself doesn't sit flush with the body of the UFO and is kept in place with those pieces attached to the 1x1 plates with clip. The big curved macaroni slopes had to go so that a better mechanism could be used to trigger the light brick and have the dome sit flush upon the body of the UFO. This in turn also gave the UFO more stability so that it is swooshable. The numerous transparent 2x2 round dishes on the bottom would constantly fall off every time you wanted to play with the abduction feature. The lightsaber handles and round dishes on the antennae just made the antennae prone to falling off during play.

Edited June 2, 201113 yr by Arigomi

I see what you mean, but I think they could've kept the curved pieces (since they are essentially the ones that are on the final model, with just curves on the end) and handle bars as details (instead of the 1x1 purple studs), but other than that, the current model suffices.

  On 6/2/2011 at 9:33 PM, prateek said:

This is way better than the final version! I have when they dumb down the final sets, just like they did for most of SPIII

I think that there's a difference between "dumbing down" and "streamlining". A lot of sketch models, like many of the SPIII ones, were way too complex for their own good, and frankly looking good isn't the only component of a quality design. A certain amount of simplicity makes a design more refined-looking, as well as often sturdier and more "swooshable" (something even AFOLs tend to value).

In the case of that UFO Abduction sketch model, it is indeed a nice and fairly streamlined design, but at the same time, as pointed out by Arigomi, it has a number of flaws that probably influenced the changes that took place between it and the final model. Meanwhile, the final set also has aesthetic improvements-- the saucer is flatter and more saucer-shaped, there are fewer unused studs on the top of the model, and-- most importantly-- there's actually space for a passenger in the final version.

While I wouldn't have minded some of the features of the sketch model-- for instance, the bulgy Slave 1 parts could have taken the place of the new quarter-circle slopes and the 4x4 macaronis in fewer pieces and with a more unified feeling-- overall I think the final version is more appropriate for store shelves than the sketch model.

I am mad. That mothership is amazingly cute. I would understand some modifications from prototype to final , but the changes are so extreme with the mothership. The original design was just made of win. The final one is just large. I mean, it has a complete different "spirit" in the design.

I am also disappointed in that I really like the color scheme of the original ADU Jetcopter better than the final color scheme. Stone somehow makes the Jet copter look more technological and militaristic to me for some strange reason.

Edited June 3, 201113 yr by vexorian

While I agree that the prototype designs are pretty eye-catching in general, I have to say that I think the designers did a terrific job of rounding out all of those sketch models into a coherent LEGO theme while retaining most of the best design elements of the prototypes. I don't think they did that with SPIII quite as well (and I liked SPIII). I actually think some of the models improved with the final version. Kudos to the designers there.