Bring back Alien Conquest!

[ritzcrackerman]

I got a little wistful just now looking at some of the prototype drawings and interviews / Flickr comments from Mark Stafford.

I miss this theme so much. There was so much potential.

With Agents being reborn for the summer 2014 wave - is there any possibility that Alien Conquest could make a comeback?

[WaysofSorting]

I agree with you - I think it was a great concept and could/should definitely be revisited. Videogames saw a nice revival of XCom, an alien themed strategy game (along with 1950's spin-off). The original TOPPS Attack From Mars products are having their own revival this year - I'd really like to see some more ADF versus the brainy alien overlords some time soon.

Can you link to the Flickr gallery you're referring to? Is that in a recent thread?

[TheBrickPal]

It's highly unlikely that this will happen. Unless Alien Conquest pulls a Space Police on us, LEGO is just going to continue coming out with a new space theme, then discontinue it, and then replace it with a similar, yet different space theme. It's the circle of bricks!

[ritzcrackerman]

Can you link to the Flickr gallery you're referring to? Is that in a recent thread?

Look at Mark Stafford's flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nabii/ You can also search for "Alien Conquest prototypes" and find some cool stuff.

There was a specific quote, which I'm struggling to find. Something where he acknowledged it "was the best work" he'd done (And I agree). It may have been a Reddit discussion, but I'm blanking out at the moment.

[Si-MOCs]

I agree, I really loved the Alien Conquest sets .... fantastic line - not that Galaxy Squad isn't bad - but AC was a real awesome theme while it lasted

[Lyichir]

Alien Conquest was an excellent theme, but I don't think it should be brought back, either as the same theme or as a different theme, for a few more years. There are plenty of other Lego space concepts to explore, and Alien Conquest was a fairly solid theme even without a second year. So give it a few more years, until the current Alien Conquest sets are long gone from stores and enough new parts and building techniques have been introduced to justify revisiting the theme, before returning to the "alien invasion" concept.

As a point of comparison, look at the Agents theme. It had a marvelously comprehensive first year, but when it continued for a second year it stumbled because the best ideas had largely been used and it was hard to escalate the stakes the second year without largely making the theme a parody of itself. But now, this year, they're returning to the "secret agent" concept with Ultra Agents, which is free to revisit the ideas of the previous Agents theme without it seeming like repeats to consumers, and with a few years' worth of new part designs and concepts.

[DPrime]

Well, I'll say this - Alien Conquest NEARLY brought me out of my second dark age. I guess that's not the greatest endorsement, but it looked a lot more appealing than most sci-fi series Lego puts out.

What I really want to see is Classic Space come back, but I wouldn't mind seeing the Alien Conquest theme again either... maybe they could even mash the two together. :)

[TheRedGuy]

And while we're at it, they should bring back GS too!

...Anyone?

[jodawill]

I love Alien Conquest. It's one of my favorite space themes ever. But I'd be really surprised if we ever saw it come back. It's not really a classic theme. But I wouldn't have expected Agents to come back either.

[Bricknblue]

My favorite space theme ever but if they canceled the second wave of the theme they aren't ever going to bring it back unless it's just the same basic idea / same name but completely different looking. Kind of like the last Space Police series had nothing to do with the past ones besides the name.

[Ardelon]

Not sure how I would feel about this. The aliens looked wonderfully campy, but the humans didnt have any actual space vehicles (though I guess most of them could be used on another planet than Earth). Personally, I'd prefer a return of Ice Planet.

[obsidianheart]

I just want those Azure HazMat Suits.

[Freddy Bricker]

Can we put this in General and change the thread name? I think there are a lot of themes that should come back, and just last year Agents was one of them. But no, Alien Conquest was a one hit wonder in my opinion, it was great, it had so much potential, but I think the characters should be pushed to another theme as a "continuation" of Alien Conquest, be it on Earth or not.

[iamwhoiam]

I did love AC and it had some great MOC potential but GS is very similar.

[Hey Joe]

Hey! I loved this theme, but seriously; what more could they do with it that would SELL? It's a pity, everyone (except me) is so fixated on licensed stuff that quality stuff like this is shunted off to the side. The discount aisle at my local Wal-Mart is full of Castle and GS sets, I scored some great stuff!

Anyway, in this upside-down value system what we need is an Alien Conquest movie! The sets will follow naturally. 'Nuff said.

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

Not sure how I would feel about this. The aliens looked wonderfully campy, but the humans didnt have any actual space vehicles (though I guess most of them could be used on another planet than Earth). Personally, I'd prefer a return of Ice Planet.

The return of any civilian or scientist Space theme would be marvelous. LEGO has shown themselves willing to do similar rehashes of old conflict-free themes with this year's upcoming Arctic theme; I can only hope they do the same with a Space theme also. Futuron, Exploriens, Ice Planet, Classic Space, anything based on those themes would be a refreshing retreat from the "Aliens vs Humans" themes we've been seeing for the last 10 years or so. I don't mean to call any of those themes bad; the Space sets we've seen over the last few years have all been very well-designed, with Galaxy Squad and Mars Mission being some of my favorites. It's just that their "Aliens vs Humans" premises all seem worn.

Edited March 4, 2014 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[Faefrost]

I think much of GS was built on the plans for AC wave 2. Didn't someone say AC wave 2 was the humans taking the fight out to the Aliens? Some of the concept art had a similar feel to some of the GS sets with drop ships and tanks and mechs.

Honestly I think we would see SPIV before we see a new AC.

[gunm]

It seems like we are in the minority of folks really digging what came out with Alien Conquest. I really loved the theme and the sets were, ahem, out of this world! ^_^

I think Galaxy Squad is great too though, and it seems to have continued where AC left off. I dunno why the Sci Fi sets don't last as long as the other stuff. Odd that Ninjago just goes more and more into outlandish sci fi territory while the actual Sci Fi stuff gets tagged with the one and done treatment. :(

That reminds me, I need to grab the GS Titan before it disappears forever....

[Samiens]

Having just got back into Space sets, I have to say I like the ADU figures and the alien vehicles but the bulk of the ADU vehicle sets don't excite me.

GS, on the other hand, got me straight back into sci-fi stuff after licensed sets brought me out of the dark ages.

Any kind of continuation of space marine types v aliens (or even better... Blacktrons...) would do for me