New Parts
- Bar 1 x 8 x 2
- Panel 3 x 2 x 6
- Panel 3 x 3 x 6 Corner Convex
- Panel 4 x 4 x 6 Corner Concave
Lunar Transporter Patroller (6770)
Features: Articulated truck with flashing lights and siren sounds powered by the big 9V battery box in the rear. Came with one astronaut.
Thoughts: OK, but not great.
Twin-Winged Spoiler (6828)
Features: Small craft with a single astronaut.
Thoughts: Is it a walker or a flyer? Either way this small Futuron set came with plenty of cool parts.
Space Patroller (6830)
Features: Small swing-wing space plane with boosters that double as twin robot companions!
Thoughts: The detachable robots are neat. The new panel piece forms the ship’s windscreen.
Strategic Pursuer (6848)
Features: Single pilot mecha with a transparent blue windscreen.
Thoughts: Primitive mech with arms jointed only at the elbows and legs only at the ankles. Still, it looked cool.
Hovercraft (6875)
Features: Single pilot spacecraft with two deployable satellites/drones.
Thoughts: Two of the new panels in transparent blue form a wider windscreen than in Space Patroller (6830).
Alienator (6876)
Features: Menacing walker with tool storage in the rear and detachable cockpit.
Thoughts: I really like the looks of this model. The new panel piece in transparent yellow forms the windscreen. It seems like the rear cargo area could have held more than just a pair of tools…
Crater Crawler (6885)
Features: Articulated vehicle hauling a small scooter and a robot in the trailer.
Thoughts: First black-suited Futuron astronaut. A pair of the new convex corner parts in transparent blue form the cover on the trailer while a pair of the new concave corner parts in white form the wheel arches.
Interplanetary Rover (6925)
Features: Articulated vehicle with independent suspension, a small scooter stored in the rear, two robots, and two astronauts.
Thoughts: Feels like a rehash of the Uranium Search Vehicle (6928) from 1984. I do like the headlights and the robots look like they could work for Blacktron.
Message Intercept Base (6987)
Features: Large Blacktron base features opening hangar doors, moving comm dome, spaceship, rover, and five astronauts.
Thoughts: My vote for best space base ever. All three types of new panel pieces are used in this base, especially to form the S-shaped corridor. Like the Futuron Monorail Transport System (6990), this base has two moving functions. I love all the little details in this set.
The opening wall function (courtesy of a Technic rack winder) is similar to that of Cosmic Laser Launcher (6953) from 1987.
The moving dome function is also implemented by a Technic rack winder.
This set is so good I ended up with 3 copies of it!
Wrap-Up
So that’s the 9 LEGO Space sets from 1988 (7 Futuron + 2 Blacktron).
Futuron had a decent second year with these 7 sets. Nothing stands out like the previous year’s monorail, but it’s nice to see more smaller sets in the theme.
Blacktron only had the 2 sets in 1988 (shown above together with the 3 sets from 1987), but both were excellent.
If only there was someone or something to combat the spread of this Blacktron plague! (Hint: stay tuned for Space 1989)
