Tag: LEGO Space Project

These were the first Space sets introduced since the initial wave. From here on out I find it interesting to examine how the set designs changed and consider how much might be the availability of new parts and/or existing parts in new colors and how much might just be changing aesthetics or a market demand to try something new.

New Parts

There were so many new parts and new prints crafted especially for the LEGO Space theme that I didn’t bother going into them. They were the parts that enabled the Space theme to exist. But now I’d like to look at some of the parts that are new (or new to the Space theme) in each year’s sets.

• Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical: Great for holding accessories and building storage racks
• Brick, Modified 1 x 1 with Headlight: Useful for SNOT (Studs Not On Top) building, aka sideways building.
• Bar 1 x 4 x 2 with Studs: Railings, etc
• Arm Holder and Arm Pieces: These were originally maxi-figure shoulders and arms from the mid-70’s. Here colored in gray and used as articulated mechanical arms.
• Slope, Inverted 33 3 x 2 Hollow with Towball (Scoop): shovel scoop for use with the arm pieces.

 

Shovel Buggy (6821)

Features: Small vehicle with articulated shovel, printed computer slope, white astronaut, and a walkie-talkie (held in place with the new clip piece).

Thoughts: I’m a sucker for sets with construction/loading functionality. Love the shovel piece with articulated arm. There are many good pieces packed into this small set.

 

Mineral Detector (6841)

Features: Small sturdy vehicle with twin ground-scanning radar dishes mounted on moving arms, driven by a red astronaut with a walkie-talkie.

Thoughts: Kind of goofy with the big blocky swinging arms but I like it. Perfect companion to the Shovel Buggy. The new bar piece provides a back roll bar detail, and again the new clip piece is used to hold an accessory.

 

X1 Patrol Craft (6861)

Features: Small open fighter with twin engines, lasers, and transparent green windscreen piloted by a red astronaut.

Thoughts: One of the finest small fighters. This thing felt like it was all engines. First appearance of a transparent green window brick. Up to this point all windows had been transparent yellow. I have fond memories of crashing this ship to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.”

 

Mobile Lab (6901)

Features: Elevated vehicle with opening side doors, radar, articulated arm that could hold either a sensor array or a shovel with two astronauts and a pair of accessories.

Thoughts: Look at all those green windows! 💚 I imagined these rolling across lunar landscapes like so many alien elephants. In reality this set is kind of mediocre. There’s nothing inside the vehicle (other than a steering wheel) to make it a lab. It can’t fit both the second astronaut and the sensor array at the same time. It looks a bit ridiculous with those 12 tiny wheels. It’s mostly enclosed but then leaves that awkward gap above the windscreen. But I love it anyway. It gets an A for effort. I think the part selection just wasn’t there yet. (Shout out to the headlight brick on each side used to sideways mount transparent red 1 x 1 plates.)

 

Beta I Command Base (6970)

Features: Open front base spread over two crater plates, launcher with spaceship, small rover, monorail with sled, radar dishes and antennas for communications, and four astronauts.

Thoughts: The quintessential space base set: base, spaceship + launcher, and a rover. (This formula will be repeated with variations several times.) It even boasts a tiny monorail for the long trek between the base and the launcher. So technically this is the first space monorail (more on those later). I also had this set as a child. The spaceship design is reminiscent of the X1 Patrol Craft but wider and with a different color scheme and no tail. The 1 x 6 x 5 display brick inside the base on the left shows the Alpha-1 Rocket Base (483) and repeats the “LL2079” numeric code seen within the Command Center (493). I believe this was the final set to feature a vehicle with the iconic gray air tanks mounted on the front.

 

Wrap-Up

Just five sets in this second wave. I owned two of these sets, but these were the last LEGO Space sets I had as a child. Everything from this point on will be 100% new to me.

Next stop: Space 1981

This was the year when the full initial wave of LEGO Space sets was released worldwide. As a child I had at least 3 of these sets.

 

Space Shuttle (442)

Small two-seater open ship.

Features: Single white astronaut, room for 2, dual steering wheels, jets, positioning thrusters, computer, laser gun, and antenna.

Thoughts: Simple, swooshable. I had this set as a child.


 

Mobile Ground Tracking Station (452)

Features: White astronaut, doors in back swing open to reveal a computer terminal, rotating sensor array, and trailer with radar dish,

Thoughts: Another of my childhood sets. I 💛 mobile lab sets – something about the intersection of exploration and science. The use of hinge bricks plus tile to create the moving doors made a big impression on me.

Errata: The 2 clear dishes up top should be transparent clear minifig shields, but they’re quite expensive so I did without.

 

Galaxy Explorer (497)

LL928: Flagship of Classic Space: largest of 3 early enclosed spaceships.

Features: Large ship with opening cockpit and rear compartment, rover, small base with radar dish, four astronauts, landing plate and a crater plate.

Thoughts: This thing had it all. 🚀 One of my favorite sets as a child – I could build it again and again. I believe this was the only ship to come with 2 base plates. Really just one of a few sets ever to come with 2 base plates. Also maybe the only ship to come with a small base (future ships came with deployable rear modules that could be considered bases).

 

Space Scooter (885)

Small flying wedge

Features: Transparent dark blue round bricks stuck in a fence for engines, red astronaut, antenna, and a slope printed with the Classic Space logo.

Thoughts: One of the smallest Classic Space sets. Maybe too simple.

 

Space Buggy (886)

Space Jeep!

Features: A small rover with antenna, astronaut, and a laser gun

Thoughts: The other smallest Classic Space set. . That gun was my favorite piece! This vehicle appeared in almost the same form in the Galaxy Explorer (497) and Beta-I Command Base (6970).

 

Radar Truck (889)

Features: Small truck with movable radar dish and a red astronaut.

Thoughts: Not particularly exciting, but a solid little vehicle. Bonus points for the laser gun.

 

One Man Space Ship (918)

LL918: Little brother to the Galaxy Explorer. Smallest of 3 fully enclosed early spaceships.

Features: Red astronaut, opening cockpit, storage in the rear.

Thoughts: This was about as small a ship as you could make in 1979 and yet be fully enclosed. Unlike its two larger siblings, the rear does not split open on hinge bricks. The printed control piece was originally used as oven dials! Despite its small size it still merited its own pair of printed model number bricks, the last space set to do so.

Wrap-Up

These seven sets together with the four sets from 1978 compose the initial wave of LEGO Space sets. (I’m not counting minifigure packs nor base plate packs. I’m also excluding duplicates where the same set was released under different numbers.)

Next up: Space 1980!

This was the debut year for LEGO Space. According to Brickset there were 4 sets released in North America in late 1978. I’m fairly certain that I received the Alpha-1 Rocket Base for Christmas 1978, so that seems about right to me. On to the sets!

 

Mobile Rocket Launcher (462)

Features: Two astronauts, vehicle, trailer, rocket, computer console, and a radar dish for tracking.

Thoughts: Simple yet functional. LEGO would iterate on the mobile rocket launcher concept several times. This first rocket was fragile and couldn’t even be removed from the launcher without taking it apart (unless you flew it with the gray bracket in the middle).

 

Alpha-1 Rocket Base (483)

My first LEGO Space set!

Features: Rocket, movable gantry, fuel truck, control center with upper and lower computer banks, radar for tracking, and three astronauts on a crater plate.

Thoughts: 💙💛 The fueling station is a nice touch as are the hoses on the fuel truck. The hardest parts for me to acquire were the hoses and the blue taps.

That radar array looks pretty awesome in profile. It could easily be a weapons emplacement.

Unlike the Mobile Rocket Launcher, this rocket at least could be launched without disassembly, but it was still quite fragile. It was also pretty wobbly in its base and prone to being knocked over.

 

Space Cruiser (487)

LL924: Mid-sized enclosed spaceship.

Features: Two astronauts, landing pad, forklift, and spaceship with movable cockpit roof, cargo doors in rear to access a storage area that fits a small crate, and seating for two.

Thoughts: I 💙 the forklift and crate! This might be one of the smaller sets to include a landing plate. I wish more sets included baseplates. I appreciate that the first three enclosed space ships each contained a pair of bricks printed with the model number (LL924) – that’s another thing LEGO doesn’t do any more.

Errata: The forklift piece is supposed to be all light gray not gray and black. The correct piece is hard to source and too expensive.

Moveable roof and seating for two

Small crate (using a car door piece from LEGO Town sets)

 

Command Center (493)

The first space base. The earliest versions shipped with a brick-built crater because the crater plates weren’t yet ready.

Features: Open floor plan, two ground vehicles, four astronauts, radar dishes, tv antennas, and lots of yellow windows all on an iconic crater plate.

Thoughts: LL2079! I assume that this means LEGO Space is set in the year 2079, which would suggest that 1979 was their targeted launch year.

LL2079 and a space scene on this large printed brick. The astronauts had to take off their packs to sit in the chairs, but at least the chairs provide built-in storage!

Wrap-up

That’s it for the initial wave of sets from 1978. Really, I consider the 1978-1979 sets to all belong to a single wave – these just happened to ship a bit earlier in the U.S.A.

Next up: Space 1979. Onward to the future!