Subject:
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4x2ReVu: 6520 Mobile Outpost
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.reviews, lugnet.town
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Date:
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Fri, 14 Jan 2000 15:51:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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1904 times
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Crossposted to Town, I hope this is okay.
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"It's the blizzard…you'll never outrun it." and then only static emitted from
the radio.
Kyle can see nothing outside the transport windows and knows he'll never make
it back to the base in time Resigning himself to the only chance of surviving
the storm, he grabs the last few chocolate bars on the dashboard, places his
goggles on and fastens his hood. As he exits the tractor cab snow blows
furiously around him and he works his way toward the back of the vehicle by
touch alone. Upon reaching the trailer hitch, he continues clutching and
grabbing at the tow chain until he reaches the mobile lab. Polar winds almost
pull him away more than once but at last he reaches the laboratory door and
quickly ducks inside. Once inside the tiny haven, he seals the door shut.
Dome lights flicker and come alive to his touch as he looks around the cozy
room that will be his cocoon until the storm subsides or help arrives.
The Arctic sets had a lot to attract me: new treads, minifig hoods, a polar
bear figure and the adventurous feel of a new sub-theme. I picked the Mobile
Outpost for my first taste and after purchasing it, I think it's a perfect
"first" set to determine if one should pursue the rest of this new sub-theme.
The set is quite an ensemble, featuring two vehicles and the mobile lab. The
first of the vehicles is an orange, one-man, snowmobile-type sled. There's
room for the driver and two clips in the back for tools (along with headlights
for realism). The second vehicle is a large, treaded tractor in orange and
black. There's an all enclosed cab up front with a fliptop roof to get the
figure in and out, and open cargo space in the back for two brown 3x4 crates.
The tractor is further outfitted with a winch at the front and a trailer hitch
in back. Personally, I would have liked one more wheel on each side of the
vehicle (three wheels inside the treads looks too wimpy) but the tractor still
looks good. The last item here is a miniature laboratory/shack built on skis
that can be pulled by the tractor. Interior space of the lab measures about
6x10x5. It's filled with a couple of control panels plus places to hang
accessories. The lab is hinged on one end so that it opens to show two equal
halves. On the outside of the lab are more places to put tools/gear plus some
sort of radar dish that is mounted on the top. One more peeve here is that
there is no doorway into the lab except to crack it open (a little hinged door
for the minifigs would have been really cool).
The set comes with the aforementioned polar bear (only the head moves up and
down like horse figures) and two explorers: one has a green suit, the other has
a blue suit. The figures can wear casual caps in their respective suit colors
or they can be outfitted with new hood elements (green or black). Like the
Adventurer sets, there are LOTS of accessories: communicator, sweeper, two pair
of new snowshoe elements, binoculars, jackhammer, large circular saw, two new
backpack elements, a handpick and a shovel.
A few new or unique pieces include blue antenna-with-flag elements (these
aren't new but I haven't seen them for a long time), one-piece 6x12 ski bases,
the already-mentioned figure accessories and new blue 3x6x6 wall elements used
for the lab. Stickers are provided for the decorated parts.
One interesting thing I found about this set was that the last few pages of the
instructions show real-life pictures of polar expeditions: polar bears squaring
off, a dogsled camp, a ship stuck in the ice and a tractor stuck over a chasm.
Great stuff, and the kind of thing to spark a child's imagination or maybe even
get them to pick up a National Geographic.
Playability is the strong point of this set. It costs a moderate $30 (moderate
at least in terms of Lego, I almost expected to have to pay $40 or $50 for the
set) but the set provides for some great possibilities and may even attract
some new fans to Lego. If I were to rate this set on playability alone I would
probably give it six or seven studs. However, my interest is also in the
acquirement of sets for constructive purposes and so I can only give it a
just-above-average five studs rating. The tractor was the only model that
really required any assembly and the lab was thrown together in very few
minutes. Inspiring young minds to the aspects of exploration is admirable but
the Lego Group is ever so slightly showing that it is losing its focus as a
construction toy manufacturer.
!!!4x2ReVu Stats!!!
Rating: Five out of eight studs.
Thumbs up for: Neat standalone set with fun vehicles at a good price.
Thumbs down on: Good building elements are slowly disappearing. Sets like this
are starting to look more like an action figure set and less like a
construction toy.
Wallet-Wise: $30.00 suggested U.S. retail for 216 pieces.
Date: 1/3/2000
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: 4x2ReVu: 6520 Mobile Outpost
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| Joseph Gonzalez <hsadm2.jgonzale@ema...ate.ut.us> wrote in message news:FoC1D7.HME@lugnet.com... (...) <review snipped> My set had 2 pieces in it that were the wrong colour. The 2 2x1 plates with horizontal bar that are used at the top of the tall (...) (24 years ago, 17-Jan-00, to lugnet.reviews, lugnet.town)
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