Subject:
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6776 Ogel Control Center Set Review
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.reviews
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Date:
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Sun, 4 Mar 2001 07:51:05 GMT
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Viewed:
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2883 times
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6776 Ogel Control Center Set Reviewed
Overall comments in brief:
Great set! 8 of 10, I had to mark it down a tad because of juniorization
and some design flaws (Hey, stop leading me by the nose with these
instructions unless the instructions make some sense). And please, FOR THE
LOVE OF GOD!, stop with the trans-antifreeze, and trans-orange!!! At $54
USD with tax, it came to around $0.13 a brick -- not bad for a new set!
Cool elements in brief:
1 newly in black 6x8x1 faceted hood section
4 2x4x3 trans-red faceted/curved thin walls (like in UFO, except there it
was trans-antifreeze)
1 2x2 hinged door as for a mailbox element
3 2x2 trans-antifreeze bell jars
6 2x2 trans-orange slopes
1 black 4x4x6 curved wall (an element that doesn't really have an analogue
otherwise)
2 1x6x5 black slopes (an element that doesn't really have an analogue otherwise)
1 2x6x6 arctic style wall in red and tran-red insert window
3 angled space style stanchions
2 1x2 black click hinge elements, male or one finger end
2 1x2 red click hinge elements, female or two finger end
2 red opaque octogonal windscreen (as from classic castle!!!)
1 2x2 red click hinge element, male or one finger end (a new element?)
1 4x4 red radar dish
**Lots of nice black stuff, even if most of it is somewhat in the way of
juniorized elements -- and I think whether these are juniorized or
interesting new elements in black is a really tough call
**Lots of misc. dark grey stuff, including 4 1x1 bricks and 5 2x2 L-shape
bricks which I don't think I have seen before.
Gripes in Brief:
Set design is a little to *open* -- there are no interesting enclosed interiors.
Ogel has got to be one of the worst names for a villain ever. I said,
"Ogel's Control Center." She said, "What is he, a sex pervert?" And has
anyone else noticed Ogel's striking resemblance to Mega Bloks own astronaut
figure from a recent set?
The packaging is on line with the more obsessive *junior* packaging style.
The instructions are frankly too long, I would have hoped for something much
more succinct -- and they can skip the terrible comics in the back for my
money. How about some alternative models instead, eh?
I began with the flying ship. When you open the bags you are struck by the
absence of juniorized elements of this package. In fact, at a glance, I
don't think I see even a new element design in here! Which to my mind is
all the better.
Ogel is a solid black figure with the exception of his visor and head (which
I like). The visor is gold and I happen to think it might have been much
cooler in trans-black, or even trans-red (both of which would have made more
sense considering the color scheme of the set!). As it is he wears a regular
cycle helmet, so there are many modular improvement options from one's own
collection of visors.
The zombie minions are pretty cool. Like the Dragon Masters from castle,
they have legs of different colors (red and black), and the consequently
have a slight "jester" like appearance. Pirate fans will like the red
epaulettes while customizers will enjoy another source of red mini hands.
The torsos could probably be used with any of the Lego fantasy themes, and
would probably even fit in with the town and train themes.
The cockpit segment is well designed, with the exception of the open-air
design which will annoy some. Otherwise it feels like late 80s space. The
second stage of the ship is less well designed. I certainly object to these
1x2 bricks with pins when we could just have some Technic bricks and pins in
their place -- this is just stupid! Otherwise, I like the idea of this part
of the ship -- it is a chamber holding zombie head cannisters that Ogel can
drop from the ship through a trap door. I presume the cannisters burst upon
landing and infect the local population, thus making them Ogel zombies! The
engine stage has what I guess are elements of other colors there in order
that the instructions might be easier to follow. Still, some of the
elements would have been better if they had followed the established color
scheme of the set rather than being in this case blue. The manner in which
the cone engines attach is somewhat sketchy -- you place 2x2 round plates on
top of the engines, and then modified 2x2 tiles (having a perpendicular and
center placed technic pin) on top of those, then all three attach to the
back of the vehicle. The worst problem is that the top engine spins freely
which actually doesn't look so good. When completed, the craft wobbles a
little bit because of a somewhat poorly designed trap-door mechanism. And
there is no landing gear of any kind -- and I have to feel those are real
shortcomings despite being a nice design otherwise. ::sigh::
The CRAPP segment of the set is nice, although I think it clearly suffers
from some juniorization. I can see that the 1x2x5 black element count is
going to be high in this set. Actually, the whole of this segment is quite
junior, but the design is good. I could use dozens of those curved walls
now that they are here -- they are sort of jumbo macaroni!
The tower segment is really poorly designed. The trap-door part barely
makes any sense, although pirate theme people might make good use of the
giant skull. And the hinged part at the top with the trans-red half
cylinder is just garbage -- it falls apart if you even just sneeze at it!
With some reworking and modifications this part can be made into something
tolerably interesting.
Once the whole set is fully constructed one can see how much TLC is trying
for modularity of design, as well as play-ability. In some ways it feels
like the KK Leo's Castle in a cooler color scheme (to my mind, that is).
I'd say that the average child would have fun with it during construction,
and would also enjoy playing with it afterwards provided a few modifications
to the structure had been made.
I wanted to like this set more than I ultimately did, but in reality it has
some real problems. Still, I'd say it's the best set from TLC in a long time...
-- Hop-Frog
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: 6776 Ogel Control Center Set Review
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| (...) It is (for those not paying attention) LEGO backwards. (...) I take it "she" hasn't seen bucketmouth yet... James (who's not sure why he's replying regarding the naming of minifigs...) (24 years ago, 4-Mar-01, to lugnet.reviews)
| | | Re: 6776 Ogel Control Center Set Review
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| Some minor corrections and other thoughts: (...) 2 of these, trans red 2 black 2x2x2 mail boxes (...) The new wall also seen in the Droid Escape, but in black. Cool, we have this in white, grey, and black. (...) I do like these elements, though I'm (...) (24 years ago, 16-Mar-01, to lugnet.reviews)
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