Subject:
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Extended blacktron ramblings (was Re: I just noticed something)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Wed, 24 Nov 1999 17:22:55 GMT
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Viewed:
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1182 times
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Long blathering message - be warned.
In lugnet.space, David Eaton writes:
>
> Alienator-- far and away the worst of the Blacktron I line...
Heh. I know there's supposed to be an implicit "IMHO" following
that statement. <g> Apparently someone disgrees with you.
Check out Huw Millington's Alienator page:
http://www2.pncl.co.uk/~huw/lego/moc/blacktron/alienator/homepage.html
> Pick up 6954 Renegade, and see what all the fuss is about. IMHO,
> the ultimately best spaceship Lego ever made. Coincidentally, one
> of the very few non-symetrical ships as well. The colors, the suits,
> the ship's design, and the phenomenal functionality all make it
> an absolutley amazing set.
Now, see? I love the Blacktron Renegade, but I had to modify it
before I let it rest in a position of honor in my permanent "Do not
take apart" collection. I made it symmetrical. I know, heretical.
Since I had to modify it significantly before granting it permament
standing in my personal hall of fame, I can't say it's the best
LEGO spaceship ever made. But it sure is good. =) Certainly
the most interesting Blacktron *spaceship*, in contrast to ground
vehicles or bases (although I'm fond of the small scout craft
that comes with the message-intercept base).
But I'm more fond of the MIB than the Renegade as a set, and, in
fact, I think I'm more fond of the Battrax too.
http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6941-1 . Although
I had to modify that one as well before it pleased me -- it took
six wheels, not four, for it to hit my sweet spot.
But at the moment, I might have to say that the best Blacktron spaceship
of all is the custom small flyer (the "raptor") that Todd posted
instructions for, years ago. Here are James Jessiman's version
of the instructions. It's a beautiful ship, and looks cool made
in any color scheme. (oldtimer Kevin Whitney showed me a Unitron
version he did that was gorgeous.) See the raptor at
http://www.visi.com/~lehman/lego/space/tsl/raptor/
Offhand, I'm not sure what I would say would be the best ever made.
LL924 would be in my top 10, in my mind, as being everything that
LEGO space should be boiled down to a primeval template - a
collection of plates, bricks, canopies, hinges, rocket engines
and wings, which make a good ship out of the box and also lend
themselves for making other things. Minimalist, perhaps, in these
days of bristling hoses and sculpted curvy too-big pieces, but
classic. Another beautiful set is the M:Tron vector detector:
http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6877-1
I do love the modularity of the Blacktron line. About the only
other craft that I think supercedes the Renegade in terms
of glorious modularity is the Deep Freeze Defender. And you can't
take mix and match its modules with other craft from the same line,
so, while it's a gem of modularity, it doesn't work as part of a larger
beautiful whole. http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6973-1
At the moment, though, I'd say my fave fave fave LEGO space
set of all time (for the moment) is the Gamma-V laser craft.
http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6891-1 It's
beautiful. Simply beautiful.
It, and it's not-quite-as-lovely big brother, FX Star Patroller,
are the two sets that got me out of my first LEGO dark age.
I'd been sort of keeping an eye on LEGO space sets, waiting for
the sets to start using gray again. (The introduction of white
space ships was one of the things that turned me off LEGO for a
while. I was annoyed - I didn't think white would look as good,
and was pissed that the pieces wouldn't match the gray ones from
the initial run of classic space.)
Significantly, the Blacktron Renegade was the set that got me out
my second LEGO dark ages. The Blacktron II Aerial Intruder
(http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6981-1) (along with
the Dungeon Master's Castle, 6081) was the set that got me out
of the dark ages , permanently. So those three spaceships have
a special place in my heart for being beautiful enough to pull
me back across the abyss.
> If you don't have anything other than Alienator, you might also not realize
> Blacktron I's real interchangeability-- each set was made up of modules
> (Alienator only had 2) that could be interchanged within the set and ALSO with
> other Blacktron I sets. Renegade had 6 modules as I recall (plus two • detachable
> 'ships' and a car), Battrax had 3, Invader had 3... and I never got the • Message
> Intercept Base, so I don't know much about that... but you could switch
> cockpits and engines and cargo bays, etc., from each set and mix and match
> modules-- it was wonderful.
The MIB didn't feature the Blacktron interchangability.
The Blacktron modularity *was* quite noticable. My college
roommates looked at it and were impressed. The most common
comment I got was, "that's cool, that reminds me of the Micronauts."
Non-LEGO people liked how you could mix and match pieces from the
various sets. I think it's still a cool idea that LEGO doesn't
utilize nearly often enough - sets that mix and match their modules
to make a larger whole.
> The other appeal, I think, is the romanticism with it. It was the first
> subtheme for space and perhaps the most "evil-looking" as well... which makes
> it perfect to fit in with dramatic storylines. They were the first all-black
> spaceships, and they stuck to the color scheme tremedously well. There was
> only yellow and black, really (with a hint of trans-red and a light grey
> seat in Invader for no apparent reason). Other "evil" looking space lines
> have been a little more 'friendly-looking' in my opinion. And everyone who • grew
> up with Lego in the mid-to-late 80's remembers looking at that 1987 catalog • for
> the first time and frothing with desire at the sight of these new sets. Hence,
> it made a huge impression-- also anyone who started their storylines then only
> really had two groups anyway, the "classic" space and Blacktron.
>
> $0.02,
> DaveE
I think you summed it up well, Dave. So I'll do it again, hah. :^D
The Blacktron sets have the classic appeal of Darth Vader. No line
since then has boiled down menace to such an clean classic
essence. No line since then has been as modular. As the first
line to veer away from the friendly classic / futuron "good guy"
theme, it has an emotional impact that later aggressive-looking
space sets don't really have.
These factors lend people to rate them very highly in their mind.
Sometimes I think of Blacktron as being a wee bit
overrated - most of the sets (the Battrax, the Invader, the
Renegade, the Alienator) I had to modify before they pleased me -
they didn't satisfy me out of the box. (The MIB did, though.) Of
course, that's the beauty of LEGO - tweaking and rebuilding to
your heart's content. But, I can't deny, that once I *did* modify
them -- I can't bear to take them apart for long. All of them
are displayed on my Blacktron shelf. No other space line gets
such an honor. So there must be something to them.
So, by now, it may seem cliche to use Blacktron in your story lines
to post on the web, but, golly, the line is cool enough that they
command that kind of devotion.
And the figures are just utterly drop-dead cool. That's all
there is to it.
--
jthompson@esker.com "Float on a river, forever and ever, Emily"
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: I just noticed something
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| (...) Alienator-- far and away the worst of the Blacktron I line... Pick up 6954 Renegade, and see what all the fuss is about. IMHO, the ultimately best spaceship Lego ever made. Coincidentally, one of the very few non-symetrical ships as well. The (...) (25 years ago, 24-Nov-99, to lugnet.space)
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