Subject:
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Sentimental Journey (Was Re: What all has TLC done?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Tue, 11 Jan 2000 03:15:28 GMT
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Viewed:
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1067 times
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Scott E. Sanburn wrote in message <38741E76.73300082@cleanweb.net>...
> Todd Lehman wrote:
>
> I agree with Todd. The SW sets are nice, even though I am not a huge fan
> of the SW universe. I am a lot happier with these sets than Insectoids,
> Rock Raiders, Exploriens, and to some extent UFO. (My roommate has made
> some awesome UFO models, however.)
On one point I feel moved to vigorously disagree with Scott and Todd.
Exploriens did NOT suck! Quite the opposite! One little mistake with the
design of a "useless" wing piece (the PEWC [1]) doesn't relegate Exploriens
to the status of the ugly fiascoes that are UFO and Insecturds. I like
Exploriens a lot, especially the minifigs. The whole subtheme takes me back
to the days of Futuron of which I missed a huge amount. Trans blue rules.
TLC knew, so they used it a bucketload.
And speaking of older themes, I was leafing through part of a 1987 catalogue
(found somewhere ancient) and was highly amused to see, on the same page,
these three "Classic" space sets: 6931, 6891, and 6780. Wow, the same
spaceship with a different gimmick stuck in the back! How unimaginative can
you get! Almost as amusing as the 6783 Light-N-Sound Box with
Cockpit-Stuck-On-Front, or the 6985 Lump-Of-Cool-Parts [2] which were on the
same page of the catalogue.
On the next page of the catalogue, and the (then) new Futuron sets were
shown. They showed a substantial improvement (esp. monorail!). And in a
couple of years, Blacktron and Space Police 1, an even greater improvement
again. But that 1987 catalogue showed what was to me the true reason for
this change. Classic Space had died because it wasn't really that good
anymore.
[1] What does PEWC stand for again? Pathetic Exploriens Wing Canopy?
[2] And people make fun of the 6982 Explorien starship because its ugly! Yet
they'll go all misty-eyed over the 6984
Galactic-Mishmash-Of-Grey-Black-And-Red or the 6973
Loud-Candy-Colours-Garage-Door-Defender..... There is no justice.... :-)
Hmmm. Anyway, it's late so I'm sure I sound a bit stupid, I guess the point
I'm trying to make is that there's a lot of rose-coloured glasses being used
to look back at Classic Space (and perhaps other themes too) and I don't
think they were all they were cracked up to be, and when I hear people go
all googly about them I can't help chuckling a little, or perhaps even snort
in a gently derisive way.
Anyway, hope I've stirred the pot a little (in a constructive way). Patrick
(Z) was chided for being provocative, but I think it's a good trait as long
as your motive is passion rather than angst.
One final note before I go to bed: I prefer Space to SW for one reason:
Space had original designs. SW has replicas of the film's designs. I don't
know about anyone else, but this makes SW nowhere near as inspiring for me.
More than an Arachnerd Base, perhaps, but a lot less than an Android Base.
Aw, stuff it, I'm on holidays. More final notes:
[*] One thing I never could figure out was Ice Planet's use of
trans-fluoro-orange. It is so unpleasantly, well.... loud. I mean, they
understood how cool trans blue was. What were they thinking when they made
trans-fluoro-orange?
[*] I think I've figured out that I judge a subtheme not by how good the
colour scheme is, or by how good the parts are or how well they're used, but
by how much the sets inspire me to make something along their lines. For
instance, my favourite Space sets (the 6887 and 6897) are my favourites
precisely because they've inspired me to make MOCs that try and capture
their look and feel on a different scale, with a different purpose.
Blacktron 2 did that for me a lot, in general. I liked it.
[*] Pity the Blacktron 2 'figs sucked so much though. :-(
[*] At least Classic Space didn't have magnets.
Good night everyone,
Paul
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Message has 4 Replies:
 | | Re: Sentimental Journey (Was Re: What all has TLC done?)
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| (...) I have to agree.. While I despised the insectoids and ufo stuff, and I do have a certain attachment to the classic space sets (for nostalgic reasons, since I had those and nothing else when I was a kid), I think they did a nice job on (...) (25 years ago, 10-Jan-00, to lugnet.space)
| | | Re: Sentimental Journey (Was Re: What all has TLC done?)
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| Paul, (...) Well, I for one fell in love with the Futurons, there have always been bad designs in every theme, from Castle to Town to Space, but overall, the Classic Space line, and the Futuron line, compared to the newer lines, really fall short. I (...) (25 years ago, 10-Jan-00, to lugnet.space)
| | | Re: Sentimental Journey (Was Re: What all has TLC done?)
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| (...) I like Exploriens too. The figs are OK, and I have a bunch. I especially I like their helmets. (But I really like the Hydronauts blue-chrome helmets, and I only have one :( (...) They come with tons of little widgets and other cool pieces, (...) (25 years ago, 11-Jan-00, to lugnet.space)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: What all has TLC done?
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| (...) I agree with Todd. The SW sets are nice, even though I am not a huge fan of the SW universe. I am a lot happier with these sets than Insectoids, Rock Raiders, Exploriens, and to some extent UFO. (My roommate has made some awesome UFO models, (...) (25 years ago, 6-Jan-00, to lugnet.space)
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