Bootlegs Part 34
So, when Schwartz postulated that he and Galanos were abducted by alien chiropractors, he wasn’t far off. 😉
The Interstellar Starfighter (6979-1) is one of my favorite LEGO spaceships. It looks like an alien version of the Starship Enterprise, and boy does it photograph well. It’s got some great features, too, like the detachable craft in the back that holds on to the main ship with magnets; a cool cockpit with two of the fantastic UFO aliens at the helm; a battery-powered system of light-up red tubes and a creepy noise that sounds like the mysterious ship’s powerful engines at work; and those wonderful neon green parts that always look like they’re glowing – that’s not just a lighting trick. It’s also huge, especially at a time when LEGO vehicles tended to skew smaller than they do now. I know some people get down on UFO because of the large, printed saucer pieces that weren’t of much use in anything else, but I maintain that it is one of LEGO’s best-designed themes. It’s one of my favorites at least, which is probably why I tracked down most of the sets in recent years!
This is the first time I revealed the name of the cloaked alien – Megalos. His brother, Thorsos, was identified way back in “Date Night (Part 19),” which also explained his obsession with Schwartz. You can see more of their sibling rivalry in “The Bad Side of Town (Part 11).”
—–
WWW.SPACETHECOMIC.COM
Follow Space: The Comic on TWITTER and FACEBOOK .
It does look awesome and like an angry alien version of the Enterprise! Specifically, the Enterprise-E. With that nebula backdrop, it puts me in mind of the first establishing shot when we see the new Enterprise in “First Contact”.
While the switch to more stickers from tampographs does mean designs are less durable, I do like that the new bare grey saucer bits in the Earth Defense line are a lot more versatile.
But that reminds me of some interesting news! Had you heard that Hasbro is making a Star Trek Kre-O line? I’m simultaneously thrilled and terrified. I always wanted Star Trek Legos as a kid, but the Transformer Kre-O’s have been pretty mediocre. I mean, there’s nothing really wrong with the bricks themselves, but with a little more ingenuity, they could have made sets where you could build them to actually transform without THAT MANY more parts. I mostly just buy them for the heads and the mini-figures now that they’re on clearance, and most likely I’ll do the same with Star Trek unless they’re really impressive.
I was just reading about how they composited that scene in First Contact, creating the nebula and then inserting the digital Enterprise-E. It was an effective introduction to the new ship, which at the time it felt like I had waited forever to see. I remember how cool it was when, between Generations and First Contact, it was stated in dialogue on the “Trials and Tribble-ations” episode of DS9 that there was indeed a new Enterprise.
The comments on this page are the first time I’ve heard of Star Trek KRE-O! I’ve got to go look this up. Are they based on the new movie?
I have to say that this was easily one of the best arcs. Which is really saying something.
I have to say I’m cautiously optimistic about the Star Trek Kre-o. I liked how detailed the TF sets were, but the Battleship sets seem to be focused more on playability than detail. Hopefully the Trek line is closer to the Transformers one.
Much appreciated, Ryburger1! It’s also of course the longest, lol.