Tag Archives: Classic Space

The ship is the knife and outer space is the butter

I always knew LEGO could be sharp (underfoot), but this ship from Tim Goddard really shows off how sharp! There’s not a curve to be seen, outside of the canopy, on this interceptor, giving it the intended sharp-edged appearance. The ship looks like to could cut through anything as it speeds along on its mission. It possesses the style choices of the classic LEGO Space theme–always a welcome sight! Even the canopy is in the color scheme of the theme, but that’s not where it comes from… The canopy is the only curve in the build, and it comes from that most excellent Lightyear 76832 XL-15 Spaceship set. It’s the perfect canopy for this build, lending itself well to that tapering wedge of the nose. I also really appreciate the sloping where the wings join the body. The use of wedge slopes with hinges isn’t a new technique, but it’s one that works really well for filling and adding definition.

Taking a look beneath the ship reveals the full arrowhead-like shape of the interceptor. It also reveals some cool detailing, like the laser cannons mounted under the wings, done with brackets, round plates, and lightsaber hilts. However, my favorite detail on the underside are those brackets running down the midsection of the nose. They create a neat effect I just can’t get over, especially when paired with the other textures around them. Not to mention, these no doubt add some dynamism and choice when it comes to a display stand. They offer plenty of connection points for an angled display scene.

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Who needs a sleek starship when you have an enormous engine?

Everyone builds at their own pace. Some builders crank out builds every day, others will go months or sometimes years between creations – which, to be clear, is completely fine! In the case of Drew Hamilton (Wami Delthorn), it’s been over a year since he last posted one of his spectacular spaceship designs. It’s been worth the wait though, as he has reinvented one of his older Classic Space designs into this LL-528 Rapier MkII. It has all the hallmarks of what is now known as Neo Classic Space: clean lines of blue and light grey, with plenty of texturing and the signature black-and-yellow bumblebee stripes.

The design itself is very cool. With starships, it’s often tempting to make them sleek, speedy-looking machines. And with a name like Rapier, you’d be forgiven for thinking this would look the same. But I love how bulky it is! The rear of the vessel is dominated by that great hulking thruster, which blends nicely into the stubby wings thanks to some neat use of angles. It’s all broken up with subtle asymmetric panel detailing to give it quite a realistic feel.

The only thing I would question is the choice of co-pilot. Surely a control panel full of flashing lights is a poor mix with a space-going cat…

“Incoming message on the viewscreen, Captain”

Builder Paul Hetherington is totally feeling some classic sci-fi vibes with this bridge scene. Given the four spooky spacemen on the viewscreen, the crew of this intrepid starship must be shaking in their space boots! As is typical with his designs, I’m in love with Paul’s use of repeated patterns throughout the ship’s command center. It’s just trapezoids for days along the walls and in the ceiling! And all of them in pearl metallic gray, contrasting well with the blue, light gray, and yellow throughout the rest of the scene. My mind immediately goes to a mash-up of classic Star Trek and LEGO Classic Space, which I’m sure is the intent. And right in the center is a beautiful LEGO-inspired art piece by Robin Thompson, depicting the long forgotten crew returned for revenge!

From this angle, you can get a better view of all the switches and dials available to the starship’s crew. I particularly enjoy the use this two-wide windscreen, my favorite LEGO part! And the lighting along the floors and pillars fits right in with the sci-fi aesthetic.

A blockbuster Classic Space ship

It all comes full circle. Builder Dana Knudson pays homage to the Classic Space theme with this recolored adaptation of the XL-15 Spaceship from Disney-Pixar’s Lightyear. Director Angus MacLane is an ecstatic fan of LEGO and, like many AFOLs, falls into the space-nerd camp. In fact while working on the designs and story of Lightyear he frequently turned to his bricks to sketch out the concepts, even choosing to make the canopies for all the ships yellow just so LEGO would be forced to make a new yellow canopy again. So it was destined that we would eventually see the ships from that film adapted with Classic Space regalia as Dana Knudson has done here. Much of the ship is practically the same as the XL-15 but Dana did have to come up with a SNOT brick and cheese slope solution near the pilot’s seat. Since the roof tiles used in the original design aren’t (yet) available in blue, Dana had to come up with a different way to mimic their structure.

Not a technically new design but a satisfying homage worth celebrating none the less, I know we can expect more space-themed redesigns of this iconic ship.

LEGO reveals 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle and 10497 Galaxy Explorer as throwback sets for 90th anniversary [News]

Today LEGO has revealed two brand new sets that pay tribute to classic themes from yesteryear. 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle is a 4,514-piece stronghold featuring a working drawbridge, a dungeon, secret passages, and more. The 22 included minifigures pit the Lion Knights against Black Falcons and Forestmen factions. It will retail for US $399.99 | CAN $449.99 | UK £344.99 when it debuts on August 8 (but VIP Early Access members can pick it up on August 3). Leaping into the future, 10497 Galaxy Explorer gives us a modern take on the fan-favorite spaceship that originally debuted in 1979. Keeping the classic space color scheme, this 1,254-piece set includes four classic spacemen, a robot, and classic play features like a rover than can deploy from the rear of the craft. It will retail for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99 and drops August 1.

See more images of the two sets below, and also check out more LEGO News on TBB.

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Classic Space isn’t just for, well, space, anymore!

LEGO’s iconic Classic Space style has been reinterpreted in many forms over the years, typically rounded up in what fans call Neo-Classic Space (NCS) and we’ve seen everything from spaceships to tanks wearing that beloved blue, grey, and transparent-yellow color scheme. But there’s always room for breaking the mold a bit more while still adhering to the basic style. Enter Rubblemaker and the Manta Ray, an NCS vessel that can go places no Classic Spaceship has gone before: underwater! Bearing a strikingly unique shape and just the perfect amount of greebles, this cool design now has me wanting to do a crossover mashup with Aquazone.

Of course, it can’t really be Classic “Space” unless there’s some space involved, and the Manta Ray is only too happy to oblige, as it’s versatile enough to traverse the cold depths of outer space as easily as the ocean.

Truckers not currently blocking the US/Canadian border

Boy, the state of the world is in a boil, isn’t it? It’s been so bad lately that it has turned some Canandians impolite. It seems you have to travel all the way to outer space to find people not getting their knickers in a bunch. Take these two industrious LEGO fellows built by Pascal for example. They are most certainly getting s done and seem pretty happy to do it. Wait a minute, on second thought they both look rather upset. What are they so grumpy about? I thought truckdriving was the happiest job in the world next to security guards and funeral directors! Perhaps they’re mad about having to wear helmets and face visors in the cold, unrelenting, unforgiving vaccuum of outerspace? Whatever their reasoning is, I’m sure we can turn their frowns upside-down with more awesome space stuff!

Stick a fork in this rover – it’s done. Done right, that is

Inspired by the new wheel fork elements from 76179 Batman & Selina Kyle Motorcycle Pursuit, builder Carrier Lost has repurposed them into a something a little more out of this world. The Gamma Scanner is rover is dripping with Classic Space styling combined with more recent offerings like silver ingots and that all-important driver – Lenny from Benny’s Space Squad. The chassis is indeed pretty sweet, but my favorite part of this rover is that array of transparent-green sensors along the leading edge. Will Lenny find the gamma-powered Hulk in a crossover with the MCU? One can only hope.

If rovers are your thing, then be sure to peruse our Rover Tag for more grounded goodness.

When you love Classic Space and have a lot of it to haul around

We all love LEGO Classic Space, right? Sure we do, it hits us right in the nostalgic feels. But what happens when you love it so much that you have a lot of it to haul around? It turns out, The Brick Artisan has answered all our prayers and my weird premise with this Classic Space Compact Transport Rover. It can haul your barrels of toxic waste, whatever comes in those blue canisters (probably also toxic), and whatever that greebly doohickey is of questionable toxicity. Let’s just err on the side of safety and assume it’s all toxic. Thankfully these rovers were fitted with sensitive gyroscopic technologies and extremely responsive suspension so we’ve not shaking up things we don’t have to. This isn’t the first time we were totally delighted by this builder’s Classic Space stuff. Check out what I mean in our archives.

A Classic Space Paraflyer is a fun way to travel

LEGO builder David Roberts tells us the Classic Space Paraflyer is a fun way to travel over planets with any form of atmosphere. I’m inclined to agree, not based on my own experience, but based on the expression of the little space minifigure’s face. I mean, look how happy he is! You can’t be melancholy with a face like that. In fact, every last minifigure produced from 1978 to 1989 had this same exact smiley face. Whether they were robbing banks or laying up in a hospital bed they were damned happy to do it! While we may feature massive spaceships and elaborate castles, sometimes it is the little things that speak to us the most.

David’s fun little builds have spoken to us on several occasions. Here are all the times that we listened.

Eat your heart out, NASA

One small step for a minifigure, one giant leap for minifigure-kind. Builder Centuri Chan has created a fantastic spaceship to get the first two minifigures to Mars by 2028. Nostalgia certainly is a powerful force and the new buildable figures provided a perfect template for Centuri Chan to project their love for the Classic Space theme. This Minifigure Launch System, as dubbed by the builder, is a playful spin on the brick-built mega-figures that LEGO has begun to release. Littered with astronauts and robots, this crawler is on its way to the launch pad for further testing of this minifigure-inspired spacecraft. Two yellow pilots sit in the helmet, just above a wonderful, brick-built Classic Space logo while the rest of the crew tends their various assignments. I love the nod to Classic City sets and Octan with the white, red, and green tanks.

Checking out the back lets us see the boosters that Centuri Chan attached to the spaceman-spacecraft while also making us wonder what exactly the elusive orange spaceman is doing up there.

Always take some precautions when playing around with hypermatter

Fans of the Classic Space LEGO theme may be quite familiar with the prolific builder, Tim Goddard. Known for challenging the limits of the LEGO system and showing us the possibilities, he’s given us another great build to appreciate. This new ship, Dragons Progress, utilizes unique pieces combined in a pleasing and simple color palette for tons of detail and greeble. From the nose to the pointy bits protecting us all from the hypermatter static build-up of the experimental engines, this ship has a wonderful form that breaks the mold of the Classic Space theme.

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