Today's Futuron vessel of choice is 6884 Aero Module, an elegant space ship reminiscent of its big brother Star Defender 200. Whereas Aero Module's big sibling is a beautiful ship sporting excellent aesthetic, Aero Module is an example of ingenious engineering with simple bricks. As Shakespeare was once misquoted, Simplicity is the heart of functionality.
Before I get into the parts, or the model itself, I want to talk about the hallmark of this set's design. Right there for all of you to see is one of Lego's biggest windows, usually reserved for the rarefied airs of the big sets, yet here it is on a small set.
In an even stranger twist, this is one of the Lego company's most ingenious uses for the piece. The window sits on hinges so it can be raised and lowered, nothing special, Star Defender 200 (see below) can do that as well.
But unlike with Stardefender 200's loose canopy, you can lock Aero Module's window in place by opening the wings, or airfoils,
All of this is done with two hinge plate assemblies, and two 1x3 plates above those bricks at the back of the wings. No special jiggery poke was needed to get the job done, just good old fashioned part placement.
Ta Dah!
whichever you prefer. It's amazing how perfectly the window's shape allows for this mechanism, there's not a millimeter of extra wiggle room betwwen the window and car console.
Alley-oop...
Hey this ain't sO?
It's time to find a new mineral on this little moon.
The surprising thing is that the design succeeded in being clever, and elegant. I would argue that this is one of the nicer looking Futuron sets; except that its copycat central fuselage has to stand in the shadows of Futuron's flagship 6932 Stardefender 200.
The headlights/lasers, under-body engines, and wings don't call attention to themselves, but provide just enough spacey goodness to boost the look, and ensure that kids won't be disappointed by the smorgasbord of plates come Christmas.
I wish this set had been in plenty for my Christmases, as the window ceased to be available to small budgets after it's initial arrival in 1987. My guess is that after its initial release the Lego designers were baffled as to where else they could take this piece within the smaller sets, and so it remained exclusively a large ship/base window forever after; much to my childish chagrin. Well till '96 anyway; when it was retired, never to be seen again.
Aside from the window, the Aero Module also contains the Blue Astronaut, which is personally, my favorite color among the four, Yellow (Overused), Red (Criminally underused), Black (Too much similarity with Space Police), and Blue (just right). I drooled at the possibility of ever having any Futuron minifigs.
The single greatest incitement of this drooling was found within the pages of the 1990 Idea Book seen here. Golly I loved this book, I didn't know what the futuron sets looked like, save 6990, but I had to have them. Looking back on it now this idea book is actually pretty useless as I've exceeded its best ideas, but there's my childhood infatuation; make of it what you will. I'll come back to this at some point in a future post.
In an analysis of parts 6884 is rather shabby, after the window it doesn't seem to offer much. But I should remark upon the excellent cabin, the control scheme mix is among the best in theme. Even Star Defender 200 has nothing on this...
Most of the Futuron Unique Parts are on the robot, and all of the robot parts are only unique by color. For brevity's sake, here's the whole thing.
The blue Space Control panel only shows up in two space sets, Cosmic Charger holds the other one, and if you want my opinion...Cosmic Charger is just a friggin motorboat with wings that's only as good as its parts; Oh snap! I just insulted a Classic Space set... pretty good parts though...
As for the robot arms, I like that you can get them in blue, it's just a great color for them, sure you could also get them in any of four classic space sets, but you probably won't find them in a cheaper model than 6884.
6884 Aero Module is Futuron's sole proprietor of the following plates:
One 6x8 white plate, completely unique to Aero Module, there are no others within the theme in any color. Fairly vanilla piece all told.
The small wing, left and right, again in any color. A bit less vanilla than the above 6x8...
Funny, I'd consider these wings a staple of any respectable space ship, if you want to build Futuron Purist creations, then definitely consider it for the wings; they can be handy, if under appreciated. I hadn't even noticed, but now it's so obvious, Aero Module is the only Futuron set with actual wings.
Now that I've gone through all that preliminary blowhard stuff, how does the set do for construction possibilities. I'm actually very curious because that window just begs to be used, but is it possible to use it in an alternate build without giving up the coolness factor?
The designers gave it a shot, and skipped it three out of the four times.
Overall the alternates reveal the heavy use of plates. On the one hand the designs do look good, but they fail to excite me, they lack, that something extra that a better part mix might bring. Maybe my tune will change when I've tried building them, but for now...
Here is my Slave 1 inspired take on the giant window. I'm not especially impressed, though the landing gear holds it up rather well, and as a side note, I only had 7 pieces left over after finishing.
Upon updating this post I've made a new alternate, I'll leave the old alternate picture for your curiosity (Not worth rebuilding) , but I believe this one is a fair bit nicer.
From dead on you can see the very steep incline of the wings...I'm quite happy with the headlight cluster as well...one minute I thought 'this will be stupid,' and then I looked at it and by gum it works!
Realize your ideas, and learn your lessons, from the many failures you will discover success...
This is much more to my liking, it doesn't stretch the set's limits quite as much, but by golly, it's swooshable. And just because I bragged about 7 leftover bits last time...this only left out 1.
Upon revisiting this set I'm definitely smiling more about it, the bright jewel like colors pop in the pictures and I definitely am happier with both the set, and this blog post. I won't change my rating, but it will be noted as a strongly recommended B+.
Fare thee well readers, until next time.
Final decision: B+
Pros: Still reasonably priced used, Giant Window, Blue Spaceman
Cons: Glorified Plates Pack
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1 comment:
Very nice review, Thanks again Cure all pill
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