Lego 6828

Behold the chibi monstrosity 6828 Twin Wing Spoiler.  A veritable treasure trove of exceptionally good components that does not quite equal the sum of its parts.  Is it a hovercraft?  Robot?  Spaceship?  Chicken?  Pants?  I'm not entirely sure.  From the picture it is clear that the primary function of Twin Wing spoiler is not quite walking, not quite flying, maybe it's a jumper (Useless).  It's the Futuron theme's jack of all trades master of none study in tedium.  Sure I suppose it does something very okay, but wouldn't you rather have Strategic Pursuer if you're hankering for a robot? Or maybe you fancy a spaceship?  I suppose Space Patroller has got you covered.  What's that?  Not enough cool pieces you say, lacking in blue spacemen?  Well, Twin Wing Spoiler has got those.  That will have to count for something.

The legs sit flush with the 1x2 striped tile 

allowing the vehicle to stand without wobbling.

So, I suppose you're all waiting with baited breath for me to tell you about this thing.  Okay.  Twin Wing Spoiler has four moving sections.  Two control sticks, and two wings/legs that look bad either way, but hey, those feet are in a unique color.  And that is something, unique parts for cheap, sign me up.   The model is little more than a la-z-boy with rockets strapped to it and chicken wings, yes both kinds.

I cannot, in good conscience, overlook a good thing, I don't often photograph the bottoms of these sets because I don't see the point, however, this set has some good work going on with offset construction.  It's not often that we see this technique used, but I feel like the Lego company was more willing to use odd techniques in the past, whereas now it seems they develop parts to perform strange connections in an official capacity.

This is the worst model in Futuron, hands down, but as a parts pack it certainly has what the kids want.  You get a Blue spaceman, six printed tiles, and thirteen transparent bits.  Let it not be said that this set was miserly with its offerings.  All I needed to sell it to me was the Blue Spaceman and this train signal bracket in white.

The Grey Train Signal Bracket was released in sets from 1980 to 1987.  It was only available in train sets.  In 1988 the piece was made available in white, exclusively for Twin Wing Spoiler.  The set has two of them.  After 1988 it was never released again.

There are no other Futuron unique parts aside from the truly unique part.  Sorry.  I personally think the train stands are worth it, if only because the full complement of parts makes for a good assortment, and the set is among the cheapest most plentiful Futuron sets in the aftermarket; providing an easily obtained example for the cash strapped enthusiast. 

With all that aside I shall now attempt to make something better than the main model.  

This is that model, sometimes I do more alternates, but I'm content with this, it's pretty cool for my money.  

Final Verdict: C- 

Pros: Great parts pack, blue spaceman, lots of prints, great prices

Cons: Confused model design

Lego 6848

It is my pleasure to bring you another quaint entry from Futuron's exhaustive theme.  Today I bring you Strategic Pursuer, the only true mech in the Futuron lineup.

The Mech is by all accounts hunting rogue Black-tron miscreants, though during work hours I could see this little dude helping to load a certain space train at the depot given its arms and claws, or even doing dangerous repair work on damaged spacecraft.  If only taken at face value this set brings a welcome variety to the Futuron theme.  I kind of wish more Futuron sets had been built with a goal towards dockwork.  I mean, the train carries cargo, and the common theme of the series is carrying something smaller; albeit not in this instance.   The whole cargo carrying thing would be most prominent in the later theme M-Tron.  It certainly seems as though Futuron was presaging that immensely excellent play feature called crates.  Of course to be fair, even Classic space had crates aboard space ships from time to time; and in my opinion, a good crate and carrying combo will always win over flick fire missiles any day.  For one thing, crates don't vanish into thin air like missiles do if you're too enthusiastic with your flicking.

Of course packages do get lost in the mail, but who are we to kid ourselves, this is the future.  Nothing bad ever happened in the future.  Unless those Blacktron dudes showed up.

Strategic Pursuer is an intriguing design that pushed the limits of Lego building technology for the time.  It wanted to be a walker, but was restricted to a degree by the choice of hinges from the then current selection.  It was visually successful to a degree, but from a play perspective the footwork is just not quite there.  Tilting is no problem, but walking?  Not so much.

The other sophisticated building technique is in the arms.  The Lego designers swung the plates out at a 45 degree angle.  This added a bit more scope of movement to the reach and function for the mech.
This also serves to highlight the restraints still holding designs of the time back.

I'm one to fuss about new Lego not being what I grew up with, and that's my own personal nostalgia.  I think the sets of today have marvelous functionality, and looking at Strategic Pursuer certainly highlights just how well the newer mecha have turned out.  It's just that I grew up with Lego that looked a certain way, and they were beautiful, and they still are, whereas the back of Exoforce robots make me shudder at the hideously exposed rear ends.  There are some construction solutions I just can't get behind.

Here's a selection of unique to Futuron parts.

First we have this angle plate in black.  There are two of these in Strategic Pursuer, and while the theme contains several in the white color, this is the only set with black.

 Second we have this inverted slope in white.  The set has two of this piece, and the theme contains no other examples in any color.  It's too bad as this is sometimes a very handy piece.

The only other piece that might be notable is this octagonal window.  Of course you can get two of these in Stardefender 200, and with that set hovering between 30 and 50 dollars it'd be criminal not to.  But if you're that cash strapped, then this set is certainly a good way to add the window to your collection.  It is the solid top variant, as opposed to the cross axle variant introduced in Spyrius.

Overall the set is a decent mix of pieces, favoring plates over bricks as the Futuron theme is wont to do.  I get annoyed by the high plate count; but only because I have plans for building a purist mothership with the Futuron parts sometime in future, and all the plates with smatterings of bricks are making me wonder how well my plan will work.

But enough said about the set, lets see what else it can be.

For its size Strategic Pursuer feels quite varied in its part selection.  There are only nine unique parts (primarily from the yellow spaceman) but the variety of parts and their quantity are greater than the finished model would have you believe.  Broken down this set just feels big.

And here are some spacecraft.

All in all 6848 is a very nice set that brings a lot to the table, it doesn't quite hit a home run, but if anything its failings only serve to highlight just how close it was to perfection.

Final score A-
Pros: Excellent Part variety, octagon canopy, decent second hand prices
Cons: Yellow Spaceman, almost good articulation