Random set of the day: Mission Commander

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Mission Commander

Mission Commander

©1989 LEGO Group

Today's random set is 6986 Mission Commander, released during 1989. It's one of 12 Space sets produced that year. It contains 478 pieces and 3 minifigs, and its retail price was US$50.

It's owned by 2,111 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $1,108.00, or eBay.


59 comments on this article

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By in United States,

Fantastic. 'Nuff said

Who's the first to say "spaceship" 3 times?

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By in Canada,

What a beauty, although I personally think 6781 is the king of Space Police I

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By in United States,

@legodachi said:
"Who's the first to say "spaceship" 3 times?"
SPACESHIP SPACESHIP SPACESHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My work here is done

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By in New Zealand,

So who's the commander? the evil guy in black, or the lazy guy sitting on a chair?

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By in Australia,

Back when spaceships actually looked like spaceships.

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By in United States,

Those are some happy cops. There must be a space donut shop nearby with good coffee.

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By in United States,

@Zordboy said:
"Back when spaceships actually looked like spaceships. "

As opposed to ... ?

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By in United States,

As the '80s progressed, and into the early '90s, the large spaceships increasingly looked like floating bases or fortresses. An impressive set to be sure!

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By in Canada,

@legodachi said:
"Fantastic. 'Nuff said

Who's the first to say "spaceship" 3 times?"


It could have been you.

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By in Sweden,

I like the color scheme of space police 1 more, but I would be curious to see what the interior is like. Do those trans red bits on the wings actually cover anything? Why aren't they enclosed?

As much as I don't like space police 2 (aside from rebel hunter, which can easily be modified into a better ship), I do like that they actually had a great setup in galactic mediator. You could connect the sections without the middle bit, and the wings adjusted to let the jails out. I'd love to see an update to that subtheme with the space police 1 colors and laser jails. Space police 1 feels kind of unfinished in comparison, which is a shame because the minifigs and colors are WAY better.

Edit: this applies to nearly every set in space police 1, but...WHERE ARE THE ENGINES?!

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By in United States,

This spaceship is a good example of form over function - it looks awesome but most of the interior space of the corridor is unusable due to holding a gear mechanism that raises the front section to release a small flatbed vehicle that can hold one of the prison cells. Incidentally, the only controls for the entire ship (including the removable rear module) are the 2 joysticks used for this rover (discounting the control sticks found on the 2 flying chairs stored under the trans-red modules on the wings). As with most Space Police I ships, it is heavily armed with multiple laser cannon-looking projections but lacks any visible means of propulsion (again discounting the 2 flying chairs).

@tmtomh
But spaceships don't need to look like sleek aircraft unless they also need to fly through a substantial atmosphere at some point.

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By in United States,


As a kid I drooled over this set, but I couldn’t afford it.

Now I’m an adult with some disposable income, and I still can’t afford it.

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By in Turkey,

Impressive visual for sure. I wish these large sets had more interior detail though. Then again, this is Lego, you can always shape it to your desire. Unless of course you're a purist...

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By in United States,

Boy oh boy, what a kit!

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By in United States,

In my world, flagship space ships existed only as objects of lust to entice me to buy the cheaper sets I could actually afford. I did receive 6973 Deep Freeze Defender, and if I had to pick just one all over again, I’d still pick that one. But they were all amazing, and the Mission Commander was particularly lustworthy.

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By in United Kingdom,

Honestly looks kinda squashed to me. Not sure I could explain how, just got that look that makes it seem like someone sat on it

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By in New Zealand,

When Monkie Kid & Marvel sets are being produced with red canopies, you feel something is coming up.

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By in Belgium,

Great set, so large and with many play features! Much better than its successor 6984, it was quite a disappointment for me. Although my favourite Space Police 1 sett is 6781 thanks to its light features :-)

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By in United States,

@Maxbricks14 said:
"So who's the commander? the evil guy in black, or the lazy guy sitting on a chair? "

I think maybe it refers to the ship? Though flagship would probably have been a better name for it, or command ship.

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By in United States,

@Zordboy said:
"Back when spaceships actually looked like spaceships. "

And the engines looked like honest politicians.

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By in France,

It's a visually pleasing spacecraft for sure but, for some reason, it seems to me Space flagships were eerily similar at the time: compare this to 6954, 6985, or 6984.

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By in United States,

That Blacktron guy looks pretty happy for someone about to be arrested.

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By in Germany,

Enhanced mine with some spare parts to get a more airtight look. Boy, these TDR-panels don't come cheap!

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By in Netherlands,

@MCLegoboy said:
"That Blacktron guy looks pretty happy for someone about to be arrested."

Perhaps our Blacktronner was dropped off after serving a sentence. Waving goodbye to the Space Police escort. Contemplating if this was the last job for Blacktron.

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By in Netherlands,

That is really amazing. That really is truly amazing. That is so amazingly amazing I think I’d like to steal it!

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By in United States,

Just to put in perspective for the folks that somehow thought lego was cheaper back in the day.
This retailed in '89 for $50usd for 478 pieces and 3 minifigs.
TODAY, that'd be $120 to $125usd for only 478 pieces and 3 figs.
And ya'll be screaming bloody murder.
It does have about 7 printed elements.

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By in United Kingdom,

This was for me, the point where what is now Classic Space started to lose direction and go off the boil.

Sets after this point were of little or no interest until Benny's Spaceship and the Galaxy Explorer Redux.

And as for the Space branded abominations that are coming in 2024, the less said the better...

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By in Belgium,

I remember seeing this in a discount bin but couldn't convince my mom to buy it. The first set I got when coming out of my dark ages!

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By in Canada,

@legoDad42 said:
"Just to put in perspective for the folks that somehow thought lego was cheaper back in the day.
This retailed in '89 for $50usd for 478 pieces and 3 minifigs.
TODAY, that'd be $120 to $125usd for only 478 pieces and 3 figs.
And ya'll be screaming bloody murder.
It does have about 7 printed elements."


Today the set would be made of 1500 parts, half of which would be 1x1 pieces, be produced without any printed elements, cost $199 and few would bat an eye.

As for this original one, it is one of the few sets I have from the era I know is made up of all-original parts because the guy who sold it to me never split up his sets, the trans pieces are scratch free and the manual looked like it was just printed. I bought it for $100, and was happy to do so. The only complaint I could make is that it was missing the box and other paperwork.

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By in United Kingdom,

Dug instructions out for this a few weeks ago so my 6 year old son could rebuild it. He loves it - just as I did. Used the various parts on so many builds over the years. Classic.

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By in Australia,

Wow! Looks cool. Bit on the studdy side but still cool.

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By in Germany,

Would have loved to get this back in the day, but sets that expensive rarely ended up under our Christmas tree or on my birthday table.
I did get 6781 and 6895 though, so I was still more than happy at the time, and still am.

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By in United Kingdom,

At the time the large prefab pieces never appealed to me compared to the vintage brick spaceships as limited what else you could build, but can see now that they gave you a lot of volume for a low piece count.

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By in United Kingdom,

@ambr said:
"At the time the large prefab pieces never appealed to me compared to the vintage brick spaceships as limited what else you could build "

See also: 80s Castle

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By in Canada,

This discussion could be renamed "Awesome Set of the Day"!!! At least for today..... :)

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By in United Kingdom,

@whiteghost said:
"It's a visually pleasing spacecraft for sure but, for some reason, it seems to me Space flagships were eerily similar at the time: compare this to 6954, 6985, or 6984."

I felt this wasn't up to the standard of 6985, which had much more of an interior and a better base module. Yes, the mechanism to lock the rover into the front of the ship was a fun feature, but it took up huge amounts of space that could have come in for carrying armies.

The lack of visible engines never bothered us when we played with ships of this era, though -- we just assumed the existence of an inertialess drive.

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By in Netherlands,

I love Space. From the gray triangles all the way to Insectoids. To me there were different eras for sure, but the later stuff has a place in my heart.
To me, spaceships with as many diverse playfunctions as the sets in the theme had were all great.

That said... this one might be a bit overrated. Only the back end has a narrow corridor inside the detachable cell block partially housing two cells. There's nothing in there.

The rest? You can make the front lift up to deploy a buggy. All the rest of the ship is for that mechanism. Those bubbles on the sides hold tiny fliers. And that's it.
No lab with computers. No places to hold tools. No robot buddy. Barely even a cockpit, because that's the rover. No reconfigurability.

It looks nice, sure. But I don't think it's a particularly great flagship. It's still a good one, but personally I don't think it's worth getting at the prices it goes for unless you're a completionist .

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By in Germany,

@Binnekamp : agreed. Imho 6781 offers more functionality per volume, plus it has lights!
I'm so glad I have that one.

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By in United States,

@PurpleDave said:
" @Zordboy said:
"Back when spaceships actually looked like spaceships. "

And the engines looked like honest politicians."


and Blacktron agents went to jail smiling.

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By in United States,

@whiteghost said:
"It's a visually pleasing spacecraft for sure but, for some reason, it seems to me Space flagships were eerily similar at the time: compare this to 6954, 6985, or 6984."

So, three flagships that bear strikingly similar shapes, vs the Renegade, the least same-y flagship of all Space?

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By in Netherlands,

Space Police 2 certainly improved the play functions , but this still does look cool and it's still a giant spaceship compared to set size of the time.

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By in France,

" @PurpleDave said:
So, three flagships that bear strikingly similar shapes, vs the Renegade, the least same-y flagship of all Space?"


Structure-wise there may be deviations but silhouette is still very similar imo.

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By in United States,

@whiteghost: 6984, 6985, and 6986 all share the common design elements of a central corridor connecting the front cockpit to a large removable rear module, with 6984 adding space shuttle-style wings. 6986 also adds wings but these have pointed forward attachments that are reminiscent of 6954's shaping but otherwise 6954 (in its set image configuration) does not seem very similar at all to the 3 large flagships (especially 6984 and 6985, even silhouette-wise).

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By in United States,

@SDlgo9 said:
"The lack of visible engines never bothered us when we played with ships of this era, though -- we just assumed the existence of an inertialess drive."
After all, it's not like Every ship in Star Trek has its warp engines hanging out the sides. Most of them do, yes, but there are exceptions.

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By in United States,

Ah, one for the ages. In my case, so many red panels are damaged, and it's an arm and a leg to replace them, so it will sadly stay incomplete in the foreseeable future.

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By in Belgium,

Love the look and the color scheme!
Never had the privilege of seeing or handling one in person so I have no clue about its play functions though.

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By in United States,

Coveted this ship in my youth, and have been lucky enough to own a couple of them in my life. I think the Space Police I and Blacktron I designs were really innovative and their color schemes make them one of the memorable themes in LEGO history

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By in Brazil,

I got that set this year! Amazing looking ship, Space Police I had a questionably intimidating look but the vehicles were fantastic. I just need the base now.

Also, this is a prime example of why it is good to have some variation on a set's color palette: it only uses THREE colors for the entire ship. Black, blue, and trans-red. It was pretty tough to build it.

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By in United States,

I always thought it was funny this ship had zero computers leaving it a bit of a mystery as to how it would "Command Missions." But other than that, it's a great ship, lots of fun functions and still looks great!

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By in United States,

Always fun to see anything from SP I show up. The Peace-Keeper (6886) is my favorite set, and this is still one of my favorite themes.

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By in United Kingdom,

“In pursuit of space pirates through traffic Commander”.
“Describe their ship?”
“Well Sir my visor is red, the cockpits red so right now… their ship looks red.”

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By in Netherlands,

@Ridgeheart said:
"Man, this is an exceptionally expensive army-builder."

I guess you had to wait for the 6704 Minifig Pack. ;-)

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By in United States,

After my comment in yesterday's RSOTD, it occurred to me start a bit where I comment on whether I'd buy a $200 modern remake of the RSOTD... and this is a terrible set to start that with!

For one thing, it's too obvious: a nostalgic remake of Space Police I is pretty much due for a GWP. It's like saying "wow, I'd like a nod to Black Knights."

For another, I'm not sure a $200 remake would be sufficiently expensive enough to distinguish itself from this...

But, would I want to see one? Well, yeah.

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By in United States,

@ra226:
They roll down a window, lean out, and yell really loud.

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By in Canada,

That's one brave (Or foolish) Blacktron, looking to take on an entire Space Police ship by himself. But it seems he has challenged the commander to a one on one. Both are confident that they can win.

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By in Netherlands,

This might be one of the meanest looking spaceships Lego has produced. It looks so aggressive, especially when seen from above.
The main gimmick is really cool, and works well. But I'm not sure if it justifies the _very_ hollow, mostly unusable space that makes up a large part of the ship's size.

I don't own the actual 6986 set, but I made an Ice Planet 2002 recolour of it.
https://i.imgur.com/dnfpHXT.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ZcDWpGQ.jpg

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By in United States,

@whiteghost said:
[[[[ @PurpleDave said:
So, three flagships that bear strikingly similar shapes, vs the Renegade, the least same-y flagship of all Space?]]

Structure-wise there may be deviations but silhouette is still very similar imo.]]

Only from that one angle, and only if you don't know what the Renegade actually looks like. It's wide, very flat, and has an off-center cockpit. In addition to a deployable moon buggy, the cockpit, a sensor package, two hoverskiffs, a cargo pod, and two engine pods all detach from the central frame, and can be reconfigured into different mission-specific vehicles. If they'd done a better job of making sure they were all cross-compatible, you'd be able to swap parts between the Renegade, Invader, and Battrax to create an astonishing array of different vehicles, since each of those separates into three sections as well.

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By in United States,

Got this for Christmas in 1990 and was blown away of course. However, this ship is not without her flaws: not the sturdiest, wasted space with the mechanism to raise the front, not enough crew, no interior detail (that's an easy fix though) , ship has no power when the crew uses the scooters and finally, ship cannot fly if the rover in front comes out ! Still a lot of great memories ; I build it up lovingly every year . As previously mentioned; SP I had the colors SP II had the designs.

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