Random set of the day: Space Plane
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6901 Space Plane, released during 1998. It's one of 21 Space sets produced that year. It contains 19 pieces and 1 minifig.
It's owned by 1,263 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 $27.80, or eBay.
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26 comments on this article
A plane in space? Nevah 'eard off it!
I kinda wish Lego made more sets like this. A small, cheap set, with a cool minifigure.
Physically impossible! Absolute tosh! Total poppycock!
So I guess as long as it has wings it's a plane? I find that dubious to say the least.
UFO is among the most underrated of Lego themes IMHO.
That said, this is also one of the least impressive sets of the line, given the lackluster build and the fact that the minifigure is one of the techdroids and one of the amazing Zotaxian aliens with the great helmets, translucent heads, and cool chest pieces.
Still, if I'd been 6-10 years old in 1997 when it came out, I'd probably have loved it!
@tmtomh said:
"UFO is among the most underrated of Lego themes IMHO.
That said, this is also one of the least impressive sets of the line"
You might even say it's space plain.
"We have an A-Wing at home"
The A-Wing at home:
This is what I use to do my space woodworking
Sometimes there's space in the plane, sometimes the plane is in space...
Feels like they had a bunch of those plates going spare they needed to do something with…
@MCLegoboy said:
"So I guess as long as it has wings it's a plane? I find that dubious to say the least."
Ever see NASA’s Space Plane concept design? Wings aren’t really necessary.
Oddly though, Lego has often considered this set as part of the Insectoids line, despite it clearly isn't.
A similar confusion happened with an earlier UFO "polybag" type set: 6800 (and is many variants), which somehow ended up being confused as an Exploriens set. I guess someone really didn't get Lego's idea back then to release polybags a year after the original theme got released.
For the lore: This droid is known in the UK as "Techdroid II" (Techdroid I is the blue one), whilst he is known as "Andy Droid" in the US. There he is the brother of Exploriens droid Ann Droid who got captured by the UFO aliens and reprogrammed.
Given that he uses more or less the exact same color scheme (but reversed) as the Spyrius droid, I wonder if Mania Magazine meant the two are the same character? I mean he looks similar enough to Ann Droid to be considered "her brother". Also the Spyrius droid never got an official name (at least in the US, I am still sceptical "Major Kartofski" was meant to be the droid character).
Low key one of the best space sets of its size of the second half of the 90s. It has a cockpit (with chair), a striking profile, controls, an antenna that's either a probe or more likely a means of attack, and even propulsion! The minifig is less common than the blue android, and the set has a stylish asymmetrical design with the logo on the opposite side of the antenna.
So, it actually looks complete. This is not your average flying plank, and it being piloted by a droid makes the open design make more sense. Sure, this isn't realistic. But neither was anything else from Space. A swarm of these would make for a good security or attack force.
So overall: I love this set's design.
I got it as a kid. It was my first UFO set, and I loved it. I remember running up to my neighbor friend to show him the unopened box, crying, "I got UFO LEGO! I got UFO LEGO!" :'-)
My brother had the polybag version of this set (I can never tell polybags from their boxed forms on at a glance). It was the only UFO set we had other than 6829 Radon Rover, which I had. I always thought he had the better set, despite mine being quite a bit bigger. By the time we "figured out" how to play with Space sets, it was being able to fly that was important--not being a landbound vehicle. We had the same number of minifigures, and the red one is cooler than the blue.
We had a severe imbalance between good guys and bad guys: thanks to a bunch of used parts, the white/black/blue bricks out of a 1000-piece bucket, and a couple blue baseplates, our good guys had Star Trek-imitating startships with full crews. And opposed against them we had... a couple Spyrius figs, our two UFOs, a few polybag-class Insectoids.
The Insectoids quickly became "the Borg with the VIN numbers filed off," and the main difference was that they reported to the UFOs--mooks to the UFOs' dark masters. In order to pose a real threat, their technology was leagues more advanced. We often joked (though seriously enough) that this little "space plane" could take on a Star Destroyer.
Space Plane!!! NYOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!
Fun fact: UFO had contact with Basil and Willa.
@tmtomh said:
"UFO is among the most underrated of Lego themes IMHO.
That said, this is also one of the least impressive sets of the line, given the lackluster build and the fact that the minifigure is one of the techdroids and one of the amazing Zotaxian aliens with the great helmets, translucent heads, and cool chest pieces.
Still, if I'd been 6-10 years old in 1997 when it came out, I'd probably have loved it!"
I was 12 in 1997 and I loved the UFO subtheme!
Arguably the RMotD looks more like a plane than this. And possibly more Blacktron, too.
@lordofdragonss said:
"Fun fact: UFO had contact with Basil and Willa."
Yes. And theor were different versions of that encounter.
In the Time Cruisers comic, Basil allied himself with Alpha Draconis to defeat Willa, who usurped Basil's kingdom.
In another version (I think that was also used on the Lego Truck Show, which had a giant 'floating' UFO base in one of it's displays) Basil was commonly depicted in a duel with Chamon (the red alien), when UFO came as invaders to Basil's kingdom.
There was also a Lego World Club exclusive set (coming in a typical Service Pack polybag) which included Basil and Chamon (alongside Flatfoot Thompson and Chief Rattlesnake, all complete with accessories).
This brings back special memories, since this was the very last set I got before my dark ages. I didn't even get around to building it anymore. So it's the oldest set I have that is still MISB.
I miss this series
By the way, I was wondering: can a magazine gift become a RSotD? Because I've never seen an RSotD article for a magazine promo.
I liked this little set. It reminded me of 6803 from Classic Space.
@Agent_Brick_007 said:
"By the way, I was wondering: can a magazine gift become a RSotD? Because I've never seen an RSotD article for a magazine promo."
Many would probably be excluded by the parameter that eliminates sets with less than 10 pieces. I can’t remember if polybags are outright excluded.
@Agent_Brick_007 said:
"By the way, I was wondering: can a magazine gift become a RSotD? Because I've never seen an RSotD article for a magazine promo."
A set has to have at least ten pieces to qualify for RSotD. They also have to have been released between 1978 and ten years before the current year. So, since the first set tagged "Magazine Gift" was released in 2020, it'll be a while before any of them are eligible to show up here.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Agent_Brick_007 said:
"By the way, I was wondering: can a magazine gift become a RSotD? Because I've never seen an RSotD article for a magazine promo."
A set has to have at least ten pieces to qualify for RSotD. They also have to have been released between 1978 and ten years before the current year. So, since the first set tagged "Magazine Gift" was released in 2020, it'll be a while before any of them are eligible to show up here."
https://brickset.com/sets/year-2013/category-Other?query=magazine%20gift
https://brickset.com/sets/year-2014?query=magazine%20gift
Chima and Friends (that sounds like the world's worst after-school kid's show) have produced a total of 11 foil pack "magazine gifts" that are currently eligible for inclusion, six more that are only excluded because their piece counts aren't currently listed, and three more in the same boat if the piece count is allowed to include all the minifig parts (I'm pretty sure it does, but Bricklink lists those three as having between 1-7pcs because it excludes the minifigs in the piece count).
Whew! I cut it pretty close with running down all those numbers and getting this post sorted out.