Review: 6954 Blacktron Renegade

Jesus that was fast.

I think this is certainly a grail item. Great review; particularly regarding the 'simplicity' of modern instructions.

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally announced me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Nevermore to go astray
This'll be the end today of the wanted set

@yellowcastle said:
"The jig is up, the news is out
They finally announced me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Nevermore to go astray
This'll be the end today of the wanted set"

Love me a STYX reference. I tip my hat you!

I had to read this review about four times before realising it wasn't actually about the forthcoming 10355 – D'oh!

@Huw - I think there’s an error with the inflation calculation. Using your source I’m getting $30 in 1988 being $80 in 2024, not $58.

(Also I think the last sentence in the first paragraph under Verdict says MIB twice? Wouldn’t have mentioned it but I figured the inflation figure was worth bringing up).

Stickers were causing havoc with my City sets in the 80s as well. STAMPs in particular.

@MrKoshka said:
" @Huw - I think there’s an error with the inflation calculation. Using your source I’m getting $30 in 1988 being $80 in 2024, not $58.

(Also I think the last sentence in the first paragraph under Verdict says MIB twice? Wouldn’t have mentioned it but I figured the inflation figure was worth bringing up)."

Mint in Box (MIB) Message Intercept Base (MIB)

@Ridgeheart said:
"Once you go Blacktron, you don't go backtron."

If I did tattoos, I'd have that as one (along with the logo)... that or a bumper sticker, and I don't even own a car!

Its hilarious how this set looks better than a remake.

@Bri3k_b01 said:
"Jesus that was fast."

Only 37 years!

I can't believe LEGO made you wait 36 years to release this review. They are so draconian.

"Sense of accomplishment?" Dogwater. I despise the old LEGO instructions. I was putting together 6075 on Bricklink Studio to try and build a modernized version of it... and reading the instructions was a NIGHTMARE. There wasn't any bill of materials on the side, which made spotting the pieces needed for each section - especially 1x1 bricks - incredibly frustrating. I'll gladly take oversimplified instructuons over 20 unmarked pieces per step any day.

It'll never happen, but if Lego could redo 6378 I can relive Christmas 1986.

"I did so by trading with Americans via the usenet newsgroup rec.toys.lego (when transatlantic mail was cheap!) and managed to get near-mint copies of them all. "

Rec.toys.lego!! Wow, what an era that was. I got my Airport Shuttle from a guy on RTL. If memory services, I traded the Guarded Inn and some other classic castle sets. Hated to part with the Guarded Inn, but I've never regretted it. My Airport Shuttle is still zooming around my Lego town, all these years later.

I never had the Renegade, sad to say. I did have the Alienator and loved it dearly.

Due to a communications mix-up between my parents and grandparents back then, I ended up with two versions of this set.

Greatest Christmas ever!

Thanks for the review, and can't wait for the updated version's!

“It's often a case of playing 'spot the difference' between steps to find out what pieces to add, and I think that leads to a greater sense of accomplishment on completion than with today's oversimplified instructions.”

Indeed, the opposite was more frequently true. For every kid who reached the end, there were likely dozens who gave up and swore off ever building another set. At least one of my college friends fell into that camp. When he started picking up sets during the pandemic, and told me he finally “got it”, I had to inform him that really what was happening is they finally stopped making the instructions indecipherable to all but a minuscule subset of the population.

@WolfpackBricksStudios said:
""Sense of accomplishment?" Dogwater. I despise the old LEGO instructions. I was putting together 6075 on Bricklink Studio to try and build a modernized version of it... and reading the instructions was a NIGHTMARE. There wasn't any bill of materials on the side, which made spotting the pieces needed for each section - especially 1x1 bricks - incredibly frustrating. I'll gladly take oversimplified instructuons over 20 unmarked pieces per step any day."

Agreed, the point that most "better in my day" arguers miss is that everyone can do the modern instructions. It's possible for the lowest common denominator, and if better builders want a challenge then they can skip some pages, or build from the box image, or, idk, go build something new?

But when instructions are a seek-and-find, it removes a lot of enjoyment from the process for most people. And it fails to *instruct*. You don't learn to swim by being tossed into the deep end, that just teaches you to hate the water. If better swimmers want a "challenge," there are dozens of options. But it doesn't make sense to try and force the pool into eliminating the shallow end.

@PurpleDave said:
"“It's often a case of playing 'spot the difference' between steps to find out what pieces to add, and I think that leads to a greater sense of accomplishment on completion than with today's oversimplified instructions.”

Indeed, the opposite was more frequently true. For every kid who reached the end, there were likely dozens who gave up and swore off ever building another set. At least one of my college friends fell into that camp. When he started picking up sets during the pandemic, and told me he finally “got it”, I had to inform him that really what was happening is they finally stopped making the instructions indecipherable to all but a minuscule subset of the population."

100%

https://www.scribbr.com/research-bias/survivorship-bias/

I wasn't born when these sets came out, but if I was, I think I might have picked a few up, or at least stared at them on the shelves. The coloring is indeed striking, and Renegade being asymmetrical makes it very interesting.

The mentioning of the instructions being harder back then, I can even recall getting sets in the late 2000s and having to really look to see what was being added!

Great review!

"I believe the reason that it was not released elsewhere is that its asymmetry did not resonate well with German kids and their parents in product testing panels"
Ah yes, Germans and their love of symmetry, not surprised at all by that... :)
Damn, those instructions are something else, they could have at least given us parts callouts.
Simply a different era back then.

Count me among the "got" crew. Love to see these old reviews though, I'm going to build this for the first time in the next couple of weeks!

@Banners said:
"I had to read this review about four times before realising it wasn't actually about the forthcoming 10355 – D'oh!"

Same

@Huw said:
" @MrKoshka said:
" @Huw - I think there’s an error with the inflation calculation. Using your source I’m getting $30 in 1988 being $80 in 2024, not $58."

You are right -- turns out I typed 1998 and not 1988 into it. Thanks.

"Also I think the last sentence in the first paragraph under Verdict says MIB twice? Wouldn’t have mentioned it but I figured the inflation figure was worth bringing up)."

Intentional: I have a mint in box Message Intercept Base :-)

"

If we name the two minifigs "Jay" and "Kay" it could be a MIB MIB MIB.

Great review - I appreciate it.

Tangent: my mother loves poinsettias. She bought one 10370 for herself and one for each of us "kids" as a sentimental thing.

She has fine-motor issues now and joint pain. Managing to complete her set over the course of several days /was/ an accomplishment. I don't think the older style of instructions (which I, too, sometimes remember fondly) would have helped. Accessibility is a net gain for everyone.

Awesome review! Many thanks, Huw!

Quiz for you:
Part I
How many parts do you see added between steps 10 and 11?
A) 8
B) 10
C) 12
D) All of the above

Part II
Indicate the number of 1x1 plates and/or tiles shown in the model so far.

@darkstonegrey said:
"Quiz for you:
Part I
How many parts do you see added between steps 10 and 11?
A) 8
B) 10
C) 12
D) All of the above

Part II
Indicate the number of 1x1 plates and/or tiles shown in the model so far."

My head hurts just looking at the instructions from the 'bad old days'.
Thus, I answer E: Nap time and a ibuprofen.

Part II:
I now need a second ibuprofen for my headache.

I love that US catalog picture, but it has nothing to do with Blacktron. The non-Blacktron set pictured was my first spaceship!

@Banners said:
"I had to read this review about four times before realising it wasn't actually about the forthcoming 10355 – D'oh!"

I didn't notice when I saw the article on the front page, but when I looked at the first picture in the article, I though, "I thought Lego didn't make those 4x4x2 cones anymore," then realized which Renegade I was looking at.

I guess I must be a German mother because this ship does absolutely nothing for me! Everyone has their own nostalgia goggles when it comes to Space. I love these retro reviews though, I hope we see more.

While I appreciate the simplicity of the model and the general style in which it was designed. I think the modern reimagination of the set looks better. And I say this as a sucker for old sets.

That little vehicle is cute though.

It’s great that Lego is releasing another classic space set, but it always makes me a bit sad to see.

Classic space have had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.
Classic Castle has also had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.
Classic pirates has once again had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.

I can only ask, what have us fans of classic town down wrong to be once again denied?

@Ridgeheart said:
"Once you go Blacktron, you don't go backtron."

Never Go Full Blacktron!

@Bri3k_b01 said:
"Jesus that was fast."

Okay, so I was a complete idiot. I thought they already got access to the new Blacktron set, and thought the instructions were just a comparison to the old model. Now, this is a review of the old ship, and my dyslexic self thought fused the old and new models.

Triforce

@MeggyM00 said:
"It’s great that Lego is releasing another classic space set, but it always makes me a bit sad to see.

Classic space have had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.
Classic Castle has also had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.
Classic pirates has once again had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.

I can only ask, what have us fans of classic town down wrong to be once again denied?"

I think the big difference is that the City theme is alive and well, while none of those other themes has a modern counterpart.

It's an interesting set. I think I actually prefer the original to the remake. But in any case the asymmetry is a bit too weird for me.

Or so the Germans would have us believe.

@PurpleDave said:
"“It's often a case of playing 'spot the difference' between steps to find out what pieces to add, and I think that leads to a greater sense of accomplishment on completion than with today's oversimplified instructions.”

Indeed, the opposite was more frequently true. For every kid who reached the end, there were likely dozens who gave up and swore off ever building another set. At least one of my college friends fell into that camp. When he started picking up sets during the pandemic, and told me he finally “got it”, I had to inform him that really what was happening is they finally stopped making the instructions indecipherable to all but a minuscule subset of the population."

Genuine question: Which came first…?
A) Easy to follow instructions, or
B) Sets with many small parts.

If it’s A then B, we can infer that LEGO’s market research found that the additional cost of producing more detailed instructions was worth less than the additional sales to satisfied kids/parents. In other words, the complexity of the older instructions was limiting LEGO’s popularity.

If it’s B then A, we cannot safely conclude that the older instructions were challenging for kids. It could be that the greater intricacy of sets necessitated clearer instructions. Or to put it differently, set complexity is a confounding variable if A followed B.

As I said in the other discussion today, I got it couple years ago from US and it easily well worth the customs costs!

The only thing I don’t like on the Renegade is that you can’t put both astronauts inside the ship. How are they supposed to traverse between stars?

I've always loved the asymmetry of this one and to this day, I always incorporate a little asymmetry (and occasionally a lot) in my own designs.

6954, 6085 and 6285 were the three greatest sets of my childhood. And as minifigures go, the original Blacktron squad is the absolute G.O.A.T. (is that you, Snake Eyes?). I spent _countless_ hours with this set.

@MeggyM00 said:
" @RogueWhistler said:
" @MeggyM00 said:
"It’s great that Lego is releasing another classic space set, but it always makes me a bit sad to see.

Classic space have had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.
Classic Castle has also had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.
Classic pirates has once again had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.

I can only ask, what have us fans of classic town down wrong to be once again denied?"

I think the big difference is that the City theme is alive and well, while none of those other themes has a modern counterpart."

It’s a fair point, there is a level of cross-over there, I guess to a degree that also applies to the Modulars. Clearly though, with these sets Lego are (sensibly) targeting the AFOL world. Specifically those who grew up in the 70s/80s/90s, giving a sweet nostalgia hit, so it’s surprising that they haven’t also targeted the likes of me who would throw all the money at a re-released town set, particularly an 18+ one.

Basically I just really want an updated Town set, and would happily give Lego all the money I don’t already give to them to have one. ??"

I guess the question would be, what's an "updated Town set" vs just current City? Pirates, Castle, and Space all had some pretty strong hallmarks that make for noticeable callbacks, whereas Town feels fairly straightforward, not much to reference. Not trying to harsh your mellow, genuinely trying to picture it

@WolfpackBricksStudios said:
""Sense of accomplishment?" Dogwater. I despise the old LEGO instructions. I was putting together 6075 on Bricklink Studio to try and build a modernized version of it... and reading the instructions was a NIGHTMARE. There wasn't any bill of materials on the side, which made spotting the pieces needed for each section - especially 1x1 bricks - incredibly frustrating. I'll gladly take oversimplified instructuons over 20 unmarked pieces per step any day."
ROFL

Correction. For the first time ever I was ROFL while ROFL.

I guess we were all geniuses back in the day because we (that is all my friends as well as myself) didn't have any problems putting together sets in the Eighties using those compact instructions.
Perhaps one reason for that is that sets back then generally were so simple that you could almost build them without using instructions at all just by looking at the pictures on the box. Granted, that's an oversimplification, but in general many of today's sets are so fiddly and stuffed to the brim with mostly useless 1x1 greebling that you would indeed get frustrated it they were supposed to be built by 80s style instructions.

But in general, I have experienced that the attention spans and frustration tolerances of many kids these days are much lower than they were in our days. The obvious reason being the curse of instant gratification.
Hardly anything we had back then gave us instant gratification. Toys, computer games, TV shows, magazines. We always had to be patient. Waiting for the next edition of our favorite magazine to arrive in the mail, waiting for a week (or often even longer) for the next episode of our favorite TV show or radio programme, waiting for a quarter of an hour (or longer) for a computer game to load from datasette or floppy disc on your Sinclair or Commodore machine. And so on and so on.
The point being we had much more patience because we were trained to. Throwing a tantrum wouldn't have changed anything and "giving up the hobby" wasn't really something one would think of doing either, since what would be the point? Any other hobby at the time would have required just as much patience or diligence. There simply wasn't a magical other alternative.

So, sorry, but it will always be tremendously funny to me when Millennials go on whining about how "difficult" or "frustrating" old sets were due to their instructions when in reality we got endless enjoyment out of building these sets - many of us wouldn't be AFOLs today if it wasn't for that very fact.

As for the instructions.....I never minded those as a kid, but I can see the issue here. But then again, just add a box with the pieces to be used and maybe outline the pieces added in that step (or grey out the existing bits), and problem solved.

Instead you now add one or two pieces per step, yet still might have to play 'spot the difference' to see were those went. After all, even when the box clearly says 18+, every single Lego set should acyually be considered a 4+ set. I'm still waiting for Lego to start selling pre-assambled sets....

@AustinPowers said:
"when in reality we got endless enjoyment out of building these sets - many of us wouldn't be AFOLs today if it wasn't for that very fact. "

I love that your whole angry boomer rant about how dumb people my age are just led up to you obliviously restating the point as if it were a counterpoint to itself.

@AustinPowers said:
" @WolfpackBricksStudios said:
""Sense of accomplishment?" Dogwater. I despise the old LEGO instructions. I was putting together 6075 on Bricklink Studio to try and build a modernized version of it... and reading the instructions was a NIGHTMARE. There wasn't any bill of materials on the side, which made spotting the pieces needed for each section - especially 1x1 bricks - incredibly frustrating. I'll gladly take oversimplified instructuons over 20 unmarked pieces per step any day."
ROFL

Correction. For the first time ever I was ROFL while ROFL.

I guess we were all geniuses back in the day because we (that is all my friends as well as myself) didn't have any problems putting together sets in the Eighties using those compact instructions.
Perhaps one reason for that is that sets back then generally were so simple that you could almost build them without using instructions at all just by looking at the pictures on the box. Granted, that's an oversimplification, but in general many of today's sets are so fiddly and stuffed to the brim with mostly useless 1x1 greebling that you would indeed get frustrated it they were supposed to be built by 80s style instructions.

But in general, I have experienced that the attention spans and frustration tolerances of many kids these days are much lower than they were in our days. The obvious reason being the curse of instant gratification.
Hardly anything we had back then gave us instant gratification. Toys, computer games, TV shows, magazines. We always had to be patient. Waiting for the next edition of our favorite magazine to arrive in the mail, waiting for a week (or often even longer) for the next episode of our favorite TV show or radio programme, waiting for a quarter of an hour (or longer) for a computer game to load from datasette or floppy disc on your Sinclair or Commodore machine. And so on and so on.
The point being we had much more patience because we were trained to. Throwing a tantrum wouldn't have changed anything and "giving up the hobby" wasn't really something one would think of doing either, since what would be the point? Any other hobby at the time would have required just as much patience or diligence. There simply wasn't a magical other alternative.

So, sorry, but it will always be tremendously funny to me when Millennials go on whining about how "difficult" or "frustrating" old sets were due to their instructions when in reality we got endless enjoyment out of building these sets - many of us wouldn't be AFOLs today if it wasn't for that very fact. "

As a Millennial I remember getting enjoyment out of following instructions. I also remember being one of the only ones of my peers who did so, including one birthday party where a lot of my friends struggled with sets my family got them all as party favors. Again, the fact that AFOLs from back then remember enjoying those instructions is self-selection—the people who didn't enjoy deciphering old Lego instructions rarely kept up with Lego as a hobby. There were TONS of toys back in the 70s and 80s that didn't require people to tease out complicated instructions, including things like action figures or die-cast cars or dollhouses. So your imaginary childhood where kids never gave up on Lego or moved on to other toys is a fantasy of your own devising.

Plenty of kids today do have patience, despite what elitist boomers or Gen Xers tend to pretend. But Lego should not be ONLY for the most patient, skilled kids. Making instructions simpler not only hurts nobody but allows more kids to graduate to more complex sets without feeling like they're too stupid to improve. That's what I think Lego is especially good for—the accumulation of skills, not just a reward for the already skilled to help them feel superior to everyone else.

@AustinPowers said:
" @WolfpackBricksStudios said:
""Sense of accomplishment?" Dogwater. I despise the old LEGO instructions. I was putting together 6075 on Bricklink Studio to try and build a modernized version of it... and reading the instructions was a NIGHTMARE. There wasn't any bill of materials on the side, which made spotting the pieces needed for each section - especially 1x1 bricks - incredibly frustrating. I'll gladly take oversimplified instructuons over 20 unmarked pieces per step any day."
ROFL

So, sorry, but it will always be tremendously funny to me when Millennials go on whining about how "difficult" or "frustrating" old sets were due to their instructions when in reality we got endless enjoyment out of building these sets - many of us wouldn't be AFOLs today if it wasn't for that very fact. "

Uphill both ways and such, very inspiring. Thankfully, endless enjoyment is now possible for many more people with the modern instructions. Skilled builders can skip pages or even MOC their own ideas if they're looking for an actual challenge, and newer builders aren't turned away by a steep learning curve. It's a fun hobby, where you can select your level of difficulty, not a test at every step.

The only actual argument I've heard against modern instructions is the length and increased paper use, and that often rings hollow

@Lyichir said:
"But Lego should not be ONLY for the most patient, skilled kids."
Makes you wonder how Lego already happened to be among the most popular toys back then, every kid had Lego....in that regard not much has changed. The big difference is they now also very much cater to adults.

For those who still considered Lego too easy, there was stuff like Meccano. Or Fischertechnik. Or forget about constuction toys altogether and get into plastic model kits.

Also, if those instructions now are considered too complicated, makes you wonder how a company like Ikea can still exist....

Even back in the ‘80s many people considered LEGO to be “for the smart kids,” and that turned out to be a very self-fulfilling prophecy … until The LEGO Movie opened some minds years later. I stand with @AustinPowers in appreciating the old instructions, but I also understand that if TLC is going for broad appeal and inclusivity, the newer instructions are a huge improvement and smarter from a business perspective.

@MeggyM00 said:
"I can only ask, what have us fans of classic town down wrong to be once again denied?"
I know the answer to this question.

I was sick and my father offered to get me a Lego set to cheer me up. I asked for 6894 Invader. My father brought home a copy of 6671 Utility Repair Lift instead—maybe he liked it better? I missed my only chance to ever get an original Blacktron set because of that. I went on to build a large Space collection, but no old Blacktron because it had been discontinued. I had Town sets too, but 6671 was always a wallflower, a bitter reminder of the spaceborne villainy that could have been.

You Classic Town fans are still making atonement for this trauma. Perhaps once I get my copy of 10355, your curse will finally be lifted.

@alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"Once you go Blacktron, you don't go backtron."

Never Go Full Blacktron!"

Everyone know that you never go full Blacktron or you'll go home empty handed."

Sometimes when I go full Blacktron, I hear them playing music. Usually from the album Backtron in Blacktron."

For Those About to Blacktron, We Salute You!

@MeggyM00 said:
"It’s great that Lego is releasing another classic space set, but it always makes me a bit sad to see.

Classic space have had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.
Classic Castle has also had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.
Classic pirates has once again had a good number of reimagined sets in recent years.

I can only ask, what have us fans of classic town down wrong to be once again denied?"

Screw Town, what about Aquazone homages?

@560heliport said:" @TheOtherMike the 4x4x2 cones are still in production."

I did say that I *thought* they weren't still around.

They might look dark and brooding, but they're still all smiles underneath.

@AustinPowers said:
"Hardly anything we had back then gave us instant gratification. "

"Instant gratification"?
Instant gratification?

You old folks GOT your instant gratification building your simpler sets with their simpler instructions, simply because the simpler sets with their simpler instructions went together so much faster!

Look at the instructions of 918 , that most classic of small classic spaceships.
Then look at the instructions of 60430 , the closest modern equivalent.
Which set goes together more quickly? Which set takes longer to build?

That's right, the older set goes together more quickly.
The newer set takes longer to build.

A kid today experiences DELAYED gratification, not INSTANT gratification, building the newer set because it is so much more complex.
It's a longer, more thoughtful building experience with the newer set. It takes time.

I can put the older set together in less than a minute without looking at the instructions.
I can't do that with the newer set.

When I'm relaxing at home after work and I want instant gratification building a kit, I pull out an OLD set, not a new one. I pull out the 918 and I put it together and swoosh swoosh, there's my instant gratification.

Quit it with the instant-gratification nonsense.
You old folks were NOT, in your day, smarter than kids are today, in their day.

You - were - both - kids.
Kids - will - be - kids.
The - kids - are - all - right.

This is something I feel very strongly about.

Stickers- and STAMPS- were around in the 1970s.

@MeggyM00 said:
"For me I’d love to see updated versions of 6365 or 381 as they have personal memories, and obviously there would be a huge demand for 6399, but there are a few sets I think could be worthy."

Isn't 60440 basically a super-detailed updated version of 381 at the same $100 price point as the nostalgia-bait Space sets 10497 and 10355?

@Tupperfan said:
"Due to a communications mix-up between my parents and grandparents back then, I ended up with two versions of this set.

Greatest Christmas ever!

Thanks for the review, and can't wait for the updated version's!"

But did you build one as a mirror of the other set?

@WizardOfOss said:
" @Lyichir said:
"But Lego should not be ONLY for the most patient, skilled kids."
Makes you wonder how Lego already happened to be among the most popular toys back then, every kid had Lego....in that regard not much has changed. The big difference is they now also very much cater to adults."
This.

LEGO was the most popular toy brand even back then, and every kid seemed to have some. The amount of sets wasn't limited by how skilled you might have been, but (like today) how much money your family had, to be able to afford them. Because even back in the day LEGO was a rather expensive toy. Otoh, there were far fewer sets and those that were available generally stayed on the market for much longer than today.

And @Andrusi : it's even more funny (or sad?) to see that everything that doesn't agree with your view is considered an "angry rant", when in fact I was just describing what things were like back then, to people who haven't lived in those times and therefore, like yourself, seem to be unable to appreciate what was considered normal back then.
As for the "dumb" bit, where did I write anything like that? When I say that I find it funny that some people today complain about how complicated old instructions were, I don't judge their intelligence. I just find it funny (or sad again) how LEGO has conditioned people to now consider everything that is more than one or two pieces per step "challenging" or "frustrating".

Asymmetric design of the ship certainly increases the appeal. Then again, Blacktron designs were always appealing. I only have the 6894, but managed to create a little BT base and a few MOC vehicles in that color scheme over time. Looking at this review, I wish I had the whole line up.

@Lyichir said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"...."
ROFL

Correction. For the first time ever I was ROFL while ROFL.

I guess we were all geniuses back in the day because we (that is all my friends as well as myself) didn't have any problems putting together sets in the Eighties using those compact instructions.
...
But in general, I have experienced that the attention spans and frustration tolerances of many kids these days are much lower than they were in our days. The obvious reason being the curse of instant gratification.
Hardly anything we had back then gave us instant gratification. Toys, computer games, TV shows, magazines. We always had to be patient. Waiting for the next edition of our favorite magazine to arrive in the mail, waiting for a week (or often even longer) for the next episode of our favorite TV show or radio programme, waiting for a quarter of an hour (or longer) for a computer game to load from datasette or floppy disc on your Sinclair or Commodore machine. And so on and so on.
The point being we had much more patience because we were trained to. Throwing a tantrum wouldn't have changed anything and "giving up the hobby" wasn't really something one would think of doing either, since what would be the point? Any other hobby at the time would have required just as much patience or diligence. There simply wasn't a magical other alternative.

So, sorry, but it will always be tremendously funny to me when Millennials go on whining about how "difficult" or "frustrating" old sets were due to their instructions when in reality we got endless enjoyment out of building these sets - many of us wouldn't be AFOLs today if it wasn't for that very fact. "

As a Millennial I remember getting enjoyment out of following instructions. I also remember being one of the only ones of my peers who did so, including one birthday party where a lot of my friends struggled with sets my family got them all as party favors. Again, the fact that AFOLs from back then remember enjoying those instructions is self-selection—the people who didn't enjoy deciphering old Lego instructions rarely kept up with Lego as a hobby. There were TONS of toys back in the 70s and 80s that didn't require people to tease out complicated instructions, including things like action figures or die-cast cars or dollhouses. So your imaginary childhood where kids never gave up on Lego or moved on to other toys is a fantasy of your own devising.

Plenty of kids today do have patience, despite what elitist boomers or Gen Xers tend to pretend. But Lego should not be ONLY for the most patient, skilled kids. Making instructions simpler not only hurts nobody but allows more kids to graduate to more complex sets without feeling like they're too stupid to improve. That's what I think Lego is especially good for—the accumulation of skills, not just a reward for the already skilled to help them feel superior to everyone else."

As another Millennial having great childhood with Lego in 90's I agree with @Lyichir about that we enjoy building Lego following instructions. And knowing many of them sets to build without instructions!
And agree with @AustinPowers that today's kids have short attention spans and that they want instant gratification. After building set, they do not go swoosh afterwards :(

There was TV commercials of Lego Space, with Futuron monorail and Blacktron stopping it. Anybody else remembers it? Didn't find it on YT

@gsom7 said:
"There was TV commercials of Lego Space, with Futuron monorail and Blacktron stopping it. Anybody else remembers it? Didn't find it on YT"
Now that you mention it, yes I can vaguely remember those. They were a pleasant break from all the commercials for booze and tabacco we got back then. Even as a six year old I already knew all the main liquor and cigarette brands available in Germany :-)

We need to retroactively fire German parents. They clearly had no taste. I lost my mind when I first saw the Renegade when I was older and the internet existed. (I'm Dutch).

Lotta old men yelling at clouds in here.

We have found "Kids these days have no ______" going back to antiquity. The problem isn't the kids. The problem is you got older and you're struggling to grapple with that.

@SDlgo9 said:
"The catalogues may not have shown the minifigs using weapons in the 1980s, but the models were definitely supplied with parts that could be used for that purpose, like the 4349 loudspeaker / blaster (visible in the "There's room in the cockpit for one minifigure" photo), the 3959 torch / space gun and the 4360 camera / space gun. Reminds me a bit of 'Ringworld', where the ship carried no weapons but a lot of 'tools' that were very weapon-adjacent."
I believe that one of the early Classic Space designers admitted years later that the design team knew perfectly well that kids would treat the forward facing bars and handheld accessories as weapons. They managed to convince management that they were antennas, loudspeakers, cameras etc.

I thought, it looked so authentic, like, they really captured the style of the 80s set with all the familiar gimmicks, and even used only the 80s parts with some I assumed no longer being produced. I was so imprressed. And then it dawned on me that it IS an 80s set.

@MisterBrickster said:
"Lotta old men yelling at clouds in here.

We have found "Kids these days have no ______" going back to antiquity. The problem isn't the kids. The problem is you got older and you're struggling to grapple with that."

Insert GIF of attentive onlooker nervously eating large quantities of popcorn.

@iwybs said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Hardly anything we had back then gave us instant gratification. "

"Instant gratification"?
Instant gratification?

You old folks GOT your instant gratification building your simpler sets with their simpler instructions, simply because the simpler sets with their simpler instructions went together so much faster!

Look at the instructions of 918 , that most classic of small classic spaceships.
Then look at the instructions of 60430 , the closest modern equivalent.
Which set goes together more quickly? Which set takes longer to build?

That's right, the older set goes together more quickly.
The newer set takes longer to build.

A kid today experiences DELAYED gratification, not INSTANT gratification, building the newer set because it is so much more complex.
It's a longer, more thoughtful building experience with the newer set. It takes time.

I can put the older set together in less than a minute without looking at the instructions.
I can't do that with the newer set.

When I'm relaxing at home after work and I want instant gratification building a kit, I pull out an OLD set, not a new one. I pull out the 918 and I put it together and swoosh swoosh, there's my instant gratification.

Quit it with the instant-gratification nonsense.
You old folks were NOT, in your day, smarter than kids are today, in their day.

You - were - both - kids.
Kids - will - be - kids.
The - kids - are - all - right.

This is something I feel very strongly about.

"
Fair enough, but from my experience 918 and 60430 take roughly the same time to put together. Sure the newer set has more parts (don't get me wrong, it's one of my absolute favorite sets of recent years, particularly because it reminds me so much of 918 ), but it's just as simple to build. The only bit you can't figure out immediately from looking at the pictures is the mechanism of the engine at the back. And even that is dead simple (yet brilliant) in the end.

Plus I never said (or even thought) that we were smarter back in the day, we certainly weren't. I said we were more patient, and I stand by that because I notice the difference to people (not just kids) today, and that is something I feel very strongly about.

Even many of those once patient kids of the 80s have now grown up to be highly impatient adults "thanks" to the expectation of instant gratification everywhere.

@MisterBrickster said:
"Lotta old men yelling at clouds in here.

We have found "Kids these days have no ______" going back to antiquity. The problem isn't the kids. The problem is you got older and you're struggling to grapple with that."

Hello, fellow children. Man, those old heads are always harshing my vibe.

@StyleCounselor said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
"Lotta old men yelling at clouds in here.

We have found "Kids these days have no ______" going back to antiquity. The problem isn't the kids. The problem is you got older and you're struggling to grapple with that."

Hello, fellow children. Man, those old heads are always harshing my vibe."
Get off my lawn, you 4 corner ambulance chasing hippie. :o)

@AustinPowers said:
".Plus I never said (or even thought) that we were smarter back in the day, we certainly weren't. I said we were more patient, and I stand by that because I notice the difference to people (not just kids) today, and that is something I feel very strongly about.

Even many of those once patient kids of the 80s have now grown up to be highly impatient adults "thanks" to the expectation of instant gratification everywhere. "

It’s not an indictment of kids these days but really our society as a whole and the unfortunate impacts of social media on all of us, but especially our children.

@Zander said:
" @SDlgo9 said:
"The catalogues may not have shown the minifigs using weapons in the 1980s, but the models were definitely supplied with parts that could be used for that purpose, like the 4349 loudspeaker / blaster (visible in the "There's room in the cockpit for one minifigure" photo), the 3959 torch / space gun and the 4360 camera / space gun. Reminds me a bit of 'Ringworld', where the ship carried no weapons but a lot of 'tools' that were very weapon-adjacent."
I believe that one of the early Classic Space designers admitted years later that the design team knew perfectly well that kids would treat the forward facing bars and handheld accessories as weapons. They managed to convince management that they were antennas, loudspeakers, cameras etc.

"

“Plausible deniability.”

@Murdoch17 said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
"Lotta old men yelling at clouds in here.

We have found "Kids these days have no ______" going back to antiquity. The problem isn't the kids. The problem is you got older and you're struggling to grapple with that."

The older people get, the more they think when they were young kids respected their elders and had better attention spans. Newsflash: Nothing EVER changes! Kids have always been this way in the past, and will always be this way in the future - it's nothing new, and it's not changing."

Except the last 30 years saw the largest disruptions to attention spans in human history: the internet was invented, and smartphones distributed screens everywhere. Using realtime analytics tools which would have been completely inconceivable when I was born, software is now being constantly micro-engineered to maximize "engagement"—an industry euphemism that can easily stretch into addiction-forming behavior. These effects are widely documented, and I can safely predict they're only going to get more so. The addictive nature of infinite-scroll social media, and its ability to mold and crush young minds in particular, is quite shocking. It's no good for adults either.

There's also a documented tendency to control children's independence much more than was normal decades ago, and it has engendered its own organized backlash. You can read up on the Free-Range Parenting movement for more details.

You can also look into statistics regarding the level of independence and responsibility young adults are taking, particularly young men. They are concerning, and once again, historically anomalous. This implies a high probability of novel poor habits forming in childhood that impair functioning immediately after childhood.

In short, the thesis that children from 1985 were typically better equipped to handle more complex Lego instructions cannot be summarily dismissed as rantings of out-of-touch old people. It's a reasonable hypothesis.

Personally, my guess is the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I think placing 1–2 pieces per page feels ridiculous. I also think placing numerous parts across a large model, with no per-step manifest, is more difficult than it needs to be. My—and my children's—biggest complaint is actually not the complexity (or lack thereof) of steps, but the poor color rendering which makes it nigh impossible to figure out which part is supposed to be placed. This has gotten better than it was at its nadir in the 2000s, but the hand-drawn instruction era felt superior.

@AustinPowers said:
" Fair enough, but from my experience 918 and 60430 take roughly the same time to put together. Sure the newer set has more parts (don't get me wrong, it's one of my absolute favorite sets of recent years, particularly because it reminds me so much of 918 ), but it's just as simple to build. The only bit you can't figure out immediately from looking at the pictures is the mechanism of the engine at the back. And even that is dead simple (yet brilliant) in the end.

Plus I never said (or even thought) that we were smarter back in the day, we certainly weren't. I said we were more patient, and I stand by that because I notice the difference to people (not just kids) today, and that is something I feel very strongly about.

Even many of those once patient kids of the 80s have now grown up to be highly impatient adults "thanks" to the expectation of instant gratification everywhere. "

Fair enough.

I suppose I made two hasty errors in my comment:
1 - I exaggerated how fast I can assemble 918 without instructions. Maybe it takes two or three minutes, not just one. I've never timed myself.
2 - Since we're talking about patience and delayed gratification, I should have asserted that kids in your day weren't necessarily more patient than kids today, as an assertion about human nature.

My main assertion about human nature here, the one I do stand by strongly, is that the kids are alright. Although there is much about some parts of history that I admire in contrast to the present day, I categorically reject the ancient tradition of older generations talking as badly about younger generations as their elders talked about them when they were young.

Since I am not of the same generation as you are, I cannot speak from personal experience to say that kids these days, and adults these days, are more impatient than they were forty years ago. You work with young people, and you have observed that in their work. I respect that. However, I question your observations of how patient other children were, when you were young, on the basis of sample size (anecdotal experience), bias (your perception of yourself colors your perception of others), and nostalgia (long-faded memories from forty years ago, filtered through your beliefs about other people today). I suspect that a broad longitudinal study over this timespan would not show such a steep decay in patience. I also question your impression that adults today are more impatient than the adults were when you were a kid, again because of sample size, bias, and nostalgia. When you were a kid you had much more limited interactions with adults than you do today, in much different contexts. That's not a good position from which to draw broad sweeping conclusions that adults today are less patient than adults were back in your halcyon days of childhood.

Why do I question all these things? Because my graduate study for the last nine years has been heavily focused on statistics. I know enough about statistics to know somewhat about the limits of my knowledge and understanding, and to not want to draw broad conclusions about nearly anything at all without a really firm foundation, but I don't know enough about statistics to know how to go past those limits and draw reasonable conclusions anyway. In that way, I'm like the Stone Monkey King: "aware of vacuity", but not yet enlightened.

Regarding being "patient" versus being "smart":

True, patience and IQ intelligence are not quite the same thing, but patience is a major component of emotional intelligence and patience is often broadly associated with being smart, as a positive character trait. In the context in which we're talking about it, that is, being able to build old Lego sets from their instructions at a young age without becoming frustrated by how hard it can sometimes be to identify the new parts in each step, the general tone of the conversation associates being able to do so

@gsom7 said:
" There was TV commercials of Lego Space, with Futuron monorail and Blacktron stopping it. Anybody else remembers it? Didn't find it on YT"

Not a TV commercial, but the 1989 UK catalogue has a scene with a Blacktron being arrested by the Space Police for sabotaging the monorail.

"I believe it cost $29.99 in 1988, which is thus almost exactly 10c a piece. According to the US inflation calculator, that's about $88 today, which is very expensive for a set of this size."

This is a very telling comment. Lego has always been expensive, but people were more OK with the prices in the 80s. I'm not sure why. $30 was a lot of money for a children's toy in the 80s, just like $90 is today.

No shade towards the author. Just an interesting thought experiment.

German here - born and raised (also in the right age, the late 80s) - AND: I really like the asymmetry! It makes the look much more interesting! :)

I am normally not much into space sets. I prefer classic town, pirates and castle. And I had never heard of this set before the reimagination was announced. But I really like this model and am glad, that this way was chosen to make a very limited set somehow more approachable - the legend of the original set wont get hurt and all desperate fans around the world will have the chance of buying something very similar at a quite reasonable price. I will also have a closer look at the reimagination and may also be buying one. :)

Thanks for reviewing them both!