Thought of Dark Empire comic book and Rogue Squadron video game when I saw V-wing. Wow, the memories. The Force is strong with this 90’s nostalgia.

This may be nostalgic but it looks very basic in design.

Not one of the stronger sets from the UFO line, no. Even the figure was pretty basic.

I missed yesterdays Random Set, but thought I'd mention I've got that coffin car and every year when we crack out the Hidden Side and Monster Fighters I park it next to the graveyard for the driver to prep for digging

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Wow, ship designers in the Star Wars universe really took a step back."

To admire old Space? Also, isn't that @Binnekamp's cousin?

@ALegoFan said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Wow, ship designers in the Star Wars universe really took a step back."

To admire old Space? Also, isn't that @Binnekamp 's cousin?"

Cousin?
"As brothers in arms, Techdroid 1 and Techdroid 2 waged a lonely war against the evil Droid Empire, battling to save their home, the planet Xeebo."

Bricks n Pieces Magazine, August 1997

@Atuin said:
"Ok, too many Star Wars comments already, so here something else:

There is an oddity regarding this set towards the 1997 System "Medium" catalogue 4108478/4108479-EU (that came in most larger sets that year). Some had it shown, some not. It wouldn't be that remarkable, but there's no other difference in between both versions of the catalogue else. Also this set was never really marked as "limited" or "region-only" or something.

However, there is one other oddity regarding this. I have an old retailers catalogue (not Lego exclusive) that shows this set's box with much different aspect ratios (but no distorted image), implying a possible last minute change. It also aligns slightly with this set's number being out of order. The larger set Radon Rover from the same line has a lower number (6829) than this. Typically this wasn't the case in 1997.

The pilot's name is Techdroid II in the UK, Andy Droid in the US. His color scheme is somehow the inverse of the Spyrius droid one's, also his Bio mentions he is the "brother" of Ann Droid, the Explorien Droid (however that works). He got abducted by aliens and "reprogrammed" to serve their will. If we combine all this, I am beginning to believe that the US name of the Spyrius Droid was meant to be "Andy Droid" as well (certainly fits their "tastes" in naming).

This set never appeared much in media, with one exception:
The Lego World Club Time Cruisers Board Game (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_seAOLrkbUk).
It was considered a single NPC type entity (called "The Satellite Destroyer") and remarkably for having the most Health Points out of all enemies (it was described as "enormous in size"). It is supposed to appear in the "Space Station" event, where it attacks a satellite launched from 6958 Android Base. The satellite carried a "Time Code Cylinder" required for winning the game.
"

As far as robots having brothers go, Lego isn't the only toy company where the fiction associated with their toys depicted robotic familial relationships: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Relatives And I had no idea *one* Time Cruisers board game existed, let alone two!

@CoreySinny said:
"Warp wing fighter was the OG X-wing set and it RULED."

Um, you know Star Wars Just Star Wars had already become an international phenomenon before the articulated minifig first appeared on store shelves, right?

@TheOtherMike:
Futurama also depicts robots as being related to each other. I just started rewatching the series, and Bender got a birthday card from an assembly line robot he refers to as “mom” in S1.

@Atuin said:
"Cousin?
"As brothers in arms, Techdroid 1 and Techdroid 2 waged a lonely war against the evil Droid Empire, battling to save their home, the planet Xeebo."

Bricks n Pieces Magazine, August 1997"

Now I'm curious; do we know who the evil droid empire were in that context? We'd seen occasional Lego Space robots, but to my knowledge they tended to be one-off assistant-type characters such as Ann Droid, rather than a unified faction.

I almost wonder if it's referring to the other minifigures from this same UFO theme, who seem to be at least partially mechanical? But I always interpreted them as living beings who the techdroids were aligned with; at least some of their ships sport the UFO theme insignia, like this one does on the top plate of its tail fin.

Then again, it kinda is just like 90s Lego to drop a reference in the backstory to something that sounds like it should be a big deal, and then proceed to never elaborate on it...!

The V-Wing first appeared in Revenge of the Sith. Lego invented the V-Wing before the prequel trilogy even began!?!?!?!!

@PurpleDave said:
" @CoreySinny said:
"Warp wing fighter was the OG X-wing set and it RULED."

Um, you know Star Wars Just Star Wars had already become an international phenomenon before the articulated minifig first appeared on store shelves, right?"

Obviously, which is why I said it was the OG X-wing set, not the OG-X-wing. This set came out before we had any official LEGO X-wings.

@PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike:
Futurama also depicts robots as being related to each other. I just started rewatching the series, and Bender got a birthday card from an assembly line robot he refers to as “mom” in S1."

There was also Flexo, Bender's brother.

@MinerCrafter said:"The V-Wing first appeared in Revenge of the Sith. Lego invented the V-Wing before the prequel trilogy even began!?!?!?!!"

As I pointed out in my first post in this thread, there was an EU V-Wing that predates both, and that Lucas either ignored or was unaware of when making Ep. III.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike:
Futurama also depicts robots as being related to each other. I just started rewatching the series, and Bender got a birthday card from an assembly line robot he refers to as “mom” in S1."

There was also Flexo, Bender's brother.

@MinerCrafter said:"The V-Wing first appeared in Revenge of the Sith. Lego invented the V-Wing before the prequel trilogy even began!?!?!?!!"

As I pointed out in my first post in this thread, there was an EU V-Wing that predates both, and that Lucas either ignored or was unaware of when making Ep. III."

But in Star Wars, Latin script predates Aurebesh, which both predate real Latin because they're from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but Aurebesh predates Latin because it was in the prequel films, but the whole tiresome multitude of rebel fighter craft are named after Latin letters, which don't exist because they got retconned out by the re-release films, so the rebel fighter craft don't exist, so Lego wins and Star Wars mythos, as usual, makes no sense. QED.

@ThatBionicleGuy said:
" @Atuin said:
Now I'm curious; do we know who the evil droid empire were in that context? We'd seen occasional Lego Space robots, but to my knowledge they tended to be one-off assistant-type characters such as Ann Droid, rather than a unified faction.
"

Unfortunately that article/story in Bricks n Pieces is all sorts of vague and to a degree even contradictory in itself. The character bios mention "Commander X" who is depicted as the blue UFO alien, yet just below that they show him unmasked as the picture for Techdroid 2... (Techdroid 2 is more clearly identified as the red android in the UK catalogue, where he is mentioned multiple times).

Commander X is said to have rescued both Techdroids from the Black Droid Empire and is the leader of the UFO fleet (the UK canon is the only one making the blue the leader).

Oddly though this seems to be a slightly distorted version of the original "story bible" for UFO, mixing up "Chamon" (red alien) and "Lomax" (blue alien?) or maybe Commander X is even Chamon (who knows...). The story bible mentions a rebellion led by Chamon and Lomax against an evil emperor called "Zatam", which probably is both the basis for this "Black Droid Empire" and the US version's Alpha Dragonis.

The whole in-faction oppositon seems to be an ongoing thing in 1997, as Basil the Batlord and Willa the Witch were also often shown to be at odds with each other. Btw, Basil is part of the UFO canon in many sources, including the story bible (as Chamon sort of time-travelled accidentally via a black hole).

Unfortunately the "Alpha Dragonis and Chamon are enemies" theory does not line up at all with the larger UFO canon established in the 1997 advertisement booklet, where the (unnamed) black/grey UFO alien is both the commander ("Overlord") of the UFO fleet and a somewhat wise and benevolent leader. Also Lego Racers considered Alpha Dragonis and Chamon the same character.

Similarly the name of their planet is heavily different depending on source:
Story Bible/Denmark/Germany: Zotax
US/North America: Humorless
UK: Xizos (Commander X)/Xeebo (Techdroids)
Netherlands: Otopia

There's probably even more...

EDIT:
Techdroid II is called "Old One Eye" the "retired insect" in the August 1998 issue of Bricks n Pieces.

Re: UFO lore: I don't ever remember seeing any actual story around the sets, but I seem to remember that sometimes they were depicted in promotional materials as alien invaders in a Town setting (I definitely remember at least one image of that), and sometimes they were depicted as Roboforce's opponents in a Space setting.