Random set of the day: Aerial Intruder
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6981 Aerial Intruder, released in 1991. It's one of 13 Space sets produced that year. It contains 267 pieces and 2 minifigs.
It's owned by 2206 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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A lot of trans-yellow here. Is that a big print or sticker? very cute.
It's a print, but there is zero trans-yellow on the Blacktron Cadet Corps sets. That's trans-neon green.
^^http://lego.brickinstructions.com/en/lego_instructions/set/6981/Aerial_Intruder
Looks like it's not a sticker, see model 2 step 10-4.
I also conformed this with Rebrickable.
That is a Beautiful Ship!
This was my younger Lego heyday. Castle/Pirates was always my favorite, but this wave of M-Tron and Blacktron had me adding space to my medieval village scenes. To me, the early to mid nineties was the pinnacle of Lego creativity.
How intrusive!
LEGO Golden Years.
Never had this set personally, but Blacktron II had some of my favorite vehicles. Loved how modular they were! Still have a couple of those giant B panels from Alpha Centauri in not-the-best condition somewhere :/
I had this and lots of other blacktron. Amazing designs and great playability.
Not sure where it ended up actually...
Out of the bucket of black, white, and trans-neon green parts my mom brought home for me from a garage sale, it was the Aerial Intruder that I first assembled (albeit many years later) from the parts and into my heart. Since 1994, I had been curious as to what Lego set included that beautiful, big green windshield with the "3" logo (I thought it was a "3" until I learned about the theme name from Lego catalogs), and once I discovered instruction scans on Brickshelf (remember when they used to have those?) in the summer of 2001, this was one of the first sets I put together from that childhood haul.
It's an amazing set. The detachable pods were staples of the series, but the automatic loading ramp feature really was the standout. By moving aside some black clip pieces at the front of the ship, you were free to raise the neon-green windshield. As you did that, it automatically lowered the cargo ramp to deposit the two mini cars stashed inside. It was an ingenious mechanism using almost no Technic pieces. And in the back, you had a storage bubble compartment to store one of those awesome EVA jetpacks (which I always thought of as heavy laser or mini bazooka launcher jet pack combos). And the set is so swooshable to boot! Gosh, this thing, even in 2001, outshone my X-wing Starfighter Lego set and it started that compulsion in me to rebuild all the miscellaneous early 90s sets that I had the pieces, but no instructions, to. In time, when I built everything I could, I started looking to buy those holy relics of a bygone time that I had missed out on (usually due to price, ironically), when Lego seemed to be at the height of their powers. And it was all thanks to Blacktron and the Aerial Intruder!
After Classic Space, Blacktron is definetly my second favorite theme. I have to be honest though, I favor the first wave over the second. Lately I made some moc/mods in the Blacktron first wave manner and color scheme, expanding my squad of bad boys :)
classic space! and how can you not love it? detachable modules, the mechanism that swings the screen and launchpad at the same time to deploy the little rovers, those iconic bubble shaped cockpits...I only question what that is on the top thats designed to spin. some kind of radar sensor?
SPACE
Evil! IN SPACE!
Also Awesome! IN SPACE!
it's the only Blacktron 2 set I don't have. I hope to find a good offer on BL someday
Love the Blacktron range. These guys were meant to be the baddies, but still had some of the coolest spaceships and vehicles ever made by LEGO.
This is almost a carbon copy of the Futuron StarDefender 200, but different colors. And it’s still so awesome.
I think of Blacktron I as space pirates and spies (from set titles like Message Intercept Base), and Blacktron 2 as a militaristic regime bent on conquest (as evidenced by this set being an "Intruder" and the many conflicts they had with M:Tron, Space Police 2 and Ice Planet.
Yet another pre-me set that I would have bought had I been alive :)
This was the last Blacktron II set I acquired. It's both clunky and open at the same time, similar to most of the sets in this theme. Strangely enough, I like the designs of the smaller Blacktron II spaceships and vehicles better than the larger ones like this one; the open concept seems to work better with the smaller ships, and the interchangeable bubble cockpits, while an interesting design, don't seem to integrate in with the rest of the ship very well.
Having said all that: bravo Huwbot, excellent choice to have Space as RSOTD!
My favourite spaceship ever!
Futuron had a simlar "let's use a giant piece of window glass and build a ship around it," 6884. This works better, but that's not sayin' much... Still, Blacktron is Blacktron, so I gotta give it some love, even if this wasn't the best of them!
Great color scheme, great faction.
Closest modern set to this is Berserker Bomber from 2018, but that uses trans bright green and not neon yellow.
I really miss trans neon yellow.
This was my favorite set as a child. My brother and I spent hours playing with these guys. The detachable mini ships were awesome, as were the white jet-packs for the figures. Two sleek rovers too. We built and re-built this set hundreds of times... An excellent set and bigger than the piece count would have you believe.
And can I also say that I miss the build suggestions at the end of each instruction book. I remember trying to copy the build variants for this set, and never getting all the way there, but it was a great jumping off point for my own ideas. I wish they would bring that back.