Random set of the day: Bug Obliterator
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 70705 Bug Obliterator, released during 2013. It's one of 12 Space sets produced that year. It contains 711 pieces and 4 minifigs, and its retail price was US$79.99/£59.99.
It's owned by 2,959 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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61 comments on this article
Is anyone else finding this name to be a bit of a tongue twister?
That white, black and orange colour scheme is great. This is the first time I've seen those orange minifig wings, too.
Oh, this is a good one! Admittedly I'm biased in favour of orange-infused spaceships, (and spaceships generally), but this does the Galaxy Squad split-function trick in a nice way, and it comes with some great figures (the robot sidekick has wings! the bug has antenna! both of the orange team astronauts!).
I think it helped that I managed to get it at a discount, but I think it's not appreciated much over the years, so it's still pretty good value.
Man I love Galaxy Squad, never managed to get this one at the time but I definitely want to go back and complete the line at some point. A friend of mine had this one and it was really cool in person.
I think it needs a few more guns.
Galaxy Squad never tickled my fancy back in the day, but looking back now I wish I got a few. I'd love to have a massive bug swarm!
Galaxy Squad is one of the few themes that I’ve collected every single set from, including the polybags.
I really like this one, especially when it’s split into separate vehicles - the space fighter has great angles and swooshability, while the missile truck is just fun.
Oh, I loved the Galaxy Squad sets. The massive cybernetic insect builds were just so freaking cool. I bought a few of them, but nowhere near enough.
The Galaxy squad range is awesome! Too bad I didn't jump on it when I started back into Lego. Instead I picked them up second hand, and as such I am missing a number of the Antennae.
Was this the last space theme from Lego? (Apart from City space mission)
When are we getting a space theme again?
Galaxy Squad is amazing, it was retired right around when I got back into Lego though so I missed it.
One of the few Galaxy Squad sets that I actually didn't get. Love this theme, wish something similar would come back.
I loved Galaxy Squad! I wasn't the biggest fan of the villains, but the heroes and their vehicles captured my attention. I really loved that we got the same uniform in 4 different colors, and the 4 different robot sidekicks looked awesome. The hero face prints were fantastic as well. I have used the facemask expressions countless times.
@Miyakan said:
"I am missing a number of the Antennae."
Yeah... so I can't find those darn dark red antennae either. Probably in a landfill or in some air conditioning vent in a prior home. Their Bricklink prices are astronomical.
I love this one! It's modular (as most good Lego spaceships are), it's got those cool swept-forward swing-wings, the robot's cool, and I like that the rover has a way to launch two flick-fire missiles at once. I'm not usually that big on flick-fires, but when you do something clever with them, I like them.
@mern: I hope you get one, but you can't have mine!
@Miyakan and @Harmonious_Building: Id love to see another original Space theme, too. Preferably one that has as many references to previous Space themes as Space Police III did.
Gotta love the robot's BFG...LEGO really started getting creative with the personal weapons around this time. I only built about half of the Galaxy Squad sets, including this one, but someday I'll put together some bases for both the GS and the insect factions; the color combinations work really well for both sides.
Ah, Galaxy Squad; not quite "Classic Space", but still...
I mean: I looooooved the idea of 'two vehicles in one', had a really cool starfighter (although I did hate the rotating cockpit; THIS AIN'T A B-WING TLG...er)...overall, I did really did like the idea of the series; have a few of the sets (wish I got 'the Titan'), and yeah...if we can't get "Classic" or "Neo-Classic" Space...this was a good 'sub':)
The last original LEGO space theme is over a decade old. Sure, we've gotten tidibts now and then, but no cohesive theme since 2013.
It's really sad.
I'm not old enough for Galaxy Quest to be on RSoTD.
@oukexergon said:
" @Miyakan said:
"I am missing a number of the Antennae."
Yeah... so I can't find those darn dark red antennae either. Probably in a landfill or in some air conditioning vent in a prior home. Their Bricklink prices are astronomical."
Great minifigs. They make great filler for a Star Wars cantina or Maz's watering hole.
YEEESSSS!!! Great set!!
I didn’t think much of Galaxy Squad when it first came out, but looking back on the sets now they all look really, really cool…
Oh I love this set! I found it at a store like 2 years ago I was so surprised.
Oh no Galaxy Squad is already a decade old?!?
I got almost the entire collection, I think. I even got six or seven of the Galaga for a nice little swarm! I kept them together until my kids got old enough. They love them! They’ll still get them out from time to time and have epic space bug battles with the Alien Defense guys.
Man what a great theme. Loved it!
My GOD, Galaxy Squad is 10 this year, that's. Jarring
@phi13 said:
"I'm not old enough for Galaxy Quest to be on RSoTD."
Not much danger in that happening, I’m afraid. Though it would get Alan Rickman another minifig if it did…
The bugs are the best
I LOVE this set. I have a smaller set from this wave as well and the transforming features are so fun. I want to get some more someday, but we’ll see. I was really in my dark ages when I bought them. I can’t for the life of me remember why I picked them up.
Ah, the last sub-theme of space! The vehicles were so cool, but compared to space police III the aliens were a bit too generic for me.
A great set from a great theme!
Funny, I've never heard of that theme before.
Looks cool though.
At the time I had just come out of my dark ages thanks to my daughter, but back then Duplo was our main focus for a while. :-)
i got almost all bugs of this series in a secondhand lot, defacto complete, and not a single trace of the good guys.
looks someone really loved one half of the galaxy squad team and hated the other.
i'm team "bugs"!
Galaxy Squad was so underrated. I wanted this set so bad but unfortunately never got it. Relatively inexpensive now still though so I may get it one day
I’d forgotten just how little chill the names and designs of the Galaxy Squad sets had
Really wish I had gotten some of these sets back in the day. There were a lot of really great ones and this is no exception! Damn, we need a new space theme. Aaaany day now lego….
Not my time, but it's nice to see there was still Space in 2013. I think that was the last Space theme ever, so we're now 10 years without a Space theme.
Programmers love it!
Space sets have cool set names. Eradicator. Vaporizer. Obliterator.
Very underrated. But then, for some, there were no true Space sets released after 1979.
@PhantomBricks said:
"I loved Galaxy Squad! I wasn't the biggest fan of the villains, but the heroes and their vehicles captured my attention. I really loved that we got the same uniform in 4 different colors, and the 4 different robot sidekicks looked awesome. The hero face prints were fantastic as well. I have used the facemask expressions countless times."
Yeah, the bug villains were a bit bland and, dare I say, space racist. If they had villains akin to the various Alpha Teams or Space Police, it may have been more interesting
Nice theme. 80$ tho, in 2013. Oof. The whole range was overpriced.
At one point I bought this set second hand and the picture in the back of the instruction had faded or was badly printed, so that the colour scheme actually looked red (for the orange) and gold (for the trans-yellow cones). I bought the missing pieces, extra stickers and made myself a red Team (speed) Bug Obliterator! It was cool :)
(Green sets = defense/artillerie, red=speed, orange=firepower, blue=strategie/technologie)
@PurpleDave said:
" @phi13 said:
"I'm not old enough for Galaxy Quest to be on RSoTD."
Not much danger in that happening, I’m afraid. Though it would get Alan Rickman another minifig if it did…"
I had recently seen that movie when this came out, and I'm afraid I'm doomed to forever confuse the names.
I absolutely LOVE Galaxy Squad. I have multiples of most of the sets, and I purchased extra bugs on ebay. I continue to make MOCs of new bugs, including taking existing "bug" builds from sets and doing palette swaps. For example, sets 79001, 80014, and 7305 all have good builds that make excellent Galaxy Squad bugs.
The bugs were the best part as they offered a different build experience and design to the usual space ships and vehicles and reminded me of the old scrolling arcade games. Always wondered about combining to create a mega boss bug but this theme was not around long enough.
It's a feature, not a bug!
@Ridgeheart:
Soccre-blue and soccre-orange?
@Snail:
Did the lot come with any filet hu-mon steaks?
@lost_scotsman:
Clearly you haven’t been paying attention to what leading scientists like Dr Hawking had to say regarding first contact with an alien species…
@phi13:
“Quest” rhymes with “chest”, which you’ll understand if you watch the cut scenes. It also explains a weird costume alteration that doesn’t make any sense in the movie as it was released.
I'm happy to see so much love for the theme over here.
Because this set and its cohorts are seriously some of my favorites! It and the Swarm Interceptor always struck me as an awesome pair, and the sets just compliment each other so well! I absolutely love this sets's simple but effective design and it looks good as a dual cockpit gunship AND as a heavy fighter plus ground tank. Even the alien dragonfly is amazing!
Seriously, this set is detailed. Check out the engines at the back! They didn't even have that much detail in the 80s!
The minifigs are great too! You can use their masked face or unmasked face for grunts and named characters if you have multiples. And we get the exclusive Ashley Starstrider here.
As for those antennae... argh! I'm missing one (it was a second hand set) and it drives me nuts. Why lego?! I literally got the Warp Stinger brand new lately and it turned out they didn't even include a spare! Why make 1x1 plates and even the giant black whip antenna a spare but not those teensy tiny antennae? No wonder they're so often missing!
It saddens me that it has been TEN YEARS since the last full Space theme. Just look at all the cool stuff lego can do when they have full creative control! Licensed sets are fun in moderation, but we miss stuff like this if it's nothing but recreations of other things. Sorry if I bring up that discussion a lot, but I just love original themes so much! I guess it just makes what we did get more special for me. I'm seriously grateful for the 2007-2013 space themes even being a thing. And of course the classic 1979-1998 and 2001 runs (yes, I count Life on Mars too).
I'm also shocked that sets I bought as an AFOL are now turning up on RSOTD - it comes to us all I suppose...
Speaking of which, I thought the set looked more familiar than most - turns out I own it but had completely forgotten! I did get it for less than half price which is probably the reason I have this but none of the others from the theme as they were all originally priced higher than my interest - though I remember the (later?) Hive Crawler set had a fantastic 'movement' function. Wish I'd got that one too now!
@Binnekamp:
The insecty bits were pre-packed in China, where it’s cheaper to pay people to manually inspect each packet than it is to include spares of what is hands down the easiest piece to lose.
Finally, a RSOTD that I own!
Picked this up at a discount back in the day, and still have it boxed! Love the design of this ship. Don’t know if it’s worth opening now or keeping it sealed?
I see some parts from CMF lines on there
@lost_scotsman said:
"Yeah, the bug villains were a bit bland and, dare I say, space racist. If they had villains akin to the various Alpha Teams or Space Police, it may have been more interesting "
If the villains were similar to space police, I would have been all over this theme. Even if they were just one species in different colors. My favorite aliens were Kranxx and Rench. They also fit really well in Star Wars.
Oh how I wish we could get more wonderful original Lego IPs like this. Galaxy Squad rocked. To the point where I got every set in the theme, polybags included, which is something I rarely do. This line was awesome.
Can only agree with what so many others have said. Galaxy Squad rocked, but died before its time. I wish there'd been a second wave.
Wow, 3 sets I own have been RSotD in the past week... surprising considering how small my collection is!
Galaxy Squad was a great theme, back when LEGO still did 1-year in-house themes. It could have gone for a second year like Ultra Agents, but I don't recall GS having much of a storyline to keep it going, so I suspect it wouldn't have sold very well.
Anyways, the Obliterator is my only Galaxy Squad set. I bought it in 2015, right before it retired, off Bricklink for around $60. $80 was too much. I love the color scheme, and the minifigs were cool to young me. Definitely one of my favorite sets in my collection. I do kinda wish this set had been released in 2014, so it could have had spring-shooters or stud shooters instead of just a few flick missiles, which, for a ship with so many laser cannons, were rather underwhelming. But at least the set still looked suitably intimidating. And that poor alien was so massively outgunned....
Underrated theme. Would love to see another dedicated original space theme soon.
I literally got this less than a week ago! I'm collecting the Galaxy squad lineup because I loved Lego space, I was in elementary school when the last space police and this came out, and personally they have the coolest styling/theming of all Lego, next to power miners ofc.
I bought this on eBay a few weeks back. Pretty much an impulse buy that I did not expect to win, but maybe it was meant to be. My first ever Galaxy Squad set given it was released during my Lego dark ages. Still haven't got time to build it, but this post might just push me over the edge this weekend.
@dcmal said:
"Can only agree with what so many others have said. Galaxy Squad rocked, but died before its time. I wish there'd been a second wave."
There were two waves- December 2012 and June 2013. Plus the two polybags in February 2013.
I have ten of twelve GS sets. 70708 Hive Crawler is the best- the leg movement works well and is very creepy.
@560heliport:
And that second wave is what allowed the Mantis alien to have the antennae molded onto its head, where the Mosquito alien had removable antennae that were basically designed to be lost the first day.