The Lego Space Saga Part III: Do We Get a Do Over?

Lego was doing reboots long before reboots were cool. Actually, they were doing reboots before “reboot” was used in context with a storyline, heck, in 1991 most of us didn’t know what the original context for the word was. They didn’t do gritty reboots, however. In fact, they went just the opposite direction.

Remember the hallmarks for a bad guy? Blacktron II has none of them. Their visors are transparent, their structures are rounded, and their model names are non-threatening. Even their uniforms are mostly white, with a black octagon and a bright green “B” emblazoned in the center. Though they retain the satellite dishes and antennae, they do not appear to sport much in the way of weaponry. Finally, the picture on the box for Blacktron II’s “Space Landing Pads (6710)” clearly shows M-Tron ships alongside Blacktron II ships and structures. Would the heretofore neutral M-Tron ally themselves with bad guys? Are those dishes and antennae really for such a sinister intent as espionage, or are they simply for communication and atmospheric data collection? Perhaps more pertinent is why did Lego go to such great lengths to distance Blacktron II from the bad boy image, yet allow them to inherit the name of their violent predecessors? Perhaps the real answer has something to do with marketing or some other such real world tedium, but that’s boring. I prefer to make something up, like an internal split or the faction evolving over a number of decades, or even centuries.

The following year Lego released three models for another reiteration of an old faction, the Space Police. Space Police II are as heavily armed as the original Space Fuzz, though their greenish-blue visors and cockpits are less aggressive than the red featured by their forebears. The “Solar Snooper (6957)” model does feature a Blacktron II figure, but he is standing alongside the vehicle instead of being imprisoned inside it. Perhaps this suggests a demilitarized role for the Space Police II, more in keeping with traditional police work in upholding laws inside a nation, or at least inside a cooperative network of nations. Then again, the massive “Galactic Mediator (6984)” is a little much for pulling over speeders and broken tail lights.

The Space universe was filling out nicely, but in ’93 Lego thankfully decided to pull away from their “II” phase. Rather than make a second generation of M-Tron, they gave us a completely new neutral faction in Ice Planet 2002. They live on a planet, mostly ice no less, so their vehicles are equipped to deal with heavy snow and rough terrain. Most vehicles also have a toothed saw for their pilots to wield, so they can chop through the ice. They are mostly open canopy, however, so presumably their suits are quite warm. Ice Planet guys often use missiles as well, and not just the small fighter jet kind, either. They have big rockets designed for launching satellites into orbit. They make a wonderful standalone faction, since they can play with others if you want, but they don’t need a nemesis to be interesting.

Lego had a great thing going on by now. After Space Police II they came out with a brand new faction every year, perhaps adding a model or two to the previous year’s faction, but continuing to expand the universe. Most factions could conceivably be good or bad, and each is free to interact with the others to whatever end you choose. Alliances, trade agreements, espionage, double agents, battles, embargoes, kidnappings and jailbreaks, sabotage and spacewalk repairs, you could and can play any of these scenarios and not break Lego canon.

That’s not to say they became, boring, though… Continued in Part IV

Lego Space Saga Part II: The (potential) Plot Thickens

It’s December 26^th, 1988, and your parents and extended family apparently love you way more than you can possibly appreciate. Between the grandparents, mom and dad, “Santa Claus” and uncle Norv, you have received the complete Lego Space collection for that entire year. After hours of assembly you finally begin to play, and immediately notice that Futuron is hilariously outgunned. Fortunately, the guys in white are already working on a plan.

The following year saw the release of the Space Police, who apparently serve as the military arm for the Futuron forces. Their uniforms are identical to Futuron’s in design, but with black instead of the customary yellow, blue or red. However, their visors are red instead of blue, and their aesthetic is a far cry from Futuron’s passive white, rounded models. Space Police use a narrow, elongated construction with black bricks, blue trim, and cockpits tinted red. Most of their vehicles are equipped with a tiny holding cell, and each is armed to the teeth. The Space Police are clearly not messing around.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Space Police is their name. The Marines and the Air Force are military branches that engage with foreign enemies, but police deal in domestic troubles, inside of a nation. Another interesting detail is that Blacktron’s largest ship is called the “Renegade.” Could it be that Blacktron was intended to be a breakaway faction from the Futuron Empire? Are they really bad guys? Then again, Blacktron are obviously interested in fighting Futuron, not merely leaving them.

The forces appeared to be balanced once more, but Lego still had a problem. Futuron are boring. It’s easy to sell bad guys; just load them up with a passel of weaponry and watch them go. Good guys are a harder sell. With the exception of police, they need to have a mission separate from “fight the bad guys,” otherwise, what are the bad guys going to disrupt? They also have to have some kind of flair as they go about their constructive mission, otherwise the bad guys are more fun to play with. Futuron are alright, but they lack pizzazz, panache, and pulchritude. Lego needed their white hats to have a good gimmick to go along with their good intentions. Rather than revamp Futuron, Lego chose to develop a whole new faction to throw in the Space universe. Enter M-Tron.

M-Tron have a distinct look all their own, with models made of black and red with glowing green trim. Their surface vehicles all have oversized tires for rough terrain, and their space ships have multiple horizontal fins, perhaps for better lift in atmo. Their minifigures are immediately recognizable in their transparent green visors and the “M” logo emblazoned on their chests. The “M” stands for “Magnets,” which they use to haul around their boxes of unidentified MacGuffins. The “tron” stands for futurism, I think. Their release saw a nice balance of space and surface vehicles, so M-Tron was fully prepared to enter the galactic fray from the beginning. The surface/space hybrid vehicle offered the following year made an outstanding addition, giving them some of the most interesting models in the Space theme to date.

Lego’s development of the Space theme was both clever and calculated. They could have easily fixed Futuron’s deficiencies by militarizing their basic designs, but instead they added the Space Police. Likewise, they could have kept releasing Futuron models and simply added the magnet trick, but again, they chose to introduce a new faction. Just as Lego provides a variety of blocks for us to assemble into different shapes, they gave a variety of factions to assemble into different narratives. Space Police default as working for Futuron, but they could defect, or take bribes, or be selective in who they apprehend and when. Do they help keep M-Tron safe as well? What about that fourth faction, do they help support the good guys, or do they sell to the highest bidder? The beautiful thing about Lego is that they allow you to decide. Again, the limiting factor is not the toy, it’s your imagination.

Continued in Part III…