Best of BrickNerd — Article originally published January 5, 2023.
Celebrating 90 years of play, LEGO brought back one of its most iconic sets much to the delight of LEGO Space fans everywhere—Galaxy Explorer 10497 (a quasi-UCS remake of the original 497 Galaxy Explorer from 1978).
This was an amazing love note to both fans who grew up with the original set and all subsequent fans that have fallen in love with the Blue, Bley (Medium Stone Grey) and Trans-Yellow colour scheme that has become known as the so-called Neo-Classic Space (NCS) theme, best represented by superstar builders like Pete Reid:
Neo Classic Space LL 497 by Pete ReId
During the anniversary, Castle fans were also appeased by probably one of the coolest sets of 2022 with a (big castle) which also (sorta) released with a fitting Gift With Purchase (GWP) hearkening back to the original Forestmen. Sure the Lion's Knight Castle was about 4x as pricy as the Galaxy Explorer, but I know some Space fans were a bit disappointed they didn’t get their own GWP.
Though be it by design or happy circumstance, Space fans can rejoice in knowing that we have our own Classic Space GWP available now to January 14, 2023 (while supplies last)! Say hello to 40580 Blactron Cruiser!
The LEGO Group was kind enough to send BrickNerd a copy which I begrudgingly built then quickly messed around to create the following abomination with only the pieces from the set:
I call him Wheeltron
While I’m one of BrickNerd’s Resident Spacers, I'm really a bit more of a Sci-Fi guy, and I tend to be less of a Classic Space fan but more of a Benny Fan (SPACESHIPS!)
Not that I don’t appreciate the classic aesthetic or the wonderful Neo-Classic Space (NCS) style that has been established by the UK NCS Spacers, but it lacks a bit of nostalgia for me as I never really grew up with these space sets. Though that doesn’t stop me from totally partaking in the fun:
UCS Benny SPACESHIP! SPACESHIP! SPACESHIP! Exploer - Simon Liu
That said dear reader, I think it would be an interesting turn to take a look into TRON—or as I now call it, “Totally Retro Objective Nostalgia”. TRON themes are just awesome—it doesn't matter if you have sentimental attachment, we can all agree these themes were cool and have a great colour scheme and design language. So I'm going to go through each of my favorite TRONs and show you my favorite build from the community.
Blacktron
brickipedia.fandom.com
Blacktron was released alongside Futuron in 1987 after the successful Classic Space theme (or I guess it was just “Space” at that point in time). This theme is also commonly known as Blacktron I because (spoiler!) there was a sequel theme that followed—more on that later. Blackton was introduced as the “bad guys” in the LEGO Space Universe (LSU). The Blacktron fleet featured a predominately Black with Yellow accented colour theme with Trans Yellow canopies with a touch of Trans Red highlights.
The minifigure was a really cool and pure black with a black visor—a very “Top Gun bad pilot” vibe. (If you haven't read some of the numerous reviews out there like this awesome one from Rambling Brick, I will point out that the minifigure in the new GWP is slightly different and the torso has a print on the back!)
But what really stands out to me with the Blacktron theme is just how menacing the entire line was, which has in turn created a wealth of awesome MOCs. But of all the Blacktron I builds over the year, the one that stands out to me is this one by Adrian Drake:
Blacktron Behemoth - Adrian Drake
This space tank is just massive in size which is the usual style of Mr. Drake, but it really dials into the dark spot of Blacktron with their very cool vehicles. I also was amused that this build was inadvertently part of the “I guess it's a collab now?” where Adrian, Micah and myself all built Blacktron vehicles and brought them to the same convention without realizing it.
M-Tron
brickipedia.fandom.com
Next up on our Totally Retro Objectively Nostalgic theme is M-Tron, introduced in 1990. While in the first “Tron” series the prefix defined the predominant colour scheme, for M-Tron, the prefix described the coolest play feature LEGO has used: magnets! For those that are unaware, the whole niche of the M-Tron sets was that they had MAGNETS! Where Classic Space and Futron focused on space exploration and Blackton was more bad guys, M-Tron featured the miners/rescuers that used cranes and other contraptions to pick up small boxes… WITH MAGNETS. (Our editors probably won’t let me link to some questionable Breaking Bad memes… so here’s an ironically relevant commercial instead:)
So while the theme was a bit gimmicky with the magnets, it did give us some really cool pieces to play with. But we shouldn’t forget that the design language of M-Tron is fantastic—the colour palette consisted of primarily Red, with Grey accents and Trans-Neon-Green canopies. This theme actually introduced the Trans-Neon Green colour which is one of my personal favorites simply because it’s one of the few that react heavily under UltraViolet/Black Light (since trying to effectively create non-photoshopped glowing effects is one of my FAVOURITE things to do in builds).
Unlike all the other Classic Space sets of the time, the M-Tron theme was the first that actually had no bases. Instead, it was focused entirely on vehicles—another reason I’m objectively nostalgic about this theme. M-Tron also had possibly one of BEST Nice Part Usage (NPU) in an official set at the time, using the large quarter dome as a canopy in the Mega Core Magnetizer.
(And while not part of my TRON round-up, I do have to point out one of the best homages to a past set ever was Chris Perron’s take on the Mega Core Magnetize: Ice Inspector which I then homaged myself (an homage-ception?) with an Ice Cube Inspector.
But the MOC that really stands out for me in the M-Tron space is ironically not a vehicle, but a base, specifically Blake Foster’s M-Tron Magnet Factory:
M-Tron Magnet Factor - Blake Foster
This build is just absolutely stunning and huge—it captures the Red with Grey accents so well and even puts the entire base on a tan surface, just like many of the old LEGO set adverts. You can read more about Blake’s amazing build from our friends at The Brothers Brick.
Blacktron Future Generation (or more commonly Blacktron II)
image via 1980somethingspace
And they’re back! We started with Blacktron and they returned in 1991 with a revamped logo and colour scheme. While still predominately Black, the theme added large White accents along with an upgrade to Trans-Neon Green canopies. While this does make them slightly less menacing, the addition of the white really makes it a much more pleasing aesthetic overall.
LEGO also evolved the design language from the first Blacktron which was a far more pointer “fighter plane” aesthetic to a more 60s retro-futuristic bulbous style most iconically used in the 6887 Allied Avengers.
While there are a lot of great examples of Blackton II fan builds out there, the one that stands out to me isn’t actually that spacey… but is instead more of a ship! This MOC by Stephan Niehoff just nails the colour scheme in a surprising application of the Blacktron II vibe. While I do miss the previously mentioned bulbous aesthetic, I do have to give credit for just plan coolness… if I were a Blacktron baddy and had to make a speedy sea getaway, I’d certainly need one of these ships:
Blacktron II Special Forces - Stephan Niehoff
Tron Legacy
While we’re out of official LEGO Tron themes in space, one of my absolute favorite colour schemes/aesthetics of all time is that of… well, actually Tron, the movie! While the original film was great for its time—and I’m sure holds tons of nostalgic value for some—it’s Tron Legacy that extends the… well, TRON legacy for me.
Cool minifigures call for cool posing! Awesome photo via The Brothers Brick
While it's no Oscar-winning picture, aesthetically Tron Legacy is visually magnificent. The whole palette to me breaks down to Black and Blue or Orange accents in grid or stylistic outlines. We were lucky that LEGO did produce a new set via LEGO Ideas for Tron Legacy (that has some of my favorite LEGO minifigures ever produced).
I love this aesthetic so much that I ran one, and almost two contests based around the black / (neon) Orange/Blue colour scheme. You can see some of the great entries here where we mashed up the Tron aesthetic and applied it to the Star Wars universe.
And while there are some fantastic Tron builds out there, and I’m saddened at the collab that never happened for CastleTron (damn you Covid!).
I think I need to stick to the classic Tron Bike—something I poorly tried to build compared to Joe Perez who created this stunning Light Cycle:
Tron lightcycle - Joe perez
There have been a few LEGO Light Cycles built but none that has the wonderful curvatures Joe managed to reproduce creating the most elegant highlights.
Bonus TRON!
I don't think I could write an article breaking down some of my favorite TRONs without the coolest Tron of them all.... megaTRON! While unlike the other themes I can at least (sorta) argue I've at least touched or tried to build in that space, I've never built a Transformers Megatron (yet). The closest I’ve gotten was a Soundwave, so sorry if I don’t have the street cred to properly praise Moko’s wonderful little Megatron:
Megatron - Moko
With Optimus Prime now an official LEGO set, part of me hopes that we’ll see a Megatron, but given his background, I wouldn’t hold my breath. But hopefully, we will get more Transformers… Soundwave or Bumblebee would be great! 😃
So there you have it, four wonderful themes that you should be nostalgic over, and I hope to see more TRON builds out there at conventions to come.
What is your favorite LEGO TRON? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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