Review: 70841 Benny's Space Squad
Posted by CapnRex101,Benny was among the most popular characters to appear in The LEGO Movie from 2014, as one might expect given his origins in Classic Space. This magnificent subtheme has remained iconic across four decades, inspiring great excitement following the announcement of 70841 Benny's Space Squad!
The set only contains 68 pieces but evokes the distinctive design of Classic Space vehicles and comes with four astronauts, one of whom is wearing brand new pink attire! Furthermore, this set costs just £8.99 or $9.99 so seems to offer good value and may be a highlight of the entire theme for The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part.
Minifigures
Four astronauts are included, the first of whom is Benny. This delightful character made a tremendous impression during The LEGO Movie and I am delighted to see him return, sporting a blue helmet with a broken chin strap and matching air tanks. The worn Classic Space emblem on his torso looks excellent and the minifigure's double-sided head features two different expressions which convey a great deal of personality.
The original Classic Space astronauts were only available in red and white, although a yellow minifigure appeared in 1979. Kenny takes inspiration from that design, featuring a yellow helmet without a broken chin strap which appears nearly identical to its predecessor. However, closer inspection reveals certain differences between them as the new element is bulkier than the older version, reducing the chance of breakage.
Lenny wears a brand new pink uniform which looks marvellous! Only five different colours appeared during the original Classic Space series and a green version became available with 21109 Exo Suit in 2014. This pink design is therefore a welcome addition to the range, featuring the familiar emblem and some air tanks which look perfect when integrated with older figures. Perhaps additional colours will be introduced in the movie!
The fourth astronaut is named Jenny. Her white suit appeared in 1978 and few alterations have been made. This helmet is more robust than the original design and the printing on the torso seems brighter than that seen on the earlier version, although that might be a partial result of age. Nevertheless, these minifigures are excellent and they come with a selection of traditional equipment, including a wrench, a radio and a metal detector.
The Completed Model
Robots are a perennial feature of Classic Space sets and this example looks familiar as it also appeared in 70816 Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship SPACESHIP! It is not based directly upon a classic design but resembles that from 6891 Gamma V Laser Craft which also stands on a 2x2 dish and features a camera piece at its centre. However, this character consists of light bluish grey, blue and trans-yellow elements, matching the colours of Classic Space vehicles rather than the robots which were more often monochromatic.
This tiny lunar buggy also bears a resemblance to some Classic Space vehicles, including 886 Space Buggy, but is more focused upon capturing the essence of those models rather than recreating them. I think that was a sensible decision and am quite satisfied with this vehicle, which includes seats for two minifigures as well as clips for their accessories at the back.
A single trans-yellow 1x2 plate forms the headlight which is charming in its simplicity and I like the basic steering wheel for the same reason. Lunar buggies produced during the earliest years of Classic Space always included red wheels and that might have been an interesting feature here, although light bluish grey wheel hubs are more consistent with the broader colour scheme so probably look slightly better.
While two astronauts can ride the moon buggy, another pilots a small spacecraft. This vehicle is fairly rudimentary in its design but that works beautifully in this instance. 885 Space Scooter is probably the closest point of comparison for this model as their silhouettes are similar and both craft have the same laser cannons or sensors at the front. In addition, the vehicle features a printed Classic Space emblem in front of the pilot along with an attractive rocket booster on the back.
Overall
Whether you grew up with Classic Space sets during the 1980s or have only recently encountered the series, 70841 Benny's Space Squad is a phenomenal set! It contains a brilliant selection of minifigures and represents a perfect combination of old and new in my opinion, capturing the essence of the early designs from Classic Space but using modern elements where necessary.
The new pink astronaut, named Lenny, is also very appealing and this set offers tremendous value for money, costing just £8.99 in the UK or $9.99. I would therefore highly recommend adding this fantastic set to your collection, perhaps even in multiples if you are planning to turn Benny's Space Squad into a small army!
I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your thoughts on the set in the comments below.
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83 comments on this article
TLG really knows how to get money out of AFOLs, and simultaneously create classic space nostalgia in KFOLs.
I will get several of these sets. I loved classic space as a kid and still have galaxy explorer on my shelf. Looks like I may need to retire the original crew and have these take over operations.
Firstly I love how all their names rhyme with Benny.
Secondly this seems like it would also work as a great crew and expansion pack for the Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP if you wanted to make it more tied to other Space sets rather than the Movie sets.
I believe that I would have rather had a green, red or black spaceman rather than yellow or white but that's just me.
Only £8.99... Bargain!
I’ll definitely be buying multiples.
Thanks for a great review.
Why does everyone assume Lenny is a guy? As far as I know, Lenny can be a girl's name as well.
Really nice set, though I still don't get the use of dark gray in a classic space model. At least it's easy to correct^^
Top set, a must have for any Lego Fan. 4 minifigures plus parts, can't ask for more really, once it's priced at 9,99€. Like Jangbricks said, a gift from TLG to all Lego Fans. Already have one set, will buy more for sure, and probably make some space MOC or layout!
Man. How many of these to get...
Six? Seven?
More new astronauts in the future, I hope.
Maybe Penny? Or Denny?
I picked one of these up and it’s absolutely fantastic
Built the set this morning. So excited, felt like a little kid again.
I'm probably going to grab two of these, it's just so good! I hope we see more new colors of Classic Spacemen in the new movie and that they make more sets to coincide. An updated Black, Red, and Green with the new helmet are a must and new colors for Purple and Orange would be awesome! Maybe even an undamaged Blue instead of just Benny?
I’ve got two of these on the way from TLG. How great would a second squad set with blacktron for them to battle against be?
This is brilliant...... and who can believe its £8.99 NEW.... which means £7 or £6 soon. I have one, had a free choice in Smyths on Boxing Day and chose this.... (as my other half took back the classic...... its an excellent choice and a great gift, but I bought it myself 6 weeks ago Lego present). I may buy more and get out the original sets...... I was wondering if you could remake them in LBG not LG to add to the glean of the new White Spacemen...... Thankyou Lego for the memories......
Bought mine a few days ago...absolutely love the squad! Great value for money ;-)
Milton Keynes store sold out of these yesterday, was going to pick a couple up today, will have to make sure I get some soon.
Just one little package of perfection.
How's the stability of the robot? In my copy of Benny's spaceship, the clutch between the camera pieces' open studs on their sides and the robot "arms" is so weak that the arms fall off already if you grab and shake the robot a bit. (Did anyone else have that problem?)
I "fixed" this by putting a spare 3L bar through the arms and camera piece and replacing the 1x2 plate in the back (the bar is in the way of one stud, then) by an old-style jumper plate, but that is not a solution when building a robot army... ;-).
Can't wait to add pink to the other 7 classic spacepeople adorning the fridge!
^ I think (hope...) those loose robot arms were just a batch problem from a certain time. Exo-suit suffered the same issue; they're held on by the claws too, but a gentle breeze will loosen them.
I like your solution to the robot problem, ab21!
Thanks for the review! It might be worth mentioning that the classic-space-logo torso exists in medium stone grey thanks to CMF series 17's 71018-13 Rocket-Boy (but it did not come with medium stone gray hands, legs, helmet or airtanks - the latter two do not even seem to exist, only airtanks in old grey and the common, visor-ready crash helmets in medium stone grey, and even those are rather rare).
How do this sets' retro-classic helmets look when one tries to attach a visor, by the way?
By FowlerBricks in United States, 29 Dec 2018 16:18
> Why does everyone assume Lenny is a guy?
Come on...who would admit to thinking "it's probably a girl" when seeing pink? ;-)
I haven't got mine yet. Everywhere is sold out. Waaaah ! I want my Spacemen!!!!
Want one soooo bad. Reminds me of my childhood.
It seems the general consensus we had regarding this set popularity was spot on.
I went to my local LEGO store yesterday to get one of these and they were all sold out! I asked an employee weather there were more in the back and he said that he put a whole box of them out that morning and they all sold almost immediately! It’s not to often that the best set in the line is also the smallest. Guess I’ll have to try again on Tuesday when I go to get those wonderful ninjago legacy sets.
Classic space is superior to Star Wars and I’m happy to see a new set which captures much of its essence. A must-buy of course, and quite possibly one of the best 2019 sets.
Snapped this up over a week ago, built it the next morning and man, did that feel good. Bringing back many happy memories. Big value for money in my opinion: four minifigs AND three builds, for 10 euro.
@ab21 - the clutch on those robot arms has been bad for years. A new mould is long overdue.
How long has it been since LEGO's released a minifigure with yellow hips? It's nice to see they'll do it when it's necessary but it makes the Reverse-Flash figure more annoying.
Lego is primarly made for kids. This set was made for kids also. But not for today's kids, instead the kids of former decades. I wonder, will this set be a succes amongst todays children? Honestly this set does not offer them to much. Without the nostalgic attire it's just 4 plain figure with some basic assortment of parts.
I'm worried this might prove hard to get hold of! I'm definitely picking one up, and I'm not even that much of a fan of classic space.
Honestly, they had me at Classic Space insignia. It could have been Benny sitting on a 2x4--if it had the insignia, I'd buy it.
I love this set, but my cat loves it more. I stand them all up, and he knocks them all down. He's never done that with any other figures of mine, whilst building or around the house lol
Great little set and I got the last one from our local toy shop yesterday, I can, but can't believe how popular it's been if that makes any sense
Oh, you know I’ll get multiples of these.
Thanks TLG!!! I’m sure Mark Stafford has to have something to do with these. They guy knows his SPACE!
Also there were two different kinds of early (non-visor) helmets. The early early ones had a ridiculously thin chin strap that would break pretty easily. The later ones had a slightly thicker chin strap that was a bit tougher. But the problem wasn’t really solved until the launch of Blacktrin with their visors. I distinctly remember getting my first Blacktron set as a kid and thinking, “Oh good, no more busted chin straps.”
@The Ultimate Authority 10 is the new....6 or 7... Haha.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Brsmy85nuyJ/
WHAT a great set! Can't get enough of it :)
@Anak: when I see my nephew playing, he doesn't seem to need much more than something that looks like a vehicle and his imagination. The quite detailed fire-engine with lots of play features (not Lego) doesn't get more love than the self-built "garbagetruck" (lego) wit no functions at all.
I have a feeling that kids will have no trouble playing with this. And then you get 2 vehicles for a tenner, and 5 figures to play with, too.
Then again: it'll sell in abundance to the (grand)dads that'll immediately recognize this.
@FowlerBricks: Why do you assume the character in pink has to be a girl?
Fantastic set in such a little package! Only thing missing for me is a computer console for the buggy instead of a plain wedge piece.
I might not be around when clasic space sets were in stores but I always loved when I got some space releted sets.
Benny become my spirit animal in the las movie and his love for spaceships so I'm totally geitting this one and placing him on my desk next to some other mini builds :>
Classic Space isn't much of a focus for me and the Lego Movie stuff (first or second) isn't a huge draw either. But this is a set I'm planning. There a few TLM2 sets that caught my eye for 2019 and this is one of them. It's small enough that I won't bad about getting. But an interesting subject that doen't have to be only TLM2. Nice review. Makes me want to pick this up sooner rather than later.
You'll never convince my daughter that Jenny isn't wearing the wrong suit. We will surely put a female face on the pink astronaut. We'll probably get three copies of this set, it's priced so beautifullly. I really wish that the enemy from outer space was classic Blacktron. Maybe Lenny could have the next TV series after Unikitty.
Looking forward to getting a set. The only drawback however is that it is impossible to get a completely uniform set of all eight colours (Red, White, Yellow, Black, Blue, Green, Light Bluish Grey and Pink) with the same helmet. All but Pink can be obtained using the new-style helmet that was featured in the Exo-Suit, whilst the 'new' old-style helmet is only available in Yellow, White and Pink. The 'old' old-style helmet is of course not available in Green, Light-Bluish Grey or Pink.
Additionally, the air tank isn't available in light bluish grey which makes that colour difficult to be completist over also!
I do think it's really interesting that Jenny is wearing white while Lenny is wearing pink. I instantly thought the pink outfit was being worn by the girl (I'm a Power Rangers fan. That's how it's happened for 25 years, 40 years in terms of Sentai, not counting Gokaiger or Toqger's changing suits gimmick). My bad.
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
@FowlerBricks:
Because "Jenny" stands out more as a female name. Because it's all "progressive" to have the pink one be a guy. Because it's such a long-standing tradition that no more than one female be included in a genre set that everyone just automatically accepted that Lenny was a guy, even if they haven't consciously processed the reason why...yet.
But when you get right down to it, _any_ name can be given to anyone, regardless of gender. I work with a Shannon (male), and in college I knew a Chuck (Charlene, female). But the only instance I know of a female Lenny is Aubrey Plaza's character from Legion, and even then the character was originally written as male (with the existing dialogue left unchanged at Plaza's request as a condition for accepting the role).
@Mr. Thrawn:
Ah, so there _are_ still a few names left. One of the first concerns I had when I found out they all had "-enny" names was that it would effectively prevent them from releasing more Classic Spacemen. I hadn't gotten around to running the alphabet to check for potential names, but this means they have enough to round out the original Mondrian Five. There don't appear to be any other five-letter names to work with, but they might be able to pull off a few more by adding two consonants to the front (perhaps Glenny for green?).
@ab21:
I think it was Mark Stafford who let us know that the mold used to make that space arm for the Exo-Suit was the _original_ mold that was cut to produce parts for Classic Space sets so many years ago, and that it was pretty much at the end of its service life. The same parts for Benny's Spaceship, Spacehip, SPACESHIP! should have been some of the first to come off a brand-new mold, so they should have an optimal level of clutch. That said, a few years ago they cut a new mold for the lever base, and the parts went instantly from fitting really tight to simply sliding up off of any stud they were attached to. It wasn't more than a couple years before they had to recut that mold and now the lever base has Goldilocks clutch. It's not a challenge to rotate the lever once the base has been pressed down (or to remove the base afterwards), but it doens't pop loose on its own. If they did indeed cut a new space arm mold and screwed it up, hopefully they'll realize this and fix the problem. If these are off the same original mold used for the Exo-Suit, I'm honestly really surprised. I mean, it's been over four years now, and it sounds like they were fully aware that they'd pushed the limit.
Although I like this set it's not the best in the theme. That moniker should probably belong to the Pop-Up Party Bus for its fantastic design, colour and playability. I didn't grow up in the 80s so my Lego nostalgia is usually for Adventurers, Pirates and 90s Castle - still love Classic Space too though! And the party bus is basically a spaceship so...
I’m going to have the “pink” minifig be a guy who gets upset every time someone says he’s wearing pink. “It’s not pink! It’s LIGHT RED!”
Giving names to any of these other than Benny is unnecessary - the original red, white, yellow and black space figures with classic smiley faces were unisex and YOU decided what and who they represented. Putting names on any of these is just pigeon holing and leading. I'll call them by whatever name I want, thank you very much.
@PDelehanty heh, exactly!
@darkstonegrey:
They're characters in TLM2. They're going to have names in the movie, just like all of the mundane Town minifigs that were peppered across all the TLM sets a few years ago. If they're named characters in the movie, they get named in the set. And if the writers can wring a joke out of a character by tossing in a name, they get names.
These are not something that AFOLs came up with. If you look at the box back, it clearly identifies all four of the characters.
@Purlpe Dave why do you feel the need to try and correct my take on this? I stand by my reasons regardless of what some writers think.
My only wish is that the set included one more generic space squad member instead of Benny. While I love him, I'd rather have a red, black, green, or even a generic blue figure without the cracked helmet and scratched emblem. It would make it an even better army builder pack. Hopefully they make a space squad 2 set with more colors.
First, thank you for the wonderful article and taking the time to review this product. I have been very excited to see new classic space sets coming out, even if it's only due to LTMP2. I hope the rekindled interests and sales of these sets move The Lego Group into producing more classic space sets. Keep up the great work Brickset team and a happy new year!
I did caught only the sunset of space theme and hence have nostalgia for Ice planet, but this set appeals to me. I love simple smiley faces too.
Makes me remember this set I got at one early Christmas.
https://brickset.com/sets/6801-1/Moon-Buggy
On the subject of potential names for further characters in a continuation of this new Retro Space theme beyond the film, and having my memory jogged by a mention above of Mark Stafford, perhaps LEGO could do another tribute with a future spaceperson release named Nnenny!
This could already be the set of the year 2019!
And where do we get the red astronaut?
"Jenny"
'Johnny'
"Nick"
Such a nice little set. I hope they do one with red, black and green figures in the future!
A great little set and like many others, I'd love to see a second set with the classic colors as well as another shot at the green guys. I have no Space nostalgia, but I'm attracted to the same charm nostalgic AFOL's have - the simplicity is something I sometimes miss in LEGO's still beautiful and stellar work today.
I am sure that I will buy this set...and more than one!!
Come on Classic Space fans, vote with your dollars! Buy this set to show TLG that we want more Classic Space. I will buy five to get a nice fresh set of spacemen and spacewomen.
I am more excited for this set than any other in my adult life. In mid 2015, 21109 Exo Suit brought me out of a 25 year dark age. 70816 Benny's Spaceship is a great throwback to the huge ship designs I loved from Classic Space. But 70841 really captures the pure essence of the original theme. The simplicity, the classic parts (as a kid, I used that spacecraft seat in every spaceship!), and of course the classic smiling figures. Even the box art is well done. Thanks for the memories, TLG!
@Anak: Kids might not relate to it much on a nostalgic level, but they’ll still likely be drawn to it by virtue of it being Benny and his friends. It’s not like Benny was a character kids couldn’t enjoy without having childhood nostalgia for classic space sets as a frame of reference.
What’s more, the extremely low price of this set means it isn’t such a hard sell as a bigger “throwback” set might be. A lot of kids might easily wind up getting it just by virtue of their parents being more reluctant to buy them a bigger set on an ordinary shopping trip.
the only set that is sold out after launch.. haha! multiply buys is a must.
I've been looking for this everywhere but I don't think it will be available in Australia untill early January. Beautiful set, can't wait to get one!
@darkstonegrey:
Why are you objecting so vehemently to the names? It's a movie, and they're characters in that movie. Characters get names. I mean, do you expect them to refer to everyone as "Generic White", "Generic Yellow", and "Generic Pink"? We don't know if these are going to be the only three other Classic Spacemen in this movie, or if we'll see multiples of each of these colors in the background and only one of each will actually be introduced. All we know for sure is that three Classic Spacemen besides Benny will be in the movie, and they will have names.
Think of it this way. In the Clone Wars, there were tons of clones of a single person, all dressed in similar armor. While they were all clearly the same gender, they were otherwise as generic as you could get because they were all literally the same person if you go strictly by DNA. But they ended up in different roles, had different ranks, and some of them had names within the scope of the story. Some of those even had very traditional names, like Cody and Rex. This is no different.
@Purple Dave many people will see these as just classic space figures and for those getting multiples of the set it's restrictive to have them named in this way. Try using some imagination instead of beholden to what some production house dictates to you.
Purple Dave & darkstonegrey:
Maybe we can all find some common ground and accept that every classic spaceperson ever has been a nameless, genderless clone of Benny who uses colour and names of his choosing to distinguish betwixt them; those with multiples of the set can call them whatever they like!
"What's in a name?"
(Incidentally, FireFox31: is your name a reference to a certain fictional Mig-31...?)
This will likely be the first LEGO Movie Set 2 to run out of stock for the line (or to get a price change). At 9.99 (USD) you get 3 pristine classic space figures (one being a new color to boot) AND accessories AND vehicles AND a Benny. Heck, if you go to a LEGO store's Build a minifigure bar, you get 3 figures with accessories for 9.99. Great deal and likely will be an army builder for many who are into classic space!
@darkstonegrey:
So ignore the names. They're not shackles holding you down, unless you choose to let them be. You can rage against it, or you can accept it, but you cannot change the fact that in a little over a month there will be a movie with one white CS named Jenny, one pink CS named Lenny, and one yellow CS named Kenny. But ask yourself this: Did you object this strongly when they introduced Benny in the first movie? Or Emmet, the generic Town construction worker? Because this is really no different. Well, except Benny has a lot more wear and tear than his Space Squad (and now, so does Emmet!).
This set is AWESOME! And instant get, of course.
The review is great and many-many thanks for that.
The pink classic space suit is the Idea of The Decade, it is a really great surprise for me. I hope we will see more colours later (maybe a re-birth of classic space-style theme), e.g. Bright Blue/Earth Blue, Dark Stone Grey, Dark Orange, Silver Metallic.
I'm definitely going to buy (a/some) set(s).
@bananaworld:
I'm still trying to come to grips with the fact that, depending on who you ask, Benny is either in charge of security, or he's in charge of everything. Benny. The guy who smashes spaceships into stuff yelling "SPACESHIP!" If he really is the boss, imagine how much your brain is going to twitch when you meet his troops...
The only problem with this set is that everyone wants it, which means that many of them won't get it because it will be sold out, like, the instant they restock. Kind of like what happened with the Saturn V a while back, but probably worse.
Great little set. Can't wait
@SeekerBear:
So buy it early. LEGO.com is sold out, but they'll restock. Other retailers have already started receiving them. Once the 1st Day rush is over, it shouldn't really get hammered until the movie is released, so there's a window where they should be possible to snag if you're actually trying. Make sure to hunt around the toy aisle if it looks a bit disorganized. I went into a local Target and saw two copies of Unikitty's Sweetest Friends EVER! sitting right next to each other with a Pop-Up Party Bus laying on top of them. Moved the bus and found that while the two rows of sets were both about the same length, only the first one or two copies on the left side were the Unikitty set. The ones in back were all Space Squad. I wasn't even actively hunting the thing. I happened to be in the store and took my customary trip through the toy aisle.
The first thing I thought when I saw this set was,
“CLASSIC SPACE RETURNS!” I absolutely love this set. I think this set is going to be very popular for quite a while because -
1. It’s extremely inexpensive. This means most kids, or people who can’t spend a lot on LEGO should totally be able to afford this and/or possibly buy multiples of.
2. It appeals to the adult fan/teenage fan audience. People who remember or grew up with Classic Space, and people who maybe didn’t grow up with it but love it.
3. It appeals to kids and younger fans as a cool set to build and play with.
4. Not only that, you could buy a bunch of these and set up a whole LEGO Space/Classic Space display, as I’m sure some fans will do.
So all in all, this is an amazing little gem, that I think is absolutely AWESOME!
Benny = Benjamin
Kenny = Kenneth
Lenny = Lenore
Jenny = Jennifer
Done.
Bought 3 sets the first chance i got!
currently have 25 of these sets.
My son Loves Legos and was thrilled to get these.
Cheers.
This is mush have for me. These guys will be my additional crew for my Bennys Spaceship!!!
Bought this set this week and integrated it seamlessly in my classic space layout. That is impressive and part of the magic of LEGO.
benny should get his own line of sets!
Yeah, is no one thinking that Lenny might be short for Eleanor?
I've got three already and modded the Benny's workshop set with the first two extra angled wing sets. No names for my figs and the pink ones are in the clutches of the Exo Suit. Hope they do another with a non-Benny blue, red, gray, and black. That would sell like gangbusters too.
I'm writing this in January, so it can change, but I would bet this set will won the prize for the best set of 2019!
Did you notice the 5 spaceships on the front of the box? Maybe a 2nd wave set? (please please please make it true!)