I gotta say, I really hate that cockpit canopy. It looks more like a coffin for Snow White than something you’d want obstructing your view when piloting a spacecraft. The leader alien was a slight improvement, but they both still paled in comparison to the LoM Martians, and about the only thing I truly appreciated about this theme was the introduction of trans-orange cheese wedges.

Remember in the bad old days of incandescent light bulbs when the lamp would burn out but you'd still try to turn it on & off a few times to will it back to life, possibly cursing?

Now THIS is switch-fighting.

My favorite set as a child. Aw, good memories

One of a few sets I had back then. I still have that canopy intact. One of my favorite LEGO pieces to use.

One of only two sets in this theme I don’t have. I had this one, and returned it. No regrets. Lol.

Seeing the images for this one didn't particularly endear it to me but once I got it I changed my mind. The transformation is nicely done with both versions having their charms, and the alien craft feels compact and solid in comparison with their usual 'floatier' designs so thats neat

I liked the design of both human and alien spaceships. They were unique. But I still wonder how did the astronauts manage to control this ship while lying down, since they cannot reach the controls in that position. Mind Control?

Another Mars Mission set I wanted but never got.
I always loved all space themes regardless of the time they were released.
And I would love a new space theme (even though I have no *space* to display them).

I have to say, this is definitely one of my favourites from the Mars mission theme. I don’t know why, but nearly all the sets just have something that draws me in. I love weird transformations and vehicles and this is about as good as they come. Other top picks from this theme are the mobile drilling platform and the drill Walker. The latter especially. Apart from the figs and aliens, it looks so modern that you could probably release it today with a new set of figs and colours and call it a MK set or another new themes set.

Do love the mars sets. The alien minifigs were the way they were to fit in the extraction chambers the humans used to suck the energy out of them (gosh!) The big commander fig was not so bad! What was bad was the stickers, which kind of made the ships and bases look how they should. Unfortunately they were made at the time lego used the worst material for them. Never seen anything else like it for cracking, discolouring and generally falling to bits and getting everywhere. The coast guard theme from the same time had the same issue. The trans orange made up for it though....nearly!

@SJPlego said:
"Between the cockpit piece, the minifigure's head (recycled from Dash Justice), and the fun transforming feature, 7647 could've easily been an Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze set. Just swap out the white and orange with sand blue and dark blue."

Unfortunately, those orange wheels were never made in sand or dark blue. The only other option is probably black. The alien pod is even harder to replace as it's only available is trans-orange.

Got this BNIB (squished box tho) back in 2013 for only £20 still glad i got it :D

Although the smaller brother of the medium 7692 and large 7644 spaceships still an interesting build, and even now would have still been a good entry for the Lego Ideas space competition with less than 250 pieces. The crystal stowage compartment at the back adds to the play-ability, and I always assumed the cockpit sliding forward was an emergency escape pod.

Why does it roll when it can fly?
Don't care, it TRANSFORMS!
Great set!

Getting into Mars Mission, Huwbot? Not that I'm complaining. Strangely enough, I don't remember much of this theme, must've been into City bit too much back in the day.

@matrox2001 said:
"Do love the mars sets. The alien minifigs were the way they were to fit in the extraction chambers the humans used to suck the energy out of them (gosh!) The big commander fig was not so bad! What was bad was the stickers, which kind of made the ships and bases look how they should. Unfortunately they were made at the time lego used the worst material for them. Never seen anything else like it for cracking, discolouring and generally falling to bits and getting everywhere. The coast guard theme from the same time had the same issue. The trans orange made up for it though....nearly!"

Yes. The stickers on my 7695 have completely disintegrated.

What on Mars is that missile being launched at? The enemy fighter is coming up from below and behind.

This was my favourite spaceship as a kid. It doesn't hold up quite so well today and the switching was a bit flimsy, but that didn't matter in the slightest. Good luck finding this sort of sub £15 set in themes today.

@Lego_lord:
You wonder how the humans can control their spaceships. With their arms. Which they have.

Looks pretty good for a fairly small set, considering it can turn into a land vehicle.

I personally still prefer more straight lines and angled pieces over rounded (like Space Police 1+2 vs 3 had a different style)

Nexo appealed to me because it used very straight lines and angles on their vehicles, and the neon-orange drew me in back to LEGO.

Ah, the MX-41 Switch Fighter. Its design always reminded me a bit of 4745 Blue Eagle vs Snow Crawler. But aside from featuring the same pilot (This astro uses Dash's head!) and cockpit element, this thing does something entirely different.

I must say, when I acquired it a few years ago I wasn't sure whether to love or hate it. The wings and -more importantly- the cockpit aren't fixed in position when in flight mode. I used the chainsaw from the top as a part on the bottom to keep it from sliding back. Also, the wings are below the rest of the vehicle, which is a bit awkward when you view it from other angles. Finally, the two rockets and two... flick fire missles make the craft feel a bit underarmed. A standard laser would have gone a long way to make it feel less like it would need to go and recharge after four shots!

In contrast, the rover mode is a lot better. The wings and cockpit click into place, and the thing is very robust (although the wheels stick out to the side a bit). And a cool feature is that the transport pod is the exact right height to transfer cargo sleds with the rover from 7693-1 ETX Alien Strike.
Overall, the rover is solid. And when you view it as a bonus that it transforms into a jet it makes it even better.

The alien ship is one of the better ones IMHO. It even has exhaust jets at the back with green flame pieces! That said, its lack of wings makes it less swooshable than the other C-shaped craft.

Overall, this thing is a bit funky. But in the end I like it for that!

Gaaaaaasp! I wanted this set sooo bad when i was a kid! Unfortunately, it was retired.

Someday...

This line, what with the transformative features, reminded me a lot of a less imaginatively-adventurous 'Mission Deep Freeze subtheme of Alpha Team. The 'Switch Fighter' was seemingly a technological successor to 4743 and 4745 , though still coming up a little short in the "WHOA! This is cool!" factor compared to most of the 'Deep Freeze' fleet.
That all aside, don't you dare tell me that the MX-41 isn't--to this day--a veritable dance party of swooshable fun!

This set and 7648 mobile mining unit are in a mild love-hate relationship for me: they were released in between two large waves, along with the impulse sets 5616 and 5617. However, the next wave overshadowed them in terms of design (IMO) and size. There were no smaller sets in the later 2008 wave bar another impulse set, 5619. Because of this I suspect they continued to be produced to fill the gap for cheaper sets, so they seem to be oversaturated compared to any of the sets from the first or second wave. I ended up with multiples of both, disappointing, the extra of this I gave away.

Maybe another reason these sets appear rather iffy is because both use the exact same detachable rockets as one of their sole defenses. While the Switch Fighter at least has 2 plus the 2 flick missiles, 7648 only has one! Or maybe I dislike this because it represents the Original Sin of flick missiles. This was THE first set with the infamous flick fire missiles. Interestingly the images seem to use a prototype mold instead in dark bluish gray. Even at the time they were annoying and ignorable to me and worked to the detriment of the set - it was confusing as there were flick missiles AND detachable rockets at the same time, yet no basic reusable lasers you could use your imagination for. However, I have warmed up to the idea of flick missiles after they started to have cool remote-firing mechanisms. But then they were mostly phased out and replaced by spring-loaded and stud shooters in 2014. Although the mold still is used, I believe, mostly for connection points.

@Binnekamp:
@Norikins:
Historically, they’ve used flick-fires to represent energy weapons often enough that I would never assume they were meant to represent missiles, especially when the tip is a single transparent part, as that could easily represent an energy blast. If there’s an assembly of parts on the tip, especially if there are fins involved, then I’d consider it to represent a missile. Alternately, if it’s an IP-based set, like an X-Wing, and the flick-fire is mounted in a position that corresponds with a missile launcher on the original craft, then I’d accept that as a missile as well.

@Norikins:
Huh. Hadn’t noticed the color before, but to me it looks black like the part it’s launched from.

I've got all the Mars Mission sets - they are all really good, although the alien space ships don't stand a chance against the "human" ones!

Also, has Huwbot hit a string of form - we had another Mars Mission set as RSOTD only 5 days ago!!!

@Binnekamp said:
"But aside from featuring the same pilot (This astro uses Dash's head!)"

I can't believe I never caught that! I used to always be big on recognising when the same Lego character faces were used across multiple different themes, but that one completely slipped under my radar. I guess it's because I tend to think of Dash's original head from 6773 as the one that represents 'him', as opposed to his MDF version, so it didn't spark the same flash of recognition that would have come with the older head design.

Though to be fair, I was also slowly drifting towards my dark age at this point, so I guess I also just wasn't paying the same degree of attention that I once would have.

72003: Berserker Bomber and 72002: Twinfector could fit in with Mars Mission, at least when it comes to recent "Space" like sets.