Time to get serious and just blow everything up!

This thing is MASSIVE. That is an effective use of the plane-wing, and the whole thing is big enough it doesn't stand out. The whole thing reads like the lovechild of a Star Wars Republic Gunship and the Deep Freeze Defender. And the Martian ship, while much smaller, is not inconsiderable. I love those commander Martians.

I missed this, being expensive and after the first wave, when I had more time and money, but it's a great set. Mars Mission hasn't left a huge footprint on the AFOL landscape, but it was an excellent theme.

We'll need all the firepower and technological might available to stop the dreaded Jelly Baby invasion!

Oh I had this one as a kid! The design is great and I have fond memories building it! This theme does not disappoint!

I picked up a lot of the Mars Mission sets. I didn’t get this one because I had no idea how I’d use that massive wing in a MOC.

I kind of regret not getting it.

Anyone know the lore of Mars Mission? From the outside, it looks like the humans are the bad guys, being colonizers of an already inhabited world and using militarized tech to exploit its natural resources.

@Prof_Physika said:
"Anyone know the lore of Mars Mission? From the outside, it looks like the humans are the bad guys, being colonizers of an already inhabited world and using militarized tech to exploit its natural resources."

My understanding is that the aliens in the theme are not from Mars, and like the humans, they are there to mine energy crystals (even though none of their featured ships have any mining equipment?) The two groups are engaged in a military conflict over crystal mining rights, so everybody is a bad guy except for maybe the Mini Robot. Definitely seems like the humans are worse though because I know in at least one of the sets they're experimenting on the aliens.

@Biggie_Bricks said:
" @Prof_Physika said:
"Anyone know the lore of Mars Mission? From the outside, it looks like the humans are the bad guys, being colonizers of an already inhabited world and using militarized tech to exploit its natural resources."

My understanding is that the aliens in the theme are not from Mars, and like the humans, they are there to mine energy crystals (even though none of their featured ships have any mining equipment?) The two groups are engaged in a military conflict over crystal mining rights, so everybody is a bad guy except for maybe the Mini Robot. Definitely seems like the humans are worse though because I know in at least one of the sets they're experimenting on the aliens."

It’s just that in the background of the box art, it looks like there are these little hexagon alien cities, so I figured the aliens were there first. I also thought they were referred to as Martians, but I’m not sure! Very interesting concept either way, I wonder if LEGO fully thought through the implications

EDIT: actually looks like those hexagons up close are where the people mine the diamonds?

Forget the recent re-releases like the Apollo rocket or the ship in a bottle, LEGO needs to bring this back ASAP!!

Man, I want this set. It looks so awesome.

And you know what would look even MORE awesome? Yup, you guessed it. If it were Blacktron, that would make this more awesome.

This is definitely on my to-get list someday.

Also, the name is one of the greatest Lego set names, in my opinion.

Even 30 years later, the Classic Space logo (in orange) remains.

And I believe those trans-orange parts are printed!

Edit: no, they aren’t. Dommage!

This looks EPIC

wow it looks awesome, I wish Lego would go back to making original sets and not just licenced themes or ideas

This is an awesome set.
Lego needs to bring back more of this.
Even apply this approach to various themes as well as licensed properties.

Nice ship.

So, this is the largest human vehicle from this theme, yes? If it’s an aircraft...how did we get it all the way to Mars through space?

This is one of the sets I got coming out of my second Dark Age. I bought it, assembled it, and then took it apart to put back in the box where it has remained stored to this day. I'm catching up on re-assembling some old sets though and this will be one of the first I do when I get to the spaceships. (I'm doing bases and buildings first.)

I do own this one, proudly sitting on my shelf on display. As others have said, this thing is MASSIVE, and is sure to catch the attention of anyone who walks by. It has a lot of playability as well, with a bunch of really cool functions, like the cockpits being taken apart and used as escape pods, and the small trailer underneath which can be dropped and release the little drilling car.

All all in, with is my mind, is the perfect balance between a visually impressive set, and one with enough play potential to appeal to kids. It is easily one of my favorite sets I own, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone else who is interested in Mars Mission!

Absolute unit.

I can see why people love this titan but, I dunno, just seems cluttered to me. The downside of wanting every detachable modular piece to have its own weapons array is that when they're all together it just creates this forest of poking out shafts. It looks like a lawn that hasn't been mowed in a while. Does mean that, cool as everything else about it is, I was never as interested in this as I was some of the other Mars Mission ships

Definitely feeling some Ice Planet/Deep Freeze Defender here, 6973. And the rover definitely looks inspired by the Ice Tunnelator of the same theme, 6814. How neat, I've never even seen this set before. Very cool.

I loved Mars Mission, but I was too young and my parents too poor to get any more than 2 small sets from this theme. Now I'm eagerly checking Brickset for any news regarding a new Space theme so I can finally collect one.

I was solely into Star Wars coming out of my dark ages when I saw this set on clearance for 39€. Had to get it. Build it and was thrilled by the play features and the general visual aspects of the theme. A few hundred € spent on eBay later, I had the whole theme coming in as MISBs. That precedent opened a whole can of worms for me, expanding the StarWars-only thing to Agents, Agents 2.0, Ultra Agents, Alien Defense Unit, etc…

One of my favourite Mars Mission sets. There’s just so much to do with it; the cockpits can detach to become their owner smaller ships, the main body opens up to become a laboratory, and a button on top unlocks a latch that allows the entire back section to swing down to become a cargo hold with a loading ramp.

Even the alien ship in the set, while dwarfed by the MX-81, is still larger than most of the theme’s smaller vehicles.

@ElephantKnight said:
"Man, I want this set. It looks so awesome.

And you know what would look even MORE awesome? Yup, you guessed it. If it were Blacktron, that would make this more awesome.

This is definitely on my to-get list someday.

Also, the name is one of the greatest Lego set names, in my opinion."

I was thinking exactly the same thing! The only question, of course, is Blacktron 1 or Blacktron 2 ;-)

I use the rover til this day to brush up my eyelashes

@Brickodillo said:
"I use the rover til this day to brush up my eyelashes"

In space, no one can see your eyelashes looking fabulous :)

@raven_za said:
" @ElephantKnight said:
"Man, I want this set. It looks so awesome.

And you know what would look even MORE awesome? Yup, you guessed it. If it were Blacktron, that would make this more awesome.

This is definitely on my to-get list someday.

Also, the name is one of the greatest Lego set names, in my opinion."

I was thinking exactly the same thing! The only question, of course, is Blacktron 1 or Blacktron 2 ;-)"

Blacktron is Blacktron. One day they just decided to refresh their corporate ID to appeal to younger people. Yes even as a vilain organisation, you have to keep up with fashion, you need recruits to lead the business nto the future after all =)

Anyway, I got this after my Dark Ages from ebay and it's a great set that I only can recommend.
Mars Mission may not appeal to many AFOLs YET, but it has great potential and a pretty wide range of sets.

As for the lore: when you can't find enough energy crystals, your scientists have you covered: the crystal containers are also a stasis box to keep the aliens quiet unil they arrive where they extract energy from their bodies (Eagle Base 7690 has the equip).
Check out JANGs Mars Mission review videos!

LEGO PR: "Guns are bad, mkay?"
LEGO designer: "Check out the 23 guns on this baby, ooh-yeah!"
LEGO marketing: "Covered with high-tech alien-fighting weaponry..."
...
Left hand, I'm pleased to introduce you the right hand, over there.

I was intrigued by this set for a while, and in communications with a lady on FB Marketplace who had one listed, complete with box in excellent condition, about a month to 6 weeks ago!
I saw this article for Set of the Day, searched my messages, and promptly purchased it for just A$90! (About US$70!).
Looking forward very much to receiving and building this one! :)

@ambr said:
"The drop part (which has a cool release mechanism) should have had a ramp for the driller rather than needing a human to lift up. Alternatively the driller could have just driven around the back of the parked spaceship into an enclosed cargo bay with a full ramp."

There is a ramp on the cargo bay, though. Two flaps fold down which allow the driller to easily drive up, and they hold the vehicle in place once they’re folded up again.

@SirZed said:
"LEGO PR: "Guns are bad, mkay?"
LEGO designer: "Check out the 23 guns on this baby, ooh-yeah!"
LEGO marketing: "Covered with high-tech alien-fighting weaponry..."
...
Left hand, I'm pleased to introduce you the right hand, over there."

LEGO obviously has no issue with sci-fi guns, or Star Wars wouldn’t exist.

@jkb:
Exactly. Anyone who’s familiar with The Dark Knight Returns understands what it’s about. Send the rookies out in brightly distracting outfits and ships, and when everyone has their guns trained on them, you slide in behind and take care of business.

@SirZed:
That’s not at all the narrative I’ve heard. As I understand it, this policy was more about avoiding depiction of 20th century warfare, figuring that anyone who lived through WWI or WWII would have little interest in seeing those experiences turned into a toy for children. At the time, the latter war especially was still all too fresh in peoples’ memories, and many of the nations where they sold product had been battlegrounds. Western, Pirates, and Castle all depicted historical warfare that their target audience was too young to have experienced. Space and Aquanauts depicted fantasy warfare that nobody had ever experienced.