(A note: I come with particular nostalgia for this set. I wanted the original 497/928 so badly, but it was either too expensive or not available where I was. So all I could do was salivate over the photos in the catalog and build replicas with my parts. Now, 40 years later, here I am, holding something, yes, even better. Good things come with time.)

That out of the way, what can I say that others have not already said? Not much. The hype is all true. Here are the things that resonated the most with me, personally:

• The classic space figures. Oh man, I assembled the red one reverently and then just sat and admired it as it stood in the shipyard of loose pieces. It made me a little boy for a few minutes again. The figures don't all come in one bag, so I can look forward to picking them out one by one, over time. I don't know if LEGO did this on purpose, but oh boy!
• The huge canopies. These are not new, new, but this is my first set with TWO of them, and they are awesome. Just, they should have been packed separately, that's all.
• The building techniques used. While some of the framework is designed a bit oddly, I really enjoyed building it. It was not repetitive, and the techniques used are very creative, and the result is awesome.
• Excellent play value with four figures, plenty of interior details and a vehicle, an airlock and a hangar bay. Some people complain about the lack of a base plate. People, that's what your bed is for.
• The instruction manual. DON'T THROW IT AWAY. It is a work of art. It has some history of LEGO space and personal notes from the designer and the ex-CEO of LEGO.
• The alternate builds. IT HAS OFFICIAL ALTERNATE BUILDS! THEY ARE SO DETAILED COULD BE SOLD AS THEIR OWN SETS.
• MOCing. Enough pieces for cool MOCing, though I could have done with some more pieces (see below).

Sorry for all my shouting. BUT I'M SO EXCITED. Oh boy, could I go on! But these are the salient points!

Unless you hate classic space - and even if you do - not only is this an excellent set intrinsically, compared to the cost of other sets, I think this is exceptional value for money even for just parts. Get it! Play with it! Don't hoard it in a vault. That's what gold is for.

My minor, minor, negative points:

• We could have gotten an old style setbox with a flip lid and perhaps plastic bins for the pieces? That would have been heaven. I'm still saving this box though just for its cool artwork!
• The canopies could have come in their own packs to save from scratching.
• I could have done with some more of the blue bricks and some blue space logo printed bricks for MOCs.

Probably my first "big" LEGO space set, it set the standard for playability.

• The pilot sits in an enclosed cockpit with a hatch
• There is a functioning cargo bay with cargo container that has room to store cargo
• Awesome must-have space parts
• Apollo style RCS thrusters

This and 6931 formed the space parts source for all space ships MOCs during my childhood.

Unlike a lot of other people, I imprinted on this blue + white colour scheme, rather than the blue + grey used by the galaxy explorer (now associated with classic space).

There was no baseplate, but who cares - I swooshed this down onto the surface of the unknown planet (my bed), unloaded the cargo container full of exploration tools and imaginary base supplies, before taking off again.

All it missed was a robot and explorer vehicle, which was fixed by 6931.

Cool parts

• Blue transparent scoop (4228)
• Metal detector tool (3900)
• Apollo style RCS thrusters

This was my first and only Technic set. It introduced me to all the cool stuff you can do with technic, but sadly that was my only one. It is a nifty little set that illustrates a bunch of mechanical principles and building techniques.

Compared to modern sets, this is of course a studded design, and there are no special parts you can no longer get equivalents for, but it does have one sub-system that has been phased out:

4237

I had such a love hate relationship with this part. Used in the canopy, it could make a variety of angles. Sadly the little teeth are very fragile and prone to crumbling off. In modern sets you'd buy stronger but fixed joints that can give you different angles.

Outstanding

• Illustrates several principles with few parts: bevel gears, ratchet, chain, and building at angles by attaching beams via pinholes and axles
• Excellent looking helicopter - nice canopy and proportions

Decent

• Functionality: main rotor, tail rotor, under carriage

Could be better

• An attempt at a swashplate mechanism would have raised this to spectacular, but it does enough

It is fun to build and contains a very clever and neat technic based X-wing mechanism which uses gravity rather than rubber bands and which is extra fun to build and reason about how it works!

It looks spectacular from most angles and is very swooshable.

A few minus points:

• I'm not a fan of the launchers and feel they can be omitted from the build. The springs rattle which is a little annoying.
• The way the rear of the set is attached to the rest could be made more sturdy
• There is a slight wobble between the wing assembly and the fuselage.
• The attachment of the rear stems of the engines to the wings is a little flimsy (wobbles)

Overall, an immense value for money and a fun thing to have sitting on my desk!

I have this sitting on my desk. Overall, I love to look at it and hold it. It does suffer from some playability issues.

Great

• The over all appearance - the angled side panels, the detail and the greebling
• The grey colour tiles. I like this grey better than the light space grey for some of the other iterations of the AT-ST

Neutral

• The bolt launchers. I'll admit they are a bit fun to shoot down the bad guys, but I wouldn't have a big loss if they were not there.
• The build. It is neither annoying nor amazing.

Bad

• The legs can't be re-posed easily.
• The side panels are hung in place. This was a compromise to get those nice angles on them, but it makes the model jangly to and awkward to play with