This set is the largest LEGO Aquazone set I have and it's also my favourite. I love the big baseplates which comes with this set. This model took me a while, but it's fun to build. It's also a very sturdy set, and it has no stickers which you've to worry about. This model does include a sub too. This sub has two arms which are movable. One arm has a claw which can be opened, and the other one has a magnet which works really well. The windscreen is also very cool. It does open, and you can see the screen there. On the top you get two headlights and an antenna which both sviwel. The sub can be opened on the back, and you can store some stuff there. This set also comes with a compass which does really work.

The base looks really awesome. It has lot's of play features as well. We get a gas station for the sub, a tower with a translucent blue dome which lifts and we get the main base. We get some rare doors which open really nicely. There's also a second door in black which opens too. On the top of that building you can see a crane which can pick up the crystals onto the platform which can be moved by LEGO Technic gears. All in all, I can't really complain about that set. It's a must-have for all LEGO fans.

All in all, this set is a great set and I would HIGHLY recommend you to get this. You can find this set on eBay and BrickLink for sure. Here is the link where you can check out the full gallery I made for this set on my website: www.klokriecher.de


Videos I made of this set:

Stopmotion 1

Stopmotion 2

Review

Speed Build

The flagship of the new Aquazone theme, this fulfilled the compulsory ‘goodies base’ slot in the initial series of releases. The box (which I still have) was probably in the last hurrah for extravagant packaging that really showed off the contents – a hinged lid, illustrated with various pictures of the set and alternate builds, opened to reveal two cut-outs showing off the largest and most interesting pieces (the baseplates, the minifigs etc) under a Perspex covering.

Parts

The dominant colours of the set are yellow and blue, with black and trans orange highlight and, barring a few light grey Technic pieces and some foliage, all the pieces stick to this palette. There were no stickers as far as I recall, with all graphic designs (several of which were specific to the theme) being printed on various elements.

The two raised baseplates with unique ‘underwater’ printing are immediately striking, as are the large door arch pieces and the doors that go into them, all of which remain unique to this set. It was also the only appearance of a 9x13 grille in yellow, while the blue octagonal canopy only appeared in one other set.

As far as ‘firsts’ go, this being in the initial wave of the new Aquanauts theme meant it included a lot of new pieces in the inventory, most noticeably the new octagonal bricks (some with studs on the sides), the plant extension piece (which allows for taller and more colourful bushes), and chromed harpoons, knives and ‘ore’ pieces. A number of those introduced in these sets were used widely outside the theme, including the propeller housing, octopus, and minifig flippers.

The Space theme lineage comes through in the large curved trans-blue panels, cockpits, hinged robotic arm pieces, as well as utilising the magnetic pieces that defined M-Tron a few years earlier.

Minifigures

There are four minifigs included, relatively few for such a large set. They all came with new underwater style headgear, one of which had a special trans light blue visor, while the rest make do with standard black. Underneath were the printed faces that had by then become standard in new Lego themes - one is freckled and appears to be wearing a red sweat band (?), two with particularly smug smirks are sporting underwater sunglasses (??), and the last has some kind of comms device. They also have new flippers and can be armed with the chromed harpoon and knives mentioned above.

Build

The build is fairly straight forward, with the only initial difficulty being accuracy in placement of the foundations for the various elements. The rest is mainly brick stacking, with the Technic-style conveyer belt providing a bit of interest. Some of the yellow-on-yellow steps in the instructions can be a bit difficult to discern (we’re still pre-part callout at this point!) but it’s entirely in line with similar sets of the era.

Completed Model and Overall Opinion

The base itself includes three smaller builds in addition to the dominating main structure – the sub docking station on the left of the set being the most insubstantial, though it does its job. On the right-hand side is what I always assumed to be the underwater equivalent of air traffic control – a fairly small, but robust model, an octagonal ‘bubble’ of contrasting yellow and blue, built up around uneven terrain which adds visual interest. At the front in the middle is a small more industrial-looking construction where the submarine (or vehicles from other sets) an plug in to a crystal refuelling station. All of these use the new octagonal bricks for support which helps establish a new and unique visual style for the theme.

The main section of the base sits at the back and middle, comfortably straddling the two baseplates and primarily defined from the front by a large yellow arch and contrasting blue doors. It is enclosed by two large trans-blue curved panels at the back to create a large chamber, with a couple of hatches providing other means of entrance and exit. Sitting atop the base is a rotating crane which can be raised and lowered, albeit via a rather rudimentary technic axle system which doesn’t offer much fidelity in vertical positioning. What appears to be some kind of processing centre complete with conveyer belt protrudes out of the right-hand side, with crystals able to be dropped off by the crane and then moved either left into the main building, or right and into a waiting trans-orange storage container. This simple function works well enough, and crystals conveyed into the building then slide down a chute and slopes where they are held back by a hinged plate attached to the large grill piece. This can be opened to release the crystals, at which point the process can be repeated!

The submarine is a substantial model and could even be a standalone set all by itself. Solidly built and very ‘swooshable’, it provides a huge amount of extra playability as it can go on expeditions beyond the base and have adventures separate to the refining activity of the base. With two hinged arms sporting claws on one side and a magnet on the other, it can also carry out a wide variety of functions and tasks within the base setting.

When all put together, the result is impressive and highly playable. The set is first and foremost a playset, with a variety of functions and moving parts on the base, and a submarine that begs to be swished around the room. It also makes a nice display piece – not in a modular building sense, but it looks impressive and engaging. The ‘Space’ DNA of this new theme is obvious, and there is certainly an argument that you could swap a few of the colours out and have a fairly serviceable space base without needing to replace or change out much in design terms. The submarine (which somehow manages to appear both prototypical and unique!) and colour scheme firmly root it in the undersea world and the crystal harvesting and processing story is interesting. As with all of these kinds of sets, the play and story possibilities are expanded considerably with conflict, and it’s a shame that it doesn’t include even one Aquashark figure or model to provide that. That minor niggle aside, this is still one of the sets I look back on most fondly from my childhood and one I remember getting most play value from, so overall it scores top marks from me.

I bought this set when i was about 3, and sold it when i was 9. It was a great set, it didn't fall apart all the time like newer sets, it was fun to play with, it had cooler parts then the ones now, and i hope to buy this set again soon!

I bought this set for 50 dollars on bricklink. I new that I loved Aquazone sets (I only had two and even though they were small I loved them). The set had great parts, which I now use in my collection, it had great minifigures (I love their armor). Building was great even though it doesn't have a lot of parts. Even playability is a 5 out of 5. To see more that I wrote visit <h ref="http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/6195_Neptune_Discovery_Lab_/_Aqua_Dome_7">here</h> (yes that was me who wrote most of that).

I got this set from Santa Claus for Christmas. It is a really great set (lots of accesories). Unfortunately for me, the person who had this before left out a fair amount of peices, so I am missing an entire minifigure, and some little peices that I replaced (since I had them in my collection.). Now to the pros and cons.

pros

• detachable sub
• periscope thing inside the main building
• awesome conveyer belt.
• crane
• crane can load crystals onto the conveyer belt and the covveyer belt puts them into boxes
• watchtower
• hose
• octopus

cons

• really hard to build (took me like a month to build)
• doors swing too easy

Overall, an awesome set. If you add sea sprint 9 (another set) to it, it is awesomer!