The set, as it is taken out of the shelf, is not very impressive. The walking mechanism is clumsy, there is no control panel, the tail ends with two blasters which can shot only upward in order not to destroy the vehicle, and so on.

But...

If you simply add 3149c01 (black hinge plate 2x4) between the white container and the black stanchion, the suborbital guardian becomes a scorpion!

If you also think of the two trans-neon green radar dishes as double function devices (thrusters when rotated down and blasters in forward position), you obtain an effective ground assault unit capable of short flights. During these fast jumps, the full-angle rotational degree of freedom of the tail blasters/thrusters can now be exploited to stabilise the vehicle trajectory. Just add one 3937c14 in series with the other on the tail to obtain even more rotational freedom.

Thanks to the (tiny) mod, suborbital guardian gains in my opinion an interesting scorpion-like design, made for fast ground assaults in which strategic points must be taken as soon as possible.

In conclusion, suborbital guardian is a nice purchase since it is relatively cheap and may become fancier than many other 60 pieces space sets by adding a single part.

My suggestion for a nice display: you can buy two suborbital guardians, apply the mod, and compose a dramatic scene with a ground attack made against an m-tron mine, possibly with some celestial foragers and other small logistic units like the beacon tracer.

My brother got this lego set when we were kids. I was always asking to play with it. I was so jealous of the moving legs, and the opening cockpit.

Great colour scheme, great minifig, lots of moveable parts.

I loved this model so much, I managed to recreate it using red/black bricks to match my own collection of Spyrius LEGO.

i'm always hating the walker mechanisms that were common in sets back in the 90's, but this one slides because it's one of the first and the legs have a nicer design. the figure with the jetpack is really neat and the whole pilot and jetpack can fit into the cockpit. it comes with the blacktron 2 carrying case/box which is one of my favorite. the windsheild is cool but a trans green panel like the one in ice sat v would have looked nicer in my opinion. besides that, this set is a must have for any collector.

This set is excellent.
First got it for christmas and has since then defended itself and Blacktron II territory.

Crew: One person with a jetpack with no noticeble controls.
Movement systems: Strider/walking system is good for manuverbility, but is slower than your hover/wheeled vehicles.
Armor: Not much for armor except the mass of the walker itself. However, in a "lego sense" its probably armored slightly.
Weapons: 2 forward fire laser cannons of at least medium power with two more laser/pulse/maser emitters in a anti-air/orbital position.
Well done, cant figure out from pictures and stories what the two discs on the sides may by, perhaps more emiiters or sensors suites for anti-air/orbital.
Fire Control/Sensors/Communications: I believe as I stated in weapons the side discs maybe sensors and communications. For firecontrol I would think the pilot merely shot where he saw or perhaps had some sort of HUD in the cockpit window or helmet.
Perks and Flaws: This unit probably has an extended fuel range for longer deployment.