To sum it up, this set is just great!! The massive body of this spider-like Alien ship is really impressive! I've waited a long time to add this model to my collection and it was really worth every second!
Building this model is one great pleasure, but also its playability is great! I really favor models with detachable parts and additional ships and gadgets. And this model is packed full with these!!
Really a great base for a great series of models!

The Insectoids were more or less the last fully-fledged “alien” race to feature as a separate subtheme all on their own within the framework of the Space theme, a classic theme spanning twenty or so years until its effective demise at the hands of the wildly successful Star Wars licensed theme. Sure, we’ve had two Mars exploration type themes, a reboot of Space Police, and the slightly more grounded Alien Conquest since then (as of 2012), but if three subthemes in a fourteen year period doesn’t sound like a slow funerary chime to you, then I don’t know what does.

Not that I have anything against Star Wars sets necessarily (although I’m probably one of a dozen AFOLs that does not collect them); it’s probably mostly the nostalgia talking. As a matter of fact, while I was fairly into Space sets when I was a kid, my interest in the theme as a whole has generally waned in strong favour of Castle and City, although that itself may be a function of a lack of innovative new subthemes. Nonetheless, I have always liked the Insectoids, and Arachnoid Star Base may be a key reason why - to further the anecdote a little, I bought this set off of BrickLink when I was in college (about five years after the discontinuation of the theme) and I still have it and love every inch of it.

Every Space subtheme worth its salt has had a base of operations, a trope that has origins that harken all the way back to Blacktron’s Message Intercept Base (6987) all the way up to Mars Mission’s MB-01 Eagle Command Base (7690). Throughout the years, deviations from the basic build have generally been subtle: a sparse baseplate occupied by a looming, angular monstrosity, a relatively large spacecraft, and some smaller odds and ends to beef up the piece count and playability. A gimmick or two usually goes a long way in extending the shelf life of the product, whether that gimmick be air pumps or a monorail or perhaps even a bit of light and sound to spice things up a little. Sure enough, Arachnoid Star Base possesses many of those aforementioned key attributes, but where this base succeeds that others are found wanting, in my opinion, is aesthetics: it is much less a goulash of large and highly-specialised pieces but instead a functional piece of alien engineering that both clearly expresses a coherent idea and just plain ol’ looks good.

I won’t kid myself here: Arachnoid Star Base has obvious gimmicks, but the gimmicks work. Yes, the base looks like a giant spider and yes there is an enormous light and sound piece that makes obnoxious noises, but that is reasonable to fit these attributes into the Insectoids’ theme overall, since, obviously, the Insectoids have structures and spacecraft that look like insects (yes, I am aware that spiders are not insects). The huge, highly-specialised “legs” serve an aesthetic purpose as well as a functional purpose: as magnetic cranes for harvesting those weird green crystals. The “abdomen” is not just a structural quirk but also a control room that houses the necessary technology in order for the Insectoids to succeed in whatever the heck it is they are doing. The “head” is not just a spider’s head but a place for an Insectoid to pilot the detachable spider-crawler-type-thing. The little control tower...well, the little control tower is the anomaly here, but it’s inoffensive enough that it can be placed pretty much anywhere since it is almost entirely unrelated to the base itself.

Even the best Space subthemes have sets that are hit-or-miss, and the Insectoids do have their odd failings from time to time. Arachnoid Star Base, however, stands out as an exceptional example of how to create an innovative base of operations that will characterise an entire subtheme. So you can keep your fancy Star Wars; George Lucas could not hope to come up with anything as fresh and as fun as this set.

The whole insectoids theme was a great idea and was even better then ufo. On to the review.

This set is quite bizzare, considering it is mostly a giant bug like the others. This one is the base and it even comes with a space satlelite. Gypsy moth is a cool minifigure also. The color scheme is pure genius.

I'd wanted this set since it first came out, but was never able to get it. So now, 10 years later, I managed to get it off the internet. It far exceeded my expectations, with all the mini-ships, storage areas, and overall extras. While a little over 400 pieces for 80 dollars new (About 115 new now) might seem expensive, it really isn't, as some of the pieces are huge, and there seems like more than there really is. All in all, I would get this set if you can afford it!

This set is pretty cool because the set is designed pretty well and the legs are pretty cool. The little flyer is also a nice part of this set. I do think that the bug base could be a little smaller, but besides that, this is pretty good!