This is my only set of the LEGO Space (Ice Planet 2002) theme I've got so far. It has some cool pieces and some of them are really hard to find in the sets we get today. It also doesn't have any stickers which you have to worry about. I also can't complain about the number of minifigs we get in this set.

The vehicles are very nice as well. We get two rockets, a sledge with two big skis and a truck which can transport a rocket. The trailer of the truck can be removed very easily and the trunk does open if you want to put the rocket in. The base itself omes with a laser gate and a screen with a lever on the front. The base plate looks like the one we got in the LEGO Space (Spyrius) set 6959 (Lunar Launch Site). There're also two big translucent orange window pieces which looks really awesome and on the top of the window you can see a radar which sviwels full 360°.

Inside the base you get another laser gate, a place where you can put the translucent orange chainsaw and a sviwel chair with a dashboard which controls the landing platform for the rocket. You can move the blue cylinder piece if you want to lift the rocket up and down. The rockets also have a magnet which is used to get these vehicles on the arm which can slide on the platform. The arm can sviwel up and down and full 360°. On the ground you can also see a platform where you can put the rockets and on the back of the base you can find a radar which lifts up and down. It's a really cool set and it's worth the money for sure. It's also a must have for all LEGO collector's.

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, BrickLink and Amazon 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

Review

Speed Build

Travel in space & time - getting the set

In my childhood, the space base of my dreams was Blacktron II's Alpha Centauri Outpost (6988). I hadn't been aware of Blacktron I or Space Police I bases until adulthood, and I didn't consider the Mega Core Magnetizer (6989) as 'a base', so when I saw 6988 in the Lego catalogue of 1991, I was blown away, even though I knew the chances of me getting the set were near zero.

Then, two years later, in 1993's catalogue, I saw Ice Station Odyssey (6983) ... and I was not super impressed. The base looked cool, but nowhere close to the Blacktron II's one. It felt much smaller, without the great spaceship and the amazing landing pad, and with fewer minifigs.

Now, fast-forward 30 years... During Christmas 2023, after my kids got their big LEGO sets as gifts, my sister asked me: 'Have you bought YOURSELF any (old) LEGO recently?' I replied: 'No.'. My last purchase had happened a few years earlier, and it had only been a medium-sized set - it felt like the days of me buying old sets like crazy were well over. But it turned out that my sister ignited the spark again...

When another notification from Bricklink came in, I thought: "well, why not?". Interestingly, the notification was not about 6983 ... it was about other Ice Planet sets - Ice Sat V (6898) and Celestial Sled (6834). I had those two on my wishlist, but not 6983. But the seller had all three, so I thought: "Well, my kids are in love with both LEGO and space right now, so let's go for all three". And that's how I got 6983 in my hands, even though actually ... I never really wanted it. In fact, it is my first large space base (not counting Mega Core Magnetizer). After assembling the set with the kids, I must admit that the set is much, much ... BETTER than I thought! Potentially even better - at least in some aspects - than Blacktron II's base (Blacktron I's Message Interceptor Base seems to be a different league, though ;))! To explain why, let's - finally - jump to the review itself.

Landing on Krysto - the build

After unboxing, there was a first positive surprise - there was not only the elevated baseplate, but also 16x32 white baseplate. Somehow, I never realised it was there. It is great, because it makes the base 50% bigger.

Then, the minifigs. We get 3: a male worker, (female) Doctor Kelvin and chief - Commander Bear. It is great that they are all different, but an additional male worker would be really appreciated. 3 is just the absolute minimum.

The assembly starts with 2 rockets and 2 satellites that can be placed on top of the rockets. I find these two to be somewhat uninteresting.

Then, we have to assemble two vehicles - a transporter with a trailer and sleds. To me, these two vehicles are nothing special. The transporter feels a bit 'bare-bones' and lacks detail. The sleds are a bit weird and I don't like that they use a lot of parts that are easily breakable (clips) for no particular reason. Honestly, the two other Ice Planet sets I happened to purchase in the same batch are much better - Ice Sat V is much better than the transporter, while Celestial Sled basically trumps the sleds from this set. To sum up, the vehicles are not great. At least we get some interesting parts, like the big skis from the sleds. But, IMO, it would be better if this set took the approach of 6988 and had one more complex vehicle / ship / sleds rather than 2 basic ones - though that's quite subjective.

To sum up, so far it is not that great. But the base is luckily on a much different level and pays back with interest! It has many more details, many moving parts and the mechanism for launching the rockets is just amazing. I love how this is also connected to the radar dish and makes it move (I wish it was able to point a bit higher into the sky, but that can probably be fixed on your own). The robotic arm for grabbing rockets is also pretty cool and flexible, which increases playability even further. My only minor complaints about the base are: 1. the pit in the base which is unused (though probably every kid is going to find some use for it) 2. the white baseplate feels a bit empty and could use some more details.

Oh, and a word about alternative builds - these look interesting, but I haven't built any of those to provide more observations.

Let's launch some rockets - playability & parts

Playability is really great for this set. The rocket launching and the robotic arm give this set a lot of play scenarios. Transport a rocket on the transporter, grab it with the arm, place it in the slot on the white baseplate, mount a small satellite on top, grab it with the arm again, place it in the rocket launching mechanism, raise the rocket, ignition, go! The gate preventing access to the base is also pretty cool - my kid loved it. And there are more - chainsaws, skis, satellite dish / radar, computers, etc.

Part-wise, this set is OK, as there is a variety of parts; big & small; wheels / skis, computers, 2 big trans neon windows, support bricks, etc. The minor complaint is that it has fewer parts than the second-biggest Ice Planet set - Deep Freeze Defender (6973), which was also cheaper.

Mission summary - pros & cons

Pros:

• 3 different minifigs, with the female one appearing in only 1 other set (6973)
• cool base
• great rocket launching mechanism
• flexible robotic arm for grabbing rockets
• magnets
• playability

Cons:

• only 3 minifigs
• uninteresting vehicles
• white baseplate feels somewhat empty
• below average piece count / price ratio

To summarise, I think this set overall is 4.5 stars out of 5. I am going to round that up ;)

I got this set with the box and instructions, and I have to say, it is a pretty cool set. The base has alot of detail. It comes with two rockets, 3 mini figures, a rocket transporter, and a sled. I don't play with it alot though, I mostly just display it on my shelf. So overall, this is an awesome set!

The greatest base (without monorailes) was old blacktron base. I think this one is simpler, but the color shame is the best of all space themes. I've plaeyd all houres with this set. I really like the way you prepare rocket to launch. The small satelites looks very nice. All sets hae a lot of moving parts, like crane with magnet, radars and launch point. The base plate got the very nice looking drawings. It comes with rocket trasporter, little craft and three minifigs. All next bases form lego wasn't so good... but maybe in future...;)

Like I said this is more of an outpost than a base since it doesn't have much to speak of on the inside. This "outpost" is still my favorite yet since in addition to looking cool it has a function and a purpose. While ships like the SAT-V picked up the sattelites, the base is designed to recieve, process and launch them, and it has every thing you need to do just that. The cheif sits back (probably sipping coffee) and controls the lift for lanching the sattelites, while a robotic arm loads them, and a worker prepares them by attaching the uplink (what else can I call it). The arm functions perfectly and the use of magnets keeps the rockets from just falling off, like when held by a claw (cough cough Mars Mission cough cough...) plus the mechanism for launching the rocket has the hinges that hold it in place (so cool!) What's better is that once launched and the mechanism rests back in place, the sattelite dish behind the base rises probalbly to receive the sattelite's data. The security system is tight, suprisingly tighter than most other bases (plus the computer that unlocks the electric fence is really cool). With just enough tools, minifigures plus the collection vehicle and turbo-sled (as I call it) this set tops all bases! (not to mention it includes the rare female Ice Planet "babe").