So again, this is a set I really enjoy. The sound effects are fun. Could have done with a light show to go too, but you can't have everything. A nice eerie green beam for striking fear into the empire's newest conquests. Ahem. On to the review.

Building experience - The central core, the saucer if you will is very much brick on top of brick. There are a few fancy steps to put a sound brick in that activates as the saucer spins, but that is it. The outer section was move involved and fiddly but not really complex, just a little delicate. Fun use of train tracks.

Parts - I love the Alien Queen minifig and the little alien sucker. Great for play and she is almost sqcary with her squid legs. I also love the claw. Great for kidnapping news reporters or smashing puny police vehicles checking out odd reports.

Playability - The handle on the back of the saucer is a nice touch. The mothership can swoosh nicely despite being a big old beast. What it really needed, was some legs like it's smaller cousin the 7051 Tripod Invader. Sure it can hover over the scene but hiding legs up under the four struts would have been easy and given it a menacing presence on landing. The news reporter is a nice touch, but once she has been gripped, where does she go? In my case, she currently has a career commening on my Speed Racer Grand Prix set up..... Certainly the Alien mothership will put the fear into even the bravest ADU Solider.

Value - The second hand market is kind, I think the brand new cost was a bit too much, though this beastie is amongst the biggest of my space ships, though nowhere near heaviest.

Ultimately, this is a must have for any AFOL building an Alien invaded space city. Though I do have to get it up on a lot of transparent parts to get it to loom high over the battlefield.....

Pew Pew Pew!!!

• I bought the Alien Mothership from a nearby LEGO Store. I was impressed with the Alien conquest sets the second I saw them.

The Alien Mothership leaves a very nice impression on me when it comes to space sets.

I gave an overall rating of 5 bricks. The main reason is because it is an awesome idea for a theme and finally a space theme that doesn't involve star wars or mars. Though, it kinda has a feeling to the past UFO theme, it involves earth more than outerspace.

The Building experience was good. Took me about an hour taking my time putting it together. The design was done really well, I couldn't understand how they did the ring untill I got the set. The parts fit well and is very stable. A few new building techniques from LEGO.

The rails (I don't know if they are train tracks, I don't own any train sets) is a good idea to make the ring. A lot of good tiles and modified bricks. The Bubble canopy is nice. The Reporter's tile has great detail and you can read it.

The Playability is 5 bricks. By adding a handle, you can spin the ring and the noise device activates. The handle looks odd when you are not holding the set. The Claw holds a minifigs very well.

Pros

• Good amount of bricks.
• Great amount of modified tiles and bricks.
• Sound is awesome to have back in LEGO sets!.
• Spins and flies in your hand well.
• Claw is a nice touch.
• Excellent minifigs.

Cons

• The Claw spins with the ring, kinda looks weird when it does.
• Stickers (a con for me).
• It isn't a mothership! It only holds one alien!.
• No Lights (e.g. Lights and Sound sets).
• Handle could be higher, sometimes hold it while spinning your wrist hits the fins on the outside of the ring.

And my roleplaying aspect review:

Crew: 1. It's labeled a mothership, but only one pilots it. Hopefully there is plenty of automation to control everything.

Maneuverbility/Engines: The Alien Mothership has no distinct maneuvering items except for the fins and the ring that rotates. The clear tiles and modifed tiles could be energy thrusters/engines. I would say the mothership has a decent speed in both space and atmosphere. But would rely on fear and terror more than anything,

Armor: The main cabin of the ship is thick on both the top and bottom. The ring has some bricks, and is pretty thin. I could see the main cabin taking many hits, but the ring probably can't take that much damage.

Weapons: Plenty. Including the grabbing claw. There is 4 weapons equally spaced out on the ring and one on the main cabin.

Sensors/Firecontrol/Communication: There is two neon green antenna's with boosters for communication between the invasion fleet. Far as sensors, I can only guess the weapons on the ring include short range scanners of some sort. The canopy gives the pilot a good visual of the area.

In conclusion this is the 2nd best Alien conquest set (1st being the ADU vehicle) in my opinion and well worth the money you spend if you have to choose between other sets both in Alien Conquest and the other themes. The Sound device brings it all home when you spin the ring.

Happy Invasions!

This set has been on my wish list for a long time. I was intrigued by the ingenious design utilizing train track parts for something completely out of the ordinary. Plus I very much would like to be able one day, some time in the future, to build a (MOC) castle with a gigantic roller coaster running over, under, and through it, except I am still a long way from acquiring the many parts needed for such a project. The tracks from this set are of the same type that come with the fantastic set 6857 'The Dynamic Funhouse escape' which I think are excellent for such a MOC. So now that I own this set I am one step closer.

Price

The recommended retail price for this set in The Netherlands is €60,-- , which I think is quite a lot. However I got it from an on-line clearance sale at €38,23 from a Dutch chain of toy-stores called Intertoys.

Plus, I didn't need to pay any shipment and delivery, which normally is €5,95 within The Netherlands (via TNT: a Dutch parcel delivery / logistics company). Although often round this time of year a month prior to the celebration of Sinterklaas on the fifth of December, and Christmas later that month, shipment and delivery is free with quite a few companies, and/or is always free, as long as you spend a certain amount (e.g. over €20 when you order from www.bol.com).

I gave this set four bricks for 'value for money', since I got it cheaper. Yes it contains a really cool sound-brick etcetera, however at full recommended retail price this set is too expensive in my opinion, and I would have given it only three or two bricks for 'value for money' at that price.

The Box

The dimensions of the box are: height 37 cm; width 35 cm; depth 6,7 cm.
The box-art is pretty enticing. The dominant colours used for the background are lime, neon green, and dark blue. Of course the flying saucer is depicted in all its glory on the front of the box, hovering above a cityscape at night, with the news reporter being lifted off the roof of a skyscraper by the marauding flying saucer's grappler claw-arm during the making of a newscast. Simultaneous, she is being jumped by the little alien blob minifig-head clinger. To me the box art is very reminiscent of H.G. Wells 'The War of the Worlds', and the many adaptations and spin-offs of this story made for TV and cinema in the past. In the upper right corner on the front of the box the alien commander and his pet blob are depicted once more. In the lower right corner the inclusion of the sound-brick is advertised. On the back of the box the play features are highlighted, such as the spinning outer ring of the flying saucer, which is indicated using a two-way arrow and a pair of hands holding the vessel; one holding the handle behind the cockpit, the other holding the outer ring. Next to this, three small comic book style little windows are printed, showing from left to right once more: sound brick feature; the grappler claw; and the reporter with blob clinger.

The Minifig's

This set, unfortunately for a huge minifig fan like myself, only contains two minifig's. Although the two figures enclosed are really nice, especially the ominous looking brainy alien commander.

The Alien commander is composed of seven parts. The lower part of his body has eight tentacles of varying length resembling that of an octopus, and is very similar to the single piece octopus which came with set http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6240-1 'Kraken Attackin' (6240), although smaller of course. Four of the tentacles form rings which can hold on to Lego studs.
The alien torso has no back printing, the front however is decorated with lime green horizontal stripes, silver vertical lines, a purple and gold diagonally worn sash, a bunch of gold medals and a golden shoulder chain(cord). It looks like a crossover between a spacesuit and a nineteenth century ceremonial uniform, worn still today by officers, royalty under certain occasions (e.g. princes who are getting married), and of course the occasional eccentric despotic dictator who wants to show off. Whether or not this minifig is a huge show-off, he certainly looks impressive!
The torso is further adorned with a pearl golden epaulette piece, which is put on the neck of the torso.
On top of that he is dressed with a bright red cape (Lego ID 4143210) (which came in a white cardboard envelope with the number 4552503 on it).
Then a lime green face part is put on the neck of the torso part. the eyes of this face part are painted black with two white dots on each eye. Apparently, if he hasn't been the victim of some domestic abuse, he may very well be a war hardened veteran, who has been on many conquests and has suffered 3 vertical scars across his left eye in a close encounter to show for it.
He has a transparent lime green minifig head, and to top it all off a neon green brainy cranium piece which is worn on top of that, giving him his distinct look.
The alien is armed with a ray-gun.

The TV news reporter, has black legs (no print on them), a red torso with front and back printing. She looks very snug in her red pinstripe jacket with feminine hourglass silhouette. She has a press-card hanging from the left jacket lapel.
She has a double sided face: one cheerful face with an open smiling talking mouth with red lipstick, and glasses sitting straight; and a horrified face with open screaming mouth, and crooked glasses. How good would you still look when a blob gobbled up your head?!
She has a black bobcat haircut hairpiece, which unfortunately is to short in the neck to fully cover her terrified mouth, when you display her with her happy face.
The TV-reporter has a microphone (two were included, so she can sing a duet with her alien antagonist), and a 2X2 plate with printing on it: a clipboard with a newspaper 'The Brick Times' attached to it, and two photo's with paper-clips; one with the Eiffel-tower and a flying saucer, and another with some more UFO's on it, and some handwriting in red ink.

Most people will probably not count the little headpiece alien blob clinger as a minifig, but like a one piece cat or dog etcetera, it is a fun little extra creature that comes with the set and will definitely boost its play value.

I would have liked this set even better if it had come with one or two extra minifig's, a cameraman would have been a welcome addition, and an extra alien grunt/soldier would have been nice too. Moreover for €60 (at normal retail price) two minifig's is rather sparse, compared to many other sets.

Parts

This set is certainly interesting for its parts. It contains eight (8) black curved train-tracks (lego ID nr: 4621929), which are used for constructing the revolving outer rim of the space vessel.

It contains a unique sound brick that produces a funny sci-fi-ish bubbly sound, kind of like when you make the thin metal blade of a big handsaw flop and wiggle back and forth.

It also has four big bricks that together form a circle with a diameter of 20 studs, excellent parts for building the roof or the base of a large tower. Fantastic for castle or futuristic extraterrestrial base MOC'ing, or whatever else you fancy!

the two piece element which allows the ring to spin is also very useful, say if you for instance what to build a tower with a revolving restaurant on top.

Next to the here for mentioned items it contains plenty of other interesting stuff!

Brick Colours used in this set

* http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Colour_Palette
(I have referred to the colours using the official Lego name first, and the common name second when the latter seemed too vague to me)

• warm gold / pearl gold (colour ID 297)
  

• dark stone grey (colour ID 199)

• medium stone grey (colour ID 194)

• white (colour ID 1)

• bright red (colour ID 21)

• bright yellow (colour ID 24)

• bright yellowish green / lime (colour ID 119)

• bright blue (colour ID 23)

• black (colour ID 26)

• medium lilac / dark purple (colour ID 268)

• sand yellow / dark tan (colour ID 138)

• transparent fluorescent green / transparent neon green (colour ID 49)

• transparent / clear (colour ID 40)

• transparent light blue (colour ID 42)

• metallic dark grey (colour ID 148)

• silver / pearl light grey (colour ID 131)
  

• 1 - a smaller booklet counting 36 pages in total from front to back.

• 2 - a really large booklet counting 44 pages in total from front to back.

I've had my eye on this set for a while but always thought the price was a bit high for what was included. When I had the chance to buy one 40% off, I jumped on it.

Parts

There are lots of interesting parts in this set. The mothership ring is made from railroad tracks, which were new to me. You get a nice bubble canopy, fins, lots of translucent elements and a sound brick.

Minifigures

The Alien Commander minifig is very nice. While he shares the same head style as the Alien Android (in 7066), he is more than different enough in appearance and has a battle-tested look with the scars across his left eye. His torso and epaulets add to his commanding presence and his tentacled lower body certainly makes him stand out from the other aliens in this series. He comes with the standard alien ray gun.

The reporter is a nice addition to the series and makes perfect sense in a theme about aliens invading the modern world. Her microphone and clipboard accessories are a nice touch as is her double-sided head.

Also included is a little alien clinger. I already had two of these little guys but I don't think you can ever have too many of them.

I do wish they had included another minifig in the set as two just doesn't seem like enough. A camera person might have been nice (I've since created my own) or an ADU soldier (I can never have enough of those guys either).

The build

The build of central saucer is very similar in feel to the other saucers in the line. The build of the outer ring does get a bit repetitive, but in my case the repetition was over shadowed by my eagerness to see how everything looked once it was all put together.

The completed model

When finished, the model holds together quite well. Of course, as others have mentioned, if your arm is in the way when spinning the outer ring, the fin pieces are likely to be knocked off. The ring spins very nicely in either direction and the sound brick adds an eerie touch bringing the model to life even more. However, I will say that the sound could begin to get on the nerves, especially if the set is being played with by a child who continuously spins the ring. The handle at the back of the saucer supports the model well and makes it relatively easy to swoosh around (as easy as it can be to swoosh such a large model). The claw arm is an interesting idea and it does fold up and hide out of the way a bit when not in use.

There are a couple of hollow studs inside the cockpit at the back that serve as great spots to plug in and store the commander's ray gun. There is also enough room inside the cockpit for the clinger to ride along. One could also "dock" some of the smaller alien space ships (like those in sets 7049 and 7050) to the open studs on the outer ring and/or support arms to give this more of a true mothership feel.

I'd like to point out that the central saucer section can be separated from the outer ring although once the two sections are joined, they hold very tightly together and are tough to pull apart. It does give you the option of having a decent looking (and quiet) smaller saucer by setting the ring aside.

Summary

Overall I do like the set, but I don't think I would be quite as pleased with it if I had paid full price. The model is quite large, which for me is a bit of a drawback because it is hard to store and/or display in one piece. The sound brick is a neat addtion but I'm not sure if it's worth the reduction in minifigures and the play value it does add is somewhat limited. If the set appeals to you and you can get it at a discount, it's definitely worth it.

I started out long ago building old school Lego space sets, and in those days, you basically had three types of sets you could find:

- Astronaut buggies with balloon wheels
- Triangular space ships, from tiny to large, but always pointy in front and flat in back, or
- Space bases, with a building, a buggy, and sometimes another triangle ship.

That was it.

In the less-old but still old days, LEGO came out with Insectoid ships and similar lines, which were more fun and came in saucer shapes or bug shapes. Unusual colors, unusual minifigs, and some exciting lights and sounds came with those, but overall, they were missing a sense of humor. Aliens were fierce and ugly, and space flyers were fierce and scary, and they flew ships. That was about it.

The Alien Conquest line changes all that, and in a good way. To me, these are the best LEGO aliens to come along EVER. The line draws on all kinds of classic flying saucer films and cartoons to bring you sets that spur your imagination, and what's more fun than using your imagination?

Well, building space ships, for one! The mother ship is a truly fun build. Train tracks that whirl around a fixed central saucer, a sound brick that creates spooky alien sounds every time the ring of tracks revolves, and aliens threatening not only the earth, but the classic first responder in any flying saucer movie -- the newspaper or TV reporter.

Three good minifigures come with this set -- a classic reporter gal with a clipboard tile and a microphone; a little alien clinger that can take over her head or just follow her around looking like a puppy; and a wonderful alien leader, who sports an octopoid body, a red cape, and a transparent green brain. The reporter torso has some pretty fabulous front and back printing, with silver and gold highlights on a badge and a necklace. The tile also has silver highlights in the shape of paper clips -- something that would have made this my favorite LEGO element ever, if it had shown up in the old old old days.

The set also offers some neat new (to me) pieces, including 2x4 sloped curved tiles or plates, a bunch of transparent light blue 1x4 tiles that circle the inner rim of the track ring, and an insanely good rotating gear assembly, made of two interlocking pieces that allow the ring to rotate freely. I think this might be the same gear assembly from the recent red and white Star Wars ship. Whatever, it's a fabulous technic thing.

I was a little dubious about this set originally, but it's just about the funnest build I've ever done, and just a great set for anybody.