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As always, many thanks to Joe from The Undiscovered Playthings for sending me this set to review.
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Slight change to the FAIL branding today - try not to read too much into that. Just tweaking the design some.
When I see a toy with a name like Foreign Emissary I think of international intrigue - spies and secret agents. Real James Bond type stuff.
I should have known better.
I should have known better.
Oh, Zephyr Knight. You always manage to disappoint. Number 1017, Foreign Emissary, is not about international issues - it's about interplanetary ones. And things don't look good for the other diplomats, as this alien arrives already firing his weapons.
The set is a stripped down version of a LEGO Life on Mars set from 2001: 1414 - Double Hover. I called it "Stripped down" as it's missing some of the more interesting printed parts - the rear dish and the control panel. It's a little surprising - I would have thought an overrun of parts from the Solar Energy Car would have freed up enough discs to complete this set as well.
The set is a stripped down version of a LEGO Life on Mars set from 2001: 1414 - Double Hover. I called it "Stripped down" as it's missing some of the more interesting printed parts - the rear dish and the control panel. It's a little surprising - I would have thought an overrun of parts from the Solar Energy Car would have freed up enough discs to complete this set as well.
The "alternate models" on the package back suffer from random color changes on the bricks. For example, the "control tile" at the top of the steering mount appears in red, blue AND black. A different part for each build. That's the level of quality control we've come to expect from Zephyr Knight, though.
The Rayish Battleplane (also from Zephyr Knight) promised a yellow alien on the box, but delivered a lime green alien inside. This time that scheme is reversed with the green on the box, but this banana-colored dropout waiting in the poly-bag. The designs printed on the heads match the box art, though. So it's more than just a minor mix-up at the bootleg factory.
Other than the missing parts and odd colors, it's a close match to the LEGO original. Of course, you could make a similar comparison between a child's crayon drawing and the Mona Lisa.
The parts fit together okay for a change - although the click-hinges connecting the "fins" to the base of the craft don't really work. They're pretty much stuck in the position shown.
So now we must ask ourselves "Why is the Foreign Emissary so angry?"
The answer, of course, is that he encountered the Anti-Informaniac soon after arriving on earth.
That'd make anyone cranky.
The answer, of course, is that he encountered the Anti-Informaniac soon after arriving on earth.
That'd make anyone cranky.
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As always, many thanks to Joe from The Undiscovered Playthings for sending me this set to review.
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4 comments:
I wonder that if a bootleg anti-Lego and an official Lego were to meet, would they annihilate one another? (If so, I pity the guy driving the official one.)
One of these days, I'm gonna have to hire the Terminator to terminate these bootlegs and their sellers.
Once again I believe the bootleggers just used an internet translator to get these names. Foreign Emmisarry, or Alien Visitor? Still as bad as ever, no matter how you label it.
@???: As brittle as they are, I figure they'd shatter just like the T-1000. "Hasta la vista, baby!"
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