I guess themes do grow on you. I wish that wasn't the case. At least one or two! But I'm drifting... as usual.

Like the construction theme, back in the 80s I didn't think much of the space series... I guess they just looked too clumsy compared to my beloved Colonial Warriors in Battlestar Galactica, and they didn't have a Viper... uhm, I mean a fighter.

Anyway, more recently (after a friend at work gave me his incomplete old shuttle), I decided I NEEDED the station. And the remaining sets (thank the Gods for ebay, as usual).

I still like the redesigned theme better (especially the Dark Scorpions - oops, that's a different story), but there's definitely a certain charm in the old PLAYMOSPACE series.

Not happy with the common released version (well, with a couple of them :)), I got the Brazilian one too.

The colors are the obvious difference... though in truth I prefer the more sober light blue and white of the original version, the colorful Brazilian version brings (much needed) variety.

One BIG word of approval for whoever decided on the people in this set - at least they can make a uniformed crew that aren't identical twins - different hair color for everyone, and - you'll find it hard to believe - even a black guy!

Kinda off topic: I remember our old cavalry set, those big - they were big at the time! - styrofoam boxes with seven klickys. At playkingdoms, ALL of the guys in that kind of cavalry have BLOND hair. Every single one of them.

Another BIG improvement here are the grey gloves. In the original blueish version they had no gloves. Their hands were skin colored (and of course, they were all white MEN), looking quite off with all the gear.

The interior of the Station is very detailed. There's even a place to fit the four (square) cups!

There's also a scale (at least that's what it looks like to me!), and lots of places to fit the space tools (as with most playmospace sets, there are PLENTY of those).

Oddly enough, even though the crew is made up of four men (WHY didn't they make women? I know, usual whine), and there are four cups, there are only two (single) beds.

And only two seats at the table. I guess they have shifts, and only sleep a couple at a time...

The control center in the middle of the station turns, and it's made so as they need to have their ugly space shoes on.

I never got used to those. And they're very hard to put on and off - especially with the leg pieces.

Though I guess they are remarkably strong: even the ones that I got in odd lots are intact. They are usually marked, but never broken.

The station has folding landing gear, that elevates the station quite a bit, and it's a solid structure - a very nice touch.

I suppose we can assume that the Station is actually a ship. I mean, it seems to have several thrusters... I hope that there's a (hidden) switch to retract the big radar-like thing on top before it lifts off.

The two existing doors come down and double as stairs. Good, since it prevents nasty falls (there's no medical equipment on board).

So that the crew doesn't get sucked out to space, there's a glassy protection that covers the doors (another cool detail).

The top of the station is clear blue, and easily removable for access to the interior. That's a plus: on the current (HUGE) station (with our beloved System X - HUNDREDS of those stupid little connectors, oh joy!) there are only two sides covered, out of four. Looks odd. Either they covered nothing, and we could easily imagine it was all covered, or they should include cover for all the sides. (BTW, the covers are VERY cool, made of 3 pieces each that open like petals :)).

Ok, now, regarding the not so good things about this set...

The blue windows are easily broken during assembly, and there are no spares. Fortunately I had gotten a loose lot on ebay that had many of those, and were enough to complete my second-hand first Station and replace the window I broke from this one. However, most people won't have a spare around, and it'd look really... well... incomplete without a window.

Somehow there is a way for little accessories to slide into the bottom of the station (both the not-new Stations I got had little things inside). The bigger problem is getting them back out. A hard task, even with the help of pliers. On the bright side, they say patience is a virtue, so I guess developing some is probably a good point...

This version of the Space Station has a few too many stickers - I decided not to use all of them (the set is colorful enough without stickers!). Then again, it's better to have too many than too few!

The result? Well... the usual - I want the rest of the Brazilian space sets!

Queen Tahra, July 2002