Review: LEGO 40580 Blacktron Cruiser

Today we go very quickly around the contents of the LEGO set 40580 Blacktron Cruiser, a promotional product of 356 pieces which will be offered subject to purchase from January 1, 2023 via the official store.

There is no need to debate the relevance of the subject covered in this box, this product is aimed simply and effectively at an adult clientele today who are nostalgic for their childhood toys. Either the theme of this box speaks to you, or it leaves you indifferent. When releasing the LEGO Blacktron set 6894 Invading in 1987, I had already moved on and so I am not going to invent a false nostalgia for a toy that I did not have in my hands. If you played with the products of this range during your young years, you may be seduced by this product which incorporates all the codes of the time, packaging included. It is moreover the latter which seems above all to have its small effect on the many fans who remember having one day had these colored boxes in their hands.

Lacking nostalgia, I can only technically compare this new interpretation of the black and yellow ship with the reference one and I note that LEGO does not even make the effort to provide pad-printed elements for the few pieces flanked by patterns that have become a priori emblematic of an entire era. It is on the verge of pettiness and it is above all a flagrant technical regression. Worse, the various stickers on a black background are sloppy with many white spots which become frankly visible when these stickers are stuck on the various elements of the set.

We can also mention the very relative quality of the pad printing of the torso of the minifig provided. The white area is not really white and two coats would have been useful to bring out the simplistic pattern yet faithful to that of the reference figurine with an additional dorsal addition on the 2023 version.

For the rest, there will probably only be the most nostalgic to have fun assembling this basic construction made up of stacked pieces and a few clips holding the different modules and the (striped) panels of the ship. the canopy used is the one already seen in the LEGO Disney Pixar Lightyear set 76832 XL-15 Spaceship, it is simply thrown into one of the bags and therefore does not escape the inevitable scratches. The design of the ship, even vaguely modernized, is necessarily dated and there is nothing to marvel at here on the construction techniques or the level of finish of the whole.

This promotional product therefore puts the package on its packaging more than on its content to try to seduce the most nostalgic among us. The presence of stickers on a product which in principle should pay homage to a set which in its time benefited from pad-printed elements is, in my opinion, absolute nonsense which betrays the desire not to do too much on the content for the benefit of the container. It will a priori be necessary to pay at least 190 € and buy products at their public price to be offered this pretty box valued by LEGO at 29.99 €, it is in any case the minimum amount required advanced by LEGO in the offer of " review" sent to various fan sites.

As far as I'm concerned, if I had had the reference product in my hands during my young years, I would still have the impression that LEGO is forcing my hand with a pretty attractive box but a realization that breathes economic choices and lack of care. Selling or giving away pretty cardboard boxes is not enough, but it's up to you.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 9th January 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.