The last great Alpha Team ‘wave’?

I do believe this was my first System building set all the way back in 2002. Five year old me had a blast playing with this set, and It still holds a place on my shelves right next to the Parisian Restaurant today. Awesome pivoting skull door, magic portal back door, and an Evil Orb Torpedo factory in the middle, what's not to love!

Those face prints though... no me gusto.

@Zordboy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw

Not this set, but the big hero submarine in this wave actually uses Galidor-like limb pieces. One of the few times a Galidor style piece ever snuck into a System set. Alpha Team sure was a unique congruence of all of Lego's early 2000's vibe.

I can't believe I never started Mission Deep Sea. Instead, it was 4506 Deep Sea Predators that, among other things, ignited my passion for marine life that continues to this day.

I guess there's always LEGO City's deep sea exploration sets.

I cleaned that set the other day and I was amazed by how few parts were used to get such a large build, even though it's really hollow obviously.

Interesting underwater base made from UFO parts which do not appear in the inventory, corner base 10x10 panel 30201 and quarter surface top 30117, but I guess they are both designed for high pressures and no atmosphere. These would look great on any UCE spaceship, only disappointment was the curved window was just a bit of fragile plastic rather than using say 8 curved windscreens 41751.

@xboxtravis7992:
Galidor was actually responsible for an entirely new hinge system that replaced the inferior System system that was in use at the time.

My Top 15 Alpha Team sets list:
https://brickset.com/sets/list-35081

Mission Deep Sea is easily the best Alpha Team wave. The first wave from 2001 looks very outdated, with very blocky vehicles that look like they came straight out of the 1997 Town subtheme. However, with Mission Deep Sea in 2002, we get a lot of interesting builds for submarines and mutated sea creatures with very unconventional designs, which I really quite like.

If there's one Alpha Team set that's still high on my wishlist...

I dunno, it didn't catch my attention at the time - because as a kid, I was more interested in sets that had unique characters in, and I already had both Dash and Ogel from the first Alpha Team wave - but in the years since then, it's definitely grown on me. It just... feels really effective at what it sets out to be, and looks like just a fun set overall.

Plus, I have a huge soft spot for Alpha Team. It was never my very most favourite theme, but I've always liked the concept and the character designs ^^ (Though I'll admit, the first wave did the latter better than Mission Deep Sea did!)

The problem with Deep Freeze is that they kept most of the character names while making some of them unrecognizable (Flex and Charge). So it's never quite felt like real Alpha Team to me.

@PurpleDave said:
" @xboxtravis7992:
Galidor was actually responsible for an entirely new hinge system that replaced the inferior System system that was in use at the time."

Werent the hinge/click (idk what to call them) parts later introduced in 2004 for mainly Creator based on them? Though seems they got their most use in Exo-Force

@CarolinaOnMyMind said:
"Those face prints though... no me gusto. "

You have to keep in mind, back then more Detailed faceprinting was fairly new.
I may be wrong, but first unique prints came with Pirate Sets in1989, then the first more detailed ones appeared with the first Star Wars Sets in 1999

The early days of my Lego collection were dedicated to looking at this set, along with 4561, 6776, 7317, 7316, 7153, 7163 and 4709, on catalogs, wishing to own them but knowing it would be never possible. Nostalgic.

@Eightcoins8 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @xboxtravis7992:
Galidor was actually responsible for an entirely new hinge system that replaced the inferior System system that was in use at the time."

Werent the hinge/click (idk what to call them) parts later introduced in 2004 for mainly Creator based on them? Though seems they got their most use in Exo-Force"

They originated with the Knights Kingdom buildable figures I think, but they themselves were a derivative of the technic system used in Bionicle and the Star Wars buildable figures.

Well the hinge system Galidor introduced still sees some use to this day if I remember right, the reason I am pointing out with Alpha Team is those parts were basically identical to Galidor pieces. Big molded pieces with lone sockets at the end that would look more on home with Jens than they would on any other Lego set. I looked back on some of the other sets too and it looks like Alpha Team also used molds from the short lived Dinosaur theme too; not to mention all the Bionicle parts in the mix. Considering how different the styles of the Bionicle, Galidor, Dinosaur sets and all were its admirable Alpha Team tried to mix them all...even if the results were less than even.

@Eightcoins8:
You might be confusing the parts with the system. The Galidor _parts_ have all basically been retired, but the design of the click ball and socket has been coopted a line of other parts that are more compatible with other parts. It's kind of the same way that the Mixels joints were based on the existing towball system. You can better see what I'm talking about here:

https://www.newelementary.com/2018/04/review-jurassic-world-2018-t-rex-velociraptor-pteranodon.html