Most under rated sets

msanders · December 2014

I really fancied building some Lego tonight (how crazy am I) but didn't want to build anything big and too taxing. I cracked opened the Silver mine shootout #79110 and I have to say that it was such an enjoyable build. It got me wondering why the set is so under rated - or is it under rated? It's still sitting on shelves despite half price offers (at least in the UK).

Did they make too many? Is it down to the film? Or is it actually a poor set and I have bad taste?!

The set has some really cool features, some great (and rare parts), plus I didn't get bored putting this thing together.

What sets have you enjoyed that were considered flops or under rated?

theLEGOman · December 2014

I think the film tanked and pulled the LEGO down with it. Not sure everyone needs 5 LR's and 5 Tontos either, could have added someone else to some sets, or different outfits.

chuckp · December 2014

Personally, I really liked the #10186 General Grievous . It got knocked when it was released and lingered for a while on Amazon. I thought it was a fun build due to the unique nature of the set and when I had it displayed in my home office, it got way more attention from friends than any other set.

Brickarmor · December 2014

#8078 Portal of Atlantis and #7066 Earth Defense HQ. Two of my old favorites. One of my new under the radar favorites is #70709 Galactic Titan. That set is a beast: big, playable, fun build, and all kinds of tough.

Poochy · December 2014

^ Now you're making me regret passing on #70709 over and over again even at 50% off.

binaryeye · December 2014

I get the feeling the entire Galaxy Squad theme was a bit overlooked (maybe not so much among AFOLs, but apparently among average consumers). I have only four of the sets, so I don't know if it's true across the theme, but most have good play features relative to the average set. #70701 Swarm Interceptor is probably one of the more interesting builds I've seen in a $20 set; the number of functions included is surprising (self-leveling cockpit, pop-up missile launcher, and folding wings). #70704 Vermin Vaporizer is basically a tank where the turret is a mech that can be detached. It also has a lab area and a mini-rover that can be deployed from the front. And #70708 Hive Crawler is probably one of my favorite sets. Perhaps overpriced at RRP, but I believe it could be had for at least ~25% off just about everywhere. The egg launcher function is great, but the "walking" mechanism steals the show in my opinion.

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA · December 2014

70708 in my humble opinion is the one of, if not the best 'vehicle' ever released by TLG - as binary says the walking function is a show stealer and one of the few LEGO designs where the catapult actually does just that! VASTLY underrated!

mathew · December 2014

Galaxy Squad is underrated. With that said, it's one of those Lego themes that I believe doesn't really emphasize the building aspect. The Hive Crawler is a perfect example of an ingenious "toy" monster that could have been molded and assembled in a Chinese factory and sold for $30 retail. So at $70 retail it just doesn't offer the Lego "experience" that parents value in spending that amount of money on a toy for their kids. If that makes any sense.

CCC · December 2014

Most of Atlantis (possibly with the exception of the City, and then only for Greek moc purposes) seemed to be rather underrated. I quite enjoyed them, and the fish minifigs were cool.

I also quite like the last Luke's landspeeder, but many people seemed to think otherwise.

TarDomo · December 2014

I'm hoping to get the Ultimate Lightsaber duel though many have said it's one of the worse sw sets. I don't get that.

Shib · December 2014

I don't know if it's just me but I really hated the whole Chima theme when I first saw it, but after buying a couple of sets on the cheap (specifically Eris Eagle Interceptor at 75% off) I have been very much won over.

VaderX · December 2014

Kingdoms Mill Village Raid. This set hit it out of the park for me and it's what I would hope for the Castle Theme to turn into soon. I was born in the 80's so Classic Castle Theme always perked my interests.

B_Holls · December 2014

This might be a strech but I always thought the Rock Raiders theme was under rated. I got most of the sets long after the theme was discontinued (early 2000s). I found the builds interesting and enjoyable. There were a lot of great pieces and interesting colors. Correct me if I'm wrong but there was not much other sets from the space the see floating around at this time and these were and interesting diversion from the usually. So I think my most under rated set/ sets would be #4940 and #4980. Both those sets have great pieces and I was able to get them at a great price point $1 and $2.

natro220 · December 2014

I personally think most of the Insectoid line is underrated, judging from the low prices for the sets on Ebay and Bricklink. It was like a precurser to the excellent Galaxy Squad.

cheshirecat · December 2014

Another vote for Earth defense HQ, that was a great set. Also the truck and volcano from Agents and Neptune discovery lab. Not sure if its rated or not but having built the IJ temple escape this week that's also great.

AdeelZubair · December 2014

I think I've underrated most LEGO sets. Mostly I pick a set to buy judged on an official picture or a box but in fact now that I watch reviews of every set it clearly shows LEGO is really pushing out some outstanding products into the market. I just which I had the money and space for all of them. Some exmaples are LEGO Friends, LEGO Legends of Chima, LEGO Creator, LEGO Juniors, LEGO City and LEGO Technic!

EddieDoesntMind · December 2014

I know most people hate Mars Mission, but though the aliens are weird and non-Lego feeling, I think the builds were pretty solid.

Bumblepants · December 2014

Space Police III was excellent, lots of great characters and clever fusion of design like the '80s gangster space limo. Just fantastic and still available around msrp.

msanders · December 2014

Brickarmor said:
#8078 Portal of Atlantis and #7066 Earth Defense HQ. Two of my old favorites. One of my new under the radar favorites is #70709 Galactic Titan. That set is a beast: big, playable, fun build, and all kinds of tough.

After you mentioned #70709 Galactic Titan, it inspired me to build it (it's been sitting in the cupboard for ages). It's such a great set - fun build, great techniques, cool features and an absolute bargain at half price! It's enormous!

reckonball · December 2014

mathew said:
Galaxy Squad is underrated. With that said, it's one of those Lego themes that I believe doesn't really emphasize the building aspect. The Hive Crawler is a perfect example of an ingenious "toy" monster that could have been molded and assembled in a Chinese factory and sold for $30 retail. So at $70 retail it just doesn't offer the Lego "experience" that parents value in spending that amount of money on a toy for their kids. If that makes any sense.

While I think your conclusion is ultimately correct, I felt the Galaxy Squad theme was exemplary in terms of interesting building techniques in a retail set. In fact, I've spent the last couple years using Galaxy Squad (70700, 70701, and 70702 specifically) to refute the crowd that mistakenly think TLG has just been shipping single-purpose blocks the last 20 years. (If anything, TLG might have gone too far in the other direction - shipping nothing but boxes full of plates and slopes - but I digress.)

In any event, there must be some truth to your assessment that the sets don't appear to offer 'the Lego experience' because the Galaxy Squad sets are still sitting on shelves in droves at TRU, long after their contemporaries have been snapped up.

1974 · December 2014

That's because GS look utterly boring! White/orange with clear trans makes no LEGO Space

mathew · December 2014

reckonball said:

While I think your conclusion is ultimately correct, I felt the Galaxy Squad theme was exemplary in terms of interesting building techniques in a retail set.

True, but there are a lot of great building techniques to be found in many non-City Lego themes. I remember Destiny's Bounty and thinking how complex some of the steps were for a kid's set. What I'm getting at is while the Hive Crawler is an ingenious set with lots of interesting building techniques; it's also heavy on specialized technic bits and other odd parts that make the set what it is. These elements don't necessarily make a good basis for an average kid to make his/her own creation. It goes back to the old sets that featured alternate builds on the back of the box. Sure they didn't look as good as the featured set but at least it opened up one's imagination. I'm not criticizing Lego because the Creator sets still offer this type of creativity. But it's important to note about the success or failure of a non-licensed theme.

mathew · December 2014

1974 said:
That's because GS look utterly boring! White/orange with clear trans makes no LEGO Space

I don't think that you're too far off when it came to the average shopper. IMO the best part of the theme were the GS android sidekicks (see my avatar) and the bug creatures. The "good guys" were generic in nature. It would have been cool to have a set that wasn't necessarily battle oriented, like a lab or base. Alien Conquest sort of pulled this off with the HQ. That set had a nice variation of parts for MOC'ing. While I like the Galactic Titan, it relied on a battle intensive design and again there are a lot of specialized parts to make it all work.

blarghiflargh · December 2014

The clear trans and white are what put me off GS at first too... I have almost all the sets now and they're terrific.

Dedgecko · December 2014

mathew said:

1974 said:
That's because GS look utterly boring! White/orange with clear trans makes no LEGO Space
I don't think that you're too far off when it came to the average shopper. IMO the best part of the theme were the GS android sidekicks (see my avatar) and the bug creatures. The "good guys" were generic in nature. It would have been cool to have a set that wasn't necessarily battle oriented, like a lab or base. Alien Conquest sort of pulled this off with the HQ. That set had a nice variation of parts for MOC'ing. While I like the Galactic Titan, it relied on a battle intensive design and again there are a lot of specialized parts to make it all work.

I think the Star Wars sets get the pick over the Galaxy Squad stuff since they are both "shoot stuff in space" themes, except one has a history with parents. Perhaps if there was better promotional material, that gave GS more traction with kids. But I have to agree, the good guy's ships are poorly colored/boring to look at. Sure they have cool transformation stuff, but if they are boring in their design and have a boring / generic looking enemy... Well, I'll go spend the money on Star Wars and recreate battles from the movies.

Chubbles · December 2014

I have a few of the smaller GS sets and they are fun to play with. Hopefully when these guys go on clearance again I'll nab a couple of the larger sets. They are fully stocked at my local TRUS.

Brickarmor · December 2014

EddieDoesntMind said:
I know most people hate Mars Mission, but though the aliens are weird and non-Lego feeling, I think the builds were pretty solid.

I actually really like the Mars Mission sets, especially #7644, #7645, and to a lesser extent #7692. We motorized the Crystal Reaper, it's a speedy bugger too!

Omastar · January 2015

I personally find Power Miners to be an underrated theme-a personal favorite set of mine is #8960 Thunder Driller, as it feels nice and solid and has a great function (the drill spins as the wheels move).

monkyby87 · January 2015

I agree about underrating most Lego sets. There have been several sets that even if I don't care for the theme, the build is very enjoyable.

monkyby87 · January 2015

Also, I was just thinking the other night, most the Lone Ranger sets are underrated I feel like. Despite the license, I thought they were great western theme sets, especially the train set. It would fit great into any western theme, whether you like the licensed characters or not. The movie may not have been that great, but I actually really like the sets.

Chubbles · January 2015

^ Me too, I really like them

Odindusk · January 2015

mathew said:
The Hive Crawler is a perfect example of an ingenious "toy" monster that could have been molded and assembled in a Chinese factory and sold for $30 retail. So at $70 retail it just doesn't offer the Lego "experience" that parents value in spending that amount of money on a toy for their kids. If that makes any sense.

I get what you're saying. I walked by a horde of these sets at WM for $35 and was not even close to pulling the trigger on any of them. I love the theme overall, but this set did not pass the eyeball test for me. It didn't look like a giant plastic bug that was built with LEGO elements. It looked like a giant plastic bug that [RANDOM TOY COMPANY] would sell.

Alternatively, the GS mech is one of my favorite sets ever.

pharmjod · January 2015

I ended up snagging a couple of the Hive Crawler set at Walmart for $17.50 each so it was an easy purchase for me. I actually built it and it was one of the more interesting builds I've done in several years.

mathew · January 2015

The Hive Crawler is a great set... for $35. It took me a couple of hours to build one afternoon and the kids had a few hours of fun with it afterwards. But it has since sat on the shelf in my office gathering dust. As do most other Lego sets that I own.

Actually the main reason I bought it was to motorize it like this guy did:

I haven't gotten around to doing it yet though. I did motorize the Galatic Titan, but it had a hard time going anywhere on carpet.

tamamahm · January 2015

I have to laugh. I saw the title of this thread for the first time a few hours back, but had not had a chance to read. I must have missed the thread back in December.
The first set that came to mind was the exact one the OP had mentioned. Silver Mine Shootout.
I never did understand why this set did not do better. It looks amazing, and it has so much playability to it.

I think sometimes Friends as a theme gets looked over by both AFOLs and parents because of the minidolls and colors.

I think sometimes the smaller sets get looked over. The current seasonal Valentine set has been one of my favorite builds in a long time. The size compared to the detailing in it was quite wonderful.

richselby · January 2015

Space Police III looked amazing, was fun to build, and had some great minifigures. Loved it.

Odindusk · January 2015

pharmjod said:
I ended up snagging a couple of the Hive Crawler set at Walmart for $17.50 each so it was an easy purchase for me. I actually built it and it was one of the more interesting builds I've done in several years.

I would be all over any set that's 75% off too. I'm glad you enjoyed the build - cheap LEGO that's also interesting is a nice, rare combo.

Mynatt · October 2017

A bit of a bump but I wanted to mention #31045. This set for me had flown under the radar for me and I can't say I ever paid much attention to it. I was able to pick it up for a good deal on Amazon (It had been on sale for quite some time) and only recently built it. Must say it was a surprisingly pleasant build. The colors work great together and the simple action feature of the set all make a great set. I must say that for $15 (or less) it's a superb value and a nice small display piece.

catwrangler · October 2017

That Lone Ranger set looks great. I'm a sucker for landscapes and most sets don't contain much of that stuff (understandably - kids tend to prefer vehicles). This thread has also caused me to stalk the Hive Crawler on Ebay, so thanks for the impending spending, guys! ;)

To name an under-rated set from an under-rated theme: #70312 Lance's Mecha-Horse. I love mechas in general and a mecha horse just felt like the distillation of the Nexo Knights concept, so it was my first buy from that theme, and I loved that it transformed. I think the relative lack of articulation on the horse is a disappointment to a lot of people, and I certainly would've liked a fully articulated horse (maybe something for me to experiment with on a larger scale), but I found it an extremely fun set to build, with great parts.

MaffyD · October 2017

@Mynatt - I nearly bought Ocean Explorer when it came out. I'll put it on my wish list. Thank you. @catwrangler - my youngest son loves that horse. We bought it full price he wanted it that much. I wish I could share my own under rated set, but I don't really know what has been unpopular really. #31064 doesn't look like many people want it, but it's really good: a good size, plenty of space on the plane and opportunities for stories with the island being included, really different multi builds and the minifig looks like me! What's not to like?

FowlerBricks · October 2017

Hmm...maybe Kryptarium Prison Breakout? It's a really nice set that I kept overlooking until I decided I wanted Skybound Kai and was pleasantly surprised by the set as a whole.

FowlerBricks · October 2017

Also, Galaxy Squad rocked!

Fauch · October 2017

+1 for portal of atlantis, still one of my favourite, love the incorporation of sharks in the architecture and the colours choice is great.

flakmaniak · October 2017

This thread may be necromanced, but... My pick is 70003-1 Eris' Eagle Interceptor. The elegance of the front of the build is unmatched.

Now, perhaps I'm biased since it was the first new set I'd gotten since 2006 or so; maybe the building techniques in it are bog standard for its era. But even so, the overall design is excellent. I put it together several times, just because I liked how it went together. And it looks great, obviously.

piratemania7 · October 2017

Have people talked about the Medieval Market Village? Obviously in my opinion a great set and one that seemed to float under the radar for most of its shelf life...

Brickfan50 · October 2017

I don't know what the critical reception was for MMV but the aftermarket value is high.
Personally I think the Lone Ranger theme is a candidate for most underrated sets. I own most of it and still like them after all those years!

Astrobricks · October 2017

Mynatt said:

A bit of a bump but I wanted to mention #31045. This set for me had flown under the radar for me and I can't say I ever paid much attention to it. I was able to pick it up for a good deal on Amazon (It had been on sale for quite some time) and only recently built it. Must say it was a surprisingly pleasant build. The colors work great together and the simple action feature of the set all make a great set. I must say that for $15 (or less) it's a superb value and a nice small display piece.

I got two of those from Amazon for $7 each and really like it. Great use of SNOT to shape the hull, and pretty convincing mini-sub using so few parts.

PapaBear · October 2017

I like this thread. I had the Rock Raiders video game. I think that was underrated. It was sort of like a kid version of Red Alert and it was really fun from what I remember.

The LTR Stagecoach and Teepee are okay. I like the cavalry soldiers, but the soliders are the only things I would buy from the line. The train looked too kiddie.

I try not to collect that many City sets cuz I need to limit my collection to some extent, but I really liked the Toys R Us truck. I have two and wish I kept the other two I sold. I also think the Tow Truck #60056 and Grand Prix Truck #60025 were really underrated. I had a Grand Prix Truck that I sold, but I bought one from someone on Bricklink immediately to replace it. I still made $25 on the deal. I had a Grand Prix Truck that looked exactly like it from when I was a kid maybe 18 years ago. I can't find it in the Brickset database.

CCC · October 2017

piratemania7 said:

Have people talked about the Medieval Market Village? Obviously in my opinion a great set and one that seemed to float under the radar for most of its shelf life...

I don't think it was underrated at the time. Lots of Castle builders bought it and thought it was good for providing quite a lot of non-battle parts. The complaints at the time were about price rather than the build / set, although it seems a bargain now.

gunther.schnitzel · October 2017

60092, Deep Sea Submarine

Aanchir · October 2017

One recent set I probably would call underrated is #70590 Airjitzu Battle Grounds. A lot of AFOLs' attitudes towards the set were colored by the expectation that it would be an expansion to #70751 Temple of Airjitzu, only for it to be revealed as a more play-focused set. But at the same time, I feel like it's got a lot going for it. Even with its two large Airjitzu fliers, it's got a pretty modest price per piece (9¢/7.5p). The Airjitzu fliers themselves are a pretty outstanding concept in and of themselves — a way to make minifigures fly! And this set takes that concept maybe the furthest it's gone, with two kinds of launcher: the air launchers from the other Airjitzu sets, discreetly positioned as columns, plus custom-built Technic launchers for more conventional ground-based spinner battles.

Furthermore, if you take the easily-removable Airjitzu fliers and launchers out of the equation, the set is actually not a bad companion piece to Temple of Airjitzu. The main build shares both its color palette and its traditional appearance (without obvious sci-fi or fantasy elements) with the temple. Compared to the over-the-top fantasy weapons of the smaller Airjitzu flier sets, this set's weapons are pretty modest and realistic. The two possessed ninja student statues can flip their heads around to become plain old statues, complementing Yang's statue in the Temple set. And speaking of Yang, this set includes his ghost, one of the conspicuous omissions from the Temple itself.

Finally, the set has two exclusive and extremely well-designed ninja minifigures: Airjitzu Lloyd and Airjitzu Nya. The original wave of Airjitzu fliers had brilliantly designed new elemental energy forms for the ninja — but only for Kai, Zane, Cole, and Jay. This set rounds out the team, and with her dynamic color scheme, shiny gold eyes, and metallic blue water patterns, Airjitzu Nya might be my favorite of the bunch. From my frame of mind, I had basically given up on seeing Airjitzu forms for these two when there was no new wave of Airjitzu fliers announced in 2016, so to get both of them in one set a full year later was a real treat.

Most under rated sets

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