6879 Blizzard Baron

I believe that I've mentioned before that 6879 Blizzard Baron is tied with 6835 Saucer Scout for my oldest Space set. I acquired both of them for Christmas, back in 1995, and while the two figs are more or less equal in my nostalgic heart, Blizzard Baron has long reigned as favourite among the Space sets in my possession--probably because of a collection that didn't top 6 sets until the Bricklink era, it was the largest. However, I think that although it's not a huge set or even necessarily an impressively inventive set, that it's still a nice set.



As can be seen in the picture, this ship, which I have designated the Baron-class, I.P.S. Blizzard (I.P.S. standing for Iceplanet Ship), is an elegant little spaceship. It's larger than the average "flitter"-sized fighter that comes with a number of Space sets, having an "enclosed" cockpit (one must not be too fussy about what constitutes an enclosed cockpit on a LEGO ship, especially one from an official set), and enough leg-room for the pilot that you can squeeze two minifigs aboard if so desired.



Despite the Blizzard's swooshability, however--and it *is* a swooshable little ship, the Blizzard Baron, as a set, has historically been one of the most solidly planet-side sets in my Space collection. The back end of the ship detaches to form a long-range communications station planetside. In addition, the inclusion of a mighty chainsaw and pair of stylish trans-neon-orange skis practically begs you to land the ship and do some exploration.

What's more, the detachable satellite or communications outpost gives the Blizzard a hint of modularity. It's quite easy to come up with something else to fit onto that Technic-peg at the back of the ship, as the following picture shows:



This picture, it should be noted, does not give a particularly clear image of what the added component is, but that's intentional. As a piece of LEGO construction, it is not especially original or interesting. Instead, the important thing I want to note here is how organically this extra component fits onto the ship. My idea is that the Blizzard is not normally capable of Faster-Than-Light travel, and that this is an optional component that makes it so.