7049 Alien Striker

Continuing yesterday's discussion of the sets I purchased on my weekend trip to the LEGO Store, today brings us a look at 7049 Alien Striker, the smallest regular Alien Conquest set, and my first in that theme.

Once again, I apologise for the rather appalling photo...

EDIT: 28/Dec/2011: The photo has since been replaced, and while it is not stellar, it is still immensely better...



Alien Conquest is a wonderful new theme, and was only my desire to avoid hauling several overweight pounds of LEGO back from Canada that had me put off acquiring any sets until now. Due to the financial cringing involved with starting a new school year, I didn't go overboard at the LEGO Store last weekend, but I did make sure that my loot included an Alien Conquest set. As the smallest, Alien Striker was a good bet, but not a sure bet. Looking at them side by side, however, I decided that not only was Alien Striker cheaper than 7050 Alien Defender, but it was also a nicer set.

Part of this preference probably has to do with the fact that Alien Striker is chiefly an alien craft, with a human, while Alien Defender is a human vehicle with a smaller attacking alien. Although the human elements of Alien Conquest include some wonderful pieces--the new gun is particularly well-done--and some nice-looking sets, my overall preference is for the aliens. Perhaps it boils down to simple swooshability: the alien craft flies, which the human vehicles generally don't. It might also just be colours: both factions feature new coloured elements, but on whole I prefer the magenta colour that the alien sports on his sleeves to the "dark azure" (so Bricklink calls it) of the ADU (human) fig.

In any case, Alien Striker was well worth it for the price. The little craft, especially given its size, is well-done, and is almost completely composed of "useful" pieces. The purple 1x1 round plates are also nice--the first in my collection.