6983 - Ice Station Odyssey

Rating:
Pros: Launch pad is executed well; an Ice Babe is included!
Cons: Too much open space; ugly color scheme
Contents: 337 pieces including 3 mini-figs
Price: Discontinued
Reviewed: 08-Jul-1998
Reviewed by: Mark Bauer

On the isolated planet Zole you see a small ship gliding along its icy surface. You hop into your saucer scout and start following the spy ship. Soon it goes into a giant ice cavern. You pause for a second but then curiosity gets the best of you and you follow. Deeper, deeper you go until finally you reach the Ice Station.
You slip off your spying ship and run in to get a closer look. You see the chief. He sits in his private chair protected by lasers. Then you see the missile. You knew something was fishy about this secret hideout.
Quickly and carefully you fly out of the cave to warn the others of a secret attack led by the Ice Planet 2002!

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The only reason I picked up this set was to complete my collection of Ice Planet sets. Although I thought this would be a lame set, it turned out to be quite good.

As you can tell by the name, it's a station but there are also two vehicles that come with the set. One is a ski glider that has nothing to it but was nice to get with the set. The other is a ground vehicle on ten small wheels. The front section is for the driver and for storing a pair of skis. The back section is to hold a missile for transportation. This vehicle really helps out the overall set.
The station is simply a launching site for missiles. The right side of the station has an arm with a magnet at the end to grab the missiles. It also has an area to rest missiles until they're ready to be launched. The main section of the station has two translucent-orange pieces that cover the working area in case of snowfall I guess. The ramp to get to the working area is guarded by four translucent-orange poles that can lift up and down. (A cool idea that I thought was done well.)
In the working area there is a circular knob which does the main job of the station. Turn it one way and a laser beam will lift up to your desired angle for firing. Turn the knob the other way and the missile that is in the holding section will lift up vertically and be ready for launch. This idea was very, very clever and I would love to see this idea be revived for a new station.

There are two pieces on the launching pad that are used to hold sails up on this set. I have never seen them on a Space set before. The piece is 1x4 and has a circular knob sticking out of it. The large and small skis are always a delight to get and so are the chainsaws!

I only have a few complaints. The first thing I don't like is how the right section where the arm is seems too bare and open. The back area has nothing at all! The other thing that bugged me was the annoying and ugly translucent-orange color. I think a translucent-red would have fitted this sub-theme more, of course that's just my opinion.

All in all this set features a lot of really neat things. The launching site is the thing that makes this set really worth purchasing (now if only they wouldn't have had that translucent-orange color).