1498 - Spy-Bot

Rating:
Pros: A huge amount of normal bricks, plates, hinged pieces, and computers
Cons: No mini-fig; looks kind of weird
Contents: 60 pieces
Price: Discontinued
Reviewed: 28-Jul-1998
Reviewed by: G. M.

Dave's father had disappeared four years ago (in 1972) and everyone in his small rural town had assumed him dead. Not Dave. The night he disappeared, Dave saw weird flashing lights in the sky and ever since then he knew that aliens were the culprits.
For the entire four years he had been missing, Dave had been trying to contact other life using a beat-up satellite dish that he found while cruising the desert near a spot known only as "Location N".
Dave mounted the thing on top of his souped-up van and signaled the heavens every night. One night, he finally received a response on his old black and white TV. A man in a blue space suit showed his face on TV. His suit was blue -- on a black and white TV! It didn't make sense.
The man told Dave to go outside and wait. He did as he was told.
Fifteen minutes passed and Dave was about ready to go inside when a glistening grey robot stomped over to Dave and led him to a huge blue and grey spaceship. Through the yellow canopy, Dave saw a man that he knew was his father.

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The Spy-Bot looks like something straight out of a 1950's horror flick. It has the weird looking head with buggy eyes and the right kind of body to be semi-scary/semi-derranged looking.

The robot is done in mainly grey and black. The legs are fairly short -- only two bricks high. The torso is made of a lot of 1x2x1 grey slopes and lots of computers. In the back is a weird rocket engine that looks too small to be useful, a small blaster weapon of some sort, and a wrench attached to clips. The arms are made of flat hinged plates and have 1x1 clips as hands. The arms are fully articulated and can move just about anywhere within a five stud limit of the main body. The head is made of some 1x1x1's with studs on two sides. A 2x2x1 computer slope serves as the nose.

Even though it has sixty pieces, most of them are very small so the overall robot is only 8 1/3 bricks high. I really don't think much of this set, but it does have some nifty pieces like the load of computers. It also has a lot of normal bricks and plates. I wouldn't suggest for anyone to buy this set unless you love classic Space, or are a completist.
Finally, a thanks goes out to Joe Wood for helping me acquire the pieces to this set.