Alien Conquest battle pack coming soon

 

  • Alien Conquest battle pack coming soon

    Posted by Huw, 17 May 2011 11:46. Filed under New sets.

    853301: Alien Conquest Battle Pack
    Space/Alien Conquest, 2011
    More details...
    ©2011 LEGO Group

    Eagle-eyed member Jarod98 found this 5 minifigure battle pack in the online LEGO catalogue, on page 37. It's not yet listed at shop.LEGO.com but the catalogue says it'll be $14.99 and available on June 1st.

    It looks like a great 'army builder', if a little pricey, however -- I hope I'm wrong -- but I suspect it'll consist primarily of 'components made in China' like other battle packs which unfortunately will mean it won't be on my shopping list :-(


    43 comments, latest one posted 24 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by QuickBricks in United States, 17 May 2011 12:28

Yeah, they can be useful, but fifteen bucks is a little on the steep side, don't you think?

Posted by Mars Needs LEGO in United States, 17 May 2011 12:37

"...fifteen bucks is a little on the steep side, don't you think?"

The latest series of minifigures sold for $2.99 per pack. The Alien Conquest battle pack has 5 minifigures. Five x 2.99 = $14.95.

You're right, that four cent increase is really gouging the consumer.

Posted by JamesBenjamin in United States, 17 May 2011 12:41

That and the battle packs are always $14.99 (at least the castle and pharoh's quest ones are)

Posted by ncbarrett in United States, 17 May 2011 12:41

I like this set, will most likely purchase.

Posted by wiredforsound in United States, 17 May 2011 12:43

The five figure battle pack for $14.99 or £9.99 has pretty much become standard for LEGO at this point: Knights Kingdom, Pharaoh's Quest, Fantasy Era (http://brickset.com/search/?query=battle%20pack) This matches the $2.99 or £1.99 for Collectible Minifigures. LEGO is making it fairly clear what their prices points are for minifigures. My only complaint with this battle pack is the extra abductee. I want more Aliens/ADU figures instead.

Posted by Jarod98 in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 12:47

I agree with Mars Needs LEGO, it's been that same price, with the Kingdoms Battle packs, the Collectible Minifigs, and Vintage Minifig Packs. Although when you think about it, you pay $11.99 to get four Clone Troopers/Mandalorians and a few other things which is $3 less. A relief for those who wish to collect the AC minifigs is that theese all come in other sets, so it's not a necessity.

@QuickBricks - Read Mars Needs LEGO, JamesBenjamin, and wiredforsound's comments.

@Mars Needs LEGO - Your last paragraph made me laugh :D

BTW I claim being the first person to mark 'I want' :)

Posted by JamesBenjamin in United States, 17 May 2011 12:51

Actually, I got the paper catolog in the mail today and its listed there too. Page 37, so its looks like this online thing is just an online version of the newest catalog. Nothing else new though, that I can tell.

Posted by Jarod98 in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 13:10

@JamesBenjamin - Yeah, if you click on the link Huw gave us, you'll see that it's the exact same thing, except it's virtual.

Posted by Ypres in Canada, 17 May 2011 13:29

Well if it's made in China I'm not interested. Besides, I only ever saw those kind of battle packs in Legoland. I'm also prefer having the aliens left unique (owning one copy of each) because of their weird head molds.

Posted by copperwonder96 in United States, 17 May 2011 13:33

"consists of components 'made in china'" Most sets have many of their parts 'made in china'. battlepack, licensed sets, non licensed sets. It's unavoidable. You would have to stop buying lego all together to avoid 'made in china'. Look on the side of your box. 'made in china' on every one of them. I remember the furry when they were 'made in poland'. Lego sets the quality standard and it can move from factory to factory. We should replace the 'made in china' with the term 'low quality ABS', http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/11/1129_makingof_lego/index_01.htm

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 13:41

^ Yes they do but until now all minifig torsoes and legs in *regular* sets have been made by LEGO themselves.

Production of collectables, battle packs, magnets and 'extended product line' items is outsourced in China (as reported to the Ambassadors) and it is these parts that are inferior quality, due to the low quality plastic, as you say.

Posted by ncbarrett in United States, 17 May 2011 13:43

If you dont want the abductee, then just buy set Alien Striker 7049 and Alien Defender 7050.
You'd get both ADU and Aliens in this battle pack and pieces too for 14.98.

Posted by Jarod98 in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 13:51

@ncbarrett - The 'abdcutee' (or Civilian) comes in the '7051: Tripod Invader' set, so you can still get all the figs without buying this. That's why it's called a 'Battle Pack' for building armies.

Posted by ncbarrett in United States, 17 May 2011 14:31

@Jarod98 my point was you can army build without this battle pack for same price using the 2 small sets, and the figures are not china made (except maybe the alien heads) :)

Posted by Bion in United States, 17 May 2011 14:44

"At least I can say I was in the top five"
Me to. I marked it last night.
@ncbarrett Or you can buy alot of 30141 Jet pack, thats what I am going to do (and yes I really do want the aliens to be outnumbered). But I will probably pick up one of these anyway.

Posted by Jarod98 in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 15:15

@ncbarrett - I got your point, but just wanted you to know that incase you missed it ;)

@Bion - The '30141: Jet Pack' may not be available in all areas. Although I hope this is not true, it may only go to the UK, and buying on eBay, BrickLink, or Amazon won't be cheap.

Posted by K-nut in United States, 17 May 2011 16:09

Man! Just about to post this! I'll be getting multiples of this for sure!

Posted by starfire2 in United States, 17 May 2011 16:16

Just got my catalogue in the mail today. Lots of cool sets!!!

Posted by vexorian in Bolivia, 17 May 2011 17:00

Note that you can buy 7050 and 7049 for 14.98 , and you will get exactly the same minifigures sans the civilian, but also many bricks.

Posted by Zacherano in United States, 17 May 2011 17:03

I noticed that battle pack in the Lego catalog I received yesterday as well! If I'm not mistaken, the blacksmith shop from the Kingdoms line is also coming out on June 1st with that and the Harry Potter sets. There might be more I didn't notice as well....

Posted by the_real_indy in United States, 17 May 2011 17:13

There have been a few updated discussions about the various plastics on EuroBricks as well...

I think the new consensus amongst neutral observers is that the quality discrepancy issues have been fixed, and no reasonable human being can tell the difference anymore without looking at the production stamps or the neck spot.

Seriously, set up a blind randomized test with new figs. Take the "Pepsi Challenge", kids! =)

Posted by JDLego in Canada, 17 May 2011 17:22

@wiredforsound- I agree that this battle back did not need to include the extra Civilian or Abuctee. I would buy the set if it came with 3 Aliens and 3 ADU Officers instead, But instead of getting this battle pack your better just buying the sets themselves to have a better and bigger army, but again this set does add too your army aswell, I will probaly just buy the sets when I see some, and does anybody know when its hitting the store shelfs.

Posted by Jarod98 in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 18:12

@JDLego - In the picture you'll see that the set's "Exclusive" which means it will only be available in Lego Stores, online, or by phone. Just in case you were hoping on them being in another retailer. Sorry if this let you down. I got the same shock with the Kingdoms Battle Packs.

Posted by headbrick in United States, 17 May 2011 18:26

@JDLego-they are in stores now.

Posted by JDLego in Canada, 17 May 2011 18:32

@Jarod98 and headbrick, thanks for the information, It is a let down to know they wont be coming to stores, well only Lego Brand Stores at least which I dont have near me, but I can always order it off Lego.com.

Posted by Orthobotrex in Philippines, 17 May 2011 19:02

@ the_real_indy: what is it about the neck that says it's China-made? I only know of the stamps on the arms...

Posted by LegoAdventures in Australia, 17 May 2011 19:27

@Huw,
I'am still glad to see that all LEGO set's have "Component's made in Denmark'' at the beginning, which is then followed by Hungary or Switzerland. However I have noticed alot of the Boxe's with CHINA, somewhere in the list of countries involved. I see a lot of LEGO set's made In Denmark, Hungary, China then Sweden or Poland and followed by Mexico and the Czech Republic. I was very happy to find out that the 7261 Clone Turbo Tank (Later released 2005 version with Normal Mace Windu) was made in Denmark and the Czech Republic. I think it's always interesting to see where the set is made.
Maybe you could make a section near each set saying where it is made possibly?

Posted by jwsmart in United States, 17 May 2011 19:42

@Vexorian - You do miss out on the 2nd alien ray-gun, but in my opinion, the 120 or so pieces you get with 7049 and 7050 more than outweigh the "abductee" minifig, briefcase and ray-gun that the battle pack offers.

Posted by LegoAdventures in Australia, 17 May 2011 20:14

After doing some research I found out that only a very, very small amount of thing's are made in China. Over 98% of all LEGO is made in Denmark, Hungary, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Astria, Poland and the Czech Republic. A very small amount of thing's like Stuffed Toy's, some electrical componenet's and some Textiles and irrelevant or miniscule peice's are made in China. It is very limited and LEGO has made it their primarly goal to keep LEGO the best quality it can be. After all the famous motto is ''Only the best, is good enough''.
Apparently LEGO has made a very major code of conduct that every LEGO brick made has to pass a test and it is there main goal to have the best Quality avaiable.

In a way atleast LEGO isn't entirely made in China, there still European unlike a certain Mega Blocks (Sorry to all the people who nearly fainted, shaked or cringed) who's product's are 99.9% made in China

Posted by Binary Code in United States, 17 May 2011 21:02

@Orthobotrex It's my understanding that Chinese figs don't have the black/grey/white/whatever mark painted on the neck.

Posted by Zackula in United States, 17 May 2011 21:16

I found this battle pack in my paper catologue in the U.S.

Posted by legoDad42 in United States, 17 May 2011 23:07

I like it and the price is fair (like others have said)...5 figs for $15.00 is more than fair. I would've like though an exclusive weapon, like a long new sculpt laser rifle, and/or add a 'facehugger' alien into the pack.

Posted by Orthobotrex in Philippines, 18 May 2011 00:10

@Binary code: Thanks! I thought it was some other special mark.

Posted by schwarzkopf in Germany, 18 May 2011 07:56

Already available at Ebay-Germany (with a better Picture):

http://cgi.ebay.de/Lego-853301-Alien-Conquest-Battle-Pack-Neu-OVP-/120726276578?pt=DE_Allesf%C3%BCrdKind_Spielzeug_Lego&hash=item1c1bd8c9e2

Posted by jonboy2000 in United Kingdom, 18 May 2011 15:59

These were being put on the shelves today at Lego Bluewater along with all the other alien conquest sets(didn't check the price). Also all the new city and Knights Kingdom sets were available

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 18 May 2011 18:58

Based on the last several battlepacks (Castle, Pirates, Kingdoms, etc...), I wouldn't expect these to hang around too long. So if you see them and want them, definitely don't wait to buy them. I'm still kicking myself for not picking up another Skeleton pack. :o)

Posted by bmwlego in United States, 19 May 2011 06:01

Legodad42-Agreed! Make the battle packs special by including 2 copies of exclusive weapons. The addition of a face hugger alien would be perfect!

Posted by David1971 in United Kingdom, 19 May 2011 15:29

@Huw - Sorry to be a bit late to the 'made in China' discussion - but at AFOLCON, and also when in contact with Lego senior staff direct, I have made a point of asking about this, especially as I have avoided the collectible minifigs since you have grumbled more than once, I think, about their cheapo Chinese quality. But Lego staff are indignant and insist that (with poss exception of some bits of Series 1) these figs are standard high quality made-in-Denmark Lego. So I wonder if, although I respect you hugely, you are scaremongering a bit on this issue?

Posted by The Guy With The Bricks in United States, 20 May 2011 11:02

For future reference, it looks very suspicious when a string of comments come 1 minute apart written in exactly the same way from the same country from multiple (very similar) user names.

I understand wanting to make a point, but having multiple user names and switching from one to the next to make it seem like there are many people voicing support for your suggestion is a little much, no?

In any case, the battle pack seems like a bit of a waste considering all the aliens are available in sets for the same price. I for one have no shortage of civilians for my aliens to abduct, so buying the smaller sets seems a more effective way of army building. As others have suggested, some exclusive figures or parts would make the packs more attractive.

Posted by bluemoose in United Kingdom, 20 May 2011 11:37

Picked up the 'battlepack' from my local LEGO Brand Store (UK) last night; they were delivered to the store on Tuesday this week. The contents are listed as made in 'Denmark & China'; presumably the 'China' part being the alien heads. £9.99 in the UK.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 20 May 2011 15:42

^^ I've deleted them. There is some ejit in Aus. that uses multiple accounts to post reviews on a particular SW set trying to boost its rating. Probably the same person...

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 20 May 2011 15:44

@David, I may concede that S4 is better than S1 but they are nowhere near as good as those found in regular sets.

However, others find them perfectly acceptable so don't let my comments put you off buying anything, please judge for yourself.

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 20 May 2011 17:54

I for one love the battlepacks and very much hope that their quality continues to be improved.

Commenting has ended on this article.