Set Review - Space Utility Vehicle 30315

SPAAACE!!! I know how all you space heads get. All that sci-fi stuff really rocks your boat but it's a completely different breed that gets in to the true current space stuff. Y'know, boring things like NASA and Hayabusa. TLG understands this crowd too and has brought back the City Space (Not to be confused with Space City) for another round.

The last go around was pretty cool. We had a more advanced Shuttle Adventure/Expedition to augment the series. This time they've given us four small sets to kick it off (5 with the promo poly). I'm hoping we get an ISS to spice (space?) things up a bit.

I'm a little late with my SUV review, the promo period being over and all. I ordered late in July and then missed last week's deadline. At first I was excited about the set then some real life work opportunities set in and I got distracted. That'll happen.

But now that I built the thing, I'm a little disappointed. Yes, overall it's a cute little vehicle but there are some inherent issues. First, if this is to be any sort of off-roader for lunar environments, the ground clearance sucks. The new wheelbase 18892 is poorly chosen unless this is tricked out to be a lowrider. One moon pebble and this poor guy will be high-centered.

"Houston?"

Oof!

Second, there are two cool pieces of equipment that adorn the vehicle. One is a radar dish which I'm guessing is used to pick up the scurrying noises of subterranean lunar life forms. The second is some sort of scanner which grabs their heat signature so our intrepid spaceman knows which setting to apply his fry-gun on. But unless our spaceman loses some height (or girth) there's the constant threat of being whacked in the head. I can mitigate the radar dish by not letting the bar be completely submerged on either end.

The last disappointment is the instructions. Here was the perfect opportunity to advertise the rest of the Space Port theme and yet it's adorned with... Swamp Police. Really?

Blast off with some new sets (click to see on Shop@Home):