LEGO Icons 10355 Blacktron Renegade ventures once again into Classic Space for a nostalgia fix, but this time serves up something a little more niche.
Blacktron (both I and II) hails from a bygone era for the LEGO Group, where themes and subthemes were so much more strongly defined by – and locked into – particular styles and designs. Story and character wasn’t as prevalent as determining particular parts usage, strong colour palettes and clear design rules.
In the case of Blacktron I, this approach translated into a crew of vaguely-defined and singularly-designed bad guys making their way across the LEGO Space universe in ships built to sharp geometric shapes coloured predominantly black with highlights of yellow and trans-red, with trans-yellow pieces for ship windscreens and base windows.
By comparison, theme identity is much more fluid at the LEGO Group in the present day. Particular themes seem almost interchangeable (think NINJAGO/Monkie Kid or City/Marvel & DC) and the company is shifting from branding multiple themes in 2024 to Space to doing the same with Formula 1 in 2025.
Choosing to also start the new year with something as rigid and strikingly old-school in design as 10355 Blacktron Renegade is quite the juxtaposition, and makes for a fascinating context in which to consider this nostalgic set’s finer points, and also perhaps where it can’t hold up as strongly.
Release: January 1, 2025 Price: £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 Pieces: 1,151 Minifigures: 3 LEGO:
Back once again for the Renegade cruiser
Clearly flying in on the wings of 2022’s 10497 Galaxy Explorer (review) and 2023’s gift-with-purchase 40580 Blacktron Cruiser (review), 10355 Blacktron Renegade continues the LEGO Group’s rediscovery of old classics from the vault. This set is a modernised, enlarged, enhanced version of 1987’s 6954 Renegade, taking on the general asymmetrical design and overall detailing of that 313-piece classic and from there doing a complete rebuild with new parts, techniques and ideas, albeit all in-keeping with what came before.
The end result is something that you can still recognise has come from that original set from almost four decades ago, but that breathes new, modern life into the concept as a whole, all the while sticking to particular design points and rules (or limitations, depending on your point of view heading into this).
Various details and nods to the original set that defined 6954 Renegade as one of the favourites of Blacktron collectors over the years are present across 10355 Blacktron Renegade, from hidden cannons either side of the cockpit to little detachable speeders that pop out of either wing. There are also particular printed parts that make a return in one form or another and other returning pieces that you’d be forgiven for thinking haven’t been used in a LEGO set since 1987.
Meanwhile, wider concepts such as the detachable central pod and cockpit have been upgraded entirely. The latter is now much larger, using the same windscreen piece as from 10497 Galaxy Explorer, and it seats two pilots, making for a bigger smaller ship (think about that phrasing before debating it) of its own when it too detaches from the main model, just as the original cockpit did in 6954.
The detachable central pod in the original version of this set contained a small four-wheeled rover with driver, and to remove it you would flip out the two main engines at the back, slide the pod backwards out of the ship and open the canopy. This time, 10355 Blacktron Renegade keeps the engines static and builds into the middle of the model a clever drop mechanism that pops out from below a much larger four-wheeled rover.
There’s no cool-looking pod to house it in, but this new version of the vehicle feels like a beefy upgrade and the play mechanism to drop it from the main ship (and pop it back up too) is very nicely realised, particularly for the parts and techniques used that make it feel like it has come straight out of the late 1980s LEGO design book.
I only work in black
As a build experience, 10355 Blacktron Renegade delivers as expected something for the older, slightly more experienced LEGO fan – a deservedly more detailed and involved construction in comparison to the original it is inspired by, and even to an unnecessary extent in places (the inside layer of the wings, for one thing). But even those moments contribute to what is a rich build that has the effect of engrossing you far more than you may otherwise expect from glancing at the box art.
It’s also hard to immediately criticise what is going to be one of the most monochromatic LEGO sets of 2025 given that controlled commitment to an all-black build with subtle yellow and trans-red detailing is so true to what Blacktron was some 38 years ago.
There are some interesting techniques weaved into the black bricks too that we can’t say we’ve seen before and that add a finer level of detail to the ship to help modernise it as much as possible, and this is from a selection of parts that likewise plays up the traditionally angular style and design that helped define original Blacktron.
In space, no-one can hear you age
LEGO Icons 10355 Blacktron Renegade fully understands the mission here – pull older LEGO fans of one of the oldest Space themes back into their childhoods at the same time as pulling one of the oldest Space themes into 2025 with a fresh take.
Does it succeed in both tasks? The nostalgia for the original is very much present across this newer version thanks to a build and final model design that skilfully plays on what came before. At the same time, it understands that in the 38 years since, LEGO design has moved on quite a bit – and that during that time most LEGO fans coming to 10355 Blacktron Renegade with memories of 6954 Renegade will have built plenty of much better LEGO sets.
As a result, 10355 Blacktron Renegade couldn’t just be a one-for-one remake. It had to do exactly what 10497 Galaxy Explorer did – remind you why you loved the original from years ago while showing you how far LEGO has come along since, so that you appreciate and enjoy this 2025 set in a similar way to how you may have first loved it a long time ago.
And if like us this is your first taste of Blacktron I outside of 2023’s gift-with-purchase, then there’s no more a stark, quirky set to sink your teeth into, even if just for a taste of what older LEGO sets could do creatively that we don’t always see (for better or worse) in quite the same way now.
10355 Blacktron Renegade does deliver that hit of nostalgia that older LEGO fans will very much appreciate, but while it does offer a kind-of modern adaptation of years-gone-by techniques and ideas, it also gets a little too stuck in the 1980s rule book to really be as fun or engaging as, say, 60446 Modular Galactic Spaceship, another similar-sized spaceship also releasing in January 2025.
It’s not as fluid in play or display for anyone without that Blacktron veil of nostalgia – it is incredibly unusual and there’s nothing else like it, but the novelty here stands to be as divisive as it could be appealing for Blacktron newbies because it is so true to a style of design and play developed almost four decades ago. It's like having a fondness for that first car you drove years ago – you may be tempted to buy a new car that reminds you of it, but you would not be happy to be driving the same exact thing right now because you'd start to realise how far things have come in the interim.
Ultimately, 10355 Blacktron Renegade feels like more of a niche release for the wider population than 10497 Galaxy Explorer before it. But given the variety of sets out there for LEGO fans at the moment, staying true to such a unique and strong design style and LEGO experience is perhaps the best and truest LEGO choice anyway. This is a deeper cut and, as we said at the top, a fascinating LEGO set to consider as a result.
Our honest opinion: This revamped Renegade weaves into a modern design every detail and feature that made the original from almost 40 years ago work so well, even if it also creates a LEGO experience perhaps a little too heavily weighted in the past.
This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.
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