LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad review

LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad is the only LEGO City Space set launching in January that doesn’t immediately impress.

Of all the LEGO City Space sets launching for January 1, 2024, 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad has had the most mixed reception at point of reveal. For occupying the highest price point this is as much to be expected as anything else, with focus falling on the sheer amount of different things that have been packed into the set and whether the right balance between variety and value has been found.

While having lots of side-builds and a number of items to play and interact with can be a positive, the early view was that this actually came at the expense of what might have been a much larger central space base, perhaps with the notion that the variety this set tries to offer is actually already sufficiently provided by the plethora of other LEGO City Space builds that 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad is launching alongside.

With 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad now in hand, are such first impressions fair, or have we all overlooked yet another winner from this theme?

--- LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad set details ---

Theme: LEGO City Set name: 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad Release: January 1, 2024

Price: £124.99 / $134.99 / €139.99 Pieces: 1,422 Minifigures: 6

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--- Where to buy LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad ---

LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad is available from January 1 at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores, as well as from third-party retailers.

--- LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad build ---

60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad is, as the name suggests, more than just the one thing, offering up a fairly substantial central space base build alongside an equally fairly large launchpad with spaceship resting on it. Alongside these two main builds comes a mini build of some terrain and a small four-wheeled vehicle in which any of the six minifigures can traverse, once it’s been loaded up with something from the working crane that’s very cleverly built into the central column of the base.

It’s a busy set with lots going on, but most early attention will rightly fall on that space base, for just how unusual and different it is, which is saying something considering that even if it’s been a while since we’ve had a completely fictionalised LEGO space base to put together, we have just recently had the excellent NASA-inspired 60350 Lunar Research Base.

While somewhat more grounded in ‘what might be’, that base set new standards for what outer space exploration for LEGO could look like. And in many ways, 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad continues along the same path, building up from a wide ground floor level, rather than out, while offering that aforementioned crane that is then topped by a 360-degree observation floor. It all comes together to be immediately playable and fun, it looks great and like nothing before, and it starts to tell a story for what’s going on for these LEGO space people.

Its main features are that the main base at ground level splits open on either side to allow access, and that the crane has 360-degree manoeuvrability, while also benefiting from the use of thicker string to act as the cable that is weaved across the length of its body, allowing the winch to sit at the opposite end to the load. Both play features are simple but nicely designed to allow for the most playable version of the model to come to life, at the same time as neither detracting from the overall appearance.

Indeed, closed or open, the base’s ground level captures a real modern sci-fi feel to its aesthetic, in particular looking like the sort of thing you could encounter whilst playing any number of recent space-based video games, particularly for the raisable front door, how the design uses splashes of orange and black across a predominantly white palette, and for the rounded four corners with that detailing to imply the base has been anchored down to the ground.

Combine that with the orange, industrial-looking column holding up the observation deck and the base feels incredibly authentic to what a fictional settlement of some sort could look like. Stylistically it matches the other sets in the LEGO City Space sub-theme and, while the base may be overshadowed by the size of the wheel-based vehicles from the rest of the range, the crane and observation deck will still stand above them, which is a small but noteworthy detail.

As it is, size is probably going to be the point of focus to the base – is it big enough to be the central and most expensive set in the January wave of releases? Well, yes and no. As it stands by itself, it is relatively quick to build out and does feel like part one of a base where there is no part two to match it.

Yet, the LEGO City team has worked into its design some form of a part two, in the guise of the same cross-set modularity that is more obviously seen in the accompanying spaceship in 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad, and can be found in 60433 Modular Space Station and 60432 Command Rover and Crane Loader. The capsules that those vehicles each connect to or transport can also ‘dock’ to the side of the base and, in effect, extend the ground level of the model outwards. With one included in the set it’s a start towards a bigger base, whilst picking up either 60433 or 60432 opens up further options to expand.

It's a nice idea and does offer a higher level of continued play to 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad – all of a sudden, the oversized and separate spaceship included in the set isn’t so oversized and separate as a chunk of it can directly contribute to enlarging the base, and the interconnectivity between this and other larger City Space sets does feel like a bonus to anyone fortunate enough to pick up more than one of them.

At the same time, though, using the single capsule included in 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad then leaves a weird-shaped, empty-looking half a spaceship sat on the launchpad, and as novel as the cross-set modularity between sets is, all of the capsules only connect in a straight line, and there’s a limit you reach pretty quickly before that starts to look silly. For these reasons, a second (and perhaps even third) corner-based capsule built specifically within 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad would have made a lot of sense to add a bit more versatility to the entire cross-set system, and a lot more practical fun to it too.

Ultimately, with a spaceship that is perhaps the chunkiest and ugliest of the entire subtheme launching in January, a boxy rover that is neither a small get-around nor a practical transporter for crew or capsules, and a beautifully-designed base that has the potential to be bigger but not in the best way it could have been, 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad is the only Space set launching in January that doesn’t quite come together as well as the others.

--- LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad characters ---

LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad contains six minifigures, another charming small robot build and two of the little green aliens, making for an ensemble that again offers story and variety enough to add good value across the various different sections to the set.

The older, more statesman-like minifigure in the black and gold suit is a little odd, to be honest, stylistically sitting apart from the rest of the crew and taking the design and purpose of the team ever so slightly away from exploration, mining and discovery, and towards something a little more militaristic and rank-orientated. Not necessarily a bad or irrelevant direction to take, but one that just for the colours and details used here doesn’t vibe quite as well as a different design might have.

--- LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad price ---

LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad comes in at £124.99 / $134.99 / €139.99 and for that offers a substantial piece count of almost 1,500 elements, nine characters, a base and two vehicles, with plenty of different things to interact with, as well as serving as a central hub to the LEGO City Space subtheme’s cross-set modularity play feature.

Yet, for how some of these aspects play out, this isn’t the best set in the range launching this January, and whilst not being best doesn’t mean it’s bad, having the highest price attached to it unfortunately does mean that expectations are that it should be the best.

--- LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad pictures ---

--- LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad pros and cons ---

LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad collects a number of ideas and play points and packages them into a multi-model set that is interesting to put together, unique to anything that has come before and offers up a central hub to all the other LEGO City Space sets launching in January.

However, it doesn’t immediately tick some of the fundamental boxes that being the central base set to the rest needs to tick, and particularly so for being the most expensive set in the range. It’s by no means a bad set, but it does fall short of some very high expectations that every other LEGO City Space set coming in 2024 absolutely over-delivers on.

60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad remains an interesting LEGO City Space set to pick up and will serve up enough for some of you without adjustment, and even at full price. But, there are better, more fulfilling sets in the same wave that will likely draw your focus on day one. In short, this is the only set in the range that doesn’t quite deliver a complete LEGO experience authentic to where and what it takes inspiration from.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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--- Alternatives to LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad ---

LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad is the most expensive set in the January wave of LEGO City Space sets, so the bonus to looking elsewhere for even stronger experiences within the same subtheme is that you'll save money. And it’s hard to not look at both 60433 Modular Space Station and 60432 Command Rover and Crane Loader, as other big builds that both offer more complete experiences based around their sci-fi inspiration.

--- LEGO City 60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad FAQs ---