The LEGO Space set 1875 Meteor Monitor came out in 1990, in between original Blacktron and Blacktron II. It was part of a ‘Bonus Pack’ and I only have very faint memories of designing it. BUT since there has been quite a bit of speculation regarding the curious color scheme of this set, why not dive a bit into that..
The original Blacktron sets had done very well sales-wise, so there was to do a sequel of sorts. The consensus, however, was that Blacktron felt too aggressive, so the brief was to tone the darkness down while maintaining the cool factor. And I do recall spending some weeks (or was it months?) trying out different designs and color combinations. One of the better ones had little rainbows embedded in the models (five 1×2 plates stacked to form a tiny rainbow, probably inspired by my love for the ZX Spectrum home computer I use a lot in the early 80s). The boss of my boss said at the time that it was a clever way to tone down the agressiveness of Blacktron, but it didn’t make the cut. Rainbows did not have any particular symbolism in the early 90s by the way 🌈
Another combo I tested was black and white elements + orange transparent (the orange trans was later used in the Ice Planet range). Having designed models for the Idea Book 260 may also have inspired as it also mixed and matched Futuron and Blacktron colors. And designing promotional sets was also a bit like having free playtime; the pressure was off, so to speak. And it was often an opportunity to be a bit more playful and casual regarding the design. And the brief to design the Meteor Monitor probably came by my desk in the same time period as the Blacktron color experiments. It is hard to recall the exact thinking behind the choice of colors, but having worked on the new color combos may very well have caused me to make it black and white as a kind of easter egg, signaling things to come. Blacktron 1.5 of sorts. Wish I could say it was 100% on purpose, not sure about that. But it’s a fun little set, bit of a hybrid/bastard colorwise but I like the shape of it. And several fans have fixed the color ‘error’, so there..
Fun fact: I don’t own this set myself. Normally, the designer of a set was given one copy at launch, but more often than not, promotional sets slipped through the system. And it’s a bit expensive to buy it now.
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Wow! I always speculate the Meteor Monitor was the link of the transition from Blactron I to Blacktron II, but never knew the reason for it. It would be cool if Lego released the 4595 Brick, Modified 1 x 2 x 2/3 with Studs on Sides and Extended Stud Receptacle in Yellow color to make the faithful BT1 version.
I remember receiving this as part of the value pack as a gift from my parents friends who purchased it on a trip to Europe. It was my only Blacktron set and so I never noticed the color difference at the time. It was a great little flyer to swoop around and I had some great chases along with the Auxiliary Patroller!
I also had the idea book and spent hours looking at the amazing designs and attempting to reverse engineer the models in the space scenes.