LEGO Alien Conquest is a 2011 LEGO Science Fiction theme, and the immediate successor to LEGO Space Police. Throwing back to 1950s/1960s science fiction, it's about an Alien Invasion of Earth and the efforts of the Alien Defense Unit to repel the invasion. Compared to the other LEGO Space lines, it's much more lighthearted, goofy, and doesn't take itself at all seriously. It was followed by the Galaxy Squad line.
Tropes present in the line and its support material:
- Alien Abduction: The sets even give you civilian minifigs who serve no purpose other than to be abducted!
- Alien Autopsy: Part of the Earth Defense HQ is an alien scanner that holds and analyzes a (probably still-living) captive subject.
- Alien Invasion: Since tripods are used, this invasion seems similar to The War of the Worlds (1898), but with human technology over 100 years more advanced, to the point where humanity and the aliens seem equal.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: The Earth Defense HQ set, complete with a medbay, launchpad and missile racks.
- Blue Is Heroic: The uniforms and vehicles of the Earth Defense Unit are primarily decked in blue.
- Combining Mecha: The alien craft in the Jet-Copter Encounter set can each fold up one of their wings and combine into a bigger one.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: The ADU Sergeant; his LEGO.com profile says it all:"ATTENTION ALL A.D.U. TROOPS! We are not here to be happy friendly people! We are not here to pet little puppies and kittens! We are here for one reason and one reason only: to fight those alien menaces and drive their entire fleet back into deep space! Help me do that and I will be your best friend! Mess up and I will be your worst nightmare! Now strap on your gear, start up your vehicles, and let’s go save the planet!"
- Flat Character: There aren't even any distinct characters aside from the leader of the aliens, and even he is completely undefined beyond being the leader. As with many LEGO lines, the intent is to have every character be a generic member of their respective force, the better to both amass armies of identical minifigs and for children to characterize themselves and thus foster creativity.
- Flying Saucer: Most of the larger alien craft; the one that isn't, the Tripod Invader, can still split off the legs to act as one.
- Genre-Busting: For what's ostensibly a LEGO Space theme, it was pretty much designed to fit in very well with LEGO City, given that it's about invading a modern city on Earth.
- Genre Throwback: To science-fiction movies of the 50s and 60s, with a strong emphasis on B-Movie clichés and tropes. It also contains elements throwing back to Classic LEGO Space, most prevalent in the bright blue colour scheme of the ADU forces.
- Hive Caste System: The Alien Pilots specialize in piloting vehicles and have average-sized brains, the Alien Troopers are ground forces and are toughest with the smallest brains and the Alien Commander is a unique-looking specimen with tentacles instead of legs and a large translucent brain.
- Home Guard: Given that "defense" is in their name, it's suggested that the ADU is this and they're not actively fighting in space or something.
- Little Green Men
- Military Mashup Machine: As the name implies, the Jet-Copter combines elements of both a jet plane and a helicopter. It sports flick-fire missiles, some guns, and a little detachable prison pod in the back.
- The Mothership: The Alien Mothership, obviously.
- People Jars: Both sides are guilty of this - the aliens are pretty much invading for the sole purpose of doing this to humans to power their ships, and the ADU in turn uses prison pods to capture aliens.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The Pluuvian Brain Beasts.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: The alien invaders' main colors are green and purple.
- Shout-Out:
- The Brain Beasts look more than a little bit like Futurama's brain slugs, as pictured in the Puppeteer Parasite trope page.
- They could also be a Lighter and Softer version of Headcrabs from Half-Life.
- ADU as a whole, going by the mini-bios on the official site, seems to be this to X-COM, what with their being a gung-ho, paramilitary force in blue battlesuits who hunt down UFOs and reverse-engineer alien technology to even the odds.
- The Brain Beasts look more than a little bit like Futurama's brain slugs, as pictured in the Puppeteer Parasite trope page.
- Space Marines: The ADU soldiers have this vibe, especially in terms of design.
- Stealth Sequel: According to the LEGO magazine, LEGO Dino is a sequel to Alien Conquest: overrunning us with dinosaurs is apparently plan two from outer space.
- Tripod Terror: The Tripod Invader. It has a variant quite similar to War of the Worlds (2005), being a betentacled jail on legs.
