Pod wrote:
It's interesting to look at the evolution of the Police Boat over time. They started with a very set 'boat-hull' piece in the 70s/80s, which evolved into a boat-hull-made-of-bricks, back into a multi-piece boat hull.
I'm not sure which I prefer, really
They were promoting the boat-hull ones in the catalog as being able to float, whereas the multi-piece ones had smooth bits for the bottom to allow them to 'sail' across the carpet
I'm not sure either, though the multi-piece hull would be very time consuming to put together. Damn you for presenting this dilemma!
Quote:
I did buy this off of ebay sometime last year:
It's terrible. The base of the van is one long piece including wheel arches! You could make the same thing with 4 different standard plates and some standard wheel arches :/
Too complicated. Kids don't have the time nor the inclination to learn how to do things these days, etc.
I had this older version:
http://www.brickset.com/detail/?set=6450-1One of the best Lego things ever. The majority of the body of the truck was a battery pack with some 'conductor' pieces allowing you to send the power to the two amazing accessories: a lightbar with interchangable lights that could either flash or burn steadily, and a little siren that you'd turn to produce either a yelp or wail sound. It was just the right volume level to avoid irritating your parents, and the battery box and lights and siren were great 'imagination toys' used away from the truck itself too.
Looking at your van there and also being reminded of some of the stuff I've found on Brickset has reminded me of things like the Space Police... they started trying a bit too hard to provide a quick and ready scenario as well as the quick and easily built models. Your grinning criminal there, he's trapped in his life of crime (though I'd imagine and hope that for some kids he'd end up being just another guy who lives in their Lego town, and happens to grin sinisterly all the time and be a bit unkempt). The stories you'd come up with playing with another set would allow more, they'd naturally evolve as you were playing. The policeman is angry that someone keeps knocking over his road signs. The man tries to get his wife arrested to get rid of her. There's a big car accident. But no. Even the commercials were promoting the repetitive scenario: the Brickster (yes, kids are too dumb to come up with names for their imaginary characters too) is at it again, go arrest him, again. You see what I'm saying? It's like too many things, not giving people enough credit to be smart and creative, and the product is almost deliberately stifling it too. /rant
I've found the space sets I had!
http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6930-1http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6931-1http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6980-1They all did neat stuff! The smaller spaceship had wings on hinges that flexed a bit, and the rear compartment held a little wheeled vehicle. The space-bikes from the supply station were a great idea, and the big spaceship (as I've described before) was actually three pieces. The rear box was a detachable space lab thing... inside there was a computer console and a seat for an astronaut to sit at. But his air tanks would stop him! Not a problem, Lego provided a piece to hang the tank on! Wow.
I'm a bit in love with this one:
http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=8404-1On the one hand, I'd have loved the streetcar and the bus and everything, but on the other, it doesn't seem like a lot to actually put together, you know? Unless you had other Lego sets around (to build a town for the bus to go to) they get built once into the one thing they can be built into, and then that's it, they're basically toys with nobbly bits on them.