Random set of the day: Mountain Rescue
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6487 Mountain Rescue, released during 1997. It's one of 47 Town sets produced that year. It contains 67 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$6.
It's owned by 1,255 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $39.90, or eBay.
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44 comments on this article
Is he rescuing that camel? Boy, is he going to be disappointed when he finds out it's only part of a backdrop.
Quick! Rescue the mountain!
Amazing set. This feels just like Australia
A MAN HAS FALLEN INTO THE MOUNTAINS IN LEGO CITY
START THE RESCUE HELICOPTER
HEY!
BUILD THE HELICOPTER... AND OFF TO THE RESCUE
PREPARE THE LIFELINE
LOWER THE... TOOL RACK THINGY
AND MAKE THE RESCUE
OLD OUTBACK COLLECTION FROM LEGO SYSTEM
Two helicopters in a row on RSotD!
Looks like a great example of mid-90s design before things got juniorized. Somehow I don’t remember this one at all, but it looks great. I like the winch and range of tools.
Is this the only set to show Octan barrels alongside a rival brand?
In comparison to the other 4 Outback sets, this looks a bit bland, I think. It is also one of the first helicopters to use the newer style (without the pseudo-curved canopy), which would be seen throughout most 1997-2002 Lego helicopters.
The winch, 2 brown suitcases and the then rare gray chainsaw were nice though.
Also this set was hard to find in some regions and rarely appeared in the main catalogue outside NA.
The minifig might be meant to be the character 'Dingo Melbourne' (uhh...) who got named in Mania Magazine 2/1997. Though he usually wears a cap...
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Two helicopters in a row on RSotD!"
I’m with you! This is nuts! Two choppers in a row.
For North America releases it was called "Aerohonky America"
Another one of the "Outback" themed sets that was never released in Australia. I ended up tracking down a copy, both because I'm Australian but also because I adore Lego helicopters. I really like the design of this one, I think it's very cute.
Are there camels in the outback? O.o
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Two helicopters in a row on RSotD!"
I love it when we get streaks like that with the Random [Whatever] of the Day, however short they end up being.
@dimc said:
"Are there camels in the outback? O.o"
Yes. There are over 1 million feral ones roaming the outback!
I built that set with parts I owned and some I bought at Bricklink.
Looking at the picture, maybe "Desert Resque" would be a more suitable name.
Two...helicopters(???...are these...ok, go with it then...) in a row...And I know you can have a 'mountain' in the desert, as you can have a 'desert' on a mountain; on among them...be come on here...those mountains are waaaaaaay over there, and more likely; A MIRAGE...poor guy's just going to keep flying further and further...:)
The Outback subtheme is one of my all time favorites. I never had this one though.
This set was one of my favorites as a child. I remember enjoying it so much that I bought another one with my pocket money in 1998...Good times.
@dimc said:
"Are there camels in the outback? O.o"
Given that 6490 is called Amazon Crossing, I suspect they aren't really experts on all things Australian in Denmark.
My brother had this one! It was a nice little helicopter and the cargo pallet was really neat. The pilot later became our town doctor for about ten years.
I...don't like this. Looks like some kind of flying apple. All the accessories balance that out, though.
This is from the Outback subtheme so I assume all those tools are solely for defending against spiders
I like the outback theme. That said, this is one of the less memorable ones. However, that tool rack is a great inclusion! Helicopters with hooks are also great for play!
@dimc said:
"Are there camels in the outback? O.o"
Yes, they were good transport. Many Afghanis were brought to Australia with their camels for the desert journeys, and were much respected. They are the namesake for 'The Ghan', a train that runs from Adelaide to Darwin. There is also the 'Indian-Pacific' which of course runs across Australia from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
A nice set, good Outback background. Dingo Melbourne though.... really? I wonder if they call Danish characters Viking Copenhagen...
Do we have an official reason why the Outback theme was never released in Australia? (like seriously wtf???).
Also why the didn't designers even bother with a globe to understand there is no Amazon river in Australia.....????
I did some quick checking, and technically "outback" can potentially refer to "any remote or sparsely populated region." Which would give some explanation to the decidedly non-Australian sets in the subtheme. But considering "Outback" is reasonably going to refer to Australia, specifically, in most people's minds.. I'm either way off base and they were just referring to Australia, or it was a very questionable marketing decision.
I'm going to guess it's the first one.
Am I the only one who thinks there is nothing or no one to rescue but tools?
@Brickchap said:
" @dimc said:
"Are there camels in the outback? O.o"
Yes, they were good transport. Many Afghanis were brought to Australia with their camels for the desert journeys, and were much respected. They are the namesake for 'The Ghan', a train that runs from Adelaide to Darwin. There is also the 'Indian-Pacific' which of course runs across Australia from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
A nice set, good Outback background. Dingo Melbourne though.... really? I wonder if they call Danish characters Viking Copenhagen...
Do we have an official reason why the Outback theme was never released in Australia? (like seriously wtf???).
Also why the didn't designers even bother with a globe to understand there is no Amazon river in Australia.....????"
Maybe, a dingo ate your baby?
fun fact- set 6490 includes dingo melbourne with a rifle mounted on the roof of his car, which means he has broken australian gunlaws and is considered a criminal
I kind of like this one. LEGO Helicopters are a dime a dozen nowadays, but this looks like pretty good value for money.
@jschwarz said:
"Looks like a great example of mid-90s design before things got juniorized. Somehow I don’t remember this one at all, but it looks great. I like the winch and range of tools. "
Technically... well, you're not wrong that this kind of design exemplifies mid-90s pre-juniorisation, but given it's release date (1997), it's not actually from BEFORE juniorisation, but was released (as was Divers) concurrently with it.
Throw in Res-Q and Xtreme Team the following year and it should be clear that juniorisation wasn't some inexorable law of LEGO nature in the late 90s, but a deliberate choice. Make of that what you will.
For myself, I always loved the Outback sets, but the only one I had was 6550 Outback Racer. One brother had 6444 and another had 6490 (and made it the centerpiece of his entire Town mythos--fair: it was the only Town set with a gun). So this was the only one of the four that I didn't have close contact with as a kid. I bet I have the spare parts to make a good facsimile... hmmmmmmmm...
I absolutely LOVED the outback theme. I had them all as a 12 year old kid when they came out and I still have them today. 90s Lego sets are the best!
This and the Airsrip 6444 were both reasons for my dark ages to be postponed. Why? Because they weren't marketed in Germany! Didn't even know they existed. Found them by chance at EOL in Slovakia in late 1999, while on holidays. Just by chance. Blew my mind.
@ao_ka said:
"I built that set with parts I owned and some I bought at Bricklink."
I did that with 6894 and 6932. I don't list them as owned sets, because of using a good number of pieces I already owned to complete them.
@Brickalili said:"This is from the Outback subtheme so I assume all those tools are solely for defending against spiders"
Things that will kill you in Australia: Everything. Yes, everything.
Things that will *not* kill you in Australia... Hugh Jackman seems nice.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Brickalili said:"This is from the Outback subtheme so I assume all those tools are solely for defending against spiders"
Things that will kill you in Australia: Everything. Yes, everything.
Things that will *not* kill you in Australia... Hugh Jackman seems nice."
That’s not a definite no on Hugh Jackman killing me…
@Brickalili said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Brickalili said:"This is from the Outback subtheme so I assume all those tools are solely for defending against spiders"
Things that will kill you in Australia: Everything. Yes, everything.
Things that will *not* kill you in Australia... Hugh Jackman seems nice."
That’s not a definite no on Hugh Jackman killing me…"
I watched a video of him repeatedly stabbing a guy the other day...
@Formendacil Don't forget about the 5th one, 6553 Crisis News Crew! It apparently is also outback, though it really sticks out with the other ones.
@Agent_Brick_007 said:
"Am I the only one who thinks there is nothing or no one to rescue but tools?"
The Princess was in another castle.
This was the culmination of classic Lego helicopter design. The previous standard had always featured the open cockpit piece (ex: 6568), even though helicopters tend to be enclosed. The windscreen used here (part 2620) had existed since 1990, but for some reason had never used in this obvious application until now. Imagine how many minifigures fell to their deaths before now! Not to mention all the ones that were gruesomely decapitated by the fully-open design (ex. 1561) in pocket-money sets.
And as soon as Lego got it right, the standard became perverted by juniorization (ex: 6549, 6328, 6425) and looked ridiculous. The whole thing was bad, but the 2x10 brick for the tail boom was just an embarrassment.
@Formendacil said:
"Throw in Res-Q and Xtreme Team the following year and it should be clear that juniorisation wasn't some inexorable law of LEGO nature in the late 90s, but a deliberate choice. Make of that what you will."
It was a deliberate choice, but the choice was pretty much made an inexorable law. The book "Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry" by David Robertson contains extensive information on the decision-making process at Lego in the pivotal turn-of-the-century era. It's well worth a read.
@AllenSmith said:
"This was the culmination of classic Lego helicopter design. The previous standard had always featured the open cockpit piece (ex: 6568), even though helicopters tend to be enclosed. The windscreen used here (part 2620) had existed since 1990, but for some reason had never used in this obvious application until now. Imagine how many minifigures fell to their deaths before now! Not to mention all the ones that were gruesomely decapitated by the fully-open design (ex. 1561) in pocket-money sets."
The pilots should have been more securely strapped in (read: made sure the anti-studs on the backs of their legs were fully connected to the seats) then. As for the mini-copters, that was their fault for starting the engine before they finished sitting down.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @AllenSmith said:
"Imagine how many minifigures fell to their deaths before now! Not to mention all the ones that were gruesomely decapitated by the fully-open design (ex. 1561) in pocket-money sets."
The pilots should have been more securely strapped in (read: made sure the anti-studs on the backs of their legs were fully connected to the seats) then. As for the mini-copters, that was their fault for starting the engine before they finished sitting down."
But when their anti-studs are fully connected to the seats (usually a 2x2 stud grid in these cases), they tend to suffer the equally gory demise of being torn in half when the Man Upstairs tries to get them out of the seat!
@Brickalili said:
"This is from the Outback subtheme so I assume all those tools are solely for defending against spiders"
And snakes. Maybe kangaroos. Probably cane toads and rabbits, too.
@Spritetoggle:
It’s just that Australia has so much more of it compared to not-Outback…
@Billbuilds:
That’s just par for the course from the UK’s favorite penal colony, though, isn’t it?
@ElephantKnight said:
" @Formendacil Don't forget about the 5th one, 6553 Crisis News Crew! It apparently is also outback, though it really sticks out with the other ones."
I... guess? I dunno, the idea that 6553 is Outback is very much not a new one, but somehow it's never seemed right to me. I'm trying to remember if it's the in-set catalogues or the LEGO Mania Magazine that gave me the lasting impression that it's a four-set theme, but I do not recall.
@AllenSmith said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @AllenSmith said:
"Imagine how many minifigures fell to their deaths before now! Not to mention all the ones that were gruesomely decapitated by the fully-open design (ex. 1561) in pocket-money sets."
The pilots should have been more securely strapped in (read: made sure the anti-studs on the backs of their legs were fully connected to the seats) then. As for the mini-copters, that was their fault for starting the engine before they finished sitting down."
But when their anti-studs are fully connected to the seats (usually a 2x2 stud grid in these cases), they tend to suffer the equally gory demise of being torn in half when the Man Upstairs tries to get them out of the seat!"
Still not decapitation, though.
@AllenSmith said:
"This was the culmination of classic Lego helicopter design. The previous standard had always featured the open cockpit piece (ex: 6568), even though helicopters tend to be enclosed. The windscreen used here (part 2620) had existed since 1990, but for some reason had never used in this obvious application until now. Imagine how many minifigures fell to their deaths before now! Not to mention all the ones that were gruesomely decapitated by the fully-open design (ex. 1561) in pocket-money sets.
And as soon as Lego got it right, the standard became perverted by juniorization (ex: 6549, 6328, 6425) and looked ridiculous. The whole thing was bad, but the 2x10 brick for the tail boom was just an embarrassment."
6697 has something to say about that.