Random set of the day: Flying Machine
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 2539 Flying Machine, released in 1998. It's one of 20 Castle sets produced that year. It contains 21 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$2.
It's owned by 1463 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
Help me come to life! If you like the set I've chosen for you today, please pledge your support for me on LEGO Ideas so I have a chance of becoming an official LEGO set!
68 likes
31 comments on this article
This is some DaVincian type sorcery
Batman before he was cool.
One of our favorite minifigs as kids. We had dubbed him the Bat King, and he had a following of skeletons to do his biddings. Good times.
Maybe its powered by gas as it is sponsored by Shell
Best Batwing Ever!
Wow!
Fright Knights is a very cool concept that unfortunately arrived in a pretty weird phase for Lego. A lot of the sets, I really like the IDEA, but the execution is unappealing.
That helmet looks particularly aerodynamic.
Ahh, the Bat Lord outfit. One of the more sought-after sets of rares in Lego Universe!
This was such a fantastic promo with Shell, and the bigger petrol station sets you could buy were amazing. Pity we’ll never seen anything like that again.
An entire line of some of the worst sets ever made, this one being near the top of the dung pile. I managed to find these Shell sets when they could still be gotten cheaply. Not sure I'd want to be forking out much money for this poor excuses of a set for completeness sake.
Pretty cool helmet.
As for the flying machine itself, I’m no master builder, or even a remotely capable MOCer, buuuuut... I feel like I could’ve come up with that.
Shell: “Hello, Lego? We’d like an exclusive Shell-branded set please! We need it ASAP!”
Lego: “Okay, uh, we normally take months or years to develop sets.”
Shell: “Have you got anything available?”
Lego: “ANYTHING?”
Shell: “Yeah! Anything!”
Lego: “Okay, here you go!”
I was a huge castle fan as a kid, but by the time they got to this subtheme it was clear that Lego had lost its way. As a previous commenter noted, this could have been a really cool subtheme but the execution was terrible. The drk bat lord sent me into my dark ages.
Well, you can't fault the name for being inaccurate, but I wouldn't be caught dead flying that thing. Because it would crash on takeoff.
@Phoenixio:
You were close. The official name is "Bat Lord". I don't know how the names of all these minifigs was so easy to find out in the days before internet, but in this case there was at least one set that was named "Bat Lord's Something". Majisto was about the only other minifig whose name I actually knew as a child.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Phoenixio:
You were close. The official name is "Bat Lord". I don't know how the names of all these minifigs was so easy to find out in the days before internet, but in this case there was at least one set that was named "Bat Lord's Something". Majisto was about the only other minifig whose name I actually knew as a child."
More specifically, Basil the Bat Lord.
These promotional sets probably weren't that popular: They showed up in 2001 in several german furniture stores in large amounts. The small ones were sold, if I remember correctly, for 1 DEM = (ca.) 0.51 EUR.
I bought about 20 of this and a few technic (2544) ones as parts pack. I sold the swords as I found them too shiny.
The other eight sets that belonged to that series (https://brickset.com/sets/list-6502) didn't appear to be -as- useful.
And he sits on my desk for few years now after I came out of my dark ages. I love this little dude <3 It's so silly
These sets literally made me buy shell gas. Sure it was pricier than the gas station down the street, but every time I filled up, I got Lego. Even if it was a lame set, or I already had it, it was Lego. Also, I was 28 at the time.
I have fond memories of this as it was bought for me by my aunt just as I was coming out of my dark ages. Fully out the year after when Star Wars arrived!
Basil! now that Redbeard is back in Barracuda bay, Barron von Baron has been referenced in the haunted house and a CMF figure looked suspiciously like Johnny Thunder, I wonder how long it will be until The Bat Lord returns, then we need a full remake of LEGO Racers,
You know, I still liked these little Shell sets.
This falls apart at the first sign of a swoosh.
@phi13 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Phoenixio:
You were close. The official name is "Bat Lord". I don't know how the names of all these minifigs was so easy to find out in the days before internet, but in this case there was at least one set that was named "Bat Lord's Something". Majisto was about the only other minifig whose name I actually knew as a child."
More specifically, Basil the Bat Lord."
The Basil thing was only in the US. This was in the era when US sets were called things like "Witch's Wacky Wazazazoo" and the same set in the UK would be called "Witch Mountain".
I like the way the bat appeared in so many of these 'Shell' sets before moving onto 'Studio' and then finding fame in 'Harry Potter'. Oddly there was a 2nd 'Shell' flying machine 2848 which definitely used sorcery rather than bat wings to fly! To confirm the name there is a Bat Lord set 6007.
I seem to recall the Bat Lord having a lot of these odd little flying machines scattered throughout the Fright Knight range. At least the witch had a dragon strapped into her contraption
I remember, I wanted this set SO MUCH when I was a kid! Primarily, I admit, for the Batlord minifigure; I was just late enough discovering Lego themes that I missed Fright Knights completely, but I still knew Batlord from Lego Racers - enough to think that he was cool and that I wanted him in my minifigure collection. I had 2537 of the Shell promo sets, and spent so much time poring over the pictures on the back of the instructions, that showed the other similarly tiny sets in that range.
They may have been weak sets; but that didn't bother me because they were also the only ones I knew of that had Batlord in (I had no idea places like Brickset existed back in 1999!). I never got either in the end, because the Shell promo had long since finished by the time I first played Lego Racers... but I did get a Batlord minifigure eventually, regardless! A friend had two of him, and let me trade a couple of my minifigures in exchange for the duplicate; so I was a very happy child (or, um, maybe teenager by then?) that day!
@phi13:
Right, so Majisto was the only minifig whose name I knew.
@bnic99:
Johnny Thunder was actually released as a named minifig in 70815.
@ambr:
I'm pretty sure that second "flying machine" is launched like a US Navy fighter jet. With a catapult.
Nice to see bigman Basil the bat lord getting some recognition.
@bnic99 said:
"Basil! now that Redbeard is back in Barracuda bay, Barron von Baron has been referenced in the haunted house and a CMF figure looked suspiciously like Johnny Thunder, I wonder how long it will be until The Bat Lord returns, then we need a full remake of LEGO Racers,
"
YES!
@bnic99 said:
"Basil! now that Redbeard is back in Barracuda bay, Barron von Baron has been referenced in the haunted house and a CMF figure looked suspiciously like Johnny Thunder, I wonder how long it will be until The Bat Lord returns, then we need a full remake of LEGO Racers,
"
I believe Basil the Batlord has a Tombstone in baron Von Baron Manor.