Random set of the day: Island Arcade
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6409 Island Arcade, released during 1993. It's one of 23 Town sets produced that year. It contains 145 pieces and 5 minifigs, and its retail price was US$21.
It's owned by 1,112 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
100 likes
49 comments on this article
I guess this is more referring to the arch, but even then, aren't arcades composed of multiple arches in sequence? If anything, this is more a carnival or fair than an arcade.
Lego gambling!!!!!!! In a set targeted to girls!!!!!!! What will the parents say???????? XD jk
Uhhh is that an unattended baby carriage?
"Arcade"
"One of 23 Town sets produced that year".
Huh, so are we just going to sit around and pretend like Paradisa wasn't a distinct theme for several years in the 1990s?
[Yes, I see it labeled as a "subtheme" on the set page, but I don't recall Paradisa sets ever sharing the same page as other Town subthemes like Race and Nautica. They definitely had their own sections of the catalogs.]
I'm glad to see Paradisa get some love in the RSotD, but looking at this set reminds me they all weren't the same level as Poolside Paradise in terms of quality and substantial builds.
@MeisterDad said:
"Uhhh is that an unattended baby carriage?"
No, that's the lager trolley!
I really liked Paradisa. It was exciting, for 9-year-old me. Everything was tropical and pastel and exotic. Plus, unlike Heartlake, Paradisa actually fit into my minifigure-inhabited Lego city without a problem.
I think the original batch of sets that came out in '92 (and the ones that would come out later. How beautiful was the lighthouse?) were better, but the arcade here was pretty cool.
Even if it encouraged gambling.
(like Lego doesn't do that enough these days. Buy a set with ball-joint connections and take the gamble)
@Lego_Lord_Mayorca said:
[["One of 23 Town sets produced that year".
Huh, so are we just going to sit around and pretend like Paradisa wasn't a distinct theme for several years in the 1990s?
[Yes, I see it labeled as a "subtheme" on the set page, but I don't recall Paradisa sets ever sharing the same page as other Town subthemes like Race and Nautica. They definitely had their own sections of the catalogs.]]]
The same can go for several themes released during the Town Junior years (Divers, Outback, Res-Q, Extreme Team, Space Port, Arctic, Race).
Ooh baby, I love me some RSOTD Paradisa.
That scan doesn’t do the set any favours, but that pastel colour scheme from the theme was lovely.
That pram was pretty revolutionary too at the time too for the minifig life cycle. Little did we know, many years later, we’d get actual minifig babies.
@Lego_Lord_Mayorca said:
""One of 23 Town sets produced that year".
Huh, so are we just going to sit around and pretend like Paradisa wasn't a distinct theme for several years in the 1990s?
[Yes, I see it labeled as a "subtheme" on the set page, but I don't recall Paradisa sets ever sharing the same page as other Town subthemes like Race and Nautica. They definitely had their own sections of the catalogs.]
I'm glad to see Paradisa get some love in the RSotD, but looking at this set reminds me they all weren't the same level as Poolside Paradise in terms of quality and substantial builds."
On that note, has anyone noticed or had trouble with broken subtheme links? Like the other day I was trying to find the Arctic subthebe for town but it pulled up every set tagged ‘arctic’
I know we have Friends as the "girly" theme right now, but I'd love a return to Paradisa. It's colors were so pastel and soft like ice cream on a warm summers day or a faded postcard from an old family trip. More modern girl-targeted themes just throw a million shades of pink and purple onto the model, but Paradisa knew how to balance it with other colors to make something pretty and soothing.
I'm kinda queasy tonight, and the washed-out look of the pink parts is bringing to mind frozen hot dogs.
I love paradise, awesome arcade
@MeisterDad said:
"Uhhh is that an unattended baby carriage?"
Well there's no baby so it's mostly decorative.
I loved those old-school palm trees.
@MeisterDad: Well, there wasn't really a need for it, considering there wouldn't be a Lego baby for 20+ years. No wonder it was left alone,,,
@GSR_MataNui: Come to think of it, I would love to see some Friends sets with Paradisa's color scheme.
@GSR_MataNui said:
"I know we have Friends as the "girly" theme right now, but I'd love a return to Paradisa. It's colors were so pastel and soft like ice cream on a warm summers day or a faded postcard from an old family trip. More modern girl-targeted themes just throw a million shades of pink and purple onto the model, but Paradisa knew how to balance it with other colors to make something pretty and soothing. "
I see "Neo Classic Space" on Lego Ideas all the time. Why hasn't anyone made "Neo Paradisa" and done modern versions of Poolside Paradise or something?
Far from my favorite Paradisa set, but any paradisa set is a treat and perfect for a hot summer night like tonight <3
Literally the worst arcade ever
@MCLegoboy:
Architecturally, yes. But this has _a_ game the minifigs can play, so it counts as a game arcade. Old-school, like the penny arcades that predated video games.
Sure, innocent fun with a few bets..... until the criminal element took over and caused so much crime in LEGOLAND that it had all sorts of Bank robberies and hideouts for undesirables 20 years later. SO Much so that they needed Batman to come in to try to help clean up the place...
Best lego theme ever imo.
Yes, better than friends.
This isn’t the strongest Paradisa set, but the theme is always welcome. Can we get a tribute Ideas set?
@madforLEGO:
Next week when kids ask why there’s a giant purple starfish on our layout, I’m blaming it on Paradisan gambling dens.
I like Paradisa; there is pink in it but it does not matter, all the other colours fit together. That is the main problem with the Friends line. I always thought the girls were better with colour matching - does not seem to be the case for Friends designers. Most of the sets are perfect but they just have one colour too many which clashes with the rest.
I'm not quite sure if they sell well because they are pretty much all 'on sale' on amazon.ca but Lego sure make quite a few sets every year so they must be popular - and if they are popular, I suppose the colour clashes are just fine with the target audience.
I loved Paradisa, even though I am not a girl.
They have such a carefree summer vibe.
Townie: "Hi, do you have 'Space Invaders'?"
Staff: "No"
T: "Donkey Kong??"
S: "No"
T: "JOUST???"
S: "No"
T: "...not much of an 'arcade', are ya' then...":)
and yes, I am aware that 'arcade' refers to the 'type of building', but let's face: by the 90's...
Instead, the set should have been called something like "Fun Park"...oh well...
But who would have bought this set? Seems like a weird set you want to choose in the toy shop.
@Brickodillo said:
"But who would have bought this set? Seems like a weird set you want to choose in the toy shop. "
Weird kids. Thank god they exist.
I’d kind of like to see a return to Paradiso; just the gentle pastel colours and chilled attitude of lazing round a pool. Even the Friends sets that sort of fill that niche are lot more garish and have a bit more of a boisterous feel to them
Maximum comfy.
Wow, that color scheme...
So amused……and puzzled
How on earth does a comment get 9 likes for just typing the word “Arcade”?
I don’t get it
Seems a little expensive at the time for only 145 pieces and no real main build, although the base plate helps to hold it all together which would be missing nowadays. I like the palm tree, although there should be some more attractions than just spin the wheel if trying to create a carnival fair. Isn't every time you buy a mini-fig collectable a gamble?
@LegoMike said:
"So amused……and puzzled
How on earth does a comment get 9 likes for just typing the word “Arcade”?
I don’t get it "
The quotation marks mean they're questioning whether the set really deserves to be described as an arcade. I'm not sure sarcasm is the right word but something along those lines.
Vibin' on that sweet ice cream cooler! We need an helado vendor for some of the Cty park or Fairground sets.
There were some good parts for that in the BaM bins: cowboy hat, curly mustache head...
Paradisa deserves more love.
In fact, I might need to grab some more paradisa at some point.
Yes, it's aimed at girls. But the color scheme is mostly white, grey and light pink with the beautifully muted light mint green baseplates (I forgot the BL name for the color). They're just so carefree, summer-y and relaxed. Like everything is taken care of by smiling butlers on an island paradise where everyone, young and old, male and female just enjoy life and the sun.
And the 90s era set designs just add that layer of nostalgia.
I always look at paradisa sets as a reference to the 80s Miami vibe. Carefree living, water sports, disco music, cocaine and alcohol. But here we also have gambling. Very nice!
@NotProfessorWhymzi: Well, we can give it Centipede now, at least...
@jkb: Thank God for weird adults, too.
Good old sets with *included* baseplates.
@bricksintheattic said:
" @LegoMike said:
"So amused……and puzzled
How on earth does a comment get 9 likes for just typing the word “Arcade”?
I don’t get it "
The quotation marks mean they're questioning whether the set really deserves to be described as an arcade. I'm not sure sarcasm is the right word but something along those lines."
Cheers. Thanks for clearing that up.
Must be a new thing, I’d have put an actual question mark in.
Lol……..I’m too old, or stupid, or maybe both lol…
“Huh, so are we just going to sit around and pretend like Paradisa wasn't a distinct theme for several years in the 1990s?’
The table of contents from the 1994 product catalog lists Town sets on pages 11-16. Paradisa is not listed in the table of contents.
Paradisa sets are on page 16.
https://images.brickset.com/library/Catalogues/c94us.pdf
Who would buy this set on a shop shelf? Weird kids?
This set had so much imaginative play and brick-built playability (two things that Friends does really well today). Push the carriage. Open the ice cream cooler/get your treat (If I remember correctly, there were always two flavors: LEGO flesh and blood? Mustard and ketchup?). Spin the carousel. Mark your guess/spin the wheel. That’s a lot of play features for such a small set. And they all add up to allow for easily storytelling play from one feature to the next.
Simple yet effective. I have recreated this set from it's ashes. Now my little town has a lovely little beach.
@ambr:
No. Never. Well, if I’d ever bought the German soccer players, sure, because every minifig except the manager has a soccer ball as an accessory, and there are several repeated hairstyles. Also, the Unikitty packets (if you count them as a CMF release, which I don’t) were split into two shapes of Unikitty and one shape of Puppycorn. And of course there’s Vidiyo, but I’ve only bought a couple of those on the secondary market. A year from now, when they switch from easy-to-identify foil packets to cardboard boxes…
@MainBricker said:
"Aimed at girls, but suitable for everyone as it extended the Town line and created a vacation aspect for the theme.
Wouldn't be possible in the strict gendered and gender stereotyped world we have today."
I agree! When I was a child, I bought several Paradisa sets, because they was an excellent extension for the Town theme.
Now I don't buy Friends because of minidolls... why TLG created minidolls? They're so different from classic minifigs! It's a pity because Friends got many city sets not available in classic city (41101, 41711, 41704, 41058...)!
Yes.
An arcade with only one game.
@pazza_inter said:
" @MainBricker said:
"Aimed at girls, but suitable for everyone as it extended the Town line and created a vacation aspect for the theme.
Wouldn't be possible in the strict gendered and gender stereotyped world we have today."
I agree! When I was a child, I bought several Paradisa sets, because they was an excellent extension for the Town theme.
Now I don't buy Friends because of minidolls... why TLG created minidolls? They're so different from classic minifigs! It's a pity because Friends got many city sets not available in classic city (41101, 41711, 41704, 41058...)!"
Lego created minidolls because they had multiple focus group researches where kids were playing with bricks and young girls were not liking the blockines of regular minifig, they wanted more doll-like figures. Not all the girls, but significant majority. So Lego did that. And that was a total sucess, thats why Friends is still in production. I buy those set regulary, i just exclude minidolls and chnage purple colour for some other one and those set works like a charm in regular city layout.
Loved Paradisa as a kid! Only got one tiny set, but as an adult I managed to acquire a few more. I think the pink is so much nicer than the modern pink found in Friends sets. I never liked pink in general, but Paradisa pink never bothered me. In Friends sets I always replace it.
@thor96:
My observation has been that girls just want the girl characters, whatever shape they are. When new CMFs arrive, young girls are just as excited about them as young boys, but there hasn’t been gender parity until the upcoming release in September, so the odds have been against them randomly picking a female CMF. They still try to collect them.
Now, what someone else told me, and which makes a lot of sense, is that the minidolls weren’t really targeted at the girls who play with them, but the mothers and grandmothers who actually make the purchases, and who favor more traditional dollhouse styling. For them, the minifigs are “boys toys”, and not something that you buy for a little girl. But, that’s a funny quirk of the US vs Europe. We largely skipped two generations of FFOLs over here, where I’ve been told there’s more gender balance in Europe. Basically, right around the time the minifig first appeared in sets, the US market skewed almost entirely male, and it wasn’t until Friends launched (followed by Disney Princess and Elves) that they were able to reestablish a girls market here.
@madforLEGO said:
"Sure, innocent fun with a few bets..... until the criminal element took over and caused so much crime in LEGOLAND that it had all sorts of Bank robberies and hideouts for undesirables 20 years later. SO Much so that they needed Batman to come in to try to help clean up the place... "
In my Headcanon, Paradisa was when all the minifigs in Lego town struck it rich on monorail futures (or something) and partied it up for the next few years. Then it all came crashing down at the turn of the 21st century and led to the crime-ridden, always-on-fire hellscape that is Lego City today.