Random set of the day: Island Racer
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 5920 Island Racer, released during 2000. It's one of 17 Adventurers sets produced that year. It contains 50 pieces and 1 minifig.
It's owned by 2,516 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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VROOOMS in 10 Cylinder Engine
One of the best Lego cars of the late 90s. I ended up buying two of them, and gave one to a citizen of my Lego city with a penchant for classic cars.
ADVENTURERS!
LORE TIME!
It is him... the infamous villain of many names! In the Dino Island subtheme alone, he has gone by Baron von Baron, Sam Sinister, Sam Sanister, and Mr. Hates, and that's just the tip of the iceberg! Whatever you want to call him, this hook-handed fiend is the recurring arch-nemesis of Johnny Thunder and the Adventurers, competing against them from Egypt to Dino Island and across the Orient. Here, his dastardly plan is to capture the wild dinosaurs of Dino Island and open a for-profit zoo to rake in heaps of cash from tourists.
The Island Racer is one of this baddie's many vehicles, used for getting around Dino Island very quickly. But even this sleek car has its limitations. In the set's comic on the back of the box, Sam Sinister curses as his Island Racer is stuck in a dirt patch. He rebuilds it into a smaller, more compact car, which he uses to travel some ground until he comes to a gorge, where he rebuilds the small car into a plane-like vehicle.
But did you know the Island Racer isn't one-of-a-kind? In LEGO Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge, it is a popular car among citizens of LEGO Island, and can be customized to a wide variety of colors besides the iconic red. Even Mr. Hates' enemy Dr. Kilroy owns an Island Racer, which is called the Desert Speedster; he loans it to Pepper Roni so the pizza delivery dude can drive from the Matching Mummies' Tomb to the Oasis. Unfortunately, driving ain't like skateboarding, as Pepper will be sure to remind you. Over. And over. Again.
Perhaps the Island Racer's most memorable appearance is in LEGO Racers 2, where it is the personal racecar of Sam Sanister, who is raced as the Dino Island boss on the "Sam Sanister's Slammer" track. Sanister has outfitted the super-fast Island Racer with a turbo boost, making it much faster than any regular racecar. However, it is still vulnerable to destructive power-ups, allowing you to break it apart brick by brick until Sanister is forced to walk to the nearest pit stop. Upon outracing him, you're given Sanister's turbo boost as a permanent upgrade to all of your vehicles, allowing you to go as fast as his Island Racer and leave the competition in the dust.
This would look so good alongside the citroën in the upcoming Indiana Jones "Figher Plane Chase" set!
Wasn't this thing in Lego Racers, or am I misremembering things?
EDIT: As far as I can see it wasn't. Wouldn't have been out of place though. Fond memories of that game.
That’s a lot of radiator caps.
Baron Von Legendary, amirite?
Love it!! Bought it to be my car on my minifig version :)
So, how big is this island we're talking about? If it's at least like Malta size, I can see you maybe needing a racer for it, but if it's smaller, like Redonda or Annobón, even Gozo, I just cannot see why you would need a whole car to get around.
If this Dino Island is so unnoticeable that the Adventurers are the first to Adventure in it, then realistically, it's got to be closer to Malta, so I'm not thinking you need this entire car just to explore the island.
And, we also have the 5935 Island Hopper, so I assume this would be some sort of island chain or archipelago, so using a car to get around would really not be the best use of your time and resources.
This was a very good little set. Nice roadster look.
@Zordboy said:
"One of the best Lego cars of the late 90s. "
My thoughts exatly. And I'll raise by saying it's in my top ten, including modern day sets.
Ah-hah, one I have!
I was given this by one of my friends at the same (Toy-Story-2-themed) birthday party I also got 8500 and 8513; though I can't remember at all who gave me this one. I know for sure who gave me Fire Slizer, mostly because he was the one who had the foresight to actually *ask* me which set I'd like (and I told him basically 'any of the Slizers except Rock who I already had'); and I thiiiink I remember that Dust was from my best friend at the time; but I legitimately don't remember who this one was from. Still, I was very happy with them all ^^
In any case, a set I was familiar with in passing from the UK Lego Adventures Magazine's comic based on the theme - though it didn't last long there, as Sam Sinister wound up crashing it into a very angry T-rex and wrecking it; and would later become much more familiar with due to it being the opponent of one of the boss races in Lego Racers 2, a game that I played through many times. Fun times :D
I know Dino Island's kinda looked down on amongst the Adventurers themes; but this one was certainly a solid set to me at the time. It was also notable as a very rare occurrence of the https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=6216 piece being used outside of basic build-what-you-want brick pack sets; I had a few of them from a Freestyle bucket, but this was the only time I've ever encountered one of them in a theme set.
Cute car - so well formed with so few pieces.
I miss the Adventurers. Surely they're due for a reboot!
Also, those Harry and Hermione brickbuilt figs from last year 76393 - I would buy one of Johnny Thunder in a heartbeat. Two of them.
@Koentinius said:
"Wasn't this thing in Lego Racers, or am I misremembering things?
EDIT: As far as I can see it wasn't. Wouldn't have been out of place though. Fond memories of that game."
Not the first Racers game, but it was one of the boss races in Racers 2 ^^
Really nice looking design, almost like an old indy car.
Amazing set
One of my favorite LEGO cars of all time! This is a great reminder to rebuild it… such an amazing design.
I really wish we got more vintage cars from Lego!!! And an Adventurers reboot.
Some people bring up Pharaoh's Quest, but that was a very half-assed attempt with no context. Indeed I've always been puzzled as to why Lego created new characters no one knew anything about instead of just bringing back characters everyone loved. Both themes were the same era and location, both had a supernatural element with the mummies and so forth.
It would be like getting rid of Ninjago, then creating a new Ninja theme with red Kang, blue Ahn, white Ha and black Cho (Fire, Water, Air & Earth) fighting skeletons and snakes...
I also wonder why Lego has never made a 1930s race car for Speed Champions (like the Nostalgia 1 or Mercedes W25 Silver Arrow from Mariokart), even if combined with a modern vehicle like the Ford Raptor & Ford Model A hot rod set.
Wish we could have this engine-headlight piece brought back too!
@Koentinius said:
"Wasn't this thing in Lego Racers, or am I misremembering things?
EDIT: As far as I can see it wasn't. Wouldn't have been out of place though. Fond memories of that game."
Lego Racers came out a year before the Dino Island subtheme... hence why they had to make two Desert-themed tracks (Desert Adventure Dragway and Adventure Temple Trail).
SIGH...seeing this makes me think how we're probably never getting the 'Billion Brick Race' movie, nor 'Lego Batman 2', and likely not 'Lego Movie 3' ('The Last Part'?...hmm)...ok, maybe that last isn't such 'a bad thing' (come to think of it: stuff I heard/read about B.B.R., maybe we dodged some stuff there too...).
Also (again): HOW BIG IS SPEED'S FAMILY???:D
@Randomness said:
"So, how big is this island we're talking about? If it's at least like Malta size, I can see you maybe needing a racer for it, but if it's smaller, like Redonda or Annobón, even Gozo, I just cannot see why you would need a whole car to get around.
If this Dino Island is so unnoticeable that the Adventurers are the first to Adventure in it, then realistically, it's got to be closer to Malta, so I'm not thinking you need this entire car just to explore the island.
And, we also have the 5935 Island Hopper, so I assume this would be some sort of island chain or archipelago, so using a car to get around would really not be the best use of your time and resources."
Yeah but don’t forget style, my friend, do not forget about style!
If he's got a revolver in one hand and a hook replacing the other... then how's he steering the car?!
@Brickchap said:
"Some people bring up Pharaoh's Quest, but that was a very half-assed attempt with no context."
Oh, I don’t think that’s fair. Pharaoh’s Quest was a pretty great theme that gave us some unique Egyptian minifigures, vehicles, and perhaps most importantly, a Pyramid.
@Plastech said: "If he's got a revolver in one hand and a hook replacing the other... then how's he steering the car?!"
Magic.
Some arguments as to why it's the best Lego car ever made:
1. It's ADVENTURERS.
2. It has a Baron von Barron minifig.
3. It has a Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum revolver (not really, but you can pretend it is).
4. It has a straight 8 cylinder engine.
5. It's red (red = fast)
6. It looks great despite being nearly a quarter of a century old.
7. It starred in both Lego Racers 2 and Lego Island 2 video games.
8. It was very cheap, therefore very accessible when it came out.
9. I have it.
Do I have to go on?
makes this play in my head https://youtu.be/n1lsUPAfGf0
@Plastech said:
"If he's got a revolver in one hand and a hook replacing the other... then how's he steering the car?!"
Millions of people see no issue with steering a car with their knees while using their phone....this dude was just ahead of time!
The article the other day about old sets that would make good updated GWPs.
This would be a decent contender.
I recently restored this classic car at my autobody (read: in my LEGO basement). It's a great car. Some of the 2000 Adventurers set were a touch more juniorised than their 1998 and 1999 predecessors, but this set never felt it. I didn't NEED it--I already had two Baron figs (I will never forgive my LEGO Mania Magazine for switching names on me mid-stream, though in hindsight I realise it was a not infrequent source of conflicting information), but I was never going to pass up an Adventurers set I had the money for, and my poor Baron was lagging behind my good guys in the vehicle department.
What I *really* remember this set for was the bonanza of extra parts: an extra revolver, an extra set of epaulets, an extra tap piece--and, of course, an extra trans-clear 1x1 round plate. That last was to be expected, but those three other pieces had never been extras before in any set I'd owned. The epaulets went and upgraded my Explorien captain, the revolver went to arm my otherwise gunless Town police force, and the tap turned into a Space laser pistol somewhere.
I'm rather fond of this model! I heavily revised my copy about eight years ago, and made it into a green color scheme. (Blue was also an option beside the original red.)
@Randomness said:
"So, how big is this island we're talking about? If it's at least like Malta size, I can see you maybe needing a racer for it, but if it's smaller, like Redonda or Annobón, even Gozo, I just cannot see why you would need a whole car to get around.
If this Dino Island is so unnoticeable that the Adventurers are the first to Adventure in it, then realistically, it's got to be closer to Malta, so I'm not thinking you need this entire car just to explore the island.
And, we also have the 5935 Island Hopper, so I assume this would be some sort of island chain or archipelago, so using a car to get around would really not be the best use of your time and resources."
A car is also useful when you are in a big hurry to get back to where you parked your Island Hopper, like when there are hungry and/or angry dinosaurs behind you.
Looks like a Wacky Racers rip-off. Just missing Muttley.
Why would one want to race islands? Continental drift is so slow, it's not even a contest.
One of the better Dino Island sets. And it's a car. Again. Figures. Still glad I have my 5975 again though.
@kdu2814 said:
" @Randomness said:
"So, how big is this island we're talking about? If it's at least like Malta size, I can see you maybe needing a racer for it, but if it's smaller, like Redonda or Annobón, even Gozo, I just cannot see why you would need a whole car to get around.
If this Dino Island is so unnoticeable that the Adventurers are the first to Adventure in it, then realistically, it's got to be closer to Malta, so I'm not thinking you need this entire car just to explore the island.
And, we also have the 5935 Island Hopper, so I assume this would be some sort of island chain or archipelago, so using a car to get around would really not be the best use of your time and resources."
A car is also useful when you are in a big hurry to get back to where you parked your Island Hopper, like when there are hungry and/or angry dinosaurs behind you."
Fair, but couldn't you use, like, a motorbike or something like that that is more agile and takes up less space in your Island Hopper?
@Randomness said: "Fair, but couldn't you use, like, a motorbike or something like that that is more agile and takes up less space in your Island Hopper?"
But that's nowhere near as stylish.
This was one of my first sets my mom got me!!! Love it
I can understand him. I love racing islands as well.
@SJPlego:
Mr. Hates? So much for subtlety.
@MeisterDad:
Only one. There’s only one set of headlights. Behind it is just bricks with round tops. Must be bolts.
Lego Racers 2 OGs where you at