Random set of the day: Wave Jump Racers
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6334 Wave Jump Racers, released during 1996. It's one of 24 Town sets produced that year. It contains 181 pieces and 4 minifigs, and its retail price was US$20.
It's owned by 1,715 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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44 comments on this article
Okay now hold on a minute. If they were willing to print on the front of the wedge slopes, then why not the sides? Or if they weren't willing to print on the sides, why include the stickers?
Anyone want to sign my petition to change the name of surfing to wave jumping?
No?
Never?
Kay.
Not my best work.
Old-style palm tree with a printed parrot sitting on it. That makes me think of Pirates, not Town.
l remember this set was in the Lego Island computer game
@MCLegoboy said:
"Okay now hold on a minute. If they were willing to print on the front of the wedge slopes, then why not the sides? Or if they weren't willing to print on the sides, why include the stickers?"
Probably not about how willing they were, but about equipment limitations.
As for the second question:: ...Because they still wanted decoration there, and printing stickers was an option?
@TheOtherMike said:
"Old-style palm tree with a printed parrot sitting on it. That makes me think of Pirates, not Town."
Well, all the guys wore entirely-too-small banana hammocks, so it’s got to be someplace with a fairly tropical climate.
Great set. 4 minifigs, 4 vehicles, 1 building, plant and animal.
I have this set! In pieces of course. I remember everything except the Coast Guard sticker.
I bought this set, only a couple of years ago. I'm so glad I did, it's pure mid-90s Town awesomeness.
This set looks like a lot of fun! And I appreciate those palm trunk pieces, in that they socketed into each other to make gentle bends and twists.
Man, do I miss that parrot and palm tree part! :-(
@MeisterDad said:
"This set looks like a lot of fun! And I appreciate those palm trunk pieces, in that they socketed into each other to make gentle bends and twists."
And since they were pieces, you could make trees of various heights.
This set is a perfect example of the great work of the graphic layout departments back in those days.
They made everything (box art, catalogues) just 'pop' .
Bright, colourful presentation - the reason why as a kid I could spend WEEKS looking at and dreaming my way through their catalogue.
What waves? That’s some of the flattest water I’ve ever seen. No wonder the two skippers are looking at each other so awkwardly
5...and 8...I have...concerns, about where other 'Racers' are...though, on the 'Plus Side'; Speed's family is getting more 'manageable'. :D
So much stuff and only 181 pieces!
Now small car has 200...
Ehh.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Old-style palm tree with a printed parrot sitting on it. That makes me think of Pirates, not Town."
Perhaps they're refugees from Paradisa.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Old-style palm tree with a printed parrot sitting on it. That makes me think of Pirates, not Town."
Breezeway Cafe 6376 and Poolside Paradise 6416 were always some of the favourite hideout spots for pirates. There were many other sets from Paradisa with palm trees and parrots (some included pirate monkeys too), and the Belville "Land of the Giants". There was also Discovery Station 1782.
Town in the 90s always had such a tropical, summer-like vibe to it. The 90s catalogs were a blast to read through and always made me feel warm and fuzzy.
Sets like this are why. Such a simple set, but it's so atmospheric and nostalgic.
Lego tampo printing prior to their recent equipment upgrades only allowed stamped printing on a single plane of any element. It was some time in the 2000s that they were able to add a rotation to the process, and now they are able to have multiple sides of the same parts printed.
@PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"Old-style palm tree with a printed parrot sitting on it. That makes me think of Pirates, not Town."
Well, all the guys wore entirely-too-small banana hammocks, so it’s got to be someplace with a fairly tropical climate."
I thought we all agreed that the official Brickset/Aussie term to use in this situation is 'budgie smuggler?'
Now, this is pod racing!!
Lego knows how to sell it. Look at that awesome scene. I was lucky to get this set in mint condition around 2010 along with couple of others. I keep this in the box because I managed to build 6517 few years back.
@leetshoe said:
"l remember this set was in the Lego Island computer game"
Jumped into the thread specifically because of this. So many good memories of the game from my childhood, was pretty much my first “3D open world with sidequests” game, and this, the police station/jail, the gas station, and the race track were based on real sets from the era, so I’ve always remembered them especially, though a part of me wishes some of the houses and the pizzeria and other buildings had been real sets too.
I acquired about 1/4th of this set only about a week ago! Not enough to try reconstituting it from what I have, but enough to have spent some time poring over the instructions.
This always struck me as a great set in my childhood: you had two things to race each other, the boat and truck, one of those beautiful 1996 coast guard figs. In hindsight, I didn't even appreciate the 1990s perfect of yellow beaches, a palm tree, and printed red parrot.
Yes, people, I'm well aware that old-school palm trees and parrots were used in other lines. But they first showed up in Pirates, so Pirates is my first thought when seeing or talking about them.
@MeisterDad: What I liked was when Lego would find ways to use the segments in other colors. I hadn't realized before visiting Bricklink that they had multiple mold variants, but one of those variants was also made in light gray, and another was made in black, light gray, and light bluish gray. I always loved it when they were used as air horns, as on 8868.
wow, @Huwbot you've put us through another emotional roller coaster, pal... with a high of the great (although flawed) sets 6296 Shipwreck Island and 6884 Aero Module to a low of 3121 Summer something (which makes no one think of summer) to a great set that does make us think of summer...
Keep up the emotional barrage. We can take it. :)
@leetshoe said:
"l remember this set was in the Lego Island computer game"
That was the first thing that came to my mind as well
I always liked the background on sets in this era
@kyrodes said:
"Great set. 4 minifigs, 4 vehicles, 1 building, plant and animal."
You forgot the most important part, all for only $20. I know people made a lot less back then, but I miss the 90's. Great times with great sets.
Most notable use of those jetski slopes in current sets nowadays is probably in 60337 : Express Passenger Train (3 used in the front), and 71738 : Zane's Titan Mech Battle , 2 on each leg.
@Rimefang:
There’s no reason they couldn’t have fed those parts through three different printing steps, but that would have involved three times as much work.
Ah 1996, the last great year for the Town theme.
@brick_r said:
"5...and 8...I have...concerns, about where other 'Racers' are..."
Well there's number 3 in 6517 (which I happen to own twice to make it even more weird) but other than that I don't know.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Rimefang:
There’s no reason they couldn’t have fed those parts through three different printing steps, but that would have involved three times as much work."
More work, more manufacturing equipment, and more cost Or reduce those impacts and lose efficiency.
Or just make some serviceable stickers through already available processes.
@kolaxanthe said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"Old-style palm tree with a printed parrot sitting on it. That makes me think of Pirates, not Town."
Breezeway Cafe 6376 and Poolside Paradise 6416 were always some of the favourite hideout spots for pirates. There were many other sets from Paradisa with palm trees and parrots (some included pirate monkeys too), and the Belville "Land of the Giants". There was also Discovery Station 1782 ."
'Pirate-disa'. The secret is out: those scruffy, scurvy pirates really wanted nothing more than to spend their ill-gotten gains on Mimosas and Appletinis with tiny umbrellas in them on pastel-coloured shores, and who are we to judge them for it?
I sorely miss those palm-tree trunk-pieces, though it has to be said that they did lose a lot of friction over time (or rather, the receiving end would sometimes crack). Honestly, with the amount of wobble they'd gain during play, they become more rubber-tree than palm-tree. Still, TLG, just bring them back.
@BigDaddy89 said:
"Ah 1996, the last great year for the Town theme.
@brick_r said:
"5...and 8...I have...concerns, about where other 'Racers' are..."
Well there's number 3 in 6517 (which I happen to own twice to make it even more weird) but other than that I don't know."
You'll notice that around that time we did gain a vastly increased amount of alligators and sharks, all fat and happy.
Those little gray circle “sliders” on the bottom of the boats are IMO one of the best Lego pieces. They provided many hours of sliding boats and spaceships around the house.
@Spritetoggle:
Possibly more equipment, aside from obviously needing more printing pads. A few years ago, I think when Brickheadz launched, someone did mention that their printing machines are basically maxed out these days, and that’s after they expanded printing to China and Eastern Europe. Back in 1996, I have no idea what the state of their printing department was like. They may have had time available on those machines, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they tend to max out again as soon as they add another printing machine.
"...Woah, I am STOKED now! Aloooooha, and welcome! And you're, like, here to build a boat-- a jetski!"
Fun times on Lego Island :D I also have the (pantsless?) version of that coast guard who came from 6518, one of my very first childhood sets, so this is nostalgic to me on two levels ^^
Honestly, though? This set wouldn't look half as appealing to me if not for Lego Island; it immediately takes me right back to the atmosphere of that game. I'd love to revisit the game again, but the old disc just won't run on my current laptop, so...
My brother had that set when we were kids. The parts in a box somewhere. I just need to reassemble it.
@BlackFalconBirdman : You realize you're asking for an uninterrupted string of Galidor, right?
@zipper: "Nostalgia is remembering yesterday's prices while forgetting yesterday's wages." I know you're not doing that, your comment just reminded me of the quote.
@PurpleDave: At first, I thought you said they'd expanded printing to Chima. Which is funny to me, because I thought the line was called "Legends of China" when I first saw the name. (I don't remember if I just didn't look to closely at the sets, or if I just saw the name and there weren't pictures of the sets.
Ah yes, this is where you go in Lego Island to build and customize 6518 Baja Buggy.
It’s crazy how well that jet ski design works, despite being so simple.
Gives me memories of Waverace 64, which apparently came out the same year.