Random set of the day: Bonnie Bunny's Camper
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 3635 Bonnie Bunny's Camper, released during 1981. It's one of 6 Fabuland sets produced that year. It contains 25 pieces and 1 minifig.
It's owned by 446 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 $191.70, or eBay.
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46 comments on this article
Bonnie Bunny's Camper looks more like a prison vehicle. Look at those bars in those windows. And there's a trunk with a lock on it? What's this mischievous hare up to?
I in no way understand how that chest relates/will be able to be transported with this set. And why are there flowers growing out of it?
Are they on their way to pick up Chica the Chicken and Foxy the Pirate?
Bonnie Bunny has been playing with Pym Particles again. Only she got the pirates’ top of their treasure chest.
*Insert mandatory Five Nights at Freddy's joke*
@MCLegoboy:
Bonnie has figured out what’s going on in Fabuland and is high-tailing it out of there, with bars welded on to protect her from harm. Smart bunny.
Quick question, because I'm sure this is a controversial topic ... who actually used to attach the flower petals like that, with the studs down?
Because for all the decades that I bought sets with flowers in them, I always put the studded part of the petal facing up.
She's about to head out to met up with Clyde the Cat, and prepare a heist...but don't worry folks: Fabuland's got no banks...:D
Also: place obligatory comment about making a new Fabuland out of: Vidyo, Chima (since we're doing that already:)), and other stuff...I think it would work...
@Zordboy:
If you examine all your flowers, even the mold designers can’t agree on that. Some have part numbers molded into the flat side, and some have petal detail molded there instead.
@Zordboy said:
"Quick question, because I'm sure this is a controversial topic ... who actually used to attach the flower petals like that, with the studs down?
Because for all the decades that I bought sets with flowers in them, I always put the studded part of the petal facing up."
I always put the studs up... because studs go up... what's this new-fangled SNOT business?
But I have to say, looking at that photo, they do look more like most real flowers.
@Zordboy said:
"Quick question, because I'm sure this is a controversial topic ... who actually used to attach the flower petals like that, with the studs down?"
I do studs down, seemed natural to me. Buy I can see the use of it when reversed. You can create multicolored flowers by using round bricks.
Hard to believe this was the only vehicle of its type until 9461-1.
@Zordboy said:
"Quick question, because I'm sure this is a controversial topic ... who actually used to attach the flower petals like that, with the studs down?
Because for all the decades that I bought sets with flowers in them, I always put the studded part of the petal facing up."
I put them all stud down except for the yellow ones, because stud up made them look like daffodils
@PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy:
Bonnie has figured out what’s going on in Fabuland and is high-tailing it out of there, with bars welded on to protect her from harm. Smart bunny."
And there’s the now obligatory “Fanuland is really an Orwellian dystopia” post.
I just noticed RSotD now shows the price on Bricklink. Why would anyone pay 200$ for that? It can't just be nostalgia, can it?
Red hip pins. Why?
@Zordboy said:
"Quick question, because I'm sure this is a controversial topic ... who actually used to attach the flower petals like that, with the studs down?
Because for all the decades that I bought sets with flowers in them, I always put the studded part of the petal facing up."
I used to do it the way it was shown in the instructions, and in all the sets with flowers that I had, the petals were attached with the stud facing up.
Nice how the chest has both a lower section and upper section.
However, I have to ask what Bonnie Bunny is doing near that coffin. And why is she camping next to it?
@Zordboy said:
"Quick question, because I'm sure this is a controversial topic ... who actually used to attach the flower petals like that, with the studs down?
Because for all the decades that I bought sets with flowers in them, I always put the studded part of the petal facing up."
I've always put them stud side up ... because that seemed like the natural thing to do.
But now that I see it the other way around, I can definitely see stud side down working for a more natural look on this element.
@Arnoldos said:
"I just noticed RSotD now shows the price on Bricklink. Why would anyone pay 200$ for that? It can't just be nostalgia, can it?"
Not just nostalgia, though that is a large part of it. A lot of Fabuland parts are long since it of production and without modern equivalents, so they hold value there. And also, as with any vintage toys from the 70s and 80s there's a bar collectable value as well.
Got to say, I do like the double size chest there. I wish that could make a comeback...
@MeisterDad said:
"Red hip pins. Why?"
Fashion.
One of my favourite sets. I love this one so much.
Here's a lovely story about my Bonnie.
I didn't originally have this set. I remember going in the shop with my mum and having to choose between Bonnie and Joe Crow and I chose Joe with the plan to get Bonnie another time.
But I didn't get new Lego very often so I just never got her.
Anyway....my best friend was also a Fabuland fan. She had Bonnie. When we were 13 her family moved away. We promised to be best friends forever and all that....and as a parting gift she gave me Bonnie.
33 years later we are still in touch and we both still have our Fabuland.
Thank You Cathy for lovely Bonnie.
I have the impresion that "camper" is another idea of the US-marketing team. Because the content screams "rolling florist stall".
Wasn't this in 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'?
Studs up for me. Plus this set was great. The chest would fit a fabuland figure as well so the chest was the real hero of this set.
@Arnoldos said:
"I just noticed RSotD now shows the price on Bricklink. Why would anyone pay 200$ for that? It can't just be nostalgia, can it?"
That's just the price for new condition copies, of which presumably very very few still exist. Used condition copies are like $10 - $15
@MCLegoboy said:
"Bonnie Bunny's Camper looks more like a prison vehicle. Look at those bars in those windows. And there's a trunk with a lock on it? What's this mischievous hare up to?"
What's he do? Nibble your bum?
OT: always great to see Fabuland here. Such a great theme.....even when some aspects that seemed innocent looking at it as a kid might be a bit darker when you look at it now....
As for stud-up or stud-down.....I usually made a mix. And this was also when I as a kid found out odd numbers are always annoying, because one up, one down....and what to do with the last one?
In the 1981 catalogue this was referred to as mobile home, where the trunk is for all Bunny's possessions (or bodies) and is shown on the pick-up under the 'home' in the panorama photo. Guess similar to outback settlers loading everything onto the Model T before driving West. Luckily there are no low bridges.
I've always put flowers stud facing up. In 99.9% of all the instructions I've seen, they show that exact arrangement. TO have them studs down seems wrong to me.
However, got to love the consistency from LEGO. The product image, above shows the flowers as stud down. The instructions show them as stud up. I guess this is something that we can agree to disagree on, we're both right.
Obviously:
- Fabuland is great.
- Flowers go studs up.
- The chest is supposed to be her flower stall. The lid is included as part of the vehicle to give more options for play.
- It is not a prison van, but a flower delivery vehicle.
Bonnie sure does have a massive chest, and may I say, it looks amazing for its age.
@Randomness said:
"I in no way understand how that chest relates/will be able to be transported with this set. And why are there flowers growing out of it?"
It fits on the roof just fine.
Fabuland is what scared me away from Lego and made me enter my Dark Ages.
@dingbat591 said:
"Fabuland is what scared me away from Lego and made me enter my Dark Ages."
As someone who has remained a fan through the mid and late nineties and early 2000s despite stuff like Znap, Jack Stone, Galidor, Scala etc:
_Weakness disgusts me!_
Joking aside, how can Fabuland scare you away? Was it too kiddish? Did you find out about the dark underbelly of the theme too early?
I've got a couple of Fabuland sets. 3603, 3701 and 3782. I'm not entirely sure when or where I got them from as these sets came out around the time I was born. I know I played with them quite a bit though as a child. I'd like to see a return to Fabuland, even if it's just a one off.
@Binnekamp said:
" @dingbat591 said:
"Fabuland is what scared me away from Lego and made me enter my Dark Ages."
As someone who has remained a fan through the mid and late nineties and early 2000s despite stuff like Znap, Jack Stone, Galidor, Scala etc:
_Weakness disgusts me!_
Joking aside, how can Fabuland scare you away? Was it too kiddish? Did you find out about the dark underbelly of the theme too early?"
Well, it's not that easy to explain. The characters' faces - and eyes! - reminded me of a horror movie I couldn't stand. And, on a merely building level, those big pieces would become useless no matter how hard I tried using them for alternative builds. But eventually I gained back my confidence and here I am. Glad Fabuland's gone, though.
You're not the only one who has - oh, let's call it Fabuphobia, although I sure don't share that. I love the shapes and iconography of Fabuland, and even the weird scale. I've said this before, but it all reminds me of the books of Richard Scarrie, which I really liked as a kid.
I don't like it enough to break the bank for aftermarket Fabuland-sets, but I can understand why some people do that, or get into Neo-Fabuland, for such a thing exists. Every now and then I'll be surprised that some parts - such as Bonnie's impressive chest - actually came from Fabuland, and are far older than I'd imagined.
I did a lot of kitbashing when I was younger, and I found out that the hip-pin wasn't quite 3.18mm, but still a useful piece before lightsabre-bars popped up. The ball-joint in the neck is also interesting, it's a 1:1 match with the ball-joint for the Technic-figures, so with enough brute force, you could swap heads. The connection between the neck-joint and the actual head was just stud-sized, so you could give your Fabuland-Technic-monstrosities minifig-heads if you wanted to.
In hindsight, I may have been Sid from 'Toy Story'.
@SearchlightRG:
What? No, that’s what it ends up as, when it turns into Chima. Currently it’s just a horror-thriller in an otherwise quiet suburbia.
@Ridgeheart:
Minifig-baby, minidoll, and Scooby-Doo heads are 100% interchangeable. Just sayin’…
@rick77 said:
"Obviously:
- Fabuland is great.
- Flowers go studs up.
- The chest is supposed to be her flower stall. The lid is included as part of the vehicle to give more options for play.
- It is not a prison van, but a flower delivery vehicle."
The flowers (once planted) are for marking where her victim's bodies are buried, I presume.
@Zordboy said:
"Quick question, because I'm sure this is a controversial topic ... who actually used to attach the flower petals like that, with the studs down?
Because for all the decades that I bought sets with flowers in them, I always put the studded part of the petal facing up."
Me, I always put them stud down. It never occurred to me to do it any other way!
I remember the Fabuland guide that had artwork of two children playing with Fabuland sets, promoting lessons of learning how to share and take turns.
The caption had a little girl finally getting her turn to play with the Bonnie Bunny minifigure, and saying something like, "Yay, I get to be Bonnie Bunny now! Beep, beep!" (As in the horn sound of the vehicle – possibly this set – Bonnie was to drive.)
I hate Bonnie the Bunny, I always get jumpscared and killed by it
@PurpleDave said:
" @SearchlightRG:
What? No, that’s what it ends up as, when it turns into Chima. Currently it’s just a horror-thriller in an otherwise quiet suburbia."
Wait; are you saying Chima IS an Orwellian dystopia, or that Fabuland becomes one on the way to becoming Chima?
@Zordboy said:
"Quick question, because I'm sure this is a controversial topic ... who actually used to attach the flower petals like that, with the studs down?
Because for all the decades that I bought sets with flowers in them, I always put the studded part of the petal facing up."
Studs up! And I've been doing it since my very first set, a Fabuland set.
Granted, I lost the instructions to that a LONG time ago, so perhaps I've been doing it wrong all this time... but it's not changing now!
@SearchlightRG said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy :
Bonnie has figured out what’s going on in Fabuland and is high-tailing it out of there, with bars welded on to protect her from harm. Smart bunny."
And there’s the now obligatory “Fanuland is really an Orwellian dystopia” post."
"'Fanuland'"? Oh yeah! That's definitely an Orwellian dystopia.... or, a strip club in Alabama.
Now, 'Fabuland' is an insane Hitchcockian dystopia... or, a strip club in Miami.
@SearchlightRG:
Technically, I guess it would fall somewhere in the gap years. Chima is straight up post-apocalyptic Road Warrior territory, while this is the early days that lead to Animal Farm.
Oh, and flowers go petal side up, because that's how flowers work. Also, it allows you to combine them with green flower-plates (either 4-petal or 5-petal) to make a full-color flower. I mean, you don't put the new 7-petal flower bar side up like the Tin Man's hat, do you?