Random set of the day: Sonic Stinger (Promotional Pack)
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6909 Sonic Stinger (Promotional Pack), released during 1998. It's one of 21 Space sets produced that year. It contains 96 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$20.
It's owned by 407 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 $250.00, or eBay.
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25 comments on this article
Ah, when my cousin gave me his collection, he still had this mask from this version of the set and kept it in the pile. I didn't know what it was at the time or what to do with it and gave it away, but feel like I want to get back again at some point.
I wouldn't want that thing flying around in my house!!
6907/6909 was a great set, the light and sound element has 3 buttons
- Cricket/Cicada sound
- Space bleep sound (energy weapon perhaps from those wing mounted dishes?)
- A powering up engine the longer you hold it, or powering down when releasing it.
And the red light effect is very fitting for a giant mosquito spaceship
I still have this set ( 6907 without mask), the only downsides beside some fragile 1x1 connections, would be the magnets on the triangle power cells are stickers, and the wing hinges can get loose over time so they might not able to hold spread wing weight.
This and UFO had some of the best minifigs of the late 90s as well, very nice prints with silver/copper details and cool helmets/armor designs and unusual head colors.
Oh, look. A Bee-Wing.
I had no interest in Insectoids at the time, so didn't get any of the sets, but now there a few pf the sets (including the version of this that didn't come with a mask) on my wanted list.
My Insectoids sets, for whatever reason, all had their boxes put in extreme risk. By the fall of 1998, my collection of LEGO sets was quite large, and since I kept all the boxes, I was running out of room to store them. In our old, 1930s-era house, my room only had a tiny closet with no shelf space other than one above the bar for hung clothes. Therefore, across the floor of it were stacked bed linens, jackets, shoes, and even boxes of other LEGO sets. It was a mess. My mom, cognizant of this, began taking matters into her own hands. When I got the Celestial Stinger (6969) for my birthday in 1998, after I built it, my mom took the book, removed and threw away the inner tray, and then flattened the outer box before stashing it in my closet. This was a huge loss that I regret letting happen. But as 1998 turned into 1999, and my LEGO collecting started a slight slow-down thanks to Star Wars action figure collecting, I decided to take matters more responsibly into my own hands.
This was my next Insectoids set, and it took some time to find. I was not expecting the mask, but I wanted the Gypsy Moth minifigure (she was the "queen" of the Insectoids, according to my LEGO MANIA Magazine issue) really badly, and another light and sound stinger brick was a nice bonus. My parents bought it for me likely post-Christmas 1998. I definitely wore the mask around the house for fun, though my breathing would fog up the lenses. That said, I grew bored of the mask quickly and stashed it back in the box. I also wisely decided to find a way to fit the box in my closet without my mom's interference.
There it sat for years, as more clothes and other boxes got heaped on top and around it. With the advent of Star Wars LEGO sets in my collection later in 1999, not to mention Throwbots, Insectoids became quickly forgotten. But as I prepared to disassemble all of my LEGO sets prior to moving to a new house in 2003, I had to dig out that old Sonic Stinger box to put the set back inside. It was not a pretty sight! The box was slightly compressed in places and inside it were several dead silverfish. They must have eaten through the clear plastic sheet cover that protected the mask, or it ripped naturally due to weight or pressure on the box. Needless to say, it was not in great shape, but at least it was structurally intact! I cleaned the exterior, poured out the dead insects, and finally placed the set's pieces and instruction manual back inside. Now I still have that set, mask and all. No more dead insects, and it sits in a dedicated LEGO closet with other LEGO sets only.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"I wouldn't want that thing flying around in my house!!"
I actually bought this set at the start of the year, and it was probably one of my favourite Lego purchases this year. As said upthread, the light/sound effects are wonderful (and still work perfectly, after all these years), and the insect-ship is designed so beautifully.
I wish I'd actually bought it in '98 when it first came out, because I absolutely love it.
@Lego_Lord_Mayorca said:
[...I had to dig out that old Sonic Stinger box to put the set back inside. It was not a pretty sight! The box was slightly compressed in places and inside it were several dead silverfish. They must have eaten through the clear plastic sheet cover that protected the mask, or it ripped naturally due to weight or pressure on the box. Needless to say, it was not in great shape, but at least it was structurally intact! I cleaned the exterior, poured out the dead insects, and finally placed the set's pieces and instruction manual back inside. Now I still have that set, mask and all. No more dead insects, and it sits in a dedicated LEGO closet with other LEGO sets only. ]]
Unsurprising insects would find their way into that particular box...
I'm also unaware of the mask for this theme. I know Atlantis had one, though.
Heck yeah. I actually used that as a last minute Halloween mask the year I got it. Fun little set too with the lights and sounds that probably drove my parents up the wall. Iconic Insectoids!
Man, Insectoids and UFO are criminally underappreciated, from what I've seen. I know I'm biased from having been a bit under 10 during those themes' period, but c'mon. They're just so different from the usual fare, and creatively executed to boot.
I know I make way too vague many references to my personal creative stuff, but I really should look back at these themes for some visual inspiration. It just so happens that I'm stuck trying to combine a dragonfly and retrofuturistic traits with a spaceship. Fun stuff for someone with no actual design background.
I realise Insectoids may not receive the most love, I assume due to the large specialised pieces most of their sets entailed, but damn what a look! The sets always had such character to them, it's why I thought they were great
I own the regular one. It's my only Insectoids set. And it's great!
@Ridgeheart well said!
Bugs!
@PurpleDave said:
"Oh, look. A Bee-Wing."
Close the comments, we have a winner.
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"Bugs! :D"
you say that like it's a bad thing. were you killed to death by them?"
I don't say that like a bad thing, I'm excited! I just didn't add anything afterward right away because I'm stupid, and I had to set things straight in the Palpatine chat.
I like that they added in-house aliens (for the first time?) but the UFO and Insectoids sets might be my least favourite of any Space subtheme. So many huge, awkwardly-shaped pieces.
I also think of them as the dividing line between the classic, one-faction Space subthemes and and the newer, more story-driven ones with two factions each .
@Lego_Lord_Mayorca said:
"My Insectoids sets, for whatever reason, all had their boxes put in extreme risk. By the fall of 1998, my collection of LEGO sets was quite large, and since I kept all the boxes, I was running out of room to store them. In our old, 1930s-era house, my room only had a tiny closet with no shelf space other than one above the bar for hung clothes. Therefore, across the floor of it were stacked bed linens, jackets, shoes, and even boxes of other LEGO sets. It was a mess. My mom, cognizant of this, began taking matters into her own hands. When I got the Celestial Stinger (6969) for my birthday in 1998, after I built it, my mom took the book, removed and threw away the inner tray, and then flattened the outer box before stashing it in my closet. This was a huge loss that I regret letting happen. But as 1998 turned into 1999, and my LEGO collecting started a slight slow-down thanks to Star Wars action figure collecting, I decided to take matters more responsibly into my own hands.
This was my next Insectoids set, and it took some time to find. I was not expecting the mask, but I wanted the Gypsy Moth minifigure (she was the "queen" of the Insectoids, according to my LEGO MANIA Magazine issue) really badly, and another light and sound stinger brick was a nice bonus. My parents bought it for me likely post-Christmas 1998. I definitely wore the mask around the house for fun, though my breathing would fog up the lenses. That said, I grew bored of the mask quickly and stashed it back in the box. I also wisely decided to find a way to fit the box in my closet without my mom's interference.
There it sat for years, as more clothes and other boxes got heaped on top and around it. With the advent of Star Wars LEGO sets in my collection later in 1999, not to mention Throwbots, Insectoids became quickly forgotten. But as I prepared to disassemble all of my LEGO sets prior to moving to a new house in 2003, I had to dig out that old Sonic Stinger box to put the set back inside. It was not a pretty sight! The box was slightly compressed in places and inside it were several dead silverfish. They must have eaten through the clear plastic sheet cover that protected the mask, or it ripped naturally due to weight or pressure on the box. Needless to say, it was not in great shape, but at least it was structurally intact! I cleaned the exterior, poured out the dead insects, and finally placed the set's pieces and instruction manual back inside. Now I still have that set, mask and all. No more dead insects, and it sits in a dedicated LEGO closet with other LEGO sets only. "
My favorite part of this story are the dead insects.
@Ridgeheart: And if Trans-Neon-Green comes back, can it bring Trans-Neon-Orange with it?
@RogueWhistler: I know they weren't officially aliens, but Spyrius were aliens in my headcanon. The fact that they flew around in flying saucers probably had something to do with that.
@RogueWhistler said:
"I like that they added in-house aliens (for the first time?) but the UFO and Insectoids sets might be my least favourite of any Space subtheme. So many huge, awkwardly-shaped pieces.
I also think of them as the dividing line between the classic, one-faction Space subthemes and and the newer, more story-driven ones with two factions each ."
And also the dividing line between humans and their droids struggling with one another and the elements, and the addition of extra-terrestrials.
Sonic Stinger and Knuckles
@Ridgeheart said:
"Once upon a time, trans neon green was so ubiquitous that we made lenses out of it. We loved it so much that we covered not just our toys, but even our own eyeballs in TNG. And now we've discarded it, threw it to the wayside to rot unwanted and alone in a roadside-ditch, like a half-eaten truck-stop sandwich or that hitchhiker who wouldn't stop messing with with your car's climate-controls.
This is wrong. We were wrong. We chose poorly. We didn't know what we had until you were gone, TNG. Please come back to us, I swear we'll do better this time. Please tell us it's not too late.
Anyway, great set!"
Definitely,
Same could be said for trans-yellow, someone also mentioned trans-neon-orange and even trans-clear: I'd love to see 1*X and 2*X plates/tiles in transclear - but the new transclear is now getting milky unfortunately - quality never ceases to drop - unbelievable...
(there was a time, you could get 2x2 and 2x4 plate in transclear)
I have no Insectoids and no UFO sets and I am sad at this sorry state of affairs.
I never got this set (or 6907) because I had 6969 and 6977, and didn't really need another big Light and Sound piece... I have regretted that decision ever since! It was only a $20 set!
Fame at last (well, sort of). That's a picture of my 6909 I sent to @Huw a couple of years ago. So the dodgy pic is my fault - although Huw has photoshopped it a bit so it looks much better than my original pic!
Ah, another of the bizarrely large number of late-90's sets released both with and without a promotional item and not included in S-at-H catalogs. Interestingly, though, it was vaguely alluded to in the catalogs.
The other non-polybag set to include Gypsy Moth was 2965, part of the Tchibo promotional releases. Like some of the other Tchibo sets, it made its way into the S-at-H catalog and was marked as "Not available in any store". Among the advertised features was "Only set in catalog that includes Insectoid Queen!"
@phi13:
“Includes rare and desirable figure! You can’t buy it _anywhere_!”
Sounds a lot like Playmates’ 1701 Series that straight up murdered their formerly successful Star Trek action figure line to death.