Random set of the day: Spacecraft
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 2543 Spacecraft, released during 1998. It's one of 21 Space sets produced that year. It contains 18 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$2.
It's owned by 1,666 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 $20.00, or eBay.
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30 comments on this article
Help! I can’t see anything in this helmet! And my ship has the most boring name ever!
Runs on Shell Super Unleaded gasoline
Spacecraft Spacecraft SPACECRAFT!
I can't believe I actually own this set.
The Minifigure is good. It seems to be an android rather than an actual alien. The head is transparent orange, which is pretty cool.
The build has some cool parts, but it's hardly a spacecraft. Even as a youngster, I thought it was weird that the pilot had no controls. It's basically some kind of hover chair.
As clearly seen in this picture, the UFOs hail from the planet Shell.
@Bricknave:
Maybe he’s plugged into the vehicle, for omnidirectional sensors and hands-free controls.
@phi13 said:
"As clearly seen in this picture, the UFOs hail from the planet Shell."
I KNEW IT!!
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @Endermen39 said:
" @phi13 said:
"As clearly seen in this picture, the UFOs hail from the planet Shell."
I KNEW IT!!"
(no he didn't-Ed.)"
Well my parents did report finding a dictionary definition of a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) shaped like a Shell logo flying over Northeast California.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Bricknave:
Maybe he’s plugged into the vehicle, for omnidirectional sensors and hands-free controls."
I don't think I want to know where the connection port is.
"Spacecraft". Sure, however you get your jollies.
All those people who complained about the lack of cockpit enclosure on the Astro Fighter we had a few days back are probably screaming in horror at this one.
Also, those UFO helmets just look weird without the techy designs on the face
@Brickalili:
Was a time flipping those helmets around was the only way to fake a Death Star Gunner. Not that this has anything to do with the fact that I’ve got a bag of them someplace that I ordered off Bricklink.
Fear me and my hover throne of doooom!
"And you Shell be called Spacecraft", and so it happened.
Loved this Shell promo series, as well as the bigger sets you could buy instore.
It's a cowboy and an alien.
$2!
@Ridgeheart said:
"So - even if the pilot were human, the ridiculous opacity of their helmet would mean that they'd be too blind to see all of the things that are inherently wrong with their mode of transportation. And that by putting on the helmet, they'd actively choose to remain blind.
And this is a... Shell-promotional, you say?"
The helmet actually has eye holes, but they're angled downward. The wearer has to lean back in order to see straight ahead.
I very much enjoyed getting these Shell sets back in the day, mostly because they were affordable. I'd missed out on most of the UFO figs so this was a cheap way to get one.
I have it, and like it.
People who expect an enclosed spaceship are forgetting this was a teensy tiny promo set. And it's from the UFO subtheme: the fig is so augmented it's a mystery where the alien biology stops and the inplants begin. The fig doesn't abide by our biological rules anyway!
And who knows? Maybe it has a forcefield? Maybe it only zips around in 'clear' spacelanes? Maybe it's a speeder for the ground? Maybe space is different where it comes from?
For the price you got a strking X-shaped craft with wing lights, aggressive antenna and some sort of hover dish. There's even suggested propulsion at the back!
And the fig has an exclusive unprinted helmet in black! Sure, it's not the full fig, but apparently that would give you a vehicle budget of 2847 Flyer.
This is one of the beter promo sets from Shell, and not bad for the time. 6901-2 Space Plane is still the best of these though, IMHO
Wow. Ain’t that the most creative set name ever.
Not sure if I have it but it's nice, printed helm does feel weird
@Binnekamp on behalf of 6800 traitor change your profile picture
@MeisterDad said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Bricknave:
Maybe he’s plugged into the vehicle, for omnidirectional sensors and hands-free controls."
I don't think I want to know where the connection port is."
Um…we’ll go with center of the spine. Yeah.
Reminds me a bit of the skimmers in 6930.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Help! I can’t see anything in this helmet! And my ship has the most boring name ever!"
The helmet actually does have some quite noticable eye- slits. Both the angle and the lack of printing make them hard to notice in this image.
It also was exclusive to this set without the usual decals. Chamon (that's the alien's name) usually wears the printed Version in gray paired with the black armor piece.
The dark gray wedges plates were previously somewhat exclusive to Spyrius set 6949.
This set was part of 10 sets promo line for Shell, originally available in October 1997. The instructions Had an early promotional insert for the 1998 Insectoids line, which was quite interesting in the pre- internet time!
Btw, does anyone know the purpose of the weird number 9 Sticker that came in this set?
@Atuin:
Did the other sets in the promotion come with weird stickers numbered 1-8 and 10?
@PurpleDave said:
" @Atuin:
Did the other sets in the promotion come with weird stickers numbered 1-8 and 10?"
Yes, they did.
I assume there was some sort of collecting sheet to put them on, but I have never seen one of them.
@Atuin said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Atuin:
Did the other sets in the promotion come with weird stickers numbered 1-8 and 10?"
Yes, they did.
I assume there was some sort of collecting sheet to put them on, but I have never seen one of them."
Yeah, pretty sure that was it. I only had two of this line - 2537 at the time, and 2538 many years later when they turned up as the free-with-meal toy at the Legoland Windsor pizza restaurant in 2005 - but both of mine included a sheet alongside the instructions that had pictures of the ten sets in this line; I kinda figured that the intention was to use one of those and the stickers to mark off which sets you had.
Not quite as effective as a Brickset collection list of course...
-
This, along with either of the Batlord ones, were the ones in this series that I really eyed up as a kid: mostly for the minifigures, who I didn't have when I first started getting seriously invested in Lego themes (unlike the Adventurers characters who I got not long after)... although this was after the promotion had already ended so all I had was the one sheet of pictures of them all. In the end, on different occasions, I traded with a friend for the more 'complete' minifigure versions of both characters, putting any interest in acquiring these sets out of my mind.
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
" @Atuin said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Atuin:
Did the other sets in the promotion come with weird stickers numbered 1-8 and 10?"
Yes, they did.
I assume there was some sort of collecting sheet to put them on, but I have never seen one of them."
Yeah, pretty sure that was it. I only had two of this line - 2537 at the time, and 2538 many years later when they turned up as the free-with-meal toy at the Legoland Windsor pizza restaurant in 2005 - but both of mine included a sheet alongside the instructions that had pictures of the ten sets in this line; I kinda figured that the intention was to use one of those and the stickers to mark off which sets you had.
Not quite as effective as a Brickset collection list of course...
-
This, along with either of the Batlord ones, were the ones in this series that I really eyed up as a kid: mostly for the minifigures, who I didn't have when I first started getting seriously invested in Lego themes (unlike the Adventurers characters who I got not long after)... although this was after the promotion had already ended so all I had was the one sheet of pictures of them all. In the end, on different occasions, I traded with a friend for the more 'complete' minifigure versions of both characters, putting any interest in acquiring these sets out of my mind."
Interestingly to hear about the late Release. It explains the packaging variants with the newer logos.
I always thought of the two Batlord sets in this Line to be the most uninteresting, as he already came in so many sets that year.
I also remember that the Technic bike was the first time I encountered the modern day half bushes (without teeth).
@Atuin said:
"I always thought of the two Batlord sets in this Line to be the most uninteresting, as he already came in so many sets that year."
That's fair! For myself, I missed Fright Knights, only getting into Lego themes in early 1999 when the Lego Adventures magazine appeared on sale in the UK. Between that and the lack of old catalogues available to me at the time, when I got attached to the character because of his appearance in Lego Racers, the two sets depicted on that sheet were the only places where I knew he appeared - explaining why I obsessed over those two in particular so much!