Random set of the day: Super Challenge
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 3038 Super Challenge, released during 1998. It's one of 27 Technic sets produced that year. It contains 366 pieces and 2 minifigs, and its retail price was US$70.
It's owned by 328 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 $69.00, or eBay.
40 likes
40 comments on this article
This doesn't look like much of a challenge. Purple's completely defenseless; this is just target practice.
@MCLegoboy said:
"This doesn't look like much of a challenge. Purple's completely defenseless; this is just target practice."
Hey! I'll always have my sarcastic wit.
That looks fun. For about five minutes! Eventually you'll get bored of it and break it down for parts.
And WHAT! $70 bucks for 366 pieces! that's a rip-off and look at the bricklink price. It's cheaper than what the set was originally sold for!
Pictured: The first battle between purple and teal in a devastating color war that finally concluded in 2008 with purple's victory in 8115. But teal would return again one day...
march 2024...........................speeeeeeeeed.....wheels....
I remember these in the stores. Didn't like them back then, still don't like them today.
@MCLegoboy said:
"This doesn't look like much of a challenge. Purple's completely defenseless; this is just target practice."
Agreed. Whilst the finalized set might prove a bit of a challenge to some, story-wise it's a bizarre match-up. Especially if you consider that Sammy Cyborg (the purple one) is supposed to be the evil guy...
A fun set anyways with lots of interesting parts in my two favourite colors: Bright Bluish Green and Bright Violet! Also it probably has the two best Technic figures ever.
The purple villain looks like Doug Funnie.
The purple villain looks like Doug Funnie.
The purple villain looks like Doug Funnie.
0 % interest in that set, and I like technic sets.
Wow the Tarakava and Nui Jaga look different than I remember
8257 was a much more even competition
The colours are nice, the vehicles are questionable, to say the least.
If anyone's interested, the result of the division is roughly 2.721
Technic figs!
@MCLegoboy said:
"This doesn't look like much of a challenge. Purple's completely defenseless; this is just target practice."
No wonder the score appears to be 3-0. The cyborg dude doesn’t even have a cannon to defend himself with like he sometimes did in these sets
So what was the difference between 3038 and 8266 ? 3038 doesn’t sound like a Technic set number.
I am Locutus of Lego Borg
@Maxbricks14 said:
"That looks fun. For about five minutes! Eventually you'll get bored of it and break it down for parts."
Or build the alternate models! The bull is cool.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"That looks fun. For about five minutes! Eventually you'll get bored of it and break it down for parts.
And WHAT! $70 bucks for 366 pieces! that's a rip-off and look at the bricklink price. It's cheaper than what the set was originally sold for!"
I don't think many of us paid full price for it back then. At the time it was easy to find at deep discount. Half price was common, as Lego was not then as well off a brand.
For those who don't know, the purple vehicle is motorized to spin in circles. So the 'challenge' is to even hit the thing.
I love these sets. They're technic being used to make a fun toy, not just the umpteenth wheeled road vehicle that may or may not do anything besides HOG steering and pump pistons up and down as it rolls... or just to look 'pretty.' The later Bionicle Rahi were basically a perfection of this: a fun toy that also work as (very mechanical looking) figures.
The purple-teal-black is also very appealing to me.
@SJPLego said:
"Pictured: The first battle between purple and teal in a devastating color war that finally concluded in 2008 with purple's victory in 8115. But teal would return again one day..."
I never made that connection before. Joke's on purple though, because this shade of purple actually did go extinct. The one Mark Stafford 'saved' was dark purple. So that makes Teal a double survivor against the purples!
@Rimefang said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"That looks fun. For about five minutes! Eventually you'll get bored of it and break it down for parts.
And WHAT! $70 bucks for 366 pieces! that's a rip-off and look at the bricklink price. It's cheaper than what the set was originally sold for!"
I don't think many of us paid full price for it back then. At the time it was easy to find at deep discount. Half price was common, as Lego was not then as well off a brand. "
And, sets like this are a BIG reason why that was the case.
Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Bionicle?
I enjoyed these sets back in the day. Wonderful colors, the big technic figures were cool, and the big rubber tipped missiles were awesome.
@SJPlego said:
"But teal would return again one day..."
...and with a vengeance too.
"While some of the other species wouldn't mind if you wiped each other out, even they would prefer that you did so quietly. But. This station is dedicated to the goal of finding peaceful solutions to our problems. I would like to find one here. Now, you can start by helping me to understand the precise nature of the conflict between the two sides that you've set up."
*indicates opponent* "Green."
*points back* "Purple."
"No, I understand that there are two factions. But what is your point of contention? Where do you disagree with each other?"
*exasperated, gestures more forcefully to opponent* "...Purple!"
*points in return* "Green."
@ThatBionicleGuy:
*switches purple sash with green sash*
@MeisterDad said:
"Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Bionicle?"
No, that would be 8549.
@PurpleDave said:
" @ThatBionicleGuy:
*switches purple sash with green sash*"
I love a Babylon 5 reference in the morning.
Lego, please. Make Technic sets like this again. Cool unique play features. So sick of modern Technic being exclusively vehicles.
@Murdoch17 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @ThatBionicleGuy:
*switches purple sash with green sash*"
I love a Babylon 5 reference in the morning."
A member of my club owns one of the White Star consoles, and I’ve also been told by another member that JMS is supposed to be coming out with a reboot in the next 1-1.5 years.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @ThatBionicleGuy:
*switches purple sash with green sash*"
I love a Babylon 5 reference in the morning."
A member of my club owns one of the White Star consoles, and I’ve also been told by another member that JMS is supposed to be coming out with a reboot in the next 1-1.5 years."
Nothing will beat the original - NOTHING. Crusade tried to be a spin-off, and we KNOW how that turned out! I can only imagine how a reboot would do...
I have the 8257 Cyber Strikers which shares the same two figures
What happened to creative Technic sets like this?
@Murdoch17 said:
"Nothing will beat the original - NOTHING. Crusade tried to be a spin-off, and we KNOW how that turned out! I can only imagine how a reboot would do..."
I watched the series in original broadcast. I remember how it started out as just another Trek clone, better than most, but nowhere near as polished as TNG. I remember it being set up like Londo and G’kar were just going to keep bickering for the entire series, and never expand beyond that. And I remember how mass drivers flipped the entire series on end, and everyone watching in the dorm basement was lurching forwards in their seats because this was something Trek had _never_ done before, and the entire series changed forever.
Have you ever read any of the novels? I’m not talking about the numbered one-shots, or the novelizations of the TNT films. I mean the trilogies that JMS says are as canon as the TV series. Crusade was meant to start out very much like B5, setting up a premise that would quickly be abandoned in favor of the real story. It got 13 episodes, which is right about the time the real story should have started, except TNT was desperate to dump it as soon as humanly possible, and had mangled what did get produced as a means to cancel it. And if you’ve ever read the Technomage trilogy, _that_ is the story that Crusade was meant to tell. And the theatrical film that never happened. And Lost Tales, except they only ever did one low-budget release.
I’m not 100% confident that the reboot series will ever come to fruition, but if it does, I have high hopes for it. The original SFX, especially through S2, were cringeworthy compared to modern capabilities, and stuff like the alien “zoo” in the pilot were really bad ideas in retrospect. The loss of JMS’ notes right when he was getting S5 off the ground really killed the momentum leading into the Telepath war. There’s just so much that could, and should, have been done better that it would be really awesome to see the story given the production values it deserves.
@PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"This doesn't look like much of a challenge. Purple's completely defenseless; this is just target practice."
Hey! I'll always have my sarcastic wit."
XD Thank you for that, you just made my day.
I love it when a Random Whatever of the Day article ends up discussing a completely non-Lego topic, such as Babylon 5. Incidentally, about the only things I know about that series is that it took place on a space station, and that it had Bill Mumy on it.
@TheOtherMike said:
"I love it when a Random Whatever of the Day article ends up discussing a completely non-Lego topic, such as Babylon 5. Incidentally, about the only things I know about that series is that it took place on a space station, and that it had Bill Mumy on it."
Watch it! It is a bit dated in special effects, but seriously awesome. It also has Bruce Boxleitner in it. (You might know him better as TRON from the Disney movie of the same name!)
When the cannon breaks so you go into a melee with the warheads.
Always a shame to see a great set get the occasional thrashing in these. This is the kind of thing that defines Lego, far more than the silly IP sets that we see more of today. Technic especially could use some new life nowadays, what with many of its sets focusing more on form rather than function. Cyber Slam/Competition is that redheaded stepchild subtheme that really tried to do a lot great ideas and I think doesn't get enough credit for it.
So yeah, big agree with some of the comments earlier. Technic needs more creativity like this again.