Random figure of the day: js013
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random figure is js013 Jack Stone - Black Jacket, Blue Legs, Blue Vest (4154689), a For Juniors figure that was first produced during 2001. It can be found in 4 sets.
Our members collectively own a total of 7,788 of them. If you'd like to buy one you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $2.10.
Image and data courtesy of BrickLink.com
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32 comments on this article
I remember throwing these away because I didn't think they were Lego.
Can’t do. Won’t do. No!
Worse than My Dad!
No real pondering needed when you're forced to choose to save one out of two helpless LEGO figures dangling from a cliff edge: Clutch Powers and Jack Stone.
@Wallace_Brick_Designs said:"Can’t do. Won’t do. No!"
As I've pointed out before, it's "Can't do. Won't do. Undone!"
@Rimefang said:
"Worse than My Dad!"
My Dad had more articulation. whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on your point of view.
All I can say is: An attempt was made.
Rocking the most 2002 hairstyle he could.
Loved this theme as a child - I only had 4603 4604 and, my personal favourite, 4619 but they were great fun
@Maxbricks14 said:
"I remember throwing these away because I didn't think they were Lego."
I remember buying a couple of these figures together with a normal Bricklink order. I was intrigued because I didn't even know these existed. Plus they only cost a couple of cents each in New condition. Definitely worth it to me for the novelty factor.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"I remember throwing these away because I didn't think they were Lego."
You say that as if it's a bad thing.
I wonder if the Jack Stone theme might have appealed more to the target audience if Jack himself wasn’t a tad insufferable. Kids probably didn’t mind the juniorised builds but they’re not going to buy in the first place if that’s who’s advertising them
I genuinely loved the Jack Stone sets as a kid, they worked really well as *toys*
Legend!
@Brickalili said:
"I wonder if the Jack Stone theme might have appealed more to the target audience if Jack himself wasn’t a tad insufferable. Kids probably didn’t mind the juniorised builds but they’re not going to buy in the first place if that’s who’s advertising them"
I loved the sets as a kid but never saw any of the videos or anything (which is weird, considering that I was all over BIONICLE and all of its supplemental material) and just liked the chunky vehicles and reconfiguring them. The figures are very early-2000s LEGO in all the worst ways but I have plenty of nostalgia for them and have somewhere from 15-20 Jack Stones plus a dozen or so of the other figures from this line in a bin; I’ve been thinking building some kind of secret laboratory where the Jack Stones are a sort of genetically-altered superhuman clones since it would probably be a little more fun than keeping them in a box.
It always bugged me that the hands never matched the heads colour-wise on these guys.
I wish I hadn't seen this and that this is a vision from an alternate reality.
jackstone supremacy
@CaptainRogerRedbeard said:
" @Brickalili said:
"I wonder if the Jack Stone theme might have appealed more to the target audience if Jack himself wasn’t a tad insufferable. Kids probably didn’t mind the juniorised builds but they’re not going to buy in the first place if that’s who’s advertising them"
I loved the sets as a kid but never saw any of the videos or anything (which is weird, considering that I was all over BIONICLE and all of its supplemental material) and just liked the chunky vehicles and reconfiguring them. The figures are very early-2000s LEGO in all the worst ways but I have plenty of nostalgia for them and have somewhere from 15-20 Jack Stones plus a dozen or so of the other figures from this line in a bin; I’ve been thinking building some kind of secret laboratory where the Jack Stones are a sort of genetically-altered superhuman clones since it would probably be a little more fun than keeping them in a box.
"
We had the suggestion that Jack Stone was a kaiju a few articles ago, superhuman clone fits right in!
Oh.
Oh no.
Me along with my brothers and sisters wore out the free VHS tape we were sent of this guy and his escapades. We loved the video, but didn't really like the sets AFAIK, although we were right in the target age range. (I've always been more into railroads, so Trains was my jam at that time, with SW / HP tied and running a close second.) In defense of Jack Stone, at least all the parts were printed with no stickers ANYWHERE, and some of these pieces are still quite useful to this day.
@Binnekamp said:
"Rocking the most 2002 hairstyle he could."
Hair like that is the reason there is male pattern baldness so we can't make the same mistake again...
@Mister_Jonny said:
"It always bugged me that the hands never matched the heads colour-wise on these guys."
Curious: Do you feel the same way about people wearing gloves?
@Brickalili said:
"I wonder if the Jack Stone theme might have appealed more to the target audience if Jack himself wasn’t a tad insufferable. Kids probably didn’t mind the juniorised builds but they’re not going to buy in the first place if that’s who’s advertising them"
They did a Pirates theme, a Spiderman theme, and Max & Tina in the same style, and I doubt any of them enjoyed significantly greater success. Judging by some of the comments, the character was the one thing kids _did_ like about the theme.
@BrickTeller said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
"It always bugged me that the hands never matched the heads colour-wise on these guys."
Curious: Do you feel the same way about people wearing gloves? "
No, but that’s kind of a disingenuous comment. It’s not merely one or two people with ‘gloves’ in this theme; it’s every single one, regardless of what they do. It’s a weird design choice and it doesn’t look good.
@Mister_Jonny said:
" @BrickTeller said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
"It always bugged me that the hands never matched the heads colour-wise on these guys."
Curious: Do you feel the same way about people wearing gloves? "
No, but that’s kind of a disingenuous comment. It’s not merely one or two people with ‘gloves’ in this theme; it’s every single one, regardless of what they do. It’s a weird design choice and it doesn’t look good."
It wasn't a design choice so much as a necessity. This was before Lego started doing dual-molding, and Jack Stone figures' arms and hands were molded together as one, so the only way for a JS figure to have hands the same color as the head would be if the arms were that color, too.
@BrickTeller said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
"It always bugged me that the hands never matched the heads colour-wise on these guys."
Curious: Do you feel the same way about people wearing gloves? "
If the gloves are made of human flesh, then yes, that might make me slightly uncomfortable. Especially the skin was just straight-up flayed from the hands, with all fingernails and knuckle-hair still in place.
Why, would that be okay with you?
I have a couple of these in my childhood Lego bin. When I received these sets as an 11 yr old I thought they were cool!
@Maxbricks14 said:
"I remember throwing these away because I didn't think they were Lego."
You made the right choice.
I threw away Max and Tina because I knew they were Lego, and I couldn't forgive them for it. I wanted my chemistry friends to melt them in the lab for me, but nobody would. I still believe that all Jack Stone figures deserve to be reduced to puddles before they get sent to the landfill.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
" @BrickTeller said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
"It always bugged me that the hands never matched the heads colour-wise on these guys."
Curious: Do you feel the same way about people wearing gloves? "
No, but that’s kind of a disingenuous comment. It’s not merely one or two people with ‘gloves’ in this theme; it’s every single one, regardless of what they do. It’s a weird design choice and it doesn’t look good."
It wasn't a design choice so much as a necessity. This was before Lego started doing dual-molding, and Jack Stone figures' arms and hands were molded together as one, so the only way for a JS figure to have hands the same color as the head would be if the arms were that color, too."
That’s not the only way, but paint would be prone to flaking off of hands, which is why they stopped putting chrome on chromed minifigs’ hands. Hands are just a bit too flexible, and get flexed frequently (every single time you insert or remove an accessory parallel to the forearm).
Never realized before: Jack looks an awful lot like Christian Slater, at least his younger self...no?
The negative AFOL reviews of a 25 year old toy are prejudiced by adult sensibilities. Jack Stone is not just a hero to kids, he is immortalized in my youngest son’s Kindergarten book as his favorite toy.
At the time, I LOATHED the juniorized Jack Stone figs, but that doesn't mean that the concept of Jack Stone didn't find a place in my lore. "Jack Stone" became a comic book character in Town, very popular with children (Mike from Adventurers, Tim from Time Cruisers, etc.), which drove the adult characters (mostly Johnny Thunder--aka a "real" hero) crazy.
I didn't actually GET a Jack Stone fig until more than a decade and a half later. I don't hate them--but I'm also an adult with literally hundreds of minifigs and I can see them as a curiosity.