Random set of the day: Jet Ray
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8518 Jet Ray, released during 2010. It's one of 6 Ben 10: Alien Force sets produced that year. It contains 16 pieces, and its retail price was US$14.99 / £12.99, which equates to about US$22 / £20 in today's money.
It's owned by 1,028 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at Brick Owl, BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $32.00, or eBay.
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34 comments on this article
It's still bizarre to me that only 6 of the 10 Alien Force aliens were made as sets. It's not like they're all the same scale anyway because Humungosaur is right there, and he's the same size as the rest, and Spidermonkey is oversized. Where's Echo-Echo, Brainstorm, Goop, and Alien X?
I wonder if this theme would have actually taken off if it had been system-based instead.
Oh hey, It's Roaring Moon!
10 year old me would've been all over the Ben 10 theme if it was traditional Lego, and especially if it was the original show rather than alien force.
Nirvana album cover pose.
I second that it's so weird we only got 6 aliens as sets when the entire premise of the show is he has 10 of them.* My best guess is this came out the same year that BIONICLE ended and Hero Factory began so maybe the mold budget was spent for constraction themes? Even still making it constraction at all was an odd choice. Cool on paper for adding detail to the models in a character-design-driven show, bad in execution because the final results for organic creatures don't look near as good as robots do.
*Or, well, unlocks them 10 at a time. Or rather, is meant to unlock them 10 at a time but the watch is buggy. It's complicated.
@SearchlightRG said:
"I wonder if this theme would have actually taken off if it had been system-based instead."
oh, unDOUBTEDly, have you seen how many Ben 10 Ideas projects get routinely rejected?
@KotZ said:
"Nirvana album cover pose."
What are their songs all about?
Can't figure any lyrics out...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FklUAoZ6KxY
Air quotes pose is priceless.
That’s 4/6 sets from this theme picked by the bot now.
@MCLegoboy said:
"It's still bizarre to me that only 6 of the 10 Alien Force aliens were made as sets. It's not like they're all the same scale anyway because Humungosaur is right there, and he's the same size as the rest, and Spidermonkey is oversized. Where's Echo-Echo, Brainstorm, Goop, and Alien X?"
Gonna guess the rest would’ve been made had the theme lasted another year.
@Miyakan said:
"Oh hey, It's Roaring Moon!"
Okay but this would actually make for a sick set, now that Lego Pokémon is a thing
His head looks like a should be on an island somewhere...also: isn't strange TLG didn't make the other four forms of this iteration? Odd:|
The Ben 10 were a bit clunky even for Constraction sets, and not to mention overpriced. Their simplified design seemed to be them aiming for a younger audience, IMO, but there were some nice parts in them. The unique one here was the giant yellow wing piece. I never did get this guy because his part selection wasn't as good as some of the others, but still some useful stuff here for CCBS users.
I’m not sure why this flying squirrel has a tiki mask for a face and I’m scared to ask
Lucha libre?
@TheOtherMike said:
" @KotZ said:
"Nirvana album cover pose."
What are their songs all about?
Can't figure any lyrics out...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FklUAoZ6KxY"
Now, I know that you're not supposed to tell people beforehand that they're about to get Rickrolled, but - this might be a pleasant surprise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN75im_us4k
Not a fan of these moulded pieces but I like how they are incorporated into sets like the first Hulkbuster 8 years ago? It creates a very robust anime look with the right curves.
@MCLegoboy said:
"It's still bizarre to me that only 6 of the 10 Alien Force aliens were made as sets. It's not like they're all the same scale anyway because Humungosaur is right there, and he's the same size as the rest, and Spidermonkey is oversized. Where's Echo-Echo, Brainstorm, Goop, and Alien X?"
Much like a certain Stevie Emerson and millions of others, Ben is just another one of us blokes regrettably stuck at 6/10
It's Zurg's brother!
@Crux said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @KotZ said:
"Nirvana album cover pose."
What are their songs all about?
Can't figure any lyrics out...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FklUAoZ6KxY"
Now, I know that you're not supposed to tell people beforehand that they're about to get Rickrolled, but - this might be a pleasant surprise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN75im_us4k"
Added it to my likes on YouTube so I don't forget about it.
Not sure if Galidor, or Bionicle.
@MCLegoboy said:
"It's still bizarre to me that only 6 of the 10 Alien Force aliens were made as sets. It's not like they're all the same scale anyway because Humungosaur is right there, and he's the same size as the rest, and Spidermonkey is oversized. Where's Echo-Echo, Brainstorm, Goop, and Alien X?"
But what was the point of these sets in the first place when there's nothing for them to fight?
I mildly like the way it looks. A flying squirrel type arm glider sail isn't a very common sight so it has that going for it.
On the other hand, the smoothness of the parts, which were almost all exclusive to the theme, is a bit hard to work with and doesn't quite work for an organic look either.
I mean, it's telling. These never released in my country. But back in 2011 I found them in a store abroad. Normally, that would make me extatic. A set that isn't available over here? Cool!
But withbtjis theme, I didn't even think to buy them. Maybe it was the price (it was a very local tiny toy shop) or just the ones that were there weren't the most eye-catching, like 8411 ChromaStone and 8519 Big Chill. Or maybe it was that the boxes came off as mostly empty when handled.
Oh, and I knew nothing about Ben 10. And still do exept about the 10 aliens gimmick and that there's many, many shows of it.
Either way, they didn't appeal to me at all back then.
Just my personal experience.
Fun fact: the set numbers for Ben 10 follow those from the RoboRiders theme of 2000, the second constraction theme and one that predated Bionicle! The Bionicle ones are after it!
Fun fact 2: these somehow have combiners. They're wild! And Jet Ray is the only one that can be used for two of the three!
Jet Ray + Humungousaur
Some sort of centaur thing
https://www.merlinsbricks.com/sets/lego-8517/
Swamp Fire + Jet Ray
Some sort of lizard thing
https://www.merlinsbricks.com/sets/lego-8410/
Spider Monkey + ChromaStone + Big Chill
Some sort of lanky fish kaiju thing
https://www.merlinsbricks.com/sets/lego-8519/
@Rimefang said:
"Not sure if Galidor, or Bionicle."
ThrowBot (Slizer)
@PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"It's still bizarre to me that only 6 of the 10 Alien Force aliens were made as sets. It's not like they're all the same scale anyway because Humungosaur is right there, and he's the same size as the rest, and Spidermonkey is oversized. Where's Echo-Echo, Brainstorm, Goop, and Alien X?"
But what was the point of these sets in the first place when there's nothing for them to fight?"
That's also fair. DNAliens and Forever Knights were the prominent villains at the time of these sets, so those are suitable candidates. There are also a few others, too, but those would be the ones you buy multiples of if that was ever a goal.
I had blocked these from my memory until I opened Brickset this morning.
...now where did I put that MIB memory eraser? I need to make sure this time the blockage is permanent!
I loved the original Ben 10 show as a kid, but the later iterations completely lost me. I do remember thinking back when these sets were released that I would have preferred a minifigure-scale model of Ben's grandpa's RV.
I also remember visiting a toy store with a very limited Lego selection and trying to choose between this line's Spider Monkey and Monster 4, but I think my parents could tell that I wasn't really excited about either of them because we left with neither one.
Yo yo, Piraka!
Looks like an evil luchador (rudo?). I dig it.
@Binnekamp:
For a while, I was fascinated by the Chromastone spikes, and still wish they’d been released in additional colors. I’d be shocked if the Big Chill wings haven’t been used for at least a few MOCs.
@MCLegoboy:
Batman action figures have suffered the same problem. Following the 1989 film and Batman Returns, they released a slew of alternate costumes for Batman, but almost no villains. At least when they did the same for Legends of the Dark Knight, the various Batmans were interesting to display together. I know in college I had Viking Batman, Samurai Batman, and Civil War Batman on a Bat-horse together, but I’d think they’d be very boring to play with without any villains for them to fight.
@PurpleDave said:
"For a while, I was fascinated by the Chromastone spikes, and still wish they’d been released in additional colors."
the Chromastone spikes are SO good dude
the Swampfire thorns too, they'd both be so great for detailing if LEGO ever actually used them again
@BrickHeadzsStrongestSoldieress said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"For a while, I was fascinated by the Chromastone spikes, and still wish they’d been released in additional colors."
the Chromastone spikes are SO good dude
the Swampfire thorns too, they'd both be so great for detailing if LEGO ever actually used them again"
Yeah, but every time the spikes popped up on my radar, I was looking for just about any color but a shade of pink.
@PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"It's still bizarre to me that only 6 of the 10 Alien Force aliens were made as sets. It's not like they're all the same scale anyway because Humungosaur is right there, and he's the same size as the rest, and Spidermonkey is oversized. Where's Echo-Echo, Brainstorm, Goop, and Alien X?"
But what was the point of these sets in the first place when there's nothing for them to fight?"
Maybe they were planning a second wave that would have more forms and a couple of enemies?