Random set of the day: Microcopter
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 5904 Microcopter, released during 2000. It's one of 17 Adventurers sets produced that year. It contains 28 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$2, which equates to about US$4 in today's money.
It's owned by 979 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 $21.30, or eBay.
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31 comments on this article
Now that's one impressive contraption Dr. Kilroy! It doesn't look like it could function, and yet it does!
Gun? Check. Shovel? Check. Camera? Check. Tiny flying chair that shouldn't be able to fly? Check. Time to head out!
There's no way someone actually paid to design this. It's super funky though.
$2 for a Lego set?! I see that it equates to $4 in today’s money, but still that’s crazy. You don’t see much at all under $10 these days, let alone under the $5 mark.
That's a lot of red and green for a bearded man to be flying around with surveillance equipment and NOT be santa claus.
The gun is for the REALLY bad children.
This at least the third RSotD helicopter that used that used that propeller piece as a rotor, although the first one was this set with a different number:
https://brickset.com/article/59603
https://brickset.com/article/131521/random-set-of-the-day-helicopter-transport
And as I pointed out in that second article, that thing wouldn't fly.
LORE TIME!
After the Adventurers discover Dino Island, Dr. Kilroy (also known as Dr. Charles Lightning in the US, although by the time this set was released, that localized name was beginning to be phased out) sets out alongside his nephew Johnny Thunder on a Dino Expedition with his Mini Copter, which comes with his camera so he can film the dinosaurs to show the rest of the world. The story with this set is expanded upon in the Kabaya promotional version 1280, in which Dr. Kilroy, Mike, and Adventurer Jones (yes, that's what Johnny Thunder was known as in Japan) seek to return a baby T-Rex to its mother's nest while keeping it out of the hands of the ruthless hunter Cunningham.
Speaking of 1280, the Kabaya version of this set is indeed known as "Dr. Kilroy's Microcopter" according to its box art. But as for this international version 5904? On the online LEGO Shop, it's "Adventurers Mini Copter"; in the Shop At Home catalog, it's the slightly differently formatted "Adventurers Mini-Copter". Does anyone have an official source for 5904 being called "Microcopter", as it's currently listed here on Brickset?
At least he has a pith helmet. He might survive the first chop from the rotor. The second chop will do him in for sure, but at least he'll know what hit him.
Possibly the gun is included in case somebody needs to put him out of his misery? The shovel is for the interment, obviously. If that were a smartphone instead of a ponderous movie camera, I'd say it was for the TikTok stunt video about to go wrong. As it is, I'm not sure exactly what it's good for.
Announcer Voice: Brought to you by Octane; Octane: This time it's YOUR problem...:)
Seriously, the color-scheme of the...motor (?!?!) look like it was built in their R&D.
Doctor, please, remain seated and keep all your arms and legs inside the vehicle! They’re very clear on those rules!
Even James Bond wouldn’t attempt to fly that thing.
@SJPlego said:
"Adventurer Jones (yes, that's what Johnny Thunder was known as in Japan)"
Wow, they really didn’t care about hiding the fact that he was a ripoff of Indiana, did they?
@AllenSmith said:
"At least he has a pith helmet. He might survive the first chop from the rotor. The second chop will do him in for sure, but at least he'll know what hit him."
Supposedly there’s a Jackie Chan outtake where he jumps from a balcony to a helicopter, and his hat disappears off his head mid-jump.
"Possibly the gun is included in case somebody needs to put him out of his misery? The shovel is for the interment, obviously. If that were a smartphone instead of a ponderous movie camera, I'd say it was for the TikTok stunt video about to go wrong. As it is, I'm not sure exactly what it's good for."
I would say that it’s not possible to do a selfie with a bulky video camera, but I watched the Max Headroom series.
It works for imaginative play, has a lot of tools, a full main character minifig, and it can be swooshed around. For the price point they did really well!
And the set even had a little comic booklet.
Sure, it could be more fleshed out and/or realistic. But they even included a control joystick. That's already more than you might expect.
There are definitely better sets, like 5913 Dr Kilroy's Car if you don't care as much for the accessories.
The theme really has strange designs and ideas...
Honestly, there's an amazing dichotomy between the excellence of Adventurers' full-sized sets and the... chaotic gremlin nature of the polybag-sized sets. Even if you want to say "well, the impulse-sized sets don't have the parts," you still end up with a theme where the larger sets are all very grounded in a kind of realism and the smaller ones tend towards... whatever this is.
Like, it's the same characters, but they're living in different genres.
Wow, this has got to be among the top 10 of shittiest looking sets ever. Good thing I was deep in my dark ages during that period. No regrets to have missed that time and its sets.
Then again there may be a way to save the thing. Put on a Santa minifig with a manic grin and call it a tie-in to the movie "Bloody Santa".
The colour scheme is right there and so is the gun to shoot those on the naughty-list. Even the shovel for burying their bodies is included. Apparently the designer did think of everything after all. He just used the wrong minifig.
;-)
@PistolLink said:
"$2 for a Lego set?! I see that it equates to $4 in today’s money, but still that’s crazy. You don’t see much at all under $10 these days, let alone under the $5 mark."
Still a good number of (paper) polybags....and most actually include more substantial builds than this.
@AllenSmith said:
"Possibly the gun is included in case somebody needs to put him out of his misery? The shovel is for the interment, obviously."
Don't underestimate the shovel as a weapon though. According to the Gakkou Gurashi anime, it was the most lethal weapon in trench warfare during WW1!
(and it proved quite effective against zombies too)
A flying chair, loaded with armaments and surprising gardening-implements. I feel like Dr. Kilroy and Thanos share similar interests. They could be friends. They should be friends! They should be brothers-in-armed-chairs and I will endeavour to make that so.
@Crux said:
"A flying chair, loaded with armaments and surprising gardening-implements. I feel like Dr. Kilroy and Thanos share similar interests. They could be friends. They should be friends! They should be brothers-in-armed-chairs and I will endeavour to make that so."
Does MODOK get to participate?
Clear proof that this era of Lego was really odd.
@RUL said:
"Clear proof that this era of Lego was really odd."
He is filming dinosaurs in a helicopter, so the premise was odd to begin with.
The designer is very brave to allow his name to be included with this set's page! Or was he the winner of the "Ages 4-6 design contest"?
@WizardOfOss said:
"Don't underestimate the shovel as a weapon though. According to the Gakkou Gurashi anime, it was the most lethal weapon in trench warfare during WW1!
(and it proved quite effective against zombies too)"
Sort of. Early trenching tools looked more like pickaxes with the adze head being a shovel, but they weren't terribly useful in modern trench warfare because they were too bulky for infantry to carry. Being largely restricted to pioneer and engineer units, they frequently didn't show up until there was no longer a need for them. The first attempt to make a modern trenching tool for regular infantry was developed in Denmark in 1969, followed a year later by a trowel/bayonet hybrid in the US. The US design quickly faded into obscurity, while the Danish design has been improved on several times. Bolt-action rifles were slow to reload, so bayonets saw frequent use in close quarter combat. In trench warfare, however, the rifle with bayonet proved too cumbersome. Soldiers figured out that they could sharpen one or both sides of their trench shovels, which gave them more heft and reach than just a trench knife or loose bayonet, but they were still short enough that they wouldn't get hung up on the trench walls. By WWII, folding trench shovels with at least one bladed side were pretty common. Modern trench shovels frequently have a tri-fold design with a D-handle that folds up to fit within the space occupied by the spade itself. They'll have one sharpened side, and one serrated side that can be used as a rudimentary saw (and won't feel any better if you take one to the face). Depending on the type of troops they belong to, it's more likely that they'll be used in melee combat than they ever will be to dig trenches.
@kdu2814 said:
" @Crux said:
"A flying chair, loaded with armaments and surprising gardening-implements. I feel like Dr. Kilroy and Thanos share similar interests. They could be friends. They should be friends! They should be brothers-in-armed-chairs and I will endeavour to make that so."
Does MODOK get to participate? "
If he can prove he's into gardening or farming - yes, absolutely.
@AustinPowers said:
"Wow, this has got to be among the top 10 of shittiest looking sets ever. Good thing I was deep in my dark ages during that period. No regrets to have missed that time and its sets."
If you're judging all of Adventurers in by the polybags, you're doing the line a grave disservice.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Wow, this has got to be among the top 10 of shittiest looking sets ever. Good thing I was deep in my dark ages during that period. No regrets to have missed that time and its sets."
If you're judging all of Adventurers in by the polybags, you're doing the line a grave disservice."
Sorry to be so dismissive, but I have yet to find a set from between about 1998 and 2005 that I find as interesting as any from the Eighties or from about 2008 to 2017.
The Adventurers line is not one I find interesting at all. Then again I don't find the Indiana Jones movies particularly great either. I'm more of a SciFi guy and have always been.
Plus, I just re-checked all the sets marked Adventurers, but most seem to be Polybags or very small sets. And even most of the larger ones appear quite crude and design-wise all over the place. Not very high quality and befitting the chaotic period they were released in.
@Crux said:
" @kdu2814 said:
" @Crux said:
"A flying chair, loaded with armaments and surprising gardening-implements. I feel like Dr. Kilroy and Thanos share similar interests. They could be friends. They should be friends! They should be brothers-in-armed-chairs and I will endeavour to make that so."
Does MODOK get to participate? "
If he can prove he's into gardening or farming - yes, absolutely."
He does seem awfully intent on planting a lot of people in the ground.
One of the sets I have had since a kid. Realistic? No! Fun enough for a kid to enjoy? Yes. Did I want the more realistic Island Hopper plane? Also yes!
@AustinPowers said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Wow, this has got to be among the top 10 of shittiest looking sets ever. Good thing I was deep in my dark ages during that period. No regrets to have missed that time and its sets."
If you're judging all of Adventurers in by the polybags, you're doing the line a grave disservice."
Sorry to be so dismissive, but I have yet to find a set from between about 1998 and 2005 that I find as interesting as any from the Eighties or from about 2008 to 2017.
The Adventurers line is not one I find interesting at all. Then again I don't find the Indiana Jones movies particularly great either. I'm more of a SciFi guy and have always been.
Plus, I just re-checked all the sets marked Adventurers, but most seem to be Polybags or very small sets. And even most of the larger ones appear quite crude and design-wise all over the place. Not very high quality and befitting the chaotic period they were released in. "
It was a bad time. I never had a dark age, but I bought almost nothing from regular retail in this era. There are a select few sets that deserve your consideration. 3409 wasn't much of a build, but it's one of the most playable and fun sets Lego ever made. Rock Raiders, from 1999, has grown on me aesthetically, although I still think the builds themselves were very poor. That's about it for regular retail until 2003, when Creator started up in its modern incarnation, Star Wars was much improved, and World City finally brought some good Town sets back. 7239, from 2004, was seminal.
Otherwise, Lego Direct was the shining light of the period. My Own Train, though crude by modern standards, was quite nice. 3739, 10020, and 10027 were gems. They also made a number of other display-piece sets which were revolutionary for the era, although their quality is far surpassed today.
@AustinPowers said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Wow, this has got to be among the top 10 of shittiest looking sets ever. Good thing I was deep in my dark ages during that period. No regrets to have missed that time and its sets."
If you're judging all of Adventurers in by the polybags, you're doing the line a grave disservice."
Sorry to be so dismissive, but I have yet to find a set from between about 1998 and 2005 that I find as interesting as any from the Eighties or from about 2008 to 2017.
The Adventurers line is not one I find interesting at all. Then again I don't find the Indiana Jones movies particularly great either. I'm more of a SciFi guy and have always been.
Plus, I just re-checked all the sets marked Adventurers, but most seem to be Polybags or very small sets. And even most of the larger ones appear quite crude and design-wise all over the place. Not very high quality and befitting the chaotic period they were released in. "
You're welcome to your opinion, but if someone wants my 5978, they'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands.
@TheOtherMike said: "You're welcome to your opinion, but if someone wants my 5978, they'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands."
Agreed.
I don't think anyone disagrees that the late 90s and early 00s were a ... dark time for Lego in general, but there were occasional gems, even in the pile of muck. And the entire "Adventurers" line was one of them.
I loved these smaller polybag/boxed sets, because they were classic pocket money purchases. They'd pop up in grocery stores and petrol stations (places you didn't expect to normally find Lego), and for a couple of dollars, you'd have a cool build, a new figure and some nifty new parts.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Wow, this has got to be among the top 10 of shittiest looking sets ever. Good thing I was deep in my dark ages during that period. No regrets to have missed that time and its sets."
If you're judging all of Adventurers in by the polybags, you're doing the line a grave disservice."
Sorry to be so dismissive, but I have yet to find a set from between about 1998 and 2005 that I find as interesting as any from the Eighties or from about 2008 to 2017.
The Adventurers line is not one I find interesting at all. Then again I don't find the Indiana Jones movies particularly great either. I'm more of a SciFi guy and have always been.
Plus, I just re-checked all the sets marked Adventurers, but most seem to be Polybags or very small sets. And even most of the larger ones appear quite crude and design-wise all over the place. Not very high quality and befitting the chaotic period they were released in. "
You're welcome to your opinion, but if someone wants my 5978, they'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands."
7419 remains one of my favourite sets of all time! It has the right combination of an enjoyable build, satisfying play features, display appeal, and great minifigures.
It does everything a good Lego set should.