Random set of the day: Track Marshall
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8121 Track Marshall, released in 2009. It's one of 24 Racers sets produced that year. It contains 48 pieces, and its retail price was US$4.99/£3.89.
It's owned by 1617 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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17 comments on this article
Oh, that's really cute.
Those stickers, though ...
Just don't have it crash 8119. Or leave it out when the car is about to take the green flag.
Applying stickers to Tiny Turbos for all eternity is how I will be punished in Hell.
Did a quick check and it seems the ratio of stickers to parts is something like 1:7. That has to be one of the smallest in any set I can think of and the small size is really annoying!
Still looks cute though.
Have we had very many Speed Champions that would qualify as being a safety car? And I know Speed Champions has yet to offer a tow truck.
And, uh, yes, as much as I love Tiny Turbos; they are a pain in the backside to sticker. So many decals that are close to a millimeter square. I come across some of the old tiles, still with stickers on them, every now and then, and they're as crooked as heck--IF they even got stickered!
Cool And rare subject matter. Very nice.
This is like trying to apply stickers to a Kinder Surprise toy...
This is the 900th RSOTD!!
Tiny Turbos is one of the rare cases where applying the stickers is actually necessary most of the time. Without the stickers, the cars don't look nearly as good. And personally, I never had any problem with the stickers. As long as they make the set look better, I don't mind them.
another victim of desintigrating stickers :(
Clearly a precursor to Speed Champions in terms of stickers versus number of parts.
I say it every time...... bring 'em back Lego, they are great, surely a lot of kids (or adults) of any generation like cars... and there have been lots of new parts since they were last out.
The 2009 Tiny Turbos sets were patterned so that each single-car set matched with a two-car foldout track set. Based on that pattern, this one is intended to go with 8123-1: Ferrari F1 Racers.
@Nordbart said:
"another victim of desintigrating stickers :("
The one’s on mine have crumbled to dust.
The front sticker just reads “Rack Marsh”.
Honestly, I don't know why Lego killed off Tiny Turbos. They offer so much more different things than Speed Champions. It's much more action packed because there are no licenses that would prevent themes like illegal street racing, crashes and excessive car modding being touched on, because these are all things, car brands don't want to be associated with, but kids very much enjoy (at least all my friends and me at that age did, hell I'd even really like to get into the car modding scene right now).
This can also be seen in today's arcade-ish racing games. Car companies don't want their vehicles to be completely trashed in the games, that's why the body work only gets slightly dented. Games like Burnout, that are more akin to Tiny Turbos would not be thinkable with actual licensed cars.
Tiny Turbos absolutely have a place in today's Lego landscape though. There is a hole in Lego's set lineup called birthday parties of kids with low and low mid income parents. It's a huge market and that's usually how those canister sets sold back then. (the other market is called "parents who wanted to get their kids some Lego, but not break the bank at the same time").
Canisters are also a great thing for these kinds of sets, as kids can take one or a few cars to their friends easily to play, they simply don't break like boxes.
And can we talk about the price to piece of some of the bigger sets? There were some amazing deals out there.
Generally I'd say Lego is missing out on a big customer base, by making way more bigger and more expensive sets. There is no way most children could get a whole line of one theme within one single year.
^Not to mention now the entire company barely has any sub $9.99 sets outside of polybags!
Sell these like the 2017 Creator 3-in-1s for 4.99 or so, and watch their profit get better!
Tiny Turbos = Lego Hot Wheels. Like others I think the theme could thrive again.