Random set of the day: Catapult Raft
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 7070 Catapult Raft, released in 2004. It's one of 18 4 Juniors sets produced that year. It contains 22 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$5/£3.99.
It's owned by 590 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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49 comments on this article
Ran out of ammo pretty quick. Now what?
Jack Ston, err, Sparrow.
That's hideous. Nice sword, though.
Never been a fan of catapults.
So he found one hot coal, and then aimed it at what exactly? That shark is way behind him, so there must be another off panel or something.
I mean, yeah it’s terrible, but that’s a chrome sword right there
I don’t think I’ve ever seen minifigures like this before. They must have been really short lived.
EDIT: I just realized this is the same kind as Jack Stone. I didn’t realize that figures like that ever appeared outside the Jack Stone theme.
My life was so great.
Then I saw this set.
Ahh.. The golden age of Lego
The only good thing about the Jack Stone-era figures is they are proportioned better than a standard minifig. But that's about all I can think of.
Catapult Raft? That sounds like a really good suggestion. “Keep the sword. Catapult the raft.”
@PDelahanty:
It started off as Jack Stone, but _a_ problem with that is that the entire system is tied to a single theme. So they changed the name to 4 Juniors, and expanded it to at least Freestyle and Pirates before figuring out that people hated Jack Stone because of the sets, rather than hating the sets because of Jack Stone.
One thing that’ll blow your mind is that Hagrid from the original HP run is basically a 4 Juniors figure with a minifig head.
@Snaz said:
"Pretty sure his head will fit in the catapult"
But none of the figure's parts are removable. They are a single element like Duplo and Horse figures.
The lantern looks like it would easily slide off the mast. And what is the enormous fish skeleton on the beach? It looks like fossils you see of huge prehistoric fish, and it's quite disturbing that the skeleton is at least as big as the sharks would be based on their dorsal fins, likely even bigger if the artist cared to scale it correctly for being in the distance. Also it the far background is a whale's tail, but that giant fish... yeesh.
(Scene: The Admiral Benbow inn. Billy Bones sits at the head of a table with a tankard of rum, roaring drunk. Jim Hawkins waits upon him anxiously. Everybody looks nervous.)
BILLY BONES: Seventeen years ago, it was ... seventeen long years THIS VERY NIGHT!
(Slams tankard, spilling rum.)
Cap'n Flint and I was in a FIGHT TO THE DEATH! Fifty stone of gold doubloons, between us on the table, neither I gave him no quarter nor he to me! Avast, ye hound dog!
(Draws sword, stabs at the air.)
One, two, ye canna hie so easily from me, ye infernal tyrant! The gold, or your life!
(Draws back, gasps.)
But then! Someone climbing up the anchor chains ... we heard it. We canna let na wretch scurry in lika rat an take back the gold we so lately won wi our blood an powder! To the f'o'c'sle, Cap'n Flint! The gold's between usn for now, truce I say!
(Leaps upon the table, runs to the other end, and leaps down again. Points his sword recklessly at everyone in the inn, leaving a trail of spilled beer and smashed food. Looks wildly around at everyone, his eyes completely crazy.)
YOU THERE, HAWKINS! HAVE YE EVER SEEN A GIANT, LAD? There it was, a giant tall as you and me put together, wi a raft tied up on the anchor an blood on its sword and screaming bloody murder. No hands before the mast lived that day, lad, nor I ... nor I ... nor I .....
(Billy Bones collapses on the floor, unconscious. He is completely pickled.)
JIM HAWKINS: (Hurries to Billy Bones. Grabs his arms, drags him out of the dining area. Returns to the table where he was waiting.). I'm terribly sorry, ladies and gentlemen. Can I get you some more beer, some more bread?
STATLER: At least he collapsed before we did!
WALDORF: I don't know, I was about to scream bloody murder myself!
(Both laugh. Curtain.)
This set is one of a kind, but nothing unique today, just some pirate treasure for the stats:
Rare:
6192 2x4 half cylinder brick in reddish brown x2
43887 curved sword in chrome silver x1
30275 1x8 catapult arm in black x1
2335 rectangle flag with two clips, Jolly Rodger on red print in white x1
From Adventurers to 4+. Talk about mood whiplash.
I remember when these came out. I thought they looked interesting for parts, but I was never interested enough to actually buy any.
Sets like this make my dark ages seem not so dark afterall.
@iwybs :
I’ve got the DVD, and I think it was in the audio commentary that they mention Billy Bones is the first character to actually die in a Muppet film (Bob and Jacob Marley were already dead when we first see them).
@CarolinaOnMyMind :
No, they were pretty dark. You just weren’t paying attention at the time.
I am concerned about the physics of catapulting from a raft. I see drowning yourself rather than vanquishing your enemy.
Huwbot got into Grandad’s cough medicine again, I see.
Oh my goodness that is terrible. Give me Znap any day over this.
What's interesting to me is that it doesn't appear like the lantern is actually attached to the pole, but rather is just hanging from it loosely. That's not something Lego does very often.
I'm pretty sure trying to fire from a catapult that big in that position would absolutely sink that raft
@CarolinaOnMyMind said:
"Sets like this make my dark ages seem not so dark afterall. "
Yeah, it's no wonder I didn't come out of my second Dark Age until they introduced the modular buildings a few years later.
I miss Pirates... but not THAT much!
@Zordboy said:
"From Adventurers to 4+. Talk about mood whiplash."
The paradox of the early 2000s.
Imagine this:
You install a catapult on your raft, but you can only have a little bit of ammo onboard if you don’t want to sink.
Just imagine the amount of refill trips it will take back to your base...
I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see this
Ah yes, what every castaway needs on their small raft - a huge catapult to repel those trying to rescue them.
A catapult really doesn't seem like a priority addition to a raft.
That day-after when you thought you met a nice pirates set in the club.
No more booze for lego-employees!
@SimonSpace70s:
6245
@Slobrojoe:
Ah, but your own post betrays the truth...
Am I the only one who doesn't hate those 4+ Pirate sets? I kind of like their wackiness, personally.
What I like most is the artwork in the background. Imagine this island existed as a LEGO set!
Call me old fashioned but wouldn't a sail and oars be more useful than a catapult, lantern and tree fern, but maybe 4+ pirates need something to keep them amused while the grown ups worry about such boring things.
@Norikins said:
" @Snaz said:
"Pretty sure his head will fit in the catapult"
But none of the figure's parts are removable. They are a single element like Duplo and Horse figures.
"
Well, not with THAT attitude! With sufficient motivation, what went together can come apart again.
My prior comment notwithstanding, I don't mind Jack Stone figs. They had more realistic proportions, molded ears and nose, and a level of printed detail which was pretty rare in their era. Sure, body parts weren't designed to be swappable, but many AFOLs including myself tend to keep a lot of their figures assembled anyway. So I will choose to see it like a CMF rather than a parts pack and just embrace the wonderful, weird variety that Lego has provided us for decades.
@PurpleDave yes, I have that set (or most of it) hence my catapult concerns.
Oh, hey, it's that one pirates revival that everyone prefers to sweep under the rug and pretend it didn't exist!
I... really don't have anything else to say about this; I didn't give these sets mind even at the time. Once I wondered if I imagined their existence altogether, but evidently not!
You’re all overthinking it!
It’s not a raft with a catapult, it’s an instruction. Once capn jack has finished catapulting his raft, he can row to land in the bucket.
You’re welcome. Rex Dangervest
I remember seeing this in the LEGO catalog at 7 years old and thinking, "this is piping hot garbage". Lol
@Norikins:
You’re just not applying enough force. Or using the right tools. At the last place I worked, they had a 3-phase table saw that could run a 14” blade, which spun so fast the carbide teeth took on a mirror-like quality...
@LegoDavid:
*crickets*
@ambr:
You use the lantern to set the fern in fire, so you can heat up the boulder until it glows hot enough to be used as a distress flare, to let passing ships know that you’re adrift on a wooden raft and need to be rescued before it burns down to the waterline. Also, sharks.
@Kynareth:
So...a raftapult?
6245... The cannon is not a weapon, it's an alternative method for propulsion!
@560heliport:
“Do not pass port. Do not collect 500 Spanish doubloons. Proceed directly to Davy Jones’ Locker.”
@SimonSpace70s said:
"I am concerned about the physics of catapulting from a raft. I see drowning yourself rather than vanquishing your enemy."
I was thinking the same thing. It’d be like trying to chop down a tree from a tall, unanchored step ladder.
So, there’s a huge piece of bone in the background...
...I think he hit something.
Jack Stone's wayward cousin who became a pirate. I have this set. No regrets!
Everyone's talking about the catapult, and nobody has mentioned that apparently there's a palm-tree growing in the middle of the raft.
Twenty-two parts on a dead man's chest—
…Yo-ho-ho and a bag of Clikits!
Somebody should have tipped this one the Black Spot.
I assume this guy must have been the mad ichthyologist of the crew. You can tell by the crazed expression, the catapult hurling chunks of red meat into shark-infested waters, and the open grate held afloat by a perimeter of wood—a primitive 18th-century shark cage. The lack of oars means he's marooned in his studies; then again, he's a Jack Stone figure, and no self-respecting shark would eat something so obnoxious.
That catapult is black. One COULD use it for Blacktron, if one was so inclined to give some Blacktron a catapult.