Random set of the day: Showdown Canyon
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6799 Showdown Canyon, released during 1997. It's one of 11 Western sets produced that year. It contains 69 pieces and 4 minifigs, and its retail price was US$10.
It's owned by 1186 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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40 comments on this article
Not too bad for a small set. The cannon looks particularly good.
And FOUR minifigures for $10 USD!! I must be dreaming.
"Dont worry Clive, Ill get him with my printed dynamite tile!"
As many guns as wheels. Sure!
Wow another western set! I have this one! This theme is great!
Yeah, Western works, as a theme, when it's just sheriffs, outlaws, bank robberies and a hint of homoeroticism. I've never seen this set before in my life, so I assume it was a limited release.
I know this is the Wild West, but I don't think we have enough guns yet. I bet that horse could use a firearm, too.
Also forgot to mention this set came with an interesting playscape
"Hey, Clive, I gots yer dynamite right here. Oops, butterfingers!" [Dynamite goes into the canyon.]
@TheWackyWookiee said:
"Not too bad for a small set. The cannon looks particularly good.
And FOUR minifigures for $10 USD!! I must be dreaming."
In today's money, it'd be closer to ~$17. Still a pretty good deal, but not quite as great. Plus, 4 figures for $10 is actually fairly common in today's sets. Benny's Space Squad, the various City starter sets, etc. all fit the bill. 4 figures for ~$15 is also common, in Star Wars battle packs.
I always forget there was a time before the dynamite piece proper.
Yeeeha!
I remember keeping the cardboard canyon cutout playscape for a few years before I realized I was never going to set it up in my adult fan of Lego collection.
I think I bought this one at Walmart. One of many specialty promotional sets combining small boxed sets.
@TheWackyWookiee:
Given the era this set represents, I’d guess that’s supposed to be a Gatling gun.
@MeisterDad:
Where do you see a seventh wheel?
@chrisaw said:
"I always forget there was a time before the dynamite piece proper."
Sure feels like a piece that should be older.
Printed tile last used in 2004, dynamite piece proper came out in 2009.
5 years of peace and quiet in Lego City...
I'm afraid even if we get a western theme it will be over-the-top action and mecha horses and rocket driven carriages and etc. Then again recent Creator Castle and Pirates sets were excellent, yet not part of a series but a single set. Oh well, we'll see...
@Lego_lord said:
"I'm afraid even if we get a western theme it will be over-the-top action and mecha horses and rocket driven carriages and etc. Then again recent Creator Castle and Pirates sets were excellent, yet not part of a series but a single set. Oh well, we'll see..."
If we got a Creator or Pirates of Barracuda Bay style Western train chase I would be thrilled. Broke, but thrilled.
@PurpleDave :
Yeah, I thought the same thing about the 'Gatling'...guess no one else was using Technics parts/pins to build a good (not great) rep of a 'Gatling/Autocannon' (1 3648 gear, 1 6562 peg/axle, 4 3673 pins, 1 3700 tech-brick: connect 'barrels' to one side of gear, then axle side of half/half placed in opposite, connect 'other half' to tech-brick...should be a good start:))
@BovineBrick said:
" @Lego_lord said:
"I'm afraid even if we get a western theme it will be over-the-top action and mecha horses and rocket driven carriages and etc. Then again recent Creator Castle and Pirates sets were excellent, yet not part of a series but a single set. Oh well, we'll see..."
If we got a Creator or Pirates of Barracuda Bay style Western train chase I would be thrilled. Broke, but thrilled."
Honestly, I doubt TLG cares much about producing any Western-themed sets. They have rejected countless Western-themed LEGO Ideas projects in the past, and the Western theme was nowhere to be seen in the LEGO 90th anniversary fan poll.
Unless it comes in the form of a licensed theme in the style of The Lone Ranger, I doubt LEGO will do much to explore more potential sets in this genre any further. And even if they do, they will most likely be severely altered to be more "fantasy' because for whatever reason, LEGO is very afraid of making straight-up Historical sets.
And honestly, can you really blame them? Western as a genre has been dead for quite a while now, and I doubt it is a trendy topic in the minds of the kids TLG focus tests most of their current products. And unlike LEGO Castle or Pirates, which have had a pretty long and successful initial run and a pretty loyal fan base among AFOLs, the original LEGO Western line barely lased two years.
@LegoDavid said:
"Honestly, I doubt TLG cares much about producing any Western-themed sets. "
I agree with your points, but that doesn't keep me from dreaming! My actual preference would be a logging train on a massive trestle, but I somehow think that niche dream is even less likely than a one-off Western set... But it is Lego, guess I'd better just start building.
I've recently restored this set from an old collection. Fell over backwards at the prices for the instructions! When I looked on BrickLink there were only two available worldwide!
Is mounting rifles on a wheelbarrow all that better than shooting them yourself? Well, let’s you shoot the rifle with one hand and a pistol with the other I suppose…
It's pretty unusual to be riding a horse that is tethered to a wagon, but I guess the sheriff knows what he is doing. I miss the postbox bank safe, easier to deposit your money than get it back!
@chrisaw said:
"I always forget there was a time before the dynamite piece proper."
Whereas I, in contrast, always forget that actual dynamite pieces exist now, because I grew up only knowing the printed tile versions xD
I feel like I saw this set in a shop once, a long time ago now (though still a couple of years after the theme ended), but didn't get it. Largely because, as a kid, my Lego interests were on the whole dictated by which themes were focused on in the UK Lego Adventures magazine, my main source for Lego story material. For the most part, the comics didn't touch anything earlier than 1998; so while Western had a poster in an early issue (and the banker from 6765 made a couple of minor comic appearances in Lego City in the same role), it never got the spotlight and thus slipped pretty much under my radar for a long time. Thus, I had no frame of reference for the set when I saw it, so it just didn't interest me that much.
I had a keychain of the cowboy minifigure from this set, though. One time in 2004 or so, my Lego Club Magazine didn't arrive, so we contacted the customer services to ask about it. When they sent out a replacement copy for me, they included a free keychain by way of compensation, which I thought was pretty neat! Wasn't the only time I had that happen, either.
Cool brown horse, too. Were those rarer than the black horses and white horses, or is that just a false impression I picked up due to never owning one of them myself?
We should all spare a thought for the sheriff (I guess based on the star on his hat) riding the horse up front while getting whipped from the person on the waggon to go faster.
@PurpleDave said:
@MeisterDad:
Where do you see a seventh wheel?]]
Oops, miscounted! In that case I should have said “a pistol for everyone, but someone will have to go without a rifle.” Maybe that was the subject of the showdown.
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
Cool brown horse, too. Were those rarer than the black horses and white horses, or is that just a false impression I picked up due to never owning one of them myself?]]
Well the way I remember it, castle only had the white and black horses, with brown being introduced in western and used some in city, and those two themes also used the white and black horses too, so there were more of them.
Four figures, a horse, a wagon, a bunch of guns, dynamite. Fantastic little set.
I'd love more western sets. Guess there's always Bricklink.
Set gets an A grade.
More great small sets, horse, 6 cart wheels , 4 figures with multiple accesoires each , printed parts, including money, hat, dynamite, safe.
Overall great parts for the budget.
@kdu2814 said:
"Well the way I remember it, castle only had the white and black horses, with brown being introduced in western and used some in city, and those two themes also used the white and black horses too, so there were more of them."
7092 which is a Castle theme has a brown horse, seemingly the only castle set with a brown horse or at least the particular horse design I looked up which is the classic horse before they made an updated mold.
@Kamiccolo said:
" @kdu2814 said:
"Well the way I remember it, castle only had the white and black horses, with brown being introduced in western and used some in city, and those two themes also used the white and black horses too, so there were more of them."
7092 which is a Castle theme has a brown horse, seemingly the only castle set with a brown horse or at least the particular horse design I looked up which is the classic horse before they made an updated mold.
"
"Classic" Castle did use brown horses before Western :
Dragon Knight theme (1993-1994): 1906 , 6056 , 6076 , 6082
Royal Knights (1995): 6078 , 6090
Dark Forestmen (1996 , North America only ? ): 6079
Fright Knights (1997) : 6097
Also a different part number :
Black Knights (1988-1992) : 6085 6086
Forestmen (1987) : 6066
Crusaders / Lion Knights (1988-1989) : 6060 / 1584
@ThatBionicleGuy , @kdu2814 , @Kamiccolo
I think the difference is all brown horses in castle except one didn't have the printed black mane. Brown castle horses debuted in 6066 , and later came in Black Knights sets 6085 , 6086 , & 1584 . They were particularly used by the Dragon Masters, in 1794 , 1906 , 6056 , 6076 , 6082 , 6078 , & 6079 which is an example of the detail Lego went to to make the factions unique. The brown horses might be native to their kingdom. The only brown castle horse with a black mane, unless there are other manes covered by a helmet, is in 6090 .
Also the gun cart is probably a volley gun, a contraption shooting multiple shots simultaneously, rather than a gatling gun. Gatling guns are normally represented by a brick with studs on 4 sides and binoculars, although that design only appeared in Batman and Star Wars later on as far as I know.
Western stuff still works perfectly, at least over here. Even without any natives, as @TomKazutara said. Playmobil still offers Westen sets for example.
@Norikins said:
"
Also the gun cart is probably a volley gun, a contraption shooting multiple shots simultaneously, rather than a gatling gun. Gatling guns are normally represented by a brick with studs on 4 sides and binoculars, although that design only appeared in Batman and Star Wars later on as far as I know."
I think that particular style of Gatling gun artillery first popped up in Exo-Force though it’s a similar time period
There was something really weird going on with this set in 1997:
It was generally shown in many retail catalogues in early 1997 in EU, but then out of sudden it disappeared from catalogues released in the second half of the year. I even have a catalogue from a an old German toy mail order company (must have been released just prior to Christmas) that did show this set, but instead of listing a price, the said ot was 'cancelled'...
It took me 5 years to find out that it was in fact released in some parts of the world, which left me quite confused as to what this was all about...
Not to mention the bizarrely high number of elusive sets in the late '90s.
@Atuin said:
"There was something really weird going on with this set in 1997:
It was generally shown in many retail catalogues in early 1997 in EU, but then out of sudden it disappeared from catalogues released in the second half of the year. I even have a catalogue from a an old German toy mail order company (must have been released just prior to Christmas) that did show this set, but instead of listing a price, the said ot was 'cancelled'...
It took me 5 years to find out that it was in fact released in some parts of the world, which left me quite confused as to what this was all about...
Not to mention the bizarrely high number of elusive sets in the late '90s."
I blame Lego's declining finances on those points, plus they didn't really know what they were doing wrong... but yet they were posting deficits basically from '97 to 2007-ish. Basically, I think they overstretched themselves, then tried to right the ship by pulling back releases slightly or totally. They had an Western train lineup using the monorail track planned, with BISON animal figures that could've been released. But NOPE. Cancelled after it was completed as seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/55973205 @N08/50847308426/in/album-72157668662666065/
Who knows what else was chopped short or not released?
EDIT: Darn photo won't link!
@Atuin said:
"There was something really weird going on with this set in 1997:
It was generally shown in many retail catalogues in early 1997 in EU, but then out of sudden it disappeared from catalogues released in the second half of the year. I even have a catalogue from a an old German toy mail order company (must have been released just prior to Christmas) that did show this set, but instead of listing a price, the said ot was 'cancelled'...
It took me 5 years to find out that it was in fact released in some parts of the world, which left me quite confused as to what this was all about...
Not to mention the bizarrely high number of elusive sets in the late '90s."
That's interesting. This is one of very few sets of this era that I've never been able to find in a catalog of any sort.
@Murdoch17:
Wow! Amazing, never have seen that before thanks :D
It looks a bit weird though... The colors remind me a lot of sets from the early-mid '70s, the colorful train might even be based directly on set 396! I wonder why they didn't choose the more realistic standard 9V train tracks for that - did they want the multi-level ramps for more play features or was it a last effort to recycle the expensive parts?
@phi13:
I think it can be seen in UK, German, Polish and Czech catalogues (possibly even more). But only the large full scale ones, not the medium sized ones found in sets.
My brother had this set and in the absence of the large set with the Bank and General Store, this did a reasonable job of fill in as a stagecoach for the bandits to waylay. He was glad to get himself a Black Bart (the black-clad bandit, in case the name is too subtle) and I was envious of his second deputy.
There's really nothing too exciting about the build in either half of the set, which means the generally positive tone of the comments here just goes to show how strong the play value of the figs and few choice elements (like that safe).
@Norikins said:
" @ThatBionicleGuy , @kdu2814 , @Kamiccolo
I think the difference is all brown horses in castle except one didn't have the printed black mane. Brown castle horses debuted in 6066 , and later came in Black Knights sets 6085 , 6086 , & 1584 . They were particularly used by the Dragon Masters, in 1794 , 1906 , 6056 , 6076 , 6082 , 6078 , & 6079 which is an example of the detail Lego went to to make the factions unique. The brown horses might be native to their kingdom. The only brown castle horse with a black mane, unless there are other manes covered by a helmet, is in 6090 ."
That is not true. All the horses from 'Dragon Masters', 'Royal Knights', 'Dark Forest' and 'Fright Knights' had the black mane. The sets that TeriXeri lists under "a different part number" is the horses without the black mane. The brown horse with black mane was introduced in 1989 with set 6355
The version without the black mane was introduced in 1986 and only set 6086 seems to have used this version after 1989 (if we can trust the bricklink parts list?).
@TomKazutara:
Except if you do Western without Native Americans, you’ll be accused of not being inclusive and therefore you’re racist. And if you do include them, you’re making a toy based on the destruction of their way of life and therefore you’re racist. And if you just do a theme based on the Native Americans before the Westward Expansion, that’s cultural appropriation and therefore you’re racist.
@Murdoch17:
I’m sure designing a bison mold in the days before rapid prototypes and never actually releasing any didn’t have any degree of negative impact on their bottom line, either.
Also, if you can’t get a link to post correctly, maybe tinyurl is an option? Unless that violates the TOS, of course.
@gaiathedj:
It’s a horse. It should be pretty obvious in the set photos, unless the mane is covered. If it is, looking up online instructions should give you a glimpse of the bare mane. This RSotD expires in 25 minutes, though, so it’s not really enough time to dig through everything and get back here to post about it.