Random set of the day: Swamp
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8509 Swamp, released during 2000. It's one of 34 Technic sets produced that year. It contains 45 pieces, and its retail price was US$6.
It's owned by 1,598 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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That's the weirdest swamp I've ever seen--never seen one with wheels before
Even Shrek wants nothing to do with this Swamp.
@DragonLord56 said:
"That's the weirdest swamp I've ever seen--never seen one with wheels before"
Seems like the parts list refuses to achnowledge the presence of wheels.
@msg621 said:
" @DragonLord56 said:
"That's the weirdest swamp I've ever seen--never seen one with wheels before"
Seems like the parts list refuses to achnowledge the presence of wheels."
The Incredible Wheel-less Wheeled Swamp!
wheels or no, I think he's beautiful <3
WHAT ARE YEH DOIN IN MY SWWAAAMMP!!!!!!!!
Not so much a 'swamp', as a 'thing in a swamp'...and DC's gonna be awful mad about that:)
Great, now I want teal swords. Completely unreasonable.
Lego Technic 2000: "Hey everyone, want a weird, three wheeled object called Swamp for six bucks?"
1598 people: "Sure!"
@gorf43 said:
"Lego Technic 2000: "Hey everyone, want a weird, three wheeled object called Swamp for six bucks?"
1598 people: "Sure!""
Pretty sure I have an incomplete copy of this one, and I know I have those swords.
Those jellyfish-like things in the background though, I don’t have anything like that — or want to. Probably what one’s brain looks like when overwhelmed with work…
I collected all of the Robo Riders just before my first Dark Age. I still have a few of the glow in the dark dark wheels because they are just unique.
I didn't like these as much as the Throwbots ... but they were still a race of sentient motorcycles, and I liked how they were split amongst different environments (particularly this one. We'd gotten forest and ocean-themed Throwbots, but none in a swamp setting). I collected a few of these.
I may own one copy of this set. I definitely got several of those teal katanas, as I used all three of the colors that were available back then for three competing factions of a Space theme I came up with two decades ago.
@msg621:
The “wheels” had print on one side, and the patterns were randomly packed in each copy of the set. Random items tend to wreak havoc on inventory systems, so they often get ignored.
@brick_r:
Eh, they cancelled that show after one season, so they couldn’t be too pissed. Litigious, on the other hand, is a different matter.
@MeisterDad:
The one in the upper right looks like the launching squids from Bionicle.
I think he's perfect just the way he is
While Roboriders wasn't quite as good as Throwbots/Slizers, I still absolutely love the late 90's/early 2000's Technic aesthetic as a whole. There's something about it that's so enchanting to me. I know it'll probably never happen, but I do wish TLG would maybe start moving Technic in this direction again. There can still be supercars and construction equipment as always, but I'd love to see some stuff that captures this feeling again.
I just made a MOC recently of a Slizer that can transform into a Roborider, using the teal wheels from this set. I am honestly quite that surprised LEGO hasn't attempted any Transformers-like features with any those of guys, in my eyes their Technic-built structure kind of begs for it!
But that's the point on MOCing I guess... Building the stuff that LEGO won't give you.
Here is a link to my MOC, if you wanna check it out: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWGKh3voJU3/?utm_medium=copy_link
Probably my least favourite of the Roboriders. The mechanism to slash those swords doesn't really make them move all that much. Only really useful if you're trying to swipe at something directly above you at best
@Zordboy:
*coughAMAZONcough*
ALegoDavid: Some of the Throwbots/Slizer did transform. 8503 could fold up into a sort of submarine, and I remember others having similar features. And of course the Bohrok and Bohrok Kal could ball up. Anyway, that's a darn cool MOC!
Ah, Swamp. Lime green and teal is a colour combination they would only do in 2000, and I love it for that. That, and the unusual build only slightly shared with Lava.
One of the swords broke on me at one point, and getting the replacement on my newly discovered Bricklink was a bit expensive. But worth it!
@PurpleDave:
Well Swamp Thing’s still a fairly liked character (McFarlane has a figure of him coming out in a future DC line)…heck, third DC character voiced by Mark Hamill (in the same JL Action story as his other characters…and HIMSELF:)). As to ‘the series’, funny story: WB leased a soundstage and water…think it was a tower, for ten-years…only to scrap everything at the end of the first season…weird. Saw a couple of eps.; and the only thing I hated was their depiction of Blue Devil…Dear TLG: Make that guy as a minifig…come to think of it: Booster Gold, Blue (Ted Kord) Beetle, Ambush Bug…this could take awhile…
Some of the Roboriders had pretty cool functions, with Swamp's being that if you press down on his back then his katanas would swing forward. Somehow I had two copies of this set so I had a lot of nice teal swords, which are still my sigfig's weapon of choice.
Wild box art man
@TheOtherMike said:
"ALegoDavid: Some of the Throwbots/Slizer did transform. 8503 could fold up into a sort of submarine, and I remember others having similar features. And of course the Bohrok and Bohrok Kal could ball up. Anyway, that's a darn cool MOC!"
All the Slizers could fold up, but that was only used in order to fit them in their containers, so that's not much of a transformation in my book... It was still a really cool feature, don't get me wrong, but having them actually transform in a similar vain to the MOC I built would have been amazing.
I am honestly kind of surprised LEGO hasn't ever attempted at all to tap more into the Transformers niche with either Bionicle or Hero Factory, despite the community obviously showing interest in that. DrScorpionX, a YouTube channel dedicated to creating "Bioformers" was actually one of the most popular Bionicle-dedicated channels for quite a while, until he unfortunately became inactive. His most popular video got 4 Million views, which is pretty insane.
By the way: @CapnRex101 when can we expect the Ninjago and Ninjago Legacy set reviews?
@brick_r:
Warner leased a water tower? *snicker*
Anyways, they’ve been running the first season of select DC shows on broadcast TV, so rather than watch them on their new home at HBO Go, I recorded them. Every episode of Swamp Thing had at least one word bleeped, but the series was really well done (much better than the previous attempt that nobody likely remembers). It’s one major failing is that it told _a_ story over the course of the season. Compare it to Titans, which also had a season-long story-arc, but which still had weekly villains that had to be dealt with along the way. It made for more compelling episodes that likely helped it retain an audience while Swamp Thing fell short of whatever target they had in mind for renewal.
Heeeey, it's my favourite of the Roboriders! :D
Part of this is nostalgia - I found him quite by chance in 2002 when I was helping set up my primary school's Christmas Fair during my last year there; I was sorting through the donated items for the second-hand toy sale table, and found THIS GUY HERE in the middle of them, assembled and almost complete; he wasn't my first Roborider, but finding him is a much more distinct memory than any of the others, and I naturally bought him right away! - and part of it is THAT FANTASTIC COLOUR SCHEME, including the Teal Ninja Swords that were completely unique to this set. Lime was a pretty new colour for me at that point, too, having only run into it on 8535 Lewa before then, and it was almost my first encounter with teal at all, other than Martian skin in 7303.
Plus? He was so darn FUN to push his head back and forth to make his swords 'chop' forward. Much more impressive than the function of 8513, my actual first Roborider, whose darts only poked forward a little way and inevitably got stuck!
He's also... another one I kinda wish I hadn't been quite so overzealous in selling on, too - mostly because of the memories associated with getting him the first time. But, again... what's done is done, and as long as the person who bought him from me was happy, that's what counts ^^
What did you do to my swamp!!!!!!!!!!!
@msg621 said:
" @DragonLord56 said:
"That's the weirdest swamp I've ever seen--never seen one with wheels before"
Seems like the parts list refuses to achnowledge the presence of wheels."
The wheels were randomized (3 out of 16 possibilities), similar to the Bohrok's Krana. That's why they are not listed in some inventories.
Teal katanas are awesome^^ However "McToran" Kongu from 2001 shares that color scheme.
one of the sets i picked up during the blip in my Dark Age. worked at Borders Books at the time, found it peculiar that lego was being sold in a bookstore. yay employee discount back then!
This is the first set name I've seen that describes the box art instead of the actual set.
I’m not saying they were good. But I did love Roboriders and Throwbots.
I really need to complete my Roboriders collection sometime. I'm only missing a few. I think Swamp is one of them...
Looks like old Swampy is being pursued by Kikyo's soul collectors. Where's Inuyasha when you need him? Lazy dog.
A robot navigating a swamp on wheels might make as much sense as shooting a helicopter from a cannon (or a canon), but I suppose it could always be a name only and he has the sense to avoid actually trying to drive in the titular landscape.
@PurpleDave:
Well of course WB leased a water tower...where else were they gonna stuff Yakko, Whakko, and Dot...
Yeah 'Titans' is one of the few DC shows I haven't seen yet...which is to bad: I'm a big fan of 'Hawk and Dove', and wanted to see how they translated here. Only thing not a 'fan' of is 'Beast Boy' and 'Starfire's appearances...well, that and BB should have been on 'Doom Patrol' (which I totally love) instead of 'Cyborg'...