Random set of the day: Hot Buster
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8382 Hot Buster, released during 2004. It's one of 22 Racers sets produced that year. It contains 67 pieces, and its retail price was US$10/£6.99.
It's owned by 852 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
42 likes
33 comments on this article
There are no words for what that name even means.
Bustin' makes me feel good!
@GSR_MataNui said:
"Bustin' makes me feel good!"
Ha, ha! YES!
When there’s somethin’ warm, in ya’ neighborhood...
Maybe it busts heat and turns it into cold. Though mine is in pieces right now.
Another pullback car?
I know Huw says huwbot or whatever it is that picks these things is random, but we’ve seen the patterns it gets into.
Perhaps there’s a little bit of Skynet code in there?
@MCLegoboy said:
"There are no words for what that name even means."
There are, we just can’t use them on Brickset
Hot Wheels was already taken by Mattel
@TeriXeri said:
"Hot Wheels was already taken by Mattel"
Could be the name’s origin: implies this model alone is meant to bust Hot Wheels as the toy car of choice. No pressure.
This set was released during my Dark Ages.
I'm fine with that.
After prodigious amounts of plastic surgery, Andy’s dog was ready to begin his professional career as a showroom model.
What I liked about Racers was there was something for everyone. I mean if you were into Technic you had the Ferrari sets with lots of functions, if you liked minifigure scale sets you were also covered. And with sets like these you had sort of racing action.
For what its worth, I think the set looks good. Others did too.
@Lego_lord said:
"What I liked about Racers was there was something for everyone. I mean if you were into Technic you had the Ferrari sets with lots of functions, if you liked minifigure scale sets you were also covered. And with sets like these you had sort of racing action.
For what its worth, I think the set looks good. Others did too. "
Those weren't the only Technic-based Racers sets either. The majority of it was not licensed.
@Lego_lord said:
"What I liked about Racers was there was something for everyone. I mean if you were into Technic you had the Ferrari sets with lots of functions, if you liked minifigure scale sets you were also covered. And with sets like these you had sort of racing action.
For what its worth, I think the set looks good. Others did too. "
This ^^^
Racers is probably the theme with the most variety out of the entirety of LEGO's history.
As you said, there was something for everyone... Technic, System, Minifig-scale, Tiny Turbo scale, Remote Controlled, Track playsets, licensed, unlicensed, pretty much everything you could want out of a LEGO Racing theme.
This theme really deserves more appreciation for that IMO.
Ah yes...the Hot Mustard...no...:)
Seriously though: though 'Racers' was a 'hit/miss' series, it was a keystone in getting to 'Speed Champions'...for good or bad. Also, always wanted to get a non-electric/battery engine, but I'd rather go after a wind-up model.
@WesterBricks said:
"This set was released during my Dark Ages.
I'm fine with that."
Lego's too. January 2004 was the only time in my life I ever opened a new Lego catalog and said "Wait, that's all?"
The new offerings consisted of some Star Wars and World City sets (of which the largest had been in the late 2003 catalogs), this line of Racers (the first non-Technic ones that didn't have drivers)... and I think that was literally all.
@TomKazutara said: "Prints !"
... princess?
These Racer sets always have the strangest names. Do they sound better in Danish and this is a translation thing?
So many prints just for this set...
@Binnekamp said:
"So many prints just for this set..."
At least the prints stand the test of time, unlike stickers that just disintegrate.
@phi13 said:
" @WesterBricks said:
"This set was released during my Dark Ages.
I'm fine with that."
Lego's too. January 2004 was the only time in my life I ever opened a new Lego catalog and said "Wait, that's all?"
The new offerings consisted of some Star Wars and World City sets (of which the largest had been in the late 2003 catalogs), this line of Racers (the first non-Technic ones that didn't have drivers)... and I think that was literally all."
But the trains were far better than what we get now!
@phi13 said:
" @WesterBricks said:
"This set was released during my Dark Ages.
I'm fine with that."
Lego's too. January 2004 was the only time in my life I ever opened a new Lego catalog and said "Wait, that's all?"
The new offerings consisted of some Star Wars and World City sets (of which the largest had been in the late 2003 catalogs), this line of Racers (the first non-Technic ones that didn't have drivers)... and I think that was literally all."
According to Brickset, there were over 400 sets that year so it would appear you are off.
@brick_r said:
"Ah yes...the Hot Mustard...no...:)"
And that's why it's yellow.
@Gatanui said:
" @phi13 said:
" @WesterBricks said:
"This set was released during my Dark Ages.
I'm fine with that."
Lego's too. January 2004 was the only time in my life I ever opened a new Lego catalog and said "Wait, that's all?"
The new offerings consisted of some Star Wars and World City sets (of which the largest had been in the late 2003 catalogs), this line of Racers (the first non-Technic ones that didn't have drivers)... and I think that was literally all."
According to Brickset, there were over 400 sets that year so it would appear you are off."
Most of them were released later in the year and weren't in the January catalog.
Remember when the cheap 10$ sets had mostly printed parts....
@Brickalili said:
"These Racer sets always have the strangest names. Do they sound better in Danish and this is a translation thing?"
The thing with the early years of Racers was, there were six distinct race teams, and the car sets all invariably started with the name of the race team to which they belonged. In this case, H.O.T. was the team in question - although the fact that the team name was an acronym never carried into the set names; same was true of team R.E.D. - so in essence, it's a car called the "Buster" that belongs to team H.O.T.
Whether that makes it any better or not is... debatable. But there was some method behind it, at least.
@PjtorXmos said:
"Remember when the cheap 10$ sets had mostly printed parts...."
Adjusted for inflation, the set would cost ~$15, and include the same number of pieces as an above-average size polybag. The 6-wide $15 Speed Champions, despite stickers, included around 150-200 pieces and a Minifigure. This is 67 parts and no Minifigure.
@Mr__Thrawn said:
" @PjtorXmos said:
"Remember when the cheap 10$ sets had mostly printed parts...."
Adjusted for inflation, the set would cost ~$15, and include the same number of pieces as an above-average size polybag. The 6-wide $15 Speed Champions, despite stickers, included around 150-200 pieces and a Minifigure. This is 67 parts and no Minifigure."
Yet you still only get stickers in most sets for 15$. This really isn't the gotcha you are expecting it to be. The increased part amount doesn't mean much either, since it's far more expensive to set up another printing machine specifically for one set, than pump out a lot more 1x1 tiles.
Busting runs in the family
Fuck, yes. I got this one on Christmas day with the Red Maniac. Still so cool!
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
" @Brickalili said:
"These Racer sets always have the strangest names. Do they sound better in Danish and this is a translation thing?"
The thing with the early years of Racers was, there were six distinct race teams, and the car sets all invariably started with the name of the race team to which they belonged. In this case, H.O.T. was the team in question - although the fact that the team name was an acronym never carried into the set names; same was true of team R.E.D. - so in essence, it's a car called the "Buster" that belongs to team H.O.T.
Whether that makes it any better or not is... debatable. But there was some method behind it, at least."
I see, I didn’t realise there was that much lore behind this theme
@Brickalili said:
" @ThatBionicleGuy said:
" @Brickalili said:
"These Racer sets always have the strangest names. Do they sound better in Danish and this is a translation thing?"
The thing with the early years of Racers was, there were six distinct race teams, and the car sets all invariably started with the name of the race team to which they belonged. In this case, H.O.T. was the team in question - although the fact that the team name was an acronym never carried into the set names; same was true of team R.E.D. - so in essence, it's a car called the "Buster" that belongs to team H.O.T.
Whether that makes it any better or not is... debatable. But there was some method behind it, at least."
I see, I didn’t realise there was that much lore behind this theme"
There were comics if I recall correctly. Although I had it in my head that theme was Drome Racers.
Kinda cool looking for an 18 year old set. 44 year old me can't reasonably answer for a much younger me, so I don't know if I would've picked it up when it was new, but it still looks neat.
@phi13:
That might have been around the time they switched from two release windows per year to 12+. This was done at the request of the retailers, who found that product sells really well right after it comes out, but sales taper off pretty quickly. They wanted new product releases to be spread out over the entire year, because the LEGO aisle would be largely ignored except the two months new sets came out and the shopping window between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Stores what product to sell, not gather dust.
And that’s probably what killed the pack-in catalog. No point in updating it if you’re only changing one page at a time. Rather than pack them in sets and give you half a dozen copies of the same catalog, while you miss the next seven, when they can just mail one to you every month and be done with it.
@Zordboy:
Printsess.
@PjtorXmos:
Remember when the company nearly went bankrupt...twice? Good times...