Random set of the day: Neptune Carrier
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8075 Neptune Carrier, released during 2010. It's one of 19 Atlantis sets produced that year. It contains 476 pieces and 4 minifigs, and its retail price was US$59.99/£39.99.
It's owned by 3,676 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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52 comments on this article
Atlantis was a great theme and this is a really solid set.
One of the few Atlantis sets I got. Very nice, unique profile & colors, efficiently constructed. Only problem I have is the gap beneath the side panels.
So we had that Prince of Persia Brickmaster set, and now we get this thing, which it also came in microscale as a Brickmaster exclusive: 20013
Although from the name, it actually sounds like it's a small drone to accompany this larger version. Anyone know the story of Atlantis to know if that's true?
I loved this set! Such a unique look and feel, with unique parts used that slot together well.
@MCLegoboy said:
"So we had that Prince of Persia Brickmaster set, and now we get this thing, but it also came in microscale as a Brickmaster exclusive: 20013
Although from the name, it actually sounds like it's a small drone to accompany this larger version. Anyone know the story of Atlantis to know if that's true?"
I don't know about the polybag, but in the online animated videos the Neptune Carrier was a huge flagship that carried all the other submersibles inside it. Hence why it's called a "carrier."
I'll keep lore quick tonight. Magic portal to Atlantis. Five ring-shaped keys to open portal. Fish people have keys. Divers want keys.
Captain Sheridan!
See if anyone can figure that out...
Good old Atlantis. I was never too keen on the submarines, but my gosh, I loved the giant sea monsters.
I both loathe and appreciate the unique variant pieces found in certain themes like this (another example is the glowstones from Monster Fighters, or the rock monsters from Power Miners). On the one hand as a kid it would have been almost impossible to get them all, but on the other it is so satisfying as an adult to obtain the entire collection.
This was such a great set. I love the little garage in the front and the way the ray is built. The scooter hidden under the tail was a neat little touch, too.
Makes you regret your dark ages.
One of the very very few Atlantis sets I didn’t get, might need to pick it up someday
This is such a great set. I kept it together until just recently, when I finally needed room so I disassembled and sorted it.
I collected quite a few Atlantis sets. It was a wonderful theme with a lot of really fantastic set designs.
It's been 12 years since Atlantis... I remember Atlantis having a desktop app that let you browse the "journal" the lady diver's grandfather "wrote" on his quest for Atlantis. (Yes, that sounds pretty much like the "Shepard's Journal" from the Disney "Atlantis the Lost Empire" and it's direct-to-home-video sequel.) I'd also like to point out the LEGO TV film also had a reference to 2005 Designer set 4888 as a wrecked "research station", while the portal set 8078 features a 2007 Aquazone diver as a skeleton.
I’m still waiting to build mine! It’s one of a number of still-sealed sets in my backlog. But I always thought it looked great.
Although I wasn't a huge Atlantis fan, I really wish Atlantis would return!
Such an interesting and unique proper Lego theme (rather than just endless IP stuff and technology based themes that always fail yet Lego keeps making).
The Atlantis and Mars Mission submarines/spaceships were really cool in the amount of vehicles that could be build into the 'big' vehicle, and make sense.
My favourite Atlantis set was the one with a Greek/Roman temple in ruins and I believe there was a strange golden sea creature warrior.
@Brickchap:
That set had one of the biggest part design fails of recent memory. The fluted column bricks, like nearly all 2x2 round parts that have a full 2x2 grid of studs (the turntable top being the lone exception that I can think of), had studs that were shaved down on the “corners”. Due to this geometry, the stud won’t actually contact any parts in that area. So why did they leave the shaved stud identical to a 2x2 round brick’s instead of extending the column fluting to match the rest of the brick? They looked like they would be so cool when we first saw them, but the regular spacing of unfluted studs just makes them look terrible. I got a small number of white ones from LUGBulk, and have never found a desire to actually use them. Instead, in an instance where they might have made sense, I was using brick-bricks, which themselves are imperfectly designed, but not nearly so annoyingly (and they could actually alleviate some of that problem by increasing the range of parts).
Beautiful set from times when Lego was creative.
I’m sad I missed out on Atlantis, especially that fantastic temple.
I know people hate large or specialized technic pieces in system sets but when they work they really work.
Remember that time when LEGO would explore all sorts of unique new creative ideas in stand-alone new original themes? Nowdays, everything just get shoehorned into Ninjago or City, which is pretty tragic IMO.
We just recently had a Ninjago UnderWater subtheme, and it was so underwhelming compared to Atlantis...
Honestly, I find it hard to continue being a LEGO fan with the direction LEGO has been going in the past few years, which only gets worse and worse. Like many other companies before them, I guess just they just became a victim of their own success... They no longer need to be creative and come out with new unique ideas, because now they can just put out any random license and people will still mindlessly buy it.
ok, that's cool.
Really solid look and good idea but after deataching the two other components it looks meh and has no Cargo space.
The Manta build is best part of this set.
Always kind of wanted this set. Never had the money to afford it :(
One of my children is very much interested in deep sea exploration (just yesterday he told me his dream is for one day to be on a submarine going down the Mariana Trench :-D) so combined with Lego this has caused me to get things like Aquazone, Divers and also Atlantis. 8078 Portal of Atlantis was actually the first set of this theme I got, but two years ago I found a NISB copy of this Neptune Carrier for €15 or something like that so very happy with that! Fortunately, this also covered his brother's Dino addiction, a used 5887 Dino Defense HQ and even 5885 Triceratops Tracker set me back considerably more...
He's more interested in the giant sea creatures than the actual submarines though, luckily there's a small ray with some glow-in-the-dark parts here. The aforementioned Portal and also 8061 Gateway of the Squid remain his favourites in this line. My only problem with these sets is the use of dark red pieces which have a habit of disintegrating: stairs, hinge bricks, arms, even a squid warrior torso which didn't just crack but totally fell apart... :-(
@LegoDavid said:
"Remember that time when LEGO would explore all sorts of unique new creative ideas in stand-alone new original themes? Nowdays, everything just get shoehorned into Ninjago or City, which is pretty tragic IMO.
We just recently had a Ninjago UnderWater subtheme, and it was so underwhelming compared to Atlantis...
Honestly, I find it hard to continue being a LEGO fan with the direction LEGO has been going in the past few years, which only gets worse and worse. Like many other companies before them, I guess just they just became a victim of their own success... They no longer need to be creative and come out with new unique ideas, because now they can just put out any random license and people will still mindlessly buy it. "
Exactly also my view on the Lego sets in the recent years... I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking about this. I bet, those who have been for the past 6-10 years interested in Lego, should be able to see this 'weird' trend of released sets being less creative and more catered to display model types. Well, anyway, there are enough people who just wish to own a 'beautiful' or 'collection' or 'licensed' sets, and build just once for display. And these type of products either require licensing from existing brand, or making large cartoon shows to boost the theme's popularity.
I recalled the Atlantis having only 6 short clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLU23lpjIr8
And that is all is needed, to bring the whole excitement, when the sets are well designed. Those were the days.
Some people react disappointedly because they never got the set when it came out, but it can still be found around original retail price sealed or much cheaper used on the second-hand market.
@LegoDavid said:
"Remember that time when LEGO would explore all sorts of unique new creative ideas in stand-alone new original themes? Nowdays, everything just get shoehorned into Ninjago or City, which is pretty tragic IMO.
We just recently had a Ninjago UnderWater subtheme, and it was so underwhelming compared to Atlantis...
Honestly, I find it hard to continue being a LEGO fan with the direction LEGO has been going in the past few years, which only gets worse and worse. Like many other companies before them, I guess just they just became a victim of their own success... They no longer need to be creative and come out with new unique ideas, because now they can just put out any random license and people will still mindlessly buy it. "
Yeah, I remember- Chima, Nexo Knights, Hidden Side, even Vidiyo- all recent in house themes, creative and unique. But as always, it goes down like this:
Afols: We want original, new, non licensed themes from lego!!!
Lego: makes new, original, non licensed theme.
Afols: yeah, but not this!!!
Bought this set in 2017, on Bricklink :)
It's a good set! I love how the bottom opens out.
Wow, I just finished building a nanoscale version of this set when I checked up on Brickset! I made a prototype a while back as part of a big underwater diorama, but due to on-hand part restrictions it had some inaccurate proportions which have now been corrected. I also did nano versions of 8059 and 8060, the holy trinity of Atlantis subs if you will (got the full-sized ones as well).
Speaking of, this theme had such a big impact on my LEGO collecting journey! It was one of the first themes I really, really got into and I've been slowly growing the collection ever since. I'm currently only missing a handful of the 2010 sets which I'm sure I'll acquire at one point as well. Fortunately, this theme's prices have remained surprisingly consistent since its discontinuation, often even reaching well below the original retail price on used copies in like-new condition.
@Brickchap said:
"My favourite Atlantis set was the one with a Greek/Roman temple in ruins and I believe there was a strange golden sea creature warrior. "
7985
I had thee Atlantis sets, but not this one. Some of the monsters and minifigures from the range are still in my display collection. I got the gold minifigure from 7985 on the secondary market.
Always loved the City science/adventure themes, and Atlantis is up near the top! The big mothership / command centre sets like this one especially so.
Just wish Lego would put more focus back into their own IP, they just seem to want licensed partners for everything these days.
I love Atlantis, wish I got some sets back when they were available.
Great choice by huwbot. See also my comment in the 'random part of today' topic.
I also got this neptune carrier still sealed to build in the next couple of weeks. As a matter of fact, i got 5 more Atlantis sets, after I built 7 of 'em some years ago, to complete the story and my Atlantis collection. Besides this carrier, the 2 best sets in the theme are among those 5: the portal to Atlantis AND the temple of Atlantis! I guess that makes up for a good final of the story.
Looked it up. The 2 sets are actually called 'the portal OF Atlantis' and 'CITY of Atlantis' :)
Although I fully agree on the scarcety of fun in-house themes, Atlantis in particular isn't entirely free from the trend.
It's actually a first step to Ninjago's tv show. They released a mini-movie for the theme that pioneered the animation that would later be used for Ninjago. Besides that Lego tended to make 'big bang' themes for a while at that point. These themes include Nexo-Knights, Chima, Ninjago, Atlantis, Power Miners, Exo-Force, Knights Kingdom II, and Bionicle and were characterized by a bigger media push and marketing covering than other themes.
That said... they were fun because of their quality as toys, not only because of the media backing. I actually like a lot of Ninjago for the same reason, but you can't deny that the last few years Ninjago and City absorbed the fun original themes and put a samey jacket of the themes' tropes over them.
And even when they include more off-beat concepts like jungle exploration, space exploration, underwater themes etc.... there's only so many sets in those two themes each year. At this point Friends is sometimes a better place to look for different set concepts.
I miss the sheer diversity of yesterday. Now there still is -even moreso than ever- but not much is available at lower price points. A large proportion of sets with effort put into them (e.g. not a vehicle with 2 action features or less the size of a building) are immediately in the highest price brackets. Monkie Kid in particular is awful in that each wave is almost completely comprised of flagship-sized sets!
@thor96 said:
" @LegoDavid said:
"Remember that time when LEGO would explore all sorts of unique new creative ideas in stand-alone new original themes? Nowdays, everything just get shoehorned into Ninjago or City, which is pretty tragic IMO.
We just recently had a Ninjago UnderWater subtheme, and it was so underwhelming compared to Atlantis...
Honestly, I find it hard to continue being a LEGO fan with the direction LEGO has been going in the past few years, which only gets worse and worse. Like many other companies before them, I guess just they just became a victim of their own success... They no longer need to be creative and come out with new unique ideas, because now they can just put out any random license and people will still mindlessly buy it. "
Yeah, I remember- Chima, Nexo Knights, Hidden Side, even Vidiyo- all recent in house themes, creative and unique. But as always, it goes down like this:
Afols: We want original, new, non licensed themes from lego!!!
Lego: makes new, original, non licensed theme.
Afols: yeah, but not this!!!"
Hey, don't blame me for that! I personally liked and bought sets from all of those themes you mentioned.
Oh look, it’s my childhood!
One of the biggest sets I got when first coming back out of my Dark Age. I loved the Atlantis concept and really liked this one, which was the main ship in the accompanying media.
One thing I was surprised with this set (but also generally) was how much system sets relied on Technic pieces, in the past they didn't tend to but here they used Technic panels to create the angled shapes.
Man, I love Atlantis.
I really liked the Atlantis theme, but I wish there were more 'capital ship' subs. LEGO has a habit of making big, cool ships and subs that only hold one or two minifigures.
Atlantis (and most diver themes) needed something like the underwater equivalent of 6985 or 497 and 924. 8077 half-way fits the bill.
My favourite Atlantis set, this is one of the sets (and themes) that pulled me out of my dark ages.
Love this one so much that I actually own three of them, though I think two are still unopened. Still think this one looks terrific compared to LEGO sets of today, not something that can be said for a lot of other 2010 sets.
@LegoDavid:
Remember what, today? Tomorrow? They never stopped, but what we increasingly see is people whinging about how they never make creative new themes anymore, and how TLG should stick to remaking all the themes they previously liked.
@T79:
A lot of deep sea exploration has shifted to ROVs, with the explorers in relative safety on the surface. I once watched something focused on Bob Ballard, where he was talking about using “empty beer cans” to find ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, figuring out how to locate the Titanic, and discovering “black smokers”. The undersea volcanic vents kinda pushed him to rethink his whole operation. Nobody knew these existed, so he’s down in a 2-man sub when he first spotted them. They started gathering as much data as they could, and one thing they tried was to reach a temperature probe out into the vent column. It melted. They immediately started to back up, but the convention current was stronger than their propulsion system, so they kept drifting closer. Ballard turned to his partner and asked what the porthole was made of, and the other guy responded that it was the same stuff as the temp probe. I can’t remember how they managed to get clear of the vent without getting their hull melted open.
The other experience involves how deep sea submersibles maintained buoyancy. They looked sort of like a blimp, with a cabin suspended from a giant bladder that was filled with gasoline (lighter than water to provide buoyancy, but liquid so it wouldn’t be crushed flat at extreme depths. On one trip down, the bladder snagged on an outcropping and tore open, spilling gasoline into the ocean. Due to the extreme depths involved, they had to ascend slowly or risk getting the bends, but the longer it took, the less buoyant their sub became. He said there was nothing they could do except sit and watch their depth gauge on the way up, and depending on whether you were an optimist or a pessimist, there was enough variability in the readout that they were going to make it to the surface in time, or they’d start sinking back down short of recovery depth.
Finally, on one trip down, there was only room for one of them to look out the porthole, and he turned away from it to see his partner reclining and watching the TV monitor that showed what they were recording. That’s when he realized they could send robotic subs down and watch everything in comfort and safety on a monitor from the boat.
A good solid set. Very big M-tron vibes from the theme. IT always bugged me how the canopies were a new colour, and not trans neon green.
I picked this up at, I think it was a 50% discount at my walmart back in the day. I regret nothing!
I'm looking at this sitting on my shelf right now. This was a really good theme and I still haven't collected all of them. I'll have to fix that.
@Jack_Sassy said:
"I love Atlantis, wish I got some sets back when they were available."
You can still buy it on Bricklink. It's not much more expensive than it was before it was discontinued.
I liked Atlantis as much as I liked Space Police 3. They were beautiful original themes. I have a few sets from each theme. NinjaGo is good and all but don't see myself as the target audience for that theme.
Only got two small Atlantis sets, but I remember being really interested by the short film and the Gateway of the Squid set.
My favourite set of my entire childhood. I remember my mother really struggled that Christmas and we all could only get one thing, so I chose this which was half off at ToysRus.
Just last year I bougt a sealed copy under MSRP and I'm definitley gonna get 3 more, so I can have a fleet of 3 and keep one sealed for sentimental reasons.
This set is sitting in a bulk lot I purchased last year, waiting for me to build it!
Think I might get onto this, next weekend….
@Zordboy said:
"Good old Atlantis. I was never too keen on the submarines, but my gosh, I loved the giant sea monsters."
Closest thing to a Lovecraft theme well ever get probably.
Imagine carrying neptune...