Overview:

I recently had some time to rebuild some childhood Lego sets, and this being my only Time Cruiser set I thought I'd start off with it. For those who don't have an idea what the Time Cruisers and Time Twisters theme was about, they were sets that basically were constructed of whatever parts Lego had overproduced or spares from discontinued lines, fitted into a cliché Back-To-The-Future-esque storyline, and were all vehicles that "moved" to signal the movement of time. This meant two things. One, they were ugly on the eye. I mean, some look like they couldn't even have been featured on the MOC section of "LEGO4KIDZ" or something. Two, they were chock full of parts that otherwise wouldn't be obtainable together in a single "normal" themed set. 6497 featured great Castle parts and a ghost to boot. 6493 had great headgear, accessories, hulls, a mast and airplane wings. 6494 was the granddaddy of them all, even giving you baseplates for kicks. This theme has to rank as one of the most bashed-on themes I know, but I don't think it's all that bad.

Minifigures and Parts:

The minifigs are okay. The Professor still cracks me up, a great head and torso combination. Timmy has the looks of your typical Timmy. They just might be able to fit in your local City collection, but not much potential otherwise. A monkey is always welcome.

The parts were simple, mostly gray elements. Some rare/useful elements include the engine, "time travel" umbrellas, propellers jet engine, dragon wings, and an assortment of hats. Some Technic pins, rods, and wheels round out the set. This set doesn't have as many awesome parts as the previously-mentioned sets, but still a solid inventory.

Building Experience:

The set doesn't take too much time, the only difficulty encountered was probably aligning the rubberbands correctly so the gadgets move without having to press down on the entire vehicle. The pic pretty much gives you a full view of the machine. A cart is pulled along to store all the hats. When the front wheels move, the time-twisting umbrellas on the side move along with the propeller, made possible by the technic parts of the build. The cruiser seats two, and seems to have enough horsepower, running on wings, jet engine, propellers and a fire-spewing front engine. Average build, not many surprises.

Playability:

It's fun to see the vehicle in motion, as the movement of parts really capture the insanity and disorder of the theme. Otherwise I don't see anything appealing, even to kids, except maybe changing different hats to make-pretend? Which would mean you need Castle+Pirate+Space sets to make it all fun.

Price:

I wouldn't pay more than USD$15 for this set now. I don't remember how much I got this for, but I hope it wasn't over $20. The only things that are possibly valuable/rare are the minifigs, and even they aren't too pretty.

Conclusion:

Even though this set wasn't anything special, I still do not look down upon the theme. This set is just not the set you should buy if you're interested in Time Cruiser. Grab it for parts if there ever comes a cheap chance, but nothing to go scouring over the web for.

The "Time Cruisers" series have had some good sets, but this set in particular is really great. When the wheels move, the propeller spins and the side circles spin to. The set even comes with a cart full of different time period hats. now for the pros and cons:

Pros:

-good minifigures and monkey

-very rare pieces

-nice building exprience

Cons:

-the propellers rubber band comes of easily

-only worke on smooth surfaces

The Hypno Cruiser is a good set and if your looking for a playable set with rare pieces.

gordi99 out :)