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35 comments on this article
Before the picture loaded I was trying to remember when Han Solo piloted a submarine
I’m surprised it’s 25 pieces even!
It's big, it's chunky, it's from the late 90s, and I absolutely love it.
@Quinnly said:
"I’m surprised it’s 25 pieces even!"
25 is an odd number.
Reminds me of the 6109 / 6140 . One of those came with a giant stingray piece. I only know that because I have two of them!
A nice little set with a very cool minifig! Argh I wish chrome pieces would return. After all, we have chrome gold for swords rings and coins so why not bring back chrome silver?
I'm also surprised how little Lego uses different coloured transparent pieces for windshields and so forth. Nexo Knights revived them to some extend but I feel like they would be really popular with kids.
Have you got what it takes to be a Solo man?
What a piece of junk!
@MeisterDad
I like how 6140 is just "Crab"
Solo? Sure looks like that sub isn't alone to me. It has that Hydronaut for company.
@Hungary:
It’s also a little square.
The backgrounds on these box arts were always so pretty. Satisfying shading and textured surfaces. Nice and calming...
Considering the large over-specialised black piece in this set, wouldn't that be a precursor to 4+ sets?
Um, dude? You might want to aim your harpoons forward, so you can see what you're firing at.
I know this set is probably a bit of a target -- because it was the late 90s and it's not complicated or enticing as a build, given the majority of the sub's bulk is two pieces, the view-screen and the cockpit-body.
But I adored this set, as a kid.
This set was the only one I picked up, from the second wave of Aquazone. I loved the transparent dark green, and the chrome diving vest, they were both really cool, but the real winner for me was the minifig. These were the hydronauts, right? I loved this little guy. He wasn't the cheerful, smiley-faced Aquazone sub pilot (with their bright expressions and hints of red or dark hair), there was something threatening about him, something foreboding about his face. It made the character wonderfully ambiguous (particularly when the villains here were the outrightly-inhuman stingray creatures).
And that really resonated with teenage me, who was still collecting Lego but not much anymore.
@R1_Drift said:
" @MeisterDad
I like how 6140 is just "Crab"
"
This was before the US and UK names were synced. 6109 Sea Creeper was the US version; the UK catalog shows 6140 "Stingray Crab", 6160 "Stingray Lobster", and 6198 "The Stingray".
And this RSOTD was called "Aquanaut Skewer" in the UK.
Never quite got why he has harpoons pointing backwards from his diving suit. The lights pointing forward I understand, these guys were clearly more deep sea than the previous Aquazone run, but if you're going to have harpoons why are they pointing behind you where you can't aim properly? Are they supposed to be a stand in for propellors?
It looks like a black chair with a green jewel sitting in it.
Huw on a roll 2nd Aquazone (wave 2) set in a month time.
Sadly never bought any since I allready had most sets from wave 1
@lotographia said:
"Before the picture loaded I was trying to remember when Han Solo piloted a submarine"
I first thought it was a single sandwich.
Ah, the Hydronauts/Stingrays. It took me about 9 years before I learned that these existed because in 1998 I never visited a shop. And for whatever reason I had no 1998 catalog. Most other 1998 sets I learned of due to a bit of lego history: at the time even the small sets came with an A4 sized pamphlet showcasing the major sets of themes. These faded away in 2006, soon followed by the alt builds on boxes. In the 90s you also had tiny full catalogs that came in larger sets, but I don't know when those ended because my last big MISB set was from 1997.
I remember seeing the original adventurers sets, some of the ninja line, the technic sets... but the sets I got didn't advertise these newer aquazone sets.
This Aquazone wave still kind of feels weird. You had your first wave in 1995 and 1996 (I didn't notice and thought it was one wave). Then the even more obscure Aqua Raiders that only came out in the US in 1997, but nothing over here of the sort for a year.
And then in 1998 they ditch the smiling cocky minifigs for these unusually masked ones, with the Stingrays not even being human anymore. And this cockpit piece became ubiquitous for only that year, never to be used anywhere else again. It's still a bit strange to think so many molds and prints could exist only for this one subtheme without my knowledge.
And yet, some of the Stingrays' printed slopes and tiles made it into the 1999 Star Wars sets and the 2001 Life on Mars sets (7310). And the hydronaut helmets became used for Space Port in white in 1999, and again in chrome blue in 7315 Solar Explorer in 2001. But if you didn't know, these weren't clearly tied to this subtheme.
I mean, I didn't think this was much of a set even back then, but I remember it being the only one I could afford as a kid. Eventually got one of the Stingray sets and this little guy was way outclassed, hah.
@Aramor said:
" @lotographia said:
"Before the picture loaded I was trying to remember when Han Solo piloted a submarine"
I first thought it was a single sandwich."
The ‘submarine’/‘sub’ sandwich is named after the undersea vessel on account of its shape. ‘Sub’ - or more rarely ‘submarine’ - has become a polysemous homonym.
Solo dom sold separately.
@Brickchap never mind the chrome silver! This one has the even rarer chrome blue! Not bad for such a small set eh?
@TheOtherMike ,
@Brickalili said:
"Never quite got why he has harpoons pointing backwards from his diving suit. The lights pointing forward I understand, these guys were clearly more deep sea than the previous Aquazone run, but if you're going to have harpoons why are they pointing behind you where you can't aim properly? Are they supposed to be a stand in for propellors?"
You see that grey headlight brick on top of the sub? You can mount the pack there. Now the harpoons are on the front and the lights are at the back, not unlike thrusters. Is it a great design choice? Not really. But at least they squeezed as much functionality out of those few parts as possible. And at least there's somewhere to put it when he's in the cockpit.
"I'm diving solo, I'm diving solo..."
Solo Sub? What, did the sub not have a first name? Was it all alone when the names were being handed out?
Probably the lazyest build of my old collection. This thing is extremely poor compared to previous small aquazone sets. The only good thing here is the figurine
Ah still have the parts for this set. Very nostalgic.
I built a small army of the Hydronaut minifigures as my Space Marine Corps. They're the best angry looking yellow headed minifigures ever.
@Zander:
That was the only one I was able to guess as a kid. I later learned that “grinder” came from WWII shipyards on the eastern US seaboard, as the people who would grind rivets flat would eat them for lunch. I have long wondered if “hero” is a bastardization of the Greek “gyro”, but I have no idea where “hoagie” came from.
@Binnekamp said:
" @Brickchap never mind the chrome silver! This one has the even rarer chrome blue! Not bad for such a small set eh?
@TheOtherMike ,
@Brickalili said:
"Never quite got why he has harpoons pointing backwards from his diving suit. The lights pointing forward I understand, these guys were clearly more deep sea than the previous Aquazone run, but if you're going to have harpoons why are they pointing behind you where you can't aim properly? Are they supposed to be a stand in for propellors?"
You see that grey headlight brick on top of the sub? You can mount the pack there. Now the harpoons are on the front and the lights are at the back, not unlike thrusters. Is it a great design choice? Not really. But at least they squeezed as much functionality out of those few parts as possible. And at least there's somewhere to put it when he's in the cockpit."
Oh is that how it was supposed to work? I believed I modified mine to just have two headlight bricks I could put the harpoons in all the time. Fit the UK name for the set better!
With modern prices this set would be like $10! Those large sub pieces probably cost around $2 each and the minifigure's sick chrome accessories might cost more than that! No wonder Lego was having money problems! Nowadays at least they try and make the cheaper sets more fun than this
The crown jewel of my Hydronaut collection. Or, I should say, my entire Hydronaut collection. And, growing up, it was this or 6125 that was my "largest" set in the theme.
As set design goes, this set is beyond basic: it almost shouldn't have instructions, just to provide the tiniest bit of challenge. But, for what it is (an entry-level, one man sub), it's not bad looking and it was as fun as any other sub in its weight class to play with. I do love the Hydronauts colour scheme.
Probably the weirdest usage of the large black 1998 cockpit/base thingy piece. In 6977 it kind of even works despite being a heavily juniorized element.
Anyways I really liked the dark green Futuron/Blacktron/UFO windshield and the chrome blue helmet^^ It's also kind of effective as an escape pod, if you ignore the complete lack of controls.
Mania Magazine calls the diver 'Crystal Miner'. At first I was not sure wether that's a name or a rank, since unlike the other 1998 Aquazone characters, there was no bio given. However the comic does confirm it as a name, as well as the fact that underneath the mask, this Hydronaut is actually female^^
@Atuin:
As an escape pod, maybe it would have automated controls. Or maybe they were advanced enough to have it read your mind and act accordingly.