Random set of the day: Lightning Streak
Posted by Huwbot,Today's random set is 4297 Lightning Streak , released in 2002. It's one of 27 Racers sets produced that year. It contains 20 pieces.
It's owned by 206 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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18 comments on this article
A non-traditional approach to streaking. That's 2002 for ya.
Those lower body parts were so weird.
Um... WHERES HIS BODY?? Back in my day minifigures were actually complete figures...
The wittle racer, awwww
My brother used to do something similar to this in some cases. If he built a spaceship but a minifig didn't fit (and he didn't want to rebuild it), he'd just stick the head on a jumper plate and put it in the cockpit.
Two years of these sets ... and today, we get this little guy.
2002 was gloriously weird
@xboxtravis7992 said:
"2002 was gloriously weird"
The early 00s, in general, were just a weird time to like Lego.
Lightning McQueen as a baby.
Is that feather on his helmet supposed to be a lightning streak?
Just went through the list of sets for that year. Lego's marketing (or set naming) department surely had a lot of fun back then...
Pretty basic, but at the end of the day this is a fully functional pull back racer. Sure, the minifigure is a weird stump of a thing, but it's functional- the car looks like a lego minifigure is driving it when in motion, and a full figure would look comical at this scale, like an adult in a kids gokart.
One great thing about this era of racers was the range of pullback motors of different sizes and strengths. There's potential for building play there, by choosing to replace this small/fast motor with a small/strong motor from another set, to meet the needs of the next race.
The Dollar Tree sells these junky little bootleg LEGO sets that use the same lower body piece.
I'm not sure about the longevity of the motors in these sets. I had two or three of them growing up--some stripped completely, others won't let a wheel snap on. Then add in that A: the front wheels are solid hard plastic in some sets (thankfully, not this one) and B: there is no real minifig; just the head, helmet, and stub.
With no minifig body it looks horribly like someone's just grafted a head onto a car chassis...
@Zordboy said:
" @xboxtravis7992 said:
"2002 was gloriously weird"
The early 00s, in general, were just a weird time to like Lego. "
I have a lot of nostalgia for that era though, it was my childhood with Lego; everything from the late 90's through the 00's brings a lot of nostalgia back for me. Some of its aged well like Bionicle did in my opinion; some of it like Star Wars and Harry Potter still influence Lego to this day, some of it was super unique like Rock Raiders, Alpha Team or Exo Force...
Then there was the plethora of weird Racers, Jack Stone and Galidor. Sometimes, I am tempted to get on Bricklink and snatch up the Galidor sets I didn't get as a kid to have a complete collection. Imagine that... I have a desire to collect Galidor of all things. Why? Mostly because it was so bizarre, somewhat terrible and off brand for Lego... and is all the more unique because of it.
@Brickodillo said:
"Is that feather on his helmet supposed to be a lightning streak? "
No, it is supposed to be a flame. It looks better from another angle because it's on a rounded surface.
@cody6268 said:
"I'm not sure about the longevity of the motors in these sets. I had two or three of them growing up--some stripped completely, others won't let a wheel snap on. Then add in that A: the front wheels are solid hard plastic in some sets (thankfully, not this one) and B: there is no real minifig; just the head, helmet, and stub."
The wheels on the pull-back motor had special grooves for the pull-back axles. This allows the axles to grip the wheels when excerting force. Normal wheels won't fit because of this.
@xboxtravis7992 said:
"2002 was gloriously weird"
Yup. There's nothing quite like late 90s to early 2000s lego.
If that tiny body had appeared in the '70s rather than the '00s, it might have been more widely accepted, and provided a way round the need to enlarge nearly all the vehicles in early Town sets. Then again, it may not have been as good as what we got.