Random set of the day: Highway Chaos
Posted by Huwbot,Today's random set is 8197 Highway Chaos, released during 2010. It's one of 18 Racers sets produced that year. It contains 142 pieces, and its retail price was US$14.99/£12.99.
It's owned by 885 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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51 comments on this article
This is chaos? He made a legal turn and going the correct direction of traffic through that toll. Unless he didn't pay, this feels like profiling against a sportscar enthusiast.
Not much of a highway, is it?
I like the color scheme on the civilian car. I've always liked blue and orange.
As a law student, I can confirm that car’s actions are perfectly legal. The distance between its current position and the lack of a damaged gate don’t indicate the car as speeding. In addition, it’s going the right way, and that turn is perfectly legal. Finally, the gate is raised creating a reasonable presumption that the toll was paid.
In conclusion, not chaotic at all.
@MCLegoboy said:
"This is chaos? He made a legal turn and going the correct direction of traffic through that toll. Unless he didn't pay, this feels like profiling against a sportscar enthusiast."
Turn signals are non-functional. Then again, so is the light bar on the squad car.
The Chaos aspect is that it is a one way highway, and to get back you have to buy a completely different set.
For some reason, the "Down Town" sign is the most amusing part of this whole scenario, and I can't quite figure out why.
Is this the new Harry Potter Hogwarts Driving Moment?
Makes sense if Voldy was in the squad car.
This set has more than two problems.
Man, I loved these little fold-up roadway sets as a kid. Two racers, a roadway, and a bunch of mini builds, all with a convenient place to store them!
That is not I-495
I can only assume the blue car is trying to fool the cop and the toll booth by backing through the gate. Chaos indeed.
@Zordboy said:
"For some reason, the "Down Town" sign is the most amusing part of this whole scenario, and I can't quite figure out why."
I don’t know how it works Down Under, but here the arrow should point up if it’s telling you that “downtown” is in the direction you’re headed. Oh, so I guess these must be Australian street signs!
Add set 8198...why...so you can have a "Hiiiiiiighyway to Hill..."...:D
@Sandinista said:
"That is not I-495"
Nobody can properly re-create the highway chaos of the intersection of I-495 and I-90.
@Robot99 Yeah they were excellent sets for kids. Similar idea to Matchbox fold out play sets. I'd love to see some of the ideas from these sets remade in minifig-compatible vehicles.
It was also fun how different cars almost captured different personalities, for example the cars breaking the law looked like young-Idontgiveadamn- types, then you had like ordinary civilian cars, aggressive looking trucks etc.
Lego had such great ideas for sets and themes around that time. Sadly as The Riddler in Lego Batman DS game says "NOT ANYMORRE!"
Ganz Toll.
What a chaotic way to start the day...
@Zordboy said:
"For some reason, the "Down Town" sign is the most amusing part of this whole scenario, and I can't quite figure out why."
Because it’s pointing in a direction where there is no road, suggesting “down town” is literally underground?
The boxes from this theme are a good, cheap way to make a Lego road, bridge, dock etc without using baseplates or thousands of pieces. I used several of them for a Star Wars Correllian Docks scene
Madness!
This was actually my first set ever!
Another great (and imho underrated) theme that happened during my dark ages.
Gives me certain Hot Wheels / Matchbox vibes.
I'd say a return of Racers would be a welcome one.
The line reminds me a lot of Matchbox's "Micro Motor World" from the early 90s. Did anyone have these?
Should be called 'T-Junction Trouble'...
OMG I had one of these back in kindergarten. I vividly remember there was a LEGO pop-up store selling sets on clearance from a warehouse, and my mom was paying for 3221 LEGO City Truck when I noticed this one so I asked for it as well.
2nd random set, that I own, in a row. I bought this with my own money when I was a little kid. And I still have it! Unfortunately the stickers tend to loosen up and eventually fall off. Loved the idea of these sets but you really need to bend these boxes many times to make them flexible. Otherwise they will fold halfway. I’m just worried they’ll snap one day when they’ve been bent so many times
@PurpleDave said:
" @Zordboy said:
"For some reason, the "Down Town" sign is the most amusing part of this whole scenario, and I can't quite figure out why."
I don’t know how it works Down Under, but here the arrow should point up if it’s telling you that “downtown” is in the direction you’re headed. Oh, so I guess these must be Australian street signs!"
Even more bizarrely 8198 also has a sign and it points up. Wonder if they had a department that just did Stickers..... Sets ready everyone, just bung some random stickers on it would you......
Down Town must be underneath the table/shelf this set is displayed on.
I never realized how many stickers you needed when setting up a toll and not one mentions the price. Do you really need a no entry sign when it's impossible to squeeze your vehicle between the narrow posts?
I always wondered why the roads had Technic connections rather than studs, possibly more secure although does look more like an alternative manufacturer trying to avoid copyright infringement.
The blue car needed to make a turn because the employee at the toll office messed up and wasn't able to fully open the gate. That must be the chaos. Or the chaos starts when the base plate is folded up into a box. The Highway part still puzzles me. It must be just outside of the set.
@Zordboy said:
"For some reason, the "Down Town" sign is the most amusing part of this whole scenario, and I can't quite figure out why."
Dooooowntown! Things will be great, when you're dooooooowntown! No finer place, for sure! Doooooooowntown! Everyone's waiting for you!
I'm a Tiny Turbos fan til this day, still.
These small vehicles definitely gave me a Hot Wheels vibe and they were the only sets I bought as a pre-AFOL. My Dark Ages were coming to a close in 2005 as I reconnected with LEGO on a trip to Disney World in '06. This line combined 2 of my favorite childhood toys, LEGO and Hot Wheels.
I had already purchased some Tiny Turbos the year prior and remember thinking there were a lot of parts I didn't have as a kid and that these sets had a lot of stickers for such a small set. I wasn't fully on board as an AFOL. The Tiny Turbos were a curiosity at the time. Their cheap price gave me an inexpensive way to see what LEGO was up to at the time.
My first MOCs were of Tiny Turbos and this line is missed. The Speed Champions polybags kind of feel like Tiny Turbos though.
@Brickchap said:
" @Robot99 Yeah they were excellent sets for kids. Similar idea to Matchbox fold out play sets."
Matchbox, that's what it was. I was going to make a comment that I didn't mind that the idea was a blatant ripoff of Matchbox, but I couldn't remember the right brand name.
The price at the time wasn't as bad as I remember. Those cars were also sold for about 5 euro each, so having two plus some accessories plus that ramp part isn't too bad!
@Brickchap
"It was also fun how different cars almost captured different personalities, for example the cars breaking the law looked like young-Idontgiveadamn- types, then you had like ordinary civilian cars, aggressive looking trucks etc.
Lego had such great ideas for sets and themes around that time. Sadly as The Riddler in Lego Batman DS game says "NOT ANYMORRE!""
There's even a 'wanted poster' in the 8199 Security Smash set that literally just has an image of the truck in that set. As if the truck itself is the robber!
And yeah, when was the last time we even got a new original theme (that wasn't made a subtheme of Ninjago, City, Friends or Creator?). Vidiyo only partially counts as that was licensed with Universal Music. I hope the rumored Dreamz subtheme isn't going to be the only one this year.
Creator aside, themes like this show that not everything needs to be minifig compatible or scaled. I'd love to see a return of more mini models like this with playsets. We do at least have the great Speed Champion polybags but we could do with more.
Did these 'plates' connect to actual (road)plates at all? I'm only seeing the Technic-connection there, so I suppose it's possible, but did the dimensions correspond to system-plates?
I mean, okay, yes, the six- and eight-wide vehicles we're used to now would only be able to use these roadplates as driveways, and the 30-wide Ninjago-vehicles wouldn't even register this as an actual road, but work with me here for a second.
@Binnekamp said:
"The price at the time wasn't as bad as I remember. Those cars were also sold for about 5 euro each, so having two plus some accessories plus that ramp part isn't too bad!
@Brickchap
"It was also fun how different cars almost captured different personalities, for example the cars breaking the law looked like young-Idontgiveadamn- types, then you had like ordinary civilian cars, aggressive looking trucks etc.
Lego had such great ideas for sets and themes around that time. Sadly as The Riddler in Lego Batman DS game says "NOT ANYMORRE!""
There's even a 'wanted poster' in the 8199 Security Smash set that literally just has an image of the truck in that set. As if the truck itself is the robber!
And yeah, when was the last time we even got a new original theme (that wasn't made a subtheme of Ninjago, City, Friends or Creator?). Vidiyo only partially counts as that was licensed with Universal Music. I hope the rumored Dreamz subtheme isn't going to be the only one this year."
Well, there was Hidden Side. It wasn't that well-hidden, you might have seen quite a lot of it.
Today I learned the 6x6 tile originally appeared in a bunch of Scala sets in 1997/1998, then reappeared in 2009. I had never seen one until the modular Downtown Diner in 2018.
It must be the "Highway to the Danger Zone", as sung about by Kenny Loggins...
@Zordboy said:
"For some reason, the "Down Town" sign is the most amusing part of this whole scenario, and I can't quite figure out why."
Its literally a town called Down lol
@Robot99 said:
"Man, I loved these little fold-up roadway sets as a kid. Two racers, a roadway, and a bunch of mini builds, all with a convenient place to store them!"
Same! I had two and loved to combine them. Tiny Turbos was just a great theme. And a great online game on the Lego website!
@Murdoch17:
Better watch out for Pam drift-racing through the neighborhood…
@Ridgeheart said:
"Did these 'plates' connect to actual (road)plates at all? I'm only seeing the Technic-connection there, so I suppose it's possible, but did the dimensions correspond to system-plates?
I mean, okay, yes, the six- and eight-wide vehicles we're used to now would only be able to use these roadplates as driveways, and the 30-wide Ninjago-vehicles wouldn't even register this as an actual road, but work with me here for a second."
And still, no-one wonders if these boxes would work with the new road plates?!
-Literally- what I was doing, but sure.
@The1RealmShifter said:
"Same! I had two and loved to combine them. Tiny Turbos was just a great theme. And a great online game on the Lego website!"
Oh yeah I forgot that you could combine them! I think I had one (actually think I still have it tbh*), and my brother had like two or three. Combined with a few of our extra Tiny Turbos we were able to make a whole track across several envrionments!
*EDIT: Just checked, yeah still have it fully intact - Thunder Raceway and the matching Thunder Racer. Always wish I had more myself, but was still happy with the one little playset. :-)
@Binnekamp said:"
There's even a 'wanted poster' in the 8199 Security Smash set that literally just has an image of the truck in that set. As if the truck itself is the robber!"
It's clearly an ad for someone wanting to buy trucks.
The Racers sets released around this time were so interesting lol
I have 8124 Ice Rally, and even though it's probably one of the weirdest and most underwhelming of the "the box also functions as a racetrack" sets, the idea behind them was super innovative.
2010 also introduced those air pump ones that come with the air pump you smash down, as well as a special piece on the cars to integrate it. Those... weren't the best in function, but I feel like it allowed for an interesting design of the cars, almost looking more like RC cars.
@Ridgeheart said:
"And yeah, when was the last time we even got a new original theme (that wasn't made a subtheme of Ninjago, City, Friends or Creator?). Vidiyo only partially counts as that was licensed with Universal Music. I hope the rumored Dreamz subtheme isn't going to be the only one this year."
"Well, there was Hidden Side. It wasn't that well-hidden, you might have seen quite a lot of it."
I know, I actually like the theme quite a bit. It also ended in 2020.
@Binnekamp said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"And yeah, when was the last time we even got a new original theme (that wasn't made a subtheme of Ninjago, City, Friends or Creator?). Vidiyo only partially counts as that was licensed with Universal Music. I hope the rumored Dreamz subtheme isn't going to be the only one this year."
"Well, there was Hidden Side. It wasn't that well-hidden, you might have seen quite a lot of it."
I know, I actually like the theme quite a bit. It also ended in 2020.
"
One of the things comparing Hidden Side to Racers is these original themes (including the minifig scale ones) didnt rely on tech for play and fun. The sets like this one were as has been mentioned basically Matchbox cars but cooler because you could build them, and modify them, however you wanted. Then there were ones where you'd press the big air button and send them flying, pull back cars etc. I had a pullback one which had 'wings' that would fly up as it went zooming through the air.
Whereas Hidden Side did typical modern Lego: MuSt HaVe TeChNoLoGy. And surprise surprise it failed. The actual lego stuff from HS was fine, indeed I really liked how the builds were more sophisticated than City or Friends sets for example. But Lego forced an app into it (and did terrible box art) leaving customers confused and disinterested. Every time Lego tries to put an app or some sort of tech thing into a theme, it fails. I really wish Lego would focus on their strengths (i.e the System of Play and storytelling) and go back to the days when we had a whole bunch of original themes. Sure, some ideas may not work now or are already covered by other themes, but why does each new idea need to go straight into Ninjago? An underwater theme, sky pirates, racing/Matchbox type cars, Power Miners, a space theme, the list goes on, all really cool ideas that should be their own theme.
I don't even blame IPs, after all 2010 we also had Lego IPs (not as many as now) but back then Lego was able to have IPs, while still maintaining a great selection of original themes. I've never understood why that needed to stop. (and sure, maybe not have as many original themes but we can still have a few)
Good god, did it really end in 2020 already? Did something happen in the meantime that makes it seem as if the world and society came to a grinding ha-- ah, yes.
I enjoyed Hidden Side, even without the app-integration. It's not just that I'm old (although I surely am), it's mostly because my phone is a disgusting thing and I don't want it anywhere near my pretty, shiny bricks; bricks which spark joy in and of themselves.
Hidden Side was B-horror pulp, which I love so much. Bring me more pulp, bring me Monster Fighters, bring me Alien Conquest, bring me Adventures and Studio. I'll take Scooby Doo in a pinch, I'd love some more Goonies and I welcome the return of Indiana Jones.
But, no. An app for everything, and for everything an app. Some day, TLG will get it right. In the meantime, if they really want to milk another license - hey, how about that Wednesday Addams and her kooky family?