The Legendary 3033?

[Athos]

I was reviewing this thread:

http://www.classic-castle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=714

One of the questions was about "the legendary 3033." I am not sure what this refers to. I couldn't find any castle set with that number listed on lugnet, bricklink or brickshelf. All they had was a blue tub:

http://guide.lugnet.com/set/?q=3033

http://brickset.com/detail/?set=3033-1

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?q=3033

I can't imagine that a blue tub would be legendary, especially at classic-castle, so what set is being referred to? Is it a typo? Or is 3033 the alternate number for a set that isn't listed anywhere?

Steve

[Count Blacktron]

The best tub of basic bricks available at ALL United States retail shops, as I recall. 1200 pieces for $20, and often on sale in B1G1 events at TRU and Kmart back in 1998. Also the standard storage and sorting container for most of us collecting in those days. Sweetness, thy name was the 3033 Blue Tub.
http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/3033-1

[Athos]

Hmmmm... so it really was the blue tub. I thought it'd have to be the weetabix castle, or some other such set.

Steve

[stuifzand]

The Blue Tub
The best way to get basic bricks a few years back

[Bruce N H]

Hey,

Yeah, I've thought about revamping that poll, but haven't because it's such a history of this site. As others have said, in the late 90's that was the best way to amass a large collection of basic bricks, so by 2003 (start of CC) it was sort of the dividing line between those who got into the hobby a little earlier, and thus were ready to buy up multiples of this to create a large collection, and people who were more recent to AFOLdom.

IMO if I were starting this poll today I'd probably ask if people had the Yellow Castle, or maybe pick a series of five major sets ranging from the Yellow Castle to the MMV that sort of defined the development of Castle. Not sure what the others would be. Probably the Black Falcon's Fortress or the Guarded Inn, one of the larger castles from the middle era, maybe a Forestmen set.

As I noted, though, I'm reluctant to take down that stickied poll, since it goes back to near the start of CC and has had a large number of the active members reply. I also don't really want to have two stickied introduction poll threads. Or rewriting the questions six years into the poll also seems unwieldy.

For the record, I was probably about a year too late to the party to take advantage of those blue tub deals. I think at that point I'd retrieved my LEGO from my parents' basement and gotten a few sets on e-bay, but hadn't really dived into life as an AFOL yet.

Bruce

[Blueandwhite]

4425

Brick-for-brick, 4425 is one of the best values LEGO has ever produced. LEGO actually improved on 3033 in 2004 with 4425, a 2000 piece tub that was available in Canadian Wal Marts for $24.95. Needless to say, I snapped up a lot of these badboys when they were available. 10,000 bricks for $100 is crazy value! In retrospect I should have bought more. I'm not sure if these were available in the US though.

If only LEGO would produce more of these tubs today. I still yearn for a tub in newer colours (bley, reddish-brown, tan, dark green, etc.).

[Athos]

As others have said, in the late 90's that was the best way to amass a large collection of basic bricks, so by 2003 (start of CC) it was sort of the dividing line between those who got into the hobby a little earlier, and thus were ready to buy up multiples of this to create a large collection, and people who were more recent to AFOLdom.

Hmmm... that's interesting. I'd been into Lego for about 15 years prior to that set and firmly into AFOLdom by 1998, but never picked it up. Though I've never really been into the basic brick boxes, as I don't use a lot of those colors.

Steve

[davee123]

3033 was, in its day, prized for:

1) As noted here already, price/piece. VERY cheap. About a penny per piece, when most sets were about 10 cents per piece.

2) Nothin' but bricks. No plates, no slopes, no hinges, flags, or windows. All bricks. You could buy them up and have tons of filler material or building material, without being left with bunches of roof bricks or something that you didn't use.

3) Green. At the time, green bricks were still relatively rare. They were speckled in here and there in other sets, but they were still uncommon. And let's not forget-- this was before BrickLink, so if you needed green bricks, you had to buy them in sets. LEGO did have the relatively short-lived 5215 S@H set of green bricks a year later in 1999, but that was about 8 cents apiece compared to 3033's roughly 1 cent apiece price.

4) The tub. The 3033 storage tubs are awesome. All the new tubs have big fat studs on the top, and have raised portions in the bottom making them take up more space without using it. Plus, they bow out to the sides making them look chunky and friendly. The 3033 tubs (which matched other tubs of the day) were FAR better.

Back in the day, people would frequently ask each other how many of the 3033 tubs they bought-- I see 7 people on LUGNET who had 50 or more copies each-- truly monumental amounts.

In the end, it was a get-it-while-you-can item, although people who joined the hobby in 2001 or later (which is now the majority of fans, I'd guess) probably didn't hear much about how great it was, so it didn't stick out in their memories. Plus, it's not like it made a cool model or anything, so it didn't have much to make it stand out. So yeah, it's more like asking if you're an old timer or not. Sort of like asking if you scored anything in the Ames 75% off sale for Star Wars. Nobody now would remember what the heck that was, but it was a big hubbub at the time.

DaveE

[Tycho McKorley]

I remember that tub. I was a young pre-teen and teen when it was out, but even then I saw its value. It ranks highly on the list of sets I wish Lego would reintroduce, but we'll probably never see anything like it again. I remember a long time ago on Lugnet Lego explained that it was some sort of impulse set on which Lego made very, very low margins. *sigh*

[stuifzand]

I took a while before the tubs were sold in The Netherlands.
When they finally did, we Europeans already knew about them
In that days I also built Town, so the colours were very useful.

[OverLoad]

Ah, I remember this tub. I was lucky enough to get 2 of them as well a green colored tub, from which i don't know where it came from.

It was a very nice way to introduce me into the LEGO hobby way back in 1998. I'd wish they'd make more of them, even though there is PAB, it's not nearly as much.

[JoshWedin]

I believe it was originally in the poll as a joke. It confuses people. I still think its funny.

Josh

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Hmmm. Sounds cool I suppose, good price per piece value and all. I have enough basic bricks for my needs so I'm not sure I would have gotten many if I had noticed them though. Now if it were a nice 1000-2000 piece box of old grey or the likes now I'd be all over that.

Seems like if you wanted the real old timers asking about the early castle sets would be more an indicator, king's castle or the likes.

Heir

[davee123]

Seems like if you wanted the real old timers asking about the early castle sets would be more an indicator, king's castle or the likes.

Yeah, except it was written by Lenny, who joined the LEGO hobby in 2001 or so, when 3033's were pretty scarce (but still in demand, and still lamented). So my guess is he probably remembered that set more vividly because he managed to score two copies, and it was still discussed pretty heavily at the time.

I think the best way to drum up old-timers would be to ask something specific to the olde ways of ATL/RTL. Like, "have you ever participated in a text-based auction?" Or, maybe something about Ed Boxer's castle (not sure what to ask)? But it all depends on what you consider "old-timers", I guess.

Probably the better questions might be:
- When did you first start in the LEGO online community?
- What's your oldest LEGO set?

DaveE

[Aliencat]

Probably the better questions might be:
- When did you first start in the LEGO online community?
- What's your oldest LEGO set?

Where's the fun in that though?