On White Whales

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Lettuce
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On White Whales

Post by Lettuce »

I've seen a lot of talk on r/lego lately about people finally getting their "white whale". The term white whale comes from the book Moby Dick, Captain Ahab was so obsessed with killing Moby Dick (the white whale) that it became his life and eventually it in turn killed him. In language nowadays, it has come to be a literary allusion, referring to something you obsess over to the point that it nearly or completely destroys you. An obsession that becomes your ultimate goal in life; one that your life now completely encircles and defines you.

In our community, I know Keith had his own white whale for a long time, set 6989, the M:Tron Mega Core Magnetizer. That seems like a legit thing to call a white whale. The kind of posts I've been seeing on reddit lately though have people saying they "finally got their white whale" because they got a set that was out 5-10 years ago, a large current set, and recently even for a Series 2 Batman Movie CMF. The term is being seriously misused. rotflol

It got me wondering though, what sort of sets or minifigs are we all after? Do anyone here have that one thing on the top of your want list that you've wanted forever but haven't been able to get your hands on?
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KenmoreThompson
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Re: On White Whales

Post by KenmoreThompson »

It was the mid-nineties. Every week or so my mother would alternate between driving to the local Zellers or K-Mart to buy socks or a mop or whatever it is that moms buy. Of course I would always beg to look at the toys, and every week I'd look at 6195 Neptune Discovery Lab. But it was $100, which was more money than I had ever seen in my whole life at that point. I'd ask mom to get it for me, and if I remember it correctly I'd occasionally sense her considering it, probably as a birthday or Christmas present.

But birthdays came and went and it never showed up. I got other toys that I was happy with, though, so after a while I'd go on those Zellers visits and tell myself that when I was an adult I'd buy it for myself. Because grown-ups can do that kind of thing.

Of course by the time I was making enough money to buy my own Lego the Aquanauts theme was long gone. But it is my intention at some point in the future to track down and buy one MISB or as close as I can manage.

Anyways, it doesn't really possess me. It's just an item high on my 'want' list with an added dash of sentimentality. But it's the closest thing I've got to a White Whale, I think.
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Re: On White Whales

Post by soundwave »

Kenmore i have a used non complete Neptune Discovery Lab with box. I'll bring it to an upcoming meeting if you would like.

My white whale (since i became an afol) would probably be the airport monorail set Set: 6399
although i think this one got away. I haven't actively hunted it for a long time. I was able to collect a decent amount of monorail over the years but never that set.

As a child I always wanted one of the town sets that came with the rolling garage doors. Whenever i was playing with someone else's Lego I would always find the pieces and assemble the door. Perhaps that foreshadowed my current job of selling garage doors. ...... :roll:
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Re: On White Whales

Post by JayKay »

For me there are two, the UCS Tie Interceptor 7181 and UCS Xwing 7191 from 2000. I know that I can scoop this up on bricklink or ebay but I wanted to unexpectedly find them at a good price at a con, VV or somewhere else.

I also want some of the classic space sets that I had as a child. I still have some of them put away in my crawlspace jumbled in with my childhood lego. I have yet to find the desire to dig through the crawlspace to get at my original stash to see what I have.
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Lettuce
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Re: On White Whales

Post by Lettuce »

JayKay wrote: I know that I can scoop this up on bricklink or ebay but I wanted to unexpectedly find them at a good price at a con, VV or somewhere else.
I think that's how I feel too. I'd really like to get my hands on the Statue of Liberty sculpture set, but I don't want to pay the current going rate for them. I'd much rather stumble upon a great deal or maybe just build it myself.
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Re: On White Whales

Post by DawnP »

I want Queen Anne's Revenge, 4195. I know it isn't that old, and I *could* just shell out the money for it, but I have this desire for it to come to me in a different way. I am *sure* that I will find the sails in some random LEGO lot that I buy for the store, and then imagine that I will joyously dig through the lot and find almost all of the rest of it, and then make a few small bricklink orders for absolute completion. That would be most satisfying. Although I want the set, just buying it outright wouldn't be the same.
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Re: On White Whales

Post by Kyler »

While a lack of room to display means I'm in no rush to find one, I would really like to have a UCS Imperial Shuttle one day.
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KenmoreThompson
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Re: On White Whales

Post by KenmoreThompson »

Kyler wrote:While a lack of room to display means I'm in no rush to find one, I would really like to have a UCS Imperial Shuttle one day.
Regret over missing the Imperial Shuttle is at least 30% of the reason I sprung for the UCS Slave I.
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Re: On White Whales

Post by AC »

The first sets on my wanted list were these three in the images. I have the station 6472 (octan station) as well as 1789 and have had them for years now. The thing is that having them and realizing that they are packed away and rarely come out has lessened my desire to hunt down 6915.
DD1C55E6-9F04-478A-8451-5A194C9284B9.jpeg
38B3909B-3A68-4129-9F6B-E255B21EFDE2.jpeg
21D66448-68E1-4278-BD4A-C78A22F31404.jpeg
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Kyler
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Re: On White Whales

Post by Kyler »

AC wrote:The first sets on my wanted list were these three in the images. I have the station 6472 (octan station) as well as 1789 and have had them for years now. The thing is that having them and realizing that they are packed away and rarely come out has lessened my desire to hunt down 6915.
I know the feeling.
While I ended up stumbling onto a 10212, the fact that I don't have a good space to display it once built is why I wasn't putting an effort into seeking it out.
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Re: On White Whales

Post by Ptrotter »

Mine was 8880 Super Car (https://brickset.com/sets/8880-1/Super-Car), from when I was in high school. I would look at it in the store at Sears and dream about it.

A friend of mine from school saved a bunch of money from birthday and Christmas gifts and was wanting to blow it on a large, cool Lego set because his brother got 8858 Rebel Wrecker (https://brickset.com/sets/8858-1/Rebel-Wrecker) and would brag about how big it was. I guess I got to live vicariously through my friend because he needed my help to build it.

Years later I got 8448 Super Street Sensation (https://brickset.com/sets/8448-1/Super-Street-Sensation), and it was pretty cool , but the shifting wasn't quite as slick, and it wasn't 4 wheel drive the way 8880 was.

I'd like to thank Bryan for selling it to me at BrickCAN in 2016 for a reasonable price. I thoroughly enjoyed building it.
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Re: On White Whales

Post by chump »

Back in the day, I almost had the 8448 for US$105 but hesitated and lost out.
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Re: On White Whales

Post by AC »

I have actually considered building a better, updated version of the Octan Station.
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chump
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Re: On White Whales

Post by chump »

Given how sets are today, that Octan Station is pretty decent.
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Re: On White Whales

Post by AC »

Very true. It is indeed one of the best octan stations they have come out with.
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