I dunno if the whole age was golden, there were some very simple and some very expensive sets back in the day too, for example... And today we have realism, high level of details, much more diversity with the minifigs... But yeah, back then we had more sets that were the "whole package", what is getting less common, it seems...
I still remember when I got this as a christmas present from my parents. I actually remember a whole lot from that day; building it with my older brother and then running upstairs to play with it everytime there was a "pause" in the christmas celebraions. Even today I get filled with joy when I see pictures of the set, and now there's a great video of it. Thank you Jang and thank you patreons!
I remember absolutely begging my parents for this set. Never got it though. This was pretty much THE top-of-the-line city set back then, if I remember correctly.
That's a very satisfying set, it's probably the best of the 'old' harbour sets that you've reviewed before. It's surprising how much i like the cab truck even though it's so basic. 13:13 I bet Jang is really good at Arcade crane games.
This makes my soul happy, I remember getting this set for Christmas one year and spending most of the day building it. Thankyou Jang for showing this. Now, who has a complete copy of this set for sale...
One of my three sons got this set. We still have it with box and instructions. The winch on the front of the ship is not an anchor but used to tie up to the dock’s yellow peices. The pilot boat is for meeting the ship out of the harbor so that the pilot could transfer from the boat to the ship and pilot it to the dock. Thanks for a wonderfully informative review (as always)!
11:12 You're not missing the "1" sticker. There was only "2" and "3" in this set. Pier 1 was in set 6541 - Intercoastal seaport. The sets 6540 (Pier Police), 6541, and 6542 (all from 1991) are meant to be combined. 🙂
This is exactly the kind of set people point to when talking about how much "better" classic LEGO was compared to the stuff we get today. And this does look like a fantastic and complete play experience. Love it.
I was saddened to read your community post about haters recently. How can you not love this man? Such a bright light of the AFOL community. Cheers jang 😁
It's really fun to explore older Lego sets and see how things have progressed over the years, for the best or sometimes for the worst, but this is a very cool set, certainly one of the best of those times, not much could be improved on it, maybe ships that can float? Those would certainly be even better and add to the play value.
I still have that one you have and the large one in the review above and I remembered connecting the two docks together for more play fun. Then for even more play fun I placed a railroad siding beside the dock and used the yellow crane since it can swing around and I using it to load and unload from my ships to the train wagons and back again. I had so much fun running the cranes and the trains together loading and unloading all evening until I realized it was midnight when I had to stop.
Love this set! This really was a showcase of just how good the Town theme was in the 80s and early 90s. Stunning with so much value in the form of the sheer playability it had.
It's a beautiful set. I had it when I was a kid. It was the most expensive set I've ever had. Thank you for reminding me of many wonderful memories. 8:55 - When you put those pitchforks all the way down and lean them towards the cab, they'll hook up. I remember it worked this way.
This set looks great... and it is awesome, that they included "security"minifig, which we dont get nowaday sets...I love these cargo ships, I always wanted a cargo ship as a kid...great review!
Thank you Jang for the great review, and to the mysterious benefactor who shared their opportunity to pick the set. This set is just peak Lego to me, with such great play features, and I've got many happy memories of playing with it with my brother ❤️. It's now in my own Lego city as an AFOL!
I don't know they could have tried creating a friction system for the forklift prongs rather than the spring/elastic system. I don't know how well it would have worked though,
I actually just got my hands on some vintage 1980’s sets (including some classic space stuff for the first time!), so I’m becoming more interested in this era of Lego. Thanks for another great review Jang!
Very nice set. Gotta love classic LEGO. And yep, the Town stuff was good well into the 90s. It's funny I just noticed this, the modern ships seem out of scale to the old pirate ships. Though I suppose it's possible these were simply smaller cargo ships. :)
@3:30 - this isn't an anchor, but a hook so the container ship can be hooked to the pilot boat for it be guided into the harbour (at least that was my interpretation). I bought this set with birthday/Christmas money I'd saved up when it was on sale in a shop (pretty sure I was 10 or older, so it was at least a couple of years old by then). I've still got it, including the box, and still love it. I recall how enjoyable it was that every element functioned in a process (the pilot boat guides the ship, the crane lifts the cargo off the ship and onto the lorry, the forklift can remove the containers off the lorry). I also really liked the simplicity of the worker's torso print with the simple black anchor print on white, combined with black legs and red hard hat. The aspect I never really liked was the number of stickers used (the ones on the white container panels are now ringed with trapped dust 🤢), and those that stuck over multiple bricks have long since been peeled off and disposed of. This video has been absolutely delightful to watch - a fantastic set, one of my favourites.
Thank you so so much for reviewing this set. This set was the first big set I ever had and the first set my mum scrimped and saved by herself to buy me after my dad left us. It brings back so many memories of all the hard work she did to buy it and how much I played with it ❤️
This brings back lots of memories...of staring longingly at the pictures in the catalogues for hours, knowing that my parents could and would never afford to present me with a set like this. I was six years old at the time and sets like these were just to beautiful and desirable to be true! So yes, for me also: The first golden age of LEGO! Thank you for bringing us these occasional "gold nuggets from the past"!!
Great review. I like the pier made of baseplates. It ties the whole set together rather than having the individual elements floating around on their own. Thanks.
I loved this set back in the days and still have it (as well as the other harbor sets from the time). It was nice how you could connect the yellow crane set, the harbor police and the yard harbor to it and have the one entry point from this set for them all.
Underrated aspect of the unusual little hitch mechanism for the tractor-trailer is the fact that it so seamlessly allows for the vertical pivoting to drive up the ramp. Not something you'd be able to do with some of the trailer systems Lego's done over the years. Really like the playsets from this era, reminds me of a town version of the Imperial Trading Post pirates set, has everything you need.
I love this set. I did not own it as a child, but I had it's little brother which had a lot of play time and memories. I bought two of these 6542 as an AFOL because I think it's such a great set and I have a goal of building an 80-90s era Lego City some day.
something I like to consider when evaluating a lego set is comparing the playability when compared to more recent sets. this set is way ahead of its time.
This is the set I wanted the most when I was young, and never received it. My wife disclosed that she, in fact, had it when she was little. She then told me that the pieces from it were mixed with other toys, such as Playmobil, and the set was never used as the set it was. Depressing. That cut deep! I used to look at the scene including this set in the 1993 Lego Catalogue (a booklet I still own) and would dream about owning it... nearly 30 years on, perhaps I should finaly acquire it and let my wife nowhere near it. Thank you for this review. Absolutely loved it.
So great that after all these years have you review this! So much appreciate your reviews of classic sets, and of course the supporters that enable it. Very interesting those roadplates, also used for the classic train station from the same era, would be nice to see you examine them in another video.
man I loved the ports sets they brought out that year, the Police Pier was so good and the smuggling speed boat. I wish I had more but alas, at least you could enjoy the catalogue with their wonderful scene dioramas.
I saved up all my money from my Christmas birthday and bought this set with my own money when I was 8 or 9 years old. I kept it in a trundle bed drawer under my bed with the International Jetport and the dock police. I found the box in my mom's attic in 2018, and some of the pieces, but not the crane, or the big boat. I have to hope they're in a box my brother took or perhaps somewhere else. I wish I took better care of my Lego after I stopped playing with them in/after high school. Love this set!
This was a lot of fun to watch! This was one of the first big sets my parents got me as a kid, and I always wanted to figure out some way to run train track under the crane as part of a bigger train loop. Maybe it's time to get this set out of storage and give it another shot!
This reminds me of a fireboat set that I'd gotten back in the 80's. It came in sections that you could attach together (with ballast weights underneath) and would float. I remember thinking that it was such a cool thing as you could make ships as long as you wanted by adding/removing the "middle" sections. Much nostalgia with this set Jang...
I wasn't born yet in 1991 and therefore have no nostalgia for this set- but I can definitely see and *feel* the appeal behind it and can understand why there is so much love for 'old Lego'. And I agree that the price for it is pretty much perfect.
I remember really wanting this set so badly, and also the second smaller harbour set that came out the same year that had a more classic crane design. Awesome review and re-visit to an old favorite set I never got to own.
I work for a cargo shipping line and I really admire how super realistic this set is. I also believe the white containers might be intended to be reefers = refrigerated containers for transport of food. That creates another playing opportunity as restaurants etc. are common among the LEGO City sets. I am only surprised that there is no Octan cargo also prepared for transport :-)
Those red blow-horns (like on the pilot boat) are so old school that when I got 4 of them with the Ninjago City Gardens I had to take a moment to sit in my nostalgia, lol!
This was one of the sets I always wanted as a kid! I never got the chance to get it, as it was way before my time. But I remember seeing it in my older brothers old Lego catalogue.
The first set with over a thousand pieces, if I remember correctly. Just a beautifully executed playset with more than everything you need. Could almost imagine it as the first UCS set!
Wow, this set really brings me back. I remember loving it. I think I still have some of the boat pieces in a bin somewhere, and those elevated road pieces were great! Unfortunately, their old stickers were the absolute worse.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Lego in this era had such a clean, beautiful aesthetic. Primary colors; minimalist detail.
This set is Fantastic....The true golden age of sets
I dunno if the whole age was golden, there were some very simple and some very expensive sets back in the day too, for example... And today we have realism, high level of details, much more diversity with the minifigs... But yeah, back then we had more sets that were the "whole package", what is getting less common, it seems...
I still remember when I got this as a christmas present from my parents. I actually remember a whole lot from that day; building it with my older brother and then running upstairs to play with it everytime there was a "pause" in the christmas celebraions.
Even today I get filled with joy when I see pictures of the set, and now there's a great video of it.
Thank you Jang and thank you patreons!
I remember absolutely begging my parents for this set. Never got it though. This was pretty much THE top-of-the-line city set back then, if I remember correctly.
Really cool vintage set... Lego should do again this tipe of sets
Definitely, but it would probably cost upwards or $200 nowadays
For 1991 this is a pure gem! Thank you for such a nostalgic review, I wish there were more of these :)
Oh my gosh. My childhood! 🤗 Best regards from Poland man 🇵🇱🤟
Polish Jang fans UNITE :D
That's a very satisfying set, it's probably the best of the 'old' harbour sets that you've reviewed before. It's surprising how much i like the cab truck even though it's so basic.
13:13 I bet Jang is really good at Arcade crane games.
I got this as a kid and still have it, one of my all time favorite sets!
This makes my soul happy, I remember getting this set for Christmas one year and spending most of the day building it. Thankyou Jang for showing this. Now, who has a complete copy of this set for sale...
My favourite set from childhood. Thanks guys for bringing us this one.
One of my three sons got this set. We still have it with box and instructions. The winch on the front of the ship is not an anchor but used to tie up to the dock’s yellow peices. The pilot boat is for meeting the ship out of the harbor so that the pilot could transfer from the boat to the ship and pilot it to the dock. Thanks for a wonderfully informative review (as always)!
Fantastic choice, fantastic set, fantastic review.
All thanks to Crankybricks, Lego and Jang!
11:12 You're not missing the "1" sticker. There was only "2" and "3" in this set. Pier 1 was in set 6541 - Intercoastal seaport. The sets 6540 (Pier Police), 6541, and 6542 (all from 1991) are meant to be combined. 🙂
This is exactly the kind of set people point to when talking about how much "better" classic LEGO was compared to the stuff we get today. And this does look like a fantastic and complete play experience. Love it.
Oh the memories...one of the most great sets of its time
The details on newer legos are pretty impressive but I think there's something really compelling about the simplicity of a set like this.
Back when Lego sets used to be complete.
UCS, Ideas, Speed Champions, Technic, even more
I love the sunroofs on the trucks. Its so wholesome and cheery.
I was saddened to read your community post about haters recently. How can you not love this man? Such a bright light of the AFOL community. Cheers jang 😁
It's really fun to explore older Lego sets and see how things have progressed over the years, for the best or sometimes for the worst, but this is a very cool set, certainly one of the best of those times, not much could be improved on it, maybe ships that can float? Those would certainly be even better and add to the play value.
10 / 10. excellent video, amazing set that even for todays standard is good. That boat looks so good.
I always wanted that set
I have the smaller variant of this set, with the yellow crane and blue boat.
6541 intercoastal seaport matches perfectly with this 6542 and pier police 6540 as well
I also have that one, so many good memories
I still have that one you have and the large one in the review above and I remembered connecting the two docks together for more play fun. Then for even more play fun I placed a railroad siding beside the dock and used the yellow crane since it can swing around and I using it to load and unload from my ships to the train wagons and back again. I had so much fun running the cranes and the trains together loading and unloading all evening until I realized it was midnight when I had to stop.
This set is bonkers!! We need lego to make a set this glorious. But I never saw this retro set before I love it
Love this set! This really was a showcase of just how good the Town theme was in the 80s and early 90s. Stunning with so much value in the form of the sheer playability it had.
Ah the year i was born! Golden era of sets. Always looked into the booklets of my brother drooling for all these big sets. Amazing set!
The nostalgia is strong with this one!! Thank you very much Jang for the opportunity!!!!
I had the 2008 cargo ship, it was my first set ever and still one of my favorites. They don’t make em like that no more :(
Love seeing these old set reviews. Brings back memories. Thanks mate
Another set from the good old days🕰
It's a beautiful set. I had it when I was a kid. It was the most expensive set I've ever had. Thank you for reminding me of many wonderful memories. 8:55 - When you put those pitchforks all the way down and lean them towards the cab, they'll hook up. I remember it worked this way.
From a set from 1991 I am quite impressed on how tall and big it is
They had many big sets back then, but with less pieces and more "hollow" spaces...
amazing and so complete play set.
As an ex longshoreman (and AFOL), that is a really neat set.
Cool sweater Jang.
This set looks great... and it is awesome, that they included "security"minifig, which we dont get nowaday sets...I love these cargo ships, I always wanted a cargo ship as a kid...great review!
Nice lot of lego for $90 in 1991 - Equates to about $175 in today's monetary value.
And that is still less then what seems to be asked for this set on ebay (used).
Thank you Jang for the great review, and to the mysterious benefactor who shared their opportunity to pick the set. This set is just peak Lego to me, with such great play features, and I've got many happy memories of playing with it with my brother ❤️. It's now in my own Lego city as an AFOL!
My kids would drop all their fancy modern LEGO sets to play with this in an instant.
I don't know they could have tried creating a friction system for the forklift prongs rather than the spring/elastic system. I don't know how well it would have worked though,
Still better then the elastic bands they use today
I actually just got my hands on some vintage 1980’s sets (including some classic space stuff for the first time!), so I’m becoming more interested in this era of Lego. Thanks for another great review Jang!
I think my grandma might have this set, she has kept a hold of my mom and her brothers old lego
Do check if she does.
Very nice set. Gotta love classic LEGO. And yep, the Town stuff was good well into the 90s.
It's funny I just noticed this, the modern ships seem out of scale to the old pirate ships. Though I suppose it's possible these were simply smaller cargo ships. :)
@3:30 - this isn't an anchor, but a hook so the container ship can be hooked to the pilot boat for it be guided into the harbour (at least that was my interpretation).
I bought this set with birthday/Christmas money I'd saved up when it was on sale in a shop (pretty sure I was 10 or older, so it was at least a couple of years old by then). I've still got it, including the box, and still love it. I recall how enjoyable it was that every element functioned in a process (the pilot boat guides the ship, the crane lifts the cargo off the ship and onto the lorry, the forklift can remove the containers off the lorry). I also really liked the simplicity of the worker's torso print with the simple black anchor print on white, combined with black legs and red hard hat.
The aspect I never really liked was the number of stickers used (the ones on the white container panels are now ringed with trapped dust 🤢), and those that stuck over multiple bricks have long since been peeled off and disposed of.
This video has been absolutely delightful to watch - a fantastic set, one of my favourites.
This would be a set where I could see the new road pieces being very useful, used as some kind of dock
Fantastic!
Thank you so so much for reviewing this set. This set was the first big set I ever had and the first set my mum scrimped and saved by herself to buy me after my dad left us. It brings back so many memories of all the hard work she did to buy it and how much I played with it ❤️
This brings back lots of memories...of staring longingly at the pictures in the catalogues for hours, knowing that my parents could and would never afford to present me with a set like this. I was six years old at the time and sets like these were just to beautiful and desirable to be true!
So yes, for me also: The first golden age of LEGO!
Thank you for bringing us these occasional "gold nuggets from the past"!!
This has got to be one of the absolutely coolest lego sets from the '90s. I would have loved this as a kid.
I remember Drooling over this set as a kid, The container Crane is STILL top notch.
I have the Lego emirates 1973 set from 1989. I love the old Lego sets.
I remember this set.. as a child i bought this masterpiece during holidays with my parents. I did not realize back then what a good childhood i had.
JANG’s videos serve as time capsules which help younger viewers to relive the memories of older LEGO sets through the reviews.
Great review. I like the pier made of baseplates. It ties the whole set together rather than having the individual elements floating around on their own. Thanks.
I loved this set back in the days and still have it (as well as the other harbor sets from the time). It was nice how you could connect the yellow crane set, the harbor police and the yard harbor to it and have the one entry point from this set for them all.
Underrated aspect of the unusual little hitch mechanism for the tractor-trailer is the fact that it so seamlessly allows for the vertical pivoting to drive up the ramp. Not something you'd be able to do with some of the trailer systems Lego's done over the years. Really like the playsets from this era, reminds me of a town version of the Imperial Trading Post pirates set, has everything you need.
I often think a lot of people are blinded by nostalgia for old Lego sets, but this is geuinely so good!
I love this set. I did not own it as a child, but I had it's little brother which had a lot of play time and memories. I bought two of these 6542 as an AFOL because I think it's such a great set and I have a goal of building an 80-90s era Lego City some day.
This is honestly one of the greatest sets I have ever seen
something I like to consider when evaluating a lego set is comparing the playability when compared to more recent sets. this set is way ahead of its time.
This is the set I wanted the most when I was young, and never received it.
My wife disclosed that she, in fact, had it when she was little. She then told me that the pieces from it were mixed with other toys, such as Playmobil, and the set was never used as the set it was. Depressing. That cut deep!
I used to look at the scene including this set in the 1993 Lego Catalogue (a booklet I still own) and would dream about owning it... nearly 30 years on, perhaps I should finaly acquire it and let my wife nowhere near it.
Thank you for this review. Absolutely loved it.
So great that after all these years have you review this! So much appreciate your reviews of classic sets, and of course the supporters that enable it. Very interesting those roadplates, also used for the classic train station from the same era, would be nice to see you examine them in another video.
I always wanted this set when I was growing up.
It was always the set I wanted the most
This is a truly wonderful set.
Was this not a very first Lego set in the history that sported 1000 pieces?
Nope, brickset.com/sets/SAMSONITE-14 1971-72 several sets over 1000 pieces (+ some DACTA sets and 5590 Model Team in 1990)
Some Samsonite LEGO sets from the 60s and early 70s went over 1000+ pieces, the largest one being a wooden box with 3,000+ pieces
One of the first Lego set and the first Town set with more than 1000pieces.
The first was model team 5590 in 1990
The best era of Lego. I had the blue ship set. Man how much time I spent playing with it...
man I loved the ports sets they brought out that year, the Police Pier was so good and the smuggling speed boat. I wish I had more but alas, at least you could enjoy the catalogue with their wonderful scene dioramas.
Sick
I saved up all my money from my Christmas birthday and bought this set with my own money when I was 8 or 9 years old. I kept it in a trundle bed drawer under my bed with the International Jetport and the dock police. I found the box in my mom's attic in 2018, and some of the pieces, but not the crane, or the big boat. I have to hope they're in a box my brother took or perhaps somewhere else. I wish I took better care of my Lego after I stopped playing with them in/after high school. Love this set!
One of the coolest town sets ever!
The Playability of this set is huge 😍
This was a lot of fun to watch! This was one of the first big sets my parents got me as a kid, and I always wanted to figure out some way to run train track under the crane as part of a bigger train loop. Maybe it's time to get this set out of storage and give it another shot!
WOO WHOOO!! classic set reviews! These are why I started watching your channel. So much nostalgia.
This reminds me of a fireboat set that I'd gotten back in the 80's. It came in sections that you could attach together (with ballast weights underneath) and would float. I remember thinking that it was such a cool thing as you could make ships as long as you wanted by adding/removing the "middle" sections. Much nostalgia with this set Jang...
This is a lovely little set! I always loved the shipping sets and my favorite videos on your channel are the updates to the dock area.
What a great set! Thanks for featuring it
I wasn't born yet in 1991 and therefore have no nostalgia for this set- but I can definitely see and *feel* the appeal behind it and can understand why there is so much love for 'old Lego'. And I agree that the price for it is pretty much perfect.
This was one of those sets I really wanted as a kid.
One of the few sets that I have to this day from my childhood...
This was my absolute favorite set as a kid.
oh need to get home to check if this is not one of the harbor set I had as child
I remember really wanting this set so badly, and also the second smaller harbour set that came out the same year that had a more classic crane design. Awesome review and re-visit to an old favorite set I never got to own.
I used to fantasize owning this a s a kid. The catalogue it was in was my favorite.
I work for a cargo shipping line and I really admire how super realistic this set is. I also believe the white containers might be intended to be reefers = refrigerated containers for transport of food. That creates another playing opportunity as restaurants etc. are common among the LEGO City sets. I am only surprised that there is no Octan cargo also prepared for transport :-)
Please review more of these old sets they bring so much joy 😃
Those red blow-horns (like on the pilot boat) are so old school that when I got 4 of them with the Ninjago City Gardens I had to take a moment to sit in my nostalgia, lol!
Sets were a lot more simpler but a lot more playable. Like life, Lego is very complicated these days and not as much fun
WORDS OF WISDOM!
Exactly... I like nowaday sets, but they lack in some departments...
This was one of the sets I always wanted as a kid! I never got the chance to get it, as it was way before my time. But I remember seeing it in my older brothers old Lego catalogue.
Had this and it was amazing. Between this the Spacetrain I had, I made a seaside town with a monorail system. Grand times.
One of my dream sets when I was young (in the end I chose 6081 - King's Mountain Fortress, which is absolutely adored as well).
Fantastic set, best era of Lego. Great review as always!
The first set with over a thousand pieces, if I remember correctly. Just a beautifully executed playset with more than everything you need. Could almost imagine it as the first UCS set!
big set
Wow, this set really brings me back. I remember loving it. I think I still have some of the boat pieces in a bin somewhere, and those elevated road pieces were great! Unfortunately, their old stickers were the absolute worse.
Fantastic set Jang, when I saw the thumbnail I thought it was gonna be a 2021 set...Impressive!
3:19 I really like that feature you could probably turn it into a oil ship or maybe a oil rig
Nice review, of a nice old set... it would be nice to see an updated version of this set.
A friend of mine had this when we were kids. Really cool set!
This was my favorite set as a kid, saved up for a while to buy it. Still have it, missing a few pieces but probably 90% complete.