As consumers descend upon stores everywhere for the annual Black Friday sales, let's look back at what holiday shoppers of yore bought for the little science fiction fans in their lives: 20 years' worth of Lego Space toys.
From 1978 to 1999, Lego regularly released lines of toys themed around deep space exploration. Lego Space was discontinued to make way for a decade's worth of Lego Star Wars sets, although the theme made a comeback this year with its third incarnation of the Space Police line. (You can see its flagship, the Galactic Enforcer, up at the top.) But for more than two decades, Lego continuously released more than 200 sets in its Lego Space theme, and that's what we're here to honor. Here now are some of the highlights. And yes, I'm pretty sure I've bought, built, and disassembled a good 60% of these.
Name: Space Rocket
Year: 1964
It's a little on the basic side, admittedly, but keep in mind people had only been sending real rockets into space for less than a decade. I'm willing to cut it some slack.
Name: Rocket Base
Year: 1973
Name: Moon Landing
Year: 1975
Name: Rocket Launcher
Year: 1978
Line: Classic Space
One of the first wave of toys in Lego's official Space line, the Rocket Launcher helped initiate two decades worth of space-themed sets.
Name: Mobile Tracking Station
Year: 1978
Line: Classic Space
Name: Space Shuttle
Year: 1979
Line: Classic Space
Name: Space Shuttle
Year: 1979
Line: Classic Space
Name: Alpha-1 Rocket Base
Year: 1979
Line: Classic Space
Name: Beta-1 Command Base
Year: 1980
Line: Classic Space
Name: Starfleet Voyager
Year: 1981
Line: Classic Space
Name: Mobile Rocket Transport
Year: 1982
Line: Classic Space
Name: Galaxy Commander
Year: 1983
Line: Classic Space
Name: Intergalactic Command Base
Year: 1984
Line: Classic Space
Name: Cosmic Fleet Voyager
Year: 1986
Line: Classic Space
Name: Polaris-1 Space Lab
Year: 1987
Line: Classic Space
Name: Monorail Transport System
Year: 1987
Line: Classic Space
Name: Battrax
Year: 1987
Line: Blacktron
After nine years of general Space sets, Battrax helped kick off the new Blacktron line. The next decade would be dominated by a steady rotation of different variations on the Space theme.
Name: Invader
Year: 1987
Line: Blacktron
Name: Renegade
Year: 1987
Line: Blacktron
Name: Message Intercept Base
Year: 1988
Line: Blacktron
Name: Alienator
Year: 1988
Line: Blacktron
Name: Stardefender "200"
Year: 1987
Line: Futuron
Name: Cosmic Laser Launcher
Year: 1987
Line: Futuron
Name: Space Lock-up Isolation Base
Year: 1989
Line: Space Police I
Name: Mission Commander
Year: 1989
Line: Space Police I
Name: Stellar Recon Voyager
Year: 1990
Line: M:Tron
Name: Mega Core Magnetizer
Year: 1990
Line: M:Tron
Name: Aerial Intruder
Year: 1991
Line: Blacktron Future Generation
Name: Spectral Starguider
Year: 1991
Line: Blacktron Future Generation
Name: Alpha Centauri Outpost
Year: 1991
Line: Blacktron Future Generation
Name: Rebel Hunter
Year: 1992
Line: Space Police II
Name: Galactic Mediator
Year: 1992
Line: Space Police II
Name: Ice Station Odyssey
Year: 1993
Line: Ice Planet 2002
Name: Ice-Sat V
Year: 1993
Line: Ice Planet 2002
Name: Deep Freeze Defender
Year: 1993
Line: Ice Planet 2002
Name: Saucer Centurion
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius
Name: Recon Robot
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius
Name: Robo-Guardian
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius
Name: Saucer Scout
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius
Name: Lunar Launch Site
Year: 1994
Line: Spyrius
Name: Monorail Transport Base
Year: 1994
Line: Unitron
Name: Star Hawk II
Year: 1995
Line: Unitron
Name: Crater Cruiser
Year: 1995
Line: Unitron
Name: Space Station Zenon
Year: 1995
Line: Unitron
Name: Explorien Starship
Year: 1996
Line: Exploriens
Name: Nebula Outpost
Year: 1996
Line: Exploriens
Name: Android Base
Year: 1996
Line: Exploriens
Name: Scorpion Detector
Year: 1996
Line: Exploriens
Name: Robo Stalker
Year: 1997
Line: Roboforce
Name: Robo Master
Year: 1997
Line: Roboforce
Name: Robo Raider
Year: 1997
Line: Roboforce
Name: Robo Raptor
Year: 1997
Line: Roboforce
Name: Warp Wing-Fighter
Year: 1997
Line: UFO
Name: Interstellar Starfighter
Year: 1997
Line: UFO
Name: Alien Avenger
Year: 1997
Line: UFO
Name: Arachnoid Starbase
Year: 1998
Line: Insectoids
Name: Celestial Stinger
Year: 1998
Line: Insectoids
Name: Bi-Wing Blaster
Year: 1998
Line: Insectoids
DISCUSSION
I love(d) Lego and had, quite frankly, a ridiculous amount. I was a huge fan of the underwater kits (basically pretty similar to the space stuff but with a blue and yellow colour motif). Once I owned every single possible piece of the underwater set my parents started buying the space stuff to add in. So in my little Lego world the Nebula Outpost and the Android Base were both used for underwater exploration.
There's a good chance I'll now spend part of Christmas break in my parent's basement, digging out all my old Lego.