oh man this is awesome. So many memories.

I remember when they brought out the floating boats it seemed like a whole revolution in Lego at the time.

Also does anyone remember the Lego Newsletter they used to mail out with all those pictures of what kids had made at home? When i was a kid I felt like I was famous because I got my picture in there after making a huge town center.

jayomatic

The best part was giving my daughter her first set of Lego's. She loves them and we build spaceships all the time.

Of course she hasyet to inherit dad's set. Yes, 25 years later I still have mine. Safely hidden from kids hands. Sad isn't it.

freakshow1

Anybody here remember the 2x4 and 2x8 plates that had metal coating underneath, and they conducted electricity from a small power box, to power lights? And the light piece bricks could twist one way and blink in different fashions, twist another and it would actually make a siren? It was a LEGO space kit. I can't remember which one.

scarbrtj

Had lots of those. Makes me feel uber old.

freakshow1

Millenium Falcon. Kaiser want. Kaiser want badly.

Kaiser-Machead

I hope they do reissues. I suppose that I am old enough to both justify the cost and the need to revisit my childhood- every day after work for the rest of my life.

DeadWriter

Wow, I had so many of the space and pirate ones. The pictures on the side of the box was always the aim though. Fuck instructions. I had two 30 gallon can things full of legos, and I bought the bulk blue kegs of legos any chance I could. [gizmodo.com] was a personal favorite though.

thechansen

I own like 6 or 7 of those space legos.

Rectangle

Truly an epic post. Well done.

mrrobotanger

Ahhh the memories. I remember starting out with Space and then Castle... I can remember opening them up on Christmas... as soon as midnight hit... LEGO TIME!

halfkorean

They didn't have special LEGO sets when I was small. About all you could get was different colors in different boxes. But I did have the LEGO train that worked on C size batteries. Oh, I also had some sort of gear/wheel set that came in its own box so maybe I did have a special set. Damn, I'm older than dirt.

DelosWorld

Yeah, memories.

I had the car, the Helicopter and this kit which turned itself into a giant 6 wheeled grader with rotating antenna (not pictured).

I still have it all (along with various other lego kits from the 80's) in a large container in storage.

NZRUSS

That 8880 Supercar Technic set gets my vote for "Best Ever."

[gizmodo.com]

Holy smokes, I mean it had a functional V8, all-wheel drive system with three differentials, a 4-speed functional gearbox, 4-wheel steering, 4-wheel independent double wishbone suspension, and the list goes on. The really amazing thing is that it had almost no custom pieces, which I've noticed seem to be all the rage lately.

I burned out a wheel hub running that thing on a treadmill to see how fast I could get the engine to spin up to... called Lego and they sent me replacement pieces for free. I still have the car completely put together somewhere in a box in my closet, it's pretty much my ultimate nerd trophy.

Somewhere in the basement of my parents' house is a large box with all of my old Legos, sitting next to a box full of Brio and a bunch of Construx. I'm saving them for my eventual future kid and they'll probably be the best things I'll ever give him.

Man this really did bring a flood of old memories back. Thanks.

FullFlava

Wow, this so brings back memories. Also makes me realize how many lego sets I had!

Silvadeus

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, there's a few missing - Mostly middle generation space sets!

[guide.lugnet.com]

[guide.lugnet.com]

I had both of these and adored them.

Crimson (PS3 ID Black--Tiger)

thanks for the memories, I grew up on lego space and technics... surprised you didn't put the first car in technics that had the boxer engine and the gearshift, it was so nice for the time :)

What dreams may come

Hey Jesus, did you ever finish that Star Wars Lego ship?

simpsons-movie-ruled

You know, I'm actually not a huge fan of the Star Wars ones. I mean, they're ok, but that's just a symbol of all the whoring that Lego did recently, like the Harry Potter ones. Ick. A bastardized version of castle.

Oneon1isto

I still have two giant Lego Technics vehicles, fully assembled. Eeeee!

Invader J

More often than not, my Legoland Town sets would inavertently be invaded and razed to the ground by any combination of Godaikins, Transformers, and/or GI Joes. Kinda explains why none of the sets I salvaged from the attic are complete.

jollygoodlad

Thank you Jesus. This is clearly your passion and forte.

May you be blessed.

Oneon1isto

WOWWW how nostalgic i am right now

thisbeatisbadass

Launch and Load Seaport. Hands down.

Ricky

I always thought the LEGO ninja sets were pretty freakin' awesome.

GuitarHero07

The Arctic Exploration sets were my Favourite. I remeber getting a big multi pac with a bunch in it really cheap once. It had a big treaded truck that pulled a trailer on skis, a big treaded snow plough, a sail/ski sled thing, and some form of base, i think. They were the best.

weggles90

damn i was a spoiled child....

eatmonkeygood

BTW: Surprised I didn't choke to death on a Lego...

sshrum

I'm pretty sure most of us had 6 to 15 of these sets (my vote is for the Technics Crane kit; I believe it was one of the first in the Technics line). Legos were quite expensive at the time. And I'm pretty sure that most of us with that many kits have 1 large box/bin with all the sets in them...in parts. :-p

God knows I do.

Aside: I can still see the teeth marks from my youth in some of the pieces from me trying to pry them apart with the only Lego dismantling tool any child needs.

sshrum

if i were to suddenly become exteremly rich, i would probably spend a lot of time reliving my childhood the way it should have been: with a rediculous amount of lego kits (particularly some of the technic stuff i was lusting after in elementary school... and middle school... and high school... and for the past 20 minutes...) and a killer slot-car setup. come to think of it, that would be cheaper than my dream car garage, so i wouldn't have to suddenly become THAT rich...

i don't actually have one favorite set, because we could never really afford the nice big ones, and i preferred making something using all the bricks i accumulated over a decade anyway...

smokyburnout

I was always a fan of city kits. And RES-Q for a while. And those NASA sets. And those Arctic ones. And...

Useless1998

thanks for bringing back these happy memories

RastaSega

One of my favorite which came out pretty recently is the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. A really really nice model. I love planes and I love lego so these go hand in hand.

Quadrophenia

Wow these pictures almost brought tears to my eyes...not to be overly sentimental but this really brought me back in time to the good ol' days when I dreamt of the space train set that neither me nor my parents could afford.

Thanks for the pics and story!

madchinaman

I love my LEGO Space Monorail

klew

@SCARBRTJ

I remember that one. I had that one and I think it was a white looking spaceship. It also had lights that would blink. It was kind of like the 6986 ship but all white and grey.

jayomatic

Where are my Blacktron Lego sets?

ghostofcharlesbronson

@FullFlava: "That 8880 Supercar Technic set gets my vote for "Best Ever.""

Agreed. I learned a few things putting that one together.

It wasn't just designed to look pretty, but to give an accurate Lego interpretation of the mechanics of an actual car. Great set.

someToast

I started with a red helicopter set as a gift from a relative. Then I got a big box of (mostly yellow & black) blocks and specialty pieces (my obsession was building and rebuilding a G-Force Phoenix). Eventually I had 3 or 4 of the original space sets.

I never realized how much the individual play-sets and models were part of the over-all Lego plan, but I always thought of it as a unimaginative alternative to raiding a big box of random blocks.

I still get little (and not so little) sets for X-mas; and as far afield as the Bionicle sets are, the little robot I got is rather cute.
I also have some Limited Edition sets Shell Gas stations sold for a while just a couple of years ago.

AdmNaismith

No Space Monorail Set? I'm hurt.

Szin

My favorite will always be the technic space shuttle. So many good times.

Melenor

the little merlin with the glow in the dark wand stole years of my childhood

sumosamkawasaki

Year after year, I asked Santa for the Lego Monorail (pictured here in the space series). I never did get it, and to this day still wish I had it. Of course it was $100, back then, probably equivalent to the millennium falcon now.

The scary thing is just how many of those sets I DID have. (And I still have every piece, all in one big bin in my basement!)

Hands down, Legos are the best toy in history. Happy Birthday!

jwardell

The first toy I remember playing with was 100+ brick Lego Duplo set that my dad bought me. It's actually my earliest conscious memory, of me at about 2 years old, the picture crystal clear in my head.

Never has anything influenced my life like Legos have. Being the only easy way to turn my thoughts into real creations, I was addicted.

My future kids will definitely be getting Legos.

I really hope they bring back the old style Pirates and Knights sets.

Tolgak

My favorite set is actually a fairly recent (2007) one: The Eiffel Tower.

It's three and a half feet tall, and at about 3,500 pieces it's the second largest LEGO set ever made (second only to the $500, 5,000-piece behemoth Millenium Falcon, natch). But that's not why it's my favorite set. Its tall stature probably makes it the most impressive set to display, and it uses mostly "regular" LEGO bricks. And it still looks real. Plus, I just love the Eiffel Tower, and $200 really isn't a bad deal for 3,500 bricks (in LEGO terms, that is) - if you like grey.

Gizmog

The best ever was a set that was given out at McDonalds in the late 80s with the "Happy Meals". There was a series of about 8 Lego sets, which each formed a cool little thing, such as a boat or a car racer or something.

HOWEVER, if you collected them all, they would all form this large ship thing (I never saw it fully assembled myself, I was missing a couple of the sets). If anyone else remembers, you'll agree this was BEYOND awesome, back when McDonald's had heart and gave out the good stuff :'(...

eduardjm

Arrr. The Black Sea Barracuda was my pride and joy. Still is, as a matter of fact. A couple years ago I busted out my Cardboard Box of A Zillion Mixed Lego Pieces and put that ship back together one-by-one! It took a week to sort through and find the pieces, but in the end I completed it 100%, not a single missing piece or figure. Even got the sharks, monkies and parrot... and the pirate wench girl!

LastVigilante

This post makes me realize how much my parents spoiled me with toys.... and they are good toys too. Happy Birthday LEGO!

thomasora

Back in the late 60's Sears was selling 5,000-piece bulk boxes of Lego for $20. I scored several such boxes. I'd build multi-story castles for my pet mice with elaborate mazes inside. The critters were evicted pronto though after finding several pieces of Lego destroyed due to nibbling. My daughter now plays with these pieces. I've not explained to her the real reason some pieces have yellowed. They're just old. Yeah, that's the ticket.

whootowl

hahah yessssssss Legoland Castle was my first set :)

Shockage

Thanks for this awesome look back at an integral part of my childhood. So much time engrossed in the glory of space lego! I'm now on a mission to go on a hunt at my parents' house and relive the wonder.

cheesebubble

I got the cargo center when I was five from my grandma, at that time it was already 12 years old, still have it, 28 years after production....wow.....

sprice82

@thomasora:

no shit! i have so many of the sets shown here. they have spoiled me. if i had kids it would be hard for me to plunk down all the hard earned cash for toys!

then again if my future kid would love lego i'm sure i'd be getting 2 sets of each, one for him/her, and one for myself. lol

diablofreak

I loved my 1986 Alien Moon Stalker... it was one of their original walkers (likely inspired by the ATAT). I probably liked it because I loved Star Wars so much.

hobobobo

lego technic and town is where its at! actually they all still in my closet right now.. midnight lego session, I THINK SO!

flynboarder07

Aquanauts...

two_ocelots

Memories!
Wow I had SO MANY of those sets!

Wonderful stuff Jesus!

strider_mt2k

@gte217e: good for LEGO! That was a great response. And they wrote back :-)

Jesus Diaz

you don't realize how orgasmic this is.

iForgot_my_iName

too poor to buy the LEGO monorail which i believe was 99 bucks back in the day. but i think i have about 90% (if not more) of the space instruction booklets at my parents house now. I wonder if there is a need to scan them and post online. I'm sure that's not copyright infringement since in order to build it, you'd have to have bought the pieces in the first place.

I've got the original space manuals, the light and sound, the red colored whatever they call them, the black series... legos shut me up for hours at a time.. like 7 hours.

I did write into lego headquarters one year asking for instructions on how to make the (sometimes) cooler alternate builds on the back of the box to which they wrote me back saying "we put those there to inspire your creativity, not to tell you how to create it", paraphrased. lego bastards.

gte217e

@warf0x0r: I'll never forget the day I got one of those special edition mtron sets - three vehicles in one package with instructions to build a big ship using all three sets. I took that ship everywhere as a kid.

I really wish they would rerelease some of these older kits for my kids to enjoy.

xrikazen

Aquanauts was by far my favorite, even if they were TECHNICALLY my little brother's. I also had the Technic helicopter, which was a blast to put together.

spinch

Holy crap I was spoiled. I remember owning many... MANY of the classic space ships. (not so big on the rover type stuff)

avconsumer

I had the entire Space Mtron and Blacktron sets... man I miss them /cry.

warf0x0r

Classic space. FTW.

Galaxy Explorer was like Kiddie porn to me growing up. I didn't finally get one (new in the box) until I was 30.

I have an entire bedroom you can't get into that is full of boxes of LEGO sets. I've been disappointed with the boxes/kits over the last few years but the Episode 4-6 Star Wars sets were certainly nice, and them finally releasing 'stormtrooper' sets that are built for the explicit purposes of buying a ton of them to create your own massive armies recently was a nice touch.

trekkie

15 of the 25 the sets in that topmost space lego picture montage are sitting in my parent's closet right now. So much superior to the junky ass star wars junk they put out later. And some sets you don't have listed (the walker with the detachable head and tail was amazing.)

As well as the ORIGINAL lego castle. Not that grey one you disply, but the set that came out BEFORE that that was all in yellow. It looked ridiclous but I loved it.

Pope John Peeps II

Is there such thing as a nostagiagasm?
There is now.

Time to go raid my parents basement.

Confuzius

@strider_mt2k: True poetry. Thank you.

AmishJohn

I'm sure there were at least two more sets or Pirate mini-islands, I remember connecting them to the governor's island barracks when I was a kid.

Plus, wasn't there a black and red truck that carried a helicopter on the back? I still got that and it still looks cool as funk! I mean you can steer the truck's wheels with the actual steering wheel!

JesusDeSaad

BTW I built a cool little control pod for what I'm sure will be an awesome space ship last night in honor of LEGO.

The wife yelled at me for the noise the pieces were making when I was going through them, but I explained to her that it isn't noise but the voices of millions of potential projects all singing to be heard and realized at once.

Then she understood and turned up the TV. :)

strider_mt2k

Galaxy Explorer! I didn't realize how much I missed that until I saw the pic. Good times...

Cucmbr

Wow, just wow. I had 5 or 6 of the space sets and remember making a FRACKING HUGE mutant space ship out of all the pieces. Every. Single. One.

Jesus is spot on - it does bring a tear to the eye to remember all that happy, geeky play time.

Happy Birthday, Lego!

shoegazer

Aquanauts, Polar Explores!!! Damn, those were cool toys too. Oh man, this post made my day, my week. First thing next paycheck (after bills are paid) Im gonna go get a leggo set.

The best part about leggos though was building your own cool versions of things, mechs, starships, rovers, without the directions, and with way more detail.

I had no idea Lego was so enduring; 50, gosh, Ive only been around for half that.

Thanks Gizmodo for the awsome nastalga party you threw for Lego!

miticis

I think this will stand as my all time favorite Giz post. Yes, better than any of the NSFW ones.

Kaiser-Machead

@vowell1055: I didn't see it the first time, but yeah, there it is. Yeah, the Monorail was so much fun. I only collected the space sets, as they were my favorites. Man, I just wanna dig out my Lego Collection and start building right now.

Szin

Great Post ! I'm 36, and my son is 8. He's a huge Lego head now, and just finished putting together the Star Wars MTT set ... completely by himself. I'm so proud.

Anyway, I still have fond memories of the Christmases where I got the huge yellow brick castle, and the Galaxy Explorer. I still use parts from the Galaxy Explorer when my kid and I build stuff together. Man am I glad that my mom never got rid of any of my legos.

Seriously - has there ever been a more perfect "toy" for boys ?

elvindeath

Wow, as if one post on the subject wasn't good enough, now we have pictures to re-spark some memories. Excellent work! Certainly my favorite Giz posts thus far after reading for about 2 years or so now.

I had the 8042 blue Technic set with the pneumatics, 6396 international airport, 6354 police truck/boat/heli/cycle, 6356 medical plane, 6398 police station (one of my favs), and 6378 Shell station (although I really wanted the 6394 big Shell station with parking garage).

So much fun. I think I might go treat myself to a new set.

fsusmithc2

@Szin:

It's up there. That thing rocked. I and two of my cousins all got monorails for Christmas. We hooked them all together and totally took over the living room. Monorail Space City FTW!

vowell1055

@Madchinaman - I'm glad I'm not the only nostalgic choked-up sap who read this post.

I remember my dad secretly building my Castle set (the one that swung open)overnight while I slept. I played with that thing nonstop.

@Lastvigilante - I had that same mighty ship, and am impressed you managed to recreate it! Even with the treasure chest in the captain's room?

Yifkong

i remember the technic moter set, i wasn't a good idea to put that into the motorcyle set, but my parents were so proud when i built a helicoper of my own design with the moter, if only i could've tilted the blades.

Zan

Fort Legoredo?
and where are the train sets?
If you want to feel like a kid again, go to the Lego store in orlando florida or any other Lego store. It was awesome I didnt want to leave.

clipseGTS

Wow. I had the #497 Galaxy Explorer as a kid.

jrbd90

If you look at the back of 493 (Space Command Center) you can see a "monitor" painted on a big square brick -- it makes up the left side of the back wall. I don't have any Legos anymore except that single square "monitor" brick. I put it on an ornament hook; it goes on my Christmas tree now.

Panhandler

Cooooool! I remember getting Lego Technics set 853 (car chassis) when I was a kid. LOL I also remember building the engine for the car chassis and trying to hook my dads drill up to the crankshaft of the lego motor, to try to get the motor to run. It DID run for about 15 seconds on low power, until it melted the black plastic crankshaft to the housing, and the "pistons" froze in their sleeves..... *sigh*

*MEMORIES*

Out2gtcha

I always wanted the models from the ill-fated model team set. Sadly, model team now seems to be the 10000 piece star wars models now.

Silenthillnight

this settles it. i'm getting a lego tattoo. no other toy better shaped or defined my childhood. i love you, lego.

low_dirt

2 words: Black-Tron

(M-Tron was weak!)

Crominator56

I remember really wanting to build a big Lego boat, but not having any pieces to make the hull (yet).

So I built it in an upside down staircase pattern, from regular pieces. Just the way it should be :)

And I remember really lusting over the pirate ship, but I never got to have it.

Spaceboy

I didn't have Legos as a child, but I still have the guardhouse from a the castle set I bought as a college student. The little glow-in-the -dark ghost sits quietly on a bookcase.
I remember seeing an Egyptian themed set. Was I imagining things or can I race out and buy one now?

masser

I miss my Lego Train set... fully functional with electrical transformer. I think these sets were mostly sold in Europe.

clearbox

This set is absolutely missing and should be on this list:
[guide.lugnet.com] (Auto Chassis)

Based on the ratings, it looks like it should have been there?

ars.gaijin

My first set was the 8020.

Technic sets rule.

MaxRC

@analogs: these unitaskers are not such unitaskers. What you are saying is the same as the LEGO purists said about the Space line when it first came out. Special parts? Blasphemy.

But the fact is that LEGO masters (and kids everywhere) use these specialized pieces in any way they see can fit. Did you check the steampunk star wars? You will find a lot of specialized parts here:

[gizmodo.com]

All of them put to a new, unexpected use. The pieces are not faulty because they have non-brick shapes. It's the brain which makes them fit.

That say, Bionicle is just horrible to me, custom or no custom. I just hate the design.

Jesus Diaz

My son started a blog (not going to link it here) where he puts up a slideshow of Lego spaceships and vehicles he builds. He doesn't use special kits, just random Legos he finds by pawing through drawers and drawers we've collected for the kids.

My wife began buying them before we even started having kids, and now we're on number four. They'll all be Lego-heads.

One of the all-time best toys ever created--whether you want something educational or just plain "time-wasting" fun.

My favorite was building houses out of them, starting with one of those big green sheets, laying a floor plan, and building upward. Sweet.

Twp3pf2

@Crominator56:
The Blacktron base was hands down THE best set everrrr! (At least when I was 10)

RAREBREED

I must echo the sentiments of FULLFLAVA above about "custom" pieces. The Technic LEGOs of old had only a few basic piec