1979: The Golden Age Of Lego

I had image no 1 - go me!

Not as big as what I have in my living room right now.

Alex Kim

I miss the *real* Technic Lego sets of the good ol' days when the parts were truly modular. If you needed a car door, you made one out of 20 other pieces. In newer sets, there's a car door piece that can't be anything else but a car door. It's more like putting a model together than building something creative.

analogs

Lego Space was the best thing ever. We'd get new boxes for christmas and birthdays, throw away the instructions, and start building amazing space ships the way Lego never intended them to look.

Ahhh... nostalgia.

orthorim

Such great memories. Thanks Jesus!

electronymous

Man my favorite set was the space ice planet ones. I remember getting the massive mother ship for Christmas was probably the best gift i ever got.

@mattius: Many of these pics are indeed NOT from 1979. The Pirates didn't even exist until 10 years later.

@Pope John Peeps II: I had the them too. Sadly I think I finally tossed the yellow castle box during my last move. Collectors item now. I do have all the pieces and instructions though, I'm a pack rat.

Goondocks

Ahhh Galaxy Explorer.. I knew thee well. With these pictures, I may have enough angles to pilfer my son's lego collection and make my own explorer to rule the universe again!

The_Bronze

@ILikeToLevelUp: err...picture number 1 that is.

ILikeToLevelUp

I had the one in the picture. I loved it so.

ILikeToLevelUp

That pirate set on the right in pic 21 was my first Lego set ever. *wistful sigh* This was in the early 90's, though.

All Lego made in my day were bricks. When I got a little older they made a motor. That changed everything for me. After that all I made were cars and cranes. Whatever happened to the motor. To get anything like that nowadays you have to get the big robot. By the time they started making specialized sets like the galaxy explorer I was to old to care.

reddingofish

With 4 kids, I will be the first to admit that the newer lego sets are cool....but man...these are and will always be de shiznat!.

On a side note, if you haven't seen this yet, do your self a favor and check out Nenn's mad sci-fi lego skillz

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nnenn/

jchasse

want,want, want, want....and want.

jchasse

@(Zombie) Goldwings: Crazy? More like brave! Although, it was easier to copy the picture on the box back then since they didn't include as many purpose-made weird pieces in the sets.

I had all those sets except the train. I did have 2 of the yellow castle's to compensate though.

fastm3driver

JD! Where are the pics of the COMPLETED Lego Millenium Falcon? We know you have one!

I got started 'big time' in lego at this point. I had the rocker launch pad and a smaller space craft along with a bunch of others. Lego then was cool and interchangeable when you got bored with the model that was shown in the manual.

Now the models are much more realistic but aren't as much fun. There are too many pieces that are essentially one offs for that particular set. My son is now eight - the same age more or less as I was during this time. All his lego sets are so specialized that when he loses a piece he can't easily remake it.

That's why I'm more of a MegaBlocks fan - those are plain old 2x2, 2x4 and 1x2 blocks. Blocks that you can reuse over and over again and he can make his own planes and spaceships.

ursa

@(Zombie) Goldwings:
I was a little OCD when it came to following the manual. Although, I suppose that's why I decided to become an architect. Blueprints are really just life size Lego manuals.

The Architect of Tartaros

I own an Ultimate Collector's Series Millennium Falcon.

Sorry, I just had to take the opportunity to brag about it.

My first sets were the galaxy explorer, the space base with the railroad car, and the yellow lego castle.

@zlo2: Likewise. Unless the subject matter of the set had any real significance to me (like some of the classic Star Wars trilogy sets), I just about always took the parts and mixed them up to make something of my own. Really, that's what makes LEGO LEGO anyway. It's so easy to just do whatever the heck you want with it, unless it's those godawful giant parts that can't be used for much else.

Kaiser-Machead

This was before they started giving you less bricks and making all the buildings cheap and fragile.

ItsRabid

Ah...the airport in #22. Still have it mixed in with three giant Rubbermaid bins full of Legos. I keep wanting to get rid of them...then I see articles like this. Guess they're staying after all.

Oh yeah, here's a link to a site with the instructions from every lego set ever! http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brickfactory/year/index.htm

Ah, the first Space Lego sets. Awesome. I had that Apollo style launch pad, the big control center and the middle sized one of the transport craft. the 924. I remember gazing at the huge 928 in the Lego catalogue with envious eyes. Mine could carry a storage crate, the 928 could stow a whole jeep!

Worth noting though, the little yellow spaceman in your pics? 1980. We only got the red and white spacemen in 79.

I'm still bitter that Santa never brought me the lego monorail.

Image 21 looks exactly like my own!!!! Could it be we both followed the manual! :O

Awww memories. I had the set in the first and 24th pictures. Played with them so much I don't think they stayed connected very well in the end....

Are you sure all of these are from '79? I remember seeing, even building these sets in the 90's. Especially picture 30, which has pieces I only started seeing around 5 years into my "career".

Yellowexample

Best Gallery Ever. This pushes the Lego Factory visits down a notch. Plus, I never knew there was a Airport Monorail set. What I would give for any 9V Train-related Lego set right now...

Wow, that main image nearly made me cry.

I loved my space lego more than anything i can ever remember.

My dad even made a paper mache "moon scape" for me. Happy days!

The yellow castle was one of the best xmas presents i ever had!

Papatronic

It is LEGO.

Then again, I also had the Star Wars Death Star playset. Everyone I know had like the X-Wing or the Falcon. Me? I had the goddamn Death Star... And a motorized Land Speeder.

My all-time favorite space lego set was the Galaxy Commander. I really can't tell you how many damn ship variations I built out of that set and the 4 legged walker.

No, no, I always tossed the 'manual' without reading it at all.. wanted it to be just me an' the pieces. I had several of those space sets but none of the other fancy kits. I remember struggling to build swords out of the 1x3 and 1x4 pieces and shields out of 2x4s with bits stuck to the front (for spikes or heraldry, say), and my castles were things of beauty, all built from the 'basic' set pieces.

Still, it's spaceships that held and still hold my interest.

What's been most fun, however, is watching my boy, now 7, discover how amazing Legos can be; he can take a few loose pieces (they're EVERYWHERE in our house to my wife's chagrin) and make the most amazing little ship-lets.. or robots.. or or or..

*happy sigh* Truly, the perfect toy.

(for the record, we buy based on what appears to offer the coolest pieces for future spaceship making, although the boy DOES insist on building the model from the book, first)

gyffes

Now if only they'd start making some of these sets again, like that Galaxy Explorer.

madnys

@(Zombie) Goldwings: My dad always gave me a hard time for not following the manual when I got a new set. In my mind, they were just more parts for my own creations.

that brings so much memories !!!

@zlo2: You're a mad man. Not following the manual? Crazy ;D

oh legos, they were the only toy i ever got but it was the only toy i ever needed. I did the FLL competitions and now im moving on to higher levels. legos inspired me.

NotSoSiniSter

I actually have a couple really old LEGO sets from '79 or early 80's that my dad handed down to me. I think I'll go play with those now!

I had that ship in the main photo! Brings back memories. I was pretty young and got frustrated trying to complete it. Some years later I tried again and was successful. Ah..

@(Zombie) Goldwings:
Never followed manuals :) I would just buy the box that had the most cool pieces and start building spaceships. Ahh . . . good memories.
Lego = best toy ever invented.

That's pure gold you have right there, so many fond memories....

I never had any of those haha but I remember several TV ads.

I have some nostalgic memories of these. They weren't cheap either since those castles went for $125.
In all my block, everyone played with their new SNES from Christmas. I on the other hand was busying reading the manual and making my lego castle.
Great times :)

Oh, the memories! I used to have the shuttle in the 10th picture. That was still battery powered though. When did the first AC-powered trains come out again?

No, it was not the start of a golden age. It was the start of the fall of lego. Legos are now just model kits for 'tards who can't be trusted with glue. Special ed models. Think snap-tite. The only true lego is a simple brick.

commentotron

Did lego pirate stuff come out in '79 (pic 21)?

I was playing with lego's in the early 80's, and all we had were space, and real life styled legos....
maybe I missed out...

mattius

@mcgandhi: Is anyone else sick of people who are sick of stuff they can easily avoid?

Kaiser-Machead

@11hawkinst: Ah, works now.

KefkaticFanatic

@KefkaticFanatic: They were for me as well, but they seem to be working now.

Is it just me, or are all of those images missing?

KefkaticFanatic

so much nostaliga. I had the airport in #9. That's from the 90s. I remember wanting that monorail set soo badly when I was really young.

edwardbuttersworth