ThrowbackThursday: 1995
Posted by Huw,
Welcome to the first of what might become a regular series of articles looking back at LEGO product catalogues from years gone by.
8" square catalogues have been produced since at least the early 1970s. They are distributed throughout the world, apart from North America, and they provide a fascinating glimpse on how sets and themes were marketed at the time of their release, although they've lost a lot of their charm in recent years.
For this first throwback, I've chosen 1995 partly because it was a significant year for me, being the year I emerged from a 15 year dark age, and also because so many awesome sets were released that year.
The perennial themes Town, Castle and Pirates were all going strong in 1995. Castle returned to a historical basis following the fantasy based Dragon Knights in 1993/4 with the release of the Royal Knights. The catalogue shows five sets which, compared to today's sets, are unusual in that there's no conflict: they contain no adversaries for the King and his troops to do battle with. Instead, they have to battle last year's Dragon Knights.
Those with short memories might consider Friends to be the first successful 'girls' theme but in the 1990s the company was producing two product lines for them: Paradisa and Belville. The first Belville sets went on sale in 1994 and a further three sets were produced in 1995. The theme continued until 2008: 14 years!
There are a lot of similarities between Belville and Friends: larger than minifig mini-dolls and sets based on animals, family houses, vanity and soda!
The new subtheme for Town in 1995 was Spaceport, or Launch command I believe it was called in some markets. 6339 Space Shuttle Launch Pad was the second such set to be produced, but the first, 1682 was released in North America only. 6399 remains one of the best of the genre. I clearly remember seeing it in the shop but never bought it!
Prior to 1995 LEGO's minifig sets were dominated by the quadrumvirate of Town, Castle, City and Space, so the arrival of a new theme was a big deal at the time.
The theme introduced dozens of new parts, many of them octagonal: in fact almost all of the parts found at Bricklink when searching for 'octagonal' were new to Aquazone. Presumably they were inspired by an octopus' 8 legs.
The original Aquanauts and their Aquashark adversaries kick-started a theme that would continue until 1999. Sadly, when the theme ended, so did use of the cool octagonal parts...
1995 was a very significant year for Technic. The nine sets released were all excellent and innovative for the time. They were also the first to use a new numbering series: 82xx for starter sets and 84xx for advanced sets.
The flagship sets of the year were the pneumatic 8460 mobile crane, which packs in a lot functionality into a small space, and 8485 Technic Control II, which was the programmable control centre's second outing, the first being in 1990. Actually, looking back it's perhaps surprising that there wasn't more innovation in this area in the intervening years given the pace of technological change at the time.
1995 is also notable because it was the year prior to the studless beam's introduction, and we know what that innovation led to, don't we ;-) The sets launched in 1995 can thus be considered to be the pinnacle of studded Technic beam design.
I hope you enjoyed this nostalgic travel back in time. It's only scratched the surface of the new products released in 1995 although it's interesting to note, looking at the numbers in the database, that it was the last year that fewer than 200 sets were released. Last year it was over 700!
'Like' the article if you'd like to see more like this...
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70 comments on this article
excellent move, nice review and some very true statements in there (e.g. re. the charm of recent catalogues...). We want more of that, thanks!
Please do more articles like this, Huw! Good glimpse back to the LEGO of the past. Is there some place on the web that we can find images of past catalogues? BTW, you're right about 1995 being a good year.
There are some here: http://www.peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/scans/?ct=1
Personally I have 1971-78 and 1989-date so plenty of material to call upon for future articles.
Excellent idea! I spent hour browsing through this catalogs back and forth, so most of the pictures are still in my memories.
Thank you very much!
I miss the effort that went into the dioramas - vague computer generated backgrounds just don't have the same charm as that real sand and gravel in the shuttle display, let alone the sense of perspective.
Totally agree Jon, and they are particularly impressive given they were produced before digital imaging was available.
Great article. Love to see more of them.
Too bad this great Lego year was set in mine student years. So I didn't notice them until it was way too late.
This is a great new feature, I love the photography in the old catalogues, it really isn't the same any more.
Looking forward to some early Pirate stuff, that product photography was beautiful and is a major reason I have an ongoing fondness for Pirate lego <3
Great idea, thanks for it! I've always tried to get the newest catalogues and now I have an almost complete collection of these between 1993 and 2016. If you want, Huw, I can scan some of these and send you.
Remember those days, when catalogs were as treasury :) Nowadays it becomes more commercial (:
I love these articles. They remind me of sets I had as a kid that I'd totally forgotten about (and now want to find in my parents' attic, if I can). I had more than I had thought, memory sparked by a couple Aquazone and Castle sets.
I used to sit there for hours, flipping through the pages, dreaming of the next Christmas or birthday gift. The pages soon turned haggard, a condition only rivaled by the stash of stick mags we stole off dad. We could buy catalogues for 50c each, and we had to get three, because it was me and my two brothers and we'd fight over it if we didn't have one each.
I remember being completely obsessed with the 6544 Shuttle Transcon set, but sadly never owned one as the budget could never stretch that far. That year I got the 8412 Technic helicopter for Christmas. It's a brilliant set that still holds up today.
Excellent. Actually 1993-1996 is my favourite Lego period and Royal Knights' Castle 6090 may be the only one set presently which I could spend a fortune on. Maybe some day...
Technic 8485 Control Centre was something special as well but it's overshadowed by 1994's Super Car 8880 and 1996's Space Shuttle 8480...
This article bring back good ol' times! Aquasharks are still top tier lego villains.
@Rare White Ape, 8412 holds a special place in my heart, too. The flex system to control the rotor was particularly cool.
Ah, this is great! I was born in 1995 and I remember a few of these sets, as some of my siblings already owned them. I definitely recognize many of the pieces from the ones sitting in our Lego collection.
I think the most interesting thing is Castle only had 5 sets. It's stunning that themes today get so many darn sets. Not only that back then sets stayed on the shelves here for three years. It was always three years, I remember that as a kid.
I miss Aquazone. The underwater themes have been good since, but never quite got the magic of Aquazone.
Yes, often at least 3 years. The 1995 catalogue still has the Metroliner in it, which came out in 1991.
Man, that catalog brings back memories... looking back, 1995 was probably the year I FIRST got into Lego as a KFOL! Aquanauts, Aquasharks, Royal Knights, Dragon Knights, Launch Command... I collected them all. In fact, I still use a double-sided Aquazone/Launch Command pillow to this day!
I think I flipped through this catalog more times than most books I owned! I agree that there was much more charm to the display/photography of sets back then. I think it was either this or the 1996 catalog I used to stare at the cityscapes in the distance, trying to make out the details of the builds.
Shuttle Launch Pad is my childhood set-I-always-wanted-but-never-got. I have the new City Spaceport to make up for it, and while the newer shuttle is, objectively, better, I do wish there'd been a launch tower and baseplate like the set of old.
I can't begin to think of how many hours I would spend pawing through the catalogues and looking at the way they brick-built up all their scenes to showcase the sets. Even during my dark ages I would still pick up a catalogue just to keep an eye on what was going on.
I'm glad it's something that we've always relied on getting for decades here in Australia, and I think I've got almost all of them so far
Awesome article!
It's curious to see the name the catalog gives to 6090 Royal Knight's Castle. :)
I don't know if this is just nostalgia thing (born in 93), but to me, mid 90's were the best times for Lego. Had some of the sets from this catalog. :)
This was a great post <3
I really loved this article- I've never seen these catalogs before. I miss how they used to be layed out, with a small paragraph describing the set and its features.
The closet US catalogs is one that introduced Exo-Force, and really revolved around that theme, with multiple small comics to promote it.
@Gustavo2809, until fairly recently, LEGO's regional offices would name the sets which resulted in all sorts of different names being assigned. The US names became the de facto standard when the internet enabled AFOLs to communicate.
We have quite a box of these catalogs from Germany and the poor Canadian and US "equivalents" and enjoy flipping through them, dreaming. But we always gravitate to the European ones. The art, layout, and photography really shows how simple the current catalogs have become.
How about an article or two comparing them across regional lines?
Regardless, thanks, and please keep these articles coming.
Great feature. The Castle and Aquazone sets are real standouts, looking back. Those big baseplates are missed.
Excellent article. I was in my dark ages when this was published but it echoes the fun of the late-eighties catalogs I do remember. Thanks!
"the studless beam's introduction, and we know what that innovation led to, don't we ;-)"
Ahhh, I mean of course *I* know what it led to, but my friend could use a refresher. Friend, yes.
In my opinion, catalogues show us a glimpse of the company's philosophy.
LEGO is just copying it's boxart: fast working, fast selling, small and short product waves (especially the subthemes). Compare this to Playmobil's (yes I know it's ugly) traditional approach: traditional themes (Wildlife or Safari would be equally great in LEGO form) where you can even buy sets from many years back.
I still think LEGO is the best toy in the world, but they have lost the ability to look through childrens' eyes somehow... or maybe I just grew up and I am getting too sentimental ; ) thank you for the post!
Wow, I definitely remember this catalogue! Though since I had the USA version, many of the sets were given different names - Merlin was called Majisto in the USA, and the Castle buildings had more generic and less British Isles-esque names, such as Castle Carreg being the Fire Breathing Fortress.
Article prompted me to dig out my old catalogues from the 90s and spend several minutes perusing through them all. Great article!
Nice work, Huw! 1995 was around the height of my childhood LEGO interest, and I owned MANY of these sets, so it was a nice surprise to see this featured on your homepage (I've definitely thumbed through this catalog within the past year).
By the way, I owned 1682 Space Shuttle! One of my first ever sets I remember owning.
I loved the old catalogues. I have all of mine from my childhood sets. I prefer the earlier 90s versions though considering that was my prime of childhood building. I did always love the background pictures.
I prefer LEGO in the early 90s. Yes, we have some cool parts now and some cool colors, but I prefer the sets from then. Granted, that might be nostalgia also considering some of those builds were pretty simple, yet the instructions were harder to follow....
Aw man it stinks that you don't have the catalogs from 1979-1988. I had many if the US ones, though it never occurred to me to save them or keep them nice. I hope you can revisit some of those. The photography kept me looking at those images for hours.
I never knew that Dragon's name was Ogwen. Neat!
The shuttle scene was available as a poster, too. It is still up on the wall, here.
I LOVE the old catalogs. I used to dream about being able to create the elaborate scenes they made. They went a long way in promoting imagination and play. By 1995 I had entered my dark age, so I had never seen this catalog (or the North American equivalent). Thanks for sharing, and hope you do lots more of these "throwback Thursday" articles! Very informative.
Good choice for a new vein of articles.
6090 is my favorite set of all time, and it's not even close. Sentimental value and play value all in one.
What a great year for Lego. I miss the 1990s and 2000s. Lego has been lackluster since they gave up on the classic Castle theme, IMO. They need to bring it back, and quick.
What a lovely idea for an article; I hope you do more of these! Waiting for the catalogue to come out in January was a small landmark of the year when I was a child, and I must have spent many, many hours poring over it because I actually remember a lot of these spreads! Then there was the pleasure of circling the sets I wanted... the catalogues haven't been the same for years, though - less whimsical or something. Luckily my partner has a Dutch catalogue from the early or mid 80s (you can imagine how tattered it is), which I still enjoy looking through from time to time. Nostalgia!
I have 1990 - present in Danish editions, you know, sticking with the "originals" even tho I'm from Sweden... ;)
- I remember, there was, I think in the '93, '94 or maybe the '95 version, a 2nd edition in that year, which featured a specific "robber/theif" on every page being hunted by police, disguised in different themes - anyone else remember you've seen that one? Or was that a uniqe scandinavian edition? :P
Interesting that is was a great year for you...... If i remember i was a terrible year for me. Space Lego had one new set....the smallest type they made...... I now own all 5 that were released that year but back then the Unitron series wasn't available in the UK...... well not in my range of shops anyway.
Bring back memories, but I was in my dark ages at that point... The catalog is missing the train sets for the year though. Then again not every catalog showed the train sets available for that year
These advertisements are what inspired me to build larger and larger layouts. I always thought the scenes would make great posters or calendars.
The old catalogues nailed it with displays that looked very much like the scenes you can find in LEGO exhibitions ; those landscapes were total eye candy for the kid I was too.
Pity that they have stopped that.
Back then computer generated images and image retouching were not available, they did it. Today, any graphics station could do this and more with existing 3D models.
Sad to think that the LEGO Movie did this a million times over and TLG don't seem to be bothered while at the same time being involved in heavy 3D (cartoons, games)... Sort of incoherent.
@madforLEGO, I've not scanned every page! There were only two new train sets in 1995, which were not very significant, hence not mentioning them.
"the studless beam's introduction, and we know what that innovation led to, don't we ;-)"
Like lessjunkfood, I have no idea what that means either, and I've been reading this site for a number is years now.
"Prior to 1995 LEGO's minifig sets were dominated by the quadrumvirate of Town, Castle, City and Space"
City and Town were never released in the same year right? Wasn't one just a rebranding of the other?
Noticed the use of base-plates, which made these sets awesome! Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Well, hasn't the introduction of studless beams changed Technic once and for all? Is it not innovative, or what? ;)
I'm the opposite of @Huw - this is the last catalogue I can clearly remember before entering my dark ages in 1996/7. I did have the wonderful 6195 Aqua Dome 7 and a couple of other smaller sets from that year, but in my mind that cover marks the beginning of the end for me (until 2012 anyway)...
hahahah :D this is great. Even 2 weeks ago, I found 2 of those 1995 Catalogues in my Children-Days-Lego-Instructions-Collection. :D One of these is mint (nearly NEW) :D
Oh the memories! I had this catalog when I was a kid, and I remember spending countless hours looking it over and dreaming of the next sets I would get. Sadly, all my old catalogs have seem to have disappeared. I loved the old layout, and the creative scenes done with real models and backgrounds. It certainly helped to ignite that spark of creativity! I really liked this article, and hope to see more in the future! It's always fun to take an occasional trip down memory lane!
Ah good old 1995, my last year of buying LEGO as a KFOL, before being lured into my dark age by that SNES I got for Christmas 1994. Happy memories of good times. I continued to pick up the catalogues until 1997, but the price of console games in those days (and saving up my pocket money until holidays) meant that apart from a few of the 'pocket money' sets from 1995 my presents changed from Lego sets to SNES games, and as a teenager, Techinc never interested me.
Love this idea, Huw!
1995 was a great year. Absolutely LOVED the Aquazone theme. In my opinion, one of the best LEGO sets came from that theme; Neptune Discovery Lab. LEGO was definitely in a Golden Age in '95
Excellent Article, Huw!
My Dark Age started around 1990, so i missed some great stuff like M-Tron and Aquazone. :-(
By the way: Browsing for other stuff i missed made me notice again the quality of brickset's search features, Response times etc.
You really created one of the internet's finest!
As a kid who loved Lego, these catalogues were an annual highlight. I adored the catalogues, and would read them *often* (until I'd memorised every page, and then I'd still keep reading them). They all ended up held together by sticky-tape, but I've still got all of them.
'95 was a good year, IMHO. I'm a sucker for underwater stuff, so I thought Aquazone was *amazing*. I ended up collecting most of those, two. I didn't mind the train sets in '95, and I liked the new train sets that year, too.
I loved the artwork of the 90's LEGO. Just isn't the same now days with all the CGI.
I was sorting through old instructions a while back, preparing for a move, and found so many of these 1995 booklets. My parents clearly bought me a lot of lego that year
I still have my 6339 Shuttle Launch Pad! Alas, it's missing quite a few parts, but I'm slowly piecing it back together. Really wish I had had the resources as a child to get those Aquazone sets. They still look great today.
@davidredjoy: He was in the 1994 catalog and he was called Max Timebuster. :) I´m lucky to have many of the 1985 to 1998 catalogs with me and being able to just look it up.
The 1995 space port is another example for a theme that (at least to me) has been better in the past - just like todays divers compared to 1997s sets. And in this article we get more examples of a good use of baseplates, which has been discussed on brickset recently.
@Huw: Thanks a lot! More of these articles, please! They bring up good memories or enlargen my lego-horizon. :)
I recon the original Aquanauts/Aquasharks sets are by far the best "underwater" themed sets LEGO have ever produced. I own (mostly through secondary-market purchases but also through buying all the parts) the entire original Aquazone theme and the big Neptune Discovery Lab even beats most of the Space base sets in terms of awesomeness (about the only space base that can beat it for sheer coolness would be the 6983 Ice Station Odyssey)
I have German catalogues from 1989 until today, and many moreslim sized brochures, mini posters (in I don't know ... Din A 5?) and flyers... so I'm in for any support for more of these TBT catalogue features and very much looking forward to it.
As many have stated here already, me too always admired the old fashion way of showcasing LEGO, the scenery, the lightning, the dioramas.
I' asking: Is there a market for a book about the old catalogues? Why hasn't anyone thought of it?
Geez, so much nostalgia with this Catalogue! This was the last Catalogue I've got... 1996 onward (until 2014!) was my Lego's dark Periode haha...
that's something I miss lol the Catalogs you got in the LEGO sets. They should bring this back lol
I started working at a toy and hobby shop just as the 1995 releases came in. Aquazone became a favorite immediately (and my last sets before packing the Legos up for real adulthood). I managed to secure most of the first release and build them to display for the store.
I recently unpacked them, as most were still built up in a box from the display case covered in dust. My kids love them, and I still think they're one of the coolest sub-themes produced.
weird how the aquazone page lists the aquasharks scout as the aquashark dart.
the dart was a different set released 3 years later.
also the barracuda became the deep sea predator.
It is amazing reading the comments and the sense of nostalgia these images evoke. For me, it is the complete opposite -although these are fantastic to reminisce over, I think Lego, in the main, keep outdoing themselves.