ThrowbackThursday: 1986
Posted by Huw,
For this week's look at old LEGO catalogues, I have gone back 30 years to 1986 which I imagine will have been in the childhood of a large majority of Brickset readers.
However I was in my 'dark ages' at the time, so I have no recollection of seeing the sets in the shops and do not have many catalogues from the period. I have however picked up a US one and an EU Technic one subsequently, so I have illustrated this article with pages from them.
What makes the US one in particular interesting is not only the photographs but also the marketing language that's used throughout.
LEGOLAND
Things were simple back in 1986: once you had outgrown Duplo and Basic building sets you progressed to LEGOLAND Town, Castle or Space, or maybe all three.
These two introductory pages to LEGOLAND sets explain what they are all about and place a great deal of emphasis on collecting and combining multiple models while also explaining that you can do so much with just one.
It's written using language that's not childish or dumbed-down, and I think it successfully encourages demand from children while also extolling the virtues of LEGO and spending money on it to parents.
Town
The mid 1980s are considered to be the golden age of Town sets and looking at the selection in the catalogue, it's easy to see why. Yes, the obligatory fire and police stations are present, but there's so much more in the range, which is not dominated by emergency services.
The sets are nearly all 'action based': houses, cafes and other leisure based sets are conspicuous by their absence. According to the database, a few such sets were released in 1986 (e.g. 6379 Riding Stable) but they are not shown here for some reason; perhaps they were released later in the USA, or perhaps the first two LEGOLAND pages shown above help explain why: the three kids shown are all boys.
Space
1986 marked the last year of peace in the LEGOLAND galaxy, before Blacktron was launched the next year along with classic space's peaceful successor Futuron.
Purists might not consider sets of this period to be pure 'classic space' given that the range of colours used has expanded beyond blue, grey and trans yellow. Nevertheless, there's no denying that some of the sets are very cool, while some are somewhat strange (the push-me, pull-me Solar Power Transporter, 6952 comes to mind!).
Castle
It appears that LEGOLAND Castle was a peaceful place in 1986: there are plenty of knights and castles but no adversaries.
Trains
For some reason, trains and boats are not considered part of LEGOLAND from a marketing perspective and each gets just one page at the back of the catalogue. I suspect the USA was a 'poor relation' as far as trains were concerned at the time. Just one set shown, and one that was released in 1985 in Europe. It's also battery operated rather than 12V DC from the track.
It also appears that the train might have been hard to find: '...write to Susan Williams for complete mail order information.' it says. Susan Williams was, I believe, an imaginary figure, someone you could write to when contacting LEGO USA's customer services, and who would write back to you.
Technic
The big news of the year as far as Technic was concerned, was the launch of Arctic sets. Not only were these the first themed Technic sets but also the first to use white Technic pieces extensively, and more importantly, introduced the Technic maxi-figure.
The Technic figure was last seen in 2000. Some 34 different Technic figures were produced, according to BrickLink. I think that's a shame they are no longer being used as they helped bring Technic models to life.
Was the mid-1980s a golden era for LEGO when things were so much better and simpler than today, or do we just view the period through rose-tinted glasses? You tell me; I was in my dark ages.
You will find PDF copies of the catalogues in our repository of catalogue scans, which is growing rapidly. I have had my daughter scanning all that I own and we are now up to 1987 and will have completed the 1980s later today. I have ordered a few more from the period from BrickLink to fill gaps in my collection, so shortly we should have a fairly comprehensive library. There are a few that nobody has for sale there, so once I have sorted out what's what, I will put out a call to help fill the gaps. I hope you enjoy browsing and reminiscing...
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Wow! My parents must've spent a fortune on LEGO back in the day. Between my brothers and I, I'm pretty sure we had most of the sets in that catalogue!
A great year for LEGO and really during my peak before the dark ages of NES consoles. A lot of the pages shown in Town and Castle I can remember checking off quite a few of them.
I was born that year and Police Command Base was my first large set. Actually, it remained one of only two large sets I had at the time :)
It's not my favorite period as I was still a bit too young, but looking back at those pictures, I think that Space theme really stood out at the time. Those vehicles were one of a kind and not any worse than much more heralded late 1970's period's.
And I miss Technic figures too. Not as iconic as minifigures, they were much more poseable and I could play with them forever. I never really understood why they'd gone.
One thing we all like to discuss is the new elements that Lego brings out each year, but just take a look at all those elements that Lego does not produce any more!
That huge 4x4x6 corner panel from the space sets, the grappling snake arm from set 6882, big tyres, inverted angle windows which make excellent retro-futuristic control room MOCs, STUDDED Technic beams... Those old style crash helmets are still so cool 30 years later.
I still lament the loss of the 4x6x2 wedge-shaped canopy, probably the greatest Lego canopy of them all.
Even the dorky-looking pre-SNOT cars and trucks from the Town range have a certain endearing charm to them. I've got the 6634 Stock Car; the parts will be buried in the bulk Lego box that's still in my parent's cupboard. I doubt the stickers are in any condition worth talking about, though.
I was still young enough back then to not being in 'dark age' danger yet, but old enough to have fond memories :) I always really liked 6952, much more so than 6940 whose legs tended to fall off all the time. Walking Lego robots and rather thick carpets don't seem to match well...
I was 15 at the time, and LEGO was my "secret" passion that my friends would never understand. I had this catalog and memorized it. I picked up a bunch of these through high school because Toys R Us kept them on the shelves for a long time. A couple of years ago, a family in my church gave me some LEGO, a friend of theirs had given them some "old sets"... most of this catalog's town set, built once, stored in box and preserved for me to rebuild. bliss.
Pah, the golden age of town was 1993-6. But then I'm a wee bit younger than you crusty oldies, so it's probably my 'classic' period :p
I wonder if today's kids will look back at my beloved Shuttle Launch Pad and think it looks as naff as I think Classic Space does :p It doesn't even have a single flick fire missile for goodness' sake!
I was 18 and had just started a course at Lanchester Poly in Coventry.
I think I was about 4 years into my Dark Ages. Missed out on some very cool Space sets!
I was 10 in 1986 and into both the space/castle/town sets (like my younger brother who got the Police Command Base for Christmas that year) as well as Technic. Between us we got most of the arctic Technic sets over the next couple of years and had a lot of fun playing with them. Thanks, Huw, for posting these throwback Thursday articles for us "crusty oldies" to engage in some nostalgia.
Interesting how far apart the release dates of certain sets were in between different regions... 6021 Jousting Knights new in 1986? That's 2 years after it's EU release xD Than again US seemed to have gotten Forestmen and Blacktron I sets a whole year before EU. Funny times... :P
@Huw, '86 castle was anything but peaceful - the black falcons were very definitely the bad guys constantly battling the good guys, at least in my house! No need for fantasy dwarfes or magical skeletons. Just good guys against bad guys battling it out with modularised castles, siege weapons and tons of soldiers. Just what a castle theme should be.
With the two castles 6080, 6074 and 6971 interglactic command base the 86 catalogue has three of my most cherished LEGO childhood memories. To this day I clearly remember opening the boxes and building them on christmas/birthdays.
Great article. The only set I had out of all these was 6697 Rescue Helicopter which I loved but if I could go back in time I would buy the entire 1986 Town collection! 6378 Service Station is my favourite but I'll have to settle for the City service station coming out later this year.
I was only one year old in 1986, but I love this era of LEGOLAND sets. I was fascinated with everything medieval as a child, and I received several castle sets from the later 1980s (and early 1990s) growing up. LEGOLAND Castle is still my favourite theme and I've managed to collect some more of these sets since rediscovering my interest in LEGO.
One of the best things about these sets, as the catalogue explains, is that they fit together and are all in the same scale. Even though many of the sets are small compared to today's sets, as you collect more of them you can gradually create a bigger and better town/village/space port.
I don't think the 7722 train was hard to find in the US.
In fact, I remember buying it in a department store - possibly Hills...
Wow, sweet memories! At the time I was six years old, and already a huge fan of LEGO. Castle was definitely my favorite, but I also collected a lot from Town. I recently started to rebuild my old sets, and it's still fun to do. 1986, a great LEGO-year. Looking forward to next week.
It was great seeing these sets again in this catalogue. It is nice to reminisce. My brothers and I had a few of these sets. I recall the armor shop (I still have that) and one brother had the Shell service station.
Got 8640 and 8660 in 1987 and had a couple of the smaller space sets.
I hadn't realised that 7745 was released in 1985, I must have gotten it in 1988.
I also lament the passing of those Space pieces mentioned upthread; I'd love to get my hands on the Cosmic Fleet Voyager! It was a lovely era for Castle, too...
I noticed the lack of girls in that splash page as well; it seemed unusual to me because most of the marketing I remember from the (slightly later) 80s and early 90s involved a lot of girls. Perhaps in 1986 they were trying to focus more aggressively on what they regarded as their core market. When I was a small tomboy I actually assumed Lego was considered a unisex toy, and it was only when they brought out Paradisa that I went, "Waaaaait a minute: they think I need this to want to play with Lego?" In the last few years I've also noticed the gender mix in the old catalogues and ads, so it was surprising to read Brick By Brick and find that they always considered 5 - 9-year-old boys their core market. Of course I can see why - it's just funny to compare my impressions at different times with TLG's idea of who its customers were. It makes me doubly happy about how well Friends and Elves are doing now.
Going back to this catalogue's contents, I'm struck again by how charming Town was back then - I'd have to agree that it's the golden period; as important as the emergency services sets are, there's a lot more to Town life in 1986...
I also feel glad I snapped up my two Technic figures in 1999 when I saw them - I do think they added to the playability of sets and it seems a shame they're not around anymore.
I was born in 1986 so I never got to experience these type of sets. That said, my very first minifigure-scaled Lego set was a Castle set, albeit one released in 1995 (http://brickset.com/sets/6078-1/Royal-Drawbridge). Sadly, as I got older and moved on to other things, I handed this Lego set down to my younger brother (along with other sets) and unfortunately parts got lost and he in turn neglected the Lego bricks by leaving them by the wayside and my mom having them stored somewhere.
Just recently, I got back into Lego collecting and luckily, I was able to find this exact set off eBay (though it costed me about $71 to buy a used set compared to $30 when my mom bought it new for me back in 1995 lol).
I've never seen most of these sets until a few years ago, and I still like them more than most of today's offerings. Sometimes, you just can't beat the simplicity of them.
Neat review. I remember looking into the catalog longingly for the bigger sets for Town, Space, and Castle as I could not get them (specifically the gas station, the fire station, and Cargo center) . Now I have all of those Town sets, along with the Castle ones :)
@sprinkleotter: I agree I still have a soft spot for these 80's sets (which is why I have most of the Town stuff now), simplistic but still very detailed (and stickers that stuck). I miss the boxes too with the flip up cover to see what was in the box.
This is a fantastic idea. I'm really enjoying the nostalgia of my childhood.
Nice look back.
This may be the last year of peace in Legoland Space but they really tried to hide it the next year. If you look at the US catalog the Blacktron sets aren't in any of the intro pages or a part of the background displays. They are just tucked in with no fanfare with the other set pictures. The forestman for Castle is on the cover, though. No Futuron that year for the US in '87, but we made up for it with an exclusive set the next year . Not really. That set was lackluster.
Europe, which got Futuron but not Blacktron that next year also doesn't have Futuron figures on the front of the catalog and buries the really cool looking new sets in the back of the Space section.
It is very confusing to me from a marketing standpoint.
The square catalog you could pick up in shops that year around Europe did feature a Futuron figure prominently on the cover which really blew my mind when I got it in the mail. I had just come to realize that Europe had different sets than the US sometimes and a whole new space faction that the US didn't have seemed crazy.
Just to veer from my space obsession. Susan Williams was indeed a fictional Lego Employee to write to. Broke my heart when I found out she wasn't real.
Tohst-
I thought at the time and still think today that the Arctic Technic sets were weak and don't count as real Technic for me. 8942 Go-Kart and 8849 Tractor, on the other hand, are great! I recently found a MISB 8849 at my parents' house and sold it for $350, so it is doubly great for me!
1992 is when trains really began in the USA. The entire 12V range was only available via Shop @ Home up until 1992 when Toys R Us had a complete selection of 9V trains and accessories.
I was 17 in 1986, finishing my last year of high school and fully in the depths of my dark ages. I do remember thinking, even as a kid, "Why would I want another Police/Fire station? I already have one." This was a great era, however, though I always look on the early '80's as a golden age.
BTW Huw, thanks for these articles, I am looking forward to next week's!
Oh man I remember this one well. I had so many sets from the '85-'87 range, Town and Space. My parents must've spent an insane amount of money on it. I even had that train. I don't know how hard it was to find, but the best part about it was the catalog that came with it. It wasn't in English, and it had pics of all the 12V sets that we just didn't get here in the States.
Man I loved these catalogs. I'd spend hours looking at the pictures and photography, imagining what all those minifigs were doing.
> Man I loved these catalogs. I'd spend hours looking at the pictures and photography,
Didn't we all! Today's are just not so inspirational, are they.
I was 2 years old in '86 so my earliest LEGO memories are of a slightly later date. I did however get many sets released that year.
Later on I've bought a lot of catalogs from the 80s. One treasure is the special FABULAND catalog of '86 that I own.
The catalogs would be so much cooler later in the 80s and up to 1996, when LEGO ditched those yellow and green paper hills and made real dioramas for their catalog photos and before computer technology. They also would experiment with dioramas set during twilight/night and/or build complete LEGO skylines.
Some o Legos defining sets (especially space) were from the years before and after that year.
If Castle had no adversaries then why was there a siege wall and a catapult? :)
I was all of a few months old when 1986 came around but my mom found parts of that train at a tag sale. It worked right until I found wheels for it... I have no clue what happened.
BTW - These are my favorite articles on Brickset. :)
Thanks for these reviews ; great to be able to share our impressions with others. For me 1986 was pretty much the first year of my Dark Ages or the last year of playing with LEGO. I think LEGO were not on my presents list anyway. And the maxi-fig... one day hopefully I will find one in a garage sale.
Thank you for another fantastic article!
Love the Castle sets from that era though I didn't appreciate them at the time. I was well into my DA by then.
Not so fond of the Space sets from 1986. Maybe it's my age, but I prefer the simpler look of the '70s sets.
Huw, can we please have an article on a catalogue from the early years of posable minifigures, c. late 70s?
I had the airport set from that catalogue (still do in fact - the box is in perfect condition!). I coverted quite a few of the technic arctic models too, but never got any.
Thank you for another great article. I love all these sets from this time. I miss the way city sets use to fit together so easy with road plates and loved the space sets/baseplates too.
It seems a lot are in agreement...older catalogues trump newer versions!
I loved looking at these as a kid, not this one particularly since I was only 3, but the later 80s/early 90s I was all over. I still have all of them, multiples in fact from my childhood. I should dig those out again.
But part of it bothers me to look at it. So many great sets, so many great memories and knowing that I can never own those (for a reasonable cost) or never seeing them brand new again (again, for a reasonable cost).
Seeing all of those old sets in shiny new pieces makes one drool excessively. If only the bricks themselves wouldn't get scratched/dinged up.
I was 12 years old. I remember most of those sets from long, lingering looks in the local toy shop (when you had to go somewhere to buy LEGO). I had a few of them too. Blue and white cement mixer for definite. My space collection got larger that year but I think the following year I decided I was 'too old' for LEGO, ahem.
Thank you for the explanation about the Castle battles. I guess they differ from today's offerings in that the protagonists and antagonists are not so defined, and not present in the same set so you can make your own mind up about who is who.
I was born in '76, so I remember '86 real well; and it was definitely a great time to buy/build/play with LEGO. The airplane sets were a big step forward with the new nose, tail, and wing pieces. The space sets got to walk, and the castle sets had a couple the neatest castles created... at least to my 10-year old mind.
Great article, Huw; fills me full of nostalgia and I like to see that it does the same for other AFOLs.
And still no Hospital, I started buying sets in the late 90 (well my parents more exactly) giving that I was born by 1991; by 2005 I started again to buy sets again after going through my Dark Ages.
Great article Huw. North America may have had limited Train availability before 9V days, but they did have one advantage (over Australia at least): a few great NA-only Town sets like 6377 and 6391. In fact it's only through Brickset that I became aware of the existence of these sets. Obviously there were some fantastic sets then, but Lego is also making some fantastic sets now - it's great to see that TLG has generally maintained such a quality standard over such a long period.
The 6378 Shell Service Station was one of the first 4 sets I had as a kid! I spent hours rebuilding the sections into various different buildings, with the added bricks from my Helicopter transport, police car, and basic bucket! You didn't need more sets than that in those days...
With these wonderful articles and reading later the comments note the joint thoughts , memories as a kid by people of my age(37) from all over the world , most importantly they offer you the Lego in people of my generation and greater the lost childhood that we do not want never get lost and communication to share these , and our passion for our favorite toy with remarkable people from all over the world,thank you mr Huw,thank to you individually.
A superb year for space, look at those beautiful designs and pieces!
I can't lie, the town sets of the 80s were so much cooler than the sets of today. I know not everybody agrees with that, but they were beautiful in their simplicity. And it wasn't just a never-ending line of police and fire stations, either. I never liked 6 wide vehicles, and I guess my heart still belongs to the late 80s/early 90s.
Excellent, excellent year! I owned (still own!) all but 2 of the space sets in this catalog! This was they golden age of my collecting and many of my favorites are from this year--the Moon Stalker, the Fleet Voyager... man, so many great sets from that 85-87 era!
I was born in 1981, so don't remember many of these sets sadly, (I have memory problems), but I know that my brother and I had: 6361 Mobile Crane, 6698: RV with Speedboat and the awesome 6952: Solar Power Transporter; I suppose the Transporter does look a bit weird in a way, but to me it was simply awesome. My era is probably late 80s/early 90s, especially where space is concerned, but these sets are great and I would have loved to have any of them as a kid (or now).
It's fun to read through the comments. I agree with others. I didn't think my parents spent that much on Lego but most of my childhood sets must have been from this catalog! I have the airport and the gas station, even the train set! And a whole bunch of the smaller sets like the motorcycle shop, cement mixer, mobile police center. Wow! What a trip down memory lane - so cool to see them all again. I remember wanting the Castle sets but my friend had them so I would go over and play with hers and stuck to the town sets. In fact I still own most of these sets and a few are put together in my basement.
Wow that catalog brings back so many happy memories. :)
Back in 86 I was 13 and still in the Golden Days of Castle. It wasn't for another couple of years that the Dark Ages arrived. I had all of the Castle sets in 86.
As for you question about rose tinted glasses it is not an easy one to answer.
I think the Castle sets of the 80's were better because they were simpler in technique and types of pieces. This I think is a much better strategy when dealing with kids as the simpler techniques are easier for them to learn and a simpler build allows them to add to it easier with their imaginations.
In theory you could present a child with sets from the 80's and now and let them decide which are better. Maybe we can do some research of our own. :)
Another thing is that in the 80's they were covering the castle basics of castles, siege towers, catapults, blacksmiths and so on for the first time so there was nothing to compare it to.
For me the 80's will always be king on many levels, in regards to Castle LEGO it is still the high watermark for me.
"there are plenty of knights and castles but no adversaries"
I always thought that the Falcons and Lion Knights are adversaries, and the blacksmith is double-dealing rat who sells weapons for both sides! :)
I love these throwback articles based on old catalogues! I still have most of the early to mid 80's ones ('my age') and I love flicking through them once in a while. If only I could walk into a shop to buy some of these sets... Or order a couple of Service Packs...
The catalogues also make me realize that my parents spent a lot of money on Lego. For example: my Dutch catlogue tells me that my 7740 train cost fl 215,- back in 1981; that's almost €200 in today's money! I guess Lego really never was cheap!
I was born in 1975 so I had an early 80s Town, the center of which being set 381 Police HQ and 6382 Fire Station. However, I also have the 6373 Motorcycle Shop and some vehicles from this '86 catalogue but they were probably the last additions to my city. I also own 6080 King's Castle but this is the only Castle set I ever had. Space was never my thing.
I'm surprised to see no Model Team in this catalogue! The database tells me that the first three sets were released in 1986 and I own all three of them, great sets! Apparently the theme was put on hold after these until 1990. By then I had already grown out of Lego, the most recent set I had as a kid was the 8865 Test Car. After that, there's a whole lot of nothing until 2010...
A bit off topic: what puzzles me is that I own sets that were (according to the database) released years before I was even born! The most extreme example is the 171 train set that was apparently released in 1972! Similarly, my first Technic set (8845) was released in 1981; I can't imagine being given a Technic set at age 6... Probably sets had a longer lifetime back then.
Once again, great articles! A 1980 one would fit right in between the '74 and '86 one! ;-)
Very Good year...... I was in full flow in 1986 and bizarrely have all of the Space lego sets in the article, even though its the US catalogue. Back then you couldn't just get an American set via Ebay.... I went to US in 1986 with my family and brought back 3 sets which Im sure were very rare in the UK at the time. It took me another 15 years to get the rest...... ebay..... I remember a friend having 6951 and I was jealous..... for about 12 years.... ebay.......Also had the technic helicopter 8640 which has THE most annoying technic man. He would NOT sit in that seat.......
^^ In the 1980s sets were often released at different times in Europe and in USA. I suspect Model Team made an appearance in later years in the USA.
Whenever I see articles about older sets, I always see comments stating (without any qualifiers) that those sets are better than what we have today. I don't understand how anyone could say these are objectively better. It seems more like the emotional connection they have to one's childhood makes them beyond reproach.
The older sets still look like a lot of fun for kids, but they are somewhat skeletal and full of all the sharp angles and straight planes that all the later piece additions filled out and smoothed away. I don't get why the older version would be preferable, unless maybe it's a purity thing--this is how LEGO is "supposed" to look, and the more detailed models of today are too similar to other toys. If that's the case, I totally get it, but that's a subjective belief of what LEGO "should" be. It's not an objective argument for whether the sets are truly better than the far more advanced space, city and castle sets that came later on.
Put a little more coarsely, these look like the kind of things you'd see from a junky store brand or clone brand. I wouldn't look twice at them if I saw them in stores today. I appreciate their indispensable place in LEGO's history, but I wouldn't ever post a comment flat-out saying how much "better" these sets are than anything LEGO makes today.
Agreed, as I suggested in the article we see them through rose tinted glasses...
I'm with you Huw I was 1-2 years in my dark ages so I don't own many sets from this period. I don't know if for sure I call it a golden age but sets were much simpler back then. And as you suggest perhaps seeing these sets through the eyes of child (at the time) these were awe inspiring. Compare these sets to nowadays and they look rather rudimentary but at the time it was amazing what could be achieved with the available pieces. A lot of sets we see now a days were just not possible with the available pieces 30 years ago. Heck look at the first couple waves of Star Wars models and they are laughable to todays but sill captured the iconic ships.
I used to spend many hours drooling over the cataogs, now I drool on my tablet instead whilst reading Brickset :-)
These Space sets really turned my off space. I didn't and still don't like the shaping of the vehicles. Technic on the other hand really had my interest. I had quite a few of the model team sets and loved the Technic figs (still trying to figure out which household they ended up in, we must still have them in the family!). It would be awesome if they brought these back. As stated above, it really brings the Technic sets to life!
My dark ages set in a few years after this...
Looking at this catalogue and noticing how I actually own many of the displayed sets despite being too young at the time (acquiring Lego sets more likely began in 1988-1989 for me) reminds me that Lego sets remained available in stores much longer back then. Today, themes can come and go in a matter of a couple years, and if you missed out, you must rely on other means (Ex: Bricklink or ebay). Back then, a theme could release in 1986, but it was still available at a Toys r Us (or its precursor in my area: Kiddie City) well into 1989 to 1990, a whopping 4 years later!
My little brother and I had many of these on a ping pong table in the basement. My half had space, his had castle (with the infamous Yellow Castle as the focus) and our town sets and many road plates were built in between. Unlike the article, which says there's no adversary for the knights, his knights had one...my space guys. He also had a police station, so my space guys would sometimes mysteriously show up in his jail for crimes such as "He did a bad thing" or "He went were he wasn't supposed to go".
This catalog is from well before my time. However, these sets feel so much more complete than what TLG is currently releasing. There were also a larger amount of impulse sets it seems, and it's an awful shame to see that TLG just doesn't do that anymore. The Castle sets actually look like effort was put into their edifices' structures rather than their offencive weapons. The castles were not a solid brick wall, as they are now, but more like actual fortresses.
The previous Throwback Thursday ('74) was the start of my Lego years, this time it's a few years into my dark ages. I don't recognise any of those sets...
I think that 80's sets were more 'minifigure' scale, and not like many LEGO items today. Take the LEGO motorcycle (heck even the airplanes) from then and now. Better detail? Sure, but they look out of scale to the figure. Look at the new speed champions line. Detailed cars, but to me they look a bit out of scale and still only fit one guy in the car (same as 30 years ago by the way). To me there is 'LEGO scale' but some people keep insisting that it must be true to 'real' scale of things like real cars, buildings and houses. It is neat to have detail but I think with LEGO 'less is more' sometimes, and with the new parts that come out every year to make things easier to have beautiful designs it also makes designs more complicated... I blame SNOT for starting this. I know that new sets are great, and the new part types are great as well; I love the Mods and some of the creator sets as well as trains out now. However, to me, there is just something about the simplicity of the older designs (never mind the Service station, and other sets, with an actual 32x32 baseplate!) Maybe it is still just simple nostalgia, but I still love the old sets and when I have to build an old set like 6391 Cargo Center I still can find myself playing with it, even though it is an 'inferior' design.
Great to see this article. By 1986 I turned 8 years old and collected since then all catalogues (Dutch version). There are many fond memories I have about the 1986 Town, Space and Technic Arctic sets.
After reading the article and subsequent comments I enjoyed the trip down memory lane. In 1986 I was 15, so this was the height of my set collecting and the town sets were at the top of my list. All of my town sets (1979 - 1990's) are safely stored in their boxes and many still have the original catalogs, including the one shown here. I do firmly believe this time frame was the golden age of town sets because of the diversity in set types and you still received real base plates with larger sets. That made putting together my town on a 4' by 8' sheet of plywood much easier!
Fantastic review, great nostalgia. I was four years old at the time and already an enthusiast. My parents spent insane money on LEGO comparing to our moderate circumstances. I received 6386 police station as a kid but I could only afford most of the large sets as an adult. I believe 80s and early 90s were the golden age of LEGO because sets were simple but charmed and were much more diversified than nowdays. Looking forward to the next retrospect.
Just a quick aside on this Huw. In the UK, we didn't get the 1986 released Police Station until 1987, meaning set 6384 was in the catalogue for a 4th year running (resulting in me receiving it for my 7th birthday that November!)
Thanks for Throwback Thursdays. Just awesome to see these old catalogues. So many great memories. The robots, small space craft and small rovers were my favorite. What ever happened to those great space plates!
Lego was tough... Hard to break through Transformers and GI Joe for me but still had a nice spot in my heart. Actually, 85 and 86 brought on the Nintendo... Things were never the same after. But there was a charm to the sets back then that led to more imagination. I feel like you could do or create so much more with the sets.
Lol I remember I desperately wanted the airport set.
I also had most of the catalogue. I was so lucky to have a room only for my Lego, a table for city castle and train and a table for space (do you rememeber the monorail?) What's best is that now all my sets are come to life again with my 6-year-old daughter, as well as new sets from Hobbit and Harry Potter, both new and used: I don't know who enjoys playing more between me and her.
Lots of memories from the sets in this catalogue. Some of which are definitely bittersweet, as my brother got all the biggest sets and I had to make do with either the lines he wasn't bothered with (Town, Castle) or just the smaller sets...
This is pretty dope, brings me back to the good old days of lego.
oooh! I turned 5 in 1986 (in december no less) but I was kinda a prodigy with lego (or maybe I just had a knack for it idk) I own 6891! it's *still* one of my favourite sets (and a big reason to why I bought 70816 Benny's spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP - the same cool "spaceship-shaped" huge with loads of bits and pieces awe). sometime later my mother acquired leftovers from some other kid's lego collection (must have been that guy's "dark age"? ) and a second 6891 was a part of it :D
I was 9 and the most sets i owned as a kid are from '86. This was the golden age of all lego before it died in 1994 and now i have to suffer through licensed sets (yes i know it saved lego but it lost its soul) seems to me if you don't like star wars, super heroes or anything else Americanised its hard to be an AFOL. p.s. There were adversaries in the castle world - (black falcon and the kings) so not sure what he is talking about there
Thank you for posting this. It brings back many memories and also hours of looking at these catalogues wishing to get a particular set... But could only admire them at the department stores. :P Yes, for me it was the golden age of Lego... But I also appreciate how far it has evolved into the current sets we see nowadays. Cherish the past and look forward to the future... :D
I was born in 1986... you can say whatever you want about Rose Colored glasses and objective or subjective opinion... 1986 was probably the height of Classic Space's midlife crisis, ahem, eccentricity... I happen to like this stuff far more than the new and improved Lego space toys.
For one thing... they were still going off the deep end with the designs... Robot Command Center looks awful, and wonderful... I want those pieces even if I'm not taken with the thing itself... I prefer sets for the parts, and a lot of the modern sets have had part development veer toward a sleekness/bigness that is better looking as a representation, but less exciting as constituent elements. That said... I can totally see why new Lego is flying off the shelves... I just can't afford to have my interests so divided and have come down hard on the side what I wanted for longer... therefore... priority. FuturonOfMyYouth