LEGO Weetabix promotions

I know I feel old sometimes. But it's no wonder when we had at least two "1592 Town Square - Castle Scene". A set that you say came out in 1890!!! Wow! I am *really* old. LOL!
It was one of my favourite sets for quite some time. It was so exciting getting Lego in the post :-)

Apparently (so my ex-Kelloggs marketeer friends assures me) the lack of cool freebies in cereal is simply to remove incentives for kids to pester their parents for one cereal or another just for the freebie, I think that the choking risk is somewhat incidental (as it's a long time since the toy was inside the cereal itself!)

Those are some cool offers (although minor typo for 1890!) - you even get proper baseplates too!

Thanks Hew for another interesting article.
I used to own 1592 Town Square, but it's origin escapes me.....were these sets also available on shop shelves?
It was a great set, one of the biggest i ever got as a kid, and formed the main street of my very small town - loads of vehicles and not enough roads was always the problem:o)
The stickered fr&bk soldiers were immediately press-ganged into an elite royal guard for the crusader knights. There were a lot of stickers with this set i now recall......the small stand could be changed from 'Fish and Chips' to 'Ice Cream'. And there was the first ever Lego Book Store.

I wish these offers had been avail. in the U.S., as these are some wonderful sets. And you can't beat Lego at basically one penny/pence per piece! Sadly, I've never seen a box of Weetabix, although judging by the name it doesn't sound very appealing and it probably tastes like (tasteless) Shredded Wheat - which w/o a lot of sugar and some other teeth rotting toppings was like eating hay.

My brother and sister in law live near the Weetabix factory. I wonder if there is a basement room that no one has been in for 30 years and one day they open the door and........"blimey folks - there's some old toys in here". Wouldn't that just be fab !

I think jhs8swd is right - I got a spoon in a box not long ago, and some weird beanbag things. They still do in-pack promotions (I don't think they're actually in the bag with the cereal anymore though) and other promotions where you need to collect tokens from X number of boxes. The cynic in me thinks it's not a H&S issue, but probably to cut down on the potential for damages to boxes/products in stores where people go rummaging through them to get the gift they want (no doubt that happens more than you think).

But this is rather interesting, and so is the link.

I got a 1484 sealed in box off eBay for about $250 a few years ago. One of my favorite pieces in my collection. It's rare I keep a set sealed, but this one I do.

Had 1899 as a kid. As far as I recall there were more tokens on bigger boxes. We always bought the 48 biscuit box - with 6 siblings and personally eating 4 biscuits (I love the stuff) a day it didn't take too long to get the requisite tokens.

I've got 1592 and the Weetabix castle. For a promotion set 1592 is killer. I managed to find a complete copy with stickers, box and instructions for under $50. The Weetabix castle is one of the most interesting sets there is due to be unnumbered and being shipped in a plain box. I bought were the instructions and some period correct bricks. The instructions are in terrible shape. They are like tissue paper and taped together in several places. At some point I'd like to buy a better set.

@waylander Yes the English version of 1592 was sold in Germany in the early 80s. It doesn't appear that these sold as a promotion, but were sold in German toy stores.

@LegoSolo77 Having eaten both Weetabix and Shredded Wheat you're right on the money. The hay comparison is a good for Shredded Wheat. Weetabix is more like cardboard. But like Shredded Wheat, a little sugar and let it soften in milk and it's not bad.

I remember seeing these offers, but have and always had supermarket-brand 'clone' Weetabix. Two of them with a handful of Coco Pops on top for taste with warm milk has been my breakfast pretty much every day for over 40 years! (Or you can crumble the weetabix first if using cold milk).

My ride to secondary school passed close to the Weetabix factory too, such that you could smell it when the wind was in the right direction. I even built a LEGO version of the Hornby Weetabix rail wagon. Apparently when Margaret Thatcher visited the factory she said she liked to spread jam on a dry one like toast - the jam I can understand, but what kind of hellish denizen would consume a dry Weetabix? Oh, right, Margaret Thatcher...

The offer I particularly remember was actually on Persil washing powder though, for 1593, the Space set. I remember it because the cheap printing onto the cheap cardboard packet made the red spaceman look orange!

Managed to get the three buildings from 1976 at a toy fair earlier this year. All in very good condition.Love the nostalgia

Had all of those Weetabix sets, and the parents claim to still have them stashed in the loft. I'll be going to reclaim them back at some point.

I'm pretty certain that the Technic Rally series sets from 1990 (8830, 8840 and 8850) came via a 'collect the tokens' promotion also... and to be honest I thought it was cereal-based! As they're not included in the article above, anyone able to shed the light on where they came from? All three reside in my collection, and I have a memory (which may be incorrect!) of going door-to-door on the street I grew up on asking if anyone had any tokens going spare as I wanted all three sets...!

Interesting, my final memory of Lego sets in Weetabix sets of 1990 included set 1898 Dragster, but I also recall a promotion which I though included this dragster, but also included 1988 Set number 1612 which you got when you sent off a few tokens, but then you could also send of a number of tokens, and an amount of money, and we got set 6381 (motor speedway). Although this set was available in shops as well.

Problem is I can't prove it, but I definately recall them coming from the back of a cereal packet promotion.

Great article! 1589 Main Street was my first Lego set which I received through the Weetabix offer. I must have been 5 years old. However, although my dad helped me build it, one building a day, when it was finished it was proudly placed on top of a dresser and got knocked off almost immediately smashing to pieces and was never built again :(

I have two copies of 1484 - one of which was at my house and is fairly well played with, slightly yellowed and with scratched window glass :( The other I had forgotten about and only found it recently when clearing out my Grandma's house. It's barely touched - everything is pristine condition, even the box. Haven't done an inventory yet, but it looks complete - can't wait to assemble it :)

@mrkona - that was a TLG offer. Barcodes on technic boxes were given different points depending on the value of the set. Collecting enough points would allow you to swap them for one of the technic rally series sets. That's how I got my 8850 anyway

@Huw: I enjoyed Weetabix as a kid but haven't had it in years. While it's available over here, it's something of a specialty item compared to other cereals from bigger companies like Kellogg's, Post, or General Mills. I don't think any of these offers were available in the US, but I suppose it doesn't matter to me since the last of these offers happened before I was born, let alone ready for solid foods!

For anyone wondering, it's sort of like shredded wheat, but instead of being hard strands it's more of a flaky wafer that softens and breaks apart when you put it in milk. Actually a really delightful eating experience IMO, especially topped with blueberries.

But toys are still in Nestle (yuck) cereals. At least here in europe.

Those two city scenes ... the Main Street and Castle Scene sets ... are the kind of old-school Lego sets that are so beautiful, they're painful to look at.

I found the instructions to both online and bought pieces to add them to my Lego City, and it's worth doing because they're gorgeous.

Oh Huw, you've clearly not been making it properly ;-) 3 biscuits, a spoon of sugar, enough milk to just cover them, microwave for 3 minutes, allow to cool and eat. The correct consistency has been achieved when the bowl can be turned upside down and the breakfast doesn't fall out :-) 1589 played a big part in one of my happiest childhood Christmases! Thank you so much for the memory just as it's time to take down the decorations.

Can we extend the theme to include Lego freebies with other food items? I have 2 cookie tins from the late 1990s still with the sticker on top and great graphics of the Town sets of the time. I'll need to find them out again to check how exactly they were branded.

I also have an Western 'Indian Canoe' that was given away for free with Little Chef meals at about the same time as the cookie tins. Ah the nostalgia of tiny free sets, though I'm envious of the huge exclusive sets in the 1970s for Weetabix.

Nice article!
I have the Dutch version of 1592 which, according to Google, could be ordered in 1983 by sending in 3 Unox soup labels and fl39,95. No labels needed if another fl6,55 were paid. Greatful for my parents having done that (apparently)!

Thanks for another nice historic article covering a special series of LEGO sets. 1592 was available in Germany exclusive at the toy stores of the Vedes group.
Back in 2002 I collected various modifications and variations of 1592 from AFOLs around the globe, if you like jump to my old brickshelf gallery: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=15676

I had to read the article when I saw "Weetabix" and my joy was unconfined to see the castle again. It is perhaps my first proper memory of Lego. And among my collection I can still identify the bricks that formed it. Mostly from the dirt, yellowing, teeth marks (don't ask) and the like.

Of course the other strong memory of mine from that era linked with Weetabix is the Doctor Who cards and the game boards on the back of the packets.

@Huw: In the set notes it also says that the picture shows the Dutch version but, looking at the stickers, this is not the case.

Some great sets here. Most of them were before my time, but I'm fairly certain I had 1899 - Race Car, or certainly something very similar. I loved it, and am now scouring eBay!

And @Huw, slandering Weetabix is scandalous! The breakfast of kings (though admittedly a good ol' fry-up is much better).

@HoMa - I remember those versions! I was going to try and build a look-alike for 1592 using just the parts from 1593, but couldn't make it work...

The black and white house from the 1976 3 town sets has always been part of my collection as long as I can remember. Although battered I still have the original instructions. Now seeing the other house and the windmill I am sure I have the parts for them including the base plates in my loose stuff. I'll have to gather all the bits together. The roof shape of the black and white house is still one of my favourite's ever.

1484 house was the main piece of my sister's and my collection. We only had one other house, a grey baseplate and a few small sets (including 1899 car - good to know where that came from!)
Getting these out of the loft for my nephew 7 years ago got me out of my dark ages. So much love for the weetabix lego. And weetabix - we still have it every breakfast, and my kids love it too! For me it's a love/hate thing! Too soggy and it's gross, but just with a bit of bite it hits the spot :)

And as a bonus I picked up 1589 and the yellow castle too from a local ebay auction about 6 years ago. The set really is stunning.