This is why I love Lego so much. You can take a toy you played with as a child and revisit it as a adult; not with a kitschy false-sentimentality, but a freshness and creative spirit that reflects that original experience.
OK, I’m waxing lyrical.. but that’s because I’ve only just come across this site:
http://www.neoclassicspace.com/
The models refer back to the old classic Space Lego, but use modern pieces and construction techniques. There’s humour in there, some lovely nods to older models – I’m particularly taken by the neat little Galaxy Explorer, a take on the 497 set I had as a kid. This mini Galaxy Explorer brings on waves of nostalgia – and of awe at the clever reworking of the old design. It’s perhaps only surpassed by the incredible Neo Classic Space ll by Peter Reid.
The original 497 Galaxy Explorer was the first big bit of Lego I ever got (or my brother got… the lines blur). It’s also the kit that got me back into Lego as an adult, when Mum and Dad put all our old toys up on a table and said “take what you want – everything else is going to charity”. Side note: my bro got all the old Hornby train sets – I think we both did OK.
I don’t expect my kids to grok any of this. In fact, after seeing what they and their cousins did to my poor old red spaceman (sorry, he just does not have blue pants.. and that skeleton head is.. kinda creepy), I would guess they’d look at these old school sets as just that.. old. Sigh.. Young people and their modular Lego kits.. in my day we didn’t have no stinkin’ movie tie-ins. But anyway, I’m sure we’re all going to have some fun with the new Space Police coming out later this year, the closest thing Lego have to the space sets of my youth.
Now, if only Lego would rerelease the old classic space sets. It’s been 30 years after all – an opportunity to cash in on the sentimentality of a bunch of old AFOLs. But it wouldn’t be the same – the past is the past. I’m as sure of this as I am that there’s always more Lego and that creativity is essentially boundless.
I too wish Lego would re-release all the classic space sets. I would love to get the old Galaxy Explorer.
Some of the Space Police sets look good but I really don’t like the modular parts.