“Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin.”

It was the first day of Fan Media days 2024, and the team had us meet up at the LEGO House, where we were hearing about some of the upcoming plans. We made ourselves comfortable, while Stuart Harris, Master Builder at the LEGO house, sat in a chair next to a large black box with a question mark on it, opened a book, and spoke.

“It was a beautiful Spring Day in Fabuland and Edward Elephant was out in his garden…”

Stuart tells a good story, and this one tugged at the heart strings of anyone who had a fondness for simpler times, animal characters and primary colours. We started to suspect that this story would culminate in the unveiling of the LEGO House Exclusive set for 2025. I became a little bit emotional.

It was September, 2024, at the LEGO House, on the first day of the LEGO Fan Media Days: LEGO House Master Builder Stuart Harris and Senior LEGO Designer Marcus Rollbühler were preparing to unveil the LEGO House set for 2025. Corporate Historian Signe Wiese, who has collaborated with the team on previous releases was also present.

Previous LEGO House Exclusive Sets

The previous LEGO House Exclusive sets have all celebrated important aspects of the development of LEGO as a play medium:

• 40501, the LEGO Duck celebrates the heritage of Wooden Toys
• 40502 The Brick Moulding Machine celebrates manufacture of the plastic brick – the cornerstone of LEGO construction
• 40503 Dagny Holm – Master Builder celebrates the first builder of large-scale models, and as such all master builders through history
• 40504 A minifigure Tribute – an upscaled version of Redbeard the pirate, had its release coincide with the 45th anniversary of the release of the first minifigure.
• 40505 LEGO Building Systems celebrates the three forms of LEGO Construction: DUPLO, System and Technic.

But what of 40506? What’s in the box? What is it about?

Stuart Harris told us a story, telling of how Edward Elephant, Doctor Lucy Lamb, Joe Crow and Clive Crocodile received an invitation to have their Fabuland band come to play at the LEGO House.

And with that, Marcus and Signe removed the mystery box and and then unveiled the set.

And so the next set, 40506 A Tribute to Fabuland celebrates storytelling.

The set, 40506 A Tribute to LEGO Fabuland celebrates the tradition of LEGO Storytelling. The model features four iconic Fabuland Figures: Edward elephant, Lucy Lamb, Clive Crocodile and Joe Crow, alongside an upscaled Fabuland Tree. I cannot describe the feeling of joy that welled up inside me at this moment.

Why should I have cared?

People who know me will be aware that I have a soft spot for themes gone by, and Fabuland in particular. I have rebuilt Fabuland sets in Brickheadz Scale for Brickvention in collaboration with my friend Shelly Timson (I’m now twice as tall and twice as round as I was when I was 5, so the upscale seemed like a fair comparison.)I have taken some of these characters on the road with me to overseas and interstate events.

I seem to have inadvertently collected a collection of parts for this theme that was not actually part of my childhood. The bright colours, and thoughtful characters strike a chord in me. Although I have also explored some darker aspects, and how Fabuland may have come to collapse as a society and evolve into the world of Chima…

And so, as the new set was unveiled, I wept tears of joy. I have been excited by many LEGO sets over the years: delighted to see new colours, new themes, new ways to play. But this would be the first time that a set reveal made me actually cry.

After the big reveal, we heard from Signe, Stuart and Markus – We heard about some of the things Signe learned as she explored the Archives of the LEGO Group; Stuart told us about what he had thought of including and Markus explained what it meant to translate Stuart’s Sketch model into a practical set.

Signe’s Story

While I regained my composure, Signe Wiese Bundsbæk – a member of the Corporate History Unit – presented a little about the history and significance of Fabuland. Signe told how she normally dives into the stories behind the LEGO House sets as if they were her own passion project.

However with Fabuland, the excitement doubled: having grown up playing with Fabuland, she now had the chance to dive into the archives and find out more about her childhood toy.

Signe explained that Fabuland was initially introduced to ease the transition between DUPLO and System bricks , particularly for children aged between 3 and 7 years of age. It was designed to bring Building fun, and Fantasy play. The read-along booklets would combine building instructions with Story Telling.

During the research for this set, original documents describing each character’s personality were found. It was remarkable just how developed the biographies were for all of the characters featured:

While these characters were renowned for their alliterative names, these varied from country to country: This article in the Staff Magazine at the time reflected on some of the challenges of being an international company – giving the examples of the different names Fabuland Characters had around the world as an example.

Some of these documents are now in display in the History Collection at LEGO House for 2025.

Signe wrapped up, talking about the legacies of Fabuland: one is in particular, the storytelling, which has become an important aspect of so many of the newer themes. Another is the elements developed for Fabuland that are still in use today. These include the Fabuland Broom, baguette and cauldron.

Stuart’s Story

Stuart returned to demonstrate his sketch model. During the development, he may have spent a little too much time watching the animated series, Edward and Friends – a 1987 Claymation series based on the Fabuland characters.

He had 3 solid choices for figures, and consulted with Markus and Signe for the 4th. One of the highlights of Fabuland sets of old was the accessories, and these often tied directly into the storytelling of of the theme. Stuart put together some prototypes of his favorite accessories: an oversized scooter, and the vacuum cleaner. Markus suggested looking at some musical instruments, and this reminded Stuart of a particular episode of Edward and Friends, where the characters formed a band. So he set out to give the characters different instruments, with Edward conducting.

“The final selection ended up like this, with with the four characters on the on the base there, and that’s basically what I hand over to Marcus as being the brief for the model that we want to to have as an exclusive set in in the Lego house.”

Markus’s Story

“It’s at this point in the story that I throw Stuart under the bus.” The sketch model is great, but there were many aspects of the model that would need some work before being put on the market as a souvenir of the LEGO House. The sketch tree needed a bit of work to get it right, the the figures weren’t quite right, and the base looked like something out of Minecraft.

Markus had picked up some Fabuland figures at a local Flea market, and with the figures in hand gave careful consideration to the joints: the hinges in the legs, having arms that moved up and down, getting rid of the wrist rotation and making sure we had a ball joint for the head. The legs were vertical, the torso is built on its side and the heads were rotated again.

There were a few other specific details that needed improving: adding a few more studs and scales to Clive, and adjusting Edwards trunk, to make it look more ‘LEGO -like.’ Finally, there were the accessories: this added specific challenges as Stuart had used plenty of dubious techniques in putting them together.

The hinges at the hip, the shoulders and the arms each went through a few three drafts before being finalised in ways that might be considered appropriately secured.

Stuart’s Addendum:

The team were keen to include a sticker in the set that would depict a group photo of the Fabuland characters at the house. “Didac, the Associate Master Builder at LEGO House is a very talented graphic designer and illustrator, So I approached him and said ‘Do you fancy doing some Fabuland Illustrations?’ So he did the illustrations for the instruction book, the story included in the building Instructions and we worked on the sticker together”

One was the characters having a picture taken at the ‘hole in the wall’ in the main square of the house, another had the figures in front of a ‘Fabulandish’ version of the LEGO House.

This second image was further developed, and so this is the final image on the single sticker included in the set:

But that’s not all

The Tribute to Fabuland set is only one way that this long retired theme is being remembered at the LEGO House this year. Last September, at the AFOL Day prior to the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend, a new model was installed in the World Explorer (Green) zone of the house. Built by Scottish AFOL Stuart Lamb Cromer, the Maid of Fabuland is a large paddle steamer filled with Fabuland figures and decorated in bold colours.

Finally, after the LEGO House reopened this year, after the winter break, a large Fabuland exhibition has appeared in the Historical collection, tucked away in the basement of the LEGO House. Special thanks to Tim from New Elementary for sending me these photos, which are used with permission. You can read Tim’s excellent overview of the display on New Elementary.

Also included in the display is a collection of ephemera such as books, records, teatowels, and clothing. The display also includes original modelled head elements, as the designers produced them, before being reproduced at actual size and manufactured.

So, I can’t lie, this set has me feeling more than a little excited. This model might not represent a return to the halcyon days of the original figures, but it shows us that the theme is remembered and loved by people working within the LEGO Group. While the moulds of Fabuland figures are unlikely to be dug up and used again, the ingenuity of the team certainly brought me joy, when I saw the set unveiled. I am excited again, knowing that we can share more of the story.

LEGO House exclusive set number 40506 A tribute to Fabuland has 1026Elements and is priced at 699DKK from LEGO House. It will be exclusively available from the LEGO Store at the LEGO House in Billund, Denmark. Although I suspect it will be popular, and many people will probably pick up an extra to sell on the secondary market.

Come back soon for my review of this set. In the meantime, I’d love to know what you think of this set. Does it appeal? Are you hoping to pick up a copy? let me know in the comments below.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!