I was all aflutter last week when the 40506 LEGO Fabuland Tribute was revealed. The idea of enlarging Fabuland figures is familiar to me: after all, I am now twice as tall and twice as round as a 5 year old. While I have previously reimagined some of these characters as Brickheadz, the interpretation here is much closer to the original figures with regards to their shape and function. But is it work a trip to Billund to pick the set up?
Yes it is. The End.
Sorry, you’d like some more details? please read on.
Like all of annual LEGO House exclusive sets, we have a box that folds open, and is sturdy enough to use to store the set in when not on display. On the back are some details of the theme itself.
The set has 1026 pieces, scattered across 13 bags. There are 6 instruction manuals: one for each character to build, along with the tree and a larger book covering the construction of the base. This book also includes highlights behind the scenes, as well as a discussion of the historical significance of Fabuland, including its role as the first Trans-media theme, as well as being the launchpad for story-based themes such as Bionicle, Friends, Legends of Chima and Ninjago. To say nothing of the Fabuland elements that persist in sets to this day.
The character based instruction books provide a small biography of the character. It is quite remarkable just how fleshed out these characters were when the sets were first released back in the 70s and 80s.
I have to admit, this picture is possibly one of my favourites that I have ever seen of a design team in a photo: LEGO House Master Builder, Stuart Harris; LEGO Senior Designer Markus Rollbührer and Corporate Historian Signe wiese Bundsbæaek, exploring the archives.
Story time
Also featured in the first manual is a short story, telling how members of the Fabuland Band are invited to Denmark to celebrate the launch of the new tribute set. Master Builder Stuart Harris read this story to us at the Fan Media Days last year, with the illustrations by his Associate Dídac Pérez Soriano accompanying. I have reconstructed those images with my figures and strung them together for your viewing enjoyment. If you listen carefully, you might hear some somewhat emotional responses.
Finally, we come to the building part.
First we unbag the elements: Here are the first few bags, tying in with the base of the build. We see lots of black plates and tiles, along with plenty of bright green bricks, including 1x1x1 2/3 brackets , and the new 1x4x1 2/3 curved brick. We also see the 2×2 bracket with a plate in the middle. Finally, there are two printed elements featuring the words “LEGO® House” and “LEGO® FABULAND® Tribute”
Lets follow up by including the bags containing the elements for all of the characters, and finally the tree.
The Base
We start by assembling a black base. It is predominantly tiled, while there is an elegant row of studs around the edge.
This followed by a green wall featuring 5 technic bricks, as well as some ‘foot brackets’. these brackets bind the wall onto this base. The rounded edge is enabled through the used of a new 1x4x 1 2/3 curve.
Finally, we secure the ‘lawn’ to the black base.
Add some Characters
Next, we start work on our figures: Edward Elephant, Clive Crocodile, Lucy Lamb and Joe Crow. Rather than examine each of them in close detail, I thought we could take a look at the legs and bodies, and then look at the heads. All of the legs and bodies have the same base structure: let’s take a closer look.
The Torso
As we go, we will see that there a few pieces that are restricted in their colour palettes: as such, we are unable to recreate figures in all colours at this time. Fabuland figures bodies were restricted in their colour palettes. Legs appeared in Grey, yellow, white, lime, black blue and red. Fabuland bodies appeared in red, black, yellow, green, white and blue. Arms were available in red, black, white, yellow and blue.
With each figure, we start with the torso, and work our way down. The torso itself is built up from the back to the front.
Using a combination of SNOT plates, along with 4×1 plate with rounded ends (DesignID 77845), the figures are able to maintain the rounded shape of the shoulders. Headlamp/Ehrling bricks are tucked in the shoulders for reasons we will see shortly. The rounded plates are currently available in red, yellow medium stone grey and black.
Brackets with bent bars allow stud reversal over the lower back, while click hinges will give the hips a degree of stability. The upper part of the anterior torso is formed using 2×2 plates, rounded with cutouts(DesignID79419) . These plates have a relatively restricted range of colours- of those originally used in Fabuland figures bodies were torsos, we have white, yellow, red and black available at present.
Click hinges have been relative restricted in their primary colours, and white, grey, red and black were preexisting, while bright yellowish green and yellow were introduced in this set.
We use the bars that are facing back to attach another couple of rounded 1×4 plates to – achieving a stud reversal. We now take pause, and work on the legs.
The Legs
Starting with 2×4 plates, we build up, and the bulk of the leg is built up with half circle bricks (68013). The Bright yellowish green version of this element is one of the new recolours in this set – the only other Fabuland colours it is currently available in are white, yellow, medium stone grey (light grey equivalent) and red.
The top of the leg is capped off with a 2×2 click hinge plate, while a couple of 1×1 arch elements prevent the legs bending backwards.
Finishing up
We plug these into the click hinge on the torso, and then cover the back and sides of the torso with 2×4 tiles, covering the torso and the hips in particular, just like the real figures.
Having wrapped up the torsos, we assemble the arms: plates with clips parallel to the plate for the shoulder, and clips at right angles for the hands. Tiles and plates fill in the gaps. A 2module long bar with stopper (available white, black, red, and some non relevant colours.) is used to attach the arm to the shoulders.
Accessories
We work on the figure’s accessories before moving onto the head. Edward carries a 4×4 tile, with some attached handles – twice as large as the traditional 2×2 Fabuland printed tile. Just as I did with the Sticker from the Ninjago City Workshops, I may have spent a little too much time attempting to recreate this sticker in a brick-built form.
The accordion matches the original’s shape quite well, mimicking the vents with ‘cheese grater’ slopes, and buttons with the studs. Meanwhile, the railing on plates with rails copies the folds of the accordion.
Joe Crow’s drum copies the original’s neck bracket design, but exploits the studs on the front of the torsos to secure the bracket to the figure. Two of the circular ‘design bricks’(an uninspiring name for any part that has been made in a certain shape because it looks cool) are secured back to back through trickery and a technic axel.
Finally, the tuba takes an interesting mix of curved elements to recreate the shape of the original accessory, again using some clever SNOT techniques to attach two mirrored components.
Lets get A Head…or Four.
The heads are interesting. Let’s face it: the torsos and legs are identical. I was barely reading the instructions by the time I got to Lucy Lamb. But the heads are where the build gets really interesting.
Edward Elephant
Edward’s head is built up in a typically Studs-forward direction – starting with a double inverse slope at the back. SNOT elements allow the side of the head to be rounded, while a Super Mario 4×4 plate pushes the front of the face forward. A mixel joint socket will secure the head on the neck. As we move forward, we add an offset 1×3 plate to tidy up Edward’s face. His ears are cleverly added over a bracket and clipped into place.
Clive Crocodile
The lower part of Clive’s head also starts work at the back, and moves forward, adding his snout using a ‘foot plate’ bracket. Rounded plates help to keep the distinctive shape of his nose.
The top half of his head is built upwards, with scales added on top, while his eyes are placed on forward facing offset plates.
Joe Crow
We start building Joe Crow’s head at the eyes, incorporating the goggles in the process. A pink brink in the center gives him a brain, and the helmet is built up around it. We build the lower part of his head from middle to back and then add the beak by attaching it to a brick with 4 studs on one side and plugging this into the rear half. the helmet is then used to hold all of these components together.
Dr Lucy Lamb
Lucy Lamb’s head is built from the base upwards,with plenty of rounded elements. A cluster of offset plates and tiles held in the centre of the head incorporates the neck socket, and is attached to a SNOT brick that is facing the back of the head. There are lots of studs facing outwards, and we add additional tiles to improve the texture. Finally, we add the nose and eyes, and cover over the top of her head, with a couple of clip-on ears.
The tree
And finally, we go to work on the tree. The Fabuland tree is iconic: the holes are all perfectly spaced, while the branches are a little more symmetrical than the original.
We take a frame of plates, and add in a cluster of curves. Through a crazy act of geometry, the cetres of the circles are almost all the same distance from the centre of the middle hole. The holes are outlines with curved tiles. On seeing this version of the model, Stuart Harris (LEGO House master Builder and creator of the initial sketch model) asked Markus Rollbührer if it might be possible to add some decoration, similar to the apples seen in the later version of the original Fabuland trees. It wasn’t.
Here they all are:
Here are the Fabuland Tribute figures next to their antecedents, equipped with the instruments. As I previously mentioned, these characters are not traditionally associated with these instruments. However, the idea of the set was inspired, in part, from an episode of Edward and friends, where the cast found a collection of instruments in the Town Hall’s Clock tower. Inspired. Not imitating.
The brick-built figures are around 11-12 Bricks high, and the footprint is now 4×4 studs. The range of movement is pretty similar to the original figures..
BrickHeadz?
Now, as it happened, we have a few buildings around Rambling Brick HQ that are a similar scale: years ago, when BrickHeadz were at their peak domination of the LEGO Collectable landscape, well 2019, Shelly Timson and I created a few buildings and vehicles for Brickheadz scaled Fabulanders.
I’ll tease you with this, but bring you some further images in the near future.
And finally
I am not fooling myself: This new set isn’t Fabuland. It is, however, a love letter to the theme that set the bar for transmedia LEGO Storytelling, extending beyond the bricks, into books and comics, into tea towels and television and more. The existence of this set tells us that the company remembers the importance of Fabuland in the origins of today’s themes: in fact, all themes that have benefitted from trans-media storytelling throughout the years, be it Fabuland’s post apocalyptic descendants in the Adventures of Chima; Fan favorite Bionicle, or modern mainstays such as Ninjago and LEGO Friends. The mere act of putting this set together made me happy. The emotions I felt at the set’s unveiling have carried over.
If you are a Fabuland Fan who visits the LEGO House this year, and sees the associated Fabuland Displays, a voice in the back of your mind will make you buy this set.
Don’t Fight it.
Building the set will bring you joy, and then you will want to build new characters, using the templates provided. I suspect I shall at some point over the next few weeks…. I’ll share my results with you.
I could gripe about the repetitivenes of the builds: the torsos and legs are essentially recolours of each other. There are, however, some really interesting techniques used to achieve the shapes of the heads, as well as the instruments.
The thing I’d like to gripe about is the existing colour palette: while the Fabuland palette for bodies, arms and legs is fairly limited, we cannot find all of the elements to build these figures in all of the colours used (or their modern equivalents). I’d like nothing more than to build Wilfred Walrus and Mike Monkey to crew the paddle-steamer. Unfortunately, that won’t happen today.
The40506 LEGO Fabuland Tribute goes on sale on March 1 at the LEGO House in Billund, Denmark and, I suspect, through outrageously marked-up secondary channels at prices marginally cheaper than a trip to Denmark soon enough (depending on where on the world you are travelling from). The recommended retail price is 649DKK.
I am grateful to the LEGO House team for sending me a copy of this set to review. All opinions are my own.
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Until Next Time,
Play Well!
