Happy Star Wars Day! I’d like to start by thanking some of our readers for sending in fresh scans and new photos of Catalogs and Magazines from the early days of LEGO Star Wars. In Particular Sue Ann B and Trevor C, David L, and El Davo. You guys rock. Now…read on
It was 1999, and I was still in my LEGO Dark Ages, but something was afoot. The LEGO Catalogue for the year opened with some themes, tried and true on the cover: Top left led off with a rocket blasting off from the LEGO Town – Spaceport; on the lower left we see the Adventurers theme, this year exploring the South American Jungle. The bottom right image brought us a new, original theme: Rock Raiders; And finally on the top right was an image that would change the way LEGO was looked at for ever. Star Wars. At this time, roughly 22 years had passed since the first film was released, and nearly 2 years had passed since the Special Editions had debuted, introducing a new generation to the joy of Cinema.
This year, 2024, we celebrate 25 years since the release of those first Star Wars LEGO Sets, and on May the 4th, and here at the Rambling Brick we are going to revisit that first look we had at LEGO Star Wars back in 1999, by revisiting some of the publications that came out around the time: first the 1999 Catalogue entries, and then the LEGO World Magazine. Now… I thought I had some of these catalogues in the archives at home, and while I might, I was unable to locate them in a timely fashion, so I am grateful to the readers who responded to a distress flare the other night. [read on for new scans and long-forgotten mangazines]
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The theme arrived as we saw a resurgence in science fiction and space fantasy entertainment on the screen: led by films such as Star Wars, and on the smaller screen by Doctor Who, Blakes Seven and Battlestar Galactica, our imaginations were primed for journeys beyond the stars. The Space Shuttle Enterprise had been undergoing test flights from the back of a 747 Jet, and a we were excited for a new era of space exploration commencing, with the Space Shuttle Columbia ultimately launching in 1981.
Forty years ago, we saw the change in LEGO® sets: the arrival of the minifigure. Now we had articulated figures to bring our models to life: no need to remove the torso for our figures to sit down. As part of #minfigure40 I received access to a large number of media assets: today, I would like to look at some of the features of the advertisements in the LEGO Town/City series, one of the few themes to have been continuously available in some form or another for forty years! The majority of these advertisements were placed in comics, or magazines featuring comic strip anthologies, and puzzles and kid’s news. They have been published in multiple markets – ands languages. I have attempted to translate them as well as an online translation engine will allow.
As part of the recent Minifigure40 campaign, LEGO have sent out a collection of old print advertisements for a number of themes, from the 1970’s through to the early 2000’s. These advertisements come from a variety of sources, including comic books and magazines from the period. Not all of these were presented in English.