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LEGO Space: 1978 - 1992
EXPLORE THE HISTORY OF LEGO® SPACE!
An oversized full-color hardcover volume exploring the birth and early life of LEGO Space—the iconic toy line that inspired imagination and exploration the world over!
LEGO toys have sparked creativity and joy for generations, delighting families with each and every new connection. Now, LEGO 1978–1992 explores the latter half of the twentieth century through the lens of LEGO Space—illuminating the brand’s own history alongside the popular culture and world events that helped to shape it. This collection includes statistics and trivia for each set from across nearly two decades, fascinating insights of the LEGO Group as a company, and celebrations of the talented designers who helped to create each essential piece and kit.
This gorgeous chronicle is perfect for LEGO fans and builders of all ages, and will excite any reader with an interest in the fascinating history of the peerless and classic building toy!
An oversized full-color hardcover volume exploring the birth and early life of LEGO Space—the iconic toy line that inspired imagination and exploration the world over!
LEGO toys have sparked creativity and joy for generations, delighting families with each and every new connection. Now, LEGO 1978–1992 explores the latter half of the twentieth century through the lens of LEGO Space—illuminating the brand’s own history alongside the popular culture and world events that helped to shape it. This collection includes statistics and trivia for each set from across nearly two decades, fascinating insights of the LEGO Group as a company, and celebrations of the talented designers who helped to create each essential piece and kit.
This gorgeous chronicle is perfect for LEGO fans and builders of all ages, and will excite any reader with an interest in the fascinating history of the peerless and classic building toy!
200 pages, Hardcover
First published November 7, 2023
12 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 31, 2023
A very fun look back at some of the best Lego classic sets every created. I could have wished for more photos of packaging and the spaceships and bases, but overall this was a well-done retrospective. Includes many interviews from designers and creators.
January 4, 2024
A large book covering the first 24 years of one of Lego’s most popular lines, this book is part historical record and part visual display of every Space theme, with a thin narrative fiction linking each section. Definitely one for Lego fans, pop culture historians, or people who remember their childhood with fondness.
November 21, 2023
Impeccable journey through nostalgia into wonder.
January 30, 2024
It's a bit funny reading this because I definitely have some nostalgia for Lego Space. Except the sets I'm nostalgic from actually postdate the end of this book - I was born in 1992, so everything depicted here is from well before my time playing with Lego as a kid. And unlike when I pored over a book about Kenner Star Wars toys as a kid, there's no real connection to an existing IP that I love. So I think I didn't get quite the same nostalgic thrill as some of the people reading this will.
But this is still a neat book filled with all sorts of cool details about the process of creating Lego sets and all the different things that were made for the Space theme. The book starts and ends with some general history and it was neat realizing that Lego Space started in the early days of minifigures and other innovations that brought things closer to what I think of as Lego. There are a bunch of interviews with designers and it makes it sound like it was a pretty freewheeling and fun job. After all, who wouldn't want to get paid to play with Lego? Especially when you get access to new pieces before anybody else. And I loved the section on how the photography for the sets was done - it's not something I'd really thought about before and so I enjoyed learning about the different things involved.
The bulk of the book consists of entries about every single set released in the Space theme. There are photos and sometimes ads and other bits of promotional material for each set. (Though oddly the ads are never in English.) The set is described with notes about play features and other points of interest, and then there is a piece of fiction about the sets. These tend to combine together to form interesting narratives, especially as things move towards the days of Blacktron, Futuron, and so forth. The author is quick to note it's entirely him making them up, though I suspect he's taken some inspiration from the various comic books and other bits of advertising. Finally most entries have a sidebar about one of the pieces in the set, exploring when it first came to be used and how popular it is. These range from rare and discontinued pieces to incredibly common things like hinged antennas. This was especially fascinating and I kinda want a book just about the history of every Lego piece.
Overall, this was a neat trip down somebody else's memory lane. I am excited that Lego published this and I hope it leads them to produce other books like this. While the same issue of not being born yet would apply to, say, a Castle book covering the same time period, I think I'd be pretty excited about that.
But this is still a neat book filled with all sorts of cool details about the process of creating Lego sets and all the different things that were made for the Space theme. The book starts and ends with some general history and it was neat realizing that Lego Space started in the early days of minifigures and other innovations that brought things closer to what I think of as Lego. There are a bunch of interviews with designers and it makes it sound like it was a pretty freewheeling and fun job. After all, who wouldn't want to get paid to play with Lego? Especially when you get access to new pieces before anybody else. And I loved the section on how the photography for the sets was done - it's not something I'd really thought about before and so I enjoyed learning about the different things involved.
The bulk of the book consists of entries about every single set released in the Space theme. There are photos and sometimes ads and other bits of promotional material for each set. (Though oddly the ads are never in English.) The set is described with notes about play features and other points of interest, and then there is a piece of fiction about the sets. These tend to combine together to form interesting narratives, especially as things move towards the days of Blacktron, Futuron, and so forth. The author is quick to note it's entirely him making them up, though I suspect he's taken some inspiration from the various comic books and other bits of advertising. Finally most entries have a sidebar about one of the pieces in the set, exploring when it first came to be used and how popular it is. These range from rare and discontinued pieces to incredibly common things like hinged antennas. This was especially fascinating and I kinda want a book just about the history of every Lego piece.
Overall, this was a neat trip down somebody else's memory lane. I am excited that Lego published this and I hope it leads them to produce other books like this. While the same issue of not being born yet would apply to, say, a Castle book covering the same time period, I think I'd be pretty excited about that.
August 23, 2024
A beautiful, nostalgic look at LEGO's earliest space lines: the precursors to the minifig era, Classic Space (my formative LEGO building years), Futuron, Blacktron, and Space Police. Every set is highlighted, with a description, trivia, and a brief fictional narrative about the set. Sidebar capsules on the pages describe specific LEGO elements and why the element was developed or the impact it had on design. Longer features interview designers and instruction creators, giving a behind the scenes look at the LEGO set production process. A longer section on how the sets were photographed was fascinating. Print advertisements (many from foreign countries) and LEGO comic pages further add to the appeal of this volume.
The weakest part of the book was the fictional narrative; it felt forced and didn't add anything to my appreciation of the sets themselves (as well as felt like science fiction word salad sometimes). I would have preferred more trivia, previous inspirations for and future impact of the set, box photographs, etc.
The photography is excellent and they layout is conducive both to a "pick up and leaf through" and a "cover to cover" read.
As a Classic Space enthusiast with 497/928 Galaxy Explorer built and on display in my office, this volume was a treasure trove to me, and makes me want to break out the sets and rebuild some of these beauties.
The weakest part of the book was the fictional narrative; it felt forced and didn't add anything to my appreciation of the sets themselves (as well as felt like science fiction word salad sometimes). I would have preferred more trivia, previous inspirations for and future impact of the set, box photographs, etc.
The photography is excellent and they layout is conducive both to a "pick up and leaf through" and a "cover to cover" read.
As a Classic Space enthusiast with 497/928 Galaxy Explorer built and on display in my office, this volume was a treasure trove to me, and makes me want to break out the sets and rebuild some of these beauties.
December 23, 2023
A fun trip down memory lane. The best parts are the interviews with Lego employees, who provide an oral history and many behind-the-scenes nuggets of how sets were developed. The book is a good reference for Space series collectors, as it provides write-ups of every released set.
Less entertaining were the author’s accompanying sci-fi write ups that accompanied each set. Also, I had several of the early sets. Like one of the Lego designers interviewed, my interest trailed off after a certain age. Meaning, while I was most interested in the Classic Space sets, I was not interested very much in the rest.
The book also soft serves any controversies in this series. Scientific devices that look like guns, forward prongs on ships that could be construed as lasers, or the hint of evil in Blacktron could have used a more critical eye. The prose reads like Lego PR at times, which may be expected, but disappointing somehow nonetheless.
Less entertaining were the author’s accompanying sci-fi write ups that accompanied each set. Also, I had several of the early sets. Like one of the Lego designers interviewed, my interest trailed off after a certain age. Meaning, while I was most interested in the Classic Space sets, I was not interested very much in the rest.
The book also soft serves any controversies in this series. Scientific devices that look like guns, forward prongs on ships that could be construed as lasers, or the hint of evil in Blacktron could have used a more critical eye. The prose reads like Lego PR at times, which may be expected, but disappointing somehow nonetheless.
March 24, 2024
what a blast of nostalgia - I grew up with Lego as it used to be a holiday gift from my Grandmother every year when we went on holiday - and heading to a local toy store that seemed to have the entire range on the shelf was a bit of a pilgrimage. So when Lego Space was released I was in heaven and for many years I had every set I could find (I stopped when the monorail came out as it was just so expensive).
So to finally find a book that catalogues the range kit by kit is brilliant. There are also other articles from interview with the create people who brought the sets to details of the unique pieces that each kit seem to bring along with them. Yes there were many other kits and themes being released at the time but it seemed that Space was the one that captured peoples (at least mine) imagination.
Brilliant book that took me right back to my childhood.
So to finally find a book that catalogues the range kit by kit is brilliant. There are also other articles from interview with the create people who brought the sets to details of the unique pieces that each kit seem to bring along with them. Yes there were many other kits and themes being released at the time but it seemed that Space was the one that captured peoples (at least mine) imagination.
Brilliant book that took me right back to my childhood.
November 21, 2023
Fun nostalgia trip for me since I grew up with some of the earlier models described. Lots of history of the line and descriptions of the people behind creating it, including interviews with several that were involved.
Each set is given a description and one or more photos. Then things get weird. Each model is given a little fictional story that creates an overall narrative tying all the models together. The problem is that the narrative is rather dark. If you don't like a lot of implied death and mass destruction, maybe skip the fictional parts. The existence of the fiction seemed an odd editorial choice, and made me wonder if there was some weird publishing tax break involved by being able to call it a "story book" or something.
Glad I have it, weird fiction and all.
Each set is given a description and one or more photos. Then things get weird. Each model is given a little fictional story that creates an overall narrative tying all the models together. The problem is that the narrative is rather dark. If you don't like a lot of implied death and mass destruction, maybe skip the fictional parts. The existence of the fiction seemed an odd editorial choice, and made me wonder if there was some weird publishing tax break involved by being able to call it a "story book" or something.
Glad I have it, weird fiction and all.
March 25, 2024
The best toy ever... the lego brick. I grew up with the original Lego Space sets and it was a neat trip down memory lane to read this book. I am biased to the original sets so chapter 1 is by far the best section. I like the short descriptions of each set and the call-outs to unique parts introduced in the space line. The interviews with lego designers were also insightful. I suppose the star wars sets today have supplanted Space... but always a soft sport in my heart for that original logo.
February 14, 2025
A nice trip down memory lane. This included all the LEGO Space sets I owned as a kid except for the ones from the Space Police 2 line. There were some good interviews with the people involved in creating the sets at the time and some interesting little callout boxes about some of the more unique parts, but I think it could've used a little more information about each set.
January 12, 2024
Really fun to leaf through this and see so many sets I had as a kid. Some of the interviews are good too. I especially enjoyed the one about how Lego produced the instruction manuals before computers were used.
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December 10, 2023Get that nostalgia and find all those cool sets you had as a kid that you wish you still had. (And envy the 9v monorail you never got).
December 15, 2023
So many dreams in such simple toys.
December 30, 2023
What a delightful read! Very well written and the layout was fantastic with lots of pictures, instructions, concept drawings, and even the set boxes. Highly recommended for any Lego fan!
Want to read
June 26, 2024SM
October 18, 2024
Talk about nostalgia!
October 29, 2024
Great history of the line and the people behind the line.
October 30, 2025
Needs a part 2.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews