Launch and Load Seaport. Hands down.

WOWWW how nostalgic i am right now

Thank you Jesus. This is clearly your passion and forte.

May you be blessed.

More often than not, my Legoland Town sets would inavertently be invaded and razed to the ground by any combination of Godaikins, Transformers, and/or GI Joes. Kinda explains why none of the sets I salvaged from the attic are complete.

I still have two giant Lego Technics vehicles, fully assembled. Eeeee!

You know, I'm actually not a huge fan of the Star Wars ones. I mean, they're ok, but that's just a symbol of all the whoring that Lego did recently, like the Harry Potter ones. Ick. A bastardized version of castle.

Hey Jesus, did you ever finish that Star Wars Lego ship?

thanks for the memories, I grew up on lego space and technics... surprised you didn't put the first car in technics that had the boxer engine and the gearshift, it was so nice for the time :)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, there's a few missing - Mostly middle generation space sets!

[guide.lugnet.com]

[guide.lugnet.com]

I had both of these and adored them.

Wow, this so brings back memories. Also makes me realize how many lego sets I had!

That 8880 Supercar Technic set gets my vote for "Best Ever."

[gizmodo.com]

Holy smokes, I mean it had a functional V8, all-wheel drive system with three differentials, a 4-speed functional gearbox, 4-wheel steering, 4-wheel independent double wishbone suspension, and the list goes on. The really amazing thing is that it had almost no custom pieces, which I've noticed seem to be all the rage lately.

I burned out a wheel hub running that thing on a treadmill to see how fast I could get the engine to spin up to... called Lego and they sent me replacement pieces for free. I still have the car completely put together somewhere in a box in my closet, it's pretty much my ultimate nerd trophy.

Somewhere in the basement of my parents' house is a large box with all of my old Legos, sitting next to a box full of Brio and a bunch of Construx. I'm saving them for my eventual future kid and they'll probably be the best things I'll ever give him.

Man this really did bring a flood of old memories back. Thanks.

Yeah, memories.

I had the car, the Helicopter and this kit which turned itself into a giant 6 wheeled grader with rotating antenna (not pictured).

I still have it all (along with various other lego kits from the 80's) in a large container in storage.

They didn't have special LEGO sets when I was small. About all you could get was different colors in different boxes. But I did have the LEGO train that worked on C size batteries. Oh, I also had some sort of gear/wheel set that came in its own box so maybe I did have a special set. Damn, I'm older than dirt.

Ahhh the memories. I remember starting out with Space and then Castle... I can remember opening them up on Christmas... as soon as midnight hit... LEGO TIME!

Truly an epic post. Well done.

I own like 6 or 7 of those space legos.

Wow, I had so many of the space and pirate ones. The pictures on the side of the box was always the aim though. Fuck instructions. I had two 30 gallon can things full of legos, and I bought the bulk blue kegs of legos any chance I could. [gizmodo.com] was a personal favorite though.

I hope they do reissues. I suppose that I am old enough to both justify the cost and the need to revisit my childhood- every day after work for the rest of my life.

Millenium Falcon. Kaiser want. Kaiser want badly.

Had lots of those. Makes me feel uber old.

Anybody here remember the 2x4 and 2x8 plates that had metal coating underneath, and they conducted electricity from a small power box, to power lights? And the light piece bricks could twist one way and blink in different fashions, twist another and it would actually make a siren? It was a LEGO space kit. I can't remember which one.

The best part was giving my daughter her first set of Lego's. She loves them and we build spaceships all the time.

Of course she hasyet to inherit dad's set. Yes, 25 years later I still have mine. Safely hidden from kids hands. Sad isn't it.

oh man this is awesome. So many memories.

I remember when they brought out the floating boats it seemed like a whole revolution in Lego at the time.

Also does anyone remember the Lego Newsletter they used to mail out with all those pictures of what kids had made at home? When i was a kid I felt like I was famous because I got my picture in there after making a huge town center.

@FullFlava: "That 8880 Supercar Technic set gets my vote for "Best Ever.""

Agreed. I learned a few things putting that one together.

It wasn't just designed to look pretty, but to give an accurate Lego interpretation of the mechanics of an actual car. Great set.

Where are my Blacktron Lego sets?

@SCARBRTJ

I remember that one. I had that one and I think it was a white looking spaceship. It also had lights that would blink. It was kind of like the 6986 ship but all white and grey.

I love my LEGO Space Monorail

Wow, what an awesome walk down memory lane! I had so many of those sets. Thanks, Giz!

Wow these pictures almost brought tears to my eyes...not to be overly sentimental but this really brought me back in time to the good ol' days when I dreamt of the space train set that neither me nor my parents could afford.

Thanks for the pics and story!

One of my favorite which came out pretty recently is the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. A really really nice model. I love planes and I love lego so these go hand in hand.

thanks for bringing back these happy memories

I was always a fan of city kits. And RES-Q for a while. And those NASA sets. And those Arctic ones. And...

if i were to suddenly become exteremly rich, i would probably spend a lot of time reliving my childhood the way it should have been: with a rediculous amount of lego kits (particularly some of the technic stuff i was lusting after in elementary school... and middle school... and high school... and for the past 20 minutes...) and a killer slot-car setup. come to think of it, that would be cheaper than my dream car garage, so i wouldn't have to suddenly become THAT rich...

i don't actually have one favorite set, because we could never really afford the nice big ones, and i preferred making something using all the bricks i accumulated over a decade anyway...

I'm pretty sure most of us had 6 to 15 of these sets (my vote is for the Technics Crane kit; I believe it was one of the first in the Technics line). Legos were quite expensive at the time. And I'm pretty sure that most of us with that many kits have 1 large box/bin with all the sets in them...in parts. :-p

God knows I do.

Aside: I can still see the teeth marks from my youth in some of the pieces from me trying to pry them apart with the only Lego dismantling tool any child needs.

BTW: Surprised I didn't choke to death on a Lego...

damn i was a spoiled child....

@sshrum:
that is absolutely true about the only dismantling piece a kid ever needed. i was forever chewing those things off, especially when it was two flat pieces stuck together. gah those were hard. i remember i did have the handled tool thing but it wasnt nearly as good as some molars.

in other news....thanks for this post. it really is amazing. it prompted me to register and make my first comment on giz. good work.

The Arctic Exploration sets were my Favourite. I remeber getting a big multi pac with a bunch in it really cheap once. It had a big treaded truck that pulled a trailer on skis, a big treaded snow plough, a sail/ski sled thing, and some form of base, i think. They were the best.

I always thought the LEGO ninja sets were pretty freakin' awesome.

Arrr. The Black Sea Barracuda was my pride and joy. Still is, as a matter of fact. A couple years ago I busted out my Cardboard Box of A Zillion Mixed Lego Pieces and put that ship back together one-by-one! It took a week to sort through and find the pieces, but in the end I completed it 100%, not a single missing piece or figure. Even got the sharks, monkies and parrot... and the pirate wench girl!

The best ever was a set that was given out at McDonalds in the late 80s with the "Happy Meals". There was a series of about 8 Lego sets, which each formed a cool little thing, such as a boat or a car racer or something.

HOWEVER, if you collected them all, they would all form this large ship thing (I never saw it fully assembled myself, I was missing a couple of the sets). If anyone else remembers, you'll agree this was BEYOND awesome, back when McDonald's had heart and gave out the good stuff :'(...

My favorite set is actually a fairly recent (2007) one: The Eiffel Tower.

It's three and a half feet tall, and at about 3,500 pieces it's the second largest LEGO set ever made (second only to the $500, 5,000-piece behemoth Millenium Falcon, natch). But that's not why it's my favorite set. Its tall stature probably makes it the most impressive set to display, and it uses mostly "regular" LEGO bricks. And it still looks real. Plus, I just love the Eiffel Tower, and $200 really isn't a bad deal for 3,500 bricks (in LEGO terms, that is) - if you like grey.

The first toy I remember playing with was 100+ brick Lego Duplo set that my dad bought me. It's actually my earliest conscious memory, of me at about 2 years old, the picture crystal clear in my head.

Never has anything influenced my life like Legos have. Being the only easy way to turn my thoughts into real creations, I was addicted.

My future kids will definitely be getting Legos.

I really hope they bring back the old style Pirates and Knights sets.

Year after year, I asked Santa for the Lego Monorail (pictured here in the space series). I never did get it, and to this day still wish I had it. Of course it was $100, back then, probably equivalent to the millennium falcon now.

The scary thing is just how many of those sets I DID have. (And I still have every piece, all in one big bin in my basement!)

Hands down, Legos are the best toy in history. Happy Birthday!

the little merlin with the glow in the dark wand stole years of my childhood

My favorite will always be the technic space shuttle. So many good times.

No Space Monorail Set? I'm hurt.

I started with a red helicopter set as a gift from a relative. Then I got a big box of (mostly yellow & black) blocks and specialty pieces (my obsession was building and rebuilding a G-Force Phoenix). Eventually I had 3 or 4 of the original space sets.

I never realized how much the individual play-sets and models were part of the over-all Lego plan, but I always thought of it as a unimaginative alternative to raiding a big box of random blocks.

I still get little (and not so little) sets for X-mas; and as far afield as the Bionicle sets are, the little robot I got is rather cute.
I also have some Limited Edition sets Shell Gas stations sold for a while just a couple of years ago.

hahah yessssssss Legoland Castle was my first set :)

Back in the late 60's Sears was selling 5,000-piece bulk boxes of Lego for $20. I scored several such boxes. I'd build multi-story castles for my pet mice with elaborate mazes inside. The critters were evicted pronto though after finding several pieces of Lego destroyed due to nibbling. My daughter now plays with these pieces. I've not explained to her the real reason some pieces have yellowed. They're just old. Yeah, that's the ticket.

This post makes me realize how much my parents spoiled me with toys.... and they are good toys too. Happy Birthday LEGO!

lego technic and town is where its at! actually they all still in my closet right now.. midnight lego session, I THINK SO!

I loved my 1986 Alien Moon Stalker... it was one of their original walkers (likely inspired by the ATAT). I probably liked it because I loved Star Wars so much.

@thomasora:

no shit! i have so many of the sets shown here. they have spoiled me. if i had kids it would be hard for me to plunk down all the hard earned cash for toys!

then again if my future kid would love lego i'm sure i'd be getting 2 sets of each, one for him/her, and one for myself. lol

I got the cargo center when I was five from my grandma, at that time it was already 12 years old, still have it, 28 years after production....wow.....

Thanks for this awesome look back at an integral part of my childhood. So much time engrossed in the glory of space lego! I'm now on a mission to go on a hunt at my parents' house and relive the wonder.

Oh man. I think I had at least 15 plus of those sets. I agree with Crimson, those middle year space sets where great! Lots of cool dayglow-y pieces and cool shapes. Anyone else remember another one of my favorites: the Submarine series? I wrote letter to Lego when I was 8 complaining about how they pontoons fit together. They sent me back a bunch of spare parts and a really nice letter thanking me for helping with the design process.

Something I hate is when people build their legos and then put them on the shelves. Legos are about building your own thing, being creative! These arn't ikea toys you assemble once. Another thing that I dislike is how new legos got millions of specifics parts, parts that only come in this one set. I think kids learn alot better with having a limited set of parts they have to be creative with. But thumbs up to this post, got me to finally register at Gizmodo

Aquanauts...

Limited edition Sea Plane, I gave my little baby cousin this set and hav