Who Wants to build lego space ships! Fish Griwkowsky
Is it totally pathetic that it brings me to tears in the first Lego movie as Benny the spaceman bounces off the walls screaming “Space ship!” when he finally gets to play?
Something about that scene really clicks into a deeper vein of nostalgia — not just for the Danish outer space-themed building toys, but the sense of possibility the human race used to feel as we pumped ridiculous resources into doing things like driving dune buggies on the moon, snapping together space stations in orbit above us, and overall just paying attention to everything else in the universe outside our shaky little pebble in the void.
With The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part opening Friday, it’s an opportune time to look back and rank the greatest of Lego space sets — in this particular case ones I could actually afford, starting back in the ’70s as a wide-eyed dork in Northgate Mall’s Hans Christian Toys, tearing open the boxes before I even got out of the mall.
You’ll probably have your own version of this trial-by-assembly list, and were maybe even lucky enough to own the Galaxy Explorer or Beta I Command Base back in the day.
But I’m nothing but grateful to these little dirt colonizers who kept me busy and happy in the living room and backyard for years — so please forgive the wear and tear on a few of them.
10. Two-Man Scooter 891 (1979, 35 parts)
Grey and utilitarian, if Lego was going to populate an Isaac Asimov story, ships like this would be everywhere in the airless sky. I love the double steering wheel — just in case the usual pilot’s had a few too many space beers.
9. Shuttle Craft 6842
(1981, 41 parts)
The clean white and black design was a step forward, away from the Classic Space grey and blue, and I always imagined this guy was a menacing overseer of some sort, always smiling. Those ovoid rocket skis on the bottom are just terrific, too.
8. Cosmic Charger 6845 (1986, 46 parts)
I just stole — er, I mean traded — for this one from a five-yearold in Belgium this year. Thanks, Holden! Sleek and mean, the fold-up wings are the selling feature here — plus, dig that excellent joystick steering interface, unlike the typical steering wheels the mini figures can’t actually, you know, reach.
7. Space Cruiser 924
(1979, 158 parts)/Space Transport 918 (1979, 81 parts)
Say “space Lego” and these baby bricks come to mind, as iconic as the Enterprise and the Millennium Falcon in their way. The Cruiser especially has plenty of room for luggage, plus a dedicated forklift and two-person cockpit dance floor.
6. Space Probe Launcher 6870 (1981, 49 parts)
I’m a sucker for the ground vehicles, as you’ll see from now on, but this little launcher is the best of both worlds.
5. Benny’s Space Squad (2019, 40 parts)
I Gretzky fist-pumped when this new set dropped last month: it hits every major note of classic space Lego. Also, it finally brings us a pink-suited spaceman, Lenny, and a female Lego astronaut without makeup, Jenny. Hope they make the final cut — I need to meet these people.
4. Surface Explorer 6880 (1982, 77 parts)
Aw, just look at this thing! A digger, a gripper, a radar, guns — plus the then-newish yellow spaceman. Total win, and it makes a great old Walterdale Bridge deck sound as you roll it on linoleum.
3. Exo Suit 21109
(2014, 209 parts)
It took me an embarrassing amount of time to build this expert set the other day, what felt like a million tiny Lego Technic pieces! This is one of the great fan-submitted-and-voted-in Lego Ideas sets, built by Peter Reid, also author of the book Lego Space: Building the Future, a stunning work of art and fiction.
2. All Terrain Vehicle 6927 (1981, 161 parts)
Something about being able to move one’s home around really appealed to me as a kid (paging Dr. Freud), and this set still holds up, firing the imagination as Lego does much better than anyone.
1. Mobile Rocket Transport 6950 (1982, 199 parts)
Ah, the motherlode of action-adventure. The eight wheels on this great beast can gently climb up any sleeping cat’s back, and while this thing looks menacing, note the nose cone actually has a little satellite on it. Because in Classic Space Lego, there is no war: only the odd accident. And boy did this one ever look sweet flying to pieces, once again tumbling over the edge of the basement stairs. Those drivers really needed eye appointments!