by Sarah Herman
Crest: No change was made to the deer crest first seen in Forestmen’s Hideout in 1988.
Dress code: The Dark Forest minifigures’ wardrobe was a fusion of Wolfpack and Forestmen. While previously most of the Forestmen outlaws had worn hats, the majority of Dark Forest wore the Wolfpack hoods. Green was still a popular color for torsos, but brown was also prevalent, including a rather distinctive brown armor worn by one of the minifigures. There were no female minifigures in Dark Forest.
Find them: Toppling a booby-trapped tree on a passing Dragon Knight in Dark Forest Fortress (6079), loading a catapult in Bandit Ambush (6024), and taking on the King’s Royal Knights in their Hemlock Stronghold (6046).
Despite many of the Western sets being sought after today, TLG has yet to release any new sets since 1997 but in 2002 it re-released three of the most popular sets—Fort LEGOREDO, Rapid River Village, and Sheriff’s Lock-up.
Fright Knights (1997–1998)
The same year LEGO Space turned into a home for walking robots with Roboforce, LEGO Castle decided to return to the fantasy realm of Dragon Knights in a big way. Rather than revive the theme, they took the basic elements: dragons, a magician, and knights, and stretched their imaginations. Fright Knights were led by Basil the Bat Lord, and had a witch instead of a magician wielding her power over them with the help of a crystal ball. It was not entirely clear if Willa (the witch) was on the same side as Basil or against him, especially in sets such as Fright Force (6031) where Basil and his knights appeared to be cornering Willa. Other “enemies” are scarce in this sub-theme—although the odd Dark Forest or Royal Knight minifigure did appear in some of the sets. There were black dragons with bright orange wings in this range (as well as the original green dragons), and bat wings decorated the Fright Knights’ castles and carts. The theme was short-lived, however, and the LEGO Group would not revisit the idea of a fantasy Castle sub-theme until 2007.
Crest: The Fright Knights carried white shields with black and red bats on them. Basil, the Bat Lord, also wore the same crest on his cape.
Dress code: The most striking thing about the Bat Lord’s apparel was his helmet—black and full-faced, it was finished off menacingly with a bat wing on each side. His clothes were red, black, and gray and in some sets were available with his cape. His knights and guards dressed in a combination of these colors, and designers introduced some new gray-patterned armor designs. Willa the Witch was one of the first female minifigures to wear a skirt one-piece brick instead of legs. Her black and red dress with yellow buttons and spider brooch was complemented by her red cape with black spider logo and black witch’s hat.
Find them: Avoiding the traps at Witch’s Magic Manor (6087), ready to lock someone up in Traitor Transport (6047) and take them back to Night Lord’s Castle (6097), while Willa’s green dragon gives her a lift in Witch’s Windship (6037).
Ninja Knights (1998–2000)
After Fright Knights, LEGO Castle returned to the more realistic realm of ninja warriors, set in a mountainous Japanese region, with a new style of medieval architecture. They produced a large number of small one-minifigure Ninja Knights sets for promotional purposes, making Ninja one of the largest Castle sub-themes. The sets revolved around three different groups—the ninja themselves (led by a shogun), the samurai, and the robbers—providing children with multiple minifigures and battle options. The sets were numerable and varied from boats and cannons to fortresses and bridges, with six sizable building structures released over two years. Despite the fact that “ninja” are not technically knights, and although the theme didn’t conform to the European medieval traditions, Ninja Knights was officially part of the Castle theme.
Crest: The ninja opted for the symbol of a black wingless Japanese dragon on a yellow crest—a symbol of a water deity—as can be seen on the Ninja Fire Fortress (3052). The Samurai’s blue flags and banners bore the image of a golden fan, while the robbers retreat (6088) was adorned with the red, black, and silver image of a bull’s head.
Dress code: The Ninja minifigures were as diverse as their crests. For the ninja, designers created a hooded scarf to keep them disguised, and they wore jackets with overlapping lapels tucked into their trousers with belts (a knife discreetly tucked away). The ninja were available in black, gray, red, green, and white—the color favored by the ninja shogun with gold detailing. The samurai were mainly dressed in blue and black with silver armor and gray helmets. Both ninja and samurai shoguns came with gray shoulder plates. The Robbers were recognized by their angry faces and red and green shredded clothes. One older Robber wore an eye patch and was protected by some tatty old armor—a sign that maybe he was once a samurai, too.
Find them: Taking a boat ride with a shogun in Shanghai Surprise (3050), whizzing down a zip line at the Emperor’s Stronghold (3053), and getting away from it all at Robber’s Retreat (6088).
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Between the mid-1990s and the first few years of the new millennium, the LEGO Group began to experiment more with ranges unconnected to its “evergreen” themes. While Town, Space, Castle, and Pirate sets continued to be popular, new and unusual themes began to appear; some moved away from the core building values of the company’s past and struggled to find their place in the fiercely competitive toy industry, while others embraced them, quickly built large customer bases, and joined the LEGO hall of fame. Here we explore some of the more recent additions to the LEGO catalog.
Aquazone (1995–1998)
Before LEGO Town decided to send minifigures under water to wear flippers and explore ancient ruins, Aquazone were already below sea level doing just that. The release of two distinct Aquazone sub-themes simultaneously in 1995 was a first for the company, and helped to establish the popular theme that lasted for three years.
Aquanauts (1995–1996)
As the heroes of Aquazone’s undersea adventures, the Aquanauts were exploring the seas looking for crystals and studying their properties using state-of-the-art underwater technology. They had a yellow submarine logo to match their bright yellow and transparent blue base and submarines and wore blue, white, and yellow uniforms. Their base, the Neptune Discovery Lab (6195), utilized vacuum base plates similar to most 1990s Space bases, but was distinct in design and included a number of unusual features—swinging doors, a crane, and a conveyor belt to carry the crystals. The Aquanauts also had a few individual vessels for carrying out their work such as the Crystal Explorer Sub (6175) and the Crystal Crawler (6145) with their insect-like pincers and Sea Sprint 9 (6125)—a mini sub with its own flippers.
Aquasharks (1995–1998)
Of course the Aquanauts did not have an easy time of it in the big blue with the Aquasharks around—a group of scuba-diving bandits looking to steal the crystals for their own personal gain. True to their name, the Aquasharks’ underwater vessels such as Spy Shark (6135) and Deep Sea Predator (6155) were black, blue, and transparent orange and designed like sharks—the fronts were decorated with the jagged-teeth faces of the angry predators, as well as their blue shark logo. The Aquasharks wore black and yellow, with orange helmets to match their submarines. Unlike the Aquanauts, the bad guys didn’t have an elaborate deep sea base, but a cave where they hid their stolen crystals (6190), which came with their largest vessel.
Aquaraiders (1997)
This year saw the release of a third force in the ocean. Only three Aquaraiders sets were made, making them one of the smallest LEGO sub-themes, and by design, one of the most distinctive. The Aquaraiders’ vessels were a bright yellowy-green force to be reckoned with. Preferring power over prowess, these guys bulldozed their way around the ocean floor detecting crystals with their Scavenger (2160), scooping them up with their Aqua Dozer (2161)—a vessel that would look more at home on a farm— and generally making a mess with their Hydro Reef Wrecker (2162). Their ships and equipment were predominantly green and black, with transparent yellow features, and were decorated with eyes and jagged teeth—similar to the Aqua-sharks. The eye was also their
logo. The Aquaraiders wore gray, black, and yellow, with silver and blue detailing and transparent yellow helmets; one Aquaraider also had a yellow hook.
Hydronauts (1998)
The final year of Aquazone saw the Aquanauts and Aquasharks replaced by the Hydronauts and Stingrays. This new conflict brought with it a sci-fi style of deepsea building—with larger bases and vessels, as well as new octagonal cockpits. The Hydronauts with their brighter, friendlier color scheme and impressive Hydro Crystalization Station (6199), are widely considered the “good guys” in this second era of Aquazone. The minifigures’ faces had painted-on breathing apparatus and were dressed in blue with hi-tech silver detailing and transparent yellow helmets. Their largest ship was the Hydro Search Sub (6180), which came with a detachable vessel with two suction tubes, and they also had a substantial ground vehicle (6159) for hunting down those crystals.
Stingrays (1998)
The Hydronauts may have had a base with a prison, but their enemies’ impressive Stormer (6198)—a large underwater ship shaped like a stingray—measuring at approximately 45 by 55 studs, pretty much eclipsed the Hydronauts’ station. The Stormer’s dramatic double-fronted cockpit and sliding magnetic rear doors made it one of Aquazone’s sleekest and most unusual designs. Gone were the cartoon shark facial expressions of Aquasharks and Aquaraiders, and in their place menacing Stingray eye slits. The ships’ color scheme of gray, black, red, and transparent yellow was reminiscent of Space’s Blacktron sets, and the minifigures’ demonic red eyes, bizarre black mouths, and gray and brown uniforms marked them out as a new breed of underwater baddie. Other significant sets included the Sea Scorpion (6160) and the mini Sea Creeper (6140).
Western/Wild West (1996–1997)
The 1960s and 1970s saw the classic Cowboy and Indian stories reinvented with the production of spaghetti Westerns in Europe. Directors such as Sergio Leone and stars including Clint Eastwood and Henry Fonda did their bit to put the genre back on the map, re-popularizing the Wild West for a whole new generation. Keen to offer children contemporary and exciting toys, this theme was one of the first to be experimented with by the LEGO Group. Its efforts to capture its play value can be seen in 1975’s Wild West Scene (365) and 1976’s Cowboys (210 and 617), Stagecoach (697), and Western Train (726). But unlike themes such as Castle and Space where Classic sets soon evolved into distinctive minifigure themes, it wasn’t until 1996 that a minifigure Western theme emerged.
The first wave of sets focused on the conflict between the local cowboys and bandits and the U.S. cavalry living in LEGOREDO Town (the same name given to the Wild West—themed area at LEGOLAND Billund). There was also a Sheriff who did his best to keep the criminals at bay in sets Sheriff’s Lock-up (6755) and Sheriff’s Showdown (6712). Larger sets in the series included Bandits’ Secret Hideout (6761) and the mighty Fort LEGOREDO (6769), where the cavalry, dressed in bright blue and gold with smart white gloves, fired upon a bunch of rowdy bandits. Incidentally, those bandits were some of the first minifigures to be granted non-smiley facial expressions. While facial hair, hair pieces, and lips (for the ladies) had been featuring on minifigures since the Pirates appeared in 1989, the bandits were the first to show grimaces, as in Gold City Junction (6765) where one can be seen looking rather angry that he might not make a clean getaway from robbing LEGOREDO bank.
Despite not being a long-running theme, Western (later referred to in catalogs as Wild West, but returning to Western in 2001) was significantly the first to include rifles and revolvers as weapons. While Castle, Space, and Pirates had all featured their fair share of weaponry—from crossbows and lasers to swords, muskets, and even pistols—the LEGO Group had not provided handguns for contemporary themes such as Town. The period setting of the Wild West could be the reason behind the LEGO Group’s diversion from its previous “no war toys” policy. Western was also the first theme to include plastic snakes. While designers had tried to have snakes approved for the first Pirates sets, it wasn’t until Western that the public got to play with them.
The 1997 sets centered on the First Nations people living near the frontier town in Rapid River Village (6766)—a large camp set with two tepee, a river, totem pole, canoe, and decorated horses. Unlike the Polynesian locals from 1994’s Islanders sets, these minifigures had more expressive faces an attempt to depict an ethnicity for the first time in LEGO elements. Their traditionally painted faces were the first to have larger eyes with eyebrows, detailed mouths, and even noses. Their torsos and legs were particularly colorful with ornamental necklaces, fringed clothing, and realistic colors. The chief had a large feathered headdress, and most of the other characters had long black hair worn in two plaits. Their tepee, shields, and horses were also carefully decorated to create a very detailed landscape. Other sets released this year included Chief’s Tipi (6746) and Boulder Cliff Canyon (6748) with its falling rock and healthy dose of vegetation and snakes. Notably, there were no First Nations sets released with cavalry/cowboy minifigures and vice versa. The 1998 Canadian catalog shows both ranges side by side, with no interaction between the two.
Despite many of the Western sets being sought after today, TLG has yet to release any new sets since 1997 but in 2002 it re-released three of the most popular sets—Fort LEGOREDO, Rapid River Village, and Sheriff’s Lock-up.
Time Travel (Cruisers/Twisters) (1996–1997)
This was another theme that seemed to appear as quickly as it vanished. Based around the idea of time travel, it sees the Cruisers (a scientist and his apprentice) travel through time to clean up the mess wrought by the meddling Twisters (Tony Twister and Professor Millennium). Due to their time-traveling antics, the laboratory where the Cruisers carry out much of their work is a mix of LEGO building styles, with nods to Space, Pirates, and Castle themes. Time travel occurred with the aid of specially decorated umbrella pieces, known as Hypno-disks, and a hat from the era the wearer wanted to travel to. Hats appearing on the various time-traveling devices belonged to pirates, bandits, forest-dwellers, knights, and spacemen. Dr. Cyber and his Cruiser sidekick, Tim, not only had unusual minifigure faces with large eyes and noses, but a rather impressive choice of gray and yellow transportation: There was the swift Rocket Racer (6491), which bore some resemblance to Back to the Future’s DeLorean; it’s pumped-up older brother the Hypno Cruiser (6492); or the ultimate airborne ship the Flying Time Vessel (6493).
The Twisters, who traveled with the aid of a cylinder filled with artifacts from various time periods, appeared in three different sets in 1997. The two characters were dressed in black military garb with epaulets and although Professor Millennium had a grimacing face, both minifigures had the traditional facial features, sans noses. Unlike the Cruisers, these two have no base, but instead the blue and black Twisted Time Train (6479), which had its very own resident ghost and skeleton, the Time Tunnelator (6496), and the Whirling Time Warper (6496) with its numerous moving parts.
Adventurers
Desert (1998–1999)
Before Indiana Jones made his mark on the LEGO world in 2008, there was another adventurer who roamed its most dangerous territories looking for treasures. His name was Johnny Thunder (in some countries, Thunder was referred to as Joe Freemann or Sam Grant). Seen escaping from a sphinx tomb with a red ruby stone on the cover of the 1998 U.S. LEGO catalog, Johnny (an Australian explorer/archeologist) wore a wide-brimmed brown hat with khaki shirt and red neck scarf. The theme was based around the adventurer who unintentionally got himself in trouble while looking for ancient wonders in various tombs, desert oases, and ruins. Adventurers Desert sets were the first to use such a wide array of sand-colored parts, as can be seen most dramatically in the large ruined temple set 5988. Johnny wasn’t alone in the desert, and, just like Indy, had a girl along for the ride known as Miss Pippin Reed (Miss Gail Storm/Linda Lovely, in some countries), an elderly intellectual called Dr. Kilroy (Dr. Charles Lightning/Professor Articus), and daredevil pilot Harry Cane. The foursome was pursued by the evil Lord Sam Sinister
in a black top hat and his friend, Baron Von Barron. Other sets included Oasis Ambush (5938) and Sphinx Secret Surprise (5978).
Jungle (1999)
A year later Johnny and friends, bored of the Egyptian wilderness, headed west to the Amazonian jungle to explore its ruins and rivers. The bad guys on their tail were the money-grabbing Señor Palomar, his pirate assistant Gabarros, and treasure-thief Rudo Villano. The jungle sets included the first-ever LEGO blimp (5956) branded with the Adventurers’ logo and piloted by Harry Cane; a river boat and tribal shrine (5976); and some ancient Amazonian ruins where Johnny and his allies take on the bad guys (5986). There were also a fair few spiders, snakes and bats, and foliage to create that jungle atmosphere. This was not the end for the Adventurers team, who still had a good few years of travel ahead of them.
LEGO for Girls
When GKC drew up his list of ten basic qualities that a good LEGO product should possess, there was no doubt in his mind that it should be suitable for girls and boys. From a business point of view, this seems obvious—it wouldn’t have made sense to exclude half of the toy consumers—but to Godtfred, the decision to push forward with LEGO bricks as the company’s primary product was almost entirely due to the limitless possibilities of play and unisex nature of imaginative construction toys. In a 2008 Telegraph article reporting on the announcement that LEGO bricks were voted Britain’s favorite childhood toy (Argos survey, 2008), the journalist comments on how the toy’s unisex appeal probably helped it take the title. Before the days of Barbie and G.I. Joe, LEGO sets were packaged with images of girls and boys playing together. The 1958 boxes show both sexes happily building Town Plan sets. It was only in 1971 that TLG marketed some sets with just girls playing on the box—these sets, which included a dollhouse-style living room (260) and kitchen (261) happened to be more domestically themed than some of the company’s other output from this time. These dollhouse-type sets were further improved with the release of the LEGO Family (200) in 1974 and minifigures in 1978.