LEGO is celebrating its 90th Anniversary this year, with the “Modern” iteration of Lego building sets essentially dating from the early 1980s – in other words, perfect timing to be a formative part of many of our childhoods.
With that in mind, we asked the GOA team to share their favourite Lego kits from their childhoods with our community – and there’s quite a variety!
ZULU (Royce) – EL DORADO FORTRESS
I’ve always loved the Pirates theme from Lego and have very fond memories of recreating epic battles on my bedroom floor back in the days when Pirates Of The Caribbean was a ride at Disneyland and not a movie franchise.
My favourite kit, which I received one year (either for my Birthday or Christmas), was the El Dorado Fortress – a detailed for for the Imperial Soldiers and featuring cannon, a jail, a crane, two rowboats, and lots of minifigures to play with. It rapidly became the centrepiece of my ongoing Lego Pirates adventures and integrated suprisingly well with the later Adventurers theme too.
I’ve still got the El Dorado Fortress, although in its currently assembled form most of it is substitute parts from my Lego tub that don’t actually match the original kit so the colours are wrong etc; it’s basically a Fortress of Theseus at this point. That doesn’t make it any less cool or less nostalgic, though!
NATTY (Natalie) – AIRPORT MONORAIL SHUTTLE
My dad got it for my sister, but she wasn’t interested in playing with it. Many summer holidays were spent setting it up, and then packing it down before we went back to school. This and Scalextric were my go-tos in primary school.
I’m not sure if should tell my dad how much it’s worth now, because I guarantee half the pieces are missing.
DOOMCUTIE (Rhiannen) – BEACON TRACER
I remember this distinctly from kindergarten, it was my favourite!
STR8JAKTJIM (Darren) – MEGA CORE MAGNETISER
I am a big lover of Lego. The collection of Star Wars and Mario Lego in my stream room says all you need to know about that.
The love affair started very early. My parents bought me little kits here and there but the one that stands out for me is the Mega Core Magnetiser.
This articulate beast of a set gave me hours of enjoyment. Not just the assembly, but the play as well – it had so many different different sections as well as little containers that could be moved around with a magnetic crane that kept me coming back to it.
