Last January, Lego promised its 90th anniversary would be one to remember: the company agreed to revive one of its classic Lego themes (like space, castle and pirates) with a new Lego set for adults.
But it turns out that today we’re not just getting a nostalgia bombshell – the company has decided to bring back classic Space and classic Castle at the same time. First, Lego is unveiling the Galaxy Explorer, a $100 upscaled version of the original iconic Lego spaceship, available for pre-order today. And second, it announces the Castle of the Lion Knights, which at $400 and 4,514 pieces is by far the most complicated and impressive castle playset the company has ever produced.
To learn more about Lego’s new castle, tap here instead.
For days I’ve been looking at the high-resolution photos of each set you find below, marveling at the detail and hidden gameplay features. But I didn’t have to do it alone: I could also work with their lead designers Mike Psiaki (see also: Titanic, Saturn V, Aston Martin DB5 from A007) and Milan Madge (Space Shuttle Discovery, Pirates of Barracuda Bay, Central Perk). I even spoke to Niels Milan Pedersen, a 44-year veteran who helped create Lego Pirates and Forestmen, worked on many classic space themes and designed many of the most famous forts, castles and ships including the Black Knight’s Castle, the Royal Knight’s Castle, I had as a kid and the legendary Black Seas Barracuda.
The original 1979 Galaxy Explorer set. Photo: Back of box builds
With the Galaxy Explorer, Psiaki says the goal was to spark nostalgia by building the ship you think you remember – not the one that actually existed. Most people have only seen photos of the original 1979 set, and even the kids who held one in their hands aren’t kids anymore. Here’s what he said to me:
We’ve found that adults generally remember their childhood Lego kits to be far more impressive and immersive than they really, really are – and our big bet we’re making with this model is the hypothesis that we came up with it’s about how tall they are. So like when you were a kid, you’re a lot smaller. Now you’re just physically bigger and take up a lot more space. Essentially, when you see the same set through an adult’s eyes, it doesn’t dominate that much of your field of view, does it?
But how much bigger? When Psiaki realized he was 50 percent taller than his own seven-year-old son, that became the reference point. The new 1,246-piece Galaxy Explorer is about 50 percent larger in every dimension — “Engines that span two modules, we’re making them three modules, the width of the wings gets wider, the thickness of the plate,” and anything else designers could think of stretch.
As you can see, the Galaxy Explorer’s airframe now has some height – in 1979 it was mostly thin, flat gray plates. The new one is also 20.5 inches or 52 centimeters long.
In the end, the Galaxy Explorer became mostly a scaled-up version of the original, “so we kind of imagine looking at the Galaxy Explorer with a high-resolution camera.” They kept it sharp and angular, with as few newfangled arcs as possible. I think it looks incredible, especially side by side with images of the original.
Do you see the robot? It originally appeared in Lego 6809 and has no name. “Internally, we like to joke that it’s the Cosmobot because it’s definitely not an astromech. If you can think of a great name, we would consider doing that canon.” Photo: Lego
Another image of the original Galaxy Explorer. Photo: Andrew Gould (Wikimedia Commons)
But interestingly, that wasn’t always the case. “Originally we went this way: Okay, how do we modernize the Galaxy Explorer?” says Psiaki. “How would that actually work as a spacecraft?” But that approach was abandoned after they realized they were essentially building another Space Shuttle Discovery, and they also discarded modernized designs for the spacefarers.
Benny the astronaut from The Lego Movie with his stereotypically broken helmet.
But Psiaki’s team found a few spots to modernize the set where it felt thematically appropriate. Some of the original printed Lego computer bricks have returned – but now as flat tiles instead of sloping monitors, making them look less like CRTs and allowing more of them to fit in the cockpit. Not only do you get the classic Lego space helmet, but a newer version with a thickened chin strap that’s less likely to break. “That was the joke in The Lego Movie where Benny has the molded helmet with the broken thing, because that’s how everyone remembers that helmet,” says Psiaki.
Psiaki says the classic helmet allows Lego to fit four minifigures in the cockpit, which didn’t quite work with a modernized helmet they tested. Image: Lego
See: Lego computer tiles, landing gear mechanisms, and a ramp for the rover. Photo: Lego
And where the original only had a handful of stationary detachable columns that served as landing gear, the new set’s landing gear lets you fold right into the frame. “I loved vehicles where you can fold up the entire undercarriage; I remember being really disappointed like the first Lego Millennium Falcon that the struts were all just attached. So come on, let them fold up!” Please, Lego, let him work on an Ultimate Millennium Falcon where they actually do.
As with the original, there is a hidden garage inside for the Rover. “I don’t want to spoil how it works, but there’s a little gameplay feature where you slide out the ramp and then drop it and the rover…” he trail off. Image: Lego
Not every part of the classic Galaxy Explorer made it: the original came with a landing pad – you can see a themed nod to that in the image below, as well as what appear to be a couple of alternate builds, but it’s not clear if they’re official parts of the set. And while the new cockpit has room for four minifigures at a time, it doesn’t quite have the retro feel of the original’s flat-top lifter.
Aside from the new set maybe some… alternative builds? Image: Lego
One last picture of the new Galaxy Explorer. Blow it up to see inside the cockpit and command center.
Unfortunately I couldn’t speak to the original designer of the Galaxy Explorer to see what he thought of the new build: Jens Nygaard Knudsen, who created Lego Space and designed the original Lego minifigure, died in 2020 at the age of 78. But longtime collaborator Niels Milan Pedersen says he sees a lot of Jens’ personality shining through – and if you want to know more about Jens and Niels’ work on Lego Space, including prototype sets, I recommend this profile (pdf) by their colleague Mark Stafford .
When it comes to the early days of Lego Space, Pedersen recalls that most of them were guns – or lack of them. Back then, designers had to pretend they were putting antennas on spacecraft: “We weren’t allowed to make anything like guns, although Jens was perfectly clear that the kids would use them as laser guns.” Pedersen has had many, many over the years sculpted iconic Lego pieces, but his first was the Space Camera. “Most people call it the space bazooka. We can’t call it that, that’s for sure!” he says, laughing.
The new Galaxy Explorer is available to pre-order today from Lego.com for $99.99, £89.99 or €99.99 and is scheduled to go on sale August 1st. i will buy one
