If you’re of a generation born before the late 80s you’ll probably remember Lego Fabuland, made from 1979 to 1989. It’s probably closest to Lego Friends in terms of modern Lego series. Now Lego has revealed a tribute set (model number 40506) that pays homage to the classic theme, available from 1 March.
But there’s a little catch – it’ll only be available for 649DKK (around $91/£73) from Lego House, the company’s indoor theme park next to its home in Billund, Denmark. It won’t be available elsewhere. Lego House exclusive sets have become a collectors item over recent years (this is the sixth year they’ve been doing them) and have included a model of the Lego House itself, as well as a Lego model of the original wooden duck that Lego first made in the 1930s before Lego founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen bought his first now-famous plastic moulding injection machine.
The new set pays homage to the beloved characters Edward Elephant, Joe Crow, Dr Lucy Lamb and Clive Crocodile now reworked using modern Lego bricks and design. It was designed by Lego House Master Builder Stuart Harris and Lego Senior Designer, Markus Rollbühler, in cahoots with the historians at Lego Idea House (that’s the Lego company’s private museum that I’ve been lucky enough to visit).
Fabuland marked a bit of a new beginning for Lego as it was the first theme designed so that people could tell a story using the animal-based characters. The instructions also contained a story where the characters were shown building the set. This idea has also been revived using original drawings by master builder Didac Perez.
Originally there was no lead character in the Fabuland universe. But then an animated TV series started in 1987 called Edward and Friends based on the characters. So Edward Elephant became the main character.
“Each year, I find great joy in creating the Lego House Exclusive set together with Markus and everyone at the Idea House and Lego House” says master builder, Stuart Harris. “Fabuland holds a very sentimental place in my heart, having spent so much time with our history collection and product archive, I was always captivated by the series. You can really see the influence it had on the storytelling themes of future series from the LEGO Group, including Lego Ninjago , Lego Friends, Lego Bionicle and more.”
The previous Lego House exclusive sets are The Wooden Duck (40501), The Brick Moulding Machine (40502, no longer available it seems), 40503 Dagny Holm Master Builder, A Minifigure Tribute (40504), and my particular favourite – Lego Building Systems (40505).
Now read: The best large Lego sets you should buy