My Top 5 Childhood Lego Sets

There’s no way that I’d be an AFOL if I hadn’t first been a CFOL (child fan of Lego – is that a term?). So many of us grown-ups would cite “getting the Lego I always wanted” as a top reason for still being into Lego way into our 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond. For me, as a child, new Lego was only to be had at birthdays and at Christmas. Kids these days seem to be showered with expensive toys with no sense of occasion – that wasn’t me.

January to August would be spent playing with new Christmas Lego and pouring over the new year’s catalogue in order to make important decisions about birthday presents; the same process for August to December ready for Christmas. Between me and my brother we did pretty well, and since his birthday was in June there was another income of bricks during the year too. I was pretty influential in his choices but then everything was shared – for us Lego was not something to be played with alone.
So, in a roundabout way that brings me to my top 5 childhood Lego sets:

#6380 – Emergency Treatment Centre – 1987 – 308 pieces – 5 minifigures

In 1987 I would have turned 3 so I guess I would have been 4 or 5 when I received this set. This was my first ‘BIG’ set – more than just a vehicle or a ‘Basic’ set and with a detailed and sustained set of instructions. I can remember building this for the very first time and it felt wonderful to be making something so substantial. This one was rebuilt many a time during my childhood – whenever a town layout was built on our purpose built Lego play table (thanks Dad!).

As a build this one was very simple – a case of just building up the layers. I can almost visualise the instructions for this and perhaps know some of it by heart. The pieces included came in very useful for MOCing (I didn’t know it was called that back then, I just that’s what you did with Lego – old habits die hard). These pieces were also the basis for another model in the Lego Ideas Book from 1990 although I’m sure I made it, I can’t remember doing so.

#6274 – Caribbean Clipper – 1989 – 378 pieces – 4 minifigures

My first ‘BIG’ Pirate set (definitely my favourite theme as a child) courtesy of my Grandma (who always came through with the ‘BIG’ Lego sets). I probably also wanted the larger ‘Black Seas Barracuda’ from the same year but I was more than happy with this one. I can remember building this one too and I loved it even more because I loved the Pirates theme so much.

This was another simple build with the two hull pieces making up the bulk of the ship. The cannon were a fun play feature as were the small flaps for them to hide behind. The rigging and sails were a nice touch as was the wind-in anchor. I definitely remember trying to make this float too – not sure I succeeded.

#6278 – Enchanted Island – 1994 – 428 pieces – 7 minifigures

Notice how as the years go by, there are more pieces in the sets? I wonder if that’s a general trend or just a coincidence. Enchanted Island; so good Lego released this set twice – the second time much later on in 2001 (with fewer pieces?!). Man, I loved this sub-theme – I actually think I had ALL the Indigo Islanders sets (I need to check that, though). This was a very playable set and for me and my siblings it provided hours of entertainment, especially alongside the Caribbean Clipper (which may have been commandeered by the pirates by this point). I also remember that it took me a decent amount of time to build which is always a good thing in my books.

One thing that strikes me particularly about this set (and others at the time) is the base plates – many sets at a similar price point (£50) these days don’t come with a base plate, let alone two, and therefore seem a lot smaller to me. I like baseplates – these ones let our imagination run wild when creating our own builds.

#6195 – Neptune Discovery Lab – 1995 – 508 pieces – 4 minfigures

Yet again, a higher piece count at the same price (£50). This was not strictly mine – my brother got this for his birthday (he would have been 6 or 7). This was another theme which we were totally sold on – between us I think we had most of the Aquazone sets from when it was Aquanauts and Aquasharks. Without the other sets I think this theme was a bit limited for creative play as there is only so much you can do with underwater (if you play realistically) but we did enjoy this.

Again, plenty of playability in this set, great baseplates, lots of unique elements and to me still, really attractive aesthetics. The addition of the submarine craft was an excellent selling point too.

#5541 – Blue Fury – 1995 – 421 pieces

Sadly this was one of the last, if not the last, Lego sets I had before descending into teenage-induced darkness. 1995 was the year I started secondary school (I was 11) and whilst I definitely still played with Lego at that time and for a couple more years, I definitely stopped asking for new Lego at birthdays and Christmas. Looking back now, it seems too early to have given up. This model was still displayed in my room until I went away to university at the age of 18 so maybe my Lego love was just hibernating!

Anyway, as you can see, I’m in the throes of remaking this although missing parts are a pain. One particular difficult one is the curved section of chrome tailpipe – if anyone can find me one I’d be forever grateful! Rebuilding this is a ton of fun although having recently built the Creator Highway Speeder it is incredible to see how many changes there are in build technique – the Lego designers really have made progress in how they utilise both new and old pieces.

My childhood with these sets was a happy one – many of my hours were spent playing with Lego (it is almost the only toy I played with inside the house). For a boy growing up in the 90s there was nothing more one could want – it felt like we had it all (although I always wished for a Vikings theme). I know for some the 90s sets paled compared to the sets they grew up with in the 80s but I suppose we get very attached to things which were formative to us – there is much sentiment and attachment to the toys of our childhood.

I would love to hear from you – did you have any of these sets? How did you like them? What are your top 5 childhood Lego sets? What memories do you have of them?