This year marks the 90th Anniversary of the LEGO Group and to mark this milestone a number of special sets have been produced. Some of them feature the return of a few familiar faces from LEGO® history. I’ve already taken a look at the Classic Space-inspired Galaxy Explorer set, but ahead of my review of the Lion Knights’ Castle I’ll be taking a look at all the minifigures found within the Galaxy Explorer set, the Lion Knights’ Castle and the Forest Hideout GWP. Back in the early days of LEGO sets, most of the minifigures featured the classic simple smiley face. This has acted as the inspiration for the welcomed return of Classic Space and the star-faring astronauts. The Galaxy Explorer set included four minifigures, which are all very similar to the 70s counterparts. Only the helmets have been changed to make them stronger and less likely to suffer from a broken chinstrap.
Last month the 90 Years of Play celebrations began with the release of a Gift with Purchase set inspired by an early LEGO set. The Forest Hideout is a reimaging of the late 80s set called the Forestmen’s Hideout. Unlike the Classic Space set, the minifigures in the GWP set are inspired by their original instead of being 1:1 recreations.
The largest of the celebratory sets is Lion Knights’ Castle, which is inspired by the Castle theme as a whole, as opposed to a single set, although the King’s Castle from 1984 acts as a jumping-off point. Due to the set’s impressive size, it also features an impressive total of 22 minifgures. Just like the Forst Hideout GWP set, the characters in the Lion Knight’s Castle are inspired by the earlier sets. They include a mix of Lion Knights, townsfolk and the Black Falcons, plus a couple of Forestmen for an extra twist of nostalgia.
Both the Galaxy Squad and the Lion Knights’ Castle will be released in early August. Rumours suggest the Forest Hideout GWP will return alongside the release of the 90th Anniversary sets.
Some of the minifigures included in this feature are from set provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
