LEGO: Conquer the Cosmos With Five Of The Best ’90s Space Sets
LEGO Space is one of the oldest themes the brick maker has created. Let’s take a look back at some of the best modern ’90s sets.
LEGO has had a number of great themes over its long history. One of the coolest and most iconic has been the LEGO Space Theme. Or themes, I should say, as this category has had a lot of branching and sub-categories. The Space theme is one of the original three themes from 1978, predating newer ones like Pirates, and has a long history; it’s also where sub-themes originated from. While the first sets were more grounded in the space age technology of the 70s, newer sets have gotten a lot more sci-fi.
The introduction of LEGO Star Wars led to a big decrease in the number of new Space theme sets coming out, and many of those that do are now classified under the City theme. However, some of the most beloved and famous LEGO sets come from this theme.
Today, I want to look at some of the more modern ’90s era sets that have come out for this the theme. (We’ve already looked at more classic sets in the past.) However, to many, the 1990s were really the golden age for this theme, so let’s look at the best sets from that decade.
#5 – LEGO Particle Ionizer (6923-1) (1990)
Starting out right at the start of the decade, we’ve got the Particle Ionizer set. This set was part of the M: Tron sub-theme and really leaned into the late ’80s/early ’90s look. It’s all bright colors and glowy neon bricks in the best way. At 173 pieces its not the biggest set, but it’s well put together and just looks cool. I mean, come on, it’s like a space laser helicopter! What could be more rad than that?
Despite its pretty simple build, this design honestly holds up pretty well and is a good-looking set. It’s kind of a fan favorite and not hard to see why. A cool ship with cool features.
#4 – Galactic Mediator (6984-1) (1992)
Next up, we have 1992s Galactic Mediator. This is from the Space Police II run, and man… the nostalgia for me here is real. This has to be one of my favorite sets, maybe of all time. It’s a big spaceship set at 379 pieces (big for the time). The colors are pretty cool, with the fun green glass pieces. The set also had a lot of fun play features with movable wings, little cell pods on the back, and several parts that could break off.
Also due in large part to its general shape and grayish color, this was basically the “we have Star Destroyers at home” of 90s LEGO Space Theme. Back when we had to make do without real Star Wars LEGO, this ended up filling in a lot when I was a kid. It’s a really ship and super fun.
#3 Deep Freeze Defender (6973-1) (1993)
Let’s jump forward a year to the Ice Planet 2002 sub-theme. Now, this whole theme was amazing, but the Deep Freeze Defender really shows off a ton of what made the ’90s so great for LEGO Space. First off, this thing looks slick as heck. It’s got a great design and awesome colors. This is LEGO really trying different things and being original in its sci-fi. Each year’s theme really went with different colors, and it pops.
The build also just has a lot going on. There are a ton of play features, from working bay and cockpit doors to large launchable missiles. The whole build is also very modular, being able to be split apart into several sub-builds. These can act as their own ships/bases, or combine in other configurations. The box/instructions also showed you how to make several alternate builds using both this set and/or combining it with others in the theme. This was just such a cool set that really pushed things and was one you could play with endlessly and get ideas from to build your own ships.
#2 Explorien Starship- 6982-1 (1996)
Let’s go forward a few years to 1996 and the Explorien Starship. It was part of the Exploriens sub-theme (back when Space seemed to get a cool new sub-theme like every year). The theme, like the other ’90s LEGO space themes, wasn’t just big spaceships; they had bases and ground vehicles and smaller ships, but as you can guess, in general, it was the big ships that made a splash.
Now, compared to the earlier ships, this one seems a bit more grounded. The blue/white/black main color scheme is a lot of colors to say NASA colors and seems a little less far off sci-fi. In that regard, you could say it’s a lot of its “far-out-thereness”. But the ship still looks really cool. It’s also got a lot of fun play features, with rockets, magnets, dishes, lasers, etc., to mess around with. Another fun ship, and with 635 parts, we can see how more modern ships are getting bigger and more complex.
The Best ’90s LEGO Space Set – Warp Wing Fighter (6915-1) (1997)
For our final 90’s LEGO Space set we are going a year forward to the Warp Wing Fighter from 1997. This was part of the really cool UFO sub-theme. And if Exploriens was a little more of a realistic theme, this one is right back out there as being pretty crazy. Covered in bright colors and symbols this was like totally late 90s Radness on display. It also had the really cool Quarter Saucer Top pieces that were great.
Now this wasn’t the biggest ship from the theme, but it was a really cool one. And if the Galactic Mediator was the knock off Star Destroyer, then the Warp Wing was totally the X-Wing we have at home (for at least a couple years till we got a real X-Wing). This set is one of the best examples of late 90s excess in a set and we are here for it!
Get Your Own Bit of ’90s LEGO Nostalgia
The LEGO Icons Blacktron Renegade is a recent set that is a throw back to one of the classic 1980s space sets. An homage to the Blacktron Renegade 6954 -1 (1987), the new set is a combo; you can build the Renegade spaceship and and Alienator walker. So if you want to own a bit of the classic age of LEGO space, you can! But act fast, this one is on the ICONS retirement list.
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