A look through a LEGO catalog from 1998

[@Karemaker]

My fondest gift ever received was the Lego Batlord Castle. I was PRAYING on Christmas eve that I would get it the next morning... and I DID. That was by far the biggest Lego set I'd ever owned at that time. It holds such a special place in my heart to this day. I still own MOST of the parts for it in a shoe box. I will put it back together as best as I can soon. This was way back in around 98 when I first received it. Thank you SANTA!!!

[@funkophone]

I must have gone through this thing 1000 times as a kid. I'm digging these catalog showcases, thanks!

[@indarkestknight1]

Hey Jang. I notice you always mention two things: 1) The time Lego started diversifying to try to stay afloat and 2) the rules that Lego goes by in their builds. I was wondering if maybe you could do a series on the history of Lego with an explanation on what happened during the near bankruptcy phase and also a video explaining the official rules of Lego building and what has changed in those rules. Thanks and keep up the good work.

[@chrismokvack]

Agreed! That would be interesting.

[@ThecrackedBrick93]

chrismokvack me too I would like that but you can look online

[@Avohkii]

I just wanted to say that I really like you looking thru old LEGO Catalogs, and I really appreciate it! :)

[@JANGBRiCKS]

Awesome, glad you like 'em, and thank you for letting me know!

[@mmregan1708]

+JANGBRiCKS :)

[@ThecrackedBrick93]

Avohkii I so agree it gives me ideas on what I can build such as due to this video I built my own drag racer which is something I haven't done before ps thanks. Jang

[@Avohkii]

Yup! they are so Inspirational! and your moc sounds awesome! :)

[@johnmorgan5850]

Johnny Thunder, Fright knights, forgot Insectoids even existed, Ninja, Res Q and Divers are all so nostalgic

[@legoholmes9058]

I love the 90s Lego sets reminds me of the Lego racers video game

[@bradpittard5626]

i can't believe how well i still remember this catalog. In 98 i was 9 yrs old and it was around the time i got really into lego. I had a lot of these sets, and can remembered how bad i wanted some of the ones i didn't have. i can even remember some of the custom stuff i made with pieces from these sets. This is awesome Jang, that for the nostalgia and a walk thru my childhood.

[@UR_Mind]

Love the nostalgia trip there. Brings me right back to kindergarten when I wanted those sets more than anything. Lego was my only toy I really wanted then and still is now. Thanks for the look through, keep them coming!

[@zoery380]

These are literally the sets I grew up with. In '98, I was 5 and I remember going to Toys R US and just taking in everything they had on the shelves. The Western and Aquanauts stuff was my favorite. :)

[@MinuteExplained]

These catalogs are the highlight of my day.

[@ethanbarrs9519]

wish i was a kid back in '98. some of those sets look amazing and would be really fun to build and make my own creations with.

[@coltenkrejcarek8212]

I've always loved the Adventurers sets!

[@5511MocProductions]

:)

[@koksinsh]

Oh the memories, I remember the pull back, bungee cars, you could even modify the box as a trampoline, it had outlines for you to cut out.

[@AstroMegpoidMikuPixel4]

I always liked looking through the Lego catalogs ... Even if I didn't get a set XD

[@5511MocProductions]

Yeah! Me too!

[@nickbricks516]

Really love to see these catalogues again ! For me I really love this time for a classic ninja theme, adventure, Divers and insectoid ! And now i started again with lego ! And i'm starting to create moc about theme that i like ! I knew lego was a big piece of my life ! Watching you Jang was a big inspiration for a adult to like lego again for creativity, relaxing and challenge ! Love you work ! Great day to you !

[@TheDuckpie]

This makes me nostalgic; Adventurers and Insectoids were two of my favourite themes when I was a kid.

[@MontyPython12]

Ah, so much nostalgia! Still have that technic superbike somewhere, thankyou for this Jang!

[@3ale44]

As a kid, I was in love with the explorers theme. My parents bought me the big piramid set as christmas present. Now, that I am 23, I found out that my girlfirend had the sphinx set of the same theme and we keep them built next to each other on a shelf.

[@ryanmcbride2695]

They need to make a collectible minifigures theme with classic minifigs like Johnny thunder and classic spacemen

[@Hatterboot24]

I remember the Insectoids from back then. Boy, being 8 years old was awesome them!

[@draconious380]

I had the Sea Scorpion, that was such an awesome build. I actually think the prints in that series made the canopies work better than if they were blank. Now with some of the newer parts and techniques it feels antiquated but at the time I think it worked. I also loved the Adventurers line, the sphinx set was always my favorite just for the build of the sphinx itself.

[@GameBoyPL1991]

That outback vehicle on wooden bridge was one of my all time fauvorite sets I've had as a kid. Great stuff, especially the wheels on springed block so the car had working suspension!

[@tomaarten]

am I the only one who didn't mind the amount of themes and actually enjoyed a lot of them?

[@whitesquirrelbooks1734]

Thanks so much for doing these catalog reviews! I have many of these catalogs myself and love the trip down memory lane. The Time Twisters sets got me back into LEGO for some reason - I still have 6497 with the original box - just seemed like such a funky train and I believe I purchased it around Halloween, so it quickly became a "Halloween theme" for me.

[@TheBrickCraftsman]

That 6426 Repair shop from 1998 sparked my love for LEGO. Many fond memories.. I remember trying to convert the blue truck in that set to a diesel loco (also a train fanatic) which looked really horrible. Ahhh thank you for the nostalgic memories Jang. :)

[@stephenbonner9975]

I was 8 years old when most of these sets were on the shelves. This video really brought back a flood of memories, I remember so many of these sets. I was fortunate enough to have the Adventures Large Pyramid set and i still think it's an impressive structure. Will Lego ever revive the Adventures theme? I would really love to see it come back! Thanks for theses videos Jang, they are really appreciated.

[@graemebloodworth8991]

Those adventure sets and the wild west were my first lego sets! The propeller plane 5909 with the shark face is the first one I remember. Still have a ton of those hieroglyphics pieces.

[@Stet709]

brings back nostalgia, even for my born-in-90's age 16:10 - i remember having 2129 except in yellow exactly like you see in the background of the main picture, had instructions of alternate models (not just pictures)

[@markB.Heffner91]

Ah Yes I Remember this catalog very well. Back in My Early Years of Playing and Collecting. My Personal favorite and I think it will be Always was the Lego Wild West. I loved the diorama display scene with the Bank. Thanks for Sharing such the Nostalgia Jang ;-D

[@VaxVaxter]

When I was growing up it was during this time of Lego's juniorization drive, so I have a bit of a rose-tinted fondness for a couple of those sets, particularly since we didn't have much money and I treasured what I could get. However, I do agree with you that it was a bit of a Dark Age, and the collection I've been building up since leaving home and working has been almost solely late-80s to mid-90s. I did re-buy that Res-Q ambulance for nostalgia's sake, though.

[@EastTxCobb]

I had the out back truck set when i was 5 or 6 it was cool the pick up had a working spring suspension i also had the time twister time machine that looked like a pirate ship and many many other sets in this book i even wanna say i had this catalog at time thanks for the nostalgic trip back to my childhood

[@joshg198]

I have this one! The memories are flooding back.

[@NuclearPineapple]

I'm very excited to see the 1999 catalog and the start of Star Wars!

[@MrJimheeren]

I was 7 in 1998 and I can safely say some of these sets never came out in Europe, or at least in the Netherlands so it is cool to see these sets almost 20 years later

[@bobpatiencebricks6452]

I didn't know of the existence of at least half of the themes in this catalogue, there were so many in the nineties.

[@Tirreger]

Oh man.. I had so many of these sets and seeing them now is really bringing up the good memories. ^.^

[@JonatanGronoset]

I have the Time Twister train! And I agree wholeheartedly on the RC idea, it would be soooo useful for us who build complex vehicles for outdoor use. I had to make my own RC setup from a toy boat that uses 9V and merge that with the older 9V system. It works but the range and reliability isn't the best..

[@DurnedSquirrel]

The Aquaraiders were from an earlier year (hence the lack of a 1998 stamp). I recall that the Hydronauts and Stingrays were released at the same time as opposing factions and even had their own Lego magazine comic story for one of the months!

[@shoua7]

Back in day, I'd always wanted that blue Technic motorcycle.

[@blockpartyrobotleague]

Oh dang, I forgot the little illustrated play functions diagrams, they were awesome!

[@strudeln]

One of my favorite years. I still have all insectoids in a glass cabinet, loved them. I liked Lego Ninja, not a fan of Ninjago. The set on page 29, I had so much fun with it.

[@LibertyPrime1982]

Adventurers and Wild West was my themes back then. They need to bring them back, lol

[@Lordodragonss]

Wild West is dead. Kids don't care about it. :(

[@chuckyhai]

I need Wild West to come back to get dem guns!

[@leetri]

I have this catalogue, and it looks like most of the sets I had as a kid were from this one. Sadly never any of the larger sets, could never afford them.

[@smoovoperata3242]

Wow your right Lego was all over the place with these whacky themes, I was in the dark ages during this time so I never knew about any of this until now. The wild west sets are my fav out of all these they should bring that back bigger and badder 😎

[@fichgo2656]

I love looking at these and finding out where loads of the old pieces from my schools Lego box

[@EyesOfTheInternet]

Thanks for posting! I have finally found out what my last Lego set was as a kid. The Extreme Team Land Jet (6580). I had no idea what the name was. To me it was a Space Fighter.

[@xXHomerSimpsonXx]

I had the ufo set 6975 as a kid. My first lego set I think, that and some giant purple megabloks monster truck. I remember the ufo had some type of magnets on it, and they had to be recalled because some kids would swallow the magnets..

[@quentinmacleod9748]

Also notice the City Police & Adventure/Racer sets used parts that were & could have been used in Space themes.

[@colly407]

8:40 dang Jangbricks cool it with those SICK BURNS MAN WOOOOOAAAHH

[@andrewtyrell4795]

This was an awesome year for Lego! Adventurers was fantastic! Aquazone was hitting it's end, but going out with a bang. Western and drivers were cool, too. And Ninja remains one of my all time favorites! It's because of Ninja that I bought Ninjago until I got into that. I'd love to see a new version of Adventurers (not like the pharaohs whatever. Bring back Johnny Thunder.) and a new proper historical Ninja theme.

[@CathodeRayKobold]

Heck yeah. Johnny Thunder was the theme of my first post-dark-age MOC.

[@dutchlancer2562]

Zoshi I can feel your joy/nostalgia my friend ;)

[@o2thagthings]

With a mixture themes present here in this catalog, its apparent they were going through tough times. Even as an youngster, i'd always thought they phoned it in when it came to City theme. This North American guide really shows it! i did love some of the sets, there was a Telephone Repair vehicle (6422-1) set, i thought was pretty good. And on the whole i thought Divers & Res-Q were good too But the one i love, and even to this day want, is the Western/Native American sets. At the time i thought it was awesome, and wish they come out with another theme like it. Plus Johnny Thunder and friends in his Exploration sets are just wonderful. Although the vehicles used the same parts many times over, it always felt you were getting a new great build. When you using LDD, i love using those parts to build vehicles, The 5 wide cabin piece is one of my favourite parts! In Australia we didn't have half the stuff that was available in this catalog. So it wasn't as apparent the issues Lego was facing. Fascinating review Jangbricks!

[@cowgirlelisatx]

Ty for posting the catalogs I love seeing them there interesting of seen the different themes pls post more :)

[@radical_dog]

This was my time! But yeah, I really wish they'd been doing sets more like today, with more complex builds. When push comes to shove, you can't build a giant robot when you've got too many all-in-one vehicle bases!

[@danielratner]

You sort of glanced over the 8257 Technic Set (17:09), which I understand. However, I wanted to say that this was one of my favorite sets as a child. I don't know if there are any videos of them in action, but it was really amazing to see how well the "fists" extended. I remember having countless fights with my friends using the robots. I wish Lego had continued this theme.

[@Metalizer]

yay the temple of anubis, i had this as a kid, it was one of my largest sets and i loved it ;)

[@Sithicus1]

I enjoyed UFO, it was the first Space Theme where me and my brother had any of the massive sets. I also liked the Minifigures. Gave them all to my younger cousin when I was purging some stuff to clear space in my collection though. If you ask me LEGO has a bit too many Themes even today. They may have smarted up with the Juniorization, but they have way too many one-off themes a year with all the various movie licensed themes being made while the City, Ninjago, Star Wars and other Themes continue to chug along relentlessly. Makes it way too difficult to pick and choose the best sets to represent LEGO in you collection.

[@thewasserrecord4513]

I think the stingrays set is cool with the print, gives the piece more personality

[@transitevolution]

JANGBRiCKS, I suggest that maybe it will be the right time for you to start to also look at catalogs which are not so old but are pretty much a decade already. You know, from Lego at its lowest point (2004) to Lego fully recovering (2009). It will be nice to see how the sets evolved from the 1990s to the premium style we all see today.

[@Probotector_AUT]

Oh my god, the Res-Q helicopter was the first Lego set I got on Christmas 1998. It will always be my most favourite set ever. Actually owned pretty much all of them except for the Boat one, kinda boring. I loved reading that booklet as a kid, thanks for making a video on it.

[@essejx3602]

I see what you mean about the juniorization of sets.. I personally feel like it started in 1997 with fright knights and UFO (even though I kinda like those themes) but it didn't really get bad until the early 2000s when sets became so lame. I also think 1998 was the last great year for lego. And I ONLY say this because Ninja is a top 3 theme for me and adventurers was too awesome. Not a fan of ninjago.

[@behindthediamond196]

The Ninja Section gave me memories of the first masks of ninjago ninjas

[@amazingbrickmovies923]

Wow, this was fun to watch!! Thanks for sharing!

[@quentinmacleod9748]

Hey Jang, If you wanted to see what the Sting Ray sub was likexwithout the print, take the same translucent neon yellow UFO panels and swap them with the non-printed ones from the UFO theme. I've wanted to do a Blacktron variant of Ice Planet's Ice Tunnelator and finally doing so but rather a translucent orange was blade, I used a small teams. neon yellow radar dish with pole like ones used in Insectoids. It looks pretty cool.

[@Mick0Mania]

Those city sets were such a disappointment. I have been trying to rebuild some "era specific" stuff, and I constantly come across pieces that belonged to this era that are difficult to use. Like the single piece car bases and the printed lights. I recall getting gifted a set that was released years ago, It was two racing trucks with a baseplate and a slope shaped box. It was amazing! The lights were made using transparent pieces and there was just so much detail! The lack of small pieces and details provided by this era's city sets (which is what I was mostly into) made it so I couldn't rebuild most stuff I saw on the first LEGO Island game. Nowadays I just use some of the pieces from these sets, as they are still useful. But I'm pretty sure I would have had many more useful pieces, had I been born a year or two earlier, allowing my first sets to be from the 96 era instead of 98. The lack of old-school roof pieces I have is still annoying me to this day...

[@dtinagliastudios]

I have this one! So much nostalgia :0

[@stevenverleye6062]

Nice videos these. Brings back memories, even the smells of a fresh new bag of bricks

[@jx592]

I think the old style helicopters are great bases to make updated versions with new parts

[@BossZnakemaster]

I had that adventures at 1:21, Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins. Also on 8:28 i had the sheriffs lock up, Gold City Junction and Bandit's Secret Hide-Out. Id say the western sets were my favorite. Hyped for Red Dead Redemption 2 btw :D

[@alxkptk1]

Still remember that catalog

[@Harradrush]

Damn, I remember seeing all those cool big sets but my parents could never afford them. Still want alien dudes. And technic people were awesome, shame lego stopped using them.

[@brickmonkeyvideo2150]

Nice browse of the catalog

[@nafisasarkar1131]

It's great that you do this

[@13thmistral]

9:29 about lego copying playmobil..indeed you see, that police station set there started my lego addiction of my childhood. But just now i remember again very well that i actually originally wanted a playmobil police station for my "sinterklaas/saint nicolas", but i got that instead. no regrets though, i had a lot of fun with that one.

[@amazin8187]

Man, some of these sets have so many specialized pieces that they just don't look that great to me. I'm thankful Lego had changed for the better and the Technic sets here look very amazing!

[@cyberneticwarmachine]

Wow so much nostalgia. I was 7 and this was my bible. Best sets imo too bad i only had the smallesttoo ones per theme

[@ArchOfWinter]

Reboot Johnny Thunder!!! And I think the ResQ series can make a come back as a City sub-theme.

[@WilliamRachuy]

A history of LEGO from a consumer's perspective!

[@leximatic]

Adventurers is SO steampunk, Timetwisters, too. UFO was awesome, Roboforce never made it to Europe, Aquazone had only bad guys, but the sets were SO cool, with so much unique parts, like RES-Q. Unfortunately it's all gone. Ninja/Samurai was awesome too, but was released with bad timing.

[@Wolf_Nanaki]

I'm surprised this catalog didn't show off the video games, such as Lego Loco.

[@jx592]

Raiders of the Lost Block

[@TheErwinalf]

I agree on the prints. Too much and too heavy. Not good. But the ninjastuff is actually brilliant! Yes, there are some large pieces, but stil they are pretty extensive and time consuming build. The best thing about it is that the stuff is modular. So you can arrange pieces of the buildings differently each time. The sets also have a lot of hidden functioning features and secrets. I would call this theme probably one of the best in the 2nd half of the 90's.

[@Vulture2264]

Man i forgot vehicles back then had the weird monster truck tire and axle thing.

[@PuuberZ]

Fort Legoredo is a beast. I still have the set built.

[@cameronpearce5943]

Oh Man those where some of my first ever sets!!!

[@josej4169]

Wow brought back memories :)

[@Jasonwolf1495]

i would love to get something from the classic ninjas or fright nights. I still adore my old johnny thunder sets.

[@utorner123]

I would like for lego to make a small wave for Adventures, like the small Pirate's wave we got last year.

[@Kociu91]

I did like the U.F.O sets, but I liked the Exploriens even more.

[@branchleader73]

You've nailed it, too many prints ruin this late 90's Sci-Fi stuff

[@nafisasarkar1131]

I really like this catalogue and Johnny thunder

[@mobiusZero2]

OMG! I remember and had this catalog back then! I always flip these back to back hoping I will get all of them once I grow up, get a job and buy them, Sadly I didn't know these are one off themes that lasted about 1-3 years. But Lucky me and my brother got the Res-Q Helicopter....but my mom roughly put it into my toy box and one by one the pieces are lost. I like my toys to be displayed one the self or table but my mom back then keeps putting them back into the box and always we lose missing parts that were part of the set or kit. Now my mom doesn't dare to touch my collectable toys. I really like the Ninja theme sets, unlike " NINJA-GO" the ninja theme sets are actually following actual Samurai era Japan which Ninja's serve their lords, the Shogun( General ). Bit of ninja history, they originally doesn't belong to any faction and they started as intelligance gather ops for higher... mecenaries you can call that. They were dress as farmers or gardeners to estdrop the conversation of high ranking samurai. As you can see the White Ninja serve his Shogun as they represent good guys while the Bandits wearing Red are the bad guys and they higher black ninjas for their service.

[@OGDamnnation]

The aquaraiders were the humans. The hydronaughts and stingrays were the underwater guys

[@Karemaker]

This was MY era!

[@dice_plz8055]

I wish Lego would use more baseplates when they release sets, just like the elevated ones and the rocky ones, since the only baseplates you can get are green, grey, and tan (correct me if I'm wrong).

[@lastfirst8564]

Nicholas Couch That's good, the raised plates where pretty bad and cheesy, far better to build up better looking terrian, many people would hate that kind of change as people always say how lego uses far to many large pieces these days... (actually they use less)

[@nexthegamer7221]

Nicholas Couch you can also get blue.

[@PokettoManStar]

Fright Knights! Technic! Johnny Thunder! I specifically remember having 5958

[@TASmith10]

I have that Technic bike. Just a month ago my son broke the tail pipe. I haven't found it yet.

[@Khaliddaboss]

jangbricks is awesome he is one of my favorite youtuber

[@gamesthatiplay9083]

The new themes coupled with the ugly Lego City line scared me away. 20 years later I still haven't bought another set.

[@strker10]

Great content like always :) keep it up