Arrakis, Spice, Desert… hearing these words when the LEGO Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter was revealed was a wonderful day if you are a nerd. Growing up in the 1980s, the book Dune and subsequent movies inspired my love of science fiction even more. So this got me thinking: When and how did all of these promotional tie-ins and intellectual property (IP) LEGO sets get started? How did we get from Classic Space or Pirates to an awesome branded flying mosquito?

Expanding upon the original article “Everything You Want to Know About Tiny Themes: IPs” by fellow BrickNerd Griffin Rose, I wanted to look at the earliest instances of partnerships and co-branded sets that have since kicked off their modern onslaught of IP-based sets.

Way Back When…

Since the early days, LEGO has produced sets in collaboration with various other businesses. Some of the earliest of these sets include cross-promotions from the 1950s with Volkswagen and ESSO. 1958 brought a co-branded set 307-2 VW Auto Showroom that came with VW branded HO scale cars.

The ESSO Filling Station (310-5) came soon after as an expansion for LEGO Town Plan sets.

In the 1960s, Shell was also a promotional partner with a 325-3 Shell Service Station coming in 1966. This partnership continued until 2014 with the 40190 Ferrari F138 polybag featuring Shell’s V-Power logo.

Exxon was another energy company that LEGO worked with in the 1970s, starting with the 1979 set 554 Exxon Fuel Pumper. This partnership lasted until 1984.

Shipping Included With Purchase

As with the oil companies, LEGO started a promotion with Maersk in 1974 and released set 1650 Maersk Line Container Ship. That partnership lasted until 2014 with set 10241 Maersk Line Triple-E. It also spawned the color of the same name, a first for an “IP” set.

Ya Want Fries With That?

In the 1980s, LEGO formed a new IP partnership with fast food chain McDonald’s with a foray into Happy Meals. This promotion began with 1918 Duplo Building Set and 1919 McDonald’s Happy Meal & Duplo Building Sets” in 1983. In 1989, McDonald’s and LEGO shifted to promotional sets using System bricks rather than Duplo ones, including sets is 1642 Sea Eagle, 1645 Gryo Bird and 1649 Sea Skimmer. LEGO promotions continued in Happy Meals for almost a decade through 1999.

Perhaps the pinnacle of the LEGO and McDonald’s IP partnership, set 3438 McDonald’s Drive Thru featured stickers for the iconic brands and golden arches. (Funny… seeing that $100 bill, you’d think this set just came out! Ouch!)

Bricks… In… Spaaace!

In 1990, LEGO released its first-ever NASA set, 1682 Space Shuttle Launch, which came with 423 pieces including the old-school NASA “worm” logo on the car. This was the first LEGO space shuttle set, but certainly not the last.

The NASA partnership has since led to many sets that modern space fans know and love as well as a Collectible Minifigure.

IP Jackpot!

For much of the 1990s, LEGO didn’t have many intellectual property partners. They had other problems on their hands. Then in February 1999 at the North American International Toy Fair, LEGO changed the game forever. They announced a partnership with Lucasfilm to produce LEGO sets for the Star Wars franchise, specifically starting with the new movie The Phantom Menace to be released in May 1999.

For LEGO, this started the biggest collaboration (i.e. cash cow) with another business which ultimately resulted in a significant increase in IP-related LEGO sets to this day.

Following the success of LEGO Star Wars sets, LEGO secured the rights to make sets from a new book series in 2001 that was turning into a movie franchise. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ushered in 11 sets that year for LEGO Harry Potter, the beginning of hundreds more to come.

Disney & Duplo

Also in January 2001, the first Disney-related brand made its debut in a LEGO Duplo set called Pooh and the Honey Bees. A few months later in March, Disney further secured the rights to Winnie the Pooh from the estate of the writer A.A. Milne. LEGO released six sets total that year themed around the lovable character.

The Duplo sets for Winnie the Pooh were not the only IP sets in that time period. Nickelodeon and LEGO started producing Bob the Builder Duplo sets that capitalized on the popularity of Bob, Wendy and their helpers.

Co-Branding Bionicle

Taking another look at McDonald’s cobranded sets, they released a few Bionicle-themed Happy Meal sets in 2001 as well, including 1393 Matoro, 1389 Onepu, 1391 Jala, 1388 Huki, 1390 Maku, and 1392 Kongu. While small, they helped cement Bionicle as a target brand for kids.

In 2002, LEGO and McDonald’s continued their promotion partnership with one more Bionicle set, “The Bohrok Awake - McDonald’s Card Pack w/Mighty Kids Meal Bag.” (What a great name! So catchy!)

This directly led to polybag promotional sets for LEGO’s short-lived series Galidor theme. These Happy Meal sets included 4040 Nick, 4042 Jens, 4043 Gorm, 4044 Euripides, and 4045 Nepol.

Annnnd… Action!

2001 was a pivitol year for IP partnerships for LEGO. It set the tone for every year that would follow. For example, 2002 saw the first Sony set with a licensed Marvel character, Spider-Man. Three additional LEGO Studios sets with IP inclusions were released in 2002, encouraging movie-making with LEGO minifigures. These sets were 1376-1 Spider-Man Action Studio, 10075-1 Spider-Man Action Pack, and 1374-1 Green Goblin.

The Opening of the IP Flood Gates

LUG Member Michael G with Signed Optimus Prime by Peter Cullen

LEGO had a slow start to IP partnerships, perhaps because they wanted to control their product and not pay licensing fees. But with Star Wars leading the way, a whole new lineup of brands was clamoring to partner with LEGO.

Next month, we will continue our journey into the teen years of LEGO IPs, focusing on the developments from 2003 onwards. These relationships have blossomed since then, becoming the primary part of the LEGO catalog and continuing all the way to today’s partnerships—one of which is with one of LEGO’s biggest toy rivals, Hasbro.

But until then, play well!

What was your first promotional set? Does it still smell like French fries? Tell us about it in the comments below!

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