In 2009, Lego revisited an old Space subtheme concept with a whole new approach. The previous two Space Police themes in the early 90s were only out to arrest the members of the human Blacktron faction, making them seem more like a galactic Gestapo hunting down dissidents than any sort of conventional crimefighters. This rebooted wave, still branded Space Police but designated Space Police 3 by fans, changed that. It focused just as much on the criminals’ tricked-out vehicles as it did on the cops chasing them.

These new Space Police drove sleek white vehicles with blue windscreens, and their beat was chasing down the perpetrators of all sorts of non-political crimes, from illegal drag racing to smash-and-grab robbery to smuggling contraband. In keeping with the pivot to the “conflict in a box” play model, almost every set contained both a cop and criminal vehicle. Their villains were a colorful cast of tough customer aliens with all sorts of creative, pulpy designs. One of Lego’s first four-armed minifigures was introduced in this line, a delightfully crazed lizardman stealing gold bars on a tiny scooter.

There was even, infamously, a character named “Brick Daddy” who can only be described as a Space Pimp, driving a Space Pimpmobile.

The grandest Space Police 3 ship, 5974 Galactic Enforcer, even includes an early example of Lego nodding to the storied past of the Space theme: the crime narrative in this set is the vandalism or theft of a marble statue of a Classic Spaceman. The sticker on the statue’s plinth reads “IN ANNOS TRIGENTA/ AD CAELLUM INFINITUM/ CONSTRUXIT” which as near as I can tell means, in somewhat broken Latin, “For thirty years, they built to the infinite sky”. It had indeed been thirty years since the full launch of the original Classic Space line in 1979.

I loved the Space Police 3 sets, despite them coming out when I was on the cusp of entering high school when many young Lego fans enter their “dark ages”, the time between enjoying the hobby as a child and returning to it as an adult. The SP3 aesthetic inspired what might remain my greatest Lego creation: the Barracuda pursuit fighter:

Space Police 3 ran for two years, ending in 2010. At the time it sparked hopes that Lego might revisit all sorts of themes from the 80s and 90s, with fresh takes, colorful characters, and modern designs. Unfortunately, this was not to be. But what came next was an interesting swerve.