After Galaxy Squad, Lego abandoned its original Space efforts. Evocative box art and comics in a free magazine just didn’t move the needle with children anymore, not when Star Wars and Marvel sets were sitting right there on the same shelf. Throughout the 2010s licensed themes proliferated more and more; originals dwindled further and further.

The new approach for originals, pioneered at first by Bionicle and seemingly perfected by Ninjago (which had started in 2011 and is still going strong) is to create first-party TV cartoons to get kids hooked on the idea of the characters and vehicles they’re selling first, in the same way they’d be hooked on any other licensed property. In many ways it’s a return to the He-Man/G.I. Joe model of the 80s, toy advertainments that the charmingly guileless Classic Space era Lego company eschewed totally.

Sometimes, that approach works (Monkie Kid seems to be doing well), other times it flames out (check your local clearance shelf for Dreamzzz sets). But so far, they haven’t attempted it with any storyline set out in the cosmos. Which is not to say that no individual sets have gone to space.

In addition to the occasional original-theme spaceship, Lego has continued its collaborations with NASA to produce real-world space vehicles, such as the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, the Space Shuttle, and the Saturn V rocket.

Other themes like City, Creator, and now Friends have also dabbled in space subject matter without specifically being Space Themes themselves. These too often rely on simplified versions of NASA vehicles.

The closest Lego has gotten to an entirely new Space subtheme is the 2024 cross-theme Space initiative, in which many original themes have taken up a shared design language for (yet another) Martian expedition. The Technic sets associated with this line are the most impressive, including this wholly original VTOL dropship. (Most Technic sets are based on real-life vehicles, so venturing into pure fiction is a big step for them).

Other thematically-linked minifigure-scale Space sets feature City astronauts interacting with green, blobby Martian life, and Friends having a Space Cat.

While none of these experiments exactly amounts to a new Space theme in the Lego Space lineage, they do often feature fun builds with a lot to recommend for the Space fan. It is nice that kids can once again find Space-themed Lego sets on shelves that don’t feature lightsabers or Baby Yodae.

Of course, on a parallel track of set releases, the legacy of Classic Space isn’t quite over yet. We’ll look at that next time, when this thread series concludes.