Lomogi Posted May 21, 2010 Posted May 21, 2010 Just wanted to share this with you guys: Translation time! Panel 1: I have no time to talk today. I'm EXTREMELY BUSY!!! Panel 2: Going to build a huge garage for all my new LEGOLAND cars. Panel 3: The tractor?! I gotta have the tractor! And the steam shovel. Panel 4: It's high. I have to make the roof higher. The milk lorry gets a room of its own. It's going to be white... and red. Panel 5: The articulated lorry. Nice huh? Ten wheels. Doors. It'll stand here. Have to build a fire station as well. For the fire truck. And then... Panel 6 (my favourite): LEGO. For strong, silent men... and girls. It's from a 1971 Swedish children's magazine, you guys know if LEGO made more of these? Quote
legitimatealex Posted May 21, 2010 Posted May 21, 2010 I have seen other advertisements from the 70s with LEGO being the subject but I don't think they were in any sort of comic frame setup. Awesome find for sure though. Strong silent men and girls for sure. Quote
Shadows Posted May 22, 2010 Posted May 22, 2010 Love it! It's a shame TLG seemed to forget about girls along the way, only half-halfheartedly trying to add them to their customer base. It seems like anything they did from the 80's on had to include pink or oversized doll figures and I think this ad shows the truth that they lost, girls just built with the same parts as boys. They'll figure it out again at some point. I think I have that exact Shell station from an eBay lot of sets from that era. Those pre-minifig sets are a weird scale, but I still think they're neat, plus the bricks are a little heavier and make a much more satisfying sound when swished around. Oh, and the reds are better. MUCH better. Thanks for sharing! Quote
Norro Posted May 22, 2010 Posted May 22, 2010 Cheers for sharing! Very much enjoyed! God Bless, Nathan Quote
Vincent Kessels Posted May 22, 2010 Posted May 22, 2010 That last line describes me exactly. Time for a new motto... Quote
Pastajensen Posted May 27, 2012 Posted May 27, 2012 (edited) Haha, nice one. Thanks for sharing Edited May 27, 2012 by Plauge Quote
1980-Something-Space-Guy Posted May 27, 2012 Posted May 27, 2012 Very cool! Even though I tend to be a fan mostly of the minifig era of Lego, I do get a feeling of nostalgia seeing such vintage sets. So awesome. Quote
Hrw-Amen Posted May 27, 2012 Posted May 27, 2012 I think I had most of them as a kid, I know I had the fire engine and milk truck for certain. Quote
GRogall Posted May 28, 2012 Posted May 28, 2012 Great! That firetruck with ladder was one of my First Lego sets! Quote
LEGO Historian Posted May 29, 2012 Posted May 29, 2012 There is an entire series of those Swedish language magazine ads (I think I have images of them somewhere). I have a collection of over 100 old magazine advertisements prior to 1980... many going as far back as the 1950s. I have entire chapters full of images on my LEGO DVD (advertisements, promotions, department store catalog images, TV Commercials, LEGO artwork, LEGO catalogs, etc... Here's a few from my Flickr pages (I would post them here, but you can only post BRICKSHELF images).... http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream Or a Danish 1970 ad with a Disney tie-in.... http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream Or a German 1959 retailer items catalog page... http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream Or a 1960 German retailer set catalog image... http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream Or a 1959 Retailer Binder image... http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream Or a very rare prototype LEGO item worth $4000..... http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream Or many of the dozens of rare LEGO items I show here in my images from the dozens of chapters of my LEGO DVD or Download.... http://www.ebay.com/...#ht_11144wt_934 Quote
Bilbo Baggins Posted May 29, 2012 Posted May 29, 2012 Really interesting add. I find it cool TLG has always tried making LEGO a unisex toy. Quote
Fugazi Posted May 30, 2012 Posted May 30, 2012 I have entire chapters full of images on my LEGO DVD (advertisements, promotions, department store catalog images, TV Commercials, LEGO artwork, LEGO catalogs, etc... Here's a few from my Flickr pages (I would post them here, but you can only post BRICKSHELF images).... Thank you for your contributions, Gary. You can certainly embed pictures hosted on Flickr (or anywhere else for that matter) if you wish to do so. Have a look at this topic for instructions. Quote
MsRowdyRedhead Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 I do not have a picture but I clearly remember seeing ads like that in one of my son's magizines.. maybe cub scouts? back in the mid 70's Quote
billdeen Posted June 3, 2012 Posted June 3, 2012 For strong, silent men... and girls. Perhaps they were planning Friends even then? :) Quote
LEGO Historian Posted June 3, 2012 Posted June 3, 2012 Hey THANKS!!! I now know how to download images onto Eurobricks (trust me this place will never be the same again with my 8000 historic LEGO image database!!! (Of which 6000 are in my new LEGO DVD!!) Here is a 1960 Swedish magazine ad showing the 700/1 LEGO Basic Set, and some of the spare parts packs. Also showing at the bottom of the page is the new (to 1960) #238 Idea Book, sold in many European countries in the local language (also known as Building Ideas Book No. 1 in Britain/Ireland). And here is another 1960 Swedish magazine image... with the boy saying "TITTA"..... or "look!". This is a similar ad showcasing the #238 Idea Book, as well as some of the spare part packs used to build the models that the boy built.... Quote
lightningtiger Posted June 3, 2012 Posted June 3, 2012 Ha, ha....they might be related ! Wonderful seeing the old adverts, thanks for sharing them 'LEGO Historian' ! Quote
Legogal Posted June 3, 2012 Posted June 3, 2012 Wow! These are wonderful ads from the 70's! I didn't hear about Lego until the mid-eighties when more US stores began carrying them. We began buying them in about 1992 when my son turned three and started serious building for a child. We don't care for the Wal-Mart chain of stores, but they began carrying the larger sets (like Pirate ships and some trains) at Christmas, and then would mark them down 75 per cent if any remained in February just before my son's birthday. That is how we picked up so many sets cheaply; we would build them together and then part them out to build other things. Our older Lego are pretty beat up after surviving being smashed on cement floors a lot by two sons and their friends. They played with them until they were about 12, and then the Dark Ages began in our house. So it really is neat to see the early ads with the sets that predated those we collected! Quote
MsRowdyRedhead Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Here's one from the early 70's USA And the UK And the late 70's USA This one is for sale on etsy! Quote
LEGO Historian Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Here's a very interesting "story" to tell behind a LEGO ad (from my LEGO DVD chapter on Ads)... (I often find unrelated items, and piece together the behind the scenes story of many old LEGO ads and items)... The leftmost image is of a 1957-58 European Glued Retailer Model Catalog, that continental European retailers can order for their window displays. In about 1962-63 an American comic book illustrator by the name of Joe Certa (who did many comic book action heroes in the 1950s, as well as a DARK SHADOWS series in the 1960s), was offered by USA Samsonite LEGO to come up with an ad for a USA magazine. As it would turn out, this illustrator was unfamiliar with LEGO parts, colors and even how to hold the parts... but he created quite a nice image, (center image) based on the much older b/w catalog model. But although his ad image was nice, it was not satisfactory (with what looks like Maersk blue and Lime green colors decades before their introduction)... He also didn't understand macaroni bricks, which were used in a rather peculiar way in the original models' side entrance wings. His ad was rejected in favor of a photograph image that was used in the final ad (right image). One of my favorite parts of putting together the 2,800 page Unofficial Sets/Parts Collectors Guides, is to find clues from my over 8,000 historic images, and put the pieces of the puzzle together to get the real history behind LEGO. Enjoy! Quote
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