Life-changing 1980 LEGO Idea book 

Overwhelming nostalgia overload at some points in this one.

Wow, this was a blast from the past! I think I read this book as a child till it fell apart.

One Significant Thing i recognized here is that in 1980 Lego produced for the City Theme more Houses and Buildings. Today they focuse more on Vehicles. I miss that Houses!

My dad gave me this book from his childhood when he thought I was old enough to take care of it. I still have it and is in great condition.

So cool to see someone's love for lego to be continued for so long and passionately

Jang you should build an old town part in your town where you build some of the buildings in it

I remember having this very catalogue. The night time scenes were always my favourite and I was forever putting home-made lights inside my buildings. Lego today has become too flash, too over the top when it used to be simple but effective. The added brilliance were the translucent light-up parts that gave warmth and life to your projects. I think Lego has lost its way now. It relies heavily on licensed themes because half the work is done for them. Look at the Star Wars theme for example. They know what every vehicle looks like before they’ve started. They just have to build it out of Lego. Their own themes such as Classic Space have to start from scratch. They have to design a ship from nothing until it becomes something. This catalogue shows us that imagination was at the heart of Lego. Nothing is too flash here. Everything is perfect. Simplicity, not to be confused with basic sparks imagination. Nowadays everything is done for us. They no longer encourage us to recreate as much as they used to, and this magazine represents the time when Lego was great. There’s too much cash to be made from selling us new ‘ideas’ now. It’s original purpose I think is fading.

This was my childhood idea book. Still have it. Only used a few of the stickers.

Thanks Jang. This brings back the excitement of every birthday and Christmas from 78-84. My mum would ask, what would I like for each occasion and the answer was always the same. Just Space Lego. Over the years I lost pieces but retain a few kilograms of the iconic blue and grey, ten or so minifigs and the wide array of dishes, computer screens , aerials, jets and trans yellow. As you described the scenes, the space boxes came rushing back..... Really was a good time in my life.......the quests to far off space ( the TV room to the backyard) are so real today as they were back then......ahhhhh Lego and Jang for bringing such varied Lego content.....🇦🇺🐨🇦🇺🐨🇦🇺🐨🇦🇺🐨🇦🇺

this was basically legoporn, and the ONLY legoporn available, for those of us who grew up in the 80s

I loved watching your excitement! I feel similarly when I look through Lego catalogs from my big Lego days of my childhood in 1997-2001.

Lol I love that little police boat! So funny-looking, in a good way.

I'm form 1968 and I was 12 heen this book carne out. I'm happy to have my original one. Pure nostalgic. No specialized aparts but just imagination. Who needs more?

As someone who is currently doing the builds from this book (in fact in just a few days I'll be heading to Brickvention in Melbourne Australia to take part in a 6000 Ideas book collaborative display), it was wonderful to join you as you rode those waves of nostalgia. Thank you very much for sharing those moments with us. And for anyone that is interested, I have videos of the 6000 Ideas Book builds I've done on my channel.

I used to have this catalogue as well. Good to see it again.

good memories of old lego

I really appreciate emotional videos like this!

This is so cute! I wish they would still make little books like this.

In the summer of 1983 on Holiday in Wales my dad gave me and my sister £10 each and I spent mine on this book and the lights set. I then immediately wanted to go home and try to recreate some of the things in this book. the sticker page was fantastic.

I had a different one of these ideas book, number 226. I had a similar wave of nostalgia when I got another copy recently - there were models that I remembered as if it was only yesterday. I am 37 years older now, and living in a different country. My seven year old daughter and I are going through the book and building some of the models, which is a surreal experience for me. One model that I always wanted to build but never had the right parts was the blue car. I built several versions that were similar, but I never got to build it using exactly the right parts and colors. I have cataloged all the parts I need and am putting together a Bricklink order now. That build is going to be just as special as my 171 train set which I still have all these years later.

Also the red hard hats and the blue shirts with the white buttons, collar and pocket outlines with blue pants. I had a literal mafia of 12 those guys in my lego city all wearing the same uniforms and I remember they did a few sets with a white hard hat and a black hard hat in the later 80's so I used those to rank the guys but it was pretty much who ran my lego city. Anyone have a problem the hard hats would show up and the white hard hat was the boss, black hats were lieutenants and reds were foot soldiers. They either built stuff or tore stuff down if you were causing problems in my lego town, lol. Thanks for the memories.

I had this book too jang and the nostalgia has just hit me like a train while watching! I still have some elements with these stickers on them!! The circus, the supermarket ... too much! Thank you!

I've felt a strong connection with your mood because I had this same IdeaBook when I was child, now lost unfortunately. And I've realized how important this book was for me at that age and why I love Lego today. Thanks a lot Jang!!

I remember that book! The sticker page was big reminder. I had more LEGO space sets as a kid, so I focused more on those pages, but like you, really loved those light brick scenes. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, made of road plates of course.

I still have this book and it was one of my favourite legos items.I felt myself jumping into this wonderful miniature world.It really inspired me .Its great to see you talk about it.Great memories.

I left behind this same book in my country years ago, it definitely takes you back and makes you travel briefly to that safe Lego world where everything made sense. Best nostalgia video ever. Love it !

Just watched this video and it bought back a wave of very happy memories, I had this book as a kid and me and my older cousin send hours building lego and having fun, he was always a better builder and had a lot of the big city buildings and a town layout with model railway running through it. I truly had not given this a thought in years so thank you, love the retro lego reviews.

There are many feels in this video and its all good. I recall this too. wow! great trip down memory lane.

JANG I love this Idea Book as much as you! I used it so much the cover came off, & I was lucky enough to get another. IIRR it only cost $2. The castle pages absolutely fascinated me! The last time my sons & I set up all our city sets & roadplates, it took up nearly half the dining room, & I added a little homage to Mary & Bill holding hands & Bill giving her flowers

amazing how powerful Legos are and how much it can bring back your childhood. one reason i collect them today being 24, is it brings me back to when I was a kid as I started building/playing at the age of 5. I still get the enjoyment and excitement when I open up a new set and I don't think that will ever change.

Oh, I had this one as a kid! I built a lot of the designs from it, especialy the spaceships. I remember making the "flying saucer" at 28:00, but upscaling it by doubling most of the bricks so it was twice the size, like a mother ship! This book influenced and inspired so many designs I made later. I was so steamed when my mother threw out my old Lego, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Star Wars stuff later on. Lego ins one of those toys you never outgrow, you just make more detailed and complicated builds!

This was a fun trip, thanks for sharing it with us! This book was a huge part of my own LEGO hobby for the last 3+ decades, and while I didn't have the same nostalgia hits (thanks to having looked at it more regularly over the years, up to just a few months ago), it was great reading along with you. It also has a fun personal coincidence for me, in that my wife and I are Mary and Bill, having our own (often LEGO-based) adventures.

Was born in 79 my earliest memories were pictures from this book as I had an older brother who possessed this. Thanks for this video.

Cool! Still have my original copy of this book. My younger brother and I spent a lot of time with this back in 1980/81.

Despite not being a review of any sets or moc builds I think this might be one of my favourite videos on the channel

This might be my favorite one of your videos. I also had this book as a child, and still have it. It affected me in a similar way, creating a lifelong obsession with Lego.

My memories of this book are very strong, especially the space part as I was very much into space lego at that point.

I'd scan in those stickers, and maybe get some sticker-printer paper, rather than use the originals. That's something to keep!!

As a younger Lego fan who grew up with lego from the late nineties, it took a while for me, watching this video, to get into the right mind set and really start to appreciate the creativity and fantasy in all of the pictures and designs. I think the ailens and their homeworld got to me the most beacuse I used to make aliens in similar ways when I was younger and I just love the wierd designs of their buildings. :D

I'd scan and reprint those stickers to use in my stuff and preserve the originals.

This video brought back so many memories for me too. Thanks for sharing.

So great, I have loved all these nostalgic videos you've done!

This is how I felt about this book. I still have it and some of the decals. I look back now and how I photo my Mocs buildings in Flickr is the same way. Minifigs at work and telling a story.

This is my favourite Lego book ever, I still have mine.

I fully understand your feelings with this video. my version was set 114 or 50 basic set. the sound of the bricks rattling loosely in the box, just like every Christmas morning. when i bought the old 70s sets for my collection I felt overwhelmed with nostalgia. nothing beats it.

i have had day-dreams about some of these pages as recently as a few weeks ago. stuck with me after all these years as well. thank you so much for this video

Had one of these too. Thanks for the nostalgia trip!

The only time I get to see old legos like these is when I play with legos at school.

nostalgia is an amazing drug. me any my sister a few summers ago went and visited the town where we grey up, and the fields near the river with the tall trees. it was amazing!

Great video. I used to have this book back in the day but my copy fell apart. Good to see it all again. Thank you.

What a great throwback! My first minifig memories were the non-articulated legs and matching torsos. They had to be separated to sit them down on a firetruck set (485) that I had. I also vividly remember the ball-n-hitch that it came with, which was the focal point for almost everything I built back then.

Cool to hear your perspective. I still have my copy from when first got it as a kid. Though, not in quite as good shape. Sadly, the stickers are no longer on mine. I kind of wish they did more idea books in this format again.

I exactly know what your feeling, I had this exact same book! and now I see it again, I remember all, so cool! I wish I had all the parts to build it. so classic

What a fun look back. I never had a catalog like that but I did have the LL924 spaceship that was pictured throughout the second half of the book. Only a handful of those classic parts remain in my collection but I did recently make my own moc spacecraft with what was left plus newer parts. The ship I made was very much inspired by the old sets, and this video got me feeling nostalgic about it all over again.

you should start using these old lights in your city , that would look soooooo cool !

This book is timeless. Doesn't even look like it's from the 80's.

This brings a lot of memories for you

I love how Lego at the time was still distinctively Danish in its aesthetics.

Wow! Thanks for showing this. I remember I had this book also.

Such an awesome video, buddy! I still have this book from my childhood. It was damaged by water, but somehow the stickers are complete and intact! Thanks for reinforcing the memories!

Legendary. Wish they still made these books but that's what the internet is for now.

When you said that you couldn't take the tires apart it reminded me of when I was really little and I couldn't take apart the minifigs so I would just bite off body pieces. I still have those old ones and they're all covered in teeth marks!

Man, watching your videos got me pulling out my old legos. Still have this same idea book (minus cover) I remember thinking it was ridiculous when they went into space.

Wow... thank you for that. I was really young when I had this one so fewer pages jump out at me, but some really got me!!

I had this as a child and one of the most difficult items to find was that white cowboy hat! I can't remember where I eventually found one. This book was quite cool as it also told a story about the two mini figures

I remember having one of these, not sure if it was the 1980 book or one from a few years later, but I do remember some of these builds. Somewhere in my big Lego box is the green Taxi sign from the midpages of the catalogue, and I seem to remember a red one with some other text on it as well. Thanks for putting up these videos, takes me right back to my childhood with Lego all over the floor and looking through magazines like this for ideas of what to build.

OMG I had this book, got me through several winters gazing at it in the early 80's . Of course I could never find all the bricks make any of it and definitely not with the same color bricks. So wanted the lights, and a railway. Sure I also has a earlier book? My first set was fire station 374! can still remember my dad cursing as he would step on a stay piece of lego. Happy days.

I had the next idea book. I don't remember what year it came out but I do remember taking apart a bunch of my sets so I could make some of the models in that book. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Jang

When I got this ideas book, I didn't have enough parts to build any of these. Next couple of years I though I wasted money on it. But today, just by looking at it, I feel so happy inside.

I remember the 1996 catalog book. The only one I ever had. It had some of the best Technic sets ever!

Wow I love this video! It's really fun to see you overjoyed like this!

This is a really endearing video, Jang. Thanks for sharing

Wow, I had that book. Fell apart from over use in the end. Lovely to look through it again 😁

I never had this book, and saw it for the first time about a year ago or so... I SO need this book. It's beautiful!

I had the same nostalgia for my 70s sets. Some still sealed and factory fresh.

Crazy that same windmill lighted scene was my fav. I had that lighting set and built that scene.

I still have this book! Just found it in the shed two weeks ago. Unfortunately I'm missing the outer 6 (12) pages, but boy do i remember when I see it now! Thanks Jang, I've subscribed to your channel three weeks ago and am a total fan now! I'm gonna show this book to my 6 year old!

omg what an awesome book!!! love it...very lucky to have it. Fabuland was my all time fave as a kid. omg i used to get list in those sets

ha, ha! my fuzzy page was the theater, cool how you are still quite enthusiastic about the bricks today. I had this book too, I have learned with the 'follow me' sticker not to use them on bricks, but rather on tiles instead. while I am hit by nostalgia as well, it makes me feel great about what we can now build today. I always was a vehicle guy, and scale was an issue for me, the cars looked good, but the scale was quite off for trucks and semis. I think that I wanted the modulars at around 10, in the 80s lol. as I always built sealed buildings. one of your best post for me.

thanks for upload this, when I was a kid 30 years before, I just saw this book 1-3 times in a store, but no money to buy it, and still now I want to have to read it once, now I've got it!

So cool! 80's Lego was so great

I had that book as a kid. I think I might have a torn up copy buried somewhere. I do know I did have all the castle pages. Thanks for this little trip down memory lane!

This was the perfect "Breakfast TV" for me today, Jang! Thanks! I enjoyed it as much as you! It is by far the best Lego Idea book of all time. Had the luck to get this (with only half of the stickers) and two other building books for only 1 Euro a few weeks ago! :)

I found a scanned version of this on a website full of old LEGO instructions years ago, and I loved going through it even digitally. Would've loved to have the real deal as a kid, and wouldn't hurt to get it now.

this feels like nostalgia despite me being born in the late 90s

I really love how these two guys wave bye-bye on the last page :-)...

It was really nice to see a review of this booklet. Although it came out about 13 years before I was even born, I found a scanned copy online when I was a kid and it provided a lot of inspiration, as did the train ideas book from around the same time (#7777). I think the cinema had more of an impact on me than you from the sound of it; I remember going as far as printing the sticker sheet on normal paper and gluing the movie posters on to my build.

I love lego. I used to only buy lego star wars, your videos and enthusiasm have inspired me to build a city. I have almost nothing for a city at the moment, One creator 3 in 1 house and I just bought the RV set on sale, but it will be alot of fun getting everything I need and making something unique

Wow!!! I had this. I can also remember it went through some kind of story.

Maybe you should create a nostalgic creation for memory reasons

Omg i have this book! It was my dad's and uncle's, one of my favourite things to look at

I love this video. I had this book back in the 80s which I look through atleast once a day for years. I know exactly what you mean with the feeling at pages 24 and 25. That thing I felt was magic, the night time with the lights was just amazing, kind of new as the lights wasnt that big in the lego world. I think it was mostly used with trainsets which where quite expensive. I would say I enjoyed this book far more than you ;) Almost everything was so simple, so easy to build and understand. Especially the town parts, the space parts started to be a bit more advanced and sadly the castle parts they didnt go into that much which sadly is a recurring theme in the idea books to come aswell. I think in this case it is probably because there was only a few castle sets available, the castle and the jousting set being the big sets. Towards the end of the book, starting with the ailens, it feels like they where kind of rushing with the builds and instructions. The reason why at the back it says that the castle, set 375 released 1978, wasnt available in the states until 1981 when it was re-released as 6075 and I'm quite sure that the book came out before 1981. This book was amazing, this and the book 7777 about trains. Even though I didnt have any train sets. I wore those two books down. Sadly I do not have any of them left anymore, which I feel kind of sad about. But luckily, they are both available in PDF format :)

one difference between legos of the 80s and today... the classic old sets included many basic long and short thin bricks plus basic doors and windows. the 8 peg long 6 peg long 4 & 2 &1. 3 peg long was unusual. it was really easy to imagine another building in rectangular form and design it. i built a school very similar to the one pictured and yet i had never seen that picture. it is such a simple design. now as i have built modern creator houses - there are many many custom parts to create more complicated effects. there are a lot of small accessories like scissors and food pieces. i like this change but there is also a place for minimalism. back in the day of this book - one would leave a lot of detail to pure imagination. i recall when i used to imagine a face on a faceless yellow head with a cap on a block body. that being said - i was happier when lego released the mini figures in this book. Lego would do well to release a few vintage editions from the 80s - including the basic mini figures. i think it would be the perfect blend of the complicated build suited for adults and something tangible for children 6 and up. the classic 1982 townhouse is a perfect example. thanks for sharing this book. i have never seen it before and it still brought nostalgia. i just returned to legos a month ago and i am happy i found your videos for guidance. i do plan to buy a large classic building set with doors and windows so i can build as i did in the 80s - the color scheme would be off but hopefully i can find the long and short narrow pieces plus base plates. 2020 would be a perfect year for an 80s retro Lego collection. the generation x audience would take notice. nostalgia is quite powerful.

Wow - remember having this - it's a long time ago but my parents might have kept this with all my old Lego. I mostly remembered the space ships, since I think I really tried to rebuild them. I have to find this again, give it to my children and see if they start " free styling" (instead of following ninjago instructions)

THAT was Lego!! I loved to play with LEGO and this book was great!! The cinema was great!! :)

That motorbike is hilarious. Thanks for sharing

This is incredible, thank you sooo much for the nostalgia overdose!

Hy Jang. Thank you for this wonderfoul video. It broght a lot of memory back to me. I had this book also. But it is gone. So nice to see that you have one. Thx

i have that book still! made my own better aliens with heads that were headlight bricks. love Space Cruiser:) nice video!

awsome! just awsome, I was smileing the entire video watching youre reaction from every single page, I'm just 14 years old but I got a huge wave of inspiration. Very cool