Fabuland, the fantastic land where animals lived in harmony with on another.  A fairy tale land where things could happen and most of the time did.  Fabuland was one of The Lego Company (TLC) success story in the mid eighties.

The early eighties saw it struggling to get established.  It borrowed greatly from town, with houses and cars.  However, there were a few parts that set Fabuland apart from town.  One was the apple trees, another was the huge prefab walls.  Of course, the minifigs in this case were not the typical Lego smiley faces but a one-piece minifig - or to be more precise, a one-piece humanoid animal.

Short stories begin to accompany the sets near the middle of the eighties and by then Fabuland had diversified to include many smaller sets, although still retaining many ideas from town, like the fire and police stations, but modified to the Fabuland look.  Fabuland was a serious alternative to Town by the mid eighties.

Fabuland though got and airport before Town did and by 1985, had an interesting riverboat - something Town never had.  It could be said that Fabuland set the pace for Town by the mid-eighties.

1986 saw the introduction of the Ferris wheel and the slide in Fabuland - elements that were never present in Town.  Fabuland by now was moving away to look more like Disneyland, while town maintained its real life tones.

The Disneyland sub-themes continued for the next few years, with more slides, merry-go-rounds and a second Ferris wheel.  By this time though, the town aspect of Fabuland was rapidly being abandoned, in favour of the rides.

No new sets were released in 1990 and the theme was not shown in any 1991 catalogues.  It had died.  Fabuland was indeed a Lego phenomenon of the eighties and although attempts to transfer elements of it to other themes (Slides and Rides to Paradisa, Animal characters to Mickey Mouse, etc.), those proved to be less successful than Fabuland.  What made Fabuland great?  Innovative sets like the riverboat, a well balanced theme that consisted of the many elements of a normal town, a good range of set size from the smallest to the largest and a great aid to imagination.

Go back to Duke Nostalgia's Kaleidoscope Page.
Go back to Duke Nostalgia's Front Page.