I recently wrote about the new LEGO horse that comes with LEGO Lord of the Rings theme and also posed it with some older horses. I decided to complete the portrait with a fuller complement of LEGO horse generations and riders I (and my son) have.
From old to new, here are the generations:
I posed the horses over the same background I built when I was replicating the minifigures from the 6080 King’s Castle, for that faux 1980s LEGO look and feel. Also note my progress, I found parts for the 1984 Lion King! From the left:
- 375 Castle white brick-built horse and a knight (released 1978, classic castle theme)
- 6073 Knight’s Castle black horse and a Black Falcon knight (1984, LEGO Castle)
- 6080 King’s Castle white horse with Lion King (1984, LEGO Castle)
- first brown LEGO horse from 6379 Riding Stable (1986, LEGO Town)
- 7946 King’s Castle white horse with Lion King (2010, LEGO Kingdoms)
- 9471 Uruk-hai Army new brown horse with Rohan’s Eomer (2012, LEGO LotR)
Note the classic LEGO Space helmet on the first knight, with a special moveable visor, and see how the 1984 black horse has simpler eyes than the white (this changed in 2010). Also note the dark ages effect: We have no Castle, Knight’s Kingdom, Ninja figures or the like from 1989-2009. Of course the horse pieces used in those themes were the same as the 1984, 1986 and 2010 horses are, but some prints and accessories were different.
Note: You can click the images for larger versions.
Brickipedia features nice write-ups on the histories of LEGO Castle and the LEGO horse. If you haven’t already, you may also want to check out my picture comparison of castle LEGO building instructions from 1978 and 2010. The last link shows how the 1978 classic castle brick-built horse is put together.
3 Responses to Horse portrait
[…] Castle combined it with a unique castle visor until the great LEGO Castle revamp of 1984 (see my horse portrait). It was also widely used in LEGO Town, the precursor to today’s LEGO […]
[…] for Lion Knights’ castle, I have been mimicking 1980s LEGO Castle backgrounds in some of my own photography. In a comment to the minifigures story, Filip asked how I made the background. I appreciate the […]
[…] Above: LEGO Castle/Town horse generations from 1978-2012. See Horse portrait. […]