New orange spaceman joins the Classic Space LEGO minifigure lineup [News]

The old-school Classic Space astronaut is of the most beloved and iconic minifigures of the last 40 years, and later this year it will be available in orange for the first time. The figure will be an extra in the upcoming new edition of LEGO Minifigure: A Visual History from publisher DK. According to the Amazon UK listing, where it is available for pre-order, it will be available Oct. 1 for £30.00.

Originally available in black, blue, red, white, and yellow, the figure featured prominently in space sets for more than a decade across the 1970s and 80s. Recently, LEGO has been picking up on the nostalgia fans have for the simple spaceman and have been filling in the lineup with additional colors. In 2014 the Ideas set 21109 Exo Suit included a green version, and of course Benny from The LEGO Movie proudly wears an original blue suit. Last year for The LEGO Movie 2, he was joined by two rereleases of the white and yellow space figures, along with another new addition: the pink version, in 70841 Benny’s Space Squad. Now, DK’s new book adds an eighth color to the lineup, bringing us one step closer to having a space minifigure for every occasion.

19 comments on “New orange spaceman joins the Classic Space LEGO minifigure lineup [News]

  1. Chris

    If I remember correctly, the original spacemen came in just red and white in 1978. Yellow were added in 1979 (in a Space Minifigure pack, but not any set until 1982) and blue in 1984. Black didn’t come along until 1985.

    I think they made Benny blue not because he was an original color, but because when blue was added as a color it was cool and rare, since by that point all anybody had were a ton of red and white (and some yellow, but yellow wasn’t as exciting because it was the same color as the person inside, so there was no contrast.) Blue spacemen were the @#$%!

  2. Bill McQuown

    Now we just need a new space set to go with that new orange astrofig. Pretty please, LEGO.

  3. Håkan

    @Xenoliths

    There are no green classic helmets for the green spaceman. Unless you’d go custom or prototype…

    (Since there doesn’t seem to have been a single green classic helmet sold in any of its variants on BrickLink for the last six months, it seems even prototypes would be quite a rare thing.)

  4. Johnny Johnson

    The Exo Suit green spaceman has the classic torso, but a modern helmet with visor. Not the classic helmet, sadly.

  5. Håkan

    @Chris
    @Johnny Johnson

    Two green spacemen (or technically one spaceman and one spacewoman). Two green modern standard helmets…

  6. Chris

    @Håkan @Johnny Johnson – Hard to believe there’s never been a green classic helmet – no race car driver, no castle woodsman? Crazy! But then, you’d think there’d have been orange before now too…

  7. Håkan

    @Chris

    The old helmet mold was discontinued and phased out in the late 80’s, at around the same time when Lego started moving away from the classic Mondrian color scheme of Red-Yellow-Blue-White-Black on minifigs and basic parts.

    (Green forestmen started to appear in 1987, and I don’t think there were any official “Non-Mondrian” minifigs released before that. Fabuland doesn’t count.)

  8. jimmy

    On the cover of the book the helmet and air tanks really have a LOT of texture. I wonder if those are production pieces or were prototypes/mockups used just for the cover pic?

    Is that pic of all the space men lined up yours, and is it photoshopped? I ask because in that pic the orange helmet does not appear to be the same mold as the “reissue” helmet from Benny’s Space Squad. The reissue mold has: 1) top dimple, 2)the left and right edge of the face opening is not as straight vertical as the original helmets, 3) the chin strap flows smoothly into the helmet body without the small ridge.

    Somewhat related to all this, it looks like 71708 Gamer’s Market will include a reissue helmet in blue, WITHOUT the simulated chinstrap break, which will be nice to update some of the reissued blue space men from 2012.

  9. Håkan

    @jimmy

    Yeah, others have noted that, as well. Might be 3d-printing or spray paint…

    Yeah, that blue helmet from 71708 Gamer’s Market look interesting. I wonder if it would be sold separately from Lego Bricks and Pieces, or if it could be sold cheaper than the original blue helmets. Hopefully a green one might appear soon, as well, to update the green Exo-Suit minifigs.

  10. Benjamin von Sück

    Thanks for the info guys! And yeah, seriously, stop making “battle-damaged” Benny figs! We’ve all got plenty. We can wear ’em out just fine on our OWN, thankyouverymuch!

  11. Håkan

    @Benjamin von Sück

    Benny is battle-damaged, marked by a long service in the field. That’s who he is.

    Although theoretically, new, clean, blue spacemen could be produced separately…

  12. the crow flies in square circles

    Fun fact: Lego released a rare transparent-backed sticker sheet for minifig torsos once that had the classic space logo on it. And those old-style helmets and air tanks were also made in old grey, so it is possible to make a grey classic space man.

  13. Larry

    2 or 3 comments declaring that the photo is missing the green suited figure from the Exo Suit set, but nobody pointing out that it’s missing a black suited figure? ;)

    Back on topic, I’m excited that there will be an orange classic space figure, but I think it’s a weird choice to make a book exclusive out of an obvious “army-builder”. Every classic space fan would buy multiples of these if they could. Look at the Benny’s Space Squad set.

    Also, stupid question maybe, but is it safe to assume this will be available outside the UK?

  14. Håkan

    @the crow flies in square circles

    If you’re not above mixing various grays, there was a grey classic space torso released in the CMF series.

    @Larry

    And even modern standard helmets are quite rare in orange, unless you’d go Brasso…

  15. Chris Post author

    Everyone’s who’s commenting that the photo doesn’t contain a green spaceman because there’s no classic helmet in green is correct. Also, because I couldn’t find the torso for the photo. That’s also why there’s not a black one. The orange is photoshopped from a red spaceman, though.

    I’d speculate that the heavy texture on the airtanks/helmet on the book cover is because they’re pre-production and likely spray painted. It’s possible the image itself is a placeholder and will be updated once the final parts are available for photography.

    Once the book comes out I’ll have to try to get another photo like this with all the colors and no photoshopping.

Comments are closed.