Lego Fabuland is a defunct theme and product range of

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

construction toys, aimed at young children. Introduced in 1979, the range aimed to fill the gap between

Duplo Lego Duplo (trademarked as DUPLO and stylized in the logo as duplo) is a core product range of the construction toy Lego by The Lego Group, The LEGO Group, designed for children from to 5 years old. Duplo bricks are twice the size of traditional ...

and the standard Lego product ranges. Aimed at both boys and girls, the range encouraged storytelling, and was the first theme to be extended into books, clothing, and a

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

children's television show Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

, ''

Edward and Friends ''Edward and Friends'' is a children's TV series in claymation from FilmFair that aired on British, New Zealand and Canadian television in 1987–1989. Each episode was 5-minutes in length and was based on LEGO's successful 1980s Fabuland them ...

'', that aired in the United Kingdom and Canada during the 1980s.

Characters

Fabuland sets featured

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

animal characters. These pieces were larger than standard Lego

minifigures A Lego minifigure, commonly referred to as a minifig, is a small plastic articulated figurine produced by Denmark, Danish toy manufacturer The Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978 and have been a success, with over 4 billion produced wor ...

, but smaller than Duplo figures, and included movable arms, legs and head. Some of the characters appeared in more than one set, and were given names, and sometimes even stories. This was the first Lego theme where characters had names. Names of the characters varied by country.

Style

Fabuland had a distinctive, friendly style, with various animal characters that each had a job or purpose in the town of Fabuland. Fabuland featured special elements that were larger than standard Lego bricks, but were fully compatible with regular Lego. Fabuland used a primary colour scheme and the sets were aimed for children between 4–8 as a transition from Duplo to Lego. Fabuland was unique due to the special elements, such as walls, roof elements, tables, chairs, boats and cars chassis. Larger Sets included buildings with story book like instructions and the theme also had many vehicles and individual characters with accessories. Fabuland is highly sought after today among collectors and there is a large fan base that keeps the theme alive via Lego fan sites. Fabuland was discontinued in 1989 and many elements have since reappeared in other product lines, such as

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

, Belville,

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

/Kingdoms,

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

, Lego Games and others. The Fabuland line was referenced in the 2014 film ''

The Lego Movie ''The Lego Movie'' is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, its story focu ...

''.

Books

Instructions for sets contained text stories with illustrations. This was the first time Lego used inspirational material. There were also printed story books based on the Fabuland theme, including seven books based on the Fabuland television series ''Edward and Friends''. The comic strip ''Fabuland, il paese delle fantaviglie'' ('Fabuland, the Country of Fantasies') was included in the Italian magazine ''Più e il suo Gioco''.

Other products

For the Fabuland theme Lego introduced such licensed products as key chains, table decorations,

pen A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity whic ...

s, playing cards, jigsaw puzzles,

memory games Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

(in association with

Ravensburger Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...

), parachute toys, children cutlery sets (in association with BSF), bed cover sheets, children's clothing. Fabuland characters were attached to

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

's Orzoro jars. In 1979 in Germany Phonogram Inc. released on

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

radioplay "Stories from Fabuland" written by Sebastian Beck and directed by Michael Weckler.

Notes

External links

Fabuland
on ''Brickset'' {{Lego Fabuland Toy animals Products introduced in 1979 Products and services discontinued in 1989