Lego Atlantis was a product range of the construction toy

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 interlockin ...

, themed around the underwater world of

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus'' and ''Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that bes ...

. The range was launched in early 2010 and discontinued by the end of 2011. The toy sets included models of buildable underwater vehicles, as well as "heroic diver" and "shark warrior"

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

. A ride based on the range was operated at

Legoland Windsor Resort Legoland Windsor Resort (), styled and also known as Legoland Windsor, is a theme park and resort in Windsor, Berkshire in England, themed around the Lego brand. The park opened on 17 March 1996 and is currently operated by Merlin Entertainmen ...

Development and launch

Designer William Thorogood commented that from design focus groups, "it emerged that there were certain key icons the product simply had to include: propellers, dome cockpits, big lights, helmets, harpoons, torpedo-like weapons, tridents, giant squid, and evil sharks." The theme was revealed in the

Lego Club Magazine ''Lego Club Magazine'' (formerly known as ''Brick Kicks'' in the US and ''Bricks 'n' Pieces'' in the UK then ''Lego MANIA Magazine'' and simply ''Lego Magazine'' until 2008) was the official magazine for Lego, or, more specifically, the Lego Clu ...

in September 2009. The associated toy sets were released from December 2009.

Story and characters

The Lego Atlantis theme

backstory A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of ...

was described on the Lego website and in the Lego catalogue. The Atlantis Crew were described as a deep sea salvage crew who searched the ocean for shipwrecks and treasure. The crew finds a clue to the location of the long lost Atlantis city, and then makes it their mission to search it out and uncover its mysteries. The sets introduced two groups of good and evil characters. The first was the Atlantis salvage crew of "heroic divers", led by Captain Ace Speedman. Also in the crew was

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies sp ...

Dr. Jeff Fisher,

First Mate A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship ...

Lance Spears, "Tech Expert" Axel Storm, and apprentice Bobby Buoy. Professor Samantha Artesia Rhodes was also part of the team, but was described as having "not initially been part of the crew, so she tricks them into helping look for Atlantis". The evil characters were described as "Atlantis Warriors", and had human-like bodies with the heads of a sea creature. The three warriors were the "Squid Warrior" (with tentacles as well as a

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting ...

-like head), "Manta Warrior" (with the head of a

manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus '' Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular pectoral fins, horn-s ...

), and "Shark Warrior'" who performed a

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

attack. Finally, there was the "Portal Emperor", who resided over the portal to Atlantis.

Sets and products

According to

Bricklink Lego A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund, Denmark. It manufactures Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks aroun ...

, The Lego Group released a total of 24 Lego sets and promotional polybags as part of the Lego Atlantis theme. It was discontinued by the end of 2011. The largest, Portal of Atlantis (set number: 8078) contained 1007 pieces, and instructions to build a portal to

, as well as six minifigures: three divers, a shark warrior, a squid warrior, and the portal emperor. Others included Seabed Scavenger (set number: 8059), Typhoon Turbo Sub (set number: 8060), Gateway of the Squid (set number: 8061), Atlantis Exploration HQ (set number: 8077), Shadow Snapper (set number: 8079) and Temple of Atlantis (set number: 7985). As well as the Lego models, a number of other products were created to tie-in with the theme. These included wearable items such as a water gun, a "harpoon blaster", a trident, a shield, a collections of

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

magnets, and keyring accessories. The Atlantis theme also produced a board game for two to four players titled "Atlantis Treasure", which was released in 2010.

Attractions

In 2010, ''Lego Summer Camp'' was located in Atlantis, on Paradise Island on the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...

. The attraction was opened by

Frankie Jonas Franklin Nathaniel Jonas (born September 28, 2000) is an American former child actor. Jonas voiced Sōsuke in the 2009 film ''Ponyo'' and was a recurring character in the Disney Channel series ''Jonas''. He also appeared in a minor role in t ...

(younger brother of the

Jonas Brothers The Jonas Brothers () are an American pop rock band. Formed in 2005, they gained popularity from their appearances on the Disney Channel television network. They consist of three brothers: Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas. Raised i ...

). It also included a life-sized figure of a SCUBA diver from the Lego Atlantis line of toys called L.A.N.S.E. (Lego Atlantis Navigational SCUBA Explorer) and Atlantis Kids Adventures (AKA) is an 8,000-square-foot club that takes the idea of personalization to the kids' level, allowing them to choose their own adventure. In 2011, a ride based on the Atlantis theme was introduced at

. ''Atlantis Submarine Voyage'' combined a dark submarine ride with

Sea Life Sea Life is a chain of commercial sea life-themed aquarium attractions. there are 53 Sea Life attractions (including standalone Sea Life centres, mini Sea Life features within resort theme parks, and Legoland submarine rides) around the world ...

exhibits and was located in the Adventure Land area of the park. The attraction housed a 1 million litre tank that was home to 50 marine species. The ride was refurbished in 2019 and renamed ''Lego City Deep Sea Adventure''.

Other media

In 2010, three books based on the Lego Atlantis theme were released. ''Lego Atlantis: The Quest for the Lost City'' and ''Lego Atlantis: The Menace from the Deep Activity Book'' were released on 1 April 2010 by Penguin Random House Children's UK. ''Lego Atlantis Brickmaster'' was released on 16 August 2010 by DK. ''Lego Atlantis: The Movie'' is a 22-minute

computer animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation refe ...

film that was produced for the Lego Atlantis theme. The storyline follows a group of treasure hunters looking for the lost city of Atlantis. The film was first shown on the Cartoon Network website on February 15, 2010. It was directed by Mark Baldo.

References

{{Lego