10497 Galaxy Explorer is LEGO’s best attempt at nostalgia, so grab it before it retires

13/10/202322/07/2024 Chris Wharfe 34569 Views 0 Comments

The LEGO Group has tried three distinct approaches to nostalgic sets in the past couple of years, and 10497 Galaxy Explorer represents the best of them – but it’s already about to retire…

It’s been a long time coming, but the LEGO Group has finally twigged that people are willing to spend money to relive their childhood more directly – not just in building with bricks generally, but specifically revisiting those themes and models that defined a certain period of their lives. While this isn’t the first time the company has tried to ignite the nostalgia centres in our brains (remember LEGO Legends?), the recent resurrection of retro sets and themes feels like the most successful attempt yet.

That’s partly because the designers have diversified not just across different themes, but with different approaches, too. Charting a path all the way back to 2020’s 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, a clear map of three distinct design choices emerges, in which it’s possible to group pretty much every nostalgic set released since.

Direct remakes

The first group is probably the most obvious one: direct remakes of classic sets, recreating exactly the experience you remember from your childhood with the 21st-century parts palette. You might find new techniques squirrelled away within these sets, as a greater volume of smaller elements come together to form what would once have been achieved with one or two larger pieces. But by and large, these sets seek to evoke the same emotions you felt when assembling them 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

Sets in this category range from 40567 Forest Hideout (an updated version of 6054 Forestmen’s Hideout) to this summer’s 10320 Eldorado Fortress, which has resurrected the 1989 Imperial stronghold 6276 Eldorado Fortress. This approach has its advantages – these are classic sets for a reason – but risks falling into the same trap as so much of modern pop culture. Namely: repeating what’s come before, good and bad, without adding anything new.

In 10320 Eldorado Fortress, for example, that materialises in black rather than brown boarding along the jetty. It looked clumsy in 1989, and it looks clumsy in 2023. But because the designers had committed wholeheartedly to recreating the original fortress, even to the extent of building its raised baseplate entirely from bricks, they were prevented from making such a sweeping change – regardless of whether it would have benefited the end result.

In short, these sets are targeted first and foremost at those fans looking to directly relive their youth. They stand in contrast to the two other groups for that reason.

Old themes, new sets

At the other end of the nostalgia spectrum come sets like 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle and 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, both of which are hooked to classic themes – but seek to deliver something entirely new. In fact, they both represent the single biggest products released under their respective thematic umbrellas, taking LEGO Castle and LEGO Pirates to bold new places.

They never lose sight of their inspiration – from new Black Falcon minifigures to Captain Redbeard – but are also not constrained by any one particular set from the LEGO Group’s history. 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle feels like it shares the same DNA as 375 Castle, 6074 Black Falcon’s Fortress and so on, but is also completely its own beast. Likewise Barracuda Bay, which can rebuild into a reimagining of the original ship, but in its shipwrecked form is a pirate base like no other.

These sets take advantage of their 18+ label and increased budgets to deliver something that can appeal to everyone and anyone, whether you have any direct nostalgia for the original LEGO themes or not. At the same time, anyone sentimental for those classic lines will find these sets hard to resist. They’re the ultimate catch-all dose of nostalgia.

The brand new 21343 Viking Village falls into this category, too, filling a gap in the original 2005 line with more detail than any of those sets managed, while the Creator 3-in-1 sets 31109 Pirate Ship and 31120 Medieval Castle offer smaller and more wallet-friendly sets inspired tangentially by retro themes. These sets are restricted in scope, grandeur and detail by their budgets and primary target audience, however, while larger sets like 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle – which retails for £344.99 / $399.99 / €399.99 – are not especially accessible.

Modern reimaginings

What happens when you take a set you remember from your childhood, then turn it up to 11? You get 10497 Galaxy Explorer, which stands head and shoulders on top of the final group of nostalgic sets: modern reimaginings. These models tap into memories of a specific set, but are not restricted by recreating them one-for-one, instead using them as the basis for something that still manages to capture that original building experience without compromises.

10497 Galaxy Explorer is the perfect example, and it’s pretty much all thanks to one simple design trick: everything here is roughly 150% the size of 1979’s 497 Galaxy Explorer. It means the ship you remember being huge as a kid is still huge as an adult, without losing any of the magic of the original build. The result is that this is arguably the best Classic Space set of all time, released long after the original Space theme became old enough to earn its ‘classic’ moniker.

It looks great on the shelf – that much is obvious from the images – but you’re also going to find it difficult to resist playing with this thing, no matter how old you are. The back of the ship splits in two and swings open to reveal a docking space for the tiny rover, with a loose 8×16 tile that can slide out to form a boarding ramp. Beyond that, you’ll find a sliding door that grants access to the craft’s rear cabin space, with a pair of beds in which the astronauts can lie without removing their airtanks.

It’s that kind of careful consideration and attention to detail that stands 10497 Galaxy Explorer apart from the pack, but from a pure nostalgia perspective this thing is completely its own beast. Of the three roads to reminiscence the LEGO Group has travelled in recent years, this is easily the one that leads to the best results, and it’s one we can only hope the designers will journey down again in the years to come.

The bad news is that 10497 Galaxy Explorer is – for reasons known only to the LEGO Group – retiring in 2023, which means time is of the essence if you want to add it to your collection. Its relatively brief time on shelves is the sort of thing that can lead to hyper-inflated aftermarket prices, so don’t wait until it’s retired to take the plunge: head over to LEGO.com now and grab your copy while you still can.

10497 Galaxy Explorer retails for a very reasonable £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99. Buy it today, and you’ll score double Insiders points, which is equivalent to £9 / $10 / €10 cashback. Bump your total order value over £95 / $100 / €100, and you’ll also receive 40597 Scary Pirate Island. Double Insiders points are available through October 15, while 40597 Scary Pirate Island is free with qualifying purchases until October 22, or while stocks last.

This copy of 10497 Galaxy Explorer was provided by the LEGO Group for the purposes of this feature.

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Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.