Why were some sets region specific?

[SpacePolice89]

Do you know why some sets from the 80s and 90s were region specific? Especially Space and Pirates got several such sets. I get that some whole subthemes were region specific but why make region specific sets in subthemes that were sold across the globe? It seems that many sets were available in North America but not in Europe. Was there a huge demand in North America for more new sets at that time or was it done for some completely different reason? There are many such sets from Futuron, Blacktron, Space Police 1, Pirates, Imperial Soldiers, Unitron etc. I'll take Space Police 1 as an example. The 6955 Space Lock Up Isolation Base was only available in North America. The picture below is from my Space collection (I had to move the monorail up under the ceiling because my cat wants to attack the train when it is moving) and you can see 6955 on the right side of the picture. The small Futuron craft next to it was also NA only. Why was this done when all other Space Police 1 sets were sold in Europe?

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by SpacePolice89

[JopieK]

Some sets still are. E.g. special asian sets, or sets together with Target. Also some are limited to e.g. parks. Back in those days there was no worldwide distribution like nowadays I think, that could also have caused it. Santa Fe sets were rare finds in the EU even though we managed to get some.

[SpacePolice89]

  On 9/14/2023 at 9:07 PM, JopieK said:

Some sets still are. E.g. special asian sets, or sets together with Target. Also some are limited to e.g. parks. Back in those days there was no worldwide distribution like nowadays I think, that could also have caused it. Santa Fe sets were rare finds in the EU even though we managed to get some.

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What gets me confused is that the Space and Pirate sets were made in Denmark and belonged to themes available and popular in Europe but were not available there. Many years ago someone (can't remember who) told me that during that time period Lego faced competition from some copycat building toy manufacturer in North America and therefore decided to introduce more sets to that market area. Since then I haven't heard about that theory and haven't been able to confirm the information.

Edited September 15, 2023 by SpacePolice89

[Aanchir]

I'm not sure about the exact reasons, but I suspect it may have had to do with LEGO already having a lot more market share in Europe than in North America back in the 80s and 90s. Perhaps they felt that if American retail stores had a larger "LEGO aisle" with more products, the brand would be able to draw more attention and become more of a household name? Sort of like how in more recent years they have developed several products specifically aimed at boosting their market share in China and east Asia (although unlike those, the American-exclusive products of the 80s and 90s were generally part of established themes, rather than new ones more overtly geared towards American culture and traditions).

  On 9/15/2023 at 5:17 AM, SpacePolice89 said:

What gets me confused is that the Space and Pirate sets were made in Denmark and belonged to themes available and popular in Europe but were not available there. Many years ago someone (can't remember who) told me that during that time period Lego faced competition from some copycat building toy manufacturer in North America and therefore decided to introduce more sets to that market area. Since then I haven't heard about that theory and haven't been able to confirm the information.

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This could also definitely be a factor. Mega Bloks (based in Canada) and Tyco (based in the United States) definitely had a big presence in toy stores by the time of my early KFOL years in the 90s. Perhaps LEGO felt that having more official LEGO-branded products to choose from would help ensure they would seem like the best choice to kids/parents browsing the building toy aisle.

Certainly, having a lot of options to choose from is a known strategy for creating interest in your products, even if other brands are cheaper. For example, if I were a kid in the yogurt aisle at a grocery store, I'd flock to the brand that had more yogurt flavors, even if the store brand was more affordable.

[SpacePolice89]

  On 9/15/2023 at 5:28 PM, Aanchir said:

I'm not sure about the exact reasons, but I suspect it may have had to do with LEGO already having a lot more market share in Europe than in North America back in the 80s and 90s. Perhaps they felt that if American retail stores had a larger "LEGO aisle" with more products, the brand would be able to draw more attention and become more of a household name? Sort of like how in more recent years they have developed several products specifically aimed at boosting their market share in China and east Asia (although unlike those, the American-exclusive products of the 80s and 90s were generally part of established themes, rather than new ones more overtly geared towards American culture and traditions).

This could also definitely be a factor. Mega Bloks (based in Canada) and Tyco (based in the United States) definitely had a big presence in toy stores by the time of my early KFOL years in the 90s. Perhaps LEGO felt that having more official LEGO-branded products to choose from would help ensure they would seem like the best choice to kids/parents browsing the building toy aisle.

Certainly, having a lot of options to choose from is a known strategy for creating interest in your products, even if other brands are cheaper. For example, if I were a kid in the yogurt aisle at a grocery store, I'd flock to the brand that had more yogurt flavors, even if the store brand was more affordable.

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Thank you for this information. Now I understand the situation better.

[Aanchir]

On another note, something interesting I learned semi-recently is that a handful of otherwise NA-exclusive sets from the 90s DID get limited/promotional releases in Europe. For example, the German LEGO World Club magazines from 1997 had a reward program that let club members collect points for stuff like entering building contests, submitting their own creations, or visiting LEGO touring shows, and those who collected 41 points or more were eligible to receive for an "exclusive" set such as 2152 and 2161 from the otherwise NA-exclusive Roboforce and Aquaraiders subthemes. It's possible that some other European countries might have had similar offers or promotions for sets that weren't sold at retail in those countries.

[Peppermint_M]

Tyco really did scare TLG in the US market. It has a noticeable feature in the brand museum in Billund and was a major lawsuit for TLG trying to wrest majority control of the Stud'n'Tube brick design. That court case was in fact the first official concession that TLG "borrowed" the Kiddicraft bricks for their own initial designs. 

Of course, since then it has been ruled that the functional design of the bricks cannot be held onto exclusively so TLG have turned their attention to Minifig instead. 

So yes, it would make sense that a few "premium" products would be US exclusive to make LEGO seem more appealing over competitors. 

Something Else that might interest you: Dino 2010 in Europe was Dino Attack in the US, with design changes and different storytelling. The 2010 "treatment" of the story was not popular/did not test well in the US, so they made it more gung-ho. 

[SpacePolice89]

  On 9/16/2023 at 4:33 PM, Aanchir said:

On another note, something interesting I learned semi-recently is that a handful of otherwise NA-exclusive sets from the 90s DID get limited/promotional releases in Europe. For example, the German LEGO World Club magazines from 1997 had a reward program that let club members collect points for stuff like entering building contests, submitting their own creations, or visiting LEGO touring shows, and those who collected 41 points or more were eligible to receive for an "exclusive" set such as 2152 and 2161 from the otherwise NA-exclusive Roboforce and Aquaraiders subthemes. It's possible that some other European countries might have had similar offers or promotions for sets that weren't sold at retail in those countries.

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Wow, If I only knew of that back then. When I was a kid/teenager we had an RV and travelled all over Europe and I always tried to subscribe to local Lego magazines but they never shipped the magazines to Finland. It was only possible to get Swedish magazines besides the Finnish ones (I'm Swedish but born in Finland). I remember that the Swedish Donald Duck comics (Kalle Anka) often had very cool Lego ads on the back of the magazine. Once they included a Futuron/Classic Space comic about an astronaut and a robot. I still have those comics in a box somewhere. I knew of some of the NA only sets because when relatives from the US and Canada visited they always brought Lego sets with them for me because they knew how much I liked Lego. That's how I found out about Dark Forest and at first my friends didn't believe me that such a subtheme existed but then I showed them the small catalog that was included in a Canadian bought set. We then tried to recreate the sets with my existing parts.

Edited September 18, 2023 by SpacePolice89

[SpacePolice89]

I recently bought 1843 Space/Castle Value Pack and at the same time completed my Spyrius collection. Both sets are actually very nice. The spaceship may look a little weird in some pictures but when I picked it up it felt very swooshable. The catapult works as intended and is good for both display and play. Some of my NA exclusive sets I have ordered from the US or Canada but this one I managed to find in a German Ebay store.

The instructions turned out to be in excellent condition

 It is interesting to see that some of the parts were made at the now defunct Enfield factory and also packaged there. (picture belongs to Bricksafe user Aventurium)

The Enfield factory in April 1975

[JesseNight]

Even the Blacktron Renegade, that was famous enough to get a remake this year, was initially US only. I remember when people were speculating about what remake we'd be getting I was like "Huh? Renegade? What's that?".
Regional releases have always been a thing with many products, both physical and digital products. Specific demands, localization, it all plays a role. I won't act like I understand it though, I've often found myself in a similar situation wanting something that just wasn't available here. At least we live in a time where ordering it abroad isn't so big a problem anymore.

[SpacePolice89]

  On 2/4/2025 at 12:22 PM, JesseNight said:

the Blacktron Renegade, that was famous enough to get a remake this year, was initially US only.

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Was it ever available in Europe? I can't remember seeing it in any store or catalog as a kid.

[JesseNight]

  On 2/4/2025 at 1:56 PM, SpacePolice89 said:

Was it ever available in Europe? I can't remember seeing it in any store or catalog as a kid.

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Not that I'm aware of. I would have known since those were the prime days I was totally into Lego Space!
Just double checked the paper catalogues I still have from those years and it wasn't in them.

[SpacePolice89]

In my old Swedish and Finnish catalogs from the period it is also not present and as a kid I didn't even know it existed. I guess it was also available in Canada and Mexico.

[Artanis I]

I only learned about Renegade (and the other sets that never appeared outside North America) when I found the Bricklink, Peeron (maybe Brickset?) websites. Unitron (besides the expensive monorail) was almost entirely foreign to me, and I never knew about Dark Forest or Roboforce.

[SpacePolice89]

  On 2/6/2025 at 8:45 AM, Artanis I said:

I only learned about Renegade (and the other sets that never appeared outside North America) when I found the Bricklink, Peeron (maybe Brickset?) websites. Unitron (besides the expensive monorail) was almost entirely foreign to me, and I never knew about Dark Forest or Roboforce.

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As a kid I had some small North American catalogs I got from sets that my Canadian relatives gave to me when they visited. This way I found out about Dark Forest and the rest of the Unitron sets.

[Toastie]

Wasn't the entire 12V train line specific to Europe up until about 1985 (https://www.12v-grey.com/articles/logos-languages-and-the-1980s-lego-market)?

I have no clue, but I think it is hard to get a 12V LEGO transformer with e.g. an US plug?

Best
Thorsten

[SpacePolice89]

  On 2/7/2025 at 8:22 AM, Toastie said:

Wasn't the entire 12V train line specific to Europe up until about 1985 (https://www.12v-grey.com/articles/logos-languages-and-the-1980s-lego-market)?

I have no clue, but I think it is hard to get a 12V LEGO transformer with e.g. an US plug?

Best
Thorsten

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I found this old thread

 

[Toastie]

  On 2/7/2025 at 2:08 PM, SpacePolice89 said:

I found this old thread

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Nice find!

However, I know how to use EU/German stuff in the US - we brought quite some when we moved there. Vacuum cleaners, sound system, etc. Well, I did some addition to the house wiring: There are three live wires coming in - as almost everywhere; called "380V" Kraftstrom in Germany ;) - so two live US lines = 220 V AC. I simply installed German power outlets in the house to make sure no one gets fried ... and don't ask me, how much time it took me, when we were selling the house upon returning to Germany. In the end, the buyer believed me, that this was a valuable addition. The family was from China - and China runs on 220V AC as well - on weird outlets, though . I just gave them 5 German power plugs.

In other words: This is another way to go when it comes to running 220/240V AC stuff in the US. But: Be aware of the implications!!! Or better: Don't do it.

I also had some step-up converters ^^ OK, simply transformers - they work both way.

But that was not my point: 12V train seems to be region specific. It evolved in several ways with the years, also in regio-specifity (any chemists reading this? )

All the best,
Thorsten

[SpacePolice89]

I recently bought some boxes and bags with a lot of interesting pieces at yard sales and thrift stores and now that I've sorted the pieces I now try to find out what sets I can build with them. So far I've managed to build 1624 King's Archer and 1971 Battering ram as well as 1970 Pirates Gun Cart. Finding those sets in Europe is quite difficult so I'm happy that I've managed to build them from the pieces that I've bought. I had to add some minor pieces from my own collection of spare pieces but about 90% of the pieces for the sets were in the lots that I bought. Besides those I managed to build other sets like 6035 Castle Guard and also got a lot of pieces for MOCs. 

[DonQuixote]

6071 Forestmen rivers crossing never released in Belgium. Why, I don't know. And therefore I never got it 

It's a cool looking set that reminds me of the fight between Robin Hood and Little John in Robin Hood : Prince of thieves. 

[SpacePolice89]

  On 7/20/2025 at 4:29 PM, DonQuixote said:

6071 Forestmen rivers crossing never released in Belgium. Why, I don't know. And therefore I never got it 

It's a cool looking set that reminds me of the fight between Robin Hood and Little John in Robin Hood : Prince of thieves. 

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6071 is an amazing set. Someday I'll buy it but it is expensive. Prince of Thieves is one of my favorite movies. When I was a kid we had it on VHS. I've probably watched it a hundred times. Me and my neighbor used to fight with toy swords when playing Robin Hood vs the Sheriff. We even tried to build a tree fort in the back yard. I recently bought the DVD. The music gives me chills. It's such a great movie!

[DonQuixote]

  On 7/20/2025 at 5:58 PM, SpacePolice89 said:

When I was a kid we had it on VHS. I've probably watched it a hundred times. Me and my neighbor used to fight with toy swords when playing Robin Hood vs the Sheriff. We even tried to build a tree fort in the back yard. I recently bought the DVD. The music gives me chills. It's such a great movie!

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Me too! Watched so many times. Lost count. And yes, great music!