Technic catalog advertising

[CP5670]

Many of the largest Technic sets from 1989-1994 seem to have been poorly advertised in the US, even though they were sold here. As a kid, I closely followed all the small catalogs included in sets, but I didn't know about 8862, 8094, 8868 or 8082 at all until I saw people discussing them on Lugnet many years later. I have the 1991 and 1993 US Technic catalogs and the regular Lego catalogs for all of those years, but none of them show these sets. However, the UK/European versions of the same catalogs do show the sets prominently. The same applies to 8880 and the 1994 catalogs, although I knew about that one from the larger S@H catalogs.

I was curious if anyone else had the same experience with these sets and catalogs. I think TLG stopped making different localizations of the catalogs after 1995, so this was no longer a problem.

[phool]

Which catalogs are you talking about, I have a few catalogs which are purely technic and in a booklet form, about A5 in size, from around the 1992 - 1995 era. I also have a few technic "Pages", they are basically one A4 sized page with a catalog type format on both sides.

Also checkout technica for an image of the covers for most of the catalogs

Edit: Removed pointless quote

Edited October 1, 2010 by phool

[CP5670]

I'm referring to the booklet-style catalogs that were Technic only (although a few also included Model Team), basically the ones shown on that site. The "pages" were only included in the smallest sets and were folded up like a map. There were also the general Lego catalogs in other themes, which included a few pages on Technic.

The US and UK/Europe Technic catalogs usually had the same covers, but the contents were sometimes different.

[dolittle]

I'm referring to the booklet-style catalogs that were Technic only (although a few also included Model Team), basically the ones shown on that site. The "pages" were only included in the smallest sets and were folded up like a map. There were also the general Lego catalogs in other themes, which included a few pages on Technic.

The US and UK/Europe Technic catalogs usually had the same covers, but the contents were sometimes different.

I have a catalog one that came with the Control Center, but it is in Italian, still relevant?

[Plastic Nurak]

I own 1991 European Catalog (German-French-Italian languages version). Big sets of that era, from #8862 to #8865 and the Control Center, are fully advertized. Last three pages are occupied by Model Team catalog. I don't know why in the States ones there was such a discrepancy like this. On Peeron, I saw 1994 US Technic catalog with no #8880 advertised, while int he same time European kids (and early adult fans) already dreamed of that set.

Edited October 1, 2010 by Plastic Nurak

[CP5670]

I also have the European 1991 catalog you refer to and it does indeed have all the big sets. The US 1991 catalog has the same cover, but the largest set shown is 8856 and the big sets from previous years are all missing. Whoever designed the US catalogs back then seems to have been clueless about the Technic product line.

When I first saw people talking about an "Airtech Claw Rig" on Lugnet in 2000, I thought it was some alternate name for 8443 or 8479. At some point, I checked the Lugnet set directory to see what they were talking about, and created an ebay account immediately after what I saw there.

[Milan]

I have '94 catalog...there are no scans available for other catalogs, right?

[DLuders]

Peeron has some Catalog scans (sorted by year): http://peeron.com/catalogs/ . Click on the 5-year group along the bottom edge of that webpage. The German 1990 Lego Catalog (for example) has pages of Technic sets.