I finally bought it! This was my first and only "big" LEGO set as a child.

Everything else was scrounged from a Happy Meal or hustled off some neighborhood kid for pennies on the dollar. My dad would only buy me Joe's, because they were the real American heroes.

That flip lid means so much to me. I remember hanging out in the stores and that little plastic window gave me a glimpse into another world.

LEGO made the best box art too. It actually represented what was in the box and provided the same excitement. Do you remember the Nintendo box art? Some of the best until you actually played the game. Man, what a let down lol!

I'm interested to see others recent childhood purchases and learn your story behind it.

I finally bought it! This was my first and only "big" LEGO set as a child.
Everything else was scrounged from a Happy Meal or hustled off some neighborhood kid for pennies on the dollar. My dad would only buy me Joe's, because they were the real American heroes.
That flip lid means so much to me. I remember hanging out in the stores and that little plastic window gave me a glimpse into another world.
LEGO made the best box art too. It actually represented what was in the box and provided the same excitement. Do you remember the Nintendo box art? Some of the best until you actually played the game. Man, what a let down lol!
I'm interested to see others recent childhood purchases and learn your story behind it.

I still have this set and it was the largest I had until receiving black falcon's fortress as a holiday gift. I absolutely love this era of Castle with the modular connections, you could connect this to black falcons to make a larger castle with a small rear entrance. I also had the armor shop, siege wall and eventually got the reissue of the guarded inn.

I found this gem a while ago, and finally had the pleasure of building it last week-end with my 9 y.o. 

The whole time, he (Yes, the one that is enamored with every new Ninjago set released) kept remarking "This is so cool!" 

I'm always amazed when building older sets both how short and terse the instructions are compared to modern sets, and how creative the designers were with a limited color palette and mostly simple brick shapes.

As a kid, this set was the first I built that used Technic bricks.  They work very nicely here, to model a support-beam industrial look.

Back when this set was new, it and the Galaxy Explorer formed the core of Lego Space Command for my brother and me.  Good times.

Last year I bought 375 yellow castle. I had this set as a child and parts of it are still in my lego bin. But I wanted a complete set with box and instructions.

I also bought 497 Galaxy Explorer. I had classic space sets as a kid but I don't think I had 497.

5 hours ago, SpaceFan9 said:

I found this gem a while ago, and finally had the pleasure of building it last week-end with my 9 y.o. 

The whole time, he (Yes, the one that is enamored with every new Ninjago set released) kept remarking "This is so cool!" 

I'm always amazed when building older sets both how short and terse the instructions are compared to modern sets, and how creative the designers were with a limited color palette and mostly simple brick shapes.

As a kid, this set was the first I built that used Technic bricks.  They work very nicely here, to model a support-beam industrial look.

Back when this set was new, it and the Galaxy Explorer formed the core of Lego Space Command for my brother and me.  Good times.

Does the box have a flip lid? Is so, show it!

51 minutes ago, s2k said:

Does the box have a flip lid? Is so, show it!

 

It does have a flip lid. :-)   When it's open, though, t looks so much better when pieces are on inside waiting to be built.  I should have taken a pic before we started.

Perfect timing... didn't know this was a thread...

I am going to make this a historical site in our city.

 

 

I didn't buy these, but found them in parents basement.  Debating opening vs selling.  Didn't like space as a kid but the wolf pack is so tempting.

8 hours ago, Donut said:

I didn't buy these, but found them in parents basement.  Debating opening vs selling.  Didn't like space as a kid but the wolf pack is so tempting.

 

Funny how that blue brick instantly triggers my childhood memories. I can recall this set or 6042 Dungeon Hunters. Very interesting blue for LEGO to use on the castle sets. I questioned it as a kid, but eventually it grew on me. 

I would sell it if it's unopened, then buy a used one with the original box to build and display. These old "sealed" sets go for 5-10x the used price.

That space set with the flip lid and minifigures still encased in the plastic and visible through the window, priceless!