LEGO®

Outer Space has always been a popular concept with children. The LEGO Group is now sending space creatures to take over Planet Earth in Alien Conquest.

Our world is under threat! Little green aliens from outer space are on their way to earth – to take control of our brains. Only the brave, blue warriors in the Alien Defence Unit can protect the civilian population and the planet.

Fascination with outer space and belief in life elsewhere in the universe has persisted for centuries. And with the development of technology, human curiosity has not diminished – on the contrary. This curiosity is probably especially active among boys, and indeed it is precisely boys that LEGO® Alien Conquest is ready to draw into the story of the little green men who aim to capture the brainpower of the human race.

Laurence Dawes was Design Lead on the Alien Conquest project: “The space theme holds an evergreen appeal. Earlier themes such as Space Police and Mars Mission whisked children out into the farthest corners of the galaxy and created scenarios out there – but we’ve never brought outer space down to earth. The secret with an evergreen is constantly to refresh it. Space is always a relevant theme for the LEGO Group, and you can gauge its popularity from the number of space products in the toy market.”

Three dimensional conflict
It is the first time strange creatures from outer space have visited earth in LEGO form. At the same time Alien Conquest is not a regular story of “good versus evil”. The story is set in an urban environment with conflict between three different types of characters.

First and foremost we have the little green men from space, who share a common design but each individual has his own distinct head shape and personality. Battling to protect earth is the Alien Defence Unit, dressed in blue and equipped with missiles to fight the space invaders and save the people of the planet. And finally, there is the civilian population, whose members the space aliens intend to capture. One of the new functions available to this product line enables the little green men to vacuum civilians up into their UFOs – to investigate their brains.

“There are lots of new LEGO characters in Alien Conquest. One of them is a farmer – a link with the mysterious crop circles people know from several movies. There is also a businessman and a reporter, who announces ‘breaking news’ when the space creatures begin their attack. And the aliens each have their own unique personality,” says Laurence Dawes.

Humour and brains
The brain is one of the pivotal points in Alien Conquest. The space creatures have small, green pets – so called “clingers” – which can nest on people’s heads and transform them into zombies.

To some ears that may sound scary – brains, zombies and taking over planet power.
But, according to Laurence Dawes, product tests with children in the target group for the new LEGO range have shown that children are more inclined to find brains fascinating than scary. At the same time, this product range with its little green aliens uses humour to add extra dashes of personality, with mini movies and games on the product’s website.

“It’s not all about brains. There are a lot of other cool twists and stories to keep the kids entertained. It’s not meant to be super scary. One of the cool things about this theme in fact is that it is amusing – and we’ve had lots of movies way back from the 1950s and 1960s to draw inspiration from,” says Laurence Dawes.

The product itself will have some amusing details – for example, a sticker on a UFO reads “I’ve Been To Earth”.