Building Sets are the plain DUPLO brick sets, buckets and boxes of bricks without a story. DUPLO started in 1969, and the name comes from the Latin word for double, because each brick is twice as long, wide and high as a LEGO brick. The studs are made to fit, so DUPLO and LEGO bricks lock together and a builder can move from one to the other. For years the plastic bucket was the usual way to sell them, from the 1980s through the early 2000s, often shaped or printed as an animal, a farm or a circus, and some came as anniversary editions. Later sets switched to cardboard brick boxes with ideas for what to build on the side.
1990 LEGO Sets
1990 was a creative high point, expanding LEGO’s thematic depth. Pirates, launched in 1989, continued to thrive with new ships and island adventures, pioneering expressive minifigure faces. The new Model Team line targeted older builders with detailed, functional vehicles emphasizing realism. LEGO Space introduced M:Tron, a red-and-black rescue faction featuring magnetic crane elements and transport vehicles, establishing a new civilian layer within the Space universe.