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.
2009 LEGO Sets
2009 celebrated the 10th anniversary of LEGO Star Wars and the 50th anniversary of the LEGO brick. New themes included Space Police III, Power Miners, and a revival of Pirates, while Agents 2.0 continued the high-tech spy concept. LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 refined its robotics platform with enhanced sensors and programmability. The year also saw the conclusion of the original Batman line, Exo-Force, Mars Mission, and Belville, as LEGO phased out older themes in favor of new directions.