LEGO and Mythology

Although most LEGO sets show little if any mythological influence a few from recent years clearly have.  The most obvious recent example is the 2010-2011 Atlantis theme, especially sets like 7985:  City of Atlantis, which features the mythical city.

The Atlantis theme has some loose connections to mythology, unlike the 2005-2006 Vikings theme which uses a lot of specific references to Viking lore.  Each set includes one Norse mythological creature, including

• Fenrir
• Wyvern
• Nidhogg
• Midgard
• Fafnir

So why did LEGO use Norse mythology in their Vikings sets?  It represents a drastic change as the vast majority of sets lack any historical context.  My guess would be that it may have been a geographical decision.  Denmark was a huge bastion of Viking activity centuries ago, and this still influences their culture today.  If anything it is surprising that LEGO did not create Viking sets earlier.

7477: T-1 Typhoon vs. T-Rex

This 2005 set came from the Dino Attack theme.  A very sophisticated helicopter is attacking a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  I have no idea why.  It just seems kinda rude (but this helicopter is fucking awesome).

According to Brickpedia, the dinosaurs are mutants and are in the future and therefore must be stopped.  These dinosaurs appeared in the year 2010 (which just ended!!!).

What's really interesting about this theme though is that it was only released in the United States.  Elsewhere it was released as Dino 2010.

7298:  Dino Air Tracker is more or less the same set but with a large cage instead of large guns.  The US versions were military themed, while the European versions were much more peaceful.  Very interesting!  This is the only theme that I know of where there were major differences in how it was released and marketed for different regions.