Category: Steampunk Toys

Lego Officially Goes Steampunk! (At Last!)

A strong element in the Steampunk aesthetic is the idea of doing things yourself. Handcrafted and one-off items feel more authentic than something churned out by the thousands by injection molding. It is hard to give something the feel of a custom built mad science creation when you can buy it off the shelf at WalMart.

Lego is also all about inventing your own creations, with the Master Builder Academy being the pinacle of that. Of course, Lego also has a lot of sets designed to build a specific starship or police station or ninja turtle scene, but I grew up with Lego long before the themed kits. Not to be the grumpy old man, but in my day, Lego mostly just made brick-shaped bricks and finding a way to turn these plastic chunks into pyramids or dinosaurs or haunted houses was where the fun was. Master Builder Academy is Lego’s high end line that emphasizes creation over following directions and the new releases coming this July are all about Steampunk.

Here’s a taste to whet your appetite:

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Steampunk comes to Monster High

The mainstreaming of steampunk continues.

Monster High, Mattel’s horror-movie-inspired doll line, has a new character with a distinctly steampunk nature. Her name is Robecca Steam and she the robot/daughter of a unnamed and presumed dead mad scientist. Her profile is available at the Monster High wikia, but here are some highlights:

• Her catchphrase is “a riveting personality.”
• She is apparently always late due to internal clockwork problems.
• She has a pet mechanical penguin named Captain Penny.
• Her favorite class is metal shop and her favorite color is copper.

I will admit to being pretty out of the Monster High loop, but 6-8 year olds might be the youngest demographic I’ve seen steampunk marketed to yet. And if we capture their imaginations when they are young, they might well stay with us as they grow up.