LEGO Design Seminar 2023 gift includes cosmic comic Easter egg

You might not remember the Jim Spaceborn comics, but the designer behind an exclusive LEGO set from the 2023 Design Seminar does.

The LEGO design teams have proven time and time again that they love Easter eggs, specifically when they reference part of LEGO history. Whoever put together this year’s Design Seminar gift is no different as one robot in the exclusive set calls back to a classic LEGO space comic that you might not have heard of before.

Jim Spaceborn is a Classic Space comic book series produced in collaboration with the LEGO Group’s publishing division from 1983 – 1987. For some, this comic may have been retired long before they entered the hobby. According to an online archive of this novel, only two entries were released.

Still, it seems that someone at the LEGO Group remembers the comic and its robotic deuteragonist Keko. The brick-built robot has been modernised for the Design Seminar 2023 gift, complete with the eyes that otherwise might look out of place compared to other LEGO robots.

Keko’s hands have had to be changed as the original piece has now retired but otherwise, it’s a surprisingly faithful recreation and given the relatively short life of the comic book series, this might be one of the most obscure LEGO Easter eggs ever designed.

For those looking to recreate this model, some creative searching should secure you every piece, apart from the element with the DS23 design, which is now confirmed to be a printed piece. It’s also worth noting that this is the first appearance of the purple classic space astronaut in its entirety, to our knowledge, though you can put it together with pieces found in several sets.

Featured image: classic-space.jimdofree

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