Here’s how Back of the Box Builds was built.
My name is Preston, I’m an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO). My LEGO childhood included countless hours of playing with M:TRON and Blacktron II. I remember flipping through many LEGO catalog pages and dreaming of owning so many amazing sets, but Space was my favorite theme. I loved it – the adventures in space, the magnetic connections of M:TRON, and the color scheme of Blacktron II. I grew into a couple LEGO technic sets growing up, but slowly faded from LEGO. Then, I entered my LEGO dark ages (≈1993-2016).
Nearly 25 years later, LEGO pulled me back. I don’t recall how I got it, but somehow I found myself building the LEGO Speed Champions LaFerrari (Set 75899) and I was hooked again. It soon became a very wonderful thought to be reunited with all my childhood LEGO and the task to try and reassemble whatever I could. (My Mom had saved them all (Thanks Mom!) and my brother’s children had all my old LEGO while they were young kids.)
As I looked into and reassembled all my old M:TRON and Blacktron II sets I discovered something truly amazing – official images of even more space ships and space stations with magnetic connections and more trans-neon green goodness! I was never a box collector growing up and didn’t even remember that there use to be photos of additional builds on the back of old sets. I very much love following the official instructions, and rarely enjoy making LEGO MOC (My Own Creation) sets. (Here’s my first MOC, a nod to the theme that brought me back to LEGO.) But, once I found out about the alternate builds and even more spaceships and space stations I couldn’t wait to find some instructions!
In this amazing day and age in which we live with the internet and dedicated communities for every interest and hobby I figured it would not be a difficult task to find what I was looking for, simple instructions for back of the box alternate builds. But, no instructions existed.
In the Fall of 2019, I took to the Reddit LEGO community of then over 500K+ to try and find some instructions to build this super cool Blacktron II spaceship that fascinated me (6981 – Back B).
No help. I tried again.
The instructions didn’t exist. However, I did hear back from a few other people who felt the same need and were ready to help. As a web and graphic designer by trade, I already had all the tools. So, I created Back of the Box Builds.
I hope this site will serve as a resource to the entire AFOL community and to any kids who are lucky enough to discover the magic that was once printed on the back of old LEGO boxes. A huge thank you to everyone who has helped provide feedback, box photos, and submitted instructions to build these forgotten images! This is a fan created site, for fans, by fans of this highly sophisticated interlocking brick system.
Happy building! M:TRON FOREVER!
-Preston
Help if you can, because this is an independent site not authorized or sponsored by the LEGO Group.