Octan is a fictional gas station brand that has been appearing in various LEGO themes since the early 1990s. It was also featured prominently in The LEGO Movie, with President Business as the Octan Corporation’s head. There are many interesting sets containing the Octan logo either prominently or in a hidden way, and they have become quite popular with collectors. Today we will take a brief look at Octan’s history, and some of the most recent sets featuring the Octan brand. 🙂

In pre-1990s LEGO sets, the most popular gasoline brand was Shell. While LEGO still releases Shell-branded sets from time to time, LEGO introduced their own gas station brand called Octan – a playful reference to Octane (a component of gasoline) and Octane Rating (a gasoline rating system). The Octan logo is red and green on a white background, and looks quite sporty. It also got sort of a yin-yang sign look, which may be a reference to gas companies having both a good and evil side – but this is just my own speculation. 🙄

The very first Octan branded set were introduced in 1992; the #6397 LEGO Gas N’ Wash Express (see above), the #6594 LEGO Gas Transit (see below), and a few small race cars with Octan as their sponsor. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s a number of Octan gas stations, tankers, and race cars were released, and the brand was also introduced in LEGO DUPLO (#2621 LEGO DUPLO Motocross Racer), and in LEGO Technic (alternate model for the #8880 LEGO Technic Super Car). LEGO DUPLO and LEGO Technic continues to release sets featuring the Octan brand to this day.

Just like real-life gasoline companies, Octan sponsors both good endeavors and some shady activities in the world of LEGO. In 2012 LEGO released the #7747 LEGO City Wind Turbine Transport with the new Octan Energy logo, indicating that the company branched out the renewable energy.

The Octan Energy logo is even more prominent on the #60016 LEGO City Tanker Truck (see below). Perhaps the company was attempting to clean up their image, and show that they are trying to go green. In the meantime, Octan remains a prominent sponsor of LEGO race cars, and they also have some type of connection with the notorious Skull Twins – badguys from the 2009 LEGO Space Police III sets.

While sets featuring the Octan brand always looked good, they really became excellent starting in around 2010. The #3180 LEGO City Tank Truck from 2010, the #60016 LEGO City Tanker Truck from 2013, the #4207 LEGO City Garage from 2012, and the #60132 LEGO City Service Station from 2016 are all exceptionally well designed sets.

The Octan brand also appears on LEGO City trains, like the #7939 LEGO City Cargo Train from 2010, and the #60052 LEGO City Cargo Train from 2014 – both carrying Octan tank cars.

And Octan remains a sponsor of car racing, as demonstrated in the very popular #60025 LEGO City Gran Prix Truck from 2013, the #60053 LEGO City Race Car from 2014, and the #60115 LEGO City 4×4 Off Roader from 2016. A lot of LEGO fans collect these great looking vehicles, building up a whole racing team.

Octan also sponsors motorcycle racing, as can be seen in the #60084 LEGO City Racing Bike Transporter from 2015. Octan supports soccer as well, as evidenced by the prominent logo on the  LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 4 Soccer Player’s jersey.

LEGO minifigures featuring the Octan logo on their clothing are also fun to collect. Most of them are gas station attendants or race-car drivers, and of course President Business carries around his signiture red cup with the Octan logo. After all, he is the big boss of the whole operation!

Speaking of President Business, it seems that he really expanded the Octan brand, and pretty much everything in Bricksburg is owned, operated or sponsored by Octan. The Octan logo can be seen on the #70804 LEGO Movie Ice Cream Machine (ice cream truck), the #70805 LEGO Movie Trash Chomper (garbage truck), and the #70811 LEGO Movie The Flying Flusher (plumber van). And Octan also branched out to space travel, as you can see in the #70816 LEGO Movie Benny’s Spaceship set.

Personally, I prefer to stick with the main Octan sets, as I think the red-green-white color-scheme is awesome and the sets look great. If you like LEGO vehicles, and would like to start a cohesive collection that looks good together, you might want to consider the LEGO Octan branded sets. Only a few are released each year, so they don’t cost a fortune or take up too much space. You can find the currently available sets under the LEGO City section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the Octan-branded LEGO sets? Do you collect them? Which ones are your favorites? Are there any other sets besides the ones mentioned here with hidden Octan logos? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

• Classic Style LEGO Cars in Official LEGO Sets
• 2016 LEGO Speed Champions Reviews
• LEGO Travel-Trailers & Camper-Vans