This week, FOX is debuting a new reality competition that was essentially made for us: LEGO Masters, where pairs of brick-building experts compete to put together the most impressive structures under tight time limits and other restrictions. If you’re not as deep in the LEGO fandom as we are, you might be wondering how that could possibly be entertaining. Read on, friend: construction artisans have used the iconic toy to build things that absolutely boggle the mind. To celebrate the premiere, here are ten of the most amazing LEGO projects ever made.
X-Wing
When the geniuses at the Czech Republic’s LEGO Model Shop in Kladno finished their take on the iconic Star Wars fighter in 2013, it became the largest LEGO project ever built. Using a flabbergasting 5,335,200 bricks, this is a 1:1 scale model of the X-Wing, large enough to comfortably seat a human being and a repair droid. At 43 feet long with a 44 foot wingspan, this isn’t the kind of project you can just undertake in your living room. It took a team of 32 builders nearly four months to complete the ship, which also boasts engines that light up and make noise.
Titanic
One of the youngest LEGO masters on this list, Brynjar Karl Birgisson constructed this massive take on one of the most famous sea vessels of all time at the age of 10. Birgisson, who has autism, took on the project as a way to improve his self-esteem, and when he completed the boat it measured a whopping 26 feet long and five feet high at its top. The boat gave the boy a way to connect with others and come out of his shell, and before he began it he was nearly non-verbal. Having to talk to others about it built his confidence and even resulted in him giving a TED talk.
World’s Tallest Tower
One record that teams around the globe have been competing over for decades is a simple one: how high into the sky can you make a LEGO structure that stands without any additional support? There are many factors to take into account, from wind to brick detachment, but the current champion is flabbergastingly big. Built in 2017 in Tel Aviv, the 118 foot tall spire uses half a million bricks and was built to honor a deceased 8 year old boy who loved building with them. The structure was assembled in sections on the ground and then fitted together.
Life-Size 2004 Volvo XC60
Building a life-sized LEGO model car as a prank seems to be pretty extra, but the end result was very impressive. In 2004, employees at Legoland California had general manager Peter Ronchetti’s 2004 Volvo towed out of its spot and replaced it with an exact replica of the vehicle, made from 201,076 bricks and weighing in at nearly three thousand pounds. Unfortunately for Peter, his new all-plastic ride didn’t actually drive under its own power, but thankfully he got his real car back shortly afterwards.
Aircraft Carrier
One of the most functionally amazing LEGO builds we’ve ever seen, this scale replica of the U.S.S. Harry Truman is the work of German enthusiast Malle Hawking. Stretching over sixteen feet long and four feet tall, this model weighs in in excess of 350 pounds and took Hawking a full year to design and assemble. The boat has numerous special features, including working elevators, a slingshot launch system, and LED lights in several locations. Probably most astoundingly, the model was built with sufficient displacement that it can actually float in water.
T. Rex Skeleton
Artist Nathan Sawaya could dominate this whole article just by himself. He’s one of the most prolific and ambitious LEGO builders, with dozens of incredible projects in his portfolio. Some of them have even made their way into the Guinness Book, like this actual-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. Made from 80,020 individual bricks, this took him an entire summer to conceptualize and build. It stretches twenty feet from nose to tip of tail, as big as a juvenile specimen.
The Mythbusters Million-Brick Ball
If you say one thing about Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, it’s that they always commit to the bit. When the day came on Mythbusters to build a million-brick LEGO ball to try and duplicate a 2008 video made to promote LEGO Indiana Jones, they went whole hog, constructing an insanely heavy, massive orb of plastic bricks and then tipping it down a steep hill to see if it would bounce and roll without shattering like in the commercial. Spoilers: it didn’t, but it was still a hell of a lot of fun to watch the thing explode.
Obama’s Inauguration
There are tons of super-cool architectural renderings in LEGO, but this one makes the list for how full of life and energy it was. Built in 2009 to commemorate the swearing in of President Barack Obama, it could be seen at Legoland California until Memorial Day of that year. In addition to the grand swell of the Capitol Building behind the new President, the assemblage featured over a thousand brick caricatures of the attending politicians and dignitaries, including the Clintons, Bushes and even Oprah Winfrey. They even made a line of LEGO people standing in line for the porta-potties.
Super Awesome Micro Project
We showed you a life-sized LEGO car earlier on, but this one is a little different, because you can drive it. The Super Awesome Micro Project, developed by Aussie Steve Sammartino and Romanian Raul Oaida, does incorporate some non-LEGO pieces in addition to its half a million bricks, but it’s for a good cause. Using a compressed air tank, the unusual vehicle can hit the road at speeds of up to 19 miles per hour. It took 20 months for the whole thing to be completed, and the crown jewel has to be the insane all-LEGO engine, which boasts a whopping 256-piston radial design.
A Fully Functioning House
James May, the English TV host best known for Top Gear, is a bit of an engineering nut. So in 2009 he worked with LEGO to construct an entire house out of bricks for his Toy Stories program. And when we say house, we mean a real house. The company ponied up a flabbergasting 3.3 million bricks and May and a crew of builders shaped them into a human-scale structure that boasted working plumbing, beds and more. Unfortunately, plans to move the house to Legoland fell through, and it couldn’t stay in the Surrey vineyard it was placed in, so the LEGO house had to be demolished.
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