Awesome Lego

Tom Scott takes us to a spot in Cornwall, UK known as “LEGO Beach,” because countless LEGO pieces have washed up on its shore since 1997. Tom digs into the true story of the toys and the crazy amount of junk that has found its way into the sea. LEGO Lost at Sea has been documenting some of the many plastics they’ve found on beaches.

Monitogo Studios’ stop-motion LEGO brickfilm follows the story of two brothers and a son who take a dramatic risk to save a commuter train from crashing when a bridge won’t stay down and the warning signal fails. It’s a surprisingly moody and dramatic turn for a medium usually reserved for silly stuff.

Inspired by a mechanical drum-playing machine designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, this LEGO music maker by Giuseppe Acito uses a series of pegs placed onto a spinning wheel to trigger sound sequences as its “fingers” press keys connected to synthesizers.

LEGO and Warner Bros. teamed up to create a series of Minifigs based on Looney Tunes characters. The 12 mystery-bagged figures include Bugs Bunny, Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Porky Pig, Petunia Pig, Speedy Gonzales, Tasmanian Devil, and Marvin the Martian.

If you missed out on the original LEGO UCS R2-D2, good news. The Star Wars droid has come out of retirement. LEGO set #75308 ups the part count to 2314, and includes a retractable mid-leg, a rotating head, opening front hatches, a periscope, and a hidden lightsaber compartment. It also includes a mini R2-D2 figure.

LEGOParadise designed and built this really fun and clever interactive LEGO set. The minifig-size mini golf course has three unique holes, and includes moving obstacles like a spinning windmill and a golf ball elevator. Show your support for the project on LEGO Ideas, and it might just go into production.

Artist Ekow Nimako celebrates African culture through his incredible LEGO brick constructions. His most recent works are constructed entirely from black bricks, revealing their details through light and shadow. His epic Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE, pays tribute to West Africa’s medieval kingdoms through the lens of Afrofuturism.

LEGO builder Mad Brick created a working replica of the block, crankshaft, and pistons of a V12 engine. Then he lubed it up and connected the engine to a powerful motor, which spun up to as much as 40,000 RPM. It worked great until the pistons started flying.

We’ve seen a table that incorporates LEGO into its center before. But rather than using concrete, builder Nick Zametti made his table from two large slabs of burled wood and filled its center with LEGO bricks and a river of resin to hold them in place. We like how he created scenes and didn’t just pour in a bunch of random bricks.

After impressing us with a LEGO car that can climb over a stack of books, the Brick Experiment Channel is back with a simpler vehicle design challenge. The plan? Dial in the right mix of traction, gearing, wheelbase, and weight balance to climb the steepest sheet of glass possible. And then, start cheating.

LEGO builder Tom Jones, aka WalkCrawlRun created this 1/4-scale model of Boston Dynamics’ adorable Spot robot. While the LEGO version isn’t likely to be as smart or agile as the $75,000 robot, it is able to trot around on its legs like a robodog. Show your support for the design on LEGO Ideas.

A while back, expert LEGO engineer and mathematician Alexander Holroyd created a 7-segment display that uses LEGO Technic parts to change digits. Fello LEGO fan and GBC builder Fernando recreated the intriguing machine, and shared video footage of his version in action.

Carry your meal to school or work in one of these playful plastic lunch totes that look like an oversize LEGO block. The brick box comes in blue, red, yellow, black, light green, or lavender and measures 6.8″ x 6.5″ x 4.6″, which is perfect if you’re watching your portion sizes. They’re also good for storing and carrying LEGO pieces.

Celebrate your love for all things LEGO with this extensive history of Minifigures. The 256-page hardcover book includes detailed photos of more than 2,000 of the most popular and rarest Minifigs dating back to their first appearance in 1978. The book also comes with an exclusive orange spaceman Minifigure for your collection.

LEGO continues its collaboration with NASA with a detailed model of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The 2354-piece Creator Expert kit has opening payload bay doors and a robotic arm, along with a model of the Hubble Telescope which stows inside or can be displayed on its own. The finished model measures 21″ l x 13.5″ w x 8.5″ h.

We are shamelessly addicted to LEGO, and that includes Chronicle Books’ colorful 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles. LEGO Rainbow Bricks Puzzle is a particularly fun one, vividly tapping into the color puzzle trend without driving us bonkers like the all-yellow minifig puzzle. Bonus: These pieces don’t kill your feet when stepped on.