Though LEGOs have been used to create lots of things such as robots and life-size vehicle models, they never really move as smoothly as you would want them too. It might be due to their blocky nature, but without the aid of outside parts from different manufacturers, LEGOs move in a clicky, clacky manner unique…

Despite being one of the most iconic plastic toys of all time, the first LEGO toys were, in fact, crafted from wood. The company, founded by master carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen in 1932, initially crafted the toys out of wood but switched over to plastic when wood supplies became scarce in the aftermath of WWII.…

For the serious LEGO junkies out there, the LEGO IDEAS community is a one-stop shop for all things plastic brick. From message boards to activity ideas, the platform—which is officially hosted by LEGO—encourages members to share their creations and compete for prizes with build competitions. It’s also where master builders can upload proposals for new…

LEGO tie-ins with upcoming vehicles are nothing new, and the Jaguar 2020 Land Rover Defender is no exception. While the real thing will be out sometime next Spring (and it looks to be awesome), you can get the LEGO version as soon as next week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smampJ2MIhU Made in partnership with Jaguar/Land Rover, the LEGO Technic Land…

After stepping on them for years, a Finish YouTube creator has had enough of tiny LEGO bricks. Using his aptly named Brick Experiment Channel, he makes videos which pit a variety of LEGOs against fire, concrete, and quite possibly their only worthy opponent: other LEGO pieces. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjhOGoZ-bNI In this particular video, he tests just how…

The pizza has been delivered, the ale is chilled, and you’re just about ready to get floored with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader is your In-shorts Reader and gives you a glimpse of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack’. A recap of the week that was, and a glimpse of…

The world is never short of life-size LEGO vehicles. We’ve seen a static Chevrolet Silverado Pickup Truck, a road-worthy LEGO Bugatti Chiron which can hit a roaring 12 MPH (20 KPH), and now, we have a classic: the Volkswagen Type 2 (T2) Bus or Kombi. For those unfamiliar with the name, the T2 might be…

I know, I know. We go a little LEGO crazy at times, but can you blame us with 400,000 piece VW van projects? You may recall the LEGO Nintendo Switch cartridge carrying case we shared. A simple build, but sometimes you just need a simple one to contrast the complex month-long builds. Reddit user squid50s…

There are an infinite number of uses for the traditional LEGO brick, but using the plastic toys for teaching robotics through STEM curriculums in the classroom has surged in popularity in the last decade—and the applications keep getting better and better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXwX0BEKxXE With the introduction of the SPIKE Prime LEGO kit, the company aims to…

For many, half the fun of owning a Nintendo Switch portable gaming console is playing video games—while the other half is spent personalizing the hardware itself. Nintendo gets this; the video game company has put out tons of accessories for the Switch, ranging from various carrying cases to the cardboard-based Nintendo Labo. The number of…

Always a (giant) crowd pleaser for any LEGO fan – making gigantic ‘things’ out of LEGO—this time it’s a Chevrolet Silverado pick up truck. Agreed it’s only because of a movie partnership – “The LEGO® Movie 2: The Second Part” – no less, we can all do with a little bit more of the bricks…

If I’m to be truly honest, the infinite possibilities of LEGOs can be a bit daunting when it comes to building. When someone 10 years younger than myself can make a masterpiece out of the same 500 bricks I’m given, it can feel disheartening to even begin my own creation. Not as many adults have…

Even though the game has been out for more than two years, Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch just keeps getting bigger and bigger. They’ve already made stop-motion videos and Nerf guns, so it was only a matter of time before the massive franchise moved on to everyone’s favorite building toy: LEGO. To complement the small-scale Bastion set,…

While the Nintendo Switch Labo lets you create your own external peripherals, there’s no getting around the fact the vanilla Labo consists of flimsy cardboard. To this end, people have been finding other materials to better improve Nintendo’s ambitious—but in some cases, materially flawed—creation. And what better material to use than LEGOs! Apart from being a…

Remember LEGO’s Bugatti Chiron model kit earlier this year? Well, apparently they thought 3,599 pieces wasn’t enough… so they made a life-sized version to go with the 1:8 scale replica. It isn’t for show either; this LEGO “supercar” consists of over 1,000,000 non-glued bricks and can hold two passengers while accelerating to over 20 km/h.…

Even in a world full of change, there are many constants in the universe: taxes, Disney’s ever-present plan to own everything your childhood holds dear, and LEGO Star Wars kits. LOTS of LEGO Star Wars kits. While it can’t house the gigantic 7,541-piece Millenium Falcon, this 2,812-piece LEGO recreation of The Empire Strikes Back’s Cloud…

Epic Games’ Fortnite is a popular third-person shooter-survival game that pits up to four players who work together to fight off zombie-like creatures and defend objects by building fortifications. Players can choose a myriad of guns to do battle with, including an excellent double-barrel shotgun that can dispatch enemies rather quickly. Being a favorite of…

Kids these days might not have a taste for them, but back in the day, superheroes didn’t rule the movie world; superspies did. And no one was more famous than British secret agent James Bond. Created by writer Ian Flemming, the fictional spy has 24 films and countless novels spanning decades; inspiring both kids and…

Continuing the tradition of making miniatures of some of the world’s most remarkable automobile designs, LEGO and French car manufacturer Bugatti have teamed up to create one of the most complex block builds you’ll ever find: a 1:8 scale LEGO Bugatti Chiron. The stunning model measures 14cm high, 25cm wide, and is made up of…

Ever since we saw Matt Denton’s LEGO Technic Go-kart, we’ve been keeping an eye on his YouTube channel for what’s next. He’s gone through phases of small hexapods, large hexapods, animatronics, Arduino controlled hydraulics and, most recently, massive 3D printed LEGO kits. After completing two other giant LEGO builds, we were pretty sure it was…

If you miss the joy of throwing quarters down a cheap arcade machine or working on a gigantic LEGO creation, then this unique project might fill both of those gaping holes from your youthful glory days. LEGO creator Bre Burns’ love for arcade machines was so strong, she decided to make Benny’s Spaceship Adventure –…

Though LEGOs can be used to build just about everything from a ship in a bottle to a Tic Tac dispenser, the one thing they aren’t so good at is cleaning up after themselves. YouTuber The Brick Wall must have stepped on one too many of his LEGO builds because his newest project is a…

As plastic continues to pollute our oceans and overtake our landfills at an all-time high, it’s clear that to reverse the effects of a potentially unlivable planet; it’s up to consumer product manufacturers to take matters into their own hands. Along with Nike and Apple—both of whom are spending billions to try to reverse the…

Like peanut butter and jelly or biscuits and gravy, the combination of YouTube and LEGO is a match made in heaven. For one, it gives block builders an epic platform to socialize and comment on hundreds (if not thousands) of builds. Second, it provides the rest of us a chance to sit back and relax…

From a working Tic Tac dispenser to the iconic 7,541-piece Millennium Falcon, almost everything under the sun has been created using the deceptively painful iconic plastic bricks. Really, as long as you don’t accidentally step on one with a bare foot, you can never really go wrong with LEGOs. LEGO Ideas is the latest project…

For many, a line of LEGO-inspired 3D printed jewelry is sure to bring a wave of nostalgia. For others who still regularly buy LEGO sets, it’s simply an ingenious way to repurpose those extra bricks as fashion accessories. Such is the premise behind the new jewelry line from French design studio Hint Lab. Thomas and…

If there is one thing the LEGO is good at—besides creating some of the best toys of all time—it’s staying in the news. Last week, the company announced their new 7,541-piece Lego Millennium Falcon—the biggest and most expensive set ever released by the company. Created for diehard fans under their Ultimate Collector Series collection, the…

If you’ve ever needed an excuse to buy a 3D printer, let this be the one. YouTuber Matt Denton recently 3D printed an entire LEGO ‘vintage’ Technic kit (#1972—released in 1985) scaled up to a full-sized go-kart. Yes—we’re talking modeling and printing all 98 pieces including the tires. With nearly 170 hours of printing time…

A LEGO Ninjango City model? NO. THE LEGO Ninajgo City. Well, at least the interesting bits that can be economically manufactured and fit economically in a box. The name may be slightly misleading, but the kit is no less impressive. Continuing his penchant for creating amazing LEGO build videos, YouTube user Bart van Dijk has another impressive…

It’s no secret that LEGO designers have always been drawn to supercars as inspiration for new LEGO sets. Whether it’s an F1 racer or a Porsche 911 designed to be assembled after the true-to-life factory assembly process, you can be sure that somebody at LEGO HQ has considered replicating it with the plastic bricks. But…

Unless you accidentally step on them, you can never go wrong with LEGO. Since 1949, the company has helped creators both young and old bring their ideas to life. With new features like submersible blocks and working motors, making anything from a tiny house to a life-size replica of a car is possible. But one…

From a Porsche 911 model with build instructions based on the true life factory assembly process to a functional laser cutter mini-factory, there’s never been a better time to be a LEGO fan. And while some of the best projects are those that happen spontaneously by throwing some random bricks together, the toy bricks can…

I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you probably don’t have much LEGO paraphernalia in your bathroom… unless your a LEGO minifig yourself or have five children under the age of ten. If that’s the case you have LEGOs everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Scratch, aka The Scratch,  knows the human race lacks the proper implements to…

We’ve said it time and time again, and we still mean it from the bottom of our hearts: if a zombie apocalypse ever breaks out, we want to be as close to ‘Slingshot Master’ Joerg Sprave as humanly possible. While the German slingshot sensei has created everything from an Oreo Cookie Separation Pump Gun to…

No matter how you crease, fold, cut, or throw them, paper airplanes are a ridiculously fun way to learn the basics of aerodynamics at any age. For Sao-Paola based designer Arthur Sacek, they were also the inspiration behind his latest LEGO build: an automated paper airplane manufacturing contraption that can take a single sheet of…

When it comes to professionally-engineered LEGO builds, the end-goal is more often than not to recreate a real-world object as accurately as possible using square bricks. For some of the company’s most recent models, this dedication to modeling after true life has gone as far as having a build sequence modeled after the true-to-life factory…

Down in the alley, there were always more than enough shin nibbles to go around. You never knew if you were going to walk out scarred for life, or with new rat friends singing a quintet on your forearm. Though half of them had eyes and legs missing, they certainly knew where to find the roots…

We don’t really know where to begin with this one, so we’ll just start by putting our hands on our heads to keep our brains from exploding. Created by a student at the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Lower Saxony, Germany, the Papercube is a “LEGO Mindstorms Education-Based Process for Manufacturing Paper Cubes” at…

From glass to cardboard, skaters today are ready to try just about anything to see if it can ollie with four wheels. But LEGO bricks? That’s a new one. With the goal of making an actual LEGO skateboard capable of human kickflips and pop shove-it’s, woodworker Peter Brown from the YouTube channel Shop Time recently…

While most of us grew up with LEGO bricks, none of them compare to the LEGO construction kits that exist today; miniaturized infrastructures with thousands of pieces. From the 2,704—piece LEGO Porsche 911 model with build instructions based off of the true-to-life assembly process to the freakin’ 2989—piece LEGO Sydney Opera House, it’s almost as…

There’s a reason LEGO mini-figs don’t look like fleshy human flesh-sacks. They would 1) not match the playful appearance of LEGOs 2) be totally creepy and 3) require small bottles of moisturizer. “I lather my LEGO mini-figs with three coats of jojoba oil weekly.” Well, good for you. Me? I prefer to watch a life-size…

As far as factory tours go, the LEGO Inside Tour at the LEGO production facility in Billund, Denmark exists in a league of its own. Assuming that you can grab a spot on one of the four scheduled LEGO Inside Tour weekend dates that take place in May and June of each year, the price…

It was only two weeks ago when LEGO released their extremely detailed “life-like” replica of the iconic Porsche 911 GT3 RS with a 2,704-part build sequence modeled after the real-life vehicle’s assembly process. Although the $299 kit is already out of stock, LEGO wants to settle your woes with yet another impressive automobile kit modeled…

Back in April, the LEGO design team unveiled their latest 2,704–piece LEGO Technic model in the form of a life-like” replica of the iconic Porsche 911 GT3 RS with a build sequence modeled after the real-life vehicle’s assembly process. To keep the LEGO build process as close as possible to the same real-world assembly process…

As a certified LEGO Master Model Builder at the LEGOLAND California Resort, Robbie McCarthy earns a living doing what most kids (and many adults) could only dream of. According to his job description, McCarthy frequently combines good old-fashioned brick building skills with proprietary software and custom fabrication to manage LEGO projects from creative conception through…

Flipping along the line, high above the glassy churn, the wisps hit the wind before finding their way onto our arms. Being this high was never a problem. It’s when we neared the surface that the fear sunk in. They looked like glass, cut like glass, but their sound was much more like these links.…

As any true LEGO fan will attest to, the real fun of the plastic brick toys exists somewhere in the process of unboxing a model and attaching the final piece. For Porsche fans, the latest release from the toy brick maker will give you 2,704 opportunities to appreciate that process. For their latest LEGO Technic…

As the world of IoT continues to reveal new ways of doing the same things better, certain applications have clearly been better than others. The BRIXO blocks from “lifelong restless tinkerer” and Quantum Physicist Boaz Almog is one of those few applications. Almog, who also gave a 2012 TED talk about quantum levitation, has been…

It’s not easy to take on the task of improving upon one of the world’s most simple and well-loved toy building block designs – particularly if that building block is LEGO. For Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, however, creating their modernist “Japanese LEGO” wasn’t just about building a new toy; it was also about communicating an…

With tens of billions of LEGO bricks made each year, it’s no surprise that there are nearly 4,200 different elements in the LEGO range with a variety of different colors and decorations – a number that brings the total number of possible LEGO brick combinations to nearly 10,000. Inspired to make sense of at least…