LEGOs are a fascinating toy that have been around for over 30 years. Rarely are we not impressed by some of the creations people make with them. Have you ever wondered where all the magic starts? Gizmodo goes inside LEGO to find out what makes the minifig the most expensive part of any LEGO set. What they find is horrifying.

Hundreds and thousands of parts and pieces making up the body of the minifig are scattered throughout the assembly line. You have never seen more body pieces in one bin. Really, I don’t care if your Charles Manson, you’ve never seen this. But perhaps the most complicated process during the construction of LEGO minifigs is the level of detail in the face and torso. The classic LEGO face was two dots and a curved line. Nowadays, we’ve got LEGOs that look like Stephen Hawking or Genghis Kahn. This means an increasing level of attention-to-detail is needed in order to layer the face and torsos appropriately. This is done by running them through the stamping process several times, producing multiple layers of color that eventually lead to the bricks taking their true form. Hit the link for the video in all its glory.

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Don’t get me wrong, the Donkey Kong clock was cool, but it was a motionless picture with not a lot going for it other than being just an ordinary clock. Since we enjoy LEGOs so much and regard Donkey Kong as one of the greatest inventions since blood pressure wary underwear, we’re positive this LEGO construct is sure to catch your attention.

The infamous barrel-chucking Donkey Kong and the resilient Italian plumber are recreated in LEGO form complete with sound effects, rolling barrels, a jump crazy protagonist and even a damsel in distress. It’s one of the cooler LEGO builds I’ve seen.

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When I was growing up, I had a friend named Kyle. Kyle loved LEGOs almost as much as I did, except he had one problem: he kept building huge cocks. That’s right. Dicks everywhere. He’d come over and build a replica of the Twin Towers shaped like dicks, a dick-shaped sentry gun, make a dick-shaped lake and then some. He’s exactly the kind of kid who would make a LEGO version of Stephen Hawking.

I was going to take this seriously. I gave the creator the benefit of the doubt that they actually took a novel interest in Hawking. Boy, was I wrong. Click ahead to see the lil’ guy on MARS and Space!

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We love LEGOs and while we’re partial to the Mindstorms set, Anders Søborg has built and programmed his own NXT scanner comprised mostly of these bricks.  For those not familiar with NXT scanners, they’re a “standalone” scanner that can scan and save images as BMP-files.  The images scanned can be saved in either 24-bit true color, 8-bit color or gray scale.

Although the device isn’t faster than any other scanner on the market (it’s quite slow actually), cut it some slack: it’s made out of toy blocks.  Anders was also nice enough to include DIY instructions on making your own, complete with programming instructions and all, on his website.
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I’m pretty sure anyone who hates LEGOs is a commie bastard. The classic colored bricks have been a staple of everyone’s childhood and that love continues into adulthood. Case in point is the world’s largest LEGO tower, which contains 500,000 LEGO bricks and is 100 feet tall.

Built in Windsor, UK, the huge structure commemorates LEGO’s 50th anniversary. Personally, I haven’t bought a set in a few years, but I will never forget the early-’90s spaceship sets. Those were king. Either way, neither the tower nor those spaceship sets compare to the LEGO Camaro.

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Ralph Savelsberg creates scale models using nothing but Lego’s. His most recent creations are two military grade helicopters, made to scale as close as bricks can be scaled.

The CH-46 Sea Knight and the Mi-24 “Hind” are both extraordinary examples of how much can really be done with the little rectangular building blocks. Notice: It’s probably not the best idea to send these models into battle. They’d be just as successful as a tank made out of balloons. Psh, like anyone would ever make something like that. (more…)