Fun With Lego

Fun With Lego

For geeks like us, the British summer can be a painful thing full of conflicting desires. We want to step away from our PCs, but we’d be loathe to do anything which actually required, y’know, going outside. The solution we’ve come up with has been to distract ourselves with other things – last week we looked at how Nerf guns can be modded, for example.

Unfortunately, the summer is dragging on longer than we anticipated and now we need something else to keep us occupied. So, we’re falling back on another childhood stalwart – Lego!

One of the most iconic products of our generation, Lego may be marketed mainly as a range of toys for younger children, but in the right hands it has the potential to be so much more. From creating stop-motion animations to creating entire houses complete with furniture, there’s almost nothing that Lego can’t do.

Increasingly, Lego is becoming a medium for a new generation of artists as well. Designers like Nathan Sawaya and Sean Kenney are just two of the most popular artists leading this movement, with their creations turning up everywhere from art galleries and corporate lobbies to zoos! Some of the designs, like Kenney’s latest exhibition at the Philadelphia Zoo, really have to be seen to be believed.


Fuelled by the inherent flexibility of the product, the Lego range has grown too. There are now at least 62 bricks for every single person on the planet, but demand is still growing. The last few years have seen the Lego brand get even more diverse, with the Lego games made by Traveller’s Tales proving especially popular and a Lego MMO, Lego Universe, on the horizon as well. All that without even mentioning the likes of the Technic and Mindstorms brands!

Over the next few pages we’ll show some of the most stunning Lego creations ever created, from staggeringly complex art installations to dioramas and mechanical masterpieces.

Closer to our own interests, we’ll also show you how you can build a simple tech-orientated mod with Lego – your own Lego USB drive! After all, the main appeal of Lego isn’t looking at another person’s projects; it’s making your own!

If this is all old-hat to you, and you think your own Lego creations are better than the ones we’ve shown here, then why not put your money where your mouth is? Our modding and project log forums are the perfect place to show off your own Lego constructions, no matter the scale!

Next: how to make a Lego USB key…