This is truly unbelievable: Lego has built a 1:1 scale model of the X-Wing fighter using an astounding 5,335,200 bricks! It's as big as the real thing, capable of fitting the real Luke Skywalker—and Porkins. As you can see in these exclusive Gizmodo images and video, it reproduces the official $60 Lego 9493 X-Wing Fighter. But instead of being 560-pieces and a few inches long, this model uses more than five million pieces and it's 11-feet tall and 43 feet long, with a 44-foot wingspan. Just like the real X-Wing—and 42 times the size of the commercial Lego set. Here are all details about the model:Engines that light up and roarThere's only one thing different from the original model: the engines glow and roar like the X-Wing in the movies. To capture these photos and videos, Gizmodo had to travel to an airplane hangar near New York City, where the model had arrived by ship from the Lego Model Shop in Kladno, Czech Republic. But you can see it for yourself now if you are in Manhattan, since it's on display in the middle of Times Square.
According to Lego:The model was heavily engineered to withstand all the transportation, setup/break down and to ensure it was safe for Times Square given the subway system below and California’s seismic requirements for the Legoland California Resort installation. The X-Wing being unveiled today in New York City's Time Square. Bottom image by Gizmodo reader Ludlow Smith. You can see official Lego images of the unveiling here. Not in New York? After three days in the city, the X-Wing will be transported to the West Coast, where it will stay until the end of the year. And, by the way, you will be able to sit inside: The thing is so huge and heavy that it requires an internal metal structure to support it: Here's one of the crates used for shipping: The model was created to promote the original Lego Star Wars animation TV series The Yoda Chronicles, which will premiere on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, May 29 at 8:00PM. You can see my review of the Lego X-Wing Fighter 9493 right here.
You can get the original 560-piece version at the Lego Shop and Amazon. Images and video by Gizmodo's Nick Stango.Less than an hour after the exhibit opened, a massive LEGO sculpture of Nick, the fox character from the film Zootopia, was destroyed. A kid knocked the LEGO statue over, shattering it back into its original form: a billion individual LEGO pieces. There's a reason your parents had you walk around stores with your hands behind your back, people.The statue went up then quickly came tumbling down at the LEGO Expo in the Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in China on Sunday, according to CCTV in China. Before it was destroyed by the tiny reckless hands of a child, the statue was nearly the size of an adult human. CCTV reports that the artist who created the statue, Mr. Zhao, spent three entire days and nights assembling the statue, only for it to go bye-bye before it could have a proper debut.Mr. Zhao was crushed over the destruction of his statue and posted photos of the model being constructed, and then a photo of LEGO Nick splattered all over the floor.
Broken, just like, we assume, his dreams: Not only was the statue precious because of its artistic merit and the work that went into it, but it was actually worth a ton of money: 100,000 Yuan or $15,193 USD. But CCTV reports that the parents of the LEGO destroyer apologized profusely and Mr. Zhao said all is forgiven.Future Tears Up 'Ellen' Stage With Performance of 'Incredible"Lorde Returns With Her New Single and Video for "Green Light"Check Out lojii And Swarvy's Smooth New Single "do u" Featuring Nikko GrayJoey Badass Reveals Full Title and Release Date for New AlbumListen to Quavo, Lil Uzi Vert, and Travis Scott's 'Fate of the Furious' Collab "Go Off"ASAP Rocky and Guess Originals Return With New Capsule Collection for SpringFetty Wap x Control Sector Launch Collaborative Clothing Line 'By Order Of'PROMO: Puma’s Legacy Collection Continues—The Footwear Leader Unveils the Second Wave of Its Exclusive Collection The Men of 'Moonlight' Star in New Calvin Klein Spring 2017 CampaignGrailed Is Launching a Women's WebsiteNetflix to Premiere 2 New Dave Chappelle Specials Later This MonthDisney Just Aired the First Same-Sex Cartoon Kiss in Network's HistoryJimmy Kimmel Asks the Most Important Pedestrian Question Yet
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The world's largest display of Lego art features intricate replicas of masterpieces As a lawyer on Wall Street, Nathan Sawaya felt like he needed a creative outlet. So he turned to Legos. Sawaya started building sculptures from the blocks as a hobby, but got more serious about his work over time. He pursued ambitious projects like creating life-size sculptures of people, and found that when he displayed photos of his creations on his personal website, enough people looked at them to crash the site. "I realized it was time to make a change," he tells Business Insider. "I left the law firm to become a full-time artist and go play with toys." For the past decade, Sawaya has been building Lego sculptures as a career. His current exhibition, called "The Art of the Brick," mainly features Lego replicas of famous masterpieces, though some Sawaya originals are included as well. "The Art of the Brick" is currently at San Diego's Fleet Museum through January 29.
With over 120 works, it's the largest display of Lego art in the world. The show has traveled to over 80 cities around the world since 2007. There are many Lego versions of recognizable paintings in the exhibition, including "The Girl with a Pearl Earring" ... ... and even "Mona Lisa." There are sculptures too, like "The Thinker" ... The T-rex, made of over 80,000 bricks, took him an entire summer to build. Sawaya hopes his sculptures will make art history more accessible to younger folks. "How does one talk to a five year old about the Venus de Milo? It might be a tough conversation," Sawaya says. "But by representing the Venus de Milo out of Lego bricks, it opens the door and allows the child to connect to the art through a medium they understand." Get the Slide Deck from Henry Blodget's IGNITION Presentation on the Future of Digital Read Business Insider On The Go Available on iOS or Android See All Jobs » Thanks to our partners