Every person had a favorite toy when they were young. Some of us cherished our bicycles and skateboards. Some of us got down with basketball, football, or soccer. Others were video games nerds. But here at Cool Material, we’re in unanimous agreement—our favorite childhood toys of all time were our LEGO sets. We look back fondly on the hours spent building castles, engineering bridges, and even laying the foundation for entire small towns. They were a blast. But as we got older, our grand LEGO sets slowly disappeared from the picture, and instead were replaced by other, more “adult” things: automobiles, girls, and jobs. Well, today, we’re taking a stand. You think LEGOs are just for kids? We think that’s bullshit! Here are 8 LEGO sets for every guy who clicking Danish blocks together as a kid. What makes this kit awesome, aside from its impeccable detail and 2,793 individual pieces, is that it comes with a full pneumatic system, which allows you to control the outriggers, crane arm, claw, and bed.
It also features a fully independent suspension, a detailed engine with moving pistons, a detailed and complete driver cab and dashboard, and all the other small details you’d expect from a kit as advanced as this. The Taj Mahal is one of the greatest monuments mankind’s ever built. Not only is it a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it is, for all intents and purposes, a priceless piece of world history, and all of it just to entomb an emperor’s favorite wife. Most of us only get one wife, and we still wouldn’t do that for her. Also, how shitty would it be to be any of his other wives? LEGO did the architectural wonder total justice with their rendition. With 5,922 pieces that come together and fill in the details of the base, minarets, domes, finials, arches, and stairs of the grand Taj Mahal, it is far and away one of the most difficult kits to assemble. And with a price tag of at least three grand (no, seriously), it’s also one of the spendiest. If you’re involved in the LEGO building community at all, you’ll know that it’s one that celebrates innovation and beautiful design.
Self-made kits are called My Own Creations, or MOCs for short. MOC Nation is a website dedicated to bringing the best MOCs in the world to the mainstream. We’ve covered them before, so here’s that if you missed it. This Red Fox, created by Felix Jaensch is a 638-piece kit that’s challenging enough to take time and patience, but beautiful (and small) enough to look good as a presentation piece in an office, home, or studio. We absolutely love watching things like this come to fruition, and not just because we’re always trolling Kickstarter for the latest and greatest projects. The Cyclone Roller Coaster is fun, educational, and complex, but not too complicated. It’s compatible with regular LEGOS, and the more kits you buy, the more you can build. The mechanism is simple and is exactly how regular roller coasters work: A chain lift carries the coaster to its peak, where it drops and coasts through the course. You can add hills or bumps, create ledges and plateaus, and see what works versus what doesn’t.
When people think “Ferrari,” a rigid, boxy LEGO kit is probably the last thing that comes to mind. Ferraris are some of the most beautifully engineered cars on the entire planet, and the F40 is special because it was not only a celebration of the Italian super car manufacturer’s 40th birthday, but also the very last Ferrari model approved by the one and only Enzo Ferrari. This LEGO kit is superbly detailed and although it’s just 3 inches high, 10 inches long, and 5 inches wide, it is made of more than 1,150 pieces that help detail everything from its legendary 478-bhp turbocharged v8, to its detailed, authentic interior. Another discontinued gem from the LEGO Creator series, this scale retro MINI Cooper features everything from a detailed engine compartment, to opening doors, hood, and trunk, and even houses a spare wheel in a separate compartment—just like the original MINI Cooper it emulates. It also comes complete with a little picnic set, a pop-off roof, fold-down seats, and an impeccably detailed interior section.
We’re super impressed with this one, and we think you will be, too. And since we’re on a car kick right now, why not finish it off with the crème de la crème of detailed replicas—LEGO’s Volkswagen T1 Camper Van. This thing comes with the works. The iconic hubcap wheels and V-shape front color split, the rounded pop-up roof, the classic “splittie” safari windshield, roof rack, side air intake vents, real textile curtains, authentic VW air-cooled flat four, and a detailed interior like nothing we’ve ever seen—INCLUDING A FUCKING LAVA LAMP AND T-SHIRT THAT SAYS, “MAKE LEGOS NOT WAR.” You’ll have a smile on your face for all 1,334 pieces of this iconic retro classic. This thing right here? This thing right here, ladies and gentlemen, is a goddamn LEGO strip club. No, that’s not a misprint, and you didn’t misread us—it’s a strip club, complete with a full color printed box, working LED lights, hologram foil-stamped wall pieces, four exclusive mini LEGO figures, bundles of LEGO money, and a stripper pole for your sexy yellow brick people.
Welcome to the Foxy Blox! What’s perhaps most cool about the LEGO scene is that the LEGO company wholeheartedly supports its community of creators. LEGO Ideas is a section on the LEGO website where people can show off build plans for their own LEGO masterpieces, and then people vote to support them. If they gain enough support, the team at LEGO actually manufactures them and puts them in stores for a limited time. You can view all the cool LEGO ideas here, but we chose this 1950’s diner because it really does look awesome, and we can’t resist a slice of good old-fashioned Americana. Avast, ye scurvy dogs! There be some new Pirate LEGO sets settin' sale this past week and it be time to spy upon the best salty sets of the past. *cough* Sorry, I can't keep up the pirate talk. As mentioned above there is a whole slew of new Pirate LEGO sets available as of this week. After contacting my good friend POWERSTOMP, fellow Hoosier and LEGO enthusiast, we decided to make a list of our favorite Pirate sets from from yesteryear.
We saved up for months and put these bad boys at the top of our Christmas lists. They're not the best selling, or the biggest (well some might be), but they're the sets we love and remember. Keep in mind that these are legit Pirate themed sets and not themes like LotR, Pirates of the Caribbean or The LEGO Movie that have pirate-related playsets. My father always loved to pick out big LEGO sets for my brothers and me. Since we were too young to really understand how following a manual worked he would normally present them to us prebuilt and we'd play with them. For about an hour. Then we would go Godzilla on those poor sets and tear them apart. Forbidden Island is one of the first I remember. I mean, who can forget the first time they armed a money with a gun? One of the smallest Pirate sets on record, Battle Cove is a perfect mishmash of all things that make the Pirate series so silly and fun. A shark, a pirate, a cannon, two guns, one pirate flag - it's like the essentials of my five year-old imagination.
All I needed to add was a monkey with a sword and all was right with the world. I'll admit that I was never too excited at the prospect of pitting pirates (the obvious winners) against snooty soldiers who had an obvious military advantage. I guess I just always rooted for the underdog. That's why Enchanted Island, and the other sets featuring indigenous island dwelling people, are at the top of the pirate world (in my own opinion). The tiki gods and kickass war masks were just too good to pass up. I felt like the islanders were the underdogs now, which meant they usually won out against the pirates in my mind. Or maybe they could both team up and take down those hoity toity soldiers... Speaking of soldiers, here's a nice set where they're on a nice field trip... They'll chewing on a cannon balls soon enough. Those poor ignorant fools. Aside from the sweet rotating skull I always loved to have the captain throw down barrel, a la the original Donkey Kong, for his men to avoid. Then he'd hoist them back to his look out and bring the pain all over again.
It was nice to have a full water base board as well, because it forced me to come up with some ideas for my own island shapes and builds. I sure do love those old palm trees. What's a list of pirate sets without a sturdy ship? While it's not one of the larger, fully equipped ships that have hit store shelves over the years, the Cross Bones Clipper is one solid little schooner. With the trademark skull and crossbones flying high and a treasure map in hand, it's not hard to see why this little ship became one of my favorites to customize. I always thought it was pretty badass that there was a human skull (human LEGO figure, that is) on the front. Fear my ships and all its skulls! I envisioned these guys as a couple of clowns who were always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes, they were forced to cruise around on a raft ~ but at least they had a badass pet shark to keep them company. Usually I would have these guys get captured and locked up by the Imperials. Overall this set saw a ton of playtime in my collection.
It features three minifigs, one of which is actually the captain of the Renegade Runner (6268). The cloth sail with skull & crossbones is unique to this set, and the rigging added vertical placement options for the minifigs. It is a well designed set that allowed for a number of different unique configurations: A crane operation, pirate loot cart, or an island keg party! This was the first pirate set I received as a birthday gift. It quickly became the centerpiece for all of my LEGO Pirate theme adventures. How cool is this setting?! It's a colonial trading post, fortified by the Imperials. It's a big set, with tons of space and different levels, greatly increasing it's playability. I remember heavily fortifying this outpost over time with the addition of more imperial cannons and walls, as well as extending the dock to accommodate the arrival of larger ships. Includes a custom raised baseplate, a merchant focused ship (unique to this set) and nine minifigs. The original build of this set is pretty basic.
As an adult, I would love to see a more advanced build because the setting for this set is very cool. I may have actually screamed when I got this set for Christmas as a kid. It became the heavy hitter of my Pirate collection, and this thing struck fear in the Imperial land defenses I constructed. As a kid, I remember being in awe at how huge the completed ship was ~ (Actual dimensions of 26Lx9Wx19H). 9 minifigs came with this set ~ including a rare merchant pirate, a female pirate, as well as the iconic Captain Redbeard. The Merchant pirate is actually the rarest pirate of all time, appearing in only two large sets (6286 & 6277).The ship itself had some fantastic features: cannons rotatable 360º from port to starboard, a handy cargo crane, and a lifeboat on the rear. I had multiples of this set. It was cheap and provided a ton of guns (I really love guns). What's not to love about a triple barrel musket cart? I had a hiatus from Pirate theme for a time, but when this set hit the shelves my grandma gifted it to me.