This life-sized Lego Iron Man took 255 hours to build
What's the story
Iron Man may be long gone but his Lego-cy lives on. Okay, that was a bad pun, but you wouldn't be as disappointed to learn that the toy company LEGO has set up a life-sized structure of Tony Stark's Iron Man and it's made entirely out of Lego pieces. The elaborate installation was created with 35,119 Lego pieces for the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con.
Details
The model is 6.5 feet tall, weighs 188 pounds
To honor the memory of the departed character, Lego builders created a life-size model of Iron Man that's 6.5 feet tall and weighs about 188 pounds. However, assembling it was no easy task. After receiving a 3D model from Marvel, LEGO's Lead Model Designer Greg Omartian and Senior Model Builder Jeff Rushby spent a whopping 255 hours to design and build this model.
Behind the scenes
Making model light up the hardest part: Lego builders
In a video, Omartian and Rushby take us through the making of this stunning model. According to Omartian, the most challenging part of the process was incorporating lights inside the model for the eyes, the Arc Reactor and the energy emanating from the infinity stones inside the Nano Gauntlet. "We had to be very careful about the outer wall of the model," he said.
Lego mania
Life-sized Lego models of other superheroes have also been made
In the past, Lego builders have created similar life-sized models for other Marvel heroes like Captain Marvel, Captain America, Thor, and more. In fact, Legos are hugely popular in geek culture (think Sheldon Cooper and the LEGO Death Star), but it's not limited to the community anymore. Over time, people have built looms, pinball machines, pizza dispensers, and other insane stuff from Legos.
Taobao Maker Festival
Lego shoes exhibited at recent Taobao Maker Festival
Recently, several pairs of Lego shoes were spotted at the Taobao Maker Festival in Hangzhou, China. The festival, which celebrates the "maker spirit" of Chinese merchants and designers, is organized every year by the Alibaba Group. Interestingly, at the festival, an inventor exhibited an exoskeleton that allows him to lift a 1.2-ton car through pneumatics. His inspiration? Well, Iron Man, of course!