Lego bricks do not come cheap. Just ask Zhao, the Chinese artist whose Lego sculpture worth $15,000 fell victim to the clumsiness of a small child at a Lego Expo on Sunday. The sculpture, a brick version of Nick from the animated film Zootopia, fell to pieces within an hour of the exhibit's opening. SEE ALSO: Sneakers made of only legos are perfect for playtime and game time On the bright side, $15,000 worth of Lego bricks are worth the same amount whether they're assembled or dissembled. And though that number may seem high, it's not particularly surprising considering the prices of retired Lego sets that fetch much more than their original retail prices. This is some seriously pricey plastic. Wildly Expensive Lego SetsLEGO Eiffel Tower Set 10181 Theme: LEGO Advanced Models Set Number: 10181-1Item No: 4566080EAN Barcode: 5702014499867BOID: 601212 There are currently no stores selling this item, to be notified when it comes back in stock, login or create an account and add it to your Wishlist.

LEGO creations always have a story. Sometimes, when we find things online, the builder gives a very brief story; sometimes, we find something amazing, and do an interview so we can bring you a bigger story. And then sometimes, like this beautiful Eiffel Tower by Rafal Piasek, the builder gives us the whole story and takes us on a journey. This creation was built under a time-crunch; while preparing other creations for a display of iconic landmarks of Poland, a request came in from LEGO Poland to build a project as a gift to one of their partners. This beautiful iconic French landmark is the result. While it’s not an exact recreation, it is a creation inspired by many other builds that came before it. Rafal mentions it was designed within a week, since that was the deadline to order all the parts! He prototyped the legs as proof-of-concept in real brick, and ordered what was needed. One of the challenges was building the iconic curves in LEGO, which he accomplished beautifully.

Ultimately, this beautiful Eiffel Tower remained in LEGO Poland’s offices – a great place for it to remain. It’s a wonderful build. I encourage you to read the full story on Rafal’s blog, which has some great additional insight to the build process.target lego buy oneTell all your friends!lego shop imagesThis 7.25 foot (2.2 meter)  tall scale model of The Eiffel Tower contains 67,470 LEGO pieces, and took two months to design and build.  buy lego mindstorms rcxYou can see the sculpture in person every Bastille Day at Brookfield Place, located in New York City’s World Financial Center.buy old lego sets uk

Looking down from the first pavilion Looking directly up from the center at ground level The first pavilion has buildings, some of which are two stories tall inside.  lego hobbit buyThe structural masts, behind the “X” beam patterns have little elevator cars at various heights.lego jaws buy The second pavilion has two levels connected by yellow spiral staircases.  The elevator’s bright red and bright yellow flywheels are located behind the “X” patterns on the main masts.  (Click to enlarge for a better view) The observation deck has all kinds of cool cell transmitters, radio towers, radar dishes and other modern encrustations. Down on the ground, a flurry of visitors await entry while tour buses line up at the East Tower and a pedicab waits by the crosswalk. It’s a long wait to go up.  

While you’re here, enjoy the view from below! And of course, there’s a mime. Folks line up for snacks at the refreshment kiosks (left).  It’s the Blue Man Group! America’s favorite family, The Simpsons, have made it to Paris. Building so many diagonal shapes is tricky with LEGO pieces, but it’s even harder when the whole thing needs to be hollow.  It was important to me for you to be able to see straight through the tower, the way you can in real life. The model took two months to design and build together with my assistants Evan and Natsuki.  I spent the first two weeks shaking my fist in the air yelling ”GUSTAV!” (convinced that Gustav Eiffel was a crazy lunatic) and the last two weeks shaking my head convinced he was a crazy genius. LEGO pieces are good at building straight lines, but there is not a straight line anywhere in this structure.  The “X” patterns and beams and struts all sit on angles and diagonals, which is very complicated to do with LEGO pieces.  

I built a lot of prototypes, drew a lot of drawings, and worked from a lot of photographs until I finally had a plan. The drawing at the bottom of this photo (above) was our main diagram for computing the dimensions of each section of the tower.  I realized early on that there were a lot of recurring patterns in the shape of the tower, so I could build a prototype of each section, mark it on the drawing, and then have my assistants build the final multiple glued copes of each prototype (below). Evan and Natsuki discuss mathy dimensions. Natsuki and I discuss the details of some of the ornamentation, unaware that a Polar Bear and a Snow Leopard are sneaking up to eat us. Crazy LEGO math makes me laugh!   I love that you can see the light through the lattice work!We all have fond memories from our younger years putting together fun LEGO sets like cars, planes, houses, and more. But if you were especially lucky (or especially wealthy), you might have had the opportunity to construct truly massive LEGO sets like the Taj Majal, Shield Helicarrier, or even the fabled Death Star Itself.

Below are the 11 biggest pre-made sets the LEGO company has ever released, sorted by number of pieces. exclusives or are out-of-print, so don't expect to nab them for their MSRP. For the ultimate Marvel Cinematic Universe fan, the Shield Helicarrier comes with five Avengers minifigures, a big bunch of manofigures, and functioning turbines powered by AAA batteries with a special add-on. Along with a few thousand other tiny details. The Ultimate Collector Series version of the Imperial Star Destroyer is full of interior detail that doesn't actually show up when the entire beast is assembled. But the most impressive thing about this set is its sheer size - it's over three feet long! Long out of production, it now routinely sells for over $2,000. Did we say the Imperial Star Destroyer was big? If you want to build this Super Star Destroyer, you're going to need an even bigger table - this massive model is more than four feet long when fully assembled. Its custom minifigs are a nice touch.

The Grand Carousel is an epic set for its detail, not for its sheer size. Its complex, colorful, and is (of course) fully motorized. If you're a big Star Wars fan, these probably are the droid you're looking for. In addition to several fun droid minifigs (Gonk Droid!), this 2014 version of the Sandcrawler model comes with functioning treads, and of course a ridiculous amount of internal detail. It's also got nearly twice as many pieces as the original 2005 UCS edition. After its fully assembled, this Eiffel Tower stands over four feet tall! It's a challenging build, making it perfect for LEGO pros. Newbies might want to pick a set that isn't almost all grey pieces. The Death Star II, like every model on this list, is absolutely massive, of course. But it includes a lot of neat smaller details, too. I'm especially found of the physical lasers. LEGO's 2008 Death Star is a different kind of LEGO set. Plenty of these massive models have interior detail, but it's usually hidden away. This Death Star takes a diorama approach, allowing you to see lots of movie scenes all in one model.

This set is rumored to end its long run and go out of production soon. Some hardcore LEGO fans dislike the Tower Bridge build since you basically have to build the same tower twice, but it's still a hugely impressive and aesthetically pleasing model. What is there left to say about the Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon? It's just plain awesome, all-around. Fantastic build experience, epic scope, nice minifigs, and great detail. If you didn't snag one when it came out in 2007, expect to shell out as much as $6,000 to buy it in-box now. LEGO's Taj Mahal set clocks in at almost 6,000 pieces, making it the biggest individual LEGO set ever made. The finished model is over 20 inches wide and over 16 inches tall, making it an imposing model to say the least. Have you ever been fortunate enough to construct one of these sets yourself? Have fond memories of another huge LEGO set not listed? Discuss with your fellow brickheads in the comments below. Justin Davis is the second or third best-looking Editor at IGN.