You’ve seen him all over the internet—a blocky, creepy-looking red Lego piece with an equally creepy smile on his face and no visible eyes or mouth to speak of. His official name is Red Plate 1 x 2 – 1 x 4 with Handle on Side, but he’s known far and wide as Lego Piece 26047 (or simply Lego ManBut who is this weird Lego character? And why has he become so popular in the meme world?
An Example Of The Lego Weird Meme
On January 26, 2018, a Reddit user uploaded a picture of an IKEA bag filled with Lego pieces. The user wrote in their post, It took me over 6 months, but I’ve finally completed my latest project: My own lego set. Although some fans were disappointed that it wasn’t a real LEGO set (since none of them could buy it), others expressed confusion about why anyone would try to build their own out of other brands of blocks. Some users even tried recreating their own version. Since then, Lego piece 26047 has become its own meme within Reddit communities on both r/Lego as well as r/MemeEconomy.
What is this meme all about?
Lego is a brand of construction toys that has become one of the most widely used brands in history. It’s pretty cool that Lego continues to make new pieces that can be used with older sets, right? Well, not if you ask these people… The Lego piece 26047 meme makes fun of customers who complain about how they are being forced to purchase parts they don’t want. You might think it’s kind of extreme for people to assume that Lego wants them to purchase certain parts, but apparently many consumers really do feel strongly about it!
How did it start (the story behind the creation of this meme
If you’re not aware of it already, Lego piece 26047 is a meme that originated on Reddit. It was started by user Silverfox226, who has since deleted his account. Although Silverfox226 created Lego piece 26047 in 2017, it wasn’t until recently that it went viral thanks to Redditor pie_timelord sharing images of a Reddit user trying to explain that meme during a lecture class at University. However, before we get into all of that, we have an obligation to explain what Lego piece 26047 actually is.
Is there an origin behind it?
If you’re wondering where it all began, Lego confirms that a piece was part of an ocean explorer set in 2012 but has since been discontinued. It’s used in only one of LEGO’s U-Drive it yourself models – The Ocean Explorer – and in that instance, it doesn’t do anything. In fact, even searching for lego piece 26047 meme returns no results as of now. If you search for a water jet, you get information about how powerful water jets can be; if you search for any combination with LEGO or Building, there’s nothing relevant.
Who created it?
It is believed that Lego fans, who are avid gamers as well, created it. The Lego piece 26047 meme uses an image of a Lego piece that is supposed to represent Minecraft blocks. The Lego Company has acknowledged its popularity among fans, though they have not responded in any significant way. On its Twitter account, they recently posted: We take note of what our customers say about our products and will certainly pass along your feedback. It’s believed that Lego fans find humor in comparing a toy piece to something as serious as politics or human rights; but there is no shortage of celebrities in memes either so it could just be a humorous juxtaposition of two things from entirely different spheres of life.
When was it uploaded on YouTube?
As with most internet sensations, Lego piece 26047 (or Lego cactus) went viral before anyone knew what it was. One of YouTube’s earliest memes is a short clip of a Lego figure picking up Lego piece 26047 from underneath a Lego cactus, before placing it back down. The clip was uploaded on November 27th, 2015 by none other than Ben Wheatley—best known for his work as director on Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013), Kill List (2011), and Sightseers (2012), and High-Rise (2015). In total, he has almost 1 million subscribers on his channel.
Where was it first used on Reddit?
Reddit users first began using Lego piece 32557 in images in January 2017. And what started out as a single post, Lego piece 32557 quickly evolved into one of Reddit’s most popular memes. At press time, there were nearly 2,500 posts on r/LegoMemes featuring Lego piece 32557. That’s no small feat considering Reddit users have created thousands of memes in recent years.
Where else was it posted or shared after that?
The Lego piece 26047 memes came about on Reddit with a post asking for an explanation of what it meant. It has since spread to other sites with varying degrees of explanation from site to site, but all along have been just flat out guessing as to what that last set represents, which is exactly why we call them memes in hopes they will continue spreading, further than anyone site is able to go. There are now several sites dedicated purely to Lego piece memes and explaining them along with numerous Twitter feeds. Many people post their own findings or thoughts through private messages (i.e., personal email) on various social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
How many likes did it get as well as how many comments/replies in total from Reddit, Facebook, etc.? (you can do this if you find out)
159 Likes & 112 Comments – Reddit / 329 Likes & 76 Comments – Facebook. I posted it twice for a total of 4 links. Other places I posted about Lego piece 26047 include: /r/Lego, /r/allthingsterrible, and /r/ragefaces.
