Teen With Autism Who Built 2 Toy Titanic Replicas Inspires Others To Follow Their Dreams

Jan 22, 2023 by apost team

Brynjar Karl, a teenager who lives in Iceland, is on the autism spectrum. He is also fascinated by the Titanic and used to love LEGOs. Back in 2013, he decided to combine his passions and construct what became the world's largest replica of the Titanic made from LEGOs.

Brynjar's ambitious project took 700 hours over an 11-month period. He also needed around 56,000 LEGO blocks to complete his ship, though that number skyrocketed to 65,000 after one of the ship's front parts broke, according to The Guardian. When he finished, the result was 5 feet tall and 24 feet long.

Now known as "the LEGO boy," Brynjar has become internationally famous. His model has been touring the world. It has been displayed at museums in Norway, Sweden and Germany. Starting in October 2019, Brynjar's model was put on display at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It stayed there until the end of 2022.

The museum posted a Q&A session with Brynjar in which they discussed his project. At one point, Brynjar admitted that he became frustrated and wanted to give up on a couple of occasions because the stern collapsed. He also talked about how his mother and grandfather helped him with his project.

To this day, Brynjar continues to wow people from all over the world with his impressive LEGO creations of all shapes and sizes. He also proved that you can always improve on past projects. Read on to find out more about the amazing projects Brynjar has created and what's still in store for "the LEGO boy."

According to the Titanic Pigeon Forge, Brynjar’s grandfather helped him with the calculations to ensure that his model was built to scale. He started with the assumption that a four-centimeter LEGO man was equivalent to a human of 1.75 meters (5'8). That told him how large the model had to be and how many LEGO bricks would be needed to make it. 

Brynjar’s mother helped him with those aspects of the project that required an adult, like online crowdfunding and finding a warehouse for the construction of the model. She also helped him handle interviews.

Brynjar later gave a TED Talk about his project and the obstacles he needed to overcome in order to achieve it. He has also written a book, "My Autistic X Factor," in which he defines an “x factor” as a special talent. Brynjar believes that everybody has an x-factor that makes them special; it just may take them time to find it.

Brynjar also has a website that describes one of his projects: a documentary entitled "How the Titanic Became My Lifeboat." The documentary is about Brynjar’s model and how his project helped him.

It premiered in March 2020 at a local movie theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, according to Attractions Magazine. Brynjar hopes his documentary will raise awareness of autism and encourage schools and businesses to be more accepting and respectful of the needs that people with autism have.

Brynjar is continuing to design more LEGO creations. According to his Facebook, in May 2022, he traveled to Denmark on a Boeing 737 with his friend Mikael to showcase their LEGO Boeing 737 at a special event at the Frederiksberg Center in Copenhagen.

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On June 11, 2022, Brynjar uploaded a photo of himself and his new LEGO set to Facebook, and he wrote in the post, “Get ready for LEGO Titanic take two!” People were already excited at the prospect of Brynjar getting to work on building yet another extreme version of the famous ship.

And just eight days later, Brynjar uploaded another photo of himself — this time with a completed version of his second take at the LEGO Titanic replica. In the post, he wrote, “Ups I did it again! This time in a week with 9090 LEGO bricks Im a bit broke now but happy.”

Brynjar wasn’t the only one happy with the completed project. Several people congratulated Brynjar for accomplishing something truly remarkable. One person wrote: “So awesome! So much patience! It looks amazing.” Another person wrote:

“They should put it at the museum next to your first one!! It was breathtaking I loved it and was moved to tears at the power set up for the display!”

Brynjar has proved to be an inspiration for people all over the world. He spoke with Bored Panda about how the world knows much more about autism today and how to guide individuals to the best course of success.

“We know that if you are allowed to develop your skills through your interest, you can become stronger,” he said. “I have had that opportunity and today there is nothing that I cannot do if I focus on it. This message is important for me to get across.”

The talented teen also said:

“Dreams keep us going. That is something nobody can take away from us. It’s something good to have when you are feeling a little bit stuck or sad. You can always dream.”

Does this story inspire you? Have you ever built anything impressive out of LEGOs? Please let us know, and be sure to pass this story on to your friends and loved ones.