Growing up, I thought that I was going to be an architect. I felt that I was reasonably creative and I had a knack for visualizing things in a three-dimensional space. That’s why Lego appealed to me so much. Those miraculous little plastic bricks could be used to build just about anything. Over the years, I made tanks, airplanes, handguns, and all sorts of other things.

As you already know, there are a number of different kits out there that are designed to make a specific end product. These go through rigorous testing and approval processes in Denmark before they can hit shelves. What about the kits that don’t make the cut? Well, that’s where Forbidden Lego can come into play. I received a review copy of this book from No Starch Press, the same people who published Darren Barefoot’s book late last year.

Forbidden Lego is written by Ulrik Pilegaard and Mike Dooley, both of whom used to work at Lego as part of the design and creation process. In the book, they describe five different projects that broke official Lego rules and, thus, could not be released in any sort of official form. They use non-Lego parts. They fire unauthorized projectiles. They modify the Lego bricks in forbidden ways. In short, these Lego creations went rogue.

While you could do some stop-motion Lego animation or any other creative things with Lego, these projects are much more guided in nature. For example, the first project (shown above) is the Paper Plane Launcher. All in all, there are 47 steps in its creation.

There is very little in terms of text in Forbidden Lego, since the instructions are provided in the form of 3D renderings instead. However, at the beginning of each of the five projects, the authors discuss the inspiration, the design, the Lego rules broken, and the non-Lego parts used.

Yes, there are only five projects, but they’re all quite complex. In addition to the Paper Plane Launcher, you’ll also find the Candy Coated Catapult, Ping-Pong Cannon, All-Terrain Lego, and High Velocity Automatic Lego Plate Dispenser. Some of the modifications can be quite interesting, like combining two 9V Lego battery boxes to create a more powerful 18V battery. This gives extra “oomph” to the ATV Lego, for instance.

If you’re a lifelong fan of Lego and want to try something a little different, give Forbidden Lego a try. Then again, if Internet marketing is more your kind of thing, there’s a book for that too.