Internet steps up to help YouTuber robbed of $18,000, 14-year Lego collection

Strangers are stepping up to help a YouTuber rebuild his Lego collection after thieves made off with thousands of dollars worth of Lego sets and destroyed years of his hard work.

The YouTuber, who goes by republicattak, is known for his intricate videos of elaborate Star Wars Lego sets. On Friday, he took his 12,000 subscribers by surprise when he posted a video simply titled "bye."

In it, the red-faced and visibly distressed YouTuber tells his fans that he has just come home from a work trip to find that burglars have stolen and destroyed his sets. "I don't know what I'm going to do," he says, holding back tears. "It really was my passion... that's the end of this channel."

The heartbreaking video drew the attention of Reddit, where it got more than 80,000 upvotes. Redditors quickly began to offer help, with some saying they would be happy to donate their own Lego sets to help him rebuild his collection.

Republicattak had been collecting Lego for 14 years and making videos on YouTube for eight, according to a GoFundMe page. He estimates he lost at least $18,000 in Lego, according to fellow YouTuber Ryan McCullough, who started the campaign on his behalf.

"I really felt alone when I discovered the robbery, and decided to make a video to express and 'release' myself to a handful of people knowing what it means... I'm really surprised by how compassionate you guys are and didn't expected anything like that. I don't know how to react," republicattak wrote in a tweet.

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Others began calling on Lego to get involved and make donations of their own.

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When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Lego said, "we are currently in dialogue with him and will explore how we might be able to support him in this situation."

The GoFundMe campaign beat its initial goal of $1,000 in less than two hours, where reublicanattack's fans are also sharing words of encouragement.

"As far as I can tell the only purpose of this crime was to punish Republicattak for having something special about him that was gentle, and creative, and unguarded," wrote a fan named Sean Treanor.

"It's an attack on the very idea that men are allowed to be anything but the kinds of miserable brutes who perpetrate these crimes. Please don't let them put you in the prison they are in, stay different."

Mashable reached out to Lego for comment. We'll update this post accordingly once we hear back.

Updated with statement from Lego.