About Chris Doyle

Chris has been involved in many parts of the LEGO community for over twenty years, and has been building most of his life. A love of transparent bricks and pop culture combine in most of his creations, which tend to be pretty large scale. His website, Reasonably Clever, featured one of the longest running brick-based webcomics, as well as one of the first LEGO-themed avatar creators. His photographs and creations have appeared in several books.

Posts by Chris Doyle

Mazingering into NoVVember

The twin-forked Vic Vipers are back, and Shannon Sproule joins this year’s November fleet with an amazing Mazinger-inspired craft. The bold color choices make for a great retro feel, but the real treat is that golden canopy – a custom part created by using a Molotow Liquid Chrome pen on the existing LEGO element. There’s also the subtle choice to use “classic grey” 2×2 round brick in the front forks as a color variation. What a great mix of the old and new!

Looking for other great Vic Vipers? Check out our NoVVember tag!

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Tankducken is more dangerous than deep-fat frying

With the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner in the US, it’s time for a quick PSA about deep-fat frying your turkey. If you fill the fryer with too much oil, or don’t make sure your turkey is entirely thawed and dried, you could be working with a recipe for disaster. But that’s not the most dangerous fowl-related thing we’ve encountered. No, that has to be the Tankducken by Michael Kautzer. This massive meal is a twist on the culinary “Turducken” concept – a duck stuffed into a chicken stuffed into a turkey. Yes, inside this single-tread, carrot-firing war machine are two feathered pilots.

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It’s a trap! Wait...that’s a different movie. (But it’s still a trap.)

Ah, that sweet spot between Cosplay and LEGO creativity. Brent Waller has built the perfect 1:1 scale Ghostbusters trap – and it looks just amazing! All details from the movie prop have been accurately recreated, including the various knobs, switches, and even opening trap doors. Side by side with the actual thing, you’d have to look twice to be sure you didn’t end up facing Slimer with a ABS plastic replica.

It incorporates a few “Non-purist” elements, like tape for the warning stripes…and LED lights for when the trap is sprung. Yes, this is far more than just a static prop. You’re in for a treat, as Brent has documented all the secrets in a great video!

Read on to check out the video!

LEGO Ninjago 71756 Hydro Bounty – Turns out everything is better under the sea [Review]

There’s been a lot of focus lately on the massive 10294 Titanic, but did you know LEGO has also released a lot of things that also deal with nautical themes? Why, there’s even a whole season of LEGO Ninjago shows and sets devoted to that sort of thing! The flagship of the Seabound sub-theme is LEGO Ninjago 71756 Hydro Bounty – a 1159 piece set available now from the LEGO Shop Online for US $129.99 | CAN $169.99 | UK £119.99. It has a whopping ten minifigures, a giant submarine packed with surprises, and even a fun twist on a Stingray muscle car. Sound too good to be true? Read on and judge for yourself!

Click to read the full hands-on review

LEGO City 30370 Ocean Diver – A polybag that was manta be [Review]

LEGO is known for releasing some very massive (and expensive) sets – a World Map, the Colosseum, and even the Titanic. But there’s another scale to consider – the polybag. Small, affordable sets that span the range of micro-vehicles to minifigure-based adventures. While these polybags are a little too compact for our usual in-depth reviews, they still deserve their day in the sun. So come along as we explore a recent offering – LEGO City 30370 Ocean Diver. Available briefly as a gift with purchase directly from LEGO, this set also had limited availability in other retail outlets.

Click to read the full hands-on review

Something Something Squid Game

I’m a big fan of science fiction builds that are more useful than military. BetaNotus has found that sweet spot with their creation Cuttlefish Speeder. This adorable aid for “the fisherman of the future” makes great use of Technic panels to create a streamlined shape, with tan telescope accessories making for an intriguing front grille. The touch of creepy from the Hidden Side 1×1 round eye tiles completes the look, making you wonder if this isn’t also a biomechanical treat. If so, that fisherman might want to feed it more…it’s looking cranky.

I know Cuttlefish and Octopuses aren’t the same thing, but if you’re looking for more tentacle-y goodness, check out our Octopus archives!

Cleaning up after Halloween

It was with sadness that we leave the Halloween season behind us for another year. However, Djokson, at least, seems to be ready to push creepy forward into the more festive holidays. In Harvest, they have taken creative part usage into new levels of disturbing. An old Scala figure, a Bionicle air pump, and a Matrix-inspired, ball jointed, creeping terror give a new twist to “hung by the chimney with care.”

Not ready to hang your Christmas lights just yet? Why not linger a little while in our Horror tag.

Maybe it’s a Donut Shop franchise.

I think it’s cool when LEGO builders are inspired to take elements of existing sets and spin them into their own creations. Alex Eylar began by surgically removing the Donut Shop from the 10278 Police Station, striving to keep the modular aspects intact. They then added an adorable bookstore to make the place even more inviting. It feels like the perfect corner to spend a chilly autumn morning exploring. Even if the replication of the Donut Shop suggests it’s more of a chain than a mom-and-pop operation.

The interior of the bookshop is worth a closer look, too. Can you almost smell the scent of used books mingling with the baking from next door? I know I can.

I was amused to find we had a tag for “donut” already – why not take a moment and check out how to make a donut from LEGO bricks? (Probably not how you’re thinking.)

LEGO Technic DC – 42127 The Batman Batmobile – Budget Black Beauty Brings Bat-itude [Review]

You may remember that in the classic “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells” Christmas carol, the Batmobile plays a vital role when it loses a wheel. Well, LEGO is leaning heavily into making sure that Bat-fans have that opportunity this holiday season. We recently reviewed the latest incarnation of the Tumbler, set 76240, which will be available November 1st. But why stop there? Also on November 1st (in north America – January 1st worldwide), LEGO will release a second version based on the upcoming The Batman movie. LEGO Technic DC – 42127 The Batman Batmobile is available for pre-order now from the LEGO Shop Online for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99. This 1360 piece set is priced to tempt a wider audience, but does it hold up to the other bat-offerings? Read on and see for yourself!

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Click to read the full hands-on review

LEGO Ideas 21330 Home Alone House: The largest Ideas set ever is packed with movie references [Review]

Just in time for the holidays, LEGO has unveiled a set based on the classic Christmas-time film, Home Alone. 21330 Home Alone House is the 38th entry in the Ideas theme, and will be available November 1st for US $249.99 | CAN $349.99 | UK £229.99. At a whopping 3957 pieces, it even beats out the massive 21323 Grand Piano in terms of part count, becoming the largest Ideas set to date. In addition to the titular home, the are also five exclusive minifigures and plenty of other extras. Come along as we find out just how many movie references you can cram into a single set. (Spoiler alert: It’s a lot.)

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Click to read the full hands-on review

What? I just want to shake your hand!

It was nearly a year ago that Faber Mandragore released the first version of their Jäger Mobilanzug into the wild. Since then there have been some quality design upgrades – this mech suit has been “re-armed” with enormous and hefty claws instead of the previous arm cannon. Range attacks are apparently still possible with that new shoulder-mounted gun, but it’s obvious this mech is now ready for more in-your-face mayhem. I particularly like the use of Technic gears in the shoulder assembly.

The opening cockpit and driver are also worth calling out. The functional feel of this build makes me wish that the smaller LEGO-released Mechs were half as formidable.

Faber isn’t limited to just reimagining old builds, though. Take a stroll through their other featured creations to really get a feel for what this artist is capable of!

This Octonauts Octoray is Octonuts

The LEGO fan community goes in deep with giant space vehicles in SHIPtember. Adam Dodge, however, has taken a couple of interesting twists on the theme by going with a ship that’s not only super-wide rather than super-long, but also super-underwater. Based on the adorable animated adventures of the Octonauts, this is one studly tribute to the Octoray craft. The lines are crisp and clean, the wing-based turbines are spot-on, and the transparent cylinders used for the front windows are a really nifty solution. Even better, this Adam build this vehicle as treat for his son. That adds a big dollop of “awww” on top of the “wow”.

Are you looking for more undersea adventures? Check out other featured submarines!