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

LEGO Icons 10307 – Eiffel Tower: Say Bonjour to the tallest and second largest LEGO set ever [Review]

LEGO recently revealed their latest entry into their Icons theme – the LEGO Icons 10307 Eiffel Tower. This massive set has 10,001 pieces (making it the second highest part count behind the 31203 World Map mosaic), and at 149 cm / 58″, stands as the tallest LEGO set ever. It will be available from the LEGO Shop Online starting November 25th for US $629.99 | CAN $799.99 | UK £554.99. We’ve been fortunate enough to get to look at an early copy, so come along as we build this key piece of the Paris skyline!

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

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Man of the (Acro)year

This one gets me right in the feels. Growing up, I didn’t have any LEGO to play with…but I did have just about every Micronauts toy ever produced. SPARKART! has re-created one of the great characters – Acroyear – in LEGO action figure form. Making great use of Mixel ball joints, this warrior is super articulated and ready for battle. Aircraft tail fins match up perfectly with the classic helmet’s shaping, and those big chunky feet are super fashionable and provide some great stability to boot.

Be sure to check our archives for more retro goodness!

LEGO Build Every Day and the Master Builder Notebook – When you choose paper instead of plastic [Review]

Master Model Builder Alec Posta has teamed up with Chronicle Books to share some tips for tapping into the power of LEGO bricks. No, not in a “power a clock with a potato” sense, but more like “how to power through real life issues using LEGO as a source of inspiration.” Build Every Day is available from Amazon for $13.99 US, and the companion Master Builder Notebook can be had for $13.60 US. Read along as we take a look inside both books and see just what they have to offer!

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick a copy of these books for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

A book report? On Brothers Brick? It’s more likely than you think.

An outpost from the past

This Pioneer Outpost by Ayrlego recycles the cabin from an earlier north-western themed build and a tower from an even earlier effort. Builders enhancing their earlier works is nothing new, but even recognizing the “seed builds” doesn’t diminish the achievement here. The cabin is now elevated well above the water line, fully integrated into a dense forest of greenery. Are those pink flamingos lawn ornaments or actual wildlife? Maybe one of each? But look beyond those pops of color and you can find great details like the vine on the roof – that looks like a cut up sprue from around the 3-leaf LEGO plant element. That’s some unusual part usage – and a great way to recycle.

Love immersive scenes like this? Check out our achieves for more vignette goodness!

The siege of Old Bay was entering the sixth week when the crabs came calling.

Siege weapons are cool and all, but Aidan Hayward adds some much needed flavor by infusing a trebuchet with the great taste of crab. A great meld of system and Hero Factory armor, this crustacean crusher has pincers for pinchin’ when the going gets tough. There are fun construction touches to be found, too, like the minifigure head and bandanna that help give the crab a suitably grumpy expression on either side of the black hot dog eyestalks. The shell-mounted rock-hurler is pretty nice, too, with a heavy looking grey counterweight ready to toss what looks like an enormous pearl (a silver Technic ball) at whoever is unwise enough to stand in the way.

Does this build inspire the seafood lover in you? Check out what’s going on under the sea in our crab archives.

Benny’s Mecha, Mecha, MECHA!

Alternate realities are all the rage these days. Consider, for example, the variant reality where Benny (the lovable 1980’s Spaceman from The LEGO Movie) was fixated on robots instead of spaceships. Psyro TtunTomato has been peering into this timeline and brings us a stunning rendition of Benny’s Titan Mech. The classic space blues and greys are there, as is the transparent yellow canopy we know to expect. But check out that arm rocket – a clear tribute to the 897 Mobile Rocket Launcher. I also love how Benny’s Space Squad is still ready to lend a helping hand as the ground crew. There are a lot of great construction techniques on display here – I’m particularly fond of the design on the feet and hands. Even the display stand is an interesting build, with integrated LEGO ingot elements creating a smooth-yet-greebled texture. I’d love to see this one animated…have they finalized the script for The LEGO Movie 3 yet?

Classic Space Nostalgia runs high in our archive, too. A plethora of great Neo-Classic Space builds are just a click away!

Babba Yaga’s Cottage in a convenient snack size

One of the most fun mythical homes has to be the cottage of Babba Yaga. A rickety old shack perched on giant chicken legs…what’s not to love? Corvus Auriac has created a digital build of this Slavic landmark in microscale that’s rife with great part usage. From the Wolverine claws for chicken feet, to the One Ring providing edging to the attic window, to the Ninjago serpent as a plume of smoke, there are fun details everywhere you look. I’m also fond of the minifigure epaulette tree, a technique we’ve seen in some of Covus’ other works. And, as a nice perk for a digital build – all of these parts exist in the real world, too.

Our archives have you covered if you’re looking for more LEGO-folklore, including a minifigure scale version of Babba Yaga’s cottage. Go take a look!

I’m Lupin’ you in on some wisdom.

This great character build of Lupin III by Rokan Cheung is titled 自分で決めなきゃ明日は開かれねぇんだぜ, which Google tells me translates to “If you don’t decide by yourself, tomorrow won’t open.” (This YouTube clip shows the delivery of the line, I think.) Pretty profound. And in addition we can admire the great LEGO design work and part usage at play. This is not a tiny build – the 1×2 gold ingot used as a tie bar gives a sense of scale. The graceful shaping of the hands and limbs are echoed by the clean lines of the couch. The character’s expression is also pretty clever, with a friction ram bar creating the perfect smirk.

Be sure to check our archives for more great manga and anime themed builds!

Not too windy for you back there, is it?

Way back in the day, automobiles offered some additional capacity by adding a folding seat into the rear of the car. These were called “Rumble seats”…or, perhaps more descriptively, “Mother-in-law Seats”. K P showcases the downsides of outdoor seating with a brick-built wonder straight from the 1930’s. There are great building touches like the sleek hard top roof and ample headlights, but it’s their use of a minifigure “action stand” to show the effects of too much wind in the hair that really makes this one stand out to me. Good thing that umbrella is still closed, or we’d be in for a real Mary Poppins moment.

If this moment from the past appeals to you, check out our archives for more antique roadster goodness.

Icon see what you did there: these LEGO versions of Elvis, Freddie, and Michael Jackson are amazing!

When it comes to iconic rock stars, there are few as easily recognizable Elvis, Freddie Mercury, and Michael Jackson. And now, talented builder Dan Ko has taken those memorable personas and transformed them into miniature LEGO statues. These tiny titans combine instant name-recognition with very clever part usage. For example, check out the ingots forming Elvis’ sideburns, the yellow handlebars in Freddie’s jacket, and the white croissants as Mike’s arms – clever stuff!

If you’re interested in building your own set of these, instructions will be available for purchase starting October 15th as part of 2022’s Creations for Charity drive. But while you wait, be sure to check out our archives for more musical goodness!

There seems to be a wolf at the door.

Drawing inspiration from author Xavier Liras and illustrator Alexander Shatohin, builder Andrea Lattanzio shares a tense moment as the Guardian of the Abyss lowers himself into the jaws of the mythical wolf, Fenrir. There are great details throughout this immersive LEGO scene, as well as some innovative building techniques. I particularly like the shaping of the olive-green fir tree, the use of cloth elements for roof patches, and the use of a minifigure accessory molding sprue for the doorknob. The wolf emerging from the mists is also worth a close look, with a yellow gear-shift base for an eye and a maw full of pointy teeth.

We’ve featured several great building-centric scenes from Andrea in the past. Why not check them out?

Does it still count as Microscale when it’s this big?

We’ve been watching Christophe Pujaletplaa’s LEGO Microville grow for a while now. We featured it first in 2019, and then revisited progress about a year later. But Christophe wasn’t done, and it’s time to take a stroll through this tiny metropolis and see what’s happening today.

Dip into the diminutive downtown below…