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 Marvel Avengers Taskmaster’s Ambush 77905 exclusive available at Amazon [News]

LEGO Marvel Avengers Taskmaster’s Ambush 77905 Exclusive Black Widow Movie Building Kit, previously rumored to be the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive for 2020, is currently available at Amazon in the US, although we’re hearing it’s already sold out in other countries. Get ’em while they’re hot!

Update: It appears to be out of stock at the moment, but we’ve seen it come in and out of stock a few times today, so it’s worth keeping an eye on it if you haven’t gotten one yet.

Here are some set details from the product listing:

- Capture Marvel Studios’ Black Widow movie action forever with the LEGO Marvel Avengers Taskmaster’s Ambush (77905) play-and-display superhero construction toy
- Includes Black Widow, Taskmaster and exclusive Red Guardian minifigures, a buildable 6-wheel monster truck plus cool weapons and accessories
- The scene depicts an epic battle from Marvel Studios’ Black Widow movie; The vehicle detaches for imaginative play, then reattaches to the baseplate to create an eye-catching display
- For ages 7 and up, this LEGO Marvel Avengers building playset makes a great birthday, holiday or ‘just because’ gift for kids
- The iconic characters are captured in a striking display piece that will appeal to Black Widow fans of all ages and attract interest from all who see it

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A “Panda-emic” is a thing, right?

We take a break from spooky builds and space ships to share some lovely family imagery from Vincent Kiew. These panda bears are super adorable, super emotive, and superbly constructed. It’s rare to see BrickHeadz eyes in such a realistic depiction of animals, and yet they seem the perfect fit here. I love how the shaping of the adult and cub are each unique, but use many of the same parts to unify the build. The green bamboo shoots add just the right pop of color, too.

Turns out they’re also fun to accessorize. This is the Mario crossover the world needs right now.

As a bonus, these pandas are also have a good level of articulation, allowing for even more expressive photo ops.

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Something strange in your neighborhood

Maybe it’s not the most stealthy LEGO mech ever built, but Marin Stipković has created a truly spooky machine, none the less. Ghostlord’s Ghoul Mech and Minions adds a new element to the mix: Glow in the dark parts. You may see it coming, but it may still be the last thing you’ll ever see. Marin has also shared a cool 3-D view with the lights on. You know, for comparison’s sake.

This is Marin’s latest entry for Mech Monday. If you’ve been inspired to get involved, there’s a Flickr group with more information.

An unexpected Ocean’s 8 reboot

LEGO makes a lot of really unique parts these days, and it can be a challenge to incorporate into your own creations. Well, provided you’re not Grantmasters, that is. Interesting parts are just part of the charm of this storybook-ready scene. There are big cowboy hats, cupcakes and hairpieces from the Trolls sets, and even shoes ripped from Belville figures. My favorite bit has to be the minifigure hand forming the ponytail for the princess. Everything is just so cute, and you just want to learn more about this heist.

I’m sure Grantmasters is already in negotiations with Disney+ for a new streaming series. And if this isn’t the story they decide to option, maybe they’ll pick another creation.

Come and Play! LEGO Ideas 123 Sesame Street (21324) [Review]

If you were lucky, part of your pre-school experience was spending quality time learning from the humans and fuzzy monsters on Sesame Street. If you’re like me, you found a friend in Cookie Monster, sang along with Ernie and Bert, and wished you could take a nap in Big Bird’s nest. If you’re younger than me, then you might have spent time in Elmo’s world. No matter your age, they were good times, to be sure. The latest Ideas set from LEGO, 123 Sesame Street (21324), gives us a new chance to revisit old friends, and maybe make some new ones along the way. This 1,368-piece set will be available directly from LEGO.com and from LEGO stores starting November 1 for US $119.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £109.99. The Brothers Brick was sent an early copy to review, and we’re eager to explore it with you. So come along, and let’s see who are the people in your neighborhood!

Click to read the full hands-on review

We’ve trained for this.

Recently, we’ve featured quite a few LEGO builds based on the 9V Train Track switch element. Those were some mighty fine builds. Some might even call them transformative. But Librarian-Bot has taken the idea of “Train Switches” in an unforeseen direction with Switchback. This sinister-looking Decepticon is ready to take you for the last ride you’ll ever go on. I particularly like the way the hands are constructed – they add a delicate, almost surgical feel to an otherwise bulky robot.

In train mode Switchback completely hides any robotic nature – and even works on standard LEGO track. It’s a sharp-looking engine build that makes good use of tile and curved slope elements to provide just the right level of real-world detail.

If you’re ready for even more Transformers goodness (and badness) be sure to check our archives!

A very heart-y tree

Spooky builds don’t have to be all black to get their point across. Anthony Wilson has created a LEGO-based human-tree hybrid called the Aortis Bloom that instead leans into the crimson side of the spectrum. The medically-inclined among us might not even find it creepy – the heart is just a biological necessity, after all. The twisting veins and arteries made from dinosaur tail elements may be a little disquieting, but they’re also very vital to good health. And the blood-red and dark-blue leaves suggest the flowing of oxygen through the system. I’m not sure what those little bits of “fruit” are supposed to represent, though. And just what is the tree sitting in? Dirt? Dried blood? And while really elegant looking, I think that table is actually evil, too. (Just trust me on that.)

If you’d like your October to be a bit more direct with the disquieting images, just take a scroll through our horror archives.

The cards you were dealt

A jack and an ace. In blackjack, this is a winning hand. In the hands of Ivan Martynov? They’re something a bit more scary. The Jack of Clubs, here, is full of twisty organic shapes that lure the eye towards the center of this digitally-created image. There you find that the red highlights are actually a demonic figure (Jack, I presume) entwined into the larger club shape. Is Jack on some sort of throne? Are those wings? Is this a torture rack? Ivan doesn’t give us any firm answers. I have a feeling we wouldn’t like them anyway.

But that’s not the only card in this deck. You also get get the Ace of Diamonds. I’m even less sure what’s going on here. But suddenly I’m very glad that some of these parts don’t exist in our reality. Yet.

Ivan excels at creating nightmares out of digital LEGO. Don’t believe me? Go look at our archives.

Here comes the sun (flowers)

It takes a certain sort of madness to take something like a 9V Train track switch element and turn it into something organic like a bunch of sunflowers. But that’s just what Eli Willsea has done. Somehow. I mean, sure, you could start with 40 or so of those train switches. Add some 1×1 round brick in light green. A couple of round plates in brown. But then you have to get really creative: Check out that perfume bottle. Who even knew those 1×1 pyramid slopes came in transparent-clear? They form the perfect texture, making the full image for Eau du Soleil seem like an advertisement in a high-end fashion magazine. It’s just…*chef’s kiss*

This creation is just one of Eli’s entries in the Iron Builder competition. Check our archives for more from the contest.

This dragon will string you along.

LEGO is cool. Puppets are cool. Dragons are cool. Put them all together like Jonas Kramm did? You get something so cool it’s icy. And yet…somehow super hot. Built for the Iron Builder contest, this feisty creature was inspired by the 9V Train track switch element, but I think the coolest bit of NPU (“Nice Part Usage”) has to the the Minifigure Headdresses used to form the dragon’s mouth.

You can see the puppetry in action in Jonas’ Flickr post. And when you’re done there, check out some other cool LEGO puppets that we’ve featured. Maybe you’ll be inspired enough to build your own!

Shine on you crazy diamond (store)

The Enchanted Diamond by Maxim Baybakov is a LEGO ode to “studs not on top” construction. The entire front façade is based on a very clever inversion of arch bricks with lovely insets of 2×2 turntable bases. I’m also fond of the column that flank the lower windows. The unusual texture there is thanks to Technic gearshift connectors. The roof has a great technique as well, with layers of dark blue 2×2 and diagonal tiles forming an intricate pattern. The end result is very upscale, as befits a high-end shop.

Maxim also creates a nice little story with the minifigures – it looks like someone is busy casing the joint. It might be easier to just follow along behind the other folks and pick up their costly litter…

Maxim is well on the way to building the perfect downtown district. The Enchanted Diamond would look great nestled between the barber shop and bookshop.

Hammerspace

The thing I like best about The Brick Artisan‘s space-based creations is the technical backstory worked into each one. The LL-856 Hammerhead is a vehicle of discovery; measuring gravitational and magnetic fields to learn more about planetary bodies. Built firmly in the Neo-Classic Space style, the bold blue of the main hull contrasts nicely with the heavily detailed mechanics in grey. Two parts inspired this build: The yellow canopies, and a blue castle turret.

Seen from the top and bottom, you can appreciate the sheer volume of greebling that adorns this ship. All that detailing makes this ship feel super-functional, even if the implication is that the two pilots can’t stand to be in the same room for very long.

As a final question, does this build remind anyone else of a Benny-fied version of the 70849 Wyld-Mayhem Star Fighter? Just me? Oh well.