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 Winter Village Collection 10308: Holiday Main Street – Wintertime Retail Therapy [Review]

It’s Christmas time again! Well, nearly. On October 7th (October 3rd for VIPs) you can pick up a copy of this year’s expansion to the Winter Village Collection, Icons 10308 Holiday Main Street for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99!  This 1514 piece set is designed for up to four people to work on it at once – a nice way to bring folks together for the holidays. But will it be any fun for them? Read on to see what we think of this year’s retail therapy!

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

You light up my life

LEGO has released a lot of 1:1 real-world items lately, and if you’re willing to collect them all, you’re well on your way back to a vintage workspace. You’ve got a typewriter and a globe, and even a lunchbox if you’re so inclined. But you’re still on your own if you want to keep working after dark. Builder Castor Troy, in collaboration with builder Max Brich, have found a solution, though. This art-deco inspired lamp is wired with LED lights to shine through that Tiffany-style lampshade. The solid base has just enough detailing to suggest metalwork, which carries up nicely into the delicate curves formed from LEGO plant elements and tubing in the lamp stand proper. It certainly fooled me into thinking this was an antique at first glance, anyway.

LEGO Ideas - LED Lamp

Sadly, this is only an idea at present, as those stained glass bits consist of parts LEGO hasn’t released in transparent colors. But, in the meantime, we can take our inspiration and make our own forays into custom building. In fact, we’ve got a lot to offer in our archives if Art Deco is your thing.

All that glitters is cottage cheese

For centuries, scientists have labored in vain trying to turn lead into gold. Builder martin.with.bricks remembers the next best thing – Just turn gold into cottage cheese instead! And thanks to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his lab assistant Beaker, today we can do just that. In this lovely tribute, Martin has recreated the classic Muppet Labs, complete with a variety of equipment, technical readouts, and a big set of windows to open in case of fire. (Like that ever happens in Muppet Labs…) I like how just the shape of some of the LEGO elements is enough to transform them into science-ready glassware. Those “minifigure action pose” 1×1 modified plates in the foreground feel right at home, as does that 1×1 with center bar in the background. It’s a set up for comedy gold cottage cheese all right.

Muppet Labs - Where the future is being made today!

If you don’t remember this particular experiment, we have you covered thanks to a handy YouTube link. It’s also worth a look!

Check out this great entry from our archives if you prefer your Muppet scientists brick-built!

Vend your way to happiness

If you’re looking for love, or looking for great part usage, Ted Andes  has you covered – provided you can cut through those plastic clam shells. The concept of using window panes for packaging been kicking around the LEGO community for a while, but the inclusion of DOTS printed tiles gives the whole idea a bit of a boost. Emmet sure seems to think so, anyway.

"♪♫ I'm just a love machine ♪♫ ..."

And if you prefer your vending machines to dispense candy, well, do I have the build for you…

LEGO VIP 5007331 – Retro Tin Lunchbox: Vintage 1965 sandwich not included, thankfully [Review]

The LEGO VIP program’s reward center continues to be a roller coaster of ups and downs. We still had a few points left on our account, so we picked up the latest bit of non-brick swag up for offer – the VIP 5007331 Retro Tin Lunchbox. This blast from the past is available now, one-per-account, for 2500 points (US | CAN | UK). Is it worth the equivalent of a $20 US discount? Read on and see what we thought!

Have we developed a tin allergy?

How would you like it if someone picked YOUR apples?

Hungry? Me too. But this crab from Patrick Biggs doesn’t care about just how tasty that apple looks. None for you! Maybe try talking to that little pink frog…they might have some sway with the big grey crustacean custodian. On the building front, I like Patrick’s construction in the pincers and legs. The grey of the armor plating offsets the stark white of the tree bark and the green of the foliage. Plus, pink frog. Gotta love that.

The Crab Apple Guardian

There are plenty of other treats in our archives if you’re still feeling crabby.

That’s one beautifully arranged hat

Feeling crabby? Maybe this this cutie from Matt Goldberg can lift your mood. This creative crustacean has all the great organic shaping you’d want and is topped with a lovely bouquet of greenery. Is it the aquatic equivalent of an FTD delivery person? A decorator crab doing its best to camouflage itself? Perhaps this is prom night and the corsage was overzealous. Whatever the case, I adore this fun build.

Unpotted Crab

If you’re still crabby, though, there are plenty more critters in our archives!

A cheery cherry crab

This Sakura Crab by Sandro Quattrini lives up to its name. Not only are there cherry blossoms on the crustacean’s shell, that cherry color carries over to the anthropomorphic critter itself. I love the construction in the eyes, and the quarter-circle tile used on the legs. The mouth is also pretty cool, with minifigure arms making perfect mandibles. The greens of the lily pad offsets the red, making this unusual crab a bit more integrated with nature, too.

Sakura Crab

There’s a lot of fun crab builds happening in the LEGO community these days. Why not add your own into the mix? We have plenty of inspiration in our archives!

I think I’ll have the Butter Burger with Brick Cheese.

There are a lot of important questions facing the world right now. One that keeps coming up in particular is “Who’s hungry?” Steven Stelter has a suggestion: Maybe you should head to Culver’s for a burger and shake combo. This brick-built beauty beacons you from the highway to delight in the realistic ductwork on the roof, the colorful brickwork, and the custom stickers that ensure you know just where you’ll be blowing that diet of yours.

LEGO Culvers

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A break from the heat

Nothing feels nicer in the depths of summer than a glimpse of a snowy landscape. Jake Hansen (Mountain Hobbit) leads us to Winter’s Gate, an early seasonal treat.  Filled with great techniques like mostly connected candles to form bamboo poles, inset cheese-wedge designs, and unusual angles, this build rewards you the closer you look. Case in point: that weathered staff the figure is holding is made from an umbrella and a minifigure hand. How many of you missed that at first glance?

Winter's Gate

If you want more cold-weather relief, our Winter tag is here for you.

LEGO 75340 Star Wars Advent Calendar for 2022 – Where life is a snowy, sandy beach [Review]

Christmas still seems a long ways off, but merchandising has never cared much about that. And sometimes you need to make sure you have stuff on hand before the season starts! That’s the case with Advent Calendars, anyway. If you pick one up mid-December you’re really late to the party. So maybe it’s a good thing that LEGO has revealed the 75340 Star Wars Advent Calendar now. You know, so we can prepare.

This 329 piece set will be available September 1st from the LEGO Shop Online for US $49.99 | CAN $59.99 | UK £29.99. We’ll still be doing our annual daily Advent reveals in December, but if you don’t mind spoilers you can see all the goodies inside this calendar right now!

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.

Seasonal spoilers ahead!