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

The frog prince of wails

The story of the frog prince has been updated many times over the years. Maybe in this LEGO version by Ivan Marynov the prince has just realized that social distancing is going to make smooching a princess a lot more difficult. Whatever the case, this is certainly an expressive frog. A golden crown from the 2006 Knight’s Kingdom II theme is all that remains of this fellow’s past, and a bit of red cloth forms the interior of the gaping mouth. But for me it’s the eyes (yellow radar dishes surrounded by tires) that really get the horror of the moment across. I also like the Technic ball joints used for the toes. The tiny fly(ing) magic user is also full of fun part usage. From the blue wizard hat to the Parademon wings, this little fellow clearly wasn’t someone to mess with.

You know, sometimes existential angst is just darn cute.

Ivan’s other featured creations aren’t quite as adorable, but you should still check them out!

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It’s nice to be outside

We’ll all anxious to get out and about again, and LEGO builder Andrew (CRCT Productions) has found a safe way to do that. Well, depending on your definition of “safe.” I suppose there’s a certain amount of risk in getting up to the International Space Station. And more risk deciding to go on a spacewalk from there. But you have to admit the risk of catching COVID-19 at that point is pretty low.

Designed in a scant eight hours, this creation shines with quality greebling. An abundance of grey ski poles, binoculars, and 1×1 round flower plates add texture, complemented by a heavy use of 1×2 cheese tile and curved slope. And it may be an obvious thing, but I also like how the astronauts are posed to be floating rather than attached to the surfaces by their feet. It adds some nice context to the build.

Okay. So this is obviously a depiction of a spacewalk. But did anyone else also think that this was a photo-realistic LEGO camera? Just for a second? I can’t be the only one…

A flight of digital fantasy

At The Brothers Brick, we tend to like LEGO digital models that adhere to some constraints. In general, the build should be something that would be possible in the real world. Oh, the scale can be huge, the parts gleefully recolored, but it needs to be…possible. But every now and again a creation comes along that breaks the rules in just the right ways. Inspired by a real-world build by Patrick Biggs for a Bionicle contest back in 2007, LEGO artist Marko Petrušić (Cezium) has created a digital re-imagining of Temperance that doesn’t rely on legal LEGO connections or that pesky law of gravity. Dragon heads are layered to form majestic wings, and a gold-toned tire serves as a halo. Yeah, this digital build may not be possible in reality, but that’s how it goes with mystical beings sometimes.

Be sure to check out Marko’s other featured LEGO creations for even more fights of fantasy and wonder.

A bright spot in the wasteland

Not every image of the post-apocalypse world has to be Mad Max-inspired bleakness. Builder Mountain Hobbit brings a bit of light and color to the wasteland two thousand years from now with their build New Babel. Graceful, densely packed microscale towers make for a great place to spend the end times. I particularly like the use of purple modified angle tiles in the exterior wall. Also neat is seeing the backside of the yellow tooth plates in the towers. And it may be a drab grey, but the use of a stud shooter housings in the domed towers is clever.

Yeah, this looks like a great place to visit. But being post-apocalypse and all, you might not want to live there. If you’re looking for other scenic destinations, be sure to check out some of Mountain Hobbit’s other idyllic builds.

LEGO Star Wars Brick Sketches: 40391 First Order Stormtrooper and 40431 BB-8 [Review]

LEGO Brick Sketches are a new collectible series of brick-built portraits of popular characters intended for display, not play. Slated to be available July 15, they will retail for US $19.99 | EU €19.99 each. We’ve already taken a look at the LEGO DC Brick Sketches characters in the first wave, and today we’ll check out the Star Wars sketches. Are 40391 Brick Sketches: First Order Stormtrooper and 40431 Brick Sketches: BB-8 worth the price point, and do they have any appeal for the larger LEGO market?

Click to read the full hands-on review

Forget Murder Hornets. Here come the Penguins.

I’ll admit I’ve always been a bit of a pessimist. 2020 hasn’t exactly done much to curb that point of view. And maybe I’m just being alarmist. But it sure feels like MSIndustries creating weaponry for penguins is a bad idea. Oh, sure, from a LEGO standpoint this is a great thing. The “Penguin Ice Pistol” is sized perfectly for a flipper, and has great retro sci-fi styling. The “Penguin Communicator” has a great cheese-slope mosaic display and some unusual part usage including Brickheadz glasses and a push bumper. And that pouch of fish may be just a display piece (considering the parts aren’t actually connected) but it’s clever and packed full of protein.

So I’ll try and be optimistic about things. Maybe it’ll be a good thing to welcome our new Penguin Overlords. And if not, well, their weapons are made of LEGO so they’ll be easy to take apart, at least.

LEGO 40386 & 40428 Brick Sketches: Batman and The Joker [Review]

LEGO Brick Sketches are a new collectible series of brick-built portraits of popular characters. A departure from the standard “building toy” concept, but in many respects similar to the collectibility angle of LEGO BrickHeadz, these are small pieces of art meant to be hung on the wall or displayed on a shelf. Slated to be available July 15, they will retail for US $19.99 | EU €19.99 each. The first four sets in the series are split between DC and Star Wars characters, and this time we’ll take a close look at the two comic book offerings, 40386 Brick Sketches: Batman and 40428 Brick Sketches: The Joker.

Click to read the full hands-on review

Something to ponder

I’m old enough to remember when things were simpler, and LEGO Tensegrity builds were all the rage. This sculpture from Bendrig evokes the calm and peaceful state of a nearly forgotten age. Arch bricks and curved slopes create an organic trunk, and there’s just the right amount of foliage. I also like the simplicity of the two-tone base where a layer of loose 1×1 round plate makes for a nice zen-garden feel.

It’s nice just to take a break and ponder the natural levitation of this sculpture. Maybe one day more things will be in balance like this.

A Bomb Diggity Mech

Italian LEGO builder Marcoi Marozzi is back with another mechanical marvel. This time it’s the AK Bomber Mech, a lumbering beast in earth tones that looks ready for just about anything. Like most of Marco’s creations there are custom stickers and a wealth of creative part usage. This go round I had easy victories recognizing Kakama Bionicle masks for shoulder armor, and Bionicle shields in the torso. But those funky curved brown bits in the legs threw me. Tuns out they’re Belville horse saddles. Now that is an unusual part.

If you like this mech, be sure to check out some of Marco’s other amazing robotic builds.

Here’s a story...

Today’s tough times have a lot of us thinking that the past was a soooo much nicer place to live in. That’s probably true in some cases. But things were tough in ye olden days of the early 1970s, too. I mean, what if you were a couple of single parents who found themselves facing complex family dynamics? Like where are you supposed to fit six kids and a maid in a small California home? Yes, dear reader, I’m talking about the troubles faced by the The Brady Bunch. Aaron Newman has built a super-accurate rendition of the famous TV dwelling out of LEGO brick, and brought all those sitcom troubles back into the forefront of my mind.

But first, let’s take a moment to admire this LEGO recreation. The layout and shaping are painstakingly accurate to the house as it appeared on the show. I like the use of angled plates and tiles to minimize the seams between the three segments of the roof. The choice of mixing in just a few exposed studs adds a nice bit of texture there without overpowering the eye. The real highlights for me, though, are plants and trees that decorate the lot. The three palm trees on the right are particularly nice, using clip-ended bar holders to allow for a gentle sway away from rigid angles. I also want to call out the spiky pant base in dark orange in the shrubbery.

If you want more information about the build, including a look at the back yard, I suggest swinging by Aaron’s own write up of the build. And if you want to learn more about Aaron? Well, then you can check out the relevant Brothers Brick builder spotlight. But let me also leave you with one thought to ponder. The dad on the show, Mike Brady, was an architect, right? That job pulls down pretty decent pay. Why the heck didn’t he just buy a bigger house? I guess that really does show times were tough back then, too.

Getting ready for some historic driving

Like most hobbies, once you start to learn about LEGO you find that there can be a shocking amount of complexity behind just about every aspect. Sure, you can just sit back and enjoy the great photography and clever building that Faber Mandragore accomplished with Roadster Hot Rod. But let’s dig a little and peer into those murky depths. We can start out easy; the air filter in the car is a neck ruffle. An unusual choice, in that the element originated in the Collectible minifigure theme. Those sure look like steering wheels repurposed as the front wheel rims, inside tires introduced in 1959 and not produced since 1977. And is that a bucket handle forming the steering wheel? Each of these parts has a history in other sets and contexts that’s there if you want to go looking for it.

But the deepest cut of LEGO history? Those exposed orange-ish bricks in the background are Modulex. Those are tiny architectural planning bricks that LEGO spun off as a side line back in the 1960s. Incorporating them into a standard LEGO creation is never easy, but it’s done here in a seamless fashion. Well, neglecting that the seams between the bricks are what helps unify the whole wall, anyway. *sigh* You know what I mean.

LEGO 71703 Ninjago Legacy: Storm Fighter Battle [Review]

The LEGO Ninjago theme has been around for nearly a decade and spans over 50 released sets. The “Legacy” sub-theme is LEGO’s way of bringing back classic Ninjago offerings, which is usually a win for both new and old fans. The summer 2020 set 71703 Storm Fighter Battle is interesting in that it’s a Legacy version of a Legacy set. In 2019 we got 70668 Jay’s Storm Fighter, the reissue of 2012’s 9442 Jay’s Storm Fighter. But this 2020 version is a “4+” simplified build, making this a very different take on the vehicle. This set also comes with Serpentine Quad bike (likely a call back to 2012’s 9445 Fangpyre Truck Ambush) and a temple holding the Sword of Fire. The set’s 165 pieces are rounded out by three minifigures: Kai, Jay, and Lasha. This set became available on June 1st, and retails for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99. Is this “juniorized” version worth the price or time? Read on to see what we thought!

Click to read the full hands-on review