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

Bounty Hunting is a complicated profession. So is mosaic building.

There’s a lot to get excited about with regards to Star Wars these days. I admit I was feeling pretty burnt out on the franchise, but then I watched the trailer for the upcoming Mandalorian series. The visuals are nice, but I’ve come to expect that from Disney. The story concept sounds interesting, but I’ve been fooled by story promises before. No, what really gets my blood pumping is hearing my favorite filmmaker, Werner Herzog, utter the line “Bounty hunting is a complicated profession.” Builder Ethen T is also pretty excited for the series, as evidenced by their latest digital mosaic.

Using 4675 pieces, Ethen has managed to capture the dusty, gun-slinging feel of the trailer. A dark tan background grid is the platform for a replica of the Mandalorian’s helmet. The helmet itself is a mixture of tiles and plates, making use of the various shades of grey LEGO has released over the years. There’s even a single piece in white, adding a tiny pop of contrast. It’s the little touches, though, that make this an outstanding build for me. The use of rounded tiles keeps the build from looking boxy, and the orientation of the grille tiles in the center of the helmet convey a sense of motion, drawing the eye to other areas of the build. Bounty hunting may be complicated, but I think Ethen’s mosaic is up there, too.

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Tom Servo and me – a journey, part 1 [Feature]

Hi, my name is Chris Doyle. And I’m an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO). Once upon a time, like 10 years ago, I was a prolific LEGO builder. No, really. I was. I built huge pop culture-inspired builds, took them to shows, and made a little bit of a name for myself in the community. If you’ve been around for a while you might even remember a few of them. I discovered the potential for cheese wedges to create lenticular images. I had one of the first large builds of Serenity from Firefly. I did a lot of Cube Dudes and super-heroes and transparent-brick mosaics.

Two of my proudest creations were 1:1 reproductions of Mystery Science Theater 3000‘s Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo.

They were pretty well received. I won a few awards and even had them signed by series creator Joel Hodgson and members of the cast. And then…life happened. I stopped building. I stopped being involved with LEGO in general, really. Tom and Crow were packed up after their last showing, and more or less forgotten. Despite the hours I spent sorting bulk brick in an attempt to set up a home workshop, I was firmly in my grey age.

But, in the infamous words of Monty Python…“I got better.” This is the story of how Tom Servo (and LEGO) came back into my life. Thanks to timestamps from Twitter, Instagram and metadata from my photos, I can retrace my steps and take you with me on this journey of rediscovery. Warning….it’s a bit long and involved. Really. I mean, note the “Part 1” in the title up there…

See more of Chris’ journey in rebuilding and redesigning Tom Servo.

A balanced approach to drone construction

LEGO builder Markus Rollbühler returns to the Brothers Brick with WheelSpin, a mono-wheel utility drone. Part of the year-long Mech Monday project, WheelSpin is a self-balancing mono-wheel drone with multiple configuration options. The base of the mech is filled with great texturing, with greebles including Technic chain links, hammers, and space blasters. The lime green of the armor creates a nice contrast to the transparent blue of the eye sensor, blade shield, and the shock absorber at the base of the leg.

The industrial version shown here comes complete with a grabbing claw and saw blade — advertised as “perfect for any kind of industrial job.” Personally, I see it as greeter at Wal-Mart in a very dystopian future. Your mileage may vary.

20 pieces to crow over

As those with some knowledge of Latin might expect from the user name, Corvus Auriac seems to have a thing for crows. Crows are among the most intelligent of birds and are often known to make use of tools. Corvus the builder is also a tool user, as demonstrated by this lovely digital render of Arminius, The Crow. Creating a recognizable avian can be a challenge, yet Corvus manages it in only 20 pieces. Among the creative part choices are Minifigure wings, a tooth for a beak, and a flipper for the tail. Even the branch is a nice little build, making use of an elephant tail and carrot top.

Although this is just a flight of fantasy (brick) at present, Corvus says that a real-world version is on the way. I’m looking forward to seeing it!

Build your own LEGO transforming microscope [Instructions]

Do you own a copy of Emmet’s Triple-Decker Couch Mech from The LEGO Movie 2? Would you like to take that set from a 2-in-1 build to a 5-in-1? Alan Yap has investigated the possibilities and discovered there is more to this set than meets the eye. By rearranging parts, you can make a microscope that transforms into both a hovertank AND a sweet, sweet robot. This is alternate building at its finest and, best of all, you can build it too thanks to Alan’s instructions!

There’s more to this model than meets the eye. Read on to find out why!

This golem runs like clockwork

Some things run like clockwork, and sometimes the clockwork is what makes you run. Taking inspiration from Dishonored 2, Return to Oz and D&D characters, Paddy Bricksplitter brings us a Clockwork Golem that is both elegant and menacing. This streamlined build demonstrates that you don’t always need a ton of parts to make an exceptional LEGO model. The black and gold of the main body are accented by splashes of white and grey. Gold plant stems are used for both shoulder ornaments and decoration on the checkerboard base.

A bit of dark pink ties the central clock into the piercing eyes. At first, I thought those eyes were made from Friends lipstick with the ends cut off, but Paddy assures me that that’s just how the bottom of that piece looks due to the dual molding. And that they would never cut any pieces. We’ll have to look elsewhere for the inspiration behind the giant scissors for hands. Although… maybe we’re better off just not knowing.

Thrill seeking among the skyscrapers

When it comes to LEGO roller coasters, you can find a wide range of thrills. Start off safe on the gentle slopes of a Friends Amusement Park, or go for more adrenalin on the Creator Expert version. But what if that isn’t enough for your minifigures? What if they want a real rush? Taking an apparent cue from real-world rides like the Las Vegas High Roller, French builder ilive moves the track off the ground and into the skyline.

The ride twists through a selection of ilive’s previously built micro-scale buildings, each of which features interesting shaping and design. The Cube uses plenty of eye-catching texture created from transparent plate, and Skyscraper-2 makes great use of transparent blue 1x2x5 brick.

The coaster itself, though, is minifigure scaled. The effect of the mixed scaling works well; it’s pretty easy to imagine an upscale park having a miniature version of their city incorporated into a signature ride. Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself in ilive’s video!

Why don’t you come along with me...on a Magic Carp(et) Ride

LEGO builders have often explored the theme of “speeder bikes” – flying motorcycle-esque vehicles with a grand and glorious racing tradition. (Or, for those looking for the possible origins of the trope, a callback to the forest chase scene in Return of the Jedi. Although usually built in minifigure scale for maxium swooshability, there’s no reason that one couldn’t make a larger version. In fact, Eero Okkonen has done just that in Kiirus Ögonblick and The Carp Speeder, mixing skill in large figure builds with…a fish. Not just any fish, though, but a carp. A blue and orange, jet powered, mechanical-hybrid carp….Because why not?

See more of this fishy speeder bike.

The devil’s in the details. No, wait. That’s just a chicken.

In many fantasy tropes there’s that moment where the heroes gather to set off on their grand adventure. Maybe it’s in a tavern, maybe it’s the king’s audience chamber. Sometimes it’s in a mystic glade or just a chance encounter. If you’ve seen this scene once, you’ve seen them all. However, what you might not have noticed was the world happening around the heroes. There are common folk who exist outside of the main narrative, living their fantasy lives as best they can. ‘Sergeant Chipmunk’ brings us a LEGO moment in time that captures the momentous as well as the mundane.

Life, uh, finds a way...to eat you.

Even before LEGO’s recent release of 75936 Jurassic Park T-Rex Rampage, dinosaurs have been a popular subject for builders. ZiO Chao has apparently found the historically-based thunder lizards a bit too tame, though. Why just recreate a single species when you can add in a bit of mad science to remix the most fearsome aspects of three of them? ZiO has combined the raptor, T-Rex, and spinosaurus into a reptilian death machine named Spino-Tyraptor. This model is highly poseable, including some creative arm joints using pneumatic T-pieces. The head is expertly shaped, and the use of a spoiler for the tongue really works well.

Just as nature intended, the most eye-catching part of the creature is the fin. Carrying the dark red of the head along the spine, it reaches up with brighter reds highlighted with grey and orange 1×1 round plate and capped with quarter-round coral tile. We may not know what the true function of spinosaurus’ fin was, but I’m guessing here it’s a combination of threat display, heat regulation, and wi-fi antenna. Hey, if you’re going to genetically mix something like this, why stop at what nature thought of?

Background jobs have never been this adorable

When it comes to cute robots, Eero Okkonen really knows his stuff. Huwbot, built for the Huwbot contest brought to you by our friends over at Brickset, brings you LEGO with an extra side of delight. This robot has the Brickset server’s background jobs clearly in mind, with the logo incorporated as the robot’s brain. The shaping and build also has deliberate callbacks to web design and function, as Eero discusses at his website.
Regardless of his origins, though, Huwbot a stellar creation. Technic eyeball joints bring a lot of expressive character, enhanced by the super-poseable arms and hands. I also love the repeated use of macaroni bricks to add some smooth curves to both the head and base. But the best bit is the Clickits heart that is displayed front and center.

Eero has also provided Huwbot with a red wagon to assist in those background jobs. This, too, is a fun little build. The handle construction is topped with a 1x4x2 bar element that lets Huwbot get a grip on things. And the wagon comes filled with LEGO sets! Really, what more could you ask for?

What exactly am I looking at?

I’m always impressed when someone builds something with LEGO bricks that doesn’t have a strong tie to an established theme or building style. It takes a special kind of eye to look beyond the mundane, and builder why.not? has that vision. Or they had a vision. Or maybe just a very bad dream. Whatever the source, they have brought to us an unsettling image indeed.
The central eye is built from 1×2 and 1×4 plates, using subtle color variation in light blue, tan, and blue grey to create a convincing iris against a white brick background.

Eyelashes are constructed from minifigure hands clipped to the modified plates and tiles that create a smooth curve to the eyelid. There’s even a curved brick to represent the tear duct.
Additional creepy details include an abundance of Technic (eye)ball joints, a floating maw made of teeth and quarter-round tiles, and dangling red tentacles. The heart uses exotic elements like a sand blue dinosaur tail and medium lavender flexible hose. There’s even a dragon wing hidden in the blood(?) in the upper right.

I’m not sure what this piece says to me. But I’m kind of glad it can’t talk. I doubt I’d want to hear the messsage it brings.

About Chris Doyle

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