About Chris

Chris Malloy (porschecm2) has been a LEGO fan nearly all his life, having started with System bricks at age 3. He is the co-author of Ultimate LEGO Star Wars, and his creations have been featured in several books and The LEGO Movie. He also helped develop the first LEGO Minecraft set, 21102 Minecraft Micro World: The Forest, which has gone on to inspire a whole theme of sets. He's been active in the online community since 2002, and regularly attends LEGO fan conventions such as BrickCon and BrickCan. He enjoys building in a wide range of themes, but keeps returning to Castle, Space, and Pirates. Check out his LEGO creations and photography here.

Posts by Chris

“I know nut-zing!” Awesome LEGO Hogan’s Heroes diorama by Brian Williams

Brian Williams (BMW_Indy) is back making awesome dioramas. This time he’s cooked up this excellent cube of goodness from Hogan’s Heroes, one of my all time favorite TV shows. There’s everything from Carter’s underground chemistry lab to the hidden antenna in the flagpole. You’ll have to inspect the barracks more thoroughly than Schultz, but you might just recognize some great nods to specific episodes. Plus Brian has outfitted the whole thing with lights, so it looks great in photographs. Note the cool textures on the walls using the antistuds on the backs of plates, and the edges of wedge plates for the rough-hewn walls of the tunnel network.

If you don’t want to click through the photos individually, check out this slideshow Brian made:

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Tyler Clites’ E-MOTE will make you feel human

Tyler Clites has embarked on a new project, crafting a friendly little robot with loads of pose-ability. This robot was intentionally made with lots of articulation and the fundamental elements of a face that allow us humans to interpret emotion from facial expressions. Tyler has been updating every day or two with new poses and expressions, and plans to continue for several weeks. Tyler is doing some fantastic work here: taking a relatively simple build and imbuing it with emotion and personality. This sort of creativity is what makes LEGO building amazing. We’ll be featuring the dramatic little robot again as his acting broadens, so be sure to watch TBB to see more of him. In the meantime, check out E-MOTE’s photoset to see all of his poses so far.

Today, E-MOTE discovers the wonder of butterflies.

Massive LEGO Tow Truck will get you moving!

This monster Peterbuilt tow truck by LEGO truck master Bricksonwheels looks just about big to move anything. It’s loaded up with chrome and neat details and seems equally ready for some serious towing or a bit of showing off at a car show.

The Red, White, and Blue Nostalgia Truck

Happy Independence Day for all of our American readers out there. While you enjoy the festivities today, have a peek at Lino Martin’s latest vehicle, a patriotically themed milk delivery truck.

50 Shades of Bley: Iain Heath’s Mad LEGO Science

Resident mad genius and meme chaser Iain Heath has just put out a crazy video explaining how to dye your bricks. All you purists out there can put your pitchforks down and simply skip over this one, but for everyone else, it’s some pretty cool stuff whether you’re into LEGO mutilation or not. In this video Iain explains how he achieved the flesh tones used in his large-scale Gollum character. And for those of you who haven’t seen it, Iain’s previous video describing his design process for the accompanying Bilbo is also well worth a watch.

A Bear at the Fair: the Fighting Pits

Gideon_83 has made this fantastic cutaway vignette of a medieval middle-eastern fighting pit, wherein man and beast face each other in a barbaric clash.

His next most recent model—a more placid look at the toll the shifting desert sands take—strikes my fancy as well. It’s a beautiful use of a few colors and just a few simple pieces.

The Typewriter of a Mad Genius

I like to think that H.P Lovecraft wrote on a typewriter like this one by Matt Armstrong (Monsterbrick). To me, it’s the cthulhu face/octopus that makes it.

A Chapel for the Living in the Dead’s Domain

This cemetery chapel scene by Nooreuyed is fairly simple, but shows what a good color palette (now available thanks to LEGO’s expanding cadre of earth tones) and a bit of competent building can do. He’s even got a pretty cool night scene.

One Monotank to Rule Them All

Here’s a creative take on a tank by Luke (LukeClarenceVan). You don’t see white tanks every day, and especially not monotracked ones. I particularly love the way the armor sits all the way down on the sides, and all those little antennae make me think of a caterpillar. Luke also makes great use of stickered and printed pieces on the sides.

Why Hello there, Kitty!

Katie Walker (eilonwy77) pushes the definition of LEGO building yet again with this thoroughly accessorized version of Hello Kitty. We’ve seen mosaics made like this before, but never one this colorful. Also, in what is surely a first for Katie, I don’t think I spy a single cheese slope in there.

The Golden Empress Airship

Guy H. (V&A Steamworks) built this beauty, which heavily employs aftermarket parts. It’s a gorgeous piece of art, and a terrific Eastern take on the usually European steampunk theme, but it does cause me to wonder: just how much of a model can be aftermarket parts before it stops being a “LEGO creation”? Whatever you decide, I hope Guy builds more stuff like this.

Warner Bros debuts The LEGO Movie trailer [News]

Warner Bros have released the first official trailer for the upcoming LEGO Movie. I guess they knew everyone would refer to it as “that LEGO movie” anyway, so they made life simpler for all of us by actually calling it that. Anyway, despite some initial trepidation about the quality of the film, the trailer heartens me. It’s usually a mess for old fans when a big company tries to break into a new market, but LEGO and Warner Bros seem to be hitting a lot of the right notes here. Aside from the terrific cast, the world looks well constructed, and there are lots of humorous nods to adult fans. I hope the final film will be as amusing. The film is tentatively slated for a February 2014 release.