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

LEGO Ideas officially reveals 21329 Fender Stratocaster buildable guitar with 2 colors [News]

Today LEGO is finally revealing the official design for the LEGO Ideas 21329 Fender Stratocaster. The design was created by fan Tomáš Letenay as part of the Music to Our Ears contest for the crowdsourcing platform, and although it didn’t win the fan vote, LEGO designers specially selected it to become a set in September of 2020. The official set will include a version of the famous Fender Stratocaster guitar from the 1970s, and like the original submission, its 1,074 pieces include parts to build the guitar along with an amp. You’ll also get the option to build the guitar in either red or black. The set will be available starting Oct. 1 for US $99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £99. Check out our full, hands-on review of 21329 Fender Stratocaster as well.

Be sure to also check out what other upcoming LEGO Ideas sets we know about.

See more pictures and read the full press release

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Busting a Stitch

Stitch is an adorably cuddly alien lost on Earth, and as the weirdest blue teddy bear he’s rather difficult to translate into LEGO. But this bust by Joffre Zheng is fantastic, capturing his expressive eyebrows and ears with ease, while also employing a variety of shades of blue. Joffre says the internal structure consists mainly of Mixel ball joints, which help him achieve the odd angles of many of the pieces, like the quarter circles for the eyebrows.

With 5,500 pieces, 10284 Camp Nou FC Barcelona is newest LEGO Creator Expert football stadium [News]

After teasing it earlier this week, LEGO is officially taking the wraps off its new Creator Expert set, expanding its foray into sporting venues with FC Barcelona’s famous 50-year-old arena, Camp Nou. Using 5,509 pieces, 10284 Camp Nou FC Barcelona depicts the largest-in-Europe stadium that’s home to the FC Barcelona football club. Once built, the model measures more than 18 inches wide and 8 inches tall. Camp Nou follows on the heels of LEGO’s previous football arena, 10272 Old Trafford-Manchester United, which was released in early 2020. Camp Nou is available starting today in LEGO stores and online for US $349.99 | CAN $449.99 | UK £299.99.

Be sure to read our full, hands-on review of 10284 Camp Nou FC Barcelona.

Check out more pictures

New UCS-style LEGO Batman 76240 Batmobile Tumbler from The Dark Knight revealed [News]

This morning Amazon Japan has revealed a new LEGO version of the Batmobile Tumbler from The Dark Knight. 76240 Batmobile Tumbler is the second Ultimate Collector Series-style iteration of Batman’s ride from Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Slated for release on Nov. 1, this new version will have 2,049 pieces, about 200 more than the previous 76023 Batmobile Tumbler from 2014. Amazon lists it for ¥25,330, which is about $230 USD | $290 CAD | £170 GBP. Although much larger than minifigure scale, like most recent UCS-style sets, it includes a few minifigures to display on the rotating stand. You’ll get minifigure versions of Christian Bale’s Batman and Heath Ledger’s Joker, both of which appear to be new designs.

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Those scrappy Rebels

The Rebels in Episode IV of Star Wars were really a rag-tag bunch of freedom fighters, and their equipment was largely hand-me-down dilapidated old tech. LEGO builder Abe Fortier is showing us a side that we don’t often see though, of the Rebels scrapping out a ship that’s no longer spaceworthy. Abe pulled the Y-wing design from Star Wars ship-master Jerac, but gave it a cool twist with disassembled sections and of course, a portion of the Massassi outpost on Yavin 4 that the Rebels turned into a base.

Pimp my landspeeder

This low-riding LEGO landspeeder by SweStar has all the stylings you need for a sweet Star Wars ride, from a big scoop up front to smooth engine nacelles and an orange windscreen. The color scheme is particularly intriguing here because it’s the oddest of combos and yet it works somehow, combining a sand green body with lavender and magenta stripes, and sand blue and bright light orange highlights. The best just might be that plush cockpit though, which uses macaroni pieces and a car hood to give it a comfy and curvacious interior.

LEGO 71031 Marvel Studios Collectible Minifigures brings Loki, WandaVision, What If? and more [Review]

Rumors have been swirling about a series of LEGO Collectible Minifigures based on Marvel’s superhero franchise for years, but it seems the new spate of TV shows hosted on Disney+ have finally given LEGO the push they needed to let you buy at least some of your favorite superheroes à la carte. Of course, unlike the last series of CMFs based on Looney Toons, Marvel superheroes have long been a staple of LEGO’s lineup, The latest wave of the blind-pack figures, 71031 Marvel Studios Collectible Minifigures, is set to drop Sept. 1 for US $4.99 | CAN $4.99 | UK £3.49 each, and the series includes 12 unique characters from across the four Disney+ Marvel Studios shows so far: WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and What If?.

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.

Read the full, hands-on review

The beast from the depths

Brothers and LEGO Masters contestants Mark and Steven Erickson are continuing their big building skills with this beautiful leviathan. The scale here is deceptive, as the stand spans several feet, made of transparent bricks with lights embedded. Look closely right in the middle and you’ll spot a tiny Thor battling the mighty Jörmungandr. The sea serpent also has lights in its eyes, as well as a fog machine for real smoke, and the result is astounding.

It’s van life for me

Vans may be trending mostly out of style these days as far as new vehicles go, but no one can deny the inherent cool factor of a sweet custom van, like this awesome LEGO Ford Econoline by Tim Henderson. Despite it’s nearly perfect minifigure scale, it’s got a great brick-built paint scheme with white and lime green swooshes on the side that offset the blue. Plus those headlights, made from the bottoms of 1×1 tooth plates, are just fantastic.

BrickCon 2021 LEGO fan convention tickets are now available [News]

Tickets for BrickCon 2021 are available starting today. The LEGO fan convention will take place in the heart of Seattle from Oct. 1-3, 2021, and will feature a hybrid model with in-person registration limited to the first 400 vaccinated adult fans, as well as many activities and games available for those who wish to attend virtually. BrickCon 2021 tickets to the adult fan in-person convention are $85 and grant access to the full 3-day convention, games, prizes, a goodie bag, and more. Starting Sept. 1, tickets to the hybrid virtual convention will be available for $25, along with public tickets for Saturday and Sunday.

Learn more about BrickCon 2021 in the original announcement.

The Brothers Brick is proud to be a sponsor of BrickCon.

LEGO Ideas 40487 Sailboat Adventure is the new fan-designed Gift with Purchase [Review]

A few times a year, LEGO dips into the vast sea of fan-designed content on the Ideas platform to find a smaller set suitable for a free gift with purchase for customers, such as 40448 Vintage Car. The Summer 2021 example is 40487 Sailboat Adventure, designed by fan Yan Chevalier as part of a LEGO Ideas fan competition. The 330-piece set is available to LEGO VIPs starting today with minimum US $200 | CAN $200 | UK £200 purchases from LEGO stores and the LEGO website— check out all the new LEGO sets for August 2021 available today. Starting Aug. 4, it will be available to non-VIP members as well, and the promo is slated to run through Aug. 29. Let’s take this set for a sail and see if it’s seaworthy.

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.

Read the full, hands-on review

LEGO Star Wars unveils 75219 The Armorer’s Mandalorian Forge from Season 1 [News]

This morning LEGO took the wraps off a new set based on the hit Disney+ show The Mandalorian via a reveal on StarWars.com. 75219 The Armorer’s Mandalorian Forge will feature the elusive Mandalorian smith and her workshop, along with Paz Vizsla and, of course, the Mandalorian. With 258 pieces, the set will retail for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £27.99. It’s available to pre-order now and will be released on Sept. 1. We’ll be bringing you a hands-on review of this set very soon!

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