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

The ragtag bounty hunters of The Mandalorian

If you grew up watching Star Wars, chances are good you had a favorite bounty hunter. Maybe that was Boba Fett, or maybe it was Greedo (just kidding) but there’s no denying that one stood out from the pack: IG-88. We haven’t gotten to see IG-88 on-screen since The Empire Strikes Back, but fellow assassin droid IG-11 played a fan-favorite role in The Mandalorian, and this LEGO version by NS Brick Designs is perfect. Complete with a speeder bike, this IG-11 is in a large scale that allows it to have plenty of details, including a baby Grogu strapped to the front.

Of course, you can’t make awesome characters from The Mandalorian and not make the titular character, so NS Brick Designs has also built the intrepid hero along with another version of Grogu with his pod. There are lots of nifty designs here, but I particularly like the touch of the cloth capes around the Mandalorian’s neck, which originally hail from Harry Potter Dementors.

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This RC LEGO Volvo truck is packed with working features

It’s one thing to build an accurate, good-looking LEGO model of a big rig like this 1/20-scale Volvo FH. Getting the shaping down is impressive enough on its own, especially when working with a color like medium azure which has fewer available part types. But builder Sebeus I wasn’t content to stop at making it look pretty; instead he made it a fully-functional RC model with working steering, lights, and a hooklift system for loading and hauling containers. The best working function to me, though, is the rear axle, which can be lowered and raised as needed just like on the real truck.

Check out this video to see it in action:

LEGO 71030 Looney Tunes Collectible Minifigures [Review]

In its unstoppable quest to bring every piece of your childhood memories under its umbrella, LEGO has added another venerable IP to its stable with the 71030 Looney Tunes Collectible Minifigures. Although LEGO has collaborated with Warner Brothers many times previously (The LEGO Movie was a WB production, after all, to say nothing of DC) Warner Brothers’ famous cartoon characters had not yet graced the LEGO aisle of your local toy store. The new series of 12 unique figures targets some of the best-known characters from the animated shorts with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Roadrunner, and others. And although the series is not explicitly marketed as such (there’s no reference on the packaging) it’s conveniently timed to coincide with this summer’s upcoming movie Space Jam: A New Legacy with LeBron James, and Lola Bunny with a basketball is included in the series. The new minifigures will be available for US $4.99 | CAN $4.99 | UK £3.49 starting April 26, although some readers report already seeing them pop up in stores 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.

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All hail the king the of the wolves

Never having read Twilight, I must confess I’m not too familiar with Werewolf social hierarchies. But it’s pretty clear that this LEGO werewolf is preeminent among his canine peers, given the crown. Inspired by artwork from Powerwolf, a German metal band, (because of course it is) this vignette by Revan New depicts the Lupus Dei terrorizing a town. Revan has captured the wolf’s snarling visage perfectly with a jumble of pieces that includes wings, teeth, and minifigure arms. I think the best detail, though, is also one of the simplest: the cross clutched in his right hand, which is made of just five elements: a round 2×2 tile and four 1×1 clips.

In space, don’t walk—crawl!

You know what I love about science fiction (AKA LEGO Space)? There are pretty much no rules. Oh sure, you can argue that a castle isn’t science fiction, but it is if you slap some rocket boosters on it. And that also means if you want to make a giant treaded machine for moon roving like this one by SweStar, no one can stop you. It may not be as unconventional as a rocket castle, but there’s no denying that it’s pure cool.

This tracked crawler is actually modular. It comes with its own smaller rover and a variety of tanks (you just know those yellow ones are explody). And in case the worst happens, you can get out quick with the detachable cockpit which turns into a Neo-Classic Space-themed spaceship.

LEGO 71030 Looney Tunes Collectible Minifigures revealed [News]

Brickset reports that one of their members, shima55, has purchased a complete case of the upcoming 71030 Looney Tunes Collectible Minifigures, giving us the first real look at this new series of blind packs that’s dropping ahead of the release of Space Jam: A New Legacy this July. According to Brickset, they were able to purchase the set in an independent toy retailer in California. There’s no word yet on when the new figures are slated to be available, but given that some retailers already have them in stock it’s a safe bet it will be quite soon.

Although shima55 has not yet provided pictures of the individual characters, there are a few things we know from the information available. There will be 12 unique figures, and they will come in a case of 36 like 71029 Collectible Minifigures Series 21. The 12 characters are:

Tasmanian Devil
Speedy Gonzales
Sylvester
Tweety Bird
Lola Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Petunia Pig
Porky Pig
Daffy Duck
Wile E. Coyote
Roadrunner
Marvin the Martian

Shima55’s receipt from the purchase shows that they paid $5.99 USD per figure, though it’s not clear if this is the MSRP we can expect or the retailer’s markup. Previous series have topped out at $4.99 each. We’ll be sure to bring you more on these figures as soon as the information is available.

A truly grotesque bonsai

We’ve been seeing a lot of unique LEGO bonsai creations since the introduction of the official LEGO Botanical Collection 10281 Bonsai Tree set, thanks no doubt to the awesome variations displayed in the back of that set’s instruction manual. But this one by Zane Houston still stands apart from the crowd, as it’s not really even a tree. It’s a weeping stone gargoyle* with spouting wings that form the leafy branches of a bonsai tree. The gargoyle’s body is made of a fascinating hodge-podge of plates–mostly wedge plates–that give it a unique, knobbly, rough-hewn look. My favorite part, however, is the basalt base upon which it stands. Now I want to add basalt bases to all my creations.

*technically, gargoyles have drain spouts, or else it’s simply a grotesque–but that’s for architecture. The dictionary is oddly silent on how they’re defined for bonsai.

LEGO 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery and Classic Space Coin now available for order [News]

After being announced a few weeks ago and generating quite a lot of buzz, LEGO’s newest space-inspired set is now available for purchase. 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery has just gone on sale. The 2,354-piece set depicts the iconic orbiter on 1990’s STS-31 mission to launch the Hubble Space Telescope, and includes stands to display Discovery and Hubble separately or together as the satellite is launched from the spaceplane’s payload bay. The set is now available from LEGO for US $199.99 | CAN $269.99 | UK £169.99.

Check out our full, hands-on review of the set to see what we thought: TBB Review of 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery.

The LEGO Classic Space coin is also available now in the VIP Reward Center for 1,150 points: US | CAN | UK

Check out what we thought of the first LEGO Collectible Coin: TBB Review of the LEGO Castle Collectible Coin.

LEGO has also revealed the Ulysses Space Probe set that will be available as a VIP reward for 1,800 VIP points. This was originally announced as a promotional item to accompany the Discovery Shuttle set, but today LEGO told us that “Due to unexpected circumstances, there is a delay in the release of the space probe VIP reward. We do hope that it will be available soon. As soon as more information is available, we will make sure that we let all our fans know!”

If you’re thinking about picking up one of these sets, or any LEGO products, consider using the links in this article or on the right side of the page. Purchasing products from LEGO via these affiliate links is one of the key ways that TBB can keep providing you awesome LEGO content for free.

The LEGO Foundation partners with Play Included to support LEGO-based learning for neurodivergent kids in UK [News]

Ahead of World Autism Awareness Day on April 2, The LEGO Foundation, the company’s learning development arm, is unveiling a new partnership with Play Included, a UK-based entity that uses LEGO as a therapy tool for neurodivergent children, including those with autism. The company is putting its support behind the existing Brick-by-Brick program that targets children ages 5 and up and allows them to learn in a group environment on small teams, teaching them valuable skills in socializing, problem-solving, communication, and more. The LEGO Foundation also plans to utilize the partnership to conduct studies on learning through play and how it could potentially be used to impact other conditions such as ADHD and anxiety.

Here’s a video from LEGO outlining the program.

Read the full press release from LEGO below

This Techno Samurai is dressed to impress

LEGO’s big cloth pieces are certainly among the odder bits to use in a creation, and it’s always interesting seeing how clever builders can incorporate them. Marius Herrmann says that the cloth was indeed the inspiration behind this techno samurai robot, which uses the cape from the large buildable Chirrut Îmwe figure from Star Wars. Although Marius says the design was cheekily a ploy to see how little LEGO building they could get away with, the exposed arms and head are nevertheless quite fantastic, with a great mix of elements. Altogether, it reminds me of something that Arasaka would have built in Cyberpunk 2077.

LEGO Creator Expert 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery launches with Hubble Telescope [Review]

LEGO Space Shuttles are a mainstay of the brand’s space themes, with the company having produced well more than a dozen models across a variety of scales, themes, and degrees of accuracy. But there’s something about the iconic design of NASA’s black-and-white reusable space plane that captures our imaginations and keeps drawing us back. The latest set from LEGO is the largest and most detailed yet. 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery has 2,354 pieces and includes both the Discovery orbiter and the Hubble Space Telescope that Discovery launched on the STS-31 mission in April 1990 (the same year as LEGO’s first Space Shuttle set, 1682 Space Shuttle Launch). LEGO is also celebrating 2021 being the 40th anniversary of the first shuttle flight. The new shuttle set is part of the Creator Expert lineup and will be available starting April 1, retailing for US $199.99 | CAN $269.99 | UK £169.99. Today we’re going to dive in with a full, hands-on review of this massive spaceplane.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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LEGO Star Wars adds 75304 Darth Vader, 75305 Scout Trooper, and 750306 Imperial Probe Droid for spring 2021 [News]

Thanks to retail giant Walmart, we’re getting a first look at three new Star Wars construction sets for adults. LEGO will continue their line of Star Wars Helmets with Darth Vader and the Scout Trooper. The Helmets Collection started last year with Boba Fett, the Stormtrooper, and the TIE Fighter Pilot.

Next to the two helmets, the Imperial Probe Droid will get the LEGO treatment once more. The droid has been made in minifigure scale quite a few times before, but this time it consists of a lot more than 25 pieces and will be in a much larger scale, making it a UCS-style droid similar to 75187 BB-8.

There’s no word yet on precisely when the sets will be released or the prices. These sets vary a bit in size from the previous wave, so we’re not sure if LEGO will price them at the same $59.99 USD.

Click to see the full set of images