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 Star Wars Han Solo Carbonite Metal Keychain free Gift with Purchase [Review]

Starting today, LEGO’s November free gift-with-purchase promotion will net you a fairly novel item in the form of a metal keychain. The Han Solo Carbonite Metal Keychain (5006363) will be available to VIP members with LEGO Star Wars purchases over US $100 | CAN $100 | UK £100 from now through Nov. 8 (Nov. 11 in the UK). Let’s take a look.

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

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This junkyard’s a fest

Gather round the old battered ship for a bit of haggling and jawing! The dilapidated hulk of a downed spaceship sets the scene for a colorful marketplace in this diorama by Australian LEGO builder Rod Iseppi. Displayed as part of his club’s Bricktober virtual event, the old junkyard is teeming with banners and streamers that remind me more than a bit of some scenes from the new Star Wars trilogy, except for the presence of a few creatures like an eagle and an ankylosaurus pack animal. With the piles of scattered debris you can tell this place has a fascinating history and you’re sure to find some treasures. The garage doors elements in particular make a perfect drooping awning.

Orange and brown and very uncanny

I have no idea what this robot’s task is, but I think I’d probably prefer not to find out. What I do know, however, is that this organic-looking LEGO bot by Marco Marozzi plays host to a myriad of unusual parts used excellently. The oddest might be the brown Bellville horse saddle that makes up the bot’s mid-section between the orange bits, but don’t miss other details like the brooms behind the head or the maraca antenna. And ultimately, whatever its purpose was, I can’t escape from feeling this is what No-Face from Spirited Away would look like if he were a robot.

It’s a whole new world out there

When humanity finally makes it out into the farthest reaches of space and potentially finds extraterrestrial life, it’s doubtful it would look much like the lifeforms we know. And this alien world scene by LEGO builder Bart De Dobbelaer looks the part perfectly with a thick growth of…something. Plus, with its moody lighting, striking colors, and ominous planetary body in the background, the scene is highly atmospheric (so much so that the explorers don’t have their helmets on!). The large, scattered dark blue slopes make an interesting texture that’s reminiscent of broken shale. Look closely and you’ll spot lots of cool parts being used, but my favorites are the clear rings from Clickits on the alien growth.

This isn’t a spaceship, it’s a LEGO brain-teaser

As you might imagine, being the managing editor for The Brothers Brick entails looking at a lot of LEGO creations. With space being one of the most popular LEGO genres, I’ve seen my share of spaceships. And while I see plenty of spaceships I love, it’s not often that I come across models that truly cause my jaw to drop, but spaceship guru Nick Trotta routinely does so with his mastery of brick geometry. One of the best spaceship builders around, Nick’s latest creation, dubbed the Heavenly Strike, is a perfect example of how you can fit LEGO pieces together in truly mind-blowing configurations. So I’m going to dive into this one a bit more than we do on our usual articles because I’m absolutely enthralled.

At first, you see a superbly slick spaceship with an impeccable color scheme (with a few gorgeously custom copper-chromed elements). It’s angular and appropriately futuristic without being over the top. And, while it’s easily overlooked, that display stand is quite a nice creation on its own. But look closer, and you’ll start to see that very few pieces align in the way that you’d think they should, and nearly every surface is fitted an odd angle.

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LEGO Ideas’ newest set 123 Sesame Street (21324) takes you back to your childhood [News]

The latest set to come from LEGO’s crowdsourcing platform LEGO Ideas is one that’s sure to take you down memory lane. 123 Sesame Street (21324) captures a piece of the famous children’s show with a block of New York City populated with a variety of its most beloved characters. The 1,367-piece set includes Bert, Ernie, Grouch, Elmo, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster, and locations such as Hooper’s Store, Bert and Ernie’s apartment, Elmo’s room, and Big Bird’s nest. The set will retail for US $119.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £109.99 and will be available from LEGO starting Nov. 1. Be sure to check out our full, hands-on review of the LEGO Ideas 123 Sesame Street (21324) published earlier today.

Click to see more images and read the full press release

Follow the yellow brick...castle?

If you’ve been seeing a lot of yellow LEGO creations around here lately, that’s because Eli Willsea has been engaged in a competition with Jonas Kramm to see who can put the yellow 9V train track switch to use best. This striking microscale castle is one of my favorites from Eli, in part because everything in the picture is brick-built, except the blue sky. There’s some great forced perspective among the tiny jagged mountains in the distance, the castle in the middle, and the cave in the foreground, but the best detail for me is the parapet over the castle gate, which is made with yellow lever bases attached to the bottom of an upside-down 1×4 plate.

LEGO Mindstorms 40413 Mini Robots Gift with Purchase set [Review]

After a seven-year hiatus, LEGO has come out with an all-new Mindstorms system. We took a look at the new 51515 Robot Inventor set last week, but when it went on sale yesterday via LEGO’s website and stores, it also included a matching gift with purchase. 40413 Mini Robots is available with any order over US $100 | CA $100 | UK £100 and includes 366 pieces. The promo runs until Nov. 1 or while supplies last. The set builds tiny versions of the five robots from the full-size Robot Inventor Mindstorms kit to let everyone get a piece of the new Mindstorms, whether you intend to plunk down $360 for the big kit or not.

Click to read the full review

Who’s your favorite bounty hunter?

Although he may have started as a secondary role in the trilogy’s middle child, there’s no denying Boba Fett is the king of the Star Wars bounty hunters. LEGO versions of the man in Mandalorian armor abound, whether it’s an official helmet or BrickHeadz, or one of the myriad fan creations, we Star Wars fans can’t seem to get enough of Fett. And here with one more version that’s almost as cool as the caped mercenary himself is Letranger Absurde. This enormous brick-built figure stands more than a foot tall and has all the details right down to the braid over his right shoulder. Sadly, Letranger has released only this single image, so we can’t get a good look at one of Fett’s coolest tools: the jetpack.

Mad Max’s V8 Interceptor rides again

This sweet ride by Michael Kanemoto is looking mean in a way only classic muscle cars can. The black beast is a LEGO Technic scale recreation of Mad Max’s 1973 Ford Falcon, which is of course heavily modified and redubbed the V8 Interceptor. It appears here as it did in 1982’s Mad Max 2: Road Warrior, with massive fuel tanks mounted in back.

Click to see more of the V8 Interceptor

In the early mourning light

LEGO builder Sheo. has one of the broadest ranging skillsets out there, having drafted masterful models of everything from futuristic motorcycles to uncannily accurate DLSR cameras. Now they’re back with a bizarre shrine called the Temple of Tears. This eery holy place is dominated by two giant weeping angles chiseled in low relief.

There are a few small vignettes to accompany the main temple, though Sheo is keeping their cards close regarding the mystic meaning behind it all. But that doesn’t stop me from appreciating the build, which is filled with intricate details, from the wavy blue leading lines on the floor (or the floor itself which is covered in a zig-zag pattern of tiles), to the teardrops falling from the giant eye, all the way to the intersecting columns supporting the arched roof. Sheo has provided a video that walks the viewer through all the various elements.

A little Citroën for your evening

There are a handful of cars that are instantly recognizable the world over, like the Volkswagen Beetle and the Jeep. I’d posit that the Citroën 2CV belongs right there with them, having been in production for more than 40 years. This beautiful LEGO version of the classic French car is brought to us by Jonathan Elliott, and it’s just perfect at minifigure scale. The 1×1 and 2×2 curved tiles help fill out the curves on this swoopy post-war sedan.