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

It’s a swamp out there

The Land Rover Defender has been newly revitalized for 2020 with a complete overhaul of its aesthetics from the ancient-looking offroading beast that it’s been for decades, and LEGO commemorated the launch of the new generation with the Technic set 42110 Land Rover Defender. Early reports show it’s got promising off-road chops (as any Land Rover should), but it remains to be seen what the durability of the new model is. However, it’s obvious what Peter Carmichael thinks given this diorama of the classic model rescuing the newer one.

Peter says he began his concepting for the classic Land Rover design with an existing LEGO design, but ended up changing nearly every part of it in pursuit of greater accuracy. The result is fantastic, with the Defender’s iconic lines showing through from every angle. The sand blue for the new 110 model is a bold choice, given the paucity of elements in that color, but it works well to mimic the available Tasman Blue.

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Just two months to Bricks LA 2020 [News]

Southern California’s premier LEGO convention, Bricks LA, is just two months away. Running January 10-12, LEGO fans will gather at the Pasadena Convention Center to showcase more than 19,000 square feet of cool creations. Registration for adult fans to attend all three days is $70, which includes participation in games, prizes and more, and you have until Nov. 29 to get registered to secure customized brick badges and other special perks.

Public tickets on Saturday and Sunday are only $5, with kids under 5 free, and are available online.

The Brothers Brick is proud to be a sponsor of Bricks LA.

LEGO Trolls minifigures coming, as LEGO reveals new theme based on Trolls World Tour movie [News]

Today LEGO has announced a new licensing partnership with Dreamworks for the upcoming Trolls World Tour film. The film is slated for release April 17, 2020. So far LEGO has only revealed a teaser trailer showing a variety of the new minifigures. These new minifigures encapsulate the classic Troll doll look, with big heads, crazy hair, and outrageous personalities. There’s no word yet on when the LEGO Trolls World Tour theme will be available.

For when the trail riding is hard

LEGO builder Jake Sadovich is best known for his successful Ideas project that turned into 21313 Ship in a Bottle, but that’s not all he’s great at. His latest model is this rad bike sporting a ludicrous six-cylinder radial engine. With a wicked cattle skull mounted on the front handlebars plus the gunmetal, grey, and brown color scheme, the motorcycle has a distinct Western-punk feel. The bike has plenty of clever details, but particularly great are the brown tails for the skull’s horns and the Nexo Knight robot shoulders integrated into the radial engine housing.

Amazon sale has half-price Star Wars Sandcrawler, The LEGO Movie 2 sets, & more

Amazon is offering up some sweet LEGO sales today, with a full 50% off a variety of sets, including Star Wars, The LEGO Movie 2, and Creator. Discounts this heavy aren’t particularly common online, so if you’ve had any of these sets on your wishlist, now is a great time to grab them, or just stock up early on Christmas gifts.

First up is 75220 Sandcrawler, the latest iteration of the mighty Jawa vehicle. We gave this set a full video review, so be sure to check it out.

75220 Sandcrawler | $70 (50% off)

Click to check out the rest of the LEGO deals on Amazon

Three-legged doom

I don’t know precisely what the Martian tripods in H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds looked like, but I can easily imagine this three-legged walker by Mitsuru Nikaido being cast in the next Hollywood version. Towering over the battlefield and filled with mechanical intricacy, this monster tripod evokes overwhelming technology. All the exposed wiring made from minifigure whips, though a common technique, is particularly effective here. The gunmetal-colored egg container on the upper housing enhances the sense of alienness.

It’s time to pick up the Ford Mustang set, thanks to this alt build

LEGO Creator Expert’s latest vehicle, 10265 Ford Mustang, is one of the best vehicles LEGO has made. But Nathanael Kuipers decided to use the parts from the set to build another stunning vehicle, this beautiful classic pickup. With the clean lines and split grille that marked the Ford F100 trucks of the early 70s, it’s remarkable that every element in this truck came from a single copy of the Mustang. Now that LEGO has moved away from cars with a Volkswagen Camper Van and a Technic Range Rover Defender, maybe they’ll turn an eye to gorgeous trucks like this, too.

LEGO heads into the wilderness with the Technic 42110 Land Rover Defender [Review]

For several decades, the LEGO Technic theme has incorporated licensed vehicles pulled from the ranks of the world’s best-known auto manufacturers. And almost without exception, LEGO has focused these sets on sports cars and heavy equipment. But now Technic has made a foray into the new class of automobile life that seems to be taking over all that it touches: the SUV. With 42110 Land Rover Defender, LEGO not only releases its first Technic SUV, but also lands its first license with renowned automaker Jaguar/Landrover in 50 years (LEGO produced diecast Jaguar models in the 1960s). Not simply a one-off, the licensing partnership also includes minifigure-scale vehicles for the Speed Champions line like the I-pace and Formula E racecar. The new LEGO Defender released Oct. 1, 2019, and was revealed in conjunction with the real vehicle’s debut, marking Land Rover’s return to the venerable Defender model. The set includes 2,573 pieces and retails for US $199.99 | CAN $249.99 | UK £159.99.

Click to read the full review

Head to the Cretaceous period with the newest LEGO Ideas set: 21320 Dinosaur Fossils [News]

Today LEGO has unveiled the latest set from its crowdsourcing platform LEGO Ideas, 21320 Dinosaur Fossils. The set features two dinosaur skeletons of T. rex and Triceratops, as well as the flying Pteranodon. It also includes a minifigure skeleton as LEGO Sapiens, along with a living relative in the form of a paleontologist. With 910 pieces, the set will retail for US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99, and will be available to purchase starting Nov. 1. We’ve already got our hands on a copy of this set, so be sure to check out our early review of 21320 Dinosaur Fossils.

Check out all the details below, including the full press release and images.

Continue reading →

All the Blacktron spiders come out for Halloween

Halloween in space must be terrifying with these giant mechanical spiders crawling all over the place. I always knew Blacktron was the outlaw faction of LEGO space, but creepy spider mechs just might take it to a whole new level. Builder ZCerberus has carefully woven a design that’s spindly in all the right places, while still looking satisfyingly armored and menacing. And that trans-yellow X-pod canister for the cockpit is just the perfect touch.

Rendering the Peregrine invisible

Anyone who’s seen The LEGO Movie knows LEGO is a highly sophisticated interlocking brick system. But it’s more than that, and sometimes we LEGO fans have a tendency to get caught up in what is and isn’t allowable when playing with our favorite plastic toys. Then along comes someone like Stijn van der Laan to shake up our expectations with a brilliant model like this that defies the normal bounds of what’s appropriate to do with LEGO. Stijn has transformed his excellent Peregrine drone model that we covered a few years ago by giving it a camouflage paint job.

Stijn actually recreated the design first using all red elements. Then he gave it a base coat of grey, and then carefully masked and airbrushed the modern camouflage design onto the model, as if it were a traditional cut-and-glue model kit. The result is fantastic, highlighting the striking design of the drone even more than Stijn’s original color scheme.

Now, you’re not likely to find me airbrushing my own LEGO creations anytime soon, but I admire the craft that goes into designing this, and it’s good to have our minds expanded a bit from time to time on just what is possible with this brick system we all use.

A little wasteland Peterbuilt

It’s clear that Will Galbraith has been watching some Mad Max recently, because even though he doesn’t say it explicitly, it’s clear this LEGO Peterbuilt 359 is straight out of Fury Road. The model is deceptively small for featuring so many details, being solidly minifigure scale. With a heavily modified and angled frame, this truck has probably been cobbled together from the bones of a few other vehicles, like most in the wasteland. The anti-tailgating flamethrower in back is just the icing on the cake.