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.
For this month’s July cover photo for The Brothers Brick’s social media channels, we’re celebrating the newest wave of LEGO Harry Potter sets, which are available starting today in North America. We were amazed with this incredible version of Hogwarts castle by Hyungmin Park. Lit with hundreds of LEDs, the model is photographed so beautifully we could almost believe it was from the movies. Speaking of which, since we got a LEGO Batman Movie, a LEGO Harry Potter Movie would be incredible. (Psst, Warner Bros, are you listening?)
Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month or more? Then read the submission guidelines and send us your photo today. Photos that do not meet the submission guidelines will not be considered, and will be removed from the group.
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The parent company of The LEGO Group, Kirkbi A/S, has reached a deal to purchase Merlin Entertainments for 6 billion pounds, or more than 7.6 billion USD. Merlin Entertainments operates eight LEGOLAND theme parks from California to Dubai, dozens of LEGOLAND Discovery Centers, as well as other famous attractions such as Madam Toussad’s and the London Eye, all of which will now come under control of LEGO owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the grandson of LEGO’s founder.
Yesterday it was reported by Reuters that Kirkbi, the company under which the Kristiansen family organize their holdings, is joining with two other investment groups, Blackstone Group LP and Canadian pension fund CPPIB, to purchase a 50 percent stake in Merlin. LEGO sold the majority stake in its theme parks to Merlin in 2005 during its financial crisis in an effort to focus more on the core brick product. Now as the largest toy manufacturer in the world with the financial crisis firmly behind them, the company is looking to diversify its holdings once more and the LEGOLAND brand was the natural place to start. Along with the 30 percent stake that Kirkbi retained in Merlin, the new deal will grant a controlling interest in the theme parks that bear their most famous product’s name.
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Today, LEGO is taking the wraps off the sole entry to the Speed Champions fall 2019 lineup, 75895 1974 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0. Although we previously got a small glimpse of the model in the 2019 catalog, we’ve now got all the official details and photos for the set. Retailing for $14.99, the set will have 180 pieces and is slated to be available Aug. 1.
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Today we’re pleased to welcome Caleb Watson as a guest contributor to give a special introduction to his latest creation. We’ve featured some of his amazing models in the past such as the iconic ‘I am your Father’ Scene and the opening temple from Raiders of the Lost Ark. His newest model is starkly different from his past works being a chromosomal model designed for a project in his 11th-grade genetics class. He worked on this several-thousand-piece model for about two months and he explains his processes for designing it along with the scientific background behind the project.
The Building of an NF1 Chromosomal Model
By Caleb Watson
It’s no surprise that school is one of the biggest factors in my life that dictates how much time I’m able to build my LEGO models (along with friends, family, and running). As a result of this, I’m always looking for opportunities to integrate LEGO into what I need to do for school, which is how I came to build this model.
Right now, I’m wrapping up my junior year at Ballard High School in Seattle, and along with that, the final year of the three-year Biotechnology career pathway, a set of STEM-focused classes organized in a small cohort that takes biology, chemistry, and genetics. The first-semester project for genetics this year was to write a 9-page research paper covering everything about a genetic disease. I selected the disease Neurofibromatosis because it is quite common yet not well known, and has many interesting and unique attributes. For the second semester and capstone project of the Biotechnology Career Academy, we had to use the information we’d learned in our research papers to create a science project for the Student BioExpo at Shoreline Community College. Seeing the opportunity, I chose molecular modeling with the intent of building a LEGO model for my project. Continue reading →
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Get ready to head to take to the stars with LEGO City, as the new summer 2019 wave of space-themed sets are available in the USA starting June 23. With rockets, extraterrestrial rovers, a space shuttle, and even a small space station, the line is embracing a new era of space exploration. While the sets have been available since June 1 in Europe, they received a slightly later launch of June 23 in the USA and Canada. Check them all out below.
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Last week, LEGO announced the biggest set yet in the Jurassic World license, 75936 Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage. While most of the LEGO Jurassic World theme has centered around the new films starring Chris Pratt, this is the second time LEGO has revisited the 1993 Spielberg classic film, following 75932 Jurassic Park Velociraptor Chase last year. With 3,120 pieces, this new set banks on scale with a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex and Jurassic Park gate, which are much larger than minifigure scale. In addition to our usual review, we also had the chance to speak to LEGO Senior Designer Mark Stafford about the set. T. rex Rampage will retail for US $249.99 | CAN $299.99 | UK £219.99 beginning June 19th for LEGO VIPs, with general availability beginning July 1st.
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Earlier this week LEGO pulled the wraps off the biggest Jurassic World set yet, a throwback to the 1993 classic movie that started the franchise, 75936 Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage. Today LEGO is giving fans an inside look at the set with a video interview with Mark Stafford, the set’s designer.
With a whopping 3,120 pieces, the set includes the largest dinosaur LEGO’s ever created. The set will retail for US $249.99 | CAN $299.99 | UK £219.99 beginning June 19th for LEGO VIPs, with general availability beginning July 1st.
Watch the full video below, and look out for our full review of this set soon.
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Today, LEGO revealed for the first time the rest of the summer and early fall 2019 sets across a variety of themes. The sets were published in a Dutch edition of the July-December official product catalog. The newly revealed sets span Disney’s Frozen, Speed Champions, The LEGO Movie 2, Minecraft, and Technic. The standouts are the new Technic sets, including 42100 Liebherr R 9800, a model of one of the world’s largest mining excavators. The enormous set will be app controlled, and includes a whopping 7 Powered Up! motors. There’s no word on specific pricing or part counts yet, but we’ll be sure to bring you that info when it’s available. Check out the new sets below.
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Of course, that’s not all that’s new today. The Lady Liberty BrickHeadz is available now, and there are also a series of new minifigure packs for the summer waves of LEGO themes, if you want to bulk up on some extra minifigures. Check out all the new sets below. Continue reading →
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For this month’s TBB’s social media cover image, summer is in full swing as we head to the beach with vir-a-cocha‘s excellent re-imagining of the Old Man and the Sea. After all, there’s nothing like a good day at the beach with a surfboard and a classic car. From the old man’s Hawaiian shirt to the sweet lines of the 1970 Dodge Challenger (which looks as if it would fit perfectly beside the official LEGO Ford Mustang), there’s a lot to love in this seemingly simple scene of summer.
Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month or more? Then read the submission guidelines and send us your photo today. Photos that do not meet the submission guidelines will not be considered, and will be removed from the group.
Keep up with the Brothers Brick by liking us on Facebook and following us on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. And for occasional extra goodies, follow us on Flickr or subscribe to us on YouTube.
The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.
Earlier this month LEGO unveiled 75253 Droid Commander, an all-new Star Wars-themed set for the new Boost system of motorized elements. Reminiscent of the Mindstorms-branded Droid Developer Kit from 1999, the Droid Commander set has instructions to build a variety of droids and program them to accomplish tasks via an app. Unlike previous some previous Boost sets for Ninjago and LEGO City, the Star Wars set is a stand-alone product that will not require users to already own any Boost products. The initial press release only included a handful of images of the set in use, but today LEGO is giving us our first look at the set’s final packaging and product images. Droid Commander has 1,177 pieces and is expected to retail for US $199.99 | CAN $249.99 | UK £179.99 starting September 1.
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In the opening scene of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Luke famously chucks his old lightsaber off a cliff like a week-old burrito, and thanks to a not-quite-canon “deleted scene” from the Blu-ray, we now know what happened to the weapon after being discovered by the Ahch-To’s most adorable inhabitants, who just might be too innocent for their own good. Of course, every memorable moment in Star Wars deserves to be immortalized in LEGO, and that’s where builder Takamichi Irie comes in, with an excellent recreation utilizing the official life-size LEGO Porg set.
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