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

An elegant dragon

This elegant LEGO horned dragon by Aiden Rexroad appears to have a fluid, sinewy shape thanks to the ball joints of Bionicle, something that’s difficult to achieve with traditional System elements. A pair of large claws turned upside down gives the distinctive horn on the dragon’s nose, which lends a lot of uniqueness to this build. Meanwhile, Aiden has turned to Destiny’s Bounty from Ninjago to repurpose the cloth sails as wings.

Athaya

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The cutest little LEGO Cloud City

We’ve often remarked that you don’t have to have a lot of pieces to build great LEGO creations, and this microscale Millennium Falcon and Cloud City from Star Wars by gGh0st are perfect examples. They’re also an excellent use for those cloud plates, which look much more realistic here than they usually do, and help integrate the two different scales of the ship and mining colony to create a forced perspective scene. I would love to see LEGO release little sets like this for $10 or so.

Escape from Cloud City

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A family gathering

OK, so the builder of this awesome LEGO robot family, Bartosz Sasiński, didn’t actually imply they’re a family, just that they’re a team. But especially with the little four-legged dog bot, I prefer to think of this as a cute family of exploration drones, and they’re magnificently sculpted with a clean aesthetic that Bartoz has carried through to the display base, which is perfectly minimalist.

M-5

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Storage wars in the 1700s

I’ve had a soft spot for white-washed buildings guarded by red- or blue-coated troops in tricorns and shakos ever since I got LEGO Pirates 6267 Lagoon Lock-Up for Christmas around 1991. This supply depot by Ayrlego tickles that nostalgia, while bringing it up to date with much more detailed building. My favorite part of this build, though, is that Ayrlego has figured out the perfect use for all those yellowed and dirty white bricks that are probably floating around in your collection. While they’re normally unsightly and probably relegated to the filler-brick bin (or worse), they’re on prominent display here and couldn’t look better as the weathered stucco on this colonial-inspired structure.

Supply Depot

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LEGO Icons reveals 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 with 2,336 pieces [News]

Today LEGO has revealed that the next large-scale vehicle in the Icons theme will be the venerable Defender 90 in celebration of the brand’s 75th anniversary this year. The Defender 90 is one of the most iconic vehicles in automotive history, with this design having been available from 1983-2016 before an updated version was introduced in 2020, which has already been the subject of a LEGO Technic model. 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 includes 2,336 pieces, making it one of the biggest System vehicles LEGO has ever made, edged out only by two movie vehicles, 76139 1989 Batmobile and 10274 Ghostbusters ECTO-1. The sand green Defender 90 is kitted out with loads of gear, all of which is removable, allowing you to display the vehicle either as stock or in full expedition mode. It also prominently features new System wheel arch elements that mirror those introduced in the Technic Defender model. The set will be available starting April 1 for US $239.99 | CAN $329.99 | UK £209.99.

Check out all the details below.
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LEGO Indiana Jones theme returns with 3 new sets in April [News]

LEGO Indiana Jones joins The Lord of the Rings as a newly revived theme, returning after a 14-year hiatus. The original theme, which was available 2008-2009, included 18 sets, and LEGO has just revealed 3 new sets arriving April 1 based on the first and third films of the soon-to-be 5-film franchise. It’s a safe bet there will be more sets coming out based of the fifth movie, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which hits theaters June 30. One additional set that’s been rumored is 77014 The Temple of Doom, whose set number slots in between the three sets revealed today. LEGO has issued an official statement noting that they have “consolidated the launch to focus on three products (77012, 77013, 77015) that feature some of the most iconic scenes from the Indiana Jones franchise.” It’s unclear if the Temple of Doom set will be released at a future date, or if it’s been canceled.

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Bottoms up with this tower!

This Middle Eastern-inspired tower caught my eye due to the lovely motif that builder Pan Noda sculpted on the walls using the undersides of 1×1 plates in white and a variety of various eathy tones. In fact, almost none of the tower is built with elements in the traditional studs-up orientation, allowing it to have a great deal more careful ornamentation for the size. The covered entrance is worth a closer inspection too, composed of quite an intricate lattice of elements to mimic wood framing.

king box

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New LEGO Star Wars sets from The Mandalorian season 3 revealed [News]

LEGO has revealed two new Star Wars sets hailing from The Mandalorian season 3. Both sets should be available for pre-order today, with 75346 Pirate Snub Fighter (US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £29.99) shipping May 5, and 75363 The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter Microfighter (US $15.99 | CAN $19.99 | UK £12.99) arriving August 1.

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LEGO reveals sets for Disney 100th anniversary, including Minifigures, ‘Up’ House, and more [News]

2023 brings Disney’s 100th anniversary, and LEGO is celebrating with a series of sets branded with the Disney100 logo featuring scenes from classic Disney and Pixar movies, ranging from Oswald the Rabbit and Pinocchio to Mickey from Fantasia. One of the five sets, BrickHeadz 40622 Disney 100th Celebration, is already available, and the others will roll out over the next few months. The biggest news today is the reveal of the new Collectible Minifigures series, which includes 18 unique characters, many of which have never before been available in minifigure form. Check out all the details below.

Click to see all the sets

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What’s orange and teal all over?

The month of February is almost over, and that means an explosion in rovers thanks to the annual FebRovery challenge. We’ve seen scores of rovers in various classic colors like trans-yellow and blue, but this one by Ids de Jong stood out to me precisely because of its unorthodox and eye-catching colors. The trans-neon-orange windscreen reminds me a wee bit of LEGO’s Aquasharks theme but the teal and old dark grey gives it a vintage vibe that’s hard so hard to accomplish, and I’m here for it.

FebRovery 2023 - 27

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LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings 10316 Rivendell: Middle Earth just got bigger [Review]

LEGO’s standalone The Lord of the Rings theme is back after the better part of a decade-long hiatus, and it’s come back with a roar. A few small BrickHeadz sets have already been released, but the star of the newly revived theme is a massive diorama of Rivendell, the Last Homely House East of the Sea, where the Fellowship of the Ring is formed. The three-part diorama of the elven home spans almost 30 inches and is the first to include the entire fellowship together, with 21 minifigures in total. 10316 Rivendell includes 6,167 pieces and will be available for LEGO VIP members starting March 5, with general availability March 8. It will retail for US $499.99 | CAN $669.99 | UK £429.99.

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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A brush with the Rebellion

I’ve seen a lot of Star Wars LEGO creations over the ten-plus years I’ve been writing for The Brothers Brick, and after awhile many of them start to blur together. This little diorama by Abe Fortier caught my eye though, and not because of the urban industrial architecture (which is well done) or the carefully textured base (which is also well done). Instead, it’s the graffiti that covers the walls of this Imperial base on Lothal. The brick-built portraits of a Rebel pilot and bloody stormtrooper are perfect pieces of Rebel propaganda that are so rarely seen on screen.

Paint the City - Lothal

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