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 time to play the music with this amazing animatronic LEGO Muppet Show [Video]

One glance at this amazing LEGO Muppet creation by Andreas Keinbart and I can already hear Beaker frantically meep-meep-meeping. Based on the recurring Veterinarian’s Hospital setting from The Muppet Show, the huge multi-level motorized diorama features many of the beloved Muppet characters in brick form. Up top in the lab are Dr. Bunsen and Beaker, with Sweetums coyly hiding in the back.

Incredibly, many of the characters are animated with LEGO gears and motors. Beaker’s mouth, of course, opens and closes, and Sweetums peaks in then goes back into hiding.

Down below in the operating room are Dr. Bob (aka Rowlf), Nurse Piggy, and Nurse Janice, along with their patients, a rabbit, a chicken, and Baskerville the Hound. Continue reading →

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WWBFD: What would Boba Fett drive?

As you sit there musing on your vast Star Wars knowledge, do you ever ask yourself WWBFD? That is, what would Boba Fett drive? Well, according to LEGO builder brickcitywhips, the answer is a Ferrari F40. And I have to say, they make a compelling argument with this wicked overhaul of the official LEGO Ferrari F40 Creator Expert set. Sure, it’s just a color swap (which is actually not even close to easy), but it’s also super sweet and absolutely makes me want to build some character-inspired vehicles of my own. Maybe an R2-D2 Volkswagen Camper Van?

This LEGO Pingu is just too adorable

If you grew up in the 90s watching European television, there’s a good chance you love Pingu. The stop-motion animated adventures of the adorable little penguin ran for over 15 years starting in 1990. Builder Johan Alexanderson has made four tiny LEGO scenes of an ordinary day in the life of Pingu as he putters about his nicely furnished Antarctic igloo. The penguins are an adorable mix of minifigure elements and bricks with a little customization for the eyes. Noot noot!

Pingu has appeared on TBB a few times in the past, including a previous scene by Johan where Pingu meets a walrus. We also highlighted a cute larger-scale Pingu.

This LEGO version of Chief Hopper’s cabin from Stranger Things looks perfect

Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things may be an unlikely candidate for a LEGO model, but builder Andrea Lattanzio is making it look amazing. This secluded cabin is the perfect safehouse for Eleven, and the shack’s dilapidated homeliness comes shining through in this recreation, which features perfect architectural details like uneven shingles and board siding (in some places made of sideways masonry bricks).

Of course, it wouldn’t truly be complete without Chief Hopper and his 1980 Chevrolet Blazer. Andrea is a master of realistic LEGO vehicles, and the classic truck’s boxy style works perfectly in LEGO, and tan and dark tan give an authentic paint job for the small-town police department.

Unlikely though it may be, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Stranger Things LEGO creations. We’ve previously featured the various heroes in three different scales: minifigures, BrickHeadz, and miniland-scale characters.

Smoothly keeping dissidents at bay

This slick robotic four-legged police unit, dubbed KA-9 by LEGO builder Red Spacecat, has such a polished aesthetic to it that I could almost see it called the “iProtect” in our dystopian future. The ultra-grippy toes made of rubber Technic axle connectors is a genius design, and the subtle detail of eschewing larger tiles for a series of 1×1 tiles on the upper legs gives the perfect impression of heavy armor plates.

More LEGO sets from Avengers: Endgame revealed, including War Machine Buster & Ultimate Quinjet [News]

Hot on the heels of our announcement earlier today of the Iron Man Hall of Armour set, Amazon has revealed four more sets based on the upcoming Avengers: Endgame film. Unsurprisingly, the four additional sets focus on a variety of action sequences as the remaining superheroes battle Thanos and his Outrider minions. Given the film’s hotly anticipated April 26 release (now less than two months away), we’ll go ahead and throw out a potential spoiler warning for the contents.

As is often the case with early reveals like this, we don’t yet have word on the part counts, price, or exact release date, but you can expect that these will be hitting stores fairly soon — likely within the next month — along with a deluge of other merchandise to precede the mega-franchise finale. EDIT: The Avengers Endgame sets are now available from LEGO.

Click to check out all the new sets

LEGO Avengers: Endgame 76125 Iron Man Hall of Armor set revealed [News]

Today, Amazon is giving us our first official look a new set from the upcoming Avengers: Endgame branded LEGO sets, and it seems to be pretty much spoiler-free for what’s bound to be one of the most anticipated films of the year. 76125 Iron Man Hall of Armor features a portion of Tony Stark’s workshop with displays for his various suits of armor, going all the way back to the Mk 1 with its bare metal and welded mask. Other suits include the Mk 5, Mk 41, Mk 50, and the huge Hulk Buster-like Mk 38. The set also includes two of Thanos’ Outriders.

There’s no word yet on other specific details for the set, such as the number of pieces, price, or release date. Avengers: Endgame will release in theaters April 26. Be sure to also check out the rest of Avengers: Endgame LEGO sets. EDIT: The set is now available from LEGO.

Click to see all of the images of Iron Man Hall of Armour

Octan is getting an upgrade

If you’re going to build a large-scale truck out of LEGO and give it a tanker trailer, it’s only logical that it will be an Octan tanker. That’s the thought process behind this beautiful rig by Ricardo P. The truck is a replica of the Dutch brand DAF’s CF85 truck, looking great here in red.

The cab lifts for engine access just like the real deal, and there’s plenty of details to go around. It may be simple, but I love the way the exhaust snakes around the back of the cab. LEGO’s Creator Expert line may be churning out excellent car models like the Ford Mustang, but this really makes me wish Model Team and its big rigs would make a comeback.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for March 3, 2019 [News]

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the first week of March 2019.

TBB NEWS & FEATURES: It’s been a calm week for LEGO news, with one very notable exception: the release of the new Creator Expert Ford Mustang.

10265 Ford Mustang available – On Thursday, LEGO released the latest Creator Expert vehicle, and judging from some of our local LEGO stores which sold out by the weekend, it’s been rather popular. Check out our review to see what we thought after building it ourselves.
Feature: Airbus A350 Build Journey – Lam Siu Wing spent 18 months crafting a huge Airbus A350 model, and we had a chance to talk to him about the process.

OTHER NEWS: LEGO is always trending in the news, so we’re checking out where else LEGO popped up in the world this week. Here are the best of the rest:
Click to read even more LEGO news

Obi-Wan will get his revenge with this awesome LEGO UCS-scale Jedi Starfighter

LEGO’s ever-popular Ultimate Collector Series of Star Wars ships has one glaring gap: the prequel movies. Whether you grew up with the original trilogy or the new, you have to admit that there were plenty of amazing ship designs in the prequels, and LEGO has made only a few as UCS-style models. Martin Latta is fixing that with this incredible custom model of Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter from Revenge of the Sith.

The ship’s combination of wedge-shaped wings and radiator flaps with the smoothly domed fuselage makes the ship a real challenge to translate into LEGO, but you wouldn’t know it from Martin’s model, as the parts fit together seamlessly. One particular detail I love is the grey triangular road sign that fills a gap on the back of the cockpit. Continue reading →

TBB cover photo for March 2019: Out of bounds

This month for TBB’s social media cover image, we’re going way out of bounds with this sweet team van by Frost. Who knew that space orcs were footballers? (We’re not talking about those orcs or that football, you Blood Bowl fans.) These friendly orcs hail from Mars, and their Martian Minivan just might be cool enough to make us stop buying SUVs and go back to sliding doors and tank treads.

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? 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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Space is the place for a base, of course

In the future world of Boris Schneider, the moon’s got a colony and it’s pretty rad. This mash-up of real-world-inspired design and LEGO’s famous Classic Space aesthetic makes for a fantastic extra-terrestrial outpost. The moon’s surface is made from a jumbled mix of grey plates and slopes with exposed studs, a combo that works well to recreate the scattered regolith on the impact-dotted lunar fields.

The Apollo-era lunar lander has received a serious upgrade in the form of this moon-earth transport vehicle. The printed flag and USA elements from the official Saturn V set work excellently both here and on the base to give a bit of real-world tie-in to this Classic Space scene. Continue reading →