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

Heroica kicked up a notch

LEGO’s fantasy RPG-lite board game series Heroica may not have seen all much success with adult gamers or builders, but I’d be willing to bet if the boards had looked more like this upgraded version by Kale Frost, there would have been a great deal more interest. With some lovely sculpting, Kale has created an interactive map that retains the checkerboard movement squares for the players, while adding fun micro-builds for the various locations. For details, the scattered trans light blue cheese slopes in the water add a nice bit of motion to the seas, while the robot arms make great bridge railings.

Kale notes that he’s planning to expand the game board to make an even bigger playing area, so we can’t wait to see else is in store for these tiny adventurers!

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This little LEGO moody Groot is on the move

In Avengers: Infinity War, cute little Groot has grown up — at least, a bit. Now he’s moody Groot, a treenager with his nose deep in his games. TBB’s Builder in Residence Iain Heath is getting Groot out of the house, but good luck getting his headphones off. In a series of photos over the next few days, Iain will be showcasing this adorably grumpy Groot around the city — not that Groot is likely to notice anything. The little LEGO Groot is remarkably poseable, and has the perfect squinting scowl befitting a petulant youngster.

Be sure to watch Iain’s Flickr album, where he’ll be sharing more of Groot’s adventures in coming days, or follow him on Instagram.

A bit of summer haunting

It’s already that time of year when stores begin their months-early preparations for Halloween, filling aisles with spooky themed decorations and sweet treats. But whatever your feelings on the imposition of this decidedly autumnal holiday intruding on the coattails of summer, you can certainly agree that it’s not too early for this haunted Victorian LEGO house by Anton Kushnir. Complete with knarled trees and an ominous carriage, the scene is just the thing to bring a bit of chill to the air. The mansion’s facade employs the less-used side of the masonry brick as wooden siding, and the medium nougat makes a lovely contrast with the light grey highlights and black roof.

Toys R Us LEGO minifigure packs revealed, featuring Harry Potter, Jurassic World, Marvel, Ninjago [News]

Toys R Us, which is still operating in a number of countries despite its well-publicized bankruptcy in the United States, has today uploaded images of four new LEGO minifigure packs. These have traditionally been offered as part of Toys R Us’ annual Bricktober promotion, though unlike previous years, this year’s packages are devoid of any Toys R Us or Bricktober-specific branding. Consequently, we can’t confirm yet if these will be exclusive to Toys R Us, especially given the retailer’s drastically reduced market share. The four packs are each themed to a specific license, featuring Harry Potter, Jurassic World, Marvel Super Heroes, and Ninjago, and include a number of exclusive characters.

Update: LEGO has confirmed on Twitter that these sets will be coming to Barnes & Noble in the United States, though likely with a different timeline than the Toys R Us packs in other parts of the world.

Update 2: LEGO has amended their statement on Twitter, clarifying that only the Harry Potter set will be available via Barns & Noble, with no word yet on availability for the others.

Click to see the all four of the minifigure packs

Gorgeous LEGO models of 3 famous New York skyscrapers use 50,000 pieces, stand 6 feet tall

Builder DeepShen has been toiling away for more than a year to create three incredibly accurate classic art deco skyscrapers out of LEGO bricks. All three are New York landmarks, with the American International Building, the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building bringing the amazing legacy of tall buildings to brick form, the last of which tops out at a staggering 6 feet, 3 inches. Together, they use a whopping 50,000 bricks.

DeepShen says that the American International Building is 1/192 scale, and stands 5 feet tall. Like the Empire State Building, it’s made from mostly tan bricks with dark grey roofs, while the building’s famous “snow-clad mountain” top is made of white.

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Tiny terrors from outer space

This pair Alien and Predator figures by Grant Masters are only a little larger than minifigure scale, which is remarkably small for such detailed brick-built characters. Even more impressively, though, Grant says that they contain only legal connections–that is, connections you might find in an official LEGO set. There are lots of clever bits, but one of the most amusing has to be Grant’s use of microfigs for the Predator’s legs.

The 6,020-piece 71043 Hogwarts Castle is now on sale as LEGO’s biggest ever Harry Potter set [News]

For years LEGO Harry Potter fans have been asking for a complete model of Hogwarts Castle. LEGO has made more than 20 sets depicting various parts of the wizarding school, some with just a few rooms or a bit of wall, and some with large parts of the structure. Some were excellent, and some were not. Now LEGO has finally created the whole castle in a single set, using a massive 6,020 pieces to sculpt 71043 Hogwarts Castle in microscale, including 27 microfigures and 4 minifigures. The set is available beginning today for LEGO VIP members (signing up is free), and will be available to everyone beginning Sept. 1. It retails for $399.99 USD.

Wondering if you should spend your hard-earned cash on a set this big? Check out our hands-on review of 71043 Hogwarts Castle, or see more of the official photos in our announcement article. You can help support The Brothers Brick by purchasing this set and others through the links below.

71043 Hogwarts Castle | 6,020 pieces | LEGO Shop Online (USA | CAN | UK)

Note that you must be logged in to the LEGO Shop Online as a VIP member to purchase the set before Sept. 1. Additionally, although LEGO generally rolls out its releases beginning at midnight for each region, it appears this one may be slightly delayed in some regions.

While it remains to be seen if LEGO has produced enough of this set to fulfill demand, if the sales of the even-larger Ultimate Collector Series Millennium Falcon were any indication, this Hogwarts will be hard to find for quite some time. The Millennium Falcon was only available for a few hours at a time before going on backorder, until nearly 6 months after release.

Harbinger of the Hunt

This strange being, titled the Harbinger of the Hunt by its builder, rockmonster 2000, paints a haunting figure standing astride the intersection of nature and doom. Appearing to perhaps draw a bit of inspiration from the Witcher 3’s portrayal of a mythological leshen, the horns and digitigrade legs give an eery animalistic style, while being made of simple elements. The oddly shaped head, made from a Hero Factory head turned on end, houses vertical eyes which give this creature a biomechanical look that only serves to make it more uncanny. A final detail not to be missed is the fallen leaves on the podium, made with Friends stars.

LEGO 71022 Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts Collectible Minifigures Feel Guide [Review]

Whether you’re a veteran picker or new to the hobby, sussing out a new series of Collectible Minifigures while standing in the aisle at a store is always an experience sure to inspire a passion of some kind. Not everyone has the same level of skill when it comes to using their fingers to “see” the contents of the increasingly common blind packs, and the latest series, 71022 Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts Collectible Minifigures has more figures than ever, upping the challenge even more. With 50 percent more characters than most standard series, there are more unique elements and part combos to remember. So we’ve put together a guide to help you know what’s what.

71022 Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts Collectible Minifigures are available now at the LEGO Shop Online for $3.99 each.

Click to check out the Feel Guide

A chapel that won’t be assaulted

With their towering stone walls, crenelated turrets, and ornate decoration, medieval churches could almost be seen as castles–an idea helped in no small part by the frequency of medieval clergy acting like their secular counterparts. So whether this structure by KevinyWu belongs to the church or the state, the Fortress of St. Jocosa certainly prepared for what the world may throw at it. The fortress’ foundations are a nice bit of rockwork, giving a great feeling of a tiny castle perched upon a lonely rock, and the winding path leading to it, while using simple techniques of stacked dark tan plates, cuts a striking line through the scenery.

Click to see inside the fortress

LEGO 21311 Voltron now available [News]

The largest LEGO Ideas set to date, 21311 Voltron is now available. Long anticipated by fans nostalgic for the iconic giant robot from the 1980s TV series of the same name, Voltron stands over 15 inches tall and includes 2,321 pieces, and costs $179.99 USD. But most impressively, it’s actually assembled from the five lions, and transforms with remarkable ease. Voltron will be widely available beginning Aug. 1, but if you’re a VIP member you can go ahead and purchase the set now from the LEGO Shop Online. VIP membership is free.

Buy LEGO 21311 Voltron from the LEGO Shop Online [USA | UK | CAN]

If you’re still on the fence about Voltron, or just want to know before spending your hard-earned cash on a giant transforming robot, check out our review. We go in-depth in our text review of Voltron, and give a thorough breakdown of the transformation process in our video review below.

LEGO’s largest-ever Ideas set, 21311 Voltron [Review + Video]

LEGO’s largest mech ever has landed, bringing with it a wave of 1980s nostalgia. Based on the cartoon TV series that began airing in 1984, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, this huge robot has taken a long, winding route through LEGO’s product development, arriving more than two years after the project surpassed the 10k-vote mark needed for LEGO to assess the project. With 2,321 pieces, 21311 Voltron is the largest Ideas set to date. It will be available to LEGO VIP members beginning July 23, with full availability Aug. 1, and it will be priced $179.99 USD.

Watch our video review here, and read the in-depth full review below:

Click to read the full review of 21311 Voltron!