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

Incredible 5,000 piece LEGO Star Wars AT-AT is properly scaled to minifigures

We’ve seen a number of official LEGO Star Wars AT-ATs over the years, but they’ve all shared one fatal flaw: They’re just not as enormous as the menacing, walking beasts that first strode across the screen in The Empire Strikes Back. Mechanical engineering student Noah has built a properly scaled, 5,000-piece LEGO AT-AT that — at 2 feet tall — towers over minifig Snowtroopers and Hoth Rebel troops alike.

Noah tells The Brothers Brick that it took him about a year to build his AT-AT — a bit longer than it might have taken if he hadn’t been at school.

You can see a walk-around video that Noah posted on his YouTube channel, where he also has in-progress videos showing the internal structure.

We asked Noah whether his schooling in mechanical engineering helped him build such a large model. He tells us that the AT-AT’s head is particularly heavy, causing a moment of force, with the head extending far out from the AT-AT’s main body and affecting its center of gravity, which he solved by integrating Technic beams into the neck.

Click through to see more photos of this huge LEGO AT-AT

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A tall tower stands alone in the woods, looming

Farwin Castle by Brother Steven is one of the most striking pieces of castle architecture I’ve seen recently. This exceptionally tall, spindly tower still manages to capture an elegance of proportions, looking mysterious yet stately. Unlike many contemporary medieval themed builds, Farwin Castle doesn’t employ much of the precariously complex stonework that’s in vogue. Instead, its strength lies in its solid geometry and fascinating dimensions. You have to wonder what purpose this tower serves. The home of a lovesick, ascetic prince? The prison for a lunatic mage? The guard tower on a dangerous border? Whatever it is, we like it.

Brother Steven says this castle is part of a larger collaborative display, where multiple builders created locations from the same world, so don’t miss the fantastic stable from the collection that we already highlighted.

LEGO unveils brand new 10254 Winter Holiday Train [News]

Every year LEGO releases a large holiday exclusive set, and this year you can prepare to ride the rails with 10254 Winter Holiday Train. Although last year’s holiday exclusive, 10249 Winter Toy Shop, was a rerelease of a previous year’s winter village set, this year’s Winter Holiday Train is definitely a completely new set from the 2006 Holiday Train set. The train has 734 pieces, and will retail for $99.99 USD when it goes on sale Oct. 1. Let us know in the comments what you think!

Check out the full press release and details below.

Click to read the press release and see more images

First look at LEGO Star Wars Rogue One sets [News]

Star Wars: Rogue One hits theaters in just 4 months, and with it will come a whole new line of LEGO Star Wars sets. Thanks to the Italian and Spanish versions of Amazon, here’s your first look at eight of those sets, which are expected to be available Sept. 30. Click below to see all the sets! (Possible mild spoilers) (updated with 3 new Rogue One LEGO buildable figures)

Click to see all the Rogue One sets

These aren’t Star Wars minifigures you’re looking for

…but these Star Wars figures just may be the coolest ones around. We covered Omar Ovalle‘s Endor Trooper last month, but Omar’s been busy since then converting lots of LEGO Technic figures into awesome Star Wars characters. The Technic figures, which LEGO produced from the late 80s to the early 2000s, are considerably larger than traditional minifigures and have a lot more poseability. The size also allows more accurate scaling with small characters, like Yoda and the Jawas, who both look quite good as minifigures next to the Technic figs. Boba Fett definitely takes the cake for the best looking figure though, as he blasts his way out of the Sarlacc pit.

Click to see more Star Wars Technic figures

The hardest part of space travel is getting off the planet

I’ve been inspired lately to build some near-future space vehicles, and so I’ve got at least a couple of vessels in the works. But the first step of space travel is always getting off the planet. This space shuttle, the Indefatigable, is designed to carry payloads to orbit, where they can be assembled into a much larger craft. The shuttle is designed for undergoing the rigors of liftoff, while a vessel capable of interplanetary travel may not be.

I generally avoid using stickers, often not even applying them to official models. However, this model really needed a tiny detail for the cockpit, and there’s no way to achieve that with bricks, since the area is just too small. So, a few carefully cut official LEGO stickers work well to mimic cockpit windows.

Which yellow character would win in a fight? SpongeBob, a Minion or Pikachu?

It’s a question for the ages: which yellow cartoon character do you side with? Wise-cracking SpongeBob Squarepants, the most anthropomorphic sponge to live under the sea? One of Gru’s Minions, an adorable comedy sideshow who manages to steal the limelight? Or Pikachu, the elusive and beloved Pokemon? Takamichi irie decided to build all three, so you can see how the LEGO versions stack up. Cast your votes in the comments!

Check out Suicide Squad in LEGO [Video]

Some talented folks over at Forest Fire Films decided to recreate the Suicide Squad teaser trailer in LEGO, and it’s great — though if the early reviews are anything to go by, it may even be better than the actual film! Jared Leto’s deranged Joker is even more creepy as a minifigure, but it’s doubtful we’ll ever see any official LEGO Super Heroes sets based on the film, which opens today.

2016 LEGO Advent Calendars: Star Wars, City and Friends revealed [News]

LEGO’s Advent Calendars are back for 2016, bringing 24 mini models each in Star Wars, City and Friends themes for you to build in the weeks before Christmas. This year you’ll find a snow-covered white Chewbacca and an Imperial snowman in the Star Wars Advent Calendar, Santa with the cutest Husky “reindeer” you’ve ever seen in the City Advent Calendar, and a cozy old-fashioned holiday party in the Friends Advent Calendar.

The Star Wars Advent Calendar will retail for $39.99 USD, while the City and Friends calendars will sell for $29.99 USD each. All three are now available on Amazon and the LEGO Shop Online.

If you want to wait and reveal each model as you open its door on the advent calendar, then you can just look at the boxes. But if you want to check out all the mini models for each calendar, click at the bottom to read the full post.

Click to see the mini models for each calendar

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 76058 Spider-Man: Ghost Rider Team-up [Review]

LEGO released a whole wave of sets in North America on August 1st, including sets from Super Heroes, Ninjago, LEGO City Volcano and Technic. Today we’ll be taking a look at one of the new Marvel Super Heroes sets, which includes two brand new entries to the LEGO Superhero cast, Ghost Rider and Hobgoblin. 76058 Spider-Man: Ghost Rider Team-up has 217 pieces, and retails for $19.99 USD.

Click to read the full review

Knock your opponent’s block off with these LEGO Rock ’em Sock ’em robots

The infamous red and blue robots of yesteryear, Rock ’em Sock ’em robots are always good for a little sport when plain old thumb wars won’t do. Bruce Lowell has made this terrific version featuring minifigs as the robots, and it’s just perfect. Go get em, champ!

Incredibly accurate minifig-scale LEGO Star Wars X-Wing even lights up

The ever-popular LEGO Star Wars line continues to pump out models of everyone’s favorite Star Wars spaceships, and after 17 years most ships have seen multiple iterations. The iconic X-Wing has seen over a half-dozen iterations, including the two versions from Episode VII. And fans have always sought to one-up the official models — sometimes to spectacular success, such as Mike Psiaki’s beautiful version in 2011. However, there’s always room for new builders to try their hand at this venerable starfighter. Enter Maciej Szymański with this stunningly accurate model that even includes working lights. I think my favorite details on this model are the hockey masks used as a the flashback suppressors on the wing-mounted lasers, and the carefully curled hose for the pilot’s life support.

Click to see more of Maciej’s X-Wing