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

LEGO Star Wars 75331 The Razor Crest Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) from The Mandalorian [Review]

When The Mandalorian series began to air in 2019, one of the things that captured many fans’ hearts right off the bat (including my own) was Din Djarin’s battered bounty hunter vessel the Razor Crest. It fit perfectly into the famously “lived-in” Star Wars universe of the original trilogy, and so it’s fitting that 75331 The Razor Crest is the first vehicle from outside the movie trilogies to receive the Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) treatment. At 28 inches long (72cm), the UCS Razor Crest includes 6,187 pieces and features minifigures of Din Djarin, Kuiil, a Mythrol, Grogu, along with a brick-built blurrg. Revealed just a few days ago, the set will retail for US $599.99 | CAN $759.99 | UK £519.99 and will be available Oct. 3 for VIP members with general availability Oct. 7.

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.

Click to read the full review

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LEGO Star Wars reveals 75331 The Razor Crest as next Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) set [News]

Today LEGO has revealed 75331 The Razor Crest as the next Ultimately Collector Series (UCS) set in the Star Wars lineup. The infamous bounty hunter’s ship from The Mandalorian marks the first vehicle from one of Disney’s Star Wars TV series to get the UCS treatment. With 6,187 pieces and 28 inches (72 cm) in length, the new ship is in minifigure scale, dwarfing the previous 75292 Razor Crest set from 2020. The set will include Din Djarin, Grogu, Kuiil on a brick-built blurrg, and a Mythrol prisoner. It also features a full interior with multiple removable hull sections for access. It will retail for US $599.99 | CAN $759.99 | UK £519.99 and will be available for LEGO VIP members starting Oct. 3, with general availability following Oct. 7.

Click to see more of the UCS Razor Crest

Miniature motorbikes in multiples

Some LEGO builders make spaceships, and some construct castles. RGB900 makes motorcycles, and a lot of them. To be sure, there are a few other excellent builds among their oeuvre, but the bulk of it is motorcycles, and they’re darn good ones at about as close to minifigure scale as it’s possible to get. Let’s take a look at a few, ranging from the classic to the futuristic.

When building at this scale, every piece is at a premium and must be carefully selected to fit the finished result, as there are very few hidden structural elements. Everything from minifigure hands to robot arms and binoculars is transformed into motorbike machinery.

And let’s not overlook the beautiful presentation, without which I likely would have skipped right past these tiny bikes. The low angle enlarges their size, making them feel much larger than the 3-4 inches that they are.

This LEGO Casa Madrigal from Disney’s Encanto really dances along

At this point, nothing from LEGO builder extraordinaire Paul Hetherington should really surprise me, and yet I was still blown away when I saw this recreation of Casa Madrigal from Disney’s Encanto. But not because it’s wonderfully detailed—although it is—but because unlike any of the other beautiful LEGO versions that I’ve seen, this one really dances along, just like the magical house in the movie.

Paul has packed the interior of the house with motors and mechanisms that cause the roof tiles to pulse in rhythm, the shutters and doors to open and close, and even the rain cloud to rock back and forth.

Be sure to check out more of Paul’s amazing work that we’ve featured: Paul Hetherington on TBB

Beware the Ides of March

Okay, so we’re almost exactly on the opposite side of the calendar from the Ides of March, but Julias Caesar is still having a pretty bad October in this LEGO diorama by Victor van den Berg. It’s rare to see a diorama this large that’s set indoors, but this recreation of the Roman Senate is gorgeous from top to bottom, including lovely mosaics on both the top and bottom. Although LEGO has never produced a Roman theme, there are enough key pieces floating around that seem perfect for it, from the Roman Emporer collectible minifigure from Series 9, to the marble scrollwork element and the gladius, and together they bring this scene to life.

A pattern in the bricks

The overwhelming majority of the LEGO creations we feature here on The Brothers Brick are spaceships, cars, castles, and other objects and scenes. What we see far less frequently are abstract designs like this fascinating one by Crimso Giger. Sometimes it’s good to return to the basic rectangular geometry of the brick and see what emerges. Although presented as a two-dimensional artwork, this build lives in three dimensions taking up three sides of a cube.
It’s part of an ongoing exploration by Crimso into creating fascinating photos of LEGO and the interplay of light and geometry. Here’s one of my favorites. At first glance it looks digitally altered, but it’s pure LEGO. See if you can figure out how it’s done.

LEGO reveals 76215 Black Panther as massive 3,000-piece bust of the superhero [News]

Today LEGO has taken the wraps off the latest Marvel Superheroes set for adults, revealing 76215 Black Panther. The massive bust of the superhero with arms crossed in a Wakanda salute measures over 18 inches tall (46cm) and contains 2,961 pieces. It’s slated to be available Oct. 1 for US $349.99 | CAN $449.99 | UK £299.99, just in time for the sequel Wakanda Forever, which premieres Nov. 11.

Click to read the press release and see more images

Don’t fall for this hideout

Here’s a gorgeous little LEGO diorama by Simon Schweyer of a bit of mountains and a waterfall. The first thing that made me stop and look was the beautiful yellow autumn trees, which look a bit like poplars. They mesh well with the lime green grass to give a crisp, September feel to the scene. The waterfall itself is worth noting, too, as I’ve never seen that large cockpit (originally designed for Jango Fett’s ship) used as flowing water before, but I think it looks wonderfully placid here.

This waterfall hides a secret within, as there’s a cave behind the flowing river where the crew can make plans—though whether they’re brigands or heroes I’m not sure.

What’s in a spaceship?

If space travel ever takes off in the way that science fiction imagines, zipping from one corner of the galaxy to the other in anything less than many lifetimes, the technology to power it will surely look quite alien to us. That’s why I love this LEGO spaceship by Tim Goddard, because it’s filled with things that I have no idea about, yet they look undeniably cool. Inspired by the illustrations of thisnorthernboy, this unique spaceship’s color is almost as striking as its shape, with the medium blue and white setting the tone, and the pops of red providing a lot of visual interest to the details.

A motorized microscale LEGO castle fit for the gods

LEGO builder Bart De Dobbelaer has left the details of the backstory sparse for this microscale castle beyond the fact that it is a home for gods, but it certainly captures my imagination. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t remind me just a touch of Laputa: Castle in the Sky, but this massive structure has some features that not even Laputa could claim. Surrounded by a ring of guardians, there’s a huge maze weaving through the entire castle grounds.

Additionally, the turrets spin and rotate thanks to some clever gearing and motorization, surely making the maze even more challenging.

One small brick for man...

With NASA preparing to launch the first Artemis mission that will return humans to the moon, it’s the perfect opportunity to revisit the first time mankind walked on the lunar surface. This lovely little diorama by Robert4168/Garmadon portrays the classic moment of Buzz Aldrin standing next to the flag after the Apollo 11 landing. The iconic white spacesuit looks great at this scale, and the rough lunar surface looks the part. The best detail though? Using a microfigure astronaut for Neil Armstrong’s reflection in the suit’s faceplate.

Picking up the pieces, Fabuland style

I’ve always had a fondness for a good fan-made redux of an old-school LEGO set, and this lovely overhaul of 3634 Charlie Crow’s Carry-All by Jens Ådne J. Rydland fits the bill perfectly. The classic Fabuland truck has been expanded drastically from its original 17-piece build, adding lots more detail like the wooden truck bed and more details on the undercarriage. The trash bin was in the original, but a lamppost and cobblestone street have been added to complete the diorama.