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

First look at Collectible Minifigs Series 15 [News]

Here’s our first glimpse of the 16 fantastic new minifigs in LEGO’s Collectible Minifigures Series 15. We expect them to be available in January, though there’s always a chance they can found sooner.

UPDATE: Read our full review of LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 15 here on The Brothers Brick.

We’ll get:

Wrestling Champion
Janitor with mop
Samurai
Jewel Thief
Astronaut with Classic Space flag
Winged God
Native American Woman with infant
Winged Robot Warrior

Farmer with pig
Ballerina
Faun
Queen
Left Shark
Knight with mace
Hospital Patient
Skunk Catcher with skunk

Update: Here’s a better image of the actual minifigs.

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January 2016 Star Wars LEGO sets revealed, including new The Force Awakens sets [News]

Over the past few days, a bevy of new LEGO Star Wars sets have been revealed. It’s no surprise that these include sets from December 18th’s The Force Awakens, but there are also a number of sets from the previous six movies as well. We’ll keep all of The Force Awakens sets below the jump, so that you can avoid spoilers if you wish.

75137 Carbon-Freezing Chamber is an altogether new set. The only time we’ve seen any of Episode V’s Cloud City interiors previously was in 2003’s extremely rare 10123 Cloud City, the set that precipitated LEGO’s shift to flesh-colored minifigs. This set includes the new highly detailed Boba Fett and carbon-frozen Han Solo, with the Boba nearly identical to the one available in the Ultimate Collector’s Series Slave I but without arm printing. It also features a brand-new Ugnaught, one of the few characters from the original trilogy to not yet have a LEGO minifigure.

75138 Hoth Attack is a refresh of 2009’s Echo Base, and takes advantage of some newer curved slopes and LEGO’s newer, more detailed minifigure printing.

75135 Obi-Wan’s Jedi Interceptor is the third version of the Episode III-style Jedi Starfighter, following versions in 2005 and 2007. It looks snappy in Obi-Wan’s dark red and grey livery, versus Obi-Wan’s previous blue and Anakin’s yellow.

75136 Droid Escape Pod is also the third iteration of this brief scene in Episode IV, following versions in 2001 and 2012, and adds more detail and a pair of roaming Jawas this time around.

2016 will bring us another wave of the popular Star Wars chibi-sized Microfighters ships, beginning with this adorable 75129 Wookie Gunship.

See the rest of the 2016 Star Wars LEGO sets below! [The Force Awakens Spoilers]

Continue reading →

Bricks vs Pixels: the ultimate showdown

OK, so we all know the movie Pixels didn’t turn out how we’d wished a real life- and video game-mashup would, but it’s still a mighty cool concept. South Korean professional builders Olive Seon have run with that concept with an awesome diorama loosely inspired by the movie Pixels. Featuring the iconic scene of Pac-Man munching down a street, the builders have added some characters from Minecraft and several other games also. See how many game characters you can find!

Just a goblin next door

Watcha workin’ on there, neighbor? This friendly guy comes from the mind of Letranger Absurde and is chock full of what LEGO fans call “NPUs” or Nice Part Usages. In this case the clever parts are, among others, the Jabba the Hutt bodies for the upper facial features and the dewback for the nose. Even though this creation doesn’t use many parts, it’s imbued with a lot of personality — and that’s what makes a good brick-built creature really shine.

This customizer’s always right

It’s no secret that I’m not much of a customizer myself. But, like most LEGO fans on either side of that customizing fence, I can still enjoy a beautiful bit of customizing when I see it. And Terry Jeffries’ customs are nothing if not beautifully and exceedingly well executed. Clean paint lines and smooth transitions between original LEGO plastic and added-on bits are hallmarks of good customization, and it’s hard to find any mistakes with either in Jeffries’ work.

This golden neo-Samurai warrior is just plain gorgeous, bringing together sci-fi and feudalism with just a dash of steampunk. This and the left model below remind me vaguely of the titular character in Desert Punk.

Fallout 4: the nuclear apocalypse, LEGO style

You can’t play Fallout 4 until Nov. 10, but if you’re still yearning for that distinct neo-1950’s nuclear apocalypse, LEGO builders have you covered with some really top-notch Fallout-inspired creations.

The first is this gigantic Fallout workshop by Pierre. Complete with power armor, a collectible Vault-Tec bobblehead, an adorable Dogmeat, and loads of other recognizable items, this model is deceptively large, coming in at almost 5 feet wide and close to 2 feet high.

Here’s another picture of Dogmeat, because he’s just too cute. Who’s a good dog?

Next up is a minifig scale version of the same scene, by our very own Simon Liu. It also plays host to power armor, and contains a fantastic printed Nuka Cola machine.

And now that’s we’re looking at minifig scale, here’s an incredibly detailed Vault Dweller minifig by DSCustoms. The only problem with this guy (and my in-game avatar) is that it doesn’t show the 400+ lbs of everything I’ve ever found, ever that I’m carrying.

Also be sure to check out this cool Enclave Vertibird we blogged last year.

Masking your inner LEGO lover

It’s Halloween tonight, and if you were competing against Sean and Steph Mayo in a costume contest, you’d probably have lost.

Ok, so they didn’t actually build this life-sized mask for a Halloween costume, but it sure could work for one. The exquisitely sculpted horns remind me a bit of the Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth, one of the few scary movies I actually enjoy, though the creators say it’s the guise of a sea queen.

LEGO Ideas fails all 13 projects in first round of reviews for 2015 [News]

Disappointing news today for LEGO fans hoping to get their models turned into official sets, or looking forward to purchasing interesting new models. This morning LEGO announced that they have finished examining all 13 projects which passed the 10,000 vote mark on LEGO Ideas during the first quarter of 2015, and that none of the projects will be moving forward to become official sets. The potential projects included intellectual properties such as Legend of Zelda, Discworld, The International Space Station, a miniature version of Nathan Sawaya’s famous Yellow LEGO sculpture, and the Golden Girls, as well as a brick-built Tyrannosaurus Rex, a model of the Titanic, and a castle-themed market, among others.

LEGO says that each of the models either rely upon IPs whose owners cannot come to an agreement with LEGO, or the models are too closely related to current or future LEGO products, or they would be too difficult to turn into an official LEGO set.

In the one glimmer of hope given, LEGO says they are still considering the previous round’s F7A Star Hornet from the forthcoming crowd-funded video game Star Citizen, though with the caveat that LEGO may still choose to deny this project as well.

Finally, here are the candidates for the next review round, the results of which are set to be announced in early 2016.

Go small or go home

Looking like the miniature twin of Devid VII’s hot rod, this nifty little road machine by Grantmasters proves that even a few pieces are enough. Look closely, and you can spy some unusual parts in play, namely a minifig book and bucket handles.

The Majestic Kingfisher; Bird in Brick

We’ve long known that LEGO can model realistic avian shapes in the hands of a very skillful builder; the most well-known example is Thomas Poulsom’s birds, which were even turned into an official set. But you wouldn’t guess at the challenges inherent in sculpting feathered curves with square bricks from seeing Markus Rollbühler’s magnificent Kingfisher, which is portrayed with swooping wings open in flight.

75827 Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters revealed [News]

The long-rumored 75827 Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters is finally unveiled this morning. Oddly, LEGO has chosen to release the first photographs of the set picturing it in front of the actual firehouse used in the film, instead of the usual polished press photos. There’s no accompanying press release as yet, but we do know the set will contain 4,634 pieces and nine minifigures: Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, Janine Melnitz, Dana Barrett, Louis Tully, Zombie Driver and the Library Ghost. It will also include Slimer and pink and blue ghosts. The set will be available for purchase in January for $349.99 USD.

Update: It is now listed on LEGO.com, though not yet available to purchase.

via EW.

Fall in a sky of floating rocks

Here’s a cheery little scene from Brother Steven, full of vivid colors and and delightfully simple skyboat. I love the fascinating mix of characters interacting here; they’re far more diverse than scenes like this usually dare portray, and the build is better for it, lending it credence as a festive autumnal market.