For builders of LEGO habitats, Jen Feeny is a familiar and beloved face. The Halloween Habitat challenges and other themed events she hosts throughout the year have become pillars of the online LEGO community that came together during the pandemic to connect with others through bricks. As an organizer with WMLUG, Jen’s latest project is a large-scale collaboration called Pink City that combines modulars, minidolls, whimsy, and a whole lot of pink bricks! We checked in with Jen to learn more about her journey and this latest delightful project.

TBB:  Jen, when did you first start building LEGO, and do you remember your first set or the theme that made you love the hobby?

Jen Feeny: I started building LEGO during the pandemic playing with my children, but it quickly became a creative outlet. Being a huge Halloween fan, I was hooked upon discovering the Monster
Fighters line.

TBB: How did you go from building sets to becoming a part of a community of builders?

JF: I got involved in the LEGO community during the pandemic by joining Instagram build challenges—one of which introduced me to habitats. I loved the accessible scale and ended up launching my own challenge: the Halloween Habitats Challenge, which marked its fifth year in 2024.

After moving to Grand Rapids in 2021, my family and I joined Western Michigan LUG (WMLUG), where we regularly contribute to group layouts and displays. I also run the club’s
monthly internal Seed Part Challenge.

TBB: You’re a contender for world’s #1 Johnny Thunder fan. Care to shed some light on how this minifig Adventurer captured your heart?

JF: Actually, the #1 Johnny Thunder fan is my sibling, Shae—I just help fan the flames. They were obsessed as a kid and started building Johnny Thunder inspired MOCs after coming out of their
“Dark Ages.” I began sharing Shae’s creations on our IG account and kicked off #JohnnyThunderThursday to invite other Adventurers fans to join in weekly posts. It’s been amazing connecting with fans worldwide and seeing the relics and stories they come up with. Each year, we host a community celebration—this year, 18 contributors helped create a video of Johnny driving his Scorpion Tracker, which is pinned on our @johnnythunderthursday page as the “4th Anniversary Celebration.”

TBB:  Habitats were your gateway into building. For those who haven’t made habitats of their own, why should they consider this format? Have you observed any changes in the habitat scene since it first took off?

JF: Habitats are where it’s at! I often joke they’re the gateway drug to bigger MOCs. I’ve been hosting annual habitat challenges for five years, starting during the pandemic, and can’t recommend them enough for anyone new to MOCing. The format—an 8×8 stud base by 8 bricks tall—is approachable while offering endless creative potential. It’s always inspiring to see the clever, detailed builds people come up with in such a small space, and I’ve learned so much from the ingenuity of fellow builders have used in habitat builds over the years.

TBB: Let’s talk about your latest project: Pink City! It’s a collaboration from WMLUG, correct?

JF: Yes! Contributors include straw boss Alexandra @_alexandra_lh, Elizabeth @brick_built_babe, Kayla @kayla_hark, Dawn @msslobrickda, Hannah and Andrew @orangeblossom_bricks, Joe @brickbuiltlabs , James “Lord of the Goats” @thebrickalope, Jason @spearjr, Tyler @tycobur, Ellianne @elliannehuizinga, Calvin @calvinh4967, Ahmad @amorphousbricks, my 9 year old daughter, and myself.

TBB: How often does the LUG come together for collaborations like this? How did you arrive atthis latest collaboration, Pink City?

JF: WMLUG regularly collaborates on large-scale displays for exhibitions, with our City layout always a fan favorite. However, it rarely includes builds using LEGO’s Friends line or minidolls. After seeing an overwhelmingly positive response—especially from young girls—at last year’s Brickworld Grand Rapids to pink and pastel MOCs like a Duplo castle, Care Bear and Barbie builds, and Friends-inspired creations, the idea for Pink City was born. It started with a few of the group’s women builders and quickly grew into a broader group effort, blending the charm of the Friends line into our popular City display.

When a small portion of Pink City was trialed at a local show this Spring, the reaction was incredible—kids lit up, families lingered, and even those unfamiliar with the Friends line were drawn in by the color, creativity, and whimsy.

TBB: Is there a story behind Pink City? Aside from the colors, did contributors have any guidelines to go by?

JF: Pink City was created to bring something fresh to our City layout—something that would resonate with the many women, girls, and pastel-loving visitors at LEGO shows. Aside from a pink/pastel color palette and a unified look for streets and rail areas, the rest was left to each builder’s creativity.

TBB: Looking at the various models in the city, several appear to be adapted from Modular sets with a total pink overhaul. How did you go about pink-ifying those designs? Did you make pink interiors as well?

JF: Speaking for myself, most of my contributions to Pink City were modified Modular sets that I ‘pink-ified’ by researching which key elements were available in various pink shades or white. For example, the townhouse dome came in bright pink and magenta, but the matching inverted arch only in dark pink—so dark pink it was. It was a fun (though not cheap!) process to reimagine these builds. I mostly detailed just the ground floors, except for the hotel, where I fully built out and lit the upper rooms. Other contributors took a variety of approaches—some designed completely original MOCs, while others adapted sets or themes to fit the pastel aesthetic in creative ways.

TBB: Of your own contributions, do you have a favorite piece and why?

JF: In the end, I reimagined six official LEGO buildings, two cars, and a hotel I found on Rebrickable. The hotel is my favorite—it’s the most heavily modified and feels the most personal.

TBB: What challenges did you and your fellow builders face when working with a pink palette?

JF: As I mentioned earlier, working in the pink palette is not cheap and we were definitely limited by part availability. When Pick-A-Brick started limiting items to a maximum of 10 item per order this severely impacted the planned budget of some things like the custom roads that were created, where quantity purchasing was important.

TBB: The city is packed with minifigs and other characters. Are there any easter eggs that we
should look out for?

JF: Featuring Friends minidolls in Pink City was important, since many girls recognize them from their own sets. It also let us include Disney princesses—a favorite among young visitors. My daughter and I went through our collection to find figs and minidolls with pink hair or outfits, and added fun challenge characters for kids to spot, like Poppy from Trolls, Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse, Ballerina Batman, and the Cheshire Cat. The character hunt was a hit—kids loved pointing them out, and it gave them an extra reason to engage with the display.

TBB: What’s the best part about working on a collaboration with your fellow builders?

JF: The best part of working on this collaboration has been seeing how excited everyone got—what started as a small idea quickly grew into something much bigger than we expected. It’s been amazing to watch everyone bring their own unique style to the project, and yet it all comes together in a cohesive, creative way. Even those not building have chipped in with pink parts or shared their enthusiasm, which really shows the supportive spirit of our LUG.

TBB: Were there any surprises or hiccups along the way in bringing this collaboration to the finish line?

JF: While we realized a bit late that the roads and railroad sections would be costly, we agreed the cohesive final look was worth the effort. Alexandra, our collab lead, took on the complex task of designing the layout. She chose 16×16 bases instead of our usual 32×32, which made things more challenging but gave smaller buildings more visibility. It’s only her second time organizing a collab, and seeing newer members step into leadership roles is a great sign of growth—it’s an exciting time for our club!

TBB: Will Pink City be displayed at any upcoming events? Are there additions or changes on the way?

JF: A larger version of Pink City was just displayed at Brickworld Chicago in June, with the full layout appearing at Brickworld Grand Rapids in September. Look forward to it!