Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Happy Plant Madness takes cuteness to strange new places

LEGO Botanicals 10349 Happy Plants is a truly delightful set, and one that invites creative builders to remix in their own way. Our reviewer swapped out the shrubs with custom bonsai, for example. But why stop there? Why not replace your plants with toast? Or… tentacles? For the #happyplantmadness collab some AFOL friends decided to push the set’s cuteness to its limits with custom creations. Keep your green thumbs inside the vehicle as we tour these madcap flowerpots!

Thundrabuilds turns the blue planter into an adorable toaster. The little fella is ready for his bath. I’m sure this will go swimmingly.

The prolific and wickedly funny Trevor Pearson-Jones shares a version of the blue planter who never skips leg day. Yellow planter is still smiling even as it’s reduced to its buff buddy’s loincoth.

The happy plants keep smiling after the fold

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Celebrate Silksong with these LEGO Hollow Knight tributes [Feature]

Hollow Knight debuted in 2017 to modest acclaim, but in the years since developed a cult-like following for its tight gameplay, haunting story, and gorgeous designs. Since then, many LEGO builders have made a go at recreating the Knight and other characters in bricks. As we prepare for the long-awaited sequel’s release next week, let’s take a look back at the many Hollow Knight and Silksong LEGO builds that showcase the iconic appeal of Team Cherry’s games.

GioiaLego recreates the memorial to the Hollow Knight in the City of Tears. The Knight and Hornet appear at minifig scale. The monochrome world is lovingly recreated with light and dark grey brickwork.

Tino Poutiainen created an impressionist version of Hollow Knight. The arachnid leg is perfect for this dynamic pose.

Click to see more Hollow Knight inspired LEGO creations

LEGO Nike 43021 Nike Dunk Trickshot and 43010 Nike Slam Dunk – Double Dribble [Review]

Hi friends! This is Jarrett (@wilderland.builds), here to talk about the two newest additions to the LEGO/Nike collaboration that kicked off earlier this year: Nike Dunk Trickshot and Nike Slam Dunk. I’ll preface this by saying that I’m probably not the target customer for these sets, but I am a pretty serious basketball fan and was looking forward to seeing if they could change my mind and capture my interest with these sets. Let’s jump in!

LEGO 43021 Nike Dunk Trickshot | 454 Pieces | US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £34.99

LEGO 43010 Nike Slam Dunk | 809 Pieces | US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £59.99

Do these sets have game? Read on for our review

LEGO Icons 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship – A shiny Black Pearl [Review]

It’s been 22 years since Johnny Depp donned dreadlocks and eyeliner and put on his best Keith Richards impression and sailed into cinematic record books with the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. If you thought that name was clunky, hold LEGO’s grog. Icons 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship brings back the Black Pearl, last seen in brick in 2011, as a premium display set. Is it worth every piece of eight to add this set to your LEGO fleet? Guest reviewer Jacob Manahan got a chance to dig up this treasured ship early and is here with our review.

LEGO Icons 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship | 2862 Pieces | Available September 12 to Insiders (Sept 15 to all) |US $379.99 | CAN $449.99 | UK £299.99

Our review of the Black Pearl follows

The LEGO Group shares earnings report for first half of 2025 – double-digit growth, doubling down on strategic investment [News]

Today, the LEGO Group shared its earnings report for the first half of 2025, revealing double-digit growth all around. Overall sales are up 13%, Revenue up 12%, Operating Profit up 10%. LEGO also highlights expanded global supply chain improvements and a continued commitment to sustainability. Revenue growth was matched by an even greater investment in the company’s future with new facilities and an expanded global team.

These numbers come at an interesting time for adult fans and readers of this site as we’re in the midst of LEGO announcing many high-priced sets for adult collectors for the second half of the year. It can be hard to celebrate the company’s success when the lived experience of many fans is that prices are outpacing their ability to keep up with the hobby. While the rise in the number of 18+ display sets with high piece counts and this summer’s Star Wars inflation have left many fans frustrated, less AFOL-focused lines like Ninjago, Dreamzzz, Friends, and City/Space, as well as the Botanicals line, show that, for creativity and play, there are still amazing and affordable sets to be had.

LEGO’s full report follows.

LEGO’s full report follows

Dance your cares away with this LEGO Boober from Fraggle Rock

How do you follow up the anarchic mischief of the Muppet Show? For Jim Henson’s team, the answer was the wholesome hippy magic of Fraggle Rock. The Main Five Fraggless – Gobo, Wembey, Mokey, Boober, and Red – were precursors of the Inside Out emotions, neuroses made felt. My favorite was aways Boober, the curmudgeonly chef, laundry washer, and homebody. Prolific Bionicle builder Abby Lilliebridge is also a fan, as she brought the loveable grump to life in LEGO. Abby gives her usual Bionicle bits a break, working instead with System parts. Light aqua works well for Boober’s distinctive pale fur. A delicious-looking radish makes the perfect accessory. You can learn more about the prolific Bionicle creator in this interview with Abby from 2022.

A beauty and a beast – N.A.B.E._Mocs makes magic with bricks

When a LEGO sculpture can capture emotion, dynamism, and organic shapes without exposing how the pieces hold together, it’s nothing short of magic. Sakiya Watanabe (N.A.B.E_mocs) is truly a sorcerer of bricks, as demonstrated by his latest sculpture of the storm god Fujin. There are so many inspired parts in the head alone – raptor jaws for ears, bigfig fists for cheeks, Balin’s hairpiece for the chin. I can’t even begin to figure out how that hair holds together.

Sakiya based his design on the famous Fujin and Raijin painted screen by Tawaraya Sōtatsu, a national treasure from the Edo period, displayed in Kyoto.

Sakiya Watanabe’s other recent character creation follows

Set sail again for the Caribbean with LEGO Icons 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship [News]

The Black Pearl? Didn’t she last sail off LEGO shelves back in 2012? Well, ye best start believing in ghost stories, as the Black Pearl is back, bigger and bolder, as LEGO Icons 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship. In addition to an awkward name change, the new Black Pearl (let’s agree that she’s still called that) is assembled from 2,862 pieces, up from 804 in her maiden voyage, adding detail, a larger scale, and a display stand. At 25 inches in both length and height, the Black Pearl is comparable in scale to 71042 Silent Mary, the last big Pirates of the Caribbean set (and one of my “grail” sets that I kick myself for not getting back in the day).

Priced at $379.99, Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate ship continues a trend of bigger sets and bigger price tags, joining Batman, Harry Potter, Willy Wonka, and Wicked in a crowded September lineup. We’ll be back soon with our full review to give you our take on whether ye’ll be wantin’ to commandeer the Black Pearl when she arrives on September 12 for LEGO Insiders and September 15 to all.

Insiders will also receive Jack Sparrow’s Compass as a free gift with purchase, while supplies last.

LEGO Icons 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship | 2862 Pieces | Available September 12 to Insiders (Sept 15 to all) |US $379.99 | CAN $449.99 | UK £299.99

Cannons at the ready, thar be pirates about!

Celebrate the Summer of Slug with this very punk Galidor racer

Over on YouTube, R.R. Slugger dishes out searing hot takes on the state of LEGO playsets, focused on nostalgia for the brand’s more experimental period before Star Wars and Harry Potter took over. For this “Summer of Slug,” the creator challenged fans to create Time Drifters – vehicles inspired by the unfairly maligned Time Cruisers/Twisters line that mashed up LEGO themes that ’90s kids will remember. Builder Urdr On The Dancefloor is killing it with this groovy racer that uses the torso of Galidor alien Euripides for a chassis. I love the kit-bash aesthetics, drawing on old and new parts with punk energy that captures the no-rules spirit of play that makes LEGO special.

Get ready to showdown with these LEGO samurai, ninja, and cyber-ronin [Minifig Monday]

When LEGO moved the Castle theme from Europe to Japan in 1998 with sets like Flying Ninja Fortress (one of my top 5 all time favorite sets!), the theme brought with it a slew of new minifig elements, like katanas, golden antlers, and samurai armor. In the years since, Ninjago has tapped Asian history and pop culture for even more accessories from Edo era and beyond. This week we bring you a roundup of custom samurai-inspired figs showcasing parts old and new.

Michał Dziadosz gets us started with Master Hirotaka…

Once a general feared on the battlefield, Hirotaka now walks the path of the lone swordsman, bound not by loyalty to lords, but to his own code. His golden katana, earned through a lifetime of victory, gleams like the setting sun before a storm. Behind him follows the whisper of silk a reminder of the life he left behind, and the woman who still watches from the shadows

Michał’s fig was a collaboration with Expansion Bricks, who presents the kensei, literally “sword saint,” an honorary title for master swordsmen and followers of bushido. Note the fig’s wide stance, a technique borrowed from 2p_figs for giving a minifig a more imposing presence.

The Bushido code requires that you continue appreciating these amazing minifig samurai

The Art of the LEGO Tableau – building in the “Ground-Based” style [Feature]

When setting a LEGO scene, how much of a world needs to be built to spark the viewer’s imagination?

There are two approaches to bringing a world to life in LEGO: 1) meticulously build out every aspect of the scene with bricks, or 2) provide just enough detail to suggest the bigger picture while letting the viewer’s imagination fill in the rest. While building it all can make for impressive displays, I am drawn to the latter approach.

Various styles can achieve this, each with its distinct charms. Immersive scenes transport us to new worlds, like a window into a picture, by filling the frame with LEGO. Vignettes, on the other hand, embrace the artifice of a model and give the impression that a slice of the world has been captured in bricks. Even if vignettes have their appeal, I have a preference for immersive scenes. They’re more fun, if more part-intensive.

But there’s a third style worth exploring, one that many in the community – including myself – have experimented with. It’s a style that I call “Ground-Based.” As you’ve probably already guessed, this is the topic I’ll be covering today
Learn how to create MOCs in the ground-based style

Orion Pax makes us fall in love with the Undersea World again with Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso in LEGO

From the 1960s to the early 80s, the aquatic expeditions of Jacques Cousteau brought the deep sea into millions of homes. I fell under the Frenchman’s ocean spell watching reruns on public television as a kid, and a big part of that enchantment was thanks to the aptly named Calypso, the British minesweeper boat adapted for scientific use. Fellow 80s kid turned LEGO legend Alex “Orion Pax” Jones also fell in love with Cousteau’s undersea world and decades after trying to build the Calypso as a child, he returns with a masterful LEGO rendition built at 1/50 scale.

Alex includes a functioning version of the crane used to lift the Denise mini-sub, as well as a midi-scale helicopter on the rear deck landing pad.

See more of the Calypso and Orion Pax’s other creations after the jump