Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Jen Feeny: On building community and bringing Pink City to life [Interview]

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.

Our interview with Jen and pics of Pink City come after the fold

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LEGO Icons 10357 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C – An iconic build [Review]

“These cars were meant to be driven,” said Carrol Shelby about his iconic roadster, the Cobra 427. This high-performance roadster’s blend of sleek design with fierce horsepower, achieving legendary status among car enthusiasts. LEGO Icons 10357 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C makes this iconic and coveted classic car much more accessible. But does the timeless beauty and ambition of the real car carry over to the LEGO version? Find out in our review from guest writer Firas Abu-Jaber. And stay till the end to see how Firas’ earlier MOC versions of this iconic car compare the official set.

LEGO Icons 10357 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C contains 1,241 pieces and will be available July 1, 2025 to LEGO Insiders (July 4 to all). You can pre-order now for US $159.99 | CAN $199.99 | UK £139.99. After release it may also be available from third-party retailers like eBay or Amazon.

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.

Start your engines and join us as we take a look at this legendary roadster in LEGO

Mickey’s Library LEGO fan build hides a trove of Disney Easter eggs

From Princess minidoll playsets to collectible minifigures to 100th anniversary display pieces, Disney and LEGO have built up an impressive catalog of sets referencing blockbusters and deep cuts from the Disney vault. In this delightful scene, titled Mickey’s Library, builder Candy Bricks arranges dozens of uniquely Disney elements in a cozy tribute to the House of the Mouse. It’s fun to see little bigger tableaus for Snow White and Beauty and the Beast, as well as subtler tributes, like Aladdin’s carpet integrated into the floor by the fireplace. Looks like Mickey even stuffed and mounted one of those troublesome brooms from his Apprentice days to hang above the hearth! How many references can you find?

Knight finds himself between a rock and a horned face

2025 is turning out to be a banner year for LEGO dragons, with sets like 31161 Medieval Dragon,
71847 Guardian Dragon, and 10375 Toothless, but our favorite dragons are the ones hatched up by brilliant builders like FS Leinad here. This MOC on a rock pulls big personality from surprisingly few parts. Folded wings and a curved neck made from simple arches and plates pair with Bionicle forearms. The scene-stealing NPU (nice parts usage) is the dragon’s face, brilliantly made from robot arms tucked inside an Atlantean squid warrior head piece. Excellent use of verticality makes this 12×12 vignette seem much larger than the footprint would suggest. The dragon has the knight on his back, but the big lizard looks more curious than murderous. I hope these two work things out without resorting to violence.

FS Leinad built this “Encounter” as an early entry into the 2025 Summer Joust, which runs through August 1.

LEGO Icons 10375 How to Train Your Dragon: Toothless – Big smiles, no bite [Review]

When Toothless first showed up in 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon, the injured Night Fury dragon instantly stole the heart of Viking teen Hiccup as well as audiences worldwide. Over a trio of animated films, multiple TV series, and now a live-action remake, Toothless has continued to charm (and incinerate) everything in his path. Now Toothless is ready to come home in a new form with LEGO Icons 10375 How to Train Your Dragon: Toothless. Branded for 18+ and designed more for display than play, this version of Toothless looks a little different from his on-screen counterpart, with chibi proportions and no rider. Does the dragon’s loveable personality come through and is it fun to build?

How to Train Your Dragon: Toothless contains 784 pieces and will be available July 1, 2025. You can pre-order now for US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £59.99. July 1, after which point it may also be available from third-party retailers like eBay or Amazon.

Saddle up, viking! We’re going to review this dragon!

DOOM: The Dark Ages Skullcrusher slays in LEGO

The DOOM franchise has introduced some memorable epic weapons, going back to the original BFG (“Big Friendly Gun), but the newly released DOOM: The Dark Ages introduces the most metal weapon of all: the Skullcrusher. This weapon does what it says on the tin, crushing literal skulls and using the bone fragments as deadly projectiles. Dicken Liu built a roughly life-size version in LEGO, complete with a pre-ground skull to feed into the chipper. Even if it’s not motorized or sharp, that maw of gears and rotating blades fills me with dread. Whether a sly joke or serendipity, the gun is decorated with the headpiece of Bionicle baddie called Skull Grinder. How perfect is that?! Dicken is no stranger to gaming tributes, although they tend to be of a slightly more family-friendly flavor, like this adorable Baby Bowser.

To learn more about the builder and his creations, check out our interview with Dicken Liu from earlier this year.

Gourmet Taiwanese food builds in LEGO that look good enough to eat!

For the grand opening of a new LEGO Store in Tainan City, two of our favorite Taiwanese builders celebrated with delectable brick-built versions of local dishes. Hsinwei Chi, fan designer of the LEGO Ideas Jazz Quartet, created a trio of dishes. Starting from the top, we have shrimp rolls, a fried snack of shrimp, fish paste, and vegetables wrapped in tofu skin. Next, shrimp rice is an iconic bit of home cooking with shrimp, shallots, and white rice stir-fried with soy sauce and rice wine. Last is a mouth-watering bowl of danzai noodles, with roasted pork, mashed garlic, and shrimp sitting atop chewy wheat noodles in a deep, savory broth. In case you’re curious where those noodles come from, they’re yellow flex tubes exclusive to the DC Heroes Bumblebee Helicopter set.

James Zhan showed up with two dishes. First we have a pair of guan cai ban – Taiwanese “coffin bread” – in which a thick slice of white bread is hollowed out and fried and filled with a creamy stew. James employs a fun mix of parts for the stew texture, including white bananas, large clamshells, and technic ball peas.

Fittingly, our last dish is a dessert – beh teung guai, aka Taiwanese churros. The fried dough of glutinous rice flour is similar to Japanese mochi, with a chewy interior, and flavored with sugar and crushed peanuts. For both dishes, James elevates the presentation with elegant serving trays and leafy garnishes.

If these Tainan comfort foods leave you hungry for more LEGO cooking, check out our food archive for more delicious models. (Especially this street food noodle cart that seems like a great place to enjoy some of those danzai noodles!)

Buka’s Brick Bestiary is the ultimate guide to LEGO fauna [News]

With thousands of different elements in dozens of colors, some with prints, most retired, and new parts appearing every month, how best to categorize LEGO bricks in a way that is useful? For Pinar, who runs the Buka Bricks blog (in both Turkish and English!), the answer is to approach bricks less like an engineer and more like a naturalist. For years, Pinar has written about and categorized LEGO animals with the drive of a modern-day Linnaeus, creating a taxonomy and history that is as fun to browse as it is exhaustive in its coverage. Last week Pinar updated the Brick Bestiary with a new index and updated listings through 2025 sets.

Pinar’s efforts not only make it convenient to browse through all of LEGO’s cat or insect variations in a single scroll, but her scholarship and passion make the Bestiary an engaging and enlightening read. Where else will you find useful dog size guides like this…

Alongside cursed history like this?

Thank you, Pinar, for this invaluable resource.

A day of knights from LEGO stars [Minifig Monday]

Where I live in Sweden, we’re in that time of year when day never ends, which has me craving ~~night~~ Knights! For this week’s Minifig Monday, we’re rounding up enough white knights, royal champions, and bullish bruisers to surround a round table, and a strong dose of NEXO Knights!

We start with Sir Candrel, the Luminous Flameknight, from Linus (minifigurebuilds). He may equip NEXO pauldrons and shield, but this knight works with wax, not wires. I love the use of Shakespeare’s neck frill atop the helmet and the fur collar on the axe for dripping wax detail.

Sobek Bricks is back with Calanthia the Dragon Slayer, a half-elf knight with flower maidens to hold up her flowing cape. I don’t know what I like better about Calanthia’s combo – the curved horns on the helmet, or the winged goat by her side.

None shall pass without my permission! Okay, you have my permission. Read on.

Picture Perfect – Life in LEGO Polaroids (Guest Feature)

This started as a quick contest entry. Just one little diorama for the LEGO Ideas “Picture Perfect Memories” challenge. I thought I’d build a single model—frame it up like a Polaroid, submit it, and move on with my life.

Instead, I made six.

And who among us hasn’t gotten carried away and spent the whole night building? For me, there was something satisfying about having small ideas in my head that I could actually finish. Each one took a couple of hours. Nothing sprawling. Just compact moments, built quickly and intentionally.

I like building small. It forces you to be economical, which I think can be more impressive than going big. It also lets you focus on what really matters—telling a story.

Each of these builds is based on something that happened in my life, or something close to it. They’re impressions. Memories, simplified and captured in plastic. And in sharing them, I hoped to set a kind of template—something other people might follow to build their own.

Take a look at the story behind each of the six Polaroid vignettes and maybe be inspired to make your own

Sixties cool meets serious horsepower with LEGO Icons 10357 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C [News]

Has there ever been a more effortlessly cool roadster than the Shelby Cobra? Combining cheeky British body design with a beast of an American engine, the AC Shelby Cobra remains one of the most sought-after classic cars among driving enthusiasts, and this July, it becomes slightly more affordable as the latest LEGO Icons car model. LEGO Icons 10357 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C promises a sophisticated build that captures the legendary car’s signature curves while packing in enough details to please the pickiest Top Gear critic. Racing into stores on July 1 for Insiders (July 4th for all), the Shelby Cobra is built from 1,241 pieces and can be pre-ordered now for US $159.99 | CAN $199.99 | UK £139.99.

The full gallery and set details follow after the break!

Don’t lose sleep trying to count these electronic sheep

If you thought Blade Runner was a visionary mind trip, it’s positively prosaic compared to the novel its based on: Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep by Philip K. Dick. Builder Pierthviv pays tribute to the master of consciousness-questioning sci-fi with a book cover built from a truly eclectic mix of LEGO elements. While not directly referencing any cover I’m aware of, Pierthviv draws on very Dickian iconography, from the eyes in the machine, to the syringes in the cyber background, to the lenses upon lenses of the Voigt-Kampff machine.

A wider angle lets us better appreciate the builder’s craft. The constraction-style figure seamlessly blends organic musculature with cybernetic elements in a way that feels straight out of and 70s pulp sci-fi art. The Dreamzzz brain, exposed as a robot claw lifts of the top of the skull, is especially chilling. The sheep in the monitor is the only source of color and escape in this dystopian vignette, matching the theme of the novel.

Pierthviv created this chilling model for the first round of the 2025 Bio-Cup with the theme “Dreams.”