Life in plastic, it's fantastic

Of the 2014 sets that we know of - both officially, and leaked - it is the tie-in promotional sets for The LEGO Movie that have caused the biggest stir. Because they're bonkers. In a good way. Every set I see  just oozes mayhem, which bodes well for the actual movie! Definitely winning in the bonkers stakes is 70803 Cloud Cuckoo Palace. It's as though a bunch of Friends theme Designers ate too much contraband sugar then breathed in balloonfuls of helium and sang 'I'm a Barbie Girl' as they worked. (Again, I should clarify, this is a good thing.) I can't wait to see Unikitty in the movie - that's the brick-built adorable monstrosity at the top; a half-bred cat and unicorn apparently.


I haven't counted, but I think Cloud Cuckoo Palace is also winning in the new element stakes, with a whole bunch of parts in new colours. Ones that you probably never expected to see! So I don't think today's post is especially full of new elements you really need... but using a kooky part in a kooky colour in your models is always great fun.

I won't list them all as you can doubtless spot many large elements in shades of pink, blue and green and wonderful printed parts like the 'umbrellas'. But it's amusing to note that the new Gothic half-arch, previously only available in Black and White, here it comes in Bright Pink [BL]/Light Purple [TLG]! Another interesting large part is the green castle wall with an arched window, an unusual part to get in such a shade. I'm not certain what shade it is though - it looks to be lighter than the common colour Lime [BL]/Bright Yellowish Green [TLG], but I suspect this is just because of the light striking it in this pic. Lighter shades of green do exist in the LEGO® colour palette, but one of those has only been used in DUPLO® so far and the others are seemingly discontinued. So if this wall element is not Lime, that would be rather exciting.

Unikitty is made almost entirely out of interesting elements, and two are new parts altogether. The tail is very odd and could be useful as decoration and the horn, which I would hazard a guess is Medium Blue, will surely come out in more colours in future - it will make a good drill for starters. I'm glad to note that it is attached to a 'holey dot', a terribly useful part that doesn't appear in official sets very often as yet. The 1X1 plate that makes the front feet of Unikitty could be of more use; it looks like Light Aqua [BL]/Aqua [TLG]. And the rear foot - is that Bright Light Yellow [BL]/Cool Yellow [TLG], as with the curved corner plate below it? It's hard to say for certain, and I've been caught out before attempting to guess correct colours based on pictures!

There's another new part and whilst it doesn't seem terribly useful, it is intriguing. It comes in a lot of The LEGO Movie sets, because it's attached to the main character, Emmet - it's his red backpack thingy. Here are some more pics of it - these are details from other LEGO Movie sets. Essentially it looks like two stacked 1X1 red bricks, but there is no visible join, so it is one part - a 1X1X2 brick. Also, it connects on one side to the minifig bracket he wears. These brackets (currently) come either with a stud or a Technic snap, but it can't be the latter version as you would see the hole from the rear. So the red part must have anti-stud hole, like an Erling brick. But where does this hole sit exactly? Judging by these pics, and my own little test (see end of post), my guess is that this part is the equivalent of stacking two 1X1 plates, then an Erling, then a final 1X1 plate on top. Weird eh? But as Mark Stafford pointed out, it is primarily a minifig accessory rather than a standard building brick, so that could explain how something so odd got through.

This mutant brick might have some unique applications, as having the equivalent of an Erling without the 'headlight' at the front is useful - so long as you can fit a brick this tall into your build, and so long as your build is red! Overall it doesn't feel terribly useful to me, and given that TLG are very selective about creating new moulds, it seems a very strange choice for a new part. However, perhaps it is an important plot device. Emmet is seen sporting it most of the time, and if I'm analysing these few seconds of the official trailer correctly, it seems to be glued to him, at a critical moment in the movie - after falling through the 'rabbit hole'. The other interesting thing is that the movie version doesn't seem to have a stud on top.

As mentioned, here's my rudimentary attempt at replicating Emmet from my current collection! The LEGO Movie sets go on sale in the US on 29 December - I imagine we'll be waiting until the summer here in Europe.