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.

Curls and swirls for little girls

The 2014 excitement keeps rolling in, thanks to Walmart in Canada who have naughtily posted a lot of 2014 LEGO® box pictures in the last few days. You can catch up with them all on Brickset and I'll be pointing out some of the interesting new elements over the next few weeks. Today I've chosen three decorative elements that are appearing in several of the new Disney Princess sets as well as in Friends. It's a great time to be a LEGO Girl.

The first is a new plant! It can be seen clearly here on 41050 Ariel's Amazing Treasures. It reminds me of an unraveling fern, yet also works well in this underwater scene. There's something a little odd and creepy to me about the way it curls like that. It feels a little alien... and in fact, I've literally just spotted an Olive Green one in 75037 Battle on Saleucami (yes, there are Star Wars set leaks too). This plant seems to fit any scenario... in this forthcoming Friends set, 41026 Sunshine Harvest, it makes me think of a young corn plant.

A is for Angle

We are now in that exciting time of year when images of forthcoming sets are continually appearing, and as we all know, the very best thing about new sets is new parts. So over the next few posts I'm intending to highlight some of the exciting new elements being spotted in 2014 sets.

Today let's look at what is frankly a bit of an odd one, nicknamed the 'A-frame' already. If you've not yet seen it yet, see if you can spot some on the box art for these two 2014 Ninjago sets: 70724 NinjaCopter and in two places in 70725 Nindroid MechDragon. (No, that set name isn't some dude from Scotland. It means it's got ninjas! It's got androids! It's a mech! It's a dragon!)

Domes and doughnuts

I recently wrote about 10243 Parisian Restaurant which is due out in January; here's a quick update about a couple of the most interesting new parts in the set. Some fan sites have received review copies (two months before release... surprisingly early!)  including Huw Millington at Brickset, who has kindly taken these pictures for New Elementary readers to pore over.