Bricktastic: Alex Jones (Orion Pax)

One of the many who regularly display at Bricktastic, the LEGO® show in Manchester in aid of Fairy Bricks, is Alexander Jones works as a LEGO Model Designer for TT Games, so if you're into LEGO video games you've surely played with his models before. But Bricktastic provided the opportunity to see Alex play with his own models! Including Arcee, one of the Autobots from the Transformers franchise which is a favoured subject of his.

2017 Skærbæk Parts Festival: registration

Sorry, this event is now fully booked.

Are you already registered to come to Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark in late September? If not, I am afraid you are too late for this year, folks... but if you are registered: New Elementary will be running a one-off special building workshop and we'd love you to come and build with some new elements!

Gone fishin'

Respect to Sven Franic. He received New Elementary's review copy of the LEGO® Ideas set, 21310 Old Fishing Store, on Friday and by Monday he had delivered me a spectacular and thorough review of the parts, minifigures and colours in this huge and gorgeous new set. As if that wasn't enough, he had to leave for Slovenia that day... so, just in case the review needed more work, he took the set with him! Well, no more work was required but Sven has nevertheless sent us some "fishing holiday" pics.

The early bird catches the fish

Coming 1st September 2017, LEGO® Ideas 21310 Old Fishing Store has 2,049 pieces - the highest number ever for a LEGO Ideas set - and will retail for £139.99 / US$149.99 / 149.99€. Sven Franic is here to tell you all about the colours, parts and minifigures you will find in this stunning fan-designed set.

I remember the day the LEGO® Ideas review results arrived with the news that the Old Fishing Store by fan builder Robert Bontenbal (RobenAnne) would be made into a set. A lot of us hoped for it, but never thought such a large project would be deemed feasible by the LEGO Ideas team. A particularly attractive feature was the colour scheme in Sand Green and the inclusion of so many accessories and animals, most notably the seagull which was only briefly featured with one of the characters in the 2013 collectible minifigures series 10.

A stud walks into a bar…

This week, over 300 new, recoloured or printed parts were revealed on Brickset, but there was one in particular that hasn't been listed yet. We will have one from the LEGO® Group soon - but Elspeth De Montes already has her paws on it, and it just might be the most useful new LEGO piece of 2017... 

When the first images of a new set are made public, some fans like to admire the minifigures, other start comparing the accuracy of the set or its relevance within a theme or perhaps even imagine how it would look on their shelf. Others, like my fellow New Elementary contributor Chris McVeigh, prefer to scan for new parts, or parts in new colours.

Rambling Brick: Underneath the Arches

We love a good arch brick here at New Elementary, so when our good friend Richard Jones posted this article on his excellent blog The Rambling Brick recently, we just had to share. He's kindly allowed us to re-post it here as a guest post.

One of the great things about LEGO® bricks is the system: the way elements fit together and interact with each other, sometimes in unexpected ways.  Studs and tubes are easy to understand. As are minifigure hands and the way they plug into the end of a tube or anti stud, or clip over a 3.18mm bar. Every so often you come across a new set of interactions, and wonder just how far these relationships between elements extend.