Sand Green Pete Machines: New turtles, robots and more

Who would have thought that not one but two of this year's LEGO® Architecture sets would provide the necessary 3x3 dishes for Peter Reid to create entire new fleets of his iconic robot turtles? Having analysed all the exciting new parts in 21042 Statue of Liberty, I simply had to send the Sand Green elements off to him to see what would happen.

Receiving the parts from New Elementary (along with some gentle bullying by Brickset) meant it was time for another robot turtle. It only seems like a week or two since we got Magenta ones. What a time to be alive.

Tim asked me to make a single Sand Green turtle, but one thing led to another and I ended up developing some additional models, which nobody asked for.

Mk II Liberty Launcher

LEGO® Architecture 21042 Statue of Liberty: The new parts

Packed with interesting techniques, LEGO® Architecture 21042 Statue of Liberty is my favourite build of the year so far. Today, I'm going to examine the parts that have been provided in new colours in this new set and show a couple of cool techniques that the designer has used.

Inside Tour 2018 exclusive set

Spoiler alert! If you don't want to know what this year's LEGO® Inside Tour set is, look away now. Because Márton Ferenci was fortunate enough to attend and has given us this brief insight into the set, which can now be revealed to the public.

Being part of the LEGO Inside Tour is part luck, part madness. 3000 people signed up and a lucky 170-ish got chosen. Each year the participants receive a limited edition set, the subject of which is handpicked by the Kristiansen family to commemorate this special occasion.

The box gets handed out at the end of an intense 2.5 day journey deep into the real LEGO “land”. After learning so much about moulding, visiting the factory and meeting the LEGO designers (above), it is a true highlight to be given one of these.

LEGO® Jurassic World 2018: The new elements

Having opened all the Jurassic World sets to explore the new dinosaurs and re-colours of previously known dinosaurs, Elspeth De Montes turns her attention to the new elements within the 2018 range of LEGO® Jurassic World sets (excluding 75927 Stygimoloch Breakout and 75928 Blue's Helicopter Pursuit, which contain no new elements.)

75930 Indoraptor Rampage at Lockwood Estate

The largest set in the Jurassic World 2018 line-up is 75930 Indoraptor Rampage at Lockwood Estate with 1,019 pieces. There are five new elements that make their debut in a new colour and a few notable elements that are still relatively rare or new for 2018.

LEGO® Technic set review: 42083 Bugatti Chiron

Alexandre Campos has already examined all the new parts in the LEGO® Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron and now turns his attention to the incredible build process.

As mentioned previously, 42083 Bugatti Chiron is divided into six numbered boxes, each with numbered bags, and this is a godsend. Having to search among 3599 parts at once would be maddening. Some instruction steps are also extra helpful with the build, especially when Earth Blue [TLG]/ Dark Blue [BL] elements are involved: a red outline marks newly-added elements. Still, make no mistake: this is an intricate and complicated build, and often it's hard to know what goes where, and easy to make mistakes.

Press conference for LEGO® Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron

Last week, on the final day of the LEGO® Fan Media Days in Billund, a special press conference was held for the release of LEGO Technic set 42083 Bugatti Chiron with designers from both Bugatti and the LEGO Technic teams.

On the podium, from left to right, are:

• Jachin Schwalbe (JS), Head of Chassis Development, Bugatti
• Achim Anscheidt (AA), Bugatti Design Director

• Aurélien Rouffiange (AR), LEGO Designer

• Andrew Woodman (AW), LEGO Technic Senior Design Manager


AFOLs used this unique opportunity to ask some interesting questions about the design of both the car and the set, and Are J. Heiseldal has transcribed the most interesting responses for you here.

LEGO® Technic parts review: 42083 Bugatti Chiron

It's a beast in so many ways –  the LEGO® Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron contains 3599 pieces and is priced at £329.99 / $349.99 / 369.99€. We're celebrating it at New Elementary with a series of three posts this week and to start, Alexandre Campos is opening the box and seeing what new and recoloured parts lie within.

After the success of the 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, it was kind of expected that The LEGO Group would launch a second "LEGO Technic Expert" set. The 42056 raised the bar on size, complexity, and authenticity for LEGO Technic. Not to mention it introduced many new elements that would see wide usage across the rest of the Technic line, such as the Technic Steering Wheel Hub Holder with 2 Pin Holes and 2 Axle Holes (Design ID 23801), the Technic Axle Connector 3L (Design ID 26287), or the Technic Panel Curved 7 x 3 with 2 Pin Holes through Panel Surface (Design ID 24119).

LEGO® Fan Media Days 2018: What happened

Thanks to over 30 wonderful New Elementary readers who gave generously to our GoFundMe campaign, we were able to send Are J. Heiseldal to LEGO® Fan Media Days 2018 in Billund, Denmark this week.  In reverse chronological order, here's a taste of what happened and what interviews you can expect to read on New Elementary in the coming months!

LEGO TECHNIC 42083 Bugatti Chiron

On Friday the new Technic supercar for 2018 was announced in an exciting press event at LEGO House.

LEGO® Ideas Pop-Up Book: exclusive Samuel Johnson interview

We are all on tenterhooks awaiting further news of the upcoming LEGO® Ideas Voltron set. But yesterday the LEGO Ideas team instead announced the results of their latest review, which examined seven successful fan creations to decide which would be released as a real LEGO product later this year. Spoiler alert if you've not watched the reveal video... it's going to be Pop-Up Book, by Grant Davis and Jason Allemann.

Image © Jason Allemann/ Grant Davis

Thanks to the help of New Elementary readers, our reporter Are J. Heiseldal was inside LEGO HQ in Billund yesterday, for LEGO Fan Media Days, where he spoke to Senior Designer Samuel Johnson about Pop-Up Book and the other fan creations that didn't make it.