LEGO® Winter Village parts review: 10275 Elf Club House

Following his review of the build yesterday, today Lee (cityson on Flickr) examines all the pieces in LEGO® Winter Village 10275 Elf Club House to show you the newer and less common ones that you may like to add to your collection. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

To conclude my LEGO® Winter Village 10275 Elf Club House review, let's take a deep dive into its parts. This photo of its 1197 elements gives you a sense of the colour distribution in this set.

LEGO® Winter Village set review: 10275 Elf Club House

Unwittingly, we seem to have turned new contributor Lee (cityson on Flickr) into our Christmas correspondent; following his tussle with Winter Snowball Fight, this week he takes on LEGO® Winter Village 10275 Elf Club House. Before discussing its parts tomorrow, let's take a look at the build. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

The Winter Village subtheme of LEGO® Creator Expert has always been a curious existence to me. With their 12+ age suggestion, I tended to think of them as being a transitional phase for builders to get a taste of some more advanced techniques without being overwhelmed, and appropriately so given the family nature of the festival itself. However, this year’s offering, 10275 Elf Club House, has been given the new 18+ branding. Does the model live up to such a jump in rating? Let's find out!

LEGO® Monkie Kid review & alt-build: 80008 Monkie Kid's Cloud Jet

Continuing our LEGO® Monkie Kid reviews, today we have Tim Goddard (on Instagram) examining 80008 Monkie Kid's Cloud Jet, as well as creating a couple of cute little alternate builds! The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

This is the second of two Monkie Kid sets that I have been sent to review and compared to the other, 80009 Pigsy’s Food Truck, this one is more to my liking. The Cloud Jet looks great, with interesting angles and vivid colours, and I found it to be much more interesting build-wise.

Which LEGO® sets have the most new parts? September 2020

Here is the second installation of our latest resource for you: a list of the newest LEGO® sets and the quantity of new parts in them. Developed in partnership with TobyMac from Rebrickable, we  show this both in terms of quantity as well as overall percentage. So if you like to buy sets knowing they'll contain parts you don't have, use our table as one of your purchasing factors.

LEGO® Consumer Perceived Quality: Bjarke Schønwandt

Today – the Thursday before Skaerbaek Fan Weekend – is Fan Day at LEGO® House in Billund, Denmark. Sadly neither event can proceed in person this year but Fan Day is going ahead online with some presentations. But did you miss out? Well, we are bringing you a taste of it now, because one session is similar to one New Elementary experienced online in May, at Fan Media Days. Francesco Spreafico has written this fascinating report. 

Aside from employee interviews, at Fan Media Days we also attend a few presentations about various LEGO topics. Today we are going to cover one of the most interesting of the 2020 sessions, “Consumer Perceived Quality” with Bjarke Schønwandt, Quality Director.

Bjarke has been with the LEGO Group for 18 years, and he’s always worked in Quality. His dream as a kid was to grow up and be the person who tests all LEGO sets, so, we could say he’s almost there! But what does Consumer Perceived Quality do?

LEGO® Star Wars parts review: 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina

Thomas Jenkins (on Instagram) has written for us previously, revealing his Iron Builder techniques, and today joins us as a regular contributor! He's facing 3187 pieces in LEGO® Star Wars 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina and so we're dividing his review; starting with the elements today. The set is available priced US$349.99/ CA$449.99/ £319.99. If you're buying this set, consider using our LEGO Shop at Home affiliate links: USA or UK. New Elementary earn from qualifying purchases. The product in this article was provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the release of LEGO® 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina largely thanks to some long-awaited fan-favourite characters making their first appearance in ABS form.

But what other new LEGO parts can builders look forward to when they step inside this “wretched hive of scum and villainy”? There aren’t a lot but there are a few treasures to be found among the sea of tan bricks!

LEGO® Iconic review & alt builds: 40424 Winter Snowball Fight

Today we greet another new contributor:  Lee (city son on Flickr) who hails from Hong Kong. We sent Lee a copy of LEGO® Iconic 40424 Winter Snowball Fight to review, plus he also designed several creations of his own using only the parts in this small set. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

The LEGO Group has put out quite a lot of seasonal vignettes over the years, and they rarely disappoint me. With a low price point, a lovely model and a great selection of parts, 40424 Winter Snowball Fight easily won me over once again. Let’s take a look at what you can get out of this US$12.99/ CA$16.99 set

What new LEGO® pieces were released in September 2020?

Now the LEGO® sets for September are (probably) all out and their new parts added to Rebrickable, TobyMac has created this list showing them all so you can easily check for the ones you might be interested in and which sets they come in. 

Harry Potter products account for much of them. There aren't as many new moulds this month; most are printed pieces and recolours. If you're buying from LEGO Bricks and Pieces, consider using our affiliate links: USA, UK. New Elementary earn from qualifying purchases.

LEGO® Arcade Pods: Aron Gerencser's Robot Lovers and Hermit Crab

Continuing our examination of the cruellest seed part ever, today's builder grappling with the arcade pod from LEGO® Ninjago is Aron Gerencser (Pohaturon on Flickr). He's a professional journalist from Hungary who joins the New E team as contributor and subeditor, so make him welcome!

They say couples who play together, stay together - and I guess if that applies to both LEGO® and video games, the buff stacks!

LEGO® Arcade Pods: Mansur Soeleman's Tank & Terribilis

Today, Mansur “Waffles” Soeleman (instagram.com/lamborghiniwafflesauce) reveals his LEGO® creations using the two specialised parts that comprise the 'Arcade Pod' from Ninjago. Back in April, Victor Pruvost analysed these new parts and created his own models, and we sent some to other builders to see what they could come up with. Some products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this. Let's see how Mansur got on!

It would be an understatement to say that building something with the main element from 71715 Jay Avatar Arcade Pod was a challenge. It is a large, clumsy LEGO® part with strange shapes and bits sticking out. The angles on the front were not the issue; it was the clips and plate on the sides that got in the way of using this part in the ways I wanted to.

(CW:HP) LEGO® Harry Potter set review: 75978 Diagon Alley

Jonas Kramm reviews the massive LEGO® Harry Potter 75978 Diagon Alley today. The product in this article was provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this. Editorial note: Although views expressed by Harry Potter's creator do not align with that of New Elementary, we continue to cover HP sets. Read about our stance here.

We already posted about the reveal and the new parts of LEGO® Harry Potter 75978 Diagon Alley, so today it’s time to take a look at the actual build and its most interesting building techniques. With 5544 pieces the set is the second biggest Harry Potter set to this day; only 71043 Hogwarts Castle has more. As expected, such a huge build comes with many things to explore, so without further ado, let’s get started!

Which LEGO® sets have the most new parts? July and August 2020

Following the success of our published lists of new elements, created in partnership with TobyMac from Rebrickable, I've been thinking of ways we could use that data for parts-loving fans like you lot! Today we launch another useful resource for you: lists of recent sets showing the amount of new elements within them.

Why? Because while many of you simply purchase new elements individually, many also enjoy building official sets. So which new sets have the most new elements? We developed the table below to show this, both in terms of quantity as well as overall percentage. So if you like to buy sets knowing they'll contain parts you don't have, use our table as one of your purchasing factors.

LEGO® Hidden Side: Eli Willsea's creations using new parts from 70430 & 70432

We've discussed LEGO® Hidden Side sets quite a bit this year and now it is time for a different take. We sent the talented US builder Eli Willsea (ForlornEmpire on Flickr and Instagram) a copy of 70430 Newbury Subway and 70432 Haunted Fairground to see what original creations he could come up with, also using his own LEGO parts. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

First off let's take a look at some of the newest elements included in these sets that I used in my creations. There were several recolours of existing parts as well as a few new elements that immediately caught my eye.

Old Elementary: Insectoids eyes

The eyes have it! In his third and final examination of interesting LEGO® pieces introduced for the 1998 Space theme Insectoids, Duncan Lindbo (donutsftw) takes a 'look' at two parts comprising the aliens' eyes, and builds original creations of his own using them.

Today, we’re journeying back once again to the days of the late 1990s to cast our gaze upon some old LEGO® Insectoids parts. But these parts can gaze back! That’s because we’re looking at Cylinder Hemisphere 4x4 Multifaceted (30208) and Plate, Modified 1x2 with 4x4 Dish at 90° (30209), a pair of parts which were first introduced as ‘eyes’ in the Insectoids line.

(CW:HP) LEGO® Harry Potter parts review: 75978 Diagon Alley

Jonas Kramm took a detailed look at the first images of new LEGO® Harry Potter set 75978 Diagon Alley and reviews the actual set as well. Today, he presents a list of its new elements and discusses the most interesting. Editorial note: Although views expressed by Harry Potter's creator do not align with that of New Elementary, we continue to cover HP sets. Read about our stance here.

After the reveal of LEGO® Harry Potter 75978 Diagon Alley just a few days ago, it’s time to take a closer look at which of the 5544 elements are new. Some were already mentioned in my last article but now we have a complete list, based on the inventory on Rebrickable, which you can see after my summary.