Change to RSS feed & email subscriptions

A quick admin post about our site feed: we have had to switch from using Feedburner as Google are not supporting email subscriptions from July onwards, so those of you already subscribed will now receive New Elementary emails via follow.it instead.

They actually offer additional features including the ability to filter the posts you receive from us by keywords or tags, so if there are topics we cover you just don't want to hear about you can now control this! You can also elect to receive our posts via Telegram if you use that platform.

You can subscribe at follow.it/newelementary.

 

LEGO® Friends reviews: 41677 Forest Waterfall & 41682 Heartlake City School

Saija Saarenpää (@saija_kristina) returns with not one but two more LEGO® Friends reviews for you today: the 93-piece 41677 Forest Waterfall and 605-piece 41682 Heartlake City School! Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

41677 Forest Waterfall

This small forest area beside a waterfall includes a wooden log that bridges both sides of the river where the waterfall lands. Included are two minidolls, a squirrel, and a few basic supplies for camping such as binoculars, a bonbon to roast in a fire, and a mug. There’s also a kick scooter as a means of transportation.

LEGO® DOTS review & MOCs: 41926 Creative Party Kit

Caz Mockett (@cazmockett) gets creative with a 2021 LEGO® DOTS kit today: 41926 Creative Party Kit, which she analyses before designing her own models using the cupcake piece 72024. Buying this set from LEGO.com? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK | USA | Australia, for other countries 'Change Region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

In this article, I take a look at the LEGO® DOTS Creative Party Kit, which was released in January 2021. The first thing I noticed was the box art, which I felt was perhaps a little misleading - you do get lots of lovely LEGO elements, but none of the other bits and pieces in the picture, such as the fluffy pompoms or ribbon. I know these were probably included to suggest a storage solution for party favours, but unwary parents who buy the kit for a birthday party on the basis of the box art may be a bit disappointed. It’s a minor thing, but one I felt I ought to mention.

Sustainable LEGO® bricks: will Recycled PET be the end of ABS?

The LEGO Group have released a progress update on their efforts to eliminate the environmental impact of making LEGO® bricks, and New Elementary have asked them some questions about it. You will recall they’ve been testing various plastics made from sustainable resources for several years now, and although they don’t yet have the solution, today they have revealed the first brick made from a recycled material that meets the company’s strict quality and safety requirements – as well has having the all-important correct level of clutch power! That material is recycled PET (rPET) from discarded bottles. Each 1-litre plastic PET bottle provides them with enough raw material to make 10 LEGO 2x4 bricks, on average. 

LEGO® Super Mario August 2021: The New Moulds

Ben Davies (@ProfBrickkeeper) reveals the exciting new moulds coming in the August 2021 LEGO® Super Mario sets: 71387 Adventurers with Luigi Starter Course, 71390 Reznor Knockdown, 71391 Bowser’s Airship, 71392 Frog Mario Power-Up Pack and 71393 Bee Mario Power-Up Pack. Buying LEGO Super Mario sets? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

Since its debut a year ago, the LEGO® Super Mario theme has consistently offered up a plentiful supply of exciting new elements, including new moulds, recolours, and decorations. To celebrate the newly-unveiled third wave of sets in the theme, we here at New Elementary will be taking an exclusive look at all the new elements arriving this August. Today, we’ll begin by looking at several new moulds which appear across the upcoming wave.

LEGO® Star Wars review & MOCs: 75300 Imperial Tie Fighter & 75301 Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing Fighter

Kev Levell (@kevlevell) gives you double LEGO® Star Wars love today as he examines the parts in 75300 Imperial Tie Fighter & 75301 Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing Fighter before creating MOCs using both their parts. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

These two new iterations of iconic LEGO Star Wars ships have been available for a little while now. There are a very small number of notable new parts and even dealing with both sets at once, it is a scant offering. However, both sets feature elements that I wanted to investigate. None of the parts are presented in very great numbers either, but their connections and geometry may reveal them to be slightly overlooked gems. I’m hoping they aren’t disappointing, unnecessary introductions into the inventory.

LEGO® Star Wars review: 75286 General Grievous’s Starfighter

Zachary Hill (@zaxbrix) swooshes back to 2020 today with a review of LEGO® Star Wars 75286 General Grievous’s Starfighter. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

The Star Wars galaxy is filled with unique starships to suit each owner and ruthless droid army commander General Grievous is no exception. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith cinematically introduced the General’s ship while The Clone Wars gave the arch-clanker’s starfighter even more screen time. Chronologically in Star Wars the ship was last seen after the tense battle of Utapau, which claimed the last bit of life left in Grievous’s cyborg body and forced Obi-Wan Kenobi to commandeer the ship to escape the incivility below.

This dark and intimidating ship made its third minifigure-scale appearance in August 2020: LEGO® Star Wars 75286 General Grievous’s Starfighter. The build is strongly reminiscent of earlier sets and introduces a few newly recoloured slope elements. 

LEGO® Icons review & MOC: 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar

Zachary Hill (@zaxbrix) not only reviews the stunning new LEGO® 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar today, he also builds his own creation with some of its new elements! Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

Adidas and The LEGO Group have established a solid working relationship with their Adidas x LEGO® collection of clothing. That partnership has birthed dozens of jackets, shorts, and of course sneakers. If you’re like me, all that new apparel just whizzed past you - what about those of us who don’t spring for the latest streetwear? How about the latest LEGO set? I’m no sneakerhead but LEGO Creator Expert 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar has enough ingenuity and new elements in its build to pique my interest. 

The first-ever Adidas-branded construction set comes with 731 pieces and is available on July 1 2021 for US$79.99/ CA$109.99/ €89.99/ £79.99/ AU$159.99.

LEGO® Super Mario review: 71381 Chain Chomp Jungle Encounter & 71382 Piranha Plant Puzzling Challenge

Nicolas Geeraert returns today to complete our coverage of  January 2021 LEGO® Super Mario, looking at the smaller sets 71381 and 71382. Buying these? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

Today, we are reviewing two further sets from the January wave of LEGO® Super Mario, namely 71381 Chain Chomp Jungle Encounter and 71382 Piranha Plant Puzzling Challenge. Both sets are situated in the Soda Jungle world of the Super Mario Universe. Thus we can expect lots of purple to represent the poisoned soda and a series of matching enemies.

New Elementary's 8th Birthday Party-Fest

It's our 8th anniversary today! We've published over 800 original articles in those 8 years... 182 of them since our 7th birthday. And what a year it has been – I still haven't implemented half the stuff I intended to but we have literally doubled our average visitor rate since this time last year and best of all, I roughly doubled our core team of contributors. They're a fabulous gang who consistently deliver awesome content, and keep me sane! Thank you all. We recently updated our About Us page, so now you can meet them all... You Will Learn Something About Each Of Them That Will Surprise You.

8-Year Old Elementary: Jonas Kramm's 8 LEGO® Pieces That Look Like An 8

It's our 8th anniversary of publishing LEGO® articles today! As part of our celebrations, here's a fun article from Jonas Kramm.

To celebrate eight years of part analysis and geeking out with New Elementary I searched my collection for exactly eight LEGO pieces that look like an eight!

Let’s take a closer look, starting with the smallest one and going bigger every time!

8-Year Old Elementary: Eero Okkonen's 8 LEGO® Pieces For 8 Years

It's our 8th anniversary of publishing LEGO® articles today! As part of our celebrations, here's a fun article from Eero Okkonen, who even explains why LEGO part 26047 is a good thing.

The basic unit of LEGO® System is not a millimetre, module, stud or plate. It is a part, or piece, or element (or sometimes probably brick, but that being also a subtype leads to confusion and turmoil). All sets and MOCs and exhibits and contest entries consist of pieces and, as this is New Elementary, we like to talk about pieces.

This little article (articlette?) goes through 8 pleasant, nice and useful pieces. There is no common theme binding them together; some are old, some are new, some are super common and some might be a bit obscure. This is not a “top 8 pieces ever” list - just a little love letter to helpful little moulds that make building fun.

8-Year Old Elementary: Celebr8 with Kev Levell

It's our 8th anniversary of publishing LEGO® articles today! As part of our celebrations, here's a fun article from Kev Levell.

Congratulations to Tim on 8 phenomenal years running New Elementary. In honour of those 8 years, I have picked 8 “parts”, most of these were (as usual) sitting on my build table, among the essential group of parts that I more often than not tend to have to hand, just to see how they might fit or what they will look like in whatever it is I’m building. Another day, it might have been a slightly different 8!

LEGO® Ideas reveal: 21327 Typewriter

The LEGO Group has just revealed the new LEGO® Ideas set, 21327 Typewriter, and on top of the details from the press release we also have additional information for you from the team behind this thrilling new set! It measures 27 x 26 x 12cm, contains 2079 pieces and will cost £179.99/ US$199.99/ €199.99/ AU$329.99/ CA$269.99. Availability to LEGO VIPs is from Wednesday 16 June 2021 and general sale is from 1 July. When the time comes we’d appreciate if you would consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'.

LEGO® Creator 31107 Space Rover Explorer: Professor's "One Set" MOCs

The Professor (on Instagram) is back today with more of his excellent alternate builds, this time using the 2020 LEGO® Creator 3-in-1 set 31107 Space Rover Explorer. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

I’ve always liked the LEGO® Creator 3-in-1 sets as they’re often a good basis on which to create plenty of MOCs! 31107 Space Rover Explorer contains many pieces specific to the theme of Space. Let's take a quick look at its parts and 3 models, before I experiment with my own creations using only the parts in the set.

What new LEGO® pieces were released in June 2021?

TobyMac (on Rebrickable) has created a list showing all 895 new LEGO® elements added in June 2021, with links to which sets they come in so you can check for the ones you might be interested in. There's a lot of interesting stuff here!

Whenever you're buying from LEGO.com, including Bricks & Pieces, please consider following our affiliate links to get there, New Elementary may get a commission: USA, UK or AU. Other countries, choose 'Change Region'.

LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes set review: 76178 Daily Bugle

Thomas Jenkins (@thomas_jenkins_bricks) completes his 2-part coverage of LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 76178 Daily Bugle today, analysing the build. It is available now priced €299.99/ £274,99/ $299,99/ 499.99 AUD/ 399.99 CAD. Please consider using our affiliate links to purchase, New Elementary may get a commission: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

76178 Daily Bugle is unlike any LEGO set I’ve built before. It’s part modular building, part playset, part diorama and it does all of these things really well. The accompanying host of minifigures are integrated into the design of the building itself, and sometimes quite spectacularly, too - as is the case of the Green Goblin bursting through the window of the second floor.

I analysed its pieces last time but there’s a ton of interesting building techniques, parts usage, and little details scattered throughout the build to still discuss. We’ll work our way up the building and take a look at them.