LEGO® Friends build review and interview: 42639 Andrea's Modern Mansion

With 2275 parts, 42639 Andrea’s Modern Mansion is the largest LEGO® Friends set to date. These parts include a lot of interesting new elements which we’ve already taken a look at, but now it’s time to start building!

LEGO® Technic™ set reviews: 42163 Heavy-Duty Bulldozer and 42167 Mack LR Electric Garbage Truck

Here at New Elementary we’re looking ahead to what the New Year will bring to the LEGO® Technic™ theme with two January 2024 sets: 42163 Heavy-Duty Bulldozer and 42167 Mack LR Electric Garbage Truck. Since neither set is very large, we’ll take a look at their elements and their builds together.

LEGO® Star Wars™ set review: 75371 Chewbacca

LEGO® Star Wars™ sets are stereotypically expensive horizontal Light Bluish Gray, Dark Red or Dark Blue objects made of wedge plates and featuring detailed minifigures. Alongside those, there have also been sets of larger figures, almost since the theme's beginning. I remember looking at 7194 Yoda in a catalog 21 years ago in 2002 when I was seven and wondering how many pieces it would have... it has 1075, which doesn't sound that much in 2023.

In comparison, 75371 Chewbacca has 2319 pieces - over twice more - although it doesn't look much larger. Of course, many modern parts have been made character building a lot easier than it was in the bricky 2000s. How does our first large-scale LEGO System model of Chewbacca manage to capture the classic first mate of the Millenium Falcon?

Bug Fest: MOCs from kekenoji, Ikuse Ryouji, and Takamichi Irie

The last instalment of our Bug Fest crescendos with three more MOCs from three more inspirational builders. Kekenoji, Ikuse Ryouji, and Irie Takamichi, all have wildly different building styles and each approached this challenge in a different way.

LEGO® NINJAGO® review: mech sets 71806, 71807 & 71808

Over the years we've seen many mechs in the LEGO® NINJAGO® line-up and their builds have increasingly evolved through time. In 2024 the designers are introducing new elements to bring even more build options and play features.

Today we’ll be taking a look at 3 mechs from the first wave of 2024 sets; 71806 Cole's Earth Mech, 71807 Sora's Tech Mech and 71808 Kai's Fire Mech.

LEGO® Spring Festival review: 80112 Auspicious Dragon

I have already examined the larger of the two LEGO® Spring Festival sets for 2024, 80113 Family Reunion Celebration and spoken to its designer, Niels Mølgård Frederiksen about it's inception. Today it's the turn of the smaller release, 80112 Auspicious Dragon.

LEGO® Friends parts review: 42639 Andrea's Modern Mansion

LEGO® Friends celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2022, and in 2023 we saw a relaunch of the theme. The Heartlake City Universe made a time jump, introducing a new generation of characters. But the old friends were not forgotten! The original group is meeting up in 42639 Andrea's Modern Mansion for a reunion and catching up on adventures since their ‘split’. We’ll join the party soon, but first we’ll be taking a look at all the new elements found in the set. And there is a new color!

Bug Fest: Tary's MOCs

Our latest Parts Festival, Bug Fest – where we've sent LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection to five amazing builders and asked them to create original models – continues today! 

Tary (@nobu_tary on Twitter and Instagram) is famed for his LEGO food and robot builds, and his Bug Fest builds do not disappoint! Let's see what he has to offer.

LEGO® DREAMZzz™ 2024 new parts and minifigures, and design team interview

The LEGO® DREAMZzz™ sets for January 2024 maintain the eclectic, fantastical nature of the theme with five new sets made up of bright shades, sinister baddies and wild mash-ups.

Naturally we're starting with a review of the new and rare parts in the wave. Sharing info along the way are designers Carter Baldwin, Trine Kinch Møller and Freddy Charters, and executive producer Tommy Andreasen. It's a very minifigure-focused wave but that didn't stop the design team from also stuffing in 16 recoloured curves, decorative pieces and more—some in the all-new colour Reddish Orange. Let's enter the Dream World and see what new pieces we find.

LEGO® Technic Space theme revealed by its designers

LEGO® Space is back! Sort of. There have been lots of 2024 set reveals showing that many lines are including space themed sets, but one line where this trend is certainly obvious is LEGO® Technic. A mix of real-world, educational and future fantasy space models are planned for March 2024 which we saw back in September at Recognised LEGO Fan Media Days in Denmark.

Read on to see what Lee Magpili, Senior Model Designer and Samuel Tacchi, Designer had to say about this thrilling new development!

LEGO® Sonic The Hedgehog™ new moulds review & MOC

Earlier this year the LEGO® Sonic The Hedgehog™ theme expanded into play-set territory bringing with it some interesting new moulds. Today I'll be taking a look at their connections, exploring the similarities they have with existing parts and using them in a couple of MOCs.

Bug Fest: Moko's MOCs

For our latest Parts Festival we've added the bricks from LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection to the collections of five amazing builders, and asked them to create original models. Welcome to Bug Fest!

Kicking the fest off today is Moko, a master of nice parts usage (NPU). Indeed, one of his Bug Fest MOCs really puts the 'P' into NPU...

LEGO® Friends: new moulds for January 2024

Last year's reboot of the LEGO® Friends theme was received with general acclaim. In this review I'll be exhibiting some of the new moulds found in the upcoming January 2024 wave. The parts are pulled from 42603 Stargazing Camping Vehicle, 42604 Heartlake City Shopping Mall, 42605 Mars Space Base and Rocket, 42608 Tiny Accessories Store (also known as Mini Boutique, apparently), 42620 Olly and Paisley's Family Houses and 42621 Heartlake City Hospital.

 

This examination will focus on the "normal" building parts and figure accessories, while leaving the new mini-doll parts for my upcoming set reviews.

LEGO® Monkie Kid™ review: 80054 Megapolis City 5th Anniversary

Today I'm taking a look at LEGO® Monkie Kid 80054 Megapolis City 5th Anniversary, which contains some very interesting new pieces, and even a new LEGO colour! 

LEGO® Spring Festival review: 80113 Family Reunion Celebration

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Niels Mølgård Frederiksen, Associate Creative Lead for LEGO® Monkie Kid and designer of this LEGO® Spring Festival release, 80113 Family Reunion Celebration. So it's great that I also have the chance to have a proper look at the set to review for you, and there's a lot to enjoy.

Bug Fest using LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection: Introducing the elements

It's December and New Elementary is getting in the festive mood with a Parts Fest! 

We invited five incredibly talented builders, @kekenoji, @moko_bricks, @legomichiiiiii, @r194.lego, and @nobu_tary to inspire us with their LEGO creations using elements from LEGO® Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection. With an inventory that ticked all the boxes for colourful and interesting elements, it seemed like the perfect set for a Parts Fest, or maybe this time it's a Bug Fest...

What are the new LEGO® parts for December 2023 and which sets contain the most?

I've created a list showing all 159 new LEGO® elements added in December 2023, with links to which sets they come in so you can check for the ones you might be interested in. And for those of you who instead prefer our list of sets showing which contain the most new elements, click here.