Review + MOC: 43247 Young Simba the Lion King from LEGO® Disney™

The June 2024 LEGO® Disney™ set 43247 Young Simba the Lion King is another example of an adult-oriented product based on a children's character. In addition to being a large model of the cartoon lion cub, this set is a treasure trove of Bright Light Orange pieces, also known as Flame Yellowish Orange, or Keetorange as I like to say. So what is this set worth to a builder who has never seen The Lion King?

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! 

Old Elementary: LEGO® Clikits – colourful icons

Remember LEGO® Clikits? Well if it passed you by you weren't the only one as it's not a theme that dominates 'vintage' collections. Clikits launched in 2003 and generated in excess of 90 sets before retiring in 2006. It was primarily aimed at girls, with lots of accessories like hair clips, combs, pencil cases, notelets, decorative containers and all the other paraphernalia a young girl apparently needed.  

For this article, I couldn't resist examining the complex world of Clikits colours. While we have no official LEGO colour charts from this time, we used the work of Ryan Howerter and their fantastic Colorstream resource to create this overview.

LEGO® DOTS Parts review + MOC: 41945 Neon Tiger Bracelet & Bag Tag

Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.

The LEGO® DOTS bag tag range was launched in 2021 and returned in January 2022 with two sets combining a bag tag with a bracelet. I've taken a closer look at the parts of one of these, 41945 Neon Tiger Bracelet & Bag Tag (AU$22.99/ CA$16.99/ DE€14.99/ FI€16.95/ £12.99/ US$14.99). The set also features some pieces in the new Neon Yellow colour introduced this year. At the end of this article I'll also share a new MOC of mine inspired by these parts.

LEGO® Monkie Kid review: 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech – The Parts

Our next LEGO® Monkie Kid review comes from Jonas Kramm who takes on 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech over the course of two posts. The set is available now and sells for US$149.99/ £129.99/ 129.99€.

With 1692 pieces, the Monkey King Warrior Mech is the second largest set of the first Monkie Kid wave. Today we will take a look at what’s in the box, list all the new bits in the usual New E fashion and learn that King Midas might have been involved in the design process.

LEGO® Disney 43179 Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse: new set reveal

Following an accidental leak last week, the proper announcement of upcoming LEGO® Disney set 43179 Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Buildable Characters is now here.

The set is on its way to us for review but we couldn't resist posting about it straightaway, as not only are there some really fascinating, useful new moulds but also the first pieces cast in a new 'colour' (or to describe it more properly, an 'effect') that was spotted on the LEGO palette earlier this year.

LEGO® Star Wars review: 75271 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder

Ryan Welles returns today with a look at one of the smaller LEGO® Star Wars 2020 sets: 75271 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder.

LEGO® Star Wars has been around since 1999, coinciding with the release of The Phantom Menace, and the variety of possible subjects for sets has since become broader with every new movie or television series being released. Despite the incredible amount of new additions to the legacy, sets from the original trilogy have proven to be most popular.

This also explains the various iterations released of the same vessel, including the most recent entry, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder. First seen in A New Hope, the vehicle has seen a total number of four entries as a minifigure-scale set. The 2020 version, set 75271, comes with 224 pieces and is a further improvement of the similar set released three years ago, 75173 Luke's Landspeeder. It makes use of several new bracket pieces released in the meantime.

LEGO® Creator Expert review: 10271 Fiat 500 – The Parts

The annual LEGO® Creator Expert vehicle is a treat to many and brings exciting new elements to all, and 2020's 10271 Fiat 500 is no exception – in fact its vast raft of recolours is astonishing and will open up new building opportunities with one of the less-common LEGO colours, as Inthert discovers in the first part of his review today. 

LEGO® DOTS Review: the Bracelet sets

The latest theme from everyone's favourite Danish toy manufacturer is a creative, crafty experience called LEGO® DOTS. We recently published articles about the Dots launch event in London and the actual bracelet strap element, but we were also keen to look at the five sets that make up the range of Dots bracelets: 41900 Rainbow, 41901 Funky Animals, 41902 Sparkly Unicorn, 41903 Cosmic Wonder and 41912 Love Birds.



The LEGO Dots bracelets are now available to buy for £4.99 / $4.99 / 5.99€ per pack from LEGO online and in store of course, but also at a wide range of toy stores and retailers. No need to panic buy them yet: despite some LEGO sites showing some Dots sets to be temporarily out of stock, there are plenty of other options.

LEGO® Technic review: 42110 Land Rover Defender - the elements

Victor Pruvost (Flickr) returns today to examine the thrilling colour and new moulds found in LEGO® Technic 42110 Land Rover Defender, which retails at £159.99 / 179,99€ / US$199.99.

The last decade saw a massive increase in the size of LEGO® Technic sets. In 2011 the first set with over 2000 parts was released, 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog U400, and in 2019 three sets with more than 2000 parts were released, including the biggest Technic set so far, 42100 Liebherr R 9800. Today we’ll be taking a look at another of them, 42110 Land Rover Defender, which is made of 2573 elements.

LEGO® DOTS: Inside The House of Dots

We have an event report today from a new contributor, Michael Studman (yes, his real name), who is active in the London AFOLs LUG. We asked him to report on the launch of LEGO® DOTS, especially to check out the new parts in the sets and the never-before-seen opalescent colours. 

It’s not uncommon for a LEGO-lover like me to have an emotional connection with established LEGO themes, from childhood, or later in life as an AFOL. What is more unusual is to have an emotional connection to a new LEGO range even before it has been revealed to the public, and to have had a small but exciting part to play in its launch.

This thought occurred to me as I excitedly waited with fellow fans, reporters, and influencers last Tuesday 28 January in Kings Cross, London for the public unveiling of LEGO DOTS, their newest theme.

New LEGO® Colour 364 Transparent Medium Reddish Violet with Opalescence

It seems that 2020 is not limited to bringing us 362 Transparent Blue Opal, but also 364 Transparent Medium Reddish Violet with Opalescence. We are calling them new colours because they have been given a LEGO Colour ID but it seems that adding the Opalescence effect is not likely to classify this as part of the "one colour in, one colour out policy" as far as we can tell.



One of our readers, BrickoMotion, mentioned that the 1x4 Panel in Transparent Medium Reddish Violet/ Trans-Dark Pink from Disney' 43173 Aurora's Carriage was "weirdly colored" and it seems it was also pearly and iridescent. They were right, so let's take a look at this second new colour.

New LEGO® Colour 362 Transparent Blue Opal

Following on from the introduction of new LEGO® hues over the last couple of years, it seems that 2020 continues the tradition. In 2018, 107 Bright Bluish Green/ Dark Turquoise returned, 2019 gave us 353 Vibrant Coral and now 2020 brings 362 Transparent Blue Opal.

As far as we know this new colour only appears in two sets, both within the Disney theme. [Edit: there's also a pink version too.] Our thanks to Ryan Howerter for the heads-up. We thought would take a look at this sparkly, iridescent hue.

(CW:HP) LEGO® Harry Potter review & alt build: 75958 Beauxbatons' Carriage

Jonas Kramm continues our final run of 2019 sets that caught our interest parts-wise, with an August release from LEGO® Harry Potter which he has not only reviewed but also created an alternate build of his own design with! 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.

The recent series of sets from the Wizarding World brings us a bunch of scenes from the fourth movie: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Our pick is 75958 Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts including 412 pieces and priced at £44.99 / $49.99 / 49.99€.

Fabuland Lives On: the hidden side

This year marks 40 years since The LEGO Group (TLG) launched the FABULAND® theme, which ran until 1989. To celebrate this, we've been running an occasional series of articles here at New Elementary called Fabuland Lives On! We're examining the surprising effect that this theme for 3-7 year olds has had upon the LEGO® System, and the hearts of fans.

So far we have looked at the colours and the elements that are still present in sets today. This third post focuses on some of Elspeth's favourite Fabuland elements that popped up unexpectedly in other themes over the years but sadly are no longer in production; the hidden side of Fabuland.

LEGO® Build a Minifigure: Exclusive elements from July 2019

Back in July we published an article by David Gregory about some seemingly new colours/ decorations/ lack of decorations of LEGO® elements found in Build a Minifigure towers. In August our friend and avid follower AFOL Jack asked Vice President of Design Matthew Ashton whether these were intentionally being produced as exclusives – which Matthew confirmed! Meanwhile, Erik H. (HokayBricks) had been researching these new elements and shares his findings with us today. There are surely more than these, for example Erik hasn't tried to identify any heads yet – so if you are aware of more, do comment!

The parts described below are all completely new – they have not appeared in any official set prior to the release of the July 2019 batch of new parts for Build a Minifigure towers at LEGO Stores worldwide. For comparison I have photographed most of the previously released variants of each design, with the new one on the right.

Long Straight Hair (12890) is now available in Bright Orange/ Orange, previously available in Cool Yellow (one Collectible Minifigure and Build a Minifigure) and Black (one set). This piece debuted in Cool Yellow with the Trendsetter from Collectible Minifigure Series 10 in 2013.

LEGO® Ideas set review: 21318 Treehouse

Time for the second part of our LEGO® Ideas 21318 Treehouse review, looking at the build. We covered its elements in part 1.

In a great alteration to Kevin Freeser's original fan submission, which had a grey square base, César Soares' official version has an irregular green shape with a stream running through it. The stream is Dark Azure plate (including the 4x8, Element ID 6209672, its third appearance in sets) with a layer of Transparent 1x1 and 1x2 plates on top.

Fabuland Lives On: the elements

This year marks 40 years since The LEGO Group (TLG) launched the FABULAND theme. In total, 99 Fabuland sets were released from 1979 until 1989, plus the theme featured licensed products such as books, clothing, key rings and for the first time an animated TV series. To celebrate this, we're examining the surprising legacy that this theme for 3-7 year olds has had upon the elements of the LEGO® System to this day.

We thought it would be interesting to take a look at the influence of this theme by finding some current LEGO elements that started their lives as Fabuland elements.

LEGO® Technic review: 42099 4x4 X-Treme Off-Roader

Our final review of summer 2019 LEGO® Technic sets is 42099 4x4 X-Treme Off-Roader which uses the new Control+ system, has 958 pieces and is available as of today for US$249.99/ £199.99/ 229.99€. This time, we welcome back Ryan Welles to reviewing duties! 

It was the year 2007 when the good people in Billund introduced a new motorized system. The Power Functions system, known for its orange banded box art and incorporated in both Creator and Technic sets, is the electrical system that has had the longest lifespan in LEGO® history to date. The powerful motors came in several types and sizes, with infrared remote controls and receivers, and initially showed a combination of studded and studless connections. Later additions to the Technic line included a Large Motor and Servo Motor introduced in 2012, that only allowed for studless mounting. 



LEGO® Creator Expert review: 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander

Revealed today, the spectacular LEGO® Creator Expert 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander comes with 1087 pieces, and will be available June 1st 2019 for 89.99€/ US$99.99. Sven Franic took this modular module for a spin, and had a blast!

The LEGO Group (TLG) has a longstanding relationship with NASA which has ensured minifigures are no strangers to space travel. They once sent three minfigures as far as Jupiter, just for fun. If the number of NASA-themed LEGO Ideas proposals are anything to go by, there seems to be a recent increase in popularity of non-fictional space sets. The LEGO Ideas 21309 Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket is great for demonstrating the different rocket stages and modules, but despite its impressive size, the most iconic landing module which touched the surface of the moon was tiny compared to the entire vessel.