3x3PO Fest: Ben Davies' Lion Statue

Continuing our exploration of what can be done with the golden elements found in LEGO® Star Wars™75398 C-3PO™, I take a brief foray into the world of big cats and classical Greco-Roman sculpture.

3x3PO Fest: Caz Mockett's MOCs

All that glitters is gold! In this episode of 3x3PO Fest, our Parts Festival using LEGO® Star Wars™ set 75398 C-3PO™, it's my turn to see what I can do with a pile of gold pieces that would make Midas proud.

3x3PO Parts Fest: Introducing the elements

Not long ago a Jawa Sandcrawler rolled steadily into New Elementary Farm. Myself, Caz and Ben (Davies, not the old Kenobi) needed someone who spoke Bocce, so we got three copies of LEGO® Star Wars™ 75398 C-3PO. 

In the end we lost our interest in speaking Bocce pretty soon, so we demolished the droids to make MOCs. So welcome to the 3x3PO fest, the hottest MOC-building festival in this galaxy not that far away. But before we show you what we made, I'll show you the interesting parts in the set. Be ready for many pearl gold recolours!

LEGO® Star Wars™ Gifts with Purchase: May the 4th 2024

May means one thing: LEGO® Star Wars™! A battalion of new sets are available from midnight Wednesday 1 May 2024: 75380 Mos Espa Podrace™ Diorama, 75381 Droideka™, 75378 BARC Speeder™ Escape, and of course the Ultimate Collector Series 75382 TIE Interceptor™.

LEGO Star Wars purchases count towards not one but three Gifts with Purchase, depending on how much you spend. We have all of the GwPs in hand, so read on for our analysis.

Revealed: LEGO® Star Wars™ UCS 75382 TIE Interceptor

The Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) LEGO® Star Wars™ set for May the Fourth 2024 is 75382 TIE Interceptor!

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?

LEGO® Star Wars™ build review: 75355 X-Wing Starfighter™

Today I'll be completing my review of 75355 UCS X-Wing Starfighter. Having analysed the set's new moulds, recolours and prints in part 1, it's time to focus on the minifigures, build techniques and finished model.

LEGO® Star Wars™ parts review: 75355 X-Wing Starfighter™

The latest addition to the LEGO® Star Wars™ Ultimate Collector Series arrived in May bringing with it a selection of new moulds and recolours. We might be a little late to the party, but felt there were parts and building techniques still worthy of analysis.

 

LEGO® Star Wars Diorama review: 75352 Emperor's Throne Room & 75353 Endor Speeder Chase

The Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi, also known as “How The Care Bears Kicked the Emperor’s Behind”, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2023. Wait, that makes the movie the same age as me, and the movie is considered to be classic...

Sorry, I had to recover from that. Back to the bricks: to commemorate the occasion, LEGO Star Wars has released several sets, and UniekeBricks has kindly sent us 2 of them to have a closer look.

LEGO® Star Wars™ set review: 75331 The Razor Crest

In part 1 of our review, we took a look at the parts contained in LEGOⓇ Star Wars 75331 The Razor Crest and at 6187 pieces, there was a lot to unpack. Today our attention turns to the build of this Ultimate Collector Series model, and we even have some insight from the designers for you.

LEGO® Star Wars™ parts review: 75331 The Razor Crest

LEGO® Star Wars™ 75331 The Razor Crest is the latest addition to the Ultimate Collector Series line and the first UCS set to be based on a Star Wars TV show. It comprises 6187 pieces, making it the third-largest LEGO Star Wars set, narrowly beaten by last year’s 75313 AT-AT which contained 6749 parts and 75192 Millennium Falcon which still reigns supreme at a whopping 7513 pieces.  In this first of two articles reviewing the set, we will look at all the new and interesting parts it contains.

LEGO® Star Wars review: 75325 The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter

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

Today we’re taking a look at LEGO® Star Wars 75325 The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter, a ship described as being faster than a fathier and as smooth as a gonk’s scomp jack, and 'a real classic', according to Peli Motto. But how does the LEGO version stack up? Read on and see.

LEGO® Star Wars review: 75341 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder

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

Springtime. Flowers, bugs, leaves, melting snow heaps... and May the Fourth (Star Wars Day), which brings us a new LEGO® Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series set. This year it's 75341 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder, which has a price of 199.99 USD/ 174.99 GBP/ 199.99 EUR (DE) and will be available early for VIPs on Sunday 1 May.

The X-34 Landspeeder has several minutes of screen time in the original Star Wars, aka A New Hope, and while these minutes are not that action-packed the vessel is generally liked and has spawned a total six minifig-scale version. Heck, even the classic "these aren't the droids you're looking for" line was muttered from this floating countryside car. So it was about time for a UCS version. But how good is it? I received a pre-release copy from LEGO, and joined a roundtable interview with its designers.

LEGO® Star Wars review: 75329 Death Star Trench Run, 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training & 75339 Death Star Trash Compactor

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

Today I’m taking a look at a new line of sets labelled as the ‘LEGO® STAR WARS Diorama Collection’. As you might guess from the name, each consists of a diorama depicting an iconic scene from the Star Wars movies. The 3 sets are:

• 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training Diorama from The Empire Strikes Back, with 1,000 parts (I love that round number!), RRP 119.99 AUD / 109.99 CAD / 79.99 EUR/ 69.99 GBD / 79.99 US.
• 75339 Death Star Trash Compactor Diorama from A New Hope, with 802 parts, RRP 149.99 AUD / 119.99 CAD / 89.99 EUR / 79.99 GBD / 89.99 USD.
  
• 75329 Death Star Trench Run from A New Hope, with 665 parts, RRP 89.99 AUD / 79.99 CAD / 59.99 EUR/ 54.99 GBD / 59.99 USD.

They are available from 26 April 2022 and you can pre-order now – please 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® 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. 

Si-MOCs vs. LEGO® Art

Simon Liu (@si_mocs) is our welcome guest today! A stalwart of communities in Canada and online, including the wonderful Iron Builder, we knew Simon would take the ultimate MOCcing challenge in his stride. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

There are lots of LEGO® sites out there, targeted at different audiences, but for a builder like myself New Elementary has always been my go-to source for parts and building analysis. I’ve always said I’d jump if asked to do something for New Elementary.  Tim knew this, but Tim’s a funny guy; he asked me to do some seed-part building with some interesting new pieces... from LEGO Art 31200 The Sith. You read that right, dear reader, Tim asked me to do a deep dive build with pieces from a mosaic set.

LEGO® Star Wars™ review & alt build: 75293 Resistance I-TS Transport

Thomas Jenkins not only reviewed 2020 LEGO® Star Wars™set 75293 Resistance I-TS Transport, he also created an alternate build! Buying this $99.99/ £89.99 / 99.99€ set? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | UK Amazon | USA LEGO Shop | USA Amazon | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

The I-TS Transport hails from Disneyland’s Star Wars-themed world, Batuu and although the vehicle shares a design similar to that of the Rebel frigates (like the Tantive IV blockade runner), this ship was unfamiliar to me. Given the relative obscurity of this vehicle, I imagine that this set went overlooked by most LEGO® fans in favour of the more recognisable vehicles and locations that made up the rest of the 2020 summer wave of sets. There are a few interesting parts and 2 exclusive minifigures to this set, which makes me hope this might be somewhat of a dark horse amongst last summer’s offering of Star Wars fare.

LEGO® Star Wars review: 75274 TIE Fighter Pilot Helmet

Today Tim Johnson reviews LEGO® Star Wars 75274 TIE Fighter Pilot, one of the 2020 'helmet' sets. Buying it? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | UK Amazon | USA LEGO Shop | USA Amazon | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

In March 2020 The LEGO Group released a series of ‘helmet’ sets under the 18+ branding featuring designs from Star Wars and Iron Man. I eschewed the perhaps more iconic Stormtrooper and Boba Fett for the sleek TIE pilot fighter, depicting John Mollo’s design from the original film in 1977. 

Before the build, let’s take a look at its parts which are fairly standard for the most part – in fact, quite a nice aspect to the inventory is its prevalence of simple elements. Well over half of its 724 pieces are plate or some kind of useful modified plate!

Part 66956, Wedge 2x2 Pointed with Stud Notches: analysis and MOCs

Zachary Hill (@zachary.p.hill) explores a new LEGO® part from 2020 today, as well as briefly reviewing the set he first received it in, 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers. If you're buying from LEGO Bricks and Pieces, consider using our affiliate links: USA, UK or AU. New Elementary may get a commission.

Introduced in the autumn 2020 wave of new LEGO® sets, Wedge 2 x 2 Pointed with Stud Notches (66956) combines two existing wedge slopes into the first curved slope with five corners. This new mould has been thoughtfully designed to be more than the sum of its parts; with its pointed nose and unique underbelly this POOP offers builders a sharp take on slopes.