The last 2024 LEGO® DREAMZzz™ set we're reviewing is another great example of the quirky set design of this original theme: a witch's hut nested atop a gigantic raven. So far, I've been critical towards many sets of this wave due to unfocused and messy set design. I've associated this with the alternative builds. I like how these sets offer different designs using the same parts, emphasising the nature of this medium – but so far, it has deemed sacrifices on the design coherence.
With the new LEGO® Fortnite Odyssey social roleplay experience Brick Life launching today, 12 December 2024, now's the perfect moment to announce the winners of our Mind that Banana contest and find out which original creations won the prizes of LEGO Fortnite sets!
Occasionally, a new LEGO® part will present opportunities that I haven't encountered before. The family of rounded plates received two further wonderful new additions in 2023, and although they’re not quite so new anymore I felt that they were worthy of some exploration.
Our building contest – where you had to use a LEGO® banana, but were not allowed to make a banana – has finally split. Entries closed earlier today, and now it is up to our three judges to pick the most apeeling creations. In the meantime, you can enjoy all 103 entries yourself, thanks to all the wonderful participants who joined in and showed off their creative skills!
When my allocation of the eclectic mix of LEGO® elements from the New Elementary Skærbæk Fan Weekend workshop arrived through my letterbox, I was immediately inspired by some of the seed parts, and perplexed by others. But I do love a parts fest, so I started by noodling around with a couple of tablescraps, which is usually a good way to get the creative juices flowing. Let's see what happened.
New Elementary ran a building workshop at Skærbæk Fan Weekend in September 2024. During the event, attendees were tasked with making something using 10 elements released in the last 12 months as seed parts; we will show you some of the results in due course, but first up, it's our turn! We rounded up some of the reclaimed seed parts from the workshop to run one of our "parts festivals", and dispatched them to a couple of our regular contributors: Kev Levell and Caz Mockett, and one of the workshop attendees, Nathan Don as a guest builder.
So, welcome to After-PartyFest! For our first instalment, Tom Loftus introduces all 10 elements and to take a closer look at those that have escaped New Elementary's analytical eye so far.
The first wave of LEGO® DREAMZzz™ underlined the building toy component of the theme by having different builds achieved through partial deconstruction of the first build and then adding to it with an alternate set of instructions. This idea is taken to the next level in the August 2024 wave with sets 71481 Izzie's Dream Animals and 71483 The Never Witch's Nightmare Creatures.
With these sets only a
minor part of the structure is shared between the alternative builds. Like in
LEGO® Creator sets, 3 designs are offered for the price of 1 (at least in
theory). How do these designs fare, what interesting parts do they
consist of and what did they inspire me to build?
Charming festive display piece or stunning parts pack? LEGO® Icons Botanical Collection 10370 Poinsettia is both! One third of its 608 parts are rare or exclusive, all of which are integral to the plant's striking bracts, plentiful foliage and sturdy woven-basket flowerpot.
We are reviewing another August LEGO® Marvel release today, 76290 The Avengers vs. The Leviathan. The set features a foe of furiously fantastic proportions to fight, and of course a couple of superheroes from the Marvel universe ready to do battle!
Do you remember the ancient fable about a race between a cat and a panda? The one where the cat could turn into a motorcycle but the panda with bamboo guns was nevertheless still faster? No? Well may this LEGO® DREAMZzz™ review will shed some light on their story.
LEGO® Speed Champions 76924 Mercedes-AMG G 63 & Mercedes-AMG SL 63 comes with several recolours, exclusive prints and two builds that couldn't be more different from each other – aside from the fact they're both cars, of course!
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?
80058 Celestial Pagoda is the largest set in the June 2024 wave of releases for the LEGO® Monkie Kid™ theme. It's a good-looking building with some decent architectural features, and comes with seven minifigures plus Baby Mo the cat. Let's take a closer look at the unique and unusual elements which are included.
LEGO® Speed Champions has long been in pole position as a theme, bringing us great-looking cars put together with brilliant building techniques and useful new elements. It seems 76925 Aston Martin Vantage Safety Car & AMR23 is another winner...
The Botanical Collection is a subtheme of LEGO® Icons that features relatively affordable sets. In reality, similar life-size botanical subjects have found their way to other LEGO themes, too, including LEGO® Creator and, surprisingly, LEGO® Disney Princess sets. For me, these sets appeal as beautiful models. However, I'm foremost a MOC maker, and they are very good material for own creations – they include usually many of the same pieces, often in bright colours and sleek, organic shapes.
LEGO® Creator is the odd-one-out of the evergreen themes: you never know what the next wave will entail. It seems that people generally like the sets, but a die-hard LEGO Creator fan is one of the rarest types of LEGO hobbyists. New Elementary features LEGO Creator sets infrequently, as they rarely have any new pieces. However in the esteemed January 2024 wave, set 31148 Retro Roller Skate caught my eye. To find out why, let's roll.
Parts wizard Moko is back with some more MOCs for New Elementary. This time he has been working his magic with the elements found in the 2023 LEGO® Harry Potter™ set 76414 Expecto Patronum.
71813 Wolf Mask Shadow Dojo is one of the larger sets in the March 2024 LEGO® NINJAGO® wave; part of Dragons Rising Season 2. The striking structure has some appealing colours, plenty of play features and 8 minifigures. Let's take a closer look at all the details.
